THE BORE

General => Video Game Bored => Topic started by: Stoney Mason on June 26, 2014, 02:27:06 PM

Title: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: Stoney Mason on June 26, 2014, 02:27:06 PM

Probably a game that I would wait for a sale to buy but still looks pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GjCtRQo_X0

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: demi on June 26, 2014, 03:20:43 PM

I bought it. Will stream it later today, or this weekend.

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: demi on June 29, 2014, 05:13:52 PM

Just finished it. It was really good, much better than Child of Light. I enjoyed it a lot.

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: SpeedStats on June 30, 2014, 01:50:41 AM

demi, do you mean it's better than child of light, story-wise or in terms of a mood?

wonder if it's worth dropping the cash on it right now.

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: demi on June 30, 2014, 07:54:59 AM

Both, and gameplay

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: demi on June 30, 2014, 10:51:06 AM

It's got great music, like Child of Light. No silly limericks in the game. Puzzles are pretty simple. It has a lot of information about WW1. You unlock "Facts" and it shows some photos from back then, and a bunch of collectables in the level that describe trinkets that were from back then.

I marathoned it on Twitch, I'd say it only took me about 4-5 hours.

And since you're probably thinking about it

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The dog doesn't die

[close]

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: SpeedStats on June 30, 2014, 06:17:59 PM

That sounds good, really love that it embraces telling the player historical info like that cuz I'm a sucker for those kinds of games.  Thanks for the info, demi. <3

Gonna download it now.

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: SpeedStats on July 12, 2014, 01:06:55 AM

So, I finished this a few days ago.  I'd agree with demi in saying that it feels better than Child of Light.  If I have to say so, I'd say it's more cohesive and it knows exactly what it wants to be.  Whereas Child of Light felt more like this odd hybrid of an adventure game with battles that feel like a weird version of Grandia's (ie: not executed as well), Valiant Hearts knows that it's a puzzle game and knows that its emphasis is moreso on its narrative and telling the player how it serves to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I.  I know Child of Light and VH aren't that comparable outside of being UbiArt games, but I felt like this game had far more substance to it than CoL.  CoL by comparison felt like it didn't really know what to do and felt like a combination of things that didn't feel very cohesive.

It's kind of a shame that it didn't get as much of a push as CoL did, especially given its significance as a centenary game.  The puzzles aren't difficult, and the characters don't have dialogue, but the story is communicated so well by what goes on around them that it's hard not to be engrossed in it.  It can suffer from mood whiplash at times, but while others think that's not a good thing, I think the game did it fairly well.

So yeah, I'm glad I picked it up.  It was pretty neat.

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: demi on July 12, 2014, 02:41:06 AM

Valiant Hearts: Starring BIG BURLY BEAR MEN

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: Bebpo on December 03, 2014, 10:22:59 PM

Finished up Valiant Hearts tonight and wow, amazing game and my 2014 GoTY (with Far Cry 4 behind it).


It's basically a super fucking depressing realistic depiction of World War I told through a 90s point & click game in a bite-sized modern layout. You play as 3 characters through like 20 mini-chapters. Each being one focal point of the war and being a few screens long with puzzles to solve through item usage and puzzle boss fights. The story is of the characters is fairly good, but not amazing because they have a bit of plot-armor. But the atmosphere and way the game presents the background of THE WAR is excellent.

Every section has historical facts (they teamed up with the history channel) about the battle, or time period or weather or weapons that relate to the section and for once in an Ubisoft game, the collectibles are actually good and have value besides stat numbers because each collectible is memorabilia from WW1 and many of them are real historical items such as letters, or objects made by soldiers in that location of WW1 whose stuff has been passed down by descendants or is in museums. Experiencing the overwhelming hopelessness of Chemes des Dames, French push against the impossibly fortified germans and finding a real letter by a soldier talking about how little care he has for the war effort and really just wants to be home is heart breaking.

The second most poignent moment of the game, and what really struck the point home for me was in that Chemes des Dames mission where you're being pushed by a bossy commander to keep pushing forward against impossible odds. At one point when I was walking forward and saw turret fire incoming I ran back only to run into my commander's sword, be impaled and die; because that was the choice these soldiers had, keep moving or be killed by your boss behind you. Seeing the game over screen almost made me drop my controller going ..."wow". It really strikes the point home.  PS.  That's not a story spoiler, you're not supposed to run back and die; the character doesn't die from that.  You're supposed to wait for a pause in the bullets and keep moving forward; this is just an example of what happened when I choose to run backwards instead.

The art is very good 2d art and the music is hauntingly beautiful. There's a few problem spots where it goes on a bit too long at 8 hours and so it repeats some of the ideas multiple times, but that's a small blemish on what otherwise is a breath of fresh air and incredible game. It's the Thin Red Line of war videogames.

I'm really glad Ubisoft took a chance with this and sad that I've heard the game didn't make it's money back even with a small team. But there wasn't a lot of marketing for Valiant Hearts (hell, I didn't even know what it was at release because I thought it was that shitty modern Vandal Hearts jrpg remake XBLA). But wow is it good. I highly recommend it and if I taught a history class I'd make everyone play it when we covered WW1. Up there with some of the best war films and books imo and one of the best adventure games I've played in the last few years.


It's also available on every platform known to man. PS/Xbox/Steam/iOS/etc...so pretty much everyone can play it if they want.

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: sarslip on December 04, 2014, 11:15:17 AM

play it!  :lawd

it's basically super depressing.  :goty2

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: demi on December 04, 2014, 11:18:40 AM

I bought it on launch and said it was good in another thread.

As usual, demi on the edge of brilliance

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: sarslip on December 04, 2014, 11:32:13 AM

i plan to play this and War of Mine, eventually  :tocry

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: SpeedStats on December 05, 2014, 02:17:14 AM

demi recommended it and I ended up liking it a lot.  The storytelling and animations are so so so good.

Listen to demi.

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: Cerveza mas fina on December 05, 2014, 08:30:01 AM

I clicked cause I read Vandal Hearts.

Now that was a game guys

(http://img.gamefaqs.net/box/5/7/1/8571_front.jpg)

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: Stoney Mason on December 06, 2014, 12:57:29 AM

I need to get around to playing this. Sounds right up my alley. I think I even made a thread about the game when it came out but never played it.

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: chronovore on December 06, 2014, 01:53:40 AM

I bought it when it was on sale two or three months ago, after I played the first chapter of the demo. I really like the art style and the music. The visual storytelling seemed very solid.

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: AdmiralViscen on December 10, 2014, 07:34:18 PM

Bought today in PSN sale

Title: Re: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Post by: Cerveza mas fina on March 12, 2015, 07:04:52 PM

Make sure to download this on ps+ folks, real nice one.