Did you like Gone Home?

I liked it. Mainly because I knew what to expect going in and all the impressions were like replies in this thread, super negative. So I expected utter crap but it turned out to be decent.

It wasn't perfect and the story got shit at the end and let me down because it went a safe route with some elements but I enjoyed just sitting down with headphones and going through the house piecing stuff together. The idea behind it is great even if they faltered a bit

Sure if we're talking about gameplay it's almost non existent but that doesn't mean it's automatically terrible. It did better than Dear Esther anyway

I thought it was really compelling and really didn't see the thematic twist coming. For that reason alone it was enjoyable. SPOILERS: I was really on the edge of my seat throughout the first 2/3rds of the game. I actually thought it was going to be a ghost story horror game where you would finally find your family's dead bodies or something like that. When it turned into a sweet lesbian love story I was like, "Well played, Fulbright Company.., well played." The whole idea of tricking somebody into following the story of a homosexual romance was really clever, and I think that a lot of people who didn't like the game may have been uncomfortable with the homosexual themes rather than the storytelling or writing. I could understand somebody criticizing the lack of action, but most people seem to have other problems with it, it seems.

Don't you think the high score could be due to the fact that the game gave the player the impression it was a horror game while ultimately ending up being an investigation of a romance - regardless of the gender or sexual orientation of the lovers being investigated?

Not a fan of the type of "game" but I can see the appeal. Couldn't force myself to play the game for more than 20 minutes but I read the plot summary and it seems like it has a very good way of telling a compelling story.

you were already one quarter of the way there, should've just finished it.

Well if you don't then you're a homophobe

ya I should have. But walking around looking at things for 20 minutes was already way too much haha.

If this "game," was sold in retail stores I'd imagine that somewhere on the back of the box as a bullet point.

That wasn't the case at all with me, I felt like they used the fact the sister was a lesbian as a crutch. Even if the game featured a straight relationship I'd still have largely the same complaints.

that should be the tag line

Also holy shit I can't believe this game doesn't have a single piece of Rule 34 on it. It's ripe for that.

People have to give a shit for there to be rule 34 content.

true, still as it stands this needs to have atleast something, even shitty ms paint.

Maybe something involving the whole family including the ghost of Oscar, lul.

Fair enough. I just thought it was neat to be surprised in a game for a change. Every time the lightning struck outside the house, I was like, "Here comes the ghost!" I was certain there would be something horrible to confront in the attic. For some, I think there was.

Yep, I liked it.

that's the thing dude, I don't think the haunted house thing was intended at all. chalk it up to bad design.

From a game standpoint, thought it was meh.

From a story standpoint, thought it was meh.

for about an hour, then it was over and I had the buyer's remorse.

Never played the game as I had the ending spoiled by the review (that one scene where the character checks the answering machine). From the character's voice and begging, I kinda sensed she might be a lesbian. Scrolled down to the comments, and yup, pretty much confirmed.

Still, not as bad as Mark's review for Brothers : Tale of Two Sons. The dude spoiled the entire game in the first sentence! *facepalm*

The problem with Gone Home, and With Heavy Rain and With Journey is you people and critics judge them as games. Infact many people believe just about everything interactive is a game.

A plot twist that may or may not be compelling but not in itself worth 9.5 out of 10, nor worth the obscene amount they charged for it.

I'm a bit surprised reading through some of the comments - especially as someone who absolutely adored Gone Home from beginning to end. The characters, the setting, the point-and-click gameplay, the loneliness...the obsessive unrelenting loneliness of the setting that only supplies tidbits of information until you actually learn what happened.

I absolutely fell in love with the characters. Rarely do games do that to me, especially with Gone Home it all felt very real and that is what made it, to me, so special.

@R3FURBISHED

Well, be honest.... How much of that was actually the gameplay ? What would be lost if you saw it or read it instead of playing it ?

It's an adventure game like Myst or Riven, point and click, uncover the secrets of the world. Granted Gone Home isn't nearly as grand in scale as a Myst, much more this one simple story. A game that tries to show its wealth in other ways than what we are used to in 2013/14.

Gone Home is a simple game that relies solely on its wealth of the setting and the mystery of your childhood house, and I loved everything about that house you explore.

@R3FURBISHED

I've always believed the adventure game genre would be the best to create interactive narratives..... However the gameplay shouldn't feel like "turning pages", it should in synce with narrative.

Well what was the Gone Home narrative? Gone Home is the experience of uncovering the mystery, only that -- there wasn't any more. Simple puzzles and a straightforward path to the end. You have the mystery and once you uncover the mystery the game is over (the 99 minutes it took me to uncover the mystery).

I guess what allowed Gone Home to capture me was that I didn't know what the game was about when I bought and played it. I truly felt I was the sister returning home and knowing nothing, uncovering why this house that I barely knew was seemingly abandoned.

@R3FURBISHED

I try to refrain from assuming the role of character in any story, be it game, movie or book. I mean everything is already set in stone, it can lead to problem if I character reacts in a different way than you do.

Unless you're playing something with an interpretive/emergent Narrative, like The Sims or Second life or Left 4 Dead.

I meant I didn't understand the world or why things where the way they were, when I said "truly felt I was the sister returning home and knowing nothing". My feelings where a mixed bag between "What's going on?" to "Should I be looking out for something?".

Not necessarily that I felt I assumed the role of the sister and was playing the game on her behalf - that what I was doing was for her.

@R3FURBISHED

Oh yeah I totally get that.... Its the "Imatative Fallacy" I've heard so much about.

It doesn't work in a book like Lord of The Flies but its absolutely fantastic in games....

This is the kind of thing I was talking about that only games can do... Thanks to Agency... :p

Sorta.

I mean, it's really detailed and it looks flat out amazing. Growing up in the 90s, it made me nostalgia pretty hard.

That being said, the value was awful.

No. The whole point of the game is the exploring. If you go straight for the end then you didn't really "do" anything.

Pro Strats.

I'm sorry to put it this way but it's hipster shait just like Dear Esther. That's my opinion of course, let's not forget the game got amazing reviews. (somehow)

@ReadingRainbow4: I think that can be beat. Anyone up for, "Gone (Home) in 60 Seconds"?

Actually just finished it. I thought it was decent. The story had some decent ideas, but the length limited it to little snippets; not much more than an outline of the main story. The secondary plot-line of the parents was just kinda hinted at and left unresolved.