If it's meh (and it could be meh), I think it's meh with some interesting personality traits vs. factory produced meh like last year's Assassin's Creed. There's some personality here.
I think there's an interesting discussion around replayability to be had here, but I'm not sure I want to make that argument so close to this game's release. Some games should be replayable, and there are countless great games that are, but I'm not sure every game should be or needs to be. There's something to be said for a game that is designed to be experienced once and cannot be as enjoyable/impactful/meaningful on subsequent replays. This does not mean the game should antagonize players who wish to replay it (unskippable cutscenes). Though even if they were skippable, this game would most likely not be fun to replay. It'd be a disjointed bunch of 5/10-7/10 shooting set pieces with great graphics. But I suppose even that has its fans.
The community has sort of coalesced around this "replayability!!!" theme and I just don't know if I agree.
Just finished this on hard. Liked it a whole lot more than I thought I would, based on the middling/negative reviews I've seen. It's not a phenomenal game, but I enjoyed it. Probably not worth the sixty bucks I spent, but, I'll probably play through it again to 100% everything and lend it to a friend so I'll get some mileage out of the purchase.
Some things should have been handled better:
Lycan fights, outside of the elder, were rubbish.
Wish it had another 5 chapters or so. It felt like it ended just as it really gained momentum.
I'm definitely in for the sequel, if there is one.
I'm through Chapter X.
...
Narratively, I am pretty sure I know where this is going, but it's not that bad. By game standards, it's probably a titch above standard in that things seem to at least make sense. It's a bunch of cliches, but cliches are safe so they should be expected to work. It's done about as well as a sci-fi mashup of
vampires and werewolves in steampunk London in 1886
I suppose could be. For so much talk about how important the story is, though, I'm surprised they played it so safe. On top of that, though, I have some issues with consistency. Still, I guess it's a page-turner.
It would be interesting to hear what you think about the narrative and the relationships between the characters after you've seen the antagonist and finished the game.
I personally think the narrative falls apart in the last quarter of the game.
I'm through Chapter X. I have been really wanting to post my impressions but they have been changing as I play more. I'm playing in small chunks due to outside commitments. Generally, I like the game, but I see a lot of room for improvement.
Obviously, they nailed pretty much every aspect of the presentation. The graphics, animation, and attention to detail are unprecedented. The music is rich, textured, and scored appropriately to each scene. Genuinely I am impressed more and more with each scene as I play along. Truly this is a new bar for real time rendering in console software. The thing that really sticks out to me is the brutality of everything. Stabbing people through the throat, snipers destroying people's extremities, blood everywhere, people (and monsters) curb stomping each other, etc. My bones ache playing this game. It feels cold and dirty. Just superlative stuff here and they deserve every ounce of praise they have gotten for how the game looks.
Narratively, I am pretty sure I know where this is going, but it's not that bad. By game standards, it's probably a titch above standard in that things seem to at least make sense. It's a bunch of cliches, but cliches are safe so they should be expected to work. It's done about as well as a sci-fi mashup of
vampires and werewolves in steampunk London in 1886
I suppose could be. For so much talk about how important the story is, though, I'm surprised they played it so safe. On top of that, though, I have some issues with consistency. Still, I guess it's a page-turner.
I'm only through Chapter 10 so you can read through here if you are beyond that:
Why are the Knights so outwardly hostile towards the guards and workers on the Agamemnon when later Galahad is so reserved about killing the United India Company guards? He has no idea which guards have been replaced with rebels and which are truly innocent people. Why not just knock them out? Why stab them through the throat?
Why does Galahad so quickly go from holding a gun to Lakshmi's head to carrying her water?
Does the game ever actually tell you the name of Lakshmi or do you just read it from the Directives?
Why do so many characters say, "Later I'll tell you." No, tell me now. It seems inconsistent with Galahad's personality. Why does he settle for that? Then later he tells Isi "not now" when she asks him what he's doing.
What I'm impressed by is how natural and well developed the relationship between the main cast feels. I was pretty put off by how heavy handed it was at first, particularly between Isi and Galahad. I mean, the YOU ARE OLD and I AM NOT trope works, so that's fine, but compare how the game does it here to how it's done in Skyfall, for example. Q and Bond exchange little quips for 2 minutes. Then later in the film, you are shown the implications of immaturity and strong-headedness on the part of the young genius and shown the implications of being, uh, old and dusty instead of just having it repeated by one of the main characters over and over again. I was surprised, then, when the game reveals the true nature of their relationship. That took me for a little surprise. I liked how well hidden it was but how real it felt once you learned about it. The little interaction they had on the airship ("Do it for me") felt genuine and heartfelt. I think the dialogue in general is pretty strong. I think it'd be bolstered if the characters talked to one another about non-combat, game things. One of the most humanizing things about Uncharted 2's cast is just how they talk to one another. Chloe tells Drake she's "hungry" at one point. Why? Because people get hungry. You can really believe there's a relationship between the two of them. They're real people with real personalities.
Lakshmi, on the other hand is basically a plot device set to serve a purpose. She's not a person. She doesn't mean anything to the player.
The guns all feel exceptional and unique. This is probably the first "Sony Shooter" where you can say without exceptions that they nailed the "gunplay." It's just a shame they don't do much with it. The early combat arenas, if you want to call them that, offer minimal player choice and basically consist of some cover and one or two entrance points through which bad guys stream in. There's little verticality or optionality in any of the environments. Very little is interactive. Sometimes I feel like this game's big combat setpieces are things other games give you in-between combat arenas. The best you can say is that they're unremarkable. Things have picked up a bit. You get more uninterrupted combat and more versatile arenas, but this is very clearly the first time they've tried to design a game like this. There's a "BRIDGE SETPIECE" like there is in basically every other shooter and that's 3 or so hours into the game. That's the first time I think I enjoyed a combat set piece. There's one in Chapter 3 I think where you have a wall and a little guard house and enemies just come STREAMING out of the distance and don't stop for what seems like forever. You have little mobility and your AI partner basically shits himself and doesn't do a damn thing. I couldn't believe how simplistic it all seemed.
That's so disappointing to me because of how GREAT the weapons actually feel to fire. Like, wow, they absolutely nailed the vibration, the sound, the accuracy, etc. Gosh, the sound the thermite pellets make after you fire them but before you detonate them. Scintillating. Things have been getting better (and I think Chapter IX was really fun), but it's just odd to me.
The level design is disappointing. There are so many dead ends. I love exploring the little nooks and crannies that are so slavishly detailed because they look great, but there's no reason to do so. Unlike many other linear games, they don't give you enough leash to make you believe these are lived-in environments. Whitechapel is the most conveniently destroyed linear slum I've ever seen. The Agamemnon's quarters open up a bit and that feels like it could be a real place. I guess again it's just the early game's oppressiveness that are going to poison most players. They needed to do a better job of making the environments feel lived-in.
The QTEs haven't been as bad as I was expecting. I absolutely hate MASH QTEs and I have no sympathy for them here, but I can't really remember any egregiously long sequence or anything. The branching QTEs are kinda neat.
I think the game's "cinema like" ambitions sometimes hurt it and sometimes help it. In the early game, they serve to disrupt the pacing and disorient the player. Do I really need to see a cutscene of the crew walking down a hallway? Or climbing down a ladder? Why does the game so often take OUT of gameplay what so often makes a good gameplay scenario? Chapter 9 has a "take out the guard" stealth moment. But once you walk to the guard, a cutscene triggers, you're spotted, and then the AI character knocks the guard out. Why was this a cutscene? Then there are other times when you're really immersed in a particular scene or something where they take control away from the player to frame something at a dramatic angle or with some great kinetic energy and it works so well. I love what they do with the camera in this game in general. The FOV is great. The camera seems almost intelligent; it just knows how to frame a shot. Very cool.
In general the game uses its cinema-like qualities to take control away from the player rather than enhance it, which is at odds with what other cinematic studios are trying to do and why I think the game isn't as good as it could be.
The lycan fights are dreadful. Total miss. Well, actually, not totally true. I thought the first encounter with
The Elder
was well done. Really tense. And you do genuinely feel how powerful the thing is. And it's just quite scary. But it's also super scripted, which is fine, but they needed to find a way to take the tension they were able to direct and translate that into the regular encounters with the lycans. They failed.
I'm interested to know how they designed the game. Was it linearly? Did they work on the beginning in the beginning or was it out of order? It feels like the game design evolves over time, which I suspect could be expected given that this is their first shooter and they "got better" at is as time went along.
I like the game and I think generally on a moment to moment basis it feels good to play (despite starting really very poorly), but clearly there is so much more potential here than they were able to realize. I don't think I've ever played a game quite like this, but I also don't know that I would want to play many more quite like this. Which is fine, because it's pretty rare you get something so expensively produced to play like this. I also don't understand complaining about the length because I'm pretty certain this type of experience cannot support a longer play time.
I definitely want to finish it and have high hopes for a sequel. I don't think this is a miss. I don't even think it's "bad." It's just pretty. And standard. It's pretty standard. That so much time was spent hyping/hating it still seems like a massive waste of the internet's collective time to me, but that's for other people to worry about.
Great impressions. Detailed too. I think I pretty much agree with all of what you said, though for me personally the audiovisual elements, coupled with the characters, acting, world, level of polish and above all, gunplay, did transcend it to being more than merely average, to something quite solid. There's much to be improved though, including level design, player options and maneuverability in combat encounters, degree of player control throughout the game etc, all of which you touched upon.
I do hope it gets a sequel, as I'm sure it will be greatly improved over its predecessor. I'm almost certain a massive portion of RAD's development time was focused on simply developing and designing the games engine, which should not be as much an issue with a sequel.
If it's meh (and it could be meh), I think it's meh with some interesting personality traits vs. factory produced meh like last year's Assassin's Creed. There's some personality here.
I think there's an interesting discussion around replayability to be had here, but I'm not sure I want to make that argument so close to this game's release. Some games should be replayable, and there are countless great games that are, but I'm not sure every game should be or needs to be. There's something to be said for a game that is designed to be experienced once and cannot be as enjoyable/impactful/meaningful on subsequent replays. This does not mean the game should antagonize players who wish to replay it (unskippable cutscenes). Though even if they were skippable, this game would most likely not be fun to replay. It'd be a disjointed bunch of 5/10-7/10 shooting set pieces with great graphics. But I suppose even that has its fans.
The community has sort of coalesced around this "replayability!!!" theme and I just don't know if I agree.
What about pacing? I firmly believe that frequent cutscenes and interruptions in general are a poor way of pacing a campaign. Although a lot of that is rooted in wanting a replayable game, I'm also taking into account the first playthrough and overall player engagement.
Take Journey, for instance. It's THE modern example of a game not really built for replayability because it loses a lot of what makes it special the 2nd time around (IMO, obviously) and can't make up for that with gameplay systems, but it's still a game with good pacing and constant player engagement. I think the argument that The Order could be justified as a "one time experience" due to, for example, stretches of little to no mechanic or cerebral engagement and mediocre encounters a weak one, and makes an excuse for (possibly even enables) poor game design.
What about pacing? I firmly believe that frequent cutscenes and interruptions in general are a poor way of pacing a campaign. Although a lot of that is rooted in wanting a replayable game, I'm also taking into account the first playthrough and overall player engagement.
Take Journey, for instance. It's THE modern example of a game not really built for replayability because it loses a lot of what makes it special the 2nd time around (IMO, obviously) and can't make up for that with gameplay systems, but it's still a game with good pacing and constant player engagement. I think the argument that The Order could be justified as a "one time experience" due to, for example, stretches of little to no mechanic or cerebral engagement and mediocre encounters a weak one, and makes an excuse for (possibly even enables) poor game design.
I don't feel that The Order and any comment I'd want to make about replayability are related (it's pretty specifically why I didn't want to make such a case close to the game's release). But, more generally, I agree with you, of course, though I do think Journey is very replayable.
If The Order had absolutely amazing encounter design and just a WOW story and was 5 hours long with 3 hours of unskippable cutscenes that contributed to the story and atmosphere and pacing, I'd be pretty unhappy with it getting dinged for not being very replayable.
What about pacing? I firmly believe that frequent cutscenes and interruptions in general are a poor way of pacing a campaign. Although a lot of that is rooted in wanting a replayable game, I'm also taking into account the first playthrough and overall player engagement.
Take Journey, for instance. It's THE modern example of a game not really built for replayability because it loses a lot of what makes it special the 2nd time around (IMO, obviously) and can't make up for that with gameplay systems, but it's still a game with good pacing and constant player engagement. I think the argument that The Order could be justified as a "one time experience" due to, for example, stretches of little to no mechanic or cerebral engagement and mediocre encounters a weak one, and makes an excuse for (possibly even enables) poor game design.
Journey is all about replayability to me. The freedom to go wherever I want helps. So does the shortness of the game and the random encounters with strangers.
If The Order had absolutely amazing encounter design and just a WOW story and was 5 hours long with 3 hours of unskippable cutscenes that contributed to the story and atmosphere and pacing, I'd be pretty unhappy with it getting dinged for not being very replayable.
Man, I just can't agree. What you described would be an incredibly frustrating game. 60% of the playtime being passive cutscenes would be too much, especially if the gameplay is that good.. Even Kojima is reining that kind of storytelling in. That's a huge black eye on the game. Then making them unskippable on top of that? Even if it was the best story ever written with the best encounters ever designed, that's a title which would deserve strong criticism for the way it was built.
The way I look at it, put in a dialogue system and adventure game elements if you really want to focus so much on narrative. This is an interactive medium. Creating a story that can only be told through watching and feigning interactivity (without even having the branching paths of a David Cage game) is trying to combine oil and water.
Journey is all about replayability to me. The freedom to go wherever I want helps. So does the shortness of the game and the random encounters with strangers.
That's why I made sure to put "IMO, obviously" after that statement. I, personally, feel that Journey without the mystery, spontaneity, and emotion of the first playthrough is a significantly lesser game because the mechanics aren't deep enough to carry the experience. I simply chose it as an example because it's a game I think has a more legitimate argument for being a great "one time experience."
Well for starters, the "five hours" thing is a huge exaggeration. I played it at a pretty normal pace and got through it in about 8-9 hours. I'm kind of tired and still haven't read up on the story as much as I'd like (lots of theories/speculation I want to check out) but eh.
Gameplay is fun. Feels very weighty and solid. The physics, animations, visuals, and sound design all come together to make combat a really satisfying, fulfilling experience. It just feels really good.
It's easily the most polished game I've ever played, holy shit. Like honestly I've never seen anything like it. Games in general have a sort of jankiness to them - it's not really anything particularly bad, just something that comes with the medium really. But this is like... something else, it's hard to describe. It's a huge achievement in presentation, and I don't just mean in graphics. That jank is gone, or at the very least way, way lower than anything I've personally ever seen.
Story was really satisfying. It took a long time to get rolling, but once thing happened around the halfway point I became a lot more invested in the plot and characters. I thought Galahad was a great protagonist and I'm really excited to see where the story goes next. I didn't want to stop playing.
Value was fine. I think expecting this level of polish and fidelity from a budget priced game is kind of silly tbh, and I don't want to see that go away for the sake of people who aren't interested in this kind of game to begin with. I'm satisfied with my purchase, might go back and replay it later down the line to get some more perspective on the story.
Visuals are obviously top notch. Literally unmatched. Prettiest game ever made.
I thought of a metaphor that I thought fit well while I was playing it. Food metaphor because food metaphors and video games go together like peanut butter and jelly -
this is the order 1886
video games are cake
movies are ice cream
The Order 1886 is a really, really fucking beautiful, delicious designer ice cream cake. It's expensive, yeah. Not necessarily a million times tastier or more filling than what you'd get at Baskin Robins, but you're paying for that extra bit of class and you get it in spades.
It's not The Last of Us, mind you, but it's still very satisfying. I'm frankly amazed they made a game this tight on their first try.
Why does the game so often take OUT of gameplay what so often makes a good gameplay scenario? Chapter 9 has a "take out the guard" stealth moment. But once you walk to the guard, a cutscene triggers, you're spotted, and then the AI character knocks the guard out. Why was this a cutscene?
See, I find this pretty elucidating regarding the few very harsh review scores. If I were a reviewer, my gaming values and sensibilities would have me knocking off whole points for things like this; it's repugnant to good game design in this day and age.
This may have been brought up previously, but having just finished the game:
Isn't it pretty odd that the core concept of the game is "Knights versus Half-breeds," where the half-breeds are bestial enemies, but the game is a 3rd person shooter?
It made sense in Gears of War, where the Locust are gun toting semi-intelligent beings, but in the Order the Half-breeds can only run and swipe at the player. It makes for a narrative full of conceits, just so you can fight other gun wielding human enemies.
It also means any future The Order 1886 games have to keep coming up with reasons for Galahad to be killing humans.
If the Order exists purely to fight against half-breeds, then shouldn't combat with half-breeds be built as the core mechanic of the game? Not a few tacked on moments with little challenge.
Alternatively, if they knew the majority of opponents in the game would be gun wielding, then shouldn't the Order exist with a more general goal to keep the peace in Europe, or something along those lines. At least then the mass human slaughter won't seem so tangential.
This may have been brought up previously, but having just finished the game:
Isn't it pretty odd that the core concept of the game is "Knights versus Half-breeds," where the half-breeds are bestial enemies, but the game is a 3rd person shooter?
It made sense in Gears of War, where the Locust are gun toting semi-intelligent beings, but in the Order the Half-breeds can only run and swipe at the player. It makes for a narrative full of conceits, just so you can fight other gun wielding human enemies.
It also means any future The Order 1886 games have to keep coming up with reasons for Galahad to be killing humans.
If the Order exists purely to fight against half-breeds, then shouldn't combat with half-breeds be built as the core mechanic of the game? Not a few tacked on moments with little challenge.
Alternatively, if they knew the majority of opponents in the game would be gun wielding, then shouldn't the Order exist with a more general goal to keep the peace in Europe, or something along those lines. At least then the mass human slaughter won't seem so tangential.
Since I can't stop thinking about a bunch of things I want to see in this series, I figured I'd write up a wishlist of things I'd like to see in a sequel. Be forewarned, a lot of these are pretty nitpicky but I think would go a long way to alleviating some of the issues.
-Less obvious button prompts: Smaller and make them more integrated with the world instead of being bright white. Dulled but colored would blend in better. Also don't have them appear until much closer to the item.
-Fewer tutorial prompts and the ability to disable them: self explanatory, these messed up immersion quite a bit
-Fewer moments where base movement speed changed: I get not allowing the full speed sprint at all times but the natural walking speed of Galahad varied so much it often made the chapters and segments feel disjointed. Also allow for a dedicated roll button instead of it being context sensitive.
-Less times forcing you into specific weapons: It was a real bummer when I finally got a thermite rifle again and then immediately had to swap it out for something else. Moments like raiding the weapons closet in chapter 5 felt like they left more options open to the player.
-Revamped Melee: This would allow for many fewer QTEs and would do away with the quick camera cuts in battle. Allowing options for lethal or nonlethal would be nice too.
More Half-Breeds: I think everyone would agree with this one. I'd love to see more and more varied encounters with half breeds. It would be incredible if enemies could randomly transform mid gunfight. That would add a new dynamic to encounters and let us rip lose on them with a greater variety of weapons.
More rewarding exploration/collectables: Not asking to deviate from a linear progression here, just hiding fewer collectables along the main path. I loved late in the game how many were hidden behind doors that required you to use your gadgets. Would like to see more of that. Also a collectable counter and the ability to listen to audio logs in game are a must.
More conversation while moving through the world: Replace some of the cutscenes with characters speaking as you move through an area. It would feel more natural and keep control in the players hands. Also make these conversations optional and let the cutscenes be skippable.
More encounter/enemy variety: Self explanatory
More macabre/horror elements: Chapter 4 was lovely. More of that please.
Improve turning point options: I actually dug what they were going for and a couple of them were nice from an aiming standpoint but too often there was only a single choice. I would love to see more options to these and some consequence on the following scene, getting a new weapon or starting in a different location.
No instafail stealth: I actually kind of enjoyed the stealth segments but the instafail was annoying and I know it was a major issue for some, especially with the takedowns being timing based.
Rereading this post it comes off far, far more negative than I meant it to. I really did enjoy the game, it's just whenever I think back on it the flaws seem more apparent than when I was playing it. The audio and visual elements of this game do a brilliant job of transporting the player into one of the most intriguing settings I've encountered in a game and I loved the combat mechanics. It's just a game that drives my mind wild with possibilities.
Well for starters, the "five hours" thing is a huge exaggeration. I played it at a pretty normal pace and got through it in about 8-9 hours. I'm kind of tired and still haven't read up on the story as much as I'd like (lots of theories/speculation I want to check out) but eh.
Gameplay is fun. Feels very weighty and solid. The physics, animations, visuals, and sound design all come together to make combat a really satisfying, fulfilling experience. It just feels really good.
It's easily the most polished game I've ever played, holy shit. Like honestly I've never seen anything like it. Games in general have a sort of jankiness to them - it's not really anything particularly bad, just something that comes with the medium really. But this is like... something else, it's hard to describe. It's a huge achievement in presentation, and I don't just mean in graphics. That jank is gone, or at the very least way, way lower than anything I've personally ever seen.
Story was really satisfying. It took a long time to get rolling, but once thing happened around the halfway point I became a lot more invested in the plot and characters. I thought Galahad was a great protagonist and I'm really excited to see where the story goes next. I didn't want to stop playing.
Value was fine. I think expecting this level of polish and fidelity from a budget priced game is kind of silly tbh, and I don't want to see that go away for the sake of people who aren't interested in this kind of game to begin with. I'm satisfied with my purchase, might go back and replay it later down the line to get some more perspective on the story.
Visuals are obviously top notch. Literally unmatched. Prettiest game ever made.
I thought of a metaphor that I thought fit well while I was playing it. Food metaphor because food metaphors and video games go together like peanut butter and jelly -
this is the order 1886
video games are cake
movies are ice cream
The Order 1886 is a really, really fucking beautiful, delicious designer ice cream cake. It's expensive, yeah. Not necessarily a million times tastier or more filling than what you'd get at Baskin Robins, but you're paying for that extra bit of class and you get it in spades.
It's not The Last of Us, mind you, but it's still very satisfying. I'm frankly amazed they made a game this tight on their first try.
“Would not our time be better spent hunting half-breeds, monsieur?”
- Lafayette
It may never be clear which factors prompted The Order 1886 to release with such stark differences in quality between the artistry of its presentation and its story driven design, and while it's arguable that the design choices were set in stone from the start, it's curious that the elements that brought success to Ready At Dawn’s inspirations are only barely present in their final product.
To use their most notable influence, let's compare Naughty Dog's The Last of Us' approach to cinematic game storytelling and its simple formula for success. TLOU never did bring a single original game design element to the table; not the crafting, not the combat, not the story. But it was in the way that Naughty Dog executed all these elements together that produced an engaging and satisfying experience. They utilized their familiar premise to build pertinent gameplay scenarios that accurately accounted for player agency to script in the “illusion” of spontaneous discovery, and they designed these scenarios in a way that every piece of fiction and lore imbedded in its presentation naturally wove itself into their narrative during gameplay.
Take the prologue of each game for example. Stories that open with tragedy are common, but it's nevertheless important to establish clear characteristics about the protagonists and the world the player is about to inhabit through them. In The Order, it is simply an ambiguous excerpt from the middle of the game with a suspenseful exchange of words, which renders the proceedings of the first half of the game before the opener devoid of any actual intrigue or tension. It ends up feeling cumbersome and redundant. Instead, opening with a character defining origins prologue to how Galahad became acquainted with The Order (perhaps introducing a “trojan horse” plot device inside Galahad himself to add some parallel complexity to the lycan adversaries) would have added emotional weight and attachment to whatever changes the characters undergo during the plot, as well as opening up a wealth of interesting gameplay opportunities featuring lycans. As it stands, the plot is a hollow retread of the tale of deceit and organizations meant to protect gone corrupt. Throwing in a subtle attempt at personal conflicts at the very end does little to redeem the already spent narrative and the rather mundane and inconsequential human on human shoot outs that RAD shoehorned in. The issue of original writing versus engaging execution is one that quite possibly befell the team at RAD, and it’s a balancing act that needed be considered.
To better illustrate how this would translate into more engaging gameplay design, consider the first enemy skirmish in The Order with Isabeau, versus the first steps into the dangerous world of TLOU with Tess. The Order’s first combat scenario opens from a side alley after a quick tutorial and briskly streams the action along to the next checkpoint, leaving beautifully rendered locales out of focus as the player attention is directed away from their impeccably conceived aesthetics. Failing to introduce meaningful character traits or antagonists, it simply serves as an ordinary stage for meaningless banter between the barely elucidated characters of Galahad and Izzy. Not to mention a prison break is an oddly commonplace task for the Order’s Knights to show their specialized skills, considering this is only the beginning of a plot thread that ends up revealing these rebels as allies, The Order as villain and the lycans, well, simply wondering why they got cast in this movie. Imagine instead, if the same stage had opened from the gate to the right, with super human escapees climbing on the train overpass and on the beautiful architecture, the awe inspiring and terrifying power of the adversaries, and a much more interesting and versatile gameplay segment would have emerged. Following Naughty Dog’s latest gameplay mantra, envision a slow, evolving pursuit of the lycans through the city, as the Knights race the sunset to meet the rising moon over the London rooftops, forcing them to gather and fight together under Perceval’s guidance and with Lafayette’s eagerness, to overpower the transforming lycans. This would have materialized into a much more effective follow up to the expository prologue, introduced new character nuances, and still showcased RAD’s technical prowess, all without taking away player control. It could have all gone amiss, certainly; those impressive real time body transformations could have been overlooked by the player controlled camera, but the result would have been undoubtedly less offensive.
In TLOU, Joel and Tess are introduced gradually to the realities of their situation. It paints a clear picture of the environment where the story is going to unfold and it introduces their characters by juxtaposing them to a number of enemies of varying levels of difficulty and brutality with unflinching confidence, that allows player to utilize a balanced and thought out breadth of maneuvers and weaponry. When it comes to the story, the TLOU is abundantly familiar, but it's the way it involves players that makes it special. It's the uncompromising and meaningful player driven encounters that sell it. Ready At Dawn focuses so hard on telling an original story that they forgo adding any gameplay scenarios that substantiate their premise and take advantage of their fiction, leaving a lore full of potential disappointingly unexploited.
It's evident that Ready At Dawn, in their AAA infancy, did not lack ambition. But, ambition alone can't make up the clear lack of confidence in the execution of The Order 1886. It seems that in their attempt to do something wholly original they opted for something halfway there, and the result is a truncated story that moves at a breakneck pace, leaving its most interesting plot elements underutilized, and the players with timid and pedestrian gameplay encounters. Whether this was their intention or they had to compromise, is all up for debate.
Those armored enemies are really pissing me off.
Some chapter XV spoiler.
I'm in the sewers trying to get to Tesla, but I only have a gun and the air gun which are not really appropriate against them. And to top it of it's in small area, tried to use the blacksight but it didn't do enough damage.
I understand why the game was reviewed as it was now, the story is completely generic (
Alastair being with Lord Hastings was so obvious
) and weird at times (
Why did he let Galahad kill all those guards, he could've neutralized before that. I think it was only so that they could meet Devi, Finley and the queen
). There's to many cutscene to are a bit pointless but the gunplay is pretty good and the graphics are of course exceptional.
It would've been a great launch title, but as for now I think I enjoyed Ryse more.
I really hope the sequel will be large in scope and have a better story because the lore is very interesting.
The biggest issue with the length isn't the fact it's too short gameplay wise, but that it doesn't provide sufficient time to really flesh out the characters or story. The game needed to be at a similar length to The Last Of Us.
Has anyone seen the "Making of" from the Collector's edition? How is it? I hope it gets uploaded to Youtube at some point. Dont see the point in holding it back like that. The "TLoU Making of" eventually did get uploaded like that and hope it happens with this game.
Edit: I see you guys bringing up the fact Galahad knife kills everyone. I think RAD just make the mistake of not animating a "knock out" type of attack. I always found it questionable that he was always killing these guards who could be innocent for all we know and werent aware of what Hastings was doing. They should of done what ND did with TLoU. If I remember when you sneak behind an enemy, you press Square, you do a chock hold and if you press Triangle you do a neck snap.
Has anyone seen the "Making of" from the Collector's edition? How is it? I hope it gets uploaded to Youtube at some point. Dont see the point in holding it back like that. The "TLoU Making of" eventually did get uploaded like that and hope it happens with this game.
Actually TLOU documentary was on Youtube well before it ended up on disc with the PS4 version.
And I actually have the collectors edition but I didn't find any sort of making of. It came with something called the order quartermaster which was just a 5 min video about tesla and the weapons
Actually TLOU documentary was on Youtube well before it ended up on disc with the PS4 version.
And I actually have the collectors edition but I didn't find any sort of making of. It came with something called the order quartermaster which was just a 5 min video about tesla and the weapons
Oh sorry, I thought it was a "making of". Yea I looked it up again and it says some "unreleased behind the scenes" stuff. Ok thats lame. Wish they would of done something like that though.
Since I can't stop thinking about a bunch of things I want to see in this series, I figured I'd write up a wishlist of things I'd like to see in a sequel. Be forewarned, a lot of these are pretty nitpicky but I think would go a long way to alleviating some of the issues.
-Less obvious button prompts: Smaller and make them more integrated with the world instead of being bright white. Dulled but colored would blend in better. Also don't have them appear until much closer to the item.
-Fewer tutorial prompts and the ability to disable them: self explanatory, these messed up immersion quite a bit
-Fewer moments where base movement speed changed: I get not allowing the full speed sprint at all times but the natural walking speed of Galahad varied so much it often made the chapters and segments feel disjointed
-Less times forcing you into specific weapons: It was a real bummer when I finally got a thermite rifle again and then immediately had to swap it out for something else. Moments like raiding the weapons closet in chapter 5 felt like they left more options open to the player.
-Revamped Melee: This would allow for many fewer QTEs and would do away with the quick camera cuts in battle. Allowing options for lethal or nonlethal would be nice too.
More Half-Breeds: I think everyone would agree with this one. I'd love to see more and more varied encounters with half breeds. It would be incredible if enemies could randomly transform mid gunfight. That would add a new dynamic to encounters and let us rip lose on them with a greater variety of weapons.
More rewarding exploration/collectables: Not asking to deviate from a linear progression here, just hiding fewer collectables along the main path. I loved late in the game how many were hidden behind doors that required you to use your gadgets. Would like to see more of that. Also a collectable counter and the ability to listen to audio logs in game are a must.
More conversation while moving through the world: Replace some of the cutscenes with characters speaking as you move through an area. It would feel more natural and keep control in the players hands. Also make these conversations optional and let the cutscenes be skippable.
More encounter/enemy variety: Self explanatory
More macabre/horror elements: Chapter 4 was lovely. More of that please.
Rereading this post it comes off far, far more negative than I meant it to. I really did enjoy the game, it's just whenever I think back on it the flaws seem more apparent than when I was playing it. The audio and visual elements of this game do a brilliant job of transporting the player into one of the most intriguing settings I've encountered in a game and I loved the combat mechanics. It's just a game that drives my mind wild with possibilities.
I agree with every of these, and I also want to add few more things
More advanced AI and opener environment: I love gunfight in this game but I want to see it improved in the next game. Don't just put us in a closed box with enemies spawning in a corner!
Less cutscenes and make them be playable sequences
Setpiece: I can't believe there isn't any remarkable setpiece moment in this game. Seriously, what did RaD learn from Uncharted 2? I fail see any Uncharted influence while playing The Order.
The biggest issue with the length isn't the fact it's too short gameplay wise, but that it doesn't provide sufficient time to really flesh out the characters or story. The game needed to be at a similar length to The Last Of Us.
See I don't know that I altogether understand this.
The Order has, by comparison, a rather large cast and whilst the principle characters of your "unit" are, to some extent, not fleshed out (backstory wise?),
the new characters you interact and fight with (specifically the rebels) are fantastic additions. Whislt its true we are not given the Queen's true, overall motives, nor that of her daughter, I was generally horrified when I discovered we were betrayed at the East India Company headquarters.
Likewise, I was seething with anger at Lord Hastings and Alistair despite not having 20 minutes of exposition declaring their reasoning."
I'd like to think we'll be given more information with the sequel but honestly, I felt the characterization to be only slightly lacking behind say the original Uncharted or UC3
I'm experimenting with movement more in combat. I agree that a dedicated roll/dodge would have been nice, but what they do have is pretty great. It feels like a real benchmark in animation and grace.
My biggest beef with the game (that I otherwise really enjoyed) is unless I am missing something, there is no incentive to replay it.
No tracking of stats at all. None.
Please, if I missing something please share, it would make the game that much more appealing to me, and it could have been very simple. Headshots, Accuracy, ANYTHING.
I did not see anything along those lines, and again I want to be wrong, so if I am please let me know.
My biggest beef with the game (that I otherwise really enjoyed) is unless I am missing something, there is no incentive to replay it.
No tracking of stats at all. None.
Please, if I missing something please share, it would make the game that much more appealing to me, and it could have been very simple. Headshots, Accuracy, ANYTHING.
I did not see anything along those lines, and again I want to be wrong, so if I am please let me know.
My single largest gripe with the game. Likewise there is no way to know what collectibles youve missed or level select, things like that. Would have loved an extra epilogue or something of that nature for beating in on Hard.
I don't feel that The Order and any comment I'd want to make about replayability are related (it's pretty specifically why I didn't want to make such a case close to the game's release). But, more generally, I agree with you, of course, though I do think Journey is very replayable.
If The Order had absolutely amazing encounter design and just a WOW story and was 5 hours long with 3 hours of unskippable cutscenes that contributed to the story and atmosphere and pacing, I'd be pretty unhappy with it getting dinged for not being very replayable.
The problem in this situation, and I'm referring to the whole situation surrounding the order and the defensiveness on both sides, is that the criticisms aren't just one thing. People try systematically to breakdown each criticism, rather than the aggregate. For example-
1. Replayability- general response is. "this is what I hate about gaming. It's not about the experience or the single player, it's about filler and padding" The fact of the matter is plenty of games are both longer and more replayable without being loaded with filler, obviously that's subjective, but it's also a general consensus. The MP suggestions are mainly ideas on how they could've extended playability if they felt they had done enough to tell their story.
2. The pacing- People will isolate this and mention how it's similar to heavy rain or various other games and yet those games are praised. There are multiple things wrong with a statement like this. First off in games like heavy rain or telltale games, your choices make a difference. You affect the outcome as it's going. I also genuinely believe that Heavy Rain has more gameplay than The order does. I could be wrong, it's been years, but I felt far more involved/engaged in HR, than I ever did in the Order.
3. QTEs/interactive cutscenes- I realize this falls in line with pacing, but it's somewhat seperate in that the cutscenes themselves take up over 2 hours of the game... however in the "analysis" (somebody broke down chapter by chapter what was cutscene and what was playable can't find the post), they didn't include the QTEs or on rails sections. I actually enjoy QTEs, I think GOW does them better than just about any other franchise... however in this particular game, they are awkwardly placed. Take for instance the prologue, where 90% of it you're just watching... but then randomly they'll toss in a mash x scene, or a forced walk scene for 10-15 seconds. This to me is not gameplay, it doesn't mesh well at all, it was just a way of breaking up the action and trying to keep people engaged. When you subtract these and the cutscenes from the total, the amount of gameplay is very small.
4. The Gameplay- Ok so I'm conflicted on this part, because I like a lot of what the order does. I think the gunplay is pretty amazing. The weapons each have their own feel and uses. Some of the guns are creative- rifle secondary, thermite rifle, arc gun. Despite this, there is very little use of the actual guns... even worse though, is that many moments have painfully dragged out scenes. One of the first big shootouts is in an open courtyard when you're with Marquis on the rooftops. It's just endless waves of enemies while you mindlessly gun them down There is no movement, there is no traversal, it's simply pop shoot, pop shoot. It felt tacked on, almost as if they were forced to include this in the game, lining up with the whole "it's a game you can't get around it" type mentality (I understand the context of the quote, but still it makes sense). As for the movement and traversal, it's very solid. I would say it goes Gears<<The Order<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Uncharted<<<<<<The Last of Us. Uncharted and Last of us have really perfected the cover shooter with the freedom of movement, culminating with the seamless cover/stealth system in TLOU. The order is closer to gears with the closer follow camera, the "sticking" to cover, and a somewhat weighty movement, but not quite to the level of gears, which I'm not a huge fan of. This is something that could've improved (could improve if a sequel is somehow greenlit). As much as people hate it, I would've loved to have seen a Multiplayer with the gunplay and traversal, but I was happy to qait for a sequel when the engine was already in place and the core was there.
Ultimately arguing these points is fine, people will have differing opinions, but way more often than not I'll see something singled out and oversimplified as to why the criticism is wrong. It's an aggregate of things. The game is too short(gameplay over cutscenes is what I mean, the game itself took about 8 hours maybe slightly less for me to complete, which is on the shorter side, but passable), the gameplay itself is shallow and boring, the story is hit or miss. The game got a 65 on MC, and you'll always see fans outraged as to why their game got bad reviews, but it's not a bias thing, it's not a "politics" thing, it's not a misunderstanding. It's simply that with the combination of all these "issues" it will absolutely be a polarizing game.
I just wanted to point out how well this video destroys the argument that Gears of War is the holy grail of cover systems.
Also, people trying to argue that an exploit legitimizes the quality of the cover system are operating on a rainbow wavelength.
It's like watching a Pro play Metal Gear Online and thinking the game is a Mariana Trench of depth and strategy. Then give the controller to an average joe and they find the game to be rudimentary at best.
The problem in this situation, and I'm referring to the whole situation surrounding the order and the defensiveness on both sides, is that the criticisms aren't just one thing. People try systematically to breakdown each criticism, rather than the aggregate. For example-
1. Replayability- general response is. "this is what I hate about gaming. It's not about the experience or the single player, it's about filler and padding" The fact of the matter is plenty of games are both longer and more replayable without being loaded with filler, obviously that's subjective, but it's also a general consensus. The MP suggestions are mainly ideas on how they could've extended playability if they felt they had done enough to tell their story.
2. The pacing- People will isolate this and mention how it's similar to heavy rain or various other games and yet those games are praised. There are multiple things wrong with a statement like this. First off in games like heavy rain or telltale games, your choices make a difference. You affect the outcome as it's going. I also genuinely believe that Heavy Rain has more gameplay than The order does. I could be wrong, it's been years, but I felt far more involved/engaged in HR, than I ever did in the Order.
3. QTEs/interactive cutscenes- I realize this falls in line with pacing, but it's somewhat seperate in that the cutscenes themselves take up over 2 hours of the game... however in the "analysis" (somebody broke down chapter by chapter what was cutscene and what was playable can't find the post), they didn't include the QTEs or on rails sections. I actually enjoy QTEs, I think GOW does them better than just about any other franchise... however in this particular game, they are awkwardly placed. Take for instance the prologue, where 90% of it you're just watching... but then randomly they'll toss in a mash x scene, or a forced walk scene for 10-15 seconds. This to me is not gameplay, it doesn't mesh well at all, it was just a way of breaking up the action and trying to keep people engaged. When you subtract these and the cutscenes from the total, the amount of gameplay is very small.
4. The Gameplay- Ok so I'm conflicted on this part, because I like a lot of what the order does. I think the gunplay is pretty amazing. The weapons each have their own feel and uses. Some of the guns are creative- rifle secondary, thermite rifle, arc gun. Despite this, there is very little use of the actual guns... even worse though, is that many moments have painfully dragged out scenes. One of the first big shootouts is in an open courtyard when you're with Marquis on the rooftops. It's just endless waves of enemies while you mindlessly gun them down There is no movement, there is no traversal, it's simply pop shoot, pop shoot. It felt tacked on, almost as if they were forced to include this in the game, lining up with the whole "it's a game you can't get around it" type mentality (I understand the context of the quote, but still it makes sense). As for the movement and traversal, it's very solid. I would say it goes Gears<<The Order<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Uncharted<<<<<<The Last of Us. Uncharted and Last of us have really perfected the cover shooter with the freedom of movement, culminating with the seamless cover/stealth system in TLOU. The order is closer to gears with the closer follow camera, the "sticking" to cover, and a somewhat weighty movement, but not quite to the level of gears, which I'm not a huge fan of. This is something that could've improved (could improve if a sequel is somehow greenlit). As much as people hate it, I would've loved to have seen a Multiplayer with the gunplay and traversal, but I was happy to qait for a sequel when the engine was already in place and the core was there.
Ultimately arguing these points is fine, people will have differing opinions, but way more often than not I'll see something singled out and oversimplified as to why the criticism is wrong. It's an aggregate of things. The game is too short(gameplay over cutscenes is what I mean, the game itself took about 8 hours maybe slightly less for me to complete, which is on the shorter side, but passable), the gameplay itself is shallow and boring, the story is hit or miss. The game got a 65 on MC, and you'll always see fans outraged as to why their game got bad reviews, but it's not a bias thing, it's not a "politics" thing, it's not a misunderstanding. It's simply that with the combination of all these "issues" it will absolutely be a polarizing game.
I'm not really sure why you quoted my post with your response, but on the first couple of points you don't really expect me to respond to a bunch of caricatured posters, do you? There are plenty of well written critiques and defenses of the game that I don't think we should have to do that.
I'm not really sure why you quoted my post with your response, but on the first couple of points you don't really expect me to respond to a bunch of caricatured posters, do you? There are plenty of well written critiques and defenses of the game that I don't think we should have to do that.
Could the sequel be The Order: 1897? That's when Stoker puplished Dracula. Figured that they don't wanna go to far from the time period and it fits in the Lore somewhat. Don't know it was just a random thought that popped in my head.
Ive been enjoying the game a lot on repeted playthroughs and have been noticing a lot of smaller details like
the UIC crates in the rebel hideout in the hospital. And you can also see some in the airship level as well.
I just really hope there is some sort DLC plan or something in the works. Hell even cheats like the uncharted series like Slow Mo or Filter stuff would be cool to mess around with
Has anybody gotten any info how it's sold? I know it was on Amazon #1 for like a minute.
Just finally finished. Overall, I'm happy with it. Don't regret my money spent, and I know I'll go back to it and get more time out of it at some point. I can recognize some problems with it, though I do think it might be reviewed a bit too low.
I really loved the story, the characters, the acting, the music, the atmosphere, the graphics. All of that were amazingly well done. She shooting itself was also really well done, too. Technically it was one of the better feeling shooters I've played. Guns had enough pop to them and the aiming was good. I also didn't really think the game was that terribly short, either. No idea how much time I spent on it, but it was fine for a play time.
Now, the problems:
-Honestly, I thought there should be more QTEs, and more creative use of them. If they're going to put a bunch in there, go fucking wild with it. Heavy Rain this bitch up! I thought it was kind of weird when my character was doing things that a QTE would make more impactful and there wasn't. Then a few seconds later there was. If you're going to go this route, own it.
-I loved the shooting, but there just wasn't enough of it. I kind of felt weird passing by gorgeous rooms and hallways... and not doing anything. It felt like a lot of games would have put a lot more enemies into those spaces. Just throwing a few enemies in here and there in some corners and rooms would have probably added a ton to the game.
-The shootout arenas weren't quite creative enough. I honestly didn't think they were bad, just that they weren't really as good as they could be. I think my last point actually makes this one worse. If there's more action going on then you don't need really crazy creative arenas, in my opinion. It's because action is sparser that you really start to notice and crave a bit more from what you are getting.
-The
Lycan
fights are just bad. Bad bad bad. Bad and a half. Holy hell how did this get in the game? They give you like the worst goddamned environment, some tiny ass room with a ton of corners and then the dodge button is tied to a QTE that comes up and is obscured sometimes until you're hit, then the fucking things just disappear into the ether sometimes. You have to slowly get up your gun and by the time you aim it at them you get a few bullets... maybe. And that's if another one doesn't just attack you out of nowhere. My strategy for this fight? Sit in a corner and hammer on the x button. Yeah...
That's mostly my complaints. They could really fix this up into an amazing series with very few changes, honestly. I think that's why it stings people more is because the things missing feel like they would be really easy to implement. At least that's my problem. Pepper in more action, get a bit more creative with some of the QTEs, throw in a few more cover controls (like to go around a corner), and you've got yourself an awesome game!
I didn't mind a lot of the other things people complained about. I thought the story wrapped up find enough and really don't consider that a horrible cliffhanger. I've had way way way worse endings to games I've played... I also didn't mind the stealth. I don't think every game and story should or can allow for dynamic stealth options. Sometimes instal-restart stealth stuff makes sense. I don't mind the game 'taking control' for things like opening doors and such.
I think if they pull something even remotely similar to an Uncharted 2 out of the sequel, we'll be in for something special.
Overall I'd probably give it a 7 or 7.5 out of 10.
Played, completed and Platinumed it all today in 1 playthrough, for the most part I liked it. The graphics are amazing I have yet to see any other game even stand close to the level of detail in the characters and general animations and the story was pretty good up until the last 1/3 where it just got really predictable and I really didn't care for the way it ended.
Honestly I didn't mind the length itself outside of the ending
which was left far to open for my tastes I actually thought I was going to get 1 more chapter before that last line and then the credits rolled and I was like... really? Can't even give a moderately satisfying ending?
but I really think more could have been done to provide a better and more detailed experience.
I'm really surprised there wasn't any option for co op countering how you almost always have a second person with you and outside of certain segments it would've been a nice option to have for a game like this. Also I really think there were big opportunities to let you play as other characters other then Gallahad, several chapters could have had Percival Isi, or Lafayette as the lead specifically
Isi and Lafayette hunting for an escaped Gallahad, Percival searching for clues about whats going wrong in he order, ect hell having a chapter as you play as Lucan before you find out whose side hes really on could have also been interesting.
I really did still enjoy the game but I'm surprised with the level of polish the animations and graphics had didn't go more into developing the story or characters more then they did, I would gladly play a sequel to this that expands what they already set up just in greater detail. Hopefully this doesn't end up getting abandoned by Sony with all the bad press the game got, a lot of it wasn't really as deserved as I thought it would be.
just after we've set the cargo on fire and I have my second set of Lycans running around attacking me area
. My god I really do like this game and I've enjoyed most of my time with it. Some mild irritations gameplay wise but pacing and story have been absolutely fine for me so far. But man oh man these
Lycan encounters
are fucking annoying. Even more so than the shotgunners.
Honestly whoever thought this up, played it, and decided to put more than one in the game does need a good talking to. It's such a horribly done segment.
The lycans just run around and tracking them is very difficult, you have a split second to hit X and maybe fire a few shots, then another one comes, you dodge and it bites you afterwards anyway, and there's more than one of these things all doing this, in a really awkward space that limits your view and mobility options. Just no. If they make a sequel to The Order then segments like this just need to fucking go.
Rant over. I just rage quit at that part and still feel the rage seething through my veins so I'll try to calm down. All in all I'm enjoying the game, the story is intriguing, so far, and while sadly it isn't an absolutely amazing story, it is still better than most games. The shooting sections where you're just up against normal folk can be quite fun. Very visceral and the sound really helps here. It's not perfect, there's nothing perfect about this game so far but the visuals, but it isn't dead between the eyes gameplay wise.
Pacing wise I actually rather like it, and I have no issue with the regular interjection of cut scene moments, big or small. The characters are well acted for the most part and the atmosphere induced from the visuals and sound is intoxicating. My only real gripes are inconsistent game design and some terrible encounters that feel incredibly clumsy and unfair,
lycans and some of the shotgunners
. I also have hatred for whoever thought you should have to hold triangle for a split second to pick up ammo, rather than just pick it up with a simple press of the button. That's unnecessary and really more annoying than it should be!
It cannot be said enough just how stunning this game looks. I never expected this generation of consoles would pull this off, or if so not until much later on. It is truly an impressive feat and considering the game really isn't that terrible, and game play length for me is easily at about 8/9 hours currently (over two nights) with a ways to go, the game has gotten way more negative criticism than was warranted. I honestly don't understand it. Sites like Eurogamer had it in for this from the start and other people seemed to love targeting it, mainly for the use of QTE's. I just feel like everyone is expecting nothing less than The Last Of Us level of game for some weird reason and are judging it against that and against other games that bare no resemblance to this genre (the "I want 100 hours gameplay for my $50 or you can fuck right off" crowd).
The scores on average are reasonable although I'd say slightly on the harsh side for sure, but some of the really low scores just feel like some sort of weird vendetta against this game that has been evident for a while long before anyone played the full title. I have my ideas and we all know what those may be but it is a real shame for Ready At Dawn. I feel like they've put a lot of hard work in and the good that they've done is barely been recognised while small annoyances have been blown out of proportion and used to tell people to stay clear, as if the game was legitimately bad and not worth anyone's time. That's not right.
Edit: One thing that has really impressed me is the little melee moments in the middle of firefights. It always smoothly enters into the animations perfectly and utilises the environment incredibly well. I've only done it a few times but in future play throughs I might put it on easy and go a bit crazy with this, always makes me feel bad ass! Here's an example from my own clip (should skip to 4:55 in) http://youtu.be/BG2oHUs1QQg?t=4m54s
just after we've set the cargo on fire and I have my second set of Lycans running around attacking me area
. My god I really do like this game and I've enjoyed most of my time with it. Some mild irritations gameplay wise but pacing and story have been absolutely fine for me so far. But man oh man these
Lycan encounters
are fucking annoying. Even more so than the shotgunners.
Honestly whoever thought this up, played it, and decided to put more than one in the game does need a good talking to. It's such a horribly done segment.
The lycans just run around and tracking them is very difficult, you have a split second to hit X and maybe fire a few shots, then another one comes, you dodge and it bites you afterwards anyway, and there's more than one of these things all doing this, in a really awkward space that limits your view and mobility options. Just no. If they make a sequel to The Order then segments like this just need to fucking go.
I'll be honest. Those Lycan encounters were about the easiest part of the game, IMO. All you do is
back yourself into a corner near where you came into the area, then you can see the fuckers coming and get some shots in before you have to dodge. Rinse, repeat until they fall over, then run up to them for the kill.
Repeat the process for as many Lycans as you have to deal with and you're good. I never even attempted those segments any other way.
Finished it and gave it back to my friend, anyway so my feelings on this game is that it is a very pretty tech demo with yet another amazing World Concept that is completely wasted, characters that are completely flat because they don't have enough time to develop.
I don't really like scoring things, so I dunno. There were aspects I liked, the design of the world and levels, characters, creatures, weapons, they were all fantastic really but everything is wrapped around another boring setpiece shooter that doesn't even have very good setpieces.
Throughout the entire experience I was more or less completely bored, same with The Last of Us, the difference being is that I can actually almost suggest The Last of Us for the story.
It's not terrible, but I wouldn't really call it enjoyable, I think this game will find its niche with the right people.
I'll be honest. Those Lycan encounters were about the easiest part of the game, IMO. All you do is
back yourself into a corner near where you came into the area, then you can see the fuckers coming and get some shots in before you have to dodge. Rinse, repeat until they fall over, then run up to them for the kill.
Repeat the process for as many Lycans as you have to deal with and you're good. I never even attempted those segments any other way.
