It's been a while since my last edition of Building Better Backstories. In the past, I've discussed literary and cinematic alterations but this edition is both a first for me and something that I'm actually quite excited to discuss.
This eighth edition of Building Better Backstories will be the first to discuss the narrative of a video game. In particular the fourth and final game in the legendary Sly Cooper franchise: Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time.
Released in 2013 by Sanzaru Games, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is visually and gameplay-wise, very similar to the previous entries of Sly 2: Band of Thieves and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. However, where the game is almost universally disliked by fans of the franchise is in the area of story, as the fourth game in this franchise famous for well-established character-driven story moments feels almost lifeless and seems to even revel in making character twists and revelations that either hinder the games' storytelling potential and, at worst, make previous entries in the series feel shallow or worse because of the revelations.
With that in mind, I realized, after speaking with my sister who is also a huge fan of the series, that my mind had actually already come up with several solutions to this issue. So that is what I will do. I will go over the narrative problems in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and then lay out my solutions for fixing an average game and transforming it into what I would feel is a fantastic game.
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The Problems with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
For simplicity's sake and because I don't I should be trying to write a novel where a simple article will do, we will list off and explain only three major issues that I have with Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. After I explain why these three issues are, in fact, issues with the overall narrative of the game, the next section will go into greater detail outlining what I would do to address these three problems.
With the rules laid, let's start with:
Problem #1: Penelope's Betrayal Ruins Her Character and Makes Sly 3 Worse
Introduced in Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, Penelope is a Mouse who is an expert in robotics and aerial combat. She is the central focus of two of the chapter in that game, eventually becoming Bentley's (the Brains of the Cooper Gang) love interest and girlfriend. When first introduced, she is shown to be very kind and helpful, but something of an adrenaline junkie that is more interested in finding the next big thrill or an opportunity to show how smart she is. Her relationship with Bentley also becomes a huge thematic counterpoint to Sly and Carmelita, working to build up Sly's ultimate decision to "retire" at the end of Sly 3.
So it certainly comes as a disheartening shock to learn that Penelope in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time not only betrays the Cooper Gang, but does so joyfully while cruelly mocking Bentley as idealistic and naive. She expresses a level of cold disdain for the noble thief archetype that she happily expressed in the previous game, and it leaves many people (myself especially) feeling as if all her previous appearances were disingenuous. This is further heightened by the fact that it is actually Penelope's disappearance that kicks off all of the starting action at the beginning of Thieves in Time. So to find out that the very person we are looking for is actually a willing and enthusiastic enemy feels like a poor resolution to a conflict. Especially when the game then tries to re-frame the betrayal as a moment of character strength for Bentley.
What makes this situation all the more frustrating is that, in my mind, the solution is so simple it actually is even more anger-inducing.
Problem #2: The Villains, Especially LeParadox, Aren't Very Interesting
The villains in the first three games in the Sly Cooper franchise have always been one of the strongest elements. Sir Raleigh the Frog, Rajan, LeFwee, Panda King; all individuals with fascinating backstories and eclectic designs and presences which pervade every aspect of the levels in which they reside, none moreso than the final bosses.
Which only makes the villains in Thieves in Time all the more disappointing. The entire cast is either forgettable (El Jefe), so odd as to be hilariously ill-fitting to the setting (The Griz) or a pale imitation of a far better Sly Cooper villain. And it is this last category that I find the greatest sin, especially for Toothpick and Miss Decibel. Toothpick is basically a rehashed Muggshot (though lacking any of Muggshot's charm and loveable himbo energy) and Miss Decibel's whole shtick is that she is a hypnotist that uses music to commit her crimes. Meaning she is basically The Contessa but in an elephant skin, which is much less iconic.
But all of these pale in comparison to the final boss of Thieves in Time, LeParadox. Especially because we have to compare LeParadox to other final bosses and he falls...laughably short. Because when you put LeParadox, a pathetic skunk whose family were also master thieves like the Coopers but just worse who is cowardly and simply wishing to take over the world and build a reputation on the Coopers' hard work, and compare him to the likes of Clockwerk and Dr. M; its not even a fair contest. As these two villains are so rooted in pathos and thematic ties and tones to the entire franchise that LeParadox just comes off like an up-jumped first level boss.
Oh...speaking of Clockwerk.
Problem #3: Despite the Time Travel Plot, Almost No Thematic Ties to Previous Sly Games
You know what really grinds my gears?
Let's make a time travel video game, where you play a thief from a long line of master thieves throughout history and you could work with them to overcome famous enemies and villains throughout history and you don't include the immortal mechanical owl whose entire modus operandi is that he has been chasing the Coopers throughout history to destroy them and their legacy. I know that Clockwerk was the main villain of two of the Sly Cooper games and his actions in the second game directly play into basically everything that happens in the third, but there is a reason for that.
Clockwerk is fundamental to the entire mythology of Sly Cooper. In many ways, Sly is defined by his relationship to Clockwerk. Clockwerk should also have an impact on his life and if any game needed to have the immortal owl as more than a background Easter egg, it was this game.
Because we really needed Thieves in Time to connect more succinctly to the rest of the franchise, rather than just feel like a series of disconnected side adventures. LeParadox had no immediately understandable plan, I just don't get how stealing the Cooper Canes works to alter history that much and also that is a pathetic goal, so much so that even Sly calls him out on it. LeParadox could've been so much bigger.
In Sly 2: Band of Thieves, Arpeggio's plan is tied to literally every single member of the Klaww Gang. I actually felt smarter having witnessed Arpeggio's plan unfolding as I played the game. And it made him so much better as a villain (before Neyla's sniping of the final boss position).
LeParadox could've had that and, when coupled with including Clockwerk and a few previous villains, could've made for a much more thematic satisfying game.
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The Solutions
Now that we have gone over the issues, let us quickly resolve the solutions that I see that could fix Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. Once again, we will focus on three and I hope that they will lead to a more satisfying imaginary game.
Solution #1: Penelope is Brainwashed/Replace Miss Decibel as the Penultimate Villain
In retrospect this is such a simple fix that I am actually mad they didn't do this instead. We now that LeParadox got the time machine because Penelope sold him the designs and helped him build it. But what if, instead of betraying the Cooper Gang, she was actually kidnapped like Bentley suspected and then brainwashed by Miss Decibel (or as I will suggest later, a different villain) in order to turn against the Cooper Gang.
This would allow you to still have the gut punch of the betrayal without the actual pain of assassinating Penelope's character. We still have the Bentley fight but maybe we can have hints throughout the level tht Penelope is fighting against the brainwashing and then when Bentley beats her, she can wake up with no memory of where she is or how she got there. This could then allow us to bring her along and give her the chance to redeem herself in the last two levels in the game. Especially if we then use her waking up to reveal the penultimate villain of the game.
Because Miss Decibel just isn't as interesting as another hypnosis-based villain in the series, The Contessa. The Contessa's whole operation was based around altering thieves personalities to work for her and reveal their secrets and stolen goods for her whole purposes. I would think that such a villain would join a time travel villain incredibly easily and allowing her to play mind games with the past and present Cooper's would be fascinating, because she is actually one of the smartest villains in the franchise.
So, in my mind, we see Penelope get defeated. She regains her senses and reveals that she was kidnapped and brainwashed, and then we would see The Contessa gloating and revealing that she was one of the architects behind the master plan. We would then see Penelope join the Cooper Gang in following The Contessa to ancient Arabia where we could have a showdown with her and LeParadox before the latter betrays her for his own master plan.
But what could that plan be?
Solution #2: LeParadox's Backstory Needs to Change, He Needs a Real Plan
Earlier I mentioned how Arpeggio's plan in Sly 2 was so strong and well-thought out that it made his character incredibly strong and threatening before we ever actually met him. LeParadox could've been very similar. And since we also need to include Clockwerk, this is what I would do with LeParadox.
First things first, we need to change what animal LeParadox actually is. Instead of a skunk, we will change him into an owl (I have a plan). His full name Cyril LeParadox also shows that we could change him to have a slavic origin (as Cyril is a very common name is Russia and Slavic-speaking countries) and his backstory could be that he is an obsessive fan of Clockwerk. Perhaps he grew up on stories of the immortal criminal mastermind and the reveal of his destruction by Sly Cooper filled him with hatred and a desire to enact revenge upon the Coopers in Clockwerk's name.
Perhaps, we could even have LeParadox's plan to destroy the Cooper's and attempt to become a new Clockwerk. This would explain a desire to attack the Cooper's throughout history, perhaps working to assist Clockwerk in the past in some way or attempting to manipulate history to ensure Clockwerk is never actually defeated. The skies the limit but the idea that LeParadox is working to bring back Clockwerk would add so much in terms of stakes and tension, especially since Clockwerk is one of the few villains that can actually get Sly and Carmelita on the same side.
And such a connection to Clockwerk could lead int a really fun endgame twist.
Solution #3: Change the Ending to Elevate Clockwerk
The final boss fight in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is a rather boring quick time event which is basically a worse version of the LeFwee boss fight of Sly 3, with LeParadox just making terrible jokes as the time machine blimp blows up around you. At the end of the fight, LeParadox is defeated but Sly is lost in time, with the post-credit scene revealing he has landed in ancient Egypt.
This is wholly unsatisfying and with no confirmation of a continuation to the franchise, leaves the series on a seriously sour note. So instead, lets expand upon our LeParadox/Clockwerk backstory and do something cool. So our final fight will be a battle between LeParadox and Sly in the skies above Paris or even traveling randomly through time, perhaps damage to the time machine makes it open spontaneous wormholes Sly and his allies have to overcome.
Perhaps we show LeParadox get more and more frustrated and hateful towards the Cooper Gang. Until he is finally defeated and caught in a mechanical explosion and sent hurtling through time to some unknown space. We will then have Sly be the one fished out of the ocean by Carmelita and he can do a classic escape or turn himself in to Carmelita and continue to work with her, since Sly only rejoined the team to save the Thievius Racoonus. And this will be the end of the game...
...except the new post-credit scene will show LeParadox trapped in the past. But the owl (since we changed him from a skunk into an owl) has now fused with the machinery of the time machine and his hatred is coalescing into something new. His damaged mind can now only remember two things...Clockwerk and Cooper.
That's right, the big twist of this game would be that Sly is not only responsible for defeating Clockwerk, but also for creating Clockwerk. That LeParadox's fascination with Clockwerk would actually resulting in him becoming Clockwerk. And for a character as ego-driven as Clockwerk, him becoming the inspiration for his own creation just feels right to me. So we still get our happy ending, but now we have ended the game implying an element of the universe that actually expands the lore of the Sly Cooper franchise. We now know more about Clockwerk and if we perhaps make LeParadox a part of an organization devoted to Clockwerk, it could build up lore that could go into a later game in the franchise.
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Conclusion
Admittedly as it appears that Sanzaru Games has absolutely no intention on continuing the Sly Cooper franchise and a remake or revival also seems to be quite out of the way, it would seem that thinking about the what-ifs is a rather pointless exercise. And on some level, perhaps it is.
But Building Better Backstories has always been about imagining a better outcome. About just throwing out ideas and improvements that could be explored by others, either in fanfiction or in future game prospects. I truly believe that the Sly Cooper reboot game series could probably do well, if they modified gameplay and story to fit with modern audience expectations. As long as the lore and unique characters remain as strong as they historically have-been, perhaps this article could inspire someone to take another look at an amazing (now classic) PS2-era game franchise.
And really, if my talking about my headcanon/fanfiction gets more people interested in the Sly Cooper franchise, then that can only be a good thing.
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