White Forge Locked Door (one with the dial)

[NightTorch]

Just a quick question, one that I'm more than a little desperate to get answered.  In Durgan's Battery, in the mines, you eventually come across a door with four pillars with text on them nearby and a dial nearby.  The dial can be turned clockwise, counter clockwise, or pushed. 

 

How do you solve this puzzle?!  I've been trying to solve it for two days now!  And I cannot find so much of a whisper of it anywhere on the net.  The absolutely closest I can think of is that each pillar's text has a direction, but seems a little out of order.  I figured inputting the directions in order then push the dial would solve the puzzle, but obviously I'm doing something wrong because that doesn't do anything for me. 

 

Help! As I mentioned, more than a little desperate by this point!

[farleybear]

It took me a few goes to work it out. This should probably be in a different section. This is how to work it out, not the answer:

 

 

First you have to put the four lines in order.
Then you need to turn the dial to each direction in order and to press the dial after each direction. If you do it correctly you'll get a message after each press.
It doesn't seem to matter if you turn it clockwise or anticlockwise.

 

[NightTorch]

That's what I was doing wrong!  I was not aware you had to push the dial in after every direction change!  Thanks a bunch!

[AndreaColombo]

I might have missed something while steamrolling the dungeon ... but

 

 

Which lines should be put in which order, again?

 

I opened that door by moving the dial at random until I got it to open, and that was rather obnoxious. I thought, "There must be clues somewhere." but as I steamrolled, I probably missed them.

 

[Gorth]

Moved to spoiler section...

[farleybear]

I might have missed something while steamrolling the dungeon ... but

 

 

next to that door there are four pillars each with descriptive text that includes a compass direction. When you put these four lines in the correct order it gives you the combination for the door lock.

[Elzarath]

Basically the lines make up a sentence so if you order it on how you read / say as a complete sentence then that's the combination to use. That's what I did anyway.

[Heijoushin]

lol, I also just tried randomly until I got the pattern. Overall, Durgan's battery is a cool dungeon, but some of the puzzles (like that one) could be solved by just re-trying them over and over. 

[pi2repsion]

There were clues?

 

I tried the cardinal directions one at a time and noticed that I got feedback when I got the right direction and a reset when not, which meant it had to be a sequence. Since I got immediate feedback both on right and wrong choices, it meant that for a sequence n steps long, rather facing 4^n complexity I was facing at worst a complexity of 4n, which meant around 2 tries per step to find the combination. Since games rarely rely on players memorizing combinations longer than 4 or 5 numbers, there was a reasonable change that it would be solved in at most 10 attempts. And much less if there was no reuse of directions, with a maximum length of 4 in that case. Both cases seemed likely to take much less time than examining the already explored areas for clues I had missed, so I did it, only limited in my speed of entering combinations by the speed of the game showing the choose-your-path screens, and it was quickly solved.

Edited September 9, 2015 by pi2repsion

[Hassat Hunter]

The "clues" don't need much seeking, it's the 4 plaques with the invesigating tool *right next to the door*.

[pi2repsion]

The "clues" don't need much seeking, it's the 4 plaques with the invesigating tool *right next to the door*.

Be that as it may, I didn't know that when I was at the door and had to make my decision between attempting to solve it by logic and persistence and solving it by hunting for clues. And you don't see anything highlighted with the investigation tool while engaging in the CYOW sequence with the door.

[Hassat Hunter]

Yes they do. Tab shows up all 4 magnifier glasses right next to the door... the "clues"...

[pi2repsion]

Yes they do. Tab shows up all 4 magnifier glasses right next to the door... the "clues"...

Not at the point in time when I said they didn't, they don't. All I said was that they don't show up when you are interacting with the door and getting the choose your own adventure type interface. (And they shouldn't. It is a completely separate interface designed to pick you out of the action.) I am perfectly aware that, under other circumstances, were I to have examined the surroundings before engaging with the door, I would have been aware of them and factored their existence into my decision.

 

EDIT: Anyhow, a digression. The original question has been answered and, to nobody's particular surprise, I am sure, different people approach the game in different ways.

Edited September 11, 2015 by pi2repsion

[Hassat Hunter]

Or if you don't know the answer click 'exit puzzle', read the hints, then solve the puzzle?

 

It's not like you're locked into that screen with no way out till you resolve it.

[pi2repsion]

Or if you don't know the answer click 'exit puzzle', read the hints, then solve the puzzle?

 

It's not like you're locked into that screen with no way out till you resolve it.

And I am not claiming that you are so locked.

 

If somebody is reading this looking to solve the problem, your advice is good.

 

It is, however, irrelevant to what I described, and what you have been responding to the last few posts, which was how I solved it based on the circumstances I was in, where I didn't know there were clues next to the door because I hadn't noticed them, and thus logically didn't have "exit, read the hints next to the door, solve the puzzle vs. brute force" as the choice, but "exit, try to find out if there are hints somewhere, then return vs. brute force". I thought that sharing some of the methodology and thoughts I used for brute force solving this particular simple problem, which I used because it was the rational approach in the situation I was in given the knowledge I had at the time, might be useful for other players in similar situation.

 

Games, and CRPGs in particular, are full of combination problems and not all come with exhaustive or readily available hints, and knowing how to proceed if they are types amenable to brute force solutions rather than being stumped and dependent on hints or reading answers on the internet is a valuable gaming skill.