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Senua's Saga: Hellblade II | Preview Thread

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
He also goes to work by car most days and if you give him a mclaren f1 to drive he would not want?
Not a great analogy imo

Besides being totally honest he in fact wouldn't want that type of car as he drives a beefed Jeep Gladiator now maybe if you gave him a Raptor Bronco

I would say its more like if you drive for a living would you want a nicer car to go driving in the country side after being behind the wheel for 12 hours

Regardless I know he has zero desire to own a gaming PC

From the previews I get The Order 1886 vibes.
Same thing I thought as did John

 
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Ozriel

M$FT
(Did anyone else find the previews as laughable as I did? Like Microsoft’s marketing team straight up wrote a script for these so-called journalists and played their audio files over top of what are the most uninteresting gameplay videos I’ve seen in a long while.

I actually checked once to make sure I hadn't scrubbed backwards a few seconds to the same footage of slow, boring, Senua sword swings, followed by some slow, boring absorbed damage, followed by a dodge, followed by slow, boring sword swings.)

Very positive previews, so it must have been paid for. Never mind that The first Hellblade was very well received on GAF, has an 89% positive user rating on Steam, has very respectable critic ratings and had award nominations and wins.

Sour grapes, eh?
 

Elios83

Member
From the previews I get The Order 1886 vibes.

Terrific visuals (though heavily filtered), fluid animations and very, very basic and formulaic gameplay. 1 on 1 combat is a huge dissapointment. Seems like NT really think that first game was gameplay-sound. It was not.

I will keep my PC pre-order, but honestly, my expectations are a bit dampened.

This has been kinda obvious, gameplay seems to be incredibly boring and by the numbers.
1:1 combats with heavy filters and running/walking.
They put all the budget on creating a 6 hours UE5 graphical showcase.
 

splattered

Member
PC it is for me on this game


Its not always about the money for some

My son is in front of a PC most days at work and doesn't want to come home and "game" on one and he can easily afford any PC he wanted

That's exactly how I am... on a pc all day for work just don't want to game on one. I have a good machine with no desire to use it for gaming.
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
That's exactly how I am... on a pc all day for work just don't want to game on one. I have a good machine with no desire to use it for gaming.
My son even has a home office when he works from home and actually has one of his Series X hooked up to nice 4k OLED monitor but doesn't want to PC game there

So I get it why people like yourself don't want to PC game
 

JackMcGunns

Member
Finally a game that looks current gen. I hope it will be indeed released on ps5 as well.

Looks incredible and I hope it will land on SONY hardware somewhere down the road. No 60fps performance mode is a bummer though

GEqJsCoW0AAvXki.jpg
 

fallingdove

Member
Very positive previews, so it must have been paid for. Never mind that The first Hellblade was very well received on GAF, has an 89% positive user rating on Steam, has very respectable critic ratings and had award nominations and wins.

Sour grapes, eh?
Never said they were “paid” to do those previews but I wouldn't be surprised if there were stipulations in the preview contract that required the Xbox marketing team to vet the script and video prior to publishing (that's not uncommon in marketing).

And the bit about how well the first was received… people like things for lots of different reasons. I thought the game had/has really interesting visuals and the cutscenes had a lot of thought behind them. But having completed the game, I thought the gameplay itself was trash — it was boring, it was extremely limited, it was extremely repetitive. I understand that it was done this way because they were budget conscious and they were trying to prop up the story; that doesn't mean it's good.

The award nominations and “wins” came down to the graphics and how the story dealt with the important subject of mental health, not because ‘as a video game’ it was special in any way.
 
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YOU PC BRO?!

Gold Member
Not a great analogy imo

Besides being totally honest he in fact wouldn't want that type of car as he drives a beefed Jeep Gladiator now maybe if you gave him a Raptor Bronco

I would say its more like if you drive for a living would you want a nicer car to go driving in the country side after being behind the wheel for 12 hours

Regardless I know he has zero desire to own a gaming PC


Same thing I thought as did John



I agree.

I am in a similar position to your son. As a programmer/web developer I simply want to unwind when I decide to play a game. Messing around with drivers or encountering weird compatibility issues isn’t something I have time for. I much prefer the simplicity of console regardless of the trade offs.
 
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Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Summary of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II previews via Klobrille (sorry but he was the only big X account who did a half decent summary):
  • Unreal Engine 5 visual benchmark, possibly one of the best-looking games ever
  • Fully mo-capped fighting system
  • Combat is one on one only, slow-paced, and very brutal
  • Swinging your sword always feels heavy and impactful
  • "A true next-gen experience"
  • 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S
  • Features industry-leading binaural audio
  • Overall a narrative, linear action experience with very high production values, focus on story and cinematic craft, impactful combat, and puzzles
 

Bartski

Gold Member
I love it and it really is the first time I'm truly hyped for something I can only play on my XsX.

Looks very focused and I hope it delivers on its narrow scope to an amazing effect, no less than the first game did.

The first game was pretty simple in terms of mechanics

it was way less simple than most people somehow remember it
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
it was way less simple than most people somehow remember it
I assumed the combat was a joke until I finally played through the whole game last month. You have light attack, heavy attack, unarmed attack that can be mixed with various combos. Dodge, block, parry. Enemies have unblockables, some have shields. You get another ability later also. I thought it was pretty solid, even on large bosses.
 
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Represent.

Banned
Summary of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II previews via Klobrille (sorry but he was the only big X account who did a half decent summary):
  • Unreal Engine 5 visual benchmark, possibly one of the best-looking games ever
  • Fully mo-capped fighting system
  • Combat is one on one only, slow-paced, and very brutal
  • Swinging your sword always feels heavy and impactful
  • "A true next-gen experience"
  • 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S
  • Features industry-leading binaural audio
  • Overall a narrative, linear action experience with very high production values, focus on story and cinematic craft, impactful combat, and puzzles
into my goddamn veins
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
it was way less simple than most people somehow remember it

I'll probably give it a go before the sequel comes out but to my recollection, the combat wasn't sekiro or anything.


Summary of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II previews via Klobrille (sorry but he was the only big X account who did a half decent summary):
  • Unreal Engine 5 visual benchmark, possibly one of the best-looking games ever
  • Fully mo-capped fighting system
  • Combat is one on one only, slow-paced, and very brutal
  • Swinging your sword always feels heavy and impactful
  • "A true next-gen experience"
  • 30 FPS on Xbox Series X|S
  • Features industry-leading binaural audio
  • Overall a narrative, linear action experience with very high production values, focus on story and cinematic craft, impactful combat, and puzzles

Do Want Give It To Me GIF
 
Remember when Microsoft purchased Ninja Theory because they were able to make a successful, low budget, unique action adventure game featuring cutting edge visuals - made quickly with a small development team? Now, once Phil got his hands on them, the budget is multiple times the original, the team size has increased and the sequel has taken years longer to make. All for a franchise that, outside the visual splendour, is just not that appealing. I can think of multiple other IPs I’d rather have Ninja Theory pursuing, this is exactly the kind of poor management that is causing Phil and Xbox to fail.

And if they’d forced Ninja Theory on to some other IP then we’d be seeing this same post bitching about Xbox management not allowing devs to have freedom or something else.

NT wanted to make Hellblade 2 and MS has provided them the means to make what they want. How is this a bad thing? Man Xbox talk on this forum is always such a shit show 😆

anyway the combat looks pretty cool in those videos. Hope we get some footage of traversal and general gameplay. Glad the pattern stuff is back, it’s a big part of mental issues.
 
3XukWvU.jpg



G1FRza5.gif

i forsee being in the 70s on MC. unless the story/narrative is mindrapingly awesome. But the "Saga" stuff makes me believe they are going for a cliffhanger ending
 

YOU PC BRO?!

Gold Member
And if they’d forced Ninja Theory on to some other IP then we’d be seeing this same post bitching about Xbox management not allowing devs to have freedom or something else.

NT wanted to make Hellblade 2 and MS has provided them the means to make what they want. How is this a bad thing? Man Xbox talk on this forum is always such a shit show 😆

anyway the combat looks pretty cool in those videos. Hope we get some footage of traversal and general gameplay. Glad the pattern stuff is back, it’s a big part of mental issues.

Nonsense, there are numerous other Xbox IPs people would be way more excited to see.

No-one said it was a bad thing that Microsoft has enabled NT to make a sequel. You appear to have completely missed the point. The point was that Phil Spencer purchased NT due to their ability to produce a well received AAA game cheaply and in a timely manner. Am I missing something here? Senuas Sacrifice released in Summer 2017, the sequel has been almost 7 years in development, has cost multiple times what the original cost and is questionable, due to the games fringe appeal, whether there is enough interest to justify the investment. Again, this is exactly the kind of poor decision making that is sinking the Xbox brand.

I'm certain there will be a lot of fun to be had in exploring just how messed up Senua is in the sequel.
 
I'm surprised to see these people calling it the best looking videogame they've ever seen when image quality isn't really that great, featuring noticeable artifacts and temporal unstability throughout all of the footage. Very much a far cry from the announcement trailer.
You do realize you're watching it on a compressed youtube stream. Of course you do, you're just salty whaa..
 

BigLee74

Member
I agree.

I am in a similar position to your son. As a programmer/web developer I simply want to unwind when I decide to play a game. Messing around with drivers or encountering weird compatibility issues isn’t something I have time for. I much prefer the simplicity of console regardless of the trade offs.

Ooooh. I tried this argument yesterday and was roundly assured that I don’t know what I’m talking about and that you don’t get driver/compatibility issues anymore like you did in the old days. Just saying before your bring the wrath of hell down on you! 😂
 

LordBritish

Member
This could be the best looking game ever.... and I thought the first game was the best looking game ever. Imagine an Elder Scrolls game with this fidelity.. (i can dream)
 

Pelta88

Member
Sony: We make the best movie games

Ninja Theory: Hold my popcorn

Considering Sony tapped them to make the game exclusive I'd say it's more in keeping.

Got the plat for the first, I'll get another for the sequel when it drops on PS.
 

Belthazar

Member
It seems like more of what was in the first game + better presentation and improved combat. Which sucks, especially with the puzzles being the same.

It's still insane to me how they made a 6 hour game feel so repetitive with the first one. If this follows that formula then it'll be yet another overhyped disappointment for me.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Ooooh. I tried this argument yesterday and was roundly assured that I don’t know what I’m talking about and that you don’t get driver/compatibility issues anymore like you did in the old days. Just saying before your bring the wrath of hell down on you! 😂

I know you are not referring to the conversation we had because that's not what I said at all. I said my experience was quite difference than what you described. I also said that I seem to see these issues highlighted mostly by console gamers and that's the case here as well.

I also said multiple times that consoles are simpler and less hassle than PCs. Competely understand why someone would prefer that experience, but painting PC gaming as some miserable continuous maintenance situation is just absurd.
 
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We keep waiting and waiting for the xbox games that'll save the day. Sadly this looks too experimental and niche, but cool.
How about we just play good games and if Xbox dies then it dies lol just enjoy games it’s not your job to worry about a platform dying
 

Loope

Member
Ooooh. I tried this argument yesterday and was roundly assured that I don’t know what I’m talking about and that you don’t get driver/compatibility issues anymore like you did in the old days. Just saying before your bring the wrath of hell down on you! 😂
Oh no, bad people talking against hyperbole!!! Who is going to save us from these wretched pc gamers?
 
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