I get that they're trying to tackle some racial issues and whatnot, but just how offended or introspective are we supposed to be upon seeing that a white woman at a country club holds her handbag a little tighter when she sees Lincoln walk by, when Lincoln has literally just murdered dozens of people, and is at that country club solely to plan the murder of dozens more, so that he and a bunch of other people can steal millions of dollars from the government? I mean, obviously racism is digusting and the southern US in the 1960s was most certainly a pretty racist environment, but seeing Lincoln get treated like a criminal loses a bit of its impact when he actually his a real serious criminal. That's the problem I have with a lot of these open world crime games. It's hard to empathize much with a protagonist who is actually a monstrous piece of shit. That problem is just particularly noticeable here, because it seems like they're trying a lot harder to make you empathize. The fact that other games of this ilk, like GTA, tend to be a bit more silly, actually helps their case, I think. The levity makes it a bit easier to forget that you're directing a psychopath.
Game still looks great of course, and I'll probably pick it up if they address the 30fps cap on PC. The facial animations and voice-acting, and general presentation are pretty outstanding. It's really just that one gripe about the way the game presents the protagonist that takes me out of the narrative a little.
This is a fantastic observation. That's kinda why I appreciate the goofy/less serious nature of the GTA games, and especially something like Sleeping Dogs. Tackling issues like race is so hard in games, and I'm curious to see how the rest of Mafia III is going to do it.
This is also similar to my viewpoint on the first Tomb Raider reboot game. They try to make Lara seem really shaken up and distraught over her first murder, but then literally seconds later, you're choking out several more people with your bow with no remorse. Stuff that like that doesn't bother me in games like Uncharted, because there is a more light-hearted/tongue-in-cheek tone, but when you try to make it more serious and attempt to tackle real issues, then it seems just so much more ridiculous and bizarre.
I think you're both missing a bit of the point here. Mafia 3 isn't supposed to inspire any kind of racial introspective that you're looking for in terms of the things that you're speaking of, to be very honest.
What IS supposed to inspire racial introspective is the fact that the developers at Hangar 13 decided to include the matters of race, in an attempt to remain true to the time period and the set pieces of the environment of which you control Lincoln Clay through his narrative, rather than simply ignoring it as many pieces of fiction have - as detailed and stated in Hangar 13's precursory message that they put up in front of the player before beginning the game.
You're not supposed to empathize with Lincoln Clay just because he's black and dealt with some racist assholes. You empathize with Lincoln Clay because he's the main protagonist in a pulpy revenge crime story; he just also happens to be a black guy in the 1960's.
This is ludonarrative dissonance rearing its ugly head again. I can see validity in both sides of the argument. I think any sympathy for Lincoln emanating from racial discrimination is indeed rendered moot by the character's actions (quote 1&2), however observations like the purse moment are merely replicated for the sake of historical accuracy (3) and included to enhance the game world. It's peripheral to the experience. I don't think the title expects the player to experience some form of conveniently-timed amnesia and forget Lincoln has murdered dozens of men when something like the purse scene occurs.
Definitely not sold on the game from the little I watched here (as it just looked like Limbo 2.0), but I guess there are other places I can go to see more of it. I understand Brad's hesitancy, and that same reluctance/restrained enthusiasm might've sold an already-hyped up Dan, but perhaps it didn't do as much for speculative members of the audience that were looking for a hook.
For someone who loves racing, amazingly the first 9 minutes make complete sense to me. I love this game already. Oh wait, after that it's solitaire. Uh?
Newfangled's comments