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The Order: 1886 |OT| Gears of Yore

The lack of character reflections continue to puzzle me.
I thought it was because Galahad and the Order were vampires, or related to them in some manner, but after playing the game through that didn't seem to be the case, unless I missed something.
Is it just a limitation with the game engine?

Pessino confirmed it was a technical limitation.
https://twitter.com/AndreaPessino/status/569677172723417088

Edit: Beaten, dammit.
 
The lack of character reflections continue to puzzle me.
I thought it was because Galahad and the Order were vampires, or related to them in some manner, but after playing the game through that didn't seem to be the case, unless I missed something.
Is it just a limitation with the game engine?

Yea, limitation of their dynamic shading approach. Workaround for it will be addressed next go around.
 

hydruxo

Member
Does anyone get the idea that if we get an The Order 2, will see some globe traveling antics?

Hopefully it'd be
set in India. There hasn't really been many games with that setting, if any.
Though after seeing that concept art I'd be cool with any of those too :)
 

bombshell

Member
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Fury451

Banned
That's a bummer. Would make for an interesting dynamic if it wasn't just technical.

But then again, it would also be pretty predictable.
 

Frillen

Member
How do you even notice it? It never once registered with me. I'm on a 52" Plasma so that could be it. I don't play on a monitor

I play on a 55" and I notice. It's not a huge deal though, but I would rather have the whole screen filled with textures. I was equally annoyed by this when I played The Evil Within. Every 5 minutes I'm like "wow, just how great would this look without the black bars" (yeah I know they would have to reduce the AA quality to achieve this or something, but I rather take that than 30 % of the screen being filled with black bars).
 
In the 9th chapter,
Galahad's expression, when he sees what the shipping container holds, implied that the vampire theory wasn't true as well.

In chapter 4 I believe,
in the hospital, you could find another vampire locked behind a door. But Galahad didn't seem to recognize it. Just said it looks burnt.

As in next game (ehem, if there is one of course).

I was just hoping you knew something. This game's story better gets finished with as many sequels as it takes. Never anticipated a sequel for a game this much.
 

Melchiah

Member
Yea, limitation of their dynamic shading approach. Workaround for it will be addressed next go around.

I guess Sucker Punch had a similar problem with Infamous: Second Son. I don't remember though, if there were reflections in First Light.


EDIT:
In chapter 4 I believe,
in the hospital, you could find another vampire locked behind a door. But Galahad didn't seem to recognize it. Just said it looks burnt.

Damn. I think I've missed that.
 
I tried driving this rebellious point all of last night and got promptly shotgunned by OrderGAF. Still looking out for my lost limbs
I can't blame em. I fell in love with that triple-barreled shotgun myself last night. Ye gods ;p

Still, it wouldn't hurt to teach these knights some sleeper holds, or the good old fashioned Captain Kirk neck chop.
 
I'm only at chapter 8 at the moment but I really enjoy this game. The gunfighting is fantastic. I'm playing with a sony gold headset and the sound is amazing. The black bars, as others have mentioned, don't bother me at all where in The Evil Within, they were quite distracting. I actually enjoy the story quite a bit so far and the QTE fighting is kind of fun as well.

The Lycan fight at the end of chapter 6 reminds me of infinity blade.

I have come to the realization that most reviewers and I just don't see eye to eye on most games. I hope the Devs don't get discouraged because I want to see more from this game. My only complaint so far is that the game is really easy, even on hard mode.
 

Vidpixel

Member
Finished this last night and nabbed the Platinum Trophy, here are my quick thoughts:

+ The most gorgeous game I have ever played.

+ Solid gunplay.

+ Fascinating and intriguing world.

- The pacing of the story is off, especially towards the end. It has a very slow initial build-up, then suddenly, you're flying through chapters left and right

- Gameplay set-pieces felt too restrictive. I understand that they were aiming to tell a linear story, but creative weapons like the Thermite Rifle felt way too underutilized as a result and could've made for some great environmental puzzle-solving. Also, instant-fail stealth sequences are never fun.

- The Lycan battles, without spoiling anything, are underwhelming, to say the least. Way too easy to manipulate the A.I. and cheese your way through these battles.

- Finally, the ending, as many have already mentioned, is a letdown, as the story concludes just as things are starting to get really interesting.

Overall, it's a game that I recommend anyone play, just keep your expectations in check. The quality of the visuals and the engrossing world made a play-through worth it to me, but the actual "game" portion leaves a lot to be desired.

Also, Galahad is a player.
 

psychotron

Member
I'm a few chapters in, and the only issue I really have so far is that I never fully feel in control. At any given moment, I don't know if I'll be forced to walk, forced full run speed, or just brisk walk. I never know if I'll be able to raise my gun or if it'll just do a zoom animation. It's all very context sensitive which can annoy me.

Other than that, I love the graphics, the atmosphere is perfect and so is the voice acting. Great game!
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
In chapter 4 I believe,
in the hospital, you could find another vampire locked behind a door. But Galahad didn't seem to recognize it. Just said it looks burnt.

I just thought that was a lycan. But yeah, they must have been obligated to burn the vampire in order to kill it and study it.

As in next game (ehem, if there is one of course).

I don't like that conditional at all. EDIT: I seriously hope to see the game in the top 5 for the NPD. We know it has been doing great in the UK (number one spot!), but USA is probably the most important market in the decision to make another one.
 

Melchiah

Member
- The pacing of the story is off, especially towards the end. It has a very slow initial build-up, then suddenly, you're flying through chapters left and right

And getting trophies like bam-bam-bam, one after another. I was actually a surprised, that a game which relies heavily on story has mostly trophies, that are unlocked via action.
 

Skux

Member
I think I'll try a second playthrough and try to get as much lore as I can. A lot of that side stuff seems like atmospheric and inconsequential fluff but is probably vital to the main story (which is a bad way to tell a story but it is what it is).
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
I think I'll try a second playthrough and try to get as much lore as I can. A lot of that side stuff seems like atmospheric and inconsequential fluff but is probably vital to the main story (which is a bad way to tell a story but it is what it is).

To be honest having story in the environment is an awesome way to tell a story in an interactive medium like videogames.
 
I don't like that conditional at all. EDIT: I seriously hope to see the game in the top 5 for the NPD. We know it has been doing great in the UK (number one spot!), but USA is probably the most important market in the decision to make another one.
I mean, sales aren't the only thing that dictates whether a sequel gets made (though they do play a big role). We'll see what happens.
 

Socky

Member
I really enjoyed the game. Visually it was stunning and the combination of the visuals and the all real-time engine added a lot to the experience in my view, as did the quality of the virtual actors, voice acting, music and the like. Presentation-wise this is top-notch. EDIT: I really liked the characters in the game too, all of them, which is unusual. I thought they were all well drawn, but left more to explore in future games. Excellent.

Gameplay was solid if uninspiring third-person shooting, and it's fair to criticise this for a lack of innovation, but frankly I'm not sure what anyone was expecting to see. I can't recall the last innovation I saw in the genre; TLOU introduced light rpg elements, but that wouldn't really fit with this story and it was refreshing to have something more grounded in reality and not finding weapon boosts, upgrades and the like mid-level.

The story I liked a lot, particularly the overall setting and back-story. Happily it doesn't scrape to the bottom of the barrel to produce the plot and there's lots of scope to explore this world more fully in sequels - fingers crossed we get to seem them because although the game has issues there's lots to enjoy here, and more importantly lots to build on.

RAD certainly need to re-evaluate elements of their IP, but I am already excited about what a sequel might bring. It needs co-op though to my mind - something like Uncharted 2 co-op would be perfect, with a squad of Knights on co-op missions/infiltrations or against all comers. That might not be to everyone's tastes but I loved the feature in U2/U3 to a lesser extent. It could also take the form of a L4D-style Vs mode, or something different, but I think co-op at least is well suited to the game - competitive, yeah sure, whatever.

I hope for and look forward to playing more of this universe and I hope the game does well, despite some in my opinion overblown criticisms.
 

curb

Banned
I just thought that was a lycan. But yeah, they must have been obligated to burn the vampire in order to kill it and study it.

I don't like that conditional at all. EDIT: I seriously hope to see the game in the top 5 for the NPD. We know it has been doing great in the UK (number one spot!), but USA is probably the most important market in the decision to make another one.

Even if it ends up in the top 5 on NPD we won't really know if it actually did well since there are no numbers. Unless Sony specifically mentions anything, we probably won't know anything about a potential sequel for a while. *crosses fingers*
 

hydruxo

Member
I think I'll try a second playthrough and try to get as much lore as I can. A lot of that side stuff seems like atmospheric and inconsequential fluff but is probably vital to the main story (which is a bad way to tell a story but it is what it is).

Yeah I'm gonna do the same soon. I went back and played some of the encounters I really enjoyed yesterday and already noticed some things in the cutscenes that I hadn't before
(like the hooded guy who saves Galahad from the river with Tesla being the one who Galahad saw talking to Perceval in the street).
 
Well the Metacritic average certainly isn't going to help.
You're right...it certainly doesn't, but it doesn't have as big of a detriment as you'd imagine, particularly with Sony. What I mean is they don't just look at the Metacritic and say "65...well, time to dump this one". They put a good of effort into backing this title. Franchise potential plays a big role. They take all the feedback and future outlook among a lot of other things.

They also look at consumer feedback as well, not just from "professional" critics, where the conversation's a lot more positive compared to review outlets at least.
 

Wakka212

Member
Will know more soon. Let's wait and see how the game's doing :)

I hope by next month we have some solid indicators that the game sold well.

The ending is one of the most perfect jumping off points for a sequel. I hope the next game delves deeper into some of his memories over the centuries and strengthens, for the audience, his relationship with Malory.
 

Skux

Member
To be honest having story in the environment is an awesome way to tell a story in an interactive medium like videogames.

It's a great way to set atmosphere but you can't put vital plot points in there because you can't expect every player to interact with them (I loathe text logs and always just skim the text to get the gist of it).

With the number of unexplained plot threads in the game it would be pretty bad if they hid all the important stuff in old papers and photos.
 
It's a great way to set atmosphere but you can't put vital plot points in there because you can't expect every player to interact with them (I loathe text logs and always just skim the text to get the gist of it).

With the number of unexplained plot threads in the game it would be pretty bad if they hid all the important stuff in old papers and photos.

Hate to bring up TLOU comparison again but they got it right with the whole Ish storyline.

Fascinating way to build on the world through exploring and finding items/notes without putting anything crucial to the main plotline in it
 
I got the Collectors Edition (not the super premium) of the game and it had a flyer for an art book for the game titled Blackwater Archives. The flyer said it was "available now" on Amazon.com, but I can't find a listing on that site or anywhere else from my searches. Anyone know what is up with that art book?
 

Portman

Member
I've been meaning to stick my head in here but I got to busy yesterday. I finished the game on Sunday and really enjoyed it. I can't really say it was short since it didn't feel that way (I played until I got 2 auto shutoff warnings so that means I put 6 hours in it plus the beginning section that I played on Saturday. I guess I can rate it as a "weekend blockbuster" the way I think of the Uncharted games.

I'm looking forward to a sequel after seeing the end of the story. The game was beautiful and was fun to play once I adjusted to the interactivity and the way it played. Hopefully it achieves whatever goal is needed to approve a sequel but either way I'm glad I bought it to show support for the idea.
 

Wakka212

Member
I'm predicting the first half of The Order:1887(?) will be in India and the second half will be back in London.

I think it will pick up in london RIGHT where it left off. Galahad going straight batman mode. It almost felt like he was about to leap and start gliding haha

Second half may be in india or the americas
 

Socky

Member
If Resistance 2 got a sequel and so did all of the Killzones, then I'll be damned if this doesn't get one.

That's a good point. Plus RAD have put four years into the lore and engine, to not produce a sequel would seem to waste much of that work (and money spent).
 
Finished this last night and nabbed the Platinum Trophy, here are my quick thoughts:

+ The most gorgeous game I have ever played.

+ Solid gunplay.

+ Fascinating and intriguing world.

- The pacing of the story is off, especially towards the end. It has a very slow initial build-up, then suddenly, you're flying through chapters left and right

- Gameplay set-pieces felt too restrictive. I understand that they were aiming to tell a linear story, but creative weapons like the Thermite Rifle felt way too underutilized as a result and could've made for some great environmental puzzle-solving. Also, instant-fail stealth sequences are never fun.

- The Lycan battles, without spoiling anything, are underwhelming, to say the least. Way too easy to manipulate the A.I. and cheese your way through these battles.

- Finally, the ending, as many have already mentioned, is a letdown, as the story concludes just as things are starting to get really interesting.

Overall, it's a game that I recommend anyone play, just keep your expectations in check. The quality of the visuals and the engrossing world made a play-through worth it to me, but the actual "game" portion leaves a lot to be desired.

Also, Galahad is a player.
I agree with this. I was fine with the ending tho. I felt it wrapped up most of the immediate story and left just enough to get me excited about the possibility of a sequel. Galahad is the best thing to come out of this game. One of the best new characters I've seen in a long, long time.
Had a great time playing it, I hope they go ahead and make a sequel.

For the sequel, I have a wish list of things I'd like to see.

- More Lycan battles. Make them far more threatening. Taking on a Lycan should be comparable to taking on a Big Daddy in Bioshock. Imagine walking down a dimly lit London alley, you see a Lycan feeding off in the distance. You have the choice of finding a way to get around it, or you can prepare to take it on by gearing up, setting traps and planning how you're going to kill it.
- Online co-op and a survival mode
- Upgradeable weapon system
- New game + and unlockable difficulties
- More fleshed out collectibles system
- More trophies
 
I wonder how much this game cost to make compared to the other first entries in Sony's other big series.
I'm curious about that too. Isn't asset creation a big cost? And I guess engine creation if you have to roll out your own.

But man, dem assets. And dat engine. Glorious.
 
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