It's Time To Admit That Edith Finch Was Just Okay 

It seems your criteria for what makes a great game includes having replay value. I don't think that's necessarily true. Not all games are meant to be played more than once, and I feel like Edith Finch is one of these. You're never going to have the same experience of discovery and mystery on a second playthrough. The story beats can't possibly hit as hard as the first time you feel them. If you leave your first playthrough moved and thinking it's a masterpiece, then it is one. For me, my experience with Edith Finch was magical and reminded me of the power of stories, which I had forgotten at that point in my life. I know if I played it again I wouldn't be so swept away, but I don't think that means I was wrong to feel that way the first time I played it. IMO if it's just okay on a second playthrough, that doesn't negate how great it is on the first.

Very strong feelings you have and I must say, I strongly disagree (except about the shark part, that part was totally janky) but I have replayed this game over 10 times (and I've watched at least 10 playthroughs of it) and I find it absolutely compelling each and every time. There are more details to find than you might think, I know because I have watched loads of people miss them. I find the stories cohesive in that they are all parts of a whole: one family, one history, one legacy. But it's good at least hear a different perspective. We don't all have to like the same thing.

I don't think it's fair to judge a game like this one based on your second playthrough. The main appeal to the game here is the sense of discovery: piecing together what happened to the family members. Obviously, in a second playthrough, you already know all of this information so you're missing the appeal almost completely. It's like trying to judge a broadway musical without listening to its songs -- you're removing the very core of what you're reviewing. So of course the game is 'just okay' on a second playthrough. You've effectively nullified its primary appeal.

Edith Finch fully justifies itself as a game that remains undistracted from its story, and the "developer's hand on your back" is just proper pacing. You can stop in any given room and admire a hundred small details that will foreshadow what's to come or hint at the truth behind an earlier mystery. They don't want you to wander around aimlessly until you stumble into scraps of paper, and why should they? This is a game that shows you the grandiose version of events but still expects you to examine them under a microscope. On that note, if you think the curse is real along with supernatural monsters as suggested in some of the stories. You are entitled to your own reading of things... but I think it severely limits your ability to start looking past the surface level. There are hints all throughout at what really happened in any given scenario, as well as what the curse represents, and it shows an escalation over time. Overall it makes the ending more poignant than just "they all died to the curse, welp" and I think that is important to understanding it as a more layered story. It's generational, and as you said yourself at one point it does make use of unreliable narration. The trick is balancing all of these stories into one series of events which create the answer to the mystery throughout. In that sense, it is also a mystery game that doesn't just give you the answer. You can finish the game without a clear understanding, and I have to say, games that do that are anything but lacking in replay value.

I can understand the criticism about the gameplay and storytelling (even though I think the curse being a mystery is the whole point of the story) but I don't think it's fair to judge games like Edith Finch by their replay values. I play those games (or make my friends play while I watch) so many times and they never lose their charm because I always remember the feelings I felt when I first experienced them. Of couse the initial playthrough is always more impactful but they are still amazing games considering they succesfully captured our attention and interest the first time. 💜 People rewatch their favorite movies/shows and reread books all the time even though they know the story already. They might even notice a mistake or two but this shouldn't turn that movie/book into "just okay". So why not do the same with games like this, they don't have to be perfect to be still considered good 🤷🏻‍♀️

I feel like you are kind of misunderstanding the type of story that Edith Finch is. You say that you wish the ending focused more on the curse, but the story leaves the curses ambiguous for a reason. A lot of the story of the game is left up to interpretation. Is there really a curse, or was that idea made up by Edie? The story doesn't answer that, you have to decide what you think for yourself. What happened to Milton? Who knows, but you're free to come up with theories, just as the Finches had to when he went missing. These questions, among others, are what makes the game interesting to me. When I finished the game I got to look at it all as a whole and come up with my own answers for these questions, and then see what answers others had come up with. I spent more time engaging with those questions than I did actually playing through that game. That was what made me like the game as much as I do. The game doesn't really have any replay value, but that doesn't make it a worse game inherently. Lots of games have little to no replay value. Like, puzzle games don't really have any replay value. Unless you are speedrunning, why would you replay a puzzle game? You already know the solutions to everything, you are just spending the entire game inputting the solutions you have already found. But there are lots of hugely popular and well liked puzzle games because they are fun on your first playthrough and leave an impact on you.

I like how you say "Time to admit that Edith Finch was just okay" as if this is some kind of objective fact. Like I understand if it isn't your type of game, but don't be acting as if some of its some grand objective truth that people have been denying for so long. I think it has such a beautiful and moving story, with amazing writing and creative moments. But I understand that's just my opinion. I think that many you're feelings in the video are very valid and importantly: they're all your opinions. But if someone made a video called "It's time to admit that Hollow Knight was just okay", don't you think you would be a little annoyed at such a sweeping statement that acts as if the reviewer is trying to help us see the fucking light? Look you seem like a nice dude, but don't be acting like your subjective hot take is the second coming of christ and that everyone else is ignorant for thinking otherwise.

huge disagree

ok so you complain about replay value, and the gameplay being janky? have you understood the point of the game? this is the worst take anyone could have i see people respectfully disagreeing in the comments but this is the worst bait video i have ever seen in my life. reconsider your life

Nah, where’s the thousands of views and hundreds of comments for this video? You were genuinely spitting and I’m reading these comments and I just understand what some of them are talking about Some disagree respectfully Some disagree respectfully but they disagree because they feel like you are complaining about replay value even tho in the entire video you don’t even talk about this

Couldn't disagree more, but whatever floats your boat i guess

Interesting video - I definitely disagree but I see where you're coming from

I had a good time with the game but nothing more.

seems like you just want this game to be more bethesda. this game and games like it (thinking of the beginners guide) are like guided meditations, I think, more than narratives with mysteries and secret notes and shit. Would this game have been improved at all by more random items to interact with that, idk, made the story less ambiguous? Not at all. It’s a tour of a house, of a family, of tragedy. The “mini games” invite us to think each in a different way about the event being dramatized in each one. It’s fine not to like this sort of thing, but I think your take on replay value and more “choice” is kinda bunk