Beyond Good & Evil 2 Catch All

Beyond Good & Evil 2

IMAGE(http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/4555/bge2.jpg)

With E3 rolling up soon, it looks like we're getting some new buzz on Beyond Good & Evil 2. Some new footage has "leaked" showing what looks to be a target video of the game in action. Hopefully it's playable at E3 so we can see what's what. Looks like a really awesome direction for the series!

Even though rendering such graphics on modern systems might be possible, I'm pretty sure it's target video. They may be using some of game assets but we won't see animations like these in few years, methinks.

Yeah, the animations are a bit too varied to seem real. Uncharted would probably be the closest I can think of that had that kind of reactive character animations, but even that isn't at this level.

The animations are on the far end of doable, but the camera handling was awesome! It never occurred to me that the hand-shake could add such an interesting element to the chase.

The jerky camera movements and the animation do seem to be a bit too scripted to be true. But if they can come close to that level of presentation, I'm going to be very happy. I hope the central themes from the last one work the same way in this, it was a very dark game at times from what I remember.

Looking forward to this game no matter what it looks like .... but if it looks like that, well then, hot damn!

Looks like a video.

It looks like they took a page from Assassin's Creed with all the climbing.

The Bourne Ultimatum was a good movie.

I didn't play the original BG&E until about 2 years ago so it's still relatively fresh in my head... and I'm having a hard time seeing a resemblance between the first game's universe and this one. I dunno. Guess I'll wait and see. It's like the first game was done in the vein of, say, Pixar's Monsters Inc. whereas this one is going more Quantum of Solace. I just don't see the natural progression there. Does everything have to be gritty now?

Whoa, niiiice. I wish it was a gameplay video..
/closes eyes and wishes Real Hard.

BGE2 was already pretty much a day one purchase for me; this sealed the deal. I was actually surprised it was getting made at all, after seeing that I think I get it, if the game looks and plays anything like that and keeps the charm of the first game I can see it turning out to be a fantastic game.

I didnt play BG&E until a few years ago, but I absolutely love it. Will certainly get this, and it better be damn awesome.
Graphics really doesnt matter for it to achieve awesomeness though, but art style does.

Kehama wrote:

I didn't play the original BG&E until about 2 years ago so it's still relatively fresh in my head... and I'm having a hard time seeing a resemblance between the first game's universe and this one. I dunno. Guess I'll wait and see. It's like the first game was done in the vein of, say, Pixar's Monsters Inc. whereas this one is going more Quantum of Solace. I just don't see the natural progression there. Does everything have to be gritty now?

I think the graphical power behind the current gen is what has driven the shift in art style, not a need for 'grittiness.' That being said, I think that character design for those populating the world(s) visited in BG&E2 are going to be what determines whether or not the two feel like a natural progression or two completely separate universes.

Kehama wrote:

I didn't play the original BG&E until about 2 years ago so it's still relatively fresh in my head... and I'm having a hard time seeing a resemblance between the first game's universe and this one. I dunno. Guess I'll wait and see. It's like the first game was done in the vein of, say, Pixar's Monsters Inc. whereas this one is going more Quantum of Solace. I just don't see the natural progression there. Does everything have to be gritty now?

Well, it's not cell-shaded anymore, but it still has a more saturated and brighter color scheme than your average "gritty" game. There are a lot of strong blues and yellows in that video. It seems they're certainly maintaining at least some of the cartoony style, but being less overt about it.

Switchbreak wrote:
Kehama wrote:

I didn't play the original BG&E until about 2 years ago so it's still relatively fresh in my head... and I'm having a hard time seeing a resemblance between the first game's universe and this one. I dunno. Guess I'll wait and see. It's like the first game was done in the vein of, say, Pixar's Monsters Inc. whereas this one is going more Quantum of Solace. I just don't see the natural progression there. Does everything have to be gritty now?

Well, it's not cell-shaded anymore, but it still has a more saturated and brighter color scheme than your average "gritty" game. There are a lot of strong blues and yellows in that video. It seems they're certainly maintaining at least some of the cartoony style, but being less overt about it.

This will be a day-one purchase for me just based on the last game, but I do see his point. Yeah, it's still fairly bright, but it no longer looks like the kind of world that you could expect to find, say, a talking pig as your best friend, does it? Still looks like the same Jade, so I don't think the main character has changed, at any rate.

The change in art direction could be thematic. It's clear that either the world has changed a lot, or it takes place in a different world altogether. They've traded the waterscape of Hillys for a world seemingly covered in desert. If this is Hillys, perhaps some kind of environmental collapse has taken place.

Although really, the art style is still pretty faithful to the original, just with upgraded lighting. BG&E used a very limited palette. Most of the environments were almost monochromatic, and there was a lot of that Fallout 3 green-wash. This one seems to use a wider, but slightly more muted, palette than the original. A lot more complementary colours. One of the things I loved about the art direction of the first one was that despite the cartoony nature of the world, everything was still grimy and dirty. It made it feel like a real place. I like that they've kept that.

BGnE is one of my absolute favorite games - seeing this just made me giddy like a little schoolgirl hopped up on pixie stix!

I think the animation might be doable on a very high-end PC, but the camera seems all wrong -- it's too cinematic. It doesn't look like an algorithm.

You know, I wasn't too enthralled with the original BG&E, it was good but I didn't put it on a pedestal like many others have. That said, if BG&E gameplay is anything like that leaked footage, I can't wait to see how it pans out.

Malor wrote:

I think the animation might be doable on a very high-end PC, but the camera seems all wrong -- it's too cinematic. It doesn't look like an algorithm.

Well, it *is* quite likely a render. Although given the chase scenes in the original, the finished product might not end up being that far away from it.

Even if it's simply concept footage, the video has me excited to see more. I enjoyed the original immensely.

If this is even close to real, it looks amazing. Meant to mention somewhere else, if anyone is interested in the soundtrack from the original it can be downloaded for free from the publisher at the following location: http://www.myspace.com/HyllianMusic I know lots of peeps really loved the original soundtrack.

It's interesting, the art direction of that clip. BG&E always had a very interesting mix of childish imagery and dark/realistic tone. IE: Talking animals being tortured. This seems to be using the beefier tech to take that idea even further. I'm excited by the possibilities of that.

I'm excited. Jade's a great character. Still a little wary about the "9/11 inspiration" but that's not enough to put me off and as others have pointed out, it's kind of hard to make a game about "fighting the system" without any awareness of such a historical event.

That video does look like a cutscene. Not just how smooth it is but also the details, reactions, and camera angles.

If this is even remotely the direction they are going with the game then I am 100% in love. Can't wait to get more information on this. It pains me that the original still isn't backwards compatible on the 360.

Great to know this game is still on it's way.

Edit: I was just in a secondhand book shop this morning and my eyes alighted on a book called 'Beyond Good and Evil.' It's by Friedrich Nietzsche. The summary on the back said it was a book that encouraged western countries to throw off the yoke of an artificially created morality and go beyond the notions of good and evil (sounds like a real page turner.)

It might be just a coincidence but it's a unique enough title to have made me look twice when seeing it in a different context.

I doubt it's a coincidence, actually

Around the same time, we also got Xenosaga II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse - which, translated from German, comes to "Beyond Good and Evil"

Yeah, there is no doubt that the game title was influenced by the book. I'm actually trying to wrestle my way through it at the moment. Not exactly light bed-time reading.

As to the game - this is excellent news! I loved the first game, and I loved the world they created. If this sticks reasonably close to it I will be delighted.

This was put on hold in August:
http://www.vg247.com/2009/08/26/repo...

BOOO!

...but now it's in production again:
http://www.vg247.com/2010/01/14/ubis...

Yay!

Woo!

I should get around to playing the original.