El Shaddai (360/PS3) Amazon DOTD for 9/26 $36.99

I enjoyed the demo alot, and I'm somewhat surprised by all the naysayers here. 36.99 on this feels like money well spent on this game. I guess I could prove myself wrong if I end up disliking the full game, but I'm a sucker for these kinds of games regardless. Thanks OP.
 
[quote name='NolbertoS']Like the rest of you. Waiting for Black Friday when I'll bite[/QUOTE]

I'm not paying $37 for this, but why does everyone assume every game under the sun will be slashed to $10 on Black Friday. I'm not sure a hardcore niche title would make any waves on BF. BB, WMT, TRU, etc will typically cut prices on blockbusters that have been out for a month or two, in order to generate BF foot traffic into stores. This game, which the average consumer has never heard of and has no idea how to pronounce, has zero sizzle as a BF candidate.

With that said, I'm waiting on $15 to make my move here, just not counting on BF.
 
Anyone think this will become 'rare' before it gets to $20-$25? Or does that not happen for PS3/360 games anymore?

P.S. Any word on better-performing version?
 
The platforming in this game is incredibly poor. There's no sense of depth while running so the number of times I fell in between platforms and died is.... too many to count. I don't recommend this title at all based on the demo. If the demo isn't really representative of the actual product, well... I don't know what to say...
 
Do that many people actually base a game's quality on its demo? As someone who spent 11 years in the game industry (8 reviewing, 3 designing), I'd advise against that. Half the time, it's not even an actual part of the completed game. Even if it is, it's usually out of context.
But I don't play too many demos/betas; I have enough full games that I've paid for that I feel it's a misuse of my time.
 
[quote name='ViolentLee']Do that many people actually base a game's quality on its demo? As someone who spent 11 years in the game industry (8 reviewing, 3 designing), I'd advise against that. Half the time, it's not even an actual part of the completed game. Even if it is, it's usually out of context.
But I don't play too many demos/betas; I have enough full games that I've paid for that I feel it's a misuse of my time.[/QUOTE]
I almost never played demo. Exception was Genji and Naruto Ultimate storm 2. Because I bought my PS3 without games for awhile. :lol:
 
[quote name='ViolentLee']Do that many people actually base a game's quality on its demo? As someone who spent 11 years in the game industry (8 reviewing, 3 designing), I'd advise against that. Half the time, it's not even an actual part of the completed game. Even if it is, it's usually out of context.
But I don't play too many demos/betas; I have enough full games that I've paid for that I feel it's a misuse of my time.[/QUOTE]

So what's the purpose of the demo then?? I always thought it was a sales pitch by the publisher to get you to buy the game ala a movie trailer.
 
[quote name='thedream77']I'm not paying $37 for this, but why does everyone assume every game under the sun will be slashed to $10 on Black Friday. I'm not sure a hardcore niche title would make any waves on BF. BB, WMT, TRU, etc will typically cut prices on blockbusters that have been out for a month or two, in order to generate BF foot traffic into stores. This game, which the average consumer has never heard of and has no idea how to pronounce, has zero sizzle as a BF candidate.

With that said, I'm waiting on $15 to make my move here, just not counting on BF.[/QUOTE]

If anything, you can count on Hastings to have a % off sale...just a question of whether the game will be in stock.
 
[quote name='ViolentLee']Do that many people actually base a game's quality on its demo? As someone who spent 11 years in the game industry (8 reviewing, 3 designing), I'd advise against that. Half the time, it's not even an actual part of the completed game. Even if it is, it's usually out of context.
But I don't play too many demos/betas; I have enough full games that I've paid for that I feel it's a misuse of my time.[/QUOTE]

Well, if a demo sucks, it usually doesn't help a game's cause...certainly not for people who were on the fence as to whether to buy it in the first place.

And no offense, but as someone who's been in the game industry so long, you should be the first to know that a demo does a great job of swaying gamers toward or away from a game these days. Over the last 2 or 3 years, a demo has been a key way of helping gamers decide whether to buy a game for any amount of money. I really hope all folks on the inside of the gaming industry don't think like you when it comes to demos. They'd really be out of touch with gamers.

So my thought to the developers who put out incomplete demos is to wait until they can put out a demo that fully represents the game, even if it's not until the week before release. They should know better at this point.

Your last line is also one of the most ignorant comments I've ever seen on any message board. You'd rather save 5 minutes of your time rather than "misuse" $60 for a game? That's a joke.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='ViolentLee']Do that many people actually base a game's quality on its demo? As someone who spent 11 years in the game industry (8 reviewing, 3 designing), I'd advise against that. Half the time, it's not even an actual part of the completed game. Even if it is, it's usually out of context.
But I don't play too many demos/betas; I have enough full games that I've paid for that I feel it's a misuse of my time.[/QUOTE]

I'm curious what games you worked on that were releasing demos that were not part of the completed game. I've certainly played demos that were tweaked for the final version of the game, but never one that was literally not part of the game and I've played a ton of demos over the years.

While I agree that basing a purchasing decision solely on the demo is not always a smart move, a playable demo is generally a lot better representation of gameplay than a written review or a video demo. In this particular case, I picked the game up at Fry's at launch and found it to be very disappointing. The art design is amazing, but as others have pointed out, the game play is just not very fun and feels repetitive and even random at points. I would recommend this as a $20 pick-up, but not at almost $40.
 
I personally loved the visuals and the platforming. Very solid all around.

The ending however... that is a completely different topic.
 
[quote name='bojay1997']
While I agree that basing a purchasing decision solely on the demo is not always a smart move, a playable demo is generally a lot better representation of gameplay than a written review or a video demo. In this particular case, I picked the game up at Fry's at launch and found it to be very disappointing. The art design is amazing, but as others have pointed out, the game play is just not very fun and feels repetitive and even random at points. I would recommend this as a $20 pick-up, but not at almost $40.[/QUOTE]

werd.

[quote name='JaylisJayP']Well, if a demo sucks, it usually doesn't help a game's cause...certainly not for people who were on the fence as to whether to buy it in the first place.

And no offense, but as someone who's been in the game industry so long, you should be the first to know that a demo does a great job of swaying gamers toward or away from a game these days. Over the last 2 or 3 years, a demo has been a key way of helping gamers decide whether to buy a game for any amount of money. I really hope all folks on the inside of the gaming industry don't think like you when it comes to demos. They'd really be out of touch with gamers.

So my thought to the developers who put out incomplete demos is to wait until they can put out a demo that fully represents the game, even if it's not until the week before release. They should know better at this point.

[/QUOTE]


I've also worked in games just as long. Todays demo is very complicated and sometimes not even worth the effort. It certainly sways purchasing decisions but its not the more effective uses of dev time or marketing dollars. There are so many things that can make it go wrong. Maybe execs are pushing dates hard with little notice, the budget is too low, the dev team cant get a level to work, and sometimes they don't know what to put in their demo. IMO the only games that should get demos are the heavy hitters (Disc-only or DD games) since its near customary and their budgets are bigger.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='Japakneez']werd.




I've also worked in games just as long. Todays demo is very complicated and sometimes not even worth the effort. It certainly sways purchasing decisions but its not the more effective uses of dev time or marketing dollars. There are so many things that can make it go wrong. Maybe execs are pushing dates hard with little notice, the budget is too low, the dev team cant get a level to work, and sometimes they don't know what to put in their demo. IMO the only games that should get demos are the heavy hitters since its near customary and their budgets are bigger.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't disagree with anything you said. I think in the case of El Shaddai, however, they would've been better off not doing a demo at all.
 
bread's done
Back
Top