Es difícil subestimar los nervios que me atrapaban mientras leía las experiencias en Flores con Historias. Mi experiencia con el proceso que culminó con la legalización del aborto no es tan directa como la de aquellas que se presentaban a las marchas a pelear por este derecho, pero aún así me dan escalofríos.
Habiendo terminado mis estudios secundarios en el año 2020, mismo año en el que finalmente se legalizó el aborto en Argentina, y habiendo desarrollando esta educación a unas cuadras del Congreso donde se hacían las marchas tanto de pañuelos verdes como de pañuelos celestes, pude vivir el impacto social causado por este proceso de legalización de forma muy cercana.
Yo estudié en una escuela técnica, curso completamente populado por hombres. Toda mención del aborto y su legalización era acompañado de chistes misóginos y a su lado, obviamente, las risas y la antipatía. Era la nueva cosa copada de la cual reírse. Era tópico. El odio al feminismo ("feminazismo", como le solían y suelen llamar) en estos espacios es moneda común, así que por supuesto el aborto era un blanco fácil para las burlas. La ESI (Educación Sexual Integral) que el gobierno buscaba instalar en las escuelas era recibida con una falta de seriedad que ya era común para mi.
Puede parecer mucho esperar madurez de pibes de secundaria (aunque cuando las marcha má comunes se volvía, ya estábamos llegando a los 18 años... estábamos grandes), pero me parece importante recalcar como la desinformación y el odio tenía un agarre tan fuerte sobre la población. Esta era la mayor fuente de mi personal impotencia. Era debilitante ver la recepción que tenía, porque sabía que estas ideas idiotas tenían sus raíces en páginas de Facebook cuyo única forma de entretenimiento es alguna variación de "jaja progres/mujeres", que ya se estaban volviendo parte integral de la personalidad de muchos de los pibes con los cuales compartía salón.
Y puede parecer egocentrista tal fijación por mi propia experiencia, pero lo llamo a atención porque me duele pensar en todas las pibas, que habrán pasado por ambientes similares. La impotencia de ver cómo un proceso tan importante para la autonomía de tu cuerpo se reduce a chiste para generar unas risas en el aula, la debilidad causada por los abusos verbales que podía una recibir en la calle solo por portar el pañuelo verde (que a mi hermana le ha pasado varias veces), y el peso de saber que aún si no se legalizaba el aborto, que iba a seguir sucediendo en condiciones miserables.

Quisiera recalcar la elección del autor a poder asignarle años a cada historia. No sé si será producto de mi propia ignorancia (esperemos que no porque si no quedé como un pelotudo), pero le pifié a todas las fechas menos una. Esto me dejó muy, muy claro que a pesar de tener 50 años de distancia entre la primera fecha y la última, las cosas han cambiado poco y nada. Y por eso se debe seguir luchando.

Flores con Historias es una colección de anécdotas. Creo que cada uno de nosotros (aunque me refiero específicamente a los argentinos, reconozco que la lucha por el aborto es también una realidad que muchas más naciones viven), también tenemos una colección así. Ya sean testimonios propios, ajenos, cercanos o lejanos. Duele pensar en todas las personas que no pudieron contar sus historias. La misma descripción del juego te dice que no se puede cambiar el pasado. Pero creo que puede encontrarse refugio en que sí se hizo algo de progreso, y que ahora muchas pibas sí van a poder contarla.

Es ley.

When you grow up having a tumultuous relationship with your parents, houses become distorted. Creaking floorboards and door handles, rustling keyholes, deep sighs and stares, tones of voice. All signals your brain receives as alarms. Danger. Be quiet. Poke your head into the hallway, but don't be seen. Rest your ear in the door and listen closely. Don't come out.
The house the Finch family lived in is empty, but also isn't. There's no one here, but some things remained. Their favorite things: be they toys, trophies, or photos. Their history is embedded into every wall of the house, sometimes even their deaths are etched into its architecture.
I have lived in many places throughout my life, unlike the Finch family. But still, things remained. I look back to all the houses I've lived in and yet everything feels the same, because I remember what remained. Because it followed me to every house. It lives in the creaking floorboards and rustling keyholes. It lives in the stares and the sighs. Because a house, a home, is not just somewhere you live in. It transcends the physical plane and becomes something much more abstract and hard to explain. I feel like I have always lived in the same house, even though that's not the case. They begin to blend in my mind as a towering structure constructed by memories that feel too familiar.

When you're a kid, the relationship between your parents and grandparents can seem a little whimsical. But when you start growing up, you begin to see the cracks. You see the lies, you see the fighting, and little kid tears just can't fix it anymore. And eventually, the big fight breaks out and you choose a side. Things change forever. You start to learn more of the history of your mom's life. You learn about the abuse, and of the things that remained and eventually escalated into this new reality you've been trust into.

And as time goes by, things get worse. And when things get worse, you start to see what remained with your own eyes, because it's happening to you. The fighting, the screaming, the belittling. Except you're not the observer anymore.

You try getting tough. You also begin to lie and scream and fight.
You try to make distance. To avoid small talk or eye contact all together.
You think you're gonna be different, that you won't be like that.

But you start doing this with the wrong people. To people you love and care about. And this is where the "curse" is born. It takes form out of that cyclical abuse and begins to seep into everything you do. It molds your life into a nightmare and you become convinced. You start to believe there is a curse, that this is how it's gonna play out no matter what. That how you are is predestined: if everyone else couldn't beat it, how could you? The curse takes a hold of you. And it won't let go.


But something eventually happens. There's a change for the better. Maybe life at home is better, we who remain start working out the issues, maybe we find solace in others and we start to realize it doesn't have to be like this. It never had to be.
Our life doesn't have to be dictated by who our parents are, who they think we have to be, or any stupid "curse". The cycle can be broken, be it by our parents or us. And when we break it, what matters is what we leave behind. What remains.

played the demo

the gameplay is pretty fun, i found it kinda weird for the intro to put emphasis on your character's card considering the main character's one is a dinky sword you never use. aside from that, I really liked the levels

but man oh man, once you finish a level and have to be subjected to the plot... the writing is TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRIBLE. the voice acting is pretty bad too, Ian JQ is really bad in this.. the writing is just TROPE TROPE REFERENCE TROPE BAD JOKE TROPE like huh?? who wrote this?!!!! then they even dared to put dating sim mechanics on this ☠☠ what were they thinking!!

Despite having no written word of it on this site, I kind of LOVED Portal 1. I'm not really a big Valve guy so I didn't actually play the Portal games until a few days ago, but I was really surprised by how much I liked them! I knew they were very well regarded but still, I really really liked it.

Now, while I do think Portal 2 is really good, I do think there's been a bit of a trade-off that makes me like it less than the first. The writing, specially early on, is definitely not as strong as the original. I didn't find it as funny or clever when compared to the original (though it gets better).
I feel like some test chambers were underwhelming and gel as a mechanic isn't very entertaining and deceptively limiting. With such a free-flowing fluid you'd think that there would be more freedom to its uses, but the application of their properties never feels genuine. It's too "game-y", if you don't mind me being pretentious. And while I know the chambers are narratively presented as tests with a fixed solution, I feel like the inclusions of the gels weren't very satisfying most of the time (though the dynamic music they made for them was really good). In gameplay it feels too fixed. Also the white gel is lame lol!

The other side of this trade comes in the form of more action set-pieces, which I thought were pretty well implemented. Organic enough to not be distracting and a good change of pace from all the puzzles. I thought they were neat :)

But it's that sacrifice of consistency (which is something that I think Portal 1 has as one of its strongest points) which sets it back for me. Really really good doe, just not as good as 1

Wordle 202 5/6

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🟩⬛🟩🟨⬛
🟩⬛🟩🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

owned

Que decir de este JUEGAZO.

Modos de Juego
✔️Un jugador.
❌Cooperativo.
❌Cooperativo Local.
❌Multijugador.

Gráficos
❌Muy malos.
❌Malos.
❌Normales.
✔️Correctos.
❌Buenos.
❌Muy buenos.
❌Excelentes.

Precio/calidad
✔️Cómpralo No seas rata.
❌Espera a que baje de precio.
❌Acorde a lo que ofrece.
❌Pide reembolso si puedes.
❌No lo compres.
❌Its free.

Requisitos
❌Potato Master Race.
✔️Pc´s antiguos.
✔️Pc´s Medio.
❌Pc´s Gaming.
❌Mucha potencia.
❌Ordenador de la NASA.

Dificultad
❌Muy fácil.
❌Fácil.
❌Fácil de aprender/difícil de dominar.
✔️Dificultad media.
❌Difícil.
❌Muy difícil.
❌Extremo.

Horas de Juego
❌Muy corto (menos de 2 horas).
❌Corto (2 - 8 horas).
❌Tiempo de juego medio (de 8 a 12 horas historia normal).
❌Largo (más de 12 horas).
❌Muy Largo (de 20 horas en adelante).
❌Extra Largo (de 50 horas en adelante).
✔️Lo que le quieras dedicar.



Historia
❌No tiene.
❌Pasa desapercibida.
❌Del montón.
❌Buena.
✔️Fantástica.
❌Obra de arte.


Misiones Secundarias
❌No tiene.
❌Están ahí para molestar al jugador.
❌De recadero y alguna interesante.
✔️Muy bien escritas y distintas entre si.

Banda Sonora
❌Deficiente.
❌Aceptable.
❌Regular.
❌Buena.
✔️Muy Buena.
❌Excelente.

Paisajes/Panorama
❌Malos.
❌Deficientes.
❌Mediocres.
❌Buenos.
✔️Notables.
❌Muy Buenos.
❌Excelentes.

Personajes
❌No hay como tal.
❌Carecen de importancia.
❌Normales.
✔️Memorables.
❌De lo mejor que existe.

Bugs
❌El juego en si es un bug.
❌Los bugs empañan la experiencia.
❌Muchos bugs.
❌Algunos bugs.
✔️tiene y no empañan la experiencia.
❌No tiene.
❌Early Access

Jugabilidad
❌Injugable.
❌Pasable.
✔️Buena.
❌Excelente.
❌Única.

Recomendación Final
❌No te lo recomiendo por nada del mundo ni aunque te lo regalen
❌Poco recomendable.
❌Solo recomendable si te gusta la propuesta.
❌Recomendable.
❌Muy recomendable si te gusta la propuesta.
❌Recomendadísimo.
✔️Lo mejor que he probado en mi vida.

Just... feeling really underwhelmed. Maneuvering yourself via horrible controls through scenarios that fail to feel alive. Any hint of authenticity drops when you're given arbitrary objectives that mean nothing (yet you get money for some reason). Its narrative clashes with its gameplay. The characters the game frames as "your friends" serve no purpose but to pose for your photos. You can bing bing wahoo your way to the UN's military tent and come out unscathed, despite there being a message about the use of oppressive force. The game acknowledges there is no reason to judge you on your pictures, since beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Then why is there money to be gained from them? Why give you these nonsensical objectives? Why gatekeep equipment behind them?
"But it's a photography game!" You might say. But it stopped being that the moment the game placed me in the context of a dying world. It wasn't a game about filling an objective list anymore. When I wanted to understand the world, all I got was surface level commentary that's been part of the aesthetic for years. Despite my investment to see Umurangi Generation rise above the path that it started to tread, it was determined to be the same as it was from the beginning, through and through.

And yet, I find myself with conflicting feelings. Are the same things that I complain about part of the message? The price tag attached to every photo is an indication that capitalism will makes us work our asses off even when the world is about to meet its demise. The system continues to profit of off disaster, even if that disaster will mean death for the world.
Hopelessness is felt all throughout every other civilian you come across, with the end of the world being met with tiresome eyes. What are we even supposed to do...?
This perspective only troubles me. Does Umurangi Generation really hold such a cynical view of our future? What can we do to stray from it, if we even can...? I'm not sure what to make of it.

I cannot read the future, and this game can't either. "The last generation who has to watch the world die". I hope we do not meet the same fate.