If so, then I might put down some thoughts. If not, then I won't, haha.

Yeah! I am sort of avoiding a lot of things online because this feels like I'm exploring a mystery... It feels like I'm not just trying to figure out the story... but also the game.

Yes, seven hours into it and it is all I can think about the past couple of days.

Nice, well, I won't post any story spoilers, because that's a large part of the game, and also because it's not exactly what I'm interested in discussing.

My thoughts are that the survival mechanics are kind of weak, and might be superfluous. I haven't found an area where I've become injured or sick (except when I fell through the world, haha), or lacked food so much that I couldn't survive. I just feel as though all of that could've been better implemented. I *do* like the sleeping mechanic, because it gives the game a lot more structure and pace than, say, Elder Scrolls, where I'm just constantly sprinting around the world fighting millions of vampires.

The map system is OK, but I think that Miasmata did it a lot better.

While I'm enjoying the game, my biggest complaint is that, for a game that's heavy on narrative, none of the mechanics are implemented in a way that make any sense. Why am I dropped into a forest with no knowledge about survival? Why do I not have any gear? Why is there random gear just placed throughout the world? Wouldn't it have made more sense if I had a guide and brought tools with me? The Forest does the survival guide well (at least in one respect), because there are, for example, berries that can be toxic. So, it's not as if the guide is giving you all the answers.

Anyway, I think the narrative is cool and the world looks beautiful. I've been running around for hours, haha, but I guess I just want more survival or less.

I've been following the Moncada lights and it brought me here. I crossed the bridge to the north. I'm pretty sure this place is beyond the map. Unless this place is or was Bellivue.
http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/0/9712/2670387-eidolon.jpg

I can tell you what it is if you want...

I bought it last night, and while I think it's absolutely beautiful, it's just dull as fuck... I played it for almost three hours, and for the last hour or so I was checking Twitter on my phone all while holding down W, waiting to get out of the woods or across a huge ass field or some tedious shit. The survival aspect of the whole thing can be boiled down to "Pick up some of the mushrooms that's growing fucking everywhere, and shove that shit in your mouth when prompted". I mean, I also found blackberries and I caught fish and cooked them, before coming to the realization that stuffing your face on the run with mushrooms serves the exact same purpose only faster...so why fucking bother? The story was kinda intriguing, but I had to walk for 25 minutes in between finding a note, with fuck all happening other than me chugging mushrooms like there was no tomorrow.

Hour one, I was blown away. Hour two, I was bored to tears. Hour three, the game was playing itself while I was checking Twitter.

@crazyleaves@dusker@casty You guys seem to enjoy it, what am I missing?

@sharkethic: The gameplay might just be too soft for you to like it. Which is fair enough, it very... bare.

Maybe leave the game and use it as a tool to calm down when you're slightly stressed or somin'. It takes a weird person to actively play this game. You gave it a shot though so now you understand what games you like, or what your breaking point with the "wandering" genre is.

@cirdain: Fair enough. The "wandering" genre is usually right up my ally, though. Dear Esther is one of my all time favorite games...

@sharkethic: I think I'm continuing to hold onto the belief that there's some hidden gameplay elements related to the story that I have to decipher through collecting all of the elements of a particular storyline. So, recently, when I was in Bellevue I was obsessed with collecting all of the Beacon story elements, and that suggested to me that there was some sort of vault that contained a special item. I don't know if that's true, but the fact that it *could* be true was what kept me going. I agree that, at times, the game can play like a really pretty screensaver though. Remember, auto-run is Num Lock ;-)

Haha! Hence taking me completely out of the equation...might as well leave the room, really:) Nah, I'm thinking this gets deleted once I get home.