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Nonviolent J posted:just watched some of a speedrun of it, looks gay as gently caress Huh, that might be why I like it so much. Between Julia's drawings of Henry and the Learn To Live With Bears sign at the beginning...  Relaxodon posted:Maybe I am missing something obvious but why didn't Ned just bury his son at some point? A guilt-ridden dad that already had PTSD before his son suddenly fell to his death probably doesn't want to carry the decomposing corpse of said son to a grave. Dude can't even talk to anybody anymore, let alone admit what happened to himself or anybody else. His whole deal is not being able to face his guilt. Moartoast fucked around with this message at 12:53 on Feb 12, 2016 |
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Feb 12, 2016 09:23
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I was curious about whether you could get Delilah to agree to come to Colorado with you, so I just sped through a run where I didn''t even let her know I was married and played off the sleep-walk-talk as about an ex. And also flirted every chance I could get, though staying on the main path. The response to this suggestion was initially the same as when it is when I load up my reticent-at-first, professional, save to try it. "You don't want me there", etc. Although her suggestion to me didn't mention a wife at all of course, and she revealed how she still carries a torch for Javier. So barring this being dependent on very small details (I tried to do as many things differently as possible, though), I would say you probably can't unlock True Love in this game, which wouldn't be all that surprising. I should probably sleep or something.
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Feb 12, 2016 10:12
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I quite like that, it's sort of what made the story grounded and not cheesy. For a video game the dialogue was genuinely believable. I liked the way you could queue up responses and he would naturally say instead of cutting himself off with the new line. It's little things like that.
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Feb 12, 2016 10:21
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I noticed some people complaining that the story didn't have any branching paths to it. I'm curious, did any of the pre-release material suggest that that was going to be a thing?
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Feb 12, 2016 10:25
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NaDy posted:I noticed some people complaining that the story didn't have any branching paths to it. I'm curious, did any of the pre-release material suggest that that was going to be a thing? Far as I know, it's just people being jaded about games that take the Telltale route of minor dialogue changes instead of BREATHTAKING GAMECHANGERS. I can at least understand some of the frustration with TT, since they have a really bad tendency to shove marketing blurbs about player choice in your face when you start their games, which sets an unreasonable expectation for the flexibility of the writing/reactivity. Firewatch seems wholly designed to lead you down the same road as everyone else, it just lets you make subtle choices to direct the understated dynamic between Henry and Delilah. It's Telltale's sensibilities without the self-defeating bombast, which makes sense, since a couple of the devs worked on TWD S1. I think a lot of people mainly complain about replayability here because it has the runtime of maybe 2 episodes of a TT game, yet costs about as much as a full season.
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Feb 12, 2016 11:27
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NaDy posted:I noticed some people complaining that the story didn't have any branching paths to it. I'm curious, did any of the pre-release material suggest that that was going to be a thing? Heck, the current blurb on the Firewatch home page says this: quote:But when something strange draws you out of your lookout tower and into the world below, you'll explore a wild and unknown environment, facing questions and making interpersonal choices that can build or destroy the only meaningful relationship you have. I think describing the game in these terms is overstating the impact your "interpersonal choices" have on the relationship between Henry and Delilah. As we have seen, the ending is the same either way, and it mainly boils down to a few different lines here and there and what they refer to previously-encountered things as. Is it even possible to "destroy" your relationship with Delilah?
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Feb 12, 2016 11:31
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Hyper Crab Tank posted:Heck, the current blurb on the Firewatch home page says this: Yeah that's fair enough, I can see how people could take it that way for sure. I didn't really have any expectations of the game going in except that I'd be walking around a forest chatting with someone on a radio so I came out of it very pleasantly surprised. I think my only complaint is that I wish it was longer because I really enjoyed the setting and dialogue and could have wandered around in that world for a while.
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Feb 12, 2016 11:43
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I do like short, condensed games and have no problem with a 3-4 hour runtime for a game if the price tag is right, but I do agree that this particular story could have used a few more hours to flesh out the characters and the plot more, and provide better conclusions to things like the drunk teen subplot. It's such a gorgeous game, with well-written dialogue and good voice acting. It's actually kind of a shame it stumbles so hard on the ending and doesn't seem to know if it wants to be an interpersonal drama or a mystery plot. It certainly presents itself as the latter - see the blurb I quoted above - and for me and a lot of others, the way it panned out in the end was disappointing given that.
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Feb 12, 2016 11:52
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I liked the idea of playing with a paranoid mystery that plants every cliche idea of ~conspiratorial experimentation~ in the players' head, only to do a humbling reverse rug-pull where it's just a traumatized dad being bad at coping with the sudden, unceremonious and tragic death of his son. I'd certainly rather that than, as someone else described it, going all Stephen King towards act 3. Thing is, it feels like they had that idea going in, but had no idea how to flesh it out and make it feel like a full, earned twist. It just kinda... happens, and then most people say "okay I guess that makes sense sorta?" and then the game ends. The dialogue and characterization is still decently engaging even during those last moments, but the actual script for the plot just kinda peters out. Honestly, I don't even know what I'd add to the execution of it, I just know it needed something extra to make it hit home in the way they probably wanted it to. Similar to how, as beautiful as the environments are, they just lack a certain something to keep them persistently interesting past the initial "holy poo poo Olly Moss owns" factor.
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Feb 12, 2016 12:52
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One problem is in describing the end as a twist, when I don't feel that way at all. The game lays a lot of stuff out logically that the characters either don't see or ignore. And yeah, the mundane is the point, which people seem to have a hard time with. I'm not sure that everything makes total sense, but there's some things you're just not logically going to be able to tie together.
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Feb 12, 2016 13:53
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I don't see how you can describe "veteran with PTSD kills son through negligence then lives as a hermit for years undetected" as "mundane". Sure, it's not as wild as secret behavioral experiments, but if mundane is what they were going for they should have stuck to drunk teenagers and forest fires and focused on the relationship between Henry and Delilah. As it is they bait-and-switch an improbable but interesting event for another improbable but also confusing and relatively uninteresting one.
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Feb 12, 2016 14:19
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Also, the time limit you get to make conversation choices kind of implies that those choices carry significance. Ethics in games adventurism or something.
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Feb 12, 2016 14:28
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Hyper Crab Tank posted:I don't see how you can describe "veteran with PTSD kills son through negligence then lives as a hermit for years undetected" as "mundane". Sure, it's not as wild as secret behavioral experiments, but if mundane is what they were going for they should have stuck to drunk teenagers and forest fires and focused on the relationship between Henry and Delilah. As it is they bait-and-switch an improbable but interesting event for another improbable but also confusing and relatively uninteresting one. I really didn't feel like there was anything like a bait and switch. The only red herring the game really gives you is the drunk girls.
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Feb 12, 2016 14:34
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Relaxodon posted:Maybe I am missing something obvious but why didn't Ned just bury his son at some point? In addition to what Moartoast said further up the page: he couldn't get to him, because Brian stole the anchors from him and hid them.
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Feb 12, 2016 15:10
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The part that made me think it was going to be a conspiracy/twist for sure was the way the fence around the station was presented. As far as I can recall, Delilah says that she's tried contacting people about it and was unable to get any information. Also she mentions if universities start a study, it'll measure a couple of square feet. So it's just a normal project hijacked by Ned. If the whole operation was done in the open, why would they not inform the forest service? Anyways, fun game, even if the Goodwin stuff and ending is a bit meh
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Feb 12, 2016 18:33
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Icept posted:The part that made me think it was going to be a conspiracy/twist for sure was the way the fence around the station was presented. As far as I can recall, Delilah says that she's tried contacting people about it and was unable to get any information. Also she mentions if universities start a study, it'll measure a couple of square feet. So it's just a normal project hijacked by Ned. If the whole operation was done in the open, why would they not inform the forest service? Doesn't she admit at some point that she had actually been told about something going on at Wapiti and she just now found it buried in a stack of papers? She doesn't come across as the most reliable person to count on for accurate information.
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Feb 12, 2016 18:38
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Hobo Clown posted:Doesn't she admit at some point that she had actually been told about something going on at Wapiti and she just now found it buried in a stack of papers? She doesn't come across as the most reliable person to count on for accurate information. She didn't admit that to me.
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Feb 12, 2016 18:40
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Yeah that was a thing that happened for me. And if you explore a bit and find the dead elk you can have a conversation with her and realize you guys were wrong about the research site before the big reveal. Did anyone else find the end of the conversation between the two dudes? I'm not sure the whole point of that besides ~slice of life~
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Feb 12, 2016 18:45
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The actual twist ending is when you find the two dudes park rangers who had been leaving each other notes having mad gay relations out in the wilderness. T'was their passions that fanned the flames of love. Then you 'firewatch' the two if you know what I mean
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Feb 12, 2016 18:58
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I didn't find all the notes, but I was totally getting a long distance gay crush vibe from one of them.
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Feb 12, 2016 19:13
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Yeah I genuinely thought that was going in a bromance-to-romance direction. The game was ballsy (heh) enough to show The Best Henry Art, so it's not that far-fetched. Then again, maybe that's our subtle sequel hook. Bearwatch.
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Feb 12, 2016 19:24
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Spoilers maybe?? I think the thing that made me want there to be something more was the fact that you never see another human face. For a game so centered on interpersonal relationships it seemed like a meaningful omission. More than anything the reason I asked Delilah to come to Colorado was so I would know this person I'd spent the whole story talking to was real in some way. I understand that there were probably some technical/artistic motivations behind that, like the developers not being confident in their ability to make a character visually emote, but it was a weird tension that stayed with me. You don't get to look into the eyes of another human being until the firefighter pulls you on to the helicopter at the end, which made me think, "that's it?" Like I finally get to meet someone and it's just some dude, as though there's no good reason I couldn't have talked to somebody face to face until now. Also they have those hand-drawn photos of Henry but the one with Julia has her face obscured by the camera. Maybe that's the point? Something about isolation? I dunno I guess they succeeded in driving me insane, brb I'm off to join Ned in the wilderness.
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Feb 12, 2016 19:51
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Red Ryder posted:Spoilers maybe?? this was another issue i had, i kept wondering if i was going to be attacked by a bear or a person (especially after ned actually does attack you) but couldn't shake that the only time you see other people it's really shadowy and low poly (bumping into ned, the lovely teens) so i figured that just due to tech limitations that was all out the window
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Feb 12, 2016 19:56
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Was so looking forward to this, but when I downloaded it I kept getting "Failed to find executable" messages and just couldn't get it to work 
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Feb 12, 2016 20:34
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Calico Heart posted:Was so looking forward to this, but when I downloaded it I kept getting "Failed to find executable" messages and just couldn't get it to work Have you tried the usual right click on game in library - properties - local content - verify integrity of game cache?
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Feb 12, 2016 20:36
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I love to waste time so I did a mute speed run where the only radio calls Henry made were automatic or required to advance the script. Delilah's chatter held up pretty well to the silent treatment up until the conspiracy part kicks in and then it got dicey. All the surveillance documents that you find were mostly identical to my previous phone-sex playthrough, with notes about long conversations even though I never shared anything with her and Henry's manipulation ranking still pegged at 9. I also opened up the box with the new radio without being told what the new code was, but there was no extra dialogue for how I knew the code had changed. When I listened to the first tape, but didn't mention it, Delilah's binoculars were good enough to see that I had found a tape and then she loses all composure asking about it without an answer like Brad Pitt asking what was in the box in Seven. Delilah mentions Brian Goodwin for the second time, completely out of nowhere, right after I find the climbing spikes and of course immediately before you trip over his corpse. Delilah radioing about the kid just out of the blue would seem really sketchy if the player somehow arrived at that point in the game organically with so little information. At the end, when the forest was burning and and we supposedly were preparing to evacuate, I ignored Ned's last transmitter and hoofed it all the way up to the cable car. There was no action prompt to use it, so amidst the smoky forest I called up Delilah and said I was just across the gorge at the manual, hand-pulled cable car, and she told me to go away, to go back into the burning forest, until she gave me permission to pull myself across to safety. And then at the end, after 77 days of cold shoulder, Henry is still given the option to ask Delilah to come live with him. Also, the turtle wasn't there. Just was not on that rock. This may have been unrelated
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Feb 12, 2016 21:20
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It took me 'til the second to last day to realize that Jules' picture wasn't continuously falling over from wonky physics.
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Feb 12, 2016 21:34
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Jippa posted:Have you tried the usual right click on game in library - properties - local content - verify integrity of game cache? Yeah, nothin. Super super bummed
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Feb 12, 2016 21:36
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Copper Vein posted:I love to waste time so I did a mute speed run where the only radio calls Henry made were automatic or required to advance the script. You're my muse, Copper Vein. e. Did she agree? Maybe you solved it all!
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Feb 12, 2016 21:39
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Calico Heart posted:Yeah, nothin. Super super bummed Try going to where you installed the game at and launching the exe manually.
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Feb 12, 2016 21:41
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Dark_Swordmaster posted:It took me 'til the second to last day to realize that Jules' picture wasn't continuously falling over from wonky physics. I kept thinking it was because I had picked it up and tossed it back down on the desk the first day, and that it had never reloaded properly. That was until I saw the ring next to the picture facing down.
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Feb 12, 2016 21:53
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Hyper Crab Tank posted:I think describing the game in these terms is overstating the impact your "interpersonal choices" have on the relationship between Henry and Delilah. As we have seen, the ending is the same either way, and it mainly boils down to a few different lines here and there and what they refer to previously-encountered things as. Is it even possible to "destroy" your relationship with Delilah? I've angered her to the point where she walked away from the radio and disabled interaction temporarily, but nothing long-term.
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Feb 12, 2016 22:09
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Varam posted:Oh, I see. Going before she tells you but after she's changed it. Is that possible? I thought she told you about the code as you approached the cache. Spoiler about the above: She only tells you the code if you radio about it (either when you are approaching the cache, or radioing about the cache box itself). You can definitely go open the Cottonwood cache after the code is changed but before D tells you the code, open it and get the radio and delilah is slightly confused. You can also open the cache when she tells you to and immediately report the new radio before establishing a secure line and shes annoyed. Most notably you can 100% go to the research site early on that day and never visit cottonwood creek. If you tell Delilah you're doing this, she is super pissed but eventually relents if you keep radioing about stuff. If you jump STRAIGHT to reporting the binder with the reports on you that you find with the wave receiver, she just freaks out and doesn't have a dialogue line catching that you didn't tell her anything else, so there is no special content for that one instance (we figured Henry saying "I'm reading a binder full of reports on us" would supersede her desire to chastise you about not getting the clean radio), but every other combination of events should have at least some unique content. ja2ke fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Feb 12, 2016 |
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Feb 12, 2016 22:29
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ja2ke posted:Flowchart.txt Thanks for the breakdown. It's interesting to see all the different potential sequences of events with everything being so open to the player. Similar question, different area, is it possible to walk through the choke point and get knocked out by Ned without ever picking up the clipboard and seeing the transcripts? It's a great game, and definitely something I'll be playing through a second time to explore more! The first time was pretty much critical path, although it took a while because all navigational help was turned off. Hoping that my wife will try it out tonight and not be too dissuaded by the controls. She had issues with dual-stick on Portal, but that requires a little bit shorter reaction time.
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Feb 12, 2016 22:53
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Calico Heart posted:Yeah, nothin. Super super bummed Try finding the .exe in the folder and right click and "run as administrator". I just checked and it's: this pc - local disk c - program files (86) - steam - steamApps - common - firewatch - firewatch.exe Jippa fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Feb 12, 2016 |
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Feb 12, 2016 23:00
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So I've just been watching the IGN super secret Firewatch spoiler cast and oh my god the Vanaman Hat Reveal has slain me. Appears at 44:40 and obviously there are other spoilers surrounding it, though it isn't really a spoiler itself unless you're Past Sean Vanaman or are really wild about hats.
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Feb 13, 2016 00:14
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Lt. Frank Drebin posted:Thanks for the breakdown. It's interesting to see all the different potential sequences of events with everything being so open to the player. Similar question, different area, is it possible to walk through the choke point and get knocked out by Ned without ever picking up the clipboard and seeing the transcripts? No, I tried this earlier. Getting knocked out is a trigger upon looking at the dropped radio, and that doesn't appear until you look at the clipboard. Also you can't fish, what the hell.
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Feb 13, 2016 00:20
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Sovy Kurosei posted:The arguments trying to draw a parallel between Ned and Henry is It's literally the same thing. Ned loved his son fully. He didn't know how to be a father, but he loving tried every single day, no matter how hard it was. The thing is, when Brian died, he ran. He couldn't deal with it. He couldn't face his guilt/issues/any part of it, so he went to go hide in the woods. Henry loved his wife. He didn't know how to be a husband, but he tried. The thing is, when Julia got dementia, he couldn't figure out how to fix it. He couldn't deal with it, so he ran away into the woods to hide. Delilah loved Javier. Their relationship had it's issues, but she tried. The thing is, when her alcoholism/missing the funeral caused him to leave her, she couldn't deal with it. Rather then admit what happened, she ran away into the woods to hide. The entire plot is what Delilah says in the beginning. Three broken people hiding in the woods, trying to avoid society because they could never live with their fuckups. By the end of the game your Henry/Delilah either see what Ned became and go back to face their past and deal with it, or your Henry/Delilah basically continue running, but this time at least running forward. Ned dies because he's deciding to stay in the woods during a massive fire?
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Feb 13, 2016 00:36
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I watched a couple videos of Sips playing this game and then went and bought it. I really enjoyed it all the way up until right after you find out Ned was the one spying on you. That was super disappointing. I understand they wanted there to be a crazy twist but they didn't handle it well at all. I would rather it all really had been a conspiracy instead of what we got. You find out and the game just ends. It would be nice if there was a bit more to the story. We have pretty decent exposition, rising action and a great climax but there's no falling action. It goes straight to resolution. "It was this guy! Wow, that's crazy. Oh well, it's all over get to the chopper." Would it kill them to at least deal with the fallout of the whole situation for at least a few minutes before ending it? Knowing that there's nothing else to do for me besides find a turtle and another tape, I think I'm done. This would have been a great 10 dollar game, as an 18 dollar game, not so great.
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Feb 13, 2016 00:46
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So I think I just got a game-breaking bug. In day 77, after I find the reports about Henry and Delilah, and Delilah tells me to go back to the lookout, instead of leaving I just saved the game and went to sleep. Now I just loaded that save, but apparently when I hop the rocky gap the floor should've crumbled and it hasn't (I looked it up on Youtube). Anyone with this problem?
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Feb 13, 2016 00:56
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