Beyond: Two Souls

[Forsaken Lover]

So I got the Special Edition early thanks to a friend lending me the cash. I really wanted to play it now since I just finished HR and am really on that David Cage kick.

So far, it's pretty....hm. It's hard to explain. No more R1 Walking and a lot of the simple actions like opening doors and the like feel quite a bit more natural. I can't say much about how her powers will play into things because, as I write this, I'm only at The Party. For the beginning part, The Experiment, I did go a bit crazy with the power demonstration. Part of it was me just wanting to test it out and part of it was me thinking that it was "natural.' Move this, move this, now she just keeps moving more and more things ya know? She stopped eventually when the lady in the other room was really freaking out.

Oh I forgot to mention, I like the dialogue options not flying across the goddam screen. I mean, that must be hard for people that can see way better than I can. Just having them all nice and stationary? Thank you game. It made the conversation with the British kid so much more enjoyable. I had Jodie mostly be sincere because this is her first party, her first real interaction with people her own age, so she'd want to open up. Hell, I hung out with a ton more people than Jodie ever did and yet I was still so shy and reserved that when I first got on the Internet, I all but exploded because I had so much I wanted to say and stuff. The Internet was my outlet so I feel like I kinda understand where she's coming from. She finally has an outlet so of course she's gonna say everything and admit everything. Maybe I'm naive, maybe she's naive, but you really don't think about how all the information you give out can be used against you. You're just glad to have someone to tell. I totally had that jerk move his hands though. I then had her kiss him because....well, ass groping is a no-no for a boy you've known for five minutes but kissing can be romantic and sweet and I think Jodie would want that; be desperate for that. I know I was desperate for kisses at her age. But she's a girl, not a boy, so maybe I'm projecting too much. Oh and I had her take a sip of beer just to try and be cool. God, I remember those awkward teenage years. Again, maybe more projecting, but the poor sweetheart seemed so out of her element and
she'd just want to do anything to fit in. Still, it was only a sip, just so she didn't look too lame. Kinda like how I took sips or hits at various points in my life, in spite of my hatred of beer and pot.

I dunno why I'm reporting all these extremely minor details. I didn't report on all my choices in Heavy Rain, like how I cooked eggs or if I fed Shaun or other inconsequential stuff. I guess because Jodie is so much younger than our four PCs in HR that she feels...vulnerable. This could be a pivotal moment for the rest of her life and I want to make every detail of it perfect.

Also what the smurf is with a book of poetry for a birthday present for a teenage girl? Or a teenage boy? I guess maybe one-in-a-thousand might like that, I might even have liked that, but average? I was a more stereotypical kid than I was a teenager and the best analogy I can think of is getting socks for Christmas. You just don't do that to a kid and you don't tive a book of poetry to a teenager for their birthday.

I had Jodie show off her powers because...well, she wants to impress; to be cool. But they got over that quickly enough, in spite of saying they were scared. "OOH, CAKE! FORGET ABOUT THE GHOSTS, WE HAVE CAKE!"

Yeah, the girl was over the moon to get a thong for her birthday.... Well, that doesn't say too much...I know a few girls who wear them and like poetry but...God, I hate awkward embarrassing moments in fiction. I dunno about you but they hit a little too close to home for me so I always change teh channel or do something because I just can't handle feeling embarrassed for whoever is being embarrassed.

And now they're making fun of her...GRRR.... USE GHOST POWERS TO PUNCH THEM IN THE FACE!

That...British dickhead! Well I took Revenge on all of them. Busted up every goddam thing. Jodie said enough but I don't think her guardian angel will let what they did stand. smurfing burn, ya little trouts, smurfing burn. Oh and the music for that section really got me into it. I liked it a lot.

Just did The Condenser. The combination of slow mo and "press right analog stick where she's moving" makes the combat a lot more intuitive in this game. I don't need to pause half as often in this game. And speaking of this chapter or level or whatever, the final stretch was probably the most intense section yet. Really awesome music and visuals and camera angles. Very climactic and awesome getting to shut down the machine.

Now everything has slowed down though with the Homeless section but I like it. I realize her powers are an important part of Jodie but I like just having a Jodie section if you understand my meaning. I am very curious to see what will develop here or how she will leave them or what will happen. I honestly hope EAiden kinda stays out of this part. I mean, he stopped her slitting her wrists (that was an awkward QTE I didn't much feel like doing) but mostly it's just her doing he own thing and I like that. It keeps the "tone" intact ya know?

Overall, I will say this game hasn't quite sucked me in like HR did but HR was a very, very different story with very, very different characters. So far this is like a mix of Action and Supernatural while HR was....I dunno, wanna call it Noir-ish but I dunno. I guess the tagline for this game suits it well - it's a blockbuster. HR was was not a blockbuster-type project, at all. On a positive side, the voice-acting in this game is galaxies better than in HR.