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Feb 14th, 2018 at 17:14:46 - 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (PC) |
Today's game play of 1979 Revolution continued the trend of me getting extremely uncomfortable during the torture scenes. The craziest and most uncomfortable part was when your brother is brought into the room as well and is strung up as a threat to get you to tell the truth. The unsettling part was when the camera is placed in between the brother's arms, placing our viewpoint almost exactly where his head would be, staring at the main character. This had such an effect on me that I was more than willing to tell the truth to the torturer. The problem, however, lied with the fact that he didn't want my truth, he wanted his. So even though I gave the correct answer, my brother still got hit with the cattle prod. I felt awful and began answer in the ways I thought he wanted and not necessarily the truth. Once again, these torture scenes were able to get me to cooperate in very unsettling ways.
This brought up thoughts about the torturer. I was informed that he was actually a prisoner during the revolution against the Shah some time earlier. This circle of torture and revolution once again attest to the subtle message I saw yesterday where there really is no good way to go about a revolution with violence as there is always an oppressor and the oppressed.
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Feb 13th, 2018 at 22:00:04 - 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (PC) |
Today I started playing 1979 Revolution: Black Friday and it started out with a serious "bang". I couldn't believe within the first 5 minutes that I, as the main character, was arrested and detained for treason. While the mechanics of the game are a little slow and not entirely engaging, they do help place the player into the narrative of the game. Controls were focused on choosing what to say in discussions and on motions to preform actions, like developing film.
Something that struck me was the part of the game where you are being tortured by an interrogator. Initially, I was defiant and not willing to cooperate with him. I was belligerent even to the point where I ended up getting myself killed. This completely shocked me! I was not expecting a shot to be able to kill myself in dialogue this early in the game. When I restarted the interrogation, I was completely compliant with him and answered all of his questions.
After looking back on this experience, I now shudder to think that the torture that was being performed on my character actually worked. The death, and the events leading up to it, left such an impression on me as the player that I was willing to comply on the second go around. This might possibly fit a subtle theme that the game has been toying with up until this point, which is that the ends justify the means.
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Jan 18th, 2018 at 20:21:10 - Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC) |
I had the pleasure to play a full hour and a half today as opposed to the other days. The game definitely does a good job supported multiple game play styles. This is due to the compartmentalized style the game offers with its missions. If I only have a small amount of time, I can always tackle one or two missions, but if I have more time, I can try and get a big mission done, like killing one of the orc leaders. Today I made the mistake of trying to rush in and kill a leader, only to find out I literally went into the heart of enemy territory to do so. I was swarmed by about 60 enemies and leader after leader showed up, by the time I died I think there was about 70 enemies and 4 leaders all ganging up on me. It did not end well for me. But, it was nice to know that I couldn't do literally anything I wanted without repercussions. I managed to kill the guy I needed, but man I do NOT want to go back there anytime soon.
The game is very much a directed sandbox styled game, much in the same vein as a Grand Theft Auto game. This means that I have the option to play as a hero or anti-hero. If I focus only on the primary missions given to me, I would not be doing much good for the people around me, I would just be a man on a massacre mission to avenge my family. The optional missions and exploration lead me to different ways to do things in the name of the better good. It is interesting that you have to go out of your way to do "good" things. It feels that I am diverting from the main purpose when I do it, but I need to do something good for someone after I've killed so many orcs. Many of them with a knife from behind, I might add.
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Jan 17th, 2018 at 23:35:49 - Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC) |
Today started with the "meat" of the game. I began with a small mission to retrieve an artifact. This gave me just enough to level up with a new ability and put runes on my weapons, allowing me to have added benefits to each weapon. I have found the best way to play the game is by initiating combat with a headshot from my bow, this reduces the number of enemies. From a game perspective, I am having a good bit of fun with it. The mechanics give me an empowering feeling. I was able to take on 15 enemies at once today. This does, however, lead me to my one complaint so far with gameplay: the "counter attack" button removes any real threat from combat. This button magically stops you mid attack and will cancel whatever attack is heading for you. So far, the only damage I have taken during the entire game has come from enemy archers and that has been negligible. I finished the play session with killing my first target, a slaver captain of the orcs.
From an ethics standpoint, it was nice to see the main character help all those humans that had been kidnapped and enslaved after defeating the captain. Up until that point, he had seemed cold and heartless tearing into so many enemies. I feel this somber attitude actually comes from the encouragement of the ghost character that is following me around. There seems to be too much trust too soon and he is asking me to do very dangerous things. I find myself asking "why am I trusting him so much?".
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JoshMarchand has been with GameLog for 6 years, 3 months, and 0 days |
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