[STEAM] Fortress #2 - The Steam Thread

[BRPXQZME]

*checks profile* You’re only an hour in. You have gotten a mere taste of the combat.

I don’t have incredibly nice things to say about Braid, myself.

[Softspoken]

Like, someone told me how I REALLY HAD TO PLAY BRAID... so I did. I couldn't help but feel, many times, that some parts couldn't get more pretentious in feel without including Slippermen. (Okay, perhaps I'm using the wrong word, but you get what I mean.) Fun enough, yeah... to a point. After a time the gimmicks were just really, really fucking annoying. But I imagine I'd have liked it more had I played it more of my own accord.

On behalf of people who recommend Braid reflexively, I apologize.

[ikkonoishi]

Yeah I saw an LP of Braid, and it seemed neat, but I had no intention of ever playing it afterwards.

[Didero]

I liked Braid. I hadn't heard too much about it when I played it, so that might have helped. Also, I didn't really (try to) understand the story, so a lot of the supposed pretentiousness just kinda went by me, which could've influenced my opinion.
The time mechanic was fun though.

[Walliard]

To me, Braid is mainly about the puzzles, with the plot there as an afterthought. So I can see why an LP wouldn't exactly spark your interest, especially since the solutions look really obvious when executed, but are tricky to figure out the first time.

The epilogue/alternate ending "symbology" is definitely pretentious as fuck, though.

[Kuraimano]

I hated Braid because of something else. I thought it was actually one of the very very very few examples of a symbolic plot (verily so, to the point that you guys seem to have mistaken that for pretentiousness) which actually has an official interpretation!

When I searched for the meanings of that plot on the internet (because I'm not good at deciphering things that barely want to be deciphered), I found many discussions that pointed to the same direction (I guess I won't tell what it is if you guys don't already know in order not to spoil?) and I thought it was great! Do you have any idea of how many games, songs, everything nowdays tends to be vague and symbolic just "for the hell of it" and to keep the poor fandom speculating about things that will never be confirmed? It's just nauseating, I hate it.

But here, this game actually had a real explanation! So awesome right? ...wrong, because after that I happened to read somewhere a comment from the author himself regarding all these theories the fans had about the game, and here's what he had to say in a nutshell:

"Yes! What you are seeing is definitely there..."

And I'm like wow! Word of God confirming the theories, this is so awe-

"...but of course there might be more to it "

Fuck no.

No. Be the author that has the guts to say "Yep you got what I meant, game's over."! Don't hide behind relativism just because you need an assurance to be selling more! Don't be vague and hipsterish! YOU STARTED OUT SO GOOD PLEASE!

And so all my dreams about an intellectually honest dev were crushed and now I hate Braid too (in retrospect, the game is still cool puzzles).

[ArmsAreLoud]

OK yeah thinking that there is a "right" way to interpret literature is a really bad way to go about interpreting literature

You shouldn't be trying to figure out what the artist intended, you should be trying to figure out what it means to you and why. :T

[BRPXQZME]

Something something Hemingway raisin bread.

[Softspoken]

OK yeah thinking that there is a "right" way to interpret literature is a really bad way to go about interpreting literature

You shouldn't be trying to figure out what the artist intended, you should be trying to figure out what it means to you and why. :T

Quoting this for truth. Stories aren't just a multiple choice question or even a fill-in-the-blank where you pick the 'right' meaning and bam discussion over everyone gets cake.

But I'm going far afield. I loved Braid because I enjoyed that style of puzzle immensely. (It actually reminds me a bit of Portal: you have a novel way to interact with your environment, try and use it in varying ways and environments to get to certain locations) I also enjoyed trying to imagine greater story behind the few snippets that we get in the books before each world, (and also relating that to game mechanics) because I'm the type that loves theorizing about things idly.

Still afield. Possibly moreso. Umm... Steam is great? I didn't even realize there was a summer Sale on, and now I'm kind of considering Trine 2. EDIT: Oh jeeze Flash Deals
that's just cruel Valve ;_;

[Kollaps]

The matter of interpretation wouldn't be such a big deal if there weren't places where it felt like it was positively thrusting it in your face. The end is kind of a big one. Sometimes a story can just be a story, it doesn't have to be "symbolic" or "a metaphor." The basic story is good enough by itself that it doesn't have to lean on that.

Also I still stand by the feeling that, for as many good ideas as the game had, a few of the mechanics were more than just a little confusing. That one where just the key moves in reverse probably is the best example. (Also, the places where stopping time was a necessity. I don't think any of them really required flashing straight to x0 almost instantly, but there may have been?)

[Wesley Foxx]

I both love and hate when these games go on sale for like $2.50 because then I just buy them up. Now I have CaveStory.

Add it to my backlog of games that I will probably never touch, let alone finish.

[Kollaps]

After buying the Monkey Island collection yesterday, I'm about ten cents short of being able to buy it. CURSES, FOILED AGAIN

[Softspoken]

Also I still stand by the feeling that, for as many good ideas as the game had, a few of the mechanics were more than just a little confusing. That one where just the key moves in reverse probably is the best example. (Also, the places where stopping time was a necessity. I don't think any of them really required flashing straight to x0 almost instantly, but there may have been?)

Fickle Companion is confusing... But it does follow the rules given by the mechanics shown in-game up to that point. And every puzzle game needs at least one challenge where things are unexpected, but still consistent. Edit: I can think of one time where you have to go to x0, because rocking back and forth by hitting the button at a regular interval won't cut it. But it's quite late in the game. (Impassible Foliage)

In other news Dear Esther is now on sale and I suddenly recall why Steam is going to be my (hopefully benevolent) overlord some day and that is because I am a sucker for sales.

[Kuraimano]

OK yeah thinking that there is a "right" way to interpret literature is a really bad way to go about interpreting literature

I disagree with all my might to this. I don't know if this is what you are thinking, but when it comes to this argument it's usually what I get as a response, so I'm gonna say it beforehand: I think that as of today, the "they encourage you to think with your head" has become, if not overused, an excuse for something that is just a big fat cheap selling point. I'm sorry but this is really a strong impression I have and it really bugs me, and it doesn't help that games are different from literature being more oriented on fun other than deep stuff mostly. (Yeah there are games that are not like that, kindly note the "mostly" before you start listing games that you consider art or books that are totally frivolous, it's an observation based on the form itself of the two mediums... and statistics if you wish, but that's implied)

By literature I mean the classic one I guess, today's books are probably about entertainment as well, not much of a reader here so I don't know, but I did study a lot of literature and it almost always had a precise point that the author wanted to communicate. There's nothing bad about a right interpretation and it doesn't mean you're not thinking with your own head if you are trying to figure it out.

I'd go on for hours on this point but it would eventually become a totally off topic discussion about how I think relativism and "think about what it means for you" are turning the world into an hedonistic trashcan, so yeah imma stop here k cool back to the vidyagaems

And besides even without having to explain my views about life and people, the argument of vague plots being an exploit to charm people stands by itself. Not that I expect games not to be about that, as I said I'm totally ok with them being about "less deep" stuff, whatever that means, but I'd like the authors to be at least a bit more honest about it. They won't though, a game that says "yo I actually don't have any interpretation so see what you want while you play me" probably wouldn't sell as much.



Anyway, I'm hating these steam sales! Now that I had everything I wanted they are tempting me to buy more oh the humanity (come to think of it, I always kinda wanted Beyond Good and Evil, I seem to be one of the few to have missed out on it)

[Henry Spencer]

I both love and hate when these games go on sale for like $2.50 because then I just buy them up. Now I have CaveStory.

Add it to my backlog of games that I will probably never touch, let alone finish.

Cave Story is one of the best platformers I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Cheap game does not always equal mediocre.

[weirdguy]

after reading film crit hulk's concept of what makes art an art thing to him, i'd have to agree that the stronger the overall message is (generally, due to a variety of themes and such pointing in the same direction, rather than relying on one really large clue that lacks subtlety), the better that particular work becomes as a means to deliver that message (which sounds super obvious, but people inside of the creator bubble sometimes forget)

but then again he just might be curious about how other people might interpret it, sans internet context

[baxbound]

Cave Story is one of the best platformers I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Cheap game does not always equal mediocre.

This.

I had so much fun playing cave story. The platforming has to be the best part, it is just so much fun.

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I don't necessarily like however how one can choose to take one gun at a certain part early in the game and somehow later on down the line that get's a character killed and results in a worse ending than if you would have kept your own gun? Yeah, that kinda got me pissed.

It's cool to have multiple endings, but making them happen because of stupid reasons like that I don't appreciate. :0

[Tesseract]

is the new stuff in cave story+ any good

[Henry Spencer]

I think plus just adds some time challenges,Curly Story, and remastered music, so... no, not really? But I think supporting the dev is cool, so I bought it instead of just picking up the base version.

Also baxbound, that's still technically too much information.

[Hanky Panky]

So far I have made it through the steam sale without buying anything at all. I think I'm about to break out of that though.

[baxbound]

I think plus just adds some time challenges,Curly Story, and remastered music, so... no, not really? But I think supporting the dev is cool, so I bought it instead of just picking up the base version.

Also baxbound, that's still technically too much information.

Is it? I mean characters die in any story, and I never specified any gun.

[Catbread]

Is it? I mean characters die in any story, and I never specified any gun.

With spoilers, it pays to be safe.

But I agree,

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That's one the stupidest hidden endings of all time.
For me, the kicker was that in order to get the good ending, you have to watch a man fall and be seriously injured... and then ignore him. This somehow prevents multiple characters from dying, including the man you ignored!
No! Cut that out, game!

I don't think the secret ending was related to the gun, though. That was the route to the Spur.

[baxbound]

With spoilers, it pays to be safe.

But I agree,

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That's one the stupidest hidden endings of all time.
For me, the kicker was that in order to get the good ending, you have to watch a man fall and be seriously injured... and then ignore him. This somehow prevents multiple characters from dying, including the man you ignored!
No! Cut that out, game!

I don't think the secret ending was related to the gun, though. That was the route to the Spur.

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Well, what happened with my game was that I was given the opportunity to trade in my pistol for Curly's machine gun. Considering it was pistol vs Machine Gun, I went with Curly's rifle. Because of this, (and I checked online) Curly drowned and I could do nothing about it. Worse, she was just sitting there underwater with me standing right next to her no danger at all, and I couldn't just, oh i dunno, throw her in the bubble of air she gave me? I dunno, maybe carry her to safety? I mean come on. I choose her rifle over my pistol and she died in response. That's just bad story telling.

And to boot, I couldn't use half of the weapons I could have gotten in the game because I swapped for her rifle early on. I mean there was a choice there, but I had no idea of the repercussions that would result from such a simple action.

[El Ninja Monkey]

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Well, what happened with my game was that I was given the opportunity to trade in my pistol for Curly's machine gun. Considering it was pistol vs Machine Gun, I went with Curly's rifle. Because of this, (and I checked online) Curly drowned and I could do nothing about it. Worse, she was just sitting there underwater with me standing right next to her no danger at all, and I couldn't just, oh i dunno, throw her in the bubble of air she gave me? I dunno, maybe carry her to safety? I mean come on. I choose her rifle over my pistol and she died in response. That's just bad story telling.

And to boot, I couldn't use half of the weapons I could have gotten in the game because I swapped for her rifle early on. I mean there was a choice there, but I had no idea of the repercussions that would result from such a simple action.

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Actually, you have to use a tow rope you find in the room with the core. Pretty sure that's always there.

[Softspoken]

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Actually, you have to use a tow rope you find in the room with the core. Pretty sure that's always there.

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It's not. I can't remember what the condition is (I think it's not saving Booster, of all things) but it's not always there.