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

Nelo Ice

Banned
just finished this and it was well worth the 600 pts i paid and like others have said the difficulty is just right

also damn the ending i wanted to play more!
 

pargonta

Member
There are several changes I have found in the PlayStation Network version of Limbo from the XBLA version.

There are no:
-Leaderboards
-Percentages
-Options to limit disturbing Content
-Old Non-Trophy Secret Eggs

-There is a secret PSN trophy new to this version.
-The Chapter selection screen has more chapter markers

-The labyrinth
beneath the arthropod has been changed. after the trophy egg there is a mound with candles in the ground and a gate blocking the way forward. The amount of candles lit is how many Trophy eggs you have found. After finding all 10 trophy eggs, the gate in this sunlit area will open, leading to a new dark level. The Secret Egg in this level unlocks the secret "Ding!" Gold Trophy

Not sure how many differences in total there are, but this new version of the game is definitely a somewhat different experience.
 

Dragnet

Member
Just bought this game off the UK store after playing the US demo last night, love the game but one thing I have noticed which is really annoying me is that for some reason the UK/EU version is drastically lighter and has less contrast, even when messing with the settings.
 

Number45

Member
I played a little of this earlier and it's fantastic - it's one of those games where you almost immediately seem to enter a higher state of consciousness as the game teaches you immediately to fear EVERYTHING! D:

The slightest change in lighting, noise or even a clump of grass that's spikier than usual are cause for alarm!

I also bought Braid recently, another indie darling that I've been waiting to play... and, eh, that game's really not for me. I found reading the books very touching (I really need to read up about the game) but the gameplay doesn't do it for me at all. :(
 

theBishop

Banned
Played about an hour last night and was mostly blown away. The only complaint I have is it's not consistent when the dude's legs are going to break. In the first 30 seconds of the game, it seems like he has the tibias of a baby bird. Later in the game I can fall half the screen without dying.
 

Kolgar

Member
Got this in the XBLA Triple Pack and wow--what an awesome impact its audiovisual presentation has. Haven't played a lot, but what I've enjoyed what I have. This is going to be a rare and memorable experience, no doubt.
 
Kolgar said:
Got this in the XBLA Triple Pack and wow--what an awesome impact its audiovisual presentation has. Haven't played a lot, but what I've enjoyed what I have. This is going to be a rare and memorable experience, no doubt.

I noticed the triple pack is $10 at Best Buy right now. I was considering picking it up just for Limbo.
 

BeeDog

Member
Just finished the PSN version, pretty good game. The aesthetics were amazing, and so was the overall mood. Some of the puzzles were really clever, but the biggest negative was how much trial-and-error there was in the game. There's no fucking way I'll try the "finish the game in one sitting, <5 deaths" trophy since several platforming segments almost felt luck-based.

In my opinion, the game's definitely worth all those super high review scores, but it's still a neat and polished little platformer. Definitely worth a playthrough.
 
Finished the game. Only one trophy left

The hidden trophy was a bit tough to say the least. Impressive game. Loved the style of it. Totally worth the money.
 
This is vague stuff about the ending so I put it all in spoilers:

Limbo is really good, and I'm almost prepared to say that it has my favorite ending of any game, full stop. It's subtle, stately, and communicates an ambiguity and wisdom that simply does not exist in video game land. It's perfect really. My only complaint about is that the little blurb that made the made the rounds "A boy searches for his lost sister" or whatever the hell it was. If I went in not knowing what I was searching for, not knowing what I might find, that ending would have been even more powerful.
 
This was well worth the wait. Had a good session last night. Amazing game. Glad there are developers out there trying things like this. Now the painfully long wait for Bastion to come to PSN (if ever).
 

shawnlreed

Member
Loved the PS3 Hidden Trophy.
Challenging, but not impossible.
Just the right type of add on to make a good game that much better.
 

BeeDog

Member
Just finished the hidden area in the PS3 version. I found it very challenging due to me having difficulties estimating where the blades pass by. Still, a nice change of pace, but definitely don't attempt this area when going for the "<= 5 deaths" trophy run. :p
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
The less than 5 deaths trophy is killing me. ;_;
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Number45 said:
I take it you can't restart the chapter or anything for this? Also, does it really mean "in one sitting"?

Yes. One sitting from the start.
 

Koralsky

Member
Just beat secret area - die about 20 times, maybe less. Very challenging, but quite possible level.

Overall, great game, but 10 dollars great.

Looking forward to play next Playdead title.
 

wouwie

Member
Finished the game yesterday and loved it. Really glad i bought it.

The atmosphere, graphics and sound are fantastic and the gameplay and puzzles are fun for the most part. I never felt a real difference between the first and second half of the game, a criticism that many seem to have.

The only gameplay element i had a bit of trouble with was changing gravity mid-air with the signs in the last levels. The mechanism of activating seemed a bit fussy and button presses not always registered.

This game goes straight into my list of favourite "downloadable/small" games. I certainly hope we'll see more of this game developer.

As a sidenote, this felt like the most "violent"/"mature" game i have played so far. The death scenes were rather gruesome but it fitted the tone and atmosphere of the game.
 
I beat this game during the week after getting the triple pack via Best Buy. It's a solid game, but it should have been named "Rule of 3" because things became much easier when I realized that I should not give up on a possible solution until I've done it 3 times. I don't think it was worth $15 so I am glad I only paid a fraction of that money.
 

Number45

Member
After finishing this last night, I'm not sure I'm going to go for 100%. Looking for the remaining orbs sounds like fun, trying to get through the entire game with just five deaths (and in one sitting no less) sounds like torture! D:
 

schick85

Member
JESUS CHRIST PEOPLE!!! Think of the secret level as a $5 addon and buy it off the PSN! A bit short, but It's an experience like none other.
 

HolyTaco

Member
Limbo was well worth the budget price, sure other 2d adventure games I've loved in the past like Heart of Darkness and the Oddworld games were longer but also full price titles at the time. I think people are spoiled with the cheap quality titles on XBLA/PSN/Steam these days. It is interesting though when you see devs like Twisted Pixel putting up awesome stuff like Ms Splosion Man for 800 MSP.

No matter, I had a great time with this game (when it released over a year ago....) god damn I wish there were more 2D adventure games this gen in the vein of Limbo, Heart of Darkness and the Oddworld series. I wonder how the HD remake of Abes Oddysee is going, haven't heard anything since January or so.
 

Zapages

Member
I just started playing Limbo on the PS3 *Finally* lol after being exclusive to XBLA. I have to say its like a modern day twist to surreal old school PoP games with elements of ICO glazed all over it.

In other words amazing. Smile Everyone here should try it out.
 

Number45

Member
Just played through again in one sitting, took a little under 2 hours (way over the five death limit though). Still need to get a few of the orbs as well.

EDIT: Does the game let you know when you're over the five deaths? I could have sworn there was an extra pipe organ style note but I might have been imagining it.
 

Kafel

Banned
schick85 said:
JESUS CHRIST PEOPLE!!! Think of the secret level as a $5 addon and buy it off the PSN! A bit short, but It's an experience like none other.

I've played a long time ago and can't remember this. What are you talking about ?
 

Number45

Member
Kafel said:
I've played a long time ago and can't remember this. What are you talking about ?
There's a new area exclusive to the PSN (and Steam, I assume) version (and a hidden trophy to go along with it).
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Not finished this yet, but I'm happy enough with my purchase (PSN).

The game Limbo most reminds me of thus far is Eric Chahi's Another World which I absolutely adored back in the day.

I'm kind of in two minds about how I feel about this gameplay in 2011 though; on one hand the presentation is stunning and the actual mechanical design is very strong, but I must admit to finding the relentless trial and error gameplay a bit off-putting.

Its a weird one, because I appreciate what Playdead are doing but I am finding it a bit monotonous, and dare I say unrewarding to play. Essentially the "hooks" are all tied to the numerous darkly comic way the Boy can get offed by the enemies and hazards, but there's very little sense of reward for actually overcoming/avoiding these threats... all you get is another opportunity to die until you figure out the next problem.

I understand the lack of overt progression rewards fits with the overall theme and tone of Limbo, but there's a bit too much stick and not enough carrot I guess for my taste.

Demon's Souls RPG underpinnings justified and strengthened the trial-and-error aspect as you could enhance your character EVEN IF you found yourself temporarily unable to pass a certain point - running back to your last death-spot and reclaiming your lost Souls could feel like a victory in itself...

In Limbo, you are simply road-blocked by the puzzles. Sure you don't get put back far, but with no lives/health/experience its just an inconvenience/annoyance, and as the only reward is progression (to more of the same), I don't really feel incentivized to push through.
 
I just grabbed the triple pack on XBLA... loving the game. The arm animation when climbing was pissing me off for a long while, but the game became so engrossing that I stopped even noticing it.

The deaths are crazy and the sound design is top notch. I feel genuinely tense at a lot of times despite the fact that the checkpoint system is so forgiving.
 

Andrew.

Banned
Played this game when it came out...one of the best sidescrolling games ive ever played. good luck beating in one session if you have never played it before.
 

schick85

Member
Clear said:
In Limbo, you are simply road-blocked by the puzzles. Sure you don't get put back far, but with no lives/health/experience its just an inconvenience/annoyance, and as the only reward is progression (to more of the same), I don't really feel incentivized to push through.
So you're saying you want these puzzle platformers (LIMBO, Braid, Super Meat Boy and the likes) to be cluttered with health bars, experience points, extra lives, and horse amor just so you can get passed a puzzle without doing any figuring? What's the fun in all that? Finding a way out of a puzzle yourself is rewarding enough. I'm sorry if you don't feel that way 'cause you just wasted $$$ bub.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
schick85 said:
So you're saying you want these puzzle platformers (LIMBO, Braid, Super Meat Boy and the likes) to be cluttered with health bars, experience points, extra lives, and horse amor just so you can get passed a puzzle without doing any figuring? What's the fun in all that? Finding a way out of a puzzle yourself is rewarding enough. I'm sorry if you don't feel that way 'cause you just wasted $$$ bub.

What I'm saying is, why does it need to be so binary?

I don't mind being (temporarily) stumped by a puzzle or encounter, what I do mind is finding myself with nothing else to do or think about in that situation.

I agree there is fun to be had in solving puzzles, but in Limbo everything resolves to either success or fail/scene-reset. Where are the alternate solutions? Where are the mechanics that allow one to modify the parameters of each trial (In Demon's Souls not only was character state and build a variable, but you had manipulable global elements like world tendency to leverage to your advantage/disadvantage), so as to provide multiple ways to tackle the problem?

Why use physics but deny the player any emergent solutions arising from its usage? It reduces a powerful technology to a simple visual effect!

Life/Health systems are useful because if everything resolves to an absolute live/die result every trial that can provide those outcomes is essentially isolated from the rest of the game. What's gone before and what's yet to come are irrelevant because you are absolutely bound to be in a certain predetermined state/position at the start of each.

Its great for developers because its a lot easier to tune difficulty when you are working with absolutes, but it devalues player agency because there are literally no consequences to their performance. You either succeed, perfectly, or fail utterly - no half measures or corner cases to deal with.

My point is that if the mechanics allow you to scrape by a particularly challenging encounter albeit in a weakened state, that has a knock-on effect for any following encounter, modifying its difficulty. The player is allowed some latituide to shape their own experience.

Whereas in Limbo, its just an arbitrary sequence of stand-alone puzzles that could essentially be placed in any order once their fundamental mechanics have been established.

Which brings up the topic of context.

When the whole presentation is so tastefully minimalist as to eschew any kind of overt feedback to the player congratulating them for their successes or indicating any larger sense of progression towards a goal it basically means that the whole game is only as good as the next puzzle.

Essentially the whole weight of the game is supported at any given point by its presentation (delightful, admittedly) and a simplistic puzzle with a binary solution and outcome.

By any standard that's very thin, unadventurous design. Take away the nice graphics and there's really not a lot there, which I'm sorry to say is a bit of a missed opportunity in my opinion.
 

Number45

Member
Clear said:
Whereas in Limbo, its just an arbitrary sequence of stand-alone puzzles that could essentially be placed in any order once their fundamental mechanics have been established.

Which brings up the topic of context.

When the whole presentation is so tastefully minimalist as to eschew any kind of overt feedback to the player congratulating them for their successes or indicating any larger sense of progression towards a goal it basically means that the whole game is only as good as the next puzzle.
You seem to understand that this is essentially a puzzle game, so I'm not sure what the issue is. Your reward is seeing whatever the game chooses to throw at you next - I'd liken this in pure gameplay terms (although nowhere near as random/punishing) to Rick Dangerous more than Demon's Souls (which isn't a puzzle game at all).

Number45 said:
After finishing this last night, I'm not sure I'm going to go for 100%. Looking for the remaining orbs sounds like fun, trying to get through the entire game with just five deaths (and in one sitting no less) sounds like torture! D:
Well, that wasn't so hard at all. Played through it again this afternoon to familiarise myself with the puzzles, and again this evening and managed it in about 90 minutes with only two deaths. ^_^
 

Number45

Member
Excuse the DP.

Wow, the extra section is amazing. If anything I'd say it's a shame that it wasn't some kind of tutorial level, because it teaches you to be acutely aware of your surroundings and in particular the audio.

I may be "done" with the game (I'll play it again from time to time I'm sure), but I don't begrudge what I paid for this game one bit (£8 with PS+), and I wouldn't have minded even without the discount.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
I got to the bonus section last night, and it was seriously great. More difficult in terms of platforming than the rest of the game, sure, but so fun to go through, and best of all, different enough from the rest of the game that it never felt like a chore, or been-there-done-that. Oh, and best of all, the theme of the level goes perfectly hand in hand with the section that leads to it.
 
Is this game released on PC yet because when I google search I see people already talking about how they have the PC version. I'm getting the PC version, but not till Friday after I finish school once and for all, but it's sad that creative and artistic games like this is being leaked days early.
 
There was nothing like looking for the 10 secret % eggs on the XBLA version that raise up your rank on the leaderboards, ESPECIALLY when it first came out and there were no walk-throughs. Is there really no leaderboards in the PS3 version? Are these eggs still obtainable (these are not the achieve/trophy eggs, these are just random ones that are VERY hard to find).

Also, to people complaining about the 5 deaths or less trophy/achievement, the last secret secret hidden egg is by beating the game without dying once. Me and a few friends literally spent a few days non-stop in party chat looking for these % eggs and then we got the idea that it was a no-death run for the final one and we knew it fell from the tree at the end because one of the achievement icons has an egg in the very same tree.

Needless to say, I was exausted and kept dying near the end very stupidly, and I had work in the morning. So I went to sleep, went to work and came back and I went from #2 on the leaderboards to #30-something (someone leaked the eggs online ;__;) so I promptly did a no-death run and got my spot on the leaderboards forever engraved.

It just sucks; I would've been #2 or 3 in the world had sleep not gotten a hold of me.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
Infamous Chris said:
There was nothing like looking for the 10 secret % eggs on the XBLA version that raise up your rank on the leaderboards, ESPECIALLY when it first came out and there were no walk-throughs. Is there really no leaderboards in the PS3 version? Are these eggs still obtainable (these are not the achieve/trophy eggs, these are just random ones that are VERY hard to find).
There are no leaderboards in the PS3 version, but I'm not sure about the secret-secret eggs. One of them was obtained
by stacking two boxes in the gravity switch area near the end
, right? I'll try tonight to see if some of them are still there.

I'm gonna say - for a completionist like you - you have to play the secret level in PS3 (and probably tomorrow's PC) version of the game. You're going to love it.

Dr. Zoidberg said:
I'm playing through this for the first time as well. I think the game was a steal for 600 MSP. Maybe I'm stupid, but the puzzles are the perfect difficulty. They slow me down, make me think. Might have to try different things 5-6 times on the harder ones, but then I figure it out and keep going. No need to consult walkthroughs or FAQs (unlike Braid, which had puzzles that were downright frustrating). The forgiving checkpoints are also wonderful and keep the frustration level down.
Eh, Braid wasn't that difficult either. Only thing for which FAQ is really needed were those hidden stars. All the puzzles made good sense in their special logic way that the game establishes for every level. Definitely more difficult than Limbo though, although Limbo gets extra points for puzzles making perfect natural, this-worldly logical sense. I'm with you though, puzzles in Limbo were enjoyable, challenging and varied enough to be fun all the way through.
 
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