• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Digital Foundry: The Order: 1886 Retrospective + PS5 60fps Gameplay

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
That’s all well and fine, I’m not saying the game is good or great. I’m saying that people exaggerate the hate.
I dont care about the reviews, I played the game and even finished it and I would say its not exaggerated. This game's top priority was just show off graphics, gameplay and everthing else was afterthought.

I was really excited for this game because I enjoyed R&D other games like Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta but Order 1886 was full price show floor tech demo.
 
Last edited:

sinnergy

Member
There was more than talk - we pitched a sequel, they "absolutely loved it" (or so they claimed, at least), but decided not to pursue. Their prerogative, of course, so that was it.
Can’t you self publish a sequel ? Or make a sequel but all in name . Basically a new IP with lots of the same ingredients ?
 

Chuck Berry

Gold Member
So by reading, watching, and/or listening to someone's else opinion, that makes me a sheep? I guess you better tell that to everyone who's every read a movie or music review too. Taking your assertion to the next level, if I have a conversation with my friends about a topic and some of them have the same opinions as me and some have differing opinions, does that also make me a sheep?

Yes
 

poodaddy

Member
It has been a long time, but the analysis video was certainly appreciated. Very well done overall.

Just one little correction, since this one has been repeated non stop since before the game was even released, and it is presented as factual even in the video: the black bars were never about performance, they were an artistic decision.

First, like the vast majority of games over the last 2 generations of consoles, The Order was *heavily* CPU bound. Fill rate was rarely an issue on PS4, never on this game other than in the one or two instances when artists got carried away with full screen FX. Savings from not rasterizing the pixels where the bars are were negligible.

Second, the bars were there from the start. You can check out the PC prototype we had running in 2012, long before the PS4 specs were even decided upon, much less finalized, and the black bars were already there. Concept art from 2011 already had the black bars.

The aspect ratio has profound implications for lighting and framing, which is way it was felt that the warmer, more epic vibe of wide photography would benefit the mood and artistic feel of the game. It was an experiment, like many others in the game, and it was obviously one that was firmly rejected by players - I assure you we would not make the same choice again if we had the opportunity to do so.

Still, like the result or hate it, the suggestion that the black bars somehow allowed us to push the visuals we did is, and has always been, completely inaccurate.
I would bet that if you guys ever got the chance to make a spiritual sequel with the same level of production value on modern platforms, particularly PC, it would be successful. Hell, ultra wide monitors would go great with the game's look as well. I loved the game personally, but then I do this thing where I play games rather than joining zeitgeists, and I form my own opinions. People whined about your game because it was a bit short, yet I don't recall anyone whining that classic games were too short, in fact I've always seen it as a plus for replayability.

I truly wish you guys would release a spiritual sequel on PC, or maybe even write a book finishing the story. I'll tell ya what, it'd make for a great movie trilogy. Thanks for your insight and contribution to the thread.
 
It has been a long time, but the analysis video was certainly appreciated. Very well done overall.

Just one little correction, since this one has been repeated non stop since before the game was even released, and it is presented as factual even in the video: the black bars were never about performance, they were an artistic decision.

First, like the vast majority of games over the last 2 generations of consoles, The Order was *heavily* CPU bound. Fill rate was rarely an issue on PS4, never on this game other than in the one or two instances when artists got carried away with full screen FX. Savings from not rasterizing the pixels where the bars are were negligible.

Second, the bars were there from the start. You can check out the PC prototype we had running in 2012, long before the PS4 specs were even decided upon, much less finalized, and the black bars were already there. Concept art from 2011 already had the black bars.

The aspect ratio has profound implications for lighting and framing, which is way it was felt that the warmer, more epic vibe of wide photography would benefit the mood and artistic feel of the game. It was an experiment, like many others in the game, and it was obviously one that was firmly rejected by players - I assure you we would not make the same choice again if we had the opportunity to do so.

Still, like the result or hate it, the suggestion that the black bars somehow allowed us to push the visuals we did is, and has always been, completely inaccurate.
The Evil Within released a patch that removed the black bars.
 
The Evil Within released a patch that removed the black bars.

Sure, but The Evil Within was 16:9 to begin with. The Order is rendering at 21:9 instead. It's not quite the gotcha you think it is.

If all you want is full screen 16:9 then just zoom the image on your TV like philistines do with movies that use the same aspect ratio (2.35:1/2.37:1)
 
Last edited:

cash_longfellow

Gold Member
So by reading, watching, and/or listening to someone's else opinion, that makes me a sheep? I guess you better tell that to everyone who's every read a movie or music review too. Taking your assertion to the next level, if I have a conversation with my friends about a topic and some of them have the same opinions as me and some have differing opinions, does that also make me a sheep?
So by reading, watching, and/or listening to someone's else opinion, that makes me a sheep? I guess you better tell that to everyone who's every read a movie or music review too. Taking your assertion to the next level, if I have a conversation with my friends about a topic and some of them have the same opinions as me and some have differing opinions, does that also make me a sheep?
No it doesn’t if you are having a conversation with a friend. You’re not doing that if you are watching a review of a random person on YouTube after you’ve already played a game. Going back to my original point, why on Earth would I watch a review of a game I’ve already played? That’s where the initial conversation started at. Sheep are the people that take reviews all the way to heart and base their purchases solely on what someone else says about something. The complete opposite of having your own opinions. This means they are following others opinions. Following meaning “sheep”.

Edit - I think I may have misinterpreted what you said. So, you are saying you watch reviews just for others’ opinions on a game, not for a purchasing decision? If that’s the case, I apologize for taking your comments out of context. I’m referring solely to individuals who buy their games based on reviews, and only based on reviews.
 
Last edited:

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
No it doesn’t if you are having a conversation with a friend. You’re not doing that if you are watching a review of a random person on YouTube after you’ve already played a game. Going back to my original point, why on Earth would I watch a review of a game I’ve already played? That’s where the initial conversation started at. Sheep are the people that take reviews all the way to heart and base their purchases solely on what someone else says about something. The complete opposite of having your own opinions. This means they are following others opinions. Following meaning “sheep”.
Or, they're searching for confirmation bias.
 

cash_longfellow

Gold Member
I dont care about the reviews, I played the game and even finished it and I would say its not exaggerated. This game's top priority was just show off graphics, gameplay and everthing else was afterthought.

I was really excited for this game because I enjoyed R&D other games like Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta but Order 1886 was full price show floor tech demo.
I hear you…the exaggeration part is referring more to the people saying they platinumed in 4 hours, and say they didn’t straight b-line it as fast as possible.
 
This game was awesome and I will always be mad people reacted so negatively and sunk what could have been a cool series.

It's not the deepest game no, but there was literally nothing wrong with the gameplay, if you couldn't lose yourself in the second to none atmosphere I don't understand you, it's genuinely one of the coolest bits of world building gaming has ever seen and we will probably never see anything as cool ever again with the way things are going.

Gamers deserve the bloated "collect 100 X doohickeys" AAA gaming has become in the years since.
 
Last edited:

SkylineRKR

Member
Perhaps the game was marketed wrong. The Order was clearly trying to be a cinematic game and I think it delivered on that front. However, ofcourse it looks and plays like a cover shooter and yes there was no online, no horde mode... nothing that had been a gold standard in these games for years. In 2015 this was a hard sell for full buck. Yet QD games that push cinematics and barely feature gameplay did well.

I do think it could use some replayability. It was too tempting to just borrow or rent it. Like RE3R, its about the same size but I beat it over 5 times on different difficulties that changed things up and there are weapons and things to unlock. Returnal is short too, but its procedural generated maps, build variety and challenge keep replayability high for those that like it. Generally short games at least have something that make them replayable nowadays.
 
The replayability was supposed to stem from the game being such an impressive experience you want to experience it multiple times to just enjoy it, whatever happened to that?

I used to play MGS1, MGS2 and Silent Hill 3 over and over again not just for any unlockables but to just to enjoy the game as an experience for the hell out of it, like one would rewatch a favorite movie.

That's one thing that's been lost with gaming since, even Kojima has made his most recent games you'd only really want to play them once.
 
The replayability was supposed to stem from the game being such an impressive experience you want to experience it multiple times to just enjoy it, whatever happened to that?

I used to play MGS1, MGS2 and Silent Hill 3 over and over again not just for any unlockables but to just to enjoy the game as an experience for the hell out of it, like one would rewatch a favorite movie.

That's one thing that's been lost with gaming since, even Kojima has made his most recent games you'd only really want to play them once.
The problem is The Order is not an impressive experience. The gameplay is a bog standard third person shooter, with no interesting enemies, weapons, level design, and encounter design, while reusing identical boss and mini-boss fights multiple times. Furthermore, the characters are completely stock.
 

Zuzu

Member
It’s a pretty dull game but the visuals are quite impressive, especially the rendering of the materials. I do think it’s visuals have aged a bit and it doesn’t look as impressive as modern stuff in some areas. But that’s to be expected given its age.
 
Last edited:
Perhaps the game was marketed wrong. The Order was clearly trying to be a cinematic game and I think it delivered on that front. However, ofcourse it looks and plays like a cover shooter and yes there was no online, no horde mode... nothing that had been a gold standard in these games for years. In 2015 this was a hard sell for full buck. Yet QD games that push cinematics and barely feature gameplay did well.

I do think it could use some replayability. It was too tempting to just borrow or rent it. Like RE3R, its about the same size but I beat it over 5 times on different difficulties that changed things up and there are weapons and things to unlock. Returnal is short too, but its procedural generated maps, build variety and challenge keep replayability high for those that like it. Generally short games at least have something that make them replayable nowadays.
The last of us is a very cinematic game. But it's story and characters were actually GOOD.

Games are about more than graphics.
 
Sure, but The Evil Within was 16:9 to begin with. The Order is rendering at 21:9 instead. It's not quite the gotcha you think it is.

If all you want is full screen 16:9 then just zoom the image on your TV like philistines do with movies that use the same aspect ratio (2.35:1/2.37:1)
Videogames are not movies. That's where the developers went wrong. Even Kojima understands that. And I don't need a "gotcha" the market decided on their vision. But I guess they're all Philistines.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
I think that jurnos killed it. Everyone were shitting on the game days before it came out just bc it was short, and some users basically made a campaign against the game on youtube. It was sad bc it wasnt a bad game and I think that it still has some fans
Just like forspoken. Another fine game. Maybe no masterpiece but it was destroyed before it released too
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Shit story
Incredibly cliche gameplay

I mean it was a full priced four hour game.



Here’s a great review for the game.

They have some of worst games ever.
They shit on uncharted 4 like if it was their worst game ever. But it’s my fav game.
I would’ve skipped it if I saw their review. Just as Inskipped 1886 because of them.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
There was more than talk - we pitched a sequel, they "absolutely loved it" (or so they claimed, at least), but decided not to pursue. Their prerogative, of course, so that was it.
Really thoroughly enjoyed the game (one of my PS4 highlights like DriveClub and many others) :)! I am still curious on your Rust journey with the RaD engine. Is it still in use?
 
Videogames are not movies. That's where the developers went wrong. Even Kojima understands that.

Videogames are just another form of entertainment, another medium for storytelling if so chosen like this developer did - and so Kojima judging by his games and the usual complaints against them. Genuinely curious what videogames are supposed to be in your view.

And I don't need a "gotcha" the market decided on their vision.

Of course you do, otherwise why bring up The Evil Within in the manner you did as a naff counterpoint to having black bars. That game was 16:9 to begin with so patching was easy. If you watch the DF video for The Order then you'll see its not remotely similar given cinematics & set-pieces are framed with the wider aspect in mind and 16:9 ends up causing issues which the devs would have to manually tweak all to patch in 16:9 properly. If this thread is anything to go by, the main issues with this game were length and generic gameplay, not the aspect ratio. You're taking your own issue with the game as being indicative of everyone's when that's just not the case.

But I guess they're all Philistines.

Well, yeah :messenger_confused: Having a disdain for artistic value is the definition of a philistine in the context used.
 
The problem is The Order is not an impressive experience. The gameplay is a bog standard third person shooter, with no interesting enemies, weapons, level design, and encounter design, while reusing identical boss and mini-boss fights multiple times. Furthermore, the characters are completely stock.
No interesting level design? The airship is one of the coolest levels in game history.

And no interesting weapons? Things like the thermite gun were unique, most of the weapons had some interesting twist to them.

The game is far better than Uncharted 1, talk about bog standard third person shooter there, yet people gave Uncharted a pass and it spawned a whole series, The Order meanwhile was forced to stop at one.

The game actually exceeded my expectations, I was expecting something far more shallower and shorter given the buzz surrounding it and I was shocked that it was nothing like I was lead to believe.

People were cynical and overly hard to please, the game just did get fair treatment at all, I don't understand what was going on with gamers at the time, but people took things for granted.
 
No interesting level design? The airship is one of the coolest levels in game history.

And no interesting weapons? Things like the thermite gun were unique, most of the weapons had some interesting twist to them.

The game is far better than Uncharted 1, talk about bog standard third person shooter there, yet people gave Uncharted a pass and it spawned a whole series, The Order meanwhile was forced to stop at one.

The game actually exceeded my expectations, I was expecting something far more shallower and shorter given the buzz surrounding it and I was shocked that it was nothing like I was lead to believe.

People were cynical and overly hard to please, the game just did get fair treatment at all, I don't understand what was going on with gamers at the time, but people took things for granted.
Nearly finished the game now first time playing it and while the art design is top notch, and yes some of the weapons are well thought out and everything is visually impressive. The gameplay is uninspired and very generic. In fact I'd call it a poor man's Gears of War, seems like that was what the developer was going for but never reached the heights of that franchise.
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
The lore has potential and I'd play a sequel that would expand upon it and make the game and story actually interesting and fun, but otherwise this game is boring as shit. I don't think I'd even bother revisiting it if it got an official PS5 patch. It's such a dull and lifeless experience, I'd literally rather spend those 3 hours that would take me to finish this game on peeling potatoes.

And who cares about pretty graphics? Everything has pretty graphics these days.
 

mrmustard

Banned
However, all the cutscenes in Ryse are prerendered, while The Order runs them realtime. This is an immense difference in my book.
That's fine, but i don't give a crap about cutscenes, i only care about ingame graphics and both were beautiful.
 

T-0800

Member
One of Sony's biggest mistakes within the last 10 years too. Letting go of Evolution Studios was another of the top 5 biggest mistakes.

I agree but it's not like they didn't get a number of chances. That said I would have kept them as they made good games
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
Serious question…can anyone remember why people were so hard on this game? I somewhat remember it being mostly about the length of it, but can’t fully remember.
The weird resolution (black bars), the length, and the fact that it's on rails essentially and had very light gameplay.
 

Trogdor1123

Gold Member


‚Firearms Expert reacts‘ today loaded this Video up. Still looks brillant.

I really want an Reboot/Reimagination from Bluepoint

Sony is so dumb to nor give this a new shot.

They are dumb to not give a game that sold poorly another shot? Maybe, but certainly not in the same budget.
 

Pfroebbel

Member
They are dumb to not give a game that sold poorly another shot? Maybe, but certainly not in the same budget.

Yes. The Game and the World have so much Potential.
It was fresh, it looked astonishing, it played very good - in the few short Moments when you are allowed to play.

Bluepoint can create graphical absolute great Games like Demons Souls proved and they could adapt and form this Franchise in their way so that it will be the Success the Franchise deserves.

The Order 1886 has, despite all of its flaws a fanbase who loves it. In the second try it could get as good as it should
 

Luipadre

Member
Yes. The Game and the World have so much Potential.
It was fresh, it looked astonishing, it played very good - in the few short Moments when you are allowed to play.

Bluepoint can create graphical absolute great Games like Demons Souls proved and they could adapt and form this Franchise in their way so that it will be the Success the Franchise deserves.

The Order 1886 has, despite all of its flaws a fanbase who loves it. In the second try it could get as good as it should

Omg an order 2 made by bluepoint... dont do this to me :(
 

yurinka

Member
This is a PS4 game I'd remaster, fixing most of its issue with some tweaks, adding 4K 60fps option, a selector to make the bars smaller or remove them, improved boss fights and an extra coop mode and a few new -less linear- stages. And also giving you the option to swap between already unlocked weapons at the star of the level.

And after that I'd make a movie and a sequel.

The Order 1886 has, despite all of its flaws a fanbase who loves it. In the second try it could get as good as it should
I think it's the most underrated game of the generation, and that its flaws weren't that important.

It was bashed because people wanted it to be instead of for what it was. People wanted online multiplayer, non linear open world, long length, coop, more gameplay and less cutscenes or QTEs,, etc.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom