Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1843https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6364For my last play session of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons I finished the game. The ending gave me very mixed feelings. First off, while this game attempted to take a twist on the “rescue adventure” it also fell into old video game tropes. This is specifically seen when the brothers rescue a girl about to be sacrificed, and then end up being lured into her cave when the girl becomes a spider-creature and attacks them. I was disappointed at this turn of “damsel in distress” into the “sinister seductress”. This plot point was even discussed in the first episode of the second season of Feminist Frequency. Anita Sarkeesian explained how the trope of sexy + gross = creepy backs the age-old notion that women are inherently deceptive and evil (as seen in ancient mythology). Brothers completely embodied that trope due to the fact that the only trait of the girl was her alluring and evil nature. It also bothered me that all of the main women in the game were either killed off or had to have a man saving them (as even seen with the giant’s captured wife). I know this is a game about Brothers, but as a female player I couldn’t help but notice these trends and it made it difficult for me to fully connect with the game. It also was a jarring jump from the flow of the game, and it took me out of the story. Don’t get me wrong, I totally connected with the older brother since I have a younger sister, but as an aspiring female game developer, I notice these tropes and cliché representations. While these elements did fit in the story, in my own personal opinion I felt they could’ve changed. It was powerful when the brother died, and I felt it was especially emphasized when you were forced to dig the grave. I think if given the choice I would’ve saved the brother over the father. I say this because I felt the two brothers had a strong bond and were able to survive together on their own. When the father dies of old age (which appears to be not too far off), the younger brother will be completely alone. I think having a choice to save the brother or the father with the liquid cure, I would’ve saved the brother in a heartbeat. It was a sad ending for sure, and I respect the game for not being afraid to have it.Fri, 07 Apr 2017 01:42:31 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6364&iddiary=11143https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6364My second session of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons included some moral issues. First off, the game begins to reveal its darker undertones as the brothers encounter a burned house and a person attempting to hang themselves. Running over, the person drops, but we quickly help him down from the noose. I noticed bodies to the left covered by a blanket, and instantly felt morbid. Moving around the cliff side I picked up a music box and delivered it to the man. A cut scene confirmed my suspicions. The man was trying to kill himself because his family had died in a house fire. I was rewarded the “Sad Tune” achievement which is described as, “made someone feel better.” This tied to my earlier observation that this game uses the virtue theory. The game had an achievement that positively impacted someone, and by having an achievement it reinforces the positive virtue for the player. Continuing to traverse through the mountain, the boys eventually make it to a wrecked castle tower (after some fun gliding) and save a wounded Griffin. I instantly sympathized with the animal and wanted to rescue it ASAP. I always love it when a game can turn on my nurturing instincts. After fleeing from the tower, the Griffin immediately died which struck a sad chord with me. This game may have a charming premise and pretty graphics, but it not afraid to be brutally depressing. It was a good contrast to the encounter before with the hanging man, since doing the right thing (saving the Griffin) didn’t result in a happy ending. Not soon afterwards the color pallet completely desaturates so then the blood from a war of giants strikingly stands out. I felt a little queasy splashing through the bloody streams and even accidentally chopping off a deceased giant’s leg. I think by adding bleak and gruesome elements to the game, Brothers is taking a spin on the “rescue journey” storyline.Wed, 05 Apr 2017 22:52:24 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6364&iddiary=11118https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6364Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a beautiful game, and there’s not a single word of dialogue. I found this game was told powerfully just through the body language. It proves that coherent story can be told through age-old tales that supersedes language barriers. Right off the bat the game establishes a sad emotional expectation, as it plays through a cut scene that depicts the main characters’ mother’s death, and that their father is very ill. I clearly understood that the objective of the game was to find a cure for the father’s illness, and that finding it would require a wild adventure. There’s not a real sense of urgency as the two brothers set off. As I controlled them through the village, I found myself getting distracted by causing mayhem for the village folk and spitting down water wells. Occasionally, as the older brother, I would ask locals about the quest for the cure. But when we encountered the giant troll, the game took a Skyrim turn and got super side-questy. I liked how the game made the player help other people along the way of the main quest. I could see that the younger brother was the vice since he habitually kept pranking people, and the older brother was the virtuous one since he would be kind and always help the younger brother selflessly. I enjoyed this personality dynamic and felt it reflected the polarity of my hands. Controlling the two characters with one controller served to be quite difficult, but that played right into the relationship of the characters.Tue, 04 Apr 2017 23:58:57 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6364&iddiary=11099https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6302I finished up the fall chapter and delved into the first portion of the winter chapter in this next play through of The Last of Us. I started up being reunited with Joel’s brother, Tommy, in a self-sufficient outpost. I loaded up on plenty of ammunition and provisions, while eyeing the horses out front. I felt that the sudden “intruders” moment at the base was an obvious attempt by the game makers to create some action. I felt it was a little unnecessary and would’ve been fine without another going-through-the-motions action sequence. By the time the characters were ready to head off, Tommy and Joel were deliberating over who would take Ellie to the Fireflies. Tommy didn’t see the point in leaving his wife and safety to deliver some girl he had just met. I could understand the ethical dilemma Tommy had to face. Ellie had the potential to help find a cure to the zombification, but the risks in achieving that was dangerously high. Once again The Last of Us explored the clash between Kantianism and Utilitarianism, as Tommy was weighing the consequences of his own departure versus the greater good for humanity in doing so. Another dilemma surfaced right after the confrontation between Tommy and Joel. When Joel told Ellie about his decision after finding her (which required a super fun race through the forest) I became upset with Joel for being such a cold asshole. He made it clear to Ellie that she was not his daughter and that he didn’t want her to stay with him (even after Ellie admitted he was the only person close to her still alive). It was a difficult and sad conversation to witness. Joel felt that Tommy could help Ellie better than he, and helped justify that decision even more by acting like he had to attachment to Ellie. I was relieved when Joel pulled through and realized he needed Ellie. He chose the potential dangerous consequences of taking the lead over the possible greater-good.Mon, 20 Feb 2017 16:31:18 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6302&iddiary=10986https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6302My next binge of The Last of Us was edge-of-the-seat action-packed as I had to avoid militarized groups and make a break out of the city. On the way out, the game introduced two new characters that tagged along, Sam and Henry. The two brothers were friendly and willing to help Ellie and Joel out of the city. Making our way to the final bridge included plenty of dodging and hiding from many patrolling soldiers. My already poor-ability with a controller and non-sneaking tendencies led me to many retries of the various levels since I kept getting caught and triggering every enemy in the level to swarm me. I much prefer combat that doesn’t include sneaking around and silently killing people. Let me rush in gun-hoe with my battle cry. Frustrations and sneaking aside, the scene where the group breaks onto the bridge was a particular moment of morality. Henry, Sam, and Ellie were able to get through a segment of the barricade while Joel was stuck behind. Henry instantly decided to leave Joel (me) behind, apologizing profusely. He didn’t want to risk his own life along with Sam’s in an attempt to save Joel. Henry decided on utilitarianism. Henry believed that leaving Joel behind would mean the greater good for the group. Ellie, on the other hand, decided to jump down with Joel. She was expressing Kantianism because she believed her outcome would be better with Joel instead of the group as a whole. Ellie was taking in the human element, and decided that the categorical imperative (not leaving behind another human being) was the most ethical choice for her. If the categorical imperative implies that if the universal law of leaving someone behind was in place, then no one would save each other, and that did not sit well with Ellie. It was cool to see that her choice ended up being a good one, since everyone ended up re-uniting and saved. While it did leave Joel pretty pissed at Henry for leaving him, Henry ended up following Kantianism like Ellie by saving Joel in the river. This session of gaming is making me realize that The Last of Us likes to disprove utilitarianism.Thu, 16 Feb 2017 22:38:14 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6302&iddiary=10976https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6302For the last few weeks I’ve been playing The Last of Us for the first time ever. I’ve heard nothing but fond regards about the game and after having so many recommendations to play it, I finally sat down for a binge. The opening sequencer for the game is both intense and heartbreaking. I was instantly impressed by the motion capture and voice acting of the characters. The graphics are insanely detailed and the atmosphere of the game is forebodingly realistic. I instantly liked the character of Tess, since she’s a strong female character and a helpful NPC companion. I enjoyed how the game balanced intense sequences with relaxing ones. The level design was also on-point as it seamlessly directed me throughout the map and never once did I bump into a loading screen (thank you interesting cut-scenes). While there aren’t many moral choices to make in the game as in the Walking Dead, the game still plays out morally difficult situations. The toughest one so far was leaving Tess. She had been bitten during a dangerous journey to the capital. During an intense moment right before a squad of soldiers moved in on the characters, Tess decided to stay behind to give Joel and Ellie time to run. Joel insisted on her to join them, but she was set on her decision since she knew becoming a zombie was inevitable. Tess had chosen to go down fighting instead of killing herself beforehand or asking Joel to do so. I usually hate it when games use the woman-sacrificing-herself trope, but I felt the game handled it tastefully. Tess wasn’t begging for her life to be taken (as is the case for most of the tropes) and instead took her life into her own hands in a practical way. I was also glad that I didn’t have to kill her myself, because that would’ve been very distasteful for me. While I was sad that Tess wasn’t able to live long, I was relieved that the moral issue was handled respectfully.Wed, 15 Feb 2017 17:11:04 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6302&iddiary=10974https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6256Life is Strange: Episode 4 All aboard the feels train! Life is Strange picks up after the chilling cliff hanger of episode 3. The first half of gameplay took its time and allowed the player to carefully soak in the somber details. The subject matter is heavy and for that, the slow pacing fits perfectly. This chapter shows the reality of terminal living. I loved how it approached euthanasia, which is a subject I’m passionate about. Having such a controversial issue in a game highlights the intricacies of it far more than statistics or papers could. At the midpoint of the chapter, the game introduces the most difficult decision yet. I like how Dontnod Entertainment does a great job building up the decisions and characters. By episode 4 I’m thoroughly invested in the characters and stressing more and more about what to choose at each checkpoint. After the segments of high-emotion were over, the game progressed in exploring the arching mystery of missing Rachel. I felt levels of dread begin to rise as Chloe and Max began putting together the evidence collected throughout the previous chapters and discovering new ones. As the game progresses, more disturbing evidence begins to surface. Episode 4 peaks as the tensions double when a dark room is discovered and the Vortex club party takes place. Ethics of teenage alcohol/drug use, torture, and art become the major themes at the end of the episode. With an insane ending and a mind-boggling reveal, I feel mixtures of shock and anger with Life is Strange. Albeit the crave to know how it all ends in the final next chapter is too strong to stop…Sun, 22 Jan 2017 21:58:46 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6256&iddiary=10907https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6241Life is Strange: Episode 3 Chaos Theory starts out in Max’s dorm room again, but this time at night. I’m able to explore Blackwell Academy in the shadows with a flashlight, which creates a different feel on a familiar environment. This episode is rich with passing the Bechtel Test, as Max talks to many women (with names) about things (other than men). Before Max even gets to Chloe, I have the option to have conversations with side characters, which deepens their character. Once Max is with Chloe, teen rebellion gears into full force. I relate with Max when she’s hesitant on breaking into the school, and nervous about getting caught. I liked the contrast between the two friends since most of the time teen rebellion is portrayed as a duo agreement. I appreciate how Max isn’t a hell raiser like Chloe. Digging for files and swimming in a pool are unique challenges that I enjoyed playing. The segment of Max and Chloe at Chloe’s house is nostalgic of the first episode. Tense conversations with the family lead to even tenser situations at the diner. Revelations with a connection with Frank and an emotional scene with Chloe makes me anticipate a big reveal. When Max discovers a crazy ability with photographs and time traveling, the ethics of altering a timeline becomes the focus. I liked how the game explored the age-old question of, “If you could go back, what would you change?” The consequences that follow from the player changing the timeline left for a jaw-dropping cliff hanger. The ending left me reacting as I do for my favorite television show’s season finale. The storm build up from the previous two episodes has finally released its lightning…Fri, 20 Jan 2017 10:45:51 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6241&iddiary=10881https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6241Life is Strange: Episode 2 Jumping back into Life is Strange, I’m Max on a new day. Both her and I are trying to figure out what this time power means, as the game begins with a slow pacing leaving the player to explore the girl’s dorm. The casual atmosphere of the previous episode kept consistent as Max journeyed to the diner to meet with Chloe. I found myself interacting with every possible action, soaking up every detail. I liked the diversity of interactions, including a homeless woman behind the diner and fellow classmates within. And of course there was the most difficult decision yet: bacon omelet or Belgian waffle. The junkyard level was painfully dull. Searching for all of the bottles became annoying and tedious. I did enjoy the ghost-deer part, since it was symbolic and kept the intrigue. In the shack in the junkyard, I liked seeing the evidence of Rachel and Chloe’s relationship. It made Rachel seem more real, and gave life to the countless “missing person” flyers I had seen previously. The pacing finally picked up when Frank showed up, and the decision to/not shoot was palpably difficult. I tried both choices, but my first inclination was not to shoot. Either way, being in trouble with Frank was unavoidable. From there, the action kept spiking as stress-inducing decisions were thrown at me. The end of the episode left me on the edge and intensely focused on the game. I don’t think I’ve ever been as emotionally stressed out by a game before. Overall the end of episode 2, Out of Time, made me eager for the next episode. Life is Strange is no longer a casual meandering in a high school…the darkness and mystery thickens…Thu, 19 Jan 2017 21:04:24 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6241&iddiary=10865