I always felt that this game's writing was underappreciated. It feels so natural, and distinctly human. Kessler isn't even technically a bad guy. I think that most anyone would have done what he did and fled with their family when a massive threat appeared, regardless of their unique abilities that would have made it possible to fight back. He's an ordinary man who's thrust into extraordinary circumstances, so when his life falls apart and discovers his time-travel potential, it's only natural that he would choose to do what he did and shape the young version of himself into someone who is capable of making the decisions that he failed to make. It's really stinks that this game was made fun of at launch because "Cole was boring," and, "Binary morality systems suck." I get that binary morality is lame in concept, but the nature of the story in Infamous seems to be intentionally leaning into the inherent feeling of artificiality that comes with it... because the major decisions *are* artificially fabricated by Kessler. I know that most people don't finish games, and even few still actually think about the plot, characters, and the nuance to be found, but it's really disappointing how people don't give quality stories like this the credit they deserve for the sake of lazy jokes to get cheap "reviewer laughs" and the easy clicks that come with them... despite that allegedly being the *job* of a reviewer. Great video, man! Glad to see someone else got the full appreciation of this game like I did. The people who made this game really cared, and it shows.
Except his plan was all for nothing. He did not really need his past self just the device to kill all conduits. Hell he is the one who lead to everything happening, most of his plans ended up making more victims for nothing.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Suckerpunch created an amazing world with incredibly charming characters like Zeke for example. Not to mention the awesome gameplay and soundtrack
For Infamous 2, I think the only reason he lost to Beast is ironically because of Kessler's tampering. He made the ray sphere sooner, and stronger. So the Beast was stronger.
The Beast is also someone else, like there's probably a chance it was Alden as suggested by HyperBitHero in the Future Timeline. But the Beast's motivations are entirely different now as well, due to Kessler's tampering. It's made clear he was a solo-villain in the Future, a true powerhouse/monster that dominated and destroyed the world. Whereas John's goal was trying to save as many conduits from dying, by awakening their powers so they would survive the spreading Ray Sphere Radiation. Kessler's influence changed both Cole and the Beast, the original beast may never have even born due to Kessler's actions or was killed when Cole activated the RFI.
@@tonts5329 Thing is it's heavily implied in dead drop recordings in 2 that Kessler knew John was the one who becomes the Beast which kinda torpodoes that idea. I do kinda like the idea that there are multiple potential beasts and that they act as Uberconduits with dominion over other conduits and their powers as that somewhat explains Second Son's portagonists power set and it explains why kessler didn't just straight up sabotage the First Son's and stop their ray sphere production and prevent John from awakening as someone else would just take his place as the Beast. With all the psychic powers The First Sons and Kessler having some form of precognition is definitely possible to explain how such things could be anticipated
23:56 a little thing about this part: in the comics it is further elaborated on what exactly happens between zeke and kessler. i can't remember exactly , but when trying to repair his relationship with cole, zeke says something along the lines of "kessler would stumble in drunk, sit in front of me, and just stare. no words, just silent staring before he left after an hour." this helps show how kessler remembers everyone and is still struggling, which is one of the things that make him such a cool villian.
If I recall, the Beast appearing at the start of 2 is also a divergence from Kessler's timeline, in that it's happened way ahead of schedule. John's powers were kickstarted early by the second Ray Sphere that Kessler had made to power up Cole, just like the first Sphere kickstarted Cole's Conduit abilities. That Kessler's single-minded drive to prepare Cole for the Beast also, in Cole's world, creates the Beast, seems like an interesting point; had Kessler not done the second Ray Sphere stunt, Cole would have had way more time to develop his powers before John's manifested. As a side note, I really like that, of the villains in 2, the apocalyptic threat that is John/the Beast is clearly exhausted and hates being the harbinger of the world's end, but believes it must be necessary to have *some* of humanity survive the plague caused by the Ray Sphere fallout. Meanwhile, the local threat to New Marais, Joseph Bertrand, is the style of full tilt madman that Kessler assumed the Beast was, needlessly causing death and suffering everywhere he goes; the main difference is Bertrand goes about it as a corrupter than a destroyer. He's responsible for corruption of ideology (Militia), of body (Swamp Freaks) and of power (Vermaak 88). I dunno, it's a neat contrast between John and Joseph. Great video, always nice to hear folks talk about this series. All three of these games are on my shelf for good reason.
One thing you didn't mention about how InFamous 2 continues the story of 1 is while Kessler was responsible for preparing Cole for his fight against the Beast he is also responsible for making said Beast appear earlier than he probably anticipated. In Kessler's timeline the Beast appeared well after he got married and had children. But in the timeline we play Kessler is responsible for the second ray sphere explosion that triggered John to become the Beast. So while he did everything he could to make Cole become as strong as possible he also made his Nemesis appear earlier in the timeline so to me it makes sense that Cole was overwhelmed it's powers nonetheless.
@@sarafontanini7051 I don't think it was said who The Beast was in Kessler's timeline. So maybe "The Beast" is a possessive power rather than just a conduit
Hero you are the reason I gave the stuff like Yakuza series, Gravity Rush and Patlabor a chance and im so much better off having done so. Wonderful to have you back.
You know what's crazy? Infamous was such a big franchise for the PS3, well know and loved But its one of the few games that didn't get the remaster treatment
This video took me back. Infamous was one of my favourite games, I did so many playthroughs of it! God, now I wish I could play it again, I'd happily buy it once more if it was remade, remastered or just downright ported to modern hardware.
Infamous is one of my favorite games of all time. Sucker Punch NAILED making a comic book world and super hero, and Kessler was such a great villain. I also love that Kessler going back in time actually changes this timeline completely, because he accelerated some events like Cole getting his powers and The Beast
Always had a soft spot for the Infamous series. Felt like a genuine Dark Horse/Vertigo comics style story mixed with some always fun, always dynamic gameplay. I’m surprised Sucker Punch hasn’t brought the series back yet given the rise and popularity of the superhero genre as a whole. The dearth of these types of games is saddening.
its been years since I watched your channel, went back through my liked videos and found your last of us video again. I have to say even after all these years its good to come back and see a familiar channel making great content once again. Your videos have always been well produced, and even more so today. I will be turning on notifications. I really enjoyed your MGS and DMC videos from back in the day. Kessler was an interesting villain.
Finally! I've loved this game and it's story ever since I watched your old review of it on TypingBlank over 13 years ago, and was a real treat to hear you talk about at length again! Kessler is one of my all-time favorite villains in anything fiction.
@@HyperBitHero I really like the observation you had about mentalism being an ever-present motif amongst the villain factions in this game. That never occured to me. One detail you missed I thought would've tied everything together is Cole's post-mordem psychic vision. It's only used twice in the game's plot and it's such a creepy and morbid concept that I thought synergized with Cole's anti-charisma and the game's tone perfectly.
That's pretty cool that TGBS was so helpful in the creation of this video. I always knew you two guys were close but I didn't know he did editing & you bounced ideas off of him.
Bit of a tangent but I really like how in an evil playthrough Sasha becomes Cole's cheerleader and a questgiver essentially viewing him as a replacement lover to kessler for reasons made obvious by the ending pretty much my only complaint with Infamous 2 is that they didn't bring that dynamic back even with the save import. I also think that the aesthetics of Evil Cole's black lightning versus Kesslers white lightning just hit different and ultimately feel more impactful
I love your Devious Intent series and I got so excited when i saw you were covering one of my favorite games that I haven't thought much about in a long time.
Oh wow, I've almost forgot this game exists. Way back when there was a good deal of hype preceding its release, but the game just fell off the map afterwards. Games like this one really capture the feel of the video game industry in the late 00s I feel. Also nice to have you back!
Kessler's twist was great, back then I didn't see it coming at all. I also agree that 2's story is weaker but it had some great moments, specially with Zeke...
I remember wondering years ago if you'd get to a Devious Intent on this character, and it's worth the wait! While I have my problems with the series that stick out while trying to replay (especially the morality system, or losing all powers at the start of the sequel), the story of the first game especially is one I think really nailed its ambition. I'm so glad to see you go over this character! Welcome back, Hyperbit. :)
I wish we got to see a moment of sympathy between Kessler & Cole. A moment where Cole realizes the horrors Kessler went through to drive him mad. How he lost everything.
So happy every time you post a new video. First got into this channel because I was very upset with DmC back in 2012 and I loved your video on how they messed up the Dante. Then got exposed to the Yakuza games which have since become one of my favorite franchises of all time. The "Devious Intent" and "Your Next Favorite" videos in particular are some of my favorite series on the platform
I don’t even remember subscribing to this channel lol, but after watching this video I can definitely tell why I did! I played through this game years ago, but completely missed the underlying story details that you discussed in this video. Really well done stuff here, thanks for all your effort making it!
I will forever be indebted to inFamous for introducing me to Working for a Nuclear Free City, silent melody was such a good choice for the end credits of both the game and the video. It's nice to see you've been doing well, and even if this is your last video it's awesome to see this in my recommended.
With all the playstation ports we've gotten so far I hope the entire Infamous series can get updated ports to PC sometime, this series deserves way more attention (and an uncapped framerate/resolution)
God damn I am so excited to see this in my feed, love your content so much my dude and I’m SO glad Kessler is getting some love here! I’m never gonna forget the end of the first infamous game, even though it was an actual LITERAL last minute reveal, it blew me away so effectively I treasure that game so dearly
24:16 there's actually an infamous comic that ties up most of the loose ends before the second game. i wont go into the details to avoid spoilers but in it kessler actually cared about zeke
I've been subscribed to you for years, yet haven't seen a video of yours in my feed so I figured you had left your channel behind or something. Now I see you had a twitter and had been uploading videos this whole time. What is youtube trying to hide? Good ass videos that's what, glad to have found you again.
An Infamous remake that includes the events of the comic books as an epilogue would be great. I thought it was odd that 2 didn't expand on Moya, Sasha or Alden only to later find out that Moya and Alden were killed off in a comic book. What a disappointment.
Excellent video! inFamous is my favorite serious of all time and to see people still making content regarding it all these years later brings me a joy I struggle to put into words
Wow, you're still alive? :D That was an interesting story. I've never played inFamous (but I have a copy of it for a while). I watched a video from Gmanlives recently where he talked a lot about the game, the gameplay, enemies, etc, but didn't really got into the story part and the story made me interested in playing the game. Great summary, I don't mind that you spoiled it for me because I might finally pick up and play it now.
I'm happy Kessler and Infamous as a whole is starting to get recognized once again. It's one of my favourite series and thanks to the presentation of the first game many people missed the amazingly written character that is Kessler. With so very little screen time he managed to be so fleshed out and the final twist is so well put together and turns him from a menacingly presence in the first playthrough to a man desperate and out of time in the second playthrough giving us the full view of the character with the exact same dialogue. I really hope this new wave of nostalgia for the series manages to get us a remake of at least the first one and a remaster of the second.
cool to see you come back, especially with a new devious intent video. I absolutely love this series of videos going over various villains from video games and going into all the great details about them. Also with Infamous 1 i think the soundtrack is pretty underrated, especially the emotional pieces, good shit
You have the tremendous ability of making me interested in things that I otherwise have ignored, Gravity Rush I became a big fan of, Yakuza 0 was great, Devilman is sensational although I've loved that one before your videos. I guess I wanna say I'll give Infamous a chance relatively soon and that I love your thoughts on stuff.
Interesting thing about the beast from the alternate future is that we aren't exactly sure that it is John White like he his in the present time line. In kesler's flash backs he isn't depicted as a giant burning man and has other powers such causing volcanoes to erupt and creating mountains of ice and causing tornadoes. You can also consider that the manner in how the raysphere actives powers is unnatural and also accelerates the progression of those powers at an abnormal rate Or through unforseen accidents like what happened to john. For all intents and purposes the beast in the new timeline is a literal walking raysphere with fire powers. For all we know the beast from Kesler's timeline could have been someone like Delsin Rowe that was kidnapped and brainwashed to make a super weapon by the first sons under aldens control and things just went downhill. Essentially the beast could have been anyone if the correct unforseen consequences of using the raysphere happened to have lined up.
Never played or really ever payed attention to inFAMOUS before but this was still a great video. Glad you're still making videos. I'll watch whatever the next one is.
If you believe the devs at SuckerPunch, Kessler kinda created The Beast, since Cole takes over the role in 2’s infamous ending, and that was meant to be the lead in to the 3rd game. Of course, this plan changed after Second Son came out, but it’s still an ironic outcome to think about.
I remember calling the beast's true identity partly because I'd just finished watching Watchmen back when I first played it and thinking the beast sounded like an evil Dr. Manhattan
