[PS3] God of War III Pre-Release

[RenegadeRocks]

Gears tangent ends nao. Gears 2 brumak != Gears 1 brumak wrt chains. EOD.

Please continue with God of War, not Gears of War.

-Al

 

[Scott_Arm]

Don't feel bad man, I've been playing Playstation games for ages and I still have trouble with them.

Though, playing games with QTE's on both systems (360 and PS3) has greatly improved my play on both systems, as it has helped me become more familiar with each controller. I can move back and forth really easily now with little effort or thought.

I need an extra half second to think about which button I'm pressing. I usually learn the controls intuitively and if they flash something like a triangle on the screen, it takes me a second to think about which button that actually is. It's not so bad if it's one button quickly, but when you have to do three quickly in succession, I screw it up. Hopefully they'll have some creative stuff with regards to the QTEs and maybe some motion controls that don't suck?

 

[tha_con]

I need an extra half second to think about which button I'm pressing. I usually learn the controls intuitively and if they flash something like a triangle on the screen, it takes me a second to think about which button that actually is. It's not so bad if it's one button quickly, but when you have to do three quickly in succession, I screw it up. Hopefully they'll have some creative stuff with regards to the QTEs and maybe some motion controls that don't suck?

I have faith that they'll have some great motion control tech. Flower came out of Santa Monica studios, and I'd assume the tech they used on that would be applied in GoW (in some way, shape, or form). It is posisble, as RCF showed, to use Motion Control in interesting ways in an action title.

 

[zed]

Why do you guess when you can watch the video? Hint: It is not a person and it is not swimming upstream.

ok I now have (internet connections been playing up this week)
the quality is better than the washed out screenshots of above, but its still not good considered its heritage (some of the best games technically last generation).

also personally gameplay looked extremely boring (ok this is personal preference so ignore it)

 

[tha_con]

The recent trailer has improved graphics compared to the VGA trailer.

The difference between the two is extremely minor.

 

[Iron Tiger]

ok I now have (internet connections been playing up this week)
the quality is better than the washed out screenshots of above, but its still not good considered its heritage (some of the best games technically last generation).

also personally gameplay looked extremely boring (ok this is personal preference so ignore it)

1) It's early in development
2) It's impossible to tell how the game will be play from a cinematically edited trailer
3) It's more GoW, so you probably already know whether or not you want to play it. Even with disappointing or underwhelming graphics, I assume a lot of the diehard fans will be interested in playing more. The same kinds of fans that bought the PSP version, even though it's not technically up to the standards of the PS2 games. Or the fans that bought PS3's just on the hope that they'd get to play a next gen version of GoW, before any media was released for the game.

I said of the first teaser trailer, I'll be glad to play the game, even if it looks like that. That it's looking better already and will probably get some more refinement as development continues is just a bonus. It's freakin' GOD OF WAR!!!

 

[obonicus]

I said of the first teaser trailer, I'll be glad to play the game, even if it looks like that. That it's looking better already and will probably get some more refinement as development continues is just a bonus. It's freakin' GOD OF WAR!!!

This is important to highlight. God of War is not the most advanced action game, not like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry. It is probably the most visceral, though. The game starts on a high note, and then it's like every single set-piece is created to top the last.

 

[betan]

This is important to highlight. God of War is not the most advanced action game, not like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry.

No offense but I find this quite laughable.
GoWs have better camera, better platforming, better streaming, and arguably better boss battles.
Actually the camera is by far the best I have seen in any game, and it does quite unusual tricks, like height dependent spiral rotations etc. Not to mention the smooth QTE tech everyone seems to hate.

I also find it funny that the next gen iterations of NG and DMC (that I have played) have still room to room via clickable stationary door texture approach, which is, needless to say, miserably last gen, as opposed to even good old GoW1 on PS2.

Yet people keep talking about how good they looked on PS2, ignoring all the awesome coding went into the game.

I personally find in incredibly exciting that this team is developing a game on a next gen console. Even this small trailer hints that they are the right guys for the job.

ps: While GoWs default combat is nothing to write home about, I still find it better than the other two, at least at the default difficulty, but I understand why people may not think so.

 

[vanquish]

No offense but I find this quite laughable.
GoWs have better camera, better platforming, better streaming, and arguably better boss battles.
Actually the camera is by far the best I have seen in any game, and it does quite unusual tricks, like height dependent spiral rotations etc. Not to mention the smooth QTE tech everyone seems to hate.

I also find it funny that the next gen iterations of NG and DMC (that I have played) have still room to room via clickable stationary door texture approach, which is, needless to say, miserably last gen, as opposed to even good old GoW1 on PS2.

Yet people keep talking about how good they looked on PS2, ignoring all the awesome coding went into the game.

I personally find in incredibly exciting that this team is developing a game on a next gen console. Even this small trailer hints that they are the right guys for the job.

ps: While GoWs default combat is nothing to write home about, I still find it better than the other two, at least at the default difficulty, but I understand why people may not think so.

Please don't say the camera is the best ever, it's scripted, there's no program written that controls the camera positioning.

So while it may be the best solution, it's an artistic/design one, not a technical one.

And Western games nowadays are usually technically head and shoulders above their Japanese counterparts (Capcom is one exception).

GoW is so successful because it does other things really well, rather than just relying on the core gameplay.

 

[obonicus]

No offense but I find this quite laughable.
GoWs have better camera, better platforming, better streaming, and arguably better boss battles.
Actually the camera is by far the best I have seen in any game, and it does quite unusual tricks, like height dependent spiral rotations etc. Not to mention the smooth QTE tech everyone seems to hate.

I agree with you entirely but none of these are important features for an action game in the vein of DMC or NG. Even Jaffe himself has admitted that none of its constituent gameplay pieces on their own are that great, GoW's success instead comes from the near-flawless integration into one great whole.

 

[ShadowRunner]

Please don't say the camera is the best ever, it's scripted, there's no program written that controls the camera positioning.

So while it may be the best solution, it's an artistic/design one, not a technical one.

And Western games nowadays are usually technically head and shoulders above their Japanese counterparts (Capcom is one exception).

GoW is so successful because it does other things really well, rather than just relying on the core gameplay.

If something is better, then it is better. At the end of the day the simplest solution is always the best if it gives you the results you want, who cares how technically advanced it it?

If a game comes allong tomorrow that blows say killzone 2 out of the water graphically but using old tech what the hell does it matter? Its the end result that matters, not how you get there.

 

[tha_con]

Please don't say the camera is the best ever, it's scripted, there's no program written that controls the camera positioning.

So while it may be the best solution, it's an artistic/design one, not a technical one.

And Western games nowadays are usually technically head and shoulders above their Japanese counterparts (Capcom is one exception).

GoW is so successful because it does other things really well, rather than just relying on the core gameplay.

Why in the HELL does the camera being "scripted' change anything? That is the silliest thing I have ever read. On top of that, you say there's no program written to control the camera. WTF?! Then how do you think it's being controlled? If the user isn't controlling the camera, the game is. If the *game* is controlling the camera, you can bet your ass there was code written to control it.

The camera allows you to play each and every second of the game without frustration, and that's ALL that matters when you discuss a camera.

God of War is successful BECAUSE of the core gameplay, because it doesn't require the memorization of combos and cancels to remain competitive with enemies (that really aren't smart of challenging, they just have large numbers and are essentially "damage sponges").

Just say you don't like God of War and leave it at that, most of what you've said, while opinion, is rather shallow IMO.

You act as though scripting somehow strips away any and all functionality and effectiveness.

 

[ShadowRunner]

Why in the HELL does the camera being "scripted' change anything? That is the silliest thing I have ever read.

The camera allows you to play each and every second of the game without frustration, and that's ALL that matters when you discuss a camera.

God of War is successful BECAUSE of the core gameplay, because it doesn't require the memorization of combos and cancels to remain competitive with enemies (that really aren't smart of challenging, they just have large numbers and are essentially "damage sponges").

Just say you don't like God of War and leave it at that, most of what you've said, while opinion, is rather shallow IMO.

You act as though scripting somehow strips away any and all functionality and effectiveness.

Here's some of my opinion: Ninja Gaiden 2 was a steaming pile of garbage, a terrible action game with poor design and uninspired art. The camera is TERRIBLE.

DMC4 was so so, but falls flat on it's face when you realize you have to replay everything all over again, the camera isn't that great, and Nero is seriously shallow compared to Dante. To top it all off, all the levels are designed for Nero, so taking advantage of Dante becomes a chore instead of a possibility. The ONLY TIME this game shines is when you get into Bloody Palace, other than that, it absolutely stinks because DMC3 was a far FAR better game.

While i agree that vanquish's comments are silly at BEST, lets not go down the road of bringing other games into this discussion, especially when those games are going for something different than GOW. Cant people just accept that different people want different things from games. To me GOW is great because it doesnt try to be too complex and hardcore, people that want it to be should be looking elsewhere.

 

[tha_con]

While i agree that vanquish's comments are silly at BEST, lets not go down the road of bringing other games into this discussion, especially when those games are going for something different than GOW. Cant people just accept that different people want different things from games. To me GOW is great because it doesnt try to be too complex and hardcore, people that want it to be should be looking elsewhere.

You're right. Absolutely right.

It's juts irritating to read drivel like that.

First it was about how unimpressive the game looked, then it was how poor the combat is, and how the game is only popular because it has boobs and blood.

Now it's how any achievement the team has made with the camera is somehow "washed away" because it's scripted.

Ugh...

 

[betan]

Please don't say the camera is the best ever, it's scripted, there's no program written that controls the camera positioning.

Camera is not "scripted" as in the deterministic animation sequence triggered after some predetermined event (like CoD4 for example). Camera in GoWs, similar to many other games is a function of user controlled parameters like character position in 3d space, in addition to level geometry (which is likely mostly represented by a parametrized continues curves by camera designer) and sometimes enemy positions. So, though this may surprise you, there is actually a code that continuously calculates camera position, angle and settings based on those variables.
It's just that GoWs do that way better than other games.

And Western games nowadays are usually technically head and shoulders above their Japanese counterparts (Capcom is one exception).

I'm confused, is this somehow a counter argument to what I was saying regarding GoW being more advanced? Because it sure looks otherwise which makes me wonder why and what you are arguing at all.

 

[joker454]

This is important to highlight. God of War is not the most advanced action game, not like Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry. It is probably the most visceral, though. The game starts on a high note, and then it's like every single set-piece is created to top the last.

To be honest I'm not really concerned with the visuals. As long as it's a decent upgrade from the PS2 games I'll be happy, I don't think Sony Santa Monica will disappoint in that regard. The previous two PS2 games were so much fun that I'm all over this one come release day There just isn't any other game out there that to me has the same fluidity of control that GoW has, it's reference standard even compared to Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry. Personal opinion of course. I also like that GoW is a bit simpler to just pick up and play, you are having fun from minute one, no learning curve required. I do like Devil May Cry though, but I could never get into Ninja Gaiden.

 

[vanquish]

Camera is not "scripted" as in the deterministic animation sequence triggered after some predetermined event (like CoD4 for example). Camera in GoWs, similar to many other games is a function of user controlled parameters like character position in 3d space, in addition to level geometry (which is likely mostly represented by a parametrized continues curves by camera designer) and sometimes enemy positions. So, though this may surprise you, there is actually a code that continuously calculates camera position, angle and settings based on those variables.
It's just that GoWs do that way better than other games.


I'm confused, is this somehow a counter argument to what I was saying regarding GoW being more advanced? Because it sure looks otherwise which makes me wonder why and what you are arguing at all.

1. I was under the impression, that for each possible player location in the environment, the camera designer would optimally position the camera (which would pan etc. as the player moved around that location).
If it is an actual intelligent camera system, then I apologise for my comments, as I didn't realise.

2. I meant that most Western devs these days have superior technical skills to their Japanese counterparts, which explains why it looks far better than DMC or NG.

 

[obonicus]

1. I was under the impression, that for each possible player location in the environment, the camera designer would optimally position the camera (which would pan etc. as the player moved around that location).
If it is an actual intelligent camera system, then I apologise for my comments, as I didn't realise.

You seem to misunderstand the main issue. Why does it matter? A good camera's a good camera, whether someone fine-tuned the camera to every single scene in the game or because they have the most amazing camera-finding algorithm. If game x has a more advanced algorithm in place than GoW, but still has terrible cameras, who cares? The end-result matters, nothing else.

 

[MrFloopy]

1. I was under the impression, that for each possible player location in the environment, the camera designer would optimally position the camera (which would pan etc. as the player moved around that location).
If it is an actual intelligent camera system, then I apologise for my comments, as I didn't realise.

Their is a presentation online somewhere that goes through how the GOW camera system works. It's actually quite nice in it's simplicity (as is the entire game side tech in general).

I heard a talk by the lead programmer somewhere that their elf size for PS2 was about 1.5MB which points to the simplicity of the code base.

This is from a distant memory so it may all be wrong

here's a link:

Lead Programmer talk:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2637/gdc_god_of_war_how_the_left_and_.php

The camera system talk was part of GDC 08 so should be available somewhere around the place.

 

[patsu]

Lead Programmer talk:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2637/gdc_god_of_war_how_the_left_and_.php

Thanks for the link. What a great read ! Very familiar with the issues the developers faced too.