On Time Travel

[Feylynn]

I indeed will take that suggestion and say that Majora's Mask is probably my very favorite time travel involving game ever. Even without the aid of Time as a theme it qualifies to beat out most other games in many many categories.
Though Chris.E can keep his approval I just need to wave the Majora's Mask banner all shiny with pride. =L

Prince of Persia Sands of Time and Warrior Within both qualify for second on their merits of narrative and game play respectively.

Ocarina of Time would probably make third.

 

[Schadenfreude]

I have a huge deal of respect for Majora's Mask --Not for the game itself, mind, I actually couldn't give a rat's ass about it; but for inspiring this timeless piece of journalism clusterfuckery:

"To live life is to don a mask each and every day. Our true selves are seldom exposed to the world at large; to show everything to the people we must share our existences with would be to risk the ultimate rejection. We are what we think others want to see, and we live our lives doing this each and every day until it's impossible to tell where the mask ends and we begin. A mere decoration becomes a metaphor for humanity's hard time on planet Earth. We are the masks we wear."

WE ARE THE MASKS WE WEAR, YOU HEAR ME? TT___TT

Ah, it never gets old.

And of course the subsequent Old Man Murray artical [http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/753.html].

 

[dee_dubs]

My favourite time travel premise for a game is probably Original War. America has discovered a time machine, and Russia has discovered a super-rare mineral that allows cold fusion. America sends people back in time to when it was all one giant super-continent, to dig up this mineral from what will be Russia and bury it in what will be America. However, on arriving in the past you discover that your actions there create a timeline where Russia found the time machine and America had the mineral, so Russia sent people back in time for pretty much the same reason as the Americans did. This then creates another timeline where a third party gets the time machine and gets involved, and you end up with a massive war between relatively small groups of people millions of years into the past. It's an awesome game. Go try it.

 

[pearcinator]

Wait Yahtzee...you mentioned Majoras Mask at the end there...but in a way that sounds like you didnt like it.

If that is true then you can go jump off a fucking cliff! Majoras Mask is fantastic! I urge you to play that game again to see why its such an amazing game and why it is the most mature Zelda game ever made.

 

[Gilfareth]

As I asked with the Mario Galaxy 2 thread, what is the point of this? I played Timeshift, and considered it alright in story, though gameplay was at times adequate, and at others fucking confusing. Level design wasn't the best, either.

But the thing is, instead of discussing which games with time travel involved we prefer, why don't we discuss the actual gameplay mechanics for time travel/manipulation that truly worked? After all, it would fit a bit better with the subject matter than 'i think chorno Cross was the berst game evar!!!!', and might even be useful to whatever aspiring developers (LIKE ME) decide to look at this thread.

To me, Yahtzee has always been a source of at least two things: a good laugh, and good ideas. From the design and commentary on the Chzo Mythos, to his reviews of games with Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee has always made something that I could look at and extrapolate good information or ideas from. So why not help, people, instead of turning this into just another opinion thread?

Second thoughts: Besides, although time travel isn't really a gameplay mechanic, I still think the Chzo Mythos are the best games to actually incorporate time travel. Storywise, at least; some puzzles were an absolute ***** to get through.

 

[ZetaAnime]

Well I guess I'll join the band wagon and say hands down for a time traveling game is Chrono Trigger. But then again The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Season had a sort of time traveling mechanics to it if you count changing the season when necessary. oh and just because its probably hasn't been mentioned yet but ape escape did a alright job with time travel as well.
TIMBAP_AJR

 

[adam5396]

Time travel games, That's something I haven't thought about. Although the newest Ratchet & Clank (Crack in Time) Had some pretty interesting ways of using time manipulation. Even if I can't think of examples at this time.

Personally, I love slo-mo powers. Especially in First Person Shooters.

 

[Jack Bz]

Majora's Mask is the only Zelda game I loved, because it was different. I think it's a really amazing starting point for a mechanic that was never improved upon (not that I've really searched, I could very easily be wrong). I'd love to see it done amazingly intricately with like, 20 days, on a whole world, that you could just reset again to see what you missed. I'd like an Extra Punctuation paragraph on why you don't like it (which is what I'm assuming) because a man can dream.

 

[Ravinak]

Caverns of Time in WoW, some of you may not like the game, but being able to play through some of the missions from WC3 in a new perspective is simply awesome!

 

[Typecast]

More like Legend of Zelda: Groundhog Day >_<

 

[greatgreybeast]

I don't remember how much it was tied into actual gameplay, but Dark Fall: Lights Out had a cool three-time-periods mechanic similar to Day of the Tentacle.

 

[SandroTheMaster]

The Discworld-based adventurer, although it didn't revolve around time travel, had one of its main mechanics revolving around Rincewind's capacity to use the dark corners of the Unseen University's Library to go back in time 12 hours.

Among the things you'd use this power for includes:

Finding yourself 12 hours prior sleeping in the park hammered from the reverse-time made liquor you'd still drink in the future, so you can put a frog on your own mouth in order to block your snoring from blowing a butterfly away.

Releasing said butterfly on a spot a cleric in dark mantles would give his sermon 12 hours later so that it'd cause a storm on that spot, wetting his mantle and forcing him to put it away so you can steal it.

Participating on the ritual that summoned the Dragon you're trying to deal with in the present to know how the ritual was made and who's responsible, but probably becoming the reason it was summoned in the first place.

Put a sheet over your head to scare a guy you know was scared by a ghost in the present.

If I'd remember more I'd post it, but that game was way too confusing without adding time-traveling to the mix. Good adventurer though, but completely mad.

 

[Speakercone]

If I'd remember more I'd post it, but that game was way too confusing without adding time-traveling to the mix. Good adventurer though, but completely mad.

Yup, that's pretty much how Pratchett rolls.

 

[Cliff_m85]

Wait, to get attention from Yahtzee all we have to do is talk smack?

Branston Pickle sucks, Joss Whedon is a genius, Psychonauts is the worst game ever made, and all Australians/Brits (same difference) smell incredibly horrid. Also, the reason you dislike games is because you can't play them properly. Yahtzee? More like Nahtzee!

 

[Simriel]

Serious Sam. The entire game is based around you stopping the future happening by changing the past. Its why all the enemies teleport in. They are sent from the future.

 

[verindae]

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Shadow of Memories yet, going back in time to find out who keeps killing you in the present, or is it just that everyone hated it? lol

 

[beema]

I'm going to agree with pretty much everyone else on here. Chrono Trigger -- best time travel-based game, hands down.

It may not of been completely scientifically accurate, but well... time travel isn't exactly science yet anyways.

Best game with time travel where it didn't actually effect the gameplay at all? Sure, TMNT Turtles In Time was pretty awesome.

Games on my "to-do" list involving time travel:
Cryostasis
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time

Oh, and Red Alert was sort of premised on time travel, although the gameplay didn't involve it. Loved that one.

This article felt pretty half-assed. The list of games was woefully inadequate. Like he said, Wikipedia had the damn list already for him, he couldn't of spent a little more time picking some more meaningful games and dissecting them?

 

[Glamorgan]

"Dear Yahtzee,

You are a ******. You suck the penis of over 100 different species of animal. You enjoy being raped up the bum by old, hairy men. Your dick is smaller than an average 12 year old's. All you do is say stupid things on teh internet for a living. You have a fetish for grandmas. Go and fuck yourself. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the best."

This is the example I will use the next time someone asks me what a Nintendo Fanboy is. Thank you Chris E. You made my day.

 

[Rasputin1]

I want to know whatever happened to that RTS that was supposed to use time travel as a gameplay element?

Achron? They're still doing it. It's currently in alpha, and i may consider buying it.

I'm incredibly intrigued by that game... I want it.

 

[Sexbad]

Yahtzee, you crazy past-altering superhuman, Cryostasis. If you can soak your PC in enough liquid nitrogen you should try it. Oddly enough it's a mystery game despite the shooting happening. You see, you go into people's memories from before they die to fix the timeline to a happy place, but it's about learning about their actions and what all of their mutations into creepy monsters mean and shit. It's very unique, but I'm at odds as to whether you would like it, debating between mediocre gunplay on the top and the world's greatest video game story and use of mystery as a gameplay element underneath.

Well you'll probably just ignore this. But it would make for a neat review for a time when not much is really coming out. Like, for instance, now.