My thoughts on "Braid"
You know Braid? The game? First came out on Xbox Live Arcade and now is on PC?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid_(video_game)
My thoughts on the game are as follows. Note this is after playing the demo.
It is good, nay, it is great. It is a well-made game. It is also extremely...over-hyped (git off that pedestal!). Great game, not "run out to play it NOW!!!" but good, solid game.
Puzzles are thoughtful and clever. Frustrating sometimes, and despite what is said by others, there was no sense of accomplishment when I did a few of them.
Gorgeous art, music is good, but forgettable (to me, but y'know my tastes, they're all over the place!).
Writing is...well I can't say it sucks after reading a small argument about it. It is very...it's pretentious. It's unclear, but in a "bad" way. There is no sense of intrigue, slightly convoluted, and you can get across the same meaning(s) without sounding pretentious. I say meaning(s) because some of the text is open to interpretation, or at least that's what people say.
Maybe I've been reading too many scientific articles (which use a different style of writing) but in my opinion, if you read something once, it should be practically crystal clear, but there's a small little cloudiness. That "cloudiness" is the intrigue, it's what makes you do a double take, to re-read the text and interpret it different. Braid's writing is just...a lot of steam surrounding a lot of decent message.
This is where I plug in two free, downloadable games (one of which is Mac friendly, the other is not).
Cave Story: solid platformer, great music (more memorable to me), fun story, and lovable characters. Completely made by one person over a span of...5 years? It's been translated into English, and I highly recommend trying it. http://www.miraigamer.net/cavestory/
Iji: action side-scroller, good music, much less "cute" than Cave Story, but very fun. Made in RPGMaker by Daniel Remar. Great game, highly recommended. http://www.remar.se/daniel/iji.php
Are these games better than Braid? That's up to you, but for me, the answer is "yes."
[Side note: part of the reason is that to me, the Braid demo suffered from being extremely disconnected. It's a traditional platforming puzzle game, no doubt, but that's also a flaw to me. Each world feels so separate from another, there's no unifying story to it all. Sure, a lot of the story is told in the books, and they serve as back story/background info, but tell me: why? Why should I care about this guy who is trying to rescue the princess? Where does his time manipulation come from? While it is true that years before, games like Mario or Zelda had minimal story like Braid, but we've come far, far from those times.
Take a game like Ico or Shadow of the Colossus (same creator by the way, but meaning is the same). Minimal story, a lot of it is kind of like grasping at straws, but they both make you BELIEVE, they both IMMERSE the player into their world, they tell a COHERENT story, something that Braid (at least the demo) does not do. And yes, I completed World 2, part of World 3 (up until the demo lets me) and part of World 4 (demo...it's weird).]
I'll pick up Braid, eventually. I really don't like the whole digital distribution thing, I like having a physical copy with me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid_(video_game)
My thoughts on the game are as follows. Note this is after playing the demo.
It is good, nay, it is great. It is a well-made game. It is also extremely...over-hyped (git off that pedestal!). Great game, not "run out to play it NOW!!!" but good, solid game.
Puzzles are thoughtful and clever. Frustrating sometimes, and despite what is said by others, there was no sense of accomplishment when I did a few of them.
Gorgeous art, music is good, but forgettable (to me, but y'know my tastes, they're all over the place!).
Writing is...well I can't say it sucks after reading a small argument about it. It is very...it's pretentious. It's unclear, but in a "bad" way. There is no sense of intrigue, slightly convoluted, and you can get across the same meaning(s) without sounding pretentious. I say meaning(s) because some of the text is open to interpretation, or at least that's what people say.
Maybe I've been reading too many scientific articles (which use a different style of writing) but in my opinion, if you read something once, it should be practically crystal clear, but there's a small little cloudiness. That "cloudiness" is the intrigue, it's what makes you do a double take, to re-read the text and interpret it different. Braid's writing is just...a lot of steam surrounding a lot of decent message.
This is where I plug in two free, downloadable games (one of which is Mac friendly, the other is not).
Cave Story: solid platformer, great music (more memorable to me), fun story, and lovable characters. Completely made by one person over a span of...5 years? It's been translated into English, and I highly recommend trying it. http://www.miraigamer.net/cavestory/
Iji: action side-scroller, good music, much less "cute" than Cave Story, but very fun. Made in RPGMaker by Daniel Remar. Great game, highly recommended. http://www.remar.se/daniel/iji.php
Are these games better than Braid? That's up to you, but for me, the answer is "yes."
[Side note: part of the reason is that to me, the Braid demo suffered from being extremely disconnected. It's a traditional platforming puzzle game, no doubt, but that's also a flaw to me. Each world feels so separate from another, there's no unifying story to it all. Sure, a lot of the story is told in the books, and they serve as back story/background info, but tell me: why? Why should I care about this guy who is trying to rescue the princess? Where does his time manipulation come from? While it is true that years before, games like Mario or Zelda had minimal story like Braid, but we've come far, far from those times.
Take a game like Ico or Shadow of the Colossus (same creator by the way, but meaning is the same). Minimal story, a lot of it is kind of like grasping at straws, but they both make you BELIEVE, they both IMMERSE the player into their world, they tell a COHERENT story, something that Braid (at least the demo) does not do. And yes, I completed World 2, part of World 3 (up until the demo lets me) and part of World 4 (demo...it's weird).]
I'll pick up Braid, eventually. I really don't like the whole digital distribution thing, I like having a physical copy with me.
Labels: Video games
posted by Steven at
6:09:00 p.m.
8 Comments:
http://xkcd.com/484/
I felt that was appropriate.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I double posted. Damn.
Ah, but in a sense, while Braid has above average production values than a Flash game, it can still be likened to a Flash game. In terms of scope I mean (compared to say, Gears of War 2, or Halo).
Also: I thought if your warranty expired on your 360 YOU pay the shipping and handling.
Which to me, says that Microsoft should REALLY fix those hardware problems, otherwise they like to fuck you with those fees.
Hard.
And that xkcd comic? Totally appropriate.
From what I heard the RROD issues was so prevalent that it doesn't matter if your warranty expired. Pretty much the RROD should not happen, and if it does you get a replacement. I recall people going to replace their system two years after they bought it? Paying for shipping... That can't be too much?
But yeah I agree with you this whole hardware issue really put off a lot of people from the 360, and I get it, people want to know that they are investing in something that's going to last.
I heard warranties were extended, but otherwise yeah, people still had to pay for the shipping.
Which can be quite expensive. It is at LEAST...a penny.
I dunno, size of a 360, weight of it...I'm guessing at last 10 dollars? And then more if you want it to be certified or something (to have people on the other end sign off on it).
okay neither of you have obviously shipped anything..... shipping an Xbox would cost you ~50-70 bucks EASY.
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