Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1901https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6500I'm still having a difficult time discerning the moral dilemma so far, I'm assuming it will appear near the climax of the game but so far I haven't been able to catch onto it. The overarching gameplay is getting increasingly creepy. Currently, the most prominent dilemma is simply which answers to give during prompts but even then, it doesn't feel like the answers affect the narrative that much. I'm more interested in the banter between characters than the overarching story and that may be a problem. I'm looking forward to playing more of the game.Fri, 10 Nov 2017 00:37:37 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6500&iddiary=11413https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6500The simplicity of the controls in Oxenfree really highlight the narrative of the game. It's straightforward linear gameplay allows the player to focus not on navigating the character but on navigating the story and the various narrative choices. I personally had a difficult time advancing through the narrative purely because I have a difficult time with horror of all degrees and being immersed in the world of Oxenfree that has a prominent eerie undertone, advancing through the narrative became a little difficult. I've been on the lookout for what the overarching moral dilemma is but so far, I don't feel like I've found it yet.Wed, 08 Nov 2017 21:32:22 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6500&iddiary=11389https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6464On a previous post I recall saying something similar but I wanted to expand on the idea of the prisoners being mere livestock for our benefits and nothing more than self-destructive nuisances whenever a riot starts. That's something I found myself thinking after playing more of Prison Architect and is quite a dangerous, dehumanizing thought. Granted it is all just a gam and a simplified chaacterization of the experience of running a prison, I've still managed to at one point get a little attached to the role as a warden running a prison and turned into a heartless warden that refuses to even provide a laundry room.Thu, 28 Sep 2017 23:39:17 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6464&iddiary=11334https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6464Whenever I’m playing Prison Architect, I find myself zoning out to the pattern of building out the prison to earn as much money as I can. I’ve already had a couple riots, each resulting in the death of a prisoner but I thought nothing of the riot aside from the fact that I had to deal with the dead body, clean up costs, and reorganizing the prison so that I can continue to make maximum profits. What matters above all, most importantly above the well being of the prisoners, is that I continue to make profit and that I don’t lose profit over the death of a prisoner or a riot. The riots, however annoying to have to deal with and break up, are turning out to be a comedic highlight of the game thanks to the simplicity of Prison Architect’s gameplay and style. If it were real life, however, that would not be the case.Thu, 28 Sep 2017 00:12:36 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6464&iddiary=11313https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6464Upon opening the game, the options presented are already hilarious. The player is given various options when starting their new prison that take common prison archetypes and downplay them to present them in a simple, comedic light. The simplicity of the game is deceiving when you actually take the time to consider the weight of the elements presented in the game. While even just simply crafting the layout of the prison I found myself considering things like "the hallway needs to look like this so that when they escape, there's nowhere for them to hide or escape". Even without any prisoners in the jail, I've already assumed the worst of them and am prepared to give them a terrible time as retribution of whatever unknown crimes they've committed.Tue, 26 Sep 2017 23:46:50 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6464&iddiary=11300https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6438Today for the first time I tried just ignoring an event and not rewinding. I can't believe I can actually just ignore certain events and I can't believe I never thought of just ignoring things. Does that make me a busy body? Are we all by nature busy bodies that want to finish all the quests and side stories just for some brownie points? Admittedly, even though I made the conscious decision to skip some events, committing to just doing nothing about a situation, deciding not to help people or fix the situation when an unfavorable reaction was given make me feel just slightly guilty as if I missed out on a big opportunity. Much like in the real world, action and inaction both carry equally heavy consequences. There are a couple situations where I chose inaction and as the narrative progressed, I felt increasingly guilty. I felt like I could fix the whole world but chose not to, to leave it as cruel and negative as I found it and as if that conscious choice of inaction in and of itself was a crime.Thu, 31 Aug 2017 23:39:58 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6438&iddiary=11268https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6438Since my previous post, I've been coming to terms with the choices presented in the gameplay. That doesn't mean I don't still grumble on occasion when choices I don't agree with appear but the narrative is immersive by nature and I'm getting pretty invested in it. While getting to and choosing the "correct" answers are becoming routine, I still find myself trying to deviate every now and then. Like I discussed in my previous post, despite being given choices in the game, there is always only a single correct way to play and only through that method is the player allowed to advance through the game. All other choices lead to a simple response that has no impact on the character or narrative and only feel futile. Despite the futility of choosing other choices, or perhaps because of the futility of the choices, I regularly find myself testing the waters and trying out the "wrong" choices just to see what kind of response they will garner. Even though there are no consequences to picking responses other than the single correct response, in a scenario of a simulator where the player is immersed in a character's narrative and makes decisions on behalf of the character, is it still wrong to purposefully pick choices that are knowingly wrong only because we are certain there will be no consequences?Thu, 31 Aug 2017 00:42:45 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6438&iddiary=11253https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6438Personally, I've always gravitated towards games with strong narratives and Life Is Strange is no exception. The difficulty with narrative driven games is that creating a game where a variation of choices make an impact on the world and your experience of the game is logistically insane. Therefore, I understand when games shepherd players towards a "correct" response despite providing a small variety of choices, only one of which actually leads to an advancement of the narrative. Life Is Strange is no exception to this. Players are first shuffled into a world and are given choices that only result in less than positive responses from the world and other NPC's. After gaining the power to reverse time and redo all your decisions and actions, the player can now answer everything "correctly" and advance through the game continually revising their less than perfect responses or actions. This initially obviously useful power does come with some ethical issues however. There are times when the correct answer required by the narrative to advance carries negative consequences or leads to less than ideal results. Regardless of whether the player agrees with the decision dubbed by game-makers as the correct choice, it is required for further progression through the game and the player has no choice but to play along. This creates a bit of a dilemma. Should the player continue the game and experience the game even though they don't agree with the choices required to advance through the narrative or stubbornly stick to their own morals and decisions? Most people would just keep playing. Afterall, it's only a game.Wed, 30 Aug 2017 01:05:44 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6438&iddiary=11239