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[Chev]

I guess my question would be how are you getting such nice quality screen grabs

There's a debug mode that can be activate by changing a config file, which allows for freecam and direct screenshots.

 

[rockman zx]

Uncensored version of Jodie (NSFW?): http://www.jeuxactu.com/beyond-two-souls-les-images-d-ellen-page-nue-sous-sa-douche-89817.htm

I wonder what Ellen Page will think about it. They didn't scan her naked but they scanned her body, so at least the got her boobs size right. She is cool so probably doesn't care at all.

 

[fvng]

There's a debug mode that can be activate by changing a config file, which allows for freecam and direct screenshots.

badass, i saw the earlier post about the freecam and resolution hack, but didn't know about direct screenshots. pretty cool. I guess that's how the devs took screenshots for for press kits.

 

[fvng]

dbl post

 

[MangoMoustache]

I guess my question would be how are you getting such nice quality screen grabs

I use a newer CFW that unlocks the ability to take a screencap from any game through the XMB.

There's a debug mode that can be activate by changing a config file, which allows for freecam and direct screenshots.

The debug mode screenshot option will take a screenshot with the debug UI still on top, so it was pretty much strictly for screencapping bugs as there is no way to activate it without getting the debug UI in the shot.

 

[MG310]

I ended up losing Paul because I didn't know to go into the house and then Cole during Black Sun by failing the QTE right before the door. I immediately went out to main menu to redo that bit.

I chose Life/Zoey and I'm pretty satisfied with that ending.

 

[Lime]

I hope it's okay that I post my impressions of the game here as well, as it allows me to discuss spoiler-specific criticisms.

There were scattered moments indicating very great player experiences and potentially future ways of game design that I think are few and far between in this day and age of AAA video games, but unfortunately the unbelievable parts of the narrative, as well as the straightforward storytelling and general low quality writing drag the overall experience down.

But I definitely don't see why the game was scored so relatively low compared to other AAA games. I don't think it deserves a 10 or a 9 (maybe a 5 or 6 on an analytical level - possibly around 7 or 8 on a more personal level), but the usual AAA dreck that gets 80-90+ are far less interesting and much more dumb than this one. I think I also liked the game more than Heavy Rain thanks to the characterization

I liked

• It is most definitely the most graphically impressive game I have ever played on a console. (Going into next-gen will be less of an impression after this game).
• I loved the melancholic tone of the game, as well as the consistently red thread of people around Jodie always letting her down and abandoning her - in that way the tone felt consistent and it made her social anxiety and general depression believable.
• The occassional acting was pretty decent and I think Page did a great job with what she was given.
• I loved the grounded events in the game, like the Homeless or (the beginning of) The Party chapter. I really liked the social decisions and contexts, as they provided questions of empathy and understanding of social phenomena between people.

I didn't like

• The writing fluctuated in quality between terrible and decent. There were far too many instances of me rolling my eyes.
• The amount of stereotypes used in the game. Has David Cage & Co. never experienced the incredibly tired clichées in Western media in the last 50 years or so? Mad scientist Guy, Holy Indians, Warmongering Army General, Abusive Father, Bullying Teenagers, etc. There were far too many for me to stomach.
• The supernatural aspect of the game sometimes were too unbelievable to make me put much belief in the events and drama in the game. Sometimes I felt like I was watching Akira or Superman or something, which put me off the more likeable and believable grounded events in the game.
• Self-contradictory events within the played narrative from time to time. Some events weren't in line with the "choices" my playthrough had made, such as Nathan's reprimendal of Jodie when he states "You remember what Aiden did at the birthday party?" - yet Aiden didn't do anything in my playthrough besides opening up the door for Jodie so she could escape. Another instance of contradiction was when Jodie wakes up in Nathan's office after being taken in by the CIA: In this case Jodie went out of the office, saw the big Condenser. Nathan then shows up and tells her "Impressive, isn't it? The world's biggest condenser!" and Jodie somehow doesn't comment or react to its existence, despite the fact that the narrative's and Jodie's general opposition against this technology had been established beforehand.
• The gendered nature of the depiction of Jodie. The "pinkification" of her as a child (clothes, toys, bunny, etc.), Cole constantly addressing her as 'princess' or the moment where Ryan arrives to save her in Somalia from being gunned down by the militants, he fucking carries her like she's a little child - if it had been a guy, he certainly wouldn't have carried a guy like that, but rather over his shoulders or under his arm.
• The soundtrack was at times the usual forgettable stuff by the Hans Zimmer Factory Company, i.e. Lorne Balfe didn't do a particularly unique or distinct job that made the music be separated from the conventional Hollywood epic synth orchestra soundtracks.
• Sometimes the hand-holding and linearity seemed too much, like driving a motorcycle or riding a horse, or escaping an underwater submarine base.
• The Somali level seemed too cartoony at times, especially the car chase and Jodie allowing the child soldier to follow her around. Additionally, the fact that Jodie didn't think about the concept of taking the life of other people until she had to kill Jamal also seemed jarring, considering that she had just killed around 10 or so soldiers beforehand.

I think in total, this game might not have been aimed at me. This game is more along the lines of a regular, dumb Hollywood drama with supernatural elements that might interest more casual players and teenagers who are into supernatural dramas like Twilight and so on. And that's perfectly fine to like such things, they're just (no longer) for me.

That being said, I really liked the game for what it tried to do, especially when compared to the usual mainstream high-budget video games we get fed by the gaming industry AAA factory machine. I loved the characterization of Jodie, I loved some of the more personal themes the game brought to the table, I loved the non-obvious decisions one could make in terms of helping, abandoning, or even harming other virtual characters in the game, and I of course loved the graphics.

I just wish David Cage would be more open towards criticisms and third party feedback, because there are a lot of writing flaws that would automatically get fixed with a couple of knowledgeable eyes on the script. Quantic Dream has so many great opportunities to achieve something culturally significant for gaming culture with the budget and market exposure they are given, but unfortunately the lack of narrative standards makes the overall quality too flawed.

In summary, Beyond: Two Souls, like Heavy Rain before it, is conceptually admirable, but heavily flawed in its execution. Nevertheless, the game is an interesting indication of how digital games are able to explore other areas of human life than shooting people, such as what it means to be abandoned by those a character trust and love or how the lives of homeless people is ridiculously unjustified, or how awkward it can be to be a teenager. Such themes are much more interesting to me than the seemingly endless amount of shooting virtually depicted people.

 

[HeavenlyStriker]

can she walk any faster

 

[dragonbane]

can she walk any faster

Depends on the context. If you press the stick all the way up and hold it there she will eventually start jogging. Doesn't work in every chapter though, but pretty much in all of them where you have to walk a lot. Navajo for instance.

 

[Carl]

Just finished the game. Holy shit, wow. Amazing.

 

[dragonbane]

Just finished the game. Holy shit, wow. Amazing.

Indeed.

 

[WhereAreMahDragonz]

These gifs <3

 

[megamerican]

Just finished it. I think Heavy Rain was more consistent, but Beyond had better high points. I thought that Dawkins was given a crappy ending considering how much depth they gave that character. The quick animation from shooting himself from despair to being reunited with his family seemed almost comical.

The Navajo stuff was pretty bad. Felt more like a DLC pack than an actual part of the narrative. It didn't fit the tone of the game either. It made the spirit stuff seem hokey while the rest of the game handled the Infraworld in an interesting way.

Ellen Page and Defoe deserve a lot of credit for elevating some highly inconsistent material. Even though there were a lot of cliche moments, I still bought into it for the performances. The ending hit me hard even though I saw it coming a mile away. Page really did a phenomenal job on this one. Not the best game I've played this year, but maybe the most interesting one.

 

[tranciful]

Just finished. I thought Heavy Rain was, in terms of interactivity, much more creative. Beyond reused the same handful of mechanics throughout the game making it feel like it might as well have been a movie. Beyond obviously had more consistent production values, but I wasn't as interested in the story -- just didn't interest me I guess.

After the first experiments I thought the game might focus on the player's morals, enacted through Aiden -- I tore up the room and attacked the lady and felt bad; thought it had potential to continue exploring the idea of how players play games and how that relates to morality etc, but they didn't go that direction. They just kept telling their boring story.

As a fan of Heavy Rain, I'm pretty disappointed. Felt like a step backward to me (apart from production values).

edit: and the bonus content was too easy.

 

[Helscream]

Just finished it as well last night. Considering all the hate that David Cage gets I still like my $60 purchase was well worth it. Not only as a visual spectacle, but something set aside from the "DudeBro" nonsense you see in most games.

I will say as a dude it was kinda awkward, but cool to play as a reasonably strong female protagonist. However I was able to escape this by expressing myself through Aiden.

Certain scenes like The Birthday Party after the way Jodie was treated. I had the whole "Vengeance is mine!" mentality. Also at the Bar I had absolutely not qualms about making those three older guys pay in blood. And then of course when it came to the Dinner scene I decided to listen to Jodie and not screw up her date. Even though I felt like Ryan was a punk considering how he treated her when he came to recruit her to the CIA. After that I wanted to launch his punk ass out the window.

At the end I decided to have Jodie reunite with Ryan. I felt like near the end of the game Ryan finally proved himself "worthy".

Which brings me to say since I have never had a little sister (but I do have a niece). I felt like a guardian as Aiden. That even though Jodie was the main focus. I going to do anything I can to protect her on her journey. Like my purpose was to be that guardian. And I will say is a very unique feeling that I have never experienced in game like I have in Beyond Two Souls.

 

[tranciful]

Just finished it as well last night. Considering all the hate that David Cage gets I still like my $60 purchase was well worth it. Not only as a visual spectacle, but something set aside from the "DudeBro" nonsense you see in most games.

I will say as a dude it was kinda awkward, but cool to play as a reasonably strong female protagonist. However I was able to escape this by expressing myself through Aiden.

Certain scenes like The Birthday Party after the way Jodie was treated. I had the whole "Vengeance is mine!" mentality. Also at the Bar I had absolutely not qualms about making those three older guys pay in blood. And then of course when it came to the Dinner scene I decided to listen to Jodie and not screw up her date. Even though I felt like Ryan was a punk considering how he treated her when he came to recruit her to the CIA. After that I wanted to launch his punk ass out the window.

At the end I decided to have Jodie reunite with Ryan. I felt like near the end of the game Ryan finally proved himself "worthy".

Which brings me to say since I have never had a little sister (but I do have a niece). I felt like a guardian as Aiden. That even though Jodie was the main focus. I going to do anything I can to protect her on her journey. Like my purpose was to be that guardian. And I will say is a very unique feeling that I have never experienced in game like I have in Beyond Two Souls.

See, that's the sort of thing I hoped to get out of it. But I feel like I made more decisions as Jodie, so that's how I perceived the game - playing primarily as Jodie. I felt a little of what you describe, but I think the game could have focused on that and it would have made it a much stronger experience. Though I imagine a female might feel differently than me and appreciate the perspective the game did have. The game went down the middle -- wish they could have found a way to focus on one or the other (or both, but separately).

 

[Replicant]

I feel a bit different. At times, I feel a bit like Jodie because I've experienced bullying so I understand how awful it can be. But now I'm an adult, I actually feel more anger than sad seeing it happened to Jodie (and in extension, myself back then). So seeing Jodie got bullied like that incited the vengeful part of me that I never knew I had. I literally wanted to inflict pain on those brats and I did so as Aiden.

 

[Wildarmsjecht]

...just beat it.

I don't really know what to do with myself right now. The emotions are going all over the place. The ending was sooooo satisfying it hurts. Some inconsistencies here and there but nothing to pull away from the entire game...

Game....

I kinda don't want to use that word. It's a game for sure, I interacted, I had fun, it was a BLAST.

But....the feels right now?..Can we say that a game is meant to give you such feels?

I don't know...there's a heaviness in my heart. I still see Jodie alive, making her own choices, either with Ryan, Jay, or Zoey or even Alone!...but...the "game" is over..and im left wondering "....will I ever be able to partake in this story again? What happens next? Please tell me."

Sorry guys...just...it's been awhile since a game had me feeling so all over the place at the end, but in a good way..

No...let me rephrase that. The last game I beat was The Last of Us and throughout the game I thought I had a little girl who I needed to protect at all cost...no matter what...The feels there was just as strong through the really intense scenes.Yea...maybe that's why I can without a doubt say that this game is Easily..EASILY one of my favorite games this gen, and all times. I truly enjoyed Heavy Rain...but this?..better than I could have imagined.

TL;DR - I'm in a corner, crying and laughing and smiling and gushing my feelings in an emotional bukkake sort of way. I love this game.

 

[Vizzeh]

This generation, the stories just keep on giving, I thought Beyond was fantastic, definitely at times an emotional roller coaster, watching v young jodie deal with all these 'scary' things from her perspective, the events with her mum and the life or death decision was also hard to take. Fantastic game... great graphics and the end scenes were beautiful. Dont know what some sites where talking about giving this game such a low score. Other sites warranted their high score.

 

[Chev]

The debug mode screenshot option will take a screenshot with the debug UI still on top, so it was pretty much strictly for screencapping bugs as there is no way to activate it without getting the debug UI in the shot.

Actually there's a button that hides the UI.

 

[jett]

The story in this game is fucking awful. I don't get how Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe signed up for this. Must've been a morbid curiosity for them, or maybe they have shitty agents.

Nathan going balls out insane villain mode is one of those moronic twists I've seen in a while. Jodie was like a surrogate daughter for him, who he has no problem leaving to a comatose existence or even pulling the trigger on her himself. Frankly, David Cage simply has bad fucking taste, because there is no other explanation.

 

[T.O.P]

Didn't like it that much, i kinda lost some interest halfway thorugh the game but i cared for Jodie enough to carry on and the ending was pretty satisfying...kinda of a let down compared to Heavy Rain though, but muthafuckin Ellen Page killed it <3







Doesn't matter though, had sex with Eric Winter

 

[Vashetti]

WTF at the ending (I chose Ryan).

And why was Zoe an option? What happens if you choose her?

 

[jett]

WTF at the ending (I chose Ryan).

And why was Zoe an option? What happens if you choose her?

You go to live with the hobos, which are no longer hobos.

 

[Ishida]

WTF at the ending (I chose Ryan).

And why was Zoe an option? What happens if you choose her?

You get the best ending.

 

[luxarific]

Just finished it. It was OK, but Heavy Rain beats it for involving consequential game play. The writing in general is much improved (fewer plot holes, thank goodness), but some characters (Nathan in particular) were not well served. Wish they would have made Jodie a bit taller, she looks like she's about 13 in many scenes where she's in her 20s. It's annoying.

Also can't believe they left out a gamma adjustment. I always had to pause the game, and turn up the brightness on my tv set each time there was a fight scene, since otherwise I couldn't tell which direction the game wanted me to go.

 

[alterno69]

Just beat it too, pretty dissapointed after loving Heavy Rain. I was basically following instructions the whole time, no sense of exploration or that my choices mattered. I never cared much for Jodie and the story and scenarios were pretty boring. The ending was ok, best part of the game by far and made it somewhat worth it.

I was rolling my etes during many parts of the game. Felt more like an interactive cutscene than an actual game, i feel stupid for saying it but that's how i feel.

 

[see5harp]

SHIMASHANI!!!!!!

 

[MeBecomingI]

Just finished it finally. I loved it. I wasn't a fan of the segmented story telling but it all made sense in the end and just worked. Ellen Page did an incredible job, as did everyone. If the acting wasn't there the story would've fell apart but the acting was fantastic and it drove the story. There were very few times where it felt cheesy or something felt out of place (expect the ending they gave Nathan, which did feel a little quick and half-assed).

I really, really liked it. I can't wait to see what Quantic does next.

 

[Lime]

I was thinking of events or moments in the game that pissed me off because of their stupidity:

• The way Jodie finds out that she actually killed the fucking democratically elected president in Somalia was through a goddamn random news bulletin in the helicopter. Apparently she has no idea about basic stuff in the country she is operating in. Really convenient, huh?
• That one guy yelling SHIASAMA at the sky after a character death. I was thinking of:
• 
• You gave me a book as a birthday? A fucking book?
• Homeless people with Hearts of Gold
• Adoption Dad is a cartoonish one-dimensional villain
• Who the fuck carries wounded soldiers like they're little children?
• 
• Despite being trained as a fucking CIA agent or having superpowers, Jodie can't take care of herself when she becomes homeless
• Nathan's sudden character development. He is a compassionate, understanding guardian until the end, despite the fact that he was in contact with his dead wife and daughter back when Jodie was 5 years old. Like Shelby before him, it's just too convenient character development.
• Noble Savages and the complete disregard of Navajo identity and culture. Erik Kain explains:

  The Navajo family members are the silliest sort of &#8220;noble savages&#8221; dressed up in a thin veneer of modernity. The Navajo culture is almost entirely ignored.
  
  At one point, Cage gives us a flashback of tepees burning, despite the fact that the Navajo never lived in tepees.
  
  The elder of the two sons looks more Italian than American Indian, and both boys sound lily white. No trace of the extremely distinct Navajo accent can be heard&#8212;and this is a family living deep in the middle of nowhere. The boys speak Navajo, something that&#8217;s pretty rare these days among younger generations.
  
  There&#8217;s even a moment where the boys take Jodie to a place &#8220;no white man&#8217;s ever been before&#8221; which, honestly, is just the worst sort of nonsense. As if the American government hasn&#8217;t been all over indigenous lands. No, in Cage&#8217;s bizarre vision of the American Indian, it&#8217;s all mysticism and horses and Jodie the white savior.

I think the worst offender of the above is probably the news bulletin in the helicopter. Why doens't Jodie know basic everyday knowledge about the country she is operating in? Has she never read a newspaper? Did she even bother to go on Wikipedia? It's just lazy and stupid storytelling, imo.

 

[iPaul]

I don't post much, so sorry if this is the wrong place to put my thoughts on the game... Feel free to correct any mistakes, criticize, counter-point, etc. Will definitely try to improve and respond back.

As a whole, Beyond Two Souls was an a average game to me. I believe the story/idea of the game was great and could have been told/sequenced in a better way. There were a few things that I believe made the game, at times, unbearable to play.

1) The game is just filled with every possible genre you could think of. Action/Adventure/Thriller/Horror/Romance/Comedy/Spy-Adv/War/Fantasy/Sci-Fi etc WHICH IS NOT A BAD THING BUT... they would implement and then sequence these genres in confusing fashion (not all the time but in several missions)... It just puts you in a completely wide ray of emotions (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwXD0hCvtX4) while playing through the game and to me it felt inconsistent.

2) As previous posts above me stated, there were some plot holes during mission sequences and in my opinion it cluttered the story. Some missions felt like a "DLC mission" where you ask yourself "how is this essential/part of the story and why is it here?". I understand it is to depict Jodie's journey and her connection to regular/everyday humans but it feels like the director was forcefully filling in intimate moments for Jodie and made those moments seem artificial (in a few missions not all). Also I believe the story development of Jodie just escalated too quickly... it starts off with little girl with unexplained supernatural powers trying to understand its origin-->Rifts--> Whole new universe/world (InfraWorld)--> Entities (Evil/Good)--> Human Exploitation of Entities-->

Spoiler

Future Apocalypse, with the end hinting that Zooey and possibly others have similar capabilities as Jodie and that they must fight the evil entities destroying the real world....

. No idea why that had to be implemented in the end, as it leads us to believe that there will be a sequel of some kind but in actuality it will never have one (David Cage stated in some interview that he does not do sequels and will probably never do one). These plot events just take only one mission to sum-up and makes the story-telling seem rushed and crammed.

In conclusion I think David Cage wanted to be "different" when telling the story for Beyond Two Souls and in the end it just hurt the game as a whole. If the game took its time in telling the story of Jodie Holmes and implementing the new plots in a timely fashion I think the game or at least the story of Beyond Two Souls would have been more enjoyable.

 

[dragonbane]

I think the worst offender of the above is probably the news bulletin in the helicopter. Why doens't Jodie know basic everyday knowledge about the country she is operating in? Has she never read a newspaper? Did she even bother to go on Wikipedia? It's just lazy and stupid storytelling, imo.

Because they didn't want her to know? The dude was just elected literally 2 days ago or so. I'm not sure about USA, but here in Germany we often get the results in the news, but normally nothing about the election process in a country far far away. At least I wouldn't know the candidates.

As the CIA, I would place her in a lockdown mode, fly her over to the base on short notice (urgent top secret mission) and make sure she has no means of accessing the news. Or at least the real news, not exactly hard to broadcast fake stuff. So that's what they probably did. They're CIA, not some amateurs.

 

[Loakum]

I was thinking of events or moments in the game that pissed me off because of their stupidity:

• The way Jodie finds out that she actually killed the fucking democratically elected president in Somalia was through a goddamn random news bulletin in the helicopter. Apparently she has no idea about basic stuff in the country she is operating in. Really convenient, huh?
• That one guy yelling SHIASAMA at the sky after a character death. I was thinking of:
• 
• You gave me a book as a birthday? A fucking book?
• Homeless people with Hearts of Gold
• Adoption Dad is a cartoonish one-dimensional villain
• Who the fuck carries wounded soldiers like they're little children?
• 
• Despite being trained as a fucking CIA agent or having superpowers, Jodie can't take care of herself when she becomes homeless
• Nathan's sudden character development. He is a compassionate, understanding guardian until the end, despite the fact that he was in contact with his dead wife and daughter back when Jodie was 5 years old. Like Shelby before him, it's just too convenient character development.
• Noble Savages and the complete disregard of Navajo identity and culture. Erik Kain explains:

I think the worst offender of the above is probably the news bulletin in the helicopter. Why doens't Jodie know basic everyday knowledge about the country she is operating in? Has she never read a newspaper? Did she even bother to go on Wikipedia? It's just lazy and stupid storytelling, imo.

Homeless people with hearts of gold seems so hard to believe?

 

[Lime]

Because they didn't want her to know? The dude was just elected literally 2 days ago or so. I'm not sure about USA, but here in Germany we often get the results in the news, but normally nothing about the election process in a country far far away. At least I wouldn't know the candidates.

As the CIA, I would place her in a lockdown mode, fly her over to the base on short notice (urgent top secret mission) and make sure she has no means of accessing the news. Or at least the real news, not exactly hard to broadcast fake stuff. So that's what they probably did. They're CIA, not some amateurs.

I think those reasons are suspect and kind of far-fetched imo, but If we grant your ad hoc explanation, then why even have a TV with a news bulletin in a high-ranking CIA official's helicopter, which somehow conveniently conveys the information Jodie wasn't supposed to be aware of?

Homeless people with hearts of gold seems so hard to believe?

No. The characterization of them is one-dimensional, meaning that the characters lack any form of nuance and complexity that actual human beings have in real life. As a consequence, they are non-believable charicatures which lose much sense of believability.

 

[dragonbane]

Despite being trained as a fucking CIA agent or having superpowers, Jodie can't take care of herself when she becomes homeless

What do you mean with that? She can take care of herself and Stan only helps her, because she collapses of exhaustion, since the entities are constantly attacking her.

I think those reasons are suspect and kind of far-fetched imo, but If we grant your ad hoc explanation, then why even have a TV with a news bulletin in a high-ranking CIA official's helicopter, which somehow conveniently conveys the information Jodie wasn't supposed to be aware of?

That was a bit too convenient I agree. But they probably expected her to find out anyway.

No. The characterization of them is one-dimensional, meaning that the characters lack any form of nuance and complexity that actual human beings have in real life. As a consequence, they are non-believable charicatures which lose much sense of believability.

I thought Stan and Walter had pretty believable back stories.

 

[MangoMoustache]

Actually there's a button that hides the UI.

I know L3 hides the QA menu, but can you actually select the screenshot button without the menu open? I haven't found a way of taking screenshots other than pausing time, hiding the QA menu and then taking the screenshot through the XMB.

 

[The English Conquistador]

More pics please!

 

[MangoMoustache]

More pics please!

I suppose. I've been taking a lot of 16:9 freecam shots recently. I'm probably going to make an album of my best shots throughout the entire game pretty soon. It still boggles my mind that this is real time on a PS3.

Click 'em to see the full size.

 

[The English Conquistador]

Jesus...

I've taken tons of pics in PC games. I'm quite a perfectionist to the shots I take. I need loads of AA and generally, the image needs to look high quality and such. Played all the greatest graphical showpieces etc...

What I'm getting at is....this game is literally the best looking games I've seen, visually I mean. I would kill to take pics in this game. Is there any kind of guide to getting this sort of thing to work? I doubt it's simple but yeah...

Also, could I make a request for more face shots of Jodie and other characters pwease? I'm mainly talking about the characters who, face-wise look the most impressive. Jodie, Nathan, Stan (the main homeless dude).

 

[Midou]

Yeah I've always been huge into high-end PC gaming and tweaking, but this game blows me away visually. Not saying there aren't probably much higher technically superior PC games, especially with heavy tweaks/HD-texture mods/etc, but as a whole its quite high tier.

I finished the game yestarday and gave my impressions in |OT| but basically I loved it as a whole. Sure some parts were mega cheese or overly dramatic, but it balanced itself out.

So many scenes and set pieces would make great games. I loved the underwater walking when you have that futuristic scuba suit on, the design was phenomenal for what made a scene of a few minutes.

Also kind of funny Cage beat Kojima to the 'child soldier in a video game' idea. (I imagine it might have been done before in some less popular game, but you know what I mean)

 

[MangoMoustache]

I've taken tons of pics in PC games. I'm quite a perfectionist to the shots I take. I need loads of AA and generally, the image needs to look high quality and such. Played all the greatest graphical showpieces etc...

Same here. I generally don't play console games because I can't stand the IQ, but Beyond is on another level. I'll try and get some face shots for you. The face detail is actually pretty insane. They use detail textures that fade in depending on how close the camera is to the player. They don't actually have "cinematic" models for the characters. The gameplay model just dynamically adds more detail as the camera approaches.

Anyway, here's one I had lying around.

 

[Loakum]

I think those reasons are suspect and kind of far-fetched imo, but If we grant your ad hoc explanation, then why even have a TV with a news bulletin in a high-ranking CIA official's helicopter, which somehow conveniently conveys the information Jodie wasn't supposed to be aware of?



No. The characterization of them is one-dimensional, meaning that the characters lack any form of nuance and complexity that actual human beings have in real life. As a consequence, they are non-believable charicatures which lose much sense of believability.

I'm curious, did you use Jodi's ability on them (the homeless peeps) and learn their back story? If you done that, not only would you learn how they got to be homeless, but also their complex emotions attached to it. In my opinion, they revealed more humanity than I seldom see in the video game genre.

 

[nelsonroyale]

Jesus...

I've taken tons of pics in PC games. I'm quite a perfectionist to the shots I take. I need loads of AA and generally, the image needs to look high quality and such. Played all the greatest graphical showpieces etc...

What I'm getting at is....this game is literally the best looking games I've seen, visually I mean. I would kill to take pics in this game. Is there any kind of guide to getting this sort of thing to work? I doubt it's simple but yeah...

Also, could I make a request for more face shots of Jodie and other characters pwease? I'm mainly talking about the characters who, face-wise look the most impressive. Jodie, Nathan, Stan (the main homeless dude).

Yeah, I just got past the Condensor. I couldn't believe the visuals frankly. Yes, the level of interaction is lower than other games, but I found the scenes more impressive than say the real time cutscene sequences in Crysis 2....I am surprised my PS3 didn't explode.

 

[MangoMoustache]

So I just finished the game a second time, I went chose Life the first time around, I got chills down my spine. I went with Beyond this time, Jesus. I started feeling it when Ryan was basically screaming at Jodie's body. I actually teared up when it got to Cole... Man, I knew what was going to happen but still. Feels man. Feels.

Also here's an artsy one.

 

[dragonbane]

Holy shit. Awesome shots MangoMoustache. Will definitely download the entire album once you upload it

Gorgeous looking game. I want that free cam so bad :/

 

[PrivateRyan]

Enjoyed Beyond. There are some awful lines in there ("THESE PORTABLE CONTAINMENT FIELDS ARE THE ONLY THING KEEPING US ALIVE!" *portable containment field breaks*) and there are some dud sections but overall, I really enjoyed playing through it. Thought Page and Dafoe were brilliant too. And I loved Cole. Cole is awesome.

Question though - why is Zoey linked with an entity? The story explains why Jodie is linked with Aiden, and having established that as the reason for someone being linked with an entity in Beyond's lore, it then felt out of place for Zoey to be linked with an entity too.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Wow. Game was better than expected, and picks up in the second half. Wasn't feeling it as much through the first few hours due to all the jumping around, but it really gets going.

I chose life and ended up with the CIA dude. I killed my mom, saved Cole. Not sure what other choices I had.

 

[Pepboy]

Heavy Rain was one of my top ten of the generation, but having just finished B2S, I'm surprised with the generally positive reactions in this thread. I didn't even enter B2S with high expectations.

The graphics were nice, and the first third was pretty interesting (Experiment, Hobo scenes), but everything after was just a huge time sink. I couldn't connect with any of the characters, the immersion was just broken for me. Things like Aiden not being able to move freely, having to control certain characters certain ways, unable to interact with most items. It was like a linear puzzle game that shouts the answers at you, so I just start looking around for the little blue dots. It reminds you how obviously it's a video game, and the lack of meaningful choice utterly fails at being interactive. Even the combat with the monsters is repetitive.

I actively started disliking the game near the dinner scene. I really disliked Ryan the entire time, so when he comes over, I had Jodie just sit around like a slob. Despite trying to get away from him as much as possible, they make Ryan the central love interest, practically forcing it down my throat. At the end, I chose "Beyond" just to get away from him.

At so many points, they pause the entire game, and you can do nothing but the single dot available to you. Like the option to put down my bag in Najavo. I can't choose NOT to put the bag down, so what's the point? They clearly aren't afraid of cutscenes in other places.

Heavy Rain was a mystery, unraveling things, and I had the freedom to fail at several key points and really impact the ending. The only real mystery in Beyond Two Souls is how a studio could fall so far in the span of a single game.

 

[dragonbane]

Heavy Rain was one of my top ten of the generation, but having just finished B2S, I'm surprised with the generally positive reactions in this thread. I didn't even enter B2S with high expectations.

The graphics were nice, and the first third was pretty interesting (Experiment, Hobo scenes), but everything after was just a huge time sink. I couldn't connect with any of the characters, the immersion was just broken for me. Things like Aiden not being able to move freely, having to control certain characters certain ways, unable to interact with most items. It was like a linear puzzle game that shouts the answers at you, so I just start looking around for the little blue dots. It reminds you how obviously it's a video game, and the lack of meaningful choice utterly fails at being interactive. Even the combat with the monsters is repetitive.

I actively started disliking the game near the dinner scene. I really disliked Ryan the entire time, so when he comes over, I had Jodie just sit around like a slob. Despite trying to get away from him as much as possible, they make Ryan the central love interest, practically forcing it down my throat. At the end, I chose "Beyond" just to get away from him.

At so many points, they pause the entire game, and you can do nothing but the single dot available to you. Like the option to put down my bag in Najavo. I can't choose NOT to put the bag down, so what's the point? They clearly aren't afraid of cutscenes in other places.

Heavy Rain was a mystery, unraveling things, and I had the freedom to fail at several key points and really impact the ending. The only real mystery in Beyond Two Souls is how a studio could fall so far in the span of a single game.

They didn't fall at all. They improved in a lot of ways actually. They just decided to make a different game than Heavy Rain. Your bag example makes no sense, considering HR has them in spades as well. You can't choose NOT to pull Shelby's inhaler out, so what's the point?

The combat with the monsters is used in a whooping 2 scenes. While the game has its flaws, it didn't took me out of the experience fortunately. I hated Ryan as well and I actually loved how it allowed me to shoot him down again and again. I chose life and broke his heart one last time and decided to live with the homeless gang.

Overall I loved the game, but I get your other complaints about linearity and "more" meaningful choice. That's something they need to work on and probably do, since they hired more writers for their next game, so I assume the writing effort will be bigger.

Speaking of Ryan, I never got the scene where Nathan supposedly threaten Ryan's life to force Jodie to do something. Ryan got separated from Jodie before her encounter with Nathan and did not see her again until Jodie managed to deal with Nathan.

See next page.

 

[Replicant]

Speaking of Ryan, I never got the scene where Nathan supposedly threaten Ryan's life to force Jodie to do something. Ryan got separated from Jodie before her encounter with Nathan and did not see her again until Jodie managed to deal with Nathan.