Polytron/Kokoromi's FEZ

I really, really love this soundtrack. Perfect for playing in the background while getting work done.

The game? It's fine. Gameplay didn't blow me out of the water, but it's clever and the world is definitely fun to look at.

I just got the 16th cube and went through the door. Man, a hate cliffhangers, but it's time to hit the bed. This and Game of Thrones are going to kill me tomorrow. Though I may have a short workday, so there's that.

Oh, and more game related, I finally figured out the maps! Or, at least one of them. Not sure if they all follow the same logic, but those "aha!" moments in puzzling games make me so glad to be a player. I did find more things I didn't know how to complete, than actually completed, which I think is the right balance to strike; more gradually going the opposite way the closer you get to completion.

Well, I got to a few

Spoiler:

QR codes

that people have been talking about, something I wish people wouldn't have talked about. Why doesn't Twitter have spoiler tags? Seems super lazy. I think I'm indifferent to their inclusion. Positives and negatives to it, and I don't feel passionately either way. Do like the call back area that I found one of them in.

cyrax wrote:

Why doesn't Twitter have spoiler tags?

Imagine a feed full of spoiler-tagged information. Lacks the immediacy of Twitter, or any info-stream, and thus puts people off, I think. I think the accepted tactic there is to be careful, watch for spoiler expiration dates (which are never formally set, obviously), or use your client's filter feature, if it has one.

CY wrote:
cyrax wrote:

Why doesn't Twitter have spoiler tags?

Imagine a feed full of spoiler-tagged information. Lacks the immediacy of Twitter, or any info-stream, and thus puts people off, I think. I think the accepted tactic there is to be careful, watch for spoiler expiration dates (which are never formally set, obviously), or use your client's filter feature, if it has one.

That would often be preferable to some of the sh*t I see on my feed. It's probably why I don't check Twitter all that often.

Anyway, Fez is fast becoming my go-to game when I'm in the mood to chill out.

Tannhauser wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

Generally I strive to separate the product from the people who made it. I'm buying it twice in protest to Tannhauser's protest.

Don't forget to buy two tickets for Indie Game: The Movie as well.

I was kidding, and not really planning to buy the game, but the talk on this week's Giant Bombcast has enabled me. Sound super weird, and more than just a platformer (apparently?). Sounds like it kind of melted Jeff Gerstmann's brain.

I picked it up and I'm enjoying it a lot. I played Ninja Gaiden 2 for past week and wanted something light as a counter point so, I tried the demo. I was then hooked.

The visuals/sound are great and I like the exploration aspect. I've been careful about staying away from any spoiler threads etc, because I can see a whole second game sort of buried in there with the language/number/symbol translation and I want to work it all out on my own. This is one of those games where I'm pretty sure I'll be sad that I can't "play it for the first time" again in the future.

I've already got about a page of notes scratched out on a paper pad. I haven't done that for a game in a long time.

There is so, so much to this game. It's like the whole first run through isn't even part of the real game. Like...platforming isn't even the point. I'm having a hard time explaining anything without going into spoilers, so I'll just stop there.

The stuff they said in the Giant Bombcast is pretty dead-on, actually. Once you collect the 'necessary' cubes to beat the game, the objective of the game changes pretty drastically, to the point where you might need to get a pen and pad at some point to truly figure it out. Or cheat.

I love how it's been advertised this entire time as being a cute lil' platformer with a neat little 3D switching gimmick, when underneath that there is so much nonsense going on it's crazy. And the meat of the game wasn't even hinted at in the least throughout the whole development cycle.

Would you mind elaborating a bit in a spoiler tag? I'm curious about the game but would like to know more before buying it.

I'm not sure how much you should know before hand, that's kinda the fun, figuring out what the game really wants from you. I'll put it in gradually more spoilery spoiler tags.

Spoiler:

A lot of the collectibles require you to enter codes of some sort that are found various ways throughout the game...

Spoiler:

Most of which you have to translate yourself by figuring out the in-game language.

Spoiler:

There are also areas that require you to do things outside of the game, such as QR codes, figuring out codes via your controller vibrating, being in certain places at both real-world and in-game times, etc.

Spoiler:

Once you beat the game once, you get two abilities that pretty much render the platforming obsolete, and makes you look at each area in a new way.

I'm still trying to be somewhat vague even in the spoilers because that's a big part of what makes it so interesting. I will say though, as soon as you can beat the game (IE when you get 32 cubes), do so. After the ending, you go into a new mode without losing any progress you've made, and it's worth it to get to asap.

Omaha wrote:

I'm not sure how much you should know before hand, that's kinda the fun, figuring out what the game really wants from you. I'll put it in gradually more spoilery spoiler tags.

...snip...

I'm still trying to be somewhat vague even in the spoilers because that's a big part of what makes it so interesting. I will say though, as soon as you can beat the game (IE when you get 32 cubes), do so. After the ending, you go into a new mode without losing any progress you've made, and it's worth it to get to asap.

That was very well done, Omaha. It's hard to describe. I'll say this for folks. If you're just looking for a platformer with twisty bits you'll be done with the game quickly and I'm not sure it's worth the $10. The initial exploration phase is still entertaining and charming; however, if you enjoy esoteric puzzles and codes you'll be in for a treat once you get to the meat of the game.

sithcundman wrote:

If you're just looking for a platformer with twisty bits you'll be done with the game quickly and I'm not sure it's worth the $10.

That's certainly not true for me. My experience so far I'd say is worth the money. While it lacks alot of mechanics, there's a big world to explore, hell, x4.

I'm almost to 32 cubes, so I hope to see what everyone's talking about tonight.

cyrax wrote:
sithcundman wrote:

If you're just looking for a platformer with twisty bits you'll be done with the game quickly and I'm not sure it's worth the $10.

That's certainly not true for me. My experience so far I'd say is worth the money. While it lacks alot of mechanics, there's a big world to explore, hell, x4.

I'm almost to 32 cubes, so I hope to see what everyone's talking about tonight.

It's not something that'll just fall into your lap once you get 32, but getting 32 certainly helps.

So I saw the ending. Then I laughed at the new addition to the game.

Spoiler:

So, I don't see how the sunglasses radically change the game, and looking through the spoilers, Ohama said you get two abilities. Do they not tell you what the other is, or haven't I earned it yet?

cyrax wrote:

So I saw the ending. Then I laughed at the new addition to the game.

Spoiler:

So, I don't see how the sunglasses radically change the game, and looking through the spoilers, Ohama said you get two abilities. Do they not tell you what the other is, or haven't I earned it yet?

Spoiler:

The glasses help with at least one anti where you have to see things that are briefly revealed in the middle of a rotation. You can technically see those by toggling the rotate back and forth but its a pain in the butt. They don't tell you about the second ability, but I'm not sure you would discover it normally, I found out about it by going to gamefaqs. let me know if you want a spoil.

juv3nal wrote:
cyrax wrote:

So I saw the ending. Then I laughed at the new addition to the game.

Spoiler:

So, I don't see how the sunglasses radically change the game, and looking through the spoilers, Ohama said you get two abilities. Do they not tell you what the other is, or haven't I earned it yet?

Spoiler:

The glasses help with at least one anti where you have to see things that are briefly revealed in the middle of a rotation. You can technically see those by toggling the rotate back and forth but its a pain in the butt. They don't tell you about the second ability, but I'm not sure you would discover it normally, I found out about it by going to gamefaqs. let me know if you want a spoil.

Give me a vague idea about it.

Spoiler:

Do you get it from decyphering one of the codes, through exploration, a puzzle, or something else?

cyrax wrote:

Give me a vague idea about it.

Spoiler:

Do you get it from decyphering one of the codes, through exploration, a puzzle, or something else?

something else. you don't have to go anywhere specific, it's an intrinsic ability activated by button pressing like the

Spoiler:

glasses

, but it's multiple button presses and it's a long enough sequence that you'd have to be lucky (or really ocd & attempting to brute force secret button combinations) to stumble on it.

So you're saying nothing in the game alludes to it? You have to look outside of the game? If it's really obtuse, just tell me.

cyrax wrote:

So you're saying nothing in the game alludes to it? You have to look outside of the game? If it's really obtuse, just tell me.

Nothing that I've seen in the game alludes to it, but I have not been translating any glyph text.

full spoil:

Spoiler:

tap up, up, up, up+hold A to fly
background: https://twitter.com/#!/Polytron/stat...
you can apparently die on landing if your landing point is significantly below your starting point (far enough to trigger falling death, I guess?) and this can potentially lead to getting seemingly stuck if you land somewhere high. The solution is that you don't properly die until you land so you can still make it to any door and press up to enter the door without touching the ground.

I figured that's what it was based on the dicussion and

Spoiler:

the ending.

Good to know, thanks.

Played the demo last night. That is not a good demo. Even knowing that it should get better later, it left me feeling "boring platforming, the world spinning thing isn't very interesting". Then the demo ends. It'd be like the Portal demo ending just after you get the first half of the portal gun and use it once.

While I'm sure I'll get Fez eventually, the demo basically convinced me to backburner it. Xenoblade's already got its hooks in me, and Fez didn't do anything to make me really interested. Demo design matters, people!

The more discussion I'm hearing about this game online, the more intimidated I am to try it. I just listened to a Giant Bombcast discussion about it and they're talking about how getting through it requires pen & paper note taking and how some of the puzzles are so complicated, even the Internet hasn't figured them out yet. I don't know, I'm not opposed to puzzle games but reaching a point where you have to be half-mad to progress any further doesn't sound fun to me. Is it possible to get enjoyment out of the world and the platforming without settings aside hours I don't have to crunch puzzles or is that really required to enjoy it? If so, I might either put it on the back burner or wait for what I'm assuming is an inevitable PC release.

Pretty big spoilers so reader beware:

Spoiler:

The "last" puzzle (the monolith), which gives you the final heart cube has been solved using a brute-force approach, going through every combination of the eight actions (with some limitations on the total number of combinations due to clues). Thanks, internet!
There's some argument over whether it was the intention of the designers for this to be the 'solution', as they themselves have said there are no direct clues to it in-game.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

The more discussion I'm hearing about this game online, the more intimidated I am to try it. I just listened to a Giant Bombcast discussion about it and they're talking about how getting through it requires pen & paper note taking and how some of the puzzles are so complicated, even the Internet hasn't figured them out yet. I don't know, I'm not opposed to puzzle games but reaching a point where you have to be half-mad to progress any further doesn't sound fun to me. Is it possible to get enjoyment out of the world and the platforming without settings aside hours I don't have to crunch puzzles or is that really required to enjoy it? If so, I might either put it on the back burner or wait for what I'm assuming is an inevitable PC release.

I'm at 131% completion. I would say that you can get enjoyment out of it without the "pen & paper" stuff. It will frustrate you a little, though. I didn't know anything about the hidden codes and things until I had unlocked all but the last Cube Door. So, it's possible, just not as rewarding.

Also, you can just hit Gamefaqs where someone has posted

Spoiler:

A translation guide to the language of the game

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

Is it possible to get enjoyment out of the world and the platforming without settings aside hours I don't have to crunch puzzles or is that really required to enjoy it?

Yes, you need only look above. I didn't have to go out of my way to get 32 cubes, which leads you to the ending. It's like Mario in that regard. You're not just satisfied if you collect all 12x stars, but exploration and puzzles provide constant reward. It's also not hard to find out where you need to go if you're a completionist. The map is specific on what is, or what's left, in an area.

skeletonframes wrote:

It will frustrate you a little, though. I didn't know anything about the hidden codes and things until I had unlocked all but the last Cube Door. So, it's possible, just not as rewarding.

I didn't have any frustration. I've learned from previous games that if I can't figure something out within 10 minutes, I'm not suppose to figure it out yet, or go do something else and think on it.

So I just figured out some of this game's secrets last night, and I feel I've only begun to scratch the surface of complexity that this game has to offer. It has been extremely satisfying to do it without any spoilers up to this point.

Sadly, I once was standing in a room, and by pure chance I think I entered some kind of button combination that made a anti-cube magically appear. The only problem is, I have no idea what the combination was, or how I was supposed to have figured it out in the first place! Which is frustrating since the room seemed pretty important and I would have liked to have actually learned something from the experience.

Picked it up this morning; this game is eating my brain right now.

I want to go back and finish this, but I am in the Trials vortex and can't get out

Started it this afternoon. I've only played for about an hour but I feel it pulling me in for more. The levels have a weird (besides the perspective madness) feel to them that I'm really enjoying.

Tinkered with the demo a bit today. Love the atmosphere in the game.