Finally started hellblade, and Jesus Christ so many stupid design stuff. Not telling you about buttons so you die. Confusing puzzles where they keep yelling unhelpful clues. And worst of all, long sequences that end in combat, and if you die in the combat you have to redo the whole long sequence. Also combat is frustrating and simplistic.
I love the art and world and story, but they 100% fucked up the game parts of this game
Edit ok I’m liking it more as I go on. But it makes a very bad first impression with like frontloaded line up puzzles and instant death sewuences
Hope you don't mind having to completely restart the game if you're Rune collecting and miss one that's unreturnable, of which a number are!
Yeah, you can tell the game was made by a very small number of people in comparative terms. Mildly-competent combat where the only option for graduating difficulty is "Way more dudes, and maybe stronger ones." The same puzzle loop over and over again. Beautifully rendered areas--that repeat over and over.
It's left me curious for Hellblade 2 since, the first one was kind of critically acclaimed (the sound direction was real good too, to its credit), since it's hard to imagine Microsoft wouldn't contract a platform-exclusive sequel that wasn't relatively large, versus Hellblade, where you have a B-title very cleverly passing itself off as near-AAA. So much of that game is defined by the need to keep things fairly small. Still, it has its charm, so we'll see how that transfers over to the sequel (which, when combined with the Series X platform--not clear if it's going to be on Xbox One as well? Not sure?), I'm picturing something like the new God of War or perhaps a more carefully curated Horizon Zero Dawn.
Which leads me to my main question about Microsoft's acquisitions. Most of the studios are pretty solidly AA rather than AAA. Will Microsoft essentially let them continue on as before? Or will the company pump them up to AAA size? And if so, what will change?
Finally started hellblade, and Jesus Christ so many stupid design stuff. Not telling you about buttons so you die. Confusing puzzles where they keep yelling unhelpful clues. And worst of all, long sequences that end in combat, and if you die in the combat you have to redo the whole long sequence. Also combat is frustrating and simplistic.
I love the art and world and story, but they 100% fucked up the game parts of this game
Edit ok I’m liking it more as I go on. But it makes a very bad first impression with like frontloaded line up puzzles and instant death sewuences
Hope you don't mind having to completely restart the game if you're Rune collecting and miss one that's unreturnable, of which a number are!
Yeah, you can tell the game was made by a very small number of people in comparative terms. Mildly-competent combat where the only option for graduating difficulty is "Way more dudes, and maybe stronger ones." The same puzzle loop over and over again. Beautifully rendered areas--that repeat over and over.
It's left me curious for Hellblade 2 since, the first one was kind of critically acclaimed (the sound direction was real good too, to its credit), since it's hard to imagine Microsoft wouldn't contract a platform-exclusive sequel that wasn't relatively large, versus Hellblade, where you have a B-title very cleverly passing itself off as near-AAA. So much of that game is defined by the need to keep things fairly small. Still, it has its charm, so we'll see how that transfers over to the sequel (which, when combined with the Series X platform--not clear if it's going to be on Xbox One as well? Not sure?), I'm picturing something like the new God of War or perhaps a more carefully curated Horizon Zero Dawn.
Which leads me to my main question about Microsoft's acquisitions. Most of the studios are pretty solidly AA rather than AAA. Will Microsoft essentially let them continue on as before? Or will the company pump them up to AAA size? And if so, what will change?
there was an interview with Matt Booty a while back where he outlined there strategy as wanting to release a game roughly every 3 months or so in the future. this informed which studios they purchased as they knew they'd need a number of smaller and mid sized studios to fill the time between bigger franchise releases. i expect the studios they've bought will grow, but there will still be smaller titles in development even if some projects grow in scope. Ninja Theory, for example, recently released Bleeding Edge and are working on Project: MARA as well as Hellblade 2.
Finally started hellblade, and Jesus Christ so many stupid design stuff. Not telling you about buttons so you die. Confusing puzzles where they keep yelling unhelpful clues. And worst of all, long sequences that end in combat, and if you die in the combat you have to redo the whole long sequence. Also combat is frustrating and simplistic.
I love the art and world and story, but they 100% fucked up the game parts of this game
Edit ok I’m liking it more as I go on. But it makes a very bad first impression with like frontloaded line up puzzles and instant death sewuences
Hope you don't mind having to completely restart the game if you're Rune collecting and miss one that's unreturnable, of which a number are!
Yeah, you can tell the game was made by a very small number of people in comparative terms. Mildly-competent combat where the only option for graduating difficulty is "Way more dudes, and maybe stronger ones." The same puzzle loop over and over again. Beautifully rendered areas--that repeat over and over.
It's left me curious for Hellblade 2 since, the first one was kind of critically acclaimed (the sound direction was real good too, to its credit), since it's hard to imagine Microsoft wouldn't contract a platform-exclusive sequel that wasn't relatively large, versus Hellblade, where you have a B-title very cleverly passing itself off as near-AAA. So much of that game is defined by the need to keep things fairly small. Still, it has its charm, so we'll see how that transfers over to the sequel (which, when combined with the Series X platform--not clear if it's going to be on Xbox One as well? Not sure?), I'm picturing something like the new God of War or perhaps a more carefully curated Horizon Zero Dawn.
Which leads me to my main question about Microsoft's acquisitions. Most of the studios are pretty solidly AA rather than AAA. Will Microsoft essentially let them continue on as before? Or will the company pump them up to AAA size? And if so, what will change?
there was an interview with Matt Booty a while back where he outlined there strategy as wanting to release a game roughly every 3 months or so in the future. this informed which studios they purchased as they knew they'd need a number of smaller and mid sized studios to fill the time between bigger franchise releases. i expect the studios they've bought will grow, but there will still be smaller titles in development even if some projects grow in scope. Ninja Theory, for example, recently released Bleeding Edge and are working on Project: MARA as well as Hellblade 2.
Good point, since larger games typically need longer development times.
And I had completely forgotten Bleeding Edge came out. That one didn't even make a blip, did it?
I can only speak for me but I'd way rather have a whole big pile of interesting AA games than a much smaller pile of AAA games and I'd way rather studios like Obsidian and Double Fine were left alone to do what they're good at than get artificially forced into doing "bigger" games.
Also I'm very excited to get into The Touryst with my kids but I just started playing Minecraft with them yesterday (they're 7 and 9 so creative, no online or anything) and now I don't think they're going to play anything else until Christmas.
Finally started hellblade, and Jesus Christ so many stupid design stuff. Not telling you about buttons so you die. Confusing puzzles where they keep yelling unhelpful clues. And worst of all, long sequences that end in combat, and if you die in the combat you have to redo the whole long sequence. Also combat is frustrating and simplistic.
I love the art and world and story, but they 100% fucked up the game parts of this game
Edit ok I’m liking it more as I go on. But it makes a very bad first impression with like frontloaded line up puzzles and instant death sewuences
Hope you don't mind having to completely restart the game if you're Rune collecting and miss one that's unreturnable, of which a number are!
Yeah, you can tell the game was made by a very small number of people in comparative terms. Mildly-competent combat where the only option for graduating difficulty is "Way more dudes, and maybe stronger ones." The same puzzle loop over and over again. Beautifully rendered areas--that repeat over and over.
It's left me curious for Hellblade 2 since, the first one was kind of critically acclaimed (the sound direction was real good too, to its credit), since it's hard to imagine Microsoft wouldn't contract a platform-exclusive sequel that wasn't relatively large, versus Hellblade, where you have a B-title very cleverly passing itself off as near-AAA. So much of that game is defined by the need to keep things fairly small. Still, it has its charm, so we'll see how that transfers over to the sequel (which, when combined with the Series X platform--not clear if it's going to be on Xbox One as well? Not sure?), I'm picturing something like the new God of War or perhaps a more carefully curated Horizon Zero Dawn.
While this is quite possible, nothing else that Microsoft has shown us is going in this direction, so I'm skeptical this game is going to have that kind of budget. Everything being day one on gamepass doesn't really incentivize the 5-year-dev $60 blockbusters that Sony puts out. Microsoft only seems to want to dump real money into games with ongoing updates and MTX, and I fear that gamepass is increasingly locking them into this approach.
On the other hand, they did apparently scan all of Iceland for the game, so maybe they are shooting for some ridiculously epic open world. That could still be plagued with MTX.
Obsidian could be a AAA studio, with the right supports (QA) and funds. That Avowed looks AAA for sure. Ninja Theory? Not so much. Their games all strike me as AA fare.
Finally started hellblade, and Jesus Christ so many stupid design stuff. Not telling you about buttons so you die. Confusing puzzles where they keep yelling unhelpful clues. And worst of all, long sequences that end in combat, and if you die in the combat you have to redo the whole long sequence. Also combat is frustrating and simplistic.
I love the art and world and story, but they 100% fucked up the game parts of this game
Edit ok I’m liking it more as I go on. But it makes a very bad first impression with like frontloaded line up puzzles and instant death sewuences
Hope you don't mind having to completely restart the game if you're Rune collecting and miss one that's unreturnable, of which a number are!
Yeah, you can tell the game was made by a very small number of people in comparative terms. Mildly-competent combat where the only option for graduating difficulty is "Way more dudes, and maybe stronger ones." The same puzzle loop over and over again. Beautifully rendered areas--that repeat over and over.
It's left me curious for Hellblade 2 since, the first one was kind of critically acclaimed (the sound direction was real good too, to its credit), since it's hard to imagine Microsoft wouldn't contract a platform-exclusive sequel that wasn't relatively large, versus Hellblade, where you have a B-title very cleverly passing itself off as near-AAA. So much of that game is defined by the need to keep things fairly small. Still, it has its charm, so we'll see how that transfers over to the sequel (which, when combined with the Series X platform--not clear if it's going to be on Xbox One as well? Not sure?), I'm picturing something like the new God of War or perhaps a more carefully curated Horizon Zero Dawn.
While this is quite possible, nothing else that Microsoft has shown us is going in this direction, so I'm skeptical this game is going to have that kind of budget. Everything being day one on gamepass doesn't really incentivize the 5-year-dev $60 blockbusters that Sony puts out. Microsoft only seems to want to dump real money into games with ongoing updates and MTX, and I fear that gamepass is increasingly locking them into this approach.
On the other hand, they did apparently scan all of Iceland for the game, so maybe they are shooting for some ridiculously epic open world. That could still be plagued with MTX.
Microtransactions are pretty reliant on a multiplayer element. Case in point, the only multiplayer exclusives from Sony lately are Uncharted 4, which is plagued by the double-combo of microtransactions and lootboxes (versus, for example on Game Pass, Sea of Thieves which has no lootboxes but certainly has microtransactions), and Final Fantasy XIV, which has microtransactions and a subscription to accompany the retail game.
I don't think it's crazy to think there's a potential pattern here.
It's not really clear if Hellblade 2 will actually have multiplayer. It might. Or it might not--Ori 2 has (only) very limited multiplayer, and no microtransactions, unlike Uncharted. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Hellblade 2 ends up becoming a curated, no-multiplayer experience like The Outer Worlds, but I'm not going to say that's guaranteed.
To be clear, Microsoft is supporting single player games without awful MTX and I expect them to continue to do so. They just aren't throwing the kind of budgets around that Sony is for those games. So yeah more Outer Worlds scope at best than Last of Us.
They aren't doing those single big titles as often because they haven't paid off in the last couple years. Game Pass is subsidizing the majority of those first party releases. Sunset Overdrive was one of my favorite games on the Xbox at release and yet most people don't even remember it.
They aren't doing those single big titles as often because they haven't paid off in the last couple years. Game Pass is subsidizing the majority of those first party releases. Sunset Overdrive was one of my favorite games on the Xbox at release and yet most people don't even remember it.
I don't think they even pay off for Sony directly. Sony's making those investments more to sell consoles and then hope you start buying 3rd party titles they can skim licensing fees from, as well as overpriced accessories.
To be clear, Microsoft is supporting single player games without awful MTX and I expect them to continue to do so. They just aren't throwing the kind of budgets around that Sony is for those games. So yeah more Outer Worlds scope at best than Last of Us.
Which, fittingly, launched without multiplayer (though I think they planned to add it--hello, MTX probably).
Oh my goodness. The CEO of my company sent me a message saying that he can get some decent discounts on Microsoft stuff and asked if I'd like to take a look. I saw that he was able to get a 12 month pass for Ultimate Game Pass for $90 and jumped on that. I now have access to literally so many games my head's going to explode.
Oh my goodness. The CEO of my company sent me a message saying that he can get some decent discounts on Microsoft stuff and asked if I'd like to take a look. I saw that he was able to get a 12 month pass for Ultimate Game Pass for $90 and jumped on that. I now have access to literally so many games my head's going to explode.
Welcome to flavor country!
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
Ultimate and EA Access are like, the best dollar:value for gaming I have ever encountered. It's insane.
Edit: Ack though EA Access is only worth it for "a month to try something" or "a year"; don't sub monthly or anything. 30 bucks for the full year is a much better deal.
Oh my goodness. The CEO of my company sent me a message saying that he can get some decent discounts on Microsoft stuff and asked if I'd like to take a look. I saw that he was able to get a 12 month pass for Ultimate Game Pass for $90 and jumped on that. I now have access to literally so many games my head's going to explode.
You didn't have it? Well, you're in for quite a treat. And two Yakuza games, I'd add.
Oh my goodness. The CEO of my company sent me a message saying that he can get some decent discounts on Microsoft stuff and asked if I'd like to take a look. I saw that he was able to get a 12 month pass for Ultimate Game Pass for $90 and jumped on that. I now have access to literally so many games my head's going to explode.
You didn't have it? Well, you're in for quite a treat. And two Yakuza games, I'd add.
I literally made my guy a black teenager with electric shock abilities and a guitar melee weapon, a black and yellow hoodie... Basically I'm saying this game let me cosplay as Static Shock and it was fucking excellent 12/10 Microsoft buy the IP and make a second one plz
Asked this in the fighting games thread but ill ask here too.
Soul caliber 6 is on game pass. Can someone explain the story mode? I created a character, did a little of that, then went to story mode. Saw yhere was main story abd little snippets from the created character?
Does it tie together? What os the true story mode?
Is there no classic arcade mode with a boss anf a story at the end?
Asked this in the fighting games thread but ill ask here too.
Soul caliber 6 is on game pass. Can someone explain the story mode? I created a character, did a little of that, then went to story mode. Saw yhere was main story abd little snippets from the created character?
Does it tie together? What os the true story mode?
Is there no classic arcade mode with a boss anf a story at the end?
Asked this in the fighting games thread but ill ask here too.
Soul caliber 6 is on game pass. Can someone explain the story mode? I created a character, did a little of that, then went to story mode. Saw yhere was main story abd little snippets from the created character?
Does it tie together? What os the true story mode?
Is there no classic arcade mode with a boss anf a story at the end?
There used to be. What modes can you choose from?
Mission: libra of soul
Story : soul chronicle
Creation
Battle
Network
Museum
Options
Store
Also what the fuck is this story mode and main story. All i do is watch text panels. I had one fight and am on chapter 6.
This is no MK story mode thats for sure
That's pretty much the entirety of the story. Text panel snippets followed by a couple fights. It's basically a visual novel added between the story mode in all the other SoulCalibur games.
Mortal Kombat was a game changer. Until then, what SC6 is doing was the best you could hope for. There should be some cutscenes too, since 5 had them. I need to play through this one since I bought it a good 8 months before it got on GamePass but only checked out the character creator.
This is painful. I just hit x as i read everything and nothing happens. Theres bo classic arcade mode, just characters in their side stories fighting mooks in vetween hitting x.
This really kind of sucks. I remember sc having great single player content. This game has content, but if it sucks, may as well not be there.
Yeah, I don't know what happened. I guess NAMCO started sniffing their own farts and decided a standard story mode was déclassé.
that, or they realized how expensive paying for all the voice actors to record dozens more lines of dialogue and create a couple hours more cutscenes is, especially since many players won't even touch since it's a fighting game
Why would a toy company have that info? Then again, why would they make it up? It sounds odd
It's looking like a standard retail page with information on the game, the kind provided from Microsoft for the retail pages online storefront. I mean let's be real, the multiplayer being F2P is just gonna sell more full copies, since people will probably enjoy the MP and then wanna hop into co-op with their friends. If it's like Gears, there will be exclusive skins and stuff for online for those that actually buy the game rather than play via Game Pass/F2P. Not to mention the rumors of a Royale mode in halo infinite has been floating since its first reveal
Posts
Which leads me to my main question about Microsoft's acquisitions. Most of the studios are pretty solidly AA rather than AAA. Will Microsoft essentially let them continue on as before? Or will the company pump them up to AAA size? And if so, what will change?
How do you think they got people to give a shit about indie triple-A hit No Man's Sky. The "exploration"? "Multiplayer"?
It's just like Minecraft!
there was an interview with Matt Booty a while back where he outlined there strategy as wanting to release a game roughly every 3 months or so in the future. this informed which studios they purchased as they knew they'd need a number of smaller and mid sized studios to fill the time between bigger franchise releases. i expect the studios they've bought will grow, but there will still be smaller titles in development even if some projects grow in scope. Ninja Theory, for example, recently released Bleeding Edge and are working on Project: MARA as well as Hellblade 2.
Good point, since larger games typically need longer development times.
And I had completely forgotten Bleeding Edge came out. That one didn't even make a blip, did it?
Also I'm very excited to get into The Touryst with my kids but I just started playing Minecraft with them yesterday (they're 7 and 9 so creative, no online or anything) and now I don't think they're going to play anything else until Christmas.
While this is quite possible, nothing else that Microsoft has shown us is going in this direction, so I'm skeptical this game is going to have that kind of budget. Everything being day one on gamepass doesn't really incentivize the 5-year-dev $60 blockbusters that Sony puts out. Microsoft only seems to want to dump real money into games with ongoing updates and MTX, and I fear that gamepass is increasingly locking them into this approach.
On the other hand, they did apparently scan all of Iceland for the game, so maybe they are shooting for some ridiculously epic open world. That could still be plagued with MTX.
Microtransactions are pretty reliant on a multiplayer element. Case in point, the only multiplayer exclusives from Sony lately are Uncharted 4, which is plagued by the double-combo of microtransactions and lootboxes (versus, for example on Game Pass, Sea of Thieves which has no lootboxes but certainly has microtransactions), and Final Fantasy XIV, which has microtransactions and a subscription to accompany the retail game.
I don't think it's crazy to think there's a potential pattern here.
It's not really clear if Hellblade 2 will actually have multiplayer. It might. Or it might not--Ori 2 has (only) very limited multiplayer, and no microtransactions, unlike Uncharted. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Hellblade 2 ends up becoming a curated, no-multiplayer experience like The Outer Worlds, but I'm not going to say that's guaranteed.
I don't think they even pay off for Sony directly. Sony's making those investments more to sell consoles and then hope you start buying 3rd party titles they can skim licensing fees from, as well as overpriced accessories.
Which, fittingly, launched without multiplayer (though I think they planned to add it--hello, MTX probably).
Welcome to flavor country!
pleasepaypreacher.net
Edit: Ack though EA Access is only worth it for "a month to try something" or "a year"; don't sub monthly or anything. 30 bucks for the full year is a much better deal.
You didn't have it? Well, you're in for quite a treat. And two Yakuza games, I'd add.
3 Yakuza game. Kiwami 2 just got added.
It was a super fun game!
pleasepaypreacher.net
I literally made my guy a black teenager with electric shock abilities and a guitar melee weapon, a black and yellow hoodie... Basically I'm saying this game let me cosplay as Static Shock and it was fucking excellent 12/10 Microsoft buy the IP and make a second one plz
Soul caliber 6 is on game pass. Can someone explain the story mode? I created a character, did a little of that, then went to story mode. Saw yhere was main story abd little snippets from the created character?
Does it tie together? What os the true story mode?
Is there no classic arcade mode with a boss anf a story at the end?
There used to be. What modes can you choose from?
Mission: libra of soul
Story : soul chronicle
Creation
Battle
Network
Museum
Options
Store
This is no MK story mode thats for sure
That's pretty much the entirety of the story. Text panel snippets followed by a couple fights. It's basically a visual novel added between the story mode in all the other SoulCalibur games.
This really kind of sucks. I remember sc having great single player content. This game has content, but if it sucks, may as well not be there.
I hope im just missing something
that, or they realized how expensive paying for all the voice actors to record dozens more lines of dialogue and create a couple hours more cutscenes is, especially since many players won't even touch since it's a fighting game
🤔🤔🤔
There are much better fighting games available to play. If you want a 3D fighter, Dead or Alive 6 and Tekken 7 are both quality.
It's looking like a standard retail page with information on the game, the kind provided from Microsoft for the retail pages online storefront. I mean let's be real, the multiplayer being F2P is just gonna sell more full copies, since people will probably enjoy the MP and then wanna hop into co-op with their friends. If it's like Gears, there will be exclusive skins and stuff for online for those that actually buy the game rather than play via Game Pass/F2P. Not to mention the rumors of a Royale mode in halo infinite has been floating since its first reveal