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 It's a let's play, you know the deal. If you want to see the game to which this is a sequel, I did an LP of it last year, but everything you need to know about it is covered in the first video of The Darkness II, it's mostly a standalone story. Videos of side missions from Vendettas mode will be posted roughly where they occur in the main story's timeline. These are very much bonus material and can be saved for after the LP or skipped entirely, they're just additional content and an excuse to go in depth on discussions of the Darkness comic books. Spoiler Policy: don't spoil poo poo Content Warnings: extreme violence and gore, torture, explicit sex acts, slurs Videos: Playlist Part 1 Part 2 Vendettas 1 Hit List 1 Hit List 2 Hit List 3 Part 3 Part 4 Vendettas 2 Vendettas 3 Vendettas 4 Part 5 Vendettas 5 Hit List 4 Hit List 5 Hit List 6 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Vendettas 6 Vendettas 7 Vendettas 8 Part 9 end Fiendly fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Apr 16, 2019 |
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Jan 10, 2019 00:08
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Excellent. Gonna be watching this despite having played it to death. Question though, are you going to be showing off the co-op, because that is a fun time.
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Jan 10, 2019 00:11
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IBlameRoadSuess posted:Question though, are you going to be showing off the co-op, because that is a fun time. Gonna show it off in the least fun way possible: alone.
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Jan 10, 2019 01:01
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Remember- the signs of the prophets can be found written on the subway walls and the tenement halls. They echo in the realms of silence. Seriously, great to see this LP so soon. I will watch and enjoy it as I did the last.
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Jan 10, 2019 02:27
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For all the atmosphere they took out to make room for ridiculous violence and wacky shenanigans by goblins and mobsters everything got a lot more fun at least. I don't think I even mind the upgrade tree. I think I read at some point that the darkling as shown in the sequel is based more on something out of the comic than the first game's darklings were? Not to say that makes it good though.Fiendly posted:Gonna show it off in the least fun way possible: alone. Luckily the least fun way is still kind of fun!
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Jan 10, 2019 03:48
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Fiendly posted:Gonna show it off in the least fun way possible: alone. I mean if you're running the PC version you could always hold a couple co-op nights to record stuff, unlike multiplayer in the first one, the co-op in this one still works. Either way they really turned up the fun factor in this one. Jackie's moveset is a lot more diverse in terms of ways you get to kill random mobsters and other such enemies.
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Jan 10, 2019 07:02
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Kibayasu posted:For all the atmosphere they took out to make room for ridiculous violence and wacky shenanigans by goblins and mobsters everything got a lot more fun at least. I don't think I even mind the upgrade tree. I think I read at some point that the darkling as shown in the sequel is based more on something out of the comic than the first game's darklings were? Not to say that makes it good though. Been looking forward to this, it's a really good and underappreciated game.
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Jan 10, 2019 11:01
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Part 2
Fiendly fucked around with this message at 12:51 on Jan 14, 2019 |
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Jan 12, 2019 13:24
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Bringing back memories- the crane fight- and things I’d either missed or forgot about- the shooting mini games. Keep up the good work.
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Jan 12, 2019 15:19
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I forgot just how try-hard Top Cow comics can get, christ.
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Jan 12, 2019 16:16
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Yep, the Darkness games are restrained compared to the comics. I've hate-read ~600 pages and counting and we're gonna hear a lot about the those loving things in this LP, particularly in the bonus videos.
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Jan 13, 2019 01:34
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For as over the top as everything is the game still does know how to bring everything back down to mostly the same level that Jackie and Jenny had in the first game. It might even be more effective here because Jenny was supposed to be normal for Jackie and things are even less normal (in a different way) now.
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Jan 13, 2019 02:53
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citybeatnik posted:I forgot just how try-hard Top Cow comics can get, christ.
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Jan 13, 2019 11:10
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Vendettas 1 It begins... We're picking up Johnny, which requires a junkyard bloodbath in the first of many Darkness 2 side missions. These are entirely skippable, you can watch them at the end of the LP or not at all and you'll miss very little, but this is the point in the story of the main game where this mission occurs so I'm covering it now.
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Jan 14, 2019 11:59
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Jimmy is the best of the bunch, thank you very much. At least gameplaywise, no idea if he gets background in the comics.
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Jan 14, 2019 12:49
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I recall only playing as Shoshona because only her Darkness weapon was long range. Maybe I missed something not checking out the other characters.
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Jan 14, 2019 22:23
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Hit List 1achtungnight posted:I recall only playing as Shoshona because only her Darkness weapon was long range. Maybe I missed something not checking out the other characters. Yep, all the Darkness weapons have long range attacks, even though it seems like they wouldn't, with the sole exception of Inugami's sword. And hey, Inugami happens to be who we're looking at in this first Hit List-exclusive mission. I also start covering the long history of the comics loving with Jenny Romano for having the audacity to be the only non-evil character in the entire Top Cow universe.
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Jan 15, 2019 08:01
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To paraphrase the Lord of Evil himself, without Good there can be no Evil! But of course being Good means an Evil-dominated world has to dump on you. Just like in RL. 
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Jan 15, 2019 11:29
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Hit List 2
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Jan 17, 2019 20:47
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Two thoughts on this latest video- Wyrmwood would be slightly more interesting if only vile murders could enter. But then of course they couldn’t bring Jenny in so there wouldn’t be a plot. Next we play as Jimmy. I suppose according to a few people here you’re saving the best for last.
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Jan 17, 2019 22:38
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As the a few people, I'd like to make it perfectly clear I like Jimmy from the gameplay perspective because his Darkness weapon is cool as hell. I honestly don't remember much of his character or quips and have probably blocked something out given the horrible stereotyping of all the other characters.
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Jan 17, 2019 22:49
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achtungnight posted:Wyrmwood would be slightly more interesting if only vile murders could enter. But then of course they couldn’t bring Jenny in so there wouldn’t be a plot. Well, Jackie could just go there himself since he's the most vile of murderers, but then it's only like three pages of Jackie walking down the streets, suddenly getting attacked out of nowhere, then destroying everything with his unstoppable powers, so yeah, no plot i guess anilEhilated posted:As the a few people, I'd like to make it perfectly clear I like Jimmy from the gameplay perspective because his Darkness weapon is cool as hell. I honestly don't remember much of his character or quips and have probably blocked something out given the horrible stereotyping of all the other characters. He's not as horrible as he could be, his only truly irredeemable interaction with the others involves sexually harassing Shoshanna at every opportunity, but he's mostly harmless when he's on his own. Anyway, judge for yourself: Hit List 3 Now that we've seen all the other characters, we'll get back to the main story real soon.
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Jan 18, 2019 01:21
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Ok, I watched the latest video and, well, I guess the good and bad opinions of Jimmy have merit. As a Scottish-descent Texan myself, I dislike the stereotyping of my ancestors, but I can accept the badassery of axe throwing explosive experts. I regret not playing as him now. If I still had the game, I'd give him a go. I liked that Darkness quote too. "Stop dying!" 
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Jan 18, 2019 03:18
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Thing about that axe is, it's a lot more powerful on the return trip so you can set up some pretty amazing trickshots, especially if you've got a co-op buddy who doesn't mind playing JP Dumont. Plus yeah, throwing axes are cool. The comic talk is really interesting for me as I'm Eastern European and the medium mostly missed me when I was growing up; one thing surprising me is just how little agency Jenny seems to have. I understand characters without superpowers probably aren't considered interesting enough to warrant deeper characterization but from that description she seems to be a walking McGuffin. Okay, so a comic about a social worker definitely wouldn't sell but do we ever find out more about what she actually did as opposed to just providing emotional tension for Jackie?
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Jan 18, 2019 11:55
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I never read comics myself until last year and it's fascinating the way they tell stories differently from any other media, particularly with regard to what they can and can't get away with, but they're legendarily bad with the portrayal of women. The Darkness is especially bad, Jackie doesn't really seem to care about anything Jenny does or is, just that she's a relatively unharmed object. The Batman crossover brushes past her altruism in a single panel of her smiling at a homeless person while Batman narrates so they can cram in pointless cameos (Two Face shows up to kill Frankie but Frankie wins the coin toss so he leaves, and Jackie visits The Joker in Arkham to learn what Batman most fears but Joker just babbles incoherently). So yeah, we still don't know anything about Jenny as a person, but her next story does much more with her than any of the previous, we'll see if it's redemptive or too little, too late (I haven't read it myself just yet).
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Jan 18, 2019 15:04
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There are some good portrayals of women in comics out there. Any comic with a female hero like Birds of Prey or Jessica Jones / Alias is usually good. Preacher has awesome female characters in my opinion. The My Little Pony franchise is also good if you’re into that. But yeah the vast majority has bad stuff- women as living mcguffins, disposable one note characters, or characters who have to turn or stay evil to be interesting (and in my opinion they’re never that interesting as pure evil though the redemption train can be fun sometimes). I still wonder what Darkness 3 would have done.
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Jan 18, 2019 17:32
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Comics have gotten better about everything sine the 90s, and a few were doing good even then, it's just by and large that if you think a woman in a comic isn't well-served in the writing department, you're probably right. The Darkness is a spin-off of the female-fronted Witchblade series, and boy is the Witchblade ever just a sex object in supernatural bondage gear who occasionally does really violent stuff (it's still way better than The Darkness, though). I certainly don't mean to malign the entire medium, I've found some comics that I really like, but they've got their bad reputation for a reason.
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Jan 18, 2019 18:00
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As dumb as everything not directly happening between Jackie, Jenny, and The Darkness can be the co-op mode itself isn't something I can be too mad at. Despite how they constantly dip into the "lock player in room and send waves" pot it's still mostly unique content that doesn't seem like it took anything away from the main game and (mostly) isn't even locked off to the player years later because of "always online" or whatever.
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Jan 19, 2019 00:04
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Kibayasu posted:As dumb as everything not directly happening between Jackie, Jenny, and The Darkness can be the co-op mode itself isn't something I can be too mad at. Despite how they constantly dip into the "lock player in room and send waves" pot it's still mostly unique content that doesn't seem like it took anything away from the main game and (mostly) isn't even locked off to the player years later because of "always online" or whatever. Yep, I was planning to show off Vendettas from the first time I tried it out, not out of obligation but because I think it deserves to be highlighted. It's got the worst writing and level design in the game, sure, but giving the co-op levels their own story and new characters with varied gameplay options is good work on the developers' part. You can still play it online on all platforms, too, and the PC version probably has an active base at the moment because the game was a free download a few months ago. Still worth playing solo, but it'd be my worst, most sparse commentary ever (and that's saying something) if I didn't have 1200+ pages of bad comics to talk about. Part 3 Content Warnings: Everything. Every. loving. Thing. With this update, we've caught up to where the abandoned Darkness 2 LP from five years ago left off. From here on it'll be stuff never before seen on SA. This is the moment I've been waiting for since I started LPing this series (why I wasted my time covering the first game instead of starting here, I'll never know)
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Jan 19, 2019 18:48
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It’s important to establish continuity and set the scene. This Level really starts to show us how much of a mess the game's plot and setting are. Bad guys are just plain nuts, destroying their own business when they know it won't really help them, just distract Jackie. Kudos to the game for taking so much directly from the comics. Otherwise, well, it's messed up. Good job pulling off the various executions. I recall having trouble with it myself when I played. All the various button presses and QTEs... RIP Frank or Eddie (maybe both, do we ever see the survivor again afterwards?). [video talks about the Eddie path] Ok, maybe we do, drat fuzzy memory. Looking forward to more of this messed-up game. achtungnight fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Jan 19, 2019 |
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Jan 19, 2019 22:18
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It's amazing how for, just an instant, the Brotherhood has the right idea, and immediately proceed to completely gently caress it up. "Look, you're already thinking of giving it up. Lemme help that along." *shoots own foot* On the subject of DE's history with manshoots and multiplayer, would you say that their move from the co-op characters seen here to the completely silent Warframes a year later was the right move? Also that sendup of the search for positive knowledge in fiction was pretty good.
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Jan 20, 2019 02:55
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Waitwhat - Warframe is a sequel to Dark Sector? Now I've got to try it out, I love Dark Sector. Hell, this thread is making me realize I might have some kind of repressed issue involving… boomerangs? anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 11:58 on Jan 20, 2019 |
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Jan 20, 2019 11:28
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Well, officially? No, not a sequel. Unofficially? It's weirder and more complicated than that. Think of it not as a sequel, not even a spiritual successor, but an early clone, time-displaced and developing along a dramatically different path. Warframe is what Dark Sector was meant to be, but Dark Sector is not what Dark Sector was meant to be, and what Dark Sector was meant to be is not what Dark Sector was originally meant to be, where what Dark Sector was originally meant to be was Unreal 2, but not Unreal II! Do you understand?
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Jan 20, 2019 12:12
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Well, I knew the development of Dark Sector was seven kinds of hosed up but... no.
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Jan 20, 2019 13:40
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Fish Noise posted:On the subject of DE's history with manshoots and multiplayer, would you say that their move from the co-op characters seen here to the completely silent Warframes a year later was the right move? It's pretty clear that Warframe is the better fit for them, but there's probably a world where they could give their characters personalities and have it not be the worst. I think they're so successful with Warframe because they can tweak and update it forever, and since they seem unable to avoid feature creep and suffer major delays in a lot of their releases (Darkness 2 included), getting to eventually implement everything they want in a product that's already commercially available is the best thing for them. For the record, I know exactly nothing about Warframe, just its developer, that one bit of trivia about the Dark Sector connection, and the fact that it's some kind of multiplayer thing. Fiendly fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Jan 20, 2019 |
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Jan 20, 2019 15:31
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Part 4 meet the new poo poo, same as the old poo poo also i'll just leave this here, maybe check it out after you watch the video Fiendly fucked around with this message at 12:22 on Jan 22, 2019 |
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Jan 22, 2019 11:08
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This is one of the first shooters I can recall using Shield Enemies, and one that taught me to utterly despise them. I liked the Asylum segments in this game. It's a common trope, but one that was very well done here. RIP Aunt Sarah. The Achievement "One Flew Over..." for those who don't know, is a reference to the classic film One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Oh, and if anyone is curious about Mr. Walker in the Asylum, I'm not 100% sure the video linked below is the right reference, but it might be his problem. In any case, I hope it amuses you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUTWDhWrnDU
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Jan 22, 2019 21:55
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Hey, Pazuzu. Good to see you again, buddy. Just started watching, though I took a pitstop to watch the Splatterhouse LP again. Lots of fun 
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Jan 23, 2019 20:06
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Vicissitude posted:Just started watching, though I took a pitstop to watch the Splatterhouse LP again. Lots of fun You've ruined this LP for yourself in doing so, because Darkness 2 is a huge ripoff of Splatterhouse (people were pointing that out even back in 2013) and because that LP is way better than this one will ever be. Enjoy!
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Jan 24, 2019 01:36
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For everything else that happens on screen, in both games really, its a bit weird that they decide to restrain themselves with Aunt Sarah to mostly off screen followed by a comical explosion of blood.
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Jan 24, 2019 07:52
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