So I am avoiding the internet for any answers, leading me to some classic solutions to solve puzzles. What are your strategies for solving puzzles?

I straight up refused to succumb to the madness of graph paper and/or photoshop. I finished everything in the game with nothing more than my brain and my phone to take pictures with. Did I make it harder on myself? Absolutely. Do I regret it? Possibly a little, but what's done is done.

I don't know why everybody makes such a big deal out of using graft paper when they play games? I remember it was the same when FEZ was released. I think it happens when people who don't play a lot of puzzle games suddenly plays one because there was one that became mainstream. I dunno but to me it just sounds like someone going to a forum and saying "HEY GUYS I USED PAPER CLIPS TODAY WHEN I WAS ORGANIZING DOCUMENTS!"

@elixirbronze: Well that was an unnecessarily dickish response. I like puzzle games. Just finished the Talos principle. If you are using graph paper or taking pictures with a cell phone or whatever, it doesn't matter to me. I was just curious if people had some creative ways to solve these puzzles other than just looking up online or a forum. Sure this game became mainstream because is that good. Good enough to warrant stupid things like digging out the graph paper. I wasn't bragging about it, just giving the game a nod.

I think you're missing it.

Usually when people talk about the novelty of using graph paper, it has nothing to do with the paper and everything to do with one of two other things.

1) it's a novelty of interest because it's a throwback to an older era of games where using graph paper was common. In some ways it's like being thin enough to fit back into your high school jacket. It's just a "hey, funny, I remember when I used to wear this all the time" thing.

2)It's novel and interesting because they simply don't make games complex or taxing enough to have to actually write stuff down any longer. I even saw some guy somewhere saying that it was "bad game design" to have to write something down. As though a game that actually asks something of the player is doing something wrong.

As was mentioned above... writing things down is nowhere near required to play the game. But, it does make things easier.

I used a notebook and made lines/drawings when needed for most of the game, but I finally just had to make a big grid and cut out giant pieces for one of the final puzzles in the game, it made it so much easier. Hell of a game.

I was actually surprised by how much drawing things out helped in the end. Some of the tetris like puzzles had me stumped until I actually put it to paper and the solution became obvious right away.

@yellownumber5: Sorry, I shouldn't have been such a dick. I've had a bad day, it was unfair to take it out on you.

I'm not far in the game but drawing on my Note has been incredibly helpful.

No problem. Thanks.

Most of my puzzle solving has been done using my smartphone to take pictures. I've used graph paper for three puzzles: the last puzzle of the quarry, which I also drew on my whiteboard at work, and solved it during lunch; the last of the first type of puzzles in the jungle to work out the logic I came up with from the preceding puzzles -- my logic was correct, my ears were wrong; and a pair of puzzles in the village that used the knowledge from the bunker.

I pulled my graph paper out of deep storage for The Witness, and on the first page were maps from Lunar: Eternal Blue. So yes.