Hellblade 2 - Going to get it when it releases?

[Kane99]

I loved the first Hellblade game and can't wait for the sequel. It's been rumored that a trailer will debut at the upcoming video game awards, but haven't heard much else. I'm going to keep an eye on the show to catch this trailer. 

I hope there's more combat options in the sequel, because I felt like the combat could have used more combos and options. If they do that, I think we'll have another hit on our hands. 

You can watch the most recent trailer below. But I assume the Game Awards will have a new trailer to drop on the 9th. 🙂 

 

 

[The Blackangel]

Oh yeah. It's mine. I just hope it gets released on more than Xbox like the first one did.

I mean, having a game where the protagonist has the same mental disorders that the gamer has? I couldn't pass the first one up, for that and many other reasons. the person here who introduced me to the game knows about that.

But considering the she and I are both schizophrenic (I also have other issues) the game meant more to me than it did to a lot of people.

Edited December 5, 2021 by The Blackangel

[Reality vs Adventure]

I really like the combat in the first one and I hope the second has more combat and less puzzles. But maybe being puzzle oriented is what they want so if that's the case it isn't my cup of tea. I like everything else though. I wonder if it's a direct sequel. I might have to try Hellblade 1 again. 

[m76]

I followed the development of the first one closely and was very excited for it, but unfortunately the game turned out mediocre at the end. So I can't say I'm excited for this one. Might pick it up later at a deep discount. Or if reliable sources claim it doesn't have the drawbacks of the first game.

Edited December 5, 2021 by m76

[Shagger]

10 hours ago, m76 said:

I followed the development of the first one closely and was very excited for it, but unfortunately the game turned out mediocre at the end. So I can't say I'm excited for this one. Might pick it up later at a deep discount. Or if reliable sources claim it doesn't have the drawbacks of the first game.

 

I read your review, and there are just a couple of things I want to bring up.

 

Hellblade is very much sold on the mental health of the main character being a massive part of the story, themes and even gameplay mechanics. It is literally the primary theme, but you barley brought that up when criticizing how they handled the combat and puzzle sections. It's difficult to take what you say seriously when it looks like you didn't really understand what Ninja Theory were trying to do. It's clear from this quote, that you just didn't get it.

 

 

Well, that's not what they were. The voices in her heard were literally that, symptoms of her psychosis and schizophrenia.

 

The second problem I've got is with what you said about Senua's body type;

 

 

True enough, Ninja Theory did have a more muscular body all but completed, but then they started doing test shots for Senua using their video editor within thier PR department, Melina Juergens. They ended up loving her performance of the character so much they decided to cast her for the role. They then made changes to Senua's body model to better fin Melina's more slender physique. Yet, for some reason, you omit this detail from your review. For someone who claims to had followed the development of the game closely for years, I find it impossible to believe you didn't know this, so why not bring this up? If you thought that using a bigger built body type for the character would have worked better then that is fine, you even be right, but I just think that was little dishonest that you neglected to mention why it was changed.

 

Me though, I'd say the change and Milina's casting was a good call. The more slender physique I felt added a certain vulnerability to the character that suited the very daunting mood of the combat and story much better. Then there wan Melina's performance that was very well received buy both gamers and critics alike that even won her voice over of the year at the game awards. That is kind of the third problem for me. You said you didn't like the voice over, strange to me as I thought it was incredibly well done, with creative shots and lighting that really sold the uncomfortable tone of the story. You barley brought up the story and voice acting in the review and those were too important in Hellblade to push to the back. That is especially true if you're opinion on those elements goes against the grain. It's perfectly OK if you didn't like them, that's your opinion, but you have to explain that better because what it looks like by not explaining it. It looks like you're just bitter over the design change of the character. I'm not saying that's the truth, but that's how it looks.

 

Overall, you review didn't show me that you had full understanding to the game's theme's, the message it was trying to convey and how it all tied into the story and gameplay mechanics. Sorry, but that's the truth.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Shagger

[Justin11]

I didn't even get to play the hell-blade one, now the 'two edition is coming up. The trailer displayed here, looks quite cool, I see blood stains all over the main character. I just hope let the edition 'two match up with its hype. 

[Reality vs Adventure]

3 hours ago, Shagger said:

The more slender physique I felt added a certain vulnerability to the character that suited the very daunting mood of the combat and story much better.

I agree with that rather than the build of a warrior's physique. And what exactly is a warrior's physique? Big muscles? A person can fight every day, but muscles don’t magically grow without having enough calories to build them. I’m sure there have been plenty warriors in the world all through history that had scarce food. So a person in Senua’s mental state and being solo would realistically be a warrior of her size because I doubt she has enough motivation to eat a pig and a bucket of nuts everyday to be muscle bound. And I think given a person of her stature and her ambition and the internal struggles, makes her seem stronger to me than to slap on some muscle to portray a warrior. And we have to remind ourselves why warriors are born, and that is many times out of situations that aren't the cream of the crop living conditions and so we shouldn't always expect one to be well fed with gold flakes sprinkling from their halo. 

[Crazycrab]

4 hours ago, Shagger said:

True enough, Ninja Theory did have a more muscular body all but completed, but then they started doing test shots for Senua using their video editor within thier PR department, Melina Juergens. They ended up loving her performance of the character so much they decided to cast her for the role. They then made changes to Senua's body model to better fin Melina's more slender physique. Yet, for some reason, you omit this detail from your review.

 

He omited that detail for a reason.  I expect you to post some proof of this because as far as can tell that highlighted part is completely untrue.  The casting of Melina had no influence on the character model outside of her face.  The first body was a custom one designed on 3D modeling software.  The second and as far as I'm aware final model, was a physical scan of fitness model Vikki Wild (Instagram).

 

 

I'm not aware of them making any significant changes following this scan.  Vikki has what I would a call a muscled and medium (one might even say warrior like) build, and I believe this is the version that's in the final game.  Admittedly it Is a little hard to say for with Sunua's Armour in the way (no perv intended) but I do think both @Shagger and @m76 are talking crap here.  It is Vikki's body with maybe only a few minor adjustments and it suits her perfectly.  She's lean and muscled just like Vikki.

 

 

Nope, does not look like a warrior to me!   Massive sarcasm.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Crazycrab

[m76]

4 hours ago, Shagger said:

 

I read your review, and there are just a couple of things I want to bring up.

 

Hellblade is very much sold on the mental health of the main character being a massive part of the story, themes and even gameplay mechanics. It is literally the primary theme, but you barley brought that up when criticizing how they handled the combat and puzzle sections. It's difficult to take what you say seriously when it looks like you didn't really understand what Ninja Theory were trying to do. It's clear from this quote, that you just didn't get it.

Because you completely misunderstand the quote. I didn't think I have to spell it out, and I didn't even want to, because it would've been a spoiler in my opinion to reveal that the whole game takes place inside her mind.

4 hours ago, Shagger said:

 

 

Well, that's not what they were. The voices in her heard were literally that, symptoms of her psychosis and schizophrenia.

Yes, and no. They were her recollections of a former mentor or friend, I Though that was obvious how I meant it.

4 hours ago, Shagger said:

 

The second problem I've got is with what you said about Senua's body type;

 

 

True enough, Ninja Theory did have a more muscular body all but completed, but then they started doing test shots for Senua using their video editor within thier PR department, Melina Juergens. They ended up loving her performance of the character so much they decided to cast her for the role. They then made changes to Senua's body model to better fin Melina's more slender physique. Yet, for some reason, you omit this detail from your review. For someone who claims to had followed the development of the game closely for years, I find it impossible to believe you didn't know this, so why not bring this up? If you thought that using a bigger built body type for the character would have worked better then that is fine, you even be right, but I just think that was little dishonest that you neglected to mention why it was changed.

I followed the development of the game, and they prided themselves on the fact that they used a fitness instructor as the body model for the character. The performance has nothing to do with the body, it is virtual, you can freely exchange the body model independent of the performance. See TLOU2/Abby, where the character is literally made up of three people. 1 body model, 1 face model, 1 mocap actor.

I never heard that they gave that reason for changing the character, but it's nice that you instantly jump to conclude that I'm being dishonest. But even if I had known about that it would not have changed my opinion on the change.

4 hours ago, Shagger said:

 

Me though, I'd say the change and Milina's casting was a good call. The more slender physique I felt added a certain vulnerability to the character that suited the very daunting mood of the combat and story much better. Then there wan Melina's performance that was very well received buy both gamers and critics alike that even won her voice over of the year at the game awards. That is kind of the third problem for me. You said you didn't like the voice over, strange to me as I thought it was incredibly well done, with creative shots and lighting that really sold the uncomfortable tone of the story. You barley brought up the story and voice acting in the review and those were too important in Hellblade to push to the back. That is especially true if you're opinion on those elements goes against the grain. It's perfectly OK if you didn't like them, that's your opinion, but you have to explain that better because what it looks like by not explaining it. It looks like you're just bitter over the design change of the character. I'm not saying that's the truth, but that's how it looks.

No, I said the voiceover work was  OK, but not great, and I wasn't judging the main character in a vacuum, but the whole game as a package. My main gripes with the game were related to gameplay and not the story which is clearly indicated by the fact that I gave 8/10 to the story of the game, which by my standards is an outstanding score.

If I'm not talking extensively about the voice work that means I didn't find it outstanding, nor bad, which is exactly what I wrote. You can review games however you want, but please don't presume to tell me what aspects I should focus on.

4 hours ago, Shagger said:

 

Overall, you review didn't show me that you had full understanding to the game's theme's, the message it was trying to convey and how it all tied into the story and gameplay mechanics. Sorry, but that's the truth.

You disagree with me not liking the game as much as you and thus immediately jump to the "oh you just don't understand the game" excuse. I understood it,  but I didn't want to spoil anything in the review of the game. A review is not supposed to be a retelling of a game's story. I'm not going to start dropping spoiler bombs in any review, especially if the story is great. I'm more inclined to spoiling stories that I think are garbage. Ninja theory was pretty clear from the beginning on the mental illness aspect, I did not find it necessary to spell it out again.

[m76]

19 minutes ago, Crazycrab said:

Nope, does not look like a warrior to me!   Massive sarcasm.

C'mon even in the picture you posted she looks far less muscular than in the original scans, you have to admit that much.

[Shagger]

29 minutes ago, Crazycrab said:

 

He omited that detail for a reason.  I expect you to post some proof of this because as far as can tell that highlighted part is completely untrue.  The casting of Melina had no influence on the character model outside of her face.  The first body was a custom one designed on 3D modeling software.  The second and as far as I'm aware final model, was a physical scan of fitness model Vikki Wild (Instagram).

 

 

I'm not aware of them making any significant changes following this scan.  Vikki has what I would a call a muscled and medium (one might even say warrior like) build, and I believe this is the version that's in the final game.  Admittedly it Is a little hard to say for with Sunua's Armour in the way (no perv intended) but I do think both @Shagger and @m76 are talking crap here.  It is Vikki's body with maybe only a few minor adjustments and it suits her perfectly.  She's lean and muscled just like Vikki.

 

 

Nope, does not look like a warrior to me!   Massive sarcasm.

 

Actually, you're the one who didn't research this accurately. They changed the body twice. First they replaced very first digitally created model with a body scan of a fitness model named Vikki Wild, like you said. However, some time after casting Melina a new of scan Melina's body was used instead and that became the basis for the final model. Melina did go through six weeks of training to improve her BMI before the scan, but the body is very much hers, and her physique is different in the way I described even after the training. It's all in the dev diary below.

 

EDIT: I apologise the the video is age restricted.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Shagger

[Shagger]

13 minutes ago, m76 said:

Because you completely misunderstand the quote. I didn't think I have to spell it out, and I didn't even want to, because it would've been a spoiler in my opinion to reveal that the whole game takes place inside her mind.

 

You did spoil it. Second sentence in.

 

 

[m76]

1 hour ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

I agree with that rather than the build of a warrior's physique. And what exactly is a warrior's physique? Big muscles? A person can fight every day, but muscles don’t magically grow without having enough calories to build them.

It is necessary to have a certain amount of muscle to perform certain physical feats. Have you ever seen an accomplished lean athlete who displayed no muscular definition? Because I sure as hell not. If you do physical things you become muscular. If you don't have enough calories you will be too weak to be good.

1 hour ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

I’m sure there have been plenty warriors in the world all through history that had scarce food. So a person in Senua’s mental state and being solo would realistically be a warrior of her size because I doubt she has enough motivation to eat a pig and a bucket of nuts everyday to be muscle bound.

Well since the game is not reality but a projection of her mind, she could have any physical form in it.

1 hour ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

And I think given a person of her stature and her ambition and the internal struggles, makes her seem stronger to me than to slap on some muscle to portray a warrior. And we have to remind ourselves why warriors are born, and that is many times out of situations that aren't the cream of the crop living conditions and so we shouldn't always expect one to be well fed with gold flakes sprinkling from their halo. 

Now you are just being hyperbolic. In reality you cannot be a great warrior without being well fed. There is just no way around it.

But in the end it is just about the fact that they promised a muscular character and they delivered a far tamer version. Had they not made a point of it during pre production I'd have never brought it up because I'm used to having female warriors that perform the same feats as men, but look like they have sticks for arms in every game. I was hoping this would be the exception. And I was disappointed, is that a problem? Am I not allowed to be disappointed?

[Shagger]

26 minutes ago, m76 said:

Yes, and no. They were her recollections of a former mentor or friend, I Though that was obvious how I meant it.

 

The cut scenes were, not the voices in her head

 

26 minutes ago, m76 said:

I followed the development of the game, and they prided themselves on the fact that they used a fitness instructor as the body model for the character. The performance has nothing to do with the body, it is virtual, you can freely exchange the body model independent of the performance. See TLOU2/Abby, where the character is literally made up of three people. 1 body model, 1 face model, 1 mocap actor.

I never heard that they gave that reason for changing the character, but it's nice that you instantly jump to conclude that I'm being dishonest. But even if I had known about that it would not have changed my opinion on the change.

 

The fitness of Senua was hardly the theme. It get's mentioned a lot in the dev diary's because it changed on no less than two occasions and the wanted to make clear what the focus was with the design (realism over style, mostly), but it's not the heart and soul of the character. We're well aware of how you stand on the representation of woman in video games and you wanted the body of a fitness model over the more regular looking woman. It's embarrassing enough on your part without lying about it.

 

26 minutes ago, m76 said:

No, I said the voiceover work was  OK, but not great, and I wasn't judging the main character in a vacuum, but the whole game as a package. My main gripes with the game were related to gameplay and not the story which is clearly indicated by the fact that I gave 8/10 to the story of the game, which by my standards is an outstanding score.

If I'm not talking extensively about the voice work that means I didn't find it outstanding, nor bad, which is exactly what I wrote. You can review games however you want, but please don't presume to tell me what aspects I should focus on.

 

26 minutes ago, m76 said:

You disagree with me not liking the game as much as you and thus immediately jump to the "oh you just don't understand the game" excuse. I understood it,  but I didn't want to spoil anything in the review of the game. A review is not supposed to be a retelling of a game's story. I'm not going to start dropping spoiler bombs in any review, especially if the story is great. I'm more inclined to spoiling stories that I think are garbage. Ninja theory was pretty clear from the beginning on the mental illness aspect, I did not find it necessary to spell it out again.

 

I'm only offering some constructive critique here. It's up to you how you take it it. You can try and learn from it or you can go back to your pram and throw your toys out, it doesn't matter to me.

 

EDIT: I realised I made a mistake. I meant for must last to posts to be one post, I must have messed up. Apologies for any confusion.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Shagger

[m76]

11 minutes ago, Shagger said:

 

You did spoil it. Second sentence in.

Sorry,I wrote that review when the game was released, so I don't remember exactly what was in it.

But if I did spell it out then how am I being accused of not understanding it?