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Next Prince of Persia Game Promises Fresh Start
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Fri May 30, 2008 12:58 PM
from the reinvention-the-key-to-continued-success dept.
from the reinvention-the-key-to-continued-success dept.
Next Gen recently had a chance to sit down with Ubisoft and discuss the next addition to the Prince of Persia franchise. The team is excited that this isn't just another tired rehash of the same characters and setting, however, promising a new prince and open world adventuring on top of the already rich world of the previous games. "'We had a whole story with the previous trilogy, and Prince of Persia is a general universe where several different stories can unfold,' [creative director Jean-Christophe] explains. 'We're starting afresh, in the same universe, and we wanted to bring something new while keeping what worked before. We introduce a new Prince, who won't start as a prince, more a drifter and adventurer, lost in the desert. He'll be confronted by a lot of fantasy settings, as opposed to Assassin's Creed, which was more realistic. Here he will come to a land and be engulfed in the conflict between two ancient gods, in this very specific region of Persia. It's based on an old Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, and the battle between light and darkness.'"
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Just a quick bit of info (Score:5, Funny)
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No. 1 on the agenda (Score:2)
Cheers!
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!rpg (Score:5, Informative)
That said, an actual Prince of Persia CRPG might pique my interest. This 19th billion incarnation of the same thing does not.
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Re:!rpg (Score:4, Funny)
Except without the city, hookers, guns, or cars.
It'll fly right off the shelves, I'm sure.
Parent
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Fresh? Right. (Score:2)
Yawn.
Re:Fresh? Right. (Score:4, Funny)
So that would be the Fresh Prince of Persia, then?
Parent
Re:Fresh? Right. (Score:4, Funny)
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right thar
I'll tell you how I became the prince of a land called Persia
In west Philistia born and raised
On the playground where I spent most of my days
Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool
And all throwin' some discus outside of the school
When a couple of guys that were up to no good
Started making trouble in my neighbourhood
I got in one little fight and my mom cried war
And said "You're moving with your auntie and uncle in Persia"
I begged and pleaded with her the other day
But she packed my suitcase and sent me on my way
She gave me a kissin' and she gave me my ticket
I put my saber on and said "I might as well kick it"
First class, yo this is bad,
Drinking red potions out of a champagne glass
Is this what the people of Persia livin' like,
Hmm this might be alright
I whistled for a chariot and when it came near
The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror
If anything I'd say that this chariot was rare
But I thought "Now forget it, yo home to Persi-air"
I pulled up to a palace 'bout seven or eight
And I yelled to the cabby "Yo, home smell you later"
Looked at my kingdom I was finally thar
To sit on my throne as the prince of Persia
Parent
Zoroastrianism (Score:5, Funny)
"It's based on an old Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, and the battle between light and darkness."
Let's hope it leaves out the ritualistic testicle shaving referenced in Austin Powers.
zoroastrianism still exists (Score:5, Insightful)
Or maybe that's the idea, stir up a slight bit of controversy to attract attention to their product.
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Wait, you mean so there's no conflict between light and dark within the religion itself, so they're going to have to put it in conflict with a different religion?
Lame! What is it, like Zen Buddhism or something?
Cool religions have built in good/evil conflicts. Boring ones tell you that conflict and desire are the source of suffering and only by letting go
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Re:zoroastrianism still exists (Score:4, Insightful)
Really when it comes down to it, the stories and traditions of your religion of choice are no different that the stories and traditions of other religions from antiquity. The faith and whatnot you feel for yours is also no different that the faith that others felt for their own.
A myth is pretty much a term referring to the NARRATIVE of the religion, as opposed to the worth of the religion. As an atheist, I have read many of the worlds religious texts, not trying to find some "true faith" in them, but for the stories they tell. The Bible is mostly a narrative, and can be seen as such. As well as being the corner stone of meaning for a billion of so people, it also is a book, with all the properties of it.
Is that offensive? How?
Parent
A fresh start? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A fresh start? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:A fresh start? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
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Oh, you mean a Fresh Prince of Persia. Gotcha.
Now, this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I liked to take a minute
Just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the prince of a place called Persia
In Western Arabia born and raised
On a sand dune was where I spent most of my days
Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool
And all racin some camels outside of the school
When a couple of Greeks
Who were up to no good
Startin making trouble in my neighborhood
I got in one little fight and my mom got scared
She said 'You'r
In Akkad? (Score:2)
New charcters and setting (Score:3, Funny)
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Why Not a New One? (Score:5, Insightful)
I was really impressed with the first, and I'd love to see what they can do if they start fresh again.
Re:Why Not a New One? (Score:5, Informative)
Sands of Time was a next generation title based on the original game.
Parent
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For those who have never played the original Prince of Persia, it's a game so good it's still worth playing today.
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Who incidently was quoted as saying ov the new games, "I'm not a fan of the artistic direction, or the violence that earned it an M rating. The story, character, dialog, voice acting, and visual style were not to my taste."
either the game or this story got it wrong: (Score:4, Informative)
the battle between light and darkness IS an old persian religion, but zoroastrianism (another old persian religion) is not the religion in question. they mean manichaeism [wikipedia.org]
the monotheistic religions hold that there is one dominant good power. the manichaeans meanwhile were dualists: they believed the forces of good and evil are evenly matched
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Zoroastrianism is quite dualistic (though, as I understand it, ultimately the good, uncreated God will win). It also predates Manichaeism by about a millennium.
Zoroastrian [wikipedia.org]
Zoroastrianism (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Best Prince of Persia games? (Score:2)
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For classic PoP, I'd recommend Prince of Persia Classic on Xbox Live Arcade. It's an excellent port of the original, with a much more modern look. If you are more of a modern 3D gamer, try Sands of Time or The Two Thrones. You can pick up either for a last-gen system at a very reasonable price.
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What I'd love to see. (Score:2)
AC is a seriously revolutionary game. It's the first of its kind to use the mechanics of those platform type games in a 3d setting so fluidly that it feels extremely natural.
Now that I think of it, it's what POP really always should have been. So, I hope they take the franchise there.
AC is definitely in my top 5 favorite games of all time. POP, while a lot of fun, should a
Prince of Persia should be "GTA VIII - Riyadh" (Score:2)
This is lame. They're just putting a plot under an 80s' jumping game.
They should have done one where you're a Saudi prince. You can just play around as a playboy, drive fast cars, and go to the camel races. Maybe buy your own little island off Dubai. Or you can try to work your way up politically. Run a ministry, make alliances with the other princes, try to keep the mullahs happy, the oil flowing, the reformers and the religious extremists under control. Work your way up and try to become King. Maybe
Grammar Nazi Warning... (Score:2)
I mean, they're aren't even homophones for heaven's sake!
Timely Announcement (Or: What's With Ubisoft?) (Score:4, Informative)
However, while I don't consider them bad, both games seem "almost great". You may think it's the same thing as "good", but I view it in a different light-- Ubisoft had something wonderful going, but eventually decided that release dates were more important than polish.
In SoT, the camera would move about on its own disjointly, the controls moving with it, so you'd often turn yourself around in battle. Fixed cameras were far too distant to be of much help, though they gave you a nice view of the area. The camera would also change to be "dramatic", but more often would change so that you were now pointing the stick in the wrong direction and you die. Each "epic fight" concluded with an annoying "put away the swords" flash, and the forced visions at save points pretty much held your hand the entire game.
So far, in Warrior Within, they've fixed the fixed-camera problem as well as removing the "put away swords" sequence. Instead, they introduced a rather unintuitive combo sequence, where actions take a bit to carry out but your successive button sequences are still counted, making it hard to control the Prince if you decide to change what you're doing mid-fight. A problem that SoT had but is worse in WW is button mapping- buttons tend to be context sensitive (do you have your weapons out? Are you against a wall?) and when you press a button to zag you might zig instead. Furthermore, because it's so GRIMDARK, it's hard to spot any visual cues (where available) to time jumps and other actions. And lip-syncing+voice placement is just horrible.
I've not played Two Thrones yet, but I hear good things, so hopefully that removes some of these problems.
I make note of these things because they aren't just about the PoP series-- Ubisoft, in general, seems to be a company that's "almost great". I've played many of their games, such as XIII, Red Steel, and Farcry. Each of these games are fun (well, once you get over the aggravation of Red Steel's controls), but every game feels as if it could have been great. None of them have "polish", which keeps them at a B (or C+) grade instead of an A grade.
The only Ubisoft game I've played that seemed to have a hefty amount of polish was Rayman Raving Rabbids. Very fun, and I plan to get the sequels, but that's just one great of many sorta-good. If Ubisoft put the same amount of QA and polish into games that Valve seems to do (seriously, if you haven't played their games with commentary on, you're missing a lot of interesting information), they could have games I would call exceptional. Instead, they have the "good enough" mentality and boot it out the door for some extra cash.
This is why I don't have big aspirations for these new PoP games. Will they be good? Probably. Will they be great? Not unless Ubisoft has made great strides recently.
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Re:prince megahit (Score:5, Informative)
This didn't work with the Amiga version which I played as a kid, plus there was this weird potion room that wasn't on the PC version.
The game was rock hard without the cheats (or possibly bad skills), mostly because there was a tight time limit of 1 hour in which to beat the game.
Parent
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Re:Just what we need (Score:5, Funny)
At least they haven't made it "Hollywoody":
Opens to 1st screen in Prince of Persia. You are in a chariot and you racing across the desert to the palace. The 3D graphics are gorgeous. Along the way masked riders appear. They fire at you to stop you. But not with arrows or knives. Being Hollywood, it's got to be plasma blasters. Of course, you don't have any blasters or projectile weapons. You can only ram with your chariot. As you knock them off their horses, of course, the horses tumble and then explode. To regain your health, you have to obviously run over the health packets along the way.
When you get to the palace a cut scene starts. Your beloved princess is being carried off by a huge ape while a bald man stroking a cat laughs at you. She's yelling: "Prince, save me!" You respond "ADRIAN! ADRIAN!". That is immediately followed by a commercial feature skateboarders urging you to "Do the Dew."
Well at least I'm hoping. :P
Parent
Re:Just what we need (Score:4, Funny)
I've been playing it inbewteen sessions of Mario Galaxy, where I, as Mario, rescue Princess Peach and the Great Stars from Bowser, King Koopa.
Parent
Re:Just what we need (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
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