Heavenly Sword: Part Deux

[patsu]

Took ~8hours to play the whole game through. Wow what a ride, I feel pretty empty now. That was some seriously good game with nice and engaging plot. The bad guys are really memorable. One made me feel really sad for him, another one really angry and everything in between.

Yes. I like it when games make me feel for the enemies. Usually it's "buh-bye", "next !", or "finally !!" when I beat a (mini)boss. For Heavenly Sword guys, it's like "Wait... don't go. I want to talk to you some more" or

Spoiler

in Flying Fox's case, "Hey, you stole my kill !"

I wonder if I'm the only one that actually took some hints of the flying fox being sadistic pervert that likes little children... Damn, he was some seriously twisted character.

Actually, I thought he looked like someone who's been a victim himself.

 

[D3B]

This game is awesome!

The split screen works real good and the characters are very memorable. The lighting is the best I have seen yet on consoles and use of physics, absolutely Love the combat and sword sounds.

The next one needs a jump button bad and needs to be longer.

 

[2real4tv]

This game is awesome!

The split screen works real good and the characters are very memorable. The lighting is the best I have seen yet on consoles and use of physics, absolutely Love the combat and sword sounds.

The next one needs a jump button bad and needs to be longer.

I don't have the game but I watched the first 15min on GTV and it drew me in it felt like I wanted to hop into the game I will be buying after xmas

 

[patsu]

Yes !! Heavenly Sword characters are adorable. Production value is also first class. Buy it to support a small creative developer

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I bought this for myself as a christmas present, but I'm not at home right now, so It might take a while before I get a chance to try it, but looking forward for it anyways.

 

[tirminyl]

The next one needs a jump button bad and needs to be longer.

Haha. I let a buddy play it because he asked if I had a game "about some hot chick with a sword" Lol. So he played through and he was button mashing it and it took forever to get through the enemies. He then stated it needed a jump button. I replayed the level to show him the controls and he changed his mind. Knowing the combos you can easily get arial attacks and it is very satisfying. Once I learned the control scheme and the combo lists I felt satisfied without having a jump button. Sometimes I view the jump button as a cheat as well.

 

[Duke]

The game absolutely does not need a jump button. It would break the cinematic feel and the great flow of the combat.

Also, I dont think games in this genre need exploration so jumping isnt needed there either. For example the part where you open the gate would be so much less effective if you had to jump through those millions of rocks and have a thousand ledges to use to get up to the switches. Now it's a small QTE section and you're high up there in a matter of seconds kickin the enemies to their deaths and pulling the switches. IMO that part would've not been nearly as cool if it was executed like video games normally do where you would've slowly had to jump from platform to another until you're at the top, then pull the switch, then jump again from platform to another platform to get down from there and then repeat it on the other side.

 

[patsu]

I don't mind QTEs in HS at all, although I know many do. The game already has leaping during combat. I think jumping in exploration has to tie in with level design. So we can't really use existing HS levels to measure the impact of jumps.

At least NT mixed things up to provide gameplay variety in HS1 (IMHO, HS is very intelligently designed). Nariko can't jump but relies on combat moves to advance. Kai needs acrobatic jump to compensate for her weak melee and ranged weapon.

I am more interested in giving the girls more tools/skills (not just jumping) for HS2.

 

[deepbrown]

The game absolutely does not need a jump button. It would break the cinematic feel and the great flow of the combat.

Also, I dont think games in this genre need exploration so jumping isnt needed there either. For example the part where you open the gate would be so much less effective if you had to jump through those millions of rocks and have a thousand ledges to use to get up to the switches. Now it's a small QTE section and you're high up there in a matter of seconds kickin the enemies to their deaths and pulling the switches. IMO that part would've not been nearly as cool if it was executed like video games normally do where you would've slowly had to jump from platform to another until you're at the top, then pull the switch, then jump again from platform to another platform to get down from there and then repeat it on the other side.

I will say this...Heavenly Sword's combat does not need a jump button agreed. But when there was a QTE section which saw her swinging from things and jumping up rocks....it kind of rubbed it in that we couldn't do that, but she had the acrobatic ability to do so. To be able to do that in the next game - would be incredible.

But yeah, jump is not needed in the combat.

 

[Kittonwy]

The game absolutely does not need a jump button. It would break the cinematic feel and the great flow of the combat.

Also, I dont think games in this genre need exploration so jumping isnt needed there either. For example the part where you open the gate would be so much less effective if you had to jump through those millions of rocks and have a thousand ledges to use to get up to the switches. Now it's a small QTE section and you're high up there in a matter of seconds kickin the enemies to their deaths and pulling the switches. IMO that part would've not been nearly as cool if it was executed like video games normally do where you would've slowly had to jump from platform to another until you're at the top, then pull the switch, then jump again from platform to another platform to get down from there and then repeat it on the other side.

Jump dodge to avoid ground-based wave attack, jumping up to take advantage of multi-stage environments, jumping to use grapple points to swing from place to place. Jump, use chain blade to climb up, take out archers instead of having just long corridors where Nariko is essentially going in one direction. Jumping adds an extra, very valuable dimension to the gameplay.

Using QTEs instead of letting the player work their way up the rocks and the landscape was perhaps the worst design decision of Heavenly Sword. Those QTEs essentially take direct control AWAY from the player, you're making platforming sound like a chore when platforming when done right can really be a great addition to the gameplay. You can always design the game so that when you flip the switch, you create a shortcut for yourself to get back down.

It's not about taking away from the balls-to-walls action, it's about adding VARIETY so as to make the balls-to-walls action seem even better because you let the player take a breath in-between while you bring the action to another crescendo.

 

[Kittonwy]

So I'm just going to put on my gamer-hat for a minute (is that anything like a meat-hat?) and say that I thought Heavenly Sword was totally cool.

It looked great for sure - I can't really add too much to what's already been said . A couple of effects really stood out for me too -- the waterfalls looked top-notch and the wings on the end-boss were very well done.

The play was fun - I was definitely thinking "God of War with a girl" for a while, but then the game brought in enough new stuff to distinguish itself. The aftertouch system works well - The arrow-shooting sequences were my favorite parts of the game. The biggest gameplay gripe I have is that the hit-and-run strategy pretty much works everywhere - but that's probably not true in hell-mode (which I haven't played). And that's not a big complaint, it was still fun enough to keep playing. (Don't get me wrong - this and button-mashing are my two main gamer skills/tactics.)

I'm wondering about the choice to stop gameplay and go to the chapter-select menu between chapters though. That seemed oddly oddtastic.

All the extras packed in are cool - but I'm left wanting more developer commentary!

Definitely an A.

Mike.

PS: I bought it retail.

Mike, after seeing the lighting and shadowing system in Heavenly Sword, when is your own engine going to have HDR and self-shadowing? I know your team's own engine pushes a lot of effects and polygons but I'm just wondering when the engine will include those functionalities.

 

[emacs]

i finished Heavenly Sword a few weeks ago and enjoyed it even, in some respects, the final battle(s) against Bohan the Raven King. congrats to all who put much effort in the project. i'm looking forward to the sequel.

 

[Nesh]

There is some guy on Gametrailers forums saying that there was an update that improves Haevanly Sword's framerates. Any truth in this?

 

[deepbrown]

There is some guy on Gametrailers forums saying that there was an update that improves Haevanly Sword's framerates. Any truth in this?

There was an update adding rumble. I expect the rest is a placebo effect.

 

[Jaeyden]

Does 17Mb seem like the size a rumble update should be? I don't think anyone can confirm if the patch addressed framerates, but I will swear to it that after this patch...the cutscene at the beginning of the stage "The Heavenly Sword" did NOT stutter when panning the background around Nariko. I've probably played it 30+ times and witnessed the same slowdown every time up until now. Maybe one of our NT friends would be kind enough to verify that there was a little bit more to this patch than just rumble support.....if even your answer were just a nice :smile: or .

That was the only time I've played it since the patch, and really didn't give any thought to it until you brought that up. I'll try replaying it a bit and see if I notice anything else. The only reason I DL'd the patch in the first place was because I was showing it off to family around the holiday's and was prompted to get the patch. I played the game enough I feel confident that I could give a good assesment if there were fixes made.

 

[patsu]

Yes please confirm this if true, Deano. I'd be glad to check it out, but it wasn't a problem when I played (The tearing only happened to me once when Kai was on the bridge).

 

[Jaeyden]

O.K. - So I plugged HS in and booted it up just now. The game said audio settings had changed and it installed more data (hmm). I launched "The Heavenly Sword" to confirm what I had seen over the holidays. 1st time - bad stuttering as the bridge falls away. 2nd time - just a little stuttering. 3rd time - none. 4th time - none. This is interesting, to say the least.

Edit: Played through "Cat and Mouse", "Death from Above" and "War Machines" - Three chapters where I had noticed slowdowns before. I didn't notice any difference this time around. Same amount of stutter. For what it's worth, I would guess that if they did do some optimizing, it wasn't much. For anyone reading this that hasn't played the game, don't let this deter you...this is one of the best games made for the PS3. The framerate hiccups are very, very limited....and I'm just a whore about these things.

 

[archangelmorph]

Oh yeah,

Just heard about your new job over at Frontier DeanoC!

Congrats on the new position!

Wish u all the best in your new position & I hope you settle right in there!!

 

[Squilliam]

played the demo for Heavenly Sword on my standard definition TV. To be honest, the graphics looked very good, but not spectacular. It did not "stand out" tremendously to my eyes. Perhaps the game is designed to look spectacular on a HDTV. That could be the case.

Nuff said

I found it averageish on a 53" bravia 1080P set with HDMI cable (incase you think im running component. It had a crappy plot that annoyed the hell out of me especially the king and the bird man. I found the latest AVP movie to have better plot than this... and it didn't have ANY!!!

But I did love Kai! "Twing twang" All the parts about her were cool.

 

[deepbrown]

I found it averageish on a 53" bravia 1080P set with HDMI cable (incase you think im running component. It had a crappy plot that annoyed the hell out of me especially the king and the bird man. I found the latest AVP movie to have better plot than this... and it didn't have ANY!!!

But I did love Kai! "Twing twang" All the parts about her were cool.

1. Don't think you're in the right forums to compare HS graphics to "average"

2. They may have annoyed you, but they are some of the best character performances in both video games and films. Plot wasn't annoying, it was gloriously flourishing.