The Surge (May 16)

[Kerg3927]

Anyone else looking forward to this? I recently spent about 9 months playing and replaying the Dark Souls trilogy games, before finally getting my fill. The difficulty spike compared to most other RPG's was truly refreshing. And the adrenaline rush was like crack. I'm excited to try a Souls-like game in a different setting (sci-fi).

Thoughts?

Escapist Preview [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/previews/16795-The-Surge-is-Lords-of-the-Fallen-Devs-New-Sci-Fi-Action-RPG#&gid=gallery_5886&pid=1]

Trailer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vatCv-kM1So]

 

[stroopwafel]

The preview don't look so great to be honest and this is by the same studio who also made Lords of the Fallen which was also pretty shite.

 

[RaikuFA]

The preview don't look so great to be honest and this is by the same studio who also made Lords of the Fallen which was also pretty shite.

Yeah I was excited but then I heard it was made by those guys. Let's hope they learned their lessons.

 

[Imre Csete]

The concept looks/sounds cool, although we haven't seen much. I'm waiting for let's plays and more gameplay vids. Definetly not a day 1 buy, but I'll keep tabs on it.

 

[Zhukov]

Cool idea, but looks a bit shite to me.

Graphics look ugly and lacking any distinctive style or aesthetic.

Melee combat lacks a sense of impact.

The few scraps of story and dialogue I've seen were enough to convince me it will be standard video game shit in that department.

The preview don't look so great to be honest and this is by the same studio who also made Lords of the Fallen which was also pretty shite.

Wait, really?

Two attempts in a row to rip off Dark Souls. That's dedication!

 

[stroopwafel]

Wait, really?

Two attempts in a row to rip off Dark Souls. That's dedication!

For real, you can't say it's for lack of trying.

 

[Kerg3927]

Two attempts in a row to rip off Dark Souls. That's dedication!

I haven't played LotF, but from what I can tell, the studio is very open about its Souls influence. They pay homage.

With seemingly every RPG moving toward MMO-style huge open world timewaster fetch quest fests, with zero challenge, the Souls-like games offer a refreshing alternative. FromSoftware arguably created a whole new genre, and you can't expect just one studio to continue to have a monopoly on an entire genre.

So I say more the merrier. I hope more companies start making games of this type.

 

[Zhukov]

Two attempts in a row to rip off Dark Souls. That's dedication!

I haven't played LotF, but from what I can tell, the studio is very open about its Souls influence. They pay homage.

With seemingly every RPG moving toward MMO-style huge open world timewaster fetch quest fests, with zero challenge, the Souls-like games offer a refreshing alternative. FromSoftware arguably created a whole new genre, and you can't expect just one studio to continue to have a monopoly on an entire genre.

So I say more the merrier. I hope more companies start making games of this type.

Ehhh.

Y'know, despite my determined dislike of Dark Souls, I do actually like some aspects of its design. I like the combination of exploration and danger and I like the death system (as in, losing unspent resources on death but getting a shot at recovering them). So I'm not entirely against the wider influence of the series. There are a couple of upcoming games that I'm looking forward to that openly draw from Dark Souls.

That isn't going to stop me from rolling my eyes at a studio without any higher ambition than producing inferior imitations.

Also, be careful what you wish for. I remember when people were crying out for open world games. "Linearity sucks! Give us more freedom!" Now look where we are.

 

[darkrage6]

I'm looking forward to it, i'm not really a Souls fan, but this game looks interesting enough that i'm willing to give it a try.

 

[darkrage6]

Two attempts in a row to rip off Dark Souls. That's dedication!

I haven't played LotF, but from what I can tell, the studio is very open about its Souls influence. They pay homage.

With seemingly every RPG moving toward MMO-style huge open world timewaster fetch quest fests, with zero challenge, the Souls-like games offer a refreshing alternative. FromSoftware arguably created a whole new genre, and you can't expect just one studio to continue to have a monopoly on an entire genre.

So I say more the merrier. I hope more companies start making games of this type.

Ehhh.

Y'know, despite my determined dislike of Dark Souls, I do actually like some aspects of its design. I like the combination of exploration and danger and I like the death system (as in, losing unspent resources on death but getting a shot at recovering them). So I'm not entirely against the wider influence of the series. There are a couple of upcoming games that I'm looking forward to that openly draw from Dark Souls.

That isn't going to stop me from rolling my eyes at a studio without any higher ambition than producing inferior imitations.

Also, be careful what you wish for. I remember when people were crying out for open world games. "Linearity sucks! Give us more freedom!" Now look where we are.

Personally I love open-world games and am not the least bit tired of them.

 

[Kerg3927]

Also, be careful what you wish for. I remember when people were crying out for open world games. "Linearity sucks! Give us more freedom!" Now look where we are.

Word. That wasn't me, though. I hate massive open world. I need some confinement to protect me from my OCD completionist tendencies, otherwise I get bored slogging through all the tedious side quests.

I thought the Souls games did a great job of giving you room for exploration while also keeping things confined and within reason. I hope the Surge has a similar world design.

I'm glad there is finally a backlash forming to the massive open world madness. It seemed like just a year or two ago, if someone complained about a game world being too big, they'd get tarred and feathered and run out of the forum on a rail.

Personally I love open-world games and am not the least bit tired of them.

And you're not alone. They are obviously very popular. But not every game needs to be massive open world. It was getting ridiculous, where seemingly every developer felt like they needed to go in that direction.

But I think story-driven RPG's in particular benefit greatly from confinement and a measure of linearity, to keep the story urgent and on track.

 

[Souplex]

Just wishing for a Dark Souls clone in a 40K universe.

...Why would you do that?
Dark Souls is my baby. Don't shit on Dark Souls with 40K.
Would you take a shit on someone's baby? What's wrong with you!?

 

[darkrage6]

Also, be careful what you wish for. I remember when people were crying out for open world games. "Linearity sucks! Give us more freedom!" Now look where we are.

Word. That wasn't me, though. I hate massive open world. I need some confinement to protect me from my OCD completionist tendencies, otherwise I get bored slogging through all the tedious side quests.

I thought the Souls games did a great job of giving you room for exploration while also keeping things confined and within reason. I hope the Surge has a similar world design.

I'm glad there is finally a backlash forming to the massive open world madness. It seemed like just a year or two ago, if someone complained about a game world being too big, they'd get tarred and feathered and run out of the forum on a rail.

Personally I love open-world games and am not the least bit tired of them.

And you're not alone. They are obviously very popular. But not every game needs to be massive open world. It was getting ridiculous, where seemingly every developer felt like they needed to go in that direction.

But I think story-driven RPG's in particular benefit greatly from confinement and a measure of linearity, to keep the story urgent and on track.

Clearly there isn't that big of a backlash, otherwise Ghost Recon Wildlands wouldn't be the best selling game of the year so far and Horizon Zero Dawn wouldn't have been the critical and commercial darling it is now:http://www.dualshockers.com/uks-best-selling-games-retail-q1-2017-ghost-recon-wildlands-no-1-horizon-zero-dawn-no-3/

 

[Kerg3927]

Also, be careful what you wish for. I remember when people were crying out for open world games. "Linearity sucks! Give us more freedom!" Now look where we are.

Word. That wasn't me, though. I hate massive open world. I need some confinement to protect me from my OCD completionist tendencies, otherwise I get bored slogging through all the tedious side quests.

I thought the Souls games did a great job of giving you room for exploration while also keeping things confined and within reason. I hope the Surge has a similar world design.

I'm glad there is finally a backlash forming to the massive open world madness. It seemed like just a year or two ago, if someone complained about a game world being too big, they'd get tarred and feathered and run out of the forum on a rail.

Personally I love open-world games and am not the least bit tired of them.

And you're not alone. They are obviously very popular. But not every game needs to be massive open world. It was getting ridiculous, where seemingly every developer felt like they needed to go in that direction.

But I think story-driven RPG's in particular benefit greatly from confinement and a measure of linearity, to keep the story urgent and on track.

Clearly there isn't that big of a backlash, otherwise Ghost Recon Wildlands wouldn't be the best selling game of the year so far and Horizon Zero Dawn wouldn't have been the critical and commercial darling it is now:http://www.dualshockers.com/uks-best-selling-games-retail-q1-2017-ghost-recon-wildlands-no-1-horizon-zero-dawn-no-3/

Like I said, they're obviously popular. The backlash I've seen is mainly on gaming forums, which is probably only the most hard core (and literate) 5% of gamers. But it's a start. For example...

LINK [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1371804]

I don't think you would have seen a discussion like that 2-3 years ago, with people actually acknowledging that there are both pros and cons to a massive open world format and that bigger is not always better. As I said, it's a start. Hopefully it will trickle down to the rest of the market base and result in more variety in games.

I think it's human nature to be enamored with bigger and prettier, but once that wow factor wears off, for many gamers, there has to be more than just a long list of fetch quests in your log and a map with a thousand markers on it for it to be a great game, otherwise you might as well just be playing WoW solo and killing time grinding daily quests for reputation rewards.

 

[darkrage6]

Also, be careful what you wish for. I remember when people were crying out for open world games. "Linearity sucks! Give us more freedom!" Now look where we are.

Word. That wasn't me, though. I hate massive open world. I need some confinement to protect me from my OCD completionist tendencies, otherwise I get bored slogging through all the tedious side quests.

I thought the Souls games did a great job of giving you room for exploration while also keeping things confined and within reason. I hope the Surge has a similar world design.

I'm glad there is finally a backlash forming to the massive open world madness. It seemed like just a year or two ago, if someone complained about a game world being too big, they'd get tarred and feathered and run out of the forum on a rail.

Personally I love open-world games and am not the least bit tired of them.

And you're not alone. They are obviously very popular. But not every game needs to be massive open world. It was getting ridiculous, where seemingly every developer felt like they needed to go in that direction.

But I think story-driven RPG's in particular benefit greatly from confinement and a measure of linearity, to keep the story urgent and on track.

Clearly there isn't that big of a backlash, otherwise Ghost Recon Wildlands wouldn't be the best selling game of the year so far and Horizon Zero Dawn wouldn't have been the critical and commercial darling it is now:http://www.dualshockers.com/uks-best-selling-games-retail-q1-2017-ghost-recon-wildlands-no-1-horizon-zero-dawn-no-3/

Like I said, they're obviously popular. The backlash I've seen is mainly on gaming forums, which is probably only the most hard core (and literate) 5% of gamers. But it's a start. For example...

LINK [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1371804]

I don't think you would have seen a discussion like that 2-3 years ago, with people actually acknowledging that there are both pros and cons to a massive open world format and that bigger is not always better. As I said, it's a start. Hopefully it will trickle down to the rest of the market base and result in more variety in games.

I think it's human nature to be enamored with bigger and prettier, but once that wow factor wears off, for many gamers, there has to be more than just a long list of fetch quests in your log and a map with a thousand markers on it for it to be a great game, otherwise you might as well just be playing WoW solo and killing time grinding daily quests for reputation rewards.

I actually remember their being a "too many open-world" games discussion back in around 2010, as I distinctly remember Yahtzee back then lamenting how seemingly every game was a sandbox.

Personally I don't think gaming forums too seriously, i've seen people complaining about sandbox games for years, this is isn't anything I have not seen before.

I've never been a WoW fan, primarily because i'm not into fantasy RPGs or MMOs for the most part(with some exceptions like Defiance and The Division).

For me the wow factor is never going to wear off open-world games, there's plenty of variety now, I think people are really exaggerating about sandbox games.

 

[Imre Csete]

Found a going in blind let's play about the first hour + boss fight. Seems pretty much what I expected, although sadly the video doesn't get into the crafting/slicing body parts for loot part that much, which I'm interested in the most.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Just wishing for a Dark Souls clone in a 40K universe.

...Why would you do that?
Dark Souls is my baby. Don't shit on Dark Souls with 40K.
Would you take a shit on someone's baby? What's wrong with you!?

I like both universes, and honestly, the potential for a good merger of the two concepts is mind blowing.

There are already a ton of relics of all races that have special powers, and more ready to be made. Not to mention getting gear from Primarchs or Daemon Princes, or really end level gear.

From Necrons to 'Nids to Orks to Daemons to Chaos Marines to Sisters of Battle to IG to Tau to SM to GK to Eldars (will NOT use the new term) both regular and Dark to freaking Jokaeros and Squats and old AI.

Planets upon Planets to explore. The Warp. Space Hulks.

The sheer number of classes times the amount of differences between groups in a race. A Black Templars sword brethen would wipe the floor with a Salamander in melee fighting... save for the fact that they are usually stronger than other space marines with all nearly sporting artifact armor and flamers.

So. many. chances. for. abilities. Tau tech, Sisters of Battle's faith, Warp Powers, Power Armor upgrades and updates in their implants and bionics...

Games Workshop is throwing money away every month they haven't scooped up talent from From Software and started this in earnest.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

The only problem I have is what race will the player be, regular human/abhuman/Eldar/Tau is probably the best but you miss a lot of cool weapons. Space Marines can use pretty much everything they steal (*cough*Blood Ravens*cough*) but are already start OP which misses a lot of the atmosphere.

I think it would be smart to limit it to the intelligent races that uses tools and can handle a one on one fight with a good part of other races. But that doesn't mean you limit the other races as enemies.

Say you run into a SM chapter that was driven mad by Khorne, attacking everyone they see. Space Marines would see putting down a Chapter like that as the Emperor's Mercy. Chaos wouldn't care either way who they kill. Stuff like that.

If I had to do a start, I'd say the SM, CSM, Eldar, and the Orks. Maybe three classes per race.

Say, SM has the Assault, the Tactical and the Terminators. Such as the "Assaults" are the only one from the Space Marines who can dual wield, who can use shields, and who can use jetpacks. "Tacticals" can have weaponized servo-skulls or Servitors (like the pet class of the Space Marines). "Terminators" simply are slower than the rest, but have the heaviest weapons.

And from each class, of course you can get specializations. Such as Choosing if they are going to be Deathwatch, GK, or Apothecaries. Apothecaries who can heal and place buffs (let alone make poisons and other DoTs), Deathwatch who can debuff enemies and has traits to raise his critical hit chances, or Grey knights who can use psyker skills but with a fear that if he uses it too much, he can open rifts of daemons that will instantly come and attack the GK and his party.


But to your OP point, remember how deep the Warhammer 40k well goes. We're talking about a universe that has Star Gods that caused every sentient being to know fear of death just by existing. I think an fledging Eldar Striking Scorpion can find a challenge or two.

Just the sheer amount of skills and loot is making me drool. Why isn't this being developed?

 

[Kerg3927]

Found a going in blind let's play about the first hour + boss fight. Seems pretty much what I expected, although sadly the video doesn't get into the crafting/slicing body parts for loot part that much, which I'm interested in the most.

The crafting system sounds fun.

 

[Terminal Blue]

On one hand, the concept is cool and I seem to be one of the minority of souls fans who doesn't fixate over an extremely restrictive idea of how souls games should play, so I suspect I'll enjoy it.

On the other hand.. lords of the shield bash..