🚀 go-pugleaf

On 01/11/2015 23:21, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> Happy Halloween! Well, Halloween +1 I suppose. I hope you all
> concluded the month of October with lots of candy and partying, as it
> is meant to be concluded. Equally, I hope you filled the other 30 days
> of that month with lots of video games. I mean, it's getting dark and
> cold out there; what else is there to do?
>
> So, yes, we have once again reached that time when I restart our
> monthly thread asking people to list what games we've all been
> playing. I really keep meaning to post these articles on the last day
> of the month but inevitably I find myself desperately trying to FINISH
> that last game, leaving me no time to write. Well, I guess the first
> of the next month is acceptable too. Anyway, you all know the drill,
> so let's get right to it.
>
> --------------------
> Short and Sweet
> --------------------
>
> * This War of Mine (new)
> * Alan Wake (replay)
> * Battlefield 4 (PS3) (new)
> * Uncharted 1: Drake's Fortune (PS3) (replay)
> * Deus Ex (with Revision Mod) (replay)
>
> TL; DR
> ----------
>
> * This War of Mine (new)
> The (not-so) hidden context of this game is to make players realize
> that - despite everything taught us by FPS games - War Is Hell and
> generally should is something to be avoided. While the explosions and
> gunfire of a battle might get the adrenalin pumping, it also causes
> suffering, anguish and destruction, permanently scarring those
> involved. "This War of Mine" (henceforth "TWoM") tries to show this by
> putting the player in the role not of a heroic gun-toting soldier who
> mows down thousands of nameless goons on his way to victory, but as
> one of the faceless civilians huddled down behind too-thin walls
> hoping not to become a victim of the carnage raging around him.
>
> Unfortunately, while the message is a vitally important one, the game
> doesn't tell it very well. For one thing, I'm not sure who it is
> really aimed at. The more adult crowd who might appreciate the
> slower-paced gameplay are probably well aware of the horrors of war
> and don't need the lesson; meanwhile the foul-mouthed tweens
> populating online servers who would greatly benefit from the lesson
> wouldn't have the patience for its slow and grinding pace. And the
> game is slow, representing the gradual and tedious attrition of the
> human condition as you run out of food, water and other precious
> resources while being forced to make difficult choices. Even moreso
> than a game like Dark Souls, "This War of Mine" is a program where are
> not expected to ever win; it is expected that - like the unfortunate
> victims in real wars - your ever-eroding status in the game will only
> have one likely outcome: death. Yet even knowing this, I still found
> the game far too long. As designed, the game only offers the player a
> handful of options; with resources so short, these options are even
> further curtailed, and whole weeks of game-time can grind by without
> your characters doing anything. It might be realistic, but it's also
> quite boring.
>
> Which is, of course, this title's whole problem: "This War of Mine"
> may intend to show off the "dark side" of war, but most of us play
> video games to escape from the less pleasant aspects of life. While
> games like "TWoM" or "Papers Please" are important to the development
> of games-as-art, furthering the medium into something that is more
> than just a twitch-based challenge into something that has a message,
> ultimately they aren't much fun to play. Worse, TWoM sacrifices its
> own message in the few instances it tries to spice up the gameplay;
> the night-time scavenging runs can be as intense and adrenalin-filled
> as any Call-of-Duty encounter, but the consequences - both physically
> and psychological - to the characters involved are equally shallow.
> You actually start looking forward to the night-time sequences because
> you finally get to do something beyond household chores and watching
> your characters slowly starve to death. The horror of the situation is
> completely lost, turning TWoM into the very sort of arcade game it is
> supposedly the antithesis of.
>
> I can appreciate "This War of Mine" for its message and goals, but its
> actual implementation was lacking. It's probably the sort of game
> everybody should play once, but it is very hard to recommend paying
> for the privilege.
>
>

I really rather like it but I can see why it's not to everyone's taste - 
  it's a game that you can't really win.

Does it really do what it set out to do, partially yes but it's still 
flawed. I found once you let go of the game part of it and let it become 
a story, even a depressing one, that's when you really see the beauty of 
it.