| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/infamous_second_son_boxart_9810.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350: ''[[CursedWithAwesome Enjoy your powers.]]'']] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."'' |
| 5 | -->-- '''Creator/BenjaminFranklin''' |
| 6 | |
| 7 | ''inFAMOUS: Second Son'', released March 21, 2014, is a Platform/PlayStation4 ActionAdventure WideOpenSandbox {{Superhero}} video game developed by Creator/SuckerPunch and the third main game in the ''[[VideoGame/{{Infamous}} inFAMOUS]]'' series. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Seven years after the events of ''[[VideoGame/{{Infamous 2}} inFAMOUS 2]]'', an average-joe delinquent from a Native American Reservation named Delsin Rowe comes into conflict with the [[BigBrotherIsWatching United States Department of Unified Protection]] after discovering he's a [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Conduit]] with the ability to [[PowerCopying absorb the powers]] of other superhumans. After the leader of the DUP leaves everyone he knows crippled and slowly dying when they refuse to sell him out, he's forced to travel to UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} with his brother Reggie in order to grow strong enough to break into the DUP's main stronghold so he can copy their leader's powers and use them to save his loved ones. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Previews: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHSeyPl--Fw trailer 1]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlNfJvFnzc8 trailer 2]] |
| 12 | |
| 13 | On August 28th 2014, a spinoff game was released called ''VideoGame/InfamousFirstLight''. It is a {{prequel}} focusing on Fetch's origins and her time in Curdun Cay. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | '''Due to the WhamEpisode GrandFinale for Cole at the end of the previous game, expect spoilers galore for ''VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS 2}}.''''' |
| 16 | |
| 17 | ---- |
| 18 | !!''[=inFAMOUS=] Second Son'' provides examples of: |
| 19 | |
| 20 | * EleventhHourSuperpower: Delsin only gains the [[spoiler:Concrete]] power at the start of the FinalBoss, and spends the remainder of the battle waiting on Eugene to drop in power cores so that it's actually combat viable. |
| 21 | * AllThereInTheManual: The ''Paper Trail'' free DLC offers a lot of details on the setting and characters. Some of the important details revealed include: |
| 22 | ** The existence of active groups of Conduit Rights activists. |
| 23 | ** The fact that [[spoiler:Fetch's parents are apparently trying to track her down and reconcile with her]]. |
| 24 | ** An explanation for why Conduits are still a thing. The Hero ending of the previous game made it seem like Cole sacrificed himself and the Conduits of the world in order to save the majority of the human population. However, playing through ''Paper Trail'' reveals that only 90% of conduits were killed. |
| 25 | * AlwaysChaoticEvil: The DUP has this subverted as there's a number of members that are trying to do the right thing. |
| 26 | ** Played straight with the Drug Dealers [[WhatMeasureIsAMook who Delsin dismisses the deaths of as, "Only drug dealers."]] Possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as a Native American is likely to have a disproportionate likelihood of seeing the destructiveness of narcotics on communities and would want them removed by any means. Bonus evil points for the same drug dealers also being involved in sex trafficking as the player is charged with freeing their "merchandise" at various points in the game. |
| 27 | * AndYourRewardIsClothes: You unlock various jackets for Delsin by doing things like kicking the DUP out of the various districts in Seattle, completing all of the Cole's Legacy DLC missions and completing all the Paper Trail missions. |
| 28 | * AnimalMotif: Delsin sports a stylized two-headed raven logo on the back of his jacket and a Coast Salish raven tattoo on his left arm. [[http://shop.slcc.ca/node/5 Here's some information on the symbolism.]] |
| 29 | * AntiHeroTeam: For protagonists you have a rebellious street tagger with no problem with causing massive property damage and murdering tons of goons to save his tribe or just out of revenge when he gets the chance, a sadistic ex-junkie SerialKiller who hunts drug dealers out of vengeance for her deceased brother, and an anti-social BasementDweller PersonOfMassDestruction with a hatred of bullies and a tendency to rain "hellfire" on whoever displeases him. |
| 30 | * AntiVillain: Hank Daughtry, who will do anything to [[spoiler: reuinite with his daughter.]] His questionable morality is highlighted by his smoke color: it is darker than Good Delsin's but brighter than the smoke of Evil Delsin. |
| 31 | * TheArtifact: The Karma System. After the first game was criticized for having a very black-and-white karma system, with neither the story nor the characters changing much regardless of what you did, the second game made sure to improve things by making sure that missions would drastically alter depending on what choices you made. ''Second Son'' is more like the first game, with very little changing other than your powers. At certain points two icons will appear on the map, one for good karma and one for evil karma. However, if you try to take the mission that's the opposite Karma of the choice you made (trying to do the evil mission after redeeming Fetch or trying to do the good mission after corrupting Eugene) you won't be allowed to do it. This is in comparison to the first two games, which allowed you to alternate between good and evil missions as you saw fit, and brings into question why two icons even appear when you're only allowed to choose one after your initial choice. The GameplayAndStorySegregation is also much more blatant, with straight-edged lawman Reggie continuing to support Delsin even if he's running around killing cops and protesters, as well as [[spoiler:Reggie telling Delsin that he's proud of him, even if his karma is Infamous]]. It all makes it seem like the Karma System is only there because it's part of the series identity, not because the developers actually had any ideas for it. Additionally, the final power you get in the game pretty much sidelines the Karma System entirely. No changes to Delsin's animations, colors, or upgrades for [[spoiler: concrete]]. |
| 32 | * AssholeVictim: |
| 33 | ** The Akurans are a gang of Russian bigots who preach conduit genocide in the international district. Murdering Akurans that are minding their own business gives you evil karma, and if you choose to corrupt Eugene instead of redeem him, his evil-karma exclusive quest has you wiping the gang out down to the last member. |
| 34 | ** Lifeline is a anti-Conduit hate group that has been known to capture and murder suspected Conduits on their own time. They're also possibly funded by the government. An Evil Karma Delsin kills all of them with the help of Fetch. |
| 35 | ** Drug Dealers are treated as this in-universe as Delsin dismisses Fetch's murder of several as doing the community a service (even if he encourages her to not kill but subdue them). |
| 36 | ** The DUP as a whole with both good and bad Delsins thinking it's justified to kill them en masse. |
| 37 | * AsTheGoodBookSays: When debating with some anti-drug, anti-conduit activists, Delsin snarks, "What was the name of [[Literature/TheBible that book]], the one who says '[[Literature/TheFourGospels Let he who is without sin cast the first stone]]'?" [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] shortly thereafter by [[DontExplainTheJoke Explaining The Joke]]. |
| 38 | * TheBadGuyWins: In the [[VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS2}} second game]], Bertrand's big end-game with his SuperhumanTrafficking scheme was to create a ZeroPercentApprovalRating for conduits [[FantasticRacism out of disgust for them]], eventually ending with the death of all conduits. Set years after his death, this game shows that public opinion of conduits is at an all-time low thanks to the D.U.P. (The Militia ideological successor), with hate groups against conduits on the rise and legislation being enacted to treat conduits, or "Bio-Terrorists", like criminals [[PuttingOnTheReich by virtue of their genetics]]. While total extermination hasn't happened yet, Bertrand would be proud nonetheless. |
| 39 | * BatmanGambit: More like a one-person GambitPileup. [[spoiler:Augustine gives Delsin her Concrete powers, knowing he'll see inside her head when he does, in the hopes that he'll empathize with her after seeing [[WellIntentionedExtremist why she formed the D.U.P.]] And even if he doesn't, [[XanatosGambit he'll still be locked into using an unfamiliar power,]] one that she's been practicing with for seven years, putting Delsin at a major disadvantage when fighting her.]] The only reason it fails [[spoiler:[[SpannerInTheWorks is because Delsin can absorb Core Relays.]]]] Additionally, the Paper Trail DLC reveals that [[spoiler:Augustine arranged for Hank, Fetch, and Eugene to escape while under military custody so she could reinvigorate public support in the D.U.P.]] |
| 40 | * BigBrotherIsWatching: The US government's Department of Unified Protection monitors cities with hundreds of surveillance cameras in hopes of finding and neutralizing rogue superhumans. As an added bonus of sorts, all D.U.P. troopers have cameras on their helmets. |
| 41 | * BlasphemousBoast: Inverted. |
| 42 | -->'''Delsin:''' Angels? Are you kidding me right now? So either one of the escapees can make angels... or I'm going after God. And I do not like my odds in that match-up. |
| 43 | * BlatantLies: |
| 44 | ** The D.U.P. constantly tells everyone to remain calm and trust the agency, despite it being clear their troops are no match for a superhuman like Delsin. |
| 45 | --->''*Delsin decimates an entire D.U.P response unit*''\ |
| 46 | '''Announcement:''' The D.U.P. is in control of the situation. |
| 47 | ** In the penultimate mission of a a good karma playthrough, Augustine broadcasts to the city claims that Delsin is a murderous bio-terrorist and the D.U.P. are trying to save Seattle from him, even though all Delsin has done is try to save people and limit the loss of life. None of the people believe Augustine. This is inverted in the evil playthrough, where Augustine says the same lines and every one of them is true. |
| 48 | * BookEnds: At the start of the game, Delsin paints all over a billboard featuring his brother. [[spoiler:In the Good Karma ending, Delsin makes a memorial for his brother on the same billboard.]] |
| 49 | * BoomHeadshot: Smoke and Neon encourage this tactic in Good and Evil players, respectively. |
| 50 | ** Smoke has the Sulfur and Knockout Headshot upgrades for the Smoke Shot, which allows Delsin to stun enemies, opening them up for a non-lethal takedown, and even instantly subdue the weaker ones (Drug Dealers, for example) with the latter upgrade. This earns Good Karma. |
| 51 | ** Neon has the Laser Insight, in which aiming shows you the enemies' [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak spots]]. Aiming for the [[KneeCapping ankles]] binds enemies in violet and blue neon light for Good Karma, while shooting the head obliterates them in a shower of red neon light, and earns Evil Karma. |
| 52 | * BoringButPractical: When going for Good Karma, Knockout Headshots and Sulfur Bombs to stun are going to be your best friend as they quickly subdue any and all {{Mook}} they hit, cutting out the middle man of having to keep them stunned, dashing over to them in the middle of a fight, and ''then'' subduing them (if they hadn't already gotten back to shooting you). |
| 53 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: One of the posters in a subway reads; "In case of emergency: Jump off train or station. You'll live, it's a video game." |
| 54 | * BrickJoke: At one point, Delsin says that "I don't care if I have to ''throw rocks''. I am getting to Augustine." [[spoiler:You have to use concrete powers in the final fight with Augustine, so you end up doing just that.]] |
| 55 | * CallBack: |
| 56 | ** The Department of Unified Protection was formed in response to the disasters in Empire City and New Marais from the first two games. |
| 57 | ** [[spoiler:The last words spoken in the good ending match the ones spoken at end of the good ending in ''VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS 2}}''.]] |
| 58 | --->[[spoiler:'''Delsin:''' I love you, brother, and I'm sure gonna miss you.]] |
| 59 | ** [[spoiler:Reggie's last words also echo Trish's when she tells Cole how proud of him she was before dying. Both also die in a similar way by falling from a great height.]] |
| 60 | * TheCameo: [[spoiler:Zeke makes an appearance in the second half of the "Cole's Legacy" DLC, working to prove that Conduits aren't the terrorists that the public have been told they are since the events of ''[=InFamous=] 2''. Unfortunately, it's a voice only cameo, and [[{{Metaphorgotten}} his words are more confusing and funny than meaningful]].]] |
| 61 | * CapeBusters: The purpose of the D.U.P. is to capture or eliminate superhumans. After [[VideoGame/InFamous Empire City]] and [[VideoGame/InFamous2 New Marais]], it's hard to blame them. |
| 62 | * CassandraTruth: The first good karma decision is to have Delsin admit that he's a conduit and try to turn himself in to keep Augustine from hurting the tribe. However, because Delsin doesn't realize his ability is PowerCopying yet, he makes the mistake of saying he "caught it" from Hank, which Augustine justifiably doesn't buy as Conduit abilities come from a specific gene & aren't a disease. |
| 63 | * ChainPain: Delsin uses a metal chain wrapped around one of his wrists as an improvised weapon to focus his powers. |
| 64 | * ChangingOfTheGuard: ''Second Son'' replaces Cole [=MacGrath=] from the first two games with Delsin Rowe, a new Conduit possessing similar ElementalPowers and RoofHopping skills. |
| 65 | * CharacterCatchphrase: Augustine is very fond of telling people "You disappoint me", [[spoiler:a fact which is used to great dramatic effect later in the game, when Hank sells Delsin to her and she coldly tells him "You ''didn't'' disappoint me"]]. She also often exclaims "I'm told that hurts" when using her power to torture people by making concrete grow out of their bones. |
| 66 | * CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:Reggie Rowe.]] |
| 67 | * ChekhovsGun: While crossing the bridge near the start of the game, you can see glowing pink streaks of light and large blue swords impaled into the pavement, hints of Fetch's and Eugene's powers. |
| 68 | * ChessMotifs: The D.U.P. mooks are all ranked with chess pieces, though you only really find this out in ''First Light's'' challenge descriptions. The bog-standard mooks are Pawns, the caster-types are Bishops, and so on. |
| 69 | * ClosedCircle: Seattle has been quarantined by the D.U.P. following a number of imprisoned superhumans escaping into the city. |
| 70 | * ColourCodedForYourConvenience: |
| 71 | ** D.U.P. agents wear bright white and yellow armor pads, to make them easier to pick out from among the general populace. |
| 72 | ** Delsin's smoke becomes a light brown when he's a hero and a thick crimson when he's evil. Neon is either blue and purple or blue and red and Video takes it a step further by determining what weapon Delsin uses based on his karma (a blue sword or red demon claw). Concrete averts this as Karma doesn't affect the color at all. |
| 73 | ** Delsin's hoodie jacket under his denim vest turns lighter and finally to white once you reach "True Hero" on Good Karma, whereas it turns darker and finally red upon leveling to "Infamous" on Evil Karma. |
| 74 | ** The light on the Dualshock 4 also changes between different shades of blue and red depending on Karma level. |
| 75 | * CompanyCrossReferences: There's a lot of ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' references here: |
| 76 | ** Delsin himself seems to be a fan of the series, given how his ringtone is the title screen music for ''[[VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime Thieves in Time]]'' and a Sly mask can be seen on his vest. |
| 77 | ** The news ticker above the [=NexJen=] video game store states "Sly Cooper arrested for burglary" and "Sly Cooper wins belching contest", and the "Alter Ego" theme from ''Thieves in Time'' can be heard next to it during the "Reggie Takes Flight" mission. |
| 78 | ** The playground at the Seattle Center has multiple murals referencing Sly and the gang littered all over it, and Sly masks can be seen in graffiti all over Seattle. |
| 79 | ** A building owned by the "Cooper & [=MacGrath=]" company can be found, complete with a neon Sly mask as part of its logo. There is also a moving van owned by "[=MacCooper=] Movers" (complete with the slogan "we TAKE your stuff and move it somewhere else"), and a gas station known as "Panda King Gas". |
| 80 | ** One book in the longhouse is titled "Thievius Raccoonus Vol. #". |
| 81 | * TheComputerIsACheatingBastard : When you have to chase down Hank prior to the first major confrontation with Augustine, he's a ''lot'' more mobile than you could ever hope to be with the smoke power. He can dash directly from one roof to another, float in the air, and has endless run speed. Possibly justified, since the neon powers Fetch has in ''VideoGame/InfamousFirstLight'' are also much more effective than the neon Delsin can use in this game (perhaps Delsin simply can't use powers as effectively as their original owners. Or it could be that he hasn't had as much time to evolve and perfect them as said original owners). |
| 82 | * TheConspiracy: [[spoiler:Augustine engineered the escape of the three conduits in Seattle to cause panic and drum up more support for the D.U.P, so Congress wouldn't cut the organization's funding.]] |
| 83 | * ContinuityNod: |
| 84 | ** Some electronic stores have "Cole [=McG=]'s!" on them, to Cole [=MacGrath=] of the first two games. |
| 85 | ** Remember the "Electric Man" from the first two [=inFAMOUS=] games? After arriving in Seattle, Delsin quickly becomes known as "Banner Man." He likes it about as much as Cole does. |
| 86 | --->'''Delsin:''' Well, you know what...if it does, my first victim? It's gonna be the guy who came up with the name "Banner Man." |
| 87 | * ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Cole [=MacGrath=] from the previous games started with a bright yellow jacket and glowing [[ShockAndAwe lightning powers]], and struggled with the the ramifications and responsibilities of being a Conduit. In contrast, The PowerCopying Delsin Rowe starts out with dark clothes and murky black [[SuperSmoke smoke powers]], and [[CursedWithAwesome deeply enjoys the fact he now has superpowers]]. Also, Cole's melee weapon was bare hands, and then the Amp (an electric club), while Delsin's is just a random chain that he channels his power through. |
| 88 | * ConvectionSchmonvection: The sole instance of lava Delsin encounters drains his health incredibly fast, but still leaves him plenty of time to escape, and the heat doesn't play a factor; this is justified because [[spoiler:Delsin is inside of an MMO (or a recreation made by Eugene's video powers) which usually has exactly these rules for how lava behaves.]] |
| 89 | * CruelMercy: [[spoiler:In the good ending, Delsin spares Augustine. However, the choice is called "Expose her", and he narrates her downfall in a lot of detail, relishing in it, moreso than in the ending where he kills her.]] |
| 90 | * CursedWithAwesome: Delsin's general attitude towards getting his powers. While it automatically gets him labeled a terrorist and persecuted by a pseudo-police state, he still loves having superpowers and resents implications that they're a disease that needs cured. |
| 91 | * CutsceneIncompetence: [[spoiler: After chasing down Hank,]] Delsin, who could shrug off rockets, sniper rifle rounds, and machine gun fire with no problem... gets knocked out by a single hit [[spoiler: from Hank's smoke power.]] |
| 92 | * DamnYouMuscleMemory: |
| 93 | ** Played the first two games? Try not to waste heavy ammo using R1 to fire, it's R2 now, also try not to toss bombs forgetting not only that you don't need to aim, but the aim button is L2 anyway. You will find yourself doing a dash when trying to drop from a ledge too since circle used to be drop but now it's square, also you may end up swinging the chain when you want to toss a grenade since the toss bomb button moved to L1. Also, the drain button is the touch pad but that's not much of an issue since when you come to a resource to drain you get a prompt. |
| 94 | ** Neon and Video both have the ability to scale walls with their dash ability while smoke doesn't, so when you want to/are forced to switch to smoke, you'll probably dash into a wall a few times before remembering you need to find a vent or just climb it. |
| 95 | * DarkerAndEdgier: Even though it's still as lighthearted as the previous games, ''Second Son'' is much more grounded in reality, getting rid of all the monsters and mutants and changing the setting to the real city of Seattle, rather than fictional cities based on real ones. |
| 96 | * {{Determinator}}: Delsin, full stop. Summed up nicely here: |
| 97 | -->'''Delsin:''' I don't care if I have to ''throw rocks''- I am getting to Augustine. |
| 98 | * DatingCatwoman: Downplayed and Averted. Delsin tries to flirt with Augustine when they first meet. It fails miserably. |
| 99 | * DevelopersForesight: |
| 100 | ** Delsin usually flashes an exhilarated grin as he's performing an [[LimitBreak Orbital Drop.]] When using it on Augustine [[spoiler:after she kills Reggie,]] the expression is one of [[UnstoppableRage pure, undiluted rage.]] |
| 101 | ** If the player completes the game twice, with both the hero and infamous routes respectively, Delsin will snark after the game reloads that [[BreakingTheFourthWall there's nothing left for you to do]]. |
| 102 | * DifferentlyPoweredIndividual: Superhumans are now all referred to as "Bio-terrorists", though they still tend to call themselves "Conduits". |
| 103 | * DifficultButAwesome: |
| 104 | ** [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower Video]] relies on misdirection and stealth, rather than brute strength or long-range disintegration like Smoke and Neon, respectively. Used properly, however, you can take down an entire DUP squad without taking a single hit. |
| 105 | ** Neon is pretty difficult to use while playing the Evil Karma side since most of the good upgrades for it (i.e. slowing down time while aiming, wider grenade range) are for the Good Karma side, but can still be devastating when used by skilled players. One advantage of Evil Neon is that you only have to hit their head to take them down instead of both legs and it is easier to gain Radial Sweep since it requires killing enemies instead of restraining them to build it up. In fact, Neon itself can be considered this as compared to Smoke, focusing on precision rather than wanton destruction. |
| 106 | * DiscardAndDraw: Delsin is able to absorb and retain the powers of multiple other Conduits at once. However, he can only use one at once in gameplay and in story. For example, if he's using Neon powers and the player wants to use Smoke, you have to find smoke in the game to change Delsin's powers. [[spoiler:In the Evil Ending Delsin reveals he wants to do this to everyone held prisoner.]] |
| 107 | * DishingOutDirt: Augustine, the DUP, and the Concrete power set. |
| 108 | * DisintegratorRay: If you shoot an enemy in the head while using your neon powers, they'll explode into pure light, leaving nothing behind. |
| 109 | * DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Delsin was unaware that Augustine's concrete power can be non-fatal for live capture, so when Hank shows up late in the game the trope plays out this way.]] |
| 110 | * DisproportionateRetribution: The DUP sure sends a lot of firepower to deal with what they think are reports of vandalism and/or prank calls. Played with in the fact that the OneManArmy Delsin Rowe is a known graffiti artist. Plus, you know, he actually is responsible for both the graffiti and mass murder. |
| 111 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Conduits are labeled Bio-Terrorists, treated as threatening psychopaths, and herded into camps. [[spoiler: When confronted by this, the person arguing for them says that it's for their own good and the only way they can survive.]] Did we mention the protagonist is Native American? |
| 112 | ** A white military group goes onto Native soil, throws their weight around, tortures everyone, and leaves nothing but disease as well as suffering. They justify it by stating that the group was harboring suspected enemies of the state. |
| 113 | * DoNotGoGentle: After being labeled a Bio-terrorist by the US government simply for being a Conduit, Delsin decides to fight back despite the seemingly hopeless odds. |
| 114 | -->'''Delsin:''' You are ''not'' in control. |
| 115 | * DownloadableContent: |
| 116 | ** "Cole's Legacy" - A brief series of missions that further establish events that occurred following the ending of ''[=inFAMOUS=] 2'', packaged with the various limited editions of the game. It was later made publicly available for free on the PS Store in 2022. |
| 117 | ** "Paper Trail" - A free piece of DLC included in the game's first patch, that requires the player to further the investigation on the [[http://www.infamouspapertrail.com Paper Trail website]] as part of a meta game that unlocks the next mission in the questline in the main game. New missions were made available periodically over the first six weeks following the game's release. The story of the missions follows Delsin's attempt to track down Celia, the [[PaperMaster paper conduit]] mentioned in one of the audio logs in the main game, and provides further background information on the actions of the D.U.P. prior to the start of the game. In 2018, the Paper Trail site was shut down. Nowadays, doing it just skips the parts of the mission that required visiting the site. |
| 118 | * DreamworksFace: Just ''look'' at Delsin on the cover art. If you had his powers, you'd probably be feeling pretty smug, too. |
| 119 | * DrugsAreBad: |
| 120 | ** Fetch's life was absolutely ruined by her drug abuse, and her good karma exclusive mission has Delsin helping her take down the leaders of a smuggling ring. |
| 121 | ** Delsin has the option to aid the police in killing/subduing dealers and destroying their stash for good karma. |
| 122 | ** The "Purity First" activists you can murder for evil karma are RightForTheWrongReasons, as they think drug abuse can turn someone into a conduit. Though ''Paper Trail'' shows that this group isn't as pure as they seem, [[spoiler:some of their members are so fanatical you find hunt them down for murdering innocent people and gloating about it like hunters bagging an animal, and the administrators of the activists not only don't stop them, but actively help hide it from people not in on it.]] |
| 123 | * DuelingMessiahs: [[spoiler:In the good Karma route, Delsin and Augustine. Augustine wants to contain all the Conduits thinking that FantasticRacism cannot be overcome and that the containment is the only way to save them. Delsin is after Augustine to use her powers to save his tribe from certain doom, but also wants to free the conduits by taking down the DUP. Notably at the end of the Good Karma route, Delsin has the people on his side.]] |
| 124 | * EarlyBirdCameo: Celia, the antagonist of the ''Paper Trail'' DLC, is first mentioned in one of the audio logs in the main game and [[spoiler:is revealed to be the first Conduit that Augustine brought in, as seen when Delsin copies her Concrete powers]]. |
| 125 | * ElementalPowers: The 4 powersets of this game are unusual but still fit certain elemental affinities, [[SuperSmoke Smoke]] which also comes with [[PlayingWithFire superheated melee attacks]], [[LightEmUp Neon]] which attacks using light, [[HardLight Video]] which also is light-affiliated and [[DishingOutDirt Concrete]] which allows control over the namesake earthen substance. |
| 126 | * ElementalAbsorption: Delsin can absorb smoke from chimneys, burning cars and tear gas canisters to recharge his powers, just as Cole absorbed electricity in the first game. He can later absorb neon energy from neon signs and video energy form TV screens. |
| 127 | * ElementalShapeshifter: Every conduit seems to have evolved to be able to do this now, as opposed to the previous games where only Nix was shown to be able to do so. |
| 128 | * EnergyWeapon: Fetch's neon powers allow you to shoot streams of pure energy. |
| 129 | * EngineeredHeroics: [[spoiler:With the DUP in danger of being shut down Augustine orchestrated Fetch, Eugene, and Hank's escape. Creating a crisis to prove they're still necessary and gain public support.]] |
| 130 | * EverythingIsSmashableArea: Certain D.U.P. areas, thanks to the improved physics powers of the [=PS4=]. |
| 131 | * EvilCostumeSwitch: The two-headed raven logo on Delsin's vest will change into a demonic red one if he gains evil karma, and his undershirt will become darker. |
| 132 | * EvilIsEasy: Zig-zagged when it's not outright averted. |
| 133 | ** Just like the other entries in the series, doing a good run will make you work harder towards being precise with your shots so you don't accidentally hit civilians, while being evil doesn't care and even encourages you to cause collateral damage. However, some players find the good path easier for the healing benefits found in subduing enemies, which essentially asks for a higher skill-ceiling in exchange for a tactical advantage that evil lacks (Evil Delsin recharges from Executing surrendering or stunned foes, but doesn't heal from it). |
| 134 | ** The power upgrades that rely on karma are designed to make it easier to play in that style, regardless of whether that's Good or Evil. Being good requires precision and subduing enemies, so it gives you tools to be more precise and to subdue enemies more easily. Being evil involves doing as much damage as you can, so it makes your attacks more powerful and lets you obliterate targets instantly. |
| 135 | ** Averted with Karma Bombs: while Evil builds up charges much more quickly, it has a timer that will run out and reset the count to zero unless you continue to fight hostiles (obliterating civilians will reset the timer but not add a charge), though once its fully-charged the timer stops. Meanwhile, Good has more sources to get charges from (healing civilians, non-lethal captures, freeing prisoners from cages — any Good side activity) and never goes away unless you perform an Evil karma action, letting you methodically build it up. |
| 136 | ** Averted for the actual progress in the story. Unlike in the other games where evil choices had some tangible payoff like saving you from having your powers dampened or clearing out a harsh fight, there are no points in the story where the evil routes are any more pragmatic or easier. Taking the evil way is Delsin doing something purely out of spite. |
| 137 | * EvilMakesYouUgly: It's subtle until you hit Infamous karma, but once he's fully evil Delsin's eyes become sunken and have dark black circles around them, and his face and the base of his neck are covered in splotches of black (possibly ashes or bruising). |
| 138 | * ExpositionBeam: Copying other conduits' powers also lets Delsin see an animated painting depicting their backstory. Handy! |
| 139 | * FakeStatic: At one point, Delsin ends a phone call with Reggie by saying he's going through a tunnel. |
| 140 | * FakeVideoCameraView: The first trailer takes the point of view of video cameras inside different D.U.P. agents' helmets. |
| 141 | * FantasticSlurs: Conduits are known as Bio-terrorists to the public. |
| 142 | * {{Fangirl}}: A group of these pop up after Delsin comes to Seattle. A loading screen tips call them "[[FanCommunityNicknames Rowe-mantics]]", and explains why you'll still have people snapping pictures if [[MisaimedFandom Delsin is Infamous.]] |
| 143 | * FighterMageThief: The three non-DUP powers gained by Delsin operate this way. |
| 144 | ** The Smoke powerset has a little bit of everything, being stronger offensively than Neon but weaker than Video, and containing several useful abilities to fall back on (Thief). |
| 145 | ** [[http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/11/14/the-powers-of-infamous-second-son-smoke-vs-neon/ Neon has been compared by the devs to a sniper]]. It has longer range than Smoke, requires more precision, and comes with a non-offense speed boost for quick evasion and traversal (Mage). |
| 146 | ** [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower Video]] contains the strongest offensive attacks (melee, Video Torrent, Bloodthirsty Blades) that make blitzing through combat head-on much easier. (Fighter). |
| 147 | * FindTheCure: This is the primary reason Reggie and Good Karma Delsin go after Augustine. Augustine tortures the tribe for information by [[BodyHorror making concrete grow out of their bodies]], which can't be safely removed without Augustine's power set. The plan is to have Delsin copy Augustine's powers and use them to save the dying tribe members. Reggie initially also wants to find a way to remove Delsin's powers since he believes being a Conduit is a bad thing. Delsin however doesn't see being a Conduit as a disease. |
| 148 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 149 | ** [[spoiler:Putting the aiming cursor over Hank when you team up to destroy Augustine's concrete tower causes it to turn red, like the enemies you encounter. This sets up his inevitable betrayal at level's end.]] |
| 150 | ** When Delsin [[spoiler:supposedly]] lost his powers, he claims he's going to beat Augustine, even if he has to [[spoiler:"throw rocks at her."]] When it comes time to fight Augustine for the final time, [[spoiler:Delsin really does throw rocks at her, thanks to the concrete powers he copied from Augustine.]] |
| 151 | ** Every time you absorb a Conduit's powers, Delsin also sees into their minds and memories of their life and situations, which usually turn out to be very Sad Backstories. You spend the entire game chasing after Augustine in order to absorb her Conduit powers specifically. [[spoiler:It turns out, when you absorb them and see into her mind, she comes from a Tragic Past as well. Her experiences as a Conduit made her [[WellIntentionedExtremist found the D.U.P. and imprison Conduits, in order to keep them safe from being killed by the Military or Public.]] ]] |
| 152 | ** [[spoiler:Delsin keeps calling Department of Unified Protection troops "DUPes". See the previous sub-point. Augustine is DUPing ''everyone'', and she's hiding it in plain sight.]] |
| 153 | * GameplayAndStoryIntegration: When Delsin first gets the Smoke power, pressing ''anything'' in the controller makes Delsin move uncontrollably. Neither he, nor the player, have control. |
| 154 | * GameplayAndStorySegregation: |
| 155 | ** Averted upon first gaining a new power, Delsin is locked out of any previously acquired powers until he's acquired enough power cores. When Delsin gains the [[spoiler:Video and Concrete]] powers, this actually factors into the story as he finds himself in situations where he would need to be able to use his powers but can't until he's found the first power core. |
| 156 | ** Played straight during the battle on the remains of the bridge as Delsin makes his way to the second island - Augustine places Delsin in a situation where he's going to be forced to reveal his Neon powers to her, as the Smoke powers aren't effective against the enemy. However, if the player is careful enough with their power usage in the battle, it's possible to win the battle without actually resorting to using the Neon powers, but the subsequent cutscene still plays out as if Delsin had used them. According to the devs, this was because none of their play testers managed it. |
| 157 | ** When Reggie's disguising himself as a suspected conduit in order to draw out one of the other conduits, Delsin makes a joke at his expense about shooting at him to make it "look real", and swirls smoke around his hands, even if you went into the cutscene with neon (and it doesn't change to smoke during or after the cutscene either). |
| 158 | ** Some of the cutscenes don't really work on an Infamous playthrough, with the dialogue not really gelling with Delsin running around & shooting anyone who slightly annoys him. Most notably, is the scene [[spoiler:featuring Reggie's death, where his final words to Delsin are that he's so proud of the man he's become]]. |
| 159 | ** A few dialogue lines can also contrast your gameplay actions in the heroic route, including one point where Delsin says he should have left a DUP agent alive to interrogate even if you restrained all of them in good health. |
| 160 | ** After you meet up with [[spoiler:Hank]] the second time, he'll compliment you on how well you [[spoiler:developed your smoke powers]]. Even if you don't use them at all during the prior mission. |
| 161 | * GoodCostumeSwitch: The two-headed raven logo on Delsin's vest will change into a angelic white raven if he performs good actions. His undershirt also becomes lighter, eventually becoming white. |
| 162 | * GoodThingYouCanHeal: Delsin was shot in the chest when he awakened to his powers. It didn't do much because of his smoke powers. |
| 163 | * GraffitiOfTheResistance: Delsin was a graffiti artist before getting his powers. He has a tagging mini-game that lets him screw with the DUP's propaganda by putting up his own art that usually depicts them in a less flattering light (usually something embarrassing in the heroic path and something violent in the infamous path). Creator/SuckerPunch art director Horia Dociu says the game's style was largely influenced by Banksy. |
| 164 | * GreyAndGrayMorality: Much like ''VideoGame/{{inFamous 2}}'', Second Son falls into this. [[spoiler:Both Augustine and Delsin want to do what is best to protect both the conduits and humanity, but through different methods and goals.]] |
| 165 | ** The way Conduits are treated as well. The government works hard to make people believe that all Conduits are psychopaths who need to be locked up, and they're suspended of all human rights when they're in custody. However, Hank used his powers to rob banks, and was only stopped by the DUP. Fetch's parents turned her over to the DUP which makes them seem like callous people who didn't care about their daughter, but ''[[VideoGame/InfamousFirstLight First Light]]'' reveals that they only did so after she lost control and hurt somebody with her powers. Something similar happened to Eugene, who tried to ignore bullies until one day he couldn't take it anymore and lashed out with his powers. Delsin's DUP contact who leaves him the audio logs says that humans and Conduits can't coexist, because if a human has a bad day they might do something like crash their car. If a Conduit has a bad day, they might go on a killing spree. Ultimately it's clear that while it's wrong the way Conduits are treated, people have good reason to be afraid of what their powers can do. |
| 166 | * GroundPound: Delsin can smash into the ground in a cloud of smoke, sending anyone nearby flying. |
| 167 | ** This is also Delsin's default melee with the Concrete power set. |
| 168 | * GroundPunch: Delsin can do these as his melee attack with the concrete power, creating concrete shockwaves upon impact. |
| 169 | * GuideDangIt: The Paper Trail AR website can edge into this territory. If you've acquired the in-game clues but don't know where to look next, check for any websites listed within the clues and look those up separately (as opposed to the rest of the AR websites that are directly linked to from the Paper Trail website). |
| 170 | * HealingFactor: Tacitly justified in the first two games by Cole simply being a powerful conduit, here it's explicitly played straight as fast-healing is straight-up said to be a RequiredSecondaryPower for Conduits. |
| 171 | * HeartIsAnAwesomePower: |
| 172 | ** All of the conduits Delsin encounters have non-standard powers like smoke, neon or {{hard light}} (referred to as "video"), yet the three of them manage to make good enough use of them to be a threat to an army of two-thousand created specifically to deal with supers. |
| 173 | *** Also, notice how most of these powers are not hard to find at all in a common city environment. Not only do they end up being useful, they have abundant sources scattered around their battlefields of choice. |
| 174 | ** The audio logs mention that when deciding what power should be granted to DUP footsoldiers that Glass was the runner-up due to its strength and availability, but it was too difficult to master so they chose to go with Concrete instead. |
| 175 | * HeroWithBadPublicity: |
| 176 | ** The D.U.P. has ensured that [[HeroicSacrifice Cole MacGrath]] went down in history as the Demon of Empire City to justify their Conduit hunts. |
| 177 | ** Delsin, along with all Conduits, are similarly considered "Bio-terrorists" by the wider public. The D.U.P. also twist news reports to make Delsin, Fetch and Eugene look like monsters, even if you take the hero path. |
| 178 | ** Subverted in the Hero path, where the people of Seattle turn against the D.U.P. in favor of Delsin. |
| 179 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Reggie allows himself to fall into the ocean while being trapped in concrete, as to prevent the same fate from happening to Delsin.]] |
| 180 | * HowDoIShotWeb: Happens to Delsin every time he absorbs another Conduit's powers. [[spoiler:Invoked by Augustine, who lets Delsin absorb hers knowing it will leave him powerless during their battle.]] |
| 181 | * IHaveYourWife: [[spoiler:Hank leads Delsin into a D.U.P. trap because Augustine has his daughter captive.]] |
| 182 | * ImpliedLoveInterest: If you choose to Redeem Fetch, Delsin and Fetch are implied to hook up partway through the game, though nothing is ever shown. [[spoiler: It's a single line of dialogue to the effect of "[[NotStayingForBreakfast You weren't there when I woke up]]"]]. However, if you choose to Corrupt Fetch, it's not implied at all — they start making out [[SexyDiscretionShot and more]]. |
| 183 | * IncrediblyLamePun: The civilians of Seattle are on Good Delsin's side. One yells out "You con-duit!" as you pass him, even accompanying it with a laugh that seems to recognise how awful it is. |
| 184 | * InkSuitActor: |
| 185 | ** As the game uses [[SerkisFolk motion capture performances]], the 3D rendered Delsin Rowe looks a bit similar to his real world voice actor Creator/TroyBaker. |
| 186 | ** Ditto for Reggie Rowe looking eerily similar to his voice actor Creator/TravisWillingham. |
| 187 | ** Minus the pink hair and piercings, Fetch resembles Creator/LauraBailey. |
| 188 | * InsistentTerminology: Augustine is quick to correct Delsin when he refers to Hank as a Conduit rather than a Bio-terrorist. Delsin is equally quick to correct Reggie the other way around. |
| 189 | * InstantArmor: A function of Augustine's concrete powers, drawing concrete up around to protect the body. Many of the imbued D.U.P. troops employ this to boost their damage resistance. [[spoiler:Delsin eventually gets it too when dashing with the Concrete power set.]] |
| 190 | * JustifiedTutorial: After unlocking a new set of abilities, Delsin has no powers except the RequiredSecondaryPower innate to all Conduits, and has to hunt down blast cores in order to get enough of a boost to unlock new skills. [[spoiler:This even affects how the final boss plays out, as you're forced to dodge her attacks until you can get access to blast cores to make Concrete not useless.]] |
| 191 | * {{Kneecapping}}: With the Neon power, it's possible to aim at an enemy's legs to disable them non-lethally as opposed to vaporizing them with a headshot. Weaker enemies can be subdued with a single leg-shot, while more powerful enemies require both legs to be hit. |
| 192 | * KnowWhenToFoldEm: Kill enough members of a DUP squad and the last will throw down his weapon and raise his hands. Delsin can subdue them nonlethally for Good Karma or kill them for Evil Karma. |
| 193 | * LaserBlade: When using his Video powers, Delsin's melee weapon is a sword he fashions out of energy (but only if he has good karma). Subduing an enemy with Video also pins them to the ground with similar swords. |
| 194 | * LateCharacterSyndrome: Most players experience a version of this with the powers that Delsin gets later in the game, Video and Concrete. They're both good enough to be at least viable, but by the time you get them you've most likely settled in to Smoke and Neon and don't really have any holes in your power set that need filling. Concrete gets it even worse, as Delsin [[spoiler:only gets it during the FinalBoss, at which point there isn't much to use it on.]] |
| 195 | * LawfulNeutral: Depending on whether Delsin is heroic or infamous, the D.U.P. can either be seen as a menace to all honest people, or a necessary protector for humans. Played straight right before the final battle, where Augustine accuses Delsin of vile acts towards all of Seattle and he reacts according to his karma. |
| 196 | ** Also appears in gameplay. If you injure Augustine while heroic, it will be seen as a good action under "Tyrant wounded." If evil, it will be seen as an evil action under "Authority wounded." |
| 197 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: After you get the Platinum Trophy, Delsin will say "well we have been through a lot together." |
| 198 | * LightEmUp: Fetch and the Neon power set. |
| 199 | * LittleNo: Delsin desperately mumbles "no" over and over as [[spoiler:Reggie prepares to [[HeroicSacrifice let himself fall to his death to prevent Augustine's concrete from capturing Delsin too.]]]] |
| 200 | * LimitBreak: Delsin can perform massive attacks like [[DeathFromAbove Orbital Drop]] by performing multiple karma actions. |
| 201 | ** If you're good, this involves restraining enough enemies (or saving enough civilians) to charge a super meter. |
| 202 | ** If you're evil, you have to chain together a series of kills (Executions or Obliterations) instead. |
| 203 | * LogoJoke: This game has the Sucker Punch logo spray painted on to the screen. |
| 204 | * MagicPants: Although his powers of Smoke, Neon and Video have him transform into their respective forms, Delsin's clothes return with him in human form, not even damage to his phone. Ditto for Hank with Smoke, and Fetch with Neon (Eugene isn't shown chanelling himself through aerials for a directed speed and height boost the way Delsin does with Video). |
| 205 | * MeaningfulEcho: |
| 206 | ** [[spoiler:Delsin uses Augustine's own catchphrase against her ("I'm told that hurts.") after he takes her out [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with her own powers.]]]] |
| 207 | ** Delsin tends to echo other people somewhat regularly usually in a somewhat joking fashion. |
| 208 | ** [[spoiler: At the end of the good ending, after making a memorial for his brother, Reggie says, "I love you brother, and I'm sure gonna miss you." These are the exact same words Zeke says in the good ending of [[VideoGame/{{Infamous 2}} inFAMOUS 2]].]] |
| 209 | * MeaningfulName: |
| 210 | ** Delsin has an older brother, Reggie, making Delsin quite literally a "Second Son". |
| 211 | ** In universe, we have Eugene Sims, a video game enthusiast that frequently plays "Heaven's Hellfire", a fictional MMORPG. His surname could be seen as a reference to his ability to make {{hard light}} constructs from video game "simulations". |
| 212 | * MercyKill: [[spoiler:The Infamous ending ends with Delsin using an orbital drop to kill the Akomish afflicted with the concrete after they disown him and refuse to accept the cure for the disease]]. |
| 213 | * MonumentalBattle: The D.U.P. turns the Space Needle into a giant communications antenna (or more accurately hangs an array of antenna from it) necessitating that Delsin climb the thing and have a showdown with D.U.P. agents at the top. |
| 214 | * MortonsFork: The first karmic decision plays out pretty much the same regardless of whether or not Delsin tells Augustine he is a conduit, [[spoiler:in part because that is not the secret Augustine thought Delsin was keeping.]] |
| 215 | * MultipleEndings: |
| 216 | ** BittersweetEnding: More sweet than bitter. [[spoiler:In the Heroic ending, Delsin defeats Augustine & exposes the truth of her actions, which leads to the U.S. government freeing the Conduits the D.U.P. have imprisoned. The efforts of Delsin, Eugene & Fetch in fighting the D.U.P. leads to the three being regarded as heroes & subsequently leads to Conduits beginning to peacefully coexist with regular people without persecution, and having gained the Concrete power that Augustine had used to mortally wound the Akomish, Delsin is able to heal the tribe. However, Reggie still died along the way and the game ends with Delsin making a memorial for him.]] |
| 217 | ** DownerEnding: [[spoiler:In the Infamous ending, the Akomish in Salmon Bay disown Delsin after seeing all the innocents he's murdered ostensibly for their sake, knowing they will die without his help and accepting that fate. In response to having the door shut in his face (literally and figuratively), Delsin performs an Orbital Drop on the building the tribe is inside, killing them all. Or if you don't kill Hank but have Evil Karma, it'll play out like normal but instead of Delsin killing everyone, the door is slammed and credits roll.]] |
| 218 | %%* MutantDraftBoard / SuperRegistrationAct: The D.U.P. was created to recruit, neutralize or kill anyone suspected of being a superhuman. |
| 219 | * ANaziByAnyOtherName: The DUP have stormtroopers, a torturous concentration camp, and unlimited authority to bully, round up, and abuse citizens at their leisure. They also have blood purity tests that they use to separate the genetically different from the rest of society. [[spoiler: Subverted by their leader who is actually the opposite.]] |
| 220 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: The only reason that Delsin and Reggie travel to Seattle is that Augustine left behind the Akomish to die when it would have been no trouble to her to just fix up their concrete wounds post-interrogation. If she hadn't done that, she would only have had two bioterrorists in the city, who might have inflicted some helpful terror and then gotten caught by the heroic DUP. |
| 221 | * NoCanonForTheWicked: The game picks up after the "Hero" ending of ''VideoGame/{{InFamous 2}}'', as the [[WordOfGod dev team]] saw from trophy data that 78% of players chose that path. |
| 222 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Whether intentional or not (probably not), Hank's voice sounds similar to [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin Steve Austin's.]] |
| 223 | * NoCutsceneInventoryInertia: There are a few cutscenes that have Delsin is using his smoke powers no matter which powers he entered the scene with. |
| 224 | * NoKillLikeOverkill: There's a trophy for using a Karmic Streak LimitBreak to kill a single enemy. |
| 225 | * NoPeekingRequest: Brooke Augustine mockingly offers to close her eyes if [[PowerCopying Delsin]] doesn't use his [[LightEmUp Neon powers]] during a scripted fight. |
| 226 | * NotStayingForBreakfast: In both karmic paths, Fetch has to catch up to Delsin through a phone call later in the day when she wakes up herself. Good karma path is a bit ambiguous on the whole DidTheyOrDidntThey part, evil leaves very little for speculation. |
| 227 | * NotQuiteFlight: Each of Delsin's power sets allow him amazing vertical maneuverability, but none of them allow free, sustained fight. Delsin can fall in style. In ''many'' styles. However, he can't really fly. Ironically, the best power set to do so is [[DishingOutDirt Concrete]]. |
| 228 | -->'''Delsin:''' He can practically fly, man!\ |
| 229 | '''Reggie:''' So can you... in three languages! |
| 230 | * NotQuiteTheRightThing: Basically, when we discover Augustine's full plan [[spoiler: it has a fair amount of logic that the government was going to kill ''all'' Conduits and did kill 50% of all living ones anyway. The DUP and her efforts as HunterOfHisOwnKind resulted in them being taken alive and put in special prisons that were better than death. Except, she did a lot of terrible things to them in these prisons and arguably made things worse on the outside by keeping Conduit fear up to justify funding for her actions.]] |
| 231 | * ObliviouslyEvil: During a gameplay trailer a D.U.P. agent voices his lack of understanding as to why any civilian, let alone a group of them, could possibly treat them like the bad guys when said agents are trying to "protect" them from the "bio-terrorists", despite the fact that the D.U.P. is constantly watching EVERYONE, Conduit and Human, and taking away just about any form of privacy that the civilians originally had. |
| 232 | * OminousMultipleScreens: The Department of Unified Protection's Seattle HQ has a wall of monitors that allows them to keep tabs on the entire city. |
| 233 | * OneTimeDungeon: The entirety of Salmon Bay at the beginning of the game is not revisitable once Delsin and Reggie leave for Seattle. Ditto for the tunnel and bridge heading there too once the D.U.P. destroy them. And lastly [[spoiler: Augustine's concrete prison island]] before she destroys it. |
| 234 | * OrderVersusChaos: The D.U.P. represents order at the cost of freedom; Delsin represents the opposite. |
| 235 | * OutGambitted: Delsin is the victim of a Played For Laughs version in the tutorial. His plan was simple - deface the billboard, sneak off along the beach, get to the Longhouse to establish an alibi. Apparently, at no point did Delsin consider the possibility of Reggie getting to the Longhouse before him. |
| 236 | -->'''Delsin''': I'm a goddamn criminal mastermind. |
| 237 | * PacifistRun: It's difficult to get through a game with ''zero'' casualties but most of your primary powersets come with completely nonlethal options, provided you start off Good (going Evil increases your general lethality). A smoke shot to the head makes enemies cough and an easy target for a nonlethal takedown (or, with the right upgrades, a smoke headshot just instantly subdues them), as do several grenade options. The Neon beam attack shows you lethal and nonlethal weakpoints on enemies by default so you can quickly zap out their legs and be done with it, and so on. Even better, your good-style Karma Bomb that charges up from subduing enemies nonlethally is itself nonlethal, just binding them all to the ground (even though it blows up everything else). |
| 238 | * PlayingWithFire: Delsin gains the power to manipulate smoke and flames, much like Nix from ''VideoGame/{{InFamous 2}}''. Though he can burn or blow up stuff with cinder missiles, his smoke can also be utilized nonlethally to stun and confuse enemies. |
| 239 | * PossessionImpliesMastery: Getting new power cores to unlock new powers gives Delsin a video of him using his new powers. Somehow he just instinctively knows how to do all this stuff the moment he can do it. |
| 240 | * PowerCopying: Delsin's primary ability is absorbing the abilities of other Conduits through contact. |
| 241 | * {{Revision}}: ''Second Son'' establishes using the RFI at the end of ''VideoGame/{{InFamous 2}}'' didn't kill all superhumans as Cole and Dr Wolfe feared, just a lot of them. |
| 242 | * PowerPerversionPotential: This conversation, after events lead to Delsin only having Video-based invisibility. |
| 243 | -->'''Reggie:''' I guess if you got stuck with one power, invisibility isn't so bad. |
| 244 | -->'''Delsin:''' No kidding, right? I've been planning what I would do if I could turn invisible since I hit puberty. |
| 245 | -->'''Reggie:''' Aaand, this conversation is now over. |
| 246 | * RequiredSecondaryPowers: |
| 247 | ** Delsin is only super strong when it fits the story. He couldn't lift someone covered in concrete or break the concrete off his own hands, despite a quick smack from the butt of a rocket launcher shattering it easily. |
| 248 | ** One of the questions on the Paper Trail ARG quiz says that all conduits regardless of their powers have innate SuperStrength, HealingFactor, and fall dampening. |
| 249 | * {{Retcon}}: Seems to be the case as far as the way Conduits function goes. In [=inFAMOUS=] 1 and 2 it seemed to be heavily implied that the vast majority of Conduits exhibit various types of PsychicPowers (most commonly telekinesis, judging by the amount of them who could do it to some degree), but by the time of Second Son it would seem like they've all got various types of (loosely defined) elemental powers. Furthermore, only Cole actually had to "drain" his "element" in order to use his powers in the first two games (which was explained as his powers literally relying on the electricity his body stores), whereas in Second Son having to drain elemental power from the environment appears to be the standard, and ElementalShapeshifting seems to be an innate ability now that's useable by all conduits, while in 1 and 2 only Nix was shown to be able to do so to that extent. |
| 250 | %%** One possible explanation is the fact that the RFI somehow altered the Conduits it didn't kill so their power manifested differently. All the Conduits we see manifested ''after'' Cole used the RFI, and their powers kind of work like his. |
| 251 | %%** Probably justified in a quick to miss comment where it is suggested that the government designed these new events that made the new Conduits. This as a way to create a problem the people would look to them to fix. |
| 252 | * RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: [[spoiler:Hank's betrayal of Delsin and the others at the cost of freedom backfires when the D.U.P commander he calls for pickup turns out to be especially racist and sends his men to kill him rather than give him asylum. However, whether or not he dies is up to you when Delsin catches him.]] |
| 253 | -->'''D.U.P. Officer:''' And what makes you think Bio-terrorist scum like you can leave this city alive?\ |
| 254 | [[spoiler:'''Hank:''']] We had a deal.\ |
| 255 | '''D.U.P. Officer:''' No, ''you'' had a deal. With my boss. Who's not here right now. But the guys who are here enlisted to hunt down you Bio-terrorists, not help them escape after they sell out their own kind! |
| 256 | * RidiculouslyFastConstruction: Augustine's concrete powers allow her to create citadels of stone (then apparently someone else spraypaints a few yellow lines here and there). |
| 257 | * RoaringRampageOfRevenge: After Augustine [[spoiler:kills Reggie]], Delsin goes berserk and begins punting her like a football after knocking her defenses down, all the while screaming at her over what she's done, and when she calls soldiers to aid her all of his attacks are fatal, even if he's good karma. This also extends to [[spoiler:Hank, but if Delsin is good karma, he lets him go and calms down before going to assault Augustine's base.]] |
| 258 | * RockPaperScissors: Augustine (Concrete Conduit), [[spoiler:Celia (Paper Conduit)]] and Delsin (his symbol - the two-headed bird - resembling scissors in design) respectively. RuleOfSymbolism [[InvertedTrope inverts]] this premise, as Delsin defeats Augustine, [[spoiler:Celia]] outwit and manipulated Delsin, and Augustine captured and controlled [[spoiler:Celia]]. |
| 259 | * SceneryGorn: The bridge to Seattle, demolished by the D.U.P. and still collapsing as Delsin crosses it. |
| 260 | * SerkisFolk: The game uses various actors' motion capture performances to create its in-game cutscenes. |
| 261 | * SequelReset: ''Second Son'' [[{{Revision}} side-steps]] the canon ending of ''VideoGame/{{InFamous 2}}'' and returns to the previous status quo, with new Conduits and a new anti-Conduit task force appearing. As it turns out, Cole's use of the RFI only killed most of the world's Conduits. |
| 262 | * SequelHook: |
| 263 | ** In the good ending, [[spoiler:all the conduits in Curdun Cay are set free, but considering that some of them (like Hank) probably ''needed'' to be in there, this could have repercussions later. In the Infamous ending, Delsin decides he's going go after Curdun Cay himself to not just free the conduits, but load up on their powers.]] |
| 264 | ** In either Karma, the ending of ''Paper Trail'' sees [[spoiler:Celia deciding that humans and conduits can't co-exist and becoming evil, but she's gone by the time you find her final message. Delsin ([[EvenEvilHasStandards of both karmas, mind you]]), disgusted and at least a little bit guilty that his actions caused her to adopt such a twisted resolve, swears he'll stop her when she resurfaces.]] |
| 265 | * SigilSpam: D.U.P. has their facilities and vehicles covered in their logo and distinctive black, white, and gold color scheme. This also helps players identify the {{Everything Is Smashable Area}}s. |
| 266 | * ShoutOut: |
| 267 | ** One of the Good Karma stencil art pieces has a D.U.P. trooper having his pants pulled off by a dog, reminiscent of the classic Coppertone girl. |
| 268 | ** An Evil Karma stencil art piece has the Space Needle-headed Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robot bopping off the head of a D.U.P. trooper. |
| 269 | ** One Evil Karma stencil image has an old man about to mow over the heads of several buried D.U.P. troopers, reminiscent to a scene from ''Caligula''. |
| 270 | ** Scattered throughout the city are advertisements for a Phoenix Jones movie, in reference to the real-life "superhero" based in Seattle. |
| 271 | ** A possible reference to ''Anime/DeathNote'' is the D.U.P. operator who Delsin keeps pestering refusing to give him her name when asked. |
| 272 | -->'''Operator:''' I am not going to tell my name to some bio-terrorist! You might have... name-controlling powers or something. |
| 273 | ** A stuffed toy of VideoGame/{{Knack}} can be found in the Longhouse Hospital at the beginning of the game. |
| 274 | ** Construction ''[[{{Pun}} cranes]]'' have the "Series/{{Frasier}}" manufacturer logo on the side. |
| 275 | ** The stencil art in general looks very similar in style to the works of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy Banksy]]. |
| 276 | * ShipTease: The romantic subtext between Delsin and Fetch isn't exactly subtle. |
| 277 | ** SexIsEvil: And while they seem to spend the night together regardless of karma, Corrupt!Fetch throws all possible subtlety out of the window. |
| 278 | * ShownTheirWork: |
| 279 | ** The raven imagery associated with Delsin is evocative of Coast Salish mythology. |
| 280 | ** While ArtisticLicenseGeography mixes up their locations, a lot of the Seattle landmarks, even the lesser known ones, are uncannily true to life.[[note]]Sucker Punch being based in the greater Seattle area helps, since that is literally home territory for them.[[/note]] |
| 281 | * SinisterSurveillance: The D.U.P. has cameras all over the city, constantly looking for Conduits like you. They even put them on D.U.P. troopers' helmets. |
| 282 | * SmashToBlack: Used in the Infamous ending [[spoiler:right before Delsin destroys the longhouse.]] |
| 283 | * SmokeOut: Delsin can create a clouds of smoke to obscure enemies' view, allowing him to catch them by surprise or sneak away. |
| 284 | * SoProudOfYou: Near the end of the game, Reggie tells Delsin that he is proud of the man Delsin has become. [[spoiler:All the more powerful because these are his last words.]] Of course, it ''would'' be more meaningful if he didn't say the same words on a playthrough where you descended from juvenile delinquent towards mass murderer... |
| 285 | * SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler:Delsin's ability to absorb Core Relays is the primary reason Augustine's careful planning falls apart.]] |
| 286 | * SpectralWeaponCopy: Delsin can fight up close with swords made of whatever power he's using at the time (Neon, Video). Video also includes the Bloodthirsty Blades, which appear in packs of at least 3, and can fly at whatever target he marks. Evil Karma ups this to 5 of them. In the case of video, all the swords are inspired by the weaponry in Eugene's favorite {{MMORPG}}, ''Heaven's Hellfire'' (which he owns several replicas of). |
| 287 | * StealthPun: Delsin's first power is [[SuperSmoke smoke]], and he uses [[ChainPain a chain wrapped around his wrist]] as a melee weapon. [[spoiler:He's a chain smoker]]. |
| 288 | ** Possibly unintentional, but one anagram of Delsin Rowe is Wonder Isle. In the game, Seattle does look like a couple of islands... |
| 289 | * SuperDrowningSkills: Delsin's fine if he lands in the water, usually just making a comment about how cold it is. But the game freezes you in place and forces you to hit the touchpad to return to shore. Exceptions are in exceedingly dangerous areas like the collapsing bridge or [[spoiler:the D.U.P island you raid near the game's end]], but in this case it just cuts to black and puts you at the last failed jump. |
| 290 | * SuperSmoke: Your starting power is the ability to control and transform into smoke. |
| 291 | * SuperpowerLottery: Conduits all have different abilities based on personality or environmental factors. |
| 292 | ** Delsin has PowerCopying abilities. |
| 293 | ** Hank has SuperSmoke powers. |
| 294 | ** Brooke Augustine has control over [[DishingOutDirt concrete]], which she also transferred to all her D.U.P. underlings. |
| 295 | ** Abigail "Fetch" Walker can turn [[LightEmUp neon light]] into pure energy. |
| 296 | ** Eugene has [[spoiler:"video" powers that lets him make HardLight constructs of [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower anything he can imagine]].]] |
| 297 | ** A side mission Conduit named Celia has [[PaperMaster paper superpowers]]. |
| 298 | ** Audio logs mention wire, glass, plant, organic, and paper control powers. |
| 299 | ** The Paper Trail ARG sites also mention pressurized water, electricity, steam, tar, mirrors, shadows and magnets along with all of the above. |
| 300 | * StanceSystem: Delsin can cycle between entire sets of powers by absorbing energy from different sources. |
| 301 | * TeleportSpam: Delsin can use his smoke powers to constantly disappear and reappear, making confused enemies easy targets for his attacks. |
| 302 | * TakeThat: Much like how Infamous 2 took a shot at the Xbox 360 with a store called Red Ring Electronics, Second Son takes a shot at the Platform/XboxOne with an [[http://www.psmania.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/RnyM02W.png unlockable "X-Bone" jacket]], a reference to a FanNickname used to mock the Xbox One console that Xbox spokesman Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb does not like. |
| 303 | * TimeSkip: ''Second Son'' takes place seven years after the previous ''VideoGame/{{inFAMOUS}}'' game. |
| 304 | * TortureAlwaysWorks: |
| 305 | ** In one of the dead drops, the informant informs Delsin that Augustine has been torturing people for information to his location. Most quickly swear that they could lead her right to you. However it is clearly a subversion as they are most likely saying this just to get the torture to stop. The informant all but confirms this but still warns Delsin to watch himself. |
| 306 | ** Also averted at the beginning. Augustine suspects that Delsin is hiding something and threatens that if he doesn't tell her, she'll "interrogate" the whole village, most of whom have seen him use his newfound smoke power and most of whom presumably know him as a troublemaker. Whether [[CassandraTruth he does tell her]] or not, he wakes up in the village's longhouse and is told that out of the entire group, not a single person betrayed him, even though they're now all dying a slow, painful death for it. |
| 307 | * TrickAndFollowPloy: After a bunch of suspected conduits are taken from DUP custody [[spoiler:by angels]] in the "Reggie Takes Flight" mission, Reggie puts on a DUP restraint suit and has Delsin chase him through the city until [[spoiler:an angel]] grabs him. Delsin then follows them by tracking Reggie's phone signal. |
| 308 | * UnreliableNarrator: |
| 309 | ** Augustine claims that with the DUP in charge with capturing Conduits there has been no Conduit deaths. Kind of hard to believe her when the DUP agents make it quite clear they would love nothing more than to kill any "Bio-Terrorist" they come across. This is enforced even more during the "Paper Trails" mission when you come across body bags of Conduits and all of their deaths are marked as "JUSTICE". |
| 310 | ** Augustine has another one at the end of the game where [[spoiler:she proclaims that Curdun Cay is a Conduit Sanctuary and she caused this FalseFlagOperation so as to keep the place open and keep the Conduits safe. All the while her actions make it clear she just wants to remain in power and head the DUP (the Evil Karma play-through making this clearer than the Good Karma), while keeping the Conduits locked up to the point they can't even feed or go to the bathroom by themselves.]] |
| 311 | * UnskilledButStrong / WeakButSkilled: Video vs. Neon, essentially. Neon is about efficiency, allowing you the greatest speed, convenient ways to take out opponents without having to do too much fighting or risk running the karma meter the wrong way--you can even auto-K.O. D.U.P. officers by barreling into them none the worse for wear. However, you'll have to get good with those abilities to make full use of them, as otherwise the Neon powerset is the weakest damage dealer of the bunch. Video runs the opposite way, allowing you to summon angels and demons, summon gigantic swords as missiles, and to swing around huge broadswords or claws that will put down quite easily what it would take you a lot of effort to put down with other powersets. |
| 312 | * VideoGameCaringPotential: Healing returns, naturally. And now healing civilians (alongside taking enemies non-lethally) gives you a charge towards your {{Limit Break}}s. |
| 313 | * VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Of course you can kill people for evil karma. What did you expect? And if you're evil and you start performing good deeds like healing people or restraining enemies the game basically tells you to stop being good. |
| 314 | * VillainHasAPoint: Augustine is a sadistic murderoous psychopath. [[spoiler: She also is fully aware that the government intended a FinalSolution for Conduits, a FinalSolution in fact, that they came close to carrying out. The DUP did prevent them from slaughtering them all. It's just it's arguably outlived its purpose as times have changed.]] |
| 315 | * VitriolicBestBuds: Delsin and Reggie are a justified example. On one hand, they're brothers, so of course they genuinely care about each other. On the other hand, Reggie is a cop and Delsin is a delinquent -- two lifestyles that don't mesh well. |
| 316 | * WhamEpisode: [[spoiler:Hank sells out Delsin to Augustine. Reggie comes in [[BigDamnHeroes just in time to save him]], but they both end up hanging on a ledge over the ocean, with concrete slowly encasing Reggie. So that he won't bring both of them down when the concrete gets too heavy, Reggie [[HeroicSacrifice lets go and plunges into the ocean]].]] |
| 317 | * WhamLine: Augustine throws out one [[spoiler:before the FinalBoss.]] |
| 318 | -->'''Augustine:''' This is what you wanted, you win! [[spoiler:We both have the same power!]] Only difference is...[[spoiler:I've had [[ShapeshifterModeLock seven years to practice]]!]] |
| 319 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: During [[spoiler:the first fight with Augustine]], a good-karma Delsin kills everyone who comes up against him without repercussion. The only person who sees him do it is [[spoiler:Augustine, who wants to paint him as a terrorist anyway]]. |
| 320 | * WallRun: You can use your neon SuperSpeed powers to run straight up the side of buildings. |
| 321 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: As it turns out, [[spoiler:Augustine heads the D.U.P. and imprisons Conduits because she's convinced that it's the only way to stop them from being persecuted and killed by the military]]. |
| 322 | * WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Despite that they all draw from the same power well, concrete, the D.U.P. troops and Augustine have a wide variety of applications for this power, reminiscent of [[Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar]]-style earth-benders. Some guys can jump by creating concrete wedges under their feet, or cling to wall by making a temporary platform. Some guys armor themselves up, and there's a "wizard"-like buffer unit who tries to imprison you in concrete while shielding others with floating rocks. There's a very large mid-boss who uses rotating pylons of stone and concrete torpedoes that rip through the ground towards you. The troops also use their powers to build military fortifications all over the city. Augustine herself is basically ''ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'' with rocks, having all these powers and [[spoiler:the ability to turn herself into a gigantic morphing rock monster by surrounding herself with concrete]]. |
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