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Nov 7th, 2018 at 17:47:25 - Four Last Things (PC) |
Ok I beat Four Last things and I wrote out a WHOLE GIANT GAMELOG ABOUT IT, but I guess it took too long and it refreshed the page when I hit submit so here it goes again, but probably a little less detailed.
I completed the last sin of lust, which was funny ,but a little more difficult to figure out, I feel like. I'm not sure why, but I thought I had already tried all the options where I had to solve it. Regardless, after that you return to the church for redemption. When you go in and speak to peter he asks your sins and then says that your faith must be tested. It is tested b having you jump to your death, after which you wake up in purgatory (I think). Its actually the painting "Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things" This is of course no accident, but I dont really think it holds much sway in the meaning of the story, though I will be sure to look into that for the OPA.
Interestingly in my first play through I got the only alternate ending where before you leap to your death, a side character makes a condemning nihilistic speak about the futility of redemption by god and the church in general, I also want to include this in the OPA examination later.
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Nov 6th, 2018 at 20:46:18 - Four Last Things (PC) |
Ok it is day two of Four Last Things. Last time I had achieved Greed, Sloth, and Pride. What I have found since is that some of the challenges are complicated, and some are downright simple.
For example, last time I saw a guy lying on the ground and decided to join him. Then, I just did nothing for about a minute or so. Boom, Sloth.
This session I have gotten: Envy which was as simple as stating that I wished I had something of someone else's. Wrath for killing the pie king. Gluttony for eating all his pies.
I also wrote last time that I want to focus on the redemption of sins counteracting the 'sin' of sinning. That was a bad sentence, but I think it gets the point across. Wrath is a fantastic example, because so far it is the only one where anyone has really ended up any worse for wear because of my sins. The context for this, though, is that our hero is looking for a redemption of all his sins at once. In order to receive this he must commit each of them one last time. Now if he has committed wrath before, and not received redemption, then this is the only way. This is of course all dependent on the viability of being redeemed, but i digress.
Im sure There will be some twist at the end to help frame the whole adventure and whether or not the characters believe it was all worth it in the end. Im sure it will be pretty funny too.
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Nov 6th, 2018 at 00:06:50 - Four Last Things (PC) |
So for whatever reason, I never actually checked what this game was on the list of games for the class. Perhaps in what is a mild irony my penny pinching ways brought me to the cheapest game on the list, which is about character flaws and sins like greed.
How fitting.
As soon as I saw the them and visuals though I was pretty sold on the game, at least from what the brief trailer showed.
So from the star of the game I was pretty compelled to exhaust all possible dialogue options and whatnot because they were pretty damn funny, but also because they were so specific. There are pretty few generic responses which usually drive me away from point and click. There is also relatively little in the way of pixelhunting, which is nice.
The morality so far is plainly obvious, in fact its so obvious that its almost hard to write anything perceptive about it. Commit all the sins again so that you can be forgiven for committing sins, I mean, come on. As I play I am trying to determine a viable perspective to write the OPA from. So far I have Committed sloth, greed, and Pride. and I am considering the analysis direction of 'If redemption trumps any and all sin as stated, then seeking redemption through sin must be morally/ethically good, despite the sins themselves being ethically bad.'
I will see if that changes as I go about more sinning.
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Sep 22nd, 2018 at 14:48:53 - Little Nightmares (PS4) |
Ok. So, I have beaten the game. A lot of my confusion about the inclusion of this game has been clarified. I was waiting for narrative splitting point. I was waiting for some point where I would say “oh what do I do? What’s the right decision?” To my knowledge, that never happened.
I have gone back and re played virtually every part of the game, trying to find a point where the narrative would branch, or where I could do something different. I was looking to take a different path. I tried to not eat at multiple intervals when the little girl was hungry, because the game gives a sense of anxiety to those moments. Despite that, there is no alternative. Nothing else around to eat, and not alternate events if you don’t eat, not even dying.
I checked for all of these things multiple times. I think this speaks to my inherent assumption that the question of ethical play is tied to player choice. So, I am going to set that aside for what is in this game the more pertinent, and frankly much more interesting morally compromising narrative.
The narrative was written, and is unchangeable, and I think that is totally fine. It was done without words or really much in the way even of instruction. In the beginning of the game the player’s goals are completely aligned with the little girl (apparently she is called ‘six’). For the rest of the game it stays primarily that way. By the end though, she starts getting bolder, going for goals the player might not. She even eats the little gnome people trying to help you. Of course, there was no other choice. At this point I certainly felt guilty, but it became clear that it wasn’t my story, it was hers. It’s about a child becoming more and more ravenous. Not a hero. When she reaches the end of the game and she fends off the matriarch, six grows hungry. You have to kill her. You have to eat her. It becomes evident that there is an element of cyclical storytelling. You rise from the bottom, but at what cost? You become your enemy. You commit the oppressive sins that she had before you. I wouldn’t say that six is a hero. Not by the end. She is not ethically in the right. She has been reduced to a power hungry animal, more than a child. She is driven by survival, not ethics.
I think it’s wonderful. I think that’s it’s not necessarily a new story, but it was a novel portrayal, and te end product was something I’ve never seen in a game. There is no question to me that the story can and should be told. The art should exist in all its forms. Without stories that push little boundaries like this one, I think that the world of entertainment and art would be all the lesser for it.
I have no problem with the subversion of expectations the player has with their protagonist, and if there is any argument against any of this game’s design decisions I would love for someone to show them to me, because I see none.
I loved this game. (and am buying the DLC.)
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