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[TheHollowNight]

I empathized with her character. I kept playing because I wanted to know what happened to her. But the conclusion wasn't satisfying.

Spoiler

Oh, you're not dead. Nobody's dead. You just ran away with your girlfriend and the folks are on a couples retreat.

I just wasted the last 2 hours of my life for that? So its just

Spoiler

Generic Coming of Age Tale: The Videogame (w/ lesbians!).

Brothers had so much more impact and it actually had an enjoyable game built around it.

There are a lot of books movies & TV shows that tell these sorts of stories that still remain great even though

Spoiler

nobody dies or the house doesn't explode or whatever bullcrap you need to shove in to keep the short attention spans of people these days. The fact is, to tell a good story, you don't need any of those things to make it interesting.

Spoiler

Why does anybody have to die to be a satisfying conclusion? Why do we always need a morbid outcome? I was so much happier with the ending that it didn't tread that path once again, the fact that it plays on your expectations as you get closer to the attic and subverts them.

 

[MrCookiepants]

Spoiler

Why does anybody have to die to be a satisfying conclusion? Why do we always need a morbid outcome? I was so much happier with the ending that it didn't tread that path once again, the fact that it plays on your expectations as you get closer to the attic and subverts them.

Spoiler

They didn't have to die. Though that would have at least been something compared to the nothing we got. I thought I was piecing together some sort of mystery. But in the end there was no mystery.

That doesn't sound satisfying to me.

 

[Final Boss]

It's like they just want to be THAT publication that didn't choose The Last of Us as their GOTY.

Fanboy talk like this is what's wrong with gamers

 

[Tom_Cody]

For those arguing in favor of the game, pray tell, what does Gone Home say that's so meaningful? That hasn't been said a million times before (and much better) in other types of media? It certainly didn't wow me with its "profound" message or whatever.

I was late in playing the game so I just got around to listening to Chris Kohler's podcast on Gone Home.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/08/gamelife-podcast-episode-80/

In it he said basically exactly that, but he meant it as a compliment:
"We've seen thousands of stories like this in movies and books but not in videogames". I think that sort of sums it up. Gone Home is a valid experiment in interactive narratives, even if 1) the subject matter has been well covered in other mediums (and better) and 2) the narrative techniques are not new to the realm of videogames. It is a unique combination if nothing else.

That said, although the game didn't resonate with me, I have gathered from these threads that it produced genuine emotional reactions in a lot of people. Those feelings are valid, although I would argue that they are purely subjective. I think it's a lot harder to apply objective arguments to call Gone Home important.

I'm reminded of the time I watched Rushmore with my parents. I had really enjoyed the film but they were like "why are we watching this". My girlfriend has a similar story about watching The Dead Poets Society with her parents.

Personal sentimental stores are always going to produce polarized reactions. It's just weird in the case of Gone Home because people are mixing this up with the notion that it has done something new in the sense of the mechanics of interactive storytelling (it hasn't). I think the notable thing here is that we are even having this discussion related to a videogame.

 

[Carcetti]

Spoiler

They didn't have to die. Though that would have at least been something compared to the nothing we got. I thought I was piecing together some sort of mystery. But in the end there was no mystery.

That doesn't sound satisfying to me.

Spoiler

Thing is, that's why the ending felt so satisfying to me. As gamers we're totally used to genre fare that always ends on either some neat messianic deus ex machina prophecy where a farmboy poops on a magic demon lord or a 'gritty' everyone dies ending straight out of 90s superhero comics. Gone Home is pretty much more of a short story from a non-genre short story collection, a tiny slice of life image which doesn't need to have anything earth-shattering to happen, because in actual life things don't work that way To hell with plot twists too.

 

[TheHollowNight]

Spoiler

They didn't have to die. Though that would have at least been something compared to the nothing we got. I thought I was piecing together some sort of mystery. But in the end there was no mystery.

That doesn't sound satisfying to me.

Sometimes things just aren't meant to be so clear cut, and all that is needed is a story to be told. That was more than the "nothing" I got from this. It didn't treat me like a simpleton, it let me make my own assumptions. That was the intelligence of the game, we immediately jump to conclusions based off the familiarity we know in horror games. The game is aware of that throughout & to me, subverting that, the dread of what the outcome may be, since i warmed to the characters, was satisfying enough in of itself. I'm happy the ending wasn't what I expected, I liked that I was wrong.

That said, although the game didn't resonate with me, I have gathered from these threads that it produced genuine emotional reactions in a lot of people. Those feelings are valid, although I would argue that they are purely subjective. I think it's a lot harder to apply objective arguments to call Gone Home important.

Exactly. And if the game didn't resonate with you, so be it. That's cool. It's shame it didn't convey it's message to you, but at least you are being constructive in your opinion on it. It's just very frustrating that others simply won't accept that this game was very meaningful to some people, to the point that they trash the publication simply for even having the cheek to put it amongst or above games they consider more worthy.

 

[ab.aeterno]

I empathized with her character. I kept playing because I wanted to know what happened to her. But the conclusion wasn't satisfying.

Spoiler

Oh, you're not dead. Nobody's dead. You just ran away with your girlfriend and the folks are on a couples retreat.

I just wasted the last 2 hours of my life for that? So its just

Spoiler

Generic Coming of Age Tale: The Videogame (w/ lesbians!).

Speak for yourself, I thought the conclusion was wonderful. Beyond being an ending I never got myself, it was refreshing to see a story with

Spoiler

gay teenagers

not end in suicide. But maybe that's because that's such an epidemic already.

Honestly, it seems like you take exception that it made the character

Spoiler

lesbian

because of some perceived ulterior motive, and that's pretty bothersome. Why can't the story just be a well-told coming of age for a

Spoiler

homosexual

character? Why is that bad, or fine for shock value? Why can't it just be a story worth telling?

Brothers had so much more impact and it actually had an enjoyable game built around it.

Agree to disagree. I thought Brothers was wonderful, but it had a fraction of the impact Gone Home had for me.

 

[JDSN]

Of all the things that were posted in this thread, could someone explain to me what "hipster ending" means? I seriously cant grasp this concept.

 

[TheHollowNight]

Of all the things that were posted in this thread, could someone explain to me what "hipster ending" means? I seriously cant grasp this concept.

I seriously lost my shit at that remark.

The fuck is this noise? Hipster ending? How in the hell can ending a game a certain way be hipster? Tell me please, I'm dying to hear your marvelous suggestion of a "non-hipster" ending that would wow the hardcore mainstream with it's awesomeness of non-hipster-ism.

I think I need to stop reading the Gaming side of GAF and stick to off-topic, the amount of asinine insanity that gets posted over a game completely blows my mind.

 

[Tom_Cody]

Of all the things that were posted in this thread, could someone explain to me what "hipster ending" means? I seriously cant grasp this concept.

I think the notion that

Spoiler

their story arc ends on a note of whimsy. Running away together in the moonlight, how magical. I mean, they could also just go away to college near each other and start dating. *shrugs* They're 18, not 12.

 

[beril]

Pretty much this. Apparently for a lot of people it isn't enough to warrant a good game. 'Oh all it does is tell a story? No shooty bits? No jump scares or XP leveling up? 0/10!'

If all it does is to tell a generic story in a mostly non-interactive way, then no, it's really not a good game.

the slow exploration aspect does nothing for me other than being tedious. The game does nothing to make me care enough about the characters to enjoy going through all their stuff and finding out the smaller details presented about their lives, and the main story is told so slowly that it just becomes painful. To me it doesn't play to the strength of the medium at all and could have worked much better as a 10 page short story or a 15 minute film, but as such we have seen the same story a million times before.

also why are we spoiler tagging

Spoiler

lesbian

? Wasn't that obvious from the trailer?

 

[MrCookiepants]

Speak for yourself, I thought the conclusion was wonderful. Beyond being an ending I never got myself, it was refreshing to see a story with

Spoiler

gay teenagers

not end in suicide. But maybe that's because that's such an epidemic already.

Honestly, it seems like you take exception that it made the character

Spoiler

lesbian

because of some perceived ulterior motive, and that's pretty bothersome. Why can't the story just be a well-told coming of age for a

Spoiler

homosexual

character? Why is that bad, or fine for shock value? Why can't it just be a story worth telling?


Agree to disagree. I thought Brothers was wonderful, but it had a fraction of the impact Gone Home had for me.

Spoilers!

Spoiler

I'm gay.

. And it bugs me because it's seemingly the only thing that distinguishes this from any other angsty forbidden teen love story that we've heard a million times.

Spoiler

If Sam was fawning over some boy instead, we'd all be rolling our eyes like we do at Twilight.

Brothers told a better story and it did so in a way that could only work in a videogame - through interaction. Not lazy audio logs and notes.

 

[TheHollowNight]

If all it does is to tell a generic story in a mostly non-interactive way, then no, it's really not a good game.

I wouldn't call being able to interact & examine nearly every single object in the house 'mostly-non interactive', hmm?

Can you also point me to this tick-list of what you think 'good' games need to do in order to satisfy your overly strict standards? Don't you think that sounds incredibly arbitrary trying to define everything like that?

 

[iMorphball]

Oh Polygon.

 

[Caderfix]

I seriously lost my shit at that remark.

I think I need to stop reading the Gaming side of GAF and stick to off-topic, the amount of asinine insanity that gets posted over a game completely blows my mind.

Actually, it's just different opinions. It might be difficult to understand what was meant by "hipster ending" (I didn't understand it as well) but it is clear he/she didn't like it, it wasn't sactisfactory in that person's opinion, that's all.

And if someone criticize the game for not having action or deaths and whatever else in it, there's nothing wrong with that as well, just like there's nothing wrong in you liking it for not having a genre and being unpredictable.

No need to "lose your shit" over something like that.

 

[Tom_Cody]

Exactly. And if the game didn't resonate with you, so be it. That's cool. It's shame it didn't convey it's message to you, but at least you are being constructive in your opinion on it. It's just very frustrating that others simply won't accept that this game was very meaningful to some people, to the point that they trash the publication simply for even having the cheek to put it amongst or above games they consider more worthy.

Thanks, but you should apply that same empathy to your own comments.

Pretty much this. Apparently for a lot of people it isn't enough to warrant a good game. 'Oh all it does is tell a story? No shooty bits? No jump scares or XP leveling up? 0/10!'

This stawman argument annoys me to no end. Saying that we didn't enjoy the story is not the same thing as saying that it needed to have monsters running around.

 

[ab.aeterno]

If all it does is to tell a generic story in a mostly non-interactive way, then no, it's really not a good game.

How is it non-interactive? That's nonsense. The whole premise of the game and how it tells it's story is founded on the interactive nature of the medium. Now if you define interaction narrowly as defined genre mechanics, sure. You're not shooting people nor running through a level jumping. But the point is that the game uses the seeing as a space and has you participate in the story. This is how it covers the small incidental stories for the other characters. Through the environment, and having you find and interest with objects to draw conclusions.

This doesn't work in any other medium, where something has to be explicitly stated or shown.

 

[beril]

I wouldn't call being able to interact & examine nearly every single object in the house 'mostly-non interactive', hmm?

Can you also point me to this tick-list of what you think games need to do in order to satisfy your overly strict standards of what's essential to be good?

Flipping light switched and examining soda cans is not really interacting with the story.

Neither is reading old letters and homework reports. You're passively consuming it, and the only thing you affect is what order to you do it in.

 

[Tom_Cody]

I wouldn't call being able to interact & examine nearly every single object in the house 'mostly-non interactive', hmm?

Can you also point me to this tick-list of what you think games need to do in order to satisfy your overly strict standards of what's essential to be good?

I think his point is that he neither enjoyed the narrative nor did he enjoy the interactive mechanics. I agree with this. I think it makes more sense to call it an interactive narrative (or something like that) than try to argue that it is a game. But this is just a semantic point.

 

[madmad90]

Great Choice, havent played it myself but a lot of people said amazing stuff about it.

BUT OBVIOUSLY SHILLS AS THE FOUNDER OF THE GONE HOME COMPANY WAS AT A PODCAST WITH ARTHUR GIES HERPDY DERP

 

[CoG]

Brothers told a better story and it did so in a way that could only work in a videogame - through interaction. Not lazy audio logs and notes.

Audio logs you happen to stumble upon as you're linearly walked through the game.

I thought Gone Home was alright but Game of the Year?

 

[TheHollowNight]

Thanks, but you should apply that same empathy to your own comments.

I try, but when you've read through the entirety of this thread, you quickly lose the need to feel empathetic when you have to sift through a lot of the seemingly drive-by remarks that snort at the idea a small game could get an award.

 

[Real Hero]

wow this game doesn't even have one gun in it, apart from on the covers of books i think, and we all know games without guns but with books in it are for hipsters

 

[ab.aeterno]

Spoilers!

Spoiler

I'm gay.

. And it bugs me because it's seemingly the only thing that distinguishes this from any other angsty forbidden teen love story that we've heard a million times.

Spoiler

If Sam was fawning over some boy instead, we'd all be rolling our eyes like we do at Twilight.

Spoiler

Except that her sexuality is what defines the central conflict of the story. The game is not just about Sam's love interest, it's about the internal conflict as she comes to realize that she's different. This isn't just a coming off age story, this is a story unique to gay characters, the story of realization and the road to self acceptance. The game lays out the arc very well.

Look, I think this game is important because it realistically does two things: portrays a gay character and their struggles, and tells a small, intimately scoped story about a family, a person. Games don't do that. How many gay characters are there that aren't embarrassing caricatures? And of that, how many actually address their sexuality in a meaningful way?

This game was profound for me. I went in knowing nothing about it, and ended up seeing a character that went through what I did, a character I could finally relate to after all my years in gaming. My darkest struggles, things I still struggle with today, things that made my teenage years a very dark and very hard time, and the game talked about and acknowledged it. I finally didn't feel so alone.

So that's why it matters to me. So it's hard seeing people tear that down.

Flipping light switched and examining soda cans is not really interacting with the story.

Neither is reading old letters and homework reports. You're passively consuming it, and the only thing you affect is what order to you do it in.

You're missing the point. It's not about interacting with the story, it's about using an interactive space to let the payer both consume the main story at their own pace and, crucially, to let the player find environmental clues and objects to fill in the periphery of the story themselves. It's not about making decisions in a branching storyline, it's about using mechanics and space to let the player participate in the story as well. I don't know that there's a term for this, as few games do it.

 

[Fallout-with-swords]

I just finished Gone Home yesterday, I really enjoyed it. I get that the story isn't incredibly original but I liked how the game played up the fact that you expect something

Spoiler

supernatura

l to happen or for Sam

Spoiler

to have killed herself or something terrible to happened to the parents.

I don't think it was a cop-out that none of that happened, I thought it was actually really nice that they told a

Spoiler

realistic story

. The quality of the story, for me, relied solely on how well the VO was performed and how well the notes were written and I thought that those were the best parts of the game. I cared about Sam

Spoiler

and Lonnie, not just because they were lesbians

but because they seemed like interesting people, and their notes were filled with playful angst and clever asides that made me chuckle.

Spoiler

I wanted the best for these two, I don't think them being gay was a factor in that.

Anyway, maybe I was just a sucker for a

Spoiler

coming of age story

set in the 90's with all the pop culture references. Not to mention, the Mom and Dad's story which in some cases

Spoiler

(Terry and Uncle Oscar

) what was insinuated was pretty dark. I read this online

Spoiler

, but I really like the idea that Terry would have an interest in writing about stories where the hero goes back in time to stop a tragic event from happening considering what, seemingly, happened to him as a child.

Gone Home isn't my game of the year but I can understand why it might be someone else's

Spoiler

I don't think the story was generic, I understand that it was ultimately uneventful but I enjoyed fact they were able to trick a ton of people into thinking it was a horror game, the uncertainty built a lot of tension for me as a player. And I enjoyed the ending, like I said I wanted the best for these two and I was on board with the happy ending.

 

[MrCookiepants]

Spoiler

Except that her sexuality is what defines the central conflict of the story. The game is not just about Sam's love interest, it's about the internal conflict as she comes to realize that she's different. This isn't just a coming off age story, this is a story unique to gay characters, the story of realization and the road to self acceptance. The game lays out the arc very well.

Look, I think this game is important because it realistically does two things: portrays a gay character and their struggles, and tells a small, intimately scoped story about a family, a person. Games don't do that. How many gay characters are there that aren't embarrassing caricatures? And of that, how many actually address their sexuality in a meaningful way?

This game was profound for me. I went in knowing nothing about it, and ended up seeing a character that went through what I did, a character I could finally relate to after all my years in gaming. My darkest struggles, things I still struggle with today, things that made my teenage years a very dark and very hard time, and the game talked about and acknowledged it. I finally didn't feel so alone.

So that's why it matters to me. So it's hard seeing people tear that down.

I understand. Brothers really resonated with me because

Spoiler

I lost my brother too.

No one's trying to take away from your experience, I'm just trying to look at it from a more objective standpoint.

 

[madmad90]

...

Game is interesting, but I'm tired of the Gone Home and Brothers worship lately. I'm glad people enjoy the games, but I hope we don't start seeing more casual games and less skill-based games collecting GotY awards in the future.

I feel the same about The Last of Us. Its all about Preferences.

 

[madmad90]

10. Tearaway
9. Kentucky Route Zero
8. Super Mario 3D World
7. GTAV
6. Brothers A Tale of Two Sons
5. The Last of Us
4. Bioshock Infinite
3. Towerfall
2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link between Worlds
1. Gone Home

I may have added Dead Space 3 and Saints Row IV but the list describes my overall feelings about 2013. It was just a really good year, but not an overwhelming list of mindblowing games.

 

[ab.aeterno]

I understand. Brothers really resonated with me because

Spoiler

I lost my brother too.

No one's trying to take away from your experience, I'm just trying to look at it from a more objective standpoint.

Spoiler

Sorry to hear that man. That's rough.

While I know no one's trying to invalidate my experience, what's bothersome is the idea that it's not a game, or not a story worth telling, or that its validation as something meaningful threatens traditional games. It's wearying.

Anyways, sorry if I was a dick. I've developed an unfortunate knee-jerk for games with this subject matter as they often seem to get questioned or vilified for its inclusion.

Spoiler

"But why do they have to shove it down my throat? Can't it just not be an issue?"

 

[jetjevons]

I loved my time with Gone Home. I loved that I got to experience the whole thing in one sitting. I didn't know what it was going to be about going in so yes, it subverted my expectations, which I am imagine makes a big difference. Imagine watching From Dusk Till Dawn not knowing it's really about vampires. This was sort of

Spoiler

the absolute opposite

of that. I also have a lot of nostalgia for the era and that helped too.

I don't know, I feel like this is a perfectly legitimate candidate for GOTY.

 

[monlo]

I seriously do not understand how much praise this game gets.

It's like Myst, but in a house, and 20 years later

And yet it's OH MY GOD SO NEW WOW MUCH INNOVATION

 

[TheHollowNight]

I seriously do not understand how much praise this game gets.

It's like Myst, but in a house, and 20 years later

And yet it's OH MY GOD SO NEW WOW MUCH INNOVATION

Sigh.
You do realize you can apply that exact same thought mentality to pretty much all games in existence right?

"I seriously do not understand how much praise GTA V gets.
It's like San Andreas, but better graphics, and 3 characters.

And yet it's OH MY GOD SO NEW WOW MUCH INNOVATION"

Can I just ask, did you actually play it?

 

[beril]

Spoiler

Sorry to hear that man. That's rough.

While I know no one's trying to invalidate my experience, what's bothersome is the idea that it's not a game, or not a story worth telling, or that its validation as something meaningful threatens traditional games. It's wearying.

Anyways, sorry if I was a dick. I've developed an unfortunate knee-jerk for games with this subject matter as they often seem to get questioned or vilified for its inclusion.

Spoiler

"But why do they have to shove it down my throat? Can't it just not be an issue?"

I'd love more games with gay character and stories focused around them, but this type of storytelling mechanics does nothing for me and just feels cheap. Hated it in Dear Esther and I hate it here. I think the story would work better in other mediums and there are way better stories with similar themes in other mediums. It felt like a pretty basic textbook example of a coming out story to me; it's only really noteworthy because it's in a game, but as I feel that it fails as a game, that point is pretty much nulled.

 

[ab.aeterno]

I'd love more games with gay character and stories focused around them, but this type of storytelling mechanics does nothing for me and just feels cheap. Hated it in Dear Esther and I hate it here. I think the story would work better in other mediums and there are way better stories with similar themes in other mediums. It felt like a pretty basic textbook example of a coming out story to me; it's only really noteworthy because it's in a game, but as I feel that it fails as a game, that point is pretty much nulled.

But why does having better stories with similar themes in another medium matter? Plenty of books tell amazing stories of loss, but that doesn't mean that movies shouldn't bother with similar stories if they can't do better than those (and why would you compare stories across mediums anyways?) Again, the point is how the story is told through the use of interactivity. Whether you like that approach or not, it's the keystone to the story and the game, so saying it'd be better elsewhere seems nonsensical since the interactivity is crucial to telling the story and giving it impact.

Also, if it fails as a game then I ask: how do you define a game? What's the differentiator between a successful game and a failed one? You need to qualify and explain that.

 

[AniHawk]

The thing about Bioshock or TLOU or any other such title, is that they've usually got the gameplay part that's actually meaningful. They have entertaining aspects to their gameplay besides just the narrative/presentation/what have you. You can argue that yeah, there's too much shooting in Infinite (and to some extent, yeah, perhaps that may have been the case), but the actual shooting and using plasmids and all this other stuff was really well done and a lot of fun.

Gone Home is limited to walking around the house and finding stuff. That's it. Which means its story must make up for that and be so interesting/mesmerizing/well done to offset the fact that I am merely clicking on lost diary pages in different rooms of a single house.

I'm not gonna argue that it's not a game or whatever. It sure is one. When we had Kentucky Route Zero as a GOTY winner, which I'm not sure I'd agree with either (and I loved KR0), I can see how the visuals, narrative and presentation combined to create a suberbly surreal and beautiful experience, which to me at the very least, was wholly original. Gone Home on the other hand, is really, really not.

i actually like the last of us, and i see a lot of similarities between gone home and the last of us, but i think my problem with the last of us is that it's trying to tell its story within a very traditional framing. it's cutscene -> gameplay -> cutscene and the gameplay isn't that meaningful to the story (you are basically going from point a to point b), although i appreciate all they did to connect the world of the story to the world of the gameplay- something people noticed was off in the uncharted games. gone home doesn't get bogged down in a lot of the stuff that has to appeal to a certain audience because it doesn't need to. it doesn't need to be a super violent game, have trophies/achievements (props to the last of us for not having them unlock in-game- again, i really like a lot of what naughty dog did), have a multiplayer mode, or other things that are done to appeal to an 18-34 male demographic.

it's also why the positive reviews for the walking dead ring false for me. it may have a decent script, but it feels like that's all it is in a game pretending it's more (or people pretending that it's more). yeah you're making choices in the zombie apocalypse, but they don't actually matter. the stanley parable lampoons this to great effect. 'aha! i made a choice in this game. look at me! look at the choice i made!'

as for gone home, it was also my favorite game of the year, and i usually dislike this sort of thing. i guess it felt like it was honestly developed. like it's not trying to be more than what it is. no one's touting choice and then it turns out that it doesn't matter. its sole purpose isn't to discuss 'the human condition', although if feel it does it better than druckmann's effort. i appreciate the restraint and simplicity and ordinariness of gone home.

 

[Compeau]

It's like Myst, but in a house, and 20 years later

Except Myst has actual puzzles.

Gone Home can be beaten in under a minute. Of course this defeats the purpose, because it's not a game, it's an interactive experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHkiVsQhWZ0

 

[entremet]

Polygon's 2013 Game of the Year:
10. Tearaway - 9.5/10
9. Kentucky Route Zero - ?/10
8. Super Mario 3D World - 9/10
7. GTAV - 9.5/10
6. Brothers A Tale of Two Sons - 9/10
5. The Last of Us - 7.5/10
4. Bioshock Infinite - 10/10
3. Towerfall - ?/10
2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link between Worlds - 9.5/10
1. Gone Home - 10/10



I'm laughing out loud. Thanks Polygon

Holy shit!

Read the thread, bro. It's been explained multiple times ad naseum lol.

 

[Real Hero]

Except Myst has actual puzzles.

Gone Home can be beaten in under a minute. Of course this defeats the purpose, because it's not a game, it's an interactive experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHkiVsQhWZ0

That would defeat the purpose of plenty of 'games'. Rushing through Bioshock and Last of Us in an hour (if you could) would defeat their purpose and impact entirely, are they not games? If you rush through gone home like that your wasting your own time.

 

[TheHollowNight]

Except Myst has actual puzzles.

Gone Home can be beaten in under a minute. Of course this defeats the purpose, because it's not a game, it's an interactive experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHkiVsQhWZ0

Going in circles here. This video has been brought up before. You can beat DOOM in a minute, doesn't make it a bad game though does it?

 

[Shepard]

This game is so overrated it's not even funny. No gameplay, lame story, and it's a story driven game.

 

[beril]

But why does having better stories with similar themes in another medium matter? Plenty of books tell amazing stories of loss, but that doesn't mean that movies shouldn't bother with similar stories if they can't do better than those (and why would you compare stories across mediums anyways?) Again, the point is how the story is told through the use of interactivity. Whether you like that approach or not, it's the keystone to the story and the game, so saying it'd be better elsewhere seems nonsensical since the interactivity is crucial to telling the story and giving it impact.

Also, if it fails as a game then I ask: how do you define a game? What's the differentiator between a successful game and a failed one? You need to qualify and explain that.

It's not that it shouldn't exist but that it doesn't really deserve much praise when there are way better experiences around.

If I want to experience a good story about a girl coming out I can get a better and more fulfilling story in a book or a movie, without the added tedium of exploring a big house to find the story. It's only if I absolutely want it in a game that Gone Home becomes relevant, which would be fine if the gameplay and the interactive elements added anything to the experience, but for me it only detracts in GH.

Environmental cues and logs can be powerful storytelling tools, but it just isn't enough for an entire game IMO

 

[paperboywriter]

Why am I even reading those threads..?!

 

[Fox_Mulder]

Holy shit!

Read the thread, bro. It's been explained multiple times ad naseum lol.

Sorry, but I still found it funny and absurd

So the only one who dislikes the game is also the reviewer. It's funny, isn't it?

 

[Nymphae]

Except Myst has actual puzzles.

Gone Home can be beaten in under a minute. Of course this defeats the purpose, because it's not a game, it's an interactive experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHkiVsQhWZ0

Myst can be beaten nearly as fast, without having to do like any of the puzzles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIRtutbSwak - done in 1:45

 

[maquiladora]

Great Choice, havent played it myself but a lot of people said amazing stuff about it.

lol

 

[Drake]

It makes perfect sense that Polygon would give this GOTY.

 

[GhaleonQ]

But I assume that when people vote for them, it's because it's the games they liked. Not because they're trying to posture and look cool.

I don't see why the 2 are mutually exclusive. They are the type of people who would like Gone Home and the type of people who perceive themselves as liking what they think Gone Home represents.

In fact, it's likes being the sort of people who genuinely really liked 1990s American alternative pop culture while simultaneously being the sort of people who want others to know that they would include 1990s American alternative pop culture in their 1st video game. (Assuming that, like a lot of artists, they add autobiography to characterization when given the option.)

It's metanarrative. You know this!

(And, yes, I totally do this as well.)

I'm not sure why it can't be both. Someone can say "My favourite game this year is Dark Souls" while simultaneously saying "I want to send the message that the industry should not be afraid to make more games like Dark Souls (difficult, challenging, open-discovery based, inventive approach to multiplayer)".

You are not saying the same thing as this person. You're describing simultaneous sincerity and advocacy. We are describing simultaneous sincerity and posturing.

The latter is inherently part of tastemaking. Everyone has limited time and interest, so why did more of them play Gone Home compared to Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, Turnabout Trial/Ace Attorney, or The Night Of The Rabbit? Because of "hype." What is hype? It's the dual sincere affection and posturing of people uncovering art.

I guess all of them literally involve just moving a character through space and none have fail states per se and they're all broadly story or adventure games, but they all differ pretty strongly to me. Like, as much as Prince of Persia (Classic) differs from Mario in approach despite them both being platformers. Or the way that cubism and Impressionism are both art movements, or the way that Office Space and Koyanisqaatsi are both films.

Nice post here!

 

[entremet]

Sorry, but I still found it funny and absurd

So the only one who dislikes the game it's also the reviewer. It's funny, isn't it?

I wouldn't say 7.5 is not liking the game if he's using the whole scale.

 

[Fox_Mulder]

I wouldn't say 7.5 is not liking the game if he's using the whole scale.

But giving a nomination for GOTY is much more than 7,5 considered the other scores.

 

[GillianSeed79]

It's not that it shouldn't exist but that it doesn't really deserve much praise when there are way better experiences around.

If I want to experience a good story about a girl coming out I can get a better and more fulfilling story in a book or a movie, without the added tedium of exploring a big house to find the story. It's only if I absolutely want it in a game that Gone Home becomes relevant, which would be fine if the gameplay and the interactive elements added anything to the experience, but for me it only detracts in GH.

Environmental cues and logs can be powerful storytelling tools, but it just isn't enough for an entire game IMO

You do realize there is more to the story besides just Sam and Lonnie's relationship right? You realize if you actually spend time exploring the house there's at least three other separate story lines going on right? The only way you experience those other stories is by interacting with the environment. Saying this game is only about a girl coming out is like criticizing a book after having only read the first and last page.