Labyrinth Switch Puzzle

Last thing I need for that achiev, and the last time I encountered it I tried a ton of click orders to the point where I said fuck it and skipped it, what's the pattern?

bump

I think the puzzle is random every time, I only found this guideline:

"

Goal: All pillars ("fonts") are "filled".

Strategy: Pick a font that isn't filled. Click the next one in a direction (e.g. clockwise). Repeat with the next non-filled one in that direction.

When there's only one non-filled one left, click on both adjacent fonts and apply the above strategy symmetrically in both directions.

Puzzles wit 8 connected switches are a kind of a staple in games, especially in old japanese rpgs. It is possible to just click randomly, but it can take a ton of clicks that way, once you solve it a few times you can just click at it until you notice a pattern you know how to deal with.

I don't have a pattern, I usually try to work it so I get to:

0 0 0 Where 0 is open and X is filled.
x . x
0 0 0

Then I can click the two open ones in the center to get everything filled. Sometimes I get it quick, and sometimes I can't remember if I want them open or filled.

The only puzzle that I found and solved was a multi switch one. There were about6 or 7. On a winding pathway. You had to switch them all in time for the door to open. There wasn't a straight path. Quick silver flamdash....and several tries... good luck

"

raics wrote:

I think the puzzle is random every time, I only found this guideline:

"

Goal: All pillars ("fonts") are "filled".

Strategy: Pick a font that isn't filled. Click the next one in a direction (e.g. clockwise). Repeat with the next non-filled one in that direction.

When there's only one non-filled one left, click on both adjacent fonts and apply the above strategy symmetrically in both directions.

Puzzles wit 8 connected switches are a kind of a staple in games, especially in old japanese rpgs. It is possible to just click randomly, but it can take a ton of clicks that way, once you solve it a few times you can just click at it until you notice a pattern you know how to deal with.

What does 'adjacent' mean in the above statement, if i get it down to a single font, and click a closed next to it, or adjacent, a bunch open up,..

The puzzle can be solved with a bit of logical thinking. Toggling a switch twice will return it to its original state. If you click a switch and then one next to it, the net result is that both clicked switches will remain unchanged, but the two outer adjacent switches will change state. Like this (C = clicked, uppercase = toggled):
X - c - c
x - # - X
x - x - x

Now we have a primitive that toggles two switches that are three switches apart. But the switches form a ring of eight and three does not divide eight, which means we can chain this primitive to change two switches at any distance:
X - c - c
x - # - x
X - c - c

C - C - c
c - # - x
x - c - c

But what if only one switch needs toggling? Just click that switch and now the adjacent two will need toggling but the original one doesn't. You can then apply the second pattern, and the net result is toggling a single switch:
x - c - c
C - # - x
x - c - c

If you get stuck on this puzzle trying the methods above and you have just a single column remaining, there's a formula to do it.


If we view the pillars as a set of bits, numbered P0 to P7 with P8 being P0 (because of the circular arrangement), we can define a single move as clicking a pillar and that will have the following effect:

m1 = 11100000
m2 = 01110000
...
m7 = 10000011
m8 is also m0 = 11000001


Then (calculations skipped) if you need to flip just a single pillar, you count that pillar as pillar 1 and use m1+m3+m4+m6+m7. (IE, you click that pillar, then the one two further down, then one further down, etc.)

This is:
111
00111
000111
00000111
10000011

If you add up each column (remembering that 1+1=0 when adding single bits), you get:

01000000
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If you have only two pillars that are incorrect and they're in the pattern 110 or 101, then click the center of the pattern to change it to a single incorrect column, then use the above.

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If you have only two pillars that are incorrect and they're spread out, use the principles laid out by other posters to "move" one of the pillars to the other, reducing to either the two-pillar case or the one-pillar case.