Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
Completely blown away on this part near the end. No game is doing anything quite like that.
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Senua's Saga: Hellblade II |OT| I Can Fix Her
- Thread starter Agent_4Seven
- Start date
- |OT|
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
I’m playing this on my Xbox One via Cloud for $1 for 14 days. I can’t complain.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Game play shots look better than cut-scene shots in 99.9% games here.
I envy people who have 30xx / 40xx cards, they have it even better (not enough to want to make a PC rig tho lol)
I envy people who have 30xx / 40xx cards, they have it even better (not enough to want to make a PC rig tho lol)
Bumblebeetuna
Gold Member
I gotta say I am agreeing with the people who dislike the combat so far compared to the original.
The encounters in the intro against human enemies were absolutely amazing but after that it’s just been the same darkness type enemies as the first game, only now apparently you can only kill them with focus. Makes the combat very repetitive and has me wondering if I’ll ever fight humans again.
The encounters in the intro against human enemies were absolutely amazing but after that it’s just been the same darkness type enemies as the first game, only now apparently you can only kill them with focus. Makes the combat very repetitive and has me wondering if I’ll ever fight humans again.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Well I'd say I'm an hour in. Had 3 fights with normal dudes and one with what I would say was a boss and it was fucking nuts. Visceral. Image quality and motion capture out of the absolute bollix. Playing with headphones and this thing is no fucking joke on the presentation side of things.
Combat seems easy to me but still really heavy hitting. No issues with parrying or dodging attacks.
Visually, nothing looks like this level of fidelity but I'm not stupid to ignore that it's basically two god like rendered characters on the screen but when that lightning hits and the lighting.
I'm basically actually finally playing an interactive CG movie.
The evolved dragons lair so to speak.
I'm loving it, but I enjoyed the first one a lot so maybe it's that.
Still only an hour in and I need to goto bed as I have a big day tomorrow but can't wait to play more.
Combat seems easy to me but still really heavy hitting. No issues with parrying or dodging attacks.
Visually, nothing looks like this level of fidelity but I'm not stupid to ignore that it's basically two god like rendered characters on the screen but when that lightning hits and the lighting.
I'm basically actually finally playing an interactive CG movie.
The evolved dragons lair so to speak.
I'm loving it, but I enjoyed the first one a lot so maybe it's that.
Still only an hour in and I need to goto bed as I have a big day tomorrow but can't wait to play more.
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ShaiKhulud1989
Gold Member
Completed the SS HB II in one sitting. Took me 5.5 hours on PC via Steam, so I'm out of the refund window. I'm kinda frustrated. Pure IMO, but...
The game is pretty, there are some mind-blowing visuals for sure. But the scope is very limited. HB2 is filled with invisible walls and very outdated movement blockers. Usually you see some rocks, quixel megascans on the background and very, very few buildings around. There are some beatiful locations, but you can really count them with one hand of a drunken tailor. Honestly, first game somehow felt way more epic with towering Hell sctuctures, forests and Celtic architecture all around you. 70% of the game are just... Well, caves, mountains and desolated landscapes took out of Death Stranding. It is stunning for an hour or so but visals are getting tedious very quickly. It doesn't help that the palette is very limited (I hope you love blue, green and orange) and needlessly muted.
Story-wise... Oh boy, it's a mess and a prime example of a word salad instead of dialogues. From every character. You can't even follow up the plot because of a pretentious over-the-head writing here, and I speak here as a big Disco Elysium fan.
Overall pacing felt poor and for a game that was developed for 5 years story is frustratingly incomplete. Plot is full of empty spaces, absolutley stupid teleportations between the locations and absolutley unresolved hooks. Its is also... Well, unfocused. Without delving deep into the spoiler territory, Senua's mental illness is not playing any part in the mess of a story about giants, slavers and god knows what. It's just a gimmick here to justify the ASMR voices. Frankly, I can't even figure out what the story is even about, it lacks some sort of motives that badly. Ending is... What was that, really? It as random as it gets. You know what? I have a feeling that NT created a set of very impressive tech demos across the years to bring them to MS HQ at random. But one year prior to the release date they forgot to weave them into at least some sort of coherent story. That's why characters, themes and locations are jumping like crazy without any rhyme or reason.
Some setpieces are visually jaw-dropping, but they too far and between. 90% of the game is slow walking, frustratingly stupid puzzles and a drag of a combat with literally 3 actions avaliable for Senua. Somehow combat is even more slow and tedious than in HB1, but now you need to overcome 5+ enemies with block, attack and slow-mo. What a joy. Final boss is a huge letdown too, especially since the game never changes the moveset or mechanics even for a final stertch.
In the end I really think that HB2 could've been even shorter. The more or less worthy meat of the game is 3 hours tops, 2.5 hours are pure boredom and tedium that was clearly added to extend the timer.
I dunno, I wanted this game to work for me badly. But in the end, it's a personal 6/10. Yeah, it's very pretty (though very claustrophobic) at times, but you cannot step into the same river twice. Ecpecially when you don't know what you are doing in this river in the first place. Hellblade still works best as a standalone adventure and the whole sequel idea really felt like a very unwarranted sidequest to me.
The game is pretty, there are some mind-blowing visuals for sure. But the scope is very limited. HB2 is filled with invisible walls and very outdated movement blockers. Usually you see some rocks, quixel megascans on the background and very, very few buildings around. There are some beatiful locations, but you can really count them with one hand of a drunken tailor. Honestly, first game somehow felt way more epic with towering Hell sctuctures, forests and Celtic architecture all around you. 70% of the game are just... Well, caves, mountains and desolated landscapes took out of Death Stranding. It is stunning for an hour or so but visals are getting tedious very quickly. It doesn't help that the palette is very limited (I hope you love blue, green and orange) and needlessly muted.
Story-wise... Oh boy, it's a mess and a prime example of a word salad instead of dialogues. From every character. You can't even follow up the plot because of a pretentious over-the-head writing here, and I speak here as a big Disco Elysium fan.
Overall pacing felt poor and for a game that was developed for 5 years story is frustratingly incomplete. Plot is full of empty spaces, absolutley stupid teleportations between the locations and absolutley unresolved hooks. Its is also... Well, unfocused. Without delving deep into the spoiler territory, Senua's mental illness is not playing any part in the mess of a story about giants, slavers and god knows what. It's just a gimmick here to justify the ASMR voices. Frankly, I can't even figure out what the story is even about, it lacks some sort of motives that badly. Ending is... What was that, really? It as random as it gets. You know what? I have a feeling that NT created a set of very impressive tech demos across the years to bring them to MS HQ at random. But one year prior to the release date they forgot to weave them into at least some sort of coherent story. That's why characters, themes and locations are jumping like crazy without any rhyme or reason.
Some setpieces are visually jaw-dropping, but they too far and between. 90% of the game is slow walking, frustratingly stupid puzzles and a drag of a combat with literally 3 actions avaliable for Senua. Somehow combat is even more slow and tedious than in HB1, but now you need to overcome 5+ enemies with block, attack and slow-mo. What a joy. Final boss is a huge letdown too, especially since the game never changes the moveset or mechanics even for a final stertch.
In the end I really think that HB2 could've been even shorter. The more or less worthy meat of the game is 3 hours tops, 2.5 hours are pure boredom and tedium that was clearly added to extend the timer.
I dunno, I wanted this game to work for me badly. But in the end, it's a personal 6/10. Yeah, it's very pretty (though very claustrophobic) at times, but you cannot step into the same river twice. Ecpecially when you don't know what you are doing in this river in the first place. Hellblade still works best as a standalone adventure and the whole sequel idea really felt like a very unwarranted sidequest to me.
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Northeastmonk
Gold Member
It’s amusing to me how much life is put into the weather and the atmosphere around you. Yet we get this type of thing in a game about mental illness versus a Witcher or fantasy game. Where are the crashing drops of rain in those games?! This is self contained. If you only had two paths to go down, you could make those two paths look like the Mona Lisa or something. I’m not singing its praise just yet.
I can tell I’ve played more action games because holding the analog stick for the last 6 minutes just to get on with the game feels like forever. I just started to actually gain control over Senua. I’m impressed with what I’ve seen for far. Xbox One Cloud streaming has its moments where it looks like I’m streaming from a potato in the back of a theater.
I can tell I’ve played more action games because holding the analog stick for the last 6 minutes just to get on with the game feels like forever. I just started to actually gain control over Senua. I’m impressed with what I’ve seen for far. Xbox One Cloud streaming has its moments where it looks like I’m streaming from a potato in the back of a theater.
Kurotri
Member
Yeah I forgot to mention in my own post how the original was more creative. Your remark about the game being mostly caves is correct. There's nothing that comes close to this hellspace in the original:Completed the SS HB II in one sitting. Took me 5.5 hours on PC via Steam, so I'm out of the refund window. I'm kinda frustrated. Pure IMO, but...
The game is pretty, there are some mind-blowing visuals for sure. But the scope is very limited. HB2 is filled with invisible walls and very outdated movement blockers. Usually you see some rocks, quixel megascans on the background and very, very few buildings around. There are some beatiful locations, but you can really count them with one hand of a drunken tailor. Honestly, first game somehow felt way more epic with towering Hell sctuctures, forests and Celtic architecture all around you. 70% of the game are just... Well, caves, mountains and desolated landscapes took out of Death Stranding. It is stunning for an hour or so but visals are getting tedious very quickly. It doesn't help that the palette is very limited (I hope you love blue, green and orange) and needlessly muted.
Story-wise... Oh boy, it's a mess and a prime example of a word salad instead of dialogues. From every character. You can't even follow up the plot because of a pretentious over-the-head writing here, and I speak here as a big Disco Elysium fan.
Overall pacing felt poor and for a game that was developed for 5 years story is frustratingly incomplete. Plot is full of empty spaces, absolutley stupid teleportations between the locations and absolutley unresolved hooks. Its is also... Well, unfocused. Without delving deep into the spoiler territory, Senua's mental illness is not playing any part in the mess of a story about giants, slavers and god knows what. It's just a gimmick here to justify the ASMR voices. Frankly, I can't even figure out what the story is even about, it lacks some sort of motives that badly. Ending is... What was that, really? It as random as it gets. You know what? I have a feeling that NT created a set of very impressive tech demos across the years to bring them to MS HQ at random. But one year prior to the release date they forgot to weave them into at least some sort of coherent story. That's why characters, themes and locations are jumping like crazy without any rhyme or reason.
Some setpieces are visually jaw-dropping, but they too far and between. 90% of the game is slow walking, frustratingly stupid puzzles and a drag of a combat with literally 3 actions avaliable for Senua. Somehow combat is even more slow and tedious than in HB1, but now you need to overcome 5+ enemies with block, attack and slow-mo. What a joy. Final boss is a huge letdown too, especially since the game never changes the moveset or mechanics even for a final stertch.
In the end I really think that HB2 could've been even shorter. The more or less worthy meat of the game is 3 hours tops, 2.5 hours are pure boredom and tedium that was clearly added for the sake of extend the timer.
I dunno, I wanted this game to work for me badly. But in the end, it's a personal 6/10. Yeah, it's very pretty (though very claustrophobic) at times, but you cannot step into the same river twice. Ecpecially when you don't know why you are doing in this river in the first place. Hellblade still works best as a standalone adventure and the whole sequel idea really felt like a very unwarranted sidequest to me.
Just way better handled.
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
no kidding. I was holding forward with one hand and doing something else for work with the other.
Roberts
Member
Played it for two hours so don’t feel like I can comment too much yet and compared to the first game, it has its own strenghts and weaknesses, but as an audio-visual experience there is nothing quite like it. Absolutely jawdropping.
Also, really dig the photo mode - the stuff you can do with lights could be used in photo and cinematography classes.
Also, really dig the photo mode - the stuff you can do with lights could be used in photo and cinematography classes.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
The combat brutality is just some 28 Weeks Later shit. Impressive work on all the animations and facial captures.
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feynoob
Gold Member
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
It has some issues but some amazing stuff too.This is you after you finished the game.
Fredrik
Member
Holy…. Wow 
I have nothing deep to add here, just that this is, without a doubt, the best looking game I’ve ever seen in my 40+ years as a gamer. About 2.5 hours in now, playing on PC (4090+7900x). It’s not even worth going into photo mode, it looks insane even in regular gameplay.
The Gameplay is the weakest thing about the game though. It’s not quite Dragon’s Lair but it’s very very close to be an interactive movie. I don’t envy those who has to rate it. It’s above everything else in what it tries to do but purely looking at the action and puzzles it’s very simplistic. Time for bed here but tomorrow I’ll increase the difficulty.
I have nothing deep to add here, just that this is, without a doubt, the best looking game I’ve ever seen in my 40+ years as a gamer. About 2.5 hours in now, playing on PC (4090+7900x). It’s not even worth going into photo mode, it looks insane even in regular gameplay.
The Gameplay is the weakest thing about the game though. It’s not quite Dragon’s Lair but it’s very very close to be an interactive movie. I don’t envy those who has to rate it. It’s above everything else in what it tries to do but purely looking at the action and puzzles it’s very simplistic. Time for bed here but tomorrow I’ll increase the difficulty.
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calistan
Gold Member
It's an Unreal Engine 5 thing. Seems to be the most expensive of them all, judging by how the framerate monitor changes when I flip through them. I've no idea how to turn that shit off completely.
twilo99
Member
Native AA results in a solid FPS drop for me so I'm assuming that's "off"
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
TSR = Temporal Super Resolution
The Unreal Engine 5's built in up-scaling, better and more expensive than FSR 2.
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Bumblebeetuna
Gold Member
Collectibles seem harder to find in this one than the original. I had no problem getting all 40-whatever lorestones in the original but I am already missing some here and whatever those trees are.
I think I also just finished the part everyone was crying about where you “just light torches for an hour”. Of course they neglect to mention that you have numerous enemy fights throughout and you’re doing puzzles. It’s so weird how just now when this game launches, cinematic games are suddenly the worse thing ever.
I think I also just finished the part everyone was crying about where you “just light torches for an hour”. Of course they neglect to mention that you have numerous enemy fights throughout and you’re doing puzzles. It’s so weird how just now when this game launches, cinematic games are suddenly the worse thing ever.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I'm taking my sweet time, exploring every nook and cranny.
According to the app, I am 2hr 30m in the game and in terms of story I just saved the guy from the burning pyre and the smoke things killed all the bad guys I was fighting before. Got a couple of those 'faces' in the wall and totems. I appreciate that there's trackers on the collectibles so you'll know if you missed any (none so far).
My personal recommendation is headphones.
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calistan
Gold Member
I think that option is exclusive to the AMD upscaler. There are different options for each upscaler but no obvious way of having no upscaler at all. Maybe it doesn't really make a difference with all the post-processing in this game.
I noticed on the test screen that DLSS seems to be the best at preserving the little bits of straw sticking out of the roof of the house. It's cool that you can switch between them and see the results instantly.
calistan
Gold Member
I don't appreciate how photo mode disregards my inverted Y axis settings. Same as in the first game.Am digging the photomode, love how you can place lights and the controls you have over everything.
That photo looks like a painting, amazing!
IDappa
Member
Anybody have a clue what the go with audio settings are if you want to play surround, do I just select speaker?. I have a atmos speaker setup but senuas voices just come from front speaker, the stormy weather and general atmospheric soundscape is on the surrounds, along with her dad’s voice. Seems weird. Playing this with the wife so headphones aren’t really our go to for this one.
violence
Gold Member
I'm getting a cinematic ~45.
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
Holy chromatic aberration batman! Jesus. Took me a while to figure out how to turn that off along with all the other nasty screen effects. Game looked awful with all that on. I'd be further along if it weren't for that. It's looking good now though.
It's more Hellblade. Looks and sounds great. I knew what kind of game it was going in so I'm not disappointed about the lack of combat.
It's more Hellblade. Looks and sounds great. I knew what kind of game it was going in so I'm not disappointed about the lack of combat.
Magic Carpet
Member
Played the first little bit after dicking around in the settings. I've killed the first two guys and now I don't know where to go. I'm already stuck.
Anyway back to dicking around in the settings.
RTX 4070 more than enough for all these graphics.
I've had my PC stats chilling in the letter box black bars. It's maxing out my GPU Processor but not using much video memory even with 4k settings.
I am playing on my home theater atmos setup and I was only getting a little bit of ocean sound in the back channels. All voices have been up front so far.
I remember the last game the voices were coming from all over.
Anyway back to dicking around in the settings.
RTX 4070 more than enough for all these graphics.
I've had my PC stats chilling in the letter box black bars. It's maxing out my GPU Processor but not using much video memory even with 4k settings.
I am playing on my home theater atmos setup and I was only getting a little bit of ocean sound in the back channels. All voices have been up front so far.
I remember the last game the voices were coming from all over.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
John from DF is impressed.
Bumblebeetuna
Gold Member
I’m a little over four hours in, guess I am almost done?
So far I think the combat is better in the first, puzzles are about the same. Nothing in the second game so far is as good as Trials of Odin or the Fenrir boss fight from the first imho.
Production values on the other hand are incredible. You can tell they put the Windows money to good use.
So far I think the combat is better in the first, puzzles are about the same. Nothing in the second game so far is as good as Trials of Odin or the Fenrir boss fight from the first imho.
Production values on the other hand are incredible. You can tell they put the Windows money to good use.
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
Finished. Going to start new game+. Loved the game.
Sorcerer
Member
Not sure if you wanted the answer:
Ultimately you are looking to crawl into the bottom of a boat that has run aground.
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Northeastmonk
Gold Member
Yeah that’s the feeling I get. If you’re not into the voices in her head, there’s little to take in from everything else.The game look great but feel lifeless so far…
I kinda find it being a little too dark just cause she’s not really a hero to look up to. She’s suffering and being a hero at the same time. If you’ve ever dealt with someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s. It’s not a fun ride. I tried imagining Senua in a fighting game or appearing as a cameo in something else and I just can’t.
Agent_4Seven
Tears of Nintendo
Right? It's one of the best I've seen and unlike in many other games where it blurs the fuck out of the image during camera movement, in Hellblade II you can't even notice it. Absolutely superb motion blur implementation and I'm sure it looks even better at high framerates.
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James Sawyer Ford
Member
What’s your favorite thing about it?
I’m about to start it after I’m done with SB
Seems like flaming garbage tho! Your endorsement puts a bow on it
Represent.
Represent(ative) of bad opinions
GOTY
My god, have sex with me Ninja Theory.
My god, have sex with me Ninja Theory.
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Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
That lady got some mad gums. You're gonna have a fun time.
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poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
There is substance, it's just not really game substance. It's kinda weird because it wouldn't work as a movie, it has to be a game, but then it lacks a lot of what makes a game a game, but if you added that stuff it wouldn't be as good.
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
I agree, I normally find 30fps really distracting, but in this they've really made it work to the point I didn't even think about it.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I appreciate the motion blur slider. The default 10 is too much for me.
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