Thread: Dear Esther
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Old 05-01-2012, 05:13 PM   #125
jhetfield21
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Location: Heracklion,Greece
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ok just finished it.....i got this game without doing that much research on it beforehand,didn't know the about the mod and judjed it mainly from the graphics.at first i was impressed by the atmosphere and sure it was careless of me to expect more from it without reading about it first but at first the low levels of interactivity do discourage people to move on.at which point i stopped and read some of the comments in this thread.i also checked it out a bit in the web and found about thechineseroom and how they mostly do research on games(and that DE was from a mod too).

having in mind the research pov and some of Monolith's remarks about the point these guys where trying to make with this game and my being impressed with the atmosphere at first and a kind of nostalgic feeling** i said what the heck let's try it till the end.it's definitely interesting at least from a research pov.

as i explored the story was mostly unconnected parts that couldn't make sense.though the graphics and atmosphere was outstanding to make me continue.at one point i started thinking that these guys intentionally or not made a game with many positive and brilliant aspects.as i kept going i thought of more pros and intended to mention them but i won't as i would probably leave out half of what i thought while playing.

i will say this though.the feeling i got at the ending and the opinion for this game was the total opposite from what i had at the beginning.i really hope game designers are going to pay attention to this one and take notes as it shows many ways to achieve immersion that deviate from the norm.Not to mention the art which was beautiful.Briscoe made a marvel out of the island.the natural feeling of the land,the awe inspiring caves,the abandoned houses and all those cans and history books around.......brilliant.

i realise that it far exceeds any kind of measure for an experimental piece but that goes to show how much other game designers(not set on research) would benefit by using some of the points they prove.


**:do you remember the feeling you got as a child where you explored parts of the countryside while finding trash and things that made you wonder...what were the circumstances or the story behind them,how they got there and all those questions you seemed to have even though in the end it wasn't that you needed to know.it just filled the void that your boredom created which in the end made for an interesting experience.
moreover some of the times i got this feeling of mindlesness where you just observed everything around strolling without thinking too much about it and sometimes trying to decipher the story that connected everything around you.it sounds more boring than it was.it was kind of an escape really.
this pretty much explains my feelings for dear esther.

Last edited by jhetfield21; 05-01-2012 at 05:23 PM.
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