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angelus_04

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Possible concerns about review spoilers

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This isn’t a complaint, but I was reading the review for The Room Three and noticed that it describes all of the endings and what happens in them, as well as describing the process of getting to see them.

I’m not really someone who is all that much bothered by spoilers, but I know some people are, so thought I would raise the topic for discussion.

I have played the game under discussion and personally there is an appeal to going in relatively blind and discovering some things for yourself, like finding out how to ‘change your fate’ which the review basically gives away, or the tricky, secret puzzle which the review talks about. And personally I would have left it at ‘the alternate endings are varied and interesting’ rather than going into the story details.

I would say finding puzzles and hotspots and secrets is a big part of this game. I liked this game, so it would be interesting to hear what others think. I know in reviewing games there’s a fragile balance between providing information to the reader and giving too much away.

Feel free to discuss other games, of course Smile

     
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We certainly try to be sensitive about spoilers, but it’s always a fine line between saying enough to be informative and saying too much.

As someone who usually hasn’t played the game in question when editing a review, I have to rely on my own judgment for what does and doesn’t feel like a spoiler. Often people who have played a game think details are more spoilery than they really are to those who don’t have the same context.

In the case of Room 3, the “change your fate” feature didn’t seem like a secret to me, since it’s unavoidable and not something you need to discover for yourself. The line about where the endings leave off did give me pause, but I ultimately left them in because they’re entirely optional. (And I figured people who are sensitive to spoilers probably know to stay away from discussions of endings.) If others agree this is a detail too far, I’ll be happy to add in a spoiler tag or remove it. The rest of that paragraph seems entirely fair game to me, even now.

     
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Jackal - 20 February 2019 09:50 PM

In the case of Room 3, the “change your fate” feature didn’t seem like a secret to me, since it’s unavoidable and not something you need to discover for yourself.

Hmm, that wasn’t quite my experience with Room 3. When I finished the game and went back to the menu the ‘change your fate’ option appeared. I didn’t know the fortune teller was actually a puzzle which allowed me to do that. (Before that point there was no way of interacting with her)

I also didn’t know that doing the final puzzle slightly differently was how you change the ending. You aren’t told that, I actually had to look that up on youtube because I thought getting a new card from the fortune teller would give me a new ending. But then I got the same ending so I was confused.

The part in the review where it says:

I must confess I needed to consult a walkthrough to complete all of the endings, as some of the puzzle interactions are hard to detect. For example, in the upper area of the library there is a disk-shape object on which you need to use your mouse in a specific way, but the effect of this interaction is so subtle it’s easy to overlook.

..is basically a walkthrough. Because finding/manipulating the disk-shape object is realy a puzzle on its own.

But it’s tricky to find the right balance. I would be interested to hear from others too.

     
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Luhr28 - 20 February 2019 10:10 PM

The part in the review where it says:

I must confess I needed to consult a walkthrough to complete all of the endings, as some of the puzzle interactions are hard to detect. For example, in the upper area of the library there is a disk-shape object on which you need to use your mouse in a specific way, but the effect of this interaction is so subtle it’s easy to overlook.

..is basically a walkthrough. Because finding/manipulating the disk-shape object is realy a puzzle on its own.

I haven’t played the game, but that paragraph seems fine to me.
It just mentions that you need to use the mouse in a specific way on the disk-shaped object, without going into detail on what that way is. A walkthrough would be describing exactly HOW to use the mouse…

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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TimovieMan - 21 February 2019 02:45 AM
Luhr28 - 20 February 2019 10:10 PM

The part in the review where it says:

I must confess I needed to consult a walkthrough to complete all of the endings, as some of the puzzle interactions are hard to detect. For example, in the upper area of the library there is a disk-shape object on which you need to use your mouse in a specific way, but the effect of this interaction is so subtle it’s easy to overlook.

..is basically a walkthrough. Because finding/manipulating the disk-shape object is realy a puzzle on its own.

I haven’t played the game, but that paragraph seems fine to me.
It just mentions that you need to use the mouse in a specific way on the disk-shaped object, without going into detail on what that way is. A walkthrough would be describing exactly HOW to use the mouse…

Yes, maybe. I would put it this way. It’s similar to if someone told me specifically about the Big Secret(tm) in The Witness without telling me what to do with it. It’s not a full reveal but I would definitely be disappointed if a review revealed that to me because the satisfaction came from finding it. The “aha” moment.

It all depends on the person I think. Some people will get upset at the slightest suggestion of a spoiler so better to veer on the safe side.

     
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On re-reading the review, I decided to take out the specific location details about the alternate endings.

I still must be completely missing why the whole Mystical Maggie/main menu thing is at all a spoiler, though. I mean, if the suggestion is that finding the alternate endings in the main menu is the spoiler, then that strikes me as more of a public service announcement that people would be happy to know. Tongue

As for the other point, that strikes me as one of the difference in perspectives I was talking about earlier. Someone who hasn’t played the game is barely going to even take note of a very minor-sounding interface issue, let alone cling to it as a major discovery. But still, I’ll revisit that part again next time I have the chance. There’s probably an easy way to vague it up a little bit.

     

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