Looks like March 7th for the West on PS4. Not sure if PC will be out then too.
There will be a demo this week.
PC confirmed to be the same date as PS4.
They demo could actually be a couple weeks from now.
Oops, simultaneous release was misinformation. The article was updated. Sorry for the spam. The PC release date is simply “2017.”
I guess I still need to consider a PS4 Pro.
Playing on PC is more than enough reason to wait however much longer it might take, for me.
The demo is December 22nd on PSN in Japan. No word yet about a Western release for the demo but it seems to be pretty easy to create a Japan PSN account.
This is good timing. I have three Platinum WiiU games waiting for me at Christmas, so the demo will be a good warmup.
Man, that video footage is straight out of the first factory/level in FF7…
Oooh, this looks so nice. I love Platinum, so this (and Persona 5) might push FFXV away until I have time for everything.
The demo will be worldwide on the 22nd.
Avoided that JPN PSN account yet again!
Now we just need PC to release the same day as PS4 and we’re good. (No word on whether PC will get a demo, but I doubt it.)
This is apparently up now on PS4. The first one was an RPG right? Is that what this one is as well? I guess I’ll check out the demo this weekend and find out.
The demo is pretty solid. The graphics are like Space Marine: simple but vast. I don’t notice the 900p since I’m sitting pretty far from the TV.
The combat is a bit simple too. You have two attacks, a nice dodge move, and a ranged attack you have to aim with the right stick. The effects and sense of impact are great of course. I just think the depth will come from the RPG mechanics rather than the combat system.
If they announce a PC release date only a few months after the PS4 game then I’d probably wait. I don’t mind double-dipping if it will be a while.
I just finished the demo too. Not bad. I probably should haven’t played on Normal difficulty though. I sucked and button mashed through the whole thing and never really felt any pushback from the game at all except for the final boss fight. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to dodge some of those circular saw attacks though.
I think you’re supposed to simply avoid them, dodging if necessary, then wait for them to stop spinning.
One thing I just discovered: the weapons have different attacks depending on whether they’re equipped to the light or heavy attack. You can change weapon sets with up on the d-pad to swap the two swords to the opposite buttons. So there’s some weapon-switching style opportunities.
There’s a lot of combat depth. You can also hold the button to execute a different combo chain or charge, and on heavy with one of the configurations you can attack(quick tap) throw your sword (briefly held) or charged strong attack (long hold).
I liked this demo a lot, and will grab the full game I think. Early next year is stacked, especially on PS4, Nioh, Horizion, Mass Effect (which I’m betting gets delayed) Nier, etc.
I think the problem will be that those extra dial-a-combos are there purely for your own stylistic whims. I love a good stylish action game, but it’d be nice to have a style meter or combat rating to incentivize using all the tools at my disposal. I tend to get in a rut with Platinum games using the same basic combos and the glorious dodge/parry moves. That’s plenty of joy for me, but I always wish the game would encourage me to branch out more. Devil May Cry coaxes me into it and then I’m hooked on advance-level play.
I’m concerned about difficulty levels too. Hard feels like what normal should be, and the next step up to very hard simply changes it to a one-hit kill, which is no fun unless the checkpoints are really friendly. Maybe they’ll rebalance for the full release, though I know they plan to make it a little on the easy side for Nier/RPG fans to enjoy.
People are finding some good tech. From NeoGAF:
The heavy sword attack (spinning in front of the character) remains active if you (evade?) cancel into a light attack combo. Look at the health bar go down.
But again, what’s my motivation? I’ll have to give it another run and see how much I enjoy styling around for its own sake.
Mixed.
I liked the game when it was a DMC style slasher.
When it was a side scroller, it felt like a $20 game.
When it was a top down, i hated the game.
The demo (random numbers made up on the fly) is something like 50% side scroller, 30% top down, 20% DMC slasher. Thus i will not be buying this game… This is extremely disappointing, because i do like the game, when it isn’t trying to be a cheapo arcade game.
If you haven’t played the demo, it switches between the camera modes pretty frequently and you cannot (to my knowledge) control it.
It’s the same game, just a different perspective.
Short combo video:
I only played through the demo once, but it did feel like the different combos had different uses. Light then repeat heavy seemed like the best bread and butter, but I found a few times the charges were useful. Hopefully there’s more differentiation in the full game.
I really enjoyed the demo. The combination of aiming your gun while managing a simpler stylistic combat game was extremely appealing for me. It felt somewhere between a shmup and a fighter. Unlike Murbella, I greatly enjoyed the different perspectives and how they changed up combat.
My biggest dislike so far is how boring the environment and enemies were. Only the main characters were at all visually interesting. There’s been some screenshots that make me think this was just a bad demo area… It reminds me a bit of how much I thought I was going to hate Revengeance because of its boring style. Hopefully this one will be just as surprising.
Here’s a good explanation of all the systems for those who haven’t played the demo or haven’t dug into it. I guess it’s more like a Let’s Play.
I suspect there will be a lot of level reuse in this game. Like he said, you’ll probably return to this level to go through the elevators that are locked in the demo. You’ll use the shortcuts you’ve opened the first time through. The development seemed really fast so they must’ve cut corners somehow.
I generally don’t care too much about level reuse, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Personally I thought it was gorgeous and very evocative, and man, that boss. But I guess different strokes and all that.