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Crappy Jack posted:Well, I never read it as them being freaked out, they were just completely dismissive. There's a log in the kitchen where she talks about them finding out and just shrugging it off like a phase. Actually, yeah, now that I've thought about it a minute more, I think what freaked them out was the aggression and pseudo-violent imagery of the riot grrl culture (as embodied by Lonnie). If she had been into a guy who was in a punk band, the story would have very similar, I think. Her parents seem to be hippies, and hippies don't like punks. A lot of the criticism of the game is "oh, I'm supposed to be impressed by this story about lesbians" which I think is widely missing the point. There is much more importance placed on Sam's interest in underground music and rebellion than the fact that she kisses a girl.
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Feb 9, 2014 06:51
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And I'd say what's impressive is that its a video game that's story is completely grounded in reality. I'd be hard pressed to think of other games like that.
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Feb 9, 2014 06:54
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There's that one where you're a dude who is waiting for his date to arrive, but from what I hear it's not very well done.
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Feb 9, 2014 12:14
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Accordion Man posted:And I'd say what's impressive is that its a video game that's story is completely grounded in reality. I'd be hard pressed to think of other games like that. There are many, many modern IF authors doing this. The best example I can think of is Emily Short's Bee which you can play online here: http://varytale.com/books/
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Feb 9, 2014 12:28
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ExtraNoise posted:Dude, don't even reply. Guy's just trying to get people to sucker into replying to him so he can jump up on some soap box about how enlightened the world outside of the United States is and how he's pretty sophisticated in his english-speaking paradise and how we should be ashamed of our Walmarts and McDonalds or whatever. Then someone will point out how backwards Australia is in regards to Muslims and then the thread will break down and get closed again for another month. Oh, so he does this is every thread he's in? I thought he just did it in the SS13 thread. Motherfucker posted:Maybe I'm the rear end in a top hat? Anyway, I loved this game because, like many others, it brought back that nostalgic, high school, first-love-discovering-yourself sort of feeling for me. After getting over the initial suspense of being possibly(not) alone in a dark, scary house that I've never been in before, I was able to really settle into character, which brought the game into a much more personal level for me. exquisite tea posted:There's that one where you're a dude who is waiting for his date to arrive, but from what I hear it's not very well done. Dinner Date? I played that one just before getting into Gone Home, and it's not that it's not well done, it's just done from a different perspective. In that game, you're the subconscious of a guy waiting around for his dinner date to arrive. You're very clearly a preset person, and you're along for the ride, deciding what feels like meaningless actions while the story drags you along. In Gone Home, you are the character. You decide, more or less, what you look at and where you go and what you read. I think that's where the two games completely separate in terms of how they end up feeling to the player. One's you watching a guy react from behind the glass, the other is you steering the car around the park yourself.
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Feb 9, 2014 15:11
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precision posted:There are many, many modern IF authors doing this. Hey, if it doesn't have graphics, it's not a "real" game. 
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Feb 9, 2014 15:30
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neogeo0823 posted:Anyway, I loved this game because, like many others, it brought back that nostalgic, high school, first-love-discovering-yourself sort of feeling for me. After getting over the initial suspense of being possibly(not) alone in a dark, scary house that I've never been in before, I was able to really settle into character, which brought the game into a much more personal level for me. Definitely going to agree with this sentiment, it's much more this than the actual fact that Sam is a lesbian, you certainly don't have to be a homosexual to appreciate this aspect of the game I think. In addition to that emotional core, the "archeology" style of discovering the game's narrative is sort of the "point" of the game to me.
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Feb 9, 2014 18:38
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exquisite tea posted:There's that one where you're a dude who is waiting for his date to arrive, but from what I hear it's not very well done. Dinner Date was ok. I am glad I played it, but it's not winning GOTY.
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Feb 9, 2014 19:29
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precision posted:There are many, many modern IF authors doing this. http://emshort.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/reading-and-hypothesis/ Speaking of Emily Short, she recently wrote this really interesting critical analysis of Gone Home. I do agree with her that it would have been nice if there was a way to be more active, instead of just systematically going through every room. I'm not sure how best to pull that off, though.
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Feb 10, 2014 11:58
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Ulta posted:Dinner Date was ok. I am glad I played it, but it's not winning GOTY. Also, I was curious if anyone else here decided to pick up The Novelist, which actually has some environmental storytelling but is a bit more focused on choice/consequence instead. neogeo0823 posted:Dinner Date? I played that one just before getting into Gone Home, and it's not that it's not well done, it's just done from a different perspective. In that game, you're the subconscious of a guy waiting around for his dinner date to arrive. You're very clearly a preset person, and you're along for the ride, deciding what feels like meaningless actions while the story drags you along. In Gone Home, you are the character. You decide, more or less, what you look at and where you go and what you read. I think that's where the two games completely separate in terms of how they end up feeling to the player. One's you watching a guy react from behind the glass, the other is you steering the car around the park yourself. Sober fucked around with this message at 07:18 on Feb 11, 2014 |
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Feb 11, 2014 07:15
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Completed this yesterday and I can't stop thinking about it. As someone who grew up listening to riot grrrl bands and faced some similar issues, it hit me hard. I had to pause and search online whether there were any jump scares though, the atmosphere was really creepy. It would've totally ruined it to suddenly have ghosts jump out.
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Feb 16, 2014 11:38
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I got into a heated argument with my sister over the ending to this game. I played it from start to finish with headphones on around 5AM. I knew going in the plot twist and the secret compartment with the attic key but pretended I was going in fresh. I was completely overwhelmed with a sense of 90s nostalgia: sitting in my father's old brick and wood house creaking in the wind, the warm light of a CRT television enveloping the halls, making couch forts and playing Street Fighter on the Super Nintendo. The lack of a clear goal and simple interactivity didn't bother me and I enjoyed the progression of the plot as linear as it was. The entry on "Default Friends" hit particularly close to home because I remember hanging out with people only because we were close and it was convenient for us to do so yet we shared little in common. All these fuzzy feelings lasted as the night broke into the cool blue haze of the morning creeping through my windw. I made my way into the attic to view the ending. And I wish I loving didn't. Are we still spoiling? I'll spoil anyway to play it safe. My point of contention is that the girls abandon everything and in the process completely ruin their lives. Before you go to boot camp, you swear in and it's a legal contract. Lonnie is now a deserter, a federal criminal. Her pay will be frozen and she can't do poo poo under her name in the USA without being ousted. Desertion carries a 2-4 year penalty in Leavenworth. Sam gave up college, tuition almost completely paid, and ran away with her family's belongings. I couldn't be angrier at the revelation. It completely colored my opinion that Sam is a spoiled brat. And the more I thought about it the more I couldn't shake it out of my mind. They lived in a nice house, her father was supportive of her creative talents, her mother was supportive of her creativity (I'm assuming her mother made that outfit in the sewing room), and she trusted in her sister enough to leave clues about her whereabouts despite leaving a note telling her the contrary. The most animosity she faced at home was her parents dismissing her love as a "phase" but even her school life is relatively harmless. People are weirded out because of where she lives, not who she is. I wanted to assume that it was a sexist slur painted on her locker in the one entry but there's no real evidence suggesting that. Daniel, the person she tried to avoid for years after using him for his games, accepted her for who she was without hestitation! Aside from her parent's aloofness, Sam lived a pretty good life. My sister argued that her actions were pretty much in line with a 17 year old girl in love and I think this is where my biggest conflict comes from. I flat out disagree with her actions in the end. And when I asked my sister if she would have given up going to UVA for some boy she flat out said "gently caress no, but we were raised better than that." Basic training for the Army is something like 8-10 weeks. Sam could have graduated high school and visited Lonnie during her own graduation from boot camp. And this is the mid-90s so it's highly likely Sam would have been stationed in the States. They could have moved in and lived together. Even in a pre-email age they could still write letters or talk on the phone. It's not like you join the military and suddenly become a loving ghost. Gone Home was supposed to end on a high note but for me it was a complete tragedy. These girls ruined their lives for each other. Sam less so than Lonnie but a high school dropout and a deserter aren't going to get far. And being underage Sam is considered a runaway and any police interaction results in her being returned to her parents. And since Lonnie is an adult she could be hit even harder as a result. I wish I never went into the attic. I enjoyed the love story, I enjoyed the characters, I enjoyed the attention to detail and the rush of nostalgia. I did not enjoy the ending and it threw me out of the game with such force that I find it hard to appreciate the 99% of the game I did like. al-azad fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Feb 16, 2014 |
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Feb 16, 2014 14:57
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al-azad posted:
From what I heard, people not showing up to boot camp is actually not that uncommon, and you're not "in" until after some oaths and paperwork that happen after boot camp. Internet searches confirm this but if someone with actual authority contradicted me I wouldn't die on that hill.
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Feb 16, 2014 15:06
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I don't think you're wrong about the practical outcomes, but... 1) Sam and Lonnie are 17 and 18, which is an age where thinking through one's actions is... well, it's kind of a new thing for most people at that age. Was it stupid? Sure. Was it realistically stupid? Absolutely. 2) It's a "happy" ending because it comes after several hints heavily implying that Sam has severely harmed or killed herself. I don't think it's at all supposed to be the best case scenario, it's just much better than it might have been.
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Feb 16, 2014 15:13
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Ulta posted:From what I heard, people not showing up to boot camp is actually not that uncommon, and you're not "in" until after some oaths and paperwork that happen after boot camp. Internet searches confirm this but if someone with actual authority contradicted me I wouldn't die on that hill. First you go to MEPS which is processing. They check you out, make sure you're medically and emotionally fit, then you discuss your contract and swear in. It all happens the same day. I joined the Navy straight out of high school. I was 17 when I swore in. I left my family, friends, and girlfriend behind. I went in during December and cried like a loving baby on Christmas day. But my parents visited me when I graduated, I kept in contact with my friends via mail and phone, and eventually I came back and nothing changed. Everyone I knew was out of college, we started living together, and now we're closer than ever. It's largely why the ending hit so close to home. I've been there, I did all that, I regretted my decisions several times but it's over now and even though I hated most of it I'm glad I went through it. I don't hate the ending because it was poorly written or executed, I hate it because it flies in the face of everything I've been through. Perhaps it's a testament to the game's presentation that it struck such a strong chord, even if it was negative. Pope Guilty posted:I don't think you're wrong about the practical outcomes, but... See, my sister argued point 1 and I understand where she was coming from but... yeah, I'm just completely conflicted over the result. But I am interested in point number 2, I must have missed any evidence of that. I was intentionally looking for evidence that Sam was abused or hurting herself but couldn't find anything direct. I do wonder if Katie would have accepted Sam. If you pick up the porn in her locker you get a message that's like "Jeeze, Sam" the same response for finding her dad's porn. al-azad fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Feb 16, 2014 |
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Feb 16, 2014 15:25
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Sam was absolutely terrified over the idea of her parents freaking out and sending her to one of those "pray the gay" camps or something like that. Also the game takes place in the 90's so they couldn't really be together while Lonnie was still in the military, Don't Ask Don't Tell would have made sure of that. The two of them were just scared teenagers unsure if their loved ones would accept them for who they were. The stuff they did like stealing all the VCRs isn't meant to be seen as totally justified, but you can still see where they're coming from. That's why the ending is more bittersweet than a true happy ending.
Accordion Man fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Feb 16, 2014 |
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Feb 16, 2014 17:17
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al-azad posted:I do wonder if Katie would have accepted Sam. If you pick up the porn in her locker you get a message that's like "Jeeze, Sam" the same response for finding her dad's porn. Well, Sam says in one of the journal entries that she thinks Katie probably knows already. Sam's known that she's gay "since She-Ra", and according to the first journal entry Katie was the one Sam talked to about everything, to the point that after Katie goes away she feels the need to start a journal and write it as if she's talking to Katie, rather than confide in anyone else about her thoughts and feelings. The "You've known, right?" makes me feel like it was probably just this unspoken thing that both were aware of, but neither ever got up the courage to actually talk about. That, and the only "ewww, no" reactions we get from Katie are basically anything to do with her family members' sex lives: the hidden porn you mentioned, the "reawakening your sex life after marriage" book her mother had, the condom in the parents' room's drawer, Sam's note in the basement. There are no such reactions to anything to do with Sam and Lonnie's relationship itself, only when it gets to "more than I want to know" levels. What makes me saddest about the ending is that Katie is left with no way to find or get in touch with her little sister that she's always been so close to and who could really use the support right now  I was left with this really empty feeling of wanting to do something to help her but being powerless to do anything, and wondering how things might have turned out if "I" had never gone on that holiday.
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Feb 16, 2014 19:16
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Accordion Man posted:The two of them were just scared teenagers unsure if their loved ones would accept them for who they were. The stuff they did like stealing all the VCRs isn't meant to be seen as totally justified, but you can still see where they're coming from. That's why the ending is more bittersweet than a true happy ending. This is a good point. I can relate to this take on Sam because even though my family is also very supportive, until you've had to really test it, the idea can just terrify you beyond reason. My family is supportive too (though my issue was atheism instead of being a lesbian), but I lived in total fear that they wouldn't be, and all that love and support I took for granted could be gone in an instant. If I could literally go back in time to try and tell my past self that I didn't need to be that freaked out, I still wouldn't be able to believe it. None of that changes the original point of course - no matter how believable it is, it's still shocking to think how much they've thrown away. But like others have said, for me the "good ending" was that you first get here wondering if your sister was actually in danger or something, and by the end, you're worried if you just missed her committing suicide. Instead you find out that, although she might be really loving up her life, she hasn't literally ended it. And to hear her so excited and happy about joining her love instead of diving into depression or something, it feels like there's better chances for things to work out somehow. Maybe they'll get a reality check and come running back, and Sam will probably at least reach out to Katie once something goes wrong.
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Feb 16, 2014 22:29
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The game really reminds me of façade except less griefing of the AI by asking Trip if he can suck your toes.
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Feb 16, 2014 22:38
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I think the ending is true to the spirit of the culture that Sam and Lonnie were in. I don't know how many of you were adults in the 90s, but "gently caress it, let's just run away and live life on our own terms was a thing that many people did, and succeeded at - and yes, that's including people as young as them. Independent rock, especially riot grrl/alternative rock, is full of nothing but people who ran away to somewhere or other and made their own path. Consider the caption on the cover of Sonic Youth's "Goo" album - "I stole my sister's boyfriend. It was all whirlwind, heat, and flash. Within a week we killed my parents and hit the road." Nitpicking the exact details of their situation - "Would Lonnie be a wanted criminal?" "What will they do for money?" Etc... that's antithetical to the entire romanticism and ethos of the very scene the game was concerned with. A more conventionally happy ending would have been a disappointment and a failure at evoking what the game specifically set out to evoke.
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Feb 16, 2014 22:55
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al-azad posted:If you pick up the porn in her locker you get a message that's like "Jeeze, Sam" the same response for finding her dad's porn. This is one of the places where Katie asserts herself as a character, and later on it bugged me a little bit. Katie, you're the one rooting through people's stuff! What were you expecting?
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Feb 17, 2014 01:13
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While it is worth mentioning that the girls took off without any real view of the consequences, some leeway has to be given in terms of the long-term effects in the same sense that you don't start wondering how long it's going to take the buisinessman to get tired of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl's wacky antics or how Rambo is going to get PTSD.
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Feb 17, 2014 03:51
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DreamShipWrecked posted:While it is worth mentioning that the girls took off without any real view of the consequences, some leeway has to be given in terms of the long-term effects in the same sense that you don't start wondering how long it's going to take the buisinessman to get tired of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl's wacky antics or how Rambo is going to get PTSD. This is what gets me. When I think about a story's ending, I think about the possibilities that happen after everything is said. The saddest thing to me isn't living on the run, but the idea that their money runs out and they come crawling back to their families. That's the worst case scenario for me. That lump in your throat when you gently caress up and need to turn to someone who warned you from the start and even if they don't say all you can think to yourself is "I told you so."
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Feb 17, 2014 04:11
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DreamShipWrecked posted:While it is worth mentioning that the girls took off without any real view of the consequences, some leeway has to be given in terms of the long-term effects in the same sense that you don't start wondering how long it's going to take the buisinessman to get tired of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl's wacky antics or how Rambo is going to get PTSD. Likewise, I think this flip view of the future is exactly because Sam is spoiled. I don't think it's inconsistent with the plot. If Sam belong to a much poorer family she would have grimmer, less romantic views of the world. She would wonder what her and Lonnie are going to do to get by, how they would pay the bills, etc. Sam's never really had to think of these things, so of course she doesn't.
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Feb 17, 2014 04:32
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Perhaps it is telling that if we were teenagers then we would probably be going on and on about how this is all SUPER ROMANTIC. VVV Probably? I'll admit, I have never actually seen the Rambo movies. CuddleCryptid fucked around with this message at 06:28 on Feb 17, 2014 |
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Feb 17, 2014 04:40
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DreamShipWrecked posted:While it is worth mentioning that the girls took off without any real view of the consequences, some leeway has to be given in terms of the long-term effects in the same sense that you don't start wondering how long it's going to take the buisinessman to get tired of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl's wacky antics or how Rambo is going to get PTSD. Not to nitpick your idea, but didn't Rambo already have PTSD?
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Feb 17, 2014 04:51
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The tone is less like a popcorn movie and more like a short story or short stage play to me. Already a lot of things you see from the families lives do not have cheap happy endings but are played out in a more or less realistic manner.
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Feb 17, 2014 04:55
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precision posted:I think the ending is true to the spirit of the culture that Sam and Lonnie were in. Yeah, the idea that you cannot make it on your own with no plan or that mistakes will follow you forever is actually a pretty new one, culturally speaking, and the post-recession 90s were a very, very different place socio-economically than the world we live in today. People used to be able to choose their paths in life a lot more readily, in a way that was kind of unprecedented. There also weren't vast online support networks for LGBT youth like there are today, and open homophobia was much more entrenched and casual than even the most egregious examples of today. Saying "gently caress it" to everything is a perfectly valid decision in the context the game takes place in, and as you mentioned, completely fits the grunge themes of the game.
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Feb 17, 2014 10:14
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I like Portlandia's take on the 90s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVmq9dq6Nsg
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Feb 17, 2014 15:36
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Can't wait for Fullbright's next title Gone Home Court about a washed up NBA star returning to the hood find his inner game. It'll be a "game" about passing the rock, crashing the net, and Christmas Dunks.
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Feb 17, 2014 16:05
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Interview with the developers about life after Gone Home and their next game.
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Feb 20, 2014 23:21
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Guess who made a cameo in the latest Walking Dead episode?
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Mar 5, 2014 11:34
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Very lovingly rendered too.
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Mar 5, 2014 16:08
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I would laugh so hard if the car belonged to a lonely, single 30 year old woman with dyed red hair and serious regrets about her life.
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Mar 5, 2014 16:19
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Gone Home is coming to consoles. Hoorah!
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Mar 10, 2014 18:47
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Good for them, hopefully it'll be worth the effort. Mostly unrelated, but they link to a interview they had on IGN that also says that Costume Quest 2 from Double Fine is happening too, straight from Tim Shafer. Double hurray!
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Mar 10, 2014 19:15
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Kibayasu posted:Mostly unrelated, but they link to a interview they had on IGN that also says that Costume Quest 2 from Double Fine is happening too, straight from Tim Shafer. Double hurray! Yesssssssss oh god yes, I've been waiting to hear that ever since I beat the first one. It had so much cute charm to everything, it was killing me thinking it was gonna end on that cliffhanger forever. Also oh boy, now we're gonna be in for whining and making GBS threads from two more entire platform crowds in regards to Gone Home.
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Mar 10, 2014 19:23
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Yardbomb posted:Also oh boy, now we're gonna be in for whining and making GBS threads from two more entire platform crowds in regards to Gone Home. I am glad consoleers get to play GH now, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't at least partly due to the bile 
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Mar 10, 2014 19:37
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DreamShipWrecked posted:I am glad consoleers get to play GH now, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't at least partly due to the bile
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Mar 10, 2014 21:12
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Thank gently caress for that. As someone who paid full UK price for it a week after release, I'd be perfectly happy to do the same on PSN - because it's cheaper than buying a new laptop that can actually play the game well. Presumably the graphics would not be beyond a PS3... I'd say the more likely basis for comparison for Sony gamers would be the latest The Last of Us DLC, which also concerns two teenage girls doing normal teenage things in a short, narrative-heavy game and also being gay. PSN does have quite a few games with relatively simplistic gameplay and an emphasis on exploration, so it wouldn't really be out of place. Edit: pseudorandom name posted:Depends on how much effort they put into the port, the main reason why it performs badly on low-end hardware is that it is one level, and the PS3 is even worse than the low end. 
Kegluneq fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 10, 2014 21:18
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