Actually a very well written opinion piece about the genre. And as someone whose favorite genre above all else is cyberpunk, I'm inclined to agree thoroughly.
I love games like Deus Ex for their technology and philosophy, but they really neglect the "Punk" aspect (mostly the ones after the original anyway), of looking at a world that is so divided between the haves and have-nots that they're basically in a war with each other. Of an entire society built under the towering lights of corporations. In games like Deus Ex, especially the Jensen games, you live in that corporate tower. Aside from the little snippets you see and hear like mentioned in the article, you never get the dirty, seedy parts of it. Mankind Divided is especially a point of contention because they actually could have done that. Mankind Divided has Jensen being part of Interpol with a big secret underground base and having a nice apartment arguably better than the one he had in Human Revolution, all while there is supposed to be an ever growing fascist society that actively discriminates against people with augmentations. And they skirt it so many times. You run in to the subway and the guard stops you to go, "Hey, no Augs!" only to suddenly get a magically timed radio call and then, "Ahh, I see, you're fine, go." or you show them your papers with a nice Interpol approved clearance on it and they just drop it forever.
It would have been so much more interesting if they had taken the approach of Jensen being in what is supposed to be a ghetto actually living in a shithole, where he doesn't have his nice big screen TV and digital assistant and lots of space. No, make it a dingy shithole with barely a TV and computer, the bed is a futon, and the only other room is a cramped bathroom with no door and the shower barely works. Jensen doesn't work for Interpol, instead he's on his own, being forced to work with the organized crime groups not because they happen to be there for experience and money and gear, but because they're the only connections he can make that have the resources he needs. Guards will just flat out stop you at checkpoints and deny your paperwork because they can if they want to. Taking the wrong train car causes the guard to try to bring you in on arrival. Instead of the big Interpol base, he's got him and Vega and a couple other allies working out of a less shit part of the sewer [sp](like Samizdat)[/sp] and communications and finding information requires Jensen to piggyback them off above ground towers or to find a network hub that is weak. That would take the Cyberpunk stuff to such a better level, it'd give those feelings they try to evoke with their little side stories of the old man about to be thrown out of the city for not having papers or that kind of shit because instead of just witnessing it from the outside, you have to live it.
They need more anti-heroes who aren't just the noble knight fighting the good fight, they're self-serving and dirty. And if you really feel you have to tell it at the corporate level with nice apartments and fine clothes and fresh gear, then make it very clear that you're not doing this to save the world and stop the big bad, you're doing it because you want to make your self bigger, you're doing it for nice money and power. Where the corporation you work for is more than happy to just wipe out whatever is in its way, even if they're the ones we'd be trying the hardest to save in any other game. Where the protagonist is more than willing to suggest things with civilian casualties, or hits on other Corps, or whatever if it gives them a little extra money or standing at the end of the day.
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;51827686]words[/QUOTE]
Dude what the fuck
Spacing and holy shit man what
[QUOTE=MendozaMan;51827706]Dude what the fuck
Spacing and holy shit man what[/QUOTE]
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I just wrote a whole bunch about how the punk genres get abused and distorted as fashion trends (deviantart + steampunk = 'just glue some gears on it', etc), but it was just going in circles
well written article, and zed's commentary covers a lot of my sentiments. I know people rag on [any newsbot that posts here] so I thought I'd at least say this was a good article, thanks PCG/Jody
[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;51827765]Its really hard to determine paragraph sizing and such in this tiny text box.[/QUOTE]
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