The story is like Sanitarium's. An old-old adventure game. Never the less, until you've got the ending it's something you wouldn't expect and that is something I'm happy about,
*SPOILER* The best part of the entire game where everything I "Thought" I knew turned upside down was the part where you "Save" the Princess and then have to re-do it but backwards, I ended up doing that mission multiple times due to its awesomeness and was so well hidden!
i think it's pretty open ended, and i wouldn't say the princess was a figment of his imagination. i thought it was a tie in, or metaphor for the relationship. the last thing you read as everything works backwards is that he picked up a stone and thought it was a good thing to build the castle with. there are a lot of ways to interpret that.
@fdfederation No. Above-ground nuclear tests were often done on top of towers; no bombs were dropped from cranes.
One of the main purposes of the tower was to reduce close-in fallout. Smaller particles of fallout allow it to disperse over a large area and stay airborne for long enough that the most short-lived, most radioactive isotopes go away.
@TheDirector999 how in the last stage you start off as the hero but finish the villain. on the page you quoted "someone near him said 'it worked', someone else said "now we are all sons of bitches" is a 100% direct quote from a scientist on ground 0 of the manhatten project after the first successful a-bomb explosion. throw that with what you got in the video, especially the alternate ending makes it crystal clear this isnt a mario plot line even thou it acts like it until the end
Here's my problem with the A-bomb theory: Start up the game and then walk into Tim's house. If you look closely in the farthest room on the right you can plainly see a personal computer sitting on a desk. How commonplace was it to see those during the time of the Manhattan project (mid 1940's)?
Honestly I'm not a big fan of taking the bomb idea concretically. It kinda beats the point of figuring out the story of the game for yourself as there's no one true answer. Braid is good art, and good art can have interpretations and meanings beyond the artist's (in this case the developer's) intentions.
Manhattin? Spell check required over here. Your explanation is very confused!!!!!
The princess is more commonly seen as a metaphor for the bomb - she IS the bomb, not a figment of his imagination. And the bomb testing was described as most likely taking place in New Mexico
The princess could mean two things, perhaps she is the bomb as you say, and I feel that she also represents the literal, which would be his wife. The ending where she's running away from him could symbolize how he drove her away because he was going crazy knowing that what he was creating would kill thousands, and the knight she ran to was a representation of the old Tim, who was noble and romantic. Perhaps she ran to him because she died like the old Tim did when the bomb went off.
wtf this is totaly nonsense -.- why would the manhattan project blow up manhatten??? it was in new mexico-.- but is has to do something with a nuclear bomb, hmm
i have 2 thing to say for this game ..1 they dont make games like this anymore like having a meaning and confusing company forgot that is a key for good money on the game make the player think what more that he unlock and make the game more curios also 2 we all thinking that the game is about time goin backward and foward and a princess is a nuclear bomb due to the sound of explotion buuuut.. have we ever tought of the most importen rule of time. dont touch when you get 7 star you can
I think the story is the one of a man that did many things wrong to his wife. Loosing her, he became obsessive to get her back making more mystakes. Even when controling time in a reverse fantasy world of his, he couldn't undo his utlimate mistake. The more he was chasing after the object of his desire the more she ran away. Until the moment when he finaly get the object of his desire, he saw that he destroyed everything else in his life for that thing. So he his now more alone than ever.
i think the princess represents his mother, his wife, and the A-bomb, the princess being there in another form in each of the stages of tims life. now what the princess really is is just his own fictional object of desire created by his needy nature because he was spoiled as a child. the game is basicly just a road through al his own thoughts, and its story is told from his point of view, wich i found very interesting.
absolutly epic game both story and gameplay wise, piece of art indeed
@dolonuts they mention "the desert" in one of the books. This most likely refers to New Mexico. Also the if you touch the princess in the alternate ending she explodes and the screen goes white. This is not a theory it's pretty fucking obvious if you're paying attention to all the elements of the game.
actually at the end if you actually read the whol part where it ends "now we're all bitches" it sounds like it could be true. "after a fervent night of tinkering" could mean he was working on it. "he kneeled bhehind a bunker in the desert.... held up a piece of welders glass to his eyes" he was in a desert getting ready to test the bomb, and the glasses are to protect from their eyes from the light of the explosion. and if you look at an A- bomb explosion the clouds split around the explosion
This is the true story with many references and even some parts explained by the authors of the game:
gamefaqs(dot)com/pc/955510-braid/faqs/53842
It has to do with the nuclear bomb obviously, the nuclear bomb is the princess of the main character who is one of the scientist related with the manhattan project.
If you notice the city is not in flames and it's just the susnset, but if you go to the attic you can see the twin towers so it's Manhattan. Read that link
I still think that "Tim" goes for "Time". His time bending abilities are because he's actually time itself. He tries to get the princess, but the princess always seems to escape him.
After seeing a few videos of braid, i've been wondering if the nuclear explosion had something to do with a time-paradox... Or rather, an inverse time-paradox, perhaps?
i havent played this game,at yet,i find it extremly interesting how mamny poeple are trying to find it meaning to it,it really caugth up my curiosity,so far,this one about the A-bomb,as defenitly been the most inetersting to me
Tim was the mind behind the nuke BUT the princess was NOT the bomb. The guy who created the game said so himself. The princess was his obsession. His obsession led to the A-bomb.
However, I still don't think Braid deserves all the hype that it got and continues to get, though. Overall, strictly as a game, it's not all that great. Sure it's interesting, and pretty creative (and frustrating) at times, but it's far from the best or most interesting game ever created.
When I started to play this game I was like "hmmm, an interesting platform game, where you can reserve the time... cool, great ability, nice puzzles", and when the story started to explain, I was totally surprised, what a great, deep story. I was really surprised, what a masterpiece!
I like to think that the whole game is backwards, not just world one. Meaning, the first level is actually the last level. Of course, that would mean that the books at the beginnig are useless, but that fits nicely with the rest of the game.
The problem with interpretation is that usually there is not just one way, and the author doesn't intend a single way of interpretation. While many hints suggest the nuclear bomb interpretation, there are also many things said in the texts that can be laid out as a broader meaning where the princess may simply be something one chases after. In life, mistakes can't be undone and things can't be unsaid. I think Braid, allowing time control, is a study on the "What if that was possible?"
Any of you guys tried running through the epilogue and reading the books in reverse order (starting from the castle)? You might be surprised at the result..
It's good that I actually hit this. Since I didn't expect any story in this game, I wasn't looking for one. I would have missed the most magnificent story of any computer game known to me.
I, personally, believe that it is a story that works both ways, forwards and backwards. One way the Princess represents the Atombomb he is chasing after, the other way around the princess represents his love, that leaves him BECAUSE of his pursuit of the bomb and the hardships that go along with it.
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This game is quite interesting. However, "...the weirdest, yet most fun, game of all time". Sorry, but I disagree. Even the NES Super Mario Bros 1 was weirder, yet more fun and trascendental.
@Carrzy1 No problem, I knew beforehand what the word "transcendental" meant: (from transcendent) a : exceeding usual limits : surpassing b : extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience. That's what I think about the Super Mario series.
Oh, and you should keep an eye on your spelling so you don't confuse "word" with "world". *smirk*
@Carrzy1 No problem, I knew beforehand what the word "transcendental" meant: (from transcendent) a : exceeding usual limits : surpassing b : extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience. That's what I think about the Super Mario series.
Oh, and you should keep an eye on your spelling so you don't confuse "word" with "world". *smirk*
I was thinking while playing the game that she might not exist, because there's that one part when the dinosaur at the castle says "are you sure she exists?" or something like that.
@vengence7times good point man. i almost forgot about that.
either the atom bomb is a metaphor for the princess, or the princess is a metaphor for the atom bomb. IMO, either way trying to figure out what the game is truly about is not only futile, but also missing the point. it's futile because, like any good plot, it is intended to be ambiguous, and its missing the point because the story relies on its themes to leave an impact, not a definitive plot like most others.
The maker of the game stated that there is no single correct interpretation, and that the meaning of the story is much more complex than simply Tim inventing the A-bomb. There is evidence suggesting so, but the whole A-bomb idea is most likely a metaphor.
@dannystoll84 The above is true. The creator also said the city isn't necessarily supposed to be on fire, though he was ok with people thinking this. However, he also makes it clear that he had a very specific meaning in mind for everything in the game, and the only reason he doesn't reveal that meaning to the masses is because he values individual interpretations much more than a simple given "answer." I do agree that the overall message goes beyond the simple atom bomb allegory.
Seems to be inspired by surrealist platformers of yesteryear, so it makes sense that the story is surreal. One person sees a romantic interest in the Princess, another a mother figure, world peace, Heaven. Then maybe the evil is the A-bomb, or losing your girlfriend, the innocence of childhood, or going to Hell. Seems like the game tried to make you think of all of those things with the books just to represent in a more artistic way the struggle of good versus evil in traditional platformers.
Anyone who can actually decipher the ending so brilliantly has a PhD in philosophy, great job understanding, I would be surprised if the developers actually knew what the ending meant.
@theMOANKAYproject he had a rather good relationship to his real wife at first, but she wasn't enough for him: he was drawn to "the princess" instead. So his new love was to a bomb, yes, but that doesn't make the bomb itself a metaphor.
if tim is trying to create the fateful A-bomb then wouldn't he represent Robert Oppenheimer? and as he had a massive burden of such as the picture manhattan is completely destroyed I guess oppenheimer thought the A-bomb would come back to america after they dropped it on nagasaki and hirosmima
The game references arguments, nukes, lost loves, etc. all the mistakes we make in life. There are plenty of Mario Bros. references too and then of course the whole twist that Tim is the bad guy and the princess is actually trying to get away from him... I'd agree there's no specific meaning, but the whole 'time manipulation' theme basically questions: if you actually COULD change time to try and correct your life's mistakes by doing things differently, would yuu actually make things any better?
The first quote is from Robert Jay Lifton who was a psychologist, notable for his work around the effects on war and genocide on the human condition. the second The famous words of Kenneth Tompkins Bainbridge, uttered directly after the successful detonation of the first nuclear bomb, the “Trinity Test.”It is, simultaneously, the story of a relationship so burdened by a man’s obsessive, inquisitive nature that the search for his ‘Princess’, his power is the one thing that drives them apart.
There are many references to the nuclear bomb not just one. So its far from a "leap" there are 2 direct quotes, and the candy in the candystore references John Wheeler’s It-From-Bit theory and the other the idea of "ethical calculus" look it up. In addition the picture from world 6 shows a famous WWll era poster. Not to mention the sound of a bomb and the girl exploding on contact. Manhattan is also referenced "Manhattan project" hope you know what that is. And countless others.
@ThePoopman00 Yes, but author also said there are no things without meaning or purpose in this game. (and I am still skullfucked by those two clouds at the end :( )
For all you happy theorists out there, that think you've got the games meaning nailed, I just wanna let you know, that the creator of the game has gone on record to say that the story and the ending of the game, is abstract and open to interpretation, and doesn't actually have a specific meaning. So if you think that it's about a nuclear bomb because of one quote in one part of the game, well you're making a leap, and it isn't actually what the creator had intended. But good on ya, anyway.
@Taniseth Actually, I think you're taking that wrong. If you think that it it's about a nuclear bomb... it is! but it is also about a man killing a woman... and about other things. What the author meant was, he specifically made it so it could mean more than one thing. :) So in a way, everyone is right :P
Okay, so that quote with the "1" is supposed to be the final clue as to what the heck is going on. This is the only interpretation that makes sense of the alternate ending in Braid.
makes perfect sense. I never played it (yet :P) but ive seen gameplay vids, and heard the nuke theory before...and it all fits once you see the end. 1)the city's on FIRE and most of the buildings are DESTROYED. 2) the constellation is of a princess 3) his paintings are the world bgs. 4) combine ingredients 1,2,3, mix well, shake evenly, add a dash of guilt and a whole bag of loneliness and last-man-alive syndrome, and bam! Timetraveling psychopath. He may not have used to been but he is now.....
haha i just finished this game and was dumbfounded by the ending. i had no idea what all the passages meant, thanks for explaining it. this game is way deeper than i could have ever imagined when i got it.
Tim had a wife. He wasn't very kind to his wife, so she ran away, and Tim is trying to find her.
Remember, everything in World 1 is backwards. If you reverse time (were things are chonologically forward) the princess is actually trying to kill Tim, and the "angry" knight is actually saving her.
@Orbruler true, but then if you touch her everything goes boom. I think teh game is ment to have multiple endings and each is determined by the player's instinct.
@Orbruler I thought this too, but maybe it is Tim himself who is trying to stop him from making the atom bomb? The Abomb could very much kill him as much as anyone else, so when he is developing it he have doubts if it really is good to create the bomb. And all these doubts are the things "She" throws" at him to make him stop. And the guy who takes her away are the ones using them in the wars that followed.
@TheDirector999 Actually the ending of the game is pretty ambiguous, and allows both interpretations. We can read the epiloge and think that Tim found a way to reverse time, to undo his mistakes and find his "princess" again. So, this is not about how it ended, it is about the road Tim walked. He loved her ("her" can be what you want to be), became possessive, made mistakes, and fell in regret.
@Orbruler You can also connect two interpretations. Tim had a wife and was scientist creating A-Bomb. He thought that he was helping him and princess, but his work was making more and more important than princess (his work is represented with "shop with sweets" in epilogue). He couldn't realize that he was hurting princess because of his obsession. He didn't notice that princess is getting away from him (World 1-1). "He wanted to protect princess", but he did it in wrong way. She left him.
I thought it was like Super Mario!
naildumummalastnite 12 hours ago
if by fun you mean rage inducing .w.
NekitoTwilight 2 days ago
The story is like Sanitarium's. An old-old adventure game. Never the less, until you've got the ending it's something you wouldn't expect and that is something I'm happy about,
Komamuram 3 weeks ago 2
@Komamuram Man, I haven't played Sanitarium in a long time...
TheDirector999 2 weeks ago
No, I havent collected the eight stars. But thanks for telling me the princess blows up... wtf...
SystemFreaKk13 3 weeks ago
@SystemFreaKk13 ...Sorry?
TheDirector999 3 weeks ago
Who the fuck who'd of figured that one out I thought it was a love story thanks for explaining
NoBuddy960 1 month ago
music?
gmccullough101 1 month ago
@gmccullough101 This song is Maenam by Jamie Seiber. Spelling is probably wrong. Just saying.
TheDirector999 1 month ago
@TheDirector999 Thanks!
gmccullough10 1 month ago
*SPOILER* The best part of the entire game where everything I "Thought" I knew turned upside down was the part where you "Save" the Princess and then have to re-do it but backwards, I ended up doing that mission multiple times due to its awesomeness and was so well hidden!
Jshell123 1 month ago
i think it's pretty open ended, and i wouldn't say the princess was a figment of his imagination. i thought it was a tie in, or metaphor for the relationship. the last thing you read as everything works backwards is that he picked up a stone and thought it was a good thing to build the castle with. there are a lot of ways to interpret that.
ratfinkskates 2 months ago
the best interpretation is that he was a RAPIST
GenoSkill 2 months ago 7
the ending was beautiful not confusing.
IamJacksColon4 2 months ago
@IamJacksColon4 I'd say it was both.
Tranquilance 1 month ago
The apple falling could be a metaphor for the bomb falling. If you watch old nuclear weapons tests, the bomb (apple) drops from a crane (tree).
fdfederation 2 months ago
@fdfederation No. Above-ground nuclear tests were often done on top of towers; no bombs were dropped from cranes.
One of the main purposes of the tower was to reduce close-in fallout. Smaller particles of fallout allow it to disperse over a large area and stay airborne for long enough that the most short-lived, most radioactive isotopes go away.
soylentgreenb 2 months ago
@fdfederation I'm pretty sure it's a quote from somewhere..
Tranquilance 1 month ago
this theory has alot more weight to it then in this video. tons of supporting examples got missed. if you care ill point some out
crustytowel 2 months ago
@crustytowel Actally, yeah, I'd love to hear what you have to say about it.
TheDirector999 2 months ago
@TheDirector999 how in the last stage you start off as the hero but finish the villain. on the page you quoted "someone near him said 'it worked', someone else said "now we are all sons of bitches" is a 100% direct quote from a scientist on ground 0 of the manhatten project after the first successful a-bomb explosion. throw that with what you got in the video, especially the alternate ending makes it crystal clear this isnt a mario plot line even thou it acts like it until the end
crustytowel 2 months ago
Thank you for explaining this. I loved the game, but I was so confused about the ending. Lol.
ihearttruffles27 3 months ago
Here's my problem with the A-bomb theory: Start up the game and then walk into Tim's house. If you look closely in the farthest room on the right you can plainly see a personal computer sitting on a desk. How commonplace was it to see those during the time of the Manhattan project (mid 1940's)?
Orl13 3 months ago
@Orl13 Everybody's a critic...
TheDirector999 3 months ago 10
@TheDirector999 spongebob?
ushmo10 1 week ago
I always thought that he was a retard....
like some sort of an authist... that was what I got from it...
but that quote "Now we are all sons of bitches" how could I have missed it?!?!?
GegoXaren 3 months ago
Honestly I'm not a big fan of taking the bomb idea concretically. It kinda beats the point of figuring out the story of the game for yourself as there's no one true answer. Braid is good art, and good art can have interpretations and meanings beyond the artist's (in this case the developer's) intentions.
RRRadish 4 months ago
@RRRadish
Curiosity remains a solvent,
for the most imminent of answers.
But if curiosity remains an unanswerable thing,
there is no meaning of anything.
Interboredom 3 months ago
@Interboredom Your point being? o.o I'm not really understanding your reply. Probably because English isn't my first language. xD
RRRadish 3 months ago
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Such a sad story.
ReaperWEare 4 months ago
Manhattin? Spell check required over here. Your explanation is very confused!!!!!
The princess is more commonly seen as a metaphor for the bomb - she IS the bomb, not a figment of his imagination. And the bomb testing was described as most likely taking place in New Mexico
jcamjcam 4 months ago
thx for the video. You know, you could stay only 1-2 seconds and we stop the video to be able to read each time.
Aureasaetas 4 months ago
WOWWWWWWWWW, FUCK WOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW
:O
Frankpo98 5 months ago
also I think they just say Manhattan is the city to try and get people to come to the same conclusion you have, I say well done.
TheHellcannon 5 months ago
The princess could mean two things, perhaps she is the bomb as you say, and I feel that she also represents the literal, which would be his wife. The ending where she's running away from him could symbolize how he drove her away because he was going crazy knowing that what he was creating would kill thousands, and the knight she ran to was a representation of the old Tim, who was noble and romantic. Perhaps she ran to him because she died like the old Tim did when the bomb went off.
TheHellcannon 5 months ago 2
makes sense, in the start everything is on fire!
123amsterdan456 5 months ago
wtf this is totaly nonsense -.- why would the manhattan project blow up manhatten??? it was in new mexico-.- but is has to do something with a nuclear bomb, hmm
Psyblader501 5 months ago
Tim is the Knight. Or rather the Knight is Tim.
paerarru 5 months ago
touch the princess meaning you break the time you basicly created a parawell universe and chornologicly f thing up we can use time theorys
bobaneko 5 months ago
i have 2 thing to say for this game ..1 they dont make games like this anymore like having a meaning and confusing company forgot that is a key for good money on the game make the player think what more that he unlock and make the game more curios also 2 we all thinking that the game is about time goin backward and foward and a princess is a nuclear bomb due to the sound of explotion buuuut.. have we ever tought of the most importen rule of time. dont touch when you get 7 star you can
bobaneko 5 months ago
Manhattan project*
Also, it took place in New Mexico.
and it never erupted in Manhattan, It erupted in Japan.
rszdemon 6 months ago
Weirdest? No game can out weird Katamari Damacy!
watercat8 6 months ago 2
Tim is subtly an antihero, who wanted to fix his mistakes just to earn his love back from the princess.
JohnshiBRPG 6 months ago
I think the 'she' represent the things he holds dear in life. Which is not one object, but two.
One is his relation with a woman. He wants to own her and bend her will to his liking.
The second is science. He feels restricted by her and wants to break free from her bonds and rules. Unable to see the outcome of his research.
The girl walks away to her knight in shining armor and when he thinks he mastered science, he realised he has made a monster (A-Bomb).
Thus his world goes up in flames.
PhoenixDive 6 months ago
I think the story is the one of a man that did many things wrong to his wife. Loosing her, he became obsessive to get her back making more mystakes. Even when controling time in a reverse fantasy world of his, he couldn't undo his utlimate mistake. The more he was chasing after the object of his desire the more she ran away. Until the moment when he finaly get the object of his desire, he saw that he destroyed everything else in his life for that thing. So he his now more alone than ever.
clefdefa 6 months ago
i think the princess represents his mother, his wife, and the A-bomb, the princess being there in another form in each of the stages of tims life. now what the princess really is is just his own fictional object of desire created by his needy nature because he was spoiled as a child. the game is basicly just a road through al his own thoughts, and its story is told from his point of view, wich i found very interesting.
absolutly epic game both story and gameplay wise, piece of art indeed
azorazan 7 months ago
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Now we are all sons of bitches
Supremenez 7 months ago
you guys do realize the manhattan project was done in new mexico right? in los alamos? your theory is retarded.
dolonuts 7 months ago
@dolonuts Thank you! :D
TheDirector999 7 months ago 14
@dolonuts well it actually makes perfect sence. Just google "now we are all sons of bitches" and find and read the quote from the game.
unholyjebus 6 months ago
@dolonuts but manhattan in flames is only a symbol of the manhattan project, not the location
RRFGI 4 months ago
@dolonuts they mention "the desert" in one of the books. This most likely refers to New Mexico. Also the if you touch the princess in the alternate ending she explodes and the screen goes white. This is not a theory it's pretty fucking obvious if you're paying attention to all the elements of the game.
unbiasedfanboy5792 3 months ago
they're is know spoon
poolehart 7 months ago
or it could be what we all think it is, but this thought is still fun to think about.
mjoniaux21 7 months ago
actually at the end if you actually read the whol part where it ends "now we're all bitches" it sounds like it could be true. "after a fervent night of tinkering" could mean he was working on it. "he kneeled bhehind a bunker in the desert.... held up a piece of welders glass to his eyes" he was in a desert getting ready to test the bomb, and the glasses are to protect from their eyes from the light of the explosion. and if you look at an A- bomb explosion the clouds split around the explosion
mjoniaux21 7 months ago
Also you should read all the books in the epilogue.
That's where the real story is told.
The books on the clouds are just metaphors
TheChileanpsycho 8 months ago
This is the true story with many references and even some parts explained by the authors of the game:
gamefaqs(dot)com/pc/955510-braid/faqs/53842
It has to do with the nuclear bomb obviously, the nuclear bomb is the princess of the main character who is one of the scientist related with the manhattan project.
If you notice the city is not in flames and it's just the susnset, but if you go to the attic you can see the twin towers so it's Manhattan. Read that link
TheChileanpsycho 8 months ago
I think the story was better when I thought the princess signified his wife.
XAutopilotX 8 months ago 3
Comment removed
awesomen8 8 months ago
Tim:what have i done? ive killed evrybody due to reversing time! *cries*
Xpert658 8 months ago
I still think that "Tim" goes for "Time". His time bending abilities are because he's actually time itself. He tries to get the princess, but the princess always seems to escape him.
ldjcovers 9 months ago
Weirdest game of all time?
Somebody hasn't played Yume Nikki.
Windyshoot 9 months ago
@Windyshoot
go to the top of the screen, type Linda Cube cutscene.
enjoy complete madness.
ShadowWolfRising 7 months ago
What a twist!
smashballed 9 months ago
After seeing a few videos of braid, i've been wondering if the nuclear explosion had something to do with a time-paradox... Or rather, an inverse time-paradox, perhaps?
TheTrueDarkTiger 10 months ago
I'm guessing the flaming city in the background has significance.
LukeAlto2007 10 months ago
i havent played this game,at yet,i find it extremly interesting how mamny poeple are trying to find it meaning to it,it really caugth up my curiosity,so far,this one about the A-bomb,as defenitly been the most inetersting to me
dimitryryutta 10 months ago 2
@dimitryryutta Thank you!
TheDirector999 10 months ago
Tim was the mind behind the nuke BUT the princess was NOT the bomb. The guy who created the game said so himself. The princess was his obsession. His obsession led to the A-bomb.
jkh2007 10 months ago
the final level is the start of the game
Thenewdudue 10 months ago
This was a pretty good explanation of the story.
However, I still don't think Braid deserves all the hype that it got and continues to get, though. Overall, strictly as a game, it's not all that great. Sure it's interesting, and pretty creative (and frustrating) at times, but it's far from the best or most interesting game ever created.
Poisonjam7 10 months ago
I honestly didn't have that much fun playing it. It was more frustrating and confusing then it was fun; and ultimately, aren't games meant to be fun?
Poisonjam7 10 months ago
Or maybe he blew up his wife and the knight takes her to heaven
adrixshadow 10 months ago
wait the last scene is actually the princess escaping from tim right ? and not them both escaping from the fire ?
picorettte 11 months ago 3
@picorettte Yes, the princess is escaping from Tim.
TheDirector999 11 months ago 15
i like the A BOMB explanation best ... its creative!
flyLeonardofly 11 months ago
wow...
this is the best story in teh history of anything
ieetmelon 1 year ago
When I started to play this game I was like "hmmm, an interesting platform game, where you can reserve the time... cool, great ability, nice puzzles", and when the story started to explain, I was totally surprised, what a great, deep story. I was really surprised, what a masterpiece!
RatmanXX 1 year ago
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You spelled Manhattan wrong you idiot.
Rocketboy5 1 year ago
@Rocketboy5 Whoops! Sorry. Thanks for noticing!
TheDirector999 1 year ago 18
@Rocketboy5 LMAO, you are the real idiot for equating spelling and grammar to intelligence.
RHCPfan458 9 months ago
I like to think that the whole game is backwards, not just world one. Meaning, the first level is actually the last level. Of course, that would mean that the books at the beginnig are useless, but that fits nicely with the rest of the game.
TheStrongBadMan 1 year ago
The problem with interpretation is that usually there is not just one way, and the author doesn't intend a single way of interpretation. While many hints suggest the nuclear bomb interpretation, there are also many things said in the texts that can be laid out as a broader meaning where the princess may simply be something one chases after. In life, mistakes can't be undone and things can't be unsaid. I think Braid, allowing time control, is a study on the "What if that was possible?"
Arm0ry 1 year ago
Any of you guys tried running through the epilogue and reading the books in reverse order (starting from the castle)? You might be surprised at the result..
undrentide79 1 year ago
@undrentide79 Arghh I just tried it now and that must be why they put the magic floor in the Epilogue, to stop you from going back!
My head is completely done in now though, but thanks for the heads up on running through it backwards!
Carrzy1 1 year ago
It's good that I actually hit this. Since I didn't expect any story in this game, I wasn't looking for one. I would have missed the most magnificent story of any computer game known to me.
I, personally, believe that it is a story that works both ways, forwards and backwards. One way the Princess represents the Atombomb he is chasing after, the other way around the princess represents his love, that leaves him BECAUSE of his pursuit of the bomb and the hardships that go along with it.
TheTk112 1 year ago
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This game is quite interesting. However, "...the weirdest, yet most fun, game of all time". Sorry, but I disagree. Even the NES Super Mario Bros 1 was weirder, yet more fun and trascendental.
donbasuradenuevo 1 year ago
@donbasuradenuevo transcendental? Sure...
TheDirector999 1 year ago 3
@donbasuradenuevo Maybe you should look up the meaning of the world transcendental before you start throwing it around.
Carrzy1 1 year ago
@Carrzy1 No problem, I knew beforehand what the word "transcendental" meant: (from transcendent) a : exceeding usual limits : surpassing b : extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience. That's what I think about the Super Mario series.
Oh, and you should keep an eye on your spelling so you don't confuse "word" with "world". *smirk*
donbasuradenuevo 1 year ago
@donbasuradenuevo Touché, good sir!
Carrzy1 1 year ago
@Carrzy1 No problem, I knew beforehand what the word "transcendental" meant: (from transcendent) a : exceeding usual limits : surpassing b : extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience. That's what I think about the Super Mario series.
Oh, and you should keep an eye on your spelling so you don't confuse "word" with "world". *smirk*
donbasuradenuevo 1 year ago
@Carrzy1 Source: merriam-webster online dictionary
donbasuradenuevo 1 year ago
I was thinking while playing the game that she might not exist, because there's that one part when the dinosaur at the castle says "are you sure she exists?" or something like that.
vengence7times 1 year ago
@vengence7times good point man. i almost forgot about that.
either the atom bomb is a metaphor for the princess, or the princess is a metaphor for the atom bomb. IMO, either way trying to figure out what the game is truly about is not only futile, but also missing the point. it's futile because, like any good plot, it is intended to be ambiguous, and its missing the point because the story relies on its themes to leave an impact, not a definitive plot like most others.
dgrossman06 1 year ago 2
The maker of the game stated that there is no single correct interpretation, and that the meaning of the story is much more complex than simply Tim inventing the A-bomb. There is evidence suggesting so, but the whole A-bomb idea is most likely a metaphor.
dannystoll84 1 year ago
@dannystoll84 The above is true. The creator also said the city isn't necessarily supposed to be on fire, though he was ok with people thinking this. However, he also makes it clear that he had a very specific meaning in mind for everything in the game, and the only reason he doesn't reveal that meaning to the masses is because he values individual interpretations much more than a simple given "answer." I do agree that the overall message goes beyond the simple atom bomb allegory.
SketchHurricane 1 year ago
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Seems to be inspired by surrealist platformers of yesteryear, so it makes sense that the story is surreal. One person sees a romantic interest in the Princess, another a mother figure, world peace, Heaven. Then maybe the evil is the A-bomb, or losing your girlfriend, the innocence of childhood, or going to Hell. Seems like the game tried to make you think of all of those things with the books just to represent in a more artistic way the struggle of good versus evil in traditional platformers.
WanderLink 1 year ago
makes sense
Break226 1 year ago
@Break226 Thanks.
TheDirector999 1 year ago
it's open to interpretation like Limbo. I like games like that. You have a good theory I never thought about that.
crimsonflare506 1 year ago
Anyone who can actually decipher the ending so brilliantly has a PhD in philosophy, great job understanding, I would be surprised if the developers actually knew what the ending meant.
somesortofthing1 1 year ago
@somesortofthing1 Was that sarcasm?
BeGrunge 1 year ago
Is the relationship is a metaphor for the atomic bomb, or is the ATOMIC BOMB is a metaphor for the RELATIONSHIP?
theMOANKAYproject 1 year ago 2
@theMOANKAYproject he had a rather good relationship to his real wife at first, but she wasn't enough for him: he was drawn to "the princess" instead. So his new love was to a bomb, yes, but that doesn't make the bomb itself a metaphor.
Xaoinsect 1 year ago
if tim is trying to create the fateful A-bomb then wouldn't he represent Robert Oppenheimer? and as he had a massive burden of such as the picture manhattan is completely destroyed I guess oppenheimer thought the A-bomb would come back to america after they dropped it on nagasaki and hirosmima
"I am become death, The destroyer."
ferrariman0 1 year ago
The game references arguments, nukes, lost loves, etc. all the mistakes we make in life. There are plenty of Mario Bros. references too and then of course the whole twist that Tim is the bad guy and the princess is actually trying to get away from him... I'd agree there's no specific meaning, but the whole 'time manipulation' theme basically questions: if you actually COULD change time to try and correct your life's mistakes by doing things differently, would yuu actually make things any better?
GingerHeroUK 1 year ago
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GingerHeroUK 1 year ago
I wouldn't call braid a fun game.
unique, interesting.... fun?
no way.
walkingisboring 1 year ago
I love great games with even greater endings. :)
naronarog 1 year ago
learn to spell
aro327 1 year ago
@aro327 My apologies.
TheDirector999 1 year ago
what did you mean by his guilt hits back
hiphopopautumus 1 year ago
@hiphopopautumus when he finally catches up with his guilt of contributing to the atomic bomb two japanese cities go to hell
TheFrozenLord 1 year ago
I don't get this game
TheRustiestPunk 1 year ago
The first quote is from Robert Jay Lifton who was a psychologist, notable for his work around the effects on war and genocide on the human condition. the second The famous words of Kenneth Tompkins Bainbridge, uttered directly after the successful detonation of the first nuclear bomb, the “Trinity Test.”It is, simultaneously, the story of a relationship so burdened by a man’s obsessive, inquisitive nature that the search for his ‘Princess’, his power is the one thing that drives them apart.
s1212241044 1 year ago
There are many references to the nuclear bomb not just one. So its far from a "leap" there are 2 direct quotes, and the candy in the candystore references John Wheeler’s It-From-Bit theory and the other the idea of "ethical calculus" look it up. In addition the picture from world 6 shows a famous WWll era poster. Not to mention the sound of a bomb and the girl exploding on contact. Manhattan is also referenced "Manhattan project" hope you know what that is. And countless others.
s1212241044 1 year ago 35
@s1212241044 guys!!! THE AUTHOR SAID IT SUPPOSED TO BE...not iterpretable(spelled wrong sorry)
that means every one can see theyre own view of the stpry so that means any REL ENDING you see on you tube isnt real cuz none of them are
ThePoopman00 6 months ago
@ThePoopman00 Yes, but author also said there are no things without meaning or purpose in this game. (and I am still skullfucked by those two clouds at the end :( )
D3w10n 6 months ago
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s1212241044 1 year ago
Wow. That's amazing. I like that alot. Lol
Liitsweet 1 year ago
For all you happy theorists out there, that think you've got the games meaning nailed, I just wanna let you know, that the creator of the game has gone on record to say that the story and the ending of the game, is abstract and open to interpretation, and doesn't actually have a specific meaning. So if you think that it's about a nuclear bomb because of one quote in one part of the game, well you're making a leap, and it isn't actually what the creator had intended. But good on ya, anyway.
Taniseth 1 year ago
@Taniseth Actually, I think you're taking that wrong. If you think that it it's about a nuclear bomb... it is! but it is also about a man killing a woman... and about other things. What the author meant was, he specifically made it so it could mean more than one thing. :) So in a way, everyone is right :P
coroloro 1 year ago
I wondered what all those quotes were about...
DragnSly 1 year ago
So I pretty much think the ending is whatever you want it to be really.
woog757 1 year ago
Okay, so that quote with the "1" is supposed to be the final clue as to what the heck is going on. This is the only interpretation that makes sense of the alternate ending in Braid.
AGrayPhantom 1 year ago
Not bad!
CorporalNomad 1 year ago
You got everything right except maybe the end, personally I think Tim dies and that's why you end up in the heavenly skies.
dagrome 1 year ago
makes perfect sense. I never played it (yet :P) but ive seen gameplay vids, and heard the nuke theory before...and it all fits once you see the end. 1)the city's on FIRE and most of the buildings are DESTROYED. 2) the constellation is of a princess 3) his paintings are the world bgs. 4) combine ingredients 1,2,3, mix well, shake evenly, add a dash of guilt and a whole bag of loneliness and last-man-alive syndrome, and bam! Timetraveling psychopath. He may not have used to been but he is now.....
AGamerVids 1 year ago
haha i just finished this game and was dumbfounded by the ending. i had no idea what all the passages meant, thanks for explaining it. this game is way deeper than i could have ever imagined when i got it.
Punkrkr505 1 year ago
OR
Tim had a wife. He wasn't very kind to his wife, so she ran away, and Tim is trying to find her.
Remember, everything in World 1 is backwards. If you reverse time (were things are chonologically forward) the princess is actually trying to kill Tim, and the "angry" knight is actually saving her.
Tim is the bad guy.
Orbruler 1 year ago 88
@Orbruler true, but then if you touch her everything goes boom. I think teh game is ment to have multiple endings and each is determined by the player's instinct.
BillyCauseyjr 1 year ago
@Orbruler "We're all sons of bitches" is a direct quote about the atomic bomb. It's not about his wife. Braid isn't that simple. Good theory though
HappyHarey 1 year ago
@Orbruler loool noob
xxxSNAPExxx 1 year ago
@Orbruler I thought this too, but maybe it is Tim himself who is trying to stop him from making the atom bomb? The Abomb could very much kill him as much as anyone else, so when he is developing it he have doubts if it really is good to create the bomb. And all these doubts are the things "She" throws" at him to make him stop. And the guy who takes her away are the ones using them in the wars that followed.
Vodokoo 1 year ago
@Orbruler Sure. Let's go with that.
TheDirector999 1 year ago
@TheDirector999 Actually the ending of the game is pretty ambiguous, and allows both interpretations. We can read the epiloge and think that Tim found a way to reverse time, to undo his mistakes and find his "princess" again. So, this is not about how it ended, it is about the road Tim walked. He loved her ("her" can be what you want to be), became possessive, made mistakes, and fell in regret.
One of the best games I have ever played.
Adriano991b 1 year ago
@Orbruler yes and by reversing time everything is the opposite so tim knows hes the bad guy, but reversing tim he thinks hes the good guy!
thededous1 6 months ago
@Orbruler You can also connect two interpretations. Tim had a wife and was scientist creating A-Bomb. He thought that he was helping him and princess, but his work was making more and more important than princess (his work is represented with "shop with sweets" in epilogue). He couldn't realize that he was hurting princess because of his obsession. He didn't notice that princess is getting away from him (World 1-1). "He wanted to protect princess", but he did it in wrong way. She left him.
Dilaron 5 months ago
that actually makes sense thanks you now i dont feel stupid
hatmonkey 1 year ago
wow... just... wow...
LucidN 1 year ago