I agree with the show-don't-tell methodology overall. I don't honestly think that's what's going on here. Just my opinion. It's a perfectly crafted mood and theme that imply something deeper.
It's like if you but a black/white/ambient filter over Mario, called it "Realm" and replaced the music with some spooky noises.
What are goombas? Are those tormented souless wanderers? Who is the woman and what are the mysterious turtle creatures with hammers? Maybe the woman is his mother and he's seeking forgiveness? Does he need the coints to pass over into heaven? Are the looping castle levels a metaphor for having to relive your mistakes? So deep!
Ah, okay—I thought you were equating "no obvious story" with "no story effort" broadly. I kind of agree, in a way—I think Limbo has broader themes hinted at, but it's damn hard to pull something out. :P I think there are obvious implications left after the ending, especially after the credits, but some of the deeper analyses I've read are definitely reaching. Not to pull too OT, though, but I think that's the nature of art: It's something that makes you question. If you consider found objects as legit pieces of art, then I think something like Limbo can have some sort of thematic value to it.
Funnily enough, Braid specifically uses Mario motifs, and I thought they were used well.
Not to pull too OT, though, but I think that's the nature of art: It's something that makes you question. If you consider found objects as legit pieces of art, then I think something like Limbo can have some sort of thematic value to it.
Sorry for the short derail, but... WHAT?! Are you seriously going with THAT?
Start of rant /////
Art cannot be defined because of it's subjective nature- art is, literally, what you call art, just as artists are all those who call themselves artists. But those definitions are useless! I could fill entire books with meaningless letters, pile them up, forbid anyone from reading or even touching the books, and call it art! (Yes, it's been done.)
To talk about art at all, we have to narrow it down, and the most common indicator of things being called "art" is that they are usually the best of their kind. So enjoying art would be enjoying superior craftmanship, superior skill, superior knowledge... or just plain having fun. Everything else is art for art's sake, a recursive definition nightmare that is, ultimately, just a lowered barrier for less-talented "artists"; sadly, indie games are an example of this, due to absolute lack of quality control or entry barrier. There are exceptions, but marketing is of no help (note the contradiction of "indie game" and "marketing"), and it's a little difficult to go through a thousand turds to find the gold nugget...
See: Art is FUN. Fun has many, many different shapes, differing from person to person. If you don't enjoy it, it's not art for you, and that's totally fine, because their is no "objective" art. By that logic, truly artistic games are those which you have the most fun playing, the BEST games of all. Going by the refined tastes of experienced gamers, that would be stuff like Super Metroid, Street Fighter 2, Deus Ex, Planescape Torment, Civilization IV. I'm afraid games which treat the story as not only separate from, but also more important than the actual game will never reach that status.
/// End of rant
Okay. Had to get that off my chest.
On a more Limbo-related topic: how's the game itself? I don't really care for any fancy graphic filters or blessedly vague attempts at storytelling; are the puzzles difficult? Is the jump'n'run part any good?
I'm thinking of buying it, but all the reviews in the OP are so painfully vague I don't really trust them.
Fact: anybody seriously writing "realizes both its internal gameplay logic and its prevailing aesthetic" is probably full of shit.
I mean, "internal"? So there's "external" gameplay? Like, outside of the game? Oh, wait, are there LAYERS of game? A game onion, perhaps? Then I suppose there'll be lots of tears trying to reach internal gameplay.
Not to pull too OT, though, but I think that's the nature of art: It's something that makes you question. If you consider found objects as legit pieces of art, then I think something like Limbo can have some sort of thematic value to it.
Sorry for the short derail, but... WHAT?! Are you seriously going with THAT?
Start of rant /////
Art cannot be defined because of it's subjective nature- art is, literally, what you call art, just as artists are all those who call themselves artists. But those definitions are useless! I could fill entire books with meaningless letters, pile them up, forbid anyone from reading or even touching the books, and call it art! (Yes, it's been done.)
To talk about art at all, we have to narrow it down, and the most common indicator of things being called "art" is that they are usually the best of their kind. So enjoying art would be enjoying superior craftmanship, superior skill, superior knowledge... or just plain having fun. Everything else is art for art's sake, a recursive definition nightmare that is, ultimately, just a lowered barrier for less-talented "artists"; sadly, indie games are an example of this, due to absolute lack of quality control or entry barrier. There are exceptions, but marketing is of no help (note the contradiction of "indie game" and "marketing"), and it's a little difficult to go through a thousand turds to find the gold nugget...
See: Art is FUN. Fun has many, many different shapes, differing from person to person. If you don't enjoy it, it's not art for you, and that's totally fine, because their is no "objective" art. By that logic, truly artistic games are those which you have the most fun playing, the BEST games of all. Going by the refined tastes of experienced gamers, that would be stuff like Super Metroid, Street Fighter 2, Deus Ex, Planescape Torment, Civilization IV. I'm afraid games which treat the story as not only separate from, but also more important than the actual game will never reach that status.
/// End of rant
Okay. Had to get that off my chest.
On a more Limbo-related topic: how's the game itself? I don't really care for any fancy graphic filters or blessedly vague attempts at storytelling; are the puzzles difficult? Is the jump'n'run part any good?
I'm thinking of buying it, but all the reviews in the OP are so painfully vague I don't really trust them.
Fact: anybody seriously writing "realizes both its internal gameplay logic and its prevailing aesthetic" is probably full of shit.
I mean, "internal"? So there's "external" gameplay? Like, outside of the game? Oh, wait, are there LAYERS of game? A game onion, perhaps? Then I suppose there'll be lots of tears trying to reach internal gameplay.
i have no idea what any of that stuff about internal gameplay means, but the controls are very tight and precise for the most part and the platforming doesn't fuck around
the puzzles can be difficult, but they're all interaction-based, so you probably won't get your mind bent into a pretzel by them like braid's could make you do
Not to pull too OT, though, but I think that's the nature of art: It's something that makes you question. If you consider found objects as legit pieces of art, then I think something like Limbo can have some sort of thematic value to it.
Sorry for the short derail, but... WHAT?! Are you seriously going with THAT?
Start of rant /////
Art cannot be defined because of it's subjective nature- art is, literally, what you call art, just as artists are all those who call themselves artists. But those definitions are useless! I could fill entire books with meaningless letters, pile them up, forbid anyone from reading or even touching the books, and call it art! (Yes, it's been done.)
To talk about art at all, we have to narrow it down, and the most common indicator of things being called "art" is that they are usually the best of their kind. So enjoying art would be enjoying superior craftmanship, superior skill, superior knowledge... or just plain having fun. Everything else is art for art's sake, a recursive definition nightmare that is, ultimately, just a lowered barrier for less-talented "artists"; sadly, indie games are an example of this, due to absolute lack of quality control or entry barrier. There are exceptions, but marketing is of no help (note the contradiction of "indie game" and "marketing"), and it's a little difficult to go through a thousand turds to find the gold nugget...
See: Art is FUN. Fun has many, many different shapes, differing from person to person. If you don't enjoy it, it's not art for you, and that's totally fine, because their is no "objective" art. By that logic, truly artistic games are those which you have the most fun playing, the BEST games of all. Going by the refined tastes of experienced gamers, that would be stuff like Super Metroid, Street Fighter 2, Deus Ex, Planescape Torment, Civilization IV. I'm afraid games which treat the story as not only separate from, but also more important than the actual game will never reach that status.
/// End of rant
Okay. Had to get that off my chest.
On a more Limbo-related topic: how's the game itself? I don't really care for any fancy graphic filters or blessedly vague attempts at storytelling; are the puzzles difficult? Is the jump'n'run part any good?
I'm thinking of buying it, but all the reviews in the OP are so painfully vague I don't really trust them.
Fact: anybody seriously writing "realizes both its internal gameplay logic and its prevailing aesthetic" is probably full of shit.
I mean, "internal"? So there's "external" gameplay? Like, outside of the game? Oh, wait, are there LAYERS of game? A game onion, perhaps? Then I suppose there'll be lots of tears trying to reach internal gameplay.
Well said, and I'll just cop out a bit and say I don't want to pull this into the full art definition, because lord knows too many indie game threads get sucked in there. :P
When you strip away the art faff and the aesthetic, I think Limbo is so-so as a pure puzzle-platformer; I think games like Braid and Portal succeed far better at being legitimately well-designed puzzle games. Limbo has a few clever moments, but otherwise they're permutations of very similar puzzle situations (gravity switches, box puzzles, physics ramps and the like). Strangely enough, I was somewhat reminded of Splosion Man when playing through Limbo; it's got that "learning through death and trial-and-error" attitude. I also loved Splosion Man, so YMMV. The number of "cheap deaths" fades out as you get further through Limbo. I think if it didn't have the mood and ambience, I'd probably pay $10 for Limbo, and I'd likely only play it through once.
Ok, I've gotten all the achievements (sans the <5 death one), and I certainly did not get the egg in the video. So I guess there are other eggs in addition to the 10 achievement eggs?
Ok, I've gotten all the achievements (sans the <5 death one), and I certainly did not get the egg in the video. So I guess there are other eggs in addition to the 10 achievement eggs?
yeah, after you beat the game more eggs appear throughout
each one gives you 1 percentage point
it's just to encourage a semblance of replay value beyond looking at the pretty pictures
When you strip away the art faff and the aesthetic, I think Limbo is so-so as a pure puzzle-platformer; I think games like Braid and Portal succeed far better at being legitimately well-designed puzzle games. Limbo has a few clever moments, but otherwise they're permutations of very similar puzzle situations (gravity switches, box puzzles, physics ramps and the like). Strangely enough, I was somewhat reminded of Splosion Man when playing through Limbo; it's got that "learning through death and trial-and-error" attitude. I also loved Splosion Man, so YMMV. The number of "cheap deaths" fades out as you get further through Limbo. I think if it didn't have the mood and ambience, I'd probably pay $10 for Limbo, and I'd likely only play it through once.
Splosion Man...?
That comment alone already has my attention. I think I'll try out Limbo, then! :P
When you strip away the art faff and the aesthetic, I think Limbo is so-so as a pure puzzle-platformer; I think games like Braid and Portal succeed far better at being legitimately well-designed puzzle games. Limbo has a few clever moments, but otherwise they're permutations of very similar puzzle situations (gravity switches, box puzzles, physics ramps and the like). Strangely enough, I was somewhat reminded of Splosion Man when playing through Limbo; it's got that "learning through death and trial-and-error" attitude. I also loved Splosion Man, so YMMV. The number of "cheap deaths" fades out as you get further through Limbo. I think if it didn't have the mood and ambience, I'd probably pay $10 for Limbo, and I'd likely only play it through once.
Splosion Man...?
That comment alone already has my attention. I think I'll try out Limbo, then! :P
Just replace the navel-gazing introspection with meat and donuts.
Ok, I've gotten all the achievements (sans the <5 death one), and I certainly did not get the egg in the video. So I guess there are other eggs in addition to the 10 achievement eggs?
yeah, after you beat the game more eggs appear throughout
each one gives you 1 percentage point
it's just to encourage a semblance of replay value beyond looking at the pretty pictures
Hm, yeah not sure I like that, but at least it's not achievment related. Part of me likes that they took the time to add some replay value, but the other part of me doesn't like feeling tempted to hunt impossible eggs for fake percentage points.
On the subject of Splosion Man, that game is way harder IMO and by rights should be more frustrating but I loved it, never had to resort to videos / guides just worked it all out, revelling in the pain.
Limbo, about 3/4 of the way in I just wanted it to end and found the puzzles too annoying.
Don't want to get too down on it though, the opening sections are absolutely fantastic I really appreciate the atmosphere they have created. I think with the industrial bits and some of those puzzles the awesome aesthetic went out the window and large parts kinda looked unfinished, nothing like the polish demonstrated at the start. But hoo boy, what a start. Will be playing through those bits a fair few times before I'm done.
On the subject of Splosion Man, that game is way harder IMO and by rights should be more frustrating but I loved it, never had to resort to videos / guides just worked it all out, revelling in the pain.
Limbo, about 3/4 of the way in I just wanted it to end and found the puzzles too annoying.
Don't want to get too down on it though, the opening sections are absolutely fantastic I really appreciate the atmosphere they have created. I think with the industrial bits and some of those puzzles the awesome aesthetic went out the window and large parts kinda looked unfinished, nothing like the polish demonstrated at the start. But hoo boy, what a start. Will be playing through those bits a fair few times before I'm done.
Agreed, the game is at its best in that first hour or so.
That fucking spider scared the shit out of me every single time it came up. And the part when it catches you and spins you into the silkworm was brilliant. And then when you're slowly rolling on the ball and you see it catching up to you out of the flickers of shadows ... With that and the boys rolling flaming tires at you, I wish the game had kept that bizarre, organic, dystopian Lord of the Flies vibe throughout.
And Splosion Man definitely takes waaaaaaay more timing precision, but the whole death-retry angle made me make the connection in my head.
i agree that the factory wasn't nearly as compelling as the forest, but i think it was a practical consideration, because they'd pretty much exhausted all the possible puzzle permutations (perhaps) you could get with that level of technology
though i think they were aware of that, at least in one part near the end
during that hellish grav-manipulation puzzle with the sliding platform and the two blocks, the second of which was waaaay over to the left and only reachable by putting the first on top of an elevator, which you're almost guaranteed to forget exists trying to figure it out with only one
anyway, if you reverse the gravity and go right, you seem to have wound up back in the forest setting, and you can hear a few birds calling, really peaceful even though you can't reach it
it really makes you long for that familiar setting where something might be still alive (even though it was trying to kill you an hour ago)
and then you finally solve the puzzle and just past that one slice of natural life there's more steel and machinery waiting to pound the life out of you
It's funny how many people agree on that front - I am one of them too. I like the organic setting much better and thought the setpieces/conflict was much more intense.
They could have changed landscapes and still kept it organic. Mountain, cornfield, swamp, snow, desert, etc (and the associated themed traps and encounters). But I can understand the design decision to go from organic to mechanical.
It's funny how many people agree on that front - I am one of them too. I like the organic setting much better and thought the setpieces/conflict was much more intense.
They could have changed landscapes and still kept it organic. Mountain, cornfield, swamp, snow, desert, etc (and the associated themed traps and encounters). But I can understand the design decision to go from organic to mechanical.
there was some really great concept art in the early stages three years ago that mostly consisted of hulking, wind-swept mountains with a few heaps of junked machinery lying here and there, but only one two-second sequence of a place like that showed up in the first trailer
i am kind of disappointed that none of the really stunning places from the concept designs made it through
I'm at the bit after the hotel sign, going down the hole there, getting brain slugged and then coming back. There is an elevator which I can take up and down and a single box. If I take the elevator up, there is a rope thing (after pulling a lever) to the right which I'm just out of reach of. I can't get the box there because of a seesaw thing. Is there something I am missing here?
I'm at the bit after the hotel sign, going down the hole there, getting brain slugged and then coming back. There is an elevator which I can take up and down and a single box. If I take the elevator up, there is a rope thing (after pulling a lever) to the right which I'm just out of reach of. I can't get the box there because of a seesaw thing. Is there something I am missing here?
I'm at the bit after the hotel sign, going down the hole there, getting brain slugged and then coming back. There is an elevator which I can take up and down and a single box. If I take the elevator up, there is a rope thing (after pulling a lever) to the right which I'm just out of reach of. I can't get the box there because of a seesaw thing. Is there something I am missing here?
I'm at the bit after the hotel sign, going down the hole there, getting brain slugged and then coming back. There is an elevator which I can take up and down and a single box. If I take the elevator up, there is a rope thing (after pulling a lever) to the right which I'm just out of reach of. I can't get the box there because of a seesaw thing. Is there something I am missing here?
Ha, yeah that one took me a bit too.
The bottom of the elevator has a handle on it.
That should help you enough.
Aha much thanks.
I noticed the rope to the left hand side after I posted, took a while to get there thinking it was the way to go. When I got there though, all it does is give an achievement and unlock some tshirts >:
Not sure if this was brought up already, but the 1up review actually states what I was trying to say earlier pretty nicely. I think it might a little overly harsh, but that guy had some of the same gripes I (and others here) had.
Ok, I've gotten all the achievements (sans the <5 death one), and I certainly did not get the egg in the video. So I guess there are other eggs in addition to the 10 achievement eggs?
yeah, after you beat the game more eggs appear throughout
each one gives you 1 percentage point
it's just to encourage a semblance of replay value beyond looking at the pretty pictures
Really? They really need to tell you this kind of stuff in game.
Loving this game so far. It's short, but sweet, and I'm definitely not experiencing the boredom/desire for it to end that others are reporting. Quite the contrary, I wish it were longer. Also just happy I've gotten all the way up to the first gravity panel puzzle without needing assistance--going to see if I can just finish the thing without it.
Going to go on record saying that I also liked the shift from nature to industry. Not at first, mind you, but it's grown on me and I realized that it serves a purpose--further dread and disconnection from the real world. At least nature is alive, you know? Cold machinery is, well... not.
So I'm wondering if anyone loves this game, but didn't enjoy Braid? Because personally I didn't get all the hype with Braid. I thought the game was pretty boring, and I want to try this game out, but I feel like it's in the same category with the other artsy games, which I am not against. I love the style. I just feel like reviewers over hype any new games that simply have a different art style.
you're wrong
gee, that was easy!
to elaborate, games like this and braid don't catch all that praise because oh mah gawd so pretty, they get it because they tend to take one little thing and then do it exceptionally well
reviewers seem to love focused, competent games, just look at how well world of goo did
What exactly am I wrong about?
And for the record I loved World of Goo. But to keep the little debate going, I think you're wrong. I think just about every game ever created does at least 1 thing right. An amazing game has to do just about everything right.
Wow, okay looked at Lunker's linked vid and screw those eggs. That's Braid' stars level bollocks right there.
Not quite.
They gotta have an egg that requires you to wait forever and a day for a slow moving platform to move across an entire level for it to reach Braid's level of stupid.
Compounded by Braid's creator constantly pimping Braid as a game that follows no conventional rules.
Useless item quest right there in the fucking game.
Braid's stars were actually really clever sticking points about obsession. I maintain that the game should have given you an odd number of Gamerscore points for completing it and then 1 point for getting the stars, thus forcing obsessive gamers to jump through the inane hoops for a few of those stars to round off their score.
The fact that one of them was actually locked out by completing the World 3 puzzle the right way, thus forcing people who wanted the stars to restate their game just to get it, and another one forced you to actually leave the game untouched for two hours straight ... You can't honestly believe those were oversights on the creator's part. A big dick move, maybe, but what does it say when you still do it anyway?
I have yet to get all of the stars, but I plan on trying, just like I plan on hunting for more of Limbo's egg thingies. I like that the Achievement titles give vague clues, but nothin that totally gives the answer away. Though I'm assuming the hints are in chronological order.
Yesterday I took my hard drive over to my friend's house so he could play through this.
My friend's brother had like 5 friends over, and the brother and his friends were all frying on LSD.
They ended up glued watching us for the entire game. Since I knew how to solve all the puzzles, I made a vow to remain silent until he beat the game and never offer any hints, and it was hilarious listening to their crazy suggestions on how to solve the puzzles.
Should have heard their reactions whenever the spider showed up, and their reactions to the ending. Hilarious.
Braid's stars were actually really clever sticking points about obsession. I maintain that the game should have given you an odd number of Gamerscore points for completing it and then 1 point for getting the stars, thus forcing obsessive gamers to jump through the inane hoops for a few of those stars to round off their score.
The fact that one of them was actually locked out by completing the World 3 puzzle the right way, thus forcing people who wanted the stars to restate their game just to get it, and another one forced you to actually leave the game untouched for two hours straight ... You can't honestly believe those were oversights on the creator's part. A big dick move, maybe, but what does it say when you still do it anyway?
I have yet to get all of the stars, but I plan on trying, just like I plan on hunting for more of Limbo's egg thingies. I like that the Achievement titles give vague clues, but nothin that totally gives the answer away. Though I'm assuming the hints are in chronological order.
Posts
Ah, okay—I thought you were equating "no obvious story" with "no story effort" broadly. I kind of agree, in a way—I think Limbo has broader themes hinted at, but it's damn hard to pull something out. :P I think there are obvious implications left after the ending, especially after the credits, but some of the deeper analyses I've read are definitely reaching. Not to pull too OT, though, but I think that's the nature of art: It's something that makes you question. If you consider found objects as legit pieces of art, then I think something like Limbo can have some sort of thematic value to it.
Funnily enough, Braid specifically uses Mario motifs, and I thought they were used well.
EDIT: Okay, I was curious and looked up one of the secret egg videos on YouTube, and [vidurl=
Sorry for the short derail, but... WHAT?! Are you seriously going with THAT?
Start of rant /////
Art cannot be defined because of it's subjective nature- art is, literally, what you call art, just as artists are all those who call themselves artists. But those definitions are useless! I could fill entire books with meaningless letters, pile them up, forbid anyone from reading or even touching the books, and call it art! (Yes, it's been done.)
To talk about art at all, we have to narrow it down, and the most common indicator of things being called "art" is that they are usually the best of their kind. So enjoying art would be enjoying superior craftmanship, superior skill, superior knowledge... or just plain having fun. Everything else is art for art's sake, a recursive definition nightmare that is, ultimately, just a lowered barrier for less-talented "artists"; sadly, indie games are an example of this, due to absolute lack of quality control or entry barrier. There are exceptions, but marketing is of no help (note the contradiction of "indie game" and "marketing"), and it's a little difficult to go through a thousand turds to find the gold nugget...
See: Art is FUN. Fun has many, many different shapes, differing from person to person. If you don't enjoy it, it's not art for you, and that's totally fine, because their is no "objective" art. By that logic, truly artistic games are those which you have the most fun playing, the BEST games of all. Going by the refined tastes of experienced gamers, that would be stuff like Super Metroid, Street Fighter 2, Deus Ex, Planescape Torment, Civilization IV. I'm afraid games which treat the story as not only separate from, but also more important than the actual game will never reach that status.
Okay. Had to get that off my chest.
On a more Limbo-related topic: how's the game itself? I don't really care for any fancy graphic filters or blessedly vague attempts at storytelling; are the puzzles difficult? Is the jump'n'run part any good?
I'm thinking of buying it, but all the reviews in the OP are so painfully vague I don't really trust them.
Fact: anybody seriously writing "realizes both its internal gameplay logic and its prevailing aesthetic" is probably full of shit.
I mean, "internal"? So there's "external" gameplay? Like, outside of the game? Oh, wait, are there LAYERS of game? A game onion, perhaps? Then I suppose there'll be lots of tears trying to reach internal gameplay.
No onions.
Twitter 3DS: 0860 - 3257 - 2516
i have no idea what any of that stuff about internal gameplay means, but the controls are very tight and precise for the most part and the platforming doesn't fuck around
the puzzles can be difficult, but they're all interaction-based, so you probably won't get your mind bent into a pretzel by them like braid's could make you do
Well said, and I'll just cop out a bit and say I don't want to pull this into the full art definition, because lord knows too many indie game threads get sucked in there. :P
When you strip away the art faff and the aesthetic, I think Limbo is so-so as a pure puzzle-platformer; I think games like Braid and Portal succeed far better at being legitimately well-designed puzzle games. Limbo has a few clever moments, but otherwise they're permutations of very similar puzzle situations (gravity switches, box puzzles, physics ramps and the like). Strangely enough, I was somewhat reminded of Splosion Man when playing through Limbo; it's got that "learning through death and trial-and-error" attitude. I also loved Splosion Man, so YMMV. The number of "cheap deaths" fades out as you get further through Limbo. I think if it didn't have the mood and ambience, I'd probably pay $10 for Limbo, and I'd likely only play it through once.
Ok, I've gotten all the achievements (sans the <5 death one), and I certainly did not get the egg in the video. So I guess there are other eggs in addition to the 10 achievement eggs?
yeah, after you beat the game more eggs appear throughout
each one gives you 1 percentage point
it's just to encourage a semblance of replay value beyond looking at the pretty pictures
Splosion Man...?
That comment alone already has my attention. I think I'll try out Limbo, then! :P
Just replace the navel-gazing introspection with meat and donuts.
Hm, yeah not sure I like that, but at least it's not achievment related. Part of me likes that they took the time to add some replay value, but the other part of me doesn't like feeling tempted to hunt impossible eggs for fake percentage points.
Ophidian Wars: Opac's Journey
I'm only 1/2 way through(ish) but I'm already feeling like that.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
RainbowDespair'll love that line.
It reminds me of a platform version of Dishwasher Samurai, which incidentally is amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im8pSPeUorY
I know it's super fast and hyper violent and the two really don't compare...but still, my mind must be weird.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
haha - yeah those people don't have a lick of an idea of what goes into developing a platformer (or any game for that matter)
the budget for Limbo had to be well into 6 digits - most indie (xbox live indie) games are made for less than a grand
Ophidian Wars: Opac's Journey
Limbo, about 3/4 of the way in I just wanted it to end and found the puzzles too annoying.
Don't want to get too down on it though, the opening sections are absolutely fantastic I really appreciate the atmosphere they have created. I think with the industrial bits and some of those puzzles the awesome aesthetic went out the window and large parts kinda looked unfinished, nothing like the polish demonstrated at the start. But hoo boy, what a start. Will be playing through those bits a fair few times before I'm done.
Agreed, the game is at its best in that first hour or so.
And Splosion Man definitely takes waaaaaaay more timing precision, but the whole death-retry angle made me make the connection in my head.
though i think they were aware of that, at least in one part near the end
anyway, if you reverse the gravity and go right, you seem to have wound up back in the forest setting, and you can hear a few birds calling, really peaceful even though you can't reach it
it really makes you long for that familiar setting where something might be still alive (even though it was trying to kill you an hour ago)
and then you finally solve the puzzle and just past that one slice of natural life there's more steel and machinery waiting to pound the life out of you
They could have changed landscapes and still kept it organic. Mountain, cornfield, swamp, snow, desert, etc (and the associated themed traps and encounters). But I can understand the design decision to go from organic to mechanical.
Ophidian Wars: Opac's Journey
there was some really great concept art in the early stages three years ago that mostly consisted of hulking, wind-swept mountains with a few heaps of junked machinery lying here and there, but only one two-second sequence of a place like that showed up in the first trailer
i am kind of disappointed that none of the really stunning places from the concept designs made it through
Ha, yeah that one took me a bit too.
That should help you enough.
Ophidian Wars: Opac's Journey
Aha much thanks.
Ophidian Wars: Opac's Journey
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Really? They really need to tell you this kind of stuff in game.
Going to go on record saying that I also liked the shift from nature to industry. Not at first, mind you, but it's grown on me and I realized that it serves a purpose--further dread and disconnection from the real world. At least nature is alive, you know? Cold machinery is, well... not.
And for the record I loved World of Goo. But to keep the little debate going, I think you're wrong. I think just about every game ever created does at least 1 thing right. An amazing game has to do just about everything right.
Not quite.
They gotta have an egg that requires you to wait forever and a day for a slow moving platform to move across an entire level for it to reach Braid's level of stupid.
Compounded by Braid's creator constantly pimping Braid as a game that follows no conventional rules.
Useless item quest right there in the fucking game.
Ah, but it was all a statement about useless item quests.
I have yet to get all of the stars, but I plan on trying, just like I plan on hunting for more of Limbo's egg thingies. I like that the Achievement titles give vague clues, but nothin that totally gives the answer away. Though I'm assuming the hints are in chronological order.
gotta say, it's still a hell of an experience even when you see everything coming
also, ending spoilers
you can make out the silhouette of the two front tires and a cracked fender
My friend's brother had like 5 friends over, and the brother and his friends were all frying on LSD.
They ended up glued watching us for the entire game. Since I knew how to solve all the puzzles, I made a vow to remain silent until he beat the game and never offer any hints, and it was hilarious listening to their crazy suggestions on how to solve the puzzles.
Should have heard their reactions whenever the spider showed up, and their reactions to the ending. Hilarious.
yes, the hints are in order
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
the fact that there is no achievement for getting them shows that you're not even being encouraged
i thought it was clever
I thought of it as a super-unhappy ending that should be avoided.