Firewatch | Spoiler Discussion

Wasn't a huge fan of the ending or the final reveal. It just seems like there are a lot of things left out.
H and D built this relationship and at the end it just oh lets forget about each other and you just go back to your wife that probably doesn't remember you.

I liked the game and I'm glad I bought it, it was a great experience, but the ending was underwhelming for me.
 
I just finished the game, and I'm left with the feeling of "Is that it?"

I'm still trying to work out why
Ned was watching Henry and Delilah. Was it to try and stop them from finding the body?
 
I posted one of the lower scoring reviews and was just baffled when I saw the streams of high scores coming in. It's not a bad game by any stretch, but it wasn't really what I wanted it to be.

For starters, I never really felt Henry behaved in a way befitting of his situation. I get that everyone deals with grief differently, but the intro - and the choices I picked - seemed to paint him as a tortured soul. So I was a bit baffled by much of his banter. The voice acting's great, but I never really felt like Henry was a character who'd been pulled through the wringer.

I also struggled with all of the Ned stuff. I get what they're trying to do: they're trying to subvert the expectations of the genre by leading you down the garden path and then resolving things in a very anticlimactic way. The problem is that it's almost impossible to care about Ned and his son when you barely even know who they are.

And to that point, I don't think they really do much with Henry's struggles either. Like, if you took away the intro sequence, the game would play out exactly the same - it just wouldn't have the opening emotional gut punch to hang its hat on.

It's an alright game that keeps you guessing and sparks conversation, and like I say, I love the voice acting, presentation, and even some of the banter. I just think it's all a bit unconvincing, and I doubt it's going to live long in the memory like many of the inflated review scores suggest that it will.
 
yeah,
the conspiracy stuff
went nowhere and felt like wasted time. but I liked the relationship between Henry and
Turtle
, really well written. :)
 
I still feel like this is something that had other plans at some point. The odd item interaction really does make me feel that at one time puzzles or real puzzles were planned or something. Its just a bit more shallow than I had assumed it would be.
 
Forerunner said:
Wasn't a huge fan of the ending or the final reveal. It just seems like there are a lot of things left out.
H and D built this relationship and at the end it just oh lets forget about each other and you just go back to your wife that probably doesn't remember you.

I liked the game and I'm glad I bought it, it was a great experience, but the ending was underwhelming for me.
Click to expand...

Yeah part of me feels Henry got treated just like he treated his wife. When someone you have some semblance of feelings for just ups and leaves! I can't tell if Ned was doing all this to hide his guilt but then plants a beacon on the backpack that has the cave key, so then he wanted to be discovered which is it?
 
For such a short experience it's hard for me to unpack it all now, but my initial impressions were that the game succeeded in creating a good dynamic between two interesting main characters, had an excellent atmosphere and phenomenal score, but failed to deliver on the mystery or deliver any kind of satisfying resolution.
There was no emotional connection to the father and son (maybe we could have/should have encountered them earlier?) The red herring of the research site was kind of lame and just having Delilah tell Henry the teen girls had been found alive in jail was tension-deflating.
I know that, like Gone Home, the creators feel a grounded narrative has more weight (something like that?), but in this case I felt they could have taken the narrative further without abandoning what they set out to achieve. I also felt it was too short, and while I didn't necessarily want more padding, I would have liked more moments like encountering the teens, or more days in-between of just doing errands in the woods.

Overall great game that I plan to return to soon. And glad I bought the soundtrack!
 
Kensuke said:
It's never explained however why 1. the research facility is not on the map, 2. why D doesn't know anything about it, 3. why scientists would leave expensive research equipment unsupervised there.
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It is simply a benign soil research station or something. I guess the government didn't bother to tell D because bureaucracy or something.
 
Karak said:
I still feel like this is something that had other plans at some point. The odd item interaction really does make me feel that at one time puzzles or real puzzles were planned or something. Its just a bit more shallow than I had assumed it would be.
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when I opened one of those deposit boxes I could pick up a rock and thought "ooh! there's probably something special about it!" I've been rotating a stupid rock for a minute like an idiot.
 
Are we sure that the story about Ned is true? Because that's not what I got at all. I totally think Ned's story is a red herring.
 
HP_Wuvcraft said:
Are we sure that the story about Ned is true? Because that's not what I got at all. I totally think Ned's story is a red herring.
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Yeah. I definitely got the sense that there was something off about that, though I can't say that this is the case for sure.
 
Plus waking up in the middle of the night and actually hearing Julia, never actually meeting Delilah. Either there's something we haven't figured out or it's just more of the same, weird for weirdness' sake
 
Maels said:
Plus waking up in the middle of the night and actually hearing Julia, never actually meeting Delilah. Either there's something we haven't figured out or it's just more of the same, weird for weirdness' sake
Click to expand...

I just interpreted that as a dream. I believe Delilah even mentions at one point that she heard Henry "talking to Jules" in his sleep.
 
careksims said:
I have to agree with many here that the payoff was just... eeeeh..... I was expecting something really big. All this time I was thinking: Is the government involved? UFOs!? A monster?! Oh, I wish it was :(
Click to expand...

I suppose that's the issue I had - expecting something bigger and turning out to be almost "nothing" in comparison. Which is kind of my own fault I guess :P

But I really enjoyed everything up to that. Loved walking around in the great atmosphere and talking with Delilah and just seeing where the story went.
 
I just finished it and I'm a bit disappointed.

I really enjoyed what I played but the twist and the lack of payoff really made me wish for more.


I also don't understand the connection between Ned and the research center. When Harry went behind the fence Ned followed him and and took the transmitters to make him found the tapes? But why? I could have easily left them at Henry's place. Also how would he know that that would work? Why would they leave without all their equipment still in working conditions, the lights on and sleeping bag still there? Felt like those items were there just to trow the player of the mark.

And regarding the radio did he have it for 3 years or did he take it after seeing Henry? How could he listen to their conversation and their conversation only? This might have been answered in Ned's cabin since I didn't really look for stuff when I was there but it's bugging me a bit.

I think that the game might've been better without the conspiracy stuff. Just building Henry and Delilah's relationship.

Maels said:
Plus waking up in the middle of the night and actually hearing Julia, never actually meeting Delilah. Either there's something we haven't figured out or it's just more of the same, weird for weirdness' sake
Click to expand...

That was explained in game, Henry called Delilah in his sleep and she let him talk.
 
I loved how personal the payoff was and that it wasnt some crazy out there sci fi thing, and the way the what seemed like a somide story about the father and son tied into the main thread. Excellent game, my goty so far.
 
Just finished the game and absolutely loved it, I felt the tone of the ending was spot on, I don't think there needs to be a massive payoff to have a satisfying ending.

The only question that remains in my mind is
what was the deal with the burned down cabin.
 
Where was the Ron and his amigo stuff? I must have missed it which imo is completely understandable. I found it hard to go off the beaten path (literally) since 99% is 4' walls and bushes.
 
halfbeast said:
when I opened one of those deposit boxes I could pick up a rock and thought "ooh! there's probably something special about it!" I've been rotating a stupid rock for a minute like an idiot.
Click to expand...

LOl you just repeated pretty much exactly what one of the reviewers said on our podcast. We had a group of them get together and just discuss the title and at least 3 brought up the pinecones and the rocks.
 
Kierian said:
Just finished the game and appositely loved it, I felt the tone of the ending was spot on, I don't think there needs to be a massive payoff to have a satisfying ending.

The only question that remains in my mind is
what was the deal with the burned down cabin.
Click to expand...
Kinda forgot about that but yeah, wonder what the deal with it was. When you first go there and ask D about it, she just doesn't respond and it's never brought up again. I feel like I must've missed something.
 
jediyoshi said:
That doesn't coincide with detailed psychiatric reports there about them.
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Ned broke into the base and planted the tracer device and tracker and the reports. You can see drafts of the reports and a plan for how to get into the base in his bunker-cabin.
 
Finished the game and absolutely loved it. However the ending it left me feeling....mixed?

I can't helped but be disappointed that this relationship these two built up over the past 2.5 month didn't have an real conclusion other than D being to scared/apprehensive about meeting Henry and everything that happened at the end. There was certainly a sense of longing and loss there. Like a friend moving away and never truly getting the chance to say goodbye.

In a way, nothing changed in Henry's life. Despite being out there all this time when he gets back to civilization his old depressing life will still be there waiting for him to continue where he left off whereas D is going off to possibly bigger and more interesting things.
 
Finished it, gave my 2 cents if the OT, will expand a little more here.

This is the spoiler thread for the game, but i'm seeing a lot of spoiler tag write-ups in here, so I don't understand this dynamic, if I should spoiler tag my thoughts let me know and i will do it right away.

So, I don't understand the the connection between a lot of the things you encounter in the game with Ned and his son. For starters the game seemed to lead for some supernatural and creepy events with the background of some former workers notes, when the plot took this turn to Ben and his son I simply didn't care for it enough, when it was revealed that the mysteries come from Ned it made me question what is going on about people missing, including the girls. What about the Delilah conversation on the radio that Henry wasn't supposed to listen? The researching center? it just seem to be a lot more than it actually is, that made me a lot more disappointed than the actual ending with Henr and Delilah, the back and forth was really amazing and those two had a great chemistry, but both seemed broken and not ready for that step.

Another thing I don't know if I liked is about the conversation choices, it kinda works like Telltale games, but it's not like they are commiting to having you make really fast decisions or else you will miss the dialogue, it felt confusing to me when actually I had to choose fast or not.

A lot of great stuff in the game. The story is intriguing, the dialogues are fantastic, I felt the gameplay mechanics were smooth and the game is gorgeous. I love the stories told by Delilah and when the game became tense I REALLY felt the heating of the moment, it was more powerful to me than simply getting scared (which is definitely not the game design, we all wondered before).
 
TUSR said:
I just got Gone Home'd.

Extremely disappointed with the conclusion. Good setup, no payoff.
Click to expand...

But Gone Home was really good and was exactly what it built itself up to be. The subtle misdirection there was just a bit of subversion. The red herrings in Firewatch were just... red herrings. If you made it more than 30 minutes into Gone Home thinking it would be more than a story about Sam & Lonnie you misread the text. Firewatch is just super muddled by comparison.
 
Gattsu25 said:
Was I the only person confused why Delilah's tower was in the center of the map during the ending?
Click to expand...

The tower is beyond the northern border of the map. Maybe that got the game confused and placed the cursor on the map somewhere in the middle?
 
Just finished it.

On the one hand, I really enjoyed my time with it, but I do agree with reviewers that the ending kinda lets it down, like Gone Home (and maybe even U
ntil Dawn
(2015 game)?) - once the curtain has been lifted it kind of retroactively dampens the prior experience and also ruins replayability.

Still though, beautiful game, and I really liked the dialogue and voice acting.
 
Noray said:
But Gone Home was really good and was exactly what it built itself up to be. The subtle misdirection there was just a bit of subversion. The red herrings in Firewatch were just... red herrings. If you made it more than 30 minutes into Gone Home thinking it would be more than a story about Sam & Lonnie you misread the text. Firewatch is just super muddled by comparison.
Click to expand...


That's because in Firewatch every fucking thing you run into feels like it is implying something greater is going on and yet, turns out NOPE. Totally played for straight.
 
ymgve said:
The tower is beyond the northern border of the map. Maybe that got the game confused and placed the cursor on the map somewhere in the middle?
Click to expand...
When I got to her tower I was stuck for less than a minute without knowing what to do.

I checked the map and I'm pretty sure it was placed exactly where your tower should be. That combined with never actually seeing D makes me think gave me a moment of "What the hell is going on?" but then I went back into the tower and found her radio.

It may be nothing I guess.
 
This image sums my feelings up at the end of the game.

tn_1235245586270.jpg


Feel like if I'd payed $3.99 and watched an hour and 45 minute movie that I rented on Amazon then it would have been a great experience (though I guess not with that ending), but this made for a poor game. I really wished the conspiracy would have went somewhere, instead I got a 5 hour Lifetime TV special.

I thought Gone Home was good as a one off type of game, but I don't think I'll be buying anymore games that are just story and walking anymore. I'm going to need at least something else because it just doesn't seem to do it for me.
 
half a moon said:
Watched lirik playing. The graphics and animations were good, but the story was meh. I was hooked at first. I really like the idea until the conspiracy/Ned stuff.
Click to expand...

Gottah say, watching this stuff with that doofus yapping dumb shit all the time isn't the best way to get in a story
 
Garrett Hawke said:
Just finished it.

On the one hand, I really enjoyed my time with it, but I do agree with reviewers that the ending kinda lets it down, like Gone Home (and maybe even U
ntil Dawn
?) - once the curtain has been lifted it kind of retroactively dampens the prior experience and also ruins replayability.

Still though, beautiful game, and I really liked the dialogue and voice acting.
Click to expand...

Until Dawn made me come back right away to the game to take differenth paths, made me care enough to come back and save some people, it was almost perfect to me in the sense of replayability because the choices did play a huge part in the game.
With Firewatch i felt like it was going to take this turn, at least in the beginning to me it seemed like my choices were getting some serious weight later, but it never happened, there are some different dialogues in the end, but the endgame is the same, it killed the replayability to me.
 
I was really enjoying the game right up until the ending, I feel like I didn't get a satisfying conclusion for any element of the story they were telling.
 
1 thing I found a little weird was the handling of Julia, when you compare the very beginning of the game to the end.

During the opening few minutes, I picked the options that very much supported Julia and helped her, and chose to be a good husband. Then throughout the game I chose the options that kept me faithful to her instead of falling for Delilah.

Then at the end of the game, the speech options given almost made it seemed like Henry had moved on from Julia throughout his time in the forest. I think about two thirds of the options were against going back to your wife and continuing as things were before.

Henry's trip to the forest came across to me as just a summer break, not something to use as a way of moving on from your wife.

Not something huge, but something that I felt was a little off.
 
Two things I'm wondering about :

> So, all the pricy equipment was owned by the boy's father ? With all the fences and all ? the twist felt a little "cheap" on that regards.

> Is there a "good" ending with delian ? My ending was that they parted way... I'm cool with an "intimate" ending (at first I was calling something like Deliah is not who she says she is etc., lol.), but it left a bitter taste.

Besides those two remarks, loved the rest.
 
JonStark said:
Two things I'm wondering about :

> So, all the pricy equipment was owned by the boy's father ? With all the fences and all ? the twist felt a little "cheap" on that regards.

> Is there a "good" ending with delian ? My ending was that they parted way...

Besides those two remarks, loved the rest.
Click to expand...
1) No, it wasn't. In the Kinda Funny discussion, they mention that it was just a college experiment/research tracking deer in the park.
 
Anyone else notice that
Delilah calls Henry "Hank" again at the very end of the game? Could that be a clue to something, or just another jab.
 
The game was really pretty and the characters were really likeable and the dialogue was really engaging but in the end I think I just didn't find it very interesting
 
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