Now that we've gotten that out of the way, Braid reminded me of a game that came out fairly recently but I couldn't quite remember which game it was. All I could remember was that it was a gorgeous game with a great story, but it had a problem. That problem was gameplay and then I remembered the game was Bioshock.
Now before you run to conclusions, I think Braid and Bioshock are some of the most influential games of all time but that doesn't mean we all have to like them. Bioshock quickly became easy, repetitive and stale, (in my opinion) but does that mean I hate the game? No! I rather like Bioshock for what it did well, story and atmosphere, but that doesn't mean we can't speak out about the games flaws. Such as that you could beat the entire game with the wrench and it wasn't that much harder to do. Hell, I killed a big daddy with a wrench just because I could.
This brings us back to Braid. The graphics in the game are flat out amazing and I love the way the game tells the story, time consuming yes, but I think it's effective. The main reason I don't like Braid however, is that it's easy. I don't think that trial and error is challenge, I think it's annoyance. In the "Jumpman" level you get a key and there is a door right next to this key, you would naturally put the key in the door, that's what keys are for after all. Wrong. If you put the key in that door it breaks and the only way to fix that is to leave the room. That my friends is not challenge and it's not fun either. Fun is what games are supposed to be right? But the great part is that some people think that's fun and we should be able to agree to disagree.
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are you sure you meant to use the term "influential"? maybe you meant inventive or something similar? if you meant influential, how so?
I would disagree on BioShock. I loved the gameplay. I think many people didn't experiment with the combat. I think they found a way to do something that was effective and therefore thought it was the right way, which it isn't necessarily.
I haven't finished braid so I can't comment on that. its an interesting comparison though.
Have you considered WHY that key breaks if you try to use it on that PARTICULAR door?
It may initially seem unfair and irritating (and is, in fact, one of only two or three puzzles in the entire game which can only be reset by leaving the room and entering again), but if you stop to think of the logic behind the time rules of that world, the key breaking actually makes perfect sense.
Furthermore, figuring out why the key breaks when you try to open that specific door from that specific direction prepares you for a puzzle later on, which takes advantage of a similar idea.
That's a great point, but it still feels like the game is wronging me in some fashion. If I can't look at the level THE FIRST TIME and figure it out then I think something is wrong.
But actually, you could have figured it out the first time. You could have thought about what would happen if you tried to unlock that door. You didn't, and you were punished for that by the relatively small misfortune of having to leave and re-enter.
I do not agree with you on the issue of Braid's gameplay however. I found that each of Braid's puzzles offered innovative solutions that felt new and inventive no matter how many iterations you had to solve.
Your criticisms for both games do have some merit and I am sure that there are many people who agree with you. Although I do not agree wholeheartedly with all of your criticisms, I respect your opinion.
For example, Big daddys can be beaten with a wrench, but you don't have to do it that way. If you use your head and add your own ingenuity to it you can kill the big daddy in any way possible. You still get the same result being a dead big daddy, but it is more satisfying to invest your own creativity to the situation and to know you did it your way.
Braid works the same way, I guess that broken door is the games way of reminding you that you need to look at these puzzles from more than just one direction.
It would however be a shame to play through a game like bioshock using only a wrench. That would be like playing through braid just to get to the next door and not doing the puzzles. Encountering Big Daddys was the best part of bio shock for me just because of the fun I would have trying to figure out how to kill them in a new way.. Ahhh, killing Big Daddys. Those were the days. I might have to play through that game a 3rd time.