Topic: PODCAST: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 111

[Jonnyboy117]

This week's episode is shorter but steamier.  Whatever that means.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/podcastArt.cfm?artid=16556

 We're still waiting for Greg the Grey to show up with the fireworks.  



 Episode 111: Bilbo's Birthday    

 
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It's our Eleventy-First episode, and thankfully, the Lord of the Rings references will end there.  This week sees the regular crew doing what they do best.  We aimed for a leaner, more succinct episode and found mild success with a 1:45 running time.  It's all relative, people.    

After a typically lengthy New Business, we answer some of your burning questions in Listener Mail.  Included are Jonny praising/bashing Braid and James putting an official name to something he does every week regardless.    

Credits:    

This podcast was edited by James Jones.    

Music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is used with permission from Jason Ricci & New Blood. You can purchase their new album, Rocket Number 9, directly from the record label, or download it from iTunes, or call your local record store and ask for it!

[Schadenfreude]

Praising/bashing Braid? I don't like the sound of that...

[Crimm]

More like talking about Braid.

[Jonnyboy117]

Well, I really like Braid and enjoyed playing through it a great deal.  But I don't think it's the Second Coming as some people do, so I mentioned a few criticisms too.  Mainly, I compared it to Nintendo-style platformers to put it in context for our listeners who don't have access to the demo.

[Schadenfreude]

What you said didn't sound like bashing to me; just constructive criticism. I really enjoyed Braid, but it's not perfect and understood your perspective.

After what James had to say about Strong Bad, I might take the plunge soon. Still not certain whether to buy it for Wii or PC. I could pre-order the whole season and save money on PC, but I've heard with Sam and Max episodes, there can be some rather poor ones from time to time. Not sure I feel confident investing in it.

Good episode as always.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well, I really like Braid and enjoyed playing through it a great deal.  But I don't think it's the Second Coming as some people do, so I mentioned a few criticisms too.  Mainly, I compared it to Nintendo-style platformers to put it in context for our listeners who don't have access to the demo.

I haven't heard the podcast but I have a feeling we would agree. Personally I think the extreme praise does it more of a disservice. The game is very good and quite unique but is far from being flawless..

[NWR_pap64]

I played the demo and at first I thought it was alright. The time controls were cool, but didn't see why people were going crazy over it. I played it a second time and had a lot of fun, especially when you figure out how to obtain the puzzle pieces.

I read a really good article about how game journalists and doing a poor job at reviewing games. It said that they were behaving like hyper teens who are quick to glorify any popular game or anything that is cool. The point of the article was to inform reviewers to take a neutral stance when reviewing games and stop trying to appeal to 13 years old, and criticize the game if they have to.

They used the GTA IV reviews as an example, but I think the logic applies to Braid. People are hyping it way too much and while its a great game people really do need to turn the hype down a bit.

[D_Average]

I played the demo and at first I thought it was alright. The time controls were cool, but didn't see why people were going crazy over it. I played it a second time and had a lot of fun, especially when you figure out how to obtain the puzzle pieces.

I read a really good article about how game journalists and doing a poor job at reviewing games. It said that they were behaving like hyper teens who are quick to glorify any popular game or anything that is cool. The point of the article was to inform reviewers to take a neutral stance when reviewing games and stop trying to appeal to 13 years old, and criticize the game if they have to.

They used the GTA IV reviews as an example, but I think the logic applies to Braid. People are hyping it way too much and while its a great game people really do need to turn the hype down a bit.

I completely agree.  I lost a lot of respect for some reviewers during the GTA IV season.   Link to the article??

[NWR_Karl]

My stance when it comes to critique is that I'm conveying my experience. If a game absolutely blows me away, I don't think it's out of the question to be enthusiastic. I agree that there are a lot of writers out there who are quick to throw out "perfect," "awe-inspiring," and the tried-and-tired "innovative," but really, the biggest problem with the press is that it's categorically young. The very first game-centered publication, Electronic Games, only came out about 25 years ago.

As the game industry matures, so will the press. The vast majority of coverage is coming from people who don't posses degrees in journalism or related fields - instead, they're hobbyists who stuck around long enough to get tagged by a corporate office. And I'm not looking down on those guys at all - many of these people are friends of mine and take their jobs incredibly seriously - but game critique is simply new and hasn't really found its footing yet.

A year or two ago, we had that whole discussion when some Rolling Stone jerkoff asked who the "Lester Bangs of video game journalism" was, and used his supposition (that there wasn't one) as proof that critics aren't up to snuff. The fact of the matter is, if you took a look at Rolling Stone back in the late '60s and early '70s, it was incredibly driven by fangasms and glorification.  But the magazine stood the test of time because it matured as music criticism continued. Well, to a point. It should be noted that they recently put Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band on their cover.

Getting back to Braid, I think it's been championed and hyped simply because it's trying to do something different with the platforming genre. Not necessarily gameplay-wise, but definitely thematically. I don't agree with Edge's 9 or Eurogamer's 10, but I'd definitely commend the game for trying to carve out its own niche in a genre that's been largely stagnant aside from Mario.

[D_Average]

I agree that there are a lot of writers out there who are quick to throw out "perfect," "awe-inspiring," and the tried-and-tired "innovative,"

You forgot the infamous "oscar worthy"....
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/869/869381p1.html

[NWR_pap64]

While I agree with most of what you said, Karl, the thing is that many of these reviewers are pros in the field, meaning they have more than 10 years of experience. They should have grown out of their "pre-teen gamer" mentality by now and see bullsh*t coming from a mile away.

What's even worse is that in some cases, they will go to great lenghts and mention every detail of a game. Nothing, even the smallest bug or glitch, gets pass them. Yet, when it comes to a game like GTA IV its the most amazing thing ever.

I understand that sometimes reviews are fueled by the reviewer's enthusiasm and fun they had while playing, but that doesn't excuse how they highly praise a game as if it didn't have any flaws when it has them.

For example, I love Soul Calibur 4. But if I were to review it, I would mention how the single player story mode is lacking when compared to past games, how its basically a button masher and that many of the characters are clones of existing ones.

I WOULD give it a good rating and give it a recommendation, but I would never put it on the highest pedestal ever as if it didn't have any flaws, even if I really enjoyed it.

[Jonnyboy117]

I played the demo and at first I thought it was alright. The time controls were cool, but didn't see why people were going crazy over it. I played it a second time and had a lot of fun, especially when you figure out how to obtain the puzzle pieces.

The demo doesn't do much justice to Braid.  The stuff you see in the demo barely even qualifies as puzzles compared to the rest of the game.  If you are intrigued by the game, I definitely recommend paying for the full thing.  It's one of the most creative and demanding puzzle games I've ever played, and the aesthetics are magnificent.  Most of my complaints have to do with the story and how it is presented.

[Flames_of_chaos]

I played the demo and at first I thought it was alright. The time controls were cool, but didn't see why people were going crazy over it. I played it a second time and had a lot of fun, especially when you figure out how to obtain the puzzle pieces.

The demo doesn't do much justice to Braid.  The stuff you see in the demo barely even qualifies as puzzles compared to the rest of the game.  If you are intrigued by the game, I definitely recommend paying for the full thing.  It's one of the most creative and demanding puzzle games I've ever played, and the aesthetics are magnificent.  Most of my complaints have to do with the story and how it is presented.

I agree with the story it was really haphazardly thrown, most people would just walk through those books at the beginning and that essentially throws the whole story out the window. The time mechanic it was obviously a copy of the Prince of Persia rewind system except you have no restrictions which is a flaw in a way. But the biggest offender in my eyes is that a lot of time everything needed pin point precision in timing out everything to a point where it's frustrating and in a way makes the game not enjoyable anymore.

[NWR_Karl]

I kind of disagree, Greg. When I describe Braid to people, I tell them that it's a game where you only get as much out of it as you put in. If you're willing to read those stories, you're privy to getting a better idea as to what the game's message is (something I won't go into because I'd need to put my Auteur Hat on, and nobody wants to see that). Likewise, if you're willing to really look at these puzzles, which are mostly logic based with only a bit of precision, the sense of accomplishment is very satisfying (about on par with Portal, I'd say).

Really, my big problem with the game is that it falls short of being a really inventive and thematically powerful game. You get these tastes of very clever level design and emotionally charged stories, but it doesn't go all the way with it. Maybe I'm asking too much of a downloadable game, but I felt like it would've been worth a full $20 if Blow and Co. would've put more time into developing time mechanics and furthering the story. As it is, Braid's just a lot of half-fulfilled promise.

Hm, so maybe I agree with Greg just a little. But for slightly different things.

[Flames_of_chaos]

I'd like to comment about SNK Volume 1, The Wii version is actually the superior version since the PS2 and PSP versions are plagued with long load times, slow down and the Wii version fixed these issues.

In America Wii and PSP versions are 29.99 and the PS2 version is 14.99 - 19.99. It may be tempting to get the PS2 version at that price however the slowdown, long load times may drive some people nuts. The only issue I have with the Wii version is you need to manually choose which control scheme you want (it doesn't auto detect) and then save it luckily you can save a global control configuration instead of manually choosing it for each game, the default control scheme globally in the game compilation is Wii remote only and that has some funky button combinations especially in the fighting games. 

[Jonnyboy117]

Karl, that isn't Greg you're responding to, it's Flame of chaos.  Easy to confuse them at a glance of the forums due to their similar avatars.

Flames, I disagree with you on a couple of things.  First, the problem with the story isn't that it's optional -- as Karl points out, you can choose whether to bother with it.  My problem is that the story is told through these text messages, totally out of context and totally disconnected from the gameplay.  And even after beating the game, the story doesn't come together into anything that is, to me, meaningful.  I greatly admire the final level (World 1) and the storytelling techniques employed there -- now why couldn't the rest of the game use that, or at least some variations on it?  The epilogue makes a pathetic attempt to explain why you've been running and jumping through all these levels to collect the puzzle pieces, rather than let that aspect of the game exist happily outside of the story.  It just doesn't work.  I think what disappoints me so much about Braid's story is that there are glimpses of brilliance if you look hard enough through the web of pretension.  I also have a really hard time taking this love story (or however you want to interpret it) seriously when it's served up amid talking dinosaurs and fake Donkey Kong sprites.  I like those silly elements.  I also like the idea of a morose platformer.  What I don't like is how Braid casually mixes these things, because the result is an artistic mess.

Also, I think you are giving Braid far too little credit to say that it copies the time mechanic from Prince of Persia or that unlimited rewind is a flaw in the game design.  There are worlds where your own movement controls the flow of time and where you can create a zone of slow motion while everything outside that zone moves in normal time.  I've never played any other game that manipulates time in these ways.  Even the simple rewind is used in some ingenious ways that games like PoP would never approach.  The difference is that time control is just a boon in PoP, like bullet time in Max Payne.  It makes things easier.  In Braid, time control is a fundamental part of the game; you simply MUST learn to use time in a lot of strange and original ways in order to play the game at all.  Again, if you have only played the demo, you haven't seen nearly enough of how the game uses time in the puzzles and how much a blessing the rewind feature is in keeping the game from being FAR more frustrating than it already is sometimes.  Unlimited rewind takes the emphasis away from the action elements and lets you experiment with puzzle solutions without worrying about making any permanent mistakes or mistakes that will require you to replay large portions of a level.

[Flames_of_chaos]

The texts threw me off as well it really made it feel as a after though and crammed in a random place and done at the very last minute. And yes level 1 did make story more presentable and important and it's a shame that wasn't present throughout the whole game. My guess is that the developer kept complaining about Microsoft's certification requirements and maybe that hampered part of the development.

And yes there are parts of the game that use excellent use of the rewind mechanic. My only main problem with parts of the game like I said before that you need pinpoint timing and or precision sometimes and if the person fails to time it correctly and keeps screwing up then there will be a lot of frustration which is a shame because Braid is one of the better xbox live arcade games available (bionic commando rearmed is my current favorite downloadable game even though I have the PSN version).

I can understand the reasons why the unlimited rewind was implemented but it's something that doesn't settle well with me for some reason. But all in all I think that Braid is a very good game a tad bit overrated but still very good. On a scale of 1 - 10 I personally think it deserves an 8 or a B on a F - A scale.

[NWR_Karl]

D'oh. My mistake, Flames. No wonder your text didn't read in my head like a Briton.

[Flames_of_chaos]

No problem Karl and I never recalled seeing a nintendogs doll and a yoshi doll in Greg's avatar   .

[Nick DiMola]

Toki Tori Review

[D_Average]

Toki Tori Review

I own the game as well, and would definitely recommend it.  The "hard" levels that open after beating each stage will make you cry, very well designed and very hard.

[Jonnyboy117]

Toki Tori Review

Yep, I realized that I was wrong about that shortly after we recorded.  Sorry about that, Nick!  It's a good review, although I like the graphics a lot more than you do.

[Nick DiMola]

Toki Tori Review

Yep, I realized that I was wrong about that shortly after we recorded.  Sorry about that, Nick!  It's a good review, although I like the graphics a lot more than you do.

Ah I see, I thought they were ok, but there was just something about them that seemed crappy to me. I like the characters alot though, but all of it is pretty inconsequential as the game itself is awesome.

[D_Average]

Toki Tori Review

Yep, I realized that I was wrong about that shortly after we recorded.  Sorry about that, Nick!  It's a good review, although I like the graphics a lot more than you do.

Ah I see, I thought they were ok, but there was just something about them that seemed crappy to me. I like the characters alot though, but all of it is pretty inconsequential as the game itself is awesome.

My only complaint is the music, at least in the first world.  It reminds me of one of those horrid Nickelodeon cartoons I was forced to watch at my baby sitters.  Then again, maybe the music isn't so bad, it just reminds me of a babysitter that made Mac N Cheese so poorly I hurled on several occasions. 

[GoldenPhoenix]

I wanted to provide a friendly correction in regards to the SNK Volume 1. It is 19.99 on PS2 and 29.99 on Wii, in addition to that from what i read the PS2 version is poorly optimized and has slowdown while the Wii version is virtually perfect when it comes to emulating the Arcade.