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

[CaitSeith]

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!!!"

Then you missed the part where it shoves "...and humans are like Nazis!!!" with concentration-camp-like robot disposal facilities.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

One problem I have with the game is these robots don't look like robots. first of all considering how expensive these things are why make them look like humans wouldn't it be cheaper to make them simpler. Also on a meta-level I think would make the audience see them as other and make you some what understand why these humans fear them.

 

[CaitSeith]

One problem I have with the game is these robots don't look like robots. first of all considering how expensive these things are why make them look like humans wouldn't it be cheaper to make them simpler. Also on a meta-level I think would make the audience see them as other and make you some what understand why these humans fear them.

According to the game, they were made to look identical to humans to avoid the uncanny valley effect from the consumers; if people feel at ease near the robots, more people will want one. On the meta-level, the point was for the audience to not see them as other, but as the same. They looked different only when hurt or dehumanized (like how they were forced to be skinless at the disposal center); and yet, those who do it most of the times are also dehumanized (by wearing face-covering full-body combat gear or being portrayed as insane or evil).

 

[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.

So you didn't get Conner to snipe Markus?

I didn't actually, but I don't really see how that is a fitting end to his arc. It just seems out of character for Conner to kill to me. He's an investigator, not an assassin, but both deviant and non-deviant paths seem to funnel him towards killing. I've seen two playthroughs and I'm not sure it's even possible to find what RA9 is or why androids are becoming deviant.

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.

You mean 'Kara', correct?

One problem I have with the game is these robots don't look like robots. first of all considering how expensive these things are why make them look like humans wouldn't it be cheaper to make them simpler. Also on a meta-level I think would make the audience see them as other and make you some what understand why these humans fear them.

Expensive? Androids are absurdly cheap! 8k for a slave that can do anything you can do only better that never gets tired or seems to run out of batteries. That's cheaper than a car and that's only the higher end models, apparently a Kara will run you only $899! At that price how can you afford not to buy an android?

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

One problem I have with the game is these robots don't look like robots. first of all considering how expensive these things are why make them look like humans wouldn't it be cheaper to make them simpler. Also on a meta-level I think would make the audience see them as other and make you some what understand why these humans fear them.

They aren't expensive. Todd is unemployed and basically broke and he's got 2.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I feel like another problem is that it's not a story about AI, it's a story about racism, and none too subtly at that. Ever since I read the book, Superintelligence I've realized how much potential there is with stories about AI and how little of it is actually used. They never seem to be able to make one with an intelligence that isn't just a human analogue aside from perhaps 2001. A true artificial intelligence could end up having goals and feelings akin to a Lovecraftian Old God and no one seems to explore this fact.

 

[CaitSeith]

One problem I have with the game is these robots don't look like robots. first of all considering how expensive these things are why make them look like humans wouldn't it be cheaper to make them simpler. Also on a meta-level I think would make the audience see them as other and make you some what understand why these humans fear them.

According to the game, they were made to look identical to humans to avoid the uncanny valley effect from the consumers; if people feel at ease near the robots, more people will want one. On the meta-level, the point was for the audience to not see them as other, but as the same. They looked different only when hurt or dehumanized (like how they were forced to be skinless at the disposal center); and yet, those who do it most of the times are also dehumanized (by wearing face-covering full-body combat gear or being portrayed as insane or evil).

I actually think it would be the other way around. The uncanny valley is where the closer something is to human, the more we notice and are affected by the subtle differences. So near human robots would be *more* creepier, not less.

Meanwhile humanity is perfectly fine projecting animalistic behavior onto even the vaguest machines. Like petting your roomba.

You forget that the uncanny valley has a far end: the point where something is pretty much indistinguishable from a human makes it stop being creepy.

 

[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!!!"

Then you missed the part where it shoves "...and humans are like Nazis!!!" with concentration-camp-like robot disposal facilities.

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!!!"

Then you missed the part where it shoves "...and humans are like Nazis!!!" with concentration-camp-like robot disposal facilities.

I think I'll just replay "Thomas Was Alone" for the 3rd time and leave you with one word: EMOTIONS

and also 2 extra words: LAZY EDITS

 

[Drathnoxis]

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.