Obsidian - Part 1 by SegaSoft and Rocket Science Software Solution copyright by Mike Marcelais, February 23, 1997 Obsidian is a basically another Myst-like game. The game puts you in a very strange but hauntingly familiar setting, gives you puzzles which are tightly integrated into the storyline and make perfect sense, but you are given no information as to the objective of each puzzle nor any rules about how the puzzle works. You are expected to figure out not only the solution, but the objective and the rules. And, as the game warns, your rules do not apply. The bad news about this Myst-clone is that it has the same problem that Myst does. There is very little replayability since the wonder and mystery of the world is gone so once you get through the game once, that's it. And the game is short. About as short as Myst is, despite being on 5 CDs. I guess I'll just have to wait for Rivan (Myst II) to come out. I've broken this solution up into pieces. Parts of the game "between" specific puzzles will be a narrative like this, describing what is going on and where in the game you are. The puzzles themselves will be broken into three sections -- the objective, the rules, and the solution. The objective will tell you what you are trying to accomplish at this location in the game. The rules will tell you how the puzzle operates. The solution will (naturally) give everything away. Each section will also be presented in a series of hints, ranging from very cryptic to plain english. To avoid seeing too much of a puzzle solution, you might want to set your browser's window height to be about five text lines or so. Disclaimer: No outside sources of help were used to complete this solution. Only the manual and my experiences playing the game myself. Also, there is a lot to see in this game. This solution just covers the puzzles and the essentials. For the full game experience, you should explore the scenes. Table of Contents Introduction The Pacific Northwest The Bureau The Breakout Game Cloud Ring Getting the bridge repair document Getting to the Pre-approval office Starting the clocks The Select-a-phone The balancing rock The Spider Air Earth/Iron Fire/Energy Water/Oil Completion Dreamland Flying Bird The Statue The Piazza The Church of the Machine Paradise The Path To Max Keypad The Pacific Northwest You start in the forests of the Olympic Peninsula; a beautiful spot located in the Pacific Northwest just west of Seattle, Washington. I live in Seattle (or just out side of it anyway) and it is a very nice place to be. The point of this first area is not to sightsee. This is a puzzle free, danger free area that gives you the chance to familiarize yourself with Obsidian's controls. I think it is a great idea. Anyway, you're walking through the forest, watching the credits swim through your vision when you see this large growth thing on the top of a mountain. Wicked. Eventually you get to your tent. Inside the tent is a personal data pad. It is hidden inside the right sleeping bag. Open it up and watch the video clips. Using the PDA is much like using a web browser: The up and down buttons on the left take to the next and previous pages; the mail button takes you to your mailbox; the home button takes you to the main menu; and the power button turns the data pad on or off. To view a clip or open a folder, just click on the folder. When you are viewing a clip, you can get back to the previous area by clicking on the symbol in the corner. The game forces you to watch all of the clips in the mail, projects, and journal sections of the PDA. (The other two are not available because of network problems.) They do contain vital clues, but if you've been through the intro before, you probably don't want to waste time watching them again. It is enough to start a clip and then end it immediately. Doing this, you should be able to breeze through all of the sections in about a minute. Now, exit the tent and head down the path again. You should hear a roar and a loud scream. (If you don't, then this means that you haven't seen everything in the PDA yet.) Head down to the Obsidian structure. You're standing directly in front of it now, looking at your reflection. After a moment, the front wall will break away and you'll be sucked in. You'll see this scene with all of these little bots making tiles which eventually grow into a large room. The Bureau of Administration You start off in an elevator, looking out over the world. The first thing you should do is look down, push the elevator button, get out, and head for the information desk. You probably have noticed that the lettering is very strange. Well, each letter is just rotated 180 degrees. You can look behind the red door to your right for a demonstration. It isn't really necessary. Now to check out the booths. Each booth on this level is harmless and has some interesting dialogue. I suggest you check them all out. The booths (in order entering the right area first) are "Hints", "Sources", "Travel", "Productivity", "Operations", "Mediation", "Bridge Repair", "Reception", "Bureau Hygiene", and "Rebel Control". And that leads to our first puzzle... Puzzle: Breakout The Objective Clear all of the bricks from the screen. The Rules You control the paddle in the middle of the screen by dragging it up or down. Releasing the mouse button will pause the game. When the red ball hits a red brick on the right of the screen, it vanishes. When the green ball hits a green brick on the left side of the screen, it vanishes. If the ball hits a brick on the "wrong" side, it changes color to the color of the ball. Hitting the brick with the "right" ball, will change it back. Hitting it with the "wrong" ball again will end the game. When you hit the ball with the paddle, it bounces off. The angle is steeper the closer to the end of the paddle. The Solution There is no perfect solution. Ideally, you should try to keep each ball on its own side of the playing area. When you clear one screen, you get another. The balls move faster in subsequent waves. The game just keeps going on forever, there is no end. Now, head for the Bridge Repair booth. There is no puzzle here, but one is presented. You are told that to fix the bridge, you need to get a document filed under Standard Damage and get it pre-approved. Sounds simple, eh? To get to the document area, head back to the information deck, but turn around. Head down the right ladder. When you get to the base of the ladder, everything changes orientation. Weird. Now head up the other ladder. Notice that because there wasn't a junction at the bottom that you didn't rotate? So now you are back at the information deck, but now the deck is on the wall. Get into the elevator and hit the button. You are now in the filing area. You need to find the document. Before you look, there are other things to do. Head to the computer console on the right side. Look, a message from Max! But it goes away all too quickly. Oh well. You can poke around the menu choices but eventually you will want to choose the "Cloud Ring" choice from the menu. A doorway opens up and you can walk through to the cloud puzzle. Puzzle: Cloud Ring The Objective Spell a word at the bottom of the screen. The Rules Each section of the cloud and the ring can be dragged to the bottom of the screen and placed in one of the six slots. The sections of the cloud spell "cloud" and the sections of the ring spell "ring". You are trying to spell a six letter word at the bottom of the screen using the letters in "cloud" and "ring" The Solution Did you notice any games in the computer that might help? There is one game in the Word Games area called WordMixer which takes two words and gives you the longest word which can be made from those two words. Maybe you should try playing the game with "Cloud" and "Ring" Also, notice that the letters which spell cloud are shaped like a cloud and the letters which spell ring are shaped like a ring? What is the area you are putting the letters into look like? The ground. Which is also the word you are trying to spell. When you have spelled the word "ground" head back out. Now head over to the console again, because you still have to find the document. Puzzle: Finding the Standard Damage Document The Objective Find the bridge repair document filed under standard damage. The Rules Each of the documents is filed in a drawer alphabetically. Just use the guides on the isles, the guides on the drawers, and the rolodex-like-device inside each drawer to locate the document. The Solution As you may have noticed, the document is not filed under either standard or damage. In fact, all of the filing words are one word long. How do you file something under two words? Remember the cloud puzzle? Try playing the game using "standard" and "damage". You get back "tradesman". The document is here. Go and retrieve it. Now head up the junction to the light (the original ceiling). Get up on the platform and pull the lever to the right once. This rotates the structure so that when you get off you'll be on the wall side with the cubicles. Head towards them. Puzzle: Getting to the Office of Pre-Approvals The Objective Get to the office of pre-approvals located in the far-left corner of the cubical maze. The Rules To go through any of the doors requires colored cards. There is a lock on each door. The color stripes on the top of the device indicate the cards that you need to enter. The color stripes on the bottom indicate the cards that you will get back. Exiting the office area results in the loss of all cards. To enter the Pre-Approval area in the corner, you need three black cards. You start with two blue, two yellow, and two red cards. The Solution The office map looks like this: -KKK>-XXXXX XXXXX-B>YR--XXXXX-->out XXXXX-B-XXXXX-BY>R--XXXXX-YR>BB-XXXXX-->out out<--XXXXX-KYY-XXXXX-B>YR--XXXXX-BR>YY-XXXXX-->out out<--XXXXX-YYYY means you insert two blue cards and get back two yellow cards. B = Blue, Y = Yellow, R = Red, K = Black Notice the upper right corner of the maze. You can go north and then south, netting a blue card in the process. From the corner, you can also go left then right to convert two blue cards into a black and a red card. To solve the puzzle, get your cards and head for the middle entrance on the right side. Enter here (BBBBYR are the cards you have), head north (BBBYYRR), south (BBBBBYR), north (BBBBYYRR), south (BBBBBBYR), north (BBBBBYYRR), west (KBBBBYRR), east (KBBBYYRRR), west (KKBBYRRR), east (KKBYYRRRR), west (KKKYRRR), west (YRRR) and you're there! Once here, you get the form stamped and you can easily exit out the side door. Now, head back to the light fixture and turn it twice (either direction) and head down the ramp to the office of immediate action. Unfortunately, he won't help you since his clocks aren't running. You'll just have to fix them. Head around behind him. ... We'll do this next issue when the solution continues. - o -