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Always it ends great in each episode !
I can't wait to play the next episode.
I think I'll have to play the full game lots of times to see every route in the game.
This game is great !
I can't wait to play the next episode.
I think I'll have to play the full game lots of times to see every route in the game.
This game is great !
- Jul 19, 2017
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This, I've mentioned it before, but the Liam stuff is just handled extremely well. I seriously felt for the dude there, and the buildup to it was perfect. Liam's entire cancer arc is damn near perfectly executed. I mean, the bucket list idea has been done to death, but it doesn't matter because the characterization is great, and it integrates into everything perfectly and helps drive the story with the MC forward without stalling things. I really mean it when I say that entire arc has been exceptional so far.
Oh man Weeds! Perfect analogy! Weeds had an amazing first couple of seasons where it really did something new and exciting, was funny, had great character work, and was just a joy to watch. The drama that existed made sense, and it was just overall great. Then the series took a dark turn and it just went to shit. I mean there were good points here and there after the fact, but it never really recovered. It became something else than what it started out as, and it did so I feel because it felt it HAD to go dark, but didn't set up the proper groundwork to go dark.
It's kind of the anti Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad has its funny moments, but you never lose sight of the stakes, there was always a feeling of dread in the background, and when the shit piled on, either in small piles or big piles, it felt earned.
And that's not to say you cannot have a shifting tone. You certainly can, and you can do drama in a comedy and vice versa. But you have to do the work to make the shifts seamless.
And that's why so many here do feel like the game is jerking them around tonally. Because structurally, it is. You have happy silly fun times, even if there is the issue with Liam in the background, followed by horrible despair, and you don't have the groundwork to successfully bridge those gaps. Well, actually that's not entirely true, the groundwork is laid for the interpersonal drama. It's laid for Liam, and laid out extremely well. It's laid out for Rena. It isn't laid out for the crime story or Ana.
And then moving on from the tonal whiplash, we have the ending of this last episode.
Someone earlier mentioned suspense, but the ending to episode 6 isn't suspense. It's a surprise.
To quote Alfred Hitchcock (forgive me as I enter pretentiousness overload):
“There is a distinct difference between "suspense" and "surprise," and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I'll explain what I mean.
We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom!" There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!"
In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.”
Suspense vs. Surprise has been the core of the issues I've had since the previous episode. In episode 5, Ana and Peter were both surprises, but they weren't suspenseful. Peter because he hadn't been seen for a while and is a joke of a character, and Ana because she'd been out of the game outside of a flashback and her motivations and moves were all straightforward. With proper groundwork these surprises could have been suspenseful, we could see Peter calling someone ahead of time, we see that the person Megan's teacher calls is Ana... hell we could have Ana like Megan at first... but then change her mind AFTER seeing the MC. All of this is taking things step by step. Leading the audience along the way.
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Now this doesn't solve the tonal whiplash problem, necessarily, but it does solve the coming out of nowhere problem. Which is one of the main complaints from those of us who aren't thrilled with these last couple of updates.
Comparing this to another game which had a big shock, Depraved Awakening:
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So it's not just about the emotional gut punch. It's about setting it up. It's the difference between good and great plot structure.
- Feb 17, 2018
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- Jan 21, 2018
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New here so sorry if this is a dumb question. How do you get the 2 scenes with Melissa in episode 6 for the gallery? Those are the only two I need.
- Apr 3, 2017
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This is a straight up fucking masterpiece! For ages I've overlooked this game thinking nothing of it, but i so glad i decided to give it a try. The story is phenomenal so far, it really makes you care about the characters. after the heart wrenching moment at the end of episode three i had to start again to make sure i spent as much time with that character as i could. Man the feels in this game can be a gut punch without warning, it's definalty a game you need tissues with and they aren't for cleaning up. It's got to the point that I've even put my cock away. I'm going back in for episode 4, wish me luck.
- Aug 12, 2018
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Your good to go for ch.4 it was the high point of the game imo BUT prepare yourself for ch.5-6....you've been warned.
- Mar 10, 2018
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I love the tough choices. I like MANY games, but this one is my favorite because the stakes feel significant.
God Bless the creator of this game. I am BIG on tragic stories because life is actually like that.
God Bless the creator of this game. I am BIG on tragic stories because life is actually like that.
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So far its just swimming with Melissa and holding hands, and play help with Megan. but im dating both. i'll go ahead and say this is my first time playing a game like this so its all new to me. So sorry in advance. But the three of us did have a big talk after the sunset about 2 subjects if that helps. im so lost lol.
- Mar 10, 2018
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Oh okay so you're not in Ep 6 yet, but for now you should be good I think
- Mar 10, 2018
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You just missed a variation of Ep6 begining and a small dialogue but nothing that really matters if you miss it
- May 24, 2017
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- Mar 10, 2018
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