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The Witness - Release Date Trailer, coming 26th January 2016

R

Ryo Hazuki

Member
PolishQ said:
They discuss The Witness briefly in the new Eurogamer podcast (from 1:30 to 8:00 or so): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBQroUdi2X8

Of particular note is that they say the review embargo lifts "Monday at 6pm", which I assume is UK time.
Click to expand...

Awesome, if that's the case then I guess embargo is up before release. Really excited for this game and wish it was Tuesday already. If the above is true the embargo time would be the following:

6pm GMT | 1pm EST | 10am PST
 
T

toythatkills

Member
PolishQ said:
Of particular note is that they say the review embargo lifts "Monday at 6pm", which I assume is UK time.
Click to expand...

Of course, people would be advised to avoid reading any reviews at all!

This is where scores are so useful. I mean, I'm buying it anyway but sites which don't score games are useless for games like this because they can't possibly review the game without spoiling at least one of those Eureka Moments. Even if they're trying not to spoil the game, they're the moments that are going to sell it in the absence of being able to award it a 10/10, so they'll have to comment on them if they're trying to sell the game.

I'd love to see its metacritic, basically, but I don't want to read a single damn word in a review about it until I've played it myself.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
toythatkills said:
Of course, people would be advised to avoid reading any reviews at all!

This is where scores are so useful. I mean, I'm buying it anyway but sites which don't score games are useless for games like this because they can't possibly review the game without spoiling at least one of those Eureka Moments. Even if they're trying not to spoil the game, they're the moments that are going to sell it in the absence of being able to award it a 10/10, so they'll have to comment on them if they're trying to sell the game.

I'd love to see its metacritic, basically, but I don't want to read a single damn word in a review about it until I've played it myself.
Click to expand...
That's actually one of the concerns brought up in the podcast. How do you review a game like this?
 
M

Mattenth

Member
More_Badass said:
That's actually one of the concerns brought up in the podcast. How do you review a game like this?
Click to expand...

I'm personally holding off until reviews, though I don't have a high bar for me to buy it. Myst was incredible, but I've felt burned ever since.

It's a hard genre to get right.

I'm sure the reviews will be short though. "Art is amazing. Puzzles were great/bland/monotonous/challenging (pick 2). Narrative was interesting. Score: N" They'll find a way to expand that to 5 or 6 paragraphs :p
 
A

Ansatz

Member
GhaleonEB said:
Some are apparently very complex. But there's also travel time between puzzles, exploration of the island and time spent figuring out how to solve a puzzle.

There's also a lot of them. Nearly 700.
Click to expand...

That number is slightly confusing. I think they count a series of panels as one puzzle right? So the whole tutorial section is considered as one puzzle, not the number of panels (~10)

And yeah this is one of those rare cases where having reviews scores is a must, I refuse to read any of the text before I play the game myself.
 
O

oreomunsta

Banned
More_Badass said:
That's actually one of the concerns brought up in the podcast. How do you review a game like this?
Click to expand...

I've always thought that review scores should try to capture the experience of the game, and not break it down into categories.

This game is promising a beautiful island chock full of interesting, creative puzzles. A reviewer should then examine how well the game delivers this
 
R

Ryo Hazuki

Member
Mattenth said:
I'm personally holding off until reviews, though I don't have a high bar for me to buy it. Myst was incredible, but I've felt burned ever since.

It's a hard genre to get right.

I'm sure the reviews will be short though. "Art is amazing. Puzzles were great/bland/monotonous/challenging (pick 2). Narrative was interesting. Score: N" They'll find a way to expand that to 5 or 6 paragraphs :p
Click to expand...

Did you ever play The Talos Principle? Curious to know how you felt about it.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Remembrance said:
At least with Curiosity everyone knew to expect absolutely nothing.

By the way, what would be a good way let everyone compare progress once the OT is posted? While there's probably a puzzle count, it's not very informative if everyone is working on different parts of the island.

I assume that if you wander around right at the beginning you should be able to find a lot of obviously hard puzzles (like the beach door). And, of course, you'll know it right away when you solve one of the puzzles that activates a laser. Would it be consider non-spoilerish to put a list of these on the first page (with generic names like "beach door" and "tower laser") so that people can post their progress based on it?
Click to expand...
Site was finally up again so here's my idea. Blow had posted a map of island with all the different areas/biomes labelled:
http://i.imgur.com/PjVsvX2.jpg
So probably the best way to go about sharing progress is to first mention the section you're in and then spoiler tag the specific puzzle details.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Wow, I just reading through the dev blog from the beginning, and this is one of the first pieces of concept art in 2010
tw_spawnpoint1.jpg
Click to expand...
I think that's a testament to Blow's vision for The Witness
 
M

More_Badass

Member
DeanBDean said:
Isn't it pretty common for concept art to resemble the final game?
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The thing I find impressive is less that it looks similar and more that he had the ideas for the game and how the gameplay would progress from like day one. Even as the game grew in scope, those core ideas remained the same. I think that's a sign of a solid game design foundation
 
R

Remembrance

Member
More_Badass said:
The thing I find impressive is less that it looks similar and more that he had the ideas for the game and how the gameplay would progress from like day one. Even as the game grew in scope, those core ideas remained the same. I think that's a sign of a solid game design foundation
Click to expand...

There are so many signs of continuity throughout this game's development. Like the first game object created still being in the final game: https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/689657643401490433

That map looks like a good reference, as long as we're sure that there are no big changes between that and the final game.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Remembrance said:
There are so many signs of continuity throughout this game's development. Like the first game object created still being in the final game: https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/689657643401490433

That map looks like a good reference, as long as we're sure that there are no big changes between that and the final game.
Click to expand...

One of these days I might make a slide show from the island snapshots he posted to the blog. Going through them is really fascinating.

I followed the development blog from its inception. I loved that Blow was so open about the entire process.
 
S

SmiteOfHand

Member
I had all of my wisdom teeth pulled about 30 mins ago and during the operation I dreamt about robotic panels along long thin hallways connected by nerves/wires samediff. I am still heavily under the influence of the anesthesia, but I am pretty sure I time traveled and I know what is in the heart of the island's breast, and it is beautiful. I love you all and will see you on the other side. Some bright, sunny day.
 
P

PolishQ

Member
Fun to read back through the dev blog. Even back in 2010, Blow was fighting back against the idea that the game is just line puzzles:

I’ve seen mixed reactions to these mazes and to the gameplay shown in the video. Some people seem to have jumped to the conclusion that the game is going to be about solving simple maze puzzles, and thus not be particularly exciting.

If that thought crosses your mind, all I can ask is to have faith. I wouldn’t make a game about solving a series of rote puzzles. The footage came from the beginning of the game because we don’t want to spoil anything major. But even this beginning-of-the-game stuff has more to it than meets the eye.
Click to expand...

More at the link: http://the-witness.net/news/2010/10/about-the-blue-mazes/
 
D

Deputy Dangle

Member
PolishQ said:
They discuss The Witness briefly in the new Eurogamer podcast (from 1:30 to 8:00 or so): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBQroUdi2X8

Of particular note is that they say the review embargo lifts "Monday at 6pm", which I assume is UK time.
Click to expand...

The suggestion to take plenty of screenshots and have a pen and paper ready are exactly the kind of words I wanted to hear. I felt like I really missed out on that big Alphabet moment when Fez first released on 360, and I'm so excited to see what happens here.
 
P

PolishQ

Member
Deputy Dangle said:
The suggestion to take plenty of screenshots and have a pen and paper ready are exactly the kind of words I wanted to hear. I felt like I really missed out on that big Alphabet moment when Fez first released on 360, and I'm so excited to see what happens here.
Click to expand...

I'm even thinking of doing a Let's Play (for the first time ever) of this game.
 
V

Vexidus

Member
PolishQ said:
I'm even thinking of doing a Let's Play (for the first time ever) of this game.
Click to expand...

This is the kind of game that is fascinating to watch Let's Plays of. After you finish playing yourself of course. It's really interesting and fun to see how people find solutions and have revelations while playing. Watching Day9 play Talos Principle was pure joy.
 
V

viveks86

Member
SmiteOfHand said:
I had all of my wisdom teeth pulled about 30 mins ago and during the operation I dreamt about robotic panels along long thin hallways connected by nerves/wires samediff. I am still heavily under the influence of the anesthesia, but I am pretty sure I time traveled and I know what is in the heart of the island's breast, and it is beautiful. I love you all and will see you on the other side. Some bright, sunny day.
Click to expand...

:D
 
M

More_Badass

Member
StaSeb said:
Cannot really talk about it yet, but lets say: This game gives you mindgasms!
Click to expand...
The best kind of puzzle game

I think that's what I love most about puzzle games. That moment when it all comes together, the fog clears, and everything becomes clear

Realizing the possibilities of the Portal Gun
The first time you clone-jump to land safely in The Swapper
That first SpaceChem puzzle when you think you understand all the lingo and you plan everything out and your solution works the first time

SpaceChem really nails that feeling IMO. Getting into the game almost is akin to learning a new form of mathematics or language. Waldos, flip-flops, alpha, beta, input, output? Oh, I can bond here but not here? If this trips that module, then that will do that? And then slowly you acclimate until it's almost second nature
 
R

Remembrance

Member
More_Badass said:
Releasing the possibilities of the Portal Gun
The first time you clone-jump to land safely in The Swapper
That first SpaceChem puzzle when you think you understand all the lingo and you plan everything out and your solution works the first time
Click to expand...

The massive reveal in Uru: Path of the Shell.

Come to think of it, that was the last time I was truly surprised by a game. And The Witness feels like a game that could pull off a twist like that.
 
F

fargofallout

Member
I've been so curious about this game for so long (it's been at the top of my most anticipated for the last two years) that it's sort of weird to think it's actually coming out. I'm tempted to do something I haven't done in a long time and take a day off of work to play a whole bunch of it.
 
R

Ryo Hazuki

Member
fargofallout said:
I've been so curious about this game for so long (it's been at the top of my most anticipated for the last two years) that it's sort of weird to think it's actually coming out. I'm tempted to do something I haven't done in a long time and take a day off of work to play a whole bunch of it.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good way to spend a day to me.
 
J

Jack The Nipper

Banned
Maybe I have no idea what you do in this game but atleast from the videos I have seen it looks like the most strange and boring thing to get excited about. I am guessing I have that wrong an it has something more than just moving lines around a board and walking tot he next one.

But, really... I have no idea what you do in this game. Can someone explain why it got the reaction and excitement it has (being honest and sincere) Maybe I just havent understood it yet. Does anyone know what the game is really about or is it just something else
 
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