Would casuals find any appeal in this game? Seems to me a definite hardcore title, aimed at the millions of hardcore gamers that still exist (which Nintendo's effort to erase the memory of have not yet completely succeeded!)
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djskribbles
Legend
well, i think action titles have always been targeted at hardcore gamers. GoW is probably one of the most successful and thats probably because of the story and that its more of a hack & slash game (imho) so its quite easy to pickup and play. true fans of the action genre will surely love HS; i know i do. even from such a short demo, i have a good idea of what the game is going to be like.
Well, "hack and slash" is rather casual, but certainly this TYPE of hack and slash has a smaller audience. (But large enough for the good titles. I think because they tend to consume ALL of them... 
) God of War is indeed one that straddles the gap well, and appeals to people who like a mindless brawler, has plenty of fun gorey animations to appeal to people who just like carnage, and enough skill to let the more refined H&S types still enjoy themselves while not leaving others in the dust (the way, say, Ninja Gaiden and DMC3 are apt to).
) God of War is indeed one that straddles the gap well, and appeals to people who like a mindless brawler, has plenty of fun gorey animations to appeal to people who just like carnage, and enough skill to let the more refined H&S types still enjoy themselves while not leaving others in the dust (the way, say, Ninja Gaiden and DMC3 are apt to)."Nerve-Damage"
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Some pic’s as promised.
"Nerve-Damage"
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Once again, excellent job Ninja Theory.
Gradthrawn
Veteran
Just noticed 2 Heavenly Sword wallpapers up on the US PSN. Not to say they weren't there Thursday, but I don't remember them. 
Little too bright for practical use, but nice nonetheless. What I really want is the box art, like what is used to form the background when you hover over the demo icon.
Little too bright for practical use, but nice nonetheless. What I really want is the box art, like what is used to form the background when you hover over the demo icon.Ok! My impressions of the demo
First... NO 1080I UPSCALING AGGGGGRRRRRR God it sucked having the game display in 480P. HOPEFULLY this is implemented in the final release.
Graphics were very nice, frame rate and screen tearing issues at times though. I have a feeling that this is an older build.
Gameplay was what I expected it to be, seems to be plenty of combos that can be pulled off though it seems you can get by only using one or two of them and they are easy to pull off to boot.
Overall I will probably be purchasing this, here is to hoping that upscaling is implemented in the final release, atleast for my sake!
First... NO 1080I UPSCALING AGGGGGRRRRRR God it sucked having the game display in 480P. HOPEFULLY this is implemented in the final release.
Graphics were very nice, frame rate and screen tearing issues at times though. I have a feeling that this is an older build.
Gameplay was what I expected it to be, seems to be plenty of combos that can be pulled off though it seems you can get by only using one or two of them and they are easy to pull off to boot.
Overall I will probably be purchasing this, here is to hoping that upscaling is implemented in the final release, atleast for my sake!
inefficient
Veteran
I checked out all the various language options they have.
I have to say the French was the most impressive non-English voice work. Next would be Dutch. Spanish would have to be the poorest. And Italian was surprisingly meh.
Not that I speak those languages. I'm speaking more on behalf of the timing, tone and general emotion conveyed. Nariko and especially Kai sounded very good in French. Good enough so that on a second or third play through I would probably select that language.
I have to say the French was the most impressive non-English voice work. Next would be Dutch. Spanish would have to be the poorest. And Italian was surprisingly meh.
Not that I speak those languages. I'm speaking more on behalf of the timing, tone and general emotion conveyed. Nariko and especially Kai sounded very good in French. Good enough so that on a second or third play through I would probably select that language.
Anything sounds good in French. You can say whatever you want to people that don't speak french, and it sounds beatiful.
Learn something like "I have to go to the toilet and take a piss" in french, and next time your on a date, whisper it in her ear (in french ofcourse). Unless she actually speaks french, she will think its romantic.
QTEs and cut-scenes are definitely casual friendly.
Demo may not represent difficulty of the final core gameplay but I think they will target casuals with training stuff in early levels and the game will not be anything like NGS. Of course when I say casuals, I don't mean grandmas.
He may be talking about lip sync. Cutscenes being prerendered move the lip-sync work to dub people. I checked the Italian, and it sucked.
Even in 480p? I remember noticing tearing at some point, but don't remember where.
For the fights, the only frame drops I saw were during aftertouch scenes.
Can people elaborate on the unbearable framerate issue so I can go and check?
Rainbow Man
Veteran
The framerate feels a bit sluggish.
Granted ,this is just a demo and the real game's still 2-something months off. But I don't expect miracles to happen in that time. The end of development is gameplay polishing time. Not the roll-out of the new fantastic and much faster graphics engine.
Of course the reason the framerate feels sluggish is the nutty graphics. Without a doubt the prettiest game (not quite) released so far.
It kind of irks me though they have to put so mcuh effort into graphics and then make this game almost completely unplayable by the vast majority of gamers. Sure it works just pushing buttons. For a while.
Then as you progress the game expects you to actually know your shit and be able to get off all those millions of combos that can be unlocked, and that's where I and most everyone else hits the brick wall.
If we fought fewer enemies at a time or the game emphasised individual attacks rather than chained combos then it would have been a more approachable experience for most of us.
I'd like to compare the gameplay of the old Final Fight titles to this game. You could do combos in those games too. You just didn't have to do it ALL the time to dispatch your foes.
I want to buy this game when it comes out. However I fear it'll just end wiht me destroying the controller in frustration over the control scheme and difficulty level.
Peace.
Granted ,this is just a demo and the real game's still 2-something months off. But I don't expect miracles to happen in that time. The end of development is gameplay polishing time. Not the roll-out of the new fantastic and much faster graphics engine.
Of course the reason the framerate feels sluggish is the nutty graphics. Without a doubt the prettiest game (not quite) released so far.
It kind of irks me though they have to put so mcuh effort into graphics and then make this game almost completely unplayable by the vast majority of gamers. Sure it works just pushing buttons. For a while.
Then as you progress the game expects you to actually know your shit and be able to get off all those millions of combos that can be unlocked, and that's where I and most everyone else hits the brick wall.
If we fought fewer enemies at a time or the game emphasised individual attacks rather than chained combos then it would have been a more approachable experience for most of us.
I'd like to compare the gameplay of the old Final Fight titles to this game. You could do combos in those games too. You just didn't have to do it ALL the time to dispatch your foes.
I want to buy this game when it comes out. However I fear it'll just end wiht me destroying the controller in frustration over the control scheme and difficulty level.
Peace.
I don't think casuals really assess up front whether the game is supposed to be casual or hardcore. If they hear it's good and has a cool looking theme and looks good they will probably be interested. From that perspective any game is potentially a casual consumer purchase,whether it turns out to be true once they start playing it is another matter.
Right now because of the price of the PS3 it's probably not a casual purchase,but I assume they want this game to keep selling well into the PS3's life span.At which point more and more casual's will begin picking it up.
Edit: For noobs like me
http://blogs.ign.com/Heavenly_Sword/2007/07/25/61327/
editedit:
"On that note, Nariko only has a handful of moves available in the demo, with tonnes more to unlock during the full game. Some of these moves have a little broken shield icon which signifies that this is a Block Breaker move - use these to break down enemy defenses. '
Ok I have a question about this.Which moves exactly does she has access to in the demo?So I'm not trying certain combos in the demo that won't work,thinking that I'm not executing them properly.
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I love this demo! The graphics is extremely nice, and the game seems to have real depth to the controls, which I'm yet far from mastering after played the demo several times. The swedish acting is a very nice touch, I'll probably play through the game with swedish turned on on the second round. :smile:
The only thing I wish for is that v-sync is called, the tearing really destroys the scenery.
The camera movement with SIXAXIS could have less angle for max rotation also.
The only thing I wish for is that v-sync is called, the tearing really destroys the scenery.
The camera movement with SIXAXIS could have less angle for max rotation also.
crazygambit
Regular
If you stay in the start menu and do nothing for a while a video similar to the PSN trailer will play. Plus it has all the voice acting included for all the languages, which I'm not so sure it's a good idea in a demo, I'd rather it would've been smaller.
I didn't know you could press X to follow them in to the air. I've been attempting to jerk the controller up to do that with limited success (and been looking like an idiot doing it too). I don't get if you have to jerk "up" "forward" or a mixture of both, how fast, etc. I'm just not getting it and rather disable.
Look at controls in the start sceen and then press right.
I speak Spanish and yes it was atrocious. But that probably has more to do with the fact that it's Spanish from Spain which is always atrocious
Anyway, loved the demo but it was just TOO short. I would have loved to have a go at those guys that break the gate at the end.
But that probably has more to do with the fact that it's Spanish from Spain which is always atrocious
I actually quite enjoy games dubbed in Spanish, especially the first metal gear solid, Snake just sounds so cool in Spanish so does vulcan.
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crazygambit
Regular
But do you speak Spanish though? I could see them sounding cool if you don't. But if you do (and you're not form Spain) it's horrible.
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