History Fridge / SpecOpsTheLine

* Walker talking for Knrad:

* Ever wonder why this game was always about Walker? Simple: take the first letter of their names - Martin ''W''alker, Alphonse ''A''dams, John ''L''ugo, John ''K''onrad, ''R''adioman - though without the ''E'' the rather phonetic pronunciation makes a point. Now, by reversing these letters in question, you get R-KLAW; to elaborate, the five would've been arranged in the order that they have died: Radioman, Konrad, Lugo, Adams, and possibly Walker.
** But Konrad died before Radioman, committing suicide weeks before the Radioman is shot by Lugo, so wouldn't it be KRLAW?

* The nature of Walker wearing Konrad's uniform has been assumed to be him evoking Konrad's villain status onto himself, that Walker now equates himself as the villain he assumed Konrad was. However there may be something far more noble than that in mind. Pay attention to the loading screen for the epilogue, Walker is standing out in the middle of the rain having the blood on his skin washed off, thereby symbolically cleansing him of his sins in what is akin to a baptism in the rain. Walker is symbolically adding Konrad's sins and persona onto himself so he can redeem Konrad's image and legacy, as well as his own. That baptism in the rain was just as much for Walker himself, as it was for Konrad's sake; Konrad is having his redemption as well through Walker.

** Wait, so the only possible (and possibly more plausible) alternative (the sand crushes them under its sheer weight) is a better way to go? Still pretty cool, though.

* The way Walker's sleeves are ripped perfectly to show off his arms after the truck crash. It's impossible he could've done it himself since we never leave his POV and his sleeves are just gone when he regains consciousness. [[spoiler: Actually, he probably ''did'' do it himself and doesn't remember it, thinking it's normal ClothingDamage. It's an overused look for the typical action hero, and Walker is trying to be a hero, is doing a good job of convincing himself he's a hero, and is in reality, of course, anything but.]]
* What is the answer given by the [[spoiler: imaginary]] remnants of the 33rd to Walker about Konrad's location? ''"Where he's always been sir. Upstairs, waiting for you."'' At first glance, you'll likely take this to mean that Konrad has simply been upstairs on the top floor, waiting for Walker to finish his mission and arrive there to meet him. It takes on an entirely different meaning when you realize [[spoiler: that Konrad is just a figment of Walker's imagination due to dissociative disorder and that the real Colonel Konrad has been dead for two weeks. Konrad has been figuratively "upstairs", namely in Walker's brain the entire time]], not the type of "upstairs" Walker was expecting.

*** Amusingly if you take the story as a deconstruction of most shooters that have been out on the market, you know the type that encourage mindless violence and don't showcase the consequences that such violence would have in real life, then Konrad is addressing not only Walker but the player as well. His brutality is just as "sane" as our mindset is, showcasing such mindless brutality makes us no better than Konrad is. It reminds me a great deal of what Colonel Kurtz said to Captain Willard in Film/ApocalypseNow, "I have seen the horrors, horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me, but you don't have a right to judge me." How can you judge a man that you are the same as? It would be like judging yourself.
* This one crosses over with GeniusBonus. [[spoiler: At the end of the game, in Konrad's penthouse, there are two intel collectibles, one of which is a letter by Konrad to his son. In both ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'' and ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', Kurtz's final testament to his son is immensely important to both stories, being, among other things, a justification for his actions, an explanation of how he became what he was, a sort of missionary tract to be disseminated to the rest of the world, and a burden for Marlowe/Willard to carry and deal with as they see fit. In ''SpecOpsTheLine'', Konrad's letter to his son is a simple apology, one that takes about twenty words. It is a massive departure from the game's roots...but it is appropriate, because it is the first clue that ''The Line'' is '''not''' the story of Konrad's fall, but of Walker's.]]

** In one of the endings, [[spoiler:Walker massacres a squad sent to rescue him, having finally snapped. By now, the game has very resolutely shown that there is no glory in war, and senseless violence is wrong. If, after all that, the player ''still'' wants to have whiz-bang shooty fun, they are "rewarded" with the bleakest in a set of already bleak endings, as the player is as insane as Walker.]]

** The development team were aiming for one of three player reactions to the [[spoiler:white phosphorous incident]], above. The third of these most closely mirrors Walker's own reaction to the event. In this case, the player realizes that it was a ButThouMust scenario and becomes just as angry about it as the characters are, and desperately seeks to shift the blame onto the developers. Lead writer Walt Williams, as quoted on the main page:
--> '''Walt:''' 'Could I have done something different?' And the answer is no. It was your only real option. To which you might say, 'That's not fair.' And I'd say, 'You're right.' That's a real emotional response and I can guarantee it's exactly what Walker is feeling in that moment.
** The fact that the lead writer ''specifically wrote it'' to ensure that the player was wrong, no matter what (given the whole "if you blame the dev team, you're as wrong as Walker looking for anyone to blame but him) and the "you suck and you are evil and gross" loading screens sort of lend credence to "pointing and laughing at players".
*** And most importantly, it does nothing to exculpate them. Walker may be wrong in a realistic sense because nobody was forcing the situation down that path, but the same cannot be said of the developers themselves.
**** Not so. The player always has a choice. Maybe that choice is refusing to continue, turning off the game, and walking away.
**** The player's choice is to do it or turn off the game. Walker's choice is to do it or get killed by the soldiers. There is a second option, but [[MortonsFork it means neither of you get to continue, or see the end.]]
* What significance does Walker shooting the mirror [[spoiler: with the imaginary representation of Konrad looking back at him]] have for Walker's situation? The mirror represents [[spoiler: Konrad being a reflection of his inner chaos that he has to overcome or be destroyed by it, "We can't live this lie forever."]] and by shooting it he [[spoiler: defeats his inner demons, the illusion of Konrad is shattered in a manner similar to Fight Club.]]
** Arguably, it would have made more sense for him to [[spoiler: get the BittersweetEnding by NOT shooting the mirror and ending the cycle of violence.]]
*** Oddly, Walker seems to agree with you, sort of. In the endings where Walker [[spoiler:doesn't die]], he seems almost disappointed that is the case.
** I saw it more as the player being complicit in Walker [[spoiler: projecting his own mistakes on imaginary Konrad. Instead of going the way of real Konrad and eating your gun out of despair, you accept Walker's mindset of "it's everyone else's fault."]] You might still have you're own reasons for picking this one. It was the first ending I picked merely because I didn't want my character to die... I wonder what that says about me...
*** Of course, the rationale would be different for everyone - [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation another viewpoint]] is that Walker took the high road by accepting the judgment of ''others'' for what he'd done, rather than [[DrivenToSuicide take his fate into his own hands like Konrad had]].
* Why can Walker [[spoiler:shoot the American troops coming to rescue him at the end?]] Well, he's shot at people like them for the entire game.
** It goes even deeper than that. Notice that Walker is wearing [[spoiler:Konrad's clothes in the epilogue. This symbolizes Walker's realization that HE is the villain he thought Konrad was. The kind of villain who would murder American soldiers in a fit of insanity.]]
* Walker hits his head pretty badly when he falls out of the skyscraper early in the game. A concussion like that would probably not be good for his mental well-being. All the subsequent injuries probably don't help.
** Not to mention that Delta appear to be in Dubai for a full two days and aren't depicted getting any sleep in that time. Fatigue certainly wouldn't help their mental state.
* The music that is played in some of the combat scenes isn't just flavor, it is there in-universe and being played into your headset by Radioman. [[spoiler:It stops happening once he dies.]]
* One of Adam's lines to Walker towards the end of the game foreshadows the primary conflict in the ending: [[spoiler:"Lugo's blood is on your hands, not mine." Seems like Walker's not the only member of his team who is desperately trying to push the blame onto someone else.]]
** Bonus points: [[spoiler:after Adams blames Walker for everything, Adams mimes shooting Walker. The ending where Walker still blames Konrad has him following his accusations ''by pointing a gun at him and shooting him.'']]
* Your two teammates. [[spoiler:Lugo keeps pushing the mission over saving lives and gets lynched by the very civilians he disregarded. Adams keeps pushing saving lives over the mission and dies helping Walker finish the mission he disregarded.]]
* At first, the game just quietly hints at something horrific happening in Kabul, but after the [[spoiler: White Phosphorus incident]], Walker switches from not bringing it up, to actively cutting people off from talking about it. [[spoiler: You'd almost think he was in denial...]]
* At first glance a game like The Line may just seem like a generic third person cover based shooter like Gears of War, with all the typical tropes and gameplay mechanics you would expect, but when looking at the game from the perspective that Walker is hallucinating then a lot of that may be intentional. Walker's hero fantasy might be making him imagine himself to be a video game super soldier and he and his perception of the world react accordingly.
* Why would Walker have the option to [[spoiler: shoot his reflection in the mirror]] rather than Konrad? Because it isn't a challenge of Walker [[spoiler: shooting the imaginary Konrad's reflection]] before he can hurt him but rather deciding which one of them is responsible for Dubai's hardships. The act of [[spoiler: shooting yourself]] is symbolic of Walker realizing that all of this has been his [[spoiler: downfall]] rather than Konrad's.
** Pay attention to Walker's [[spoiler: reflection]] in the event that you let [[spoiler: Konrad pull the trigger]]; notice anything? Walker's [[spoiler: reflection shows the gun point up at his own head if you let Konrad "shoot you"]], meaning that the whole exchange is about deciding who is responsible and who deserves judgement.
* Something broadly similar to this has already been mentioned above, but fuck it, I feel like gushing. On the trope page for YouBastard, they mention the potential hypocrisy in deploying this trope, in that the player/viewer/reader might well think, "Why are you criticizing me? Nobody forced ''you'', the creator, to make the movie/develop the game/write the book etc. You're just as guilty of what you accuse me of as I am." What really amazed me about this game was that not only does it pull the YouBastard card, but the developers have ''already anticipated'' that the players would have that reaction to them doing so. It's one thing for a game to attack the player for carrying out all kinds of horrible, violent actions; it's quite another for a game to do so and anticipate that the player would react by insisting it wasn't their fault, that they were forced to do so, and incorporate this reaction into the plot. I'm not aware of any other work that has done something so audacious, and if ''Spec Ops'' is the first, then we're seeing a real milestone in the development of YouBastard as a trope in itself.
** Not the first one. See MetalGearSolid2.
** FridgeLogic: that's no better than a KillerGameMaster {{Railroading}} his players so they will get mad at him so he can teach them a lesson about anger management. He's still guilty of railroading and {{Troll}}ing. Alternatively, that's like saying a hunter is no longer guilty of setting traps once the target falls into the trap.
*** Put in this way. You're reading a book, and halfway through [[SnicketWarningLabel the story tells the reader to stop reading.]] Is it wrong to leave the book half-finished? And even if you don't read it ''that doesn't mean the rest of the story is not there.''
*** One thing I believe we can all agree on is that infinite snipers are pure laziness on part of developers and they deserve condemnation for making their railroad so hamfisted and brushing criticism off by saying "that's just what you would feel as a Walker' is simply disengineous; whether they deserve condemnation for the act of railroading itself is up to the player.
*** No, we can't all agree on that. I thought it was a pretty brilliant storytelling device to put the player in the mindset of the main character.
* Captain Walker's name counts as a MeaningfulName alluding to what he does in the story. His last name Walker is derived from an old Scottish/English tradition where military officers that were given the job of inspecting the land of their lords/kings would take on the last name of Walker, because they did this by [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin walking through said land]]. Martin is derived from Mars the Roman God of War. Martin Walker basically translates into, "Inspector of War." Captain Walker is a Delta Force operator, an elite soldier, and his job is to inspect the ruined Dubai for survivors.
* In the ending where Walker is confronted with the Shadow Konrad pay attention to Walker's lips. During this scene Walker has comparison shots, one of the imaginary Konrad standing in front of him and another shot of the reality of no one actually being there. As Konrad says, "It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him.", you can see that Walker's lips are moving, as if he were speaking but no words are coming out. Walker is speaking on Konrad's behalf! Walker is talking to himself as if he were Konrad and then the hallucination compensates by making his voice sound like Konrad, this allows Walker to deny the truth that's standing right in front of him. We don't see Walker's mouth moving while the Shadow Konrad can be seen because that is taking place inside Walker's head, Walker's mind is the last refuge where he can deny the reality of everything going on around him, thus making Konrad's confrontation a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind. Did I just blow your mind?

* During the 14th mission, immediately after you encounter the Lugo Heavy, you will find a sign that says, "No guns allowed in this room - Violators will be shot." At first it may seem like a bit of hypocritical humor, but pay attention to the fact that the 33rd and Walker are both carrying guns in that room -- shooting at each other. Walker and the 33rd have degenerated far past the point where they can give any iota of respect towards the rules, they've already broken so many rules of engagement at this point that carrying guns in a gun free zone is mundane by comparison.
* The White Phosphorous is growing to be a bit of a BaseBreaker: Either it was a case of gloriously [[NightmareFuel and vividly]] deconstructing what so many FPS's go through easily or the incident was a nasty case of CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption. But if the above fridges are taken seriously, the latter criticism could be irrelevant; [[spoiler:Even if Konrad was right about the majority of the story's events being in Walker's head, the player still had to go through with them anyways.]] The game wasn't forcing us to do anything, it was Walker's mind telling himself IDidWhatIHadToDo!

* During Walker's opening monologue, a wall decorated with Konrad's various medals and framed newspaper clippings related to his deeds is shown, while the voiceover claims, "But the facts don't lie. The man's a fuckin' hero." To Walker, and the casual observer, the medals and clippings do indeed serve as evidence of Konrad's heroism. [[spoiler: But to Konrad, who in hindsight is probably on the verge of suicide at that very moment, they're only reminders of the mistakes he's made, the lives he's taken, and the pain he's caused.]]

* The typical shooter game-isms of regenerating health, endless hordes of enemies, and slow-motion murder can all be explained by [[spoiler: Captain Walker being trapped in Hell or Purgatory after dying in the copter crash. Presumably, events proceeded a little differently at first.]]

* The reason that the 33rd is so gung ho to kill you? [[spoiler: By the time that you've exited the Nest, you've murdered dozens of them. Of ''course'' they're going to shoot at you on sight and try to throw everything they've got at you.]]
** [[spoiler: Not to mention the stuff that happens at the Gate.]]
** To be perfectly fair, [[spoiler: Walker tried talking to them, but they shot first, and they can be seen shooting civilians right after that.]]
*** [[spoiler: And Walker could have left, having confirmed the 33rd are still alive and that a stronger force will be needed to evaluate the situation.]]
*** Implying they'd respond better to a full-scale military presence than three guys who are only there for reconnaissance.
*** It's possible. The first fire fight with the 33rd starts because they believe that Walker, Adams, and Lugo (a small group with varied equipment and uniforms that infiltrated the city) were CIA. While they wouldn't think twice about killing half a dozen covert agents attempting to undermine what they see as their mission in Dubai, they might be more receptive to a large force that could actually secure and evacuate Dubai as they had attempted to do.
* What if the dead [[spoiler: Konrad]] was just an imagination forged by Walker's already damaged psyche and that the [[spoiler: so called imaginary Konrad was actually the real one]] and was trying to help him break out of his illusion? Shoot the reflection and the [[spoiler: real Konrad]] dies as a personal sacrifice on his part allowing Walker to break out of his psychosis. For all we know everything that happened in the entire game might very well have been in Walker's head, even the "truth" might very well have been conjured up.
** Probably not, since if [[spoiler: you shoot your reflection or don't shoot at all, you see Walker's dead body next to Conrad's dead body. And a dead body can't really hallucinate anything can it?]]
*** Better yet; what if the game was a [[spoiler: DyingDream]] and that most of it didn't even happen? That makes an already downer ending even more sad.
* [[spoiler: What if the the poignant words Konrad shares with Walker aren't just about Walker, but you the player as well? The player gets to turn off the game and go home. Men like Walker don't get to turn off the trauma of war they have witnessed by flipping a switch, even after all you have forced Walker to do you get to go home perfectly intact, Walker will have to live with these choices for the rest of his life while you go home trauma free.]]

* There is no way a unit of the United States Army the size of the 33rd would be abandoned to an ambiguous fate with no contact in a half-destroyed city for ''six months'' before any sort of investigation was sent. Never happen. This might just be a sign that something's wrong, though.
** The game tries to justify it by saying that the 33rd went rogue and refused to follow the United States' Army's orders. Though you are right, the 33rd is a battalion sized unit which can consist anywhere from 1000 to 1500 people, there is no way in hell that there wouldn't be a massive controversy back home in America about the Army abandoning over a thousand of their troops in some hell hole. The only explanation I can think of is that the CIA did something to get in the way of the investigation, Riggs seems to think it is of the utmost importance to keep the whole affair covered up.
** Also, there is no evidence that Walker's team was the first to investigate [[spoiler: And lots of evidence to suggest his won't be the last]]. Combine that with active sandstorms in the area and the usual feeling of "A million is a statistic", and it is quite reasonable that people would accept periodic attempts.
** It's also worth mentioning that Dubai is apparently in the center of an apocalyptic sandstorm. A seemingly ''endless'' apocalyptic sandstorm. You can raise as much controversy as you want back on American soil, but the simple fact of the matter is Konrad went in against orders, and is currently being held hostage by a literal natural disaster. In so many words; they could complain all they wanted, but the sandstorms weren't going to end any faster.
*** It's ''Dubai''. Unless the Iranians somehow managed to figure out a way to stop the US Navy in the Strait of Hormuz, the US Army could roll ''one'' Expeditionary Strike Group and land 3,000 Marines on the beaches within a few weeks, plus various carrier groups and other amphibious forces. And once the US Navy and Army and Marines get going they could put millions of troops into anywhere in the world. A big ass sandstorm won't stop that.
*** Walker, Lugo and Adams literally '''walk into Dubai.''' You mean to tell me the U.S Army can't send in an armored convoy through the storm? An armored convoy should be a hundred times more capable of getting through a thick sand storm than 3 men on foot. The United States is clearly apathetic about helping Dubai, realistically they should be more than capable of getting through the storm whether by land or sea (as noted above).
**** It's possible that by the time Delta and Gray Fox arrived in Dubai, the sandstorms weren't as bad as they were at their peak; this may have even been the only thing that allowed them to pick up Konrad's transmission in the first place. So access wasn't necessarily the problem; the problem, as Walker pointed out, was that the area had been designated a No Man's Land. A few CIA agents and a Delta squad would be able to slip in without much fuss, but anything larger probably wouldn't.
** Actually the CIA got sent in a long time before Walker and his group did [[spoiler: and they were trying to make sure that no one found out what happened there, so it's very possible that the CIA is pulling strings back home to keep people from being sent out]]
*** As several people have pointed out, that is ''impossible''. The CIA can't make an entire battalion just ''vanish'' for six months.
* What is the 33rd still doing in Dubai 6 months after they stayed behind to start a rescue operation? As noted above if they have boats they could easily evacuate by the nearby ocean, or with the armored convoy of cars they clearly have in their possession drive through the storm. The storm should not have been so chaotic that any serious loss of life would have resulted from the evacuation. Konrad obviously still has the resources to feed his men and maintain their weapons, cars, and helicopters, so why has no second attempt for evacuation been made if the first one failed? This isn't even getting in to the sheer absurdity of no radio contact being possible for 6 straight months, no sand storm is that chaotic that all methods of contact with the outside world are rendered impossible. The 33rd's continued presence is improbable.
** The evacuation probably failed for several reasons, such as the storm itself, lack of supplies and fuel, civilians fighting amongst themselves to get out first, death from sunstroke and exposure, etc etc. As for why they couldn't just take a boat out, one level near the end of the game is actually set in a body of water... or more accurately, where a body of water ''used to be''. The water was either swept away by the high-speed wind of the sandstorm, dried up in the sun, or was taken and used by desperately thirsty civilians.
*** Dubai...is ''on the ocean''. If there's no water to sail on, or even within portaging distance there has been some serious ecological changes. Not to mention the radio inability.
**** Okay, so there's been some serious ecological changes. Since we don't see any part of the world other than Dubai, that's not impossible.
* The worst case of Fridge Logic is the CIA's actions. Why do they want Konrad and Dubai dead? Because a U.S Military Force decided to try and stop a civil war in a Middle Eastern country? Far worse things have happened in the Middle East by several orders of magnitude over the past 10 or so years. Had they kept the original plot noted in the trivia section where Konrad was infiltrating Iran through Dubai then the CIA's presence would make sense, but the current plot? Konrad's motives are too well-intentioned to explain the lengths they are going to.
** The game makes clear at various points that the 33rd tortured opponents and committed various atrocities to maintain order. It doesn't matter how nice his intentions the facts that people will see is that the 33rd occupied a foreign city and killed a large number of its civilian population.
*** And there are parallels in reality for that, too.
*** Yeah, but coverups tend to be far more revealing than the initial crime. Had the CIA just let things run their natural course then either the 33rd would give up and go home or everyone would have died of natural causes anyway. Besides it obviously isn't for the purpose of keeping things cheery with the Middle East on a geo-political level as they already hate us. The cover up just comes off as completely pointless when you take that into consideration.
*** All that said, the CIA Plan wouldn't be the first time Americans got involved in Dubai, thinking their actions would make [[AmericaSavesTheDay a terrible situation better]] instead of [[ShaggyDogStory having no effect]] or even [[NiceJobBreakingItHero making the situation worse]]. In the end, the CIA's involvement seems [[NotSoDifferent just as misguided as]] the Damned 33rd's[[spoiler:, or for that matter, Walker and Delta's.]]
*** Especially misguided, if they can't find some way to spin "American unit keeps thousands of people alive through apocalyptic sandstorm, for ''months'', long enough for rescue to come," into a positive message. Atrocities and loss of life or not, US soldiers saving UAE citizens while the UAE does nothing? That can translate into positive clout with absurd ease.
*** Wasn't it revealed through intel that Riggs had pretty much gone AWOL like Walker?
* Why is it that some people think they are being mocked by the game and devs? The game never explictly calls you out. Instead, it only hammers in the point that you are not a hero for your actions. So, if you are not a hero, then what are you? Apparently, certain people think it means they're villains. Doesn't that seem a little unreasonable?
** You've answered your own question. The idea of "hammering in the point that you are not a hero for your actions" in and of itself is fine, but the execution left MUCH to be desired. Not the least of which being that it was contingent on a rather lazy MortonsFork that implicitly condescended the audience. It assumes that any given audience member actually *is* misguided enough to believe they are a hero for killing fictional polygons, rather than... you know, knowing that they are not a hero bigger than Audie Murphy or a War Criminal worse than Yezhov. Finally, there's the none-so-subtle implication that the player *should* stop playing after the White Phosphorus incident (after putting down money for a game. Yeaaaaah... riiight.) and perhaps above all else: the FanDumb magnifying what issues there were between the audience and the devs out of all proportion with the white noise.
** Ehh... That first part is related to my point. Why do some people feel like it's condescending? I never felt that it was mocking me, I felt that it was merely questioning me. For some reason, some people treat the game asking people about their motives like it was outright insulting their intelligence. That's the problem I have, that some people chose to read it as mocking them rather than taking the question as simply a question. As for the implication about quitting the game after the WP Incident, I did eventually realize it was more that simple taunting. While it was handled in a rather dumb fashion, it does make sense. Like Walker, the player has a heavy investment in getting through this game. Both character and player wanted to be vindicated for their choices, whether it's killing a bunch of civilians or justifiying the money spent on purchasing the game, respectively. It's a cheap way to make the player identify more with Walker's relentless pursuit of Konrad, but it does kind of work.
*** "why do some people feel like it's condescending?" Well, perhaps the greater issue might be why some don't, but the best answer I can give is twofold. Firstly; There are a LOT better ways to do that particular message or combination of messages (Far Cry 2/3, The Walking Dead, the much-stereotyped Call of Duty- especially World at War and Black Ops 2-, and even Strife- which is ancient- all come to mind) without abandoning either the message content or good design, and Secondly: the designer response revealing themselves to not only be blind to said better ways, but to often be adversarial to the player and the audience beyond the point of reason. Case in point, the "nobody is stopping you from turning off the console" line that came straight from them. Nevermind the fact that Gamers are People and Consumers too, just getting to this point in the game means we've bought it (or pirated it, but for the sake of the argument and since the former is vastly more than pirating), and thus have given up a little thing called "opportunity cost" into it. That video games as an interactive medium aren't merely one way, and require "two to tango" so to speak (the designer to have the material exist, and the player to play). The bottom line is that I figure that a great deal of gamers believe have seen the game's content and especially the designer quotes as actively undervaluing or disvaluing that crucial link. *Forget* the supposed moral dilemma of advancing through a fictional moral outrage; we as consumers are rightfully more concerned about the *very real* costs we have put into this game,especially in this economy when we do not have nearly as much excess money to throw around. The designers should have realized this because it is a quintessential part of competent game design or even basic marketing period and *is what is making them money from The Line in the first place*, should have recognized and cared that it costs to play The Line through, and should have calculated their message delivery to factor that in. The fact that the game design team gives no indication that it realizes that that *plenty of people have exercised similar narrative techniques and aesops in games before*, which gives the impression (again, rightfully or wrongly) that the game team is not paying homage to those who have gone before and helped set the stage and thus de-valueing their achievements in addition to the audience (and coupled with the FanDumb that is often legitimately stupid enough to believe that literally nobody has done X or Y before making things worse) is what I would wager makes a good chunk of the gaming audience (like myself) interpret the game and the developers in such a hostile light. I can basically sum the real issue up as comprehensive failure to build any kind of good will or bridges with the audience (and if anything, building up excessive amounts of bad will with an audience that is not only more sophisticated than a lot of observers give credit for, but is sophisticated enough that *a game with the baggage of The Line would be appreciated enough to be profitable in the first place.* Contrast Haze.). This is not entirely their doing to say the least, but as my dear business law teacher would say, it is their fault because it could've been avoided or minimized with better audience handling and game design.
*** That frustraition is most definitely intentional, since it puts the player in the same mindset as cpt. Walker. The player is given no choice, much like the player character belives he doesn't have one. It doesn't feel fair, because it's not supposed to.
[[/folder]]

**** It's possible that by the time Delta arrived in Dubai, the sandstorms weren't as bad as they were at their peak; this may have even been the only thing that allowed them to pick up Konrad's transmission in the first place. So access wasn't necessarily the problem; the problem, as Walker pointed out, was that the area had been designated a No Man's Land. A few CIA agents and a Delta squad would be able to slip in without much fuss, but anything larger probably wouldn't.

* In the end Walker was a hero, but not in the way he wanted to be which was save everyone. Had he walked away from it all and send the men in, at best they will be traumatized for life while he becomes a KarmaHoudini, no guilt of committing atrocities. At worst they join the Damned 33rd and continue a vicious cycle in Dubai for god knows how long and Walker is treated as the harbinger of doom. But by going in he had prevented everyone else from suffering the same fate as he did and ended the suffering of those within it, but he couldn't kill them without causing extreme pain.[[/folder]]

* In a similar vein, many have criticized how the game forces you to use the white phosphorus by continuously spawning enemies if you try to engage the camp directly. But if you accept the idea that [[spoiler:Walker died in the chopper crash in the prologue, and the game is him in a nightmare afterlife]], and that everything up to the helicopter crash is an exaggerated recollection of what really happened, it makes perfect sense. In the "real" version of game's events, Walker uses the phosphorus without bothering to engage the enemy first. When Walker comes to the same point in [[spoiler:his nightmare world]], he knows what's gonna happen and wants to avoid it, but [[spoiler:the forces in control of his nightmare]] deny him the chance by forcing him to fight infinite soldiers until he uses the mortar. In other words, the endless wave of soldiers is [[spoiler:Walker's nightmare's]] way of telling him "You had no choice," because he kept telling himself that when [[spoiler:he was alive]].[[/folder]]

*** That frustraition treated is most definitely intentional, since it puts the player in the same mindset as cpt. Walker. The player is given no choice, much like the player character belives he doesn't have one. It doesn't feel fair, because it's not supposed to.

**** All that frustration and finger-pointing, the above post sounds like something like cpt. Walker would say...

*** "why do some people feel like it's condescending?" Well, perhaps the greater issue might be why some don't, but the best answer I can give is twofold. Firstly; There are a LOT better ways to do that particular message or combination of messages (Far Cry 2/3, The Walking Dead, the much-stereotyped Call of Duty- especially World at War and Black Ops 2-, and even Strife- which is ancient- all come to mind) without abandoning either the message content or good design, and Secondly: the designer response revealing themselves to not only be blind to said better ways, but to often be adversarial to the player and the audience beyond the point of reason. Case in point, the "nobody is stopping you from turning off the console" line that came straight from them. Nevermind the fact that Gamers are People and Consumers too, just getting to this point in the game means we've bought it (or pirated it, but for the sake of the argument and since the former is vastly more than pirating), and thus have given up a little thing called "opportunity cost" into it. *Forget* the supposed moral dilemma of advancing through a fictional moral outrage; we as consumers are rightfully more concerned about the *very real* costs we have put into this game and have a right to extract from it, especially in this economy when we *especially* do not have excess money to throw around. The designers should have realized this because it is a quintessential part of competent game design or even basic marketing period and *is what is making them money from The Line in the first place*, should have recognized and cared that it costs to play The Line through, and should have calculated their message delivery to factor that in. Instead, we see absolutely no regard for the paying customer, acting like this was a one way street (where the gamer merely plays, rather than it being the two way street where the design team designs, the gamer plays what was designed, and pays money to the design team to do it), and above all forgets that *plenty of people have exercised these narrative techniques and aesops in games before.* With the net result that the developers-rightfl

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* In a similar vein, many have criticized how the game forces you to use the white phosphorus by continuously spawning enemies if you try to engage the camp directly. But if you accept the idea that [[spoiler:Walker died in the chopper crash in the prologue, and the game is him in a nightmare afterlife]], and that everything up to the helicopter crash is an exaggerated recollection of what really happened, it makes perfect sense. In the "real" version of game's events, Walker uses the phosphorus without bothering to engage the enemy first. When Walker comes to the same point in [[spoiler:his nightmare world]], he knows what's gonna happen and wants to avoid it, but [[spoiler:the forces in control of his nightmare]] deny him the chance by forcing him to fight infinite soldiers until he uses the mortar. In other words, the endless wave of soldiers is [[spoiler:Walker's nightmare's]] way of telling him "You had no choice," because he kept telling himself that when [[spoiler:he was alive]].
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*** One thing I believe we can all agree on is that infinite snipers are pure laziness on part of developers and they deserve condemnation for making their railroad so hamfisted and brushing criticism off by saying "that's just what you would feel as a Walker is simply disengineous; whether they deserve condemnation for the act of railroading itself is up to the player.

* In a similar vein, many have criticized how the game forces you to use the white phosphorus by continuously spawning enemies if you try to engage the camp directly. But if you accept the idea that the game is [[spoiler:Walker died in the chopper crash and the game is him in a nightmare afterlife]], and that everything up to the helicopter crash is an exaggerated recollection of what really happened, it makes perfect sense. In the "real" version of game's events, Walker uses the phosphorus without bothering to engage the enemy first. When Walker comes to the same point in [[spoiler:his nightmare world]], he knows what's gonna happen and wants to avoid it, but [[spoiler:the forces in control of his nightmare]] deny him the chance by forcing him to fight infinite soldiers until he uses the mortar. In other words, the endless wave of soldiers is [[spoiler:Walker's nightmare's]] way of telling him "You had no choice," because he kept telling himself that when [[spoiler:he was alive]].