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[Killthee]

At a recent hands-off demonstration of The Stick of Truth, Obsidian played through a battle that takes place in South Park Elementary, where humans, elves and goths are waging a grade school war. The player, in his role as the new kid in town — christened "Commander Douchebag" by Cartman, the Grand Wizard of the humans — adventures with South Park's Butters as they navigate through the school.

The New Kid, aka Douchebag, later becomes known as the Dragonborn at school, we're told, thanks to his shout abilities. His shouts will allow him to break down barriers and knock over trash cans, but it's his reputation as the Dragonborn that appears to be more important. He'll unite the various factions — girls, goths, elves, humans — of South Park Elementary. He'll do so through South Park: The Stick of Truth's version of Facebook, which is known in-game as, well, Facebook.

Facebook serves as the game's menu system, where players will manage relationships, track missions and upgrade weapons with "strap-ons."

The end of Obsidian's demo culminated in a battle between Douchebag and Cartman after the former is given a chance to change his allegiance from siding with the humans (Cartman's faction) or the elves (led by Stan). Cartman hurls vicious threats at Douchebag, calling him a "Fuckin' Judas!" and pleading to the new kid, "Don't let him Jew-wash your brain!" In this version of the demo, Douchebag switches sides, leading to a deadly fart-off between him and Cartman.

Polygon: http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/4/4395244/south-park-the-stick-of-truth-summons-the-magic-of-farts

Despite its focus on devastating butt thunder, South Park: The Stick of Truth has its charming moments. In one scene during the hands-off demo, Butters was ordered to heal the protagonist during a battle in the hallway of South Park Elementary. Butters' magic healing ability consisted of walking to the player character, giving him a pat on the back and promising, "I got your back bro." I burst out laughing.

Davis says that South Park Digital approached Obsidian to work on the game nine months before the developer had ever signed on with THQ as its publisher. After the downfall of THQ, Ubisoft acquired the game's publishing rights – a transition Davis says has been mostly seamless. If South Park: The Stick of Truth maintains its current loyalty to the series, fans of the series shouldn't be worried about having the franchise's trademark poke at society muted.

Even though I haven't watched an episode of South Park in years, I found the demo to be entertaining. Nevertheless, the entire experience is soaked in the asinine and childish humor the series is known for and that may be a difficult pill for RPG fans with no interest in the franchise to swallow. With the television series in its 17th season, however, there are plenty of fans South Park: The Stick of Truth can appeal to.

Joystiq: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/04/south-park-the-stick-of-truth-e3-2013-preview/

Jumping into an early game, hands-off demo of South Park: The Stick of Truth (due this year for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC), that friendly LARP had transformed South Park Elementary into a high-fantasy war zone. Players take on the role of “The New Kid,” an agent of destruction sent by Imperial Wizard Eric Cartman — a title fairly appropriate for Cartman and less appropriate for anyone else not affiliated with the Klu Klux Klan — to infiltrate the elves’ stronghold and find the fabled Stick of Truth before its pointy-eared guardians, Stan and Kyle, beat him to it.

And what makes the New Kid special? Why is he the Chosen One? The Dragonborn? Well, he farts. Really, really well. And he’ll need every ounce of gassy PSI he can muster, because the elves are ready for him.

“You’re fighting for a tyrant, but I know there’s good in you,” urges Stan over the school’s PA system. “Stop fighting for your evil lord! Free yourself from his control!”

No, it’s not James Joyce, but one of life’s truths is that you never really outgrow a really good fart joke. The Stick of Truth has a lot of ‘em. I can’t vouch for the gameplay, but speaking purely as an observer, I went on down to South Park and had myself a time.

Venture Beat: http://venturebeat.com/2013/06/04/in-south-park-the-stick-of-truth-farting-is-magic-preview/

The Obsidian developer at the controls guides New Kid through the halls of the school, which are crawling with children wearing makeshift armor and carrying swords and hammers. The two-sided conflict is between the elves, led by Stan and Kyle, and the humans, led by Grand Wizard Eric Cartman. Bumping into one of these wandering make-believers is inevitable, and launches players into a separate battle screen.

Combat looks similar to your standard turn-based RPG action, but with a South Park flair. Timed button presses augment standard attacks and initiate dodges, similar to the Paper Mario series. Whacking an enemy with a hammer bloodies them and produces a sickeningly convincing sound. The Stick of Truth adds creativity with its “magic spells,” which involve combining household items to deadly results. New Kid casts a fireball with hairspray and a lighter, and electrocutes a hapless child with a bucket of water and a car battery. These visceral special abilities help preserve the show’s cringe-inducing violence while opening up fantastical battle options.

Creativity helps in combat, but it’s also necessary for navigating the school’s dangerous hallways. Butters and New Kid encounter an enemy kid standing on a huge rubbish blockade. Normally, New Kid could use his powerful fart ability to knock him from the hill, but a strategically placed fan makes this difficult. Players have a few options in this dilemma. They can either trigger a sprinkler above the fan to short it out, or use an anal probe satellite to teleport into the vents above. Once within, Butters and New Kid harness the power of the Underpants Gnomes to shrink themselves and navigate the narrow ventilation shaft. These multi-path situations look like entertaining breaks from the otherwise straightforward combat.

Game Informer: http://www.gameinformer.com/games/s...-in-south-park_3a00_-the-stick-of-truth-.aspx

 

[HigXx]

So when is it coming out?

 

[AHA-Lambda]

So this game is still alive then?

 

[Killthee]

So when is it coming out?

Nothing announced yet other than sometime later this year.

 

[CrimsonCommie]

I've been waiting for this game for so long.

 

[MYE]

I will buy this

 

[Subtervotion]

Dragonborn thing is perfect.

 

[Recon]

Lol at the dragonborn and shouts.

 

[Perkel]

DAY 1

 

[-GJ-]

I wish they'd release some in-game footage. I know everything we've seen so far is in-game, graphics wise, but I mean with a hud and menu's and stuff.

Everything I've read about this game makes it look like it's going to be amazing. Can't wait!

 

[BlackJace]

This game needs to get a release date asap.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

If they're still being vague about release dates at this point I can't see this being this year.

 

[Grief.exe]

I wonder if this will be full Steamworks since Ubisoft doesn't force UPlay on 3rd party developers.

 

[Herla]

So it's a parody of both Skyrim and The Witcher 2? I love it already.
EDIT: Unless it's UPlay. Because fuck UPlay.

 

[NinjaTehFish]

This looks so good. Cant wait to get my hands on it!

 

[flash ban]

DAY 1

me too.

 

[VanCityGamer]

If they're still being vague about release dates at this point I can't see this being this year.

I really think it'll be this year. The game was nearly finished when Ubisoft bought it. My prediction is that a release date will come at E3, along with game play.

I'm sticking with my September 3 release date prediction - before GTA on September 17 and the new South Park season on September 25.

 

[JustinBB7]

I wonder if this will be full Steamworks since Ubisoft doesn't force UPlay on 3rd party developers.

God I hope so.

 

[atomic moth]

What's this about Facebook?

 

[trw]

The vagueness about release dates might have more to do with ubisoft scheduling and marketing rather than the game itself. Due to the strange situation with THQ I think it might be wrong to think the silence means the game isn't ready soon.

 

[Paskil]

I need this game in my veins.

 

[Menaged]

Just release it already!
I'm afraid they're gonna push it to whenever it is that the 17th season is gonna air. Around october I think...?

 

[IHaveIce]

Really a shame that this game still isn't out

I wanted to get it before summer.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Nothing announced yet other than sometime later this year.

I was almost positive this has been listed as October somewhere for a week or so now. I can't find it anywhere though.

Looking forward to hearing more, was my most wanted game for a while until it went AWOL.

 

[Killthee]

What's this about Facebook?

The in game menu is called Facebook and was made to look like Facebook. The Joystiq article notes that they were told the name will probably change for the retail release.

The game's menu is based on a social media tool – actually called Facebook in the game, though we were told the name would likely change. In the menu, you can check in with allies and view missions and modify weaponry by adding items known as "strap-ons."

I was almost positive this has been listed as October somewhere for a week or so now. I can't find it anywhere though.

Looks like it was listed as Oct in a BB ad a few weeks ago.

http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/south-park-the-stick-of-truth-october-2013.453004579/

 

[RPGCrazied]

Still can't believe we haven't seen any UI/menu shots of the game yet. Unless this game is hudless or something, but I doubt that.

 

[Boke1879]

https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/341959497310429185

 

[The Last Wizard]

Damn I want this game so bad, sucks that it was pushed back from march

 

[Grief.exe]

Combat looks similar to your standard turn-based RPG action, but with a South Park flair. Timed button presses augment standard attacks and initiate dodges, similar to the Paper Mario series. Whacking an enemy with a hammer bloodies them and produces a sickeningly convincing sound. The Stick of Truth adds creativity with its “magic spells,” which involve combining household items to deadly results. New Kid casts a fireball with hairspray and a lighter, and electrocutes a hapless child with a bucket of water and a car battery. These visceral special abilities help preserve the show’s cringe-inducing violence while opening up fantastical battle options.

Sounds awesome.

 

[Haunted]

fart joke

 

[Jawmuncher]

Pretty excited for this. Game has looked great this far and the previews have all been positive. Plus with the delay might be the first obsidian game that comes out pretty well polished.

 

[90TilInfinity]

Some of those spells play out more dramatically and more punishingly depending on the timing of a button press within a certain window. The action is reminiscent of the timing-based flourishes applied in games like Nintendo's Mario & Luigi RPG series

 

[Doug Heffernan]

Still can't believe we haven't seen any UI/menu shots of the game yet. Unless this game is hudless or something, but I doubt that.

Yeah every screenshot looks like a cut scene. I'm still not exactly sure how this game plays...

 

[FloatOn]

I will buy this. Paper Mario thousand year door was incredible. If the combat is indeed similar to that, I will be so happy.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I really hope the Commander Douchebag thing is Obsidian making a joke about how much of a douche Commander Shepard is.

Looking forward to this one, I think. I'm a big fan of Trey and Matt, and if Mormon is any indication, they'll be able to lampoon video games just as well as they do TV and musicals. Hope it turns out well.

 

[Burt]

Looks good, but it's such a shame that they're making fart humor so central to the story. I'm not really against it at all (insert Louis C.K. quip here), but South Park humor has evolved to be so much more than that. There's still bodily function-based humor, but it's on top of smart and well-written jokes and scenarios, not the basis for them. Except for the Bono episode, which was pretty bad.

It was hard to not make a "shitty" pun right there.

 

[Glass Rebel]

I wonder if this will be full Steamworks since Ubisoft doesn't force UPlay on 3rd party developers.

Let's hope it isn't uplay, I won't buy it otherwise.

 

[Rich!]

Yeah every screenshot looks like a cut scene. I'm still not exactly sure how this game plays...

From everything we've heard, it plays like Paper Mario.

 

[Ragus]

And yesterday I was thinking if this game would ever came out

 

[Burt]

The inevitable cameo that Stan's dad is gonna make will be the pinnacle of storytelling in games.

 

[Jamie OD]

Happy to see some signs of life from this game. Hopefully we'll get more info at E3.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Looks like it was listed as Oct in a BB ad a few weeks ago.

http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/south-park-the-stick-of-truth-october-2013.453004579/

This must have been it, thanks. Was gonna drive me nuts not being able to find it.

https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/341959497310429185

South Park: The Stick of Truth |OT| You Guys, My Ass, I'm Seriously

 

[StevePharma]

Farts not yet rated by the ESRB.

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

I wonder if the extra development time caused by THQ's collapse will lead to an Obsidian game without bugs. I hope so, because I sure love Obsidian.

 

[Im_Special]

Has anything been said about how "open" this RPG is, I can't see this being anything but a very linear game, going from point A to B, etc. which is not how I like my RPG's.

 

[webkatt]

I will assume that this is a RPG based Character leveling, skills enhancing, etc. It will be limited by the art style of the show/game and be very linear. It couldn't work any other way

 

[Gorilla Shark]

The inevitable cameo that Stan's dad is gonna make will be the pinnacle of storytelling in games.

Yup. Randy Marsh will be glorious.

So, Day 1 for me. Can't wait.

 

[Barack Lesnar]

I think I'm gonna go on a media blackout. I didn't even look at the screens in the OP, don't want any joke or event ruined. What a fucking game this will be.

 

[AnbaLeumas]

I'd really like to know when this is coming out.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Game really does look incredible.