Blogging the experience of gameplayhttps://www.gamelog.cl/gamers/GamerPage.php?idgamer=2005https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6876A Mortician’s Tale Playthrough #3 The last playthrough was an interesting experience because it didn’t last for very long. The last playthrough only lasted about fifteen minutes due to the fact that there simply wasn’t enough content in the game to play it for much longer than that. I found it interesting that there was a major time lapse in the game where it went from being a miserable job working for a major corporation to being my own boss and owning my own business. That would have been a much more interesting and enjoyable story had it not just time lapsed an entire year in an instance. With that being said I actually found the game very dull after ever since the suicide of the young man I talked about in the last playthrough. With that being said there was still some interesting points in the last little bit of the game. The first thing that I think was interesting was the idea of giving a happy ending to a game that overall had a darker more depressing theme throughout the rest of the game. On that note, the music at the very end I thought was perfect and would have actually been really enjoyable even on its own which is something I don’t feel about most games I play. It’s not very often that I am wowed by the music in games. Beyond the music, the other point I wanted to bring up has to do with the game itself instead of the content of the game. I essentially got less than a total hour according to Steam and I paid $10 for the game. With that being said is this an adequate amount of entertainment for a game relative the cost. After reading some of the reviews on Steam that didn’t seem to be what most people thought and I would have to agree. Although the game was interesting it felt fairly repetitive and the fact that it was so short made me really feel that I didn’t get my money’s worth. This raises the ethical question of how much should a game cost? Or more importantly is there an expectation to be met with the pricing of a game? It had been such a long time since I’ve beaten a game so quickly that I didn’t feel I got my money’s worth because I usually relate to another form of entertainment such as going to the movies. If I go to the movies and it costs me say $10 for three hours of entertainment then I would expect likewise of a game or at the very least something relatively close. But in this instance, I spent $10 for less than an hour so I feel that this game would have been a lot better off if it’s price point was lower due to overall customer satisfaction.Thu, 08 Nov 2018 21:40:41 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6876&iddiary=12316https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6876A Mortician’s Tale Playthrough #2 The second playthrough experience had a completely different effect on me than the first did. Although the first playthrough was a lot more emotional, the second playthrough felt a lot more infuriating until the very end and it had nothing to do with the funerals themselves. The reason for this is because on the second half of the play through all of the cases were very simple again nothing interesting happened. They were I guess an “average death” as in the person was already very old and all that needed to be done was a very simple procedure there was nothing like the suicide case that I referred to above. For this reason, the second part of my playthrough was significantly less emotional. However, as stated it was still frustrating. The reason why it was so frustrating was that of the fact that the business I was previously working at and starting to get attached to got bought out by some major corporation. On top of buying out this sweet little mom and pop shop, they enforced new rules, upped the prices of our services, and tried to force its employees including me to force people to buy the more expensive packages. The fact that I had no other option was very infuriating as I wanted to quit and if I was put into this situation I would have not tried to coerce mourning individuals to spend more money than they wish for the loved one who has already passed. It just felt so wrong that someone would do that and the fact that its presumably happening as of right now at morgues across the world is honestly disgusting. It really makes you appreciate the genuine services that locally owned businesses offer and puts the marketing scheme of major corporations into perspective. In regards to ethics, it should be as no surprise that I really think that in a game giving the player an option to do something they may not ethically agree with can be a huge advantage. It is also put into the light the idea of showing how despicable some corporations can be, with that being said I think it raises the question as to the morality regarding corporations nickel and diming people.Wed, 07 Nov 2018 21:29:49 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6876&iddiary=12272https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6876A Mortician’s Tale Playthrough #1 My first playthrough experience of “A Mortician’s” tale I actually found very intriguing but not until the very end. I’ll begin by talking about everything that happened prior to when the game got really interesting. The initial experience of the game seemed about what I would expect it would be. It was kind of dark because of the theme being so heavily concentrated on death, but at the end of the day it is something that happens and everyone accepts so I just went about my business and did the jobs. Each was unique and had to be handled in a different way but at the end of the day, each case was more or less the same or at least it felt that way to me. I did find each case to be slightly different, but not enough to have anything stand out. I found it really interesting that after I dealt with each body I had to attend the funeral as well this part was where the game started to get substantially more emotional as I would pay my respects and talk to every single person before returning to work but even still nothing actually hit me that hard or at least not until the last body. The last person that I dealt with in my initial playthrough was a teenage boy who committed suicide. On top of that despite having a will asking to be cremated his parents told me to forget about the will and prepare an open casket. This was also the first time in the entire playthrough where I was given an option, I could either accept the job or do a different job later that evening. I chose to do the job however, I felt kind of scummy about it. Not only was I more sensitive to the case itself because of the circumstances, but the fact one of this boys dying wishes couldn’t be upheld simply because his parents didn’t want it to be felt wrong. I decided that it’s still a job and that at the end of the day I was obligated to fulfill the order and so I did. I found the last body to be relevant ethically in terms of being in a professional environment and trying to differ from doing what is “right” from what is “wrong” even if being told explicitly to do one or the other. I think that if the game presented the option to decide for yourself what you wanted to do with the body and then face the consequences either way rather that be your own guilt from not fulfilling the boys wish or something completely in the game like getting fired or bad mouthed when you attended the funeral would have been far more interesting. But instead having the options be either do the job or don’t do the job felt inconsequential and could lead to an overall less interesting experience because there is less of an ethical dilemma.Tue, 06 Nov 2018 19:13:38 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6876&iddiary=12231https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6819Game Log #2 - Nier (Part 3) In my final playthrough of Nier Automata (Nier), I was actually reminded of a really interesting concept that works as a follow up for my last Log entry. The concept I’m referring is the sense of emotions that are portrayed by the machines the further the game progresses. After progressing through the game slightly you’ll make your way to the desert area which in itself is kind of a boring zone but what’s interesting about this area is it’s the first time that you hear a machine talk and what the machines are saying is really interesting. What’s even more interesting is the response of both 2B and 9S. The specifics of what I’m referring to is when you reach the first quest marker in the desert the machines will start saying vague words such as “Kill, meat, android, desert” however, as you continue to progress with each section of the mission the game gets increasingly more interesting. Another encounter the machines say “K-kill enemy... whyyyy... N-no… Stay...away…” after the machines say this dialogue, 2B and 9S talk about their outfits and face paint. 9S references the fact that it’s very similar to how the human race used to wear long ago. The last reference I’ll give is in regard to when the machines say “Nooo… S-scared… ...elp...meeeee… Help...me…!” after this dialogue 2B is taken back and 9S says that their speech has no meaning and is just random. With this information in mind, I’ll get to the main point. Following the previous log talking about consciousness at what point would the machines be considered as equals or would it never happen? At this point, although incredible primitive they are mimicking almost every aspect of basic human behavior yet they’re still perceived as an enemy and at this point the game almost makes you feel like the bad guy. With all of that being said at what point is it wrong to kill someone/something else? If this game were to become more or less reality would it be ok to kill another being with roughly human consciousness? These are the questions I will more than likely be trying to form a thesis around for my final draft of this game, but in conclusion, I think Nier is one of the most interesting games I’ve played simply based on the fact that there were so many other topics that could have been talked about. The only reason I chose not to touch on them was due to the fact that I found this topic specifically the most interesting.Thu, 27 Sep 2018 22:36:52 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6819&iddiary=12171https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6819Game Log #2 - Nier (Part 2) In my second playthrough of Nier Automata (Nier) I, unfortunately, had to tune down the difficulty after one last attempt due to the sheer difficulty of “Hard” mode in this game which I touched in the previous log. Even with that being said the sheer length of the tutorial was still a problem which resulted in the entirety of my gameplay being the tutorial, adjusting savings, and finally getting to the “City Ruins” which is where the game opens up dramatically and the player is able to have more control of what they’re able to do. With this being said there is limited content to talk about however, I did find one particular instance in the earlier stages to be extremely interesting at least in respect to the ethics around the game. At the very end of the initial tutorial when the player has finally defeated what is presumed to be the final boss you’re surrounded by three more of the exact same boss. It’s at this point that 2B and 9S combine their “Black Boxes” which presumably causes an extremely powerful explosive reaction destroying not only 2B’s and 9S’ body everything within the radius of the explosion. There are two reasons I found this particular instance interesting from an ethical perspective. First has to do with the act itself which refers to the idea of essentially sacrificing oneself for the sake of the mission and android well-being. Second has to do with what happens post-explosion, even though both of their bodies were destroyed their consciousness and memories can be uploaded to what is essentially the main frame of their base and then redistributed into a new body that is identical to the one they were in prior. Regarding the first point of interest in more detail, I found it very interesting that the intensity of the action was so severe when both presumably knew that they weren’t actually going to die. At least from my perspective, they reacted in a way that this was the end of their existence. There’s an argument to be made that 2B actually thought that however, 9S knew from the beginning that he could upload both of their information to the mainframe. With all of this being said it made me question what it would be like if real life soldiers could put themselves in the shoes of android. Knowing full well they themselves weren’t actually dying would there still be as much emotion behind the actions they did or would most emotions dull down. The second part I found interesting was the fact that their consciousness could essentially be manipulated through a computer system. This begs the question of where do people draw the line ethically in terms of AI. As someone who has played this game more than what I am trying to let my perception be the main focus appeared to be that the main focus of the game is about what is right when intelligence can be created. Because androids presumably have a higher level of consciousness than most of the machine lifeforms are they innately in the right? Answering these questions in this context would be far too difficult but the game is constantly bringing this question up even from the get-go with dialogue between 2B and 9S.Wed, 26 Sep 2018 23:35:44 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6819&iddiary=12119https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6819Game Log #2 - Nier Playing Nier Automata (Nier) for this “Game Log” assignment wasn’t necessarily a new experience for me as I have played Nier before, however, with that being said I didn’t want to continue from where I was at and instead wanted to start a playthrough from the beginning again. Since I already have 50+ hours on the game I had the inclination to raise the difficulty from normal to hard, not realizing what I had gotten myself into to. I had completely forgotten how hard the game was to get through the tutorial on normal difficulty as it took me around 5+ hours the first time. Although I was annoyed like my first time playing through it did raise an interesting question and that’s “How hard should games be?” as well as more specifically “How hard should game tutorials be?” I ask these questions because this game had a harder tutorial than any other game I have played. The game I immediately compared it to was the original Dark Souls game. Although Dark Souls doesn’t necessarily have a tutorial I felt that progressing through the beginning of the game in Nier was more difficult than Dark Souls which is revered as one of the most difficult Triple-A titles on the market by most gamers. I would attribute that what makes Nier so difficult (apart from the mechanical skill and game knowledge needed to fight enemies without dying on harder difficulty) is the fact that the tutorial itself is relatively long due to cutscenes and dialogue which isn’t necessarily a problem IF there was a single savepoint before the end of the tutorial. The fact that you lose all progression in such a long and difficult “tutorial” is absolutely insane to me. As a reference of length, the first “walkthrough” video on YouTube took the player 37 minutes on normal difficulty. If this player died, however, at 36 minutes they would have to start from square one again resulting in over an hour of playing through the tutorial. Some people may say that this is why there’s an easy mode. If normal is too difficult then you should play on easy mode. Which I would completely understand if the game on easy didn’t basically play itself through the use of “auto chips” which do actions automatically such as “auto-heal”. The jump in each difficulty is so drastic and the idea that “normal” which is hard by most standards is supposed to be the average doesn’t make sense. With all of this being said it’s possible that I was an anomaly or naturally bad at these styles of games in which case this was my personal experience. As a side-note, I am explicitly referring to the difficulty of the tutorial once out of the tutorial how you play the game changes in terms of “grinding” materials, currency, gear, etc. so that future fights become much easier. Additionally once out of the tutorial you can save before most boss fights so if you die your playthrough is much less tedious. In conclusion, the overlying question regarding an ethical decision is “At what point is difficulty unethical or is it ever unethical?” This question may sound ridiculous at first but from a utilitarian standpoint if the game is overall giving players a negative experience then it may be worth considering. This question should be applied to all games and not just Nier. Nier was the reason the question arose but, if we take a look at games that are exceedingly more difficult to the point where it seems as though the game was meant to solely frustrate people then the question may seem more practical. An example of a game that would fit this category is Cat Mario.Tue, 25 Sep 2018 21:38:03 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6819&iddiary=12078https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6752Part three of my “Little Nightmares” playthrough will again follow the same format as my first two entries in that I will first talk about the gameplay experience itself and immediately after address an infrared/literal ethical issue involved in the game. Overall this third playthrough was more so lackluster than the other two. That’s not to say that it was bad by any means, it was just not as interesting as my other two experiences with the game. However, despite that, I still intend to make it as interesting as possible. The game began unfortunately not where I had logged off but instead the puzzle right before I logged off and although this was slightly annoying I was able to breeze throughout in less than a minute so it wasn’t a big deal. Moving forward from that situation I ran down the hall being chased by the long-armed figure until I reached the elevator that got me into this mess in the first place. After hiding in a box on the elevator I proceeded to make my way through two rooms that were mostly forgettable. The game started to get interesting again when I entered a room with the long-armed figure assessing his toys. I don’t really know the meaning and I’ve found it difficult to really make an inference but this room is scattered with roughly a hundred dolls. Maybe they are taxidermied little people but it didn’t seem realistic enough to be the case, they looked like simple handmade toys so as to there meaning I haven’t yet figured out. After proceeding past this room I had to sneak past him in a room full of clocks which were quite easy since the sounds of the clocks distracted him significantly. Once I snuck past him I made my way into what seemed like his library… I found this extremely odd seeing as the long-armed figure is blind. Despite that, I had to traverse his library and make my way out of his “lair.” Once I made it out there was one final part of this stage in the game. I was stuck in a room with the door nearly collapsed and the figure is trying to reach around the room and grab me. After more thinking than I should have needed, I pull pieces away of the cage holding the door open and it collapses slicing off both his arms. It was at this point that I ended my third playthrough of “Little Nightmares.” Now to talk about ethical issues that I found prevalent. Trying to decide what to talk about for this part of my journal was many times harder due to the sheer fact that the events that took place weren’t as distinctive as the other two playthroughs. With that being said, what I’m about to say may be a stretch but I think it’s at the very least worth noting. What I’m referring to is the idea that you’re the bad guy in “Little Nightmares.” To increase perspective think about it like this: You’re playing a little character who is running around causing trouble for these “figures” which are more humanoid than not. So as expected they set traps and chase you down until they finally catch/kill you. Yes, maybe some of them do odd things after they capture you but the idea remains that you are in some ways vermin similar to a rat. Now I think this idea could possibly fall flat when you consider the fact that the character you are playing appears to have human consciousness. But nonetheless, there is still an argument that could be made that even with a human level of consciousness your character is still in the wrong. In conclusion, the experience of this playthrough was slightly lackluster and could have brought forth more thought-provoking events, however, despite that I still enjoyed this playthrough. In regards to the ethics, I think that the idea of right and wrong is so arbitrary to the individual in most instances that a lot of people would like to assume that whatever it is they are doing is what’s right. This is especially so if it aligns with whatever morals they have adapted from their upbringing. So whatever the case I would say that understanding both perspectives is vital to having a healthy understanding of ethics as a whole. So, as a closing remark, try your best to consider the possibility that maybe something you think is wrong is in fact not and vice versa.Thu, 30 Aug 2018 23:05:56 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6752&iddiary=11998https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6752Part two of my “Little Nightmares” playthrough was actually much more interesting than I thought it was going to be. The game provoked a lot more questions and ideas than I had anticipated. Because of this surprise, my perception of what the game is trying to talk about has changed and I still don’t think that I’m on the right track but I’m at the very least more in the ballpark. Following the theme of my last entry I’ll first talk about my literal gameplay experience and then ethical ideas I have regarding the game. When I began my playthrough again the game was still at what I would now consider a slower pace. All I was doing was jumping around, solving puzzles and continuing progression. Of course, the game still felt unsettling but nothing too bad up until my character began to starve. After traversing a bedroom and going down an elevator I was welcomed with a long hallway and about halfway through my character grabbed his stomach and I knew what was going to happen. (because in the last playthrough my character was starving and an NPC gave me bread.) As I continued down the hallway eventually I reach an open room with a cage and a piece of meat inside, keep in mind the seen is much more depressing and repulsive than it may sound. The meat was raw and looked slightly spoiled, in addition to the quality there were rats circling all around. Regardless of the source, my character had to eat so as I began to eat the meat a frightening figure closes the cage door and captures me… I’m not going to lie, my heart skipped a beat when I saw the hand reaching down from the ceiling out of the darkness of the room. After awakening and breaking free from my cell I then had to sneak past this figure which was actually a simpler task than I had thought. After sneaking past the figure I fell down an air vent which leads to an open room with an ocean of shoes. I proceeded to swim through the ocean of shoes and jump from suitcase to suitcase in an effort to not get killed by whatever monster was lurking underneath all of the shoes. Once I made it to the other side I decided to end my playthrough there. The ethical issue that I want to address has to do with kidnapping/child trafficking. In the game, you’re playing as a little person assumably a child. You’re not the only child in this universe, there are many others like you. Many of these children have already been captured, imprisoned, tortured, or even killed. There is evidence of these actions happening throughout the playthrough rather it is the numerous amount of cages, the bloodstains seen in different rooms, the beds with constraints, or any other sign that cruel acts are being done. In addition to the treatment, you receive after being captured, the methods used to capture you in the first place are cruel, and treat you animalistically. The creatures/people you hide from in this world will set traps with food since you’re bound to starve eventually and once you take the bait it’s all over. This could be related similarly to kidnapping in the real world where someone sets some kind of bait and once the kid takes the bait the worst may be assumed. In conclusion, the game is becoming more and more frightening with each playthrough but on the same hand extensively more interesting. The two topics I have covered up to date only play a small part as to what could be expanded upon which results in a game that doesn’t get dull. The kidnapping was most relevant to me in this playthrough though due to the fact that it was the core of my experience.Thu, 30 Aug 2018 00:15:58 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6752&iddiary=11967https://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6752After playing this game for slightly over thirty minutes I was blown away by how frightening the game was considering the style of the game. I didn’t necessarily feel fear except for at one part (which I will get to later) but all of the little aspects put together made for a really enjoyable experience. To elaborate, the sounds in the game from both the music and sound effects evoked a level of unease that made me always kind of anxious as to if something was going to happen. There would also be certain events that would happen in the game that would really make me question what actually was going on. At a certain point, I saw this little guy with what looks like a paper hat run away from me and every time I chased him he would get away. Another situation is when I saw these dolls that look like the woman depicted in the scene at the very beginning. I ended up throwing the second doll I found, and it broke open releasing what looked like black dust. It was interesting enough that there is assumably some sort of meaning behind it but, as to what I have no idea. The last occurrence I will touch on is the most distressing. Throughout the game, after a couple minutes, you’ll encounter what seems like a black tar-like substance which slows you down. The most notable time you encounter this is when you are attacked by a swarm of leeches. For the rest of my playthrough after being attacked by the leeches I saw what looks like a similar substance multiple times plastered on walls as handprints or what would look like blood stains if someone wounded was being dragged across the ground/wall if it were red. It could actually be some weird tar-like substance… but I think it’s a bit odd that a swarm of leeches would be sitting around tar and so for that reason, I’m currently inferring that what I fell into about five minutes into the game was in fact blood. Moving forward I want to talk less about my personal experience and what I believe to be an ethical issue involved in the game. The issue I am referring to is simply the idea of rules. It’s explicit that these children in the game are being kept under significant restriction and I can only assume that the main character (who you play as) somehow escaped these restrictions. The reason I am inferring this is that in the first thirty minutes of my playthrough I saw a toy room, a sleeping area with beds, and a cafeteria so I assume that they are being fed, may sleep, and can have at least some enjoyment. However, as stated above there are depictions of what are seemingly brutal acts of abuse that possibly resulted in death. With that being said I think that it is safe to assume that you have a situation where there is some person who because of their place in power they can make rules and if not followed they can also choose any punishment they want even if that’s death. Since I don’t know the full story of the game it’s hard to say for sure what is happening and most of this is assumptive but the points still stand even when brought into society. Is it right for someone or a government to not only dictate rules but also punishment? Do the rules make sense or stand for what is moralistic right? Considering these questions can be heavily debated I won’t go into depth on my opinions. However, I think that the idea of rules in society are maybe being depicted through this game. To conclude I think that this game will be interesting to evaluate in the coming journal entries and that there are multiple different aspects of ethics involved in the game. The most prevalent to me was the assumed belief that the children in the game are not inherently being treated poorly however due to rules and restrictions they are being treated barbarically if they do the littlest thing wrong. Although more extreme, this idea can be related to society.Tue, 28 Aug 2018 22:05:13 CSThttps://www.gamelog.cl/logs/LogPage.php?Log_Id=6752&iddiary=11922