Gears of War: E-Day

[Nag]

 

Little bit worried that this wasn't followed by "2025" but fuck it, it's Gears!

[Maryokutai]

8 hours ago, Maf said:

I don't hate the new characters but I feel like Gears has just lost it's way. It's literally now trading in psychic power, half locust/half human and talisman magic mumbo jumbo 

 

That started with 3 already though. Coalition just picked up where Epic left off. And now they're going back to basically a modern version of Gears 1 it seems. 

 

I think this annoys me in particular because Gears felt like a series that sort of evolved in line with my tastes. The first two I enjoyed for what they were because I wanted big graphics on my new console and that was basically it. Bonus points for it playing well. Then Gears 3 came along which shifted a bit in tone and amped up the quality of the art direction and I really enjoyed that. Meanwhile 4 and 5 in particular ditched the whole dudebro thing I've started to find incredibly dumb at that point, so I was really happy with the new direction, style and tone.

 

Looking at this trailer is like listening to a song I found cool when I was 15 but can't identify with anymore. It's really not for me. If the community likes it, all the power to them of course. But this might be the first Gears I'm not going to bother playing.

[Nag]

They'll almost certainly have to alter the tone of the game to some extent given the timeline, this almost needs to have a desperate Last of Us feel given what's happening... it'd be weird if there's quips being thrown around every 5 minutes what with a quarter of the population being wiped out.

 

I know dark depressing storylines aren't for everyone but this pretty much has to be that.

[one-armed dwarf]

They need to bring Joss Whedon on to punch up the dialogue for a modern audience

 

Or whoever the modern version of Whedon is, I think that guy is cancelled now. That guy who did What we do in the Shadows maybe

[Maryokutai]

People online seem to be really happy about this, so I this seems like it was the right choice from The Coalition's perspective. Supposedly this doesn't mean the end for the Kait trilogy, but with current development cycles I can't help but feel a bit cynical about that. Are they really going to release a direct sequel to 2019's Gears 5 in 2030-ish? Press X for doubt.

 

But I don't want to keep playing the broken record, there was enough other cool stuff in that showcase for me.

[Nag]

For all the talk of games only being grey or brown at one point that's what (most) people wanted for Gears... the moaning began at the third game which some found way too bright and cheerful...😂

[Maf]

Bearing in mind I still think Gears 5 is the best game in the series, if they want to take all that talent and return to more classic Gears in terms of story stuff, I'm all for it. 

 

I don't remember where Gears story went off the rails for me. I think it was 4 with 

 

Spoiler

Kait being like the prophetic heir to the Locust throne and people have psychic connections once becoming part of the hive and stuff. Kait has some secret talisman/symbol necklace because she's half Locust queen. I didn't mind the character and her drunk uncle and stuff. In fact in Gears 5 I thought they did a fantastic job of taking that dude with the shades, making him basically irredeemable, and then genuinely sympathetic towards the end. 

 

But I also remember Gears 5 ending with the characters looking out at a wake of destruction and just having a sense of this is a story that doesn't know how to end. Or at least does but can't because it's a franchise. Even when having to pick what character dies at the end of G5 was like that's a bad choice for this story. It just didn't feel like it fit

 

Not that I would have been mad if they continued with it, but I'm more interested in a return to roots than where the story was going. 

[Nag]

It'll be interesting to see the trade offs in this game, on the one hand we could be losing a lot of weapons but on the other they regain the ability to use Kryll and darkness will mean something again...

 

I'm really excited to return to this timeline tbh... I'm playing Ultimate Edition right now and it does have a very different feel to pretty much all of the others... if they can make it feel as dark and brooding as this it'll be a real treat.

[Nag]

Thought I'd link this as it's a pretty good write up of what to expect from the game... I especially like the idea of them going out of their way to make the Locust Drones more dangerous and not just cannon fodder which is pretty much what they've become.

 

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2024/06/09/gears-of-war-e-day-interview-details-xbox-games-showcase-2024/