The Stillness of the Wind

The first time I ventured far out into the desert, I had a blissful video game experience. It starting growing dark so I headed home, only to be stalked by a wolf the whole way. Held out hope and the old lady made it home with the wolf gaining, went straight for the shotgun, and nailed the wolf before he could get a chicken or a goat. As for an overall experience, every writing on the game seemed to stress routine...I felt I was only just getting into that routine and enjoying it when the game ended. And believe me, you'll know when that end is coming, as the game is very heavy-handed about throwing all of mother nature against you. The supplemental readings were worthless, and the letters didn't develop the family story enough for me to care about anyone except Talma (the character you play as). I expected them to be more fleshed out and sprawling, seeing as the maker cited 100 Years of Solitude as an influence. The dream sequences are pretty usless in padding out the game, other than giving a sense of foreboding (and what the heck is with the zombie-like one?). A lost opportunity, I feel, to illustrate some stories from Talma's past back when more people were living on the farm. It's a worthy small experience, but hardly a full-fleshed masterpiece like it could have been.

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Beautiful story, but dear GOD!! Five dollars for the shortest game of my life. If the storyline was more spaced out and the days were longer to focus on growing the farm, this game would be a 5/5, no problem. But before I knew it, it was night time as soon as I got up.. and everything on my farm was dead, even though the game does give you opportunity to guard it, the opportunities fell through. I understand why the days grew shorter, and yes it added to the storyline, but there is absolutely no being at least somewhat successful in this game. There isn’t any “winning”, which I understand (the storyline is the main focal point, and once again, it's beautiful). Unfortunately at the same time, I’m completely upset I spent this much for such a short game. I loved that I was able to support the artists, in a way they did an amazing job of creating the feeling of wanting more. But I feel in the end I spent way too much money for such an abrupt stop. It was an excellent game, I just wish that it was either a lower price for the amount of gameplay, or a greater amount of gameplay for the higher price.

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I get stuck in the cheese maker barn all the time. She just won’t move! Then I want to drop a bucket to greet the mail guy but can’t sometimes and he goes away even though I’m chasing him like a foot behind! I have two goats but don’t have time to milk both and finish one cheese till the mailman gets there and then it’s like 1 minute till dark. No time to water the crops much less get eggs. Explore? How? I can make one time around the property before the day is 3/4ths over. One trip to the well, water 5 crops plus get some eggs equated to a day. Forget milking the goats of making cheese which is what you trade for. Don’t grow flowers.. waste of my energy. You move at the pace of an old lady and I get she’s the point but I just don’t see how I could ever save anything throughout to make the game seem like I’m getting anywhere. I had 3 shotgun shells and I hit both wolves but in the morning one of my goats was still gone. I just get no where.. oh and where the hell os the phone? It rings.. I look all around and bap at the telephone pole.. nothing for me.

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i got this game because the graphics looked beautiful and i was intrigued by the idea of creating a routine for her virtual farm. the graphics didn’t disappoint but the game itself really did. i understand that it follows a storyline and the farm life isn’t the main focus, but that’s really all that i enjoyed. the letters were pointless and the family members weren’t intriguing. talma would receive an ominous letter yet would continue around daily life- as long as the sunlight would allow. on that, the days are way too short. she moves so slow, it’s hard to finish all the tasks once the days start getting shorter. also, the wolves?? it was so disappointing and frustrating to find my animals dead and not be able to protect them or her. i finished this game in about three hours because i had NOTHING else to do. now i’m playing it through again to see if i can play with a better strategy in mind and maybe get a more gratifying gameplay experience, but i highly doubt it. this game is worth a dollar or two, tops. don’t waste five on it.

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So many game breaking bugs. I want to give this 5 stars really badly (and probably will in the future) but it’s impossible to do so in good conscience in its current state. Pots/cans getting permanently stuck in walls causing you to reinstall the entire game because you can’t restart it from the menu, losing all future progress towards wheels of cheese because you get tired in the middle of making one, the merchant stealing the billy goat back from you the day after you spend a pretty penny to buy it from him, wolves seemingly unaffected by the shotgun, etc. etc. etc. Obviously it’s about fighting a losing battle of attrition which inevitably always ends the same, but regardless of that, it’s impossible to play this and fully enjoy yourself as it is right now. When these bugs all get patched and worked out I’ll revise this review but as it is you should probably stay away from this game.