[HaroldO]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Gamedom is raving over this game, you know. Hardcore gamers who otherwise never even think of glancing at your typical adventure game are loving it. Some have even confessed to shedding a few tears from the emotionality of it all.

But I understand your plight. My copy is slated to arrive tomorrow.......but I cannot find a new PS3 Slim for sale anywhere. They've run out of stock.

True. I lot of my friends can't stand Adventure Games, I even said that I'd gift a copy of The Longest Journey each if they decided to give it a try, but only one took the offer. And Still, most of them played the demo for Heavy Rain and like it.

Sorry to hear about that, Intrepid. Can't you order a PS3 online?

[Burns11]

PS3's have been hard to impossible to find since christmas. They've never said exactly why. I kind of suspect their was a component supply issue and FCC testing is holding things up here (there was a new FCC filing last month with no discernible major changes).

[orient]

Completed Heavy Rain. I really enjoyed it. As for Ethan's plot hole:

Spoiler:

I just assumed that the origami figures were hallucinations or a figment of his imagination, along with the visions. When you pick up the newspaper in the Father & Son chapter, he clearly seems distraught by the Origami Killer coverage, even before Shaun was kidnapped. In his depressed state, the story of a serial killer drowning 10 year old boys would have hit him hard. Coupled with his guilt, it wouldn't surprise me if Ethan was subconsciously imagining himself as the Origami killer to punish himself for Jason's death.

So that loose end didn't really bother me, but there were a couple of things that did. Firstly...

Spoiler:

Surely Ethan could have guessed the address (or at least attempted to) a couple of trials in? Maybe he does if you do something differently, but he completed every trial without question in my play-through.

And secondly...

Spoiler:

Shelby's typewriter shop flashback doesn't add up. When I was playing, I walked round the corner and found Manfred dead. In the flashback, you follow him round the corner and kill him. If that really happened, then the player should have seen it because we were in control of Shelby at that time. Of course, they couldn't do that because it would've given him away...poor storytelling.

Overall I found the game captivating, but the story does feel relatively flimsy in parts and ultimately pretty far-fetched. Excellent game though. Congrats to Quantic Dream

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I'm holding my unopened copy in my hands now. And no console to play it on.

[D.C.]

Originally Posted by orient

Completed Heavy Rain. I really enjoyed it. As for Ethan's plot hole:

Spoiler:

I just assumed that the origami figures were hallucinations or a figment of his imagination, along with the visions. When you pick up the newspaper in the Father & Son chapter, he clearly seems distraught by the Origami Killer coverage, even before Shaun was kidnapped. In his depressed state, the story of a serial killer drowning 10 year old boys would have hit him hard. Coupled with his guilt, it wouldn't surprise me if Ethan was subconsciously imagining himself as the Origami killer to punish himself for Jason's death.

Heads up, don't read the following until after you've completed the game, folks.

Spoiler:

I thought about that possibility too, the fact he ends up at the same street seems to be more than just coincidence, though. Especially considering the link to the case.

I thought it was very possible that he had been manipulated, with the Origami Killer taking advantage of his damaged state. Possibly setting him up as a scapegoat -- maybe even triggering the blackouts somehow or atleast making sure to be close by when they occurred. The killer had been watching him after all, maybe that admission was more far reaching than it initially seemed? Maybe using him as an unintentional accomplice even? Planting just enough 'evidience' to make Ethan doubt himself and fill in the blanks in his head.

That's just one theory, though. I had a tonne after finishing the game.

I'm certain there's an official explanation. Let's just hope we get to see it in the DLC eventually.

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

I'm holding my unopened copy in my hands now. And no console to play it on.

I was thinking about that, is it possible to import a PS3 from across the border? I checked and Canadian online stores seem to have some in stock. (I'm assuming they're compatible with U.S. games. Might want to check on that.) It'd probably drive up the shipping costs, though.

[orient]

Originally Posted by D.C.

Spoiler:

I thought it was very possible that he had been manipulated, with the Origami Killer taking advantage of his damaged state. Possibly setting him up as a scapegoat -- maybe even triggering the blackouts somehow or atleast making sure to be close by when they occurred. The killer had been watching him after all, maybe that admission was more far reaching than it initially seemed? Maybe using him as an unintentional accomplice even? Planting just enough 'evidience' to make Ethan doubt himself and fill in the blanks in his head.

Interesting theory, although at the end...

Spoiler:

...Shelby makes it sound like he only recently remembered Ethan, after he had killed the other kids, hence Shaun being the latest victim.

But who knows at this stage. In a recent interview on the 4Guys1Up podcast, David Cage said they're undecided on the future of the Heavy Rain DLC. It sounded like they're still tossing up the idea of leaving it and just moving onto their next game. I guess only time will tell.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Good news for anyone who cares. I found a PS3 Slim online for the $300 standard price (many sellers are trying to profit from the scarcity by charging upwards of $100 on top of the standard price). The trade-off is that I pay sales tax and shipping (as opposed to free shipping from Amazon).

In about 10 days I can finally experience this game.

[orient]

Congrats, Intrepid I'm sure you'll get your money's worth with Heavy Rain alone. I always suggest the Yakuza series on PlayStation to those into story-driven games, as long as you don't mind subtitles and violence. They're some of my favourites. There are tons of fantastic PS3 games out there, but I'm sure you know of most of them.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by orient

Congrats, Intrepid I'm sure you'll get your money's worth with Heavy Rain alone. I always suggest the Yakuza series on PlayStation to those into story-driven games, as long as you don't mind subtitles and violence. They're some of my favourites. There are tons of fantastic PS3 games out there, but I'm sure you know of most of them.

Thanks for the suggestion. And yes, I do know there are some games I can't wait to play. It starts with Heavy Rain, but then I'll move on to Flower, The Last Guardian, L.A. Noire, and more.

I'll be contributing my own thoughts on this game soon. WIN.

[D.C.]

I'm sure Uncharted goes without saying.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by D.C.

I'm sure Uncharted goes without saying.

Absolutely.

[Tiocfaidh]

Originally Posted by orient

Interesting theory, although at the end...

Spoiler:

...Shelby makes it sound like he only recently remembered Ethan, after he had killed the other kids, hence Shaun being the latest victim.

Spoiler:

I was under the impression that Shelby kept an eye (though not permanently) on Ethan since the car accident. As you can see in the flashback, Shelby was present when Ethan´s son died

My expectations regarding Heavy Rain were extremely high and I still wasn´t disappointed.

It´s not flawless. As important as the tutorial-like first chapters are when it comes to getting to know the controls, they ARE slow.
I kinda liked it but they could have handled it more interesting.
Remember that HR is not a game to show your friends.
If you want to wet someone´s appetite in video gaming quickly, Uncharted 2 should do the job

Many people might lose interest till the

Spoiler:

kidnapping of Shaun takes place

but at the same time it is essential to play it from the very beginning.

The biggest flaw are the direct controls. I have yet to play it a second time but why did they choose R2 to "accelerate" the characters. It should be the left analog stick (of course). Furthermore it´s annoying that between each automatic camera change you only can switch between two angles. Too few.

Otherwise I really liked it, occasionally the game had absolute brilliant moments.

So much more to say about this game ...
maybe later

[Linque]

Originally Posted by orient

And secondly...

Spoiler:

Shelby's typewriter shop flashback doesn't add up. When I was playing, I walked round the corner and found Manfred dead. In the flashback, you follow him round the corner and kill him. If that really happened, then the player should have seen it because we were in control of Shelby at that time. Of course, they couldn't do that because it would've given him away...poor storytelling.

Spoiler:

I agree, this scene was extremely poorly executed.

Also, I found the lack of explanation to Ethan and his origami blackouts make the whole story seem not too well thought out.

Here's hoping the next game's story holds up better.

[D.C.]

Originally Posted by Tiocfaidh

Spoiler:

I was under the impression that Shelby kept an eye (though not permanently) on Ethan since the car accident. As you can see in the flashback, Shelby was present when Ethan´s son died

Spoiler:

I was under the same impression. I even contemplated the possibility that the killer maybe sat with him and explained himself when Ethan was in the coma. Potentially ingraining the imagery in his head. David Cage said himself that he wanted people to come up with their own theories, I guess he was successful on that front. We still want answers, though. Damn it!

Originally Posted by Tiocfaidh

Remember that HR is not a game to show your friends.
If you want to wet someone´s appetite in video gaming quickly, Uncharted 2 should do the job

My brother hadn't played an adventure game in years and he was blown away from the demo alone. I think it definitely can grab attention. Uncharted does that in all kinds of different ways, though.

[orient]

Originally Posted by Tiocfaidh

Spoiler:

I was under the impression that Shelby kept an eye (though not permanently) on Ethan since the car accident. As you can see in the flashback, Shelby was present when Ethan´s son died

Hmm, true. D.C.'s theory is interesting.

Originally Posted by Tiocfaidh

The biggest flaw are the direct controls. I have yet to play it a second time but why did they choose R2 to "accelerate" the characters. It should be the left analog stick (of course). Furthermore it´s annoying that between each automatic camera change you only can switch between two angles. Too few.

The reason they chose the "steering" control setup was to allow for cinematic camera angles. If you controlled the characters with the analog stick, you'd run into the age-old problem of the controls switching direction (e.g. left becoming up, or up becoming down etc.) when the camera changes. This may be okay for people used to playing games like God of War, but casual gamers are going to struggle. Holding down the trigger means forward is always forward, then you simply steer when you have to. I admit, it's less than ideal. Sometimes I'd forget that you can't "tap" in a direction to turn slightly - you have to actually steer until you're going straight again - but I got used to it. It never caused any major game-play issues.

[Tiocfaidh]

Originally Posted by D.C.

Spoiler:

I was under the same impression. I even contemplated the possibility that the killer maybe sat with him and explained himself when Ethan was in the coma. Potentially ingraining the imagery in his head. David Cage said himself that he wanted people to come up with their own theories, I guess he was successful on that front. We still want answers, though. Damn it!

I really dig the scenario you came up with.
this would have been one fine WTF moment

Cage said in that recent interview that the explanation for the plot hole actually was a playable part of the game spread over two chapters. If we can trust him (well, I do) the sections could be released as DLC content in no time.

But if he enjoys us coming up with one weird theory after another I doubt that they will see the light of day

Originally Posted by D.C.

My brother hadn't played an adventure game in years and he was blown away from the demo alone. I think it definitely can grab attention. Uncharted does that in all kinds of different ways, though.

The demo is a fine introduction.
But if you let them play the game from the very beginning the effect can be underwhelming (at first).
At least that´s what I experienced.

[D.C.]

Originally Posted by Tiocfaidh

Cage said in that recent interview that the explanation for the plot hole actually was a playable part of the game spread over two chapters. If we can trust him (well, I do) the sections could be released as DLC content in no time.

But if he enjoys us coming up with one weird theory after another I doubt that they will see the light of day

Spoiler:

Apparently we'll be playing a section with the knowledge of the killer in one of the future DLC episodes. Seems like the perfect time to do some explaining.

Originally Posted by orient

Spoiler:

Surely Ethan could have guessed the address (or at least attempted to) a couple of trials in? Maybe he does if you do something differently, but he completed every trial without question in my play-through.

Spoiler:

I completed three of the trials and there was a scene where Ethan had to try to deduce the location of the killer, there were five different possibilities. Suspenseful.

[Thello]

Originally Posted by orient

And secondly...

Spoiler:

Shelby's typewriter shop flashback doesn't add up. When I was playing, I walked round the corner and found Manfred dead. In the flashback, you follow him round the corner and kill him. If that really happened, then the player should have seen it because we were in control of Shelby at that time. Of course, they couldn't do that because it would've given him away...poor storytelling.

Actually, this is really intelligently done. Go replay the scene.

Spoiler:

You LOSE CONTROL and sight of Shelby when the camera cuts away to show the close up of the ballerina. The player assumes this is a reminder to wipe away the woman's fingerprints, but it's actually to cover up Shelby's killing.

What makes a lot less sense is that he's simply allowed to walk right out of the police station if you don't wipe away all the fingerprints.

[Linque]

If Se7en were a game like Heavy Rain (includes spoilers about the movie Se7en):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmiPL5xUw8A

[orient]

Originally Posted by Thello

Actually, this is really intelligently done. Go replay the scene.

Spoiler:

You LOSE CONTROL and sight of Shelby when the camera cuts away to show the close up of the ballerina. The player assumes this is a reminder to wipe away the woman's fingerprints, but it's actually to cover up Shelby's killing.

That doesn't make sense to me.

Spoiler:

Why would the game remind you to wipe prints before you (the player) have even found the body and Shelby decides to hide evidence that you were there? The only purpose for the shot may have been to cover up the murder, but yes, I'll have to play the scene again. It's good to know that they may not have screwed up the scene, although I'd argue that it was less than obvious what really happened. They probably should have shown the ballerina in the flash back to establish time, but that's getting into the cinema of it.