Superman has Metropolis, Spider-Man has Manhattan, Cole has Empire City. But Empire City is done. The three main districts have been explored. Unlike GTA 4′s Liberty City, the missions took advantage of every locale.
The sequel shouldn’t be told only in Empire city. Like The Dark Knight, to give the tail a greater perspective and placement in the real world, Cole needs to be taken out of Empire City.
Sucker Punch could have Cole leave Empire City in search of more answers. To save space and resources this could be set up with DLC for inFamous.
“It’s not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.”
Another way would be one that unfolds differently based on how you start the game. Like the Good or Evil side missions, each morality path offers exclusive story missions.
Starting as Infamous Cole, your motivation is power and dominance. The streets are just as bad, if not worse than when inFamous ended. Cole is content to grind out his days terrorizing and putting the residents to work, building grotesque structures much like Alden to mark his territory in the skyline. It takes a medium amount of time for Cole to move onto the next city maybe he decides he needs a new challenge.
The Hero Cole’s motivation is justice and answers. The streets of Empire City are better than that of Infamous Cole’s. The streets are cleaner and buildings once destroyed are being rebuilt. You go onto the next city sooner than the other morality paths.
If you did finish the story in-between or it’s you’re first time, then Empire City is overrun by gangs and your first act is to eradicate the enemies in each district. This would make a good refresher course and perhaps being a neutral offers exclusive powers now. As a neutral, it takes longest to move onto the next city.
“There’s a war coming. Are you sure you’re on the right side?”
Having now seen how Cole is perceived outside of Empire City the player is given the opportunity to change their karma as in inFamous.
Storytelling being full circle and Empire City being Cole’s Star City, the story should return and end there. The fourth act:
If the player has changed their karma the fourth act can play out differently.
The Cole that left as Infamous returns to find the residents have prepared to rebel against him.
Left as Hero, you return to find organized criminals have taken advantage of the population that grew dependent on you.
Left as Neutral, you return to find little has changed, the population is ticking along at a steady pace. Nothing to rebel against or to look up to.
Perhaps the moral being that we do not need heroes and the true course for Cole to have taken was one of neither extreme, Hero or Infamous.
“Not even in the face of Armageddon. Never compromise.”
But the game doesn’t end here… you enter the final act…
And anyone that has played one of the greatest origin stories ever told on screen, knows what / whom I think should be the final act.
I AM inFAMOUS!
images:
inFamous 2 by A broke gamer
Alden Tower by Sucker Punch
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very well written article, Tony…I enjoyed this read…
another angle for the sequel could be that another sphere landed somewhere else on earth that offered different powers to someone on that part of the globe…
they do have different angles to take….it just depends on where they want to go and if they can make it better…
You know what would be nice as a sequel plot? [[SPOILERS AHEAD!]]
If you’re the good guy, then you get your chance to get some answers from Moya, that lying bitch.
If you’re the bad guy, you will run into Sasha, the first boss from the first game…and you finally accept her as your soulmate.
Man, all the women in that game pissed me off, Trish, OMG, everytime i did a mission for her, saved her life, got her across the city on a bus fending of rockets and bullets, she thanks me with words of hate and a ps3 trophy claiming, im a bachelor officially. WOW
that’s because you didn’t do the right thing for the common good and were selfish. Trish doesn’t want you to save her she wants you to save the city and be a hero. weren’t you paying attention to her the whole game?
DLC is not going to happen. They had a interview in a magazine i read and they are working on Infamous 2.
Well…my idea for inFAMOUS 2, then!
Thanks for the responses to this article here and on N4G.
I want more of this franchise so bad… it tingles.