So, I’ve been playing cyberpunk 2077 and terra Invicta recently and there’s just a couple things that consistently bug me. Now look, I’m not expecting them to be fair to China and the DPRK and Cuba and what not. If I did then I wouldn’t be able to enjoy anything ever in this world. But then there’s other things that just make me believe that Johne Locke rose from his grave to write some code for these games.
For cyberpunk 2077, it’s the police. Apparently, literally 9/10 cops you meet are “the last honest cop in Night city.” After the fifth time hearing this exact line I almost think there’s some inside joke I’m not getting. Sure youre told the ncpd is corrupt sometimes (maybe), and in their little “safe and sound” show, the ncpd says cops may ask for bribes and that you should give them bribes. But like, that’s never shown. The cops you do see are
Detective who wants to get to the bottom of hard cases the brass doesn’t want solved, and to save his nephew from a serial killer
Two police officers who are definitely good and who just want to help their friend Barry, who’s sad his turtle died and who is angry at the brass for covering things up
Cop who sacrifices his life in order to steal life saving medical equipment from arasaka, who only procures stolen cars for the corrupt brass
Cop who does what the brass tells him to do in order to protect himself and his daughter
Detective who hires you to steal bd scrolls so he doesn’t have to go through the trouble of getting warrants (THE HORROR!?)
cop who beats you for stealing a car from a corpo, but disobeys orders from said corpo and spares you from death
You get the point. It’s classic COD levels of writing for these guys. “All the problems are caused by the corrupt management and bureaucracy all the cops are really good guys at heart.” Have you ever met cops? Like sure, I’m not saying literally 100% of them are sociopathic serial killers(although i think you have to be a little fucked in the head to do what they do), but the police department doesn’t attract the type of people who want to help the community. It’s literally almost as bad (or hell, I’d say maybe worse in some respects) than literal Dick Wolfe tier cop shows. And it doesn’t help that the game is constantly telling you “man the ncpd are some bad guys. The ncpd are just another gang. The ncpd work with Tyger claws” etc. I wouldn’t be as critical if my ears weren’t hearing one thing and my eyes were seeing another. (Note:To be…too fair, there are essentially corpo cops who do actually get the treatment they deserve. People like Reed and Takemura aren’t bad people on a personal level, but they’re beholden to the interests of their capitalists and so you end up at odds with them because they do their dirty work. I don’t think theres enough questioning of Reeds “for muh country” shit, but at the very least he’s not given a free pass like the ncpd is. Same with Takemura, although it’s never really shown how bad he can be really, opposed to just not liking Yorinobu.)
Terra Invicta is comparably smaller, but I hate their democracy vs totalitarianism crap. Looking around at the starting scores it’s literally like those freedom institute maps.
Cuba, with direct democracy, free elections, accountable representatives, etc.
Grrr totalitarian nightmare
Thailand, the US, etc.
Aww, flawed democracies are still democracies
But then you look some more and it just has you asking if these people researched 5 minutes of political science before making some decisions. Like, really, south korea and Japan are “full democracies.” One is a corrupt hellhole ran by megacorps who can raid and persecute anyone deemed helping North korea, and the other literally has a system to make getting rid of their one party dominance near impossible. At least give them the flawed democracy tag if it’s so hard to understand anything else.
It’s like, I really do enjoy playing both of these games but those two things are just constantly in the back of my mind saying “these people aren’t as intelligent as you think”
I was really disappointed in Disco Elysium. The way online gamer leftists go on about it would think playing it is praxis.
The climax of game’s communist path is stacking match boxes and holding them up with “communist” faith. The presentation of communism was sarcastic and nonsensical. I don’t know how fascism is presented when you pursue that path but at best it treats it with the same distain as it treats communism.
Media that says “communism doesn’t even work in a fantasy setting where the power of thought and will can overcome physical laws of gravity” in not pro communist. Its liberal centrist garbage at best.
thats not what disco elysium says though.
I don’t think you quite understood disco-elysium. I don’t have time to do a full in depth analysis, but a few things from what I remember of the path.
1.Communism does work in Disco. It should be remembered that the game was made (and primarily written) by people who hung portraits of Stalin on their wall. The games version of communism didn’t really fail, it was more crushed by the moralistic international.
2.Communism is different in Disco Elysium because it intersects with two things. The paranormal magic stuff of the universe and Harry Dubois’s booze addled brain (that might have also intersected with the magic stuff)
2a.The “magic” system mainly focuses around the Pale. In essence, it’s entropy and despair. The less people believe in the future and hope and etc., the faster the ever consuming pale grows. It essentially devours everything and starts turning anything that enters it lifeless. Communism (as expanded in “the sacred and terrible air” which is a book set in the same universe) actually pushes the pale back and repairs the world
2b.This is on your sarcasm thing. Harry believes in things, yes, but they can be very basic. He essentially believes whatever ideology he does because of his depression, so he goes so hard-core into them that even proponents of the ideology he agrees with finds him wierd. You’ll notice how communists are a little confused by his obsession with literal meat grinders. This happens in the fascist path too, where Harry literally wants to rewind time. (However, they are not presented as equals. The communist path, I feel, is actually a little hopeful, while the fascist path is downright sad and pitiful)
3.Communism in Disco is written with a kinda familiarity. Basically every leftist I’ve seen who plays or watches the game finds the sarcasm funny. “Arguing with other leftists is a core Tennant of being a communist.” And, well, doesn’t that sound familiar.
4.There aren’t any real communists in game (somewhat), and the game comments on it.
Harry:Where are the real communists
The deserter:They died, fighting for communism.
Again, the game takes place a few years after the communist revolution was crushed. In those times (similarly to Eastern Europe, where the devs are from) there aren’t many real communists. There are isolationist intellectuals, edgy radicals, wayward souls, and walking corpses. The point isn’t “oh all these commies are stupid.” The point is to find common ground with those class allies around you.
Personally, I do want you to take another crack at the game, but if you don’t want to I understand