Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1756https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5998So, it seems the strategies that I mentioned in my earlier post dont always work with each AI(Obviously....). One thing I figured out when playing my next A.I. game(Europe vs Africa), is that focusing too much on specific targets will definitely leave you pretty much defenseless in the late game. I was focusing too much on the towns early on and I left myself wide open for a full-scale retaliatory strike. Though I barely managed to win, I decided to try the opposite strategy in my next game. Turns out focusing too much on military targets also didnt leave me a lot left to hit the towns. I was reduced to bombers on my final run, which took quite some time to clear the towns and win the game. It seems the continent that you play for matters as well. The continent of Europe is so small that it's almost too easy to defend since almost every unit has a range big enough to protect the entire country. It does however have a lot of open water around it where enemy subs can sneak in unnoticed. I stand corrected about my initial thoughts on this game... This is definitely a great game to play with friends, and I would recommend this to classic-gameUI lovers.Wed, 08 Apr 2015 11:41:27 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5998&iddiary=10472https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5998Alright, so here is my second playthrough. It seems the point system is solely based on civilian casualties, but not on destruction of important defenses like nuclear silos and airbases. This seemed a little odd to me(and maybe a little iffy on the ethical perspective), but that seemed the only way to win a battle. I was playing Asia vs Europe. Some of the important things I noticed that I should not spend too much fighting. Sometimes defense was the best offense, when I was just patrolling my coasts with my carriers on the lookout for subs, since they can quickly sneak up to your coast without detection. There is also a need for balance between launching a sizeable amount of missiles to hamper the enemy's counter-attack and defending your cities since launching missiles switches off the air defense systems. I used these strategies to essentially annihilate Europe's fleet of subs and air-defense systems early on, after which I flew in and started bombing the cities with little to no resistance. While this may seem a little cold in retrospect, the UI of the game doesn't show this perspective during the gameplay. More to follow from my next A.I game...Wed, 08 Apr 2015 00:09:02 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5998&iddiary=10465https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5998So I went through the tutorial stages of this game, and I got to say, this seems to be very much like the war stage of any Civ game I have played, although a little slower. The UI is very simplistic, and once you figure out the game and the AI's gameplay style(which doesnt change much at all frankly), it is not a difficult game to win. I have already play two games with the AI(Africa vs Russia, and America vs China), and from the point of ethics, I am still not convinced that the game actually forces player to change their gameplay based on their previous choices. I mean, sure, the UI indicates that launching nukes creates huge casualties, but they are just numbers, and not visual. But I will reserve my judgement for now, atleast until I played a few more games with different strategies...Mon, 06 Apr 2015 20:50:00 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5998&iddiary=10460https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5976The more I play this game, the more I realize that the guys I liked from a character perspective end up dying violently, which is not helpful at all. Sometimes it makes me agree with Carver when he said that only people of strong will and character can survive in a post-apocalyptic world like this. Which went against my moral principles, of course. But, tough choices were an essential part of the game play and the narrative of this game, and I was determined not to let it get to me. So the group arrived in a small ‘city’, where the leader, Carver, gives a big speech on how we can redeem ourselves by hard work. I have seen many times that the guy who is so calm during a moment of terror for other people ends up doing unspeakable things. Turns out I was right, when during the garden chore for Clem and Sarah, Carver just comes up to Reggie, talks to him for a few minutes and then pushes him off the roof. When Clem was called up to Carver’s office, Alvin was found passed out after what apparently looked like brutal beatings from Carver. Well, that’s it, I can’t wait to put a bullet through his skull(or have someone else do it obviously, I am not a killer ) Anyways, after Clem manages to find the radio, Carver apparently figures out the escape attempt and finds the other radio. Kenny starts getting beat up after he confesses to having the other radio, which is when another one of the “tough decision” QTE pops up. Now, I felt restraining Sarah was going to be pointless, so I had Clem run towards Kenny. Turns out not so smart, as she ends up getting punched in the face, hard. Next guy on my kill list in the game(Funny, in the previous season, I didn’t have a kill list since I didn’t really want anyone killed so bad). Well, looks like Carver gets killed in a revenge beating by Kenny(good riddance?, we will see). Though seems that one of the good guys had to go too. Carlos got accidentally shot, and the dead just smelt blood, I guess and pounced on him. Sarita got bit, and I had to choose between hacking up the dead dude or her hand, since I knew/ heard it worked before and well I needed more people to survive till the next episode. And so it ended, in a “Kill Bill” sort of way, with blood spurting off her hand.Wed, 25 Feb 2015 11:28:51 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5976&iddiary=10432https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5976Episode 2, Season 5 – Not much of an impact on the story when it came to tough decisions in this episode, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a little difficult to make these choices. I think the easiest of them was to decide whom to sit with during dinner, and I decided Luke, since, he was a recent companion, and Kenny seemed a bit different during a previous conversation(turns out I was right, when he called Clem by his son’s name, Duck, by accident). The toughest decision was to decide whether I should leave Alvin and Rebecca to look for Kenny, and while I decided to stay and save Carlos, Walter still got shot. Seems if I had left, both Walter and Alvin would have been killed, and I didn’t want the same thing that happened to Christa affect Rebecca as well. Not bad for my set of choices, but I was a little surprised when I discovered that only 26% of the players agreed with me when I decided not tell Walter about Matthew(considering he was holding a blade in his hand, and remembering what Christa did to the girl who shot Omid). Better class of people? Maybe. Moving on to the next episode…Tue, 24 Feb 2015 19:21:49 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5976&iddiary=10424https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5976well, i generally have a lot of fun playing games where personal choices reflect a certain change in the story (and, i mean the story, not just dialogue), but I had a different(maybe not pleasant) experience while playing the Walking Dead, simply because I liked the main plot as it had nothing to do with zombies(or the walking dead), but making actual survival choices to, at the very least, make it through the day. Walking Dead: Season Two starts off with looking for a save file from the previous season to import choices to, apparently change the story of this season. While I would have liked to make my personal choices, instead of randomizing them in the absence of a save file, I had the feeling that actually playing the game might give me a more immersive experience. Season Two starts off with Clementine, the sweet, but tough girl from Season One, trekking through the woods with Omid and Christa(this company might be because I had Lee suggest to them to take care of Clem in case something happens; not sure whether choosing Kenny might have made a difference). The first interactive area is a road-side bathroom, where she needs to check each of the stalls for possible danger. She then freshens up, but is interrupted by another survivor(a teen girl, I think) who starts scavenging her backpack for useful items, but then finds her gun, and starts threatening Clem. At this moment, Omid walks in, startling the girl and getting himself shot. So, right off the bat, we have an untimely death, which reminds the player, that even when all is going well in our lives, bad stuff just happens. The first episode had a lot of tough decisions that the player needs to make, like saving Christa by serving as a distraction, putting the dog out of its misery, and the big one, saving Nick vs Pete. While I definitely did want to save Pete, I realized that the group didn’t want to deal with another “bitten” since they had to go through the same experience with Nick’s mom. So I let him die, saving Nick in the process. Overall, I feel decent with my choices so far, but you never know in these games, there could be some tough choices to make in the later episodes…Tue, 24 Feb 2015 17:14:18 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5976&iddiary=10422https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5949Well, I have just finished my first complete playthrough and I have to say, I did not believe I would last 40 days, with all my survivors either dying of starvation, depression or getting killed while looking for supplies. I faced a lot of moral dilemmas during this playthrough, but I highly doubt that I would have taken a different stand, despite the circumstances. One of the major choices I faced is at what level of hunger and depression I would keep my survivors during the day. In the first couple of weeks, I would try to find enough food, so that they never went hungry. But when things started getting a little tight, I shifted my priorities to keeping them at the "hungry" level, but not letting them get to the "very hungry" or "starving" level. I believe this decision made them last longer, during periods when there was less food to share. While I definitely considered stealing from civilians - more precisely, defenseless civilians - a morally abhorrent thing to do, I had to make a choice between choosing the survival of my own people against the lives of an old couple(Kantianism, I suppose, though I still left enough food and meds for the couple). At the end of the playthrough, I just got frustrated by managing the survival of 5 survivors, and I started sending each of them on danger runs where there was a better chance of scoring more food and meds, despite the fact that they only had a shovel to defend themselves with. Cveta and Bruno died on a couple of these runs, however, Pavle scored quite a bit of food and meds, though he became lethally wounded. Katia committed suicide after two days of depression, after the deaths of two survivors. Pavle made it through three more days, before finally exhausting the food that he had so bravely collected and dying of starvation on the 41st day. I think at this point I just threw my moral compass out the window, since I wanted(or needed) to push people to the limit to get supplies for them to make it through the war. All in all, it was a great game to play and it brought up a lot of feelings when I saw the "recap" of my playthrough. I will definitely try out a different strategy for mere curiosity for my next playthrough...Wed, 28 Jan 2015 13:05:15 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5949&iddiary=10390https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5949Well, here we are into the next week, and I had a feeling it was going to be tough. My people were either feeling hungry or sad, and I had little food or books to manage either. So, that night, I decided to take a risk and headed out into a location which mentioned lots of food and meds, but cautioned me of danger, which I had no idea what the danger actually would be(traps, maybe?) When I entered the location, I saw four blips going about on two floors. Being cautious, I peered through the hole of the entry and gulped. There were four soldiers with guns(while Marko had a shovel) roaming around at least 8-9 possible locations, which could have food or other important stuff. Well, I couldnt back out now, since I would lose the night, and my peeps would have to go through starvation and depression for another day. So I ventured inside, and carefully scored some food, meds and books to read. As i was about to exit the area, I started speech bubbles about a guy harassing a women. Momentarily forgetting that I just had a shovel, I burst through the room. This seemed to startle the man, who immediately pulled out his gun. The girl used the distraction to escape, and I started to do the same. Just as I was about to exit the building, Marko got shot twice and died there. I felt so angry and stupid, that I had lost a survivor and the provisions I collected, for being a hero. However, the very next day, something good happened. The girl I saved, came back the next day to the shelter to thank us for saving her, and gave us some food. Two days later, after carefully scavenging whatever I could(food, parts, etc), we had another shelter-mate added to our group, Boris. Boris was shown to be physically strong, so I decided to take him on the last night of the week to the homeless decrepit location, where I was advised of caution(not danger). I didnt realize that this meant presence of restricted areas, which when entered is sure to trigger a conflict. I had Boris collect some basic things like wood and electrical parts, and entered the building beyond the homeless squat. As soon as I started collecting some food, two people noticed and open fire. I barely managed to escape and make it back to the shelter, however, Boris didnt make it through the next day, since we didnt have any bandages. At this point, I get the feeling that life in this game is not going to become easy and more people decide to take shelter with us. I sincerely hope that we get decent supplies every night without losing anybody.Tue, 27 Jan 2015 17:02:12 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5949&iddiary=10383https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5949This war of mine is one of the most engaging games I have played this year. This game puts the player in a position to make very difficult, sometimes impossible choices to ensure the survival of the civilians inside the shelter. The game started off by handing control of three civilians, Marko, Pavle and Bruno to me. The first few minutes I spent by just exploring the shelter, finding some food and some medicinal herbs (which sure came in handy since Bruno started off by being "slightly sick"). I started taking note of the speech bubbles above each character, which sometimes are vital hints to the survival of this group. Bruno suggested that we should keep warm, so I made Marko create a heater and placed in the middle floor. Marko also suggested that a cooked meal is preferable instead of eating raw food, which led to Marko making a crude stove for Bruno to cook food for the group. Soon enough, nightfall came and I had to choose one of the survivors to scavenge in different locations. I picked Marko since he was marked as a "skilled scavenger" and headed on to the first location, the Shelled Cottage. I had Marko scavenge around, and scored some food and water(both essential for a proper cooked meal). Marko also managed to find some mechanical parts which could be used to upgrade the shelter. The next day, I started seeing speech bubbles about Bruno and Pavle had slept poorly because of lack of beds. My first priority then became providing beds for the shelter, so that these survivors can have proper sleep while one of them went scavenging for the night. In the "Our Things" section, I noticed some suggestions about having books to read and chairs to sit on and read them. I didnt realize the significance of this, until the second night. Marko had already begun to feel tired after the previous night's hunt, so I decided to choose Pavle as the "night scavenger". I hit a different location, an old couple's home, which is where I faced my moral dilemma. Now, I had made a shovel, since Marko hinted that clearing debris off the path seemed to go faster with a shovel in hand. Once i enter the home, I saw lots of food and medication, which I knew would come in handy. However, the old lady seemed to having some sort of illness, which her husband insisted can be helped with the meds in-house. Now, I was stumped. On one hand, I had Bruno going through a fever back home, with no indication of recovering, and three survivors to feed, and on the other hand, this old couple who cannot defend themselves from scavengers. I quickly made some choice to take some food to last for a few days and some meds for Bruno(and others if they need them) and left the rest for the couple(Utilitarian of me, I hope). On my return, I was faced with a different situation. It seems that stealing from old people was not much appreciated by the group, and the entire group became sad. I had no way of knowing of how to cure this new problem, till I remembered reading the suggestion about Books. Fortunately, i managed to score some books, which the survivors automatically used to forget about the war. At this point, I thought it would be wise to have a plan before heading out into the night, and so I made a note of all the items that we had, so that I could decide which location to hit on my next hunt.Mon, 26 Jan 2015 23:44:56 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=5949&iddiary=10380