January 2018 Playthrough - Oxenfree

[GrayGhost81]

We have decided to start the new year off with a dark, mystery adventure title. Night School Studios' debut title, the haunting, 2-D adventure OXENFREE from 2016, is available on many platforms including: Steam, GOG, Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch, and a Limited Run Games physical edition for the Playstation 4, which is still reasonably priced on the second-hand market (No, really! Ask singlebanana.). Join us in January as we venture to uncover the mysteries of Edwards Island in this stylish, indie gem.

CHECKPOINTS:
OXENFREE is a rather short game that can be hard to put down once it gets going. Rather than checkpointing the game, we're going to say there is one checkpoint as far as spoiler discussion is concerned, and that is we expect everyone to have finished the game by Saturday, Jan 13th. After that we can discuss the plot fully and also it will give participants the final two weeks of the month to replay the game if they wish.

PARTICIPANTS:
GrayGhost81
singlebanana
Addicted
douglie007
bickman2k
Buried_on_Mars
Wempster
russlyman

[Pam]

This is another one that I've played. When it first came out and again just a couple months ago. I'll definitely join the discussion.

[singlebanana]

This is another one that I've played. When it first came out and again just a couple months ago. I'll definitely join the discussion.

Nice Pam!  Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it. Really excited about playing this title after watching a trailer.

[singlebanana]

Oxenfree is currently free on GOG!!!!  This deal only lasts for a few days.

[Addicted]

I might as well try playing this since it was free. I started playing Nioh and Lumo and it's been hard to play anything else.

[douglie007]

I will be playing... if you needed to ask

[singlebanana]

Awesome! Time to get started. 😁

[bickman2k]

Too late to join in? I got the GOG deal and want to give the game a shot.

[singlebanana]

Too late to join in? I got the GOG deal and want to give the game a shot.

It's never too late to join in!

[noiseredux]

I just played this in October so not to Keen to play again unfortunately.

[GrayGhost81]

Checkpoints are up, in a manner of speaking.

The game is very short, so enjoy it on your own time and make sure to be finished by Saturday the 13th so we can all discuss the entire game with all spoilers on the table after that day.

Until then, as usual, anything else is encouraged in regards to discussion.

If you have started, what do you think of the speech bubble discussion mechanics, the characters of the game, the art style, the music, etc etc?

[singlebanana]

Finished the game this past Friday in one sitting. It's the first time I've done that in quite a while (I think since college...about 20 years ago). Like Shawn said, we have set a deadline for finishing the game and discussing spoilers until after the 13th. We are hoping that participants will want to play through the game a second time, since the game is short and there are alternate endings available.

My thoughts on the games mechanics:  I like the speech bubbles and how each character is attributed a specific color bubble.  I think this definitely makes it easier to track who is saying what and I wish that more games would implement this technique.  With that said, I think that the voice acting is very good and distinctive enough (great inflection that defines each character) that the colored bubbles really aren't even needed, though I still think it's nice; this is more of a tribute to how strong the voice acting is.  Speaking of characters, I think that they are well done. I like that each of them has a different personality. And even though one character is a total "beeeyatch," it's really done well and suits the story.  It's really, REALLY hard to be nice to a certain character, even for me (the gamer who always tries to be the nice guy). I couldn't hold it in and at times, I fought back. I think this says a lot about the strength of the dialogue and story.

As far as the QTE speech selection is concerned, I do have some issues.  One is that choosing to speak sometimes interrupts and cuts off what some of the other characters are saying.  I know it's more natural, but it really makes me feel like I might be missing some important parts of the story.  To go along with that, the QTEs are a bit too quick.  You have to be a fairly fast reader, or you can easily miss an opportunity to respond.  I consider myself a very fast reader and found it hard sometimes to read three dialogue choices (some of which were similar), process them mentally, and then select one. I think that's a shame that this hurriedness can sometimes forcefully limit gamer autonomy.

Overall, I like the characters in the game. Unlike many games, I don't feel like the majority of them are stereotypes.  Sure, they might remind you of people you went to high school with at times, but I never really hard labeled any of them like I did in say Until Dawn.

I think the art style in this game is really neat. I love the had drawn landscapes (simply incredible) and the map is a great size. Not overbearing and lends itself to more easily and rather quickly track down achievements toward the end of the game (be sure to do so before

Spoiler (hover to show)

entering the shelter

...**not really a spoiler, but hiding it just in case**).  My only art issue might be with the character sprites. I feel like they could be more detailed, but this gripe is minor. Also not a big fan of the cartoony art style of the characters as better seen in the "photos, " but that's more of a personal preference.

Music is good and "appropriate" (there's our damn word again Shawn). I need to go back and really focus on it to comment accurately. The story is so intriguing that I was more laser focused and concerned with that on my last playthrough.

I also want to add something to the discussion here regarding the genre of the game.  I find it hard to use the word "horror" when describing this game, but it is pretty intense at times and sometimes I was worried that things might jump out at me.  There are a few scenes where the voices get intense and......I really don't want to say any more right now.  However, I would probably call this more of a sci-fi/thriller if I had to label it.  Fans of these types of films should definitely check this game out.

Enjoy!  Looking forward to hearing some more thoughts.

[BuriedOnMars]

Wow, Rich pretty much said it all.

I played through the game on Sunday and fully agree with the QTE's and cutting off the NPC's speech.  The game is so well written, it must have been a hard decision for the devs to go that route.  I started playing with the keyboard but quickly switched to a controller when I noticed the dialogue boxes were colour coded for an Xbox controller. That help bring the anxiety down from fear of picking the wrong one.

Other than that, the rest I have to say is kind of spoiler-ish, so I'll save it for after the 13th.  I really enjoyed the atmosphere and story.  It felt like I was playing through an episode of the Twilight Zone. I got the game free through GOG too and although it is short, I would have been fine with spending $5-$10 on it.

[douglie007]

I also finished the game tonight, I thought the game was ok,  but it was more interesting to read about the hidden phone number in the game that the designer had some real life game.

[singlebanana]

Please remember that starting tomorrow, all talk may have spoilers.