Bastion Review

[castlewise]

Just bought the soundtrack at http://supergiantgames.bandcamp.com/

It is really good, especially if you like instrumental stuff. And for an extra 5 dollars you can get a signed copy

 

[Odlus]

The soundtrack also strikes me as eclectic for the sake of being eclectic. Oh man... trip-hop (you might not have heard of it, it's sort of obscure) AND blues? SO DEEP. That's almost the textbook definition of pretentious.

Wait, what? They mixed two different genres together, and from that you think they're trying to be "SO DEEP"? How do you even reach that conclusion? It's not like blending genres is a new or even rare thing, artists do it all the time and very rarely is it seen as "deep." Innovative in the sense of it being something new possibly, but not deep.

I disagree with the rest of your post as well, but this particular comment left me baffled. What kind of music do you even listen to if something as simple and commonplace as blending different genres together comes across as pretentious?

 

[FloatyScarf]

It looks so fascinating and pretty. I might get it for the PC. I'm not gonna lie, the narration and how gritty it is in contrast to how whimsical the game looks aesthetically gave me a few giggles.

 

[Jinxey]

Very over-rated game.

Everything it does is done better by Spiral Knights imo (Aesthetics, level-Design, multiplayer or the most evident.

 

[similar.squirrel]

No chance of this thing being able to run on a Linux netbook, is there? I think I'm in love.

 

[crotalidian]

To all PSN players who want this game. I think if you are patient it will make it eventually.

as such a small team they could only develop for 1 platform at a time and XBLA is probably a better choice. They said whne I spoke to them at GDC that dependent on receptio and sales they will be porting this game (obv. PC port is already done). I would expect a PSN port possibly around year end.

Also this game is some of the best value I have seen. Will be getting the soundtrack as soon as I get home it just nails the whole feeling.

@Stall: 'the Kid' is a name given to him by the Old Narrator, once you get into his backstory it shows that he was already pretty special for the Area so while being the hero may not have been something he was expected to be he wasnt a random 14 yo who just happened to be good with weapons

Sorry I am an absolute fanboy of this game and have been since March (yes 4 months BEFORE release) so I am biased

 

[Rythe]

I'm also gonna give this game a hearty recommend. About halfway through, it went from a pretty good run to a damn great one. There will hopefully be a point where the combat finally clicks for you, and then you'll experience it's gameplay reaching for top tier quality despite how simple the mechanics are.

The atmosphere, graphical aesthetics, narration, and soundtrack are second to none. It's incredibly rare that a game manages to incorporate itself so fully into the world it's trying to portray as Bastion does, nevermind manage to tell its story within the framework of a game so well, nevermind feel as complete as this game does.

More than worth the price of admission.

And don't mind Stall, he knows what he's talking about even less than usual this time around.

 

[Shjade]

more time in it, either via the training grounds, experimenting with different weapons or the new game plus option.

Pretty sure you can't add "new game plus" to a playthrough's time given you'd have to actually finish playing through to start a new game plus. >.>

I'm listening to the soundtrack now on their site. Don't know if I'll buy that, but definitely going to get the game just on merit of its music. (Though to be honest, it almost had me at that narrator narrating falling off the world. Cute.) I hope the PC version plays well.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Does this game remind anyone of [link href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_Mana"]Legend of Mana[/link]?

 

[PlasticTree]

more time in it, either via the training grounds, experimenting with different weapons or the new game plus option.

Pretty sure you can't add "new game plus" to a playthrough's time given you'd have to actually finish playing through to start a new game plus. >.>

True, obviously. But no matter how you look at it, it is a function that could possibly increase the amount of fun you have with the game. I wouldn't add these hours to the 'official playthrough time' in a review like Justin's, but in a game like this, where the new game plus option is actually a lot of fun (since it's very likely that you haven't really tried out all weapons the first time), I'd say that it's worth mentioning.

 

[draythefingerless]

Why is it that the ultimate formula for a quasi-artistic game is of a child being plunged into some situation that is bigger than them? Why? How many quasi-artistic games is that now that revolve around this general concept? It's not poignant anymore... it's just cliche (I really can't wait for someone to parody it). Besides that, the visuals are just ugly. I don't need to play the game to see that. They look nice with a handpainted look (that look is also approaching cliche), but it's all too fucking cluttered and busy that it destroys any traces of intrigue or beauty. The soundtrack also strikes me as eclectic for the sake of being eclectic. Oh man... trip-hop (you might not have heard of it, it's sort of obscure) AND blues? SO DEEP. That's almost the textbook definition of pretentious.

I'll pass. This game just looks like pretentious, hipster garbage... the crap that someone that HAS to believe "games are totally art man" to have fun with them would play. Perhaps its fun, but I would rather not deal with something that puts forward this weak semblance of depth in order to pander to one of the most obnoxious subsets of the gaming community. I love indie games, but I cannot help to sigh when the community excretes something like this.

its only called the kid in context. its narrated by a fairly old man, so anything from a lil boy to a 30 year old adult could be considered. the kid is also fairly trained, as is told by the narration, and has combat experience prior to this.

as for cluttered, it doesnt get cluttered. maybe some times the screen becomes a cluster fuck, but thats usual when theres 20+ enemies on screen at the same time. the visuals are very on rails, and they never deviate, making sure you have a clear and contextual view of the game thru out all of it without having mixed artistic style in it that would confuse you.

music...youre being an idiot of you think mixing genres is automatically pretentious. furthermore, there are songs here with no semblance of trippyness or experimentation. some of them are just damn good.
no one is telling you to call thsi game art. this game pushes EXTREMELY GOOD gameplay mechanics. the shrine(great difficulty system), the leveling, the forgery, the weapon selection, wich has EVERY type of weapon you want and use of timing in combat for better performance. the story is good and relates to the characters. your sense of depth, or sense of pretentious depth, is only created by yourself.