Archive for the 'Play Summary' Category

The Failings of Braid

Monday, August 18th, 2008

Coming from a fine arts background, I feel like the one thing I’m actually capable of discussing thoroughly (or at least intelligently) is the visual arts. And the fine ones at that. See, back in college I was routinely brutalized by my colleagues through these things we called critiques. You may be familiar with the idea. Basically, someone presents their work, everyone tears it apart, and then it’s reworked in time for the next critique. This process is repeated until the presentation is considered flawless or the idea is exhausted (usually the latter). The whole thing is somewhat similar to a typical review process, with the obvious difference being that reviews are considered a final judgment. The point of a critique is to properly inform the artist where their work needs improvement… because, let’s be honest, no one is perfect.

I often think about how the critique process for, say, a painter or a filmmaker differs from that of a game designer. The concept of iterative design is not really comparable because it most often relies on input from those who have been working on the title since it’s conception. Games can be play-tested thoroughly or have open betas, but that’s to dig out technical issues. There doesn’t seem to be any external critique process for games aside from focus groups, and those are there to ensure the game will profit, not to test a title’s emotional resonance or thematic effectiveness. Do the ‘hands-on previews’ that we find on blogs and in magazines really play a part is shaping the overall game? Doubtful. Most of that stuff is just to drum up publicity and anticipation; I’d be very surprised if developers ever read those things. Besides, the majority of previews equate to little more than “this looks awesome.”

I’d like to critique games myself, but I’m not even sure if I know how. By the time I play a game, it’s done. It’ll never be reworked aside from a stray patch or shortsighted Special Edition (oh, and expansions, if you’re into that sort of gaming). Is there room for such a dialog when dealing with works that have been declared finished by their creators?

All that being said, I’d like to present some impressions from the video game Braid. Not neccesarily a critque, just some impressions.

Middle America, Rejoice

The marketing focus with this title seems to be its atmosphere and unified art direction (which is, indeed, the only bit of information I knew about it for quite some time). This visual design is, as my girlfriend remarked, like being trapped in a Thomas Kinkade painting. Everything is so garishly super-saturated that it becomes impossible to focus on specific elements. The adjective ‘painterly’ is interpreted here as a mess of brush-strokes, unable to convey any proper composition and instead trying to leave an mark of classical technique if for no other reason than to affect an uneducated player. The background and character designs seem inspired by the staples of Impressionism but seem to ignore the techniques that defined the movement; light sources are undefined, edges are hard, and there is an abundance of black in place of the expected complementary contrast.

Maybe this art style is what draws people in. Thomas Kinkade, after all, makes millions hocking his paintings to the every-man. I bought the game because it received mountains of praise from just about every review outlet there is. But what does it actually consist of, aside from a rather distracting painted motif? Let’s take to the streets and find out!

What is Braid? One may as well ask what life is. It is art, it is love, it is
pain, it is a journey. It is itself. I don’t mean to sound pretentious. It’s
just impossible to define this game as one thing. This is mainly because I may
get something different out of it than you will.

Actually, Braid is a platforming puzzle game for the Xbox 360. Was that so hard? And what I got out of it was an overwhelming sense of frustration. Both due to the mechanics and because the game is such a missed opportunity.

The main problem is that Braid falls into the same curse had by many of the adventure games from my youth. You’re given a puzzle and, instead of solving it logically, you solve it by using an FAQ. Who honestly thinks “I should try combining the clothesline, the clamp, and the rubber duck with a hole in it” when trying to grab a key from a subway track? Ugh. Braid contains many of these moments, where you’re trying to figure out what the hell the developer had in mind when he designed the level. It’s not a simple matter of considering your skillset and figuring out how to approach the problem at hand as with most games. For example

First, grab the key and jump over the pit. Climb the next ladder you come to,
and continue to a lever. Pull the lever, and drop down to a square block. A
time-immune enemy is moving around down here. Kill him, and watch for his
replacement to come flying out of the cannon up above. What you need to do is
get him to land on the platform, then run left so that the platform moves back
to its original position with the enemy on it. Once he is up there, keep
running left, to the ladder. Climb it quickly, and if you’re moving fast
enough, you will be to the left of the enemy as he walks towards you.

At some point along the line, he will have picked up the key. Don’t worry, we
wanted that to happen. One he has moved to the left of ladder that leads to
the door and the puzzle piece, bounce on him and grab the key. Be careful to
bounce on him with enough momentum to grab the key and move right so that it
remains in your grasp. If it teleports down to the ground, you’ll have to try
again.

Now that you have the key, climb the ladder, open the door, and grab the piece.

Does that even count as a puzzle? When I finally figure out some of these situations, I don’t feel like I’m solving anything. It’s as if I’m merely stumbling across the solution.

This is even worse than the average adventure game because everything is solved through platforming. Instructing a character to “use CARDKEY with RUBBER CHIKEN” is a lot different than split-second precision pouncing off of enemies in order to springboard to the puzzle piece you need. That sort of platforming only works when the game controls well. And Braid is, most definitely, a puzzle game with platforming mechanics tacked on. The player character is sluggish, collision detection is poor, and response time is inconsistent. I do not enjoy the primary input methods, the ones that enable me to interact with the environment.

And the story, the thing that normally drives you to complete the game? That’s hidden behind the puzzles. You can run from left to right, ignoring the collectible items, completing the game in about an hour. All narrative is told through optional text at the beginning of every ‘world,’ and that text is sparse. I’ve heard (and I haven’t come close to getting all the loot, so I can’t verify) that more story is revealed once all the collectibles are found. But what is the point of going back and finding all these puzzle pieces if the nuts-and-bolts of the game are not enjoyable and the story is almost non-existent at this point?

The thing that really bothers me is the developer’s stance on all this. There’s a walkthrough posted on the Braid website that’s nothing more than a rant against walkthroughs.

All the puzzles in Braid are reasonable. They don’t require you to do anything random; they don’t require guessing. They don’t require trial and error. The solutions tend to be simple and natural.

When I solve some of the puzzles, I don’t feel rewarded. I feel like I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what mindset the developer wanted me to be in. There is a lot of trial and error, and things aren’t always simple and natural. To have the developer go out of his way to tell me that I’m wrong for feeling this way… that just reminds me of the arrogant art school freshman who refused to listen to critiques of his work lest they label it as anything other than perfect.

Is this okay? Am I allowed to have this opinion? Talking about video games is much different than talking about art. Part of me thinks I should hide it away and not tell anyone until the hype eventually dies down. But I don’t criticize it because I hate the game, I criticize it because I want it to be better.

Fay’s Final Puzzle and the comforts of unending death

Friday, May 16th, 2008
The Following Article Contains Spoilers for Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer

This past week I finally completed all fifty of Fay’s Puzzles in Shiren the Wanderer. These puzzles are prefabricated single floor dungeons that serve as something of an introduction to the more advanced rules and techniques in the game. They start off fairly simple and then get quite difficult. For example, the first puzzle teaches you that arrows can shoot diagonally across entryways, while later ones have you juggling different scrolls and staves against multiple monsters, eating meats to temporarily transform, and trying to figure out the exact path required to make it towards the exit. I had been getting my ass kicked on the one titled “Shopping Battle” until I realized that I didn’t need to steal from the merchant… I could just lure the Thief monsters in to the shop, slaughter them using the Mastersword that’s for sale, put the sword down and pick up the gitans they dropped, then buy a sleep scroll and use it on the monsters by the exit. The title led me to believe that the solution involved making use of the various offensive (and expensive) items available in the shop to defeat the merchant, who is ridiculously overpowered (and also says “thank you!” and “come again!” with every swing).

Anyway, I cleared all of Mr. Fay’s puzzles and am awarded with a “Huzzah!” and three Blank Scrolls. Pretty nice. Blank Scrolls let you inscribe the name of any other scroll on them, then when they’re read that take the effect of that scroll. They will certainly come in handy. Fay said that he’d get to work on a doozy of a puzzle for next time I’m in town. Which, as it turned out, was about ten minutes later because I stupidly forgot to bring a riceball on my next climb up Table Mountain and starved to death on the seventh floor. When I stopped by to see what Fay’s been up to, he’s in a panic. Apparently he dug too deep while trying to create his next puzzle and ended up with a single massive labyrinth. And, of course, I have to option to explore it. He gives me the usual jazz of losing all items and money upon entering, then I’m greeted by the ominous display of “1 Final Puzzle.”

Scroll of Ohshitwtf

And, holy shit, this thing is brutal. What I didn’t initially realize is that, because the entrance to the dungeon is located in Canyon Hamlet (which resets your experience whenever you enter it), you pretty much have no choice but to start from level one. You could do things like eating a stash of Herbs of Strength you have in your warehouse or something before entering, but they honestly won’t make that much of a difference beyond the first few floors. And unlike Table Mountain, the enemies in this dungeon get vicious fast. I haven’t made it further than the eighth floor after twenty or so attempts just because the difficulty ramps up so quickly.

Part of this is because the identity of everything is scrambled in the dungeon. Not just staves and jars like in the rest of the game, I mean everything. The only item that’s not is the trusty riceball, because you start the dungeon with one in your inventory. Herbs are now named by color and scrolls after arbitrary animals. Not too much of a big deal, right? Well, the Final Puzzle includes more than just beneficial scrolls and herbs. There are now herbs that may decrease your fullness, cause you to fall asleep, or even reset your level to one. Sometimes the Donkey Scroll you read won’t be a Power Up Scroll or a Scroll of Light, instead it might be a Scroll of Silence or a Scroll of Explosion. Guess what a Scroll of Explosion does? Go on, guess. I’ll give you a hint: when you read it you fucking explode. Granted, it does do a lot of damage to anything adjacent to you, but you most likely will not be around to take advantage of that.

Evil Soldiers are also a problem. See, when Evil Soldiers are defeated they become Dead Soldiers, which run away from you whenever you get near them. If a Dead Soldier sees another enemy (even another Dead Soldier), it will ‘leap’ into it… allowing it to level up. On Table Mountain this isn’t much of a problem because whenever I’ve encountered Evil Soldiers the only other monsters on the floor have been Rice Changers and Field Bandits. They’re pretty weak, and even if they manage to overpower me I’ve probably got a staff or an herb stashed away that I can use to my advantage. Not so in the Final Puzzle. Here there are Ironheads and Floor Dragons to worry about leveling up, and that’s just on the fifth floor. Combine that with the fact that using anything in my inventory without having it identified first may cause me an embarrassing death and most floors end up being a mad dash for the exit.

Here are a few embarrassing deaths, by the way.

  1. While reading scrolls and eating herbs just to get them identified, one turned out to be a Monster Scroll, which turns the current room into a monster house. The next one was a Sleeping Herb, which causes the player to fall asleep.
  2. Fending off a couple Pit Mamels at the start of the first floor, then turning around and tripping over a stumble trap before I could recover my health. Yes, that’s right… I fell on my face and died.
  3. Accidentally broke a jar in a shop. I didn’t have enough gitans to pay for it, so the merchant beat the living shit out of me.
  4. Fell into a monster house and read the only scroll I had, hoping it would be a Blastwave Scroll or something. It was a Scroll of Haste, which made all the enemies in the room much more efficient killing machines.
  5. Threw a Pale Herb at a Floor Dragon. It turned out to be a Kingy Seed, which causes the target to go into a blind rage, murdering anything around it. The Floor Dragon killed the three Bowboys adjacent to it, leveled up into an Earth Dragon, then took me out like the garbage.

So, right now I’m terrified of this dungeon. But I used to be scared of Table Mountain when I first attempted it and now I can tackle it pretty easily. I just need more experience with it, figuring out the various tricks and tactics I need to survive for more than eight floors.

One neat trick I’ve stumbled across: it’s possible to ‘farm’ Fay’s Final Puzzle for items that can be useful for tackling Table Mountain and the Tainted Path. You see, once most of the post game dungeons are opened the option to adventure while waiting to be rescued opens up. Normally if you fall and send out a rescue request you’re stuck at the menu screen waiting for someone to save your sorry ass. When you adventure while waiting, you start in your warehouse and can choose to explore any of the dungeons. There are a few limitations, however: you can’t save, you can’t go past the highest floor you’ve reached in that dungeon, and you can’t go past the floor you died on. If you try, the game just boots you back to the warehouse… with your inventory intact. So, if I were to attempt the Final Puzzle, die on the third floor, and adventure while waiting to be rescued… every time I reached the second floor exit I’d be kicked back to the warehouse with all the items I picked up prior to that, free to store anything valuable before trying again. I haven’t really exploited it much, but I did score some sweet armbands and a Kingy Seed that I threw at some little kid in a village. He totally killed all the other villagers. It was awesome.

cheap site viagra
viagra and coupon
discount viagra generic
order viagra softtabs
cheapest uk supplier viagra
cheap prescription viagra without
buy viagra prescription online
buy in online uk viagra
cheap generic viagra co uk
buy locally viagra
buy canada viagra
cheapest generic substitute viagra
24 ringtone
order phizer viagra
nokia ringtone
buy online sale viagra viagra
buy viagra caverta
cheapest line viagra
buy viagra without prescription pharmacy online
buy viagra in spain
cheap generic viagra 1.00
buy generic no online prescription viagra
buy generic viagra usa
free nokia ringtones
buy pharmaceutical viagra
order mexican viagra
cheapest generic viagra and cialis
cheap viagra discount
buy viagra ups
buy viagra in toronto
cheap source viagra
buy generic viagra viagra
viagra canada
cheap online price price viagra
buy viagra online pharmacy
buy viagra generic
viagra canada online pharmacy
cheapest viagra uk
discount viagra pharmacy online
cheap herbal herbal viagra viagra viagra
viagra canada online
buy qoclick se viagra
viagra and generic drug
buy online order viagra
buy viagra cheap india pharmacy
cheap soft tab viagra
viagra buy contest
buy discount online viagra
cheap pharmacy viagra
cheap overnight viagra
cheap viagra without a prescription
cheapest brand viagra
viagra calias
order viagra online
cheapest price on viagra
buy female viagra
buy online uk viagra
buy viagra with paypal
buy viagra cheap
cheap viagra cialis india
buy cheap viagra online u
buy online online pill viagra viagra
cheap man viagra
buy cheap viagra in uk
over the counter viagra london
buy viagra inte
buy viagra online order
buy soft generic viagra cheapest
buy viagra uk
airtel ringtone
buy generic viagra online
buy viagra per pill
buy cheap online viagra viagra
buy viagra online cheapest
cheapest generic viagra sent overnight
buy viagra without prescription online pharmacy
buy viagra online uk
free mobile phone ringtones
buy viagra low cost
cheap order prescription viagra
cheapest generic viagra 99 cents
buy price viagra
over the counter viagra substitute
buy viagra at safeway
buy viagra without prescription
order order viagra
buy online viagra in the uk
cheap quality viagra
buy online viagra viagra viagra
cheapest viagra world
order viagra buying viagr
order generic viagra online
cheapest viagra generic substitute
buy 100 mg viagra
viagra by the pill
buy say viagra
buy viagra soft tabs
buy viagra online in australia
buy viagra with discount
cheap viagra in the uk
buy online p viagra
cheapsest viagra online
buy online online viagra viagra
cheapest prices for viagra online
buy generic viagra img
viagra and cialis together
discount viagra or cialis
free verizon ringtones
buy prescription vaniqa viagra
buy viagra cheaply
viagra by overnight delivery
discount viagra brand drug
cheap herbal viagra viagra
buy viagra online in the uk
buy cheap generic viagra
buy viagra 32
cheapest generic price viagra
buy viagra in amsterdam
buy viagra where
buy discount viagra
discount viagra sales online
buy viagra without a prescription
cheaper cialis levitra viagra
cheap viagra fast shipping
buy generic viagra
buy online price viagra
cheap viagra at online pharmacy
cheap online purchase viagra
buy viagra online discount
free ringtones
viagra and flomax
cheap no prescription viagra
cialis 20mg
buy viagra online online pharmacy
order viagra air travel
buy viagra online in
order viagra 1
buy viagra online prescription group
cheap cheap viagra
cheapest viagra online plus zenegra
buy now online viagra
cialis 5
buy deal online sale viagra viagra
order generic viagra
viagra canada price
buy online prescription viagra without
cheep generic viagra
buy viagra online in uk
buy viagra bradenton
order viagra online uk
buy viagra in canada
where can i find free ringtone
viagra buy now pay later
order viagra visit your doctor online
buy viagra 100mg
cheapest viagra in the uk
cheapest viagra tablets
buy viagra online 35008 buy viagra
buy overseas viagra
buy online sale viagra
buy viagra vaniqa prescription
cheap viagra online pharmacy online
buy low price viagra
buy viagra meds online
motorola ringtones free
viagra canada pharmacy
ringtone software
cheapest cheap viagra
cheap drug generic ultram ultram viagra
buy lady uk viagra
buy viagra in reliable online drugstore
buy sildenafil viagra
cialis 24
cheap price viagra
buy form generic viagra
cheap online softtabs viagra
cheap online pharmacy viagra viagra
cheapest prices on generic viagra
over sea generic viagra
order viagra online consumer discount rx
buy cheap generic online viagra
cheap deal discount price viagra
cheep viagra
buy levitra online viagra
cheap viagra nz
cheap online sales viagra
buy viagra from an online pharmacy
buy viagra now
cheap deal deal pill viagra
buy viagra in the uk
buy viagra 1
buy viagra viagra online
buy viagra phentermine weight loss prescription
discount viagra canada
buy viagra online and get prescription
buy kamagra viagra india
viagra buy it online now
buy cheap sale viagra
order cheap viagra fas
buy cheap online prescription viagra
cheap inexpensive viagra
order viagra uk
buy viagra
cheap soft viagra
buy viagra securely online
buy viagra online canada
buy herbal viagra
buy viagra from safeway
buy viagra pill
buy viagra online
order prescription viagra without
cheap viagra uk
order cialis and viagra
cheapest viagra online
cheap herbal viagra viagra viagra
viagra canadian
buy viagra contact us page
cheap molde ticket viagra
viagra brand
buy cheap viagra online uk
viagra buy in uk online
cheap viagra new zealand
buy viagra in united kingdom
buy viagra online web meds
buy viagra order viagra
viagra can
cheap generic viagra uk
cheapest viagra us pharmacy
cheap viagra direct
iden ringtone loader
ringtone
mosquito ringtone
order 50mg viagra
nokia ringtones
buy viagra online alternative viagra
order viagra online in wisconsin
buy viagra in new zealand
buy viagra phentermine online pharmacy
order viagra
cheapest online viagra
cheap viagra discount viagra buy viagra
cheap viagra viagra
buy viagra cialis levitra
buy viagra australia
cheap cheap deal pill viagra viagra
buy site viagra
viagra buy it
buy pill viagra
cheapest viagra prices
buy online viagra securely
buy side viagra xanax
order viagra cialis levitra pharmacy
cheap order site viagra
viagra canadaian prices
cheap kamagra viagra
buy viagra online at lowest price
over the counter drug to viagra
cheapest viagra on the internet
viagra canada generic
buy viagra onlines
buy viagra for cheap
buy viagra no prescription
buy viagra in uk
buy viagra online off pharmacy prices
viagra cailis
order viagra now money
order viagra online a href
buy herbal viagra longer erections
buy generic viagra buy
order prescription viagra
viagra by mail order
discount viagra wholesale stores discount pharmacy
order cheap viagra
cheapest viagra price
buy viagra alternative
buy online prescription viagra
cheapest place to buy viagra online
buy viagra cialis
viagra buy australia
buy legal fda approved viagra
cialis 32
buy generic online viagra
order viagra now
cheap viagra india
buy cheap viagra uk
cheapest viagra cheapest generic viagra home
cheapest viagra homepage
cheapest viagra in uk cheap
buy cialis viagra
viagra canadian price shipped
cheap pfizer viagra
buy cheap viagra
free ringtone maker
cheapest place buy viagra online
cheap viagra kamagra
buy cheap viagra online now
cheap generic viagra from usa
cheapest viagra in uk che
viagra by mail
cheap pill viagra
buy levitra viagra online
buy viagra for women
viagra and generic
cheap herbal viagra
cheap generic viagra no prescription
buy cheapest viagra
cheapest viagra
buy viagra cheapest best prices online
free mobile ringtone downloads
buy viagra in london
buy buy online sale viagra viagra
cheap genric viagra online
buy viagra online get prescription
cheap generic viagra substitutes
buy viagra toronto
buy cheap viagra prescription online
cialis 5mg
buy herbal viagra viagra
buy buy cheap viagra
order forms for buying viagra
buy buy cheap medved viagra
cheapest viagra overnight
buy viagra the best quality pills
viagra calgary
buy viagra overnight
buy online drug viagra pharmacy
buy viagra and overseas
order viagra here
cheap generic viagra substitute
buy herbal online viagra viagra viagra
buy no online prescription viagra
buy viagra cheap through online sales
buy viagra online 35008 buy
cipro 20
viagra buy do nu
buy cheap viagra on the net
viagra buy generic
cheap online pill viagra
buy pill prescription viagra without
cheapest price for viagra
cheap online order viagra
buy discount viagra viagra viagra
discount viagra online
cheap viagra canada
buy discount viagra online
buy online levitra cialis viagra
buy prescription viagra
buy viagra next day delivery
order viagra without a prescription
viagra brands
order site viagra
buy viagra ebay
cheap deal viagra
viagra buying online
cheap phizer viagra
cheap cialis viagra
order viagra viagra
buy deal herbal viagra viagra
buy viagra pill online
cheapest prescription viagra
buy viagra online au
buy in online usa viagra
cialis 10
cheapest viagra anywhere
cheap online generic viagra
cheapest viagra in uk
buy viagra and cilas
cheep viagra from india
buy sale viagra
viagra and cialis and
viagra brazil
buy viagra australian
viagra buy viagra online
cheap uk viagra
buy viagra from canada
buy viagra cheap online
cheap herbal sale viagra viagra viagra
buy deal deal price viagra
buy cheap viagra viagra
viagra canada satisfaction guarantee
buy viagra without a perscription
buy cheap p viagra
cheapest viagra on the net
cheap viagra online a href
check generic order pay viagra
cheap meltabs viagra
order viagra overnight shipping
cheap viagra no presrciption 50mg
buy generic viagra pharmacy online
cialis 30mg
discount viagra sales
viagra buy uk
cheap herbal online viagra viagra viagra
cheapest uk viagra
buy viagra s journal
cheap online pill price viagra viagra
buy viagra prescription
viagra and hair loss
cheap viagra online uk
buy viagra levitra alternative lavitra
buy cheap online uk viagra
buy viagra prescription america
buy viagra here in the uk
cheaper viagra
cialis 1
order pfizer viagra with mastercard
buy online pill viagra
buy purchase viagra online confidential
buy viagra online order generic viagra
order viagra international ships
viagra buy
buy viagra cialis levitra online prescription