Broken Age

Broken Age

45 Achievements

10-12h

PSVITA
PS4
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Knot Too Difficult

Knot Too Difficult

Clear up a tangled situation in one attempt

6.0%

How to unlock the Knot Too Difficult achievement in Broken Age - Definitive Guide

Shay Act 2

While this trophy is based on an unmissable storyline event, it is perfectly possible not to complete this puzzle correctly on your first attempt, therefore the trophy itself is missable.

To retrieve one of the ship's parts, Shay must rescue Brother Lightbeard who is stuck on a cloud. He does this by untying the knot that is holding the cloud together. Both the knot and the three steps of untying that knot are randomly generated. Make a MANUAL SAVE before attempting this puzzle. If you get it wrong then you can reload the save, but you will have to go retrace all of the steps below because the game will generate another random knot for you.

To start the puzzle, Shay must stand on the ladder that leads up to Lightbeard's cloud. While on the ladder, talk to F'ther and ask him to untie the bow on Harm'ny's cloud. When F'ther asks why, say that it is because it is in the way of saving him. Do not skip this bit of the conversation because this is where you will be shown an image of the knot that you must untie. Once you have seen the image, you must find a knot expert for advice.

Return to Carol in Shellmound. Talk to her and ask her about knots. She will ask you to describe the knot that you need to untie. Below are the eight different knots that you could have and the description for each of them:

Knot 1Like an alligator wrestling a pretzel.

Knot 2Like a lazy pole vaulter.

Knot 3A little bit like you, strangely enough.

Knot 4Like a mathematical formula.

Knot 5Like an elephant eating its trunk.

Knot 6Like a face that's really a cow's udder.

Knot 7Like a bucket of fingers.

Knot 8Like a headache wearing a belt.

Once you have described the knot, you will need to go to Alex to borrow his Space Pencil. Give the Space Pencil to Carol and she will draw a Knot Diagram for you. Return to Meriloft and get back on the ladder that leads up to Lightbeard's cloud. Talk to F'ther again and ask him to have another go at untying the knot. At this point, the Knot Diagram will appear on the screen with numbered images. These images are the three directions that you must tell F'ther so that he can untie the knot. The diagram will include 3 out of a possible 12 images. While all 12 of the images are below, remember that your Knot Diagram can contain any three of these 12 images and they will likely be in a completely different order to those in the screenshots below.

Solutions 11. She loves me, she loves me not...
2. Pull off the fly's wings.
3. Tug on the piggy's tail.

Solutions 21. Make the baby play patty-cake.
2. Unravel the sweater.
3. Tickle the foot.

Solutions 31. Pull apart the fighting snakes.
2. Pull the finger.
3. Poke the clown in the eye.

Solutions 41. Make the water come out of the cup.
2. Make the boat go under the bridge.
3. Steal the banana.

If you have identified the knot correctly and given F'ther the correct instructions, he will finish untying the knot and the cloud will unravel, at which point you will unlock this trophy.
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02 Jun 2015 22:11

1 Comment
Hi Punky,
I already got through, obviously missing the trophy, but your solution is AWESOME!
Thank you!
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By ZoeperJ on 24 Nov 2015 17:19
In Act 2, Shay will be tasked with helping guru Lightbeard off his cloud. You will need to solve this puzzle to continue with the story, earning the achievement is about doing it in just one go.

If you want to solve the puzzle yourself, just make a manual save before you start fiddling with Lightbeard's cloud and go back to that save once you know the solution to unlock the achievement.

The steps to solve the puzzle are as follows:

7
3

12 Jul 2017 08:28

4 Comments
Buggy achievement for me : I don't have the good knot in the Carol proposal. It only appears after the 3 attempts. In this case the manual save is unusefull.
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By Micheyy on 24 Jan 2023 06:20
The knot changes each time you fail. There’s not a single ”good knot”, it’s just random every time which means the description and correct solution is random every time.
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By WhyattThrash on 24 Jan 2023 10:04
I know, but I have had first the "lazy pole vaulter" then the "headache wearing a belt" and they were not in the Carol proposals ( I play with the french language)
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By Micheyy on 24 Jan 2023 12:47
IIRC if none of the options you get are the correct ones, then you made a mistake in describing it and you have to go back to your first save and try again from there.

It’s been a while since I played it but I think that’s why you need the two different saves.
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By WhyattThrash on 25 Jan 2023 12:25
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4
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18 Jul 2022 01:35

Missable

This trophy is earned in Shay Act 2. This is one of the more difficult ones and took me multiple attempts to get right. I suggest saving manually before talking to F'ther so you can reset if needed. The Knot is random however and if you reset it will change.

You have to return to Meriloft and try to climb the ladder on the left of F'ther, this will bright Lightbeards cloud down. Then talk to F'ther while still on the ladder and ask him to untie the bow because it is in the way.
He will then show a picture of the Knot to you. Take a photo if you can it will help you later.

Then go back to Shellmound and talk to Carol about Knots. You have to pick the right description of the knot you were shown, the one I finally got the answer right on is below. Carol needs a pencil so go to Alex and ask for his. Take it back to Carol and she will draw descriptions.

Go back to F'ther and ask him to untie it. You have to describe the drawings to him. This is very challenging because some of them don't really make sense. The knot I had was "An Elephant trying to eat its own trunk". The untying sequence was Pull the Finger, Tug on the Piggies Tail and Pull Apart the Fighting Snakes.

If you get all three instructions correct, the trophy will pop. If not just restart and try again. For reference I've included the Knot I was given so if you get the same one you will know what to describe it as.

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MISSABLE

Shay - Act Two

- RANDOM PUZZLE -

During the game you will end up in the clouds (make a manual save here) as Shay and be tasked to untie a knot to help the man atop the ladder. Use THIS LINK for help with this.

Ask the man you see when you enter the clouds for a description of the knot, then say you need more help. From here, go back to the sea town and speak to the woman for help. She will need a pencil that you can borrow from the man in the mountain where you fixed the death ray as Vella. Speak with the woman again after describing the knot for a diagram (this is where the link will help). Now go back to the man in the clouds and say "let's fix this knot" and tell him the description of the knots in order they are in the note. If you chose the correct description and gave the correct advice the achievement will unlock. If not, reload to be given a new knot to work with.
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The trophy is easy to miss.

I recommend saving before getting this trophy and if nothing works, try again from the save. You will untie the knot according to the plot, but for the trophy you need to do it the first time. Algorithm of actions:

  • Save.
  • Climb the stairs to Lightbird and while on the stairs talk to the bully.
  • Ask him to untie the knot to save "His Holiness", then ask him to describe the knot.
  • When the node is shown, take a screenshot.
  • Get off the stairs and run to the beach.
  • Talk to Carol and ask her about the knots.
  • She will ask you to describe the knot, look at the screenshot and try to do it (in principle, it’s not difficult, I had this option (Like a bucket of fingers), another time like this (Like a face that's really a cow's udder). It turns out that that she has nothing to draw how to untie...
  • We go to Alex and ask for a pencil, return to Carol and give it to her. She draws and gives you a piece of paper with instructions.
  • We return to the bull, climb onto the ladder and try to untie it. I had this option (Pull the finger > Pull apart the fightingsnakes > Loves me... Loves me not), and another time this option (Make the water come out of the cup >Steal the banana > Pull the finger).
9
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04 May 2015 22:20

2 Comments
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By beknur on 11 Oct 2015 08:21
Looks like there's a glitch in the game. I came across a variant of the clue "Likea bucket of fingers". Carol drew a banana in the first step, but this option does not come across, it took about 30 minutes to load and run to F'zer
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By mad8vad on 07 May 2015 12:16