The Order: 1886 (Official Thread)
- Thread starter JinCA
- Start date
Interesting. Opinions about the story, the gameplay, and the combat seem to be all over the map. Thanks for the additional input.
Here is the beloved Gamespot review comment on the story as well (which aligns with my experience and comments above):
"Instead, the story focuses on its stale protagonists, who sit and argue at the round table every so often while getting to the bottom of the rebel plot. What a shame that interesting supernatural and social elements would be sidelined in favor of boardroom shenanigans, particularly given the light character development. The credits roll after the button press that serves as an ending, and vital story threads are left dangling in the wind. Perhaps the Order: 1886 means to hint at a sequel, but whether or not that was Ready at Dawn's intention, it's a disrespectful end to a plodding story. This may have been a fine close to the second act of a three-act story, but it's a rude sendoff to anyone hoping for explanation or reason.
How bizarre, then, that The Order is so focused on its narrative. During the initial sequences, you may assume that it is more Heavy Rain than Uncharted: you respond to threats by pressing the right buttons when prompted. As it happens, The Order is divided more or less equally into four disparate pieces: cutscenes, QTEs, walking around, and shooting. In time, the game strings these features into poorly-paced sequences that have no sense of rhythm. It is the modern action game personified: This is the part where I walk for three minutes, and now comes the short bit where I have to pick a bunch of things up and look at them, and then comes the brief shooting part that practically ends before it begins.
Walking, looking, and shooting aren't bad on their own, of course. What makes such basic mechanics so predictable and rote in The Order is how they are used. When the game forces you to holster your weapon and walk at a snail's pace, you may expect it to build tension or to develop its characters. Instead, The Order becomes an exposition machine, dropping basic plot points until you either open the door that leads to the next ultra-linear stage of the ultra-linear level, or another character does it for you.
Regarding the actual action/gameplay was also consistent with Gamespot:
"The action is almost an afterthought, given all the talking, the walking, and the quick-time events, few of which complement onscreen motion in the manner of Telltale Games' best QTEs. It's a shame that The Order evokes Heavy Rain so early in its six-hour play time, because the comparison does not work in this game's favor. The Order clearly has cinematic aspirations, regardless: The loose camera hews close behind you, to the point where you can not often see much of the battlefield once you have taken cover. The game is at its best when it allows itself to be a shooter, which is what makes its failings all the more disheartening. The thermite rifle is one of the most interesting weapons in recent memory, letting you fire a round of magnesium ammo and then ignite it with a rush of air. What a blast it is to mess with such a unique firearm--and what a heartbreaker to have such grossly limited use of it. The same is true of the previously mentioned cannon: It is ripped from your hands all too quickly and replaced with less-interesting pistols and carbine rifles.
Those weapons function just fine, at least. The level design is functional, too, but uninspired. You know a turkey shoot is about to begin as you enter an area and see all the obvious cover spots--and then the turkeys appear, right on schedule, ready to die at your hands. Expectedly, such predictability breeds apathy. Grenade-lobbing supersoldiers aside, it's all too easy to mow down the opposition, making the blacksight mechanic, which allows you to temporarily slow down time and pelt foes with bullets, all but unnecessary on medium difficulty. There's a system in place for recovering if you are downed in combat, but it, too, is superfluous: should you fall, a rebel soldier almost always lands a killing shot."
"A few weapons aside, you're rarely looking at anything of interest: old photographs of characters you barely know (if at all), letters that provide the tiniest morsel of backstory"
"Instead, the story focuses on its stale protagonists, who sit and argue at the round table every so often while getting to the bottom of the rebel plot. What a shame that interesting supernatural and social elements would be sidelined in favor of boardroom shenanigans, particularly given the light character development. The credits roll after the button press that serves as an ending, and vital story threads are left dangling in the wind. Perhaps the Order: 1886 means to hint at a sequel, but whether or not that was Ready at Dawn's intention, it's a disrespectful end to a plodding story. This may have been a fine close to the second act of a three-act story, but it's a rude sendoff to anyone hoping for explanation or reason.
How bizarre, then, that The Order is so focused on its narrative. During the initial sequences, you may assume that it is more Heavy Rain than Uncharted: you respond to threats by pressing the right buttons when prompted. As it happens, The Order is divided more or less equally into four disparate pieces: cutscenes, QTEs, walking around, and shooting. In time, the game strings these features into poorly-paced sequences that have no sense of rhythm. It is the modern action game personified: This is the part where I walk for three minutes, and now comes the short bit where I have to pick a bunch of things up and look at them, and then comes the brief shooting part that practically ends before it begins.
Walking, looking, and shooting aren't bad on their own, of course. What makes such basic mechanics so predictable and rote in The Order is how they are used. When the game forces you to holster your weapon and walk at a snail's pace, you may expect it to build tension or to develop its characters. Instead, The Order becomes an exposition machine, dropping basic plot points until you either open the door that leads to the next ultra-linear stage of the ultra-linear level, or another character does it for you.
Regarding the actual action/gameplay was also consistent with Gamespot:
"The action is almost an afterthought, given all the talking, the walking, and the quick-time events, few of which complement onscreen motion in the manner of Telltale Games' best QTEs. It's a shame that The Order evokes Heavy Rain so early in its six-hour play time, because the comparison does not work in this game's favor. The Order clearly has cinematic aspirations, regardless: The loose camera hews close behind you, to the point where you can not often see much of the battlefield once you have taken cover. The game is at its best when it allows itself to be a shooter, which is what makes its failings all the more disheartening. The thermite rifle is one of the most interesting weapons in recent memory, letting you fire a round of magnesium ammo and then ignite it with a rush of air. What a blast it is to mess with such a unique firearm--and what a heartbreaker to have such grossly limited use of it. The same is true of the previously mentioned cannon: It is ripped from your hands all too quickly and replaced with less-interesting pistols and carbine rifles.
Those weapons function just fine, at least. The level design is functional, too, but uninspired. You know a turkey shoot is about to begin as you enter an area and see all the obvious cover spots--and then the turkeys appear, right on schedule, ready to die at your hands. Expectedly, such predictability breeds apathy. Grenade-lobbing supersoldiers aside, it's all too easy to mow down the opposition, making the blacksight mechanic, which allows you to temporarily slow down time and pelt foes with bullets, all but unnecessary on medium difficulty. There's a system in place for recovering if you are downed in combat, but it, too, is superfluous: should you fall, a rebel soldier almost always lands a killing shot."
"A few weapons aside, you're rarely looking at anything of interest: old photographs of characters you barely know (if at all), letters that provide the tiniest morsel of backstory"
stunning sound and graphics,though i found the camera is much too close for general walking around which was frustrating and restricted the amazing graphics imo, although it was immersive for the gunfights. gunplay was fantasitc aswell. everything else was rather plain.
pretty average all things considered.
one thing that really annoyed was the end states in certain quicktime events. for instance, at the beginning it tells you to press triangle tomake your character surrender, i decided not to press it because i didnt want him to do that....then i got shot and killed. had to replay that moment again. so when i played it again and pressed triangle all the character does is raise his hands to surrender and then jump off the bridge. and my point here is that choosing to raise your hands or choosing not to could both easily lead to that same conclusion. the game should allow for that to happen as it adds a little bit of character to your own choices, within the linear story, and also really helps with flow. the walking dead games do this very wel
pretty average all things considered.
one thing that really annoyed was the end states in certain quicktime events. for instance, at the beginning it tells you to press triangle tomake your character surrender, i decided not to press it because i didnt want him to do that....then i got shot and killed. had to replay that moment again. so when i played it again and pressed triangle all the character does is raise his hands to surrender and then jump off the bridge. and my point here is that choosing to raise your hands or choosing not to could both easily lead to that same conclusion. the game should allow for that to happen as it adds a little bit of character to your own choices, within the linear story, and also really helps with flow. the walking dead games do this very wel
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Good Lord, struck a nerve perhaps? How much sleep did you lose over our little discussion yesterday?
As to not derail this thread any further(substantial objective feedback has and is being provided by kvally and others on the game) this will be my last off topic post related to our little quarrel(feel free to pm me to discuss further).
In answer to your question so as to avoid "getting REKT"(really?), I own a ps3, ps4, Xbox one, and a Wii U for the kids. I sold my Xbox 360 just prior to the launch of the ps4.
Now, how does this info have any bearing on our little discussion at hand? You think you owning and playing current gen systems alleviates you from your history of posting the same condescending sh*t over and over again?
You've been called out on this before by others last gen, and like clockwork you paste the EXACT rebuttal you gave me, "I own all 3 current gen and all last gen consoles and play them pretty regularly" as some form of justification for your belittling...it got old years ago, literally.
Here's the kicker Evo, I don't disagree with anything you've said regarding these consoles. They are weak and dated. PC gaming does provide the ultimate visual experience. If I enjoyed gaming as much as I used to(hell look at my post count) and didn't have the family obligations I currently have, I'd be all over a new gaming rig.
The issue I have with you and one or two other PC gamers on this forum are the constant, repetitive, and derogatorive posts that spawn from being part of the "Master Race".
You've posted five or six times in the last few pages of this thread that the SS others have provided look like crap. No one could convince you otherwise so I suggested you move on. The 4k comment was subtle poke of humor and you took offense. It obviously got under your skin, things escalated, and now here we are. I've said my peace and once again apologize to everyone for going ot.
On a serious note, none of what I say is serious, if you think I took you serious and am "upset" or you think you "struck a nerve" you've got it all backwards my friend. You can say I belittle consoles but I enjoy all equally and I am just stating the truth. If you cannot handle the truth, well then, I'm not sure what to tell you but that you have a long life ahead of ya. If you think am a "PC master race console sukzzz" kinda person you've also got the wrong thought as well. I am a gamer first and foremost and I honestly value the games over the platform any day of the week.
it will take longer to wait for delivery than to finish the game
I am expecting a short game but I have a big backlog. Anyway I am buying this game to support new I.P's, singleplayer games and because to me it looks damn good.
Complaining about the length of The Order: 1886 is like complaining about the length of a sex session. You can hit it again.. Just like you can play The Order again. The first time is always going to be the best and let me tell you when it comes to The Order, she's a dime. These kinds of games only come around a handful of times each gen and Ready at Dawn has a gem on their hands.
Sounds like you're an expert on short sex sessions.
but for real, the difference is that you can hit it again in a different position to change it up or do other things lol, The Order has no replay value at all, no alternate route, it's linear and will be the same thing all the time.
The hate for this game is embarrassing. I look forward to playing it in a few months when I can free up some extra time.
Seriously though, game will probably take me a few weeks to get though. Not only do I tend to play through games slower than most, I also can only play in small doses for various reasons. It's relatively 'short' length has actually made me want to play it more than I had.
Maybe if there were any exclusives worth playing on the X1 for the next few months, then perhaps the usual Xbox trolls would have something to do other than constantly troll the PS4 forum.
I only rented this but if I'd brought it I wouldn't have regretted it. This is why I shouldn't listen to reviews. I almost skipped out on this and I'm loving the game.
For me everything has been top notch from the graphics, story, to gameplay. I will definitely buy this in the future to replay multiple times. Not being able to skip cut scenes does not bother me, I don't when I replay metal gear 4 and such.
I'm kicking myself for almost missing out.
For me everything has been top notch from the graphics, story, to gameplay. I will definitely buy this in the future to replay multiple times. Not being able to skip cut scenes does not bother me, I don't when I replay metal gear 4 and such.
I'm kicking myself for almost missing out.