Back on my bullshit and forever mourning the fact that the Markus POV could have been so much better if they’d just put his scenes in the right order to actually tell a good story.
Actually, just in general, so many of the scenes in this game in all three POVs are just completely out of order. Not all of them, mind you, as I’ll argue until the end of my days that Kara’s first four chapters is hands-down the best constructed story arc in the entire game in terms of both narrative and gameplay. But so much of this game would have been so much better had we put different things in different places.
Obviously, Hostage shouldn’t have been the first chapter in the game. In fact, it shouldn’t have been in the game at all because its existence invalidates the point that is the Act One tutorial. QD should have repurposed it as a DLC and sell it either after the fact and/or with the deluxe editions of the game in the same way that they did with Heavy Rain’s Taxidermist, but do not have this chapter be actual in-game canon because it makes the entire point of how and why the next several chapters are constructed the way that they are utterly worthless.
Gavin’s scenes in Eden Club should have been in Partners, up to and including the dead android on the ground next to the corpse of Carlos Ortiz. Not only do we need to introduce Gavin before his scene in Interrogation in order to establish him as a character the player needs to watch out for in Connor’s POV, but the body on the ground would explain why the cops both know that an android was involved in the murder and also don’t do a thorough search of the attic and discover Shaolin hiding up there instead; as far as they know, the murderer is already lying dead on the floor.
The graffiti trail should have been Kara’s while the original idea for the maze trail should have remained with Markus. For one, the whole point of the Jericho Key is that ‘only an android could follow the trail,’ but a human absolutely could just look for the random symbols on that trail and figure it out. If he was given the maze trail instead and had to hack its meaning just like Connor does when hunting down Jericho’s location through Rupert’s diary, then Simon’s line would make sense. But also, the symbols that are used throughout the canon trail were historically utilized by members of the Underground Railroad and Kara is the one in possession of that storyline within canon, so she should be the one following that trail instead because it makes sense for her story.
The scene where you talk to Shaolin in the cage should have taken place at the end of the Interrogation, with you efforts to build trust within Shaolin determining whether or not he answers your questions.
The section with John in Spare Parts really needs a whole rework in general. But if we’re focusing on simply moving the scenes that we have around to make everything better, Markus should ask John for his help after the player decides to release him. Also, Markus should be making the decision about what he’s going to do about John immediately after he deviates and not several minutes afterwards.
I’ve said it before but Capitol Park should have taken place before Stratford Tower. I don’t even think that I need to explain why the decision to put Stratford first is an absolutely horrible idea at this point because I’ve done it so often previously, so this just goes without saying.
Zlatko should have been two chapters too, with the second optional chapter taking place in a world where Kara was reset and has to find a way to escape the Manor on her own.
Also, the combo that is Stratford and Public Enemy are probably the worst constructed chapters in the entire game and their whole existence just needs a massive rework. But the main gist of it is that getting Simon off that roof through be the Successful Ending, and that the player should be forced to go after him in PE as a consequence for their screw up if they don’t.
The scene with North on the rooftop should take place before the newly moved Stratford and not before Freedom March. Also, it should not be the entrance point to her Lover arc but instead just be a scene dedicated to showing the two of them getting closer as friends and comrades.
Midnight Train should have been two chapters too, with the divide taking place after the scene with Mary and Andy and the second chapter devoted to the telling of Kara’s story within canon the cop after the events of Freedom March.
Crossroads should have been a lot longer, with Kara’s Leaving Detroit section of BfD showing taking place here to show just how dangerous everything had become.
Ousted Path + Successful!Demonstration is the best way to play the Pacifist Path and the game should be reconstructed around that storyline.
Markus’s Ousting should (a) be triggered by a low North Relationship Stat (who would also get a low Stat if you were Pacifist the entire way through) and not the otherwise useless Jericho Stat and (b) take place before Kara arrives on the ship. And that’s because the Kara-North scene would absolutely slap if it took place in the immediate aftermath of Markus’s Ousting in the exact same way that the Kara-Markus scene would be 100000% more amazing if it took place in a world where our violent actions as Markus contributed to the internal struggle he feels regarding his by-default Pacifist ideology.
The scene Markus-Carl scene (either at his grave or deathbed) should take place in the Ousted Path in between when Markus is forced to leave the ship and when he decides whether or not he wants to return.
The KISS NORTH scene should have been the entry point to her Lover Arc because of how that one simple change allows for the player’s autonomy to actually be respected.
During the Ousted + Markus Returns Path, the scene where North apologizes to Markus on Jericho should take place during their meet up before Markus makes the bomb run. Also, he should get first priority to make the run in every version of the game regardless of being Ousted or not, with Connor only getting that version of events if he’s dead or permanently gone.
There’s probably way more that I just can’t think about right now, but those are my major thoughts on the matter. Seriously, this game is just a mess when you really look at it, but the thing that makes me come back to it every single time is that there was genuine potential even with the garbage pile that we have. Switch scenes around and you’ve got an infinitely better game, and that’s long before we talk about adding back old elements like Riley or Alice being a disabled human girl.
