Everything GREAT About Firewatch!

[Music] this droning piano effect is perfect for this opening i love the inner cutting of a traversal through henry's life and him traveling to his firewatch post both have him end up meeting a woman in tragedy striking i love the way the dialogue is presented during this opening such as life is good and she gets worse they are super short but very impactful the colors behind the text are wonderfully used as representation of what's happening in the text the purple and blue colors are used for anytime there is a bar red when speaking of the summer heat or the fight breaking out and green is used for julia's condition this opening perfectly presents julia's character i feel like i know her after this every sunset in this game is a win so just preparing you i feel like this isn't just a basic tooltip it says eight more miles still as if it's henry thinking in his head a small detail that some might hate but i enjoy is anytime that you climb or jump over something henry does a whole animation it helps ground him and make him feel a part of this world well we know what our lead looks like the entire opening sequence is a masterpiece to me in its own right i can't think of another game that did something like this so well it gives us so much information and context while not feeling like a wasteful exposition dump the way the outside noise gets muffled by the tower is great to hear while wearing headphones details like this make the world feel real people take this job to get away from something so what's wrong talking about herself straight to henry's face tonight good night welcome to the job i love a good title card and this one doesn't disappoint hey sorry guess i slept in you got a relaxing what 14 hours of sleep rich summer and [ __ ] jones completely murder it with their voice acting i can listen to these two characters talk to each other all day secure shut up cute already establishing their playful relationship just like with jumping over objects having henry take the time to duck under the platform okay i've held off long enough this game is freaking pretty just about everywhere you look as a screenshot how'd you get fired and wind up in jail all on your first day henry i thought it'd be a good idea to chuck some roman candles into a smoldering fire pit i did not expect the game to respond to me doing this naturally i tried it this too uh there are uh panties they're what i don't want to say that word again i'm right with you there henry don't pull anymore don't threaten us jesus christ henry not what i thought that meant when i picked it but funny nonetheless hurry home and try not to get hit by lightning i got hit by lightning when i was nine years old so the dialogue choices here are wonderful it's not just you in the moment strictly responding to stuff happening around you henry has lived a life and he might want to share that with delilah and by proxy the player strike twice and all that well there was an old lookout named roy sullivan who got hit by lightning seven times i roy sullivan was a real-life park rancher that struck by lightning seven times and survived he's recognized by guinness world records for this chekhov's cave henry there's there's something i something someone should have told you about this area what is it outside come on this game is way funnier than i expected it to be actually lined up with the break in the window well my typewriter is on the ground outside of my tower you right yeah i love that delilah jumped to henry riding rather than his place being sacked i don't think he has any idea i'm absolutely sure are they talking about brian they're talking about brian wait for him to wander off and wreck their camp something that would make a teenage girl run home to mommy and daddy didn't she say that i shouldn't take their bags or mess with their stuff they left their packs tied up here don't [ __ ] with them the last thing we need is some hikers filing report about harassment we're all human i guess and wreck their camp something that would make a teenage girl run home to mommy and daddy what does she have she's got alzheimer's like um dementia if i'm not mistaken if you haven't mentioned julia at this point delilah won't just randomly ask there are tons of examples of this emergent dialogue based on how you interact with delilah well the short story is that for 60 years we got very good at not letting forest fires happen doesn't nature naturally burn and it wasn't until we started moderating it that it became a problem oh well history lesson met in a bar the birthplace of modern romance uh the bar being the birthplace of modern romance can't tell if that's preferable over [Music] tinder just real fast the score here is great it is used sparingly into great effect hey henry what do you look like because i'm horribly superficial i'm drawing you i need to know well delilah's been somewhat flirting and now she's drawing us who does that remind you of this is my favorite shot of the game you cannot beat the beauty of this art style should i just not say anything and save us the trouble delilah's starting to get really soft on henry to the point that she'd lie for him this development just makes the ending more heartbreaking henry henry wake up hey you big dumb idiot i don't know what i think about this it starts as delilah's voice but it morphs into julius part of me wants to say that the conversation started from a drunk delilah because she called him a dummy later on but henry was too tired to understand and just thought of julia and then had a fake sleepy conversation with her with delilah listening in it then she covers for herself the next day by telling him he was talking in his sleep and such what do you think moving the dial moves henry's fingers it's the little things like i am these quick jumps in the days is the best way to quickly establish a relationship between these two i usually think of something funny or something practical or a little risque when coming up with them you can barely hear it but delilah slurs the word practical while keeping the rest of her speech sufficient [ __ ] jones is killing it no you big dummy oh another julia trait these radios we could um you know what what could we do well let me tell you no why cut away come on please i like the way she says please you can tell how comfortable these two are with each other now what uh it's holy [ __ ] someone has written down what we said to each other have been saying this is a direction i did not expect from the game i knew there was a mystery but i didn't realize it'd be like this sunshine sorry i went out for a little bit what can i do you for delilah is doing a fantastic acting job here i'm going crazy three blind rats hmm could that be ned henry and delilah good i spent all day getting you that radio i'm glad delilah is cunning enough to get around their issue with the radios but she could have dropped it off at henry's tower and ned wouldn't notice still this entire tent raises so many questions and there is so much to explore in it if you've been paying attention you could have found out that ned goodwin was spying i like to head canon that ned's full name is edward and he signed his initials eg and also only one of the three cots are being used ooh i like it when you think uh yay i'll just leave you alone with whatever these thoughts are henry being the bigger man turning off his radio not feeding into that behavior how well you're back in your tower maybe you need a drink too i'm not in my tower i am looking at a man standing in your lookout oh and being inside the tower while we are gone is so disturbing throughout playing this you really start to learn your way around the two forks area i slowly use the map less and less huh why is there a little boy's shoe here next to a hole brian would be a chaotic good half elf ranger he was a good kid but messed around and fell into a cave chaotic good he's half nerd which i'm gonna say he got from his mom since his dad would be where he would get his elf and ranger tendencies this character she is just a projection of himself what do you think is in there probably something that will kill me not kill you but maybe small children bast your head in with a rock or chopped you up with a are you serious with this [ __ ] right now uh a hatchet inspiring confidence he's dead his body is in the cave delilah how does that i don't delilah's reaction to finding out brian is dead is heart-wrenching she pushes you away so quick and feels completely responsible the ash from the june fire and it will always be the june fire to me is a great tone setter for our climax this plot twist of it being ned that was behind everything is such a relief to me more on this in the conclusion this last conversation is so strange but so sad at the same time yes this ending yes this end credit song is the perfect song if you imagine it sung from julia's perspective [Music] what a different experience from what we generally get from our video games there's no action combat fighting just you you're walking and delilah and that's all this game needed this is the best story i've experienced in 2020 so far and i implore everyone to play through it it's a sweet three-ish hour playthrough delilah and henry are all i could have wanted from two leads they are funny personable and real that's what i think this game excels at is making it feel like these are two real people working their mundane jobs as fire watchmen if campo santo did anything right it's their script i can't remember the last time i laughed so much during a game that i felt so deeply for they weave from comedy to i don't want to say drama but more serious tones really well throughout and it's just the script along with the performances of rich summer and [ __ ] jones that achieved this when it comes to my story games this is exactly what i want for my characters and there is so much player choice involved with the script that is amazing that it all holds up they must have recorded so much dialogue for every possible combination of choices made by the player my choices never felt like they were just for the moment like a telltale or bioware game the first half of the game is truly a masterpiece in my eyes there isn't anything truly interesting happening but i was so captivated the whole time if it were up to me the plot would have stuck to the way the first half demonstrates in a strange way the game feels very bisected you've got the first half with henry and delilah developing the relationship and once the game thinks they've done enough developing they move into their mystery plot i'll get back to that in the first half of the game maybe my favorite bit of storytelling i have ever played in the game we have the gorgeous to the point quick intro that establishes a lifetime relationship and manages to make you care in minutes then moves to our present day setting with delilah the relationship between the two feels so real and my favorite part about it is you could choose to accept delilah's advances or not and everything still makes sense throughout they have cute banter and meaningful conversations and i could have played 10 hours of that then there's the second half of the game that has this mystery plot about the two being spied on the second half is still really good and has some great moments those great moments are tied to what the first half was about their relationship but the two are so worried about what is going on around them they don't really get to continue to develop their relationship in the same way as the first half allowed i know some people love the mystery plot others like me didn't care too much about it it's not until you find brian's body that i feel the relationship continues to develop and i really love the way that they did after finding his body the last 20 minutes of the game is truly heartbreaking with the revelation of ned being the one spying on you two the final conversation between you and delilah then that cut to black it's that cut to black that i freaking love i love love love it i've heard that some loved the game but hated the inning and i couldn't disagree more if we got to meet delilah i think it would have ruined the game for me to start there's no way they could have had us meet her and have it be satisfying anyway building someone up in your head is just like horror movies in horror your mind will always conjure up something scarier than could be depicted and here the devs couldn't have made a way to meet her that wouldn't be disappointing but i digress i love this ending because it's the perfect cap to the theme of the game which to me is escaping pain the two come out of the shoshone national park to escape the problems they face at home and then there's ned who i feel cannot escape his pain until henry shows up but what i feel they're truly trying to say beyond the main theme is one way or another we have to face our demons we can't just hide from them forever henry must go back to julia ned must finally face his guilt about getting a son killed and delilah well by the end of the game that guilt of brian's death has shifted to her not only that though there was a hopeful thought in there as well even if just for a brief moment there could be something in your life to bring you joy even in the hardest of times there's a light for henry it was this summer and as heartbreaking as the ending of the game is knowing that henry will probably never speak to delilah again he gets to go back to julia equipped with this new life experience and i like to believe that things will get better for them also another thing i wanted to add is my thoughts on the twist that it was ned that was spying on you some were very disappointed that that was all that was happening like delilah said no grand conspiracy it was just some normal guy being a creep and i love that i love that the mystery is not really anything earth-shattering in the grand scheme no government monitoring the two or having plans for them it helps continue the feeling that these two are just real people trying to do their jobs getting through some of the toughest times of their life and the other main complaint people have is the game is a 20 walking simulator one thing we have to realize is that this is an nd studio that labored over this game for years they aren't ubisoft that can churn out an assassin's creed game every year it takes a lot to make a game and all they are asking for is 20 for this wonderful experience that you get to keep forever i liken it to a movie ticket an average ticket is fifteen dollars for entry let's not even mention 3d special venues and concessions for twenty dollars we get to own this short and sweet story that is in a way more than a one time through thing the choices you make in the dialogue is definitely worth the second time around and yes this game is a walking simulator but god dammit did i enjoy walking around this forest everywhere is a painting and every word impactful firewatch is one beautiful game and i didn't want to write a super structured conclusion for the game i sort of just wrote this as a stream of consciousness it felt that that would be the best way for me to fully express myself when talking about this game if you haven't played firewatch yet you 100 should [Music] you

Channel: GamingWins

Views: 17,501

Rating: 4.9758453 out of 5

Keywords: gaming wins, gamingwins, gamingsins, gaming sins, eww firewatch, game wins, gamewin, game review, firewatch review, firewatch, everything great about, everything wrong with, everything great about firewatch, everything wrong with firewatch, everything great with firewatch, everything great firewatch, firewatch analysis, firewatch game review, fire watch, fire watch review, fire watch analysis, firewatch critique, firewatch retrospective, firewatch 2020

Id: uAqxBTavffs

Length: 16min 23sec (983 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 07 2020