4 ms·

The Witness was a truly remarkable game. Highly recommend for anyone who hasn't played it to give it a try.

causi 5y ago
The atmosphere, art style etc are fantastic but he could not have chosen more boring gameplay. Playing The Witness feels like being imprisoned in a forest meadow with the contents of a doctor's office waiting room coffee table. Puzzles can be fun but it feels like Blow chose quantity over quality, at least for me. It didn't help my opinion that it goes for the modern writing story writing trope of "say a bunch of interesting things but use player agency as an excuse to not actually tie them together into a coherent narrative with events and consequences".
- hwers 5y ago
  I strongly disagree, I loved it
- dkersten 5y ago
  This is similar to my impression. I enjoyed exploring and looking at the wonderful art for a while, but after a few hours got extremely bored. I do enjoy puzzle games, but they became quite repetitive and uninteresting to me after a while. I guess it’s just not for me, although it sounded like the exact game I thought I would like.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  > Puzzles can be fun but it feels like Blow chose quantity over quality, at least for me. I definitely do not agree with that assessment. Outside of the challenge areas pretty much every single puzzle exists to teach you something about the mechanics, or the conceptual space of the puzzles, even if what it teaches you is not necessarily helpful to completing the game[0]. The challenge sections of course are meant to test your understanding. > It didn't help my opinion that it goes for the modern writing story writing trope of "say a bunch of interesting things but use player agency as an excuse to not actually tie them together into a coherent narrative with events and consequences". I can see how you get that feeling, and truth be told so did I early on in my playthrough, but I really don't think that's the case here at all. It's more like, the things that Jon is trying to communicate in The Witness simply do not lend themselves to easy explanation and are, in fact, kind of difficult to fit into a mental framework that demands concreteness in the first place. As far as tediousness, I think the key there is that it is probably not a good idea to try and play in long sessions. Certainly the longer I would play the more I just kinda wanted the game to be over, at least until I quit and came back to it. The Fool and His Money[1] often makes me feel like that after a single puzzle, so I don't think The Witness is that bad in this regard. [0] Some of the puzzles are jokes, or even a commentary, told in the language of the puzzle. [1] I think I've been playing it for 2 years now, and I'm still not even half way through.
- Aeolun 5y ago
  I think for me the fact that all the little rewards and stuff you did find didn’t tie together was what killed the game for me. I don’t really enjoy solving the puzzle simply for the sake of the puzzle.
  - causi 5y ago
    Exactly. Mystery is great in the same way sex is great. You enjoy the mystery and the questions because you're getting closer and closer to the answers. When the answer is "well what do you think happened?" it's the ultimate case of blue-balls. I don't need intellectual vasocongestion, thanks.
- cptroot 5y ago
  Having tried to create a witness puzzle pack myself, I can assure you they chose quality over quantity. Trying to explain a new mechanic without making it either cryptic or patronizing is nigh impossible, and they did it 8+ times.

The atmosphere, art style etc are fantastic but he could not have chosen more boring gameplay. Playing The Witness feels like being imprisoned in a forest meadow with the contents of a doctor's office waiting room coffee table. Puzzles can be fun but it feels like Blow chose quantity over quality, at least for me. It didn't help my opinion that it goes for the modern writing story writing trope of "say a bunch of interesting things but use player agency as an excuse to not actually tie them together into a coherent narrative with events and consequences".

hwers 5y ago
I strongly disagree, I loved it
dkersten 5y ago
This is similar to my impression. I enjoyed exploring and looking at the wonderful art for a while, but after a few hours got extremely bored. I do enjoy puzzle games, but they became quite repetitive and uninteresting to me after a while. I guess it’s just not for me, although it sounded like the exact game I thought I would like.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
> Puzzles can be fun but it feels like Blow chose quantity over quality, at least for me. I definitely do not agree with that assessment. Outside of the challenge areas pretty much every single puzzle exists to teach you something about the mechanics, or the conceptual space of the puzzles, even if what it teaches you is not necessarily helpful to completing the game[0]. The challenge sections of course are meant to test your understanding. > It didn't help my opinion that it goes for the modern writing story writing trope of "say a bunch of interesting things but use player agency as an excuse to not actually tie them together into a coherent narrative with events and consequences". I can see how you get that feeling, and truth be told so did I early on in my playthrough, but I really don't think that's the case here at all. It's more like, the things that Jon is trying to communicate in The Witness simply do not lend themselves to easy explanation and are, in fact, kind of difficult to fit into a mental framework that demands concreteness in the first place. As far as tediousness, I think the key there is that it is probably not a good idea to try and play in long sessions. Certainly the longer I would play the more I just kinda wanted the game to be over, at least until I quit and came back to it. The Fool and His Money[1] often makes me feel like that after a single puzzle, so I don't think The Witness is that bad in this regard. [0] Some of the puzzles are jokes, or even a commentary, told in the language of the puzzle. [1] I think I've been playing it for 2 years now, and I'm still not even half way through.
Aeolun 5y ago
I think for me the fact that all the little rewards and stuff you did find didn’t tie together was what killed the game for me. I don’t really enjoy solving the puzzle simply for the sake of the puzzle.
- causi 5y ago
  Exactly. Mystery is great in the same way sex is great. You enjoy the mystery and the questions because you're getting closer and closer to the answers. When the answer is "well what do you think happened?" it's the ultimate case of blue-balls. I don't need intellectual vasocongestion, thanks.
cptroot 5y ago
Having tried to create a witness puzzle pack myself, I can assure you they chose quality over quantity. Trying to explain a new mechanic without making it either cryptic or patronizing is nigh impossible, and they did it 8+ times.