@Ralizah It's always tempting to convey the entire plot of a game you've enjoyed, at least for me, but I think you struck the perfect balance here, because it was important to give some details away in order to effectively illustrate your experience. Very nicely done.
And yeah, 'tis a shame when older games get abandoned out of laziness. I'm reminded of when I sought out all those fan mods for The Angel of Darkness but at least there, you can kinda understand why those in power would wanna distance themselves from a much-maligned underperformer. With the surging interest in the Megami Tensei franchise, thanks to the latest Persona games being embraced so warmly, I'm surprised that you weren't able to pick up some kind of official remastered release, and yet not surprised that fans are picking up the slack. Fans are awesome.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger I also think in this case, the pretty dramatic shift a third of the way through the game makes it difficult to talk about coherently without some discussion in that regard. Pre-apocalyptic Tokyo and post-apocalyptic Tokyo are such different places.
Anyway, I appreciate the praise. I wasn't sure if I revealed too much. I tried to be deliberately vague about certain elements, but that also risks calling attention to certain details accidentally in an otherwise detailed recount. As it stands, I think the way I approached it was probably the right way to go, even if it spoils a bit of the surprise of the game. It is, after all, an almost thirty year old game in a series that hits the same plot beats much quicker in subsequent entries (the pre-apocalypse is all of half an hour in Nocturne unless you wander around a lot, for example).
Atlus is WEIRD. Like... why is Persona 5 a Playstation exclusive? I can understand SMT V being Nintendo-exclusive, considering how much slack the Big N is picking up on distribution and marketing to ensure a successful simultaneous worldwide release for that game, but, as far as I can tell, Sony doesn't tremendously push Persona games.
For that matter, even if, let's say, we totally grant it's reasonable for new entries in both series to be exclusive to different ecosystems to maintain good relations with both (as this is what I believe they're doing)... why on Earth is the HD port of Persona 4 Golden not on PS4? The game sold at least a million copies on Steam alone.
For that matter, SMT I, II, and ...If are all part of Japan's NSO lineup. But they're nowhere to be seen on the service over here, even though the first game, if nothing else, has a full translation.
But yeah, fans are awesome. Fans are often the only reason large portions of a developer's legacy aren't almost completely forgotten over time. I've always been amazed at how people can invest so many manhours into passionate creative work on a game, and then just treat the end result like it's disposable.
In this case, I think it's a cultural barrier thing. While Atlus is amazing about localizing almost every new project they develop (and have been for almost two decades now, before riskier Japanese localizations became more common), there seems to be a disconnect with their older games. SMT I, II, and ...If are everywhere in Japan. They've seen SNES releases, PS1 releases, GBA releases, mobile releases, releases on NSO and probably the Wii's VC. But there's barely any recognition that maybe fans in the West might want to enjoy these games. They dumped a localization of the first game on iOS and then just didn't... update it. All the work that went into that localization would have vanished if not for the passionate work of fans to preserve it. How hard could it possibly be to put that version on Android, on the iPhone, on the Switch eshop, etc. and, once every year or two, tweak a few lines of code to ensure it works on newer firmwares?
It's frustrating because the lack of consideration for these older games outside Japan seems almost random. It's not even like they just don't care about ensuring access to older games of theirs in the West. I don't know about Europe, but in the States, they've been reprinting the physical versions of SMT: Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2, Persona 3 FES, Persona 4, etc. on the PS2 for so many years after their initial releases, which has kept the prices on a ton of their older games low enough for new fans to afford. I bought those games in the 2010s and didn't pay more than $20 for almost any of them. Keeping PS2 games, of all things, in circulation seems like an incredible level of dedication. But they can't update an iPhone version of one of their games?
@Ralizah No apology necessary; it genuinely seems like a rant-worthy case. Splitting the fanbase over two separate console exclusivity deals is particularly baffling (although, stopping and thinking for a second, I could understand that a lot of gamers will get Nintendo's current console "and one of the others" each generation and, given how dead Xbox is in Japan, ensuring exclusives across both the Switch and PlayStation ecosystems makes market saturation sense, even if it sucks on a consumer level).
The inconsistencies don't add up, though, and it's got to be a cultural thing, for sure. There's no other reason for it, which is a shame, as localisation isn't as expensive or as risky as it used to be. Globalisation is only ever headed in one direction, so fingers crossed somebody at Atlus stops living in the past and realises this soon enough. I'm sure they will.
Europe usually gets a better deal than America with such things. Never understood that, as there's more work to be done translating games into a dozen languages than there is to just one (which is included in those dozen already anyway). Makes no sense to me!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger Ironically, Atlus has a disastrous history when it comes to localizing products in Europe, with games arriving months/years later than they did in the States, and often without physical releases at all (whereas Atlus releases in NA/Jpn pretty much always have a physical option). That is hopefully changing now since Sega took Atlus under its wing.
Well, the weird thing is that there doesn't seem to be any evidence of actual exclusivity deals. This has been discussed for years, and it seems like the consensus is that Atlus just... chooses to keep certain IPs exclusive to certain ecosystems. Maybe there's some secret back room stuff going on, but that's hard to believe considering Persona only recently became a breakthrough hit (previous games were well-received, but didn't sell several millions of copies like P5 did). Although Sony has since come out and said Persona is "important" for Playstation as a brand, so I have no doubt at this point they'd break out the check book if they felt like they needed to like they have with recent Final Fantasy games.
It's effective for me, at least. As long as I have to continue buying Playstation consoles to play MegaTen games, I'll remain invested in Sony's ecosystem. Although we'll see if that changes with both Sony and Atlus recently expanding out to PC distribution of their software.
@Ralizah Wow, for real? What the heck, Atlus?! That's entirely contrary to what I'd heard about Japanese games in the European market. They really are just being awkward, aren't they?
It must've been a conscious decision by Atlus management to spread the franchise like that, then, and that whole Sony statement is simply a reaction to the fact that Persona 5 became somewhat of an overnight system-seller without their knowledge or input. It's weird because... well, okay, I can understand some games being "a good fit for handheld" or "better on a bigger screen" or what have you, but I've never 100% supported the notion that certain games can only find an audience on specific consoles. If your product is good enough, people will play and enjoy it, no matter the hardware, and it's abundantly clear that the Megami Tensei franchise is more than good enough. Those passionate fans are proof enough.
All that aside, and with apologies to your wallet, I sincerely hope Atlus continue to release Megami Tensei games exclusively on PlayStation consoles if it's what's keeping you here, posting on a PlayStation forum. This place wouldn't be the same without you.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger The difference, I think, is that, for the longest time, Atlus has had a dedicated U.S. branch, whereas their games only came over to Eu when they partnered with publishers in your neck of the woods. Again, one should hope that Sega publishing their games put an end to this.
This sort of thing is why Shin Megami Tensei V being Atlus' first ever simultaneous worldwide launch is such a big deal. It's always been Japan first, then the U.S. six months to a year later, and then Europe... whenever they could work out a publishing arrangement, lol. Nintendo has taken up publishing duties in certain regions and is likely helping with resources for the simultaneous localization, which is probably the only reason it's possible at the moment.
With that said, Atlus is a biggish developer now. SMT V is one of the most notable third-party exclusive releases of the year, and Persona games now sell millions of copies. Hopefully they can figure out the worldwide release thing when it comes to the next big Persona game without a larger company having to step in.
Come to think of it, the last few consoles I've purchased were for Atlus games. I got my 3DS primarily with Etrian Odyssey IV in mind. Persona 4 Golden was at the front of my mind, and was my very first retail purchase, when I got my Vita. For the Wii U, I was hyped for the "Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem" collab between Atlus and Nintendo (which turned into the hilariously divisive and weird Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE; I can't wait to talk about that game eventually). I decided to get a Playstation console after Persona 5 was announced. And I preordered the Switch after SMT V was announced at the system's reveal presentation. I had other games in mind as well when I grabbed those platforms, but an Atlus exclusive was always at the forefront. I actually didn't quite realize until reflecting on it that their games were driving pretty much all of my console purchases! Sounds like I'm fixated š
Anyway, I enjoy this community, so even if I never touched a Playstation game or console again, I'd still stick around to be a nuisance regardless.
Platform: PC, PS3 (version played) and Xbox360 Release Date: September 2014
Please note that, whilst the following is a review of the PS3 version, I captured all of the embedded screencaps from the game's PC port which, save for an obvious resolution bump, is identical.
***
I made a mistake.
During the seventh console generation, Ultimate Ninja Storm games were being released on an almost annual basis. Bandai Namco knew that the Naruto brand was a strong seller, but they also knew that its audience were wise enough to realise that the manga's storyline wasn't moving fast enough to support a new videogame adaptation every single year. As such, they instructed developer CyberConnect2 to alternate numbered instalments in the series with subtitled stop-gap games. Between the second and third, there was Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations and then, between the third and fourth, we got Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution... and, back in the day, I skipped both of them.
As far as Generations was concerned, I was right to do so. My recent resurgent interest in everybody's favourite orange-clad, knuckle-headed ninja saw me track down a copy on eBay and, sure enough, it was every pixel the lazy, slapdash, perfunctory corporate obligation I'd feared. It made a couple of minor tweaks to the core combat system and merged the original character designs with their grown-up Shippuden counterparts, but the end result was nothing more than a string of identikit brawls. No open world to explore, no story to speak of, just fight after fight after fight. Earning its platinum trophy gave me cramp.
In that context, I nervously installed and booted up Revolution thinking that, if nothing else, it would vindicate my previous assumption that the numbered UNS games were the only worthwhile ones. Ten minutes later, I realised my mistake. Not only is Revolution anything but lazy, but it was suddenly in danger of becoming my favourite game in the entire UNS series.
The first (and largest) of its many offerings is the Ninja World Tournament. Taking place on a remote island, this is a contest to decide the greatest ninja of all time, attracting participants "from across time and space" to allow full use of the series' ever-expanding roster. You pick your favourite character as an avatar to roam around this mid-sized environment, unlocking more areas to explore as you achieve victory in each successive rank, from D to S. Find any familiar faces hanging around and you can complete side quests for them, in order to unlock them as playable support in the tournament. You can also shop for graded ninja tools to use in battle, play a lottery using reward tickets, and even customise your chosen character with hats, banners, dolls and other random nonsense. It's all rather relaxing.
That is, until you enter the tournament battles themselves. You and three other participants are thrown into a large arena and, in a flurry of free-for-all chaos, made to duke it out. Whenever somebody is hit, they drop glowing orbs which can be collected by the others; lose all your orbs, and you're disqualified. The stronger the attack, the greater the value of the orbs it'll dislodge. Totals roll over across three, four or sometimes five rounds and ultimately, the person with the most orbs is crowned the winner. This sounds relatively straightforward and, at the D and C rank stages, it is, but then the game starts chucking obstacles, environmental hazards and randomly belligerent animals at you, as well as steadily increasing the aggressiveness of the three other opponents. Grind rails also appear, from which you can either spam projectiles or charge up a devastating single shot, depending on your character.
To say that these battles "get a little frantic" would be like saying every member of this forum "kinda likes videogames, I guess" and by the time I reached the A and S ranks, I started to feel overwhelmed by the sheer assault on my senses (as did my PS3, which struggled to maintain a consistent framerate on more than one occasion, although it did remarkably well under the circumstances). The tougher A.I. ended up targeting me more often than not, either because I had the most orbs or simply because I was the player character, and this led to a small handful of frustrating moments where I felt inescapably ganged up on, but I stayed calm. By remembering that the objective wasn't to K.O. everybody else in the arena, but rather to collect the most orbs, I was able to emerge triumphant every time.
Rounds only last forty seconds, which is a godsend given how bonkers they can become, so it doesn't take very long to blast through every rank. Where this gameplay started to outstay its welcome was in each rank's supplementary challenges, which are entirely optional... provided you don't want the game's platinum, that is. And I did. Credit where its due, however, because CyberConnect2 added some additional criteria to these battles, shaking things up a bit so that they become less of a repetitive drag than they could've been. Stuff like shorter time limits, the inability to use your get-out-of-jail-free Substitution Jutsu, or increasing the drop rate of orbs forced me to think differently, whilst playing against three other folks who are permanently Awakened was one heck of a daunting spectacle.
Aside from a small selection of scene-setting cutscenes (which get repeated every rank), there's no story to the Ninja World Tournament, but that's okay. It was still fun wandering about the island, meeting all the characters from Naruto's past and present, working my way up the ladder and making everybody I played as wear Kiba dolls. Once I'd had my fill of this unguided escapism, I then settled down to enjoy what most would consider the campaign proper.
On the surface, the introduction of Mecha-Naruto reinforces all of those filler fears I previously had about Revolution. He looks like a gimmick, exactly the kind of nonsensical thing the anime would pull out of its backside whenever it had to wait for more manga to adapt... but, on the contrary, his three-hour tale ended up being a real treat. Using the concept of the Ninja World Tournament as a backdrop, it begins with Naruto and Hinata stumbling across a battered, discarded robot who looks and sounds like our titular hero. Unable to remember anything about his past, Mecha-Naruto enters the tournament to win one of its prizes, a precious gemstone capable of restoring his memories. Add some parallels with Naruto's own backstory, as well as a dramatic twist halfway through, and you've got yourself an enjoyable evening's entertainment. It's all a bit Hallmark Channel (if the Hallmark Channel had the budget for thirty-foot fox demon mechs) but I liked it, and the fact that all of its cutscenes are rendered in-engine meant that it looked great throughout, as well.
Elsewhere, there are three separate OVAs to watch, two of which are broken up by some standard one-on-one fights at key junctures. Written in consultation with Masashi Kishimoto (the creator of Naruto, who also designed Mecha-Naruto for the game), these explore the background of certain important characters and organisations, and are animated by Studio Pierrot, the same studio behind the anime. They're brief, particularly the third hands-off one, but I found them welcome additions to the game's plentiful content. It speaks to the success of CyberConnect2's gorgeous presentation when they're prepared to switch between anime and gameplay in the space of a short loading screen.
Speaking of which, the one-on-one fighting in Revolution is the best it's ever been. It benefits from all the incremental refinements of its predecessors, such as reducing three health bars to two, mapping the Substitution Jutsu to its own dedicated button, and no longer demanding rapid-fire QTE skills in order to land an Ultimate Jutsu. Via the series' longstanding support feature, it also introduces unique Ultimate Jutsu for choosing certain squad combinations, making you stop and think carefully about who you want to take into battle as back-up. It's the kind of hidden detail that's fun to stumble across regardless, but definitely rewards fans with a knowledge of the source material, although there aren't quite as many as I'd have liked (more would be added in UNS 4 to correct a few oversights).
Perhaps the biggest, or at least the most noticeable, change comes when Revolution starts to separate out some of the series' most famous fighting mechanics. Before each battle, you have to assign your lead character to one of three types: Ultimate Jutsu, Awakening or Drive. Pick one, and you're not allowed to activate the effects of the other (so, for example, if you're a Drive type, your supports will automatically join your combos and protect you whilst you recharge Chakra, but you won't be able to use your most devastating attack, nor can you turn into a towering monster). In previous games, everything was available to everybody, at any time, but by breaking up these specific elements CyberConnect2 have made brawls far more tactical than they ever were before. Awakening is no longer a near-death Hail Mary, as Awakening types can Awaken on a whim, providing that they've got enough Chakra to do so. On the flip of this, Drive types can seal your Chakra, leaving you vulnerable and unable to use your Ultimate Jutsu, if you'd chosen that type. It's all been thought through and balanced really well.
So it's a shame that fans hated it. They wanted to do everything all at once, and didn't like how some fights could suddenly shift against them if they hadn't adopted the right strategy. Given that I still had to do a heck of a lot of punching, kicking and summoning to earn the game's platinum, I welcomed the additional wrinkle, particularly so soon after suffering the endlessly samey Generations. Listed as part of the Free Battle menu, there are dozens of straightforward Tournaments and Leagues, as well as some Survival runs, all with associated trophies that'll keep you busy for hours. Many of these modes pull the same trick as the Ninja World Tournament challenges, adding special restrictions or requirements each round, but some of them still got a little laborious towards the end. If it were any other fighting game, I doubt I'd have persevered, so I guess that underscores the smooth, playable genius of CyberConnect2's core system better than anything.
And, as much as I started to struggle with playing pure combat as my trophy percentage ticked ever-closer to completion, I actually think keeping its chunks of story short and small helps Revolution. It's a game that, at the point of conception, never had anything to say but, rather than repeat the mistakes of the series' past, used its imagination to figure out a solution to the problem of its corporate mandate. Just as CyberConnect2 disassembled the fighting into its component parts, making it feel fresh whilst never really adding or subtracting anything, Revolution offers up brief bursts of variety, with a couple of hours here and a couple more there, watching an OVA one minute and striving for tournament greatness the next. Unless you're trying to turn around that platinum in a long weekend, and find yourself taking up semi-permanent residence in the Free Battle section, none of it seems like a slog. It's suitably different from its numbered brethren, rather than lacking in comparison, and that's what makes it worthwhile.
During the height of licenced gaming, across those PS2 and PS3 years, experience and the general consensus had taught me to overlook these kinds of intermediary releases... but there's always an exception to any rule, and Revolution is certainly exceptional.
That was my mistake, but it's one that I've thoroughly enjoyed correcting.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@Ralizah Fingers crossed, yeah. They're not perfect, but SEGA tend to do well enough, and they've certainly got the infrastructure (current evidence to the contrary notwithstanding).
I can imagine somebody like Nintendo making a simultaneous worldwide release a demand of Atlus, who probably weren't gonna bother. The more we talk about them, the more I'm convinced Atlus aren't very aware of the world around them, and it takes an external perspective (and subsequent pressure) to get them to realise their shortcomings. Here's hoping the demand for remasters or proper localised ports of their back-catalogue is the next thing somebody takes them to task over!
That's an awesome revelation, though, regarding your console choices! It's clear you have a passion for the series, to be able to trace your history with it like that. These are the kinds of stories Atlus need to listen to when deciding who gets what. "Passionate Western Fanperson Buys Consoles Semi-Specifically for Atlus Games; More at Eleven." It's a great endorsement!
And then, when Atlus release everything on PC region-free and you're throwing your PS4 in the trash, I'll come back here and hold you to that promise. Or was it a threat? [sinister music]
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger Haha, yeah, I imagine Mecha-Naruto probably had "filler character" written all over his metallic face. It's interesting to hear how the developers pretty much conjured an entire filler experience out of thin air. A tournament on a remote island is certainly a good setup if you aren't allowed to move the broader story along at all. With that said, getting high-quality animated cutscenes, new characters, and mixed-up combat mechanics seems pretty good for an experience that amounts to padding.
Unfortunately, fans often aren't kind to series entries that stray too far from what came before. But I suppose if your enjoyment from this series came from being able to mix up different attack approaches, only been limited to one type during a battle would probably come as a bit of a disappointment. It does sound like a correct application of a 'less is more' approach to game design, though. Sometimes, all you need is to tighten the focus of the mechanics that were already available in the first place.
That menu screen looks potentially stylish, by the way, in that first screenshot. Is that a static background, or is there actually an animated transition between menu screens?
Very well-written review, as always. You've said you basically bang these out in one go, right? Your pieces are always much more organically constructed and effortlessly written (or appear that way, anyhow) than my own. Always a pleasure to read.
As for the response post:
Atlus, while better than many others (see Falcom and their long history of not localizing games they develop for many, many years and/or expressing shock when discovering that gaijin actually play and enjoy their games when they're published overseas years after the fact), has never fully transcended the mindset of a traditional, smallish, Japan-focused console developer. This has its upsides and downsides: while they can seem a bit deaf at times to the wishes of their fanbase outside of Japan (because, like Nintendo, I imagine their U.S. branch largely just deals with localization/promotion overseas and otherwise answers to the Japanese branch in the motherland), they also haven't attempted to Westernize their games in pursuit of bigger sales numbers like Capcom and Square-Enix have or change the way their games are written to "align with global values," or whatever the current Orwell-speak is for when Japanese developers are told by corporate suits that they need to become subservient to American cultural imperialism. You take the good with the bad, in this case, and I think the way they are now is the lesser of two evils.
Haha, the PS4 isn't my favorite console in the world, but it still has its upsides and gets a lot more use than my poor Wii U does (which pretty much only hasn't been retired at this point because it doubles as a Wii, and Wii Fit is still popular with my family). Putting aside my large-ish backlog of games on it, it'll have a place in my entertainment center until it craps out, because it's the only device I can use to play P.T.
I also really like my PS4 themes. I have no idea what Sony and Nintendo have against system-wide themes on consoles these days!
@Ralizah That's a good point, well made. We're here talking like localisation is this perfect ideal to strive towards, but I didn't think about all the times games got mangled on their way overseas. The current situation isn't ideal, or even really fair to folks like your good self, but at least you're not stuck playing some corrupted version of the developer's original intent, with no other option. Because you'd totally know that you were, and it'd ruin the whole experience. It's still a shame, though. I wish somebody, somewhere, would just say "damn the cost, it's the right thing to do" and take the risk (on this issue and so, so many others). Whenever the next SMT anniversary rolls around, I'll keep two fingers crossed for you!
Ah, you're one of the lucky P.T. owners! Good grief, yes, hold on to that console! And yeah, I really like themes, as well. Got a few real nice ones over the years. Heck, I even played through Batman: Arkham Origins on its super-tough "I Am The Knight" mode because completion unlocked a nifty WayneTech dynamic theme for my PS3. What's currently your favourite PS4 theme?
Thank you for reading my review! It's funny how Mecha-Naruto works perfectly in a game and yet, yeah, I think I'd have rolled my eyes at him in the anime (although I don't mind filler when its inoffensive).
Whilst I do totally understand the disappointment of hardcore fans who'd developed a preferred playstyle over the years, and then were suddenly told that they couldn't use everything they'd come to rely on at once, the fact that Revolution was only ever intended to be intermediary filler helps the case for change. There had been four other Ultimate Ninja Storm games, and UNS 4 was right around the corner, so I think CyberConnect2 shouldn't be shunned for pausing to try something new (especially since many casual and semi-casual fans, myself included, were gonna skip it anyway). That's just me, though.
The menu is fully animated. All of the series' menus from UNS 2 onward are, and they're absolutely gorgeous. Revolution joins UNS 3 as an equal favourite. The camera sweeps from scene to scene, and the character models have little transition animations and voice clips. They're literally the smallest, most insignificant of touches, but I could sit and cycle through them for hours.
They're kind of a hangover from the PS2 and PSP games, where you could choose one of the senior characters to narrate the menu for you. I always went with Guy Sensei.
And yes, written in one sitting. You're far too kind, as always. It's just a stream of consciousness, which is why I can't write a review about everything I play because I've got to have something to say, or a story to tell, in order to get my train of thought out of the station, as it were. I occasionally make notes, mostly bullet-points, if it's gonna be a while between completing a game and finding a free morning to write, and I do have a shameful collection of half-finished attempts where I've lost a grip on whatever thread I thought I had. There are even some that I've finished and just gone "nope" about. That's the beauty of an internet forum; you only have to post what you're happy for others to see.
You do yourself a disservice, though. If this topic has taught me anything, it's that there are dozens of different ways to approach the same task. Your reviews have always had a natural flow to them, particularly when you get caught up in the excitement of conveying an experience you've enjoyed, but you balance that with a methodical structure that I'd never be able to magic out of thin air with my "one take" approach. And then there are other contributions which go even further in that direction, and I'm just envious of their clarity as I sit here, tying myself up in verbose knots. Like I'm doing now.
I got a bit carried away there. Must've had too much sugar today or something. Apologies.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Despite several people having completed this game and posting impressions, I noticed there are no user reviews here on the game so I figured Iād fill that void. I hereby submit my expanded thoughts in case thereās an odd passerby who would like a more substantial player review to look over in preparation for the upcoming sequel.
THE PREMISE
Did you ever wonder what it was like to live through the 1300ās? In an era referred to as the Middle Ages; a time of brutal wars, plagues and pestilence, and religious patriarchy? Maybe we need a game to capture the essence of that time periodā¦
āBut we have plenty of games set in the European Middle Age and lots of gaming stories of knights and monarchy,ā you say? ā¦True. But we donāt have any that are told from the perspective of a 15 year old girl and her younger brother. And that is what makes A Plague Tale special.
The game is set specifically in France during the Hundred Years War, where folk were not only constantly under threat of wartime violence but also suffering from the Black Death, or Bubonic Plague ā the greatest recorded pandemic in human history. (Well, I guess weāre working on that, but I digressā¦)
The year is 1348. Ironically, itās a time period nestled tightly between some other popular historical based game properties ā Ubisoftās first two Assassinās Creed games (1100ās and 1400ās respectively), and shortly after Ghost of Tsushima (1200ās). You wonāt find the Hundred Years War in any Call of Duty or Battlefield campaigns, and the presence of The Plague during the time period certainly makes for a unique gaming setting which forces a different approach. And with that, Asobo studio is really on to something here.
GRAPHICS and TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE
I played the first third of the game on PS4 and then finished it on the PS5. In both cases the game ran well - no crashes or major hiccups. Itās no surprise that the PS5 version is a nice step up in quality and is quite beautiful in dynamic 4K with 60 fps. The textures and environment can be jaw-dropping at times with wonderful art design to showcase the grim world of the Black Death. Human and animal carcasses abound and are contrasted periodically with beautiful vistas and lovely ancient architecture. The haptics and adaptive triggers are subtle but add to the experience quite a bit. The 3D audio on the other hand isnāt nearly as transformative, although Iām sure itās indistinctly an improvement.
The character animations and especially the facial animations do leave room for improvement. There are times when characters look really great when static, but during movement, gesturing, and speaking then the uncanny valley kicks in. Overall itās a minor point, but a few times the wooden facial capture was off-putting. The character and facial animation is certainly on par with early PS4 offerings but not up to quality of the latest AAA games, which is a high bar, certainly.
The swarms of rats, likewise look great at times, but if you inspect closely then the tricks used to animate the sheer numbers becomes apparent. The individual rats do not always behave independently and so groups of them can look mechanical when hundreds of them animate with clearly an identical movement code. Fittingly reminiscent of the work from another French artist, sometimes the game is a Monet - you have to step back to appreciate it as a whole scene and not look too closely.
CHARACTERS and STORY
Much has been made about the main protagonists Alicia and her younger brother Hugo. Their relationship is sweet, but also complex, and I think it comes across fairly well. I thoroughly enjoyed playing as a vulnerable youth, with all the tension that creates. The English voice acting has come under fire, and Iād have to agree that some of the line delivery and script writing is mediocre, but it didnāt affect my enjoyment. Hugo is especially cringeworthy at times, but supposedly choosing the French audio version with subtitles makes the character perception much better, but Iām not a fan of subtitles.
The story, like I said, is a unique and fascinating peer into a oft neglected setting. I enjoyed the overall plight of the De Rune siblings. There is a lot of fiction and fantasy mixed in this historical piece, probably a little too much for my taste, but I can still appreciate what the developers were going for.
MUSIC
Iām not a good source of opinion about the musical score, as I have a tendency to ignore it unless it gets on my nerves. In the case of APT:I, what I remember of the music was mostly melancholic and rather sorrowful sounding classical string orchestrated tones. Nothing too overt, but I think it added to the atmosphere. Iām not searching the OST to listen to it again, but I also donāt remember anything bad about it.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay has been compared to that of The Last of Us, and I think itās an apt parallel. APT:I is quite linear, and the focus is almost solely on stealth with an emphasis on environmental takedowns and each combat situation is a mini puzzle of sorts. Like TLoU before it, your character succumbs usually to an insta-death if they are discovered, so thereās little room for error. Nevertheless, the inconsistent enemy AI and general liberal timeframe before the little bubble above their head fills to full red status means that you can cheese most encounters if you need to.
Itās unfortunate because the combat really starts coming into its own at the end and I think the true open nature of how one can take down enemies is most apparent after you have all your upgrades. However, certain skills and tools are superfluous and besides the introductory tutorial you really donāt ever have a need for them again. Still, the last chapter really shows the breadth of options to get through a given set-piece full of enemies in a variety of ways, and you finally get to experiment with some of the items that werenāt really needed earlier on. Its an unfortunate design flaw that as soon as youāre given the full array of offensive and defensive abilities the game is over and youāre left wanting a little more. Hopefully this bodes well for the sequel to expand on how this game ended regarding the combat and stealth.
The gameplay strikes a decent balance of āgameynessā at the expense of realism, but the controls are not always as intuitive as I would have liked. On one hand aiming is easy and Alicia is a crack shot with the stone and sling to rival David slaying Goliath, and yet there were times when I was fumbling with the controls of the other skills and couldnāt get the timing down before I was one-hit killed.
Like TLoU and other āsurvival horrorā games (although I wouldnāt place this game in that category) there is an emphasis on resource management. Again, the balance is decent here too, unless youāre going for the platinum (which is fairly easy, all things considered) in which case youāll really need to search every nook and cranny to ensure youāve got enough of all resource items to carefully ration in order to make all your upgrades. But if youāre more of a āfly by the seat of your pants / screw all that inventory accountingā, Asobo has ensured that each encounter has some items in place to provide you with the bare minimum to make it through to the next set-piece.
LOOKING FORWARD and THE FUTURE OF THE IP
Both from a narrative and a gameplay perspective there is a lot to be excited about as far as the forthcoming A Plague Tale: Requiem. Asobo has shown some real talent with a few fresh ideas and some high quality execution. Itās a saturated genre, to be sure, but the unique setting and protagonists make for something a little different from other 3rd person action-stealth story-driven games. I think thereās a place at the table for more of the series, so long as the sequel irons out the hamstrung combat, some mediocre dialogue, a few wonky animations, and subpar AI.
OVERALL RECOMMENDATION
Definitely recommend the game to anyone interested in the 3rd person stealth genre. Or anyone who likes historical fiction. Or if you just like to experience AA production as a fresh alternative to all the big budget fare.
@RogerRoger I saw you were playing through these over the last month and even though I have absolutely no knowledge of Naruto, I am a little intrigued. The only thing that puts me off a little, is I tried playing Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot with no knowledge of that and was left thinking WTF!
Seems like this one hit a lot of the right notes for you though, glad you enjoyed it.
@Th3solution yeah having played this fairly recently itās quite fresh in the mindā¦ and I agree with the vast majority of your thoughts. Having also played The Last of Us: Remastered within the last month, I can definitely see the similaritiesā¦ A Plague Tale: Innocence is the lesser product but considering the budget, Asobo worked miracles getting it to be spoken in the same breath to be fair.
@Th3solution I'm just on the final chapter of A Plague Tale now and I'd totally agree with your thoughts, it's a spot on review. I am finding in certain situations the controls are getting a fit frustrating, like I had to play one single scene through 5 - 6 times before I sussed exactly what I was doing wrong. Even so the story has kept me engaged and the world that they've built is interesting.
Personally I think Hugo comes across as a bit creepy, and reminds me of the sort of child you'd find in various terrible horror films over the years š
@colonelkilgore Thanks, and Iām glad to see my memory isnāt too far gone because it has been a few years since I played TLoU. I have no idea if the developers consciously were inspired by Naughty Dogās magnum opus, but in my mind it kept coming back as the closest comparison. But yes, Ellie and Joelās adventure is a much better game in every category. I would place it as a 9/10 and maybe 9.5. Still, APT is itās own thing. The magical and mystical aspects definitely make the game less gritty and less credible. I sort of wish the story didnāt veer off into the fantastic but yet without that Iām not sure how they would have gotten in the gameplay elements they were clearly shooting for. In the end, it comes across a mild bit awkward to have such a grounded setting and plight for the characters, yet have the paranormal aspects too. I just checked my logic at the door and it worked for me.
@render There is definitely some trial and error for many of the encounters. It also didnāt help that I was going for the platinum so did a lot of checkpoints over so as to try to get through an area using as few resources as possible. It added a layer of challenge that way, but made it a tad repetitive as the game wore on. Then finally at the end I had plenty of supplies so I could go full Rambo on things. š
Edit: and I agree on Hugo. Expected him to start chanting āRedrumā any minute. š
@Th3solution Nice to see that you enjoyed the game! I played through it earlier this month and I absolutely loved it. It was such an immersive and memorable game, it really resonated a lot with me. So much so that I actually contemplated for a while about moving to France. I and @ralphdibny were actually talking about that a while ago and he wouldn't mind living there as well. Don't know if you felt the same way after playing the game, but France really seems like a wonderful place to live in.
@LtSarge I definitely enjoyed seeing a traditional French setting. I didnāt quite reach the point where moving to France crossed my mind, but there is indeed something romantic and alluring about the culture. The streets ridden with dead bodies may have been a slight deterrent though š
But seriously, I think there is a shortage of French inspired settings. For some reason French developers have made games set in other cultures. I guess Ubisoft did finally make an Assassinās Creed game which takes place in the French Revolution, but unfortunately it stumbled out of the gate compared to all their other AC output so many of us didnāt experience it.
The only other games Iāve played that come to mind with French development that either take place in France or have significant French characters are The Council, Remember Me, ā¦and I guess any of the WWI and WWII based games. And I would say Remember Me is the only game of those that embraced the French setting wholeheartedly to the point of making it part of the gameās identity. Instead we have developers like Quantic Dream making games that all take place in the U.S. Not saying these games and others made by Ubisoft or Dontnod or Arkane arenāt fantastic in their own right, regardless of setting, but itās just curious that we donāt have more set in France.
@Th3solution I honestly think there's a shortage of games that have any kind of settings besides the U.S. People may not realise this, but considering that Europe, North Africa as well as Asia have a long history, there would be more potential to use them as settings. Just look at Ghost of Tsushima as an example. I would personally love to see more games that take place in Germany, France, Spain, Russia, China, Korea, India and many other countries. It's probably hard as foreigners to make a game about a completely different country than your own, so that's most likely why we don't see many games with varied settings. But I hope that more nations will take up game development and start using their own countries as settings in video games.
On a side note, I recently played through a game that takes place in India and was made by an Indian developer (interesting fact: this guy had to sell his own apartment in order to finance this game) called Raji: An Ancient Epic. While it wasn't the most ambitious game, it was still a fun top-down "Prince of Persia" experience that revolves around Hindu mythology. Just that alone made me interested in playing this game. I had so much fun learning more about India and Hindu mythology that I enjoyed my time with it overall, even if the combat got a bit repetitive. We just don't see many games like this today.
@LtSarge I tend to agree with you. As a resident of the U.S. I do think itās fun to swing through the streets of Manhattan, roam around in the 1800ās Wild West, or connect isolated cities as I deliver packages across the desolate post-apocalyptic U.S., but I do think seeing more games in other cultures like for example Africa, India, or Polynesia would be really interesting.
Of course, a large portion of games take place in completely make-believe locations which I feel are inspired by various real world places and cultures, so I guess we do have those; like I feel a lot of RPGs have towns based on classical European settings.
āWe cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.ā
@Th3solution Games like Skyrim are naturally inspired by medieval European settings. But because it's fantasy-based, it's not really the same thing because you don't suddenly think that you're in England. It doesn't feel like I'm learning anything about how those countries were like, while a game like A Plague Tale actually feels realistic (excluding the excessive amounts of rats and all that supernatural stuff, lol). For example, I can't think of any story-driven game that takes place in Spain. I feel like there has to be a lot you can learn by making a game that takes place in that country. That's actually one of the reasons why I love the Assassin's Creed series, the setting changes in every game. Regardless of what most people think about Ubisoft, you have to admit that they should at least be commended for focusing so much on implementing different historical settings in the AC games. I don't think there's any other series that does it to that level, which is very impressive.
@colonelkilgore Thanks for reading! If you don't have any knowledge of the Naruto franchise, stick to the numbered Ultimate Ninja Storm games. They follow the proper storyline pretty closely, and present it well enough for everything to make sense. Thankfully, they're the only ones that got remastered for the PS4 anyway and so, if you stick to that generation, you'll be fine.
***
@Th3solution Brilliant write-up on A Plague Tale back there, buddy! You're absolutely right, it's one of those games I've seen a lot of people discuss and screencap, but I don't think I've ever sat down and read a proper review of it, so I'm grateful for the context. Loved your fitting comparison with Monet when discussing the whole "don't look too closely" aspect of the game's presentation, as well as your balanced approach to analysing its gameplay. I appreciate that, whilst you obviously enjoyed your time with it and will happily champion its best aspects, you've taken a step back and kept a fair, level head. Thanks for sharing!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
Forums
Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread
Posts 2,001 to 2,020 of 3,148
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic