Adventure Gamers - Forums
You are here: Home → Forum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread
Post Marker Legend:
-
New posts -
No new posts
Currently online
Dear Esther
I agree with monolith. If 10 bucks is too much for a beautiful but non-interactive “symbolic poem” you could have just watched it on youtube. For me, there’s a world of difference between youtube and playing it myself.
Now playing: ——-
Recently finished: don’t remember
Up next: Eh…
Looking forward to: Ithaka of the Clouds; The Last Crown; all the kickstarter adventure games I supported
The playing it yourself was basically just pushing the “forward” key though.
Currently playing: Starcraft II
Recently finished: Resonance, Tex Murphy: Pandora Directive, Diablo 3
Not a game. Interesting but way too short, even with the walk speed as frustratingly slow as it was.
Of course it’s a game. What else could it be? A book, a film, a painting, a tennis match?
Disappointing that the only things people talk about are price too high, not enough interactivity, too short, pace too slow. Same thing in the Dear Esther thread in the now archived AG forums. I’m glad the Steam DE forum had some pretty interesting discussions.
Now playing: ——-
Recently finished: don’t remember
Up next: Eh…
Looking forward to: Ithaka of the Clouds; The Last Crown; all the kickstarter adventure games I supported
The playing it yourself was basically just pushing the “forward” key though.
Having fun running into walls or hard objects? Oh right, you’re simplifying the idea of moving around in a world to just ‘Moving Forward’. Brilliant. *rolls eyes*
I guess I experience life in general as just moving forward and not traversing an emotional story.
I agree with Fien. I’m sorry, I can still enjoy a game that was four-six hours long. Boy was it a great story, and hell the characters were deep. I can enjoy a game that aims to relax your senses and motivate your emotions. Maybe I’m just that stupid to enjoy things based on the experience, more than the numeric value.
Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation
I do enjoy a good game, no matter the length of it, and even better if it has a good story and deep characters. My opinion of Dear Esther has nothing to do with the price, it’s length, or even the limited interactivity of it.
Basically it was a unique experience that could have been better. It just didn’t grab me and I didn’t find myself immersed in it, due to the vagueness of the story. I think that vagueness of the story is key to whether you enjoy having your own interpretations of it and slowly deciphering symbols/writing on the wall within the game, but for me it just missed the mark.
I guess we can say it doesn’t have universal appeal. The developers did take a risk in the way it was executed and it’s bound to be criticised in some way or other.
Reading the Steam forums did help me understand it better though. It was good while it lasted but it’s not one I would replay after that initial experience.
Currently playing: Starcraft II
Recently finished: Resonance, Tex Murphy: Pandora Directive, Diablo 3
I feel that there is a Cult of Esther or something going on 
. People really getting insulted by any criticism aimed towards Dear Esther. I really see both sides of the “argument” here.
If someone doesn’t consider Dear Esther game or even an interactive movie (etc.) I don’t really see the point of insisting otherwise. I personally was also a bit put down with the lack of interactivity and found the story somewhat hard to follow. The island is beautiful and I can totally see how the experience can be something really special if you are in the right mood or “zone” or whatever but it’s not for everybody.
I believe I would find Dear Esther amazing myself if it had a way to actually investigate some things and the story would unfold into a journal or something. There’s definitely great ingredients there but I’m not terribly surprised some people find it too artsy or boring or confusing at its current state.
5$ isn’t too much anyway, not even when it’s not “a real game”.
Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier
Of course it’s a game. What else could it be? A book, a film, a painting, a tennis match?
Disappointing that the only things people talk about are price too high, not enough interactivity, too short, pace too slow. Same thing in the Dear Esther thread in the now archived AG forums. I’m glad the Steam DE forum had some pretty interesting discussions.
It’s not a game because, well, there’s no gameplay. You walk around a mostly linear path and listen to a story. There’s no thinking or skill required to finish it. It’s as much a game as one of those virtual CD-ROM museums.
That in itself isn’t a bad thing although I can see why you would have taken that impression from my post; I did enjoy it somewhat for the nice visuals and the experience of something “different”. The thing is it was a $10, 30-minute experience obviously padded out to be an hour longer with frustratingly slow movement that offered zero replay value except to get a couple randomized lines of monologue.
Is it worth 5 bucks? Possibly. But it’s a far from perfect experience even taken on its own terms.
I just finished Dear Esther.
It was beautiful to look at and listen to, the exploration and the story haunting in a delightful way, although I was definitely left pretty confused.
So I am glad I “experienced” Dear Esther, but taking into account the length it took to complete and the extremely limited “gameplay”, I don’t think it was worth $10.
Currently Playing: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes;
Currently Re-Playing: Culpa Innata
Recently Finished: Secret Files: Puritas Cordis, Art of Murder: Hunt for the Puppeteer, Dear Esther
The idea of ‘gameplay’ as a distinct quality of a game has confused people, including me. Whoever first described the gameplay of a game consigned most of us to think about games as having a certain amount of ‘content’, with the rest of the game to be ignored. So for example, walking along a path is not an important experience while fighting or puzzle-solving is. I’ve noticed myself falling into that mindset many times while playing a game. A lot of the attraction to games comes from us being hard-wired to respond to challenge and gain rewards, but I’d like to think there’s more to games than that. I may be wrong.
It can also be said that the game itself is trying to understand what has been said. Confused? You fail the game. Is that enough to consider this a game people? Seriously. -_-
Stuart Bradley Newsom - Naughty Shinobi || Our Game: Shadow Over Isolation
I truly don’t understand how people can get so upset in a forum about games, at people they don’t even know! Everyone has their own opinions. Everybody should express their opinion without being offensive and leave it at that. There is no reason to get worked up just because someone else feels differently than you do.
(This is not directed at anyone in particular, just in all forums I see people who are just plain rude to others. You don’t even know the person, so it’s just not called for! Just because the conversations are in text doesn’t mean you can drop the normal acceptable social behavior)
Currently Playing: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes;
Currently Re-Playing: Culpa Innata
Recently Finished: Secret Files: Puritas Cordis, Art of Murder: Hunt for the Puppeteer, Dear Esther
BTW, how do I find the forums on Steam? I’m not too familiar with Steam, but I would like to see these other discussions about Dear Esther - are they about people’s interpretations of the story?
Currently Playing: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes;
Currently Re-Playing: Culpa Innata
Recently Finished: Secret Files: Puritas Cordis, Art of Murder: Hunt for the Puppeteer, Dear Esther
BTW, how do I find the forums on Steam?
In the Steam client, go to your library and to the detailed page for the game. There should be a column on the right called LINKS with a link to the specific Steam forums.
Or go there and have fun wading through the huge list of games at the middle of the page.
BTW, how do I find the forums on Steam?
In the Steam client, go to your library and to the detailed page for the game. There should be a column on the right called LINKS with a link to the specific Steam forums.
Or go there and have fun wading through the huge list of games at the middle of the page.
Thank you!
Currently Playing: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes;
Currently Re-Playing: Culpa Innata
Recently Finished: Secret Files: Puritas Cordis, Art of Murder: Hunt for the Puppeteer, Dear Esther
You are here: Home → Forum Home → Gaming → Adventure → Thread
