Kentucky Route Zero

Gremlin wrote:

Don't forget Limits & Demonstrations, The Entertainment, and Here and There Along The Echo, particularly if you haven't played them yet.

QFT. They may be called demos (at least L&D is), but they actually add a lot to the story.

Dixie_Flatline wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

Don't forget Limits & Demonstrations, The Entertainment, and Here and There Along The Echo, particularly if you haven't played them yet.

QFT. They may be called demos (at least L&D is), but they actually add a lot to the story.

Are these related to Kentucky route zero?

chooka1 wrote:
Dixie_Flatline wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

Don't forget Limits & Demonstrations, The Entertainment, and Here and There Along The Echo, particularly if you haven't played them yet.

QFT. They may be called demos (at least L&D is), but they actually add a lot to the story.

Are these related to Kentucky route zero?

Yes. Sometimes obviously, sometimes obliquely.

Cara Ellison wrote about KRZ recently.

You might save all year for a Beyonce ticket, just to see a certain miracle be performed in front of you, just so that you can go on with life knowing that there is magic, if you have time for it, if you find time to breathe it in.


But so few things are new to us, as we get older, and we’re not willing to risk paying to find the new in case it hurts when we don’t. The things that were new and wondrous – the deep, mysterious, stuttering space of the original Elite, for example – now live only in memory, because the BBC computer you played it on is no longer accessible, or you bent the floppy disk, or spilled coffee on it, or you have forgotten how to tell it to function. Or more likely, you do not have an attic in which to store this once fearsome beast, and online versions are missing the magic of the disk read noise, and you as a person are missing the time to relearn its ways. It is this remembered magic, the magic of the past, that Kentucky Route Zero successfully articulates. Kentucky Route Zero understands what it is like to watch things break and become unusable, their magic still intact in RAM but somehow out of reach. It remembers for you, so that you can feel like a child, while still an adult.

also I think I have linked them here before, but if anyone's not seen them this is a neat blog series that unpacks the references in KRZ (spoilers, obviously)
episode 1
episode 2
episode 3

I think Junebug is my favorite character, not even counting the amazing musical number. She's with Johnny, but he seems so ordinary next to her. She seems to want more out of thing, but he's so engrossed in himself and what he thinks they should do and what he thinks they both want. But she seems to long for something else, that isn't sure of. Just an overall very interesting character, moreso than either Conway or Shannon as well.

Looks like the Act 4-5 interlude has appeared.

http://kentuckyroutezero.com/un-pueb...

This needs to be 100% complete so I can play. I refuse to start it until all episodes are available

Or you could do what I do. Play all episodes released as each new episode comes out. They're short enough you can do that with relative ease, and it gives you more time in this wonderful world.

DeThroned wrote:

This needs to be 100% complete so I can play. I refuse to start it until all episodes are available

I'm with you. I purchased it ages ago but I'm not going to play until it's complete!

DeThroned wrote:

This needs to be 100% complete so I can play. I refuse to start it until all episodes are available

They won't make any more sense, really.

I finally played the first Act yesterday. I'm still processing it, and some googling shows I missed at least one optional scene, so I may play through it again. The atmosphere and style are really unique for a game. I'm not sure I liked it, exactly, but it did leave a lasting impression.

EDIT: are these like Telltale games, where dialog choices affect things in later episodes? Or can I replay and choose different options without worrying about it?

Dialog choices do affect later things, but I wouldn't worry about "100%ing" the game-- it's meant to be a more unique personal experience overall, rather than Telltale's games, where you are rewarded in some way for seeing/unlocking every little clue (and the Tt games will tell you as much).

I would pull my hair out trying to figure out which options alter which later elements in KR:0-- it doesn't tell you "Conway will remember this choice" kind of BS, because it's not about what choices are better or worse than others. Think more along the lines of Oxenfree's more free-flowing conversation system, where the core game continues regardless.

Kentucky Route Zero: PC Edition — The Final Act

Buckle Up. The thread is revived. I'm giddy with anticipation.

Amoebic wrote:

Kentucky Route Zero: PC Edition — The Final Act

Buckle Up. The thread is revived. I'm giddy with anticipation.

We're also getting the TV Edition (for the major consoles) on the 28th. I've been looking forward to playing this for a few years now... glad I waited?

I'll be replaying each act for the next few Tues/Thurs until release date Tuesday the 28th over on our official twitch. I'll be tagging that 28th stream as spoilers, for sure!

beeporama wrote:

We're also getting the TV Edition (for the major consoles) on the 28th. I've been looking forward to playing this for a few years now... glad I waited?

To be perfectly honest, I'm super jealous of folks playing this on switch! this game really should be played docked, big screen, with the lights dimmed low/off and the sound turned up.

This game changed video games for me.

And the final part to KR0 has dropped today.

I picked up the game a few years ago in some bundle but was waiting for it to be finished before picking it up, so I plan to work through it over the coming days, and it's hard not to get too excited to see it for myself after the buzz and plaudits it's earned over the years. And honestly, I wonder if I will be disappointed as well, since it's hard to live up to all the hype.

So one thing I've seen mentioned several times is that people recommend spacing the different chapters out, instead of marathoning the game over an afternoon or a weekend. Maybe put several days between playing each one, to let is settle in your mind and ruminate. So I'll be playing it that way. I'm also going in almost 100% blind, since I've managed to avoid any spoilers for this one.

Honestly, the best way to play. I think you're doing it just right.

Okay, so I haven't gotten to Act 5 yet. Everything is still the same, game-wise, for the earlier chapters. However, they've greatly improved the UI, and added the interstitial elements to the game in a really lovely way. I'm extremely pleased so far, can't wait to dig into the final Act.

Amoebic wrote:

I'll be replaying each act for the next few Tues/Thurs until release date Tuesday the 28th over on our official twitch. I'll be tagging that 28th stream as spoilers, for sure!

Thanks for the streams Amoebic, I’ll be buying the tv edition on PS4 and jumping in for the first time this weekend. Can’t wait!

I decided to just restart the whole thing, and I'm glad I did. Almost through episode 1, and I find I'm getting a lot more out of it with where I'm at now in my life and how I view the world. It's really quite a beautiful game. Can't wait to pick away at it and get through the whole thing.

I initially played the first 2 or 3 episodes before deciding to wait until it was all done.

Done with Ch.1 as well. Gonna put together some of my early thoughts and post them here in spoilers.

Spoiler:

-So the early takeaway is how everyone we encounter seems to be pretty down on their luck, doing jobs they don’t want or with poor prospects, just to get by. But they managed to be pretty philosophical about it.

-Also, everyone is having trouble with the local energy supply. It was an ongoing thing at the gas station, the house, and at the mine. I wonder if we learn about the bigger issue there.

-I really like the way the game introduces backstory through the dialogue options, and so even if we don’t choose some options that flesh out specific details, we can still imagine or sketch in some of the details about Conway’s old boss, the dog, and the company he works for.

-I really like the way the font is different for the word ZERO. The colors/shades of gray move around in it, giving it an unearthly feel.

-People we talked to (the ones playing a tabletop game in the basement of the gas station and the lady in the farmhouse both disappeared. I’m guessing they all show up later, probably on the ZERO.

-And the people playing the tabletop game described the game they were playing as some sort of psychogeographical game about anxiety, and how it’s a tragedy. I wonder if that was supposed to be an intro to KR0 itself and some of its themes.

-And at the end we get onto the fabled Kentucky Route Zero. I remembered that KR0 won RockPaperShotgun’s GOTY at some point, and when I went back and checked it was in 2013 with only the first two episodes out. I’m expecting Ch.2 to bring some serious heat.

I also did the first interlude, and I have no idea what to make of it. I’m guessing there’s symbolism here that I’m just missing.

Could you say how long Act 5 is? (put it in a spoiler, presumably) I'm going to be playing it with a friend and it'd be good to know how much time to allot to it, especially whether it'll be one sitting or multiple.

Alright, so I finished Act 2 this evening. First takes in spoilers.

Spoiler:

You know, I was prepared for all sort of things happening in Act 2 after getting on the Zero at the end of 1. But getting stuck in bureaucratic hell for half an episode wasn't on the list. I liked the bear floor, though.

I'm continuing to believe that this story has a lot to do with people just getting by under hard times or circumstances, and being stuck in scenes that aren't really working out for them, but inertia or lack of other options keeping them there. And how everyone's dreams seem just out of reach (like the people on the landlocked houseboat), but have come to live with the disappointment. Things are bad enough to be bad, but not bad enough to cause people to change. So they continue on. At least, that's what I'm seeing in these first two acts.

Also, hey there was a giant bald eagle. He seems cool, but what's up with that?

And now I'm up through Act 3. It feels like the direction of the story is a bit clearer now. I jotted down some notes as I was playing through it, and I put them in spoilers.

Spoiler:

So first I did the second interlude. Initially I found myself bored with it, since it just seemed like a chat at a bar with small personal dramas, but I settled on the idea that much of this game is about the struggles of a place, and this was a lengthy exploration of the struggles of people who live there, so I let myself slide into the ambiance of the world the game was telling me about.

AND THEN THERE WAS A GLOWING SKELETON.

So it took me a bit to get the pun, that Hard Times was called and would be the one doing the reckoning for the debts that were owed, since none could pay. Since they were now going to have (even) hard(er) times. Kinda on the nose, but I’m slow with this stuff sometimes.

And also it was kind of poignant that Pearl was the only one who was close to getting out, just had a bit of debt of her own left but none at the bar, but was still there when Hard Times came a knocking, even when told to quickly leave. None got out, even if the reckoning wasn’t meant for them.

Then on to ch. 3, which got spaced out over several days.

After another poignant bit where Lysette was trying to get rid of the last of her antiques (her ‘legacy’ in my telling), we learn she is also starting to suffer some sort of cognitive loss or memory loss. It makes the job for this game look to be like one final run before the store that Conway, his friend, and Lysette all had together, would likely close, putting an end to that phase of their lives.

Also, CONWAY GOT THE GLOWING SKELETON LEG WHAT IS GOING ON. What are the implications for the full on skeleton man? I didn't know if I wanted to know.

Sound design is good in this game, like the soft radio in the background as crickets chirp in the darkness. I also really liked the bit at the dive bar section with the song. I’ve never went out to a run down joint like that, but it managed to suck me in and give me nostalgia for something I’ve never experienced before. Something about how the roof just disintegrates into the swirling cosmos just fills the room made the whole thing special.

For most of the Hall of the Mountain King/Xanadu segment, I had totally lost the thread at was even going on anymore, and what the objective was besides try to deliver something. But then it occurred to me that the recordings on Xanadu were about the people recording music in the caves mentioned back in Act 1, and one Lula. And then it occurred to me again during the Xanadu section that maybe the skeletons are people who were crushed by the cave-in at the mine where the recordings were done, and were totally replaced, instead of just a leg like Conway. But I still felt like I was missing something.

And then we see the factory full of skeletons, and no one blinks and eye at it. The skeleton-ness doesn’t seem to be how they get you, but it does seem to be how they prop people up and keep them working forever. Like the people from The Entertainment; they’re probably all stuck in the debt loop, and we may meet them later.

Curious where this will go now.

Ended a little playtime with the interlude between episode 3 and 4 today (the phone tree bit). It might be my favorite thing about the game so far. It reminds so much of this:

Can't wait to get to the last 2 episodes which are new to me, but I am savoring it. I only played the first 2 episodes when they released and decided to wait for everything to come out before revisiting. I love this game so much. It STICKS in your brain.

All finished. I'm someone who had been playing along with the episodes and interstitials as they came out. Even with replaying Un Pueblo de Nada, the long gap made it hard to get back into the swing of things with Act 5 - it was a lot to piece back together. But absolutely an amazing, special experience overall. One of those games that makes you feel lucky that there are people out there making stuff like this, and that you get to play it.

Some specific thoughts and details about Act 5 that I'll spoiler:

Spoiler:

What a brave and unexpected direction to take it: committing to deemphasizing Conway, not having plot development in the traditional sense, not giving answers to its questions and mysteries. I played most of the way through with a friend, and we kept being impatient for the scene to end, and then my laptop battery died 10 minutes from what turned out to be the end of the game.

Not what I thought I wanted from the Act but, to use the cliché, perhaps what I needed. Some time to pause and mourn our losses and take stock and figure out what comes next. As someone who is going through a grieving process, and who tends to be sensitive to these sorts of things, I was absolutely bawling through the funeral, even seeing it the second time with company when I thought I'd be prepared.

Finished Act I and II, and the interstitials. I forgot how depressing this game is.

I think I am going to start playing new content tonight, wish me luck.

Edit: If you have day/date sensitive trophies or achievements in your game, you are an asshole.

From: The one guy who still cares about trophies.

I have played everything but Act 5, and the final two intersticials (including going through Act IV twice).

With only light spoilers for Act I, I totally feel Conway's leg thing after tearing my quad last year, it never feels right, it doesn't feel like it is mine, and ...

Act IV spoiler below...

Spoiler:

If I wasn't lucky enough to have good insurance I would have had to sell my soul to a distillery to pay for the fix.

I'm struggling to get through this.

I played up to Act 4 when it was released, and I remember enjoying it. It was novel, and odd, and the art was evocative.

This time, I'm not sure why, it's just not working for me. I don't enjoy navigating the maps (especially in the Zero). Wandering the Hall of the Mountain King took forever, and the sound when you first boot up Xanadu was so unpleasant i nearly muted the game.

The art is cool, and the writing in and of itself is well done. I especially like the random text encounters you find while exploring the maps. The bite-sized weirdness is more interesting to me, I guess. I called the phone number you can find in Act 2, and thought that was a really fun addition. When something really bonkers happens like the bird in Act 2, or the distillery stuff, I enjoy that.

I feel like I need to be a theater geek to get a lot of this, which I definitely am not. Playing the interlude The Entertainment was particularly painful. You can't do anything but look around, and just have to sit and watch a play? The early look at character and plot foreshadowing is fun, but... why do I have to just sit and watch a really really boring play to get that?

I'm going to push through to the end. But while I thought I would go back and grab any achievements I missed the first time around, now I suspect that won't happen.