Gone Home

[Damsbo]

So I just finished the game, Gone Home. I bought it because it had gotten such great reviews, and I just dont get why..

I get the whole "Detective" thing, and the emotions due to the sound and stuff. But really... Is that all it takes?

So yeah, I didn't like it, at all.
Have any of you played it, and in that case; what are your thought on the game?

[Deleted]

So I just finished the game, Gone Home. I bought it because it had gotten such great reviews, and I just dont get why..

I get the whole "Detective" thing, and the emotions due to the sound and stuff. But really... Is that all it takes?

So yeah, I didn't like it, at all.
Have any of you played it, and in that case; what are your thought on the game?

As I said in the Sale thread, it isn't a game. Games have to have a chance of failure. Gone Home is an interactive story.

[Deleted]

As I said in the Sale thread, it isn't a game. Games have to have a chance of failure. Gone Home is an interactive story.

What constitutes as a failure, then?
If you add a timer to the game and if it runs out, you die of a heart attack, does that make it a game?
What if when you do something wrong you just lose your last key and have to go get it again? Does that make it a game? (Hint, if you say no, lots of MMOs aren't games either)
Sounds arbitrary as fuck to me.

I get the whole "Detective" thing, and the emotions due to the sound and stuff. But really... Is that all it takes?

Something that succeeds at what it sets out to do does all that it takes, why should it have to do more? If you weren't moved by the story then ohwell, it happens.

Have any of you played it, and in that case; what are your thought on the game?

idk it was alright, maybe 7/10. Story was alright but it felt really weird how people apparently hide scraps of paper in the weirdest places.

[Vankrys]

What constitutes as a failure, then?
If you add a timer to the game and if it runs out, you die of a heart attack, does that make it a game?
What if when you do something wrong you just lose your last key and have to go get it again? Does that make it a game? (Hint, if you say no, lots of MMOs aren't games either)
Sounds arbitrary as fuck to me.

you don't agree that a games should have a state of failure?
A game is not an interactive movie you watch from start to finish regardless of whatever input you send through the controler. That is not a game.
A game should give one or several task to accomplish, reward you if you succeed and punish you if you fail, that is a game. The degree of punishment really vary from title to title, be a few seconds set back, loosing one life, or full game over, as long as the game make you understand you failed.

[Deleted]

you don't agree that a games should have a state of failure?

They don't have to have one, really.

A game is not an interactive movie you watch from start to finish regardless of whatever input you send through the controler.

But that's not what we're discussing here. The game in question is highly dependent on your input. You wouldn't even get past the Christmas Duck without input.

A game should give one or several task to accomplish, reward you if you succeed and punish you if you fail, that is a game.

But why does a game need a failure scenario? You could argue that it's just an interactive movie but the game in question has more to it than that. There are non-essential documents scattered around the place. If you find one but don't find another, your experience is different from someone who didn't find any at all. You could say this applies to physical deficiencies that you can find in some people when it comes to movies as well but I'd like to think your qualifications and your actions don't apply in the same way.

The degree of punishment really vary from title to title, be a few seconds set back, loosing one life, or full game over, as long as the game make you understand you failed.

So would the standard adventure-game "failure" of just not letting you continue unless you find object X apply?
Because if it does, Gone Home has that.
If it doesn't, why aren't people talking shit about stuff like Deponia for being hipster trash interactive movies.


Another question, because I thought of it.

Say that, during 20 seconds of gameplay, there was a chance of failure. Would the movie then turn into a game and then back again or would it have been a game all along?

[Lyoncet]

Myst has exactly one chance of failure, right at the very end. So I guess it must be an hours-long movie with a 5-second game tacked on at the end. Someone better alert the authorities.

Outside sarcasm mode, interactivity is much more important than chance of failure. If you need chance of failure for a game to feel like a game, good on you. As for me, I like it in some, even most, games. RPGs, strategy, etc. But I wouldn't go so far as to say that a game's status as a game hinges on it. That seems totally arbitrary to me.

[Charge me Doctor]

So I just finished the game, Gone Home. I bought it because it had gotten such great reviews, and I just dont get why..

I get the whole "Detective" thing, and the emotions due to the sound and stuff. But really... Is that all it takes?

So yeah, I didn't like it, at all.
Have any of you played it, and in that case; what are your thought on the game?

It is not a game, it's interactive story. Good thing you haven't player dear Esther then, there was nothing at all to do (W+mouse, listen to audio, look at beautiful landscape, hints and such to create a picture of what's happened)

I loved gone home, because it had no reason behind it except telling you a story. It's not created to scare you, or to make you solve puzzles or fight monsters.

Actually, this game recalled me Anna game endings. You can just turn away and leave with "well ,that's all i needed to know" on your lips.

Well, on the note of "failure", you can "fail" in this game easily. Like, get scared by thunder and alt+f4 out. Or failing at finding any clues, running around and raging on porch without even thinking of picking up a duck

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

game

It's not a game.

But getting that out of the way I agree with you. I went through it in a total of 2 minutes, quite literally. The first thing I noticed when I got into the house was the bookshelf. When I got to it I saw some random "?" popped up so I pressed E. That then tells me to go to the attic and I do. All that took 2 minutes to finish something I payed some money on.

Biggest buyer's remorse.

[Deleted]

It's not a game.

Why isn't it a game? I'd love for a single person to give forth a coherent argument why this isn't a game but adventure games like say, Myst, or Deponia are.

But getting that out of the way I agree with you. I went through it in a total of 2 minutes, quite literally. The first thing I noticed when I got into the house was the bookshelf. When I got to it I saw some random "?" popped up so I pressed E. That then tells me to go to the attic and I do. All that took 2 minutes to finish something I payed some money on.

Biggest buyer's remorse.

...you ran up to a random wall next to the bookshelf so close that your nose basically touches it and the game is at fault for maintaining consistency rather than locking you down on a linear path..?

[Deleted]

by that definition every adventure game ever is not a game
Myst series is not a game (apart a couple of points)
Monkey Island series is not a game
Broken Sword (apart a couple of points) is not a game
etc etc

I would say that Dear Esther is not strictly a game. That is mainly because you do not have to do anything at all apart walking

[Deleted]

As I said in the Sale thread, it isn't a game. Games have to have a chance of failure. Gone Home is an interactive story.

So all point and click adventures aren't games? I think you cannot "fail" in most of them, which means no game over. Only way to fail is not completing it, like not realizing you have to use the wet towel on the cabana boy.

[zealo]

As I said in the Sale thread, it isn't a game. Games have to have a chance of failure. Gone Home is an interactive story.

The bolded part is what makes it a game and not a movie.

[Deleted]

I don't know why people need to so tightly define game. It is a game. It requires user input. It has progression. It has a start, it has an end. You can do a speed run in under 2 minutes if you know what to do. So what, it's an interactive story game. It's not going to be a game for everyone, but the fact is you do play it and I personally spent a good 4 hours on it and enjoyed it.

[unholytestament]

I don't know why people need to so tightly define game.

It is a curious practice, isn't it? Video game is such a wide spectrum to begin with and yet this completely arbitrary qualifier prevents something that looks and acts like a video game from being one?

To say nothing of the video games, many of which are very old at this point, that don't qualify under this condition.

[Treeskee]

Would have to agree, it's just an interactive story in my eyes too. I was lucky enough to have a friend warn me before I bought Dear Ester.

[Collegeguy]

Not a game. It's a flashy powerpoint presentation with a story.

Even the interactive part is bare-bones minimal.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

...you ran up to a random wall next to the bookshelf so close that your nose basically touches it and the game is at fault for maintaining consistency rather than locking you down on a linear path..?

The "game" is at fault because I'm able to start the "game" with no knowledge of it before hand and still finish in 2 minutes. That is a waste of money.

[Deleted]

Would have to agree, it's just an interactive story in my eyes too. I was lucky enough to have a friend warn me before I bought Dear Ester.

Not a game. It's a flashy powerpoint presentation with a story.

Even the interactive part is bare-bones minimal.

Why isn't it a game? I'd love for a single person to give forth a coherent argument why this isn't a game but adventure games like say, Myst, or Deponia are.

Since you people seem to be far too lazy to actually motivate your arbitrary disclusions, can I just assume you have no reason other than a general bitterness towards games like this and say it as an assessment of the game's quality?

The "game" is at fault because I'm able to start the "game" with no knowledge of it before hand and still finish in 2 minutes. That is a waste of money.

So the game -should- lock you down on a linear path instead of maintaining logical consistency? Also, because I'm still curious...what were you doing staring at that wall? I mean sure, the bookcase is interesting but you really have to be close to make that ? appear.

Even so, why does "finishing a game" have to be a stop point? You can replay it all you want.

[Deleted]

Bought it at the steamsale...if it's anything like Dear Esther I'll be happy.

[Deleted]

Is it not some gay propaganda nonsense?