Braid (XBLA) Catch-All

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ApplepieChamploo's picture
Location: The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

I thought I'd start a catch-all now this much-buzz-generating game is actually out (last thread dedicated to it here.)

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ApplepieChamploo's picture
Location: The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

I decided to give it a try after the normally stoic Eurogamer gave it a full (warning, a few very minor spoilers) 10/10. Definitely great fun so far, with some interesting new twists on the time manipulation mechanic. Going back to play some more...

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Spunior's picture

I repeat the recommendation I made in the XBLA thread: Do not read any of the reviews as they just love to spoil some of the neat little surprises the game keeps ready for you. One of the nice things about Braid are the initial minutes in a new world, where's you're trying to figure out the current time paradigm. The further you get, the more brain knot-inducing it gets. And some of the reviews just give the neat stuff away.

It's an awesome game. Every generation of gamers gets the software they deserve, so make sure you vote with your wallet. And if you don't have a 360, keep in mind that there will be a PC version.

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LobsterMobster's picture
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Applepie wrote:
Going back to play some more...

Or did you already go back to play some more? Or some less?

NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.

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stevenmack's picture
Location: Inverness, Scotland

Loving it so far - especially when all of a sudden something goes 'click' in your head and you finally see what you need to do in a particular area

Nice sound n' music too.

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ApplepieChamploo's picture
Location: The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

LobsterMobster wrote:
Applepie wrote:
Going back to play some more...

Or did you already go back to play some more? Or some less?

Maybe I've already completed it and this is... woah!

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polypusher's picture
Location: L.A.

This game's got style, and very well designed puzzles. Very much worth it.

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Azure Chicken's picture

How many points is it? Strongly considering picking this one up.

Mystic Violet wrote:

I think we all need to stop avoiding the real question here:

WWMCD?

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Switchbreak's picture
Location: The Blasted Heath

Spunior wrote:
And if you don't have a 360, keep in mind that there will be a PC version.

They need to hurry up and release that. We're stuck with this crappy Eternity's Child thing over here.

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DudleySmith's picture
Location: Winchester, UK

After playing the demo for 5 minutes I fell in love with it. Wonderful visuals, and I adore the puzzles.

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Location: The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

Azure Chicken wrote:
How many points is it? Strongly considering picking this one up.

It's 1200 points, and well worth it.

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LobsterMobster's picture
Location: On a picnic, going "La la la!"

Funny you should mention that... Eurogamer is reporting that the game was going to be 800 points but MS demanded they sell it for more.

I'm not sure that's an accurate interpretation of the quotes they offer. Seems to me the guy wanted to sell it for 800 but had some loans to repay.

NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.

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Sinatar's picture
Location: Edmonton

Wow this game is phenomenal. Absolutely no hand holding at all, everything is up to you to discover. The sense of accomplishment when you solve some seemingly impossible puzzle is just awesome.

This is definitely worth a measly $15.

My one and only tip: There are no earned abilities so don't look at a puzzle and think you're missing some power and need to come back later. You can solve it then and there, always.

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polypusher's picture
Location: L.A.

Good tip. I had to discover that too. I was under the impression as I passed under a high up puzzle piece that I would get some ability later to help me get to it, a-la zelda or Metroid. I was happy to figure out that that isn't the case (as I kinda resent that sort of game design)

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Location: Yorkshire, UK

I'm loving this game too.

I only have one criticism so far though; I descended a ladder to go underground, did something, came back up, and 2 enemies were sitting on the top of the ladder. There's nowhere else to go, I left it sitting for 5 minutes, and these guys ain't shifting. Time for a restart, I suppose.

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spider_j wrote:
I only have one criticism so far though; I descended a ladder to go underground, did something, came back up, and 2 enemies were sitting on the top of the ladder. There's nowhere else to go, I left it sitting for 5 minutes, and these guys ain't shifting. Time for a restart, I suppose.

How about rewindung to the moment before you went down that ladder instead?

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Might have worked...I was down there for a while! A restart wasn't time consuming anyway.

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ApplepieChamploo's picture
Location: The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

Completed worlds 2 and 3, traversed up to 5. Hard to say what's great about this game (other than it IS great) without spoilers so...

Spoiler wrote:
My favourite part so far is probably the boss battle in World 3. Mr Boss, the penalty for living outside my particular timestream is to have the same chandelier smashed to smithereens over your head, repeatedly. BWAHAHAHA

I'm pretty much in awe of the guy who made this. As difficult as some of the puzzles are, actually creating them and making sure that there's no game-breaking bugs, given the powers you have, and everything else going on in the game, must have been laborous, to say the least.

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Aww, I lost my debit card this weekend and will have to wait until the replacement shows up.

Not that I have time for another game anyway.

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MechaSlinky's picture
Location: Somewhero.

I absolutely loved it. Unfortunately, I finished it in one sitting. I left the Speed Run stuff for another day, though.

The game was actually made by a small team of people, or so sayeth the game's credits.

The ending is weird and wonderful.

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My mind is completely warped by Braid, right now. I had to set it down and do something else because my thinker was hurting.

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Azure Chicken's picture

I'm really enjoying this, I just burned 2 hours without even blinking. Woah.

Mystic Violet wrote:

I think we all need to stop avoiding the real question here:

WWMCD?

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MaxShrek's picture
Location: Fragville Junction, NY

The musical score is fantastic, and the game looks and plays awesome.

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Azure Chicken's picture

spoiler wrote:
Oh, my god, the bit with the first painting? That was f*cking brilliant!

Mystic Violet wrote:

I think we all need to stop avoiding the real question here:

WWMCD?

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Yoyoson's picture

Oh my goodness. This game is awesome. I'm barely able to keep myself from buying the full game, but I know that I must wait because there's a sale on MS points at Target this weekend. $15 for 1600 points.

I just managed to get all the puzzle pieces for World 2 (the first world). It took a bit of head-scratching, but it was well worth it. If the game continues to be this creative with its puzzles, then I am looking forward to getting into this as much as I had gotten into Portal.

At least in the trial, there are some undocumented but extremely important controls:

X Button - Rewinds time, a la Prince of Persia
LB (While rewinding time) - Speeds up the rewinding rate, can go to -8x speed
RB (After rewinding time a bit) - Fast Forwards time, can go to +8x speed.

You can only fast forward to the point in time when you started to press the X Button.

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Location: The Library

Just finished World 2 in the demo. Pretty fantastic. I too am waiting for the target points extravaganza. Lately the XBLA games have been better than then regular releases.

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DudleySmith's picture
Location: Winchester, UK

The game just keeps delivering. I've still not got some of the high pieces above doors in World 2, but Worlds 3 and 4 are completed (save for Hunt in World 4, which I just need to spend a bit of time working out the path). I'm still not sure how I did that first Fickle Companion piece.

I predict that Rabbit will be going on about this game for a good few months. It's like the designer ripped out his brain, blended it into coloured paste, and then did a transcendently beautiful painting with it for a backdrop.

It will do good to heart and head
When your soul is in my soul's stead;
And I will friend you, if I may,
In the dark and cloudy day.
- AE Houseman, trailblazing XBL user

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Location: Just this side of crazy

Holy crap! I just tried the demo. It blew me away. Fantastic game. At the very least anyone who has yet to try the game owes it to themselves to play the free demo. It's wonderful.

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chirs3's picture
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

Love it love it love it. It's the best puzzle game I've played in a long time, and on top of that, it looks and sounds amazing.

There are some people out there whining about the price tag, but so far I'd say it's totally worth it.

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LobsterMobster's picture
Location: On a picnic, going "La la la!"

Look, um... I know I'm going to lose my gaming cred for this, but it didn't change my life. The art and sound are wonderful, the story's interesting, and I played as much as the demo would allow, but I can't seem to get above the "kinda neat" level of enthusiasm. I'll play through it again and maybe I'll see what I've apparently been missing.

NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.

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pneuman's picture
Location: Melbourne, Australia

I just solved world 2, and my only thought was "this man is a genius" -- it was just so clever and inventive, and yet so simple at the same time. One of the review quotes on the Braid website sums it up perfectly:

DarkZero review of Braid wrote:
It was never difficult at all - you just weren't thinking in the right way.

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