Lords of the Fallen - Preview Roundup #3

Here are a few more previews for Lords of the Fallen.

GamersBliss

Lords of the Fallen proved itself to be a true definition of what it will take to be a next generation ARPG. To look at gaming as of now we see a modern community with lack in original ideas. We have been sucked into a whole of ‘every games the same’ or ‘there is so much cut scene that I’m hardly even playing’ but Lords of the Fallen has established that next-gen isn’t about that. To this company next-gen is about taking an experience that we love, gaming, and making that experience better for the player while remaining a game; there is not much more we can ask for. A note to the wonderful team who continue to work hard on Lords of the Fallen: thank you for remembering your audience and appealing to us in an improved way that we would have never imagined possible.

GodisAGeek

The enemies and bosses in Lords of the Fallen appear to have a set pattern of attacks which they’ll move through until they hit another phase, at which point the pattern will change – so it’s fairly traditional in that sense. Once the player learns these patterns they should be able to hit the enemy without much of a problem, but that’s when there’s only one, however, and there’s very often more than one. The bosses of the game (or at least the ones at CI Games were willing to talk about) comprise of the Lords of the Fallen, the lieutenants of the fallen God. These can be seen coming from their realms into our own through a particle effect-heavy entrance which the player will see long before the Lord actually spawns in their world. This is the origin of the tag-line for Lords of the Fallen “I see you through the fire” and is something that appears to be a running theme throughout both the story of the game and promotion of it.

Lords of the Fallen looks amazing, with the newly created (and proprietary) Fledge Engine pumping out particle effects and true next-gen visuals at every turn. The combat-heavy gameplay mechanics will appeal to players of more modern fantasy-RPGs while the storyline that runs through it appears to be something that more classical players will be able to grab onto. As this next console generation gets into full swing, there will be a lot of big players making a grab for your attention with lots of explosions and fire, but Lords of the Fallen is coming, and it looks very impressive indeed.

EgmNow

I’ll give Lords of the Fallen one thing—it’s pretty. The visuals on display during my hands-off demo were nothing short of astounding, with lighting, particle, and weather effects that were well beyond anything I’ve seen on current-gen consoles or my (now horrendously outdated) PC rig.

The trouble is, nothing about the rest of the presentation really stood out to me. The character designs and locations were fairly run-of-the-mill, uninspired fantasy tropes I’ve seen dozens of times before, and the combat, while certainly punishing in terms of damage dealt and received, didn’t seem all that technical. Encounters seemed to revolve around a whole lot of running around to the imaginary tune of Yakety Sax, waiting for a huge gap in the enemies’ attack animations, then running in for a quick slice, with a dodge or two thrown in for good measure. I was hoping for some sort of parry system or any sign of greater depth, but it wasn’t present. Keep in mind, I’m not saying it won’t be present in the final game—it just wasn’t something that was on display here, and that was a huge disappointment for a game that clearly wants to capitalize on the hype of the Souls titles.

The one thing that might actually salvage Lords of the Fallen for me is the class system, which isn’t nearly as rigid as in some other RPGs. While there are three different classes with their own special abilities, that power is tied to the weapon you’re currently wielding, allowing you to mix up your strategy on the fly without having to waste too much time on a respec. I’m always the guy who tries to play a jack of all trades, and if Lords gives me an outlet for that—and offers more combat depth that my small taste implied—I might actually give it a shot. For now, though, I’ll be hard pressed to remember anything about it a week from now.