As someone who feels immeasurably guilty when im not working the line "did you have a good time while the sandwiches were rotting" hit me good and hard
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GustavFriend of GoatsSomewhere in the OzarksRegistered Userregular
I guess i should say it hit me like a brick
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miscellaneousinsanitygrass grows, birds fly, sun shines,and brother, i hurt peopleRegistered Userregular
Linespider5ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGERRegistered Userregular
I am still working on this game, in between life and demands.
Honestly I’m growingly irritated by how less and less and less of the game is actually something to be played, as I’m somewhere in Act 4, and I feel I am reading the script of an overlong, indulgent play.
It was fine when there was a mix of exploration and character development but it is feeling incredibly blunted and muted by endless paragraphs of literally telling things and not showing me them.
This choice is especially hurting my investment in the game since the characters are, largely faceless matchstick men. There is no performance. Everyone is very matter of fact about being on this tugboat.
I’m sure a lot of this would be assuaged if I was playing on a desktop, instead of on a TV from my Switch. Even portable Switch is an improvement but...
I am trying very hard to like this game but it is becoming the equivalent of trying to enjoy food that the more I try to eat it, the more it just becomes paper the recipe was written on instead of the meal.
I took a while to come back to this even though I bought it a while ago. About two years ago I played up to partway through act 4, and then decided I wanted to wait on the whole thing, to play through it all cohesively. I didn't even know the interstitials existed.
So now I've finished Act 4, and done all the interstitials before then. I hadn't gotten to the bat sanctuary or anything past that on my last playthrough.
I'll just say that The Entertainment is by far the most essential of the interstitials so far.
The first time I played through I hadn't even grasped what was happening at the distillery - partly I didn't really explore it very much, but also without the context from The Entertainment, I didn't realize what was happening there. It really changed my view of Act 3 and 4, to know what was happening behind the lines. I'll agree that it's much too slow though - the dialogue is paced much too slowly, I really wish they would have shown more text per window while viewing it. And I'm an old theater geek, so I'm more patient to that kind of thing than most.
I was kind of shocked that they took Conway away before the end of Act 4, I kind of assumed something like that would happen, but not yet. I'm kind of excited because I feel like they've subverted my expectations, as open ended as they were.
I feel like Shannon is the biggest cipher of the game, she's the one I have the hardest time pinning down to a personality or response type. At times she seems the kindest, other times the most straightforward, to the point of being autistic? Just in terms of being blunt and to the point. It feels like most other characters have people talk about them from time to time, to give them context, but Shannon is almost always first person.
I went along the echo and took all the off-boat choices, I think I want to go back along and just stay on the boat to see them all. Act 4 is the first where I really feel the weight of my choices bearing down on me. When I played years ago I remember I stayed in the video room and watched weird vhs tapes, and that was about when I decided to just put it on pause.
I wish I could remember more details about all the ancillary characters you meet along the way, and all the details they tell you, because I love the little bits of dialogue you learn from them.
edit:: I think I'm going to plan on finishing the game tomorrow night. I feel like this is the kind of game you need to prepare and get in the mood for, to make sure you're receptive to the long form vibes it's spreading out on the table for you.
Well, I was definitely not expecting Conway to just be completely gone, but I never saw him again after Act 4. Act 5 feels much more like an epilogue than a conclusion, and Death of a Hired Man like a footnote.
I also just read Austin Walker's review from earlier in the thread, and the things he's making make sense. The game becomes much more overt as it goes on about the damage caused to the area by the power company, and in less of a jokey way. In the first act, some of the effects are more jokey and strange. But I think I disagree that the game is 'about' capitalism. Capitalism is like the natural disaster that set the scene for the story to take place, with rubble scattered everywhere. The game is more about people recovering from trauma and having to stand on their own again, trying to bring themselves to look forward at the future, instead of at the ghosts of the past. Conway's story is about his inability to move on from his past, but for the others it's more ambiguous.
I think the setting and themes really work well though, it helps make the ideas feel very real and grounded. I think it's good because it helps bring out personal experiences like Walker did in helping people connect with it.
There's also just a lot here that doesn't necessarily fit into any box, a real breadth of ideas, like all the time spent thinking about old tapes and electronics, or bizarre art pieces and memorials. Or just meeting people who have their own oddball ideas and goals. Honestly looking back it feels a little strange how focused Act 5 was, given how meandering the earlier ones are.
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miscellaneousinsanitygrass grows, birds fly, sun shines,and brother, i hurt peopleRegistered Userregular
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As someone who feels immeasurably guilty when im not working the line "did you have a good time while the sandwiches were rotting" hit me good and hard
Like wow is the interface bad for it. So inspite of myself I just hung up and moved on.
also I may be weird in that I am i am replaying this on the switch to get to act V and it's taken me like three weeks to get act IV.
Honestly I’m growingly irritated by how less and less and less of the game is actually something to be played, as I’m somewhere in Act 4, and I feel I am reading the script of an overlong, indulgent play.
It was fine when there was a mix of exploration and character development but it is feeling incredibly blunted and muted by endless paragraphs of literally telling things and not showing me them.
This choice is especially hurting my investment in the game since the characters are, largely faceless matchstick men. There is no performance. Everyone is very matter of fact about being on this tugboat.
I’m sure a lot of this would be assuaged if I was playing on a desktop, instead of on a TV from my Switch. Even portable Switch is an improvement but...
I am trying very hard to like this game but it is becoming the equivalent of trying to enjoy food that the more I try to eat it, the more it just becomes paper the recipe was written on instead of the meal.
And... I'm not sure how I feel about it. Or let me rephrase that. I don't think I'll ever be sure how I feel about it.
So now I've finished Act 4, and done all the interstitials before then. I hadn't gotten to the bat sanctuary or anything past that on my last playthrough.
I'll just say that The Entertainment is by far the most essential of the interstitials so far.
I was kind of shocked that they took Conway away before the end of Act 4, I kind of assumed something like that would happen, but not yet. I'm kind of excited because I feel like they've subverted my expectations, as open ended as they were.
I feel like Shannon is the biggest cipher of the game, she's the one I have the hardest time pinning down to a personality or response type. At times she seems the kindest, other times the most straightforward, to the point of being autistic? Just in terms of being blunt and to the point. It feels like most other characters have people talk about them from time to time, to give them context, but Shannon is almost always first person.
I went along the echo and took all the off-boat choices, I think I want to go back along and just stay on the boat to see them all. Act 4 is the first where I really feel the weight of my choices bearing down on me. When I played years ago I remember I stayed in the video room and watched weird vhs tapes, and that was about when I decided to just put it on pause.
I wish I could remember more details about all the ancillary characters you meet along the way, and all the details they tell you, because I love the little bits of dialogue you learn from them.
edit:: I think I'm going to plan on finishing the game tomorrow night. I feel like this is the kind of game you need to prepare and get in the mood for, to make sure you're receptive to the long form vibes it's spreading out on the table for you.
I also just read Austin Walker's review from earlier in the thread, and the things he's making make sense. The game becomes much more overt as it goes on about the damage caused to the area by the power company, and in less of a jokey way. In the first act, some of the effects are more jokey and strange. But I think I disagree that the game is 'about' capitalism. Capitalism is like the natural disaster that set the scene for the story to take place, with rubble scattered everywhere. The game is more about people recovering from trauma and having to stand on their own again, trying to bring themselves to look forward at the future, instead of at the ghosts of the past. Conway's story is about his inability to move on from his past, but for the others it's more ambiguous.
I think the setting and themes really work well though, it helps make the ideas feel very real and grounded. I think it's good because it helps bring out personal experiences like Walker did in helping people connect with it.
There's also just a lot here that doesn't necessarily fit into any box, a real breadth of ideas, like all the time spent thinking about old tapes and electronics, or bizarre art pieces and memorials. Or just meeting people who have their own oddball ideas and goals. Honestly looking back it feels a little strange how focused Act 5 was, given how meandering the earlier ones are.