GraniteHope
03-01-2012, 01:23 PM
First of all, to scare the flamers away:
No, I don't play Call of Duty
No, I don't play World of Warcraft
I will say that, despite the fact that I was absolutely disappointed in the story, I am seeking the same things you guys are. I want so badly for games with more depth to them than simply shooting someone in the face, or leveling up with the same old tired XP system based on killing crap or some other form of grinding. My quest has led me to a lot of different things.
I quit playing FPS games with Halo 3, and I quit World of Warcraft just two years ago. In my search for a game that can stimulate my mind, I have tried out a ton of games. Uncharted Waters Online, EVE, Universe Sandbox, and countless artificial life and physics simulators. In my search, I looked up a LOT of information on Dear Esther, and decided to just watch someone else play it to see if the story was worth buying for myself.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I found this game downright awful and had zero emotional appeal to me for the time I watched it. The disappointing part, for me, was that it didn't even come from the lack of interaction with the environment, which is a problem in itself. The story, the graphics, and the narration all hit me in the opposite way that others say they experienced.
I will say that I didn't watch the story in full, so this isn't based on the entirety of the game, just mostly the first half and a bit toward the end (I couldn't stand it, sorry). Also, because I didn't walk around in the world on my own, I don't have the personal experience of searching, which may have made the experience worse.
But, in spite of those limitations, the game fails to deliver in so many areas, and I don't need to hold "w" 90% of the time to figure that out.
We can start by the gameplay, and I will attack this because it is deserving. Other than the weeds moving slightly as you move through it, nothing moves. Nothing reacts to you. It would have been nice for say, one of the 3 billion paint cans to react as you step over it, even a small sound effect. No, nothing. This is absolute laziness on the developer's part to completely ignore this aspect of the game despite NUMEROUS opportunities to put it in. The game BEGS for SOMETHING. Instead, you move at a snail's pace through a completely lifeless world (more on that in a moment) while being force fed the story as you walk.
The best part of the gameplay is the search for clues and links in the story. It is a small joy, and I will give credit where it's due. I'm sorry, though, but when I get giddy because I saw a book that stands out from the dull colors of the environment, then that's not enough for me.
I wasn't surprised by any of this, as I did my research on the game to realize that the interactivity was almost zero. What I AM surprised about, however, is the praise in the graphics. Let's take the game for what it is: art, and avoid any talk of polygon counts or HD graphics. The color scheme is so incredibly bland in this game that I couldn't even look at the game. There's so little color contrast that this game might as well have been in black and white or some kind of monochrome. Everything is also so dark, dreary, depressing.
Adding to the sadness is the absolute lifelessness of the island. Would it hurt to put something more than a few seagulls in the distance (if you're lucky enough to see them!)? Animals, insects, something to grab your attention other than a dead object laying on the ground? Of course not.
Instead of doing what they could have done, we're left with a Source Engine tech demo where the only thing that interrupts the BGM is the low voiced and depressing narration. Nothing in this story ever changes pace. There is little buildup. If there is a climax to the story, I'm sure it's up to the listener to grab emotion from it. I never felt anything emotional about this story whatsoever.
I know that Dear Esther appeals to some people, and this is all just my opinion. But, despite what you think of the content within, there's absolutely no excuse for this to just be a one hour game.
I've read the same movie excuse multiple times on the Steam and IGN posts. Movies cost a lot of money to make, are voiced by different people, and have fairly long production process, especially if you're not a big shot in the industry. Making 30 hour movies is impossible in that kind of industry.
Dear Esther, with just one voice for narration by a small indie developer, can't put in more than an hour. Mass Effect 3, for example, is said to have 40,000 lines of dialogue. I'm not sure how many hours that translates to, but even if it were less than 20 (it isn't), then it's safe to say we can at least ask for a game that's several times longer, especially when there's nothing but the story.
The ten dollar excuse doesn't fare all that much better in my book. For $10, there are multiple audio readings of great books (I had one of Dune, was pretty cool). These audio recordings have far better narration, are much longer and more immersive (if you don't mind a lack of pretty pictures).
I'm sorry, but there's no justification for spending that kind of money on this. It's nice that someone put something out there, and I'm glad that it appeals to some, but I just can't recommend a halfway effort to anyone.
No, I don't play Call of Duty
No, I don't play World of Warcraft
I will say that, despite the fact that I was absolutely disappointed in the story, I am seeking the same things you guys are. I want so badly for games with more depth to them than simply shooting someone in the face, or leveling up with the same old tired XP system based on killing crap or some other form of grinding. My quest has led me to a lot of different things.
I quit playing FPS games with Halo 3, and I quit World of Warcraft just two years ago. In my search for a game that can stimulate my mind, I have tried out a ton of games. Uncharted Waters Online, EVE, Universe Sandbox, and countless artificial life and physics simulators. In my search, I looked up a LOT of information on Dear Esther, and decided to just watch someone else play it to see if the story was worth buying for myself.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I found this game downright awful and had zero emotional appeal to me for the time I watched it. The disappointing part, for me, was that it didn't even come from the lack of interaction with the environment, which is a problem in itself. The story, the graphics, and the narration all hit me in the opposite way that others say they experienced.
I will say that I didn't watch the story in full, so this isn't based on the entirety of the game, just mostly the first half and a bit toward the end (I couldn't stand it, sorry). Also, because I didn't walk around in the world on my own, I don't have the personal experience of searching, which may have made the experience worse.
But, in spite of those limitations, the game fails to deliver in so many areas, and I don't need to hold "w" 90% of the time to figure that out.
We can start by the gameplay, and I will attack this because it is deserving. Other than the weeds moving slightly as you move through it, nothing moves. Nothing reacts to you. It would have been nice for say, one of the 3 billion paint cans to react as you step over it, even a small sound effect. No, nothing. This is absolute laziness on the developer's part to completely ignore this aspect of the game despite NUMEROUS opportunities to put it in. The game BEGS for SOMETHING. Instead, you move at a snail's pace through a completely lifeless world (more on that in a moment) while being force fed the story as you walk.
The best part of the gameplay is the search for clues and links in the story. It is a small joy, and I will give credit where it's due. I'm sorry, though, but when I get giddy because I saw a book that stands out from the dull colors of the environment, then that's not enough for me.
I wasn't surprised by any of this, as I did my research on the game to realize that the interactivity was almost zero. What I AM surprised about, however, is the praise in the graphics. Let's take the game for what it is: art, and avoid any talk of polygon counts or HD graphics. The color scheme is so incredibly bland in this game that I couldn't even look at the game. There's so little color contrast that this game might as well have been in black and white or some kind of monochrome. Everything is also so dark, dreary, depressing.
Adding to the sadness is the absolute lifelessness of the island. Would it hurt to put something more than a few seagulls in the distance (if you're lucky enough to see them!)? Animals, insects, something to grab your attention other than a dead object laying on the ground? Of course not.
Instead of doing what they could have done, we're left with a Source Engine tech demo where the only thing that interrupts the BGM is the low voiced and depressing narration. Nothing in this story ever changes pace. There is little buildup. If there is a climax to the story, I'm sure it's up to the listener to grab emotion from it. I never felt anything emotional about this story whatsoever.
I know that Dear Esther appeals to some people, and this is all just my opinion. But, despite what you think of the content within, there's absolutely no excuse for this to just be a one hour game.
I've read the same movie excuse multiple times on the Steam and IGN posts. Movies cost a lot of money to make, are voiced by different people, and have fairly long production process, especially if you're not a big shot in the industry. Making 30 hour movies is impossible in that kind of industry.
Dear Esther, with just one voice for narration by a small indie developer, can't put in more than an hour. Mass Effect 3, for example, is said to have 40,000 lines of dialogue. I'm not sure how many hours that translates to, but even if it were less than 20 (it isn't), then it's safe to say we can at least ask for a game that's several times longer, especially when there's nothing but the story.
The ten dollar excuse doesn't fare all that much better in my book. For $10, there are multiple audio readings of great books (I had one of Dune, was pretty cool). These audio recordings have far better narration, are much longer and more immersive (if you don't mind a lack of pretty pictures).
I'm sorry, but there's no justification for spending that kind of money on this. It's nice that someone put something out there, and I'm glad that it appeals to some, but I just can't recommend a halfway effort to anyone.