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General Category => Entertainment and Media => Topic started by: hero_bash on May 18, 2010, 02:50:49 pm

Title: Braid sucks
Post by: hero_bash on May 18, 2010, 02:50:49 pm
Am I the only one thinking braid sucks?

Apparently no.
http://www.gamesradar.com/f/beloved-games-we-hate/a-20090320114310208068/p-4
Quote from: gamesradar
Boring. Full-of-itself. Distilled snobbery. Tedious, frustrating and filled with laughably emo prose.

That’s how I feel about Braid, a game I excitedly bought and downloaded the very first day of release. I have made three separate attempts over the last seven months to give the game a fair shake, but its pretention and obliquely maddening puzzles turned me off every time. I realized I was forcing myself to like something just because everyone else loved it.

That’s the biggest problem with Braid: you're not allowed to hate it. I think many gamers and journalists honestly love this game, but I also believe that many jumped on a "games as art" bandwagon. Add to that all the press Braid’s creator, Jonathan Blow, got as the poor little auteur making it all by himself and, suddenly, you look like a cruel monster for criticizing it.

Braid may have fooled the world into liking it, but the avalanche of praise stops here. Not because I'm not getting the dense meanings of it - oh, the guy lost a girl, but in reality he is chasing this girl in reverse, accidentally making himself the hero and the villain of his own game! And oh, isn’t the stage layout just so chic with the Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. references!

Blargh. I may be glad that this game exists more than, say, a new Army Men title, but it needs to get over itself big time.


and um, soulja boy.. :fogetnah: i'm almost ashamed to mention him

Title: Braid sucks
Post by: big ass skelly on May 18, 2010, 03:02:50 pm
If you ignore all the wanky nuclear bomb metaphors or whatever the fuck was going on it's a pretty game with well designed puzzles and a neat gimmick. What's to hate? That lots of people like it?
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Supra Mairo on May 18, 2010, 03:06:15 pm
It's about the most boring game I've played.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: bonzi_buddy on May 18, 2010, 03:35:12 pm
It's about the most boring game I've played.
whoa uh i get the diss on the whole indie/hipster game esthetics but really dude.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: EvilDemonCreature on May 18, 2010, 03:48:48 pm
and um, soulja boy.. :fogetnah: i'm almost ashamed to mention him

How dare you say that! If soulja boy likes it, then fuck any other available opinion.

woooooooooooooooooooop!

Although seriously speaking, is there any actual reason it's called braid? Like, since it's so full of itself with pretentiousness and hidden meaning, I can only assume there is some kind of hidden connection you get to that title from actually playing the game, but with that name all I'm thinking is why isn't this game using the storyline for Rapunzel?

If they had instead called it "Braids" and replaced all those Donkey Kong references with Magic the Gathering references, I would be all over that shit.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Vellfire on May 18, 2010, 07:51:38 pm
Although seriously speaking, is there any actual reason it's called braid? Like, since it's so full of itself with pretentiousness and hidden meaning, I can only assume there is some kind of hidden connection you get to that title from actually playing the game, but with that name all I'm thinking is why isn't this game using the storyline for Rapunzel?

been a while since i played it but i seem to remember one of the first visuals in the game is the guy remembering a girl with a long braid (someone confirm this)

anyway braid is a great game what is you problems, dudes?????  :fogetnah:
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: hero_bash on May 18, 2010, 08:29:03 pm
Personally my problem is not the game itself, I'm actually happy an indie game became successful and all that, I thought the gameplay, art were really great but I won't go as to praise it so much, since honestly I can't get 'into' it.

This is exactly how I felt about Braid:
Quote
That’s the biggest problem with Braid: you're not allowed to hate it. I think many gamers and journalists honestly love this game, but I also believe that many jumped on a "games as art" bandwagon. Add to that all the press Braid’s creator, Jonathan Blow, got as the poor little auteur making it all by himself and, suddenly, you look like a cruel monster for criticizing it.
I mean you don't like it and you would get the 'you just don't get it' treatment. Maybe I don't? idk
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Jester on May 18, 2010, 08:42:51 pm
Then why hate the game, rather than just hate the fans? Fanboys are dumbasses but I don't see how that somehow detracts from the game?

Hardcore football fans are morons, but that doesn't affect my views on the game itself.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: hero_bash on May 18, 2010, 08:53:59 pm
I don't 'hate' it. But I don't exactly like it either, I mentioned gameplay (time rewind and puzzles) to be quite unique and that's great for creativity but as a game I didn't enjoy it or had 'fun' playing it. It's just not my taste.

But yea, I realized I'm quite guilty of having bias on judgement because of being affected by other things besides the game itself.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Hundley on May 19, 2010, 02:55:28 am
braid didn't really do a lot for me either. i tried the demo and thought it was ok, but it didn't really strike me as some supremely special game. there have been a couple other indie side-scrollers that i enjoyed quite a bit more.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Ryan on May 19, 2010, 02:59:03 am
boring game

its well made and well thought out but i dunno. a game that fundamentally isn't enjoyable or intriguing to me in any way is missing the point of why i play videogames
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Parker on May 19, 2010, 03:49:36 am
nobody show soulja boy portal he will lose his mind
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: UPRC on May 19, 2010, 07:15:51 pm
Braid was really average to me. I never really understood the hype, but I bought it anyway because of how much it was being talked about.

I don't know. Something about the graphics, the sound, the gameplay.. It just all equaled a very boring experience for me as a whole. The game was fine itself, I just couldn't make myself enjoy it.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Brown on May 19, 2010, 07:23:49 pm
I'm going to play braid tonight. You guys better not be DEhyping this game up if that makes any sense. Soulja boy tell em'
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: EvilDemonCreature on May 19, 2010, 07:29:58 pm
nobody show soulja boy portal he will lose his mind

Forgive me if I'm missing something, but I fail to see anything even remotely negative about this happening.

Well, unless someone fails to film it and post the results on the internet. That's literally the worst thing I could imagine happening from this hypothetical situation.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: hero_bash on May 19, 2010, 07:57:10 pm
Quote
nobody show soulja boy portal he will lose his mind

I would pay to see this
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Drule on May 19, 2010, 09:10:29 pm
Braid has a wonderful mood and atmosphere with a pretty sweet and relaxed puzzle gameplay. The visuals, audio and storytelling is cool, and the plot twist was a neat and ambitious touch for an indie game. Add to that that the game is one long-running subtle reference to the Manhattan Project that was first discovered months after the release.

What's there not to like? I'm having a hard time finding indie games that are better in any of these regards.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: pig style on May 19, 2010, 09:28:40 pm
I agree with drule, but I think the game does put it's foot in it's mouth from time to time. Hundley I'm curious about whatever games you are talking about. Aside from Iji and Cave Story, I think most indie side scrollers have fell far from par.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Warped655 on May 19, 2010, 09:34:06 pm
bummer I never got around to beating it and now I have a decent idea about the ending's twist... than again I don't have much care in the story.

in any case, When I heard about it I rolled my eyes at a lot of the people hyping it up and the overall look of the game of it seemed "hey I'm indie" and that sort of thing actually tends to be a minus in my book. However the little that I played I found enjoyable.

Also, the gamesradar guy, I feel the same way about Silent Hill 2. I prefer the original, or 3 to Silent Hill 2. Oh and fuck that Wii remake of the original. they fucking butchered it.

Also Don't understand why everyone loved Time Splitters 2. The controls on that game blew and it felt really floaty.

Finally,
Then why hate the game, rather than just hate the fans? Fanboys are dumbasses but I don't see how that somehow detracts from the game?

Hardcore football fans are morons, but that doesn't affect my views on the game itself.
I feel this way about Halo and its fans. I actually like most of Halo (the first one is probably my favorite FPS of all time, on console or the pc version) but most other fans that I know seemed kind of rabid and moronic. (also fuck matchmaking)
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: pig style on May 19, 2010, 10:00:16 pm
Also by just skimming over that gamesradar I can only assume this guy has no idea what he is talking about and just made this article to score sum web hitzzzz kind of like when ign or whoever the fuck claimed ff7 was one of the 10 worst games of all time. Dumb article, and why even attack an indie game? Just kind of pointless. I was thinking about reading the article cause maybe they have something intelligent to say but from that little cut out about braid this guy just seems angry that something is popular. Of course idiots are going to look too much into it or put it on a pedestal or whatever, why the hell does that matter. It's just dumb and I guess this article kind of made me angry for some reason! And I didn't even read it!

And I don't even like braid that much, I thought it was good, and it did what it was supposed to and didn't jerk around or try to be something it's not. It's a simple game so jeesh why go though so much trouble trying to bring it down a few pegs, does it really matter? The problem I have is really he didn't even review the game, he just said he didn't like because other people liked it too much. Which is dumb, it brings just as little to the table as people saying it's the best thing since sliced bread.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Ragnar on May 19, 2010, 10:32:39 pm
Also by just skimming over that gamesradar I can only assume this guy has no idea what he is talking about and just made this article to score sum web hitzzzz kind of like when ign or whoever the fuck claimed ff7 was one of the 10 worst games of all time. Dumb article, and why even attack an indie game? Just kind of pointless. I was thinking about reading the article cause maybe they have something intelligent to say but from that little cut out about braid this guy just seems angry that something is popular. Of course idiots are going to look too much into it or put it on a pedestal or whatever, why the hell does that matter. It's just dumb and I guess this article kind of made me angry for some reason! And I didn't even read it!

uh I guess because there are a bunch of other indie games that are good and this one gets unwarranted attention in his opinion? At least I thought that, less about attacking one indie game than how much it's eclipsing everything else. Or out of concern a bunch of Braid knockoffs are going to dominate the indie gaming scene because it becomes some paradigm of indie gaming that shouldn't exist
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Neophyte on May 19, 2010, 10:43:14 pm
The only thing that's full of itself here is that article.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Parker on May 19, 2010, 11:18:40 pm
Also Don't understand why everyone loved Time Splitters 2. The controls on that game blew and it felt really floaty.
dude, what? Time Splitters 2 is an amazing game. Haven't played it in a while, so I can't really comment on the controls being 'floaty' but I remember them being really tight and refined. Besides sniping, of course, which was nearly impossible (much easier in Future Perfect). But I had more fun with that game then almost any other game that came out around that time.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Ragnar on May 19, 2010, 11:25:11 pm
they felt loose in the sense they took some getting used to and it felt weird playing other FPSes immediately afterwards
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Buttkiller on May 19, 2010, 11:42:18 pm
timesplitters 2 is my favorite console shooter, that winter level with all the bases owned and the fact that it actually had bots owned and all the weapons and characters owned and i'm too nostalgic to make a proper judgement
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: pig style on May 20, 2010, 12:03:55 am
uh I guess because there are a bunch of other indie games that are good and this one gets unwarranted attention in his opinion? At least I thought that, less about attacking one indie game than how much it's eclipsing everything else. Or out of concern a bunch of Braid knockoffs are going to dominate the indie gaming scene because it becomes some paradigm of indie gaming that shouldn't exist

Has this actually happened though, I haven't heard anything about braid since it came out almost 2 years ago I think, are you trying to say this guy is the tarantino of gaming or something I don't really understand! And please point me to these braid knockoffs cause I would love some more puzzle platformers. I can't think of any point to this article other than throwing darts at a wall with pictures of games that got decent ratings and a good fan following and going THAT ONE ILL WRITE ABOUT THAT ONE! and ugh I hate using caps like that but that's pretty much how I predict the selections of this article came about. Like who even cares about these games that much I haven't heard of any unwarranted hype that hasn't happened with you know, any decent game these days.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Warped655 on May 20, 2010, 12:35:38 am
dude, what? Time Splitters 2 is an amazing game. Haven't played it in a while, so I can't really comment on the controls being 'floaty' but I remember them being really tight and refined. Besides sniping, of course, which was nearly impossible (much easier in Future Perfect). But I had more fun with that game then almost any other game that came out around that time.
It's been a while for me too so yeah kind of hard for me to describe. Plus their where a bunch of little things the irked me about the game that on their own wouldn't normally bother me but when put all together ruined the game for me:

-You can't jump
-You are right, sniping IS near impossible and I like to snipe
-heck, I had trouble hitting anything... its just that the problem was just made worse for when you went into the zoom mode of any of the weapons.
-graphics aren't very good, and the style was too cartoony for me. Faces were ugly.
-lazy animation, weak sound effects, severely bland textures
-the monkey was broken in MP, and I fucking refuse to accept a match with anyone who uses the monkey.
-MP stats in general seemed dumb.
-health bar location... WTF is that shit? hard to tell exactly how much health I have (fuzzieness) and it disappears so if I didn't catch it, I don't realize that I need a health pack.
-I read about a map maker in the game and was SORELY disappointed.
-Weapons didn't seem balanced which normally wouldn't be a problem if you just always started with a good one but otherwise you had to spend most of the match trying to find a weapon worth using.
-Story was not very interesting, tad to much cheese.
-missions were varied and unique but hair-pullingly controller-throwingly difficult.
-objectives had a tendency to be way too vague. found myself wondering around trying to figure WTF I was supposed to be doing.
-lowering the difficulty only made the missions shorter, as in, there were gaping chunks of the mission that you couldn't even do unless you played max difficulty.
-bunch of other stuff I can't remember ATM.

The one thing I liked doing was unlocking all the characters with the challenge modes. Those were ok. They were also frustrating though. And the multiplayer map design seemed pretty good. As well as general variety. Which I always appreciate. But the underlying gameplay felt bland and the controls really irked me.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Ragnar on May 20, 2010, 12:50:56 am
Has this actually happened though, I haven't heard anything about braid since it came out almost 2 years ago I think, are you trying to say this guy is the tarantino of gaming or something I don't really understand! And please point me to these braid knockoffs cause I would love some more puzzle platformers. I can't think of any point to this article other than throwing darts at a wall with pictures of games that got decent ratings and a good fan following and going THAT ONE ILL WRITE ABOUT THAT ONE! and ugh I hate using caps like that but that's pretty much how I predict the selections of this article came about. Like who even cares about these games that much I haven't heard of any unwarranted hype that hasn't happened with you know, any decent game these days.

yeah I was kind of saying that I don't know enough indie games to know if it's been knocked off yet but I wouldn't be surprised and it would be a step in the wrong direction for indie games imo
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Rowain on May 20, 2010, 07:00:07 pm
I love Braid. There's something to be said for the arguement that the story is pretentious, but the great thing is it works at face value. Sure, there's a legion of people debating it's true meaning (fun fact: the creator himself says he doesn't have an answer for what it all means, which basically says everyone is full of shit), but what you get is evocative without having deeper meaning. This is because it's a pretty basic idea complimented with some very relaxing pastel colours and great mood music. There's a strong human element to the game that I identified with, without even considering what the symbolism was.

And I don't know, if you were expecting MARIO BROS with time mechanics then I imagine the gameplay was disappointing, but I liked that a lot too. There were a few puzzles that annoyed me, mostly the ones requiring precision time control, but the, uh, 'rush' you get from solving them makes it worthwhile. I thought it did a good job taking a heady concept like time manipulation and distilling it to a single button press, while retaining a great deal of complexity to the puzzles.

Really, I think Braid hate is another instance of people clowning on a game that got a lot of positive press and fan hype. I can understand some people just not enjoying it, because it doesn't have mass appeal, but I can't agree that it's a terrible game because it isn't.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Parker on May 20, 2010, 08:22:22 pm
speaking of platformers for xbox 360

Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Jester on May 20, 2010, 10:06:34 pm
that looks awesome
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: crone_lover720 on May 21, 2010, 02:23:06 am
I should have finished my game two years ago when I decided to take a break from working on it now everyone is doing shit in that graphical style. looks kind of wasted on this limbo game tho so maybe I can pull it off.....
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: EvilDemonCreature on May 21, 2010, 06:31:27 pm
lol, it's all about who does shit first in this age of game making innovation.

What ever happened to being satisfied with doing shit well and leaving it at that? If I can make a game people will want to play, I really don't care what I've already ripped off.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: hero_bash on May 21, 2010, 06:52:58 pm
the only thing i have against some indie games is that they concentrate too much on 'innovation' and experimenting that they forget one single thing, the fun of playing it. Well they are considered experiments for a reason but I would consider it a failure as a game if it fails to deliver the joy of playing it.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Vellfire on May 21, 2010, 07:18:32 pm
the only thing i have against some indie games is that they concentrate too much on 'innovation' and experimenting that they forget one single thing, the fun of playing it. Well they are considered experiments for a reason but I would consider it a failure as a game if it fails to deliver the joy of playing it.

i don't think this applies to braid
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: hero_bash on May 21, 2010, 08:35:14 pm
It doesn't. I was talking about some other indies.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Pulits on May 21, 2010, 08:52:17 pm
I think it's an excellent game and the perfect example of what a small team of game creators can do, it's what indie gaming is all about.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: bonzi_buddy on May 21, 2010, 09:04:36 pm
welp expect a language/comprehension barrier if we are going to steer into the indie games critique. like to lot/most of people the similiar graphical style is not a problem. or it's a standard now. feel free to hit your head to the wall

uh I guess because there are a bunch of other indie games that are good and this one gets unwarranted attention in his opinion? At least I thought that, less about attacking one indie game than how much it's eclipsing everything else. Or out of concern a bunch of Braid knockoffs are going to dominate the indie gaming scene because it becomes some paradigm of indie gaming that shouldn't exist
actually that's just you Ragnar, the writer is really just going against the tide for the heck of it. um i mean that's his motive and he cries about the 'games as art' - wave a bit for a support.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: EvilDemonCreature on May 22, 2010, 03:58:01 pm
actually that's just you Ragnar, the writer is really just going against the tide for the heck of it. um i mean that's his motive and he cries about the 'games as art' - wave a bit for a support.

That's another thing. Anytime a reviewer brings up that specific point in the realm specific to indie gaming, I just wave my hand of the whole matter. Why do reviewers always assume that just because it is an indie game, that it must automatically qualify as having "artistic merit"? Fuck 'games as art' or 'art of games' or whatever! Just because a game is indie, doesn't mean it has to be art! And just because an indie game is fun, doesn't mean it automatically has to qualify as art! All reviewers are showing us by applying that paradigm is how far their heads can fit up their own asses.
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: crone_lover720 on May 22, 2010, 08:16:52 pm
lol, it's all about who does shit first in this age of game making innovation.

What ever happened to being satisfied with doing shit well and leaving it at that? If I can make a game people will want to play, I really don't care what I've already ripped off.
but obviously when there's tons of other stuff like it it diminishes the effect!!

plus the gameplay was already gonna be really similar to nifflas's stuff and now he's making NIGHT GAME which looks friggen exactly like mine except sillier and still tile-based instead of organic. I was thinking of expanding to other colors besides black anyway but this is still a setback
Title: Braid sucks
Post by: Ragnar on May 23, 2010, 03:07:35 am
will you guys just make a decent zelda-type game or something else actually fun instead of like frolicing with shadows or whatever what a bunch of gays