Why Noita is so good

jasonrohrer · 2019-10-01 19:26:27

If you haven't been playing Noita, go play it.

If you've played it a bit---maybe you've just scratched the surface---and you're wondering why it's a big deal, here's my explanation:

Have you been to Holy Mountain and modified your wands yet? Have you found a non-shuffle wand to modify? Have you found any timer-retriggering bolts? Even these more advanced topics are just the tip of the iceberg in this game.

As I've played Noita more, I've been reflecting on why I've started trying to get more and more gold in each run, which is unusual for me. In most roguelike games, I could care less about maximizing my gold harvest.

In Spelunky, you get gold simply to improve your chances via upgrades or tunnel construction. All the upgrades in Spelunky are commodities, and you quickly figure out what upgrade set you really want. The upgrades are a means to the end of progressing farther.

In Noita, I'm getting gold so that I can explore the space of possible wands. That space feels (and actually is, practically) limitless. I've played dozens of times, and I still haven't seen the same set of upgrades twice. I discover new upgrade facets every time.

A truly bad-ass wand is a rare thing to achieve, and I've only managed to build such a wand once or twice (and there was always clear room for improvement and tweaks, if I could only find the appropriate components further in the run). And a really good wand is this insane and unbridled and dangerous thing to wield. There are so many "Wait, what? Really?!?" moments waiting for you in this game.

This difference feels substantial. It's the "why" of the game, where Spelunky's "why" was just "to go deeper". It reminds me a tiny bit of finding new guns in Borderlands, but there, all of the guns just fired bullets at the end of the day. In Noita, because of the wacky logic of magic, anything is possible---even things that are clearly game-breaking, near-suicidal, or hilariously useless.

If we ignore that part of Noita, it's just a really atmospheric, pixel-physics Spelunky with an always-on jetpack, no fall damage, no ropes, and a 360-degree pistol instead of the whip. But ignoring that part of Noita is ignoring the point of the game, I think. The tantalizing nature of the upgrades is what draws you in and keeps you coming back. And if you're just scratching the surface, you haven't dug into the upgrades, and you haven't been appropriately tantalized yet. You will be. You will be.

But beyond the finely-tuned and tantalizing gameplay systems, there's something else here.

Noita, perhaps more than any other game in recent memory, captures a sense of deep mystery. Starseed Pilgrim and The Witness both feel mysterious, but Noita feels mysterious in a much more concrete, cohesive way. The world and the mysteries contained within, and the inner logic of those mysteries, feel like components of an fully realized, fleshed out place. I don't feel like I'm exploring a designer's thought experiment as much as I'm mapping out a new, magical territory.

And this is what magic should feel like: complicated, weird, illogical, and dangerous. Magic is the shiver down your spine as you realize you will never fully understand something. How much further down does this thing go? Now wait a minute....

Dodge · 2019-10-01 19:56:39

I'm playing it at the moment, it's an amazing game.

There is so much to discover that i haven't even scratched the surface even after several hours into it.

I wonder if those runes on the altars mean something and if it's possible to decipher them, i've seen some symbols twice which means each symbol could be a letter... maybe.

I also randomly got some interesting reactions with elements reacting with each other but i'm not going to say more about it

Coconut Fruit · 2019-10-02 00:26:38

Watched some youtube about this game and it looks cool, I will probably get it.

Why are telling us about this game tho? It feels so weird since you are OHOL developer and you are advertising another game... Did they pay you for this?

jasonrohrer · 2019-10-02 00:34:47

Well, I just needed a place to post these thoughts. I wanted to tweet about it. This was the lowest-friction place for me to post, so that I could link to it in my tweet.

Morti · 2019-10-02 00:44:23

Dodge wrote:

I wonder if those runes on the altars mean something and if it's possible to decipher them, i've seen some symbols twice which means each symbol could be a letter... maybe.

My PC is too old to play the game, I get past the early access disclaimer and the Nolla Games and other logos, but then when just the word Noita is on the screen and colors are moving up and down the letters, my PC just stays there. I let it go for ten minutes thinking it was loading and once it was done I'd get to play, but when I looked at task manager, the game wasn't using any more or less CPU or RAM, it just, stopped at 51% CPU and 540 Megs of ram and wasn't using any more or any less for a few minutes.

Not sure what happened. I'm playing a dozen other games right now, alternating between 2-3 each day, all modern titles that play just fine with this PC. Shame I couldn't give Noita a go though.

Looks like a lot of fun.

jasonrohrer · 2019-10-02 02:24:54

Oh man!

You just runed it for me.

pein · 2019-10-02 03:46:54

Im not that into the side scrollers, and i require a bit better graphics. As for rogue likes i prefer more strategy. Like FTL.
But i might try out "My friend Pedro" and "into the breach" soon.

Isn't there any duel system ohol could adopt?

jasonrohrer · 2019-10-02 04:15:00

A bit better graphics?

This is one of the most visually beautiful and technologically advanced 2D games I've ever played.

Go! Bwah! · 2019-10-02 04:39:12

Looks addictive. Pass.

Grim_Arbiter · 2019-10-02 05:26:26

Wasn't this a rework of an old internet game?

I've heard that the main gripe is that the rogue part of it is a little to strong in the beginning. You have to go through a little to much to get past the first step, and since its a rogue it's even punishing in that first step.

I mean a free gimmie to get your feet wet and know what could await is always nice.

jasonrohrer · 2019-10-02 14:26:46

There was some kind of sand game in the past, but made by different people. Maybe this:

https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/

Coconut Fruit · 2019-10-02 15:04:32

jasonrohrer wrote:

There was some kind of sand game in the past, but made by different people. Maybe this:
https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/

I used to play it years ago

Morti · 2019-10-02 18:41:36

jasonrohrer wrote:

Oh man!
You just runed it for me.

There is so much in this life, that you will never run out of ruins to explore.

Let alone the universe.

Morti · 2019-10-02 19:01:07

pein wrote:

"My friend Pedro"

Ever try Mother Russia Bleeds or Hotline Miami?
They're similarly dark stories, if you're into that sort of thing.

There is another sidescrolling Metroid/Castlevania like game that alos, kinda, reminded me of MRB and MFP (more MFP) but it was just too much story, and the story was just a mess of shit. Had like vampires, ninjas, aliens, demons and the bad guy was into robots, industry, technology and artificial intelligence... I can't remember much about it just that it was basically a mess of story with very little actual gameplay. Nevermind that one.

If you want to try a side scroller one of these days, I recommend Inside. You can beat it in one day, and probably find all the secrets in the game in about 24 hours, but as far as a story that is shrouded well in scenes, music, sights and sounds, it's one of the greatest experiences a gamer can have.

And not one word is spoken by any character in the whole game.

There really so many other beautiful games to be experienced, for what they are.

Even, some of the shitty "games" Jason has made in the past, aren't too bad.

Morti · 2019-10-02 19:05:56

Go! Bwah! wrote:

Looks addictive. Pass.

It's not addictive, it's an experience, worth having; a mechanic, worth exploring.

You can set an egg timer for fifty hours and you'll be done with it.

Morti · 2019-10-02 19:08:11

jasonrohrer wrote:

There was some kind of sand game in the past, but made by different people. Maybe this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrK4Or-8Euc

>_<

Dodge · 2019-10-02 19:11:00

Morti wrote:

jasonrohrer wrote:
Oh man!
You just runed it for me.
There is so much in this life, that you will never run out of ruins to explore.
Let alone the universe.

Dumbledore dies btw.

jasonrohrer · 2019-10-02 20:18:34

Morti, it's really worth playing. Got another computer around to try?

Any idea why it's not working? Have you contacted the devs?

Coconut Fruit · 2019-10-02 21:26:20

I heard this game have some issues with fps on some pcs that will be fixed. It's early stage of game, maybe just give it some time.

jasonrohrer · 2019-10-02 22:22:57

Yes, it is a very CPU-intensive game, I think.

pein · 2019-10-03 03:55:00

No, I am more into strategic city builders/managers where citizens are more detailed, and there is a good balance in the background. I mena just a few of my favourites: Football Manager, Mount and Blade Warband, Stronghold Crusader, Tropico series, Starcraft, Aoe 2, etc.
I mean i like some RPG-s and crafting games, even if its old school, and actually 2d games got more focus on the play than on graphics.
My dream game would be some hex based map, online territory fight, with actual players crafting things and trading.

Morti · 2019-10-04 18:27:24

jasonrohrer wrote:

Morti, it's really worth playing. Got another computer around to try?
Any idea why it's not working? Have you contacted the devs?

I just accept life as a poor man and do what I can without taking more than I need to be happy, and I am happy, even if some might look at my life and think it's a bit pathetic.

If I had a better computer, I'd probably have this one stored away wit the dozen or so other computer's I've accumulated over the course of my life.

Sadly, I gave my first and second computer's away to people in need at the time, but I do wish I still had them. My first was a Tandy 1000 and my second, a baller machine for it's time, was a 200 Mhz from Gateway. Got that one when MMX Technology was the latest craze in computing.

I save up about $100 a month and get new big things, like a bicycle or a computer, every 5-10 years. Unfortunately I've gotten in some trouble with the law over the last 15 years and my money has gone to bail, court and lawyer fees after twenty years or so of fighting the correctional institutions by abstaining from food, whenever I found myself unjustly imprisoned. Maybe if I had a better computer I'd have stayed out of trouble, but, at the same time, seems like once I get nice things, I become more of an asshole and just do more things that I wind up having to pay more for down the road. So, I'm just learning to be happier and happier with less and less.

Maybe some day, when I'm homeless again, I'll appreciate the sun and the shade of a big tree, the way I did when I was a kid and didn't understand how horrible, the world of adults, could really be. Seems like for every dollar someone has to make, ten other people have to each lose a dollar a piece. Adult human life is really fucked up. Probably why I've spent the last 5 years learning about survival in my spare time, I just want to get away from this whole mess. Also probably why I got into astronomy 30 years ago. We need to get the fuck away from this world; spread life elsewhere, and take all our good habits in one direction, and the bad ones in the other. Start dividing things up for the Jedi, the Sith, the Borg and the Federation.

All things considered, this was a good time to be alive. I don't fault any of you for whatever roles you've played, among your communities. In the end I just want to bask in the first principles, and what they'll mean, for the future of the everyone, regardless. And those would be the first principles of physics, not philosophy, fuck that word salad shit. Just give me the equations to convert matter into energy, and back again, and I'll know whats possible, given enough space.

Woops, this is a Noita thread. To close tab, or click submit, that is the question.

Morti · 2019-10-04 18:52:33

pein wrote:

My dream game would be some hex based map...

Have you ever tried Microtown? I've played a lot of that in the last 3 months, reminds me a lot of one of my other favorite games; Breaking the Tower, except it's one step closer to Civilization, while also being a step away, from Warcraft.

Though, some kind of combat mechanic may be added. I play a lot of The Colonists too, it's like a modern take on the old Settlers games, and a year or two ago there was no confrontation in that game, just, man vs the elements, or, robots vs, well, just wanting to be alive.

Sorry, I won't ramble, tempting as it is.

Noita looks good, but I played Terraria, Starbound and It Lurks Below, as well as Dig or Die, Craft the World, Dig-N-Rig and lots of other takes on those types of games.

Yes, it's wonderful, sand physics, mixing magic abilities, which, are just physics as well, and everything else. I can see the use of pressure and gravity, similar to that used in Oxygen Not Included, to be entertaining as well as inspiring and, even, educational, for the masses of people that play the game, as a whole.

Maybe combine something like this with Space Engine or Universe Sandbox and make particle planets that people can play on, in all sorts of settings.

Imagine Space Engineer, but with Sand Physics.

Maybe one of the 4X space games, but where you transform the worlds, into bigger and bigger ships, to take bigger worlds, to eat stars, and to become all that is of the galaxy, like a Tyranid swarm, but just a series, of concentric metal spheres, with vacuums in between to insulate the black holes kept inside from contributing to the heat death of the

I said I wasn't going to ramble!

Morti · 2019-10-04 18:54:56

jasonrohrer wrote:

runed

lol

One Hour One Life Forums

#1 2019-10-01 19:26:27

Why Noita is so good

#2 2019-10-01 19:56:39

Re: Why Noita is so good

#3 2019-10-02 00:26:38

Re: Why Noita is so good

#4 2019-10-02 00:34:47

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#5 2019-10-02 00:44:23

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#6 2019-10-02 02:24:54

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#7 2019-10-02 03:46:54

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#8 2019-10-02 04:15:00

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#9 2019-10-02 04:39:12

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#10 2019-10-02 05:26:26

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#11 2019-10-02 14:26:46

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#12 2019-10-02 15:04:32

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#13 2019-10-02 18:41:36

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#14 2019-10-02 19:01:07

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#15 2019-10-02 19:05:56

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#16 2019-10-02 19:08:11

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#17 2019-10-02 19:11:00

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#18 2019-10-02 20:18:34

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#19 2019-10-02 21:26:20

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#21 2019-10-03 03:55:00

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#22 2019-10-04 18:27:24

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#23 2019-10-04 18:52:33

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#24 2019-10-04 18:54:56

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