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Nov 8th, 2018 at 21:40:41 - A Mortician's Tale (PC) |
A 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.
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Nov 7th, 2018 at 21:29:49 - A Mortician's Tale (PC) |
A 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.
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Nov 6th, 2018 at 19:13:38 - A Mortician's Tale (PC) |
A 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.
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Sep 27th, 2018 at 22:36:52 - Nier Automata (PC) |
Game 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.
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