Blubberino

Member
Mar 25, 2017
105
193
Maybe a bit of a weird question, but here goes. Quite early in the game, the MC gets a phone call and gets really angry, but any information about the call is kept from the player for a veeeeeeery long time while he keeps making remarks about the call.

Since the description says "you play the role of Frank" I expected a normal 1st person narrative where the player knows everything the MC knows.

The question is: Is that a theme I can expect from this game? Or is this just a one-off event where stuff the MC knows and agonizes about is kept from the player. Because I really dislike this style of narration and would probably drop the game now if I can expect more of that style of generating drama and suspense. Nothing against it, but it's just not for me.

As I said, weird question but maybe someone can answer it anyways.
 

myuhinny

Devoted Member
Sep 7, 2017
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Blubberino

Well if you read everything you'll be able to see and tell that Frank isn't her biological father and the one on the phone was her biological father wanting to meet his daughter who hasn't done anything for his daughter till now.
 

Blubberino

Member
Mar 25, 2017
105
193
Blubberino

Well if you read everything you'll be able to see and tell that Frank isn't her biological father and the one on the phone was her biological father wanting to meet his daughter who hasn't done anything for his daughter till now.
Yea I know. As I said, that wasn't explained for a pretty long time after the mystery phone call, which makes it not 1st person which I assumed from the summary. I mean, my question was not what the phone call was about, it was about if there are more of those deviations from 1st person narration. Just feels artifical to me and is not for me. Maybe I wasn't very clear, sorry in that case. And again, fully aware its a weird question, it is just a pet peeve of mine.
 
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Cartageno

Devoted Member
Dec 1, 2019
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my question was not what the phone call was about, it was about if their are more of those deviations from 1st person narration.
I do not remember this being an issue at all. I wouldn't know of any secrets Frank is keeping from the player. Word of caution: I either never stumbled over what you had found or completely disregarded and forgotten about it. But generally, more players are likely to tell you that Frank is telling too much about what he is thinking in this game rather than too little. ;)

So with all those caveats, I don't think you'll have problems with that aspect of first persion narration.
 

NewTricks

Forum Fanatic
Nov 1, 2017
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In general, we are pretty stuck with Frank's perspective. This irritates me because he is by far the least interesting part of the game. However, every so often the perspective shifts to wherever it can cause the most drama by denying us critical information. I can respect that. I actually wish it would happen more often. Follow Abby for a day. Or maybe find out what the fuck is going on in Rebecca's head. I picture it as full of spiders plotting vengeance but I am happy to be proven wrong.
 

rostabu

Member
Mar 8, 2019
484
578
Blubberino

Well if you read everything you'll be able to see and tell that Frank isn't her biological father and the one on the phone was her biological father wanting to meet his daughter who hasn't done anything for his daughter till now.
not only did he do nothing for her in the past 19 years, he actively tried to persuade her mom to get an abortion.

*edit* when abby wasn't aborted her biological father tried to besmirch her mothers reputation
 
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Blubberino

Member
Mar 25, 2017
105
193
[...]However, every so often the perspective shifts to wherever it can cause the most drama by denying us critical information. I can respect that.[...]
That is pretty much what I am talking about. Absolutely hate when authors do that. Be it in books, games or movies. Don't get me wrong, this is totally fine for 2nd and 3rd person narration. But if it is done in 1st person narration it just feels so artificial and tacked on to me that I think "here we go again, author didn't know how to build suspense/drama while sticking to his narration style and had to break from it to do it."

Anways, I'm gonna stick with it for now and see how it goes. Thanks for the answers!
 
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Cartageno

Devoted Member
Dec 1, 2019
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In general, we are pretty stuck with Frank's perspective. This irritates me because he is by far the least interesting part of the game. However, every so often the perspective shifts to wherever it can cause the most drama by denying us critical information. I can respect that. I actually wish it would happen more often. Follow Abby for a day. Or maybe find out what the fuck is going on in Rebecca's head. I picture it as full of spiders plotting vengeance but I am happy to be proven wrong.
I disagree. Not with the fact that following different characters cannot deliver a good, maybe better story, that's a given. However, I'd argue it is not advisable here, the story started that way, changing it now would feel off.

Also, many players play games identifying with the protagonist. Following the exploits of other characters can severely disrupt this feeling. This of course is a matter of taste, many players see a game like they watch a movie: from the outside. They are not Frank. But for me, I "am" Frank in this game.

That protagonists are (or at least can be) the most boring characters of the bunch is a thing since time immemorial of course. Think Frodo from Lord of the Rings, think Harry Potter. In games it of course it is even worse, since you don't want to lose players who identify with the MC by being too controversial.
 

Catell

New Member
Oct 26, 2019
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I do remember said events about the phone call, and even when I do not mind that much what happened. For the kind of game that gives me a first-person perspective I would like to share the information with the MC.

I'm not saying that a peek in the girls POV is not interesting or a good idea/mechanic (it certainly is), nor I think we should know every little detail that goes trough Frank's day (Heaven forbid that from happening) but I'll like to know that at least the character who's perspective I'm seeing the world from is not aware of relevant information I'm not.

Having said that, this is a game which plot I’m enjoying a lot, and as stated before, I did not mind that much that scene in the moment so I'm going to continue enjoying the game.
 

NewTricks

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Nov 1, 2017
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I would like to clarify that this game does not have a first-person perspective. Rather, it has a limited omniscient perspective. We are privy to Frank's innate thoughts, but he is not the narrator. He doesn't decide what we know or don't know in the course of the story. That's good because he would be an unreliable narrator. We also have fully shifted perspective before in Lilith's Longing and it was quite refreshing. We can agree to disagree regarding if that is good or should happen more often but we should not misrepresent what the game is based on what we would prefer it to be.
 
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Cartageno

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Dec 1, 2019
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I would like to clarify that this game does not have a first-person perspective. Rather, it has a limited omniscient perspective. We are privy to Frank's innate thoughts, but he is not the narrator. He doesn't decide what we know or don't know in the course of the story. That's good because he would be an unreliable narrator. We also have fully shifted perspective before in Lilith's Longing and it was quite refreshing. We can agree to disagree regarding if that is good or should happen more often but we should not misrepresent what the game is based on what we would prefer it to be.
First, I am not privy to some kind of "storytelling theory" or similar, so I may be using words/expressions wrongly from a technical perspective, but see it in layman's terms.

Yes, the game does feature some scenes without Frank (well, I can think of one but there may be more) but apart from that we are experiencing the world through Frank's eyes and ears and decide Frank's actions. Yes, he is not the narrator, but to me that makes the game even more so that I can identify with him. If there was a voice saying "Hi, I am Frank, and I will tell you all about Frank" he would be a different person than the player. If however we just know what Frank knows, we can be Frank. (I also disagree, but that's not pertinent here, that an unreliable narrator has to be a bad thing)

And in the end, as it is told up to now, this to me isn't a story about some girls and a man they're trying to seduce and we're watching from the outside, but to me it is a man who then happens to be "approached" by the girls.
 
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stangnomez

Newbie
Jun 20, 2020
62
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Maybe a bit of a weird question, but here goes. Quite early in the game, the MC gets a phone call and gets really angry, but any information about the call is kept from the player for a veeeeeeery long time while he keeps making remarks about the call.

Since the description says "you play the role of Frank" I expected a normal 1st person narrative where the player knows everything the MC knows.

The question is: Is that a theme I can expect from this game? Or is this just a one-off event where stuff the MC knows and agonizes about is kept from the player. Because I really dislike this style of narration and would probably drop the game now if I can expect more of that style of generating drama and suspense. Nothing against it, but it's just not for me.

As I said, weird question but maybe someone can answer it anyways.
There are some things that aren't mentioned until they are relevant (Like 'Frank knows not Bob Ross'), but the only other information that feels hidden from the player is certain details of the affair. But yeah, the whole Abbeys dad plot does feel like CNG was still figuring out how they wanted the narration to feel.
 

rostabu

Member
Mar 8, 2019
484
578
I'll be happy when abby puts her biological father in the rear veiw mirror... it would be likely that this contact wasn't initiated by him but by his significant other, trying to have him clear up his past so they can get along with their future...
 

steelmonkey76

Member
Feb 4, 2021
298
307
Maybe a bit of a weird question, but here goes. Quite early in the game, the MC gets a phone call and gets really angry, but any information about the call is kept from the player for a veeeeeeery long time while he keeps making remarks about the call.

Since the description says "you play the role of Frank" I expected a normal 1st person narrative where the player knows everything the MC knows.

The question is: Is that a theme I can expect from this game? Or is this just a one-off event where stuff the MC knows and agonizes about is kept from the player. Because I really dislike this style of narration and would probably drop the game now if I can expect more of that style of generating drama and suspense. Nothing against it, but it's just not for me.

As I said, weird question but maybe someone can answer it anyways.
It was the father by blood and he wanted to see the daughter and MC basically told him to fark off
 
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