20120717:
While initially challenged by World 5, by the end of the day I managed to collect all 12 pieces of World 5.
Like Toki Tori (PC) (2010), each new World introduces a different gameplay mechanic and keeps the game feeling fresh. Also like Toki Tori, there was a decent mix of easy and hard levels. Breaking the difficulty down into easy, medium, and hard, Braid has a better balance of difficulty compared to Toki Tori: less easy levels and more medium levels.
Overall, Braid is shaping up to be an excellent game.
Gameplay Log:
Session 1:
: This game is pretty fun. I played Worlds 2, 3, and 4 in sequence and found 8, 9, and 9 puzzle pieces, respectively. That was about 95 minutes of play, which includes reading the story and doing the jigsaw puzzle (though I guess the jigsaw puzzle portion doesn't take too much time). I ended at 6:05 PM.
Session 2:
: After dinner, I played a bit more with my friend watching. The music is a great part of the experience and I wasn't feeling much of a challenge until World 5. Though maybe I was simply feeling the pressure of my friend watching me play. I was slow to understanding the use of the shadow world. In fact, as of writing this paragraph, I still don't have a good grasp of it.
: I stopped in the middle of 5.3 and my friend and I played a couple levels of Tobe's Vertical Adventure (2011).
Session 3:
: After my friend left, I had resumed playing Braid.
: For 5.2, I learned something new: Purple objects are bound to their shadows. So I can have my shadow pick up the (real/shadow) key, then I can wait to receive it.
: I feel as if I can think of the solutions much more easily without my friend watching. In 5.3, I realized he enemy would bounce up on my shadow which would give real me extra height when hitting the enemy. Part of this realization came from the previous realization.
: In 5.4, I learned the shadow has a time limit.
[20120717][20190706 Edit]
20120718 Comment:
I was thinking about what my friend was saying about the game and I have come to agree with his viewpoint. More or less, the game is great because of the execution. The moments between the puzzle elements enrich the experience. Rather than be presented as a series of puzzles with little or no transition, like Cogs (PC) (2009) or Toki Tori, Braid is a world with puzzles in it. Typically the puzzles required to proceed in the level are easier, whereas the ones to collect a puzzle piece (optional) are harder.
[20120718][20190706 Edit]
20120720:
Gameplay Log:
: I started playing the game at 9:13 AM.
: At some time, I woke up in my chair with drool coming out of my mouth, so I decided to go to bed and close my eyes.
: I woke up at 1:00 PM. I wonder how long I was asleep for. I started playing Braid. Apparently I was in the middle of level 4. That's right, the solution was the first thing I was trying to solve when I woke up. I miss that feeling with math.
: I only attained 11 out of 12 pieces in World 6. The tough one for me was in the last level. I couldn't figure out the trick. On the surface it seemed as if the cause and effect was circular. Reminds me of a chess puzzle.
: Ah, each completed World is a rung on the ladder to the attic.
Tip: Apparently you can also go forward to where you started rewinding from. I didn't know this until today. Not that it made much of a difference. Might have saved some time with fixing errors.
Tip: Turning up the volume to hear the speed of the music helps in some levels more than others.
: Got two more from World 2: Rewind/Forward time with X. Need 2 more.
: Got three more from World 3: Unaffected time (Green). Complete.
: Got three more from World 4: Right=Forward time, Left=Rewind time. Complete.
:: I actually knew how to do the piece trapped between two doors in level 6, but at the time, having failed on the right door, I was too lazy to fix my mistake.
: Got zero more from World 5: Shadow time. Complete.
: Got zero more from World 6: Slow time. Need 1 more.
: Got two more from World 2: Rewind/Forward time with X. Complete.
: Stop playing at 4:18 PM.
: At 9:55 PM, I went back to try the last level I need to unlock the attic. However, I found myself to tired to tackle the level.
[20120720][20190706 Edit]
20120723:
Gameplay Log:
: Got one more from World 6: Slow time. Complete.
: Finally I got the solution! I focused on how I was suppose to use the green pad and the solution came to me. Yay!
: I love the ending! It's surprising. It's creepy, confusing, and tragic.
: For the epilogue, I was only able to get extra text for the 1st, 2nd, and 4th rooms. Not the 3rd and it seems like there's text missing from the 5th.
: Oh my gosh. I was trying to do the speed run for the "Speed Run" Achievement: "Complete a full speed run, beating the challenge time [of 45 minutes]." I played Worlds 2 through 6 and collected all the puzzle pieces in 100 minutes. After going back to World 2 to use the puzzle pieces (the last two I needed), I tried to exit from the menu and it ended my attempt. Fortunately, the attempt was nowhere near the 45 minute mark. In fact, I still would have had World 1 to complete. Nonetheless, it would have been nice to have the failed attempt recorded.
Tip: The timer pauses when you go into the puzzle mode.
Tip: You must finish an entire World to go back to the World selection page.
[20120723][20190706 Edit]
20120826:
Today I was trying to walk around and find secrets. I came to one area where I realized I needed to wait an incredibly long time, because the cloud moves very slowly. However, I think the computer shut down or reset by the time I came back.
[20130118][20190706 Edit]
Braid (PC) (2009)*
*Braid (XBLA) (2008)
Relevant Links:
Braid Website
Braid (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Braid (Steam Store Page)
While initially challenged by World 5, by the end of the day I managed to collect all 12 pieces of World 5.
Like Toki Tori (PC) (2010), each new World introduces a different gameplay mechanic and keeps the game feeling fresh. Also like Toki Tori, there was a decent mix of easy and hard levels. Breaking the difficulty down into easy, medium, and hard, Braid has a better balance of difficulty compared to Toki Tori: less easy levels and more medium levels.
Overall, Braid is shaping up to be an excellent game.
Gameplay Log:
Session 1:
: This game is pretty fun. I played Worlds 2, 3, and 4 in sequence and found 8, 9, and 9 puzzle pieces, respectively. That was about 95 minutes of play, which includes reading the story and doing the jigsaw puzzle (though I guess the jigsaw puzzle portion doesn't take too much time). I ended at 6:05 PM.
Session 2:
: After dinner, I played a bit more with my friend watching. The music is a great part of the experience and I wasn't feeling much of a challenge until World 5. Though maybe I was simply feeling the pressure of my friend watching me play. I was slow to understanding the use of the shadow world. In fact, as of writing this paragraph, I still don't have a good grasp of it.
: I stopped in the middle of 5.3 and my friend and I played a couple levels of Tobe's Vertical Adventure (2011).
 |
| Some platforms make you immune to time. |
Session 3:
: After my friend left, I had resumed playing Braid.
: For 5.2, I learned something new: Purple objects are bound to their shadows. So I can have my shadow pick up the (real/shadow) key, then I can wait to receive it.
: I feel as if I can think of the solutions much more easily without my friend watching. In 5.3, I realized he enemy would bounce up on my shadow which would give real me extra height when hitting the enemy. Part of this realization came from the previous realization.
: In 5.4, I learned the shadow has a time limit.
[20120717][20190706 Edit]
20120718 Comment:
I was thinking about what my friend was saying about the game and I have come to agree with his viewpoint. More or less, the game is great because of the execution. The moments between the puzzle elements enrich the experience. Rather than be presented as a series of puzzles with little or no transition, like Cogs (PC) (2009) or Toki Tori, Braid is a world with puzzles in it. Typically the puzzles required to proceed in the level are easier, whereas the ones to collect a puzzle piece (optional) are harder.
 |
| One of the recurring enemies in the world of Braid. Actually, there's just these guys and crazy bunnies. |
[20120718][20190706 Edit]
20120720:
Gameplay Log:
: I started playing the game at 9:13 AM.
: At some time, I woke up in my chair with drool coming out of my mouth, so I decided to go to bed and close my eyes.
: I woke up at 1:00 PM. I wonder how long I was asleep for. I started playing Braid. Apparently I was in the middle of level 4. That's right, the solution was the first thing I was trying to solve when I woke up. I miss that feeling with math.
: I only attained 11 out of 12 pieces in World 6. The tough one for me was in the last level. I couldn't figure out the trick. On the surface it seemed as if the cause and effect was circular. Reminds me of a chess puzzle.
: Ah, each completed World is a rung on the ladder to the attic.
Tip: Apparently you can also go forward to where you started rewinding from. I didn't know this until today. Not that it made much of a difference. Might have saved some time with fixing errors.
Tip: Turning up the volume to hear the speed of the music helps in some levels more than others.
 |
| Tip: The number of puzzles pieces left to attain in a puzzle are written above the door of the level. |
: Got two more from World 2: Rewind/Forward time with X. Need 2 more.
: Got three more from World 3: Unaffected time (Green). Complete.
: Got three more from World 4: Right=Forward time, Left=Rewind time. Complete.
:: I actually knew how to do the piece trapped between two doors in level 6, but at the time, having failed on the right door, I was too lazy to fix my mistake.
: Got zero more from World 5: Shadow time. Complete.
: Got zero more from World 6: Slow time. Need 1 more.
: Got two more from World 2: Rewind/Forward time with X. Complete.
: Stop playing at 4:18 PM.
: At 9:55 PM, I went back to try the last level I need to unlock the attic. However, I found myself to tired to tackle the level.
[20120720][20190706 Edit]
20120723:
Gameplay Log:
: Got one more from World 6: Slow time. Complete.
: Finally I got the solution! I focused on how I was suppose to use the green pad and the solution came to me. Yay!
 |
| The puzzle I can't solve. Screenshot of one of my attempted solutions. It's possible the puzzle simply depends on precise timing. However, there are few, if any, puzzles in Braid which require deadly precise timing. |
: I love the ending! It's surprising. It's creepy, confusing, and tragic.
: For the epilogue, I was only able to get extra text for the 1st, 2nd, and 4th rooms. Not the 3rd and it seems like there's text missing from the 5th.
: Oh my gosh. I was trying to do the speed run for the "Speed Run" Achievement: "Complete a full speed run, beating the challenge time [of 45 minutes]." I played Worlds 2 through 6 and collected all the puzzle pieces in 100 minutes. After going back to World 2 to use the puzzle pieces (the last two I needed), I tried to exit from the menu and it ended my attempt. Fortunately, the attempt was nowhere near the 45 minute mark. In fact, I still would have had World 1 to complete. Nonetheless, it would have been nice to have the failed attempt recorded.
Tip: The timer pauses when you go into the puzzle mode.
Tip: You must finish an entire World to go back to the World selection page.
[20120723][20190706 Edit]
20120826:
Today I was trying to walk around and find secrets. I came to one area where I realized I needed to wait an incredibly long time, because the cloud moves very slowly. However, I think the computer shut down or reset by the time I came back.
[20130118][20190706 Edit]
Braid (PC) (2009)*
*Braid (XBLA) (2008)
Relevant Links:
Braid Website
Braid (video game) (Wikipedia.org)
Braid (Steam Store Page)
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