Let's Spoil Beyond: Two Souls

I don't intend to ever play this game, and don't care about spoilers. If anything, learning about fascinating aspects of the game may increase my interest in it.

So will I get anything from this? I'd like to listen to it but I just don't know!

@kentobi That notification in The Walking Dead honestly derailed that episode for me in a bad way because I assumed that meant there was a way you could have Carley/Doug stay alive through it, so I kept reloading my save to see if it would work and got really frustrated. Only time I did that through the whole season, though I appreciate the weird semi-trolling gesture.

@bkbroiler: I have a feeling you were never informed that Ryan Davis was a smoker too?

I don't have time to smoke a whole e-cig. Is there a 140 character version?

@tothenines: Yeah dude, screw Fahrenheit in its dystopian piehole. The moment of the wardrobe change, when it basically turns into the Matrix... GOD what part of a writer's brain says it's ok to staple a plot twist on like that? But still I love David Cage games as basically waiting for the train wreck to happen. Kinda like Shyamalan? ;) I ordered the UK special edition of Heavy Rain and it's a gem.

This has made me realize that Beyond Two Souls is basically Mindjack via David Cage.

ugh, shut the hell up, dude. This video was great.

This is a great piece of content. Nice to see some different faces/voices popping in.

Having "Let's Spoil" as a regular feature where a rotating cast discusses/dissects contentious and interesting games would be killer. Also, you should get Brad Spoilermaker in on these things!

I don't want to watch this at all. Thought it was going to be the bomb crew finishing the game on camera. I get enough people ruminating over storytelling in video games on a weekly basis to last a life time.

Good conversation and great guests! Love to hear perspectives on weird stuff like this.

@carlos707 said:

Agreed, its nice getting perspectives that are out of the norm for Giant Bomb, given that the main site dudes have spent so long together you don't get much variety. Not saying that's a bad thing, by the way.

I mean, I could actually spend time going to other video game websites but that would involve me doing actual work to find stuff I want to read on the internet!

@brackynews said:

I knew he smoked cigars and stuff, I don't recall ever hearing that he was a regular cigarette smoker. That would surprise me I guess, but the thing that shocked me most about finding out Justin is a smoker is, to me, wrongly or not, he presents a pretty clean image. I mean, he's married to a doctor for Christ's sakes!

Oh man I enjoyed this so much! Kind of made me think about the classic 1up show in a strange way. Would love to see more of these in the future.

Yeah Beyond is crazy as hell. I think if I hadn't gotten so frustrated with the random combat sequences and the parts with Aiden where you fiddle with the thumbsticks I'd give it a recommendation just because I did find a lot of it entertaining.

god damnit kirk, get your shit together >_<

Ha! My guess about the nature/origin of Aidan I made after seeing the quicklook was totally correct, awesome!

Didn't expect some of the other crazy stuff that they mentioned though.

Some of these comments are so sad. Kirk and Justin are such good people to have discussing this business. What a rude and sad air of standoffishness this community gives off every time someone from outside the GB crew dare appear in any GB content. Go back to thinking of creepy questions to ask at the next Pax panel if you have nothing constructive to say.

Patrick and the Wolf, thanks for putting this together. Haven't played Beyond yet, but this likely will be the first spoilercast I'll check out once I've done so.

I don't know what the fuck is wrong with people, this was a great video and I'd love to see more. Always a treat to see other journos pop onto the site, Justin especially. Thanks Patrick!

The thing I dislike about the notification in The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us is it's phrased in such a way as to make it sound sinister.

"So And So will remember this" sounds like they are going to be stewing over it until it eventually comes back to bite you in the butt. I don't think this is what telltale means by it, so they really need to figure out a way to phrase it better.

@tothenines said:

Yeah, Fahrenheit may be the most dramatic turnaround from "Huh, the first 45 minutes of this are pretty cool" to "JESUS CHRIST THIS ENTIRE ENDING IS COMPLETELY STUPID".

I mean, the hints are there in the first few minutes when main dude is having flashbacks to some guy in a robe, but I was really hoping that there was just some kind of cult using hypnosis to brainwash people or something. When you actually find out who the antagonist(s) are, and what the final confrontation is, it's just so dumb.

And the fact that they poorly write out the girlfriend and Carla's stereotypical black cop friend kind of out of nowhere. You control stereotypical black cop guy multiple times and he has no major effect on the story whatsoever, then he just bails at the end.

So the creators of a massively-over-rated piece of crap like HEAVY RAIN have released another massively over-rated piece of crap.

Imagine that...

Indigo prophecy was great, heavy rain was terrible, and Beyond was great.

I definitely needed to hear a discussion like this after completing the game this weekend. Thanks, guys.

I haven't watched it, but I'm all for a place for spoiler heavy discussion. Regardless of the quality of the discussion, I feel like the industry is too hung up on the class of shitbags who feel they can veto discussion because of "spoilers" so Please do more of these!

I'll echo the duders who said this should be a regular feature.

Anyone else approach these games like a bad B-movie? The fun is in the absurdity. Dave Cage games are the Troll 2 of video games.

I realize I'm definitely in the minority, but I really enjoyed Beyond (and most of David Cage's games, for that matter.) I don't understand why people attack him with such vitriol for making games that appeal to a certain audience or have a certain vision - I don't freak out every time someone releases a new Call of Duty or some other genre I don't particularly care for. I'm more than willing to see that his games suffer from plot holes and poor writing in parts, but overall I thought Beyond was really good.

One thing I've noticed in reviews and in people discussing the game is that most don't seem to realize just how much agency they have over the plot because it's not explicitly telegraphed. For instance, I read reviews where people were annoyed over not realizing who started the fire in Homeless, but examining objects in the hospital room afterwards (or not failing that section of the game in the first place) answers that question completely. The scene with Jodie in the bar can either not exist at all (or can be cut short just by leaving) depending on your decisions, and it's a scene that is referenced later on and plays into her characters development. They are decisions that people don't seem to realize they have in the first place, either because they aren't explicitly telegraphed or because it happens so naturally that you think it happens no matter what you do.

Beyond has a lot of problems, but I think people have a tendency to exaggerate them and combine it with their own irrational hate of David Cage. I emailed Quantic Dream once to tell them that I appreciated the kind of games they make, and Cage sent me an email back personally. He told me that he tries to create experiences that are different from other games out there. I don't see anything wrong with someone trying to do that.

I couldn't agree more.

I may go and watch some of the alternate scenes and endings on youtube but I don't feel the need to go back and play them - my Jodie made the decisions that she did and that's how her story went. I certainly don't feel like I missed out on anything.

The choice at the end (the 4) felt a little clunky when it popped up but the way I played the game made all of them seem plausible.

My biggest problem with the game (one that was touched upon in the video) was the inability to make Aiden do exactly what I wanted. I'm still not sure why I couldn't possess whoever I wanted.

Does... does anyone else think that image look like a fat Brett Elston in a took?

Justin was high like a mother fuckin kite. Great way to enter into a Beyond conversation.

One of the first things I read from Kirk Hamilton was his review of L.A. Noire that he wrote for Kill Screen. Maybe one of my favourite pieces of writing in the context of a game review.

http://killscreendaily.com/articles/reviews/review-l-noire/

@benjaebe totally agree

The one section I replayed was the Homeless section including the fire, because I didn't make it out of the building the first time (I hated the controls...). I felt cheated by not seeing the section after you escape the building.

I'll take whatever J-Mack on Giant Bomb I can get.

Hope these become a semi regular thing for interesting/discussion-worthy games, preferably with this same lineup.

@i_stay_puft: dude he totally was! that was pretty great

Any content with any of the McElroy brothers is a-ok with me - especially if it's Justin. Nice one Patrick!

I would have loved to see Tom McShea on this panel, so he could defend his review score to Justin and Alex. They did a spoilercast on Gamespot, but everyone praised the game and without criticizing anything. I would have enjoyed some conflicting opinions.

@benjaebe: I think a lot of the vitriol tends to come because you can see what he could of achieved. I adored elements of Heavy Rain and was shocked by how badly some elements let me down. When you reach to do something different you can expose your failings as much as your achievements.

But wadda I know, Dragon's Lair is still in my top ten ;)

I disagreed with most of Justin's opinions and I think that's FANTASTIC! Difference of opinions made for good discussion.