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[Fowler]

I have a question concerning a plot hole with the love triangle.

Spoiler

So Kate and Stephen have been in town for a while (long enough to be settled into the house in the forest, and for Stephen to plan moving into the larger house that is being renovated. Stephen's mother bugs him and Lizzie for a while to see each other, and they finally do at the 2nd pub. But here's the problem; they meet at the pub only a few days before 'The Event.' This is backed up by Stephen's last main story event outside the substation. Kate is upset after finding out from Frank that they had a drink together. Which at this point is all they have done.

So how do they manage to cram in an actual affair followed by the revelation Lizzie is pregnant in just the few days before the planes come and drop their bombs? Everything in the game indicates that the time between The Event and The End is a relatively short period of time, not 2-3 months. Am I missing something?

I hear that, but I don't know that there's a satisfactory answer to it.

Spoiler

All I can think is that all Kate found out about was the drink, and that Stephen lied and said it was just one drink when in fact it was far more. I do feel that SOME time had passed between The Drink and The Confrontation, because there is a level of underlying tension there that seems to be about far more than one drink, but admittedly not nearly enough time for Lizzie to be pregnant.

Another sign that some time had passed is that the affair is fairly public knowledge around the village -- Father Jeremy, Frank and Wendy all seem pretty familiar with the details. Wendy and Jeremy are busybodies but Frank isn't that gossipy... is he?

The other possibility is that it's intentional: The writers deliberately used The Drink as a way to show that Kate knew about Stephen and Lizzie because you probably just saw The Drink a few minutes ago in a previous scene. The game jumps so rapidly between a fairly large timescale -- remember, there's a scene in there between Wendy and Frank from BEFORE Stephen and Kate were married -- that I can see them cutting a few corners in a sense to make the story a little easier to understand.

 

[140.85]

Did anyone else get super stuck at the part where the ball of light stops in the field with the large tree? Man, I was wandering 'round there for like an hour trying to trigger the next thing.

 

[Fowler]

Did anyone else get super stuck at the part where the ball of light stops in the field with the large tree? Man, I was wandering 'round there for like an hour trying to trigger the next thing.

Not there, but at another bit. The thing is, you don't actually need the moving balls of light to do anything -- they're just guides to show you roughly where things are. But yeah, wish I knew that when I couldn't figure out why one of them had just stopped...

 

[andylsun]

Got to the end last night. Loved the atmosphere and audio work, bought the amazing soundtrack.

Still processing the story. Some real feels at points and I think a second play through will help.

Haven't seen anyone mention that the pattern is a Lorenz attractor. Wonder if this was chosen for its shape or a deeper meaning.

 

[Giriath_89]

Just finished it. I quite enjoyed it, but I think it was a bit difficult to piece together the story and its characters, because the information you get can be very disjointed. It would have been nice to have some mechanic that let you save and listen to everything you've heard.

By far I enjoyed the atmosphere the most. The music, graphics and voice acting was all great.

 

[BraXzy]

Started this today, was enjoying the experience even though I feel so darn slow, now I know the R2 to run is a thing that should make it feel less of a drag walking.

I'm a bit stuck at the minute.. Everything was going fine, I was exploring most places, semi-following the glowing lights. Got completely lost after the initial town and stuff. Been past the station bit, hit the Frank bit and then got super lost. The only light ball that dorects you I could find got stuck under a big tree on a field. Life.

Walked to the windmill but felt I was getting ahead of myself, I don't know what to do.

 

[BraXzy]

The slow movement speed is making finding where I need to go so frustrating!

Spoiler

This Frank section has completely killed my momentum.. Been wandering around trying to work out what to do for over half an hour getting nowhere fast.

Edit: alright, I got past the

Spoiler

frank section. I think I had missed a single radio which triggered the sirens at the windmill which triggered the ending.

I just got through the Lizzie section but I feel like I missed something? It ended with Rachel singing/crying and then a charlie guy came in and comforted her. That was it. Maybe it ties in later I guess.

 

[BraXzy]

Actually finished this today. Qui

Spoiler

te an enjoyable experience tainted by the damn walking speed. Everything about this would have been better and more enjoyable with a quicker sprint. It started to feel like a chore getting from place to place, and yes I was holding R2.

The setting was fantastic, so well done. They really nailed the look and feel of the British countryside. Super believable. The graphics were good, great in certain spots and dodgy in others (trees and such). I searched most nooks and crannies to find all little stories. It was always quite daunting getting to a new area and being able to go in a hundred different directions, the game is a lot bigger than I expected. It was great exploring everywhere in an area and realising how well connected it all was. But again, the walking speed really ruined part of exploring for me. If I felt like I may have missed something I eventually stopped bothering to check because it took far too long. Main gripe as far as visuals go was the actual FPS which, while serviceable got jarring at times.

The characters were all fun to follow and build a picture of. I loved how they told their stories through the flashbacks that took place around you. Having them be made of light was clever to save on animations and textures. Some characters were more interesting than others for me, but all of them were brilliantly voiced and acted. I admit I got confused with some early on till I put subtitles on, and I definitely missed some scenes including Jeremy's end scene somehow which is a shame but I feel like I got most of it. Some stuff was confusing with the mismatched order of things but I got the overall story for each.

Wasn't a fan of how it ended, it felt like after bonding with all these characters and getting to know them, for it all to just be over it felt like there wasn't the pay off I needed. Not sure what they could have done though. It is interesting because I hadn't really looked at anything about this game outside of a few screenshots so the whole alien/mystical light thing was a total surprise. I wonder if it could have worked with the same storytelling method but a different cause. I think I need to let the experience stew for awhile. I would restart and try and get bits I missed and trophy hunt but I really cannot be bothered with the snail pace crawling again so that is it for me.

 

[Professor Chaos]

I don't know how, but I managed to get lost. Uninstalled It because I don't have the time to retrace my steps at 2mph.

Loved the setting, tons of detail to discover. Pretty good voice acting and a gorgeous soundtrack. But at the end of the day I didn't care all that much about the plot or any of the characters.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

I've had this since launch, but tonight was the first time I properly sat down and played it for a couple of hours, headphones plugged in and fully concentrating. It's pretty amazing so far. The movement speed is a little bit frustrating and technically there's not much 'to do', but the visuals are seriously stunning, the setting is wonderful and charming and homely, the voice acting is terrific without fail so far and the music is probably the best aspect of it all. I'm into the second area now (a bluebell woodland) and I've definitely missed some stuff in the village, but I'm just enjoying the ride so far. It's beautiful.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Finished it a couple of nights ago. Really loved it overall. Not without flaws of course - the walking speed should have been about 2x faster, and there was basically nothing to do besides walking around and triggering conversations. But the positive far outweighed the negative for me. Chiefly of all is that the music and visuals are incredible. The way the music swells and the choir or vocalist comes in at the end of a character's story is particularly memorable and heartbreaking, particularly as most of them are melancholy (

Spoiler

particularly Wendy or Lizzie, who thought the planes were coming to save them

). The lighting engine is also incredible and I loved playing around with the lighting, reflections and shadows and taking screenshots. The dialogue is absolutely superb, and that's backed up by some amazing voice acting. I think the bit which got to me the most is in one of the first houses just after you've started the game;

Spoiler

Amanda is in there and she's telling someone her husband took the kids up to bed six hours ago, and no-one has come down since

. The way her voice breaks up as she's speaking that dialogue is so incredible, and made me choke up a little.

As for the plot with

Spoiler

The Pattern, I think it's really interesting and I could have listened to dozens more of Kate's audio diaries talking about it. I think a sentient, consuming band of light is a really interesting idea for 'first contact', and I liked how it kept evolving to find its way out of the quarantine zone, including using the phone lines, later the electricity wires, and I wonder when the planes came along whether it had found a way to make itself airborne, or how to latch onto the pilots, as it shows bands of light passing through the sky, which I at first assumed was representative of the planes, but would make no sense as no other vehicles or people in the vehicles left these 'light trails'. I think ultimately it was about companionship, and this is something that Kate touches on at the end - the logo is a man and a woman holding hands, and everyone seemed to find their ideal partner during the game - Father Jeremy and God, Stephen and Lizzie, Frank would return to his recently deceased wife Mary, Wendy and her love for her birds (a bit of a stretch?), Rachel and the ex-con guy, and so on. And finally, I think The Pattern chose Kate because she was the one who accepted and enabled it, and she was a brilliant scientist.

Anyway, it was a terrific game, and I will probably re-play it in a few months to collect more trophies, and maybe even the Platinum. Really loved it overall and Yaughnton is definitely one of my favourite video game environments ever.

EDIT - does anyone know what the string of numbers Kate was saying over the radios meant, or why all the clocks had stopped at 6:07? I thought I'd heard Stephen mention that time early on in the game, but it wasn't until quite late on that I realised the clocks were all stopped, because if I'm not mistaken they're all still ticking.

 

[Chabbles]

Finally got through this. I really didn't take to it at first when it released due to the slow pace, but played through it twice last week. And its a strange one. The detail is amazing, its crazy, you'd think this sort of experience could be perfect in the VR space, slow paced and all about visual and story. Both of which are done really, really well.

I might be pointing out the obvious here, but incase anyone is trying to figure out the run mechanic. It seems to be dynamic, and there isnt a fixed speed to the run button. it changes depending on what area you're in. Slowing down when you get near to story related areas, and speeding up again around less important areas.

 

[WoolyNinja]

EDIT - does anyone know what the string of numbers Kate was saying over the radios meant, or why all the clocks had stopped at 6:07? I thought I'd heard Stephen mention that time early on in the game, but it wasn't until quite late on that I realised the clocks were all stopped, because if I'm not mistaken they're all still ticking.

The bolded part I remember for sure - that's when

Spoiler

the bombing or whatever

happened.

I still can't believe they didn't patch in a faster walking/run speed. I would've replayed this to find all the stuff I'd miss if I could do it faster.

 

[nib95]

£6.49 with PS Plus discount. What do you guys think, yay or nay?

 

[Melchiah]

£6.49 with PS Plus discount. What do you guys think, yay or nay?

Yay. The main problem is the slow moving speed, otherwise the game is good. If you liked The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, the odds are you'll like this as well.

 

[Symphonia]

£6.49 with PS Plus discount. What do you guys think, yay or nay?

Yay, without a doubt. The only flaw the game has, as mentioned, is the obnoxiously slow walking speed. Look past that, though, and you have a beautiful game for an amazing price.

 

[Putty]

£6.49 with PS Plus discount. What do you guys think, yay or nay?

Yeah Nib. Quite a unique experience ...as others have said, will take a while to get used to the walking pace...

 

[xrnzaaas]

I only played the first chapter (?) yesterday. It was very good (the graphics, the atmosphere and the music are superb), but the game froze on me and I lost about 30 minutes of progress from the last save. I wasn't thinking of going for the platinum, but it still sucks. How hard is it to create a normal saving system? (Ethan Carter had a similar problem)

 

[nib95]

Yay. The main problem is the slow moving speed, otherwise the game is good. If you liked The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, the odds are you'll like this as well.

Yay, without a doubt. The only flaw the game has, as mentioned, is the obnoxiously slow walking speed. Look past that, though, and you have a beautiful game for an amazing price.

Yeah Nib. Quite a unique experience ...as others have said, will take a while to get used to the walking pace...

Ok done!

 

[thelurkinghorror]

Remember... you can run holding R2!

 

[Stanng243]

Ok done!

The game was awful. It was not fun at all.

 

[IvanJ]

I still can't believe they didn't patch in a faster walking/run speed. I would've replayed this to find all the stuff I'd miss if I could do it faster.

I've been waiting for that patch since the release week when I finished the game.
I'd love to replay it and search for things I missed the first time, but I cannot endure another crawl through the town.
Half a year after release, I doubt the patch will come at all, which is a damn shame.

 

[ced]

I still can't believe they didn't patch in a faster walking/run speed. I would've replayed this to find all the stuff I'd miss if I could do it faster.

No shit, it's ridiculous at this point. I really want to play it again but can't take the walking / running speed.

 

[xrnzaaas]

This may be related to the game having problems to load the environments faster when running. The framerate isn't perfect in its current state and it could get even worse.

 

[dan2026]

Remember... you can run holding R2!

More like a slightly faster lurching shuffle.

The movement speed completely ruined this for me. Ugh its awful.

 

[Danlord]

This may be related to the game having problems to load the environments faster when running. The framerate isn't perfect in its current state and it could get even worse.

My experience with this game was quite horrible. The FPS tanked when the orbs expanded into a 'memory', it really hurt the FPS and made it bad to watch the memory unfold. The really low AF was jarring when moving between the houses looking for the radios and the POM was nice but the effect was definitely used aggressively in some areas and it looked odd in parts around the edges. The motion-blur is very aggressive also and that irks me quite a lot, like what happened with Final Fantasy Type-0 HD before the patch.

I liked the game but it felt a little half done in design. The situation I find with the walking mechanic I find to be absolutely ridiculous. Even after the patch it's still not to what I'd call reasonable.
As for the art, I love it. It is really refreshing to see a game environment that actually looks familiar, since I live in England compared to games basing their design from US cities/towns. Oh, and the music is incredible I played through headphones and so listening to the soundtrack was so nice, definitely its strongest aspect.

 

[Melchiah]

Remember... you can run holding R2!

Unfortunately, the increase of speed is pretty small, and it doesn't even work on some occasions.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Yesterday i finished the game and i love it.Fantastic soundtrack,great graphics,wonderful town(i wish i lived there),wonderful landscapes and great history.The only negativity i have to say it's the run button.It's too slow and i wish goes more faster.

 

[DeadOnions]

Bought this two weeks ago but am only around half way through. Not really feeling it which is a shame as I love the setting.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

I'm thinking about returning to this and going for the Platinum. I've got a third of trophies still to get, but the only one which would be a pain would be triggering all story events in one playthrough.

 

[dc89]

Really digging this so far on PS+.
The music is incredibly haunting with the setting.

 

[spats]

Been playing for a few hours, but accidentally managed to run outside the playable area and got stuck....

Ended up running through a massive empty field that kinda looked like a ps2 game and arrived at the observatory. Accidentally triggered something, so the game turned into night and a

Spoiler

bunch of red lights appeared at the observatory. Can't leave and can't get over fence to the observatory

. I'm pretty pissed off right now.

I uploaded a video too: https://youtu.be/ywmzhtxKMcA

 

[Cess007]

Been playing for a few hours, but accidentally managed to run outside the playable area and got stuck....

Ended up running through a massive empty field that kinda looked like a ps2 game and arrived at the observatory. Accidentally triggered something, so the game turned into night and a

Spoiler

bunch of red lights appeared at the observatory. Can't leave and can't get over fence to the observatory

. I'm pretty pissed off right now.

I uploaded a video too: https://youtu.be/ywmzhtxKMcA

Oh man, it sucks for your playthrough but I love this kind of glitches/bugs; that let you see behind the curtain of the path the Devs intended. Also

Spoiler

you triggered the final section of the game

; so I suggest you to start over? I don't think the ending would make any sense for you if you skipped much of the narrative

 

[Acquiescence]

The most boring video game I've ever played. Gave it a whirl for about an hour, wanted to tear my hair out due to the sheer monotony of it all and promptly deleted the game off my PS4.

I have zero tolerance for walking simulators it seems. Shame, but it is what it is.

 

[semiconscious]

The most boring video game I've ever played. Gave it a whirl for about an hour, wanted to tear my hair out due to the sheer monotony of it all and promptly deleted the game off my PS4.

I have zero tolerance for walking simulators it seems. Shame, but it is what it is.

i've enjoyed a few other walking simulators. this game, not so much. it's terribly low-key, & terribly slow, a sleep-inducing combo if ever there was one ...

 

[Rolf NB]

Is this going to be anything more than a tutorial on how to consume exposition?
How long is the whole thing?

 

[uceenk]

just bought this game because PSN deals

well what i can say, this game boring me to death, the walking way too slow, even when i ran (press R2), the pace is still too slow

it's a shame because i like story-driven /interactive movie genre (i love life is strange, heavly rain and beyond 2 souls)

at this rate probably i will read story review only on kotaku article and drop the game

 

[EBreda]

Ireally enjoy walking simulators but this one is just boring all around and kind of pretentious.

Story didn't do anything for me either and movement is so slow it's tiring.

It's a pitty cause we have good entries on the genre but this is not imo one of them. Ethan Carter for instance is much nicer.

 

[Melchiah]

I feel like the needlessly slow moving speed made exploring the open environment a tiresome experience. The same goes for their previous game, Dear Esther. It would have been better with a faster sprint like Ethan Carter had. That's the sole reason for why I didn't explore every nook and cranny in the game, like I usually do. I still enjoyed the atmosphere, story, and dialogue though, and it never felt pretentious to me.