Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom Update

Hardknock said:
It may just be the encoding but I think I saw some Screen-tearing. Did anybody else notice this?

Aye, I saw it too. It was distracting. Also, some parts of the animations looked a bit choppy to me, but that might have been due to the encoding too :???: (framerate of the video rather than the game).
 
They need to work on the level design the most imo, just seems so empty and void of anything going on. it does kinda feel like a last gen game thats being forced into next gen graphics. I hope the final game shapes up better. But on the other hand I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, the first shots of the game looked way worse, so atleast they are making progress.
 
The level design in this game is disgusting. Looks very empty.

Is it me or does all of Sony's action games have God of War-ish type gameplay? She has 2 blades/knives and does all these combos. They're going to ruin what God of War made unique. :mad:

Anyways... I hope that was some kind of alpha type level because it looked very boring. The art direction in this game is craptacular as well.

As much as I don't like seeing this game, I'll probably end up purchasing it because I liked the Untold Legend games on PSP. :???:

Edit: There is one good thing about this update in the game... the juggernaut guy now has faster attacks than the last footage that was shown. Doesn't look at slow-paced and boring now, but still God of War-ish type gameplay.
 
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Angelcurio said:
AI seems to be disabled, and the attacks are repetitive.
In these games typically the attacks are just mashing the X button, and that's what those that like these games like. If you go into complex combos you risk alienating you audience. I only watched the first few minutes. It did look like she wasn't using any special abilites though as though the characters haven't got any! I'm sure that's not the case.

Regards AI disabled, again for the gameplay wanted what you'r seeing might be as much AI as you want. If the creatures were smart, and ganged up on you and ran away and dodged, it'd be hard to kill them, and the game would drag out. If they're only given simple behaviour, the player has a chance to dodge and fight as they choose. This isn't a GOW game and shouldn't be confused with them. It's not HS or any other complex fighter. The premise of these games is you take a hero out and bash up lots of monsters, upgrading as you go. Too many monsters and it takes forever (this isn't N3 either!). So the monster populations need to be kept down, the AI kept fairly simple, to create the gameplay that's wanted. It doesn't look like much and to a lot of hardcore gamers it looks dull as ditchwater, but some people enjoy that gamestyle and I dare say this game is targetted at them.

For myself I feel the genre has stagnated and they need to add some richer gameplay, but not in the way of GOW or HS - that's more for the likes of Demon Stone which is a different style of game. UL could definitely benefit from some scenery upgrades like some tapestries in that wooden hallway, and where's all the ragdoll deaths? It does look bland. I still don't see where the physics engine is comng into play. Still, how much would that cost to crete a really rich graphical world? If SOE know UL sold x amount on PSP, and predict so and so sales on PS3, they'll know what they can afford to spend, and maybe what we're all wanting to see from many next-gen games is more than the games are worth? This was never going to be a triple-A title, and won't warrant the budget for it. Creating a PS2 title with upgraded models and textures is going to cost more than the PS2 title to create and if you're not likely to make as much money on the returns because of smaller userbase or lack of popularity for the genre, it doesn't make financial sense to splash out. Perhaps this is the result of the machines having more power than the developers have money?
 
Game Informer has a hands-on and 4 new movies
http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200608/N06.0815.1752.24367.htm

This game is exactly last last-gen BG:DA or XMen:Legends in gameplay, and the movies aren't anything worth seeing, except perhaps the second one. It demonstrates a much nicer lighting model with more complex shadowing from the scenery. There's very little here to evaluate other lighting features. Seems to be only one light shadow-casting light source throughout the game, in contrast to SnowBlind Studio's 3 or so in CON. The low quality of the movies makes it hard to make out finer details, but it does look as though, and you might be shocked and awed at this amazing next-gen feature, and of course there's no real reason to suppose it's in there seeing as it's so rare and this isn't a AAA title, it does looks as though Anisotropic Filtering is used :oops: .
 
Still very much looking forward to what Snowblind has on offer (and of course JLH!). In any event, I often find some of the more 'complex' classes to be more interesting to play in the action-RPG genre. One example is the Assassin in D2X (with the charges and finishing moves). The Blood Assassin in DS2:BW is turning out to be quite a bit of fun too. I love marking a bunch of enemies and then blowing them all up in one fell swoop with the Execute power. :)

I'll also be looking forward to the unlockables between DS2:BW and DS:ToA for PSP. Of course, there are also other games in the genre I'm looking forward to as well. It's a good time to be an RPG-gamer. :)

Game Informer has a hands-on and 4 new movies
http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200608/N06.0815.1752.24367.htm

This game is exactly last last-gen BG:DA or XMen:Legends in gameplay, and the movies aren't anything worth seeing, except perhaps the second one. It demonstrates a much nicer lighting model with more complex shadowing from the scenery. There's very little here to evaluate other lighting features. Seems to be only one light shadow-casting light source throughout the game, in contrast to SnowBlind Studio's 3 or so in CON. The low quality of the movies makes it hard to make out finer details, but it does look as though, and you might be shocked and awed at this amazing next-gen feature, and of course there's no real reason to suppose it's in there seeing as it's so rare and this isn't a AAA title, it does looks as though Anisotropic Filtering is used :oops: .
 
In the video, the bad cloth effects of the magic guy in the cave's cape and the excessive clipping of the cape is giving me a headache.
 
I wouldnt say a must buy quite yet lol, but I'll definately say the game has come a long way since we first saw it. Looking forward to more improvements in the final version.
 
Game mechanics wise, it sounds very primitive. eg. The weapon types are fixed - the Mage has a staff, the Barb a big hammer, and the Scout dual-swords. You can't change that, which is even more primitive than old the last-gen titles that had differen weapons types with different effects. Then you have the rather limited creature types. Last gen we were limited to 2 or 3 monster types per level with maybe a couple of visual variations each because of RAM. Here I'm seeing the same few monster types, but there's negligable variation. And we haven't seen anything of multiplayer yet which is a must for these games. It looks very much hack'n'slash by the numbers. It's nice someone's creating for the genre which is mostly overlooked, but I don't see how they could be happy as developers to create a game that's if anything a backwards step from what is already being managed on far less powerful hardware?
 
Well to be fair, looking at some old e3 stuff...
It does look like you will be able to gather new weapons, different kinds of armor, and skills as you progress through the game (just like with untold 1 + 2). Heres a small shot of the menu.

untoldej1.jpg

Though I'm not sure if the guy is just limited to just hammers, or other weapons. But IIRC in Untold 1 + 2 each class could gather different kinds of weapons as long as the class could weld the weapons, so I'd think you may see other weapons for the big guy other than just a hammer.

as for being a hack and slash, I dont think this game has ever tried to be something it's not. If you watch some old dev interview videos (gametrailers.com), they even claim they are aiming for a hack and slash game.

That said, I do hope the game keeps getting improvements in the coming months.
 
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Though I'm not sure if the guy is just limited to just hammers, or other weapons. But IIRC in Untold 1 + 2 each class could gather different kinds of weapons as long as the class could weld the weapons, so I'd think you may see other weapons for the big guy other than just a hammer.
IGN have a hands-on
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/726/726333p1.html
As far as weaponry goes, the mage demonstrated the socket system that will be used for Dark Kingdom. The mage will always use a staff, while the scout will always have two bladed weapons and the warrior will always have a two handed weapon. When you equip new weapons, the appearance of the object gets swapped out, but the basic look and function of the item remains the same.

badboy said:
as for being a hack and slash, I dont think this game has ever tried to be something it's not. If you watch some old dev interview videos (gametrailers.com), they even claim they are aiming for a hack and slash game.
Of course, but they're doing the minimum possible for a HnS game. Gameplay, characters, inventory and critters haven't got anything next-gen about them. They haven't apparently got any progress at all, and instead have less than existing games! And when you read what's being said in that article...
Similarly, we discovered that all seven SPUs will be utilized in the game for different purposes, such as water which will be handled by one SPU, particle effects that will be handled by a second SPU, three dedicated SPUs for physics calculation, etc.
3 SPE's for physics, and what's being shown looks little different from XM:legends! I guess these SPE's aren't that good after all! :p

Still, the mage's cloak movie is something quite next-gen (although JLH is to have that this gen by accounts). You can see it's a work in progress, but movement is pretty good and it has a lot of folding detail.
 
Well technically, the characters are still switching weapons lol ;)
And I assume the weapons will take on different characteristics such as the psp versions did. (electricity, fire, ice effects, etc... surrounding the weapon)

Of course, but they're doing the minimum possible for a HnS game. Gameplay, characters, inventory and critters haven't got anything next-gen about them. They haven't apparently got any progress at all, and instead have less than existing games! And when you read what's being said in that article...
True on many points. I dont disagree with you. But you gotta remember, this is a SOE title based on a small PSP franchise. It's not like they are the makers of god of war. Not that you should cut them some slack, but I wouldnt expect amazing things from them either.
 
3 SPE's for physics, and what's being shown looks little different from XM:legends! I guess these SPE's aren't that good after all!


my ferrari as a respectable trunck, but i only know how to put a peanut in it.... gosh, my car must SUCK.


come on... for a guy with eyes wide open you sure keep them tight closed in topics like this

but yeah, this game genre isn't my thing, so it can suck i wont mind lol, just dont say a ferrari sucks because the bakery guy cant drive it.
 
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