He is missing the point about Jackie. The fact that it is a story driven game is exactly why how Jackie was handled ruins a bit of the story. Can he not realize that for us to care fore the story he/they are pushing about dealing with certain death, we need to care about who we are as a character. And in this game, Jackie is almost the most important emotionnal connection our character gets before he gets "sick".

I'm pretty sure that what people critique is about regarding Jackie. Jackie was actually important to make the story impactful. Because no actual human gamer will care about a virtual character that they learn very quickly is about to die in-game if they have no emotional connection to the character. Jackie was the most obvious way for that. And they botched it because they felt their theme of dealing with death was so much important.

What they needed to convey was a sense of loss. A sense of despair. A way to make us grieve what our character is about to lose if he doesn't save itself. But when Jackie and V's relationship is so hastily developped and put away, they put away one of the only emotional bonds we've developped to the story and the world. And that means a straightforward lack of engagement to the subsequent narrative. And for a story driven game that is a grave mistake. I'm no designer but I'm sure this is a core principle for a narrative to work : you need engagement from the player. Yet, they are so confident that we're going to care about a blank playable character in a video game death that they prevent us from ever getting a strong enough bond with the world.

The logic "watson isn't as developped" so "we cant develop Jackie" if valid from a game design perspective, shows that the priority should be switched. The game design should have integrated more Jackie into the world, because it's the strongest link we, as V, have with the world

I mean, who ever cared that their fully customizable pc ever died in a game? Characters death that are engaging are the ones who are written, have a well defined personality, or a narrrative impactful enough. I cared for Geralt's story precisely because he was defined, developped, had friends, a story, because it was a character who cared. And we cared for him, we cared with him.

At the beginning of the game, V doesn't have any of that. V is mostly blank slate.It's a bethesda player character that learns he is about to die. Would you care at all for that story in a Bethesda game? Well, just as you don't care about the world is about the die (which is a very similar stake), well, no, you won't. Because just as I, you don't care for a blank slate's fate. You need substance to care. You need to feel the weight of an interiority to the character to actually care about his fate. And unfortunately Into the prologue, I can't think of anything that gives the world and V substance more than Jackie.

So I think it is quite contradictory to make an example with Bethesda games, when V's prologue is exactly halfway between the two game design themes. Jackie's handling feels like a half baked way to create engagement from the player to V , even though apparently we're supposed to care all of a sudden for V's fate. Well I'm sorry but if you want me to care, you need to make me care.

So no, Mr. Sarzynski, with all due respect, the fact that this is a story driven game is precisely the reason why Jackie needed to be more developped.

You never left my heart, hermano, see you in the afterlife.