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Enslaved: Odyssey to the West |OT| I Die, You Die.

Rabbitwork said:
finished the game a little bit ago. not sure how i feel about it overall. art direction, acting, voice work, graphical fidelity, sound, all top notch. combat was middling to irritating; the stun move is almost worthless. story wasn't bad, however:

so did they forget to write the rest of the ending? i suppose a sequel could be made, or some kind of extension via DLC, but holy hell was that an anti-climactic, and irritating last level. i don't have a problem with what Pyramid actually turned out to be, but they sort left us hanging in the worst possible way. like others have said what happens next? did trip go home? did monkey stay with her? why did she impulsively kill the Pyramid but seconds later suddenly have a crisis of conscience?

also, why was there never the obvious, but effective, scene of her forcing monkey to do something he doesn't want to? i was waiting even up until the end for her to say "Command: Take the mask off!" or make him stay with Pigsy. garland's work for me has always touched on the small intricacies of what goes on behind a person's eyes, what motivates them. this story was very straightforward. would not be surprised if "written by alex garland" means he wrote down a plot treatment on a notebook sheet and gave it to ninja theory to finish it. hrm.

Did you upgrade it at all? That stun move was the reason I made it through my battles, I can't take 5 mechs on at once. Put a few out, take care of the others, put them out, take care of the ones that wore off, repeat.

I feel that's a little too obvious. There were "intricacies" of what motivated these people; I enjoyed the progression from her commanding or warning she could command to when she would say things like "I'm not commanding you...I'm asking you" and he would oblige bc of their bond. The moment when he commanded her to reactivate the band also comes to mind. I would expect her to command him to do something he wouldn't want, wouldn't expect him to command her (especially when it comes to the band) and for her to actually listen.
 
jonnybryce said:
Did you upgrade it at all? That stun move was the reason I made it through my battles, I can't take 5 mechs on at once. Put a few out, take care of the others, put them out, take care of the ones that wore off, repeat.

I feel that's a little too obvious. There were "intricacies" of what motivated these people; I enjoyed the progression from her commanding or warning she could command to when she would say things like "I'm not commanding you...I'm asking you" and he would oblige bc of their bond. The moment when he commanded her to reactivate the band also comes to mind. I would expect her to command him to do something he wouldn't want, wouldn't expect him to command her (especially when it comes to the band) and for her to actually listen.
i've almost fully upgraded. i'm speaking of the "hold attack to charge and stun" move as opposed to the stun blast. maybe i'm just "doing it wrong" but its seriously hard to work into my combat. its been easier for me to roll away/around and use the evade attack.

i just felt that the 'threat' of her having to command him to do something was utilized more to explain away all the silly videogame tropes we take for granted (HUD display, invisible walls, etc) rather than a plot device that might as well not have existed past chapter 4. aside from their initial dialogue, she never used it again. i was hoping to see some kind of stress placed on their trust of one another. as it stands, it feels like she just happened to snag the one totally charitable guy in the entire wasteland. he doesn't even flinch when she betrays him after her father is found dead. i guess by that time he wouldn't bother, but it felt like he'd had a change of character a little too fast.

i did however really enjoy the scene where he asks her to turn it back on; implying that if given the chance, he can't promise he wouldn't run away. i guess i'm mostly upset at the abruptness of the ending. i don't feel like i'm left with enough information to make up the rest. i'd rather see it since they did such a remarkable job with the performance capture.


on a related note for anyone who would know: if i wanted to read the original journey to the west story, is there a version/book/printing that is the most faithful translation? its my understanding that many US versions of the story have parts removed or have been partially re-written.
 

luxarific

Nork unification denier
Rabbitwork said:
i did however really enjoy the scene where he asks her to turn it back on; implying that if given the chance, he can't promise he wouldn't run away. i guess i'm mostly upset at the abruptness of the ending. i don't feel like i'm left with enough information to make up the rest. i'd rather see it since they did such a remarkable job with the performance capture.

Huh, that's not how I read that scene.
To me it felt more like he didn't want to lose the connection he had with her, that he no longer viewed the headband as a device enslaving him, but more as something linking him to her. And by asking her to turn it back on, he's was essentially telling her that he'd chosen to stand by her in the final fight.

I wish we'd gotten more info
about the die off of humanity. There were SOS banners in NYC and you see a billboard talking about a war and an election. Did the mechs turn on humanity? I think they missed an opportunity to include more backstory in the mask sequences. Instead of flashing photos of vacationers, mountains and farm equipment, it would have been nice if we could have gotten more hints about how the world ended.
 

Giolon

Member
I just finished it and I have to say that was disappointing. The ending kind of just....ended. Are they planning on selling the rest of it to us as DLC or what?

I suppose you could say like another outstanding game,
The Longest Journey
, it's not about the destination it's about the journey that got you there...but damn...I feel kind of ripped off in the story department.

I never felt that Monkey and Trip's relationship progression was quite as natural as so many of the reviews praised it. Monkey's decisions felt completely irrational to me.
Why wasn't he more upset when Trip broke their deal? Why did he command her to put the headband back on? Furthermore, why did she agree?
All of this just left a lot of the game ringing hollow to me. I feel like a lot of the important stuff would be the simple little moments that were likely to have been cut out and were skipped over during "ok they traveled very far between these two chapters, next up, action!" Spaces like that could have been used to flesh the relationship out.
 

dwebo

Member
Rabbitwork said:
i've almost fully upgraded. i'm speaking of the "hold attack to charge and stun" move as opposed to the stun blast. maybe i'm just "doing it wrong" but its seriously hard to work into my combat. its been easier for me to roll away/around and use the evade attack.
Hmm, I could be mistaken, but I thought the charged stun move was the only way to break a shield in melee range, outside of pulling out your staff and firing point blank. It also charges up in about a second, and you can be facing the wrong way as long as you push the stick when you let go, so I didn't find it too clunky.

Giolon said:
Why wasn't he more upset when Trip broke their deal? Why did he command her to put the headband back on? Furthermore, why did she agree?
Well, I interpreted it as that by that point, he'd grown to care about her, or at least understand why she wanted revenge and needed his help. Of course, he never actually says all of this in so many words, which is a large part of why the game's script and delivery gets its praise. I like that their "relationship" was vaguely defined and developed, though I understand how you could find it too sparse. As for the headband, I figured it was a utilitarian issue as it enabled him to see the HUD, scouting data, and hear her voice. Plus it's his "crown" so there was the visual aesthetic necessity from a design point of view too :lol.
 

TripOpt55

Member
I was just browsing about the web, looking for more info and opinions on the game. I ran into a couple of features that Game Informer posted. One is a history leading up to the game which lets you know a bit about the wars that led to where Enslaved starts. And then another was a look at the evolution of Trip's design which I thought was really neat. She even had a Kai-like hat at one point. Figured some other people might want to check them out. Here are the links:

Enslaved Backstory Timeline

Evolution of Trip

Sorry if these have been posted already. I haven't checked the whole thread.
 

Nemesis_

Member
I didn't like having
Andy Serkis'
face plastered across the game at the end, I felt that was somewhat self indulgent. Similarly, I didn't like the fact that
Trip did what she did
, I know for sure that I would've preferred the
the illusion of something so much nicer than the apocalytpic wasteland we played through
.

That being said, as I type this up, I'm not really sure what I would've wanted now that I think about it. =/

I was pretty pleased with the ending though, not too convoluted but not too simple either.
 
TripOpt55 said:

1) would've been nice if any of this info had been included with the game or incorporated into the story
2) major point of confusion re: the first chapter: if monkey & trip are being held on a slave ship traveling west, where were they originally captured? - europe?
how else to explain the close encounter with the statue of liberty? :) ...
 

Bernbaum

Member
Andy Serkis looked like Thom Yorke in the epilogue.

Ending was fine- I was anticipating something stupider and fourth-wall breaking. What're y'all whinging about?
 
Bernbaum said:
Ending was fine- I was anticipating something stupider and fourth-wall breaking. What're y'all whinging about?

well, the fact that it was stupid, period :) (something you apparently agree with?)...
 

Hixx

Member
Just completed it. Loved the first 13 chapters, last one was awful. Talk about dragging a 'boss' fight out...

Not sure what to think of the ending... hope there's a sequel but... yeah can't make my mind up on that ending.

I wonder if he was using them for something more sinister than letting them live in this cyber-world place...
 
Giolon said:
Why wasn't he more upset when Trip broke their deal? Why did he command her to put the headband back on? Furthermore, why did she agree?

I think a key motivator for him was that his life was empty, lonely and meaningless before. He talked about just driving around without a goal, and his only interactions after his parents died were with the odd trader. In my mind, Monkey is a good natured kind hearted person (particularly likely as he was brought up by real parents who could introduce morality and ethics rather than being completely wild) who felt a connection with Trip, though its ambiguous if that is just a fatherly type or more romantic.
 
Rabbitwork said:
i've almost fully upgraded. i'm speaking of the "hold attack to charge and stun" move as opposed to the stun blast. maybe i'm just "doing it wrong" but its seriously hard to work into my combat. its been easier for me to roll away/around and use the evade attack.

Damn. I used the charge stun attack a ton and rarely evaded. :lol


Giolon said:
1.Why wasn't he more upset when Trip broke their deal?
2. Why did he command her to put the headband back on?
3.Furthermore, why did she agree?

1. Monkey isn't a heartless loner. He doesn't have much of a family and finally has someone he's grown to care for. He's seen her lose it all. He has empathy for her - but even without that, how don't you feel for someone who has just journeyed 300 miles in a battlezone to find her whole family is gone? Like he said "It is what it is." This girl wants vengeance and he gets it. He has nowhere in particular to go and has grown to care about her. He wants to help her at this point.

2. I know a different view was expressed above but I felt it was a way for him to prove his dedication for her. Trip has no one. Her "family friend" wants to pursue her. Everything is different now and Monkey wants to show her that something is stable in her life - she can rely on him, he won't desert her. She also doubted herself a lot and it showed her that he's ok with her decisions and he understands why she did what she did (breaking the deal). Additionally the headband provided the HUD and all of the cool tech advantages in battle - he was showing her he was in this to win it and wasn't going anywhere. He still wanted to work together; nothing has changed.

3. They respect one another. If he wants to be there for her, she's going to let him. They're no longer strangers or slave/master at this point in the game. They have a friendship, maybe even more. He wants to be there for her, she allows him to be unlike earlier in the game where she wouldn't share an escape pod or felt the need to command him around.

And again, the headband gave him the HUD that was so useful in battle/their adventure to communicate. He wants to finish what they started, the HUD is essential.
 

dankir

Member
Beat it last night and it really is a fantastic game. Camera is stupid at times but not game breaking. But voice acting, visuals ( facial animations in particular ), controls are pretty great.

I was hoping you were able to make the choice at the end of the game and was surprised that you had no control in the epilogue at all. I also like the face that Trip realized she probably fucked up.

So what do you guys think.

DLC that shows what happens to humanity before the game

Or

What happens to Trip and Monkey after they send all the "freed" slaves back into the wasteland.

And why was Andy Serkis so heavily involved with this game? He did a fucking great job though!
 

Hixx

Member
OK so impressions after completing it once, about to start playthrough 2.

- Combat is quite decent until it starts getting busy and the framerate falls to bits. Then it can become an absolute mess, to the point of it being flat out unresponsive or misinterpreting commands. X, X, Y combo... wait what why are you charging up the stun attack!? I do like the power attack being saved until you use it rather than it being a 'use it or lose it' mechanic seen in so many games. Counter attacking seemed erratic, like the window to perform it was inconsistent or at best varied between enemies. Sometimes I'd press before the block and it'd work, sometimes not. Sometimes after and it'd work etc.

Takedown moves could be incredibly frustrating, often Monkey just standing there completely oblivious just getting wailed on while I'm mashing B next to a mech that was able to be taken down. I liked the varied takedown-rewards however, all of them were useful and worth aiming for.

The staff was again pretty hit and miss. The plasma attacks were fine, if a little overpowered, but the Stun attack was again inconsistent. Sometimes I'd watch the blue orb float through a mechs shields and out the other side and as a result take a bit of a beating. Aiming, speed and responsiveness were good but the stun seemingly failing made it feel less useful than it could have been.

- Exploration, for 90% of the time was straight forward but fun. In the beginning it was a bit too automated for my liking but progressing through when the hazards and falling sections came in it got a bit more involving and entertaining. However there were a couple of times when I was stuck for where to go. Often it is incredibly obvious, the shining debris/pipe is easily viewable. Sometimes it wasn't and because I was so used to it being obvious it felt frustrating.

The initial 13 (bar maybe 1 or 2 of them) chapters were a joy to work through, as the locales changed I always felt interested, looking forward to seeing what was next. Most of the poorer parts centred round the Cloud mechanic, perhaps due to every scene where it was used being plagued by horrendous frame rate issues. The two
chase sequences to save Trip in particular, while easy, were annoying due it running at easy 10-15 fps lower than it should have
.

- Bosses were again hit and miss (becoming a theme here...) The
two battles with the Dogs
were just time-wasters. I mean what was the point in making them so utterly easy? Stun, smash, stun, smash, Cloud, smash. Repeat. Urgh. The
Rhino
fight was more interesting, even if just another shooting gallery the platforming and general humour of the fight added a lot. The last fight was just an exhibition in tedium and not worth discussing. Lazy.

- The games strong point, its presentation is matched by very, very few games. Your AAA games, Uncharted's, Gears' etc. Facial animation is stunning and probably the most believable in any game I've played. Voice work also fantastic, Serkis obviously the highlight but Trip's VA and Piggsy's aswell were also great. Visually the game was beautiful, an absolute shame its riddled with frame rate problems and often low-resolution textures but the world is so cohesive. The characters were interesting, likeable and humorous in equal measures. I'm always up for a bit of immature humour so ofcourse Piggsy's coming out with some absolute corkers
wettest dreams, hand on penis etc
was great.
The love triangle never really got annoying as I expected, just added to the fun which is rare
.

The highs are high and the few problems I had (most linked to the poor performance) couldn't drag my enjoyment of the game down. One of my favourite games this year easily.
 

Despera

Banned
luxarific said:
Ugh, didn't like that character at all. At least I can sell the game back now without worrying about the DLC.

Pigsy was awesome.
But if the DLC features him then my hopes for a DLC that continues the story went down the drain.
 

ShogunX

Member
Just finished the game and despite the game being linear and the platforming automated I really enjoyed it. Like a few others have posted I would of liked some more information about the back story and hopefully we get that with either DLC or a sequel.

I also really enjoyed the story which is rare in games these days but then I have enjoyed Alex Garlands other story's such as the Beach and 28 Days Later (screenplay) and as usual Andy Serkis was fantastic. Visually it has a few hiccups with the odd low res texture and clunky scenery but on the flip side the game can also look stunning purely due to how good the art direction is.

Here's hoping this isn't the only time we get to delve into the world of Enslaved.


Interesting text interview with Andy Serkis and how he got involved with Ninja Theory and Enslaved.
 
dark10x said:
I really don't think it's fair to slam UE3 all that much. It is totally possible to overcome these limits.

It can produce fantastic results in the right hands. The framerate issues that crop up definitely demonstrate that NT did not have a real handle on this engine. Their own engine was just as bad last time around as Heavenly Sword also had significantly framerate issues.

For bright, sunny visuals I still think Mirror's Edge is one of the most impressive games this generation and that was built upon UE3. They did some custom work with the lighting, of course, but the results were amazing. There was nothing stopping NT from doing something similar. UE3 is a great engine, but it doesn't simply crank out certain types of visuals. It's up to the developer.

There was no need, Lightmass, as used in Enslaved can do just about anything Beast did in Mirror's Edge and more (like cast environment shadows over dynamic objects for starters). If you didn't like the lighting then its an artistic criticism not a technical one and using BEAST wouldn't have made a difference. If anything it would have produced an inferior result. Judging from the demo, Enslaved is easily one of the most impressive uses of UE3 yet and really shows how far the engine has come, performance issues on PS3 notwithstanding.

Wish there was a PC version as I can only imagine the game looking just insanely good on that platform. UE3 scales really well to high end PCs and the base game here on 360 is already really nice looking.

Irrational UE3 hate has got to be one of my biggest pet peeves on this forum and most of the criticisms are completely baseless. In its current form UE3 is actually a pretty damn good engine that can go toe-to-toe with nearly anything out there apart from the obvious.
 

ezekial45

Banned
brain_stew said:
Irrational UE3 hate has got to be one of my biggest pet peeves on this forum and most of the criticisms are completely baseless. In its current form UE3 is actually a pretty damn good engine that can go toe-to-toe with nearly anything out there apart from the obvious.
Oh, it can pull off great visuals. This game proves that. The problem is that the engine produces, by far, the most distracting, annoying, and down right ugly errors in gaming. Of course, I mean the the texture pop-in issue.

I don't know if it's poorly optimized or what, but it's definitely distracting. You can't deny that. No other engine has produced this problem as many times much as UE3. it really brings some games down.
 
I need some help in Chapter 3 (I think it's chapter 3)

I'm at a point where I see
a static mask
on a grate area, but I don't see how to reach it. I feel like I lost the path by progressing in the area and moving bridges and shit.

can you go back to old chapters without disrupting your current game to get it? are skill points and those collectibles constant through the game? basically, did I miss it?
 

fernoca

Member
Linkzg said:
can you go back to old chapters without disrupting your current game to get it? are skill points and those collectibles constant through the game? basically, did I miss it?
Nope.
As far as I know, starting a different chapter, erases your checkpoint. You can do it at the start of a new chapter, so when you finish going back and picking what you left; you just choose the newest chapter and move on.

The masks, once collected stay in your collection, so do the red orbs. So when you go back and replay a chapter you'll only see the ones you missed.


In my case, I'm about to start Chapter 11. :)
So far , so great. I'll leave my second playthough with Ninja Monkey, for after I finish Castlevania, though I need to start Castlevania to begin with. :p
 

dwebo

Member
I enjoyed Enslaved so much that I figured I should finally get around to playing Heavenly Sword. It arrived earlier today and wow... anyone thinking along the same lines - don't. Not even Anna Torv could save this turd.

If you were holding off on Enslaved because you didn't like Heavenly Sword, stop, because Enslaved is about a million times better.
 

eshwaaz

Member
I just beat it. The game certainly has its flaws and is even sloppy in some ways, but I absolutely loved it. The demo left me underwhelmed, but I ended up giving it a shot based on the positive reviews - I am very, very glad I did.

It's an extremely entertaining adventure with memorable characters, an interesting, unique world and solid pacing. I know the combat has taken some criticism for being too shallow, but I felt it was ultimately a good fit, and surprisingly satisfying. Also, while I was convinced the automated platforming would bother me, it ended up making sense for the design and structure of this game. Most importantly, I found the experience consistently fun from beginning to end, which is more than you can say for a lot of recent games - even the well-received ones. I really hope this game does well enough for a sequel - this world and its characters deserve to have their story continued.
 

Nemesis_

Member
ezekial45 said:
Oh, it can pull off great visuals. This game proves that. The problem is that the engine produces, by far, the most distracting, annoying, and down right ugly errors in gaming. Of course, I mean the the texture pop-in issue.

I don't know if it's poorly optimized or what, but it's definitely distracting. You can't deny that. No other engine has produced this problem as many times much as UE3. it really brings some games down.
.
 
The texture pop in isn't an engine thing that is automatic, it is how the engine is being used by the developer and what sort of game and experience they are trying to pull off.
 

-tetsuo-

Unlimited Capacity
brain_stew said:
Wish there was a PC version as I can only imagine the game looking just insanely good on that platform. UE3 scales really well to high end PCs and the base game here on 360 is already really nice looking.

Can only imagine how fantastic this would look at 1920x1200 with AA and 60fps.
 

NTom64

Member
Finally got round to playing the demo for this earlier today (haven't been on Live in months), and I must say it blew me way.

Gorgeous to look at, great character animation and voice-work and the platforming/combat remind me a lot of Beyond Good and Evil.

Definitely going to pick up the full version soon. :D
 

Amir0x

Banned
Just beat the game.

Wow. I need a technical analysis on the end game there. The framerate was so atrocious near the end there that I thought it had to be going sub-15 frequently. Gotta be one of the worst framerates in recent memory. Totally destroyed any chance this game had to redeem itself.

And the story? LOL.

The only thing pieces of dialogue I liked in the whole game was the "at least I'm inside the pod this time" and it was responded to with that impressive piece of facial animation where Trip goes "ha. ha."
 

eznark

Banned
Have they announced DLC for this game? I'm almost done with it and want to know if I should hold onto it for awhile (they have the menu option and all..)
 

Amir0x

Banned
eznark said:
Have they announced DLC for this game? I'm almost done with it and want to know if I should hold onto it for awhile (they have the menu option and all..)

in the back of the manual it says

"PLAY THE PIGSY DLC"

it doesn't say when the DLC is coming, however.
 
Amir0x said:
Just beat the game.

Wow. I need a technical analysis on the end game there. The framerate was so atrocious near the end there that I thought it had to be going sub-15 frequently. Gotta be one of the worst framerates in recent memory. Totally destroyed any chance this game had to redeem itself.

And the story? LOL.

The only thing pieces of dialogue I liked in the whole game was the "at least I'm inside the pod this time" and it was responded to with that impressive piece of facial animation where Trip goes "ha. ha."
So you liked it?

Yuck to Pigsy DLC. Didn't care for that pervert at all.
 

TripOpt55

Member
Man that one trophy against the Rhino is driving me insane. Had to stop. After cutscenes, they reset your position and I'm never ready to move out of the way correctly. Just about had it one time. I didn't think it'd be so tough. Will try it later. I going to hear that one line Monkey says at the beginning in my nightmares.
 

Amir0x

Banned
DevelopmentArrested said:
So you liked it?

Yuck to Pigsy DLC. Didn't care for that pervert at all.

at first i thought it was intriguing, but ultimately there is simply too much bad here. Combat is balls, framerate near the end is some of the worst I experienced all gen. The story is... i appreciate the good facial animation, always a plus, but I cared about none of the characters at all and the ultimate revelation was just stupid.

The platforming also lost all menace because there was literally almost nothing anyone could do to die. Only toward the end they started throwing in moving gears and fires, which was SUCH a breath of thank-God-they-don't-think-I'm-a-baby-anymore air, but by then it was too late to salvage the rest of the 12 or so chapters where nothing of danger occurred.
 
On Chapter 6 right now. Sure the control and camera are not as smooth as they could be but the game besides that is pretty damn cool. Even the Unreal Engine is working pretty well in Ninja Theory's hands.
 
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