Dear Esther Getting Commercial Release

[KorJax]

Honestly it's pretty childish to disreguard a critical opinion because it doesn't happen to match your own expectations.

Everything said in that Dtoid review is valid, and because it happened to cause the reviewer to grossly dislike DE, he reviewed it negatively based on his opinion of it.

Yes, you could argue that he didn't "get the point" of DE. Which makes sense. You could also argue that the review is too attached to default steriotypes of what games are, and as such reviewed DE based on those stereotypes instead of what it actually is.

However a lot of his criticisms (if you actually read the review) don't come off to me as just some guy who's looking to get hits ona website (face it, why would he - nobody outside of modding and HL2 circles even knows DE exists). A lot of what he says does have merit, in reguards to the storytelling not being too effective, the best parts of the game were not explored or taken advantage of (player exploration or interactvity), etc. I can totally empathize with the reviewer's focus on how DE doesn't really take what it did and commit to what it tries to do, and as such the end result feels shallow for the price.

Did he not "get" DE? Probably. It doesn't mean his criticisms are unfounded however, even if people like us see DE more as a masterpiece in artisitc/atmosphere design, and as such will be much more likely to enjoy it as a whole. The reviewer went into it with no expectations, and walked out with what he had written down, and there isn't anything wrong with that, even if his rationalization is flawed and how he approached the game while he was playing it.

[skdr]

Just finished it.

Robert, that was fucking beautiful.

[Chimeray]

Honestly it's pretty childish to disreguard a critical opinion because it doesn't happen to match your own expectations.

Everything said in that Dtoid review is valid, and because it happened to cause the reviewer to grossly dislike DE, he reviewed it negatively based on his opinion of it.

A review should never be an opinion. It should review the product as accurately and objectively as possible and keep in mind the general public and set aside his own personal feelings, so basically the opposite of his own opinion. I hate reviewers that don´t get this. I´m not interested in the reviewer, I´m interested in the product.

Just tossing that out there, didn´t read the review cos I don´t want any spoilers

That being said... How long does it take to complete the game? Since I think it´s probably best played in one go, right?

And how do you limit the FPS to 59? How can I open up the console and limit it? Vsync is not doing what it´s supposed to do

EDIT: Gave up, sigh The tearing is ruining the experience. If anyone can find the command and how to enter it I´d appreciate it a lot!

[Pampers]

fps_max?

it's something like that

[Nysuatro]

Must download faster from steam .... I am ready for it!

[e-freak]

So, I just played Dear Esther.

The Art is the best thing I've seen in a long time. It's simplistic and yet captures the feeling of the hebrids perfectly. My sister is currently living in the outer hebrids on a small island that is somewhat of our family's second home and I couldn't stop thinking how perfectly you matched the feeling of walking across that small island in the middle of nowhere. I love the hebrids and this felt like a long needed going back there.

The narrator was great as well and I guess the writing and soundtrack worked good as well. I didn't understand the entire plot (yet) but hope to play it again to go through the plot again. The overall experience made me go really quiet and in a kind of meditation, almost felt like reading a book.

What I didn't like is just three really small things.

The level conversion made you fall down into the abyss and it felt kind of weird for a so slowpaced game to suddenly jump over the edge.

The second thing is really minor but I think in some places more clipping geometry to make for a smoother movement would have been nice (got stuck once in a fence and once in the cave).

And the third thing - it didn't play the credits when the game finished. Maybe I just missed out but having to manually go back to the main menu (after waiting a minute or so) felt a bit odd. I had hoped to get a deep breath, like the final pause in an orchestra piece and then see the credits and go back to the menu. As said: really really minor, it didn't spoil my experience.

[Serenius]

A review should never be an opinion. It should review the product as accurately and objectively as possible and keep in mind the general public and set aside his own personal feelings, so basically the opposite of his own opinion. I hate reviewers that don´t get this. I´m not interested in the reviewer, I´m interested in the product.

A review by its very nature is an opinion, an evaluation. What you're asking for is a press release minus the extra-flowery marketing text.

Can't wait to finally check this out after seeing you guys spew on endlessly about it for the past two years.

[Rick_D]

started the game, fell in the water and died.

huge meaningless diversions at a walking pace that is physically painful.

broken narration, voice acting that tries it's hardest with the mindless hipster shit that is the script.

great art, nicely executed, really well done visually. pity about the pretentious hipster shit that went along with it.

you should give the level to someone who can tell a story and knows that enabling running doesn't make a game less of an art.

i give it 10/10 arts

0/10 gameplays for hipster faggotry

[Mazy]

Just finished it as well, what an absolutely wonderful and beautiful experience~

I did find the lack of killstreaks extremely disappointing though

[RedYager]

I'm lost for words, That was such a beautiful experience. I've never been so immersed in a virtual environment, everything about it felt alive. The sound effects in the caves were just incredible, i felt like I was there, the water trickling and splashing, just amazing. The Final level I felt was the most beautiful, I couldn't get my head around it, it was as if I was actually inside a painting. The moonlight on water broken up by half submerged rocks was perfect. And then being able to see all that from such a height was breathtaking. The soundtrack set a great relaxing yet unsettling atmosphere, and the clarity of the voice acting was fantastic. I will play this again and again for years to come, I also will probably never go outside again.

This is truly an outstanding achievement, Robert you should be extremely proud of yourself as well as the rest of the team, and its already top seller.

Keep your blog updated as I check it regularly.

Cheers, Red.

[General Vivi]

I can't wait to get home and force my girlfriend to play this with me on the couch.

wait... I meant Dear Esther...

[Chimeray]

A review by its very nature is an opinion, an evaluation. What you're asking for is a press release minus the extra-flowery marketing text.

No. Don´t wanna get into this too much but... Bias and subjectivity are fine when dealing with opinions, it´s what they are. However, when you´re dealing with a review, I want to get it pure, unbiased. I think a bad review is a review you can disagree with. You can´t disagree with an unbiased evaluation, it is what it is. You can say it´s incomplete, states wrong information, the conclusion is drawn with the wrong purpose in mind (not getting the product/close-mindedness), etc... but that´s it. Opinions are for blogs... And you can say "Yes I agree" or "That´s not true" to those. And as a result get irritated/confused every time those show up in a text that supposed to talk about the game rather than the reviewers feelings towards it.

You can never get rid of all of that subjectivity, it´s only human. But the thing is that the reviewer needs to review the game, that is the focus, not himself... Not shoving his opinion down our throat. That´s just egocentrical. Where possible, just leave it be. A lot of times when I see bad review scores when others reviewed it positively it´s because of a lack of being open to it and saying the game sucks and giving all the wrong conclusions because the reviewer himself disliked it, rather than thinking what the people that actually like this want out of this game. Often also overlooking to write about chunks of information that those misunderstood readers need and then the whole think becomes a rant AND lacks substance.

Still haven´t read that review though so I´m not talking about that specifically but just in general... Some reviewers are just douches.

And I think there might be something wrong with my monitor Might just have to go with it even with all this tearing :S

[dissonance]

And the third thing - it didn't play the credits when the game finished. Maybe I just missed out but having to manually go back to the main menu (after waiting a minute or so) felt a bit odd. I had hoped to get a deep breath, like the final pause in an orchestra piece and then see the credits and go back to the menu. As said: really really minor, it didn't spoil my experience.

this happened to me, too.

really, really liked it. i knew it looked good from seeing screenshots, but holy shit do they not do the game justice; it looks amazing. better than skyrim.

a few questions, and since i can't tell where the questions end and the spoilers begin, i've blacked it all out:

1)

is there any way to get into the cargo ship? it looked like there was a hole in the seaward side, but i couldn't find a way to swim out to it.

2)

was that a grave behind the bothy by the two stables?

did my soundcard glitch, or was there

a second voice briefly talking when i came near it?

[Campaignjunkie]

Just finished it. Really stupendous work. Still trying to figure out how you did all the terrain and overlay tricks. I wanna make custom Dear Esther levels!

[skdr]

Yeah I had the same problem with the credits as well...