Hint in Cemetary please

[akroma222]

Im in Australia, the whole place is a bloody desert!!! haha
(I was on the right track with this one too... I really like the puzzle, but would have to agree there is potential for misunderstanding)
p.s. love this game
Akroma

[pongsifu]

I kept the world map that you find early on and it shows the pyramids in the North so I obviously assumed the desert mentioned in the note was North... why would we just assume desert means South?

[eduran]

There is actually a desert area in the game, and it's not in the south either.

[Vaimsus]

Ok.... this is going to be long.
I am from Northern hemisphere and didnt really have problems with this problem when i first encountered it, but as there have been some claims this problem not making any sense, so i decidet to enlighten you with my hopefully flawless analysis . I didnt think it this way when i first solved it, but there is a logic in this problem after all. When you think of this problem, you must remember that it is a STORY (all parts are connected) told by Xafi's PERSPECTIVE.

SpoilerShow

So, the first part of the story tell us that Xafi is travelling towards frozen tundra. We don't know in which direction this tundra is located, but i think we can assume that the tundra is near the north or south pole as tundras usually are. But because we dont know where the Xafi is logated at the moment, we cant know which direction he is moving.
The second part is quite simple: in which direction is sun setting. Nothing too hard here.
In the third part Xafi is looking the path behind him, which lead to his home. And his home is on desert. Now, i think it is safe bet that his travel started from his home. Again i think we can assume, that as deserts are usually located nearer the equator than frozen tundras, depending on whether he is travelling towards a tundra near the north pole or a tundra near the south pole, the direction of the desert is either south or north as it is in the opposite direction of the tundra.
The second last a part. The star of the NORTH came to LEAD the way. The safe bet is that he is heading North. Which mean the frozen tundra must be near the north pole and as such in direction of north. And as he started his journey from desert, which is located behind him as he travels north, we can safely assume that the desert is in direction of south.
The last part. And he continued his journey. Well, the destination of his journey is the frozen tundra located north, so he probably journeyed towards north.

[Ichthyic]

you know... people either forget this or don't know, but if you define "desert" as being so due to a lack of rainfall, the biggest desert in the world is... Antarctica.

yeah, that's right, the center of Antarctica very very rarely gets any rain, making it a desert... just with a bunch of ice everywhere.

that would put a desert south, for everyone.

[Vaimsus]

you know... people either forget this or don't know, but if you define "desert" as being so due to a lack of rainfall, the biggest desert in the world is... Antarctica.

yeah, that's right, the center of Antarctica very very rarely gets any rain, making it a desert... just with a bunch of ice everywhere.

that would put a desert south, for everyone.

Hmm... true enough. Still, i think in the normal conversation you when you say desert, most people would assume you mean dry and hot area with lots of sand. Also, in the story we are told that the desert is "burnign and hot", so that basicly rules out Antarctica and all the other "cold" deserts. Not that it would make your statement anything less true.

[Ichthyic]

I'm actually having trouble with the second puzzle set in the cemetary itself. the one on the left to get the powerstone was easy (just pressing buttons in the right order).

but this second one, on the right. there's two puzzles next to each other, one with a bridge, a locked gate, and a spit of land with a pressure plate that opens three gates that lead to teleporters (i'll call this "A").

the other part is just outside of this area, and has a pressure plate, a row of pits, and a button that fires a missile from a head. there are pots to break on the other side of the pits (call this "B").

where A is, I tried throwing some rocks through the gates into the teleporters (after you step on the pressure plate, the gates randomly open), but they just end up behind me. no effect.

where B is, you can change the position of a teleporter by stepping on the plate, and you can toss fireballs or whatever through the teleporter to smash pots, but you can't smash the last set of pots so the head that fires the missile has a clear path. Also, I see no way to block over the pits. climbing down there, there was a "bird" elemental.

totally stuck.

explicit advice appreciated.

[eduran]

where A is, I tried throwing some rocks through the gates into the teleporters (after you step on the pressure plate, the gates randomly open), but they just end up behind me. no effect.

SpoilerShow

You have to hit all three teleporters in one go. if the rocks end up behind you you've missed at least one.

where B is, you can change the position of a teleporter by stepping on the plate, and you can toss fireballs or whatever through the teleporter to smash pots, but you can't smash the last set of pots so the head that fires the missile has a clear path. Also, I see no way to block over the pits. climbing down there, there was a "bird" elemental.

SpoilerShow

If I remember correctly, those aren't teleporters but redirectors. You have to use both of them to get all of the pots.

[Ichthyic]

yup, got the redirector figured out. still having trouble with the 3 gates one though. I have thrown into all 3 when they were open, nada.

got it. man, very sensitive. took 6 tries.

[Diarmuid]

I found the puzzle confusing too.

SpoilerShow

3rd hint is: Then he looked ath the path leading...
5th is: And he continued walking along the path...

It's the same word "path", so I assumed it was the same direction. My understanding of the story was that he started walking first towards the tundra, but then looked towards his "real" path and changed direction. It should have been more like "And he continued his journey" or something like that, avoiding the word.

And if you look at the legend of grimrock world map, the desert of Xafi is south-east of the Isle of Nex, but much more to the east. So many of my tries used east.