Sulphur on 12/2/2016 at 03:57
Quote Posted by Twist
I really wish Campo Santo had implemented something like Gone Home's "put back" function. There's a lot of picking up and examining things, and after Gone Home, sloppily dropping items after you're done with them feels dated and clumsy. That might sound like a contradiction to my comment that the game seems well-crafted and polished, but as far as I recall Gone Home is the only game to provide such a useful function.
There is a Put Back option, but that usually only comes up when you're pointing the cursor at shelves.
Renault on 12/2/2016 at 17:10
Finished it last night. I thought it was good, really good. The visuals were fantastic, I just wanted to keep taking screenshots. The story and voice acting were great. I wanted it to be longer, just because I enjoyed the game world and characters, but that's not to say that I thought it was unreasonably short. I love the feeling after playing a game, where you wonder what will happen to the protagonists afterwards, before you come to your senses and realize it's fiction.
I know a lot of people have had a problem with the ending, but I was fine with it. My thoughts - Everyone wants the big, dramatic, supernatural/conspiracy-laden ending, but sometimes life is simpler than that. Both Delilah and Henry were out there, escaping life, hoping for a little excitement, but maybe they now realize that there's no real escape and you need to face your issues head on. Henry seems to have had a harder time with that than Delilah.
One thing has been bugging me though. Early in the game, Henry accidentally hears Delilah talking to someone else over her radio, and she says something like "he has no idea what's going on." Somewhat of a foreshadowing for a big twist later on, but nothing ever came of it. Or did I miss something? I thought there would be a reveal at the end showing Delilah being complicit in...something.
Anyway, a good ride, I think a 2nd run through might be interesting, with full knowledge of the story.
Sulphur on 16/2/2016 at 10:49
Finished it some days ago, and my thoughts are similar to Brethren's. It's a good experience, and I didn't have many problems with the ending either. The primary mystery is solved, without much hanging in the air except for that spoiler in your second-last paragraph, Brethren. Yeah, I'm not sure about that either.
As for the rest? It's an honest, adult conclusion that doesn't see the need to adhere to a standard formula with everything neatly wrapped in a bow. I especially like how, with the choices I made, neither character came across as an idealised archetype -- their interactions get frayed around the edges to a semi-realistic degree depending on the situation, with their flaws popping out in relief where there had been just subtle hints of them earlier.
The arc isn't seamless, though, and the pacing is somewhat rushed towards the end. There's little in the way of deep subtext or grander meaning in what happens, or even a feeling of satisfaction to making it through what happens, which is sort of the point but may or may not be a detractor when you play it. Also, the experience isn't designed very strongly around you being a quiet, non-responsive protagonist, so probably don't play it exclusively that way if you don't want it to trip up on itself.
Overall, it's nearly a great game, but doesn't quite get there. There's still plenty of joy to be had in trekking across its sunset-drenched copses and bantering with Delilah, which easily goes down as some of the most naturalistic dialogue and performances I've heard in a game, so it's worth checking out if that sounds like what you're looking for.
Thirith on 16/2/2016 at 10:57
I read that as "sunset-drenched corpses", which made me imagine either a very drastic plot twist or a game that is closer to Diablo 3 than I'd imagined...
Neb on 17/2/2016 at 15:56
Just finished it and the ending made the experience worth it for me. I'll have to go back and check all those reviews again where they liked everything but the ending, because for me it was the opposite.
Sulphur on 19/2/2016 at 07:16
I actually gave up on the video because they seem to have issues with being able to read, let alone read out aloud, while they gaze at the screen in slack-jawed incredulity at it not being Call of Duty.
Also, 'to me developing a character is more show, no tell.' Uh, yes. Yes. That's what the first ten minutes were about.
Thor on 19/2/2016 at 16:32
Yeah people who didn't like the end of this game are a bunch o' pussies.
Kolya on 28/2/2016 at 22:01
I played through the game and I'm wondering what the point of this exercise was. It wasn't exploration, since you're being railroaded and run into invisible walls many times, on top of the many many visible walls. It wasn't about the relationship with Delilah since that just fizzles out after it was so heavily pushed by the game, against my intention and dialogue selections. It wasn't about a mystery, because there is none in the end. And speaking about the ending: It throws me back into a past that I as the player have no connection with. I never met Julie. I just read a few dramatic text choices. Then I experienced something and connected with someone, only to be told in the end that I should go back and fix that text-life before the game. To me that just doesn't seem very well constructed. I'm not pissed that things didn't "turn out my way" as some people seem to be, because I had no intentions to hook up with Delilah, I just wanted to have a fun time. Apparently that was asking too much of Firewatch.
