Moosferatu

Limbo

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I've played it, and I'm probably about 2/3rds through it, though this is just a guess. It's been good so far.

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Well it's the whole price vs. quality thing, innit. I played the demo and I was very impressed by the creepy atmosphere, the minimal, delicate design, and the puzzle-platform-y deceptive simplicity of it all.

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So far the atmosphere, animations, physics, and overall control/feel are spot on! Loving it, but it's also a game of trial and error. There's a lot of hazards you really have no way of foreseeing, so occasionally this leads to a feeling of "cheap deaths", but it's almost entirely mitigated by the frequent checkpoints and smart, subtle sound and UI decisions that make deaths feel little like "resets" as possible.

How long did you hang in the spider silk before you realized it wasn't just another death animation? I was up there for a WHILE thinking that I was going to have to watch the spider eat me a little later as well, heh.

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Just finished it. This really is a polished, sweet-looking, sweet-sounding, sweet-controlling game. I guess it takes about two-three hours, which is a nice length for it. The mood and style of the game sort of changed towards the end, as it becomes more of a straightforward platform puzzle game with very explicit and "gamey" mechanics and parts, which is a slight shame, as I much preferred the calmer exploration stuff at the beginning. I guess they felt they had to take out what they could from their great physics engine. Also it's weird that the game is so gory. There are times when all his intestines are torn out and shit.

I really wish they'd stay with the forest and cave stuff, and have more environmental puzzles. The guns and gravity stuff (and the really terrible gravity signposts at the end) I could've done without

Bonus comment: Looking forward to the heated interpretation of the story! It'll be just like Braid!

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Just finished it. This really is a polished, sweet-looking, sweet-sounding, sweet-controlling game. I guess it takes about two-three hours, which is a nice length for it. The mood and style of the game sort of changed towards the end, as it becomes more of a straightforward platform puzzle game with very explicit and "gamey" mechanics and parts, which is a slight shame, as I much preferred the calmer exploration stuff at the beginning. I guess they felt they had to take out what they could from their great physics engine. Also it's weird that the game is so gory. There are times when all his intestines are torn out and shit.

I really wish they'd stay with the forest and cave stuff, and have more environmental puzzles. The guns and gravity stuff (and the really terrible gravity signposts at the end) I could've done without

Bonus comment: Looking forward to the heated interpretation of the story! It'll be just like Braid!

A friend and I played through it today and we both loved it. The art style is extraordinary (as has been clear since '06), and the puzzles and platforming are great. Though the jumping isn't as familiar as Braid's (read: Mario), I still felt like it was surprisingly responsive and easy to get the hang of. On the subject of interpretation, at one point I remarked that, while people read a lot that wasn't there into Braid, Limbo seems like a game that is begging for broad interpretation.

I actually really liked the progression from forest to the caves/mines, town, and industrial complex. I felt that it was all done well, and I think too much time in the forest would get repetitive and that it would lead to too much being explained. I thought the gravity puzzles were interesting (magical), without being too punishing and led to more satisfying eureka moments than anything I saw in the forest.

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Finished it in one seating. I couldn't stop playing. Limbo just offer a great experience. It's definitively a game I would play again.

The game have so much qualities but one thing I really like after playing is how they use their physics engine. The game rely very often on physics and momentum but you never have the feeling to play a physic-based game "look our shiny physics". Nothing seem forced and it feels really natural. The physics in the game is just a given because I was so immersed.

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Finished!

...Wow. Beautiful and terrifying game. Deserves it's place up there with other inspired puzzle platformers on XBLA, and underscores an interesting thought I never had before; The 360 certainly is the system you want if you're into artful puzzle/platformers, isn't it?!

This was the kind of game I feel like you could put in front of an alien, like a literal being from another world, and as long as they saw in our spectrum of light, heard in our spectrum of sound, and had manipulators, they could "get it" and enjoy it. I just love how unfettered the experience was by cultural and language boundaries. I also felt like it relied even less on some "gamer preconceptions" than other similar offerings. The platforming and physics felt intuitive and fresh in a way that suggested to me one's knowledge of Mario really isn't a factor in this experience.

I won't gush about the animation, but... Wow. Setting some standards for the way weight and gravity should affect the way a 2D character animates. I should fess up that I suspected the first video footage I saw of Limbo way back when was a proof of concept mock-up; the animation and physics looked too smooth to be in-engine. I love how wrong I was!

Kind of surprised the gore "got to" some of you. Is everyone aware that you can turn it off in the options? Personally, the gore added a layer of impact to the many deaths that I quite enjoyed, in a similar way to how I enjoy having the shit creeped out of me by horror games.

I too enjoyed the feel of some of the earlier areas a touch more than the later ones, but my complaints weren't quite as big as some of those above. I recognize the need for shifting themes and mechanics to lend a touch of freshness to the exploration.

Interestingly, as much as this was a thought provoking and fascinating experience for me, I don't feel the compulsion or the need to have a "heated interpretation" of the story. It's suggestive and evocative, but not in the same ways that Braid are. I'll be interested to see if enough Thumbs disagree with me on this point that some debate and speculation actually do bubble up in this thread. Jonathan Blow as much as said in interviews that Braid had a creator interpretation, but that he wasn't willing to share it. I agree with this decision mechanically, he'd be robbing a lot of intelligent people of their keen discussions and insights. Art should definitely be given the space to mean different things to different people. However, I fail to see why he even talked about it THAT much. Based on some reactions I've seen, it made some people feel like there was a hidden "right" interpretation that they were searching for... But on second thought, maybe that's brilliant and partially responsible for some of the (rather fun) debate!

Not trying to sidetrack another Braid discussion into this thread at all, but my point is- I haven't heard from the developers of Limbo on the subject of interpretation, and until I do, I'm willing to wager that they don't have one. That is to say, they probably have quite a few. Limbo appears to be a product of more than one visionary designer/programmer and one artist, after all. I just get the impression that Limbo is a "soft sell" in the story department in that there are moods and feelings it's trying to convey, but not so heavy on the meanings or lessons. I could easily be wrong, that's just the impression I get.

There's something aggressive about Braid's presentation that gets me fired up to discuss these things with others (which I also thoroughly enjoy, for the record) that I'm just not feeling here.

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Just finished it in one sitting, took me about 2 hours.

First of all I really appreciated the fact that there weren't any tutorials or textboxes that pop up. That ambient, almost nonexistent music and excellent sound design really made the atmosphere really creepy. Also, this was probably the first video game where I looked away, because something gross was happening. I am talking about the part where

that spider only has one leg left and you have to rip it off.

Definetly one of the better video games out this year :tup:.

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I pretty much agree with what was said in the podcast, the beginning is incredibly strong, you're constantly puzzled with who is trying to kill you and why is there dead bodies all over the place. Best moment IMO is when you see "the end" but you get pulled away from it, I was shouting in my room: NOOOOOOOOO.

Also, I'd love to see the entire map of the game in one figure... that would be amazing.

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you know what I really hate about this game...

The fact everybody is talking about it, and that I have been interested in this game since the beginning, but that it's only on the XBox360.

But 165 euros is simply too expensive for a game

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The game is beautiful, subtle and lends itself to so many Film ideas. Foremost the one of horror inside your own head. Many people walked away from the original showing of Psycho thinking that the shower stabbing scene had been in colour. Limbo does similar things in its death sequences, the simplicity allows your imagination to run wild.

Loved the 4 hours I plugged into this game, will probably play it again soon.

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Is this coming to PSN or PC or something? I'm sick of waiting, I can't afford to cash in on a 360 right now even though I eventually will, and I want to have the pleasure you are all having.

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This should be recognized for the longest development cycle of an indie game at the next spike tv game awards.

Might have to dust off my 360 for this one.

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I really, really hope that a PSN or PC version is on the way- I want as many people to be able to experience Limbo as possible. I've become some kind of Danish art game pusher, trying to get everyone I know to play it, ha ha!

Also, I'd love to see the entire map of the game in one figure... that would be amazing.

Oh good lord yes...

Though it'd likely have to be in sections, I don't think the entire game makes spacial contiguous sense,

considering the parts where the whole world rotates.

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This should be recognized for the longest development cycle of an indie game at the next spike tv game awards.

Longest development cycle of an indie game FUELED BY DEW

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Hell, a Wiiware version would be acceptable as well for me, but I get the feeling this is probably higher resolution than what the Wii normally handles.

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Is this coming to PSN or PC or something? I'm sick of waiting, I can't afford to cash in on a 360 right now even though I eventually will, and I want to have the pleasure you are all having.

I think all the summer of arcade releases have a year-long exclusivity deal.

If you'll eventually get a 360 it might as well be now.

Limbo is rad on a projector in a dark room.

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you know what I really hate about this game...

The fact everybody is talking about it, and that I have been interested in this game since the beginning, but that it's only on the XBox360.

But 165 euros is simply too expensive for a game

I feel your pain.

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Warning: Do not play the Kane & Lynch 2 demo immediately after playing Limbo.

Going from an experience that shows you how good gaming can be to...something else can only induce nausea.

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I found some of the gravity puzzles at the end quite annoying, I think because at the point the game has

basically switched from horror to just being a lot of maudlin platform puzzles. The moment where you have to pull off the spider's remaining leg and roll it into a pit was quality; I've not played anything that made me both flee from something in terror then feel bad hurting it later.

Overall: :tup::tup:

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I beat Limbo tonight. It's gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

But who cares about video game artistry? I only care about achievement whoring! And now it's easy thanks to awesome tips from Jessica Chobot and your pals at IGN!

attachment.php?attachmentid=549&stc=1&d=1280808431

Pad that gamerscore, dudes!

post-2340-13375603204348_thumb.jpg

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I liked the atmosphere, but the constant trial and error required put me off. Not only was there tons of trial and error for figuring out what the solution was, but then there was trial and error for getting the timing of the solution right. The very last puzzle pretty much epitomized this. It just annoyed me after a while.

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I haven't followed up the Limbo game project in years, shame that's it not out on PC. Would love to try it out.

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Loved it. I was reading a blog post over on Gamasutra here (contains a few spoilers) about how he disagreed with the design and it couldn't have been further from my experience.

I really enjoyed the deviousness and evil intent behind the level design and it had me laughing and cursing in enjoyment for the most part. Maybe I'm just into that kind of thing though. As I said in my comments over there (I'm Gareth) there was only one part that had me frustrated in a bad way. I think if there had been any more it would have crossed a line. It's a fine line but I think they pulled it off very well.

I won't call it story but here's my take on the implied narrative:

I'm under the impression the little guy's already dead (as the title suggests) and is making his way towards the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak, and that the light he is following is his sister or possibly a childhood crush. Who knows. He could have been a grown man when he died, but upon death his LIMBO is based on his childhood memories as they our possibly our strongest and what shape us in the future. If that's true then I conclude he was terrified of spiders and was more than likely bullied at school. Anyway now I'm think-typing so I'll stop.

Cool game.

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