"Previously Recorded" review The Order 1886

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Aw man! I didn't know the thread about this review existed until now, I have a lot I wanted to say about it.

I think it's probably the best review they've done even if I'm one of those who's not very confident in Jack and Rich's ability to really analyze games properly. The only thing that really frustrated me with the video is that they prefaced their critique with "do not buy this game." That really upset me, because they straight-up gave the verdict before they explained it, and that's something that always really rustles my jimmes, as it should I think. But otherwise, yeah, I think it's their best review thus far.

I think they should continue to focus more and more on the filmic aspects of games like they did in this because that's clearly where they're more technically inclined.
 
D15GR4C3D said:
The only thing that really frustrated me with the video is that they prefaced their critique with "do not buy this game." That really upset me, because they straight-up gave the verdict before they explained it, and that's something that always really rustles my jimmes, as it should I think.
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They were providing a spoiler free version of the review. They were also trying to be kind to people that don't have 30 minutes to spare to watch a review.

As it is, the why is more important than the verdict itself. I hope RAD watches that video rather than burying their collective heads in the sand like their Tweets indicate they're doing.
 
D15GR4C3D said:
Aw man! I didn't know the thread about this review existed until now, I have a lot I wanted to say about it.

I think it's probably the best review they've done even if I'm one of those who's not very confident in Jack and Rich's ability to really analyze games properly. The only thing that really frustrated me with the video is that they prefaced their critique with "do not buy this game." That really upset me, because they straight-up gave the verdict before they explained it, and that's something that always really rustles my jimmes, as it should I think. But otherwise, yeah, I think it's their best review thus far.

I think they should continue to focus more and more on the filmic aspects of games like they did in this because that's clearly where they're more technically inclined.
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They did that because they spend 30 minutes going over the plot, which is probably the only reason you might have for playing this game in the first place.
 
nib95 said:
Ok, so I actually went over this video again so I could offer a more considered and comprehensive breakdown of it. I'll just go through it step by step with my thoughts, this is after having completed the game twice and giving it what in my opinion was a fair chance.

...

- Closing…

Overall, this was one of the most cynical and jaded reviews/impressions and approaches to a game I've ever seen. There really wasn't enough in the way of actual constructive criticism. Probably goes a way to explaining why there is such a difference in general impressions from most gamers on forums such as GAF (from those who have actually played the game) to those of many journalists. Don't get me wrong, the game is flawed, highly flawed in areas, but it's also not nearly as tarnished as these guys made it seem, for many of the reasons I've outlined above.

As I said early on in the thread, their impressions being so scathing were a foregone conclusion. Based on their previous videos and play throughs, it is clear they generally absolutely hate these kinds of cinematic, linear, QTE laden games, even somewhat resent them. Given their utter dislike for the type of game The Order represents, I'm actually surprised they even bothered to play it. It never even stood a chance.
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WARNING: SPOILERS

I agree with this wholeheartedly. About the only valid major criticism they had was with the choice to start the game with that opening scene. It took the wind out of the sails of the Lady Igraine death? scene. That was an odd choice.

It's absurd how different my view of the game was. It's probably because I enjoyed the unique - dare I say innovative - approach to pacing, and really found myself being pulled into the world thanks to it, the lovely visuals, and the fully-realized atmosphere.

I felt sad for Sebastian. I rooted for Galahad in his better times and his worse. I was proud of Lafayette when he looked the other way. My hate for the Chancellor turned to pity as I killed Lucan. I wondered how Isabeau would take it. I was glad Nikola - who was represented beautifully - would be by my side.

The Tesla guns were unique and the gunplay was extremely satisfying - rivaling many of my favorite sci-fi shooters like Resistance and Dead Space.

As far as not killing anyone, the second someone shoots at me, that tactic goes out the window. As for the jogging, it's to convey urgency. It's a counterbalance to the slowly paced sections that, like the gunplay sections, ratchet up the tension. They allow the pace to ebb and flow brilliantly.

Yeah, I'd have liked to fight more werewolves, and some vampires. Yeah, the pace at the beginning was a bit lethargic. While I enjoyed the story, I can see how some would be hung up on its cliches.

But I'm glad I'm not as cynical as these two. I left with the impression that it was one of my favorite experience in recent memory - reminiscent of my experience with TLoU. It's the first time in a year and a half that I felt like I played something "next gen." I'm dumbfounded that people have hated it so much.
 
D15GR4C3D said:
Aw man! I didn't know the thread about this review existed until now, I have a lot I wanted to say about it.

I think it's probably the best review they've done even if I'm one of those who's not very confident in Jack and Rich's ability to really analyze games properly. The only thing that really frustrated me with the video is that they prefaced their critique with "do not buy this game." That really upset me, because they straight-up gave the verdict before they explained it, and that's something that always really rustles my jimmes, as it should I think. But otherwise, yeah, I think it's their best review thus far.

I think they should continue to focus more and more on the filmic aspects of games like they did in this because that's clearly where they're more technically inclined.
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You seem pretty familiar with Red Letter Media's output. Do you watch Half in the Bag? The blunt "it's shit" before a review is kind of a staple when they're reviewing something they find irredeemable.
 
Such a shame this game ended up the way it did. 4 years of development for a 6 hour game with no multiplayer or any extra modes. I could have forgiven it if the gameplay was more interesting but it doesn't really look like it's doing anything more than the bare minimum. Ready at Dawn is a talented studio so I hope they do better with their next project.

And these two "reviewers" are horribly unfunny.

LOL DICKPUNCH

And one of their complaints was really weird. I'll spoiler tag it just in case.

So Galahad says that he doesn't want to harm innocent people. And then they do an entire kill count sketch of all the people he kills. The reviewer says that this is sloppy broken writing. I guess they didn't understand that Galahad said he didn't want to harm innocent people. People who are shooting at you are not innocent.

The Order 1886 isn't a good game but these two are terrible at making videos. It might have been passable if not for all the unfunny sketches and jokes.
 
I am actually rather surprised by all the "those that have played it" or "have you played it?" responses here. Well, those reviewers *have* indeed played it and a vast majority of them say the game sucked... so....why is it that we can't defer to their generally held opinion if "have you played it" is such an extremely crucial prerequisite? Because they have... and yet people are so readily dismiss them?

Eh, my copy has arrived finally so tonight I'd begin playing the game by myself. Let's see which side of the fence I will fall into.

Wozman23 said:
I agree with this wholeheartedly. Snip
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Hopefully your third paragraph is not a spoiler because if it is a spoiler I will be pissed off because you didn't spoiler tagged it and this is not a spoiler-for-all thread and it's not indicated as such..
 
"Rich and Jack play The Order 1886, a 9th grade creative writing assignment that some asshole turned into a video game."

That above is the description for the Youtube video. Don't know about you, but the inclusion of the word asshole renders the whole review as a fucking turd. Just this one sentence proves that they're only out to bash the game and the bashing is only thinly veiled by whatever criticism they can muster. It shows zero respect for the developer and frankly I could not give a shit about people with this attitude and will not watch it.

The game has its problems, those of us that enjoyed it pretty much all attest to that, but we have to maintain some civil discourse when arguing the pros and cons.

Nib, thanks for your post, guys like you are why I wanted to be part of NeoGaf.

This incessant piling on and bashing of a game as if its some abhorrent abomination has to stop. Because The Order is not that.
 
Jigorath said:
Such a shame this game ended up the way it did. 4 years of development for a 6 hour game with no multiplayer or any extra modes. I could have forgiven it if the gameplay was more interesting but it doesn't really look like it's doing anything more than the bare minimum. Ready at Dawn is a talented studio so I hope they do better with their next project.

And these two "reviewers" are horribly unfunny.

LOL DICKPUNCH

And one of their complaints was really weird. I'll spoiler tag it just in case.

So Galahad says that he doesn't want to harm innocent people. And then they do an entire kill count sketch of all the people he kills. The reviewer says that this is sloppy broken writing. I guess they didn't understand that Galahad said he didn't want to harm innocent people. People who are shooting at you are not innocent.

The Order 1886 isn't a good game but these two are terrible at making videos. It might have been passable if not for all the unfunny sketches and jokes.
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The problem with that whole thing they said, they could have used a different scene in the game to convey what they were saying, but they used the one that the scenario to use lethal force made the most sense.
 
farmerboy said:
"Rich and Jack play The Order 1886, a 9th grade creative writing assignment that some asshole turned into a video game."

That above is the description for the Youtube video. Don't know about you, but the inclusion of the word asshole renders the whole review as a fucking turd. Just this one sentence proves that they're only out to bash the game and the bashing is only thinly veiled by whatever criticism they can muster. It shows zero respect for the developer and frankly I could not give a shit about people with this attitude and will not watch it.

The game has its problems, those of us that enjoyed it pretty much all attest to that, but we have to maintain some civil discourse when arguing the pros and cons.

Nib, thanks for your post, guys like you are why I wanted to be part of NeoGaf.

This incessant piling on and bashing of a game as if its some abhorrent abomination has to stop. Because The Order is not that.
Click to expand...


Oh please. It's a big budget video game made by a huge multinational corporation. Stop treating The Order like it's a child being picked on.
 
farmerboy said:
"Rich and Jack play The Order 1886, a 9th grade creative writing assignment that some asshole turned into a video game."

That above is the description for the Youtube video. Don't know about you, but the inclusion of the word asshole renders the whole review as a fucking turd. Just this one sentence proves that they're only out to bash the game and the bashing is only thinly veiled by whatever criticism they can muster. It shows zero respect for the developer and frankly I could not give a shit about people with this attitude and will not watch it.

The game has its problems, those of us that enjoyed it pretty much all attest to that, but we have to maintain some civil discourse when arguing the pros and cons.

Nib, thanks for your post, guys like you are why I wanted to be part of NeoGaf.

This incessant piling on and bashing of a game as if its some abhorrent abomination has to stop. Because The Order is not that.
Click to expand...
If you had watched the video, you would have seen that they lay out reasonable criticisms with ample evidence supporting their points.
 
farmerboy said:
"Rich and Jack play The Order 1886, a 9th grade creative writing assignment that some asshole turned into a video game."

That above is the description for the Youtube video. Don't know about you, but the inclusion of the word asshole renders the whole review as a fucking turd. Just this one sentence proves that they're only out to bash the game and the bashing is only thinly veiled by whatever criticism they can muster. It shows zero respect for the developer and frankly I could not give a shit about people with this attitude and will not watch it.

The game has its problems, those of us that enjoyed it pretty much all attest to that, but we have to maintain some civil discourse when arguing the pros and cons.

Nib, thanks for your post, guys like you are why I wanted to be part of NeoGaf.

This incessant piling on and bashing of a game as if its some abhorrent abomination has to stop. Because The Order is not that.
Click to expand...

I actually can't tell if this is satire
 
farmerboy said:
"Rich and Jack play The Order 1886, a 9th grade creative writing assignment that some asshole turned into a video game."

That above is the description for the Youtube video. Don't know about you, but the inclusion of the word asshole renders the whole review as a fucking turd. Just this one sentence proves that they're only out to bash the game and the bashing is only thinly veiled by whatever criticism they can muster. It shows zero respect for the developer and frankly I could not give a shit about people with this attitude and will not watch it.

The game has its problems, those of us that enjoyed it pretty much all attest to that, but we have to maintain some civil discourse when arguing the pros and cons.

Nib, thanks for your post, guys like you are why I wanted to be part of NeoGaf.

This incessant piling on and bashing of a game as if its some abhorrent abomination has to stop. Because The Order is not that.
Click to expand...

ayyy lmao
 
farmerboy said:
"Rich and Jack play The Order 1886, a 9th grade creative writing assignment that some asshole turned into a video game."

That above is the description for the Youtube video. Don't know about you, but the inclusion of the word asshole renders the whole review as a fucking turd. Just this one sentence proves that they're only out to bash the game and the bashing is only thinly veiled by whatever criticism they can muster. It shows zero respect for the developer and frankly I could not give a shit about people with this attitude and will not watch it.

The game has its problems, those of us that enjoyed it pretty much all attest to that, but we have to maintain some civil discourse when arguing the pros and cons.

Nib, thanks for your post, guys like you are why I wanted to be part of NeoGaf.

This incessant piling on and bashing of a game as if its some abhorrent abomination has to stop. Because The Order is not that.
Click to expand...

It's fascinating how many people are quicker to say they think the video is too mean than say how it is wrong in any way. You're basically asking them to be nice because reasons. Of course the video is "out to bash" the game, they fucking hated it.

And lmfao at "has to stop". Has to stop or what, it won't sell well? It will stop when people get tired of talking about it, you can't put the blame on anyone but the devs for the reaction to this game. Honestly I see this is as a pretty natural reaction to a game with obviously a pretty big budget with strong marketing with some of the most cynical and weakly done design I've seen in a long time.

It's devoid of any substance gameplay or writing wise, the fact that people put a lot of time into effort into it still means nothing when it comes to how people are going to react to it.. It's weird how I never see posts like yours when people shit on bad movies like say the Transformers movies. I'm sure a lot of work went into a lot of stuff in those movies but it's still pretty common for people to crap all over those too. I guess that doesn't have to stop because those sell? You genuinely sound like you're trying to defend a person from a bunch of bullies and not a product put on the market to make money, cuz that's what this is.
 
nib95 said:
- The beginning.

Whilst I agree that the beginning of the game is far too directed and controlled, with flawed design in pacing, degree of player control and use of button prompts, I personally treated it as little more than tone setting exposition.

The fact that these two start the game, by trying to break it, or in this instance waiting to see how long the guard will hold them before the game will or will not fail, pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the review. These are not two gamers who are looking to give the game even an iota of a chance, they are looking to berate it. To pick it apart for any and all flaws, and to play it not how most people play games, to be enjoyed and experienced for what they are, but so they can find as many things wrong with it as possible. Pretty much exactly in line with how they have approached other cinematic or linear games, where similar preconceived and pre-emptive negative sentiment made for a shit show of a play through.
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Have you never let yourself get taken out to see different death animations? I thought this was a thing people did.

nib95 said:
- Innovation necessary for excitement or commendation?

Like with a lot of journalists and critics these days, a massive amount of emphasis is placed on the lack of innovation or originality in the game. They actually draw a parallel that without innovation, there is an inherent lack of excitement. I just have to strongly disagree with this sentiment as a whole. Imo a game or it's mechanics, do not need to be innovative or original to be fun, in that sense, as most who have played the game have mentioned (notably the vast majority of user impressions), the gunplay in the game, whilst lacking originality, is still fun and solid feeling. It's punchy, impactful and rewarding. They are unable to even offer the game this compliment, the implication being that the gunplay is unexciting simply because Gears of War was more exciting, or because it is not innovative.
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I feel that the game set itself up to fail on this point, as it was originally presented as (or at least very heavily implied to be) a cool game where you got to use all sorts of cool weaponry and gear to fight werewolves and the like. If you go in expecting that, and end up with your standard issue rifles, Sit-down guns, pistols, and only the occasional unique weapon in combat scenarios that are "shoot the human trying to shoot you," it can turn people off, despite the actual gunplay being solid.

nib95 said:
- Nikola Tesla, grounded in reality.

In this part of the review they complain that Nikola is wasted and under utilised, that in myth he was rumoured to have created a device that could cause Earthquakes and things of that ilk. Whilst it's fine to want that, this is not the game for those kinds of immensely fantastical inventions. The Order 1886 may be fictional and based in fantasy, but it is very much grounded in reality, with an air of realism to all the weapons and gadgets in the game.

These two completely and utterly fail to realise that. They state that the first weapon Nikola proposes is simply a rifle with a scope, completely missing that moments earlier, he introduced you to the Fuse device, and explained the full science behind it no less. On top of that, take the time for a little exposition, and you'll notice other trinkets littered around his lab, including the arc gun being tested. The arc gun, the thermite rifle, the fuse device, all of these inventive gadgets and weapons have a certain believability to them, and are designed in such a way that they could actually have existed. I think these two failed to appreciate that, instead expecting over the top, even more superfluous gadgetry, that simply would not fit in with premise of the game at all.
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I think you kind of missed their point. It was less of "whar earthquack machine whar" and more general disappointment with the lack of creativity when it came to Tesla. For a game to use him as your cool scientist guy, and then only offer a rifle scope, arc gun, fuse device, and the thermite gun (though cool) feels lacking, especially when you're grounded in the "reality" of "fighting" werewolves and vampires. There could have be a vast array of arc weapons or things that are generally associated with Tesla and his work.


nib95 said:
Ok, so I actually went over this video again

- Confused about what they want.

They spent such a massive amount of time complaining about cliches, but then they want the twist traitor at the end to be one of the closer main characters, which is about as cliche as it comes. Something makes me think that if the developers had done this, they would have complained about that too, as yet another negative cliche. It's a lose lose situation in every respect, their minds seemingly already made up.

Add to that, Dracula is not necessarily the main bad guy. He's not even Dracula, he's just a vampire, who is also one of the heads of The East India Company. There are no doubt many other key bad guys scattered throughout the world (one other Lord is hinted at, and it's also implied that vampires have already reached East India and parts of the America's).
.
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Are you sure you went back through the video? Because they clearly state that it's not necessarily that cliches are bad, but cliches executed poorly are bad.
 
farmerboy said:
"Rich and Jack play The Order 1886, a 9th grade creative writing assignment that some asshole turned into a video game."

That above is the description for the Youtube video. Don't know about you, but the inclusion of the word asshole renders the whole review as a fucking turd. Just this one sentence proves that they're only out to bash the game and the bashing is only thinly veiled by whatever criticism they can muster. It shows zero respect for the developer and frankly I could not give a shit about people with this attitude and will not watch it.

The game has its problems, those of us that enjoyed it pretty much all attest to that, but we have to maintain some civil discourse when arguing the pros and cons.

Nib, thanks for your post, guys like you are why I wanted to be part of NeoGaf.

This incessant piling on and bashing of a game as if its some abhorrent abomination has to stop. Because The Order is not that.
Click to expand...

I cant breathe.
 
farmerboy said:
"Rich and Jack play The Order 1886, a 9th grade creative writing assignment that some asshole turned into a video game."

That above is the description for the Youtube video. Don't know about you, but the inclusion of the word asshole renders the whole review as a fucking turd.
Click to expand...

Let's render the review to be less turd like then:

"Rich and Jack play The Order 1886, a 9th grade creative writing assignment that someone turned into a video game."
 
nib95 said:
*snip*
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I don't think you realize how much you actually agree with their review. Pretty much every other section in your post starts with "Well I do agree with what they said regarding X and Y".

So, essentially, you agree with the vast majority of their birds-eye-view points, but you still choose to antagonize then and call them names because their final view of the game was negative. You're missing the forest for the trees.
 
EatinOlives said:
I don't think you realize how much you actually agree with their review. Pretty much every other section in your post starts with "Well I do agree with what they said regarding X and Y".

So, essentially, you agree with the vast majority of their birds-eye-view points, but you still choose to antagonize then and call them names because their final view of the game was negative. You're missing the forest for the trees.
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In all fairness, he was against them well before he saw the video. If he changed his viewpoint later he'd look silly.
 
I can agree with everything they said...and yet, I still enjoyed the game for what it is. Call me a foolish consumer whore. Call me a moron with low standards.

I just...felt like it delivered on my expectations. Which weren't very high to begin with.

tumblr_inline_n62rpj75i51rnq9gs.gif
 
Other than being a rather short game, I do not understand why The Order gets so much hate. It's definitely not the greatest game, and a lot aspects feel wasted, but overall I felt it was solid entertainment.

And don't get me wrong, I love games like Divinity Original Sin, Fallout, Dark Souls, Legends of Grimlock, and others that let the player explore and independently figure out game play mechanics, and allow the player the freedom to fail. But how is the absence of these things insulting to a person's intelligence? That sounds rather pretentious to me...

Although, I will admit, burning the game was kind of funny
 
nib95 said:
Dick punch, dick gun, vampire dick, expectations of a high art or art house quality narrative and characters, making mischaracterised or misleading points, getting a few others things completely wrong etc. Content matters indeed. Not saying their video is without merit, but it's hardly the bastion of quality journalism...
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Now we just need someone to do a scathing review of nib's review of the review and things'll come full circle
 
Comfort Jones said:
It's fascinating how many people are quicker to say they think the video is too mean than say how it is wrong in any way. You're basically asking them to be nice because reasons. Of course the video is "out to bash" the game, they fucking hated it.
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nib95 put together a pretty comprehensive list of the ways the "review" misrepresents various aspects of the game in order to justify their criticisms. All that earned him in this thread is a bunch of people dog-piling on him for "white knighting" the game.
 
Brad Grenz said:
nib95 put together a pretty comprehensive list of the ways the "review" misrepresents various aspects of the game in order to justify their criticisms. All that earned him in this thread is a bunch of people dog-piling on him for "white knighting" the game.
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Another mis-use of "dog piling". When you go into review threads and call the reviewers childish names, you're begging for attention. Don't shit your pants when you get it.
 
Brad Grenz said:
nib95 put together a pretty comprehensive list of the ways the "review" misrepresents various aspects of the game in order to justify their criticisms. All that earned him in this thread is a bunch of people dog-piling on him for "white knighting" the game.
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So its fine if he gets to insult the reviewers for their opinion, using his own opinion.

But the reviewers dont get to do the same with the commercial product that people spend their money on.
 
SolidChamp said:
I can agree with everything they said...and yet, I still enjoyed the game for what it is. Call me a foolish consumer whore. Call me a moron with low standards.

I just...felt like it delivered on my expectations. Which weren't very high to begin with.

tumblr_inline_n62rpj75i51rnq9gs.gif
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Just think of it like a summer blockbuster. They tend to review poorly and people still enjoy stuff like Independence Day.


I'd argue that regardless of the entertainment you may have personally derived, steak was not made.
 
Hmm.. Didn't know about that initial QTE that couldn't be failed. That's lame.

The game sucks, but I was initially impressed by the QTEs because during the early game I actually thought that the were giving me choices, but as the game went on I learned that wasn't true.

At the very beginning of the game, when Galahad is carrying around the unloaded gun and runs into the soldier and they start struggling over the gun, I just say, "Screw it, man, you can have the gun, it's not loaded anyway." And I chose to not interact with the QTE and let him have the gun. It felt really good. And it felt like the game was much more clever than it actually was. It felt like the game was actually progressing based on what I chose to do, but no. The game is all smoke and mirrors.

So yeah, I agree completely with the review. The game is just a waste of beautiful visuals.
 
Derpyduck said:
Another mis-use of "dog piling". When you go into review threads and call the reviewers childish names, you're begging for attention. Don't shit your pants when you get it.
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And yet when the reviewers call the developers childish names, any attempt to criticise them is met with mass ridicule.
 
I played the game through a $3 redbox rental. At that price, it's worth a playthrough for the spectacle and the weighty feel of the guns, which I love. I liked it overall a bit more than these guys did.

That said, their review isn't at all wrong, and I can't disagree with too much of what they said.

I realize that Rich is only affiliated with RLM and isn't actually Mike Stoklasa, the guy who made the infamous prequel reviews (WATCH THEM if you haven't seen them, super entertaining), but the defenders of The Order on this thread remind me a ton of the prequel apologists who attacked Stoklasa's reviews continuously.
 
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