The Totally Hipster Elements in inFamous: Second Son

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

The Totally Hipster Elements in inFamous: Second Son

Second Son introduced what might be the first actual element in the ever-growing list of "elemental powers" in Neon. As Noble Gases go, it is one of the best.

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[gyrobot_v1legacy]

Technically with the neon/video/concrete/smoke powers it was a way to show how the basic elemental powers have mutated, Video is the Green Lantern powers except it uses static manipulation, so it is like Cole's electric powers but manifested to a different form. Concrete was the regular Earth power but seen as something used in an urban environment

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

Some of the attacking powers are indeed very similar, but saying they're close is totally different than saying they're the same.

Each R2 is the 'gun' but one is semi auto, another full auto, sniper, etc. Melee powers match up better or worse against certain bad guys because of swing speed variance and stunning ability (Trying to smoke whip a biggie is just going to get you killed). While the first two powers both have grenades as the special, video is invisibility (the key component to playing that power) and concrete is extra mobility. Even the traversal powers change how you run around the city - video prefers rooftops and open air, smoke is helped by close buildings, concrete is best when barreling down a street, while neon is pretty overpowered - the only place it doesn't excel at is falling off buildings in open areas. Certain powers are much better in certain missions, too. Neon is pretty vital for chasing down spies, as the time-slow helps pick off the target, and has an infinite-running upgrade.

 

[Something Amyss]

This article makes me think tangential thoughts:

-How long until someone modifies the game to include "poo" as a power? Because I want to see those YouTube videos. And the PS4's now a standard (if stripped down) computer, so it has to be easier to mod than the PS3, right?

-What would Infamous' Captain Planet look like with these elements? And will we see something akin to that in that supposed Captain Planet movie upcoming?

-If Infamous is all "Hipster," does that mean the hoodies and vandalism are "ironic?"

"Oh yeah, I save the world...Ironically."

Holy crap, this may be the closest we ever get to an Aberrant video game!

Maybe the Conduits don't actually get a power based on an actual element, but rather subconsciously convert their power into a form that they have an affinity with (Eugene spent a lot of time with TVs and computers, Fetch lived on the street and probably spent a lot of time under neon signs, etc). That's already way more interesting than just ripping off X-Men some more.

Oddly enough, that's the impression I got from the ZP video, though Yahtzee went a different way with it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Lightning worked so well as a power, not only because it's a classic "untamed element", but because the gameworld was designed in a way that accentuated it.

Everything in our society already runs on electricity, so renewable energy is all around you. Zapping anything metal would grant you a nice spectacle of arcing electricity (if you're an 80's child this is especially satisfying). Empire City and New Marais are surrounded by water, creating a believable open-world barrier as you would electrocute yourself otherwise. In Second Son, when you jump in the water you just float there immobilized like an idiot till you press the 'warp to shore' button.

As soon as lightning got taken out of this series, most if not all of the foundation that propped the gameworld of the previous games up fell apart. I was already afraid of this when I saw the very first footage of Second Son, but I trusted Sucker Punch to find a way around this. Which they obviously didn't.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Nothing is truly elementary if you can boil down to the elements that compose it. Water isn't an element, it's a combination of elements - two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. Fire isn't even a thing, it's a process of oxidation wherein an oxidant (i.e. oxygen but not necessarily) and a fuel (which can be so many things) combine to release heat.

 

[mjharper]

You know, I think there might already be a cartoon that sort of fits this kind of superpower: Darker than Black. Okay, it's an anime rather than a 'cartoon', but every 'Contractor' in that has one very specific ability, and one very specific price that has to be paid after using it (almost like a Freudian compulsion, like binge eating or laying out coins in a particular pattern)... It makes for some pretty interesting dynamics...

 

[Thanatos2k]

It's best to not think about these elemental powers too long, even the classic ones, or you start to notice things.

For example, the traditional "water" user usually has the ability to spray water around. But that really has little to do with the water itself - isn't that just telekinesis? Also they can usually use the water to heal people......when did water ever heal anyone?

Fire users sort of make sense - they can move heat around and the heat just causes things to catch on fire so it looks like they're moving fire. Cool. But then shouldn't fire users also have ice powers? It's just moving the heat out instead of moving it in after all. Shouldn't every time we see someone in a game cast an ice spell, simultaneously a cloud of steam should burst out? The heat had to go somewhere!

Lightning makes little sense. Even if you could charge up yourself to fire lightning out, electricity travels to the lowest potential difference, and that's not going to be someone 50 feet away even if they're holding a golf club. So are lightning users able to somehow change the potential difference of distant objects?

The light element is another one which often is used for healing. How does light heal anything either? How does blinding you with-ah fuck it.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Reminds me of those ppl that overdress to hide how mundane their personslity is.
These developers should have taken note of that 360 launch title by RARE, whos name eludes me. But you were a fairy that could transform into about 12 different elemental monsters with great variety. *sigh* i feel all depressed suddenly. Wierd

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Reminds me of those ppl that overdress to hide how mundane their personslity is.
These developers should have taken note of that 360 launch title by RARE, whos name eludes me. But you were a fairy that could transform into about 12 different elemental monsters with great variety. *sigh* i feel all depressed suddenly. Wierd

 

[Zombie Badger]

Reminds me of those ppl that overdress to hide how mundane their personslity is.
These developers should have taken note of that 360 launch title by RARE, whos name eludes me. But you were a fairy that could transform into about 12 different elemental monsters with great variety. *sigh* i feel all depressed suddenly. Wierd

Kameo: Elements of Power?

Fire isn't even a thing, it's a process of oxidation wherein an oxidant (i.e. oxygen but not necessarily) and a fuel (which can be so many things) combine to release heat.

Technically, while the process would be oxidation, the visible fire would be a plasma (ionised gas). Not that I think the developers knew that. If we're going to have any actual elemental power I'd want Fluorine so I could just melt and burn everything in front of me.

 

[Banzaiman]

Nothing is truly elementary if you can boil down to the elements that compose it. Water isn't an element, it's a combination of elements - two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. Fire isn't even a thing, it's a process of oxidation wherein an oxidant (i.e. oxygen but not necessarily) and a fuel (which can be so many things) combine to release heat.

To be fair, Yahtzee did mention that at the beginning of the article. Of all the 'elements' touched on by Sucker Punch so far, Neon is the only literal element. But the way we're using the term goes back to the kind of thinking the ancient Greeks had.

It's best to not think about these elemental powers too long, even the classic ones, or you start to notice things.

Challenge accepted. Let's see how much bullshit I can think of...

For example, the traditional "water" user usually has the ability to spray water around. But that really has little to do with the water itself - isn't that just telekinesis? Also they can usually use the water to heal people......when did water ever heal anyone?

Well, if you're going to go that way, then you may as well as say that all elemental powers area just different ways of applying telekinesis. What does the ability to move rocks have anything to do with earth beyond what's affected? As for the healing thing, well, water is symbolic of life. We're mostly water, after all. Yeah, that's definitely it. Absolutely.

Fire users sort of make sense - they can move heat around and the heat just causes things to catch on fire so it looks like they're moving fire. Cool. But then shouldn't fire users also have ice powers? It's just moving the heat out instead of moving it in after all. Shouldn't every time we see someone in a game cast an ice spell, simultaneously a cloud of steam should burst out? The heat had to go somewhere!

More like moving energy itself. Perhaps pyrokinesis or whatever you want to call it is about concentrating energy in a certain spot rather than dispersing it from a certain spot? As for the steam thing, steam and ice are just two different forms of water, aren't they? Maybe it's moving all that water into a certain place, then sucking all the energy out of it.

Right, I have no bullshit defense for this one. You're right about lowest potential difference, and the current tends to want to go down to the ground. But actually, if electrokinesis was about changing the potential difference of certain specific objects, then that would make a lot more sense, as the target would act like an attractor to all that electricity. But then it should be getting sparked by other sources of electricity.

The light element is another one which often is used for healing. How does light heal anything either? How does blinding you with-ah fuck it.

I give up. Light isn't physical, so beyond burning out all the cones and cylinders in your eyes it can't actually hurt you. Well, maybe burn you if it gets intense enough, but that's just because of the amount of energy and it starts getting into fire territory. The healing thing could also be symbolic - light breeds life - but whatever.

 

[Evonisia]

Even the classic elements don't really make any sense. Lightning is just energy, fire is the way heat is produced because X and Y got together and water is a compound of other elements. Maybe InFamous: Second Son was trying to portray the powers moving onto the next stage? Granted in terms of gameplay this doesn't change anything but the colour of the particles but still.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

i cant see a delete option for this accidental double post, so here's an edit. Damn testy phone!

 

[Callate]

Actually, though I think it was intended as a joke, "kill someone with inert gas asphyxiation, as long as they've been sitting still for a while" doesn't sound half bad. It could make for a pretty good stealth kill method- quiet, visually inobtrustive, and leaving no overt signs of the cause of death.

 

[Thanatos2k]

More like moving energy itself. Perhaps pyrokinesis or whatever you want to call it is about concentrating energy in a certain spot rather than dispersing it from a certain spot? As for the steam thing, steam and ice are just two different forms of water, aren't they? Maybe it's moving all that water into a certain place, then sucking all the energy out of it.

Yes, but the energy (heat energy) you suck out has to go somewhere! Either dispersed to the general area (you'd see the heat distortion in the air), in steam, or nearby things should be catching on fire! I want to see a game where casting an ice spell causes a ring on the ground around the target to catch on fire.

Right, I have no bullshit defense for this one. You're right about lowest potential difference, and the current tends to want to go down to the ground. But actually, if electrokinesis was about changing the potential difference of certain specific objects, then that would make a lot more sense, as the target would act like an attractor to all that electricity. But then it should be getting sparked by other sources of electricity.

Let's not forget that lightning and the energy contained within it pretty much travel at the speed of light. There is no dodging it. There is no "throwing" electric energy and waiting for it to hit the target.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

.. but you can't get away from a sink, a toilet and a bath.

Hmm... sounds like a new plot device for Bioshock Infinite 2: Infinity Plus One.

"There's always a sink, a toilet, and a bath."

 

[Aardvaarkman]

Nothing is truly elementary if you can boil down to the elements that compose it. Water isn't an element, it's a combination of elements - two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. Fire isn't even a thing, it's a process of oxidation wherein an oxidant (i.e. oxygen but not necessarily) and a fuel (which can be so many things) combine to release heat.

I'm pretty sure that Yahtzee commented on this in the article.

But anyway, the game itself doesn't even refer to them as "elemental" powers does it? That seems to be something that people are projecting onto it. There is the pre-scientific theory of the "elements" which seems applicable, they were usually seen as Earth, Air, Fire and Water, none of which are defined as elements in modern practice:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element

Although, when talking about Earth, Wind and Fire, I suppose that Disco should be the fourth elemental power.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

I give up. Light isn't physical...

Wait, since when was light not physical?

If you can prove this to physicists, you would definitely win the Nobel Prize for this discovery which goes against everything science has discovered about light and its physical properties.