Eh, it wasn't all that great. The atmosphere was nice in spots but the flow of the 'investigations' got repetitive at a point, I just felt like I was going through the motions which surprised me considering the game is only around 3-4 hours long. By the end I just wanted to finish the story, which had a pretty dull conclusion.
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The Vanishing of Ethan Carter |OT| A first person murder mystery (PC)
- Thread starter peakish
- Start date
I'm the type who can enjoy a nonsense game or story purely on the technical finesse OR artistic merit of its presentation. I enjoyed both Dear Esther and Heavy Rain. But I unfortunately didn't find anything particularly impressive or engaging about the atmosphere, story, art, or technical achievement here. Nice music though.
exmachina64
Banned
It's virtually identical.
A photo comparison was posted earlier in the thread and it's also present in the "Making Of" pdf. It's at the starting location of the game, so it's not a spoiler.
Thanks for the reminder, things are much better after I set the value at 1800 (3Gb card). Any hitching now sticks out like a sore thumb and is clearly loading related:
223, 4076.462
224, 4139.395
Still annoying how frequently this happens, but mitigated by walking everywhere I suppose!
Finished the game this weekend, really enjoyed the whole experience.
First of all, holy shit these graphics are amazing, probably the best looking game I've seen. And it runs great.
Regarding gameplay and story, It's not what I was expecting at first. It's more focused on story than on investigations - I imagined that further scenes will be more complex and have much bigger scope, however, that first murder scene turned out to be probably the most difficult one. That said, I wasn't disappointed, more like pleasantly surprised, because I found the story really captivating. I loved how the game sets the it's mood and ideas and plays around with them, everything fells really coherent.
The atmosphere is amazing, very melancholic, it feels that the time has stopped in this dying valley village. I very much enjoy exploring abandoned town/buildings, so this game was a treat for me.
The main complaint would be that sometimes the game is a bit too confusing about where player should go next. I appreciate that it doesn't hold your hand, but a few parts were just ridiculous, e.g. the part when I had to find a cave leading to the mine - I was lost in that area for a good 30 mins. Why didn't they use vision power to show where that hole was? And it's a hole, not a cave, the dialog was misleading.
Overall, I'd really recommend this game to play through during a lonely autumn evening. It took me only 3-4 hours, but the quality is easily worth the price. Imo short, but packed experience is better than a long stretched one.
First of all, holy shit these graphics are amazing, probably the best looking game I've seen. And it runs great.
Regarding gameplay and story, It's not what I was expecting at first. It's more focused on story than on investigations - I imagined that further scenes will be more complex and have much bigger scope, however, that first murder scene turned out to be probably the most difficult one. That said, I wasn't disappointed, more like pleasantly surprised, because I found the story really captivating. I loved how the game sets the it's mood and ideas and plays around with them, everything fells really coherent.
The atmosphere is amazing, very melancholic, it feels that the time has stopped in this dying valley village. I very much enjoy exploring abandoned town/buildings, so this game was a treat for me.
The main complaint would be that sometimes the game is a bit too confusing about where player should go next. I appreciate that it doesn't hold your hand, but a few parts were just ridiculous, e.g. the part when I had to find a cave leading to the mine - I was lost in that area for a good 30 mins. Why didn't they use vision power to show where that hole was? And it's a hole, not a cave, the dialog was misleading.
Overall, I'd really recommend this game to play through during a lonely autumn evening. It took me only 3-4 hours, but the quality is easily worth the price. Imo short, but packed experience is better than a long stretched one.
ToyMachine228
Member
Really hoping they get this on consoles quickly. Watching more and more of it on PC and I really want to play it for myself.
Eurogamer review - 9/10
exmachina64
Banned
Nice.
I've updated the op with some of the published reviews I could find. I probably won't add anything more, it's already a bit too bloated and readers should get the point by now.
Some of the discussion here is pretty cool, when playing I didn't really consider the family very much beyond what was presented to me up front. I still feel like parts of the game are disconnected from the ending, but I might revisit the game to think things over a bit. Tom Bramwell (Eurogamer) also noted that the warning of not holding your hand that's put up in the beginning might be talking about the narrative as much as the "game play."
Finished it last night, really enjoyed it. I wished there was more to it, but that's not even a criticism, I just wanted more reasons to explore that environment. Reminded me a lot of Murdered: Soul Suspect, actually. Crossed with Myst or Dear Esther maybe. And some of the "stories" are must see events imo.
Looking forward to what this team does next.
Looking forward to what this team does next.
This game must be played at least twice, to really appreciate its story, because the "proper way of playing it (that everyone tries in their first playthrough) is technically the wrong way. In your second playthrough, ignore the bodies, don't touch them and just continue on your path, collecting all the items as you go (but don't put them in their place!). Hint:
in the mines, Ethan's mother wanted to go up to deal with the Sleeper.
Game was great sort of. I didn't get to see the end of it. I solved the
Mine Gate puzzle before solving all the murder mysteries, the game is now permanently glitched with the gate blocked off with rubble and a tentacle sticking through the gate. I guess the developers didn't plan on anyone solving the puzzle before all the murder mysteries were done. It was an easy puzzle too, wonder why their QA didn't foresee this?
There was another glitch that I think was already patched where the game could get stuck in that state, sorry to hear you got hit by a similar one.
I played about 30 minutes of mordor.. eh.. it's ok I guess. one of those long burns
Then I fired up this game and WOW... the visuals are STUNNING. It looks like what I wished modded skyrim looked like... and it runs flawlessly too which is even more amazing (compared to modded skyrim)
Then I fired up this game and WOW... the visuals are STUNNING. It looks like what I wished modded skyrim looked like... and it runs flawlessly too which is even more amazing (compared to modded skyrim)
artsi
Member
Looks better for sure. Baked (static) lighting probably helps with performance, I doubt it would look/work as good if the lighting was dynamic like Skyrim.
Kotaku - "YES"
I must say, though, that there's one thing about this review I don't get.
I love Nathan Grayson's writing, but this kind of stuff in game reviews always perplexes me. What do you guys think?
I must say, though, that there's one thing about this review I don't get.
How can you miss the first murder scene? Like, HOW? I really don't get it. I don't think there's a way of getting to the graveyard without going past the brother's corpse and the train, is there?
Or perhaps there is another exit and the game is not linear at all?
CheesecakeRecipe
Stormy Grey
If I'm remembering correctly,
you can keep following the tracks and make a left turn where the grandfather fetches the stone from, which will take you to the next part of the area without actually seeing the body. But there is also blood streaks, so...
I'm not sure what that has to do with his issue,
I'm pretty sure once that part is glitched the game cannot be completed because the changes made to the game world don't trigger unless you see the entire sequence, thus the ending requirements cannot be met.
Could you elaborate?
"Another story, kid. What else?"
SolidSnakeUS
Member
All I know is
when I went too far down into the mine and ignored the warning sign, when that fucking thing showed up and grabbed it, it's probably the loudest I've ever screamed at anything lol.
cripterion
Member
Game looks good and so far solved 2 memories but what's up with the stuttering? Does it need to be installed on a SSD or what? Shit is really annoying.
-tetsuo-
Unlimited Capacity
I still don't get what you are saying.
One more 9/10 score and this game will have the 999 Herman Cain achievement.
RPS doesn't do numerical score but it read like a 9.
IMO, 404 of Ethan Carter already got the Herman achievement.
There is inspiration from Lovecraft, maybe Poe, etc. in the story, but the game is not soley focused on those elements.
If it's stuttering when you enter a new area, I think that's just Unreal Engine 3. If it's stuttering all the time, I didn't experience that problem but this might help:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=131763626&postcount=563
cripterion
Member
Ok thanks, will try that. It's not all the time, but I noticed while walking a couple of distances.
If you're getting >60 fps you may not like this fix as it simply caps your framerate. Huge difference in clarity for me going from mostly 70-90fps to a locked 62fps. I followed another suggestion which was to increase the texture poolsize so game can draw on more VRAM. In the same .ini file, find 'PoolSize' and increase the value to that which corresponds to your VRAM, using 600 for each Gb. Default is 500 iirc, so in my case I changed the value to 1800. Less micro-stutter now, but as Blizzard says you're stuck with the UE3 loading hitches.
Oh, and if you go down this route don't forget in Steam to set '-ReadTexturePoolFromIni' as launch option.
Final thoughts after finishing dicking around with the settings:
Charming little game. In the end this was a story about
. Not what I expected at all, the game certainly succeeded in keeping me guessing! Luckily, due to my obsessive attention to the environment I had very little backtracking to do, but can see how others found it annoying. One thing gnawing at me slightly is the
. The game will be remembered by me though for its mesmerising beauty. A few repeating textures and tree models aside, the spell wasn't broken once. Awesome work by the Astronauts, I'll be watching what they do next with great anticipation.
Charming little game. In the end this was a story about
an imaginative, sensitive boy withdrawn into fantasy by a small-minded family from the backwaters
lift platform at the back of the first house you encounter, are you supposed to fix it? Would've been a welcome shortcut but alas I finished the game before I managed to look at it again
FlyingSaucer
Banned
Absolutely beautiful game, but I have a quick question: I resolved the
mystery, met an
, visited the house and the cemeterary. Right now I've entered the mines, but did I miss anything important on the surface ?
train
astronaut
You were supposed to find all the traps in the very beginning, but don't worry about that: you'll come back from the mines pretty soon and will have access to the whole area. Furthermore, the game will simply not end until you've finished everything.
I've seen a couple of different fixes posted -- can you describe your system, where the stuttering occurred, and how it acted? Someone might be able to give you a more educated answer than me, but see the previous 5-10 posts on this page for some info.
SolidSnakeUS
Member
Beat the game tonight and man, it's a great damn game. I don't play these often, but with quality like this, even if you're not a fan, you should play it.
Tricky to say without giving things away. If say if you like Lovecraft, Jules Verne and the like you should at least smile at the elements of the game that reference such material.
What the story is actually about is something you have to uncover yourself and depending on your mileage you'll like it, will be ok with it or may even feel cheated.
I liked it, loved the great references to Verne, Lovecraft and Poe (amongst others) and found the reality of the story satisfying and rather touching even if I've encountered this tale before.
If nothing else it sure does look purty. My wife actually puttered about a bit in it like a visual tourist ahe was so take by the tone and design.
FlyingSaucer
Banned
I see; thanks !
Completed forgot about these ones; I've triggered two such traps at the very beginning but I didn't found any other one before progressing to the bridge. Well, I will see
Tried changing the ini that was suggested and still get crazy stuttering. This is on a 2500k, 12gb and a GTX970.
VFX_Veteran
Banned
Hearing a lot about this game. Will have to give it a go at some point in the near future.
You also
missed something in the woods near the cemetery/mines
CyanideFuse
Member
Not sure if you are still stuck here.
You need to find 5 bodies in the mines. Avoid the monster with the lamp - any bodies you have found will be remembered if you get caught and put back to the entrance.
Further spoilers to this part:
Go back to the room with the symbols on the floor - the five bodies will be stood in specific places on top of symbols.
The blue outline on the symbols relates to the blue symbol on the entrance across the other side that you get to interact with. On the interactive entrance: Correspond the blue symbol with the etched icon on the floor to open it.
The first-and-last symbols of the sequence are found on the piece of paper at the bottom of the stair case you follow to go up to the symbols.
The first-and-last symbols of the sequence are found on the piece of paper at the bottom of the stair case you follow to go up to the symbols.
CyanideFuse
Member
I was totally blown away with the graphics. I could play it through just to take more screen shots.
Is there an alternative ending to this, or at least an alternative way certain things pan out. I thought I read that only touching the dead bodies and not investigating would do something?
Here are some post cards:
Is there an alternative ending to this, or at least an alternative way certain things pan out. I thought I read that only touching the dead bodies and not investigating would do something?
Here are some post cards:
Nice text about Ending from Astronauts Crew (Devs)
http://www.theastronauts.com/2014/10/vanishing-ethan-carters-ending-extreme-spoilers/
http://www.theastronauts.com/2014/10/vanishing-ethan-carters-ending-extreme-spoilers/
patch #3 coming this week according to their twitter. hoping.
Constantly, or only while moving between areas? What FPS are you getting? Do you have any utilities running for the graphics card, peripherals, etc.?
*edit* Also, what driver version?
That's very strange, though I'm not sure if anyone else in the thread has a GTX970. Unless it's CPU-limited or something. I have an i5 that might be slightly faster.
I wonder if they're actually putting little jokes like this in places we can't reach. Is there a way to move freely around the map in God mode or something? If you can, someone check the middle of the lake!Update #3 notes said:
It's probably just them being goofy with patch notes.