Rock, Paper, Shotgun

28/05/2008 at 20:25 Al3xand3r says:

Now this guy takes our glory The Shed :P
I hope the PS3/360 thing is misinformed. I want a PC version dammit. That’s all meant to be in game stuff by the way. Not bad.

28/05/2008 at 20:28 The Shed says:

Damnit! Yeah our momentum is totally gone (incidentally my first name is Alexander also)… Oh well.

Chances are I’d grab it on 360; but theres no reason it won’t be for PC. They probably just lumped it in the ’360/ PS3 exclusive’ category ‘cos they reckon PC gamers are the only ones who dont care about it. Pfft. If that’s in game I’ll eat my hat.

28/05/2008 at 20:31 lungfish says:

My day has just been made, i’m going to go and hug random people in the street, also loved the whole ry cooder-y music and road movie atmospere.

28/05/2008 at 20:39 Pavel says:

Okay….so, I guess I should go play BGaE 1, then?
Is it really that good? I liked this teaser, its atmosphere just seemed…interesting.

28/05/2008 at 20:45 Pidesco says:

Awesome, awesome,awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome,awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome! And breathe…

28/05/2008 at 20:48 Pod says:

Interesting.
I only finally finished BG&E1 the other day. I’d gotten about 70% of the way through last year but just forgot to carry on playing…..

one thing I noticed is that the pig’s voice is different, though he hardly said much.

28/05/2008 at 20:53 Leeks! says:

If there was some standardized way to articulate a squeal of joy in text, I would do that right now.

28/05/2008 at 20:58 Michael says:

Yaaay!!!

28/05/2008 at 21:06 Professor Pyro, Ph.D. says:

I hope that this game is a massive success, but in terms of how good it is and commercially.

28/05/2008 at 21:16 tmp says:

If there was some standardized way to articulate a squeal of joy in text, I would do that right now.

I believe it’s “squee”.

Squee

28/05/2008 at 21:17 Flotfyrtoogtredive says:

I really really want to play BG&E1 again but apparently there’s some sort of problem with the newer direct x or newer videocards or something. It freezes and/or crashes after playing for a while. Anyone else know about this? I’ve tried searching around and it seems to be a known problem but the patches and sollutions I can find are several years old and don’t work for me :(

28/05/2008 at 21:29 Briosafreak says:

Fifty two

28/05/2008 at 21:33 RichPowers says:

BOOYA!

(I’ve yet to play BG&E1…I’m just going with the crowd on this one.)

28/05/2008 at 21:40 azwipe says:

i’m just… so happy

28/05/2008 at 21:47 LSTAR says:

Where was Jade’s face, for that matter? It’s a bit early to be worrying about the dai-jo being missing :)

28/05/2008 at 21:49 Kast says:

i guess this means i finally need to get around to playing the original :P

28/05/2008 at 21:59 tcliu says:

Great! Now I’ll have to freeze myself like Cartman waiting for his Wii.

28/05/2008 at 22:17 the_apologist says:

@Optimaximal – It’s just that I can’t quite put my finger on what other people are so in love with. It was fun and all, but the environments felt constricted, and the stealth could be frustrating…

I didn’t quite get that special feeling so many others seem to have got. It left me wondering what the fuss was about…

28/05/2008 at 22:20 grumpy says:

I really really want to play BG&E1 again but apparently there’s some sort of problem with the newer direct x or newer videocards or something. It freezes and/or crashes after playing for a while.

Most likely, you’ve been alt-tabbing. That always caused my game to crash (even bluescreen), but never when I actually alt-tabbed. Some 20-30 minutes later, it’d bluescreen, which made it *really* hard to figure out what caused it.

But yeah, try playing without ever alt-tabbing, and see if that helps.

28/05/2008 at 22:42 Ozzie says:

Squeee!!!

I’m a PC gamer only, never owned a console, so I hope my platform of choice gets a conversion.

Interesting trailer, which, of course, teases much.
Beyond Good & Evil……..in a vast desert? How did they get there? What’s up with Pey’j? Is this Jade under the umbrella? What’s the connection, what happened?
I like all the more or less subtle clues in this video.

The tone seems very different, but I guess it will all come together.

Just hope the PC will get a version.

28/05/2008 at 22:56 malkav11 says:

Very often platform release listings simply omit PC. Like all the “Xbox 360 exclusives” that are also on PC. So I wouldn’t worry too horribly about that item. If nothing else, it may simply indicate a delayed port.

28/05/2008 at 23:03 Pijama says:

I didn’t play this “Beyond Good and Evil”, therefore I am feeling bad right now because apparently I am supposed to have played it. :|

So, squee?

28/05/2008 at 23:32 Ozzie says:

Yeah, sure, BG&E didn’t feature the best game design, but the game world was wonderful.
Some more depth wouldn’t have hurt, though.
I mean, it was a very linear quest.
For a game titled “Beyond Good & Evil” it left something to be desired. Like choices and consequences.
More varied quests.

But oh whatever, it was still a very believable world you always felt to be a part of. While the game was a bit too easy it was always fun, interesting and exciting.

Rayman 2 might have been more fun to play, but the world of BG&E was more interesting to explore.

One of my favorites, but it also captured the heart of many others.

There only two things I wish from the sequel:
- more challenging gameplay
- more possible interaction

28/05/2008 at 23:59 luminosity says:

I’d love to play the first game. If only it was available on a worldwide digital distribution network.

CURSE YOU UBISOFT.

29/05/2008 at 00:38 Jonathan says:

I liked the stealth sections and thought they were more enjoyable than the trial and error of every other stealth game at the time. They were like little puzzles and didn’t try realism at all which is a principle I always support. There were some really clever moments too like the crate puzzle and those death laser nets were hella cool.

Reply to Ozzie: Be careful what you wish for. Much of the poignancy, character and drive in the story came from the pacing. If it went free form that would be all kinds of screwed. Also the game wasn’t meant to be overly challenging and may be so fondly remembered because it didn’t annoy the hell out of you with cheap shots like ninja gaiden.

Also Pey’j is now so hardcore he eats wasps and shits wrenches.

29/05/2008 at 01:02 Arienette says:

If it manages to capture the atmosphere of the first game there’ll be no shame in wetting myself from joy while playing it.

29/05/2008 at 01:16 Shih Tzu says:

Sweeeet!

Now we just need an Anachronox sequel.

29/05/2008 at 01:43 MisterBritish says:

Looking at the piccies, the Pey’J model at least is a proper in-game asset. Environment and rendering harder to tell.

I want a high-res Jade now please Mr Ancel…

29/05/2008 at 01:51 Phil H says:

@Jonathan -
I’m fairly certain Mr. Puffins was commenting purely on the art direction, and he’s got a point there. The original art direction was rather Disney-esque, which, for whatever reason, makes those characters and activities feel a heck of a lot less weird(for lack of a better word). Moving it to a more realistic art direction decreases how well it meshes because it loses some/alot of that cartoony nature. Still, I squee the hell out of this announcement.

29/05/2008 at 02:00 Jonathan says:

Reply to Phil H
I still don’t think it’s that realistic though it’s hard to tell with fantastical characters. Give me a good shot of Jade and then we’ll talk about the realism. It certainly has a way to go before it reaches Pixar/Dreamworks levels. But I see no reason to be negative at this point certainly not about an aesthetic choice.

29/05/2008 at 02:19 Scandalon says:

So, I tried playing BG&E 2 or three times, I’ve owned both the xbox and GC version (used, I must confess) and whilst the intro and beginning were quite lovely, (including much of the world/characters, as others have said) I found it to kind of die out…I think I got stuck at the first “Boss” fight, the one w/ the giant green cyclops-toad thing? I remember getting frustrated w/ that part at least…am I just lame at console controls?

Did the story ever actually *get* beyond Good and Evil? Did it ever get past “People in authority are controlling and bad, fight the man!”? Heck, the name of the game is a reference to (I believe) Bhuddishm, is it not? Does it ever dive into any of that? (I actually think the majority of which is rubbish, that you can’t actually *get* beyond G&E without commiting horrible, evil acts, but I’d sure love to explore a game that, well, explores it…)

29/05/2008 at 03:22 tmp says:

Did the story ever actually *get* beyond Good and Evil? Did it ever get past “People in authority are controlling and bad, fight the man!”? Heck, the name of the game is a reference to (I believe) Bhuddishm, is it not? Does it ever dive into any of that?

Was under impression the title is referring to book by German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. The ‘bad government’ you get to fight in the game could be probably seen as merely following Nietzsche’s teaching, leaving behind the traditional morality.

29/05/2008 at 04:27 Phil H says:

@Jonathan – Certainly too early to tell how near or far from realism it is at this point, hence the some/alot in my last comment, but the first game was entirely cartoon in appearance whereas the environment here seems to lean well into realistic territory.

29/05/2008 at 05:07 Val says:

That’s not a wasp, it’s a fly.

Not surprising that 51 flies have visited him so far since they are attracted to stench, and, well… Pey’j… he’s probably stinky.

Also, Squee.

29/05/2008 at 05:22 Scandalon says:

Dear Lord I’m a knob sometimes…yes, Nietzche, though I swear there was a more formal belief system that had a similar phrase,not sure what I was thinking…I blame it on fighting w/ Windows Server 2008, virtualization, and a NAS all day.

I did, however, find an interview in which a PR guys states:

[Tyrone Miller]: Many people assume that Beyond Good & Evil is a reference to the Friedrich Nietzsche book by the same name. Although you could probably make an argument – this game really has no connection to the German philosopher. As an action reporter, players need to investigate beyond the superficial facts of what is good and what is evil – which is dictated through government propaganda in the game. The player has to see what nobody else can see, what is hidden to the people of Hyllis. This theme is relevant to issues we face today – understanding the reasons behind the apparent facts.
…which, yea, seems a bit of a let-down. So, is it worth it to re-obtain BG&E and complete it? I still have to finish Okami and PoP:TTT. (And Stalker and…)

RE: Art style – I didn’t think the “better/more realistic” graphics hurt it at all, at least, not in the trailer. How it matches up with the “gameplay” however… In refutation of Johnathan’s statement about the believability of the plot. It’s not that realism per-se is bad but is it believable?!? Contrast this with the latest Zelda, in which you now have a fairly realistic looking character and world, but the behaviour doesn’t make sense, doesn’t “look” right. i.e Link holding up a gem as big as his head everytime he opens a chest – but he’s not even holding it, it’s floating in some anachronistic way that’s basically a holdover from the original NES. (Same with the respawning enemies and a host of other design decisions of varying degrees of WTFery.)

29/05/2008 at 06:47 Zeno says:

I played BG&E for the first time about a week or so ago. It was good, I just had a few beefs with it:

1) Short game is short. I guess it’s to keep it from getting repetitive or whatever, but I felt very sad inside when it was over.
2) The game just hands you pearls when you need them. There’s no real point in having to buy parts when you always have the resources to do so.
3) I loved taking pictures of animals ‘n stuff, but it felt like that aspect of the game was completely separate from the rest of it, like it was some kind of afterthought.

All in all, a great game that I feel needed to be fleshed out just a little more to be perfect. I highly, highly recommend it to everyone, and it’s only like ten bucks on Steam. Also, it has probably one of the greatest last boss fights ever.

29/05/2008 at 07:16 Arnulf says:

Propaganda!

29/05/2008 at 08:14 UncleLou says:

I’ll feel personally insulted if there is no PC version, seeing how I am one of the people who bought the first one at full price on the release day. *grumble*

29/05/2008 at 09:55 Flint says:

Don’t like the added realism to the look, but I’ve no worries about the actual game being yum.

29/05/2008 at 10:34 ILR says:

Yeah, I bought BG&E used a few months ago but couldn’t get it to work properly even after a loooong nVidia driver struggle. If I disable gamma correction, everything runs five times faster than normal. If I leave it on, video and audio are not in sync. If I disable V-sync, the video stutters every two seconds. If I install earlier drivers, the game freezes in the main menu.

Most frustrating. Has anyone succeeded in finding a working configuration for a 8800-series nVidia card and if so, how?

These instructions were of no use to me, but for someone else they might, so I’m posting them here.

29/05/2008 at 12:25 LukeE says:

Oh god yes… I have to leave urgently to tell everyone I can see in the street about this.

29/05/2008 at 14:12 Man Raised By Puffins says:

@ Johnathon: I think there is some confusion over what I meant by increased realism. The addition of wrinkles, blemishes and so forth to Pey’J grounds him a bit more to the real world (not to mention that it’s abundantly clear that the surrounding area is fairly realistically modelled), which conflicts with his obviously fantastical nature. Personally, I would have prefered a Pixar-style approach which retained the chunky art-style and smooth lines of the first game. But as I made abundantly clear in my first post, this is just a quibble of mine over the apparent art direction.

@ Shanucore: But if we had Psychonauts 2, then we wouldn’t be getting Brütal Legend!

29/05/2008 at 15:39 Citizen Parker says:

@Matthew: Syndicate Wars is to Syndicate what Viva Pinata: Party Animals is to Viva Pinata.

There is no Syndicate sequel. =)

31/05/2008 at 15:25 Martin says:

Will finish BG%E 1 on the old Xbox now. Loved it to bits, just didn’t have time to finish it.

22/08/2008 at 22:18 John P (Katsumoto) says:

I can’t see it on Steam.

Let me guess, Ubisoft? Europe gets shafted again, woohoo!