SoulStorm ARG

[Manco]

Where is the third bit of MC? I got 1:11 and 1:49?

It’s around 0:13.

EDIT:

Someone has edited the wiki page with the following:

The audio file has hidden morse codes scattered through it in different time marks, as follows:

00:15, left audio channel -> . - (translated: ET)
00:15, right audio channel -> . --. (translated: EG)
01:11, both channels -> . -.. (translated: ED)
01:48, both channels -> - . (translated: TE)
The four codes translated, in order and together, spell: "ETEGEDTE", if we consider the left audio channel comes first, and "EGETEDTE", if we consider the right audio channel comes first.

I’m currently listening to the file again and it does seem to match up, but I have no idea how these letters are useful. They’re not an anagram, and nothing turns up when they’re run through the cipher.

[Dank_Meme]

Just got the same thing as Manco. i just refreshed the page a number of times. I dont think that it is random. also i forgot to count how many times i refreshed for it

Edit: just did http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/ed/ and a bunch of random letter came up instead of the 404

[Varrok]

Edit: just did http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/ed/ and a bunch of random letter came up instead of the 404

Nice find!

[FennecFyre]

Picking through that page for normal letters, gimme a moment...

[Moot]

Just got the same thing as Manco. i just refreshed the page a number of times. I dont think that it is random. also i forgot to count how many times i refreshed for it

Edit: just did http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/ed/ and a bunch of random letter came up instead of the 404

I had tried that too earlier, I entirely thought it was simply an error. We could look at it, but I don't think it's apart of the ARG.

I just got back from taking a break, and I'm still thoroughly stumped on what to do from here.. Manco, I also double checked the MC, and it's all correct. I even tried combining them in certain ways, and didn't get anything noteworthy. Only ED has shown any significance..

Any ideas where to go from here?

Edit: If that ED page is anything, I'll lose my mind.

Edit 2: I feel really silly for not sharing that page now. Rip, I was certainly wrong!

[FennecFyre]

So the normal letters I could find in that were:

icanhearyoujustitsfaitbuticahyou

It starts out making sense, but then it gets a little wonky. I'm at work, someone wanna take a closer look at it for me?

E: Or maybe it's supposed to represent a signal fading out : o

How in the absolute fuck am I getting sympathetic for a nonexistent unknown entity? I just wanna help themmmm

[Manco]

So the normal letters I could find in that were:

icanhearyoujustitsfaitbuticahyou

It starts out making sense, but then it gets a little wonky. I'm at work, someone wanna take a closer look at it for me?

E: Or maybe it's supposed to represent a signal fading out : o

Can confirm I got the same thing.

Are the missing letters significant perhaps?

n n ear

[FennecFyre]

TFW I'm somehow contributing despite having no skill with puzzles.

http://www.oddworld.com/soulstorm/nnear/ is just another 404 page, but I don't think we've hit a dead end yet...

[hakansson20]

I did some programming and made it print every lower case, upper case and spaces and got this answer.
i cn her you j ust its fit but i c h you

I can hear you just it's faint but i can help you ??

edit: failed a bit, missing the a's and z's
i can hear you j ust its fait but i ca h you

[Manco]

If you leave in spaces and standard punctuation (,.'), you get:

i*_ca�n_hear_you,_j*�ust._it's_fait�,_b�u�t_�i_ca_h��**_�you.

(standard spaces replaced with _ since vbulletin doesn’t like double-spacing)

Note the extra asterisks, which look like spaces in plaintext but find and replace doesn’t recognize them as a standard space.

[FennecFyre]

More morse, maybe? With a letter standing in for a dot? I dunno, though.

[Manco]

It’s possible those are just extra junk characters that happen to render as spaces. My browser highlights them with red dots when viewing the page source, which I think is it trying to tell me “hey this looks like a space but it isn’t really”.

I mainly wanted to point out the punctuation matches as well as the alphanumerics, but it caught my eye.

[Dank_Meme]

got a new response.

ICANHEARYOUJUSTITSFAINTBUTICANHELPYOU gave me
*** THERE'S AN ECHO - BUT I CAN HEAR YOU ***
not encoded or backwards. Maybe they're in a cave or deep pit

Edit: NVM

[Manco]

No, that’s a generic response.

[FennecFyre]

got a new response.

ICANHEARYOUJUSTITSFAINTBUTICANHELPYOU gave me
*** THERE'S AN ECHO - BUT I CAN HEAR YOU ***
not encoded or backwards. Maybe they're in a cave or deep pit

That's a generic answer, sorry. Good try, though.

E: Manco ninja'd me

[Babiroussa]

it looks like this when i inspect the source code in my browser :
i̠̞̹̺ c̴͙̙̰̬͙a͍̭n̘͚̜͖̻͔ ̺̮h҉̦̖̜͙e̶͓a̟̜̖̕r̶͓ ̩̹ͅy͜o̹̰̟͔u̢͉̼,̦͕͉͉͎̕ ̞̞j̗̼̮̠̥̥͍us̗t̩̺.̻̗ ͕̞̳̹̭̀ͅi̛t̰̯̙̣͖̟̙'̪̪̞̦̳̩s̕ ̩̬̗͖̻̖̀f̴̙͉͎̯̺a̫iṇ͚̞͢t̵͚̬͇̰͍̼ͅ,̬͕̹̖̩̮͜ͅ ̺͔͎͉̺̱b̸̝̰̬u̻͍̲̕t̪̼̮̣̫ ̮͕͎͍͡i̮̱͙ ͎̲̤̯c̷̺͓a̜̪̺ṉ̻̲̦̲̼̻͘ ̧̳̗̮̘̦͔h͏̪͎̬͔͎͍̗ȩ̤̞͖̬̘͕Ã*̺̭̭̼ŗ͈̳̠̤̳̗ ͏y̲͈̭̘̰͔͞o̢̗̳̘u͔̫͚͉.̩̼̠


e: they used that way to communicate before, i don't remember where
on twitter i think

[SgabbitGabbiar]

there's also this :

@Wariopunk25 happy birthday, Chris, thanks for all your support. Here, have a sp__________<BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ> *hello?*

— Oddworld Inhabitants (@OddworldInc) 23 marzo 2016

@zulag @Wariopunk25 // trying // t̀͏h̛͟ì̡s̕͟ ̕i͏̴̷s͏̀͟ń̛'͠͞t̴̷ ̨̧͢m͝y̸ ̴-̸͠ ̨̕wa̧҉̶it̛͡.҉́.̶̶̀.͘͞

— Oddworld Inhabitants (@OddworldInc) 23 marzo 2016

[Xavier]

Wiki page update, nice job guys!
http://oddworld.wikia.com/wiki/Soulstorm_ARG

[Manco]

Since we keep getting false positives on the generic message box responses, I’ve started adding them to the wiki page – please refer to it before reporting a new response.

it looks like this when i inspect the source code in my browser :
i̠̞̹̺ c̴͙̙̰̬͙a͍̭n̘͚̜͖̻͔ ̺̮h҉̦̖̜͙e̶͓a̟̜̖̕r̶͓ ̩̹ͅy͜o̹̰̟͔u̢͉̼,̦͕͉͉͎̕ ̞̞j̗̼̮̠̥̥͍us̗t̩̺.̻̗ ͕̞̳̹̭̀ͅi̛t̰̯̙̣͖̟̙'̪̪̞̦̳̩s̕ ̩̬̗͖̻̖̀f̴̙͉͎̯̺a̫iṇ͚̞͢t̵͚̬͇̰͍̼ͅ,̬͕̹̖̩̮͜ͅ ̺͔͎͉̺̱b̸̝̰̬u̻͍̲̕t̪̼̮̣̫ ̮͕͎͍͡i̮̱͙ ͎̲̤̯c̷̺͓a̜̪̺ṉ̻̲̦̲̼̻͘ ̧̳̗̮̘̦͔h͏̪͎̬͔͎͍̗ȩ̤̞͖̬̘͕Ã*̺̭̭̼ŗ͈̳̠̤̳̗ ͏y̲͈̭̘̰͔͞o̢̗̳̘u͔̫͚͉.̩̼̠


e: they used that way to communicate before, i don't remember where
on twitter i think

z̘̭̞a̹̖̝̜̺lg̯̠͓͇̪͉̰o̥͇͉̝̜̤,͈͇̠͚̲̰̼͞ ̧̟̜͓͖̟h̥͙̗e̩̤͎͇̩̼ ̸̤̲̱͎͎c͍͜o͙m̙̣̠̼̘͓ẹ̻s͏͎͔̼͚͚

Seriously though, good catch. That must only render like that in certain browsers, which are you using?

[FennecFyre]

I'm noticing that error/negative messages are coming up a lot even when using phrases proven to give a response. Is that happening to others too?

[Babiroussa]

I can see it in chrome

[Manco]

I can see it in chrome

I figured it out, you have to set your browser’s text encoding to UTF-8 (View > Encoding).

[Moot]

I figured it out, you have to set your browser’s text encoding to UTF-8 (View > Encoding).

How do you do that? Might be a good idea to have that set!

[FennecFyre]

I wonder if someone at OWI is reading this and laughing at us because we're too dumb to pick up on the next clue, or panicking because we're solving this thing faster than they can put up the next section.

[grimGadabout]

I'm noticing that error/negative messages are coming up a lot even when using phrases proven to give a response. Is that happening to others too?

I mentioned it earlier because it seemed to be coming up every other message.

[Moot]

I wonder if someone at OWI is reading this and laughing at us because we're too dumb to pick up on the next clue, or panicking because we're solving this thing faster than they can put up the next section.

I hope so. That'd be great.

[Manco]

So, what’s the next step? Can we glean any new info out of this new message? Are there any more secrets hidden in 0451.jpg or lsot.mp3? Or are we now waiting for more clues to be added?

[Moot]

So, what’s the next step? Can we glean any new info out of this new message? Are there any more secrets hidden in 0451.jpg or lsot.mp3? Or are we now waiting for more clues to be added?

This is the only thing which catches my eye.



Not really sure what it correlates to though.. Does 356 hold any significance?

[grimGadabout]

Far too many video game characters were harmed extremely badly in the making of this experience. In a sane world this would never have happened. We're sorry.


They have this in the code of the main page and it keeps making me chuckle.

[kjjcarpenter]

Great job so far, guys. I've been following attentively from the shadows.

I rewatched all of the old cutscenes for keywords or phrases to enter into the form, and I typed in "MOMMA FLABBY"—the graffiti written on the wall in the execution room in RuptureFarms—and I got this response:

E*NN AVFR GBHL *UAR **B-NP *HR PEOR *' GUU

I used the cipher to translate it:

R*AA NISE TOUY *HNE **O-AC *UE CRBE *' THH

It's probably nothing, but I couldn't find an anagram in there, so I thought I'd add to the hunt in some way.


Keep up the great work!