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[Krilekk]

But the narrative didnt make any sense to me. I thought when i was buying it that i was getting an "Interactive Story" not a walkabout on a pretty island and some bloke chimes in with a few lines every now and then.

Well, it's all randomized. The narrative parts have no connection to what you see while listening to them until you get the whole story and connect the parts. But it's not a memorable story, something like "To the Moon" is way ahead of Dear Esther.

Those 1 hour playthroughs should put an end to the rumours of this being an enhanced version with 10x the area than the original mod. It's really like he always said, just a graphical update. The mod took me about 45 minutes but I had no reason to enjoy the surroundings cause it's pretty damn ugly.

 

[Subterranean]

I would post screen shots but I want everyone to experience the environment first hand and not be spoiled. It really is something to behold.

By the way:

Spoiler

The ending, does it stay a black screen? I waited for about 3 minutes and nothing happened so I just quit.

 

[Betta Lines]

By the way,

Spoiler

The ending, does it stay a black screen? I waited for about 3 minutes and nothing happened so I just quit.

That happened to me too.

 

[Brick]

They should have made it so that at the end of the new Dear Esther version, a shadowy figure appears, and raises

A CROWBAR

There's a desirable end for your puzzle!

Am I a bad person for really, REALLY wanting this to be how it actually ends?

 

[Lily]

That happened to me too.

Same here

 

[Stitch]

Uuughhh why is my character so slow? I need a sprint button... :3

 

[SmZA]

First game I've purchased day one on Steam without a sale and knowing nothing about it. The screenshots and description were that good.

Finished it. I liked it a lot, and don't regret paying full price. I enjoy exploring in games like Stalker and this let me do that without dealing with the mutants attacking me every five minutes.
My one minor complaint which also applies to all other Source engine games is that walking felt far too floaty, as if I was just a ghostly figure passing through and not really interacting with the landscape. Also not being able to step up to the smallest of rocks. I would have liked louder and more varied footsteps, and the sound of my breathing, especially in the caves. Minor but in a game that is all about immersion it took away from the experience.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Uuughhh why is my character so slow? I need a sprint button... :3

I thought so; more like, he should have walked a little bit faster. Nitpicking, and in the end didn't really affect my experience too drastically.

There is something mesmerizing about coastal settings, especially those of the UK/Ireland. I'd love to see a proper ghost story game, somewhat like Lost Crown, using this exact engine.

That happened to me too.

Same, not sure if it's a bug or intended.

And yes, the voice bits chime in depending on your route. It can be disjointed, but it makes sense when each is triggered and has a connection to that section of the island somehow.

My favorite shot:

 

[Lafazar]

Wow, those are some of the most beautiful visuals I have ever seen in a game. And the screenshots do not do this game justice, the motion adds a lot to the experience.

I pretty much guessed the content of the story before even playing the game and I thought some of the writing can lean a bit on the pretentious side, but despite that I found myself genuinely moved by the ending (to my own surprise).

In my opinion this is one of the most beautiful "non-gaming" experiences to be had, and if that is your thing it's totally worth your time and money even if there are a few rough spots.

 

[Deleted member 10571]

Just finished it in one walkthrough. Incredible. I have yet to understand everything though

The graphics are simply breathtaking and beautiful, the soundwork is one of the best I've ever heard. The feeling of a really windy climb never was so well done.
Man with games like this, I'm so happy I'm living in this generation, where interactive software can still impress on so many levels.

Should I do another walkthrough later on or would that water down the experience somehow?

 

[Betta Lines]

Did anyone understand

Spoiler

why the figure disappears

?

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Did anyone understand

Spoiler

why the figure disappears

?

Spoiler

I'm pretty sure it was a "ghost", or a "fading memory" perhaps

 

[Deleted member 10571]

Did anyone understand

Spoiler

why the figure disappears

?

Holy Crap, didn't even see that.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Holy Crap, didn't even see that.

Spoiler

Happens a few times, actually. Caught me off guard the first time. The second time, really cool.

 

[derwalde]

Same here, beautiful, haunting. Sure, it's not really a game per se, but it's a great experience, and one of the best looking presentations on Source engine.

Think Ill upload my playthrough later tonight.

please do so!

 

[Deleted member 10571]

Spoiler

Happens a few times, actually. Caught me off guard the first time. The second time, really cool.

Alright, it's begging for a second playthrough then I guess I was so distracted by admiring the landscape, it just escaped my eye.

 

[kanugo]

Just finished the game. Probably, the best gaming experience of the year so far.

It's such an emotional experience, words can't describe it and screenshots don't do this game justice.

Tomorrow going to finish it again.

 

[Artanisix]

It's beautiful, I don't regret the $10 price tag at all.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

please do so!

I'll do that - encoding and what not now. The soundtrack is amazing...

Alright, it's begging for a second playthrough then I guess I was so distracted by admiring the landscape, it just escaped my eye.

Spoiler

Almost happened to me, but just barely caught a glimpse the first time...

 

[Frank Jaeger]

I didn't get the "story" in full:

Spoiler

So I guess there was a car crash and from all the Ethanol chemical structures and the drunk driver that killed Esther, I'm guessing the player is the drunk driver and Esther was there with him! Paul and the other woman, I guess, weere also in the same car crash. The infection is his despair from being responsible for Esther's death and he finally kills himself.

What say you?

 

[sam27368]

The detail in this is incredible. Scary good.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

I didn't get the "story" in full:

Spoiler

So I guess there was a car crash and from all the Ethanol chemical structures and the drunk driver that killed Esther, I'm guessing the player is the drunk driver and Esther was there with him! Paul and the other woman, I guess, weere also in the same car crash. The infection is his despair from being responsible for Esther's death and he finally kills himself.

What say you?

That's what I gathered.

 

[Zomba13]

So... roughly how long is this? I'm very interested in it but not 100% sure for the price if it's really short.
Also is there any replay value? The feature list says it's semi-randomised.

 

[Artanisix]

It's really interesting reading the transcript for this game afterwards

 

[Messofanego]

When you

Spoiler

become the seagull and start flying, that got me

.

Did anyone else take like 50 Steam screenshots while playing? lol

Spoiler

The underwater car crash scene was amazing.

The sound design is ridiculously good, gave me shivers and made me jump quite a few times.

Spoiler

The bird on the toilet at the start, the radio noises, the children laughing.

Donnelly had syphillis, narrator (does he have a name?) was drunk, Paul had a bad back. Who are you? Esther Donnelly, the girl? Are you the daughter in the photo frame at the end?

The whole narration and writing felt like a bygone Edgar Allen Poe work, or closer to Amnesia's if I had to compare to videogames.

"My disease is the internal combustion engine and the cheap fermentation of yeast".

I'll go for another playthrough to see if things change. I think I got most of it...

 

[theinfinityissue]

I'm extremely on the fence about this one. On the one hand, there's apparently zero action and only an hour's worth of gameplay. On the other, atmosphere is literally my most important consideration into a single player game's greatness. And those shots make me drool a bit.

 

[DodgyGeezerFella]

I could be talking complete shit but....

Spoiler

On my first playthrough, on the second level i walked across the very left hand side along the path all the way to the end. When i "completed" the game, i reloaded the second level, and walked straight down the middle to the ship, i noticed on the left a ghost walking the same path i took the last time i played. Could the game be tracking movement and showing ghosts going along these paths the next time you play ? I know i saw a ghost once or twice on my first playthrough but it was just standing in the same spot, and disappeared when i got close, and from what i can tell from the story the person you play as has been repeating all these actions again and again (to the point where i think he forgets who he even is to begin with). Yeah im probably talking shit

 

[Artanisix]

The sound design is ridiculously good, gave me shivers and made me jump quite a few times.

Spoiler

The bird on the toilet at the start, the radio noises, the children laughing.

Donnelly had syphillis, narrator (does he have a name?) was drunk, Paul had a bad back. Who are you? Esther Donnelly, the girl? Are you the daughter in the photo frame at the end?

.

Spoiler

I think you are Donnelly, Esther Donnelly's husband. I'm not sure who Paul is? Maybe you're also Paul. I want to say you were the drunk driver who killed your wife, but I need to play through it again and see what new things crop up.

 

[Atomski]

I didn't get the "story" in full:

Spoiler

So I guess there was a car crash and from all the Ethanol chemical structures and the drunk driver that killed Esther, I'm guessing the player is the drunk driver and Esther was there with him! Paul and the other woman, I guess, weere also in the same car crash. The infection is his despair from being responsible for Esther's death and he finally kills himself.

What say you?

Where are you getting the

Spoiler

drunk part?

My play through he said he could not find any alcohol bottles on the other driver. He said the birds flew low in front of his car somehow causing him to crash. His car was also full of paint..

curious if the story is different in other playthroughs..

 

[mxgt]

I loved the ending

 

[Artanisix]

Where are you getting the

Spoiler

drunk part?

My play through he said he could not find any alcohol bottles on the other driver. He said the birds flew low in front of his car somehow causing him to crash. His car was also full of paint..

curious if the story is different in other playthroughs..

The dialogue is semi-random, there are different things that the narrator can say. Honestly I don't think

Spoiler

that we can completely trust the narrator.

 

[Gareth Bale]

Loved it.

Spoiler

The moment I saw the ethanol molecule by the lighthouse, I had a feeling it was going to be about someone dying at the hands of a drunk driver. I doubt anyone else saw it, but there was an ultrasound scan on the sand in the cave section. No idea what that was about. Not sure about the circuit diagrams, the neurones, or some of the other molecules. I kept looking out for ester bonds though! I'm interested to know how the path system worked though, in the sense that there were a few drops that I didn't go down before I entered the caves. Even then I think I could have kept going and I only decided to drop down there to see what would happen. Also, what happens if you fall off the cliff? And the narration system as well. Does it change? I'm getting the feeling now that we're not supposed to know the exact cause of the crash. Only that someone died, and the narrator is deeply affected by this question. The story is about that torment, and not about finding out all the answers.

 

[benSks]

Played through most of this today in 3d vision, really amazing art. Great in 3d also, aside from one weird camera effect and some of the water reflections.

 

[TheExodu5]

Just trying to get supersampling working...I now realized the opening dialog is random.

 

[Gareth Bale]

Forgot to add... the art is incredible, the sound design is incredible, and Source still has it.

 

[Zomba13]

So this is about an hour or so long? Hmmm...
Could play through it and record my play through for my site. That'd get a bit more value out of it (though if it is all about atmosphere and the story then It'd be kind of a dick move to put a playthrough on youtube and even more so to talk over it).

Hmmmm....

 

[TheExodu5]

Forgot to add... the art is incredible, the sound design is incredible, and Source still has it.

No joke. With great art, Source can still produce some fantastic results.

 

[Atomski]

Was I the only one who was thinking the whole time "this island is fucking filthy...". I swear the starting area is just tons of trash everywhere.

 

[Gareth Bale]

About the Island, I still don't understand why

Spoiler

the narrator is on an island in the outer Hebrides. He keeps going on about a car crash on the M5, somewhere near Portishead, which is miles away from there. At this point I'm assuming that the island is literal rather than figurative, so I don't get why the narrator ended up there. To illustrate what I mean:

http://h9.abload.de/img/islandg3aul.jpg

Yeah... you're in Scotland?! And I forgot to say how amazing the soundtrack is! Absolutely incredible.

 

[Messofanego]

Was I the only one who was thinking the whole time "this island is fucking filthy...". I swear the starting area is just tons of trash everywhere.

With doctors leaving their surgical tools in that state, I'm not surprised it's a filthy, ghost-ridden island.

 

[Frank Jaeger]

Loved it.

Spoiler

The moment I saw the ethanol molecule by the lighthouse, I had a feeling it was going to be about someone dying at the hands of a drunk driver. I doubt anyone else saw it, but there was an ultrasound scan on the sand in the cave section. No idea what that was about. Not sure about the circuit diagrams, the neurones, or some of the other molecules. I kept looking out for ester bonds though! I'm interested to know how the path system worked though, in the sense that there were a few drops that I didn't go down before I entered the caves. Even then I think I could have kept going and I only decided to drop down there to see what would happen. Also, what happens if you fall off the cliff? And the narration system as well. Does it change? I'm getting the feeling now that we're not supposed to know the exact cause of the crash. Only that someone died, and the narrator is deeply affected by this question. The story is about that torment, and not about finding out all the answers.

Spoiler

I can tell you that there is no other chemical structure that makes any sense. There is something close to two 4,4' bonded phenyl rings, but they are full of gibberish!

 

[Inkwell]

I did my second play-through and realized that some objects/props also change. The first time I noticed I did a double take, considering it dealt with some of the new dialogue I heard. It's amazing how different everything felt with the different lines I heard the second time around.

 

[NervousXtian]

Interesting experience, I enjoyed parts of it.. glad I played it.. but damn.. they need to up that walking speed to about 1.5x where they have it. Hitting a dead-end was fucking torture, and it really made me think twice about exploring every path as you walked slower than my 90yr old gramps.

 

[sp3000]

If you guys like this, I would recommend The Worry of Newport for Crysis. It's sort of similar although it's a bit more lovecraftian in it's themes. The gameplay is similar.

Worry of Newport is a playable horror/mystery story with no combat, a few puzzles, but mostly exploring, reading, and listening and observing through some truly detailed and atmospheric setpieces. I need to stress that this is still a unique take on gaming and is more of a playable conventional story rather than a horror "game". There is no stealth, no monsters, no combat.

Interaction is not limited however. Exploration and book reading is key, and the devil is in the details. There are scenes to "survive", a puzzle here and there, and some engaging moments. It is not limited to walking in a straight line listening.

I actually thought it was better done than Dear Esther

 

[indigo-cyclops]

If you guys like this, I would recommend The Worry of Newport for Crysis. It's sort of similar although it's a bit more lovecraftian in it's themes. The gameplay is similar.

Great little mod, right there.

 

[TheExodu5]

I'm so bummed out I can't get supersampling working with this game. I'm trying to get it looking perfect because the art deserves it. I'll wait until I can get it just right before I start playing. I'm only going to experience this once, so I might as well experience it in the best way possible.

 

[Cyborg771]

Loved it.

Spoiler

The moment I saw the ethanol molecule by the lighthouse, I had a feeling it was going to be about someone dying at the hands of a drunk driver. I doubt anyone else saw it, but there was an ultrasound scan on the sand in the cave section. No idea what that was about. Not sure about the circuit diagrams, the neurones, or some of the other molecules. I kept looking out for ester bonds though! I'm interested to know how the path system worked though, in the sense that there were a few drops that I didn't go down before I entered the caves. Even then I think I could have kept going and I only decided to drop down there to see what would happen. Also, what happens if you fall off the cliff? And the narration system as well. Does it change? I'm getting the feeling now that we're not supposed to know the exact cause of the crash. Only that someone died, and the narrator is deeply affected by this question. The story is about that torment, and not about finding out all the answers.

From what I remember

Spoiler

the circuit diagrams of for an anti-lock braking system. One of the quotes I got in my first play through was something like

Spoiler

"There are 21 resistors in the circuit diagram for the anti-lock brake system, there are 21 species of gull on this island, it's 21 miles from Exeter to Bristol. These things cannot and will not be coincidences."

Spoiler

Coupled with his manic tone

, this is the part of the game that finally got to me. Easily my favourite art game in recent past.

 

[TheExodu5]

FYI, screenshots of this game (at least taken by FRAPS) don't end up quite right. The gamma is different...the game is significantly darker than my screenshots.

 

[Cydonian__Knight]

Just finished it and wow. I can't remember the last time I've been this blown away and affected by a video game. The visuals, level design, sound design...everything was absolutely amazing.

To anyone concerned about the 1 hour length....the experience that this game offers is worth so much more than that. If you are at all interested in games as a story telling and artistic medium, than this game is absolutely worth your time and money. To quantify the experience in terms of time/money would be missing the point entirely.

 

[ThaiGrocer]

I got three hours of it, even with noclip. I wanted to explore every area possible. The soundscapes were a fantastic match to the wind fx.

Also, somebody noticed that the devs forgot to get rid of the source authoring tools. http://twitter.com/#!/MaxOfS2D/status/169525839241809920

:lol