So yesterday and today I played Horizon: Zero Dawn, Final Fantasy XV and more at EGX 2016. I did play more smaller games but I thought I'd cover the big ones for now.
FFXV
I played on Xbox One for a total of 1 and a half hours in 30 minute slots. While the game is a massive step up in terms of combat mechanics compared to the demo. Graphically though it was seriously bad. Edit: Correction. It was mostly bad in terms of IQ, LOD and AA. Other than that it looked really nice!
The FFXV team were loading up saves from just after you meet Cindy in Chapter 1 although if you wanted to you could quit back to the main menu and start from Chapter 0. The reps stated this was the master build that should have been released this month. They were happy to have (high quality off screen pics taken as some people had nice cameras) but moaned about my IPad when I snuck in a few shots and told me no more lol.
Anyway the combat compared to the demos is so much better it's unbelievable, while functionally it's the same being able to switch to different swords on the fly which have different move sets makes the combat probably the best I've ever played in a FF game. I'm sure there's gaffers here that can back me up.
The only gripe I had was having to hold R1/RB and then Triangle/Y to warp strike. Minor though and it became second nature after a while. The way the characters interact together when fighting is something special, the funny little remarks that they give each other and the subsequent animations in reaction to doing a heavy attack makes the game immersive.
Camping is so much better now as well. The characters all talking to each other and having a laugh about the day's events really makes the whole road trip style story shine. It's not half assed like I thought it would have been. Side missions are the same as what we've seen in the extended videos so there's no point in talking about that really.
Graphically on Xbox One the game is atrocious, something which I hope the day one patch sorts out. If it uses a dynamic resolution it's painfully noticeable, with everything becoming blurry and muddy. It seems to happen when you're engaging in battle to help combat the frame drops, which there wasn't many of tbh. Mostly I encountered stutter issues when things were loading in.
IQ wise the lower resolution brings out the aliasing like I've never seen before. Noctis's and Cindys hair seem like they want to stab your eyes out. Power lines and generally every edge and line in the game is in need of an AA boost. Textures are affected too, especially the LOD systems, walking towards a rock, you can see the textures switching and it's extremely off putting. The far out rocks and cars etc look like something out of a PS2 game (no I'm not joking at all) it's literally flat, blurry rocks with PS2 style geometry. I tried to take pics to show what I meant, yes they're off screen but they still get the point across.
Other than that though the game holds up pretty nicely. As I said the PS4 version trumps the Xbone version but they each hold their own. It is an extremely pretty game but Is in need of the extra polish that the Devs are giving it!
I didn't realise the pic was this bad. Just wanted to point out the Rock on the right. As you walked closer it loaded in, it was the same with other rocks further out in the distance on the left.
In general thought the game is a pretty one and I'm fucking excited for it. The PS4 version that was next to me improves on these issues but there's still a few blurry textures in the back ground and it needs more AA, it is better looking than the XB1 version though and it'll be interesting to see the DF comparisons come November.
I feel like the worries some have for the game aren't needed. It is a return to form for the franchise and I can't wait until everyone gets to experience the game!
Edit: Just worth mentioning that when the reps were doing the rounds asking for feedback and everyone's impressions on the combat, performance, menus etc. 99% of people came away extremely impressed.
Honestly. As someone who doesn't really participate in FFXV discussions due to not wanting to get hyped because of apprehension caused by footage we have seen, I will say that after playing this. I'm sorry I didn't as its a truly amazing Final Fantasy game. Up to now, it's pressing all the right buttons and more. Especially the combat, animations, interactions by the group etc. November can't come soon enough!
HORIZON: ZERO DAWN
In order to play Horizon we had to be taken behind closed doors into a room where there was a massive TV. We were explicitly told NO CAMERA EQUIPMENT ALLOWED. (I snuck in 1 pic of the room though).
On the TV we were shown a new trailer that I've never seen before, it outlines Aloy as a child and being outcast by the tribe. Aloy becomes addicted to finding out why the world ended and it's hinted that the robots are the cause.
After the trailer we got the same gameplay from E3 being played live by the guy standing in front of us (it was hilarious and he was pretty bad). He was trying to capture a mount and take out watchers. After he captures the mount and heads off towards a little village he stops the game.
We were lead through a door that took us to a closed off area with high walls to roughly 14 demo units. We had half an hour to play the demo (really no need for that long). 3 guys were standing guard to make sure nobody took any photos and the reason given was that because it was not a complete game they didn't want anyone to think it was bad?
Anyway the game! In short it's absolutely amazing. We had access to a range of weapons, from the Bow, fire arrow Bow, trip wire Bow and a type of grenade. The button configuration was fairly simple, square to couch, X to jump, R3 to activate the scan and slow time features etc. The game really brings across the hunting theme, watchers stood watch over the broad head dinos making sure they collected resources, which you can steal and craft things with. There was no menu so I couldn't take a look at the map or anything. Mounting a broad head was intense, being attacked by 2 watchers is a usually death sentence unless you use stealth. They're truly vicious and move and attack like you would expect a raptor dinosaur to. They're usually taken down with the heavy arrows (forgot to list them) to the head and lining up shots in slow mo is easy enough. The broad head can be toppled with 3 trip wires at which point you have to hack it and it becomes your ally.
Graphically the game was stunning, no real issues even with the early build we were playing. Like FFXV though the game needed better AA, while not as a bad as the above game, aliasing was apparent. There was no pop in anywhere that I could see on foot. The game is a technical master piece until you ride the mount at full speed. This is where the issues started, going into heavy forest areas brought the frame rate down for roughly a second or two (nothing too major) and textures, shadows, geometry started popping in at full speed. Going about half speed there were no issues at all so I'm confident later builds and the final build will sort this. Also. Something strange I noticed is that while the trees, grass, textures, lighting etc were amazing the wooden huts looked like ass. It was a little jarring.
Other than that we weren't allowed to play story missions because of spoilers and it didn't really bother me, I'm told by the guys who have played later builds that the story is amazing though and it's really interesting to find out where modern humanity messed up and how the robots took over. Once again I can't wait to play it in full. The gameplay that we have is something else tbh, it's extremely fun to play especially when things get tense.
Oh one last thing. Horizon in 4K HDR will blow minds. It is probably the best looking game this gen.
Sorry for any spelling mistakes! Mods close if unnecessary. I'll be posting my pics soon as I can get back to my IPad! I'll also post impressions on GT Sports later.
FFXV
I played on Xbox One for a total of 1 and a half hours in 30 minute slots. While the game is a massive step up in terms of combat mechanics compared to the demo. Graphically though it was seriously bad. Edit: Correction. It was mostly bad in terms of IQ, LOD and AA. Other than that it looked really nice!
The FFXV team were loading up saves from just after you meet Cindy in Chapter 1 although if you wanted to you could quit back to the main menu and start from Chapter 0. The reps stated this was the master build that should have been released this month. They were happy to have (high quality off screen pics taken as some people had nice cameras) but moaned about my IPad when I snuck in a few shots and told me no more lol.
Anyway the combat compared to the demos is so much better it's unbelievable, while functionally it's the same being able to switch to different swords on the fly which have different move sets makes the combat probably the best I've ever played in a FF game. I'm sure there's gaffers here that can back me up.
The only gripe I had was having to hold R1/RB and then Triangle/Y to warp strike. Minor though and it became second nature after a while. The way the characters interact together when fighting is something special, the funny little remarks that they give each other and the subsequent animations in reaction to doing a heavy attack makes the game immersive.
Camping is so much better now as well. The characters all talking to each other and having a laugh about the day's events really makes the whole road trip style story shine. It's not half assed like I thought it would have been. Side missions are the same as what we've seen in the extended videos so there's no point in talking about that really.
Graphically on Xbox One the game is atrocious, something which I hope the day one patch sorts out. If it uses a dynamic resolution it's painfully noticeable, with everything becoming blurry and muddy. It seems to happen when you're engaging in battle to help combat the frame drops, which there wasn't many of tbh. Mostly I encountered stutter issues when things were loading in.
IQ wise the lower resolution brings out the aliasing like I've never seen before. Noctis's and Cindys hair seem like they want to stab your eyes out. Power lines and generally every edge and line in the game is in need of an AA boost. Textures are affected too, especially the LOD systems, walking towards a rock, you can see the textures switching and it's extremely off putting. The far out rocks and cars etc look like something out of a PS2 game (no I'm not joking at all) it's literally flat, blurry rocks with PS2 style geometry. I tried to take pics to show what I meant, yes they're off screen but they still get the point across.
Other than that though the game holds up pretty nicely. As I said the PS4 version trumps the Xbone version but they each hold their own. It is an extremely pretty game but Is in need of the extra polish that the Devs are giving it!
I didn't realise the pic was this bad. Just wanted to point out the Rock on the right. As you walked closer it loaded in, it was the same with other rocks further out in the distance on the left.
In general thought the game is a pretty one and I'm fucking excited for it. The PS4 version that was next to me improves on these issues but there's still a few blurry textures in the back ground and it needs more AA, it is better looking than the XB1 version though and it'll be interesting to see the DF comparisons come November.
I feel like the worries some have for the game aren't needed. It is a return to form for the franchise and I can't wait until everyone gets to experience the game!
Edit: Just worth mentioning that when the reps were doing the rounds asking for feedback and everyone's impressions on the combat, performance, menus etc. 99% of people came away extremely impressed.
Honestly. As someone who doesn't really participate in FFXV discussions due to not wanting to get hyped because of apprehension caused by footage we have seen, I will say that after playing this. I'm sorry I didn't as its a truly amazing Final Fantasy game. Up to now, it's pressing all the right buttons and more. Especially the combat, animations, interactions by the group etc. November can't come soon enough!
HORIZON: ZERO DAWN
In order to play Horizon we had to be taken behind closed doors into a room where there was a massive TV. We were explicitly told NO CAMERA EQUIPMENT ALLOWED. (I snuck in 1 pic of the room though).
On the TV we were shown a new trailer that I've never seen before, it outlines Aloy as a child and being outcast by the tribe. Aloy becomes addicted to finding out why the world ended and it's hinted that the robots are the cause.
After the trailer we got the same gameplay from E3 being played live by the guy standing in front of us (it was hilarious and he was pretty bad). He was trying to capture a mount and take out watchers. After he captures the mount and heads off towards a little village he stops the game.
We were lead through a door that took us to a closed off area with high walls to roughly 14 demo units. We had half an hour to play the demo (really no need for that long). 3 guys were standing guard to make sure nobody took any photos and the reason given was that because it was not a complete game they didn't want anyone to think it was bad?
Anyway the game! In short it's absolutely amazing. We had access to a range of weapons, from the Bow, fire arrow Bow, trip wire Bow and a type of grenade. The button configuration was fairly simple, square to couch, X to jump, R3 to activate the scan and slow time features etc. The game really brings across the hunting theme, watchers stood watch over the broad head dinos making sure they collected resources, which you can steal and craft things with. There was no menu so I couldn't take a look at the map or anything. Mounting a broad head was intense, being attacked by 2 watchers is a usually death sentence unless you use stealth. They're truly vicious and move and attack like you would expect a raptor dinosaur to. They're usually taken down with the heavy arrows (forgot to list them) to the head and lining up shots in slow mo is easy enough. The broad head can be toppled with 3 trip wires at which point you have to hack it and it becomes your ally.
Graphically the game was stunning, no real issues even with the early build we were playing. Like FFXV though the game needed better AA, while not as a bad as the above game, aliasing was apparent. There was no pop in anywhere that I could see on foot. The game is a technical master piece until you ride the mount at full speed. This is where the issues started, going into heavy forest areas brought the frame rate down for roughly a second or two (nothing too major) and textures, shadows, geometry started popping in at full speed. Going about half speed there were no issues at all so I'm confident later builds and the final build will sort this. Also. Something strange I noticed is that while the trees, grass, textures, lighting etc were amazing the wooden huts looked like ass. It was a little jarring.
Other than that we weren't allowed to play story missions because of spoilers and it didn't really bother me, I'm told by the guys who have played later builds that the story is amazing though and it's really interesting to find out where modern humanity messed up and how the robots took over. Once again I can't wait to play it in full. The gameplay that we have is something else tbh, it's extremely fun to play especially when things get tense.
Oh one last thing. Horizon in 4K HDR will blow minds. It is probably the best looking game this gen.
Sorry for any spelling mistakes! Mods close if unnecessary. I'll be posting my pics soon as I can get back to my IPad! I'll also post impressions on GT Sports later.
).
