Before I started this class I honestly did not know what to expect. I love playing video games but I never really looked much deeper into them. Since I took this class I have a different interest when I am playing these games. I think about the characters, the plot, sound tracks, there are so many things I think about now while playing that I didn’t before. I now think that video games can be considered a form of literature or even a film just like a book or movie. They tell stories for our enjoyment which both movies and books to the exact same thing. I never knew there was so much to learn while playing these games. It is crazy for me to think that these games can make a serious impact on your actual life. While playing these games we had to make decisions that can affect these characters between life and death. When doing this we had to be quick on our feet to decide what we were going to do. Now whenever I have to make a serious decision I play some of the outcomes in my head before making my decisions.

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My favorite thing about this class was that is was able to give me a chance to dive into a different realm of games that I never even thought about before. I normally was a big sports guy playing Madden, NBA, and MLB but I realized while playing all of these different games that they are just as enjoyable as the sports ones I play. These games have a different purpose to them in my opinion compared to sports games. When I play a sports game I am fully competitive to beat my opponent in whatever we are playing. It is very different when playing a game like The Walking Dead where you have to make split decisions that can determine a characters fate.

In my opinion, my relationship towards all the games I play has changed because of this class. Although I loved them before and I still love them now, I think that I am going to be a lot harder to please now that I know a lot more about games in general.  When I used to play it didn’t matter what it was I enjoyed it pretty much no matter what, now that I know what can make a game good versus bad it is going to change my thought process on how the game is.

If I am being honest I am not sure what the next game is that I am going to play. I do still really love to play sports games so I might just wait until the next MLB game comes out to play that but I am not too sure. There was also a fairly new call of duty that came out which looks very enjoyable so I might try that.

Overall, I did really enjoy playing so many of these games that provided me with so many different feelings. Although I was horrible at a few of them it was still great to get some new experiences. I think it was great we were able to have serious conversations and talk about how we felt about a certain game or scene. Hopefully everybody who takes this class in the future experiences the same feelings I did.

Chrono trigger was one of the most interesting introductions to a game I have ever had. It started out extremely difficult and I honestly had no idea what I was doing. It seems that the game has such an old feel from the beginning that is why it made it even more difficult. This was the first game I have played ever that I actually had no idea what I was doing and it seemed there was nothing I could do about it. Games nowadays will guide you in the right direction but not Chrono Trigger.

I think that Chrono Trigger is not too bad for a game that came out in 1995 but the graphics are probably the worst I have ever played with. I know that we are very lucky that in 2021 the game play and graphics are so good but it just shows how far video games have come since the 1990s. I would say my favorite part about the game is the soundtrack. It is really interesting to see a game from so long ago still have a soundtrack.

Chrono Trigger although is very old honestly did meet my expectations and maybe even exceeded them. My favorite part of the gameplay was most definitely the trial scene. I had no clue that anything I did was going to have an impact on me. I had no clue an old game like this would even think to do something like that so it shocked me. After playing half of Chrono Trigger I am definitely interested to see where it is heading next.

Patrick O’Farrell

ENG 281

Professor Nyland

27 October 2021

Essay 1: Evaluation or Analysis Essay

The game I chose is NBA2K16. This is my all-time favorite game because it has a very realistic feel as well as being a professional basketball player. The story mode also known as my career is the best part of the game. In my career you create a player and design him however you want then you go through senior year of high school and get to make the choice of where you go to college. While making these decisions you also are having problems with your best friend Vic because he does not know what to do with his life. Once, you get to college you have to make decisions there that can impact your draft stock. After college, you get drafted into the NBA which can vary based on how you did in college. When you are finally in the NBA then you have very tough decisions to make. The biggest one is when Vic is asking for money to try to become a rapper. Your agent wants you to cut him out of your life but regardless of your decision Vic is going to end up holding you back mentally or physically. In the end, Vic ends up getting in a car accident and dying. Vic dying emotionally destroys your player because you are left thinking if you should have done more which can end up affecting your play on the court. Not only do you have to deal with your best friend Vic, but you also have a wife and parents to take care of so there is a lot on your plate. NBA2K16 created a very realistic feel using character’s emotions and the game taught us a lesson not to judge a book by its cover.

My career story mode gives you a look into what it is like to be a professional athlete. When we look at professional athletes, we only see their performance on the courts/fields but, they have struggles just as big as we do. The character development is great in this game because you get to develop from an 18-year-old high school student into a professional basketball player. While doing this get you get to see the path getting into the NBA and see your player mature into a man making life changing decisions. The thing I really like about my career is that while you are developing the other characters in the game are developing as well based off of the decisions you are making. Your friends and family both affect the development of your character which not only affects your morale but your play on the court and interaction with fans.

The game sends you a message that us as players can relate to more than anybody else which is that no matter how famous or wealthy you are things are not always perfect. When we see big time celebrities, we look at them as what we see on social media when in reality that is just an image of them that we see, that is not actually who they are as people. When you the player must make all these tough decisions it is very important that you think about how they can affect not only your character but the characters who you do not control as well. Not only do you have to take care of your close friends, but you also have a Mom, Dad, sister, and wife that are relying on you to make the right decisions for your family.

In the game there is some great dialogue which gives it a real feel to it. With all of the ups and downs for your player, you get to see the emotion that goes through him. Not only him but the other players that you do not control have the same type of emotions. In the game Vic wrote a letter before he died and said, “You got one life, a fragile life God can take this life whenever he sees fit so live and live plentiful.” This quote hits very deep for your character because Vic was thinking about this right before he died which just shows he already gave up before his car accident. This relates so much to real life especially now with all the mental health issues people face each day. There are issues that are bigger than other like Vic’s which ultimately lead to his death, but the quote is a great example of how we should live by. God is a greater being and at any point he sees fit he can take our lives from us, so Vic is saying live life to the fullest because you never know when your time is coming.

NBA2K16 was a great game because it had such a realistic feel. It was great because you got to feel the emotions of the players which made it even better. It sent us a message about how nothing is perfect for anybody, and we all have bad days but to make sure to keep pushing forward and not to give up.

References

NBA 2K16. (n.d.).https://www.2k.com/nba2k16/buy/.

Since the start of playing Bioshock infinite it has reminded me very much of the first Bioshock game. I feel that I like the first game a little more since it was new to me and I had never played anything like it before. Even though Infinite has many different aspects to it I still feel as if the first one was more intriguing to me. I am up to the halfway point in the game and it seems that it is going by a lot quicker for me because it is my second time playing something like this.

The games are quite different in many aspects except the main plot of the game where there is a leader and all the other characters follow the set leader. I really like how the setting is a town floating in the sky which is new and unique but I still liked rapture a little bit more. The overall gameplay feel is very similar to the first game just because it has the weapons and magic which causes the plot to be somewhat similar. I really like the add on of the shield because it most games you play nowadays whether it be fortunate or call of duty there is always armour or something you can put on for more protection to your health.

My experience playing BioShock was very interesting. I am not a big fan of these type of games because in my opinion they are just very unrealistic. I found myself quite interested in it considering I had never heard of it before. It was a big surprise to me because I am also horrible at gun games. The game intrigued me with all the different storylines and themes. When I found out Atlas and Fontaine were the same. It was very unexpected from the players point of view, and it was definitely a big surprise. My favorite game mechanism must be the fast pace. Whether it is being able to travel quickly or go back and forth between weapons and plasmid I feel like it made the game flow a lot better. Another thing, I truly liked about the game is that we were following somebodies lead the whole time and then we are curious if we trust them. The entire time we are listening to Atlas but then towards the end of the game Ryan basically tells us that we should not be listening to Atlas anymore because he was controlling the player.

I think that the game can have very different perspectives because we are not sure what to do about the little sisters and harvesting them. I wanted to harvest them, but I was not sure whether that would end up being very bad for me, so I let them be. The main part of the game that is the main mechanism is the fact that the characters all do whatever it takes for themselves. The splicers attack trying to get the Adam and the characters are all doing whatever they can for their survival. Overall, I did enjoy the game despite not being a fan of these types of games. I found it very interesting to play because it was probably the first time I had ever played a game like that.

Playing the walking dead overall was very interesting for me. I went into the game not knowing what to expect at all because I had never seen the show and I didn’t even know it was a video game. The only thing I assumed is that there would be a decent amount of death considering the word death is in the title. I was not a huge fan of the ending because it was such a tough decision. I had to choose Clementine to shoot Lee and it was very difficult for me to do. I felt like it was a huge plot twist to the ending despite me feeling bad for Clementine. It intrigued me that they would want such an important character to be killed off, but I guess that means it was a great ending because it was so unexpected. I personally do not think I would change anything because I feel like at the time, I was making the best decisions. It is easy to say I would do something different after you know the outcome so I do not think I would change anything.

If I had to pick somebody that affected my decisions the most I would 100% say Clementine. The game makes you favor Clementine in a different way than you would with anybody else. It is also helping that she is young so that helps with how we feel about her.

In the chapter it says, “In a game, a nonplayer character can make a joke that lightens the mood during a slog, provide assistance in the nick of time, even sacrifice himself so that players can carry on and win the day.” This is basically saying that non player characters can act completely different then the actual characters. This can put a complete turn on the game so that the players morales change.

Overall, I can say I really enjoyed playing The Walking Dead so far. As somebody who has never seen the show before I did not know what to expect. I think that it is safe to say I did expect a little bit of death from the title of the game but besides that I had no background knowledge. The game can change at any second just by one small decision made. My favorite character is Lee for sure. I like how we get his perspective on things. Lees entire past definitely makes me like him more. I think that I connected with him the most because I know the most about him compared to the other characters. It Is very difficult for me to make the decisions I need to because one choice can completely affect how the rest of the game is played.

I really agree with the Carly and Doug situation. I don’t think that Doug brought anything to the table. I also think I connected better with Carly compared to Doug so that is why I think that Carly is the better option in my opinion. To this point I feel like this has been a very fun game and it has gotten me very interested to the point I might watch the show.

While playing What Remains of Edith Finch, I learned a lot about what kind of games I truly enjoy. It was an interesting yet confusing game for me because it seemed like it just goes in a different direction every seen. I do not remember but in one level the girl is holding a sniper shooting a deer and then five seconds later a kid is swimming in a tub. It was just a lot for me honestly and I was getting a little lost.

My favorite part of the game was when Barbara’s level. I really liked how the story was being played through the comic. It is very crazy for me to think that we are playing a game that somebody is reading about a story. I liked how it was describing the killing of Barbara and was making me feel like it was a real situation.

Even though I was not a huge fan of the game I did really enjoy the fact that it was a thriller/horror type game. Despite how much the game went in different directions it was very unpredictable which was good at times. In most games you know what is coming next but in this one u had no clue. In the end the game wasn’t bad a little more directions definitely would have been better but I did enjoy parts of it.

In my opinion my favorite and best reviewer is MattPat. He has a very interesting channel called Game Theorists. His videos were very interesting to watch and I was thoroughly entertained. My favorite part of his videos is when he talked about Nintendo games. I used to play those when I was a little kid and I remember how much I enjoyed them.

My favorite thing about MattPats videos is how he brings different variations to describe video games. I would never expect somebody to bring science into describing video games but he did and it actually interested me. He is very good with telling stories and explaining what each game is about. Whenever I look at video games I now think about many different aspects of why the game was created and the purpose for each part of the game.