Final Blog Post

Sid Meier's Pirates! - Download - Free GoG PC Games

This course has been one of the more fun courses I have taken in my time at the university. I wish I had more time to truly devote myself to what this course had to provide, but unfortunately I was juggling a lot of things on my plate both in school and in my personal life. Still I found this class to be a rewarding experience that opened my eyes to the multifaceted use of video games. Prior to this course I only viewed games as a form of entertainment and fun. Games are something I use to escape and find solace. I play games because they offer the comfort I never felt in the real world. This class showed me that games can also serve as useful tools for disseminating knowledge. Games like Civilization, Total War, Age of Empire and even Assassin’s Creed to a lesser degree all offer useful information. They present history in a format that is easily digestible and fun to experience. Video games can offer a visual conceptualization of the events from the past and provide a clearer understanding. Video games can also do harm to history as games that take liberties with the historical source material risk altering the minds of sensitive youth and uneducated people. People who have no experience with the actual history can view these games as being more factual than they actually are. This is dangerous because people will take this false knowledge into the real world and speak as if they know what they are talking about. In reality they have no idea. At the same time games provide people with some connection to the past. I enjoyed the course and think that more games should be released that have a historical context. If games were released that followed history accurately it would change the way the average child and even adult consume historical information. It is possible since there are many historical events and civilizations that would make for excellent games and provide a great experience.

Next Assassin's Creed Game set in the Philippines - What's ...

Battlefield 1 Blog Post

Battlefield 1 is a first person shooter that is know for its realistic approach to online multiplayer and game play. Many Battlefield fans praise the game for its historically accurate guns, locations, and game play. Many people who play Battlefield believe it to be superior to Call of Duty. Especially in recent years with Call of Duty venturing off into futuristic content before coming back with a bang with COD WWII. I personally hate first person shooters due to the repetitive nature of multiplayer modes and the lack of a definitive story. Many first person shooters contain campaigns that are rudimentary and short. I like to get lost in a game and that is hard to do when you feel no connection to the story or the game itself. For people who love guns, military ideals, and things of that nature games like Battlefield are perfect for them. The game looks very realistic and the locations and terrain are pretty close to accurate. Inaccuracies present themselves in the game play. The run and gun style of Battlefield was completely unrealistic compared to how fighting was done during that time. Many of the weapons just weren’t accurate enough. In addition, they were not easy to maneuver making it difficult for soldiers to run and gun, or even reload at a fast pace. These things the game take liberties in order to make the game play more action packed and suited for the typical FPS gamer. In my experience playing the game I did not enjoy it and found it incredibly frustrating. One surprise was the campaign as it was slightly more engaging than expected. This was due to the fact the game took multiple perspectives to tell individual stories of war. Still this was underwhelming and some of the stories seemed like they were based more in fantasy than actually historical facts.

Total War: Shogun 2

Total War: Shogun 2 is a turn based strategic war game that focuses on Japan. Specifically Shogun 2 focuses on the darkest age of Japanese history during the feudalistic period. This period otherwise know as the Sengoku jidai was a integral part of Japanese history. A nation once united under one government is now divided into warring clans. The game takes place during the middle of the sixteenth century and places the player right in the heart of the battle. In the game you control one of eleven historical clans. You play the role of a Daimyo. A Daimyo is a clan leader, with your clan you embark on a mission to reunite Japan under your clan’s banner through warfare, economic expansion, and diplomacy. The goal of the game being to build your clans kingdom and spread your power throughout Japan, eventually becoming the undisputed ruler of Japan and earning the title of Shogun. In the game the player has the choose of choosing between ten different factions. Each group equipped with unique geographical positions and perks based on the clans strengths and weaknesses. The factions include the Hattori, Takegawa, Oda, Mori, Shimazu, Takeda, Uesgui, Date, and the Chosokabe.

In my game play I chose the Tokugawa clan because from the readings in The Rise of The West the Tokugawa were the successful clan at the end of the feuding period between the warring clans. According to the readings The Tokugawa shogunate was focused on fortifying and strengthening the nation of Japan from within. Unlike the other shoguns of other tribes that focused on war, or expansion through trade with foreigners. It mentions that the Tokugawa shogunate was able to eliminate the the last remnants of independent military units and outlawed seafaring and shipbuilding. Initially I thought that because the Tokugawa were successful in real life that the game would mirror this and make them one of the more powerful factions in the game. In the game the Tokugawa are considered to be good at diplomacy which I thought would play a big part in uniting Japan under my rule. Unfortunately I would learn the hard way that the Tokugawa clan is one of the more difficult clans to play with as a beginner. One reason being the perks that are associated with the Tokugawa, like diplomacy and a special ninja class that does not really help in the game at all. Especially if you have no idea what you are doing like I did and still do. Your not particularly strong militarily, and although you may be able to develop relations with diplomacy it is hard. I often found myself falling behind the other clans. The fact that Shogun 2 includes siege type warfare and large scale battles did not help either as many clans had a more powerful military than me and more numbers. Even if I won a battle I was wide open to counter attacks and could not really stop them. It was frustrating and I found myself wanting to play Civilization due to the joy and familiarity I had with the game. Total War: 2 Shogun is a good game if you enjoy a serious challenge and a more graphically fulfilling experience. Personally I would rather play civilization than this, but I can see why people would like it. It also has some valid historical information and the clans are all unique and interesting.

I

Tropico V Blog Post

Tropico V was a fun and interesting game to play, once I got the hang of the controls. At the beginning of the game some minor differences between the controls of Tropic V and Sid Meir’s Civilization took some getting used to but eventually made sense. So far in this class, the best gaming experience I have had is with Sid Meir’s civilization. If I had to compare Tropico to Civilization I would say Tropico provides a more fun, immersive, role-playing experience. On the other hand, civilization provides a more structured, historically accurate, and strategy-driven game. Tropic was a pleasant surprise because it allowed me to customize my leaders, have heirs, expand my island colony and eventually declare my Independence. In all honesty, I did not do well in the game at the beginning due to my impatience and need to jump into the fire. I eventually lowered the economic and political difficulty which allowed for me to have an immersive experience driven by fun. This was necessary since early on the game was starting to get on my nerves, especially due to its weird camera controls. It made the game incredibly annoying to play on just a trackpad, but eventually, I got the hang of it and things started to work out. I appreciated the story aspect of Tropic V. Civilization provided historically accurate cultures and leaders but, including some storyline like Tropico V would take the game to another level. On the other hand, Tropic V follows a light story that relies on the completion of missions to further the plot. In Tropico V you progress thorough eras. In the beginning, you start off as a subject of the crown and progress through four different time periods. In my current progression in the game, I am inching closer to declaring my Independence from the crown. The crown represents Great Britain I assume. We are also introduced to a character named Leon Kane who represent the order a secret organization of the leaders of the world. I thought this particularly took was interesting. One thing I like about this more than Sid Meir’s civilization is the inability to view your reaction in 3D instead from a top-down view. I like being able to zoom in on my city and view my citizen move as the work. Seeing the island civilization I built from this point of view is extremely fun. I also enjoyed that Tropic occurs during the industrial revolution and continues on into modern times. This allows for the creation of interesting cities. Although Tropico never mentions Great Britain it implied that they are the county that sponsors your new colony in the beginning. This connects to what we covered in class and in the text. In class, we discussed how during this time the expansion of many cultures and culture was inflamed due to increasing transportation and trade. The world was becoming smaller due to the mechanical and technology advancements different cultures around the world were making. The use of an uninhabited island points to the territorial expansion that happened during the industrial period, where powerful nations were trying to spread their reach as far as possible through trade and other means. technological advancements are evident in the game as well. From the jump, your colonial is greeted by a steamboat that comes to collect taxes for the mother nation. This is even before building anything or establish science within your colony. The use of steamboats and other resources like mines produced coal and iron which served as the backbone for the beginning of the industrial revolution. To make a long story short I enjoyed playing this game and will continue to play even after this assignment.

BP 2 Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has become a household name due to the numerous quality games Ubisoft studios has released. Great gameplay, amazing world design, and a historically driven fantasy plot have made the game a permanent fixture in popular culture. The Assassin’s Creed franchise has even transcended the video game platform and appeared on the big screen. It makes sense that in a class focused on analyzing history through a gaming lens Assassin’s Creed would be apart of the course. In particular, this class chooses to analyze and play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. In this particular installment of the series, the game’s story is set in 431 BCE, recounting the secret history of the Peloponnesian War. This war was fought between the city-states of ancient Greece. The protagonist is a mercenary named either Alexios or Kassandra who can choose to fight for either Athens and the Delian League or Sparta and Peloponnesian League. The part of the story that takes place in modern day is played by Layla Hassan. Admittedly I did not play much of this part of the game other than in the very beginning when you first enter the Animus. Another thing that surprised me immediately upon playing the game is the fact that you could choose between two characters. I never knew this was possible and honestly, I thought it was cool. I choose Alexios because he seemed like the character the game was focused around. The first couple of missions were fun and provided a nice look at the world. There was one mission, in particular, that was a pain to complete. The goal of the mission was to steal an eye from the Cyclops. It took about five tries, but I finally completed it. I found it interesting that in the game Spartans are portrayed drastically different than their historical truth. In the game, they are tempered down a lot compared to how harsh and warrior driven their society was. The readings discuss to creation and development of the Greek civilization and society. I thought it was interesting looking at the world of Assassin’s Creed and how it compares to that of Ancient Greek architecture. The game was interesting and fun to play.

Gaming Blog Post 1

When the class first began it was understood that video games would play a large part in the learning process. On the other hand, it was not as obvious to me how playing famous games like Assassin’s Creed, Sid Meier’s Civilization, and Age of Empires would help create a more immersive understanding of history. Growing up it seemed like video games where the most unlikely vessel to disseminate actual historical information. They were enjoyable for a pass time but did not hold much with respect to historical content. I never realized games like Civilization contained historically accurate information that provides a quality idea of what happened at that time. Since Civilization was the first game we would be playing I was excited to get back into playing a nostalgic game. First thing I realized playing Civilization six is that every choice matters. For my first entry into the game, I decided to play on prince difficulty with barbarians enabled. I figured this would be the best way for me to start the Game. I picked Sumeria and within twenty turns, I was taken out. I thought Sumeria was one of the better civilizations to try as they provided certain advantages that would give me the upper hand at the beginning of the game.

After suffering such a humiliating defeat I decided to restart the game with a new civilization. This time I picked the Kongo and King Mvemba Nzinga since they provided a more all-around approach to the game. Deciding your civilization has a drastic effect on what you can achieve in your efforts towards victory. Although it may lack historical consistency in gameplay, the information provided for each civilization and their leaders is second to none. It is accurate and provides decent detail. It was also interesting how once we meet up in class we discussed some basic ideas like Marxism, Capitalism, and World-System Theory. It was important to briefly go over these systems and discuss some of the history as well as their founders. We also compared the Concepts and Forces that affect the game and how they accurately represent many of the things civilizations in the game and countries in modern times must manage and handle in order to maintain their place in the world. In the end, it was a very interesting first couple of weeks.