Beyond Better & Evil!

[Thrik]

Well Ancel said this game deals with the planet's future, so I assume he means the same planet as the first. Although it's worth bearing in mind we only saw a very small part of the planet in the first game.

[toblix]

Did we? I seem to remember the boat going all over the world. No, wait, there was a fence or something... I wish I could play this game again.

[Thrik]

Did we? I seem to remember the boat going all over the world. No, wait, there was a fence or something... I wish I could play this game again.

Yeah, there was a pretty big area that you could sail around but ultimately if you went up high in the flying machine you get later on you could see it all down below. So unless the world is flat, there's definitely a lot more out there.

[MrHoatzin]

The good thing is that it seems they got the budget to make it more "realistic", as in grittier, less cartoony.

MAYBE Ubisoft cares about the property to dump more money on it, and see if it catches the second time around.

MAYBE Ubisoft gave money under the stipulation that the game be more Mirror's Edge and less Zelda.

MAYBE this has nothing to do with the moneyhats and has all to do with Ancel's idea of what the game ought to be.

Also, I may have dreamt this: around the time the teaser came out someone connected with the game said that the fault of the first one was that it wasn't accessible enough for the general audiences. There was something else in there that made me conclude in horror that this meant BG&E2 was going to be at worst like Longest Journey 2 at best like Raving Rabbids, in its misguided attempt to appeal to a frighteningly dull and possibly imaginary casual audience. Was I the only one who had this kind of impression?

[Erkki]

Maybe what the video shows is just some mini-gamish part of it? Or a cut-scene. Though it'd be strange to show that so early when so little is known about the game.

Also I'm not 100% sure all of those characters were humans (and maybe there is the segregation theme).

Whatever the case, I'm not willing to lose hope that BG&E2 will be great over this (unofficially?) released video.

[Erkki]

I watched it again and I'm almost sure one of the cops whose head gets stepped on isn't human. But it's kind of hard to tell so I might be wrong.

Also, the guy sitting on the toilet has a strange head, but it's not very clear either.

[Roderick]

It'd be awesome, and maybe motion-sickening, if they were to be able to make the camera behave like that. It's not impossible, it's basically an extrapolation of the sort of effect we already see with Gears of War's roadie run, plus some randomized AI moves steering the pulling up after your avatar.

The game seems to be going for an Assassin's Creed vibe more than the Zelda thing that seemed to belong to the previous generation of games. Today, it's all about scalability and parkour.

[DanJW]

If it is real, then it is clearly in the footsteps of the chase sequences in the first game. Those bits were tough but really fun, but I think they might have been optional so people may have missed them.

In any case the game is likely to be a mix of different play styles, again like the original.

[Thrik]

Yes, definitely. This has a lot in common with the rooftop chase scene in the original, and although it was possible to completely miss that part of the game they did use it to market the game — entirely possible the same is happening here.

[Nappi]

I wasn't a huge fan of the actual gameplay in the original game so I don't mind some changes to it, as long as the game doesn't turn entirely into Mirror's Edge, which I just don't see happening. The area you could explore in the game was also somewhat limited and not that diverse, which left me wanting for more. Based on these two videos the player may actually be travelling a lot more in different environments.

So all in all, the little we have been shown has actually raised my expectations for this game, although (because?) it seems that the sequel is going to be a bit different from the original game.

One thing that worries me a bit, though, seeing the second video is the possibility of the cartoon thing where half of the cows being humanlike while others remain cowlike for no apparent reason.

[MrHoatzin]

One thing that worries me a bit, though, seeing the second video is the possibility of the cartoon thing where half of the cows being humanlike while others remain cowlike for no apparent reason.

Didn't Pejyjyj and Jade exchange really disturbing bacon jokes through the game? I always assumed there were regular animals on one hand, but also a sapiens flavor of a bunch of them...

[Nappi]

That may well be. It seems I have forgotten most of the details about that game.

[syntheticgerbil]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93395-Dont-Get-Your-Hopes-Up-For-Beyond-Good-Evil-2-Yet

So no dice for this game at this time.

What is Ubisoft trying to achieve here? What was with that teaser trailer? Apparently the leaked footage was unintentional though.

No one is going to support an original IP if confidence is not given by the company. The consumer interest tends to reflect on that I think. Had they had another Beyond Good and Evil game on the tail of the first unsuccessful one as originally planned with the trilogy thing, I bet we'd already be into the third game right now with each one selling exponentially more than the last. It's not like Ubisoft is lacking the money to release pet project games that are somewhat experimental but can be turned into profit in the long run if followed through.

Or so I hear:

Story of Ron at Grumpygamer.com

"I remember a meeting once, right after the original Backyard Baseball shipped.

It wasn't selling like Putt-Putt or Freddi. Someone suggested that HE should just stick to adventure games. Let's bury Backyard Baseball and forget it ever happened.

But Ron Gilbert said something like, "No. We have to do 3 of these (Baseball, Soccer, Football) before we think about giving up. We can't give up now." And so when everyone else wanted to cut bait after 1 failed product, Ron wanted to do 2 more! So HE took a gamble, and with the release of BYFootball, the whole line took off, eventually surpassing the extremely successful Junior Adventure line.

No one at Infogramatari ever had the balls or vision to take such a stand. So HE died a slow, whimpering death at the hands of those who were too afraid to evolve, innovate, reinvent.

So say what you will about Ron. Sure his jokes are sometimes lame. His personal hygiene leaves much to be desired. But the man actually put his neck on the line (probably many more times than I even know), which is much more than I can say about any of the losers that eventually killed his company."

Edited July 27, 2009 by syntheticgerbil

[Thrik]

You fucking what?

Never mind the leaked footage — you can't release something like that original teaser trailer and not follow through.

[Udvarnoky]

More of the same.

[MrHoatzin]

Is ***** still a curseword? *********!

[n0wak]

http://www.computerandvideo games.com/article.php?id=248735

[Roderick]

Was anyone still expecting it? Also, besides the teased we knew so little about the project that it's hard to have felt real excitement for it. Maybe now Ancel will be able to make something new and creative in his own studio instead of being restricted by execs?

[syntheticgerbil]

Well that really sucks. I would have figured Ancel would be more of an asset, considering he's very responsible for Ubisoft's success in the 90s, allowing them to get as huge as they are now.

[Murdoc]

I heard in December that they were thinking of sending it here to Montreal for retooling... in which case I wizzed my pants and would still be working here past June if that happened.

It didn't.

Sucks too, because that previs trailer was friggin cool. It could still get made at some point, but nothing in the works for the near future as far as I can dig up.

Really weird too, out of all the fresh IPs(2?) I've seen developed here, BGnE 2 had the most potential in terms of game, concept, and visualization.

Not to create a big rant about Ubisoft because I don't have much of an opinion over, but the choices I've seen with my time here have been strange to say the least. So far I've seen some amazing technology developed with really poor concepts and game design ideas.

[juv3nal]

Was anyone still expecting it?

Expecting, maybe not. Hoping? Very much so. :\

[Thrik]

I will burn this industry to the ground.

[Nappi]

Fuck.

That awesome trailer is still the only video I have on my PS3 hard drive. I will probably have to delete it now, so that I won't be reminded how stupid everything is nowadays every time I open the console.

[syntheticgerbil]

So now there's another shady article affirming he's not quitting:

http://www.gameblog.fr/news_15707_michel-ancel-quitterait-ubisoft-c-est-faux

I don't really know what to believe. The news that he is quitting seems to be spreading much faster.

[elmuerte]

meh... I don't really care for anything from Ubisoft right now, not even Frederick Raynal's project.

Maybe Ancel will come out with something more interesting with his new studio.