IronRinn

Damn, sad to see you go, Patrick. Excited to see what you do next, but still, sad to see you go. Good luck.

Again, adventurousness being subjective. I think at this point we may be arguing our own internalization of the story, in which case we are doomed to chase each other in circles with no end game in sight!

@bjorndadwarf:

Honestly, there is nothing to refute your idea of adventure, other than to point out that it is entirely subjective. What we can infer about Katie is hobbled by how little we get to know her. She could be "a total, boring, straightedge" as you call her but, again, she seems to be perfectly content to be so. Perhaps, knowing the way her parents react to things, she simply chooses to filter what information they had access to. The contrast with her younger sister (who, it should be noted, wasn't really doing anything crazy and adventurous until she had the good fortune to meet Lonnie) strikes me as another unfortunate instance where Katie exists merely to shed more light on Sam. We never even find a letter directly from Katie to Sam. Their relationship, one that is impressed upon us as being particularly close, is the one, glaring example where the game chooses to tell instead of show. Which is fine as this is, on the face of it, Sam's story. It's just awkwardly lopsided, especially considering how it's the top-layer narrative, leading to a lot of less than satisfying conjecture.

I think this is a fine interpretation. An even better example is when you find Katie's version of the Sex Ed. homework assignment in the basement (3 years older and they haven't changed a thing in the meantime!) and contrast that with Sam's WWII narrative. (Edit: I am an idiot, you already mentioned this!) I will say, however, that while this is a fine interpretation it still seems like an interpretation of one of the game's biggest flaws. It really treats Katie as a camera. You get some glimpses of her through the postcards, the aforementioned homework, and her refusal to read her sister's racy note in the basement any further (which, as annoying as that was to me as the player, was really the strongest asserts herself as a person in the entire game) but she is really given short shrift compared to everyone else. I'm honestly not sure how I would have balanced the need for Katie to be a character in and of herself as well as serve as the lens for the player but it's regrettable that we didn't get to know her just a bit better.

Edit 2: I would like to add, this:

I think it's one of the hidden morals of the story. Adventure is who you are, not where you go.

...is mighty presumptuous, don't you think? Katie sounds perfectly happy to simply go to Europe and see the sights. Adventure is how you define it for yourself, not how interesting it is to other people.

I didn't have quite the same experience but my first time through I got most of the journal entries out of order simply because I decided to head straight, up the stairs instead of going to the left and exploring the downstairs first. My second play-through I made sure to explore the downstairs first.

You know, I feel like the Terry/Jan/Rick and Terry/Oscar stuff is a better argument for the storytelling in this game than the main, Sam/Lonnie plot which is really just a matter of collecting audio-logs.

Edit: Unrelated: Can we just dispense with the spoiler bars? It's clearly labeled a spoiler thread after all.

It looks like there is space for 24? I only found 20. Think I'm going to load my near-end save and hunt for the last few.

If you notice, all of the expensive, smaller electronic equipment is gone. I assumed that Sam took all of it when she left so she and Lonnie could sell it.

I cannot believe this. Still in total fucking shock an hour later. RIP Mr. Davis, you will be missed.

Another great column Alex, and one that mirrors my own thoughts almost perfectly. I feel exactly like how you describe in your opening paragraph.