I'm downloading using Reget.
Got link and gonna install it via proxy.
New Heavenly Sword Info (screens included)
- Thread starter "Nerve-Damage"
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Got link and gonna install it via proxy.
"Nerve-Damage"
Regular
Sony servers must be getting hammered now; I should have been done (82%). 
Got it and played it, here are my first impressions:
* the demo's damn short, the rope thing and two fights
* looks GREAT, except for some vsync issues and occasional (very minor) frame rate stutters
* has a God of War feel to it, even down to the UI
* on my first try, fighting was surprisingly difficult at times, but then I again I didn't bother to read the controls or anything (I never do)
Overall since this is such a short demo, it shows a lot of promise but doesn't allow one to make any conclusions as to what the game really feels like.
Edit: Almost forgot, the lipsync (or how the characters speak) in the cutscene at the very beginning is by far the best I've seen in games yet. The same goes for the "acting", feels really lifelike to me.
* the demo's damn short, the rope thing and two fights
* looks GREAT, except for some vsync issues and occasional (very minor) frame rate stutters
* has a God of War feel to it, even down to the UI
* on my first try, fighting was surprisingly difficult at times, but then I again I didn't bother to read the controls or anything (I never do
)Overall since this is such a short demo, it shows a lot of promise but doesn't allow one to make any conclusions as to what the game really feels like.
Edit: Almost forgot, the lipsync (or how the characters speak) in the cutscene at the very beginning is by far the best I've seen in games yet. The same goes for the "acting", feels really lifelike to me.
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My impressions are pretty much the same:
- looks gorgeous! even my girlfriend commented on that she loves the light in this game.
- some of the textures are really great and natural. I like details such as the surface of Nariko's face in the close-up and the red scar and unevenness she has on her legs.
- in general the art direction is awesome
- the framerates aren't always quite up to scratch yet, but I assume that will be ironed out in the final game. If not, delay it.
- if you don't do anything in the demo, you get some cinematics. These are actually badly compressed and don't do the game justice, the difference with the real game is stunning, almost to the point that some of the scenes feel out of place!
- the fighting has a lot of depth. It will take me a while to really get the hang of it. Having to block differently for different foes can make it really complicated. The tip not to press square at the end of the rope sequance (I think by Tameem) was a good one, as it puts a strong opponent in there and the difference between having to fight only normal stance foes or having to fight different foes is good. There are also a lot of combos to learn, even in this demo. That's the main attraction of replaying it now.
- the opening vista is really, really beautiful. There are some interesting sun flare effects going on as well
- the sixaxis tilt for moving the camera is a good idea, but it needs to be calibrated so you don't have to move all the way to 90 degrees for maximum left or maximum right. About a third of that would be better. In fact, it would probably work without people even noticing - I'm sure they'll tilt in the direction that they are fighting without thinking, and it's that direction you want to see more of generally anyway.
- if you pick up and throw all the bodies and weapons off the column, you'll get to see bodies fall off in the in-game cinematic anyway. Shame. (Though obviously a minor detail)
- walking around and not being able to fall off the cliff actually gives a bit of old gen feel to this. A nice touch would be if she got out of balance near the edge, and then steps back from the edge if you get to close, something like that.
- great voices too, especially Nariko's ... love it.
- and man, is this demo short! I want moooooooore ...
I think I will like this game. It's one of those games where you play just to see what the next area will look like, and in the meantime the fighting is pretty entertaining too. I'll reserve judgment on the fighting until I've mastered the different combos a little and know what I'm actually doing. But the counters and such are great anyway.
Looks very promising nAo and DeanC! For me its mainly getting that framerate nailed. If that's sorted, it becomes a real must have for me. Nice to spot your names on the credit roll as well.
- looks gorgeous! even my girlfriend commented on that she loves the light in this game.
- some of the textures are really great and natural. I like details such as the surface of Nariko's face in the close-up and the red scar and unevenness she has on her legs.
- in general the art direction is awesome
- the framerates aren't always quite up to scratch yet, but I assume that will be ironed out in the final game. If not, delay it.
- if you don't do anything in the demo, you get some cinematics. These are actually badly compressed and don't do the game justice, the difference with the real game is stunning, almost to the point that some of the scenes feel out of place!
- the fighting has a lot of depth. It will take me a while to really get the hang of it. Having to block differently for different foes can make it really complicated. The tip not to press square at the end of the rope sequance (I think by Tameem) was a good one, as it puts a strong opponent in there and the difference between having to fight only normal stance foes or having to fight different foes is good. There are also a lot of combos to learn, even in this demo. That's the main attraction of replaying it now.
- the opening vista is really, really beautiful. There are some interesting sun flare effects going on as well
- the sixaxis tilt for moving the camera is a good idea, but it needs to be calibrated so you don't have to move all the way to 90 degrees for maximum left or maximum right. About a third of that would be better. In fact, it would probably work without people even noticing - I'm sure they'll tilt in the direction that they are fighting without thinking, and it's that direction you want to see more of generally anyway.
- if you pick up and throw all the bodies and weapons off the column, you'll get to see bodies fall off in the in-game cinematic anyway. Shame.
(Though obviously a minor detail)- walking around and not being able to fall off the cliff actually gives a bit of old gen feel to this. A nice touch would be if she got out of balance near the edge, and then steps back from the edge if you get to close, something like that.
- great voices too, especially Nariko's ... love it.
- and man, is this demo short!
I want moooooooore ... I think I will like this game. It's one of those games where you play just to see what the next area will look like, and in the meantime the fighting is pretty entertaining too. I'll reserve judgment on the fighting until I've mastered the different combos a little and know what I'm actually doing. But the counters and such are great anyway.
Looks very promising nAo and DeanC! For me its mainly getting that framerate nailed. If that's sorted, it becomes a real must have for me. Nice to spot your names on the credit roll as well.
"Nerve-Damage"
Regular
Graphics: 5/5
My mouth hit the floor quite a few times, the animation of the kills and super combos are f*ing unbelievable. The sheer draw distance (or scale) is very well done and the voice/lip-sync is spot on.
Sound: 3/5
Needs a more heart pumping orchestra, but hey it’s a demo.
Controls: 4/5
Easy and straightforward to use, however it’s a button masher within the vain of GOW.
Sidenote:
I didn’t notice the frame-rate/v-sync issue some have pointed out. I think some HDTV’s are better than others or more equip to handle video/game data (IMO).
IM PURCHANCING THIS GAME ON DAY ONE…EXCELLENT JOB NINJA THEORY.
I will put up some pic's later...
My mouth hit the floor quite a few times, the animation of the kills and super combos are f*ing unbelievable. The sheer draw distance (or scale) is very well done and the voice/lip-sync is spot on.
Sound: 3/5
Needs a more heart pumping orchestra, but hey it’s a demo.
Controls: 4/5
Easy and straightforward to use, however it’s a button masher within the vain of GOW.
Sidenote:
I didn’t notice the frame-rate/v-sync issue some have pointed out. I think some HDTV’s are better than others or more equip to handle video/game data (IMO).
IM PURCHANCING THIS GAME ON DAY ONE…EXCELLENT JOB NINJA THEORY.
I will put up some pic's later...
Did you notice that your "chain knives" sometimes goes to the rear when you "throw them directly to the camera", smooth.
symbiont2k
Newcomer
cutscene encoding not that good
very nicely done by NT.
the fighting system is pretty neat, i like the details here and there - the different walking animations for example. the graphics are really outstanding.
about the cutscenes:
it's a nice idea to mask loading times by showing/playing movies (cutscenes). but if they are showing a movie/video-file (mp4) of a cutscene, instead of realtime calculated in-engine cutscenes, i hope they are really going to use a better encoding setting (higher bitrate) for the retail blu-ray version videos. you can clearly see lots of compression artefacts in the intro before the game starts.
overall conclusion: playing the demo again
//symbiont
very nicely done by NT.
the fighting system is pretty neat, i like the details here and there - the different walking animations for example. the graphics are really outstanding.
about the cutscenes:
it's a nice idea to mask loading times by showing/playing movies (cutscenes). but if they are showing a movie/video-file (mp4) of a cutscene, instead of realtime calculated in-engine cutscenes, i hope they are really going to use a better encoding setting (higher bitrate) for the retail blu-ray version videos. you can clearly see lots of compression artefacts in the intro before the game starts.
overall conclusion: playing the demo again
//symbiont
Played through the very short demo. The bad, I didn't get the combat system first time through the demo(not very surprising I guess). I just randomly smashed the buttons and marvelled the gorgeus moves. I guess difficulty was set to very easy as I succeeded beating the demo on first try. Hopefully there is deepness to the battle system and combos and the intelligence of A.I more than the demo showed. I at least would want to spend time mastering the different combos and fighting with style instead of just randomly smashing the buttons.
Demo left me with feeling, damn I need to try this again. Special moves look just super good when camera get's closer the action. I was like, Woooot how did she do that, way cool many times during demo. Graphics, I saw no apparent shimmering, very clean and nice look. The animations seemed jerky as if they were calculated half the speed of real framerate or something. Not silky smooth. This was apparent especially in the beginning of demo when rolling Nariko around. Not so smooth. At that same point also panning camera caused some tearing. But not really so much to be bothersome especially not once the action starts...
Especially throwing the enemies to each other was like. I somehow managed to get a chain weapon and just spinned around sweeping the enemies in the end. Ropes sequence was brilliantly visual on big screen. Got similar effect to my stomach than when playing stunt car racer on amiga for the first time. Nice!
Definately a must buy for me after playing through the demo. I'm hyped up now... going to take the demo for second try now and maybe try to master some combos instead of just randomly smashing buttons.
Edit: Animations seem to be jerky only in the beginning of demo where the fps is slow anyway. So I guess there is nothing funky going on with animations.
Demo left me with feeling, damn I need to try this again. Special moves look just super good when camera get's closer the action. I was like, Woooot how did she do that, way cool many times during demo. Graphics, I saw no apparent shimmering, very clean and nice look. The animations seemed jerky as if they were calculated half the speed of real framerate or something. Not silky smooth. This was apparent especially in the beginning of demo when rolling Nariko around. Not so smooth. At that same point also panning camera caused some tearing. But not really so much to be bothersome especially not once the action starts...
Especially throwing the enemies to each other was like
. I somehow managed to get a chain weapon and just spinned around sweeping the enemies in the end. Ropes sequence was brilliantly visual on big screen. Got similar effect to my stomach than when playing stunt car racer on amiga for the first time. Nice!Definately a must buy for me after playing through the demo. I'm hyped up now... going to take the demo for second try now and maybe try to master some combos instead of just randomly smashing buttons.
Edit: Animations seem to be jerky only in the beginning of demo where the fps is slow anyway. So I guess there is nothing funky going on with animations.
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A dedicated jump button would be pointless IMHO. It's not an FPS or Platformer, evasion via rolling is the most frequent action. The only time you want to jump is a) if you have 'floated' someone and want to bash them in the air or b) if Nariko had drop-kicks or other aerial moves ala Street Fighter 2, but she doesn't.
Actually using the SIXAXIS 'up' to launch into aerial combo mode once you 'float' an enemy is a very satisfying and nice touch.
I doubt the framerate on the column-crashing cinematic will be fixed considering how much is going on in that scene. It's the in-game non-cutscene framerate that matters most and that seemed a solid 30fps to me.
The lighting and detail in this game blows the doors off every other title I've seen so far. The skin shaders on Nariko, the details on her body, the diffuse lighting. (well, there does appear to be some z-fighting in the shadows )
First time through, I was button mashing like crazy, getting hit left and right, and took a long time to kill enemies. Then I decided to read the combo-list page and controls, and on replay, I zoomed through the fights, countering, aerial comboing, and superstyling to my heart's delight.
Actually using the SIXAXIS 'up' to launch into aerial combo mode once you 'float' an enemy is a very satisfying and nice touch.
I doubt the framerate on the column-crashing cinematic will be fixed considering how much is going on in that scene. It's the in-game non-cutscene framerate that matters most and that seemed a solid 30fps to me.
The lighting and detail in this game blows the doors off every other title I've seen so far. The skin shaders on Nariko, the details on her body, the diffuse lighting. (well, there does appear to be some z-fighting in the shadows
)First time through, I was button mashing like crazy, getting hit left and right, and took a long time to kill enemies. Then I decided to read the combo-list page and controls, and on replay, I zoomed through the fights, countering, aerial comboing, and superstyling to my heart's delight.
"Nerve-Damage"
Regular
I didn't see any framerate issues in that cutscene but it got pretty bad while fighting in the area after that, and there is really nasty tearing at the begining spot with the cliff.
Stunning. The demo was short but sweet, it makes you want to buy the game and that's the point. The combat was fluid, I even pulled off a chain swing combo. The graphics are gorgeous too. I think this game was the reason God of War II went to the PS2. It will be hard going back to Ninja Gaiden Sigma now
Great job nAo and DeanC and the rest of of the crew.
Great job nAo and DeanC and the rest of of the crew.
I was too busy twisting necks and matrix kicking baddies to notice that one.
Practise a bit before you cut the rope in the start, that is where i noticed it first, very subtle and only when it really goes "behind the camera".
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