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Starbreeze's Syndicate - New Info And Screenshots Leaked

bangai-o

Banned
i think the most simple explanation is that the people who are bitching are very old. Old people complain about many things.
 
Hey I'm old...but I won't bitch just yet.

Syndicate...well it was a very enjoyable experience. Great atmosphere? check. Interesting weapons like the mind control and vehicles? check. Ability to destroy buildings? (somewhat check), being able to do dick things like kill somebody's wife with a missile? check check.

But apart from, in terms of raw mechanics it wasn't a particularly good game. It was frustrating and largely repetitive. Often missions would boil down to luck and if the opponents got some cheap missile shots in or not.

What I'm getting at is all the elements that made the original great could easily translate into a different genre, without losing what made the original fun to play.

Now I'm pretty confident that they won't, but give me a fps with all the above and I'll at least give it a chance.
 

Vandiger

Member
People need to understand this is not the same Starbreeze from 2009 but hey keep that hype alive it might turn out well. Meanwhile, I'll look to Machinegames with Id5 tech :p
 

Draft

Member
bangai-o said:
which one was their one hit? Darka Athena, The Darkness, Bucther Bay, and Enclave are all pretty good games.
Riddick is God tier, everything else they've ever made has ranged from OK to soft of shitty.

Getting excited over a new Starbreeze game is silly because they're not a great developer. Getting excited over a new Syndicate game is less silly, except when it's Syndicate In Name Only, and therefore could be literally any other FPS campaign with "visceral" action, co-op, cyber whatsits, blood, gripping story line penned by some author slumming it, etc., etc.
 

Mlatador

Banned
God, this thread makes me really angry.

Look, there is always this very small chance that they pull a metroid prime, which I definitely think is one of the few exceptions when it come to genre-shitches that went well.

Metroid prime wasn't also ur typical EGO-SHOOTER, it was more of a 1st person action adventure with shooting elements.

Anyway, thing is, the discripion they have shown for SC just reads like another generic futuristic ego-shooter.

A GTA setting were you control 4 agents a once would have a higher chance of being apropriate for a genre switch.


Anyway, I want A and they are about to serving me B.


What if the next Call of Duty game or Battlefield was a reeeally good STRATEGY GAME instead of an EGO - SHOOTER.

It's failthfull to some degree to the setting, but is just a RTS. How would people react????


Would they say: "I don't understand those haters, the game is great, it's just not an FPS anymore.


I wish this PC Ego-Shooter trend would have stayed on PCs only and that Goldeneye and Halo were never made.
 
Mlatador said:
Anyway, I want A and they are about to serving me B.

I want all the companies I used to love, to make the games and genres I used to love.

But you know what? They can't...because they are out of business.
 

ironcreed

Banned
I certainly am not going to write it off this early. Especially since it looks and sounds like it has the potential to be great. I love Starbreeze, so it is definitely on my radar.
 

markot

Banned
Mlatador said:
Look, there is always this very small chance that they pull a metroid prime, which I definitely think is one of the few exceptions when it come to genre-shitches that went well.
Metroid wasnt a genre switch. It was putting the same genre, the same gameplay, and putting it into 3d. Just like Mario retained its roots, its core gameplay, and put it into 3d.

Instead, what happens here, and with xcom, is that the genre completely changes, it doesnt build on the foundation of the originals, it completely ignores them.

Its like Nintendo turning Advance Wars into an fps game >_<

Its the banality of the industry, this obsession with guns and FPS. Game from past with guns?! REMAKE AS FPS!
 

bhlaab

Member
Guysss, don't be so bent out of shape. Punch In the Balls 64 might be the best game of all time if you give it a chaaaance. Maybe being punched in the balls is secretly what you've always desired, even though you have hated it every time it happened previously.

*publisher releases a press release with nothing but "WE HATE YOU. WE'RE GOING TO PUNCH YOUR BALLS UNTIL THEY ARE BLEEDING" written*

Hmm. This seems like a whiff of bad news, but I'm still going to wait and see.

Their last game, Uppercut Your Jaw 3D was well recieved by Ace Writer Jim Sterling who gave it 8/10 animes. So, who knows!
 
Mlatador said:
What if the next Call of Duty game or Battlefield was a reeeally good STRATEGY GAME instead of an EGO - SHOOTER.
I'm sure most people would love if Battlefield 3 turns out to be a more strategic affair than Bad Company but you are correct that most would prefer to see it as an FPS.
Halo Wars took the FPS franchise into the RTS genre with mixed results, a lot of people bought the game expecting an FPS which was quite funny. It also led to the destruction of Ensemble which sucked.
 

StuBurns

Banned
Neuromancer said:
Really? You think there are that many more cutscenes/talky bits than the average shooter? I don't know about that.

I will say that game does commit one serious act of assiness, in that it doesn't let you skip cutscenes.
Maybe it is just the non-skippable thing. I've played it three times, and I'll never play it again because of that, there are way too many scenes that when replaying are mind numbing. I don't think there are more cutscenes, but the ones that are there feel longer than normal.

My issue isn't really with the scenario writing, it's just the prose, which could be made worse with the voice acting.

For a person who had the nerve to talk shit about storytelling in games, it was embarrassing.
 
Spirit of Jazz said:
How are they not shitting over the fans who've wanted a new Syndicate for over 15 years? They're putting out a title in an already over-saturated genre that outside of the vaguest sense won't be mechanically similar to the original titles. The name means nothing to anybody other than those fans, so why not simply start up a new franchise?
"Making the game into a style some people don't like" does not equal "shitting over the fans" to me. Sorry but hyperbole is running in overdrive in this thread. Especially considering the rumor of Starbreeze making Syndicate into an FPS has been the worst kept industry secret for years, I would have thought people would have been better prepared for this news.

scitek said:
The whole suit being symbiotic thing wasn't even explained properly. And it having Prophet's consciousness was just stupid. Yes, most video game stories are bad, but this one was like "What the fuck was he thinking?"
Eh. It's a game about
a soldier in a super suit fighting squid aliens who have lived under the earth for eons.
I was able to suspend a fair amount of disbelief based on that premise, I guess.

StuBurns said:
For a person who had the nerve to talk shit about storytelling in games, it was embarrassing.
Yeah I'll give you that for sure, he really set himself up for criticism.
 

Mlatador

Banned
KareBear said:
Ego-Shooter?Gtfo with that.This is not a german forum.

Hey bro`, you got a problem with that? Any other - more polite way - of reminding me that it's more commonly refered to as "FPS" around here?

Fuck around with someone else.
 
StuBurns said:
My issue isn't really with the scenario writing, it's just the prose, which could be made worse with the voice acting.

For a person who had the nerve to talk shit about storytelling in games, it was embarrassing.
The main issue for me was the disconnect for what the story was trying to say and how it was being said. The storytelling was horrible. The plot had potential but the way it was delivered did everything possible to contradict it. It was impossible to feel a part of the story when at the end of each level the character was taken away from you and then dropped an indiscriminate amount of time in the future of the incident with no idea of how you got there. The first Crysis felt like an epic trudge across the island to work out what had happened. Crysis 2 felt like self contained playgrounds with invisible walls to keep you where they want you. You had several ways to approach those playgrounds but you still felt like your path was chosen for you once they took control of the suit and made you sit through another scene of exposition.
Hopefully Morgan has learnt from this experience and will work closer with Starbreeze to integrate the story better.
 
Neuromancer said:
"Making the game into a style some people don't like" does not equal "shitting over the fans" to me. Sorry but hyperbole is running in overdrive in this thread. Especially considering the rumor of Starbreeze making Syndicate into an FPS has been the worst kept industry secret for years, I would have thought people would have been better prepared for this news.

That's clearly what I said. If you're unable to figure out why people are annoyed over this when they're telling you directly there's no point arguing with you.
 

sflufan

Banned
Someone actually gave Richard Morgan the job of developing a videogame narrative after the "superb" work he did on Crysis 2?
 
Draft said:
Riddick is God tier, everything else they've ever made has ranged from OK to soft of shitty.

Getting excited over a new Starbreeze game is silly because they're not a great developer. Getting excited over a new Syndicate game is less silly, except when it's Syndicate In Name Only, and therefore could be literally any other FPS campaign with "visceral" action, co-op, cyber whatsits, blood, gripping story line penned by some author slumming it, etc., etc.

gearbox has made some shitty games also, but people are willing to give them free passes.
 

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
The amount of tears in the Syndicate, Xcom, and Hitman threads (and the Thi4f ones until Deus Ex came out) could fill a lake.
 
Spirit of Jazz said:
That's clearly what I said. If you're unable to figure out why people are annoyed over this when they're telling you directly there's no point arguing with you.
If I misunderstood you I'm sorry, no need to get huffy.

Edit: I'm pretty sure I realize why people are upset. But at the risk of repeating myself, these factors make me feel like people are wildly over-reacting to this news:

1. Companies like using established IP's, rather than making new IP's. They perceive it as being safer I guess. Even if not everyone played Syndicate (I have by the way), many gamers know the name.
2. The viability of isometric or overhead squad based real time strategy games has to be in question, by these same companies.
3. The rumor of Starbreeze making a Syndicate based FPS has been the worst kept secret in video game industry for years now.
4. We have very little information on this game, for all we know it could be awesome on its own merits.
 

pmj

Member
I don't understand the rage. It's not like we're getting this game instead of a different, traditional Syndicate game. It's this or nothing.

I've liked all Starbreeze games post Riddick, so I'm in. I expect fantastic atmosphere and storytelling, and lots and lots of jank.
 

bhlaab

Member
pmj said:
I don't understand the rage. It's not like we're getting this game instead of a different, traditional Syndicate game. It's this or nothing.

Nothing, please.

Or, and I know this might sound crazy, a new IP. Turns out it's possible to just make an FPS instead of trying to arbitrarily tie it into the Chip's Challenge universe
 
I don't really understand how people are upset or surprised by the fact that the new Syndicate is an FPS.

Starbreeze has been rumored to be working on this title forever.

They've only made FPS games. And great ones.


Not worried. Looking forward to it. Love the art direction too.
 

KTallguy

Banned
heavyness said:
Not much info, but I have faith in Starbreeze in making a good game.

I'm sure Starbreeze can make a good FPS, and the screens look pretty nice. But that's not the point.

heavyness said:
And for the people bitching, if you think this type of game would sell now-a-days, get your head out of the sand.

Obviously the game is really old. No one wants the exact same Syndicate.

But if there was a little more exercise in creativity, you could take what made the original so interesting and reboot it. It's definitely not impossible to have "viceralness" in a tactical game. Even Fallout 3 managed it, somewhat. Imagine Syndicate influenced by the gameplay in Full Spectrum Warrior, for example. At least the focus on commanding teams would be similar.

The X-com reboot is a bit annoying because they turned it into Mass Effect. X-com was about smartly equipping a squad of 6-8 rookies and using tactics to minimize casualties, and watching the strong survive. The new one is about distinct characters with super powers. I don't mind games being easier! Just keep the essence intact.

I understand that greenlighting projects with some untested, non traditional gameplay carries risk with it. But every goddamn game is the same style FPS lately. Like imagine if Magic Carpet threw away the large overworld and it was a "visceral experience" where you were handheld through corridors. A remake would be amazing... shit I think I just jinxed it...
 

mavs

Member
HP_Wuvcraft said:
Who honestly cares?

Hating on a game just because it's not 100% like the original is lame.

No, it's legit. I liked WoW but I definitely get the people who hate that it isn't Warcraft 4.
 
luka said:
It makes me happy that some developers are willing to take creative risks to fill an emaciated genre.
I understand why people are making fun of that line but come on, that's just typical dumb PR fluff. It's basically completely meaningless.
 
I smell it's going to be the same turnout as Deus Ex where most GAF bitch and whine for 2-3 years and then play it while eating a bowl of crow with milk.

Same story as ever, just like crow will be eaten for Hitman, X-Com and other old IPs that stopped selling well and needed a make-over.
 

Freshmaker

I am Korean.
luka said:
It makes me happy that some developers are willing to take creative risks to fill an emaciated genre.
I'm looking for a rollicking adventure. A white-knuckled thrill ride of epic proportions.

Does a visceral FPS experience deliver something on this level?
 
This new Syndicate, and Xcom for that matter, don't make any sense. The public awareness for these older series is nonexistent so the developers and publishers may as well be starting a brand new IP. It's not like they're couching some of the risk in an established name, if anything the devs and pubs are starting off at a disadvantage because the only people that these series would matter to are going to be upset with ratcheting the series name on to a first person shooter. This doesn't make sense.

Front Mission didn't gain a broader audience in the west by sacrificing everything that it was and becoming a third person shooter. Shadowrun didn't gain a broader audience by going the online multiplayer shooter route. I'll be curious to see where games like Xcom and Syndicate fall, all the while eagerly awaiting the day Paradox announces the spiritual successor to Syndicate.

Why can't we have more Deus Ex: Human Revolutions and fewer Front Mission Evolved's?
 

bhlaab

Member
SketchTheArtist said:
Same story as ever, just like crow will be eaten for Hitman, X-Com and other old IPs that stopped selling well and needed a make-over.

None of those IPs stopped selling well.

Unless you count "not having an existent product" as being the same thing as not selling well.
 
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