Lords of the Fallen. Next Gen Blade of Darkness, or Dark Souls?

[Carfax83]

Long time PC gamers may have played, or at least heard of the classic action RPG PC game Severance Blade of Darkness, which was a major cult hit back in the glory days of PC gaming that pushed the graphical boundaries. I've been looking for a game that would bring back the nostalgic feeling I had for that game, and although many have recommended the Dark Souls series, it just never provoked any sentiment within me..

It might be the lackluster graphics or stiff animations, but I could just never get into Dark Souls.

The NEXT GEN ONLY title Lords of the Fallen on the other hand, looks to be something else entirely. Already there are many comparisons to Dark Souls, but from what I've seen, the game is FAR more advanced from a graphical standpoint, and the combat system is equally as complex, yet much more fluid and responsive and with a friendlier learning curve. It also seems to be more story driven, which is definitely a plus.

The game will also use NVidia's PhysX and Apex technology for low level physics and advanced effects like cloth, snow and other particle simulation plus environmental destruction..

There will only be one character, but you have the option of playing three classes; a cleric, a warrior and a rogue. There will also be magical abilities and weapons, some of which will be class limited.

Anyway, with that said, here are some videos:

E3 stage demo

Pre-alpha gameplay and backstory elements

Screenshots:

 

[AlexAL]

Any hint to release date? I look forward to this.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

:thumbsup: Looks good. If it is half as good as Severance I will be very happy. I suspect many others will be too.

Also - I think you are referring to "Severence: Blade of Darkness."

 

[TheSlamma]

Graphics and story driven doesn't make a good game. Just means the writers couldn't make it in Hollywood so now they make a video game story most people just hit the skip button on. Seriously, most video game "stories" are pretty bad.

That video just looks like a DS clone is all and it sounds like it can be beat in only 15 hours.

 

[Cerb]

The last game I bought was Long Live The Queen. I feel so out of place .

Looks OK. The story already looks like crap, so it's going to live or die by the combat implementation, and the enemy AIs. If bad, meh. If good, it could be addictive, and if good with true multiple difficulties (you know some games just add enemy health, and it's not any deadlier? Screw that), quite repayable. No way to tell early on, and not enough info in the videos. We'll see, but my inner cynic usually takes over when I see EA or Ubi...

 

[Carfax83]

Any hint to release date? I look forward to this.

It's supposed to be coming out this fall, so look for it around September or October this year..

:thumbsup: Looks good. If it is half as good as Severance I will be very happy. I suspect many others will be too.

Also - I think you are referring to "Severence: Blade of Darkness."

Corrected! And yeah, I must have played Blade of Darkness at least four or five times! I really loved that game, so any game that can bring me back to those moments is a must buy!

 

[cmdrdredd]

Graphics and story driven doesn't make a good game. Just means the writers couldn't make it in Hollywood so now they make a video game story most people just hit the skip button on. Seriously, most video game "stories" are pretty bad.

That video just looks like a DS clone is all and it sounds like it can be beat in only 15 hours.

Story driven games aren't always good games but I've played a lot of games that have a good story.

 

[futurefields]

Graphics and story driven doesn't make a good game. Just means the writers couldn't make it in Hollywood

Got an example you are referring to, or are you just making that up?

 

[mindcycle]

I still play through blade of darkness every year or two, probably my favorite PC game of all time. Looks like this could be decent. It's missing the dismemberment though, haha. That was a huge part of the blade of darkness experience IMHO.

 

[Maphesta]

I created an account solely to be able to reply to this post.

Carfax83, it's like I was the original poster myself! I used google to find out if I was the only one who thought this game should be compared with Severance and NOT Dark Souls. I love Severance for the same reasons as yours and I dislike Dark Souls for the same reasons as yours.

The moment I saw the E3 trailer, without any external bias, a nostalgic feeling came over me and all I could think about was Severance - Blade of Darkness.

This is the next gen Severance I was waiting for. To this day there's no Third Person melee-combat game I love more than Severance. To this day it is my strong opinion that there is no game out there that has a melee combat system even remotely as good as Severance's.

So... I'm with you, Carfax83. I'm as psyched as you about this title and was excited to see I wasn't the only one that made the connection.

PS: To those guys here who still own the original Blade of Darkness box and manual... look at the credits. It says "Vinnie the Great" somewhere. That's me Hey, don't make fun of the name! I was.. what, 15 years old back then! I lived on the Rebelact forums. Ah, good times...

 

[Mandres]

You're really doing yourself a disservice by skipping the Dark Souls series.

 

[Carfax83]

So... I'm with you, Carfax83. I'm as psyched as you about this title and was excited to see I wasn't the only one that made the connection.

Yeah, the game does give off that vibe to be sure.. But unless Lords of the Fallen has dismemberment, I'm not sure how close it can get to Severance..

Anyway, here are some new screenshots. The game is looking really sharp and atmospheric:

 

[Carfax83]

Also video from Gamespot showing new footage from the Comic Con event:

New footage!

 

[smackababy]

I will have to check out this new footage when I get home. I wasn't entirely impressed with the E3 demo stuff, from a "next Dark Souls" perspective. Dark Souls is "clunky" by design. When you swing a large sword with both hands, there is a penalty in how agile you can be during that motion and the recovery of it. The combat looked too fluid in the demo. Too animation heavy. I was also a bit put off by how the developer seemed to be acting as if their boss mechanic was some new, revolutionary idea: as you do damage, he loses pieces of armor and becomes faster! Oh, never seen that before...

But, the game might turn out pretty good. I am not getting my hopes up, but definitely keeping an eye on it.

 

[Maleficus]

it looks very 'actiony'. reminds me of something trying to cash in on the appeal of dark souls without really taking any of the things that made it great.

 

[Moe Zart]

You're really doing yourself a disservice by skipping the Dark Souls series.

No he's not.

 

[Attic]

Looks interesting. Will keep an eye on it. After watching some vids and reading, I think it needs better combat, better graphic detail (love the art direction and sense of scale), and more difficult boses. I like where all of these are, but it looks clear that everything needs to be quite a bit better before release. Yep, pre-alpha stage that i'm criticizing, but I just hope they focus in these areas a lot.

Hope there is enough time to get everything done extremely well with this one.