Ether One (Mystlike)

[JudasIscariot]

Ether One just got released on GOG ( http://af.gog.com/game/ether_one?as=1649904300 ) and I can totally recommend it if you ever wanted to play a small town version of Myst :D I am not usually a fan of Myst-like games because they intimidate me, to be honest but I have to say Ether One did a smashing job with puzzles and how they are solved.

 

[Crooked Bee]

A Myst-like? Okay, I'm interested!

 

[Jaesun]

I'm gonna pick this up today. <3 I need a Myst fix... BADLY.

 

[JudasIscariot]

I'm gonna pick this up today. <3 I need a Myst fix... BADLY.

If you do end up getting Ether One, I'd love to hear your opinions on it. That goes for anyone else

 

[JudasIscariot]

A Myst-like? Okay, I'm interested!

I'll tell you one thing:

The puzzles tend to sometimes have their solutions hidden in plain sight Also, there is no puzzle autosolving or anything that would smack of The Decline, imho. I've been playing the game four roughly 17 hours now, and sure, you can barrel through and get to the end but then you'll miss out on an entire section with puzzles to solve and memories to collect.

Another thing: if you see purple light bulbs, they are not burnt out (as I erroneously thought), they're blacklight bulbs Make sure to store a couple of them in The Case as they can come in handy. Another cool thing is that you have puzzles where you can write the answer in to solve them. Those aren't too particularly difficult but it's a nice touch

 

[Jaesun]

I'm gonna pick this up today. <3 I need a Myst fix... BADLY.

If you do end up getting Ether One, I'd love to hear your opinions on it. That goes for anyone else

Will do. I have only been playing for 5 hours, I really like this so far.

 

[Jacqueline]

lovely game this is, i think im at the middle or so and judging from what i have seen so far i give it an

Another thing: if you see purple light bulbs, they are not burnt out (as I erroneously thought), they're blacklight bulbs

holding down left mouse button on everything helps a lot, especialy with that may day bells puzzle early on.

 

[JudasIscariot]

lovely game this is, i think im at the middle or so and judging from what i have seen so far i give it an

Another thing: if you see purple light bulbs, they are not burnt out (as I erroneously thought), they're blacklight bulbs

holding down left mouse button on everything helps a lot, especialy with that may day bells puzzle early on.

Where are you exactly, if I may ask?

 

[JudasIscariot]

Also, a note about the game:

It is soooooooo worth it to get all 20 of the projectors restored. Just trust me on that one

 

[Jacqueline]

lovely game this is, i think im at the middle or so and judging from what i have seen so far i give it an

Another thing: if you see purple light bulbs, they are not burnt out (as I erroneously thought), they're blacklight bulbs

holding down left mouse button on everything helps a lot, especialy with that may day bells puzzle early on.

Where are you exactly, if I may ask?

you may and sorry for my late response, since yesterday i haven't progressed much i have cleared everything except much of pinwheel village and one projector in the mines. it would be very helpful if anyone had any hints about the "fragments" projector since i have no idea what order the reels are supposed to be or if i have even found every one of the right ones.

 

[JudasIscariot]

Look to your F.A.T.H.E.R. for clues

 

[Scroo]

Bought it, this looks pretty good indeed

 

[Jacqueline]

Look to your F.A.T.H.E.R. for clues

thanks!!! i finished the game just now thanks to you and i think i got the good ending, one of the mining projectors was slightly bugged for me so im not entirely sure. the last sequence after

Spoiler

finally reaching the top of the lighthouse and getting transported to the doctors office

had me confusd.

Spoiler

was he cured? and what is the bad ending?

 

[JudasIscariot]

Look to your F.A.T.H.E.R. for clues

thanks!!! i finished the game just now thanks to you and i think i got the good ending, one of the mining projectors was slightly bugged for me so im not entirely sure. the last sequence after

Spoiler

finally reaching the top of the lighthouse and getting transported to the doctors office

had me confusd.

Spoiler

was he cured? and what is the bad ending?

Spoiler

The game mentions that the therapy could possibly treat the dementia somewhat and it would improve the quality of life in the short term (I think I heard this in Brimclif Mine from Jean's voice) but I don't think he was fully cured. More like the disease was halted for a while.

Spoiler

The "bad" ending is the one where you have the music box play and that's it. You'll see the good ending if you have all 20 projectors fixed AND you go continue the game after the credits roll. You'll hear Dr. Edmonds ask you to come back to the Case when you've got a moment so teleport out, teleport in, and sit down in the leather chair

So what did you think of the game overall?

 

[Jacqueline]

Spoiler

The "bad" ending is the one where you have the music box play and that's it. You'll see the good ending if you have all 20 projectors fixed AND you go continue the game after the credits roll. You'll hear Dr. Edmonds ask you to come back to the Case when you've got a moment so teleport out, teleport in, and sit down in the leather chair

i completely missed that and went back and did it and now everything makes perfect sense and you're right it was totally worth it!

So what did you think of the game overall?

it was extraordinaire, there seems to be so much thought and love put into everything to make it into such a cohesive and beautiful game. i loved all the puzzles and how the plot came together, it never felt unfair or pretentiously obtuse nor a complete cakewalk or condescending in its tone. my only complaint would be a small number of bugs and slight optimization issues at times but that is easily fixed by a patch or two. overall strong contender for my personal GOTY so far.

seems strange to me that it does not get more coverage, i only knew about this since it showed up on gog's main page, i remember reading a preview about it way back but the actual release has been very quiet so far. the gaming press were so hyped up about gone home and that other walking sim that i don't remember the name of yet this game which is a lot better have mostly avoided getting in the spotlight for some reason.

oh and i'd very much like to hear other people's impressions of it too.

 

[Whisky]

Seems like people are liking this, might have to check it out.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I bought this a few weeks ago because of this thread, finally managed to solve all the puzzles and finish it.
Thanks for recommending it, it's an enjoyable game.

Exploring the town was pure fun, fantastic map design with relatively large areas full of interconnected and twisted paths and secrets. Sometimes simply finding the next puzzle is a challenge. The only disappointing thing in that regard was the large amount of re-used assets, seeing the same posters and toys etc. everywhere.
And on that topic, what mostly dampened my enjoyment is more of a personal complaint; the intimate character drama that dictates most of the design in this game.
Without spoiling too much, it is clear from the beginning that your adventure takes place in a "dream" world. I think that's a bad decision for an exploration based game as it makes me feel as if there's no real consequence for my actions, no feeling of discovery, and nothing has to make sense anyway.
Add to that the constant and annoyingly redundant audio interruptions of your "guide". I often wished I could just explore the town on my own without the additional story layer (but I admit I really disliked her voice acting so it's another subjective complaint).
However in the end all the different pieces of disconnected stories that you uncover do come together nicely and form a satisfying conclusion.

The puzzles were great overall.
Some really tough ones spanning the whole area (the Victory Shaft projector took me almost a week of on-and-off playing to get), some trivially easy and confined to one room, but generally satisfying to solve. Considering the metaphysical nature of the game they often require you to make abstract connections between elements and sometimes the goal isn't very clear. Some might call this illogical, but I thought they were well designed and as I said, balanced in difficulty.
I also loved the ones where you had to find information instead of the usual inventory items and then type in the answer, fill out a form or something.

So, if you're not a dumbass like me and aware that this is more of a personal, emotional, character focused story instead of a purely environmental puzzle Adventure, get this game.