(no subject)
I posted this as a myspace bulletin but I think it bares repeating, here, so that I can be on record as having said it--this is something years of time will not change, I believe.
I beat Braid tonight and I really wanted to share with everyone: you owe it to yourself--even if youre not someone who plays games--to play through Braid in your lifetime.
That is an odd statement, because if anything can be said of braid as a game, it is frustrating. The controls and mechanics are very intuitive and flow unbelievably well considering there is not a single tutorial moment in the game, but braid is hard. The game is based on manipulating time to find puzzle pieces, and while some I acquired in a matter of moments, there were some that took me hours of soul-crushing befuddlement before it finally clicked in my head. I will even admit that towards the end I caved and looked up the solution to a few pieces online because I couldn't take feeling so stupid. Inevitably, once you learn to solution to any given piece, it seems almost glaringly obvious and simple. This is the technical genius of Braid, and that was the briefest possible synopsis I could give it.
But this isn't why I suggest Braid to people. No, I suggest Braid because I truly believe that it is a work of art. There is no dialogue in the game, but there are a few one-page books at the start of each world that tell a story that is so well-written and emotionally invocative that I was out and out floored by the impact it had, despite its simplicity. The music is incredible, the art direction is mind-blowing (seriously, this is the closest ive seen to someone trying to make a video-game of a painting), and the entire time I was playing, even when I was raking my skull in frustration, I could not believe that I only paid 15 dollars to play it.
I can see why the PA guys get so angry.
I beat Braid tonight and I really wanted to share with everyone: you owe it to yourself--even if youre not someone who plays games--to play through Braid in your lifetime.
That is an odd statement, because if anything can be said of braid as a game, it is frustrating. The controls and mechanics are very intuitive and flow unbelievably well considering there is not a single tutorial moment in the game, but braid is hard. The game is based on manipulating time to find puzzle pieces, and while some I acquired in a matter of moments, there were some that took me hours of soul-crushing befuddlement before it finally clicked in my head. I will even admit that towards the end I caved and looked up the solution to a few pieces online because I couldn't take feeling so stupid. Inevitably, once you learn to solution to any given piece, it seems almost glaringly obvious and simple. This is the technical genius of Braid, and that was the briefest possible synopsis I could give it.
But this isn't why I suggest Braid to people. No, I suggest Braid because I truly believe that it is a work of art. There is no dialogue in the game, but there are a few one-page books at the start of each world that tell a story that is so well-written and emotionally invocative that I was out and out floored by the impact it had, despite its simplicity. The music is incredible, the art direction is mind-blowing (seriously, this is the closest ive seen to someone trying to make a video-game of a painting), and the entire time I was playing, even when I was raking my skull in frustration, I could not believe that I only paid 15 dollars to play it.
I can see why the PA guys get so angry.