Fez

[hazeredmist]

Man, I found Fez so dull once the initial wow factor had gone. I played it for a couple of hours and got virtually nothing out of it. That's on 360 though, I think it's probably far better suited to Vita.

[ratsoalbion]

There's a lot more to the game than first meets the eye by all accounts, as the lads discussed on the Fez issue of the podcast.

[hazeredmist]

Yeah I listened to it (I remember that being one of the more love-in C&R casts come to think of it) but that lot more held zero interest for me, my mates were banging on about it at the time too. I just found the whole thing dull and vacuous. But like I say I can see it working better on Vita, and my gaming habits have changed a lot since I initially invested in it.

[ratsoalbion]

Honestly I think I've played even less than you, despite buying it the minute it became available on XBLA. I'm still intrigued by it though.

[Scrustle]

The funny thing about Fez is that is practically turns in to a completely different game halfway through. At first it's not too different from most of the other "artsy" indie puzzle-platformers out there, but with a central idea a bit more interesting than most others. I really enjoyed that aspect of the game, especially when it came to atmosphere. Then once you get to a certain point it gets incredibly cryptic. That tends to be the revelation for most people; the point where you have to start really thinking hard about all the secret codes and things you need to work out, and working together with people to do it. I've got a bit in to that, but I never completely finished the game. I doubt I ever will to be honest. But I don't really mind. I've had fun figuring out the ones I already did by myself, and maybe I'll figure out some more in the future, but some of them seem like I'll never be able to do them without a walkthrough, and that feels like the wrong way to play this game. But I enjoy trying to work out what I can, and simply soaking in the atmosphere of the game as I do it.

[Baron Phil]

I'd hit a plateau and found myself just going round in circle's but with a little help I have now figured out the tetris symbols and I'm making progress again.

[Alex79]

Ok I don't think I get this game. I'm not playing it right, I'm sure. All I've done so far is the intro bit, then the very first stage where you collect 8 cube bits to open a door. After that it drops you in to a big world with an incredibly confusing world map that I can't make head nor tail of. I wandered around a bit, found some cube pieces but kept walking through doors and ended up on different islands, but then I worried about missing cube bits on the island I just left so tried to go back, but I was about four doors 'deep' by then and couldn't find my way back so I am just kind of wandering around aimlessly really, no direction at all, thinking I've missed loads of stuff. The world map doesn't help you find your way around at all. Whilst I love everything about this game, I don't feel like I'm enjoying it, I don't think it's for me. Which is disappointing, since I'm pretty sure it definitely IS for me.

>_<

[Scrustle]

Aimlessly wandering is a totally fine way to play the game. There isn't really any place you need to go, you just need to find the pieces. You can do it any order you want. The map is a bit hard to work out, admittedly. It helps that if you stand by doors you've already been through it comes up with a little preview of the room that's through that door. That preview also shows on the map. You can also manipulate the map in 3D, which also gives you a better idea about things. But don't worry about having gone the "wrong" way. There isn't really any such thing in that game.

[DomsBeard]

I've got nowhere near the end, it's a game I like to play to chill out.

[Roy42]

Alex, don't worry about collecting. Explore. At the start of each room, walk around until you reach a door, go through it, and if it isn't an immediate dead end (like an actual room) then repeat the process. Eventually you'll end up at a real dead end and be warped back to the room with the giant cube wireframe that you started in. Then you pick a new direction and do it all again.

[Alex79]

Hmm thanks guys. I'm going to start a fresh game now and approach it with a different mind. Actually looking forward to it now!

[Feirsteax]

Definitely. I love dipping in just to completely relax. Its so nice just to wander Around

[dezm0nd]

Yeah, despite the weak map system it has, the game really wants you to just keep finding closed doors and exploring what's inside them at your leisure. Once you've opened a door, it remains open and is a handy way of telling where you've been.

Once you've spent enough time doing that, then you're capable of navigating round the world (even if the teleport doors are naff)

[Baron Phil]

Shit just got real. I've now a pen and paper next to me while playing.

[RoboticMonk3y]

Shit just got real. I've now a pen and paper next to me while playing.

heh,
It makes things easier, try to stay off the internet looking for spoilers, it's very satisfying when you finally work something out.
I should find my sheet of paper with my mad scribblings all over it and take a picture!

[Alex79]

Looking forward to getting to that bit! Still having fun wandering around collecting cubes at the moment. It all feels so random like when you wander round a dream or something, you never know what's going to be behind the next door!