Prince of Persia is out

[Zoma]

I think a game system with in-game 'death' in modern age game does introduce a sense of danger to player, despite its simply a make believe mechanic due to the integration of a every 30 second check-point. Certainly the new Prince of Persia game is simply applying the same game mechanic of giving players less frustration in a different manner, but it does take away andrenaline to those players who succeeds immersing in the game due to the absence of a make-believe danger.

 

So I think that's the reason why despite PoP's retry mechanic is the same but applied differently, it does affects the nature of the game's immersion for the player. In PoP's case, the absence of danger that your character may die.

Edited December 4, 2008 by Zoma

[Kaftan Barlast]

really[/i] tight. I mean, "do not press jump unless you want to jump right now" tight. This has caused me to "die" a lot, as I'm too used to having to mash jump buttons ahead of time and then hold them down forever to get where I'm going. Right now the game is difficult because I'm so used to compensating for crappy controls.

 

To give an example of what I'm talking about, in Little Big Planet there's a level in the Islands where you have to cross various rotating wheels. You have to press R1 to hold on to a wheel, which is instaneous, but when you let go of R1 to get up to jump, it takes you about two seconds for your Sackboy to stand up so that you can jump to the next wheel. PoP is not like that at all. I press X, I jump right then. This is definitely going to take some getting used to.

 

 

Those are the kind of controls I like, instant response. Thats what I think every realtime game should have, but its often problematic to make it work with animations etc.

[Pidesco]

Seeing as the Mirror's Edge thread was turning into a PoP thread, some shuffling was in order.

 

 

 

Why can't find this on Steam? Is this one of those NA only things?

[Slowtrain]

There's a reason why games have gone the way of Bioshock and Too Human or Fable 2. Why bother playing when you can die in them?

 

I think a game that includes combat as a core or even major aspect of gameplay has to account for character death in some manner. Without death, the struggle for life loses its significance, even in a computer game.

 

 

The trick for developers is to make the act of character death significant enough that it is worth working to avoid it, but at the same time when death happens, it is not a tedious and reptitive process.

[Aristes]

I can understand games where the controls are a bit sluggish because of the state of technology at the time. What I hate are games that intentionally make the controls sluggish. Poor controls are probably one of the biggest reasons not to get a game.

[Calax]

I personally have ZERO problem with the way death is dealt with (it actually has a point during the one boss fight I got into with the Courtesan). My personal problem with the game is that it has one of those "collect X number of glowies to get the next power to advance" systems. You collect light seeds to activate these power plates that Elika can use to a variety of effects. I've activated two, A spiderman like jump and flying.... the flying in particular is annoying because Elika just kinda floats along frozen in one position with the prince clinging to her back and directing her around obsticals... it's not free flying its on a rail.

 

Probably the most fun I've had is when you're trying to do a REALLY long series of jumps and wallruns to get to your target. I think my princes feet have had times where they haven't touched the ground for about two minutes strait as you dash along walls, up poles and run along the roof. This prince takes more abilities from the Spiderman playbook than he does from the old Princes playbook. Also He has a donkey named Farah :D!

[Aristes]

Of all the complaints about PS:T, the criticism about the death mechanic seems the most ludicrous. The party members can all die, even if the PC himself is generally impervious to death. The way the design team integrated the death mechanic into the story and puzzles was splendid. The other complaints I generally see regarding PS:T, large ammounts of on-screen text, limited spells, and combat, seem more or less reasonable, even where I disagree.

 

In regards to death in game generally, I'm split. PC death is not a particularly important aspect of a game per se. However, there is certainly a disconnect in seeing one of the PCs/Playable NPCs cut down by a sword or laser fire only to get up in relatively good shape after combat. Of course, as we're conditioned more and more to accept that disconnect, it will cease to be an issue also. For example, we pretty much accept the fact that we'll get shot several times in the leg without pulling up lame in an FPS, right? We accept that someone will shoot us in the head without player death.

 

...And I simply don't understand why lack of so called permanent death break 'immersion' but dying and reloading from 30 seconds prior doesn't make much difference. Doesn't it break immersion when you can simply reload after seeing your PC get the chop?

 

All that said, however, I prefer to be forced to reload for making stupid mistakes. It depends on the game, but lack of PC death bugs me in certain cases, such as DnD. That's one of the things that put me off of NWN. So, it is an issue, and I certainly don't begrudge folks their preferences, but removing death seems reasonable for a platform jumper anyhow.

[Nightshape]

GoW2 is so macho it's homo-erotic! It's okay Co-op, but still ghey.

 

It's a mans game.. for men.. who are manly.. and not afraid to take their shirt off if it gets too hot while riding the Brumak,

 

BS... It's a game for Gaylords.

[I want teh kotor 3]

Addictive, up there with Gears and Fallout. The "not dying" thing is a checkpoint sans the loading screen, get over it. And I need to get used to pressing jump when I want to jump, not when I'm getting there.

[Nick_i_am]

BS... It's a game for Gaylords.

 

I'm a gaylord, what's the problem?

[Maria Caliban]

Quick question for you guys. What's the difference between having the princess save you and loading a checkpoint 30 seconds back?

 

Loading a checkpoint 30 seconds back = hardcore

Having the princess save you = p****y

 

It TOTALLY different and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

The game's still supposedly easy, but the 'no dying' checkpoint shouldn't be the reason behind it. If anything, it saves you 5-10 seconds at the game over screen.

 

5-10 HARDCORE seconds.

 

Why can't find this on Steam? Is this one of those NA only things?

 

 

It's not out on PC yet. That doesn't happen until Dec. 9th.

Edited December 6, 2008 by Maria Caliban

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

How's the combat? From trailers and how they explained it, it looked absolutly amazing. Smooth and easy to string together.

[Calax]

How's the combat? From trailers and how they explained it, it looked absolutly amazing. Smooth and easy to string together.

It is but there is no change in combat from the first fight to the last fight which is kinda boring. The game, I think, Suffers from being a open world game. Instead of a linear game that had a fairly good story and characterization, and an increasing difficulty, you get a game that's got the same difficulty level almost the entire way through, combat after the first few fights where you go WHOA at the combo you put together gets pretty boring, and characters they try to like each other as best they can but when you hit the next area they forget all that because this might have been the first zone you entered. Still the platforming is fun as hell, and I've been missing a good platforming game like this for a while... almost went and purchased two thrones again for the platforming

[deganawida]

I agree with Calax that the game's story and character development suffers some from having a hub design, and would add that the conversations between the Prince and Elika are totally optional also causes the story to suffer, and makes some later plot points more complicated. The game does seem to keep track somewhat of how often you talk to Elika, in that early options were no longer available to me after a certain point, and I do believe that I exhausted all the dialogue options.

 

Man, I have to say, though, that the last fight was something else. I think it's perhaps the most impressive BBEG fight I've seen in a video game, console or computer. Very, very nice, worth the price of admission IMO.

 

My wife enjoyed the game, but she was a bit upset by the ending (she likes to watch me play games). She still liked the ending, and understood why to a certain extent, but there's still one element that caught her by surprise. I understood why they did that one element, and look forward to seeing what happens next.

[Wrath of Dagon]

In Beyond Good and Evil, if you die in a battle you just re-start in the beginning of the battle, without loading, which I thought worked perfectly well for that type of game. This system sounds very similar. Usually Ubisoft errs on the side of making checkpoints too frustrating, or not being able to save checkpoints, or some other screwy mechanism designed to punish you for not being hardcore enough.

[Zoma]

Just started playing the game.

 

I enjoyed the fact that the gameplay is clearly being strongly inspired from Ico with expanded dialogues and platforming actions that involves two characters making physical contact to overcome obstacles.

 

Still having a hard time getting used to the Prince. He seems t obe so out of character in the PoP series with a personality that is a complete cut out of Dante from DMC. I do enjoy watching the exchanges made between the protagonists, though I thought it would be much more fitting if both of them appear younger to reflect some of their silly immature exchanges.

 

Gameplay's criminally easy thus far. Its unpossible to game over!

[Calax]

Just started playing the game.

 

I enjoyed the fact that the gameplay is clearly being strongly inspired from Ico with expanded dialogues and platforming actions that involves two characters making physical contact to overcome obstacles.

 

Still having a hard time getting used to the Prince. He seems t obe so out of character in the PoP series with a personality that is a complete cut out of Dante from DMC. I do enjoy watching the exchanges made between the protagonists, though I thought it would be much more fitting if both of them appear younger to reflect some of their silly immature exchanges.

 

Gameplay's criminally easy thus far. Its unpossible to game over!

There is no difficulty curve in the game. The prince didn't remind me of dante, he reminded me more of the origional prince from sands of time, who hadn't been made a prince. Like we said before the game is hurt by the fact that all the conversations and personality development has to be practically modular because after each boss fight and restoration they have a "moment". but none of the moments reference anything that happened previously, and generally don't progress the characters in any meaningful way except in the very very end.

[Magister Lajciak]

Great news - the retail PC version of Prince of Persia apparently won't have any DRM at all!

 

Source: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8.../6971093507/p/1

 

It seems that Ubisoft is experimenting with what impact this will have on sales. Let's hope for the best!

[Magister Lajciak]

The game looks really rad, and I'm thinking of getting it. But the reviews so far turned me off a bit. Especially the part about the low-player input and the fact that it's too easy. Hmm. How's the story btw? And should I grab the PC or PS3 version? Does the PC version has evil DRM?

 

I am happy to report that the PC version does not have any DRM! The no DRM statement applies to the retail version. The Steam version, of course, has Steam, which is a form of DRM.

[Zoma]

The prince didn't remind me of dante, he reminded me more of the origional prince from sands of time, who hadn't been made a prince.

 

Funny you said that. With all the one liners and thinking how bad ass he is and the way with way he taunts, it simply reminds me of any pre-boss fight moments of Dante. The Sands of Time Prince felt more refined and witty in character, expressing his arrogance without the need to resort to one liners. Each to their own I suppose.

 

Went further in the game and probably reaching close to the end. Been pressing the talk button with Elika and its interesting how the interactions evolve over time. The Princess that initially made detatched remark to the Prince's safety when he falls off into the pit evolved into one that cries with exparation and other more subtle physical interactions involved. Visual design remains consistently beautiful though the Prince's character design still feels out of place for me. The music soundtrack is at exceptional top quality production.

 

Unfortunately combat feels restrictive and over simplified in the game. Its simply a glorified looking Rocks, Papers and Scissors game system. Adding more variety of enemies or a combat with more than a single enemy will provide the needed complexity and strategic layer in combat which is sorely missing in the game.

 

In all, the game has its share of great achievements and disappointments. The former being the artistic visual design, the sounds and great voice acting and a rich background lore, a game concept of Ico exapanded that makes the Prince of Persia game stands out from its series. The latter for the bad design decisions like free roaming that affects the story telling, the laughably easy hand holding difficulty in both platforming and combat .

 

And man. Why call the game The Prince of Persia when there seems to be only a Princess from Persia? Ubisoft's logic mind boggles me.

[Musopticon?]

And man. Why call the game The Prince of Persia when there seems to be only a Princess from Persia? Ubisoft's logic mind boggles me.

I don't see any problem with Ubi's logic.

 

An established brand name appearing with a new installment on popular platforms? That means serious cash. There's already a large fanbase, not to mention a large user base that they can rely on. Why not use the PoP brand? Not to mention, the devs are dealing with their own intelligent property, being the original PoP devs, surely they can develop the series in any direction that they choose.

[deganawida]

It's funny that so many people seem to think the Prince is modeled after Dante. I agree that they drew inspiration from another source for the Prince, but I think it's from another medium. The Prince reminds me of Jubei Kibigami from the anime Ninja Scroll. Heck, the Warrior reminds me of the rock-guy, the Hunter reminds me of the bee-guy, and the Concubine reminds me of Benisato. Even the story was reminiscent to me. My wife noticed it, as well. Granted, I'm a fan of Ninja Scroll, so I wasn't that bothered by it.

 

Re: combat. Yes, it definitely could have used more enemies. Keep the arena style in camera angle, but add some more enemies. It did tend to get boring, and there wasn't always enough of it IMO.

 

What order did those of you who beat the game take vis a vis bosses? I did the Warrior first, followed by the Alchemist, the Concubine, and the Hunter.

[Calax]

Given how little we know about the "prince" I wouldn't be surprised if he did turn out to be a real prince who just ran from the responsibility of being a ruler, taking a good portion of the treasury with him.

[Maria Caliban]

Thoughts so far:

The hardware analyzer built into the game says that the game should run perfectly. It runs perfectly at 8 FPS on lowest settings.

 

Unskippable cut scenes. Several of them.

 

The

[Calax]

It's better on a console, I'm able to save wherever I want and it always comes back to that spot, and instead of tap e it's tap triangle, and in general the controls are extremely well designed.