This week Shamus writes a villanelle about The Path. A game that, like another famous villanelle, refuses to let players "go gentle into that good night."
To be honest, I found the Path a poor game; you get lost and end up looping in circles so much, I ended up with a bad case of simulation sickness from the samey woods and so forth. A simple minimap could have at least allowed me to see where the hell I was going, rather than just having one pop up every 30 minutes for all of 3 seconds. It might sound like a petty gripe, but getting lost in the forest for 2 hours, constanting getting stuck in a circle of area's you've already been is a sign of a poor design.
Ploppy: Wow. I can honestly say I never expected to see a Stolen Pixels featuring a poem about rape.
Rumoured rape; that was a joy to heard in game. Although to be honest, I doubt it was rape and think the emo's just want the most depressing view they can manage to find.
To be honest, I found the Path a poor game; you get lost and end up looping in circles so much, I ended up with a bad case of simulation sickness from the samey woods and so forth. A simple minimap could have at least allowed me to see where the hell I was going, rather than just having one pop up every 30 minutes for all of 3 seconds. It might sound like a petty gripe, but getting lost in the forest for 2 hours, constanting getting stuck in a circle of area's you've already been is a sign of a poor design.
Now this sounds like a game versus story problem. You sound like you went in expecting a game, because from what you've described, that's EXACTLY how the girl should feel. Constantly getting stuck in a circle of areas. And a minimap would have totally destroyed the atmosphere.
To be honest, I found the Path a poor game; you get lost and end up looping in circles so much, I ended up with a bad case of simulation sickness from the samey woods and so forth. A simple minimap could have at least allowed me to see where the hell I was going, rather than just having one pop up every 30 minutes for all of 3 seconds. It might sound like a petty gripe, but getting lost in the forest for 2 hours, constanting getting stuck in a circle of area's you've already been is a sign of a poor design.
Now this sounds like a game versus story problem. You sound like you went in expecting a game, because from what you've described, that's EXACTLY how the girl should feel. Constantly getting stuck in a circle of areas. And a minimap would have totally destroyed the atmosphere.
I'm pretty sure the girl was meant to be feeling terror and fear or at least lost; I was feeling bored, annoyed, and increasingly motion sick after the 5th attempt escape the loop so I could find the items they expect you blind explore for.
To be honest, I found the Path a poor game; you get lost and end up looping in circles so much, I ended up with a bad case of simulation sickness from the samey woods and so forth. A simple minimap could have at least allowed me to see where the hell I was going, rather than just having one pop up every 30 minutes for all of 3 seconds. It might sound like a petty gripe, but getting lost in the forest for 2 hours, constanting getting stuck in a circle of area's you've already been is a sign of a poor design.
Now this sounds like a game versus story problem. You sound like you went in expecting a game, because from what you've described, that's EXACTLY how the girl should feel. Constantly getting stuck in a circle of areas. And a minimap would have totally destroyed the atmosphere.
I'm pretty sure the girl was meant to be feeling terror and fear or at least lost; I was feeling bored, annoyed, and increasingly motion sick after the 5th attempt escape the loop so I could find the items they expect you blind explore for.
See there's only one problem. Your goal is to get to grandma's house. Meaning the compass would constantly be pointing to grandma's house. And anyone who read the reviews for it knows Grandma's house causes you to fail.A map would also be useless as the game is meant to be set in the woods. NO ONE MAPS THE WOODS!
To be honest, I found the Path a poor game; you get lost and end up looping in circles so much, I ended up with a bad case of simulation sickness from the samey woods and so forth. A simple minimap could have at least allowed me to see where the hell I was going, rather than just having one pop up every 30 minutes for all of 3 seconds. It might sound like a petty gripe, but getting lost in the forest for 2 hours, constanting getting stuck in a circle of area's you've already been is a sign of a poor design.
Now this sounds like a game versus story problem. You sound like you went in expecting a game, because from what you've described, that's EXACTLY how the girl should feel. Constantly getting stuck in a circle of areas. And a minimap would have totally destroyed the atmosphere.
I'm pretty sure the girl was meant to be feeling terror and fear or at least lost; I was feeling bored, annoyed, and increasingly motion sick after the 5th attempt escape the loop so I could find the items they expect you blind explore for.
See there's only one problem. Your goal is to get to grandma's house. Meaning the compass would constantly be pointing to grandma's house. And anyone who read the reviews for it knows Grandma's house causes you to fail.A map would also be useless as the game is meant to be set in the woods. NO ONE MAPS THE WOODS!
Well, 2 things then:
1) Compasses point NORTH. They don't have to point to ingame objects, they can point to fixed directions. At least that way I could see if I was changing direction enough to go where the brief glimpses of the map showed.
2) Yeah, but no-one see's a map overlayed onto their vision every 200 steps either, so maybe we shouldn't apply real world logic to this, hmmm?
To be honest, I found the Path a poor game; you get lost and end up looping in circles so much, I ended up with a bad case of simulation sickness from the samey woods and so forth. A simple minimap could have at least allowed me to see where the hell I was going, rather than just having one pop up every 30 minutes for all of 3 seconds. It might sound like a petty gripe, but getting lost in the forest for 2 hours, constanting getting stuck in a circle of area's you've already been is a sign of a poor design.
Now this sounds like a game versus story problem. You sound like you went in expecting a game, because from what you've described, that's EXACTLY how the girl should feel. Constantly getting stuck in a circle of areas. And a minimap would have totally destroyed the atmosphere.
I'm pretty sure the girl was meant to be feeling terror and fear or at least lost; I was feeling bored, annoyed, and increasingly motion sick after the 5th attempt escape the loop so I could find the items they expect you blind explore for.
See there's only one problem. Your goal is to get to grandma's house. Meaning the compass would constantly be pointing to grandma's house. And anyone who read the reviews for it knows Grandma's house causes you to fail.A map would also be useless as the game is meant to be set in the woods. NO ONE MAPS THE WOODS!
Well, 2 things then:
1) Compasses point NORTH. They don't have to point to ingame objects, they can point to fixed directions. At least that way I could see if I was changing direction enough to go where the brief glimpses of the map showed.
2) Yeah, but no-one see's a map overlayed onto their vision every 200 steps either, so maybe we shouldn't apply real world logic to this, hmmm?
The designs that appear around the edge of the screen act as guides, pointing you to objects or, at least, the way out. No need for a minimap.
2) Yeah, but no-one see's a map overlayed onto their vision every 200 steps either, so maybe we shouldn't apply real world logic to this, hmmm?
True, and we should bring game logic into an experience like The Path either. If you want a walkthru then I'm sure there's one on GameFecks, but for most of us that really enjoy it, The Path deliberately ignores conventions.
If you just want to finish the game, go to Grandma's house. I'll be in the woods, getting lost, and loving it.
The designs that appear around the edge of the screen act as guides, pointing you to objects or, at least, the way out. No need for a minimap.
To some object, yeah. Not to the ones missing from your 'inventory'; and if you miss stuff out, you don't get the full end sequence. And I'm pretty sure I did go looking for...
Awesome villanelle...I could hear additional voices chime in with each frame, adding to the atmosphere. Might just have to take a peek at this, I like getting lost in the woods.
To be honest, I found the Path a poor game; you get lost and end up looping in circles so much, I ended up with a bad case of simulation sickness from the samey woods and so forth. A simple minimap could have at least allowed me to see where the hell I was going, rather than just having one pop up every 30 minutes for all of 3 seconds. It might sound like a petty gripe, but getting lost in the forest for 2 hours, constanting getting stuck in a circle of area's you've already been is a sign of a poor design.
Now this sounds like a game versus story problem. You sound like you went in expecting a game, because from what you've described, that's EXACTLY how the girl should feel. Constantly getting stuck in a circle of areas. And a minimap would have totally destroyed the atmosphere.
I'm pretty sure the girl was meant to be feeling terror and fear or at least lost; I was feeling bored, annoyed, and increasingly motion sick after the 5th attempt escape the loop so I could find the items they expect you blind explore for.
See there's only one problem. Your goal is to get to grandma's house. Meaning the compass would constantly be pointing to grandma's house. And anyone who read the reviews for it knows Grandma's house causes you to fail.A map would also be useless as the game is meant to be set in the woods. NO ONE MAPS THE WOODS!
Well, 2 things then:
1) Compasses point NORTH. They don't have to point to ingame objects, they can point to fixed directions. At least that way I could see if I was changing direction enough to go where the brief glimpses of the map showed.
2) Yeah, but no-one see's a map overlayed onto their vision every 200 steps either, so maybe we shouldn't apply real world logic to this, hmmm?
The designs that appear around the edge of the screen act as guides, pointing you to objects or, at least, the way out. No need for a minimap.
There be spoilers here!
Shamus, allow me to say that you really captured the feel of The Path (not to mention Ruby's little-miss-Emo attitude) in the comic.
To be honest, I found the Path a poor game; you get lost and end up looping in circles so much, I ended up with a bad case of simulation sickness from the samey woods and so forth. A simple minimap could have at least allowed me to see where the hell I was going, rather than just having one pop up every 30 minutes for all of 3 seconds. It might sound like a petty gripe, but getting lost in the forest for 2 hours, constanting getting stuck in a circle of area's you've already been is a sign of a poor design.
Now this sounds like a game versus story problem. You sound like you went in expecting a game, because from what you've described, that's EXACTLY how the girl should feel. Constantly getting stuck in a circle of areas. And a minimap would have totally destroyed the atmosphere.
I'm pretty sure the girl was meant to be feeling terror and fear or at least lost; I was feeling bored, annoyed, and increasingly motion sick after the 5th attempt escape the loop so I could find the items they expect you blind explore for.
See there's only one problem. Your goal is to get to grandma's house. Meaning the compass would constantly be pointing to grandma's house. And anyone who read the reviews for it knows Grandma's house causes you to fail.A map would also be useless as the game is meant to be set in the woods. NO ONE MAPS THE WOODS!
Well, 2 things then:
1) Compasses point NORTH. They don't have to point to ingame objects, they can point to fixed directions. At least that way I could see if I was changing direction enough to go where the brief glimpses of the map showed.
2) Yeah, but no-one see's a map overlayed onto their vision every 200 steps either, so maybe we shouldn't apply real world logic to this, hmmm?
The designs that appear around the edge of the screen act as guides, pointing you to objects or, at least, the way out. No need for a minimap.
I've been ninja'd. It took me about 20 minutes to figure that out, and the "frustrating" part of the game, which is wandering aimlessly until you find something, disappared. The best part is that they're easy enough to ignore if you want to play "realistically", since you start to see them as part of the bizarre art style.
Argh Shamus! Curse both you and Susan. I've read about the first paragraph from each of your reviews, and it sounds really interesting so I didn't read the rest so as to not spoil it, because I really wanna know what happens/how it happens etc. The problem is, according to the Tales of Tales site, my computer won't run it. Why do you tempt me with such a possibly awesome and innovative game so?
So having now bought the game form Steam, I have to ask, why was it featured in two escapist articles? It isn't really a game, it's an interpretive story, your action have no outcome on the end(despite failing), all you need to do is explore until you get everything.
Despite not being a game, I had fun. Why? I love literary works that were meant to be subject to interpretation, and this game married that love to vidja gaims. I had already seen the game from youtube videos, but despite this I felt it needed to be experienced first hand to see the missed areas, and it is a good game to let your friends try, so that you can discuss your takes on it.
The path pinned down the concept of true horror perfectly, suggestion rather than bluntness. It's got a wonderful atmosphere, an interesting aesthetic design. I went in expecting a story and possibly something rather disturbing and hoo boy did I get both. That said it is indeed pretty depressing.
Stolen Pixels #117: The Path Will Take Her to The End
This week Shamus writes a villanelle about The Path. A game that, like another famous villanelle, refuses to let players "go gentle into that good night."
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