Ninja Theory's new game: Enslaved
- Thread starter ShadowRunner
- Start date
That's the same video N_B posted above.
For this "I Die, You Die", "Save Me, Save Yourself" theme, I much prefer the 3x3 Eyes formula.
The protagonist is an undead. His soul was eaten by a demon/god, who manifested herself as a school girl. He can never die (even if pulverized) because his soul was effectively merged with the god's. However, he can feel pain and may take time to heal a major injury. When the god slumbers (e.g., after one powerful attack), the school girl becomes rather vulnerable and forgetful. When the god wakes up, she owns almost any one under the sun. The protagonist is thus tasked to protect the god while her human personality is awake. The other interesting bit is the more danger the girl is subjected to, the more (exponentially) powerful the undead becomes. He is known as the "Wu" in the monster guide (or "Void", for the legend says these people are void of humanity; although our protagonist is just a young man who fell in love with the wrong girl -- and trying desparately to get his soul back). He also learned to cast ancient spells along the way (Their enemies were terrifying and formidable too).
I think the dynamics makes a more interesting game than the standard powerful guy + helpless girl combo.
For this "I Die, You Die", "Save Me, Save Yourself" theme, I much prefer the 3x3 Eyes formula.
The protagonist is an undead. His soul was eaten by a demon/god, who manifested herself as a school girl. He can never die (even if pulverized) because his soul was effectively merged with the god's. However, he can feel pain and may take time to heal a major injury. When the god slumbers (e.g., after one powerful attack), the school girl becomes rather vulnerable and forgetful. When the god wakes up, she owns almost any one under the sun. The protagonist is thus tasked to protect the god while her human personality is awake. The other interesting bit is the more danger the girl is subjected to, the more (exponentially) powerful the undead becomes. He is known as the "Wu" in the monster guide (or "Void", for the legend says these people are void of humanity; although our protagonist is just a young man who fell in love with the wrong girl -- and trying desparately to get his soul back). He also learned to cast ancient spells along the way (Their enemies were terrifying and formidable too).
I think the dynamics makes a more interesting game than the standard powerful guy + helpless girl combo.
Black kolobok
Newcomer
Yeah, another generic post apocalyptic/unreal game is not what I expected from NT. Especially with them having a very nice PS3 engine on their hands, cost of developing which probably hadn't been covered by sales of Heavenly Sword alone. I guess poor HS sales is what made them go in more generic direction, but I'm afraid they might have made this decision way before PS3 really took off, and now some decision makers are probably looking back seeing how well some of the PS3 exclusives have been doing recently.
Heavenly Sword 2 after Enslaved maybe?
Heavenly Sword 2 after Enslaved maybe?
Billy Idol
Legend
Hm, I thought HS sold 2 Millions?!
I wonder about the cost of HS, naively I think that Sony picked up the cost of cutscene done down in New Zeland etc. But NT probably had to fund a nice chunk of the game itself. Ie Sony's cut of the "profits" would be a bit larger and that NT probably did not make out so good. Although it might have been 100% financed by Sony and the game did not do what they hoped for?
Looking at Motorstorm for instance, where they went to Grand Canyon and filmed with helicopters etc, Sony ended up buying the company, maybe it was the idea they had with NT also, but NT owners maybe did not want it?
Looking at Motorstorm for instance, where they went to Grand Canyon and filmed with helicopters etc, Sony ended up buying the company, maybe it was the idea they had with NT also, but NT owners maybe did not want it?
Sigfried1977
Legend
I disagree. I prefer no jumping to crappy jumping. Besides, HS had it's own way of breaking the monotony with the cannon and Kai sections (the simplistic hat throwing puzzles don't count). Despite no jumping the game also managed to come up with one hell of an epic final boss battle.
Prophecy2k
Veteran
I disagree too in fact... name one enemy in a God of War game that allows you to use jumping as an effective means of avoiding their attacks?!... i seriously cannot think of any at all... that's what you have the right stick for, as Kratos' doesn't get enough height or air with his jump for it to be useful in that regard. His jump is used for the jumping sections which were great but were also the most frustrating parts of the game.
I played through Heavenly Sword three times in rapid succession at launch, i thoroughly loved it... and it was only years afterwards while reading online internet forums that i even realised the game didn't have a jump button. It was designed well enough in my view without one...
I don't think the game was monotonous either, and i thought NT did an awesome job of breaking up the gameplay sections... i certainly didn't notice i couldn't jump and it's probably because i never felt that i needed to.
Plus, for me... (and this is just a pet peave of mine) i sometimes feel that some games with platforming section are wrecked by having silly unrealistic jumping-jack-rabbit characters when the game is trying to take itself seriously, just because the devs want to please the genre fans or conform to a gaming genre "standard" that in actual fact is redundant in the game they're trying to make. I applaud NT for going against the grain and making a different type of game with HS... not all Hack&Slash games should be expected to play like GOW, or Ninja Gaiden, or DMC, or beyonetta.
The characters, story, animations and gameplay of Heavenly Sword was excellent and i think giving Nariko the ability to Jump would be uncessesary and break the immersion for me... As much as i love GOW games, i hate Kratos' very unrealistic double jump... when a game looks that awesome... why give the character a wierd silly-looking unrealistic mechanic simply for the sake of it? I'd prefer if they gave him a properly animated realistic jump and then designed the gameplay and levels around that.
Mario-height jumping should have died last gen as far as i'm concerned!
From memory, the Minotaurs and the big troll monsters with spiked balls too. I'm sure there are others.
Best way to avoid their attacks would be to roll to the side, or double jump and dash (or whatever you call it, when you use the right analog stick while jumping, after getting the Hermes boots). Rolling is usually better as it's less tricky.
Oh and the first phase of the Zeus fight can be done without taking any damage, by jumping at the right time.
Sigfried1977
Legend
You could avoid some of Hades' sweep and quake attacks with a jump for example, but the game was designed around that mechanic (albeit to an almost neglectable degree).
I also have to agree with Prophecy2k in that realistic characters simply tend to look ridiculous when jumping or worse: double jumping.
I also have to agree with Prophecy2k in that realistic characters simply tend to look ridiculous when jumping or worse: double jumping.
Well you can't really have a game like Ninja Gaiden,DMC or Bayonetta without Jump...can you ?
Billy Idol
Legend
Hades Fight, I jumped to avoid his dirty low attacks...
On the other hand, I completely agree with you what you say about HS - I thought it played rather well and I really liked the combat, did not miss jumping at all. For instance: it is possible in HS to cancel your current combo whenever you want to...gives you full control and thus something I like!!
If I'd had to choose between jumping and being able to throw (and motion control) any object lying on the floor including slain enemies, I'm pretty sure which I'd choose.
I don't mind jumping or no jumping. Don't you think something is missing in Heavenly Sword's grunt battles ? Is jumping the missing link ? The only memorable grunt battle I can think of is the one full of damn gorillas. Made me run all over the place to avoid them.
The battles involving bosses don't count (e.g., the one where Flying Fox sent his minions after Nariko). What grunt fight or enemy in Heavenly Sword impressed you ? The bosses were all kinds of awesome. They all had very unique and over the top personality.
EDIT: It's coming back to me slowly. I also remember the portable cannon. In that scene, I set aside my cannon to save ammo. Unfortunately, there were so many enemies that their corpses piled up and covered my cannon. I couldn't find it afterwards.
The battles involving bosses don't count (e.g., the one where Flying Fox sent his minions after Nariko). What grunt fight or enemy in Heavenly Sword impressed you ? The bosses were all kinds of awesome. They all had very unique and over the top personality.
EDIT: It's coming back to me slowly. I also remember the portable cannon. In that scene, I set aside my cannon to save ammo. Unfortunately, there were so many enemies that their corpses piled up and covered my cannon. I couldn't find it afterwards.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
"no separate jump button in a game like this is imo crime against humanity..."
That's what I wrote in 2007, and felt the need to repeat it! :smile:
I still see nightmares about not being able to jump.
That's what I wrote in 2007, and felt the need to repeat it! :smile:
I still see nightmares about not being able to jump.
Prophecy2k
Veteran
You're right... the grunt battles weren't incredible, but i'd say that's moreso because of the lack of enemy variety than any lack of ability on Nariko's part.
Jumping wouldn't have made any of the grunt battles more memorable... in the way HS was designed, i'm pretty persuaded that the majority of players would have ignored the jump button during battles had there been one anyways.
Back on topic... I very much enjoyed HS, and i believe it was a positive testament to the abilities of NT (and Sony Cambridge in some capacity) to craft a highly cinematic and thoroughly fun and enjoyable action game (with great Characters and solid voice talent).
I believe in their pedigree as a developer and so i'm excited to see what Enslaved has to offer
Prophecy2k
Veteran
The purpose of my mentioning those games was to highlight the seemingly increasingly prevalent expectation in the mind of gamers, who play those action games, and expect every game made within the same genre to play in exactly the same way... (i.e. every hack&slash must have a jump button).
Not sure about you guys but i quite like how level design got more 'vertical' as years went by.
Maybe it doesn't really help with the fighting, but imagine if all levels were just plain old groups of rooms one next to the other horizontally.
Then again you still don't need a jump button for vertically contructed level, but it certainly makes it more interesting.
Maybe it doesn't really help with the fighting, but imagine if all levels were just plain old groups of rooms one next to the other horizontally.
Then again you still don't need a jump button for vertically contructed level, but it certainly makes it more interesting.
london-boy, you have to play Demon's Souls. The main character cannot jump like Kratos, but he fought giants, dragons and other large monsters fair-n-square. The level design is not constrainted by the lack of jumping too. Each world exudes a different feeling (e.g., claustrophobic, acrophobic, etc.).
Yes, they don't seem to be very good at their job, except for the gorillas.
I think there may be different ways to do the game with and without the jumping, but without plugging other holes, the grunt battles may still lack a certain omph.
Yes, they don't seem to be very good at their job, except for the gorillas.
I think there may be different ways to do the game with and without the jumping, but without plugging other holes, the grunt battles may still lack a certain omph.
Black kolobok
Newcomer
Close, http://www.vgchartz.com/games/game.php?id=6978®ion=All , but I just remember all the talk after release about it not living up to expectations and all.
In any case, I am stoked to see Serkis doing acting and even taking part in the directing of the title. I can't think of another game to top the quality of face animation and the overall flare of the cutscenes that HS had. Hopefully they can recreate the awesomeness of king Bohan & general Flying Fox again.
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