I didn't finish this game. I started playing it like four weeks ago, played it all throughout a weekend, and haven't touched it since until I played a short while today. I can't imagine actually finishing this game.
I'll start by saying I really like the stories from the road. It's a nice varied collection of vignettes. Sometimes realistic, sometimes supernatural. Sometimes a microcosm of a longer narrative, sometimes just a happening you've seen on the road. The best of these stories can really sit with you. Also, I really like the mechanic of stories growing to be tall tales; it just jives with the actual phenomenon it's trying to show.
But, the game between those stories just isn't good. The character stories should be the anchor of this game; it's the thing that should be bringing you back until you traveled the whole country. But, for the most part, the character stories aren't really even stories; there's no development as you progress, instead you just learn more about the character. The first person you'll meet in this game is Quinn and, from what I've seen, that's the highlight of these stories. You get a sense of him growing more cynical between the chapters as people screw him over, and it's heartbreaking to see this kid's portrait transform into a grizzled wolf in the final chapter. Knowing that the final chapter for these stories features a new portrait got me excited to at least see what the art change is, even if I'm not particularly interested in the character. And then I got to Mason, and the final chapter portrait was just the lamest, most hack portrayal of PTSD I've ever seen. The character stories vary in quality, but at their worst, the characters are just overly broad depictions of a type of person in 20th century America (PTSD veteran, socialist coal miner, black porter, etc) that lack any characterization outside of their stereotype. It's offering depth to a stereotype, but not an actual character.
Also, the actual experience of playing the game just isn't fun. Traveling sucks no matter how you do it, and reorganizing your story inventory to try to maximize your effect on a character is just so lame a process. I think the biggest flaw in this game is that it's scope is just too big. Obviously traversing the entire country is a ridiculous ask, but I also think that there are just too many road stories. Like when you pass by Columbus, OH and there are three different stories popping up, you just have to rush through them. There's no time for the those stories (the best part of the game) to actually marinate, and soon you're looking at the story menu and trying to remember what the hell happened at the Creepy Sawmill in Cleveland.
The little vignette road stories are the best thing this game has going for it, and the game around it does a disservice to those stories, unfortunately.
I'll start by saying I really like the stories from the road. It's a nice varied collection of vignettes. Sometimes realistic, sometimes supernatural. Sometimes a microcosm of a longer narrative, sometimes just a happening you've seen on the road. The best of these stories can really sit with you. Also, I really like the mechanic of stories growing to be tall tales; it just jives with the actual phenomenon it's trying to show.
But, the game between those stories just isn't good. The character stories should be the anchor of this game; it's the thing that should be bringing you back until you traveled the whole country. But, for the most part, the character stories aren't really even stories; there's no development as you progress, instead you just learn more about the character. The first person you'll meet in this game is Quinn and, from what I've seen, that's the highlight of these stories. You get a sense of him growing more cynical between the chapters as people screw him over, and it's heartbreaking to see this kid's portrait transform into a grizzled wolf in the final chapter. Knowing that the final chapter for these stories features a new portrait got me excited to at least see what the art change is, even if I'm not particularly interested in the character. And then I got to Mason, and the final chapter portrait was just the lamest, most hack portrayal of PTSD I've ever seen. The character stories vary in quality, but at their worst, the characters are just overly broad depictions of a type of person in 20th century America (PTSD veteran, socialist coal miner, black porter, etc) that lack any characterization outside of their stereotype. It's offering depth to a stereotype, but not an actual character.
Also, the actual experience of playing the game just isn't fun. Traveling sucks no matter how you do it, and reorganizing your story inventory to try to maximize your effect on a character is just so lame a process. I think the biggest flaw in this game is that it's scope is just too big. Obviously traversing the entire country is a ridiculous ask, but I also think that there are just too many road stories. Like when you pass by Columbus, OH and there are three different stories popping up, you just have to rush through them. There's no time for the those stories (the best part of the game) to actually marinate, and soon you're looking at the story menu and trying to remember what the hell happened at the Creepy Sawmill in Cleveland.
The little vignette road stories are the best thing this game has going for it, and the game around it does a disservice to those stories, unfortunately.