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[Sotha_Sil]

Just replayed it and had an entirely different set of scenes unfold. Even though I ended up in the same place by the end of the demo, it was two very different experiences.

 

[jond76]

I really was excited to play Heavy Rain when I first got my PS3. Put it in, update, etc. Then the controls. THE CONTROLS!!! Terrible. Never got the dude out of his house,,, Sad...

But this? Wow it's night and day. They really figured out a way to streamline the controls. The fighting was fun, Aiden was fun. Overall very enjoyable. I'll have to get this.

Ellen's model looks great, some of the others look ehhh. But the presentation overall is fantastic. Great looking game. Excited to see more.

 

[B.O.O.M]

I'm pretty sure there was a Jackie Chan game on the PS1 as well. I seem to recall a demo doing the rounds, and it was shit. Was better off watching Rush Hour and Police Story 2 for the umpteenth time than playing that garbage. Classics.

Hopefully I didn't dream the whole thing.

 

[Robert7lee]

I really was excited to play Heavy Rain when I first got my PS3. Put it in, update, etc. Then the controls. THE CONTROLS!!! Terrible. Never got the dude out of his house,,, Sad...

But this? Wow it's night and day. They really figured out a way to streamline the controls. The fighting was fun, Aiden was fun. Overall very enjoyable. I'll have to get this.

Ellen's model looks great, some of the others look ehhh. But the presentation overall is fantastic. Great looking game. Excited to see more.

I played through Heavy Rain, it had some interesting ideas but I agree the controls were shocking. I felt the same way about this demo too though. I feel like I get hooked into the story but I can't get a feel for the controls of Jodie, why can't I have direct control like most games, it's just really frustrating.

My personal view of David Cage in some interviews he seems to look down on other games and gamers for being the same or tried and tested games (again this is just my personal view from a couple of interviews in opm uk), it seems like he wants to create new and rich experiences which blur the line between game and cinema.

However I would still like some concrete gameplay, I really enjoyed the Aidan sections but found a big disconnect when controlling Jodie. For the fight on top of he train, for instance, the controls don't have to be complex to implement a good combat system, look at batman AA for example. Shaking the controller, moving the controller up/down and qte is not a fun way for me to play games (I didn't keep heavy rain after beating it.

I hope David Cage can learn from other games which create fun gameplay elements. My personal takeaway from the demo, Aidan sections are fun, the story looks very interesting, the game looks pretty, Jodie sections are frustrating and the score is superb!

 

[EmptySpace]

I played through Heavy Rain, it had some interesting ideas but I agree the controls were shocking. I felt the same way about this demo too though. I feel like I get hooked into the story but I can't get a feel for the controls of Jodie, why can't I have direct control like most games, it's just really frustrating.

My personal view of David Cage in some interviews he seems to look down on other games and gamers for being the same or tried and tested games (again this is just my personal view from a couple of interviews in opm uk), it seems like he wants to create new and rich experiences which blur the line between game and cinema.

However I would still like some concrete gameplay, I really enjoyed the Aidan sections but found a big disconnect when controlling Jodie. For the fight on top of he train, for instance, the controls don't have to be complex to implement a good combat system, look at batman AA for example. Shaking the controller, moving the controller up/down and qte is not a fun way for me to play games (I didn't keep heavy rain after beating it.

I hope David Cage can learn from other games which create fun gameplay elements. My personal takeaway from the demo, Aidan sections are fun, the story looks very interesting, the game looks pretty, Jodie sections are frustrating and the score is superb!

with these kinds of controls, no set action for any button. any button serves a purpose at any moment of the game. x will not always be jump, l1 will never be always to zoom in with a gun.

this will, in turn, set the world more open than any other. anything is possible, any action is possible, no animation will be repeated, no fight scene will be the same, every scene is completely different. jodie can be sneaking, crawling, fighting dogs, climbing up a wall, pushing obstacles out of the way, strangling a man, breaking a window, sliding, rolling, driving, dodging, kicking, shooting a gun, unlocking handcuffs, watching tv, literally anything and it is up to the devs. it also offers a deeper experience than most games. how many times has anyone escaped from a train by going to the bathroom, punching a hole on the ceiling, climbing out and having a fight on top of the moving train, and jumping off it inside a video game? randomness might be lost, but games like beyond offer deeper experiences to moments that otherwise just come "without anything" in other games. you wanna climb a wall in assassin's creed? just mash x multiple times and direct the analog stick. very different experience in beyond.

the gameplay rests solely on how much the player knows the dualshock. playing heavy rain on hard while keeping all the characters alive was EmptySpace's most intense gaming this past generation. there was no going back, every button press counts (unlike a lot of games) and was just overall stressful a lot of times. a misfire of the gun in heavy rain vs. a misfire of the gun in uncharted are two very, very different things.

.

 

[semiconscious]

with these kinds of controls, no set action for any button. any button serves a purpose at any moment of the game. x will not always be jump, l1 will never be always to zoom in with a gun.

this will, in turn, set the world more open than any other. anything is possible, any action is possible, no animation will be repeated, no fight scene will be the same, every scene is completely different. jodie can be sneaking, crawling, fighting dogs, climbing up a wall, pushing obstacles out of the way, strangling a man, breaking a window, sliding, rolling, driving, dodging, kicking, shooting a gun, unlocking handcuffs, watching tv, literally anything and it is up to the devs. it also offers a deeper experience than most games. how many times has anyone escaped from a train by going to the bathroom, punching a hole on the ceiling, climbing out and having a fight on top of the moving train, and jumping off it inside a video game? randomness might be lost, but games like beyond offer deeper experiences to moments that otherwise just come "without anything" in other games. you wanna climb a wall in assassin's creed? just mash x multiple times and direct the analog stick. very different experience in beyond.

the gameplay rests solely on how much the player knows the dualshock. playing heavy rain on hard while keeping all the characters alive was EmptySpace's most intense gaming this past generation. there was no going back, every button press counts (unlike a lot of games) and was just overall stressful a lot of times. a misfire of the gun in heavy rain vs. a misfire of the gun in uncharted are two very, very different things.

& a quote for a quote:

emptyspace sees 'variety'. semiconscious sees 'quicktime'...

emptyspace obviously enjoys playing games featuring quicktime events. there are, however, many of us who just plain don't, & actually find them to be kinda irritating/obnoxious, &, in my case, when playing heavy rain, nothing but a huge distraction injected into an otherwise sorta interesting game...

 

[EmptySpace]

& a quote for a quote:



emptyspace obviously enjoys playing games featuring quicktime events. there are, however, many of us who just plain don't, & actually find them to be kinda irritating/obnoxious, &, in my case, when playing heavy rain, nothing but a huge distraction injected into an otherwise sorta interesting game...

and how does semicoscious suggest having a set number of actions mapped on buttons work with the different scenarios presented in heavy rain? each scene is different, from showering to driving to cutting a finger to using ari to looking at a deceased body to escaping from being handcuffed. again, no way to do all those moments with mapping the buttons to specific actions like limiting x to jump or r1 to shoot,.

 

[Cheddahz]

Why is the aspect ratio so bad?

 

[DukeBobby]

Why is the aspect ratio so bad?

Yeah, I don't like it either.

 

[dragonbane]

Why is the aspect ratio so bad?

Because cinematic and it makes the game look much better. Here is how the game looked like when it was still 720p (or rather sub-HD) without black borders. This is pretty much direct feed quality:

To get the best experience, enlarge the pictures for the glorious blurriness. I cropped them to make them the same resolution that the game is today. Here is how the same scenes look like today. I removed the black borders:

I prefer the version where I can actually see some details.

 

[semiconscious]

and how does semicoscious suggest having a set number of actions mapped on buttons work with the different scenarios presented in heavy rain? each scene is different, from showering to driving to cutting a finger to using ari to looking at a deceased body to escaping from being handcuffed. again, no way to do all those moments with mapping the buttons to specific actions like limiting x to jump or r1 to shoot,.

this's an impressions thread. my impression is that the gameplay is overly-reliant on quicktime button-presses, knob-fiddling, & controller-shaking, & that i didn't really enjoy it, or particularly see its end/purpose (deeper immersion?) in any way benefiting from it. i'm not trying to convince you, or anyone else, that i'm 'right', & it's not for me to suggest how controls for activities such as showering, or brushing teeth (or any number of other activities i've never really had any interest in performing in a game in the first place ), could be better incorporated. i'm simply giving my impressions...

if 'escape from being handcuffed = hold l1, then also hold r1' is any more involving, or more dramatic/tense, or more immersive for you (or anyone else) than 'escape from handcuffs = repeatedly press action button', then i'm happy for you, & glad you enjoyed the demo...

 

[MMaRsu]

So i heard this game takes place during heavy rain's timeline. Or at least some point does. The origami killer is mentioned in a newspaper.

 

[Wasp]

Why is the aspect ratio so bad?

I dislike it too. If every game did this like 90% of DVDs/Blu-rays do I would kill myself but I can put up with it for this one game (and The Order: 1886). But this better not become a trend, I thought the days of borders in games was over.

I'll be playing the game with overscan on my TV turned on which helps reduce the borders a bit.

 

[IvorB]

I played the demo last night and I have to say I was really impressed. It's pretty gentle gameplay but still very engaging. It's certainly not a QTE-fest. But I will have to reserve my judgement until I can see how things might have played out differently if my controller response was different. It does feel like a technology high-water mark and it's pretty great to see the PS3 pushing out such graphics.

 

[IvorB]

I dislike it too. If every game did this like 90% of DVDs/Blu-rays do I would kill myself but I can put up with it for this one game (and The Order: 1886). But this better not become a trend, I thought the days of borders in games was over.

I'll be playing the game with overscan on my TV turned on which helps reduce the borders a bit.

I would leave it to be honest. You will lose image to either side. It's meant to be a cinematic experience so probably better to just roll with it.

 

[winstano]

Which section of the game is the demo from?

 

[EGM1966]

I dislike it too. If every game did this like 90% of DVDs/Blu-rays do I would kill myself but I can put up with it for this one game (and The Order: 1886). But this better not become a trend, I thought the days of borders in games was over.

I'll be playing the game with overscan on my TV turned on which helps reduce the borders a bit.

I doubt it'll be a trend. There's little sign of that. A few games will do it because they want to emulate widesceeen films and Beyond is one of them but it's obvious 90% plus of games will go with fullscreen.

 

[Akainu]

I think I had too much fun screwing with that fat lady. Can you choke her to death?

 

[Metalmurphy]

Anyone else ran into graphical glitches from the bike scene and beyond or is it just my PS3 that's dying? lol

Sometimes Jodies face would be all red and all the lights were glitching, some arrows and squares would appear instead of the lights.

 

[EmptySpace]

this's an impressions thread. my impression is that the gameplay is overly-reliant on quicktime button-presses, knob-fiddling, & controller-shaking, & that i didn't really enjoy it, or particularly see its end/purpose (deeper immersion?) in any way benefiting from it. i'm not trying to convince you, or anyone else, that i'm 'right', & it's not for me to suggest how controls for activities such as showering, or brushing teeth (or any number of other activities i've never really had any interest in performing in a game in the first place ), could be better incorporated. i'm simply giving my impressions...

if 'escape from being handcuffed = hold l1, then also hold r1' is any more involving, or more dramatic/tense, or more immersive for you (or anyone else) than 'escape from handcuffs = repeatedly press action button', then i'm happy for you, & glad you enjoyed the demo...

the question isn't about how involving the control is, it's how to make the scenarios work with a set action for each button. the answer of course would be that no, it is impossible. and that is why no one sees the kinds of things beyond does in any other game. if semiconscious does not want those controls, then no other game is going to give those types of scenarios in any other control scheme. period. the purpose of those controls is not about deeper immersion, but that no other controls would lend themselves to the scenarios that are being presented in beyond. that is all there is to it.

 

[dragonbane]

Anyone else ran into graphical glitches from the bike scene and beyond or is it just my PS3 that's dying? lol

Sometimes Jodies face would be all red and all the lights were glitching, some arrows and squares would appear instead of the lights.

Didn't have any problems, but there are others who have. Either your PS3 is dying, meaning the data streaming is probably too slow affecting the game or it is just the demo having some bugs. At least I haven't heard any complaints so far from people that played the full game.

 

[semiconscious]

the question isn't about how involving the control is, it's how to make the scenarios work with a set action for each button. the answer of course would be that no, it is impossible. and that is why no one sees the kinds of things beyond does in any other game. if semiconscious does not want those controls, then no other game is going to give those types of scenarios in any other control scheme. period. the purpose of those controls is not about deeper immersion, but that no other controls would lend themselves to the scenarios that are being presented in beyond. that is all there is to it.

i have no idea what you're saying at this point. if it's not about making the gameplay more involving, how exactly is simply pressing a single designated action button not easily substituted for all the other 'hold this button, then this button', 'hit these 2 triggers alternately', 'flip controller up' control schemes?...

wade through water? repeatedly hit action button. open ceiling door in train? highlight door / hit action button. pick up soap in shower? highlight soap / hit action button. escape from handcuffs? highlight handcuffs / hit action button...

if it's not all about being involving, or creating tension or immersion, i'm at a complete loss in understanding the necessity of substituting multiple controls where a single action button would suffice. unless, of course, it's simply to conceal the fact that, underneath all the quicktime elements, there lies at the heart of much of the gameplay an extraordinary amount of sheer 'pas-fail' simplicity? over the last few months, i've played games where i've picked up & placed ladders (last of us), climbed through trap doors / broken out of prison (metal gear solid 3), & many other types of situations which were all easily handled with a 'highlight / hit action button' control scheme...

iow, as invested as you obviously are in appreciating the beauty of this approach to action sequences, i think you're dead wrong as to what exactly's going on in them. there's nothing whatsoever inherently 'just too complex for standard controls' about these scenarios. cage's quicktime controls have nothing to do with 'impossible to do with a standard control scheme', & everything to do with 'highlight / hit action button too simple', so 'quicktime for the sake of tension / creating pass-fail situations'...

you find it thrilling. i find it distracting ...

 

[EmptySpace]

i have no idea what you're saying at this point. if it's not about making the gameplay more involving, how exactly is simply pressing a single designated action button not easily substituted for all the other 'hold this button, then this button', 'hit these 2 triggers alternately', 'flip controller up' control schemes?...

wade through water? repeatedly hit action button. open ceiling door in train? highlight door / hit action button. pick up soap in shower? highlight soap / hit action button. escape from handcuffs? highlight handcuffs / hit action button...

if it's not all about being involving, or creating tension or immersion, i'm at a complete loss in understanding the necessity of substituting multiple controls where a single action button would suffice. unless, of course, it's simply to conceal the fact that, underneath all the quicktime elements, there lies at the heart of much of the gameplay an extraordinary amount of sheer 'pas-fail' simplicity? over the last few months, i've played games where i've picked up & placed ladders (last of us), climbed through trap doors / broken out of prison (metal gear solid 3), & many other types of situations which were all easily handled with a 'highlight / hit action button' control scheme...

iow, as invested as you obviously are in appreciating the beauty of this approach to action sequences, i think you're dead wrong as to what exactly's going on in them. there's nothing whatsoever inherently 'just too complex for standard controls' about these scenarios. cage's quicktime controls have nothing to do with 'impossible to do with a standard control scheme', & everything to do with 'highlight / hit action button too simple', so 'quicktime for the sake of tension / creating pass-fail situations'...

you find it thrilling. i find it distracting ...

l-o-l. are you seriously comparing this game to tlou? the majority of tlou gameplay is not interactivity with a lot of things, but shooting the same things over and over. you are speaking as if the diversity of actions found in tlou is even in the same league as heavy rain or beyond. it is only possible to assign the triangle button to tlou because the interactive things that you do in tlou are far and few in-between the traditional gameplay compared to heavy rain.

"if it's not all about being involving, or creating tension or immersion, i'm at a complete loss in understanding the necessity of substituting multiple controls where a single action button would suffice. "

because the majority of the game does not involve the same things over and over? the demo alone which clocked in at 40 minutes had very different scenarios.

the problem with your logic is that you assume interactive things that are not traditional gameplay should only be played by pressing a button, because those things have been played the same way in other games. that is just powerfully flawed. comparing two games with very different game designs alone is a stretch, let alone comparing how they should control.

"oh in mgs3 one button was sufficient to break windows and do shit, and in this game it should have been that way....yeah this game is simple because those actions were easily handled in those other games."

except this game is built around doing those interactive things, while mgs3 was not built around breaking windows. therefore, the controls work for different reasons and the way they are because of those reasons. had mgs3 been a game where breaking windows and doing similar things of the same nature were the key points and not the stealth/action parts, do you seriously think they would only assign one button to it?

there is no sense arguing if you seriously believe those games are even comparable. there is a set action button set in this game, which is that of aiden's, because the gameplay with aiden is much like the shooting/walking in tlou which is that those parts are the ones that would stick all throughout the game. period.

 

[wouwie]

I played through the demo 3 times so there is definately something in there that is catching my attention. I had 2 rather different ways of going through the hunted section. I also had a lot of visual bugs with complete roadside textures dissapearing and random noise on the screen.

But yes, interesting demo. The soundtrack stood out to me. Proper movie score and really great and powerful. Graphics were cool too though the setting was a tad uninspiring.

I was not sure about the whole supernatural twist but playing as Aiden was quite interesting and worked quite well. The demo felt a lot more action orientated than Heavy Rain ever was (as far as i remember) which is a bit of a bummer.

I can't say i agree with everything Cage and Quantic Dream do (especially gameplay, story and control wise) but so far i have enjoyed their games a lot because they offer something different, some sort of new take on the old adventure genre (which i love so much).

The demo certainly got me interested in buying this game.

 

[semiconscious]

there is no sense arguing if you seriously believe those games are even comparable...

the thing is, i don't really think we're arguing, as much as we are agreeing, & you simply don't like the way i'm choosing to say pretty much exactly what you are saying ...

you say:

except this game is built around doing those interactive things, while mgs3 was not built around breaking windows. therefore, the controls work for different reasons and the way they are because of those reasons. had mgs3 been a game where breaking windows and doing similar things of the same nature were the key points and not the stealth/action parts, do you seriously think they would only assign one button to it?...

while i say:

there's nothing whatsoever inherently 'just too complex for standard controls' about these scenarios. cage's quicktime controls have nothing to do with 'impossible to do with a standard control scheme', & everything to do with 'highlight / hit action button too simple', so 'quicktime for the sake of tension / creating pass-fail situations'...

iow, we're both agreeing that the reasons cage employs the controls he does is not because it couldn't be done more simply, but because he, by turning what would oftentimes be mundane tasks in other games into 'key points', which involve pass/fail states, needs to include some kind of interactive mechanic. & we're both agreeing that, if that's what he's up to, he therefore can't simply opt for 'use action button', which'd be self-defeating (iow, '100% pass / 0% fail')...

the only thing we truly 'disagree' on is whether each of us personally enjoy the interactive mechanics he's opted for, which's purely subjective - & which's what an impressions thread is all about - subjectivity. you've mentioned that you feel cage's quicktime mechanics are preferable to those used in the walking dead, to the extent they create greater tension. myself, having played heavy rain & the walking dead, preferred the latter (despite the fact that i thought the overall story in heavy rain was more interesting). less twitchy, more thoughtful, & they worked just fine for me...

which's why i chose to conclude:

you find it thrilling. i find it distracting ...

again, this's an impressions thread. & i'm not dissing beyond, or claiming the mechanics are particularly awful. i'm simply saying i personally don't find them appealing...

 

[Ravensmash]

Just finished the demo.

How differently can each scene play out?

 

[Ricker]

Just finished the demo.

How differently can each scene play out?

Some mentionned at least 2 big instances where it changes...like if you get killed or injured badly I guess by the dogs and the part where you try to climb out the train,with the lousy shake the whole controller thing that never worked for me,so they caught me but I saw a video where she jumps out of the train and uses something,which I never saw...I got caught in the forest at some point but after escaping the dogs...