Beyond: Two Souls- demo impressions - now publicly available

qa_engineer said:
Qte and interactive movies aren't for everyone. Nothing wrong with appreciating the amazing eye candy they were able to extract from ancient hardware and not feeling the game.
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EmptySpace said:
heavy rain and beyond two souls are in essence point-and-click adventure games. no one thinks monkey island needs "decent gameplay" just because it has no jump or left/right buttons.
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I agree with both of these things. I totally understand and appreciate it. Just not really my pedigree I suppose.
 
People can bitch about cinematic games all they want, not going to stop me from enjoying this. Day one for me after this excellent demo.
 
Neiteio said:
So, does that mean you like the soundtrack or don't like the soundtrack?
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At least judging from the demo the soundtrack is excellent. Both the atmospheric, emotional pieces and the action themes. Really gets me pumped just by watching.


Jon93 said:
I just finished the demo and I have to say...

That was absolutely terrible. The game is pretty graphically but that's about it.

The acting especially for such a experienced cast is stilted and lacks any emotion. The script itself is classic David Cage with slow, boring, robotic dialog and a poor narrative pace. With poor direction we're left with something that's just hard to sit through.

The gameplay is just as bad if not worse than Heavy Rain, the analog stick guessing game is annoying enough but stack on the button prompts flailing around the screen that vibrating non-stop and it's just a joke. The game takes no skills besides knowing where the buttons are on the controller, it's just plain boring to play.

Top that off with the same terrible tank controls and sickening camera sway that Heavy Rain suffered from and you've got one of the most disappointing things I've played in a long time.

Before you all jump on me, I loved Heavy Rain to death when it came out and I defended that game. But this is just a punch in the balls, it's like Quantic Dream has learned absolutely nothing from Heavy Rain's glaring flaws and just shit out an uninspired attempt to nail that "Interactive Cinema" feel. Something Last of Us beat them at while still maintaining exciting and engaging gameplay.
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Weird. You probably have your reasons, but I can't disagree more. The voice acting is miles better than Heavy Rain and the gameplay as well. They learned a lot of stuff. No more R2 walking, camera is 3rd person and not confusing at all. Button prompts reduced with a more intuitive system. It's everything Heavy Rain did well and what it didn't is improved here. I don't see why they should change everything, the basic foundation works totally fine. It's refined here, I can't expect more. It's like you expected a game with a lot of mechanics. Quantic will never do this, they believe in contextual gameplay and that's what they make.

Besides, you loved Heavy Rain and now you are annoyed by the writing and find it hard to sit through? I can't really see how that's possible. And the controls are not a guessing game at all.
 
Jon93 said:
I just finished the demo and I have to say...

That was absolutely terrible. The game is pretty graphically but that's about it.

The acting especially for such a experienced cast is stilted and lacks any emotion. The script itself is classic David Cage with slow, boring, robotic dialog and a poor narrative pace. With poor direction we're left with something that's just hard to sit through.

The gameplay is just as bad if not worse than Heavy Rain, the analog stick guessing game is annoying enough but stack on the button prompts flailing around the screen that vibrating non-stop and it's just a joke. The game takes no skills besides knowing where the buttons are on the controller, it's just plain boring to play.

Top that off with the same terrible tank controls and sickening camera sway that Heavy Rain suffered from and you've got one of the most disappointing things I've played in a long time.

Before you all jump on me, I loved Heavy Rain to death when it came out and I defended that game. But this is just a punch in the balls, it's like Quantic Dream has learned absolutely nothing from Heavy Rain's glaring flaws and just shit out an uninspired attempt to nail that "Interactive Cinema" feel. Something Last of Us beat them at while still maintaining exciting and engaging gameplay.
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So love Heavy Rain to death but the gameplay is bad in this game? Okay sure.
 
NateDrake said:
Here is The Hunt footage from the demo

Basically the section of the demo that will sell people on the game, IMO.
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Christ that was amazing.

I wish people would approach this game as a different kind of experience, something you get every once in awhile, rather than some kind of foretelling doom of the future of gaming interactivity.

It's the anomaly, not the standard. Just enjoy it for what it is - an interactive film with some limited gameplay/QTE elements. Still, the Aiden elements were fantastic.
 
EmptySpace said:
heavy rain and beyond two souls are in essence point-and-click adventure games. no one thinks monkey island needs "decent gameplay" just because it has no jump or left/right buttons.
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They are more like an evolution of Dragon's Lair but I see where you are coming from....
Dragons_lair.jpg


Also that "I love Heavy Rain" post is highly suspicious as its basically Heavy Rain 2 in terms of gameplay
 
inm8num2 said:
Christ that was amazing.

I wish people would approach this game as a different kind of experience, something you get every once in awhile, rather than some kind of foretelling doom of the future of gaming interactivity.

It's the anomaly, not the standard. Just enjoy it for what it is - an interactive film with some limited gameplay/QTE elements.
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Exactly.

After the pure gameplay-driven joy of GTA V, this is a great palate cleanser.
 
Showed this to my 6 year old nephew, "This is like Heavy Rain. I love Heavy Rain." He couldn't wait to get to the parts where you move the controller (shake, push, move up and such). At the end he asked if I thought it was better than Heavy Rain, he thought it wasn't because there was no Shelby.

Also his aided play through looked so different than mine. Different situations, he didn't make it to the theater area but instead got captured and cause the swat van to flip over by shooting the driver.
 
inm8num2 said:
Christ that was amazing.

I wish people would approach this game as a different kind of experience, something you get every once in awhile, rather than some kind of foretelling doom of the future of gaming interactivity.

It's the anomaly, not the standard. Just enjoy it for what it is - an interactive film with some limited gameplay/QTE elements. Still, the Aiden elements were fantastic.
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This is a good way to put it....although people should start getting nervous it it becomes the status quo....at the very least games should definitely take queues from this game on how to do cinematics.... no more sitting back and watching a prerendered movie
 
nhlducks35 said:
The game's been out for 3.5 years now
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There was someone in this very thread asking if they should play Heavy Rain. Now they'll read his post and have the whole mystery ruined.

Come on, you're not stupid, you should know not everyone plays the same games at the same time.
 
Neiteio said:
Dude, fucking spoil-tag that shit. Not everyone here has played Heavy Rain.
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Omg so sorry about that. Edited, at first I thought I spoiled the demo for people that didn't want to play it, but just realized that people probably held off on playing HR still. Very sorry about that to whoever seen it. (smacks forehead)
 
Ploid 3.0 said:
Omg so sorry about that. Edited, at first I thought I spoiled the demo for people that didn't want to play it, but just realized that people probably held off on playing HR still. Very sorry about that to whoever seen it. (smacks forehead)
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No prob, I've already played HR numerous times, I was just being urgent for the sake of people like the guy earlier who said he hasn't played HR but was interested.
 
Ploid 3.0 said:
Showed this to my 6 year old nephew, "This is like Heavy Rain. I love Heavy Rain." He couldn't wait to get to the parts where you move the controller (shake, push, move up and such).
At the end he asked if I thought it was better than Heavy Rain, he thought it wasn't because there was no Shelby. I wonder if he knows Shelby was the killer.

Also his aided play through looked so different than mine. Different situations, he didn't make it to the theater area but instead got captured and cause the swat van to flip over by shooting the driver.
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wow that's amazing. I let my brother play the demo too and he got caught in the forest unlike me, so he had to break out of a SWAT van before he could take the bike. Wasn't expecting that. I'm so used to other games going 'game over' (because you got caught) and restart from a checkpoint in the forest or something. But no, there's a little extra scenario with a character and dialogue and gameplay. sogood.gif :P

This game is hella impressive, I had to remind my brother a couple times that he was in gameplay and that he could move. His mind was blown :P
 
brandonh83 said:
Tried it out, like with The Last of Us I found the presentation to be amazing, but I'm just not into the game or what's going on. I was very impressed with the visuals, but I personally need decent gameplay to go along with it and I'm not finding that.
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Is this meant to imply TLOU doesn't have decent gameplay

Is it
 
That was an excellent demo. Looking forward to the final game. Thanks Sony for high budget adventure games.

Just watched the little animation on the TV during my bro's playthrough. Love little touches like that.
 
dragonflys545 said:
So love Heavy Rain to death but the gameplay is bad in this game? Okay sure.
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Let's put it this way, I expected more of an improvement over the past couple years than just a few changes to controls and UI. It's very disappointing to see the same bullshit with an equally bland story, I was quite excited for Beyond but now I'm just disappointed.


edit: Also after playing Last of Us, GTA V, Bioshock Infinite, and The Walking Dead. All of which have found out how to tell a more impactful story with much better attention to gameplay (minus Walking Dead I guess, they still manage to be more interesting than this game and on a quarter the budget). This game just feels dated in the worst ways.
 
One of my favorite little details in Heavy Rain is in one location early on, there's a TV with entire animated shorts playing. I think they were like selections for Cannes or something. There were several of them, and they were all amazing, just playing on the TV in the background, but in full.
 
Jon93 said:
Let's put it this way, I expected more of an improvement over the past couple years than just a few changes to controls and UI. It's very disappointing to see the same bullshit with an equally bland story, I was quite excited for Beyond but now I'm just disappointed.
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Ok, the controls are debatable, but bland story? wut.....
 
bigboss370 said:
wow that's amazing. I let my brother play the demo too and his got caught in the forest, so he had to break out of a SWAT van before he could take the bike.

This game is hella impressive, I had remind my brother a couple times that he was in gameplay and that he could move. His mind was blown :P
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Haha same here. Like that bike part where the camera was in the overhead view because of the helicopter.

The woods segment had me in disbelief. The game looks so good in darkly lit areas. The bright parts probably have a ton of aliasing like that video at the end of the demo.

Neiteio said:
One of my favorite little details in Heavy Rain is in one location early on, there's a TV with entire animated shorts playing. I think they were like selections for Cannes or something. There were several of them, and they were all amazing, just playing on the TV in the background, but in full.
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I watched that on HR, and in this too. I don't even look at the tv in GTA4 and 5, but something about these silent weird animations have me wanting to see what is going on.
 
inm8num2 said:
Christ that was amazing.

I wish people would approach this game as a different kind of experience, something you get every once in awhile, rather than some kind of foretelling doom of the future of gaming interactivity.

It's the anomaly, not the standard. Just enjoy it for what it is - an interactive film with some limited gameplay/QTE elements.
Click to expand...

That is precisely how I view it. I just find it incredibly restrictive and dull to sit there and go through all of the button prompts, slow motion gameplay where you press the analog stick in the direction she needs to move, shaking the controller, etc. It's just not satisfying for me. *shrugs*
 
Jon93 said:
Let's put it this way, I expected more of an improvement over the past couple years than just a few changes to controls and UI. It's very disappointing to see the same bullshit with an equally bland story, I was quite excited for Beyond but now I'm just disappointed.


edit: Also after playing Last of Us, GTA V, Bioshock Infinite, and The Walking Dead. All of which have found out how to tell a more impactful story with much better attention to gameplay (minus Walking Dead I guess, they still manage to be more interesting than this game and on a quarter the budget). This game just feels dated in the worst ways.
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Luckily your opinion is an outlier. Like the Polygon or Quarter to Three of this thread lol.
 
Jon93 said:
Let's put it this way, I expected more of an improvement over the past couple years than just a few changes to controls and UI. It's very disappointing to see the same bullshit with an equally bland story, I was quite excited for Beyond but now I'm just disappointed.


edit: Also after playing Last of Us, GTA V, Bioshock Infinite, and The Walking Dead. All of which have found out how to tell a more impactful story with much better attention to gameplay (minus Walking Dead I guess, they still manage to be more interesting than this game and on a quarter the budget). This game just feels dated in the worst ways.
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obvious troll is obvious.

judging the story of a game based on a 30-min demo? worse, comparing whatever story in that 30-min demo to finished games? worst, most of the demo were comprised of gameplay segments.

this is not going to be a full-on traditional third-person game with cover mechanics. not gonna happen. just because this game and the last of us have the same camera angles do not mean jack.

when will narrow-minded people realize that "gameplay" is not about combos or pressing x to jump or having a dedicated button to do one single job for 9 hours straight?

if anything, the engine lends itself to a more diverse gameplay experience since the buttons are not tied to any one action. players can climb a wall, ride a motorcycle, possess someone, knock over cars, block and punch, etc. the scenarios are what makes up the gameplay experience, not the button prompts.
 
ironcreed said:
That is precisely how I view it. I just find it incredibly restrictive and dull to sit there and go through all of the button prompts, slow motion gameplay where you press the analog stick in the direction she needs to move, shaking the controller, etc. It's just not satisfying for me. *shrugs*
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The entire game won't be like that. It's an action sequence.

There were other gameplay previews where you explore areas, talk to people, etc.

If it's not your cup of tea, though, fair enough. :)
 
EmptySpace said:
obvious troll is obvious.
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I played the demo 3 times and got all the outcomes I could think of and I just didn't like the game.

I'm not insulting anyone for liking the game nor am I saying my opinion is law. It's just my opinion of a 30 minute demo.

I highly disliked the game and felt it to be dated and boring, I cited other games I enjoyed, notably Heavy Rain and Walking Dead, to prove that it's not an issue with my taste in games but rather maybe an issue with the game / demo itself.

Just because someone's opinion flies in the face of the popular opinion doesn't mean they are "trolling" or in the sense of a review "baiting for page hits". Please keep this in mind going forward.
 
First of all...

HOLY CRAP, THOSE GRAPHICS. I can't believe the PS3 is able to push out such detailed characters/environments. Jodie has to be one of the most detailed characters this gen, hands down.

As for gameplay, I found it to be quite an improvement over Heavy Rain. The movement felt better, the QTEs felt more intuitive, there was more action, and it felt more engaging in general. As for Aiden, I enjoyed how he can go through walls and help you out
and how Jodie can't/doesn't control it all all(spoiler?)

I felt bad for making little Jodie cry in the experiment room. :(
 
not my cup of tea but i appreciate the originality. Ellen seems kind of an odd fit for a soldier. Much different than the original trailers led you to believe.
 
Blader said:
Is this meant to imply TLOU doesn't have decent gameplay

Is it
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Wasn't a big fan. It wasn't bad by any stretch, lord no, but I still felt like it was too mechanical against how organic the game was attempting to be. I'm not one of those "I hate everything!" type of gamers, and with TLOU I had a love it/didn't care for it experience with the game. Again, amazing presentation and solid writing, and the gameplay was fine, it just didn't completely come together for me.
 
Jon93 said:
Let's put it this way, I expected more of an improvement over the past couple years than just a few changes to controls and UI. It's very disappointing to see the same bullshit with an equally bland story, I was quite excited for Beyond but now I'm just disappointed.


edit: Also after playing Last of Us, GTA V, Bioshock Infinite, and The Walking Dead. All of which have found out how to tell a more impactful story with much better attention to gameplay (minus Walking Dead I guess, they still manage to be more interesting than this game and on a quarter the budget). This game just feels dated in the worst ways.
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Well, it's your opinion, but I think it is a little bit unfair to judge the game's story based off a demo. Also gameplay wise TWD is definitely behind Beyond in a lot of ways.


Neiteio said:
One of my favorite little details in Heavy Rain is in one location early on, there's a TV with entire animated shorts playing. I think they were like selections for Cannes or something. There were several of them, and they were all amazing, just playing on the TV in the background, but in full.
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Yup, Beyond has this as well.
 
Jon93 said:
I played the demo 3 times and got all the outcomes I could think of and I just didn't like the game.

I'm not insulting anyone for liking the game nor am I saying my opinion is law. It's just my opinion of a 30 minute demo.

I highly disliked the game and felt it to be dated and boring, I cited other games I enjoyed, notably Heavy Rain and Walking Dead, to prove that it's not an issue with my taste in games but rather maybe an issue with the game / demo itself.

Just because someone's opinion flies in the face of the popular opinion doesn't mean they are "trolling" or in the sense of a review "baiting for page hits". Please keep this in mind going forward.
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again, how can someone compare the story of a 30-min demo comprised largely of gameplay segments to 15-hour games like tlou, bioshock, walking dead?

saying the game has a bland story based on a 30-min demo is plain ridiculous. and why mention twd having a smaller budget than beyond?

"the same bullshit" there was no bullshit in heavy rain. it played exactly as it was advertised. again, no one is expecting beyond to be a full-on third-person action game a la the last of us. in fact, beyond is an improvement because the controls are more intuitive, make more sense context-wise, and are less intrusive.

and how would jon93 suggest beyond should play?
 
ElFly said:
It's sad that games have actors names on the cover now.
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I couldn't disagree more. It's a very good sign that this industry is finally growing up and becoming a legitimate way of telling a story. There are not many high profile actors who are going to let themselves get promoted in this way without there being a good reason. If more actors start seeing this medium as a way of expanding their repertoire, then we could be looking at a future filled with games of equal quality to TLOU and more Hollywood screen writers will jump on board.
 
Ploid 3.0 said:
Showed this to my 6 year old nephew, "This is like Heavy Rain. I love Heavy Rain." He couldn't wait to get to the parts where you move the controller (shake, push, move up and such). At the end he asked if I thought it was better than Heavy Rain, he thought it wasn't because there was no Shelby.

Also his aided play through looked so different than mine. Different situations, he didn't make it to the theater area but instead got captured and cause the swat van to flip over by shooting the driver.
Click to expand...

A 6 year old played Heavy Rain?......was intense for me
 
sn00zer said:
This is a good way to put it....although people should start getting nervous it it becomes the status quo....at the very least games should definitely take queues from this game on how to do cinematics.... no more sitting back and watching a prerendered movie
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Probably won't happen. Still too niche, still too expensive.


Wishmaster92 said:
holy shit jodies hair close-up in the forest scene..dat shine, looks so real wow.
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Love this close-up:

facenew2ynpcf.gif
 
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