Those "fish-bird-snake" puzzles in Skyrim

[Lawnmooer]

You know the quest where you find the first Gauldir fragment? Does anyone know what the combination for the symbols is in the first room? The Snake Bird Whale combo?

What's the name of the dungeon your in? The answer is almost always on a wall somewhere nearby, but everyone once and a while its more complicated. I can wiki that shit if I get a dungeon name though xD. Just finished that chain a few hours ago actually.

It's Folgunthur, south of Solitude. I looked it up on the wiki, but it only has the combinations for the Gauldur Amulet Fragment puzzles further into the crypt.

Four symbols can't be rotated: One Whale, One Bird, and Two Snakes. There are four other pillars you can interact with, but any combination I try on the altar results in poison arrow spam.

Does it have some spiral stairs in the center of the room? That one has two secret rooms opened by levers next to their entrances, near a little throne, each room has 3 stones in it, one of those stone sets is the answer, the other ones you have to turn to open the gate.

Again though, there are only 3 there. So I must not be thinking of the right room. This is after you got the ivory claw right?

Not that one. The one I'm talking about is near the beginning. Before you reach Dynas' body and get the ivory dragon claw to lower the bridge, there is one room that has a snake bird whale puzzle that appears to be optional. It's bugging me like crazy trying to figure it out.

Just checked it out. The one you're talking about isn't an actual puzzle. I've cleared the entire dungeon and you only need the claw to open up the rooms.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

You know the quest where you find the first Gauldir fragment? Does anyone know what the combination for the symbols is in the first room? The Snake Bird Whale combo?

What's the name of the dungeon your in? The answer is almost always on a wall somewhere nearby, but everyone once and a while its more complicated. I can wiki that shit if I get a dungeon name though xD. Just finished that chain a few hours ago actually.

It's Folgunthur, south of Solitude. I looked it up on the wiki, but it only has the combinations for the Gauldur Amulet Fragment puzzles further into the crypt.

Four symbols can't be rotated: One Whale, One Bird, and Two Snakes. There are four other pillars you can interact with, but any combination I try on the altar results in poison arrow spam.

Does it have some spiral stairs in the center of the room? That one has two secret rooms opened by levers next to their entrances, near a little throne, each room has 3 stones in it, one of those stone sets is the answer, the other ones you have to turn to open the gate.

Again though, there are only 3 there. So I must not be thinking of the right room. This is after you got the ivory claw right?

Not that one. The one I'm talking about is near the beginning. Before you reach Dynas' body and get the ivory dragon claw to lower the bridge, there is one room that has a snake bird whale puzzle that appears to be optional. It's bugging me like crazy trying to figure it out.

Just checked it out. The one you're talking about isn't an actual puzzle. I've cleared the entire dungeon and you only need the claw to open up the rooms.

You're shitting me. All that time for something I'd already figured out!? Grr Skyrim.

 

[Hisshiss]

You know the quest where you find the first Gauldir fragment? Does anyone know what the combination for the symbols is in the first room? The Snake Bird Whale combo?

What's the name of the dungeon your in? The answer is almost always on a wall somewhere nearby, but everyone once and a while its more complicated. I can wiki that shit if I get a dungeon name though xD. Just finished that chain a few hours ago actually.

It's Folgunthur, south of Solitude. I looked it up on the wiki, but it only has the combinations for the Gauldur Amulet Fragment puzzles further into the crypt.

Four symbols can't be rotated: One Whale, One Bird, and Two Snakes. There are four other pillars you can interact with, but any combination I try on the altar results in poison arrow spam.

Does it have some spiral stairs in the center of the room? That one has two secret rooms opened by levers next to their entrances, near a little throne, each room has 3 stones in it, one of those stone sets is the answer, the other ones you have to turn to open the gate.

Again though, there are only 3 there. So I must not be thinking of the right room. This is after you got the ivory claw right?

Not that one. The one I'm talking about is near the beginning. Before you reach Dynas' body and get the ivory dragon claw to lower the bridge, there is one room that has a snake bird whale puzzle that appears to be optional. It's bugging me like crazy trying to figure it out.

I don't think your supposed to solve that one, wiki's all say that the people who came in before you, that dead guy with the claw most likely, already solved it.

Im pretty sure solving it just opens the door that was already open to begin with. But if not, no wiki writer on the internet knows any better apparently.

 

[EHKOS]

At first I thought so too. But then every time I came across one, it was used differently. It never got too old. Plus they were all in Nord dungeons so it worked as a kind of lore.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

I like 'em. I mean I loved the first one I ran into in that grave near the starting village, but then they got a bit boring. I still love the idea of puzzles in dungeons though, and I would love to see a dungeon that is totally free of enemies, but filled with traps!

 

[Agayek]

Just a random guess, was it Snake, Bear, Fox, Wolf?

Yea, that's it. I just liked it cuz it was an interesting word play and was the only puzzle in the whole game that took me more than a minute to solve.

 

[LordRoyal]

Who cares? They're there just to break up the monotony of the dungeons. Make you observe the environment/items for clues etc.

 

[Pearwood]

The best puzzles I've found are when you see a crappy iron dagger you'd never pick up sitting on a pressure plate. That's how you hide a secret room in a game.

 

[teknoarcanist]

To be fair, the main thing Bethesda has on their side is the way their engine is designed, allowing to iterate a metric shit-ton of content at a very rapid speed. Making a new quest point is as easy as slapping together a character model, typing up some dialog, adding it to the map and quest journal, and off you go.

(Being facetious of course. It's not as easy as all THAT, but you get what I mean.)

Designing original puzzles takes time and resources. Iterating a number of DIFFERENT puzzles from one 'puzzle type' takes far fewer.

What they MIGHT have done was to have two or three 'puzzle types', and then mix and match between them. And those feedback-starved "I've pushed this button six times and I still don't understand what it's doing" abominations in the Dwemer ruins don't even count as puzzles. At least they look neat.

But frankly, I'm not complaining. This is just how Beth operates. I'm sure their next game -- be it Elder Scrolls, Fallout, or some other IP altogether -- will have some slightly-evolved version of the puzzles we've seen in Skyrim. And then there'll be some NEW feature whose lack of depth we'll grumble about.

But we'll keep buying their games

 

[Somebloke]

I like how there is this book, lying around, that actually gives an in-world explanation for the pincode-written-right-on-the-credit-card thing, with the claws and which I suppose extends to the turning stones puzzles. Its last line reads something like:

"It's not there to keep people out, but to keep the draugr in", after positing that the draugr are incapable of the modicum of rational thought required to figure out the solution, even though it is given right away.

 

[Zeh Don]

You know the quest where you find the first Gauldir fragment? Does anyone know what the combination for the symbols is in the first room? The Snake Bird Whale combo?

Its in Folgunthur, near the entrance. On the right hand side of the room there's a lever that reveals a secret room. I just want to know the combination for the rotating pillars in that particular room.

If you look around the room and spot the four pillars that show the combination, you'll notice that the turn-able pillars were set to the correct combination when you entered.
The mage you were following opened them.

To open the secret door to the right, you need the claw from the mage. Simply press on the switch located just in front of the secret door once you have the claw, and it'll open to reveal a chest. If you facing the door, the switch is on the wall to the left just in front of the secret door.

The pillars don't open anything in that room - only the gate that is already opened when you enter.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Only problem I have with the puzzles is that they aren't really puzzles, they have the whole big flashy setup but you will solve it before giving it a second glance, so they have a sum total of zero difficulty and with it zero reward the only thing you get out of them is tedium.

Like everything in a game puzzles need to be designed well, and like most things in Skyrim they are done badly.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

I like 'em. I mean I loved the first one I ran into in that grave near the starting village, but then they got a bit boring. I still love the idea of puzzles in dungeons though, and I would love to see a dungeon that is totally free of enemies, but filled with traps!

[spoiler = Well there's this] The very last mission in the Thieve's Guild quest line (The one where you have to return the Skeleton Key to Nocturnal) has only 3 - 4 enemies in it. The rest is traps and riddles. [/spoiler]

The puzzles do break the tediousness of killing though. I mean I've gotten to the point where I attempt to shoot everything in the mouth, nose, eyeballs or crotch for kicks. I would hope that with any incoming DLC they would create harder puzzles. The hardest ones I've found are the series of levers that open/close a combination of gates (1 of which is a poison dart trap lever)

Thanks for the tip!

I would also like harder and more frequent puzzles. I like burning undead things as much as anybody, but variety would be nice. What about some sort of derelict temple, and you had to find some sort of great mystical treasure? No enemies, just traps and puzzles The Last Crusade style.

 

[Insanity72]

I like the ones that involve a riddle, they interesting to figure out and give a sense of accomplishment after them.

The first fears all, the second fears none.

The third eats what it can, preferably number one.

The fourth fears the second, but only when alone.

All must be activated in order, if you wish to go home.

And your options are Wolf, Snake, Fox, Bear.

I enjoyed solving it at least.

Like these

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Only problem I have with the puzzles is that they aren't really puzzles, they have the whole big flashy setup but you will solve it before giving it a second glance, so they have a sum total of zero difficulty and with it zero reward the only thing you get out of them is tedium.

Like everything in a game puzzles need to be designed well, and like most things in Skyrim they are done badly.

That's it. They're not puzzles at all, and considering they are meant to be there to protect some sort of treasure or secret, they should be. It would be like walking into an highly secure office building in Deus Ex and finding the computer access codes printed in large letters across one of the walls.

 

[bakan]

There need to be serious puzzles like a code hidden in several books, combination puzzles without the solution on the key or the wall, etc.
Skyrim's 'puzzles' are just a chore, they could also put in locks for a lockpicking minigame or pull a lever right next to the door.

 

[Torrasque]

I like the ones that involve a riddle, they interesting to figure out and give a sense of accomplishment after them.

The first fears all, the second fears none.

The third eats what it can, preferably number one.

The fourth fears the second, but only when alone.

All must be activated in order, if you wish to go home.

And your options are Wolf, Snake, Fox, Bear.

I enjoyed solving it at least.

Like these

I was stumped by this one for a minute until I realized that snakes don't eat foxes "silly brain...", I chuckled as I turned the last pillar and opened the gate. The only puzzle that has stumped me for longer than a minute or two, was the one in the dungeon where you get a Gauldir fragment, and the solution is a combination of 4. I searched and searched looking for it, but the solution was in the same room, lol. All of the puzzles in this game are really easy if you don't over think them.

It sounds like you are over-thinking these puzzles OP, none of them are really that challenging. OoT has harder puzzles, and they are childishly simple in comparison. Maybe all these years of playing Zelda and Portal have made me good at solving dungeon puzzles? /shrug

 

[John the Gamer]

You know the quest where you find the first Gauldir fragment? Does anyone know what the combination for the symbols is in the first room? The Snake Bird Whale combo?

Its in Folgunthur, near the entrance. On the right hand side of the room there's a lever that reveals a secret room. I just want to know the combination for the rotating pillars in that particular room.

I don't remember which one of the tombs that is, but I think the combination was shown in a different room. Was that the place with the two thrones and the floor-grate in front of them? I don't remember. Yep, that's the one.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Folgunthur

Here it is.

 

[WolfThomas]

It's something that just seem to be in vogue when they built the tombs, just like having an easy exit from the deepest part, seriously I laugh everytime I bypass everything with a hidden door.