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Sunset Overdrive, the inFamous sequel Second Son should’ve been

RootCause

Member
Ugh! I'd rather not get a sequel, than get an infamous that goes after SO. I can understand you preferring it over Infamous, but to claim that infamous should change into SO is ridiculous. Why in the hell would anyone want two games doing the exact same thing?
 
I love both games quite a lot and can't find myself to agree with this.

If Sunset Overdrive could keep up the high you experience before and during the Fizzie fight, then it would be the superior game. It sort of looses it's momentum pretty quickly after that.
 
Enjoyed Second Son way more then Sunset Overdrive. I was so excited for SO before it released, but when I played it I was just pretty much bored to tears after the first few hours. It just didn't draw me in anymore. One thing I will agree on if Infamous SS had some of the traversal options in SO it would have been better, but what's in there works well enough. Especially when you get the second ability.
 

see5harp

Member
Totally agree with your post. The traversal and combat together felt A LOT more satisfying in Sunset Overdrive. I've been saying the traversal took a step back in Infamous for a while now.
 
I 100% agree. I gave my Xbox One away at Christmas and Sunset Overdrive is the only game I really miss. Infamous Second Son was so dull from a gameplay perspective whereas Sunset Overdrive focused on nothing more than being fun.
 
Ugh! I'd rather not get a sequel, than get an infamous that goes after SO. I can understand you preferring it over Infamous, but to claim that infamous should change into SO is ridiculous. Why in the hell would anyone want two games doing the exact same thing?

Oh believe me, I really don't want the games to be the same.

What SO did that I really want SS to do as well, on its own terms, as Sucker Punch the developer not Insomniac the developer:

-Traversal combining supernatural abilities with direct interaction with objects strewn about the city. This is something the first two inFamous games did, but the traversal in Second Son, with the exception of smoke, was largely independent of your surroundings.
-Bigger emphasis on platforming. This is something that was its strongest in inFamous 1. SO did a few small amount of platforming sequences that were great and reminded me of I1. I say "SO did it better" only in that it did it at all, but what I really mean is that I'd want them to go back to what they did with I1, not copy SO.
-Bigger emphasis on unique bosses. Again, something that was done in previous games in the series that SO did. Not to say they need to be like SO, but it was something present in that game that was not in SS.
-Side content, traversal challenges, collectibles, etc. The way SO approached it ended up being similar to previous inFamous games. SS had no sidequests, no traversal challenges, and collectibles were far simpler and fewer in number.

I don't know if you get my drift. Many of the things I felt SO did well, inFamous did first. I only want them to go back to the SO model in that I want them to go back to what they were doing in the previous inFamous games. SO overall took its game in a general direction that I wanted SS to go in. What SO does unique to itself, though, I don't want them to cross over and eventually become the same kind of game. I really want both IPs to get a sequel, but they ought to do different things.
 

see5harp

Member
They really trivialized the traversal options in Second Son. Like in previous games you would be looking for lines in each nook of the city like it was a Tony Hawk game. In Second Son I feel like every single encounter played out entirely the same and I very rarely felt the need to actually use most of your powers. With Sunset Overdrive, even on normal, I felt like the traversal in and out of combat was a much bigger part of the design. If you just try and walk around and shoot, you die so quickly. With Second Son, I found myself playing it like a standard third person shooter with every single power in the game and then quickly holding circle.
 
Why do I get a feeling that if both games weren't exclusives that this comparison thread wouldn't have been made?

It's as random as a "Just Cause 3, the Batman Arkham City sequel should’ve been" thread.
 
I don't agree with the comparison because they are different games. But SO looks fun. SS made me miss Cole. The Neon running power is pretty sweet.
 
Infamous 1 and 2 were way different in terms of traversal and combat, what are you talking about OP. I think you are stretching the definition of TPS here comparing the two games. Also I thought the traversal in 2 was heavier than SO.
 

Coxy100

Banned
Great OP - and I have to agree! My second favourite game on xb1 after Ori. Great exclusive - would love (but doubt) to see a sequel
 
Infamous 1 and 2 were way different in terms of traversal and combat, what are you talking about OP. I think you are stretching the definition of TPS here comparing the two games. Also I thought the traversal in 2 was heavier than SO.

You're correct, SO is fast and loose. Traversal "items" (things you can bounce/grind/jump off of, etc.) were a lot more closely packed, whereas traversal in inFamous 1/2 had a lot more stops and even at the top speed you didn't go anywhere near as fast. In SO if you're flying in a particular direction there's always options close to you to keep the momentum going (there's a guard rail in the roof there, and also a power line a few feet to its right, and also a street lamp under the power line, and also a handrail in the sidewalk under that, etc, etc.), but in the previous inFamous games you didn't always have that luxury. Those are great points you raised.

In terms of TPS, I do have to stand firm on classifying inFamous games as that. SS is the least "TPS" of all inFamous, but even when I played the first inFamous game back in 2010 there was no doubt in my mind the game was modeled after and played like a TPS. Sucker Punch gave itself a bit more wiggle room in that regard with I2 and Second Son, but they still played very much like TPSs.

SO does play a LOT closer to a TPS. I mean, it certainly doesn't hide that it's a shooter. The creativity in the weapons is mostly Insomniac's expertise that they got from the Ratchet & Clank series, so I'm not going to say they took pages from inFamous' combat system. However, like I said in a previous post, the sum of its parts in SO ended up being accidentally close to inFamous, so close that the longer I played the more the similarities became apparent.
 

see5harp

Member
Why do I get a feeling that if both games weren't exclusives that this comparison thread wouldn't have been made?

It's as random as a "Just Cause 3, the Batman Arkham City sequel should’ve been" thread.

You could easily make a similar thread for Batman and Just Cause if you were solely looking at how the traversal mechanics fit in with the rest of the game.
 

Bgamer90

Banned
Why do I get a feeling that if both games weren't exclusives that this comparison thread wouldn't have been made?

It's as random as a "Just Cause 3, the Batman Arkham City sequel should’ve been" thread.

Spot on.

Similar to Forza 6 vs. Driveclub comparisons.
 

Raylan

Banned
Wall of text and all I can say is NOPE! inFAMOUS is way above SO. Sucker Punch is clearly in the lead here. And I really like SO.
 
I loved sunset overdrive it is probably my favorite game this generation.

I also think it compares quite nicely with Infamous which in its own right is a pretty good game. In terms of open world games they both feel very simiar.

I would also agree with your assessment that SO is the better game personally but the style and music in SO was right up my alley. The over the top traversal is what sets SO over the top, it's just so much fun to travel from point A to B, it's a game in itself. Infamous also had great traversal but doesn't hold a candle to SO.

Hopefully we will see a sequal.
 

Hato-kun

Member
recently got a exbone for Halo 5 and Sunset Overdrive.

I can't stop play Sunset. It's just so good, and honestly I kinda agree with you OP. I liked SS a lot, but there's just something so appealing about the was SO handles itself.

I feel like maybe a crazy THPS comparison might be better. THPS with crazy guns. It's like what a remake of American Wasteland might be like. I think.
 

Quonny

Member
I agree with everything you said but the shooting and combat in SO was incredibly boring. And when the combat is boring, I just can't recommend the game.

Everything else though? Great.
 
Spot on.

Similar to Forza 6 vs. Driveclub comparisons.

In a sense your right, they are being compared because they are both exclusive to there respectful system but the mechanics are so similar in these games that I think it's anot extremely fair comparison. It's more like comparing Forza 6 with Grand Turismo.
 
In a sense your right, they are being compared because they are both exclusive to there respectful system but the mechanics are so similar in these games that I think it's anot extremely fair comparison. It's more like comparing Forza 6 with Grand Turismo.

I also do want to point out that I'm not CONSOLE WARRIORZing this up. Certainly not the purpose of this thread. They happen to be exclusives but I never got the impression that Insomniac made SO as an "answer" to inFamous.
 

kamineko

Does his best thinking in the flying car
First Light is actually the sequel SS should have been.

I still haven't picked this up. It's the next not-a-new-release game I'll buy. Maybe after Witness
 

AgentP

Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
I loved SS, finished it twice. Great game. With SO I felt the humor was a big miss and the traversal played against the shooting mechanics. It was Insomniac trying to hard IMO. The city was boring, the creatures were generic and the characters were all a rip-off from Borderlands.
 
My favorite aspect of Infamous 1/2 were the story and character progression. The confusion behind blast, power struggle of the city, villain characters, coming of the beast etc.

If you are talking purely about gameplay and open world activities, then SO might take an edge because it can afford to throw all that shit at you without much explanation. Infamous (especially 1) had a good justification for city lockdown, criminals and all bosses being in the city.

I can see similarities in gameplay and world design, but I see different constrains and goals of those games.
 
I didn't finish any of the Infamous games but played through Sunset Overdrive and the dlc. SO is a far better game than any of the Infamous games.

Edit: Checked my trophies again and noticed that I actually beat Second Son. I didn't remember. At all. Speaks for itself.
 

DOWN

Banned
Delsin is the effin worst character design I've seen in my life. So fugly it is incredible. They try to turn Troy Baker into a Seattle Native American angst hell and we get this bird-postured, bad-skinned, snarling caricature, topped with a shitty no-haircut-lately haircut and unflattering tight punk garments that make his lanky screwball posture even more hideous. Looks like horrendous plastic surgery to Troy Baker.

the f?

delsin-ps4-controller.jpg



game was alright though
 
I liked Sunset OverDrive enough for it to be my #10 that year, but nah

I:SS side activities weren't great but they weren't really bothersome like I felt the SSO side stuff was. I hated them

the base defenses were fun and the traversal stuff is vastly overrated
 

Warxard

Banned
Second Son was garbage and a waste of a great character in a bad game

Sunset Overdrive is phenomenal. I kind of wish it was a handheld game so I can just boot it up and fuck around in the world.


When I get home I really want to comment on some of your points. You made a very well derailed write up on the mechanics.
 

Muffdraul

Member
I like Infamous SS more, but part of deal with Sunset Overdrive is that you can't start over from the beginning, you're forced to keep using your original save file and it lives on their servers. The most you can do is replay missions using your current stuff. When I replay a game, I want to start over from scratch. I actually did open a new guest profile just so I could start over, but I ended up deleting it. So I dunno, part of why I like SS more is that I played it a few times and really got to know it, got to feel some "ownership of its world" or whatever you'd term that feeling. I connected and bonded more to it.
 
Yup and The defence parts were terrible, hate them, too bad the fun in the visuals didn't translate gameplay wise.

I can't fault you for not liking the game but we'll have to agree to disagree on the idea that it was slower and more repetitive than Infamous. I just don't see it.
 

brawly

Member
I disagree, Infamous SS was better in every way beside story, SO was repetitive, boring and too slow.

Wut. SO was a lot less repetitive with all it's weapons and gimmicks. Add the awesome rail-grinding and you got one hell of a game.

I liked SS, but it had nowhere near as much flow.
 

Warxard

Banned
It says a whole lot about gaming side discussion when the majority of the posts in here would rather talk about exclusivity, sales, and bias accusations instead of, like, the actual topic of the thread.

--

Second Son's biggest issue was the feeling that all of the 'freedom' the game gives you and actually controlling that freedom feels incredibly automatic and dull. Hold a button to pretty much win. Options for dealing and evading enemies are just not there and it kind of devolves into a boring third person shooter/Assassin's Creed game.

Delsin is a stylish, outrageous character. You can see he has genuine fun with what he does-- he's a kid after all. But that kind of fun isn't tranatwd well when you play him. Just feels like Cole in a different skin.

Sunset is a game that does well in justifying its Tony Hawk roots. The only thing 'automatic' would have to be grinding a straight ground rail. Everything after that, no you have to do EVERYTHING to excel. Back+X to direction shift, down+X to undergrind, RB to grind boost, , up+X to over grind and immediately cancel that animation into a jump with A. Whenever you hit a new rail, pole, wall, whatever you always have to commit to pressing a button to continue your flow. You have rail options, air options, bounce options, water options--things that keep the flow and variety very consistent. Shit that keeps your combo meter up.

I want Delsin to do the cool shit the player does IN SO. He's cool enough to do that, not to be some stale moving bore.
 
I couldn't wait to play sunset overdrive when I got my x1 played for like 3 1/2 hrs hoping it got better it never did for me game fell pretty flat.

I did however enjoy the fuck out of second son so yeah
 

Angel_DvA

Member
Wut. SO was a lot less repetitive with all it's weapons and gimmicks. Add the awesome rail-grinding and you got one hell of a game.

I liked SS, but it had nowhere near as much flow.

It definitely depends of how you played the game, for the time it last, I enjoyed more switching powers on infamous than changing weapon in SO

I'm not saying that I dislike the game, I kinda enjoyed it, 1 hour or two at Best.
 
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