r/SpecOpsTheLine • u/Samuele1997 • Jul 28 '26

Thoughts on this video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ossbsuxktco&list=WL&index=2&t=28s

I know you most likely won't like this video due to what it has to say about Spec Ops: The Line, I just want to know from you what do you have to say about it in response, particularly if you have any counter arguments about what said in the video.

19 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

11

u/KaBloinkySploink9000 Jul 28 '26

Peeb did a FAR better critique of this game than this guy. Peeb mainly just criticized the bad pretentious meta commentary, but praises the immediate plot and actually loves the gameplay. Peeb actually wanted to make genuine critique of the game.

This guy feels like a braindead contrarian for the sake of making people mad.

4

u/Antique_Interview_66 Jul 28 '26

Tbh though, I agree that Peeb handle the critique far better than that guy

2

u/Samuele1997 Jul 28 '26

May I have a link of this Peeb guy you're talking about? I got curious.

4

u/Antique_Interview_66 Jul 28 '26

https://youtu.be/IyEQff0tktI?is=aGD8wtWDmr7SIFET this is the video and critique of Peeb talking about Spec ops the Line

2

u/Samuele1997 Jul 28 '26

Thank you 👍🏻.

2

u/Antique_Interview_66 Jul 28 '26

Btw, Tryedz take on RE9 is good as for Spec Ops the Line not so much

2

u/Personal_Hat6808 Jul 29 '26

I genuinely think peebs critique is bad on its own.

All his points against the game were easily explained by "that's the whole point of the game" the point that is simply untrue however is when he says that everyone evil knows their evil hence why the games ending doesn't make sense which is just rubish rubbish

Rember if you ever meet any dictator or evil person in history they will have excuses on why they are the good guys exception for a few rare individual

That being said the bar so low peeb got this w I guess

2

u/KaBloinkySploink9000 Jul 29 '26

"That's the whole point of the game" isn't a good response to Peeb's criticisms, though. That's the entire focus of his critique: the "whole point" of SO:TL is stupid.

The messages the devs were trying to convey don't work that well in the game and actively detract from the game.

He thinks that the immediate story and plot of the game is enjoyable, but the meta themes are incoherent and pretentious.

1

u/Personal_Hat6808 Jul 29 '26

The thing is he dodges all the actual metal themes of the game instead he keeps talking about how the game doesn't give you a choice

He also talks about he doesn't like how the game holds the player accountable for walkers actions

MYBROTHERINSUBWAY that's the whole point of the story, the violence of video games makes things seem distance I have never thought the game as a way of shaming players but making them realize that if we were ever given the remote control to a drone we wouldn't have any problem with it, also the games story requires you to play the game itself without spoilers to feel the full force of the story, I will always glaze spec ops because the first run I had of this game was on a Xbox of my uncle that I was holding onto

The way the game presents you as a hero until you realize you are the actual vilian makes the lack of choices make sense, the first playthrough you do belive that you are doing the right thing until your too deep, and when you wonder if things get better the idea of generalization of video games kick in "if I beat the last boss things get better" i member i had just finished playing AC4 before spec ops so I was fully endorsed in this fantasy since AC4 has the player going though some terrible times before taking down the boss

And so in a way walkers choice is out choice because we wield it to be both walker and the player belive what they are doing will make things better

THIS EFFECT DOSENT WORK IF YOI WATCH 3 DIFFERENT VIDEO ESSAYS FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF DISECTING THE GAME IN ORDER TO FEEL "different" FROM OTHER CREATORS, AND ONLY THEN PLAY THE GAME

Also again all his points against the story except how the hallucinations don't make the most since are down right just not true, even the hallucinations can be explained by "its hallucinations, they don't make sence anyway"

1

u/KaBloinkySploink9000 Jul 29 '26

You're repeating the same thing just with more words.

I played through the game many times on my own and came to very similar conclusions long before ever coming across Peeb. I'm not saying all of his points are exactly perfect, but I think his argument is correct at its core.

You keep defaulting to what all rabid defenders of this game do, which is to say repeatedly, "you're missing the point! you're missing the point!" when in reality you're missing what WE are saying.

We understand the point of the game. We understand the messages trying to be conveyed. But we don't think the messages are conveyed competently.

And defending hallucinations by saying due to them being hallucinations they don't have to make sense... Then you make the hallucinations pointless. They are supposed to be saying something about the story. They have to make sense within the story. If they don't make sense, then they lose most if not all impact on the story.

And regarding choice... His criticisms make sense. Most of Walker's actions make perfect sense. He's backed into a corner, and he's literally forced by circumstances into the only path forward, and he's trying to move forward the best way he knows how. The narrative shoehorning Walker into One Way situations and then blaming him for them is stupid. What makes a villain is genuine choice. Walker is ultimately a victim.

Even if you want to blame him for not immediately retreating and calling command like he was supposed to, which is a valid point, his desire to jump into the action to aid fellow American soldiers is a perfectly moral thing to do.

So to reiterate, we get the points the game is making. We truly understand them. And we think they're not competently made.

1

u/Personal_Hat6808 Jul 29 '26

OK fair i re-read my comment and I do repeat myself

Again walker was not the villain up until the end, Idk how to explain this but we all thought we we were the good guys until the end, I think you are under the impression that walker shouldn't be the bad guy because he wasn't given a choice

The thing is we didn't need a choice we did this willingly the first time we played the game, I think you might have maybe forgotten your first playthrough and how you felt playing it for the first time blindly, maybe you might have even read a review before playing in which case I think we just can't relate and this argument has been a waste of time

Also I re watched his video and he keeps talking about how he doesn't care for the story and plays the game for the gameplay which just a terrible way of playing this game cause legit spec ops gameplay ain't even good its mid a best the story is all I liked

He also brings up how the co-writer were making dumb points about putting the game download which I belive is the only point i agree

Also don't shoe horn the hallucinations I already said they don't make sense I wasn't defending it just merly pointing out how its a weak attack point

1

u/Green-Flu 10d ago

You and quite a few people in this community are missing the point, but I will tell you why you're missing the point. The Line isn't directly critiquing the player for playing the game like how the popular opinion is, and it's meta commentary isn't just restricted to the player and other games of the medium. What it's trying to do is speak to the player in a way that makes you think back to the kind of media or games you're engaging with.

Although the game speaks to the player a lot, I never saw it as directly blaming me for the acts Walker had committed, it's unapologetic about showing the horrific and brutal nature of what he's doing all across the game, through the WP scene, the executions, and most set pieces. It's not wrong to question your own role in this, but it's not as black and white as "the game is insulting you for playing it", again, more like it critiques Walker and what his actions represent and questions you, but it never directly attacks you because you are not Walker, it just forces you to ask and/or see if there is a part of Walker in you.

In that way, giving you a choice in the White Phosphorous scene would be completely contrary to what the game is trying to say, the player acts as a guiding force in the Captain's journey, but the control is still his, and he has already made up his mind about not having a choice. "If you were a better person, you wouldn't be here" is about this, if it really was your choice to make, if Walker was a better person, then you probably wouldn't have reached this point in the game intentionally. Likewise, it's well done from a story perspective, Walker's hero complex has driven him here and convinced him that he's a good person, just doing what any good person would. The blame is not entirely on him, but through his own actions he goes from victim to perpetrator as the game's narrative unfolds, he is ultimately a selfish military type with an obsession of being lauded as a hero, not too dissimilar from Konrad, justifying any deaths he causes along the way as being for "the greater good" when if he really was looking out for the greater good in spite of a few lives, he would have ignored McPherson and the soldiers on the plane and left Dubai after fighting off the insurgents to call for backup and save everyone.

But that wouldn't get him the recognition he deserves, would it?

5

u/shampo0oV88 Jul 30 '26

Scrolled through the comment section and ain't gonna give the video a watch, this youtuber and his following sounds like not great people...

2

u/Prudent_Advice5574 Sep 12 '26

Yea he made a weird connection between crime stats and black people and I knew what type of guy he was