@dipset said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2021):

@sentinel-beach
I have Sands of Time on GC. I haven't played it in years. Do you think the combat holds up in general and is generally enjoyable by today's standards?

I'd say that it's still solid. There are many games with worse combat system and many with better, but in Sands of Time it suits the tone and story of the game. The Prince can get overwhelmed by the enemies but he also has a fighting chance with his acrobatics and sword skills. I do have to admit that I haven't played the game in years, either, but with around dozen playthroughs behind me I want to believe that my memory still serves.

I went and see Villeneuve's Dune last night.

That... was an impressive movie. Scifi perfection, dear Lord. I'd never read the book or saw Lynch's version, so this was my first touch to Arrakis and Paul Atreides and all. Two and a half hours flew by, such a captivating film. Do yourself a favor and see this in a theater, it deserves it. The audiovisual side engulfed me. The cast was very good through and through, yet I still have to name Rebecca Ferguson as Jessica in particular. She was amazing, her best role I've seen. Such intensity and beauty at the same time, I was enthralled by her. Chalamet and Bardem were my other favourite stand-outs.

@capnbobamous said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2021):

Question for @Sentinel-Beach regarding Sands of Time:

How's the difficulty? I know the whole gimmick of the series is that you can rewind time, but does this make the combat and traversal too easy? Are the stakes still there?

That's a good question. You can't rewind the time endlessly, because you have these "sand slots" in the Dagger that allow for a few rewinds. The longer you hold down the button the further away in time the game let's you go. In some dire situations you only have sand left for literally a second, but that can still safe you from that lethat enemy strike that just killed you. You just have to be really quick right after the rewind this time around!

But all in all the game isn't too hard, no. The most difficult sections are usually some of the biggest enemy encounters when the game just keeps teleporting more and more of those SOBs and you need to be careful the whole time or you'll easily end up having to start the whole encounter all over again. The traversal's much more easier in that regard. A few missed jumps are allowed because of the Dagger, but usually you just need to keep your eyes open and concentrate taking on every jump and obstacle one at a time. Satisfying moments to clear many of the longer trials/pathways.

@shoulderguy said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2021):

Question for @Sentinel-Beach : Tell me about the Shotgun?

No shotgun for the Prince. :/
Did they ever do a game for The Mummy. I could see Brendan Fraser blasting mummies and sand creatures in an environment like this.

@brannox said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2021):

For @Sentinel-Beach regarding Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
1.) From the clip you provided, a lot of the traversal shown was pretty repetitive: Wall run over a switch, land on the activated platform, and move on before the timer runs out. Can you speak to the level design for the game as a whole and is what was shown indicative of the entire game, or are there other platforming mechanics like swimming, climbing, shimmying, rope traversal, etc.?

2.) The combat seems simple: Attack an enemy enough until you can use your dagger finisher: Are there other combos, abilities, skills, etc. you can implement while fighting, or is it just the mindless dance of out brute-force your opponent until the battle is over?

1. So no, the Prison level does not show the nature of the entire game. That descent is really repetitive, no doubt about it. Usually, however, the Prince is going upwards or through some huge areas in a very elaborate way. Both outdoors and indoors. There's no swimming, but a lot of climbing, wall-running, swinging on poles, jumping, ducking from blades etc. The whole is basically full of environmental puzzles one after another, some smaller, some way bigger. There's even "laser puzzles" in the Library with light and mirrors. And you get to ascend the palace towers on the outside at a few points which are really memorable to play through. Hundreds of feet in the air, swinging and jumping there.

2. The combat is perhaps the weakest link here, but it still feels very good. There's a certain umpf to your sword hits and you just don't grow tired to sucking the sands away into the Dagger. The combat is a lot somersaults and backflips, being on your guard, too. You can springboard from a wall with your sword first into the enemies in a devastating fashion. You also get the ability to basically turn an enemy into a vulnerable state in which they slowdown and turn "half-sand", waiting for your decisive strike. One super ability allows you to freeze all the enemies into that state and then you zap around super fast slicing them in half in one strike. That drains up all your power storage. And also, there are a couple of new swords you get through the game. The final one is really OP and basically let's you slice the enemies up with just the normal swings.

@dipset said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2021):

Question to @Sentinel-Beach about Sands of Time

It's been a long time since I played this title, but I do remember thinking it's a classic. However, if my memory serves me correctly, I think I found almost everything to be improved upon in it's sequels (mainly the combat). Can you elaborate on why you think Sands of Time is better than the other games in this trilogy?

Oh man. You went there. :) I've also played the whole trilogy multiple times and like it a lot, but they're all three so different games! You're right that specifically the combat was much improved and made way more diverse in Warrior Within, but that game's just soooo dark! In many ways, both thematically and literally. So much brown and black. It's a cool story and scenario with the Dahaka and all, but I much prefer the fairytale-like nature of Sands of Time. Easier for my mind, eyes and senses.

The Two Thrones then again is like a hybrid of the first two games. It plays well, but it somehow lacks the soul or that certain feel of both the previous games. Whether it's the Arabian Nights or grimdark.

@jdincinerator said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2021):

@sentinel-beach How do you feel Prince of Persia has inspired other games in its genre and do you hold it up as a trailblazer of sorts?

This is a tough question to answer. The game came out in 2003 so there'd been games that had done lot of the things Sands of Time presents - even the rewind mechanic (Blinx etc.) - but it's the flawless combination of all of those that made me fall in love with the game.

What I do think the game has that's pretty seldom used is the feeling of one continuous journey/path/escape, whatever you call it. The time frame is kept tight and everything happens one scene after the other. There aren't any cutscenes that place the Prince and Farah suddenly days ahead or miles away. That helps a lot to make the game feel really personal. You're helping the pair run through the palace, trying to undo the awful events that are constantly all around you. I think this is one aspect that some later games have used afterwards. Or at least they should! It's awesome.

@ffff0 said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2021):

Question to @Sentinel-Beach about Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

In gameplay video that you’ve presented, camera was seamless during traversal, but there were a lot of perspective shifts during combat. Having two different camera behaviors seem odd on its own, but it’s especially strange when the more “chaotic” version is allocated to fighting enemies. This was a very simple environment, yet I was disoriented and confused to the point that I initially thought that some portion of gameplay was cut for the interest of time.

How camera feels when you play the game? Is it more, or less a hurdle than when you watch someone else playing it?

You are correct that there are basically two camera systems in the game. You control the camera most of the time with the right stick like in most games, but there are also fixed angles that are usually tied to some traversal parts. In that regard this clip from the Prison was not the best it could have been. Plus, I think that because that's such a tight interior the camera struggles a bit during that fight and ends up "jumping" from time to time, trying to find the best angle. And also because the player is turning it at the same time.

My video quota is full, otherwise I would've linked another clip from more open areas. But to answer your question, the camera doesn't feel like a hurdle when playing the game. Most of the time. :) Yes, sometimes in areas like the Prison, or when a fixed angle suddenly pops up guiding you through a traversal section. That can be a little disorientating for a second.

Sorry people for not responding yet to anything. I'll do my best by the weekend. (And if not, there'll go my points, which is fair.)

Finished the first loop, the morning then came again. It's pretty quickly starting to show that there is potential for those great scores the game's been getting. It feels very nice to play, both controlling Colt himself and just the game in general. The whole milieu is very strange and anachronistic, which gives the game a sort of weird over-all vibe that I am starting to like. Definitely some Dishonored roots are showing, but hey, why shouldn't they? Colt keeps talking to himself and Julianna a lot, which sits well into the situation, I feel. The huge puzzle starts to to unravel piece by piece, though there will be a huge number of said pieces, I reckon. I'm guessing I'll need only a few more hours with the game and I'm hooked in a big way. The first-person POV does a lot in that as well.