Look Ma No Hands: The Quiet Man

[@Mebe_Chloe]

As someone who’s currently learning ASL, I feel like I can safely say the developers of this game never met a deaf person before. It’s like they made the game to be as alienating as possible

[@harpeowl]

Wow why I am not surprised... I am only 4 minutes in

[@kevinryan9258]

As a deaf person, I can say that, while it sucks, and the game is bad... There's a lot of it that is very familiar. I've had many interactions with people that do what the drug money guy did. Turning away so you can't read their lips is the least of it tbh. So while they likely hadn't ever met a deaf person before, they got some things right entirely by accident.

[@kevinryan9258]

As a deaf man, I can tell that yes, the people turning away is a big no-no... It's also realistic.

[@kevinryan9258]

Also, Dane moving quietly is the most unrealistic thing about the game so far... Before I got my implants, I had no idea how much noise I made moving around.

[@kevinryan9258]

It really is. I've had cochlear implants for a little while now, but still occasionally rely on lip reading when dealing with people who talk too fast, or quietly. My understanding of the signals still isn't perfect, but it does help.@bleh329

[@liger04]

The way the game treats deafness is so bad that it creates a paradox. Dane is apparently so deaf that he can't hear what he's saying, okay. But he is also somehow conceptually deaf- he doesn't even know what he's trying to say? Except he knows exactly what he's saying and communicates with others just fine (including the magic technique of perfectly reading lips that he can't see). With the audio-on mode, he even enunciates exactly like someone with no hearing disability. Yet the game keeps the player's character's own thoughts a mystery. So we're playing a deaf man that acts EXACTLY like he isn't deaf despite being so incredibly hyper-deaf that the player is expected to play without understanding a single spoken word (even our own). He is both more deaf than is physically possible AND not deaf, at the same time.

[@screamingcactus1753]

It's less like he's deaf and more like he's had his brain hemispheres separated

[@purpleisdebeste]

It’s like he’s dead but also we’re deaf Or actually it’s like we’re deaf and he’s just a guy

[@purpleisdebeste]

This game uses sign language the way most games use incidental voice acting Signing: Thank you! Audio: Thank you for saving the village!

[@markus5120]

It makes me so mad that the deaf guy’s fond memory of his mother is her playing piano.

[@firewolfandrewb]

"I couldn't tell what she was playing, but it was probably music"

[@thetux459]

Minor gripe, especially considering how bad everything else is, but when Dane gets electrocuted while holding the baton, the current should prevent him from letting go, bot the opposite. The fact that your muscles contract and lock your grip is one of the things that makes grabbing something electrified so dangerous.

[@imaloony8]

It's truly insane that the developers thought it would be a good idea to mute the audio of the entire game so you have no idea what is happening in the plot, then beat the game just to unlock the opportunity to play this terrible game again just to know what the hell was going on. Add to the the fact that the game didn't even launch with New Game+Audio, and you have another game to add to the "Why the FUCK did Square Enix publish this?" pile.

[@purpleisdebeste]

I mean I respect the idea of a game with no audio to emulate the struggles of being deaf, but this game does a bad job at it

[@Scarybug]

I worked on this game as a programmer and I can tell you that we did indeed raise all these concerns but the producer of the game wanted the game he wanted and this was his core concept.

[@Scarybug]

Some day I'd love to do a playthrough and commentary on the game with a couple of the other people who worked on it (we are all at different studios now) but I'm not sure if that would be a bad move for my career. I can say that get anyone who worked on it talking about it and you'll hear some stories

[@Ninja-The-Red-Shinobi]

I love how the game will immediately pull a curve ball everytime Jello starts to kinda get what's going on.

[@soulpiece1]

If anyone wants to know how this game was made from the start and everything that happened after it came out, Matt mcmuscle put out a wha happen video on it and had one of the people involved with the writing to ask what went down.

[@diabolical_nightjar_x]

Oh yes my favorite game, watch people talk while you can’t hear them Also “The Quiet Man” sounds more like it would be a game about a mute guy and not a deaf man

[@dubstepbee6892]

Quiet Man: I'm a beat-em up me: COOL, do you have multiple playable characters? Quiet Man: No me:..... Okay,...... is there at least any cool special moves you can pull off? Quiet Man: No me:..... Upgrades? Quiet Man: No me: a level up system? Quiet Man: No me: Weapons?? Quiet Man: No me: Health and stamina pickups??? Quiet Man: No me: Money???? Quiet Man: No me: THEN WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE??????? Quiet Man: ten minute unskipable cutscenes with the volume turned off me:......................

[@huntermcintosh8173]

Quiet Man:...............

[@glasise]

The only question this playthrough didn't answer is why Piph played it 6 times

[@PivtWolf]

This particular episode should’ve been called “look Ma, no ears”

[@Mantakorra]

Piph and jello gotta be my favorite combo for these

[@stephendrobinski2426]

Dude, the sly snarkyness from Piph combined with the cynicism of Jello makes for such a fun dichotomy!

[@GWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGW]

That’s because we get frog detective and Jimmy Nut Ron

[@harpeowl]

​@@GWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGW oh god the Jimmy Nut ron felt like punch in a gut

[@GWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGW]

@@harpeowl not a punch in the nuts?

[@SirAsdf]

I don’t think I've ever seen a game that put so much time and energy into a product that was seemingly made for no one. It's like they knew they had a shitty brawler game with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, so they just took away the player's ability to understand what the fuck was going on just so they could get some sort of discussion going about their dogshit game. I mean, the gimmick of being a deaf guy doesn't even work because there are scenes in this fucking game where the deaf guy isn't even there and the audio is still cut out for no reason.

[@PointsofData]

You cannot convince me Dane being deaf WASN'T a last minute U-turn. Whether it was a gimmick or not I don't know, but they in no way planned for that to be the case...

[@Robin_Glorb]

@@PointsofData kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqnZhKCEm82tl6s could this convince you?

[@Scarybug]

@@PointsofData I see this a lot, but it was the core concept of the game. The gameplay itself is what got changed over and over again, including a whole parkour system that was cut.

[@crickett3536]

"I did not trick you into watching a movie." My first KZbin recommendation is "The Quiet Man," a 1952 comedy 😂

[@gunmunz]

The fighting and the music makes me wonder if the devs were trying to go with a Yakuza style combat. Dramatic one on one fights but with goons in between, but they missed the the mark SO fucking bad they might as well be throwing it the dart at the other side of the room.

[@harpeowl]

I have memorized the timestamp for the guy jumping over the head and now I don't feel it will ever get enough of use 45:22 45:22 45:22 45:22

[@harpeowl]

Can you tell it's late here and I am just mindlessly stimming trying to ground myself

[@whoopzreal]

​@@harpeowlgirl me too

[@waakufaaku9554]

Finally, now we're getting to the REAL video games.

[@clarehidalgo]

Some of the cut scenes feel like the part of a David Cage game you make a choice then it doesn't let you

[@brandencortez1205]

Such a great idea, such shit execution, like the sign language parts could hint at the story,and interpret the lip reading into misread version and obviously the audio on would show you the actual dialog

[@JulanNoir]

Me at the start of this game: "I don't think the writers have evet met a blind person in their lives." Me by the end of this game: "I think the writers hate blind people."

[@ObsessedwithZelda2]

I thiiink what they were going for with the ‘why can’t I hear?’ Bit is more to do with the long term effects of his abuse, since his dad blamed his lack of hearing for some reason? Especially with the reference to him not addressing his internal issues all these years Like, that specific abuse gave him guilt about his deafness kind of thing and probably also why he felt responsible

[@rainbowphoenix1363]

I absolutely adore seeing other people play this game and just...experience this ture masterpiece of every possible horribly bad decision. I truly believe it is The Room of video games.

[@PsylomeAlpha]

that somehow feels like an insult to The Room

[@pbeardedl1201]

If they would have had actual deaf people and better writers on staff with the budget this game got they could have made an interesting game instead of whatever this is XD

[@caritahearts2405]

I love how when they turn the sound on it becomes immediately clear that there was No acting, No sound design, and No music written for the game so everything still sounds muffled and boring and it just becomes a really shitty movie.

[@caritahearts2405]

Like, the gang members don't scream or grunt, theres no car horns, no music, when the piano lady at the club gets on stage theres no cheering or reactions from the audience. theres some sound effects of punching a bag of flour and that is IT

[@thetux459]

Anyone else keep bursting out into laughter at Quiet Man?

[@babybeam093]

this game would be 100% evil if you had to pay for sound as 30$ DLC

[@purpleisdebeste]

That would be a bad marketing strategy because anyone whose already played this game to consider the dlc has already played the game, and thus knows it’s very very bad

[@harpeowl]

Ah yes the Toontown shuffling into the fight 24:16

[@harpeowl]

45:22 parkour!

[@irisaferg2524]

Excited to see people take this game somewhat seriously after my only exposure to it being the extremely unserious snapcube letsplay- should be a nice companion piece for the rewatches i do of that from now on :3 Edit: highly interesting that of the two letsplays of this game ive watched, both times people in the recoridng have started instictively dubbing over the dialogue at some point. It made a lot of sense with the snapcube one, considering thst theyre the real time fandib crew and they did their entire pkaythough silent, but jello did it too despite the fact they were playing with sound on at that point. Fascinating stuff.

[@soap-plant-guy]

I had the same thought! The snapcube letsplay is still a comfort rewatch for me so I was really excited to see Jello shit on it. I think anyone who records this game is bound to dub over the dialogue at some point, audio or not. When a game is this bad you gotta fill the void with something, lol. Tho the argument could also be made that Jello's a VA (I don't know about Piph)

[@fanboyistransboy5089]

This is feels irrelevant but this game also feels pretty racist. Like a large majority of the antagonists are people of color. Plus the really bad Spanish in the beginning. Like I know that ableism is what jumps out but this game is also pretty casually racist

[@caritahearts2405]

Don't forget sexist, as every woman is played by the same 2 actors and only exists to die or get kidnapped

[@purpleisdebeste]

@@caritahearts2405 they really introduced Lala, the only good character, removed her from the story for the middle 2 hours and then when she returns she’s been possessed by the protagonist’s dead mom cus the writer has a fetish and she’s badly written again! She gets 2 scenes and then the personality cops need to confiscate her from the story.

[@firewolfandrewb]

@@caritahearts2405 They had a second actress?

[@ThatOneIrishFurry]

This feels like someone really wanted to make a movie but their producer was like "yoo if we make this a game we can get one of the big game companies to fund our movie!" And they were like "ugh FINE but make sure we focus on the cinematics"

[@Scarybug]

This is probably to most accurate take I've seen. The producer literally asked if we could make the game play the fight scenes for you if you put the controller down.

[@pembevendetta6189]

Proving to somebody that a game´s a 0/10 is a noble goal and I am HERE FOR IT!

[@purpleisdebeste]

Oh hey it’s the bad one!

[@Silverarika]

1:40:32 I can imagine the shit eating grin when Piph made that joke lmao

[@somestrangecircus5505]

It's like every design choice in this game was made with the intention of abusing the player

[@kamikazesopp]

I find games like this depressing. They have good concepts, and quite a lot of people seem to have tried pretty hard while making it, but the end result is effectively worthless. All this game accomplishes is show you a failed attempt at a cinematic game featuring a deaf street-fighter.

[@GWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGW]

Genuinely watching this was maybe one of the worst video experiences I’ve ever had because Jello decided he would let Piph show the whole game

[@fieryrebirth]

And not To The Moon, which is much shorter than this!

[@GWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGWAHGW]

@@fieryrebirth Yes but that game is somewhat interesting!! Piph always shows the whole game it’s just this game specifically is so fucking boring and I’m watching and having a BAD TIME!!!!!

[@purpleisdebeste]

Hey, he skipped a bit! Not enough! He could have skipped to the end and only lost… **checks notes* Nothing!

[@CrimsonHellkite666]

This game is so bad I expected the officer to say save Martha

[@Heavenly9999]

the best game david cage never made

[@purpleisdebeste]

ew i hate them redeeming your abusive dad, thats just horrible edit: OH HE'S THE ONE WHO GOES TO A CORRECTIONAL FACILITY?? WHYYYYY!!!!??!?!?!!!?!?!?

[@IToldYou2DredNot]

27:25, Bruce Willis, with the tiniest splash of Dustin Hoffman.

[@VidGams]

Surely someone can mod this game to put subtitles up for the signed and lip-read dialogue??

[@screamingcactus1753]

I don't think there is a person alive who would be willing to sift through all of this game's cutscenes to figure out what lines the player character would pick up on

[@tactileGalactic]

for a game that's about a disabled person this game is virtually unplayable to photosensitive people. I can't even watch past the start of the gameplay. you should put a warning on this

[@IToldYou2DredNot]

much closer to the crow rather than daredevil

[@brandencortez1205]

Soooo...it's Deaf DareDevil.

[@OmegaReconGaming]

This game is the worst experience I have had as a gamer. This hurt me to play. The sensor deprivation broke me. The gameplay is boring and clunky. I genuinely believed someone blackmailed a SQUARE ENIX executive because this was shown off at E3. Like how? How did they convince square to publish this?

[@RedVanBuskirk]

I love this dogshit game

[@meema4424]

There are many words to describe this game. Good is ABSOLUTELY not one of them. Also anyone else thinking that The Quiet Man (as in the villain) is just a shitty babadook impersonator? probably just me tbh anyway, this game is BADDDD.

[@meema4424]

the babadook is a metaphor for dealing with loss and grief and you don't accept it and move on, it will linger and never leave you could say the same for the quiet man, but that's giving the game WAY too much credit that it doesn't deserve

[@Manawolfman]

Okay, between this and Forspoken, Square is just going to think the English audience are all idiots who don't know whaty they want. We know what we want, you just don't have a clue how to write or even direct a game.

[@guava88]

yah this is a game

[@ralseibutitsacat8169]

So is this a deaf man’s yakuza game?

[@sonicpsycho]

Is this just worse yakuza?

[@Aceatoll]

Just saying “worse” is a severe understatement

[@harpeowl]

Only thing that may peak it 45:22 the rest not so much

[@screamingcactus1753]

It's basically a much, much worse version of a Yakuza game played in the worst way possible

[@purpleisdebeste]

Saying this feels like an insult to Yakuza

[@hellfirdragon17]

It's more like a worse version of Super Mario 64

[@melvint-p9500]

it’s ok for games to have a little gameplay-story dissonance sometimes

[@kamikazesopp]

A little is fine. But when that's all there is, at all times, then it becomes utter nonsense. Like how the main character in Vampyr chastises people for looting corpses and saying a murderer deserves death for their lack of respect for human life, when that's what you do yourself most of the game.

[@truemind1018]

weebspeak, but for deaf people.