@excel_excel: Seriously? I don't think I've EVER seen that happen before.
@OrigamiNinja: You, my friend, are in for a serious treat. SotC is easily in my top 5 favorite games ever.
@The Cap'n: TWEWY is one of the best damn RPGs I've ever played. People who complain about the story need to stop acting like JRPGs are supposed to be the genre with good stories. At this point complaining about emotional main characters in JRPGs is like complaining about having to shoot hundreds of people in an FPS.
@Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.: Naw, it's just smart business sense, going after an untapped market: Christian porn!
@ShoopDaBoofs: I know what a hipster is, douchebag, I go to college. And I can't stand them.
@Gray665: I guess I'm getting defensive because I see a bunch of ignorant nerds hating on one of my musical heroes.
Jack White's bluesy (and sometimes old-school punk) minimalistic approach to writing music has inspired me and many of my friends in our music playing. He's an insanely creative musician and knows how to write an awesome riff better than just about any musician I can think of.
So this is based entirely off of personal opinion. Now can people stop accusing me of random shit just because I'm defending one of my greatest musical heroes?
@ShoopDaBoofs: If I get called a hipster one more time in this comments thread for liking Jack White I will cut someone. It just further shows that you have no idea what you're talking about.
Jack White's way too well-known to be a hipster darling anyway.
@antspai01: Yeah it's one thing to say that you don't like somebody's music and another thing entirely to claim that they are an objectively bad musician.
@ryoshi: Yeah, I'm pretty sure most of the people in this thread are just reflexively responding to somebody dissing videogames and basically have no idea what they're talking about.
@Gray665: You must be a genius guitarist to call Jack White overrated. Would you like to link me to some of your music? I'd love to hear it!
@Zeiphor: Followed.
I am laughing so hard at these responses. You guys are seriously a bunch of sad nerds.
Do you all just automatically flay people who disagree with your tiny games-are-always-right-and-must-always-be-defended mindset?
I'm laughing especially hard at all of you who are lambasting Jack White. The dude is probably the best blues/rock/punk guitarist that we've seen in the last decade. You all are taking his statement out of context: he thinks it's sad that people aren't appreciating music for music's sake and instead have to have a game attached to it to bother discovering new music. And as a musician in a way I agree with him.
And those of you claiming that Led Zeppelin is going to "fade into obscurity" if they don't get with the times need to learn your music history.
@BirdMurder: Have you heard of Infinity? It's an upcoming indie game promising exactly the features you are pointing out.
@suya123: But now your criteria are changing. You don't need a 700$ computer to do photo manipulation. But to do photo manipulation AND play some nice games...
I just built my brother a computer that can play basically anything he wants, and it cost 520$, including taxes and shipping. So it's a full-fledged PC and game system. Take that as you will. But consoles will not be replacing PCs any time soon.
@suya123: The PS3 can run Linux. The Wii can run Linux too. iPods can run Linux.
My point here is that Linux can be put on just about anything that has a processor.
That said, would I want to try programming on a PS3? How about photo manipulation? Even simple things like surfing the internet are more tedious on a console. It's not a replacement for a PC just because it can run Linux, moreso because it would probably run Linux inefficiently unless the guy who writes the distros is extremely talented.
@suya123: You are blatantly ignoring the fact that a PC is not a game system. PCs do many useful things. Games are a bonus. If I was paying 700 bucks for a game system, yes that would be absurd, but a PC does so much more.
@suya123: Also if you can find a 360 game that looks better than its PC equivalent on decent specs, please let me know. I haven't seen one in a while.
@suya123: The point is to buy a computer that has specs that'll last a while. And PC components have gotten insanely cheap lately.
Your argument is like attacking Microsoft for not making the Xbox able to handle Xbox 360 level games.
This is unfortunate. I quite liked EGM, it was tons more intelligent than any other print gaming magazine.
Goddammit SO MANY OF YOU are missing the point COMPLETELY with this game. Especially when you bash the developer for having an artistic vision.
Video games are at a major crossroads right now. A lot of people believe that it is time for games to make the jump to being recognized as a form of artistic expression. Casual, addictive games are also becoming more popular. And there's still the hardcore gamer who cares more about the metagame than the entire experience itself.
First, let's get something straight: I am a "hardcore" gamer. I play pretty much every game that comes out. I am a huge fan of fighting games, which are the ultimate example of metagame: precise button timings, memorizing combos, and outwitting your opponent are far more important than the overall experience of the game. This was the part of me that complained that Prince of Persia was too simple.
But "experience" games will always hold a special place in my heart. It's why I've played Ocarina of Time through about 10 times. And that's why this game was such a huge risk for the developer. Prince of Persia games have always been about the metagame, specifically with their punishing difficulty.
But Prince of Persia tried something different by making the game an experience. It's really not about the challenge, about the frustration-success loop that a lot of video games rely on. It's about getting caught up in the characters, the art, the story, and interaction with the game world. I can't count the amount of times I stopped running jumps just to admire the wonderful world the developers created. And the optional dialogue was an awesome decision. You're not forced to stop playing the game to find out more about the world and characters, but if you are so inclined there is a lot of depth to explore.
And the ending. The ending fucking blew me away.
For the whole game I was trying to predict what kind of dumb plot twist the developers would throw in at the end of the game, before ultimately resolving to the requisite happy ending, like a lot of modern games I've played. Like "OH ELIKA IS SECRETLY WORKING FOR AHRIMAN LOL" or something equally stupid.
But instead, the ending shocked me, in an absolutely wonderful way. Anyone who can play through the ending of Prince of Persia and not experience some kind of emotion has no soul.
A lot of the story themes that appear in this game are subtle and are going to be missed by exactly the sort of gamer that pans this game. And that's fine, because this game wasn't designed for them.
I hope more modern, big-budget games make design decisions like this. Shooters are fun, and I will probably always enjoy them, but video games need to evolve.
