David Cage tackles domestic abuse in latest Detroit: BH trailer.

[Neurotic Void Melody]

This is probably a couple of days old, but I haven't seen it mentioned here yet, and not sure whether this is the most applicable sub-forum, but whatevs... Everybody's favourite videogame writer obsessed with the very thing he may never be able to understand (emotions) has decided it is time to aim for the ultimate writing taboo that nobody has ever tried before; domestic abuse.

"That's a bit of mature subject, isn't it, Xsjado?" Why yes it is, eager reader, like, say, multiple attempted rape scenarios and unnecessary extended female shower scenes...which is why it's lucky we have someone as talented as Cage at the helm, who has effortlessly ripped off every good and bad movie he has seen and mashed them together into videogames, hoping nobody would notice. Anyhow, let me not taint any opinions, decide for yourselves with the trailer below, and try not to confuse the actual alright music composition with the emotions you get from the script itself, that's an common technique.


So...feelings? Emotions? What has it succeeded in producing? Am going to refrain from putting too much of my own thoughts at moment.

Here's an interview with the man himself on the content: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-10-31-david-cage-on-detroit-and-its-depiction-of-domestic-violence

Remember, he didn't choose the subject matter...it chose him!

There is a far more opinionated collection of thoughts by Jim Sterling that may be of interest to some.

 

[Casual Shinji]

This is actually in extremely interesting scenario how it's initially presented. You have an adroid in service of a household where it knows something is obviously amiss, but it being an android can't directly go against its owner. If this was presented as a situation where you need to find some loophole around the android's programming so it can save the little girl, that'd be really cool.

But David Cage...

Still, I'll give him some kudos for not showing the female protagonist in a rape scenario, though that might change once the game is out.

 

[Erttheking]

I can't wait for a feminist to complain about the father treating the maid as an "inhuman object" is blah blah blah patriarchy only to be told she's an android and so in some respect really is an "inhuman object".

Anyways there's not enough info to say how good it will be, the best I've seen is Witcher 3 as "2 flawed people goading each other due to suffering from their own past" the worst is the standard "evil father without reason for is violence".

I swear, I hear more about people complaining about feminism than I do actual feminists complaining nowadays. Preemptive complaining at that.

OT: David Cage? Yeah, hopes aren't high. Interesting concept...but fucking Cage.

 

[Erttheking]

Splatoon 2 designer:

I'm stereotyping, but in the West, scope, visuals, and features are the main attraction. For example, when we used to have Kojima Productions L.A. -- we had an office in Los Angeles -- we would get proposals for new games, pitches. It always started with: "This is the world you're in. This is the experience I'm going to give you." And gameplay was relegated to page 5 or 6 or 10. It was always about who you're playing, who is the character, what's going on, but not the "how," how am I playing this?

In Japan, a pitch is a page, maybe two. The first page you write what the game is about and how you play it. And the second page, maybe you need an illustration. We don't care about who, or what the story is, what the game world is, all of this doesn't really matter.

https://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/features/splatoon-2-hideo-kojima-nintendo-japanese-games-w501322

No wonder most games suck nowadays.

Western games focus more on the story?

Struggling to see the problem. Particularly when the guy admitted he was stereotyping.

Also, what does this have to do with anything?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

What is Cage getting out of this that he couldn't possibly get in spades just by making movies?

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

What is Cage getting out of this that he couldn't possibly get in spades just by making movies?

Less criticism towards his writing, and fans that don't watch many or any movies?

 

[Avnger]

What is Cage getting out of this that he couldn't possibly get in spades just by making movies?

Lower standards of storytelling? Maybe Hollywood producers would laugh in his face.

I'm definitely going to go with this.

 

[Th3Ch33s3Cak3_v1legacy]

If this well-grounded sci-fi story doesn't turn into a Matrix rip-off half way through, I'll be thoroughly disappointed.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Splatoon 2 designer:

I'm stereotyping, but in the West, scope, visuals, and features are the main attraction. For example, when we used to have Kojima Productions L.A. -- we had an office in Los Angeles -- we would get proposals for new games, pitches. It always started with: "This is the world you're in. This is the experience I'm going to give you." And gameplay was relegated to page 5 or 6 or 10. It was always about who you're playing, who is the character, what's going on, but not the "how," how am I playing this?

In Japan, a pitch is a page, maybe two. The first page you write what the game is about and how you play it. And the second page, maybe you need an illustration. We don't care about who, or what the story is, what the game world is, all of this doesn't really matter.

https://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/features/splatoon-2-hideo-kojima-nintendo-japanese-games-w501322

No wonder most games suck nowadays.

Western games focus more on the story?

Struggling to see the problem. Particularly when the guy admitted he was stereotyping.

Also, what does this have to do with anything?

Storytelling is great, but not when it compromises gameplay. The west is especially in love with cinema and these developers realize it, but trying to marry it with gameplay is a fine art in itself that very few have proven able to pull off convincingly.

 

[Erttheking]

Splatoon 2 designer:

I'm stereotyping, but in the West, scope, visuals, and features are the main attraction. For example, when we used to have Kojima Productions L.A. -- we had an office in Los Angeles -- we would get proposals for new games, pitches. It always started with: "This is the world you're in. This is the experience I'm going to give you." And gameplay was relegated to page 5 or 6 or 10. It was always about who you're playing, who is the character, what's going on, but not the "how," how am I playing this?

In Japan, a pitch is a page, maybe two. The first page you write what the game is about and how you play it. And the second page, maybe you need an illustration. We don't care about who, or what the story is, what the game world is, all of this doesn't really matter.

https://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/features/splatoon-2-hideo-kojima-nintendo-japanese-games-w501322

No wonder most games suck nowadays.

Western games focus more on the story?

Struggling to see the problem. Particularly when the guy admitted he was stereotyping.

Also, what does this have to do with anything?

Storytelling is great, but not when it compromises gameplay. The west is especially in love with cinema and these developers realize it, but trying to marry it with gameplay is a fine art in itself that very few have proven able to pull off convincingly.

Really how often does it do that? And for each West game, a Japanese one probably does it he same.

And again, this has what do with this thread?

 

[Erttheking]

Really how often does it do that? And for each West game, a Japanese one probably does it he same.

That's funny.

And again, this has what do with this thread?

With people like David Cage? Everything.

It's funny that this is somehow a controversial statement. Sorry did I say funny? I meant sad.

Cage is very much an outlier in the AAA industry, seriously, no one compares to him. So the comment about the industry still feels off topic.

 

[CaitSeith]

It's an advertisement. I have by rule of thumb not to judge games by their advertisements, as they frequently aren't representative enough of their game. The advertisement itself, well, I don't have much to say. It's not awful, and it's obvious they are going for the shock value there (so overdramatic I almost laughed when the father flipped the table aside). I don't hate it, and I almost liked it; but he has made better short videos.

 

[Erttheking]

Really how often does it do that? And for each West game, a Japanese one probably does it he same.

That's funny.

And again, this has what do with this thread?

With people like David Cage? Everything.

It's funny that this is somehow a controversial statement. Sorry did I say funny? I meant sad.

Controversial? No. Just funny.

Cage is very much an outlier in the AAA industry, seriously, no one compares to him.

Many of the AAA single player devs are obsessed with storytelling, at the expense of gameplay. I don't remember the last AAA game I played with great gameplay, where the story didn't incessantly drag me away from playing it.

...you say I'm being funny then you say AAA devs care about story more than gameplay? I'm sorry what? Mayhaps you can give me some examples? I'm struggling to remember where a story truly detracted from a game. Unless you're arguing a story interrupting gameplay at all takes away from a game, which is a mindset that would highly limit games. If anything, open world games have gameplay eat away at story. Very few are like the Witcher 3 and give their side quests story, it's just mindless repetitive busywork.