Hellblade : Senua's Sacrifice

[mfnick]

19 minutes ago, Maryokutai said:

How does OLED have trouble with 30fps? I've actually never heard of that and don't remember it being an issue on the Vita.

I think the small screen helps negate the issue. At 55” though it’s very noticeable. 
 

11 minutes ago, one-armed dwarf said:

Whenever this one burns in I'm done with the tech, the fact you can't play a single game on it or watch repetitive content for a long time without worrying about destroying it is so silly to me.

I wouldn’t worry about burn in too much. It was a constant concern of mine to start with but I’ve put dozens of hours into rocket league for example in the 2-3 years I’ve had it at full oled brightness on hdr and no burn in issues at all with the hud. From tests I’ve seen it’s the older models with less pixel refresh tech or if you have it on sky sports news for 12hours a day for weeks. 
 

I also put about 100 hours into FVII Remake in a very short time period. Again no issues. In general use I don’t think it’s a problem. 
 

For what it’s worth I’ve read the CX onwards are far better at motion than previous ones too. 

[DisturbedSwan]

42 minutes ago, bellow said:

I'm up for it. Best game of last gen, with God of war and TLoU 2. 

 

 

😂 Christ alive, I've read some bad takes in my time but this takes the biscuit. This should never be in the same sentence as the masterpieces that are GoW and TLOU2.

 

It's admirable what it attempts for mental health and graphically it is superb but the gameplay is absolutely PS2-level garbage. 

[Nag]

3 minutes ago, DisturbedSwan said:

but the gameplay is absolutely PS2-level garbage. 

 

3 minutes ago, DisturbedSwan said:

bad takes

 

Yep.

[one-armed dwarf]

10 minutes ago, mfnick said:

I wouldn’t worry about burn in too much. It was a constant concern of mine to start with but I’ve put dozens of hours into rocket league for example in the 2-3 years I’ve had it at full oled brightness on hdr and no burn in issues at all with the hud. From tests I’ve seen it’s the older models with less pixel refresh tech or if you have it on sky sports news for 12hours a day for weeks. 
 

I also put about 100 hours into FVII Remake in a very short time period. Again no issues. In general use I don’t think it’s a problem. 

No worries then 🤣

 

 

(someone will point out 'all that playtime and still floor 9, yea I know lol. im bad')

 

Anyway the thing with burn in is it's cumulative, you could put 1 hr daily into one thing for years and it can have close to the same impact as concentrated use

 

https://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/real-life-oled-burn-in-test

Quote

• The total duration of static content. LG has told us that they expect it to be cumulative, so static content which is present for 30 minutes twice a day is equivalent to one hour of static content once per day.

 

[mfnick]

Probably about 160hours in RL for me so not too far off.

 

Didnt know it was cumulative though. Well, I’ve stopped worrying about it now anyway. As long as it lasts 5+ years without issue I’ll be ok with it. 
 

Anyway, Hellblade…

[Maryokutai]

Well guys, this has been the absolute best pitch about why not to buy an OLED anytime soon.

The only issue I have with my current LED-backlit LCD is that the side borders are slightly brighter, which you only notice during grey-ish scenes, and that quick turning movement makes everything a bit blurry (classic LCD problem). But that sounds like peanuts compared to paying attention to how long a HUD is being displayed, switching back and forth between Game Mode and Movie Mode etc. 

 

As for Hellblade, I didn't particularly like the "form pattern by standing in a specific spot" puzzles but seeing how this was a really low-budget game and they could only implement so much stuff I think it was mighty impressive. It's no Metal Gear Survive, sure, but I liked what I played and even though it was fairly simple I think combat was surprisingly fun. I'm not going to deep into the whole mental illness stuff as I've always had trouble evaluating it. It certainly gave the game a very unique tone, though the fact that it mimics real-life issues turns it into a double-edged sword where I'm not sure if I want to appreciate it as part of making the game feel tense.

 

Anyway, I'd be up for a forum playthrough because that'd make me restart from scratch, which I probably would have trouble convincing myself to do on my own.

[Maf]

One more note about OLED is once gotten used to it I don't think I could go back to another TV. Before I got my new one I was looking at QLEDS, Nanocells, new LED and LCD and different cheaper OLEDS. I couldn't. Even though they were cheaper or might have an advantage here or there when I was looking at them side by side in shops I could not give up how good the OLEDS are. The blacks, the contrast, the HDR, the vibrancy. They so sexy. I'll buy a 3rd one when the time is right.

 

But yes Hellblade. Eh. It's ok. 

 

EDIT: Damn Mary posted first you're all too quick lol

[bellow]

3 hours ago, DisturbedSwan said:

😂 Christ alive, I've read some bad takes in my time but this takes the biscuit. This should never be in the same sentence as the masterpieces that are GoW and TLOU2.

 

It's strange to me that you feel that way. The games you champion here are superb, although the flaws in TLoU2 are obvious and well discussed. 

 

For me, Hellblade, raised the bar for story driven games in a way that the other games simply didn't (although, tbf, they never really attempted to).

 

Also, a simple Google search of the game will show Hellblade's impact both inside and outside of gaming. Here's a 7 hour videogame cited by many serious gaming journalists as one of very few works in the medium that can be legitimately called a work of art, while there are serious testimonials out there of how it's portrayal of mental illness changed lives - even averting suicide in one case.

 

But then, at the end of the day, it's just my opinion. I hated it on my first attempt. And loved it on my second. And now I believe it to be a game of high and artistic significance. 

[DisturbedSwan]

12 minutes ago, bellow said:

 

It's strange to me that you feel that way. The games you champion here are superb, although the flaws in TLoU2 are obvious and well discussed. 

 

For me, Hellblade, raised the bar for story driven games in a way that the other games simply didn't (although, tbf, they never really attempted to).

 

Also, a simple Google search of the game will show Hellblade's impact both inside and outside of gaming. Here's a 7 hour videogame cited by many serious gaming journalists as one of very few works in the medium that can be legitimately called a work of art, while there are serious testimonials out there of how it's portrayal of mental illness changed lives - even averting suicide in one case.

 

But then, at the end of the day, it's just my opinion. I hated it on my first attempt. And loved it on my second. And now I believe it to be a game of high and artistic significance. 

 

The game is beautiful in terms of art design and graphics, it is admirable what it tries to achieve in its portrayal of mental health and I don't want to admonish that but it just fell flat for me, the voices and binaural stuff actually made me laugh, it was just amateurish in its execution for me. The story was just nonsense about niflheim etc. and never really resonated with me until near the end when I half understood what it was going on about, couple that with the sub-par gameplay and it just never rose about a 6/10 for me. Despite its artistic merits, its gameplay is just subpar, and if it's no fun to play it doesn't matter how great its portrayal of certain weighty themes are, as a game its just average. 

 

I couldn't stomach a second attempt after my mediocre first attempt quite frankly, I wish I could get back the 7 hours I wasted on it. 

[one-armed dwarf]

I dropped it too but I think there is plenty of space for 'unfun' games with other merits. I strongly disagree that all games must be fun and if they aren't fun nothing else matters.

 

eg, pathologic gave me a lot to think about while playing it. There's lots of other stuff in other media that's lauded while not being 'fun', so why not 'video games' as well.

[DANGERMAN]

I really liked Hellblade, so much so I was a disappointed when Microsoft bought them and so meant the sequel was exclusive. I didn't think the combat was as bad as people made out, although it's hardly amazing, but it's the collective whole that makes it work. I think I played it on New Years Eve one year, start to finish, it's hard to say I loved it but I do remember it getting in my top 10 that year

[Maryokutai]

I don't know what people want from the combat system in a game like this. It's very basic but it gets the job done, hits feel good, it's responsive enough, you have the usual tools of the genre at your disposal (dodge, parry, shield break, light and heavy attacks). They were obviously not going to pull a DmC for this because that would have felt completely out of place. But it's also not just there to put a checkbox at the back of the box à la Enslaved. It's exactly right for this game.

[bellow]

 

50 minutes ago, one-armed dwarf said:

other stuff in other media that's lauded while not being 'fun',

 

Fun is a tricky word when applied to certain artistic endeavours. I thought the stealth/shooter mechanics in TLoU2 were incredibly fun, but if the makers of that game really believed they were pushing a solid and believable narrative, and a realistic portrayal of loss and revenge then it was a failure of mammoth proportions.

 

Blakey is sort of arguing the opposite for Hellblade. I really liked the horror/heavy weapon gameplay, so for me it was the better game all in all.

[HandsomeDead]

I finished this yesterday.  I made a day of it and finished it in one sitting so I've had to process a bit.

 

The combat is a point of contention but I agree that while it is a rock/paper/scissors style system it's satisfying in the weight of it and the animation is great.  And when the enemy numbers start increasing you do have to start thinking a lot about positioning.  It's engaging and there's certainly something to build off in what I imagine will be a more fleshed out sequel.

I don't think DMC has to worry or anything but served it's purpose well.

 

Since I've played it so late, and have seen The Northman (and The Northman is referenced a lot in this game) I just couldn't separate that from my brain.  But I rarely compared it unfavorably, it holds up well against that kind of comparison.

 

Apart from some frustrating puzzles I generally got into what they were trying to sell.  There were parts I found surprisingly unsettling and a horror kind of experience isn't what I was expecting.  

[shinymcshine]

Gave this 3 hrs (2x 90 mins) but concluded it's just not for me (much aligned to the thoughts of some previous posts above (re. looks great, sounds fantastic, playability pretty poor).