Firewatch

[jakonovski]

This game always looked interesting, but it wasn't until this Giant Bomb video that it became a must have for me. An exploration mystery that isn't focused on combat? Hell yes. It also has a super original setting: you're a Yellowstone fire lookout one year after the massive 1988 fires.
   
It's coming out in under 24 hours, and for once I've preordered (got a preload and it saved me 2 euros, whee).

[Falconeer]

Absolute must have. Been checking it for more than a year and preordered as soon as it could be preordered. Which means, you'll all hate it. Don't buy.

[schild]

i am totally buying this game tomorrow

bought it, stoked.

[Yegolev]

Funny story... I suppose I'll save it for my youtube channel.  But I'm on board for this.

[Falconeer]

This is out. It's great. The end.

[schild]

This isn't just great. It's fucking excellent, in every category.

[schild]

So. Let's get this out of the way:

Cons: After 4 hours of playtime, I had some shit to do, but I think I'm nearly at the end. This is a con because I don't want it to end.

Pros: Literally everything else. I'm not even mad about the playtime because it was <$20. Also, 100% sure it's better than The Witness, and I don't have to play The Witness to say that.

[Quinton]

I finished it in five hours and change and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Very solid experience.  My only complaint might be the tension between moving toward my goals in game and enjoying the scenery.

[schild]

Firewatch should win any number of awards in the awkwardly specific category of:

"Best compelling story written 100% around not having an artist that can render/draw/whatever a goddamn face."

[Furiously]

It was Lost the video game. It built and built then ended unsatisfactory.

[Quinton]

I'm okay with the ending.  I think they could have dialed back some of the late midgame stuff and kept things lower key overall and it would have worked better though.

[Falconeer]

For "fairness", and because Schild mentioned the Witness in this thread, here's the Firewatch video review from the same guy who blasted that one.

[Nija]

An 8 minute review? What's that, 15% of the content in Firewatch?

[schild]

For "fairness", and because Schild mentioned the Witness in this thread, here's the Firewatch video review from the same guy who blasted that one.

If you get "hooked" by the mystery, then yes, there's a lot of letdown. I've never had a mystery game do shit to me, and I was 100% hooked by the writing and voice acting. Maybe years of failure in the storyline department of gaming kept my expectations so low that I'm incapable of criticizing it for the same things this guy did. This game, quite seriously, has the best conversational dialog in the history of gaming. Period.

I'm shocked that I seem to be the only person that thinks the entire game and it's conclusion was driven by the fact the artists couldn't create a face and moving mouth to match the speaking. It seems so obvious.

[Malakili]

Also, probably the most engaging, enjoyable game I've played in a long time. Short, yes, but so much more interesting than... just another game where I shoot people until I win.

[Quinton]

Re: Ending

If not having visible faces is the price of having voiced lines done so well, that is a price I can afford to pay.

[Malakili]

Re: Ending

[Malakili]

I'm shocked that I seem to be the only person that thinks the entire game and it's conclusion was driven by the fact the artists couldn't create a face and moving mouth to match the speaking. It seems so obvious.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/2/12/10966494/firewatch-agency-campo-santo

[schild]

[Comstar]

Well that was a big let down.


In conclusion, a bad game IMHO. Not worth your time.

[Malakili]

 

[Margalis]

Apparently they rewrote the last 1/3 of the game in the final 2 months.

My guess, based on the people involved, is that some of them wanted it to be a personal story without any sort of plot-boiling plot, and others wanted it to be more of a page-turning mystery, and that they ended up someplace in the middle. Or maybe at the last minute they got gunshy and decided it was too "walking simulator" without enough forward plot momentum and tried to stuff in more excitement.

[jakonovski]

Finished it, loved it. Best dialog ever.

About the plot and ending

[Hawkbit]

A very good piece of work. What a great way to spend $20. That said, I really enjoyed EGttR and Goine Home, too. So...

[jakonovski]

How Firewatch looks in third person: https://twitter.com/ollymoss/status/697926382861492224

[Kail]

A very good piece of work. What a great way to spend $20. That said, I really enjoyed EGttR and Goine Home, too. So...

How does this game stack up, gameplay wise, with Gone Home?  Is there actual gameplay or is it a story thing?

[Hawkbit]

It's an interactive story, like Gone Home. The primary difference with Firewatch is the relationship you'll build with the person on the radio. There's often a mild 'choose your own adventure' feel to it, as your decisions on answers affect how conversation turns.

I'm not sure I would call this a game.

[jakonovski]

One thing that struck me is that it feels like a much more involved game than it is.

[Margalis]

One thing that struck me is that it feels like a much more involved game than it is.

It has a lot of psuedo-systems that would be meaningful in a bigger, different game, but are somewhat meaningless in this particular game.

You can climb stuff, pick up things, navigate via a map, etc, but none of that has room to breathe and be terrible relevant. Very common problem with adventure games.

[Ginaz]

I've been looking forward to this for awhile now but after hearing it's only 2-4 hours long I think I might wait for a sale to pick it up.

[Quinton]

It's not a long game, but if you're rushing through it to finish it in 2-3 hours you're going to be missing / ignoring much of it.  I think 4-5 is probably more realistic (I finished around 5 hours -ish) -- it's the sort of experience where if you're not going to bother looking at things (and the scenery is pretty nice too) and listening to the dialogue, etc, you're probably not going to get much out of it at all.  Based on some spoilery discussions it seems like I managed to miss a few things too.

[Malakili]

My first playthrough took just under 4 hours, but I know I missed a lot of things. 

That being said, this is a game about relationships and dealing with shit as an imperfect person. If that sounds good to you, it's worth full price. If it's more a curiosity to you, definitely wait for a steam sale. The writing and voice acting are great. I'd rate this as my favorite game in the last couple of years. But it's not for everyone, and I can see people who are looking for a gamey game not thinking it's worth full price.

[Amarr HM]

This game, quite seriously, has the best conversational dialog in the history of gaming. Period.

Just completed this and I'm in total agreement with the above statement. In fact it was akin to what I planned to post prior to reading through this thread. It was so good I cared less about the lack of reveals. In the end I was just sorry I didn't take better photos.

[Yegolev]

I know, I really boned it on the photos!

[Samwise]

Finished this last night.  I'd rank it well below Gone Home but well above Dear Esther.  Visuals are good.  The conversation gimmick is cool but for all that I never felt any sense of caring about the characters.  Having to keep checking my map to navigate around invisible barriers kinda killed my immersion.