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Is Bright Harbor a stand-in for New York City? It has an ocean (or at least beaches), it has a subway and it's very expensive (unless you live in a lovely neigborhood). This would make the Bright Harbor Gazette the NYT, which would make sense as the first headline on the news app on Mae's computer (the one with Sec. of Education saying that public educatio n is like public hamburgers) brings to mind terrible op-eds by Bret Stephens or whoever.
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# ? Jan 9, 2018 22:52 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 16:19 |
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vetinari100 posted:Is Bright Harbor a stand-in for New York City? It has an ocean (or at least beaches), it has a subway and it's very expensive (unless you live in a lovely neigborhood). This would make the Bright Harbor Gazette the NYT, which would make sense as the first headline on the news app on Mae's computer (the one with Sec. of Education saying that public educatio n is like public hamburgers) brings to mind terrible op-eds by Bret Stephens or whoever. I figured it was a stand-in for any major metro since moving to a big city seems like the most reasonable choice from a small town. I didn't get a impression of anything esp tying it to NYC in particular from any scenes.
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# ? Jan 10, 2018 04:59 |
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Alder posted:I figured it was a stand-in for any major metro since moving to a big city seems like the most reasonable choice from a small town. I didn't get a impression of anything esp tying it to NYC in particular from any scenes. Oh no, I got that. I just got this idea last night after re-playing the second Lori hangout, where she mentions visiting Bright Harbor and thinking about pushing someone onto the tracks. But I'm not an American, so maybe there are other major coastal cities with subway systems. NYC was just the first that came to mind. It's funny how there are all these fictional names of towns and companies, or geographical directions making clear the story actually takes place in the US without directly saying so (silicon city on the west coast, Angel travelling south to the gulf for winter), and then bam! explicit mention of Idaho out of nowhere.
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# ? Jan 10, 2018 08:27 |
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vetinari100 posted:Is Bright Harbor a stand-in for New York City? It has an ocean (or at least beaches), it has a subway and it's very expensive (unless you live in a lovely neigborhood). This would make the Bright Harbor Gazette the NYT, which would make sense as the first headline on the news app on Mae's computer (the one with Sec. of Education saying that public educatio n is like public hamburgers) brings to mind terrible op-eds by Bret Stephens or whoever. Given the general western Pennsylvania inspiration, I assumed the big successful city alongside rivers that was a couple hours from bumfuck deadtown was most likely Pittsburgh. I mean, it doesn't have to be a specific place, but both of the writers are in Pittsburgh at the moment I think and Pittsburgh is basically this oasis in western PA where civilization marches on while the places further from it (or the places whose similar oasis has dried up a la Johnstown) are just decaying husks. basically, Pennsylvania had a bunch of steel mill cities and when the steel industry died out, so did a bunch of the towns, except Pittsburgh and a few others. Pittsburgh in particular not only continued to thrive, it went out of its way to bring in new business and focus on the fact that the steel industry was dead and that they should try to do something else. Then a couple hours from there is my town of Johnstown which was a former steel city and one of the bigger ones too, but despite being the home of one of the steel processes that revolutionized how steel was made, Johnstown ended up dying out due to it trying to desperately cling on to steel after steel died out as well as suffering 3 major floods over the course of a century. Rich folk and businesses had no interest in a town where most of the industry was situated in a thrice-flooded valley surrounded by dams so they got the hell out of there and moved away. ....to Pittsburgh, among other places. FirstAidKite fucked around with this message at 09:05 on Jan 10, 2018 |
# ? Jan 10, 2018 08:57 |
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I got the impression it was San Francisco or LA for whatever reason, I think it was the dreamification of living there that got me. It might be an amalgamation of all these "metro" areas anyway.
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# ? Jan 10, 2018 09:09 |
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I'm not too familiar with what goes on in PA despite being a state south of it, but just looking over a map of the region and looking up the major cities and how they're doing, noting their proximity to water, and perhaps most importantly, considering the accessibility to this cast of characters, I figured Pittsburgh too.
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# ? Jan 11, 2018 05:47 |
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Now I really want a version of this game set in South Yorkshire with a bunch of references to the Miner's Strike to appeal to my parochial British instincts
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# ? Jan 11, 2018 15:48 |
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vetinari100 posted:Is Bright Harbor a stand-in for New York City? It has an ocean (or at least beaches), it has a subway and it's very expensive (unless you live in a lovely neigborhood). This would make the Bright Harbor Gazette the NYT, which would make sense as the first headline on the news app on Mae's computer (the one with Sec. of Education saying that public educatio n is like public hamburgers) brings to mind terrible op-eds by Bret Stephens or whoever. Given that the game was based off of Rural Pennsylvania (I believe?) I always assumed Bright Harbor was Erie or something.
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# ? Jan 11, 2018 21:24 |
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it's pretty clearly a New York-ish stand in, nice as Pittsburgh is, kids don't grow up in small dead towns dreaming to go to Pittsburgh PA, they dream of going to New York.
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# ? Jan 11, 2018 21:38 |
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Feels Villeneuve posted:it's pretty clearly a New York-ish stand in, nice as Pittsburgh is, kids don't grow up in small dead towns dreaming to go to Pittsburgh PA, they dream of going to New York. how about LA/SF? I've only been there once but it feels closer to dreams than NYC
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# ? Jan 12, 2018 00:03 |
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Could be Atlantic City. PA has this thing about going to the Jersey shore
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# ? Jan 12, 2018 00:19 |
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Archenteron posted:Could be Atlantic City. PA has this thing about going to the Jersey shore This raises more questions than it answers
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# ? Jan 12, 2018 00:25 |
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i started my Weird Autumn replay the other day and "Space Dragon" is legit the best video game song of the year, and possibly of all time. it's like a shorter instrumental take on "Dopesmoker"
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# ? Jan 12, 2018 00:46 |
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So what actually got added in the directors cut? I got the game in the sale just before the winter one and then heard stuff was getting added so figured I may as well wait to play it. I assumed the lady next to the snack stand in the underground was new and the junk finding boat guy as well, they just felt like the sorts of things that'd get added back in to me. Just curious what they added really. I missed a bunch of stuff I think so definitely going to go through it again sometime, I didn't hang out with Bea at all, apparently there's some very good scene with the mom that I also missed despite talking to her every day that I could I'm pretty sure.
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# ? Jan 12, 2018 01:12 |
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thebardyspoon posted:So what actually got added in the directors cut? I got the game in the sale just before the winter one and then heard stuff was getting added so figured I may as well wait to play it. I assumed the lady next to the snack stand in the underground was new and the junk finding boat guy as well, they just felt like the sorts of things that'd get added back in to me. Just curious what they added really. Play the Bea route, it's where the majority of the game's plot takes place and has some nice character development for Mae (it's also generally a lot more emotionally satisfying). Weird Autumn gives you the ability to play the bass in Mae's room (you can play any of the main songs in the game after you do them in the story plus one bonus song). Several new NPCs (for example, there's a dog lady that shows up occasionally at the pretzel stand that I would highly recommend talking to whenever you have the chance, you'll see why at the end). There's also a few new Gregg hangouts as well as the chance to hang out with other characters such as Candy(Mae's mom), Germ, and a new character that for some reason only shows up once (the first two hangouts might have been available in the original as well but I forget). It also comes with an extras menu containing some unlockable artwork plus the two side games the team made prior to NitW (Longest Night and Lost Constellation). It's still the same basic game overall but I'd say the new additions are more than enough to be worthy of a second playthrough.
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# ? Jan 12, 2018 01:27 |
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Just played through this, twice in a row, and goddamn it's good. Something I was struck by that I haven't seen mentioned is how different the ending feels depending on how much of the side content you did--the first time I rushed through and didn't do much outside of the main story, and the ending felt pretty bleak, Mae reconciled with Bea and her parents but her other friends are leaving, her dad hates her job, and...that was pretty much it. Second time around I had made good friends with Germ, set up the two musicians, gave the dad the tooth, invited Lori M to Thanksgiving, had Mr. Chazokov ask me to come see the super moon, etc etc. It was weird b/c the game doesn't seem like it's mechanically designed to have a "good ending" vs a "bad ending" but the emotional effect was the same for me. Also that white goat neighbor is definitely a cultist right? He sounds really sketchy when Mae's in a coma in the church and I couldn't find him in the epilogue.
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 19:40 |
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re: old guy neighbor who hates you I don't think there's any reason to think so. Scott Benson has mentioned a few times that he dislikes fanlore/theory storytelling and left a few things as loose ends deliberately to frustrate that sort of reading
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 19:43 |
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is that really a story thing that needed explaining? he's a grumpy old guy and Mei was a trouble causing teenager. What theorycrafting needs to be done there
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 19:48 |
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you'd be surprised how many people i've seen think the point of NITW is (ending spoilers) figuring out which townspeople are cultists
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 19:48 |
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Feels Villeneuve posted:you'd be surprised how many people i've seen think the point of NITW is (ending spoilers) figuring out which townspeople are cultists Yeah, there were some upset people on the subreddit after Weird Autumn confirmed The Chamber of Commerce aren't cultists.
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 19:53 |
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Personally I like the ambiguity. It reflects my own experiences in life where I've been completely blindsided with what some people I thought I knew actually believed and held strongly to. The idea that anyone, even the nice people you chat with every day on the street, could have screwed up beliefs and practices that are just bubbling under the surface of their polite and friendly demeanor is something I think is pretty loving scary and very true to life. Especially when you know for a fact there is a group of people who have tried to act on those beliefs, but you have no way of knowing who they are.
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 20:00 |
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Feels Villeneuve posted:re: old guy neighbor who hates you I don't think there's any reason to think so. Scott Benson has mentioned a few times that he dislikes fanlore/theory storytelling and left a few things as loose ends deliberately to frustrate that sort of reading But yeah I've read Scott Benson's posts on that & I don't mean to Solve The Game, just observing that one guy's dialogue seems conspicuously weird in a way that I assume was intentional. I'm just not sure what the implication of it was. Haledjian fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Jan 15, 2018 |
# ? Jan 15, 2018 20:04 |
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Yeah, I don't think it's ever made explicit that the cultists were anyone we met before (aside from one of them referring to Mae by name once). Starting a full Gregg run now and I've noticed that his scenarios are much more gameplay focused while Bea's involve more story and character development. Gregg's story does have its moments though (like when he announces he and Angus are moving soon and his little breakdown in the woods where he wonders if he's a good person). I still prefer the Bea route but they're both worth playing (also be sure to hang out with Angus when given the chance and talk to Miss Rosa at the pretzel stand).
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 20:05 |
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The worst thing about doing all Gregg's hangouts is reading Bea's IMs every night about how she's at home watching TV by herself.
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 20:08 |
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Haledjian posted:The worst thing about doing all Gregg's hangouts is reading Bea's IMs every night about how she's at home watching TV by herself. Yeah, I got the sense that Mae and Bea genuinely need each other (they're both broken in some ways and kind of help fill the void in both their lives, their relationship growing stronger as the game goes on). With Gregg, his relationship with Mae was never damaged to begin with and as such it seems like he'd be ok regardless (besides, Angus needs him way more than Mae does). Bea on the other hand, has nothing. Her relationship with her dad is rocky at best, her mom's gone, she has to go miles out of her way just to socialize with people outside her small group of friends and you get the sense that that and work is all that's really keeping her sane. Speaking of Angus, I kind of wish there were more chances to hang with him as the scene where he tells Mae about his past is just brutal (in my opinion it's honestly up there with Proximity and Shapes as far as powerful moments go). Larryb fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Jan 15, 2018 |
# ? Jan 15, 2018 20:20 |
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it's tough because I love the Historical Society mission with Gregg and the Library mission is almost mandatory with the tooth story and "There's No Reception In Possum Springs"
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 20:36 |
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Feels Villeneuve posted:it's tough because I love the Historical Society mission with Gregg and the Library mission is almost mandatory with the tooth story and "There's No Reception In Possum Springs" Pretty sure the Library mission is mandatory. The other Bea story mission is Graveyard.
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 20:38 |
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Larryb posted:Yeah, I got the sense that Mae and Bea genuinely need each other (they're both broken in some ways and kind of help fill the void in both their lives, their relationship growing stronger as the game goes on). With Gregg, his relationship with Mae was never damaged to begin with and as such it seems like he'd be ok regardless (besides, Angus needs him way more than Mae does). Bea on the other hand, has nothing. Her relationship with her dad is rocky at best, her mom's gone, she has to go miles out of her way just to socialize with people outside her small group of friends and you get the sense that that and work is all that's really keeping her sane. I did mostly Bea hangouts the first time through and it seemed like Gregg was pretty much fine and would just hang out with Angus.
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 20:50 |
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Larryb posted:With Gregg, his relationship with Mae was never damaged to begin with and as such it seems like he'd be ok regardless (besides, Angus needs him way more than Mae does). If anything Mae and Gregg aren't very good for each other anymore. They're two stunted adult children who keep one another from growing up by perpetually falling back into old bad habits(CRIMES!). Gregg got a job and started saving up not just because he loved Angus, but because Mae wasn't there anymore to help feed his destructive behavior. Mae and Bea compliment one another well. Mae needs a sobering element in her life just as much as Bea needs someone to pull her from the depressive pot hole that her life has become.
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 20:54 |
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mae and gregg is one of the few times i've seen fiction depict that weird kind of friendship where two people still really like each other but recognize that they are also bad influences on each other
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 20:56 |
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I was going to replay this to see the alternative scenes, but I feel so strongly about my original Bea slanted playthrough being true and canon that I can’t bring myself to gently caress with it. I was going to write a thought piece on the ending of the game because it interests me, but have failed to keep it from devolving into overlong and weirdly personal ramblings every time I try. This game done hosed me up well and good.
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 21:16 |
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brainSnakes posted:I was going to replay this to see the alternative scenes, but I feel so strongly about my original Bea slanted playthrough being true and canon that I can’t bring myself to gently caress with it. I'd actually love to try and 100% this game except that playing Pumpkin Head Guy "good" is never going to happen for me on PS4.
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# ? Jan 15, 2018 21:24 |
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Tin Can Hit Man posted:If anything Mae and Gregg aren't very good for each other anymore. They're two stunted adult children who keep one another from growing up by perpetually falling back into old bad habits(CRIMES!). Gregg got a job and started saving up not just because he loved Angus, but because Mae wasn't there anymore to help feed his destructive behavior. Related to that, look at Angus. His life was a literal hell before Gregg showed up (I think it's implied that Bea was his only other real friend at the time). Like with Mae and Bea, they both help ground each other and give their lives meaning. As you said, Mae and Gregg hanging out with each other only really hurts their development, dragging them back down into their childish ways (I think the game even says as much towards the end of the Gregg run). Which is why I consider the Bea path to be the canon route through the game, it just makes more sense from a narrative standpoint. Overall (apart from the DDR segments and a few mini games on the Gregg route) Night in the Woods is an excellent game and I wouldn't mind seeing another project from the same developers. Speaking of which, have they specified yet when this month Longest Night and Lost Constellation will be made available for the PS4 version? Larryb fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Jan 16, 2018 |
# ? Jan 15, 2018 21:28 |
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Larryb posted:Related to that, look at Angus. His life was a literal hell before Gregg showed up (I think it's implied that Bea was his only other real friend at the time). Like with Mae and Bea, they both help ground each other and give their lives meaning. It's odd that we don't see Angus and Bea interact more. It'd be interesting to be a fly on the wall when those two get together and Mae/Gregg happen to come up in conversation. They probably exchange tips on how to keep their unruly children on the straight and narrow.
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# ? Jan 16, 2018 01:58 |
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The Switch edition has been officially announced and will be released on the first of February: https://twitter.com/NightInTheWoods/status/953352474123014145
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# ? Jan 17, 2018 00:07 |
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looking forward to a whole generation of children being pre-emptively indoctrinated with anti-Capitalism sentiment and gay-positive writing
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# ? Jan 17, 2018 00:12 |
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mom, what does "ACAB" mean?
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# ? Jan 17, 2018 00:46 |
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Feels Villeneuve posted:mom, what does "ACAB" mean? Oh, I know this one! Assigned Cop At Birth!
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# ? Jan 17, 2018 01:38 |
Larryb posted:As you said, Mae and Gregg hanging out with each other only really hurts their development, dragging them back down into their childish ways (I think the game even says as much towards the end of the Gregg run). At the same point I think they were kind of unfairly putting the blame for that dragging down a bit too much on Mae for some of that scene. Mae is a troublemaker herself, but Gregg immediately jumped into CRIMES mode the moment Mae was back around without any prodding on her part.
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# ? Jan 17, 2018 01:49 |
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# ? May 28, 2024 16:19 |
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Zerilan posted:At the same point I think they were kind of unfairly putting the blame for that dragging down a bit too much on Mae for some of that scene. Mae is a troublemaker herself, but Gregg immediately jumped into CRIMES mode the moment Mae was back around without any prodding on her part. I literally wanted to smack Gregg when he tells Mae that she needs to let him grow up. I really needed a, "Bitch, YOU'RE the one who keeps inviting ME to break poo poo with you!" response there.
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# ? Jan 17, 2018 02:01 |