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Nevileen posted:It's just frustrating, because the potential for interesting dialogue is there - but you would have to write out the normal dialogue first in order to know what you want to get across (in my case, I asked what normal dialogue would be in this situation and changed the sentences to fit), and then not gently caress up the actual poetry part, or at least get someone else to run through and say 'hey, this doesn't work' or 'what are you trying to get across here?' I'm not a Poet by any means, but you really don't have to be one to know when you're churning out garbage. Honestly, this post sums up a lot of my odd feelings about the game. Not only are the graphics and music good, in other words, the presentation of the story, the STORY ITSELF is actually pretty decent! A game that gets just absolutely everything wrong and is dull is... fun to laugh at for a while, but not actually INTERESTING. It's just, oh ok, this studio has no idea how to make a game. This studio actually seems like it DOES, but it's dragged down SO MUCH by the few things that are flat-out, stand-out terrible. I would ALWAYS hate Henry, but a completely un-sympathetic protagonist isn't necessarily a death sentence! They can certainly have more interesting stories than Dudley Do-Right, the sorting algorithm of kindness who just fixes all problems and rights all wrongs. There are a bunch of elements and motifs that come up again and again, some interesting foreshadowing, twists along the way.... it's just the POETRY.
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Sep 7, 2018 03:03
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 00:07 |
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Exactly! More to the point, beyond the 'I'm the one who speaks weird' thing in the therapist office, it seems like there's no good reason to use couplets. I see definite marks of foreshadowing and some stellar 'our protag is a lovely, lovely person' in there, but a lot of that nuance I'd like to see gets washed away by the weird-rear end decision to use that poetry style. Not only that, but there's so many other types of poetry out there to get across 'this is strange and weird.' A few of my favorites, and the one I write most often in is considered freeform. Where the cadance of your words, and the natural breaks lend emphasis to the things you want to say, the way you want to say them making people think. No fancy words required, no clever rhymes needed just you and the words on the page. Genuinely, you don't actually have to follow a specific pattern - a lot of my favorite poems don't rhyme or match, but have that same kind of breaking up to provide emphasis on things. A lot of this game (again, I've never played it, but considering he went 'okay fine I'll do a non-rhyming option') feels like someone went 'psssh poetry is easy and it'll bring buzz to my game' without understanding it's not just all limericks and couplets and that you can do some pretty crazy poo poo with poetry that would be right at home in a horror game (E.E. Cummings, anyone?), and that just drags down the whole project. I'm sad to hear the non poetry option is also repetitive, tbh - again, I'd understand if it was due to the plot, but personally I wouldn't be able to resist reversing the line instead of solid snake parroting to bring home that feeling of 'wow, this is wrong' (I.e. 'This is the office, the place where I work.krow I erehw ecalp eht ,eciffo eht si sihT') or something like that, if the poetry option really isn't just a gimmick.
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Sep 7, 2018 03:29
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It would have been neat if all the major characters spoke in a different form of poetry and use the simple end rhymes to signal "this is setting and world building fluff, we're cute but not a hidden requirement for a puzzle two-thirds of the way into the game." I am quite sick of this Henry character and how he dumps his responsibilities and decides to go for a night on the town. His wife wanted to rent a lovely movie, not one full of farts. Where'd he get this idea? And isn't Henry supposed to be at work? Instead I find Henry hard at other work being mean to the occult store character and laboring under the stupid idea the guy will shirk responsibilities and let our "hero", like in a kiddie movie swipe the skull without notice then skipping town. Or right back out into the filthy down town Picking an apartment complex for his work where he cribs from a Jack Nicholson movie and nabs a fire axe. Henry's character and the dev team's responsibilities make this vidya game a travesty, the idea Of this jerk in rhyming couplets, the idea of a homeless meat menu in the slum town district, poop-flinger responsibilities include that menu...Jesus Christ! Dev team work came up with not just one loathsome character but two, even worse than that Divine movie. Speaking of crap, library's from some movie reality, spinsters and buns, the idea twenty bucks can fix the place. Her character deserves the kindness and charity the town will not give her, so make Henry do the work. Henry's other reponsibilities can go pound sand, his responsibilities to his wife, boss, mentor friend, rental movie, never meant anything to him. Henry's work is the library now. The stupid idea of taking the cinder block isn't. The town library now depends on his character. (I goofed. Responsibilities, idea after stupid idea on the movie, town-- hour work, bad character, forgot the pole.)
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Sep 7, 2018 05:11
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Yeah, that (or many, many things!) would be far superior. In the meantime... TAKE EVERYTHING, GIVE NOTHING, BE A JERK. LIVE THE HENRY WAY
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Sep 7, 2018 06:23
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Do you get to keep the axe? Can you use it on everyone?
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Sep 7, 2018 07:46
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Think I sussed out my least favourite line for now. "Your aura tells me you're already about to go down in damnation. No need for me to add more sorrow to your impending situation." What caught my ire here is that damnation and situation annoys the poo poo out of me as a 'rhyme'. I'm having issues figuring how what's else is wrong with the line, I just know the sentence really really annoys me.
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Sep 7, 2018 09:09
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@Queserasera that was an amazing bit of prose poetry there. For some reason it made me think of translations of Latin poetry, something like Catullus.
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Sep 7, 2018 09:23
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Unfortunately, we actually CAN'T take the axe. Not while that guy is watching. But soft, what adventures await us... AT WORK ON DAY TWO???  Content warning: Ok, NOW we're getting into it. Gore, descriptions of molestation and torture, suicide, bad poetry [Bacter's choice for worst line: This guy has his own printer? He must be a real winner... It's not the worst rhyme, it's just that Henry's definition of success depresses me. Bacter fucked around with this message at 09:48 on Sep 7, 2018 |
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Sep 7, 2018 09:30
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That's... magnificent. Everything about that was amazing. The green vat. The recording and subsequent sandwich. The sudden-onset narcolepsy. Thank you so much for playing this. 
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Sep 7, 2018 11:36
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 Henry: yeah I'll pass up on 500$ in order to protect a cannibal murderess, that's a great idea i don't understand anything about this e: Worst line this update so far: What could possibly be so secret, about linguistics research here? Have they found the secret to eternal life, in the works of Shakespeare? e2:  I'm howling with laughter oh my god this game StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 12:51 on Sep 7, 2018 |
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Sep 7, 2018 12:40
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StrixNebulosa posted:
Waitwaitwait...  Sandwhich.
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Sep 7, 2018 13:18
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Sand, which... I lost my RC plane somewhere out the back. If I don't find it soon I'll have a panic attack. A random loving errand out of nowhere.
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Sep 7, 2018 14:39
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Re: the writer's dialect - possibly Canadian? Nothing could explain foetus poetess, but every time you sass a perfectly normal rhyme using the word "again", my heart sheds a maple tear. Also, it's a suicide and several cannibalisms ago, but I have a special hate in my heart for the trope of "Oh, how sad that nobody comes to the library anymore, everyone's too busy with their party drugs and reality TV to come appreciate the works of Shakespeare." It's a succinct declaration that you don't actually know what a library is or what it's for, but you're pretty sure everyone else is too stupid to use one.
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Sep 7, 2018 18:34
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Boy, that's so. Other "favorites" of mine from this update: rhyming prey with pray, and Henry jolting awake, realizing that he's slept through the night, and INSTANTLY thinking about what lie he'll tell Grace. I mean, you didn't actually do anything WRONG, Henry (ok, to be clear, I mean you didn't do anything wrong when you fell asleep. You did lots and lots of wrong things the day before!). You might have to apologize, but I'm pretty sure "falling asleep at your desk" is more a cause for concern than something you have to deflect with a lie. Though I guess it's old hat by now. I've probably said this 5 times at this point, but it's actually quite interesting to me to have somebody who combines ambition with incompetence/laziness. I don't actually think Henry is SLOW (he is certainly stupid, but in the way that even the intelligent can be), but he is most certainly lazy and shiftless. If he was a real go-getter, I wonder how much more forgiving we'd be of his ambition. If nothing else, I might be more sympathetic towards the whole "you want to be a peetus, and I want to be a thing that pays at least upwards of six figures instead of probably no figures, so how about I get to do mine first, then with the massive amount of resources, you can do yours". Not that I'd appreciate the way Henry DID it, which was basically to make a unilateral decision and leave Grace to deal with it, but that's kind of his MO. I guess my background assumption is: there are disadvantages to being with somebody who is ambitious, but the IMPLIED CONTRACT is that you get some benefit out of it: they may be needy about getting their way, but they'll provide you with "x". And Henry is manifestly unable to provide ANY kind of x. I genuinely worry that the author thinks we're going to sympathize with Henry, and that the idea that Grace is the one who needs "saved from her sin" isn't laughable. I have no idea WHY the author would think that, but I just feel like it's supposed to come through. The_White_Crane posted:Waitwaitwait... SONOFA Bacter fucked around with this message at 18:55 on Sep 7, 2018 |
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Sep 7, 2018 18:53
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You know what? Worst line of the game: From episode 2 Looks like you're late again? Won't please the corporate elites. If you don't watch out man, you'll join me on the streets. This line is terrible, because I actually thought that it was the one time the word "again" is spelled the common way. But by now I'm fairly certain that this rhyme was a straight up accident. Explosions posted:Re: the writer's dialect - possibly Canadian? Nothing could explain foetus poetess, but every time you sass a perfectly normal rhyme using the word "again", my heart sheds a maple tear. Frankly, the fact that Canadians apparently actually pronounce it that way, makes me even madder. Back in episode 1 when I noticed that, I wanted to make sure that it's not just a weird accent, so I actually searched for different pronunciations. Of course, this video I found, doesn't feature a Canadian translation... In fact, the only video I found where it sounded that way is the start of this here. So I guess Canadians talk like Annie Lennox singing voice?
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Sep 7, 2018 19:20
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I think it's amusing that the game fucks you over for trying to make Henry be responsible and actually do some loving work. God this entire update just hurt my brain, everyone just acts incredibly stupid christ.
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Sep 7, 2018 19:44
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 I literally said "what" to my computer screen. I can't take this game seriously anymore. It was ridiculous before, but now we've got serial killers working for an EEEEVIL science corporation (that employs linguists for some reason), including one who butchers her victims AT WORK. And instead of contacting the police, we blackmail her for a sandwich. This game does not take place in reality.
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Sep 7, 2018 19:44
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Also, Harris is pretty guilty of violating “show don’t tell”. Just leaning back in his chair, looking at a pie chart. “TELL YOU WHAT I LOVE, TORTURE. OF LADIES. Pretty dark! Yup! Preeeeeetty dark! Done it before, will do it again!”
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Sep 7, 2018 20:21
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Bacter I want you to know that I love this LP, it's like the pinnacle of what an LP should be: an entertaining, informative romp through a game I will never, ever play myself.
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Sep 7, 2018 21:09
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StrixNebulosa posted:Bacter I want you to know that I love this LP, it's like the pinnacle of what an LP should be: an entertaining, informative romp through a game I will never, ever play myself. I totally agree here. Also, the game seems to be a bit obscure. I've played like 90% of all adventure games in existence, but I never heard about it. I'm still not really sure, if Henry is the worst adventure protagonist I've seen yet. Like he's a really awful person, but that's a deep well to look into.
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Sep 7, 2018 21:18
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I think it's actually just me having gotten older, but I'm finding the samples of alternative poetry construction really interesting and appealing. Back in high school I was all cool and "Poetry is all garbage and a good way to ruin prose  " But over time I've really started to gain an appreciation for what poetry is and just how interesting and varied it can be.Now, the writing in the game actually IS total garbage, but at least I can start to identify when something is better at least.
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Sep 7, 2018 23:16
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JossiRossi posted:I think it's actually just me having gotten older, but I'm finding the samples of alternative poetry construction really interesting and appealing. Back in high school I was all cool and "Poetry is all garbage and a good way to ruin prose Recently one of my classes forced me to sit down and really pull apart A narrow fellow in the grass and like, dang. Poetry's cool - and unlike a lot of the prose I tend to read, you actually have to sit down and pull it apart word by word, line by line to get a good feel for how good it is. You cannot skim a good poem and go "that was good", you have to work at it - at least, I do.
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Sep 7, 2018 23:58
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She has eaten The sandwich I brought from The lunch room and which almost certainly contained human flesh Forgive me I needed That ladder To progress
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Sep 8, 2018 03:08
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Bacter posted:Sorry about the too-small pic! I got what I asked for but it turns out I didn't want it....
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Sep 8, 2018 04:07
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Explopyro posted:She has eaten Incredible queserasera posted:It would have been neat if all the major characters spoke in a different form of poetry and use the simple end rhymes to signal "this is setting and world building fluff, we're cute but not a hidden requirement for a puzzle two-thirds of the way into the game." I'm going to try my hand at some IFFG-based poetry before this is done, this is too good!
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Sep 8, 2018 04:50
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 It's a sestina! What literature majors do instead of fanart, I guess.I'm still waiting for there to be a reason everything's in verse. We're going to get to the end of the game and find Henry in a padded room wearing a straitjacket singing all these lines to himself, I just know it.
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Sep 8, 2018 14:57
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Just wait.
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Sep 8, 2018 15:59
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- If you can solve the mystery that resides within that room, I'll give you enough money so you can get rid of that costume. . .. ... No.
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Sep 8, 2018 21:16
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Me reading the latest update:  Semi-related to that, props to the developers for having a patch to make the awful poetry optional.
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Sep 10, 2018 05:13
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Kind of a shorter one this time - we're getting caught up to the end of last update, but doing it RIGHT. Content Warning: None this time POLL: BE MEAN/BE NICE. I'm putting the two decisions together as a package deal.
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Sep 11, 2018 06:30
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Be mean. I mean, Henry lost his child and his wife is dying. Needing some time alone to process all this is natural. It's when he uses his dead baby as a pick up line that he loses me.
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Sep 11, 2018 07:58
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Given the utter poo poo-heel on display here, 'Henry being nice' doesn't even compute to me. Be mean. Henry's character is so consistent. The writer definitely knew what he was characterizing, but... I'm totally unsure as to where he's going to take this.
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Sep 11, 2018 09:35
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Is the game title just a play on the wife being a Grace, and falling? I can't see Henry being in anyone's good graces.
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Sep 11, 2018 10:00
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Well, I mean... you know, Grace fell down the stairs and had a miscarriage... so I guess the baby... literally fell from Grace? ... I would not put it past this game to go there. 
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Sep 11, 2018 10:20
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Bacter posted:POLL: BE MEAN/BE NICE. I'm putting the two decisions together as a package deal. Be Mean. Also lol: "Thanks for the cassette, here take this evil mystical artefact we stole from the crazy guy who runs the occult shop, I'm sure it's not cursed (sucker)."
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Sep 11, 2018 11:13
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Be mean. I'm holding out hope that there's character development for ol' Henry, but until then, niceness would be out of character.
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Sep 11, 2018 13:38
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Be meanquote:- But I knew the locket wasn't a home beside the bed. gently caress you gently caress you gently caress you gently caress you gently caress you gently caress you
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Sep 11, 2018 15:49
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Does Henry ever realize he's a poo poo person? Or is this some amateur postmodern commentary of "yeah, people are assholes, man! Life sucks, maaaaaaaan!"
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Sep 11, 2018 20:46
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rudecyrus posted:Does Henry ever realize he's a poo poo person? Or is this some amateur postmodern commentary of "yeah, people are assholes, man! Life sucks, maaaaaaaan!" I for one will be extremely disappointed if Henry ever shows any signs of self-awareness. Be mean.
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Sep 12, 2018 00:30
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 00:07 |
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Well, according to the developer, there are 20 endings (though that includes 'premature endings', which seems a little cheap - like, Sierra games technically had about 300 endings if that's the case), and I haven't seen them all, and I haven't seen the TRUE ending (because of the aforementioned difficulty in finding the first two keys), but... signs are bad. I'm genuinely concerned that the dev thinks Henry is a good guy making his way in a rough world. I would LOVE to set up a Q&A thing with the developer, but I'm also not sure I want this guy, who, by the by, put a TON of effort into this game (I mean, he re-wrote ALL the dialogue into non-rhyming form because of feedback!) to see this thread and the things I think about it. On the other hand, maybe running from confrontation is bad, and only through reasonably merciless mockery can we achieve true growth! WE'LL SEE.
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Sep 12, 2018 01:36
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