Isle of the Blessed - second Sphynx stones.

[masterofp]

I've been looking for the second set of stones for too long now, I have checked what I thought be under structures or bridges, going by the hint on the plaque.

I have solved the ones on the island behind blue lighthouse.

Help, I am going mental running around the map for the ♾️ time...

[joridiculous]

Originally posted by Nick:

Originally posted by Thanos:

Not if you focus on the stripe patern, if you are just in front of the sphinx and you look around, this is the only building with this patern. And when you go there it's obvious where the buttons are located since all other parts of the puzzle are visible.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3272199700

When you go in there, it's obvious the buttons aren't there because no visible part matches the hint. Why would I assume an apparently out of bounds region would match the hint once i get there?

The problem here is that you can't see the pattern the hint is representing before seeing the buttons themselves.

Precisely. It is very obvious when you "break the level" and get on top unnaturally or happen to use photomode to take overhead shots.
And second of all. It have been stated several times by the devs ALL "stars" are solvable from the world , you newer have to "smuggle" anything out and solutions are not inside any levels.

[kablahrz]

Originally posted by Thanos:

Not if you focus on the stripe patern, if you are just in front of the sphinx and you look around, this is the only building with this patern.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3272199700

Heh, I didn't realize you could actually see the building from the sphinx location. That makes it even easier.

Originally posted by Thanos:

And when you go there it's obvious where the buttons are located since all other parts of the puzzle are visible.

Truly. (angle1, angle2) There's a big ol' room up there. And with the merest imagination you can see, without actually being there, that it generally matches the sphinx plaque, with rails/stripes on each vertical wall ... given shifted perspective once you will have strolled-up the gravity pad and leapt off it to the target. Not sure how it could have been made more obvious without painting "Got Sphinx Buttons?" on the side wall.

The one aspect I'm wondering about, though, is whether this is the only sphinx puzzle across TTP2 that's inside a puzzle map, requiring that the puzzle first be solved (edit: at least partially) in order to access the sphinx buttons.

I do get the angst, though. The C-A-T sphinx puzzle was the only thing in TTP2 that I ended up seeking outside tips on, because I was fixated on only viewing the button pads as a telephone-style multi-tap keypad.[en.wikipedia.org] I recall cursing the devs, at the time, as I was suffering through repeatedly running between the 3 locations hoping I'd finally riddled it out. (Even just knowing that each individual pad would signal its own correct button combination would have been a blessing.)

[kablahrz]

Originally posted by Nick:

When you go in there... no visible part matches the hint.

I'll testify the opposite, because it was obvious to me, from the ground, that the buttons very likely (almost certainly) were up in that room. And the room clearly could be seen as not out-of-bounds since a simple leap from the gravity pad, as required in prior puzzles, could get you there.

Originally posted by joridiculous:

It is very obvious when you "break the level" and get on top unnaturally

Nothing "unnatural" about accessing the location, since doing so requires a standard leap off a gravity pad -- a maneuver that's required elsewhere to solve a puzzle as intended. In fact, here's evidence suggesting that you've used the same technique, yourself; wasn't it required in order to get all 3 of the needed components on the far side of an electric barrier wall?

Originally posted by joridiculous:

And second of all. It have been stated several times by the devs ALL "stars" are solvable from the world , you newer have to "smuggle" anything out and solutions are not inside any levels.

Can't argue with this. These buttons are definitely inside a puzzle map ... though it's not required that you fully solve the puzzle to gain access to the buttons. You just need to open the one barrier blocking access.

Originally posted by Thanos:

IBut it's not obvious

Even this is arguable ... as it is clearly depending on the person -- same as I had to accept as regards the TTP2 base game's C-A-T sphinx puzzle. That solution was surely obvious to most, if not nearly all, but using the pads in the way intended never crossed my mind as a possibility.

[Nick]

Originally posted by Thanos:

I'm talking about the stripes not the actual image, there is no other puzzle with stripes, so you know it's there somewhere.

Or it's somewhere else you can't see. Just because that's the only place you see with horizontal stripes does not mean it's the only one, there may be more you haven't seen. And if you do enter the puzzle and don't see anything that resembles the hint, it's not weird to assume that there's somewhere else with similar stripes you haven't seen.

[Nick]

Originally posted by kablahrz:

And the room clearly could be seen as not out-of-bounds since a simple leap from the gravity pad, as required in prior puzzles, could get you there.

Nothing "unnatural" about accessing the location, since doing so requires a standard leap off a gravity pad -- a maneuver that's required elsewhere to solve a puzzle as intended.

Absolutely wrong. The pad in B5 is higher than the wall you have to jump. Trying to simply leap higher will just make you fall, you won't go above the platform. You need to place a cube, and then disengage from the gravity pad falling on the cube to be able to jump there.

[kablahrz]

Originally posted by Nick:

Originally posted by kablahrz:

And the room clearly could be seen as not out-of-bounds since a simple leap from the gravity pad, as required in prior puzzles, could get you there.

Nothing "unnatural" about accessing the location, since doing so requires a standard leap off a gravity pad -- a maneuver that's required elsewhere to solve a puzzle as intended.

Absolutely wrong. The pad in B5 is higher than the wall you have to jump. Trying to simply leap higher will just make you fall, you won't go above the platform. You need to place a cube, and then disengage from the gravity pad falling on the cube to be able to jump there.

The several times that I've made the leap to access the sphinx buttons beg to differ. No cube ever used or sought; the leap seemed obvious, though I did fail on my first try, so just strolled back up the gravity pad and tried again. (edit: p.s. I absolutely *suck* at what I think people call "platforming," so I definitely don't view this leap as anything extraordinary.)

Originally posted by Nick:

if you do enter the puzzle and don't see anything that resembles the hint, it's not weird to assume that there's somewhere else with similar stripes you haven't seen.

No argument. But that others did recognize the above location/room as matching the hint, even from the ground, makes it like all other puzzles in TTP, subjectively more or less difficult per user. And with that, all the best; happy puzzling.

[kablahrz]

Originally posted by Nick:

The pad in B5 is higher than the wall you have to jump.

Because that wall is much further away from the gravity pad. Different case for the sphinx buttons platform..

[Thanos]

Originally posted by Nick:

Originally posted by Thanos:

I'm talking about the stripes not the actual image, there is no other puzzle with stripes, so you know it's there somewhere.

Or it's somewhere else you can't see. Just because that's the only place you see with horizontal stripes does not mean it's the only one, there may be more you haven't seen. And if you do enter the puzzle and don't see anything that resembles the hint, it's not weird to assume that there's somewhere else with similar stripes you haven't seen.

That's why i said i found it after visiting all the puzzle, it clicked after returning to the sphinx and looking around for clues. That's what make theses star puzzle super fun imo, it's more out of the box and unusual. But hey it's optional, if it's too annoying or hard for you, just skip them.

[kablahrz]

Originally posted by Thanos:

That's why i said i found it after visiting all the puzzle, it clicked after returning to the sphinx and looking around for clues. That's what make theses star puzzle super fun imo, it's more out of the box and unusual.

That's where I faced difficulty with this one ... forgetting that the sphinx plaques provide a visual clue. I'd initially just thought I'd eventually come across some semi-hidden wall with a set of buttons somewhere; when that hadn't happened after solving many of the puzzles and generally scouring the countryside, I thought of the other "Green" sphinx puzzle's island strip clue and pulled-up the "Red" sphinx image from my store. Once I looked closer and interpreted the edge of the image as more than just an artistic border, the solve came quickly.

And, agreed, the fun and interesting bit is overcoming the obstacles ... and assumptions.

[-Forest-]

Ok, I was ready to say kblahrz was trolling you guys, but I just did it. That is after several attempts and not making it and trying with a box. Then finally, found a video and it was as simple as kablahrz says: If your really want to know and just can't figure it out look at the next spoiler, this was just incase you accidentally hovered over this.

Just run up there, I did with shift W and then leap to the right. Landed right up there the right try. Thanks kablahrz and video on youtube from
Lutyelbaken.

[Dendy]

Sphinx pattern puzzles have no clues on the plaque — I just double checked that in the original game.

I casually walked into the stones on the island by just wandering around. Only after checking this thread I zoomed in the island plaque to barely see the palm tree on the background, which is nothing more but decoration or bunch of scratches for the casual player, and does no participate in solving the puzzle, because no skills need to be involved for that.

Same goes for the "beams" on the second plaque. How in the world one might consider random lines as a "hint", and not as a frame stylistic choice. If that would be just beams on the plaque, without pattern — that would make all the difference, like in original game with, for instance, island shapes only.

They could equally place this "beams" hint engraved on the Sphinx butt, expecting people would look closely under the tail through the scope for a clues.

[Dendy]

The bare minimum they should do to fix this Sphinx puzzle — is to erase the pattern from the plaque, and keep beams only. The challenge here is how to find it, not which stones to press. Exactly how they did it in the base TTP2 game.

[Nick]

Originally posted by kablahrz:

Originally posted by Nick:

if you do enter the puzzle and don't see anything that resembles the hint, it's not weird to assume that there's somewhere else with similar stripes you haven't seen.

No argument.

Bro what? You can't just say "no argument" to disregard one.

[kablahrz]

Originally posted by Nick:

You can't just say "no argument" to disregard one.

Ok, but I'd think it applicable when I have no disagreement with the statement quoted: "if you do enter the puzzle and don't see anything that resembles the hint, it's not weird to assume that there's somewhere else with similar stripes you haven't seen."

That's a completely reasonable perspective. I just hadn't agreed on the location of the buttons being as difficult to find as was being declared by others.

Originally posted by Dendy:

The bare minimum they should do to fix this Sphinx puzzle — is to erase the pattern from the plaque, and keep beams only. The challenge here is how to find it, not which stones to press. Exactly how they did it in the base TTP2 game.

That's certainly a way to make the puzzle even worse for many; so now not only won't they be able to find the puzzle, but they won't know what buttons need to be pressed once it *is* found. And I'm not sure what you're thinking of Re: the TTP2 base game, as I believe that any Sphinx puzzles that involved a set of buttons like the puzzle in question provided the pattern needed on the Sphinx plaque. (Even the C-A-T Sphinx puzzle that I failed to decypher.)

[kablahrz]

Originally posted by Dendy:

Sphinx pattern puzzles have no clues on the plaque — I just double checked that in the original game.

Just objectively Partially false. I failed the C-A-T Sphinx puzzle in the first game, but, obvious in retrospect, all the clues that I needed were right there on the plaque ... locations and what buttons needed to be pressed. Same as this Sphinx puzzle.

I think I'll take a quick dip back into my TTP2 save to check, since all the Sphinx plaques should be saved in my "Family" folder. edit: So, yeah, that was easy to find ...

• Screenshot of all 8 Sphinx plaques from TTP2 base game

And you are right that the two obvious button pattern Sphinx puzzles didn't offer a location hint, as those were big, noticeable installments out in the wild. (edit: confirmed: South 1, West 1; not hidden, require no location hints) But the C-A-T Sphinx puzzle with 3 separate hidden-away wall button pads, as used in this DLC2 puzzle, *did* provide the location hints on the plaque.

As for the TTP2 Sphinx plaques generally, it looks like they used the same rough square (digital message-y) border for the three plaques omitting any location hint (by way of a drawing, anyway, since "2 4 7 8" is kind of a big hint).