1 post tagged “braid”
recently i'd come across a game 'portal', it's a nice FPS puzzler (not too many of those around) that comes in 'the orange box' (a set of games including half life 2, HL2:episode 1, HL2: episode 2 and many other related games, including portal, built on the same engine) portal was amazing...it makes you think, is humorous, not too easy, but not too hard, a very, very enjoyable experience :) with wonderful and witty writing and perfect execution...(the only thign that speaks in this game is a computer over a PA system, and she has character :-P)
now, after playing 'portal', i was hungry for games like this...games that entertain you, intrigue you, and make you think, im sick of the 'twitch reflex' games where all you have to do is kill people. this was a very refreshing change..and i wanted to continue playing games like this...
so i started phrases like "games like portal" "if you liked portal" etc...
and in various reviews, i found that people had been looking for the same, some of them, with the them that "i'd like to see more games like 'portal' and 'braid'" and i thought "hmmm...this seems interesting"
so i 'obtained' braid...started playing it....the 'instructions' in the help section of braid were just these:-
(Note: i play with an XBOX 360 controller attached, so it gives me those controls instead of the keyboard controls)
now these seem pretty disappointing don't they, i was thinking? wth? is this a glorified version of mario? what crap!!
this (above) was the first 'world' (for some reason they start from world 2, i don't know why yet) looked pretty nice, and the text in these story boooks was very well written and intriguing (will be posting some of it at the end of the article)
so i got into the first door, and started playing, seemed like a typical side scroller, i collected the first of the 'puzzle peices'..feeling a bit grumbly...and fell into the spikes, and was starting to get really annoyed thinking "that's it! i've lost one of my lives already! now it'll start all over again, i'll have to collect these pieces again! ARRRGH i hate these irritating button mashing side scrollers!!"
but then, i saw the 'X', and i thought? "huh? what the hell?"
and nothing else would happen, just me in the 'dead' state and that blinking 'x', so i press the 'x' and voila!!! time starts turning back!!! also tiny icons of 'lb' and 'rb' (the left button and right button on the x360 controller's shoulders) appear on my characters head, i try them and realise i can control the flow AND direction of time with them!! so it became interesting, this is a screen shot of time turning back at 8X speed:-
so the game became a little more interesting, i started wondering if it requires some kind of fuel that I'll have to collect, where's the 'bar' for this thing? etc...well, there is none, time can be modified to your heart's content...and you die due to various things (which can be reversed) spikes, monsters, fireballs...nothing else...
now the puzzle pieces you collect, are to be used to create a picture...but that's not eh end of it :) e.g:- in one of the later 'doors' of the same world, i came across this:-
(NOTE: the first time i actually reached here, the picture wasn't complete as i hadn't managed to collect all the pieces of the puzzle for this world, but the 'ledge' on it was ;) you'll see how that was important)
so pressing 'b' got me to the following screen:-
in the above mode you can join whatever pieces you've collected and also change the position of the painting, now being able to change the 'position' might seem weird, but it has an application :-P more on that in next picture:-
now that I'd already collected the pieces that allowed me to form at least the 'ledge' on the other levels of the world, i formed the ledge and positioned the painting so that the monster lands on it (yes! that's why the painting's holder is in this level!!)
so as you can see above, the goomba did land on that ledge (and then i suddenly went into the paintings 'arrange' mode and totally slid it 'out of the picture') and as i'd slid the ledge out of teh way, it landed down, and gave me an opportunity to jump on it and reach the piece high above the exit door...
so that's what the gameplay is like :) totally non linear, with very intelligent and intriguing levels and oh, the music.....it's instrumental music by one 'jami sieber' (http://www.jamisieber.com/) she's a composer and cellist etc...it's otherworldly, i listen to it's soundtrack a lot nowadays...
it's games like 'portal' and 'braid' that make me want to get into the field of game design (as I'd mentioned i think in an earlier post, im doing a course in 'video game design and production management' which starts august) these games are innovative, intelligent, and they show the world that gaming isn't all about button mashing and 'godly reflexes', a well made game sometimes manages to weave beautiful stories, witty writing and intelligent gameplay to provide entertainment more wholesome than any other form of media possibly can...
now for some excerpts from the insightful story of 'braid':-
this is what's written in the books of the 2nd and 3rd world:-
note: 2a, 2b etc means 'world 2, book a' etc....ithese books show their text when tim stands in front of them (look at the second image in the post) courtesy:- http://forums.xbox.com/22049680/ShowPost.aspx
Chapter 2: Time and Forgiveness (the first world you play in the game)
2a. “Tim is off on a search to rescue the Princess. She has been snatched by a horrible and evil monster. This happened because Tim made a mistake.”
2b. “Not just one. He made many mistakes during the time they spent together, all those years ago. Memories of their relationship have become muddled, replaced wholesale, but one remains clear: the Princess turning sharply away, her braid lashing at him with contempt.”
2c. “He knows she tried to be forgiving, but who can just shrug away a guilty lie, a stab in the back? Such a mistake will change a relationship irreversibly, even if we have learned from the mistake and would never repeat it. The Princess’s eyes grew narrower. She became more distant.”
2d. “Our world, with its rules of causality, has trained us to be miserly with forgiveness. By forgiving too readily, we can be badly hurt. But if we’ve learned from a mistake and become better for it, shouldn’t we be rewarded for the learning, rather than punished for the mistake?”
2e. “What if our world worked differently? Suppose we could tell her: “I didn’t mean what I just said,” and she would say: “It’s okay, I understand,” and she would not turn away, and life would really proceed as though we had never said that thing? We could remove the damage but still be wiser from the experience.”
2f. “Tim and the Princess lounge in the castle garden, laughing together, giving names to the colorful birds. Their mistakes are hidden from each other, tucked away between the folds of time, safe.”
Chapter 3: Time and Mystery
3a. “All those years ago, Tim had left the Princess behind. He had kissed her on the neck, picked up his travel bag, and walked out the door. He regrets this, to a degree. Now he’s journeying to find her again, to show he knows how sad it was, but also to tell her how it was good.”3b. “For a long time, he though they had been cultivating the perfect relationship. He had been fiercely protective, reversing all his mistakes so they would not touch her. Likewise, keeping a tight rein on her own mistakes, she always pleased him.”
3c. “But to be fully couched within the comfort of a friend is a mode of existence with severe implications. To please you perfectly, she must understand you perfectly. Thus you cannot defy her expectations or escape her reach. Her benevolence has circumscribed you, and your life’s achievements will not reach beyond the map she has drawn.”
3d. “Tim needed to be non-manipulable. He needed a hope of transcendence. He needed, sometimes, to be immune to the Princess’s caring touch.”
3e. “Off in the distance, Tim saw a castle where the flags flutter even when the wind has expired, and the bread in the kitchen is always warm. A little bit of magic.”
it's a beautiful, strange story....
(UPDATE: ok the music isn't only by Jami Siebler, i was mistaken, it's by various artists
The individual tracks in Braid are listed below:
"Maenam" by Jami Sieber, from the album Hidden Sky.
"Undercurrent" and "The Darkening Ground" by Jami Sieber, from the album Lush Mechanique.
"Tell It By Heart" and "Long Past Gone" by Jami Sieber, from the album Second Sight.
"Downstream" by Shira Kammen, from the album Music of Waters.
"Lullaby Set" by Shira Kammen and Swan, from the album Wild Wood.
"Romanesca" by Cheryl Ann Fulton, from the album The Once and Future Harp.
courtesy:- http://www.gamespot.com/news/6197644.html
