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I finished the game. The ending was both abrupt and moderately un-satisfying. Although in both categories I’ve experienced worse.

The uncle is going to jail. Elizabeth is still alive. Hard to complain about that outcome. Will the uncle get what he deserves for all the things we imagine he did? Probably not. But that’s not terribly different from what happens in real life. The murderer goes to jail for 25 years. Not exactly a fair trade.

If you want to play a game that deals with very adult subjects, try Echoes of Sorrow. It deals in a convincing, but non-salacious manner, child molestation, stalking, erroneous execution, retribution and redemption.

Finished the game, and watched the bonus content on this YouTube video (sadly, with bad sound).

I agree with Izno that the ending is very tame, and the worst part is that the bonus content is similar: another trauma from her past, related to the sea, and a captain and instead of a dad who was lost at sea or something similar, it’s just a grandfather who was a captain who lost all contact with her.
Same deal with the dog: instead of being killed by the uncle, he’s just sedated and kept locked up. I don’t even see how Jane/Elizabeth/Liza can even think that the dog was dead if it was just kept sedated in the backyard.
Also, about her uncle: whatever they’re implying, besides keeping her away from her grandfather, tranquillizing her dog, and being after her inheritance, he hasn’t actually done anything to her physically - the nurse was adamant: there was NOTHING wrong with her.
It’s like they were shunning away from everything that might be considered darker or more adult. A crying shame, as the lacklustre ending hurts an otherwise excellent game. And we didn’t even get a proper explanation for all the medical conditions…

Finished second chapter now, I’ll try to get the third one done tomorrow.

TimovieMan - 01 September 2015 04:15 PM

Iznogood - 01 September 2015 11:51 AM

I really like the whole concept of entering somebody’s mind, ... Perhaps a bit funnier if it is your own my (like in The Next Big Thing)

Entering your own mind? Malkovich Malkovich!

Yeah, Being John Malkovich is definitely a great movie and I’m using it in my blog for the the 90s movies posts still.

TimovieMan - 01 September 2015 04:15 PM

One personality being hostile to another personality in the hopes of taking over is not that uncommon in fiction. Mr. Hyde takes over Dr. Jekyll, for instance, and the same goes for the “remake” The Nutty Professor (both the So there Jerry Lewis and Eddie Murphy versions). And have you seen Identity? Even Gollum/Sméagol qualifies.
And it doesn’t end in fiction as there have been reported cases of dissociative identity disorder patients where a secondary personality tried to kill the primary self (without realizing that success means their death as well).

I think purely psychological answer might be very possible here (and the only supernatural thing is the player adventuring in someone’s mind) because yes, a personality might be unaware that they’re killing themselves as well. Or it could also be that the struggle of the two personalities are the cause of her physical condition and if Noise would win, she would gain full control of Jane’s body, possibly by being resuscitated.

But I’m still pretty much 50/50 on the supernatural/psychological part. There are definitely hints towards psychological issues so even if Noise was supernatural, Jane probably still has mental issues that I hope will be addressed.

And I also kinda dig the cheesy FMV. I wish the game would be more disturbing actually, but it’s pretty entertaining like this as well.

As for the gameplay, I’m pretty impressed. The few HO-scenes don’t bother me one bit because they’re super easy and you can already spot them coming from mile away. The other puzzles are very good, and very suitable in difficulty - for a casual game. Maybe a tad too easy if one would think about full fledged adventure. I really had no need to use any hints what-so-ever and I think I enjoyed every puzzle in the second chapter. I’m playing on average difficulty, if that makes any difference.

TimovieMan - 06 September 2015 08:24 AM

Also, about her uncle: whatever they’re implying, besides keeping her away from her grandfather, tranquillizing her dog, and being after her inheritance, he hasn’t actually done anything to her physically - the nurse was adamant: there was NOTHING wrong with her.

Yeah, we can of course imagine all sort of things that he could have done to her, but the game doesn’t really support any of that, in fact it more or less directly tells us, that he hasn’t done any of those things.

In fact the ending felt very much 19th century, with the inheritance being the key element, and not like a modern 21st century story.

Perhaps my expectations of what you can expect story-wise from a casual game is simply too high, but I thought this one started fairly good and then disappointed in the end.

Anyway, I mainly popped in to thank Chrissie for leading this, and congratulate you on successfully leading your first community playthrough. (I remember that I was also very nervous before leading my first CPT)

Chapter 3:

Nothing new really revealed here, except for more pointing towards split personality. And some questions about the dog. But it was a nice section. I really liked the dolphins and the band.

I solved the diamond puzzle but it did take me a bit longer than the rest of the puzzles. I solved it pretty much from bottom to top. I just rotated the pieces again and around until I got them to the right angle. Initially it seemed really hard but once I got the hang of it, I just clicked it away.

Still need another night or two to finish the game.

I don’t buy into the concept that the game’s designers/developers were afraid that the game was too dark, and “backed off.” The last playthrough, FACES, had its fair share of dark elements. The only backing of the designer’s did was at the very end. And I think that only happened because they wanted to leave open the opportunity of a sequel. I can think of a number of other games that came out around the same time that didn’t feel the need to tip toe around uncomfortable situations.

I’m finished. I agree with everyone else that the ending was a bit of a let down and overall the game was very tame.

In the beginning with the blacked out photograph I was instantly thinking about sexual abuse and a split personality born from that. That cliche would have been better to be honest. As it is now, the uncle was mean, and… nothing.

The final section of the game didn’t sit well with the puzzles either. All those silly tricks and finding pieces of puzzles inside someone’s mind totally make sense but how on earth would you dig up a piece of wire from a compost (or pile of whatever) and why would anyone scatter these things around in the first place?

The gameplay is still the strongest aspect of the game. And some of the lovely sceneries inside the patient’s head. It’s too bad that the ending did water things down so much.

I didn’t like the death of Noise and I would really have hoped to find some decent skeletons in the end. Literally or figuratively speaking.

I was wondering why the characters were so out of sync with the voice but it seemed that the English voice actors were different people than the actual faces we see in FMV. So that pretty much explains it. And I think a huge deal of the whole overacting feeling came from the voices. The characters might have seemed somewhat subtler with different voices.

All in all, I’m still happy I participated (even though late once again) and thanks to Chrissie for leading.