Firewatch


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Definitely looking forward to Firewatch. It looks very pretty and I think the gameplay will be the walking and exploring type I love, although it looks a lot more linear and not as focused on survival as TLD.

So many games these days featuring watch towers and the North American wilderness; The Long Dark, Eidolon, Firewatch.

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  • 1 month later...

I am not so sure what is the intent to show here. A man and a woman have a conversation on the phone. It began to bore me even before the teaser ended. There is nothing to see of any gameplay. From what is shown it will be a short movie about not much else but hipsters, a little bit of point and click and the usual "menaceful" story in the background (yawn). My feeling is that it's one of "those games" like Heavy Rain. And usually when I have that feeling, it is really one of those games. Show me a game or show me nothing at all, but dont show me movies about what could be a game, but is actually a movie.

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  • 2 months later...
I am not so sure what is the intent to show here. A man and a woman have a conversation on the phone. It began to bore me even before the teaser ended. There is nothing to see of any gameplay. From what is shown it will be a short movie about not much else but hipsters, a little bit of point and click and the usual "menaceful" story in the background (yawn). My feeling is that it's one of "those games" like Heavy Rain. And usually when I have that feeling, it is really one of those games. Show me a game or show me nothing at all, but dont show me movies about what could be a game, but is actually a movie.

Marry me.

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  • 9 months later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
I am not so sure what is the intent to show here. A man and a woman have a conversation on the phone. It began to bore me even before the teaser ended. There is nothing to see of any gameplay. From what is shown it will be a short movie about not much else but hipsters, a little bit of point and click and the usual "menaceful" story in the background (yawn). My feeling is that it's one of "those games" like Heavy Rain. And usually when I have that feeling, it is really one of those games. Show me a game or show me nothing at all, but dont show me movies about what could be a game, but is actually a movie.

Sorry for my baiting, i will try to prevent this from happening in the future

I can be such a "male part" sometimes :(

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My sincere apologies Burning Bridges, i have edit my previous post and thanks for not baiting me back.

I'll just have to agree that we disagree.

I can be such a "male part" sometimes :P

Yes, you can...

Yeah, i got this sharp edge... call me self-aware :/ i'm the angry llama...

Wish i was a Dutch citizen like you, maybe one day :P

Aint no country i visited more than the Netherlands! Hup Holland hup!

Now let the reason why i said that be unknown, cause even i don't know...

Back on-topic.

I have checked a playthrough of Firewatch, i did like it a lot save for so many unanswered questions, it made me think the devs left those open on purpose so theorists could fill them in.

And it was cut rather short, probably leaving many wanting for more, not at all what i expected at first.

Also the transitions from day to day seemed to lack a bit of development.

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Finished this game yesterday. Curious if anyone else has had a chance to play - Would love to hear what you guys think!

I bookmarked it on steam but was dubious as everyone seemed to quote two words "anti climactic" or variations of like "crap ending"

That said however I loved it, to an extent!

It looks good visually, interesting concept with the radios that worked extremely well and the great character dialogue made me go straight to a second play through.

I can see why some people didn't like the ending but I kinda liked it that way, with the tragedy and sorrow that takes place throughout slapping on a happy ever after just doesn't quite seem fitting.

[spoil]Even when Hank asks Delilah to wait and she agreed on my second playthrough I raced to the evac knowing she wouldn't be there but hoping anyway![/spoil]

As an interactive story, brilliant, as a game, meh, so so. It had all the feel of a choice and consequence title except no consequence.

I can't help thinking that they had more planned for it at one point and it somehow lost it's way, jumping climbing, abseiling (or rappelling depending on where you live) mechanics seemed to detract from gameplay rather than add to it.

There was a distinct lack of wildlife, sure you can hear it from time to time but my count was a deer, a raccoon and a turtle.

The conspiracy paranoias were a stretch of the imagination and it could have benefited from some more filler content to keep you exploring outside of the major plot and I'm sorry but the disposable camera was just another example of wasted dev time imo. In a more open world environment or used as evidence gathering in the story it might have served better purpose than as it is tagged to a gimmicky website for uploading and ordering prints. Everybody's experience is the same so why catalogue it?

It's saving grace was the interaction between the two protagonists, the voice acting was superb but at the end of the day I'd have rather seen it played out as a Tom Hanks movie than a video game!

Pretty steep price tag compared to similar offerings on the market but was still £15 enjoyed though I'd have been happier at £10.

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It was a pretty game... the story was decent (although the ending was quite a letdown)... the voice acting was excellent and pretty much carried the game.

I can't really recommend it though, unless it is bought during a really good sale. It's more of a video novel rather than a game - you have choices and options, but none really change the story very much, and don't have much effect for a difference in gameplay.

The biggest issue is the price and gameplay value: if $20 for 2-4 hours of gameplay is acceptable, then you might enjoy it (I just found that a bit steep for a game that doesn't really have any replay value). It pretty much is a one-playthrough... or if you've watched a video or stream of the game, you've already seen it all.

It's very linear and hand-holding -- there's no sense of danger or urgency, your character won't get hurt, you don't really need to worry about any supplies (even though there are a lot of supplies which can be picked up, they have no game function), and your map and GPS blips will tell you which way to go for each task.

It's not as Open World as you may first think [again, you're guided and directed which way to go for every task]... A lot of the tasks are made to feel like you're doing more travelling simply by ping-ponging travel back and forth across the map. It would sort of be like building an entire story of travelling between the Trapper's Homestead in TLD to the Dam, back to the homestead, back to the Dam, back to the Homestead.... etc.

Again, it's not a bad game -- but you can get just as much out of it simply watching a stream or video... so linear and hand held that it really is more of a video novella rather than an interaction game. Another frustration (as can also been read in many feedback posts online) is that the story and characters seemed good, but story plotlines were simply ignored after being introduced - most of the story edginess simply goes unexplained.

Personal opinion: $5-$10 price tag may make it worth adding to your collection, but you can also watch the whole game in a single stream or video session. While it's a pretty game, it felt more like the length of an Episode One release, and not a full game.

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I think the price was actually pretty fair, but I do agree the ending was quite anticlimactic.

If you're looking for an easy comparison for gameplay, think of the game Gone Home, but in the woods. I think Gone Home did a bit better with the storytelling, but Firewatch had some great visuals and great voice acting with 4-6 hours of gameplay, depending on your approach. It was pretty clear from the 20 minute preview/Let's Play they did last year that this was what the game would be, but I don't think they did a great job advertising beyond that. It's apparent most people weren't sure what to expect going into this game, which likely accounts for a decent percentage of the players that feel disappointed by gameplay mechanics and the narrative-based experience. It's certainly not for everyone.

If you like narrative games that rely 90% on storytelling (I sometimes do), I'd like to say you'll likely find the experience worth it...It's just all a bit up in the air for me with the ending.

The one tip I can suggest is to turn off the location marker on your map. Helps with immersion and allows you to get a bit lost, which can be quite fun given the beautiful visuals.

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I concur with Bill.

It's basically an interactive novella, and the price is a bit steep for a game that can be played through in half a day.

I watched

and I don't really see the point of buying the game. You might as well see watch someone else's livestream, since the game offers little choices.

It's all: go to from point A to B to C, back to A again, getting along with the story. It's a nice story, but once you've seen it, that's it, you're done.

Which actually underscores how well TLD has been made: the Sandbox really offers replay value.

Been playing TLD for year now. For all it's flaws I keep coming back to it.

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I watched

and I don't really see the point of buying the game. You might as well see watch someone else's livestream, since the game offers little choices.

Never really seen the point of watching someone else playthrough a game to be honest, maybe 5 mins as a taster preview but if I wanted someone to talk all the way through a game or a movie I'd ermm, I dunno get married maybe!

I did watch some of the streamer you linked though and in fairness a lot of the games entertainment value is based around the character interaction dialogue over the radio's, something which Willowest skips over a great deal.

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I watched

and I don't really see the point of buying the game. You might as well see watch someone else's livestream, since the game offers little choices.

Never really seen the point of watching someone else playthrough a game to be honest, maybe 5 mins as a taster preview but if I wanted someone to talk all the way through a game or a movie I'd ermm, I dunno get married maybe!

I did watch some of the streamer you linked though and in fairness a lot of the games entertainment value is based around the character interaction dialogue over the radio's, something which Willowest skips over a great deal.

That made me snort tea out my nose...

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