From the Diary of Jim Squires: I don't get Braid

Written by Jim Squires

Tuesday, 12 August 2008 06:24

I've got a bit of a gripe. Judging by what I've read on the web this past week, it seems as though Braid is nothing short of the second coming. Bloggers and reviewers across the board can't wait to get their tongues in the asshole of developer Jonathan Blow, offering up an appreciative rimmer for all his hard work. I know I'm not going to win any friends by saying this but I'm going to say it anyways: I don't get it. I don't like Braid, and I really don't understand why anyone would.

If you've been a regular reader around here you know that I've been a proponent of small games for some time now. And yes, I'm quite excited that an indie title like this is getting the attention that some smaller titles deserve. But I just don't understand why. It's a platformer that essentially borrows the time mechanics from Prince of Persia and evolves them into puzzle solving mechanics. Sure it has a cool visual and audio polish, but the whole thing comes across as more smarmy than it does brilliant. Does anyone out there remember Good Will Hunting? Braid is kind of like that dickbag in the bar that was talking down to Ben Affleck until Matt Damon stepped in and put him in his place. I like my games like I like my Matt Damon. Nobody likes a smarmy dickbag, Braid. That's you. You're the smarmy dickbag.

And before people start trying to tell me that the game is too highbrow for me, let's not forget that the text between levels comes across like a 14 year old girl writing in her room on a Friday night while her friends get put on the rotisserie behind the bowling alley for pot and bragging rights. It's not good. It's fucking terrible actually. We get it, you're tormented.

Does it play alright? Sure. But despite what you're reading out there I'm not the only one to feel that this game isn't all it's cracked up to be. A smattering of comments from our staff and readers;

Faith:I downloaded Braid and I found it more frustrating than anything. I can’t collect all the puzzle pieces on the first level on the trial version. Unless I’m not able to and I just missed that point.
Kevin: I was able to finish the first two worlds but I needed some help. Dan flew through the game. He “gets” it, I don’t.
Katana: There were some puzzles that didn’t seem to have any logical solution, so that’s a definite negative point for a platformer. So cool, but not totally my cup of tea, and definitely not something I feel would be worth $15 of my money.
Xerxes3rd: I had high hopes for Braid, and while the art style seemed interesting at first, it got old quickly. It didn’t seem to click with me, I guess. I also felt that the movement controls could be slightly tighter. It’s not a bad game, but it won’t be getting my money.

Katana, Faith and Kevin all had the same complaint: the puzzles are too hard/illogical. And that's really my big beef with it as well. You can put in a cool soundtrack, a slick look, some classic gaming references, and a neat play mechanic all you want. If the game goes past fun and right up to frustrating in the first ten minutes, it's just not a good game. How this is the highest-rated XBLA game on MetaCritic I'll never know. N+ runs circles around it.

Jim vs. Everyone else on the internet, Round 1. Go!

Comments (25) Add Comment

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written by Kevin Alexander, August 12, 2008

Did you miss the BitCast this week Jim? I spend a lot of time praising the game while still admitting that I don't understand how to play it all the time. I also comment on the quality of the writing, which is something I NEVER do concerning games. I'll take all it's pompous, prententious, emo-ish ramblings that are well written over anything I've ever tried to read in a Metal Gear, Final Fantasy or zillions of other games.

That all said, you have valid complaints about the game.

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written by swiftwulf, August 12, 2008

I tried the demo and thought the game was pretty neat, just not 15 bucks neat.

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written by Dan Zuccarelli, August 12, 2008

Yea, I disagree. Not only did I think 99% of the puzzles were entirely logical... I though the game played perfectly the whole way through. To be honest my main complaint was that there wasn't more puzzles.

I suppose I'm suddenly the minority here but I felt it was easily worth the money.

Furthermore, I played N+ for about 2 minutes before getting bored out of my mind. To each their own I suppose.

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written by Jim Squires, August 12, 2008

Kevin: You think I'd listen to that? Everybody knows if I'm not on, it's shit. Like Happy Days after Richie left. Who wants a show about Chaci? smilies/tongue.gif

Dan: I think my issue is that you're not in the minority. :S

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written by Kevin Alexander, August 12, 2008

I still think that nothing can touch N+ or Geo Wars 2 on XBLA.

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written by Dan Zuccarelli, August 12, 2008

I really didn't like N+ at all. Different strokes

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written by swiftwulf, August 12, 2008

I remember playing the flash version of N long before it was announced as an XBLA game, which was enough to tell me it wouldn't be a worthwhile purchase for me.

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written by Ryan Hewson, August 12, 2008

Braid has been a pretty interesting experience for me so far.

I think the level design is very intricate and interesting to unravel.

It's also the first time in *years* that I've actually thrown a controller because of a game. I've uttered oaths that I didn't even know I knew.

My problem with it mainly stems from being... unreasonable. That's the word. Some puzzles were fairly straightforward, some are obscure, and a couple are freakishly, massively difficult to actually execute. Not decipher, but execute. Anything that involved (trying not to spoil here) "getting something" through a series of 3 snapping pipe-plants.... there are 2 puzzles in particular... I'm talking, 100+ tries on my part. I could see exactly what I needed to do to solve it. But just getting the little fucker to *do* what I wanted was extremely difficult. 2nd puzzle piece on Impassible Foliage, I am looking in your direction. It requires ridiculous timing.

Also, while I haven't *quite* finished the game yet, the writing still strikes me as unnecessarily obtuse. I have to side with Jim on that one so far although I'm not going to decide until I really do finish it, which I will.

So after all the praise for the aesthetic and the cool time-winding mechanics, I have to admit that, a good percentage of the time while I'm playing Braid, I'm not happy. I'm irritated as hell, actually. Right now I want to finish it just so I don't feel stupid, and then I never ever want to look at it again.

I feel like Jonathan Blow is using is impressive level-design skills for evil, not for good.

(And Jim, you can brace yourself for a deluge of "suck it up, pussy", as such is the typical gamer mentality these days. I think when people conquer something like Braid, the feel so proud of the accomplishment that this sometimes translates into... say... a 10 from EuroGamer. smilies/wink.gif

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written by Katana, August 12, 2008

Ryan, from what I saw on the demo you're right on the money. If I see how to solve a puzzle in a puzzle/platfor game I don't want to then struggle to be able to complete the puzzle. Of course there was also one of the last ones I got to in the demo that I could not even see how it was possible to solve, it seemed like they hadn't actually given me the pieces I needed to solve it.

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written by Dan Zuccarelli, August 12, 2008

I don't get it, I honestly had no problems like that playing the game. Even the puzzle in question that Ryan was talking about above, he asked me if he was doing it right and I went to the game to make sure and I bounced my way up there in 2 tries.

I did think all the puzzles were logical though, save for one or two. It was just a matter of slowing down and thinking it out. Very similar to an adventure game, everything they put there is there for a reason, and you need to find a way to use it to your advantage.

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written by el moco, August 12, 2008

wow, you guys must be the "casual gamer" market i've been hearing so much about. the game leans a bit towards the hardcore, but it isn't THAT difficult. funny how 20 years ago games were a shitload harder and nobody complained.

what a bunch of pansies.

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written by Katana, August 12, 2008

@ el moco

Way to be a troll and not actually contribute anything to the discussion. Please go away now.

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written by Ryan Hewson, August 12, 2008

Maybe its like one of those stare-e-o-gram things that were popular a while back, some people get it right away. Like a certain wiring in your brain.

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written by Aaron Day, August 12, 2008

For the record, I've completed the game with every puzzle piece.

While I did enjoy most of the game, I'd have to agree that there were lots of infuriating moments. Especially that three snapping plant example you used above.

Without spoiling anything, there are a few pieces that are obtained using entirely different mechanics than the rest of the game. This was my main grievance. Why go through all the trouble of learning how to use all these mechanics when some puzzle pieces can only be obtained by accidentally stumbling on the solution? The puzzle pieces I'm referring to require no skill or thought to get, just pure luck.

The game is fun, but little things like this just ruin the experience.

Oh yeah, the writing for it sucked too.

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written by Stan, August 12, 2008

You may not "get" the logic in the game, but I don't get the logic of this post. You share a handful of complaints that are really a matter of taste, and then you move on to making insulting remarks. It's not constructive, at all.

This just looks like you're trying to play "the rebel" by hating something that's popular. I would give you the benefit of the doubt, but there's no content here. If you make claims, back them up with specific examples, please. Otherwise it just makes you look bad.

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written by Xerxes3rd, August 12, 2008

"funny how 20 years ago games were a shitload harder and nobody complained."

It's entirely likely that the difficulty in classic games was present in order to both increase the longevity of the game itself and to compensate for the lack of more complex mechanics.

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written by genz0, August 13, 2008

I thought all of the puzzles were fresh and entertaining and i couldn't wait to see what method was introduced in the new worlds. The game is difficult to me but at the same time I feel very rewarded for completing a puzzle. I don't get why you bash it so much. It seems to me that El Moco hit it on the head and you are just bashing because it is too difficult for you...or as you say "I don't get it".

The fact that you don't understand why anyone would like this game is just plain ignorant, let's run down the list:
-Music = Awesome
-Graphics = Awesome [not in a technical sense, but in a style sense]
-Story = Takes obvious cues from classic games but doesn't pretend like it doesn't.
-Gameplay = Very Fresh, I haven't experienced something in a videogame like this that makes me say wow since GTA3 came out.

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written by Dan Zuccarelli, August 13, 2008

I'm not sure you can really call anyone's opinion of a game "ignorant." I agree with your list of positive points to the game, but "awesome" is about as subjective as is gets and not everyone is going to agree with you.

'dem's the breaks.

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written by Peachey, August 13, 2008

I couldn't disagree more, Jim. I wasn't sure what to expect of Braid, but having played it through I'm utterly astounded by it. I don't get too worked up about hyped games (indeed, I've given high profilers like Mass Effect and GTA IV review scores lower than the industry average) but Braid, I believe, is a phenomenally unique, beautiful, and polished game.

Braid takes its subject matter seriously, and doesn't pander to idiots. Sure, it may be a tad obtuse, but within those brief snippets of story is a maturity and honesty that I've never before experienced in a videogame. It's melancholy and poetic. Moreover, the subject and undertones tie directly into the gameplay concepts themselves. Tim, were told, made many mistakes, and here we have a direct gameplay mechanic of reversing time to avoid mistakes. Very clever. I wonder how many people caught on to this.

For that matter, while many of the gameplay features may have been introduced elsewhere, there doesn't stand a game in my recollection that puts them all together in such a seamlessly polished package. Reversing time has been done before, but has it ever been done so brilliantly? Has it ever been so creatively fleshed out, level by level as it is in Braid? Has it ever been used in conjunction with clever puzzles so precisely?

As for the puzzles, they are entirely logical. I can't count how many times I've solved a puzzle in a lesser game by mindlessly pushing blocks around until I fell ass-backwards upon the solution. In Braid, there are rules, they just take time to come to understand. In the few cases where I stumbled across a solution, the solution itself was so clever I couldn't help but chuckle.

All this and I've yet to comment on the presentation which is flat-out stunning. A water colour portrait brought to life with subtle animation and charm, married beautifully to a serene traditional soundtrack filled with classic compositions and instruments. Wow. Just, wow.

I hope to God that Braid does well enough to send signals rippling through the development community that this type of artistry should be fostered and explored. Games like Braid push the boundaries of what one thinks games are capable of, and towards something mature in the true sense of the word, rather than just mindless guts and gore.

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written by The Comma, August 13, 2008

Jim, do you desire a tongue in your asshole? Is that what this is all about?

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written by genz0, August 13, 2008

Well said Peachey.

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written by B, August 13, 2008

I didn't get it either Jim. I thought it was because I'm black. Sike, in all seriousness, I was excited to try it out, but it's just not my style. I thought it was a really cool concept, but I just couldn't get into it. Great art style, the whole story book look is beautiful.

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written by TheBBPS.com » From the D, August 13, 2008

[...] should say straight away this is post is not being written to tell Jim he’s wrong for his opinion about Braid. Far from it. Since it’s one person’s opinion it’s not really possible to call it [...]

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written by Xerxes3rd, August 13, 2008

After reading everyone's comments (well, the constructive ones, at least- saying "I like it because it's cool" is no more constructive than "I don't like it because it sucks"), I might actually give the demo a second try. The real problem for me is that the more I think about it, the more I really don't like the art style. It's a matter of preference, sure, but I just don't like it at all. Does it change later in the game, or is the first demo level an accurate representation of the rest of the experience?

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written by Dan Zuccarelli, August 13, 2008

The art style pretty much carries through the whole game like that. So if you really hate it then rest of the game isn't going to convince you otherwise art style wise.