FEZ: DAT GAM

So, I wanted to talk a little about Fez. If you don’t know what Fez is, it’s this “retro themed” platformer create by Phil Fish. If you know anything about retro games, old school, the indie scene etc-etc you most likely have heard of Fez which has been in development for 5 years and is probably one of the most talked about and hyped indie game. I kind of wanted to talk about the concerns that people have with the game, the problems, and the highlights.

The first thing I want to talk about is, does a game designer reflect off the game? Does it, sort of make you sour to the idea if there is a guy out there who is just a complete dick, but he made an interesting game, would you still buy it? I don’t know if that can be answered, because human beings in general are incredibly petty at times. I think the majority of the people out there wouldn’t care, I mean EA and Capcom has been gaming people for years and they still buy their products.

I think specifically, indie designers themselves have an issue with Fez and Phil Fish. A lot of people don’t want him to be this figurehead of retro/indie because of the content of his game, and the fact the guy is a real asshole. i mean, fair enough, he can be a dick, but we as human beings, judge by whatever is being presented to us constantly. If Phil Fish is a dick retro and indie designers must be dicks.

http://i.imgur.com/a2CqV.png

What people often forget is that there are large personalities out there in the great waterly orb called earth. It helps and hurts people.

Now, not all people think this way, but there are plenty. It’s just one of those ignorance is bliss kind of deals. Another thing I notice is people kind of pack retro/indie designers with hipsters. So Basically it’s sending this message
indie=hipster

Which is totally stupid, but like I said, when you put a face and a personality to something, people will think THAT’S how it is. That is human nature. People like Phil Fish feed flames to a fire, because the gaming community is really divided right now. You’ll always see people who play modern games attack people who enjoy retro old school games and the other way around, and stuff that he does and says pretty much enhances that.

If you’re a game designer and you’re a really popular dude, people know about you, expect certain things, I feel it’s your responsibility to try and bring that community together because if it’s modern or retro, we still love gaming regardless. And it’s a shame man, because, I know a lot of indie designers and they’re some of the nicest weirdest human beings you would ever meet. And Phil Fish is a very poor representation of Indie Gamers and Developers.

Have I played Fez? Sure. Are there better indie games out there? Yeah, absolutely. As I said earlier I wanted to address things about Fez.
the only time you should use the phrase “take my money”

-It’s a beautiful game. I love that about the game. People do not realize that just because he used pixel work, does not make it any easier or less detailed. Work like that takes a long time, man, and from what I understand he did all most if not all of it himself. 5 years, if you factor in, he is your everyday human being, so it sounds about right. people minimize that and forget he is not a game company.

-The style is lifted from Cave Story. It’s silly to try and argue that it’s not. The guy basically took Cave Story graphics. But, a lot of people do that, and I have seen plenty of them floating around.

-It’s a very weak platformer. You don’t die, you rotate the screen and jump around and solve puzzles. Something like this is very boring without other game mechanics like enemies or even death vs reward to compliment it so it’s just an exhausting and boring experience. It’s hollow, in terms of game mechanics, but I think the world he created is wonderful.

-Replicating old school platformers to the bare minimum.

-I think people thought that Fez was going to be this amazing tribute to retro platforming. It’s not, if you grew up on old school platformers, you understood that death is your best friend. memorizing patterns for hours because a lot of the time, vintage games had “broken” game mechanics and people thought that was challenging. It’s overcoming the game against all odds, the game was literally against you because of poor programming. When you beat a level and moved on to the next stage, you felt pretty accomplished.

I’m sure a LOT of people who thought this might be somewhere in Fez were greatly disappointed. They mad? maybe.

Basically, listen, the game is Cave Story. It’s CS without the challenge, without the risk vs reward, without the enemies, without the obstacles. If you want a better experience in regards to classic gaming, go download Cave Story. Fez is a breezy example if you want to get into platforming games without any real challenge. Like I said, it’s incredibly beautiful, the guy obviously put a lot of effort into creating it, which I greatly respect, no matter the attitude.

→ May 24 2012 / PERMALINK