The Stanley Parable, PC

[Thrawn]

I don't get it.  Why would I spend money on this?  Played the demo and all I feel is that I just wasted 30 minutes of my night.

[Margalis]

I also purchased Dear Escher, which I felt was a let down for almost exactly opposite reasons Gone Home was.

Just from the title that sounds amazing.

What I find strange about these games is that they are often pitched as games for non-gamers or "normal" people, but the real audience is mostly super hardcore guys who need a palette cleanser and appreciate them in part because of how different they are from standard fare.

[Teleku]

......actually, somebody needs to make that.  You're right, that sounds amazing.

Dear Esther, the game I actually meant, was a let down however.   

[Falconeer]

I'll also hazard a guess that that story just "wasn't meant for me" judging by the number of other people loved it so much.

That reminds me of what is going on with Beyond: Two Souls. There isn't really much game there, it's just a story, a movie. And based on how much the story touched you, was "meant for you", your appreciation of it is going to vary a lot. That is why, I would say, the game is getting such mixed reviews.

[Samwise]

This sounds exactly up my alley.

[Samwise]

Played this for a couple of hours last night.  I think I like it, and it's worth checking out, but some parts of it are a bit... um... repetitive?

[Teleku]

Haha, ok, I'm officially amused.  Played it a little bit so far, and it had me laughing out loud several times.  There does seem to be a lot of choice in the way things can go, so there should be some long depth to this.  I'll probably it in small amounts over the next week.  Certainly way more happy with this purchase already than I was at the end of Gone Home or Dear Esther.

No, it's not as funny as Portal. But then, what is that funny [in games]?

I'm not comparing it to Portal (either in theme or atmosphere). This is more like an actual interactive novel.

The stuff in the isolation chamber was absolute brilliance. And if we're feeling like it's necessary to compare it to Portal, I'd say it was as good as anything in Portal. Also, it was a demo. A Demo. Fuck, who puts that much work into shit like this?

Edit: Yes, I'm aware I just compared it to Portal. Seems like lots of people will. I think that's a mistake. I would compare it to Antechamber before Portal - and this is vastly superior to Antechamber.

I found this whole argument very funny considering what happens in game.   

[Malakili]

So, I've played this some and am enjoying it.  I'll play it more.   There are some interesting things here and I want to explore it more.

[bhodi]

Do you like decision trees and meaningful choices? If so, BUY THIS GAME.

If not? Buy it anyway because it's not Nazi Face Blaster FPS 5000, and things like this deserve to be funded.

Either way, don't watch any goddamned videos, just play the game. I guess you can play the demo.

[Quinton]

I played the demo *after* playing the game.  I can safely say that apart from re-using some visual assets, and using some similar storytelling techniques, they are completely independent of each other.

[Threash]

Any reason to play the mod if you've played the game?

[Quinton]

My understanding is that the game is a superset of the mod (more endings, more content, fancier), but I was thinking about giving the mod a look just to see where things evolved from.

edit: I just installed and played through the original mod -- it's an interesting piece of archeology, but a pale shadow of the full final game -- I'd definitely advise playing the final game first and going back to check out the mod later if you're curious.  Doing it the other way around will spoil bits of the game in a way the demo does not.

Spoilers for both:

[Samwise]

Played Stanley a little more and I'm a bit more sure now that I like it.  It sort of "clicked" for me once I got that the meta-narrative was completely subverting the story that the narrator was trying to tell, and in more ways than one.

The comparison to Portal is funny because while it feels like Portal (and to some extent Half-Life) in many ways, it's really more of a satire of that type of game.  It's almost like the relationship Spec Ops: The Line has to military shooters.

[Threash]

[Samwise]

I know the part you mean, and that's not where the comparisons are coming from.    It's more the "weird office complex with a weird and vaguely menacing narrator" thing; you can get that much from the trailer.

I have some thoughts about the story and I want to see if they make sense and/or were instantly obvious to other people.  Engage your berets.

[Yegolev]

I'd say that is a valid onion.  The satirical element was readily observed, but it extended to an unexpected yet pleasing depth.  I do wish someone could somehow get Ebert to play this.

[Fabricated]

Considering he's dead that might be tough.

[Yegolev]

Yes.

[Quinton]

Of course Narrative1
Based on the author's notes in the original mod

[Samwise]

Of course Narrative1

The way I'm thinking of it Narrative¹ is the story that the narrator is (trying to) tell you within the frame of Narrative².  The narrator himself isn't part of that story.  But yes, exactly.

I also went for "willfully belligerent".  My first instinct is always to try to go off the rails; I think it's a habit developed from years of trying to find software bugs.  

[Yegolev]

I got mine from years of trying to find secrets in JRPGs.  If you go down the obvious path, you'll miss out on optional things when the scene changes or the door closes behind you.

[rattran]

I think The Confusion Ending is my favorite so far.

[Samwise]

That was the first one I got.  Although I never got to the part AFTER you see the script.  Does that ever actually happen or is it a misdirect?

[Quinton]

The confusion ending is definitely my favorite.  Second favorite is the one that winds up in the behind-the-scenes museum (more for the museum than the lead-up to it).

[Reborne]

Have any of you completed the speed run achievement?

[Kail]

Yeah, I got it.