Watch + Play

[Silverfish]

Also, when looking at herself in the mirror she says she looks "like a god damn car crash". That might count as foreshadowing.

I think the problem is that if you end with a big revelation, you need it to resolve a mystery, or make you see the previous events in a new light that makes you question your assumptions. This doesn't do either: there is no suggestion of any mystery, and the only assumption you can make is that the player character has a drinking problem, which is true.

If they wanted to have a mystery, they should probably have had some gaps in her memory, perhaps have the guy leave message on her answering machine, but she doesn't remember who he is, or confusing dreams (that the conclusion makes sense of), or that sort of thing.

[Asthanius]

I think the worst part of that game is the beginning where you're looking through James' point of view as he's about to jump. There is no reason for us to see that at this point, nor does the scene become more appropriate after the game ends. What would be better is if we were instead looking through Caroline's father's eyes as the car crashes and we hear her voice or something, but never actually see her. That would at the very least set up /that/ part of the story.

[Boofinka]

Also, what kind of person repeatedly hooks up with someone when they are so black-out drunk they can't remember you?

A rapist.

[Kapol]

4PM just made me sad more than angry. It seems like it could have been really good. I think I might be a sucker for story-oriented games like this or Heavy Rain honestly. The revelation could have been really interesting had there been some setup. It feels like they just jammed you in the third act of a movie. The first act is the accident. The second is her going through therapy, then slowly giving herself up to alcohol, and hooking up with the guy. Then the third act is... well, what this game was.

Imagine if they'd started with your character in the room of a therapist or in a hospital. A doctor asks you questions about what you remember (nothing), establishes you were in an accident that caused memory issues, and then you're discharged before long. From there, the game slowly builds with you trying to resume your 'normal' life. Going back to see the therapist. And every time you get closer, you're drawn (in-character) to alcohol. Maybe you stop by a bar to let off some of the pressure at first, with the issue getting worse and worse as the game progresses. Maybe you end up meeting a guy and having a good time. Throughout all of this, maybe the game throws in flashbacks to you with the parents to establish their characters. The player might be lead to realize that the character seems to forget about the guy every day after the affair, or something similar. Until it all leads up to the climax where you learn that the guy was married, was a 'higher up' that was likely pulling the strings for you, and your dad had been killed in the accident you were in (which I assume the character had been driving drunk in).

But no, it's a half hour tale of the third act of an... alright movie at worst. I also dislike it gives you a choice near the end. But one choice is completely wrong, and the other is right, and they don't give you any hint which you need to choose. Was there a good reason to assume the guy was going up to kill himself? Should the game have just jammed you back to that decision when you chose to go the other way? Why did we have a timed puking challenge in the middle of all this? Also, the game needs to realize that some people are super sensitive to stuff like the motions from drinking. Also, that some people can't hear and need subtitles.

I was just left disappointed by that game. Thankfully, Alex, Kathleen, and Graham were there to make it all funny again.

[empath]

See, that was my initial feeling about the game...and then I dug a little further into the background of the game's development, and it annoyed me.

[jkefka]

There's almost a whole other category of Watch + Play material in "games with good ideas executed so badly that Alex goes on massive tilt." I think that would be interesting, but ultimately less amusing than the outright awfulness of crap like alpha cylon or whatever that shitpile was called.

[Arclight_Dynamo]

Honestly, I prefer the ones where they're badly executed enough to make Alex tilt. Not because I want to see Alex tilt, but because it means he says smart things about game design and story-telling.

[empath]

I like 'em both for different reasons; maybe tho reverse the usual order of "mechanically broken games followed by thematically empty/broken games" because Alex seems to enjoy the former even though he DOES (as you say) get provoked to so GREAT commentary about game design by the latter.

So if he'd played 4pm first, then Alpha Whatever and then finally The Reckoning, I feel he'd not be left with a 'lingering taste of bad storytelling' in his mouth.

[ch3m1kal]

Great stream last night, despite Doorways being the most boring game ever seen around these parts you guys managed to stay entertaining!

Also the chat, myself included, seems to be really taking to Mia. Can we keep her? We promise to take care of this one, and never repeat "the incident"

[Arclight_Dynamo]

Agreed. More Mia and more Serge, if you please. They both seem like swell folks.

[Jenelmo]

I also liked Mia as a co-host alot, maybe next time it could a really scary game

BTW. Was i the only one thrown off for a few seconds when Mia called Alex, Alexander because i have never heard him being called what i assume is his full first name

[Chemistring]

Jenelmo, you weren't the only one. I did a double take and wondered who Mia was talking about when she said Alexander. It took a few seconds to register for me, too.

[Graham]

Technically this was a Let's NOPE, but whatever.

Ideally we do Let's NOPE episodes with LRR crew as first preference, to keep it turning into just "Alex and some people you might vaguely know", but I'm sure Mia (and Serge) will return.

Also I have never, EVER heard anyone call Alex any name other than Alex. Did that happen? That's weird. It sounds weird. I don't like it. Mia, I object.

[AdmiralMemo]

Technically this was a Let's NOPE, but whatever.

That game was so bad, we were calling it a "Watch + NOPE" in chat.

[empath]

Yeah, Doorways started out (well, before it was literally started) with some spoopy promise, but...not so much a 'bug' but display finickiness making streaming it a bit of a pain was the first strike, and...well, things went quickly downhill from there.

It was so spoopy, I fell asleep watching the stream, and when I awoke, they were playing STALKER, so...yeah.

[empath]

I caught up on the STALKER session, and Mia mentioned wanting a 'hipster Steam handle' - I was GOING to suggest "This game was better on Impulse" but the "I have this game on floppy" was EVEN BETTER; props for that!

[Prospero101]

I still maintain that We Must Go Deeper and go with "I have this game on cassette tape."

[Arclight_Dynamo]

"I have this game on punch card."

[mangledpixel]

"I have this game on a Leibniz wheel calculator"

[Kapol]

To be fair, I don't think we have a thread for Let's Nope specific discussion. Plus, "Angry lady standing at the edge of a narrow path" does fit the bill of a Watch + NOPE.

Also, my suggestion would be: "I have this game on tablet (but not the computer kind, the rock type)"

[Graham]

"Oh! This game. Yeah, it's pretty sweet. I have for my Antikythera mechanism."

[empath]

/thread

[Jonci]

Yeah, we could use a Let's Nope thread. It happens more often than Watch + Play. I have plenty of suggestions on horror games because somehow my desktop has an disturbing number of survival and horror genre games, more than I should as those games spoop me too much.

[ritchards]

There is the Let's Nope voting thread...

[AdmiralMemo]

Alex: Would you play S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky as a Watch + Play?