Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1848https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6306I take it back. I take back everything I said. I am dying. I am stuck on this level that contains the final piece I need to unlock a new jammer/reflector thing needed before I can progress further. I cannot for the life of me figure this out. BUT I CAN'T MOVE ON. Like I have been here for an HOUR. That's REAL LIFE time, and I have not got ANY CLOSER. I have come across the suicide notes of at least three other AI's these are not good working conditions. I refuse to look up walkthroughs because I feel like this time I want to solve a game all with my own skill alone but I have literally been here so damn long that ELOHIM HIMSELF has boomed over his quaint little intercom that "there's no shame in being unable to complete a puzzle." Thing is? He's said it three times. I have been here so long I unlocked an achievement. AN ACHIEVEMENT FOR SUCKING. I'M SO MAD I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO WRITE ABOUT IN THIS ENTRY AND MY ONLY HOPE IS THAT MY PROFESSOR THINKS IT'S FUNNY. The only other thing I can add is I've found additional info about the world and there's evidence of some sort of plague or genetic disease or SOMETHING that was discovered and going to wipe out our entire race? There were forum posts of people joking about being the last alive and I don't think they were entirely joking, a blog entry from a guy talking about wanting to just eat junk food and have fun since he's gonna be dead anyways, and especially the lyrics to some song someone wrote about "momma's got it, dad's got it, little Susie's got it, even the dog's got it" or something like that indicating people are...infected with whatever this is? Though the dog part is most concerning here -- is this some mega cross-species disease that wiped out most other organisms too? Did ALL life die? Will there be no puppies for my AI to love when I get him to the real world?? Like, okay game, you can kill everyone off, just totally wreck the planet and the human race, and leave me and my AI to ponder existence and humanity and souls alone within these damned puzzles for eternity...but you can't just kill off dogs. That ain't cool. Also. Stop throwing these damn GHOSTS at me that last one ran full tilt from behind us SCREAMING AND THEN I WAS SCREAMING TOO I AM NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME.Fri, 24 Feb 2017 00:59:58 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6306&iddiary=11042https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6306I am really enjoying playing through this game analysis honestly. In continuing to play the Talos Principle there has been more and more plot hints appearing. I say hints because this game excels at subtlety and making you dig up and investigate info in the depths of the Archive and try and piece things together from predominantly corrupted files -- but this has made it infinitely more interesting for me. I love it because the puzzles themselves have been fairly easy so my thoughts are more on trying to figure out the details of this project, this virtual world, and of course the titular Talos Principle and thoughts on life/sentience. But it feels like I'm the protagonist in one of those books, movies, or games where they race against time to unravel some big mystery and it's making me feel pretty cool. So far I've discovered that these worlds I'm running through aren't real (kind of obvious) but more importantly that it's called the Archive and that apparently teams of brilliant minds from around the world came together to build it for some purpose. It seems like it started out to test the AI or even some completely unrelated task, but due to whatever was ending the world they adapted it for the AIs? Still figuring it out. I love how it's been just a mix from actual text files and memos from researchers to random emails to forum posts to song lyrics at one point. Elohim has been phenomenally um...intimidating. I don't want to trust him. Like morally if this voice was actually God there's kind of this compelling feeling to listen to him right? But I also am terrified and think he's just messing with me. Doesn't help that this magic tower sitting there all foreboding is forbidden. I know that if he's not actually God and I were to listen and stay here forever I would never see the outside world -- and honestly I think that's what's up there it's just so destroyed that I wouldn't last forever anymore like Elohim said. I sense an Adam and Eve vibe here. We'll see what next session brings (though to be honest I've been playing this game a LOT more than what was required and I keep forgetting to write my logs about it ahaha). ((Also some robot ghost came running at me and scared me so damn bad I was NOT expecting that. I have been playing this alone for hours and my poor AI has literally never encountered any other physical beings before YOU CANNOT SCARE US LIKE THAT DUDE.))Thu, 23 Feb 2017 23:51:29 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6306&iddiary=11037https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6306For the second set of Gamelogs I decided to choose The Talos Principle as my game to analyze and I have enjoyed it immensely so far. I wasn’t sure what to expect although from what little I knew I was bound to enjoy it as a sci-fi first person puzzle game. However, being engrossed in such a gorgeous world wandering all these ruins, contemplating life and artificial intelligence, and interacting with a deity were big surprises. This game does a really great job of integrating heavy story and philosophical content in a way that melds with the gameplay and doesn’t feel tedious. You can try and read more into this mysterious world and discover other excerpts such as emails from various people (presumably from workers in a company making this world possible? I’m early in the game and haven’t discovered more yet). But you can read and explore these at your leisure at various terminals spread throughout the worlds. The gameplay is simplistic enough that you can process some of the information you’re finding as well and it doesn’t get overwhelming. But the most intriguing part has to be the religious and philosophical questions brought up as you hear commands from the voice of “Elohim,” claiming to be your god and creator. There are all sorts of choices and interesting options with obeying his commands or not, but I’ve yet to see the consequences. Either way, very intrigued and excited about what this game holds for me in the future... (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Fri, 17 Feb 2017 01:00:59.)Fri, 17 Feb 2017 00:59:40 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6306&iddiary=10977https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6250Going further into A Wolf Among Us has been such an experience for me and I don't know that I can fully do it justice in words. It has been very enjoyable and refreshing seeing this medium paying homage to the styles of classic film and comic books and demonstrating such stellar writing quality, all while being such a great game in its own right. This is definitely demonstrating the true power in narrative of games and what potential the medium has in the clamor of the entertainment industry. This type of execution has to be the most powerful and effective means I have seen in sharing a story and I don't think I can ever get enough of it now. The biggest thing I have seen however has been the game's effect on me personally and how engaged I grew to be in this story -- and I only made it through 2 episodes in the timeframe of this project. Not only have I grown extremely attached to all the characters but I have also been restarting scenes and chapters repeatedly because I expected a different outcome and/or wanted to make sure my intentions were clear within the confines and limits of the choices available. It was so strange when I thought, “Well obviously I don't want to hurt their feelings or have them misunderstand me” but then realized, “...These are fictional characters within a fictional world. They are not real. They do not have opinions of me and even if they did it would not have any effects on me. Also I'm playing as Bigby, not even myself, so why do I care??” Now I've always been a fairly empathetic person and really can't play bad guy in games usually. But in A Wolf Among Us especially, I was hellbent on caring for all the characters through Bigby's actions. I feel his duty and responsibility to them as if I were literally in his shoes, but at the same time not...I mean you see him in front of you doing everything and this game is obviously very stylized so it's not exactly pulling you in with realism. But the immersion comes through the whole picture, the characters feeling real but more importantly actually reacting and in many ways making you feel responsible for your actions. This is so valuable because it's reinforcing like “Hi, Player. You make the choice alright, but you certainly don't get to choose consequences.” That level of accountability is rare and actually playing though it is so effective and really gets you thinking about what choices and words will cost you. I don't really know how to describe this. But I can tell you that the moment in which Bigby arrived on scene to find Snow's decapitated head on the ground hit me so hard. So so hard. My mouth was literally hanging open and I was physically covering it with my hand wide-eyed. Like this was eliciting an actual physical reaction for me and legitimately made me feel as if I was coming across a corpse myself. THAT is how you tell a story. I want to study these effects more and the accompanying jargon in psychology, because I think it's obvious that I don't have enough of a basis to discuss the nitty gritty details of what this game is eliciting in me or understand what exactly is going on behind why I as a player react that way. Or how the game developers are accomplishing any of this in the first place. I am looking forward to finishing out the game regardless so I can continue studying such a great work and try to find more insight in these areas myself. But I can't stress enough how much I've enjoyed this fresh experience and truly stepping into a new world for the first time in years. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Mon, 23 Jan 2017 01:32:20.)Mon, 23 Jan 2017 01:30:28 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6250&iddiary=10908https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6250Delving into this game a little deeper for my second play, I noticed a few things gameplay-wise that allows the narrative to take more precedence in the game and impact the player more effectually. Something that struck me with the gameplay is the fact that the cameras are always fixed and only shift when cutting between angles or scenes – the only movement the cameras typically exhibit is during an action scene, and maybe an establishing pan to show the cityscape. This is very much a trait of films and filmmaking rather than games as we traditionally know them (although many of the classics such as the original Silent Hill, Resident Evil, interior shots in Zelda: Ocarina of Time, etc. also did this because they were still treading the new ground of 3D, so it's almost paying homage to that as well). This subtly reinforces to the players that there's a story here and that it carries the most weight, just as it would in a film. It also allows the developers to carefully design and frame the compositions so you see what they WANT you to see -- which is fantastic because then you can keep going back and picking up on subtle symbolisms and other imagery - it certainly encouraged me to pay more attention. I also wanted to talk about the choice system briefly. I think it's great that not only are there three speech options of varying intentions, but there is also a silent option. That is powerful and a good reminder that sometimes good answers are none at all. I haven't progressed very far in this game because I sometimes reload and try other options. The replayability and duality of events and the subtle changes (especially people's changing perceptions of you, I LOVE that aspect) is incredibly addicting and I can see why these series hold such appeal. It's really hitting home for me as a player that I need to more seriously think through things and look at the more nuanced consequences of my actions. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Sat, 21 Jan 2017 01:08:58.)Sat, 21 Jan 2017 01:04:22 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6250&iddiary=10893https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6250For my first game choice, I decided to go with A Wolf Among Us by Telltale Games. I've always heard excellent things about the narrative and know it's essentially a novel playing out in front of you based on your choices and quick time events, but apart from that I was going into this completely blind. I'm very glad I did as this created a completely fresh experience for me which was so enjoyable and I haven't had that in a long time where I know nothing up front – people usually talk up games online and certain plot points are brought up to convince other players to try it, but I somehow avoided all spoilers! I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that this was a gritty modern twist on classic fables and seeing as I'm a sucker for that to begin with I was immediately excited. However, the gameplay and visuals really struck me in ways I didn't expect. As a game art major I could go on all day about the graphics and chunky-lined comic art style with psychedelic colors that I love so much, but the thing that struck me most in this first 30 minute playthrough was that the pacing was excellent. When I heard about these games that were “story + quick time events,” I was a bit hesitant and expected a slow novel with lost of conversations and a couple quick time events just thrown in to spice things up. I personally don't mind slow pacing like that but still – when I was then thrown in and fully engaged in the initial fight with the Woodsman I was taken aback. It was awesome despite my...somewhat embarrassing death very early on. However this demonstrated a few things to me about the narrative and my own perception. When I was prompted to use the axe on the Woodsman in the intro's fight, I thought it would kill him. I really didn't want to and I'm typically as peaceful and diplomatic in these kind of games as possible. I thought that since silence was an option that perhaps in-action would allow me to spare him. Unfortunately he jumped up and killed me instead so the game quickly illustrated to me that I needed to try and jump in with their flow of things. I was glad the Woodsman wasn't dead after all that despite him being a dick, but this showed me “Look just like in real life, certain situations can't be resolved peacefully and inaction can in fact be a bad thing.” I think having that degree of realism was incredibly insightful and I really look forward to continuing this game through all of its episodes!Fri, 20 Jan 2017 01:07:16 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6250&iddiary=10879