GotG Round 1: Braid vs. Fez

Really curious how this will go. Come on, guys, Braid!

Fez has some interesting ideas, but Braid takes this.

I think whether or not you got wrapped up in the collective discovering of the mysteries in Fez when it came out will largely play into what you vote for here. I got wrapped up in it, and never experienced anything quite like that before. Braid was great, Fez was greater.

I actually don't know what to vote for. They are both essentially the same kind of experiences that rely on "ahah" moments when you finally figure something out. Both endings have their memorable moments. Braid is more straight forward with their puzzles while Fez relied more on group sharing information.

I picked Braid and I don't know why. I really can't chose between the two. Both amazing games.
2008 was the year indie games suddenly became a thing, so Braid is maybe more "important" but.... tough choice that one.

Fez's 2 downsides for me are

1) It was a pain to navigate around the world.

2) They didn't do enough with the camera rotating.

Braid had some of that too, with the SUPER-SECRET seven stars and the alternate ending thing.

Everything about FEZ fills me with glee, from the art style to the soundtrack to the sometimes mind-bending puzzles. One of my absolute favourite games this generation.

I prefer Braid by a long shot. The community whatever around Fez is also vastly overshadowed by it's creators ego and online drama trips. Honestly surprised Braid is winning right now considering the forums general Fez related activity. Still too early to tell though.

not to mention braid was the game that started off the indie craze

Unfortunately I haven't played enough of either to make a completely informed decision, but Fez has hell of style.

I'll just not vote for this one. Didn't "finish" either. They both do some really neat shit though, so I'd be fine with either climbing the brackets.

I voted for Fez because Braid just didn't ring for me.

Braid, because Fez made me vomit with it's pretentiousness.

Both can rot in hell.

Braid.

Indie pretentiousness battle, go!

Braid was huge.

Haven't played either but Braid was more important for the indie movement, no?

Braid for me, I never got into fez and never understood what all the hype was about.

Braid is quite likely my favourite game of all time.

FEZ for me. One of the most interesting games this generation for all the secret, hidden stuff. Also the best soundtrack to any game this generation. Disasterpeace is a genius.

I had to go with Fez but only because I never finished Braid. I think they're both great games.

This is probably the hardest vote so far. On one hand Braid has some incredibly smart game play and some insane narrative implications. On the other hand Fez is Feeeeezzzzzz. But seriously I liked Fez's art style about ten times more than Braid's and that moment when you realize what's going on in that game is indescribable. That game brought me back to a better time in video games. I'm more intrigued to see if nostalgia could triumph over innovation this early in the bracket. I might go with Fez's overall look, sound, and style over Braid's. Braid still has sharper game play but there can be only one.

Which ego will reign supreme?

Luckily, Braid wasn't pretentious at all! (I love you, Braid)

I don't care which wins because both are great games. I do hope that this face-off spawns some John Blow/Phil Fish slashfic, though.

Okay, officially done with this facet of 'game of the generation'. Pitting those 2 against eachother, knocking one out in the process, is just wrong. Wrongwrongwrongwrong

@hailinel:

The Renegade Ego!

There are some great things about both games, but I thought Braid did some really smart things that really put it above Fez.

Fez. How can you not vote Fez?

My vote for Braid is less a vote for Braid and more a vote against Fez because fuck Fez.

Braid is a great playing game that has a unique puzzle gameplay with basic platforming. Fez was decent but I never got into it as deep as other people.

Wait, what?

Blowfish!!!! Braid takes this one.

Fez had neat ideas but never did anything really grand with them. Braid wins because at least it provided good puzzles with it's core mechanics.

I picked FEZ because there is no game out there that's set up even remotely similar to FEZ. It's a totally functional game even if you are oblivious to what really makes it tick. But, once you start to suspect there may be more going on, and start looking for clues and taking notes... I will never forget my descent into FEZ's intricate rabbit hole of madness and metapuzzles.

Braid had great puzzles and a really clever ending, and it's contribution to the uprising of indie games should certainly be recognized, but in my opinion it can't stand up to FEZ's cleverness and creativity. Very few games this generation can.

FEZ is way better, give me a break.

Braid. It's beautiful, creative, and was one of the first really big indie titles. Hell of a game.

As with all these things, I gotta say nothing against Fez. Braid was just a landmark title on XBLA.

This is a tough one, but I wasn't there for the zeitgeist of figuring out all of puzzles in Fez. Figuring them out wasn't as exciting when I would hit a wall for a while and the answer would immediately be there without trying to work through it with the community. It was still fantastic of course. Braid on the other hand I figured out all the way through and much like both Portal games it made me feel like a genius every time I figured out a puzzle. Now that may not be true, but it certainly felt like it so I have to put a vote down for Braid. Not to mention how many games have used the template of Braid this generation.

Blow-fish?!

Both great games, but there's an important distinction that I think a lot of people overlook.

The brilliance of Braid is that its game play and puzzles were the same thing. Just by playing, you're intuitively puzzle solving.

Fez had lots of fun puzzles, but the real satisfaction of the game, "de-coding" the world, was mostly separate from the rotating mechanic and traversal (which could be pretty frustrating at times). So late in the game when you're deep into deciphering everything, the controls almost get in the way. Braid is unique in that almost nothing in its levels is extraneous. It's a purely cohesive experience that you hardly ever find in modern games.

Fez is a very unique, artistic game, albeit kind of a mess imo. Braid is games as art.

I think Braid is absolutely one of the best games of this generation and while I always wanted to give it another shot, I could never get into Fez at all.

They're right next to each other as two of my favorite games, but I'm going to vote for FEZ.

Two of the greatest games ever, but Braid might be my favorite game ever made.

I kind of enjoyed Braid, I didn't enjoy Fez so Braid it is I guess.

I have not played any, but i do own fez on steam so i'll pick that one.

For some reason Braid didn't do anything for me, even as someone who loves artsy-like games. I played for awhile and just got frustrated with it. I'll need to go back and try again someday.

Fez was fairly transcendent for me; nothing quite as satisfying as cracking the "tetris" code and a lot of the puzzles in general. And that music and art style was pretty fantastic.

Two absolutely fantastic games and favourites of mine in their respective years so this is a bloody tough choice. Both games have very different but very striking visual styles, both have incredible soundtracks (though I have listened to FEZ's way more) and both offer up depth for those who go looking for it. What really helped FEZ was being apart of the zeitgeist where a community of gamers tried to figure out its world and decode the language and all of its secrets. I've not played it since but I imagine the experience would be different today if you were not apart of that. Braid then can probably be something that's enjoyed over a longer period of time but it is a rather familiar experience to anyone who's played Mario.

Fuck, I haven't played Fez yet so I can't really say. At some point though Braid gets an important historical place in the development of the small downloadable game and small/single-person independent team area. It's rather easy to point to Braid and say that's when that category of game began to really matter and it's all been snowballing since. It's a hell of a game on its own even though I think Jonathan Blow put a bit too much stock in that obtuse storytelling than I would like. Still though, hard for me to say on a game level until I play Fez.

This might be a case of Braid being more important to games and this generation but Fez is probably a better game overall. I might actually defer on this one because I don't really mind which one goes through.