The Legacy of Kain series had instances of time travel that lead to enough causality to create an aneurysm if you thought about it too long. Like Raziel killing his past self, or the many deaths of Moebius.
On Time Travel
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
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Quite obviously, when you're the star of a game, the universe revolves around you.Pseudonym2 said:
Majora's Mask is actually one of my favourite games. The time travel isn't all that central, just a handy solution to the problem of making the time-of-day and multiday quests repeatable without all that "everyone does the same thing always" silliness.
Braid is a damn fine game but it's just a wee bit up itself with it's multi-leveled plot. Cool and clever as the story may be, something with a story that cool and clever is inevitably buried at least a foot up its own ass.t3hmyth said:
Perhaps that's not THE best game about time travel and my judgment is skewed by nostalgia, since this was one of the first games I played on PC, but considering probably no one else remembers it, here it goes - "Time Commando" by Adeline Software.
It was a really cool beat'em up/shooter and it's coolness was largely based on the time travel thing used as a plot device allowing designers to present player with extremely varied settings. Every two levels the game moved to a new epoch, with completely different backgrounds, enemies and weapons. Kind of like what Daikatana did without the bullshit talk. The epochs/settings covered were:
- Prehistory;
- Roman Empire;
- Feudal Japan;
- Medieval Times;
- Conquistador (one level on a ship, second in a Mayan/Aztec temple);
- Wild West;
- Modern Wars (one level during the First WW, second during modern 90's conflict);
- Future;
- Cyber Space (as a short final level).
Anyone else remembers it?
It was a really cool beat'em up/shooter and it's coolness was largely based on the time travel thing used as a plot device allowing designers to present player with extremely varied settings. Every two levels the game moved to a new epoch, with completely different backgrounds, enemies and weapons. Kind of like what Daikatana did without the bullshit talk. The epochs/settings covered were:
- Prehistory;
- Roman Empire;
- Feudal Japan;
- Medieval Times;
- Conquistador (one level on a ship, second in a Mayan/Aztec temple);
- Wild West;
- Modern Wars (one level during the First WW, second during modern 90's conflict);
- Future;
- Cyber Space (as a short final level).
Anyone else remembers it?
HAH! I nearly forgot about that. "Time abhors a paradox" indeed, very terrific- although it didn't really use it as a game mechanic so much as a way to drive the plot.DeadlyYellow said:
And yeah, Achron looks like it's going to be a micromanagement fest like no other, but the temporal mechanics do provide an interesting explanation for time paradox theory.
Favorite game where Timesplitters is used as a game mechanic is Timesplitters Future Perfect. In every level you have to help yourself in some way. It got especially insane during the U-Genix level where you had 4 of you. 2 hacking into the systems and 2 defending the guys hacking.
It was fun.
Then again all of Timesplitters is awesome, so whatever.
It was fun.
Then again all of Timesplitters is awesome, so whatever.
Have you forgotten those little sidequests wherein you had to leave Robo at a desert for a century so he could do some farmwork, which would put a little Robo on the map every time you visited the intervening time periods? Or the one where you had to leave a thing in a cave but it got stolen so you had to figure out who made off with it, and then go to his childhood to teach him stealing is wrong? Those were some of the most delightful timetravel-based puzzles in a videogame ever, and definately were actual gameplay.Sir John The Net Knight said:
It's even more perplexing that Yahtzee didn't mention Chrono Trigger, given that it's one of the only JRPGs he actually likes. Same with Braid.
Also, I reiterate my claim that Majora's Mask is probably the worst game to cite when you want to trash the Zelda series, but maybe Yahtzee actually likes that one too, and is just trolling us (I wouldn't be the least bit surprised, really).
Also, I reiterate my claim that Majora's Mask is probably the worst game to cite when you want to trash the Zelda series, but maybe Yahtzee actually likes that one too, and is just trolling us (I wouldn't be the least bit surprised, really).
Fair enough heh. Not complaining, mind you, hence the smiley at the end. Just observing.Stabby Joe said:That's what the internet does afterall.Loonerinoes said:Feeling a bit fat and insecure, as you yourself put it, as of late and need your fanbase to mock random moronic fanboy #452955 for an ego boost Yahtzee?
No, but I remember my arcade favourites Time Soldiers (top-down run & gun through history), Time Killers (fighting game with dismemberment and decapitations), and the first arcade game I ever loved, Time Pilot (shoot down aircraft throughout history). None of them are likely to be particularly memorable, since they were all poor-quality clones of better games, but sometimes you want to run around shooting Vikings.m64 said:
Yeah, TimeSplitters was great but time-travel was just flavour, never a mechanic. And as with all sequels, its better to praise the original for coming up with the idea. Basically every good thing that defined TimeSplitters was non-time related and fresh from the N64's GoldenEye 007 (same dev. team basically).tomtom94 said:
Majora's definitely uses time-travel as a mechanic, as does Ocarina or Time. Although the latter can come across as more a (sweet) product of Nintendo's two-semi-inter-related-worlds-obsessive phase more than a time travel specific thing. Crono Trigger kinda does in places, but its so well tied to the plot, and the plot is a big draw for the game so arguably it deserves a pass into the full-blown time-travel category.
Braid naturally covered time-travel well as strictly a mechanic, because we all know the story was pretentious balls and largely seperable from time travel completely. Shame the game was tarnished by the occasional shittier bit (repeat puzzles, do not put the puzzle piece you earnt into the puzzle puzzle, and the 3 hour thumb twiddling stage anyone?)
I'm sure I've played some really short Indie games that use time travel as a mechanic perfectly.
Oh, TIME DONKEY!
TIME DONKEY!
TIME DONKEY!
TIME DONKEY!
You can thank me for the suggestion when your boss asks why you achieved nothing today.
(I'd also argue Another/Out of this World that Yahtzee mentioned is a time-travel game, only the time-travel function is the freaking password system because that game was mostly trial and error, as much as I loved it.)
I personally loved a game for the gameboy advance called The Lost Vikings. It involved time travel, but more for the story. Actually only in the story.
I'm not 100% convinced you could call it time travel, but what the hey:
Enchanter waaaay back in 1983 (Infocom text adventure) had a section where you, fearless wizard-type-person, found a series of glass panels which looked into sections of dank dungeon corridor. Every so often an adventurer appeared, wandering lost in that dungeon. You, FWTP, could summon that aventurer and get him to help you in your quest.
The joke was, the adventurer was that exact same avatar that you, clueless teenager, had been playing only a short while prior, for he was fearless-adventurer-type-person, the hero of Zork, the first game in the series. So FWTP, which was you, summons FATP, who was also you, and - which was the bit that killed me - promptly looked at the stuff FWTP was carrying and said [paraphrasing] 'Gee, that looks valuable - I mean, heavy. Sure I can't help you carry that?' Which was even more of a laugh and a half because you, clueless teen, knew damn well that when you were in charge of FATP that was *exactly* what you would have done, and in fact did do - hoover up every least valuable object in sight . . .
Enchanter waaaay back in 1983 (Infocom text adventure) had a section where you, fearless wizard-type-person, found a series of glass panels which looked into sections of dank dungeon corridor. Every so often an adventurer appeared, wandering lost in that dungeon. You, FWTP, could summon that aventurer and get him to help you in your quest.
The joke was, the adventurer was that exact same avatar that you, clueless teenager, had been playing only a short while prior, for he was fearless-adventurer-type-person, the hero of Zork, the first game in the series. So FWTP, which was you, summons FATP, who was also you, and - which was the bit that killed me - promptly looked at the stuff FWTP was carrying and said [paraphrasing] 'Gee, that looks valuable - I mean, heavy. Sure I can't help you carry that?' Which was even more of a laugh and a half because you, clueless teen, knew damn well that when you were in charge of FATP that was *exactly* what you would have done, and in fact did do - hoover up every least valuable object in sight . . .
I'm surprised that no one here has mentioned the Jpurneyman Project games. The Journeyman Project: Turbo (later re-made as The Journeyman Project, Pegasus Prime), The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time and The Journeyman Project 3 : Legacy of Time. As part of the PC Gaming Master Race, I may have to revoke Yahtzee's membership card.
I can't help but think that it's beneath Yahtzee to pick out Chris E's email. Surely it's far too easy to mock someone who does pretty much all the work themselves? Unless that is literally the most coherent email he received.
The mark of a true wit is to take the piss out of something that actually had some thought put into it. This, on the other hand, just feels like a bit of unnecessary posturing.
The mark of a true wit is to take the piss out of something that actually had some thought put into it. This, on the other hand, just feels like a bit of unnecessary posturing.
Lesse... time travel... I'm thinking the middle child of the Enchanter series in the glory days of Infocom. Still wish I could have managed "Frotz Grue" in a useful sense. But anyway, the time travel was brief as heck. You travelled about... 10 minutes in the past. Due entirely to a predestination paradox. The time loop consisted of you swapping a couple items with your future self, and immediately crawling into a bit of cave to get at a time travel scroll that you promptly use to be on the other side of the time travel mechanic. And if you screw up at any point, you end the universe in total destruction of causality.
Another interesting sequence was Sorcery 101, a Legend game. There was an island where time ran backwards. This meant, in a primarily text game, that you were given the results of your action and were forced to type the command that should have resulted in it. It helps that you are basically doing the Goldilocks story and wind up spending the day guessing what you just did so you don't violate causality... and you get back on your boat hours before you arrived. So... you still have the day. Reminds me of a Stephen Wright joke.
Timequest is another oldie-but-goodie. One of the few text adventure games I played where I managed to win without actually acquiring any hints. I did, however, go through a couple sheets of notebook paper. Your task is to fix broken time. Some areas, you don't need to do anything. Some, you might be arranging meetings disrupted by the time villain. You win because he leaves you tied up in a room with a time portal going back about 10 minutes. So your older self appears, frees you, and shoves you through the other portal to free yourself...
That's it for the good ones not already mentioned. I know a bad one not covered, which featured jogging through a few time periods of simulated combat and doing battle with, basically, a virus taking over the world through an uncontained holodeck. Not a classic, and technically only simulating temporal travel.
Another interesting sequence was Sorcery 101, a Legend game. There was an island where time ran backwards. This meant, in a primarily text game, that you were given the results of your action and were forced to type the command that should have resulted in it. It helps that you are basically doing the Goldilocks story and wind up spending the day guessing what you just did so you don't violate causality... and you get back on your boat hours before you arrived. So... you still have the day. Reminds me of a Stephen Wright joke.
Timequest is another oldie-but-goodie. One of the few text adventure games I played where I managed to win without actually acquiring any hints. I did, however, go through a couple sheets of notebook paper. Your task is to fix broken time. Some areas, you don't need to do anything. Some, you might be arranging meetings disrupted by the time villain. You win because he leaves you tied up in a room with a time portal going back about 10 minutes. So your older self appears, frees you, and shoves you through the other portal to free yourself...
That's it for the good ones not already mentioned. I know a bad one not covered, which featured jogging through a few time periods of simulated combat and doing battle with, basically, a virus taking over the world through an uncontained holodeck. Not a classic, and technically only simulating temporal travel.
That first message made me laugh so hard...but, I think when it comes to time travel, its really hard to try and make it work...when, we really dont know how it works itself.
I think, PoP has done it best in Sands of time...and, anything more than that is pretty much meh
I think, PoP has done it best in Sands of time...and, anything more than that is pretty much meh
Uh, Yahtzee? Where the fuck's Timesplitters? So, you, you didn't include it? Well you have obviously never played the game, because any one who has would praise it for the best time travel game, and one of the best games, that has ever existed.