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The Order: 1886 |OT| Gears of Yore

Yuterald

Member
Just got to Chapter 4. Game's okay. I really just like the presentation and the setting/visuals, to be honest. It really is a vanilla cover shooter. The weapons are cool and the feedback is nice, but the enemies feel so dumb and uninteresting, so far at least (Also, Christ at that wave after wave of enemies scenario at the end of Chapter 3). It's funny, as soon as I was introduced to the Frenchman buddy in your crew, I couldn't stop thinking about Cain from Binary Domain. In fact, I decided to boot it up last night on PC since I've yet to play through that version and I was quickly reminded why I loved that game so much. There were so many cool ideas in that game for a 3rd person, cover-based campaign shooter (AI commands and reactive behavior/relationships, enemy part/armor damage, head shots causing robots to turn on themselves, etc.) and this game has like NONE of that . It just feels so regressive in a sense and it's a shame because there's a lot that RAD seems to have gotten right and there are a lot of aspects/areas where they clearly excel. Game definitely feels like a gigantic missed opportunity.
 

theWB27

Member
Just finished it. I really don't have any glaring flaws other than not being able to use the better weapons more. I loved the stealth, loved the lycan fights, visuals and story was enough.

I sincerely hope RAD picks up with this exact story. Gallahad is one helluva character really.
 
Just finished the game, overall I feel this was a very good first entry in what looks like a very promising franchise for RAD and Sony. There's room for a lot of improvement, but it was a blast to play and the story kept me hooked throughout the whole game.

My score: 8/10
 

Cth

Member
You have no idea what you are talking about.

I got news for you, mocap is a very manual process. First of all there is no point in animating humans. This is not a stylized game. If they were to manually animate the body mechanics in all the cutscenes this game would have come out two decades from now and cost quadruple more. Mocap is not "costly" compared to traditional animation and has it's place. Second you never just record the actor and drop it straight into the game and call it a day. Mocap always looks wrong when dropped on a cg model and requires an animator to go in and finesse. I have worked with cutting edge mocap tech on movies like Rise of the Apes , Avatar etc and trust me even that is not a plug and play solution, you don't see it in the making of videos because those are always made to promote "look guys actors did all the work" but it is a shitton of work by artists to make it look good.

Not to mention the faces are almost always heavily hand animated. (fun fact: all facial animation in Uncharted 2 cutscenes were hand animated at Technicolor. They never got mentioned or got props. I know because I have a coworker who worked on that)

I understand it is a manual process. Keeping IK skeletons from breaking model skins, etc, etc. I still think it's a short cut to animation. I didn't say it was a plug and play solution, but a large part of positioning models, manually creating natural motion, etc are accomplished with mo-cap. Again, most people look at it and go "WOW!" whereas having had to manually position a model and animating it without mo-cap has given me a greater appreciation for those who have to do it "the hard way". Again, it throws me out completely as my mind immediately envisions the background becoming a green/blue screen for a second. Totally immersion breaking for me, but again, it comes from knowing how the sausage is made so to speak.

I'm not downplaying it, just stating a preference and appreciation for those who have to do it (IMO) the hard way. And yes, it's becoming more cost effective than it used to be.
 

bombshell

Member
My current guess is
King Arthur
and that he'll feature more fully in the follow up (assuming there is one and I think there will be).

Thank you for your theory, even though you messed up the quote :p

I was just confused if I had missed something, but I guess we aren't supposed to know he is yet. He sounded important that's for sure.
 

Elitist1945

Member
Yeah I hated the 'auto fail' stealth sections. Give me a chance to melee them or shoot them before I get insta-shotinthefacegameover.
 

Zaki2407

Member
Just finished it. I really don't have any glaring flaws other than not being able to use the better weapons more. I loved the stealth, loved the lycan fights, visuals and story was enough.

I sincerely hope RAD picks up with this exact story. Gallahad is one helluva character really.

Yup. Just finish this game just now. I really hope that the sales are good enough for a sequel. The story can expand more widely because many things still yet to be explain.

RAD can learn many things from the user's comments. good and bad. Hope the best for them.
 

doomquake

Member
well just finished it.. it had pretty odd pacing at some parts. overall its great. I think the plot is nice, the universe is strong. It would be very very bad if there is no sequel or spinoffs.
But the ending was...almost exactly like Spacemarine..which is funnily, how the rest of the game felt. Plus some sneaking.
 
The story ending was terrible, just stopped with nothing resolved at all. Feels like an episode 1 of something, found that really irritating.
 

EGM1966

Member
What would give you that impression at all, and why would said person
be working against the Order, when the lot of them are blinded by power and centuries of obedience to the cause?

Couple of things:

It is intimated a number of times that at least one Knight from the original group remains alive (current leader of The Order). This means that it is quite plausible
King Arthur could still be around too
It is clear Percival feels The Order is losing its way and is weakening. He also has interaction with this mysterious figure. Wouldn't
King Arthur if still around be interested in restoring the Knights and The Order and wouldn't he work with Knights like Percival he trusted?
It's never made clear origin of The Grail and The Order and how it relates to the original myths. To me this implies more to be revealed and the Knights themselves are likely merely the creation of
King Arthur
so it would make sense to bring him in at some point
Going by original legends
King Arthur is taken to Avalon after falling in battle
and to me this leaves open nice place to hang an alternative Universe explanation for what happened to him and where he's been and have him return.
C'mon you can't have The Grail, The Round Table and The Knights of The Round Table and not introduce
King Arthur himself

Also it would clearly be cool and as a legend it's always had a huge draw so he'd make a likely popular character to bring in.

Last but not least generally in fiction when you have mysterious characters there's no point keeping them mysterious unless their identity is of note and relates to the known characters. Outside of a few other options
King Arthur
is an obvious choice. After all if he's just Bob from Acton who's up to something there's no actual need to be so mysterious.

I'm also suspicious as to the sword used in the knighting ceremony. Gotta be Excalibur right? Or is that still with you know who or does it exist at all in this Universe? Clearly the Grail has mythic properties and we have mythic creatures so what else from the legend may they use? Excalibur? The Lady of the Lake? There's a huge history of myth that goes with the characters RaD have chosen and the game really only scratches at surface of them. What about Mordred and Morgana? Will they come into it?

I'll be disappointed if they don't flesh out the Knights and their lineage further. Hopefully they didn't just think "hey we can use the Knights after all Indiana Jones had one" and don't intended to flesh out the mythos more fully over subsequent games.
 
I hope RAD gets a chance at making a sequel. The firs title missed on certain aspects but they seriously have all the right elements to making this a great series.
 
Couple of things:

It is intimated a number of times that at least one Knight from the original group remains alive (current leader of The Order). This means that it is quite plausible
King Arthur could still be around too
It is clear Percival feels The Order is losing its way and is weakening. He also has interaction with this mysterious figure. Wouldn't
King Arthur if still around be interested in restoring the Knights and The Order and wouldn't he work with Knights like Percival he trusted?
It's never made clear origin of The Grail and The Order and how it relates to the original myths. To me this implies more to be revealed and the Knights themselves are likely merely the creation of
King Arthur
so it would make sense to bring him in at some point
Going by original legends
King Arthur is taken to Avalon after falling in battle
and to me this leaves open nice place to hang an alternative Universe explanation for what happened to him and where he's been and have him return.
C'mon you can't have The Grail, The Round Table and The Knights of The Round Table and not introduce
King Arthur himself

Also it would clearly be cool and as a legend it's always had a huge draw so he'd make a likely popular character to bring in.

Last but not least generally in fiction when you have mysterious characters there's no point keeping them mysterious unless their identity is of note and relates to the known characters. Outside of a few other options
King Arthur
is an obvious choice. After all if he's just Bob from Acton who's up to something there's no actual need to be so mysterious.

I'm also suspicious as to the sword used in the knighting ceremony. Gotta be Excalibur right? Or is that still with you know who or does it exist at all in this Universe? Clearly the Grail has mythic properties and we have mythic creatures so what else from the legend may they use? Excalibur? The Lady of the Lake? There's a huge history of myth that goes with the characters RaD have chosen and the game really only scratches at surface of them. What about Mordred and Morgana? Will they come into it?

I'll be disappointed if they don't flesh out the Knights and their lineage further. Hopefully they didn't just think "hey we can use the Knights after all Indiana Jones had one" and don't intended to flesh out the mythos more fully over subsequent games.

Thank you for posting this, I missed a few of these things which would have pointed it out to me. I remember a line delivered by Lord Chancellor and it had me thinking the character was gone. I like the theory...We need a spoiler thread.
 

EGM1966

Member
Thank you for your theory, even though you messed up the quote :p

I was just confused if I had missed something, but I guess we aren't supposed to know he is yet. He sounded important that's for sure.

Damn you mobile GAF! Fixed the quote. Yeah they were clearly building up the identify as of note and unless it's just somebody unknown who comes into the plot later (by that I mean a made up character with no connection to The Order) then you know who is the obvious candidate who'd be working his own angle from outside for whatever reason via trusted people with the current Order.
 

Grisby

Member
Galahad was indeed awesome.

(Spoiler for the last half of the game or so)
Shame that his squad dropped out of the picture for so long. I think they should have stuck together more.
 

SDCowboy

Member
So did anyone else get a real Batman vibe from the mid-credit cut-scene? If there's a sequel, I hope they go full on Victorian Batman with Tesla as his Alfred.
 

EGM1966

Member
I also was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked Galahad. I could easily be bros with him :p

I thought all the characters were surprisingly good even if they didn't always act sensibly within character. All four of the core "team" I though were strong and I look forward to more of them. They did let Igraine drop out for too long towards the end though particularly given the resolution they lead up to.

I thought Lucan was good as was the leader of The Order. I guess given the complaints about plot vs gameplay but I felt their relationship and story could have done with more coverage given the ending. Lord Hastings was also well handled although again the narrative could have used more of him.

I hope we see the story continue as there are certainly a bunch of interesting character beats well established to play out now.
 
Finished the game a couple of hours ago. I think it`s great. Really enjoyed it beside some minor flaws and that narrow leveldesign. Hoping for some DLC (that "extras" menu must be filled!) and a sequel...or two. :)
 

Catdaddy

Member
Played through Chapter 10 so far, and I really enjoying the game. It's a ballsy and good move of RADs part to make something somewhat different that the standard TPS. Although memories of LA Noire creeped in with the walking and talking and then thrown into some action, even though completely different game style.

That said, my real "issue" (and it's just an observation) is the pacing of the game. There are long stretches of minimal fighting/encounters then thrown into a wave after wave of baddies. Several have mentioned the Chap 3 ending , took me several tries to get through that, because I would actually let my guard down thinking okay its done only to have enemies spawn. I would have rather seen more fights scattered through the cutscenes.

The QTEs at times were annoying, especially the ones that you had to move the cursor around and then press the button, that got me several times, once I was looking up and the "dot" to activate the QTE was at the bottom of the screen so took me alot of tries (well deaths of a sidekick) to figure that one out.
 

jonno394

Member
I wonder
if Isi will become a antagonist in the sequel. Her envy and blind royalty drive her insane lol :p

Throw in the fact that
Galahad will be painted as a murderer for the death of Alistair, as the fact he is a Lycan traitor will not be made known to anyone in The Order, and you have a sibling with a vendetta out for blood
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Just got to the airship (halfway maybe?), REALLY enjoying it so far. love the setting, characters and the shooting mechanics feel great. I can see why it would put people off, as I really wish it stopped taking control away from me, but it's review scores seem very harsh. Being utterly stunning to look at doesn't hurt either.

I just played through Warlords of Draenor, AC: Unity, Shadow of Mordor, Dragon Age and Far Cry 4 so a linear shooter is just what I need right now.
 

Elitist1945

Member
KHBryec.jpg


Got the dynamic theme. Very cool. The Knight's Theme plays in the background too!
 
On chapter 11. I definitely have some issues with it but I'll be damned if I am not entertained. Is that not why I am here? Will write up my final thoughts when I finish it later today.
 

bombshell

Member
Just got to the airship (halfway maybe?), REALLY enjoying it so far. love the setting, characters and the shooting mechanics feel great. I can see why it would put people off, as I really wish it stopped taking control away from me, but it's review scores seem very harsh. Being utterly stunning to look at doesn't hurt either.

I just played through Warlords of Draenor, AC: Unity, Shadow of Mordor, Dragon Age and Far Cry 4 so a linear shooter is just what I need right now.

Nah, arriving at the airship is probably 1/3 through the game, the halfway point is later than that.

For my playing style the length complaints seem very exaggerated, but I understand some people just like to blast through a game. For me on hard I will estimate it took 14-15 hours.
 
Blind firing either of the shotguns around a corner as an enemy approaches... So satisfying. Ive also made a habbit with the pistols of lining up my shots with the aim function, then reverting back to cover, and then blind firing when the enemies pop out. If you haven't moved, the blind shot is aimed at the location you aimed at prior to reverting back to cover. Its been a fun way to add flare to the gameplay.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Nah, arriving at the airship is probably 1/3 through the game, the halfway point is later than that.

For my playing style the length complaints seem very exaggerated, but I understand some people just like to blast through a game. For me on hard I will estimate it took 14-15 hours.

That's good to hear. I haven't really read much of this thread, in general is it considered to get better or worse as it goes on?
 

TP-DK

Member
Just finished it now, and I liked it. Definitely has its flaws, especially the Lycan fights but overall its entertaining.

Didnt get any of the collectible trophies. I guesd theres no doubt now that I suck at finding collectibles in games.
 
Throw in the fact that
Galahad will be painted as a murderer for the death of Alistair, as the fact he is a Lycan traitor will not be made known to anyone in The Order, and you have a sibling with a vendetta out for blood
And that too.
Issi will surely chop Galahad to pieces once she hears her brother was murdered by Galahad. And also, how comes Galahad let Lord Chancellor loose after he witnessed Galahad killing his son. Was Galahad not afraid that Lord Chancellor would spread more bullshit about him in the Order and thus make Galahad a bigger target of the Knights?
 

Catdaddy

Member
Nah, arriving at the airship is probably 1/3 through the game, the halfway point is later than that.

For my playing style the length complaints seem very exaggerated, but I understand some people just like to blast through a game. For me on hard I will estimate it took 14-15 hours.

I echo this, I really pace myself on all games I play, when I see it takes people X number of hours to complete, I multiply by 2 or 3, maybe cause I'm old or just take a lot of breaks and seems longer, but I like to experience a game not blow through it so I can say "thats all?"
 
So I beat the game and slept on it. It was an enjoyable ride with some very apparent flaws. I can't wait for a sequel. Impressions follow:

I went into the game thinking it was going to be a standard TPS with cinematic elements. By the time I got to Chapter 3 and definitely by Chapter 4, I realized the game was trying to be a mix of different genres. It really pops out to me as a Tell Tale game (or Quantic Dream game) mixed with a TPS. If anyone is still on the fence about the game and is expecting a standard TPS, I'd heavily advise against buying the game.

I enjoyed the slow methodical pacing of the game quite a bit. I think it peaked near the beginning chapters however because every gunfight sort of had this build up to it. Near the later stages of the game, I felt the game was putting in gunfights in certain sections just for the sake of having gunfights. The gunplay was excellent, so I didn't mind it nearly as much. But for a cinematic game, I think having more meaningful encounters with build up is better then having numerous ones for the sake of quantity. The encounters themselves were pretty standard fare but as I mentioned, the gunplay was top notch and that really carried them.

The reason I would call this a mix of a Tell Tale (or whatever similar descriptor you use) and a TPS game is because it was clearly is trying to go for multiple different gameplay elements to match the story it was telling. Off the top of my head, we had the standard shooting segments, the stealth, the lycan encounters (where you press X to dodge) and the more QTE heavy lycan encounters. Some of these are better executed then others. I've already talked about gunplay but to elaborate, the guns felt really nice to use and were pretty distinct from one another. What I didn't like were the icons for the guns, because it hard to clearly tell them apart at first, so sometimes I didn't really know what I was getting. The QTE heavy lycan encounters (example:
Elder Lycan
) were enjoyable. I wish there were more of them. I think these encounters and some of the QTEs near the beginning of the game were the highlight of interactive encounters. They were pretty brutal and you had just enough control to elevate it above a simplistic QTE encounter. I was always left feeling satisfied after the two encounters.

The stealth sections were adequate. They were nothing special but the sections weren't bad either. The insta-fail nature of them didn't bother me in the context of the story, especially given how easy the sections were. The kills were satisfying to watch, the stealth worked. Adequate would be my best descriptor. I enjoyed them within the context of the story and to break up the other gameplay segments.

The lycan encounters were bad. Just awful. Not only were they extremely easy but they had no sense of sanctification for defeating them. The areas you encounter them in are all pretty similar and forgettable, the animations were sometimes wonky and the encounters just felt really lackluster. I would have much preferred all the lycan encounters be similar to the QTE heavy lycan encounters I talked about above because at the very least, there would be some sort of story build up to them and then satisfaction in beating them.

Given the reviews, I wouldn't be surprised that if there's a sequel that RAD goes the way of standard TPS stuff with a ton more shooting segments. Personally, I hope that's not the case. I actually think the number of shooting segments was fine but what the game really needed were a couple of smaller things in the interim to just completely elevate it for me.

One of these would be something like a "Press Triangle to Examine" the things around Galahad. I quite enjoyed when he would comment on photos or objects around the world but that only occurred a few times. I want to be able to examine everything in the world and just have Galahad give his comments on them. Along these lines, interactions with NPCs would have been great. It was nice to be able to eavesdrop in on conversations occuring throughout some of the levels but the level of interactivity could have been improved. The ability to examine things and talk to NPCs would have pushed it more towards the Tell Tale side of things but I feel it would fit right in with the pacing of the game.

I ultimately think what held this game back was the fact that it was trapped by the constraints of the TPS genre which they premised the game on instead of fully experimenting with various genres and sub-genres. In a game like this, the shooting segments should be just one part of the game. Like the stealth and lycan encounters, they should occur only when the story calls for it.

I didn't talk about everything here as that would take far too long. The game does quite a few things well but is riddled with numerous flaws. Despite that, if I had to put a number on it, it would be a solid 7 to 8 out of 10. I'm not sure which one to be honest as assigning numbers is hard. It was an entertaining and enjoyable ride and I really just wanted more of it to be very honest. I clocked in at around 11 hours. I hope if they ever do a sequel, that they aim for at least 15.
 

SDCowboy

Member
For the life of me I can't figure out what weapon I'm missing for "The Marksman" trophy. How could I have missed a gun to use?
 

Deku Tree

Member
I don't know if a lot of people have asked this question:

But roughly what percentage of this game is cut scene movie QTE? And what percentage is actual gameplay?

Is the gameplay good? Is the story good?

Thanks!
 

jonno394

Member
And that too.
Issi will surely chop Galahad to pieces once she hears her brother was murdered by Galahad. And also, how comes Galahad let Lord Chancellor loose after he witnessed Galahad killing his son. Was Galahad not afraid that Lord Chancellor would spread more bullshit about him in the Order and thus make Galahad a bigger target of the Knights?

well
The Lord Chancellor, outside of knowingly allowing a Lycan to operate within The Order, hasn't actually done anything wrong. I wager Galahad knows this and isn't going to murder the head of The Order for no reason.

Also, the LC could easily have just executed Galahad there and then and swept everything under the rug, but (imo) he himself knows that there were some truth to rumblings Galahad had reported on, and knows his son was involved. He allowed Galahad to kill him as it was punishment he deserved, but there was no way Galahad could have his name cleared,

If the LC had cleared Galahad of wrong doings and admitted he had adopted a Lycan and that this Lycan had rose up to the Knight Commander, then The Order itself could come tumbling down. That one of the co-founders of The Order was harboring a Lycan and lying about it could be a death knell for them all. People will start asking "arethere more, who else is involved, are The Order really the brave knights they paint themselves to be...etc) so for ther good of The Empire and The Order, the LC has decided to have Galahad be seen as the villain of this piece. He will be accused of murdering the Knight Commander and be a sworn enemy of The Order, but clearly the matters involving Lycans and vampires will become known to more than just Galahad, the rebel;s and the conspirators, so in the long run I could see him being welcomed back again, once the matters at hand are sorted.

edit - sorry if anyone read that due to bad BBcode, really sorry if you did.
 
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