The COMPLETE Second Son Retrospective
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2024
- By popular demand, you guys asked for the full 80-minute version of the 5-part Second Son review. Well here you go!
Chapters:
1 - A Crumbling Foundation: 0:00
2 - A Circus of Stencil Characters: 13:33
3 - Hollow World-building: 37:18
4 - Enjoy your Limitations (Gameplay): 54:43
5 - A Plot as Rigid as Concrete: 1:07:47
Outro - 1:17:40
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Thank GOODNESS that this game still has a living and breathing fanbase alive after all this time. Genuinely makes me happy that I get to see a video on this game after so long. Very much excited to see more of your content. And honestly, I love the differing view points you have on this game. As much as I simp and love the series, I NEED to know the flaws. Thank you! And astonishing work!
Thank you for the astonishing comment!
This was quite an era. I fell in love with Infamous in the 2010s while I felt very lost in life so I really appreciate having someone to vent with & you shared new stories with us like inFAMOUS: Winter Solstice. So I just want to say thanks for helping us keep the dream alive just a little bit longer💛
Thank you, so much for this incredibly kind comment. I can be my worst enemy and I certainly never imagined my work would affect someone like that.
Perhaps it's time to dust off my word processor and finish Legacy of the Beast after all.
YESSSSS! A new Second Son video... replayed it recently for a full True Hero run again and it's good to see a retrospective on one of my favorite series. Although Second Son could have been a lot better... I hope they still make another entry someday.
Please, Sucker Punch!
After Ghosts of Tsushima, I can't IMAGINE how they could pull off another entry.
Edit: 21:59 Okay, Cole's jokes actually made me cackle-
You never expect the dry character to be funny, and that's what made him so hilarious.
a part of me is always holding out for an infamous 3 that just go's off the evil ending. sucker punch seems to have leveled up alot with ghosts of tsushima. fingers crossed post its sequel they revisit infamous and put those skills to good work.
Is it weird I felt like they really wasted Eugene of all people? After I beat the game I constantly found myself coming back to the bossfight with 'He who dwells' aka Eugene. Out of all the conduits I've seen in that game, he easily has the potential to be one of the strongest- if he isn't already.
But he's held back by a few things. Firstly there's his insistence on being a fair fight, which I can get behind at least, secondly is his personality. I hated how Eugene was turned into 'Spineless gamer guy' after we see his backstory, as someone that risked his discovery to save people, and despises bullies. They also spit on their core audience too by saying that this spineless nerd is you. They could have had a little note about how games can be art and mean something to somebody- to the point where they influenced this reality-warping conduit, but they instead decided to be as cliche as possible.
When you put it like that, he does sound pretty wasted.
Absolutely agree, James. I have delved into Eugene's character a bit and I find his capacity as a character to be severely understated and underused.
@Zivalene aw shucks a reply from the creator, I posted this before hearing about your take on him- But it was nice to hear us mirror!
I'm just another person. :) Glad you found someone that shared your views.
All I know is this series deserves to keep going, and I've still got sequel pitches that are burning craters in my thought cabinet. This franchise still has so much more to give and we still have so much love to show it.
My thoughts on why there was still conduits was that no one was sure if the RFI would even do what they wanted to. It’s the first of their kind and while it protected humans at the cost of conduits & the extermination of the beast. It wasn’t perfect so it was only able to kill majority of the conduits in the world, not all of them.
Infamous 2 has gotta be one of my all time favourite games I have ever played, I got my hands on it when it came out day one, a day after my 9th birthday and it was religious to say the least. They don't make games like these anymore that just have the whole package. I'm glad to see someone talking about Second Son's shortcomings as I never got the impression that anyone I knew felt that way about the game and it made me feel like I was going crazy. This series is a valuable chunk of my childhood and watching this was a blast from the past. Awesome to see we still got some passionate fans out there making some high effort content. Keep up the good work!
In the same camp as you, Chad. :) Found it when I was a young teenager and adored it. That was 12 years ago. :o
@@Zivalene I pay taxes now. It's terrifying
It’s 2024 and still no infamous 4 or very least remaster… sadness 😢
My memories associated with the game hold up more than the game itself
Infamous is a awesome game. Im glad that there are still people who appreciate it.
I love the inFAMOUS series and it’s such a shame that it’s currently stuck in limbo. Lots of people seem to disagree with me when I say this game wasn’t as good as the others but it makes me glad that at least some people understand what I mean. I just hope someday we could get a new game that can set the series back on track. The evil karma ending of the second game was the perfect set up for an amazing game and I yearn for it to eventually be made someday. Thank you for making these awesome videos!
Thank you for the kind comment, and yes, I totally know what you mean!
I kinda see why the others were great but imo second son was the best
As paindul as it is to watch my favorite game of all time get absolutely decimated i have to admit that this video is top tier.
At the end of the day, were both still infamous fans. I only have to platinum infamous two to complete the quadrilogy.
I feel like a lot of the issues in this game could've been solved if the game wasnt a launch title. Perhaps there could have been more time to write and develop the narrative in a way thats satisfying for fans and newcomers. Getting the achievements for the first two games only makes me appreciate them more and more.
Maybe a group of fans can get together to fix the narrative of second son so that it fits in nicely without conflict.
Hopefully keeping delsin, since I like him a lot even if he didnt get time to develop due to time limits and such.
Cant wait to see whats in store next!
crazy that i just got the itch to dive back into infamous again, and you compiled this so recently
used to watch your content back when you first started writing LOTB, really glad that you’re still alive and relatively well
Hi im just here to say that you got me into inFAMOUS. I've watched all of you're old inFAMOUS many times and to this day im still waiting for you to say you've finished legacy of the beast.
And tho you don't make much content about inFAMOUS anymore. I'll always remember the CZcamsr that introduced me to the 2 best superhero games of all time so thank you Zivalene
Also sorry for that comment about ratchet on the introducting the legacy of the beast characters i was a dumbass.
Thank you for the amazingly kind comment! Still hard for me to believe that my videos have this resonance with people. Now that I am done making this video series, I am going to finish the one thing I still owe to the inFAMOUS community. I hope that time away from the project and a more mature mindset will help me make it better than it would have been when I stepped away. If even one person, like yourself, enjoys it, then it will be worth all the effort.
And please don't worry about the comment, it didn't hurt anything. :)
I know that infamous does take a toll on you mentally. Id love for you to do other lore videos and character studies for other games
That is the plan! Thank you for the kind comment.
This may be more of my own nostalgia speaking so my argument may be a bit biased, but I like how the good karma path does give Delsin some extent or at least the illusion of character development, going from a selfish vandal to being forced to become a more mature and slightly more responsible person due to the world he lives in.
If we ever get a sequel to Second Son with the good ending as cannon, I really would like to see a plot where Delsin has to choose between becoming a "good" cop(Reggie) or a "bad" cop(Augustine).
Now that you put it as that, Augustine could be an awesome mentor figure for delsin if there is a sequel, imagine what her and delsin character could changes and become with their world view and moral, and maybe through that we could get something more grey to both characters, doing the evil for greater good to an extend and such
Hope infamous comes back someday.
Everything Wrong With inFAMOUS: Second Son in 1 Hour and 18 Minutes
Spoilers!
(What else did you expect lol)
1: 0:00 A Crumbling Foundation.
2: 13:35 Incomplete Characters
3. 37:19 Hollow World Building
4. 54:46 “Enjoy your Limitations”
5. 1:07:48 A Plot As Rigid As Concrete
Thank you, Vendetta! I added the chapters to the video!
@@ZivaleneYou’re welcome!
This has been quite a wild ride! Been here since your CinemaSins parody, and I quite enjoyed this series.
I hope one day they’ll return to this franchise and give us something great. I own a PS5 now and with my experience playing on it all of it’s new tech could really enrich the inFamous experience. I actually made an inFamous OC that uses Water awhile back and I think about her a lot, that’s how passionate I am about this series.
Second Son is definitely a black eye on the series, First Light was the pain medication, and I hope the eventual ice pack that soothes it all will come soon.
18:22 i know i'm 10 months late but here's how i'd write delsin's character: he'd start off evil and only helps those he cares for but comes to realize that humans are only just paranoid due to how conduits are unpredictable so he shows everyone that there can be a better way all while getting what he needs to save his tribe. he already has a crimanal record before he became a conduit and regie keeps forcing delsin to make better choices to i think this is how delsin would develope
i know this is more or less of the same structure as cole's developement as a character but with how delsin has very little to no back story at the time of this comment this is the best i could come up with
Awesome, just watxhed this once, now ima go watch it again
Loved the games and Cole since I was 10 (first game I actually played and beat by myself was inFAMOUS 1) and it's cool to see other folks remember the franchise as fondly as I do
I am glad I waited all this time to see this series completed, there's not a lot of people that talk about infamous and I always enjoyed your videos about my favorite game series of all time. I look forward to seeing what else you make in the future!
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it and that it was worth the wait. Hope I can continue making content you enjoy!
@@ZivaleneI had a feeling that i was shadowbanned...
im so tired of ppl being like this when they can't properly debate/argue about a topic such as this when I provide proper criticisms towards your videos as well as how imFAMOUS Second Son is much much much better than what ppl let on or how Second Son is perceived by the Public Opinion compared to inFAMOUS 2 where its the worst inFAMOUS game by far...
what happened to 'opinions' and sharing those said 'opinions' when disagreeing with you, sounds like someones ego got feathered with just because you couldn't accept my comments properly for whatever reasons it may be to you.
Can't say I recognize your name, and clearly you aren't "shadowbanned" or you wouldn't be able to comment.
@@Zivalene I've made lots of arguments but i had a suspicion that i was shadowbanned and i was right...
@@naruto_1254 That didn't confirm or reinforce anything. XD
1:17:35 Third Outcome: You just get the door slammed in your face and it cuts to black.
That's a thing??? I'd definitely prefer that over the killing of the Akomish.
@Zivalene I've literally never seen it before. Apparently you get it if you Kill Augustine with a very low Evil Karma level or maybe a Good Karma rank, but I did both of those and never got that ending.
@@superlombax1561 Spare Hank but Kill Augustine on an Evil play through
I honestly consider infamous 2 to be the best in the franchise, I did get second son and I enjoy the gameplay and graphics, everything else seems slapped on
Btw I have rewatched all the sections so many times already and will probably do so for this one multiple times😂
Have a good one Zivalene👍
Thank you so much! Your support means a lot to me! Hope you enjoy having them all in one place. :)
@@Zivalene you're welcome, and I will
Btw I would like to note that when I bought second son it allowed me to buy Cole's legacy for free and paper trail was available but omits the website so you just collect it and it gives you the next one, apparently it was done at least more than a year ago
@@erickurquidez8944 Ye, it was done after I made the video originally, but I stand by how the game was designed to function with it.
Could be like alternate timeline
I love Infamous Second Son, from the bottom of my heart, but your points in the first part made me see why the fans of the original infamous and infamous 2 disliked so much about the 3 one. Pretty good video so far! Subscribed!❤🔥
Edit: I finished the video, and wow... you are a BEAST making these videos!!! Your points were clear and your opinions are respectful and very deep about the game!! Despite our opinions not being the same(i love the system of powers of this game, i love the fight and i love the soundtrack!!), i still agreed on some points you haved.
Yeah, the story is ass, it feels like rushed all the time(i mean, as you said, Delsin goes from "what is happening to me?!" to "hehehe neon go brrrr"), and the characters are a bunch of clichês in midia in general, but i cant express how much love i have for this game in particular. Is because of this game that i recognized one of the most potential series that's ever greated my eyes and games alike, like prototype and everything that makes me feel like a badass :P, and is the first game that i got the pacience to 100% it on trophys, and it lives on my nerdy hearth frv!!
Thank you for your work on all these videos, and i really hope you get more views and subs!!!!
Thank you for such a kind comment!
I think soccer punch should have kept their original plans for infamous it's called infamous for a reason it kind of does the end with the are there still people with powers it kind of sucks that sucker punch didn't
I would like to know if sucker Punch is going to make a Eugene DLC
Hey, Ziv. If I understood the Ray Sphere correctly, besides giving you powers, it also alters them slightly to allign with the powers of the main Conduit who activates the bomb, which is why Nix can control the monsters.
The conduits in this game seem to be alligned with the city theme. If we go through a fanon version in which Cole managed to cure all Conduits from the West Coast but went into hiding in order to plan the next step, how would Delsin and the other Conduits be connected ? I mean, I use in my headcanon the fact that Cole's rampage increased the radiation. But that doesn't seem to be enough of an excuse to connect them. What do you propose for my story ?
I'd have to disagree with this as it's never stated that an activated Conduit gets the same or similar powers as that person, nor is it very consistent. Were that true, every Conduit in Empire City would have powers similar to Cole, though what we see is hallucinogenic tar, concrete/metal powers, aura power, invisibility, etc. Nix explains that she can "control" the monsters through 'her scent, her voice, maybe even voodoo', essentially that she treated them the same as one would their pet or children and imprinted on them. We know that the Beast created Conduits with a large variety of powers such as paper, concrete, glass, wire, electric, etc; not necessarily anything similar to lava, fire, growth and ray field powers. Since the Conduit powers are the source of a gene, it's all just random variance of the gene's expression when activated.
As for your story, feel free to write it how you wish! If you're afraid that your current explanation doesn't suit your needs, you may need to retool the powers a bit or even the source of them. Don't be afraid to kill your darlings, aka, don't just stick to your first idea just because you like it if it isn't working out.
@@Zivalene I wouldn't be so sure. Remember, Cole gets the power to create baby monsters from Nix's oil if your karma is evil enough and you switch powers with her.
I think that implies something.
To me it is because Cole, aligned with evil, spends more time with Nix and therefore the monsters can associate him with her by her scent being on him or simply being near her enough that the monsters become familiar with him. I do not think controlling the monsters is a power, I just think that sucker punch used the napalm as a artistic means to show that Cole has inherited the trust of the monsters. We also never see Nix summon a monster herself, it is that they are coming to her call or follow her around. If she were able to create monsters out of thin air like Cole can, then she wouldn't be as choked up about them all being wiped out and we would see it in the fight against her. There is just too little evidence for me to believe it is anything other than a stylistic choice to give Cole that ability that isn't unlocked normally until that mission in the game is completed.
@@Zivalene but I wonder how he can summon them then.
As I said, artistic liberties. Looks cooler and takes less time to have him simply summon them from napalm than to have him... say... blow a whistle with his fingers and some spikers roll up.
when are you going to finish infamous legacy of the beast
Also are you going to continue your infamous beast cole story id love to see it once its ready?
Yes, going to try to finish it in the near future.
Adding to my first comment, do you think the issues of second son could've been fixed with more development time?
Considering that they had a whole year or more taken off and they had to change a lot because of it; potentially. They had more powers planned, different plot points, etc.
@@ZivaleneQuestion, do you think the evil ending to Infamous 2 was evil? I honestly don’t, I see it as more of a logical one due to at the time using Ray Sphere was a gamble with the possibly of not working and just killing off the conduits and leaving the plague to finish off the rest of the remaining humans
When are finishing legacy of the beast?
Now in a way i disagree with you but at least unlike the tryhard fanboys I can agree with some of your view points in a way when i first hear of this game for the first time I was pissed out. Now if this game was in a alternate universe then this game would make sense. But true if cole died then why superpowers still exists?
Thank you for being respectful, and as I point out in the video through text, I have changed my viewpoints and much of my attitude towards Second Son since then. I do wish this were stated as an 'alternate universe' or even a 'reboot' instead of a sequel, then I'd have little to nothing to complain about.
@@Zivalene Out of curiosity, what parts of your opinion have changed over time? It was alluded to, but I'm curious to know where you stand now! Especially since my own opinions haven't changed too much since then (although that's likely because I rarely looked back on the series in detail over the years).
Additionally, you mentioned that you stopped making Infamous content altogether (I'm guessing from a combination of burnout and being into stories with less binary morality systems), but where does that leave your Legacy of Cole story? Has it been dropped, or just suspended?
Generally, my attitude towards the series. I am more neutral or displaced from my charged state when originally making these videos.
And the story has been suspended for quite a few years now. When I say I am stepping away from inFAMOUS content, I mean that I have no plans or drafts in the works or intended to continue making videos. But I do still intend to finish the inFAMOUS projects I started (this review series was one of them) before I step away from the subject completely.
I havent seen any other fictional media to catch my attention as a whole besides infamous and prototype, but I understand the story can get mediocre with second son, I still hope we get a new game. When it comes to games these are the only ones that I find fun playing.. looking forward beating your score in the Second Son arena thing lol
Looking forward to seeing your scores too! Let's have some fun!
A game where we play evil Cole’s ending would’ve been interesting to play. Either we play as Cole or a new character could’ve been a banger game but to cancel it just because more people played the good ending? Come on!
Also Ziv, I don’t know if you’re aware but Death battle is gonna do a fight between Cole and Alex Mercer and I was wondering if you’re gonna do a reaction to it or something? Another video idea I’d like to see is what choices in both Infamous games would Cole make? You know his character well so I’m curious what choices you think he’d make in both games. Would he have attacked those people getting food from the crates Cole knocked down in the beginning? Would he want to be feared or loved by the people? Etc. not gonna lie, I got this idea from Neon Knight’s “Every choice Geralt would make” video.
My Discord members have been talking about the death battle quite a bit and giving their thoughts on who is going to win. :) Hope you enjoy their video when it comes out.
I think my character study video on Cole captures my opinion of Cole's choices fairly well.
@@Zivalene That match would be a banger
I mean, you went through Cole’s entire history and even went through the comics but not did all the choices that Cole would’ve done. Based on what you said in the video, Cole would keep all the food for him, Trish and Zeke and possibly chose to side with the beast but that’s because Sucker punch made it canon but didn’t do anything with it.
Watch Cole vs Alex Death battle. Analyze the fight and the battle's theme song (inHuman) then you'll understand why the direction for second son happened, regardless it's stupid logic.
It's an OK song but it doesn't fit either Characters
You're a black sheep in the "Infamous" fandom ? Why ? Your videos are SO good.
@JabamiLain One of the things that got me to want to leave inFAMOUS behind was that I was in the original inFAMOUS 'Animo' community for a while, before I pointed out that one of the mods had a habit of stirring up drama. I was banned from the 'Amino' and vilified and people were not allowed to share my videos or even mention me or take my side. All of that is long since in the past and the mod in question has not been a mod there in some time. I was invited back to the 'Amino', and reconnected with certain members that I considered friends after all of it, but my spirits were already shattered and the community there eventually turned into a ghost town. In the time since then, I moved on to Final Fantasy XIV and found so many new friends and an awesome community that made me feel welcome. While I feel bad that their endeavor didn't last forever, that is simply the case of the inFAMOUS franchise unless people continue to hoist it onto their shoulders with their fan-made creations and discussions. The other simple answer is that I have a lot of negatives to say about Second Son and people love to flame me and make that the basis of my entire persona.
@@Zivalene I'm sorry you go through that. Remember that some of us support and welcome you into the flock, even if you're veiled in black.
First, I loved the infamous series because I've always loved superheroes growing up .
Second, so when I got my Playstation 3 and got Infamous and Infamous 2 a year later. I was very excited and hooked on the story because it was very interesting and intriguing.
Third, however, I disliked Infamous Second Son only because after I found out what happened. I dislike the game due to Nate Fox basically saying that he wanted to continue it but because sucker-punch went with the 36%. That's why we didn't get an Infamous 3 and that kind of made me mad.
Fourth, another thing that I disliked about Infamous Second Son was the concrete power.
Fifth, Yes conceptually the concrete power was a good ability however, it basically becomes useless if you go through the entire game. When you're trying to go from 100% down to 0%.
Sixth, I agree with all of the points that Ziv said. Because we could have had a better game than what we got for Infamous Second Son but we didn't 😢
Seeing as how most of the characters are pretty basic stereotypes in the game and Delsin himself is a bit of a surface level punk, I started to think about how these characters feel like something Delsin himself would think of. Like these stereotypes, cliches and such seem like something a person like Delsin would genuinely believe in. And thus I have a dumb idea:
Delsin's actual power is manipulating his surroundings according to his own unconscious thoughts, feelings and beliefs. When the RFI went off his powers activated out of self preservation and ended up blocking some of the RFI's effect, saving many conduits. But since his powers enforce his unconscious views and ideas upon them, the world ended up changing as well to match his simpler views. He is an unaware reality manipulator, subtly influencing processes to make the world match his desire for a power fantasy. That's why his brother won't change, which would beg the question of if he's even real in the first place, meanwhile the lady opposes him in the evil ending because on some level Delsin knows he is fully in the wrong and deserves to get called out. Or it's because he spent so much time far away from her so she could be away from the influence of his power. Maybe that's also why the dlc's character writing is better, because Delsin's presence isn't there to influence the world.
I dunno, it at least sounds better than any of the official explanations.
One thing that's always bugged me is that Eugene and Fetch and Hank shouldn't even have active powers. A conduit needs their powers activated with either a Ray Sphere or the Beast, who is basically a human ray sphere. But Eugene got his powers because he... got mad he was bullied. Right. Fetch is somehow worse, just spontaneously gaining powers with zero explanation.
She was bullied too, according to her game. Still doesn't make it better though.
In my version of this game's story, West Coast was simply destroyed, but the amount of explosions increased radiation enough for Conduits to absorb it faster than regular humans can.
Promo-SM
"In this hyper-sensitive easily offended irrational time that we live in..."
So I'm just gonna say that I love your videos so far, particularly the ones on Infamous. They're amazing, funny, informative, and I think you have a knack for cinemasins style videos, and would love to see your work on other games going forward, be it cinemasins parodies or more retrospectives like this.
However...I pray that this above line of yours isnt indicative of you being a...well, you know, an anti-SJW type? That's...kinda gonna be a moodkiller and turn me away from the channel, ya know?
Sometimes, people do have good reasons to take offense to things, so its not like we're living in some "hyper sensitive easily offended irrational time", as much as grifters wanna fool reasonable people like yourself into thinking. Dismissing every concern as irrational and hyper-sensitive ignores the numerous times that genuinely reasonable offense has taken place, and even paints those times as people screaming and whining when they probably had a moderate reaction at most.
Not that anything in Second Son was offensive mind you, but I digress.
That gripe aside, I hope you keep thriving. You got a good channel going here.
Thank you! Hope you enjoy the new videos to come!
@@Zivalene
NP! I'm just glad you didnt take my more concerned comments too badly, I meant no offense ^^