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LIMBO |OT| What awaits at the edge of Hell?

Look, the moment a game does something I genuinely don't expect and requires me to adapt to it and learn a new way of thinking is when I am happiest. This happens like twice a year at best. Limbo was like Braid and Portal in that it had multiple such moments.

That 'unfun' piston puzzle you hated so much will remain one of my fondest gaming memories of the year: I died, I laughed, I learned, I was rewarded.

Gonna follow Draft now and leave you to your disgruntlement.
 

Amir0x

Banned
"oh woe is I, the poor jaded gamer, since I require gimmickry in my games in order to enjoy them anymore!"

That's basically what I'm hearing at this point from you. And this is a poor justification for your hilarious tangents about what you believe my expectations are for gaming.
 

nny

Member
Draft said:
It's a giant fucking block with what is obviously a button underneath of it, and that the actual button is the ground on either side is hilarious, and it is even MORE hilarious that the following puzzle switches it around. If you have played even one other video game in your entire life, you should realize what is going to happen immediately.

I actually laughed out loud when that happened; a funny "prank" indeed.
 
I bought this game because of the style but leave it much more appreciative of the game design. Its what got me through the whole thing. I looked forward too seeing how I was going to die. I would sometimes go throw myself off a cliff to die just to make sure I could eliminate that route. Ive never said to myself so much while playing a game "heh, that was clever." I never once looked for help for this game but looked to dieing to get me through it.

Its funny because I watch my wife play it and she plays with so much apprehension that its painful to watch. Let loose, die, and learn. Its a very rewarding game if you do so.
 

Ricker

Member
Ok,went a few pages back and didn`t find anything about where I am stuck now,so i`ll quickly ask...right after the burning tire comes rolling down,you go up a few ladders and you see one guy go up a rope and another, on your right, run away...there`s 2 traps,tied at the end of 2 ropes and as you go under ,they start to swing,one at a time,in 2 different directions...I can`t get past that for now...hint anyone? :D
 
Ricker said:
Ok,went a few pages back and didn`t find anything about where I am stuck now,so i`ll quickly ask...right after the burning tire comes rolling down,you go up a few ladders and you see one guy go up a rope and another, on your right, run away...there`s 2 traps,tied at the end of 2 ropes and as you go under ,they start to swing,one at a time,in 2 different directions...I can`t get past that for now...hint anyone? :D

Go right to set the first one off, quick go left to dodge then right again to dodge the next.
 

Ricker

Member
KoruptData said:
Go right to set the first one off, quick go left to dodge then right again to dodge the next.


Ok...I thought there was something more to it then that because I have tried that numerous times now...i`ll have to time things better I guess.
 

Mrbob

Member
Man this thread has me confused. :lol

I bought my 1600 points card for this game but was a bit underwhelmed by the game play aspects of the demo. From reading the thread it seems like the actual game play is fairly simple overall. Debating between this and DeathSpank and can only grab one right now with the points I have. Both games seem to have issues unfortunately. I thought one of them would be a home run.
 

Ricker

Member
Mrbob said:
Man this thread has me confused. :lol

I bought my 1600 points card for this game but was a bit underwhelmed by the game play aspects of the demo. From reading the thread it seems like the actual game play is fairly simple overall. Debating between this and DeathSpank and can only grab one right now with the points I have. Both games seem to have issues unfortunately. I thought one of them would be a home run.


Don`t forget Deathspank is not part of the deal to get 400 or 1200 points back if you buy 5 or 3...although it`s probably longer then Limbo I believe. =)
 

Zeliard

Member
TheOddOne said:
I don't know how I feel about the ending. Was expecting something 'grander'.

Really? I'll note I haven't reached the end yet, but the game puts a huge amount of focus on subtlety, and I wouldn't expect the ending to be any different.
 

TheOddOne

Member
Zeliard said:
Really? I'll note I haven't reached the end yet, but the game puts a huge amount of focus on subtlety, and I wouldn't expect the ending to be any different.
I'll elaborate more when you finish the game (kinda spoiler talk).
 
Limbo is good, but upon further reflection after my initial glowing review I feel the best thing it has going for it is atmosphere and art direction. As far as puzzlers and platformers go, the rest of it has been done better somewhere else.
 

Amir0x

Banned
Mrbob said:
Man this thread has me confused. :lol

I bought my 1600 points card for this game but was a bit underwhelmed by the game play aspects of the demo. From reading the thread it seems like the actual game play is fairly simple overall. Debating between this and DeathSpank and can only grab one right now with the points I have. Both games seem to have issues unfortunately. I thought one of them would be a home run.

DeathSpank... I don't know about that game. But since this is just a 1600 points card, and LIMBO can be beaten in like ten seconds and has next to no replay value, I'd probably recommend DeathSpank over it IF it has some sort of content.

LIMBO is just a mediocre game. Not good, not terrible... just mediocre. If 1200 points is worth mediocrity, then there ya go.

Actually maybe you should get that Snoopy Pilot game.
 

Rat Salad

Banned
xbhaskarx said:
.

Amirox is also the one who said the controls are "rather clunky", "not always reliable" and "really weird and awkward"...


He's a crying whiny dude,bitching looking for attention. Let the douche soak in his tears.
 
VibratingDonkey said:
Chapter 22. Zip line thing solution.

Thanks. Thought it had something to do with momentum too, I was near insanity.

This game is good so far but not what i expected. Maybe I was overhyped, can't put my finger on what's missing.
 
Oh god, this game is going to be another Braid where people praise it constantly in spite of it's flaws.

And what's worse is it has more flaws than Braid. Many, many more.
 

Amir0x

Banned
LordPhoque said:
That's dumb, if he said about a random member he wouldn't have been banned.

Nope. I literally ban for flinging insults all the time. In fact, it is the number one reason I hand out bans. It's also directly against the T.O.S.

THEMOREYOUKNOW.gif
 

Atilac

Member
need help
After the 1st two gun turrets, immediately after there is a part with two boxes and a magnetic floor press, I can't get past it

EDIT: nevermind got it
 

Amir0x

Banned
Zeliard said:
Amir0x weren't you liking it a lot earlier? Is it just worse in retrospect?

We were focusing on one particular negative aspect of the game which is clearly unfun. But I don't think it's a bad game - I gave it a 7.0. It's a mediocre game, not a bad game. It has some good ideas. Merely needed some time in the oven for polish, some basic gameplay tweaks, some game design alterations and some content.

It sounds a lot on paper, but in reality it has a sound foundation. People aren't looking for wishy-washy Grey areas though. LIMBO is the latest GAF Sacred Cow, and with it come the apologists and fanboys, who march ever onward.


At least we know they never subvert expectations!
 
On reflection I have realised I love this games, it is really well designed, has a ton of memorable moments. I think the ending is probably as good as I could hope a game with no story's ending to be. So yeah, if anyone is unsure I say go for it, it won't be a game you forget any time soon.
 

Zeliard

Member
Amir0x said:
We were focusing on one particular negative aspect of the game which is clearly unfun. But I don't think it's a bad game - I gave it a 7.0. It's a mediocre game, not a bad game. It has some good ideas. Merely needed some time in the oven for polish, some basic gameplay tweaks, some game design alterations and some content.

It sounds a lot on paper, but in reality it has a sound foundation. People aren't looking for wishy-washy Grey areas though. LIMBO is the latest GAF Sacred Cow, and with it come the apologists and fanboys, who march ever onward.


At least we know they never subvert expectations!

How did you feel about Braid, out of curiosity?
 

wizword

Banned
For a game that is a masterpiece and you need to 'get it' the puzzles are rather awful trial and error (not really even that) where you have to notice that you could pull or push something in order for this to work. My favorite is the beginning in the forest where you have to cross the lake where there is a block. When you have to figure out the only way past it isn't by using the block to float (which I tried 10 times in almost every way) but to back track and jump from tree to tree. That was when I figured out this game is going to be not only a bad puzzle game but a bad overall game.
 

Amir0x

Banned
Zeliard said:
How did you feel about Braid, out of curiosity?

Pretty much the same, actually! But I think I like Braid slightly more because... well I just think the puzzles in Braid are more clever. There's definitely some clever stuff in LIMBO, but it's not mind bending enough for such a short game. And with BRAID, they made the really clever choice of implementing the rewind/etc mechanic instead of death. And they didn't have to because the gameplay is NOT trial and error... you can figure it out on your first try if you're smart enough. But it made the situation painless, and allowed one to ENJOY the proceedings at a much more elegant pace.
 

xbhaskarx

Member
There are two different ways you can make the cart move away from the switch, which would give you enough time to get across.
 

d0c_zaius

Member
Shake Appeal said:
:lol

I want to spread these posts on my toast.

For reals!

Posts like that make me want to slap the earth. However I don't expect people with ADD to get what the game is trying to do at all.
 
Although I don't find trial & error-gameplay necessarily a bad thing I must say that there's nothing really special about this game, there is nothing amazing to "get". Or maybe there is, but that is soon lost.

It's different when it starts off, and you se glimpses of people trying to scare you off. Or for example when you have to use a dead body of another boy to advance. It creates this interesting uncertain vibe and you ask yourself where this game is taking you. Im not saying the game should answer the question of what's "really" going on, absolutely not, but simply do something else with it, make it evolve and take a larger part of the game. After the woods it's all saw blades and gravity until the final scene, and I quickly lost interest. The vibe of uncertainty and wanting to turn back yet still push forward is gone and it all feels like such a lost opportunity.

After it's first act Limbo isn't more than just that a puzzle game that requires you to die from time to time.

Still enjoyed it though.
 
Did GAF make some avatars for this game ? I'd like to change mine.

Anyway, the more I'm reading the impressions, the more it seems to me that people were expecting a fantastic and innovative game in terms of gameplay and game-design just because the art and atmosphere are both amazing. That's completely absurd imo, this game looked like a classic puzzle game in all the videos we've seen this year.
 

wizword

Banned
d0c_zaius said:
For reals!

Posts like that make me want to slap the earth.
All the puzzles were pretty awful. I was just pointing out one of the ones that got me stuck. The other one is
at the end of the game where you need 2 boxes to go on top of the moving platform. Unfortunately, you are only shown where one is, so I spent a good 15 minutes looking around, until I figured out you needed to grab this light which gets a block out. Then it took me a good 3 minutes to figure out there is a switch that turns the magnet on. The puzzle itself I already knew how it worked. Unfortunately , finding the pieces is what took me most of the time. Just walking back and forth walking all the way on top searching for that awful block was a mundane and absolutely awful experience. There wasn't a puzzle in the game that wasn't a simple 2 step/3 step task. There wasn't anything complicated about this game and there wasn't any experience I felt was brilliant in terms of puzzle or platform elements.

Another puzzle that I had problems with a checkpoint
On a couple of the water stages had 2 minute checkpoints. Unfortunately the water went in an incredibly slow rate. The problem is that I missed the final jump once or twice and having to repeat this was kind of stale and boring
. This was the only place where there was mediocre checkpoint system though.

I still am wondering what people played that I didn't. I enjoy the puzzle genre/platformer. And expected to enjoy this but it came out to be one of the most shallow, dull, and smug games I've played this generation. The beginning had great atmosphere but that even fizzled out at the end of the game.
 

Amir0x

Banned
I'd say the best moment of the game was when
you are walking up a slope and slowly get stuck in the Spider's web
. That was a real stroke of genius and the sense of foreboding as the
Spider approaches you
was significant. In terms of atmosphere and tone setting, this was the brightest moment of the entire game imo.
 

d0c_zaius

Member
wizword said:
All the puzzles were pretty awful.and a bunch of other stuff

Disagree x 100000000000

I can understand differences of opinion and such but it seems you are going way out of your way to justify something.
 

Mutagenic

Permanent Junior Member
I'm enjoying this game. I would encourage anyone with an interest in Limbo to at least give the demo a try. It's easy to let the negativity compound and crush a quality product, and I hope people are able to keep an open mind.
 

JaxJag

Banned
Amir0x said:
Seems I'm pretty much exactly right (even according to Shake Appeal and Draft). In fact, the only difference is that Draft and Shake Appeal believe this sort of puzzle is a HILARIOUS JOKE that somehow compensates for the shitty game design. To put it another way, they believe the shitty game design is the point. And since that's the point, the developer was obviously successful with what he set out to do!
Saying Limbo has shitty game design, tells me that you do not know anything about game design.
 

Amir0x

Banned
No it's pretty much the number one rule of game design: a death should ALWAYS be the player's fault, never the game's.

If you disagree with this, then I'm pretty secure in my superior grasp of quality game design.
 

TheOddOne

Member
Amir0x said:
I'd say the best moment of the game was when
you are walking up a slope and slowly get stuck in the Spider's web
. That was a real stroke of genius and the sense of foreboding as the
Spider approaches you
was significant. In terms of atmosphere and tone setting, this was the brightest moment of the entire game imo.
Yeah, pretty amazing moment. It has a couple of those in the beginning, but then gets really focused on being a 'puzzle' game.
 

Zeliard

Member
Amir0x said:
Pretty much the same, actually! But I think I like Braid slightly more because... well I just think the puzzles in Braid are more clever. There's definitely some clever stuff in LIMBO, but it's not mind bending enough for such a short game. And with BRAID, they made the really clever choice of implementing the rewind/etc mechanic instead of death. And they didn't have to because the gameplay is NOT trial and error... you can figure it out on your first try if you're smart enough. But it made the situation painless, and allowed one to ENJOY the proceedings at a much more elegant pace.

I'm really enjoying Limbo so far, but if there's one thing that can be said, it's that Braid's puzzles were far more difficult.

I find Limbo's art and just the general way it goes about things to be absolutely enchanting, though. Sounds silly, I know, but even just the way the beginning of the game opens up and how you have to press A to "wake" your guy up - what a great little touch. I appreciate those small, mostly inconsequential elements. They ultimately end up combining to add a lot, I think.
 
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