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I hope Watch_Dogs isn't just a pale surface imitation of Person of Interest

N

NotTheGuyYouKill

Member
Bear with me here a second.

Now for those of you following the WD threads, I continually spam Person of Interest, a CBS action-drama-thriller about vigilantism, artificial intelligence, and surveillance paranoia as a comparison piece to Watch_Dogs. It is the brainchild of Jonah Nolan (The Dark Knight films, The Prestige, Momento) and Greg Plageman.

Now, Watch_Dogs focuses a ton on surveillance, artificial intelligence (maybe, depending on what they do with ctOS), revenge, maybe civil liberties etc. All themes that Person of Interest does extraordinarily well. However, I worry that Watch_Dogs won't mine the amazing potential there is surrounding these topics that Person of Interest does. Person of Interest built itself up from a semi scifi procedural into an insanely interesting science fiction borderline surveillance dystopian epic serialized tale about the future of our world. I am not shitting when I say this is one of the best, most timely, and wonderfully done shows on television in the past twenty years

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What I'm saying is, Watch_Dogs hits so many of these crazy themes based on the promotional material, I hope they actually utilize it to tell an amazing story, and it's not just "Your cell phone does cool shit. Are you a bad enough dude to get revenge?"

I am craving a story as good as Person of Interest's. Can Ubi deliver? If you're remotely interested in any of this stuff and Watch_Dogs doesn't deliver, watch Person of Interest. Or watch POI anyway, even if Watch_Dogs delivers, cause it certainly can't match what POI has done to date.
 
C

calder

Member
maxcriden said:
Unfortunately, and not to be a hater, but I have never seen any evidence indicating that they can.
Click to expand...

Considering the OP considers PoI "one of the best, most timely, and wonderfully done shows on television in the past twenty years", I'm going to go ahead and predict disappointment.
 
N

NotTheGuyYouKill

Member
calder said:
Considering the OP considers PoI "one of the best, most timely, and wonderfully done shows on television in the past twenty years", I'm going to go ahead and predict disappointment.
Click to expand...

Well, it is true!

What I want is a game that actually uses these themes as something important instead of wallpaper.
 
Z

Zerin

Member
Very low expectations for the 'story' of the game, fairly high expectations for the sandbox to play in.
 
T

Trigonometrize.

Member
Similarly, I'm concerned The Last of Us 2 might end up a Seinfeld clone, but as long as we cross our fingers and hope for the best I'm sure our respective plights will be rectified.
 
N

NotTheGuyYouKill

Member
ShinMaruku said:
Your hope is misguided. Since has Ubi ever wrote a passable story?
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The Ezio trilogy part of Assassin's Creed (excising the modern day stuff) was actually really well-written.
Trigonometrize. said:
Similarly, I'm concerned The Last of Us 2 might end up a Seinfeld knock off, but as long as we cross our fingers and hope for the best I'm sure our respective plights will be rectified.
Click to expand...

"It's a game about nothing!"

"Nothing?"

"Nothing!"
 
D

DangerMouse

Member
I hope the game's good. Right now I'm expecting the game part to be good but don't really know what to expect from the story.

And yeah, Person of Interest is fantastic.
 
B

Byronic Hero

Member
Watch_Dogs won't have a Root. So it won't be nearly as good.

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Seriously though, I don't think Ubisoft will be able to match the storytelling of POI, but they may be able to get some things right. I think it'll be good to people who don't expect it to be as good as POI, but for those of us who basically just want to play as John with Finch in our ear giving us mission objectives, we may be a bit disappointed.
 
R

Remachinate

Member
I've read that the first season is poor, the second season middling, and the third season is where the show has hit its stride. Is it worth it to suffer through the first two seasons, or can I just cut to the latest?
 
C

Corpekata

Banned
I like POI as much as the next guy (well, maybe not as much as the OP) but I think you might be overselling it a tiny bit.
 
L

Lonestar

I joined for Erin Brockovich discussion
my best hope, would be that MAYBE, the end game hints at troubling Surveillance AI's coming online, or other entities in opposition to you involving the surveillance/AI aspect.

But as far as I can tell, there's not really anything on "AI" level. Basically, you're phone turns you into a form of Season 3 Root (less detailed information about what's about to happen, but more ability to screw with the world i.e. blackouts)
 
N

NotTheGuyYouKill

Member
Remachinate said:
I've read that the first season is poor, the second season middling, and the third season is where the show has hit its stride. Is it worth it to suffer through the first two seasons, or can I just cut to the latest?
Click to expand...

Second season was fantastic. Show hit its stride near the end of Season 1 and then it's quality continually increased.
 
L

Lumpy Onion

Member
Dunno, but before this thread I had never heard of Person of Interest. Gonna check it out as it sounds damn good. Thanks!

Edit: And of course the DVDs are expensive as fuck and my Direct TV on demand has utterly random ass episodes. Oh well I will wait till I can get it cheap.
 
C

Corpekata

Banned
Remachinate said:
I've read that the first season is poor, the second season middling, and the third season is where the show has hit its stride. Is it worth it to suffer through the first two seasons, or can I just cut to the latest?
Click to expand...

Second season is good. If anything 3 loses it's way a little at times. Season 1 is a bit dull at the start, but it picks up toward the end. I'd watch it all though, there's a lot of recurring villains and plotlines.
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
ShinMaruku said:
Since has Ubi ever wrote a passable story?
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Remember that time when they won a writing award for AC:Liberation, and how Connor got nominated for multiple Character of the Year awards, not to mention how many people praise villains like Vaas, or how everyone is currently praising the story of Child of Light and just a few months ago praised the coming of age story that was Black Flag. Just to name a few times when they've wrote "passable stories." Video game storytelling as a whole is piss poor compared to the likes of film and television but still let's not pretend like Ubisoft hires some of the worst writers or actors that aren't convincing. And as we all know, good acting can go along way to help out something that's VERY poorly written, considering that games like Beyond:Two Souls gets praised for it's writing.
 
L

Lonestar

I joined for Erin Brockovich discussion
NotTheGuyYouKill said:
Second season was fantastic. Show hit its stride near the end of Season 1 and then it's quality continually increased.
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Whereas I think the Show starts to get better around Episode 5 or 6 in Season 1, and hits a high point in the last couple episodes of S1, and hasn't let up since.
 
Green Yoshi

Green Yoshi

Member
As I watched the debut trailer, I had different expectations. A hacker that challenges the almighty surveillance state. Now it seems it's a game about an almighty smartphone owner, that uses his abilities to cope with personal problems. His smartphone is even more powerful than ctOS, because he gets exclusive info about the persons he sees. The resulting social implications if the state had access to these private information as well would have been interesting. Now it only seems to satisfy the voyeuristic desires of the player. When Aiden can see on a percentage display, that a criminal act will happen, why can't ctOS notice as well and take action? ("Minority Report").

And these digital trips remind me more on Saints Row than on a game for a mature target group.

It still can be fun to play but you should better don't think too much about it.
 
E

EXIE

Banned
Thanks for reminding me about PoI, I chanced upon an episode once and thought it was damn good.

More on point, it's a big ask to expect TV serial quality writing in a game, it's just not there yet. The difference is a game has to have good gameplay and content as a priority, probably even more so for a sandbox game with this much ambition.
 
R

Razgriz-Specter

Member
calder said:
Considering the OP considers PoI "one of the best, most timely, and wonderfully done shows on television in the past twenty years", I'm going to go ahead and predict disappointment.
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What if you consider it the best tv show of all time..

everything is disappoint.

EXIE said:
Thanks for reminding me about PoI, I chanced upon an episode once and thought it was damn good.
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You can't really skip anything, even the early procedural episodes always throw in very important stuff.
mid season 1 is where it picks up and starts to become serial.
 
ShinMaruku

ShinMaruku

Member
Crossing Eden said:
Remember that time when they won a writing award for AC:Liberation, and how Connor got nominated for multiple Character of the Year awards, not to mention how many people praise villains like Vaas, or how everyone is currently praising the story of Child of Light and just a few months ago praised the coming of age story that was Black Flag. Just to name a few times when they've wrote "passable stories." Video game storytelling as a whole is piss poor compared to the likes of film and television but still let's not pretend like Ubisoft hires some of the worst writers or actors that aren't convincing. And as we all know, good acting can go along way to help out something that's VERY poorly written, considering that games like Beyond:Two Souls gets praised for it's writing.
Click to expand...

Oh I am not just saying Ubisoft is the worst at it, I am just saying game story telling is bad as you said, I am just questioning all the people who actually expect something good out of people who have never done it or got close to it.
 
B

BatDan

Bane? Get them on board, I'll call it in.
The most we can hope for is Ubi pulling a Blood Dragon and re-skinning Watch_Dogs into a PoI game.
Hell, all the parts are there. Finch can hack and provide missions, Reese can shoot knees (something the E3 demo made an effort to show), Root can provide secondary missions through the Machine.
 
iNvid02

iNvid02

Member
its a revenge story right? it brings him to meet those 3 other hackers, if they can get up to anything half as interesting as POI i'll be happy.

ShinMaruku said:
Your hope is misguided. Since has Ubi ever wrote a passable story?
Click to expand...

theres no accounting for taste, but blanket statements like this just make it sound like you're talking shit
 
B

BokehKing

Banned
calder said:
Considering the OP considers PoI "one of the best, most timely, and wonderfully done shows on television in the past twenty years", I'm going to go ahead and predict disappointment.
Click to expand...
Well it kind of is
It was talking about Snowden and Surveillance before it even popped up in the news. I wouldnt be mad if Ubi borrowed.... Heavily from that show
 
L

Lonestar

I joined for Erin Brockovich discussion
Green Yoshi said:
As I watched the debut trailer, I had different expectations. A hacker that challenges the almighty surveillance state. Now it seems it's a game about an almighty smartphone owner, that uses his abilities to cope with personal problems. His smartphone is even more powerful than ctOS, because he gets exclusive info about the persons he sees. The resulting social implications if the state had access to these private information as well would have been interesting. Now it only seems to satisfy the voyeuristic desires of the player. When Aiden can see on a percentage display, that a criminal act will happen, why can't ctOS notice as well and take action? ("Minority Report").

And these digital trips remind me more on Saints Row than on a game for a mature target group.

It still can be fun to play but you should better don't think too much about it.
Click to expand...

I remember a trailer from a long time ago, where a TV Reporter was reporting on Aidan Pierce as he chased down a criminal. The Reporter mentioned that Aidan used a Crime predictor program that is in beta testing for the Police. So, it's made out like it was still being developed for usage by cops, and Aidan took the program.

Here's that video
 
H

HowZatOZ

Banned
Best thing to do is wait and see what it delivers, but from what we've seen it hasn't pushed into that category. Really it's just GTA but with hacking, which I'm more than happy to play.
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
ShinMaruku said:
Oh I am not just saying Ubisoft is the worst at it, I am just saying game story telling is bad as you said, I am just questioning all the people who actually expect something good out of people who have never done it or got close to it.
Click to expand...
That's the thing is that Ubisoft as a whole has gotten much closer to telling a story that would be good for a television show compared to other developers. Maybe not a critically acclaimed best of all time tv show, but a tv show nonetheless.
 
ShinMaruku

ShinMaruku

Member
Crossing Eden said:
That's the thing is that Ubisoft as a whole has gotten much closer to telling a story that would be good for a television show compared to other developers. Maybe not a critically acclaimed best of all time tv show, but a tv show nonetheless.
Click to expand...

True, they have given it a better shot than most developers but that's because too few actually try. I'd like something more but with this current crop of developers and publishers we have to play the hand that were are given.
 
S

SpyGuy239

Member
I think watch dogs will be a great game (hopefully) but there's just no way in hell Ubi will deliver a story that has grown to be as good as PoI. Feel free to prove me wrong though.
 
O

Orayn

Member
I love PoI, but I really don't expect Watch Dogs to channel the same techno-thriller goodness. Right now, it just seems like a generic revenge story with a few half-hearted twists and smartphone-based "powers" tacked on.

Doesn't help that PoI's premise is at least vaguely heroic, while WD is starting from the idea that Aiden is going to use his hacking abilities to be a half-baked Frank Castle who shoots cops without a second thought.
 
S

Skinny Pete

Banned
Is Person of Intersest the typical CBS procedural program? Main reason I haven't given it a shot is because I hate those kind of shows.
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
ShinMaruku said:
True, they have given it a better shot than most developers but that's because too few actually try. I'd like something more but with this current crop of developers and publishers we have to play the hand that were are given.
Click to expand...
.
 
N

NotTheGuyYouKill

Member
Lonestar said:
Whereas I think the Show starts to get better around Episode 5 or 6 in Season 1, and hits a high point in the last couple episodes of S1, and hasn't let up since.
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I agree with you, but I am thinking about the majority of viewers. They certainly seed a lot of important stuff very early on that pays off heavily near the end and then the ramifications continue into seasons 2 and 3. No other show has that feeling of consequence and the world changing that POI does, I think.

Orayn said:
I love PoI, but I really don't expect Watch Dogs to channel the same techno-thriller goodness. Right now, it just seems like a generic revenge story with a few half-hearted twists and smartphone-based "powers" tacked on.
Click to expand...

Which is honestly a waste of the potential.
 
L

Lonestar

I joined for Erin Brockovich discussion
Skinny Pete said:
Is Person of Intersest the typical CBS procedural program? Main reason I haven't given it a shot is because I hate those kind of shows.
Click to expand...

It's a show that probably would be better placed on FX, AMC or one of the pay channels (HBO/Showtime). Man, if it could unshackle itself from the censorship of a network show....

It's the Un-CBS show.
 
O

Orayn

Member
Skinny Pete said:
Is Person of Intersest the typical CBS procedural program? Main reason I haven't given it a shot is because I hate those kind of shows.
Click to expand...

It starts as a procedural where the lead characters are vigilantes getting their information from a mysterious computer, but towards the end of the first season it becomes more serialized and also a lot better. I'd compare it to Burn Notice, except with more of a drama/thriller angle and less comedy.

And yeah, like Lonestar said, it's head and shoulders above CBS' standard schlock like NCIS.
 
N

NotTheGuyYouKill

Member
Skinny Pete said:
Is Person of Intersest the typical CBS procedural program? Main reason I haven't given it a shot is because I hate those kind of shows.
Click to expand...

No! It's a procedural/serial hybrid. So a lot of episodes are procedural in nature, but they are often involved with the serial aspect, or they seed elements and plot points that pay off later. Seasons 1 and 2 have a mix of one-off episodes, continuing serial arcs, and a larger overall narrative. Season 3 is mostly composed of several long arcs with a couple of one-offs here and there.

It is not a typical CBS procedural. It isn't just case of the week, it builds to something grander. There is an actual plan and plot and character development as the narrative is continually pushed forward.
 
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