By Quintin Smith on April 21st, 2011 at 11:01 am.
Last week we had a look at Roland, playable character #1 in upcoming co-operative swordstravaganza The First Templar. This week it’s the turn of Celian, who I think I prefer for much the same reasons as I liked Isaac in the first Dead Space; a grim kind of practicality. Celian seems to spend as much time stabbing people as he does kicking them, grabbing them, pushing them over or just belting them with his shield. If he just had a move where he picked up a nearby stone and chucked it at their eye I’d be in love. See what I mean after the jump.
Hey, some of those animations are a bit good, aren’t they? Looks like the guys at Haemimont have learned a thing or two about making trailers since Roland.
21/04/2011 at 11:11 mlaskus says:
There is more shots of single animations instead of sequences of them and it’s the transitions between animations that are particularly terrible. They are still as bad as they were the last time.
21/04/2011 at 12:31 coldvvvave says:
Great, I was just about to say that animations are nice.
21/04/2011 at 13:25 icupnimpn2 says:
and now because a single person on the internet has expressed a different opinion ahead of you… you just don’t know what to do?
21/04/2011 at 14:53 paterah says:
@icupnimpn2 They are great mate. The faces maybe don’t look good but animations are nice.
21/04/2011 at 11:11 thepaleking says:
Reminiscent of Demon’s Souls. But obviously a lot more forgiving and arcadey-like. Need a video centered on the coop bits before I can gauge my interest.
21/04/2011 at 11:15 WJonathan says:
So this is our punishment for complaining about too many bad manshoots: bad manstabs.
21/04/2011 at 11:18 Bingo Bango says:
This could be cool. Dunno why they wouldn’t show off both playable characters at once though, that’s what’s gonna sell this game
21/04/2011 at 11:31 groghog says:
more like sirhugsalot
21/04/2011 at 11:33 John P says:
Looks a little too button mashy for my tastes. I prefer more intimate combat along the lines of Demon’s Souls or (even better) Severance. Few enemies at once, but each one capable of chopping your legs off if you make one mistake.
21/04/2011 at 16:45 Mad Hamish says:
I was gonna say this but with Mount&Blade being my good example. I’ve been meaning to source out that Severance and damn it I’ll need a PS3 for Demon’s Souls. The whole mash the attack button to unleash a series of fancy and impractical animations upon the enemy is such a horribly unsatisfying way of doing melee. Looks nice for trailers but get incredibly boring really quick. It basically makes to the game a 3D scrolling beat em up like final fight,double dragon etc.
The M&B system promotes skill, timing and knowing when to stay away and let someone else handle it. It’s difficult to master, which is why I assume we will never see anything like it in a bigger game.
Also glowing trails.
21/04/2011 at 11:55 Navagon says:
If this game wasn’t so hopelessly identical to the other Assassin’s Creed *cough* inspired game then it might get better press. Talk about bad timing.
21/04/2011 at 12:01 poop says:
more swipey swipey anime-line traily swordfighting, where the hell is my really visceral swordfighting?
i mean aside from Mount and Blade that is
21/04/2011 at 13:23 DainIronfoot says:
I really have no idea why more games haven’t ripped off the combat system from M&B.
21/04/2011 at 12:56 sakmidrai says:
Not THAT bad. Looks fun.
And did I see an Orc…?
21/04/2011 at 12:57 Tony M says:
Kellian Darasteed? I don’t think that name is manly enough, or fantasy enough. How about Drakeblade Helmdark Stormcastleington?
Tony
21/04/2011 at 13:17 suibhne says:
We put our faith in Blast Hardblade.
21/04/2011 at 14:34 Berzee says:
How about Tony?
Drakeblade Helmdark Stormcastleington
21/04/2011 at 14:20 Stevostin says:
From time to time we see a trailer that isn’t simply dull and average (or exciting), but seems “broken”. Here is one. Awkward slow mo, poor 3D close up on clipping armor, no sens of action and a gameplay that does look a loot like a Prince of Persia Sands of time dullest part ie fights.
21/04/2011 at 15:49 tyrsius says:
I actually enjoyed the acrobatic fighting system in the PoP games, though I felt it was at its best in Warrior Within (though for some reason many people hate that one because of the music).
This combat looks weak though. Poor hack n slash with some good finishers, but the meat of the combat just doesn’t look right. Like the tried to mix Batman AA and Assassin’s Creed, and failed.
21/04/2011 at 16:05 h4plo says:
Man that shieldmurdering shit is AWESOME.
21/04/2011 at 16:15 Bhazor says:
Celian? See-lion? Sea Lion!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u0iQj2j5mE
21/04/2011 at 17:38 gwathdring says:
The finishers look great … I can’t tell with the general combat. I like that they use the shield so much. There’s a lot of freedom in a small round shield, and they’re a joy to use offensively.
Tangent: Movies and games tend to not to figure out how period shield work or even just good shield work looks, but shield bashing and grappling is as much a part of western martial arts as the sword work. In general, I want more games to adapt more visceral, realistic combat animations in games with swords and such. Sometimes flashy choreography is good, but there’s something beautiful in a well executed fight, a slick efficiency that can be every bit as entertaining and good looking as a more stylistic fight–just nowhere near as long, which tends to be a problem in movies. Games can afford it more by giving your character the stamina or speed to last a lot longer in battle or by giving you a bunch of weaker enemies to prolong a fight sequence despite each kill being extremely fast if you know what openings to look for.
Bar barring that, more awesome shield moves in games! I’ve never played M&B. What’s the combat like?
22/04/2011 at 00:14 Snak says:
really sweet finishers or whatever its called
22/04/2011 at 03:16 DragonSix says:
The animation doesn’t look very good, it lacks punch. And the fights seems both shallow and sluggish. Not a very good onset for a game which emphasis is on combat.
They played too much Assassin’s Creed and not enough DMC/Versus Fighting games