Edith Finch was well made but it was also miserable and i'm not sure what sort of point it was making. Some incredibly well-crafted scenes though. They're awful, but holy shit.
this video's a good breakdown of what they were going for point-wise, albeit a long one because it includes a full recap. spoilers and stuff
I watched this and while I agree with all of his narrative interpretation, the same comprehension led me to an entirely different conclusion.
He looks at the unreliable narratives and stories and then concludes that Edie is the 'villian' for perpetuating them and colouring the family through the generations.
While I feel there's a truth to the fact that Edie and her stories have shaped the narrative the family tells about themselves, I disagree that it makes her the villian, or whether blaming the fantasy is reasonable.
Edie is a fantasist, one who loves the stories and perspectives they give life.
Dawn, by contrast, is a realist, and strongly rejects the narrative of the family curse.
I don't think that the game portrays Edie as being to blame, any more than it puts blame on Dawn's rejection of the stories as being to blame. I think instead it tries to hold up both perspectives as the lenses through which we frame events, and holds up this family and their tragedies as an exploration of both the fantastic and the real by putting them in contrast to one another. We, as players, are supposed to consider both the fantasy and the reality, and it becomes a more subjective interpretation as to what is 'truth'; the Burton movie Big Fish had a similar theme, although it's done more subtly here.
The game to an extent supports this itself; there's certain shifts that occur in playing of it that you are only vaguely aware of while you're playing it, the most obvious one being how you view the house.
When you first see the house, it's this mythic, impossible thing; a Willy Wonka Disney house out of a magical Suessian fantasy, a tower growing up into the sky of impossible architecture, bricks and trees and wood spiraling up beyond imagination.
But as you play the game, come to understand the characters, their motivations and their personalities, and you begin to understand that it isn't magical or fantastic but just the most natural outcome of those people and their proclivities and talents, you begin to see it differently - as Edith mentions herself, when she was growing up there, she never thought it was unusual; it was just the normal outcome for those people living in that house. This is not to discount the house for its other narrative purposes - where it is in part, a symptom of the family's brilliance and troubles - but the key here is for how the view of the house for you, as the viewer changes, from that first glimpse of the strange silhouette growing out of the trees, to how you feel about that same tower once you actually start to step out onto the narrow bridges and steps that make up the bedrooms of Edith's generation. The contrast between that first, fantastic version of the house, against the how mundane and normal it seems once you experience and understand the reality of it.
I think there's one other subtle piece of evidence for this interpretation, of the fantastic against the realistic, and it's wrapped up in a minor achievement for the game most probably never think about.
The game gives away an achievement for taking 'both paths to the house'.
At the start of the game you are confronted with a simple, basic choice: will you follow the driveway to the house, or take the path through the mysterious trees to get there?
The driveway is direct, no frills, it gets you there without fuss or bother. You know where you're going and it will get you there.
The wooded path is beautiful. The path is rambled, overgrown, with soft mist and hidden waterfalls. The path itself is meandering, branching, broken, and almost dreamlike. You can choose your route as you flit between the trees, with every few steps something new and unknown revealing itself to you, until you emerge before the house.
This then, is the two contrasts of the game: right there, at the first decision you, the player, makes - do you take the driveway, or the wooded path? Do you choose fantasy, or reality?
For the record, I took the mysterious wooded path my first time through.
I have not played it a second time.
I am curious, however, which path other people took.
ill keep an open mind on this expansion but i dont know if my tastes have changed or what but Civ 6 has been my least favorite Civ since I started with 4... can't really put my finger on it
but I have hundreds of hours in Civ4 and 5.... and I have barely scraped 100 in 6
0
KetarCome on upstairswe're having a partyRegistered Userregular
"By installing and using the Software, you consent to the information collection and usage terms set forth in this section and Licensor's Privacy Policy, including (where applicable) (i) the transfer of any personal information and other information to Licensor, its affiliates, vendors, and business partners, and to certain other third parties, such as governmental authorities, in the U.S. and other countries located outside Europe or your home country, including countries that may have lower standards of privacy protection; (ii) the public display of your data, such as identification of your user-created content or displaying your scores, ranking, achievements, and other gameplay data on websites and other platforms; (iii) the sharing of your gameplay data with hardware manufacturers, platform hosts, and Licensor's marketing partners; and (iv) other uses and disclosures of your personal information or other information as specified in the above-referenced Privacy Policy, as amended from time to time. If you do not want your information used or shared in this manner, then you should not use the Software."
"The information we collect may include personal information such as your first and/or last name, e-mail address, phone number, photo, mailing address, geolocation, or payment information. In addition, we may collect your age, gender, date of birth, zip code, hardware configuration, console ID, software products played, survey data, purchases, IP address and the systems you have played on. We may combine the information with your personal information and across other computers or devices that you may use."
Mugsley on
0
Indie Winterdie KräheRudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered Userregular
ya'll ever start thinking about a videogame and suddenly you have a fully finished spec script in your mind for a potential reboot
anyway Square Enix please hire me for a re-imagining of the Legacy of Kain series
+4
MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
I want a modern recreation of Blood Omen, the best Legacy of Kain game
+9
Indie Winterdie KräheRudi Hurzlmeier (German, b. 1952)Registered Userregular
can't decide if Blood Omen would work better as a BotW style open world or a Dishonored style immersive sim
"By installing and using the Software, you consent to the information collection and usage terms set forth in this section and Licensor's Privacy Policy, including (where applicable) (i) the transfer of any personal information and other information to Licensor, its affiliates, vendors, and business partners, and to certain other third parties, such as governmental authorities, in the U.S. and other countries located outside Europe or your home country, including countries that may have lower standards of privacy protection; (ii) the public display of your data, such as identification of your user-created content or displaying your scores, ranking, achievements, and other gameplay data on websites and other platforms; (iii) the sharing of your gameplay data with hardware manufacturers, platform hosts, and Licensor's marketing partners; and (iv) other uses and disclosures of your personal information or other information as specified in the above-referenced Privacy Policy, as amended from time to time. If you do not want your information used or shared in this manner, then you should not use the Software."
"The information we collect may include personal information such as your first and/or last name, e-mail address, phone number, photo, mailing address, geolocation, or payment information. In addition, we may collect your age, gender, date of birth, zip code, hardware configuration, console ID, software products played, survey data, purchases, IP address and the systems you have played on. We may combine the information with your personal information and across other computers or devices that you may use."
More specifically I think I recall it being the language used for the RE Net service that tracks your statistics like playtime and enemies killed.
I think you have the option of turning it off, though.
Edit - upon reading it again it doesn't look like the information RE Net tracks is nearly as extensive.
RT800 on
0
SnicketysnickThe Greatest Hype Man inWesterosRegistered Userregular
Which version of the eula is that though, I know that firaxis rightly got shit for that redshell (?) thing and stripped it out so I assumed that changes were made to the eula because redshell (or blueshell?) is how they were monitoring that data.
That's the most recent version I could find. When they removed Redshell, they didn't close the gaping holes in the EULA. Also worth noting this is for a single player game with, ostensibly, no online component.
can't decide if Blood Omen would work better as a BotW style open world or a Dishonored style immersive sim
i think leaning into semi-linear level design and environmental storytelling would serve blood omen better than an open world, imo, but! travel around a horrifying gothic cityscape could be pretty satisfying. like a mix of arkham city and dishonored!
man blood omen rules
0
MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
Blood Omen's map was closer to a Zelda game than anything
Wandering through the woods and shit until you find some weirdo's mansion and go kill him to cleanse one of the pillars
+2
BroloBroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered Userregular
Hyper Jam is a neon-soaked arena brawler with a dynamic perk drafting system that makes each match different from the last.
The hard-hitting fusion of lethal weapons, stackable perks, furious combat, and a killer synthwave soundtrack makes Hyper Jam a multiplayer experience that'll keep you coming back for more.
Furious Combat
Hyper Jam features fast-paced multiplayer arena gameplay for 2-4 players. Annihilate your opponents round after round using katanas, rocket launchers, sledgehammers, and more.
Perk Drafting
After every round, players choose new perks that stay with them for the rest of the game, stacking and combining with their existing ones to create more powerful effects. A wide pool of distinctive perks ensures no two games are ever the same.
Local and Online Multiplayer
Grab some controllers and take on your friends at home, or test your skills against the rest of the world in public or private online matches. Cross-platform matchmaking means there are even more challengers for you to face!
Arcade Spirits, a romantic visual novel, follows an alternate timeline set in the year 20XX where the 1983 video game crash never occurred. After a turbulent work history, you are granted employment at the Funplex, a popular arcade, home to a host of unique personalities and customers. Where will this new-found employment take you? Who will you meet along the way? Will you find the romance you're seeking?
Design your own character from the ground up - pronoun, hairstyle, skin tone, hair color, eye color and more are completely customizable and are reflected throughout the game in both gameplay and artwork!
With roleplaying-based choices, you will be able to grow your personality and relationships in any way you desire; Friendship, Platonic or something more intimate! Work hard and build the relationship you desire with a total of seven romanceable characters!
The Identity Identifier System, or IRIS, can track your relationship statuses with all characters throughout Arcade Spirits as well as your personality traits, from Quirky, Steady, and Kindly, to Gutsy and Basically.
Everything you choose in Arcade Spirits, from your relationships to your personality, your crisis management moments, and a myriad other decision will have an effect on the future of your arcade!
Played a few EDF missions. That game is silly fun! I kind of wish I could put a VHS filter over everything for some reason. Probably to make it look like a "modern" Body Harvest (remember that one?)
el_vicio on
0
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
I am enjoying Sunless Skies, but I'm dying a lot more than I did in Seas (combat is a lot harder) and I really miss the whole getting a new map every new captain thing. That made dying fun, in a way, and had the potential to completely change the economy of the game from life to life.
I also still haven't made it out of the first area though, so maybe there will be some more stuff with that for me then.
I want to kind of half heartedly say hey guys no guillotine jokes
because I guys you know, the guillotine was bad
the scale of perversity here is honestly kind of crushing though, how am I supposed to muster enthusiasm for that position? like at the point at which the elite are so brazenly saying "hahaha we don't give a fuck", what consequences are to be applied?
Posts
I watched this and while I agree with all of his narrative interpretation, the same comprehension led me to an entirely different conclusion.
While I feel there's a truth to the fact that Edie and her stories have shaped the narrative the family tells about themselves, I disagree that it makes her the villian, or whether blaming the fantasy is reasonable.
Edie is a fantasist, one who loves the stories and perspectives they give life.
Dawn, by contrast, is a realist, and strongly rejects the narrative of the family curse.
I don't think that the game portrays Edie as being to blame, any more than it puts blame on Dawn's rejection of the stories as being to blame. I think instead it tries to hold up both perspectives as the lenses through which we frame events, and holds up this family and their tragedies as an exploration of both the fantastic and the real by putting them in contrast to one another. We, as players, are supposed to consider both the fantasy and the reality, and it becomes a more subjective interpretation as to what is 'truth'; the Burton movie Big Fish had a similar theme, although it's done more subtly here.
The game to an extent supports this itself; there's certain shifts that occur in playing of it that you are only vaguely aware of while you're playing it, the most obvious one being how you view the house.
When you first see the house, it's this mythic, impossible thing; a Willy Wonka Disney house out of a magical Suessian fantasy, a tower growing up into the sky of impossible architecture, bricks and trees and wood spiraling up beyond imagination.
But as you play the game, come to understand the characters, their motivations and their personalities, and you begin to understand that it isn't magical or fantastic but just the most natural outcome of those people and their proclivities and talents, you begin to see it differently - as Edith mentions herself, when she was growing up there, she never thought it was unusual; it was just the normal outcome for those people living in that house. This is not to discount the house for its other narrative purposes - where it is in part, a symptom of the family's brilliance and troubles - but the key here is for how the view of the house for you, as the viewer changes, from that first glimpse of the strange silhouette growing out of the trees, to how you feel about that same tower once you actually start to step out onto the narrow bridges and steps that make up the bedrooms of Edith's generation. The contrast between that first, fantastic version of the house, against the how mundane and normal it seems once you experience and understand the reality of it.
I think there's one other subtle piece of evidence for this interpretation, of the fantastic against the realistic, and it's wrapped up in a minor achievement for the game most probably never think about.
The game gives away an achievement for taking 'both paths to the house'.
At the start of the game you are confronted with a simple, basic choice: will you follow the driveway to the house, or take the path through the mysterious trees to get there?
The driveway is direct, no frills, it gets you there without fuss or bother. You know where you're going and it will get you there.
The wooded path is beautiful. The path is rambled, overgrown, with soft mist and hidden waterfalls. The path itself is meandering, branching, broken, and almost dreamlike. You can choose your route as you flit between the trees, with every few steps something new and unknown revealing itself to you, until you emerge before the house.
This then, is the two contrasts of the game: right there, at the first decision you, the player, makes - do you take the driveway, or the wooded path? Do you choose fantasy, or reality?
For the record, I took the mysterious wooded path my first time through.
I have not played it a second time.
I am curious, however, which path other people took.
40 bucks though...
Has Starbreeze been involved in a bunch of lawsuits that I missed, or are you thinking of Stardock?
And dat EULA
There’s been a... whole bunch of shit around Starbreeze lately.
this article has a bunch of info on it
but I have hundreds of hours in Civ4 and 5.... and I have barely scraped 100 in 6
Well, yes, but none of that involves them suing anyone.
Huh? What's up with it?
Emphasis mine
"The information we collect may include personal information such as your first and/or last name, e-mail address, phone number, photo, mailing address, geolocation, or payment information. In addition, we may collect your age, gender, date of birth, zip code, hardware configuration, console ID, software products played, survey data, purchases, IP address and the systems you have played on. We may combine the information with your personal information and across other computers or devices that you may use."
anyway Square Enix please hire me for a re-imagining of the Legacy of Kain series
Yikes, how is this legal?!
I think you have the option of turning it off, though.
Edit - upon reading it again it doesn't look like the information RE Net tracks is nearly as extensive.
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
Ah good I can look at buying it now
i think leaning into semi-linear level design and environmental storytelling would serve blood omen better than an open world, imo, but! travel around a horrifying gothic cityscape could be pretty satisfying. like a mix of arkham city and dishonored!
man blood omen rules
Wandering through the woods and shit until you find some weirdo's mansion and go kill him to cleanse one of the pillars
Feb 12 - Hyperjam
Feb 12 - Arcade Spirits
I mean ideally I want something like Darksiders but with a more dynamic, lived in world
perhaps a bit more mechanically complex? Darksiders 2 then, so you could have Loot
$1:
BTA:
$12:
🖥️Steam Profile
I also still haven't made it out of the first area though, so maybe there will be some more stuff with that for me then.
W H O O P S
Finally my original character can be fully realized!!!
The full budget for a mid range release
because I guys you know, the guillotine was bad
the scale of perversity here is honestly kind of crushing though, how am I supposed to muster enthusiasm for that position? like at the point at which the elite are so brazenly saying "hahaha we don't give a fuck", what consequences are to be applied?
Actually kind of upset that if it had to happen to a game it would be the Jump Force models.
Steam Switch FC: 2799-7909-4852
It's Madame Guillotine.