-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice |OT| The Mid-Tier, in Limbo
- Thread starter Wozman23
- Start date
mocolostrocolos
Member
How long did it take?
It's probably only 20 minutes or so? It didn't say so I'm not 100% sure.
Pretty sure he meant the main game
Oh, right, that makes sense, my bad. 6, maybe 7 hours total. You could probably blow through it far quicker though.
Yes, to the poster above.
I feel like I'm the wrong person to sell you on this, because their really isn't in the traditional sense, beyond collectable audio logs. Although it's such a tight, well paced game I can see my self revisiting it for a playthrough often just to experience again. In the same way I'd play something like a Silent Hill or Team Ico game again.
Savantcore
Unconfirmed Member
Beat the first boss last night and had to turn it off due to commitments. Haven't had a chance to play today but I just keep getting annoyed that the whole Rot thing has been ruined for me
Yes
stanislavskov
Banned
I've yet to meet a boss, but I progressed already inside one of the doors where you choose which to fight first, so I'm about an hour in.
And, man, this game is awesome. I'm loving the perspective/positioning puzzles and the combat is just beautifully animated and very fluid and satisfying! I'm playing on hard instead of auto, too.
I don't get the complaints about the rot system though. So far,
, but I don't see how that makes a difference since I normally strive to not die in combat regardless of consequences. And since combat is so well realized, I feel motivated to be as perfectionist as possible during battles.
And, man, this game is awesome. I'm loving the perspective/positioning puzzles and the combat is just beautifully animated and very fluid and satisfying! I'm playing on hard instead of auto, too.
I don't get the complaints about the rot system though. So far,
I've read that it might be a bluff or not
FaintDeftone
Junior Member
Yep. It requires a bit of backtracking which can be confusing if you don't remember the correct way.
Played for maybe an hour last night. I love practically everything about the game from a lore/storytelling/aesthetic/visual standpoint. However, from a gameplay standpoint it feels kind of bare. It isn't ruining the game for me by any means, but the puzzles feel too simple and shoehorned rather than a natural extension of the world and environment, and the combat feels too basic unless I'm missing something.
Do you get any more "abilities", weapons, different combo strings, etc? Maybe I'm not far enough but I haven't found much reason behind the decision to use a light or heavy attack besides the visual difference. I can kick guards which is cool, but that and dodging feel like the only real thought I need to put into the combat. It was really neat for the first couple encounters, but I can easily feel this combat becoming very tedious without some things to change it up.
Regardless everything else holds this game up high enough so far to be well worth playing to me.
Do you get any more "abilities", weapons, different combo strings, etc? Maybe I'm not far enough but I haven't found much reason behind the decision to use a light or heavy attack besides the visual difference. I can kick guards which is cool, but that and dodging feel like the only real thought I need to put into the combat. It was really neat for the first couple encounters, but I can easily feel this combat becoming very tedious without some things to change it up.
Regardless everything else holds this game up high enough so far to be well worth playing to me.
Played a couple of hours of this so far and it is a visual treat. The audio and visuals really combine to create a very atmospheric setting.
The combat is ok and has some nice variation but doesn't seem that deep. I like the enemy design, they seem to have some character to them.
The puzzles are fairly straight forward and don't really add much in my opinion apart from slowing the game down.
So all good so far apart from 2 bugs I have encountered so far, one was a crash back to the PS4 menu when I was back tracking and the other stopped me progressing after a battle as the game didn't return me back to walking mode from combat mode. I wandered about a bit and manage to get my sword to disappear and be sheathed but I was still in combat mode. So I quit back to the menu and reloaded which fixed the issue and I was able to continue.
I think I'm just unlucky with Ninja Theory games, as I always seem to find bugs in their games.
The combat is ok and has some nice variation but doesn't seem that deep. I like the enemy design, they seem to have some character to them.
The puzzles are fairly straight forward and don't really add much in my opinion apart from slowing the game down.
So all good so far apart from 2 bugs I have encountered so far, one was a crash back to the PS4 menu when I was back tracking and the other stopped me progressing after a battle as the game didn't return me back to walking mode from combat mode. I wandered about a bit and manage to get my sword to disappear and be sheathed but I was still in combat mode. So I quit back to the menu and reloaded which fixed the issue and I was able to continue.
I think I'm just unlucky with Ninja Theory games, as I always seem to find bugs in their games.
That was my exact feeling until the fight against Valravn, where things have started to be interesting.
Let's see how it progresses.
Happy to hear this... 8 hrs is a bit too long...
great post. I wholeheartedly agree. I'm spreading the word and I already convinced one of my friends to buy. Always worth supporting artists that really put a lot of care and effort into their work regardless of what field they're in.
Messofanego
Banned
Finished the game, 9 hours on Hard. I'll have more detailed thoughts at a future time, but I loved it.
Joins the list of other great games about mental illness and trauma (Papo and Yo, Spec Ops The Line, Neverending Nightmares, Fran Bow, Silent Hill, Depression Quest), and reminded me of Valhalla Rising, one of my favourite films. Ninja Theory has their work cut out for them to beat this level of narrative power for their future games.
Joins the list of other great games about mental illness and trauma (Papo and Yo, Spec Ops The Line, Neverending Nightmares, Fran Bow, Silent Hill, Depression Quest), and reminded me of Valhalla Rising, one of my favourite films. Ninja Theory has their work cut out for them to beat this level of narrative power for their future games.
orichalcos
Member
Finished the game after 8 hours.
Ok, it was a crazy, mindfuck trip. I loved it. \o/
Ok, it was a crazy, mindfuck trip. I loved it. \o/
I agree with your post.
While I totally understand why someone might not like this game it's still important to fire that kind of signals Hellblade is doing. We don't need that many over the top budget titles and we don't need a game that satisfies everyone. With more diversity, anyone ultimately gets what they want. And since time is finite and we can't play everything (the reason why there is such thing as a canon) it's totally legit to not play some of them.
I hope Hellblade does some impact and we get more visionary games and less games leveled down in sense of narrative, vision and setting.
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I'm personally not a fan, its just stereo to me the effects of multiple voice has been done in 3D stereo before.
I understand its purpose to recreate voices in you head because its directly in your ear but it just sounds like stereo audio to me.
My Home Theater system makes it sound like multiple voices are all around me at different heights and distances, my headphones [both Gold And the PlayStation NC earphones] sound like they coming from the left and right at different dB and thats it. Environment sound is just stereo too.
I don't know maybe it is a great effect to most people because they're use to sound bars and V7.1 headphones thats all the rage thesedays. But I prefers the surround audio at the moment.
TetraGenesis
Member
Do you have a 4k TV? Because I've found the resolution bump is definitely preferable.
lilralphie
Member
Have there been any discussions of a limited physical release? Seems like the game is awesome. I understand the reason for no widespread physical release, but why not please fans willing to spend the extra for a limited physical copy?
Props to NT to continuing use of their legacy storytelling methods into Hellblade. Use of FMV (Enslaved), monalogues that address the camera (Heavenly Sword), and obviously stupidly impressive use of motion capture. These techniques are totally at home in Hellblade, and while there's always a lot going on, it never feels disperate or disjointed, it all serves the game as a whole. The binaurual audio is absoloutly incredible, heaphones truly make a substantial difference (and I just plugged a regular set into the PS4 jack).
I started another playthrough to mess around with the photomode, knocked it down to easy, enemies drop seemingly twice as quick on this difficulty, versus the first run set to auto difficulty (which must have just scaled me to hard for the most part). Will make replays like this a breeze, although my playthrough time is ballooning just looking at Senua's character model, I think she's even got Drake and Aloy beat for detail, it's incredible, I've never seen eyes that seem this real in a game before.
I started another playthrough to mess around with the photomode, knocked it down to easy, enemies drop seemingly twice as quick on this difficulty, versus the first run set to auto difficulty (which must have just scaled me to hard for the most part). Will make replays like this a breeze, although my playthrough time is ballooning just looking at Senua's character model, I think she's even got Drake and Aloy beat for detail, it's incredible, I've never seen eyes that seem this real in a game before.
Jangowuzhere
Banned
Ehh, I like the game, but I would be hard pressed to actually call this a major milestone in games. It's great that an indie studio managed to make a game like this with these stunning production values. They really do hit the "AAA" mark when it comes to graphical fidelity and character animation. Unfortunately, the game is still in that "AAA" safe zone when it comes to game design. Again, I like the game, but it's not super original in anything that it's doing. It's a violent cinematic action game with light puzzle solving thrown in. It's well crafted, but it's not exactly breaking down barriers.
Man some of the imagery in that first half hour is pretty tough to watch when you know people who go through these things.....
And it only gets worse from there. They really don't shy away from anything and it had a profound effect on me. This is such a well written, well researched story - and one I have never seen presented in a video game format. This is truly something new. Amazing stuff.
If you ignore its themes, storytelling and presentation - basically anything beyond the core definitions of gameplay - then, no. But...why would you do that? Hellblade doesn't try to blow you away with its deep gameplay mechanics and innovation - everything in the game is there to serve its themes, characters and story. And in that regard it is super original.
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
You don't need a 4k TV to see that resolution bump, 60fps mode is horrible and must be below 720p or something, no one should touch that mode regardless of it being 60fps.
Alright, finished it. Steam says it took me 8 hours but I think it was probably closer to 9. I liked it for the most part. Would probably give it a 7.5-8/10 or so (on a full scale where 5 is average and 6 and 7 are good scores).
My main issue with the game are still the live action scenes which really ruined some of the game's pivotal moments for me because they just totally took me out of the experience whenever they showed up. I also can't quite decide if I liked the ending or not as
The exploration sections were pretty cool, especially during the later parts of the game, the combat was relatively simple but fun for the most part, though I did feel like Senua sometimes didn't respond properly to me pressing A when I was warned that someone was behind me so she sometimes wouldn't evade and get hit even though I'd pressed A. The puzzles could sometimes be a little frustrating but most of them weren't all that hard and I did enjoy them. The game's graphics and art direction were beautiful, acting was mostly good (though some of Senua's lines could've used some work), sound design was quite impressive, the story was pretty cool, too (though at the end they sort of threw a lot of stuff at you in a short amount of time via sound only so I think I missed some stuff there which left me feeling a tiny bit confused). Scene transitions sometimes felt a bit rough around the edges. Like, they were smooth but not quite if that makes any sense . And I also had some severe performance issues for one third or maybe one fourth of the game (which have been detailed in the PC performance thread and appear to be caused by the game not being optimised properly for AMD cards).
I'm sure I've missed some stuff but that's pretty much it. Oh, right, the credits song was awful. Some of the most cringe-worthy lyrics I've ever had to listen to. That's, of course, not technically a part of the game but it did kind of ruin the "afterglow", so to speak.
My main issue with the game are still the live action scenes which really ruined some of the game's pivotal moments for me because they just totally took me out of the experience whenever they showed up. I also can't quite decide if I liked the ending or not as
I feel like it ended on a bit too hopeful a tone considering what had just happened previously.
. And I also had some severe performance issues for one third or maybe one fourth of the game (which have been detailed in the PC performance thread and appear to be caused by the game not being optimised properly for AMD cards).I'm sure I've missed some stuff but that's pretty much it. Oh, right, the credits song was awful. Some of the most cringe-worthy lyrics I've ever had to listen to. That's, of course, not technically a part of the game but it did kind of ruin the "afterglow", so to speak
.FrenchMovieTheme
Member
Yeah, 60 fps mode looks fine to me
Jangowuzhere
Banned
Gameplay and story go hand in hand. I don't think having this style of linear cinematic action game is the best form of storytelling for this tale. The devs want you to actually get into the main character's head and feel what she is experiencing mentally. However, when the game design is so predictable, the psychosis element feels more like a background style element instead of something that's actually core to the experience.
The voices that echo in Senua pull her back and forth between doing an action or doing the opposite. Stuff like "follow him!" and "no! don't follow him, it's obviously a trick!." This kind of stuff would be interesting if the player actually had a choice in the matter. The voices and visual trickery could go a long way in influencing how a player could act in a game. Instead, the game only has one path for the player at all times, even if Senua is hearing whispers in her ears, it doesn't really have much effect on the person interacting with the game.
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
To match the IQ
Game has some good art, shame you sacrifice the quality of it for the quest for 60fps.
to each their own, one mans shit is another mans gold? That kinda thing I guess.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
It's almost like the people who experience these things in real life don't actually have a choice in the matter when they go through these things.
Corpsepyre
Banned
Valhalla Rising?! Haath milao, Bhai.
Jangowuzhere
Banned
But not having a choice is how a lot of games similar to Hellblade are structured. It feels more like you're playing a movie instead of actually inhabiting a person. That's not bad storytelling, but it just isn't terribly original. Obviously what I suggested is just surface level thinking. I think you could do a lot to influence how a player acts with something like psychosis. I don't think a linear A to B type of game really gets the point across as well as it could.
Messofanego
Banned
Aloy is just dull in comparison not only in looks but also as a character. She got cool costumes but her face isn't as interesting to look at as Senua's, and there's not much going on compared to Hellblade which is obvious since like Spec Ops The Line, emotion and narrative is tied to the face. Both have pretty cool dreadlocks, though.
Since Heavenly Sword, I've always thought Ninja Theory had the best eyes in the business.
Might just be my obsession with large eyes, but I loved Kai, loved Trip, and love Senua (and her performance capture actress, Melina).
How fucking crazy is it that she was NT's video editor and Senua stand-in until being cast proper, not that you could tell from the performance, she did wonderful work.
Not to discredit her performance, but I've always believed acting isn't as tough as people make it out to be. Granted there are good actors, like their past work with Andy Serkis, and there are people who make the mistake of overacting, but I believe most human beings - be they at least have some level of smarts and talent - are capable of being solid actors.
In this case, the realization to utilize her was a win-win. NT kept the job in-house, didn't have to pay an external actor, and probably had a much easier time with the overall process and reshoots. And Melina will undoubtedly get some recognition for a stellar job.
You can re-enter portals. Just backtrack until you can kick the bridge down.
It has its flaws, some of the environmental puzzles are a bit lazy, but the main gameplay components are all very good. It definitely feels like a one and done game, though, or perhaps one I'll come back to in a couple of years, but it's a game I'm really, really glad I played.
Biggest surprise for me is the combat, it's like a Cinematic Souls.
Humdinger
Member
I know, I was going through the game and at one point, I had the reaction, "I wish those voices in my head would shut up." Followed immediately by, "Oh, right..."
I have enough trouble with shutting up toxic aspects of my own voice (e.g., inner critic), but I can't imagine what it would be like to have a chorus of different voices, all of which feel external to you, having a running commentary on you, as if you are a third person, an object, and not being able to stop them.
This game does give you some sense of that. I don't mean to overstate it. I know that actual psychotic experience is a lot more frightening, disturbing, and confusing than any game could ever approach. But it's an honest, sincere attempt to try to do it some justice within the framework of a videogame. Gotta respect that.