Let's Firewatch The World Burn – #144

How many "Filthy Causal" tops does Meg own?

You never had to own Far Cry 3 to own Blood Dragon. It's called an "Expandalone" because it's in the same engine and has most of the same ideas and mechanics as FC3 but with it's own art, campaign and some added mechanics.

My god I've never seen such a cynical side of Meg but seriously not a good look for her. The whole time she was talking about Firewatch she was completely contradicting herself saying that the game was worth $18 dollars but that she was disappointed by the amazing story that started out so well and ended so poorly. I'm with Ryan all the way with this one, nothing that the Ashley and Meg were saying made sense at all just simply because video games are an art form, a medium for expression and as an art, it was worth $18 but not worth it as a game. People in this world pay WAY more for paintings that just sit on their walls for friends and family to look at and not touch. People pay WAY more for the full experience of a movie just to see it in 3D once and never see it again. And there are some books that cost more than this game did and all you're doing there is reading a good story and imagining what is possibly going on. At least in this game, you're reading a good story through notes scatter through the game, you're admiring the artistic direction of the world the game is built in, and you're paying less money than a AAA title for an experience that's probably more full than 10 of the last big name games to come out in the last half year. All of this while you're interacting and immersing yourself in a world that made you think, feel and make choices that were your own. You can't do that with anything else. I'm sorry, I love Meg to death but she needs to get a grip. Short story or not, she got an experience that none of the other mediums could ever give her. And it must've been one hell of an experience if she's talking about it so intensely because otherwise she wouldn't be. Sounds like it was worth it to me as a game because it did it's job. I'm not upset that she didn't like it as a game because she's completely entitled to her opinion, I'm just annoyed by the fact that she was contradicting herself the whole time without a valid reason.

One last thing that grinded my gears is the fact that they all went off and said that the trailer sold them on something that in the end wasn't what they thought it would be. Isn't that the point? The bottom line is the trailer did it's job, it SOLD you on the game. At the end of the day it's still a business and this company needed to sell their product. False advertising? Maybe to a degree but trust me we've had worse. Did we already forget about Watch_Dogs E3 presentation? Now that debacle deserved a lynching of an Ubisoft employee down the road at some point.

A couple of spoilers for Firewatch incoming!

I do get Meg's (and plenty of other's) opinion of the ending. I understand the disappointment with not having some big actual conspiracy being revealed near the end. But it kills me that one of the biggest complaints about this game is that there's some trend of a lack of escapism in newer indie titles. There are so many games out there in the world that give you the ability to be a god within; to be someone who can fix everything, save everyone, and bend the environment to your liking. It's fun, uplifting, and empowering, but it so severely limits potential narratives that games like Firewatch can otherwise provide. When I finished my playthrough, I was thoroughly impressed at how much paranoia and self-importance the game could make me feel, and then crush it near the end as it forces you to realize that you weren't some special individual that was part of some grander scheme. Instead, you leave the forest the same way you came in: someone who tried to run away from their life when the world dealt them a bad hand. Depending on how you speak with Delilah, you may have a new perspective on how to deal with it (did you resolve to seek out your wife again? Did you try to run away further by getting Delilah to come home with you?), but your visit only delayed the inevitability of returning to the issues you left behind. In a sense, it's kind of an analogy to the very situation that many gamers (including myself!) have with the worlds they lose themselves in. I found it to be a refreshing change after having just finished Fallout and gotten partway through XCOM 2, where you play some god-like figure that everyone trusts will solve their problems.

TL;DR: though I really do get the disappointment, I hope that the complaints people have given about Firewatch don't scare off indie devs like Campo Santo from taking awesome narrative risks like these. There are plenty of other games out there that can provide the escapism people crave.

I think Gone Home is a good and interesting comparison to make for this game. I personally loved both games, and think that the subversion of my expectations played a major part in that. But I totally understand why people don't like them for the same reason. If you're not compelled by the direction the story takes, and you expected something different, you're going to feel like you paid for something that wasn't delivered to you, and in a way feel cheated. But for me, even though I kind of agree with a lot of the major criticisms I see for both games, the actual experience I had playing through them for the very first time was so thrilling, that I don't care about the faults I found after the fact. These are not games that you will play through many times, and so the experience of them is very transient. I think this is why these kinds of games are so risky and polarising, as they only really give you one chance to properly experience them, so if you don't enjoy that first experience, your lasting impression will be a bad one.

-- Firewatch spoilers --

I do not agree with Meg and Ashley on Firewatch, i understand where they're coming from, but personally i really loved the ending and just the entire game. Initially i had a brief stint of 'shit was that all it was', but ultimately it was a really good story about humans, and the whole finding Brian in the cave and uncovering this just very fundamentally sad story, plus following the relationship between Hank and Delilah, it was a very emotional and very human experience. I enjoyed it greatly and i really want to play it again and hear some new dialogue options and look at it with the knowledge that i have now

Definitely not a fan of the art over gameplay games. Also not a fan of depressing games. It's tricky to explain because context makes a huge difference. Sacrifice that means something is a downer but not depressing to me. (Same goes for movies.)

I think Firewatch was a "This is what we can do" without any money it could;t have been a huge game, i think with the money they made they will make another game similar to this that is longer and better. I super enjoyed the game though, it's a lot of fun even though anti-climactic

Did you just change the title of this podcast like three times? I swear

There is a theory that Vanessa in the movie is actually Mistress Death.

Ahahahah. I love when they forget to talk about video games. Hooray for The Patch: Movie Podcast!

I've got 189 hours into Fallout 4 so far and there has been things I've seen YouTube videos of that I have not experienced in any of my own playthroughs yet.