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The Order: 1886 |OT| Gears of Yore

Man I wasn't expecting this game to be so great. I really enjoyed the last half, and Im super excited for more. Its a nice change of pace from the open world collect-a-thon games that have been coming out a lot lately. Yes the game has flaws, but its a tight overall package. RAD really have created a great mold for any equals, and I think they will learn a lot from this first go round. The story concepts have grabbed me so much, and I love the characters. Galahad is a great protagonist, and I can't wait to see where he's headed next
Americas or India to fight vampires/werewolves/creatures

Its a must play to me If you have a PS4. Is it worth $60? maybe not, but you can easily flip it after a few days and get $40+ back as of right now...

8.5/10

I have seen no where to get 40$ for this game. GameStop is offering like 20$
 

Proxy

Member
Just beat it and I can see the potential for future games in the franchise. Hopefully they'll tone down the QTEs and open up the levels more. If they do that I think they've got a winning franchise on their hands.
 
Assuming they make a sequel and they address some of of the flaws I can totally see a live action movie being made as well. The voice acting in this game was top notch some of the best I've seen in recent years; it really did sell me on the cinematic angle they were going for.
 

hwalker84

Member
I'm close to the end and I'll give it a 6/10 so far. Should have it beat today and traded in tomorrow. The Kotaku review for me was spot on.
 
And that's the platinum! :)

I really liked the game but I agree with the flaws most people pointed out, I guess in the end they just didn't detract enough for me to have issue with it.

The acting in the game was truly splendid, though I will say I'm sad that
Galahad and Isabeau never got to reconcile :(
 
I forgot to mention I am an idiot, played almost the entire stealth part of chapter XI taking out guards with takedowns before I realized I had a crossbow

Same here. :D Got killed 8 times or so before I noticed I could use that fancy weapon. Loved that chapter though the stealth gameplay was too basic.
 
Finished (at last!) and only picked up 48% of the trophies, so I'll be going back in. For all of its flaws, I loved the game, and it was pretty much what I expected from it; Heavy Rain with gun bits.

One thing that did annoy me because I'm an invert-Y player, those 'line up the dot' QTEs are a mind-bender the first few times. It's like my brain struggles to pull itself from movement in 3D space when it's suddenly required to control a 2D cursor.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Man, I'm so torn on this game. I'm on Chapter 10 or so now, and am loving the setting and characters they've created. The story has me interested as well so far. It goes without saying that the visual and sound design are pretty much the best in the industry, too.

With all of that said, I am really not enjoying the gameplay segments at all. I find the shooting segments to be bog-standard, even with the more interesting weapons that are occasionally available. The enemies and encounter design are really uninteresting and I often feel more like I'm playing Lethal Enforcer than a typical cover-based TPS.

The QTE stuff is just annoying, too. It wouldn't be so bad if there was some kind of consistency, like "hand" actions always being triangle, but that's not how it is. Sometimes it's square, sometimes it's circle. Messing up the QTEs have been the only times I've died and obviously that immediately kills any tension they were trying to create. It's not like they are challenging, but one mistake and you're forced to do it again. It's not fun.

And that's the problem. I'm definitely being entertained by the presentation, but the game isn't fun to 'play' for me. It really does feel like they made a movie and hastily cobbled some interactive bits into it so they could sell it as a video game.

I'll probably end up finishing it tonight and don't see any reason to keep this game. I doubt I'll play through it again, because everything interactive just isn't interesting. Even the extremely limited exploration is frustrating because of all of the forced slow-walking and the fact that searching the environments is completely unrewarding since you know that anything that you can interact with will have a prominent button prompt icon above it. Bleh.

GameStop must know something we don't, only offering like 20$ :/

Haha. Damn. Guess I might keep it then. I guess Gamestop would be dumb as hell to offer any reasonable amount for this. They knew they were going to get a massive number of people looking to trade-in come Monday.
 

Cudder

Member
One thing I'm a little confused about..

The United India House ARE the rebels, right? They're the same group? So basically you have people from the Order and people from UIH that defect and start working with each other (shipping vampires around the world, for control, I take it?) even though the two groups are sworn enemies..do I have it right?
 
And that's the platinum! :)

I really liked the game but I agree with the flaws most people pointed out, I guess in the end they just didn't detract enough for me to have issue with it.

The acting in the game was truly splendid, though I will say I'm sad that
Galahad and Isabeau never got to reconcile :(

Also upset that
Galahad never got to hook up with the warrior queen
 

Skux

Member
One thing I'm a little confused about..

The United India House ARE the rebels, right? They're the same group? So basically you have people from the Order and people from UIH that defect and start working with each other (shipping vampires around the world, for control, I take it?) even though the two groups are sworn enemies..do I have it right?

I got the idea that
the United India Company is funding the rebellion, which explains all the advanced technology. The everyday street rebels don't know this, but the whole thing is being done to disrupt humans and take control of places around the world.

There really isn't much explained :S
 

ChawlieTheFair

pip pip cheerio you slags!
One thing I'm a little confused about..

The United India House ARE the rebels, right? They're the same group? So basically you have people from the Order and people from UIH that defect and start working with each other (shipping vampires around the world, for control, I take it?) even though the two groups are sworn enemies..do I have it right?
United India Company is a big scary super corporate thing, that I'm assuming some one in charge i.e Lord Hastings is using his/her power with the Company to send half-breeds around the world to further their species. I'm guessing the Indian Queen and her friend saw this happening in India, and went to England to try and stop it at the source? The United India Company is friendly with the British Govt and therefore the Order, as it seemingly appears the Order isn't aware of how the Company is delivering half breeds.

Edit:
Oh wait fuck I forgot about the "stolen" weapons plotline. Not I'm just confused lol, I thought the rebels/India Queen were trying to shut down the Company. I don't know what's going on lol.
 
So for the Brilliant! trophy, where you have to
shoot an airborne grenade during Blacksight, does it have to be my grenade or an enemy grenade?
And what's the best chapter to accomplish this?
 

BeeDog

Member
United India Company is a big scary super corporate thing, that I'm assuming some one in charge i.e Lord Hastings is using his/her power with the Company to send half-breeds around the world to further their species. I'm guessing the Indian Queen and her friend saw this happening in India, and went to England to try and stop it at the source? The United India Company is friendly with the British Govt and therefore the Order, as it seemingly appears the Order isn't aware of how the Company is delivering half breeds.

Edit:
Oh wait fuck I forgot about the "stolen" weapons plotline. Not I'm just confused lol, I thought the rebels/India Queen were trying to shut down the Company. I don't know what's going on lol.

In regards to the weapons, I believe they imply that Tesla were supplying the rebels with Order weapons.
 
In regards to the weapons, I believe they imply that Tesla were supplying the rebels with Order weapons.

Yup this is exactly what is implied
they also say during one of the round table discussions, that there is a traitor among them, which turns out to be Tesla. There's also a scene where they ask the Queen if Galahad can be trusted and she says the scientist says he can. I knew from that moment it was Tesla who was helping the rebels with the weapons
 

Cudder

Member
In regards to the weapons, I believe they imply that Tesla were supplying the rebels with Order weapons.

Which would make him a bad guy, an enemy of The Order, yet he saves Galahad and in the mid credit sequence makes it seem like they are still allies. What motivation does Tesla have to supply the enemy with Order's weapons?
 

Skux

Member
So for the Brilliant! trophy, where you have to
shoot an airborne grenade during Blacksight, does it have to be my grenade or an enemy grenade?
And what's the best chapter to accomplish this?

Chapter 8, after Galahad
gets really mad and goes solo
, you'll encounter a wave of enemies, one with a grenadier. Wait for him to throw it (don't shoot it out of his hand), then shoot it down. Pretty sure you can pick this exact checkpoint in chapter select.
 
United India Company is a big scary super corporate thing, that I'm assuming some one in charge i.e Lord Hastings is using his/her power with the Company to send half-breeds around the world to further their species. I'm guessing the Indian Queen and her friend saw this happening in India, and went to England to try and stop it at the source? The United India Company is friendly with the British Govt and therefore the Order, as it seemingly appears the Order isn't aware of how the Company is delivering half breeds.

Edit:
Oh wait fuck I forgot about the "stolen" weapons plotline. Not I'm just confused lol, I thought the rebels/India Queen were trying to shut down the Company. I don't know what's going on lol.

You're correct. The
stolen weapons was Tesla supplying them to the rebels.
 

ChawlieTheFair

pip pip cheerio you slags!
Which would make him a bad guy, an enemy of The Order, yet he saves Galahad and in the mid credit sequence makes it seem like they are still allies. What motivation does Tesla have to supply the enemy with Order's weapons?

Well the Indian Queen (I don't remember her name is someone could remind me lol) presumably filled him in, that and the Hooded guy probably told him what's up as well.
 

emrober5

Member
So for the Brilliant! trophy, where you have to
shoot an airborne grenade during Blacksight, does it have to be my grenade or an enemy grenade?
And what's the best chapter to accomplish this?

Can be an enemy grenade, I did it pretty easily on chapter 8, where you
are attacking the rebels on the bridge.
 
Which would make him a bad guy, an enemy of The Order, yet he saves Galahad and in the mid credit sequence makes it seem like they are still allies. What motivation does Tesla have to supply the enemy with Order's weapons?

Well the Indian Queen (I don't remember her name is someone could remind me lol) presumably filled him in, that and the Hooded guy probably told him what's up as well.

There's a scene where
the Indain queens bodyguard asks if Galahad can be trusted and she says the scientist seems to think so. Which would imply that she is in communication with Tesla in some way
 
So for the Brilliant! trophy, where you have to
shoot an airborne grenade during Blacksight, does it have to be my grenade or an enemy grenade?
And what's the best chapter to accomplish this?

Your grenade works well as well.

Select any chapter where you may have a grenade in your inventory and have blacksight.

Just chuck a grenade and immediately go into blacksight and shoot.

BOOM *chime tone* Brilliant! trophy unlocked.
 

BeeDog

Member
Which would make him a bad guy, an enemy of The Order, yet he saves Galahad and in the mid credit sequence makes it seem like they are still allies. What motivation does Tesla have to supply the enemy with Order's weapons?

Well, based on some of the late-game cutscenes, Tesla seems to have a long history with the Rebels and Lakshmi in particular. She even mentions that Tesla himself can fill Galahad in on the particulars, but of course the game doesn't have any time to touch upon it. In short, it seems he has been on their side all the time, while Perceval has some connections with the hooded figure, whoever that is.
 

Ramenman

Member
Okay sooo, i've been shitting all over the public showings of this game. First showing was "boring corridor cover shoot", second showing (E3 demo) was "wtf only 5 seconds of shooting and press triangle to continue cutscene", and gamescom zeppelin demo was "wtf QTE after launching a smoke and omg fake recon sniper sequence".
Those were my reactions.

I still decided to play the game to find out what's up, because I like to make my own opinion on games that get everyone talking.

I just finished it, and I actually enjoyed the package a lot, and I want more. I want more of this setting, more of those characters, more of those places, more of this ambiance, more of those incredible graphics.

I really liked the way the story is told, like there's no obvious two-way speech for you player at the very beginning, or crummy voice over to explain the setting and characters, you kind of arrive and the intrigue is already moving, and you catch up on it as you go (not talking about the
flash-forward intro sequence,
that one is a pretty standard move, but really about the script itself)
I also really liked that the whole thing is some sort of political intrigue / conspiracy unraveling, it's a nice change from standard revenge plot, of wisecracking action hero against clear antagonists, etc. I feel this kind of plot isn't something we usually see in games. Sometimes with the characters wanting to go on rogue operations or undertaking things in the back of each others and against their leaders it felt a bit like "Homeland 1886" or something.
Of course, it means that it's more subdued than other games' storyline, so that's probably why some people found the story "boring" or the characters "bland", but for me that wasn't the case, I enjoyed all of it.
One last thing I liked is (probably the most obvious draw), how the storyline turns out to encompass a lot more of our known histories and myths than I thought it would. Maybe most of this was know, but I hadn't read a lot about it and to me it wasn't, and I really enjoyed that aspect. Sometimes it even felt a little bit like what Assassin's Creed but 'done right', in a more believable way, rather than in a token 'checklist from history book' way (though that's subjective of course :D )

A quick blurb about the graphics so that it's out of the way, because I'm not 'this kind of guy', but I really must state it : you really have to see the game run in person to understand how goddamn breathtaking it is. Videos really have nothing on that, it's just fucking impressive. What with the smoothness of the animations and transitions with cutscenes, it's really something else
Those sequences to which I screamed bullshit when watching videos of them at E3 etc, well I was actually less inclined to hate on them when I saw them for real. And it's probably a mix of context (when you encounter them as part of the game, and understand what kind of 'game' it is you have less reluctance to it than when you expect to see a third person shooter's E3 demo in-between Batman and Assassin's Creed), and of how much better they look in person. It's not only in stills, there's a crazy "fluidity" in how the whole thing moves, that I can't quite explain (aside from the really great animations of course).
But let me state it again, I don't recommend a game just for the technical aspect, here it's really the setting, art direction, and story elements that are seen through this jaw-dropping lense that make me want more.

Overall it's certainly not what I *played* that I enjoyed the most, but I'm okay with that.

I did enjoy the shooting after a while (only with human enemies of course), the enemies react very well to being shot, and have very cool death animations, the weapons make a satisfying sound when shooting and reloading, the result of all this being that when you start popping headshots left or right it's very satisfying, even if nothing new.

In the realm of the clearly not good though, we have :

1 - classic realistic-but-linear LD problems of sometimes not knowing where to go, thus wasting time trying several ways and bumping into some totally illogical blockers or invisible walls (but even The Last Of Us had that so, it's just freaking hard to do this properly I guess). In the majority of case the path is obvious though, so you don't notice anything (I have no trouble with linearity in itself).

2 - insta-fail 'stealth' because that isn't really stealth gameplay + weird timing prompts for takedowns that aren't really takedowns. It's a problem in Assassin's Creed and it's a problem here. It's always a problem in any game who does that. Do a proper stealth loop (ability to start fight or vanish after detection etc), or don't do stealth. OR, if you really must, then have the most forgiving checkpoint system ever (it's not always the case in those sequences sadly).

3 - encounters with Lycans
I swear to god the 3 times you encounter those beasts it's the exact same setup with the exact same LD, it's like their pathfinding is so scripted they had to copy past their generic warehouse design or something x)
. Plus it's simply not very fun, you get thrown around, sometimes QTE saves you, sometimes you die, sometimes there's a prompt, sometimes there's none, sometimes you have time to press the button, sometimes not, and I'm only talking about trying to avoid the damn things, that's not even for damaging it. To hit the damn thing you only have a 0.2 second window + the hit feedback is terrible (contrary to human enemies) and I was always wondering wether or not I was doing damage, or if I was missing something on the "proper way" to play this. Because it looks really stupid being this one dude standing there waiting for an 'X' prompt to appear, then shoot blindly at a creature which will disappear in 1 second to hope to do 2% damage, rinse and repeat for 3 minutes.
For those sequences, it honestly feel like they tried a lot of good and ambitious stuff throughout the production of the game, but never really got it right in time, and so had to make do something quickly to release the game. Making games is really really hard, and to me those sequences feel like RAD's battle wound that they tried to mend as good as possible in what little time they had.

I had less issues with
the other type of encounters, with the standing werewolves, even though you could sum them up as "QTE-fest" they retained enough interactivity to not look awkward, and once you got the hang of it it was ok, plus in both of those encounters they had a few surprise moves to keep things interesting.

Also, on the topic of QTEs, I didn't have much trouble with them. Honestly, they made sure whenever there's an insta-death QTE you always restart right before it in a matter of litteraly one second, so it's never a big blocker (and I'd rather have that than Beyond's "you fail but actually you don't cause your character can't die lol" approach to QTE combat).
Again, I'm not sure they're needed, I don't think they add anything, but I'd be lying if I said they were a pain in the ass. RAD made a good job making them painless.

So yep, expected to rage a lot, but turns out I enjoyed it and want more.

It's not easy making something from the ground up, first entirely original IP, first next gen engine and game, first third person shooter, probably lots of trial and error for some more exotic parts... The good thing is, now that RAD has made one "The Order", I'm sure they've learnt so many things about it from making it, that I can't wait to see what they do with a sequel.


heh, that bit.

Just keep fighting the spammy waves of regular Joes/shotgunners/grenadiers/snipers until it's over. I had to drop the difficulty there because I was sure I was missing a 'walk-to' trigger point, but no, it was fight to the end.

Wait till you see the room all those guys were dropping from on the left-side :D

Yeah it's the only fight in the game that I felt was really dragging on for fucking long. The fact that there was only 1 occurence of that makes it already way better than the Uncharted games though in that regard :D
 
United India Company is a big scary super corporate thing, that I'm assuming some one in charge i.e Lord Hastings is using his/her power with the Company to send half-breeds around the world to further their species. I'm guessing the Indian Queen and her friend saw this happening in India, and went to England to try and stop it at the source? The United India Company is friendly with the British Govt and therefore the Order, as it seemingly appears the Order isn't aware of how the Company is delivering half breeds.

Edit:
Oh wait fuck I forgot about the "stolen" weapons plotline. Not I'm just confused lol, I thought the rebels/India Queen were trying to shut down the Company. I don't know what's going on lol.
I think they stole them because that way, they would have enough equipments to deal with The Order and government's armies.

So for the Brilliant! trophy, where you have to
shoot an airborne grenade during Blacksight, does it have to be my grenade or an enemy grenade?
And what's the best chapter to accomplish this?
If I recall correctly, you need to shoot yours. And I think the Westminster bridge section is the most ideal because there are a lot of grenadiers being spawned.

I got the idea that
the United India Company is funding the rebellion, which explains all the advanced technology. The everyday street rebels don't know this, but the whole thing is being done to disrupt humans and take control of places around the world.

There really isn't much explained :S
Isn't leader of rebels Ravi always trying to assassinate the head of United India Company Lord Hasting? They seem to be nemeses rather than an alliance imo :)
 
Im actually excited for a second playthrough, I think the collectible hunting on my first one kind of broke up the pacing for me, too much running around in circles checking every corner. I'll be interested to see how it feels to just run through the whole thing without stopping to look for stuff.
 
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