Tag: liveblog

Day 77 was long and stressful. At first I was excited to see if I could finally find out what exactly was going on. However, my stress level grew to 100 when I couldn’t find my way out of the camp where the firefighters were. It took me about half an hour to figure out that I was supposed to cut down some old tree to be able to head to the fenced area. I was stressed and annoyed at this point. Also, it took me about an hour to find my way to the fenced area. When I finally got there, however, things began to get interesting. I found the beeping device and was able to see the reports on Henry and Delilah. I started wondering what could explain this. Why was someone so interested in the lives of these two people? What was their plan? Also, when will this game end? It’s eternal!

These days were much more relaxing. The emphasis of this part of the game was more on the story line as opposed to task completion, and as a result there were a few very interesting sub plots began to develop. One of the more stranger things that comes about is the relationship between Henry and Delilah. They continually talk and get to know each other, and Henry starts to reveal information about Julia. It seems that he feels a little detached from Julia. He doesn’t act like he misses her much when speaking to Delilah, and when he gets a call from Julia he once again shows little emotion.

One part of the game that I’m confused about is the storyline of the teenage girls, specifically them accusing Henry of being a pervert. While I understand their accusation based on what they’ve witnessed, we’ve received little evidence that shows that Henry is actually creepy, so I’m not completely sure why this is included in the game.

http://eng181f16.davidmorgen.org/side-quests/

This day was quick and short, much to my relief.. Nothing significant has happened except for a much needed supply run. I feel that Henry has come to like the peace and quiet of nature. He is taking everything in and going about life in a carefree way. I wonder what will happen with the situation with the two missing girls..

These two days took me a lifetime of searching and navigating with my handy and super efficient items. I never want to be lost in a forest with only a compass and map, but at least I have a bunch of practice now from playing this game so much. The first day was incredibly tasking as I travelled a great distance looking for those two teenage girls. Once I encountered them, albeit from a far distance, things took a nasty turn. Being ridiculed as a “creep” and “pervert” I felt sad for Henry (or myself I guess). The second day, I found the letter from the girls addressed to me at their campsite. They wrote terrible assumptions about me and created a sort of bubbling anger inside. The intermittent conversations I have with Delilah seem to comfort me to a point but when Julia comes up my options for answers seem indifferent. How many more days are left in this beautiful but mysterious wilderness?

After finishing the nice, revealing opening, frustration kicked in as I walked around what seemed like a giant maze to complete my tasks. On the bright side, this game gives you missions, unlike the other games we’ve played thus far, and I view that as a positive. Another nice thing that has come out of aimlessly walking around is being able to see all the scenic views. The graphics in this game are the best I’ve ever seen for a computer game. This mix of emotions between frustration and admiration for the scenery seems like the true feelings one would have when exploring the forest.

http://eng181f16.davidmorgen.org/category/quests/side-quests/

I really don’t understand this. I used to hike in my high school. This should not be this hard… Yet I still find myself completely lost within this game. As I learn more about the plot of the game I also learn more things about myself, such as having a disorder or navigating myself around this stupid forest. At one point I hoped that the Flapjack fire would burn everything down and I wouldn’t to walk around so much… But enough about me, there are more interesting things going on: the plot is picking up!
As days pass Henry learns his way around the forest (or in my case mostly walks around with no purpose) and gets occasional jobs from his boss, Delilah. One of them is tracking down the people who burned fire crackers. Henry finds out that the perpetrators are two teenage girls fooling around. Although Henry urges them to stop they don’t take him seriously. A strange incident of cut phone lines appears and Delilah blames teens for it, thus ordering Henry to track them down. Instead Henry finds out that the girls left, claiming to be freaked out by some creep (they claimed it was Henry). Later on the girls go missing and Henry is the last person to see them. I felt that this moment gave a lot of excitement to the game showing that there is more to the story than a man trying to get away from his past.
Speaking of which, I found it very interesting how Julia called Henry yet the supposedly loving husband does not seem that excited. At the same time Delilah and Henry become close by sharing more and more of their personal information. It was peculiar to know that Delilah also had a painful past and uses this job to get away. I am looking forward to the character development as well as learning all the secrets that the game has to offer.

The opening of Firewatch was quite confusing, as there was a stark difference between what occurred in the game versus the music being played. The player starts out as Henry, and all seems to be going well. He sparks up conversation with a girl he likes named Julia, and they eventually get married and talk about starting a family. It all sounds great; however, sad music is played throughout all of this leading the player to expect some sort of sad change. This did a good job of keeping me interested. I anxiously awaited the downfall, and simply a happily ever after story wouldn’t have kept me engaged. Sure enough Julia becomes diagnosed with dementia. The opening sequence also does an excellent job at provoking empathy. Throughout the story it refers to Henry as “you” instead of his name, and the game also gives you options in picking crucial life decisions. Through these two techniques the idea of dementia began to haunt me.

http://eng181f16.davidmorgen.org/category/quests/side-quests/

This game caught my attention from its very first sentence. The imperative tone that it used to guide a player was interesting enough for me to decide that this game would be worth my time. Having various options of dialogue created an illusion of choice that kept the introduction interactive instead of being a plain, boring narrative.
The cute story with a bitter end opened was revealed in front of my eyes and helped me understand the main character, Henry. Soon enough I realized that he is the one from who’s perspective I will be progressing through the game. It was a nice change from Dear Esther and Gone Home since I got to know the background story before I began the game. This made me feel more connected to Henry and I actually started caring about his well-being as the game began. What also caught my attention was the style in which the game is presented. While Henry’s story is something that could easily happen in real life, the world around him is shown to be very cartoon-like. The colorful surroundings and cartoon like appearance of the main character (I could only see his hands, but still) made it hard for me to take the game seriously at first. However there were some aspects that made this game way more realistic than Dear Esther or Gone Home combined, one of them navigating yourself through the forest. I never realized that it would be so difficult to find my way around with a campus and a poorly drawn map.