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Untold Legends reviewed by IGN
- Thread starter D-Back
- Start date
Drinky Crow
Banned
What a horribly written, rambling review.
IGN's never been great for writing, David Smith's tenure aside, but the recent spate of PS2, PC, and PSP reviews have been miserably penned.
IGN's never been great for writing, David Smith's tenure aside, but the recent spate of PS2, PC, and PSP reviews have been miserably penned.
It's a good Champions clone. Deserves an 8 at least IMO.
I wrote some brief impressions in the other thread: http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=40575
If you like the Champions of Norrath/Baldur's gate Dark Alliance games, you will enjoy this title.
I wrote some brief impressions in the other thread: http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t=40575
If you like the Champions of Norrath/Baldur's gate Dark Alliance games, you will enjoy this title.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
I can't remember if I ever really enjoyed in any of these hack & slash games, including Diablo, but they are good, mindless waste of time when you have nothing better to do. In that sense I always thought they would actually work well on a handheld. I'm not buying this yet, but if I might consider it later on.
Marconelly said:
I love the Champions/Baldur's Gate DA games, but oddly enough never got into Diablo II. It does make for some good, mindless hack and slash portable action, that's for sure. Can't wait to try this multiplayer...it will be nice having my own screen for once.
Okay, here's why the game scored a 7.6:
"4.0 Presentation
Terrible opening story sequences and awkward dialog interjections early on hurt the fantasy illusion. Stick with the story, and it grows in stature.
8.0 Graphics
Lush landscapes and memorable creatures across a wildly varied world that will take you through dank dungeons, haunted forests, ancient factories, and even billowing hell-yards.
3.0 Sound
The tinkling Casio synthesizer music has to go, right away, before it loops you into unconsciousness. The slashes and crashes are strong, but not particularly varied.
8.0 Gameplay
Tight gameplay in the vein of Champions of Norrath and Dark Alliance. A loose balance of charcter classes and item dispersion may turn off veterans, but new explorers will like the lighter challenge.
8.0 Lasting Appeal
Great wireless gameplay and a massive set of worlds to explore. There just isn't a lot to find if you set out, although the action remains compelling.
7.6 OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)"
I definitely agree with the sound scoring; the music is pretty bad, especially since all the other PSP titles have, tastes aside, CD quality music. You can turn down or turn the music completely off, however.
I also agree that the presentation is pretty bland, but I wouldn't dock so much off the final score because of it. Once you're playing the game, it doesn't matter; you see a badly drawn portrait when you talk to a NPC. Not a big deal.
"4.0 Presentation
Terrible opening story sequences and awkward dialog interjections early on hurt the fantasy illusion. Stick with the story, and it grows in stature.
8.0 Graphics
Lush landscapes and memorable creatures across a wildly varied world that will take you through dank dungeons, haunted forests, ancient factories, and even billowing hell-yards.
3.0 Sound
The tinkling Casio synthesizer music has to go, right away, before it loops you into unconsciousness. The slashes and crashes are strong, but not particularly varied.
8.0 Gameplay
Tight gameplay in the vein of Champions of Norrath and Dark Alliance. A loose balance of charcter classes and item dispersion may turn off veterans, but new explorers will like the lighter challenge.
8.0 Lasting Appeal
Great wireless gameplay and a massive set of worlds to explore. There just isn't a lot to find if you set out, although the action remains compelling.
7.6 OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)"
I definitely agree with the sound scoring; the music is pretty bad, especially since all the other PSP titles have, tastes aside, CD quality music. You can turn down or turn the music completely off, however.
I also agree that the presentation is pretty bland, but I wouldn't dock so much off the final score because of it. Once you're playing the game, it doesn't matter; you see a badly drawn portrait when you talk to a NPC. Not a big deal.
well, gamesdomain agrees, 7/10.
http://gamesdomain.yahoo.com/psp/untold_legends_brotherhood_of_the_blade/review/68061
http://gamesdomain.yahoo.com/psp/untold_legends_brotherhood_of_the_blade/review/68061
6.9'ed by Gamespot...
Man, I really love the Champions of Norrath games... but now I am torn on if I should keep this game, or go and get Metal Gear Acid... I already have Lumines, Ridge Racer and Wipeout
I was so psyched for this game.... Damn...
Lyte- Are you having fun with the game, and do you regret buying it if you did?
Man, I really love the Champions of Norrath games... but now I am torn on if I should keep this game, or go and get Metal Gear Acid... I already have Lumines, Ridge Racer and Wipeout
I was so psyched for this game.... Damn...
Lyte- Are you having fun with the game, and do you regret buying it if you did?
Roland Hood
Member
:lol
:lol
:lol
:lol
And that's just the first paragraph.
:lol
Kingpen said:
Again, if you like Champions, you will like Untold Legends.
My recommendation would be to return Wipeout (since RR is the better racer IMO) and get both MGA and Untold Legends instead so you have more variety in which games you have.I love Champions, and was also psyched for Untold Legends, and it is not disappointing at all to me. It's actually more impressive than I originally though, since I didn't expect the game to have unique animations for each character (not even Champions does that) and the same amount of customization/level system that Champions has.
Untold Legends is "just another dungeon crawler," however, so I can see why it's getting scores of around 7 from review sites. If you're tired of all these games, then this isn't going to be for you.
But I love playing these types of games, and Untold Legends is great. One of my friends is a Champions/Badlur's gate DA fanatic; he already played through Return To Arms with another friend of his three times already, and he agrees with me that Untold Legends is a lot of fun. He also agrees that the music is pretty much the only low point of this title and feels it deserves an 8/10 as well.
TekunoRobby
Tag of Excellence
Holy shit, I thought you guys were being whiny but that was a godawful review.
Nice impressions Lyte Edge, too bad that loading time is atrocious.
Nice impressions Lyte Edge, too bad that loading time is atrocious.
krypt0nian
Banned
Lyte Edge said:Again, if you like Champions, you will like Untold Legends.
I love Champions, and was also psyched for Untold Legends, and it is not disappointing at all to me. It's actually more impressive than I originally though, since I didn't expect the game to have unique animations for each character (not even Champions does that) and the same amount of customization/level system that Champions has.
Untold Legends is "just another dungeon crawler," however, so I can see why it's getting scores of around 7 from review sites. If you're tired of all these games, then this isn't going to be for you.
But I love playing these types of games, and Untold Legends is great. One of my friends is a Champions/Badlur's gate DA fanatic; he already played through Return To Arms with another friend of his three times already, and he agrees with me that Untold Legends is a lot of fun. He also agrees that the music is pretty much the only low point of this title and feels it deserves an 8/10 as well.
Lyte - everything you've said about it makes me still want it. I'm a huge mark for the Hack'n Slash /Snowblind type stuff so I'll be happy.
TekunoRobby said:Holy shit, I thought you guys were being whiny but that was a godawful review.
Nice impressions Lyte Edge, too bad that loading time is atrocious.
I would have liked to have seen shorter load times when you start the game up, but 15 seconds between areas is fine with me. This is new hardware and the first portable gaming system to make use of disc-based media, so I'm being more forgiving about it. I'll take load times if it means higher quality/larger games, and so far that's what I'm seeing with the PSP library.
krypt0nian said:
Definitely, There's no way you won't enjoy this title if you can't get enough of the Snowblind-style hack and slash games.
One good thing from the IGN review is confirmation that in multiplayer, you don't have to stay with your friends. You can go all over the levels and not have to wait for anyone to catch up or have to stay on the same screen with them.
In any case, when the lowest scores PSP games are getting is in the 7 range (which is still above average), you know this is one of the best launches yet.
TekunoRobby
Tag of Excellence
Well thankfully loading times have never been a barometer of quality so we won't have to worry. That would be a humorous situation though. Speaking of which, I'm postive that the loading times are the results of the randomly generated levels.Lyte Edge said:
Both GameSpot and IGN mention that the loading times sometimes go upwards to 30 seconds. How often does that occur and how often does it hover around the 15 second mark? 15 seconds isn't bad when compared to 30!
TekunoRobby said:
I've only seen load times of 30 seconds when the game initially loads up. There's 30 seconds to get to the title screen, and another 30 seconds when you load up your save file. After that, it's been 15 seconds going between areas.
Dynasty Warriors takes about that long to boot up and another 25 seconds to load up the stages, but there's ZERO loading once the game gets going. I hope IGN and Gamespot didn't dock the score in their reviews of either game because of long initial load times.
TekunoRobby
Tag of Excellence
Thanks for the quick response, sounds a lot better than what the reviews mentioned.Lyte Edge said:
One last quick question, is that ~15 second mark the same for everything or is it substantially shorter if you perish or reload the same level? Thanks in advance.
Catchpenny
Member
Wait, this isn't online? Meh, between that and these tepid reviews, I'm disappointed. Though I suppose leaving it up to a third-party mod is better than tacking on an online mode haphazardly ala Champions of Norrath.
Looks pretty cool from the video review. Basically Champions of Norrath with shitty music.
Even shares one of the same complaints that good weapons constantly drop making vendors and the gem upgrade system worthless. Wish they would have changed that as the game is far too easy with godly weapons dropping every 5 minutes.
I think I'll hold on to my copy and try it out tomorrow.
Even shares one of the same complaints that good weapons constantly drop making vendors and the gem upgrade system worthless. Wish they would have changed that as the game is far too easy with godly weapons dropping every 5 minutes.
I think I'll hold on to my copy and try it out tomorrow.
Untold Legends is great. There is no voice acting with text and portrait artwork of the character you are talking to for NPCs. Graphics are great and first level stage music gets creepy when you hear it over and over again. You can pretty much save anywhere you want(except when battling a boss). So far I'm a lvl 8 Knight looking for some Gorgein Reaver in Shadowpine after defeating the Goregein defiler. Also, your life bar heals itself slowly like in Halo and Killzone so you don't always have to use potions unless being surrounded by enemies.
adrockthekid
Member
The 30-sec loads reported in reviews could be from if they were playing pre-gold builds. I know that many of the PSP games have been optimized drastically in the last stages of development.
I just wish that SOE hadn't stuck with the Champions model of designing the classes. Mother of God, 75% of the skills you get in UL as well as both CoN (though RtA was better) games are totally worthless.
Maybe I'm just spoiled by BG: DA 1 & 2 and Diablo II, tho.
I just wish that SOE hadn't stuck with the Champions model of designing the classes. Mother of God, 75% of the skills you get in UL as well as both CoN (though RtA was better) games are totally worthless.
Maybe I'm just spoiled by BG: DA 1 & 2 and Diablo II, tho.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Posted some thoughts in the official thread, thought I might add some here. I'd rate this game in the 8.0+ so far and I'm early on. The music and repetitive sounds are not that great, and the load times in the beginning are long, but not bad at all between levels.
Graphics when zoomed out are rather blah, but when you zoom in, things look great, with much better details. So far, the story is off to a rather generic, lame start, but I think it'll get better as we go along. Combat is nothing special, but still I find myself have all kinds of fun. Textures look nice and lighting isn't bad either. Building your character is simple and straight forward. It looks like there will be plenty to explore and nice variety, at least so far, and I for one, don't mind the NPC portraits that pop up. The dialog is nothing special, but then again, most RPG's are like that. While this game doesn't break any real new ground, it still seems like plenty of fun. Can't wait to dive back into it, and hope to get some multiplayer going. Seems taylor made for that.
Graphics when zoomed out are rather blah, but when you zoom in, things look great, with much better details. So far, the story is off to a rather generic, lame start, but I think it'll get better as we go along. Combat is nothing special, but still I find myself have all kinds of fun. Textures look nice and lighting isn't bad either. Building your character is simple and straight forward. It looks like there will be plenty to explore and nice variety, at least so far, and I for one, don't mind the NPC portraits that pop up. The dialog is nothing special, but then again, most RPG's are like that. While this game doesn't break any real new ground, it still seems like plenty of fun. Can't wait to dive back into it, and hope to get some multiplayer going. Seems taylor made for that.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Forgot to mention that the on screen map for this is very nice. Out of the way until you need it, but there when you want it.
Spent a little more time with this one, and I'm liking it more and more. Don't really even notice the sound any more.
Spent a little more time with this one, and I'm liking it more and more. Don't really even notice the sound any more.
SiegfriedFM
Member
How is the character customization? Can you change anything about your character's appearance or is it just Dark Alliance style "dwarf, elf or human"?
Rummy Bunnz
Member
It's pretty lame. You can choose from 3 or 4 haircuts, hairstyles, and skin tones. Strange choices with the hair colors, too - I made an alchemist and the only color choices were like blonde, brown, and blue.SiegfriedFM said:
It's kinda sad how PSO is 4+ years old and it's still king of the hill when it comes to hack'n'slash character customization.
I bought this tonight. So far, it seems pretty blah.
I did have a question though. Has anyone else noticed an obscene amount of blurring? Like, whenever you move, the tops of furniture or whatever will blur. The only thing that doesn't seem to blur are the characters and enemies. I was somewhat worried there was something wrong with my PSP but everything else seems fine.
I did have a question though. Has anyone else noticed an obscene amount of blurring? Like, whenever you move, the tops of furniture or whatever will blur. The only thing that doesn't seem to blur are the characters and enemies. I was somewhat worried there was something wrong with my PSP but everything else seems fine.
