I played Madden 09 today on the 360. That thing was hard as hell.

But Braid has been overwhelmingly push by the forums and reviewers as a "must buy".  Reading those reviews makes it sound like you're not a real game if you don't want/like Braid.

That's why I took Buy Boom Blox out of my sig.  Because as much as i like the game, it's not for everyone.  I changed my recommendation.

A slight warning of difficulty for one game on a console shouldn't be taken as a personal insult.

Because I think Braid is different.  I can read a faq for something like Uncharted, Gears of War, or Super Mario Galaxy and it doesn't ruin the game.  So those people that buy those games purely on hype are still fine because if they get stuck or whatever it's no catastrophic thing to read a faq.

With something like Braid it's a very hard game and everyone is telling everyone else to buy it.  Those people who don't like puzzle games for whatever reason are going to get stuck and refer to a faq and completely ruin the game.  What's the point of a puzzle game when you don't actually do the puzzles.

Even if someone wants to branch out and try new genres Braid isn't something you want to start with in the puzzle genre.  You'll get frustrated and never play the genre again.  If they started with something like Zack & Wiki that has a good learning curve or Portal which is something you can brute force your way through that also has familiar elements that would be better.  Braid would just frustrate those people.

I also make this thread because I know people that bought this game purely on hype and they hate puzzle games.  They come back telling everyone how terrible the game was because it's boring, no action, too hard, ect.

Don't you mean "Not everyone should buy Braid" and not "Everyone should not buy Braid"?

2 completely different messages.

Whoops, my bad (it's 1:30AM and I worked a 13 hour day so it's been a long day).

Oh well, the thread will probably garner more interest this way.

the game has a demo, so people should know what they are getting in to.

But reading an FAQ won't stop a non shooter fan from hating their purchase of Gears of War or Uncharted though. I just feel like you're stating something a bit too obvious. First of all, it's well documented through reviews, forum posts and the demo that this game is:

1. A Platformer
2. A Puzzle Game
3. Difficult as shit

There are no real surprises in Braid past those three, and all are out there on the forums(where you are writing this) and in reviews all across the board. Plus Braid is difficult even past the puzzles. It's quite a challenging platformer also, which no FAQ is ever going to help you with.

Also why can't people branch out into Braid as their first puzzler? I haven't played Zack and Wiki or Portal, but thoroughly enjoyed Braid just fine. No learning curve required. If I weren't intelligent enough to figure out every puzzle for myself and had to make use of a walkthrough for certain puzzles, I still have the satisfaction of the wonderful art direction, amazing soundtrack and bonkers as shit vague story.

If people don't like puzzle games then they shouldn't have bought the game. Their time with it should have ended at the demo when they realized this was not for them. No one with any remote amount of intelligence would buy this game off hype alone, when a demo sits one column up from the purchase of the game.

I think the reason I'm really giving you a hard time in this thread though is because you're true point in this is how difficult the game is and that rubs me the wrong way. As someone who didn't start gaming in the 3D era, i've come accustomed to my 2D games beating me over the skull repeatedly with their difficulty and realize that Braid isn't really hard at all. Sure anyone growing up on Pokemon and Brain Age are going to find Braid hard, but who cares? Those people want their games to flow from beginning to end because they grew up with their hands held by developers too scared to offer challenge. Braid is a 2D games loosely paying homage to Super Mario Bros. It is not for the easygoing crowd in the first place, thus doesn't need to be considered. In other news, neither will Mega Man 9 be for them, or Bionic Commando Rearmed, so no need for the inevitable follow-up threads. I would say a good 70% of games on Xbox Live are difficult enough for most people that they aren't capable of finishing them, so Braid is a shoe in for the Xbox Live audience. In fact, it happens to be one of the easiest games on the whole service.

When people recommend Braid to forumgoers, they are doing it in a general sense, but expect each person to do their own research into whether this game is truly for them. Telling someone they won't like Braid if they don't like puzzle games is telling someone they won't like Braid if they don't like Tetris, and that goes for recommenders also. Neither game has anything in common and yet are bunched into your explanation of who should not get Braid. I have also personally not seen one person on these forums yet say Braid was too difficult or that they didn't like it. In fact it's probably the most universally loved modern game we have on these forums right now. If anything, Braid is the one game we SHOULD be recommending(other than Castle Crashers). Maybe we need warning threads for every other game(other than Castle Crashers).

hard or not its fun!

Although there is some truth (not every game is for everyone) I think the title is misleading and the difficulty of Braid is over-exaggerated imo.

If there was one line I would use to sell Braid, it would be this - the game eases you into the puzzles and you will feel very very rewarded when you finish the game.

The magic is that one puzzle can be hard for someone but be easy for someone else. Its all a matter of thinking differently from a different perspective for each puzzle. The most I spent thinking about a puzzle was 10 mins and by golly, you will feel very pleased with yourself for figuring it out. If you look at a sample of 17 VGCers who have bought the game, more than half of them have completed it in less than half a week.

Also, there are boss fights and platforming elements that make up alot of the game as well.

Also, this is alot easier than games like Zack & Wiki, Portal and Lost Vikings.

Update: I just read what you said about Z&W and Portal and I must say I had a very different experience. The learning curve for Z&W was very high because of so many items and components and I wouldnt have got anywhere near the end without an faq. And I spent way more than 10 mins on each puzzle. I couldnt brute force my way through Portal (unless you mean the 1-2 times you could just jump past the guns).