Support NeoGAF

[dead monkey uk]

One of the best games this gen, for me.

Pros:

- Epic cutscenes
- Fantastic gameplay
- Great story
- Great lore
- Incredible graphics
- Galahad is amazing
- Inventive weapons

Cons:

- Too short
- Final boss was meh

While I do not think it was one of the best games this gen, I agree with your points, and will add the OST is one of my favorites this gen. I also thought all the creature encounters should have been better.

Its just a shame the game was not priced at $30 or $40 similar to whats happening with Hellblade, would have removed the game is too short and not worth $60.

Would have loved to see another game in the series, is it totally off the table? The Order must be due to be on PS+ soon.

 

[Llyrwenne]

I'm curious how one would find the story of The Order 1886 to be 'great'.

I recently replayed it because I'm making a video analysis specifically on the story, and I found that every single chapter has at least one major issue in the story / writing / narrative department. There's some good ideas and concepts behind it, yes, but the actual story as presented in the game barely holds together from the start and completely falls apart at the end...

 

[Reset]

I thought the game was fun. The weapons were fun to use, the game looked great, and the story was pretty interesting. Yeah, the game was short but it's not the worst game of the generation lol. Enjoyed it more than Uncharted 4.

 

[Kenzodielocke]

I think it get's more flak than it deserves, but it still isn't a good game and the ending is total blue balls. They totally expected this to be a series. Now they are making garbage games.

 

[Springy]

I played this a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, but the gameplay was pretty lifeless and simplistic, not to mention barely enough to cover a short evening of cover shooting.

Every time I picked up a prop and furiously twisted it around my wrist as if I were animated by unearthly energies, I fantasized I was playing a shockingly pretty Sherlock Holmes game.

Worth whatever I paid in a sale, like, a year ago, though. Think it was less than $10.

 

[RoyalLaFlame]

Loved this game. Shame we won't see a sequel

 

[Branduil]

My favorite part of the game is where mustache dude and his friend are invading this old guy's mansion for some reason, and when they get to his room they see

Spoiler

him with his old man penis hanging out while he feeds on a corpse. Because he's a vampire. The old man's like "Haha you caught me my dudes I'm Jack the Ripper" and then he flies out the window and disappears from the story forever.

Whenever I think of The Order 1886, I think of this moment.

 

[Moose84]

I really enjoyed it

 

[Van Bur3n]

It's 'How not to develop video games' the game.

 

[HStallion]

People thought the story was great? It was the same generic,"Betrayed by the ones I fight for" storyline you see in hundreds of other pieces of fiction and there isn't even that interesting a twist. The lore was good but they did little to nothing with it and just when the story was starting to pick up, it ends. It felt like an extended prologue.

 

[danowat]

People thought the story was great? It was the same generic,"Betrayed by the ones I fight for" storyline you see in hundreds of other pieces of fiction and there isn't even that interesting a twist. The lore was good but they did little to nothing with it and just when the story was starting to pick up, it ends. It felt like an extended prologue.

I thought it was pretty good, maybe because of the atmosphere, but, while not terribly original, I just found the whole alternative timeline / early science, vampire / werewolf infiltration interesting, it's a shame they didn't flesh out the order a bit more, as I think there is a lot of ground to cover there.

 

[Kill3r7]

One of the best games this gen, for me.

Pros:

- Epic cutscenes
- Fantastic gameplay
- Great story
- Great lore
- Incredible graphics
- Galahad is amazing
- Inventive weapons

Cons:

- Too short
- Final boss was meh

One more con, story ends way before it reaches any real resolution. There are single episodes of telltale games that feel more complete and well thought out.

Also, the gameplay is varied but for me it was definitely anything but fantastic.

 

[lightskintwin]

I'm curious how one would find the story of The Order 1886 to be 'great'.

I recently replayed it because I'm making a video analysis specifically on the story, and I found that every single chapter has at least one major issue in the story / writing / narrative department. There's some good ideas and concepts behind it, yes, but the actual story as presented in the game barely holds together from the start and completely falls apart at the end...

I think some people confuse high production values like great voice acting, and lots of cut scenes with impressive in engine graphics and animations with great characters and story telling.

 

[coljae]

I paid something stupid like £5 and whilst I recognize the flaws I can't say I didn't enjoy by the time I finished it.

I hope it gets a sequel. I could really buy into that world if expanded upon.

 

[HStallion]

I thought it was pretty good, maybe because of the atmosphere, but, while not terribly original, I just found the whole alternative timeline / early science, vampire / werewolf infiltration interesting, it's a shame they didn't flesh out the order a bit more, as I think there is a lot of ground to cover there.

That's my point. The story didn't do anything special and ended right when it was picking up. The lore and stuff was cool but its like,"Oh hey there are vampires" and then that's it, they don't do anything else with it, not even a small fight. As I said it felt an overly long prologue for the actual story. Most of the characters barely have an arc except,"I've been betrayed! Now to fight back and uncover the truth!" Except they barely did the second half of that statement.

Edit: I should add I enjoyed certain aspects of the game from the graphics to the actual gunplay sections but there were serious issues with many parts of the game that would not have been excusable in another game that didn't look as great.

 

[Lister]

One of these days we're going to get one of these threads where the OP comes in and just says: Yeah, this sucked.

Not today though

I experienced a bit of it on a friend's console, but when I realized how crappy it was, I watched the rest on youtube to see if the story or gameplay got any better... but nope.

This game was weird. In terms of graphics, well mostly art direction, it was a powerhouse. Even the crazy blurriness that made it look like film served the purpose of creating atmosphere. The lighting, the mood, the assets, they were very obviously made by a team with a ton of talent and experience working together towards a common graphical vision and theme. It looked impressive - even with the limitation of a console (maybe even more impressive because of them).

But while presentation was something innovative, everything else about the game felt like the developers had never played a game since 2004. It was like this weird game, out of time, where only the graphics tech had improved in the past decade, but nothing else in video game design had.

The narrative and it's framing seemed like something out of an older title, as did the level design, which was literally corridors everywhere. The AI was atrocious, again, something out of early third person shooter games on consoles, with whack-a-mole gameplay and enemies that sometimes took several seconds to respond to your movement. Then there were the previews which sometimes showcased destructive terrain elements, which ended up just being scripted in during specific sequences.

And of course the quicktime events. Holy cow, one of the biggest throwbacks in game design. I thought it was a big mistake to include it in combat, but to make it the centerpiece of the bosses? Wow. Don't know what they were thinking there. Even the length of the game was something that people did not expect out of a big AAA $60 game, because they had stopped being that short, for the most part, a long time ago. The cliffhanger ending was yet another weird decision too... well probably not weird, more likely it was a: we ran out fo time, let's end it here situation.

What a weird game.

 

[bosseye]

I loved it. A few minor flaws, but I thought it was genuinely quite wonderful.

The vast majority hated it, so I don't expect to ever see a sequel.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

It was a bit of a beautiful mess for me.

I loved the graphics, the setting, the characters and story, the atmosphere and art direction was all top tier.

It's just that all of that was married to gameplay that was fairly mediocre and derivative, with some real questionable design choices that really brought down the whole play experience.

I did enjoy the gunplay and weapons. Some sections did have enemies that felt cheap though. The stealth sections were a missed opportunity and the Lycan fights were massively disappointing.

There was an even, if not solid foundation there to iterate on in a sequel. I just wish that the devs had not opened their mouths in public prior to the game's release (as I feel some of the comments about gameplay contributed heavily to the shitstorm and internet hyperbole that colors people's perception of the game before they've even tried it -- and even some who have).

For me at least, it wasn't a bad game by any measure. But it was a flawed game and full of missed opportunities. I just wish that Sony would have gritted their teeth and given it another shot. Perhaps with a different Sony producer working together with a now more experienced team, as well as hiring in some new talent to compensate in the areas where the studio was weak (e.g. combat design), RAD might have put out something truly special in a sequel. It sucks that they never got the chance.

I mean, look at GG. KZ1 was almost a byword by platform warriors on the internet who took issue with the games media claim that the game was a "Halo Killer". Sure that game was mediocre, but the sequel KZ2 is one of the most critically acclaimed games on the PS3 (and the best FPS of all time imho). GG went on to make a number more KZ games and ultimately found their footing with the exceptional Horizon: Zero Dawn, cementing them in the pantheon of top tier industry devs for all time.

I believe that the best parts of The Order 1886 showed that RAD had the chops to rise to GG/ND's level with the right nurturing... It's a damn shame they're not getting that, imho.

 

[danowat]

One of these days we're going to get one of these threads where the OP comes in and just says: Yeah, this sucked.

I've just started The Last Guardian, so watch this space..........

 

[bonchooski]

All I can say is I paid 5 bucks for it and after about 30 mins I deleted it and wish i used that 5 bucks on something else on PSN. A game is bad for me when I feel that I was cheated out of the 5 dollars I spent on it.

 

[Widge]

It always looked like a game that was coming out to the Uncharted 2 template, while the entire rest of market had moved on from there. I don't doubt it is solid but I'm not clamouring to get on board.

 

[Gestault]

This isn't directed at any one person here, but I'm honestly baffled at reactions where someone says something like the game is one of their best of the generation, or that the writing is some of the best they've seen, or that the gameplay (presumably level design?) is some of the best in the genre.

 

[Horns]

Picked it up recently and couldn't get into it. It just didn't hold my attention.

 

[ronaldthump]

it was pretty solid game. Nothing overtly amazing. An easy 6/10

Needed more game. Visually arresting


I'd buy a sequel - the engine is already in place. Now make it good.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

This isn't directed at any one person here, but I'm honestly baffled at reactions where someone says something like the game is one of their best of the generation, or that the writing is some of the best they've seen, or that the gameplay (presumably level design?) is some of the best in the genre.

I assume it's just a selection bias thing where most people who played the game bounced straight off it and don't care enough to enter these threads. I suppose some people are really enamored by the graphics and art direction, but...

 

[RedlineRonin]

Can't get on board for the "fantastic gameplay."

It's very standard third person shooter gameplay.

I dropped it after two or three hours. I felt like the story, characters, world, art were all really, really good. It all deserved a much better playing game.

When people are saying "fantastic gameplay" (or agreeing with that assessment), I'd love to know what you're comparing to. I don't see a whole lot of difference between The Order's gameplay and the first Gears...

 

[nycgamer4ever]

The most garbage game I've played this gen even still. And I've played Tennis to the Face.

You didn't play that many games apparently. Lots of garbage way worst than The Order.

 

[Ducktail]

My favorite part of the game is where mustache dude and his friend are invading this old guy's mansion for some reason, and when they get to his room they see

Spoiler

him with his old man penis hanging out while he feeds on a corpse. Because he's a vampire. The old man's like "Haha you caught me my dudes I'm Jack the Ripper" and then he flies out the window and disappears from the story forever.

Whenever I think of The Order 1886, I think of this moment.

HAAHAHAHA. Brilliant stuff.


I paid more than 60 dollars for this

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

When people are saying "fantastic gameplay" (or agreeing with that assessment), I'd love to know what you're comparing to. I don't see a whole lot of difference between The Order's gameplay and the first Gears...

There are a lot of differences. For example, the first Gears has better variety in terms of gameplay, weapons and enemies. It also has good boss fights, a longer campaign, and multiplayer. By dispensing with these things, The Order: 1886 forged a unique identity for itself separate from Gears of War.

 

[nycgamer4ever]

This isn't directed at any one person here, but I'm honestly baffled at reactions where someone says something like the game is one of their best of the generation, or that the writing is some of the best they've seen, or that the gameplay (presumably level design?) is some of the best in the genre.

DIfference of opinions and what one's expectation of a good game is. This happens with all entertainment.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Can't get on board for the "fantastic gameplay."

It's very standard third person shooter gameplay.

I dropped it after two or three hours. I felt like the story, characters, world, art were all really, really good. It all deserved a much better playing game.

When people are saying "fantastic gameplay" (or agreeing with that assessment), I'd love to know what you're comparing to. I don't see a whole lot of difference between The Order's gameplay and the first Gears...

There's next to no damage feedback on the first gears from what I remember, the handful of different gun in The Order also offer more variety then the one in Gears (didn't went far in Gears 1 to be fair)

 

[the-pi-guy]

The game is pretty frustrating to me, because it's one that feels like it has a lot of potential that it just didn't pull up on.

 

[RedlineRonin]

There are a lot of differences. For example, the first Gears has better variety in terms of gameplay, weapons and enemies. It also has good boss fights, a longer campaign, and multiplayer. By dispensing with these things, The Order: 1886 forged a unique identity for itself separate from Gears of War.

lol

I was more hoping someone would tell me what in the gameplay of this game (that came tenish years later) was better than Gears

There's next to no damage feedback on the first gears from what I remember, the handful of different gun in The Order also offer more variety then the one in Gears (didn't went far in Gears 1 to be fair)

damage feedback? When you shoot up close with a shotgun they literally explode into chunks...

And not sure if i'm supposed to take that last line seriously, but there's more than one gun in gears....

 

[nycgamer4ever]

I think it get's more flak than it deserves, but it still isn't a good game and the ending is total blue balls. They totally expected this to be a series. Now they are making garbage games.

They are actually about to release a really fantastic VR game Lone Echo and Echo Arena.

 

[Bunga]

I'd put Arkham Knight as the most disappointing game of this gen, due to the expectations I had based on its predecessors. In comparison, The Order was nowhere near as disappointing for me.

Makes me sad that so many people felt this way about Arkham Knight, I genuinely thought it was incredible and magnitudes better than City. It's no Asylum, but certainly the best since for me.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

damage feedback? When you shoot up close with a shotgun they literally explode into chunks...

He's probably referring to the fact that the Locust don't really get stunned or stunlocked by regular weapons fire. That's a conscious design choice because the Locust would probably be too easy to take on if they did based on how the rest of the game is designed.

 

[King_Moc]

Gears was far, far better designed than The Order. The similarities are surface level only.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

damage feedback? When you shoot up close with a shotgun they literally explode into chunks...

And not sure if i'm supposed to take that last line seriously, but there's more than one gun in gears....

Its a typo, the s is missing.

That's with one gun though, from what I remember shooting at enemy with an assault rifle doesn't really impact the movement or what they can do.

 

[danmaku]

I'm curious how one would find the story of The Order 1886 to be 'great'.

I recently replayed it because I'm making a video analysis specifically on the story, and I found that every single chapter has at least one major issue in the story / writing / narrative department. There's some good ideas and concepts behind it, yes, but the actual story as presented in the game barely holds together from the start and completely falls apart at the end...

I think it's pretty obvious that a large part of the game was cut due to time/budget problems so they had to put together something with what little they had. The story was probably much longer and even if it's fairly clichè it could've been enjoyable, but we'll never see it.

 

[Gestault]

DIfference of opinions and what one's expectation of a good game is. This happens with all entertainment.

I understand people have different standards behind their opinions. I guess I'm saying given exposure to decent range of game experiences, it's hard for me to understand a sentiment of The Order being the best in some area with more practical needs, like writing structure.

Maybe it's partly an age and media exposure thing, but it wasn't trying new ideas, and wasn't even approaching them in novel ways (totally ignoring execution). A game doesn't have to reinvent anything to grab people's attention, but especially when that execution has its shortcomings, being called "the best" is a term that's categorically confusing to the other people in that discussion.

 

[Dre_G_Writer]

No co-op was the biggest missed opportunity by making the game single player only.

With the announcement trailer, everyone though it was a 4 player co-op story based game. Which would of been great, because there wasn't even one of those on the PS4 at the time. Gaming site, forums, word of mouth, they all believed the game was co-op, because you have 4 people are fighting together at once in the trailer. and the co-op opportunity was the main draw for me and my friends, once we found out it wasn't co-op, yea, we all dropped interest in it immediately.

 

[Crossing Eden]

I don't see how people think the story is good when even the pacing and presentation is completely borked and contradictory. Including the motivation of the main villain, who has a nonsensical plot that could be accomplished super easily considering vampires aren't affected by the sun. And the characters are incredibly paper thin. What did we learn about Isabeau by playing the game that couldn't already be gleaned from her first scene in the game like maybe she doesn't wanna continue being in the order for much longer? What did we learn about Lafayette? Or Tesla? The writing is genuinely paper thin.

 

[Ricky_R]

I enjoyed it and would've liked an improved sequel. Those regular lycan encounters are unforgivable though.

 

[Melchiah]

Makes me sad that so many people felt this way about Arkham Knight, I genuinely thought it was incredible and magnitudes better than City. It's no Asylum, but certainly the best since for me.

It's the only Batman game from Rocksteady that I haven't finished. I hated the Batmobile vs. tanks sections, and it was the last straw when I faced such a boss battle after having to go through two similar fights. It just wasn't enjoyable for me. Arkham Asylum still remains the best of them, and I still think that going open world was a mistake.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Can't get on board for the "fantastic gameplay."

It's very standard third person shooter gameplay.

I dropped it after two or three hours. I felt like the story, characters, world, art were all really, really good. It all deserved a much better playing game.

When people are saying "fantastic gameplay" (or agreeing with that assessment), I'd love to know what you're comparing to. I don't see a whole lot of difference between The Order's gameplay and the first Gears...

This is funny, because the "gameplay" (or rather gunplay) in Gears was widely held as excellent at the time. And whilst the third person, cover shooter, genre has moved on since then, I don't think anyone who plays the first gears today would describe the first gears game's gameplay as weak, poor or shit.

That you're even comparing the Order's cover shooter gameplay to Gears really answers your own question, and is a real compliment to TO:1886.

I personally think Gears' gunplay is superior, and the entire game's gameplay taken as a whole is more polished and much better designed than TO:1886's.

The cover shooter parts of TO:1886 aren't the problem of the game, imo. It's the rest of the gameplay that is extremely lacking.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Makes me sad that so many people felt this way about Arkham Knight, I genuinely thought it was incredible and magnitudes better than City. It's no Asylum, but certainly the best since for me.

I'm up there with you.

 

[RedlineRonin]

This is funny, because the "gameplay" (or rather gunplay) in Gears was widely held as excellent at the time. And whilst the third person, cover shooter, genre has moved on since then, I don't think anyone who plays the first gears today would describe the first gears game's gameplay as weak, poor or shit.

That you're even comparing the Order's cover shooter gameplay to Gears really answers your own question, and is a real compliment to TO:1886.

I personally think Gears' gunplay is superior, and the entire game's gameplay taken as a whole is more polished and much better designed than TO:1886's.

The cover shooter parts of TO:1886 aren't the problem of the game, imo. It's the rest of the gameplay that is extremely lacking.

I don't understand the logic here.

At all.

I'd compare any third person cover shooter to Gears, because it was more or less the genesis of the genre. I personally don't think that Gears 1 holds up that well because, to your point, we've moved on so much since then where the experience has been augmented with better pace (Vanquish) better optionality in combat (Mass Effect) more strategy/tactics (The Division, kinda) as well as others. But that's a separate thread.

I'm not saying it would be shit, but it's absolutely basic. The comparison I'm making is that the game that was effectively the blueprint for this genre, is ten years old. Then The Order comes along, and more or less uses the blueprint with minimal innovation, and as some others would apparently argue in this thread, maybe even a few steps back in some areas.

How is any of that a compliment to The Order?

I will restate again; I actually liked pretty much everything in The Order that wasn't the gameplay. I just couldn't get past threeish hours due to how basic and non satisfying it was.

 

[dragonbane]

The game is complete. Just because you thought it was too short doesn't mean that it's unfinished. They told what they wanted to say with the game, they're was no or next to no bug in the game as well.

I dont even believe that for a second. It is very much unfinished. You really think it was their pitch from the start to have a mostly fully told flashback and then switch to the present and awkwardly hurry to the end in 1 hour from there with entire chapters that are 100% cutscenes? I dont buy that at all. It very much felt like they ran out of time/money towards the end and so they rushed it. Kept the intended chapter names but instead of having the full chapter with gameplay and stuff they just finished one of the cutscenes and then cut, next chapter. Especially how characters like Lafayette and Igraine drop out from the plot with like 1 sentence is super rushed. If its not, then they are terrible writers.

 

[Bond007]

I Loved the game....pretty much the cinematic type game I was expecting....and got.
I really liked it and wish there was a sequel.....only complaint was length.

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

I don't understand the logic here.

At all.

I'd compare any third person cover shooter to Gears, because it was more or less the genesis of the genre. I personally don't think that Gears 1 holds up that well because, to your point, we've moved on so much since then where the experience has been augmented with better pace (Vanquish) better optionality in combat (Mass Effect) more strategy/tactics (The Division, kinda) as well as others. But that's a separate thread.

I'm not saying it would be shit, but it's absolutely basic. The comparison I'm making is that the game that was effectively the blueprint for this genre, is ten years old. Then The Order comes along, and more or less uses the blueprint with minimal innovation, and as some others would apparent argue in this thread, maybe even a few steps back in some areas.

How is any of that a compliment to The Order?

I will restate again; I actually liked pretty much everything in The Order that wasn't the gameplay. I just couldn't get past threeish hours due to how basic and non satisfying it was.

Gears of Wars gameplay isn't in any way shape or form "basic"... even today, regardless of how other games have iterated on that formula over the last 10+ years. That's my point and I think it's quite rational.

Gears wasn't even the genesis of the cover shooter genre, it was just the first game to perfect that style of third person shooter gameplay in a remarkable way.

If something excellent creates a standard, then something else, evolving that standard can only be better. That's my point in response to your previous post. Your logic, that something excellent becoming a "standard" now means that that template is retroactively "basic" (to the extent that another game ripping it off wholesale is now considered bad) is what doesn't make any sense.

I'm arguing that Gears as a template for TPS cover shooters is actually a high bar to aim at (regardless of the fact that other newer games have done GoW gameplay better), and that it you're saying that TO:1886 achieves that then you're actually complimenting TO:1886.

I'm also arguing, however, that TO:1886 doesn't even achieve GoW's high bar, in terms of cover shooter gameplay, and in fact is inferior in many ways. Which I see you agree with.

In my mind, if TO:1886 essentially ripped off GoW gameplay wholesale and basically existed as a reskinned version of it, it would in fact be a significantly better game.

I personally don't subscribe to your view that if something was exceptional in 2006, it's now simply mediocre, merely because newer games have iterated on that template. For me, if a game was great and fun ten years ago (not for any other reason other than gameplay) then it will still be great and fun today. Why'd you think BC is such a lauded feature among gamers?