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Mar 27th, 2018 at 23:55:53 - 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (PC) |
Restarting the game a few times confirmed my earlier suspicions - this is very much a linear 'amber' narrative and the supposed 'options' are inconsequential. Ironically, this is highly appropriate for the subject matter being presented. Black Friday was a force unto itself and much of the conflict was as inevitable as gravity. Even the most influential people of the era could have done little more than postpone the eruption of violence - a relative innocent like Reza has no chance to exert any significant influence.
Whether you initiate violence with the police or not, they open fire on the crowd - Reza escapes but Abbas is wounded. Whether you treat Abbas' wounds or not, he pulls through to continue the revolution. Whether you support or object to getting involved further, Babak drags you to the rebel hideout at the radio station.
Autonomy is an illusion and Reza continues to be swept up in events beyond his control, which strain his ability to comprehend them.
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Mar 26th, 2018 at 23:51:06 - 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (PC) |
A rather interesting narrative experience, though I'm given to wonder just how much 'autonomy' the player has - it will take a lot more gameplay to know for sure.
Being older than typical college students, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 happened at a time when I was young and naive yet old enough to remember a number of details. Of course, this was all from the Western/American perspective - while seeing it now from an Iranian perspective is an interesting experience, I can already feel some of my biases creeping up on me. Despite Islam being touted as a 'religion of peace', the interrogator's violent behavior (along with the open hostility of a number of the NPCs) is much more in tune with my experiences.
Well-executed, to say the least. It's already late but I'm looking forward to walking further in another's shoes when I'm more cognizant.
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Feb 15th, 2018 at 10:59:12 - Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4) |
Spent another two hours or so playing last night and I have become totally disillusioned of my earlier fangirlism. I don't seem to be making any tangible progress apart from picking up a few runes, talents, and so forth - merely retracing my former progress ad nauseum. I openly admit to being an altoholic in World of Warcraft but, at the very least, that involves over two hundred distinct combinations of races, classes, and specializations.
Here, there's only Talion...
...dealing with the same uruk bosses time and again...
...who become significantly more powerful, win or lose...
...again.
And again.
I feel I have a sense for what the designers and developers meant to accomplish, but the execution leaves much to be desired. The longer I play, the greater my sense of frustration and futility. Death is meaningless, for both hero and enemy, and 'freed' prisoners are simply recaptured or replaced with new prisoners. What tiny scraps of advancement and improvement are gathered along the way feel insignificant in the face of such rote monotony.
Maybe I'm just overlooking some key detail which would make everything else fall into place, like those magic pictures which suddenly appear when you squint your eyes just the right way. But, as things stand, this is likely going to be among the rare titles that I actually trade for some other game.
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Feb 13th, 2018 at 23:09:07 - Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4) |
Got in another two hours of game time today, and the shine has quickly worn off from this game. Despite playing Story Mode (thereby expecting a somewhat linear progress), it behaves more like a single-player MMORPG. The novelty of the Nemesis system grows tiresome when you now engage one of the bosses only to have them joined by at least one additional boss and an increasing throng of minions - leading, of course, to multiple promotions which thereby ensures that they will gang up on you even more.
What's more is that these same bosses seem to be on extremely short respawn timers, not staying dead for long if at all. My lack of familiarity with the mechanics and environment might be twisting my perception in this regard. Though inadvertently stabbing myself in the hand earlier tonight may play a significant role as well.
One new experience, however, as I encountered my first troll tonight. Sniping (even when plugging the galoot smack in the eye) seems to do no appreciable damage and melee appears to be out of the question as well - despite some fairly artful footwork, avoiding his attacks for the most part, he eventually got the better of me while I was unable to do any noticeable damage to him.
Also still at something of a loss for what I am meant to glean from this title. Killing uruks to free the human slaves/prisoners seems something of a no-brainer, unless there is something to be argued in regards to killing many uruks to free a handful of humans.
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TwylaFox has been with GameLog for 6 years, 3 months, and 9 days |
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