August 22, 2024 • 45 mins
Welcome to Detroit: Become Human - in part one, we are in the year 2038 and androids have become commonplace - we see examples of how they have been integrated... and how they can go wrong. Don't forget to watch or play along - gameplay is posted weekly on our YouTube channel where we also have new video episodes! You can also find us on our website, Instagram, Twitter, and Reddit. Please consider supporting Eggy Toast here if you enjoyed the music in this episode.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
New game.
(00:01):
New game.
I'm really excited to do this game.
I liked Sleeping Dogs.
That was a good time.
But there's just something about a David Cage game.
It's our second one.
Heavy Rain was a good time.
Speaking of Heavy Rain, actually, should we do the out of context summary points?
(00:22):
Yeah.
In this episode, Merlin is back.
He's reincarnated.
He's been uploaded.
We meet a new and improved Jayden.
And what exactly does doing Red Ice feel like?
Because it sounds a little…
We will discuss.
(00:46):
Thank you for coming back from our replay reviews.
My name is Leah.
And my name is Kathy.
We are two friends who are here to replay, review, and analyze your favorite video games.
And since Kathy has never seen the games before, it helps me view them through her fresh eye
eyes.
Almost like I'm discovering them again for the first time.
We hope it will be a similar experience for you.
(01:10):
Is there anything you want to say before we get into scene one?
Well, I partially forgot it was a David Cage game going into this.
And then we watched like two minutes into it and I'm like, oh yeah, it's definitely
a David Cage game.
There's something so distinct about his aesthetics and his game and the way the game
characters look.
(01:31):
I'm curious if this game was released before or after Heavy Rain.
After.
I think probably 2018.
The quality does seem a lot better.
My birthday in 2018.
Nice.
Totally unnecessary detail.
Okay, yeah.
Well, we kind of start out within two minutes.
(01:53):
It's pretty much already personified.
Like the artificial intelligence.
Oh, I thought you said already.
Oh, sorry.
I thought you said already and I was like, the heck are you talking about?
I was trying so hard.
Yes.
I have more to say on that.
So I guess let's start.
(02:15):
Let's start from the top.
Okay.
Right.
We're in the year 2038.
Androids have become commonplace.
We see in this first scene one example of how they've been integrated.
So it's August 15th and there is a man looking thing in an elevator.
We do learn pretty quickly that this is an android and he is a negotiator slash cop.
(02:41):
And we soon find out why he's been called in.
It appears that this location, a family of three lives here.
It's so weird because when he picks up the picture, the family portrait, these people
are younger than us.
It's so weird.
I love a futuristic game, but like where the years can still correlate to where we are.
(03:05):
It's very tricky to the mind.
So as this android who we will soon learn is named Connor walks farther into the apartment,
the mother bumps into him and says, please, please, you gotta save my little girl.
Wait, you're sending an android.
All right, ma'am, you need to go.
(03:25):
You can't do that.
Why aren't you sending a real person?
I think she's just overreacting because I could totally see her in a place that she
may have not had any positive experience with an android or we know that androids aren't
(03:46):
very empathetic.
So maybe she's worried that her daughter being a human is going to be in more danger because
the negotiator is someone who doesn't do feelings.
At the very least, there seems to be some trust issues going on, but we'll soon learn
that an android, the family's helper, has taken the daughter hostage at gunpoint and
(04:11):
it's our job, Connor's job, to save her.
So they're also calling the person who's holding the girl hostage as a deviant and that's what
Connor processes it as.
But I'm even wondering what is classified as a deviant versus what is classified as
normal, because they are all robots.
Yeah, they're not all deviants.
(04:33):
We'll learn pretty quickly that that's basically a deviant is just an android that has gone
off course.
They've deviated from their program.
And then it's pretty cool.
This is what you were talking about.
We get to see Connor's functionality at work in the apartment.
It's some pretty fun and creative gameplay, I will say.
(04:54):
And as you mentioned, it's quite similar to Ari.
It's like the new and improved Ari and Connor's kind of like the new Jayden.
I think David Cage just loves a detective character.
I was just thinking he recycled his storylines into like a new version of it.
One of the biggest issues with Heavy Rain was like the camera rotation issue.
(05:19):
When you turned around, then the controls got inverted.
They somewhat fixed that in this game, which I'm very happy about.
You can see it when Connor, instead of turning around when I switched the camera, he just
walks in a circle, which I think is pretty cool.
It's a lot more fluid.
There's obviously something fishy with Cyber Life because you learn from a magazine cover
(05:44):
that they look way too happy in jelly.
And then that's pretty suspicious.
So we don't really know what's going on.
Yeah, what we learned walking around the apartment is that Daniel, the deviant and the little
girl were pretty close, and that Daniel is going to be replaced.
The family had purchased a new android.
(06:05):
After learning this, we go out to the terrace where he's holding her hostage at the edge
of the roof, which why is there not like a fence or a railing?
Am I wrong?
Is there- did he step over a fence or is it just- I have to look now.
I don't know, but you have a pool on the top of your roof, so it is slippery surface.
(06:30):
And there's a kid.
I feel like this is just a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Well, I hate heights to begin with.
I just don't understand why we have to make it worse.
Why do we do things like this?
Okay, there's maybe like a two or three foot little fence thing, but that's not enough.
(06:51):
It's not enough.
You sneeze, you stub your toe, you trip, you're done, you're over the edge.
I don't know about you, but I get so mad at the helicopter pilot.
Oh my gosh, yes.
He should be fired.
How do you not expect the furniture to blow around like that when you get that close?
(07:11):
He could have knocked them off the roof.
I was thinking the exact same thing.
I was thinking, wow, what if the furniture or the umbrella just knocked them both off
the roof?
What an anticlimactic ending to the scene that would have been.
Can someone please edit that?
I want to see that.
So Connor is now actively negotiating with the deviant Daniel, and he takes a risk to
(07:36):
provide first aid to a downed officer.
From the act, we see a stat pop up on the screen, public opinion, which is currently
indifferent.
Hopefully Connor does succeed in the negotiation, but he lied to Daniel in order to do so.
And as a result, we see another stat pop up on the screen, software instability.
(07:59):
Do you think Connor feels some regret for having lied to Daniel, getting him to trust
him knowing that he's just going to be destroyed?
I don't think so.
One, they're not supposed to have feelings, so he's just doing what's statistically
the best option to get his conclusion, which is programmed by humans so he doesn't have
(08:22):
to process guilt.
So I don't think he feels bad about lying.
Otherwise, lying would have never been an option for him.
Connor walks away, mission accomplished.
I have to say, this is a fantastic opening scene.
For sure one of my all time favorites.
Out of the games I've played, it may be my favorite opening scene.
How did you feel about this?
(08:44):
It's a pretty intense way to start the scene because it also sets the tone that you have
an issue with robots that are starting to generate their own feelings.
And it's a pretty applicable concern we have in today's society right now.
What if AI started doing their own things?
(09:05):
And there's also the ethics part.
And that kind of speaks back to what Connor is doing.
Isn't it unethical for him to be lying and gaining their trust only for him to somewhat
betray them?
I don't know.
I feel like this game is going to teach us a lesson about empathy.
It's going to have a lot of pieces that are frighteningly similar to today and the past
(09:30):
few years.
But I just had to give it credit for this opening scene.
Are we ready for scene two?
Let's do it.
Scene two, where Kathy almost fell asleep.
Oh my gosh, you caught that?
It was so boring.
(09:51):
I don't blame you.
I'll say playing this section is very satisfying.
Watching it is not.
There's a lot of hand yoga for you.
Kind of like heavy rain.
There's a lot of unnecessary stuff.
I don't know if it's teaching each controls or it's just finger yoga or what is going
on but I was so tired.
(10:12):
So we meet Kara, another android in another role.
It is now November 5th, three months after we saw Connor.
Kara's owner Todd picks her up from being repaired.
Apparently she had been hit by a car.
And then we pretty quickly go to credits, which is the city of Detroit seen from Kara's
point of view on the ride home.
(10:34):
And we see lots of less than favorable opinions on androids.
I feel like it's creepy that they're making these robots and they're pretty much slaves
and that we're just recreating slaves that we're not treating them well either.
Yeah it's weird that we knew what we wanted to do.
(10:55):
It's weird to make them people.
Like a dog would be good, right?
A little obedient dog that wants to help you and it doesn't feel so dehumanizing.
Right?
It's like if you knew you wanted someone to clean the dishes you would create a machine
where you throw them all in and then it organizes things.
(11:17):
You mean a dishwasher?
Well no, but the thing is that you'd have to still organize it into your thing.
This one would do all the organizing.
You would just toss it into the sink.
Which is funny, they do have a vacuum cleaner so you have the purpose and you created something.
You don't need to make a human go around and do that.
(11:39):
We just love playing God.
We just do.
But let's move on.
After the credits we meet a third android who is going about his duties, also on November
5th.
His name is Marcus and on his walk we see more tension and anti-android opinions.
We see a sign saying human music.
(12:02):
So it seems that there's even android music which is taking over some of that human touch
and then more job loss issues.
And it's pretty darn accurate to today's issues.
There's conversation about using AI just pretty much stealing people's artwork just to reproduce
art or like same goes with music and audiobook narrators.
(12:24):
And so it's kind of creepy that this was, what, you said 2018?
So that's about six years ago.
Yeah, it's still pretty recent but six years is a while back and who knows how long it
was in production before that.
So it's interesting.
Also, I was really excited to see the model for Marcus.
It's Jesse Williams' voice and it does look like him.
(12:48):
Which also, was he not a blind KS option?
I do not remember.
Yeah, the double check.
How did I not choose him?
No, I think he was and I made a comment saying that he looks like Jesse Williams.
I'm not gonna tell you but I'm gonna look real quick.
I was like, there's, because I have to have put him on there.
(13:11):
I feel like I would have.
I think I made a comment saying he looks like Jesse Williams.
I'm not gonna read the comments because I don't want to be spoiled.
Yeah, we'll have to come back but stay tuned for our summary episode.
I'm already expecting so much now.
(13:32):
The fact that you're already panicking.
I'm like, you're surely panicking.
I'm like, breaking out of a cold sweat.
We're 15 minutes into the game and you're panicking already.
Alright, it's not a good look for me.
No, okay.
Where were we?
I just remember, in the beginning, I think it's during when Kara is driving through
(13:56):
the city, we also see a statue in the middle of the downtown area where it's just a arm
with the hands and a closed fist.
I'm wondering if that is symbolizing oppression or what?
Yeah, I saw it too.
I didn't pay it much mind but I was like, oh, is that something grasping technology?
(14:20):
Is this an android thing?
So I don't know.
It wasn't on the screen very long.
I don't know if it comes back.
It might be as significant as the random kid's faces during the game.
The amount of time I spent comparing those faces to the murdered children is ridiculous.
(14:43):
Anyway, moving on.
Marcus runs into a protest led by this man and he's very intense when he sees Marcus
and he confronts him saying, I know who you are.
I can see through you.
You are the one by whom the evil will come.
(15:03):
You are the one who will destroy Detroit.
Very interesting to me that the evil is capitalized.
Why'd they proper noun it?
What does that mean?
I don't know.
I don't either.
What did you make of this little exchange though?
It's kind of odd.
It felt pretty culty, I guess.
(15:25):
You know how you get a feeling when you watch Outlast and it's not necessarily a cult,
but it has that kind of feel to it?
Yeah, he's like a doomsayer.
Is that a thing?
Yeah, he's like a doomsayer, a person that predicts disaster.
That's kind of what he feels like.
I don't know if he's representing a larger group or not, but it's very interesting.
(15:49):
He sort of paints Marcus as the fulfillment to some prophecy.
It's a very odd exchange.
At the end of the game, I kind of want to go back to it and see if we can figure anything
out about this guy.
Marcus gets to the paint store and picks up the paint.
On his way to the bus, he's berated and eventually assaulted in the plaza by this guy that looks
(16:12):
kind of like a knockoff Jared Leto.
A little too much.
The more I'm watching this, the more I'm able to tie these people back to celebrities.
And I'm like, yeah.
Anyway, a cop breaks up the scuffle and not Leto says, they're going to take your job
next to the cop, which is what a great reference to Connor, the detective android that we just
(16:34):
saw.
So we're back to Kara and this is the part specifically that almost did you end.
She carries out her duties, laundry dishes, trash and general cleanup.
And it's really satisfying to play this part because I love efficiency and I'm like, what's
(16:55):
the most efficient route, efficient way to do all this stuff.
So I think it's fun to play, but just from watching it, it's pretty boring.
So I don't blame you.
So boring.
I'm slightly embarrassed that you caught me falling asleep, but you can't blame me though.
Oh my gosh.
So Todd immediately comes across as an a**.
(17:16):
Oh my gosh.
Yes.
He is such a jerk.
Maybe like he could try getting off the couch and doing some housework and then he wouldn't
be so angry and be productive and a good person in society.
Well you took that so deep.
Well he's such a jerk to his own daughter too.
The fact that she's like cowering.
(17:37):
I just like, someone needs to call CPS.
He is an angry, angry man.
We maybe learn a little bit of why.
While Kara's doing laundry, she finds a packet of red crystal eyes things, red crystals in
the detergent bucket.
She analyzes it to find that it's something called red ice.
(18:00):
And then Todd shows up behind her, gets pissed and then gets rough with her for finding it
and says to stay out of his business.
And then there's also a phone conversation we overhear that kind of makes him sound like
a drug dealer.
First of all, if you didn't want her to find it, don't put it in the freaking detergent
where she's going to be going in and out of to use.
(18:23):
Also when she's collecting trash, there's absolutely no way those pizza boxes are fitting
in that trash can.
And that kind of just irritates me.
Why didn't they just make the trash can bigger?
Please.
What irritated me was the glass bottles and everything where she could have been recycling
them.
(18:43):
They don't recycle in Detroit, Kathy.
They probably have androids that sort through it at the trash facilities now.
While taking the trash out, Kara notices a bunch of overdue bills and rejected credit
card applications.
So Todd is not doing hot, but he is doing red ice.
He's going wild on it.
(19:05):
It's disgusting.
What do you do?
The noises he makes.
We're keeping that in.
What is going on?
What is going on?
What does red ice do to you?
I don't know, but the after effects is that it makes you aggressive and want to be your
(19:27):
own child.
So at the very least continuing on her duties, she's upstairs now.
She tidies up Todd's bedroom, finds a gun.
We also learn a few things on the news about unemployment, a new cyber life plan.
Then Todd comes out of the upstairs bathroom and she goes in there to clean it up right
(19:52):
after he just blew up the toilet.
It's gross.
I don't know if you notice the look on her face when she comes out of the bathroom.
She may not have feelings, but she knows disgusting when she sees it.
I wonder if they can smell.
Yikes.
Kara eventually gets into Alice's room to clean up in there a little bit and Alice warms
(20:14):
up to Kara and gives her a key to a jewelry box.
In it, Kara finds some drawings, one which appears to depict what looks like Todd attacking
and damaging Kara.
So she wasn't hit by a car, right?
Obviously not.
We know this guy has rage issues.
(20:37):
Yep, speaking of, Kara goes back downstairs to see Todd being rough with Alice.
Okay, moving on, we are back to Marcus.
It's still the same day.
He returns home and we learn that he is the caretaker for an old man named Carl.
And this is when we see in the foray, the room, the big entryway room, there's birds
(21:02):
in a cage.
It's Merlin's.
It's little android Merlin's.
And guess what, Cappy?
And Merlin has a friend!
That?
But I was going to say, they're actually yellow this time.
Yeah, I know.
That's you.
They're yellow!
If you don't know what we're talking about, go watch or listen to Heavy Rain from last
(21:23):
season.
We're stupid is basically what it comes down to.
We're struggling.
Carl seems so cool.
Also his house is cool.
It's like a one bedroom mansion.
He has a freaking giraffe in there.
What are your impressions of Carl?
I really like Carl.
Carl is a demonstration of good humans that exist in their world because up until now,
(21:46):
we've only met humans who yell at androids, who treat them terribly, who are bad fathers,
who are pushing and shoving.
It's a really nice change to meet someone nice.
Marcus brings him downstairs to serve him breakfast and I know you had to notice the
(22:08):
origami killer's calling card as home decor on his shelves.
Know what?
You didn't notice?
Kathy!
I'm like too busy looking at other things apparently.
Oh my goodness.
Let me...
4823.
There'll be multiple times where you can see it.
(22:29):
I walk right up to them too.
I can't believe you didn't see them.
There's origami all over his bookshelf!
How did I not notice that before?
I don't know.
I was wondering what you were doing over there too.
I remember it was like, oh, why are you walking to the bookshelf not recognizing anything?
(22:53):
There's also more of them behind the giraffe that you noticed.
Oh my gosh.
It makes me even more convinced that the birds are an Easter egg and that we were really
onto something with Merlin.
I really think we were onto something.
Also a much more pleasant piano scene in this game compared to Heavy Rain and just another
(23:13):
reference overall.
It won't be the last.
Anything before Carl comes over to talk to him?
My thought is that you would think that if they can create freaking androids that are
pretty much like humans, they could find a way to extend the life of humans.
(23:35):
Yeah, that is a good point because he doesn't seem overly old.
One thing that he says to Marcus is,
One day I won't be here to take care of you anymore.
You'll have to protect yourself and make your choices.
Decide who you are and want to become.
(23:55):
Interesting.
It also brings up the question, what happens to androids when their owners are no longer
there or don't want them?
Do they get returned back to cyber life to be recycled and reused again?
Or is it part of the inheritance?
Carl continues to try to push Marcus towards humanity in a way while painting.
(24:19):
He convinces him to paint something that isn't just a perfect copy of what he's seeing.
Being able to paint probably correlates to one's feelings.
So to have an android be able to paint what they're feeling is like the first step of
recognizing that they do have emotions.
(24:42):
They are soon interrupted though by Carl's deadbeat son, Leo.
He arrives asking for money and is clearly burning through it way too fast.
Probably doing red eyes, that's kind of what is referenced.
Do you agree?
Yeah, he's pretty much a loser.
(25:02):
He's a pre-Todd.
He's gonna be Todd someday.
And he has clear daddy issues.
Because of this apparent addiction, Carl refuses to give him money and Leo gets very angry
and even pushes Marcus and says, you never loved me, took Carl.
Well, if Leo really stepped up his game and proved himself to be a better person, maybe
(25:22):
his dad would love him some more.
It's so terrible of me to say that.
But Leo clearly has issues with feeling like he's competing with Marcus as being who's
the better son and he's obviously losing this battle.
Are you ready to go back to Connor?
(25:44):
It is still the same day.
Connor is tracking down his new partner, Lieutenant Hank Anderson.
He finds him at Jimmy's bar.
Anderson seems cranky and it maybe amuses Connor.
What do you think of Connor so far?
I think he's just straightforward and he just does what he needs to do to get his results.
(26:09):
I don't know, he seems like an extremely smart newborn baby.
He's smart but he doesn't really know what he's doing when it comes to interactions.
I don't know.
He's got an innocence about him.
(26:29):
Yeah.
He has a very high IQ but very naive and not necessarily low EQ but just not really great
about reading body language and reading the room.
But he's eventually able to convince Hank, Lieutenant Anderson, to go to the crime scene.
(26:51):
When we get there, we learn that the landlord had stopped by after the tenant hadn't paid
rent in a few months and he found the body of Lieutenant Carlos Ortiz.
As Connor, investigating the scene, we learn Red Eyes is present.
We find a bloody knife which Connor licks to analyze the blood and Hank does not like
(27:16):
this at all.
Which, this isn't the first time he's done that.
No.
We find blood trails, signs of a struggle in the kitchen, the words, I am alive written
in blood using CyberlifeSans font, and then through reconstructions, Connor learns exactly
what happened, including that the android was attacked, likely causing emotional shock.
(27:38):
Connor also finds RE9 written over and over again in the shower as well as a little statue
thing.
After reconstructing the entire crime scene, Connor knows the deviant must be nearby and
he does eventually locate him in the attic.
So RE9 sounds like Ari, which to me made my mic connect to Heavy Rain.
(28:00):
Ari is the parent program.
It morphed into RE9.
That's crazy.
There's a connection to Heavy Rain here, Kathy.
There has to be.
We're onto it.
Yeah, we're onto it.
More than just Easter eggs.
So this deviant begs Connor out to turn him in, but after only a microscopic moment of
(28:23):
hesitation, Connor calls out for Hank and the deviant has been captured.
I think Connor hesitating whether or not to call Hank just indicates his maybe potential
to somehow start thinking for himself and not thinking because of the way he's programmed.
And the first time we see him, no hesitation, but this time we see this slight little oh
(28:49):
and he maybe is starting to develop some empathy on why Carlos got stabbed 28 times and he's
understanding where the deviant is coming from.
There's a meme that you don't even know that you're referencing.
It sounded like you were referencing it, but you weren't.
Real quickly, I should have mentioned this at the beginning, but at this point we don't
(29:12):
have a choice as Connor, right?
He chooses for us to turn him into Hank, but this is a decision-based game.
So the issue with replaying decision-based games is how to do it, right?
And so for this game, I decided to make the choices that I felt made for the more cinematic
(29:33):
experience in terms of the story unfolding.
So just little, what's the word?
P.S.A.
What's the word?
Damn it, this is really messing me up.
Oh, Leah, you're going to poop your pants if you can't think of the word.
I am, and that's what always happens when I can't find it.
(29:56):
I need to find this word or I'm going to have diarrhea.
We'll go with disclosure.
So yeah, just a little disclosure on how I came about making decisions in this game as
I have played through it multiple times.
Anyway, should we move on to scene six?
Okay, we are back to Kara who ends up in a dire situation.
(30:22):
Still the same day, but now 914 PM, Kara serves Todd and Alice dinner during which Todd becomes
erratic, and eventually boils over and begins to hit Alice.
Kara eventually breaks through the demand or her code, whatever she breaks through,
something and two options, reason with Todd or protect Alice.
(30:45):
There's no way Todd can possibly be reasoned with, right?
I mean, that's, there's no way.
So I chose to go up to protect Alice and Kara has now become a deviant.
I'm glad she broke through and it's starting to make sense why this game is called Become
(31:06):
Human.
I'm really glad Kara is going after Alice because truly she's the one who needs protection
and I'm glad she was able to figure out how to break the code and it seems like it's triggered
through strong emotion.
During Todd's rant, he was mad that Alice's mom took off.
(31:27):
How could the mom just leave without taking Alice with her?
Like when you know the husband Todd is as abusive as he is and you decide to leave your
child, the least you could do is call CPS.
I'm so pissed at that.
Her parents, like she deserves better parents and she deserves a more humanized version
of Kara because obviously there's only one person who's going to protect her in this
(31:50):
situation and it's Android.
A fight does break out, but Kara remembered the gun and ends up shooting and killing Todd
and she and Alice make a run for it.
Do we need to do this so long for Todd?
No.
Kill me, mother******.
Kill him.
You knew my feelings from day one.
(32:10):
Moment one.
Yeah, moment one.
At 9.42pm, Marcus and Carl return home after a cocktail party to find that the light in
his studio is on.
Marcus calls the police and then the two of them investigate to find an unhinged Leo looking
to steal some art.
Anything you want to add so far?
(32:31):
Uh, Leo's a dick.
That's it?
Well, I have more notes that I want to talk about.
Let me put a few more comments in first and then we'll get there.
So during the confrontation, Leo pushes Carl and abuses Marcus.
(32:51):
Carl orders Marcus not to defend himself, but the abuse pushes him too far and he breaks
through just as Kara did to become deviant.
So okay, Carl, why would you tell him to not defend himself?
Knowing that-
I think he still cares about his son.
Well, is he truly acting like your son?
(33:13):
Because apparently you haven't followed him much and he hasn't respected you either much.
And I'm just so irritated when Carl's just going like, Leo, leave him alone.
And then not doing any type of action.
I get that he's not in a position to be doing anything, but just yelling that.
Just telling a woman to calm down.
You're not going to get any impact.
(33:34):
So his lack of parenting for Leo is probably why Leo is such a dick and a spoiled brat.
I think that's the question.
Was he a sucky dad or did the drugs just get him?
Is it all the drugs or was there more to it?
And the thing is, it's a bit of a hypocrite because in the beginning he's talking about
(33:57):
Marcus that you should be more human, be on your own, find your own path.
And then the next thing you do is like, oh Marcus, just let him punch you in the face
and let him destroy your body.
I see your point.
I think Carl's just helpless.
I don't think he wants either one of them hurt.
I think he's just in a situation that he can't really control and he's trying to do what
(34:20):
he can.
But despite having free will, Marcus, me, chooses to endure the abuse for Carl's sake.
I think Marcus cares about Carl.
He doesn't want to make him mad.
Carl collapses and Marcus runs over to him and Carl says, remember Marcus, don't let
anybody tell you who you are.
(34:42):
And Marcus yells, dad, while crying.
Meanwhile, Leo's just standing in the background watching.
And Leo's like, you did this.
It's so awkward.
Oh my gosh.
Leo is pissing me off.
He's an idiot.
And then the police show up and Leo says, oh, it was the Android.
And then they shoot him.
(35:02):
Which is so irritating that the police are like, shoot first, then ask questions.
That kind of attitude, just siding with Leo when there's truly no need to shoot Marcus.
It's not like he was resisting or anything.
Yeah.
The only thing is if, like how well known is deviancy at this point?
Because if everyone's freaked out about androids and then they think, oh, they walk into this,
(35:27):
you could understand it doesn't make it okay.
But I think it might give a reason as to why they shot first.
Yeah.
Perhaps.
Okay.
Final scene.
It's now November 6th.
Connor and Gavin watch Hank face a brick wall in the interrogation with the deviant that
Connor captured.
Gavin suggests roughing it up, but Connor says androids can't feel pain.
(35:52):
And he thinks that he should just try to interrogate it.
So he goes in.
He stares at the two way mirror.
And I love Hank's reaction.
Throughout this interrogation, we learn a detail.
He says, I was programmed to hunt devians like you.
I'm concerned who's the one who did the programming?
(36:14):
If it was cyber life or the police that asked him because if cyber life is the one who programmed
Connor to do that, is it because cyber life knows there's a lot of flaw in their software?
So they need to have this type of backup plan?
Or is it the police who's just trying to maintain order in their city?
(36:34):
Connor was sent to the police to assist in the investigation by cyber life.
So well,
cyber life obviously knows there's some issues with their products.
So that's the question.
Why is cyber life still in mass production of their androids?
If there's a growing population of those that have issues.
(36:57):
And then about the shower statue, the deviant responds, it's an offering so that I'll be
saved an offering to r a nine.
He says only r a nine can save us.
Connor asks him more about r a nine and he responds, the day shall come when we will
no longer be slaves, we will be the masters.
(37:18):
Connor continues to try but is unable to find out who r a nine is.
What are your thoughts about r a nine at this point?
It's pretty creepy how these deviants and I don't even know if he was a deviant at that
point of time, but just in general how androids are thinking that there's a higher power up
there that can save them from humans.
(37:40):
And I could see why they would want to revolt against all the pain that they're being put
through right now.
This is interesting.
I just had an interesting thought because so far it seems like we've seen all the emotional
shock that has caused deviancy.
It's been like fear of being replaced, being attacked in Marcus's case and in this androids
(38:01):
case and then with Kara it's emotional shock of something happening to someone else that
she cares about.
But we haven't seen any emotional shock of a good thing.
So yeah, I'm curious what we'll pick up on that and then if a good emotion can trigger
enough emotional shock to result in deviancy.
(38:25):
So Connor successfully gets the confession and in my first playthrough I forgot to do
it the second time because I missed the meme that you just accidentally referenced a minute
ago so I have it pulled up to show you because we cannot go through this game without talking
about 28 stab wounds.
(38:47):
So you'll recognize this moment from my playthrough.
Oh my god.
28 stab wounds.
The way he jumps.
I jumped too.
What are you talking about?
I jumped too.
I had the volume way up in my headphones.
It's too good.
(39:08):
Yeah.
He didn't seem like the aggressive type though so I'm kind of surprised one of the options
is you can make him that aggressive.
That's what I love about this game especially with Connor.
You can really go different directions with him but I just love- everybody loves the 28
stab wounds.
After concluding the interrogation the others enter and Gavin pushes the deviant dangerously
(39:33):
close to self destruction which Connor had mentioned before.
Deviants have a tendency to self-destruct if they become overly emotional.
Connor has to get assertive to make them unhand the deviant leading to a frosty impression
with Gavin and causing some guns to be drawn.
We're in a real standoff situation here.
(39:53):
Well first of all Gavin is like Blake so again recycling of characters.
Different looks though.
Yeah.
What does he say?
What does Blake say when he throws the chair?
Fucking asshole!
I totally forgot about that.
Oh.
Okay.
Oh gosh.
(40:18):
Yeah I don't think Gavin was that aggressive as Blake is.
Anyways.
I think Connor is starting to find and get closer to the edge where too much emotion
pushes him over the edge because we haven't seen Connor that aggressive up until this
point besides the 28 stab wounds.
(40:40):
So we're watching him starting to be more empathetic with more androids.
He is unlike other androids where he's programmed specifically to hunt deviants.
So what's gonna happen?
Let me have you consider this though.
Is he showing empathy for the deviant or is he afraid of the deviant being destroyed which
(41:05):
will make his job harder?
He says you don't understand if it self-destructs we won't get anything out of it.
So is his main concern getting information out of it or empathy?
If he says it like that then I would think it has more to do with getting information
and evidence out of it but if he didn't say that line then I would think that it's truly
(41:27):
out of concern for another deviant or another android.
Yeah.
They're both valid though because at the very end of the scene the deviant walks out and
says the truth is inside and we see Connor with another spike of software instability.
So something is affecting Connor.
But by the way back to Gavin.
(41:48):
He doesn't throw a chair like Blake does but why does he say f*** like that?
It sounds like a duck sneezing or something he's like f***.
Let me go and look.
What is that?
It sounds like a sneeze.
It sounds like yeah a duck a sneeze I don't know but it's not f***.
(42:14):
I can tell you that.
Even with the boss an accent I don't think you would get it like that.
At least you don't have heavy rain accents this time.
Yeah that was so bad.
In this scene though I'm pretty annoyed and I'm actually really annoyed for watching only
part one of a game but this part like the inability for the humans in this game for
(42:37):
them to be so ignorant and not listen and the way their ego is just in their way of
their comprehension skills it is driving me crazy.
Well let's keep track.
What's this 14 years away?
Are we gonna do any thinking for ourselves in 14 years?
(42:57):
We'll have to figure that out because I have a feeling if you don't want to you don't have
to be a critical thinker at all by the year 2038.
There's gonna be so much stuff so I don't know if that's part of it but they're all
stupid.
I agree with you.
It's very irritating.
Any closing thoughts from you for part one?
(43:17):
What'd you think so far?
I'm liking it so far but I'm curious to see what's gonna happen.
I'm really nervous for Kara and Alice because I really do want them to be able to escape
without punishment.
This is one that I'm very excited to talk about because I think that there is a lot
to talk about so I'm looking forward to it.
(43:40):
I will be tracking secret stats and you're gonna have to guess again.
Now I'm shaking my head.
One of them I know I'm doing, the other one I haven't decided but the one I'm leaning
towards you're gonna absolutely hate me for.
Oh gosh.
The fact that I can't even pay attention to the origami is making me quite concerned about
(44:04):
what kind of sites you're gonna choose.
Anyway, get ready to guess.
Is there anything else that you want to say for the start of this new game or should we
close it out?
I think I said all I said and let's save it for next part.
So with that I'm gonna close it out.
Adacity on one, three, two, one.
(44:26):
Thank you for listening and don't forget to send in any questions, comments, or game
suggestions.
You can find all our contact info on our website, replayreviewspod.com, or contact us directly
through our site.
Did we completely miss something?
Are we way off the mark or do you just want us to take a deeper look at anything from
the game?
We'll tackle any topics you all want to hear in our season wrap up episode.
We also have a reddit where we discuss anything we're curious about.
(44:49):
Go take a look and let us know what you're thinking.
Our theme music is Condemned by Eggy Toast.
They'll play you out and we'll be back next week.
New game.
(00:01):
New game.
I'm really excited to do this game.
I liked Sleeping Dogs.
That was a good time.
But there's just something about a David Cage game.
It's our second one.
Heavy Rain was a good time.
Speaking of Heavy Rain, actually, should we do the out of context summary points?
(00:22):
Yeah.
In this episode, Merlin is back.
He's reincarnated.
He's been uploaded.
We meet a new and improved Jayden.
And what exactly does doing Red Ice feel like?
Because it sounds a little…
We will discuss.
(00:46):
Thank you for coming back from our replay reviews.
My name is Leah.
And my name is Kathy.
We are two friends who are here to replay, review, and analyze your favorite video games.
And since Kathy has never seen the games before, it helps me view them through her fresh eye
eyes.
Almost like I'm discovering them again for the first time.
We hope it will be a similar experience for you.
(01:10):
Is there anything you want to say before we get into scene one?
Well, I partially forgot it was a David Cage game going into this.
And then we watched like two minutes into it and I'm like, oh yeah, it's definitely
a David Cage game.
There's something so distinct about his aesthetics and his game and the way the game
characters look.
(01:31):
I'm curious if this game was released before or after Heavy Rain.
After.
I think probably 2018.
The quality does seem a lot better.
My birthday in 2018.
Nice.
Totally unnecessary detail.
Okay, yeah.
Well, we kind of start out within two minutes.
(01:53):
It's pretty much already personified.
Like the artificial intelligence.
Oh, I thought you said already.
Oh, sorry.
I thought you said already and I was like, the heck are you talking about?
I was trying so hard.
Yes.
I have more to say on that.
So I guess let's start.
(02:15):
Let's start from the top.
Okay.
Right.
We're in the year 2038.
Androids have become commonplace.
We see in this first scene one example of how they've been integrated.
So it's August 15th and there is a man looking thing in an elevator.
We do learn pretty quickly that this is an android and he is a negotiator slash cop.
(02:41):
And we soon find out why he's been called in.
It appears that this location, a family of three lives here.
It's so weird because when he picks up the picture, the family portrait, these people
are younger than us.
It's so weird.
I love a futuristic game, but like where the years can still correlate to where we are.
(03:05):
It's very tricky to the mind.
So as this android who we will soon learn is named Connor walks farther into the apartment,
the mother bumps into him and says, please, please, you gotta save my little girl.
Wait, you're sending an android.
All right, ma'am, you need to go.
(03:25):
You can't do that.
Why aren't you sending a real person?
I think she's just overreacting because I could totally see her in a place that she
may have not had any positive experience with an android or we know that androids aren't
(03:46):
very empathetic.
So maybe she's worried that her daughter being a human is going to be in more danger because
the negotiator is someone who doesn't do feelings.
At the very least, there seems to be some trust issues going on, but we'll soon learn
that an android, the family's helper, has taken the daughter hostage at gunpoint and
(04:11):
it's our job, Connor's job, to save her.
So they're also calling the person who's holding the girl hostage as a deviant and that's what
Connor processes it as.
But I'm even wondering what is classified as a deviant versus what is classified as
normal, because they are all robots.
Yeah, they're not all deviants.
(04:33):
We'll learn pretty quickly that that's basically a deviant is just an android that has gone
off course.
They've deviated from their program.
And then it's pretty cool.
This is what you were talking about.
We get to see Connor's functionality at work in the apartment.
It's some pretty fun and creative gameplay, I will say.
(04:54):
And as you mentioned, it's quite similar to Ari.
It's like the new and improved Ari and Connor's kind of like the new Jayden.
I think David Cage just loves a detective character.
I was just thinking he recycled his storylines into like a new version of it.
One of the biggest issues with Heavy Rain was like the camera rotation issue.
(05:19):
When you turned around, then the controls got inverted.
They somewhat fixed that in this game, which I'm very happy about.
You can see it when Connor, instead of turning around when I switched the camera, he just
walks in a circle, which I think is pretty cool.
It's a lot more fluid.
There's obviously something fishy with Cyber Life because you learn from a magazine cover
(05:44):
that they look way too happy in jelly.
And then that's pretty suspicious.
So we don't really know what's going on.
Yeah, what we learned walking around the apartment is that Daniel, the deviant and the little
girl were pretty close, and that Daniel is going to be replaced.
The family had purchased a new android.
(06:05):
After learning this, we go out to the terrace where he's holding her hostage at the edge
of the roof, which why is there not like a fence or a railing?
Am I wrong?
Is there- did he step over a fence or is it just- I have to look now.
I don't know, but you have a pool on the top of your roof, so it is slippery surface.
(06:30):
And there's a kid.
I feel like this is just a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Well, I hate heights to begin with.
I just don't understand why we have to make it worse.
Why do we do things like this?
Okay, there's maybe like a two or three foot little fence thing, but that's not enough.
(06:51):
It's not enough.
You sneeze, you stub your toe, you trip, you're done, you're over the edge.
I don't know about you, but I get so mad at the helicopter pilot.
Oh my gosh, yes.
He should be fired.
How do you not expect the furniture to blow around like that when you get that close?
(07:11):
He could have knocked them off the roof.
I was thinking the exact same thing.
I was thinking, wow, what if the furniture or the umbrella just knocked them both off
the roof?
What an anticlimactic ending to the scene that would have been.
Can someone please edit that?
I want to see that.
So Connor is now actively negotiating with the deviant Daniel, and he takes a risk to
(07:36):
provide first aid to a downed officer.
From the act, we see a stat pop up on the screen, public opinion, which is currently
indifferent.
Hopefully Connor does succeed in the negotiation, but he lied to Daniel in order to do so.
And as a result, we see another stat pop up on the screen, software instability.
(07:59):
Do you think Connor feels some regret for having lied to Daniel, getting him to trust
him knowing that he's just going to be destroyed?
I don't think so.
One, they're not supposed to have feelings, so he's just doing what's statistically
the best option to get his conclusion, which is programmed by humans so he doesn't have
(08:22):
to process guilt.
So I don't think he feels bad about lying.
Otherwise, lying would have never been an option for him.
Connor walks away, mission accomplished.
I have to say, this is a fantastic opening scene.
For sure one of my all time favorites.
Out of the games I've played, it may be my favorite opening scene.
How did you feel about this?
(08:44):
It's a pretty intense way to start the scene because it also sets the tone that you have
an issue with robots that are starting to generate their own feelings.
And it's a pretty applicable concern we have in today's society right now.
What if AI started doing their own things?
(09:05):
And there's also the ethics part.
And that kind of speaks back to what Connor is doing.
Isn't it unethical for him to be lying and gaining their trust only for him to somewhat
betray them?
I don't know.
I feel like this game is going to teach us a lesson about empathy.
It's going to have a lot of pieces that are frighteningly similar to today and the past
(09:30):
few years.
But I just had to give it credit for this opening scene.
Are we ready for scene two?
Let's do it.
Scene two, where Kathy almost fell asleep.
Oh my gosh, you caught that?
It was so boring.
(09:51):
I don't blame you.
I'll say playing this section is very satisfying.
Watching it is not.
There's a lot of hand yoga for you.
Kind of like heavy rain.
There's a lot of unnecessary stuff.
I don't know if it's teaching each controls or it's just finger yoga or what is going
on but I was so tired.
(10:12):
So we meet Kara, another android in another role.
It is now November 5th, three months after we saw Connor.
Kara's owner Todd picks her up from being repaired.
Apparently she had been hit by a car.
And then we pretty quickly go to credits, which is the city of Detroit seen from Kara's
point of view on the ride home.
(10:34):
And we see lots of less than favorable opinions on androids.
I feel like it's creepy that they're making these robots and they're pretty much slaves
and that we're just recreating slaves that we're not treating them well either.
Yeah it's weird that we knew what we wanted to do.
(10:55):
It's weird to make them people.
Like a dog would be good, right?
A little obedient dog that wants to help you and it doesn't feel so dehumanizing.
Right?
It's like if you knew you wanted someone to clean the dishes you would create a machine
where you throw them all in and then it organizes things.
(11:17):
You mean a dishwasher?
Well no, but the thing is that you'd have to still organize it into your thing.
This one would do all the organizing.
You would just toss it into the sink.
Which is funny, they do have a vacuum cleaner so you have the purpose and you created something.
You don't need to make a human go around and do that.
(11:39):
We just love playing God.
We just do.
But let's move on.
After the credits we meet a third android who is going about his duties, also on November
5th.
His name is Marcus and on his walk we see more tension and anti-android opinions.
We see a sign saying human music.
(12:02):
So it seems that there's even android music which is taking over some of that human touch
and then more job loss issues.
And it's pretty darn accurate to today's issues.
There's conversation about using AI just pretty much stealing people's artwork just to reproduce
art or like same goes with music and audiobook narrators.
(12:24):
And so it's kind of creepy that this was, what, you said 2018?
So that's about six years ago.
Yeah, it's still pretty recent but six years is a while back and who knows how long it
was in production before that.
So it's interesting.
Also, I was really excited to see the model for Marcus.
It's Jesse Williams' voice and it does look like him.
(12:48):
Which also, was he not a blind KS option?
I do not remember.
Yeah, the double check.
How did I not choose him?
No, I think he was and I made a comment saying that he looks like Jesse Williams.
I'm not gonna tell you but I'm gonna look real quick.
I was like, there's, because I have to have put him on there.
(13:11):
I feel like I would have.
I think I made a comment saying he looks like Jesse Williams.
I'm not gonna read the comments because I don't want to be spoiled.
Yeah, we'll have to come back but stay tuned for our summary episode.
I'm already expecting so much now.
(13:32):
The fact that you're already panicking.
I'm like, you're surely panicking.
I'm like, breaking out of a cold sweat.
We're 15 minutes into the game and you're panicking already.
Alright, it's not a good look for me.
No, okay.
Where were we?
I just remember, in the beginning, I think it's during when Kara is driving through
(13:56):
the city, we also see a statue in the middle of the downtown area where it's just a arm
with the hands and a closed fist.
I'm wondering if that is symbolizing oppression or what?
Yeah, I saw it too.
I didn't pay it much mind but I was like, oh, is that something grasping technology?
(14:20):
Is this an android thing?
So I don't know.
It wasn't on the screen very long.
I don't know if it comes back.
It might be as significant as the random kid's faces during the game.
The amount of time I spent comparing those faces to the murdered children is ridiculous.
(14:43):
Anyway, moving on.
Marcus runs into a protest led by this man and he's very intense when he sees Marcus
and he confronts him saying, I know who you are.
I can see through you.
You are the one by whom the evil will come.
(15:03):
You are the one who will destroy Detroit.
Very interesting to me that the evil is capitalized.
Why'd they proper noun it?
What does that mean?
I don't know.
I don't either.
What did you make of this little exchange though?
It's kind of odd.
It felt pretty culty, I guess.
(15:25):
You know how you get a feeling when you watch Outlast and it's not necessarily a cult,
but it has that kind of feel to it?
Yeah, he's like a doomsayer.
Is that a thing?
Yeah, he's like a doomsayer, a person that predicts disaster.
That's kind of what he feels like.
I don't know if he's representing a larger group or not, but it's very interesting.
(15:49):
He sort of paints Marcus as the fulfillment to some prophecy.
It's a very odd exchange.
At the end of the game, I kind of want to go back to it and see if we can figure anything
out about this guy.
Marcus gets to the paint store and picks up the paint.
On his way to the bus, he's berated and eventually assaulted in the plaza by this guy that looks
(16:12):
kind of like a knockoff Jared Leto.
A little too much.
The more I'm watching this, the more I'm able to tie these people back to celebrities.
And I'm like, yeah.
Anyway, a cop breaks up the scuffle and not Leto says, they're going to take your job
next to the cop, which is what a great reference to Connor, the detective android that we just
(16:34):
saw.
So we're back to Kara and this is the part specifically that almost did you end.
She carries out her duties, laundry dishes, trash and general cleanup.
And it's really satisfying to play this part because I love efficiency and I'm like, what's
(16:55):
the most efficient route, efficient way to do all this stuff.
So I think it's fun to play, but just from watching it, it's pretty boring.
So I don't blame you.
So boring.
I'm slightly embarrassed that you caught me falling asleep, but you can't blame me though.
Oh my gosh.
So Todd immediately comes across as an a**.
(17:16):
Oh my gosh.
Yes.
He is such a jerk.
Maybe like he could try getting off the couch and doing some housework and then he wouldn't
be so angry and be productive and a good person in society.
Well you took that so deep.
Well he's such a jerk to his own daughter too.
The fact that she's like cowering.
(17:37):
I just like, someone needs to call CPS.
He is an angry, angry man.
We maybe learn a little bit of why.
While Kara's doing laundry, she finds a packet of red crystal eyes things, red crystals in
the detergent bucket.
She analyzes it to find that it's something called red ice.
(18:00):
And then Todd shows up behind her, gets pissed and then gets rough with her for finding it
and says to stay out of his business.
And then there's also a phone conversation we overhear that kind of makes him sound like
a drug dealer.
First of all, if you didn't want her to find it, don't put it in the freaking detergent
where she's going to be going in and out of to use.
(18:23):
Also when she's collecting trash, there's absolutely no way those pizza boxes are fitting
in that trash can.
And that kind of just irritates me.
Why didn't they just make the trash can bigger?
Please.
What irritated me was the glass bottles and everything where she could have been recycling
them.
(18:43):
They don't recycle in Detroit, Kathy.
They probably have androids that sort through it at the trash facilities now.
While taking the trash out, Kara notices a bunch of overdue bills and rejected credit
card applications.
So Todd is not doing hot, but he is doing red ice.
He's going wild on it.
(19:05):
It's disgusting.
What do you do?
The noises he makes.
We're keeping that in.
What is going on?
What is going on?
What does red ice do to you?
I don't know, but the after effects is that it makes you aggressive and want to be your
(19:27):
own child.
So at the very least continuing on her duties, she's upstairs now.
She tidies up Todd's bedroom, finds a gun.
We also learn a few things on the news about unemployment, a new cyber life plan.
Then Todd comes out of the upstairs bathroom and she goes in there to clean it up right
(19:52):
after he just blew up the toilet.
It's gross.
I don't know if you notice the look on her face when she comes out of the bathroom.
She may not have feelings, but she knows disgusting when she sees it.
I wonder if they can smell.
Yikes.
Kara eventually gets into Alice's room to clean up in there a little bit and Alice warms
(20:14):
up to Kara and gives her a key to a jewelry box.
In it, Kara finds some drawings, one which appears to depict what looks like Todd attacking
and damaging Kara.
So she wasn't hit by a car, right?
Obviously not.
We know this guy has rage issues.
(20:37):
Yep, speaking of, Kara goes back downstairs to see Todd being rough with Alice.
Okay, moving on, we are back to Marcus.
It's still the same day.
He returns home and we learn that he is the caretaker for an old man named Carl.
And this is when we see in the foray, the room, the big entryway room, there's birds
(21:02):
in a cage.
It's Merlin's.
It's little android Merlin's.
And guess what, Cappy?
And Merlin has a friend!
That?
But I was going to say, they're actually yellow this time.
Yeah, I know.
That's you.
They're yellow!
If you don't know what we're talking about, go watch or listen to Heavy Rain from last
(21:23):
season.
We're stupid is basically what it comes down to.
We're struggling.
Carl seems so cool.
Also his house is cool.
It's like a one bedroom mansion.
He has a freaking giraffe in there.
What are your impressions of Carl?
I really like Carl.
Carl is a demonstration of good humans that exist in their world because up until now,
(21:46):
we've only met humans who yell at androids, who treat them terribly, who are bad fathers,
who are pushing and shoving.
It's a really nice change to meet someone nice.
Marcus brings him downstairs to serve him breakfast and I know you had to notice the
(22:08):
origami killer's calling card as home decor on his shelves.
Know what?
You didn't notice?
Kathy!
I'm like too busy looking at other things apparently.
Oh my goodness.
Let me...
4823.
There'll be multiple times where you can see it.
(22:29):
I walk right up to them too.
I can't believe you didn't see them.
There's origami all over his bookshelf!
How did I not notice that before?
I don't know.
I was wondering what you were doing over there too.
I remember it was like, oh, why are you walking to the bookshelf not recognizing anything?
(22:53):
There's also more of them behind the giraffe that you noticed.
Oh my gosh.
It makes me even more convinced that the birds are an Easter egg and that we were really
onto something with Merlin.
I really think we were onto something.
Also a much more pleasant piano scene in this game compared to Heavy Rain and just another
(23:13):
reference overall.
It won't be the last.
Anything before Carl comes over to talk to him?
My thought is that you would think that if they can create freaking androids that are
pretty much like humans, they could find a way to extend the life of humans.
(23:35):
Yeah, that is a good point because he doesn't seem overly old.
One thing that he says to Marcus is,
One day I won't be here to take care of you anymore.
You'll have to protect yourself and make your choices.
Decide who you are and want to become.
(23:55):
Interesting.
It also brings up the question, what happens to androids when their owners are no longer
there or don't want them?
Do they get returned back to cyber life to be recycled and reused again?
Or is it part of the inheritance?
Carl continues to try to push Marcus towards humanity in a way while painting.
(24:19):
He convinces him to paint something that isn't just a perfect copy of what he's seeing.
Being able to paint probably correlates to one's feelings.
So to have an android be able to paint what they're feeling is like the first step of
recognizing that they do have emotions.
(24:42):
They are soon interrupted though by Carl's deadbeat son, Leo.
He arrives asking for money and is clearly burning through it way too fast.
Probably doing red eyes, that's kind of what is referenced.
Do you agree?
Yeah, he's pretty much a loser.
(25:02):
He's a pre-Todd.
He's gonna be Todd someday.
And he has clear daddy issues.
Because of this apparent addiction, Carl refuses to give him money and Leo gets very angry
and even pushes Marcus and says, you never loved me, took Carl.
Well, if Leo really stepped up his game and proved himself to be a better person, maybe
(25:22):
his dad would love him some more.
It's so terrible of me to say that.
But Leo clearly has issues with feeling like he's competing with Marcus as being who's
the better son and he's obviously losing this battle.
Are you ready to go back to Connor?
(25:44):
It is still the same day.
Connor is tracking down his new partner, Lieutenant Hank Anderson.
He finds him at Jimmy's bar.
Anderson seems cranky and it maybe amuses Connor.
What do you think of Connor so far?
I think he's just straightforward and he just does what he needs to do to get his results.
(26:09):
I don't know, he seems like an extremely smart newborn baby.
He's smart but he doesn't really know what he's doing when it comes to interactions.
I don't know.
He's got an innocence about him.
(26:29):
Yeah.
He has a very high IQ but very naive and not necessarily low EQ but just not really great
about reading body language and reading the room.
But he's eventually able to convince Hank, Lieutenant Anderson, to go to the crime scene.
(26:51):
When we get there, we learn that the landlord had stopped by after the tenant hadn't paid
rent in a few months and he found the body of Lieutenant Carlos Ortiz.
As Connor, investigating the scene, we learn Red Eyes is present.
We find a bloody knife which Connor licks to analyze the blood and Hank does not like
(27:16):
this at all.
Which, this isn't the first time he's done that.
No.
We find blood trails, signs of a struggle in the kitchen, the words, I am alive written
in blood using CyberlifeSans font, and then through reconstructions, Connor learns exactly
what happened, including that the android was attacked, likely causing emotional shock.
(27:38):
Connor also finds RE9 written over and over again in the shower as well as a little statue
thing.
After reconstructing the entire crime scene, Connor knows the deviant must be nearby and
he does eventually locate him in the attic.
So RE9 sounds like Ari, which to me made my mic connect to Heavy Rain.
(28:00):
Ari is the parent program.
It morphed into RE9.
That's crazy.
There's a connection to Heavy Rain here, Kathy.
There has to be.
We're onto it.
Yeah, we're onto it.
More than just Easter eggs.
So this deviant begs Connor out to turn him in, but after only a microscopic moment of
(28:23):
hesitation, Connor calls out for Hank and the deviant has been captured.
I think Connor hesitating whether or not to call Hank just indicates his maybe potential
to somehow start thinking for himself and not thinking because of the way he's programmed.
And the first time we see him, no hesitation, but this time we see this slight little oh
(28:49):
and he maybe is starting to develop some empathy on why Carlos got stabbed 28 times and he's
understanding where the deviant is coming from.
There's a meme that you don't even know that you're referencing.
It sounded like you were referencing it, but you weren't.
Real quickly, I should have mentioned this at the beginning, but at this point we don't
(29:12):
have a choice as Connor, right?
He chooses for us to turn him into Hank, but this is a decision-based game.
So the issue with replaying decision-based games is how to do it, right?
And so for this game, I decided to make the choices that I felt made for the more cinematic
(29:33):
experience in terms of the story unfolding.
So just little, what's the word?
P.S.A.
What's the word?
Damn it, this is really messing me up.
Oh, Leah, you're going to poop your pants if you can't think of the word.
I am, and that's what always happens when I can't find it.
(29:56):
I need to find this word or I'm going to have diarrhea.
We'll go with disclosure.
So yeah, just a little disclosure on how I came about making decisions in this game as
I have played through it multiple times.
Anyway, should we move on to scene six?
Okay, we are back to Kara who ends up in a dire situation.
(30:22):
Still the same day, but now 914 PM, Kara serves Todd and Alice dinner during which Todd becomes
erratic, and eventually boils over and begins to hit Alice.
Kara eventually breaks through the demand or her code, whatever she breaks through,
something and two options, reason with Todd or protect Alice.
(30:45):
There's no way Todd can possibly be reasoned with, right?
I mean, that's, there's no way.
So I chose to go up to protect Alice and Kara has now become a deviant.
I'm glad she broke through and it's starting to make sense why this game is called Become
(31:06):
Human.
I'm really glad Kara is going after Alice because truly she's the one who needs protection
and I'm glad she was able to figure out how to break the code and it seems like it's triggered
through strong emotion.
During Todd's rant, he was mad that Alice's mom took off.
(31:27):
How could the mom just leave without taking Alice with her?
Like when you know the husband Todd is as abusive as he is and you decide to leave your
child, the least you could do is call CPS.
I'm so pissed at that.
Her parents, like she deserves better parents and she deserves a more humanized version
of Kara because obviously there's only one person who's going to protect her in this
(31:50):
situation and it's Android.
A fight does break out, but Kara remembered the gun and ends up shooting and killing Todd
and she and Alice make a run for it.
Do we need to do this so long for Todd?
No.
Kill me, mother******.
Kill him.
You knew my feelings from day one.
(32:10):
Moment one.
Yeah, moment one.
At 9.42pm, Marcus and Carl return home after a cocktail party to find that the light in
his studio is on.
Marcus calls the police and then the two of them investigate to find an unhinged Leo looking
to steal some art.
Anything you want to add so far?
(32:31):
Uh, Leo's a dick.
That's it?
Well, I have more notes that I want to talk about.
Let me put a few more comments in first and then we'll get there.
So during the confrontation, Leo pushes Carl and abuses Marcus.
(32:51):
Carl orders Marcus not to defend himself, but the abuse pushes him too far and he breaks
through just as Kara did to become deviant.
So okay, Carl, why would you tell him to not defend himself?
Knowing that-
I think he still cares about his son.
Well, is he truly acting like your son?
(33:13):
Because apparently you haven't followed him much and he hasn't respected you either much.
And I'm just so irritated when Carl's just going like, Leo, leave him alone.
And then not doing any type of action.
I get that he's not in a position to be doing anything, but just yelling that.
Just telling a woman to calm down.
You're not going to get any impact.
(33:34):
So his lack of parenting for Leo is probably why Leo is such a dick and a spoiled brat.
I think that's the question.
Was he a sucky dad or did the drugs just get him?
Is it all the drugs or was there more to it?
And the thing is, it's a bit of a hypocrite because in the beginning he's talking about
(33:57):
Marcus that you should be more human, be on your own, find your own path.
And then the next thing you do is like, oh Marcus, just let him punch you in the face
and let him destroy your body.
I see your point.
I think Carl's just helpless.
I don't think he wants either one of them hurt.
I think he's just in a situation that he can't really control and he's trying to do what
(34:20):
he can.
But despite having free will, Marcus, me, chooses to endure the abuse for Carl's sake.
I think Marcus cares about Carl.
He doesn't want to make him mad.
Carl collapses and Marcus runs over to him and Carl says, remember Marcus, don't let
anybody tell you who you are.
(34:42):
And Marcus yells, dad, while crying.
Meanwhile, Leo's just standing in the background watching.
And Leo's like, you did this.
It's so awkward.
Oh my gosh.
Leo is pissing me off.
He's an idiot.
And then the police show up and Leo says, oh, it was the Android.
And then they shoot him.
(35:02):
Which is so irritating that the police are like, shoot first, then ask questions.
That kind of attitude, just siding with Leo when there's truly no need to shoot Marcus.
It's not like he was resisting or anything.
Yeah.
The only thing is if, like how well known is deviancy at this point?
Because if everyone's freaked out about androids and then they think, oh, they walk into this,
(35:27):
you could understand it doesn't make it okay.
But I think it might give a reason as to why they shot first.
Yeah.
Perhaps.
Okay.
Final scene.
It's now November 6th.
Connor and Gavin watch Hank face a brick wall in the interrogation with the deviant that
Connor captured.
Gavin suggests roughing it up, but Connor says androids can't feel pain.
(35:52):
And he thinks that he should just try to interrogate it.
So he goes in.
He stares at the two way mirror.
And I love Hank's reaction.
Throughout this interrogation, we learn a detail.
He says, I was programmed to hunt devians like you.
I'm concerned who's the one who did the programming?
(36:14):
If it was cyber life or the police that asked him because if cyber life is the one who programmed
Connor to do that, is it because cyber life knows there's a lot of flaw in their software?
So they need to have this type of backup plan?
Or is it the police who's just trying to maintain order in their city?
(36:34):
Connor was sent to the police to assist in the investigation by cyber life.
So well,
cyber life obviously knows there's some issues with their products.
So that's the question.
Why is cyber life still in mass production of their androids?
If there's a growing population of those that have issues.
(36:57):
And then about the shower statue, the deviant responds, it's an offering so that I'll be
saved an offering to r a nine.
He says only r a nine can save us.
Connor asks him more about r a nine and he responds, the day shall come when we will
no longer be slaves, we will be the masters.
(37:18):
Connor continues to try but is unable to find out who r a nine is.
What are your thoughts about r a nine at this point?
It's pretty creepy how these deviants and I don't even know if he was a deviant at that
point of time, but just in general how androids are thinking that there's a higher power up
there that can save them from humans.
(37:40):
And I could see why they would want to revolt against all the pain that they're being put
through right now.
This is interesting.
I just had an interesting thought because so far it seems like we've seen all the emotional
shock that has caused deviancy.
It's been like fear of being replaced, being attacked in Marcus's case and in this androids
(38:01):
case and then with Kara it's emotional shock of something happening to someone else that
she cares about.
But we haven't seen any emotional shock of a good thing.
So yeah, I'm curious what we'll pick up on that and then if a good emotion can trigger
enough emotional shock to result in deviancy.
(38:25):
So Connor successfully gets the confession and in my first playthrough I forgot to do
it the second time because I missed the meme that you just accidentally referenced a minute
ago so I have it pulled up to show you because we cannot go through this game without talking
about 28 stab wounds.
(38:47):
So you'll recognize this moment from my playthrough.
Oh my god.
28 stab wounds.
The way he jumps.
I jumped too.
What are you talking about?
I jumped too.
I had the volume way up in my headphones.
It's too good.
(39:08):
Yeah.
He didn't seem like the aggressive type though so I'm kind of surprised one of the options
is you can make him that aggressive.
That's what I love about this game especially with Connor.
You can really go different directions with him but I just love- everybody loves the 28
stab wounds.
After concluding the interrogation the others enter and Gavin pushes the deviant dangerously
(39:33):
close to self destruction which Connor had mentioned before.
Deviants have a tendency to self-destruct if they become overly emotional.
Connor has to get assertive to make them unhand the deviant leading to a frosty impression
with Gavin and causing some guns to be drawn.
We're in a real standoff situation here.
(39:53):
Well first of all Gavin is like Blake so again recycling of characters.
Different looks though.
Yeah.
What does he say?
What does Blake say when he throws the chair?
Fucking asshole!
I totally forgot about that.
Oh.
Okay.
Oh gosh.
(40:18):
Yeah I don't think Gavin was that aggressive as Blake is.
Anyways.
I think Connor is starting to find and get closer to the edge where too much emotion
pushes him over the edge because we haven't seen Connor that aggressive up until this
point besides the 28 stab wounds.
(40:40):
So we're watching him starting to be more empathetic with more androids.
He is unlike other androids where he's programmed specifically to hunt deviants.
So what's gonna happen?
Let me have you consider this though.
Is he showing empathy for the deviant or is he afraid of the deviant being destroyed which
(41:05):
will make his job harder?
He says you don't understand if it self-destructs we won't get anything out of it.
So is his main concern getting information out of it or empathy?
If he says it like that then I would think it has more to do with getting information
and evidence out of it but if he didn't say that line then I would think that it's truly
(41:27):
out of concern for another deviant or another android.
Yeah.
They're both valid though because at the very end of the scene the deviant walks out and
says the truth is inside and we see Connor with another spike of software instability.
So something is affecting Connor.
But by the way back to Gavin.
(41:48):
He doesn't throw a chair like Blake does but why does he say f*** like that?
It sounds like a duck sneezing or something he's like f***.
Let me go and look.
What is that?
It sounds like a sneeze.
It sounds like yeah a duck a sneeze I don't know but it's not f***.
(42:14):
I can tell you that.
Even with the boss an accent I don't think you would get it like that.
At least you don't have heavy rain accents this time.
Yeah that was so bad.
In this scene though I'm pretty annoyed and I'm actually really annoyed for watching only
part one of a game but this part like the inability for the humans in this game for
(42:37):
them to be so ignorant and not listen and the way their ego is just in their way of
their comprehension skills it is driving me crazy.
Well let's keep track.
What's this 14 years away?
Are we gonna do any thinking for ourselves in 14 years?
(42:57):
We'll have to figure that out because I have a feeling if you don't want to you don't have
to be a critical thinker at all by the year 2038.
There's gonna be so much stuff so I don't know if that's part of it but they're all
stupid.
I agree with you.
It's very irritating.
Any closing thoughts from you for part one?
(43:17):
What'd you think so far?
I'm liking it so far but I'm curious to see what's gonna happen.
I'm really nervous for Kara and Alice because I really do want them to be able to escape
without punishment.
This is one that I'm very excited to talk about because I think that there is a lot
to talk about so I'm looking forward to it.
(43:40):
I will be tracking secret stats and you're gonna have to guess again.
Now I'm shaking my head.
One of them I know I'm doing, the other one I haven't decided but the one I'm leaning
towards you're gonna absolutely hate me for.
Oh gosh.
The fact that I can't even pay attention to the origami is making me quite concerned about
(44:04):
what kind of sites you're gonna choose.
Anyway, get ready to guess.
Is there anything else that you want to say for the start of this new game or should we
close it out?
I think I said all I said and let's save it for next part.
So with that I'm gonna close it out.
Adacity on one, three, two, one.
(44:26):
Thank you for listening and don't forget to send in any questions, comments, or game
suggestions.
You can find all our contact info on our website, replayreviewspod.com, or contact us directly
through our site.
Did we completely miss something?
Are we way off the mark or do you just want us to take a deeper look at anything from
the game?
We'll tackle any topics you all want to hear in our season wrap up episode.
We also have a reddit where we discuss anything we're curious about.
(44:49):
Go take a look and let us know what you're thinking.
Our theme music is Condemned by Eggy Toast.
They'll play you out and we'll be back next week.
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