Obsidian
(Insert fancy ASCII art here)
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DOCUMENT INFO
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FAQ created by Steve Rusher
<< tern@rochester.rr.com >>
Release #1
DATE: 5/12/00
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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I. INTRO
II. PRELUDE
III. BUREAU REALM
IV. SPIDER REALM
V. BISMUTH REALM
VI. FINAL REALM
VII. EDITING/COPYRIGHTS
VIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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INTRO
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What is Obsidian? It's a poorly-marketed game by SegaSoft and Rocket
Science Games in the Myst/Riven category, but in my opinion, it's better
than both. The graphics aren't as realistic as Riven, but I think that the
animation sequences and stuff make Riven look stale. Spacewise, Obsidian
is twice the size of Riven because the CD-ROMs are non-hybrid. If you're
in to Myst and Riven-style games, find yourself a copy of this fast. You
will not regret it.
I wrote Tern's Unofficial Guide to Obsidian as well, which is at:
http://tern.damnsw.net/obsidian/
If you want a semi-graphical guide, go there. However, this will likely
suffice. Quite a bit was copied from that guide to save time and typing.
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DOCUMENT STRUCTURE
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Every puzzle may be divided in to up to 4 different segments:
HINT: A clue to how you're supposed to approach the problem
SOLUTION: How you're supposed to solve the puzzle
METHOD: A clue to how you're supposed to solve the problem
SPOILER: Step-by-step instructions as to how to solve it.
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PRELUDE
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You start off in a forest. There is only one way to go, forward. This
goes through the opening credits and title screen. In my opinion, this is
one of the best opening sequences I've ever seen. Eventually, you'll
reach a tent. Go inside. Unzip the bag on the right, and open the
laptop. Browse through the files, and I mean ALL OF THEM. Here's what
you should have picked up:
The team has created a project called "Ceres",
which is an experiment in nanobot technology. It will allow stuff like
converting water to gasolene, and instantaneous creation of anything. The
satellite which controls the whole deal has been in orbit for a while now.
Anyhow, both team members, Lilah (you) and Max, have been having bad dreams.
Lilah had a dream about a bureau where she was "walking on the walls" and the
harder she tried to get something done, the less that actually got done. Max
had a dream where there was a giant mechanical spider, was forced to fix
various parts of it, or rather the world around the spider, and when he was
finished, the spider reared back and attacked. At this, Max suggests adding a
hardware crossover switch to revert the Ceres project back to human control in
case it decides to make wrong decisions by itself.
Finally, a strange, black-glass structure (Obsidian?) is appearing outside the
campsite, growing each day. It has been thought that it has something to do
with the Ceres project...
Now, leave the tent, and you'll hear a noise from the distance. Go left
and investigate. You'll find the Obsidian structure with Max's hat on the
ground outside. You'll then get pulled in, go through a rather impressive
cutscene, and then you'll be in the Bureau Realm
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BUREAU REALM
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This is Lilah's dream...
The Bureau Chief will bust up his bridge, and of course, you're assigned to
fix it. Now, push the red button on the elevator to head down, then talk
to the VidBot for minor instructions... Obviously, one of the booths is
the bridge repair booth, but the names seem unreadable.
-* BRIDGE REPAIR *-
HINT: Try going all the way to the back. There's a door, and inside you
will get a clue as to how the names work...
SPOILER: The Bridge Repair booth is the second-to-last one on the left side
of the VidBot you talked to originally.
Now, turn around, and go to the right of the elevator you came in
through. You'll see a bunch of flattened out bookshelves. Keep going
forward, and you'll eventually be walking on the wall... Okay, head left,
go forward a bit, then up the ladder on your left. Go forward again, and
you'll wind up on the elevator. Push the button to head over to the
library. Here, you must retrieve the Standard Damage document. However,
if you look around, you can't find a document with such a label.
-* FINDING THE DOCUMENT *-
HINT: Try using the computers a bit... Check everything
SOLUTION: Have you tried the Cloud Ring? If you re-arrange the letters
(parts) to form Ground, you get a little animation... Obviously, to get
your document, you need to re-arrange the letters of Standard Damage...
METHOD: Keep browsing the computer menus. Use both computers, and don't be
afraid to use non-standard methods...
SPOILER: From the main menu, select option 4 (Play a Game), choose 3 (Word
Games), and play game 1 (WordMixer). Enter Standard Damage for the words,
enter any valid word (just use "stand" or something...) and it'll give you
the correct answer: "TRADESMAN"
Hunt out the Tradesman document (It's not that hard to find...) Now,
continue to the other end of the library and scale the wall to reach the
chandelier. Pull the lever to the right once, turn around, and go
forward. You'll recieve a few entry cards to the cubicle maze
-* CUBICLE MAZE *-
HINT: Look at the maze from above or examine the entry terminals. You
need a certain combination of cards to reach Pre-Approvals...
METHOD: Get 3 black cards...
SPOILER: Okay, you can use your manual to solve this, but if you don't want
to waste your time, here's another way:
,_._._.
|1|2|3|
>-+-+-<
|4|5|6|
>-+-+-<
|7|8|9|
`-^-^-'
|
`-- Entrance
Enter the following cells in this order:
6 3 6 3 6 3 2 3 2 3 2 1
Of course, if you feel up to it, it is also quite amusing to cruise the other
cubicles and entertain yourself to the bureaucratic VidBots who are willing to
offer you ridiculous surveys and highly bizarre results (what do YOU do with
YOUR ice cream?)
Anyhow, back to the chandelier. Head for Immediate Action.
Now, they would take action, but their clock is broken. Go around the back
and attempt to fix it.
-* CLOCK PUZZLE *-
HINT: Watch the moon phases. They're important...
METHOD: Try to get it so the moon hits its "new moon" phase when it would
normally be in the way.
SPOILER: Put the dials in the following positions:
Top: Point the dial at the second bolt from the top on the left side
Middle: Point the dial straight left
Bottom: Point the dial straight left
Now, of course you're not done... Turn around and head for the chandelier
and you'll be talked to by a rebel. Head to the chandelier, and throw the
level to the right until it jams and the bulb dims. The rebel will tell
you to look up the Orient Militia document.
-* GETTING THE DOCUMENT *-
SPOILER: "Limitation"
There's only one place left to go... Enter "9 3 4" in to the terminal on
the wall for a little visualization.
-* THE ALIGNMENT PUZZLE *-
METHOD: Try to envision where the Bureau Chief's office would be...
SPOILER: Put the red lines in the following positions:
Left: All the way down
Middle: 1/4-way from the bottom
Right: 1/4-way from the bottom
Okay, now you're presented with a giant rock... Yeah, you can move it.
This is a dream, after all. Depending on which way you point it, the exit
will be at different locations.
-* THE BALANCING ROCK *-
SPOILER: Make the peak face towards you
Now, go talk to the bureau chief through the hole in his cieling. "Come
back with your feet on the ground" Eh, hehehe.... Okay, time to rebel...
Go along the left side of the wall to the corner, and climb the fencing.
Now, you can't turn back, so just keep going until you reach the Bureau
Chief and are sent to the Spider Realm
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SPIDER REALM
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This is Max's dream...
Okay, lemme explain: There are 4 different places you can enter the
spider. Each area has a different puzzle to solve. Look around, and you
may also find a little skylift thing. You should consider finding it, the
animation sequence it provides is quite good.
When you start, the spider will put its foot down on a grate. Max is under
it, but don't worry, he's not getting out...
From the place you started:
Head left once, look right, and head up the right pylon to enter the Fire
Puzzle.
-* THE FIRE PUZZLE *-
HINT: Experiment a bit. Remember, this is a timing exercise...
METHOD: Your objective is to make it so that when you click the sun, the
lightning will strike each pole on the ground when it is touched by the
tree and lit up.
SPOILER: Sorry, no spoiler.
Now, turn around and go back. You'll be in a control room. Look down,
place the picture in the fire slot, wait a bit, turn around, and leave.
Go back to the main area.
Go right, forward, look left, and go up to enter the Wind Puzzle.
-* THE WIND PUZZLE *-
HINT: Look around, there's more to this puzzle than meets the eye.
SOLUTION: Look down, and enter the ball. Strange, but you can do it...
You'll encounter the real puzzle.
METHOD: Okay, each one of those lit-up tiles represents a pole that will
raise on impact. You want to CAPTURE the wind, not bounce it... Remember
that.
SPOILER: All 9 lit up tiles must have balls on them EXCEPT for the one in
the center. Then, shoot the tornado.
Back to the control room... Repeat the same procedure as you did after the
Fire Puzzle and go back to the main area. Look left, and go forward. The
lift I mentioned earlier is down the stairs to your left at the end of the
walkway. To your right is the Metal Puzzle.
-* THE METAL PUZZLE *-
HINT: Aight, this is actually pretty difficult. Keep going until you reach
a door at the end. Inside is a chemistry lab, where you must synthesize
your solution. To your right are a few videos, which you should watch.
SOLUTION: Okay, you must create a compound that when combined with the
green sample provided produces the other sample which is described on the
chart above the chemistry set.
METHOD: Okay, here are the laws of the chemlab:
1.) Red and blue don't mix
2.) If two chemicals both containing reactable components are mixed, the
lowest and highest value chemicals which can be swapped will be swapped.
SPOILER: Take the first red chemical on the rack and the third yellow one.
Mix, and take the result. Put it in the reaction chamber on the main
machine, then push the red button on the side of the hopper to start it up.
Go back to the control room, do the picture thing again, and return to the
main area. Turn right, go forward twice, and climb the pylon to enter the
Oil Puzzle.
Now, this one is actually a sequence of puzzles. You should do them in
order. First off, you'll see "038-1" written in the sand. Write that
down. Go forward to the coast, and you'll see some waves that are out of
sync. When you click on them, they move without any other sections
moving. Synchronize them. Okay, now go back to the entrance, turn
around, and go on top of the sand castle. Enter 038 and 1 in to the
collector, and push the button. Now, go back in front of the sand castle,
turn around and... Enter it! This isn't real, so you can do anything.
Look around for a place in which you can look out the window. Copy down
the little diagram on the side of the floating land mass, then look for a
spot on the large tube in the center of the tower containing a mixed up
pattern. Re-arrange it to form the diagram, and enter. You'll see oil at
the bottom, below the floating land mass, and if you look up, there's
apparently some in it as well. Now, go back.
-* THE OIL PUZZLE *-
HINT: Look around the tower for some way to locate the oil patch
SOLUTION: There's a machine with two knobs, which lets you retrieve the
coordinates of places in the puzzle...
METHOD: Go up as far as you can on the targetter. Look for the place you
saw the oil at...
SPOILER: The coordinates are 133-5. Enter that in the collector on top of
the castle to finish this area. Now, turn around and go back to the
control room.
CONTROL ROOM SPOILER: Ever done a dot-to-dot? Here, try this one:
.2 .4
.15 .6
.3
.1 .14 .12 .9 .7 .5
.11 .10
.13 .8
Congratulations! :p Turn around, and if you want to save a memoir,
save now, because when you leave, you'll go through what I consider the
most spectacular animation sequence in the game. At the end, you'll wind
up in the Bismuth Realm
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BISMUTH REALM
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This is a dream from a dreamer Ceres created...
Okay, head up the ramp to your left, and push the button. You'll be
presented with an airplane. I call it the "Dream Craft" Well, go
inside. It's all yours. However, the thing is broken in a few places.
Most importantly, the power source. When you enter, you'll see a latched
door. Enter it, and go forward. You'll see a little animation wheel,
which is out of sync. Click it to attempt to solve it.
-* ANIMATION WHEEL PUZZLE *-
HINT: Keep an eye on both wings, and make sure both of them animate
smoothly, not just one of them...
SPOILER:
There's an image at
http://tern.damnsw.net/obsidian/images/large/image19.jpg
There might also be one at GameFAQs.com
Now, turn around, and go to the cockpit. Look down, turn the key (duh)
and obey the computer. There are 5 destinations you can go to:
The Piazza
The Church of the Machine
The Statue
The Frame in the Sky (Unselectable)
The Junkyard (where you are now)
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THE PIAZZA
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This destination is non-essential, but important. To "trap inspiration",
corner it. By clicking some of the objects, you can remove them from the
field. Only one object may be removed at a time. If you click the object
the robot is behind, it'll flicker but won't be removed. When you corner
it, you'll be presented with a small animation sequence. If you go to the
back, you'll find a board which may further aid you...
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THE CHURCH OF THE MACHINE
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This place is a tribute to machinery. When you get there, go down to the
main room, and enter the spider. You need the Crossover Chip from here,
but it's too big, and it's blank.
-* PROGRAMMING THE SPIDER *-
HINT: Of all the places you can go, you need to visit each of the places
where data is entered on the chip once.
METHOD: Stumped? Take a look at the bottom area on the map... Look
familiar? Use it to your advantage.
SPOILER:
Legend: L = Left R = Right S = Straight U = U-Turn
Enter the following in to the program area:
L S U S R S L L L R
Now, take the crossover chip back to the ship, and insert it in to the chip
slot on the wall.
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THE STATUE
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The statue isn't just a statue... It's also an art gallery, showing pictures
from each realm. Impressive, actually. When you get out of the plane, turn
left, and go up the ramp. Turn right, and go all the way to the end of the
hall. Turn left, and you'll find the Dreamer working on a painting. Go up to
the machine on the left. There are several templates you can print out, but
each time the dreamer starts to paint it, he'll get about half way through,
and throw it out.
-* THE STATUE PUZZLE *-
HINT: Did you listen to all the audio recordings in the main gallery? I
believe they mentioned "a new beginning"
METHOD: Your objective is to make the canvas completely blank. Try to
make the pieces overlap each other completely.
SPOILER:
http://tern.damnsw.net/obsidian/images/large/image22.jpg
There is also a copy at GameFAQs.com
Now, go outside, and flip the knife switch to fill the Frame in the Sky. Go
back to your ship's cockpit. Instead of turning the key, pull the red
lever. The controls will transfer to the robot, who will select the Frame
in the Sky. Um, problem... You can't go there, right?
-* NON-REGULATION FLIGHT *-
HINT: After you flip the first switch, you'll hear a few tones... Remind
you at all of something in the Piazza?
METHOD: Yeah, this is the same as the Piazza puzzle. Check behind the
switch in the upper-right and you'll see a red light...
SPOILER: Okay, here's the switch order. If a coordinate has an "s" next
to it, it means that instead of flipping the switch, pull open the side
panel next to it.
D1 A3s D2 B3s C2 A3s C3 C4s B3 A3s B4
Now, the robot will turn in to Ceres, and you'll be transported to the
final realm.
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FINAL REALM
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This is a dream crafted by Ceres from the other ones...
Okay, face right, and then go forward until you reach Max. A spoiler for
the bridge puzzle would take way too long, but it's not too hard to figure
out.
Now, walk over to Max, look down, pick up the chemical container, and
throw it off the side. Max will be released, and go to hack the crossover
chip. Turn around, and return to Ceres, who is almost finished. Look left
for your final puzzle.
-* SWITCH PUZZLE *-
HINT: Experiment...
SOLUTION: There are 8 switches you can flip and 8 that appear to move when
you click them...
METHOD: Aight, when you click one of the 8 moving switches, the rest are
reset. This is a simple memorization task. When you're done, pull the
lever.
FINISHING OFF: When you turn back around, you have two options, each
leading to a different ending.
1.) If you pull the lever again, the Ceres program crashes, as does the
entire realm, and you return home.
2.) If you don't, Ceres' work will complete, and the world will be reset
to Ceres' personal specifications.
Congratulations! You won Obsidian!
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EDITING/COPYRIGHTS
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This document is (c)2000 Orbiter Productions. However, I am giving
permission to anyone who wishes to edit this document permission simply by
adding their name and e-mail address to the list below! You may include
this document on CD-ROMs and other file collections, as long as this file
is included as NO ADDITIONAL COST! That means that this document is free,
and if you charge extra, expect your *** on a platter!
EDITORS:
Steve Rusher <tern@rochester.rr.com>
Your Name Here <Your Email Here>
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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None, really. I did this on my own!
Quite a bit was copied from Tern's Unofficial Guide to Obsidian, WHICH I
WROTE IN THE FIRST PLACE, so don't go off screaming "plagiarism" because
it's 100% legal!
http://tern.damnsw.net/obsidian/
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GAMING SITEZ
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http://www.gamesdomain.co.uk/ - The best in gaming guides! No bulls**t!
http://www.cmgsccc.com/ - Got a Gameshark? Free renegade codez here!
http://www.gamespot.com/ - If a text walkthrough doesn't cut it, try here
Document size: 20K
- Orbiter Productions :: Better Living Through Concept
Cheers!