[AI 1 SPOILERS] Date's appearance?

[NowBobCat]

Date definitely ended AI 1 off in his original body, as Saito's had it's head blown up. So why does the little pop-ups show Saito's body as Date? My only thought its that it's related to the quiz to test if you finished the first game, which I failed my first go-through but started a new game and answered correctly.

[VNLover]

Doesn't seem to be the same timeline.

[NowBobCat]

Okay, first time you're in boss's room as ryuki, you get an answer
apparently its just a plastic mask he wears because more people know date like that. makes no sense, but neither does anything else in these games. also wouldn't be surprised if theres a bigger plot event later relating to it.

[Gribusse]

Originally posted by NowBobCat:

Okay, first time you're in boss's room as ryuki, you get an answer
apparently its just a plastic mask he wears because more people know date like that. makes no sense, but neither does anything else in these games. also wouldn't be surprised if theres a bigger plot event later relating to it.

Heh weird, it didn't show up. I guess it's because i answered wrong on the quizz thingie at the start of the game... Wish there was a quick way to change it

[Miral]

Originally posted by Jibachu:

Heh weird, it didn't show up. I guess it's because i answered wrong on the quizz thingie at the start of the game... Wish there was a quick way to change it

Yeah, likely. The fact that his appearance is "wrong" based on what happens in the previous game is itself a big spoiler, so they can't make any reference to it unless you have spoilers fully enabled.

[packy17]

the mask thing is either just a jokey handwave or there's more to his appearance later in the story... not sure yet. either way, a mask wouldn't change his voice, so... idk

[Doctor TacoChocolate]

It's better to just answer this. The mask thing is solely because they prioritized not having spoilers over any sort of logical consistency. It's not a plot point and it's only briefly addressed again at one point beyond the initial one with Ryuki. It's dumb as hell, but that's how it is. He just wears the mask all the time and we never see Hayato's real face in a scene.

[Ellye]

They wanted to make sure that players could play this game before playing the first one for whatever reason.

Makes no sense for me (would you read the second book of a novel before the first and somehow not expect spoilers?), but well.

[Moral Wiz]

You know, I get that it's a handwave, it's a joke but... there was a pretty easy way to actually solve this

Just say that Date's allies arrived and interrupted Saito before he could psynch and retrieve his body. There was a scuffle and it ended with Saito shot and killed - in Date's original body, leaving the cop stuck in his more familiar form.

Yeah, that's not how it went in AI, but it's close and still gives you spoiler free Date for this game.

[❤GAMER;GIRL❤]

Originally posted by Moral Wiz:

You know, I get that it's a handwave, it's a joke but... there was a pretty easy way to actually solve this

Just say that Date's allies arrived and interrupted Saito before he could psynch and retrieve his body. There was a scuffle and it ended with Saito shot and killed - in Date's original body, leaving the cop stuck in his more familiar form.

Yeah, that's not how it went in AI, but it's close and still gives you spoiler free Date for this game.

But that also wouldn't work, because the brain in his more familiar form has that super scary mental disorder.... And without Aiba to supplement dopamine or whatever, he'd be extremely dangerous without her accompanying him! =O

[Moral Wiz]

Originally posted by ❤ Hot_Chick ❤:

But that also wouldn't work, because the brain in his more familiar form has that super scary mental disorder.... And without Aiba to supplement dopamine or whatever, he'd be extremely dangerous without her accompanying him! =O

That's really easy to get around though. Give the guy pills. Give him a new AI-ball. You can 100% make it work.

[RightHand]

Originally posted by Tunafish Man:

Doesn't seem to be the same timeline.

Can you please play the game before you make statements like this?

As for OP's question, the sequel takes place after the true ending of the first game. However, because the developers want this to be a strong standalone story, they did their best to cover up huge spoilers of the original game. So if you did answer the quiz questions correctly about what happened in the true ending of the first game, your answers do get addressed as to why Date still looks like Saito.

Right now, Date is just wearing the mask of Saito because that's the face his friends know him for, as well as Date thinking that Saito's appearance is more popular with the ladies. That's their dumb excuse. Ah, to be fair, Kaname Date's appearance is also a lot more well designed and interesting compared to his real appearance anyway. I guess they did not want to take that away.

[toughnails]

Rolling back ALL of Date's character development because of this weird anti-spoiler policy was easily the dumbest decision in the whole game.

An easy solution would be to simply not show Date in any of the promo materials. And if someone plays 2 before 1 it's on them, it's a story heavy game, why should characters be neutered just because someone is so high on social media hype they only play the newest game in a story heavy series? Danganronpa and Ace Attorney don't pull this BS. In fact, it's the first time I'm seeing anything like this.

[toughnails]

Originally posted by RightHand:

Right now, Date is just wearing the mask of Saito because that's the face his friends know him for, as well as Date thinking that Saito's appearance is more popular with the ladies.

Yeah, and this "silicone mask" also somehow changes his voice and even the body build. It was DUMB.

You just know they're gonna do the same to Bibi in AI3. They'll probably just write her out of the story altogether, and pretend AI2 never happened. This anti-spoiler policy lessens the experience so much.

[❤GAMER;GIRL❤]

Well if nothing else, it's been fun to theorize about & discuss! lol

[coyro]

The idea was plain stupid from the very beginning.

The character, at last, got some development at the end of AI1, and it was "hey, he's not a degenerate - he just borrowed the defective brain and was all the time on drugs!" Now they flush it all down the drain, welcome back old good silly-as-f#ck Date.