toblix

Beyond Better & Evil!

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Of course. :woohoo:

I did speak to someone who works at Ubisoft about it when the rumour first surfaced and he alluded to the interviewee (Ancel?) saying too much before trying to worm out of what he'd said (ie: the whole preproduction thing). I suspect it was in full production all along and the whole preproduction thing was just a way of stopping people from taking it as an official statement/announcement or whatever.

I really doubt it was only in preproduction several weeks ago if they not only pencilled it into Ubidays, but also created a fairly elaborate trailer.

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Yeah, I think what they meant is in-engine, no ingame - i.e. the features fo the engine allows this kind of things, but they can't guarantee the performances.

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It's more likely they just mean an in-engine cutscene, which could very easily look as good as that because they can get clever with how they use the models. I suspect the cutscenes in the game will look at least as good as the trailer.

Metal Gear Solid is the best example of pioneering such techniques, where even though it's in-engine they use super-detailed models for close-ups in the cutscenes, depth of field, etc. Everything is just carefully balanced to keep it smooth, whereas actual gameplay is more unpredictable so they have to drag everything down in detail to ensure constant smoothness.

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Desert has always fascinated me as an environment and I really hope that it will serve as a setting for (at least part of) BG&E2 like the teaser suggests. I'd love too see a proper game road trip as well. I can't recall any since Full Throttle, although there must have been a whole lot.

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Great news! I tried the first game out at a friend's a few years back but never bought it, sadly.

I have rectified this misstep as of 5 minutes ago. :tup:

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I'd love too see a proper game road trip as well. I can't recall any since Full Throttle, although there must have been a whole lot.

hootersroadtripntscfronpp4.jpg

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That looks awesome! And it's an Ubisoft game too. Hopefully BG&E2 will be something like that...

..hmm.

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We saw with Beyond Good & Evil that so many customers were extremely happy with the game. We had a different audience at that time. We had more core gamers than casual gamers than we have today. We think the game was probably a little too difficult for the general gamers at that time. We’re going to make it more accessible and make sure that it’s really done for the new generation that’s come into video games.

The original wasn't that difficult, although the final boss took a few tries to get the pattern down. Maybe some of the difficulty comes from youngins not intuitively understanding the need for stealth? I remember not quite understanding why I couldn't beat the first *room* of Metal Gear Solid when I rented it as a kid, though I'm not sure if my case is typical.

I still haven't beaten Rayman 2, which apparently sold loads. (Bloody late-game introduction of new gameplay mechanics used in the final boss fight. That rocket was so hard to control on a keyboard and I've since lost the game save.)

I have to say invoking the word "casual" frightens me. Not like there's anything wrong with easy games as long as they can keep up a sense of wonder and imagination.

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I hope there's lots of photography in BG&E2, that was one of my favorite parts of the first game. I have no idea why, but I find photography in games really fun (yes, I have Pokemon Snap, and it was the best part of the LOST game).

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I also loved the photo stuff in BG&E. I loved that there were all these different creatures, and not just 200 instances of the same one, like so many other games would have.

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I have to say invoking the word "casual" frightens me. Not like there's anything wrong with easy games as long as they can keep up a sense of wonder and imagination.

Indeed. I don't mind if they simply make the game a bit easier, but I see absolutely no reason to make it "more casual".

I also loved photographing.

I remember lurking on the boat for quite a while to catch some huge and shy sea creature on my camera. For some reason that felt awesome.

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Well, that was pretty obvious, flies and all ;) But it does have a roadmovie kind of feel to it.

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Oh man, how didn't I notice that... I've seen that movie a bunch of times.

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Possible BG&E gameplay video at kotaku: http://kotaku.com/5246177/is-this-new-beyond-good--evil-2-footage

<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/g4Q9gYCab435ZA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="1024" height="798" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

That said, my gut feeling is that this is not BG&E2. The design of the other characters and the cows is too humany (or cow-y) and the design, in general, doesn't seem... inspired.

On the other hand, that big mountain at the end looks very similar to one of the big mountains in the BG&E world.

EDIT: Wikipedia quotes Ancel as saying "This time we are dealing with planet's future, and the relationship with animals..." so that might explain the absence of the humanoid animals. Maybe.

EDIT EDIT: What language is that at the beginning? Doesn't sound like French to me.

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I don't see how it can not be BGAE2, unless they're trying to screw with our minds by mixing character models between games. Jade is dressed exactly as she appears in the original teaser trailer, right down to the thing wrapped around her right arm.

It looks amazing, but it definitely doesn't exude that classic BGAE feel in this video. I suspect the game as a whole will feature a more action-orientated slant, which is what those earlier comments about making the game more accessible were about. However I also think there'll be plenty of what made BGAE so wonderful there too.

Bit weird about the abundance of humans, though. Perhaps the world has developed to a point where they kind of live alone, and all the other creatures are elsewhere in the world. That'd give it an interesting political theme.

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I get the feeling the designers felt that they needed to turn up the realism in this game to better attract the audience this time around, as it seems people are attracted to shades of brown, grit, and beat-down sun type lighting.

I'm sure the style of the original game put a lot of people off, but it's hard to say for sure. It definitely had some of the fantasy quirkiness that is readily apparent in Rayman, and while it may have been a weird marriage to the subject matter in Beyond Good and Evil, I enjoyed it. I don't see that any of that based on this footage and the earlier trailer. It seems to be trying to be more similar to Assassin's Creed. I don't think people in the US have ever liked Rayman anyway, so it's probably for the best.

I'm excited though.

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Looks great, but I don't think it's gameplay footage, the camera works too well. It's either a target render or a trailer for E3, and Ubi rarely show gameplay/engine footage in it's trailers.

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If that's gameplay, I'll shit my pants. Incredible camerawork.

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I don't believe for a second that this is gameplay footage. My bet is this is a short animation, intended for internal use, that conveys the mood and feel of the game - like

.

I'm not a fan of the new look, but if it's a concession that'll get the game made I can live with it.

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I don't like this thing. Doesn't feel like BG&E at all.

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Yeah, seems likely it's a target render, which might also explain the abundance of humans and cow-like cows, if the artists were getting it done as quickly as possible and reusing some models.

The vehicle design is pure BG&E with the tilt rotors and tow hook on the helicopter.

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I can't see them not leaning on the awesome atmosphere BGAE had with the sequel, because otherwise why do a sequel? They'd be better off starting a new IP if they were doing something that'd completely alienate all the fans that hyped it up so much in the first place.

So I don't think that's what they're going to do. I think we're going to see a political theme that basically revolves around the humans segregating themselves from the rest of the planet's society, becoming more like modern humans with all their police states, guns, etc. I'd say the statements Ancel has made so far totally back this speculation up.

I'd expect to see the other creatures we know live on Hillys in other towns/cities. It'd be really awesome in my mind if they did that kind of thematic contrast anyway, with the humans having an environment reminiscent of the kind of depictions we see in most modern games, and the other creatures living in areas that have the more colourful style we enjoyed in BGAE.

We'll see, I guess!

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Who says they're still in the same city/continent/planet? Remember the first teaser? That was set in the middle of a desert. Pretty much the polar opposite of the water world of the first one. I really liked the look of that trailer and Can't wait to see more!

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