Winning Facade
What is winning in Facade? There are a variety of endings, but which is optimal?
While playing Facade many different scenarios play out, however I find that there are a few instances in which Trip or Grace repeat a certain scene throughout each game. Sometimes it is the phone ringing and sometimes it is a "Remember ten years ago..." conversation. Each time I play someone gets kicked out and the game is over. If Trip and Grace talk things out I never know if one of them will leave or if they will end up happy and I will have to leave. The objective of the game seems to be to make them happy, however if Trip leaves because he feel he cannot make Grace happy or because she has revealed a regretful part of her past that he never knew, is that winning? I think actually winning the game is making the couple happy to where they kick your player out.
When playing a fun factor is listening to the characters. The tone of voice is a critical component to Facade. It adds an element of reality to the characters and game overall. It portrays a tense relationship without any added clues.
Winning
I don't think that there is a winning scenario in this game, unless you enter the game with a set purpose and play until you realize that goal. The first time I played I made the couple so happy that they kicked me out, but what I wanted was for then to profess their love for one another. In my mind, I didn't win the game.
Facade seems, to me, to be a game of achievement, to be played until the end in order to see what will be achieved. If you achieve your goal, then the game is 'won', however it can also be argued that winning is simply finding an ending to the game.