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As I explored, I started writing down everything I encountered. On the chalkboard are a few symbols, almost seemingly insignificant.īut that’s the thing: they aren’t insignificant.Įvery symbol, every stone, every item could mean something later in the game.
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There are sections of the game where you enter a room full of common, everyday things: a table, a chair, a chalkboard hanging on the wall, a window. The puzzles in the game are so complicated and overwhelming that they are almost impossible to complete without some sort of visual reference. This sadness was covered up by my excitement of new technologies and new ways to play videogames … but it was still there.Īs I played through Fez for the first time, I found myself almost being forced to take notes and draw maps. My own version of New Game +.Īs the console years went by and the art of taking notes started fading away, I became sad. It gave me an advantage during my replay of the game. When I would go back and replay games, I would have my notes to help guide me. My Grail Diary of videogame maps, passwords, and puzzles was my most prized possession - something I was genuinely proud of. As a colleague said to me once recently when we were talking about this very topic, “It was like having Nathan Drake’s journal … but specifically for videogames.” Taking all these notes was part of the fun of the game. (Others were even more complicated, like the strange, grid-based passwords in Mega Man.) Most of these notes were usually passwords - some short and sweet, others so long it would take me minutes to even write them down. In addition to maps, I would also take extensive notes whenever they were needed. My room was covered in an elaborate wallpaper of complicated and colorful maps. This would force me to restart or just tape another piece to the side. Never sure how big the map would be, I would always start in the middle and sometimes get stuck on one side of the piece of paper. I used to use graph paper and take down detailed accounts of each room I entered. I remember the elaborate maps I used to draw while playing Bard’s Tale or the original Metroid. But there is something about taking actual notes and drawing actual maps that is sadly missing from the videogames of today. Intuitive menus, great inventory systems, detailed maps - these modern conveniences all contain information that used to never exist in the games of the past.īut this is not a bad thing at all! I love the way recent videogames can centralize all the information in creative and efficient ways - it tightens the gameplay and makes everything just feel more polished. Once in a while, I will write down some information - jotting down the locations of Poes in Ocarina of Time, for instance - but outside of that, most info vital to the gameplay can be stored in the game itself. Taking notes while playing a videogame is something I haven’t done in years. But there is something else about Fez that makes me worship the retro ground it walks on. Sure, the look of the game is fantastic, and the gameplay is wonderfully refreshing. I love it on a level I haven’t loved a game in a really long time.
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