What a way to missrepresent all the new takes on the endings. Out of 13 Endings, 2 Endings are similar between versions (as in, they are similar with or without the bucket), 3 are not available with the bucket (with a new Ending taking the place of 2 of those) and 9 of those new Endings are either way too different from the originals or are counterparts to those.
How is this a problem?
Nope to either one. The Narrator only mocks remakes and remasters in the "Memory/Skip" Ending, in every other Ending the Narrator mocks something else entirelly.
Also, your argument doesn't work by default. The Narrator mostly mocks by-the-numbers sequels that change very little from its predecessor instead of moving the story forward, however this game is a remake with extra content. Remakes/Remasters, unlike sequels, are suppossed to be an improved version of the original with added content and with the entire new content added to the game in the Ultra Deluxe version clocking around 4 hours to be seen by a casual player am gonna say that it did have enough content.
Isn't that also what the original did as well?.
Also, as I said prior, there are already 4 hours full of new content, what else did you want? I think that you are being greedy here.
I really don't see how.
Firstly, those bucket endings are very one-note and repetitive. The entire joke is that Stanley has a bucket, and the Narrator either wants Stanley to get rid of the bucket, or goes on some weird tangent related to the bucket, or (in 1 or 2 cases) something else weird happens with the bucket. That\'s it for all of the 10+ bucket-related endings. It\'s the same joke, over and over.
Secondly, the fact that those bucket endings reuse the already existing endings to do something that feels derivative of those endings. Not only does this feel lazy, but it also means that the gameplay effectively boils down to you going down a checklist, like \"alright, let\'s run through all those old endings again just to see what\'s different with the bucket\". Since you\'re not required to have to search for those and to pay attention to any clever ways in which they may be hidden, the element of surprise and discovery is largely gone.
Thirdly, those bucket endings constitute about 60-70% of the new content. This is what the developers decided to spend most of the development time on. They could have given us actual new endings hidden in interesting places and each one doing something different, but instead only gave us a few of those, with the rest being small variations of the same joke in pre-existing locations. Considering that the trailers promised new endings, this feels like a pretty underhanded case of Exact Words.
And lastly, those bucket endings miss the point of the original ones and don\'t seem to have any idea as to what they are trying to accomplish. Let me explain this one in detail.
In the original endings, the game centered around the themes of choice, decision-making and control. Some endings had the Narrator get increasingly irate or unhinged as a result of defying his will. Some had him being just as much of a puppet as Stanley. Some had him comment on the player going out of their way to try to do something unintended, no matter the cost. Some had him comment on how Stanley has no control of his life and knows nothing beyond pushing buttons. Some had him reinforce the point on how a narrative is needed in order to have a story. There was a variety and a degree of coherence to these endings.
By contrast, the bucket endings, on top of being one-note jokes, don\'t follow those themes and instead seem to either be a half-hearted \"don\'t cling to dumb gimmicks, maybe\" or just random nonsense with no meaning. What makes it worse is that unlike the original endings, the Narrator\'s narration doesn\'t feel like smoothly leading into whatever outcome you have chosen. Sometimes he\'s perfectly happy to just narrate Stanley being obsessed with the bucket, and sometimes he does a sudden 180 and unexpectedly wants Stanley to get rid of the bucket. The former is bad because there is no real conflict or intrigue, and the latter is bad because it contradicts the narration beforehand (and also the fact that, you know, the Narrator gave us the bucket himself). This is accentuated all the more by how those endings are very clearly trying their damndest to fit something bucket-related into the mold of the original endings, when those originals were intended for a different narrative entirely. It\'s very lackluster, if nothing else.
This is what I mean when I say that Ultra Deluxe doesn\'t really know what it\'s trying to do, and how the new content feels tacked on. It doesn\'t mesh with the original content writing-wise, and creates this overwhelming feeling that all the initial \"sequels are bad and by the numbers\" mockery is disingenuous.
Just because it all adds up to around 4 hours of content, it doesn\'t mean that said content is good or free of criticism. I\'m not saying that all of it is bad (there were definitely moments of brilliance in there), but all that bucket nonsense... just no.
Agree to disagree here. I loved how the bucket was enough for the Endings to change in a mayor way. It made going for all Endings interesting because I didn't know what they would be about now.
That knowing what they are about now kills its replayability? Yeah, it does, but here's the thing: Stanley Parable (and all its remakes) are games that you should only play once. They are games that once beaten cannot be played again. Yet being play-once games is not a bad thing at all, just check other games like Yume Nikki or The Return of the Obra Dinn.
Again, what a way to missrepresent all the bucket Endings by simply describing them in their most basic levels. Anything can sound terrible if you do so, watch: Plumber jumps on turtles and rescues a blonde girl (the Mario franchise), Peter Pan-wannabe fights a dessert king (Zelda), Kids save the world by playing card games (yugioh), Japanese writter steals the stories of both Jerry Siegel and Wu Cheng'en (Dragon Ball), Penis jokes save the Universe (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann). You see?.
If anything, what you did here was describe the theme of the game: Narrator vs. Bucket. Seeing how humor is subjective, then is only a matter of taste if you like it or not. You didn't, but I did.
I still don't see the problem here. As I already said, I loved how all the Endings (save for 3) were changed in mayor ways and the expectation to discover if they would end up being their own things (Countdown, Confusion, Apartment, Games and Window Endings) or if they would be counterparts of the originals (Freedom, Museum, Escape Pod and Real Person Endings).
Yeah, because creating all the assets used in said Endings and recording all the new lines for the Narrator is simple and takes little time, right?.
Same thing could be said about the original. Remember that this game lacks mechanics, all you can really do is walk around and occasionally open a door, there aren't too many ways to create new content without touching old material.
Don't see how the element of surprise being gone is bad. As for the element of discovery? I already explained how it still exists.
Love how you discard the bucket Endings as new Endings sorely because you didn't like them. Sorry bucko, but that wont fly here, they are new Endings like it or not.
Don't see how. The trailer never promissed an expanded building, you were the one that left your imagination fly wild. This one is on you.
And who said that they were forced to follow said themes? If anything, forcing the new content to follow the same themes and topics of the original one only limits the developers's imaginations because they are limited in what they can do.
Dude, this game, being honest, doesn't require conflict to work. And I already explained were the intrigue went.
I haven't seen any point of the game were the narration is contradicted at all.
With 9 of the Endings being actually their own things without being a repeat of the original but with bucket, am gonna say that I disagree here.
It doesn't need to.
Again, this only happens once, on only one Ending. The rest of the new Endings have their own themes.
True, however the same could be said about your review.
Yes, but during that first time, I should at least go into an ending not knowing what to expect. That\'s not really the case when every time, I\'m already expecting the Narrator to make some weird joke about the bucket, and being at least half correct every time.
Can you in all honesty say that this is an interesting theme? As in, a theme that makes you think, instead of just going \"haha funny joke\"? The original endings tended to be more interesting than just \"haha funny joke\". That\'s one of the many reasons why all the bucket tomfoolery does not live up to the standard of the original TSP content, and is disappointing as a result.
Just because something had a lot of work put into it doesn\'t prevent it from feeling lazy depending on how it is presented, written or executed.
No, it cannot. In the original, you didn\'t just beeline to the specific spot already knowing where to find an ending, you had to search for them first (assuming you didn\'t try looking it up in a guide, that is).
When I say \"actual new endings\", I mean endings that are hidden down new paths that were previously not there, like a door that now suddenly opens when it didn\'t before, or the way the vent ending is handled. They may be endings, but they are not satisfying endings.
I advise against using phrases like that, it really makes it sound like you are just trolling instead of trying to have an actual discussion.
Can you honestly tell me, in all seriousness and without a shred of irony or trolling, that when the trailer claimed to have new endings, you immediately thought \"ah yes, those new endings are going to be in the exact same spots as the old ones instead of being in new places\"? Can you really tell me that this was your train of thought on that?
Because if your answer is anything other than a firm and definite \"YES\", then this is absolutely not just \"on me\". And if your answer IS a firm and definite \"YES\", then I think there\'s no point in continuing this discussion, because you clearly operate on a different plane of reality than the rest of humanity.
The original TSP was made with the express purpose of exploring those themes. Adding a large chunk of content where no real theme is being explored and is instead just a load of \"haha funny joke\" muddles the original message and makes the original endings worse by proxy.
So you\'re basically saying that you\'re okay with the new writing being much less inspired than the original?
Let\'s start with the fact that the bucket endings can only exist as a result of the New Content ending. The bucket is presented in that ending as a deliberate gimmick, one of the random, loosely connected gags that the Narrator came up with to try to pile them together into something that resembles a sequel. A by the numbers, uninspired sequel.
As a result, the bucket is a representation of that theme and causes every one of its endings to be an extension of that. Which means that, since all of those endings center around the bucket, and there is very little else OTHER than the bucket endings, this means that the mockery behind the New Content ending falls flat, since a large portion of the Ultra Deluxe\'s content is dedicated to a joke that was supposed to be a commentary on how uninspired sequels add pointless gimmicks to extend the runtime with thoughtless filler.
That\'s what really gets me about the bucket endings. They are either an unintentional irony on the part of the developers, or a deliberate middle finger to the consumer. Either way, I\'m not exactly happy about what went down here and feel that what we got is disappointing at best and insulting at worst.
Man, oh man, where to begin?.
That is on you then. If you were already predispossed to be dissapointed then you will be dissapointed.
Yes, yes I can. I was interested in seeing how every Ending would change all the way through.
Is that really necessary? Not everything has to be this awe-inspiring voyage that makes you reconsider what you have been doing with your life. Sometimes a little bit of light-hearted humor (or as you call it "HAHA funny joke") is enough after a hard day, and believe me when I say that the entirety of TSP (yeah, including both the original HL 2 mod and its first remake) would fit the latter category.
Definitions of the word "lazy" as seen in Merriam-Webster:
-1a: disinclined to activity or exertion : not energetic or vigorous -b: encouraging inactivity or indolence -2: moving slowly : SLUGGISH -3: DROOPY, LAX -4: placed on its side -5: not rigorous or strict
As you can see your argument doesn't fit any of the definitions of the word "lazy". You are misusing said word.
Dude, besides 4 Endings (and 2 of those 4 I am adding them reluctantly) the rest were given to you in a silver plater. Countdown? Press the "On" button. Mariella Ending? Climb down the stairs instead of up. Apartment Ending? Pick up the phone that the Narrator puts in front of you. Nearly all the Endings were in plain sight.
Yet they are still Endings. Simply because you don't like them is no reason to ignore them fully.
Yes, yes I can. When I saw the trailer I was already wondering if the developers would modiffy the old Endings and how would they do so. So yes, I can indeed say that that was indeed my train of thought.
Bravo! Congratulations! You just did it! You outed yourself as a troll!. Who else but a troll would consider their opinions facts and that anybody that dares to disagree with them is just wrong?. I mean, what else could this argument meant if not that you are calling me wrong for daring to have an opinion you disagree with?.
Also, it is a little bit ironic that you of all people said this, after all, you warned me earlier that I should be careful of what I said because I could be misconstrued as a troll, yet here we are, with you saying that me disagreeing with you on this makes me "operate in a different reality from the rest of humanity".
How? How is any of this true, at all? Those Endings still exist, you can still get them. If you cannot ignore the new content when doing the old one then that is on you, not on the game.
Yes, because I don't think is "less inspired" more than its inspiration is taken from different sources.
No. Not at all. The bucket doesn't represent anything. The bucket is just a random prop, as are the Adventure Line and the Cardboard Baby. If you are giving the bucket a bigger meaning than the one intended, then that is on you.
Or maybe, just maybe, you are reaching way too far and are seeing meaning in things that actually lack one. Again, not every product must be an intellectual voyage.
You know, I could keep going and trying to explain my point, but honestly, by now I feel I\'ve explained my stance sufficiently and in a satisfying manner, regardless of how much you\'ve been trying to twist or nitpick everything I said.
The bottom line is, a non-insignificant number of people feel that the bucket endings were a bad way to go about implementing the \"new\" endings, and that isn\'t going to change no matter how much you are going to dismiss it as us being \"greedy\", or it being \"on us\", or what have you. We personally saw the original TSP as something more substantial than just a load of \"haha funny joke\", so it is disappointing to us that the bucket is the bulk of what Ultra Deluxe offers.
If you feel that we are wrong on the grounds of \"well, I found it funny, so your argument is invalid\", then you do you. Or, to put it another way...
My goodness! Is it 4:30? I\'m supposed to be having a back-sack-and-crack!
Seeing how many holes your arguments have had till now, I disagree.
Care to prove that point? Am not gonna let somebody accuse me of twisting their words without evidence.
Okay. Where did this "non-insignificant number of people" come from? You were talking about your opinion only prior, and now you are trying to spin it as if you were always talking about a group opinion? As if! Where did you get those opinions? Do you have a link?.
I have never made such an argument. If anything, you were the one that did, remember?:
Remember that one? You still haven't apologized for being this rude.
I liked The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe, I played it for seven hours and saw all (well, most - I\'m probably missing something) of the new content, and I thought it was witty and funny and good. I\'m too lazy to argue though, and I can also totally see the viewpoint that nearly all of the new endings are bucket-centric, although I still found them interesting enough.
Don\'t even bother. If you do, he will call you a weirdo as well (or, as he succinctly put it, he will say that you \"operate on a different plane of reality than the rest of humanity\").
Very well, I will answer this one.
To confirm that I\'m not alone in thinking that the buckets were a bad idea and that they undercut Ultra Deluxe\'s messages, one needs to look no further than the negative Steam reviews of the game. As in, something that even Ultra Deluxe itself brings up.
As for the \"plane of reality\" thing, it\'s taken out of context in regards to what I was talking about. I specifically asked: can you 100% seriously say that you looked at the game\'s trailer, saw it promising the new endings, and immediately jumped to the conclusion that those new endings are going to be in the EXACT same spots as the old ones?
I don\'t think it\'s unreasonable to believe that any normal person who watches the trailer would see the promise of the new endings and think \"oh, they\'re probably going to be hidden in either new spots or ones that were previously not used for anything!\".
As such, the only conceivable way you could unironically answer yes to that question is if you either:
A) Were capable of seeing the future;
B) Had such improbable skills of deduction that you\'ve long left the rest of humanity in the dust, and thus, were living on a different plane of reality;
C) Had such a pessimistic outlook on the developers that you immediately assumed they\'d take the least inspired approach to adding the new endings. (And yes, I will maintain my belief that this an uninspired approach.)
This is what I meant, and I intended it as a way to call out what was, at least in my mind, a very dubious claim that me not coming to the same conclusion as you is, quote-unquote, \"on me\".
Now, one last thing I\'d like to say before I move on is to reference a post made by the TV Tropes admin: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=9xsy30x1xevp2pf5uo6kcoym&page=1#1![](\"https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/external_link.gif\")
\"A post containing a bunch of quotes each followed by a reply is like the International Symbol for \'trolling in progress.\'\"
I personally found that to be a very interesting statement.
Okay, that answered one of my questions. Now, answer the next one: Why do those reviews matter? We were talking about our own opinions alone, why would it matter what the kid of the store owner next block thinks about the game? It neither strengthens nor weakenss your argument because it has nothing to do with our discussion here.
Sorry bucko, this wont fly either.
What somebody thought of the trailer and what they expected out of the remake heavily depends on their taste, opinions and life experiences, so this "normal person" cannot exist because everybody will have their own take on it, like it or not.
Yet again this shows that you only care for your own opinion and that you will call anybody else that dares to have a different one a weirdo at minimum.
But it is on you. I mean, who was the one that thought that the building was gonna be expanded? You. Who was the one that thought the developers would hide 20 new endings in unused areas? You. So who was the one that let their imagination fly wild and then was dissapointed because the final product didn't cover all your expectations (something that, at least in my opinion, was never possible because from the very beginning)? You. You should have tempered your expectations.
Gives me a 404 Error.
Oh maybe I need to reply in this way otherwise I am unable to produce a meaningful and coherent reply because I would get distracted easily and would quickly change what my point was about? Have you ever thought of that?. Remember, not everybody thinks the same. Some, like me, can get distracted quite easily and need to be reigned down to make some sense.
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Ultra Deluxe is a game about committing a mistake ' ' ironically ' ' to convey a message
TSP Ultra Deluxe is a re-release of the Stanley Parable that tries to showcase how all those remasters and remakes lately tend to be overpriced and either very pointless and/or diluting the original experience... and does so by committing the exact same mistakes as them.
The basic premise is this: you have the original game in a mostly unchanged form (aside from the Games ending...), which had a few graphical enhancements done to it and then the New Content™ tacked onto it. The said new content is the Narrator spending a very long time discussing how sequels nowadays are just more of the same with a few new gags and gimmicks added... and then the game hands you the Bucket of Reassurance and tells you to run through all of the endings you already saw in the original release, just so you can then bear witness to bucket-themed versions of them.
That's... pretty much what most of the Ultra Deluxe is. There's very few new endings that DON'T involve the bucket. From how trailers claimed there would be new endings, you'd think that those new endings would come from new paths that are hidden throughout the game (like those very few non-bucket ones), not from rehashing the existing ones. To me, this is very disappointing.
And I'm sure I know what you're about to say. It's supposed to be like this. It's supposed to mock how remakes and remasters do this. But... this doesn't change the fact that Ultra Deluxe also does it itself. If I were to shoot someone to death and then turn around and say "See? Shooting people is bad!", that's not really gonna excuse me from the fact that I just shot someone to death.
TSP Ultra Deluxe is the equivalent of giving Davey Wreden $25 so he can then put on an elaborate lecture about how you just wasted your money. A lecture that can be entertaining at times, but... still.
The end result of all that sequel and bucket tomfoolery is a game that feels bloated, unfocused, and not really knowing what it's trying to accomplish. And if that was the goal, then, well, you achieved it, but... to what end?