[spoilers] How I overengineered a non-working solution to a non-existing problem for about 3 hours

[agentdmx]

So remember the guy you can find back here at this cliff above the fire area?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2155450867

well I found this guy pretty quick, but it took me about 2 or 3 hours of brainstorming and game exploitation to collect him. Here is the full story (read in a story-telling voice for best experience).

The Setup

The first hour consisted mainly of trying to climb the cliff from all areas. The cliffs were much harder to climb compared to the base game, but with some effort I managed to climb some of the cliffs nearby. I did manage to find the mime during this progress, so it wasn't all wasted. So after some trying I concluded that regular climbing wasn't going to work. So I moved myself up on the windy cliff nearby and took a good 10 minutes staring at my screen thinking of what I could have missed.

The Exploid

I was hit by a sudden realization. You see, I already used the yellow supraball to (presumably) exploit my way to a pile of bones at the other side of the map. So putting 1 and 1 together I formulated my plan. Using my newfound motivation I quickly fetched the supraball, and found a place to put my teleporter ball for quick retries.

I got to work and, with much trial and error, I managed to find a reliable setup. First I put my cube around this position in this corner:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2155450916

After which I point my cursor at this position, just where the line of pixels has a little upwards indent:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2155450973

By timing my jump with a fully charged shot I could get enough air to reach the cliff, even without using my teleporter ball. But my happiness was quickly replaced by dread as I was hit by a sudden realization. Just before I would have landed on the cliff my velocity was halted. I hit every gamer's worst nightmare: the invisible wall.

However I wasn't beaten yet. "Surely there cannot be an invisible wall around the guy" I foolishly though. Taking my near success as a sign that I was close to a solution I started on a new setup. This time I went a little bit lower, so that I could get a better angle. Using the same logic (cube first, shot second) I figured out a semi-consistent setup for my new trajectory:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2155451025

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2155451079

And it worked, except that my worst fear came true, the guy was behind an invisible wall. At this point I was questioning my very existence. Why could I not physically go to the guy? Do I need to trigger something? do I need to start the ending sequence? Did anything I just do matter? did I achieve anything? does anything I do achieve anything? do I even exist?

The Realization

It seems I hit a wall. I was stuck. However something was about to happen. You see I am a programmer. And there is one feeling that I know very well. It's the feeling you get when you are solving a problem for hours, using all complex systems and problem solving skills that are available to you, only to realize that the issue was nothing more than a simple typo.

So, during my existential crisis, a single thought went through my head. "What if..."...

It couldn't be...

You see not long ago I found the guy that was created using perspective. So I did the single action that would result in me laughing like a madman in a madhouse.

I moved my cursor...

On top of the guy...

...

...

"found him"

Needless to say I was so salty that I needed to rant to somewhere right away, and just like that I created this post.

Anyway I still enjoy the game. Only 2 guys left and I collected everything, for both the original game and the DLC. The game was really fun and at least now I can be proud that I could theoretically reach the "unreachable" cliff.

[marsHm311oW]

You dont need to be near them. Just look at him to collect. You can even collect him from the bottom at the rocket.

[Ryan Fenton]

Yup - that's the joke of the post.

[kilterwind]

Not joking. I literally realized that I only need to look at them at this final Waldo... I touched all previous Waldo's. I even thought I need to click E or some...