I think braid got a lot of shit because of all the hoopla around its release being like a one man project, the price, the obscure story, etc.
It's actually quite good, has a good length, nice puzzles, great music, etc.
Is it perfect? No, not at all. There's a lot of flaws but the end result is much better than not.
Looking back maybe I wouldn't pay the full $15 I did again, but I don't regret it. It's so cheap on the PC with sales all over creation that if you can get it for like $5 it's more than worthwhile.
people who complain that it could "only be played the way the designer intended it" are strange. that's how 99% of puzzle games work. i can't think of a puzzle game that doesn't consist of the player attempting to figure out the one solution.
the game was about adapting to a constantly changing set of rules, and experimenting to figure out how those rules functioned. it was wonderful.
people who complain that it could "only be played the way the designer intended it" are strange. that's how 99% of puzzle games work. i can't think of a puzzle game that doesn't consist of the player attempting to figure out the one solution.
the game was about adapting to a constantly changing set of rules, and experimenting to figure out how those rules functioned. it was wonderful.
And by midgame, there's usually more than one solution to every puzzle. Some of which are unintentional consequences of how the world works.
people who complain that it could "only be played the way the designer intended it" are strange. that's how 99% of puzzle games work. i can't think of a puzzle game that doesn't consist of the player attempting to figure out the one solution.
Yeah, Tetris follows its own internal rules very consistently. You don't have a lot of leeway in what you're allowed to do.
All puzzle games are this way. Complaining about it in Braid is pretty asinine.
Not all puzzle games. I know I'm a whore for this game, but if anyone wants a puzzle game where you invent your own solution rather than discovering an intended solution...
For example, in one of the earlier levels you get H2 from one input, O2 from the other input, and you have to split them both apart and rebond them into H2O2 before outputting it.
people who complain that it could "only be played the way the designer intended it" are strange. that's how 99% of puzzle games work. i can't think of a puzzle game that doesn't consist of the player attempting to figure out the one solution.
Tetris
That's unfair. Tetris is in such a different ball park.
the game was about adapting to a constantly changing set of rules, and experimenting to figure out how those rules functioned. it was wonderful.
Isn't this essentially what every good video game is about? My problem with Braid is that there was nothing in the game to draw me back in. I had plenty of fun for the first hour but each time I took a break it became increasingly hard to motivate myself to play it again. The first few levels after a new mechanic was introduced were always a blast, but later levels quickly became tedious and I never truly felt engaged. It would have been nice if the levels were much larger and didn't revolve around just a few key steps.
Yeah, Tetris follows its own internal rules very consistently. You don't have a lot of leeway in what you're allowed to do.
All puzzle games are this way. Complaining about it in Braid is pretty asinine.
Not all puzzle games. I know I'm a whore for this game, but if anyone wants a puzzle game where you invent your own solution rather than discovering an intended solution...
For example, in one of the earlier levels you get H2 from one input, O2 from the other input, and you have to split them both apart and rebond them into H2O2 before outputting it.
Limed for please leave Braid the fuck alone people. It's a good game that's usually on sale: if you hate then it at least you aren't paying too much for it.
Next topic.
DisruptedCapitalist on
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
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FiggyFighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered Userregular
edited March 2011
If you want a puzzle game where you're not forced into specific solutions, Trine.
It's a puzzle platformer, but it's just breathtaking.
Yeah, Tetris follows its own internal rules very consistently. You don't have a lot of leeway in what you're allowed to do.
All puzzle games are this way. Complaining about it in Braid is pretty asinine.
Not all puzzle games. I know I'm a whore for this game, but if anyone wants a puzzle game where you invent your own solution rather than discovering an intended solution...
For example, in one of the earlier levels you get H2 from one input, O2 from the other input, and you have to split them both apart and rebond them into H2O2 before outputting it.
I keep seeing people mention this game. I saw it on Steam and it just looked odd.
I guess I'm going to have to try the demo now.
Go now and get it. Anyone who doesn´t try the SpaceChem demo is a dirty commie I say...
Anyway here is an overly complicated solution to the same level on the above post. This is what happens when you advance in the game without knowing some of it´s mechanics. Yay for overly complicated solutions!!!
EDIT: I got Napoleon and started to download it, 2-3 hours later I left to have dinner out and after coming back I can barely see the the green on the steam symbol, not sure it will be ready when I return from work tommorrow. So another yay, for 1Mbps connections!
people who complain that it could "only be played the way the designer intended it" are strange. that's how 99% of puzzle games work. i can't think of a puzzle game that doesn't consist of the player attempting to figure out the one solution.
As have already been mentioned, Trine and Tetris.
Then there's Bejeweled and let's just lump in every other Bejeweled-inspired or Bejeweled-adjacent game such as Puzzle Quest and Puzzle Fighter and so on and so forth into one game rather than list all fifteen million of them.
Then there are games like Zuma (or Luxor) and Peggle. And maze-navigation games like Super Monkey Ball and Marble Madness. And games like Pipe Dream, or the hacking minigame from Bioshock.
I'd also consider the entire "tower defense" genre to be a form of puzzle game, or at least a hybrid of puzzle and RTS.
I mean, even the fucking Tower Of Hanoi has more than one solution.
As mentioned both Trine and Tetris have rules that must be followed explicitly. Tetris more than Trine, but calling Trine a straight puzzle game is a pretty big stretch. Braid is considerably more of a straight puzzle game given that the platforming is only a means to an end to the extent that you can't lose.
All puzzle games have rules. Those rules cannot be broken. In Tetris you can just decide to turn a square into a circle or get a tetris with vertical lines instead of horizontal. Bejeweled is probably one of the most constrained puzzle games out there.
Of course those aren't even the same type of puzzle games as Braid.
But again, the notion that Braid is somehow different than any other rules based puzzle game is just absurd, and flatly wrong.
As mentioned both Trine and Tetris have rules that must be followed explicitly. Tetris more than Trine, but calling Trine a straight puzzle game is a pretty big stretch. Braid is considerably more of a straight puzzle game given that the platforming is only a means to an end to the extent that you can't lose.
All puzzle games have rules. Those rules cannot be broken. In Tetris you can just decide to turn a square into a circle or get a tetris with vertical lines instead of horizontal. Bejeweled is probably one of the most constrained puzzle games out there.
Of course those aren't even the same type of puzzle games as Braid.
But again, the notion that Braid is somehow different than any other rules based puzzle game is just absurd, and flatly wrong.
The difference isn't in the rules, it's in the number of possible solutions.
A straight platformer game also has strict rules that the player can never (or rarely, if ever) break and not be punished. There are still, in most of them, at least more than one way to complete each level. Some may be more advantageous or more difficult than others. This is also true for a whole bunch of games that fall under the "puzzle" category.
Compare that to some of the levels in games like Braid, or Portal, or some of the puzzles in the Professor Layton games, or in a whole host of adventure games, where a level can and does have only one solution. If the player cannot figure out that solution, they cannot progress (or complete the level), making them more like riddles.
This is an actual difference in game play. I, for one, really enjoy puzzle games that feature lots of multiple possible solutions for each level or puzzle, and tend to really dislike puzzle (or riddle) games that feature only one possible solution for each level or puzzle.
Feel free to call that wrong and absurd, but it's a notable difference.
But again, the notion that Braid is somehow different than any other rules based puzzle game is just absurd, and flatly wrong.
From the pure standpoint of the formal design of the game as a 'game', Braid is no different than any puzzle game based on taking a novel mechanic and exploring it fully. From the standpoint of the shitty pretentious poetry you're forced to read, Braid's "story" sucks. Neither of those are what make Braid special.
What makes Braid different is the way it takes the standard structure of the standard exploration-based puzzle game and uses the actual puzzle mechanics to explore an artistic theme. The "real" storytelling in Braid isn't the stupid books, it's the interplay between the character's metaphorical attempts to alter time and the player's literal manipulations of time.
So if anyone doesn't have a gamepad yet, but it interested in getting one, the 360 controller for computers is going to be in amazon's goldbox at 4PM PDT tomorrow
But again, the notion that Braid is somehow different than any other rules based puzzle game is just absurd, and flatly wrong.
From the pure standpoint of the formal design of the game as a 'game', Braid is no different than any puzzle game based on taking a novel mechanic and exploring it fully. From the standpoint of the shitty pretentious poetry you're forced to read, Braid's "story" sucks. Neither of those are what make Braid special.
What makes Braid different is the way it takes the standard structure of the standard exploration-based puzzle game and uses the actual puzzle mechanics to explore an artistic theme. The "real" storytelling in Braid isn't the stupid books, it's the interplay between the character's metaphorical attempts to alter time and the player's literal manipulations of time.
Yeah, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how the metaphors in the game related to those stupid books. At first I thought it was because I was too stoopid to figure it out, but eventually I realized it was like trying to read and understand a novel by Ayn Rand: a total waste of time.
(Come to think of it, the pretentious of Braid's plot is actually very similar to Ayn Rand.)
EDIT: That being said, I have to say I really enjoyed Braid just for the game-play and the music. (Similar how to I really enjoyed Atlas Shrugged, so long as I didn't try to think. lol)
DisruptedCapitalist on
"Simple, real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time." -Mustrum Ridcully in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather p. 142 (HarperPrism 1996)
So, I'm pretty sure that if this is the last game I am ever allowed to buy, I would be happy.
Can it get more awesome than Nazis resurrecting dinosaurs during WWII and having to battle it out?
As someone said earlier in the thread, one of the best parts is the description. "Dino D-Day is a frantic, action-packed multiplayer game that transports you to a World War II that should have been."
Posts
It's actually quite good, has a good length, nice puzzles, great music, etc.
Is it perfect? No, not at all. There's a lot of flaws but the end result is much better than not.
Looking back maybe I wouldn't pay the full $15 I did again, but I don't regret it. It's so cheap on the PC with sales all over creation that if you can get it for like $5 it's more than worthwhile.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
people who complain that it could "only be played the way the designer intended it" are strange. that's how 99% of puzzle games work. i can't think of a puzzle game that doesn't consist of the player attempting to figure out the one solution.
the game was about adapting to a constantly changing set of rules, and experimenting to figure out how those rules functioned. it was wonderful.
And by midgame, there's usually more than one solution to every puzzle. Some of which are unintentional consequences of how the world works.
Why I fear the ocean.
You can easily ignore the atrocious storytelling too (which I was doing after touching 5 of those books).
Tetris
Steam | XBL
All puzzle games are this way. Complaining about it in Braid is pretty asinine.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
Not all puzzle games. I know I'm a whore for this game, but if anyone wants a puzzle game where you invent your own solution rather than discovering an intended solution...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1_w_-46rV0&feature=channel_video_title
For example, in one of the earlier levels you get H2 from one input, O2 from the other input, and you have to split them both apart and rebond them into H2O2 before outputting it.
Here was how I solved it:
And here is somebody else's solution:
And a third, for good measure:
Greatest. Puzzle game. Ever.
That's unfair. Tetris is in such a different ball park.
Isn't this essentially what every good video game is about? My problem with Braid is that there was nothing in the game to draw me back in. I had plenty of fun for the first hour but each time I took a break it became increasingly hard to motivate myself to play it again. The first few levels after a new mechanic was introduced were always a blast, but later levels quickly became tedious and I never truly felt engaged. It would have been nice if the levels were much larger and didn't revolve around just a few key steps.
I keep seeing people mention this game. I saw it on Steam and it just looked odd.
I guess I'm going to have to try the demo now.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
pay no attention to the pretentious pseudo-story that's uncomfortably shoehorned in.
Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
... I'm gonna wait for a sale, though. backlogggg
Heres mine: It is exactly average.
Limed for please leave Braid the fuck alone people. It's a good game that's usually on sale: if you hate then it at least you aren't paying too much for it.
Next topic.
It's a puzzle platformer, but it's just breathtaking.
Go now and get it. Anyone who doesn´t try the SpaceChem demo is a dirty commie I say...
Anyway here is an overly complicated solution to the same level on the above post. This is what happens when you advance in the game without knowing some of it´s mechanics. Yay for overly complicated solutions!!!
EDIT: I got Napoleon and started to download it, 2-3 hours later I left to have dinner out and after coming back I can barely see the the green on the steam symbol, not sure it will be ready when I return from work tommorrow. So another yay, for 1Mbps connections!
It's pretty good.
Unfortunately I don't have $15 to swing right now on a puzzle game.
Definitely going in my wish list for a sale though.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
...however right they might be...
<.<
>.>
:whistle:
Steam | XBL
As have already been mentioned, Trine and Tetris.
Then there's Bejeweled and let's just lump in every other Bejeweled-inspired or Bejeweled-adjacent game such as Puzzle Quest and Puzzle Fighter and so on and so forth into one game rather than list all fifteen million of them.
Then there are games like Zuma (or Luxor) and Peggle. And maze-navigation games like Super Monkey Ball and Marble Madness. And games like Pipe Dream, or the hacking minigame from Bioshock.
I'd also consider the entire "tower defense" genre to be a form of puzzle game, or at least a hybrid of puzzle and RTS.
I mean, even the fucking Tower Of Hanoi has more than one solution.
All puzzle games have rules. Those rules cannot be broken. In Tetris you can just decide to turn a square into a circle or get a tetris with vertical lines instead of horizontal. Bejeweled is probably one of the most constrained puzzle games out there.
Of course those aren't even the same type of puzzle games as Braid.
But again, the notion that Braid is somehow different than any other rules based puzzle game is just absurd, and flatly wrong.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
The difference isn't in the rules, it's in the number of possible solutions.
A straight platformer game also has strict rules that the player can never (or rarely, if ever) break and not be punished. There are still, in most of them, at least more than one way to complete each level. Some may be more advantageous or more difficult than others. This is also true for a whole bunch of games that fall under the "puzzle" category.
Compare that to some of the levels in games like Braid, or Portal, or some of the puzzles in the Professor Layton games, or in a whole host of adventure games, where a level can and does have only one solution. If the player cannot figure out that solution, they cannot progress (or complete the level), making them more like riddles.
This is an actual difference in game play. I, for one, really enjoy puzzle games that feature lots of multiple possible solutions for each level or puzzle, and tend to really dislike puzzle (or riddle) games that feature only one possible solution for each level or puzzle.
Feel free to call that wrong and absurd, but it's a notable difference.
From the pure standpoint of the formal design of the game as a 'game', Braid is no different than any puzzle game based on taking a novel mechanic and exploring it fully. From the standpoint of the shitty pretentious poetry you're forced to read, Braid's "story" sucks. Neither of those are what make Braid special.
What makes Braid different is the way it takes the standard structure of the standard exploration-based puzzle game and uses the actual puzzle mechanics to explore an artistic theme. The "real" storytelling in Braid isn't the stupid books, it's the interplay between the character's metaphorical attempts to alter time and the player's literal manipulations of time.
Yeah, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how the metaphors in the game related to those stupid books. At first I thought it was because I was too stoopid to figure it out, but eventually I realized it was like trying to read and understand a novel by Ayn Rand: a total waste of time.
(Come to think of it, the pretentious of Braid's plot is actually very similar to Ayn Rand.)
EDIT: That being said, I have to say I really enjoyed Braid just for the game-play and the music. (Similar how to I really enjoyed Atlas Shrugged, so long as I didn't try to think. lol)
Can it get more awesome than Nazis resurrecting dinosaurs during WWII and having to battle it out?
Muahahahaha, best game ever!
The triceratops with a pillbox howdah (last image) is going to keep me smiling all damn day.
No problems here. Try double clicking the tab, that should take you to the front page.
As someone said earlier in the thread, one of the best parts is the description. "Dino D-Day is a frantic, action-packed multiplayer game that transports you to a World War II that should have been."
My Backloggery
It does not. In fact, it had been available on other sites for quite a while before it became available on Steam.