Keep that shit in the other thread please. This one has not been turned into a dumpster fire yet.
I doubt it since others said they could not do it.Heh.
Apparently PS Australia said there's no restrictions/embargo on the same preview code that had restrictions for other publications. Someone at Sony F-ed up, or did they decide "fuck it, just show everything?."
I doubt it since others said they could not do it.
I'm hoping they're just keeping quiet until after the holidays then they can start running commercials/trailers. It's the first major game release of 2015 so they're probably hoping they can get a lot of attention that way.Makes sense.
I just hope they aren't too slow in revving up the marketing push.
As someone who worked in marketing, I can conceptualise and rationalise Sony's "perhaps somewhat bewildering" marketing approach to the Order, but as a consumer who's already managed to break through that and get the B-roll footage + off-screen gameplay, it's annoying to wait for them to let go the embargo piece-by-piece.
I'm hoping they're just keeping quiet until after the holidays then they can start running commercials/trailers. It's the first major game release of 2015 so they're probably hoping they can get a lot of attention that way.
IMO, the biggest problem with The Order's showings thus far, is that nothing of what they've been showing this year captures the spirit of how this game was introduced at last year's E3 in totality.
To me, the differentiation, and what defines The Order, are pretty much everything that they've showed in their initial trailer. As in "Victorian London, Steampunk, Knights Order, Unique Weapons, Werewolves/Lycans."
Knights Order :
The team-play/group dynamic. Gameplay-wise, we've never actually got a proper chance to see the Knights team-play at work, in the group of four. The only time we saw 4 was in the E3 demo shooting gallery, which was only a few minutes of a highly scripted shoot-out. Even in this demo, you were only with Lafayette/Percival or alone in a small corridor.
Unique Weapons:
Limited showcase of this all-around. More than the above, but still nothing that establishes a wow moment for these weapons in battle.
Werewolves/Lycans:
Only showed once, in a highly scripted story moment.
Victorian London:
We've seen snippets of it. The actual gameplay areas aren't very inspiring, so far, since tight Zepellin areas and blocked off corridors of a London street isn't anywhere close to things like Buckingham Palace, or the bustling streets of London.
I am fully with you...BUT I am 100% sure that we will see all what we are hoping for and chosing the Zeppelin for a rather extended look on gameplay is only for one reason: To not spoil too much of the game.
:rollseyesI think I know the reason why we do not have coop in this game.
Not enough memory to render corridor that large enough to fit two persons,
My guess is a slightly different one.
I'm thinking that The Zepellin level is also presumably, one of the few, if only levels where they could showcase the diversity of moment-to-moment gameplay within the scope of one mission itself.
Within that 30 minutes, there's non-QTE interactive cutscenes, stealth section, mini-games, QTE cutscenes, and 2 separate shooting galleries at the foyer/kitchen.
From a design perspective, it's actually not a bad level to showcase. It showcases that the game's more than just a TPS, and that there's variety beyond 'shoot stuff behind cover."
However, the problem arises when those 'pace-breakers' are panned, and criticised for 'archaic game design and lol David Cage.'
IMO, the biggest problem with The Order's showings thus far, is that nothing of what they've been showing this year captures the spirit of how this game was introduced at last year's E3 in totality.
To me, the differentiation, and what defines The Order, are pretty much everything that they've showed in their initial trailer. As in "Victorian London, Steampunk, Knights Order, Unique Weapons, Werewolves/Lycans."
Knights Order :
The team-play/group dynamic. Gameplay-wise, we've never actually got a proper chance to see the Knights team-play at work, in the group of four. The only time we saw 4 was in the E3 demo shooting gallery, which was only a few minutes of a highly scripted shoot-out. Even in this demo, you were only with Lafayette/Percival or alone in a small corridor.
Unique Weapons:
Limited showcase of this all-around. More than the above, but still nothing that establishes a wow moment for these weapons in battle.
Werewolves/Lycans:
Only showed once, in a highly scripted story moment.
Victorian London:
We've seen snippets of it. The actual gameplay areas aren't very inspiring, so far, since tight Zepellin areas and blocked off corridors of a London street isn't anywhere close to things like Buckingham Palace, or the bustling streets of London.
I don't know if it's RAD or Sony at the fault here, but ideally, their showcase needs to have all of the above combined:
- a beautiful gameplay stage/environment that does justice to the choice of setting
- Lycans as the immediate enemies
- 4 of the Knights fighting together
- Unique weapons being used to fight the lycans
Not bits and pieces of the above, spliced up in different showcases.
I'm sorry to say this (here, and not there), but the toxicity of that other thread is just... urgh.
On the side that calls out conspiracy theories, or even the side that's blindly just agreeing with the bullet points without acknowledging the actual content... It's difficult to have a clear conversation there.
The hyperbole really doesn't help one bit. I love how a 30 seconds QTE section is now "there's a QTE every 30 seconds."
I actually find this concerning. I think they've shown some cool ideas but I feel like the story might be all over the place.
Does no embargo mean good thing? Like Sony is confident with reviews of the game?
I'm sorry to say this (here, and not there), but the toxicity of that other thread is just... urgh.
On the side that calls out conspiracy theories, or even the side that's blindly just agreeing with the bullet points without acknowledging the actual content... It's difficult to have a clear conversation there.
The hyperbole really doesn't help one bit. I love how a 30 seconds QTE section is now "there's a QTE every 30 seconds."
Yea its god awful. On one had you have the side that are making up crazy crindgeworthy conspiracies and then you have the side that is piling on the game with descriptions that are stretching the truth at best and complete bullshit at worst. Its sad that that thread blew up so much and this one has not. I fear for the release thread (not the review one that is going to be shit no matter what happens)
And there were a bunch of posters believing there has been no good impressions of the game from anyone.
Ergo Druckmans' quote.
The only issue I had, was with the sniper section. It seems like he would be too visible to just be pointing a sniper rifle at people in plain view. Other than that, I think it looks cool.
Really liking the gunplay that I've seen from the recent demo, guns seem to have an interesting kick to them. I wonder if they are just gonna do basic weapons or if we gonna get some pretty crazy guns for taking out the enemies. Also I really hope we get more of the Lycan enemies than the regular baddies, those Lycans look fierce haha.
Yeah, that thread is rough. Oh well. The footage I've seen makes this look like a game I'll like and I'm a fan of RaD. I sometimes wish that this game wasn't so high profile because it seems to really get people riled up. It brings out the crazies from every direction.Yea its god awful. On one had you have the side that are making up crazy crindgeworthy conspiracies and then you have the side that is piling on the game with descriptions that are stretching the truth at best and complete bullshit at worst. Its sad that that thread blew up so much and this one has not. I fear for the release thread (not the review one that is going to be shit no matter what happens)
And there were a bunch of posters believing there has been no good impressions of the game from anyone.
They've shown both the thermite rifle and the lightning gun (I think it's called the arc rifle or arc gun I think), which are pretty cool weapons. I'm not sure if they'll go too crazy (they have stated they wanted to keep the technology a bit grounded), but there's going to be some creativity and diversity in the weapons for sure.
Oh damn having a Lightning gun sounds awesome!
Yeah, if you watch the E3 show-floor demo you can see both guns in action. Lady Igraine controls the arc gun, but you can see when she uses it, the effects on that one guy she absolutely obliterated was pretty devastating.
Here's a video on their thought process on designing the weapons for the game, at 4:06 you can see lady igraine use the arc gun on a poor rebel soldier and just completely turn him to dust https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG8m7q9kMhQ
It is so hard for me to decide one way or another on this game now. The negatives I have read are so poisoned now that I am just going to have to play it myself.
It really does. 100%, actually.Anyone recall the reactions and general feel from the press for Uncharted: Drakes Fortune prior to release? This reminds me of that.
The Order quickly develops a rhythm hereafter, however. The zeppelin, named Agamemnon, is vast, and there's a ton of space to explore. Everything is delivered linearly -- there are no alternate routes or choices to be made -- yet I felt a true sense of exploration as I poked my head into rooms and around corners, waiting to see what was next. I especially dug some of the collectible documents strewn about the zeppelin, including a newspaper and a government document. These collectibles are wonderfully detailed and can be fully examined, front-and-back. It was cool to read a piece of the newspaper's front page, and flip over a piece of paper to see a government stamp adorning it. Little touches like these make the world of The Order feel more lived in, more realistic.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/12/06/psx-2014-attacking-and-crashing-a-zeppelin-in-the-order-1886Getting to use a wide array of firearms -- sniper rifles, pistols, machineguns, and the like -- showed-off a diverse, yet familiar arsenal. Enemies seemed a bit spongy to me, especially when I used my pistol (some enemies wouldn't even die when I shot them in the head), but I found combat to be satisfying. I'm a tad bit mystified by The Order's insistence on making you hold down a button for a couple of seconds to pick up a gun -- and even ammunition! -- but overall, I enjoyed toggling between firearms, blasting fools from up close with the spray of a shotgun, taking shots from safety with a scoped sniper rifle, and then cleaning up with the spitfire of an automatic weapon.
One especially cool battle took place in a kitchen, with copper pots and pans hanging all over the place, awaiting their next use. As enemies hid behind stoves, ovens, and counters, those pots and pans went flying as they became casualties of a brutal and violent battle between rebel forces and The Order. For having taken place entirely on one zeppelin, this slice of 1886's campaign showed an impressive diversity of environments, from tight, mundane corridors to ornately decorated lobbies to the aircraft's underbelly. I had a lot of fun exploring, even if I wasn't choosing where to go next, and even if I did have to grapple with unfortunate QTEs, particularly in the cockpit of the zeppelin.
http://metro.co.uk/2014/12/09/the-order-1886-hands-on-preview-old-fashioned-gameplay-4980650/Beyond the visuals theres nothing in the game, or at least the demo, that couldnt have been done on a PlayStation 2. Nor is there any sign that developer Ready At Dawn were in the least bit interested in inventing anything new. We havent see any of the combat with the monsters yet, but it and the story are going to have to be out of their world to prevent this being a huge disappointment.
The demo I played today started with the 4 knights on top of a dirigible, which they infiltrated by rappelling along the side and down into the belly of the ship. The team broke up, with your charge being that of taking the bridge with the help of Lafayette. The name of the game in this section is stealth, as you both skulk along the framework of the airship, making sure not to be spotted by the guards. A magnetic lock blocks your way to a ladder, so you connect an odd device to it, which if you do things right, will knock the circuit out. There are 2 clear, vertical tubes, each with a ball going up and down. Youll need to stop each ball separately in a small zone within each tube, using L3 and R3. Once theyre stopped, you continue to hold both until the lock shorts out. A guard notices something wrong, and begins to check the issue out, giving you the opportunity to sneak-up behind him and silently end his patrol (permanently.) A stealth kill is contextual, requiring you to hit a button at a specific time. If you do it wrong though, hell hear you and well, things dont end well.
http://www.psnation.com/2014/12/06/impressions-the-order-1886-from-the-playstation-experience/As you move forward to the bridge, you toss a smoke bomb in first to distract the guys manning the controls. And when you break in, things slow down and the combat again becomes contextual, sort of a light QTE but much more interactive. I hit a wrong button at one point, and had to quickly use the right stick to find something to aid in my survival. I see a fire extinguisher and quickly slam my attackers head into it, then grab the object from the wall to use as a battering ram on his head.
Once the bridge is liberated, I need to head back to the main hall, again using stealth to either get past the guards, or of course, sneaking up behind them to stab with extreme prejudice. As I entered the main hall, I needed to use a scope on a sniper rifle to ascertain if any of the guards were actually rebels in disguise. Once identified, youre ordered to take them out before they get the chance to assassinate someone important (which I failed the first time lol). Once you help protect him while the real guards get him out of danger, the rebels start filing-in and youll need to take them out. The action is frenzied, especially since youre dealing with weapons in the late 1800s. Accuracy isnt king with these ancient guns, making you rethink how you engage in gunfights. Amazingly, theyve really tightened the controls in these sections as compared to when I played a build at E3, and man it was really fun! Go into cover using Circle, and pull away quite effortlessly. Get close enough o an enemy, and youll be able to melee using Triangle, if your timing is good enough of course.
This action section is a genuinely entertaining piece of third-person blasting. Rebels pour into the room, the dignitaries flee, and I pop some heads. After sniping a group of baddos, I sprint down into the main room, and use a meaty-feeling pistol to dispatch enemies at close range. One of them drops a Three Crown Shotgun, which (I discover) fires three shells in one blast. Oh my. There's a feature called 'Blacksight', which is essentially bullet-time, so I use this to slam several enemies into the next century (in slow-mo) via a triple-blast of shot to their faces. Amusingly, most rebels are wearing jaunty hats, which a careful player can snipe off, forcing them to shout Bloody hell and cower behind cover.
http://www.gamesradar.com/order-1886-looks-unbelievably-good-how-does-it-play/For me, this action sequence is all too brief. After only a few minutes, I'm pushing forwards to progress the plot again. Another glorious story scene, and a second action sequence follows shortly after. This time I'm in the zeppelins mess-hall, shooting enemies in between the pots and pans. Again, the action feels super-satisfying, as I frag humans and kitchenware alike using a steampunk heavy machine gun (with a pleasingly powerful air-blast secondary shot). But it's over too soon. I want more, but the demo ends.
So, I'm left feeling a weird mixture of delight and deflation by The Order. To stress this again: the game looks fucking amazing. And when you do actually fight, the action is enjoyable thanks to some tight third-person controls and a decent selection of guns. But... everything I've seen so far suggests that the balance is wrong. There's too much hanging around, following button prompts and walking slowly through impressive-looking levels. Look, I'm so desperate to have my doubts crushed utterly by the final game, and I'm keen to stress that I've only seen about 30 minutes total of the whole thing. I want The Order 1886 to be this perfectly-balanced mixture of compelling plot moments, meaty stealth-kills, and breathless action sequences. Will it turn out that way? We'll find out in Feb. For now, just check out how fucking amazing it looks and pray that the gameplay backs up these visuals.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/is-the-order-1886-a-case-of-style-over-substance/1100-6424004/This would all be somewhat forgivable if the shooting itself was especially exciting, which sadly, it wasn't. The feeble weapons and slightly iffy cover-system didn't make the shooting bad as such, but after running through the corridors of that airship, trying to chase down a rebel assailant while fighting off a stream of armed guards, The Order so far just wasn't hitting the tight, mechanical joys of say a Gears Of War, or a Vanquish. Maybe the drive of the story (obviously not part of an isolated demo) will be enough to push players through the combat. Certainly, I want there to be more to The Order: 1886 than what I've seen so far, because it really is a beautiful thing to behold. A lot of love has been poured into those visuals, let's just hope by the time it sees release the same can be said for the rest of it.
I saw it myself, the moment I had a chance to play The Order: 1886. Its striking. Even the demo astonished me. While I love the look of PS4 and Xbox One games, I cant get over the uncanny valley aspect of it. It nearly made me question my romancing of Solas in Dragon Age: Inquisition. But here, with The Order: 1886, there was no awkwardness. Everyone looked amazing.
Do you know what struck me, as I began playing? When Galahad rappeled down the Agamemnon, you could see his feet rest on the blimp and leave impressions. I almost wished I could control how far he would jump, because I loved seeing the impressions and shadows. I never thought I would marvel at lighting in a game, but I did in The Order: 1886.
http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/06/order-1886-hands-ambiance/I couldnt help but wonder if the ambiance even helped my performance. As I said earlier, Im not very good at stealth games. With shooters, I only excel if I set it to super-idiot-baby mode. With The Order: 1886, I found myself being pulled in and forced to pay more attention in the nicest ways. I dawdled during my initial exploration of the Agamemnon, because I was marveling at the inside of the blimp. I stopped and pored over a music box, on the off chance it had something to do with the story.
When it came time to sneak past guards, I feel like The Order: 1886 made it easier to be patient. The score is incredible. The lush, elaborate orchestrals mesmerized me, yet also seemed to help me focus. I felt like it almost helped me control my pace when I was creeping around.
The same happened with action segments. As I played The Order: 1886 demo, I feel like it helped me understand why I dont do as well in some third-person shooter and stealth games. The fact that I was taking things slow, to enjoy the music and sights, made me realize I sometimes rush through other games.
http://www.gameinformer.com/games/t...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=bufferKim: We havent seen much of The Order: 1886 yet, which is surprising since its coming out in February. Im always wondering what the game is actually going to entail. Do you feel like the demo gave you a better idea of whats in store?
Reiner: I do. I played 45 minutes of it, and walked away both surprised and pleased by it. You are right, they havent shown much up until this point. I feared they were hiding something, but I now think this may be a case of Ready at Dawn being overly protective of it, and not wanting to give out story spoilers.
Kim: Ill admit I was pleasantly surprised. The gunplay felt tight and I enjoyed getting around the chaos, finding cover, and stealing guns from enemies. I also didnt mind the QTEs, as they didnt feel overdone or out of place. I know people have been concerned that this will be too QTE-driven, but it seemed pretty balanced. Also, the demo we played had two different areas of the airship. One felt like a very standard battle venue, but as you go into the airship, you really get a different feel the game. One part lets you see the London vista, which looks fantastic. In another, I was fumbling around a kitchen blasting down rebels. Im really excited to see what else the world offers. Whatd you think of the gunplay and locales?
Reiner: I dont think Anglophiles are going to get much of a historical takeaway from this experience; it looks more steampunk and fantasy than a historic piece. That said, the inner workings of the airship were impressively detailed, giving off a nice sense of scale, and of the unique technologies people use in this version of London. I especially liked the lockpick, a vibrating device that shakes the lock bolts free. The airships escape pods (which are just mini-hot air balloons) are also quite clever.
The gunplay felt good, and the demo gave us a nice look at both cover-based shooting and sniping. I do have to question the A.I. at this point. Many of the enemies I dropped didnt seem to fear for their lives, and stood in the same locations as their fallen comrades. The sniping reminded me a little bit of the Hitman series. In one sequence, Galahad is on the second story, overlooking a lobby filled with passengers and military figures. Hes in hushed communication with his fellow Knights, trying to figure out of if there are any rebel threats in the crowd. The player is tasked in this moment to locate soldiers without patches on their right arms. You have to wait for them to turn around, and if their sleeves are barren of the military insignia, press a button to identify them. Once the targets are confirmed, Galahad is asked to drop them. This silenced sniping moment doesnt exactly go as planned, and gives way to an exciting assault sequence.
.
If I am being completely honest, having played The Order: 1886 at E3, it didnt wow me. Seeing at in action during the PlayStation Experience piqued my interest in the seemingly by the books third-person shooter. In the end I found out that there is a lot more under the hood than just a corridor shooter.
The Zeppelin mission that we played, was a wonderful display of the mechanics and the shooting. It was the first time that Ready At Dawn have shown something besides shooting to the public. It should be noted that it is the fifth level in the game just incase anyone is worried about spoilers.
http://attackofthefanboy.com/articles/the-order-1886-preview-a-flight-aboard-the-agamemnon/The intensely tight corridor mission, gives us a chance to try out the great stealth mechanics and other aspects of the game. Such as the newly revealed electrical tampering that allows players access to doors or to distract guards by shutting off lights. Also shown was the lock picking mechanic which is very similar to many other lock picking types having to get the pin at the exact precise moment. Thankfully if you make a mistake you dont have to start over again, looking at you, just about every other game that has a lock picking mechanic.
The Order: 1886 looks to be a sufficient shooter with some great story behind it. The combat is fluid and fun, the quick-time events are well done and will keep even the twitchiest gamer on their toes. The shooting may be by the books but the atmosphere and setting attempt to make up for it. It took me around twenty or so minutes to get through the mission, which included cutscenes. So hopefully the full game will be a weighty experience but until then, we can continue admiring the graphically rich experience that Ready At Dawn has created so far.
The first involves what we already know: the blurring of gameplay and cutscene. The chapter begins with the infiltration of an airborne zeppelin by The Orderour playable protagonist Galahad, alongside Percival, Igraine, and Lafayette. Mid-cutscene, control was subtly handed to me as the troupe began to repel down the zeppelins side to platforms below. As I went, the angle stayed cinematic, inverted with a constant reminder of our incredible height over sprawling London. Landing on metal framework below, Lafayette and Igraine meandered ahead, weaving through openings and across thin railings. For a few moments, I was unsure whether Galahad would move on his own or needed my direction. This was the only spot of momentary confusion; my control of the action was generally well-communicated through tooltips subtle enough to not break the moment
The focus here was almost exclusively on a second gameplay pillar: stealth. Galahad automatically entered a crouched state as I moved between walls and bits of cover, out of sight of nearby guards. Stealth kills are important, but harder to pull off than merely pressing a button. The button press is timed with some exactness; hitting Triangle too early had the guard turning around, shaking me off, and instantly killing me.
http://www.psu.com/preview/25339/The-Order--1886-Preview--Hands-on-with-shooting-and-stealthThe aforementioned zoomed-in camera is a better fit for combat because it puts visibility high on the list of tactical advantages. Combat as a whole is weightyeven a bit sluggishand supported by animations that pare back your superhuman mobility in the name of realism and intensity. Guns kick back with thunderous force, while the slight looseness of aiming effectively simulates Galahads unsteadiness without erratically moving the reticle. The guards put up a serious challenge, too, rarely popping out of cover for more than a couple seconds and nearly always hitting me if I was exposed.
Besides its outstanding graphics, borrowing cinematic tropes like film grain and depth of field, The Orders shooting is the best thing going for it. Its a strong gameplay core on which to try interesting things like controllable cutscenes. They blended well with my demos moment-to-moment action for an experience that, despite its varied feelings of play, never felt disjointed.
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2014/12/08/how-the-order-1886s-airship-infiltration-mixes-old-with-new/With more nuance throughout the rest of the game than was shown during the stealth section, The Order could be onto a winner though. In aiming for a more cinematic presentation though, theyve naturally turned to QTEs, but the real heart of the game will surely be with the third person shooting, with some solid gunplay and inventive twists on old weaponry providing the foundations on which the story of mystical beasts, ancient warriors and rebellion can play out. Oh, and lets not forget it looks bloody gorgeous too.
Once in the ballroom, Galahad takes cover on a balcony overlooking a dignitary or two. Guards are posted all over the room, but some of them appear to be rebels in disguise. After identifying which ones are real and which are not, the action begins, and I finally get some sort of free reign in shooting things. Its fun! The shooting action is entertaining, tight stuff, mostly made fun through the punchy weight of the weapons. Popping heads with the sniper rifle is satisfying, as is the thundering, slow machine gun that feels like youre powering heavy bits of metal into enemy faces. The incendiary shotgun I thieved from a corpse was just ridiculous, filling the screen with a phosphorous smoke. Probably not the smartest weapon to use on a gas-filled dirigible, but I digress. Galahad is able to use a Blacksight ability to slow time down, essentially a sort of bullet time.
http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/the-order-1886-preview-agamemnon-rising/Ill be honest though; the cinematic letterbox presentation doesnt really do it for me, and I worry a little that the game will struggle to find that perfect balance between its action, and its interactive fiction. Much of it seems to be about pushing forward and pressing buttons in time, interspersed with great action, and getting the mixture perfectly balanced is not going to be easy. Regardless, the demo left me excited, and wanting more. I want more of that incredible ambience, that phenomenal lighting, and those jaw-dropping graphics. I want more of that action, more of those weapons and more of the story.
I could just do with a little less of a directed experience.
I'm very curious to see how well the story will deliver. If RaD combines great story with solid gameplay, just like Naughty Dog does with The Last of Us, this game will be awesome
Played the demo (~25 minutes) and I have to say, I was very pleased with how the gunplay feels...the gunplay is solid, the enemy AI is surprisingly good (lots of flanking, blind firing, etc), and of course, it looks gorgeous. I didn't get a chance to play MK X, so this feels like Game of the Show for me.
A friend of mine called me this morning and game me a long winded hyperbole filled impression of the game and this is coming from a dude that really disliked every showing of it so far. In a nutshell its the most impressive looking game he has seen and the guns feel awesome.
Whoever has been in charge of marketing this game needs to be fired.
Spoke to 3 more people who played it yesterday and they all loved it! None of them were too enthusiastic about the game before they played it yesterday.
Can't wait. Morpheus, this game and drawn to death are the major items for me today. Doors open in 30
I played it earlier
Best looking game, the 30 fps is hella smooth, and the combat is very satisfying. It's not really pushing any innovations, but what's there is executed very well with superb production values.
Also, you can press sprint to cancel forced walks. Goty
Played about 20 min. Game looks and feels great. Love the cover system as it felt pretty seemless in and out of cover. So far the weapons feel heavy with good kickback. Still running around and will try to get more in depth later. Myself and the order weapon. http://imgur.com/izM2LrM
First thing is first I want to apologize to anyone who was in line behind me because I took my time with the demo. There is no picture or video that does this games visual justice the attention to detail is absolutely ridiculous to the point where you can see the zeppelins balloon surface bend under the weight of your character while the lapels and flaps on all of your strike teams coats blow realistically in the wind. Ropes sway realistically and slap against the side of the zeppelin as you rappel down.
There were several times when I just stood around and looked at shit instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing. The detailing in the airship is also immaculate and finely detailed. The stealth sections are pretty easy (As was the entire demo) and only require you to press a button at the right time when a circle closes in on itself. Kind of like Castlevania Lords of Shadows 2 when you are hanging from the titan at the beginning of the game. Nothing difficult but not annoying and did not detract from the pacing of the game. The area before you have to use the device is probably one of the best looking areas I have ever seen in a video game with all of the poles and pipes the geometry on display is astounding with absolutely no visible aliasing anywhere. The clouds look to be volumetric and actually seem to move .... everything is just so ridiculously fucking detailed. Talkling about the gameplay which was everyones concern
The shooting is immediate and tight as is the cover system, it does not feel like gears but it feels like a combination of TLOU and Gears cover. The guns have an actual weight and recoil to them which feels different than most shooters with recoil-less weapons. They feel good also that triple crown shotgun...... just damn. The bullet time feature is very nice and does not break the game I also like that you can still miss and the machine pistol seemed to have even more recoil during bullet time. Popping in and out of cover was effortless and intuitive I also like the fact that I could blindfire without making my entire character a target. The combat dialogue was not as invasive as it was in the stage demo and I think I heard it maybe all of 6 (maybe 10) times throughout the 35 min demo.
This is currently my game of the show and nothing else is even close. This is easily a game of the year candidate. The only gripe I had is the AI is pretty dumb hopefully difficulty settings will fix that.
I played it yesterday at PSX. I went from somewhat interested to day one purchase.
There are two demos. A short one and an extended one. I was at the front of the line when I overheard someone ask how long the demo was. One of the guys at the booth answered thirty minutes, but that the "lucky" ones get to play a 45-minute version. It might be randomized when they boot up the demo.
Unfortunately, I played the shortened version where you start on the second floor of a room.
The graphics are great. Everything looks cohesive, the body and facial animations are well done, and the IQ is superb. The weapon effects from smoke, dust, and debris are fantastic. Material surfaces look amazing and the reflections appear subtle and realistic.
Movement and aiming feels weighty. I'd say it's a cross between TLOU and Gears. The recoil, weapon sounds, and enemy hit reactions makes the shooting feel extremely satisfying. Enemies go down with just the right amount of bullets. They didn't feel too long or too short to take out.
I'm the kind of guy who runs and guns with hip fire in Uncharted, so that's how I tried to play the demo. I'm glad to say that rushing guns blazing is a very viable playstyle.
At the start, I'm hiding behind a rail on the second floor with a sniper rifle There are enemies below already shooting at me. I popped above cover and sniped a couple of them in the head.
I couldn't stay scoped for very long since enemy fire reduced my health quickly. I would peek over cover (by holding up on the analog stick while in cover) before going into my scope to set up my shot.
I lost sight of the enemies a lot thanks to a combination of the up close camera and their mobility. The enemies moved a lot, going from cover to cover. If I missed a shot, I had to reload, and by the time I looked through my scope again, the enemy would have already changed positions.
I got tired of sniping and decided to get up close and personal with the pistol. I went downstairs and out into the floor. Gunfire came at me from angles I couldn't see so I hid under a stairway on the main floor. There was an enemy hiding behind a wood sign. I managed to kill him by shooting through it.
The enemies seemed hesitant to move out of cover, but I managed to cheese some kills by sniping exposed limbs.
While I was hiding under the stairway, an enemy actually took up position in the same room I went through when I went downstairs. I put some fire in his direction and waited for him to pop his head out behind the wall.
After five seconds, I rushed in to try and take him out with a melee, but he was no longer there. He had moved up the stairs where I started the demo. I followed him up and took him out with a melee takedown.
When I cleared out the area, I replaced my sniper rifle with an automatic rifle. I picked up a burst fire pistol but dropped it since I prefer the single shot.
In the next area, I tried out the slo mo auto aim mode (forgot the name of it) and took out three guys. I'm not sure how it works exactly. I flicked the right analog stick and it would snap on to the enemy, and then smaller circles would pop up on their body to show where my bullets would land. I wasn't sure how to aim it after locking onto a body.
Play cutscene and I'm back in control. There's a gate and I open it with a small minigame where I click the left and right analog sticks to stop a ball bouncing up and down in a tube. I pick up a rifle with the air blast as the secondary.
The kitchen was my favorite part of the demo because of the ways you can sneak up on enemies. I ran in, hip firing at enemies across the counter and took cover when I took up too much damage. I saw an enemy hiding behind a corner. I tried to flank, moving along the counter, rounded the counter, and ran up along the wall and pressed Triangle for the takedown.
You're not invulnerable during these animations (clearly evident in the keynote demonstration) so it's something you want to do only when no one else is shooting at you. My screen went red so I hid behind a wall. The enemies that were shooting at me moved back behind a wall and fired through a small slot. There were two enemies I could see through the slot. One was underneath, blind firing so I could only see his hands, and the other was farther back and shooting at me out in the open.
I killed them and cleared out everybody in the kitchen by chasing them, hip firing my rifle, and when I got close, I finished them with a takedown. The enemies ran from me a lot, so I'm surprised by how they reacted.
To sum up my impressions: I thought the game looked okay before but it's definitely on my radar now. The cutscenes aren't too intrusive and they appear paced and interwoven into the gameplay appropriately. The controls are solid and weighty, and the combat scenarios provide a certain level of dynamism that you don't see in most videos because the player is always hiding behind cover. Secondary fire options provides variety and melee takedowns give a great cinematic flourish during firefights -- if you're not exposed, that is.
It doesn't present any amazing innovations in the third-person genre, but Ready at Dawn, for me, have always been masters of refinement. The mechanics aren't original, but they're tried and true and feel great.
The Order 1886
The queue wasn't just long. It was longer than the previous day! It was so long that it wasn't even a line. It wound inside the booth, around the booth, and coiled like a snake all the way to the next hall! My indisputable, totally accurate estimate was close to 250 people! When I joined that line, still processing what that meant, one of the devs walked to us and said the wait time was expected to be 5 hours! They were planning to give out collectible playing cards to those in line so that anyone just looking for those can leave and those who really wanted to play the game can stay. But the estimate was still 5 hours. And I was standing there clueless if I should stay. Thought I'll stick around for 30 minutes and find out more. Fortunately, a LOT of people either chickened out, or left when they got the collectible cards. The 5 hour ETA became 3 hours and then 1.5 hours in a span of 1 hour. After that, nobody left, so my total wait time was 2.5 hours. The booth was modeled like a red brick chapel decorated with ancient lights, real steam rising up from steam pipes, a life size wax model of Galahad, life size thermite rifle and lightning gun - stuff people totally geeked out over. They must have spent quite a bit of money in building this elaborate set. I gradually progressed through the serpentine trail until I was next up for playing the game. Finally!
The different gameplay sections are very well detailed here, so I'll stick to my thoughts on it. Firstly, the game is a thing of beauty. After playing it, I'm certain this is what the ND devs were drooling over. The game does look better than UC4 in its current state. May be not Drake's model per se, but everything else. There is just so much post processing going on that, from a reasonable viewing distance, it is near indistinguishable from CG. Unfortunately, I couldn't appreciate it at the distance I was sitting at. I could see the pixel boundaries on the TV at that distance, so nothing was going to look really good. The game has copious amounts of film grain and at that distance, it looked pretty excessive. So I stepped away from my chair just to see how it held up from a couple of feet away. It looked exponentially better, so I didn't count that as a negative. It really is remarkable that they pulled this off. The IQ is almost flawless with nary a jaggy in sight. The 4x MSAA was working wonders and it held up at extreme close distance.
The gameplay was fun. It wasn't blowing my mind, but it was solid. The weapons packed quite a bit of punch. The cover system was pretty smart. It seemed like a hybrid between TLOU and GoW. There is a button that lets you enter soft cover mode, after which, you move in an out of cover automatically. It worked really well and felt like the character knew when I wanted to go into cover and when I just wanted to skirt around it. The health regen system is a hybrid as well. There are a certain number of hits from which you can recover by simply hiding from sight. But if you cross that threshold, you will go down on all fours. The only way then is to crawl slowly to cover and use backwater, which works like a medkit. You can easily get killed once you have been downed, so you need to crawl to the nearest cover ASAP. There is a QTE to rapidly press X to bring him back up after healing, which also works well, because the situation is tense as it is. It really added that sense of urgency.
Black sight works like bullet time (it has a limit, but I didn't get to push it) and sort of auto locks on to enemies and you flick with the analog stick. But it still gives you freedom to do head shots by aiming post lock-on. Helps conserve bullets, I suppose. From the demo it seemed like it was limited to pistols.
Speaking of bullets, I was able to down almost all enemies with 3 shots to the body with the pistol and auto rifle or 1 headshot with either. Sniper shots were all 1 shot. So they weren't really bullet spongy. Hit reactions have been vastly improved, so enemies do react to every bullet. Their collapsing animations are very believable with appropriate reactions to where they have been shot. Hats do fly off their heads if shot at.
Run and gun is possible so you can strategically use it to rush enemies and melee attack the ones that survived. Melee is super satisfying and it seemed different every single time. There must be a heck of a lot of contextual take down animations.
Throughout these 2 major sections, I was rarely ever pulled out of action, so all those concerns about "shoot, cutscene, shoot" didn't really apply here. It followed the more standard format of a longer cut scene at the end of a skirmish.
The pots and pans section in the kitchen was mighty impressive, with the physics shining quite nicely. Utensils, food, limbs flew around amidst the chaos. Enemy AI was decent. They flanked, moved from cover to cover, lobbed grenades, retreated, charged forward etc. But I didn't come across any noteworthy nuanced behavior.
I liked the cool down section where Galahad looks out from the airship deck and then just walks around, picking up your weapons of choice and talking to Percival. Combo rifle and triple barreled shotguns were my favorite. The alt fire came in handy a couple of times.
Controls were very responsive and the frame rate was smooth. I have no idea why all their videos look so choppy, especially in the combat scenes. Looks just fine while playing it.
So I'm pretty low on complaints, except a MAJOR one. The game suffered from terrible audio sync issues for ALL conversations. The animations always played out 5 to 15 seconds before the audio cut in. This was limited to conversations/commands only in both gameplay and cut scenes. Rest of the in-game sounds were fine. They better sort that out. It completely turned me off and I stopped paying attention to the conversations altogether.
The other complaint was that no Lycans made any appearance. I understand that Ru doesn't want any spoilers, but Lycan combat seems to differentiate this game quite a bit and I'd really like my hands on one of those encounters. Or even hands off would do. And no, that rushed little snippet of melee combat didn't really give me any idea how it worked. They really need to open up a little more and sell us on those mechanics.
This demo has turned me from neutral to positive. I do believe RAD has what it takes to pull off good gameplay with a great story and setting. The visual excellence is just icing on the cake. It was 1:20 PM when I finished my session. Just in time for my Project Morpheus appointment. I got lucky again.
(To be continued.. Because it's 3:20 AM and I have this thing called work on Monday).
So I played the demo level last night from the comfort of my own home.. (several times)..
Here are some quick impressions... (have to write a preview later today, so will have to make this short)..
- The graphics are amazing. First I played it on my old 720p Grundig TV (in my bedroom), that wasn´t very smart though. The black border thing makes my TV cut of the sides of the screen, I made sure my PS4 settings had the screen shrinked to the minimum, but nothing helped. You can´t see all of the text for the prompts because of this.. it cut´s of alot of the screen on my TV (which has no setting to correct that)
So I had to move my PS4 to one of my 1080p TV´s.. it looked alot better, and the screen ratio was perfect..
- The demo is fun... first time through.. second time the demo shows that the gameplay is very limited...
First time I played the demo, it felt like you could do alot and the game offered some kind of freedom to approach the level. But this is just an illusion. In the beginning of the level you have to sneak up on some guards to take them down. You can approach them from different parts of the halls, but you can´t do anything else than sneak up on them from behind and wait for the button prompt. So that part is just waiting for them to pass you and sneak up behind them, if you miss the button prompt you have to do it all again, because that is instadeath.
Later the gameplay get´s much better.. when you enter a gunfight. That is the fun part of the game, this is where the game shines. You can pick up all the weapons from the enemies, throw grenades back, pop in and out of cover fast and painless, take down enemies with a fast button prompt and more.. That part is really fun and after several playthroughs (on different difficulty levels) the enemies seem to have a great AI that changes stuff up a bit. But the level that is demoed is really small and confined, the areas where you fight are a bit small, which results in a feeling of linearity.. there are only very few ways to progress in the level.
- Some of the sections look amazing, but I feel like the gameplay there is wasted. It might look good that you rappel down the side of an airship, but it isn´t fun to "play" at all. Point the stick in on way.. press X 4 times.. move point the stick another way.. and it never feels like you have control, it looks and feels like a cgi cutscene, I don´t see the need to "play" it, you do not feel immersed in the scene by moving a stick or pressing a button, especially when the character seems to all by himself anyway.
Same goes for the other button prompt sections.. it looks like they wanted to make a cutscene interactive and immersing, but I don´t feel like they succeeded.
Luckily this is only a small taste of the complete game.. so I don´t hope the rest of the game follows the same formula through the game. There is some fun to be had with this game, and the story seems to be really good and well told... I´m looking forward to the final game.
if you have questions just ask..
Eurogamer is feverishly working on a rebuttle to these positive impressions.
Well, I can't blame RaD for their PR. They definitely want to avoid spoiling the game. If they show us best parts of the game, there will be no more surprise ( and crow?)RAD, hire me for your marketing.
Whoever you got now clearly sucks.
Hopefully, the game will bring us as many climax and set pieces as possible.I think this is pretty much exactly what's gonna happen, interesting plot and characters are really gonna drive this game.
Eurogamer is feverishly working on a rebuttle to these positive impressions.
I think I got them all.