Braid [Shift] diarB

Good day, all.

So, I heard about this Indie platform game a while ago from my good friend, Cavie, amongst others.
It was designed by a guy named Jonathan Blow.

It's called Braid.

I know this is a few years late, but hey, I played it this month and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I'm not giving a full and detailed review on the game. Just expressing some opinions and thoughts.

Story:
It's an interesting and complex story about a guy named Tim trying to find a princess.
There's a lot of metaphors and hidden truths in the storyline of this game.
"Philosophical" is a nice adjective for certain thoughts and questions in the game.
The fragments of the story that you're able to read/see are very vague and I found this quite interesting. I find that some clues hint at a definite truth where others contradict it.
I've checked around a little and I can find a few common thoughts and opinions about the actual point of the story, but I did also see a lot of views saying how it was open to interpretation. I choose to go with the latter view. Purely because I initially thought the common understanding seemed a little far-fetched until I actually played through the game a couple times and realised how the clues made sense. I still like to think there was more to it than just the commonly understood metaphor. The designer even hints that the game shouldn't be restricted to one interpretation.

Graphics and Music:
It's a 2D game, but one of the first things that stood out to me were the graphics and the music. The words "hauntingly beautiful" come to mind. Everything flows together and the rolling sun is something I'll probably remember best.

Gameplay:
It plays very much like Super Mario Bros.
The big twist?
You're able to reverse or manipulate time with the [Shift] key.
A few different game mechanics are introduced in each world.
Logic is such an important part of the gameplay here. It's so easy to overlook something that you are able to do until you fail a hundred times and realise by accident.
(I'm talking about the PC version here. For XBox etc, you obviously have different controls. Yes, it's an Indie game but it did so well that it was on XBox and everything.)

Objectives:
So the main objective of the game is to collect puzzle pieces to properly complete each level.
Eventually
I'm not embarrassed to say that I required some walkthrough help to finish certain parts of this game.
(Especially the SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER hidden collection SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER that is almost literally impossible to find on your own without trying every possible situation in every level.)

This game made me think a lot, feel a lot and fail a lot. Eventually, I succeeded in most of it and I enjoyed it very much.
Well done to everyone that helped to make it.

Go find it and play it, guys.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid_(video_game)

braid-game.com/‎

(Late Indie game review 1 of 2)

Thought for the Day?

Good afternoon!

I actually felt awkward using that title for this post since it's so overused, so I decided to add a question mark.

I've been relatively busy this year so far and the thought that I haven't blogged in a while dragged me back here to complete a post. My dear Verushka has been in Johannesburg these past couple weeks, I've also been a bit sick and finally I re-played a lot of Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past this past weekend.

I've been reading lots of Cavie's posts today and I commented on one of his posts with a story that I came across. Just a random one I read recently, but it made me nod and think a little. Figured I'd copy and post it here (Heh. Copy and post... get it?? It's like a play on words and stuff.). It's not exactly as it was when I read it. I just wrote it on his last post from understanding and memory.

Anyway, here:

"I saw quite an interesting story recently (on the internet, obviously) where a man met God after his inevitable death.
God told him that the world was a non-linear version of the man himself.
Every time he died, he was sent back as a new being (male or female) but each of these forms could exist simultaneously and yet he was sent back each for each life at a completely random time.
He could be a child that is born today or a Pharoah from way back when.
The fact that was important was obvious.
Everyone was, is and will be him.
Every time he harmed someone, he harmed himself.
Every time he loved someone, he loved himself.
Everything he did, he did for himself.
And then he was sent back with no memory whatsoever of his previous life and death.

Not forcing anything religious or philosophical here. Just thought it was an interesting take on life."

 And yeah... That's like a thought for the day or something.
Cool.