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[XANDER CAGE]

Well, I've finished the game. It feels like a pretentious modern fairy tale; it is an ephemeral dream of a game that is in a state of civil war with itself. On one hand, it wants to be something new and different, and on the other it desires to be Bastion. If the game dedicated itself more to one element over the other, I would probably have enjoyed it more.

Supergiant, you were on to something with that combat system and the code presentation... but there was a glitch somewhere along the way.


P.S. This was a bad year to release a game featuring an old-fashioned, male character that calls his female partner "Red." Any attempts at emotion will fall flat in comparison to another game's legacy.

It seems a little odd to call something pretentious behind a bunch of purple prose.

I'm also not quite sure what you're getting at with that last comment - Red is her name, or at the very least her stage name. Slightly cliche naming conventions don't really make the game any less emotional.

 

[george_us]

This feels far more like a tech demo than an actual game. I'm all for short games but Transistor doesn't have a lot of meat on its bones. That said I dug it for the most part. Combat really grew on me towards the end.

 

[N30RYU]

20093 damage in the training room

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV7TtDaZV3w

Void()+Crash()+Get() x3
Mask()+Mask()
Cull()+Breach()+Load()

 

[Zeliard]

This is perhaps the fourth or fifth time I've seen the word "pretentious" thrown at this game in this thread. That isn't a meaningful criticism whatsoever. It's such a lazy charge to throw at any story, typically meaning that the person in question didn't fully understand it, so clearly the fault lies with another.

I've also seen a number of people seemingly puzzled at the concept of "in media res" storytelling. It can be a highly effective storytelling device and simply asks that the reader or player doesn't cower when faced with the notion that you're immediately thrown into a world with no preparation. Have some patience, pay attention, and wait for the parts to come together.

 

[anddo0]

I wish they have added a "do you wish to proceed" prompt, instead of forcing you into new areas

I missed 3 clickable items, because I choose the the wrong thing to inspect.
I'm referring to; late game spoilers

Spoiler

when you find the two dead bodies

I feel like I'm missing something by not being able to view those three objects including the one that said

Spoiler

Grand plan

 

[Vire]

This is perhaps the fourth or fifth time I've seen the word "pretentious" thrown at this game in this thread. That isn't a meaningful criticism whatsoever. It's such a lazy charge to throw at any story, typically meaning that the person in question didn't fully understand it, so clearly the fault lies with another.

I've also seen a number of people seemingly puzzled at the concept of "in media res" storytelling. It can be a highly effective storytelling device and simply asks that the reader or player doesn't cower when faced with the notion that you're immediately thrown into a world with no preparation. Have some patience, pay attention, and wait for the parts to come together.

If the story isn't meaningfully conveyed and is leaving a large number of people confused and indifferent to what is happening; the fault does not lie with the person who is experiencing the story - it lies with how the story is told. Personally, I don't think the story is particularly well told in general. Important swaths of details are left gleamingly unanswered never to be touched on again.

Spoiler

I've played through twice now and I've yet to encounter a satisfactory answer as to why Red has lost her voice.

Additionally, we are meant to care about the relationship between Red and the voice within the transistor, but so little depth is given to the characters and there is little to no development or growth that happens throughout the story. The ending is meant to feel deep and emotional - instead I was left with indifference and confusion as to why I should care.

At least the music was beautiful in the credits sequence.

 

[LurkerPrime]

civil wars by definition involve a whole with a conflict between its parts;

what differentiates a dream from an ephemeral dream?

what differentiates a game that is at war with itself from a game that is a dream of a game at war with itself?

what is the pretense, if the game suffers from pretension?

your flowery diction gets in the way of your thesis.

Transistor was a short look into a confusing, il-defined world. Instead of presenting a functioning world, Transistor instead opted to show second-hand hints or half-written information that merely suggest functionality. Clarity was sacrified early on to maintain an artificial mystique; presumably in the hopes of appearing more interesting, deep, and meaningful than it truly is. Transistor is flowery diction that has been bent and twisted into the presumed shape of a story.

The civil war bit is mainly the presence of the Bastion Narrator and his effect on the story. He talks, and talks... and talks some more for no reason other than to remind you that, yes, this is from the creators of Bastion. Transistor is so different from Bastion, and yet it remains so similar... by design. It is a civil war.


Ahem... I suppose games like Transistor have a heady effect on me, making me wildly pretentious in my own words. I can only hope that it wears off after a while.

That's right, indie games with style are intoxicating.

What game are you referring to?

It seems a little odd to call something pretentious behind a bunch of purple prose.

I'm also not quite sure what you're getting at with that last comment - Red is her name, or at the very least her stage name. Slightly cliche naming conventions don't really make the game any less emotional.

Well, in regards to the Red comment I was referring to the Blackwell series of games. They feature a woman nicknamed "Red" by the male lead. There are five games in total, and together they form an epic, emotional journey for the player. This year is when the final game in the series, Blackwell Epiphany, was released.

The comparison arises because, in the latter half of Transistor, I couldn't help but think of the Blackwell games every time the Bastion Narrator said "Red." Transistor's feeble attempts to evoke something from me fall flat when a comparison to the Blackwell games is but a thought away.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Any advice on how to beat speed test 5?

That's the one with

Spoiler

the three 'the man' who shoot hairs that take like 60% of your life and all you have is ping, cull and jaunt

 

[N30RYU]

Any advice on how to beat speed test 5?

That's the one with

Spoiler

the three 'the man' who shoot hairs that take like 60% of your life and all you have is ping, cull and jaunt

Spoiler

Try using the "hair shots" against them.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Any advice on how to beat speed test 5?

That's the one with

Spoiler

the three 'the man' who shoot hairs that take like 60% of your life and all you have is ping, cull and jaunt

Spoiler

Cull and Jaunt are all I used, with the occasional Ping to detonate the hairbombs. Keep in mind that Cull can backstab, which increases the damage significantly.

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

If the story isn't meaningfully conveyed and is leaving a large number of people confused and indifferent to what is happening; the fault does not lie with the person who is experiencing the story - it lies with how the story is told. Personally, I don't think the story is particularly well told in general. Important swaths of details are left gleamingly unanswered never to be touched on again.

Spoiler

I've played through twice now and I've yet to encounter a satisfactory answer as to why Red has lost her voice.

Additionally, we are meant to care about the relationship between Red and the voice within the transistor, but so little depth is given to the characters and there is little to no development or growth that happens throughout the story. The ending is meant to feel deep and emotional - instead I was left with indifference and confusion as to why I should care.

At least the music was beautiful in the credits sequence.

The problem is that using pretentious as a dig against the story doesn't particularly tell anything.

I agree the story has its faults, but it has it's moments so is kind of annoying when people come to say pretentious or artsy as some sort of demerital stuff.

 

[Vire]

The problem is that using pretentious as a dig against the story doesn't particularly tell anything.

I agree the story has its faults, but it has it's moments so is kind of annoying when people come to say pretentious or artsy as some sort of demerital stuff.

It does tell something though, I think the user above me perfectly explained why it felt pretentious:

Clarity was sacrified early on to maintain an artificial mystique; presumably in the hopes of appearing more interesting, deep, and meaningful than it truly is.

There is no substance behind to the weighty ideas the game throws around liberally.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Transistor was a short look into a confusing, il-defined world. Instead of presenting a functioning world, Transistor instead opted to show second-hand hints or half-written information that merely suggest functionality. Clarity was sacrified early on to maintain an artificial mystique; presumably in the hopes of appearing more interesting, deep, and meaningful than it truly is. Transistor is flowery diction that has been bent and twisted into the presumed shape of a story.

The civil war bit is mainly the presence of the Bastion Narrator and his effect on the story. He talks, and talks... and talks some more for no reason other than to remind you that, yes, this is from the creators of Bastion. Transistor is so different from Bastion, and yet it remains so similar... by design. It is a civil war.

Okay, so in other words, when you cut through all the words you're using, your thesis is that Transistor has superfluous design elements, and that it maintains a feeling of mystery throughout but does so largely by failing to fill in narrative or world-design details rather than present an interesting puzzle to unravel.

It's not clear to me what the pretense is.

There is no substance behind to the weighty ideas the game throws around liberally.

Sketching out a theme and never fully elaborating on it isn't a pretense, although certainly it's an avenue through which to criticize the game or suggest it's not as fully articulated as it could be. You seem to possibly be getting at the fact that the game embraces complex themes for no reason, but there's a difference between doing something for no reason and inadequately or deliberately shallow development of an idea.

For example, Plato's allegory of the cave is considered to be a significant idea philosophically, because it introduces readers to the distinction between perception and reality; but its actual development is fairly insubstantial on purpose, because the allegory provides the basis for the discussion, rather than itself being the discussion.

(Feel free to use spoiler bars here, I haven't and don't plan on playing the game for months but am happy to talk about it in spite of that) Which weighty ideas are introduced for no reason?

 

[Zeliard]

If the story isn't meaningfully conveyed and is leaving a large number of people confused and indifferent to what is happening; the fault does not lie with the person who is experiencing the story - it lies with how the story is told. Personally, I don't think the story is particularly well told in general.

Clearly, the story and the ending worked for many people, so the fault doesn't lie with "how the story is told." It lies with subjective experience.

When you call a story pretentious, you are presuming the writers had haughty aspirations that they failed to achieve due to possessing inferior abilities. It is a distinct and unambiguous pejorative, and implies that you have some clue into the mindset of the writers who formulated this story, and also that their efforts were some misguided attempt at self-aggrandizement.

That the story didn't work for you is perfectly fine, but I find the charge of pretentiousness in any media to be entirely meaningless and frankly off-putting.

 

[super-famicom]

Any advice on how to beat speed test 5?

That's the one with

Spoiler

the three 'the man' who shoot hairs that take like 60% of your life and all you have is ping, cull and jaunt

I made a post a few pages back about how I did it: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=112891243&postcount=1770

 

[Grief.exe]

I have noticed that if a story is not told directly and simply, people become confused and end up disliking the narrative entirely.

 

[Vire]

Clearly, the story and the ending worked for many people, so the fault doesn't lie with "how the story is told." It lies with subjective experience.

When you call a story pretentious, you are presuming the writers had haughty aspirations that they failed to achieve due to possessing inferior abilities. It is a distinct and unambiguous pejorative, and implies that you have some clue into the mindset of the writers who formulated this story, and also that their efforts were some misguided attempt at self-aggrandizement.

That the story didn't work for you is perfectly fine, but I find the charge of pretentiousness in any media to be entirely meaningless and frankly off-putting.

It's pretty clear that the the writers attempted to cover topics that go beyond the common video game tropes of simply saving the world or a typical revenge story.

Spoiler

Red obviously felt that a world without the man within the Transistor was a world not worth living. However, this supposedly poignant emotional moment didn't feel earned at all and thus didn't resonate with a lot of people here. Since there was so little development in the relationship between the two characters, I was struggling to find a reason to care.

Everything is so surface level, that it's hard to connect with the deeper concepts the game aspires to talk about.

Spoiler

Themes of rebirth, suicide, afterlife and of course love are brushed upon, but nothing truly important is said.

. Basically, the mouth is moving but nothing is coming out.

EDIT: With all of this being said, I don't want to mislead people into thinking I disliked this game. The art, music and gameplay are all exceptional and absolutely worth discovering for yourself.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Okay, so in other words, when you cut through all the words you're using, your thesis is that Transistor has superfluous design elements, and that it maintains a feeling of mystery throughout but does so largely by failing to fill in narrative or world-design details rather than present an interesting puzzle to unravel.

It's not clear to me what the pretense is.

Hm. I'll try to restrain my wordiness...

There is an assumption by Supergiant that the story is both compelling and significant, when this is not the case.

 

[RedHotChimiChanga]

Any advice on how to beat speed test 5?

That's the one with

Spoiler

the three 'the man' who shoot hairs that take like 60% of your life and all you have is ping, cull and jaunt

I found that one easier than the previous Speed Test.

Spoiler

I just culled the shit out of all of them.

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

I have noticed that if a story is not told directly and simply, people become confused and end up disliking the narrative entirely.

One of the worst current pseudo perjorative video game terms is: Is a JRPG

That was one fault of the Tom Chick review that got me annoyed.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Yeah I figured out the trick for speed test 6. Wasn't that difficult.

Spoiler

it really was as simple was jaunting to their back and culling then jaunting away. then jaunt around so you don't get hit by hairs. Then once you have turn again, repeat. Don't go too far from each so the rest don't react.

Just beat the game as well. I'll be writing full thoughts later but what a bittersweet ending

Spoiler

some manly tears were shed at the end. What a sad love story. I guess my assumption that these two were more than just lovers was true. They were straight up in a relationship. Jesus. So to confirm did she stab herself with the transistor so she could be with him inside of it?

 

[Vire]

Yeah I figured out the trick for speed test 6. Wasn't that difficult.

Spoiler

it really was as simple was jaunting to their back and culling then jaunting away. then jaunt around so you don't get hit by hairs. Then once you have turn again, repeat. Don't go too far from each so the rest don't react.

Just beat the game as well. I'll be writing full thoughts later but what a bittersweet ending

Spoiler

some manly tears were shed at the end. What a sad love story. I guess my assumption that these two were more than just lovers was true. They were straight up in a relationship. Jesus. So to confirm did she stab herself with the transistor so she could be with him inside of it?

Yes, you are correct in your assessment.

 

[Grief.exe]

Yeah I figured out the trick for speed test 6. Wasn't that difficult.

Spoiler

it really was as simple was jaunting to their back and culling then jaunting away. then jaunt around so you don't get hit by hairs. Then once you have turn again, repeat. Don't go too far from each so the rest don't react.

I think you mean Speed Test 5. 6 is a fucking nightmare.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

errrr yes 5. I'm surprised maybe I didn't find all the backdoors but I was only able to finish one of the doors fully in NG. Hopefully progress on those is kept in NG+ so I can go back and finish it.


edit: All I'll say about the complaints over the presentation of the story is that they're similar to complaints of Dark Souls lore storytelling. It wasn't given to you in a traditional sense, but you had to get bits and pieces of what was going on. Could it have been portrayed more obviously? Yes. But a lot of the charm of the game was its sense of mysteriousness in this empty city.

 

[sickvisionz]

I wonder if there is any chance of this coming to PS3? I'd like to play it but not enough to drop $400 on a console just for it.

 

[Vire]

I wonder if there is any chance of this coming to PS3? I'd like to play it but not enough to drop $400 on a console just for it.

Highly doubt it, considering the PS4 and even beefy PC's are struggling at times to run at a consistent 60 FPS.

Not sure if it's an optimization issue or if the particle effects really are that demanding.

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

Transistor was a short look into a confusing, il-defined world. Instead of presenting a functioning world, Transistor instead opted to show second-hand hints or half-written information that merely suggest functionality. Clarity was sacrified early on to maintain an artificial mystique; presumably in the hopes of appearing more interesting, deep, and meaningful than it truly is. Transistor is flowery diction that has been bent and twisted into the presumed shape of a story.

The civil war bit is mainly the presence of the Bastion Narrator and his effect on the story. He talks, and talks... and talks some more for no reason other than to remind you that, yes, this is from the creators of Bastion. Transistor is so different from Bastion, and yet it remains so similar... by design. It is a civil war.
.

I agree that is vague to a point but I also think it works in benefice to game when you try to use the different functions and limiters to try to unlock more information about the world.

But I disagree with "Is Bastion Narrator". Ruckus was truly narrating the story in Bastion meanwhile 'Transistor' is pretty clear that is a dude trying to maintan himsfelf in a situation of crisis.

Hm. I'll try to restrain my wordiness...

There is an assumption by Supergiant that the story is both compelling and significant, when this is not the case.

thatsyouropinion.jpg

 

[Admiral Woofington]

I wouldn't think particle effects are that much more demanding if at all than say Resogun or Infamous Second Son. I think it's more optimization, considering what some people are saying about their ps4s turning into jet engines. Mine hasn't personally, but maybe I can't hear it due to the AC.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Just beat the game as well. I'll be writing full thoughts later but what a bittersweet ending

Spoiler

some manly tears were shed at the end. What a sad love story. I guess my assumption that these two were more than just lovers was true. They were straight up in a relationship. Jesus. So to confirm did she stab herself with the transistor so she could be with him inside of it?

I really wish she could have

Spoiler

remotely used the Transistor during all of those HairMan gauntlets before the final boss. It might have sped up the battles slightly...

They were the least interesting battles in the game for me, aside from the final boss gauntlet itself

.

 

[RedHotChimiChanga]

I wonder if there is any chance of this coming to PS3? I'd like to play it but not enough to drop $400 on a console just for it.

There's really no reason for indies to go back to PS3 if they didn't plan for it. It's going to be difficult to develop for, and all games will be selling better on PS4 since the game library is in its first year.

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

I really wish she could have

Spoiler

remotely used the Transistor during all of those HairMan gauntlets before the final boss. It might have sped up the battles slightly...

.

Well, she could control Transistor remotely in an extent since early on, when she launched catch him with the R1 action.

 

[Stumpokapow]

There is an assumption by Supergiant that the story is both compelling and significant, when this is not the case.

That they like their story better than you do doesn't make it pretentious. It's not pretention that Adam Sandler thinks Jack and Jill is a better movie than critics did. It's pretention if he then follows it up by saying that the film is the greatest exploration of human identity and brother-sister bonding ever committed to a film real. How do you differentiate the two? Where are the clues inside the story that they believe it to be a significant tale or that they feel their exploration of the themes is a canonical answer to the questions posed, rather than a work designed to encourage the player to pose questions?

 

[Vire]

By the way, the flavor text in the game is pretty hilarious. (Taken from Twitter)

 

[Xamtheking]

Can't wait for the OSX port
"drooling"
Also, this is my first post, so yeah

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Uhm.... I started NG+ to get the intro over with and I'm curious what the hell just happened at the beginning haha

Spoiler

when you first see the sword the voice that tells you "they're not going to let us get away with this red" sounds like the voice of one of the camerata? Then it goes back to Logan's voice in the game

Can somebody confirm if this continues to happen in NG+ or if it was just a different thing at the beginning?

 

[Vire]

Uhm.... I started NG+ to get the intro over with and I'm curious what the hell just happened at the beginning haha

Spoiler

when you first see the sword the voice that tells you "they're not going to let us get away with this red" sounds like the voice of one of the camerata? Then it goes back to Logan's voice in the game

Can somebody confirm if this continues to happen in NG+ or if it was just a different thing at the beginning?

As far as I could tell, that one line was the only real (minor) story difference between NG+ and the original play through.

Still, neat little easter egg.

 

[Grief.exe]

Did it!

Pretty easy to be honest, but enjoyed getting everything.

As spoiler free as possible here, but can you miss the Self() achievement? Or does it unlock through normal gameplay?

It doesn't have a description and I don't want to miss anything obvious.

 

[Ken]

Huh, playing the game in Steam offline mode fixed the freezing issues for me, I think.

 

[Raven77]

So, I read the initial reviews and they were glowingly positive.

Now, I've been reading peoples impressions and "reviews" on here and it makes the game sound terrible.

Should I pick this up or not? I'm second guessing myself now.

 

[Vire]

As spoiler free as possible here, but can you miss the Self() achievement? Or does it unlock through normal gameplay?

It doesn't have a description and I don't want to miss anything obvious.

I think it would be almost impossible to miss on the repeat play through. It's not story related.

On the second play through, as you level up, you are given access to another copy of the same function. So for example: Just equip Crash as active and then Crash as upgrade and you'll get the trophy.

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

So, I read the initial reviews and they were glowingly positive.

Now, I've been reading peoples impressions and "reviews" on here and it makes the game sound terrible.

Should I pick this up or not? I'm second guessing myself now.

Wah?

 

[Admiral Woofington]

So, I read the initial reviews and they were glowingly positive.

Now, I've been reading peoples impressions and "reviews" on here and it makes the game sound terrible.

Should I pick this up or not? I'm second guessing myself now.

... watch gameplay videos. If you see it and think to yourself "hey that looks fun" then play it. If not, then don't.

Honestly it's better to make up your own mind with games like these. There are some negative opinions because this is the internet and more importantly GAF. GAF tends to have so many nay-sayers and negative nancys in general. It's not necessarily a bad thing but there are so many good/decent games that some would tell you it's crap when it simply means their enjoyment standards are higher.

The game has like an 84 on metacritic, not too far off from Bastion. It's not Bastion, but very similar. Audiences have been largely pleased with it. User scores in MC are also the same as critic score.

 

[Raven77]

Wah?

Read the first 20 posts on this page. Various people trashing the storyline, etc. etc.


Thanks Admiral, good point. I'll probably pick it up still, looks gorgeous and the music is fantastic.

 

[Vire]

So, I read the initial reviews and they were glowingly positive.

Now, I've been reading peoples impressions and "reviews" on here and it makes the game sound terrible.

Should I pick this up or not? I'm second guessing myself now.

It's pretty simple...

Did you like Bastion? If yes, go buy this game now.

It's a game that's very much in a similar vein, although in my opinion it improves on almost every aspect. The combat is more nuanced and has greater depth with the endless amount of combinations you can do, the art in general seems more polished and even more beautiful than Bastion and the music is just as good throughout, if not better.

The story is take it or leave it (some people on here really like it, while others found it ineffective), but don't let that sway you from purchasing the game.

 

[RedHotChimiChanga]

Read the first 20 posts on this page. Various people trashing the storyline, etc. etc.


Thanks Admiral, good point. I'll probably pick it up still, looks gorgeous and the music is fantastic.

First 20 pages is the entire thread!

~100 post per page master race~

The story is mysterious and fantastic.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Hm. I'll try to restrain my wordiness...

There is an assumption by Supergiant that the story is both compelling and significant, when this is not the case.

All writers think their work is compelling and significant, that's why they write in the first place. That's not pretension.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

So, I read the initial reviews and they were glowingly positive.

Now, I've been reading peoples impressions and "reviews" on here and it makes the game sound terrible.

Should I pick this up or not? I'm second guessing myself now.

I'm actually surprised that the reviews were overall so positive, not because it's a bad game (it's not), but because I thought it would be a more divisive game.

Anyway, here's a possible pro/con list for you:

Pros
Visuals
Audio
Combat System
Skill Combination System
Story has some interesting parts
Optional challenges are fun
High replayability

Cons
Story felt needlessly confusing
About 5 hours long (not necessarily a con depending on your perspective)
Very linear and not very interactive outside of combat
I personally didn't care about any of the characters all that much

Overall, I liked the game a lot more than Bastion mostly for the combat & skill system.

 

[Macmanus]

what differentiates a dream from an ephemeral dream?

That struck me as well. I've seen those two words paired together several times, and each time I'm confused by how redundant they feel as a tandem.

I have noticed that if a story is not told directly and simply, people become confused and end up disliking the narrative entirely.

Kentucky Route Zero has the potential to cause riots.

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

Read the first 20 posts on this page. Various people trashing the storyline, etc. etc.

That is a pretty faulty logic you have here.

 

[Ken]

It's pretty simple...

Did you like Bastion? If yes, go buy this game now.

It's a game that's very much in a similar vein, although in my opinion it improves on almost every aspect. The combat is more nuanced and has greater depth with the endless amount of combinations you can do, the art in general seems more polished and even more beautiful than Bastion and the music is just as good throughout, if not better.

The story is take it or leave it (some people on here really like it, while others found it ineffective), but don't let that sway you from purchasing the game.

I actually disliked (well, more like felt apathetic) to Bastion but really like this.