Digital Foundry - HellBlade 2

[madmaltese★ 2,701]

1 minute ago, Remij said:

Yeah.

 

 

Yeah easily the best part. Also helped that it felt I was doing something different game wise. Wasnt just me looking but also interacting with the craziness on screen. 

[madmaltese★ 2,701]

25 minutes ago, Tears of the Cows said:

And the biggest thing of all: zero pop in

Yeah, the gameplay doesn't pop in either

[Remij 4,822]

1 minute ago, madmaltese said:

Yeah easily the best part. Also helped that it felt I was doing something different game wise. Wasnt just me looking but also interacting with the craziness on screen. 

For sure.  I like how you had to hold on in this one.

 

But just thinking technically about it.. water is a suuuuper hard thing to make look good, let alone great, in games.  It's fine when it's just a stream flowing, or a relatively still pool of water, but making big crashing waves, and animating that... it almost never looks right.  And don't get me wrong, there's clearly times in this game where the water rendering isn't really great.  Like at the beginning during the boat sequence.. there's clipping through objects and other issues which make it super obvious by how relatively incredible everything else looks.. but like I said, it's hard as fuck.  However, it's almost like certain levels were done by different people and in some sections of the game the water rendering and animation is just phenomenal.  Like they had some very cool ideas for animating waves and flow instead of just some basic shaders, you know?

 

But yea, dynamic moving entities are always the hardest thing to get right.. and when you have everything else in a game looking really stunning and solid, it can stick out even more.. so the fact that they made sections look as incredible as it does is a testament to their abilities.  Of course, as people have said, it's all scripted, it's not like they're actual physics going on here.. but still the artistry is crazy good.

[madmaltese★ 2,701]

Just now, Remij said:

For sure.  I like how you had to hold on in this one.

 

But just thinking technically about it.. water is a suuuuper hard thing to make look good, let alone great, in games.  It's fine when it's just a stream flowing, or a relatively still pool of water, but making big crashing waves, and animating that... it almost never looks right.  And don't get me wrong, there's clearly times in this game where the water rendering isn't really great.  Like at the beginning during the boat sequence.. there's clipping through objects and other issues which make it super obvious by how relatively incredible everything else looks.. but like I said, it's hard as fuck.  However, it's almost like certain levels were done by different people and in some sections of the game the water rendering and animation is just phenomenal.  Like they had some very cool ideas for animating waves and flow instead of just some basic shaders, you know?

 

But yea, dynamic moving entities are always the hardest thing to get right.. and when you have everything else in a game looking really stunning and solid, it can stick out even more.. so the fact that they made sections look as incredible as it does is a testament to their abilities.  Of course, as people have said, it's all scripted, it's not like they're actual physics going on here.. but still the artistry is crazy good.

Yeah water is always the hardest and tbh like you said even in this stunning graphical game the only flaws you ever see are regarding water. But it was cool they dedicated a whole set piece based around such a difficult task, was worth it cause it was the best part of the game. 

 

[JonDnD 2,814]

10 minutes ago, madmaltese said:

Yeah, the gameplay doesn't pop in either

Were you expecting dmc ? You hated this from the beginning but still finished it 

[-GD-X★ 7,956]

32 minutes ago, Remij said:

There's a section towards the end which is just insanely impressive technically.  The amount of shit going on and effects and just pure visual quality.. it's almost unbelievable.

I saw it. Looks wild AF 

[madmaltese★ 2,701]

Just now, JonDnD said:

Were you expecting dmc ? You hated this from the beginning but still finished it 

Oh look it's Mr Gamey games loving the biggest Movie Game of all time. Imagine what you would say if Sony made this 

What did you expect?? Was your longest hyped game forever and you want to tell me you expected less gameplay than Hellblade 1? With a gen leap? Please. Game is fine but has a ton of flaws and you're too much of a fanboy to even acknowledge them.

 

and yeah, I finish most games I start, let alone a 5h one. Give it the full chance, which luckily I did. Last hour is by far the best. Also not gonna talk about games I haven't played/finished unlike you 

 

[JonDnD 2,814]

You make stuff up in your head LMAO

personally,  I wouldn't finish a game I felt was a 6. I wouldn't play it at all most likely.

 

Was I expecting an action game from hellblade 2 ? Nope. The game is about what I expected.

 

I don't think that's a flaw. I don't care much for the puzzles but I didn't care for them in the first either. These ones aren't frustrating tho. It's an improvement in every way imo. And that's what I expected. 

[madmaltese★ 2,701]

1 minute ago, JonDnD said:

You make stuff up in your head LMAO

personally,  I wouldn't finish a game I felt was a 6. I wouldn't play it at all most likely.

 

Was I expecting an action game from hellblade 2 ? Nope. The game is about what I expected.

 

I don't think that's a flaw. I don't care much for the puzzles but I didn't care for them in the first either. These ones aren't frustrating tho. It's an improvement in every way imo. And that's what I expected. 

6 is literally your favourite genre of game 

lol no one but you has mentioned action game. But yes, nearly everyone expected a 6/7 year development + next gen leap + acquired by MS so much bigger budget to mean an expansion of the game that Hellblade began. This game is shorter, more confined in its gameplay and puzzles (puzzles sucked in both) and way more of a walking sim than the original was. 

Story improved? 

Characters improved?

 

Even MS had to change their own expectations on this when they lowered it's pricepoint and dropped basically all marketing. Stop acting like this was at all the expectation

 

[JonDnD 2,814]

6 to me , not 6 to GS. So far it about lines up with the MC for me.

 

Everything was improved. Being shorter than the first is an improvement for me. The first was frustrating with the dumb puzzles. Bloating a game like this hurts more than helps. But the same can be said about most games.

 

But yeah , for me , improvement in every way. And you do talk about games before you finish them. You were shitting on the game the first hour. And look , you finished your 6 and are still talking about it. Lmao , dumb mutt

[madmaltese★ 2,701]

2 minutes ago, JonDnD said:

6 to me , not 6 to GS. So far it about lines up with the MC for me.

 

Everything was improved. Being shorter than the first is an improvement for me. The first was frustrating with the dumb puzzles. Bloating a game like this hurts more than helps. But the same can be said about most games.

 

But yeah , for me , improvement in every way. And you do talk about games before you finish them. You were shitting on the game the first hour. And look , you finished your 6 and are still talking about it. Lmao , dumb mutt

dumbo to other ppl 'lmao why are you here you don't even play games or talk about games'

dumbo to me 'lmao you play games and talk about them'

 

[Twinblade★ 4,061]

The game is definitely worse in most ways outside of the general presentation. I remember thinking the original was a 8/8.5 quality game, and this one was a 7 for me.

[madmaltese★ 2,701]

1 minute ago, Twinblade said:

The game is definitely worse in most ways outside of the general presentation. I remember thinking the original was a 8/8.5 quality game, and this one was a 7 for me.

It's honestly not even debatable tbh. It is objectively worse in every non graphical or production quality perspective. 

The story, character and themes were handled a million times better in the first, it's not even close. Those elements were then intertwined with the gameplay in the original making for a very cool experience and journey which while limited in scope had good pacing and came together to make a memorable game. The sequel is worse in every single one of those elements. Saying that 'everything is improved' in HB2 is border line retardation.... which I guess shouldn't come as a surprise considering who is saying it 

It does look bloody amazing though.  

 

 

 

[JonDnD 2,814]

8 minutes ago, madmaltese said:

dumbo to other ppl 'lmao why are you here you don't even play games or talk about games'

dumbo to me 'lmao you play games and talk about them'

 

It pains you to play ms games but you still do it 

[JonDnD 2,814]

8 minutes ago, Twinblade said:

The game is definitely worse in most ways outside of the general presentation. I remember thinking the original was a 8/8.5 quality game, and this one was a 7 for me.

I haven't finished it but I'd give the first a 7 and this an 8. The puzzles in the first sucked so bad and the graphics and presentation are what makes this game. Story is a wash.

 

You were annoyed with the voices from the get go. So of course you weren't going to like it.

[Twinblade★ 4,061]

30 minutes ago, JonDnD said:

I haven't finished it but I'd give the first a 7 and this an 8. The puzzles in the first sucked so bad and the graphics and presentation are what makes this game. Story is a wash.

 

You were annoyed with the voices from the get go. So of course you weren't going to like it.

 

The puzzles are annoying and many of them just devolve into pixel hunting. How you managed to somehow enjoy them is beyond me.

[Ike★ 2,931]

6 flop  

[Tears of the Cows 1,282]

Best graphics of the gen

[MalaXmaS 659]

Truly next Gen game. 

Only on Series X 🙂

[TLHBO 2,212]

14 hours ago, JonDnD said:

I haven't finished it but I'd give the first a 7 and this an 8.

 

Of course you would Jon....of course you would

 

I wonder if the fanboy sites desperately padding the metascore are deliberatly doing it, or if they're like you and have internalized so much bias their brain tells them anything from Microsoft is actually a good game.

 

6/10 on xbox? Its great

5/10 on Xbox? Its great

9/10 on PS? It sucks, I hate it!

 

Its a good job nobody takes your opinion seriously.