Days Gone preview thread

ArmGunar · Mar 6, 2019

Oddhouse said:
First thing my eyes were drawn was the head count of 130.
That's really small in comparison to other Sony studios isn't it ?
It's incredible that only 130 people made this and it looks like it's up there with other open world games made by double that number

Yeah, especially when Cory Barlog said SSM had not enough resources to do a real open world for their GOW (even if they didn't want to do a real open-world) and SSM had at least 240 people

Sony Bend started this game with 50 people for a few years

"When we started, we were like… 50 people on the team, and to do a triple-A title, story-driven, in an open world, that was a bit ambitious of us," Roth tells me. But Sony was confident in the developer after the success of PS Vita launch title Uncharted: Golden Abyss and eventually the team was able to expand.

"We are at 133 or 136 people, or something like that," Roth says. "We hired talented people from the movie industry, and from other big studios, and that helped us very much. My team in animation, we were three at the start. Now we are ten. We have a real animation director, we have two leads, and it really does help."

https://www.vg247.com/2019/03/06/days-gone-freakers-zombies/

bighugeguns · Mar 6, 2019

MillionIII said:
And I'm tired of people being tired, we all need some sleep then!
But seriously there are so many games now with different protags that you can choose, attacking days gone for having a white protag in a relevant context is trying too hard.

Yikes.

Ex-Psych · Mar 6, 2019

I went from complete lack of interest to potential buy.

Learning of the origin of the zombie outbreak does seem like a nice incentive.

will wait for reviews.

Bundy · Mar 6, 2019

Toolifercle said:
From what I've seen in these previews, we're talking about a 80+ MC I guess? Great.

Yep. As I've already said. I expect a 78-82 kinda game. Overall around 80. Can't wait for Bend Studio's first AAA console game since 2004 :)

MillionIII · Mar 6, 2019

bighugeguns said:
Yikes.

Thanks for the thoughtful response!

Deleted member 16876 · Mar 6, 2019

Loudninja said:
.https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2019/03/06/whats-changed-in-the-opening-hour

Ah I see why they did this then.

If the choices aren't impactful and are just there to have a bullet point then removing them is fine by me. It is a good thing they are transparent about it.

Blackleg-sanji1 · Mar 6, 2019

bighugeguns said:
Yikes.

bighugeguns said:
You should really be careful about defending problematic titles on here, game has been called out for it, rightly so.

??

FelipeMGM · Mar 6, 2019

I already knew this from playing a demo of it last year, but previews just reinforce that this is right upon my alley. I'm a sucker for Far Cry style of open-worlds and unlike the Far Cry games, this could have a story worth giving a damn

I'll be there day-one

Deleted member 16876 · Mar 6, 2019

bighugeguns said:
You should really be careful about defending problematic titles on here, game has been called out for it, rightly so.

What game are we talking about?
Days Gone?

I haven't seen anything to make it problematic if it is the one you bring up.

BoJack · Mar 6, 2019

Saint-14 said:
As in they will be bad? From what I've read people are surprised about the narrative and interested to see more.

The AI seems to be pretty unstable some times. I was watching RobinGaming's impression (I don't watch his content anymore. I was curious about this one, because he hates Days Gone and I remember he predicted 60's MC score for this game last year, while he was laughing!) and he said the AI is bad and random things happen in the game that makes the experience less enjoyable. And he didn't like the story at all. He showed a footage for example, where Deacon meets his wife for the first time, and tbh the writing for that scene was not great at all. And I don't want to judge the story with a scene, but that scene is supposed to be an impressive moment, but it wasn't engaging at all, at least for me. And I had mixed feelings for the "Wedding" trailer as well. The writing and directing in that trailer was also... I don't know how to say it but, it seems that the game wants to be so emotional and effective and serious, and for those thing you need better writing/acting and directing.

Anyway I would like to see the success of this game and the reaction of folks like Robin afterwards.

-PyramidSong · Mar 6, 2019

Wait. Is Deacon bald ?

LuisGarcia · Mar 6, 2019

bighugeguns said:
Yikes.

Don't you get bored of saying the same thing over and over again?

The poster you quoted is correct. You are literally attacking a game because it has a white protagonist. No need for it.

Bundy · Mar 6, 2019

This got me pretty hyped.
Game Informer: "If you're methodical about looting, you'll generally be all right. As with the gunplay, the bike's overall handling seems significantly improved since I last played. There's a nice sensation of weight to it, and it sounds absolutely amazing."
I have a bike myself. So hearing that the sound of it is amazing now, is.... well, amazing :D

Gamespot: "My biggest takeaway from this game was how much I enjoyed the different ways you could use your variety of abilities and the environment to complete objectives, whether that be to get into a place, or destroy people or things. I respect any game that attempts to emphasise a flexibility to move back and forth between stealthy and loud approaches, or the fluidity to switch between ranged, melee, and guerilla combat techniques on the fly. I like mixing things up."
So awesome :)

Callibretto · Mar 6, 2019

Loudninja said:
.https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2019/03/06/whats-changed-in-the-opening-hour

I wonder if the game still have multiple ending. It would be cool if it still have it, but instead of binary choises like before, its more like how you do the mission. Like if you do it certain way, or manage to complete some side objectives, that will lead to different story path and ending.

Aurc · Mar 6, 2019

bighugeguns said:
You should really be careful about defending problematic titles on here, game has been called out for it, rightly so.

Look, you're fully in the right to want more racial diversity in gaming. I'm with you on that, and I wholeheartedly agree that it's a positive.

But "be careful defending this game" strikes me as an odd thing to say, considering I'm merely presenting the perspective that Deacon's whiteness should not be an automatic dealbreaker for people. I am not aiming to shout down people's concerns regarding diversity across the wider gaming landscape, but what I am aiming to do is straight up tell people they should wait and see just what type of person Deacon is (in addition to seeing what the game's POC characters are like), before referring to Days Gone as a problematic title, as you just have.

vestan · Mar 6, 2019

FelipeMGM said:
I already knew this from playing a demo of it last year, but previews just reinforce that this is right upon my alley. I'm a sucker for Far Cry style of open-worlds and unlike the Far Cry games this could have a story worth giving a damn

I'll be there day-one

Yeah, looks like it will be a fun romp for the most part. I never really burned out on zombie stuff and the last open-world game I played was Spider-Man. This should scratch that itch. Really, the biggest thing that's got me hooked is the bike. Riding through the Pacific Northwest with the dynamic weather is going to be grand.

Deleted member 16876 · Mar 6, 2019

-PyramidSong said:
Wait. Is Deacon bald ?

It is just a joke about him wearing the hat all the time.

thuway · Mar 6, 2019

I reccomend everyone check out Easy Allies' Preview.

Here's what I saw from the previews:

- RPG Elements which include rare guns/ loot, bike mods, and weapon crafting.
- A story with a protagonist with his 'screws loose'. Possibly an interesting take on mental illness.
-Gameplay that combines survival horror with run and gun.
-A package that looks to take the best of Far Cry, Dying Light, and Horizon.

Sounds excellent.

dobahking91 · Mar 6, 2019

Yeah sounds like a solide 80-85MC wich is GREAT.

The narrative aspect got me even more hyped :D

bcatwilly · Mar 6, 2019

It generally sounds like it may be some okay fun which I could consider getting down the road on a sale, but I can't see me buying it day one like I did with both God of War and Spider-Man either. The previews are generally pretty positive (that isn't unusual either for most previews), but it does seem that this game which was in development for 6 years and even delayed probably doesn't manage to achieve Shawn Layden's mantra about their first party games being "first, best, or must".

Loudninja · Mar 6, 2019

Oh and you bike uses gas when you fast travel

VX1 · Mar 6, 2019

Bundy said:
Yep. As I've already said. I expect a 78-82 kinda game. Overall around 80. Can't wait for Bend Studio's first AAA console game since 2004 :)

Something like Detroit i guess :)
And i liked that game.

Bundy · Mar 6, 2019

vestan said:
Yeah, looks like it will be a fun romp for the most part. I never really burned out on zombie stuff and the last open-world game I played was Spider-Man. This should scratch that itch. Really, the biggest thing that's got me hooked is the bike. Riding through the Pacific Northwest with the dynamic weather is going to be grand.

It's looks so good :) Nice work by them with the "heavily modified Unreal Engine 4".

JayBee · Mar 6, 2019

Seems pretty skeptical going through the previews

-PyramidSong · Mar 6, 2019

Richter1887 said:
It is just a joke about him wearing the hat all the time.

🤔
So technically we don't know if he isn't bald.

TheRaidenPT · Mar 6, 2019

Loudninja said:
Oh and you bike uses gas when you fast travel

Not sure if it's gonna be worth fast traveling then

DrDeckard · Mar 6, 2019

It's unreal engine 4? That engine is just nuts! it's so versatile.

Nerun · Mar 6, 2019

Loudninja said:
Oh and you bike uses gas when you fast travel

yeah, it also uses gas all the time, so you need to take that into consideration and the damn noise it makes ;) (you can make it quieter though) but there were plenty of gas containers around towns, so I never ran into a real problem during my preview. You also have three skill trees, one of the first skills you can lean, is to repair your bike on the go with scrap and you can quick save by standing next to your bike.

TheAuldTriangle · Mar 6, 2019

Ex-Psych said:
I went from complete lack of interest to potential buy.

Learning of the origin of the zombie outbreak does seem like a nice incentive.

will wait for reviews.

I feel exactly the same. Had zero interest prior to these previews.

Deleted member 27751 · Mar 6, 2019

It was gonna be a hit no matter what, the general public of gamers fucking love zombie games. Only in the bubble of Era were the hard ons for failure apparent, like basically anything that bubbles here. Not that Era is bad or anything, but just don't take the community at face value when all games are dissected to their core values to be critiqued under a microscope.

Herey · Mar 6, 2019

Previews on the whole seem positive. Surprised to see Polygon like it, they were one of the ones down on it last year.

I've consciously avoided recent Far Cry games so I don't think repetition will be a big problem for me. Might get it on release if reviews are decent, which I wouldn't of done 12 months ago.

Nerun · Mar 6, 2019

DrDeckard said:
It's unreal engine 4? That engine is just nuts! it's so versatile.

yeah, it's the Unreal Engine

Blackleg-sanji1 · Mar 6, 2019

Nerun said:
yeah, it also uses gas all the time, so you need to take that into consideration and the damn noise it makes ;) (you can make it quieter though) but there were plenty of gas containers around towns, so I never ran into a real problem during my preview. You also have three skill trees, one of the first skills you can lean, is to repair your bike on the go with scrap and you can quick save by standing next to your bike.

Abusing the fuck outta that

Saint-14 · Mar 6, 2019

Arekkz's video, he says kid freakers can steal things and you'll have to run after them.

dobahking91 · Mar 6, 2019

Loudninja said:
Oh and you bike uses gas when you fast travel

That's definitely an interesting compromise :)

OléGunner · Mar 6, 2019

Christ, Bend are only about 135 people.
Makes the game a bit more impressive that a relatively small AAA team are building Days Gone.

Bundy · Mar 6, 2019

bcatwilly said:
It generally sounds like it may be some okay fun which I could consider getting down the road on a sale, but I can't see me buying it day one like I did with both God of War and Spider-Man either. The previews are generally pretty positive (that isn't unusual either for most previews), but it does seem that this game which was in development for 6 years and even delayed probably doesn't manage to achieve Shawn Layden's mantra about their first party games being "first, best, or must".

It looks really got coming from a team which started developing this game with 50 people for the first 1 to 2 years. Not on the same high level as those Naughty Dog and SSM juggernauts? Makes sense. But a great start for their first AAA game since 2004 :)

OléGunner said:
Christ, Bend are only about 135 people.
Makes the game a bit more impressive that a relatively small AAA team are building Days Gone.

They were around 50 people in the first 1 to 2 years ;) It's kinda amazing how good this game now looks.

mrglcs · Mar 6, 2019

So they changed their stance on difficulty settings? IIRC they said there would be none.

Nightengale · Mar 6, 2019

bcatwilly said:
It generally sounds like it may be some okay fun which I could consider getting down the road on a sale, but I can't see me buying it day one like I did with both God of War and Spider-Man either. The previews are generally pretty positive (that isn't unusual either for most previews), but it does seem that this game which was in development for 6 years and even delayed probably doesn't manage to achieve Shawn Layden's mantra about their first party games being "first, best, or must".

I mean, for one - this game was funded and approved before Shawn Layden even came onto the WWS job.

Secondly, even if it was him who approved this game - a game does not assuredly become a game that qualifies for any of the 3 categories above even with a lot of time and money. Sometimes either a combination of bad luck, bad decisions made during development or lack of talent/ability needed to develop the initial idea to its maximum potential means your product is just a mediocre or bad product at the end of the day. And at that point, you're not going to cancel a game just because it doesn't compare to the 90+ games your other studios make.

Deleted member 12352 · Mar 6, 2019

Sounding good. Seems like it has a bit more to it than I'd initially assumed.

Aurc said:
That Metro interview is hilariously bad, particularly the incessantly banal line of questioning about Deacon being a bald white space marine, or whatever it was. Regardless of how people feel about a game, I still find myself continually surprised when people try to downplay the potential strength of a protagonist on the basis of his most shallow identity traits: his race, the lack of hair on his head, his backwards cap, whatever else it may be. You know little about the character's background, perspective on life, the context of his situation, personality traits, etc., but you still fixate on the fact that he's white, like that somehow subtracts from what may be a decently compelling character. Ok.

You'd think people would've learned after all the bullshit surrounding Arthur Morgan being "just another white guy", and then the game comes out and people love the hell out of him. Not saying Deacon will be a great main character (I don't know yet), but it will always be wrong to dismiss a character out of hand for these superficial qualities. Judging a character based on externals is bunk.

You ain't wrong. This is starting to feel like a re-run of the run up to the release of Infamous Second Son, where there was a similarly perplexing amount of focus on the most banal complaints about the main character.

Loudninja · Mar 6, 2019

Nerun said:
yeah, it also uses gas all the time, so you need to take that into consideration and the damn noise it makes ;) (you can make it quieter though) but there were plenty of gas containers around towns, so I never ran into a real problem during my preview. You also have three skill trees, one of the first skills you can lean, is to repair your bike on the go with scrap and you can quick save by standing next to your bike.

I really like all the mechanics design around the bike,I love you can make a quick escape as well

OG_Thrills · Mar 6, 2019

These previews range from really good to fantastic for a new ip? I read all of the previews on the front page (Shout out to Loudninja for the preview thread) and the only criticism I could glean was that it's another zombie game.

Most seemed to really enjoy it unless I've missed a really negative preview?

janusff · Mar 6, 2019

Is there some pure b roll I can take a gander at?

Loudninja · Mar 6, 2019

The game already has the photo mode!

So I guess with the delay they had time to add it before launch :)

bombshell · Mar 6, 2019

ArmGunar said:
Yeah, especially when Cory Barlog said SSM had not enough resources to do a real open world for their GOW (even if they didn't want to do a real open-world) and SSM had at least 240 people

Sony Bend started this game with 50 people for a few years

https://www.vg247.com/2019/03/06/days-gone-freakers-zombies/

It probably helps them a bit on team size that they are using the efficient Unreal Engine 4 instead of having to maintain their own in-house engine compared to other Sony first party studios.

Apathy · Mar 6, 2019

Elohim99 said:
Why do people base everything on race? I understand that having more women/minoroties in a game is always a good thing,but the most important thing about characters should always be how well they are written and not how diverse they look

As a minority that is less represented than the actual population in games, I don't really give a shit if Deacon is white. This whole "hate for white protagonist" has gone to the extreme where some people make every white person be worse than the devil.

This gen Sony has already done a great job with representation for their protagonists. Yes there are white males (Galahad, Peter Parker, Nathan Drake), they've also have good representation from women like Ellie and Aloy and Kat and some minority representation in Delsin and Kratos (he's Mediterranean, even if some of you think he's white).

Could there be more minorities in their games? For sure. But to criticise DG for having a white guy for protagonist saying there are already too many white guys in open world games fails to say that those other games aren't made by Sony so why say that Deacon is "too much" when this gen Sony has done a pretty good job at representation in their games.

I'm sure I'm going to get labeled a sympathizer or "thinking I'm white" , hell even a few day ban just for saying people need to chill with the white people hate, but it's true how crazy it gets on the forus some times

Aurc · Mar 6, 2019

Wolfman said:
You ain't wrong. This is starting to feel like a re-run of the run up to the release of Infamous Second Son, where there was a similarly perplexing amount of focus on the most banal complaints about the main character.

Wow, I forgot about Second Son, thanks for the reminder.

What's perplexing in regards to that game is, in the case of the previous two Infamous games, Cole MacGrath was, admittedly, pretty damn generic. Delsin had more of his own style and flair, by comparison, so I don't really get how he was seen as a regression. I also enjoyed the interactions between Delsin and his brother a little more than those of Cole and Zeke, but that's more of a subjective thing.

FF Seraphim · Mar 6, 2019

bighugeguns said:
You should really be careful about defending problematic titles on here, game has been called out for it, rightly so.

Wait are people saying Days Gone is problematic due to it having a white protag? Or am I misunderstanding your post?

Loudninja · Mar 6, 2019

Oh an when tagging the enemies a diamond appears above their head and acts as a health bar.Also it turns yellow if enemies are alerted

Blackleg-sanji1 · Mar 6, 2019

Apathy said:
As a minority that is less represented than the actual population in games, I don't really give a shit if Deacon is white. This whole "hate for white protagonist" has gone to the extreme where some people make every white person be worse than the devil.

This gen Sony has already done a great job with representation for their protagonists. Yes there are white males (Galahad, Peter Parker, Nathan Drake), they've also have good representation from women like Ellie and Aloy and Kat and some minority representation in Delsin and Kratos (he's Mediterranean, even if some of you think he's white).

Could there be more minorities in their games? For sure. But to criticise DG for having a white guy for protagonist saying there are already too many white guys in open world games fails to say that those other games aren't made by Sony so why say that Deacon is "too much" when this gen Sony has done a pretty good job at representation in their games.

I'm sure I'm going to get labeled a sympathizer or "thinking I'm white" , hell even a few day ban just for saying people need to chill with the white people hate, but it's true how crazy it gets on the forus some times

Seeing how he was just banned but not the thousands of trolls these threads be getting that'll tell ya all u need

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