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Bound (PS4) |OT| Dance the night away

Lime

Member
Finished it just now. Great experience and I enjoyed every moment. Most likely in my Top 3 for this year. It reminds me why I play video games and why I actually give a fuck about the medium.

Both the technical artists, animators and the concept artists for this game deserves a Nobel prize or something equivalent. Sometimes I couldn't believe my eyes.
 

Lime

Member
I can't recall the last time I took so many screenshots in such a short amount of time:

like this is just crazy and the 4K feature is just amazing

bound_20160818222816e3u9c.jpg
bound_20160818221352pkss0.jpg
bound_201608182215378psco.jpg
bound_20160818222120bqsjo.jpg
 

Shin-Ra

Junior Member
I can't recall the last time I took so many screenshots in such a short amount of time:

like this is just crazy and the 4K feature is just amazing
4K feature?

By the way, if you have a scene with a lot of smooth gradients and colour banding showing, it helps to add some low intensity, fine film grain, like 10% intensity, 0% scale.
 

Humdinger

Gold Member
Just finished it. Loved the game. 9/10 for me. Amazingly creative, a breath of fresh air. I'm putting Plastic on my list of developers to watch. They're in the same category as That Game Company, Giant Sparrow, and Giant Squid, imo. I love how different this game is. It is bizarre and strange and weird and trippy, and I love it. I can't remember the last game that had me gawking at the screen so much.

If I had to fault it for something, it's that the story didn't quite congeal for me, and after a mysterious build up, seemed to resolve into something rather ordinary. I was hoping for something as imaginative as all the visuals.

But no matter. It's not a game about story. It's a game about art and sound and movement. It succeeded brilliantly at that.

Best indie I've played all year, and I've played some good ones.
 

kyser73

Member
Yeah but I just could not get it to work on this sloping balance beam which had three of four of those red shard things that attack you. I kept getting knocked off.

Charge up your ribbons with R2, release and then hold down L2 to run across the beam with your ribbon barrier up.
 

irkutsk12

Neo Member
Thank you for all great feedback.

I'll quickly explain why balance beams are blocked. In the game you take care of your fears and when you overcome one of them then they won't block you on the balance beam. The pearls were knocking you off. So you need to pass the pearls level first and then choose the level with balance beam - it will be unlocked now.
There are 120 combinations that levels can be passed through. One of those is the fastest.

Currently GOLD_Angel_42 knows the fastest combination and it's 43 minutes and 50 seconds. We know that you can go lower than that, but we don't know the ultimate combination, because we wanted to leave that to the players.
 

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
The game is an awesome experience so far, and it looks simply astounding. I feel it's far more deserving of an attention than what Abzu got, and it's weird to me that it's seemingly getting less.
 

Lime

Member
Can someone explain to me what this game was really about and the ending? I'll say that I pressed x.

A heterosexual family with a daughter and a son got divorced, the dad apparently never shows up again, now grown-up pregnant daughter go to see him carrying her childhood drawings in a book. Before going to the house and knocking on the door (or leaving), she revisits her memories through each drawing in the book.
 
I haven't got around to playing much of this yet, but I have let my six year old daughter play some. It only has a PEGI rating of 7, but I get the feeling from the few bits and pieces we've seen so far that
the story in the fractured family scenes might get a bit dark
?
 

irkutsk12

Neo Member
As for PEGI, it seems that they only check a list if there's violence, alcohol etc. It was also weird for me. Should be PEGI12 at least. It's 10+ in US.
 

melkier33

Member
Which level is it? I may well have used an alternate route when I encountered it :)

Hmm the 2nd level? Pretty sure it was the first book page you could select. I'm almost positive it's a bug, no matter what I do as soon as I touch the balance beam it's instant death. Tried to reload/reset my ps4 and now I'm stuck here the platforms used to get here disappeared.


imgur.com/OYyrvR0
 

Lime

Member
I haven't got around to playing much of this yet, but I have let my six year old daughter play some. It only has a PEGI rating of 7, but I get the feeling from the few bits and pieces we've seen so far that
the story in the fractured family scenes might get a bit dark
?

It's not that dark and it's hardly understandable.
 

irkutsk12

Neo Member
Hmm the 2nd level? Pretty sure it was the first book page you could select. I'm almost positive it's a bug, no matter what I do as soon as I touch the balance beam it's instant death. Tried to reload/reset my ps4 and now I'm stuck here the platforms used to get here disappeared.


imgur.com/OYyrvR0

It's not a bug it's a feature :). It's a speedrunning path on the paper planes level. In order to pass through it, you need to clear 'Steam' level first. There's an easy path but you need to turn around and search for a plate on the ground that will open the bridge.
 

melkier33

Member
It's not a bug it's a feature :). It's a speedrunning path on the paper planes level. In order to pass through it, you need to clear 'Steam' level first. There's an easy path but you need to turn around and search for a plate on the ground that will open the bridge.

Its pretty poorly placed, and considering the platforms that got me there disappeared after I reloaded I just assumed it was the correct way to go. I'm sure there's going to be a few frustrated people at that part, that path is more obvious then the true path.
 

BigEmil

Junior Member
I can't recall the last time I took so many screenshots in such a short amount of time:

like this is just crazy and the 4K feature is just amazing
Great shots, it being in uncompressed png screenshots would be better :)
 

Lime

Member
Great shots, it being in uncompressed png screenshots would be better :)

Thanks! They are PNGs and then converted via FastStone in high quality JPGs without any discernible difference. People have had that conversation in the PC screenshot thread :)
 

irkutsk12

Neo Member
Its pretty poorly placed, and considering the platforms that got me there disappeared after I reloaded I just assumed it was the correct way to go. I'm sure there's going to be a few frustrated people at that part, that path is more obvious then the true path.

We will reinvestigate that place in PSVR patch. Thanks for the feedback.
 

Humdinger

Gold Member
Yes, I agree ^.

Is there any point to the little bits of shards you collect (I love the noise that goes with them, btw)? Are they counted somehow? Do they serve any purpose?
 

irkutsk12

Neo Member
Is there any point to the little bits of shards you collect (I love the noise that goes with them, btw)? Are they counted somehow? Do they serve any purpose?

The shards form good memories that are being destroyed by the fears by the end of each chapter. We are using them also as crumbs of bread to lead the player and as collectibles for 100% runs - you can turn on the counter in speedrun menu.
 

bryanee

Member
Its pretty poorly placed, and considering the platforms that got me there disappeared after I reloaded I just assumed it was the correct way to go. I'm sure there's going to be a few frustrated people at that part, that path is more obvious then the true path.

That happened to me. The path that appears when you touch a certain block disappeared when I was on the other side and because I couldn't get up that beam I was stuck there. I had to start a new save.
 

irkutsk12

Neo Member
irkutsk12, any plans for merchandise? Art books, posters, etc.?

We were not prepared for the #photomode festival :). We have posters, planning to do t-shirts and 3d printed models of the princess, but they will be all giveaways for active players doing photo captures and speedruns.

Soundtrack will be released on vinyl. Digital soundtrack will be available soon. We will announce it on @plasticdemo but I will drop a line here for sure.
 

Citizen K

Member
I really enjoyed this game, the game-play wasn't perfect but its one of the most beautiful games I have ever played.

pe37tRJ.png


More in the screenshot thread here and here. Truly wonderful artsyle.
 
Just finished. Amazing. This was what I was hoping to get out of Abzu but that fell short.

Beautiful, mysterious, personal.

Wow

Although
I accidentally chose car not knowing the implications! Whoops!
 

GeoramA

Member
Yeah I wasn't expecting these kind of visuals, wow. It's flat out gorgeous and the animation for The Dancer is flawless.
 

kyser73

Member
Can someone explain to me what this game was really about and the ending? I'll say that I pressed x.

A heterosexual family with a daughter and a son got divorced, the dad apparently never shows up again, now grown-up pregnant daughter go to see him carrying her childhood drawings in a book. Before going to the house and knocking on the door (or leaving), she revisits her memories through each drawing in the book.

She's also using the book and her drawings as a means of overcoming her own fears about making the same mistakes as her parents did (while clearly the father leaving is the 'big' event, the mother character in game is indicative of fears of being distant with her children). The FemFrew video is with watching for this

Re: the levels - that would explain why I didn't have any issues as I played the Pearls level before the beam one.
 

WoolyNinja

Member
Well - I definitely enjoyed this more than Abzu however I still have lots of problems with this one that prevented me from really liking it.

My main complaint though is how everything looks too similar. No levels really had their own look... it was all too similar looking.
 

Humdinger

Gold Member
Played through the game twice. Really enjoyed it. I'd give it high marks for visual presentation, music, and movement. Those are things that really stood out, and I really appreciate the originality and creativity that went into that.

Weaker point was the story, which I didn't feel had much of an emotional impact, given the lack of dialog, the restriction to a half-dozen motionless tableaus, and the abstract symbols. It all felt a little too ... abstract to have an impact.

But I understand that story is not where the game was focused. The focus was on visuals, music, and movement, and it excelled there.
 

Raitaro

Member
This game comes out of nowhere for me but the positive impressions here along with the screenshots have pretty much sold me instantly. What a cool concept and art style!

I bought Abzu just a few days ago, which I have yet to really start, but this will be my next purchase for sure (along with Inside - man those great indie titles keep coming!).

That's the second time I've seen you port beg this game.

I've not seen his other post but since most PS4 indie games or exclusives are coming to PC as well nowadays, I think it's a valid wish for Bound to follow that trend as well (even if putting that wish forward in the form of a direct question to the dev residing in this very thread would have been better perhaps).
 

NeoRaider

Member
That's the second time I've seen you port beg this game.

Some PS4 "exclusives" are coming to PC, more often in last few months. Wanting to play a game and expecting it to come to PC in the future is not a port begging. But hey, thanks for remembering me and my posts. Even tho. my post was in other thread and it was more like (can't remember 100%) : "It looks interesting, i would like to try it, i hope it gets released on PC".
 

Shin-Ra

Junior Member
Some PS4 "exclusives" are coming to PC, more often in last few months. Wanting to play a game and expecting it to come to PC in the future is not a port begging. But hey, thanks for remembering me and my posts. Even tho. my post was in other thread and it was more like (can't remember 100%) : "It looks interesting, i would like to try it, i hope it gets released on PC".
You shouldn't expect this game to come to PC and you're welcome. Please don't port beg.
 

GeeTeeCee

Member
I tried but i keep landing on the red floating ball i'm on.

I think I had the same issue, where the shift in gravity wasn't letting me leap off the ball and onto another surface. It took a minute or two before I finally managed a leap that got me clear of the ball. It was just blind luck I guess.

--

And also, the post a few places above still sounds like port-begging, regardless of how many other console games are coming to PC recently. XCOM 2 is coming to console, but I don't go into every PC-exclusive thread and announce that I'm looking forward to playing it on PS4, even with the "precedent."
 

BeeDog

Member
Bound is published by Sony and has heavy involvement from the Sony Santa Monica studio, so it's very doubtful this game has a shot to be released on PC. I believe the only outlier that's on PC is Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.
 

Elandyll

Banned
Bound is published by Sony and has heavy involvement from the Sony Santa Monica studio, so it's very doubtful this game has a shot to be released on PC. I believe the only outlier that's on PC is Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.
Helldivers as well.
But Bound, given the involvement of SSM, is very unlikely to be on anything else than a Playstation imo.

Good news though, PS4S is probably about to be revealed at a price less than half of a good PC GPU!
 

NeoRaider

Member
You shouldn't expect this game to come to PC and you're welcome. Please don't port beg.

Your opinion won't change my expectations, no matter what. I still hope that it's coming, but even if it doesn't... not a big deal. Not sure why you seem bitter tho.
 
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