FMW Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 I would be really interested to see this reviewed by some people outside of the enthusiast video game press. I'm not sure it really makes sure to review it by the criteria most games are reviewed. Controls? Simple and minimalist. Player agency? Limited. Game balance? Non existant - the obstacles the player faces aren't designed to be overcome through dexterity or skill. Difficulty curve? Similarly non-applicable. Reviews are, by the nature of the game, basically reviews of the story and how it's told. For most reviews that's just one of the bullet points. For this game? It's the whole thing. And there are professionals who specialize in that one thing. I would be interested to read about cinematography in Beyond: Two Souls. Or plot development. Character depth. How it's use of nonlinear storytelling compares to and measures up against the famous works it's imitating. How the storytelling has been changed because it's a video game, when it seems obvious to the film critic that it could have been more effectively done otherwise in their medium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCP Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Lots of the complaints I hear aren't so much about the controls, agency, balance... though I have heard complaints about all that.. but the big one is the game being out if chronological order for no apparent reason, and the story not making sense. So when narrative is the main focus of your game, that's not good. Add onto that supposed weak combat, arbitrary limitations for the ghost, and control issues, that doesn't couple together for a great game. But like I said, I haven't played it yet for myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Blergh. Amazon was taking forever to ship my damn copy so I lost patience and cancelled my pre-order today. Guess I'll just stop by the store on my way back from class tomorrow or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCP Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Amazon.ca sucking ass?! That's unusual! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Well, to be fair, I did pre-order at the last fucking minute and I always choose free shipping. Maybe they've gotten worse, though? I haven't been using them a lot the past couple years because I tend to get all my multiplat games on Steam these days. But back when I still bought a lot of PS3 games, I'd usually get my pre-orders on release day even with free shipping. I even got them a day earlier a couple times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dee Posted October 13, 2013 Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 There aren't any spoilers for the story in this, so don't worry about reading on if you were concerned. So I read an article on Kotaku that mentioned playing the game is better with a friend, and I'm going to agree with that. You can play solo as both Jodie and Aiden, or you can have a friend play as Aiden while you play as Jodie or vice versa. I can see now why they formed their opinion, as it is truly much more entertaining to have someone take over when Jodie calls on Aiden to help her. And it's not like this entity just pops in every now and then, Jodie depends on Aiden to do a lot of stuff, so you're really playing a co-op if you choose to bring someone else into the picture.Anyway, the game itself isn't bad. It's entertaining for the most part, and I played about eight hours straight last night, which means it must have managed to hold my attention. There are some silly things you can do, some sad, some emotionally difficult, but there's also a lot that could've been cut out (and when I say a lot, I mean a lot). The way it jumps around in time gets frustrating after a while, too. Had it come to a point where the story picked up from the present earlier on, I might not have been so irritated. But it seems the jumping around is rather pointless where I am now in the game, which is pretty far along. I think I have about two or three hours left. I haven't finished it yet, by the way, so I don't really know how it's going to end. That's about all I have to stay about it so far. I'll come back and add more later when I'm done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted October 13, 2013 Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 So during co-op, Aiden is actively being used while Jodie is going about her stuff? If that is the case, yeah, I can see why it is the ideal way to play the "game". It'll be a lot more fluid for one thing, which going solo lacks. It also drives home that fact that Aiden is Aiden, a separate entity. While watching it streamed (Sure feels like I'm pirating it), for a while I thought it was all Jodie. To be fair, I missed out on about half of the game prior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 13, 2013 Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 No, it's just like solo, either Aiden or Jodie is active, not both. It's just coop has each one being controlled by a different controller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted October 13, 2013 Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 FMW: My gut tells me that if reviewers were to grade this game on the same curve as passive entertainment, it wouldn't fare very well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dee Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 No, it's just like solo, either Aiden or Jodie is active, not both. It's just coop has each one being controlled by a different controller. Yeah, like this. So when Jodie comes across something she can't do, player two (Aiden) takes control of the game and does whatever Jodie needs it to do. However, there are random moments in the game where Aiden can take control even if he is not needed. There is also a button you can press as Jodie (triangle) to switch into Aiden, but it's either one or the other, not both players playing at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted October 31, 2013 Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 (edited) Has anyone tried using the Beyond app to control the game? I'm thinking about maybe doing a second playthrough with it to get the achievement for playing the whole game in co op. What endings did people do? I screwed up getting the gold trophy for saving everyone who can because I somehow missed that I could rescue Paul (from the Navajo chapter). Everyone else I kept alive. I really liked Heavy Rain despite the PLOTHOLES PLOTHOLES PLOTHOLES and this games is much better than HR. Edited October 31, 2013 by staySICK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 31, 2013 Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 I screwed up getting the gold trophy for saving everyone who can because I somehow missed that I could rescue Paul (from the Navajo chapter). Everyone else I kept alive. I had the exact same problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted October 31, 2013 Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 English mistakes aside, I found this to be a good article. http://playersdelight.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/beyond-two-souls-most-unique-feature-is.html I can actually get onboard with their Walking Dead/Heavy Rain one too. http://playersdelight.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/how-quantic-dream-beat-telltale-at.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted November 2, 2013 Report Share Posted November 2, 2013 starting a second playthrough for "duo" (really I'm just switching back and forth between controllers) I'm amazed at the amount of stuff I missed / circumvented my first play, much like the article HH posted. Some of it I knew but others are a surprise to me. I guess I didn't fully finish "condenser" properly the first time around, that's a pretty good "scary" level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laviniya Posted October 28, 2014 Report Share Posted October 28, 2014 I have to say that this game is the best game I've played in this genre, it blew me away and I played it just after Heavy Rain hoping that it would be as good....silly me. Just wow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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