Binary Domain Is Bullshit (SPOILER WARNING)

[Kim]

There is so much about this game that is awful and upsetting.

Like, it's this whole SNATCHER-esque world where there are robots who look exactly like humans and they have to be destroyed. Except it doesn't really give a good reason for that. Like, I assumed like maybe they were being used as spies or weapons but nope. Just cuz people are afraid of them.

The protagonists are jerks to these robots, who think they're human and have emotions. And generally treat them like shit.

Your mission is to find data on these robots and capture the scientist who invented them. You illegally invade Japan to do so, and the robots are all belonging to the government, and it is only near the end that the scientist actually tries to stop you himself.

Eventually you find out that he's a robot himself, and designed these robots to "continue his species" even if he dies. That species basically being self-aware robots. You also find out that the female ones can get pregnant, and their children are stronger, more resistant to disease, and more in control of their emotions. These hybrids don't have any goal. From the "villain's" perspective they only need to survive. The human race will be stronger for this, too.

In fact, the only truly villainous things the villain does are all with the intent of protecting his children, given that the data you're collecting will be used to hunt down all the hybrids and murder them. He's trying to protect his children from genocide, and honestly I blame the people who would kill his children more than him.

Even when the protagonist decides to defend one of the hybrids cuz True Love and even when the rest of the team goes along with it, tho they only do so cuz they're gonna be murdered for No Reason by the US government, you still end up killing the "villain", they still end up giving the list to the organization that's going to try and murder all the hybrids. Things are actively worse in the world for your actions and the "good" of the ending is Pro Mctagonist is with his hybrid girlfriend trying to keep her safe.

Even tho the game is lightly critical of the anti-robot beliefs and institutions, it still acts as tho they're somewhat in the right or their side of things is somewhat reasonable. It's just hateful and gross.

Personally, it's a bit worse for me cuz my mommy is a cyborg. Every time this game was particularly gross I had to go to her for comfort and tell her what way it was gross this time, knowing that hearing this was probably upsetting/disappointing for her. It's a huge mess of grossness and I don't like it.

[Aerozord]

Well protagonist =/= good guy.

I mean I went on a huge rant about how Joel from The Last of Us is an unrepentant monster and people still hold it up as a glowing testament of storytelling and worse yet him as a "good guy" just because he has a morality pet.

[Kim]

The game isn't really critical of the protagonist tho. There's nothing in the game that really shows a beyond-base level awareness of just how awful he and everyone else is.

[Aerozord]

The game isn't really critical of the protagonist tho. There's nothing in the game that really shows a beyond-base level awareness of just how awful he and everyone else is.

Better than games like call of duty which down right fetishize this kind of thing.

Its not that I dont think you have a point, but considering other examples as well as the fact, hard truth average people view even fully aware human equivalent AI as things with no rights. Just not all that shocking.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Better than games like call of duty which down right fetishize this kind of thing.

Its not that I dont think you have a point, but considering other examples as well as the fact, hard truth average people view even fully aware human equivalent AI as things with no rights. Just not all that shocking.

Well I mean, just because Charles Manson didn't kill as many people as Hitler doesn't means he was okay. We shouldn't give a pass to something because it wasn't as bad as other things.

I haven't really played Binary Domain or heard of it until now. It seems to have a lot of good reviews, but like, that's not REALLY much of a good indicator of things. If its as bad as Kim says then that's really a sign of how game plots are degrading when you just commit genocide for no real reason other than 'because'. Like, CoD is atleast like "TERRORISM" which is vaguely a reason even if its a toxic one.

[Aerozord]

Well I mean, just because Charles Manson didn't kill as many people as Hitler doesn't means he was okay. We shouldn't give a pass to something because it wasn't as bad as other things.

I haven't really played Binary Domain or heard of it until now. It seems to have a lot of good reviews, but like, that's not REALLY much of a good indicator of things. If its as bad as Kim says then that's really a sign of how game plots are degrading when you just commit genocide for no real reason other than 'because'. Like, CoD is atleast like "TERRORISM" which is vaguely a reason even if its a toxic one.

I specifically said I wasn't saying it was ok just that it wasn't shocking. To use your own example I am not shocked people like Charles Manson exist because I already knew people like Hitler existed.

And just like with call of duty it stems from the same issue of demonizing and dehumanizing people to the point people think nothing of genocide.

[Magus]

I thought the ending was a bit more sympathetic to the protagonist than you're making out, Kim, throughout the plot he does like a complete 180, although I guess it was indeed for the selfish reason of protecting his unborn child, since...Fae? I think it was Fae, Fae is like an even more advanced Hollow Child who's a lot like a BSG Cylon where she's technically organic, or like as much as possible, but yeah they never really establish what is so bad about the Hollow Children themselves, it's more that they assassinated the original people and replaced them, so the real villain is the guy doing that...I forget, can the Hollow Children be hacked/controlled then, which would allow the bad guy to control the world? I think that was the main fear of the Hollow children, not their existence in and of itself but how it was inevitably used.


I mean, the villain replaced someone on like the U.N. council or something with one of his robots, that's a "plot", although I think you're saying that the reason was he wanted them to make the robots legal, so I guess he had good intentions?

Now, at some point in the plot you got a robot ally, and I thought he was also part of the protagonist coming to accept the robots as his equals instead of just machines. I also liked that robot (Pierre?) a lot. He wasn't a Hollow Child though because he didn't have a human exterior.

I could speak more to it but I played through the entire thing in like, three days a few months ago when it was first put on Playstation Plus and kind of dismissed it as an average over-the-shoulder shooter, although the endless robot enemies and their designs at least put me in mind of Contra which was a positive.

On a plot level, it had nothing on say, Battlestar Galactica. Binary Domain was very shallow.

EDIT: Does anyone know if a sequel to this is being made? I doubt if it sold well enough but the ending certainly implied a sequel.

[Marc v4.0]

It might be more sympathetic but the protag was pretty much a selfish shitlord so not very sympathetic after all!


Also nobody got replaced by the Hollow Children at all, it wasn't like body snatchers they really did just think they were normal humans

[Magus]

Well, he was a stereotypical dudebro so it's not surprising. Like if you look up "generic action star" in the dictionary there is his picture. Every other character was more interesting.

[Red Mage Black]

Shitlord. Ugh, I'm pretty certain this is the radfem equivalent of "faggot". At least, that's the context I've seen it used in. Please don't use it.
Dudebro. Second ugh. Other than being a tautology, what does this even mean?

Anyway, commentary on 'lingo' aside, reading Kim's and Magus's posts, I think I came up with something. Are you sure this isn't some weak form of commentary about human rights, politics and society in general? Particularly to how society adapts to rapid change, the human reaction to the unknown and what happens when said change threatens those in power? I mean, maybe people got the message wrong and the protagonist just so happens to be one of the above, with a mind molded by the 'old way' of thinking and it's showing you from that perspective. It's like he particularly knew why he was hunting this scientist guy besides what was spoonfed to him by his superiors.

I'm not sure you could label it 'generic action hero' though. In action flicks, there's usually a clear line between hero and villain with no space for moral ambiguity, which as I read, is clearly in force in this game and the villain is revealed during the course of the game to be the very people that gave the protagonist his job.

Also, I'm not sure what your fear is about, Kim. People tend to have more sympathy towards those forced to use prosthetics. Though I could argue that one prosthetic is not enough to really be labeled a cyborg, but that's my opinion. Anyway, if it's an internal, such as a heart, it's not like anyone is going to know about it unless you mention it and even then, I can't really see anyone getting mad or flustered about it. Just asking why you needed it or in an example of external, like with arms and legs, what happened that you needed it, to which amputees/paraplegics generally don't mind answering unless it's something incredibly painful to remember.

Though yeah, there are the people who don't like prosthetics but I think they're usually fewer and further between. Prosthetics aren't an unknown thing anymore, so people(able people) usually only get flustered if it interferes with any part of their life. Which yeah, I agree is stupid and it can't be helped by those with disabilities.

Well yeah, I went off on a tangent and I apologize. I didn't play the game and I doubt I'll ever get the chance to before the name fades from my memory, but that's my take on the info people provided. It could be wholly incorrect since I didn't play it. In that case totally ignore it.

[Kim]

I didn't realize that radfems were using "shitlord" as a slur for gay men. I'll keep that in mind in the future.

As for dudebro, its meaning can vary wildly according to context, but in the case of Magus' post I believe the tautology is meant to reinforce the idea that the character is meant to fulfill some sort of masculine ideal for the player.

[Amake]

I don't know anything about this game except for what you just said but to me it sounds like a straight up anti-Autistic "They're like real people for all practical purposes but they must be exterminated because the way their bodies produce their thoughts and feelings isn't natural" hatefest.

[Aerozord]

I don't know anything about this game except for what you just said but to me it sounds like a straight up anti-Autistic "They're like real people for all practical purposes but they must be exterminated because the way their bodies produce their thoughts and feelings isn't natural" hatefest.

hard to say if thats intentional or not. While autism does produce the same kind of uncanny valley logic you'd find in a computerized intelligence that also means if you legitimately tried to show a relatively literal and logical mind it would be similar to an autistic mind by coincidence since it naturally is.

Though maybe its kind of like what the X-Men were designed to be. They don't represent a single group but are a stand in for "the other", simply those that do not conform through no fault of their own and the natural reaction the mainstream has towards such individuals. So they can be a stand in for any group and can change as culture does to represent the treatment of them at the time.

[Magus]

"Dudebro" is shorthand for that moment when Paul Walker and Vin Diesel high-five on top of a speeding car. The main character of this game evokes dudebro.