Is it me or is this game.... not very good?

[TeknoTel]

This game is rated overwhelmingly positive. After completing it I genuinely have no idea how this is the case.

It starts off very promising absolutely, however after you have done anything in Dredge you have done everything. There is no real variation at all. Just go from one point to the next.

The fishing mini games are very simplistic, its fine, if it was one of several other game mechanics, which it isn't.

I think this style of game, travelling from point a to point b and back to point a would be fine if the game world, characters or story were engaging or immersive in any way. This is actually where the game is at is absolute worst in my opinion.

Nothing is developed. You meet characters and are like, oh, I wonder what is going to happen here, nothing happens with any of them. You will have one or two maximum interactions and the story will never develop any further with them. I found this to be the most surprising aspect of the game as I expected this would be where the games focus would be seeing how simplistic virtually everything else is.

I completed it very quickly and after doing so I had two open quests, very tedious rinse and repeat quests so I had seen the overwhelming majority of the game as well.

The game looks set up to be very good after the first 30-60 minutes of play and I think this explains a lot of the overwhelmingly positive reviews, however when you eventually realise that very little actually develops in Dredge you see how quickly this game has been put together and how little there is to it. Honestly after completing this I thought this was one of the most shallow/rushed games I have ever played and the price of £20 is obscene for how little has gone into this game.

[Boiledteabag]

Originally posted by TeknoTel:

Originally posted by HammyBread:

Nothing in this world caters to everyone, however I think this is a YOU issue.

You state the game was very quick to finish game play wise, maybe that's because it was designed to be so. Look at the scale of the map and how long it takes to travel, this was a clear choice in developing the game.

The real meat of the game is the lore and mystery, if you didn't stop to look for any of that then I can see why you would dislike the game to a degree.
This is a narrative driven game with a fishing mini-game, If you only focused on blasting through it as quick as possible then that's a YOU problem OP.

Nothing felt developed because YOU didn't put effort into finding the development of the games story, mystery and past. Your only focus was eating all your cake and then asking "wheres my cake".

I mean this is simply not true. This is a very basic game, there isn't really anything fleshed out at all.

"The real meat of the game is the lore and mystery, if you didn't stop to look for any of that then I can see why you would dislike the game to a degree."

So the meat of this game is lore that comes in the form of 12 messages in a bottle and and one character per 6 or 7 POIs who legitimately have one conversation in them?

This is my entire point, this is a very shallow basic game, I think your comment unwittingly supports this. This isn't about what people like or dislike, this post is saying this is objectively a very shallow and rushed game.

The fact that you think the story, mystery and past starts and ends with the message in bottles says everything about your point of view.
First of spoiler if your brain didn't connect the dots, the messages tell the fisherman and his wives story.

There is more to discover and theorise.
You are not worthy of the clown award since you are simply short sighted.
Just refund the game and move on if you beat it in a hour and left you dissatisfied then.

[TeknoTel]

Originally posted by LitD-JV:

Originally posted by TeknoTel:

I mean this is simply not true. This is a very basic game, there isn't really anything fleshed out at all.

"The real meat of the game is the lore and mystery, if you didn't stop to look for any of that then I can see why you would dislike the game to a degree."

So the meat of this game is lore that comes in the form of 12 messages in a bottle and and one character per 6 or 7 POIs who legitimately have one conversation in them?

This is my entire point, this is a very shallow basic game, I think your comment unwittingly supports this. This isn't about what people like or dislike, this post is saying this is objectively a very shallow and rushed game.

Ah there you go. You don't want to understand our point of view, you made your mind up already and you just want us to agree with you. Just say it so we stop wasting our time with you since your opinion is objectively true.

Yes! You are right about everything and people who like this game are wrong for liking it.

Feeling better now? Now we can all mute this pointless thread and move on.

I don't understand the hostility, I am not really sure what you are getting at either, we are having a discussion critiquing the game.

Do you think this game has a lot of lore or a well developed story or character development?

To me it simply doesn't, I am happy to discuss this with you but I feel you are taking criticism on this game personally and are not really able to have a critical discussion which is the purpose of the post.

[Boiledteabag]

Originally posted by TeknoTel:

Originally posted by LitD-JV:

Ah there you go. You don't want to understand our point of view, you made your mind up already and you just want us to agree with you. Just say it so we stop wasting our time with you since your opinion is objectively true.

Yes! You are right about everything and people who like this game are wrong for liking it.

Feeling better now? Now we can all mute this pointless thread and move on.

I don't understand the hostility, I am not really sure what you are getting at either, we are having a discussion critiquing the game.

Do you think this game has a lot of lore or a well developed story or character development?

To me it simply doesn't, I am happy to discuss this with you but I feel you are taking criticism on this game personally and are not really able to have a critical discussion which is the purpose of the post.

I'm not being hostile, I'm being logical.
If you feel the game is shallow and not for you then get your money back. That's what any normal person would do.

I know you're not happy with it and I know I enjoyed the game, I acknowledged your words as you did mine.
If I was trying to be hostile my first reply in your thread would of been short and terse, but instead it was constructed in a way to encourage a reply was it not?

Anyway I'm done with you since you think the lore starts and ends with the message in bottles, read my first post if you want to understand more because I don't want to spoil parts of the game for you if you haven't seen or discussed them. (Heavy emphasis on the mystery and past part)

After you are able to discuss the other findings in the game I'll happily converse more, but I'm not going to ruining the natural discovery process for you.

[TeknoTel]

Originally posted by HammyBread:

Originally posted by TeknoTel:

I don't understand the hostility, I am not really sure what you are getting at either, we are having a discussion critiquing the game.

Do you think this game has a lot of lore or a well developed story or character development?

To me it simply doesn't, I am happy to discuss this with you but I feel you are taking criticism on this game personally and are not really able to have a critical discussion which is the purpose of the post.

I'm not being hostile, I'm being logical.
If you feel the game is shallow and not for you then get your money back. That's what any normal person would do.

I know you're not happy with it and I know I enjoyed the game, I acknowledged your words as you did mine.
If I was trying to be hostile my first reply in your thread would of been short and terse, but instead it was constructed in a way to encourage a reply was it not?

Anyway I'm done with you since you think the lore starts and ends with the message in bottles, read my first post if you want to understand more because I don't want to spoil parts of the game for you if you haven't seen or discussed them.

I have read your comment and I have completed the game lol. What more is there to the game other than the message in a bottle lore, and literally one questline/character per area? The characters to do not progress or develop past the one questline they are involved in.

The paragraph above isn't really an opinion its what I saw in the game, you haven't mentioned the content other than the concepts of 'lore' and 'mystery'. Compared to most games I have played, especially ones where the lore and storyline are supposed to be the meat of the game, this is exceptionally light on these aspects.

If you feel this isn't a discussion you can have then that is fine, but you certainly have a hostile tone and seem to have taken the critique of the game personally.

[Boiledteabag]

Originally posted by TeknoTel:

Originally posted by HammyBread:

I'm not being hostile, I'm being logical.
If you feel the game is shallow and not for you then get your money back. That's what any normal person would do.

I know you're not happy with it and I know I enjoyed the game, I acknowledged your words as you did mine.
If I was trying to be hostile my first reply in your thread would of been short and terse, but instead it was constructed in a way to encourage a reply was it not?

Anyway I'm done with you since you think the lore starts and ends with the message in bottles, read my first post if you want to understand more because I don't want to spoil parts of the game for you if you haven't seen or discussed them.

I have read your comment and I have completed the game lol. What more is there to the game other than the message in a bottle lore, and literally one questline/character per area? The characters to do not progress or develop past the one questline they are involved in.

The paragraph above isn't really an opinion its what I saw in the game, you haven't mentioned the content other than the concepts of 'lore' and 'mystery'. Compared to most games I have played, especially ones where the lore and storyline are supposed to be the meat of the game, this is exceptionally light on these aspects.

If you feel this isn't a discussion you can have then that is fine, but you certainly have a hostile tone and seem to have taken the critique of the game personally.

Did you even read the reply? I said I didn't want to ruin the natural exploration for you, there is more to find. Its not mind blowing but at the same time I don't want to spoil it.

And I was right you think its only the bottles, meaning if you are disregarding everything else there is nothing else to discuss other then fishing loadouts etc.
And the fishing is just a vehicle guiding you to the story of the world, we have nothing to discuss until you find it for it to be discussed and I'm not going to spoil it.

But if you insist, what other then the bottles, small scope, play time and main gameplay do you have to build upon to discuss as I've seen your opinions on all said topics.

[Beowulf]

Originally posted by HammyBread:

Originally posted by TeknoTel:

I have read your comment and I have completed the game lol. What more is there to the game other than the message in a bottle lore, and literally one questline/character per area? The characters to do not progress or develop past the one questline they are involved in.

The paragraph above isn't really an opinion its what I saw in the game, you haven't mentioned the content other than the concepts of 'lore' and 'mystery'. Compared to most games I have played, especially ones where the lore and storyline are supposed to be the meat of the game, this is exceptionally light on these aspects.

If you feel this isn't a discussion you can have then that is fine, but you certainly have a hostile tone and seem to have taken the critique of the game personally.

Did you even read the reply? I said I didn't want to ruin the natural exploration for you, there is more to find. Its not mind blowing but at the same time I don't want to spoil it.

And I was right you think its only the bottles, meaning if you are disregarding everything else there is nothing else to discuss other then fishing loadouts etc.
And the fishing is just a vehicle guiding you to the story of the world, we have nothing to discuss until you find it for it to be discussed and I'm not going to spoil it.

But if you insist, what other then the bottles, small scope, play time and main gameplay do you have to build upon to discuss as I've seen your opinions on all said topics.

Going be honest it sounds like your pinning the blame on Tekno for failing at the game when it should be the games fault that it's hiding something so intrinsic to it that he's not picking up on it.

Whatever the story or background information is it shouldn't be so hard to find or understand that it can be completely passed by accident esspcially when someone is looking for it when it's the games job to point the player at it.

The fact that you are taking pains not to expand on it is also very confusing. On some level I can understand not wanting to ruin it for someone else but the very threads is someone on the verge of giving up on the game forever and instead of trying to help them put things together or even point them in the right direction where they could find more you almost smuggly say that there is more out there and you won't tell them more.

[wangChungTonight]

I thought that what is at stake here is, "why is a game that is, you know, pretty good -- neither indefensibly bad, nor the peak of excellence; having salient weaknesses but still clear strengths -- holding an "overwhelmingly positive" rating? Why doesn't an above-average game have a (strictly) above-average rating?

And this is an interesting question.

I mean, can we all at least admit that it ain't Hades?

But while the critiques, whether right or wrong, are at least articulated, I get no real sense of what is driving people's attachment to this game. I know we shouldn't be surprised at anything we find people opining on the net, but I'm frankly taken aback by some of the "it's you" responses.

[wangChungTonight]

I mean, can we address at least how weird it is that apparently what this game has been missing is boat paint? Smacks of database consumption[en.wikipedia.org]

[Boiledteabag]

Originally posted by wangChungTonight:

I mean, can we address at least how weird it is that apparently what this game has been missing is boat paint? Smacks of database consumption[en.wikipedia.org]

Yeah the fact painting your boat and a photo mode were late additions is very strange, seems like they should of been base game functions or shortly after launch.

[easytarget]

Any thread started with the question this one does is always answered with yes, it's you.

[Garamoth]

Well, it's a horror game about fishing, so the meme value is through the roof. That pretty much explains Dredge's popularity in and of itself.

But anyway, as I said, what Dredge does best is hit the mood juuuust right. The mood and presentation is the main draw here, criticism about the depth of the mechanics or the lore is kind of beside the point, even if they could be improved.

You have to appreciate the details:

- The success jingle goes loopy when you fish an aberration, it's a delightful touch.
- Regular fish have fairly standard "encyclopedia" style entries, those of aberrations have a stilted quality to them, the subject of the verbs are body parts, not the fish itself.
- The animals in the background from update 2 add the feeling that life goes on, despite everything, that random events are not all bad.

[Boiledteabag]

Yeah the fish are freaky af, kinda makes you question what is actually out there.
Most of the fish look like they have growths, rotted, made host by something or gained some kind of mutation.
While the rest of them look like *something* trying to imitate a fish or crab.
Like the rock crab alt version, its straight up just a rock with some purple ooze imitating a crab, and the alt lobster suggesting its the source of it, same with that spiny stafish too, its alt version is literally a gaping maw.

Something is imitating sea life, being parasitic host to it or infecting/mutating it.

[Beowulf]

Originally posted by HammyBread:

Yeah the fish are freaky af, kinda makes you question what is actually out there.
Most of the fish look like they have growths, rotted, made host by something or gained some kind of mutation.
While the rest of them look like *something* trying to imitate a fish or crab.
Like the rock crab alt version, its straight up just a rock with some purple ooze imitating a crab, and the alt lobster suggesting its the source of it, same with that spiny stafish too, its alt version is literally a gaping maw.

Something is imitating sea life, being parasitic host to it or infecting/mutating it.

The problem is though that's all that there is to them. There abberants look wrong and occasionally you get one that makes you go What the ♥♥♥♥ but than you just take it to the fish seller to sell anyways and than you never need to catch the thing again since you now got it logged in your book.

There's just nothing there beyond the image and the fact that they are worth a bit more for you to really interact or for the world to build off of.

[TeknoTel]

Originally posted by Beowulf:

Originally posted by HammyBread:

Yeah the fish are freaky af, kinda makes you question what is actually out there.
Most of the fish look like they have growths, rotted, made host by something or gained some kind of mutation.
While the rest of them look like *something* trying to imitate a fish or crab.
Like the rock crab alt version, its straight up just a rock with some purple ooze imitating a crab, and the alt lobster suggesting its the source of it, same with that spiny stafish too, its alt version is literally a gaping maw.

Something is imitating sea life, being parasitic host to it or infecting/mutating it.

The problem is though that's all that there is to them. There abberants look wrong and occasionally you get one that makes you go What the ♥♥♥♥ but than you just take it to the fish seller to sell anyways and than you never need to catch the thing again since you now got it logged in your book.

There's just nothing there beyond the image and the fact that they are worth a bit more for you to really interact or for the world to build off of.

This is how it is with almost everything aspect of this game and what inspired my original post. There really isn't anything that isn't superficial in Dredge.

[Garamoth]

I'm okay with the fact that aberrations don't do much. They're not meant to fit into some facile crafting system, or into a fantasy MMORPG upgrade path. This isn't Monster Hunter. They're exactly that: aberrations, weird ♥♥♥♥ that turns up because of the slow corrupting influence of something deep below.

Theme and tone and harsh mistresses, I guess?

Although... I guess you could craft weird, profane fishing implements from the aberrations. i could see it.