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Lords of the Fallen: Early Impressions

Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
Not criticizing the complaints about the content, but there's a day one patch that you don't have yet.

Laurentius said:
Thanks for the impressions. I'll definitely wait to hear more impressions, but not sounding too promising.

Kind of sad that as a "Dark Souls clone" it can be beaten in 18 hours on a first playthrough. You can go through Souls games pretty quick once you've played them once, but it would be very difficult for somebody to complete a first playthrough under 30 hours. And Dark Souls 1 and 2 both took me about 70 hours. I'm not saying that length is a good indicator of quality, but it doesn't seem like a good sign for something that's trying to hard to be like Souls to be that short.
Click to expand...

Err, not really. It took me 42 hours for my first Demon's Souls finish (used the wiki for weapon path upgrades though) and only 36 for a week one blind run of Dark. I don't consider myself "good" at the games either. Knowing that this game has a rather short main story playing time (10 - 20 hours) just means I'll probably spend more time with the non essential stuff as long as it's actually interesting.
 
H

HowZatOZ

Banned
texhnolyze said:
Bumping the question. This is all I want to know.
Click to expand...

There are multiple hiddens items to find, doors to open and keys to discover. There are also various audio logs to uncover through your adventures, some of which aren't in plain sight. I've also stumbled across somewhat difficult enemies off the beaten path that are hiding impressive loot.
 
T

Trace

Banned
I'm really happy about the length. There is no way in hell I will ever play a game for 70 hours unless it's GOAT-quality to me, which DS1 or DS2 really didn't do for me. I like the games, well at least DS1, but the entire lack of story and fairly janky world design kills most of my interest in them.
 
A

AmethystEnd

Member
Trace said:
I'm really happy about the length. There is no way in hell I will ever play a game for 70 hours unless it's GOAT-quality to me, which DS1 or DS2 really didn't do for me. I like the games, well at least DS1, but the entire lack of story and fairly janky world design kills most of my interest in them.
Click to expand...

Welp.
 
addyb

addyb

Member
Still can't wait regardless of some lacklustre impressions. I've heard from others that also really enjoy it. I know I will based on the combat alone. I spent hours on end just slaying orcs in mordor and I definitely love the meatiness of the combat in this.

Just want my copy to ship now. Come on gamecollection :)
 
GHG

GHG

Gold Member
When do reviews for this hit?

Need to decide between this and SO. Strongly swaying towards this but want to see what the likes of gametrailers have to say because I generally agree with their assessments of games.
 
D

Dictator93

Member
GHG said:
When do reviews for this hit?

Need to decide between this and SO. Strongly swaying towards this but want to see what the likes of gametrailers have to say because I generally agree with their assessments of games.
Click to expand...

Gametrailers gave best graphics of 2007 to call of duty 4.

unforgivable
 
K

Kensuke

Member
I'm 15 hours in, almost finished.

The whole game looks like a giant DarkSiders 2 dungeon. It's basically one big castle with a snowed under courtyard. The environment really lacks variety and scope. The fact that it's very non-linear helps a bit though. You can pretty much explore almost the whole world from the get go. You can even go into one of the late-game dungeons early on if want (and find a super good weapon). You can almost always take three different paths, that's great.

The only problem with that is that the environments are very homogenous and the map is interconnected in weird ways. It's very easy to get lost (not in a fun way). I also really dislike the long loading screens between area's. The Souls-games managed seamlessly connected areas, and this is the one that's supposed to be next-gen.

There is also a lack in enemy variety and most bosses are humanoid enemies you can beat with the same strategies. Yeah, the game is easy compared to Dark Souls, but it's still a bit tough. Certainly harder than most 'action-adventure' games. The story is your typical videogamey mediocrity, not really worth talking about.

Still, I'm having a lot of fun with the game. The combat is satisfying and a very good imitation of Dark Souls. It has some really cool weapons and the ability to combo dual wielding weapons is great. Some of the magic powers are also pretty satisfying. If you are a Dark Souls fan and you're starving for more definitely get it.
 
W

whassupbun

Member
So for those of you who have put a fair amount of time into the game (I'm only maybe 4 hours in), what have you been putting your points towards? I'm playing Warrior but have been upgrading my Faith since all spells have a Faith requirement to unlock. But I feel like I should be focusing on Strength instead.
 
Karak

Karak

Member
GHG said:
When do reviews for this hit?

Need to decide between this and SO. Strongly swaying towards this but want to see what the likes of gametrailers have to say because I generally agree with their assessments of games.
Click to expand...

12:01 AM Tuesday morning.
 
H

HowZatOZ

Banned
whassupbun said:
So for those of you who have put a fair amount of time into the game (I'm only maybe 4 hours in), what have you been putting your points towards? I'm playing Warrior but have been upgrading my Faith since all spells have a Faith requirement to unlock. But I feel like I should be focusing on Strength instead.
Click to expand...

I went rogue but chose Cleric spell tree, and I usually use medium armour. I'm finding if I have enough XP to bank I'll chuck into an attribute or two, but I'm largely ignoring increasing faith/spells atm because I just enjoy hitting things with my polearm.
 
S

SlasherJPC

Banned
Trying to figure out how far I am from the end for those that know. Let's just say I'm returning to an area I went to earlier in the game. A place that was different then the monastery.
 
G

greenfish

Banned
I've played around three hours of Lords of the Fallen. Initial impressions are that the game *is* OK but held back by a lot of technical issues that make it frustrating to play at times, even to the point of making me feel a bit ill!

Good points first...it is like Dark Souls, very much so, in fact, because it uses the same checkpointing system whereby saving will respawn enemies in an area and dying resets you at the last checkpoint where you then have to go back to where you died to collect all your dropped XP lest you lose it all. The opening area even mimics Dark Souls' castle but the graphics are much more impressive here (at least when you aren't moving!) with some nice lighting and details. There is also a lot of stuff to find, after only an hour I'd picked 5 different weapons and 4 different armour sets!

Now the bad points, including the one that drags this game down for me unfortunately and that is the framerate, which is awful throughout except when you're walking down a corridor with no enemies in sight then it holds what feels like 30 FPS with no tearing. As soon as you enter larger open spaces, including the entrance to the castle at the start, then the framerate tanks to what feels like 15-25 fps followed by copious amounts of distracting screen tear. This is with the 4.7 GB patch installed by the way (the only thing that seemed to fix was the tearing in the opening FMV video sequence as far as I can tell and no mention is made in the patch notes that the tearing has been fixed either). The framerate more than anything makes the combat feel clunky as the engine struggles to cope with your character and a single enemy on screen without dropping and tearing badly. The camera is also terrible even when locking onto enemies and it is way too easy to find yourself swinging at off-screen enemies whose A.I. is so woeful that they only move when you approach within a set distance otherwise stand perfectly still! Even then the enemies frequently miss you when they take a swing resulting in them having their backs to you and an easy kill.

It's a shame the PS4 version is so technically shonky (easily the worst to date in my experience) because I was actually enjoying the exploration and it isn't a bad looking game either when you're standing still, though level of detail transitions appear too close though giving the game the appearance walls and objects are building themselves as you approach them! Why the game runs so badly when for the most part you are in small empty rooms with 1 or 2 enemies (3 at most) is a mystery but it spoils the game big time. I suspect the game may be much better on PC where it should run at 60 FPS with more fluid combat and no screen tearing. Won't be able to try that until Tuesday though when it unlocks on Steam.

If there isn't a Day One patch for the PS4 version to fix the tearing then I am contacting *********** to ask for a refund because their is no excuse at all for releasing a game in this state. If you've seen the YouTube video footage of the game showing all the tearing then that is what it still looks like post-patch. If that is an issue for you then I would suggest holding off buying it on PS4 (and XBO as well, I cannot imagine that runs any better) and picking it up for PC instead.
Click to expand...


Source: http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=4944995&postcount=40
PS4
 
K

Kensuke

Member
whassupbun said:
So for those of you who have put a fair amount of time into the game (I'm only maybe 4 hours in), what have you been putting your points towards? I'm playing Warrior but have been upgrading my Faith since all spells have a Faith requirement to unlock. But I feel like I should be focusing on Strength instead.
Click to expand...

You should definitely concentrate on strength or agility, get one of those up to 30. Just a few (3-4) points into vitality, faith and endurance. Ignore luck.
 
D

deoee

Member
DrDogg said:
I pretty much agree with all of this.

The bugs in the game can be frustrating. Audio cut out and wouldn't come back until I restarted my game (as in shut it down and loaded it back up from the main menu). It took me three tries to beat the fourth boss because the game froze on me the first two tries... then I had to backtrack for what seemed like miles and miles, dealing with respawned enemies most of the way to continue the story.

If you die to a normal enemy in this game, you wouldn't make it beyond the first area in Dark Souls 2. I have yet to die to a non-boss character and the only boss I died to was the third one with the instant kill mechanic.

The level design... you gain access to a bunch of shortcuts that only make navigating more of a chore because you have to figure out where the shortcuts lead you. I never once got lost in Dark Souls 2. I've been lost multiple times in this game. It doesn't help that most of the rooms/environments look the same within a given area.

Side quests are okay, but they seem backward. I've been collecting a good number of quest items before I've spoken to the NPC about the quest, and I'm going through the game in a fairly straight forward manner. It's not like I'm cutting corners or skipping things.

This game is basically Dark Souls 2 for the people who were frustrated they couldn't beat Dark Souls 2.
Click to expand...

Have you tried NG+?
 
S

Sayad

Member
AmethystEnd said:
It's an unfortunate side effect of the medium, but I can't tell if you two are being serious. If you are, then I'm just completely speechless. I'll bow out, though.
Click to expand...
I was just jokingly playing along. I'll only take your Destiny tag into consideration if the conversation was about Destiny. ;p
 
H

hedmunky84

Member
I'm glad to mostly hear good things. I've got it pre-ordered and really hope it didn't suck or fall really short, and then me have to hurry and beat within 30 days to get at least $40 back.
 
F

Fix The Scientist

Member
Kensuke said:
I'm 15 hours in, almost finished.

The whole game looks like a giant DarkSiders 2 dungeon. It's basically one big castle with a snowed under courtyard. The environment really lacks variety and scope. The fact that it's very non-linear helps a bit though. You can pretty much explore almost the whole world from the get go. You can even go into one of the late-game dungeons early on if want (and find a super good weapon). You can almost always take three different paths, that's great.

The only problem with that is that the environments are very homogenous and the map is interconnected in weird ways. It's very easy to get lost (not in a fun way). I also really dislike the long loading screens between area's. The Souls-games managed seamlessly connected areas, and this is the one that's supposed to be next-gen.

There is also a lack in enemy variety and most bosses are often the same humanoid enemies you can beat with the same strategies. Yeah, the game is easy compared to Dark Souls, but it's still a bit tough. Certainly harder than most 'action-adventure' games. The story is your typical video-gamey mediocrity, not really worth talking about.

Still, I'm having a lot of fun with the game. The combat is satisfying and a very good imitation of Dark Souls. It has some really cool weapons and the ability to combo dual wielding weapons is great. Some of the magic powers are also pretty satisfying. If you are a Dark Souls and you're starving for more definitely get it.
Click to expand...

Sounds pretty good to me! Just what i was hoping for.

greenfish said:
Source: http://forums.guru3d.com/showpost.php?p=4944995&postcount=40
PS4
Click to expand...

Sounds not so good :(
 
H

Hypron

Member
GHG said:
Eh... I actually agreed with them at the time.

Was the best looking game I played on my 360 back then.
Click to expand...

This was also their reasoning for dismissing Crysis but I find it completely senseless. Crysis was a way better looking game.
 
Lux R7

Lux R7

Member
Kensuke said:
I'm 15 hours in, almost finished.

The whole game looks like a giant DarkSiders 2 dungeon. It's basically one big castle with a snowed under courtyard. The environment really lacks variety and scope. The fact that it's very non-linear helps a bit though. You can pretty much explore almost the whole world from the get go. You can even go into one of the late-game dungeons early on if want (and find a super good weapon). You can almost always take three different paths, that's great.

The only problem with that is that the environments are very homogenous and the map is interconnected in weird ways. It's very easy to get lost (not in a fun way). I also really dislike the long loading screens between area's. The Souls-games managed seamlessly connected areas, and this is the one that's supposed to be next-gen.

There is also a lack in enemy variety and most bosses are often the same humanoid enemies you can beat with the same strategies. Yeah, the game is easy compared to Dark Souls, but it's still a bit tough. Certainly harder than most 'action-adventure' games. The story is your typical video-gamey mediocrity, not really worth talking about.

Still, I'm having a lot of fun with the game. The combat is satisfying and a very good imitation of Dark Souls. It has some really cool weapons and the ability to combo dual wielding weapons is great. Some of the magic powers are also pretty satisfying. If you are a Dark Souls and you're starving for more definitely get it.
Click to expand...

sounds good to me, thanks for the impressions.
 
Yoshichan

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
twdnewh_k

twdnewh_k

Member
This might be the game for me; I hope it turns out to be fine.

A less frustrating a DS. I just do not have the time to die and repeatedly redo different parts of the game.
 
Lux R7

Lux R7

Member
Spainkiller said:
Finished. Fucking finally.

Managed to carry on after three or four solid hours of doing nothing but backtrack throughout the entirety of the demon world and finally finding a thin corridor that was almost impossible to spot if you didn't have the camera at a certain angle. After that, some shitty story bits, an OK boss fight, a shitty boss fight, some backtracking, some exposition, some fighting and then the final, lackluster boss fight.

I have managed to kill every boss within two tries. That should tell you enough.

It's really not very good. There aren't that many different kind of enemies and they're all pretty straightforward. The bosses aren't hard either, especially if you've managed to collect enough bottles throughout your journey. Everything else is just a simpler, shittier version of what we could find in the Souls games, from the "crafting" (you put a rune in a weapon and now it does more damage. Yay) to magic to the character building. The story is horribly written and nothing special, the sidequests are really dumb, the NPCs don't really matter to the story or do anything helpful, and the level design is a confusing mess. The areas in Dark Souls were beautifully designed and huge, and somehow managed to be connected in such a genius way that traversing these areas was still fairly easy to remember and fun to do. In Lords of the Fallen the areas are actually really small, but they're overly messy, repetitive, and interconnected in so many, convoluted ways that you constantly feel trapped and lost. Like you're in some kind of sadistic maze. The loading screens don't help either.

And don't get me started on the technical problems. Text that pops up in the wrong places, enemies that suddenly die or regain health or simply vanish mid-fight, clipping problems, quest items that fail to appear only to appear after you've reloaded the game, etc.

I'm a sucker for action RPGs and the core mechanics aren't bad (not saying much, since they were stolen from Dark Souls) so fans of the genre, like me, will still get their money's worth, but I wish I'd had replayed one of the Souls games instead.

It took me 18 hours to finish the story, but like I said: 4 of those have been spent doing nothing but wandering around, not knowing what the fuck to do.

5/10
Click to expand...

can i ask you if u took your time to explore the game world or u just followed the main story straight to the end?
 
Spainkiller

Spainkiller

the man who sold the world
Kensuke said:
The fact that it's very non-linear helps a bit though. You can pretty much explore almost the whole world from the get go. You can even go into one of the late-game dungeons early on if want (and find a super good weapon).
Click to expand...

No way, man, the game's very linear, it just pretends it isn't. Every time I wanted to go somewhere else, the doors were either locked, "locked from the other side" or "locked with some strange magic" (literally what the game said).

The sequence-break you mentioned is pretty much the only sequence-break in the game (and the one that I did; I did the entirety of the catacombs before going to the demon world, so imagine my chagrin when I realized I had to do the catacombs AGAIN to get to the Citadel) and got that powerful weapon which made everything super easy. The funny thing is, the game even tells you that you can sequence-break that bit just before doing the graveyard boss, so, ehr, yeah, not impressed.

Lux86 said:
can i ask you if u took your time to explore the game world or u just followed the main story straight to the end?
Click to expand...

I took my sweet time. Tried to do most sidequests, and backtracked to the beginning of the game a few times after collecting keys, etc.

Really, I could've easily blasted through the game in less than ten hours if I knew how and wasn't that much of a completionist. That said, I don't mind short games. I prefer short, replayable games over long, grindy shitfests. Too bad LotF is a short shitfest.
 
R

Red Liquorice

Member
Seems like something to pick up on the cheap. I don't mind a Souls clone per se or even that it's story-driven and has a set character - as long as the gameplay is solid, but the artstyle is such a HUGE turn off.
 
J

jesu

Member
Waiting for some reviews before I make up my mind, but an RPG set in a single big castle is something I've wanted for a long time.
 
Lux R7

Lux R7

Member
Spainkiller said:
No way, man, the game's very linear, it just pretends it isn't. Every time I wanted to go somewhere else, the doors were either locked, "locked from the other side" or "locked with some strange magic" (literally what the game said).

The sequence-break you mentioned is pretty much the only sequence-break in the game (and the one that I did; I did the entirety of the catacombs before going to the demon world, so imagine my chagrin when I realized I had to do the catacombs AGAIN to get to the Citadel) and got that powerful weapon which made everything super easy. The funny thing is, the game even tells you that you can sequence-break that bit just before doing the graveyard boss, so, ehr, yeah, not impressed.



I took my sweet time. Tried to do most sidequests, and backtracked to the beginning of the game a few times after collecting keys, etc.

Really, I could've easily blasted through the game in less than ten hours if I knew how and wasn't that much of a completionist. That said, I don't mind short games. I prefer short, replayable games over long, grindy shitfests. Too bad LotF is a short shitfest.
Click to expand...

got it, thanks.
 
K

KaiserWilson

Neo Member
The biggest thing this game had going for me is that the YT and Twitch guys who are really big in the Souls community got a positive vibe from it. I watched ENB's, Vaati's, and Lobos vids on this game. If those guys said it was worth buying and playing that's good enough for me.
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
bede-x said:
The Youtube videos I've seen of the PS4 version have had tons of tearing. Was hoping it was gonna be fixed :(

Oh well, PC version for me then.
Click to expand...

Is youtube really a good source to go off of that? Shouldnt you wait for like gamersyde footage or something else?
 
F

Frank Jaeger

Member
We had doom clones, we had diablo clones! Some would say we even had Half Life clones...

Here's the first Souls clone. I will play it for sure!
 
B

bede-x

Member
Parakeetman said:
Is youtube really a good source to go off of that? Shouldnt you wait for like gamersyde footage or something else?
Click to expand...

Absolutely, it's just that when people start reporting that it hasn't been fixed, I tend to believe them. See the link in the post I quoted.
 
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