2008-08-18 18:34:39

He's really just confirming that the game is not up to par, for whatever reasons he wants us to think it is. Just makes him look very contradictory. Whenever the press mentioned subpar animations, controls, etc. he would always say "It's preview code guys, they aren't being fair!" 1up, the reviewers he stated he considered to be the most unbiased, fair reviewers gave him a C-. He can't pull an Eggbert and say "You're playing it wrong!" He sat down with them multiple times. They knew what they were playing.

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Don't you know who I am? I'm the goddamned Banman.

2008-08-18 18:44:45

Well yea but 1up reviews are written really badly, I think a 12 year old could do a better job.

I'm not saying what the review says isn't true its just not very well written, plus there isn't much substance to it either, there are a lot of things which haven't been mentioned, it reads more like a preview than a review TBH.

I do agree that Dyack needs to shut up now though, if people don't like his game he needs to learn to suck it up and deal with it.

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Marumaro for the WIN !!

2008-08-18 18:57:37

I dunno, I feel sorry for him. It must be extremely frustrating to have a game this ambitious be plagued by so many obstacles and meanwhile having a vocal games community question every step on the way.

Reading the 1up review is somehow oddly encouraging because very few of their complaints stem from the absolutely ringing-in-our-ears-at-this-point tired comments from the demo haters. In fact, the right stick controls are given a acknowledging nod, but it's said also that the way combat connects apart from that is too random and cumbersome. There are also a bunch of other, very valid complaints, including that of loot being too frequent to the point of inflation.

Clearly, the game slips up in more significant ways than action not looking like a DMC game, and that is ultimately comforting I think. For what it's worth, it seems to be marked down for proper, valid reasons.

2008-08-18 19:31:09

We all know it's NeoGAF's fault anyway.

2008-08-18 20:09:21 In reply to Jollipop (2008-08-18 18:44:45)

It's not just that it's a poorly written review but that it's very scant on any significant information about the game itself.

It's funny but most of the issues he brought up like air juggling, I didn't have any problems with in the demo. And the loot factor? I can't imagine playing Too Human without it.

2008-08-18 20:37:22

Duno, feels like the reviewer played the game for 1 hour, i had to play the demo 3 times to get decent at it, and as that happen, i liked the game more.. ahh well

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When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.

2008-08-18 20:42:44 In reply to GriftGFX (2008-08-18 19:31:09)

2008-08-18 21:10:51 In reply to SimonM7 (2008-08-18 20:42:44)

2008-08-18 22:57:46

lol 1up is such a joke. Not sure how many times that needs to be proven.

Grift tell me something, Have you even bothered to play the demo? The right stick controls work very well and anything that claims to the contrary is a pitiful lie.

I'm able to do everything single thing that I want to do in the demo and none of it is unresponsive. You may not like how it looks in action and come to the conclusion that the combat is crappy, but doesn't work or unresponsive? Yea, you can't help but call bull on that one, but what else is new this is Too Human. People are personally invested in the game's failure.

Denis' problem, as some others have said, is he doesn't seem to know when to be quiet. He should suffer no illusions about the people on 1up he has supposedly helped to see the light and they are now more well versed on the better aspects of Too Human. It was all an act. They simply tell him what he wanted to hear. They never intended to take the game seriously because their minds were made up long ago. Their review score was decided even before a demo just like many others here and on GAF were already convinced the game was shit and don't need to try it for themselves to come to that conclusion.

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Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of the greatest books ever.

pssh! more like electronic g

2008-08-18 23:24:10 In reply to Optimusv2 (2008-08-18 22:57:46)

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Marumaro for the WIN !!

2008-08-19 03:45:54 In reply to Jollipop (2008-08-18 23:24:10)

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Mods, stop changing my SIG! I'm going to end up banning you!

2008-08-19 04:27:06 In reply to LEBATO (2008-08-19 03:45:54)

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Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of the greatest books ever.

pssh! more like electronic g

2008-08-19 04:37:42

My point is that they really got NOTHING right, which is very very sad when you think about it. Sound, gameplay, graphics/animations, controls, story, play time, release schedule, PR.......nothing.

I'm not familiar with Blue Dragon at all, so I can't really relate to what you just said.

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Mods, stop changing my SIG! I'm going to end up banning you!

2008-08-19 05:00:10

Yea I didn't expect you to fully relate to what I was saying about Blue Dragon, but it only meant to serve as an example that on many occasions reviewers totally miss when a game's story is doing something right and in the process of complaining about something for the sake of justifying why they don't like this game, only end up exposing themselves as nothing more than frauds that must not have played the game for any decent length of time because the very thing they complain about has been touched on in great detail in the game.

1up's reviews always come off as if they were written by the collection of posts from various forums. I'll take gamespot's review that goes into more detail and a few others. I usually let gameinformer get away with lack of getting too specific because often times I'm usually in agreement with their review scores and they don't make it seem like they didn't actually give the game a chance that they were assigned to review.

100% correct on not getting PR right, but a lot of it in the early going wasn't their fault, but overtime it started becoming a bit too much. The sound in the game is awesome and that goes for the music as well. It does some fantastic things from a sound perspective. You aren't into the gameplay so I won't argue that and clearly you must not like the controls, but they are fine in my opinion.

The graphics are fine to me, but they could definitely be better and I think the problem there is that they bet on UE3 early and it hurt them. Even though I accept the animations, when I stop and think about it, they COULD use improving.

---
Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of the greatest books ever.

pssh! more like electronic g

2008-08-19 07:59:53 In reply to LEBATO (2008-08-19 04:37:42)

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*Unleash the Force this September!*

*A New Form of Change*

2008-08-19 08:40:25

Another thing it does right, but seems to get ignored anyway is the really good loot system and the customization options.

There is just no way that the game doesn't get anything right.

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Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of the greatest books ever.

pssh! more like electronic g

2008-08-21 01:16:00

Okay, here we go. Late Yesterday.

After getting the eagerly awaited call to come pick up my copy, I headed off to the gamestore. I had a feeling of both excitement and worry running through me. The reviews have been mixed but still mostly poor. The demo had sold me already but I was concerned that the full game would reveal unknown elements that would make the game as unplayable as some of these reviewers are describing.

That was pretty much a wasted worry. Too Human holds up. If you liked the demo, then you have nothing to worry about with the full game. And having played the full game I can say with absolute honesty.............some of the low scores that TH is receiving from reviewers are undeserved.

In fact I would go as far as to say that there is more bashing than actual reviewing going on.

I know some of you will disagree but it actually NEEDS to be said. There are some fair and informative reviews out there, but most of them read like the rantings of fanboys. Not good.

At the store several people were being turned away from the counter. The game reserve calls were coming in the same order that gamers made them. It determined when you would be called to pick up your copy as the clerk would keep repeating several times in my visit. Most were being told to come back the next day where the clerk believed that all of the reserves will be in with maybe some extra copies to spare for walk-ins. Maybe.

Based on the fuss at the counter and the people coming in asking, I would guess that sales for Too Human are going to be very healthy.

As for the drama, a couple of the store clerks were making the predictable cracks at Dyack over his latest babblings, some of it deserved and some of it not. When I started hearing comparisons to Uwe Boll I wondered "Wow, these guys really hate this man" I mean more than they dislike the game itself, they seemed to have had a personal ax to grind with Dyack. lol

While this managed to be both funny and ridiculous at the same time it did reveal how controversial this whole debate over Too Human has become. The debates now being had (as if they ever were) aren't constructive. It's become more about gamers tearing at each other if you like the game or if you hate it.

At the very least, given it's controversies Too Human will have an almost guaranteed cult status.

2008-08-21 01:16:44

Alright enough of that.

Having played the demo, getting into the full game was like reuniting with an old friend or should I say new friend?

The same control scheme along with all of the other gameplaying elements that I enjoyed about the demo are here in the final game. In fact they seem even more addictive than they ever were in the demo. Especially the looting and the customization.

Those of you already familiar with Norse mythology will recognize that Too Human is a loosely based Cyber/Nano-tech retelling of the Doom of the Gods/Winter of Winters mythos. If you're able to recognize that then you can pretty much guess how the next chapters of the TH trilogy are going to play out and the abrupt ending won't bother as you as much.

Silicon Knights is really on to something here. I KNOW that Too Human's model is going to be copied. Right now there is no doubt some game developer thinking about how he can do the same thing to the King Arthur legend or LOTR or even Egyptian mythology.

No one should be surprised if we see it happen.

TH is aptly named as you play Baldur, son of Odin. As in O.D.I.N- Organically Distributed Intelligence Network. Nearly everything in the Norse mythos has been reworked to flow with Too Human's story arc. In this world of cybernetic gods,Baldur is very much a neophyte. The least modified god in the Aesir, and not too many have faith in his abilities to get the job done.

The two paths laid out for Baldur are predictable as you might imagine....Human or Cybernetic augmentation. I've chosen the cybernetic path twice but there seem to be no moral consequences for either path, just different skill sets. Baldur actually has a pretty neat story but it really isn't explored. The same with all of the characters honestly. Just when you think you're going to learn something the combat comes in for the kill and combat pretty much dominates TH overall. In fact just as TH's story begins to finally become more endearing it ends with a quick jerk.


In my opinion this is TH's only true fault, the one that can be deservedly criticized if only because of the game's ambitious narrative and the lengthy diaries that SK peppered us with to suggest TH would have a deep character driven epic. Because Dyack promised that TH's story would blow us away, for it to be found wanting is a significant flaw. The parts where TH should be taken seriously you might find yourself laughing. The parts where you you should be laughing you'll find yourself wondering what comedy club reject was hired to write the script?

At one point when you're fighting along side Thor and listening to his host of missed comedic cues and one liners, you may feel desperate to reach for a crunchy snack to drown out the noise.

But you couldn't fault Thor or the other gods before acknowledging how dry and unaffected Baldur is. For most of the early parts of the game you really won't feel anything for your character as he plows through levels of enemies and interacts with other characters. Your interaction with most friendly NPCs is negligible in my view. You could go through an entire game without much interaction with them. It really won't matter.

2008-08-21 01:18:12

hankfully TH reasserts itself with it's customizations and an exceptionally well applied looting system. This is obviously where SK spent most of it's time refining and it really shines through.

Because of these elements, TH is now even more addictive than I could actually express. The customizations earned from the sick amount of loot will have you dying to make runs at the most difficult bosses just to see what they've dropped. I'm loving all of the weapons, equipment and armor sets!

Just when you think you've found or created something formidable, you gather or earn blueprints for something else even more bad ass than what you've got in your inventory. And while I'm on the inventory system, it really works well in TH. The inventory makes it easy to organize all that loot by keeping high grade items and selling/discarding any low grade junk you come up on that will needlessly fill up your inventory. A very smooth and painless function that you'll be putting to use often.

You can always scrap what don't need or u-turn back to Midgard for fixes from the many times that you will be dying. In a way the customization system helps with the constant dying. If you don't want to head back to Midgard you will have more powerful sets available to you from looting. So the damage that your armor suffers from during the lengthy and annoying death sequence becomes a minor nuisance.

The equipment customizations are worth the price of admission alone and you couldn't really cut loose during combat without those customizations. This means in order to be truly powerful and max out your character, gamers are going to have to invest a little more time then usual. Most RPG gamers aren't going to complain about this however. In fact most of us are eagerly anticipating the endless options TH provides for customization.

It's interesting about all the things that the reviewers are complaining about with TH, but I have no doubts that many of the elements like TH's inventory and customization are going to begin popping up in quite a few games.

SK executed these elements extremely well. It's highly addictive and brings a much higher level of replayability to RPG style games.


As far as combat is concerned, what you saw in the demo, you get in the final game. Whatever you liked is still there, whatever you hated is also still there. This applies to anyone who played the demo for 4 minutes or 4 hours. Nothing is changed from the demo.

I can only offer some encouragement to those struggling but still willing to give TH the time needed to master it's control scheme. The learning curve IS steep but rewards the persistent player.

As we can imagine, behind the scenes SK has been playing with this control scheme for years and they don't think anything is wrong with it.

The most honest and fair thing to say about the combat is that SK tried to do something different which consequently became a great deal more complicated than necessary. But the complexity of the control scheme itself is not a failure, certainly not for those of us who have adapted to it but the way SK executed it was flawed.

The R/A control and the dynamic camera might have worked well together if SK had come up with a better solution for the camera's direction. At least one that gamer had direct control over. SK should have provided two control options, indeed two controls would have solved most of these problems but it's clear they were personally satisfied with what they had done and probably felt that gamers would like it as well. Again, they've been playing with this control scheme for years so they've had plenty of time to become familiar with it while we've only had a short time to get comfortable.

Should SK be bashed over this as much as they have? I don't know, most of the criticism is coming off like an overreaction. The control does not make TH combat unplayable to me, time and effort solved most of my issues. But still so many have said they simply just can't play the game. I'm as confused with their unplayability and dislike of TH as they are confused with my embrace of the game and it's complex controls.

There seems to be no middle ground with TH. Love it or Hate it is how it is with this game.

2008-08-21 01:35:32

Nice review :)

I wish it was out over here, seems the US version is region locked too :(

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Marumaro for the WIN !!

2008-08-21 02:05:52

That's a good review. Nobody else aside from people like jolli and myself will take it seriously though. I suspected the demo would give me a very good idea of the game and it appears that it did.

My copy should hopefully come by the end of this week, but if not by friday I'm sure no later than tuesday.

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Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of the greatest books ever.

pssh! more like electronic g

2008-08-21 07:52:34 In reply to Jollipop (2008-08-21 01:35:32)

Very good review. Just like you Thorne I was sold when I actually played the demo. I have played for more than 20h, and damn to be a demo I always find some cool new stuff.
Also, as far as the combat system goes, i find it really nice and to be deepest than it seems, but overall as a Diablo kind control scheme is with any doubts the best so far I have seen.
I am glad to see that they hadn't change it, but I hoped for a better camera system.

2008-08-21 08:01:36

The camera is the most annoying part about the game for me.

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Hironobu Sakaguchi is coming back to reclaim the throne :)

Seeing it in motion on your HDTV, will blow your mind!!

Don't ask any questions just shut up and buy Halo : Ghosts of the Onyx one of the greatest books ever.

pssh! more like electronic g

2008-08-21 09:36:27 In reply to GrimThorne (2008-08-21 01:18:12)

Nice post.

Man sometimes it really sucks to be in the UK, the 29th cant come soon enough :)

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Mass Effect Ascension- July '08 - Continue the Fight!!!

Bitches!!

2008-08-21 11:11:50

Nice review GrimThorne. From the WIRED preview, I already got the hint that the game will end abruptly. I do hope that the sequel is coming out soon, perhaps by early next year.

I was wondering, was there a tutorial for the combat? It seems to me that this is one game that actually needs a tutorial.