Post by @joel@fosstodon.org

I've only played a bit more than an hour so far, but I've managed to land my ship once properly and crash it a bunch of more times.
My very first expedition took me to the launch cannon orbiting Giant's Deep. I was actually looking for Gabbro on the planet itself, but got distracted by "Oooh shiny". As I didn't understand that I could dock my ship, I merely brought it close and went the rest of the way in my space suit. I guess the logs there are supposed to be cryptic, but together with what I learned from the Observatory back on Timber Hearth, I'm pretty sure that the Nomai were looking for the center of the universe — The Eye — with this probe launcher. And I'm very proud of myself, for figuring out that what you see when you wake up is the probe being launched. I only had to die twice to put it together. 😅
Speaking about dying... I said I didn't dock the ship, so i t drifted away quite a bit. When I tried to get back to it, I got distracted by another "Oooh what's that?" and got shot into nothing. My little guy ended up suffocating in the middle of nowhere, far away from anything and everything. 😬
On Giant's Deep I found a way into the statue workshop. And now I understand how the statues work and that they record memories. Well... I haven't figured out yet, why it affects my player character and why I can travel through time, back to the launch of the probe. But I'm sure that'll make sense eventually.
I'm taking a lot of notes, but I'm not sure yet if I have to? The ship log seems pretty well equipped to track interesting stuff.
Now let's see if I can find Gabbro already.

...

I think I just had a wild thought. Check my image descriptions to find it. I have an idea about how the memories get recorded for the statues.

Also... Who launched the probe, when all Nomai are supposed to be dead for aeons? 🤔

I explored some more, this time uncovering mining site 2B on Timber Hearth and finding an ominous warp travel Dark Bramble that seems to have swallowed the long missing Feldspar's harmonica.
I've managed to "survive" long enough twice (as in not killing myself by doing stupid shit). The second time I was on the twin planets and that's where it hit me that the sun is dying and that's the hard limit. It's beautiful... but scary. 😬
And the music is just mesmerizing. I bought the Soundtrack on a whim, but now that I listen to it, I'm happy that I got it.
I found a crashed Nomai ship next to a distress beacon and a quantum anomaly stone, so I have two new signals to track through the solar system.
I also landed in a giant volcano moon and on The Interloper. Not sure if there's anything to be done on Interloper, but the atmosphere is scary as shit. 😨
I learned first hand that you shouldn't fall into the core of Brittle Hollow. I found the white anomaly first, so I knew immediately where I went and that I wouldn't see my ship again. 😭
I also found Gabbro and a few more travelers on other planets, including lunar station.
I love flying around. Everything is very janky, but that feels just right for this duct taped together space vessel. 😅 And I've gotten pretty good at it.
Just at the end of my last run, I was exploring a Nomai temple on the usually quite sandy twin planet, but just when I was starting to translate the ancient text, the sun exploded.
I know that the Nomai built something here, some kind of research station, but I haven't figured out how to get into it yet.
I love this game already. 🤩

Okay, theory time!!!

Here's what I think, given the information I got so far.

• I'm now convinced, that my player avatar is acting as a camera for the Nomai memory statues. There's this one line, where a Nomai describes the cameras as eerie or something like that. It sounds innocent at first, but I don't think the rational and scientific Nomai would be bothered by a static camera object being attached around them. Very sure we're talking about living beings.
• The Nomai are actually dead. I was wondering if they were still around, but I don't think they just hang around invisibly. They wouldn't care for their memory statues to be broken apart and transported between planets.
• If we take that as true, it means the Nomai couldn't have launched the probe. Someone else must have done that.

Now here's a stretch, but Feldspar has been missing in action forever. Maybe he got stuck in the time loop and got so frustrated, that he launched the probe, triggering the end of the universe. Or he didn't know that would happen (unlikely if he's like me) and he was just curious where the probe would go.

This is the point where I should admit that I've listened to the Watch out for Fireballs episode about Outer Wilds. I promise that I can't remember anything that was said, but maybe my subconscious picked up on the ideas and is feeding them back to me.

Say or think what you will. For all intents and purposes I'm playing the game blind, because I have zero idea where to go, what to do and I'm 100% honest when I say that all these are just theories. They just feel surprisingly right to me. 🤔

I finally got to explore Brittle Hollow a bit and wouldn't you know... I was sucked into the black hole again. And as I was drifting along, I caught sight of a strange thing near the white hole: White Hole Station.
HOLY SHIT YOU CAN WARP!!!
And not only that, but you gain a microsecond when you do it. 🤔
Now I wonder where the other stations are. And I heard rumors about Sun Station, but I don't know if the Nomai ever built it.
I visited two of the crashed escape pods again and found a way into one of the twin planets. And there I'm currently stuck in a temple built for The Eye. Looks like a dead end to me. 😅
And I was wrong about the center of the universe. The Eye is a signal! Older than the universe!! 🤯
I'm slowly starting to unravel the timeline of the Nomai's project.

@joel

Today I decided to follow the duplicate signal of the probe I shot into the Dark Bramble seed on Timber Hearth. Unsurprisingly, it led me to Dark Bramble. Also unsurprisingly, this is where I found Feldspar just hanging out in a giant Anglerfish skeleton. I haven't seen any of these things alive and I really don't want to either. 😬
After having talked to him, Feldspar is off my list as the one who launches the Nomai probe. I have no more suspects. 😅
Dark Bramble is scary, confusing and hurts my brain. I'm very sure there's more to do here, maybe even find the Nomai vessel somewhere, but not right now.
I also did some more exploring on the Ash and Ember Twins. Sun Station confirmed!!!
Oh and I found the deep space satellite and via that the radio station back on Timber Hearth. And a suspicious unknown object that can only be seen from a certain angle. 🤔
And I also accidentally crashed into the satellite and took the space travel map offline. I couldn't stop laughing for a minute when I hit it and the message came up. 🤣

@joel
@jp
@theTangentSpace

Oh, I feel so smart now. I've been wondering how to get into the Tower of Quantum Knowledge, but I can just wait until the black hole at the core of Brittle Hollow sucks the Tower out into space and explore it then.
In other news, I found its compatriot, the Tower of Quantum Trials in the eye of the giant hurricane on Great Deep. That was really helpful. I love how the game slowly teaches you alternative uses for your starting equipment. It can't give you anything new except information, so... great trick.
I'm still looking for a way to get into the Southern Observatory on Brittle Hollow. There should be info to help me sink into Great Deep, but I keep missing jumps and plumetting into the black hole. 😅

@joel @jp @theTangentSpace

I tried to land on the Quantum Moon a few times, but I'm missing the final piece of the puzzle and I still haven't been in the Knowledge tower.
But, I did unfreeze and enter the Nomai ship that crashed on The Interloper and afterwards explored the icy depths of the comet. Freaky shit! Is this where the ghost matter comes from? I wonder what this is. Or is the comet maybe a leftover from the planet that the Dark Bramble exploded?
Funny thing, I only put together that the ship you recall to Ember Twin is the one stuck on the comet, because I had that ship marked as my next objective on the HUD. And suddenly it popped into existence right in front of me. 🤯
I finally found the Southern Observatory (hauntingly beautiful) and discovered how to sink below the strong current on Great Deep. Honestly.... I studied physics and it should have been obvious. When I saw the experiment, I immediately got it, even before my eyes registered that one of the hurricanes was rotating counter-clockwise. Still, a worthwhile trip, because the place really is beautiful.
But now I'm confronted with a barrier of electricity around Great Deep's core. I know I have to leverage the jellyfish somehow, but haven't figured out how yet. 🤔
Oh, oh, ooooh!!! And I learned how I can "fast travel" with the Quantum Stones. That is such a cool trick. 🤩

@joel @jp @theTangentSpace

Holy! What were they doing!?
I finally made it into the High Energy Lab on Ember Twin. I already figured out that the towers on Ash Twin warp you to different planets. One of them should warp to Sun Station too, but I haven't found it or it's broken... or it only works at a specific time? 🤔
But, but, but... the warps mess with time, right? And if you add energy, you get more time back. And a supernova is practically infinite energy. So... Is that how the time loop works? 22 minutes? If so... who triggered it?
Theoretically, there's a chance to withstand the supernova. Maybe I should just chill out in the High Energy lab? I'll have to do some digging and then see if I can survive. But... how do I get back then? 🤔

@joel @jp @theTangentSpace

I reproduced the time warp experiment. That is really neat. It's a videogame, so you can tell exactly how they did it, but the idea is still hella cool.
I had to fly to Ember Twin again though, because just when I discovered the little telekinetic ball thingy, the room filled with sand. 😅
I then flew over to Ash Twin and finally managed to fly through all the cacti to get to the Sun Station warp point. And then I died, because Sun Station is obviously the first one to go. Well, better luck next time. 🤣
I love this game so much. 🥰
This was made for me.

Edit: Gotta say, it was very cinematic, when I just translated "Warning, increased solar activity" on the Nomai pillar in the Sun Station and then everything ended. 😅

@joel @jp @theTangentSpace

There's still so much to discover. I'm like 100% sure that you'll laugh at me, but I just now discovered that the Interloper crashing into the Sun is what triggers the supernova. I had a hunch when I saw that green volatile stuff below the surface and when I checked the trajectory... yeah, it flies awfully close around the ever growing Sun.
I basically put that together when I made it to Sun Station and read that the station was built to fire something at the sun, but the experiment didn't work. Oh... And that means that the orbital probe launcher is not responsible for the end of the universe. But is the launch a coincidence? A call for help? From The Eye? 🤔
Next, I made another trip (well, a few...) into Dark Bramble. I tracked the final distress signal and not only did I find a bunch of dead Nomai, but I also found The Vessel ™️ !!!! I noticed the broken Warp Core and after exploring the Hanging City on Brittle Hollow, I have an idea of what I might be able to do. I just haven't found a way into the Black Hole Forge yet.
In other, unrelated news, I finally managed to land on the Quantum Moon! Yay!!! 🥳
I had the right idea from the start, but the picture I took with the probe wasn't good enough. I crashed the probe into the moon, instead of taking a picture from space. The last thing I tried was making my way to the north pole, but it seems blocked off, no matter which planet the moon is orbiting. Changing that is also a prime way of losing your ship, as I learned. 😅

@joel @jp @theTangentSpace

@paul @joel @irgndsondepp @jp @theTangentSpace

I agree. Slow down my friend.

If only because, once it’s over, it’s over (I know you’ve got the DLC but still) and enjoy the ride because you’ll never get to do it again for the first time, and everyone here will tell you they wish they could forget it all and start again.

Also don’t forget to tag me in your updates, I keep missing some. Maybe if you slow down I won’t 😝

BLOCKED™

I had another wild idea yesterday. What if the purpose of the probe is something else entirely? I used my little probe to travel back in... OH MY GOD! REAL TIME EPIPHANY!!
I'm gonna use the black hole inside Brittle Hollow to travel back in time when the universe explodes. And I guess bring a repaired Warp Core with me to repair the Vessel?
I'm just guessing and I don't need any reactions. Just trying to put the few puzzle pieces I have together.

But I got sidetracked. I was wondering if I am the "real" probe, just like I am a camera. 🤔
Jetting all through the solar system, looking at clues with "infinite" time. The orbital probe launcher shoots in a random direction every time (as designed), but with infinite time it will eventually find The Eye. Or is that up to me?

Also... Is there still a Nomai alive!!!??? I didn't pick up on this right away, but the Sun Station shuts down, because it hasn't noticed any signals of life onboard for 10 minutes. Whot??? Is there a hidden Nomai chilling out on Sun Station for eons? Or is the theory of the Nomai dying thousands of years ago just wrong and the timescale is much smaller?

People have very unsubtly pointed out that my theory with The Interloper crashing into the Sun isn't exactly what happens. I can't prove it now, but I actually got there myself and wanted to just sit down and carefully watch the Sun explode next. Maybe mess around a bit on the Quantum Moon first.

I also caught up to the probe launched at the start of the loop once, but there wasn't anything to do. A bit weird that it's not even an achievement, because it's pretty hard to do. You can't lock on, so you have to target it manually and then eventually match speeds with it. Oh and the autopilot also decides to take over once you're too far away from the Sun and tries to take you off course. That was actually something I did in one of my first runs. Maybe I missed something. 🤔

@joel @jp @theTangentSpace @Sobtanian

Who am I kidding? I can't let this game rest. I had a few minutes to spare, while waiting for something to deploy at work...so I jumped into the ship and crashed onto the Quantum Moon again. Well, I crashed for the first time, because I accidentally hit the tower on my descent and I was going waaaaay too fast. I broke the ship clean in half, but survived somehow. 😬
That gave me a chance to test a theory that I had yesterday. I already learned that I can move myself and the tower by switching off the light. That made it easy to get to the secret sixth location, but you can't get out, if the tower isn't on the north pole.

Now, the only thing telling me where north and south are...is that little globe thingy on my HUD when I'm wearing the space suit. The Quantum Moon weirdly does have a breathable atmosphere, so I was off to a good start. And indeed, I managed to land myself in a walled in copse that looks suspiciously like it might be the north pole. Only...how do I get the tower to stay in the same location on the moon, while moving the entire moon to the sixth location? I can't take pictures, because I don't have the suit. And if I wear the suit, I can't turn off the HUD and warp myself to the north pole. Hmmm... 🤔

And then, and then, and then!!! I finally figured out that I don't have to shove the whole damn ship into one of those red jellyfish things...I can swim into it in my space suit. I FOUND THE TRACKING MODULE!!!! I KNEW IT WAS AT THE BOTTOM!!! AND IT FOUND THE EYE!!!! I HAVE THE COORDINATES!!!! I CAN'T READ THEM!!!! That last one probably shouldn't sound so enthusiastic. 😅

I have a plan forming in my mind, but I want to investigate the supernova first.

But here's the idea that's growing in my head.

1. Survive the supernova (this is the tricky part).
2. Travel back in time (maybe this is the way to survive it in the first place? Just hit that black hole at exactly the right time?)
3. Enter coordinates in the still working (!!!) Orbital Launch Cannon. (I should check first if there's a way to do that. Maybe that only works when the Canon isn't broken yet.)
4. Shoot myself to where The Eye signal is coming from.

This is so exciting!!! I can't wait. 🤩

I also still haven't found the exact location of the Ash Twin Project. It's obviously hidden somewhere deep inside Ash Twin, but I haven't found a way in yet. I'm sure there's something important there that I'm still missing. I've been on Ash Twin when it's almost bare, but I was probably too distracted by the towers until now.

@joel @jp @theTangentSpace @Sobtanian

I can't stop thinking about Outer Wilds.
I did watch the Sun explode two times now, but I'm not sure of what I saw. I think Brittle Hollow started glowing shortly after the explosion, which must be the black hole being charged with the insane energy of a supernova. I tried getting my ship through on a second try, but it's harder than I thought. And being very close, I couldn't see that glow again, so I'm not sure if I just imagined it.

I did however notice that Interloper picks up the white hole and drags it across the solar system for a bit. I expected the white hole to crash into the sun, but I think it gets caught by Dark Bramble instead.

I'll have to check again, but to me it looked exactly like Interloper crashed into the sun. I thought my theory was wrong. 🤔
Maybe I need to land there and just wait it out. I mostly observed it from farther away and on the map. I missed the exact moment when Interloper disappears, so maybe I missed something else...

@joel @jp @theTangentSpace @Sobtanian

@joel Pretty good, I think?
I still haven't visited the sixth location of the Quantum Moon, the Ash Twins Project is still a big questionmark, as is Black Hole Forge and the launch module of the Orbital Launch Cannon.

There's an asterisk next to The Vessel, but I think that's because I was missing an energy source to power it.
I looked everywhere until I ran out of fuel and air and couldn't find anything I missed when I was there. I even flew around it, just to make sure I didn't miss any other points of entry. But maybe I should double-check. 🤔
I was in the bridge, where I saw the broken warp core and I definitely went above to the communications board and below to where the signal of the Eye is shown.

@jp @theTangentSpace @Sobtanian

I'm sure I should habe discovered this pretty soon, but I just now fell through a geyser back on Timber Hearth. Nothing much to discover there, apart from the fact that the Nomai were there when Hearthians crawled from the sea. That is a huge thing, but it doesn't immediately help me with what I want to do.

I feel like I'm missing something for the Quantum Moon. I had the idea of leaving a probe outside and shooting pictures with it. It does some interesting things, but I haven't seen a way for it to help me reach the north pole.

Oh... I forgot, but I wanted to try and see if I could travel together with my ship. 🤔

There's another Quantum Stone on Timber Hearth, next to a Quantum Poem on a tree. A note tells me that all quantum fragments should teach me something, but this is the one I haven't learned anything from. The poem jumbles around, but that came much later than the Nomai. I was hoping that there would be a hint down in the geyser, but nope...

I also went through the Quantum Trial Tower again, which reminded me of things that "never naturally meet". 🤔

Sadly I have to put the game down for today. But maybe I'll have a sudden spark of inspiration later.

@joel @jp @theTangentSpace @Sobtanian

Black Hole Forge, baby!!! 😎
I noticed the warp pad a while back, but somehow didn't put it together. Maybe I just never used the connected warp tower on Ash Twin. Anyway, I made it to and into the forge (yes, I was clever enough to raise it first).
That leaves me with the Quantum Moon to explore and figuring out a way into the Ash Twin project. This is where the warp core is that I want for the Nomai ship.
I also still haven't managed the black hole time jump. Maybe the window is tighter than I think. This time I didn't have my ship, so I jumped right after the sun exploded... which gave me a front row seat at the edge of the solar system to witness its demise, before I got swept away. I am 100% certain that this works somehow. It has to!!! I'll try it again, with ship, but try to hit the exact time when the supernova sweeps across Brittle Hollow.
Wait a minute... The Ash Twin Project is fully sealed off right? Do I have to warp there? From where? Is there a warp tower on Ash Twin that will get me into Ash Twin? I thought I tried all towers, but maybe I missed one. Or another one, as apparently I didn't get the Black Hole Forge one either.

@joel @jp @theTangentSpace @Sobtanian