The Last Guardian Thread

johnny_ultimate

The sense of scale and physicality is without equal. The open spaces in particular are impeccably designed, marrying the vast, clumsy leaps of Trico to the boy's limited but agile platforming abilities. The characters have actual weight, which has a major impact on the way the game is designed. While many events are varying degrees of scripted, there's a sense of control and participation but also surprise that you do not get in setpiece heavy action games. I also love how patient it all is: the moment or two before Trico's wings stand up and he makes the jump add a real sense of poetry to proceedings, allowing you to saviour the epic leap that follows. Even in the more dramatic sequences, movements and actions feel important and weighty.

But just like Ueda's previous game it's the harmony with which EVERYTHING works that sets it apart. It's what makes it feel like it's come from a sort of alternate reality compared to other games on this sort of scale.

biggebruv

never played a team ico game before

but I want to try this out where's the cheapest deal atm? anybody see any out there

might grab it when I'm done with dead rising 4

Kirby

The framerate on the standard ps4 version is just.....shocking. Most of the time it hovers between 20 and 30 but frequently drops into the teens which is just so, so jarring. People tend to whine these days with "60 fps or nothing" type carry on.....30 fps is fine as long as its solid. This is not solid. It's almost headache incudicing at times.

I'm enjoying the game but do eastern devs just not care about framerate or something? Between this and From with the souls series, I feel like they must see the world in a different way to the rest of humanity.

CiDeRmAn

Don't know, I guess I'm accustomed to Ico and SotC having less than stellar framerates.
Perhaps the point of view in game means it's not as disorientating, given I couldn't play Crysis 3 because it was terrible, but The Last Guardian frame rate doesn't bother me at all.

Odd they didn't rerelease the HD editions of Ico and SotC along with this one, seeing how they all complement each other.

monsterhunter

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Don't know, I guess I'm accustomed to Ico and SotC having less than stellar framerates.
Perhaps the point of view in game means it's not as disorientating, given I couldn't play Crysis 3 because it was terrible, but The Last Guardian frame rate doesn't bother me at all.

Odd they didn't rerelease the HD editions of Ico and SotC along with this one, seeing how they all complement each other.

I'm the same re: framerate for this game. Too many amazing moments to let it dampen the experience of this masterpiece.

My wife (who's not really into video games) was watching me play and then took over the controller, moved the boy onto Trico's back and removed a spear!!!

I was also thinking this morning about re-playing Ico/Sotc (PS3 remasters) after TLG... I love Team Ico :-)

Retr0gamer

Kirby wrote: »

I'm enjoying the game but do eastern devs just not care about framerate or something? Between this and From with the souls series, I feel like they must see the world in a different way to the rest of humanity.

I think it's more to do with resources. There's a lot of Japanese developers like Nintendo and Platinum championing 60 FPS gameplay.

johnny_ultimate

I'd be less forgiving of the frame-rate drops if it wasn't technically one of the most impressive games I've played outside that. While generally I haven't found the drops quite as bad as I feared, there have been some notable examples nonetheless (one sequence in particular) and no doubt anyone would prefer they weren't there. But for the most part the game's graphical and AI complexity at least makes it semi-understandable why it's struggling. Still a good few steps beyond SOTC's infamous performance.

I have no bloody idea how they hoped to get something like this running on PS3, even allowing for whatever aspects they decided to push further after the generation move. If there's one thing we can rely on from Team Ico games - apart from, y'know, being stonecold masterpieces that single-handedly push the form and language of video games forward - is that they always seem to be operating a generation behind their ambitions. Hopefully that means Gen Design will be able to work on PC for future projects.

mcgooch

Just received word from Amazon via an automated email that my already shipped copy of The Last Guardian Collector's Edition cannot be delivered due to "unforseen circumstances" and is to be refunded. The tracking information says it's still due to be delivered tomorrow. Absolutely gutted! :mad:

Anyone else that ordered from Amazon receive their copy?

CiDeRmAn

The only problem I have seen so far is the sometimes dodgy clipping of Trico's noggin through the occasional block wall, aside from that I'm pretty stoked to be finally playing only the second essential exclusive game on the PS4, after Bloodborne.

J. Marston

mcgooch wrote: »

Just received word from Amazon via an automated email that my already shipped copy of The Last Guardian Collector's Edition cannot be delivered due to "unforseen circumstances" and is to be refunded. The tracking information says it's still due to be delivered tomorrow. Absolutely gutted! :mad:

Anyone else that ordered from Amazon receive their copy?

Was Asendia the delivery company?

Pickpocket

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I'm pretty stoked to be finally playing only the second essential exclusive game on the PS4, after Bloodborne.

I'd have Uncharted 4 in there as well. Yes it's the sixth game in the franchise, and I must admit I tired of it toward the end, but as a showcase of where the Playstation brand is in 2016 it's absolutely essential.

mcgooch

J. Marston wrote: »

Was Asendia the delivery company?

No, it's i-parcel. Amazon customer support can't even give me a reason why it can't be delivered. I'll just have to settle for the standard edition.

biggebruv

is this game really hard?

Xenji

biggebruv wrote: »

is this game really hard?

It is a game that requires patience and reasoning, it is only really hard if the player goes gung-ho without thinking about what they are doing.

johnny_ultimate

Finished it last night, and will re-emphasise everything I've already said.

What I adore about Ueda's games are how they explore character growth and relationships through design and mechanics. This is his most assured take on this yet, where everything serves that purpose. From the cautious, patient first steps to the extraordinary feats you barely even need to coax Trico into doing later on, it is a beautifully realised tale. Ico mostly relied on a protector / protectee relationship, but this is something significantly more complex: both characters constantly help, save and cooperate with each other, almost like the best offline co-op game there has ever been.

It's not technically a sequel, but it's an extraordinary follow-up to previous games. It subverts and revisits ideas explored in Ico / SotC and twists them. Take the aforementioned flipping of the Ico relationship, or how you're tasked with now removing weapons from a giant beast rather than violently plunging them into one. It also feels like the artistic and aesthetic evolution of those games' unmistakable visual identity - the decaying world and mysterious architecture realised with scale and depth previous hardware could not allow for. But it's also a dynamic world, one clearly 'designed' but convincingly naturalistic in a way, say, an Uncharted game is not. You navigate it with the sort of giant leaps and bounds befitting a creature as large as Trico. Even the rare cutscenes are directed with uncommon grace and a painterly eye for compositions.

Fair to say I loved this game then :pac: I've often argued Ico is one of the greatest games ever made. The Last Guardian is an improvement and advance in almost every respect, while unfailingly being its own beautiful thing. It embraces a design fluency and subtlety that has only been seen in a handful of games since 2001: as a consequence feeling less like a game out of the past (as some critics & players have contested) and more one from the future. So yeah: it's pretty good.

Generic Dreadhead

It does not look like it is worth the money for me at this current time, hoping to pick it when it's a bit cheaper early next year

monsterhunter

Finished it now... Wow!!! There's not a dry eye in my house!!!

Saw the post credits cutscene too.

Gonzo

have both The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy XV sitting beside me unopened till the 23rd of December so that I can give both games much attention over the Christmas, can't wait to play these games.

BelovedAunt

Generic Dreadhead wrote: »

It does not look like it is worth the money for me at this current time, hoping to pick it when it's a bit cheaper early next year

What would it have to have to be worth the money? A team deathmatch mode?

Generic Dreadhead

BelovedAunt wrote: »

What would it have to have to be worth the money? A team deathmatch mode?

The game does not present good value for money for me

Sorry not all of us have €50 (to €75 in B&M shop) to drop on every game that comes out that tickles our fancy ~10 hours coming up to christmas.

Pickpocket

Generic Dreadhead wrote: »

The game does not present good value for money for me

Sorry not all of us have €50 (to €75 in B&M shop) to drop on every game that comes out that tickles our fancy ~10 hours coming up to christmas.

Are you near a CeX at all? I find it very useful when buying shorter games that you can beat and trade in quite quickly. I purchased The Last Guardian in Argos on Friday for €59.99. Finished it last night and traded it in for €52 (they're offering €58 credit). Of course you need to have a bit of cash flow but it's a good option if (like me) money is tight.

heebusjeebus

Tempted to get this after seeing it got the Easy Allies, Game of the Year.
Might be the perfect game to play over the Christmas break.

Generic Dreadhead

Pickpocket wrote: »

Are you near a CeX at all? I find it very useful when buying shorter games that you can beat and trade in quite quickly. I purchased The Last Guardian in Argos on Friday for €59.99. Finished it last night and traded it in for €52 (they're offering €58 credit). Of course you need to have a bit of cash flow but it's a good option if (like me) money is tight.

Honestly, I'm just not that pushed about the game. I mean it's on my radar, but I'm not hugely fussed. I'll have plenty to keep me busy during the Christmas period, and then after that I'll be moving home so that will be busy.

I'd like to pick it up maybe Feb/March, and I'm sure by then it will be a bit cheaper. Some of my family are getting me games anyway to keep me busy. Nothing to be lost by waiting, and savings to be made

Exclamation Marc

Generic Dreadhead wrote: »

Honestly, I'm just not that pushed about the game. I mean it's on my radar, but I'm not hugely fussed. I'll have plenty to keep me busy during the Christmas period, and then after that I'll be moving home so that will be busy.

I'd like to pick it up maybe Feb/March, and I'm sure by then it will be a bit cheaper. Some of my family are getting me games anyway to keep me busy. Nothing to be lost by waiting, and savings to be made

Well if you've waited this long for its release, a few more months won't kill you

Generic Dreadhead

Manufactured Miracle wrote: »

Well if you've waited this long for its release, a few more months won't kill you

Yeah. Pretty much. Seeing as this thread is nearly 6 years old now :pac:

Retr0gamer

I didn't expect the framerate on a standard PS4 to be so bad in this game but the reviews really don't do it justice. It's absolutely criminal in places.

I actually get the feeling this was a game designed with the PS3 in mind and the PS4 just isn't engineered to handle it. The gorgeous animation AI systems must me really CPU hungry and far better suited to the Cell CPU with it's SPU co-processors to alleviate strain on the CPU. The weak PS4 processor with no SPU's is probably struggling with the AI routines.

Kirby

I commented on the ps4 standard performance on release. It varies in its severity but there are single digit fps parts but mostly its in the teens. Just far too low. The ps4 pro performed a lot better at 1080p mode but the 4k mode is really poor. Frankly I dont think its the cpu constraints....just bad optimization.

I'm still enjoying the game however. Playing it little by little. I'd wager I'm about 2/3 of the way through it now. My main complaint is that the "set pieces" feel epic but the puzzles feel clunky at times. They should have just filled more of the game with the grander sections in my view. It's not a QTE, it just feels great to have you and your companion leap from place to place while everything falls down around you.

Kiith

It's absolutely unacceptable that a game could run at single digits fps. Surely they should have optimised it better, or downgraded the graphics if it is as bad as reported? If it was anyone but Team ICO, they'd be absolutely crucified for it.

I'm going to start it this weekend, and hopefully it's not as bad as reported.

Kirby

Kiith wrote: »

It's absolutely unacceptable that a game could run at single digits fps. Surely they should have optimised it better, or downgraded the graphics if it is as bad as reported? If it was anyone but Team ICO, they'd be absolutely crucified for it.

I'm going to start it this weekend, and hopefully it's not as bad as reported.

Only the "hardcore" care about smoothness and framerates. If a developer has a choice between a prettier game at low fps..... or lower the resolution for a smoother framerate, the majority will go for the former. The publishers want to be able to stick "4k" on the box. Before that it was "1080p HD". "It runs smoothly!" doesn't sell to the public.

Marketing has their checkboxes they want to tick off. Case in point is the upcoming Mass Effect game. Massive push for 4k even though it means 30 fps. They should be using that extra power for the 60 fps. But that doesn't sell consoles and it doesn't sell 4k tv's.

There are exceptions. driving games and fighting games dev's tend to prioritize the frame rate but its a rare thing.

For this team, I don't think its a choice. They are just bad at this aspect of game design. All their games chug.

Retr0gamer

Better frame rates make better games but as Kirby said devs will aim for prettier graphics as those video and screenshots will sell more copies than a smooth 60 fps game. I think in this case the team is just tiny in comparison to the usual big game devs and just didn't have the resources for optimisation. In this case they really needed to pull CPU tasks and put them on the GPU but that was probably a monumental task for a small dev.