Balducci30
Member
How does this game look so far beyond anything else? The other games at the show looked a gen or two behind this imo
Hellblade Releases May 21, 2024, New Gameplay Revealed | Xbox Direct 2024
GymWolf
Member
Reeee and modern media are gonna love this angle tho.
NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
Only if you have trouble falling asleep.
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CamHostage
Member
Hmm, so I assume it is completely the character modeling/animation that we're praising visually here, right?
Because I'm kind of let down by the environments and FX sometimes. (Character models and animation though are super-sweet...) Lighting and effects work was not working the way they seem they should (there are a lot of sequences where the lighting seemed written in as opposed to sourced, like when the firebreather shoots a stream and it takes a while to glow plus then brightens her as if facing the light rather than backlit by it.) Also the environments rarely pop the way you'd hope as a UE5 showcase project from a developer with direct access to Epic. (When it cuts to the Iceland Reference footage, you go, "Oh wow... oh, nope", which is unfair to say that in-engine footage of course pales in comparison, but so far little of the game shown displays that evocative sense of scale and environmental majesty so why they keep showing those types of real shots this late in publicity?) The YT compression is still chewing it up a bit, but the game looks better when you can't see anything; everything with a clear vista seems more videogame'y and level-locked than it should for this type of naturalistic sensory experience.
I'd like to see a supercut of just the in-engine footage because it's a little tough to get your bearings with the cutbacks (and that Iceland footage really scrubs your eyes.) I think the Troll trailer is still the best showcase of what this game can do (especially with its physics and the ML animation being applied to creatures of such size/weight) and I hope more of those types of encounters are in the game. I'm liking the combat for what it is (there's lots of digs at it on here but Hellblade combat is just different from other types of action design and there looks to be good stuff here if you got into Hellblade 1 combat.) And of course the character skin and animation and mocap is breathtaking. We'll see how it adds up from there.
Clintizzle
Lord of Edge.
Still no hype for me on this. Looks pretty for sure. Just can't get myself to care about the story.
Killjoy-NL
Member
Honestly, I felt like Hellblade 1 combat was one of the most raw and realistic combat-systems out there.Hmm, so I assume it is completely the character modeling/animation that we're praising visually here, right?
Because I'm kind of let down by the environments and FX sometimes. (Character models and animation though are super-sweet...) Lighting and effects work was not working the way they seem they should (there are a lot of sequences where the lighting seemed written in as opposed to sourced, like when the firebreather shoots a stream and it takes a while to glow plus then brightens her as if facing the light rather than backlit by it.) Also the environments rarely pop the way you'd hope as a UE5 showcase project from a developer with direct access to Epic. (When it cuts to the Iceland Reference footage, you go, "Oh wow... oh, nope", which is unfair to say that in-engine footage of course pales in comparison, but so far little of the game shown displays that evocative sense of scale and environmental majesty so why they keep showing those types of real shots this late in publicity?) The YT compression is still chewing it up a bit, but the game looks better when you can't see anything; everything with a clear vista seems more videogame'y and level-locked than it should for this type of naturalistic sensory experience.
I'd like to see a supercut of just the in-engine footage because it's a little tough to get your bearings with the cutbacks (and that Iceland footage really scrubs your eyes.) I think the Troll trailer is still the best showcase of what this game can do (especially with its physics and the ML animation being applied to creatures of such size/weight) and I hope more of those types of encounters are in the game. I'm liking the combat for what it is (there's lots of digs at it on here but Hellblade combat is just different from other types of action design and there looks to be good stuff here if you got into Hellblade 1 combat.) And of course the character skin and animation and mocap is breathtaking. We'll see how it adds up from there.
Still do.
And yes, that means it seems simple and basic compared to most other games, but that's how actual swordfights would look like outside of stylized movies. Especially in case of a non-warrior female carrying a heavy sword fighting stronger and heavier opponents.
Actual combat should be simple and effective, not flashy and showy like in movies or what's typically seen in games.
If such a combat-system is fun in a game, is a different subject though.
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SCB3
Member
Yea thats whats putting me off this, I dropped the first game twice cause it was just tedious and boring to get through
Mister Wolf
Member
Killjoy-NL
Member
Isn't that the main selling-point of Hellblade? Lol
I think that's actually what made Hellblade stand out from other games. And the way they tried to make the psychosis a gaming experience was amazing, imo.
I didn't even realize to what extent until i reached the end, where
you fight the final battle with an infinite wave of enemies, until you realize you have to give up and let them kill you, just like the voices in your head have been telling you for the past 30-60 minutes. Only thing is, as you played through the game, you've learned to ignore the voices because they have been trying to distract and confuse you as you were trying to stay focused and achieve your goal.
That right there is brilliant game-design.
That right there is brilliant game-design.
Spare yourself of this torture lol
CamHostage
Member
Heh, right... swordfighting is a fight, not an action ballet. You hope to god you can strike quick and cut clean and not get pierced in the process. (It's one of the things I like about Monster Hunter, that still has magical pass-through sword strokes and isn't realistic, but the swords are so heavy and slow generally that you really need to decide when a slash is worth moving on, you don't get to dash in and combo and parry and dance your sword around.)
Unreality is great in many many many games, no doubt. (It's a game, after all... it took more than collecting five rainbow cars to connect the country with railways but Ticket to Ride would be a whole lot less fun if you had to drive spikes and survey land elevation.) However, some really interesting things can come from taking direction real life in crafting the ruleset of the game.
They'd probably never be able to do "reality" in a gun-based game, BTW. A game where one bullet essentially kills or incapacitates a foe (I've got a blister right now and it's taking all I've got to type this, imagine getting shot how hard it'd be to keep fighting.) Hotline Miami was almost realistic in that sense, in that you were really scared shitless that whatever bullets you fired did their job because return-fire is fast and a mutha...
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SJRB
Gold Member
I swear to god every time it's the same video for this game: devs talking about the journey, some footage of her walking through a landscape, the motion capture lady talking about the amazing journey, another dev talking about immersion and the journey, another two seconds of gameplay where we see her walking through another type of landscape, some more devs talking about immersion, the journey and the music, another snippet of her walking through another type of landscape, the end.
Mister Wolf
Member
Only now Microsoft realize they signed off on some bullshit. Which is why they're dropping the price and making it digital only.
Team Andromeda
Member
It was the only disappointment of the direct with how little new gameplay was shown off. Still not long to wait now to play the game
Matt_Fox
Member
I'm going to say the combat in the first game felt good. It was weighty, there was a physical solidity to the combatants (none of that floaty insubstantial feeling that so many games suffer from) and each bad guy took enough beating to provide satisfaction.
(if the game had problems it was the 'line up the landscape' puzzles were repeated a few too many times and became samey, and of course it was a video game that featured as much video as game, but lots of people seem to like cutscenes these days).
(if the game had problems it was the 'line up the landscape' puzzles were repeated a few too many times and became samey, and of course it was a video game that featured as much video as game, but lots of people seem to like cutscenes these days).
Sanepar
Member
I will never understand what is special about the first one. Bad story. Walking simulator. With boring sections and puzzles. The combat is horrendous.
I bought the game on Steam a few years ago and never understand what is good there besides graphics.
Don't forget also the clip from the dev's holidays in Iceland
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
This looks like this gen The Order...no substance but pretty. Like a tech demo.