point 4 from j-snake's post is kind of the exact problem i had with braid. i mean yeah sure, the mechanics are supposed to be "a metaphor" or whatever, but it just feels like a bit of a stretch. so i'm guessing the witness is similar?
Eh, so spoilers, there are secret points you can score in The Witness you can get by drawing lines on things that aren't mazes. They follow the same shape as the maze (big circle then a line). They're pretty obvious when you see them. There is an interesting mechanic where you have to change your perspective to get the circle to line up right or the line part to not be blocked.
That's what I was saying about the maze mechanic being a microcosm of the adventure mechanic (you walking around). I suppose you could take this philosophically or whatever but if you don't, it's still an interesting mechanic. "Once you see it you can't unsee it" kind of stuff, it's fun.
The 3D perspective is absolutely essential to these secret puzzles. The level design that blocks or obfuscates your view becomes part of the secret-maze mechanics. So the "adventure you're on an island" is totally required for this game-mechanic.
Also, the quotes can be hints to the puzzle. 2 examples:
a) There's a puzzle sequence where you're drawing 2 lines simultaneously, and the second one starts fading. At first I thought it was unbeatable and the panel needed more power. Cue audio tape about god being a visible and then invisible force and, lightbulb, I realized the second line was present invisible.
b) There's an audiotape about going up into space and seeing humanity from a new perspective (good human condition speech on its own). Well turns out going up high, turning around and looking down gives you the perspective you need to see many of the secret-mazes that exist in the level geometry.
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Re point 1 about edges, I just figured out on some of the puzzles that the edge of the map literally counts for containing shapes you have to draw (as opposed to just your line). I liked that mechanic personally. There have been a couple questionable puzzles though but I feel like that's very minor. I can understand how you'd feel this way though.
Point 3: The only issue I had with this one was the super-hedge maze (combine all 4). I had to write things down for that one. Haven't had any other memorization issues though. Curious if you can point out puzzles you felt were too tedious.
Point 2: Absolutely agree with you on preferring quality over quantity. That said, even some of the "repetitive" puzzles show tiny incremental variations on the mechanics which help teach the mechanics. Maybe you'd prefer it if there were fewer, tougher puzzles?
Point 4: Yeah, the island works mechanically (for secret finding I mentioned above), but there really is a disappointing total lack of story. I think the game just picked to focus on the puzzle aspect. (And again, the 3D movement is part of the puzzle solving, it's not 'tacked on').
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