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[Lord Error]

Honestly, the real answer is they had an idea of what a future metropolis should look like for the kind of story they wanted to tell and decided to call it Detroit to borrow American industrial relevance. I'd be very surprised if this game has anything relevant to say about Detroit, past, present, or future.

Basically it wants to be Shinola, only with androids.

Good point - although I think it's regardless cool to spot some of the current Detroit's landmarks in a futuristic game that doesn't show the city as an even bigger dump.

It might actually turn out to be a good thing if the game is as white as the trailer cause I'd hate to hear the type dialogue that David Cage would write for a black character.

I was going to say something along those lines, but Cage has been getting better. You can't say there wasn't a progress from the angry black dude in Heavy Rain to the character of Cole from Beyond.

 

[PapaEmeritus]

That title certainly isn't about the Lions, they are playing like robots as it is. :/

#myteamsucks

 

[yanipheonu]

Actually we've been so concentrated on his dubious writing that we forgot.

His gameplay ain't the most inspired either. I don't mean in a "QTE isn't gameplay" way. I mean that even the Choose Your own Adventure gameplay needs some work.

Beyond Two Souls was a big step backwards. Playing the story out of order killed any illusion of agency "well maybe my choice will matter late- oh wait, we already played a section taking place after this. So I guess my choice didn't really matter..."

At least Heavy Rain had the conceit of a murder mystery, even some dumbed down detective work. And to it's credit, Detroit (holy shit is writing the title out alone stupid) has a premise, your decisions will change the situation of the androids in that world. Presumably...

This is something Until Dawn did really well. More choices and branching paths. The totem system is a stroke of genius. Giving you hints at a desired outcome, so you're more informed when a decision comes up. And a clear indication that your choice affected an outcome.

Honestly, the games have just been playable movies, little to no agency to the player. The fact Beyond Two Souls was made into a movie was an eye raiser.

Not that there's anything wrong with a "playable movie", But you gotta spice things up with some better choices, and better design around the choices and QTE. Increase the illusion of agency, even if agency isn't possible in some cases.

Because I've played his games, but I'd never pay money to see a David Cage movie.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Well this shit is pretty.

 

[- J - D -]

I can't help but be interested in a new David Cage game despite myself, after having played all his previous ones, knowing how they'll play out. The moment-to-moment writing may be schlock, but the guy has tone and presentation down. And the premise to his games are always initially strong.

Why not. I wish the name wasn't so silly though.

 

[IAmRandom31]

The Order just got its competition for the next-gen visuals crown.

those models looked insane and the sheer amount of them on screen in the downtown shots was mind boggling.

I half want to say most of what we saw was pure CG, but I know better with QD.

I was personally really hoping they continued with Dark Sorcerer though. But I will take this in a heartbeat. Love the premise. I loved Ex-Machina as well, this is pretty much telling how it went when she got out as well.

 

[Khalifa Jayy]

That actually looked really good. I'll keep an eye on this one.

 

[Modest Mauser]

Quantic Dream is kinda depressing to me. It seems like such a waste to throw such a large budget and so much technology at David Cage's hack writing.

 

[Fury451]

I'm intrigued, but I haven't really gelled with any Quantic Dream game besides the opening parts of Farenheit so far, so this probably won't be for me either. Can't get past the awful story writing Cage puts out. Does look quite impressive though, and some design I'm really digging a lot.

It's been said, but yeah, that title....

 

[Audioboxer]

The Order just got its competition for the next-gen visuals crown.

those models looked insane and the sheer amount of them on screen in the downtown shots was mind boggling.

I half want to say most of what we saw was pure CG, but I know better with QD.

The trailer says uses the in-game engine, but that doesn't mean it isn't touched up/cutscene esque visuals.

 

[Betty]

A story angle that has been used many times in movies and other media, what's your point?

My point is her character is horrifically written, like the rest of the people in the game, but she in particular is made to look really idiotic and unquestioning throughout, it's really annoying because it's really, really, really unrealistic.

 

[Timeaisis]

What a title.

 

[-Amon-]

Kara: the game.

I'm in, day one.

 

[zeopower6]

The game looks amazing. But the title.. oy.

 

[SuperStiltzkin]

Pretty much. He's nowhere near one of the great gaming writers, but he's one of the few that seems to either have to be absolutely amazing, or downright totally shit. Most who don't do scales in black or white will see he handles some things reasonably well, other things not so well, and all round is just an average game writer. The types of games he keeps making though fill a part of the industry that some have come to enjoy (choose your own adventure), so there is a market for the games even with flawed story telling.

I will say he does himself no favours with the way he presents himself, but eh, a little charisma doesn't hurt at times. We all know his emotions shtick well by now.

There's a market for his types of games, clearly. But that doesn't mean people don't have a right to demand quality for this genre of game. I'm not talking graphical or technical quality, but writing quality. You think Transformers movies should be scoring 100% on rotten tomatoes for being exactly the kind of movie you expect from Michael Bay? There's a reason why Until Dawn gets praise while David Cage gets criticism just like there's a reason people praise Mad Max and criticize Transformers.

 

[BadWolf]

My point is her character is horrifically written, like the rest of the people in the game, but she in particular is made to look really idiotic and unquestioning throughout, it's really annoying because it's really, really, really unrealistic.

Okay, you didn't like her.

 

[GarciaHotspur]

Quantic Dream is kinda depressing to me. It seems like such a waste to throw such a large budget and so much technology at David Cage's hack writing.

Judge the writing of a game on a trailer.. ok

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Oh damn big surprise for me.

Really pleased, was always interested to see QD do a sci-fi game.

 

[A-V-B]

In an attempt to find out what to call this game without sounding weird, I've concluded that we should call it DBH.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

Had a great time with Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls. Super hyped for this. Highlight of the Sony event so far.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

This process has already shown "very positive signs" through Quantic Dream's untitled PlayStation 4 game which is being written by a team of three people, including Cage.

 

[Alienous]

The trailer says uses the in-game engine, but that doesn't mean it isn't touched up/cutscene esque visuals.

It'll look this good.

After Beyond: Two Souls Quantic Dream don't deserve the doubt.

 

[Quintin DM]

I love that the Kara tech demo is becoming a full game, really damn excited for this.

 

[Denton]

Uncanney Valley: The Game

Kinda cool they decided to make Cara demo into full game, here is hoping it won't suck. Heavy Rain was decent and I loved first half of Fahrenheit.

 

[Modest Mauser]

Judge the writing of a game on a trailer.. ok

I'm judging the writing by all the dude's past efforts, not exactly unfair to judge an artist by the art they put out.

Maybe the game will surprise me, but there's no reason for me to think so. My point is there's a lot more talented storytellers in the industry who will never get to take the helm on a project this big.

 

[Betty]

Okay, you didn't like her.

Whoever wrote the game didn't like her.

But I do find someone who controls other people into killing their friends then killing themselves to be pretty damn cowardly.

On topic, it's interesting how they show this tag for one of female androids.

But despite similar male androids around her with the same uses they aren't given the same tagline.

Not to mention advertising human looking robots like that wouldn't even fly in today's world due to cries of slavery and sexism.

 

[AzureAngel27]

I'm like 90% sure that's Jennifer Lawrence's face and not Valerie Curry. She just doesn't look the same as she did in the Kara Demo, plus I instantly thought of Jennifer Lawrence when I saw a screenshot of her face.

 

[DangerMouse]

Can't wait.

I wanted more Kara but didn't expect it.

 

[A-V-B]

I'm like 90% sure that's Jennifer Lawrence's face and not Valerie Curry. She just doesn't look the same as she did in the Kara Demo, plus I instantly thought of Jennifer Lawrence when I saw a screenshot of her face.

And then Jennifer Lawrence sues them and they remodel Kara to look more like the character's actress.

 

[Boke1879]

Quantic Dream is kinda depressing to me. It seems like such a waste to throw such a large budget and so much technology at David Cage's hack writing.

TO be frank you don't know what the budget is and David Cage's game always make their budget back and then more.

 

[Melchiah]

I get what you're talking about, but i'm not sure how you watched this trailer and came to that conclusion

He's literally making up an argument to have an argument. It'd of been one thing to say "why isn't the lead a black female?". It's a totally different thing to say "there are no black people there whatsoever" when you don't even have to look for them in the various shots of the trailer, they're just there naturally.

Such a pointless sword to fall on when the evidence is against them.

That you may need to get an eye exam, at the very least.

Or, Heaven forbid, what qualifies as "black" to you?

Seems like there's an old axe to grind.

 

[chefbags]

.

Lol damn same exact hairstyle.

 

[Boke1879]

Whoever wrote the game didn't like her.

But I do find someone who controls other people into killing their friends then killing themselves to be pretty damn cowardly.

On topic, it's interesting how they show this tag for one of female androids.

But despite similar male androids around her with the same uses they aren't given the same tagline.

Not to mention advertising human looking robots like that wouldn't even fly in today's world due to cries of slavery and sexism.

That could very well be a commentary in the story.

 

[DoktorEvil]

Quantic Dream is kinda depressing to me. It seems like such a waste to throw such a large budget and so much technology at David Cage's hack writing.

He's given such a huge budget because he knows that he doesn't have to write well, the fancy graphics and bullshit QTEs will sell.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Hey how about you buy some fucking eyes so that you don't pass for a total moron ?

He can't buy those eyes until Detroit starts building sexy black droids though

 

[BadWolf]

.

Yeah, not sure why people are thinking Jennifer Lawrence.

 

[DangerMouse]

Lol damn same exact hairstyle.

Yup. Definitely her as Kara.

 

[jmood88]

Hey how about you buy some fucking eyes so that you don't pass for a total moron ?

I get what you're talking about, but i'm not sure how you watched this trailer and came to that conclusion

"Nowhere to be found" was clearly the wrong thing to say but my point is that we have a game set in a city where the majority is black but you would never know that from the trailer. In arguments made against having very many people of color in games like The Order or Assassin's Creed, we're always told that there are so few non-whites because of demographics at the time (no matter that perceptions of the number of non-whites living in those settings are colored by popular media that whitewashes everything) but the demographics argument always disappears when the inverse occurs.

 

[Dangansona]

Nobody remembers A.I. Artificial Intelligence, huh?

Or decades of science fiction in general.

 

[Audioboxer]

There's a market for his types of games, clearly. But that doesn't mean people don't have a right to demand quality for this genre of game. I'm not talking graphical or technical quality, but writing quality. You think Transformers movies should be scoring 100% on rotten tomatoes for being exactly the kind of movie you expect from Michael Bay? There's a reason why Until Dawn gets praise while David Cage gets criticism just like there's a reason people praise Mad Max and criticize Transformers.

But David Cage is the writer he is. It's not so much that criticism is surprising but the apparent belief from some of the die hard haters that he's somehow going to wake up and write something that is Oscar worthy in their eyes. He isn't going to.

Until Dawn doesn't take itself seriously given that it's a teen slasher, and does it well. Cage tries to write seemingly serious scripts, and isn't great at it, but that doesn't mean we need to shoehorn him into writing a teen slasher horror as he might be better at writing a less serious script. He does his thing and will continue to be average at it, and I don't know what else can be expected?

It would be great if more people challenged him with similar budgets and choose your own adventure titles, but we've only got a handful of devs actually doing titles like this on this scale as it is. Sometimes the greater part of insane visuals and high production can carry a mediocre script for me enough for me to be able to enjoy something like this, but also enjoy something lower budget but better written like Life Is Strange.

 

[Betty]

That could very well be a commentary in the story.

Sure, and I can easily imagine it in some dystopian society or alternate universe, it's just hard to take seriously when it looks so similar to our own world and times.

 

[Illucio]

I lived in the Metro Detroit area for all my life, some info:

About 80% of the city is black. (If the city was being rebuilt into a more futuristic city I'm sure there would be a better mix of other races. So anyone saying there aren't enough black people are just full of themselves. The reason why the majority of Detroit is Black is due to classism and racism. Once you take classism do to the city being modernized and fixed up it's easy to see Detroit becoming more mixed.)

Only portions of the city are in ruin/destroyed. Which I believe was demonstrated perfectly in the trailer, they will always be there all those torn down houses because it's too expensive to break them all down. Problem with the houses they should though is that those houses have been long fixed up by civilians who have been trying to fix the city's broken houses up.

Watching the trailer I saw portions of Detroit that I recognize, but ignoring this is set in a futuristic Detroit a lot of the geography and creation of the roads, streets, and building locations are all wrong. It's cool seeing some landmarks of Detroit, like the Skywalks on Jefferson Ave. I just wish they we're properly placed.

It's going to be neat exploring Detroit in the game. I'm excited to see the tech demo get a full game as well. I will probably wait until I see reviews before buying this game however.

 

[GribbleGrunger]

I wish David Cage would stop talking about 'emotion' and start talking about characters and story. Making emotion his primary goal is making him fashion scenes and events around that alone. It comes over as cheesy.

 

[A-V-B]

Yeah, not sure why people are thinking Jennifer Lawrence.

Subtle differences in the face, I'm guessing. Makeup, fat distribution, maybe variances in bone structure. It's off-model in a way that makes her look like someone else just enough to matter for a few folk.

 

[DangerMouse]

That's such a cool shot. I feel like some of those will totally be sent after you at some point.

 

[drotahorror]

From the video - the black chick and the asian dude look like the people from The Walking Dead.

Glenn and Sasha

 

[CREMSteve]

I think I'll log onto GAF during my lunch break and see what's --- HOLY FUCK, KARA'S BACK??!!

This is so day one.

 

[MrBigBoy]

OMG I have been waiting for this since that tech demo some years ago!

Will buy a PS4 next year.

 

[Mifune]

"Nowhere to be found" was clearly the wrong thing to say but my point is that we have a game set in a city where the majority is black but you would never know that from the trailer. In arguments made against having very many people of color in games like The Order or Assassin's Creed, we're always told that there are so few non-whites because of demographics at the time (no matter that perceptions of the number of non-whites living in those settings are colored by popular media that whitewashes everything) but the demographics argument always disappears when the inverse occurs.

Nice backpedal.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

Whoever wrote the game didn't like her.

But I do find someone who controls other people into killing their friends then killing themselves to be pretty damn cowardly.

On topic, it's interesting how they show this tag for one of female androids.

But despite similar male androids around her with the same uses they aren't given the same tagline.

Not to mention advertising human looking robots like that wouldn't even fly in today's world due to cries of slavery and sexism.

Wouldn't be too sure about either of those. Corporations would just repackage the message into ways that wouldn't immediately illicit either type of imagery.

You're already seeing that with the sex robots in Japan (this isn't even to mention cultural differences at work).

Truth is slavery is still a thing in parts of today's world, whether it be indentured service or girls sold into sex prostitution rings. As long as it doesn't directly draw comparisons to African slavery in America or plights of women as it is in the Western world, corporations would be able to find some levels of success in marketing dolls just the way it's hinted at in the trailer.

Humanity never truly learns from its history; it just repeats it a little less viciously in cycles with a different dress each time.

"Nowhere to be found" was clearly the wrong thing to say but my point is that we have a game set in a city where the majority is black but you would never know that from the trailer. In arguments made against having very many people of color in games like The Order or Assassin's Creed, we're always told that there are so few non-whites because of demographics at the time (no matter that perceptions of the number of non-whites living in those settings are colored by popular media that whitewashes everything) but the demographics argument always disappears when the inverse occurs.

You also do realize that, at this very moment, a large chunk of the black population in Detroit are within the lower-class/lower-middle class brackets, correct? It's very unfair, but that's the reality. If anything the Detroit in the game is modeled more off the upper-middle and wealthier parts, where the presence of black people isn't as high. So in a way that debate point is actually still valid here.

Though, I am not seeing the lack of diversity you are claiming. If anything I'm more surprised there wasn't a single Latino in the trailer. I'm sure Detroit's got at least one Latino living there. Granted, there are also Latinos who look white and Latinos that look black, etc., but given this is set in America I'd expect to see at least a person who looks Mexican to have a definitive Latin rep up in there. So that's odd.