Lords of the Fallen

[Cheylus]

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/09/22/lords-of-the-fallen-plays-by-the-rules-but-thats-ok?watch
Cleric gameplay (better than the rogue's imo, you don't have to witness the terrible cape/shield clipping).
The "ghost" and save/refill mechanics is very DS-like. Maybe some camera angles issues here and there too...
However I really, really liked the menu/inventory. Will wait for reviews though.

 

[Snake9027]

PC gameplay.

[video=youtube;XcnMRHK5-40]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcnMRHK5-40[/video]

 

[gregski]

Thanks, cant wait for this

 

[CostinRaz]

That player is just slow as fuck. I wouldn't say terrible but seriously he was fighting against enemies that move very slowly, aren't aggressive and yet he felt the need to always wait for them to hit first.

 

[gregski]

Yeah, the enemies do not really seem too challenging, I hope it's a matter of difficulty or that it's kind of tutorial area and they get faster and deadlier later on.

 

[CostinRaz]

I really, really hope that there aren't difficulty levels. Fuck that trash in a game trying to be Dark Souls.

As for tutorial area, yes it is. Let's face facts here, the initial area of Dark Souls was not challenging, at all.

 

[Blothulfur]

One of the good things about old Severance: Blade of Darkness was that when you got good you could open the stats or menu.py file (forget which) and change all kinds of shit to give yourself more of a challenge. Now I really couldn't play vanilla, absolutely no challenge.

 

[Cheylus]

http://www.twitch.tv/lotfgame

They're streaming now.

 

[gregski]

Some heavy clipping in there but still it looks quite good actually.

 

[Cheylus]

I thought this was a bit underwhelming. I forgot about the Dark Souls thing, this was bad marketing on their part in the beginning (or a good one, because they got some attention). For the "atmosphere", it made me think of Darksiders and even God of War in a way... I liked the art direction. The combat looks good, nothing stellar. The game really lacks new interesting features though; I am a bit weary of "new licence" games that aren't even trying to have bold ideas. Watch Dogs, Destiny, Shadow of Mordor, Lords of the Fallen... It's disappointing devs are afraid to make something radical for a real change. Between those pretty dull games, old licences and nostalgic come backs, not a lot of games are focusing on originality (that's why I feel right about waiting especially for Star Citizen and Kingdom Come).

However the stream was well-done, informative and interesting; I asked a bunch of questions and got all my answers. Not unlike Shadow of Mordor, I would have been interested in buying the game but that's way too pricey for a 15/20 hours long game for my taste.

 

[gab96]

Is there a ng+ option like dark souls and/or a pvp mode?

 

[gregski]

There will be NG+, but you can play through it 3 times. After that - it's finished, no NG+ any more so you have to restart.

And no PvP.

 

[CostinRaz]

Gop said the game was going to be about 50 hours.

As for games focusing on originality, I disagree on that. I want to play familiar games but with twists to them, and many people agree with me on that. To me Lords of the Fallen is like Dark Souls but also better in certain areas and worse in others.

 

[Cheylus]

He said ~15 hours in the stream for the main quests (and several times in written interviews), but also added you'll have to go to "NG++" if you want to see everything, whatever that means. I guess that's where the 50 hours comes from. If we start calculating game length based on their optional replayability you can put any number there.

“Technically, with New Game +, exploration, lots of secrets and optional loot, [gameplay length] might be infinite,” he said.

(source) Technically, any game can have infinite length.

As for the "originality", fair enough. I just feel like my favourite games weren't "familiar", were pushing a genre forward or created their own thing. I thought Dark Souls wasn't a familiar game and felt like its own thing. Maybe I'm wrong and a bit weary of games, but when I think about this kind of mindset, it makes me think of Assassin's Creed, CoD, Battlefield (which I surely enjoy from time to time), with their "twists" being a tweaked pre-existing feature, a technical upgrade, another historical setting and the addition of a feature while another is eventually removed.

 

[Blothulfur]

Haven't seen many original games in years, seen games degenerating, stripping features, content, arnitrariy restricting play options and reducing complexity, but originality I just haven't seen much of.

Edit: So long as it is well crafted, has internal consistency, does something new with its narrative and is fun to play then i'm fine with a classic story or setting.

 

[Cheylus]

Haven't seen many original games in years, seen games degenerating, stripping features, content, arnitrariy restricting play options and reducing complexity, but originality I just haven't seen much of.

Edit: So long as it is well crafted, has internal consistency, does something new with its narrative and is fun to play then i'm fine with a classic story or setting.

I don't think the amount of content or features - or even quality - has anything to do with originality.

I know it's not like we have dozens of Souls-like games out there to enjoy to begin with. I'm a bit interested by LotF, but it lacked the one or many features that would make the game stands out a bit. They're making a new "IP", made to introduce another serie, so like almost everyone else in casual gaming they're reducing risks and aren't interested on having ideas. It's a recipe made of ingredients I'm used to eat and very easy to come by; and of course the final dish will be good, if not a bit boring... You can't go wrong with steak & fries.

 

[Blothulfur]

New features, new content = originality, pretty obvious.

For instance when I first played Elite, a galaxy brimming with content, features and massive scope, massively ambitious. Nobody's equalled it yet, though obvious Chris Robert's tried a few times with Wing Commander and whatever his latest attempt is called.

Or Darklands, set not in a fantasy realm but in the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, brimming with new content and features, few folk have since dared to depict the medieval period in depth like that, usually settling for paper thin renaissance fayre setting, where there are no problems, no reality, no internal consistency and happy peasants romp in the hay.

Or Severance, with its brutal combat system, its lonely atmospheric setting and re-telling of the Zoroastrian mythos.

Those were original games to me, haven't seen much originality since, just the same threats, the same antagonists, the same character archetypes and the same WOW knock off combat. Lords of the Fallen actually has some points that interest me, in the shape of the Fallen God, Harkin's past deeds and the world that chose to kill its God rather than bow down in service.

 

[gregski]

From what I saw in the playthroughs on YT so far, it has some choice & consequence system during dialogues. Rather binary - help/not help etc - but maybe it will add a little depth to the story. Which might not be too bad, considering this is a game mostly focused on combat.

 

[Cheylus]

You were talking about "restriction", "reduction" and "stripping things". Hence I heard "more content, more features = originality"; it's clearer now.

As for the rest, Harkin's past deeds, steak, fries and a world that refuses its God, of course it looks good and it's interesting. But if it wasn't for Tomasz Gop I admit this game would have been totally under my radar when it was first revealed. My problem isn't the fact the game is unoriginal by itself, it's the game has nothing to propose while being the first opus of an upcoming serie. AC games aren't original but the first AC had its own flavour and design ideas, whether it's considered good or not is not the point. Where are the ideas in LotF?

edit: As for Elite/Star Citizen, Darklands/Kingdom Come, you're right; games feeling like that are uncommon though and spanned unevenly in gaming history (on a 30 years basis...). Games that feel like LotF happen every month, semester or year in the best case.

 

[Blothulfur]

You were talking about "restriction", "reduction" and "stripping things". Hence I heard "more content, more features = originality"; it's clearer now.

As for the rest, Harkin's past deeds, steak, fries and a world that refuses its God, of course it looks good and it's interesting. But if it wasn't for Tomasz Gop I admit this game would have been totally under my radar when it was first revealed. My problem isn't the fact the game is unoriginal by itself, it's the game has nothing to propose while being the first opus of an upcoming serie. AC games aren't original but the first AC had its own flavour and design ideas, whether it's considered good or not is not the point. Where are the ideas in LotF?

Harkin's redemption, interesting character arc. New world, with all its locations and history to be revealed. An interesting theme in its awakening God and his original fall. Good, tight combat and hopefully recative gameplay. Same as the ideas in almost any other game, it's introducing its world and I can't see what else it needs to propose. Not saying it's gonna be the dogs bollocks, but i'll keep me eye on reviews as the premise of Harkin and the world has intrigued me.

As for modern games restricting and stripping, they can't be original if they're never introducing anything new, or showing any hint of ambition. Ambition is sorely lacking in modern games in my opinion, play too safe and to their largest demographic at the cost of the worlds verisimillitude.