SoulStorm ARG

[Connell]

Case closed. Cheers Wil!

[ndvr]

Actually, Ed's response to 8291 is, as Connell said, is

*** OH, YOU CAN STILL HEAR ME? GREAT! ***
so it isn't a generic but a specific to "8291" one.
Among other current responses are

FIRE - "*** closer ***";
BREW - *** --shiver-- ***.

Also, according to
http://oddworld.wikia.com/wiki/Soulstorm_ARG
there was once /soulstorm/ed/abeface1.mp4 file, which decoded to
"I CAN HELP YOU KNOW THE DATE". There's currently no use to this phrase.

And now we got Abe's face image... perhaps there's connection?

Also, looking in second Abe's eye, looks like there's a lot of glukkons, or mudokons, something like Paramonia/Scrabania temple to the right and something like tall building or net or something to the left...

Oh, and I don't know if it has any meaning or something, but on Soulstorm site in source code link to the CSS file adds random, most of the time 3-digit, but sometimes 2-digit number as POST-parameter after every reload

link href="css/stylei.css?random=552" rel="stylesheet"
after reload:
link href="css/stylei.css?random=159" rel="stylesheet"
and then again:
link href="css/stylei.css?random=581" rel="stylesheet"
etc.

[EJ Prime]

The same " :, " Symbol in both eyes
Too odd to be a coincidence

[Connell]

Actually, Ed's response to 8291 is, as Connell said, is

*** OH, YOU CAN STILL HEAR ME? GREAT! ***
so it isn't a generic but a specific to "8291" one.

I had a hunch that it was specific, but it also threw out a few other responses we knew about previously, and being on mobile I didn't have enough time to verify. Thanks for clarifying.

[seniormeatbox]

8291
1982? No.
Day 12/mm/1998? Day 21/mm/1998? Anything release on either of those?
They really thought this through
EDIT: Keep in mind, the bad ending text is still in the websites HTML, so it probably still means something

[ndvr]

the bad ending text

That's not bad ending text, that's text from cutscene right before good/bad ending cutscenes, depending on player's actions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT0fN74Gosc
at 3:25

[ndvr]

So, as always - I dunno if any of it have any relation to current puzzle, but...

At video, which I linked in previous post to the New'n'Tasty ending, during Abe's "Well, I rescued mudokons, but who's gonna rescue me?!" phrase there's a "Momma Flabby" image on wall.
So I google'd it and found Rupture Farms "catalog" at Oddworldlibrary.net

http://oddworldlibrary.net/archives/...log.shtml#img1
There's this "Momma Flabby Line", with m2999
And when you click it, it opens image
http://oddworldlibrary.net/archives/...sets/img1.html
with item#00821

Wonder if it has any use...

[Acaeris]

Oh, and I don't know if it has any meaning or something, but on Soulstorm site in source code link to the CSS file adds random, most of the time 3-digit, but sometimes 2-digit number as POST-parameter after every reload

link href="css/stylei.css?random=552" rel="stylesheet"
after reload:
link href="css/stylei.css?random=159" rel="stylesheet"
and then again:
link href="css/stylei.css?random=581" rel="stylesheet"
etc.

They are probably just using a fairly common technique to prevent the browser from caching CSS files as they are updating them fairly often as more stuff gets shown off.

[Silver angel]

Guyes, we reached 45k on facebook! But the piece is not open yet.

[Varrok]

They betrayed us!

[Connell]

Probably have to wait for Ed to get back in the office on Monday

... Never mind, it's unlocked! SSBR... Each piece is starting to sound more and more like it stands for something... Soulstorm Brew?

[Varrok]

Okay. So they didn't betray us after all.

So... the last 2 puzzles... Do we have any leads on them? Something we haven't figured out yet?

[Pirfsich]

New tweet:

More friends. Organise. Energise.

— ed (@edmudokon) 22. Mai 2016

[Connell]

Very vague tweet from Ed. Possibly just referencing the completion of the Facebook task. Sounds like he wants us to build an army or something! My bets is we'll see the next puzzle piece begin within this week.

[Silver angel]

I wanted to do update , but I'm late for a minute.

[Gunnr]

Just checking in.
Hm, so it looks like more Ed wants followers, retweets; spread the hype?

Also, organise what I wonder?

[UnderTheSun]

Probably have to wait for Ed to get back in the office on Monday

... Never mind, it's unlocked! SSBR... Each piece is starting to sound more and more like it stands for something... Soulstorm Brew?

Just checking in.
Hm, so it looks like more Ed wants followers, retweets; spread the hype?

Also, organise what I wonder?

SSBR... Organizing...

Soulstorm Brew Resistance? Rebellion? If we have Ed, surely that implies Abe's not alone in the world against the brew?

[Guineapiglet]

Probably have to wait for Ed to get back in the office on Monday

... Never mind, it's unlocked! SSBR... Each piece is starting to sound more and more like it stands for something... Soulstorm Brew?

C4GD RDHG SSBR SCRD 3STY DDTH - XGMA -

We've looked at these before but I'm looking at them again:

"Caged" "??Roadhog???" "Soulstorm Brew" "Scared/sacred" "Thirsty/Tasty" "Date (dd) + ordinal number (th)" "???"

---

Is Ed telling us, the 45k friends he just got, to organise and energise?

[Gunnr]

C4GD RDHG SSBR SCRD 3STY DDTH - XGMA -

We've looked at these before but I'm looking at them again:

"Caged" "??Roadhog???" "Soulstorm Brew" "Scared/sacred" "Thirsty/Tasty" "Date (dd) + ordinal number (th)" "???"

---

DDTH: Dodge Death? Double Death?

Maybe the X in XGMA is 10, the Roman numeral? (XGMA is also the name of a machinery company for bulldozers and such but that's most likely coincidence, heh)

It does look like these are supposed to sound like words but could be something else. Maybe line them up together to see if there's anything to note?

[cleanshirtuk]

Just something to note - oddworld.com/soulstorm/8291 takes you to a forum page for 'Games in Development'. I thought before it took you to a posted article? In fact any other number I've tried does the same. Probably nothing.

[Connell]

I just tried typing in a few things on the chat box, and I can confirm 8291 returns both:

*** OH, YOU CAN STILL HEAR ME? GREAT! ***
*** DON'T BELIEVE THEIR LIES ***

I believe they are specific to 8291.

I also typed in 401, which gave these 5 (I believe) new generic phrases:

(EDIT: They're definitely new generic ones as typing in "cheesepuff" also returned them)

*** WE'RE ALMOST THERE - DON'T GIVE UP ***
*** THEY CAN HEAR ME, I NEED TO HIDE ***
*** I CAN'T STOP ***
*** THEY'RE COMING FOR ME, THIS CAN'T LAST FOREVER ***

And most interestingly;

*** I CAN'T TALK - YOU NEED TO LOOK CLOSER ***

From these responses I think we can assume we won't be hearing from Ed for a while, he has to stay low, and the clue to the next part of the puzzle lies within the face picture. We need to look closer.

Furthermore, "FIRE" returns:

*** CLOSER ***

Amongst other generics. Closer is specific to this response though. Anyone got a magnifying glass?!

Just something to note - oddworld.com/soulstorm/8291 takes you to a forum page for 'Games in Development'. I thought before it took you to a posted article? In fact any other number I've tried does the same. Probably nothing.

I'm not sure if anyone had actually tested where that URL leads, but most of the time it goes straight to random pages of the OWI website. Clues are more likely to be URL's that end with file extensions. Not always though, so always worth checking it out.


EDIT: I'm currently examining the face photo zoomed at 8291% to see if there's anything hidden in the pixels. An absolute long shot but I feel the answer could be somewhere along those lines. Damn this picture is detailed.

[ndvr]

The same " :, " Symbol in both eyes
Too odd to be a coincidence

Currently I don't have much time, but as someone suggested here a few times, I compared two symbols from different eyes and yes, they almost similar, there's absolutely no way it's a coincidence.
After looking at it some time, trying to cover one with each to see will it merge a new image, I've got a thought - what if it's Braile's Code?

I've compared symbols from different eyes on img, below is my representation of this symbols.

Please, guys, who have free time - dig it, perhaps it's our key, perhaps I'm wrong with some dots?



P.S.: Don't forget the 8291 - every image of Abe's face with this symbols in the eyes have a 8291 in the name of it.

Try to translate 8291 to Braille here, perhaps it have any use?...
http://www.brailletranslator.org/

[Gunnr]

Doesn't look similar to me at the moment
8291:





Edit: The dots could be iffy. Any input anyone?

[Connell]

Just doing a Monday morning check to see if anything has changed on the Soulstorm site. I thought I had discovered a new generic response, but this new response seems to be specific to typing "HELLO". Ed will reply with;

*** SSSHHH ***

No groundbreaking clues here, but it seems like they are updating it, and most likely patiently waiting for us to find the next clue.

Hang on. I just had an idea. What about those ASCII drawings of Abe that were hidden in the source code before. Do they link up to the face reveal? I'm just scanning the last few of Ed's tweets for any hints.

[MalumInSe]

Hi there,

New to the forums, seen the ARG for Soulstorm, instantly interested. Read the wiki and the forums so I'm updated.

Just wanted to pop in and say hello, I know we only have 2 more digits to uncover, but hopefully there will be more.

[Gunnr]

Hi! And welcome

Guys, Should we still look into this brail thing?

[Varrok]

We could use a little help from edmudokon

[Connell]

We could use a little help from edmudokon

Very true. Considering inputting "FIRE" simply returns "***CLOSER***" and another generic is "*** I CAN'T TALK - YOU NEED TO LOOK CLOSER ***" We probably won't be hearing from him.

I literally think it's something so simple hidden deep in the fire in the eyes that we're all just missing.

EDIT: Also, if we remember, when we were first treated to a teaser for Abe's face reveal with that twitching video, the morse code that appeared at the bottom said "I can help you know the date" Perhaps a date is hidden within Abe's face somewhere? Perhaps we shouldn't focus on the eyes and maybe the whole image? I'm going to have a look around it.

I just did a bit of Googling and came across a concept called Steganoraphy. You can hide a whole image in another image by changing the bit depth, or something along those lines. This sounds like a potentially interesting avenue:

http://datagenetics.com/blog/march12012/index.html

I just found a programme called "rSteg" that can supposedly decrypt hidden text in a photo, if you have the "PIN" it was encrypted with. I got excited thinking that 8291 could be the PIN used but it returned no results. Potentially a completely wrong avenue.

Experimenting with the amount of colour bits. Well if this isn't the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life:
http://imgur.com/Eat6rCF

[Gunnr]

Quick stego-quickcrypto.net and xiao steganography seem to be free to down load
mobilefish.com looks promising as it seems you can upload an encryped image in site or something. But haven't checked it yet.

Sorry about no links, I'm heading out

[jaytechmedia]

Been messing around with the eyes, And I have decided that the mess of shapes at the bottom right of abes right eye (Our left) looks like a mass of Gluckons, And after trying to overlay both eyes on each other, and messing with values, I got the impression that the reflection to the left of the fire looks straight up like a Gluckon. https://i.gyazo.com/9269750148a42afe...b534024cce.gif