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Old 01-26-2006, 01:06 PM   #46
Kurufinwe
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
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I've just finished Day 2. I can't say I'm very much into the game, but it's not bad. Once again, there are some severe story-telling flaws: the story 'naturally' draws the player to the question of the hidden staircase (and I thought I'd find AJ('s body?) there), but... no, that's not it at all, you're actually supposed to think of having a look at the pool. That's a design flaw for a game, but, more importantly, it's a story-telling problem.

And the game is going too fast; the story has no time to breathe: you don't even have time to reflect on the fact that AJ's body should be all bluish and swollen (instead of what it looks like in the game) that, blam, another dream sequence (this is getting tired by the way). The game being too short really shows in that sequence too: the only bit of backstory is the mysterious story of the son and the father, and, guess what, you have a dream about a son and his father! I understand that this is an amateur game, but, well, I've already argued several times that it's extremely important to fit the story and the medium used to tell it, and this game shows the problem perfectly: if you want to build a ghost mystery, you need a lot of subtlety, something this game greatly lacks, in part because of its extremely short nature.

Oh, and the 'people moving around and disappearing mysteriously' system is feeling more and more problematic; I understand the technical difficulties, but, well, it really hampers believability of the story (and the atmosphere) and, once again, if your medium is not suited to the story you want to tell, then just tell another one!

(Gosh, I'm starting to sound like MoriartyL in the BASS playthrough...)

Oh, and two vital questions:

1) Is it normal that I have no music while exploring the house? There used to be some at the beginning of the game, but it stopped at some point on day 1 (when I first met Philip, maybe?), and never came back. It still plays in the cutscenes / dream sequences, though.

2) What are these people eating?
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