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[Boonoo]

Just finished it with all the puzzles completed. Is the ending different if you haven't finished them all?

Spoiler

specifically the castle; did the blocks correspond to completed levels?

?

I think I would have enjoyed it a bit more if the books weren't there (or that I didn't read them). They ended up being a distraction.

World four was definitely my favorite; its mechanics were real crisp

 

[Blizzard]

Steam works. I talked to two of my friends, including Boonoo, who were playing Braid this afternoon, and then I went ahead and bought it for myself.

Though, I was kind of interested in it anyway for various reasons (yay independent developers etc.).

Boonoo needs to change his avatar though.

 

[blueICE]

Seems that you are forced to use keyboard if you don't have an xbox360 controller.
Is there any work around for this ? I've a few controllers already and don't want to buy another just for braid. I also can't see any control options in the menus.

 

[Truespeed]

Seems that you are forced to use keyboard if you don't have an xbox360 controller.
Is there any work around for this ? I've a few controllers already and don't want to buy another just for braid. I also can't see any control options in the menus.

Man, that's just lazy port work. Like he couldn't use DirectInput to support generic controllers?

 

[Vaporak]

Just got this last night, and I played up to world 5. I'm really enjoying it, World 4 was especially nice.

I was wondering, though, is it possible to get all the puzzle pieces in level 2-2 right away? There are two in there that just don't seem possible to get yet (and I remember hearing something on gfw radio about not being able to get all of them right away in world 2--I haven't run into this issue in any of the other levels.

Edit:
Heh. Got em. Sneaky.

Are you talking about the cloud bridge level, I just started the demo and there's two pieces in world 2 that I can't see how to get. I assume they're the same two pieces, but you CAN get them right?

edit: just figured it out, pretty damn clever. :lol

 

[Lord Error]

Man, that's just lazy port work. Like he couldn't use DirectInput to support generic controllers?

I have used the Xpadder to make the game work with a Logitech PS2 wireless controller. Works perfectly fine.

 

[Buttonbasher]

are there any links to the soundtrack?

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/braid-soundtrack/

It's all licensed music, that can be found there with 2 remixes too.

 

[blueICE]

Thank for this info.
I tried a few programs and Xpadder is the only thing that actually works.

 

[Awakened]

Using Xpadder to play this with my Saturn USB. Feels good(man). I have to use that -no_vsync_test command switch to make it run perfect without tearing on my Vista32 8800GT rig, though. I guess the fix so I don't have to use that switch hasn't hit Steam yet or something.

 

[_RT_]

Made it to Level 4.
Shit just got REAL son.


This game is B.A.N.A.N.A.S.

 

[tabsina]

Just finished it with all the puzzles completed. Is the ending different if you haven't finished them all?

I'd like to know this too, I'm thinking you simply win the satisfaction of getting to all of the puzzle pieces.. but I may be wrong.. after finishing it, I was looking around.. and apparently there are

Spoiler

8 stars

so secret that I played through the whole game getting every puzzle piece without even being aware of their existence

 

[Anony]

so how do i get this to work on a ps2->usb controller?

 

[KTallguy]

Finished the game. (Not just getting to World One, guys).

Amazing.
Kind of don't know how to put my thoughts together on it... I feel like there's really nothing I can say unless I give it some time to stew.

 

[NZNova]

Finished the game. (Not just getting to World One, guys).

Amazing.
Kind of don't know how to put my thoughts together on it... I feel like there's really nothing I can say unless I give it some time to stew.

It's a great game

I loved the ending, really makes you think.

 

[dock]

So, does anyone like the sprite work in this game?

They somewhat spoil the game for me.

 

[Kazuma Kiryu]

wow, the game was awesome but the LAST LEVEL? damn that was intense.

 

[KTallguy]

I'm the type of person that will obsessively look up lots of stuff about a work that I've just seen if I find it interesting.

However I still think that there are broad strokes that most people aren't really seeing.
We need to take a step back.

 

[rothgar]

I have used the Xpadder to make the game work with a Logitech PS2 wireless controller. Works perfectly fine.

Did you try joy2key? That worked for me.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

So, does anyone like the sprite work in this game?

They somewhat spoil the game for me.

I really, really liked the sprite work, personally.

 

[alisdair]

Since the game is getting new players again, here's a reminder of lewismistreated's analysis of the story (spoilers, obviously).

Spoiler

Braid is a story that focuses on the development and deployment of the atomic bomb, and the irreversible impact it had on all human conflicts thereafter. At the very same time, it deals with the very human story of a relationship breaking down due to one person’s obsessive need to control this power. Finally, at certain points, the perspective of the bomb creator as a child comes through.

This was the earliest in-depth discussion of the game's story, and it's an interesting read if you're into that sort of thing. Or you could just jump on dudes' heads and rewind time, that is okay too!

 

[Dementia]

After hearing so many good things about Braid I finally bought it today. I've been taking my time to collect all puzzle pieces before I move on to a new world. I've just finished World 4, and all I can say is; holy crap this game is clever. For a game that really only has 2 action buttons, the developers managed to create some incredibly cool and creative gameplay scenarios. Trying to get some of those puzzle pieces in world 4 was really twisting my brain. But so far I've only needed to get help once; in world 2

Spoiler

when you had to use the platform in the painting to reach a farther platform. Mind=blown.

And the music is beautiful.

I can't wait to play some more.

 

[Farnack]

Finished it. Contrary to what everyone says, I think this game sucks.

Literally never giving any indication of new puzzle mechanics when it comes to those puzzles is beyond terrible game design. For example,

Spoiler

the first world with the painting, I never thought of making the puzzle when I was playing the game. That puzzle demands that you become bored that you would make the puzzle out of sheer boredom to advance. Also, the fact that you have to finish getting puzzles from stages after that puzzle, then go back to finish it, wow, that's stupid game design.

That puzzle was an indication of more to come, and there was plenty more when I just wanted to break my monitor. I finished the stupid game because it was my job, but my facepalm has never felt so deep.

Also, who the **** thinks a bunch of text reading is a great way to deliver story. I thought this game was said to have great story telling for video games. I definitely don't see that at all.

 

[Nose Master]

Finished it. Contrary to what everyone says, I think this game sucks.

Literally never giving any indication of new puzzle mechanics when it comes to those puzzles is beyond terrible game design. For example,

Spoiler

the first world with the painting, I never thought of making the puzzle when I was playing the game. That puzzle demands that you become bored that you would make the puzzle out of sheer boredom to advance. Also, the fact that you have to finish getting puzzles from stages after that puzzle, then go back to finish it, wow, that's stupid game design.

That puzzle was an indication of more to come, and there was plenty more when I just wanted to break my monitor. I finished the stupid game because it was my job, but my facepalm has never felt so deep.

Also, who the **** thinks a bunch of text reading is a great way to deliver story. I thought this game was said to have great story telling for video games. I definitely don't see that at all.

Yeah, it should have had bitching cutscenes.

Joke post?

 

[dLMN8R]

That one specific puzzle in world 2 is the only puzzle in the entire game that doesn't make sense in the wider logic of the game. I loved Braid specifically because of the fact that, outside of that one individual puzzle piece, it never felt unfair, and I felt like I'd received completely reasonable training to solve every single puzzle in the game.

If you felt that other puzzles were unfair in the same way that specific one is, I can only assume that other bits of methods the game employs to train you didn't quite stick.

 

[Farnack]

That one specific puzzle in world 2 is the only puzzle in the entire game that doesn't make sense in the wider logic of the game. I loved Braid specifically because of the fact that, outside of that one individual puzzle piece, it never felt unfair, and I felt like I'd received completely reasonable training to solve every single puzzle in the game.

If you felt that other puzzles were unfair in the same way that specific one is, I can only assume that other bits of methods the game employs to train you didn't quite stick.

There's one part where you literally

Spoiler

had to kill yourself to boost that stupid ball creature into the air so you can reverse time, let your shadow do the dying, and use the boosted stupid ball creature to jump even higher.

No, they never ever train you for that point.

How about World 4

Spoiler

where there the level where you had to kill everything to open the door. I figure it the logical part pretty simple, but ended up with the second last guy, unable to reach the last guy unless I reset too much of it. Oh yes, another "please do everything you can possibly think of because we never trained you to do it" moment. I never thought that jumping on the stupid ball creature doesn't get it killed in World 4 unless you moved foward, so I never did it and neither do they ever give you that indication that it can work like that. Every previous level, the stupid ball dies when you jump on it. That world, it doesn't.

Way to throw out the logic, Braid.

 

[tabsina]

There's one part where you literally

Spoiler

had to kill yourself to boost that stupid ball creature into the air so you can reverse time, let your shadow do the dying, and use the boosted stupid ball creature to jump even higher.

No, they never ever train you for that point.

How about World 4

Spoiler

where there the level where you had to kill everything to open the door. I figure it the logical part pretty simple, but ended up with the second last guy, unable to reach the last guy unless I reset too much of it. Oh yes, another "please do everything you can possibly think of because we never trained you to do it" moment. I never thought that jumping on the stupid ball creature doesn't get it killed in World 4 unless you moved foward, so I never did it and neither do they ever give you that indication that it can work like that. Every previous level, the stupid ball dies when you jump on it. That world, it doesn't.

Way to throw out the logic, Braid.

i think the logic of them not dying is due to the fact that they

Spoiler

go back in time as time goes forward

, so how can you kill something before you jumped on it..

i get that they don't train you for any of it, but it doesn't mean it isn't satisfying when you figure out what to do in spite of that

 

[Farnack]

i think the logic of them not dying is due to the fact that they

Spoiler

go back in time as time goes forward

, so how can you kill something before you jumped on it..

i get that they don't train you for any of it, but it doesn't mean it isn't satisfying when you figure out what to do in spite of that

It wasn't satisfying.

There was no reward to the logic. It was randomness that made me progress through the level. That kind of design makes people feel stupid if they can't figure it out logically.

 

[dLMN8R]

Well, I usually suck at puzzle games like this, so my ability to logically solve the two specific puzzles you mention without getting frustrated or feeling cheated makes me think that yes, indeed, the game successfully trained me to solve those puzzles. Forcing yourself to "die" to solve a puzzle isn't at all strange considering that the game first teaches you everything about time manipulation the first time you die.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Finished the game. (Not just getting to World One, guys).

Amazing.
Kind of don't know how to put my thoughts together on it... I feel like there's really nothing I can say unless I give it some time to stew.

I still smile every time I think about the ending. Realizing what was happening during the big

Spoiler

rewind of the "rescue" scene

was perhaps the most thunderous epiphany I've ever had in a game. I was literally slack jawed for a minute, and then delighted that a game could hit me that hard. And it all worked in perfect context with the story, art and game mechanics.

Every now and then a game gives me a memory that doesn't go away. I can think of about a dozen specific gaming moments through my life that were remarkable and stayed with me; this is definitely one of them. I can't help but smile every time I think about the ending, and the game in general. Finishing it was fun, but it was an experience too.

 

[Blizzard]

HALP! I just finished the Tight Channels map (second from the right on the second world map), but I wanted to ask if I did something right. A couple of times in the game I feel like I've only gotten something because I glitched in some way, like undoing until I was in the middle of a moving platform and then getting teleported on top of it.

For the puzzle piece at the end of Tight Channels:

Spoiler

I can't repeat it very well, but I managed to get some sort of weird extra-high jump by pressing or holding up while on at the bottom of the left ladder. That let me get the puzzle piece without running to the far right. Is that what you're supposed to do, or is there another way to jump high or dodge the flying things?

Also, once I got to the top, I once or twice saw the cannon fire rate drop in half or so, so I would have easily had time to run through the middle and just climb the ladder on the far right. But I don't know any way to do that without it seeming like a glitch.

 

[Randy Lanzarote]

HALP! I just finished the Tight Channels map (second from the right on the second world map), but I wanted to ask if I did something right. A couple of times in the game I feel like I've only gotten something because I glitched in some way, like undoing until I was in the middle of a moving platform and then getting teleported on top of it.

For the puzzle piece at the end of Tight Channels:

Spoiler

I can't repeat it very well, but I managed to get some sort of weird extra-high jump by pressing or holding up while on at the bottom of the left ladder. That let me get the puzzle piece without running to the far right. Is that what you're supposed to do, or is there another way to jump high or dodge the flying things?

Also, once I got to the top, I once or twice saw the cannon fire rate drop in half or so, so I would have easily had time to run through the middle and just climb the ladder on the far right. But I don't know any way to do that without it seeming like a glitch.

I don't think you were meant to get it that way.

Spoiler

Move back to the left and there are two cannons, one firing horizontally towards the puzzle piece, another firing diaganol. The one firing diagonal is not affected by time so always fires at a constant rate, the horizontal one isn't. You have to keep pausing/rewinding until every other horizontal fireball is knocked out the air by the diagonal ones, that way it leaves you enough of a gap to run across the platform and up the ladder to the jigsaw piece.

 

[Blizzard]

Thanks! I messed up describing where that level was, sorry.

I actually already asked a friend so they had just told me the same thing. So yeah, I got it with a glitch the first time. It's weird that

Spoiler

the normal fireballs don't get destroyed when you've frozen time, only when it's moving, however.

 

[EatChildren]

Hey guys, I'm having a lot of trouble with World 5 - Level 4 "Crossing the Gap". Specifically the

Spoiler

puzzle piece at the end of the stage. I can get one of the enemy characters down to that area easy, I just cant get the hight to jump onto the platform.

Can anyone offer me a hint or clue? I'd rather not get a direct answer.

 

[INTERNET]

Hey guys, I'm having a lot of trouble with World 5 - Level 4 "Crossing the Gap". Specifically the

Spoiler

puzzle piece at the end of the stage. I can get one of the enemy characters down to that area easy, I just cant get the hight to jump onto the platform.

Can anyone offer me a hint or clue? I'd rather not get a direct answer.

Spoiler

Your time rewind renders noble sacrifice meaningless (but useful!)

 

[MikeE21286]

I have to use that -no_vsync_test command switch to make it run perfect without tearing on my Vista32 8800GT rig

Please point me in the right direction of how to do this.....I am getting HORRIBLE screen tearing with the PC version.

 

[Polk]

Can anyone offer me a hint or clue? I'd rather not get a direct answer.

You need two of you colaborate on this one.

 

[jett]

PC demo locks up when I try to run it.

I don't have the best computer out there, but I figured it'd be able to run a goddamned 2D game.

 

[EatChildren]

Got it guys. GREAT hints. Thanks a heap!

 

[Fireflu]

Please point me in the right direction of how to do this.....I am getting HORRIBLE screen tearing with the PC version.

Yeah im having the same probs, epic screen tearing and also sucky framerate however im on the mac version instead... any help? (using the new macbook pro so it should definitly be capable of running braid ok)

 

[EatChildren]

Finished it, all puzzle pieces, just need to go back and

Spoiler

collect the stars. Need to restart. Drat.

Have to say I'm completely floored with the quality and artistry here. The (common) interpretation for the story is also really spot on. Really makes you look back at the levels and think.

 

[Awakened]

Yeah im having the same probs, epic screen tearing and also sucky framerate however im on the mac version instead... any help? (using the new macbook pro so it should definitly be capable of running braid ok)

Did you get the latest update? That fixed a bunch of stuff, one of the things being that vsync problem. I now don't need to use that switch to get it to run perfect.

 

[Karish]

anyone get this game running on a netbook?

 

[somuchwater]

Before I make the plunge...

Is there any way I can play this on a PC with a SIXAXIS?

 

[Odious Tea]

anyone get this game running on a netbook?

I'm curious about this myself? Don't have one yet to test with.

 

[KTallguy]

And then there's the meta-narrative (don't know if we still really need spoilers, but I'll use 'em anyway.) I was kind of disappointed that the meta-narrative was about

Spoiler

the atomic bomb

. I mean, I understand that it's kind of a big deal historically, a "loss of innocence" type of thing... I just didn't feel like it fit with the gameplay and the other themes of the game. Maybe that's why it feels so weird to me--the other story bits and pieces intertwine (braid?) really nicely with the gameplay, and the meta-narrative just doesn't.

Oh, but it does.

Spoiler

It's not so much about "the bomb", but the person who created the bomb. The main character has chased for so long, pushed aside everything else, and aimed for something that was his 'perfection'. But for all of the 'control' to be had over time in his head, he can't take anything back. It will all lead to the inevitable conclusion that just is. And that onus that what you created was responsible for such horrible destruction... that weight can never be lifted.

Spoiler

To me, the theme of the game is the causality of time.
You have unlimited control of time in the game, yet you can never change your eventual fate. Even in the final final moments (after get all the stars), you are not changing anything, just revealing the absolute truth that your mind has buried deep away.

Awesome game.

 

[Opiate]

Hey! Since this thread happened to bubble back to the top, I thought I'd profess my love for this game again. My favorite game released in 2008.

 

[Mamesj]

Since the game is getting new players again, here's a reminder of lewismistreated's analysis of the story (spoilers, obviously).



This was the earliest in-depth discussion of the game's story, and it's an interesting read if you're into that sort of thing. Or you could just jump on dudes' heads and rewind time, that is okay too!

It's an interesting read, to see the writer go through the (probably very tedious) exercise of fitting the game into a larger context. I really think the point of the game wasn't to find the objectively correct explanation of the story, which, whether he intended to or not, the writer attempts to present.

 

[abstract alien]

I didnt have one damn problem with this game...everything made sense imo. Im not saying it wasnt hard(lord knows I was stuck more than a few times), but it involved a lot of creative thinking, which is a good thing. Still my fav game on 360.

 

[Oni Jazar]

I have not been satisfied with any explanation of Braid. The bomb theory is a nice one but that explanation does not quite fit entirely and it leaves you with lots of extra puzzle pieces. (speaking metaphorically)

 

[Mamesj]

I have not been satisfied with any explanation of Braid.

Spoiler

The bomb theory

is a nice one but that puzzle does not quite fit entirely and it leaves you with lots of extra pieces.

it's really "draw your own conclusion" kind of thing...which is great because not enough games do that (many of my favorite books and movies do.)


gosh, unless I've totally missed something and Jonathan Blow confirmed that it's about that...it seems like people are convinced it's the correct explanation.