Originally Posted By karla (21 FEB 2012 8:08pm)

Ooooh, you're on staff now, CB? Great!

 

You can be in charge of banning people.

Ouch. I hate you.

On the other hand...maybe...I'm far more adept at filing and making coffee.

Originally Posted By karla (22 FEB 2012 11:02am)

Also...

 

Thank you.

Right! We all know there is only one way to stop this pattern of behavior.

I have deleted the last two posts in this thread.  If there are any further personal attacks on anyone, this thread will be locked.

I fully support locking this thread should anyone -- and I mean anyone -- get out of line from this point forward.

Please confine comments to the thread's topic: Dear Esther. Posts about anything else will be deleted. I'm disappointed that it's come to this.

I feel JAS3 has been quite patient and restrained concerning what's been going on in this thread.  I consider that to be very commendable. Neither of us enjoys having to come down on anyone. And as I mentioned earlier in this thread, we go out of our way to avoid doing so

But enough is enough, guys. Give it a rest.

Game looks amazing in 3D, wish they have more adventure games in 3D.

Regarding this thread I agree that it should be about the game, not BS talk. Get enough of that crap as it is. Lets talk AGs and move on.

Is there an actual retail release, or is this one of the fan-made DVD covers for exclusively digital  (usually Steam) releases?

I may just have to give this game a lookie look... sounds interesting....perhaps the next one will have puzzles..

risGer,

Bice to be back on topic and on topic ONLY !

I don't know what the graphic IS except that it is relevant to Dear Esther (which u=is good enough for me) !

I can;t read any of the text on the 2 'text banners - maybr others can and it is due to mught extremely bad sight - and my strongest magnifying glass just makes them'more blurred and out of focus.

Pity - could be thaat they decipher the 'mystery' ?!?

Other than having more modern graphics and 3D movement, how is Dear Esther any different from "multimedia experiences" like Gadget and Legend of Lotus Spring? I'm not seeing the "innovative" part of it.

Its a wispy 'minor key' stroll across an island, more pure 'experience' than Gadget say, which did have things to fiddle with and which was much more ambitious. Dear Esther is very simple, really just a gesture.. not a game by conventional standards and you need to be open to that. There *is* nothing innovative about it Jenny, just a nice production.

I've started through a second time to examine it more closely and to see how much additional narration might exist. The narrator is very good and contributes considerably to the overall success of the experience. After a day on the busy streets I quit enjoy it.

On the other hand I dislike the whole Steam thing intensly and regret that it was ncecessary to go through them.

Originally Posted By Len Green (24 FEB 2012 6:43am)

 

 

I can;t read any of the text on the 2 'text banners - maybr others can and it is due to mught extremely bad sight - and my strongest magnifying glass just makes them'more blurred and out of focus.

 

Pity - could be thaat they decipher the 'mystery' ?!?

The text reads as follows:

"Dear Esther is a ghost story, told using first-person gaming technologies. Rather than traditional game-play the focus here is on exploration, uncovering the mystery of the island, of who you are, and why you are here. Fragments of story are randomly uncovered when exploring the various locations of the island, making every each journey a unique experience. (sic) Dear Esther features a stunning, specifically commissioned soundtrack from Jesssica Curry.

"Forget the normal rules of play; if nothing seems real here, it's because it may be just all a delusion. What is the significance of the aerial -- What happened on the motorway -- is the island real or imagined -- who is Esther and why has she chosen to summon you here? The answers are out there, on the lost beach and the tunnels under the island. Or then again, they may just not be, after all..."

That having been said, I had a look at a bit of Dear Esther over on YouTube the other day. Permit me to don my digital artist hat for a moment and say that I think the graphics in the clip I viewed are exquisite. It's not easy to create such haunting beauty.

As has already been mentioned, Dear Esther is far from a "traditional" AG. However, I found the atmosphere and narration in the portion I viewed to be compelling. I also found the music quite appealing.

Based on what I've seen, I think Dear Esther is simply captivating -- however folks want to categorize it. Kudos to thechineseroom and Robert Briscoe for being so creative and for daring to try something different.

Originally Posted By Mr Innocent. (24 FEB 2012 3:03am)

Is there an actual retail release, or is this one of the fan-made DVD covers for exclusively digital  (usually Steam) releases?

 

http://therewillbetuna.blogspot.com/2011/02/dear-esther-box-art.html

Ah-ha! Great detective work, CB!

Hi Karla :-

Many thanks for taking the trouble to send those two blurbs.

Of course I do not agree with their opinions as I popinted out in my earlier posts here.

Sorry to repeat but I' not impressed by the various write ups coming from different sources - I still think that the definitive classification is written by STEAM themselves who list it under "Adventure Games" and refer to it as a game. IMHO it is NOT.

Hoever that is not my main criticism ! Whatever it is classified as, my personal opinion (certainl;y not shared by everybody is thet it is a complete bore and is not worth paying US$ for (or ANY US%;s to be honest.

I agree that the narrator's diction is first class - but that;s about all IMO !

"Karla --- That having been said, I had a look at a bit of Dear Esther over on YouTube the other day. Permit me to don my digital artist hat for a moment and say that I think the graphics in the clip I viewed are exquisite. It's not easy to create such haunting beauty".
I'm sorry to totally disagree. If the "game's" graphics are superb then my name's Picasso.

Please Google "Dear Esther chapter 3".
 

Sorry - that's my opinion - others may disagree - but please go there first before disagreeing. TIA.

Gametrailers, of all sites, decided to review Dear Esther. It is rare to see a PC exclusive being reviewed on that site to begin with, so I was really surprised to see a Dear Esther review on there.

Link to the review

It certainly has gathered quite a lot of attention in the PC gaming community. Love it or hate it, everyone seems to want to see it for oneself, and then talk about it.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has published 2 reviews for it( from different contributors, of course), one rather lukewarm, one fairly impressed with the game.

I certainly will have a look for myself, but 10$ seems a bit steep, not so much because of the lenght, but for the possibility that I find myself in the hate crowd. Won't be more than a couple of months before it's 50% off, anyway.

I did watch a youtube video of Chapter 3, and even at 360p compression, it looks sumptious. I have to wonder if maybe Len watched a video of the mod instead of the commercial game.

"Mr Innocent ---  I did watch a youtube video of Chapter 3, and even at 360p compression, it looks sumptious. I have to wonder if maybe Len watched a video of the mod instead of the commercial game."

I don't know but if you Google "Dear Esthern chapter 3" I'm pretty sure that you'll see the commercial STEAM version.

I haven't played the mod version (nor do I n]intend to !) but I have great doubts that the same professional narrator played in that experimental version... But I may be wrong - perhaps somebody can confirm  ??

But in any case, I finished chapter 1 and although the graphics in thhat we not as terrible as in chapter 3, they weree VERY mediocre. It wass due to them plus the COMPLETE absense of interactivity that I did not waste my time continuing after chapter 1.  In addition, I didn't find the music or "atmosphere" that some hae praised, anthing whatsoever to shout about - on the contrary as far as Iwas concerned.

But Diff'rent folks --- etc.

Originally Posted By Len Green (24 FEB 2012 2:48pm)

I'm sorry to totally disagree. If the "game's" graphics are superb then my name's Picasso.

Please Google "Dear Esther chapter 3".
 

espite miy monitor being set super-bright, the chapter seems to be in 80% to even 100% blacness - and what is just about visible is IMO boring, repetitive, and without any artistic value.

Sorry - that's my opinion - others may disagree - but please go there first before disagreeing. TIA.

Did we play the same game? Chapter 3 is the cave, right? I don't remember any blackness at all, the cave was fully lighted in most areas due to the phosphorescent walls, and was only slightly dim in a few parts.

Thanks for your input Walsh

Maybe Mr Innocent is right - and those  U-tube video's ARE of the original Mod and not of the final STEAM game. If that is so, then it clears up a LOT of the differences of opinion.

Can anybody definitively say for certain ?

IMO, it needs somebody who has BOUGHT the game to make a screenie of some scene in chapter 3 in the actual game, and another of the U-Tube video of a similar scene.

If the former really IS brriht-bright  whereas the video is almost black darkness (using the same computer& monitor settings of course) then that would obviously  solve the huge discrepancy !!

Dear Esther 2012 vs. Dear Esther 2008

As the only one who seems to have played  the offical Steam version just let me say that it's worth the beer equivilent money. Ten bucks? yeah its a bit much but with so little to work with these days...  Lasted longer than a ten buck bar tab let me tell you!

Originally Posted By tincup2 (25 FEB 2012 7:04pm)

As the only one who seems to have played  the offical Steam version just let me say that it's worth the beer equivilent money. Ten bucks? yeah its a bit much but with so little to work with these days...  Lasted longer than a ten buck bar tab let me tell you!

Agreed!

All right!

So that makes two of us who've played the Steam version...

And enjoyed it.