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

Apoc29 said:
I'm assuming it's because of years of video game experience that people have been conditioned to the idea that death is a bad thing and it should always be the player's fault. IMO, it's only bad when you get punished for it, ie. having to restart from somewhere far away. Thankfully, this game addresses that with the generous checkpoints.

Moreover, death is a learning experience and you can't really fault the game for teaching you. I mean, if YOU hadn't died, then the game would have to explain it some other way such as showing an NPC dying or some other such cutscene that demonstrates the danger at hand. In that case, what do you gain from this? It will probably "waste" the same amount time or more than if you had died yourself. Psychologically though, I can see how this would upset some people. It's a design paradigm that's not for everyone.
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Killing the player for no fault of their own is never, ever good game design. Never has been.
 
GhaleonEB said:
Killing the player for no fault of their own is never, ever good game design. Never has been.
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It's fun in Limbo, though, not frustrating.

The opposite isn't good either. Just look at Prince of Persia 2008...
 
Draft said:
Also, IMO, there's only one frustrating puzzle that breaks the otherwise wonderful "death as instruction" system:
Right after going across the trolley thing, there's a big ramp that you have to slide down. No matter how you jump off it, you die. And you come back to life before the trolley, and have to do that part of the puzzle over and over. It took me probably 20 tries to realize there was a gravity change button at the bottom of the ramp.
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:lol I was stuck on that for AGES. I thought I had to jump in a certain way and grab the rope hanging at the very bottom of the pit. Annoyed me to no end. When I noticed that you had to
press the gravity button
I felt like the biggest idiot.
besiktas1 said:
About the end...

did I miss/skip something? I crash through glass, walk up a hill and see the girl. It goes black. Is that it?
Click to expand...
Nope, that's the end. I was pretty confused as well, mostly because it seemed really sudden and abrupt.
 
Played through a chunk of Limbo yesterday. I don't understand the praise for the actual game elements at all. This does an incredible job at creating the atmosphere, then wastes it on clichéd design and sub-par mechanics. Even cynical cash-grab stuff from 15 years ago like Bubsy smokes this in terms of level design and mechanics.

This is a recurring theme with indie games: failure to execute on the complete package. It seems most of the hyped indie games hit one aspect out of the park, but more or less whiff on the rest.

As usual, the worthless games media fails to provide anything that resembles meaningful criticism.
 
Really enjoying this must say it has the most slow suffocating tension that i've seen in a game for a long while especially the opening hour the first time you come across the ... i almost had an heart attack as i had the surround up loud and the noise of it was. :lol
 
Draft said:
Also, IMO, there's only one frustrating puzzle that breaks the otherwise wonderful "death as instruction" system:
Right after going across the trolley thing, there's a big ramp that you have to slide down. No matter how you jump off it, you die. And you come back to life before the trolley, and have to do that part of the puzzle over and over. It took me probably 20 tries to realize there was a gravity change button at the bottom of the ramp.
Click to expand...
True story, that's the only place in the game where I was stuck for longer than twenty minutes.
 
Draft said:
Also, IMO, there's only one frustrating puzzle that breaks the otherwise wonderful "death as instruction" system:
Right after going across the trolley thing, there's a big ramp that you have to slide down. No matter how you jump off it, you die. And you come back to life before the trolley, and have to do that part of the puzzle over and over. It took me probably 20 tries to realize there was a gravity change button at the bottom of the ramp.
Click to expand...

That really sucked the energy out of the game, after I finally got past that I no longer cared about the game I just wanted to get it over with.
 
besiktas1 said:
About the end...

did I miss/skip something? I crash through glass, walk up a hill and see the girl. It goes black. Is that it?
Click to expand...
That is the end. Congratulations, mission accomplished.

See page 6 and 7 of this thread for story discussion, especially the posts here and here. :)
 
Bought it, and I've played all the way to where you start
rotating the gears in the factory and changing the screen orientation. Reminds me of Super Castlevania 4.
It's not frustrating because so little progress is lost, even if you do die a lot unfairly. I like it. I'm not...dreading anything though. The first part of the game was very ominous and scary. Danteish.
 
Upon a bit of replay I find that the opening section/setting really is so good and so fitting that it serves to highlight how dull the final "zone" is. But this is clearly not news to anyone whose played through the whole game.

And that's hardly the worst of the games problems, it's just the most obvious. There were certainly a couple of "puzzles", already mentioned in this thread, that just stumped/killed the hell out me too quickly/required insane precision.

Surely some play-testing could have ironed out these really rough spots, but I suppose they didn't have the time/money.
 
Jexhius said:
Upon a bit of replay I find that the opening section/setting really is so good and so fitting that it serves to highlight how dull the final "zone" is. But this is clearly not news to anyone whose played through the whole game.
Click to expand...
If you rush the opening section it's not that different at all.

But the FIRST time you play that there are all these little things that make it so awesome
the spider, the people running from you, etc.
... yeah, when i was at the end of the game i was thinking "damn, that first part of the game was so cool..." but never felt that there was a huge difference.

I know the first part is the best one in the game experience-wise, but not puzzle-wise... at least not the very first chapters...

I enjoyed the whole game, and feel like 800 MSP would have been the perfect price.
If anything I liked it more than "P.B. Winterbottom" which i still have to finish.
But Braid is really on another level.
 
I need help :(

I'm stuck at the part where
you are dodging saws while the gravity is switching you from top of the screen to the bottom. I'm at the part where you end up in a place with a saw up some ways on the roof, a saw on the other side of the room, a gravity switch that throws you forward some ways up near the roof saw, and an electrical pole that the gravity switch seems to constantly throw you into.
I keep dying here...

edit: nvm just got it first time after typing this, hahah go figure.
 
Limbo could of used another section or 3, Ive played a lot of short games but this one is REALLY SHORT lol.

I still had a good experiance with it and hopefully they make a Limbo 2.
 
Haunted said:
True story, that's the only place in the game where I was stuck for longer than twenty minutes.
Click to expand...
Same here. I thought the arrow was merely a sign telling me to jump that way. I tried everything else possible before accidently tripping the switch while just mashing use after making jumps.
 
Y2Kev said:
Bought it, and I've played all the way to where you start
rotating the gears in the factory and changing the screen orientation. Reminds me of Super Castlevania 4.
It's not frustrating because so little progress is lost, even if you do die a lot unfairly. I like it. I'm not...dreading anything though. The first part of the game was very ominous and scary though. Danteish.
Click to expand...
Yup, the early forest section has a sense of foreboding and dread that the rest of the game never approaches. After, they never iterated on the style, just held it flat, and the effect loses its impact after.
 
DjangoReinhardt said:
Played through a chunk of Limbo yesterday. I don't understand the praise for the actual game elements at all. This does an incredible job at creating the atmosphere, then wastes it on clichéd design and sub-par mechanics. Even cynical cash-grab stuff from 15 years ago like Bubsy smokes this in terms of level design and mechanics.

This is a recurring theme with indie games: failure to execute on the complete package. It seems most of the hyped indie games hit one aspect out of the park, but more or less whiff on the rest.

As usual, the worthless games media fails to provide anything that resembles meaningful criticism.
Click to expand...
Holy shit, maybe the majority of critics and players disagree with you.
 
Jexhius said:
Upon a bit of replay I find that the opening section/setting really is so good and so fitting that it serves to highlight how dull the final "zone" is. But this is clearly not news to anyone whose played through the whole game.

And that's hardly the worst of the games problems, it's just the most obvious. There were certainly a couple of "puzzles", already mentioned in this thread, that just stumped/killed the hell out me too quickly/required insane precision.

Surely some play-testing could have ironed out these really rough spots, but I suppose they didn't have the time/money.
Click to expand...

I think if you give this game another playthrough, you will see that there is very few instance that require a ton of precision, and the game is actually very forgiving. It is just more about understanding what you need to do and executing it. I think I maybe died twenty times on my second playthrough, compared to probably a hundred or more the first go around. Most of those were me forgetting where a trap was, not badly executing a move with the exception of two parts. The first Hotel sign which had to do more with my impatience then anything else, and the final puzzle which came down to me not understanding how I got past it the first time and having to figure the puzzle out the second time around which lead to quite a few deaths.
 
Rez said:
I did that Draft bit first try. Bam.
Click to expand...
Well honestly I think it shouldn't take that many tries. Not sure why it took me so long. It makes sense to
press the gravity button, since you had to press one to get the trolly moments before
.
 
Finished! The end got annoying. The last scene was awesome. The puzzles are all way easier than Braid. Their solutions are less abstract. The solution is always THERE.
 
Upon immediate completion, I'd say the game is really two very different games. The first part is measured, contemplative, and reflective. The second half is more mechanical. It feels hollower, with less actual game despite there definitely being way more content. I'm not saying it's the change in environment that upsets me (though, really, it emotionally does disconnect from the player a bit), it's that the second half totally changes the pacing.

The
lord of the flies
stuff early is really special.
 
Y2Kev said:
The
lord of the flies
stuff early is really special.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not sure why they abandoned creatures and evil kids for the last 4/5 of the game. Somehow purely mechanical death traps are nowhere near as creepy, so the atmosphere wasn't quite the same.
 
Wooohooo! I’m ranked 45th on the leaderboards at 111% after finally getting the 11th and final egg. It took me all day to get and it was such a massive nightmare!

You have to have all previous 10 eggs and then start a new game without dieing at all! Yep, not one death! After doing that I think I’m done with this game now. :lol


EDIT: Just checked the leaderboard and someone has 112%! When will the madness stop!?
 
Tricky I Shadow said:
Wooohooo! I’m ranked 45th on the leaderboards at 111% after finally getting the 11th and final egg. It took me all day to get and it was such a massive nightmare!

You have to have all previous 10 eggs and then start a new game without dieing at all! Yep, not one death! After doing that I think I’m done with this game now. :lol


EDIT: Just checked the leaderboard and someone has 112%! When will the madness stop!?
Click to expand...

Is there a list of where all the eggs are? I am at 109% now and can not find anymore eggs.
 
Karma said:
Is there a list of where all the eggs are? I am at 109% now and can not find anymore eggs.
Click to expand...

Here's a bunch of videos. 111% sounds like a real pain, and there's a 112% I don't see an explanation for yet. There's no way I'll get all these, I'm dreading doing the 5 deaths run.

Did you get
all three in addition to the achivement one
in the dark?
 
Kulock said:
Here's a bunch of videos. 111% sounds like a real pain, and there's a 112% I don't see an explanation for yet. There's no way I'll get all these, I'm dreading doing the 5 deaths run.

Did you get
all three in addition to the achivement one
in the dark?
Click to expand...

Thanks, and yes I did.

edit: Thanks I had missed this one in chapter 23. Now at 110%. Will try and do a zero death run tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ1IFfp-ZJw
 
Wow, I played the demo and loved it. It's got far more style and atmosphere than Braid, and from what I could tell, none of the terrible writing.
 
Finished it last night:
So how do people interpret the ending? It seems pretty damn grim to me.
When he approaches it's not exactly in a "Yay, my sister is safe, must greet her"-fashion, it's a cautious, creepy slow step up the hill. And when she hears something she sits up in alert, fear even. The game quickly fades to black, we get the credits and I realise then that the main menu is the exact same place as the ending, except the ladder has been broken and there's a rotting corpse where the girl was.
I think he killed her.
Or they both died there due to the dangers of the forest but that's a bit more abstract, so I'm leaning towards the former.
Eek.

Edit: Read Shake's piece:
Hmm. I didn't really factor the odd smash through the glass end sequence into my hypothesis. I still think the climb up, her reaction and the menu are odd, but they do make sense considering the dangers that the world has already shown it to have. I do think that it does seem like some kind of hell/afterlife.
 
Draft said:
2rf9187.png
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heh, what's that from?
 
Sorry if that has already been mentioned, but is it just me or were there areas in promo shots and previews that showed areas that weren't in the final game?

I just finished it... and I don't recall seeing areas such as this...

05.jpg


03.jpg


LimboGame1.jpg


02.jpg


limbo.png



Now I'm pretty sleep deprived, so I am bound to be wrong about some, if not all of them... but I am positive I didnt see all these areas.
 
Coldsnap said:
this game would be better if it had no tittle screen
Click to expand...

Do you mean from an aesthetic presentation standpoint? I might agree there, but I would also argue that the title screen is actually quite important to the game.
This has probably already been discussed here, but after the credits rolled I had the sudden realization that the menu was meant as a final reveal of the children's fate (if I'm interpreting it correctly.) I thought that was a rather clever piece of metanarrative.
.
 
afternoon delight said:
Just arrived at the
rotating gears
. This is GOTY for me. I'm taking it slower than others evidently and can't get enough of it.
Click to expand...

That's a shame because
you only have about 10-15 mins left
.
 
If you die can you just boot down your xbox 360 to not have it count as a death? I've been trying to replay but I keep getting distracted while playing through and dying.
 
BLARGH

there is 2 boxes and an anti gravity thing. what's the deal here?!
 
Coldsnap said:
If you die can you just boot down your xbox 360 to not have it count as a death? I've been trying to replay but I keep getting distracted while playing through and dying.
Click to expand...

Why would you? If you're aiming for the achievement, it has to be in a single play session.
 
Papercuts said:
Why would you? If you're aiming for the achievement, it has to be in a single play session.
Click to expand...

anyone done this? Wonder how tough it is? I could see myself getting to one of the tricky 'run across this just in time' and blasting 6 lives on it.
 
catfish said:
anyone done this? Wonder how tough it is? I could see myself getting to one of the tricky 'run across this just in time' and blasting 6 lives on it.
Click to expand...
It's actually really easy, if you play through the last section again beforehand so you've got the timing right on all those bits.
 
xbhaskarx said:
Yeah, I'm not sure why they abandoned creatures and evil kids for the last 4/5 of the game. Somehow purely mechanical death traps are nowhere near as creepy, so the atmosphere wasn't quite the same.
Click to expand...
The back half felt like they were going for a sort of never-ending machine/industrialized decay vibe but the execution wasn't as solid because they didn't have enough Bergman films to use as sound engineering inspiration, unlike the first half. I also think they fell into the trap of standard game design where games are normally designed to continue escalating in challenge to the end, and I don't think that design philosophy works in this case.

I also think the people stating that learn-by-dying gameplay is unequivocally bad are being extremely narrow-minded.
 
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