[ SECRET POST #2567 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2567 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Tumblr and/or social justice in and of themselves aren't fandoms, unfortunately.

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 077 secrets from Secret Submission Post #367.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

04. http://i.imgur.com/4akoatr.jpg

[dreemyweird]

Damn, this is some very, very good art. Thank you, OP, this secret is so visually pleasing.
/has nothing to say as to the actual secret

[dethtoll]

That's because it's official Gone Home art.

[dreemyweird]

Yeah, so I figured :)

[(Anonymous)]

haha, I actually made a post in GC a couple of weeks ago complaining about this game. anyway, I'm with you OP. Maybe I would have been more into the game if it came out a decade or so ago I would have been more into it but it felt kind of stale to me

[(Anonymous)]

sa

Pretend I didn't fuck up that last sentence

[dethtoll]

The 90s nostalgia fetish was pretty much that game's only redeeming factor, but I doubt it would've been as effective 10 years ago.

[(Anonymous)]

lol fair point

[dethtoll]

Interesting -- what didn't you like about Gone Home? I ask because I didn't like it either and it's a little aggravating being one of the few who don't, everyone else seems to sing its praises.

OP (Also, spoilers)

[(Anonymous)]

Well, overall, I was into it. I liked the idea of discovering the story through looking at items throughout the house. I thought that was done well, and I was curious about what's going on. It's funny how much you can piece together through looking at what's lying around. And, hey, a cute gay relationship. That's pretty cool.

But then the ending hit. As I was nodding along to the song and the credits started to roll, a thought hit me. Wait, didn't Sam pretty much just steal every valuable in the house? This led to other realizations, ones that I'm not sure the writers wanted me to have.

Sam and Lonnie basically gave up their whole lives to run away with each other. They are giving up all their hopes, dreams, education, and families to fulfill some high school romance. Sam stole all the valuables in the house and possibly the car (if it was signed to her parents rather than her). Lonnie is AWOL do to her running away from army, something she has been training for her entire life. Their future honestly isn't bright. All for a god damn dumb high school romance.

They are giving up all the personality traits that made them interesting for their relationship. If they were a straight couple, I would still have this problem. And I always found it kind of insulting that the writers ignored all of this and expected us to be swept away by a cliche gay teen run away ending.

To be short: The ending had implications that the writers expected us to ignore while presenting a cliche ending. And people are calling it the pinnacle of video game writing.

I'm not sure how well that whole rant came out. I'm not really feeling well right now.

Re: OP (Also, spoilers)

[dethtoll]

That's pretty much verbatim to similar arguments I've heard, and I agree.

To be honest, I don't think anyone in that game is very likeable, except maybe the older sister that you play, but that's because she really isn't fleshed out very well.

Re: OP (Also, spoilers)

[(Anonymous)]

I was sympathetic to the father, but mostly due to my mother being a published writer. Some of her worst fears is ultimately failing and none of her books selling, so finding all those unsold books around the house made me cringe.

Other than that, yeah. I didn't hate any of them, but I didn't particularly care. I felt bad for the sister, coming back from a year of traveling to empty house because no one apparently told her the parents were on vacation and the sister decided to run off.

Re: OP (Also, spoilers)

[(Anonymous)]

IMO, that is not why he was depressed. I don't know if you picked up on this, but Oscar Greenbriar, the 'psycho' uncle who owned the house before this family molested Terry, the father.

It is suggested that it's not his books not selling that's bothering him--although that's the red herring at first--but rather being back in that house where he was abused. Hints:

1) The abuse culminated in 1963, the year of JFK's assassination. His books deal with time traveling back to 1963 to stop some terrible thing, with the most recent book even going back to save himself. The basement has a letter from his father telling him good for working through his things, but the books themselves are trashy. The fathers portrait is kicked in.
2) There's a room in the basement in the dark with a child's toy.
3) Oscar was apparently penitent about something, closing his shop and even giving Terry the house.
4) The letter given by his employer admonishes him for his recent turn in reminiscing on his childhood.
5) The left side of the house he is drinking and feeling sad, and we're led to believe it's because his books aren't doing well, but they've been out of print for a decade. The right side of the house he's recovering--he's working through his issues with this outlet, spending more time with his wife.

It's not that he was terribly excited about this shitty little publisher picking him up.

Re: OP (Also, spoilers)

[(Anonymous)]

I just recently played this game and I actually really loved it, but your comment about Sam stealing the valuables in the house really hit me. All through playing the game I was wondering 'what's going on with these VCRs and such being disconnected from the TVs?' because over and over you see these unconnected plugs where there should be an electronic of some sort. It does seem like Sam must have taken them, because as far as I'm aware that wasn't really explained specifically.

However, she didn't take any of the televisions or other valuables that I saw - the clocks, safes, etc were all untouched even when the combinations were just kind of laying around.

I didn't consider it the pinnacle of video game writing, but I'm more of a solitary gamer and don't run in a lot of gamer circles where people would be talking about this. I played it because I saw a couple good reviews and I got some money for the holidays. But as for the reality or personality traits thing, I don't know, teenagers are fucking idiots - especially about relationships. And the game is set in what, 1994? While things were progressing toward gay relationships at that time, it was still a very difficult situation to be in (my brother had the exact same 'this is a phase' reaction from our parents but SHOCKINGLY remains gay to this day, and also had a hard time in high school even though he graduated in 1999). It doesn't mean that these young girls aren't risking their futures to be with each other, but I think it would be very easy for young lesbians to think they might not ever find another person to be with. Combine with the whole young love thing, and it's even more believable. But lots of teens go through these kind of stupid decisions and still manage to survive, so I didn't have such a bleak outlook about what might happen to them.

Re: OP (Also, spoilers)

[(Anonymous)]

>However, she didn't take any of the televisions or other valuables that I saw - the clocks, safes, etc were all untouched even when the combinations were just kind of laying around.

Technically the combos weren't lying around. You piece them together, and as far as I remember, there are only two combos, right? The first is Sam's, the second is Oscar's (which she already knew about).

Regardless, it's hinted she stole her mother's jewelry, and, worst of all, the $999 Laserdisc her father was reviewing that didn't even belong to him.

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't like the game either but I can't explain why :( it had everything I would otherwise enjoy, but it just... didn't work for me somehow??

[littlestbirds]

I'm really curious what you mean by "its implications of the game". How did the ending change how people perceived the overall plot?
I don't know if I can be objective about this game. It hit so many of my emotional weak spots and I had no idea what it was about before playing so I cried through almost the entire second half and it's easy to imagine something went over my head.

[(Anonymous)]

I disliked the ending because it involved Sam robbing her family blind and throwing away her scholarship so she could run away with her girlfriend (who...may technically be considered AWOL from the military? I mean, she actually signed up and then didn't go to basic so I'm assuming she can get into deep shit for that but idk). Aside from it being a cliche gay teen runaway type ending, it was just kind of depressing rather than bittersweet.

[(Anonymous)]

who...may technically be considered AWOL from the military? I mean, she actually signed up and then didn't go to basic so I'm assuming she can get into deep shit for that but idk

Yeah, I was always curious about that. She did enlist after all, so couldn't action be taken against her?

[(Anonymous)]

I believe so. If you're signed up and you run, then action will taken against you.

[(Anonymous)]

As I understand it - and I could be wrong, someone feel free to correct me - but I believe you up until Basic to change your mind. But once you're on base/have gone through Basic you're owned by the military until either your contract is up or your released early due to unforeseen circumstances.

[(Anonymous)]

I would agree with this if I felt like it was actually portrayed as a happy ending. I think you're supposed to feel some legitimate horror from the vantage point of the older sister you're playing. These two kids made a really stupid decision, echoing that the family is utterly broken and all have been making really stupid decisions. Kaitlin's practically the only one of them that's "okay", and that's not even for certain because she is clearly the "favored" daughter.

Basically, I think the point I'm trying to make is that the narrative wasn't particularly making you root for anyone; everyone was deeply flawed. And the final culmination was Sam fleeing an emotionally toxic situation by diving into a stupid, impulsive teenage love. It's not a good thing, it just is.

[(Anonymous)]

I disagree. I feel it was clear they wanted you to feel like they were in love and should be happy. The tinkly music with the game finishing off with 'if you saw everything, you understand why I had to do it!' strongly suggested you were supposed to agree.

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't like this game and was so angry I wasted $10 on it (I feel sorry for everyone who didn't like it and bought it at full price). But, oddly enough, Dear Esther is one of my all-time favorite games and these two get compared a lot (actually a major factor in my decision to buy).

I just...I don't know how to explain it. I was disappointed by the ending. I literally said "is that fucking it" outloud. I like the conceit of uncovering the story by wandering the house but there was just something off about the atmospherics? I was honestly expecting the game to be scary or have some kind of murder plot twist and instead it was just straightforward "ran away with my girlfriend". I didn't feel engaged by the characters at all. I wasn't immersed the way I was with Dear Esther.

idk. The writing was good, but definitely not the greatest ever. I wish I had gotten The Stanley Parable instead. Oh well. There's always the summer sale.

[(Anonymous)]

I found this game a masterpiece in the way that it's the catnip for a specific group of people.

I respect it for knowing exactly what kind of audience they are going for, and did a great job at it. But as someone who grew up gay yet wasn't from a middle class white background, it was the single most alienating game I played in the past year.