The Order 1886, anyone played this? Thoughts?

[duffmanth]

I bought this game launch day, although I did so with some hesitation because of the mixed reviews. I'm glad I bought it though, it's been a great game so far. The most common complaints I kept reading in the reviews were the short length of the game, the linear gameplay, too many long cut scenes, the quicktime events (think Heavy Rain), the lack of co-op/multiplayer, and the pacing of the game. The graphics, story, and the overall atmosphere/environment got high praise though. I'm more than half way through the game, and the graphics/atmosphere are stunning, the cut scenes aren't as long as people make them out to be, the quicktime events are pretty cool, good story to with great voice acting, and the few fight scenes there are with the half breeds/werewolves are pretty crazy. The only complaints I have about the game are the waves of generic enemies you have to go through, the shooting mechanics are a little off, and you can only run and/or draw your weapon when you're about to enter a fight scene. I suspect the people that are bitching and complaining about the cut scenes and quicktime events are COD and Battlefront guys with the attention span of a hummingbird?! If you're looking for a mindless shooter, The Order isn't for you, if you're looking for something a little different, it's a great game. Anyone else played it? Thoughts?

[Tanooki]

Ok so what you're saying is that the media are shills and they only pander to the lowest common denominator yet again. I remember Wolfenstein New Order getting crapped on too and it got the same cheap digs. Shorter game, linear, no co-op or any multiplayer at all, lots of story moments to drive it along and the characters.

Boo f'n hoo eh? Seems to me they just want to pander to the Call of Dookie group who have a garbage campaign and care really only about blowing out the multiplayer and added paid extras to keep that going until the yearly whitewash appears yet again.

the Order was a big question to me with the whining but the more I see from actual consumers is that the reviews from the big trendy sites are lies and pandering to the fools who just do shooters to shoot other people not for the fun of the campaign and the story. If that's the problem with The Order, I wish more games were broken 5's instead of sucked up to 9s and 10s. I don't have the money at the moment but if I could find it lying around for $30-40 shortly, and I suspect I might due to these baseless smears from the reviewers I'll have it in due time.

[sfchakan]

Interview with a "Ready at Dawn" developer

I don't care about the length, personally. I rarely buy games at release anymore. I've got more than enough to play as is without tossing out the $20-50 difference I'd save by waiting a year or two.

the Order was a big question to me with the whining but the more I see from actual consumers is that the reviews from the big trendy sites are lies and pandering to the fools who just do shooters to shoot other people not for the fun of the campaign and the story.

Wut?

[Tupin]

There's this.

3 hrs of gameplay that's at 30 fps and not even 1080p. In 2015. For $60.

All the people praising it with "I don't have time for long games" confuse me.

[duffmanth]

I just finished the game and it's one of the best games I've ever played. I don't understand all of the negativity?! The people that are bitching about the length are probably going through the game as fast as they can without exploring the world. Too much fucking knit picking going on in the reviews.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

I'm only on chapter 5 maybe 6 I think? It's a good game, graphics like everyone else seems to agree on are probably the best looking on any console right now, some of the weapons like the thermite gun are ingenious and totally fit the whole Victorian/steampunk aesthetic.

However my main complaint and one that I don't believe I've seen being mentioned yet is impact of bullets. The gunplay while not quite living up to Titans like mass effect and gears of war is competent enough, but the damage I put out with bullets carry no weight. It doesn't feel satisfying to me. Like there isn't enough response or feedback. When I shoot someone they don't seem to recoil or in anyway give an indication that they've been shot. There isn't some cue in the sound or rumble in the controller that would signify I've got a clean hit. Many times I'll kill someone and keep shooting not realizing he's basically dead because the dude is locked in some death animation before he keels over and isn't reacting to my bullets at all.

Killzone I feel did this best, you always know when you're hitting someone,it's deeply satisfying seeing a helghast reeling back and forth, whole body jerking in sync to my gunfire, bullet sounds changing as well, easily distinguishable from hitting or missing anything else, bullets make a certain sound when connect.

Anyway back to what the order does right, it has great atmosphere, really good voice acting and the plot so far seems interesting if not a bit cliched but wtf isn't cliche these days. I wish exploring was more rewarding and there was more actual lore present within the game. You do get a taste with newspapers you occasionally find scattered around but honestly I don't even read them anymore, text is to small and the articles seem boring and long winded.

Is this game a must own? Probably not but it's certainly worth playing and a good choice for a rental if I ever saw one. 40 seems a more reasonable price so far but again im not finished playing so that could change depending on how the game plays out. I don't know where the fuck these game sites are justifying 5's and 6's tho. I don't really remember the order overhyping like destiny and titanfall did so expectations should be more manageable. This game is a 6.5 at its lowest if you're feeling burnt out in the shooter genre and at least a solid 7 to maybe 8 for everyone else. 8 would probably be the limit of what it deserves based on what I've seen so far, but giving this a 5 or 6 is absurd when you consider some of the fucking turds out there with near 80 and 90 metacritic scores from much larger publishers and developers that didn't come anywhere close to living up to the hype and either sucked or were flat out broken at launch but got a pass. (looking at you evolve and destiny)

The order just works day 1. No real glitches, good gameplay overall, a new setting that doesn't have us killing Russians or brown people. Excellent voice acting and art direction, cool interesting weapons, guess it's not enough to live up the greatness that is watchdogs or wateva overhyped garbage is next to pay off these review sites

[LaughingMAN.S9]

3 hrs of gameplay that's at 30 fps and not even 1080p. In 2015. For $60.

All the people praising it with "I don't have time for long games" confuse me.

It's not 1080p? Could have fooled me, game looks beautiful

[dinolazer]

Personally I never rush through games. Why hurry? I guess it is my roots in those 8- and 16-bit era games that taught me to explore, finding secrets, unlocking alternate endings, or simply taking in every nook and cranny of those game environments.

I never look at those 3 or 8 hour game reviews and believe that is the time I will spend with a game. Also, am I buying the latest game every week? Do I just sell a game as soon as I've gone through it once? My advise to kids is to slow down, play an old game, or work on another hobby if you completed the latest $60 game in a week.

[kupomogli]

Ok so what you're saying is that the media are shills and they only pander to the lowest common denominator yet again.

I've always been sure the media has been in collusion with one another. Hype and anti hype is really what dictates the scores of the gaming media because they're not legitimately reviewing the titles, they're giving scores based on what people want to see.

[Tanooki]

That's a good aside to what I said for sure. Hype and anti-hype. It's not about scoring but how much readership you can gin up from going with the group or throwing a curveball to draw in people who will protest and a few that will agree. Reviews are not really legit as much as a hype-o-meter. I find when you get into second tier stuff, you know your pushsquare, nintendolife, NWR, and the like I find they'll write some stuff different than the high tier big money backed sites, but they also will have some overlap. The overlap I think is where they just can't lie their way out of an issue or something with a game to maintain some semblance of surface credibility, but it's when you get into reviews that dig into the game more on the second tier and under (or private ownership) review places is when you get the real answer you seek. It's not hard to dig up a list with time of some media level 5-6 level games that buyers and second tier spots will give maybe a 7-8 range and that's when it gets interesting.

[Words iManifest]

Mine's in the mail, trading a buddy my Evolve for his Order...His play through shows about 12.5 hours, no one I know has beat it their first time though in under 10 hours. We'll see when it arrives.

[sfchakan]

I think the thing that bothers me most about the supposed short length is that I've heard the cutscenes are unskippable. You can play through Metal Gear Solid games in relatively short time, but I don't know if I would ever want to sit through every single cutscene again when doing so.

[ZP3]

Personally, I would never pay $60 for a game that can be played in less than 10 hours. Seems like such a rip off.

[WCP]

you can only run and/or draw your weapon when you're about to enter a fight scene.

That is especially troubling..

You know when you're in danger, and you know when you're not in danger.


The other thing that I heard about this game a lot, is the fact that in certain areas, you can't run... you have to walk. And it takes forever, and you're just walking and walking. In other words, they were saying that those parts might as well been a cutscene, because all you could do is walk.

Personally, I would never pay $60 for a game that can be played in less than 10 hours. Seems like such a rip off.

One nice thing about it though, if you finish it right away, just Ebay the thing, you'll only take about a $15 loss, and I'm talking about fees. One huge advantage to finishing a game super fast, is selling it right back. You could take it to GameStop, but you'll get more on Ebay. Heck, you could probably sell it quickly on Craigslist for $50 or at least $45, and no ebay or paypal fees if you're doing the Craigslist thing.

So, while the game might be relatively short, it only cost you a mere $15.

Of course, I'd rather rent the game, if there were places where you could rent PS4 games locally. All my redboxes don't have any PS4 or XB1 games.

[The 1 2 P]

This seems like another in a stream of mediocre PS4 exclusive releases.

There's this.

3 hrs of gameplay that's at 30 fps and not even 1080p. In 2015. For $60.

All the people praising it with "I don't have time for long games" confuse me.

After reading the reviews from a few sites and fan reviews the day after release this game kind of reminded me of Wanted: Weapons of Fate. Last gen I constantly brought that up as a fun little game that was worth atleast one play thru. But depending on the difficulty you selected you could finish it in a mere 5-8 hours and since there was no online or offline multiplayer unless you felt like playing a second time for missing achievements it had basically zero replay value. I bought my copy for $12 new so I didn't feel any buyers remorse there. But that game also had the distinction of being released back in 2009, making it much more forgivable. But releasing a short single player only game that can be beat in under 10 hours with no multiplayer, no replay value, for full $60 retail.....in 2015? That seems pretty inexcusable.

What might have happened is this game was going to be a $20 download early on but later in production as buzz started to build they might have decided to release it for full retail to see how many people they could rope in. Thats just speculation but as word of mouth starts spreading around I expect the discounts to be pretty fast and furious.

[CDiablo]

My friend got it, beat it and gave it to me before selling it. Im a big Gears of War fan so this should be right up my alley

Pros:
Looks good.
Not broken in any noticeable way.
Controls well
Some cool guns
The Order universe/setting/feel
Lycans
Easy Platinum

Cons:
Beat in a bit short of 7 hours, with 3 or so being unskippable cutscenes(infuriating) or players blabbing to eachother
No real replay value. You experience everything you will see in one playthrough unless you miss some collectibles(arent hard to find).
Black bars at the top and bottom of screen for "cinematic experience"(like Evil Within also infuriating)
Lack of enemy variety
Final boss(Wait.....thats it?)
In game story
Game feels like a Steam Greenlight game(Order 2 should be a much better game that may justify $60)

Overall its worth a rent or borrow. Shoud have launched at $20. Give me Gears any day. I feel pretty much in line with most reviewers.

[WCP]

Overall its worth a rent or borrow. Should have launched at $20.

Yeah, but you know they wouldn't sell it for only $19.99. They put way too much money into the development of that game. One thing everybody agrees on is the great graphics. That graphical detail was very expensive. Too bad the game was mediocre, but they spent crazy money on it, but yeah, I think they could have realized the situation with the game and priced it at $39.99

At $39.99, I think the game would have sold enough to break even, and I don't think it would get this bad rap. Although I will say this, any game that is caught up in this much controversy is going to become a hot game regardless. People want to know if it's really crap or not. Hell, I'm a super cheap gamer, that normally waits for games to hit the bargain bin, and I'm actually trying to find this game locally on Craigslist for about 40 bucks, just because I'm so intrigued by just how bad (or maybe not so bad) this game is. I listen to a number of podcasts, and it's absolutely amazing to me the number of people I've listened to, that have ranted on both sides of this game. I've heard some people tear the Order a new one, and I've heard other people that genuinely really like the thing.

And these are guys that I really trust their opinions... Yet they have completely opposite opinions. It's weird... and intrigue like this does drive sales. Any press is good press.

[kupomogli]

I've never played the game so I'm not saying it's good or bad, but how many games now days are $60 that you can't beat in less than 10 hours? Resident Evil 5, Uncharted, Lords of Shadow Mirror of Fate, Heavy Rain, Binary Domain, Devil May Cry series, Infamous Second Son, Tomb Raider, etc. What determines whether a game is good or not isn't the time you spend with it, it's not whether the game has multiplayer or not, it's whether the game has great gameplay as that's really all that matters.

The Walking Dead from Tell Tale games is a bit under 10 hours with your choices barely effecting the story, but that games received praises of endless 9s and 10s, game of the year, etc. Final Fantasy 13 is an RPG that was ~20 hours, terrible storyline and gameplay, unlikeable characters, and what was a hallway for the first 12 hours, yet it was praised by journalists and given 9s and 10s across the board. Are you really going to put your faith in journalists when the majority of them gave super high ratings to a game almost everyone hated?

The Order 1866 was getting hated on by gamers ever since the day it received a short gameplay clip less than five minutes long, and this continued on until its release. This game was never going to get higher than a 7/10 from journalists because they already had their mind made up over a year before it launched.

Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 actually had something similar happen to it. The game was hated by the public before launch because of the games setting and hearing about the stealth sections, so just about every single poor review that the game received was either talking about the games setting or the few and far between stealth parts sections the entire review and pretty much crucified the game. Was the stealth sections a flaw within the game? Yeah, but they weren't very frequent, they were actually fairly well done for the most part so that softens the blow a bit, and the storyline gives a good reason on why Dracula can't kill these enemies. The majority of people I know who've played it liked it and the user reviews for the game on metacritic are pretty high on average.

[The 1 2 P]

Yeah, but you know they wouldn't sell it for only $19.99.

True but they really should have considering it's a one and down game.

I think they could have realized the situation with the game and priced it at $39.99.
At $39.99, I think the game would have sold enough to break even, and I don't think it would get this bad rap.

Theres been alot of discussion/articles about that since this game released. Here's one example. They could have also followed the Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes example and released The Order for $30.

Although I will say this, any game that is caught up in this much controversy is going to become a hot game regardless. People want to know if it's really crap or not.

The only controversy I've seen is over the length and price. And the only people I've seen saying this game is amazing or worth $60 are Sony fanboys/loyalist/supporters. Almost everyone else I've talked to or stuff I've read points to the majority of players universally agreeing that this game is mediocre at best. Had this not been a PS4 exclusive there would most likely not even be much talk about the game at all other than the length and price discussion.

Hell, I'm a super cheap gamer, that normally waits for games to hit the bargain bin, and I'm actually trying to find this game locally on Craigslist for about 40 bucks,

My friend got it off craigslist two days after release. The seller wanted $40 but my friend talked him down to $30. He said that it's not the worst game he's ever played but still felt he paid slightly too much considering the length and would feel straight up violated if he paid $60, beat it in 8 hours and then had nothing left to do. So you should be able to find a decent deal on craigslist or wait a few months when it's in on clearance.

[Tanooki]

That's big saying you feel the media had made its mind up along with many gamers due to a clip a year in advance about The Order, but the sad truth of it is, it often does happen with stuff that's previewed well in advance and it's sickening and completely unfair especially from the media side of things. If you go into anything thinking it blows in advance it's not going to really help in changing ones mind about it.

I've seen the same about Castlevania LoD2 about the stealth, but other than that and it's probably a fair dig I've heard it's a solid game too so I've just never trusted the reviewers on that one either. I haven't bought it yet (if I ever will) because I had the first and it felt like an unrefined god of war clone but I keep thinking I'll go back to it. I imagine one day it'll be on sale on Steam as a package deal and I'll end up with both.