Namco Bandai "Proud" of Enslaved, Considering Franchise Potential

[Logan Westbrook]

Namco Bandai "Proud" of Enslaved, Considering Franchise Potential

The publisher says it is looking over what reviewers and the press said about the game, and taking notes for a possible sequel.

Enslaved [http://www.amazon.com/Enslaved-Odyssey-West-Playstation-3/dp/B00319DX4M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296219820&sr=8-1] didn't sell quite as well as Namco Bandai might have hoped, but the publisher says that it's far from finished with the game. Namco Bandai's marketing director, Lee Kirton, says that the publisher is proud of how the game was received [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/8188-Review-Enslaved-Odyssey-to-the-West] by critics, and is considering what to do with the IP going forward.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West - to give the game its full title - told the story of Trip and Monkey, who had to cross an America devastated by war and largely reclaimed by Mother Nature. Trip was trying to get home after she had escaped from slavers, and forced Monkey to tag along as her bodyguard by fitting him with a headband that made him obey her commands and would kill him if she died. Namco Bandai expected [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105090-Enslaved-Made-Namcos-Sales-Worse] the game to sell roughly one million copies, but unfortunately, it fell short of that number by around 20%.

Kirton acknowledged that the game didn't meet Namco Bandai's sales expectations, but said that the publisher was pleased by the positive reception it had received from those who had played it. He said that Namco Bandai was looking at press feedback and reviews for a possible sequel, although he couldn't say how far along that process was. He added that the quality of the work done by developer Ninja Theory - who is now working on a new Devil May Cry game for Capcom - led Namco Bandai to believe that Enslaved would be a great catalogue title in the future.

As someone who thoroughly enjoyed Enslaved, I'm rather pleased to hear that Namco Bandai isn't writing it off as a failure. I'd be more than happy to guide Monkey and Trip through another adventure, if just to watch the relationship between them develop, and hopefully Namco Bandai will be able to convince lots of other people to do the same.

Source: MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/42758/Poor-sales-havent-killed-Enslaved?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+mcvuk/oXMK+(MCV:+games+industry+news)]


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[Mantonio]

Am I the only one who finds the premise of Journey to The West, well, a bit horrifying?

This woman escapes from a slave train, PUTS AN EXPLOSIVE HEADBAND on Monkey, then says "Get me home or you die!" And yet we're supposed to want to protect and feel for this person? And Monkey even ends up HAPPY with this in the end! What the hell?

If a sequel doesn't begin with him tearing off that headband and beating her to death with it, I shall be disappointed.

 

[Impluse_101]

Am I the only one who finds the premise of Journey to The West, well, a bit horrifying?

This woman escapes from a slave train, PUTS AN EXPLOSIVE HEADBAND on Monkey, then says "Get me home or you die!" And yet we're supposed to want to protect and feel for this person? And Monkey even ends up HAPPY with this in the end! What the hell?

If a sequel doesn't begin with him tearing off that headband and beating her to death with it, I shall be disappointed.

Pretty much this.

I see no reason for Monkey to still live even with if he's under her control. Just beat her head in, honestly.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

This game sucks ass and I don't want to see a series come of it, Mantonio has the right idea.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Honestly, it failed as a game. The only good thing about it was the story, and Ninja Theory fucked that up at the end.

The platforming was automated, and the combat was uninspired.

I couldn't get rid of it fast enough after that ending.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

Nothing they do can make up for the shittiest ending of the 2010.

And the pathetically boring platforming.

Honestly, it failed as a game. The only good thing about it was the story, and Ninja Theory fucked that up at the end.

Maybe they'll have learned how to make actual games before the release of their next title. Maybe. Possibly.

...

*sob*

 

[SpaceMedarotterX]

Am I the only one who finds the premise of Journey to The West, well, a bit horrifying?

This woman escapes from a slave train, PUTS AN EXPLOSIVE HEADBAND on Monkey, then says "Get me home or you die!" And yet we're supposed to want to protect and feel for this person? And Monkey even ends up HAPPY with this in the end! What the hell?

If a sequel doesn't begin with him tearing off that headband and beating her to death with it, I shall be disappointed.

That's because the premise of Journey to the West was Sun Wukong being an arrogant prick and being forced to guard Xuanzang as he journeyed to find lost buddhist scrolls, so he could learn HUMILITY and stop all the demons from eating Xuanzang because they believed devouring him would gift them with Enlightenment.

Also every damn adaption seems to forget the Zhu Bajie the Pig Monk and Sha Wujing the Desert dude. In fact you want to know what is a closer adaption of Journey to the West more so than Enslaved was?

Fucking DRAGON BALL in the beginning, it was all about the mindless monkey kid escorting someone on a quest to retrieve magical artifacts and eventually aided by a Pig and a dude who lives in the desert.

Then shit got weird, but that's because it became a long running franchise.

So maybe Namco Bandai needs to learn the lesson of Sun Wukong, stop being so damn proud. Learn humility.

 

[Mantonio]

Am I the only one who finds the premise of Journey to The West, well, a bit horrifying?

This woman escapes from a slave train, PUTS AN EXPLOSIVE HEADBAND on Monkey, then says "Get me home or you die!" And yet we're supposed to want to protect and feel for this person? And Monkey even ends up HAPPY with this in the end! What the hell?

If a sequel doesn't begin with him tearing off that headband and beating her to death with it, I shall be disappointed.

That's because the premise of Journey to the West was Sun Wukong being an arrogant prick and being forced to guard Xuanzang as he journeyed to find lost buddhist scrolls, so he could learn HUMILITY and stop all the demons from eating Xuanzang because they believed devouring him would gift them with Enlightenment.

Also every damn adaption seems to forget the Zhu Bajie the Pig Monk and Sha Wujing the Desert dude. In fact you want to know what is a closer adaption of Journey to the West more so than Enslaved was?

Fucking DRAGON BALL in the beginning, it was all about the mindless monkey kid escorting someone on a quest to retrieve magical artifacts and eventually aided by a Pig and a dude who lives in the desert.

Then shit got weird, but that's because it became a long running franchise.

So maybe Namco Bandai needs to learn the lesson of Sun Wukong, stop being so damn proud. Learn humility.

It may have worked in the original, but that was because Sun Wukong was a prick and he was untouchable. Nobody could get rid of him. In this, the two don't even know each other! And he's a fellow slave, so it's not like he's taken a fall anyway. We don't know if Monkey has done anything wrong at all. The context is completely different so the lesson doesn't make sense.

The original was about teaching the monkey humility. This one seems to teach 'Be happy with being kidnapped and enslaved by a psycho'

 

[bobiroka]

I liked this game and would welcome a sequel. Launching a new IP is a bold move in today's climate and if nothing else I respect Ninja Theory and Namco Bandai for that.

And as the groundswell of hype for Dead Space 2 shows, games that don't meet sales expectations can build a considerable fanbase over time - ready for that inevitably much-improved sequel...

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

The original was about teaching the monkey humility. This one seems to teach 'Be happy with being kidnapped and enslaved by a psycho'

Actually...the lesson is basically "FRIENDSHIP! YAY!"

 

[TriGGeR_HaPPy]

Am I the only one who finds the premise of Journey to The West, well, a bit horrifying?

This woman escapes from a slave train, PUTS AN EXPLOSIVE HEADBAND on Monkey, then says "Get me home or you die!" And yet we're supposed to want to protect and feel for this person? And Monkey even ends up HAPPY with this in the end! What the hell?

If a sequel doesn't begin with him tearing off that headband and beating her to death with it, I shall be disappointed.

That's because the premise of Journey to the West was Sun Wukong being an arrogant prick and being forced to guard Xuanzang as he journeyed to find lost buddhist scrolls, so he could learn HUMILITY and stop all the demons from eating Xuanzang because they believed devouring him would gift them with Enlightenment.

Also every damn adaption seems to forget the Zhu Bajie the Pig Monk and Sha Wujing the Desert dude. In fact you want to know what is a closer adaption of Journey to the West more so than Enslaved was?

Fucking DRAGON BALL in the beginning, it was all about the mindless monkey kid escorting someone on a quest to retrieve magical artifacts and eventually aided by a Pig and a dude who lives in the desert.

Then shit got weird, but that's because it became a long running franchise.

So maybe Namco Bandai needs to learn the lesson of Sun Wukong, stop being so damn proud. Learn humility.

This.
We actually did it as a school play, and we stuck to the original tale as much as possible (including settings, backstory, characters and their actual names, etc.).
And the original tale is definitely different to how it's portrayed in this game, to the point that I never even bought the game upon realising what they've done to an essentially amazing tale.

Instead of a sequel... Maybe they could try doing the story right this time around?

 

[lazinesslord]

Well, when you think of it, the first Assassin's Creed wasn't all that great but number 2 pretty much blew minds. Maybe the same will apply to this.

 

[Ldude893]

As Yahtzee would quote, Enslaved as a game was:

It has absolutely no potential to be spun into a successful franchise that can grab even a glance from me.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Maybe they'll have learned how to make actual games before the release of their next title. Maybe. Possibly.

...

*sob*

DMC is going to suck. Not because of the Dante redesign, but because Ninja Theory focuses too much on story, and has proven themselves merely competent at gameplay. Story has never really been the selling point of DMC...and they'd really need to step up their game to make DMC's gameplay live up to the series.

 

[smeghead25]

Am I the only one who finds the premise of Journey to The West, well, a bit horrifying?

This woman escapes from a slave train, PUTS AN EXPLOSIVE HEADBAND on Monkey, then says "Get me home or you die!" And yet we're supposed to want to protect and feel for this person? And Monkey even ends up HAPPY with this in the end! What the hell?

If a sequel doesn't begin with him tearing off that headband and beating her to death with it, I shall be disappointed.

Idiot.

I'm sorry, really, I am, but the whole point, and the BEST BIT about this game, was the way the relationship DID form. It is no Knight & Day (starring Tom Cruise), it actually does it very believably, and he does make it known that if the headband comes off he'll tear her to shreds. The thing is, if she dies, he dies. So he HAS to protect her in order to live. He is definitely very angry. No, they don't fall in love, but you can see a genuine friendship begin to form as he learns her motivations and begins to feel sympathetic towards her.

 

[Littaly]

Enslaved had a few cool things going for it but didn't really reach all the way with them. It didn't stand out as bad, but it wasn't all that good either.

If they do a sequel the first thing they need to do is fix the bloody platforming. You can't have a game where a significant part of it is based around platforming when there is no way in hell for you to fall down, even if you want to. Seriously, those jumping sections are closer to a glorified cut scene than they are to a game.

 

[teh_Canape]

Am I the only one who finds the premise of Journey to The West, well, a bit horrifying?

This woman escapes from a slave train, PUTS AN EXPLOSIVE HEADBAND on Monkey, then says "Get me home or you die!" And yet we're supposed to want to protect and feel for this person? And Monkey even ends up HAPPY with this in the end! What the hell?

If a sequel doesn't begin with him tearing off that headband and beating her to death with it, I shall be disappointed.

maybe Monkey likes it rough

 

[smeghead25]

Am I the only one who finds the premise of Journey to The West, well, a bit horrifying?

This woman escapes from a slave train, PUTS AN EXPLOSIVE HEADBAND on Monkey, then says "Get me home or you die!" And yet we're supposed to want to protect and feel for this person? And Monkey even ends up HAPPY with this in the end! What the hell?

If a sequel doesn't begin with him tearing off that headband and beating her to death with it, I shall be disappointed.

Pretty much this.

I see no reason for Monkey to still live even with if he's under her control. Just beat her head in, honestly.

Because if he beats her head in, she dies, and the headband EXPLODES.

My God, do people even bother to watch the trailer?

 

[smeghead25]

Enslaved had a few cool things going for it but didn't really reach all the way with them. It didn't stand out as bad, but it wasn't all that good either.

If they do a sequel the first thing they need to do is fix the bloody platforming. You can't have a game where a significant part of it is based around platforming when there is no way in hell for you to fall down, even if you want to. Seriously, those jumping sections are closer to a glorified cut scene than they are to a game.

That was my only problem with the game. I really did like it. But there wasn't any challenge in the platforming. I honestly did enjoy the combat though, just next time it would be nice if they expanded on it a bit more

 

[Lord Beautiful]

Maybe they'll have learned how to make actual games before the release of their next title. Maybe. Possibly.

...

*sob*

DMC is going to suck. Not because of the Dante redesign, but because Ninja Theory focuses too much on story, and has proven themselves merely competent at gameplay. Story has never really been the selling point of DMC...and they'd really need to step up their game to make DMC's gameplay live up to the series.

I'm aware of this. Hell, in spite of how much the redesign and reinterpretation of Dante pisses me off, it's not the deal breaker. If the game does live up to the series standard, or better, exceeds it, I'll buy it. Trouble is, Ninja Theory's design history indicates that their combat system won't even reach the spectacular heights of Devil May Cry 2.