The PlayStation Home French Chateau
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief
God, I hate being disappointed.
A while back, I wrote here at HomeStation that I’d love to have a virtual Powerscourt Estate. If you’ve never seen the gardens of Powerscourt, they’re some of the finest in all of Europe. Indeed, perhaps the world. To spend a day in Powerscourt is to know a serenity rarely found in this world.
So when I saw the first preview teaser picture of PlayStation Home’s new French Chateau, I arched an eyebrow.
Please understand: it’s hard to get me excited about personal estates in Home any more. I’ve got too damn many of them, and most of them sit unused. It’s just really, really hard to capture all of those subtle elements that a personal estate needs to have if it’s going to have any longevity. In a recent discussion on The Upload, we asked whether aesthetics trumps techological whizbangery when it comes to purchase decisions in Home, and we all more or less concluded that it did.
Which, of course, has to drive Sony and other developers up a wall. How to divine the pulse of the community? They want bigger spaces! They want smaller spaces! They want cool features! They think ten bucks is too much! They want unlockable bonuses! They don’t want interlinked estates! They want the Archbishop Desmond Tutu!
Christ, it’s enough to make any developer want to snap and run through a mall with an automatic weapon.
So I really, really hate criticizing Home’s developers. Particularly when you consider the rather shrill knee-jerk invective they have to deal with on the Sony forums every day. It’s why HSM has an ironclad rule that criticism should be constructive, because only constructive criticism can be utilized by a developer to craft a better product.
And, with that perspective, I’m going to do my best to offer personal insights into exactly why the French Chateau just doesn’t make the grade.
Actual French chateau.
Let’s start with the floor plan. It’s almost a cookie-cutter replica of the Gothic Manor. The downstairs section is one large, open box. The upstairs landing goes nowhere. There’s a garden out the back.
I’m not a fan of these blank-box estates. They don’t intuitively lend themselves to furnishing, and the creative expression of interior design is arguably a big reason why a fair number of people purchase personal estates: because it’s a canvas for them to decorate.
Which brings me to the second problem: for what feels like it should be a grand estate, it’s a bit lacking. Perhaps I was expecting the Mansion, with hallways and multiple rooms. Perhaps I’m biased because I’ve actually stood inside more than one French chateau in real life. But the problem I have with this estate is that it doesn’t feel like a complete estate; all that’s here is the grand foyer and the (frankly rather small) back garden.
And speaking of the garden, and the Mansion for that matter:
I’m probably one of the few people out there who doesn’t mind the Mansion bonus features being placed in other estates — and I don’t even own the bloody thing. I’ve defended the Jeep, the helicopter, and every other bonus feature out there — taking considerable fire from elements of the Home community for doing so — because I get what Sony’s going for. I may not like the tactics, but I like the strategy. And, to be fair, some of the anti-Sony nonsense that’s been spewed out in response to the Mansion is worse than immature — it’s counterproductive.
But the bonus feature in the French Chateau is one I can’t defend.
The bonus feature in question is a giant fountain that goes in the middle of the garden’s reflection pond. And there are two reasons why this is a problem:
Actual French chateau.
1. The feature does not serve as a means of transportation to another space. Rather, it is an arguably integral element of the chateau’s setting, in a pretty conspicuous central location.
2. Even though the fountain is not present, you can still hear the audio effects as though it were there. And forgive me, but that just plain doesn’t work. Walking outside into the garden and hearing the loud water effects while staring at a calm pond is jarring and takes the audience completely out of the reality of the setting. It’s actually worse than just not having the bonus feature — it’s a legitimate instance where the lack of said feature actually does negatively impact the depiction of the environment, and thus detract from user enjoyment.
So. Is there anything positive to report on about the French Chateau?
Well, the gardens, albeit somewhat limited in scope, are lovely. And the estate itself — what exists of it — is quite beautifully done.
That’s about it.
Oh, yes, there’s a gifting feature. That seems to be all the rage right now with Sony’s latest batch of estates, which all seem to be following a similar formula. I guess it works, since they keep using it to raise the perceived value of these various settings.
Who will the French Chateau appeal to? Well, blank-box interior designers, for one. Gallophiles, for another. And anyone looking for a mini-Mansion with a bit more culture and a lot less gaudiness will also probably enjoy it.
Actual French chateau.
As for me? No. If you’re going to go grand, then do it, and don’t apologize for it or scale back. Blow-out the Chateau into a huge estate, scale-up the size of the gardens, toss in a mini-game or some diurnal controls, and let’s price this thing at ten bucks. Go big. These middle-of-the-road estates would have been fine two years ago, but they just don’t hold up well today. On a day when Juggernaut Games has just updated their superlative Cutteridge Estate and even Digital Leisure has flooded their free hotel room, the marketplace calls for more innovation than just a pretty setting.
I’m scoring the French Chateau right down the middle. And this time I know I’m being generous, strictly because I like the idea of the setting. The French Chateau may be a disappointment, but it’s as close to Powerscourt as Home has come up with yet.
Now, since I don’t want to end things on a downer note, here’s an HSM virtual tour of the French Chateau. Just like with the Gothic Manor and the Midnight Glade, I’ve done my best to try to capture the emotional feel of the place.
The Home Community Volunteers are presently holding open-house tours of the Chateau; I highly encourage you to take advantage of this fantastic free service and check out the estate for yourself. Who knows? You might like it more than I do.
- Nice garden.
- Lovely interior.
- Lack of fountain (with remaining sound effects) is jarring.
- Feels a lot like a reskinned Gothic Manor.
- Just...uninspired. Nothing truly remarkable about it.
February 16th, 2012 by NorseGamer | 11 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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I had a tour of the Mansion and I loved it. I did however see the fountain so that makes a difference. It’s my understanding that one needs three parts of the Golden Mansion to get the fountain. However, there’s been some speculation on what may be included… or what people want.
That’s an excellent video btw although I shed a few tears because the French gentleman didn’t dance with the lady.
Boo Hoo
Alas, Home has yet to include a Viennese waltz or any other appropriate dance to our repertoire that would properly lend itself to such a space (or music).
(Meaningful stare at those who can make such a thing possible goes here, with a reminder that it’s never a good thing to displease me.)
I agree with your assessment Norse. Just went to see the space and unless it sells for only $5 and is a part of a mansion type project with additions coming in the future this is a no buy for me. I love the look of the space, but it has nothing special and I am spoiled by the Dream yacht. As a decorating nut, unless a space calls to the artist in me like an empty canvas begging for paint, I won’t buy it.
All right that does it! None of you (Norse, Terra and Burbie) are invited to the opening night of my new restaurant “Le Escargot” which will be as soon as this new estate is available for purchase and I get it decorated. Please note, reservations are required at least two weeks in advance and garden seating will be reserved for the elite.
Actually, a restaurant would be a great usage of this space. I set up a restaurant in my Paris Clocktower, and I absolutely love how it turned out.
Of course, since you mentioned L.A. Story recently, you know that you have to name your restaurant l’Idiot.
I’m considering “Che Escargot” or “Oui, Escargot” now, but I have to keep the “escargot” part… at least for the garden part of the dining.
It’s taken me forever to find this scene, but I absolutely love it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=7reNuHNoSNg&NR=1
LOL I love it… again.
Unfortunately, the French Chateau just looks like a potential ballroom addition to the mansion. The only thing missing is some gold trim. I was so optimistic about this space after looking at the teaser image released earlier in the week. Somebody seems to have forgotten that a chateau is actually supposed to contain rooms. Imagine that!
And I completely agree with your opinion on the “bonus” fountain. It should have been the centerpiece of the garden, not an add-on for preferred clientele. Sony is just pushing this mansion hype too far.
Nice video, by the way.
The shot of Terra descending the staircase reminded me of the closing scene of Titanic.
I get the feeling that, I’m only a visitor to the space, as my access to the estate is restricted to only the public areas of the house. This space, like the Gothic manor would have benefited from “additional content” similar to how the Mansion was offered.