Eaubay's GameLog

Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) - Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:22:26

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:22:26 CST

GAMELOG ENTRY #2 GAMEPLAY The game is interesting to play because of the exploration that the player can do. With each successive GTA game the world gets larger and has more depth, so it's no surprise that by the fifth iteration it's nothing short of massive. The majority of the buildings can't be entered, and huge chunks of the game have horrible textures, but despite these shortcomings they maintain a very distinctive artistic style, and a number of easter eggs that make the player want to keep exploring. For Example, on San Fierro, the island that represents San Francisco there is a section of the city called "Hashbury" that represents the real life Haight-Ashbury. The visual style of Hasbury differs greatly from the rest of the city, most of the vehicles are beat up vans, the pedestrians are hippies, and the streets are lined with rainbow posters. It's this kind of attention to detail that makes the game interesting to play. I played this game with two of my friends watching. The results were troubling. They're backseat gamers, so when I started playing they gave me suggestions as to where to drive, and alerted me to the presence of hidden packages I had driven past. But as I progressed their demands became more outrageous: "Run that guy over!" I watched as the horror that is Grand Theft Auto slowly devoured my good natured friends. Their violent hedonism climaxed when my friend Jon shouted, and I quote: "Hit that old lady with a bat!" That's when we decided it was probably time to take a short break. DESIGN The RPG elements of the game are aggravating, and generally distract from the overall gameplay and story. They're mostly comprised of mindless, time-consuming tasks. For example, in order to level up the swimming skill you have to go out into the ocean and hold the analog stick in any direction, for eternity. Actually it's more like 30 minutes, but if you're just trying to sit down and play through a mission and then stop it's aggravating to have the game tell you that you need to go swim before you can progress. In addition to the swimming, the game also requires that the player eat. If you don't get food approximately once in a gameworld day they player starts to lose fat and eventually health. This wouldn't be unreasonable if Grand Theft Auto were a simulator, but it seems completely out of sync with the world that I can drive a semi up the side of a mountain, parachute off of it, and then steal an attack helicopter uscathed, but if I don't fit in time for a salad in there at some point I die. It's inconsistent with the gameworld. The game provides a number of different challenges. The two main challenges however are avoiding being arrested by the police, and avoiding death. The player can be arrested if a cop knocks them to the ground and is in range of shooting, or if they are pulled out of their vehicle by a cop. Once arrested, the player loses all progress they had on the current mission, and all of the guns they had collected. The player dies if their health bar reaches zero, this can be a result of combat, or falling from a great height. There is also challenge in the form of resource management. The player has to effectively balance spending their money on houses, food, guns, and cars. There is also gambling available at betting shops and casinos in which the player can wager their money on games of chance. The system can easily be exploited if the player saves, bets all of their money, and then loads if they lose it. It's a rather seizable flaw that makes an important part of the gameplay effectively meaningless.

Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) - Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:41:33

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:41:33 CST

GAMELOG ENTRY #1 SUMMARY Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a sandbox game in which the player controls "CJ" a thug whose goal is to commit various crimes to restore his gang's honor. The player can free run with "CJ" climbing buildings and running around the city, or they can steal automobiles, planes, boats, and helicopters. There are also RPG elements to the game as the player can upgrade their skills in flying, driving, swimming, and shooting. The player also has to eat to stay alive, and exercise to avoid getting fat, and to build muscle. GAMEPLAY "Wanna be a -- baller, shot caller Twenty inch blades -- on the Impala A caller gettin laid tonight Swisher rolled tight, gotta spray my ice I hit the HIIIGHWAY, making money the FLYYYY WAY But there's got to be a BETT-ER WAYY! A better way, better way, YEAH-AHHHH" -Lil' Troy My emotional state while playing the game, I suppose I felt like a baller. That's the desired result of the game at any rate, and it achieves its goal. This is primary a result of the music, and missions that the player, "CJ" must execute, and the customization that the game allows for. GTA: San Andreas doesn't make use of a soundtrack, but it does have radio stations that the player can tune through in the vehicles. As much of the gameplay is spent driving, the player will hear the dulcet tones of Lil' Troy as they roll through the city with their homies. I grew an emotional attachment to the "Grove Street Families" through missions where I would "gat" their enemies, and then we would chill at our crib. The voice acting during these cutscenes contributed to the attachment, the voice acting is on par with a movie, and it was similar in terms of scope. The characters in the game are incredible, they all seem to have a great deal of depth. Physically their models look horrible, but there's an all star voice acting cast, and a great script so they have personality. The characters develop through cell-phone calls, cut-scenes, and missions on which the player works with them.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360) - Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:31:57

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:31:57 CST

GAMELOG ENTRY #2 GAMEPLAY The more of this game I play the more fun it becomes. Primarily because of the skill tree, not only does it provide for a vastly different gameplay experience based on the specialization of the player, but the growth in that specialization is exponential. So, my first play experience I was limited to a very small set of skills, but now I have a vast arsenal at my disposal with which to dispatch enemies. There's now a great deal more strategy involved in the combat, I have to decide which armors, weapons, and spells to choose, and adapt it to my opponent. It's also a lot more fun to play because I've realized just how vast the gameworld is. I was originally fast traveling between cities, but for one quest I decided to go on foot. It took approximately 20 minutes to travel the distance, and along the way I discovered very detailed environments, ruins and caves that I could explore, NPCs with quests, and enemies. I feel like I'm still just scratching the surface of the world, and it's fun to actually feel like I'm exploring a living world as opposed to going on a predetermined path in a game like Mario. I've also learned that there's more social interaction with NPCs than I originally thought. If I've just completed a quest or attained a notable achievement they will chat with me about it. There's also a mini-game in which, based on my charisma level I can try to gain favor with NPCs. If I succeed then new options in the chat dialogue are unlocked, and they become more open with information about quests, and their tone becomes friendlier. DESIGN This game doesn't have distinct levels, but rather a world map with cities and structures that can be entered. The world map however is incredibly varied. It would probably take around an hour to walk a straight line from one end of the world to the other, and the player would never see the same environment twice. Different parts of the world have a very distinctive visual feel, there are plains, lakes, snow covered mountains, swamps, and they all transition between each other smoothly. It doesn't jarringly go from a mountain to a swamp, but rather gradually changes. It must have been randomly generated because no matter how large the team, it would take ages to meticulously design each environmental feature of the game. The tone of the gameworld is unique to each city. Some cities are bright and prosperous while others have a very dark color palette. Similarly, the denizens of each city vary just as much. In one of the more impoverished cities the player might expect to find people sleeping outside, skooma (drug) dealers, and thieves, while in the wealthy cities there are aristocrats, merchants, and cheery well-dressed people. Architecturally they are also very different, varying based on the climate, and economic status of each city. The tone shifts dramatically when the player enters one of the game's oblivion portals (portals to a kind of demon world). Once through the portals, everything takes on a reddish color and the sky starts raining ash. Everything in the world becomes inhospitable and demonic creatures lurk around every corner. I responded quite eagerly to the game's reward structure, because success on missions directly translates into both new skills and more gold. The use of gold as a reward works particularly well, many games use gold as a sort of abstract concept that the player can never take advantage of, but because of the many merchants in Oblivion, more gold means better equipment, new spells, and more potions. Success on a quest can also mean that an NPC will give you new equipment that is potentially not available from a merchant. The other reward for completing a quest is furthering the story. I didn't care much for the main story, but there were certain quests whose stories I wanted to unravel.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360) - Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:53:52

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 00:53:52 CST

GAMELOG ENTRY #1 SUMMARY In Oblivion the player controls a character of their creating who discovers a plot to tear apart the kingdom after the assassination of the emperor. The gameplay is first person, and depending on the specialization of the character it evolves into swordplay, archery, or spellcasting. The player takes on quests from various NPCs that range from clearing out caves of enemies to infiltrating secret societies. The primary goal is to rescue the kingdom. GAMEPLAY My emotional state during the game: I wasn't very connected emotionally to the main story of the game, frankly it's just bland and cliched fantasy. I got bored with it pretty quickly and decided to do some of the side quests. This is where the game excels, it's filled with thousands of NPCs, and despite repeat voice actors, they all have a very distinct personality. Some are excited, others nervous, and still some are indifferent, so it was much easier emotionally to develop a connection to the NPCs than to the main story. Narratively the game progressed at whatever rate I wanted it to. I could choose not to stick to the main story and just do my own thing. There seemed to be a never ending supply of people who wanted my help so I could just pick and choose the most interesting quests. And if I got tired of it I could leave whenever I wanted. So, narratively there was a great deal of freedom. The game is incredibly fun to play because of the depth of the skill tree. The game has an introductory level where the player has a chance to toy around with all of the skill sets and then decide which one to go with. Lighting rats on fire certainly has its novelty, but I decided to spec thief. Because I chose that skill branch the gameplay became almost like Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid, I gained the ability to sneak undetected and to stealth kill enemies. So, the game is fun because it doesn't force the player to adapt to the game, rather the game adapts to the player.

Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) - Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:57:31

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:57:31 CST

Gamelog entry #2 GAMEPLAY Characters: There's something about the silent protagonist that draws people. It works for the weighted companion cube and it worked for mario in this game. It probably has to do with the fact that players can project whatever they want onto the character. At the time though I think it was particularly appealing because there was very little to connect with in terms of the characters in gaming, a game like tetris or pong may be fun but there's nothing in it like "Mario." So I think there was this desolate gaming landscape in terms of personality and then here comes "Mario" he's go this unique look to him, suspenders, a funny hat, and this goof mustache. Nowadays we've got games like Bioshock with incredible depth in characters but you can't help but like "Mario," so even though there isn't any story on him he's still likable. It's certainly interesting to play. The levels never feel repetitive, so it manages to feel fresh as you go through the worlds, each of which has its own theme. It's not so interesting however when you hit a plateau and have to play a level over and over, and if you die you start over. DESIGN I can't speak to how innovative Super Mario Bros. 3 was because I don't know what the platform market was like twenty years ago, but it's a classic because it was a very good game. I keep trying to apply modern standards to the game, but it's twenty years old! The fact that I can pick it up and have a good time after playing Mass Effect speaks to the calibre of the game. It's a solid game, the enemies are unique and the level design is creative. On the negative side you can't save, but it's hard to complain about that because it wasn't a feature of games at the time. It's like complaining about the game not being in HD, it's an unrealistic standard to apply. I can however complain that the game doesn't have much of a story, that's not unrealistic because The Legend of Zelda came out on the same system and the scale in that game is nothing short of epic. The tone of the game world is fantastical and comedic with a dash of the macabre. It maintains this tone with unusual enemies and whimsical settings. These include but are not limited to goombas, flying turtles, piranhas, and Bowser who I suppose is a fire breathing dragon-turtle. It gets a bit darker in the castles where "Mario" has to dodge flames and lava without being crushed by giant spikes, it still keeps that whimsical tone though with cartoonish ghosts and skeleton turtles. The game fosters social interaction between players through its multiplayer mode. In this mode one player controls Mario and the other Luigi, and they switch off playing levels. This promotes cooperation as the two players must work together to complete worlds. When one player runs out of lives the worlds that they completed become locked and have to be played again. There is also a level that the two players can compete in at the beginning of each world, it's optional, and as far as I can tell there is no reward to be gained from it. The gameplay in this level is much different, as it is a single stage with multiple platforms that enemies file across, and the first player to die loses a life and the stage ends.

Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) - Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:07:53

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 01:07:53 CST

Gamelog 2: Entry #1 SUMMARY Let's kick this pig. I played Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES. The player controls "Mario" a mustachioed Italian plumber. The game has a World select menu in which the player selects which sidescrolling level to play. Mario must navigate the various platforms in these levels to reach the end of the level, along the way defeating enemies. Very few enemies actively attack mario, most of them move in a scripted pattern, but nearly all of them can be dispatched by jumping on them. The object is to reach the end of all of the worlds, and while I was unable to do this I'm imagining there's a princess there, she might even be in another castle... GAMEPLAY My roommate, his girlfriend, and I took turns playing the game when I first brought it back. We approached it fairly arrogantly, because the game was released in Japan around the same time we were born, how hard could a game this old be? Besides, we're next gen gamers, we don't just dispatch alien hordes, we do speed runs and solo legendary. Yeah well... Answer: It's hard, very hard. So our "emotional state" during this first fourty five minutes was frustrated and befuddled. How can this be happening? Did a flying turtle just kill me? We started to get the hang of it and on the end of the last level of the first world a bit of story was introduced. A king has been turned into a dog and my job as "Mario" is to board a flying pirate ship and steal a wand so that he can be turned back. Thank God for that little bit of exposition or I would have been really confused. In short, Mario is lacking in story, every so often there's a bit of explanation about why you have to do this or that but it really just muddies the water even more. Who is this king? Why was he turned into a dog? Why am I the one that has to do something here? The game didn't flow particularly well for three reasons: 1. We kept dying. 2. You can't save. 3. There's no transition between levels. You go from a cave to floating platforms in the sky to a lava filled castle without any explanation why. When these three are combined it's a confusing and exasperating experience. That being said the more we played, the better we got, and the easier it was to get through the levels and back to where we were in the game before we turned it off or died. If nothing else, my gaming ego has been considerably battered and bruised.

Mass Effect (360) - Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:07:52

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:07:52 CST

Gameplay entry #2 GAMEPLAY It's safe to say I'm in love with this game. Typical RPG's offer a great deal of customization in weapons, armor, skills, and if you're lucky appearance. Mass Effect doesn't just take it to the next level, it knocks these expectations out of the freaking park. Not only can I change my weapons and armor, adding upgrades and changing the ammo, but I can mold my very personality. Mass Effect is the spiritual successor to Star Wars: Knights of the Republic, and so it includes what could be considered light side and dark side points, called paragon and renegade respectively. I found out pretty quickly that renegade was quite a bit more fun. For example, one of the members of my party who had been with me since the beginning of the game stepped out of line, so I chose the more aggressive option in the dialogue and it turned into a heated argument. It escalated to me pulling out my shotgun and shooting him in the face three times! Whereas a lot of games today boast to be open ended, in Mass Effect if someone in your party disagrees with you, no matter how integral to the story they are you can literally just end their life. After that no one on board the ship questioned my judgement again, ever. This wasn't just a coincidence either, the members of my party had actually dynamically reacted to me because I had accrued enough renegade points. And the story is phenomenal. I started out as an errand boy, solving mysteries fit for scooby doo, and worked my way up to the go to guy for the council that runs the galaxy. Yeah, no more mystery machine stuff, now when there's a rebellion on a planet that threatens peace and stability everywhere I'm the guy that goes to fix it. What was great is that the progression seemed so natural, there was no jump. Even despite how open ended Mass Effect is it managed to slip seamlessly between the overarching story that I slowly uncovered about a plot to destroy all of civilization and side missions. It didn't seem contrived either or like a rehash of another game. It was all fresh and highly entertaining. DESIGN My one real complaint about Mass Effect is that it's almost too open ended, there's no real tutorial that introduces you to combat or customization. It's almost assumed that the player already understand perfectly the mechanics of the game. While not being intuitive, I didn't have any challenge with it after an hour or so when I had the mechanics of the game down. I think Penny Arcade described it best with this analogy: "This giant pool is Mass Effect. It's vast and deep. We Made it for you. Now swim! Swim forever."

Mass Effect (360) - Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:34:55

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:34:55 CST

Gameplay entry #1 SUMMARY In Mass Effect the player controls commander Shepard, a soldier in the year 2183. The gameplay is a third-person shooter combined with RPG elements to control which class Shepard progresses in. The various classes take the game from a cover based strategy game with magic powers to a more Halo based shoot everything that moves game, all controlled by the upgrades the player chooses. The game has very few cinematic sequences, and instead lets the player progress through the story by starting conversations with NPC's and choosing from several responses in the conversation. The responses a player chooses in the conversation change the personality of Shepard slowly from a xenophobic homicidal maniac to a philanthropist space crusader, all completely dependent on the choices of the player. GAMEPLAY Mass Effect is an incredibly engaging experience because of its frenetic space shooter gameplay and the literally thousands of options it gives the player in progressing the story. These two combined with an upgrade system, and a massive galaxy to explore make no two play experiences the same. I had varied emotions while playing Mass Effect. When in combat I was pumped an excited. When a futuristic alien robot jumps out from behind cover and I waste him with my shotgun and watch him dissolve into a puddle of acid as a techno soundtrack blares and spaceships explode in the distance I was floored. But when I have to make a choice to save one party member over another that I've fought to save the galaxy with and both are pleading for their lives, and I know I can only save one it's nothing short of heart-wrenching. The characters in Mass Effect are all very well done. None of them seem two-dimensional, and they all have a backstory that the player can investigate. This makes a seemingly trivial NPC come alive, for example I overheard a sulking alien and asked him what was wrong. After some persuasion he revealed that he was an ambassador to some backwater alien world and was being blackmailed. Talking to him unlocked a side quest that revealed a love triangle, a rogue general, a dying alien culture! This is just a glimpse of the depth in Mass Effect, I could have just as easily walked by the depressed looking alien and never even spoken to him. Mass Effect flows impeccably well because it's literally completely dependent on the choices of the player how quickly or slowly the player progresses. There are a myriad of side quests to complete and hundreds of unexplored alien worlds the player can travel to. Alternatively one can blow through the main story and only scratch the surface of the game. I took turns playing Mass Effect with a friend and we each had an incredibly different play experience. In conversations he would choose the more sensible option, and if possible spare enemies, hoping they would aid him because of his compassion. But I chose to play it more "bad cop" than him, running in guns-a-blazin' and coercing my way through the galaxy. (This entry has been edited1 time. It was last edited on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:40:33.)