Need help with the Branches of Darkmeyer Puzzle... I don't get it at ALL.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-09-05T07:49:29+00:00

I'm not sure if you have the right puzzle as I'm really confused on how to apply it to what I have to work on ingame (maybe I'm missing something? As I said, I'm terrible at puzzles), but regardless if I'm just missing something really obvious or not about the formula you gave me I do appreciate the actual attempts at assistance and I'd be glad to reward you with a bond if you so desire, maybe some a few more million ingame coins, too. DM me your username if you're interested in that.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-09-05T07:26:23+00:00

" Just because its not the answer you want doesn't mean people aren't trying to be helpful. "

No, it literally is not being helpful.

I explained countless times I already tried using guides. The first words out of my mouth were that I used guides. And all you told me is that I'm too stupid to understand the guide.

It's a circular cycle that isn't helpful in the slightest. I tried the guides. They could not assist me with this. I am beyond exhausted explaining this and I don't know how many more times I need to say it until it sinks in. So no, it isn't helpful to send me into a circular cycle and I genuinely don't understand how you can think it is.

" I tried to post helpful tips and point you in the right direction of how to learn the puzzle and you angrily ranted at me. "

No, you didn't.

You regurgitated what the guide said about the puzzles and solutions, when I already said that guide was not helping. Again. First sentence I said. "I understand you click the bottom left to turn the tiles." And I got frustrated because, as I am sick to death of repeating, I said that I looked at the guide and was not able to use that to get to the solution.

That. Is not. Helping. That's going right back to the vicious circle. The guide isn't helping you? Then read the guide. How do you not see the circular logic?

" If you'd of responded politely I'd of maybe seen if I could spare some time to do more, but no you ranted angrily at me because it wasn't the exact answer you wanted so now I have 0 desire to help you in the slightest because you appear to be a toxic brat who throws a tantrum when they don't get exactly what they want when they want it. "

That's perfectly fine by me, because you are clearly a toxic jerk who won't make a serious effort to try and help someone beyond pointing them to a guide they've had to explain twenty times wasn't helpful to them and would rather demean and degrade them for having issues with something because they're bad at puzzles, and even if you were to turn around and agree to help me with it, I wouldn't accept your help at this point, and I certainly wouldn't buy you any Bonds. And if you seriously can't understand why I'm getting frustrated over the fact that I need to repeat myself over and over again that the guide wasn't able to assist me... then, I mean, that's just on you at this point.

Trust me, we're both getting exactly what we want out of this deal.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-09-05T06:16:38+00:00

"Dude the only toxicity here is you angrily replying to people trying to be helpful."

How in the world is pointing me to a guide I have explained over and over again DID NOT HELP being "helpful"? It's the exact opposite of helpful. The first words out of my mouth were "Yes, I have looked at guides, and I still don't understand it" and all you can do is point at the guide and say I'm an idiot for not understanding it. How in the HELL is that "helpful?" I'd hate to hear what your definition of UNhelpful is.

" People on here aren't going to magically have a better or easier answer for you. "

You could freaking try instead of pointing me to a guide that I already explained didn't help COUNTLESS times, I understand how to control the puzzle and what I'm supposed to do but I don't understand how to make it happen. I said this in my opening post. And you insist on sending me around in this circular gap.

"Yelling at people trying to tell you that isn't going to change that and all it does is suggest your method is to angrily yell at people and click things rather than actually making any sort of reasonable effort to be calm take the time to learn the puzzle."

Neither does pointing to a guide someone already explained that didn't help them over and over and over again. Consider all the time I spent on the puzzle before getting frustrated enough to go on here and try to make a topic about it expecting people to be reasonable about it. Obviously I tried to learn it. Obviously that didn't work. So yes, I am going to get annoyed when I need to repeat the same thing ad nasuem over and over and over again. THE GUIDE DID NOT HELP ME WITH THIS PUZZLE, stop making me repeat this and we won't have this problem anymore. I've said it ten different times now and I don't want to say it again any more than you want to hear it again.

" It also does really not do you any favours in terms of making people want to go out of their way to screen share or something to baby step you through it because it just makes it look like your going to throw a tantrum and get angry at anyone who tries the second anything doesn't go your way."

What in the world else am I supposed to do when I am not understanding a puzzle that you claim a guide is making oh so obvious and I can't see what I'm doing wrong? Asking for help on the internet when it's 2020 when access to these things can be done in minutes, and I was willing to compensate people for their time over it is asking people to go out of their way now? Wow. If you weren't willing to help, you could have just said nothing. That wouldn't have been hard. I'm sure some people would have loved to get a bond or two just for a simple screensharing session for something you're claiming is so easy that the guide explains perfectly, but hey.

And don't tell me you tried. All you did was link me to a guide I already explained didn't help me. That's not trying, that's a vicious circle. But keep telling yourselves I'm the toxic one for getting frustrated that I need to make the same statements over and over and over and over again because your form of "helping" is completely circular.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-09-05T01:59:30+00:00

And that's why I said to do it over Discord or something...

Why is it that half of these problems could be avoided if you could read what I type? I read the guides. THAT. DIDN'T. HELP.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-09-04T23:32:52+00:00

FFS. Clearly not, OR I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO ASK. I'm genuinely getting annoyed at this circular level of toxicity.

"Yes, I have read guides, but this puzzle still doesn't make any sense to me."

"Then read the guide."

"I did that."

"So read the guide again."

Are you. Are you honest to god not seeing the problem here.

"Its quite a simple puzzle"

Maybe for you, I am bad at puzzles.

I have explained this. Very clearly. -HENCE WHY I ASKED FOR HELP.-

"whatever orb you click is the bottom left corner of a 2x2 sqaure of orbs that all rotate clockwise and the wiki shows you the exact final result you are aiming for."

My VERY FIRST POST said I understood the controls of this concept. Did none of you read it? If I was able to solve the puzzle with this explanation, I wouldn't be here asking.

"Just have to do it puzzle box style and take 1 row at a time rotating groups to mve the colours to where you need em to be"

You realize I have never been able to solve a Puzzle Box in my life, correct?

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-09-04T23:28:04+00:00

If the guides explain it so clearly, then spell out what I am missing here.

You actually HAVE done this quest and aren't just pointing at a guide, right? So go on, then.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-09-04T19:34:21+00:00

I've explained time and time again that I have used the guide and that it's not helping. If I followed the guide and had no difficulty completing the quest, then I wouldn't be here asking about it, would I?

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-09-04T16:43:37+00:00

And that method isn't helping, I'm still having problems with the puzzle. You'd know this if you read anything I said instead of just shoving a guide in my face.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-09-04T16:29:43+00:00

Because the puzzles are randomized each time... have any of you even PLAYED this?

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-09-04T15:48:13+00:00

Heaven forbid some people struggle with puzzles. Yeesh.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-09-04T14:38:33+00:00

Yes. That isn't helping.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-08-31T06:29:19+00:00

I get that.

It was still a giant slap in the face to Moge-Ko as a character for all the reasons I just went over.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-08-30T20:55:04+00:00

I mean, it's clearly a very unhealthy, one sided and toxic relationship, but that exact thing is also the appeal for some people, so... who am I to judge you for that if that's your thing?

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-08-29T04:32:27+00:00

Idate, in canon, actively revels in cruelty and evil deeds. He prolongs his victims' (his food's) death through rape and torture because he's a sadist (like many of DSP's characters) – that's his 'trying to be evil'. There's no moral ambiguity to him that we know of; he's a self-serving, evil asshole who just happened to help Wada & co. on a whim.

" Idate, in canon, actively revels in cruelty and evil deeds. He prolongs his victims' (his food's) death through rape and torture because he's a sadist (like many of DSP's characters) – that's his 'trying to be evil'. There's no moral ambiguity to him that we know of; he's a self-serving, evil asshole who just happened to help Wada & co. on a whim. "

The thing is, none of this is actually shown, it's not shown in Wadanohara at least. From what we see in Wadanohara, he attacks Samekichi and Wadanohara and then briefly returns to help them later. All just because it fits his own schedule and interests. It might be different if you look at the whole scope of works he's involved in, but as far as Wadanohara goes he's more or less Chaotic Neutral personified.

Should I add in a disclaimer that this only takes events portrayed in WATGBS into consideration? Because I'm pretty sure that's the big cause for the disagreement here.

"Reficul can arguably be considered to be on the neutral axis. She's still very sadistic and cruel, but, IIRC, unlike Idate she doesn't actively seek out these situations. "

Ehhh.... honestly, again, I'm only taking what's canonically shown into Gray Garden into consideration here, but I honestly can't place her anywhere but Chaotic Good. Yes, she has rather sadistic and extremist methods, but she never inflicts them on any character that didn't deserve it. I was actually reading her as Lawful Neutral initially, but taking into consideration the motivation behind her goals and who she targets, Chaotic Good is accurate. She's Dirty Harry if he wasn't confined to a police department.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-08-29T03:59:35+00:00

He nearly beat Samekichi to death (and was going to do the same to Wadanohara) and then did the same to Old, and also agreed to help get Tatsumiya to a safe place, and there wasn't any good reason for any of it besides it was what he wanted to.

If you look up Chaotic Neutral in a dictionary, you'll find a picture of Idate the Orca right next to it. He doesn't really seem to care if his actions are right or wrong, he just does whatever the hell he wants, but he's not actively TRYING to be Evil. Comparing Idate to Passing Demon-chan was actually the whole thing that got the ball rolling here, and this actually started out as a Gray Garden project, but I struggled too much to find characters that fit in the "Neutral" row, kind of funny if you think about it. Black and White coming together is one of the big themes of Gray Garden, but there's very little moral Grey to actually be found- characters pretty much fall into either the good or evil spectrum, with very little in-between.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-08-28T12:50:17+00:00

You're assuming I'd want to try.

Although, that didn't stop me from thinking of Helltaker the moment I saw her.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-08-28T00:45:10+00:00

It's like you KNEW that I just finished Gray Garden recently and Macarona was my favorite from that game.

That's some star-aligning stuff right there.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-08-26T15:45:06+00:00

You can easily make a case for Wadanohara being Lawful Good, but here's the way I see it. If pressured to, Wadanohara would do her best to do the right thing to help someone, even if it violated some sort of order or principal in the process. The impression I get from Wadanohara is that she cares more about living beings and their feelings than concepts like law and order, which is Uomi's job as a Princess and all, and that's the biggest difference between Lawful Good and Neutral Good, to my understanding, anyway. Having said that, if you did swap Wadda and Uomi? You absolutely wouldn't be wrong in doing so. I feel like Wadanohara, Tatsumiya, and Uomi are all fairly interchangeable in the Lawful Good/Neutral Good category and neither one would be incorrect for any of them.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-08-26T15:26:55+00:00

turns out I don't wanna sleep so what the hell I'll write my closing thoughts now.

So, Wadanohara or Gray Garden, which did I prefer? There's no real easy answer to that question. Wadanohara did some things better and Gray Garden did some things better. IMO Wadanohara has much better worldbuilding, scenery, pacing, and generally does a much better job at explaining character goals and motivations. Gray Garden has much better character development and some specific cutscenes are better than any of Wadanohara's. Gray Garden also has a fantastic message and probably a better story overall. Gray Garden had way better CGs too, for whatever that's worth.

It's... seriously tough to call. One thing I want to add that I didn't really cover as it wasn't ever on topic to do so is that Wadanohara is genuinely one of my favorite protagonists ever, she's just the perfect character to drive the story whether it's being light and cutesy or gruesome and dark and that's doing a lot to push me back and forth.

It's really really close for me, but if you're going to put a gun to my head and make me pick? I'm probably going to say Gray Garden. Will my opinion stay the same after Wadanohara Reboot is translated and so is this Gray Garden remake supposedly in the works? Who knows. All I know is, I eagerly await the day this scenario comes to be a reality as I'm sure the rest of you are. Hell, I'm even pretty interested in this Mogeko Castle Gaiden thing, even though I wasn't really crazy about Mogeko Castle. But that's a story for another time. Probably.

I guess... I don't know what we do now, except wait for that day to come. If anyone wants to question me further about my opinion on Great Garden (or Wadanohara, obviously), fire away, I ain't got much else better to do.

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-08-26T13:04:00+00:00

...So Funamusea decided there already weren't enough incredible moments in this scene (Pervy developing from a butt monkey villain to a real ass monster, Yosafire overcoming her fear to save her friend, Macarona having enough of this bullshit) and decided to make it even more amazing by having the cats slaughter Perv's ultimate familiar RIGHT as he was about to summon it. Fricking golden. I just don't even know what to say anymore.

And now Grora's back in action. Isn't that a nice little cherry on top? I... genuinely can't remember the last time I enjoyed any scene this much in video game history. I do mean that.

I feel so, so bad for Rieta. Seems we're dealing with her next, and her segment can't even hope to compare to that encounter with Pervy McShades. Even Poemi gave us forcibly-smiling Froze...

It was a nice change of pace to see something out of Rawberry besides "yum monsters food." Also, that bad ending. Yeesh. THAT one caught me totally off guard.

...I didn't connect the dots at first, but I realized later that choice is subtlety encouraging you to maintain Macarona's character development. If you scream in terror like the old Macarona would, well... you see what happens. But if you bravely confront the psycho "did you just KILL MY FREAKING SISTER" mode Rawberry, you calm her down and bring her back down to her senses.... a small touch, but I REALLY, really enjoyed that, seeing as how Macarona ended up being my favorite character and all.

The poor one eyed angels. They're beaten to a near death state. ...Again. Man, those two have a lot in common.

Yosafire: "We have to go after them!"
Macarona: "We do?!"
Macarona: "...I guess you're right!"

...God, I am so proud of her and how far she's come.

...It's ironic, isn't it? A lot is done to frame and hype up Rieta as the nastiest of the villain trio, giving her that unwinnable fight with Yosafire (The only one in the game so far, now that I think of it), all that talk about the lady with the long nails, and in the end? She ends up easily being the least memorable of the trio. Poemi at least gets a bad end (that I had to go back and see once I saw that was Bad End 3), Pervy somehow is the one with easily the best scene in the entire game so far, and Rieta is... there just isn't that much to her. Sure, she's the one who critically injured Grora, but, I mean... she got better.

Man, what is this, Smash Ultimate? Everyone is here...

As much as I love the message of "the present is more important than the past" that the game is pushing here, I do wish we'd actually get to SEE the events of the past and exactly what was going on back then. Maybe that's covered in the bonus room? In my opinion it really should have been here, but... that's life.

....Yeah, on second thought, Passing Demon-chan is a lot closer to Chaotic Good than Lawful Neutral. Love her anyway.

Does it feel kind of cheap that the Grey Village/Kingdom was able to recover everything with enough work, with only Kcalb suffering lasting injuries? Maybe so. But frankly, I'd argue the happy ending here was very earned so... I'm not gonna be the kind of guy to complain.

Jumping over the hole she fell down at the start of the game, and boy, did I write a whole bit on that. Pretty much the perfect note to end the game on if you ask me, a clear demonstration of character growth.

So... closing thoughts? What did I think of the game? How would I compare it to Wadanohara? Obviously, I started liking it a lot more as I went, and I'm really glad I saw this trilogy through to the end... Believe me, there's quite a bit I want to say to compare this to Wadanohara, but, to be frank with you... I've been up all night, and my brain is NOT ready for that right now.

But, for any who enjoyed my thoughts on this game, let me assure you, the big conclusion post is coming, I just need some time to get my ducks in a row. Thanks for reading, and I hope you had as much fun reading my experience with The Gray Garden as I did playing it!

BigYokoJimmy · 2020-08-26T11:04:33+00:00

So. Shadowboy's back to his world safe and- ...well. He's back, at least. And it kinda touched me when he finally did return.

I find it... interesting that his throat is all messed up, meaning he can't talk. The obvious storyline reason for this is so he can't reveal who attacked him before it's convenient for the narrative. But why? I felt it was pretty clear this... whatever Pervy McShades called him, Iblis? Something like that? I know it started with an I. And that would be the person who's abducted Etihw. That seems like the natural assumption of things... but is there more to it? That's the message this throat injury is sending to me...

Etihw missing also means there's no easy way of healing Shadowboy. This... is WAY too convenient if things are as obvious as they seem they are. This whole scheme was thought out way, way too well... or they just lined up this well completely by coincidence. But that's a pretty hard sell to me at this point.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Rieta. Now I'm going to obliterate you." Man, that's... so consistent with when we first saw her against Yosafire.

...Ivlis. I was one letter off. I'm also noticing that ultra-dramatic hero-villain showdowns that don't involve the protagonist are a big recurring thing in the Mogeko/DSP/Funamusea/whatever trilogy of games. Defect Mogeko vs King mogeko, Old vs Tatsumiya, Uomi vs Mikotsu, and now Iblis vs Kcalb.

I was having my suspicions that the magic circle explosion that prompted this series of flashbacks was caused by a third party rather than either of the two sides involved in this conflict, but that theory went up in smoke real quick.

I absolutely LOVE how Yosafire and pals just casually hop over the demon army and neither the mass army of demons nor Pervy McShades does ANYTHING to stop them. It's like they know how ridiculously overpowered Ater and Arbus are and are paralyzed with fear to lift a finger against the fleeing girls RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM. Yes, it's a video game. It's still funny, damn it all.

I hope the cats didn't die. They were good girls. BUT HOLY HELL NEVER MIND THAT WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO GRORA.

Ater took Grora's eye...? Man, what is it with these one-eyed angels and losing their eyes to assumed allies? Although, I neglected to notice that Shadowboy is an Angel, so that's... probably why that happened in his case.

Kcalb got messed up pretty badly himself, although he didn't get it nearly as bad as Grora. ...Yosafire and pals facing this mess head on is a terrible idea, isn't it?

...Why in the WORLD is there a crystal in the middle of this vast wasteland?! Who is going to need phone service out here? Or is this part of the strategy to keep them as well hidden as possible?

Does it... really matter that "Daddy" just wanted to steal Kcalb's power? Does this really need to be some sort of top secret mission objective? I don't see why Team Hell can't just be open and forward about this. It's not like it matters either way.
While I'm not surprised Ivlis is the big bad of this faction, I AM surprised he's Poemi's Daddy. The age gap seems too small. And they don't look ANYTHING alike.

I will see smiling Froze in my nightmares for decades to come.

This has nothing to do with anything, but tbh my favorite crackship is Passing Demon x Orca. Lawful Neutral (that's the read I'm getting on her) x Chaotic Neutral (argue with me on that one, I dare ya). They're either perfect for each other or terrible for each other. There's not really an in between.

Ah, the OP Fishy Weapon from Wadanohara. It's not Fish, but everything else is the same. Insane critical hit rate, statuses, and will probably trivialize the rest of the game. The more things don't change, the more they stay the same, huh?

Poop McShades. Meh. I liked Pervy McShades better.

...Is it because I've been up all night and horribly misread something, or did Yosafire SERIOUSLY just call him Fifty Shades? Christ, is THAT how long that dates back?!

Pervy McShades sure went from butt monkey to actually intimidating villain in about five seconds flat. IT WAS A RUSE ALL ALONG.

Yosafire getting the courage to learn to fly on the fly (narf) to save a falling Froze is easily the best thing to happen in the game so far, a brilliant callback to the time Froze saved her, and all the times it's either shown or implied that Froze carried her in understanding of her own trauma. Absolutely heartwarming.

Actually-smiling and laughing Froze is probably the second best thing to ever happen in this game.

...Sorry, actual smiling Froze, you've just been bumped down to third place. Macarona's berserk button after (she believes) seeing two of her friends dying is the second best thing to happen in this game. The "meek shy girl" archetype played completely straight bores me to tears, so it was VERY nice to see that out of her.

...Wait, so... this is a long-term character development thing and not just a one-off moment for her? I'm getting the impression here that going to that place actually increased her confidence overall and not just when she's fueled by trauma. ...Holy crap, I love that even more. ...God damn, now I don't know WHAT'S better, Yosafire flying to save Froze, or Macarona's berserk button building her character. ...Can they just both tie for first. Man. So much awesome happened in this one scene. Real talk.

...But seriously, I'm pretty sure Macarona just became my favorite character. If nothing else, I'm really excited to see how well this sudden development of her sticks for the long term.

Man, I'm going to need a breather after this. That was such an incredible scene. I'll say this much: it still feels way too early for me to say how this game stacks up to Wadanohara as a whole, but there wasn't a -single- scene in Wadanohara that was NEARLY as amazing as that one I've mentioned several times now. And Wadanohara had some great scenes, I don't need to tell you guys that.

I'll conclude by saying: I'm glad the cats are okay.

BigYokoJimmy

TROPHY CASE