surgeworks

This is as close to a perfect game as I've played in some time. But after I did some searching, I realized the areas where this game could've been improved.

• Hank is an infuriating character because he has neither redeeming qualities nor interesting character traits. He's violent and rude every single encounter with him, and by the time you meet him again after the game start, he becomes the third character after Fetch and Eugene to lead you on a huge chase simply because they won't stop and listen to what you're saying, continuing an aggravating trend. Then when you get the opportunity to work with him, he's condescending and rude and has the nerve to say that Delsin is acting irrational and that he won't help if he doesn't shut up and "calm down".
  • Putting to one side his disastrous long-term effects, what's sad about the plot the false "plan" he concocts to get Delsin into Augustine's hands is that it actually could've worked. The end of Quid Pro Quo sees Delsin kicking the shit out of Augustine by himself. Since Fetch and Eugene really were captured and on that island, which could've just been another lie, the four of them could've teamed up and absolutely wrecked her shit. But no.
  • Getting back to Reggie's ultimate death due to his caving, this leads to the choice of whether to kill or spare him. Since he's been nothing but a pain in the ass up until causing the death of a lovable character, killing him had to be the hardest temptation to resist since killing Ryuji in Persona 3. Adding in his hostage daughter doesn't really move me, because Hank clearly didn't care enough about her to not get himself thrown in prison another eleven fucking times.
• Reggie is unfortunately a little frustrating at times too. I do like him, but he represents a lot of the game's enemy characters while still being on the hero's side--he's a cop, and a normal person, dragged into anti-Conduit thinking and continuing by that logic even when his brother is revealed to be one. He's good for looking out for Delsin and being willing to defy the government and Augustine for it...but he's also way too easy to compare to the homophobic older brother who wants his younger brother to not be "diseased" given how he treats Delsin, Fetch, and Eugene--even saying the latter should be in a cage. Not a cell, a cage. He does get better at the end, of course, right in time to die, and that's why he's still lovable.
  
  • That said, he can also be kind of an idiot. Delsin is clearly the smarter brother here by a long shot when this dude comes up with such lovely plans as "let's just go through the scanners. Maybe they'll make an exception for a 'special conduit' like you :)" which naturally ends with a lot of guns and "regulated lethal force" pointed Delsin's way. When Delsin gains video powers but can't use any, he thinks they can just go back home because Delsin's "cured" now. Never mind his super strength, durability, stamina and healing factor, nevermind that the fact he can absorb core relays means he still has his Conduit powers, and nevermind the fact that not having his powers wouldn't mean the DUP would just let him go and not consider him a Conduit or a threat anymore....nah, they can just go back to the Akomish longhouse to watch everyone slowly die, right?
• Augustine herself falls into the "morally complex" anti-villain trope of good goals, bad methods by design. But, that design is flawed. Even assuming "I have never had a Conduit killed under my watch, even if I locked them all up in inhumane conditions, tortured them, and experimented on them until a lot of them went insane" were a justifiable position...there's that part at the beginning of the game where you go to a hand scanner and yes, they do say "lethal force authorized". The bigoted DUP officer Hank is trying to deal with at the end of the game outright says that every one of the thousands of men there enlisted to capture and kill Conduits like him. So Augustine just becomes an out-and-out villain again, just a lying one.

The Evil Karma Run is...........weird. Delsin in an Infamous run becomes spiteful and sadistic, gleefully cruel and killing anyone in his way. Don't get me wrong, if I've seen one paragon/renegade-style "decency vs. efficiency, goodness vs. pragmatism" system, I've seen them all, so it's kind of refreshing for this game's good-evil system to literally mean "Delsin, but Evil". But for the narrative in this game, centered around oppression of a minority people and starring a Native American man, the goodness vs. pragmatism angle was probably the one they should've chosen. Especially because Delsin, by default, just gives off the vibe of a very kind person. He doesn't seem like a thug so much as a harmless delinquent given his only criminal record is "petty vandalism" (tagging) and "resisting arrest" (Reggie having to chase him), and his childish enjoyment of exploring his powers and wanting to be a hero.

• Worse still, there were perfect opportunities in Fetch and Eugene. These two by default start off pretty corrupt already--Fetch talking about the fuzzy jolt she gets from murdering drug dealers, and Eugene relishing the joy of punishing bigots and bullies. Redemption involves talking them down from their worst traits and corruption just involves allowing them to sink deeper into them. In an Evil Run, Delsin makes the point that the Lifeline activists' bigotry and hate are doing just as much damage as drug dealers, just to a specific target. But rather than continue that tract to make a decent case that they should be dissolved or killed because the world would be better for it and less children might be ripped from homes for it, his talks with Fetch simply give off the vibe that they enjoy hurting people who happen to be assholes because they just like it, and maybe because they personally would benefit from it. The same goes for Eugene, who if anything is cruel and murderous enough to give Delsin pause only for the latter to just encourage those tendencies. The Akurans are bigots too, and need their heads knocked in, but hearing him say "you need to kill as many people as possible" in any context is scary.
• Reggie is also rather silent on the cruelty displayed, which is weird. If more time had been spent on pushing for efficiency and pragmatism as the Infamous route rather than just wanton murder, you could've had some interesting talks with Reggie regarding how many people have been hurt as Delsin fights the D.U.P. Here, I'll show you some.

"Delsin, there's blood on your hands. It's no use lying, I know you've been hurting people that aren't D.U.P."

[ "They were in the way" ] [ "They were guilty too." ]

Option A has Delsin yell at Reggie that he didn't have time to make things clean and pretty.

"What the hell do you want me to say, man?! Yeah, I know, people got hurt. Some of 'em died. You think I like that?! That I enjoy it?! They ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I wasn't just gonna let the Dupes pump me full of bullets because someone got in the way!"

Option B has Delsin coldly declare that the people he hurt were complicit and thus deserved to die.

"Yeah, you're fuckin' right I did. I know what the hell I'm doing. I see them every day, on every street. Just sitting around while the D.U.P. pick people off, holding up their picket signs and doing nothing while people are dragged away screaming. The ones that ain't helping the Dupes out let this shit happen because they feel the same way, it just makes them feel better not to do it themselves. I ain't gonna let them get away with it."

Option A and B would both happen on an Evil Karma run, but A would allow you to deduct a lot of points and jump back towards the side of good because Delsin genuinely didn't want people hurt, while B would push him further into evil territory because even if he thinks it's justice, he's still committing wanton slaughter and acting as the executioner.

Of course, perhaps it's better that they didn't do it this way. As an oppression narrative, Infamous Second Son is one of the best I've ever seen, openly depicting the worst that can and will happen if hatred and fear are allowed to rule, but portraying a pragmatic fight back against oppression as "evil" might not have gone over too well. Probably wouldn't have sat right with me now that I think about it. But then, the option of "neutral" or "zero karma" could also be used to fill pragmatism while evil karma was reserved for open spite.

I'm getting teary-eyed. I'm way too late to be experiencing this.

I'm playing Infamous Second Son for the first time, and I'm just....wow.

It feels exactly like a modern game, but it also doesn't feel like a modern game, ya know? After playing so many games that bear the hallmarks of AAA publishing and commercialism carved into their cores, it's just... It shows. It really fucking shows. After playing all of that, and coming across a game where real fucking love got put into it? That shows.

Troy Baker is speaking to me with his full display of authentic voice acting talent, and it helps that he's using his "Kanji" voice a la Persona 4. The controls for the free-running are smooth, and aren't determined to be so realistic that they're restrictive--I can jump around and mish-mash against the environment and do all sorts of not-designed-for-that shit, but the game doesn't break for it. It just feels like the real double-jumping from before. Delsin and Reggie had an argument, and instead of two people angrily speaking one after the other in nice clean turns like you'd see from Ubisoft or Bethesda, they're actually speaking over each other, at the same time, both trying to be heard--it sounds like a real fucking argument. And Delsin, oh Delsin...he's a joy. Already so very real and tangible, he sounds like what Kanji would be if Kanji enjoyed being a delinquent.

And the story? It actually starts when you start the game, rather than taking an hour or two to really officially start. So fucking refreshing!

The best way I know how to describe this game is that it's the best parts of DmC Devil May Cry and modern Assassin's Creed put together, with none of the weaknesses.