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My stupid review will go up on the front page Wednesday, but I'll post the text in here when the embargo's up on Tuesday. I'll also answer any questions people might have at that point, without revealing much. This is definitely the sort of experience you want to go into blindly and let yourself get swept along. I'm having a very difficult time finding room for my usual bad jokes in between all the earnest praise.
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Feb 5, 2016 20:47
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 08:39 |
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Haven't finished writing my review yet, but here's a relevant chunk:quote:It's got exploration and all sorts of items to interact with, but it's not an open world or survival game. There's more character work in the first half hour than in just about any game I can think of, but you mostly speak to one person on the other end of a walkie talkie. Traversal and Metroid-like map progression are prominent, but you're a chubby guy pushing 40 who grunts while stepping over a log. I do have a tip. I'll spoil it even though it's very vague and about a mechanic: Be sure to use the camera Also, a more vague tip: Take your time and explore. If you walk and keep your eyes open you'll come across some surprising stuff. I discovered a few things completely outside the path of the story, each with a surprising amount of detail leading to Real Good conversations. Oh! There's another thing. Someone was asking about FOV. I'm usually sensitive to narrow FOVs but didn't feel like anything was off. This is, however, a game where you have an actual body that you can look down at, Trespasser style. The movement is a bit deliberate and grounded (which really sells the effect of being there) so that might come across as odd in videos. There's a setting to disable the head bob. Corin Tucker's Stalker fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Feb 8, 2016 |
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Feb 8, 2016 19:09
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Blind Rasputin posted:Any thoughts on the story yet? Some of the reviews I read said it's not what one would normally expect. One went so far as to say the ending was quite empty. I'd hate that. I'm absolutely stoked to play this and hope the story is just incredible and not zombies. I thought it was quite good. Without spoiling anything, there are some mysterious elements that lead you to wonder if the story is going in a number of directions throughout the course of the game, but the one they go with is totally earned and makes sense.
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Feb 9, 2016 20:54
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Posted my review. Loved it. 99.9% of games are power fantasies involving larger than life concepts like magic or saving the world, or unrelatable genre staples like murder revenge. I can see why people want bombast and spectacle, but it's super refreshing when a game tells a human story, and I thought this one was told rather well. It had my attention the entire time, whether the plot was progressing or I was dicking around to see what objects I could get Henry to oafishly describe to Delilah. I also think it's rare for a game to account for the way that mechanics, story, and player expectations combine at any given point and heighten the experience by reducing or building up those elements as needed. I'd imagine a lot of work goes into that, and it's not the sort of thing that hits you in the face like a back-of-the-box feature. Looking forward to Campo Santo's next game, an 80+ hour Wizards & Wyverns tactical RPG. Corin Tucker's Stalker fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Feb 10, 2016 |
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Feb 10, 2016 15:36
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Hakkesshu posted:The whole "games are power fantasies it's so refreshing to see a human story" is fine and all but that was a movement that began in indie games before this game even started development. Obviously it still is extremely far from the norm but by this point I've played dozens of games like that and I don't think this one does much in terms of storytelling to stand out or excel. I appreciate that they try to increase the scope a little bit in terms of world building, but it still wasn't quite enough to really impress outside of the art design. Yeah, I'm not saying Firewatch is the first game to take this route or that doing so automatically makes it good, but responding to specific complaints about the game not going in a direction that felt bigger or more sci-fi/paranormal/whatever. If you're open to anything but the story didn't connect with you then it didn't connect with you. Can't argue with that. For me, I can't think of a game of this sort that went further to invite player investment. Just about every game I've tried was either abstracted or didn't have enough connective tissue between the points it tried to make. Gone Home was the only game that came close for me, and while Gone Home is almost exclusively about inferring things (which I enjoyed), Firewatch does a lot of approachable surface-level stuff that nudges the player to read between the lines.
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Feb 10, 2016 16:13
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 08:39 |
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This is dumb, but does anyone have or know how to extract the Forrest Byrnes texture? I'm creating a Firewatch race in Stellaris for absolutely no good reason. Made an empire flag with the tree logo, now I want to whip up portraits for the species, all of them slight variants on the Byrnes cutout.
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May 10, 2016 00:17
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