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FreaKill

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Just curious... Why almost everyone wants Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice in new giveaway thread? Because of fact, that Microsoft bught devs? Or because of screenshots that looks like it is AAA third-person slasher? Any thoughts?
It's a well known, well regarded game with brilliant presentation, critically acclaimed story and fairly solid combat. Some gamers (especially of the more "hardcore" kind, I think) don't really like the combat mechanics for being a bit shallow, but I didn't find much to dislike about fighting in the game.

PS To anyone who's yet to play it - I highly recommend playing it with headphones - the sound design really shines when you can hear every whisper.
 

-v-

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Solid combat? One button for strike and one button for hide under the shield? Like in first zelda game, but not in 1986? With a whole 3 enemies? :) No.
UPD. What i want to say.
There was(is) a serious miscalculation in the positioning of this game, and no one has tried to fix it, and all the advertising for both it and the sequel continues to insist on this. Maybe in the second part with a big budget it will be more focused on action, but the first game is more about telling a story, it is about Senua's journey straight from the start to the finish, it is a walking simulator in a good way - you walk, listen, search for hidden runes, solve riddles, but to which at the last moment they screwed an unfinished combat sysem. And as a walking simulator, yes, it’s quite good, but it’s not such a massive genre.
 
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-v-

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They make games for AAA studios, true, but I said that this game specifically was developed independently by Ninja Theory, not that the developers are fully independent.
That is not how indie development works. They have resources, they have qualified personnel, they have experience. They just badly pitched their game at pre-production stage, that's all. After release they do that again but in a right way and sold himself to major publisher.
 

FreaKill

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Solid combat? One button for strike and one button for hide under the shield? Like in first zelda game, but not in 1986? With a whole 3 enemies? :) No.
Yes. ;)

I guess we're using "solid" differently. The combat system provides you with sufficient tools to overcome challenges you face and everything works - so it's solid. However it doesn't provide much in terms of ability for higher tier players to style on their opponents - so it's shallow, simplistic in comparison to high octane slashers and beat-em-ups. Though it's not as simplistic as you describe - there's also dodge and you need to use it and the targeting system to survive, especially in later parts of the game, where you do get attacked by more than three opponents and you won't get far by simply mashing attack at an enemy.

I don't understand why you're so adamant that it's not action - literally half of the game is dedicated to fighting. Just because you don't like the action, doesn't mean it's not there.

And what previous games that indie developers developed? I want to learn to himself that path of glory from zero to hero.
The usual path - you do loads of work for publishers that screw you over at every opportunity and try to survive for as long as possible :cool:
Hellblade was developed independently, self-funded and self-published, so by every definition it counts as an "indie". Just because they worked under various publishers prior to that and after doesn't change that independent period.
That is not how indie development works. They have resources, they have qualified personnel, they have experience.
Uhm... Having resources and experienced developers does not change independent aspect in any way. Indie is literally about not having outside input on how the game must be done and risking your own time and money for that independence, everything else is incidental.
 

slurredprey

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That is not how indie development works. They have resources, they have qualified personnel, they have experience. They just badly pitched their game at pre-production stage, that's all. After release they do that again but in a right way and sold himself to major publisher.
1. Everyone needs resources to start up their company, they just had a lot more because they did a few odd jobs.
2. Someone can be an experienced game developer before they start a company. A lot of indie studios are comprised of ex-AAA company devs.
3. That's probably true, but a post-release buyout only confirms that they have resources to continue to support the games and/or franchise, which is what's happening here. They made the game before the buyout and therefore the game was independently-developed. The VR mode was likely funded by Microsoft, and the sequel definitely is. This still doesn't change the fact that the base game was made by Ninja Theory alone.

They are the size of an indie studio and made this game without the funding of a larger company. And this game was released before Microsoft's acquisition. So yes, independently-developed game.
Think of them as contract killers or bounty hunters. He works freelance for various crime lords, on hire. One day he wanted to settle his own matters and the head of a larger network, observing him, realises his skill and a bit after that, he is recruited to the network and works for them now.
 

-v-

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The difference is clear, but it doesn't change the fact that if either of them start a company with their own money they are an independent studio.
They start nothing new. They already exist at that moment. In that form and in that team. So DmC is indie title?

Though it's not as simplistic as you describe - there's also dodge and you need to use it and the targeting system to survive, especially in later parts of the game, where you do get attacked by more than three opponents and you won't get far by simply mashing attack at an enemy.
Oh. Three buttons. And auto-targeting. For three cloned enemies.
 
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immerbeaner

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FreaKill

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They start nothing new.
Since when is it a requirement?
So DmC is indie title?
Nobody's arguing that a game developed for an outside publisher, made with funding from that publisher, according to milestones set by that publisher, whose development could have been shut down at any moment and for any reason by said publisher, is in any way independent.
Oh. Three buttons. And auto-targeting. For three cloned enemies.
Look, I get it that you don't like Hellblade's combat, but spare me your snarky one-liners.

Though I guess you asked why people want/like that game, I answered, you clearly have some issues with certain aspects of the game - not much to argue about productively since it's all personal preference, so snark away!
 
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slurredprey

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They start nothing new. They already exist at that moment. In that form and in that team. So DmC is indie title?
DmC was published by Capcom, and Ninja Theory was funded by them and supported during development. What I meant was in a scenario where a single developer started a company, he would technically be starting an indie company, regardless of experience. Although I must admit on further thinking, certain companies do blur the line between indie and AAA, unofficially called AA studios, usually indie game publishers like Team17 or well-funded indie studios and I think I'd place Ninja Theory there.
 

-v-

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Though I guess you asked why people want/like that game, I answered, you clearly have some issues with certain aspects of the game - not much to argue about productively since it's all personal preference, so snark away!
True. I already heard what I was asking. Everything else is a specific discussion of a specific game, and material for a separate topic, which I never plan to create.

DmC was published by Capcom, and Ninja Theory was funded by them and supported during development. What I meant was in a scenario where a single developer started a company, he would technically be starting an indie company, regardless of experience. Although I must admit on further thinking, certain companies do blur the line between indie and AAA, unofficially called AA studios, usually indie game publishers like Team17 or well-funded indie studios and I think I'd place Ninja Theory there.
Well, yes, and someone even tried to invent "AAA indie" tag because of games like that.
 
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