Level 2 - The Promise: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:14, 14 April 2023

Level Two: 'THE PROMISE' - A History Of Solving The Easter Egg

Overview

In early September 2022, after the Gamescom teaser trailer for THE FINALS was released (late August 2022), a series of related cryptic Easter egg clues started to be presented through concept art released via THE FINALS Twitter account. Several additional clues to help the community solve the puzzles were also posted exclusively on THE FINALS Discord. The initial Easter eggs (which, following it being solved, became known as Level 1 or 'The Geocache Easter Egg') indirectly prompted members of the community to add specific words to THE FINALS website URL, as a suffix, which was a way of providing answers to the puzzle to see if they were correct. From Level 2 of the Easter Eggs ('The Promise') onwards, prospective answers were input as passwords via a specific password page created by the Embark Studios art team, led by Embark's Chief Content Officer and Co-founder, Rob Runesson.

Level Two Unlocking

On October 2nd, 2022. Rob posted an image of half of a QR code and a messageː HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0O (This has been edited for brevity, the full message had ̃400 zeroes). It was noticed later that evening there was a 0 on the 18th position of the phrase. A few minutes later a new web address was found https://www.reachthefinals.com/tfee_level2 (This address was made inactive and leads to a 404 error, the updated address is https://www.reachthefinals.com/tfee-level2). On the site was a gif of Nama Tama saying that Level Two - THE PROMISE was loading. After midnight it was discovered that https://www.reachthefinals.com/gooooooooooooooooo contained a quarter of the QR code, although not needed now it was another clue to get to the TFEE Level2 Site.

On October 4th it was discovered that https://www.reachthefinals.com/tfee-level2 was active, with 9 tiers all locked. (It is worth noting that at some point the Level 2 Page got changed so Tier 2ABC and T2DEF share the same line instead of seperated like all the other tiers.)

Tier 1A: The "1064 Aethusa" puzzle

Overview

This tier debuted on October 6th, 2022 and was solved on October 11th, 2022; 7 days later. The overarching theme was 1064 and Meteors.

Oriri Ex Cinere

Overview

Uploaded on October 6th, 2022 by Dusty. It contains a image of a man with a welding helmet, combat gear, and holding a reolver standing in a parking garage that is completely lit alight. Dusty proceeds to upload a nearly identical version of the image 3 minutes later. Oriri Ex Cinere means Rise From The Ashes in latin. There was a hidden image if you overlapped the two versions of the image.

Clues

> Pisa Griffin

Overlapping the two images results in a Griffin being revealed, more specifically, the Pisa Griffin. The Pisa Griffin was placed on the Pisa Cathedral, which started construction in 1064 AD.

Concept_TakeCover

Overview

Uploaded on October 7th, 2022 by Dusty. it contains an image of the Cathedral in Monaco and it's surroundings being hit by a meteor shower. (On the 8th a larger version was uploaded to the Press Kit.) There was a couple of hidden images and symbols contained within.

Clues

> αίθουσα

In the image αίθουσα was hidden within. Translated it could be Aethusa, the daughter of Poseidon.

> Posedon Trident

The image contained a Trident, which with the above clue made it clear it was most likely a reference to Poseidon.

>Meteors

Meteors being front and center for the image raised the question if it was tied to the hunt, or just part of the concept art. The next image answered this.

friend_you_need_02

Overview

Uploaded on October 11th, 2022 by Rob. It contains Nama Tama, dressed as Galileo holding a telescope. The telescope was observing a shooting star, or asteriod. In the exif data there was a messageː Apparently… ...you need another little friend... ._.

Clues

> 1064 Aethusa

It was noticed earlier that 1064 Aethusa was a comet, but did not seem to relevant yet. With this new image it seemed like it might be more relevant.

Solving

On October 11th, 2022. Hunter Serpenger found the correct password for the tier, 1064. A new image awaited the hunters past the password page. In total this level took 7 days to complete.

Credits

Solver - Serpenger

Documentation - Flex4d ,Ralliden, RockhoundBlack

Various Contributions - Buunuu, Darnoux, DashGames, Duh, Fishxw, Giriko, OrpheusHEI, SPEAR, Swa, Tragic

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 == Overview ==
 In early September 2022, after the Gamescom teaser trailer for THE FINALS was released (late August 2022), a series of related cryptic Easter egg clues started to be presented through concept art released via [https://twitter.com/reachthefinals THE FINALS Twitter account]. Several additional clues to help the community solve the puzzles were also posted exclusively on THE FINALS Discord. The initial Easter eggs (which, following it being solved, became known as Level 1 or 'The Geocache Easter Egg') indirectly prompted members of the community to add specific words to THE FINALS website URL, as a suffix, which was a way of providing answers to the puzzle to see if they were correct. From Level 2 of the Easter Eggs ('The Promise') onwards, prospective answers were input as passwords via a specific [https://www.reachthefinals.com/tfee-level2 password page] created by the Embark Studios art team, led by Embark's Chief Content Officer and [https://www.embark-studios.com/about Co-founder], Rob Runesson.
+=== Level Two Unlocking ===
+On October 2nd, 2022. Rob posted an image of half of a QR code and a messageː ''HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0O'' (This has been edited for brevity, the full message had ̃400 zeroes). It was noticed later that evening there was a 0 on the 18th position of the phrase. A few minutes later a new web address was found ''<nowiki>https://www.reachthefinals.com/tfee_level2</nowiki>''  (This address was made inactive and leads to a 404 error, the updated address is https://www.reachthefinals.com/tfee-level2). On the site was a gif of Nama Tama saying that Level Two - THE PROMISE was loading. After midnight it was discovered that https://www.reachthefinals.com/gooooooooooooooooo contained a quarter of the QR code, although not needed now it was another clue to get to the TFEE Level2 Site.
+On October 4th it was discovered that https://www.reachthefinals.com/tfee-level2 was active, with 9 tiers all locked. (It is worth noting that at some point the Level 2 Page got changed so Tier 2ABC and T2DEF share the same line instead of seperated like all the other tiers.)
 __TOC__
@@ Line 9: / Line 16: @@
 === Overview ===
-Level Two: The Promise was originally teased on October 2nd with a fragment of a QR code and a loading page that the QR directed to; however, it didn't go live until October 4th when the [https://www.reachthefinals.com/tfee-level2 TFEE_Level2] site was updated.
+This tier debuted on October 6th, 2022 and was solved on October 11th, 2022; 7 days later. The overarching theme was 1064 and Meteors.
+----
+=== Oriri Ex Cinere ===
+==== Overview ====
+Uploaded on October 6th, 2022 by Dusty. It contains a image of a man with a welding helmet, combat gear, and holding a reolver standing in a parking garage that is completely lit alight. Dusty proceeds to upload a nearly identical version of the image 3 minutes later. ''Oriri Ex Cinere'' means ''Rise From The Ashes'' in latin. There was a hidden image if you overlapped the two versions of the image.
+==== Clues ====
+''> Pisa Griffin''
+Overlapping the two images results in a Griffin being revealed, more specifically, the [[wikipedia:Pisa_Griffin|Pisa Griffin]]. The Pisa Griffin was placed on the [[wikipedia:Pisa_Cathedral|Pisa Cathedral]], which started construction in 1064 AD.
+----
-=== Clues ===
+=== Concept_TakeCover ===
-On Oct 6, 2022 Dusty posted a new image titled, Oriri ex cinere, which depicted a man in iron working gear holding a revolver in a garage which is on fire. A couple minutes later Dusty posted another version of it. Comparing the two versions of it revealed a hidden Griffin, the Pisa Griffin specifically. The Pisa Griffin was placed at the Pisa Cathedral, which started construction in 1063, or 1064 in the Pisan calendar.
-On Oct 7, 2022 Dusty posted another image titled, TakeCover, which depicted the Cathedral in the map Monaco, getting obliterated by a meteor shower. The day afterwards a slightly larger version was posted to the Press Google Drive, presumably to make it easier to find the clues hidden within:
+==== Overview ====
+Uploaded on October 7th, 2022 by Dusty. it contains an image of the Cathedral in Monaco and it's surroundings being hit by a meteor shower. (On the 8th a larger version was uploaded to the Press Kit.) There was a couple of hidden images and symbols contained within.
-* The greek letters Αἵ θου σα were found, these translate out to Aethusa
+==== Clues ====
-* Aethusa flowers were present in the image.
+''> αίθουσα''
-* The trident referencing Poseden’s daughter, Aethousa.
-On Oct 11, 2022 Rob posted a new image titled, friend_you_need_02, which depicted Nama Tama dressed as Galielo looking at an asteroid with a telescope. This led us to 1064 Aethusa, an asteroid in the inner asteroid belt. Putting 1064 into the T1A page unlocked a new image.
+In the image αίθουσα was hidden within. Translated it could be [[wikipedia:Aethusa|Aethusa]], the daughter of [[wikipedia:Poseidon|Poseidon]].
-=== Summary ===
+''> Posedon Trident''
-The first clue, the Pisa Griffin, pointed to the year 1064, which would be important to seeing the asteriod was relevant to the search.
-The second clue(s) all were about Aethousa and meteors, letting us know that Aethusa and Meteors might be relevant to the search.
+The image contained a Trident, which with the above clue made it clear it was most likely a reference to Poseidon.
-The third clue was the telescope looking at a asteriod, which lead us to 1064.
+''>Meteors''
-==== Credits ====
+Meteors being front and center for the image raised the question if it was tied to the hunt, or just part of the concept art. The next image answered this.
+----
+=== friend_you_need_02 ===
+==== Overview ====
+Uploaded on October 11th, 2022 by Rob. It contains [[Nama Tama]], dressed as [[wikipedia:Galileo_Galilei|Galileo]] holding a telescope. The telescope was observing a shooting star, or asteriod. In the exif data there was a messageː ''Apparently… ...you need another little friend... ._.''
+==== Clues ====
+''> 1064 Aethusa''
+It was noticed earlier that [[wikipedia:1064_Aethusa|1064 Aethusa]] was a comet, but did not seem to relevant yet. With this new image it seemed like it might be more relevant.
+----
+=== Solving ===
+On October 11th, 2022. Hunter Serpenger found the correct password for the tier, ''1064''. A new image awaited the hunters past the password page. In total this level took 7 days to complete.
+----
+=== Credits ===
 '''Solver''' - Serpenger
@@ Line 36: / Line 76: @@
 '''Various Contribution'''s - Buunuu, Darnoux, DashGames, Duh, Fishxw, Giriko, OrpheusHEI, SPEAR, Swa, Tragic
+==== Further Reading: ====
-Further Reading:
 RockhoundBlack's Video:  [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg2GLDdzMEA THE FINALS: A Fistful Of Easter Eggs + New Concept Art!]
 [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CLzGtj2w2elVkqEdPV6NgqRiszNAxnwIANXHK-Pa1Bk/edit?usp=sharing Flex4d's Document]
-=== Tier 1B: The "79" puzzle ===
-=== Tier 1C: The "Mendeleev" puzzle ===