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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Aug 14, 2009 4:32:14 GMT 1
So I've brought the game finally, after been waiting for a long time for the damn price to come down, I've brought the game on special "buy 2 get 1 free" scheme at EB. (Along with RE 5 and Street Fight 4 but that'll be discussed later.) So what is Too Human and why on Earth that Tillian decides to buy this medicore crap when she's also well known to have better 'taste' in games? Well first off Too Human is an action RPG game by the Canadian Game Developers, Silicon Knights (sounds ironic, doesn't it?). According the Urban Legend, the game was in development for ten years. In other words it's life development began during the PS1 and N64 hey days. Throughout the technogical advancment in the years have gone by, the game format changes as it was supposed to be realsed on a 4 disc PS1 to Gamecube and to the present times, the Xbox 360. In reality, the game project has been in stasis during those long years. It has been only picked up recently around 5 years ago from now. However, the long development years has cause the gamers themselves to question about the 'quality' of the game, particulary after the poor performace in E3. The attention on the game didn't snowballed until the NeoGAF fiasco. Last year, a couple of members from the NeoGAF forums were 'critsising" the game. Then for some reason the creator of Too Human, Denis Dyack; managed to get a hold of the wind and stormed down at the forums, ripping apart while defending the game. Thus creating a bad publicity on himself, the team and the game itself. (According to one of the books from a gaming career guide it's noted that from the professionals that they warned about such things due to the size of the industry and the close knited community in the professional section, hence that's why the whole thing got fired up)The fiasco have spread over the gaming media overnight like a bush fire. More gamers accquired that knowledge and started to blicker among themselves whether the game would turn out the best thing ever or the shittest thing ever since the ET game on the Atari. On a birds eye perpective, this game has gathered a lot of hype... too much hype for it's own good. When the game came out... it was mixed, most say it's good while most saying it's shit. All came from having their views being tainted and jaded. Skipped a year later and here I am having this (2nd hand) game in my posession. Not only the price is reasonbily cheap enough but also it's safe enough to come out and start rviewing this game in an honest perspective without the jaded goggles that come in the way. So it's time for me to devirginalised... umm... I mean running this game to get familiar with it. So it won't be a review (since the criteria requires to play the game at least once) nor it will have it's own LP session (since the game woud not reach the affectionate list, from my brief impression from last night). So I'll update instead how the game is so far, before I'll review the whole thing in detail and also to vent my fustration about the design... So yeah, do expect some snark and profanity going around...
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Post by Rascarin on Aug 14, 2009 12:48:46 GMT 1
I played the demo of Too Human, and then vowed to never, ever buy it.
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Aug 14, 2009 12:59:50 GMT 1
Well don't then if you don't like it. It's understandable. for me I have an exucse. I'm a game designer, I need to play all the good... and bad games so I can later learn and how to make better games.
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Post by Mister Buch on Aug 14, 2009 13:16:40 GMT 1
That's the same excuse I use for Twilight, and yet Rascarin hates me for it!
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Aug 14, 2009 14:08:49 GMT 1
And now we're on the same boat, buch.
I've been swearing my god damn head off in this game. This is more fustrating than World of Warcraft on a bloodthusty PvP server that full Jackasses and Elists who do nothing but fapping themselves after they killed a pissweak player.
and don't get me start how many times I've called Baldur a pansy. Such a pansy that even Shepard can one shot these bastards, or my friggin Pikachu would do a better job than this...
Yeah... you can see I've been chalenged and pissed at the same time. Funny thing is this is the first time I've been swearing cursing and making a nice list on 'how' the developers should not have done this and that; also what could they have done to make the game better. It's been a while since I've played a fustrating game since like... 10 years old when playing that horrid Dragonlance game on the Sega master system.
Of course, there are good elements like the Art direction but... the substance is kinda little left to be desired. I'll put this into detail once I'mdone with the game and calm myself down from the anger at the pissweak gameplay and 'engaging' elements...
sheesh!
EDIT: Oh Smeg! I've keep getting rickrolled and man, soon I get near Loki, I'll have my HANDS around his neck for the love of Shepard!
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Aug 14, 2009 17:22:40 GMT 1
Double post but I have a VERY good reason: Raise your hards if you played the Baldur's Gate series?
If not one line desribtion: BioWare's D&D RPG debut that rocket them to stardom in the first place.
So while I was continuing slaving away in Too Human some rookie yelled out "Bad guy meet gun, Gun meet BAD GUY!"
I swore it took that quote from Minsic from Baldur's Gate and changed it around.
So, it's a homage for BioWare or a ripoff as atempt to be a BioWare wannabe?
You decide.
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Post by Rascarin on Aug 14, 2009 17:36:25 GMT 1
I remember buying the Baldurs Gate games, but I never managed to get into them. I believe I sold them on...
I imagine the quote in question is a homage... probably. Maybe because the main character is called Baldur? I 'unno.
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Aug 14, 2009 18:47:32 GMT 1
To be fair, I have to say it's a homage, despite my distaste at Denis Dyack for his stunt.
Still that kinda shakens me up a bit. I would have like the homage if it weren't for the shoddy controls I've been fighting for hours...
Storyline is interesting but so far it's still "I-don't-know-what-the-hell-is-going-on". There's something going on with the 3 witches, Baldur's dead wife, Loki and his emo daughter, the whole Astir thing. Seriously despite the Astir good intentions, I cannot help but shaken at the hidden agenda.
Art design is good, I really have to admit. The Art style is impressive for me, especially for someone that's been picky in the art direction for the past couple of years. Charater designs are nice and the mobs are nice most of the time... except for the Jabba the hutt look a like mooks. STOP USING THE FAT ZOMBIE FOLKS! Be more creative damn it! >.<
Characters... nothing to write about home so far... I'm not so emotionally attach to any of them especially with Baldur. I don't know why... the voice acting is decent. I suppose the character department is kinda a lacksure. Even I have more emotional attachment to Ammy from Okami and shes a WOLF for crying out loud!
Gameplay wise... nothing to write home. It's a typical hack and slash like Diablo but with a joystick and the controls are a little slippery in the sense of having an absolute control...
Those are my impressions so far. To be fair I was trying to hope there might be some element of ham or redeming features but... I'm still mixed...
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Aug 15, 2009 17:20:10 GMT 1
Well here's my Verdict of my impression so far:
Good Developer, Good Cookie -The Artistic Direction is unique and beautiful. The old seemless blend of Norse mythology style with a dash of some Cyberpunk streak makes the game look jaw dropping in an epic sense. Crying shame all that artistic talent is gone to waste in such low petty linear gamestyle.
-Well the storyline is decent, I have to admit if they managed pull it off decently. Although Sci-fi and Norse Mythology seem to be strange bed fellows but it does seem to work in practice... as I've said if they can pull it off... which we'll discuss the execution bit in just a minute.
-Voice acting is good. When I was watching the GT review last year, I was convinced it sounds shit but looking back now at the whole game... it's not so bad. Pretty decent acting I have to admit.
- Baldur's gate homage "Bad guy meet gun. GUN MEET BAD GUY!" does made me chuckle a bit if it weren't for some fat ass zombie kicking my puny god ass at that time.
- Presentation looks nice, fits the style of the game.
- Character Design is nice too. It's a nice to see a twist on the Norse gods in their cyberpunk style.
- Soundtrack is full of awsome. I might get the OST just for the music. Really. The music is pretty good.
- Bears.... Need I say more?
- Some of the gameplay elements seem to be showing some sort of flash of billiance at times but most of the time there are nagging issues that I have no choice but to rant about it...
Bad Developer, No Donut - Facical animation... I might have been spoiled by the wonderous graphics of Mass Effect but it could some working around... the way they talk and expressed their emotions... it seems to be a bit stiff and a tad unnatural. And I'm saying it in a nicer way. Want me to be blunt about this? It feels robotic in a rusted sort of a way.
- Character Detachment. I'm sorry but I'm not emotionally attach to Baldur or any of the other characters in the game. Baldur seems to be a bit of a Marty Stu if you know what I mean. I mean like everyone seem to 'love' him like he's the popular bloke of the block but... he's seem to be a tad emoish in a sort of way. You know... the "Piss off lass! I don't care if you look good, leave me be to my misery" attitude. Most of the npc seem to charimatic as a white shirt office workers.
- They wasted a good plot. I mean seriously, the story didn't picks up the heart beating pace until at the end. I mean why oh why they must have place a cliffhanger somewhere in the middle of a critical plot point. No don't give me the fricken excuse that it's a 'trilogy'. For smegging sakes, look closely at Mass Effect. Does the game ends with Shepard and Co. getting butthurt at the end of the Virmire mission? No! The game ends on a satifying closing end and it's a trilogy. So yeah, for intergity sakes, please end on a closing note. You don't want to piss the gamers a lot more on that.
- Plot holes and questions. What is the real reason why Loki wants to tear down the Aesir and destroy humanity? What illness is Hel inflicted with? Why did Helturn her backs agaist them in the first place? Why they didn't convince Buldur's wife that he'll come back to life? What cause Baldur to be dead in the first place? Did Tyr just died in a meaningless death? Is Baldur is going to be a scrapegoat? Him being undead is something to do with symbolism? More importantly What agenda does the Aesir has? For goodness sake the Resident Eveil Series have more a co-herant plot than this!
- Gameplay is unbalanced. So far I died a lot due to my class. It does a lot of damage but the HP is low and has no sort of self healing elements like the Bio-engineer. Heard you have to be a defender or a bio-engineer to solo this easier. Also seems like this game is not optimised for solo play.
- Controls are little tad slippery. Due to the developers switching the attack button to the right joystick (just WHY?), it feels like I'm clumsily slash my way through the mobs with a pair of roller blades. So I don't feel like I'm in actual control with my movements. Also Buldur can't run his sissy god-like-ass fast enough, especially trying to bitch slap Hel quick enough without losing couple of health points from her dark plasmatic powers. Ugh!
- Due to those slippery movements, you WILL die a lot. And when you die, some valkyrie picks you up and puts you back into the last checkpoint... SLOWLY. It's like she's taking her time while you have to wait to get your ass resurect. And you can't skip the cutscene. To be perfectly serious, I've manged to finish reading Euripides' The Bachae the other night while waiting to res for the bloosly millionth time.
- The game is a tad linear for an RPG. I know it's loot based but from the looks of it, either the developer chew more than they could bite or they seemlessly confused about choosing their game to fall into loot based or story driven based.
- Dungeon based... I know some people might like it, especially with old school gamers but this time I'm going to put that as the negative element due to the gameplay and fighting parts are not-so-enjoyable.
- Camera issues. Due to the right joystick been taken over for the attack role, controling the comera is fiddelly at best.
So a summery?
Well this game has a lot potential that the developers have missed the mark. The storyline was engaging but the sloppy execution and a cliffhanger ending spoils it. I know this is an action RPG and they are aiming for old school style gameplay but I have a feeling with the twist and turns... this game would be more suited for a plot driven based RPG. The storyline is felted a bit rushed.
Gameplay wise, it's still left to be desired for. There are some moments it's feels satisfying but on the whole, it's a tedious exercise with the constant deaths and the long boring cutscenes of the resurection part. Normally I would do a another playthrough for an actual review/short version of Let's Play but it's torturous at times, so I've gave up.
If they are making a sequel... they should think long and hard on many elements to improve from the first game as it gives out a bad omen indeed.
I hate scoring and being a bias about this but I have no choice but to give it a 5 working plasma guns out of 10 broken guns. It's not one of those games I would recomend, even on a rainy day. I'm being harsh I know but this is the type of game you would not want to play it again.
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