Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=942https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3665Well part 3 of my disturbing experience with this game is finally over, and I am glad I never have to touch this subject again. So anyways, I continued with my trek through the Columbine school, murdering anyone I saw, and causing complete chaos. Throughout this, I noticed that none of the students were really capable of doing any major damage to my characters, so I was using auto attack for most of the battles. However, once my ammo began to deplete, I would switch to my knives, in order to save my weapons in case I needed them later. Also, I went into as many rooms as possible, killing everyone that was occupying them, and was able to find a few extra objects, most of which were depressingly hate related like everything else. However, there was one interesting flashback I unlocked at one point. I went into a room, which happened to be empty. I quickly ran around the room, searching for hidden secrets, and was rewarded with a flashback. The boys recounted watching Frankenstein, and commented on the dialogue. For a moment, it seemed as if the two killers were having a change of heart, and actually felt bad for what they did. I began to wonder if they might actually stop the violence, but was sadly mistaken when they returned to cursing, and deciding to continue their rampage. Soon after that, I journeyed to the library, and began killing more students. Then, at the far end of the room, I saw a window. I ran to it and found that it unlocked a cinematic. The boys began fighting the cops through the window for a period of time. Then, one asks the other if he is ready to end this, and I was given the choice to continue killing students, or have the boys end their lives. I quickly chose to end the madness, as my tolerance for this game was wearing thin. This activated a slideshow of images from that dreaded day. The pictures showed the two dead gunmen, as well as multiple photos of people crying at the loss of loved ones. I assumed this would eventually end the game, but I was wrong. The game continued with me controlling one of the boys in hell. I was so fed up with this ridiculous game that I chose to quit playing then and there, and spare myself the emotional annoyance.Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:15:23 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3665&iddiary=6862https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3665Ok well I figured out how to plant the bombs, I had to grab them from the trunk of the car before entering the school. Oh well. Now I continued to go and plant the bombs, which was rather simple and quick, seeing as how I had already covered the entire available area multiple times. So, after that I go back to the car, get the guns, and go to the park to equip everything. The boys have some more disturbing, but irrelevant dialogue about how much they hate Denver and people in general. Then the "fun" starts. The game tells you to go sit at this one spot and watch the bombs explode, however, the bombs don't detonate. So, of course, you get to go around and start killing anyone you can find. Now, in most cases, this would not bother me, since I am an avid gamer and love shooters and RGP's, so I have killed my fair share of people and aliens. However, due to the context this game is set in, I couldn't help but feel really awkward and kind of uncomfortable during this whole thing. I mean I was acting out a mass murder that actually happened. That would be like playing a game where your goal is to fly a plane into the World Trade Center, and, if it was like this game, you would get more points for killing more people. That just does not sit well with me. It's one thing to be playing a war or fantasy game and kill other people, but not as a kid going around a school and killing his fellow students. I'm sorry but this game is fucking stupid and I am really not enjoying playing it...and of course I have to play it again for this damn assignment.Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:46:12 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3665&iddiary=6857https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3665Well I went into this game not really knowing what to expect, and I wish I had. This is such a joke. I mean seriously, I played the game for about 30 minutes, and I spent most of the time either reading text that was hardly legible, or running around in circles pressing the return key, hoping to get lucky and discover what I needed to do, since the game never really tells you. This was a serious problem that really pissed me off. I mean its one thing to have a very low budget game, and obviously this one was based on a real event, so it carries other value as well, but there are some things that are just inexcusable. If the developer wants the players to enjoy the experience, they need to make the goals of the game known to the player. I just got to the point where the storyline says I'm supposed to plant the bombs in the cafeteria. However, I get into the cafeteria, walk around every square inch of the area, and still do not find any place where I am supposed to plant the damn bombs. What the hell is this about? Now, gameplay and visuals aside, the game is rather disturbing on a moral standpoint, simply because I know what happens, and witnessed the coverage of the live event take place. This is a very risky decision to make a game with this plot line. Personally, I am somewhat concerned that a person actually took the time to recreate a national tragedy in this way. It seems disrespectful in my opinion, and I am not especially looking forward to having to delve into this game again.Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:21:36 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3665&iddiary=6854https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3532This morning I continued my adventure with San Andreas. Just as last time, I decided to run around and do my own thing, seeing as how this was more pleasing to me in the past. I spent much of the time trying to find ways to get on top of buildings, in order to jump off them and see if CJ would die. Another task that took up a lot of my time was trying to find a way to cross any of the bridges that lead to another island. However, I was unable to accomplish this feat, sadly. All in all, my experience with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was an interesting one, especially from a moral standpoint. The game, while somewhat realistic, does have a distinct line between what is reality and fantasy. Although many of the concepts used in the game are based on real life events, the manner in which these events are completed in are oftentimes very unrealistic. However, I can also see how the similarities may cause a problem with a younger audience, and due to this, agree with the game's mature rating. On more of a morals based note, I came to find that there are many universal morals throughout the game that cause specific outcomes to ensue. One, of course, is that killing is bad, and will usually lead to more trouble for the characters involved, depending on the surroundings. For example, if CJ randomly kills a passing pedestrian, other pedestrians are most likely going to flee in terror for their lives. However, if he shoots a gang member, in the vicinity of other gang members, he will most likely be attacked by the other gang members. This moral dilema of fight or flight is portrayed fairly well during gameplay. Furthermore, if CJ does kill the person he is shooting at, the police will quickly join the scene and try to arrest CJ, just as in real life. However, a decision then must be made to either give in to the authorities, run, or attempt to kill them. This choice then affects the upcoming situation and will lead to multiple possibilities. All of these variables prove that even within the game, the moral value that killing is bad is still upheld, to some degree.Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:46:05 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3532&iddiary=6698https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3532Today I decided to try and test some of the limits within the game's systems. I spent the entire 45 minutes driving all over the map, stealing any car that appealed to me, looked for cool jumps, shot/killed random people for no reason and found this enjoyable. In fact, in comparison to my first time playing, I think I had more fun just messing around then actually playing the game. This is a bit disheartening for the story writers, seeing as how the point of the game is to complete the story, and the other missions and tasks are, for the most part, inconsequential. I think this is a major flaw. Due to the way the story mode drags on in the beginning of the game, I quickly became fed up with repeatedly doing simple, boring tasks, that really did nothing to advance the game. I mean seriously, why is it necessary to have a mission where you change the character's hairstyle and get him some food? I understand that the developers wanted to get these basic concepts across to the players early on, so that in the future they would know those options were available, but there has to be a better way of doing it. Integrate the tutorials into a specific mission's story. The hairstyle change could have something to do with trying to confuse a rival gang of your identity, or something along those lines. As far as the food, I think it would have been much more effective to just tell the players that food restores health, and not have that as part of a mission at all. It was these ridiculous missions that caused me to choose to just roam free the second time I played, to see if I could find a more entertaining way to play the game.Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:02:49 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3532&iddiary=6670https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3532I began playing San Andreas today. The game begins with some cutscenes, then places the player on a bicycle. I had to ride the bike, following some other AI characters for a period of time, until arriving at the destination, which was a group of houses a few miles away. After this short quest, my character, CJ realizes that he is in his old neighborhood and goes into his old house. He meets up with a few friends during some cutscenes, then the story continues. The next mission allowed me to choose a hairstyle for CJ, as well as have him eat to refill his health bar. The next mission has CJ "graffiti tag" a few buildings around East Los Santos, which was rather boring to me. At this point, I was hoping that some action would be coming soon, seeing as how the game had me doing uneventful tasks up to now. Luckily, the next mission was more to my liking. CJ and Ryder go to see their friend B-Dup, but find out he's a Crack Dealer and decide to go after other like him. Controlling CJ, I was able to fight and kill multiple drug dealers at a house down the street from B-Dup's, then repeated the actions at another house in Idlewood. It was at this point, that I had to quit playing the game, due to time restrictions. I had not played this game in years, and had forgotten how different it is from GTA 4, which I had been playing over the summer. Obviously since San Andreas is a PS2 title, the graphics are extremely less impressive than the 360's GTA 4 graphics. However, I did realize that the controls in San Andreas are a bit easier to learn and adapt to than in GTA 4. Overall, the I had a fairly good experience with San Andreas, for the 45 minutes or so that I played it today.Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:48:03 CDThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=3532&iddiary=6609