Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1829https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6371I decided to explore the east side of the map while playing today and followed up on a contract that I had taken earlier. I spoke with a man in a devastated town not far from where a very recent battle just took place. His brother was a soldier in that battle but hasn't returned. The man and his dog accompany me to the battlefield and I clear the area of monsters. We investigate the corpses but the brothers body is nowhere to be found. Using my witcher senses I follow a trail from the battlefield to a nearby house and discover that the missing brother is alive and in the company of a Nilfgardian soldier. Both the men inside are terribly wounded and it turns out that the Nilfgardian saved the man I've been searching for even though they were enemies. The brother I've been searching with is obviously not very excited about the Nilfgardian. Of course at this point I must make a decision. I can encourage the brothers to take in the formerly enemy soldier who saved one of their lives, but would put them at great risk for harboring a deserter, or I can encourage them to leave the man to fend for himself. Unlike the last quest I wrote about this one left my conscience feeling more clean when I persuaded them to help the wounded Nilfgardian in a land foreign to him. But now I am left wondering if I ultimately have set in motion all of their deaths. Even the easy choices aren't easy in this game. I love it!Sat, 08 Apr 2017 00:49:40 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6371&iddiary=11150https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6371If there is one thing that this game does well it making you wonder if you made the right choice or not. So many times I'm forced to make decisions between varying shades of gray, and very very rarely clear light and dark. For example, not far from the capitol that has been taken by the Nilfgardians stands a "merchant" near the road. This man claims that he was attacked by monsters and his wagon went off the road. He only wants to a small chest from the wreckage and offers to reward me if I get it. Of course I accept and head towards the wreck. With Geralt's enhanced senses and clever mind I find evidence that indicates the wagon was not attacked by monsters at all but was instead shot at with a bow. I find the chest and the corpse of a man with an arrow protruding from his neck after dispatching some monsters and head back. I confront the would be merchant and he immediately jumps on his horse and begins racing away. I hop onto my own horse, named Roach, and race after him and knock him from his steed. Once he has been dismounted he is more willing to talk and admits that he attacked and killed the real merchant and attacked and killed him in order to steal some medicine that he was carrying. He then says he needs the medicine for the resistance forces that are still fighting back against the invading Nilfgardians. At this point I have three options. I can give him the medicine and let him go, I can let him go but keep the medicine, or I can turn him in to the Nilfgardians. I feel bad for these people who have been subjugated by the invaders to their lands, but at the same time if I give this man the medicine I will be knowingly doing so after he murdered a man to get it. I decided to give him the medicine and let him be on his way and as I write this I'm still wondering what that choice says about me as a person.Fri, 07 Apr 2017 00:44:50 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6371&iddiary=11138https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6371Playing through the tutorial and glimpsing into Geralt's memories shows more pleasant days long past. In the present I'm quickly confronted with a dangerous griffin that quickly leaves, but not before severely disrupting the life of a seemingly simple trader. Shortly after this encounter I find myself wandering around town looking for anything not nailed down that I can loot, which for some reason the townsfolk don't seem to mind one bit. During my plundering, I discover a dwarf man who has had his home/smithy burned to the ground. I offer to help and quickly find a wounded human who, with a little persuading, admits to the crime. I take him back to the dwarf to confess, thinking he'll pay a fine or be tasked with repairing the dwarfs home. The punishment that was decided by the guard turned out to be death by hanging. Not exactly what I had hoped for. After doing this I can't help but think back and wonder if I made the right choice.Thu, 06 Apr 2017 07:37:54 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6371&iddiary=11124https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6326While playing Mankind Divided today I encountered some situations that raise questions about things that are right and wrong in relations to whether they are legal or not. First, even though Jensen survived the terrorist attack in the train station from my last entry, Jensen did not come out of that experience unscathed. Many, if not most, of his augmentations have been damaged which has left him with visual malfunctions among many other things. I believe that this damage to his augmented systems is comparable in many ways to the wounds a non augmented individual could suffer. If someone were wounded in a terror attack, it would seem absurd to prevent them from getting medical treatment for their injuries, but that is exactly how things are for augs in Prague in this world. In order for Jensen to get treatment for his injuries he must go to an illegal augmentation expert. This doesn't seem right. Furthermore, on the way to see this person Jensen is stopped at a checkpoint by a police officer that proceeds to try and extort him for money because Jensen is an aug and augs are undeniably a vulnerable group of people in this city. Then if Jensen goes to talk to the person this officer sends him to to get "offical" papers, if Jensen refuses to pay the outrageous sum of money that is asked for, that person says that one day "they" (likely the police) will come for him one night. So this group of people can not legally get access to medical attention for their unique augmentation related injuries, and simply in the process of walking around town they are preyed upon by none other than the police, who are supposed to protect them. It is disgusting.Fri, 24 Feb 2017 00:55:18 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6326&iddiary=11041https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6326This session of Mankind Divided I progressed through the first mission of the game, which ultimately ended in failure. The black market weapon dealer that Jensen and his team were tasked with capturing was killed by a mysterious group that showed up completely out of the blue. I managed to stop them from escaping by disabling their vehicle. Furthermore I was able to keep the undercover agent working for Jensen's organization alive. A short time after this mission Jensen exits a train in Prague. All around there are police and police drones asking augs for papers. There are some augs that are being detained and others that are being harassed. Additionally there is plentiful graffiti, all of which is obviously discriminatory against augs. This kind of treatment of a group of people seems uncomfortably similar to the real world treatment of other vulnerable groups of people in the history of the real world such as the Japanese Americans who were rounded up and placed into internment camps, and also the Jewish and other people who were rounded up by the Nazis. The possible future that is portrayed in Mankind Divided is simultaneously encouraging, because of the amazing advances in technology, and disheartening, because of the discrimination and violence reminiscent of some of the worst times in human history.Thu, 23 Feb 2017 02:49:24 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6326&iddiary=11022https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6326Deus Ex Mankind Divided takes place in the near future where augmentations had become commonplace, however it seems that two years prior to the beginning of this game a massive incident happened which caused augmented people, or augs for short, to become uncontrollably violent. From the little I have played so far, it seems that as a result of this horrible event there are major social divides between the augs and people without augmentations. Even within Jensen's, the main character, squad there is one soldier who seems to particularly hate augs. This soldier has a large scar running across a sizeable portion of his face and if I had to guess I would assume that he got that scar in the incident, which left more scars on the man than just the one on his face. Despite this soldiers obvious distaste for augs, at the end of the first mission he saves Jensen by taking out an enemy that was sneaking up behind him. I'm excited to see how and if the relationship between these two changes as the story progresses.Wed, 22 Feb 2017 02:34:28 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6326&iddiary=11002https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6230It all comes to an end. Even though the game was a mere 3 hours long it packs an emotional punch. You come to see the two brothers dependence on one another. Then when they have finally reached the end of their trials, tragedy. I should have expected as much from a game that begins by showing a young boy struggling, and failing to save his mother from drowning. I didn't expect to care about the two brothers nearly as much as I did, and certainly not over the course of 3 hours. Ultimately they succeeded, but the cost may have been too high.Sat, 21 Jan 2017 02:48:33 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6230&iddiary=10894https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6230This world is filled with countless tiny interactions that alone don't seem like much but all together they paint a picture of the personalities of our two protagonists, the two brothers and of the world that they inhabit. The older brother is more serious and frequently asks for directions towards the tree they are heading towards when interacting with people, however he does have his softer and playful moments. The younger brother is a playful, cheerful, and occasionally mischievous little guy, as likely to play rock, paper, scissors with a stranger as he is to spit into a well. I did notice that throughout this session, which was significantly longer than the last, there was a common theme between some of these tiny, and not so tiny, interactions. The issue of freeing various different creatures from confinement is something that comes up enough that I think it warrants mentioning. The first instance of this that I noticed was entirely optional and would be easy to miss. That instance being the simple act of opening a cage door and releasing a small, colorful bird. This simple act doesn't help or hinder the brothers adventure. Later on, in the bowels of an ancient underground fortress that is in a state of disrepair, but currently inhabited by some ogre type creatures, you must free an injured female ogre from a cage in order to progress. Finally near the end of this play through within a giant tower (not simply large but giant, like jack in the bean stock giant) I released a bloodied owl griffin type creature who had clearly been mistreated but was affectionate and kind, which carried the brother further towards their goal. Each of these interactions with imprisoned creatures of various shapes and sizes led me to wonder if the creators of this beautiful game were subtly making a statement without saying a word that it is wrong to imprison living beings. I'm left contemplating if and when it is justifiable to hold or cage a creature against its will. Is it right to do so to a small bird, to a man or woman, or an elephant or any other living thing in between. Why would some argue that is it wrong for certain creatures but not others?Fri, 20 Jan 2017 00:19:01 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6230&iddiary=10877https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6230This game says so much, without any of the characters speaking any understandable words. Two boys whose lives are colored with tragedy must work together to find something to save a man they both care for deeply, who I presume is their father. Before all of this we see that a woman who was very close to them, who I assume was their mother, drowned as the younger brother tried to save her but wasn't strong enough. This event has left the younger brother with a terrible fear of deep water. Working together the boys cart their clearly ill father to a healer of some sort. Once they arrive they are told that in order to save their father they must set out on a dangerous journey. Immediately after leaving the healers house the boys run into their first obstacle. Another boy from the village who is wielding a quarterstaff blocks the bridge they need to cross. Rather than fight they boy the brothers seek an alternative route. The brothers swim across the gently flowing river under the bridge to reach the other side, but in doing this the younger brother must confront his fear of water. Relying on his older brother to help him the younger brother is able to confront his fear and enter the water. This tidbit of information is important because it adds more weight to the brothers choice to swim rather than fight. On top of this the brothers are presumably in a hurry to reach their destination to save their father, thus making their passive approach even more noteworthy. There was another way besides violence, and even though the path of non-violence was scary they were able to achieve their desired result. This tiny encounter that takes place in the first few minutes of the game brings up an interesting ethical question and provides one possible answer to it. Should you respond to violence with violence? The brothers show that, at least sometimes, the answer is no.Thu, 19 Jan 2017 00:29:07 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6230&iddiary=10848