Maryokutai Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 I think maf posted a trailer for this at some point but I couldn't find a topic, so might have been in the Random News. Got reminded of it through EDGE's current title story (which I haven't read yet). This looks a bit generic, albeit not unappealing at first glance, with its inspirations clearly visible, but the mix is rather fresh I think. Fundamentally it's an action RPG, that much is obvious, but it seems to incorporate some of the BotW-style playfulness with physics and elements into its combat, allowing you, for example, to freeze an enemy's legs to make them immobile and climb on top of them (SotC/Dragon's Dogma style). I've also seen clips where parts of the environment could be destroyed, which all in all promises a bit more physical interactivity during engagements than is usually the case in this genre. From what I understand, but don't quote me on this, this is made by a couple of BioWare alumni, even though it's vastly different from that studio's output. Comes out at the end of the month, and will be on Gamepass. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted January 12 Author Share Posted January 12 So I read EDGE's feature on this today and it seems really ambitious. One thing I found extremely impressive is that it actually calculates the temperature of everything ingame, be it atmosphere, objects or characters. Which means that your fire and ice powers aren't just your usual videogame damage tools, but actually respond somewhat accurately to the laws of thermodynamics. Example: traditionally you would attack an enemy covered in ice with fire, but in this case that's actually not recommended because the ice has an insulating effect and reduces fire's effectiveness. On the other hand, heavy armour becomes more brittle when frozen, and attacks on heavily armoured foes do more damage in that state. How this all works out in the end, who knows, but it's really cool (pun not intended) to see a studio use those modern hardware resources for something more substantial than Raytracing and 4K. It's also mentioned that the developer is self-publishing it, which just a couple of days into the year makes me already think about breaking my oath to buy fewer games. Maybe next month – if it turns out well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 Yeah that looks really good tbh, I ignored it partly cause of how it looks but this type of deeply systemic playfulness is what I like and why I spent hours and hours coming up with complicated ways of murdering goblins in TOTK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 8/10 from Edge, which is a high recommendation from them Quote Eternal Strands succeeds because it's as forgiving as it is open ended. It wants you to play with fire - not to mention ice and kinetic energy...Even then, we're still frequently sidetracked by the temptation to test new magic on enemies we've fought before, or break something just because we can. The three core magic properties interact in such enjoyably logical ways, they beg to be tossed together like a wild chemistry experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 Yeah, I think I might get this sometime next month. Will have to sprinkle in something between it and Dragon Age though, they're very different games but stylistically close enough that I might otherwise feel some fatigue when booting this up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandsomeDead Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 I'm sure it's gonna be on Game pass too so it's easy to try out. Looks to me like TotK meets Monster Hunter so it could be really cool if they execute on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
one-armed dwarf Posted Tuesday at 16:07 Share Posted Tuesday at 16:07 There's a PC demo out for this now, out of nowhere. Button is a little hard to see, it's the blue one on the right https://store.steampowered.com/app/1491410/Eternal_Strands/ Progress carries over into the full game so it's more like an early release, really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryokutai Posted Tuesday at 18:22 Author Share Posted Tuesday at 18:22 That's a really good call I think for a game like this because it looks and sounds like something you have to give a proper try to really understand the mission statement. Their launch trailer also is a weird collage of community comments, which I'd usually say is a bit 'eh' but again, in this case makes sense to pre-emptively embrace the idea of wacky social media content to keep it on people's timelines. (Their studio logo animation is ace btw. Bit of an under-appreciated artform.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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