Darksiders ???

[cool breeze]

I'm about 9 hours in and just finished fourth dungeon.  Getting a bit bored tbh.  The pacing isn't too great (uh, if you don't enjoy the combat like me) and dungeons are filled with constant battles.  I just want to go through and solve the puzzles and shit, but you have to slog through so many enemies that keep respawning.  Worst is when they give you one of those guns and you just want around for ten minutes doing a piss easy shooting section.

In general the game is really rough.  Frame rate can drop a lot (PS3 version, dunno about 360 one) and it has the worst sense of "why the fuck can't I climb that?" in any game recently.  There is just a lack of polish to everything, like something a button prompt won't come up in time or you try to jump and it doesn't work, etc.

Still has fun moments and if you enjoy the combat you'd probably like it more than me.  Right now I got an item that I knew I was getting for the past 9 hours because I kept seeing areas to use it, so I'm gonna go around and get whatever items there are.

Oh, and apparently the 360 version is getting a patch for the tearing soon.  Nothing else was said, like if it will cause frame rate to worsen or negatively impact the game in another way to turn on vsync.

And I got randomly attacked by some weird skeleton with an accent today. I thought he was a npc I could talk to, so I approached him. The bitch just attacked be. I beat him up of course but he suddenly teleported to another place I guess.
Looks like some secret boss. I wonder where I'll encounter him next. He sounded pretty funny.

yeah, I ran into him earlier in that water/forest area.  He was a brit or something and I turned on chaos to attack him, then he just vanished into his top hat.

[Third]

I think you're at the same place as I am now. I think you're even further ahead.

The last boss I fought:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

the giant sandworm in the desert and the terrible gun firing you had to do.

[close]

The game was a slideshow during that part. The framerate was terrible. The game really needed another month or 10 to polish up.

[cool breeze]

yeah, I actually finished up the dungeon right after that one.

Frame rate in that section was bad in the PS3 version too, btw.  Anytime you use the horse the game drops big time.

[Jansen]

this game is badass!

great fighting mechanics? check.
good dungeons? check.
good art style? check.
cool bosses? check.
better than every 3d zelda since oot? check.

what a pleasant surprise

[Stoney Mason]

Watched some video of this one including the quick look on Giant Bomb. Combat looks tedious.

[Jansen]

battles can be a bit longer than they really should be until you level up your weapons. even still it's pretty fun given the movesets.

[Yeti]

I saw a commercial for this on television today.

Does his head look as tiny in the game as it did in the commercial?

[cool breeze]

So the game is good besides the screen tearing and framerate? That's good, maybe I'll pick this up since they're going to release a patch to help curb these issues.

well, the combat isn't good compared it to, uh, good action games.  It's not a big problem since the combat isn't the main draw of the game and the Zelda style overworld, dungeons, puzzles, etc help make up for it.  But yeah, I still think there is a bit too much combat than I'd like; I made the comparison to The Force Unleashed for how much depth the combat has, and the more I play the more I think it's more true than I would have liked (it means very little).  They are trying to blend Devil May Cry and Zelda while covering both parts, so you do have sections where they expect you to fight a lot and others where you do a lot of exploring and puzzle solving.  It's also fairly rough and seems like it wasn't completely finished.

I like it enough that I would rebuy it cheap if they release a PC version.

Oh, and I killed that top hat skeleton guy.  I ran into him two more times, and I realized that he runs away if you turn into your Chaos form (first two times I did this).  Third time I fought and killed him regularly and all I got were a bunch of blue orbs.

[Third]

Oh wow that's lame.
At least I know now why he ran away lol

And yeah, the character has a tiny head. I don't understand this phenomenon in games. Bayonetta also has a needle head.

[chronovore]

Oh wow that's lame.
At least I know now why he ran away lol

And yeah, the character has a tiny head. I don't understand this phenomenon in games. Bayonetta also has a needle head.

That's only in proportion to 'dat ass.

on topic: I've got a copy coming soon, based on your guys' hype for it. It has a selection on the Spotlight channel on Xbox Live, so I looked at the screenshots. Everything looks very Joe Madueira-esque, which isn't a bad thing, but it sure screams of an era in comics when the artists were all aping manga proportions, Kirby poses, Liefield proportions, and that one computerized-coloring company was doing about 90% of the major books.

I'm looking forward to these rich worlds you've mentioned, but all I saw in the screenshots were pretty meager looking, broken buildings with poor texturing for the shattered windows.

[Jansen]

the combat is at the very least on par with god of bore. hell i'd say it's even better since you only get a single button prompt for a finishing move allowing you to see the cool kill animation without distraction.

[Third]

Yeah, I like that there are no QTE's in battles. I really hate those in GOW. But the combat system in GOW is much more refined and has better animation. The fighting in Darksiders gets boring pretty fast and is really simple. You basically just use the X button all the time.

[Jansen]

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/darksiders-benefiting-from-post-holiday-release-timing-says-thq/

 

[cool breeze]

Yeah, I like that there are no QTE's in battles. I really hate those in GOW. But the combat system in GOW is much more refined and has better animation. The fighting in Darksiders gets boring pretty fast and is really simple. You basically just use the X button all the time.

Basically.  Even as simple as GOW is, there is more to the combat in those games than in Darksiders.  It only really bothers me because you're expected to fight a lot in the game, and early on they actually force you to fight in several combat arena (usually optional stuff in DMC or Ninja Gaiden) to progress.

[chronovore]

the combat is at the very least on par with god of bore. hell i'd say it's even better since you only get a single button prompt for a finishing move allowing you to see the cool kill animation without distraction.

It's funny you mention them as a distraction; I dislike QTEs in general because they're horribly cheap, but in any instance where control is arbitrarily linked to input which has nothing to do with game's actual animation, such as dancing or music rhythm games, the best thing to do is get the icons in the center of view. If the player can just shift focus instead of looking up and down, left and right, they're going to be able to actually appreciate the animations which are arguably the reason the QTE exists at all.

[cool breeze]

I just realized that the general movement and platforming of this game reminds me a lot of Ratchet and Clank in that it all feels really digital, if that makes sense.

[duckman2000]

Fucking Blockbusters only had the 360 version

So I got Bayonetta instead

True story

[archie4208]

Fucking Blockbusters only had the 360 version

So I got Bayonetta instead

True story

You made the right choice.

cheeseburger witches

[demi]

Darksiders is definitely a Zelda game. I played the intro, and havent gone back to it since playing Bayonetta.

[Third]

I've kinda given up on this game. Don't feel the need to go back.

I see people on other boards loving the shit out of this game. And I can understand that.
The game is definitely good. It has its good points. More good points than bad points.  But those bad points hurt the game for me.

[Hitler Stole My Potato]

Darksiders feels a hell of a lot more like Soul Reaver than Zelda to me.

[demi]

Now that I'm done with Bayo, it's time to 1000 Darksiders. Just entered Twilight Catedral

[Third]

Darksiders feels a hell of a lot more like Soul Reaver than Zelda to me.

Yeah, it does. LoK Soul Reaver is probably still my personal best game ever. But Darksiders can't touch its awesomeness. The level design, music, voice-acting, gameplay etc etc in Soul Reaver take a huge major dump on Darksiders.

But this is also the issue with Darksiders. It somehow tries to do every game concept, but it is -by far- not better than any of the games it's inspired by.

[duckman2000]

So is there anything about the game that isn't a straight rip from other games? I thought that might have been exaggerated, but judging from the GT and other reviews, it's borderline shameless how specific the influences are. I guess originality isn't all that important if the game is good, but damn.

[Third]

I had to think about that question. But no, there's nothing really original in there. The only thing that can be counted as original are the amount of games that are being copied in a project. I've never played a game like this one that tried to be everything. It's ambitious, though. But hard to succeed.

-edit

I'll still try to finish this before Gow 3 and Dante's Inferno arrive.

[cool breeze]

Going into it you know it's Zelda meets DMC from impressions.  As I kept playing it, i kept getting surprised by how unoriginal some parts of it were.

late game spoiler:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

they basically copy portal for the last dungeon with their own portal mechanic

[close]

[duckman2000]

So it's more like DMC than God of War? Because every battle bit I've seen has looked a lot like God of War.

[Van Cruncheon]

Darksiders feels a hell of a lot more like Soul Reaver than Zelda to me.

yup. it's very linear, with no real overworld and only occasional backtracking. it is straight up soul reaver 2.

[duckman2000]

Does this game ever stop being ugly, designwise? I was just told that Tiamat's domain was an inferno, and it made me physically sigh. I just slaved through a fucking hotel filled with zombies, after collecting souls for some dude, now I'm in some drab park and next is an inferno.

Other than that, the game has been alright I guess. Inoffensive and it's not broken, or something. I guess you can't go "wrong" when you drag proven concepts into a game, castrate them a bit and sort of just leave them there.

[cool breeze]

Darksiders feels a hell of a lot more like Soul Reaver than Zelda to me.

yup. it's very linear, with no real overworld and only occasional backtracking. it is straight up soul reaver 2.

they even managed to have dull combat like Soul Reaver 2

I still would say the dungeons are a lot more Zelda than soul reaver, but the overworld and general movement (down to the gimp glide) are soul reaver.  It even has items that barely serve a purpose outside of that one dungeon.

[duckman2000]

I don't get the overwhelmingly positive reaction to this game. I get why someone might like it. It's not broken, it looks sort of alright at times if very rarely, there are monsters and you beat them, and whatnot. It's blah, but it's functional blah. But I don't get how such a large group of people can be passionate about it. Is it just Zelda blueballs?

[demi]

Let me guess, all of you all are just mashing X. Sorry you dont read the combo list. It's actually easy to link together all those combos and weapons.

Probably why yall suck at Bayonetta too.

[cool breeze]

I don't get the overwhelmingly positive reaction to this game. I get why someone might like it. It's not broken, it looks sort of alright at times if very rarely, there are monsters and you beat them, and whatnot. It's blah, but it's functional blah. But I don't get how such a large group of people can be passionate about it. Is it just Zelda blueballs?

Because Darksiders is a good game that gaf people, who usually hype up everything as the next coming, seemingly ignored until a month before release.  It's somewhere between them wanting to find a "hidden gem" and finding a good game they didn't make judgments about for months/years prior to release.

[cool breeze]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16874169037&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL011410&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL011410-_-Xbox360VideoGames-_-LG2C-_-74169037

Game is already $40 (w/free shipping) for 360 version on Newegg

[demi]

I'm at the end of the game (Destroyer) but I'm using guides to clean up the collecting beforehand.

[Third]

Just finished the spider dungeon. The boss was so easy. All of the bosses are way too easy imo.
I'm now in that huge tower and have to do a mission for some stupid angel. Am I at the finish?

[demi]

Nope

[Third]

I'm playing on Normal. It's just very easy. Some of the bigger enemies have devestating attacks though. I hate those demons who wear armor and talk shit about me. They're pretty hard.  The normal enemies are so easy.

Wtf, I'm not at the finish? I thought the tower was the last dungeon. Oh well, the spider dungeon was great and got me interested in the game again.

[demi]

Tower -> Eden -> Armageddon Blade -> Destroyer -> End

[cool breeze]

I'm at the end of the game (Destroyer) but I'm using guides to clean up the collecting beforehand.

Go find the fury legendary enhancement first.  It puts every item and chest on your map and makes finding everything really easy.  Also, there are some tricky health and power shards hidden in those transport realm places.  Oh, and the guy you sell souls to will give you some health and power shards if you bring him a certain amount of runes (I know I got two, one after a certain amount, another when I got them all).  Unless you didn't bother collecting things during the dungeons and need to backtrack into them, you can collect everything in under an hour.

[Third]

Yeah, a secret chest showed up after I lit all the torches in the second(?) dungeon. I was quite surprised when that happened. 

[cool breeze]

Some chests are hidden to. So if they show on your map and you don't see them, you have to do something like destory all the hydrants in Crossroads for example.

yeah, of the ones I remember (other than the one you posted) are destroy all the cross tombstones in the graveyard and light all the candles in that first twilight dungeon.

[demi]

I'm missing 1 Champion artifact, and I think 3 Abyssal Armor pieces

[cool breeze]

The trickiest armor piece is in eden behind a waterfall.  As for champion artifact, the one I was stuck on was that room with the giant fan where you stood on the blades.  Check that place out again.

[demi]

Nah I found it on a thread.

the upper left champion artifact is located in the area that leads from the choking grounds to the broken stair.

[demi]

Finished, 1000/1000

Ending was cool, game is basically God of War except with Norse Mythology.

The ending:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Before the end of the game, War learns that he is to die, but he keeps this to himself. When he kills the Destroyer / Abaddon, he finds out he is to die anyway, the council was gonna scrub him off like a bitch. He starts laughing, though, and the fairy is like "WTF bitch ur dead" and hes like "no.. you will die." and BAM, sword through War. Uriel has stabbed him as foretold, and completes the Death Oath they took also earlier (they will fight until one is dead). She then takes the sword and smashes the seventh seal, triggering Armageddon. War is suddenly revived (perhaps because with all the seals broken, it calls the 4 horsemen as said in the intro). War is like, HAHA BITCH I told you, and beats the fuck out of the fairy and pops his head like a cherry. Uriel is pissed that War is alive, but he explains that rather than let her die, he lets her live unlike their "champion" (Abaddon). So debts are repaid, but she explains that everyone will be hunting after him now (because he is betraying the council / creator, etc. will have to read more on this).

She's like "you will do this alone?" but he holds up the piece of the seal an goes "No, not alone." And it zooms over to 3 other comets flying down, meaning the other 3 horsemen are coming.

DARKSIDERS 2: THE DARKSIDENING

[close]

[cool breeze]

For some reason I was sure that the ending would be

spoiler (click to show/hide)

hinting at War having to fight the other three horsemen, then the council, then the creator.  But I guess they're all with War or something.

[close]

[chronovore]

You could, you know, buy it and support an original IP. 

[duckman2000]

You could, you know, buy it and support an original IP. 

That's pushing it. 

[chronovore]

You could, you know, buy it and support an original IP. 

That's pushing it. 

I was wondering if I'd get called on the term "original" but in fairness, it doesn't have a "2" on the end, nor is it based on a movie, comic, or TV show.

If this doesn't do decent numbers, next year these guys will be making Hannah Montana's Dance to the Arena based on the same engine, except you'll have to button-press to "sing approaching fans to sleep."

[demi]

I think Darksiders will do good enough to warrant a sequel. It's been getting good word of mouth, I think.

[BobFromPikeCreek]

They patch the tearing yet?

[chronovore]

Joe Mad announced that they're working on it and "it's not that difficult" in the same breath so I'm not sure if he's lying or not. Either they're working on it and it's ongoing, or it's easy and they should have had it in the shipped product.

[dark1x]

I hope it succeeds so they can hire some new programmers for their next game.  The performance in this game is inexcusable when you consider what it looks like.

[chronovore]

I thought everyone was saying the worlds are pretty? I didn't like the screenshots, but this gen screenshots are almost worthless.

[dark1x]

I thought everyone was saying the worlds are pretty? I didn't like the screenshots, but this gen screenshots are almost worthless.

Eh, some areas look pretty good actually, but the game just has a very unpolished feel.  It definitely grows on you, though.

[duckman2000]

The game just looks flat and drab, or something. It's boring to look at.

I expected a 6 from Edge after GamesTM gave it a 6, but the low score from Xplay is a bit surprising. Don't they give pretty much anything 3 or more stars/5?

[demi]

The Darksiders patch is out... go play this awesum game

[Ichirou]

Does the patch really drop the frame rate like everyone was suggesting it would?

[chronovore]

Was this posted here yet?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/1/8/