GotG Round 1: Braid vs. Fez

1) Flying.

2) The whole point of the game was that it wasn't about that.

Also, dang. Seriously all these votes are going the opposite way to my opinion. Oblivion (apart from being my GOTG) immersed me more than Skyrim, Fez over Braid (although only by the tiniest of margins), Portal was far more novel than Portal 2 and Assassin's Creed II was a game that was so good I actually bothered to get all the damn feathers. Sure Brotherhood added some cool stuff, but it wasn't such a mind blower (when you compare II to AC).

This was almost harder than Sophie's choice, a real shoulders-of-giants thing. Braid basically kicked off the generations phenomenal indie zeitgeist. Fez maybe wouldn't have ever existed if it wasn't for Braid. In the end, for game of the generation, I think Fez's "mechanic" of community puzzle-solving will earn it a spot in the mindshare of generation defining experiences. Still, @mracoon, if you keep asking questions like this I'm going to have to get something for this pain in my chest.

Loved both, both in my top 10 for this whole generation. But if i had to pick one it would have to be Fez. That being said, the only game I'm really looking forward to in nextgen is The Witness.

I voted FEZ and will be so bummed if this surely loses to Braid. I'll be even more bummed if the majority vote's reasoning on voting has nothing to do with the quality of either game, but simply because they dislike Phil Fish (which based on how the internet generally is, is totally a possibility).

As a side note, I must be completely blind to the 'pretentiousness' of both Braid and FEZ, as I just simply played both of them and loved them both for what they did and how they played without feeling like an asshole and getting mentally hurt at the mere action of playing them. I guess someone needs to explain to me how they both come off as pretentious without ever mentioning the creators or their intentions for their games. I played them how they likely wanted me to play them; Just as they are without thinking of anything outside of them.

You monsters. Braid has its nice points, but Fez is an amazing indie game that represents the boom of indies this generation. So much of the game is emblematic of where we are in gaming today, and I cannot imagine this last generation without Fez.

Word.

Every time someone says "Hey I think I'll make something a little different that maybe isn't about shooting people in the face", there will be some portion of the Internet that will bash them for being pretentious. That's just how it is.

The funny thing is you never hear that when some big shot developer hires fucking Hans Zimmer for a game.

two poster childs of indie games as art.... and I have complete mixed feelings for both of them.... man, braid's art really sucks. I mean it's UGLY, and Fez's controls are wonky because it's on a 3D grid and you never knew it until new game plus

Don't really care for either that much but I guess Braid. I actually finished it. I really disliked Fez.

Come on, don't fail me now! Bring on the Fez votes!

Fez was a fantastic experience but man, Braid really nailed it for me.

There is no contest there

Braid hands down that game is great and one of the best all-times indie games.

FEZ lured me into a trance when I played it, while Braid is amazing, but personally didn't capture my attention as it should.

Braid is a very important game, as one of the first indie games to really step out into the light, and "Braid-Envy" has caused a whole heck of a lot of really genius puzzle platformers to come out into the market.

But FEZ to me is a much better game. It's first act (New Game) is a magical adventure through the best looking world I have ever seen matched with amazing audio, and the second act (New Game+) makes you take a step back from the rose colored glasses and see the game as it really is. And then Act 3 (New Game++) just adds a silly mode, which is a really nice touch.

I'm happy with whoever wins. I voted for Fez, but I only like it a tiny bit more than Braid. These are 2 of my favorite 360 games.

I finished Braid in two sittings and afterwards thought thank fuck that's over. Especially because the artwork gives you that weird feeling like you're talking to a girl at a party whose eye is a bit skew-whiff and you kind of don't want to look her in the face all the time.

I finished Fez in too many sittings and afterwards thought I'm sad that's over, but I have to say goodbye even though I don't want to go. It was like playing with a pleasant child who you thought you'd got the mark of, they like their toy cars and Lego. But when you think it's time to put them to bed they make a trumpet from the Lego and tell you they like Dizzy Gillespie - would you like to hear?

Yeah, I ended up going with Braid because I liked its contained, cohesive experience more, and I feel like it was the real kick to the indie games movement that we see in full effect now, which is great. And speaking of "aha" moments, the last level of Braid blew me away at the time; it was more of a straight mindfuck than the "aha" puzzle-solving moments that proceeded it, but extremely memorable, nonetheless.

I can see why the people that got way into solving the mysteries of Fez are going to vote that way, from what I have read about some of the craziest, more obscure shit in that game. I got partway through the second playthrough of Fez, and didn't have any motivation to play any past that.

As a side note, I am still confused by people that keep bringing up how great Fez's soundtrack is; I must have played that game on mute or something because I remember nothing notable about it.

EDIT: Finally glad to see one of these matchups being real close like this.

heh. Well, this seems to be one of the only battles that actually makes some sense so far. They are genuinely comparable games.

You smell.

No need to reverse time for Braid as it wins with 55% of the vote and 620 votes cast.