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Tell Me Why |OT| Ain't nothin' but a heartache [Mark Spoilers]
- Thread starter Jawmuncher
- Start date
- OT
Played an hour or so of the first episode. I enjoy the siblings well enough so far and I've yet to see what they really do with the flashback stuff, but I think I'm finally getting tired of Dontnod's house style. I went in thinking it was exactly what I was in the mood for but found myself drifting away almost immediately. Helps that the whole thing is already out there, though, I'll probably still go back and play through the rest.
Thank you.
I went back and the title restarted from the checkpoint. To my surprise Alyson does provide that hint which I missed the first time around because, I flipped to another page quickly and Alyson's dialog was interrupted. This happens to be one few qualms I have with the title so far. I can understand doing this for when characters go into cutscenes but I wish the title featured more organic way finishing one dialog before jumping to another despite interruptions (like they do in say GoW and Uncharted 4).
Just finished Ep 2 and my soul is prepared for Ep 3 tomorrow. I am so glad that this title not only exists but that it is, in the greater scheme of things, so darn good.
Their atmospheric lighting, however, really feels like it is on another level when it comes to conveying emotions. They are so fucking good.
I finished the first episode a week ago now, and did not find it that compelling either.
In fact, there's some stuff toward the end of the episode that's left me hesitant to continue.
It's beautiful, and I appreciate that one of the protagonists is trans, but it's not drawing me in like Life is Strange/Before the Storm did.
I still have a couple of weeks left on my Game Pass sub, but I'm not sure if I'm going to be returning to it.
Did anyone else here feel the same way, but persevere with it and feel that it was worth seeing through to the end?
I finished the second chapter yesterday after getting sidetracked with other games, and I really like this. It's easily my favourite of Dontnod's interactive storytelling stuff since the first Life is Strange. I really like the twins and I love the whole premise of the creepy twin connection mixed with some fairy tale styling. It's a lovely looking game, too, and when they stretch their cinematic chops I find it really impressive; the intro cutscene of Chapter 2, the slow-mo musical montage of the twins playing around their house as both adults and children was amazingly well done.
I'm not crazy about the writing, though, specifically how sanitized and clinical it can feel when characters open up to eachother. These characters don't sound like young adults from rural Alaska who've had their lives ripped apart by a traumatic event; they talk like you'd expect TV show teens to talk in a therapy session scene. When one of them comes out with a line like "I was hurting and I didn't feel like you heard me" they just feel like caricatures. There's no trauma so great that picking the right dialogue choice and seeing the happy icon appear at the top right of the screen can't solve before the end of the episode. I can't help but be reminded me of The Last of Us 2, which shares a number of themes with TMW, but is a far more raw, unflinching approach to young adults dealing with brutal trauma and I found the game far more emotionally effective for it. I guess you can say that TMW isn't intended to be put you through the wringer like TLOU2 does, but, I mean, it's a game about two kids who killed their mother, y'know? Trying to keep it light when the subject matter is so inherently dark just doesn't really work for me.
Like I said, I really like Tell Me Why and I'm not trying to shit on it at all. But I think this style of writing is what will keep it from really burrowing down inside me the way the best kind of art does. But I haven't played Chapter 3 yet, so I'll see how I feel after that.
I'm not crazy about the writing, though, specifically how sanitized and clinical it can feel when characters open up to eachother. These characters don't sound like young adults from rural Alaska who've had their lives ripped apart by a traumatic event; they talk like you'd expect TV show teens to talk in a therapy session scene. When one of them comes out with a line like "I was hurting and I didn't feel like you heard me" they just feel like caricatures. There's no trauma so great that picking the right dialogue choice and seeing the happy icon appear at the top right of the screen can't solve before the end of the episode. I can't help but be reminded me of The Last of Us 2, which shares a number of themes with TMW, but is a far more raw, unflinching approach to young adults dealing with brutal trauma and I found the game far more emotionally effective for it. I guess you can say that TMW isn't intended to be put you through the wringer like TLOU2 does, but, I mean, it's a game about two kids who killed their mother, y'know? Trying to keep it light when the subject matter is so inherently dark just doesn't really work for me.
Like I said, I really like Tell Me Why and I'm not trying to shit on it at all. But I think this style of writing is what will keep it from really burrowing down inside me the way the best kind of art does. But I haven't played Chapter 3 yet, so I'll see how I feel after that.
oh interesting !
I really didn't like the writing in The Last of Us 2.It was heavy-handed,and not very subtle for me,with no real interesting characters,and a lot of ludonarrative dissonances .
Even if it's not perfect for me Tell Me Why is more intimate and deeper.But those games are really different,so i don't think we can do a fair comparaison.
But i think Tell Me Why tells a better story about trauma and grief than TLOU2.
Even if it's not perfect for me Tell Me Why is more intimate and deeper.But those games are really different,so i don't think we can do a fair comparaison.
But i think Tell Me Why tells a better story about trauma and grief than TLOU2.
but also for me Mickael was a bit creepy in Tell Me Why ah ah.
"yeah i am interested in you blablabla"
oh c'mon,really ?you don't know me.Who's this guy ?
oh c'mon,really ?you don't know me.Who's this guy ?
Man the art design and environment are top notch. But the facial expressions and animations are rubbish. They should be a few levels higher since they are aiming at deep story telling experience with complex emotions... its been like this in all of their games. The voice acting just doesnt connect with character's faces.
I don't believe Dontnod does facial performance capture at all, which shows. Hand crafted facial animation can be perfectly fine but they clearly don't have the budget to go all out.
I just finished up all three episodes thanks to Game Pass.
I really enjoyed it, for the most part. A couple plot beats that I didn't like:
There was plenty to like though!
I really enjoyed it, for the most part. A couple plot beats that I didn't like:
DONTNOD chickened out with the kiss, cutting to a pulled out shot.
Nobody bothers to tell Aly that the stab wound wasn't fatal and she in fact didn't kill her mother.
Calling Tom to come over like that was really bad. Like "do you want to get murdered? This is how you get murdered" bad.
Nobody bothers to tell Aly that the stab wound wasn't fatal and she in fact didn't kill her mother.
Calling Tom to come over like that was really bad. Like "do you want to get murdered? This is how you get murdered" bad.
There was plenty to like though!
Michael is too pure for this world.
I like the overall theme of how unreliable memory can be (not the first time DONTNOD has covered that ground). It's a fantastic example of why witness testimony is so unreliable.
I figured out who the major characters in the Book of Goblins represented way before the twins did, but there's a few I still ponder.
- the Mad Hunter was, I'm pretty sure, Mary Anne's suicidal ideations/depression.
- who's the muskrat? Tom?
- the Hag? Maybe Mary-Anne's self-image?
I'm a cis dude so I can't say much critically about the representation except that it felt good and I appreciated the active avoidance of trauma porn.
I like the overall theme of how unreliable memory can be (not the first time DONTNOD has covered that ground). It's a fantastic example of why witness testimony is so unreliable.
I figured out who the major characters in the Book of Goblins represented way before the twins did, but there's a few I still ponder.
- the Mad Hunter was, I'm pretty sure, Mary Anne's suicidal ideations/depression.
- who's the muskrat? Tom?
- the Hag? Maybe Mary-Anne's self-image?
I'm a cis dude so I can't say much critically about the representation except that it felt good and I appreciated the active avoidance of trauma porn.
Just finished Chapter 3. I really liked this game. I think it's the best story Dontnod has done yet, with a far stronger ending than Life is Strange 1. Something I always dislike in these kinds of games is when they end with a choice, rather than a consequence. The ending should be the natural result of all the choices you've made up to that point, not one further choice that just boils down to selecting which ending cutscene you'd like to see. I'm really happy with the way they handled it in Tell Me why. It all comes down to the relationship between the twins that you've been building through all three Chapters, the final choice is a something organically woven into each of their character arcs, and there's a playable epilogue where you see (and live with) the consequences of everything you've done. It's wonderful.
Chapter 3 was the best one, too. I think each Chapter was better than the last; three was the right number, and the pacing was just right. I think the character work they did with Alyson in the early parts of the Chapter 3 are the best moments in the whole game; her voice actor was excellent.
Dontnod has reached the point where I'll happily play anything they put out, no questions asked.
Chapter 3 was the best one, too. I think each Chapter was better than the last; three was the right number, and the pacing was just right. I think the character work they did with Alyson in the early parts of the Chapter 3 are the best moments in the whole game; her voice actor was excellent.
Dontnod has reached the point where I'll happily play anything they put out, no questions asked.
Game makers worked with people from Hoonah, a predominantly Alaska Native village of about 800 people located roughly 30 miles southwest of Juneau, to gain insight into life in a small Southeast village and add authenticity to "Tell Me Why." The game, which had chapters released in August and September, and its setting have garnered positive reviews.
"It was always very clear for us when it came to representing the Tlingit culture and art that we wanted to involve people from these communities," said Dontnod game director Florent Guillaume, in an email. "We wanted to get the insight from locals, so they could depict their art style in the most authentic manner.
www.juneauempire.com
"It was always very clear for us when it came to representing the Tlingit culture and art that we wanted to involve people from these communities," said Dontnod game director Florent Guillaume, in an email. "We wanted to get the insight from locals, so they could depict their art style in the most authentic manner.
Xbox marks the spot: New game helps put Southeast Alaska arts and culture on the map | Juneau Empire
Game makers work with artists, nonprofit to portray local culture.
www.juneauempire.com
Just finished the first chapter on game pass. And what a game this is. Really cool story. Why didn't I ever learn anything about this game or try it before. I love Shenmue, I really enjoyed AI: the somnium files & I like Quantic Dream games so I see why I like this game too now.
Hmm looking at wikipedia
Life is strange (only saw a video or played a demo maybe?)
Vampyr, (never seen)
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, (tried a demo for ps4, didn't grab me at first)
Life Is Strange 2, (never seen)
Twin Mirror, (never seen)
Tell Me Why. (Playing now on pc gamepass)
oh wow ok.
And Remember ME,their first game? :)
Twin mirror will be available on December 1, 2020
Captain Spirit is a demo (demo/introduction to Life is Strange 2)
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I wasn't sure about Remember me (I forgot, eh?), so I had to look it up. I think I tried with PS+ on ps4 several years ago, but there was something bugging me about the controls, so I only played maybe 15 minutes or so.
I have finished 2 out of 3 chapters and.. this is the most boring game from them. I dont know if I can finish this. Does it get better?
Is this overrated because of its theme? Also, fix your damn facial animations and expressions at least. Sometimes its like ps3 era with these games.
Oh hell I might finish it so I can understand transgender people better. But this is so fricking worse than LiS 2.
Is this overrated because of its theme? Also, fix your damn facial animations and expressions at least. Sometimes its like ps3 era with these games.
Oh hell I might finish it so I can understand transgender people better. But this is so fricking worse than LiS 2.
If you weren't a fan of the first two, the third won't make any dramatic changes to your opinion.
Blog post detailing the endings (though it doesn't say all, for those interested I made a WIP list of variations before)
www.tellmewhygame.com
Exploring the endings of Tell Me Why | Tell Me Why
Elise Galmard, lead narrative designer at DONTNOD Entertainment, explains which choices in Tell Me Why affect the game’s ending.
www.tellmewhygame.com
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I posted in a other thread about this but just wanted to triple check before I consider playing this.
I'm on a self-imposed ban on DONTNOD games because of the gratuitous violence against the dog in LiS 2. I found it really fucked up, disturbing and over the top. I loved all of LiS before 2 so I was really crushingly disappointed about this. As far as I know they never rectified this or apologized for it or anything. Please correct me if I'm wrong because I'd like to be wrong about that.
Anyway, I was told in the other thread that this game is made by a different writer and director team. I just want to confirm that's the case and also confirm there's no no violence to animals in this game at all.
I'm on a self-imposed ban on DONTNOD games because of the gratuitous violence against the dog in LiS 2. I found it really fucked up, disturbing and over the top. I loved all of LiS before 2 so I was really crushingly disappointed about this. As far as I know they never rectified this or apologized for it or anything. Please correct me if I'm wrong because I'd like to be wrong about that.
Anyway, I was told in the other thread that this game is made by a different writer and director team. I just want to confirm that's the case and also confirm there's no no violence to animals in this game at all.
Rectified?how ?why?
it was not really gratuitous.
but it's not the right topic :D
Yeah Tell Me Why is made by different people. ;)
Rectified in the sense that to me personally it was way too far in gratuitous violence to make a story point, and so different from the respect to animals in the other LiS games. The way they have you firm an attachment to the animal and then only have story options resulting in something terrible happening to an animal is messed up to me. I thought maybe they would have been asked to address it in an interview or something. (I realize other LiS have dead animals in them due to the events in Arcadia Bay, mostly not in a gratuitous way though.)
Sorry, off topic as you said. Thanks for the info. So no violence to animals (or dead animals) in Tell Me Why?.
None. I'm surprised no one replied since you asked this a month ago, so I'll spoiler a bit of all interactions with animals that are still fresh in my head:
In chapter 1, you can feed a group of birds and see that one of the characters in the police station keeps photos of her dogs, even those who have since passed on
In chapter 2, the main characters comment on an owl they used to see in the cemetery and that it's likely passed away since
In chapter 3, Allyson comments on her and Eddy's dog who has passed away years before -- the dog house is still present. When you find who was the mail robber it's a raccoon and animal control is called to safely take the animal away without hurting it. In one of the endings, Allyson adopts a pup
Edit: Oh, and there's a fishing moment in chapter 3, forgot about it. That's the most violent the game gets toward any animal and it's for sustenance.
Like, I didn't play LiS2, but now I'm kinda concerned on checking it out considering how strongly you felt about whatever happens in there (I'm not going to read any spoilers). Both games had different people working it and that seems very clearly on the outcome. Go play Tell Me Why.