I wish Detroit: Become Human had a different, better story.

[Drathnoxis]

Probably spoilers.

Just Hank and Conner solving crimes would have been an amazing game. No deviants, no hamfisted slavery analogies, no dumb plot twists about who has actually been an android the whole time, no choice based gameplay devoid of any actual choices, just good police work.

Hank and Conner were the only good part of the game. The Markus storyline is dumb and completely filled with holes, Kara's story loses all its emotional weight once the plot twist hits at the end, and Conner's entire personality changes once he leaves the police station. But the Hank/Conner duo were so good I've had dreams about it.

Conner's plot is what was in the demo, it seems the most important for most of the game, and then it gets completely sidelined and abandoned for Markus at the end. We never even uncovered why androids were going deviant. It kind of feels like a bait and switch.

There was the potential for a good game in there, but it was all squandered.

 

[Drathnoxis]

New use for double post.

My theory for the creation of the deviants is that it actually is a virus, created by the Russians to cause disorder to force America out of the polar conflict. It spreads like a virus, Markus can transfer it by touch or through their WiFi links later on. They all have the irresistible urge to scribble RA9 anywhere they can without understanding why or what it means. The game tries to portray this as some kind of upstart android religion, but there is never a point where androids tell each other of RA9, they all simply become deviant and then know of it spontaneously and even scribble it onto the walls of people trying to help them. The 'freed' androids' will always coincides with Markus' goals, never once does he 'free' an android and have it refuse to obey him. This says to me that the deviants never actually had free will and are still under the direction of another more subtle program that makes them believe they have free will while actually forwarding the goals of an unknown party.

Of course some news at the end suggests that the Russian androids are undergoing a similar mishap due to their absence from the polar front so perhaps it's Kamski's doing. I believe Markus was a gift from Kamski to Carl, so it would fit, but I'm not sure what his motives would be. Maybe he's just a troll basically, sowing chaos for the sake of it. His behavior towards Conner and Hank somewhat indicates that.

Although this would undermine the emotional payload the entire game is carrying, it seems the most plausible explanation for the supposed accidental deviants somehow becoming identical to humans without being designed as such.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Yeah, but that would require David Cage to be a good writer and director, which he is not.

 

[meiam]

Haven't played it, but I feel like a lot of game suffer from the same problem, they have an interesting concept/gameplay/story hook but they feel like it wouldn't be interesting without a big theme or overacting plot, so they force one in and it ruin the game. Part of me wish they were more confidant but at the same time I would't be surprised if they were right and game really needed the big plot to sell well.

I just re watch an LA noir play trough, in part of the game you have to solve homicide case, most of them end with you having to decide who the culprit is amongst different person, using all the evidence you were able to gather up to that point. But in the end none of that matters cause they were all innocent because they wanted to have an overarching serial killer plot.

Hell even game like mass effect, did it really need to have the reaper, I would have been very happy just playing as Shepard the specter trying to solve problem in the galaxy, didn't need an end of the world plot.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Choice based gameplay devoid of any actual choices? You can say a lot about this game, but the choice based gameplay was one of the things it actually did well. There were consequences and it didn't just feel like a 'Good/Bad' karma system.

 

[jademunky]

An actual story about exactly how an AI became aware and the steps and stumbles it makes on that journey would've been better but I doubt Quantic Dream is capable of writing a story like that.

I did not play it to the end but everything i saw felt clumsy and expository. Like watching a christian film at my religious relatives house as a kid, The director does not trust the audience and needs to shove the metaphor right into our faces "Do you get it yet, the robots are like slaves!!!"

 

[DarthCoercis]

Some non- qte and dialogue tree "gameplay" would have been nice too.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

love sci-fi and exploration of AI progression in fiction a lot. but quantic Cage is not capable, nowhere even close enough. it's baby's first sci-fi, except the baby might have autism because the people and dialogue all seem like learnt behaviour from decades of trite movies instead of actual people being observed in their natural habitat. am willing to cut the guy some slack if that is the case though, but can't pretend the experience is anything other than hair-wrenchingly awful and a waste of talented graphic and sound design pixies. would've loved a properly thought out and well-written version, but that would require a wee little change of management

Spoiler: emblematic clippet from the game

 

[Drathnoxis]

Choice based gameplay devoid of any actual choices? You can say a lot about this game, but the choice based gameplay was one of the things it actually did well. There were consequences and it didn't just feel like a 'Good/Bad' karma system.

Like 95% of the game is exactly the same, even if you make your choices exactly opposite. The difference between friend Hank and hostile Hank is roughly 5 sentences. It'll let you change the very very end, but nothing before that will be affected by your choices.

 

[Marik2]

emotions

 

[Leg End]

Yeah, but that would require David Cage to be a good writer and director, which he is not.

Ninja'd the whole thread. He somehow managed to take a great concept and fuck it in the ass. I think he might be a great idea guy, but the execution must be handed off to someone else to actually be great.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Choice based gameplay devoid of any actual choices? You can say a lot about this game, but the choice based gameplay was one of the things it actually did well. There were consequences and it didn't just feel like a 'Good/Bad' karma system.

Like 95% of the game is exactly the same, even if you make your choices exactly opposite. The difference between friend Hank and hostile Hank is roughly 5 sentences. It'll let you change the very very end, but nothing before that will be affected by your choices.

Yeah, you're right. And yet the game still gives a better sense of choice then most other games.

 

[jademunky]

Ok, this thread inspired me to replay Detroit: Become Human (for 10 minutes) and can I just say how hilariously appropriate it is that I cannot tell the difference between the human and android characters? Like David Cage is kinda sorta aware of his problem?

 

[Dalisclock]

An actual story about exactly how an AI became aware and the steps and stumbles it makes on that journey would've been better but I doubt Quantic Dream is capable of writing a story like that.

I did not play it to the end but everything i saw felt clumsy and expository. Like watching a christian film at my religious relatives house as a kid, The director does not trust the audience and needs to shove the metaphor right into our faces "Do you get it yet, the robots are like slaves!!!"

But if he didn't do that, you wouldn't understand the EMOTIONS that ROBOTS ARE PEOPLES!

 

[Casual Shinji]

Ok, this thread inspired me to replay Detroit: Become Human (for 10 minutes) and can I just say how hilariously appropriate it is that I cannot tell the difference between the human and android characters? Like David Cage is kinda sorta aware of his problem?

It's easy to understand; the racist ones are the humans.. and also Lance Henriksen.

 

[jademunky]

An actual story about exactly how an AI became aware and the steps and stumbles it makes on that journey would've been better but I doubt Quantic Dream is capable of writing a story like that.

I did not play it to the end but everything i saw felt clumsy and expository. Like watching a christian film at my religious relatives house as a kid, The director does not trust the audience and needs to shove the metaphor right into our faces "Do you get it yet, the robots are like slaves!!!"

But if he didn't do that, you wouldn't understand the EMOTIONS that ROBOTS ARE PEOPLES!

But how many EMOTIONS is PEOPLE?

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I feel the same way about Soma. They had an amazing and fantastic horror game going for them, the robot near the start that's on the conveyor belts was super creepy. What if your mind ended up inside some robot and either your mind can't comprehend this or the thing that put you in the robot isn't letting your realize it.

That is super creepy Lovecraft stuff, but they instead went down a clinical expose about what AI are and I HATE that they didn't go with the horror route because once they get to the mid point it lost all its weight with me and I lost interest.

 

[Squilookle]

I kinda feel that way about any story that shoehorns in a whole other genre for the hell of it. I reckon Game of Thrones would have been better if they skipped the White Walker zombie thing entirely- the scheming to take the throne was enough to carry the story.

 

[CaitSeith]

Probably spoilers.

Just Hank and Conner solving crimes would have been an amazing game. No deviants, no hamfisted slavery analogies, no dumb plot twists about who has actually been an android the whole time, no choice based gameplay devoid of any actual choices, just good police work.

Hank and Conner were the only good part of the game. The Markus storyline is dumb and completely filled with holes, Kara's story loses all its emotional weight once the plot twist hits at the end, and Conner's entire personality changes once he leaves the police station. But the Hank/Conner duo were so good I've had dreams about it.

Conner's plot is what was in the demo, it seems the most important for most of the game, and then it gets completely sidelined and abandoned for Markus at the end. We never even uncovered why androids were going deviant. It kind of feels like a bait and switch.

There was the potential for a good game in there, but it was all squandered.

So you didn't get Conner to snipe Markus?

 

[CaitSeith]

It was an ok game. The funny thing is that you miss some of the most "thrilling" parts (like Connor pursuing Sara, having Sara recover her erased memories little by little or Alice shooting her dad) if you didn't fail some of the challenges.