This review was written before the game released
"I'LL CRUSH YOU"
~me to ANYONE who talks shit about jack garland in any fucking capacity. the protagonist to surpass caim has arrived
EDIT:
ok here's an actual review - this is the best action game to come out in well over a decade. play on hard with party disabled and you'll have a thoroughly challenging experience with some of the best boss design the genre's seen period. come for the stellar combat; stay for more of it plus a godlike narrative. jack garland IS the best protagonist in ff
and he did it HIS way
~me to ANYONE who talks shit about jack garland in any fucking capacity. the protagonist to surpass caim has arrived
EDIT:
ok here's an actual review - this is the best action game to come out in well over a decade. play on hard with party disabled and you'll have a thoroughly challenging experience with some of the best boss design the genre's seen period. come for the stellar combat; stay for more of it plus a godlike narrative. jack garland IS the best protagonist in ff
and he did it HIS way
34 Comments
Bullshit.
Bullshit.
Nioh 2 is still better combat wise tbh
i've only played the original nioh but even still i couldn't doubt that harder
is it easy to put the party members back in if I feel like it's getting too difficult? I just did solo-jack for the first time and while it was difficult (I'm at the black knight fight), I had a good time. I'm slightly afraid though that it may get a bit too hard so I'm kinda worried that the party members will be useless if I don't use them for a while lmao
leveling in this game is only done through equipment. if you really feel you need them you can easily just toss some good equipment on them and be good to go. you can also change them out whenever you're near cubes
personally i feel they just make you worse at the game though. they trivialize stages, but on bosses they're a pretty inconsistent variable. i find myself doing way riskier shit when i'm not sure if a boss is going to target me or not, and when i fight a boss non-solo i feel like i didn't really learn the fight
but yeah feel free to switch in and out at will. it's fine
personally i feel they just make you worse at the game though. they trivialize stages, but on bosses they're a pretty inconsistent variable. i find myself doing way riskier shit when i'm not sure if a boss is going to target me or not, and when i fight a boss non-solo i feel like i didn't really learn the fight
but yeah feel free to switch in and out at will. it's fine
tysm!
you should play Nioh 2! i need to play SoP because it's by my beloved Team Ninja but if it's as good as Nioh 2 it's probably fucking stellar.
yeah i don't doubt nioh 2 is good but i can't imagine it coming close to sop unless it's a massive upgrade over the og nioh. still, i love team ninja so i'll check it out sooner than later
@chandler Nioh 2 adds so much good new content. the big game changer is a way to counter yokai attacks, so instead of baiting attacks and doing a couple swings you have more ways to reverse an attack and give a huge opening for yourself. the fact they added in an insane amount of great bosses and weapons is just icing on it.
too bad he's weighed down by bad friends and a badly designed game
This comment was deleted
Purposefully handicapping yourself to make the game harder doesn't mean it's thoroughly challenging, a good challenginv difficulty means it's challenging on the normal settings, not when you change it up to purposefully make it harder
@dragonmarking common huss L
the game has a variety of difficulty options to tailor to different kinds of people. not everyone playing sop wants to get their dick kicked in. some people are here for the gameplay, some for the story - some for both whether it's a thorough challenge or not. i speak on behalf of anyone wanting a challenging and well thought out experience that it's best experienced on hard with the party disabled. it's not rocket science
party members are way too tuned-up compared to how they were in the original betas (completely useless) and the game in general was made to be more accessible for people not skilled at action games. what i am talking about isn't a "purposeful handicap" unless you suggest that reverting the difficulty back to the original experience is a handicap
i'd suggest actually playing the game before commenting on things like this
the game has a variety of difficulty options to tailor to different kinds of people. not everyone playing sop wants to get their dick kicked in. some people are here for the gameplay, some for the story - some for both whether it's a thorough challenge or not. i speak on behalf of anyone wanting a challenging and well thought out experience that it's best experienced on hard with the party disabled. it's not rocket science
party members are way too tuned-up compared to how they were in the original betas (completely useless) and the game in general was made to be more accessible for people not skilled at action games. what i am talking about isn't a "purposeful handicap" unless you suggest that reverting the difficulty back to the original experience is a handicap
i'd suggest actually playing the game before commenting on things like this
@chandler
Seethe
I know the various difficulty options, but what you said in the review is essentially changing everything about the game just to make it harder, you disabled a main aspect of the gameplay (party) AND upped the difficulty just to have a challenging experience which should be the normal
Assuming the game was made to be more accessible to people on Action is simply just that, an assumption. It very well could be that they thought the difficulty Action has is balanced, but it's not in the end.
People who struggle with action games should play on Story not Action, if the game on Action is changed and made for shit players then that's a bad decision.
Basically, Action should be the challenging experience, not Hard. It should play best on Action
@CURS
Any game should play best on Normal (Action in this case) anything above is just for the sake of a 2nd playthrough, Normal is the default difficulty in any video game out there. The full potential of the game should be realized on Normal and Easy
Seethe
I know the various difficulty options, but what you said in the review is essentially changing everything about the game just to make it harder, you disabled a main aspect of the gameplay (party) AND upped the difficulty just to have a challenging experience which should be the normal
Assuming the game was made to be more accessible to people on Action is simply just that, an assumption. It very well could be that they thought the difficulty Action has is balanced, but it's not in the end.
People who struggle with action games should play on Story not Action, if the game on Action is changed and made for shit players then that's a bad decision.
Basically, Action should be the challenging experience, not Hard. It should play best on Action
@CURS
Any game should play best on Normal (Action in this case) anything above is just for the sake of a 2nd playthrough, Normal is the default difficulty in any video game out there. The full potential of the game should be realized on Normal and Easy
@dragonmarking
what a wholly ignorant comment
you realize that developers need to make games for wider audiences than hardcore fans, right? even disregarding that, you fundamentally have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. if normal was the obviously "intended experience", then the difficulty that unlocks after finishing the story would not be "chaos" mode, a step above hard. the dlc would not be focused on even higher difficulties than chaos mode if that were the case
stranger of paradise is a game made by team ninja, which is a company founded on hardcore action games. if only their target audience played this game, then normal and easy mode wouldn't even exist. my statement in this review is not a demand but a suggestion for anyone who wants a thorough challenge. if you play sop on normal with party members on and have a genuinely challenging experience then you're very bad at the game and the dlc will eat you alive
the notion that normal mode "is the challenging, intended experience" and hard mode "should be for replays only" is completely out of touch with the modern game industry. if this were 2003 i'd agree with you, but 20 years have passed and now everyone and their dog plays video games. what constitutes normal needs to suit the lowest common denominator in order for them to be happy
what a wholly ignorant comment
you realize that developers need to make games for wider audiences than hardcore fans, right? even disregarding that, you fundamentally have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. if normal was the obviously "intended experience", then the difficulty that unlocks after finishing the story would not be "chaos" mode, a step above hard. the dlc would not be focused on even higher difficulties than chaos mode if that were the case
stranger of paradise is a game made by team ninja, which is a company founded on hardcore action games. if only their target audience played this game, then normal and easy mode wouldn't even exist. my statement in this review is not a demand but a suggestion for anyone who wants a thorough challenge. if you play sop on normal with party members on and have a genuinely challenging experience then you're very bad at the game and the dlc will eat you alive
the notion that normal mode "is the challenging, intended experience" and hard mode "should be for replays only" is completely out of touch with the modern game industry. if this were 2003 i'd agree with you, but 20 years have passed and now everyone and their dog plays video games. what constitutes normal needs to suit the lowest common denominator in order for them to be happy
@chandler
Im aware studios try to appeal to everyone which is why multiple difficulty modes exist lmao
What you said have absolutely no relation, normal can still be the intended experience and have difficulties that are a step up, these normally should be intended for people who wanted more challenge, not the thoroughly challenging experience you mention
Im also aware what team ninja does, a lot of your statements are just useless facts. My original point is that you should have a thoroughly challenging experience on normal AND with party without changing anything purposefully to make it harder, it should be already challenging on the base difficulty setting, and anything lower is just for people who don't want a tough game, and anything higher is for psychos who want even harder, this should be the ideal standard
You forget that alongside that notion, easy mode always existed and is intended for people who suck at video games
Your understanding of "normal" is flawed
Im aware studios try to appeal to everyone which is why multiple difficulty modes exist lmao
What you said have absolutely no relation, normal can still be the intended experience and have difficulties that are a step up, these normally should be intended for people who wanted more challenge, not the thoroughly challenging experience you mention
Im also aware what team ninja does, a lot of your statements are just useless facts. My original point is that you should have a thoroughly challenging experience on normal AND with party without changing anything purposefully to make it harder, it should be already challenging on the base difficulty setting, and anything lower is just for people who don't want a tough game, and anything higher is for psychos who want even harder, this should be the ideal standard
You forget that alongside that notion, easy mode always existed and is intended for people who suck at video games
Your understanding of "normal" is flawed
@dragonmarking
your whole argument is flawed. people in the lowest common denominator don't want to be told that they suck at video games. the average person who played games in 2003 was very different from the average person in 2023
when people fail a test there are two options for the ones assigning a test - they can make the people smarter, or they can make the test easier
this is an example of making the test easier
your whole argument is flawed. people in the lowest common denominator don't want to be told that they suck at video games. the average person who played games in 2003 was very different from the average person in 2023
when people fail a test there are two options for the ones assigning a test - they can make the people smarter, or they can make the test easier
this is an example of making the test easier
I dont get it. I only way I can picture this playing out is if you make gameplay shine on normal, they would just make normal harder. At that point, why not just play on the hard difficulty. Gameplay will shine once the player gets more skill at the game, which they will then want to prove on higher difficulties. I don't think asking for normal mode to be the best to play works because its entirely dependent on the individualties of players. (Idk if i said something here, might have just spewed words)
@chandler
People who are on the lowest common denominator or basically they just suck don't really care if the game calls them out for it, in fact they'd feel more assured knowing the difficulty they're picking is for people who just want a focus on the story, hence calling it "Story" difficulty. There's nothing in what I said that can make them think they're bad at video games.
Once again another comparison that makes absolutely no sense or any relation to the topic we're talking about lol. If they want the game to be easier then literally just play on easy mode, Normal is known everywhere to be the balanced experience
People who are on the lowest common denominator or basically they just suck don't really care if the game calls them out for it, in fact they'd feel more assured knowing the difficulty they're picking is for people who just want a focus on the story, hence calling it "Story" difficulty. There's nothing in what I said that can make them think they're bad at video games.
Once again another comparison that makes absolutely no sense or any relation to the topic we're talking about lol. If they want the game to be easier then literally just play on easy mode, Normal is known everywhere to be the balanced experience
@dragonmarking
i really don't know how to break it to you, but just because a game has "normal" written on it doesn't mean it's actually the intended way to play the game
again - how do you rationalize all of the dlc being more than two difficulties above normal if it's meant to be the balanced experience? do you think team ninja seriously expects their players to beat the game 3 fucking times to get to the dlc? or is the dlc just specifically for the hardcore """"masochist""" players? and if the latter is the case, then how would you ever rationalize the normal mode being the intended difficulty in any context?
ever play a game called halo? despite there being a normal mode, heroic is literally described as "the way halo is meant to be played" by the game itself. how about call of duty 4? there's a training mode before the campaign starts which suggests the difficulty you should start with depending on your performance
and for the last time - there was a time when the average person's concept of normal was in fact what you see it as. gaming is vastly more mainstream. what constituted normal before is now almost certainly hard today. i make it a general rule of thumb to play every game i get on hard if it's been made in the past ten years unless i'm told otherwise. that's just the way it be
i really don't know how to break it to you, but just because a game has "normal" written on it doesn't mean it's actually the intended way to play the game
again - how do you rationalize all of the dlc being more than two difficulties above normal if it's meant to be the balanced experience? do you think team ninja seriously expects their players to beat the game 3 fucking times to get to the dlc? or is the dlc just specifically for the hardcore """"masochist""" players? and if the latter is the case, then how would you ever rationalize the normal mode being the intended difficulty in any context?
ever play a game called halo? despite there being a normal mode, heroic is literally described as "the way halo is meant to be played" by the game itself. how about call of duty 4? there's a training mode before the campaign starts which suggests the difficulty you should start with depending on your performance
and for the last time - there was a time when the average person's concept of normal was in fact what you see it as. gaming is vastly more mainstream. what constituted normal before is now almost certainly hard today. i make it a general rule of thumb to play every game i get on hard if it's been made in the past ten years unless i'm told otherwise. that's just the way it be
common huss L
average mgs3 hater
@chandler
A game with the "Normal" difficulty should be exactly how it's named, a normal difficulty, balanced difficulty is what normal means. Changing it to appeal more to people who suck at video games is a separate problem, but it remains that the ideal situation should be that Normal is balanced
I've already explained anything above normal should be for people who want an even harder challenge, it may not be necessarily balanced as it will be cruel on purpose and unbalanced just to provide a harder experience.
The latter is indeed the case and the "harder" experience again only exists for those who want a tougher challenge, but tougher challenge means more cruel gameplay
Exceptions don't mean anything here just because 1 or 2 games do it lol, they're also flawed in that aspect if they do it. Halo should have Heroic difficulty as the normal one and anything above is for people who want purposefully changed tough gameplay, and anything lower is for people who suck. Much easier for everyone and makes complete sense
You're conflicting your personal experiences with video games with what im trying to say, just because you feel like video games got easier and people suck at video games now doesn't mean every game should be intended to be played on Hard. Also im not talking about what games do now, im talking about what games should do, im talking about how an ideal situation would be and anything else they do such as what you mentioned before, Hard being the intended difficulty is a flaw in the difficulty, the intended difficulty should always be Normal.
A game with the "Normal" difficulty should be exactly how it's named, a normal difficulty, balanced difficulty is what normal means. Changing it to appeal more to people who suck at video games is a separate problem, but it remains that the ideal situation should be that Normal is balanced
I've already explained anything above normal should be for people who want an even harder challenge, it may not be necessarily balanced as it will be cruel on purpose and unbalanced just to provide a harder experience.
The latter is indeed the case and the "harder" experience again only exists for those who want a tougher challenge, but tougher challenge means more cruel gameplay
Exceptions don't mean anything here just because 1 or 2 games do it lol, they're also flawed in that aspect if they do it. Halo should have Heroic difficulty as the normal one and anything above is for people who want purposefully changed tough gameplay, and anything lower is for people who suck. Much easier for everyone and makes complete sense
You're conflicting your personal experiences with video games with what im trying to say, just because you feel like video games got easier and people suck at video games now doesn't mean every game should be intended to be played on Hard. Also im not talking about what games do now, im talking about what games should do, im talking about how an ideal situation would be and anything else they do such as what you mentioned before, Hard being the intended difficulty is a flaw in the difficulty, the intended difficulty should always be Normal.
Im always right
are you positive?
absolutely.
GutterTrash
2 years ago