foldy on 18/1/2010 at 12:59
I want to recommend this guy's "let's play" (narrated video walkthrough) that's underway on youtube. It does a great job of explaining the game's elements, making it considerably more accessible. Plus, it shows off just how darn cool this game is. For those who haven't actually played the game, be sure to check out the later parts when the "brothers" arrive on the scene. That's when the game really takes off.
(
http://www.youtube.com/user/CannibalK9#p/u/13/k_wZZ8SaLVU)
I've fallen completely in love with this game. Between playing this and Demon's Souls, I feel positively spoiled. I really feel this is one of the great cult classics.
Muzman on 19/1/2010 at 05:35
That's good stuff. A lot of those are pretty hit and miss and the narrator doesn't know what to say or makes poor attempts at humour a lot, or they just demystify everything into game mechanics and tell you what to do. This guy actually works well with the game's mystery.
To a degree I would still recommend playing with no help at all, as prodding at this odd creature and seeing what happens it part of the fun. But that can be frustrating as well. (The amount of colour the guy can harvest at the start is frankly embarrassing. I can't get anywhere near that even now. I would have had no trouble in the early part if I was that good. GIMEE MOUSE SMOOTHING!)
Fafhrd on 19/1/2010 at 09:19
Managed to defeat the Pangolin just now. I initially fucked up and didn't have nearly enough of the right colour to give Uta so that I could get to Una (aside: Una is fucking METAL. And there's a heart way super high on a ledge in Una's mine that I can not figure out how to get.), and I ran out of time and the Warden was all 'Fuck you, time to die!' so I had to revert to a much earlier save. This game does not give you an inch. And the worst thing in the world is having a Brother munching on of your gardens right as a cycle ends, so he just sits there and continues to munch.
gunsmoke on 19/1/2010 at 19:22
Thanks for the link to the Pathologic let's play. I have that game, and it will be interesting to see someone else struggle with it for a change!
Neb on 30/1/2010 at 20:16
So, I've been playing it for a couple of hours now, and my first impressions are that I hate it. I will definitely give it more of a chance since I've been waiting for it to be released for a long time.
It reminds me of why I tend to hate a lot of games which introduce rule sets for their own sake and expect the player to indulge. I find that the more disconnected a rule is from any meaning, the more overbearing the knowledge that it's just been put there by a designer to get in your way. Even worse when it's an introverted system that the player is supposed to work with in order to manage their own competence in the world (I'm looking at you, RPGs).
It's so early in the game that I'm probably being too harsh, but these are my first impressions. All I see is spiritual bureaucracy.
june gloom on 30/1/2010 at 21:11
You must not like a lot of games.
Pardoner on 30/1/2010 at 23:58
Quote Posted by Neb
I find that the more disconnected a rule is from any meaning, the more overbearing the knowledge that it's just been put there by a designer to get in your way. Even worse when it's an introverted system that the player is supposed to work with in order to manage their own competence in the world (I'm looking at you, RPGs).
There's no need to be defensive, dethtoll. Ned here is totally right. The Void is all like arbitrary and shit.
It's not as if it's some kind of sustained examination of the genesis of transcendent ideologies and identity formation, and the practice of gaming in enforcing each. Hell no! The Color system isn't meant to illustrate the compromised nature of wish fulfillment and player action by conjoining voraciousness and creation, it's just the designers cockblocking us! There's no complex moralities in the Brothers' tortured and torturing fascism or feminist questioning of the gamer's own motives by means of the identities of the Sisters. This isn't some inquest into gaming's liberatory potential!
The Void is just some kind of cosmic DMV. Take a number, Mr. Pangolin! Oh, guess what, I just changed your number without telling you because I'm the Void and I'm all making shit up for no reason all the time. DEAL WITH IT!
Neb on 31/1/2010 at 00:08
Okay, I'll take that as encouragement to play on. ;)
I'm obviously just expressing my disappointment with what's on the surface.
Muzman on 31/1/2010 at 01:08
I get what you're saying. I can see how this would rub plenty of people the wrong way. But, at the risk of giving what might seem like a horrible arty cop out, that does appear to be the point (or part of it)
It's analogous to life; thrown into the middle of it without knowing exactly what to do or what the rules are, surrounded by entities whose knowledge and power is greater but whose point of view is likely self serving and incomplete. There's really no way of creating that kind of vibe without being a little frustrating by the measures of consumerist "fun" gaming. It's a departure from the self concious, self explanatory basis we expect from most media.
I wondered the same things as you about how it was going; throwing obtuse and obscure things at you for the sake of befuddling you. Now (and I'm not that far into it really) I reckon it's just more complex than most. There is a through line there in the whole thing, there's just a lot of actors and, er, factors and it takes a bit longerto get a sense of it than most things.
...if that makes any sense. Of course if you can't stand the gameplay or dialogue or atmosphere you're going to have trouble with carrying on. But I liked all that so I could endure the confusion more easily.
