Yes.
3 Likes
Content Warning
This video contains the following:
- Attempted Suicide
17 - Homeless
Well, it wouldn’t be that much of a David Cage game if it didn’t feature a good portion of the story around a group of homeless people, but thankfully, unlike in Indigo Prophecy, they aren’t secretly a large cult of “benevolent” overseers. These people are… people, and sure they don’t have a whole lot of depth, but they’re fine for the limited amount of time we get with them.
Overall, this is an alright chapter with some nice moments that are otherwise marred by some pretty egregious moments. I like the little cast of characters here, and it kind of sucks that they basically stop existing after this video.
Fun Fact: Based on the traffic signs from the scenes with the overpass, we can tell that this is supposed to take place somewhere within Washington state. (If you look closely, you can see a route number within a silhouette of George Washington, a signifier of the state we’re in.)
Among the nice moments and some, admittedly, interesting storytelling methods, do any in particular stand out to you as good/memorable?
Also, there will likely be a “mid-week” update on Friday or Saturday as the next chapter is entirely cutscene.
3 Likes
I feel like the more emotional moments with Nathan, and how he does truly care for Jodie like a daughter are really good. I find a lot of the set up and surrounding questionable of course, but Nathan is actually pretty okay.
I also, again, find some of the initial concepts really good. Even this episode, you’re a super psychic homeless person trying to just live, is at least interesting. The guitar scene in particular was actually good, and I can’t help but feel satisfied watching Jodie kick the shit out of people to deserve it for once. I’m glad they did for the most part react to Jodie’s powers like you’d expect, and I think this DEFINITELY confirms that Jodie outright speaks using their voice, not her own.
Even with what happens, it’s…not a bad chapter all around. I can’t believe “Jodie becomes the queen of the homeless” was the late game’s main highlight so far.
2 Likes
Thanks for not showing the, uh, “extended cut” of the event with the dude across the street, I appreciate that. The guitar scene was much nicer even if Jodie apparently entered a chrono-warp during it; I gather that it was trying to show the passage of time, but suddenly making things darker in the space of a single cut during the same song is maybe not the best way to do that!
I did actually like the mementos left around the hospital room, since if we’re going to have to cut and run from this part of the story it at least provides some closure. Seeing Jodie’s new friends in better times was nice! I’m still not entirely sure how they got from point A to point B but it was kind of the game to let us know they didn’t get pounced by wild QTEs as soon as the fire department arrived. When the game actually has a chance to use environmental storytelling without needing to glue mechanics to it it can do the job pretty decently.
It’s extremely savior-complex but I also liked that the game lets you use Jodie’s magical mystery powers to help people in need, and that it resisted the urge to have anyone engage in a dramatic betrayal once a ghost solved their problems and Zoey came onto the scene. That showed an amount of restraint the story thus far could’ve used more of.
4 Likes
Jodie: “Killing 20ish people and blowing up a town block is fine, but stealing some change is where I draw the line, c’mon Aiden, let’s get the f***k outta here!”
Anyaway, what was up with that knife scene… I think that David Cage is the kinda guy that believes there is only one stage to depression: suicide.
Overall this chapter was pretty good! The fight scene was very well choreographed, the whole concept behind this chapter was really enjoyable and we finally got to see Jodie interact with other human beings instead of being ordered around. One thing that I keep coming back to is the sheer extent of Aiden’s powers which at this point seem to be able to break the story in half if Jodie was more liberal and creative with his powers.
On an unrelated note… am I the only one who thinks that if you photoshop Hitler’s mustache onto the would-be rapist he’d basically look like Hitler’s alcoholic twin brother?
1 Like
18 - Broken
Time for a short (and mostly uninteresting) chapter that also happens to entirely be cutscene!! We also get a followup with the officer from the end of the last chapter, and it turns out that he’s the most important person of all, just maybe not in this game.
Not to worry, it’s back to incredibly long chapters next time!
…hooray…
7 Likes
Interesting trivia on the cop voice actor. I have to say that the cutscene and interactions with the cop really reminds me of the first episode of stranger things.
2 Likes
You know, she kept her word at least.
You’d think after the second one of these they’d stop.
2 Likes
Very weird that this is a chapter and not a cutscene before whatever is supposed to be the next chapter. I wonder if they had to cut costs here as Cage usually likes his action sequences.
2 Likes
I guess he wanted to show off at the start of the game that Jodie has a mysterious power and can cause a lot of destruction, but making the player do it would mean introducing too many game mechanics at once, so it’s just cutscene. I guess they could have introduced the conversation mechanic since that’s not too difficult, but eh.
2 Likes
Honeslty. We could have still had it be all cutscene but just see all the aiden stuff going on. Not knowing what or how people are flying around and acting crazy. It would actually be really interesting and be a crazy good hook to get you into the story. Alas, what looks like the best action scene this game could set up is done off screen.
I feel like someone played this game and said, “you know what? We can do better.” And then made stranger things.
The previous chapter is the best one so far. Aside from the really gross parts of it, the interaction with Stan amd them is genuinly good. And shows how you can still have amazing moments for Jodie while still keeping things tragic. You genuinly feel bad after the guys show up to get their revenge. Its not actually forced or anything. Amd it really goes to show how different Jodies life could be. One where the CIA didnt use her for her powers and instead she travels the cou try helping those that she can.
Also. They keep acting like Jodie is the one that controls all this and not just someone tied to a mystical entity. Sure, she can influence Aiden to some extent. But its been proven time and time again that Aiden does his own thing, which usually boils down to “protect Jodie.” Nathan is right. They cant catch her because she isnt the problem.
4 Likes
For the previous episode, homeless, labor varies from person to person. Usually when you have your first baby the labor can take longer because your body needs to adjust to have the baby. This is why you can hear of longer labors, the longest i’ve personally heard of being over 78 hours. Usually after your first born, you can expect shorter labor times for other children. My mom had a much longer labor with me where my brother was born within 15 minutes from start of labor. Why Tuesday’s labor was so short is possibly the trauma and shock of not being in a healthy situation and stress of the situation. It most likely sped up the process and put the baby under stress, making her go into labor so early.
I love how dumb the military is. She warned them.
1 Like
Oh, I know that the length of labor can vary, I was just pointing to it because it comes across as more of a narrative conceit than anything. In any other game, I might not even have noticed.
I’d say the representation of the SWAT team in these chapters makes them look too much like the military, but let’s be real, the cops are just their own paramilitary force in real life.
That’s a great idea. Instead, the conversation system is properly introduced in The Embassy with some more advanced Aiden mechanicsms, which isn’t bad per se, but it could have been more gradually introduced.
So, I know everyone probably has their theories about Aiden, and I’ve tried to not be concrete in referring to him throughout the game, so as to not give away the reveal too early.
But.
In the next chapter, something will be shown — almost in passing — about Aiden, and I’m really curious to see everyone’s reactions. It’s not major or shocking, I just want to see how people will try to fit the pieces together.
And speaking of the next chapter, it’s probably going to be a day or so late, because I have to do some research into some of the topics that appear, and it’s also another severely long chapter to edit together.
4 Likes
19 - Navajo
Jodie’s back to helping people in this latest chapter, and for some reason, I’m not perfectly confident in this game’s ability to handle representation of another marginalized group. In any case, the game’s pace continues to slow down for a while and it manages to work completely fine. Jodie finally gets to experience life in a much more stable environment than she ever has before.
But of course, there’s a catch. Oh well, at least we get to find out a bit more about Aiden’s 心転身の術 (Shintenshin no Jutsu).
Spoilers for after you watch the video.
I’ve seen people get confused at the ending an wonder if the inclusion of Shimasani as Jodie rides off is a bug, but it isn’t. It’s just another case of ghosts being around and sort of fading in and out of visibility for storytelling reasons.
But it’s time for another poll, where you decide what Jodie does in the next update!! 
So, here’s the situation:
Someone we meet is in a medically induced coma against their will (it gets explained, don’t worry), but they’ve been in a coma for so long that they’ve lost almost all brain activity and Jodie is given the opportunity to make a decision.
So what should Jodie do? (This is all the information you’re getting, so choose carefully.)
- Let them live.
- Let them die.
0 voters
The poll ends on Sunday, April 22nd at 5PM EST/9PM GMT, so get voting!!
2 Likes
I always heard people say that this is the best chapter of Beyond Two Souls and I definitely see why. It’s nice to see the game do more with it’s ghost theme and for once not focus on Jodie’s tragedies. I have no idea how well the Navajo theme was handled, but it certainly didn’t seem bad. Really the only 2 things to hold against this chapter are the cliche “Native Americans summon evil entity to defeat WhiteManTM, but all goes wrong so we need Not-like-other-WhiteMenTM to help us” and not being able to pet the dog!
1 Like
I’m inclined to believe that they probably fucked up a lot of the details, given they can’t even spell Diné right. Some cursory research also shows that four is a spiritually important number to them, so having he lynchpin of everything be five talismans is kind of dumb. Also, relating to the myth you mentioned, while the brothers struck Big Giant three times, a bolt of lightning hit him first so that’s four hits total. Just a little detail I liked.
That being said, as you yourself said, this is probably the best representation these people have gotten in a long time, for good or ill. But it’s also one of those situations like the Vedun, where they really just don’t like talking about this stuff casually so there isn’t a lot of information we can go on if we WANT to be respectful (which I imagine David Cage does? Something about his style makes me think that he tries, he really does try, he just sucks at it). So yeah, overall I’d say this is…a fine enough representation.
As for the game, once again we are provided with a glimpse of what could of been an amazingly solid game experience: a wandering woman and her potentially demonic friend, solving ghost crimes! That’d be cool!
Concerning the end bit of this episode: I doubt Aiden’s a full on demon, but doing some reading could tie Aiden (or at least something like him) to Déélgééd, the horned monster, a monster made from a woman giving birth using an antler, creating a headless baby which became this creature. That meshes well with the art of Aiden here, plus my own personal theory that Aiden’s probably a stillbirth twin of Jodie or something, thus the connection.
I voted for pulling the plug, so to say. I don’t know the context, but I think living in that situation just isn’t something worth doing.
2 Likes
Chapter again shows glimpses of what the game could have been. So far out of all the other chapters this one is perhaps the most tolerable and enjoyable honestly. I do wish they’d time-lapsed jodie bonding with the family there, vs. doing the usual people bond with strange person in a night of meeting them.
Additionally i really liked the inclusion of Navajo legends and folklore into the actual story. I am curious as to why Jodie didn’t just use Aiden to scout on the first or second night? It’d make more sense then going outside at first.
1 Like
Maybe the real Beyond was the two souls we had along the way.
That horse sure does love to eat dirt! While the chapter in general definitely felt very “earnest white owner of a dreamcatcher wants to tell their story right,” I appreciated that they seemed to…kind of care about showing these folks as people? Having Shimasani lead the rite felt a little less forced than Jodie doing literally everything. Most of the weird details are the sort that they likely could have fixed if they’d gotten a sensitivity reader. This chapter’s a bit weird in places but feels like it wants you to really like this little family.
The “No white man has ever been to the place I’m taking you” line kind of made me wish the camera just loitered outside, since the way the shot opened up in a rather nicely-lit reveal made it feel like a big wink at the presumed-white player, though I realize it would’ve been harder to insert that climactic reveal that way.
As for the pacing, I was never bored during the chapter and I think if this had been a cornerstone of the horror game we didn’t get (maybe with more threats in the desert or difficulty in figuring out what was going on) it could’ve been really super solid! You could even have explained why the ghost of a medicine man could write in English by having a throwaway line about how they’ve observed their descendants over time and struggled to communicate. What we got seemed like it could’ve used one or two more bits of interactivity but overall had a nice mix of using spooky ghost powers and just doing normal people things.
I’m glad it was possible to help Paul with Aiden’s vaguely defined healing abilities, though it’s weird they don’t let you make a beeline for him because wow, he looked awful. Count me in as yet another person who wishes we got more parts of using otherworldly powers to do chores, play pranks, and help people in need! Or, if Aiden can possess large animals, why couldn’t Jodie become the world’s greatest tiger act?
ETA: I also appreciated the research that was done for the commentary! I love me some good edutainment.
2 Likes
I always thought it was a missed opportunity that the evil spirit in this chapter wasn’t voiced by DaFoe, or wasn’t actually an army of tiny DaFoe goblins harassing the family so I did a thing.
2 Likes
This was a pretty nice chapter. The characters were interesting, there were decent spooks, and Jodie gets to do something besides being miserable.
However, this chapter also kind of highlights one of my problems with this game’s story: namely it’s inability to stick with anything. Jodie is a living science experiment being raised by a pair of benevolent scientists. Then she’s a CIA assassin. Then she’s a hobo. Then she’s living with the Navajo. But none of these storylines feel connected and this might as well just be a series of short stories staring different women with a ghost buddy.
3 Likes