On Time Travel
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
There's another Zelda game that actually uses Time Travel as a game mechanic: Oracle of Ages. There are some puzzles, events, and even temples that can only be accessed if you manipulate the past. Hell, you can even move a seedling around certain parts of the map to grow a tree in different places.
Oooo. I can think of another game where you were given a magic machine to go between points in time in order to unravel the deeper mysteries of some kind of conspiracy that you can only undo after the strange logic of adventure games being applied with a magic gun in hand at the end. It was called the Journeyman Project. You're a time travel agent and you go through history but not the history of our time but of a possible future where their past is also our future BUT also prehistory and some other locations. It lacked an inventory I believe as well.
I like the pretty pictures the most and the music, but as for it being a great game that uses Time Travel well? Probably not. It is a core component of the game I suppose.
Chrono Trigger? For a JRPG it was good but you could have easily have gone through Star Ocean or some other RPG that allows you to travel between worlds/areas. Time travel isn't really a core part of the game.
I like the pretty pictures the most and the music, but as for it being a great game that uses Time Travel well? Probably not. It is a core component of the game I suppose.
Chrono Trigger? For a JRPG it was good but you could have easily have gone through Star Ocean or some other RPG that allows you to travel between worlds/areas. Time travel isn't really a core part of the game.
In the name all that is holy, DON"T PLAY TIMESHIFT!Loonerinoes said:
Seriously I am doing you any anyone else who might want to try it a favor. Singularity is a FAR better game in every way. It was one of those rare games that make me so pissed off that just typing it's name makes me want to puke.
I'm probably just making it worse and making people want to play it even more to see how bad it is. But I'm being serious, do not play Timeshift. If you do then don't say I didn't warn you.
Someone should spam Chris E with emails reading 'Umad?' and some kind of gore.
But undoubtedly he's some troll sent from 4chan/other internet place, the 5 year old child with ADD couldn't spell that good,never the less have correct capitolization(or whatever) and use 'Teh' instead of 'The',thats an internet thing. I doubt his mommy would let him on.
Yeah.
He's a troll.
But undoubtedly he's some troll sent from 4chan/other internet place, the 5 year old child with ADD couldn't spell that good,never the less have correct capitolization(or whatever) and use 'Teh' instead of 'The',thats an internet thing. I doubt his mommy would let him on.
Yeah.
He's a troll.
Shadow of Destiny (or Shadow of Memories for those of you in the UK) was a pretty neat underrated gem. Sure, the plot was fairly hit or miss, but it did offer a neat time traveling gameplay, even if it wasn't very deep (namely there should have been multiple ways to solve a problem, not just one). I myself actually like the story, and found it quite clever that each 'ending' was plausible in that they were all from alternate timelines where my choices diverted from one another and thus things happened directly rather than "I saved this person in one play through, and told them to fuck off in another". While there is debate over if everything is connected, namely a startling little secret concerning the main character's identity and how it relates to another's fate, it's probably one of the more thought provoking time travel pieces as opposed to most games where it's "Ooh look, I can freeze time and unload 50 bullets into this guy's nads!"
Now I remembered a few more examples:
Time Commando: Alright, its a cop-out, but it dealt with simulations of different periods and the relevance of that was that the period you were in would be significant to the weapons you'd have access to (although some are historically unorthodox, like the "Asian period" where you get access to a hadouken scroll).
Final Fantasy 1 (in which it was used horridly and stupidly) and Final Fantasy 8 (in which it was even horridlier and stupidier, enough to force me to create words... ugh... compress all time so that Ultimecia caWHO-GIVES-A-FUCK)
And now that I think about it, the PC RPG trinity; Might and Magic, Ultima and Wizardry; all dabbled in time travel.
In Ultima it was confusing and mostly pointless.
In Wizardry it was weird.
In Might and Magic it was an underused feature.
One of the Season 2 episodes of Sam & Max also featured Time Travel pretty cleverly.
Time Commando: Alright, its a cop-out, but it dealt with simulations of different periods and the relevance of that was that the period you were in would be significant to the weapons you'd have access to (although some are historically unorthodox, like the "Asian period" where you get access to a hadouken scroll).
Final Fantasy 1 (in which it was used horridly and stupidly) and Final Fantasy 8 (in which it was even horridlier and stupidier, enough to force me to create words... ugh... compress all time so that Ultimecia caWHO-GIVES-A-FUCK)
And now that I think about it, the PC RPG trinity; Might and Magic, Ultima and Wizardry; all dabbled in time travel.
In Ultima it was confusing and mostly pointless.
In Wizardry it was weird.
In Might and Magic it was an underused feature.
One of the Season 2 episodes of Sam & Max also featured Time Travel pretty cleverly.
I really don't have to mention Timesplitters, but Sister Jo-Beth demands it.
Second Sight, pretty linear but very fun.
Futurama: The Game kind of had a time travel device in the Zoidberg level, so start digging in those bargan bins!
Second Sight, pretty linear but very fun.
Futurama: The Game kind of had a time travel device in the Zoidberg level, so start digging in those bargan bins!
the events of the entire game are a paradox
OK, Chrono trigger used changes in time periods to good effect in the plot, but I noticed it much less as a gameplay mechanic. There were a few moments, like putting that ladder up in the mountains, but for the most part it was just for major plot developments.
In -gameplay-, definitely a nod to the Oracle of Ages and Seasons. Ages used it better, but that's not really a surprise since time was the significant force there. If they had more engaging writing (like Chrono Trigger, for instance...) it would have probably had a greater emotional effect to see the bridge you helped to get built standing hundreds of years later, Rafton's grave, the peaceful village atop the volcano. It doesn't quite work since Link is kind of a faceless lump in the Oracle games, but oh well.
Day of the Tentacle was partly fun because figuring out how to get things from one time period to the other was really neat if sometimes infuriating as hell. Even when the answer was something absurd I had to love it because it was brilliant at the same time. Sort of like Dr. Who now that I think of it.
I know the time mechanic in Majora's Mask isn't gameplay, but I liked what it did to the atmosphere, putting you in a sort of twilight zone. Every three days you go back to the beginning and no one remembers you, you walk through places you've been, speak to people you know, whose heartbreaks and triumphs you've seen and participated in. But they don't know you. Like everyone else in the world just has this blip in their memory and you're either the only one left sane or the only one who's gone mad.
The time control in Braid LOOKS hypnotic, but I'm pretty sure I could make it through maybe...four or five pathetic attempts at the first level before I gave up. It's a really neat concept, but it looks way harder than I would have the patience for.
In -gameplay-, definitely a nod to the Oracle of Ages and Seasons. Ages used it better, but that's not really a surprise since time was the significant force there. If they had more engaging writing (like Chrono Trigger, for instance...) it would have probably had a greater emotional effect to see the bridge you helped to get built standing hundreds of years later, Rafton's grave, the peaceful village atop the volcano. It doesn't quite work since Link is kind of a faceless lump in the Oracle games, but oh well.
Day of the Tentacle was partly fun because figuring out how to get things from one time period to the other was really neat if sometimes infuriating as hell. Even when the answer was something absurd I had to love it because it was brilliant at the same time. Sort of like Dr. Who now that I think of it.
I know the time mechanic in Majora's Mask isn't gameplay, but I liked what it did to the atmosphere, putting you in a sort of twilight zone. Every three days you go back to the beginning and no one remembers you, you walk through places you've been, speak to people you know, whose heartbreaks and triumphs you've seen and participated in. But they don't know you. Like everyone else in the world just has this blip in their memory and you're either the only one left sane or the only one who's gone mad.
The time control in Braid LOOKS hypnotic, but I'm pretty sure I could make it through maybe...four or five pathetic attempts at the first level before I gave up. It's a really neat concept, but it looks way harder than I would have the patience for.
Chris E. is a mind full of beauty. His letter was not only eloquent, but I even sensed a subtle tone of mockery, which only continued to prove his argument. This is why here I decided to show everyone who might read this, a draft for an open letter to Mr. Barrack Obama:
" Dear Barrack Obama,
It is with most humbleness that I, just a member of the usual feist, decided I should state that your a fag who likes to kiss other men because their black like you and you can't take charge of the country for shit your wife is ugly she's like a thiner version of Opra and your gay.
Awaiting your reply,
An anonymous."
" Dear Barrack Obama,
It is with most humbleness that I, just a member of the usual feist, decided I should state that your a fag who likes to kiss other men because their black like you and you can't take charge of the country for shit your wife is ugly she's like a thiner version of Opra and your gay.
Awaiting your reply,
An anonymous."
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers, in my opinion, had the best time-traveling. Roger "time traveled" into future Space Quest games, and traveled back to the original Space Quest (in all it's AGI glory).
Granted, it was more a narrative device than a game play mechanic.
Granted, it was more a narrative device than a game play mechanic.
"Games with Time Travel"
Me: "Day of the Tentacle"!
Yahtzee: "Day of the Tentacle"
Me: "YAAAAAAAY!"
Me: "Day of the Tentacle"!
Yahtzee: "Day of the Tentacle"
Me: "YAAAAAAAY!"
Well, Yahtzee already mentioned Day Of The Tentacle. And Majora's Mask to an extent. Everyone's ranting on about Chrono Trigger, Timesplitters, Ratchet & Clank and Sonic CD...
Bloody hell! I've been ninja'd in every possible way!
(If only I could time travel to beginning of this thread...)
Bloody hell! I've been ninja'd in every possible way!
(If only I could time travel to beginning of this thread...)