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Nov 7th, 2017 at 22:33:08 - Oxenfree (PC) |
I made an excellent choice. I was curious going into my second run of Oxenfree that the continue option had been replaced with "Continue Timeline". And expected that it'd be a basic new game plus mode. While a lot of the choices and dialogue seem to be the same, the game has yet to stop surprising me with little changes and even new dialogue made for this second run.
The most surprising of which was the chair. It was brilliant. The chair was present in my previous run in the game, and much like I had chosen the first time through to sit on it. I did the same. But this time I decided to select a different option. Normally I would expect that the game was showing me the alternate outcome. But the dialogue was very specific that "Nothing changes in this world, ever." Not to mention the new objects laying about in some places, and the constant visions that the games spirits seem to be behind.
It reminds me a bit of Undertale, except the spirits don't quite have the awareness of a character like Flowey who is aware that he is in a game.
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Nov 6th, 2017 at 22:43:15 - Oxenfree (PC) |
I decided that for the second entry for this game I was going to finish one run through of it. Then for the third I am going to see how far I can get in a second play through of the game. What is intriguing about this section of the game is how the stakes of the story drastically ramp up, while the time travel and rewind that the ghosts subject Alex too gets more and more dramatic, all leading up to a conclusion that left me with questions that made me want to play the game again.
The particularly interesting parts for me in this games narrative are the parts where you are making decisions for your friends, or the ghosts, as they hate to be called; are subjecting you to tricks and illusions that normally would drive a person insane. What’s particularly interesting about it, without spoiling too much, is Alex’s reaction to them. Most video game protagonists would be timid, aloof, or intimidated by the torture that these spirits put Alex through, but Alex sees through the ruse. She’s aware of the rules of this game that they want to play with her. Because of this, they seem to break and wish to offer her a deal.
Whether you take this deal or not is the crucial moral choice of the game. The decision drastically alters the ending, and the trade-off that you make is a rather huge one. Even I wondered if I’d made the right decision by the end myself.
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Nov 5th, 2017 at 23:01:18 - Oxenfree (PC) |
Before playing it I only knew that the writer of Oxenfree was one of the writers for Wolf Among Us, which was a Visual Novel that I finished recently that I really enjoyed.(No telltale games aren’t adventure games, they’re visual novels. Usually based off of comic books.) I was happy to see that Oxenfree actually has puzzles, something that I've grown to miss a lot in adventure games is the puzzles. So far, I've been enjoying the story too, the art is interesting to walk around, even if the architecture doesn't look the most feasible.
I’ve also always had a soft spot for dark themes, mysteries, and ghost stories. Which isn’t what I expected to see going into this game either. There is a lot of candid talk about death in this game, from Alex talking about her dead brother, to the game ambushing you with information about Jonah’s mother also being dead. And I kinda like that. Even though I usually dislike the dead parent trope a lot, given the ghost story angle I think that so long as the game confronts that in an interesting way it will be fine.
As far as the morals of the game are concerned, there isn’t the typical “Choose the red option if you want a renegade” that I’ve grown tired of. A lot of the options seem very equal, and the timers effective.
There are two moral issues that I’ve run into so far in the game. The first being when you get the vision of Jonah’s mother in the mirror. The game asks if you want to allow Jonah to speak to his mother or not, it’s a rather abstract and strange scene. And as of now, there hasn’t been any effect of the choice I made. The other, is when you go to find Clarissa and the spirits on this island subject you to a game of hangman. I succeeded in their game with only one mistake. But the implication of what would happen if I failed was dark. And it was very jarring when the game gave me a vision of Clarissa hanging in that radio room. Only to have her jump out the window shortly after. It left me wondering if my one mistake had caused her to leap.
This entry has been edited 2 times. It was last edited on Nov 5th, 2017 at 23:05:43.
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Sep 29th, 2017 at 00:57:07 - The Last Guardian (PS4) |
As troublesome as the controls in the last guardian are, I really enjoy the game a lot. There's a lot more to it than the frustrating puzzles that don't always respond. The game is really effective at making Trico feel like a living animal, in fact his unwillingness to listen is one thing that even helps this somewhat. It really is difficult to pin down if there is any single ethical quandary in this game. So it's difficult for me to do much other than criticize it.
Since I must try though, I'd have to say the game is a good show of how there is more to our values than black and white statements of right and wrong. There are parts of the game that are extremely moving and involving. And it brings up the question of, why do I care what happens in a game about an imaginary creature? It's hard to articulate why.
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GingerbreadFetus has been with GameLog for 6 years, 7 months, and 22 days |
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