
Braid 10th anniversary critical compilation - mariuz
https://www.critical-distance.com/2018/07/24/braid-10th-anniversary-critical-compilation/
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ariehkovler
I love Braid so much.

First, the soundtrack, songs by Jami Sieber and Shira Kamman, were phenomenal.
The gorgeous cello and violin are so atmospheric, and they also sound good
backwards and sped up -- necessary for a game like Braid, and chosen for that
reason.

Secondly, the artwork - that naive 2D platformer style but combined with
gorgeous and subtle shading and depth that really showed it was something
special. We're used to games doing this now, maybe.

Thirdly, the structure of the game itself as a critique of the traditional
Mario-style platformer with its jumps, princesses and castles. It was like
playing a postmodern game.

Then there's the relationship between the level's gameplay theme and the
lesson it's trying to teach. This was something I saw Elizabeth Sandifer point
out. The first level is all about being able to undo the mistakes of the past.
But then we learn some mistakes are too big to undo. We learn about how a ring
can change things in a relationship...

And then there's the two levels of twist ending and how they relate to games
and gaming, especially a decade ago when it was much more a male pursuit.

Honestly I could talk about Braid for hours.

~~~
selestify
> Honestly I could talk about Braid for hours.

Please do. I wouldn't mind more elaboration on any of your points!

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modernerd
That first rewind moment in Braid!

Few games trigger that “wow” reaction. For me it was like the bullet time
moment in the Matrix; an almost hallucinatory experience that changes your
perception of what a medium can be.

This was something new — something different — something great.

If you loved Braid and are looking for a similar feeling from more recent
games, I highly recommend Inside and Limbo from Playdead:

[http://playdead.com/games/inside/](http://playdead.com/games/inside/)

[http://playdead.com/games/limbo/](http://playdead.com/games/limbo/)

~~~
ghusbands
I argue against both of those recommendations. Braid is a strong puzzle game
with finely crafted puzzles that can leave you bewildered for ages. Both
Inside and Limbo are obvious on-the-rails platformers with no puzzles to speak
of. I've played all three to 100% and, of them, only recommend Braid.

For good puzzles, look to Stephen's Sausage Roll, English Country Garden,
HexCells. Also, many recommend The Witness, made by the creator of Braid.

~~~
AnIdiotOnTheNet
As a fan of puzzle games, I just want to chime in and say Stephen's Sausage
Roll is possibly the most perfectly designed puzzle game ever made.

~~~
gameswithgo
disagree, the tower of sausage level is a clear, horrible mistake.

other than that, yes.

~~~
AnIdiotOnTheNet
On the one hand I can't disagree too much with that because Lavelle admitted
it introduced too many concepts, but on the other hand I thought it was a good
way to challenge the player to overcome their initial intimidation, and wasn't
nearly as hard as people make it out to be.

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LandR
Braid is maybe favourite game of all time.

The way it plays with the time dynamics and weaves it into it's story is
brilliant.

I love the way it fed you story via the books and the way the levels play
style were linked to the story.

It also has a brilliant soundtrack, e.g.:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bTZMKVTM9k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bTZMKVTM9k)

~~~
netgusto
Piggybacking on the great game OSTs topic: the one of FEZ, by Disasterpeace

[https://music.disasterpeace.com/album/fez-
ost](https://music.disasterpeace.com/album/fez-ost)

~~~
funkjunky
Also check out his Hyper Light Drifter soundtrack, and newly released
"Disasters for Piano"

~~~
netgusto
Thanks!

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hartror
Jonathon is an active HN member, though I am sure he is tired of discussing
Braid in depth.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jblow](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=jblow)

~~~
SmellyGeekBoy
Do you think? I always got the impression he was very generous with his time
and loved sharing his work with others.

~~~
0xcde4c3db
I think there are particular topics and arguments that he finds tiresome, like
people demanding that he explain Braid's point in words, or claiming that he
doesn't like Linux development because he just doesn't understand how it works
(and not because he's legitimately flabbergasted that the UX can be described
as a time warp to the '80s, if one is feeling generous).

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myfonj
Some remarkable recommendations of "similar" games appeared in this thread.
I'd like add _The Company of Myself_ [0] and its perhaps even better prequel
_Fixation_ [1]: I think it neatly fits this "philosophical indie platformer"
niche. If you haven't yet, try them while you can (yup, Flash based).

[0] [http://2darray.net/portfolio/the-company-of-
myself/](http://2darray.net/portfolio/the-company-of-myself/) [1]
[http://2darray.net/portfolio/fixation/](http://2darray.net/portfolio/fixation/)

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the_dege
A Great interview to Jonathan Blow for Tone control podcast, that talks about
his history up to The Witness:
[https://www.idlethumbs.net/tonecontrol/episodes/jonathan-
blo...](https://www.idlethumbs.net/tonecontrol/episodes/jonathan-blow)

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Unknoob
That final level of Braid, when you start to understand what's going on. I get
chills just remembering it. One of my fondest memories gaming.

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empath75
The importance of Braid is primarily that it was the first game which was
intended to be a piece of art, rather than a toy for children, which had any
kind of mass market appeal.

It was the way people engaged with it seriously, in terms of gameplay and
narrative and how the two interacted that made it important.

I think Amnesia and Portal were two other games that came out around the same
time that were also similarly important.

~~~
pjc50
> the first game which was intended to be a piece of art

There have to be earlier contenders than this, surely? Yes it's the ancestor
of the modern wave of artistically-aspiring games but game development dates
back to the 1970s.

~~~
empath75
I dunno. I’ve been playing video games since the Atari 2600 and I don’t think
I recall any mainstream games that interacted with the ‘art’ world in a
serious way. There were rpgs and such with serious stories, but I don’t think
they were taken seriously by art critics in the way that Braid was.

~~~
AnIdiotOnTheNet
Given the primitiveness of the medium as one goes farther back in time, I
think it is unfair to say that none of them really attempted to communicate
artistically with the player. Notably Missile Command was made to be
unbeatable as a statement about the futility of nuclear war, and Donkey Kong
was designed by an artist who injected thematic elements not previously
utilized in the medium. That the "art world" didn't really engage with them
doesn't mean much because art, like all communication, requires shared
understanding to have meaning, and very few people would have been exposed to
the (still in its infancy) culture necessary to understand artistic expression
in the medium.

~~~
SmellyGeekBoy
> Missile Command was made to be unbeatable as a statement about the futility
> of nuclear war

I'm a huge Atari fan and this is the first I've heard of this. Pretty profound
if true. Thanks for the insight!

~~~
NeedMoreTea
Originally intended to be called Armageddon. End of game screen of "The End"
instead of Game Over as a result of that same futility. Dave Theurer talked
about it in some depth here:
[https://www.polygon.com/features/2013/8/15/4528228/missile-c...](https://www.polygon.com/features/2013/8/15/4528228/missile-
command-dave-theurer)

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sandGorgon
are there any games like for the mobile (especially android) ? I always though
the mechanics of Braid would have been better adapted for a mobile touchscreen

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edpichler
Braid is a masterpiece.

