Asura's Wrath

[ratsoalbion]

Ok we're recording the next podcast on Wednesday evening (17th October 8pm BST), so please, if you have anything you want to say about this game for our consideration now is your chance.

Otherwise this thread is for general Asura's Wrath discussion of course.

[AndyKurosaki]

While this game got some mixed reviews, I found it to be one of the most fun games of 2012. It's certainly different to the countless sequels in the market. And it was filled with some proper "What the fuck?" moments. Like when Asura fights his mentor on the moon, while a classical track plays in the background.
So yeah, I loved it.

[Baron Phil]

My favourite game of the year so far and nothing else has come close to the enjoyment I got from Asura's Wrath.

Everything about the game stood out to me, character design, graphical style, music and especially the 'anime series' presentation complete with ad break bumpers.

I also feel that QTE's can learn a lot from this game where the button presses felt like they corresponded to the actions on screen and you weren't just tapping a button to make something happen.
Although you couldn't actually 'fail' by missing prompts something as simple as slightly muffling the sound of the punch made me want to hit every button press perfectly.

Needless to say I bought all the DLC and although the forth chapter could possibly have been included in the game from the start , it was good enough that i didn't mind paying the extra for it.

It's also currently £13 at Zavvi http://www.zavvi.com/elysium.search?search=asuras+wrath

[delb2k]

For a long time the idea of the interactive movie has been shunned as impossible but Asuras Wrath has probably come as close as anything has in the past, if not created a model to follow for the future.

The reason is that it is never really interactive enough to be called a game. With the majority of the title effectively one long cutscene with QTE prompts the brief is very much to watch and admire the visuals and imagination on show by the developement team. This is a game of tremendous visual richness that grabs from all sorts of mythology strands to present something quite unique in gaming. To be fair there are combat and on-rails portions too that become more prominant nearer the end of the title shifting the dynamic slightly.

But it is never passive enough to just be a movie and demands concentration to react to what is happening when presented with the prompts. It is definately more than a pure watching requirement.

Whichever part is percieved to be more dominant by the crew I could not help but find this supremely entertaining throughout. Mechanically it may be basic but what Cyberconnect 2 presents to you is such a strikingly impressive world full of unexpected moments I became sucked into it hook, line and sinker. In some ways some of the interactions detracted from what was happening for me with the arena battles become repititious by the end, devolving into a dull set of rinse and repeat motions that appeared to promote attrtion over skill.

Oddly i also found the sound mix was not that well handled with voices too low in comparison with the sound levels.

Which simply leaves the matter of the ending. If you got the normal ending it is alright, mostly passable, but if you watched the true ending it could be horrendously frustrating i would imagine. The DLC for episodes 19-22 is fantastic culminating in a really breathtaking final battle but it may chafe that it has to be paid for. For me it was worthwhile but that is down to how much i enjoyed this game.

[Xantiriad]

Not a comment on the game but I find the whole concept of an "interactive movie" flawed. It's just a glorified DVD extra and doesn't really do anything for me.

Video games have already surpassed movies through player agency and/or player-based narrative (see HL, Bioshock, RDR, L4D, et al) so why ape something which is a backward step.

Cinema is designed to be watched and games (interactively) played. Something the likes of Cage and Kojima could do well to learn.

[ratsoalbion]

There's a ton of gameplay in each of the MGS games though, as well as hours of non-interactive gobbledygook. Not so much in Quantic Dream's output.

I'm halfway through Asura's Wrath at this point, and very much looking forward to discussing it on the podcast.

[delb2k]

Not a comment on the game but I find the whole concept of an "interactive movie" flawed. It's just a glorified DVD extra and doesn't really do anything for me.

Video games have already surpassed movies through player agency and/or player-based narrative (see HL, Bioshock, RDR, L4D, et al) so why ape something which is a backward step.

Cinema is designed to be watched and games (interactively) played. Something the likes of Cage and Kojima could do well to learn.

To be honest I think there is a place for some form of halfway house. I would say that Asura would loose a lot of its impact if it was made more interactive simply because the very strong narrative would be dilluted. The best thing about gaming is how well it can transform itself to achieve different aims, this is just another strand of that.

And to be honest I have always felt that the whole storytelling in the half life games was a bit rubbish, but will leave that for the half life thread.

[mikeleddy83]

As a rental I never had any motivation to see the full ending to the game despite S-ranking 50 missions which is a little disappointing (the fact it wasn't released yet also factors) but the core game experience was fun. The first level stunned me with its production values but it struggled to live up to that standard over its duration. It's just irritating that for a game you think would be crying out for people to play it that it backhands those that do by blocking off any resolution to the story until you cough up some more money, I've yet to see the complete ending to Prince of Persia for the exact same reason and it's fucking frustrating!

So, in short it's fun while it lasts and it should be inspiration to similar games (hopefully not a revamped Road Avenger) but it's also totally marred by business decisions as WTF as the game itself!

[James]

We got into the nature of games and when the line is crossed into interactive experience during the Dear Esther show (Issue 34). I imagine we'll have a similar discussion on the line between game and interactive film on this show. Personally, I think there's room for a multitude of interpretations in the realm of the video game.

Far greater of a concern for me is this game's treatment of its female 'characters'. Shocking.

[delb2k]

We got into the nature of games and when the line is crossed into interactive experience during the Dear Esther show (Issue 34). I imagine we'll have a similar discussion on the line between game and interactive film on this show. Personally, I think there's room for a multitude of interpretations in the realm of the video game.

Far greater of a concern for me is this game's treatment of its female 'characters'. Shocking.

I will say considering its anime roots and influences i felt it was a lot tamer than it could have been. This does not mean that i think it is great at all but it is in line with the general portrayal of japanese anime females in many respects.

And as the audience for this game was most likely young japanese male gamers and anime fans i can see why they did what they did and in truth i cannot say i was overly bothered by it. But then maybe that was partly because i expected it.

[Craymen Edge]

When I first heard of Asura's Wrath, the descriptions of how it played sounded very similar to Sega's disappointingly dull QTE-fest Ninja Blade and rather put me off, but the surprisingly positive reactions I saw and heard convinced me to rent it.

I'm glad I did. The game totally charmed me, and I enjoyed it much more than I expected.

The game didn't seem too bothered if you messed up the QTEs, so there was none of the frustration you'd normally expect. I found the combat simple but enjoyable, and the Space Harrier type sections sufficiently full of explosions, but unlike Bayonetta's, not so long you get bored of them. True, if all games were like this it'd probably get dull very quickly, but this was a refreshing change from what we're usually served up.

From the bizzare way it presents itself like an anime TV series, to the insane storyline, and cast of characters; it's an exuberant, bombastic, piece of bubblegum entertainment. It knows it's silly, and just goes with it.

Getting the chance shut up Wyzen (the 1st of the Seven Deities you fight) in the middle of his pompous speech was a brilliant little touch, and an option I would've liked in a number of other games.