I haven't finished the game, but....

When a video game makes me feel like shit and it was my fault, it must be something special...or terrible.

Edit: I killed them by accident, BTW. I didn't mean to.

Yep. I lost it at that point. I couldn't keep my shit together.

I tried not to. I couldn't find a way to forgo the phosphorous. If you try to go to the rappel lines before doing it it doesn't let you use them.

So, ya. While that part was messed up (well... a lot of things in this story are messed up) it's part of the story and not completely your fault as you have no choice in the matter.

If there is, I didn't see it.

Same here, I tried to not use the phosphorous, but there is no way you can take out all of those soldiers. As far as butchering the civilians, It felt good. They killed Lugo, motherfuckers.

I'm insane, aren't I?

@FirePrince: Is there no way to get past that part beside shooting them? I honestly didn't try any other way, but when you try to move forward, the guy pushes you back. I mean, as soon as you shoot somebody, everybody starts running. I assume you can either fire at the ground or in the air to get them to move.

You can't shoot your way out of it. I never felt bad for anything because the game was the author not me. Fail.

On the other hand I fail to see why so many would feel so much remorse in a game that emphasizes to the player that ammo is a precious commodity, and that you can't get weapons and ammo from corpses until they are dead. One would think after having bashed in several skulls to top off your clip you'd become rather desensitized to the reasons you are killing in the game. It's just one of many small details that when you add them up, are rather big oversights that detract from otherwise potentially good story immersion.

Doesn't anyone find it kind of odd that a story that seems to put you at odds with your morality would not offer another way of getting ammo and weapons, like say, I don't know, gently prying them out of their hands while saying maybe something like, "you won't be needing this anymore". Sorry people, but I find it odd they claim there are moral choices in this game when in fact it constantly inundates you with gratuitous violence throughout to force you into feeling a false sense of remorse.

Bottom line, this is a game that has far too many arcade shooter macho gimmicks to come off as a soul searching venture.

@CornBREDX: Is that really true?

I thought it was kind of silly that the game provides you with choice in other parts of the game but...

If you really have no choice but to use the phosphorus, I'm glad I kept the illusion of choice alive by going right for it. I roleplayed that entire game as a complete psychopath and loved it.

@CornBREDX: You can just shoot in the air as well.

@FirePrince said:

Same here, I tried to not use the phosphorous, but there is no way you can take out all of those soldiers. As far as butchering the civilians, It felt good. They killed Lugo, motherfuckers.

I'm insane, aren't I?

No.. I opened fire as soon as I had the chance. I wish there was a way to save Lugo.

@murisan said:

@FirePrince said:

Same here, I tried to not use the phosphorous, but there is no way you can take out all of those soldiers. As far as butchering the civilians, It felt good. They killed Lugo, motherfuckers.

I'm insane, aren't I?

No.. I opened fire as soon as I had the chance. I wish there was a way to save Lugo.

I felt the need to still try to complete my mission.. which.. yeah. I fired into the air. I almost fired upon them but thought surely there was another way out. I love how the game didn't present you with the obvious options. You had to think about it.

I mean, it could've been more then straight up anger at the game being so poorly designed. You literally have no other choice then to use it. I realized what was going on when you saw the trench in the cam with all the people, and knew what was coming. Seeing the effects after was digusting and made me feel a little bad, but seriously, I had no other choice. There was nothing else to be done. That is so goddamn stupid of the deveolpers - a potentially super impactful and powerful moment destroyed by sheer laziness. Why couldn't you just rappel down and systematically kill your way forward? There were random RPGs in other battles that could've been used against the humvees, and the soldiers are invincible heroes anyway.

Feels like this game had a lot of potential and sort of just wasted it. Felt the same way with Gould - what else could you do there? I just sniped the head off all three and it was like omg everyone died. What the fuck?

@RIDEBIRD:

I think the game wanted you to feel exactly that frustration: Be in a situation where you think you can choose, but having no real choice at all. Or better, show you how the main character thinks he had no choice. The white phosphorous incident is the key scene of the game, the set up for everything that happens to Walkers mind. That's the story the game wanted to tell. That's the direction Walker took, and you took it with him.

It reminds me a bit of a scene in Nier, when you have to petrify Kainé in order to seal the door with the demon behind. You get two options: A) Petrify Kainé and seal away the Shade B) Do nothing and be annihilated. If you click B, Kainé insists on petrifying her, and the game won't continue until you click A. I think I clicked B several times before I finally gave in. By showing you that choice but not letting you pick it is downright cruel but actually, genius. It draws you in so much, emotionally.

IMO there isn't a choice at this part because its a key turning point in the story.

So I just got to this point... and.. Wow. That was a kick in the gut. Very dramatic, almost messed with me... almost... The thing that took me out of it was...
 

@DoctorTran:

Hmm, I didn't think it lost the effect. I think it showed very well how much it went under Walker's skin. Plus, his facial expression changed everytime they cut back to him, going from sad to stunned to shocked. I think they did it pretty well. It's the key scene of the game, not just a simple shock effect, after all. Might as well take some time.

@Morrow: Yeah, the more I thought about it, you're right. That was well executed in that way.

@RIDEBIRD said:

Feels like this game had a lot of potential and sort of just wasted it. Felt the same way with Gould - what else could you do there? I just sniped the head off all three and it was like omg everyone died. What the fuck?

You can drop down to the left with Adams and let Gould be killed. Afterwards, most of the soldiers will leave and you can stealthy take out the few remaining and rescue two civilians.

@theimmortalbum said:

@murisan said:

@FirePrince said:

Same here, I tried to not use the phosphorous, but there is no way you can take out all of those soldiers. As far as butchering the civilians, It felt good. They killed Lugo, motherfuckers.

I'm insane, aren't I?

No.. I opened fire as soon as I had the chance. I wish there was a way to save Lugo.

I felt the need to still try to complete my mission.. which.. yeah. I fired into the air. I almost fired upon them but thought surely there was another way out. I love how the game didn't present you with the obvious options. You had to think about it.

Sure, but at that point in the game, I was in the mindset of "there is no mission anymore, this is chaos, and you killed my buddy. FUCK YOU ALL."

Really fucking amazing that it got me that INTO the persona. I was actually upset when I came up and saw Lugo hanging.