Night in the woods

Gregg Rulez OK.

Seriously though, I went Bea heavy my first run and it was heavy. Then I went Gregg/Angus and is was even heavier.

So I beat the game last night. I felt the ending came out of nowhere and was somewhat rushed. It opens a bunch of questions that are never answered. Everything was fine when we were looking for ghosts, since there being a ghost in the town was hinted at since the beginning. But then everything suddenly went Lovecraft in the last hour of the game and it doesn't make any sense nor does it fit with the tone of the game. Like, if these magic people were sacrificing people for the prosperity of the town, then why does the town suck so much? Was Aunt Molly a part of this? Where did Gregg get that crossbow (note I didn't play his story)? And the story never really resolves. The group's response to all this cosmic horror boils down to, "We're scarred for life, but hooray for pizza!" Moreover, there were essentially no meaningful choices in the last part like there were in the rest of the game. I think the game should have stuck with the focus on Mae's friends. If they wanted to do something supernatural, they could have just stuck with the ghost story.

I still enjoyed the game though. It had a surprising amount of content for a story based game (my playthrough was about 11 hours) in addition to having excellent art and music. The game also had A+ characters and writing with some deep emotional moments. It's just a shame the conclusion was so disconnected from the rest of the game. I'm also unsure about replaying it. Though I do want to see Gregg's story (and the parts with Angus I missed), I would have to replay the parts of the game I already did. The game would have done nicely with a chapter select after you beat the game.

Also, that rhythm game is brutal. I did fine on the first two songs, but that last one was slaughter, though I'm sure there's someone here who aced Through the Fire and Flames who will say it was the easiest thing ever. It sucks that you can't see the lyrics without losing your focus on the notes though.

so I'll break down the spoiler bits by number so I don't have to reference anything in that spoiler block directly

1: It was also hinted at several times, largely in the library, and by Aunt Mall Cop

2: Because it's a stopgap, it won't stop the bleeding, and they're too scared to realize that.

3: Probably, remember one recognized her voice immediately. She also arrives immediately every time she runs into evidence of the cult

4: It's in his playthrough, don't worry it's accounted for.

5: ok this one I have to spoiler: ghosts would not work here, because the enemy is ultimately a stand in for capitalism. Always hungry, always demanding more, but the price is always too high, and the benefits short lived

6: The End has a lot more closure in Gregg's playthrough, I think. Bea is good, but she doesn't have plans to leave. Possum springs is dying. Nothing and no one can stop that. You can't go back, you can only go forwards.

Also seriously, just play gregg's playthrough. It has a LOT of important stuff you miss when you choose bea instead. They're both important, but 50% is still 50%. Play again and do the choices you didn't the first time.

edited 27th Feb '17 10:24:54 AM by Lanceleoghauni

I hadn't completely put together point five but dang good point.

The Lovecraftian elements are also hinted at in Mae's dreams and in the sideplot about getting those two musicians together.

edited 27th Feb '17 10:25:18 AM by Bocaj

another spoiler: the cults tactics are also more or less a direct mirror if the "blue collar red state voter" prioritizing them and theirs over, say, the poor and friendless, or immigrants. Like seriously, half of this game is talking about how capitalism can't save small towns.

edited 27th Feb '17 10:27:54 AM by Lanceleoghauni

People are already doing covers of the songs.

Oh, yay. The songs actually had a nice beat to them and some pretty good lyrics and I thought it was such a shame nobody would ever know them because there was no vocals and you would be too busy looking at the QT Es to read them. Hopefully they get around to making one for Die Anywhere Else.

After some reflection, I've warmed a little to the ending but it's probably still my least favorite part of the game. Not necessarily because it's bad, but because the rest of the game was so spot on in its writing. The ending also has an abundance of spelling and grammar mistakes that are only rarely seen in the rest of the game. I didn't notice my first playthrough because I was so absorbed in the game but watching a stream of it they really stick out like a sore thumb. Hopefully they patch those at some point.

Just checked the trope page again—wow, I'm so used to seeing the real one's logo that I didn't even realize at first that Snack Falcon is a Fictional Counterpart of Wawa. Somehow, I did get the feeling that it was in Pennsylvania, though.

oh yeah! The entire town is more or less a Fictional Counterpart to like, Pennsylvania.

Tell me about it. Weirdly, it's actually a less depressing Dying Town than the real ones, at least it doesn't have signs in the windows of all the empty buildings begging someone, anyone, to buy space in them. (Actually, the one I'm thinking of recently experienced a surge of prosperity again—should we be checking the tunnels for an Eldritch Abomination?)

Also, when I saw the Clik Clak Diner, it made me think of the Tik Tok Diner, a local one from my aforementioned hometown with a similar aesthetic...

even with half the buildings being boarded up, yeah. Somehow less depressing.

So I just finished the game after buying it last Thursday with a gift certificate on a whim, and I just have to say: Wowza. This was game was amazing. The characters were amazing, the writing was amazing, the graphics and soundtrack were pretty good, and for an adventure game, there was a surprising amount of content. It even made me think about my own life; about where it's going and what I should be doing with it. And for a game of all things to do that, that's something special.

I also wasn't sure if I was on board with the ending either, but thinking about it, it does actually make sense. It's more of a metaphor for the town and the characters' situations than anything else, with the world crushing down on everyone and everything, and everyone feeling like there's nothing they can do to escape until they ultimately decide to just accept the end when it comes, and to just keep on living and enjoying life until it does. Because the world is always ending. There's nothing anyone can do about it, and certainly not our heroes. All they can really do is live. Which is all anyone can do.

Now is it a bit rushed? Yeah, probably. They basically just Dropped a Bridge on the cultists, and while I understand that the gang would probably get themselves slaughtered if they tried to take them head on, it would have been nice to have some sort of final confrontation rather than just having them accidentally cause a cave in. But when you get down to it, that's far from the most important part about the game, and it still makes sense if nothing else.

But yeah, great game. And the best part is, I'm still not done with it yet. Still need to play through Greg's route and see what I missed the first time around. Yays!

Also, keep in mind that the church steps and streetlight are not the only times things in town get repaired and allow further exploration. They sneakily set things to become accessible shortly after you're trained out of checking to see if you can go there. (you can get more time hanging out with Germ, for example)

Streelight? What streetlight? The only repaired areas I know about are the steeple, the bridge to town, and the backlot behind the diner. Is there anything else I'm missing? (Like the streetlight, apparently?)

The streetlight next to the church steps which allow you to access the rooftops

and hang out with Lori M :D

Don't tell me you didn't jump onto the conveniently placed light by the church!

Speaking of jumps, I don't understand why they needed a triple jump. Sure it's fun, but you only use it to get to the rooftops when they could have just made them accessible with normal jumping. Not like anyone other than cats and mice can jump/climb that high anyways.

edited 1st Mar '17 6:17:57 PM by TruthHurts22

...

D'OH!

Seriously though, I think I may have gone onto the lamppost once or twice, but if I did, I never met anyone by going to the rooftops and nothing ever came of it. Guess I'll have to check them out a bit more thoroughly this time around...

takes awhile, but Lori M eventually offers to show you stuff down by the tracks. doesn't use up a day so go for it.

Yeah, it threw me off, but Germ, Lori M and Mae's mother have special "hang out" events that don't advance the day, but you typically only get one shot to say "Yes", making them easy to miss.

I'm guessing her father does too, but I haven't seen it yet.

Hey, Gunheart, nice avatar... >:3

I turned down Lori the first time because I thought it would use up a day but thankfully she asked again a couple days later

I made a point of talkzing to everyone and going everywhere everyday

I missed Germ's the first time because I thought it'd end the day, even though he assured me it wouldn't. I assume he just takes you under the bridge to meet Rabies like he did the second time. I didn't complete Lori's story because I missed the fact that you could jump on the lamp there for one or two days. Still completed the rat quest though.