Fez

I have a hard time believing the overtly negative commenters here are game developers. I can understand people not liking Phil Fish, or the game not being their cup of tea — but if you’re a game developer, you should at least be able to recognize that he’s made an impressive and quite unique game.

Anyway, you really shouldn’t judge TIGSource discussions by the front page. The discussions on the forums are generally a lot more rewarding and not as troll-infested.

The thing with words, is that sometimes their meaning are a little subjective… So I’ll use numbers to explain what I think it’s going on. Fez is a 7 out of 10 game, but with the hype it’s getting 9 out of 10, and everyone’s like… booya, it’s not a 9, it’s a 7! And everyone’s like you’re so jelly, and then people start taking sides and they say it’s a 1 out of 10, booya! and then people take the opportunity to point out how smart they are and everyone else on the internet is so retarded, and in the process they say it’s 10 out of 10, and we all lose grasp of reality by the end of the day.

Have you played the game?

 You didn’t get the note?
Buying indie products means you’re obligated to unconditionally love whatever crap the devs put out. Doesn’t matter if the creator in question is a total douchebag.
The fact they obviously bought reviews from IGN and had support from Microsoft Game Studios is just coincidence, Phil is really a poor harmless indie game dev with a sailor mouth, we really shouldn’t complain that he is treating people like shit online, told a small Japanese dev to his face in front of a live audience at the GDC 2011 that his whole country “just sucks” (no hyperbole, those were his exact words) and acted like an asshole to people online and out of it.

If any of use would put any effort into game development then we’d definitely take less than half a decade to make a pixelated, boring challenge less platformer where the main catch is how cool these graphx look when rotated and you the only consequence for failing is respawining immediately 5 seconds behind the point you were, of course.

I feel more jealous about Konjak, who is a surprisingly talented pixel artist who seems to be struggling with lack of motivation, I feel envy or the guys behind Team Meat Boy for genuinely making a fast, skillful, acrobatic platformer, or team VVVVV for getting retro the Spectrum aesthetics down so well and updating the obsolete platformers from the Spectrum era up to modern standards without losing, err, their obsolescence.

I feel envy for the creators of Bastion and Braid for integrating narrative and gameplay so artistically and seamlessly well, while looking both beautiful and creatively fun to play.

I feel envy for Notch for the ridiculous amount of money he earned through fan mods, and I feel envy for Derek Yu but seriously I won’t kiss your ass any more than your fans already do. I liked you better before you sold off. And the list goes on.

The only thing FEZ did right was buying out internet reviewers and earning hipster attention because all of its dated unoriginal gimmicks are oh so “bold” and innovative.
Look the map doesn’t even work, it’s totally on purpose guys. If you hate it you’re just jelly, too DEEP for you, etc.

I can tell from your reply that you have not played the game.

Look, you just said you liked Braid; cool, thanks, I’m glad you liked it.  So if I designed a game that you think is good, do I get at least a little bit of benefit-of-the-doubt when I say that Fez is good?

No.
I did play the demo btw.  I’m not giving him money just because you say so but nice try. Will pirate when it comes out on Pc. Would that make you happy?

You’ve got it backwards. I’m not saying their criticisms are invalid because they’re not game developers, I’m saying they’re probably not (serious) game developers if they can’t see how impressive Fez is. I’m talking about being able to look beyond your own personal tastes (or bias because you don’t like the developer) and recognizing an impressive piece of work.

Sir, I have been defeated by your superior intellect and your razor-sharp wit.

Correction:
*WASN’T a total trainwreck.
I love Metroid Prime.

As someone who has played a reasonable amount of the game (I have 200%ed it), it sure looks to me like you have not played it and have no idea what you are talking about.  I wager it’s similar for anyone else who has played.  

My recommendation is to stop digging the hole you’re in.  Then again, maybe it doesn’t matter, since you are posting all these cutting remarks anonymously.  You’re so brave!

Ironically this is exactly what Phil said  to Makoto Goto, in a way.

Oh, hey, Joe Blow makes an appearance. This kind of analogy is really idiotic because developing a game is unbelievably more difficult and time-consuming than making a few bitter posts on the internet criticizing another one. As you should know very well.

Since you’re here, Jonathan, why did you remove a puzzle from The Witness because you thought it might be a little too hard for unskilled players? As deficient as Fez is, I don’t think Fish compromised at all when designing its puzzles. If people get stuck on something and don’t have the patience or interest to figure it out, they can look at a FAQ. Myst and Riven refused to grant any concessions to the lazy or stupid, and they were far better off for it.

No one’s jealous here. I’d rightfully feel terrible about myself for my unwarranted outburst if I was Fish. I’ve also seen plenty of negative criticism of Fez here backed up by hard evidence.

No offense taken at the sex year old remark, as I was just paraphrasing Phil after all.

The bragging about a 2008 award he won for a single level and then telling people to suck on his dick actually did happen. Check his twitter.

Which still took place 3 months before the game was actually  released.
But you’re right, not that it really matters.

Reading this entire comment thread was more fun than playing the actual game. 
Believe me I got 576% on this thread, it kinda sucks on your first 200% but then the pace quickly catches up from there.

Those who disagree haven’t even posted beyond 153% and can’t make an opinion.

Had you played, you would know why 200% is not arbitrary!

But that’s not all!
You get to wear pink gay pride SHADES!

It’s better when public is pointlessly negative, rather than genuinely uninterested. I got to know about Fez just because of Phil’s public behavior.

Right. I’ve seen people behave like total tits here before so I thought you were just another hateful person.

G.O.T.E. A.D.

I just wanted ask, Mr. Fish, what possible benefit is in it for you, the developer, to have the game be 360 exclusive (If that’s not actually the case and it will come out on other platforms, I must have misunderstood). Because it seems to me you’re limiting your potential audience for no good reason. 

I mean, you run a business now. You’re in the business of selling games. Wouldn’t you want to have your product available to the widest possible audience? You have a gigantic market of PC users who would potentially buy your game. The PC community hyped the game up long before anyone else even knew about. Where’s is the logic in not providing them a way to buy it now?

Or maybe its just an issue of extra development time needed for the port. Or a standard XBLA exclusivity contract that’ll expire in a few months. Fine, cool. But just let us know what the official word is. 

 I feel like it is important to seperate the art from the artist, unless the artist’s politics somehow transfer over to the game or if they did something truly deplorable like murder or something . I don’t agree with Tom Cruise’s whole Scientology deal but I loved the newest mission impossible,  Alan Moore comes across as an angry old man but I still love his comics.  And Phil Fish is a huge jerk but I still played (and loved) Fez because I am not going to judge a person’s work purely based on how they act.

Wintel users who were left stranded can play my awesome game instead:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35DVGAJgqc0

Also, Toaplan forever.

G.O.A.T.S.E ?

Uh, I meant to say sentries. Choke on them too.