Gone Home

Thinking more about this game, the main problem I had with it is the breadcrumb trail of paperwork dotted around the house. Made it very unrealistic. Some items/locations make sense, but the letters to the mum from her friend and from her work of example, why would they be spread all over the house?

Yoshimi wrote:Thinking more about this game, the main problem I had with it is the breadcrumb trail of paperwork dotted around the house. Made it very unrealistic. Some items/locations make sense, but the letters to the mum from her friend and from her work of example, why would they be spread all over the house?

It's a big house, and they hadn't even finished moving in yet. They'd be doing stuff all over the place.

I feel like I've just been raped by this game.

Enjoyed a lot of aspects about it and it's definitely worth playing if not completely satisfying. The story didn't quite resonate as much with me as it seemed to with others, but it was definitely interesting.

Exploring the house and the random tapes were my favorite things about it.

I liked the tapes too because they almost threatened to form a smidgen of gameplay.

Mogster wrote:

It's not like misdirection was the defining feature or anything. Indeed, there's only a single moment where horror is implied, and that was a joke that was revealed almost as fast as it introduced itself. Like I said earlier, it was as much my preconceptions that led to these thoughts as the game itself. By its nature, all it ever does is aside from that joke is present you with the thoughts and possessions of the family and let you draw your own conclusions.

Just Rog wrote:My problem is that it relies so heavily on the story but the story is pretty flimsy and cliche. Stereotypes ahoy and lots of markers that made me realise that it wasn't a horror too early on. It is more definitive than Dear Esther which is a plus but it's not in DR's league in my eyes.

What did you find clichéd out of interest? I didn't pick up on anything myself, and haven't read anything else criticising it as such. Also what's DR?

As for flimsiness, I think I know what you mean but I think it's at least unfair.

All of the characters are fleshed out to the point where there are really several stories going on for a start, some of which actually washed over me, and I don't think any of them are flimsy. The house is full of detail that fleshes out every family member to the point where you learn of their nuances and habits without ever actually meeting them, while also leaving breadcrumbs that allow you piece together their personal lives over several years leading up to Katie's return. Sam's letters obviously make up the main narrative thread that guides you through the game and are necessarily more linear and traditional, but they're not the only narrative and everything else is up to you to discover and figure out.

I certainly left the game thinking that all the family members had been fleshed out quite a bit, which is impressive seeing as I never met any of them.

DR was meant to be DE. The whole thing is driven by cliche and stereotypes because the story that is there is barebones so requires the player to fill gaps themselves. Which leads to there being no surprises. Tomboy lesbian stereotypes, hokey sci-fi writer struggling, kid being abused by his uncle, wife flirting with new hunky colleague.
Your reaction to the misdirection shows what a failure that was too. The setting is built to be creepy and like the story is dependent on the player to take the cues to create most of it themselves. But too many markers like the bottle joke and the note explaining the noises make it clear that it is a misdirection early on.

If you're looking at only in games perspective then it would be fresh. But if you compare it to other media, like you should do, then it is weak. The story could be excused if there were more to the game that what is there but there isn't. There is no atmosphere once you realise that it isn't heading down a horror route so the game is driven solely by story and it isn't good enough for the job.

Just Rog wrote:If you're looking at only in games perspective then it would be fresh. But if you compare it to other media, like you should do, then it is weak. The story could be excused if there were more to the game that what is there but there isn't. There is no atmosphere once you realise that it isn't heading down a horror route so the game is driven solely by story and it isn't good enough for the job.

This is my problem. While you could look at it being good for a game, it's still just a run of the mill story which didn't really do anything for me.

Quite excited to see what the team do next though as they've shown a lot of potential with this.

Brerlappins little hat wrote:

Just Rog wrote:If you're looking at only in games perspective then it would be fresh. But if you compare it to other media, like you should do, then it is weak. The story could be excused if there were more to the game that what is there but there isn't. There is no atmosphere once you realise that it isn't heading down a horror route so the game is driven solely by story and it isn't good enough for the job.

If you compare game stories to other media, EVERY game has a cliched, shitty story. Try comparing Dead Space to Alien, or Call of Duty to Band of Brothers. Every game under the sun so far, has a terrible story compared to event he most hackneyed novel or the most generic sci fi film.
"Going down the horror route" wouldve just cheapened the story and turned it into, yet another, videogame story.

I'm not disagreeing with this. Stories in games are bad, but they can be given more worth by meshing well with the gameplay (Bioshock Infinite), are told in a unique/expert fashion or you can be drawn into it through the visuals and atmosphere that are crafted around it.

Ok, text wall.

Cliche is entirely the wrong word to use for the story of Gone Home. Like, entirely. Wikipedia defines cliche as:

an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning

In the context of games, and indeed entertainment media at large, there is no way, no way you could refer to this game's story as cliche. You may thing it contains stereotypes (it doesn't) or think you've heard some of the plot elements before (in games, you probably haven't) but as a whole this is a story that's so earnest in the telling that calling it cliche is not only factually wrong it's doing the writers a huge disservice.

I must admit after all the hype I was expecting something more dramatic. For whatever reasons, Dear Ester and To The Moon had me blubbing by the end whereas this "merely" made me smile the wry grimace of empathy. I'm not sure which is more impressive. All you really need to make someone cry is to throw orchestral music over a tragedy. But to invoke feelings of nostalgia and camaraderie takes a bit more, and that's exactly what GH does, all without any interactions with the characters themselves.

I must admit I was initially disappointed when it ended. It wasn't a grand finale like TTM's NASA blast off or Ester's crow-flight. It was just woman finding her sister's heart poured onto a page. But the more I think about it, and I do, the more the ending is every bit as significant as those others. I want to play it again too, something I definitely did not want to do with the other two games mentioned herein.

It's a tough one. There were faults, the gamey nature of the hidden passages and lost keys being the foremost, but the story more than made up for it.

I loved the misdirection though. Right from the off the horror vibes are there: flickering lights, mysterious skulls, conspiracy theories, psychotic relatives...really cleverly done.

Just Rog wrote:The whole thing is driven by cliche and stereotypes because the story that is there is barebones so requires the player to fill gaps themselves. Which leads to there being no surprises. Tomboy lesbian stereotypes, hokey sci-fi writer struggling, kid being abused by his uncle, wife flirting with new hunky colleague.

Once you reduce characters to that level than pretty much anyone becomes a stereotype. I'm "geeky IT technician" by the way, but I'm fairly sure I'm not a cliché and that's a much more identifiable stereotype than your examples. I'm not even sure "tomboy lesbian" qualifies as a character description, certainly no more than "shy lesbian". It's just one aspect of a character's personality paired with their sexuality..

Even if the characters were based on stereotypes, that in itself isn't a bad thing as long its a springboard for something more developed. Is Han Solo a bad character because he's a "loveable rogue?". There's more to Gone Home's characters than your reductions.

There are certainly surprises too, and I don't see how you could describe it as "bare bones" when it goes to such lengths to flesh out its characters.

Just Rog wrote:Your reaction to the misdirection shows what a failure that was too. The setting is built to be creepy and like the story is dependent on the player to take the cues to create most of it themselves. But too many markers like the bottle joke and the note explaining the noises make it clear that it is a misdirection early on.

Again, I think you're putting too much weight on the misdirection. The bottle joke is the only time the game ever does anything so blatant, and, well, its a joke.

Just Rog wrote:If you're looking at only in games perspective then it would be fresh. But if you compare it to other media, like you should do, then it is weak.

I honestly don't think you can, directly at least, as it tells its story in a way that no other medium can. I can't think of anything quite like it in other forms of media, and imagine it would be quite boring if it was. I can't think of any way you could dramatise it for instance without completely missing the point. It would end up following Katie as she explored the house, before switching to flashback scenes with the family as she picked up certain possessions, destroying the very thing that makes the game interesting.

We'll just have to disagree. The characters are all stereotypes and not a lot is given to you except what you need to start filling the gaps yourself. It's how the game tries to make you bond to the characters. The writing that is there is lazy and predictable for a purpose. You think I'm reducing these characters down to their base but you really aren't given a lot of anything else except what is needed.
The misdirection is there so that when it is quashed you feel relief for the characters, helps you buy into them even more. And so you see the twist with the whole setting you expect twists in the characters stories which of course don't come. Things play out exactly as you expect. As I said I thought the misdirection was quashed too early on and I saw what was coming for over half the game. The misdirection is there for a big purpose and is much more than the joke you think it is. Sadly it failed at what it's there to do.
I am glad that you and Taf could buy into it the way you have as you both clearly had a great time. But I just couldn't with what is there. Maybe a bit more interaction would have drawn me away from the story every now and then so I could have allowed myself to be immersed more. I agree with you on the progress barriers being too blatant as well. But as it is, running on pure story, it needs to be better.

Just played through it again and this time the eyes did start to water a little bit. The audio logs are so well voiced...just the right amount of contemplative distance. The one about their first kiss...when Sam starts laughing you can't help but grin. I also missed 3 entire rooms first time round; the kitchen and garages and found the letter that Katie refuses to read this time, which made me chuckle.

At a stretch I could understand you could recognise some popular tropes of this sort of fiction in the story but I'll say it again, the writing itself if so good that I didn't care.

Just Rog wrote:The misdirection is there for a big purpose and is much more than the joke you think it is.

I swear you're deliberately misreading me. The bath scene is a joke. The rest is not.

Just Rog wrote:I agree with you on the progress barriers being too blatant as well.

I don't know what you mean here, because I certainly didn't say anything of the sort!

Mogster wrote:

Just Rog wrote:

Just Rog wrote:I agree with you on the progress barriers being too blatant as well.

I don't know what you mean here, because I certainly didn't say anything of the sort!

Think he's referring to my comment about the hidden panels and lost keys being too gamey.

So I've been playing this a wee bit. Not much, maybe an hour or two and I've explored all the available rooms from the start. I've found the 3 hidden panels, opened the fathers filing cabinet and Sam's Locker so now I'm in the basement. I'm really enjoying it too. Just reading all the notes/letters and stuff is keeping me really interested.

I'm loving Sams story so far, but I'm also loving the sub-plot for the mother (She's clearly having an affair with Ranger Rick), Father (failed author who is probably an alcoholic) and the deceased Uncle (The Psycho who seems to have been murdering children, after using his soda-shop to lure them, based on the toy I found in a wood closet in the basement).

The bit where you find the Ouija board, coupled with the general creaking ambient noises, are actually creeping me out quite a bit too. I assume there are no jump-scares or anything?

Can't wait till I get to the Attic though!

Well I finished it tonight and I absolutely loved it.
It's definitely got it's flaws. The progress barriers of keys and combination locks do feel a bit "gamey" but I'm willing to forgive that.
Regardless of whether or not the story is "cliche" or the characters are "stereotypical" it managed to connect with me quite a bit. I was genuinely interested to find out what had happened to the family.


So yeah I'm quite happy with this. I'd really like to see what they do next.

I enjoyed this game... well, it's not really a game as I would usually think of one; 'interactive short story' is probably more correct. Anyway, I got a real buzz out of walking around a fully fitted house filled with 90s nostalgia. I'm a bit too young to remember much further back than the mid to late 90s, however, so some of it may have gone over my head in addition to American driven stuff.

The the story itself was moving but not exactly original. It had emotional impact but this was mainly driven by the excellent voice acting of the actress playing Sam in the monologues. I confess I only really have a gooseberry fool about her and Lonnie. The domestic troubles of the parents, lacking any similar monologues, had no impact on me at all.

I sort of wish I had picked it up at the sale price as I was originally disappointed by it's quite short duration. No real puzzles means you'll go though the game quite quickly and, being story driven, replay isn't really enticing.

The commentary mode was patched in a few days ago, so there's a reason to replay it right there.

Genuinely touched by a representation I wasn't expecting. Pretty rare in games and then to be handled in a respectful manner.

One question after finishing this game.

How many 3 ring binders does one household need?