I don't get it.

[Tiggum]

You do things and things happen, but why? What am I trying to do? What's the point? I played the first dream, got all the photos and saved the bear, but what was the significance of that? I just don't understand this game.

[kkcheung]

Think of it as a dream...
You don't have to have a point when you dream...
You don't set a goal when you dream...or do you?
It just happens that you dream about the things you dream...
In this case... its more like you are going through what the dev dreamt.

[Tiggum]

I get that much, I guess, it's more that I don't get it as a game. I understand what dreaming is, I just don't really see how it's supposed to work as a game. What am I supposed to be getting out of this? What is the point in me playing it? What is my objective, what am I aiming for? Where are the hooks to get me involved? I feel that if I understood where it was coming from I might be able to appreciate it on a level beyond "Someone is telling me about a dream they had."

I don't know if I'm explaining this very well, but it's kind of like, if you tell me about what you dreamed last night, I don't care. But if you made it into a video game, I should, because a dream is just random bull♥♥♥♥, a game is supposed to engage me.

[XTinc]

I think it is one of those, It's Not a game its an "Experience," Sort of games. I enjoyed it for what it was, that being free as apart of the bundle. I don't think it is something to have fun with its more of an art exhibit and interactive story.

I guess it's fault is not being all that engaging, you sort of fumble around these little dreams and find photos and get dialogue etc, but it is so bloody minimal that there is no umph to it. It isn't like a myst or a mystery.

Games as art taken a bit to far to the art side, and as an artist that is saying something.

[pokerdan]

I get that much, I guess, it's more that I don't get it as a game. I understand what dreaming is, I just don't really see how it's supposed to work as a game. What am I supposed to be getting out of this? What is the point in me playing it? What is my objective, what am I aiming for? Where are the hooks to get me involved? I feel that if I understood where it was coming from I might be able to appreciate it on a level beyond "Someone is telling me about a dream they had."

I don't know if I'm explaining this very well, but it's kind of like, if you tell me about what you dreamed last night, I don't care. But if you made it into a video game, I should, because a dream is just random bull♥♥♥♥, a game is supposed to engage me.

The irony is that I interpret the first dream to mean "Don't worry so much about objectives." As soon as you rush to solve one problem, another will be waiting. Slow down and see the big picture. Stop and smell the roses. This applies to the character, who's worried more about her exams than her recovery, and can apply to the gamer as well who's in a rush to finish the game. :-p

[Tiggum]

I don't think it is something to have fun with its more of an art exhibit

I guess my mistake was in assuming it was a game. I mean, it doesn't engage me as a piece of art either, but if that's the intent then it explains why it doesn't feel like a game.

[Amander]

It is a game about immersion, not the usual test for the player about 99% that all the games out there have as their main aspect. Get immersed, think about how the main charakter feels and feel with her. That's the point.

[Tiggum]

How the main character feels? I don't know anything about her. And immersion? What is there to be immersed in? I'm seriously asking.

[Friendliest]

...it doesn't engage me as a piece of art either...

you're here talking about it, so obviously it has engaged u to some degree. :cool:

[Amander]

How the main character feels? I don't know anything about her.Listen to what she says about the polaroids, the various locations and the endings. If you don't understand that well, turn off subtitles.

[Tiggum]

you're here talking about it, so obviously it has engaged u to some degree. :cool:

I got it for free when I bought Frozen Synapse. I tried it out and felt I must be missing the point, because, well, I don't know what the point is supposed to be. It failed to engage me to the extent that I felt the need to find out what I was supposed to be getting from it.


And Amander, what do subtitles have to do with it?

[Amander]

And Amander, what do subtitles have to do with it?Because understanding her comments helps understanding what she feels. You know, humans tend to express emotions with words. Especially if that's an inner monologue

[Tiggum]

I still don't get what that has to do with subtitles.

[Amander]

I still don't get what that has to do with subtitles.Do you understand the voice or not? If you don't, use subtitles. If you do, then you still should listen closely. Just imagine that you're watching theater and a charakter expresses her inner monologue.

[Tiggum]

If I were watching a film, I'd have some context for the monologue. All you get in this game is fragments of stuff about a person you know nothing about. There's no hook.

[Amander]

a) She lost her parents in the car accident
b) She went to law school but all this turned out not to be the right thing for her
c) She feels that her career was mostly planned and done for her parents, not for herself and is unsure about what to do now
These are quite good hooks to start with.

[Tiggum]

Sorry, but they're just not.

[Amander]

Sorry, but they're just not.Is it possible that someone's everyday problems just aren't a hook for you and it takes something more fantastic?

[Tiggum]

It's not an issue of what the problems are, it's an issue of "Why should I care?" I don't care if you're fighting aliens or racing to catch a train, either way you have to engage me with the story. Just telling me about some things that happened is not enough. Even very interesting things can be made uninteresting by the way in which they're related. It's about the way the story is presented, not its content.

To get back to my central question, I don't understand the presentation of this story. I don't understand why I'm supposed to care about this woman or anything that happens to her. What am I missing that makes this a story worth listening to?

[Amander]

To get back to my central question, I don't understand the presentation of this story. I don't understand why I'm supposed to care about this woman or anything that happens to her. What am I missing that makes this a story worth listening to?If you don't care for real-life personal problems of a game charakter, than the game's indeed the worst game you can ever play. The presentation of the story is that you reveal what's going inside her mind but if you don't care for her mind, then no wonder you don't get it.

[Tiggum]

Clearly I'm not explaining myself very well here. It's not that I don't care about the "real life personal problems" of the character. I like lots of things taht are realistic and about realistic situations. My problem is not with the content of the story.

See, my question is not "Why should I care about someone who's recovering from a car accident?", it's not what the story is about that I have a problem with. My question is "What is it about this specific story that is supposed to engage me? Why should I care about this specific person? Why is it worth going through the effort of playing through the game. What do I get out of this?"

[Amander]

About this SPECIFIC story, it might just aswell be the presentation. You're inside the main charakter, you're playing her dreams. That's pretty unique. The game hardly qualifyes as effort, it's an hour or so, if you just run through it only catching the main endings of each dream, it's a quarter hour or at least not much more. That's not effort.

[HeatSurge]

Um, I guess it comes down to your interest.

Launched the game, "played" / "experienced" what it has to offer, then still didn't care?

My recommendation: erase game.

You can't start magically caring for something that you never cared about to begin with... in my opinion.

My personal experience (also came as part of the FB bundle, so I didn't really "care" to "buy" this game to begin with) was that the game was really interesting, not really "innovative" but the atmosphere that it created I really enjoyed. While it's obviously not Bad Company 2 or even Monkey Island, it's an interesting "experimental experience" which I personally found interesting and engaging enough to go through.

I'm not even sure if the word "enjoy" is the right word for this, as the whole thing I found a little disturbing, in a way, which may be kind of the point of this as well. Does a game have to be "fun" to be "enjoyed"? Does it have to have a goal? Or does it just have to evoke a feeling, a mood, a state of mind? These are questions you should answer for yourself. If you're looking for a traditional "do this = win" type of "game" you should probably look elsewhere.

P.S. If you don't "get" this, don't get "The Path." It's a similar "indie game" which questions a lot of conventions about goals / score / etc. that have prevailed in gaming for decades now.

[Protoss]

Well, the actual point of the game is only revealed if you get all photos and then end it and watch the movie. And if you listened what she said about the photos.

[Videotape]

Clearly I'm not explaining myself very well here. It's not that I don't care about the "real life personal problems" of the character. I like lots of things taht are realistic and about realistic situations. My problem is not with the content of the story.

See, my question is not "Why should I care about someone who's recovering from a car accident?", it's not what the story is about that I have a problem with. My question is "What is it about this specific story that is supposed to engage me? Why should I care about this specific person? Why is it worth going through the effort of playing through the game. What do I get out of this?"

these aren't criticisms and i could literally copy paste it to ever steam game forum and they'd be just as vacuously true, and by that i mean meaninglessly vague.

it sounds like you just don't appreciate a story that lets you explore its world to piece together the story yourself.

[Tiggum]

it sounds like you just don't appreciate a story that lets you explore its world to piece together the story yourself.

Well, that's just not true. I loved Myst, for example.

[StoutShako2Ref]

Tiggum it just sounds like this isn't a game for you.

Pretty cut and dry my friend.

[lozerbick]

a) She lost her parents in the car accident

I don't know how I missed that.

[rolandoftheeld]

I'm gonna have to throw in a thumbs down for this one too. It was... interesting in execution, but ultimately overwrought and pointless. It reminds me of some of the "experimental films" I worked on my first year of college, before I had any idea why what I was doing was so bad. Especially the bonus ending (all three seconds of it) - ooh, symbolism! Interesting, but not good.

Someone brought up Myst earlier, and I think that's a great example to compare this to. Myst is still one of my favorite games. The world is fun to explore, there are challenges to overcome, and nothing really keeps you from going where you wish. The big difference, though, is that Myst has a goal, and rewards you for completing it. I know that's the whole "game vs. experience" thing going on, but completing this game gave me no sense of accomplishment or even like I had "experienced" anything.

I ended up seeing this pop into my games list after buying the Humble Bundle, and I was pleasantly surprised as I had debated buying it before. Now that I've finished it, the main thought I have is, "I'm glad I didn't pay $7 for that."

[Circlestrafe]

waste...of...time.

[Tresob77]

I can see both sides on this one.

At first, I was really impressed with the atmosphere of this game and the uniqueness of the subject matter...but then the "Where's Waldo" game dynamic eventually started generating a high-frustration / low-satisfaction yield.

A lot of these indie games like to push the player to be making close observations or solve puzzles/riddles...and the fruits of those labors is an obscured symbolism that then needs to be further unpacked.

It's kind of like playing a game of football where you have to also play a game of baseball for the half-time show.

I don't blame a player for finding that disorienting, confusing, or just exhausting.

So I applaud the devs for making something provocative and different, but, like the OP, I never bothered to find all of the photos.

[Ashiya]

I bought this game during the sales. I really like a lot of things in this, the photography specially. The music of the first dream is really eerie. And I tend to like "artsy" games. I got all the photos and endings, a few with the help of youtube. So yes I saw the "extended" ending (which is just a way to make the first ending more obvious). I spent almost 3 hours on it.

However I agree with the OP. Nothing happens... what I get from the character is not enough to give me a "feeling" or "impression".

So I agree with this review: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/08/impressions-trauma/
Specially this part: "...But that was background and I didn’t discover any foreground. I certainly didn’t feel like I’d “shed light on different aspects of her identity – such as the way she deals with the loss of her parents”, as I read in the Steam description after I’d played."

I really wanted to love this game, oh well. I had just played the free Coil too! And I felt it had more content than Trauma! (however sick it made me feel, -it made me feel)
I guess I'll just go back to playing The Path (which I just love), a great example of how a similarly vague "artsy" game can feel less vague and more fulfilling.

[Mikau]

I bought it before the bundle, and I don't feel like I missed anything.

The game really isn't meant to be understood, and if the experience itself doesn't engage you in any way, then this isn't a game for you. Simple as that.

I found the atmosphere and the music to be extremely mesmerizing. It feels a bit like a strange lucid dream to me. As much as I love good shooter, it's great to a developer offering us an experience unlike any other.

[DrakenLord]

I asked myself what was the meaning of this game. But then a better question was why did I pay for it. This should have been a flash piece in some random media designer portfolio, it's more like a prototype / demo than a game... And selling it as such is kind of misleading.

I did like Myst and other click through adventure games, and I don't have a problem relating to a person. But it seems the story telling and the gameplay design are both lacking to non existent to bad. A few examples :

- Exploring through moving the mouse around seeing if anything reacts? Those 90s Myst clones disappeared for a reason. They were clunky and a hassle.
- Dialogues, the commentary by the girl have no depth and are boring. They don't tell anything, you don't know much after hearing them than what you knew before. They don't move the story along.
- Somewhat related to the previous problem, videos and endings are random and meaningless. You spend time unlocking them, then they don't tell you anything meaningful. You feel like you wasted your time and it doesn't encourage you to keep chasing them. Very early the game became a shore and i just wanted to hurry and finish it so i can uninstall it. It is THAT bland and unengaging.

Spent 30 minutes on it, unlocked all endings + some optional ones. I will never open it again nor bother chasing photos. I love indie games and buy a lot of them all the time, but I guess i have to be more careful in the future about these media demos pausing as games.