The Character That Made Me Love Days Gone (Spoilers)

happyninja42

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May 13, 2010
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Ok so, this is straight up me just gushing about why I enjoyed Days Gone so much. I'm not trying to convince anyone that didn't like it that they are wrong, if you didn't like it, you didn't like it. Opinions vary and I don't care. But I found myself incredibly surprised by the game, specifically the cast of characters, and the amount of nuance that a large number of them were given. Some were not developed much, as to be expected with a recurring roster of NPC's of around 20ish that you can frequently interact with. But even some of the vendor's were given a backstory if you listened long enough to them, and it made me just love the game for the effort it put into the story. But I do think it's a really damn good game, and it was surprisingly more enjoyable and engaging than myself or my wife expected it to be. So pre-spoiler, I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys the zombie survival/open world genre. An underappreciated gem in my opinion.

So, this thread is going to spoil the hell out of a particular character's story arc, and will touch on several other points as well, so if you don't want to be spoiled about a fairly significant subplot, stop reading now.

Ok, we good? Let's talk about my love affair with Skizzo.



Now, at first glance, Skizzo looks like if Vanilla Ice and Emenem, had a baby, and that baby grew up to have a kid with that Lonely Island: Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping character, and they dressed him in the most stereotypical "White guy trying to be a gangsta" wardrobe they could find. Everything about his mannerisms, his behavior, the way other characters react to him, his view on the main character, ALL scream for you to dislike this guy. But there is actually a lot of really interesting storytelling going on with him, that I think ultimately gets lost in the end of his arc.

But yeah, from second 1 on screen, you dislike this guy. He's in Iron Mike's camp (a guy who said he would shoot you on sight if you came back to his camp ever again, that's an important point), and Skizzo does NOT trust you. He knows of your connection with another camp leader who is known to be a run a forced labor camp, a camp you've brought people to over the years for personal gain (the reason Mike kicked you out). He distrusts you because your a Drifter, and they are not really well regarded in Days Gone society, a necessary evil at best really. And he doesn't like the idea of you coming into the camp with your friend, and everyone just being ok with it. Deacon immediately starts butting heads with him, to the point that they draw guns on each other, and Iron Mike has to quell the dispute. Iron Mike, for whatever reason, is apparently over his "I'll kill you if I see you again" stance, even though that being the only information you are given before going into the camp, it's odd to me to see him so opposite Skizzo. But, hey, Skizzo is a little thug wannabe right? So we don't like him, fuck that guy right? Iron Mike is a nice guy, a rugged Man's Man, he's siding with us against Skizzo, so clearly Skizzo is a badguy. Skizzo relents, even though his JOB is camp security, and he sees you (rightly I think) as a serious security risk. But Iron Mike is the boss, so he walks away. You then proceed to do random jobs for the camp, building trust, and progressing the plot. And then Skizzo returns to the story.

There are several missions that involve Skizzo either orchestrating the job, or in some way being instrumental to what's going on. And your gut reaction, every time (or at least mine at first), is to assume it's a trap. Because he's Skizzo! I mean look at that gangsta wannabe! Deacon even assumes it's a trap 95% of the time, but agrees to do the job, because the objective is important. It's either directly related to something that Deacon is trying to accomplish (several missions revolve around trying to find sufficient explosives to seal up a horde of Freaks in a cave system), or is related to a very real and immediate threat to the camp. EVERY time Skizzo has a valid, legitimate reason for the mission he's sending you on. And more often than not, Deacon agrees with the motivation. Iron Mike shuts down several of the missions, because the objective is in a dangerous location, for one reason or another. Deacon tries to convince Mike that it's too important to ignore, but Mike refuses. Then Skizzo shows up and is like "Hey, you want to get X? I agree, we should get X, because the Rippers are a threat, and Mike is crazy to think they aren't coming down on our heads no matter what." And this is a stance that Deacon 100% agrees with, but he still doesn't like it, because the suggestion came from Skizzo. But every time, Skizzo goes WITH Deacon, he directly puts himself in danger, to try and accomplish the goal. He's not the best at wilderness survival, but he's hardly a scrub, as anyone who survived that plague is at least somewhat competent. He frequently helps Deacon, saving his life on multiple occasions, while explaining his motivations for why he's doing what he's doing. Deacon, slowly begins to realize that while his first reaction is to distrust Skizzo on his appearance, he can't really argue with his logic for his motivations, because often they are the same motivations as his own.

So the experience for me, with every mission (often mirrored by Deacon clearly giving Skizzo shit, and not trusting the mission) was to assume "ok this is where Skizzo is going to betray me" but then actually looking back on what he's DONE, and asking myself "Ok why though? What has he actually done, that has been at all deceptive and traitorous towards Deacon? Nothing actually." He's gone behind Iron Mike's back with multiple missions, to obtain supplies needed to further a plan, a plan that Deacon started I might add. And if that counts him as traitorous, then so is Deacon, because he's right there with him, agreeing with the idea that "this needs to be done, Iron Mike is wrong, and as long as he doesn't learn about it, it's fine." This isn't unique to Skizzo mind you. As other members of Mike's crew frequently disregard his orders for the Greater Good, and even agree with Deacon/Skizzo's plans and look the other way, when they catch wind of it. So I can't really say he's untrustworthy based on that, because then I'd have to declare the entire support team for Deacon as equally traitorous. Skizzo isn't ever getting stuff for himself, he's getting stuff the camp needs to survive, and he puts his own life on the line to do it too.

I also asked myself if any other character had given these missions, would Deacon assume the worst? Hell would *I* assume the worst? And the answer for me anyway, is no. If Rikki Patil (another really good character) had been the NPC linked to these quests, I wouldn't even bat an eye about a betrayal. But aside from being initially suspicious of me (an opinion Iron Mike started with, and one that is well founded with actual evidence of Deacon's less than savory past), he's done nothing against me.


And then the betrayal happens. *sighs*

I'll be honest, right up until the end of his arc, with EVERY mission tied to him, I kept thinking the writers were leading me on with a massive red herring with Skizzo. The mood of the missions kept implying betrayal, but never delivered on it. And I was genuinely hoping they wouldn't do the obvious with him, and still wasn't sure, even in the mission where he sells you out. Because at one point, you get trapped in a room with Freaks, and they cut the camera to Skizzo's viewpoint, outside. Now, Deacon has no way to know anything about this moment, because he's cutoff from this information, it's purely for the player, as they are the only one who can actually see what happens. And what happens is Skizzo seems genuinely upset about getting separated from you, and even tries to get back inside to help you. Now again, Deacon has no way to know this information, so it's only there to establish for the player that Skizzo isn't trying to trap him in there. So AGAIN I'm thinking "ok this is still a genuine mission, like all the other genuine missions with Skizzo. I'm letting my preconceptions of Skizzo color my opinion of him, just like Deacon. Because as the player I'm supposed to take my emotional cues from the protagonist I'm playing." And then the writers have him turn out to actually betray Deacon to the Rippers, thus confirming all the assumptions and stereotypes about Skizzo, that they had done a masterful job subverting.

The rest of his arc is pretty boiler plate standard for the "sniveling asshole" character, and I won't go into it, as it just depresses me. For me, the Skizzo story ends with him betraying Deacon. And while the writers, in my opinion, royally shit the bed with how they ended Skizzo, I do appreciate how well they crafted his dialogue, and the actor who portrayed him, in a way that truly made it unclear which way Skizzo would go, until the end. That they presented you with a character that had all the visual markers of someone you are expected to dislike in our society, but then actually had his ACTIONS say a different story. I would've preferred for him to not be a traitor, and for it to be someone else, or just not have on, as frankly I don't think it was necessary given the way that storyarc was going. But it is what is it.

And that was just one character in the game. The rest of the supporting cast, the key players, all have really well developed stories, of varying levels of complexity. Some get less development than others, because their is just less screentime with them, but even with the small amount they are given, they sell it. You feel these people and their plight.

And that, is why the portrayal of Skizzo (along with a ton of other things), made me really love playing Days Gone.