I haven't dedicated too much time on this (been addicted to Civ5 right now), only reached the office of the manufacturing plant. But from what I've seen so far from the commentaries, it really brought out a lot of interesting things, from minor tidbits to major insights:
- Without the commentaries, I never realized a lot of funny stuff: like the cans of golden paints (which is an inside joke for the gold, orange, yellow tone everywhere), how the various weird doings of AI, etc.
- The commentaries pointed out a lot of things that I've missed and would probably never find out by myself. For example, you can SHOOT THE BOMB to rescue the hostages (which is completely legit and well explained), there is a shooting going on below the glass skybridge, you can throw trashcans to destroy turrets, how a lot of the seemingly random clutters (like computers) actually have a meaning, etc.
- The devs give a lot of interesting and probably insightful background stories of the design, and even many confessions on the shittier things of the game. We all know if you delay too long to take the first mission it will make all the hostages killed, but the devs almost completely forgot to make that part work out and would embarass themselves. How the AI sucked because it was developed after some of the maps were designed. How even the devs themselves were not happy with some of the inconsistencies, like how Adam would miss his coat in a cutscene.
- The explanations behind some designs, and even some stories behind how the team cooperate or even bricker over some decisions make me appreciate the game's aspects more. Like how the humanity front was originally designed to be heavy armored soldiers with high firepower (lol), how the air vent cover, which its well designed operating animation seems like a given, was a PITA to design, how they put in thoughts on handling cutscenes (like: Adam never use a gun in cutscenes), and so on.
I don't want to sound like being brainwashed by the devs (though probably is), but I really like how sincere and actually have enthusiasm as they talk about the game. I especially love how Jonathan comments on the game's designs, JF on his decisions, Mary on the writing (well, just about everyone on their own jobs), they're all very honest and witty, and aren't shy from the various mistakes or ridiculous things that irked not only players but themselves too. It's almost like watching professional gamer commentaries on a game (though of course they can't call "this game is shit" like real gamers). Last but not the least, the way the game implement the commentaries (their own portrait with subtitles - just like in-game NPCs) feels really natural, not only because it's not intrusive, but also these guys talk very naturally and you can feel they're "into it" (I could say they're better than many real voice actors out there).
I really recommend this. It shows that the devs do have a passion and love on the game, and despite how many things didn't go as well as supposed to be, just listening to how they confess on the various less than perfect issues make me embrace the game even more.
