Be Excellent To Each Other

Transcript, or it really didn't happen.

Man, I am far too lazy to write it up, but I assure you it did happen.

Behold! Evidence

Having played Braid's demo what I'm seeing a slightly dodgy platformer with an old gimmick that doesn't really work because you can't remind forever.

So you can get stuck in a pit and have literally no means of either getting out, or killing yourself.

Super.

Someone's going to have to explain this one to me.

Finished the first puzzle in the demo now. The visuals and music are very nice and the game itself is good. I'm not seeing anything ZOMG though really. I may pick it up in the future.

Are all the pieces in "world 2" the first demo world pick upable in the demo?

Yep.

Well... after trying myoptika's copy... I didn't feel anything making me want to rush out and throw money at it. All the pretention aside (which seems to have leaked into that unreadable review), it didn't seem that great at all. The only unique thing that really grabbed me was wow, if I put those puzzle pieces in, I could then jump on the platform in the picture they formed to get to another part of the level. You know, to compensation for the pathetic jumping abilities of the hero.

And I'm not really keen to fork over that much dosh for it to prove me wrong or right as an experiment.

To be fair to it though, at no point did you press the x button to piss around with time. You didn't really need to on the early levels, but later on it's a bit more required.

Having played the demo I have realised there's absolutely no way at all I'll get on with this game. Mainly because I don't like puzzles and I also don't really like platform games. Other than that it seemed like it was actually quite spiffy.

I can more or less visualize how the whole time-rewind thing will work from my imagination and the description given in the review. You need to get through a gap, so you push a block that's not effected into a pit to activate a bridge, and then rewind to where you're back up by the gap, only now it's bridged. And, as has been said on here, like all other time travel games it cretinously limits this ability so it's entirely possible to trap yourself and have to start the level all over again now you've figured it out.

Which, to my mind, is a bit wrong. If you can rewind time at all, you shouldn't have to completely rewind it (which is to say, restart) once you've figured the level out. You should be able to jump back as needed to adjust any things you've positioned so it all works.

Anyone who's played EXiT knows what I mean - each level you blunder through at first, with only the minimap to give you a rough idea of where you should start. You might be lucky and manage it anyway, or you might get halfway through before finding you should have used that item elsewhere and so restart the level now forewarned and ready to do it perfectly*. If we're to be given a rewind function, surely it should allow us to eliminate that altogether, as opposed to just having it as a device for solving a few puzzles?

*this is without even touching the complaint that is levelled at so many quicksavey/checkpointy FPS games. The player just dies, often with little warning, until eventually they've memorised the level, and then have (from the enemy's point of view) prescience as they blast through each ambush, avoid each trap and are ready on the trigger to fire first in every situation. People might groan at Halo for such things, but remember Goldeneye and Perfect Dark? Your health didn't regenerate. And there were no checkpoints. You had to both learn the level perfectly AND execute it perfectly. You might make a stupid mistake and lose 75% of your health in the first 30 seconds. Or you might go perfectly all the way through and then die stupidly at the end, and tear the cartridge out of the console and hurl it as hard as possible against the cushions of the sofa (so as to take out your frustrations but without actually breaking anything)

No.

It's an entirely new concept not just in video games, but in life and all media.

Didn't you read the review? It's an entirely new genre of game, genre of life and genre of spaffing all rolled into one, but better than anything I can explain, and it will change the face of every game you ever play and every breath you ever take.

Honestly dude, at least read the review...

Silly me. I'll still probably buy a used copy of MotoGP 07 instead, though.

I did enjoy the demo to a degree, and guess that the truly brilliant parts are only available in the full version. However, I kind of ripped through world 2 as soon as I got on the same wavelength of the game. As such I question the games longevity even though that was obviously the nice easy world.

This is regardless of the price. Taking the above into consideration, would I be dissapointed if I finally invested in some MS points come pay day and threw caution to the wind?

Well I think a lot of you are miserly old curmudgeons.

Yes it did get an over excited review by Dan 'clearly worst at eurogamer' whathismaface,, but that doesn't mean it's shit - it means Dan is. And yes the story does smack a little bit of A-level creative writing. But that's (somewhat depressingly) a step forward for 'puter games - so the efforts commendable at least.

There is a damn, damn good game there. And whilst I won't fully recommend it till I've finished it in case it all goes pear shaped, it so far seems worth every penny.

It's a 2D platformer thats removed all grind and filler, and tried something new (or at least pretty fucking rare), and is painted, and isn't about brown or about Burley Space Men (TM). It's a game made by one man (and an artist).

And so despite being 2008 there is still room for one persons vision to be a game. And frankly, It's glorious that something like this can get made and released.

Also - the guy fought microsoft until they took out all the splash screens, so it just boots straight into the game.

No menu. No big vanity screen saying "Jonathan Blows Presents". No Big Microsoft Screen advertising the service you are currently using. No Splash screen for the companies involved. No Splash screens for the tech used. Just the game.

I mean about time.

I agree with Lave.

I completed it in pretty much one sitting last night, and am really really impressed. Review forthcoming, expect gushing praise.

I'm rubbish at it.

See also: Space Giraffe.

I've done worlds 2, 3 and 4. And I'm working on 5 at the moment.

People talk about the puzzles like they are as stand out and impressive as Scarlet Johanson's cleavage - and I think that leads to disappointment. They are satisfying gentle puzzles. But they don't make you flip out and pop a boner when you solve one or anything.

Also the main con I see is that sometimes the controls mean it's hard to tell if your solution to a puzzle is incorrect or if you aren't doing it quite write. But thats rare and minor.

I've only time to pick up and play a few puzzles at a time at the moment, but it works wonderfully for that. Especially as enough it always unlocked at once, so that there is always something you can be doing whilst you are mulling on the ones you can't figure out.

And it's the first game that makes me really, really jealous of people with Ginormous HDTVs.

I see your point, but I don't find it grindy. I just hit 'back' to go to the cloud and select a different door when I want to try a different level (or straight after I've got a new piece of the puzzle - and can't wait to add it to the jigsaw. Which I didn't realise but you can fiddle with in the House too).

(I liked SG)

No, there's a very reasonable but hardly groundbreaking game there.

Or to put it another way, there's an 800 point game there.

What there isn't, is a game 50% better than Rez, Prince Of Persia, Geo Wars 2, Wik, Cloning Clyde or Castlevania to name but 6.



Well nearly, actually it boots up to a point a mile and half from the game and you have to run to the game. It actually takes longer from "first thing on screen" to start a game of Braid than a game of Geo Wars 2.

First Bit: Or on the flipside better than many, many £40 games.

This bit:



Only the first time you play it. Once you've started on the worlds every time you load it it drops you straight into the house.

And to be pendantic you were in control, and playing, I thought it was a wonderful opening, but yeah would become very boring if you had to walk it every time.

I don't buy those £40 games. And those £40 games are often gettable for £10 not much later. And can be lent, and can be sold, and I'll be able to play them on another 360 in 5 years. It still represents a 50% increase in price for no reason.


Fair enough. I've only actually played the demo stuff.

My friend Dixon has Braid and a monster HDTV. GRR.

Curiously, I played Gears of War as well as Braid on his TV - and despite having a traditional love for FPS's I just couldn't muster one small shred of love for Gears, whatsoever.

I did like the Braid trial however.

Gears of War isn't an FPS.

You have me. My mistake.

MY POINT REMAINS, HOWEVER! /SimonQuinlankvoice

1,200 spaceships needs to be cheaper.

Dudley, I think your point about Rez isn't really applicable when you consider Rez had already had a run at retail and this was just a tweaked re-release. The same applies to all the other games you mention. Even Carcassonne has had profits from its physical version. It's only appropriate to compare to other original games that been released for XBLA. I still think you're missing the point with the games you can buy much later for £10. You have to wait quite a long time for these games to come down in price. In the end, it's still not a huge amount of money for an original new game.

Wik, Cloning Clyde, Outpost K, Geo 2 all had retail releases?

Describing Prince of Persia as a "tweaked re-release" is slightly daft too.

It's 50% more than all the other original new games, the vast majority of which had higher dev costs.

Really? I didn't think Mr Blow was British, and therefore unlikely to know Manic Miner even exists.

Wait..is this a ploy to get me to buy it?

need 7 pieces left but my mind is now mangled.

Good work, wish I had an Eggs Box to play it on. (Housemate has Eggs Box, but not live. We haven't got round to setting it up yet.)

I just went and played it for a bit... I thought it was okay.

I found the rewinding time thing to actually be a bit annoying. In one instance I had killed something that I needed to leave alive for jumping purposes, and wandered around a bit more after that... so I had to rewind AAAAAGES to get it back to how I wanted it to be... I couldn't just kill myself and be done with it. I could probably have just left the room and come back, but then that kinda gets rid of the point of the time function.

It was fairly pretty, and handled well. The puzzles were good enough that I didn't get every last piece of the jigsaw on my first go, but then again i wasn't playing it for very long. It reminded me a little of the Oddworld games in a way, but a stripped down version. I'm guessing that most of the cool twists are hidden away on the non-free levels, so I'd be tempted to play it to see what it has lurking up its sleeves.

The 'story' was a good idea, but they should have hired a better writer; the guy's writing is very amateurish and if you found it in a book then you'd probably throw it against a wall. Not that this is something unusual in video games, which are not known for their sparkling dialogue or narration, but I was somehow hoping for more.

It wears its influences a little boldly at times. The Mario references in the demo are not so much a nod to it but a large, burly man grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking you violently whilst screaming, "LOOK! IT'S GOT CANNONS! AND LITTLE CREATURES! AND PLANTS COMING FROM GREEN PIPES! AND A CASTLE! DO YOU GET IT YET? DO YOU? DO YOU?"

That said, it was entertaining enough, and some uses of the 'rewind' function were good, to allow you to time jumps, etc. But it isn't any great change from anything I've seen before. At least it certainly isn't in the demo.

I'm going to give it another go now, but unless the 'real' levels are significantly better than the demo one, I'll refrain from the purchase.

The best bit of storyishness isn't in writing as such.

Okay, I just went back and completed the Demo World... and actually it's growing on me. The interaction with the jigsaw was a nice touch. So the puzzles are better than I thought, and perhaps the Mario ifluence for that world isn't quite the burly man, though I think it's still slightly overdone.

I'm going to upgrade it to a possible purchase now.

Gnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!

Just did the other levels from the other worlds you have access to in the demo.

Ooooh, it's addictive. The Donkey Kong-esque level initially had me thinking it was simple and stupid... but it isn't. And the animation when hitting the balls of fire is awesome!

I think I might have to buy this after all.

This massive U-Turn was brought to you in conjunction with Politicians and hairpin bends.

Psst, if you tap LB a couple of times while rewinding, it goes faster...

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finished it yesterday.

was completely blown away by this game. can't see me returning to it very often but I'm glad I shelled out for it.

I have now bought this. Stay tuned for reluctant opinions, or something.

Some time later...

I have now traversed worlds 2-6, but have only actually solved world 2 (which I'd already done in the demo).
4 & 5 are nearly done, 3 & 6 are nowhere near.

The difficulty seems to be all over the place, but I'd expect that from a puzzle game, some people are just going to be able to solve some easier than others.
I am 1200 points poorer.
Heading back to world 3 to see what clicks.

Much later...

I am now 2 pieces short in worlds 3,4 & 5 and 6 pieces short in world 6.

Some of the puzzles just click, some don't, some take longer than others. Inevitably I'll have to look some solutions up, then I'll probably punch something.

try to avoid that.

the solutions do come, not matter how desperately difficult it might seem. FAQs will just be like throwing your cash away. there isnt much game there to start with!

there isnt anything in there completely left-field and I dont recall any of it requiring insane platformer skills or anything.

worlds 4 and 6 did make me want to sob at times though.

Don't look at walkthoughs. If there's something I'm grateful for, it's that I got it before any were released, so I couldn't be tempted. If you need help, some of us could provide more subtle hints.

on world 4, the hunt, is it just the order in which you hit all the enemies on the head or is there another tact?

hint 1:


hint 2 is available if needs be.

I just can't seem to do any of them in the forwards and backwards time world (is that World 4?). I just feel out of my depth with it.

And I can't get that fucking jigsaw piece from above the door on World 2 - it's the only one I've got left.