Syphon Filter
Member
the game sucked and was generic.
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Days Gone is the closest thing to a perfect open-world zombie game that I could hope for, but the pacing of the story is what drags it down
- Thread starter Drizzlehell
- Start date
In Cold Blood
Banned
It's one of the games I'm interested in playing when I get a PS5.
Some people love it, it looks good and it apparently sold ok.
I'm surprised Sony didn't let them do another one. They could so with a good Zonbie franchise. Everyone loves a zombie survival game.
Some people love it, it looks good and it apparently sold ok.
I'm surprised Sony didn't let them do another one. They could so with a good Zonbie franchise. Everyone loves a zombie survival game.
bitbydeath
Member
Sony let them and enjoyed it so much they’re making a Days Gone movie. The new IP might be within the same world and be based off the secret? ending. (Similar to how Syphon Filter transitioned into Days Gone.)
GenericUser
Member
Days Gone is complete and utter garbage. Dying Light 1 is a much better open world zombie game. Shame techland shit the bed with Dying Light 2
It's the deepest open world zombie game that I can think of. Simpler graphics is the price paid for more interactivity in an open world.
DragonNCM
Member
Even Sony don't understand this game, let alone critics
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SeraphJan
Member
The higher staff blindly listen to critics, I've heard the dev's bonus are often tie to metacritic scoreEven Sony don't understand this game let alone critics
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JimmyRustler
Gold Member
Loved the game and it’s story. Not at first but at some point it just clicked for me. Well, up until that final section part at least which felt super tacked on and tainted the game for me. The game should have ended right where the switch happened.
Jigsaah
Gold Member
I'll have what he's having.
Nihilum
Member
The pacing is bad, and the fade to black cutscenes are weird. Then the second half of the story you find your wife alive and she ignores you and makes you do chores. This is the most realistic part of the story.
The gameplay is kinda janky because the bow doesn't do headshot kills, then you get another bow later on and headshots' kill.
The horde mechanic seems to be to run around and shot explodey tanks while looking behind you because .. of course, that makes perfect sense. Fuck that lumber mill horde btw.
There's rippers that worship freakers (zombies) for some unknown reason and it's never explained why they do that. Maybe they're all nihilists??
There's zombie nests you need to burn and they're made out of literal shit and tree branches. Another lovely day in the apocalypse.
The bike has a gas tank but it's actually the size of a peanut.
Boozer gets his arm burnt badly with a blowtorch and he and Deacon decide the best course of action is to bandage it with watercress.
You randomly get ambushed by wolves that can run faster than a speeding motorbike fitted with NITROUS OXIDE!!
What. A. Game.
The gameplay is kinda janky because the bow doesn't do headshot kills, then you get another bow later on and headshots' kill.
The horde mechanic seems to be to run around and shot explodey tanks while looking behind you because .. of course, that makes perfect sense. Fuck that lumber mill horde btw.
There's rippers that worship freakers (zombies) for some unknown reason and it's never explained why they do that. Maybe they're all nihilists??
There's zombie nests you need to burn and they're made out of literal shit and tree branches. Another lovely day in the apocalypse.
The bike has a gas tank but it's actually the size of a peanut.
Boozer gets his arm burnt badly with a blowtorch and he and Deacon decide the best course of action is to bandage it with watercress.
You randomly get ambushed by wolves that can run faster than a speeding motorbike fitted with NITROUS OXIDE!!
What. A. Game.
ramuh
Member
I actually loved this game. A slice of life game where you see the main character try to move on but is always torn about what had happened during the 'fall'. It wasn't bombastic (until the end, when your mowing down hordes), but it felt real to me for some reason. (Everybody riding bikes non-withstanding. Although, in a post apocalyptic scenario, motorcycles probably would have been a good choice, but where are the crotch rockets?)
This was an awesome game, I wish they could have expanded upon the lore, characters and combat.
This was an awesome game, I wish they could have expanded upon the lore, characters and combat.
mrmustard
Banned
DG combat gameplay wasn't that bad, at least not before you got too many skill points
Markio128
Member
I’ve never been able to get into it and I’ve tried a few times. I think the devs were a little too ambitious to try and make this game work in an open-world style setting. If they had used a more TLOU2 kind of structure, with a few open areas, but still pushing you along the path towards a clear goal, then it could have been great because it does have some fun and unique ideas.
BbMajor7th
Member
Some interesting points. It's a rare game that makes good use of its open world, in terms of emergent situations, at least. Being randomly taken off your bike by a bandit trap while you're driving to your next objective was brilliant and created some really tense situations; turning up a bandit camp and finding a berserker bear already tearing up the place was cool. The story does let it down though: it has high points and some great moments, but it's wedged between too much guff. This really wasn't an issue of resource or bandwidth - the game runs too long and though it never feels 'padded' it does drag hard, not just towards the end, but even in the opening hours. The game sings in the 8-30 hour segment, as you begin to get your hands on better weapons and the map opens up, but after 30 it starts to slow again and that can last for another 20 hours.
I would have liked to have seen a sequel because I'd love to see the systems interplay vastly expanded and a customisable protagonist added. The game could very easily work as a great hybrid experience, with the mission structure and exploration of Fallout 3 and the systems-driven sandbox approach of MGS5. Imagine sneaking into a bandit camp at night, stealing their weapons cache, and tipping off a rival faction or luring a berserk bear to the camp.
I would have liked to have seen a sequel because I'd love to see the systems interplay vastly expanded and a customisable protagonist added. The game could very easily work as a great hybrid experience, with the mission structure and exploration of Fallout 3 and the systems-driven sandbox approach of MGS5. Imagine sneaking into a bandit camp at night, stealing their weapons cache, and tipping off a rival faction or luring a berserk bear to the camp.
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Rendered Tangent
Banned
For me, it was let down by the extended cut scenes where you had no control.
Oh, and the eavesdropping missions.
Aside from that, I thought it was an exceptional game.
The combat was first rate, the bike handled beautifully, the game world was detailed and high quality, the story was probably the weakest part and even that was ok.
It is a real shame Sony abandoned it.
Oh, and the eavesdropping missions.
Aside from that, I thought it was an exceptional game.
The combat was first rate, the bike handled beautifully, the game world was detailed and high quality, the story was probably the weakest part and even that was ok.
It is a real shame Sony abandoned it.
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Beer Baelly
Al Pachinko, Konami President
Yeah hello, this Deac. Who? Deacon Saint John!
Schmendrick
Member
there`s more than just the story pacing draggin this mediocre stain on Sony`s sleeve down.
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TerribleAtThisGame
Member
As someone who basically never plays open world games, I actually had a lot of fun with this one...until I just dropped it because good lord is it too fucking long. I thought the combat was great, the compound level design was good and varied, the gasoline mechanic made traveling slightly tense thankfully and the world itself was very atmospheric and beautiful at points.
I did however hate the entire plot, the idiotic characters, the pacing. Like I said though, 50 or 60 hours of fun is enough for me to say I thought it was good.
I did however hate the entire plot, the idiotic characters, the pacing. Like I said though, 50 or 60 hours of fun is enough for me to say I thought it was good.
Games of Today
Member
I actually platinumed this game, which is something I only really do to certain games that I really enjoy, so I'll give you some feedback.
First of all, I know the hordes were one of the main selling points of the game and I understand why people get disappointed with not seeing them/fighting them until the end of the game. But once you accept that they are more of an end game thing you'll be able to overcome that feeling and just enjoy the game up until that point. Besides if you don't have the right weapons and gear you will absolutely get plowed by them. Now you're 50 hours in so unless you've spent your time just roaming around more instead of advancing the plot forward/upgrading your gear, you should have tried to kill at least a few of the hordes by now. There are some smaller ones around the map that can give you a taste of what it feels like to be attacked by a larger one. The smaller ones are good practice.
Without spoiling it for you there are also a couple of missions that are directly related to two separate hordes that I know of, so you'll get to them eventually if you haven't yet.
Second, this game is a LONG BOY. If you think you're close to the end, think again. I actually can't believe how long it is. In my experience it was actually longer than Red Dead 2. In my own opinion, this was something that thrilled me. It's one of the only games that I can say is not only worth $60, content and story wise but is also a game that I actually got $60 worth of my time out of. Just enjoy the literal ride and take it as it comes.
Third, the immersion in this game is absolutely off the charts. To me it's only rivaled by Red Dead 2 and Far Cry 2 while in my opinion feeling more like the latter.
In Far Cry 2, the world is out to kill you. You can't walk or drive more than a minute or two without running into an enemy outpost or scout vehicle of some kind. And they are ALWAYS hostile, which is one of the biggest complaints in that game along with the enemies respawning at outposts you cleared only a few minutes earlier. But you may be shocked /s, when I tell you that I actually enjoyed that. It gives you something to do in the game other than just walking and doing nothing. You can still explore but a lot of the time you have to do it carefully by avoiding patrols and sneaking through grass.
So in a similar vain Days Gone gives you this same sense of anxiety. It's not overwhelming and it's not too boring. It's a perfect balance of danger between humans, freakers and aggressive animals that all want to fuck you up. One of the coolest things that happened to me was that I parked my bike in a small town, went exploring, killed some freaks, got some loot and when I came back a bear was sniffing my bike. It had knocked it over and laid down next to it knowing that I had to come back to get it eventually. Something I never saw A.I. do in a game up until that point.
I think the story I'm describing happened right after the incident in this video. This was from 4 years ago, so about a year after release. You can see it was still slightly glitchy but in this instance it added to the hilarity and immersion because Deacon slips and ragdolls off his bike haha.
Here is another video I captured that actually kind of shocked me at how realistic the ragdoll animation was.
Another factor of immersion in this game is weather. Like you said you can literally almost smell the wet forest and rain soaked roads. This game has the best dynamic weather system I've seen in a game, rivaled only by RDR2. But in my opinion this game tops RDR2 in audio design especially when it comes to thunderstorms. They actually roll in and roll out which is something that only really Naughty Dog has accomplished in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, albeit in a linear type of game, which makes Days Gone even that more impressive.
It's also the only game I've ever seen thunder-snow/sleet in. Which actually blew me away.
As for characters and story, I thing it's outstanding. I don't think I would quite give this game the title of a masterpiece. But with all of it's patches installed while playing it on a PS5, it's pretty close.
I'm glad that you think the dialogue of Deacon is natural. The standard complaint about this game is that the voice acting is terrible which couldn't be further from the truth. I feel like a lot of general gamers especially on reddit want voice acting to be clear and precise and don't really understand how actual humans talk to each other in reality. People mumble, whisper, cut themselves off, make noises in between words, etc. Sam Whitwer absolutely NAILED this. I can say without a doubt that Deacon St. John and honestly, even Boozer are the two most realistic characters I've heard speak a videogame. It doesn't sound like someone wrote the dialogue if you get what I mean. Which is also testament to the writers. But if you use The Last of Us or Uncharted for example, the dialogue sounds closer to a movie with clear and precise pronunciation.
People also get very confused about Deacon yelling dialogue. He yells when he's on the Goddamn motorcycle because they are fucking LOUD! Now to be fair I feel like the game may not register this sometimes and he yells the dialogue when he's not on the bike. And even when he is on the bike, the audio designers seem to have made the bike's engine not as loud as it should actually be so you can hear the dialogue. It's just a slight mismatch in audio design/coding to some degree. It's hard to explain. I can't really tell what was intentional in that regard and what wasn't.
Another very impressive thing, I'm pretty positive that 100% of the buildings and structures in this game are enterable. Which most open world games such as Far Cry and even RDR2 are not able to accomplish.
All in all, this game is just amazing. Play it to the very end. Trust me it's worth it and you'll want more.
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yurinka
Member
I loved this game. It had some tech & bug issues at release that got ironed later, but I had a lot of fun of it and found that almost everything had a good level of quality even if I wasn't able to highlight an area where the game did excel.
It was the first time they made an open world game, a game for that generation, a game in that engine and also their first new IP and their first AAA home console game in decades. That meant that obviously can't achieve the level of other more experienced teams but still achieved a great result and makes me look forward to future Bend games (happened to me the same with GoT and Sucker Punch too), that I think can reach the polish an excellence level of ND, SSM, Insomniac or Guerrilla in future titles.
It was the first time they made an open world game, a game for that generation, a game in that engine and also their first new IP and their first AAA home console game in decades. That meant that obviously can't achieve the level of other more experienced teams but still achieved a great result and makes me look forward to future Bend games (happened to me the same with GoT and Sucker Punch too), that I think can reach the polish an excellence level of ND, SSM, Insomniac or Guerrilla in future titles.
Drizzlehell
Banned
I understand. But I guess maybe complexity and depth isn't exactly what I'm looking for in a game like that and I prefer more realistic visuals and immersive presentation.
I take what I can get. I find immersion based on how deep into a gameplay loop I can get. Nothing takes me out of a game like a static world.
calistan
Member
The bike that can only travel a few miles on a full tank - I was not a fan of that, why didn't he swap it for something more fuel efficient?
I need to go back and finish it on Steam Deck. I set it aside a few months ago because I was getting tired of being distracted by side quests and didn't seem to be making much progress. The guy would see a raider camp in the distance, not really bothering anyone, and he'd start muttering about how much he hates those 'goddamn murdering bastards' before murdering them all and stealing their loot.
tassletine
Member
I agree. Playing RE4 recently only cemented this. They got so many things right in this game.
But you haven't lived until you fight a hoarde. Easily one of the best (new) gameplay experiences I've had.
It's a pity the plot is so slow at the beginning-- And (here's where we disagree) The title character is a doofus. Completely unbelievable as a biker.
Personally what I see here, is an extremely talented developer boxed in by bland studio demands. They tried, and when they succeeded it was glorious.
But you haven't lived until you fight a hoarde. Easily one of the best (new) gameplay experiences I've had.
It's a pity the plot is so slow at the beginning-- And (here's where we disagree) The title character is a doofus. Completely unbelievable as a biker.
Personally what I see here, is an extremely talented developer boxed in by bland studio demands. They tried, and when they succeeded it was glorious.
KaiserBecks
Member
I think it's somewhat fun but incredibly generic, Deacon out.
Drizzlehell
Banned
Yeah, and I'm with you on that. It's why I didn't like the OW in Cyberpunk. Everything in it feels like set dressing with a bunch of background extras on some Hollywood sound stage and not an actual world with real people. Days Gone is actually better than that because at least it tries to actively engage and surprise you with random encounters, ambushes, wild animals, and stuff like that. Plus it kinda makes sense for that game to feel a bit more empty because it's a world where most people have been decimated by the zombie apocalypse. It does just enough to feel believable.
akaFullmetal
Member
You have to build up to that first 10 hours of the game but then it's a delight.
tassletine
Member
I did. It's the only game I've ever turned off because after 8 hours playing I realised I hadn't died once, and the game seemed to be giving more the illusion of gameplay than anything tangible. It was also very, very buggy and looked poor.
TerribleAtThisGame
Member
Some stuff I don't necessarily agree with but really quality posts and thoughts on the game.
And I WILL absolutely stan the incredible environments and atmosphere in this game. It did a lot of heavy lifting for me even when I found myself a bit bored by the Open World (TM) missions. Totally agree that I can practically feel and smell those woods and thunderstorms. There's an early mission where you invade a camp during a thunderstorm and that still sticks in my gaming mind as a really impressive moment.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
Days Gone’s a great game, but I think open world survival games do a better job.
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Drizzlehell
Banned
You bring up a lot of the small details that I forgot about and you're absolutely right about all of them. Like those rag-dolls that NPCs naturally stumble into upon death. Honestly, the last game that I remember doing something like this is RAGE from 2011, which is kinda crazy. In most other games you'll only see them either fly back like in a John Woo movie or just rag-doll on the spot and flail around awkwardly like corpses in Dark Souls.
That's the kind of attention to detail that not many people ever tend to mention when talking about this game and I think it contributes massively to its overall enjoyment.
Games of Today
Member
Yes! I know exactly what you're talking about in regards to the RAGE ragdolls. The system in that game was very similar to how Naughty Dog uses animation blending. No doubt Bend learned some tips from them on how to properly implement that kind of thing.
Games of Today
Member
It is very disappointing that we apparently won't get a sequel. But at least I know that Bend can make something incredible. Here's hoping their next game is even better.
semiconscious
Member
agree with all the above. i began a replay a couple months back, & was enjoying it all... except for deacon's constant rants/freakouts directed at that patriotic radio dude. i mean, once or twice, maybe. on a consistent basis? turn the fucking radio off, man! it's bad for your blood pressure!...
BacklashWave534
Member
Enjoyed the story and would have loved to see a sequel. Unfortunately, the white, straight testosterone filled protagonist was just to much for games uranilists to handle. The game certainly wasn't a masterpiece but it was good and deserved way better scores then some outlets gave it. We all know Sony only cares about those scores.
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tassletine
Member
He's a total schitzo. They wrote and modelled and cast the actor as "approachable" -- But he's a bloody biker! Almost no indication of that culture apart from him driving a bike.
It's not like anyone was clammering for a Biker game but if you don't lean into that what's the point?
Like you said. The weirdest thing for me is when he freaks out or gets annoyed -- It's a completely different person. You can't show someone caring constantly, then suddenly he's this whiney nutjob. He just came across as a wet blanket to me, frustrated by being pushed from pillar to post by everyone. Trying hard but constantly gets kicked in the teeth. It makes him look dumb.
Bikers are rebels, it's all about pushing back for them -- So much fun could have been had with that in the story.
Good I don't play games for the story though!
xrnzaaas
Member
I didn't have a problem with the pacing of the main story myself, but I did have other issues. I think that the BIG hordes should appear much earlier in the main story, even if you were supposed to avoid or escape them. I still remember the horde from the first trailer and you find it very late in the game.
The bike uses way too much fuel at the beginning of the game and it shouldn't be such a big chore to monitor the fuel level. Not being able to ride with other people was also a bit of a downer. I'd love that even if they were controlled solely by AI and the game stayed a singleplayer title.
Overall I loved the game and finished it twice. I think it should've been delayed initially, because the very poor state at launch killed a lot of the hype and not that many people have tried it or returned after it was fully patched.
The bike uses way too much fuel at the beginning of the game and it shouldn't be such a big chore to monitor the fuel level. Not being able to ride with other people was also a bit of a downer. I'd love that even if they were controlled solely by AI and the game stayed a singleplayer title.
Overall I loved the game and finished it twice. I think it should've been delayed initially, because the very poor state at launch killed a lot of the hype and not that many people have tried it or returned after it was fully patched.
SCB3
Member
Pretty much this, a solid 7/8 but nothing too special, its also really fucking long, you open up a second area at a natural stopping point as well, I legit thought it was a cliffhanger for a sequel and nope, another 30 hours to go!
It relied far too much on the Biker story(years after Sons of Anarchy was done) and the spectacle of the Hordes, of which there are not many at all