Zero Punctuation: Lords of the Fallen - Imitation is Flattery?

Yahtzee Croshaw

New member
Aug 8, 2007
11,049
0
0
Lords of the Fallen - Imitation is Flattery?

This week, Zero Punctuation reviews Lords of the Fallen.

Watch Video
 

Rainboq

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2009
16,620
0
41
I'm still waiting for the day that the visual designers get it out of there heads that more is better, like that one girl who really doesn't know what they're doing using makeup by the liter.
 

Evonisia

Your sinner, in secret
Jun 24, 2013
3,257
0
0
If they keep trying perhaps we'll get a good Dark Souls knock-off, though. Then that brings up the fight of Unique versus Good that very rarely has middle ground (Mirror's Edge 2 could be both if it turns out to be a massive step up from the unfortunate predecessor).

As for this game, it didn't interest on first viewing, it doesn't interest me now further, especially because I'm playing through Dark Souls 1 and 2 and I'm getting the impression that they just aren't for me.
 

Pescetarian

New member
Jul 6, 2010
119
0
0
Silentpony said:
What?! No song?! Yatzhee, I am disappoint.
I think that was just a one time thing, sadly. Since Uncivil War is over, it would be nice to have a little couplet at the end of every review to expand on a certain aspect of the game he thinks is noteworthy.
 

Erttheking

Member
Legacy
Oct 5, 2011
10,845
1
3
Country
United States
Oh so that's what this game was about. Hard to tell when the box art is just a grizzled man staring at me.

Sounds boring.
 

Thanatos2k

New member
Aug 12, 2013
820
0
0
The laughable thing is the devs have claimed that they weren't modeling their game after the Souls series, when it's plainly obvious they did, and did so intentionally.
 

gorfias

Unrealistic but happy
Legacy
May 13, 2009
7,084
1,849
118
Country
USA
Yikes. Dark Souls = hard. So is this. Let me know when G-d Mode cheats available for free!
 

Sniper Team 4

New member
Apr 28, 2010
5,433
0
0
Nailed this game spot on, Yahtzee. I own it, got the platinum and all that, and a few of my friends have asked me what it's like. I just tell them, "Like Dark Souls, but." "But what?" "Just...play the game. You'll see." And then I loan it to them and they see what I mean.

The art style is all spikes and 'edgy'.
The story tries to be mystic, but just ends up completely missing the point.
And thank you for mentioning that opening movie. I still don't get what that whole scene was about, seeing as the game takes place years earlier.

The best way I can describe this game is Dark Souls if it was designed by a U.S. company. None of the subtlety, all of the "Grr! You're AWESOME!"
 

Fat Hippo

Prepare to be Gnomed
Legacy
May 29, 2009
1,991
57
33
Gender
Gnomekin
Shhhhhm Yahtzee, you're supposed to be enthusiastic about things, didn't you get the memo?

Snark aside, I'm not surprised to hear this is dull and uninspired. I was getting that impression since the first gameplay video I saw. I really hope "massive shoulder pauldron" fantasy aesthetic popularized by Blizzard goes off and dies as soon as possible.

Oh wait, that was still snark, just a different target. Oh well.
 

Warachia

New member
Aug 11, 2009
1,116
0
0
Dark Souls wasn't really unique either though, the combat was taken from Monster Hunter and nearly everything else from random folklore.

I will say that I thought it fixed a number of the bullshit things in the Souls series (like not having some planks that you can walk on and some you can't with no visual indication of which is which), but I can also agree it's too short.
 

garjian

New member
Mar 25, 2009
1,013
0
0
Gorfias said:
Yikes. Dark Souls = hard. So is this. Let me know when G-d Mode cheats available for free!
The classes are basically the difficulty settings for this game, as far as I'm aware and at release at least.

Jim Sterling was playing a Cleric on his stream when the game came out. They have Slow Time, which is bad enough, but also a healing spell... and mana regenerates very quickly in Lords. Jim isn't the best of Souls players but even so, the only thing we saw him die to was gravity. He never even had to use the potions, and therefore, if anything difficult did turn up, he always had a full stock.

If you're looking for a god mode, Cleric is it.
 

Groenteman

New member
Mar 30, 2011
120
0
0
I judged this book by its cover and it seems I was spot on!

It's the American movie remake for video games. Watered down and missing the point by a landslide.

That's not to say nothing good comes out of the new world of course, only that the remakes that something good and unique from another country and cut it down to fit Hollywood doctrine until it's just a hollowed out caricature of it's former self, are... shit. Very shit indeed. Dun do it.
 

Kerethos

New member
Jun 19, 2013
250
0
0
I won't lie, I rather liked the armor designs I've seen from this game. I'm a sucker for all the moving details.

But I imagine if everything is equally detailed and over designed it will all end up looking too similar to remain interesting for long. After all it's the variety in armor design (from practical to outright silly) that's part of the Souls games identity - something for almost everyone.
 

Veylon

New member
Aug 15, 2008
1,626
0
0
This seems like of those settings (or Dark Souls's setting, anyway) where Yahtzee's reverse leveling idea would make sense. You go around and seal up these areas by giving up your powers. You might start out being able to crush flaming-skull armor-man, but half-way through the game he's a formidable enemy and near the end you are better off sneaking around. And what better way to convey the crumbling, decaying nature of the world by putting it where it directly affects the player?
 

Ishal

New member
Oct 30, 2012
1,177
0
0
Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Still, I like it, and I like even more the attitude the game devs took in marketing it and getting it out there. They gave some copies to the streamers and LPers in the Dark Souls community and were very open about everything. It's refreshing, honestly. They know what they're making, and they know who it's for. They aren't trying to make some AAA next big thing, they just wanted to make a mid-tier game with a mid-tier budget in the spirit of a game they liked. I can't see anything wrong with that.

Sure, it could be said that there's something to being so cozy in another game's shadow. Not very ambitious. True, but with all the overhyped crap that's been around lately, I'm starting to think being a bit more low key with your goals isn't all that bad.

Lot's of Souls fans dislike the Diablo 3/WoW art style with the spiked pauldrons. Me? I don't mind. Souls games have some pretty strange armor, too. Just in a more conservative aesthetic, I suppose.
 

Kurt Cristal

New member
Mar 31, 2010
438
0
0
Was hoping for a review of Gat out of Hell, but considering its brevity maybe you can rope it in with a double feature after the inevitable review of Dying Light? Maybe Life is Strange? That's a unique game based on existing ideas!
 

Arthain

New member
Jul 26, 2012
7
0
0
So what I get from this is that he liked the game, kind of? I mean, he didn't say it was absolute garbage, just that it tried too hard to imitate something that was far better than it.

I wonder if Yahtzee would ever review one of those niche Japanese titles that were ported to english, such as, say, Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory. I love that game but boy, they really are a niche title, and for good reason.
 

Zendariel

New member
May 15, 2012
64
0
0
It is a shame they don't have a demo available. Especially when the game is so notorious for continuously crashing to desktop on some computers. It really sounds like a gamble to buy it even now few months after release. I would really want to try it but as it stands i'll probably wait for it to drop to around 10? or something.
 

Darth_Payn

New member
Aug 5, 2009
2,868
0
0
Kurt Cristal said:
Was hoping for a review of Gat out of Hell, but considering its brevity maybe you can rope it in with a double feature after the inevitable review of Dying Light? Maybe Life is Strange? That's a unique game based on existing ideas!
Yahtzee likes to do double features about games that have something in common, so Saint's Row: Gat out of Hell would have to be paired with something like it. Then again, if GooH is a DLC add-on, then don't hold your breath. He's not a fan of DLC. I keep waiting for him to give his take on Assassin's Creed rogue, since it has all the sailing he like from Black Flag, it turns the basic premise of the AC story upside-down, and he could try the Irish accent of the main character.