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After finishing Until Dawn, is Heavy Rain/Beyond Two Souls worth my time?
- Thread starter JJShadow
- Start date
Barry Burton
Member
Yep. That was my takeaway from Until Dawn as well, that it was a David Cage-type game that was actually good.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
Heavy Rain is one of my favorite experiences from last gen, flaws and all. Gaf has an unending hate boner for it though, and an even bigger one for the "hack" David Cage. The rage is hilarious, so him and his work provide double the entertainment for me.
HueyFreeman
Banned
I think heavy rain is definitely worth a playthrough but if I can make one recommendation: play it in French with English subtitles. That is the teams native language and the English VO is distractingly terrible at some points.
oldsnakebro
Member
Play heavy rain. It is the best in interactive drama games. It has a very dark and heavy atmosphere.
SallyIsNow
Banned
Wasn't there supposed to be an explanation for the plot of Heavy Rain, but it was deemed too stupid to put in the game. So instead of rewriting it, they cut out the explanation from the game?
Until Dawn is leagues better in concept and execution than any David Cage games, to the point that they're not even in the same ballpark. Until Dawn had some missteps, but the whole thing doesn't collapse under it's own bad narrative weight when you take a step back like Cage's games do.
Cage's best game is probably Heavy Rain, but all of his games have pretty shitty, ridiculous, and contrived writing at their best, and outright bad writing at worst. Heavy Rain also suffers from this immensely, but if you don't think about it at all while playing you might enjoy it in the moment to moment. That's not exactly a glowing recommendation though.
Beyond: Two Souls was really bad to the point I didn't finish it, and Indigo Prophecy/Farenheit wins the trophy for "game that has the strongest first quarter only to faceplant into a pile of ridiculous nonsense".
Honestly Prophecy/Farenheit is so fucking out of left field absurd it's like game developer performance art.
Cage's best game is probably Heavy Rain, but all of his games have pretty shitty, ridiculous, and contrived writing at their best, and outright bad writing at worst. Heavy Rain also suffers from this immensely, but if you don't think about it at all while playing you might enjoy it in the moment to moment. That's not exactly a glowing recommendation though.
Beyond: Two Souls was really bad to the point I didn't finish it, and Indigo Prophecy/Farenheit wins the trophy for "game that has the strongest first quarter only to faceplant into a pile of ridiculous nonsense".
Honestly Prophecy/Farenheit is so fucking out of left field absurd it's like game developer performance art.
Lumination
'enry 'ollins
I used to be a fan of David Cage games because as hammy as they were, they were trying to do something different.
Until Dawn blows them all out of the water. Not worth your time imo.
Until Dawn blows them all out of the water. Not worth your time imo.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Tbh, Until Dawn is a better execution of the game concept than Heavy Rain or Beyond could hope to be.
I hope we get Until Dawn, but I can live without ever having to suffer through another David Cage game.
I hope we get Until Dawn, but I can live without ever having to suffer through another David Cage game.
Cage literally approached her with a binder full of pictures from her childhood. Ifk how she still chose to do BTS
Heavy Rain has it's moments that make it worth experiencing. Enjoyed the decisions forced on me and unraveling of the mystery. Worth a play for sure.
Beyond didn't leave the same impression. The choices didn't feel quite so imperative and the mystery grew more vapid and less engaging as it progressed. Beautiful looking as one of the best looking games on PS3 on the cusp of the PS4 launch, but that is about it.
Beyond didn't leave the same impression. The choices didn't feel quite so imperative and the mystery grew more vapid and less engaging as it progressed. Beautiful looking as one of the best looking games on PS3 on the cusp of the PS4 launch, but that is about it.
Pilgrimzero
Member
Seriously, Ellen Page and ghosts! So good.
wipeout364
Member
I actually did this played until dawn then played heavy rain earlier this year. I am not sure why I had never played heavy rain up till this point. Needless to say Heavy rain has cool ideas and characters but the story is terrible and mechanics annoying more than interesting. I would only recommend putting time in if you specifically want to play it, not if your looking for a good game. I feel like after all the talk about heavy rain I am glad to have seen what it was about while at the same time I feel like I could have been playing something far more entertaining.
protomouse
Member
Beyond Two Souls is a shitfest. Dumb plot, hamfisted action, clunky controls. Avoid.
Heavy Rain is decent. It's still a David Cage game, but actually keeps its shit together until the end. The supposed decision to cut a bunch of supernatural stuff out is probably the smartest thing Quantic Dream has ever done. Do try.
Indigo Prophecy is IMO better than both up until a point. The rest is worse than both. Like, insultingly bad. It's still worth a try.
Heavy Rain is decent. It's still a David Cage game, but actually keeps its shit together until the end. The supposed decision to cut a bunch of supernatural stuff out is probably the smartest thing Quantic Dream has ever done. Do try.
Indigo Prophecy is IMO better than both up until a point. The rest is worse than both. Like, insultingly bad. It's still worth a try.
No, unless you're interested in playing them for the "so bad it's good" element. Both Beyond and Heavy Rain have promising premises that are wasted with poor storytelling and laughable characters (though it must be said that there are some solid performances, particularly in Beyond). Cage has a bad habit of treating his female characters badly for the sake of drama and resorting to racial stereotyping, which pushes it into "Don't give this guy money" territory for me. Go for the better-made Telltale games like "Tales from the Borderlands" or "The Wolf Among Us."
Icedburden
Member
The characters aren't very good in Until Dawn, save for a couple of em. the story is at least interesting though, which is more than I can say for HR and Beyond. They are pretentious bullshit, made by a wannabe movie director with no idea on how real people interact.
ronaldthump
Member
heavy rain is a lot of fun. B2S bored me.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
They're all good. F the haters.
People are so hip they act like these games have the quality of your average last-gen licensed crap-fest, just because they try for something more and sometimes fail. Until Dawn wouldn't exist without Cage' games. If you appreciate seeing the envelope get pushed, you'll appreciate these games.
I will say the weird control scheme makes the running around in Heavy Rain kind of a bummer. Glad that went by the wayside.
People are so hip they act like these games have the quality of your average last-gen licensed crap-fest, just because they try for something more and sometimes fail. Until Dawn wouldn't exist without Cage' games. If you appreciate seeing the envelope get pushed, you'll appreciate these games.
I will say the weird control scheme makes the running around in Heavy Rain kind of a bummer. Glad that went by the wayside.
played through HR at launch, and at HD launch... the story has some problems, but I am also not one to let small issues or lameness get to me like so many others seem to.. so all in all I REALLY enjoyed it.
people seem so high on "omg this one thing happened that I thought was stupid WORST GAME/MOVIE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
bunch of crybabies.
people seem so high on "omg this one thing happened that I thought was stupid WORST GAME/MOVIE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
bunch of crybabies.
I'm aware. I just think that they need to power through Life is Strange, because the story gets really good as it goes on and it's the only episodic adventure game that approaches Until Dawn's level.
SallyIsNow
Banned
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Consider the fact that all of the actors in Until Dawn were recorded completely separately and that even then all of those conversations are a thousand times more believable and naturalistic than any one conversation or scene in Heavy Rain or Beyond Two Souls where the actors recorded their scenes at the same time like a movie.
Yeah but when the same creators fail to varying degrees 3 times people are going to naturally wonder if it's them doing something wrong. You can push the envelope and think outside the box, and consistently still be lackluster at it.
I don't think it's "hip" to dislike his games, they're just not for everyone, and 'everyone' in context here seems to be quite a few people- he always has these potentially fantastic ideas that stumble throughout the game until they eventually collapse in on themselves by the end.
Until Dawn showed that it's not the genre or style of game either, as it did very well critically and sales-wise; it's that it wasn't full of half-baked concepts, constant narrative missteps and overall bad writing.
ScaryShark
Banned
I'd definitely advocate trying to power through the early parts of Life is Strange too. I forgot how long it takes to truly get going after watching a friend play it. The plot starts firing big time during the latter half of episode 3. I think eps. 1 & 2 are really good personally but I can understand why they might take awhile to warm up to.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
I'm forgiving, admittedly. I like seeing iterations, development, and playing entirely new experiences, or experiences approached and conveyed in different ways. All these games have story faults. Indigo Prophecy in particular goes way off the rails. I still don't regret playing it.
I don't measure games by how far they fall short of perfect, but by how far they advanced beyond what had come before. All these games have enough merit for an appreciative playthrough in that regard.
¯\_(ツ
_/¯And for me Heavy Rain would have been near perfectly plotted with a vestigial red herring removed.
EDIT: Agree on Life is Strange, loved it too. My daughter watched me play through that on release, my son did Heavy Rain with me. These are all great "backseat gamer" games, for sure.
whatever6352
Member
They won't match the highs of Until Dawn, but I enjoyed both games. So my answer is yes give them a shot.
SplitYourInfinities
Member
David Cage games are not even close to Until Dawn. Avoid like plague.
TimeEffect
Member
Play Heavy Rain
Its cheap and enjoyable in the moment
Its cheap and enjoyable in the moment
I have just watched a friend playing Until Dawn...and man... what a ridiculous game. Seems like a teen-horror.
Never expected it, but...really...
ronaldthump
Member
its fun as fuck. maybe you should play it yourself.
Zap Rowsdower
Banned
No David Cage is an absolute hack, play Walking Dead: Season 1, Wolf Among Us, and Tales from the Borderlands instead if you want something more similar in game structure to Until Dawn.
For other narrative-driven adventure games Firewatch, Gone Home, and What Remains of Edith Finch are all great too.
For other narrative-driven adventure games Firewatch, Gone Home, and What Remains of Edith Finch are all great too.
Silent Hill
Banned
A hack? Why?
Manny Calavera
Member
My thoughts exactly, even though I do think a bit more highly of Beyond but it's not on the level of Heavy Rain or Until Dawn. But Heavy Rain is still my favorite of the three as well and playing it for the first time was one of my most memorable and involving gaming experiences
