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Mr_Wolf posted:Oh man i know what you mean regarding the spoiler. I haven't felt that tense in a while and i'm not ashamed to say i ran to the light turned round and then slowly creeped round the corner. I was expecting something really horrible but was really, really blown away by the conclusion. Listening to Sam's last diary about Lonnie and looking at the pictures in the attic made me tear up. When i hit that part With the pentagram and the ghost stuff, and her saying she was sleepy and she would wait, i thought that she had perhaps attempted suicide, and i moved up to the atic as fast as i could, with trepidation. It set up what followed as guaranteeing my tears.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:22
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Rookersh posted:So, serious question, with some spoilers.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:24
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Rookersh posted:So, serious question, with some spoilers. The story isn't about abuse at all. Don't know if you want the main story spoiled but it isn't about the parents at all - although they do have a minor story thread too.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:25
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StoicFnord posted:When i hit that part With the pentagram and the ghost stuff, and her saying she was sleepy and she would wait, i thought that she had perhaps attempted suicide, and i moved up to the atic as fast as i could, with trepidation. Exactly what i was expecting. Seeing the note on the little sleeping bag made my mind up. So glad - and a little teary - about what actually transpired.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:27
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Accordion Man posted:For your second question,they're at a couples counseling retreat if I'm not mistaken. See, I thought that they were at the counseling retreat at the same time that Sam and her girlfriend had the sleepover - hence the jokes about "defiling their bed" and stuff like that. I took the note in the garage - that they were "away camping" - to be meant to disguise the fact that they were actually at a more serious counseling/therapy retreat type thing. That may just be me mixing up/conflating two different events, though, or making that narrative connection where it wasn't intended. So much of the game's story is revealed through subtext like that.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:31
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Eh gently caress it. I'll hate you all if you lied, but it's not in the top 10 of Steam, and I want stuff like this to be supported. Time to go house sitting.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:35
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I guess I'm in the minority, unless there's different endings I was honestly surprised that was it. I liked exploring the house though, but $20 for like 3 hours of reading papers, meh.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:35
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I want to play this game, but I want to know what i'm getting into. At any point throughout the game, will something horrible jump out at me? Will I turn around to see a ghost face at the window and die of fright? If it's just exploring a house, without monsters or maniacs, then i'm down. But if it's a horror game of some sort then I'd like to know that before starting.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:37
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I don't really think I should spoiler this but just in case: to answer your question This isn't a horror game
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Aug 15, 2013 22:42
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The one thing that does confuse me is that, given the long development cycle for this game and the pretty high video card requirements (my 2012 macbook air was technically under the requirement, but still ran the game at lowest settings with some occasional hiccups), you don't actually do much with the environment other than walk around in it and read stuff. Frustrating, since I think that a big chunk of the game's potential audience - especially non-gamer women that were teenagers in the nineties - won't own computers powerful enough to run the game. It seemed like they intended to pack tons of detail into the environments, but even simple stuff that I tried to do like read the date on the milk in the fridge in order to see if the groceries had been there inappropriately long wasn't doable. I remember production interview comments referencing the content density of The Last Express as an inspiration, and how "though this is only one house, it's just so PACKED with stuff to interact with" - and yet, well, there are a lot of empty 3-ring binders to pick up and then put back down and a hell of a lot of empty shot glasses. I also noticed early in the game that there's not a single mirror anywhere in the house, most weirdly in the bathrooms, to the point where I was convinced it was going to somehow be plot-related. But...nothing, again.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:48
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Gunder posted:I want to play this game, but I want to know what i'm getting into. At any point throughout the game, will something horrible jump out at me? Will I turn around to see a ghost face at the window and die of fright? If it's just exploring a house, without monsters or maniacs, then i'm down. But if it's a horror game of some sort then I'd like to know that before starting. Don't read the following unless you have some sort of legitimate medical or psychological reason that you absolutely MUST know the answer before you're able to play the game, because so much of what makes the game's atmosphere and exploration so great is that you literally have no clue whether you've stumbled on something horrible or not, and each new room you enter, each dark corridor, each lock you unlock keeps you kind of holding your breath and treading lightly just in CASE you're about to stumble upon something right out of your worst nightmares and this is a big part of what makes the game so great. However, in case you absolutely need to know going into this It's not a horror game and there are no jump scares.
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Aug 15, 2013 22:52
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Can someone give some vague directions on how to get into the attic? I've been all over the house so I'm sure I must be missing something obvious. e: the obvious thing ended up me completely missing the greenhouse - doh. Osmosisch fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 23:33
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Incredible game. Re: Oscar - They didn't hit you over the head with it, but it seemed like he had some gender identity issues thanks to all of the clippings of the female clothing ads in the hidden passageway. The light goes out in the passage, so you don't really have time to examine them.
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Aug 15, 2013 23:43
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If I have one major complaint about Gone Home, it's that they forgot how terrible cassette tapes sounded.
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Aug 15, 2013 23:43
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Man, what an experience. I think this game may have out-Dear Esthered Dear Esther (a good thing in my book).
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Aug 15, 2013 23:48
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I was a huge fan of Dear Esther, and played it a ridiculous amount of times. When I heard about Gone Home, I was immediately sold on the concept, and goddamn was it worth the wait. If the purple prose and arty feel of Dear Esther put you off, fear not, for there's basically none of it in Gone Home. The atmosphere is ridiculously thick, with just incredible sound design that builds a real sense of loneliness and tension as you discover what's happened in the house. I loved all the miscellaneous things you could discover, with some objects being incredibly tiny you probably won't notice them the first time you explore a room. Now for something that really affected me: The side story with Oscar and his son. When you're exploring the basement, you'll find a corridor with a safe, a height marking chart for the boy, and a door that leads into a small store room for holding firewood. If you try to turn the light on, it won't work. I was going to turn and leave the room, but I noticed that tucked into the corner, next to the rest of the firewood, was a little wooden horse. That moment really stuck with me, it implied so much sadness without having to do anything. Incredible. Additionally, when you first reveal the secret corridor in Mom & Dad's room, you can find a small crucifix with a passage relating to a son's death scrawled on it. The exact time I picked up the crucifix, the light popped and freaked the poo poo out of me  Not sure if it was scripted or just amazing timing.
Songbearer fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Aug 16, 2013 |
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Aug 16, 2013 00:00
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Songbearer posted:Now for something that really affected me:
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Aug 16, 2013 00:32
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Finished it. Wasn't expecting what I got. Great game; play it if you're even vaguely interested.
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Aug 16, 2013 00:36
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I like how much story is in the house without the game having characters to come out and push it in your face. So many subtle tidbits all over the place, this is probably my game of the year so far. Well until Dream gets finished maybe.
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Aug 16, 2013 00:37
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Very VERY much enjoyed that. I'd always enjoyed exploratory games like this, one of my favorite gaming moments is that section in Deus Ex where you're examining the DuClare mansion, just walking around this big empty house looking for clues and secrets, and this game delivered in spades. Along with an absolutely gripping story told in the most unconventional way.
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Aug 16, 2013 01:27
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I'm having a problem where I can't target anything directly, like I have to look to the SIDE of something to make the game figure out I was looking at it.
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Aug 16, 2013 01:54
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This was really interesting. I don't know if it was $20 worth of interesting for seeing almost everything in the game in two hours, but it was really interesting and I don't regret the purchase. I was riveted. One thing I missed and I don't want to go back through and check it, but can someone spoiler what was in the basement safe? That's the one thing I forgot to go back and look around for the combination and totally missed.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:00
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I will say that I think it is worth turning off the text that floats up when you interact with certain objects. Besides for some funny moments like Katie's reaction to discovering her father and sister have the same taste in porn or the "ugh" floating over the book her mom had about rekindling their sex life, some of the text seemed at odds with what I was feeling and projecting on Katie. By the time that I got to the basement, I was pretty worried that Sam had hurt herself. In the basement there is an old sex ed homework assignment of Katie's which contrasts an earlier found assignment of Sam's. I was feeling an insane amount of tension while imagining a profound sense of sadness for Katie, but the text was just "Oh hey, one of my old sex ed assignments!" It just took me out of it all for a bit. Still, I absolutely adored it. It's been awhile since something defied my expectations so much. I had goosebumps at the ending, but I was also really happy about the dad having such a happy ending. The title of the game was really impacting because the game is really about going or finding home and how we convince ourselves of what that means when we might be wrong. Wonderful game.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:01
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redcheval posted:This was really interesting. I don't know if it was $20 worth of interesting for seeing almost everything in the game in two hours, but it was really interesting and I don't regret the purchase. I was riveted. When I opened it up, it contained a ton of old time looking syringes and packets of morphine, along with a note from Uncle Oscar written, as I recall, to his sister (who marked the envelope Return to Sender), apologizing for some sin he had committed and essentially begging her to forgive him. What exactly it was, I never saw, but it's basically a safe full of morphine and a very sad letter.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:03
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Well that's...  Missing that piece of info actually makes me feel like I missed a decent chunk of the story. I have to assume that something happened to his son, presumably by his own doing, since everyone at school openly refers to the house as the 'psycho house'. Either that or the kid died somehow and then Oscar went crazy, causing everyone in the town to shun him as a result.quote:Additionally, when you first reveal the secret corridor in Mom & Dad's room, you can find a small crucifix with a passage relating to a son's death scrawled on it. The exact time I picked up the crucifix, the light popped and freaked the poo poo out of me This happened to me too, so I'm assuming it's scripted. I was looking around at the walls and everything when I grabbed the crucific, was reading it and then POP! The only scary part of the game but one that made me feel like the 'not a horror game' statement was just to mislead the player.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:20
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Other than the aforementioned lack of lovely tape sound I love every thing about this game. (End game spoilers)I actually like how there's tension in this game but it turns into a love story by the end. When I saw a red stain on the tub my heart actually skipped a beat. I wonder if that's because I've played too many video games and expect something violent and horrible or if that was intended by the artists. I would've gladly paid twice as much for a game like this and sorry to my shitteo shame hater friends but this actually does advance the medium by a huge degree while touching a bunch of the old video games that make me like the medium in the first place. As an aside, I'm an Oregon native who has been living in NYC for the past 6-7 years. Maybe this is confirmation bias but I feel like being a native Oregonian actually brings a lot of interesting subtext to this game but I could be wrong. I'm moving back to Portland next month, so I'm going to see if I can't buy one of the author's a drink or two and grill them about this awesome game.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:30
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That was a sweet little game. I appreciate all the narrative depth despite predicting exactly what would happen between Sam and Lonnie. Besides all the other plot threads being mentioned, one that stood out to me was the cold relationship between Terrence and his own father. You don't find a single artifact of your grandfather's until you reach the basement, and it's an analytic text about Joyce -- the highest of high art -- contrasted against Dad's pulpy serial novels. The repeated line of "you can do better" in the note and also in the study just perfectly encapsulates, without using very many words at all, Terrence's professional struggles against his father's shadow, as well as the loneliness that both he and Masan experienced in their own personal lives. There's also the generational motif between the men of the family and Sam, a very talented writer in her own right who you see develop through her stories of Allegra and the First Mate. I'll definitely have to go through the house again to pick up on anything I missed. One interesting little turn in my own game was that I somehow missed the bathroom on the upper floor with the red hair dye until I was about to visit the attic, so I thought it was definitely blood until I flicked on the light. It was an oddly tense moment that left me wondering if the developers anticipated something like that happening.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:39
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exquisite tea posted:That was a sweet little game. I appreciate all the narrative depth despite predicting exactly what would happen between Sam and Lonnie. Besides all the other plot threads being mentioned, one that stood out to me was the cold relationship between Terrence and his own father. You don't find a single artifact of your grandfather's until you reach the basement, and it's an analytic text about Joyce -- the highest of high art -- contrasted against Dad's pulpy serial novels. The repeated line of "you can do better" in the note and also in the study just perfectly encapsulates, without using very many words at all, Terrence's professional struggles against his father's shadow, as well as the loneliness that both he and Masan experienced in their own personal lives. There's also the generational motif between the men of the family and Sam, a very talented writer in her own right who you see develop through her stories of Allegra and the First Mate. I'll definitely have to go through the house again to pick up on anything I missed. One interesting little turn in my own game was that I somehow missed the bathroom on the upper floor with the red hair dye until I was about to visit the attic, so I thought it was definitely blood until I flicked on the light. It was an oddly tense moment that left me wondering if the developers anticipated something like that happening.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:42
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That was enjoyable. Kind of made me think of VTM:Bloodlines. That said, the broken sliding cabinet in Sam's bathroom is hiding something. I will click you a million times.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:48
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Good little game. Very good. I hope to see more from these guys in the future.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:49
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I can't say I'd see myself going back to this game, but it was well worth the sticker price. Very well written and well paced. It's amazing how well they were able to subvert my expectations with basically EVERY single plotline. I was convinced I'd find Sam dead in the attic. I was convinced the mom would have eloped with the burly chested lumberjack man. I figured the father would have become an alcoholic with the unappreciation his books received. Absolutely wonderful. Definitely going to keep an eye out for what these dudes do next.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:52
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The weirdest thing for me about this game is I kind of know how that house smells from visiting houses like that in Oregon.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:52
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I really enjoyed the way the developers twisted my expectations. I started clean, haven't read anything about the game other than the gushing about being able to explore and examine everything. The beginning of the game lead me to believe I was dealing with a ghost story, and the sister had escaped while the parents disappeared, or... something. As it went on I realized what was happening. I loved the little touches, like I had been turning on every light I saw - only to see the "you're worse than your sister" note from the mom to the sister about leaving the lights on all over the house. They must have discovered people doing that through playtesting. I also made my own "jump scare" when I went upstairs and turned the corner. It was just a plant on a table, but later on I found the note about the sister thinking she saw a tall man around the corner. The ending being happy for everyone was good. Though I just realized - once the parents come home, all happy and reunited from their couples' retreat, they have to deal with the fact that their daughter ran away from home.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:52
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ya this was a good video game. I hope all the positive press turns into good sales for scoops & co because I'm really interested to see where they go from here.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:54
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BJPaskoff posted:The ending being happy for everyone was good. Though I just realized - once the parents come home, all happy and reunited from their couples' retreat, they have to deal with the fact that their daughter ran away from home. Not to mention that their eldest daughter dug through all their stuff and threw it on the floor.
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Aug 16, 2013 02:54
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Kaitlin! What did you do to my room?! *fade out to Home Alone main theme*
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Aug 16, 2013 02:55
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Al! posted:Not to mention that their eldest daughter dug through all their stuff and threw it on the floor. Nope, I put everything back! Even tidied up a bit. Why was the parents' room in such disarray? Especially the mother's side - draws all open, clothes strewn about. Now that the story's over the only thing I can think of is last minute packing.
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Aug 16, 2013 03:03
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Did anyone find out where all the VHS players went? Also, I can only hope Katie can explain the stuff about Sam well enough to convince them it's a good thing. It would seriously break my heart if a rift grew in the family. It's not really up for dispute that Katie accepts what Sam did, so surely she can convince her parents. Ugh, I'm gonna be thinking about this game for a long time.
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Aug 16, 2013 03:04
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BJPaskoff posted:Nope, I put everything back! Even tidied up a bit. Why was the parents' room in such disarray? Especially the mother's side - draws all open, clothes strewn about. Now that the story's over the only thing I can think of is last minute packing. If you examine the calendar in the dining room, the couples retreat was rather hastily added in over the scratched out wedding date for Rick (the forest ranger dude). So it was a last minute thing. Narrative wise, it also injects a little suspense into the story at the point at which the player is likely to find their parents' bedroom.
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Aug 16, 2013 03:07
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BJPaskoff posted:Nope, I put everything back! Even tidied up a bit. Why was the parents' room in such disarray? Especially the mother's side - draws all open, clothes strewn about. Now that the story's over the only thing I can think of is last minute packing. Did you see her studio? I guess I just assumed that she was kind of a messy person compared to her husband's meticulous cataloging and filing of everything. Also to go back to an older question: Bamf posted:Incredible game. This might be a Northwest thing and they might've intended what you meant but a lot of really old houses have newspaper insulation or backing just behind the walls. We had a lot of Katzenjammer Kids comics pasted to walls in our attic.
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Aug 16, 2013 03:09
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