Payday Secret - First World Bank Summary

[Spektugalo]

I started a new thread because I wanted to sum up everything I thought would be relevant for finding the next clue that is most likely to be found in the First World Bank Heist.

Wall of text incoming!

First of all a big thanks to Knightmare, Soulless, spire2, =THT=ST_JM, =THT=VyseM4h and others, who all developed some theories and tried different kinds of stuff in First World Bank Heist with me.

We tried not to overanalyze the hints Bo has given over the past few month, because triggering the things in Counterfeit have been pretty straightforward and didn't require several layers of interpretation.

This theory is based on the birthday pictures, the static messages and on theories that people had in the Payday Secret Thread as well as our own. This is in no way meant to sell other ideas as my own, but more an attempt to collect and summarize information that has been thread throughout the forums and compress them into a coherent and cohesive post, so that people who are new to the secret don't have to spend ages catching up.

So here we go:
I am convinced that the next clue/static/something can be discovered in First World Bank, more specificly the Vault Lobby.

Here's why:
On the Birthday picture it says First World Bank in Latin, there is a drill head and a can of thermite.

Then some of Bo's clues (in chronological order) (click on his name to get to the original post):

Originally Posted by overkill_bo

yepp you can bank on it

Originally Posted by overkill_bo

A message from Mr Bankmanager
I sense brains converging in the forum.

I think you should really look into what u got from the statics like Bobmuffins et al - you are

thinking right but you need to combine harder.

I cant't tell you the secret, cause it is like finale...

Don your masks and get back on it.


Bo

Originally Posted by overkill_bo

Yeah stay out of my bank you punks

Then, I am convinced the first static message is hinting at the 8 pillars in the vault lobby. On the one hand, because there is no other architecture in the level which resemble the 8 squares, but also because Bo was busy hinting at them for a while:

Originally Posted by overkill_bo

[...]

Blue pill or red pill? Whats it going to be? [-> Matrix Reference]

Consider that when you ponder upon the pillars of which this mystery lies. Baldwin, Gold,

the temple and the X.

[...]

Another Matrix reference more recently:

Originally Posted by OVERKILL_crew

Keep it up and see how far the rabbit hole goes...

There's the famous lobby shooutout in Matrix, which looks a bit similar to the vault lobby.

Anyway, more pillar references:

Originally Posted by overkill_bo

Yepp these are all good pillars to stand by. [...]

And as if it couldn't get more obvious, thaismai posted this:

Originally Posted by thaismai

NEW HINT : THE 8 BLOCKS ARE PILLARS (from

BO)
com'n ! Let's think about all that again with this clue ! and another thing, the cross is

considering as an hint himself so I think more than a cross, more than a start of finish point,

the X is something !

Bo then quoted the post and wrote:

Originally Posted by overkill_bo

I trust u are now running for the finale

which sounds a lot like a confirmation.


Back to the first static message and the second static message; Bo adressed some points about it:

Originally Posted by overkill_bo

[...] BALDWIN 1174...what is so special with him? How does he relate to PAYDAY? [-> he had to wear an iron mask, on the Birthday picture eveybody is wearing gold masks]

8 squares or what/where are they? [-> should be the FWB vault lobby pillars, as explained before]

MURUA - Face it - it is backwards [-> Aurum = Gold in latin]

X - what is X supposed to be? It is the secret or is it just the start of it?

2nd Static is put together by forming Yggdrasil (and the compass points to the Tree - should give you the idea to put it static together in the right order (the Norse saga of the gods - tree of life) All that gives a google coordinate that shows:

Bolivia? Temple? What is it? How can it be used? Have you looked at it ? Really?

4 guys and 1 problem... you should win.

It seems it has something to do with having a team of four people, all wearing gold masks.
I am just not sure what Bolivia / the temple / Puma Punku has to do with it. Also, I am not quite sure if the X is the start or the goal.

On the first static message, there are four arrows, which could represent four players facing the directions of the arrows. Or the arrows could point at the position the players have to stand at. Looking at the Birthday picture the candles and the strawberries are pretty much on the same position as the arrows and the squares, so comparing those, it seems like the arrows seem to be the actual positions. However, the strawberries are facing in different directions than the arrows in the static, but their positions much.
The X could be the desk.

There are other things in the Birthday picture that could be other hints:
There are two cameras with red lights above the table, this could imply, that all cameras (or at least those in the vault lobby) have to stay untouched. Also, the cameras are roughly facing in the direction of the positions indicated by the arrows/strawberries
Update: It seems that keeping the cameras untouched has been confirmed by Bo in this post

There is also a playing card with the six of spades on the table, I have no idea what that could mean. I googled for it, and there are Metasymbology pages and such, but those descriptions are so vague, it could be anything.

There's also a drill head and a can of thermite; this could be just furthers clues towards First World Bank, it could also mean these two bits are somehow relevant.

Moreover, other recent posts bo said:

Originally Posted by overkill_bo

Cryptic is very suiting indeed.

and

Originally Posted by overkill_bo

Im sorry I have been busy building things in my basement.

I'm also not quite sure what to make of this...

Bo mentioned a 'finale' a few times, there was a user with this name who wrote a post with a solution to one of the previous puzzles, maybe it is directed at him, but it could also be hinting at the escape part of the map.

Then there were other bo posts like "Have faith"; however, they are really old and aimed at the two counterfeit statics, which makes me believe they aren't relevant for the current riddle.

Here are some other clues that seem very important, that Super Powio collected in the Payday Secret Thread

Originally Posted by Super Powio

In canon, the bank manager was killed.

... So kill the bank manager?

... And Bo himself is linked to the manager in some way.

Only on OK145+?

Same thread as above quotes. This thread was originally about the Counterfeit secret, but Bo just kept making Bank references, indicating a possible connection with this:

Leave the cameras alone?

Follows the above quote:

tl;dr

These are the clues that seem to be confirmed:
First World Bank
Overkill 145+ difficulty
Vault Lobby
4 Players with gold masks
Keep all the cameras untouched
Kill the bank manager
4 players stand near the pillars at the four positions of the first static message
Secret is in the bank's vault

Things that might affect the trigger of the clue / next secret:
thermite? -> just a clue it's related to FWB?
drill head? -> just a clue it's related to FWB?

Things that I am not sure about:
(Aurum) X -> What does the X mean? Start or goal?
Relevance of the temple in Bolivia? "What is it? How can it be used? Have you looked at it ? Really?" Is it something about its appearance on google maps? Is it a distinct feature about it? How would we know where to look? Wikipedia?
Both static messages -> Bo: "combine harder"
6 of spades?

What we have tried so far:
Everybody equips the gold masks, stand / sit in the postions of the arrows and also where they point on various difficulties (also 145+), without breaking he cameras.
We tried it before placing the thermite, placing only one thermite/ both thermite cans and stand in those spots, stand there after grabbing the gold, run back to the positions after placing the C4.
However, we haven't tried to kill the bank manager so far afaik, considering there is the newspaper on counterfeit, this might be a crucial step we have overlooked.


I have to admit I am pretty much out of ideas, so if anybody noticed some hints that I haven't taken into consideration, please let me know. If you try anything related to the First Bank Secrets, please share your results here. Also, if you have ideas about the X, the temple in bolivia or a link between both static messages, feel free to post. Bo said, we had to combine harder, but I have no idea what the temple could be referring to.

Also, if you have other suggestions or criticism, for example about the formatting of this post, let me know.

Last but definitely not least: Bo, feel free to drop new hints!
The secret has been fun so far, but it's getting a little bit frustrating when it feels like we're not really moving forward.

Phew, typing all this out and formatting it took quite some time, I hope it was worth it.

________
Changelog:

8. Nov. 2012: Added Super Powio's Post concerning cameras, the bank manager and Overkill 145+

[Spektugalo]

[Post reserved for further updates about the First World Bank secret related shenanigans]

[SamusDroid]

Really, another thread...

Did you check EVERYTHING? All possible arrow positions? Basement? Got to keep track what happened because there are thousands of possibilities

[Spektugalo]

I thought it might be useful to have one that is only concerned with the First World Bank, the other threads seemed to have a much larger scope.

No, we haven't tried everything, we checked the general area of the strawberries on the cake / the arrows in the static. The chocolate looks a lot like the desk, thus we haven't bothered to mirror the positions.
But that's actually a good idea, it is worth a try.

We also checked the basement on a few tries, but to be honest, I can't remember which difficulty that was on.

The thousands of possibilities actually confuse me a bit, because the procedure to get the other static messages was pretty straightforward, four people at the right spot, at the right time. No other crazy parameters that had to be taken into consideration...

[Super Powio]

You're forgetting one important thing that Bo said, that should probably be taken into consideration.

Originally Posted by overkill_bo

Always

The newspapers plastered all over the place in Counterfeit that say that the bank manager was killed.

[Spektugalo]

Originally Posted by Super Powio

The newspapers plastered all over the place in Counterfeit that say that the bank manager was killed.

Yikes, I must've totally missed your post.

There's so much valuable information in there, will add that!

Also, if I missed any other important Bo Quotes and other information, let me know, I will update the OP to have a collection of all official clues.

[Bobmuffins]

I'm just gonna put this out there now:

=LTH= has connections between our four "pillars" Bo mentioned and Bank- except for one. Baldwin.

Anyone who can come up with a Baldwin connection, well, I'm not gonna make any promises, but... you'd be a Cool Dude in my eyes.

[finale]

Hey dude, nice going. I think the references to me are just telling people to follow my suggestion to go to FWB. My only guess regarding BALDWIN:

All the letters in BALDWIN appear in "FIRST WORLD BANK". Additionally, each of them appears once. The FWB phrase appears in a bunch of places. Folks have already tried shooting the letters and using them, etc, so I dunno if it's worth anything.

[SamusDroid]

I think BALDWIN means 13, 13 busts.

[Super Powio]

Originally Posted by Spektugalo

We tried not to overanalyze the hints Bo has given over the past few month, because triggering the things in Counterfeit have been pretty straightforward and didn't require several layers of interpretation.

Since we're talking about simple triggers, I'm going to throw another theory in there concerning the pillars in the vault lobby. Have we already tried hitting/shooting them in a certain order, with all the previously mentioned prerequisites? Here's another diagram with some potential configurations for trying this.

(I realize Baldwin 1174 probably already relates to Baldwin IV, but it doesn't seem that far-fetched for them to be reused if its in the same image.)

[SamusDroid]

Picture
ooooo another picture

[Adam^2]

Originally Posted by SamusDroid

Picture

Yup, that's a mirrored texture...

[Cnb]

I appreciate this thread A LOT.

I would read these as 1) emphasis to AURUM and 2) 145+

[SamusDroid]

If you can't see that, that looks like something, look harder.

Another pic btw^

[Adam^2]

Originally Posted by SamusDroid

If you can't see that, that looks like something, look harder.

Another pic btw^

Apophenia!!