Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=1942https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6661As I play more of "This is the Police", I have came to the realization that a key, reoccurring message within the game is that nothing, good or bad, comes for free. Today, I had to make a decision to help a crooked cop. It was either take over for his position in the mafia and let him escape town with his wife and kids, or take the high road which would involve him, his wife, and his daughters being brutally killed. While I have seen this previously within the game's mechanics, this was the first, big time within the narrative that this message has presented itself. From an ethical standpoint, this game is making a statement that making morally correct decisions are the right answer, but not necessarily the easy answer. From what I can gather, it appears that going the "crooked" way brings gains in the short term while the "good" way brings gains in the long term with sacrifices in the short term.Thu, 29 Mar 2018 21:44:08 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6661&iddiary=11816https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6661Today, I picked up a little more of an understanding how the game actually works. There appears to be quite a bit of nuances in the mechanics of the game. From an ethical perspective, I enjoy how the game makes me not only manage my resources, but manage ethical behavior like it was also a resource. I have found that while you can use your police officers for illegitimate missions for more money, it often causes them to be decommissioned for the rest of the day or even permanently. I'm not 100% sure yet, but the game appears to be taking a stand and claiming that in the long run, keeping on the right side of the law is more beneficial. This can be seen not only in the mechanics, but also the story as well. I definitely feel like I need more game time to figure out if that's a real avenue within the game, though.Thu, 29 Mar 2018 00:24:12 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6661&iddiary=11792https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6661When this game started up, I assumed it was going to be extremely similar to 1979 Revolution: Black Friday. It appeared to be venturing into the territory of moral ambiguity and gameplay through dialogue options again. I am glad that I ended up being wrong in this assumption. Very quickly the game turned into a resource management game where the player must tackle police reports in order to succeed. This is done by matching police officers to incidents. From an ethics standpoint, the game become extremely interesting when illicit opportunities became available. Now, the main character could gain additional cash for using the police officers for things other than dealing with reports. The one encounter I came across was using a police officer as a bouncer for a night club. While I did gain considerable cash from this, I ended up losing the officer as he made more money with his new bouncing gig.Tue, 27 Mar 2018 18:39:16 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6661&iddiary=11750https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6604Today while playing, I was introduced to the hideout of the revolutionaries. As I met different people, I was informed that they all were told I had photographic evidence of the person who stabbed their leader. The idea was that I could pick out the suspicious person and call out who was the mole. Normally when playing this game, I have gut-wrenching moments during the torture scenes. However with today's game play, this came during the flash back in the hide out. In the rush of being discovered by the police, I was asked to tell the leader who had betrayed him. This absolutely blind sided me, I was not prepared in the slightest with the short time I had had to accuse anyone of something of this magnitude. I ended up simply guessing who it was with the little information I did have and I apparently got it completely wrong, as was revealed to me later during an interrogation scene. This felt completely unfair and there was no true justifiable way to reach a healthy conclusion at that point. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Fri, 16 Feb 2018 00:02:42.)Thu, 15 Feb 2018 23:57:43 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6604&iddiary=11693https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6604Today's game play of 1979 Revolution continued the trend of me getting extremely uncomfortable during the torture scenes. The craziest and most uncomfortable part was when your brother is brought into the room as well and is strung up as a threat to get you to tell the truth. The unsettling part was when the camera is placed in between the brother's arms, placing our viewpoint almost exactly where his head would be, staring at the main character. This had such an effect on me that I was more than willing to tell the truth to the torturer. The problem, however, lied with the fact that he didn't want my truth, he wanted his. So even though I gave the correct answer, my brother still got hit with the cattle prod. I felt awful and began answer in the ways I thought he wanted and not necessarily the truth. Once again, these torture scenes were able to get me to cooperate in very unsettling ways. This brought up thoughts about the torturer. I was informed that he was actually a prisoner during the revolution against the Shah some time earlier. This circle of torture and revolution once again attest to the subtle message I saw yesterday where there really is no good way to go about a revolution with violence as there is always an oppressor and the oppressed.Wed, 14 Feb 2018 17:14:46 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6604&iddiary=11646https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6604Today I started playing 1979 Revolution: Black Friday and it started out with a serious "bang". I couldn't believe within the first 5 minutes that I, as the main character, was arrested and detained for treason. While the mechanics of the game are a little slow and not entirely engaging, they do help place the player into the narrative of the game. Controls were focused on choosing what to say in discussions and on motions to preform actions, like developing film. Something that struck me was the part of the game where you are being tortured by an interrogator. Initially, I was defiant and not willing to cooperate with him. I was belligerent even to the point where I ended up getting myself killed. This completely shocked me! I was not expecting a shot to be able to kill myself in dialogue this early in the game. When I restarted the interrogation, I was completely compliant with him and answered all of his questions. After looking back on this experience, I now shudder to think that the torture that was being performed on my character actually worked. The death, and the events leading up to it, left such an impression on me as the player that I was willing to comply on the second go around. This might possibly fit a subtle theme that the game has been toying with up until this point, which is that the ends justify the means.Tue, 13 Feb 2018 22:00:04 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6604&iddiary=11626https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6546I had the pleasure to play a full hour and a half today as opposed to the other days. The game definitely does a good job supported multiple game play styles. This is due to the compartmentalized style the game offers with its missions. If I only have a small amount of time, I can always tackle one or two missions, but if I have more time, I can try and get a big mission done, like killing one of the orc leaders. Today I made the mistake of trying to rush in and kill a leader, only to find out I literally went into the heart of enemy territory to do so. I was swarmed by about 60 enemies and leader after leader showed up, by the time I died I think there was about 70 enemies and 4 leaders all ganging up on me. It did not end well for me. But, it was nice to know that I couldn't do literally anything I wanted without repercussions. I managed to kill the guy I needed, but man I do NOT want to go back there anytime soon. The game is very much a directed sandbox styled game, much in the same vein as a Grand Theft Auto game. This means that I have the option to play as a hero or anti-hero. If I focus only on the primary missions given to me, I would not be doing much good for the people around me, I would just be a man on a massacre mission to avenge my family. The optional missions and exploration lead me to different ways to do things in the name of the better good. It is interesting that you have to go out of your way to do "good" things. It feels that I am diverting from the main purpose when I do it, but I need to do something good for someone after I've killed so many orcs. Many of them with a knife from behind, I might add.Thu, 18 Jan 2018 20:21:10 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6546&iddiary=11554https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6546Today started with the "meat" of the game. I began with a small mission to retrieve an artifact. This gave me just enough to level up with a new ability and put runes on my weapons, allowing me to have added benefits to each weapon. I have found the best way to play the game is by initiating combat with a headshot from my bow, this reduces the number of enemies. From a game perspective, I am having a good bit of fun with it. The mechanics give me an empowering feeling. I was able to take on 15 enemies at once today. This does, however, lead me to my one complaint so far with gameplay: the "counter attack" button removes any real threat from combat. This button magically stops you mid attack and will cancel whatever attack is heading for you. So far, the only damage I have taken during the entire game has come from enemy archers and that has been negligible. I finished the play session with killing my first target, a slaver captain of the orcs. From an ethics standpoint, it was nice to see the main character help all those humans that had been kidnapped and enslaved after defeating the captain. Up until that point, he had seemed cold and heartless tearing into so many enemies. I feel this somber attitude actually comes from the encouragement of the ghost character that is following me around. There seems to be too much trust too soon and he is asking me to do very dangerous things. I find myself asking "why am I trusting him so much?".Wed, 17 Jan 2018 23:35:49 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6546&iddiary=11514https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6546Today was my first day playing Shadows of Mordor for the assignment. Since I have been pretty ill for the past few days, I did not play more than the required 30 minute minimum. This meant that the majority of my play session was focused on the introduction of the game and being taught how to play. I had a very enjoyable time playing Shadows of Mordor, I understood the mechanics and controls right away and felt ready to jump into the game. I managed to complete the tutorial and two other missions within the session today. From an ethics point of view, I already can understand why this game will work really well for the assignment. Within the first 10 minutes of the game, you witness your son and wife die at the hands of terribly evil people. It becomes apparent very quickly that the game is about getting revenge on the people who took your family away. While I haven't made it far into the plot, yet, I have already killed quite a bit of orcs in the name of revenge. I feel that a good point for this will be: "do the ends justify the means?". Also, there is an interesting mechanic within the game, execution. With is you can take a downed enemy and kill them outright. This means that you are consciously choosing to end a life instead of just hacking and slashing until the thing stops moving. Semantically, they are pretty much the same thing, but when you are actually performing the act, there is something much heavier present.Tue, 16 Jan 2018 21:19:44 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6546&iddiary=11466