gremlin reviews "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter"

Thanks, gremlin - high praise indeed for this game!

Jenny

Thanks, gremlin! A very good read.

Jenny!

I loved everything about this game and I am thrilled to read your review gremlin!

I am hoping another story is made soon, I'll be first in line.

Thanks gremlin and Jenny!

Ana

Thank you, gremlin !!

I'm looking forward to this game and have it installed. Just not got round to the playing of it yet

Exciting review! Thank you Jenny and Gremlin!

Thank you, Gremlin - you expressed my feelings about this game perfectly. I will be 2nd in line behind Ana for their next game!

Sounds awesome - will have to check it out

I'm not sure I could have given it A+ given its save game flaw - and it is a huge flaw. It is the best looking game I've seen though.

Sorry you have a different take on the save game system, mj2c. My personal experience of the game was that the save game system was a tiny glitch... so it barely impacts the grade when put up against the rest of the game.

Game reviews are never objective, they're always coloured by personal preference, previous experience, and how the reviewer is feeling on the day (IMO, any reviewer who claims otherwise is smoking something dodgy!), so one person's 'huge flaw' is another's 'tiny glitch'.

I actually was worried about the save system but found it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It did not take anything away from the game for me either.

Ana

Once they released the patches for the save system, I agree. But in the beginning before the game was patched, it was sort of awful for those of us who don't have hours of gameplay time and want to really enjoy the atmosphere of the game, not just go from one puzzle to the next one.

I was very impressed at how quickly the developers responded to all the complaints about the initial save system. I think that bodes well for their future games. I was probably as impressed by their response as I was glad to have the save system improved so much.

I didn't play until all the patches were in place so I never had to deal with the saves originally.

Ah, that explains it. I never experienced the original system. In fact I wasn't even aware that there had been an earlier version. Sorry, mj2c.

When I'm playing a game for review purposes I avoid as much media and forum coverage of the game as possible in order to avoid being influenced by others' opinions of the game. I guess this shows a down-side to that strategy.

Gremlin I like the way you review games. Your perspective on them has always helped me decide if a game is right for me. Your insight into all aspects of a game answer most questions I have. Thank you and please don't change how you review games!

Great review gremlin. The vanishin of Ethan Carter is one of the greatest game I have played in a long time. I played it without the save witch was a little annoying but the whole game was so beautiful and great that I forgot about it after a while. Second best this year was crime and punishment. Right now I don't know what is happening in the game world but I cannot find anything to satisfy me. (I mean my style of games) All the one I want to play are on the list of the "waiting for" for 2015. Don't know what is happening with Jonathan Boarkes he makes us starve for a good game. When, when , when is the 1st crown or dark fall 4 or haunting of hollowed isle coming out? Asylum is in trouble for what I have seen , Bracken thor we are waiting for 4 years. Cuthlu we do not know when it is ready. I have replayed the "catlady". How come there is no review about this game. I though it was different and fascinating. Thanks for reading my "charabia" in english (I am french)

Great review!

Great review, thank you

Well what can I say

This game is fantastic in every way

except for one small thing, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LONGER, though I'm not at the end yet

I do not want to leave that valley... ever. I've had the game for a long time in my "list to play" and finally I decided to visit the valley and are my words to the developer!

If you still have'nt been to "the valley" were Ethan Carter vanished, YOU HAVE TO GO THERE.

Cheers

I agree Lagavulin! Loved the game!

I've not started this game yet but all the positive comments are egging me on !!

Can you tell me please what the patch changes in the saving system? For me too the - original - saving system was the reason to stop playing the game.

to GameBoomers, gamnos.

I believe there's now a total of three patches released for Ethan Carter. My understanding is that the game still auto saves but that it has been improved upon in that the game has more places within the game where it auto saves.

Here's a comment from another GameBoomers player (Draclvr):



Based on what I have read, the patches otherwise were focused on tweaking/game improvements.

Thanks for the welcome and explanation. Will give it another try then (though I also had preferred manual saves or save upon exit, as suggested). That is a fantastic and smart quote, btw ("I still had to play longer than I wanted to a couple of times and Thursday night when I had to leave to go bowling, I left the game open on my screen so I wouldn't have to start over from my old auto save when I got home.")

I missed this so thanks for the thread
Gogged it and looking forward to it

I bought this game as soon as it was released - plus the one patch that was then available - but to date haven't yet found the time to play it

However, looking at GOG, I think I might need to re-download it.

So will GOG's current version (plus the patch called "1.04 GOG-6)" be all I need to have the latest version

Thanks for the review, Gremlin. I might have skipped this one, but now I won't. And thanks, also, for the heads up about the Save thing. It would be pretty disconcerting to stumble upon that unawares.

Do make sure you have "enough" computer to play it, Reenie. It has a bit higher video requirements that most adventure games.

Mad You don't have use the Patch if you're downloading the present version of the game.



I actually had the same myself.

The patch is for those who downloaded an earlier version of the game

to the Valley

Thanks, Drac. I downloaded it from GOG, and it runs great on my 32" screen in max res (2500 x whatever). Beautiful game. Love the spooky uncertainty of it (what was going on when I chased the guy in the space suit and went up in the UFO? ha ha) Very perplexing so far, as I don't feel like I have enough info to know what I'm doing, how to move, how to pick things up. Sure wish it had a Map that would gradually fill in while I explore. I spent two hours just exploring one of three forks in the road. Amazing. Took an hour just to get a feel for how to move around, and finally learned how to "Run" when I'm on a path. Wow, what a rich environment. Exploring some of the bushes, too. Lots of "traps" out there. Don't understand how to Save my progress. I hope I can find more info on how to play it by searching on line.

The game uses auto saves, Reenie.

Thanks for the review gremlin and Jenny.

One of the 3 videos on Steam gives some game play info if you haven't found anything else yet.

Marian, do you know at what interval the autosaves occur? Apparently, there are supposed to be three small dots that signal an autosave, but I guess I have missed them every time. It is a bit nerve-wracking, when you want to stop and do something in your real life, but don't want to throw away half an hour's progress.

MJ, I find it annoying as well. It is so odd to encounter a game that takes a left turn like not allowing you to Save your game when you want to do so! I don't think it is a very common choice for designers to make, and I can't imagine that including a Save function is such a big deal. Those of us who have real lives often have to interrupt our gaming to feed a child or answer the phone or start the laundry, you name it. It is far more pleasant to be the one who decides when to Save and Quit, rather than being the one who is told by the game when she can stop.

However, I am loving the game so far. Very immersive and completely open. Not running around "on rails." And beautiful graphics.

The saves have nothing to do with where you are, you need to solve some things and then it will save. If you haven't done anything but wander, it doesn't consider it progress and you will start over.

Ana

I found that out when I triggered all the traps but didn't know there was more to it than that. I had to go back later and find them all again, trip them again, and then do that "Sense" thing. Even then, I was not transported somewhere. I just saw a gray scene of possibly a battlefield, with skulls laying on the ground. So I might not be finished even now, and will find myself back there again the next time I start the game. ha ha

As for the train murder scene, I got to the point where I had set the scenarios in their chronological order, but it sure wasn't clear to me how to end the thing, how to trigger the anticipated cut scene. I went around to each of them and twiddled their "Numbers" but they stayed as question marks. It was finally noticing the tiny text that said something about sensing it that made the clip finally play. Tricky game.

"Mad You don't have use the Patch if you're downloading the present version of the game."

Thanks very much, Lagavulin

there are supposed to be three small dots that signal an autosave

Well Reenie, when the game autosaves there is a text in the top right corner of the screen "saying" Save "something" ( at least in this the latest version)

Mad you're welcome and

Cheers

I haven't seen that Saving notice once. I just bought the game from GOG this week. I was hoping it WAS the latest version, because I read a storm of criticism about its saving function on the various Boards. I suppose what I will do when I want to quit is just walk away and leave it running. Since it supposedly saved every 15 minutes, it should only take that long to save my status where it is. Just have to get used to doing that.

I checked this morning and neither GOG or Steam seem to be offering the Redux version yet.

I can't speak for GOG, but it came out over the weekend at Steam. I just finished playing the new Redux version this afternoon. You may have to type the title in the search bar at Steam. (It automatically appears in the library of those who already bought the first version a year ago).
Hope this helps.

Hmmm... that's what I did, but it said it wasn't found. Maybe I'll try again. There wasn't anything on my shelf at GOG either.

Draclvr, Try this page:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/258520

It tells you (on the right side of the page beside the graphic) that when you buy the original game from 2014, you will get both games - the orginal and the redux will appear in your library.

Draclvr,
Try refreshing your GOG account page by logging in and entering
www.gog.com/account/refresh

Sometimes new versions of previously owned games don't show up on your GOG page unless you refresh.

I did find the Redux version at Steam, but there is still nothing in my account at GOG. My original game just sits there with no indication of a new version even after logging out and in and refreshing. Ah, well... hopefully it will show up sooner or later. I'd really like to download it.

I've started this game now and DO like it
But I DON'T like the "automated only" save system
The game would benefit SO much from a more conventional saving procedure

Mad, when I was surfing around looking for some kind of info on how to play the game at all, I came across a post from the game developers, responding to the criticism about not being able to manually Save. They claimed it would have taken two months of additional programming time for them to include this option in the Unreal platform. Hard to believe, but then, I don't know anything about game programming. I would imagine they regret their decision now, after getting such a storm of complaints and people bailing on the game.

Like you, I am thoroughly enjoying it. So immersive! It is very mysterious and I have no idea what I am doing or why (there is no Map, no Manual, and I have no sense of direction), but I am so captivated by the environment and total freedom of movement that I'll put up with the silly Save thing. But I do wish I could save during my wanderings and not have to repeat them.

As I understand it, the Unreal Engine is the culprit here...

Exactly.

Does this "Unreal Engine" preclude a save on quitting ??

Even just a save on quitting would be a great help

I don't think so, Mad. Every time I exit, it says something like, "Really? You want to exit? Do you realize everything you've done will not be saved?" Or some variant on that encouraging news. That is why I leave it running for at least 15 minutes after I am done playing, so the autosave hopefully will be triggered.

Well I would welcome an auto save on quitting - as it would become the latest save to reload from when re-launching the game

Check the ***old Vanishing of Ethan Carter thread from last year*** for tips on what triggers saves.

Or from Timo's suggestion ***here***

I told my husband (30-year gamer, too) about this whole Save thing and he said something along the lines of how ridiculous it was to inflict this on players, and no way would it have taken "two months of programming time" to include a manual Save. We'll never know what was in the minds of these game developers, but hopefully, they have heard the user reaction loud and clear.

AS a 30 year gamer he surely must remember that lots of older games were set up this way and if anyone plays any DarkSide games it's a pretty common feature. I hate it personally but it's not that unusual.

Ana

That's kinda what he said, Ana. "This sounds like a really old game, not one of the new ones. They don't usually throw %#@!!% like that in good games." There were a few other phrases not suitable to be in print here...

I just went back for the THIRD time to do the Traps (or was it the fourth time? LOL). This time, I did find the little note from Ethan, so I actually completed this test at long last. I closed the game and opened it again, just to see, and it did have me standing there at the campfire/tree, not back down by the dam again. Whew! Now all I have to do is run all the way back to the dam again, and try to find SOMETHING that will make the game save there, so I don't have to keep running back and forth.

(BTW, I bought the game from GOG in mid-September of 2015, and it included a "Patch," so I assume it was the latest version with the latest patches for this save-game stuff...)

I'm slowly making progress with the game and I do like it but the silly messing about to get a "practical" save is a real "downer"

I simply don't always have time for a long playing session and it's certainly not my thing to leave my computer running unattended for hours on end solely because I can't make a save in a game.
[A waste of electricity and bad for the planet !! ]

Hopefully, any future games from this developer (and I'll certainly be interested in any) will offer a better save system

Finally I've had the time to play the END scene of this MASTERPIECE.


I've said a lot of positive things about the journey to the Valley already.


But so that no one misses the pleasure of gettin this game I MUST

S A L U T E IT

(all this .... about the save feature DO NOT LET IT STOP YOU, because it's really not an issue)

CHEERS

I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the game so much.

I loved it too, glad you enjoyed it!

I found the lack of Save-on-Demand to be pretty coercive on the designer's part. It is not my idea of fun to be forced to play a game the way someone else has decided it should be played rather than the way I would like to parcel it out. Most of us like/need to save when and where we want because the real world intrudes at will and often cannot be denied.

I did get through the first two challenges (the bomb traps and the murder), after repeating those sections multiple times. I am ready to go on to town now. I already explored the town and around the hill before, but of course, am back at the railroad tracks again because I could not figure out what I was supposed to do to "solve" that section. So I will have to do it all again ~ and figure out what I have to do to finish the next scene ~ or else repeat it all for a third time later. I am daunted by that thought, so I have not gone back to the game in almost two months. I'm not sure at this point if I ever will.

I took a chance and bought Ethan Carter, and do love the game play, the movement, the superb graphics, the concept! It is very involving. Still, I would not knowingly purchase another game with this type of rigidity built into it. Just my two cents.

It really is an issue. It's the issue that made me bin the game.

It's an issue for me, too, although I haven't binned the game .... yet

I just don't have the time to mess about with the savings stuff

It's an issue for me, too. I wouldn't even buy it.