Zero Punctuation: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

[Zay5k]

Imma make a prediction right quick. Based of the game reviewed, next weeks extra punctuation will ether be about game franchise remakes/reboots or about games based off movies(movies based off games)

 

[emradrig]

Yay! Ever since I heard they were going to make a Prince of Persia movie I was wondering how you would react to it and as luck would have it you got to express those thoughts and still be able to review a game at the same time.

 

[Mkvenner]

I vote to press the X button!

 

[SturmDolch]

Guh I couldn't even get through the whole video. I think it's the worst ZP yet. Too much QQ not enough LOLOL.

 

[Waif]

When I first saw Prince of Persia, it looked like a great game to me. Though after dying from a fall no greater in length than the character himself, I began to wonder if this kind of platforming game was for me. I do like platformers, but I don't like dying from incomprehensible and unrealistic physics. It would be like running into a wall from 6 feet away, and then exploding on contact. It just didn't make sense to me at the time, and still doesn't. Though if they have fixed these kinds of things, I might give Prince of Persia a second chance.

 

[leady129]

"They should show video games in theaters" Ah ha. Well Yahtzee, you wont believe it but that's exactly what a small group called "True Cinematic Gaming" are currently doing. You should come check us out. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122545631105252 .

I enjoyed the PoP film. It wasn't revolutionary, but just dumb fun, which sometimes is all I ask of a film. I will however be spending the next few weeks working my way through the Sand of Time trilogy which I picked up yesterday. Might have to sneak the new game in between the first two and pray it doesn't completely muck with the cannon.

 

[Stripe]

Might have to sneak the new game in between the first two and pray it doesn't completely muck with the cannon.

Skip the second one, I keep picking it up and dropping it, the others were all good though.

Spoiler Alert:
I've narrowed down when the medallion gains its power in WW, it's either going back in time, or being bonked on the head that does it, Ima go with he latter.

 

[Squilookle]

If only my xbox hadn't died before I got Sands of Time- I had heard it even bundled the original in there and it was hard to decide which one I wanted to play more.

I noticed recently that Yahtzee was going on about how Red Dead needed a lot more Sim aspects to really suck you in and worry about staying alive, but then in that Monster Hunter Tri write up he explained that most of us have lives to get on with and it should quit with all the faffing about and wasting your time.

Geez Yahtzee, make up your mind- which one is it?

 

[romxxii]

When I first saw Prince of Persia, it looked like a great game to me. Though after dying from a fall no greater in length than the character himself, I began to wonder if this kind of platforming game was for me. I do like platformers, but I don't like dying from incomprehensible and unrealistic physics. It would be like running into a wall from 6 feet away, and then exploding on contact. It just didn't make sense to me at the time, and still doesn't. Though if they have fixed these kinds of things, I might give Prince of Persia a second chance.

Uhh, which Prince of Persia are you talking about exactly? Because those two things you mentioned above never happened in the original, the sequel, and the Sands of Time Trilogy, all of which I've finished several times. Perhaps it's from POP3D? Never did play that, so I wouldn't know. I've seen game footage of Forgotten Sands as well, and neither of those two events ever happened in that game.

 

[Vohn_exel]

I actually thought that would be a good idea for some kind of interactive movie. Make something where the audience votes on what happens at the end somehow, and they get an alternate ending. Making it a really good movie and people would come back to see the other ending. Only they'd probably be unlucky and never get it

 

[azukar]

Where Yahtzee made reference to Jake Whatshisface not exactly looking like a swarthy Arabian man, it reminded me that in the original Prince of Persia, the protagonist was a foreigner - a white guy with blonde hair (dressed in pyjamas!)

So yeah, maybe the casting director was trying to make a reference to Jordan Mechna's original work. But I doubt it.

 

[Woodsey]

Wow. That reference to Les Miserables caught me COMPLETELY off-guard. That was almost scarily cultured.

Which I presume you're not if you missed his references to many great Authors throughout his videos; Even once, if I recall correctly, referencing Proust...

1) The game is set very close to the end of SoT - you don't go through an experience where you are in constant reliance on someone else, who then can't remember you because that didn't technically happen and then go "alright, she's probably the one that got away - better luck next time!"

2) Oh right, and where's the dagger in Warrior Within? Hmmm... I do wonder what he could have used to reverse time in Warrior Within...

Why, I do believe it was Farah's medallion which he acquired towards the end of SoT.

1) I didn't say she was the one that got away, I said that she(through no fault of her own) broke his heart, which people actually get over VERY fast IRL, so the fact he was not whining and writing poetry is because he's not a complete toss and the writers decided against going into the American concept of love. And anyways, from India to Persia probably took a year on its own, let alone the time between getting home and the trip to Malik's kingdom

2) Well I have to admit, the start of WW felt so crappy I thought I'd leave it 'til I ran out of better games, and in TT you have the dagger again, so you could be right, or you could remember that in SoT the ***** steals your dagger and sword and leaves you her amulet and yet you're stuck without powers... it appears that in SoT it had no powers... therefore that was a plot-hole in WW which has now been filled by FS!

I think we're going to have to disagree on point 1. To me, such a major life-changing event that then develops the feelings for both of them would not be an easy thing to get over when she can't remember.

It's not like she changed her mind but could still change it back - it never happened for her. That's a lot more hurt/pain/whatever than a normal break up.

As for point 2, your timing is fair I guess. Although that's still not an overly long amount of time, and when they meet again in TT (which is what, 8 years later I think?) the Prince is clearly still infatuated.

Also, I'd argue that neither the Prince nor Farah knew about the medallion's powers - that's why the Prince didn't use it, because Farah didn't/couldn't. Either that, or Farah did know and she left it hoping he would be able to use it when following her; I guess that's open to interpretation.

After our estimated year in between SoT and TFS I would have thought he might have figured things out. To be honest, I think the developers made a shoddy mistake. There was something in one of the dev diaries about rewinding time, and none of them mentioned the medallion. I'm pretty sure they actually just forgot about it.

 

[Video Gone]

Didn't know Yahtzee hated films.

He doesn't, as you can see from some posts on FullyRamblomatic and even ZPs past, it was just a well-placed jab at an asshole.
I mean seriously, Ebert's opinion was basically "games can never be art because people are allowed near them. Filthy strangers. GIT AWF MAAH LAAWN, YOU DURN KEH-UDS!"
Yeah, I distilled it, but basically, that is the most cynical thing I have ever heard. I mean seriously, just because something is interactive doesn't mean it's not art.
To this effect, ladies and gentlemen, Jerry Holkins with art by Mike Krahulik:

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

How often do you see character developement in games? It's important to any plot, but I never see it that much.

The main problem was that the Prince developed massively over the course of SoT - and in this they virtually wipe that clean and set him to how he was before.

The prince remembered everything, He didn't change to the way he was before. He could have allowed them to ransack the castle "For riches and glory" like when he first stole the dagger, but he deterred his father's army. He wasn't as cold and cynical as he was before.

The reason he's an emo-asshole in Warrior Within is due to the Dahaka cahsing him for so long

He was never cold at the start of SoT, or particularly cynical. He was brash, full of pride and sarcastic. Basically, a teenage guy. When did I say he didn't remember anything?

Over the course of it he matured greatly, and he fell in love with Farah - something which should be visibly affecting him in this game. Even if they run with the idea that he's locked it up and ignoring it, there still needs to be cracks of it showing through. Christ, the pain of it should be ready to rip him apart!

Instead the Prince is a lot closer to himself in SoT during the earlier levels, albeit a little less arrogant. The fact that he doesn't change at all means that there's nothing much to like about him in this game though.

Again, his split from Farah that he had no control over (she was either dead if he didn't rewind with the hourglass, or she forgot who he was if he did) should be a major player in why he's got permanent sand in his vagina in WW, along with being hounded by the Dahaka.

I'm nto sure about how much Farah would affect him. You can see at the end of SoT that he's broken heart when he walks away, but I'm not sure how long after WW is. It looks likes he's aged a bit. But while me matures greatly, I think he simply understands that he cannot have her. Hell, I've had girls that while we've liked each other imensely, we could be together (She was Mohawk native, and if a woman ends up marrying a white man, they basically lose their native rights and can't even live on native land). We saw each other many times after we realized nothign could come of it and while we were sad, there was an understanding and we didn't let it chafe us. It hit him more in Two Thrones when he saw her again after so long and his feelings came back for her. While the Dahaka was chasing him, he was set completely in survival mode.

Atleast that was the story line's reasons for him being so dark

 

[Gridlock]

So when will we get this years Zero Punctuation E3 Hype?

 

[AvsJoe]

Did... did anyone else hear crows? A squawking in the background? I couldn't pay attention to the video because I was too busy thinking that I've become the main character from The Dark Half.

 

[PeterDawson]

Nice rip into Roger Ebert, but I am sick of the Final Fantasy XIII jokes. It's a game. The quality is debatable it it is still a game.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

Hmmmm. I have that issue of FHM.

Can you tell me the issue number? That babe on the cover is just delicious

January 2007 its quite old.