Official Heavenly Sword Thread - Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads

RBH said:
I've been wondering this as well.

Seems kind of odd how IGN released a review of HS so early in comparison.

Gamespot was the last one of the big 3 to publish the BioShock, Blue Dragon, and Lair reviews. I would expect it on Monday night or Tuesday.
 
General said:
I could be wrong, but to me it looked like there was no AA.
The game has always been running with 4xAA. And that's not the only thing you're wrong about either.

As for tessllation Gears was using it to drastically increase the polycount of their models, because the 360's GPU can do it in hardware.
Static tesselation on 360 decreases GPU polygon performance to half. And a lot more then that if you want to do adaptive tesselation, which would actually be what you were refering to (DX10 style feature).
At any rate, I don't see what it would benefit Gears(their models still looked decisively lowpoly) - aside for complicating their development. Contrary to popular belief - adaptively tesselated models are Not a feature you turn on with a switch - aside for coding it, it requires very different data structures for geometry from your regular meshes.
Better question would be what has AMD PR have to do with impressions about a PS3 game...

Mmmkay said:
Yeah, their AA was targeted to cover opaque geometry so that's no surprise.
Except that 99% of alpha stuff has no visible polygon edges - that's kinda the purpose of using it, so AA does squat for it for anything except areas where it intersects other geometry.
It's the reason why tricks like rendering particles to very low-resolution buffers work with little to no noticeable artifacts (as evidenced by plenty of last and current gen games across all platforms)
 
XHitoshuraX said:
When Rich left...

Gamespot died.

True that. Anyway to those who have finished the game already I was wondering if you could perhaps talk about the segments with Nariko's sister Kai. Are those segments a nice break from the standard combat or are they a pain to play since you don't have as many moves to go about killing your enemies?
 
Question for those that have played the final game, is the combat always choppy? In the demo, all the movies I've seen on the net, and the IGN video review, the combat is always so choppy. Even the way Nariko walks looks choppy. In the IGN video review they showed a boss battle between Nariko and
that snake lady in what looked like a sewer
and the whole time the frame rate was so bad it seemed almost unplayable. I was so hyped for this game, but after that video review I think I might just rent it.

Also thought I'd post this. I made a Heavenly Sword car in Forza 2.

1307175881_d005d8a98c_o.jpg
 
sportzhead said:
Question for those that have played the final game, is the combat always choppy? In the demo, all the movies I've seen on the net, and the IGN video review, the combat is always so choppy. Even the way Nariko walks looks choppy. In the IGN video review they showed a boss battle between Nariko and
that snake lady in what looked like a sewer
and the whole time the frame rate was so bad it seemed almost unplayable. I was so hyped for this game, but after that video review I think I might just rent it.

Also thought I'd post this. I made a Heavenly Sword car in Forza 2.

1307175881_d005d8a98c_o.jpg
^^Nice
 
In the IGN video review they showed a boss battle between Nariko
and that snake lady in what looked like a sewer
and the whole time the frame rate was so bad it seemed almost unplayable. I was so hyped for this game, but after that video review I think I might just rent it.

In the copy I have, that battle was fine. Considering the amount buissnes thats going on in that scene, it moves quite well :D

Noice Car!!!

Are those segments a nice break from the standard combat or are they a pain to play since you don't have as many moves to go about killing your enemies?


While they are a nice break, they aren't nearly long enough to truly give a complete expression on. They do not hamper the gameplay at all, though I suspect in the future they will be a tad more interactive,
 
Lair and HS got lumped together again in the CAGcast today. I have a feeling that delaying Lair like they did is going to hurt HS.

CheapyD said, "They're both not getting good reviews" >:(
 
French website gamekult gave HS a 5/10. 95% of the time I agree with their reviews, so I hope this game will be in the missing 5%, I quite liked the demo.
Here is their conclusion:
Heavenly sword, or the not so enviable trajectory (destiny) of an overyhyped game that doesn't keep its promises. Technically a bit lacking despite its beautiful environments, often "ringard" (difficult to translate, something like feels old and out of touch with the current way to do things, old-fashioned but in a negative sense) in its directing/cinematography, the game consists of a bunch of arena fights repetitive until nausea, with some shooting galleries with the sixaxis not much more exciting. Needless to say it's far from being heir to God of War, or even a good beat'em all, in spite of a system rather rich and well emphasized fighting system, undoubtedly one of the strong points of the title. At least thanks to the quality of the faces modeling during the cutscenes Ninja Theory's game will be a benchmark for that matter in the future. For the rest we'll wait for the sequel, if there is one.

+ Lots of combos
+ Classy animations
+ Impressive face modeling

- Shallow and repetitive gameplay
- Old fashioned directing
- Annoying sixaxis sequences
- "Violent" slowdowns
- Too short
- Nariko has an octopus on her head

http://www.gamekult.com/tout/jeux/fiches/J000074933_test.html

Damn, that's a really negative review, from a reviewer I usually trust :/

Edit: Btw, gamekult is owned by cnet, like gamespot.
 
Blimblim said:
French website gamekult gave HS a 5/10. 95% of the time I agree with their reviews, so I hope this game will be in the missing 5%, I quite liked the demo.
Here is their conclusion:
Heavenly sword, or the not so enviable trajectory (destiny) of an overyhyped game that doesn't keep its promises. Technically a bit lacking despite its beautiful environments, often "ringard" (difficult to translate, something like feels old and out of touch with the current way to do things, old-fashioned but in a negative sense) in its directing/cinematography, the game consists of a bunch of arena fights repetitive until nausea, with some shooting galleries with the sixaxis not much more exciting. Needless to say it's far from being heir to God of War, or even a good beat'em all, in spite of a system rather rich and well emphasized fighting system, undoubtedly one of the strong points of the title. At least thanks to the quality of the faces modeling during the cutscenes Ninja Theory's game will be a benchmark for that matter in the future. For the rest we'll wait for the sequel, if there is one.

+ Lots of combos
+ Classy animations
+ Impressive face modeling

- Shallow and repetitive gameplay
- Old fashioned directing
- Annoying sixaxis sequences
- "Violent" slowdowns
- Too short
- Nariko has an octopus on her head

http://www.gamekult.com/tout/jeux/fiches/J000074933_test.html

Damn, that's a really negative review, from a reviewer I usually trust :/

Edit: Btw, gamekult is owned by cnet, like gamespot.

Enough said.
 
Blimblim said:
French website gamekult gave HS a 5/10. 95% of the time I agree with their reviews, so I hope this game will be in the missing 5%, I quite liked the demo.
Here is their conclusion:
Heavenly sword, or the not so enviable trajectory (destiny) of an overyhyped game that doesn't keep its promises. Technically a bit lacking despite its beautiful environments, often "ringard" (difficult to translate, something like feels old and out of touch with the current way to do things, old-fashioned but in a negative sense) in its directing/cinematography, the game consists of a bunch of arena fights repetitive until nausea, with some shooting galleries with the sixaxis not much more exciting. Needless to say it's far from being heir to God of War, or even a good beat'em all, in spite of a system rather rich and well emphasized fighting system, undoubtedly one of the strong points of the title. At least thanks to the quality of the faces modeling during the cutscenes Ninja Theory's game will be a benchmark for that matter in the future. For the rest we'll wait for the sequel, if there is one.

+ Lots of combos
+ Classy animations
+ Impressive face modeling

- Shallow and repetitive gameplay
- Old fashioned directing
- Annoying sixaxis sequences
- "Violent" slowdowns
- Too short
- Nariko has an octopus on her head

http://www.gamekult.com/tout/jeux/fiches/J000074933_test.html

Damn, that's a really negative review, from a reviewer I usually trust :/

Edit: Btw, gamekult is owned by cnet, like gamespot.


gamekult is total crap especially since theyre owned by Cnet (really new btw), 95% of their review is total bullcrap, whatever the system
 
Blimblim said:
French website gamekult gave HS a 5/10. 95% of the time I agree with their reviews, so I hope this game will be in the missing 5%, I quite liked the demo.
Here is their conclusion:
Heavenly sword, or the not so enviable trajectory (destiny) of an overyhyped game that doesn't keep its promises. Technically a bit lacking despite its beautiful environments, often "ringard" (difficult to translate, something like feels old and out of touch with the current way to do things, old-fashioned but in a negative sense) in its directing/cinematography, the game consists of a bunch of arena fights repetitive until nausea, with some shooting galleries with the sixaxis not much more exciting. Needless to say it's far from being heir to God of War, or even a good beat'em all, in spite of a system rather rich and well emphasized fighting system, undoubtedly one of the strong points of the title. At least thanks to the quality of the faces modeling during the cutscenes Ninja Theory's game will be a benchmark for that matter in the future. For the rest we'll wait for the sequel, if there is one.

+ Lots of combos
+ Classy animations
+ Impressive face modeling

- Shallow and repetitive gameplay
- Old fashioned directing
- Annoying sixaxis sequences
- "Violent" slowdowns
- Too short
- Nariko has an octopus on her head

http://www.gamekult.com/tout/jeux/fiches/J000074933_test.html

Damn, that's a really negative review, from a reviewer I usually trust :/

Edit: Btw, gamekult is owned by cnet, like gamespot.
pour ringard je dirais "cheesy"

f@lus : I didn't notice any changes since they've been bought by Cnet, I don't know why you're saying it's became total crap ??
 
Interesting:

Sony has confirmed that the French will be getting a new "Starter Pack" for their PlayStation 3s starting Sept. 19 which will include Heavenly Sword and F1 Championship Edition. The rest of Europe can still take their Motorstorm, along with Resistance, and like it too! Speaking with GI.biz, Sony said, "The choice of which titles to include in the Starter Pack, and the freedom to change the titles is up to the individual markets based on their unique market conditions."


And the Octopus bit was hysterical. It was interesting to hear how at first they wanted to make her hair ULTRA-realistic and then decided to leave that for a sequel lol
 
Can someone define short on this game?

I just played Medal of Honor Airborne and none of the reviews I read said it was short (being a con) but the darn thing was done in like 4hrs I was shocked.

is this a 4~hr game or more 8~ which is fine.
 
XHitoshuraX said:

Duck said:
You need to stop bumping threads for the sake of getting more thread viewership. It's not looked upon kindly here, and for good reason.
Marconelly said:
In any case, yeah, bump the thread only when there's some news, new review and such. Don't worry, it won't get lost in the shuffle, but don't expect it to float on the page 1 all the time either - the game is still too far away.

.
 
Timan said:
Can someone define short on this game?

I just played Medal of Honor Airborne and none of the reviews I read said it was short (being a con) but the darn thing was done in like 4hrs I was shocked.

is this a 4~hr game or more 8~ which is fine.

well its around 8 hours i believe
 
Looking at the latest GameTrailers videos...the framerate of HS looks pretty terrible for an action game. It rarely reaches 30fps, if ever.
 
jett said:
Looking at the latest GameTrailers videos...the framerate of HS looks pretty terrible for an action game. It rarely reaches 30fps, if ever.

Actually compared to the demo, from the latest videos I've seen the frame rate is much better, usually locked at 30 fps.

I think if there's 'shit' going on then the framerate dips a bit... but I'm not sure what 'shit' is.

Edit: Ah, Kai vids have a few issues, I see what you mean.
 
fuckin hell i want this naow, i hope the team isnt too bummed out about the reviews, because i really want HS2 as well. I actually really enjoyed the demo and the final game is better :)
 
The game is way too choppy and has some serious v-sync problems? This would be a kick ass game if it was smooth. I can't believe they are releasing a fighting/action game with such bad frame rate. Blurg, what a disappointment.
 
Tiduz said:
fuckin hell i want this naow, i hope the team isnt too bummed out about the reviews, because i really want HS2 as well. I actually really enjoyed the demo and the final game is better :)

Actually I hope they are bummed out. PGR4>Heavenly Sword in sales and reviews (probably), that'll teach 'em about talking smack.
 
GenericPseudonym said:
Actually I hope they are bummed out. PGR4>Heavenly Sword in sales and reviews (probably), that'll teach 'em about talking smack.

Oh, I forgot that, wasn't there a HS Developer here on Gaf, that was talking smack about PGR4?
 
HS2 is quite certainly in the works. And in the actual game, the frame rate isn't nearly as terrible as it tends to look in videos on GT for some reason.


teh FIXED
 
Somnia said:
Don't know if its been posted ,but gametrailers review is out http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24683.html


Pretty sure he makes a jab at Lair in there if you listen closely :lol

"It looks awesome. Story is told beautifully through cutscenes. Controls are fluid and responsive. Deja vu from some repetition, but it's all good."

"Oh but it's too short. 7.9."

WTF... I'm kind of shocked. Sure it's 7-8 hours long, but man... how long does an action game need to be? I agree it's on the short side, but jesus...
 
KTallguy said:
"It looks awesome. Story is told beautifully through cutscenes. Controls are fluid and responsive. Deja vu from some repetition, but it's all good."

"Oh but it's too short. 7.9."

WTF... I'm kind of shocked. Sure it's 7-8 hours long, but man... how long does an action game need to be? I agree it's on the short side, but jesus...

seriously, :lol

Listening to the the review I kept thinking, "sounds like a quality 8.5+" but a 7.9? The review didn't reflect that at all. Oh well.
 
KTallguy said:
"It looks awesome. Story is told beautifully through cutscenes. Controls are fluid and responsive. Deja vu from some repetition, but it's all good."

"Oh but it's too short. 7.9."

WTF... I'm kind of shocked. Sure it's 7-8 hours long, but man... how long does an action game need to be? I agree it's on the short side, but jesus...

They really seemed to emphasize the repetitive nature of the game; saying by the time you get to the end you will have done everything at least twice. Add in the fact of the game length, that could pose a problem for some.

EDIT: Review breakdown
Story-7.7
Design-6.5
Gameplay-8.3
Presentation-8.9
Overall-7.9
 
Reviewers expect a multiplayer component nowadays to make up for the short single player campaigns. HS doesn't have that, but it does kinda suck that many reviewers put so much emphasis on gameplay length. Most of my favorite games are pretty short.

GenericPseudonym said:
Actually I hope they are bummed out. PGR4>Heavenly Sword in sales and reviews (probably), that'll teach 'em about talking smack.
Talking smack on PGR4 must have been one hell of a concentrated effort from Team Ninja members. May they all crash, burn and go bankrupt for their insolence!

Who and why was talking down on PGR4, I must ask? :P
 
Marconelly said:
Who and why was talking down on PGR4, I must ask? :P
The biggest irony is that it most certainly wasn't any member of Team Ninja - but it's not like people who harbor vendettas over someone speaking different opinions of some game on their holy-grail console of preference would care.

Until 5 minutes later when the auto-erase on their short term memory kicks in and they forget all about it.

Admitedly given the amount of deliberate trolling that goes on GAF from industry and non-industry members alike, it's all just boiling down to noise these days.
 
Sony isn't really catching a break yet... another top title that at least I was hoping for around a 9 score. I'm still getting it, it looks beautiful and the gametrailers review had no issues with the way it plays, just that it's too short and a bit repetitive.
 
GT review was really...off this time around. The words did not match the score at all and complaints about "repetition" in these types of games annoy me. Of course there's repetition, it's in any action game. DMC, Ninja Gaiden, etc. You do shit over and over and over no matter how you try to mix it up. It's inherent in the genre. It's time to let it go.

It's like calling FPS repetitive because you shoot people through the entire game.
 
Kintaro said:
GT review was really...off this time around. The words did not match the score at all and complaints about "repetition" in these types of games annoy me. Of course there's repetition, it's in any action game. DMC, Ninja Gaiden, etc. You do shit over and over and over no matter how you try to mix it up. It's inherent in the genre. It's time to let it go.

It's like calling FPS repetitive because you shoot people through the entire game.

I agree the score didn't reflect the words. I was thinking 8.4-8.5 when I was listening to the review, was surprised to see the 7.9.
 
Kintaro said:
GT review was really...off this time around. The words did not match the score at all and complaints about "repetition" in these types of games annoy me. Of course there's repetition, it's in any action game. DMC, Ninja Gaiden, etc. You do shit over and over and over no matter how you try to mix it up. It's inherent in the genre. It's time to let it go.

It's like calling FPS repetitive because you shoot people through the entire game.

Gametrailers seems to be guilty of this often. They do have some of the best video reviews but its as if one person does the talking and another decides the numerical value >.<
 
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