Chauncy Talon
Member
That's exactly how I felt. I was feeling like this can't be the finale? It's over? What about...
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Firewatch | Spoiler Discussion
- Thread starter More_Badass
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That's exactly how I felt. I was feeling like this can't be the finale? It's over? What about...
The thing is, I would have been perfectly fine if it was just an exploration of the relationship between H and D over the summer. Make it like a callback to summer love you used to experience as a kid. Make it all build up, you start hoping and wishing for things to happen, and then the summer comes to an end and you realize it was all just based on location and convenience and now you both have to go back to your real life. That would be fine, and plenty of stories are told in that fashion.
But the whole x-files-esque plot line that goes nowhere and had tons of plotholes was poorly done (why did ned put the key on a backpack for you to find? Just to lock you in the cave?). They either needed to go all in with the conspiracy theory stuff or go all in with the relationship stuff, and I feel like they didn't do either one that well.
sabertoothzombie
Member
DrAndonuts
Member
Overall loved the game. I had my hangups with the ending, too, but it didn't sour the overall experience.
I think I would have liked an approach that switched the father & son's roles (and possibly taken place a few years later). Have the dad die in the fall, and the son living in seclusion. I feel like that would have provided better reasoning behind the obsession with Delilah & Henry's relationship. She was so kind to him as a kid, and his only friend in that environment, so he could have gotten jealous of Henry. Or something. I've also been watching a lot of Bates Motel lately, so that might've had some influence
Still though - my favorite game experience so far in 2016. Hats off to Campo Santo!
I think I would have liked an approach that switched the father & son's roles (and possibly taken place a few years later). Have the dad die in the fall, and the son living in seclusion. I feel like that would have provided better reasoning behind the obsession with Delilah & Henry's relationship. She was so kind to him as a kid, and his only friend in that environment, so he could have gotten jealous of Henry. Or something. I've also been watching a lot of Bates Motel lately, so that might've had some influence
Still though - my favorite game experience so far in 2016. Hats off to Campo Santo!
I think you've hit on the most interesting thing about the ending: Henry never meets Delilah. I like your theory. Also, maybe that decision reinforces that Henry's entire relationship with Delilah is much like Ned's hiatus from civilization, an escape from his problems/grief. Maybe it wouldn't have seemed to crumple so easily if that last, unsatisfying conversation was face to face.
I'm not 100% sure, I'd have to go back and look, but I think one of the notes in Ned's bunker mentioned that it was a college research station.
Why they would leave behind all their equipment, beds, generators, etc. it's a pretty big plothole and mystery.
CrichtonKicks
Member
Those are all completely fabricated very recently. You can see the drafts in Ned's cave.
You can pick up Ned's logs in his cave and get the time line. After he severed the phone line he felt like he was safe. However he panicks when Henry stumbles upon his notes at the lake and that's when he kicks into gear. He actually picks up on the whole conspiracy angle from H&D's conversation. It was never his idea- he just took it and ran with it.
They were camped right near Ned's hideout. I think he was just trying to scare them off.
Conscience Falls
Member
Alan Wake is a poor choice for your argument considering,
it ends in abruptly and with more questions than answers in much the same way that FireWatch ends. It's, "I think I'm about to get a big climax?" and then suddenly "Oh, It's not a lake, it's an ocean"I love it.
I'm on board with your argument otherwise however. I stated something semi-similar on the previous page, I assume it shall remained buried there.
CrichtonKicks
Member
They were coming back in August. Ned even notes that he was going to have to sneak the equipment he stole back before they arrived.
Ah, that does make more sense.
I think she is definitely insecure though I kind of doubt it's about her appearance.
It makes more sense that he was trying to scare Henry by that point. After all, he did leave Henry's sheets at the campsite.
I never finished Alan Wake, I've been exposed! What's a popular video game protagonist that has to catch a serial killer, the Heavy Rain guy?
Shrike Alvaron
Member
I just finished the game and have briefly skimmed through some people's thoughts here. It seems a lot of people don't understand just what was going up with the monitoring station, and I have to wonder if those people found the dead elk after you get the tracking gear. If you head right towards the cave again you won't find it, you have to head north just a bit and your wave finder will start beeping. It's pretty clear then that the monitoring station was to track the movement of elk (though I actually suspected that right away on seeing the tracking device at the station), of course I remained confused about the notes about Henry and Delilah until you get to Ned's hideout and find his drafts.
Does seem that a lot of people were expecting the game to be more than it was meant to be, I had mentioned in a thread before that I see it as an Exploration Adventure/Walking Simulator in the vein of Gone Home and that's pretty much what it was. Going into the game with that mindset, I rather enjoyed it! Not too surprised that it went with a mundane ending too and not anything supernatural or conspiracy. Though ever since when you're first knocked out I kept expecting it to happen again at any moment...
Anyway, this feels like the perfect game for a small novel to continue it, telling what happens with Henry, Julia, and Delilah after all this. Of course, the issue with that is it may not be the same for everyone. Some people would want Henry to stay with Julia, others would want him to hook up with Delilah, so having something that cements which of this is "right"... I suppose that goes against the spirit of the game in the first place. Unless it would be a choose your own adventure novel, of course!
I do wish we had gotten to seen Delilah and gotten to learn more of her story, such as why she thinks Henry shouldn't want her to move to Boulder with him at the end. To me, it seems that she's insecure about something. I wonder if that could be related to her appearance in any way? Maybe she's overweight or ugly or such. Or maybe... Not knowing just means you have to think of your own reasons, come up with your own story, and continue on the theme of the game with allowing you to make your own choices.
At any rate, I enjoyed it!
Does seem that a lot of people were expecting the game to be more than it was meant to be, I had mentioned in a thread before that I see it as an Exploration Adventure/Walking Simulator in the vein of Gone Home and that's pretty much what it was. Going into the game with that mindset, I rather enjoyed it! Not too surprised that it went with a mundane ending too and not anything supernatural or conspiracy. Though ever since when you're first knocked out I kept expecting it to happen again at any moment...
Anyway, this feels like the perfect game for a small novel to continue it, telling what happens with Henry, Julia, and Delilah after all this. Of course, the issue with that is it may not be the same for everyone. Some people would want Henry to stay with Julia, others would want him to hook up with Delilah, so having something that cements which of this is "right"... I suppose that goes against the spirit of the game in the first place. Unless it would be a choose your own adventure novel, of course!
I do wish we had gotten to seen Delilah and gotten to learn more of her story, such as why she thinks Henry shouldn't want her to move to Boulder with him at the end. To me, it seems that she's insecure about something. I wonder if that could be related to her appearance in any way? Maybe she's overweight or ugly or such. Or maybe... Not knowing just means you have to think of your own reasons, come up with your own story, and continue on the theme of the game with allowing you to make your own choices.
At any rate, I enjoyed it!
Fix The Scientist
Member
I don't think you can start a game so poignant and personal, and then end it with a final hour like what we got. I didn't need the dead body, secret hi-tech base, exaggerated character mystery and all the paranoia etc. I definitely enjoyed my time with firewatch but it felt a bit thematically confused.
You can definitely say Ned's way to deal with death of his son is quite similar to how Henry deals with Julia's sickness.
Personally I feel that meeting face to face with Delilah would ruin the story completely, unless the story is just boy meets girl and they fall in love, which I think is not the case here.
They tried to do way to much at once, and failed in both. The beginning was great when it was just Delilah and Henry and it should have just stuck with them, gave us more character development for just those two. Instead they decided to add some conspiracy stuff at the end for "conflict" and that was really weak and acted mainly as a block to character development as the conversations would just be dominated with them freaking out. Then we got to the end and they had to wrap it up quick so they hand waved everything away with a "guy had PTSD, went crazy after son died" and then the game ended.
I can understand what they were trying to go for, not everything is complicated, sometimes things have simple answers. But it doesn't feel like the creators earned the right to make that message when for the whole second part of the game they go directly against it and add unneeded conflict to the game.
As for the characters, Ned, Delilah, and Henry all represent various forms of avoidance towards their problems, and the park represented the place they could run away too. Ned couldn't face his problems and thus will forever be running from them, Delilah has learned she can't run forever and is returning to face what she doesn't want to, and Henry is up to the players decision (between facing his own problems or running away again). But all of this could have been done in a more satisfying way.
You summed up my thoughts perfectly. This had me hooked from start to finish.
TheHollowNight
Member
Man, you pretty much wrote what I wanted to say. It's totally symptomatic of video games, and they have sort of fucked up folks perceptions of always needing to build to a 'satisfying' climatic conclusion where the teenz are murdered and it's a crazy science experiment where Delilah is a figment of Henry's imagination and he's actually in a psychiatric ward or some bullshit.
I feel - and this might be a bit hand-wavy - this is partly due to the fact that the industry and a majority of it's audience still draw from such a narrow pool of inspiration for narrative driven experiences (aka other video games). Other forms of media never seem to suffer from this issue about wanting to tell an intimate tale about two characters. The story is just about some weird, dark, and regrettably sad shit that Henry comes to experience and learn over the course of his summer. He then probably gets on with his life.
ReginaldXIV
Member
I rather enjoyed the ending. It was the mundane, but uh, so was the entire game? Sure, there was the paranoia filled parts of it, but everything was rather "common". Everything had a plausible explanation, and a "OMG WHAT A TWIST" ending wouldn't really fit.
I really, really, really liked the game. It actually surprised me, especially thanks to the excellent dialogue.
I really, really, really liked the game. It actually surprised me, especially thanks to the excellent dialogue.
KINGofCRA5H
Member
Lot of great points here, I agree with just everything here.
Overall I enjoyed the game very much. If nothing else the absolutely beautiful art style and soundtrack. The dialogue was top notch too.
I liked what they were going for, but not totally sold on how they did it. Discovering the body being the dramatic climax didn't feel totally earned. Despite a number of conversations about Ned and his son, they never seemed all that important, and by the end I couldn't even remember most of them. Putting more emphasis on that stuff would have made the discovery a little more impactful.
I still enjoyed the game though, and would recommend it.
I still enjoyed the game though, and would recommend it.
My problem is that there are too many similar games where you do not meet anyone and experience the world around you. Flasbacks of events as ghosts or the like. So I wanted something different this time. After Ethan,Rapture, etc I just needed this to be something more than this. Really nice build up with the right setting for that solitude feeling. Where it fails is that it builds up into something and reveals into a disappointment.
And I do understand if people like this a lot. It just wasn't for me
And I do understand if people like this a lot. It just wasn't for me
IMACOMPUTA
Member
Maybe I was way more immersed in the game while playing it than some of you, but some of you guys missed a lot of stuff!
I see now that most of it has been explained in this thread, so i won't go into it. (research base, tracker, etc.)
I absolutely loved this game. It's interesting, too -- because I can definitely see the similarities with Gone Home (which i didn't care for at all). The big difference is in the voice acting and writing. This game has probably the best dialogue of any game I've ever played.
I've never been anywhere close to being attracted to a videogame character before, but Delilah is amazing. And you never even see her.
Bravo, Camposanto.
I see now that most of it has been explained in this thread, so i won't go into it. (research base, tracker, etc.)
I absolutely loved this game. It's interesting, too -- because I can definitely see the similarities with Gone Home (which i didn't care for at all). The big difference is in the voice acting and writing. This game has probably the best dialogue of any game I've ever played.
I've never been anywhere close to being attracted to a videogame character before, but Delilah is amazing. And you never even see her.
Bravo, Camposanto.
CheesecakeRecipe
Stormy Grey
I thought the conspiracy stuff was perfectly fine as a distraction from the real nemesis force in the plot, especially with how much it totally fucked with both Delilah and Henry. They sold it almost too well though, and makes the comedown with the final revelations about Ned and his son a steep shale incline to fall from. I can draw comparisons from a few other games in recent years that have approached the 'human' angle in their finales, which I think is fantastic and more games should follow suit. My main hangup is - does Firewatch earn the emotional payoff it wants to give players by the end?
We're given details about Brian's life, and his death obviously affects Delilah in a big way, but to the player/Henry, it means very little. The opening Interactive Fiction segment which sets up Julia's downfall and the bulk of Henry's personal drama was really fantastic. But once Henry is in the park proper, she only comes up as a way to hint at a relationship developing between Delilah and Henry, which may or may not grow into something meaningful. Exploring further interpersonal conflict within Henry over her may have provided additional investment as the story moved on.
Above all else, Firewatch wants to use grand movements to trick players into thinking one thing, while playing for a more subtle delivery on the parts of the story that actually matter. It's difficult to say if it failed, but I think it needed a little bit more time to endear the idea of Brian and his father to the player and to give the split between choosing Delilah or Julia more weight. The more I think about the game, the better I feel towards it. But I'm still feeling unfulfilled by certain things, and I think it may ultimately come down to what Firewatch was able to say and do in its time more than 'did it do the things I expected it to?', which is an important distinction I try to make these days.
On a side note, I'm a bit disappointed the extra photos in the roll don't seem to be included in the print outs. Having the mementos of Henry's accidental selfie and the photos of Brian and Ned as part of the print set would work further towards the game's goal of wanting to establish a bond with those characters. Plus, it'd be a cool way to give fans some official art prints that don't break the bank!
We're given details about Brian's life, and his death obviously affects Delilah in a big way, but to the player/Henry, it means very little. The opening Interactive Fiction segment which sets up Julia's downfall and the bulk of Henry's personal drama was really fantastic. But once Henry is in the park proper, she only comes up as a way to hint at a relationship developing between Delilah and Henry, which may or may not grow into something meaningful. Exploring further interpersonal conflict within Henry over her may have provided additional investment as the story moved on.
Above all else, Firewatch wants to use grand movements to trick players into thinking one thing, while playing for a more subtle delivery on the parts of the story that actually matter. It's difficult to say if it failed, but I think it needed a little bit more time to endear the idea of Brian and his father to the player and to give the split between choosing Delilah or Julia more weight. The more I think about the game, the better I feel towards it. But I'm still feeling unfulfilled by certain things, and I think it may ultimately come down to what Firewatch was able to say and do in its time more than 'did it do the things I expected it to?', which is an important distinction I try to make these days.
On a side note, I'm a bit disappointed the extra photos in the roll don't seem to be included in the print outs. Having the mementos of Henry's accidental selfie and the photos of Brian and Ned as part of the print set would work further towards the game's goal of wanting to establish a bond with those characters. Plus, it'd be a cool way to give fans some official art prints that don't break the bank!
IMACOMPUTA
Member
I was really bummed out when Delilah stopped being funny and talkative. It affected me in that way. I missed the funny banter between Henry and Delilah.
I felt incredibly guilty about some of the responses/conversations I had with Delilah, and I don't think I would have had it not been for the set up at the beginning. I agree that it could have been interesting to explore H + J's relationship more, but this kind of felt like a summer fling. I didn't really want to talk about "my wife".
We don't display them on the camera roll webpage because they'd be ultimate spoilers for people who visited otherwise spoiler-free rolls, but when you order the photo pack you definitely get the entire roll as it appears in the credits, including Henry's selfie, and Brian's vacation snaps, and like the credits its sent a Fotodome envelope. (We found a place that actually prints proper custom drug store photomat envelopes and mailers and had them print it all up to be in-world matching with the Fotodome branding etc. It's pretty nice when you get it.)
Mushroomer25
Member
Glad I can finally get this out. Played for review last weekend, and I've been eager to get out my grievances. I think that in theory, Firewatch is an astounding accomplishment. I love its' visuals, I love how it handles dialogue, the vocal performances are top of the line, there's so much detail in the world (I'm waiting on my camera prints right now, I might get them framed.).
But it is dramatically hampered by the simple fact that it isn't long enough to pull off what it attempts.
Delilah and Henry's story is this sort of slow-brewing romance, two damaged people who can carefully construct what the other one sees of them. Your options as Henry to shape how much you reveal are a simple gameplay mechanic overall, but breed a truly one-of-a-kind relationship with Delilah. Unfortunately, the game is too eager to make large forward jumps in time - and accelerate that relationship without any further input from the player. I'm not saying I need to control every day of the summer, but I wanted more moments like the first day with the teens. Tiny problems that need solving, where you can define Henry by doing. Then have Delilah react to those choices. Instead you have that first interaction with the campers, the resulting crisis, and then it spirals into the paranoia angle that dominates the latter half.
Which for the record, I think works as a dramatic pull. As mentioned, Henry & Delilah are damaged. Both use this job, and each other, as a vice. It's escape from the real problems and stakes of the world. That would also make them susceptible to delusion, and accellerating into the realm of conspiracy. When they find the camp and believe that a rather banal soil analysis lab could be a government tracking program - it feels genuine. There's just enough uncertainty to their lives that the impossible seems to be in the cards.
As for the final hour, that might be Firewatch's most damning problem of pace. Simply enough, you don't get to know Brian until the last possible minute. The storyline takes you directly from his santuary to his tomb. It attempts to build up sentiment so heavyhandedly that learning his death seems downright inevitable. That failure ends up dampening the effect of finding Ned's hideout, resulting in the underwhelming conclusion.
Ideally, Henry should've been learning more about Brian as the paranoia built more slowly, and maybe found more evidence to Ned's existence as well.
Also, the beeping radar device can go straight to hell. What a pain.
I also have some comparisons to Gone Home, which I will put in spoilers for that game's sake.
Still, I like a lot of Firewatch and will recommend it to any fan of this genre. But it really bums me out, knowing that with a few tweaks and a bit more to it - the experience would be THAT much better.
But it is dramatically hampered by the simple fact that it isn't long enough to pull off what it attempts.
Delilah and Henry's story is this sort of slow-brewing romance, two damaged people who can carefully construct what the other one sees of them. Your options as Henry to shape how much you reveal are a simple gameplay mechanic overall, but breed a truly one-of-a-kind relationship with Delilah. Unfortunately, the game is too eager to make large forward jumps in time - and accelerate that relationship without any further input from the player. I'm not saying I need to control every day of the summer, but I wanted more moments like the first day with the teens. Tiny problems that need solving, where you can define Henry by doing. Then have Delilah react to those choices. Instead you have that first interaction with the campers, the resulting crisis, and then it spirals into the paranoia angle that dominates the latter half.
Which for the record, I think works as a dramatic pull. As mentioned, Henry & Delilah are damaged. Both use this job, and each other, as a vice. It's escape from the real problems and stakes of the world. That would also make them susceptible to delusion, and accellerating into the realm of conspiracy. When they find the camp and believe that a rather banal soil analysis lab could be a government tracking program - it feels genuine. There's just enough uncertainty to their lives that the impossible seems to be in the cards.
As for the final hour, that might be Firewatch's most damning problem of pace. Simply enough, you don't get to know Brian until the last possible minute. The storyline takes you directly from his santuary to his tomb. It attempts to build up sentiment so heavyhandedly that learning his death seems downright inevitable. That failure ends up dampening the effect of finding Ned's hideout, resulting in the underwhelming conclusion.
Ideally, Henry should've been learning more about Brian as the paranoia built more slowly, and maybe found more evidence to Ned's existence as well.
Also, the beeping radar device can go straight to hell. What a pain.
I also have some comparisons to Gone Home, which I will put in spoilers for that game's sake.
Overall, the ending really made me appreciate Gone Home even more. That game does a lot of the same things, and hits many of the same beats in about half the runtime. You build a meaningful understanding of both characters and their relationship, uncover airs of an (ultimately bunk) conspiracy, and have a last minute reveal that tears away any notion of the supernatural - in favor of something strictly realist. But unlike Firewatch, Gone Home lets your connection to that character slowly build naturally, rather than largely clumping it into the final moments.
Still, I like a lot of Firewatch and will recommend it to any fan of this genre. But it really bums me out, knowing that with a few tweaks and a bit more to it - the experience would be THAT much better.
CheesecakeRecipe
Stormy Grey
I'll say this is a fair point. They did address the implication that Henry was considering moving on by placing his ring on the desk by the typewriter, which gets right to the point, but I still felt like there could have been more events like the late night radio dream, rather than internalizing his emotions on the subject off screen.
I saw the Fotodome branded envelope on an article published on Monday, which I thought was a great little touch! Understandably, the spoilery pictures wouldn't have shown up in those promo shots of the print set, and I can see why you'd leave them out in case someone wished to share their photo reel even with the spoiler warning. But it also means players can't view/download those photos themselves either. Mostly just confusion on my part I suppose, but good to know!
Chris Remo
Member
Really cool to see folks in here unpacking the specific events and timeline of Ned's involvement in the plot, including some of the very small details we worked out. I will cop to some of that stuff probably not being as well surfaced as it could have been to ensure most players basically get it, but it's still gratifying to see people talk it over and put together the pieces.
IMACOMPUTA
Member
Also the picture of Henry and Julia was always face down on the desk every new day. I always put it back up. And grabbed my wedding ring.
I also cleaned up all of the trash, and put all of my belongings back in place after my tower was trashed.
I was hoping the game would keep track of these things somehow. It'd be interesting.
CheesecakeRecipe
Stormy Grey
Hmm. My photo never ended up face down, which might be due to me dropping the picture in place after I lost the sweet spot for putting it back where it originally was and couldn't get it to trigger that specific action again. It sat angled towards the side of the typewriter the entire game.
I did put all of the books back, at least. If there's one thing civilization needs to leave behind, it's that books were the most important of all things. I also grabbed Shelly to go on adventures with me. She was my partner in crime, and we had to cheese it the hell out of there when the going was tough.
I never even thought about doing that.
Damn, Henry.
SRTtoZ
Member
I was 100% sure this was the dev that made Gone Home after I beat this tonight. Its fucking Gone Home set in the woods. Halfway through I realized I wasn't
6/10
Bleh, very disappointed. I don't think I ever went from "Wow amazing game so far, buy this shit!" 4-5 hours ago in the PS4 performance thread to "Is that it? Is that really fucking it??" so fast.
Yep. Gone fucking Home'd.
going to actually meet anyone and the story would go nowhere and I was right. And WTF is up with the story? They have you thinking some crazy shit is going on only for it to be a crazy father?? Whats all the expensive equipment for? Why write reports on them? Huh? Did they run out of time and budget and decided crazy father would be easier to write? And WHAT THE FUCK with that finale? The whole game, especially the night scene with the fire she acts like she loves you and wants to be with you and I ask her to wait for me and shes like nah cya have fun. Uhhh ok. All that relationship building only for her to never meet you or try to become a friend/more than friends. The first half of the game was good because you thought you were walking into some crazy shit but then you realize nope the game is that shallow and its going to go nowhere like Gone Home did. Not a bad way to spend 4-5 hours but I guess I expected way more from the trailers and the lead up until the end.
6/10
Bleh, very disappointed. I don't think I ever went from "Wow amazing game so far, buy this shit!" 4-5 hours ago in the PS4 performance thread to "Is that it? Is that really fucking it??" so fast.
Yep. Gone fucking Home'd.
Just finished the game, and I quite enjoyed it. I honestly didn't care for the mystery which is really the meat of the plot, but I think Campo Santo pulled off the human element extremely well, especially in the ending imo.
So here's my two cents regarding the "flat" ending.
Henry and Delilah's characters are both pretty well established by the end of the game. They're both afraid of the unknown, of change, hence their reason to escape to the wilderness when their lives take unexpected turns. The events of the game certainly wouldn't give the average person any reason to change that fact about themselves. I would honestly find it far less believable if Henry meets Delilah in the end and the relationship they've been fostering bloomed into something more.
As far as the mystery is concerned, to me, it doesn't feel like the driving force of the narrative, even though it takes up a large portion of the time you spend in the game. I think it served its purpose, which was to solidify that these two characters don't want to face potential heartbreak, fear, failure, etc. While this is less effective for Delilah because she's been in the mountains away from this for a decade, Henry wanted a break from his life, but still had to face fear, and a potentially bleak future.
In the end, it would be more bizarre if these two characters had some major personality revelations caused by the events of Firewatch, and somehow turned their life around at the end of the summer, whether it be a new romance between the two, or moving on to far better things in life (though it seems Delilah has a chance at moving in the path of the latter). What is written here is far more relatable and realistic.
So here's my two cents regarding the "flat" ending.
Henry and Delilah's characters are both pretty well established by the end of the game. They're both afraid of the unknown, of change, hence their reason to escape to the wilderness when their lives take unexpected turns. The events of the game certainly wouldn't give the average person any reason to change that fact about themselves. I would honestly find it far less believable if Henry meets Delilah in the end and the relationship they've been fostering bloomed into something more.
As far as the mystery is concerned, to me, it doesn't feel like the driving force of the narrative, even though it takes up a large portion of the time you spend in the game. I think it served its purpose, which was to solidify that these two characters don't want to face potential heartbreak, fear, failure, etc. While this is less effective for Delilah because she's been in the mountains away from this for a decade, Henry wanted a break from his life, but still had to face fear, and a potentially bleak future.
In the end, it would be more bizarre if these two characters had some major personality revelations caused by the events of Firewatch, and somehow turned their life around at the end of the summer, whether it be a new romance between the two, or moving on to far better things in life (though it seems Delilah has a chance at moving in the path of the latter). What is written here is far more relatable and realistic.
Permanently A
Junior Member
The game looked great and I kinda dig the idea of playing with paranoia and subverting that movie/game expectation of always having some grand scheme going on - and then at the end we find out that nothing particularly special happens. Conspiracy? More like con-spiracy!
I just don't think it was very fun to play; the idea was cool but it didn't really translate well. I was actually kinda bored most of the time and didn't really feel invested in the characters, but that was probably due to me thinking that Henry's acting was poor (Delilah was good), and the "snark-off" between them at the beginning felt super forced and kind of annoyed me for the rest of the game.
All things considered, I loved everything about this project (the concept, the art, the awesome press kits, the real photo stuff) except maybe the game itself? It's weird. I applaud the effort, though, and hope the team can keep on trying new stuff.
I just don't think it was very fun to play; the idea was cool but it didn't really translate well. I was actually kinda bored most of the time and didn't really feel invested in the characters, but that was probably due to me thinking that Henry's acting was poor (Delilah was good), and the "snark-off" between them at the beginning felt super forced and kind of annoyed me for the rest of the game.
All things considered, I loved everything about this project (the concept, the art, the awesome press kits, the real photo stuff) except maybe the game itself? It's weird. I applaud the effort, though, and hope the team can keep on trying new stuff.
SRTtoZ
Member
Perfect, except there was no uptick at the end for me
It can also be summed up like this...
I almost feel like it's kind of, I don't know, unrealistic in the way that it ended, specifically Delilah being unwilling to wait for Henry; I mean, both the logical and emotional perspective here almost demands that they meet -- not that they fall in love and run away together. You just spent months navigating your way through an instance of mystery, paranoia, and maybe (most probably) had a "thing" with each other, asked about each others lives, and (in theory) cared for the other person in some way that, even if it's not romantic, its respectful. Yet when the chips were down, Delilah up and leaves for what seems like no reason other than someone didn't model her character, or unfulfilling "reasons."
I expected more to be revealed about Delilah's character; her story seemed like it was only half there, waiting to be explored, and that Henry and her could connect a bit more instead of running around like chickens with their head cut off. I thought the mystery of the game was well done, but in hindsight, had the game been about nothing more than the two cleaning up trash and stomping out fires while exploring their fears of "real life" together, that probably would have elevated this game quite a bit for me. As it stands, the real star of the show gets cut unreasonably short, and the mystery steals the thunder to its uneventful end where characters magically forget the other existed.
Frankly, the most intimate moment (in my story, anyway) was cut short with a fade-to-black when Henry asks what she would do if she were with him. Maybe it was just a bunch of phone sex, or maybe it would have been an interesting conversation to sit in on. Either way, I feel like I missed out on something.
I don't dislike the game at all. In fact, I had fun, even though it was pretty short (~3 hours), but I do feel like most parts of it can be stamped "missed opportunity" -- it's not that there's a flat ending, it's that there's, well, no ending, and if Delilah really cared at all about Henry, as she inferred, she'd have been around until the end -- and I refuse to believe the answer is "Oh, well, Delilah is really just a selfish bitch who gets drunk and hits on dudes."
And if that is the answer, what a waste.
SRTtoZ
Member
Exactly. I thought there was even going to be a twist at the end after she doesn't show up because towards the end she started to seem almost emotionless compared to the sympathetic awesome personality she was for the first 96.544% of the game. Even her reaction when he asks her to wait (at least thats what I asked) was like, you really want me to wait? Like is it that crazy that he wants to meet the girl he's been talking to and divulging every bit of his personal life 24/7 for 2+ months? Seriously, the only thing I can think why its written that way is because they didnt want to go through the trouble of creating a character model and animating it and thinking of "okay now what happens after they meet?". What a flat unrealistic ending in every way.
I was satisfied with the ending. It was nice to have it all grounded in reality. Would have been nice if the dad and son had more character development, it just sort of gets thrown at you at the end and felt slightly tacked on, but overall I enjoyed the journey.
I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed
He was trying to make it big as a youtuber. Didn't you watch the post credits reveal where he was running after Henry with a camera yelling, "it's just a prank bro"?
ultrazilla
Gold Member
PC version here.
What I found enjoyable is that it wasn't a "shoot everything in the face/murder everything" game.
I found the lack of violence refreshing. So nice seeing an elk and not harpooning the poor son of a bitch through the heart!
The beginning with the story, music, dialog branching....just amazing. Them feels! Someone mentioned "Up!" and I agree. It was really well done.
Kudos to Campo Santo for the experience you gave me. You were able to show that it is possible to break down the typical gaming conventions nowadays regarding characterization, not using graphic violence to "advance" the story or be the main "gameplay" element or using supernatural/otherworldly plot devices as the main story.
It's 3 am and I've been up all day so my thoughts may seem a bit wandering but I wanted to chime in since I know the developers are reading this thread(Chris Remo...Shacknews fame at one time, right?)
This 44 year old gamer appreciates what you've given us with "Firewatch". I look forward to future Campo Santo productions!
What I found enjoyable is that it wasn't a "shoot everything in the face/murder everything" game.
I found the lack of violence refreshing. So nice seeing an elk and not harpooning the poor son of a bitch through the heart!
The beginning with the story, music, dialog branching....just amazing. Them feels! Someone mentioned "Up!" and I agree. It was really well done.
Kudos to Campo Santo for the experience you gave me. You were able to show that it is possible to break down the typical gaming conventions nowadays regarding characterization, not using graphic violence to "advance" the story or be the main "gameplay" element or using supernatural/otherworldly plot devices as the main story.
It's 3 am and I've been up all day so my thoughts may seem a bit wandering but I wanted to chime in since I know the developers are reading this thread(Chris Remo...Shacknews fame at one time, right?)
This 44 year old gamer appreciates what you've given us with "Firewatch". I look forward to future Campo Santo productions!
It was real reasearch experiment on deers by students iirc. You can find one dead deer with tracker in 4th/5th act.
CheesecakeRecipe
Stormy Grey
It just occurred to me that there was a missed opportunity for a Windam Earle gag by having Ned show up in the background in a stitched together deer costume somewhere that the player couldn't reach him even if he tried.
Basileus777
Member
I enjoyed the game, but the plotting in this was pretty messy. I honestly wish they had never bothered with the thriller and mystery stuff that was poorly executed. I would have enjoyed a less "eventful" story focused just on the two main characters more than this.
Also what was the reason behind skis and broken snowmobiles in the pond? Just for shit and giggles?
I have to say I was very dissapointed by the game, it was in my Top 10 most anticipaited games of 2016 but at the end, it was flat. I absolutly loved first 2/3 acts of the game, but as soon as they starting with Ned and his son mystery it went to shit. I couldnt care less about any of them, even though I've read every letter from caches.
I have to say I was very dissapointed by the game, it was in my Top 10 most anticipaited games of 2016 but at the end, it was flat. I absolutly loved first 2/3 acts of the game, but as soon as they starting with Ned and his son mystery it went to shit. I couldnt care less about any of them, even though I've read every letter from caches.