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You have enough information at this point to discern what the symbols on the tablet can mean. (Tho it may require revisiting a previous area, depending on what notes you took.)

You're on the right track, but might not be seeing things quite the right way.

It might be useful to try (ROT13) genafpevovat gur vfynaq funcrf bagb n gvyr tevq naq ybbxvat ng gurz gurer vafgrnq. Zbirzrag orvat tevq-nyvtarq znl uryc jvgu gung.

Ab, vg'f gur bgure jnl nebhaq. Gur gnoyrg urycf lbh trg gur cvpxnkr.

Gurer vf fbzrguvat ryfr lbh hfr sbe gur gnoyrg.

It is intended to have completed that item before doing that puzzle, as it does provide a direct clue for it.

It sounds like y'all figured things out (especially with OSOGR's latest clue) but for the record: the Atlas doesn't cover the postgame, it stops at the first ending.

The symbols match up to something in the previous zone as well, that should help clarify what they are.

Congratulations, and great to hear you enjoyed it!

And yeah if you pull up the cart on the Lexaloffle BBS or splore you can see it's like riiiight at the very limit. 8192/8192 tokens, 100% compression (even with the variable and function names being minified), and the entirety of the spritesheet and tilemap is used for data storage.

1. That is an unintentional error I will fix in the next patch.
2. Yes, but it requires noticing some patterns. Specifically, (ROT 13) gur flzoby ba gur ahzore gnoyrg pbhcyrq jvgu gur ahzore frdhrap jevggra ba vg. If you have audio on this is also reinforced by (ROT 13) gur abgr cebterffvba bs gur syhgr. This reading direction is consistent across the game.
3. They tell you how to get the (ROT 13) crney arpxynpr without trial and error.
4. I have no idea what item you mean by that. Every one is used at least once.

I kinda get where you're coming from but that runs counter to the philosophy of the game.

• The intended flow of the game is to explore, find something unique, and then try to figure out its significance using the limited options at your disposal. It's about observation and testing theories based on clues, not blindly throwing everything at the wall. So figuring out how to interact is part of the puzzle (and once a pattern is learned it does get reinforced).
• Having an immediate reaction encourages brute forcing, because it would incentivize players to just wander around playing notes randomly until something happens and only then try to figure out what it means.

As I noted to OSOGR, a previous obelisk you've solved should offer some insights.
As with the rest of the game, the rule for how to solve a given puzzle is never very complex.

You have almost certainly seen what you're looking for (I know Pixel3r has), you just didn't make the connection necessary.

That thing you found isn't a throwaway comment.

There is an item you haven't mentioned finding that should help clarify how/why this works.

An instrument isn't much good without something to play with it. There might be something you can read as notes.

What items have you found in that zone, Pixel3r? It sounds like you might have missed 1 or 2.

There are also 2 areas in that zone that could be described as a maze, and it sounds like you're referring to the northwest coral forest one. So OSOGR's first thought was more correct, but you might be missing a couple steps before you have everything you'll want for it.

Oh shoot, right you are. Good catch haha

Also congrats!

I think you've misinterpreted some things.
1. I have no idea what you mean about "gur zf va svyr q ner onpxjneqf". No one else has reported issues there and it looks correct to me.
2. Lbh arire unq na vgrz va gur pragre bs lbhe vairagbel va gur svefg eha. Hagvy lbh unir fbyirq gur svany chmmyr lbh fubhyq unir 2 rzcgl fybgf - gbc-yrsg naq pragre.
3. Consider Occam's razor.

There is only 1 puzzle here, and having 2 empty inventory slots at this point is correct.

The clue you are wondering about is for finding an item you already got (the crney arpxynpr).

The information I confirmed for you already is a clue. The solution for a prior obelisk may also give some guidance.

The change you caught in 1.8 was restoring that portion of the map to the way it was set in 1.6. That original change was done to avoid a red herring that had tripped some players up. 

I will confirm that you could not figure out how to solve this puzzle before the (ROT13) erobbg frdhrapr.

With the release of 1.8 I switched Forlorn Shores from using a Comments section to a Discussion Board. This should make it much easier to carry out future discussions about the game, but it does unfortunately mean a few older comments of folks asking for assistance have been hidden.

Not all puzzles can be solved immediately when you find them.

You can learn more about that event you described elsewhere, but it is a separate thing.

I was referring to the first person areas. The flute is what I believe they were missing.
You, however, sound like you've got 2 or 3 puzzles available to you that you can solve. There's a subarea in the coral zone you haven't mentioned going to, and some things there you may not have figured out using one of your newest items. 

Thanks for playing anyways!
If you do want to keep trying, it sounds like there might be something unique-looking you didn't inspect in another subarea there...

Good question! But nope, no puzzle in the game requires audio.
In general tho, if you find yourself trying to brute force a puzzle in Forlorn Shores you're missing a clue elsewhere.

The window that opened when you investigated the ground there is a first person view, which you can navigate with the arrow keys. The game expects you to explore what they can do in a context rather than outright telling you.

PICO-8 has a strict 128x128 size limit, but the game is designed to be fully playable with it.

There's somewhere in the vicinity that the info it gives is useful for.

Aww, thanks so much for playing and for all the kind words!

Great to hear! (also heckkk it really has been 5 years, hasn't it...)

Thank you so much! Yeah with a concept that felt this loose and "out there" it def felt important to me to include examples for how I envisioned a story set in the Nonscape could look, glad they work well!

This is really nicely structured! Building the explanations of the capabilities of Powers into a coherent introduction to the setting works very well, and give a good headstart for anyone looking to adapt this to their system of choice. The setting described also has ample evocative hooks to engage with, even with the slim page count.

Aww nice, glad you enjoyed it so much! :D

I actually stuck with this one to the end and definitely don't regret it.

Congrats and great to hear haha

It's a fundamentally different type of game but you might be interested in trying NULL, which serves as a companion game to Messages: https://jusiv.itch.io/null

Belated but there are 2 types of endings, with one of them having a few text variations. But if you've seen 2 different types then you've seen what's important!

v1.1 was my final submission for the jam, but v2.0 has been updated with further refinements from IRL playtesting!

That Voice table is inspired but also oh no

Aww thank you for the kind words! Great to hear you enjoyed it that much!

Ah yep, I just went through and caught similar issues on A Very Warm Fire, NULL, and A Dream's Command. They should all be fixed now!