Comment on It Takes Two does not require EA app anymore and its Steam Deck Verified now
aleph@lemm.ee 1 year agoYeah, that part was a distinct bum note in an otherwise enjoyable game. Why the developers thought it was good idea, I’ll never know.
GunValkyrie@lemmy.world 1 year ago
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aleph@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Thanks for the explanation, although I don’t find it a particularly acceptable one. The sequence wasn’t funny enough to justify the dramatic shift in tone in an otherwise family-friendly game, IMO. Also, making the protagonists unlikable in a game where you’re supposed to find them sympathetic is a very weird design decision.
Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml 1 year ago
They’re terrible parents for the majority of the game, this is just the culmination of all their selfishness and self deceit.
Ashyr@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I’ve never played the game or even heard of this scene until reading that article and the sense he gives is so unsatisfying to me.
I think if you view it as a metaphor for divorce, it could make sense. Something the parents feel they have to do for their own health and well being that is nonetheless catastrophic for many children. Their life as they know it, their sense of security, is carefully and methodically being ripped apart.
I could see that, but he didn’t really go there, it was just that the parents are so egoistic they just do whatever they believe is right.
I mean, sure, but it could be a powerful scene if framed properly, but it really sounds messed up.
aleph@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Yeah, you’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head. After hearing the dev’s justification I can see what they were going for, but it’s really poorly handled in-game IMO.
They way it plays out in the story feels neither darkly comic nor a poignant commentary on parents going though a divorce; instead it just comes across as unnecessarily cruel, and the player has no choice but to go along with it.
funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
To take the devils advocate position: is conflict not necessary for drama, and effective conflict is one that affects its audience?
aleph@lemm.ee 1 year ago
The issue isn’t the use of conflict as a dramatic device per se; it is essentially forcing the player(s) to perform a seemingly unnecessary and unpleasant action against their will.
The fact that both main characters in the game appear to immediately decide that violently murdering their child’s favorite toy is the only course of action and that no alternative is offered is really jarring. Giving the player some agency in choosing an alternative way to to go about would have solved the problem completely.