only played a short way in, uh a couple of levels, but the writing has some really nice touches about it

People always talked about monkey island games as funny but I never got the humour in those as funny, but this is genuinely funny. Not funny in the way that a pro comedian or Dadaist is funny but the way a mate will blurt out shit and make you burst out laughing because he said octopus in a funny way.

Campo Santa 'bummed' about performance issues.

AND RIGHTLY SO.

I quite enjoyed it.

It seemed to
The performance issues are a real drag though. It feels a bit churlish to complain about what is 80 percent a tightly created beautiful world, but the fact that there is such little interaction it feels terrible every time it stutters to a new loading part. The feeling of walking around is evoked yet broken too frequently as well.

Yeah I read as much elsewhere otherwise.

This was a lot better than Gone Home. I will go through another first person adventure story at some juncture.

There was also a line about a "spooky ghost"

Probably spent 50 days getting rekt in his cabin tho

So this was great, and written really well, and realized very well. 

I find it interesting that a few people got hung up on one part:

All in all, it was very enjoyable. I'd prefer more games of its scope, pace, and thoughtfulness.

The idea of watching out for fires over a month might actually be good.

About the plot

Delilah definitely does not come outta this narrative looking too great.

What's irritating is that as a player and so agent you can tell that's what's up very quickly but the entire design locks you out of making use of that info to avoid piss and idiocy.

This would be tolerable if Hank was an 'independent' fictional entity but he isn't, because we are literally pushing the buttons that make him go. And with that, yeah, you have to ask what the real value of being in the literal driving seat of this story actually is. It's not like there's any intellectual or executional friction in that driving, so...

Brooks wrote:

Unfortunate Firewatch subtext: "whatever you do, women be crazy!"

Believe thats a negotiated rather than preferred reading m8

mistercrayon wrote:

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2016/02/08/firewatch-would-be-great-if-it-wasnt-a-videogame/ This is a really good review Imo. It's the good kind of review which isn't about selling a product but to sum up the game in terms of feel.

It's a good review but I don't really agree, especially with the last line.

For me, Firewatch could have been a complete success if it was longer and less in a hurry.

I appreciate that budget was probably a huge part of it but it would be great if the world was three times the size, the game was three times as long, and there was three times the dialogue.

It would give the characters and the player space to breath, there would be more time to develop the various plot strands and the story would have a proper pace rather than a gallop to the finish.

I wonder if they had planned to have more days but had to cut things down to the bare bones to get them finished. Would have loved to spend more time in the world with these characters.

@trippy I think the issue is the dichotomy between a plot and firewatching game.
If they wanted a three month firewatching simulator then that thing is definitely more open to a more realtime game but the lack of actually playing in the game and the emphasis on plotting and dialogue would suggest a shorter game shorn of walking around for no reason is desirable.

I think three months of talking about tequila would grate but you aren't meant to feel meanness to D so the interactions need to be hearty and punchy. The more visible the interactions with D you are basically peeling layer by layer the illusion of closeness between the pair because it's an impossible thing to sustain I reckon from a first person perspective as any one mis judged interaction where you are ostensibly the character will kill the whole relationship dead.

Aye, the walking parts were key for me. I loved spotting something and then radioing it in and the seeing what conversation was sparked. To the point where I missed it when it wasn't an option. Although there was little chance to influence anything the conversations felt natural because you could choose what to radio in and what to say. They wouldn't have worked so well in a short story or film.

I'm not sure there is a dichotomy. Given more time the plot could have built slowly upon these conversational foundations. With more world to see and explore the story could have felt more like something you were discovering for yourself rather than a path you were being led down.

The article says games can’t do what Firewatch is attempting. I disagree. I hope to see more games like this and feel it is an interesting early step.

I'm piss bored of shooting pretend people.

Normally pretty decisive over whether I like something or not but a few days after finishing this I'm still not sure whether I like it or think it was a bit of a let down. Performance issues on the PS4 were pretty distracting and intrusive and detracted from the beautiful vistas, dialogue and soul. The pick up and drop actions were pretty ropey; whilst that's a relatively minor point when there are so few actions your character can perform,being unable to aim where you're dropping/placing stuff was a bit off-putting. 

As for length, it wasn't engaging and short enough to make me desperate for more. Yet, it wasn't long enough to seem repetitive or dull.