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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1136 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 9, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Probably 15-20 hours to beat the part of the game that most people will stop at (having greatly enjoyed their time with it)

Absolutely. It's a great game until you're trying to get the sledgehammer, metal detector, garden key, workshop, AND a bit of luck on room placement (IIRC that was a real challenge I beat once...then my computer crashed and lost it and I couldn't repeat it).

I maintain that the supposed RNG problem is a skill issue. As a general thing you should be keeping like a priority queue of theories and start each run flexibly. If you start trying for one particular thing every time too early in the game yeah that'll probably get frustrating. Later on there are RNG mitigations that should let you get just about whatever you want on most runs.

(note to Testing123: the supposed RNG problem is not something that usually overfrustrates even casual players in the "main" part of the game most people enjoy; it's a later-game thing)

Crashes are brutal though. I never had one in Blue Prince, but a bad one killed Subnautica for me.

As a general thing you should be keeping a priority queue of theories and start each run flexibly, but also there are RNG mitigations that should eventually let you get just about whatever you want on most runs.

I was running about half a dozen theories by the time I quit, and had only managed to check (not progress or confirm) a couple of them in my last few runs. The problem with the coat check (and other mitigations, IIRC) is that they help you with one theory, and not always all that well. Using the above example, I could either save the garden key (a rare item), or combine and save the power hammer. That reduces the requirements to garden key/coat check/room placement, or to sledgehammer/metal detector/work shop/coat check/room placement, which still isn't that easy.

Having watched bits of a few streamers' playthroughs, skillful/optimizing drafting is rare, but the biggest key to managing the RNG.

At the stage of the game where the thing you're talking about was relevant to me, I was getting the garden key probably every 2nd or 3rd run, and then when I incidentally got the other stuff I went for it. I rarely used the coat check since as a dead end it was almost always bad drafting (one of the main principles of good drafting is that openings are a resource, and probably the most important one).

(again to Testing123, just to emphasize: most people play fully through the part of the game most people natually and satisfiedly stop at, without having had an unfun problem about this)

I was getting the garden key probably every 2nd or 3rd run...

That's a bit higher than I remember, but not too far off.

, and then when I incidentally got the other stuff I went for it.

Let's call it a 1/3 chance for the key and 1/3 for the rest, for a 1/9 chance of it being available in a given run. Running six theories at once (of the same difficulty and assuming independence) gives you (1 - 1/9) ^ 6 = 49.3% chance of a wasted run assuming sufficiently-good play, which feels about right. Add in a few missed opportunities and a run of bad luck, and I dropped the game.

(again to Testing123, just to emphasize: most people play fully through the part of the game most people natually and satisfiedly stop at, without had having an unfun problem about this)

Yeah, it's good up to Room 46.

49.3%

You know what, that might even be right. I just really liked the drafting game. And even on the wrong side of that, you can always move at least something forward, even if it's "just" a meta-resource like stars or allowance or a Conservatory appearance, which snowball and make the mechanical side of the game much easier later.

I will report that I hated RNG before it was cool getting to room 46. After I reached that milestone I went to look what I was missing and for how many hours that took me I:

-never saw the wrench

-managed to get library only 1 time and never even knew that book shop existed

-managed to do chess puzzle only once, because the queen-king rooms are a bitch to get in the same run

A lot of fans of the game calling it "skill issue", I simply know that the RNG and puzzles should not mix. @Testing123 - get the Order of The Sinking Star.

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