This is the story of Frequency "Freq" Vibrations.
Livin' Da Dream is the story mode of NBA 2K16, written by Spike Lee. Now I haven't seen any of his films honestly, and I really need to get around to that, but generally I view him as a good writer from what I've heard of his work.
Livin' Da Dream is an utterly baffling story, though, and I recently re-watched the Super Best Friend's LP of the story mode and, well, I'm left scratching my head. And I don't think you can go "Spike Lee had trouble adapting to a video game!", because none of the issues I have with the plot are anything to do with the game elements. To be honest, the story basically ignores the results of the actual basketball games you do play, and it isn't an open-ended narrative that has to adapt to player choices, no, the narrative is super straight-forward.
One thing that baffles me is the story uses your CAC. But unlike most games with CACs, it basically does everything you DON'T want to do in that situation. Like, it gives you a fraternal twin, both of your parents are alive and constantly appear on screen, and your character has a set personality, beliefs, and goals. Even more confusing is the character is known as "Freq" by the narrative, which at first you assume, oh, they give him a nickname as they can't voice the name you give him but, NOPE, Frequency Vibrations is literally his name, so I guess the name you gave him is the nickname? But you give him a first and last name, so that's weird.
I feel like Spike Lee wanted to have a set character design for this plot, but 2K stepped in---because of maybe racism? Well, basically, your CAC can be white, which comes across as quite odd, because it's clear it's a narrative written from a black perspective. I mean, it's Spike Lee, and it's a story about a basketball player from Harlem. So, if you play as a white guy, things are---off? Especially as you can't even go with the idea that the CAC was adopted, because you have a twin sister and black parents, and that would mess with the narrative conceit of your friend being jealous of you for having your birth parents alive. My theory? Spike Lee wanted a black protagonist. 2K feared white folks would get mad (see San Andreas), so tossed in perhaps the entire CAC element to appease fans. The Super Best Friends went with a black protagonist, and even though it was based on a meme character of theirs I actually thought the main character is pretty strong and well mocapped. But then I watched a version with a white dude, and, well, it's odd. So, yeah, it sucks what could've been one of the few black narratives in gaming was erased to probably appease insecure gamers.
Beyond that though, the plot is pretty weak and a bit cliche. It kind of plays around with some expected archetypes? Like the overzealous agent is an over-the-top sleaze ball, but never does anything bad as far as we see, and they also introduce the girlfriend out of nowhere like we're supposed to think of her as a goldigger but, hey, she does care. But, like, it's oddly halfhearted throughout. There's like one quick scene of the girlfriend interacting with the player one-on-one, so it's a bit cheesy when the reveal that she's a good person on the inside. None of the characters are particularly interesting, and pretty flat. But they're not unlikable. Personally, the actors give some great performances and I was impressed with a lot of the mocap.
But...there's the ending. Oh boy. Spike Lee FUCKS UP. Basically, throughout the plot there's a character named Victor Van Lier, who is like Eric Sparrow. He grew up with Freq, but basically uses his fame to his own advantage. He even tries to get with his girl. Everyone around Freq is like, DUDE, cut him off. He's pissing off Freq's teammates. Eventually, he straight up blackmails Freq. And then he dies. "Tragically", I guess, but it's said he was in a car chase so it's likely he pissed folks off by being a sleaze ball.
BUT THEN, at the very end GHOST VICTOR VAN LIER (you can tell because he's wearing a white hoodie) sits on a bench and reads directly to the audience from a notepad. Basically, he tells us that he had a loving mother who taught him to see people as more than objects (he sees people as objects), and when his parents died of AIDS (which he used to make Freq feel bad earlier), he was adopted by Freq's amazing family. Basically, he died a complete piece of shit, and in his ghostly confession basically tells us that he had amazing role models all around. So, yeah, I guess we're supposed to feel sorry for him but he never makes amends. He dies, and then tries to make us feel sorry for him? Like, at no point in the entire plot does he do anything positive. The last scene he's in has him blackmailing his best friend. Fuck you Vic.
Also Spike Lee appears in the narrative interviewing the characters for some reason.
