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JoshMarchand's Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC)
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| [January 18, 2018 08:21:10 PM]
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I 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.
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| [January 17, 2018 11:35:49 PM]
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Today 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?".
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| [January 16, 2018 09:19:44 PM]
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Today 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.
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JoshMarchand's Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Tuesday 16 January, 2018
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