Unfinished Story

[Captain Hawsehole]

Was it ever revealed if the sniper rifle had any actual relevance to the story? If not, it was a pretty pointless final achievement for what I considered a fantastic game.

[boink]

IMHO superficially they are poking fun in a friendly way at the FPS crowd ("FPV"="FPS" minus the shooting).
FPS without sniper rifles? Unthinkable...
'Nades are often controversial (cheap spam kills, take the other guy with you etc).
If not the Alpha and Omega, both are at least staples of the FPS genre, with lots of associations attached.

2nd (again, IMHO), I felt strangely sad after realizing I had killed the diver, for no reason whatsoever. This may tell us something about pointless killing in shooter games.
Technically it's a filthy spam kill deluxe (ironically, he's about the only other living being with you in the whole game. The achievement-obsessed gamer kills the diver accidentally, without even being aware). Later, you pick up the weapons drop, the body de-spawns, it makes no difference at all.
On my end, point well taken...

PS: You can stop here or dig deeper... much deeper:
To me, the "Throw Grenade" animation has something deeply unsettling - words buzzing like angry wasps.
When you bring them carefully into focus and click, are you being manipulated by "something" into mechanically committing an evil deed without understanding?
The action itself seems totally absurd, any way you look at it.
Take your own pick.

Next: Don't read unless you've played through:
The player witnesses two fatal accidents:
Arguably, Ethan's death is caused by the poisoned family spirit, which is the true undying evil, antagonist if you will (the toxic argument causing Missy to become so agitated she spills the lamp). This accident is the keystone of the story.
The other fatal accident is the diver, inadvertently killed by yours truly.
Strong stuff.

Read also Adrian Chmielarz' commentary on "a thin veil of an excuse".

PS: background not found in the usual walkthroughs etc. (extreme spoilers, of course. Continues a few posts further down)

[Ƥrǐŋcєss Ƒluեեєrsɦy]

Everything in the game is just in the Mind of Ethan, nothing realy happen, exept the Fire at the End. Even the Main Char you play is Imagination.
At the End of the Game its explained.

[Nada]

the question should be what the f made you throw a grenade into a lake and blow up a diver. better what was the diver doing to decide i am going to go for a casual dive in this lake. lol ok all jokes aside i don't think the sniper riffle belongs to the diver and someone used it to shoot him the diver/intruder

[sjpaladin]

Originally posted by Nada:

the question should be what the f made you throw a grenade into a lake and blow up a diver. better what was the diver doing to decide i am going to go for a casual dive in this lake. lol ok all jokes aside i don't think the sniper riffle belongs to the diver and someone used it to shoot him the diver/intruder

I have no idea why the diver was swimming with a sniper rifle. I will however say that the "grenade" I threw at him was 100% a pinecone, so I can't be blamed if it exploded on him.

[Nada]

Originally posted by sjpaladin:

Originally posted by Nada:

the question should be what the f made you throw a grenade into a lake and blow up a diver. better what was the diver doing to decide i am going to go for a casual dive in this lake. lol ok all jokes aside i don't think the sniper riffle belongs to the diver and someone used it to shoot him the diver/intruder

I have no idea why the diver was swimming with a sniper rifle. I will however say that the "grenade" I threw at him was 100% a pinecone, so I can't be blamed if it exploded on him.

i was being slightly sarcastic about it lol