Official trailer for Campo Santo's Firewatch

The dialog was weak, but the voice acting was just awful. Visually looks very nice and happy to hear its not just an interactive story.

But man, that dialog. I wouldn't think too much of it, they are a small team and it was just a trailer but I can't picture any of the guys watching that and saying "Yeah that's good".
 
Cardon said:
Looks amazing. Also, is that Rich Sommer doing the voice of the main character?
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Ah, I knew I'd heard that voice before, and I knew it was from Mad Men but I couldn't pinpoint which character.

Anyone know who the woman is? IGN said that the devs didn't want to announce VAs, but that they said "people who have seen recent award winning TV shows and movies might recognize them." Obviously we know who does the MC now, but I can't figure out who the female is.
 
This seems very promising. I'm looking forward to learning more about it in the coming months. The art is fantastic.
 
Holy crap the graphical style looks good. Props to Olly of course, but even more to whoever coerced Unity to render it that way!

My guess on the VO, which I agree sounds a bit awkward (esp near the beginning), is that it's composed of clips stitched together from throughout the game.

I thought the music was quite good -- is that Remo's work?

I have a ton of confidence in the Campo Santo team. I love their views on game narrative as expressed on Idle Thumbs, and I'm looking forward to seeing their combined philosophies expressed in this game.

Edit: that closing visual: wow.
 
Looks very promising. Loving the setting and art style and the fact that we seem to have a main character that doesn't match the stereo typical game character aesthetics.

A lot of people seem to hate the dialogue, but my immediate impression was that the dialogue seemed to be taken from a particular sequence that was not in the trailer. From that stand point it just seemed to give me an idea of what might be going on in the game in a more overly dramatic cryptic way. I dont see that as bad at all for a trailer and I've seen far more cliched nonsense from video game trailers. Reminded me a fair bit of the walking dead style of urgency and drama. If the dialogue was always like that I would have an issue with it, but if it is fairly diverse I'd be very happy.

The pax showing seems to be suggesting that it is indeed heavily dialogue and exploration based, which is definitely more of what I want for sure!
 
I liked it, dialogue and all.
Though the female voice over being (or osunding exactly like) the one from QUBE was a bit jarring
 
Hmmmm, if you guys think this is bad dialog I'm not sure you know what bad dialog is.

Compare any of the dialog to 'that wizard comes from the moon.'

Also, I really feel like the guys voice matches his hands and legs.
 
colinp said:
Hmmmm, if you guys think this is bad dialog I'm not sure you know what bad dialog is.

Compare any of the dialog to 'that wizard comes from the moon.'

Also, I really feel like the guys voice matches his hands and legs.
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Nah, its a criticism of the trailer. Not the game. The game has always been supposed to have a staggering amount of unique dialogue. Or at least thats one of the first things I remember hearing about it.

Its just a weird trailer. The visuals are gorgeous, but theres like no sound effects or music. Its really really flat on an emotional level. I dunno. Can't wait for the game.
 
PAX gameplay demo (about 15 min)

Yup, that's definitely the dialogue choices out of Walking Dead but during in-game rather than a cutscene. Game seems pretty funny, although you can't hear the game audio so well.

The Boombox moment is hilarious.

They seem big fans of the whole responsive dialogue thing based on level design and scripting like Bastion.

Not an open world game, definitely still a narrative focus but you can express yourself (much like I think he means like in a Deus Ex or adventure game with lots of interactions). There is some item gating, like Arkham Asylum.

"What if you called Delilah from inside the toilet and were out of toilet paper?"
 
colinp said:
Hmmmm, if you guys think this is bad dialog I'm not sure you know what bad dialog is.

Compare any of the dialog to 'that wizard comes from the moon.'

Also, I really feel like the guys voice matches his hands and legs.
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Its a spectrum, its not black and white. Something being laughably bad doesn't then make something else that's awkwardly bad suddenly good.

I can think of worse lines than that wizard came from the moon, but that doesn't make destiny's catch phrase any better.
 
There is actually a good interview here by Wyoming (oh yeah btw the game is pretty much the brainchild of Nels Anderson and Sean Vanaman who are former Wyoming...ians?) Public Media that pretty much spells out what the game playing expectations should be and what it's about:

http://wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/new-video-game-will-be-set-wyoming-wilderness
Firewatch is set in the vast Shoshone National Forest in 1989, a year after the devastating Yellowstone fires. Nels Anderson was born and raised in Jackson and remembers the fires.

"I was pretty young but I still vaguely remember what that summer was like…towns constantly smoky," says Anderson. "That was the thing that always growing up, it’s summer, it gets really smoky for a few days and people worry about their house getting burned down, that’s normal right? And actually that’s not an experience that most human beings have to live through."
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Firewatch is what's called a first-person exploratory adventure game with a focus on plot and dialogue. What sets Firewatch apart from many video games is that there are no aliens, zombies, or monsters. Vanaman says it strives to be about real people from a real place.

"The game is basically about the relationship between two people set in the Wyoming back country. The game is not about challenge or defeating enemies," says Vanaman. "It's about learning to be the person that you are and forced to make dialogue decisions in conversations with someone you're getting to know. But at the same time, you’ll be uncovering a mystery."

The mystery unfolds as the protagonist maintains radio contact with his supervisor. Based on those conversations and decisions, the player dictates the direction of the game’s plot.
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"We'll be using real cities names," says Vanaman. "People are from real places in Wyoming in a real time and talk about how there's a rodeo every night in the summer in Cody. What it's like when there's traffic between Jackson and the Tetons, road construction I should say. Hopefully we make good on…"

"The Wyomingness." Anderson finishes Vanaman’s sentence. "On all the Wyomingness," chimes in Vanaman. "That way we can go back to our respective towns and not be…"

"Ashamed," says Anderson.
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So yeah, don't expect emergent rolling things down hills gameplay, but if you're into responsive player actions like stamping out fires or collecting shit and throwing it, this will be up your alley.

Sean Vanaman calls the game very GIF-able. But he says JIF (24hr01m50s) goddamnit.
 
first-person exploratory adventure game with a focus on plot and dialogue
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d1zz2Xj.gif


I can't get enough of those type of games.
 
Can someone please make an attempt to tell me what, exactly, you're hearing in the dialog that makes it sound so awful to you? The quality of the VA sounds the same to me any other dialog heavy game of the last few years. Seems on par with Walking Dead, Mass Effect, Skyrim, etc. It ain't Hollywood but it sounds fine to me.
 
Just watched the 15 gameplay demo from the panel. Wow. I'm totally in for this!

It seems like your decisions will actually be meaningful, and I hope they can deliver on that. I hope the dialog will be as dense as it was in the demo too.
 
RadarScope1 said:
Can someone please make an attempt to tell me what, exactly, you're hearing in the dialog that makes it sound so awful to you? The quality of the VA sounds the same to me any other dialog heavy game of the last few years. Seems on par with Walking Dead, Mass Effect, Skyrim, etc. It ain't Hollywood but it sounds fine to me.
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Its just too much dialogue for a trailer. We don't know these characters. Theres literally ZERO context for any of it. Its just kinda.. offputting I guess. Speaking as someone who watched the trailer on a phone while on lunch at work.. it really didn't grab me. If I ran my own super amazing video game stupid with all my genius best friends I'd have gone for something more minimal and tone-piecey to put 100% of the attention on the visuals. But I don't.. so..

whatever. The idea of this game makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and after reading Griffy's description and a few other descriptions of the gameplay demo I have to say I'm confident the final product will be a lot better than this one 2 minute video.
But you never know.
 
Jtwo said:
Its just too much dialogue for a trailer. We don't know these characters. Theres literally ZERO context for any of it. Its just kinda.. offputting I guess. Speaking as someone who watched the trailer on a phone while on lunch at work.. it really didn't grab me. If I ran my own super amazing video game stupid with all my genius best friends I'd have gone for something more minimal and tone-piecey to put 100% of the attention on the visuals. But I don't.. so..

whatever. The idea of this game makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and after reading Griffy's description and a few other descriptions of the gameplay demo I have to say I'm confident the final product will be a lot better than this one 2 minute video.
But you never know.
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I also watched this on my lunch break and it wasn't what I was expecting and can see how you thought that. I watched it again now, at home, and its definitely the way to watch it. Then I watched the panel, which had the introduction of everyone, the gameplay demo, Q&A, then the trailer again, and damn, it really clicked.

I get that that needing to go through that means the trailer doesn't work, but then again it seems like a game that can't be trailierized.
 
For sure, quote, and I should have said I watched a few more times tonight and it's a lot better after having seen it a few times. I think Sean on Twitter said they'd be doing a stream from back home for the people who missed the pax one. I'm excited for it. I'm a little hesitant to even see more because it looks so promising.
 
I haven't gotten a chance to watch the stuff fro the panel yet, but just based on the trailer I'm loooving this so far. Even the voice acting, I guess people maybe don't like it but I think it sounds pretty good.
 
RadarScope1 said:
Can someone please make an attempt to tell me what, exactly, you're hearing in the dialog that makes it sound so awful to you? The quality of the VA sounds the same to me any other dialog heavy game of the last few years. Seems on par with Walking Dead, Mass Effect, Skyrim, etc. It ain't Hollywood but it sounds fine to me.
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I agree. It's the TLOU-level but it's totally fine. I think the lack of context makes it feel awkward to some people.
 
Anyway, great trailer. Really creppy vibes
LuchaShaq said:
Man was excited but it being first person and the whiney bickering from Henry has me pretty bummed.


A very non fan of first person exploration/platforming/story telling/puzzles. Mirror's edge, Gone Home, Portal etc etc. Not a fan of that type of stuff in the slightest and this seems right up that alley. I just think all of that stuff is vastly better done in third person.
!
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I think all of those are a lot better done in FPP. The exploration is far more satysfying, the puzzles are more interesting this way and especially in a set up like this it's better way to tell a story. 3rd person perspective kills the immersion and at most you can aim for cinematic storytelling, which isn't something this kind of story seems well suited for. I mean, looking at this trailer it seems meeting other people will be pretty rare
 
Does this game have tinges of the supernatural? It kinda feels like that. Unless what draws us into the world is an arsonist that you're searching for. Or your own madness.

This and Vanishing of Ethan Carter have got me super-intrigued.

Messofanego said:
So yeah, don't expect emergent rolling things down hills gameplay, but if you're into responsive player actions like stamping out fires or collecting shit and throwing it, this will be up your alley.

Sean Vanaman calls the game very GIF-able. But he says JIF (24hr01m50s) goddamnit.
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Yeah, cause that's the correct way.
 
I think the reason the dialogue seems off to some people is because the lines in the trailer are completely out of order and taken from a lot of different parts of the game. Watching the gameplay demo (although it's a little hard to hear clearly) I think it sounds perfectly fine.
 
-griffy- said:
It's quite interesting seeing the game finally after having listened to the Idle Thumbs Podcast for so long. This game really seems like the sum of all the things they love from all the types of games they admire or have worked on previously, whether it's the bespoke content of Gone Home, the adherence to the first person viewpoint of Far Cry 2, the dialog/relationship building of Walking Dead, etc.
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Hmm, I don't know about that. I would say that the games they seem to spend the most time on are mechanics or strategy-focused without much traditional narrative. Kind of the opposite of the games they make.
 
Thanks for the replies. It seems the trailer just wasn't what people were expecting. It's more along the lines of a movie teaser, evoking the feel of the story and the relationship between the two characters rather than tipping off gameplay.

I sincerely hope that the negative reactions aren't a result of people just thinking the "about last night" conversation is somehow too mushy or dumb. Literally countless interesting, difficult and thrilling conversations have started with the words "about last night" during human history. There's nothing groan worthy about that unless you're lacking that life experience.

Because I can't find any reason why someone would think the VA itself bad. It's just a snippet. But I do understand now that the disjointed lines could be jarring. In a movie trailer you can more clearly see the cuts between scenes. Hard to get that from a first-person view.
 
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