mrmp3
07-14-2008, 05:34 PM
So having torn through the demo once, my overall impressions are very optimistic. I've yet to play the full game, but I'm positive my score will stay at 8.25-8.75.
The RPG elements are awesome. If you enjoyed Champs of Norrath, the Dark Alliance series, D&D Heroes, you'll feel right at home collecting loot. I only collected a new helmet and a new set of boots during the demo for armor. The helmet was sick and would probably look awesome with the complete set, the boots were green and did not go with the red armor at all.
UPDATE: Alright I missed out on a new well the first time through. You use that force push in cyberspace to unlock two arena battles with the third leading to an obelisk. All of them unlock super sweet goodies. There's also a third arena battle at the last section where you hit a switch to open it up. I'm liking all these hidden goodies, something Champs and Dark Alliance were missing. More so taking it out of the Diablo II playbook.
Few things I noticed while playing. Most RPG's don't allow you to attack in town and Too Human follows suit. But what is nice is that your character WALKS right before a cutscene is going to occur (UPDATE: OK wrong. Doesn't happen all the time). Considering how many were in the demo and I know how many are going to be in the final game, I must say having a heads up so you can pause your game in case you need to take a leak right before a long cutscene is a plus.
The graphics are a mixed bag. Nothing looks outright horrible. The environments are elaborate, impressive, and detailed. Easily the best looking aspect of the game. The characters are good though not amazing. They have the Unreal influence on them and when comparing to Gears or UTIII, its like those character models except skinnier and with far less texture maps. The detail isn't really there or noticeable. The most detailed thing was probably Baldur's head in the cutscenes. That being said I would character models from average to good. As for animations...well its lacking a little bit. Baldur generally swings his blade/hammer/staff flawlessly, but the enemies reaction sometimes isn't that great. Say your playing an MMO and there's a slider to turn down other player's combat detail down (i.e. other characters in the world will use less frames of animation when in combat to not bog your system down). That's kind of what the enemy reactions remind me of at times. (UPDATE: After playing a second time through, I realize the enemy reactions are a start for this genre. Most games of this type just have the enemy freeze briefly and either A) flash a color (such as white or yellow) to show you've done damage or B) show a number of what damage they took or both. So this is honestly the first game to have any reaction that I've played (other than knockdown skills where an enemy falls down but that's generally generic. With all that being said, I appreciate seeing some reaction. The other animation I didn't express appreciation for was how Baldur looks when he's lunging at an enemy and swinging his weapons. That initial attack looks like he's really laying into the enemy.)
However, combat is still very satisfying and definitely complex. You have your standard basic combo, advanced combo, burst attack (?), runer, and skills. Now I didn't really figure out the runers other than if you fill your combo meter it uses one meter to use one. Enemies seem to go off in a fire ruin when I used it. It was an area of effect attack knocking people in the air. There is more to it cause at times the enemies got killed quicker and glowed...almost want to say they caught on fire but not sure. (UPDATE: it was something in my weapon slot that I had which had a chance of setting them a blaze) As for the others, basic combo is essentially holding the stick at the enemy you want to attack. Baldur will slash away continually NO NEED TO KEEP FLICKING THE STICK! Advanced combo is flicking both the left stick and right stick at an enemy at the same time. I figured if you went from a dash and just continued to hold down both sticks Baldur would do it. Not the case, you have to press both sticks AGAIN in the direction of the enemy. What's cool is they were different between the starting sword, the broad sword, and the hammer, very diverse and cool. There was a midair one and one for the ground for each weapon (though if I'm not mistaken the midair and the ground one for the starting weapon was the same) (UPDATE: Ok its not different for midair and ground but its different when using a small sword, two handed sword, hammer, staff, etc. etc.) The burst attack (can't remember the name of it) is a knock down attack performed at a distance using both sticks again but Baldur shoots this blue burst out from his sword. It goes in a straight line knocking everyone down in its line. It didn't seem to do a ton of damage but it knocked everyone down. (UPDATE: seemed to kill a lot more in the arena battles once I got the flame sword)
Also, stabbing the goblin in the head is somewhat interactive. You have to balance your self by steering left and right on the joystick. Takes maybe a second or two and then you do your attack. The second one I faced was quite fun because I didn't realize you have to knock the chest plate off before you attempt that maneuver. You can also kill the goblin without the maneuver, but it takes a long while to put one down. (UPDATE: Sometimes it just flat out doesn't work. I had a couple times where my guy would just stay leaned to one side and I'd be tossed off.)
The concept of the story is extremely intriguing and so far there are no terrible voice actors, but some of the mouths do not sync that great. They'll move with the dialogue, but sometimes their lips contort differently. Also, some of the characters seem to have less detailed mouths than others. When you first meet the Nord (UPDATE: not Nord...I just forgot what they are called but its NOT nord), you'll notice the old lady's long hair looks something out of the PS2 era while the quietest one (the one who isn't hitting on Baldur) has almost lifelike lips and facial features. Baldur's brother also seems to have a jaw that juts out too far as do a lot of the other characters. Irregardless, they are minor quips but what I saw intrigued me.
The framerate runs at (from my best guess) a sub 30FPS. It never dips too low, but its never blazing fast. The menus are the slowest part to be honest, which is unfortunate considering you'll be spending a lot of time looking at your loot. The game never chugged except at the very beginning when Baldur transitions from the snow to indoors (it wasn't in battle so it didn't matter anyways).
The RPG elements are cool too because their are crafting recipes for armor and weapons which are apparently really kick ass. Some may have already known about these but I did not. You can't craft any of these in the demo, but its cool knowing on top of all the sweet loot you'll be collecting and missions your completing, there will be other things to work towards as well. (UPDATE: I did the arena battles and got some recipes, crafted some shoulder armor. I guess you don't need to go to the store to do this.)
The combat was fun and the dashing aspect looks a lot cooler in motion in realtime, not in videos. I thought I wouldn't dig it at all, but I enjoyed all of it a lot. That being said, the low amount of animation frames for enemy reactions (like I mentioned earlier) really bums me out. The fact the game seems to be running on UE 3.0 (lite), can only have two characters on screen, and chugs at a sub-par 30 FPS make me believe 4 character online play would have been unplayable. It wasn't their choice, it was just technically impossible.
ALL THAT BEING SAID, I think this game will be a lot of fun. I'm real excited its a trilogy and with the possibilities of 4 player online, better framerate, and better graphics (trust me they'll make'em a lot better, they had to scrap the game half way through, imagine what they can do with more time) the sequel could turn out to be really awesome. However, that's looking ahead. The RPG elements are truly awesome, but the combat is only fairly good. Compared to Ninja Gaiden or DMC, it isn't up to those standards...yet...but that doesn't make it bad. This is a good direction for the hack-n'-slash RPG. An actual story, intricate loot system, and a more involved combat system make this STILL a must have title. So I'll give the demo an 8.5/10
(little side note you can only play as the Champion class, and I only got enough EXP to get down three circles on the middle tier on the skill sheet. No multiplayer either)
(UPDATE: Alright so considering how much was hidden in the demo, I think I'm gonna have fun playing through this a few times through if there's this much throughout the game. And also sorry for the errors on the first initial impressions)
The RPG elements are awesome. If you enjoyed Champs of Norrath, the Dark Alliance series, D&D Heroes, you'll feel right at home collecting loot. I only collected a new helmet and a new set of boots during the demo for armor. The helmet was sick and would probably look awesome with the complete set, the boots were green and did not go with the red armor at all.
UPDATE: Alright I missed out on a new well the first time through. You use that force push in cyberspace to unlock two arena battles with the third leading to an obelisk. All of them unlock super sweet goodies. There's also a third arena battle at the last section where you hit a switch to open it up. I'm liking all these hidden goodies, something Champs and Dark Alliance were missing. More so taking it out of the Diablo II playbook.
Few things I noticed while playing. Most RPG's don't allow you to attack in town and Too Human follows suit. But what is nice is that your character WALKS right before a cutscene is going to occur (UPDATE: OK wrong. Doesn't happen all the time). Considering how many were in the demo and I know how many are going to be in the final game, I must say having a heads up so you can pause your game in case you need to take a leak right before a long cutscene is a plus.
The graphics are a mixed bag. Nothing looks outright horrible. The environments are elaborate, impressive, and detailed. Easily the best looking aspect of the game. The characters are good though not amazing. They have the Unreal influence on them and when comparing to Gears or UTIII, its like those character models except skinnier and with far less texture maps. The detail isn't really there or noticeable. The most detailed thing was probably Baldur's head in the cutscenes. That being said I would character models from average to good. As for animations...well its lacking a little bit. Baldur generally swings his blade/hammer/staff flawlessly, but the enemies reaction sometimes isn't that great. Say your playing an MMO and there's a slider to turn down other player's combat detail down (i.e. other characters in the world will use less frames of animation when in combat to not bog your system down). That's kind of what the enemy reactions remind me of at times. (UPDATE: After playing a second time through, I realize the enemy reactions are a start for this genre. Most games of this type just have the enemy freeze briefly and either A) flash a color (such as white or yellow) to show you've done damage or B) show a number of what damage they took or both. So this is honestly the first game to have any reaction that I've played (other than knockdown skills where an enemy falls down but that's generally generic. With all that being said, I appreciate seeing some reaction. The other animation I didn't express appreciation for was how Baldur looks when he's lunging at an enemy and swinging his weapons. That initial attack looks like he's really laying into the enemy.)
However, combat is still very satisfying and definitely complex. You have your standard basic combo, advanced combo, burst attack (?), runer, and skills. Now I didn't really figure out the runers other than if you fill your combo meter it uses one meter to use one. Enemies seem to go off in a fire ruin when I used it. It was an area of effect attack knocking people in the air. There is more to it cause at times the enemies got killed quicker and glowed...almost want to say they caught on fire but not sure. (UPDATE: it was something in my weapon slot that I had which had a chance of setting them a blaze) As for the others, basic combo is essentially holding the stick at the enemy you want to attack. Baldur will slash away continually NO NEED TO KEEP FLICKING THE STICK! Advanced combo is flicking both the left stick and right stick at an enemy at the same time. I figured if you went from a dash and just continued to hold down both sticks Baldur would do it. Not the case, you have to press both sticks AGAIN in the direction of the enemy. What's cool is they were different between the starting sword, the broad sword, and the hammer, very diverse and cool. There was a midair one and one for the ground for each weapon (though if I'm not mistaken the midair and the ground one for the starting weapon was the same) (UPDATE: Ok its not different for midair and ground but its different when using a small sword, two handed sword, hammer, staff, etc. etc.) The burst attack (can't remember the name of it) is a knock down attack performed at a distance using both sticks again but Baldur shoots this blue burst out from his sword. It goes in a straight line knocking everyone down in its line. It didn't seem to do a ton of damage but it knocked everyone down. (UPDATE: seemed to kill a lot more in the arena battles once I got the flame sword)
Also, stabbing the goblin in the head is somewhat interactive. You have to balance your self by steering left and right on the joystick. Takes maybe a second or two and then you do your attack. The second one I faced was quite fun because I didn't realize you have to knock the chest plate off before you attempt that maneuver. You can also kill the goblin without the maneuver, but it takes a long while to put one down. (UPDATE: Sometimes it just flat out doesn't work. I had a couple times where my guy would just stay leaned to one side and I'd be tossed off.)
The concept of the story is extremely intriguing and so far there are no terrible voice actors, but some of the mouths do not sync that great. They'll move with the dialogue, but sometimes their lips contort differently. Also, some of the characters seem to have less detailed mouths than others. When you first meet the Nord (UPDATE: not Nord...I just forgot what they are called but its NOT nord), you'll notice the old lady's long hair looks something out of the PS2 era while the quietest one (the one who isn't hitting on Baldur) has almost lifelike lips and facial features. Baldur's brother also seems to have a jaw that juts out too far as do a lot of the other characters. Irregardless, they are minor quips but what I saw intrigued me.
The framerate runs at (from my best guess) a sub 30FPS. It never dips too low, but its never blazing fast. The menus are the slowest part to be honest, which is unfortunate considering you'll be spending a lot of time looking at your loot. The game never chugged except at the very beginning when Baldur transitions from the snow to indoors (it wasn't in battle so it didn't matter anyways).
The RPG elements are cool too because their are crafting recipes for armor and weapons which are apparently really kick ass. Some may have already known about these but I did not. You can't craft any of these in the demo, but its cool knowing on top of all the sweet loot you'll be collecting and missions your completing, there will be other things to work towards as well. (UPDATE: I did the arena battles and got some recipes, crafted some shoulder armor. I guess you don't need to go to the store to do this.)
The combat was fun and the dashing aspect looks a lot cooler in motion in realtime, not in videos. I thought I wouldn't dig it at all, but I enjoyed all of it a lot. That being said, the low amount of animation frames for enemy reactions (like I mentioned earlier) really bums me out. The fact the game seems to be running on UE 3.0 (lite), can only have two characters on screen, and chugs at a sub-par 30 FPS make me believe 4 character online play would have been unplayable. It wasn't their choice, it was just technically impossible.
ALL THAT BEING SAID, I think this game will be a lot of fun. I'm real excited its a trilogy and with the possibilities of 4 player online, better framerate, and better graphics (trust me they'll make'em a lot better, they had to scrap the game half way through, imagine what they can do with more time) the sequel could turn out to be really awesome. However, that's looking ahead. The RPG elements are truly awesome, but the combat is only fairly good. Compared to Ninja Gaiden or DMC, it isn't up to those standards...yet...but that doesn't make it bad. This is a good direction for the hack-n'-slash RPG. An actual story, intricate loot system, and a more involved combat system make this STILL a must have title. So I'll give the demo an 8.5/10
(little side note you can only play as the Champion class, and I only got enough EXP to get down three circles on the middle tier on the skill sheet. No multiplayer either)
(UPDATE: Alright so considering how much was hidden in the demo, I think I'm gonna have fun playing through this a few times through if there's this much throughout the game. And also sorry for the errors on the first initial impressions)