I've been watching this game for a while, but pulled away from it last year to try to keep some distance so I didn't spoil anything. I've listened to Jonathan Blow in a lot of interviews and think he is a very unique developer that puts his entire being into the project he is working on. His ruminations on his craft are deep and inspiring. I think he is doing a lot of good work within the field of indie gaming and gaming philosophy in general.
He has been working on this game since Braid launched and I've been very much looking forward to it. I hoped that it would turn out well after hearing his talks and interviews about it over the last few years. I was very relieved and am extremely excited to see such amazing reviews coming out.
IGN called it a "masterpiece" and the giant bomb guys gave it a perfect score. I'm not looking much more into it since there may be spoilers all over the reviews. It comes out tomorrow!
been waiting for this game for years (since 2011 according to that thread). thought it was going to be vaporware but it's been getting a lot of positive buzz recently.
Uhm, I think I just found an alternate ending within the first 30 mins of me playing.
In the very first area after the second tutorial puzzle there is a gate that you have to solve a few puzzles to open. On the gate is a large white pole sticking out of it. Line that pole up with the sun and solve it like a normal puzzle using the sun as the starting point. It took me to a place that had credits and ended with a messed up video. Then the game just closed. I don't think I was supposed to know how to solve that yet lol.
Beautiful looking game. Reminds me of Myst which I loved. However, there doesn't seem to be a story line, just solving maze puzzles. However, if you like that sort of game, this one looks to be a winner.
A friend told me about this the other day which the first I'd heard of it.
As a massive puzzle fan I was immediately interested, I loved Braid and did notice that the game was very unique, there was little in the way of repetition or filler, listening to interviews with Blow it wasn't surprising to hear him bring this up. Some of the time puzzles were devishly hard which was a nice change of pace for a puzzle fanatic.
Just got in my first 3.6 hours of game time, I feel like I'm probably about 1/3 of the way through.
What I've done so far in that time
I've solved the entire first area castle, the area north of that and got the laser, also got the laser using the panels that require use of shadows. I've got the windmill spinning and got the first 2 honeycomb shaped puzzle solutions which you find in locked boxes, as well as done part of the temple and just now all the rain forest sounds. I've also found a whole bunch of those individual panels that are strune about everywhere.
I'd say I'm pretty adept at puzzles and I don't think I've been stuck more than about 30 seconds which means the puzzles for the average person are going to range from easy to pretty hard, but for people who are used to puzzle solving and lateral thinking I don't think you're going to find anything terribly hard here, unless is seriously ramps up in difficulty in other areas.
But I really like it, it looks really nice running in 4k, it's a beautiful gamea. There's lots of little secrets and things to find, story snippets and quotes and whatnot, very quirky. Whether or not it turns out t be better than The Talos Principle which is one of my all time fave games of 2015 is yet to be seen. Unless they can do something really deep and interesting with the story, I suspect not.
I think my only gripes with the game is that movement acceleration is SUPER lame and exercise in frustration. And so far is I don't see it likely being worth 30 quid all told, that's with estimating the length based on what I've done. But I'll come back and comment on that again upon completion.
I keep coming across the god damn tetris shaped pieces in puzzles and I STILL have no idea how the F'ing hell you do those puzzles, I feel like I'm being hugely retarded with them, even the really basic ones...just...unf.
The game does ramp up. There are over 600 puzzles in the game. The tree shadow, castle, apple trees, and such are the beginner areas. I'm also thinking you may not have figured out what is some pretty cool "next level" stuff in the game world. Keep going, the puzzle get much better!
Yeah I've got about 6 of the lasers done now and explored most of the island, worked out the tetris style puzzle with the tutorial area at the back of the island. Also I discovered what the black totems are for and I've found a crap load of those as well, some are really sneaky. I've also got 3 of the videos unlocked, which are just...well...weird. I try and keep an open mind but it feels more like new age waffle so far rather than any kind of glimpse of a story.
The game is bigger than I first thought and there seems to be several layers of secrets which is nice. Overall very impressed, was hesitant that I'd get £30 worth of puzzles but the game delivers for sure.
*edit*
Oh and I took some screenshots maxed out in 4k, I'll post them tomorrow when I have time to upload them.
Glad you figured out the totems! The game instantly seems so much bigger after that I'm really curious to see what secrets there are even deeper into the game. I unlocked the 7 lasers a few days ago and am working on the last area.
I'm liking it more than the Talos Principle now. It has a longer build up, but the game seems deeper and more interconnected than Talos. Although, I really enjoy the story aspect of Talos, something that is, as of now, missing from The Witness. Maybe there is some revelation later.
Yeah that's what I'm hoping, the tapes for the most part are just quotes from certain famous people and the videos under the windmil are mostly incomprehensible nonsense.
I did a few hours tonight and almost finished off the coloured water area plus the treetop area, nothing significantly new so far but a huge chunk of the puzzles done, I think that's all the areas more or less explored so I think I understand all the mechanics I've found so far.
yes the black totems are going to take some serious time investment to finish, there's also the individual panels you find on the ground which I'm assuming are secrets as well, found loads of those.
Tbh I was dissapointed by the deliberately open ended story of Braid and the various interpretations which he never confirmed nor denied, I find that kind of thing a bit manipulative, I would prefer if there was some definite meaning rather than everyone having to find their own meaning, feels like a cop out. I seriously hope that's not where this game is going, it'd be a big let down, especially after how well it's been put together.
I think it is neat how he tries to ride the line between a structured story and letting the player fill in the story themselves with their own perspective and experiences, but I think he doesn't quite achieve it. He leans a too far into the vague direction where there doesn't seem to be enough meat to it for me to attach any meaning from. But, I haven't finished the game and still have a lot to do once I beat the last area.
I haven't figured out what the scattered individual puzzles on the ground are for. They are super easy and seem to not do anything, but I'm sure they have some significance that I'm missing. Supposedly there are 11 areas? I actually had to beat 8 areas because one area's laser didn't go to the summit of the mountain and I didn't mess around long enough to see if it could be manipulated.
I beat tree tops, tree shadows, bamboo, asian temple, quarry, colors, desert, and the red rock place on the coast. I still have to do the maze, swamp, and one more than I may not have found yet.
Will be fun to go back and try to get all the secrets.
Yeah played a bunch more tonight and finished off a few more areas, i think the only 2 areas left are like 2 puzzles in the colours and the main town which is now mostly unlocked apart from the first door to the tower with the laser on top.
The laser in the wrong direction can be reflected off a tower in the town but you need to do a bunch of puzzles to get up there.
I just have a few tiny pieces left to do in order to finish off all the lasers, fantastic game so far, glad I bought it full price, the guy deserves every penny.
Yeah played a bunch more tonight and finished off a few more areas, i think the only 2 areas left are like 2 puzzles in the colours and the main town which is now mostly unlocked apart from the first door to the tower with the laser on top.
The laser in the wrong direction can be reflected off a tower in the town but you need to do a bunch of puzzles to get up there.
I just have a few tiny pieces left to do in order to finish off all the lasers, fantastic game so far, glad I bought it full price, the guy deserves every penny.
Great to hear you are liking it. I haven't been playing over the last few days. I need to jump in and finish the main portions. I'm looking forward to poking around every corner to find the secrets
Ohh some of the puzzles are devilish in this, it repeatedly makes you go back and challenge your base assumptions, just doing the flower garden/colour area.
Found the Richard Feynman lecture video and he talks about everything being connected, the various different models of the universe from atoms through to high order concepts like love and hate, and talks about humans disovering them as connecting the lines through these different ways of thinking, which kinda struck me similar to what you're doing in the puzzle, connecting the start and the end with a line.
Other than that I see no real coherence to the story so far.
His misdirection is ingenious. If you have beaten the shady tree area....
I finished the right door of the shady tree area first. When I got to the laser, the left door was closed and shadows were cast onto it. So, I assumed after doing the right door, that I had to apply the rules I learned on that side where you have to figure out where the shadows would land on the puzzle if the thing blocking the shadows were not there. The problem is the door is very intricate and it is hard to do. I drew out the door and the shadows then tried to apply it all to the puzzle. It works, but it does not solve the puzzle. I hit my head against it for awhile before deciding I would come back later. As I left the puzzle I saw the wire going to the left hand side of the door.... I felt like such a moron, but it only reinforced my deep respect for Blow and his mischievous game design. This game is truly a master work.
Yeah a lot of the puzzles have an ending laser and the build up to the final puzzle requires 2 routes to be completed, often with subtle differences in puzzle mechanics. The Shadow puzzle was particarly good as you open one side of the 2 doors with each puzzle chain and the final puzzle is a combination of the 2 disciplines you've mastered.
The main town in the middle is somewhat similar except it requires 3 routes to be solved in order to progress which was super cool to work out. The guy is definitely right, the game doesn't necessairly need to be targeted at fun primarily, providing people with a system that rewards them fairly for puzzle solving is gratifying enough to keep players hooked.
I come full circle to Braid and what he mentioned in his interview about no filler, the guy is a master at creating puzzles which fundamentally do not repeat, each new puzzle subtly increases in difficulty but not just through size or scope but in some fundamental way related to introducing new mechanics or mixing existing ones. It's always fair.
I've done most of the island and i still cannot do the church door, the icons are stars which need to be paired but there's odd amounts of some of them, there seems to be some colour interaction there, for example purple, red and blue stars, now red+blue = purple so I tried that but I'm still stuck and that's the way into the last laser so I've run into maybe my first roadblock.
I'm working on the final area now. I think I'm in the very last puzzle room, but I have to let my eyes rest. I'm going to try to finish the game tomorrow and then go back and do the things I missed. The last area is great!
Done 3 more lasers this morning including the temple one with the tree in it, the coloured pools area and the tree tops, I believe I'm on the last one in town, I still can't do the church...I've opened the room next to the church and trying to work out this RGB puzzle.
I'm guessing when they're white it means the shape contains that primary colour and going through and mapping them to find their final colours and then separating them out based on colour isn't working :/ Unless I made a mistake.
Completed the game via the mountain, all in all a pretty good game. It does however reset your progress completely, I did start to play again just to get the alt "ending" (basically the credits) by lining the sun up with the glowing tower at the start of the game.
I'm gobsmacked that they'd force you to go through collecting absolutely everything again, since the game has no save feature other than auto save there's literally nothing you can do about it, that's made me really mad, a really disappointing end, I don't think I'll continue to bother playing to get all the secrets not when it means starting again, what a waste of time
Oh there is a load system, thank F for that. I didn't know it auto saved at different points, it's not very obvious since it auto loads your last saved point.
Finished it today. The normal ending was... unfulfilling. The alternate ending started off like someone had a dream about a LaQuinta commercial, then it went off the deep end. Kinda odd way to end the game.
Finally had time to finish. I certainly need to find more secrets in the game to fully realize the ending. I got a "cycle of life" vibe from the ending, but I'm sure there is more to it. I'm going to work on finding the audio logs and unlocking all the hexagon puzzles.
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