Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=2002https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6908I've only ever heard of Nier: Automata and never personally played it. I hear there was an original but never played that either. As a result, i'm starting from scratch here with no knowledge of the alternate endings or whatever else the game has in store. I personally here that the further you get into it, the more it has to say and the more interesting it gets. That said, I think the beginning of the game is interesting enough in asking some of those questions. It's established pretty early on that you are in some post-apocalyptic world long after humanity has died out. All that exists now are two factions of robots that are basically forever at war with one another. Some of the machines are beginning to experience emotions and branch off into their own little groups with some not wishing to fight at all. It's a great premise and i'll see where it goes from here. Post-Apocalypse settings can be a great backdrop to tackle some real questions and issues, we'll see if this is one of them.Thu, 08 Nov 2018 15:01:14 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6908&iddiary=12303https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6825Played Hitman again for the third and last gamelog. Although I heavily enjoyed the game and will keep playing it, i'm not seeing any sort of outward themes of morality presented so far. It exists, but I feel like it only exists in the premise of the story and the game's narrative doesn't make it a focus. I will say that I believe i'm speaking too early as I haven't completed episode 1 of the game yet. I've mostly spent time replaying missions to try out new methods of taking out the target rather than explore the story. With that said, I did notice something peculiar that might be of note for the upcoming essay assignment. My dad watched me play a bit of the game and it was interesting to see his reaction to the game compared to me. My dad doesn't play a whole lot of video games that aren't sports related so he seemed surprised that a game existed where you play as an emotionless assassin killing people and the game encourages this by giving lots of openness to the player to perform it. I don't think much of it since i've grown up with games like Grand Theft Auto so I thought it was a fun thing of note.Fri, 28 Sep 2018 00:36:55 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6825&iddiary=12188https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6825I played another hour or so of Hitman. I would play more but i'm limited on time due to studying for multiple tests at the moment. It's a shame really because i'm enjoying the gamepley but can't really justify more than an hour when I need to study. That said, i'll go into what i did today. Much like yesterday, it was really just experimenting in the second mission of the game. I feel like I really need to dive into the story in a long session because I've really just been messing around in the little sandboxes they provide to you in each mission. Again, i'm unfamiliar to the series as till now so I wonder if i am expected to know what is going on. The story feels vague very early on. You are some sort of assassin that is trained to not have any emotion and each of these killers has a handler of some sort. You show up to some facility where they train and this lady becomes your handler. She mentions to the guy that presumably runs the facility that you seem to have amnesia and reference events that haven't been shown. It's obviously a sequel but i wonder if this is a very obvious continuation of a previous game's events or if it is meant to be a very mysterious intro and the story reveals itself as it goes on. I've really only been trying different methods of killing the target in the first two missions and the variety is large enough that you can really spend a lot of time doing it. I have quite a bit to say about the design of the game but seeing as this is for an ethics class, I think i just need to bite the bullet and fly through the story so i can piece together some purpose for the story. It hasn't really revealed itself to me just yet.Wed, 26 Sep 2018 23:05:25 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6825&iddiary=12115https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6825I've just began playing 'Hitman' and I really enjoy the game. As an aside, i'm almost entirely unfamiliar with the franchise up until this point so jumping in now was felt like a long time coming. Being so unfamiliar and jumping in without any idea as to the story beforehand, it is hard to identify a overall theme or narrative idea this early into the game. I'm sure I will find something eventually as the premise seems promising. I played for roughly an hour, the game's first mission involves you running a sort of simulation assassination where you must kill an individual target on a yacht. The game has you complete the mission twice, suggesting you go through it differently on the second go. I always enjoy when many choices are given to the player on how to proceed so it was cool that this game embraces that idea. Can't wait to play the rest.Tue, 25 Sep 2018 23:53:15 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6825&iddiary=12088https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6737I've played a bit more of A Way Out. I'll be honest in that I am not sure what I should write for this entry. My opinions on the themes of the game haven't really changed. I think the creators of the game have already illustrated the themes of the game pretty clearly from the start. I'll recap a lot of my thoughts and opinions. I think this game is very clearly an homage to many prison break stories and builds on the same ideas introduced in those stories. They deal with the people inside these prisons and bring you to question your preconceived notions about who an inmate really is. You have your fair share of scumbags and unforgivable pieces of shit in prison but you also have many that exist there for entirely different reasons. Both characters in 'A Way Out' are presented as having ended up in prison relating to events in there past that aren't made abundantly clear. We as people existing outside that world look down upon prisoners when many of them can end up there because of events out of there control. Other times, they can change and grow as people yet they remain dangerous in our eyes. I think this game is going for that same sort of message. As stated before, I think it's neat that these characters growing close can be illustrated through gameplay. Just having to work together with a friend to complete these challenges adds more interactivity than a show or film could provide. I think more games should strive for ideas or concepts that can only be done in games. Even something as simple as the puzzles in this game where you might need to sneak into a backroom using a laundry cart. The game turns this into a cool moment of interactivity where one player climbs into the cart and must sneak through a room with several guards to unlock the door for the other player. The other player must communicate where the officers are because they can see the location of the room through a window that the one sneaking can't see. i enjoyed the game and look forward to completing the rest of it but I do have some issues. These problems pertain more to the gameplay than the story but I figured I should bring them up. As I stated above, I think video games should strive to evolve separate from films and shows and do things that those mediums can't do. I think 'A Way Out' tries a little too hard to replicate existing prison break stories and it makes many parts of the game glorified cutscenes. It doesn't feel all that interactive and makes any player input feel superficial as a result. It's like playing a movie and that is both a good and bad thing.Wed, 29 Aug 2018 22:39:33 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6737&iddiary=11956https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6737As I mentioned in my previous GameLog, I am getting serious Shawshank Redemption vibes. I wonder if that has to do with certain tropes that are prevalent in any fiction taking place in a prison or if the creators took lots of inspiration from the novel/film. I haven't seen or experienced many stories with that sort of setting very often, the only ones that come to mind are all coincidentally Stephen King novels. Me and my sister played the game for a one hour session today, continuing where we left off from the other day. Bringing back some comparisons between this and Shawshank from the other day, i'll elaborate on a theme I neglected to mention from the other day. One big aspect of the Stephen King story is the growing friendship between Andy and Red and the role that plays in the story. I think one thing that 'A Way Out' does well is continuing on that idea. It's something that can really be hammered home in a co-op game because it makes you actually play an active part in the teamwork between Leo and Vincent rather than being a bystander to what happens on screen. I like that the game really utilizes the two player co-op. One part I enjoyed was a portion of the game where you and the other player must coordinate taps of a button to climb a steep wall or you both will fall. That is all I have to say about the game for now, will continue tomorrow.Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:28:37 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6737&iddiary=11931https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6737I played 'A Way Out (2018)' with my older sister for roughly 45 minutes today. Would have played for longer but wasn't able to play it until late at night. I feel like classes have just begun and we haven't covered enough topics in class for me to connect this to our topics in class perfectly just yet. I can understand what the game is going for and will have to wait and see where it goes. It seems very similar to the 1994 film 'The Shawshank Redemption' as well as the book that it's based off of. Since i'm too early in the game to tell, i'm not 100% sure what the themes or moral questions of the game are but I imagine they'll be similar to 'The Shawshank Redemption.' It dealt with questions about the American judicial system and whether those on the inside were really any worst or criminal than the guards and warden that watched over the prison. One big difference at this point however, is that the prisoners of Shawshank are nearly all innocent with the exception of Red while our two protagonists in 'A Way Out' were convicted of some actual crimes. I imagine that as the story unfolds, we will learn the motivations of both characters and may be lead to believe that they were justified in the actions that landed them in the prison. For right now, not much has been necessarily revealed for either character's histories. The backstories we do get come from the little biography that appears when selecting the character you control. Vincent and Leo both have a brief conversation early on that they both have some sort of history with a mysterious character named Harvey and that the actions of Harvey led to both of their current situations. I left off around the part where you and the other player must work together to steal a chisel off the desk of a worker in the hospital. We will see where the game goes from here but I hope this summation is sufficient. I'm not actually sure how long these entries need to be nor how in depth I should get about my game session and interpretation. I would appreciate some feedback so I can improve these later on. That is all for now.Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:10:20 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6737&iddiary=11908