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"Previously Recorded" review The Order 1886

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G

Gattsu25

Banned
New review posted today by Previously Recorded is a review for The Order 1886: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG0zJ89Fv8c

This is one of the better reviews I have seen from a dedicated youtube channel. While they do delve into spoiler territory I find this to be one of the more informative video reviews I have seen in the last few months. The entire video is worth watching but here are a few notable sections, IMO.


From this point on it delves into major story spoiler territory


There's a ton more in the review. While there is no score in the review they do give some purchasing recommendations in a few parts of the vid:
Near the start and at the end (worth watching till the end).

Just wanted to share this review.
 
D

Derpyduck

Banned
Where does Metacritic put a rating of "It's garbage", followed by the reviewers literally setting the game on fire on their scale?
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
They spend a minute on the dreaded "ludonarrative dissonance", even though they don't call it that.

This whole game feels like someone wanted to make a movie/tv show and was forced to make it into a game when Hollywood turned them away.
 
U

Uncle Rupee

Banned
dat ending

But I think they do give it a fair shake compared to some other reviews by focusing on the story. Since the game is clearly meant to be more of a cinematic experience, it's actually pretty damning that the story is so full of plot cliches and bad characterization. Also, didn't MGS3 almost end with a similar cut to black - gunshot? There was a bit more afterwards but that was also pretty bad. Recycling a boss encounter for the final boss that closely has got to be one of the laziest / rushed conclusions to a game I've ever seen, only compounded by the unresolved plot points.

firehawk12 said:
They spend a minute on the dreaded "ludonarrative dissonance", even though they don't call it that.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that part is especially significant given how people complained about Nathan Drake committing genocide in the Uncharted games. In The Order that particular section is much worse.

firehawk12 said:
This whole game feels like someone wanted to make a movie/tv show and was forced to make it into a game when Hollywood turned them away.
Click to expand...
Eh, that's more David Cage's style. I think this story would actually fly with Hollywood, based on the popularity of Steam Punk, Tesla, and stuff like Abe Lincoln Vampire Slayer.
 
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
Lemme guess: They don't like it. They seem to gravitate toward indie games and Nintendo stuff, and mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games.

I still love you, Red Letter Media.
 
M

MormaPope

Banned
Saw this earlier today so I'll in my thoughts.

Their breakdown of the story really shows how presentation and storytelling are two very different things. Whenever someone says The Order's story is really good or even competent, I either assume they're mistaken and mean the presentation is fantastic or they're propping up a terrible story for some reason.

Sure, doing something first when it comes to plot, story, or storytelling doesn't matter nearly as much as execution, but the execution of story/storytelling in The Order is bad.
 
packy34

packy34

Member
plop said:
Lemme guess: They don't like it. They seem to gravitate toward indie games and Nintendo stuff, and mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games.

I still love you, Red Letter Media.
Click to expand...

Not only do they not like it, but Jack says it's the most offensive game he's ever played... and they then proceed to set it on fire over a bed of matches, meticulously placed to spell out "fuck you".
 
S

SparkTR

Member
plop said:
Lemme guess: They don't like it. They seem to gravitate toward indie games and Nintendo stuff, and mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games.

I still love you, Red Letter Media.
Click to expand...

Still, there's a lot of love for XCOM, Vanquish, TF2 and Mass Effect 1/2 on the stream.
 
U

Uncle Rupee

Banned
plop said:
Lemme guess: They don't like it. They seem to gravitate toward indie games and Nintendo stuff, and mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games.

I still love you, Red Letter Media.
Click to expand...

They've got problems with the last two console Zeldas, so I don't think they give Nintendo a free pass or anything. Liking Mario Kart and Metroid Prime doesn't exactly make them biased towards Nintendo.
 
M

MormaPope

Banned
Uncle Rupee said:
dat ending

But I think they do give it a fair shake compared to some other reviews by focusing on the story. Since the game is clearly meant to be more of a cinematic experience, it's actually pretty damning that the story is so full of plot cliches and bad characterization. Also, didn't MGS3 almost end with a similar cut to black - gunshot? There was a bit more afterwards but that was also pretty bad.
Click to expand...

Disagree completely. The game builds up to that moment for a dozen of hours or so, the moment itself is very personal for both characters involved, it wasn't a angsty or artsy approach. You have to execute or put down somebody that means a lot to the main character. There's also no icon or button prompt for the player, the player has to realize that they have to the pull the trigger.

There's also 30 minutes of story exposition afterwards.
 
G

ghst

thanks for the laugh
my favourite thing about terrible games that want to be films is that film criticism has gone through a century long journey which has given us a solid framework through which we can judge the artistic merit of a work, both in worth and efficacy

games have objective technical elements, but when it comes to more subjective taste specific design decisions, we're often left pissing in the wind as it comes down to a i-want-you-want tit for tat.

since the order gives everything to ape cinema, the fact that it's such a colossal turd by any standard of film criticism means that it's next to impossible to make an argument for its quality, even if you stretch every subjective, preferential strand of your argument to breaking point.
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Uncle Rupee said:
Yeah, that part is especially significant given how people complained about Nathan Drake committing genocide in the Uncharted games. In The Order that particular section is much worse.
Click to expand...
It's worse because it's much more blatant, but I don't think Uncharted (2) suddenly gets a pass because of it. I still think it's stupid to try to make Drake out to be some kind of pacifist hero when your entire game is built on snapping people's necks and punching people in the dick.

Eh, that's more David Cage's style. I think this story would actually fly with Hollywood, based on the popularity of Steam Punk, Tesla, and stuff like Abe Lincoln Vampire Slayer.
Click to expand...
Say what you will about Heavy Rain or Beyond Two Souls, but you can't watch the games on youtube and say you've gotten the full experience of "playing" those games. Cage is interested in trying to make cinematic interactive experiences. These guys, and most people trying to make "AAA" games, are interested in trying to make shooters with crappy stories wrapped around them.

MormaPope said:
Disagree completely. The game builds up to that moment for a dozen of hours or so, the moment itself is very personal for both characters involved, it wasn't a angsty or artsy approach. You have to execute or put down somebody that means a lot to the main character.

There's also 30 minutes of story exposition afterwards.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was going to say, that while the Big Boss moment is similar, at least you a) care about being forced to make the action and b) whether or not you think the story is shit, the game at least builds up the conflict throughout the entire course of the game.

ghst said:
since the order gives everything to ape cinema, the fact that it's such a colossal turd by any standard of film criticism means that it's next to impossible to make an argument for its quality, even if you stretch every subjective, preferential strand of your argument to breaking point.
Click to expand...
The problem is that the standards are so low in video games that people use excuses like "strong voice acting" and "good world building" as positive indicators of quality. As opposed to, well, having an actually decent narrative with compelling themes, characters, and plot.
 
A

Applebite

Member
plop said:
Lemme guess: They don't like it. They seem to gravitate toward indie games and Nintendo stuff, and mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games.

I still love you, Red Letter Media.
Click to expand...
They judge games on a case by case basis. In this video, they explain why they dislike the game and what gripes they have with it. I recommend you watch it and understand their point of view first before discrediting their opinion as "they mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games".
 
M

MormaPope

Banned
firehawk12 said:
Yeah, I was going to say, that while the Big Boss moment is similar, at least you a) care about being forced to make the action and b) whether or not you think the story is shit, the game at least builds up the conflict throughout the entire course of the game.
Click to expand...

MGS3 as a game also doesn't take itself too seriously. Its a campy, Cold War era supernatural thriller. MGS3's biggest strength storytelling wise is being really fun and goofy as fuck while also having some moments of levity.
 
N

Nanashrew

Banned
This is the first I've heard of Previously Recorded. I kind of like their style. I'm going to check out there other stuff, thanks for sharing OP!
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
MormaPope said:
MGS3 as a game also doesn't take itself too seriously. Its a campy, Cold War era supernatural thriller. MGS3's biggest strength storytelling wise is being really fun and goofy as fuck while also having some moments of levity.
Click to expand...
Which, funny enough, is what they said would have made The Order a much more entertaining story.
 
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
Applebite said:
They judge games on a case by case basis. In this video, they explain why they dislike the games and what gripes they have with it. I recommend you watch it and understand their point of view first before discrediting their opinion as "they mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games".
Click to expand...

I don't see how anything on the video would change my view that "they mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games." The Order is a AAA-budget game. If they dislike The Order, their judgement strengthens my assertion. If they love The Order, it wouldn't invalidate my belief that they mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games.

If your claim is that I should give the video a watch because they give well-thought-out rationale for their dislike, you have to remember that I never said they don't give reasoned opinions and competent arguments. I said that their tastes seem, to me, to skew heavily toward indie/Nintendo titles.

Watching the video, no matter its content, changes nothing as far as my opinion and statement are concerned.

SparkTR said:
Still, there's a lot of love for XCOM, Vanquish, TF2 and Mass Effect 1/2 on the stream.
Click to expand...

Ah, never watched their live streams.
 
N

NinjamicWZ

Banned
I got a couple minutes in where they were trying to explain the setting being Steampunk-ish, and I know this isn't for me.

The game could have done a ton more than it did gameplay-wise, but I really enjoyed it. There were so many things about it that were just so good otherwise.
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
a 9th grade creative writing assignment that some asshole turned into a video game.
Click to expand...

Ouch. I know it's subjective but I'm always very surprised when gamers applaud a big dev wanting to focus heavily on the story and writing while gameplay takes a back seat.

Inherently, there's nothing wrong with that, there's enough space in the game world for ANYTHING and video games can provide ways to tell a story that other mediums can't.

But it doesn't help that at the absolute pinnacle of mainstream video game writing sits a big, fat, lump of hot, steamy mediocrity.
 
MrCunningham

MrCunningham

Member
I really enjoy Rich and Jack's gaming channel and their Twitch plays.

"I kinda liked the dick punching" - Rich Evans

It really does seem more appropriate to call this a visual novel than a third person action game though. But I guess it is a hybrid of both.
 
A

Applebite

Member
plop said:
I don't see how anything on the video would change my view that "they mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games." The Order is a AAA-budget game. If they dislike The Order, their judgement strengthens my assertion. If they love The Order, it wouldn't invalidate my belief that they mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games.

If your claim is that I should give the video a watch because they give well-thought-out rationale for their dislike, you have to remember that I never said they don't give reasoned opinions and competent arguments. I said that their tastes seem, to me, to skew heavily toward indie/Nintendo titles.

Watching the video, no matter its content, changes nothing as far as my opinion and statement are concerned.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. To me it seemed like you were essentially saying that since they've had a track record of not being fans of modern big budget games, surely that would be the only (and irrational) reason for their disapproval of the game. I still think it is a shortsighted and kind of a pointless generalization to make, especially seeing as how Rich is a big fan of the Mass Effect series. They even mention liking Gears of War in the video, too.
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
plop said:
I don't see how anything on the video would change my view that "they mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games." The Order is a AAA-budget game. If they dislike The Order, their judgement strengthens my assertion. If they love The Order, it wouldn't invalidate my belief that they mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games.

If your claim is that I should give the video a watch because they give well-thought-out rationale for their dislike, you have to remember that I never said they don't give reasoned opinions and competent arguments. I said that their tastes seem, to me, to skew heavily toward indie/Nintendo titles.

Watching the video, no matter its content, changes nothing as far as my opinion and statement are concerned.
Click to expand...
Well, they have said on streams that they hate AAA games because of how they are designed and produced. They hated Alien Isolation as well, and when they played CoD:AW live on stream, you could literally feel them die inside as they were went through the first two missions.

But the problem isn't AAA games per se. It's how they are all made to be carbon copies of each other and present themselves in the same way. So it's not surprising that they love indie games, including Hands of Fate, which is their next review. Even something they don't necessarily love, like Crypt of the Necrodancer, is something they can recommend because it's different.
 
P

PaulloDEC

Member
I'm starting to wonder if The Order isn't actually a government experiment in producing aggressive overreactions in as many human test subjects as possible.
 
7

7DollarHagane

Banned
I enjoyed how this game looked but was really amazed that I felt in such a hurry for it to be over given how short it was. Not a great game. Not really a good game.
 
C

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
plop said:
I don't see how anything on the video would change my view that "they mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games." The Order is a AAA-budget game. If they dislike The Order, their judgement strengthens my assertion. If they love The Order, it wouldn't invalidate my belief that they mostly seem to dislike AAA-budget games.
Click to expand...
Not liking the order does not=not like triple A budget games. It also does not strengthen your assertion at all.
 
U

Uncle Rupee

Banned
firehawk12 said:
It's worse because it's much more blatant, but I don't think Uncharted (2) suddenly gets a pass because of it. I still think it's stupid to try to make Drake out to be some kind of pacifist hero when your entire game is built on snapping people's necks and punching people in the dick.
Click to expand...

I didn't say it should get a pass, and I don't think Drake is meant to be seen as a pacifist hero at all. He's like an Indiana Jones type of hero. Indy kills people when he has to.
 
N

nib95

Banned
Based on the video they released a few weeks back about button prompts, cinematic tropes, QTE's etc, this was a foregone conclusion. This game optimises everything they hate about a certain subset of games, and it's clear from past videos and play throughs, they often go in to games of this ilk with a lot of preconceived and pre-emptive negativity, that likely only serves to amplify their dislikes.
 
S

system11

Member
PaulloDEC said:
I'm starting to wonder if The Order isn't actually a government experiment in producing aggressive overreactions in as many human test subjects as possible.
Click to expand...

I'm going to shoot for 'childish, bizarre overreactions' having finished the game today. A lot of it comes from the reveal being right where 'next gen' was announced, and people expecting something that would blow them away. We've known it was a story based cover shooter for ... a long long time now. A lot of people still don't seem to have come to terms with it.

I thought it was pretty decent overall, I'd buy a sequel but they need to learn some lessons when it comes to "trying to make a game look like a film" vs "making a game look like a game so it doesn't give you eye strain". Seems bizarre in the chapter replay to not know how many collectables you found/missed.
 
K

KC Denton

Member
nib95 said:
Based on the video they released a few weeks back about button prompts, cinematic tropes, QTE's etc, this was a foregone conclusion. This game optimises everything they hate about games, and it's clear from past videos and play throughs, they often go in to games of this ilk with a lot of preconceived and pre-emptive negativity, that likely only serves to amplify their dislikes.
Click to expand...
Well there's also a shitton of problems with the story and characters that they go into. The narrative failings of this game take up far more of this review than things they don't like in video games, and their criticisms are especially damning considering that story is the main focus of the game and how seriously the player is supposed to take the story and setting.
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Uncle Rupee said:
I didn't say it should get a pass, and I don't think Drake is meant to be seen as a pacifist hero at all. He's like an Indiana Jones type of hero. Indy kills people when he has to.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree. But if you ever play through UC2 again, the first thing you are greeted with is a shitty stealth mission where you can't kill anyone because Drake doesn't hurt people.

nib95 said:
Based on the video they released a few weeks back about button prompts, cinematic tropes, QTE's etc, this was a foregone conclusion. This game optimises everything they hate about games, and it's clear from past videos and play throughs, they often go in to games of this ilk with a lot of preconceived and pre-emptive negativity, that likely only serves to amplify their dislikes.
Click to expand...
They played the game live on stream in a single day. The reactions you hear are their actual reactions, including the glorious
GUNSHOT FADE TO BLACK
thing. But yeah, given the video that they released before this review which is something like "Why Super Mario Bros is more immersive than Call of Duty", I knew that they were going to hate this game.
 
S

SparkTR

Member
nib95 said:
Based on the video they released a few weeks back about button prompts, cinematic tropes, QTE's etc, this was a foregone conclusion. This game optimises everything they hate about a certain subset of games, and it's clear from past videos and play throughs, they often go in to games of this ilk with a lot of preconceived and pre-emptive negativity, that likely only serves to amplify their dislikes.
Click to expand...

They streamed their playthrough live a few weeks back, and they didn't really seem so down on it until the ending. The ending is what seemed to wreck this game for them, they pretty much watch and review bad movies for a living, and
gunshot fade to black
is about as amateur/film school project as you can get.
 
L

loaf of bread

Member
The only explanation I can gather for some people's absolute vitriol against this game is that many people who are into "strictly gameplay" games ala Dark Souls, Platinum, Nintendo feel this game is some sort of direct attack against their gaming preferences. Theres room for many games.

The game isn't amazing, it has many flaws. But its still decent or at least mediocre, and far from this sort of unholy abomination that some people make it out to be.

If the game was just bad people would just say "meh, it sucks" and move on. There's no reason this game deserves to be murdered, set on fire, and pissed on. It isn't fucking Colonial Marines.
 
B

BassForever

Member
loaf of bread said:
The only explanation I can gather for some people's absolute vitriol against this game is that people who are into "strictly gameplay" games ala Dark Souls, Platinum, Nintendo feel this game is some sort of direct attack against their gaming preferences.

The game isn't amazing, it has many flaws. But its still decent or at least mediocre, and far from this sort of unholy abomination that some people make it out to be.

If the game was just bad people would just say "meh, it sucks" and move on. There's no reason this game deserves to be murdered, set on fire, and pissed on. It isn't fucking Colonial Marines.
Click to expand...

You should watch the review, they focus more on the story and their problems with it then the gameplay
 
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