The few scenes with Jodie’s parents and this particular scene really show that the only knowledge Cage has about American culture comes from movies and TV shows, and the ones that rely on cliches at that. Every single secondary character so far feels like he/she is straight out of Dawson’s Creek or 7th Heaven.
That isn’t necessarily bad writing, but it really doesn’t work for the type of story he is trying to tell, let alone a story that tries to be “pretty deep and complex”.
This is what I feel is the biggest problem in QD’s games, they swing between a serious narrative and a teen drama with no rhyme or reason.
I get why the good doctor decided to do this. I really do. Interaction with peers is important.
Fuckin’ don’t send the psychic to a random teenage birthday party. Especially in that dress. I mean it’s not terrible, but it looks like it’s the 80s. Which I mean fair maybe it is there’s no real establishment of a time period in this game I think? And I know, it’s the teenager birthday party of the doctor’s coworkers and their kids, but it still feels like not one single good thing could of happened here.
Mr Lucky 7s up there mentioned kids don’t speak like this, and while I can think of a few examples that do he’s not wrong, but what really gets me is the voice acting. The dudes in this episode sound…incredibly wrong. The hat guy especially. Also god fuckin’…react to proof that supernatural things exist! I mean before you start dying to it, obviously.
I wrote some of this post while watching, obviously, and just got to the inciting incident and…first off, why “witch” specifically, often and always? Secondly, WHAT THE FUCKING CHRIST!? They got what they deserve.
Even from a story standpoint this could be better. Does it really matter if these kids she doesn’t know treat her shitty? Probably not. She’s kind of used to not being accepted. And as a player it’s just a matter of moments of seeing this happen. If they wanted to really dig in. This party should have gone without any problems. Then cut to some time later when it’s established they’ve been her friends for a while only to turn on her like this. At least then it feels like it actually holds an important moment.
Content Warning
This video contains the following:
Sexual Assault
Attempted Rape
Simulated Suicide
09 - Like Other Girls
Welcome to that chapter. The one that’s bad. Really bad.
For the first half of the chapter (as I’m sure you can tell by the thumbnail), we see that Jodie’s changed a lot in the last… year(?), and she just wants to go out and do some regular teenage stuff. So, sneaking out on a Saturday just seems like the natural thing to do.
I can’t tell if jodie’s going goth or punk rocker or what. That said good lord Cole did not deserve what happened to him. There really needs to be some downsides to possessing him in order to go out to a really bad dive of a bar. That said i’m glad the game actually allowed for jodi to leave the bar, instead of triggering the attempted rape upon trying to leave.
Can this girl catch a break? The chronological playthrough of this is essentially Jodie Holmes: A series of unfortunate events
Anyway, does the game ever elaborate on Jodie’s relationships with her peers? This scene implies she has friends she hangs out with, but the scene before implied that she is constantly locked up and doesn’t really get to meet anyone.
I’m fairly certain that the portion of the game we’ve seen thus far has been set in the D.C. area. With the decent snowfall in the beginning of the game and the fact that we’re on a military base with the HQ of the DPA and a major government organization yet to get themselves involved, it at least shouldn’t be anywhere in the South.
So I’m like… really late, but regarding something you say in update 6. I know it was likely a joke, but children can in fact have the government be their legal guardian. In that case they are either ward of the state or ward of the court depending on what country you’re in.
Binged my way through this. I’m not going to lie, I think the chronological start would make a good opening to a story. The whole “child with strange powers” plot is done a lot, but I think it’s a decent enough set up. And ending that opening with Jodie channeling the spirits of the dead is really cool; as soon as the audience gets used to her powers, there’s one last wrinkle thrown in.
Of course, if I’m looking at the penultimate scene of the game and my first thought is, “That’s a neat way to open your game,” that’s not a great sign.
And as soon as the time skip happens, whatever potential that was there is gone. Teens are already irrational, how do you go beyond even that? We’ve at least got the story beats of shitty teens, but none of the dialogue or the delivery works!
Content Warning
This video contains the following:
Lots of Death
Simulated Suicide
(These two things come up a lot from here on out, so what you see in this video should give you an idea of what to expect in the future.)
10 - The Condenser
A year later (in-game) and it’s finally time to see what happens when a chapter is actually… good??? Yes. Unironically. I think this chapter is at least incredibly… alright.
I mean, first off, we get to the actual plot of the story and see where that takes us. No more brooding over Jodie’s childhood; (Please note that the brooding is actually far from over.) but rather, we get to see a narrative start to form, so let’s hold on to it while we can. It may be fleeting…
Let me know if you all feel the same way about this chapter and whether its change of structure and feeling and… everything would have made a cooler game if it weren’t for all of the not great stuff we’ve seen up until this point.
Well that was interesting. Spoilering my thoughts so as to not spoil the episode.
My main immediate problem with this chapter is the “nothing like it before” part. All of this information is relatively easy to understand, but…how do they KNOW about it? Where did it come from? Did the studies on Jodie really give them enough information to rip open a portal to the ghost zone? It feels in media res, which is the point given how this story actually structures itself, but it’s a weird place to start all the supernatural ghost fighter shit that…Jodie will apparently and sadly not be doing in the future.
While I don’t know the details, I know Farenheit gets to ridiculous supernatural power fights and people tend to dunk on it for it, but I think with the right tone and the right build up this game could of made it work. Jodie starts out as the victim and antagonist of a personal horror film, and we see how she lives and grows with that, eventually becoming some sort of ghost super hero. It’d be neat. Instead we have…whatever we go to from here, I suppose.
An as an aside, person with strange ghostly power that stands beside them, working with a secret government organization that knows way more than it lets on, a main character who’s name starts with Jo? Maybe I’m just projecting, but something about this smells…bizarre. In all seriousness I think this sort of set up could make for an interesting Jojo game, at least potentially.
My assumption is that these “ghosts” or whatever aren’t really new to the government and that they might’ve been experimenting with them way before Jodie was born.The thing that makes Jodie special is that she can “control” one of them.
This entire thread has been filled with conjecture that I want to comment on SO BAD because of what has been said or guessed at, but we’ll just have to wait until we hit the right parts. It’s gonna be a very interesting ride.
Also, the idea of Aiden being Jodie’s stand is fantastic!
Content Warning 
