SPerdomo
Posts: 11
Joined: 8/24/2007 Status: offline
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I want to start by saying that even though I have hardly posted, I am not new to Wif or MWif either. I have played Wif since the 80s, when I was in high school. I first came in contact with Wif on the computer through the old download for Chris Marinacci’s version in 2003. I was happy when Matrix took over and I have followed the development of the game as a lurker for a long, long time. I always found the continuous discussions on whether the game was taking too long or not a bit futile… the game would take whatever it needed to take. I was confident that when it came out, it was going to be great, and it would allow me to finally play with my old WiF friends, now living far away due to work, families, and, well, life. The wait was worth it because I would finally be able to play this game that I love, with them. Then, when the game was about to be launched and we heard about the price… well, I still went ahead and bought it because, what the hell, I have a good job, and this is Wif! How could I not buy it? Yes, it was overpriced if I compared it to any other strategic games that I play regularly, but, again, this was WiF. I got the game, and I was surprised at some of the bugs, but I decided to be patient there as well, after all, I understood that the tester did a labour of love on this game, and without them this would not have happened, and, certainly, better a buggy game of WiF than no game of WiF? Where I was much less understanding, was on other things, for example how "old" everything was, from a download system that, on the age of steam, feels like an old Ford T seating by a modern car, to the pop up windows during gameplay… it all felt like a game from the 70s or 80s… I was.. underwhelmed by it all. But hey, this was still WiF… I could play it with my friends… except I couldn’t. I was again disappointed, no AI, no netplay, again, on the age of Steam, when I only need a couple clicks and I am playing Europa Universalis IV with my friends, and here WiF is, 12 years or more into development, and no proper multiplayer, a UI from the origin of times, a download delivery system equally old… But I am a patient guy. I kept the game, I visited the forums (a bit less and less regularly as the time passed) and kept hoping for netplay, AI, even a solo campaign that I could play with myself without major bugs. I dreamt of having a week long holiday with my friends, hooking the PC to a projector and playing on my living room’s wall, eating pizza until late and enjoying the banter of old times WiF. Time moves on, however, and I bought a new computer. With Windows 8.1. And I had to go through that old system for downloading once more, and I installed the game… and now I am getting all kinds of errors and can’t make the game run. So I paid over 100 euros on a game that I have played 10-15 hours by myself, full of nostalgia. I paid over 100 euros for a game that is stuck in technology 15 years old. I paid over 100 euros for a dream. But some times you have to move on from your dreams. Hearts of Iron 4 will soon be out, it is not WiF. But it will be downloadable through steam, it will have multiplayer, AI, and it won’t cost over 100 euros. I am not angry, not even much of the disappointing lingers. What I am left with is sadness. Of what could have been and will never be. I am done with this game. I am done with Matrix. I am really sorry for this, but I wanted to let you know. I was happy to invest my money on this, I was going to push for my friends to buy the game, now I can’t even be bothered to try and fix the errors I am getting to make this 2 year old game play on a modern PC and OS. It is sad.
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