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Prince of Persia IV: PoP+Okami+SOTC?
Clevinger
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Prince of Persia IV was announced today for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. It's being developed by the Assassin's Creed team, scheduled to be released at the end of this year. There's also another DS version in the works.
New high quality screens (5/21/08):
http://games.tiscali.cz//images/princeofpersiaprodigy/bog2.jpg
http://games.tiscali.cz//images/princeofpersiaprodigy/img1.jpg
http://games.tiscali.cz//images/princeofpersiaprodigy/img2.jpg
http://games.tiscali.cz//images/princeofpersiaprodigy/img3.jpg
http://games.tiscali.cz//images/princeofpersiaprodigy/img4.jpg
http://i27.tinypic.com/2zh33mb.jpg
http://i30.tinypic.com/2hr08ep.jpg
Then some new art:
http://i26.tinypic.com/2cqz288.jpg
http://i25.tinypic.com/308y1jl.jpg
http://i25.tinypic.com/5x8sgh.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/mmaib9.jpg
screens and art:
Ether_Snake over at neogaf describes some things in the article:
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 28th April, 2008 – Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announced that a new Prince of Persia is scheduled to release towards the end of 2008 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and PC. This new Prince of Persia marks the debut of the critically acclaimed franchise on next-generation consoles. Developed by Ubisoft’s award-winning Montreal studio and the same all-star team that created the previously acclaimed Prince of Persia® Sands of Time trilogy, Prince of Persia is opening a new chapter in the Prince of Persia universe, featuring a new breed of gameplay. The game is poised to rejuvenate the action-adventure genre in addition to introducing a brand-new illustrative art style.
Ubisoft will also release a Prince of Persia game specifically designed for the Nintendo DS™ system, featuring an entirely new storyline and new characters. More details to be unveiled in the future.
New high quality screens (5/21/08):
http://games.tiscali.cz//images/princeofpersiaprodigy/bog2.jpg
http://games.tiscali.cz//images/princeofpersiaprodigy/img1.jpg
http://games.tiscali.cz//images/princeofpersiaprodigy/img2.jpg
http://games.tiscali.cz//images/princeofpersiaprodigy/img3.jpg
http://games.tiscali.cz//images/princeofpersiaprodigy/img4.jpg
http://i27.tinypic.com/2zh33mb.jpg
http://i30.tinypic.com/2hr08ep.jpg
Then some new art:
http://i26.tinypic.com/2cqz288.jpg
http://i25.tinypic.com/308y1jl.jpg
http://i25.tinypic.com/5x8sgh.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/mmaib9.jpg
screens and art:
Eurogamer wrote:The game will be coming to PC, PS3 and 360 this year and is being developed by the original Prince of Persia: Sands of Time team at Ubisoft Montreal. It features cel-shaded graphics, and scraps the Sands of Time rewind powers. The gameplay centres on healing a corrupted world in the style of Okami, Shadow of the Colossus or The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Joypad's preview shows striking images of the game's "illustrative" visual style - a subtle and highly detailed take on cel-shading - and the new Prince, a colourful vagabond swathed in scarves. He wouldn't look out of place in a Final Fantasy game, the article's author points out.
Creative director Jean-Christophe Guyot told Joypad that the aim was to create a more fantastical game and "more poetic vision" than the Sands of Time trilogy, with which it shares no connection. "The previous trilogy mixed the Arabian Nights in with historical Persia," he said (in French, so please excuse our rough translation). "We decided we'd prefer to return to the tales of the Thousand and One Nights for something more colourful."
The move caused some consternation with Ubisoft management, he explained, although they never opposed it. "They knew we weren't going to make a second Assassin's Creed," he said. "However, they did raise their eyebrows a bit at the new, stylised artistic direction. They were worried the Americans wouldn't like it. There were many discussions, but they never said no to us."
Guyot said the style was "Zelda-esque, old school, with very contrasting levels". The settings will be more open and organic than in previous games.
The game's plot draws on a Zoroastrian myth: the war between good and evil gods (and twins) Ohrmazd and Ahriman. Ohrmazd wins and imprisons his brother in a box hidden in an oasis. But Ahriman is freed by an unwitting thief centuries later, and remakes the world in his image, corrupting all living beings. It falls to the thief to undo his actions and return colour to the world, and in so doing he turns from robber into the titular Prince.
He heals the land by killing boss guardians, in the style of Shadow of the Colossus or Twilight Princess, and unleashing the power of the light-wells they guard. The land is then transformed in real-time - unlike Okami's cut-scenes - with grass growing and lighting and colour changing dynamically as the Prince moves through the world.
Although combat is still an important part of the game, enemies will be much less numerous and more vicious. The emphasis is on one-on-one swordfighting duels, with a very dynamic camera. It's described as being more Soul Calibur than God of War.
Platforming has been less drastically altered, with the major addition being a spiked glove that the Prince can use to slide along, and jump from, vertical surfaces. The sands of time powers have been removed due to overuse - "the concept has been so used and copied, we had to move on to something else, put it to one side" - although a still-secret "something" will take their place and fulfil some of the same functions.
Structurally, the game will be a mix of open-ended and linear. The Prince is free to explore the world map and take on challenges in whatever order he wants - dynamic settings taking care of the difficulty curve - but each challenge will be a fairly linear assault course, maximising fluidity and acrobatics, and ending in a boss confrontation. The developers are hoping the bosses will have some of the strong personality of Metal Gear Solid's.
As a fresh start for the Prince of Persia series, it all sounds very promising. Look out for more details from the UbiDays event on the 28th and 29th of May.
Ether_Snake over at neogaf describes some things in the article:
I'll post some translation:
- Prince feels Amano-inspired. Looks like a celluloid/animated character (a bit like SFIV). The style itself is still in progress.
- Corrupted world needs to be healed.
- Story is much more "1001 Nights"-like, more fantasy, less grounded in reality but instead more magical yet still credible, more poetic.
- Player must unleash light-wells to heal the corrupted world, which shoots light into the sky, reminiscent of SotC and Okami.
- The transformation of the world is in real-time, with plants growing back to life as the world heals back and as the player can still move, instead of a mere cutscene, sky changes back to its normal color, etc., to give a strong sense of control and success to the player.
- No more time rewind and such.
- They are no making a second Assassin's Creed, they are making a new PoP.
- Art style was difficult pass through the management, but they never refused it, and eventually loved it.
- Story specifically: Orhmaz and Arhiman, twin gods, one good one evil, celestial battle, Orhmaz locks Arhiman away in a box which he hides into an faraway oasis deep within a desert. Centuries pass, and comes a troublesome thief (the prince) and Arhiman is freed somehow (not deep explanation given). Prince must undo his mistake. This is what they refer to as a more "1001 Nights" kind of story, like a fable.
- More open/organic environments. Has a Zelda-esque feel, old-school in themes.
- Bosses/player use backgrounds during fights (one shot shows an enemy pushing the prince against a wall as if trying to choke him, or another throwing him in the air).
- Game went through a few iterations; originally too open (felt big but not enough to do), at one point it was more like Assassin as far as open world (going where you want), but players would get lost and wander aimlessly and dynamism suffered as a result. Now instead it is more focussed with a clear road, but multiple paths can be taken (free to move from one map to another, back and forth, etc., more open than previous PoPs).
- The demo map shown to the journalist, old of a few months, has been scrapped design-wise because it was too Assassin-like, now it's more fantasy design-wise.
- Game world is made of nodes connected by paths, and you can go from one node to another as you wish (this is what they mean by less open, but non-linear; you can see the paths, but you don't have to going from A to B to C). The game adapts as a result (enemies from later visited locations might be more difficult, etc., for example zone A might be more difficult if you access it at the end, but if you accessed it at the beginning then it is easier, even bosses, depending on what order you fight them, adapt as such).
- Prince can slide along any walls using his glove. Game is as much vertical as horizontal.
- Prince has more possibilities of movement.
- Bosses inspired by MGS' boss quality; they are fewer but they have a story, a reason to be, they leave more of an impression on the player. Some are former nobles, sometimes acting against their will.
- They wondered if they should make just more enemies and try to do a God of War game and try to beat it on its own ground, or go for something different. They went with fewer enemies instead and a new combat style. Combats are duels. You can see the expression on the faces of the characters/bosses. Movement/action in fights is more like Advent Children, more cinematic in presentation.
- 140 people working on it, more to come, people from many projects.
Clevinger on
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there on his head
After that ending, someone better be fucking making a second Assassin's Creed.
pretty sure i read they were.
The Sands of Time team usually starts a franchise and then moves on to different IP for another team to make a sequel. Ubisoft has already said it's a trilogy anyways.
Also new characters but is it a new prince?
really personal duels for combat sounds like it might fix my major problem with PoP
also i love vertical 3d platforming.
There is still hope.
This is a ham-fisted translation, what I think they're trying to say is they're actively avoiding making this new Prince of Persia feel more like Assassin's Creed 2, it's to be it's own unique game, both in regards to past Princes of Persia and Assassin's Creed.
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And this one, who looks strangely similar to Natalie Portman:
I bet the Arabian world is really starting to fucking hate the Prince, How many times has he let the sealed evil out of the can now? You'd think they'd have some sort of decree stating he isn't allowed to leave home or open boxes anymore.
LoL - Renon DeSaxous
I is a psychic
That and the talk of emphasising the combat and the boss fights so much. Maybe I'm just reading too much into that, but for me the real gameplay behind the series was always the stylistic acrobatics and where the construction of the levels themselves were huge acrobatic puzzles waiting to be solved. I mean, for me the last boss fight of PoP: Sands of Time wasn't the vizier, it was the final stage where you had to navigate everything without the sand powers. That was awesome.
The combat was always passable, no matter how hard they tried to make it better. I really don't want them to try and best GoW at its own game either, that just struck me as a weird thing to say. Turning the prince from parkour to rage button masher and QTE expert galore doesn't sound like a great idea.
Like I said, maybe I'm reading too much into this, but those preview notes just sound weird in what they're emphasising.
I mean,
Not angry enough for your tastes? :P
All of it.
Well shit. That doesn't bode well for the platforming.
That and I want a sequal to PoP:SoT as we haven't had one yet. With a belligerent sexists gentleman - who I would totally be gay for.
But I very much approve of people trying new things, and the art style is very interesting and pretty. Though the prince looks to emo. So I'm interested.
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
Hold me.
(Though TT does work well as an apology and managed to dig them out of the mess they were making. Though that doesn't matter now they started over - I like things starting over though. Games should do that more often.)
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
Not at all. The rewind time is about letting you quickly undo your mistakes rather than have to repeat things. It is the saviour of the platforming method, and should be in every platforming game. It's no more ridiculous and unexplained as 'extra lives' but yet it's so much better.
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
and if the combat is half as good as Assassin's creed, you can't lose!
I would tend to agree with this. There were sections that I made it through first time just by the skin of my teeth, and it felt awesome. But for those occasions where I couldn't quite manage it, it was very useful to be able to rewind time slightly and have another go at that wall run, instead of re-starting from the last fountain.
There might have been unfair sections of platforming where you couldn't really succeed without having failed in order to know what's coming, but if there were, then I didn't notice them. I wouldn't go as far as to say every game should have it, but it was something that really helped to reduce aggravation with platforming, and made acrobatic leaps and derring-do something fun to do instead of exercises in hit and miss frustration. The game was a lot more forgiving of mistakes, so you weren't as afraid to try those crazy acrobatics, you could just keep plowing forward, and if you made a mistake, just re-wind and try it again.
I think SoT's approach was best in the way that it prefaced each chapter with a video of what you would be expected to pull off. That was a really good touch (and added a nice sense of foreboding to the plot on one or two occasions).
With the exception of being able to kick people off of buildings, the combat was as bad as the combat in Sands of Time.
Oh, missed that. I dunno, it sounds pretty interesting. Art direction is looking up. Was it mentioned if Mechner has any involvement?