Such an odd game, it actually had some good ideas, and it's still that good MGSV gameplay, but it was so half-assed, especially being a game that was clearly only made because they could re-use MGSV content and that they wanted to make money off boosters, so they made the game extra grindy because of that.
I found this one fun but it does have a lot of odd decision like how most of the online content or the class system is unlocked after the story is done.
A lot of people forget that Platinum, despite making solid games that are fondly remembered, they DONT make a lot of money. In fact, Platinum specially as of late have not been able to really rake as much money as they wished to. they have basically lived from Game to Game and while they have been able to keep themselves afloat, they are constantly aware that they could sink at any moment. Their current CEO has constantly hinted (AKA begged) that he'd love if some big publisher would swoop in and buy them outright. Alas, no big company, despite Platinum's reputation, seems to be interested in buying them. Due to this financial instability, I can't blame them for wanting to do something like a Live Service Multiplayer game in order to appeal to more mainstream players and to capitalize on current trends because they NEED the profit. Sadly, they went in without the skills required to pull it off and ended up with what we have today.
Perhaps a bit of a strange name -i'm not well aware on reputations and market positions in this regard- but hypothetically, ould THQNordic be an alright publisher for Platinum to become part of? I know they're not as colossal as Nintendo and such, but they seem solid.
@@jurtheorc8117 I may be wrong, but I think there are Japanese laws that prohibit a overseas company to fully aqiure a company like that, or at least makes it way more difficult. It's the reason no huge-ass conglomerate has tried to acquire Nintendo yet. Speaking of Nintendo they may be the best bet but sadly they are incredibly picky when it comes to actually acquiring outside companies. hell, they recently acquired a company that have been working with them for 20 year ON THEIR SAME BUILDING...only recently.
@@StarMechV I see. Thanks for providing some explanation/clarification. I'm not the most knowledgable on this kind of stuff, or the details of specific company. Nor am I the biggest enjoyer (or even a regular enjoyer, have only played Anarchy Reigns) of Platinum, but I do hope for a good future for them and whatever IP's they may continue or bring forth in the future. Thank you again for your time and explanation. Wish you a good day.
Here's a funny thing. I actually decided, despite all the bad reviews, that I would get the game anyway as a thanks for Platinum for all the other great games they've made that I have enjoyed. The problem is, turns out the game is actually region locked on Steam and you literally CANNOT BUY THE GAME on Steam if you live in Southeast Asia. So, uh... thank you Platinum for keeping me from making a bad decision???
I still dont understand why they dont release it in SEA, dont they know SEA people love to topup liveservice or onlinegames in general haha Im from indonesia and kinda confused why they dont release it either on ps store or steam, i can wishlist this game in ps store before launch, but when on launch date it doesnt appear again in ps store lol
@@typicalgoodguyclub4games maybe its because of religious references that in some countries result in heated controversies that they simply don’t want to bother with. Idk
I appreciate the effort you put into diving into games that seem dead on arrival. Not just for entertainment purposes but for archival reasons when everybody forgets about this game.
@@brya9681 Platinum hasn't released a good game since Bayo 2... (Nier is a Yoko Taro game, doesn't count. If we were counting it, I would call it a bad Platinum game) Bayo 3 is going to be their best game since the dang Wii U!
The issues here strongly indicate a massive problem with mismanagement. That doesn't bode well for the future, studios don't have an infinite supply of fuckups, and bayonetta 3s development hasn't seemed particularly smooth.
for one it seems SE instead of investing more in FF14 and more single player games. They want to compete versus themselves with live services. Video games aren't like city builder or an RTS where you can cluster up and make profit. It seems like the more they try to do these live services the worse the quality is getting. Since for one, the games are never finished and two they keep going off on TEN YEAR time tables off of something they quickly abandon like they don't ever care to patch it.
So i played the closed beta. At the end they gave us a survey. I know i personally listed so many of the issues the game has. I did not pull my punches. Told them flat out they were making the next Anthem, Avengers or DnD: Dark Alliance. Pointed out how underwhelming early combat was. How lackluster stat based gear systems are. Practically begged them not to release the game in this state. And i have no doubt many other players did the same. Then like a week after the beta closed they announced the release date. I'm sure they had their reasons. But ah... far as i'm concerned they brought this on themselves.
Saying the thruth to a gaming company os like making advice to a drugaddict - it wont work -they are so in it and paranoid .But anyway they tried to cash in on a faliure so there is it
Making a live service game is such a huge undertaking, having seen some of Square's flops and Platinum's previous attempt it's not surprising this came out the way it did.
What "Platinum's previous attempt" are you talking about? If you mean Scalebound that was not meant to be a live-service game, or even a multiplayer focused game, just a game with coop option. For that I don't think it was fitting for the video to name it among BF.
@@noodleknight7924 Anarchy Reign, a spin off sequel to Madworld, big multiplayer brawler that barely survived even though it was a decent fun clunky game.
@@Thaltas That's not a live service game. And it didn't survive due to SEGA's mismanagement of the game. Just before the game would release in the US, SEGA decided to delay the game for an entire year for absolutely no reason. It forced people to buy the Japanese version because it was region free. After the game finally came out a year later, people lost interest.
he said this in the video too, Platinum themselves admitted to it. They are just not competent enough to make a successful game like that. And tbh, even Nier did not have good gameplay nor good graphics imho. Story, lore, music, encounters were excellent and the usual Japanese junk was very visible with Nier too. The game felt like a PS3 era game
It probably will be good, probs not a masterpiece. With Babylon they tried to basically build on top of what they already knew but also entering relatively new territory. Bayonetta is already there in terms of what they know and what players expect, and not to mention that the series has gained a following despite Bayo1's mediocre sales. They must understand they need to get Bayonetta 3 out as a good game and use the hype it will generate.
Both are shitty "live service" action RPG looter games with decent gameplay and shitty everything else. In Godfall's case, the graphic fidelity is great but the "art style" is way too gaudy and over-designed for its own good.
@@OptimusCrime1223 God Fall is not live-service. Neither was Outriders (it was also called like that in the video) They are just coop games, people really need to stop confusing coop games with "live-service". The point of live-service is that the game gets constant free content updates. Single player focused games can also be live-service, like Let it Die or Path of Exile
@@haruhisuzumiya6650 Talking about Biomutant for the latter? I don't think it was a live service game. For how well it did, pretty sure it was meh but not as bad as the ones discussed here.
I would say, give the free demo a try if you have a friend you can play with. I know that "everything is better with a friend so it doesn't count" , but it really fixes the biggest issues of the game (bad matchmaking, no players to find, enemies are too tanky and tedious to take down for only 1 player) Who knows how much longer it is before they pull the plug on the game, and it's kind of a unique experience. We might never get another coop character action game with how much BF underperforms.
@@noodleknight7924 Just because it's unique doesn't mean it's worth keeping around. Platinum deserves better than this I'm more worried for them than this disaster.
@@franzhopper7631 Being able to play a character action game with a friend is a unique experience in a good kind of way. The game has good combat and as I said, having a dedicated teammate fixes the biggest issues of the game.
@@noodleknight7924 I've watched plenty of footage on it from people showing every single facet of the game fairly. I get that you like it and I'm sorry for this but I have yet to see any of this "good" combat that you've talked about.
@@franzhopper7631 I mean this video also talked about the combat not being bad. It's kinda like Nier Automata's combat with perfect dodges and parries, but you have 4 weapon slots and putting the same weapon in each slot results in different moves for them. You can also move 2 weapons independently from your character movement, so you can do things like attack enemies on one side and parry or stunlock others on another side. It's like a more expanded and more customizable version of Nier's melee+magic based combat. Most people got frustrated by the enemies being so tanky and hard to juggle when you attack them alone, and that's really what "ruins the combat" and why most people get the impression that it's fundamentally bad. You really need someone to fight along with, and sadly the game's matchmaking is pretty bad, has no built in voice chat, and it also had no options to even make friends with someone you played with and re-invite them. But if you already have a friend you can cooperate with then it's a pretty good and unique action game experience, something we never had before, and might never have again, considering that the commercial faliure of this game will discourage devs from even experimenting with coop character action games.
I'd say the armor looks far better in FFXIV than in this game. Seeing the Nier coat hurt me because Puppet's Bunker was my all time favorite raid armor in the game
Another funny thing to note: FFXIV's Nier stuff is free, and that includes the items that look the most like 2b and 9s. I'm amazed that I have never heard of this game until finding this video in my recommended today.
Thank you, Austin. Thank you for peering into the deathless void of this game. I looked merely upon the surface and I couldn't go any farther, but you are a hero. You have gone farther than any person could and should be called to go. You did not need to. You would never been asked to by any kind man or woman, but you did it. You steeled your will and went so far beyond tedium and boredom and maintained your will to live. We are proud of you. Your soul is stronger.
I think a deep dive on Suda51 games would be interesting and fits your tastes. I would also say the Divinity Games would be interesting. I don't just mean Original Sin, I mean other things like Divinity 2. Last suggestion would be FF games like Type-0 or the DS games
Ooh, Type-0 is a weird one. Full of lopsided characters, an honestly incomprehensible story on first-playthrough, terrible dubbing, and gameplay that is very grind-y and repetitive if you want to utilize even half of the available cast. Doesn’t help that there’s a character or two that is just unplayable past a certain point in the game. One of the two that became unplayable was literally one of my main 3, so the endgame became extremely difficult having to learn, like, 10 characters that I gave up on grinding to keep my sanity. I’m not sure if it’s a terrible game, but for final fantasy? Naw man, there’s nothing final fantasy about that game. There are a lot of other games I’d play again before giving that one another shot with new game +.
Not gonna lie, i didn't notice the game come out once i heard the news about the game getting negative reception and loosing players...thanks for doing the job no one dared (or cared) to do
That games actually really fun, like Nioh lite. The story wouldn't be so bad if they just put in more cut-scenes and actually bridged the gap in between with better dialogue. In fact the party banter can actually be pretty good. Over all I'd give it a B+ or a 7.9 out of 10.
Honestly I didn't even know this was out yet. I haven't even seen the negative reviews. That's how little press this is generating. If your core audience isn't aware the game is out it's not good and I bought Wonderful 101 on the Wii U.
When you switched between BF gameplay and bayonetta gameplay It took me a second to realize it was a different game. Which is sad because bayonetta is 13 years old
The attention to detail in doing things that make no sense is really there. Something as small as "Skirmishes" taking longer to complete than "Sieges." Incredible.
I love these deep dives on crappy games! We always hear and avoid such games, but I'm always curious on what they are exactly about. I wouldn't waste my time checking myself so I really appreciate these kind of videos. Can't wait for Metal Gear Survive. I know that's a tremendous stinker.
Calling this game “notorious” is disingenuous, because it implies that people have long-term strong feelings about it. Maybe before release people were heated about it, but it’s just… boring
I was one of the many people who (at least to some degree) actively played the Babylon's Fall Closed Beta while also participating in answering questions for the surveys. First of all, there were 3 total Beta Tests. Phase 1 was only available for non-EU countries, then Phase 2 was a stress test for everyone. Phase 3 was just an overall play test for everything that has been established in all testing phases. I could not participate in Phase 1, but in all the other phases that followed. The beta tests had very little content to test anything out. You were able to play 2 levels in test 2 (which was about 2 hours long) and in phase 3 (which lasted 2 days, from november 15th to 17th) you were offered 6 levels to play. As mentioned, I couldn't play Phase 1 but from the forum I found out that Phase 1 had a total of 1 level to play. There were almost no participants during most of the time, I remember getting auto-started into a level twice since there was no one to play a match with, I'd say this was since the game had little to no advertisment for it's closed beta except for the Square Enix E3 presentation and an ad for the game which was published about a week before Phase 1 (which had already stopped taking new participants over a month ago at that time, the only phase that allowed new players was Phase 3). I wrote a complaint about the matchmaking in the third survey, but I guess that didn't really matter even though there weren't even that many testers answering the surveys. You had no tutorial level to find out what anything meant, the combat system was still very slow and tedious. In Phase 3 they increased the combat speed a bit, but also changed the artstyle to increase the visibility for objects, hence all the blur and unclean textures even though some objects have slightly increased in visual quality. You can very clearly tell that the game was designed around the oil brush textures and filters and that they had to make a quick decision for this change (for comparison, see Closed Beta Test: Phase 2 Report in the Hanging Garden Forum). Now, one thing that was bothering me, just like you mentioned at 28:55 in the video, are the surveys. Almost EVERY. SINGLE. QUESTION. in all of the tests have been repeating over time. It was always just about visual style, combat and a little bit of accessability and connection stability. The visual style however was the most prominent in all surveys though. The fact that they are still not sure about wether they'll keep the style or not is just baffling to me. When I first saw the game at E3 2021 I was hyped. I signed up for the closed beta right as the trailer was over. The fact that the game has gone through such an awful phase of development is just very sad, considering that I was thinking about buying this game on release. I can't imagine how annoyed people are that have been hyped for this game since 2019. I will still try out Babylon's Fall someday, but that's gonna take some time.
"I Beat Babylon's Fall 100% so you don't have to" Gonna be honest, Austin, I don't know how much danger anyone was in of doing that if you hadn't. This was less like jumping in front of a bullet to save someone's life, and more like jumping in front of an airsoft pellet someone shot into the middle of the Mojave desert.
Game won't even be playable in 5 months. This video is probably the only significant thing to come from this game's release, I'm astounded. This has been a bigger blunder than even Balan.
It is fun if ya get past the initial problems. Hell the playstation community has full lobbies coming out and in Japan communities the participants are getting bigger
You should take a look at Doshin the Giant for Gamecube! About the game, well... You're this gentle big yellow giant called Doshin, who appears each morning and vanishes each night. Doshin starts out small each day, but he can grow by collecting love (or hate!) from humans. His task, supposedly, is to help the people of the four existing tribes develop their village (there's a red, blue, yellow and green tribe) by raising and lowering the land, creating vegetation and stopping natural disasters and such. The humans will give him hearts he needs to grow when he completes their requests, and if they like him. Doshin can also bring a male and female from different tribes together to a piece of empty land on the map, and they'll start a new tribe with a new culture. Some of which will have new buildings or music! The goal is to develop a tribe until they build a monument in your honour. Do this for all sixteen combinations of tribes and..... you'll have beaten the first level. I personally haven't beaten level one in 20 years, but I still absolutely love this game. Oh yeah as for collecting hate, there's also an evil mode. The evil big red giant, Jashin. Anyway yeah you should check this game out, it's honestly hilarious. It's also... not super good maybe? Oh and prepare yourself for some interesting graphics. At least it's better than Babylon's Fall :')
I think they just didn't know how to make 4 player coop games. The game is just not balanced around either 1 player or 4 players, and there is no enemy scaling depending on the team size. This is the game's biggest issue by far, and the reason why it's tedious to play so often (enemies are either too tanky or are overwhelmed too easily). Hopefully they learned from this. Hopefully they will fix even this game and just reboot it with f2p model or something.
It always had been the case for them. People tend to forget they had to keep afloat with making a handful of quick licensed tie-in games like Legend of Korra and TMNT. MGR sold well because it was tied to a long-running popular IP, and Nier Automato was more of a lucky surprise success more than anything else. During the development of that they had an extensively troubled production with Scalebound that was ultimately cancelled, and they had to keep doing exclusive deals such as with Nintendo to get funding with certain games such as with Bayonetta 2 and Astral Chain, and even the Wonderful 101 multiplat release had to be crowdfunded which was a Nintendo exclusive as well prior.
@@Nachy - This is true, I remembered the campaign for the Wonderful 101 port, and I was wondering why it needed to be crowd funded from a studio like Platinum, this was the first indication that something wasn’t right. Since then it seems like they’ve declined and their last few major releases haven’t been great, while they had success with Bayonetta, Nier, and MGSR and some of their smaller releases, stuff like Babylons fall could be a death sentence for the studio.
@@10191927 Platinum is pretty similar to a studio like Wayforward. A studio that's known for some incredible games, but don't always have the budget for it. The main issue is just how expensive a lot of their original titles are. Not to mention, Platinum is a bit of a one trick pony which limits what they can do for projects. If people lose intest in their style of games, then they pretty much lose the company.
@@darienb1127 At least Wayforward made some dope license games. They somehow made a tie in Mummy movie game that was actually really good, which is a feat withing itself tbh. Meanwhile, Platinum can't help but reuse every idea every game. Just about all their games having witch time now is a good example of this.
My friends and i had really high hopes for this one.... But then we noped out of it after the first reviews dropped. Thanks for the amazing video, as usual!
If you have a friend to play with then you should probably still give at least the free demo a try. The reviews never mention this but playing with a friend really fixes the biggest issues of the game (bad matchmaking, no players to find, enemies are too tanky and tedious to take down for only 1 player)
Bayonetta and developing primarily for the switch seems to have led to a lot of technical debt and a lack of engine and technical development. I think you're spot on about them being "stuck" in the 7th gen technology wise.
Honestly I'm so glad that multiplayer and especially live service titles are taking a huge hit right now. For years AAA companies have been trying to say nobody likes single player games and while that's obviously not true the industry has obviously been gearing itself towards multiplayer in order to get more and more money. But now they're facing the problem of having zero passion for these games but still expecting to be the next big hit and I just love seeing this wake up call from these greedy ass companies that aren't content just to make a profit but to make a nearly endless one. "Companies exist to make money!!" yes they do but that doesn't mean they have to make cynically designed garbage and try to get more and more, there's a ceiling and they're clearly ramming right in to it right now. I'm so glad we get great single player games from companies that haven't given in to the idea of an easy buck. Only just getting around to Ghost of Tsushima myself and my God what a gorgeous game, can only imagine how lame it would be if it was designed like an MMO with a mobile game economy, battle passes and all that shit.
The thing is, multiplayer live service games have their place, but not everything has to try to be one. Even EA was big on it, saying singleplayer is dead, but then Jedi Fallen Order came.
Making this multiplayer and a live services was really dumb. Most of their core fan base never was about that. Babylon's Fall was destined to fail from the outset.
I think making it a live service game that was region locked was what actually killed it. There are tons of game similar to this out there and it could have been a good time, but making it too generous with drops, restricting the ability to play with others or to wipe a character and try again really locks you down in your experience.
Agreed. We come to Platinum to play their signature style of games we can’t get anywhere else. Nobody wants a crappy, barely finished, uninteresting live service game from a company like Platinum. We know Square and Platinum can do better because they did better just a few years ago with Nier Automata. And actually with Nier Replicant too just a year or two ago
@@newdivide9882 Was the Replicant game made by Platinum though? I seem to recall there was some mild controversy about that, that they were making the remake in the style of Automata but it wasn't actually Platinum Games making it.
I'm glad you say this, because something even worse is coming! Their first original IP is going to be a live service game. I doubt that game will do well, it might genuinely be Platinums last game if no one buys them after.
I can’t stress how much love I have for you Austin. The countless I’ve used your videos as a way to deal with chronic pain. I’m so happy to see you’re still killing it.
Glad to have a full view of this game. I was curious about it, but didn't want to dish out 80 bucks for it ^^'' Especially knowing its online only and basically on life-support... In term of games I'd like to see you try out, there's a duology of obscure pokemon-ish monster catchers called Jade Cocoon. If the first game sometimes get some interest, the second is almost never mentioned which is a shame.
Why do you say this? Literally nothing point to Bayo 3 having any problems other than how long it's taking. Platinum has been working on (according to them) many unannounced games for several publishers. Seeing how Bayo 3 is looking really good and Platinum saying they've had no trouble developing it (they've outright said when they've had development issues in the past, so I don't see why they wouldn't say that if that were the case here. Bayonetta 3 looks amazing and it's going to be fine. The issue isn't that Platinum can't make games, it's that they can only make Bayonetta games at this point.
I think your assessment about the game being developed for online from the start without Square forcing them made a lot of sense especially when considering Scalebound too and I agree with it. But then again, even if they were forced to, they weren't gonna publicly gave interview blaming Square anyway.
I personally find it very hard to believe. The difference between Scalebound and Babylon's Fall is pretty big. Scalebound was a single player game with multiplayer content. Babylon's fall is a multiplayer game. They had to add in the ability to play single player later on after a survey. So the first trailer of Babylon's Fall is very suspicious to me. It showed absolutely no multiplayer content. The multiplayer is the game. If the game was always intented to be multiplayer, why didn't they show off the multiplayer. Something about it doesn't add up to me.
@@markkoehr5003 The game was probably in an early proof of concept stage. At a point where they got some things moving, but not ready enough to active set it uo for multiplayer.
Oof. This is rough. I think making a game a "live service" is basically a death sentence. I don't know about other gamers, but I've already found live services that I love, and I wouldn't really have time to add another one.
The biggest problems with live sevices is oversaturation, rushing, greed and lack of work hands. There's simply too many games of this type of format that the only way to hook players to one, you'll need to make it good at first try. If you don't, you'll flop Also live services need to stay out of controversy, or you'll be painted a bad one Also, these need A LOT of people working on it after release, to the point that you'll a studio (at least) dedicated for it, and it alone
@@alpha34098 The other issue is that human nature makes it so people don’t want to work on one single thing over and over for the rest of their lives, but live service games require exactly that. When people burn out working on an MMO, they have the option of working on a different part (such as moving from programming pvp to programming for minigames). Live service games don’t provide that option, so devs inevitably leave the team and new hires not only have to learn from scratch, but their visions for the game can completely change its path. They also haven’t experienced the pitfalls the previous devs did and thus can be prone to making those same mistakes. Live service may be doable for a year or two normally, but the way that the heads of AAA companies expect it to last indefinitely is completely unrealistic
@@Doomerang01 That's why you also need a good dev rotation as well. Thanks for bringing it up Why Fortnite is the most successful live service nowadays. Because the devs actually rotate between seasons. They don't keep the same team everytime
The problem with imitating a cash cow idea is that everyone's already giving their cash to the first cow. Many, many, many companies will die before this lesson has been learned.
10:47 never before did i think i would cheer on for a scene to continue being weirdly awkward but here we are, with whatever the fuck is going on. extreme reassurance maybe? i dont know what such fervent shoulder patting could mean.
So...for once, I actually have experience with a sponsor that's being advertised! I'm a caretaker for the elderly, and one of said elders had Factor sent to them for a good while. There were some that he didn't really like (he's an ultra picky eater) so the ones he didn't eat he happily gave to me. I gotta say - for the most part they're really delicious and they do have quite the variety. If you're worried about flavor then I wouldn't, personally. Some meals are better than others and we all got our own tastebuds, but I enjoyed the majority of the ones I had, and the elder I was taking care of enjoyed what he specifically liked. I'd say give it a shot if you're looking for some meal on wheels but are also keeping an eye on your health.
Something I think you’d do really good at one videos would be company games. Like square enix, edios, ea, etc. where their games came from to where they are now. The struggles and falls or uprising or over hyping
Oh my sweet man, thank you for your sacrifice to humanity. Your sanity won't be forgotten. Also.. really curious when this game will be free on PS Plus, failed live service games often end up there to boost their numbers..
I've gone back and started playing games from the 6th and 7th gen consoles. Games like Infamous, Tales of Symphonia, Mercenaries, and the original God of War games. They have been refreshing from the BS of modern gaming.
I still remember the sinking feeling I had watching that live service announcement trailer live. Even before they said that, the entire time I was like, "what the hell happened?"
Thanks so much for your sacrifice in doing this video. Honestly, this game really breaks my heart, as I Platinum is one of my favourite game devs as well. But i think your conclusion about "knowing your limits" hits the nail on the head.
You really did this so nobody else had to. Our team got this to work on early - review, content, the works - and I kid you not, this is the only game I’ve seen a major publication drop all coverage before launch. Every writer refused to work on it, and we eventually posted a goof article about how to uninstall and refund your purchase on all platforms.
i saw "forgotten PS3 videogames" and i knew. i just KNEW Folklore was going to get mentioned. what an absolute masterpiece. and the plot twist at the end still stings.
how the hell are elden ring, pokemon arceus, and horizon forbidden west, unconventional single player experiences? that's soulsborne, jrpg, and open world rpg; literally three of the most played subgenre of video game.
I remember when this dropped and I made the joke Babylon's *Fail* to some friends, but boy howdy did that end up being prophetic. Live services are a thing that should never have become so prominent to begin with, and trying to take something that'd be a cool single player game and turning it into an always online product that _must_ be played with other people seemed like it was destined to be a bad idea. For as beloved as games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Kirby Forgotten Land are, it probably goes without saying they would have been worse off if they'd trying to make it into a live service. When Austin talked about Devil May Cry and multiplayer I immediately started questioning why anyone would actually want that, since the action and attention required are already up there and throwing in needing to keep track of other players and such.. just seems like a bad idea. In any case, I must applaud him for doing this experiment for us all. It's certainly not something I would want to have to do, and I can very much appreciate how fried he was afterwards.
I'm officially here to see how many people bring up Anarchy Reigns considering that was online multiplayer and would have ended up live Service if Sega had their way and it well before many of their games.
In all the talk about Babylons Fall i've yet to see anyone talk about Anarchy Reigns, Platinums has already made a great multiplayer game. They could have easily revisted that idea and do the MOBA/heroshooter skins route for mtx if they were deadset on a live service
@@kirin7725 Heck, most of it looks like a late PS2 game, MAYBE an early PS3 game. It looks worse than the original NieR Gestalt on PS3. And people said Legend Arceus' graphics were bad...
I'd really like you to take a look at an original Xbox game called Phantom Crash. It's such a strange take on mecha with one of the most fascinating soundtracks I've ever played and no one really talks about it.
It essentially is. Most of the issues cited are being addressed or already have. Getting rid of "gimmicks" like the orbs and they already tuned "solo" balancing once.
These Deep Dives into divisive games is one of the best things that happened to your channel. They're so interesting. I'm glad the Balan video did so well lol
Really enjoyed this deep dive despite not owning a ps5 or being remotely interested in the game. I think I just like watching you play and talk about bad games lol
> Platinum can only make excellent single player offerings > They haven't "pushed the boundaries" or released anything that screams "2022". > Austin earlier said that 2022 loves single player titles and live services are getting a lot of pushback. Uh... Is that so?
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that MAYBE, considering it was in the context of how ugly the games graphics were and how the one succesful game they've made lately was for the Switch, a console whose technology is quite far behind the current big tech-monsters like PS5 and Series X, his intent behind those words were that Platinum may have made games whose GAMEPLAY are a good fit for 2022, but their LOOKS are still firmly in the "would look really good in the PS3 days".
This was a fascinating look at Babylon's Fall. It was interesting hearing an experienced opinion, so thank you. It's probably not a game very "in demand" for a video, but if you'd like to explore Platinum Game's periphery, I have a soft spot for Infinite Space on the DS - Platinum's rpgish space opera. Though flawed, I still think it's the bee's knees. You probably already gave it a look, but I think a video on it would be neat nonetheless.
I actually bought that game, since I planned to do a tier list on games from platinum. But it was 60 loose, and that's probably one of my largest purchase regrets recently.
I was really looking forward to it until it's final trailer where they revealed it was a multiplayer live service. Also, no. It was not planned to be this way from the beginning, they were clearly just covering their asses with that statement to make up for the direction shift. There is zero resemblance between the games shown in the 2nd and 3rd trailers. While I don't think SE strong armed them into going down this route, this was obviously a result of production problems and delays. As Nier Automata is my favorite game of all time, this has been the biggest gaming misstep of the decade.
RIGHT? I don’t believe that for a second. Why would they not be able to show the online functionality? And even if they could for some reason, why be completely silent about the game supposedly being a live-service from the get go? Why is the combat so much slower and unlike Platinum in the second trailer? Why would they change the graphics if all they needed to do was finish the online functionality? Sorry, but all signs point to this game getting rebooted into a live service game because Square is hungry for one despite FFXIV being an MMO juggernaut
@@newdivide9882 Nope. Platinum is going full in on live service games. They have opened an entire division for just live service games. They have a new IP coming, it's their first ever and they're doing it completely alone. They've said again and again that it will be live service. This is all Platinum and saying otherwise is copium. Hell, Scalebound was going to be live service too until Microsoft threw it out. Platinum has been trying to do this for a while, and they're going to continue making live service games.
@@killaken2000 They did admit to going full in on live service games. It was them. Sorry, just hate misinformation and speculation when the answer is a Google away.
Fantastic coverage Austin! I was dying to try this out, but now I don't want to - thanks! It's a shame Platinum fell so hard to create Babylon's Fall; really hoping they can pull it together for Bayo3!
My favourite painted art style game that I think would have suited Babylon’s Fall, is El Shaddai. That game also uses a filter to cover up for less-than-stellar texture work, but it makes up for that in stylism and a simplified aesthetic where you don’t notice the textures.
While I'd love to see a video on White Knight Chronicles, that 0% on Dark Cloud in the same screen as 100% on Babylon's Fall is definitely a scream for a Dark Cloud video
I have to imagine that the next step for Babylons Fall is to become Free To Play. They desperatley need a player base and thats the only way I can see some sort of base developing.
Shame to see Platinum suffer through such blunders, specially when they seem to actually put out something good and not just a cash grab as many would thought. I do wish they could take time to port some of their old titles on PC just to rank up a little bank (Mad World, Anarchy Reigns, etc). I think Platinum games are just bangers but are currently lost on old consoles. As some have mentioned here, Platinum seem to life off contract after contract and don't bank in much themselves. Hopefully either BF gets better for them or get a big hit, I personally wish they could continue either Mad world or Anarchy Reigns in some sort of fashion, as I love their more less restrained titles where they just do what they think is coolest. Anyways, amazing video!
![ARGENTINA vs. PERÚ [1-0] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 12](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xtI25ENDDSY/mqdefault.jpg)
We did it.
And we will do it again next month with... Metal Gear Survive??
Oh.....oh no. Why would you torture yourself so?!
Looking forward to it.
I'm looking forward to it! I have always wondered if Metal Gear Survive is something that's worth checking out.
Such an odd game, it actually had some good ideas, and it's still that good MGSV gameplay, but it was so half-assed, especially being a game that was clearly only made because they could re-use MGSV content and that they wanted to make money off boosters, so they made the game extra grindy because of that.
I found this one fun but it does have a lot of odd decision like how most of the online content or the class system is unlocked after the story is done.
A lot of people forget that Platinum, despite making solid games that are fondly remembered, they DONT make a lot of money. In fact, Platinum specially as of late have not been able to really rake as much money as they wished to. they have basically lived from Game to Game and while they have been able to keep themselves afloat, they are constantly aware that they could sink at any moment.
Their current CEO has constantly hinted (AKA begged) that he'd love if some big publisher would swoop in and buy them outright. Alas, no big company, despite Platinum's reputation, seems to be interested in buying them.
Due to this financial instability, I can't blame them for wanting to do something like a Live Service Multiplayer game in order to appeal to more mainstream players and to capitalize on current trends because they NEED the profit. Sadly, they went in without the skills required to pull it off and ended up with what we have today.
Nintendo or Capcom should just buy them.
Perhaps a bit of a strange name -i'm not well aware on reputations and market positions in this regard- but hypothetically, ould THQNordic be an alright publisher for Platinum to become part of? I know they're not as colossal as Nintendo and such, but they seem solid.
I honestly kinda don’t want Atlus to buy them. Due to their exclusive deals with Sony
@@jurtheorc8117 I may be wrong, but I think there are Japanese laws that prohibit a overseas company to fully aqiure a company like that, or at least makes it way more difficult. It's the reason no huge-ass conglomerate has tried to acquire Nintendo yet.
Speaking of Nintendo they may be the best bet but sadly they are incredibly picky when it comes to actually acquiring outside companies. hell, they recently acquired a company that have been working with them for 20 year ON THEIR SAME BUILDING...only recently.
@@StarMechV I see. Thanks for providing some explanation/clarification.
I'm not the most knowledgable on this kind of stuff, or the details of specific company. Nor am I the biggest enjoyer (or even a regular enjoyer, have only played Anarchy Reigns) of Platinum, but I do hope for a good future for them and whatever IP's they may continue or bring forth in the future.
Thank you again for your time and explanation. Wish you a good day.
Here's a funny thing. I actually decided, despite all the bad reviews, that I would get the game anyway as a thanks for Platinum for all the other great games they've made that I have enjoyed. The problem is, turns out the game is actually region locked on Steam and you literally CANNOT BUY THE GAME on Steam if you live in Southeast Asia.
So, uh... thank you Platinum for keeping me from making a bad decision???
Money-saving decision by SquarEnix, I guess.
Same here bro lmao, what a disaster
Literally what happened to MGR
I still dont understand why they dont release it in SEA, dont they know SEA people love to topup liveservice or onlinegames in general haha
Im from indonesia and kinda confused why they dont release it either on ps store or steam, i can wishlist this game in ps store before launch, but when on launch date it doesnt appear again in ps store lol
@@typicalgoodguyclub4games maybe its because of religious references that in some countries result in heated controversies that they simply don’t want to bother with. Idk
I appreciate the effort you put into diving into games that seem dead on arrival.
Not just for entertainment purposes but for archival reasons when everybody forgets about this game.
The archival reasons is why I do it.
@@austineruption well it *can't* be because you're having fun
@@austineruption dumb Platinum games take tho
@@brya9681
Platinum hasn't released a good game since Bayo 2... (Nier is a Yoko Taro game, doesn't count. If we were counting it, I would call it a bad Platinum game) Bayo 3 is going to be their best game since the dang Wii U!
@@Miriam_J_ Astral Chain is their best game since Bayo 2
The issues here strongly indicate a massive problem with mismanagement. That doesn't bode well for the future, studios don't have an infinite supply of fuckups, and bayonetta 3s development hasn't seemed particularly smooth.
Glad someone shares my sentiment too
It looked fine dude…. But I do get what you mean
for one it seems SE instead of investing more in FF14 and more single player games. They want to compete versus themselves with live services. Video games aren't like city builder or an RTS where you can cluster up and make profit. It seems like the more they try to do these live services the worse the quality is getting. Since for one, the games are never finished and two they keep going off on TEN YEAR time tables off of something they quickly abandon like they don't ever care to patch it.
Probably because of the clusterF of Babylon
I can only hope their C team was on this game, without everyone else working on Bayo 3. But I highly doubt that’s the case.
Minutes after watching this video, I saw that Babylon's Fall's live service is ending after barely a year. Yikes.
lmao
Why am I not surprised?
Not even a year!
@@gronodon It is exactly a year. The deluxe version of the game came out on February 28, 2022, and live service ends on February 28, 2023.
It should be illegal to sell a game just to shut it down so fast
So i played the closed beta. At the end they gave us a survey. I know i personally listed so many of the issues the game has. I did not pull my punches. Told them flat out they were making the next Anthem, Avengers or DnD: Dark Alliance.
Pointed out how underwhelming early combat was. How lackluster stat based gear systems are. Practically begged them not to release the game in this state. And i have no doubt many other players did the same. Then like a week after the beta closed they announced the release date.
I'm sure they had their reasons. But ah... far as i'm concerned they brought this on themselves.
Hey putting dark alliance with anthem and avengers is insulting elast dnd has a game and some fun even if its 5 minutes of such
And it turns out, they did make the next Anthem or Avengers ;)
Saying the thruth to a gaming company os like making advice to a drugaddict - it wont work -they are so in it and paranoid .But anyway they tried to cash in on a faliure so there is it
Making a live service game is such a huge undertaking, having seen some of Square's flops and Platinum's previous attempt it's not surprising this came out the way it did.
What "Platinum's previous attempt" are you talking about?
If you mean Scalebound that was not meant to be a live-service game, or even a multiplayer focused game, just a game with coop option. For that I don't think it was fitting for the video to name it among BF.
@@noodleknight7924 Anarchy Reign, a spin off sequel to Madworld, big multiplayer brawler that barely survived even though it was a decent fun clunky game.
@@Thaltas That's not a live service game. And it didn't survive due to SEGA's mismanagement of the game. Just before the game would release in the US, SEGA decided to delay the game for an entire year for absolutely no reason. It forced people to buy the Japanese version because it was region free. After the game finally came out a year later, people lost interest.
@@noodleknight7924 I think Scalebound was actually a multiplayer focused game like monster hunter.
he said this in the video too, Platinum themselves admitted to it. They are just not competent enough to make a successful game like that. And tbh, even Nier did not have good gameplay nor good graphics imho. Story, lore, music, encounters were excellent and the usual Japanese junk was very visible with Nier too. The game felt like a PS3 era game
It's weird to think how thiis video is now a historical archive of how the game was like before shutting down.
Having an entire game shut down and becoming lost media after it’s been out for less than a year is honestly kinda depressing
@@henrynelson9301That's what happens when the developers don't actually care about the game they're making and are just trying to make money
I truly hope Bayonetta 3 is a masterpiece because with how hard this game failed, I have to imagine Platinum Games could use some funds right now.
They'll get my money to be sure! Also please release NieR Automata on the Switch.
This game was published by square enix. Not platinums money
@@jameslawrenson1208 they gonna need more than one person to make all the money they spent back 😄
Square paid for this
It probably will be good, probs not a masterpiece. With Babylon they tried to basically build on top of what they already knew but also entering relatively new territory. Bayonetta is already there in terms of what they know and what players expect, and not to mention that the series has gained a following despite Bayo1's mediocre sales. They must understand they need to get Bayonetta 3 out as a good game and use the hype it will generate.
Came here to have a look with the announcement that service on this game is ceasing Feb 2023. 11 months. It didn't even make it a full year.
I salute your dedication, I would not have a fraction of the patience for this.
I kept confusing Babylon’s Fall with Godfall.
Both are shitty "live service" action RPG looter games with decent gameplay and shitty everything else. In Godfall's case, the graphic fidelity is great but the "art style" is way too gaudy and over-designed for its own good.
@@OptimusCrime1223 what happened to outriders and that weird fox game
@@OptimusCrime1223 God Fall is not live-service. Neither was Outriders (it was also called like that in the video)
They are just coop games, people really need to stop confusing coop games with "live-service".
The point of live-service is that the game gets constant free content updates. Single player focused games can also be live-service, like Let it Die or Path of Exile
There both are quite similar in how generic there feel.
@@haruhisuzumiya6650 Talking about Biomutant for the latter? I don't think it was a live service game. For how well it did, pretty sure it was meh but not as bad as the ones discussed here.
The amount of times he said "more on that later" is a decent indicator of how garbled this experience was
Or how garbled this video is
God bless you for this. I was really curious about Babylon Fall’s flaws… but I was resigned, knowing no one would be playing.
I would say, give the free demo a try if you have a friend you can play with.
I know that "everything is better with a friend so it doesn't count" , but it really fixes the biggest issues of the game (bad matchmaking, no players to find, enemies are too tanky and tedious to take down for only 1 player)
Who knows how much longer it is before they pull the plug on the game, and it's kind of a unique experience. We might never get another coop character action game with how much BF underperforms.
@@noodleknight7924 Just because it's unique doesn't mean it's worth keeping around. Platinum deserves better than this I'm more worried for them than this disaster.
@@franzhopper7631 Being able to play a character action game with a friend is a unique experience in a good kind of way. The game has good combat and as I said, having a dedicated teammate fixes the biggest issues of the game.
@@noodleknight7924 I've watched plenty of footage on it from people showing every single facet of the game fairly. I get that you like it and I'm sorry for this but I have yet to see any of this "good" combat that you've talked about.
@@franzhopper7631 I mean this video also talked about the combat not being bad. It's kinda like Nier Automata's combat with perfect dodges and parries, but you have 4 weapon slots and putting the same weapon in each slot results in different moves for them. You can also move 2 weapons independently from your character movement, so you can do things like attack enemies on one side and parry or stunlock others on another side. It's like a more expanded and more customizable version of Nier's melee+magic based combat.
Most people got frustrated by the enemies being so tanky and hard to juggle when you attack them alone, and that's really what "ruins the combat" and why most people get the impression that it's fundamentally bad. You really need someone to fight along with, and sadly the game's matchmaking is pretty bad, has no built in voice chat, and it also had no options to even make friends with someone you played with and re-invite them.
But if you already have a friend you can cooperate with then it's a pretty good and unique action game experience, something we never had before, and might never have again, considering that the commercial faliure of this game will discourage devs from even experimenting with coop character action games.
I'd say the armor looks far better in FFXIV than in this game. Seeing the Nier coat hurt me because Puppet's Bunker was my all time favorite raid armor in the game
Shout out to the hat from the Aiming set.
I can't believe they didn't even change the maiming set name from the the ff14 raids they lifted it from
a game from 2010 has better looking gear than a game from 2022
Another funny thing to note: FFXIV's Nier stuff is free, and that includes the items that look the most like 2b and 9s.
I'm amazed that I have never heard of this game until finding this video in my recommended today.
I'm definitely not a "every game needs good graphics", but when the graphics and clipping are so bad that it breaks immersion... that's a problem
yeah at a certain point it just becomes unpleasant to look at
Thank you, Austin. Thank you for peering into the deathless void of this game. I looked merely upon the surface and I couldn't go any farther, but you are a hero. You have gone farther than any person could and should be called to go. You did not need to. You would never been asked to by any kind man or woman, but you did it. You steeled your will and went so far beyond tedium and boredom and maintained your will to live. We are proud of you. Your soul is stronger.
I think a deep dive on Suda51 games would be interesting and fits your tastes. I would also say the Divinity Games would be interesting. I don't just mean Original Sin, I mean other things like Divinity 2. Last suggestion would be FF games like Type-0 or the DS games
I just bought killer is dead, and the classic divinity games are on my list
Ooh, Type-0 is a weird one. Full of lopsided characters, an honestly incomprehensible story on first-playthrough, terrible dubbing, and gameplay that is very grind-y and repetitive if you want to utilize even half of the available cast.
Doesn’t help that there’s a character or two that is just unplayable past a certain point in the game. One of the two that became unplayable was literally one of my main 3, so the endgame became extremely difficult having to learn, like, 10 characters that I gave up on grinding to keep my sanity.
I’m not sure if it’s a terrible game, but for final fantasy? Naw man, there’s nothing final fantasy about that game. There are a lot of other games I’d play again before giving that one another shot with new game +.
Not gonna lie, i didn't notice the game come out once i heard the news about the game getting negative reception and loosing players...thanks for doing the job no one dared (or cared) to do
@Clara Diana model 2 vete al cuerno!
31:50 “IS THE CONTINUING SERVICE IN DANGER?”
This aged like a sour Milk.
Since we're doing Square Enix licensed action games, why not punch some Chaos with Stranger of Paradise?
That games actually really fun, like Nioh lite. The story wouldn't be so bad if they just put in more cut-scenes and actually bridged the gap in between with better dialogue. In fact the party banter can actually be pretty good. Over all I'd give it a B+ or a 7.9 out of 10.
....Bullshit
Honestly I didn't even know this was out yet. I haven't even seen the negative reviews. That's how little press this is generating. If your core audience isn't aware the game is out it's not good and I bought Wonderful 101 on the Wii U.
When you switched between BF gameplay and bayonetta gameplay
It took me a second to realize it was a different game.
Which is sad because bayonetta is 13 years old
The attention to detail in doing things that make no sense is really there. Something as small as "Skirmishes" taking longer to complete than "Sieges." Incredible.
I love these deep dives on crappy games! We always hear and avoid such games, but I'm always curious on what they are exactly about. I wouldn't waste my time checking myself so I really appreciate these kind of videos.
Can't wait for Metal Gear Survive. I know that's a tremendous stinker.
Calling this game “notorious” is disingenuous, because it implies that people have long-term strong feelings about it. Maybe before release people were heated about it, but it’s just… boring
I was one of the many people who (at least to some degree) actively played the Babylon's Fall Closed Beta while also participating in answering questions for the surveys.
First of all, there were 3 total Beta Tests. Phase 1 was only available for non-EU countries, then Phase 2 was a stress test for everyone. Phase 3 was just an overall play test for everything that has been established in all testing phases. I could not participate in Phase 1, but in all the other phases that followed.
The beta tests had very little content to test anything out. You were able to play 2 levels in test 2 (which was about 2 hours long) and in phase 3 (which lasted 2 days, from november 15th to 17th) you were offered 6 levels to play. As mentioned, I couldn't play Phase 1 but from the forum I found out that Phase 1 had a total of 1 level to play.
There were almost no participants during most of the time, I remember getting auto-started into a level twice since there was no one to play a match with, I'd say this was since the game had little to no advertisment for it's closed beta except for the Square Enix E3 presentation and an ad for the game which was published about a week before Phase 1 (which had already stopped taking new participants over a month ago at that time, the only phase that allowed new players was Phase 3). I wrote a complaint about the matchmaking in the third survey, but I guess that didn't really matter even though there weren't even that many testers answering the surveys.
You had no tutorial level to find out what anything meant, the combat system was still very slow and tedious. In Phase 3 they increased the combat speed a bit, but also changed the artstyle to increase the visibility for objects, hence all the blur and unclean textures even though some objects have slightly increased in visual quality. You can very clearly tell that the game was designed around the oil brush textures and filters and that they had to make a quick decision for this change (for comparison, see Closed Beta Test: Phase 2 Report in the Hanging Garden Forum).
Now, one thing that was bothering me, just like you mentioned at 28:55 in the video, are the surveys. Almost EVERY. SINGLE. QUESTION. in all of the tests have been repeating over time. It was always just about visual style, combat and a little bit of accessability and connection stability. The visual style however was the most prominent in all surveys though. The fact that they are still not sure about wether they'll keep the style or not is just baffling to me.
When I first saw the game at E3 2021 I was hyped. I signed up for the closed beta right as the trailer was over. The fact that the game has gone through such an awful phase of development is just very sad, considering that I was thinking about buying this game on release. I can't imagine how annoyed people are that have been hyped for this game since 2019. I will still try out Babylon's Fall someday, but that's gonna take some time.
"I Beat Babylon's Fall 100% so you don't have to"
Gonna be honest, Austin, I don't know how much danger anyone was in of doing that if you hadn't. This was less like jumping in front of a bullet to save someone's life, and more like jumping in front of an airsoft pellet someone shot into the middle of the Mojave desert.
Game won't even be playable in 5 months. This video is probably the only significant thing to come from this game's release, I'm astounded. This has been a bigger blunder than even Balan.
You know what’s worse? Balan will still be purchased.
You might just be the ONLY person to 100% this game
Naw game is great. Having a blast. If you like Nier and destiny you’ll like this
That's a rare achievement indeed.
@@Masterpain33 This is beyond normal cope levels. This is... ADVACNED cope.
@@Masterpain33 Instant lies
It is fun if ya get past the initial problems. Hell the playstation community has full lobbies coming out and in Japan communities the participants are getting bigger
You should take a look at Doshin the Giant for Gamecube!
About the game, well... You're this gentle big yellow giant called Doshin, who appears each morning and vanishes each night. Doshin starts out small each day, but he can grow by collecting love (or hate!) from humans. His task, supposedly, is to help the people of the four existing tribes develop their village (there's a red, blue, yellow and green tribe) by raising and lowering the land, creating vegetation and stopping natural disasters and such. The humans will give him hearts he needs to grow when he completes their requests, and if they like him. Doshin can also bring a male and female from different tribes together to a piece of empty land on the map, and they'll start a new tribe with a new culture. Some of which will have new buildings or music! The goal is to develop a tribe until they build a monument in your honour. Do this for all sixteen combinations of tribes and..... you'll have beaten the first level.
I personally haven't beaten level one in 20 years, but I still absolutely love this game.
Oh yeah as for collecting hate, there's also an evil mode. The evil big red giant, Jashin. Anyway yeah you should check this game out, it's honestly hilarious. It's also... not super good maybe? Oh and prepare yourself for some interesting graphics. At least it's better than Babylon's Fall :')
This just makes me think Platinum is a troubled studio, I’m worried for their future.
I think they just didn't know how to make 4 player coop games. The game is just not balanced around either 1 player or 4 players, and there is no enemy scaling depending on the team size. This is the game's biggest issue by far, and the reason why it's tedious to play so often (enemies are either too tanky or are overwhelmed too easily).
Hopefully they learned from this. Hopefully they will fix even this game and just reboot it with f2p model or something.
It always had been the case for them. People tend to forget they had to keep afloat with making a handful of quick licensed tie-in games like Legend of Korra and TMNT. MGR sold well because it was tied to a long-running popular IP, and Nier Automato was more of a lucky surprise success more than anything else. During the development of that they had an extensively troubled production with Scalebound that was ultimately cancelled, and they had to keep doing exclusive deals such as with Nintendo to get funding with certain games such as with Bayonetta 2 and Astral Chain, and even the Wonderful 101 multiplat release had to be crowdfunded which was a Nintendo exclusive as well prior.
@@Nachy - This is true, I remembered the campaign for the Wonderful 101 port, and I was wondering why it needed to be crowd funded from a studio like Platinum, this was the first indication that something wasn’t right. Since then it seems like they’ve declined and their last few major releases haven’t been great, while they had success with Bayonetta, Nier, and MGSR and some of their smaller releases, stuff like Babylons fall could be a death sentence for the studio.
@@10191927 Platinum is pretty similar to a studio like Wayforward. A studio that's known for some incredible games, but don't always have the budget for it. The main issue is just how expensive a lot of their original titles are. Not to mention, Platinum is a bit of a one trick pony which limits what they can do for projects. If people lose intest in their style of games, then they pretty much lose the company.
@@darienb1127
At least Wayforward made some dope license games. They somehow made a tie in Mummy movie game that was actually really good, which is a feat withing itself tbh. Meanwhile, Platinum can't help but reuse every idea every game. Just about all their games having witch time now is a good example of this.
The most anticipated I’ve ever been to watch a RUclips video. Thank you Austin, your sacrificed time means everything to our non-sacrificed time.
Started playing Scarlet Nexus recently. It does a better job at everything Stranger of Paradise and Babylon's Fall was trying to do.
"Know your limits. We're not all Keith Lee."
That one caught me off-guard
My friends and i had really high hopes for this one.... But then we noped out of it after the first reviews dropped.
Thanks for the amazing video, as usual!
If you have a friend to play with then you should probably still give at least the free demo a try. The reviews never mention this but playing with a friend really fixes the biggest issues of the game (bad matchmaking, no players to find, enemies are too tanky and tedious to take down for only 1 player)
You're an absolute madlad for not only playing this game for longer than a day, but also go for the platinum trophy
I salute you for braving the most painful 100+ playthrough. God speed sod speed
Bayonetta and developing primarily for the switch seems to have led to a lot of technical debt and a lack of engine and technical development. I think you're spot on about them being "stuck" in the 7th gen technology wise.
Honestly I'm so glad that multiplayer and especially live service titles are taking a huge hit right now. For years AAA companies have been trying to say nobody likes single player games and while that's obviously not true the industry has obviously been gearing itself towards multiplayer in order to get more and more money.
But now they're facing the problem of having zero passion for these games but still expecting to be the next big hit and I just love seeing this wake up call from these greedy ass companies that aren't content just to make a profit but to make a nearly endless one.
"Companies exist to make money!!" yes they do but that doesn't mean they have to make cynically designed garbage and try to get more and more, there's a ceiling and they're clearly ramming right in to it right now.
I'm so glad we get great single player games from companies that haven't given in to the idea of an easy buck. Only just getting around to Ghost of Tsushima myself and my God what a gorgeous game, can only imagine how lame it would be if it was designed like an MMO with a mobile game economy, battle passes and all that shit.
The thing is, multiplayer live service games have their place, but not everything has to try to be one. Even EA was big on it, saying singleplayer is dead, but then Jedi Fallen Order came.
Actually, the first multiplayer Platinum has made is "Anarchy Reigns", the spiritual successor to Mad World.mad world!
Making this multiplayer and a live services was really dumb. Most of their core fan base never was about that. Babylon's Fall was destined to fail from the outset.
I think making it a live service game that was region locked was what actually killed it. There are tons of game similar to this out there and it could have been a good time, but making it too generous with drops, restricting the ability to play with others or to wipe a character and try again really locks you down in your experience.
Agreed. We come to Platinum to play their signature style of games we can’t get anywhere else. Nobody wants a crappy, barely finished, uninteresting live service game from a company like Platinum.
We know Square and Platinum can do better because they did better just a few years ago with Nier Automata. And actually with Nier Replicant too just a year or two ago
@@newdivide9882 Was the Replicant game made by Platinum though? I seem to recall there was some mild controversy about that, that they were making the remake in the style of Automata but it wasn't actually Platinum Games making it.
I'm glad you say this, because something even worse is coming! Their first original IP is going to be a live service game. I doubt that game will do well, it might genuinely be Platinums last game if no one buys them after.
_Familiar with PlatinumGames' previous failed live service game, Anachy Reign_
Me: Huh, deja vu
@JRRR92 plus it’s 10x better than this pile of garbage
yea was wondering when he said this was their first multiplayer game. I was like but wb Anarchy Reign lmao
people really need to stop thinking that live-service means "the game has multiplayer"
I can’t stress how much love I have for you Austin. The countless I’ve used your videos as a way to deal with chronic pain. I’m so happy to see you’re still killing it.
We appreciate the torture you put yourself through for content
Glad to have a full view of this game. I was curious about it, but didn't want to dish out 80 bucks for it ^^'' Especially knowing its online only and basically on life-support...
In term of games I'd like to see you try out, there's a duology of obscure pokemon-ish monster catchers called Jade Cocoon. If the first game sometimes get some interest, the second is almost never mentioned which is a shame.
I didn't even know there was a sequel.
80 bones? Lol hell nah
I can see why Bayonetta 3 is in deep trouble and having a ton of issues... I am surprised Sega and Nintendo are having any patience with them.
Why do you say this? Literally nothing point to Bayo 3 having any problems other than how long it's taking. Platinum has been working on (according to them) many unannounced games for several publishers. Seeing how Bayo 3 is looking really good and Platinum saying they've had no trouble developing it (they've outright said when they've had development issues in the past, so I don't see why they wouldn't say that if that were the case here. Bayonetta 3 looks amazing and it's going to be fine. The issue isn't that Platinum can't make games, it's that they can only make Bayonetta games at this point.
I think your assessment about the game being developed for online from the start without Square forcing them made a lot of sense especially when considering Scalebound too and I agree with it.
But then again, even if they were forced to, they weren't gonna publicly gave interview blaming Square anyway.
I personally find it very hard to believe. The difference between Scalebound and Babylon's Fall is pretty big. Scalebound was a single player game with multiplayer content. Babylon's fall is a multiplayer game. They had to add in the ability to play single player later on after a survey. So the first trailer of Babylon's Fall is very suspicious to me. It showed absolutely no multiplayer content. The multiplayer is the game. If the game was always intented to be multiplayer, why didn't they show off the multiplayer. Something about it doesn't add up to me.
@@markkoehr5003 The game was probably in an early proof of concept stage. At a point where they got some things moving, but not ready enough to active set it uo for multiplayer.
Oof. This is rough. I think making a game a "live service" is basically a death sentence. I don't know about other gamers, but I've already found live services that I love, and I wouldn't really have time to add another one.
The biggest problems with live sevices is oversaturation, rushing, greed and lack of work hands.
There's simply too many games of this type of format that the only way to hook players to one, you'll need to make it good at first try. If you don't, you'll flop
Also live services need to stay out of controversy, or you'll be painted a bad one
Also, these need A LOT of people working on it after release, to the point that you'll a studio (at least) dedicated for it, and it alone
@@alpha34098 The other issue is that human nature makes it so people don’t want to work on one single thing over and over for the rest of their lives, but live service games require exactly that. When people burn out working on an MMO, they have the option of working on a different part (such as moving from programming pvp to programming for minigames). Live service games don’t provide that option, so devs inevitably leave the team and new hires not only have to learn from scratch, but their visions for the game can completely change its path. They also haven’t experienced the pitfalls the previous devs did and thus can be prone to making those same mistakes.
Live service may be doable for a year or two normally, but the way that the heads of AAA companies expect it to last indefinitely is completely unrealistic
@@Doomerang01 That's why you also need a good dev rotation as well. Thanks for bringing it up
Why Fortnite is the most successful live service nowadays. Because the devs actually rotate between seasons. They don't keep the same team everytime
@@alpha34098 Oh I agree with you completely, but most companies don't consider that.
The problem with imitating a cash cow idea is that everyone's already giving their cash to the first cow. Many, many, many companies will die before this lesson has been learned.
IDK if it's RUclips compression, your capture card or the game itself but the game looks like it's running at 720p.
That's mostly the game.
Probably also RUclips. The compression gets pretty bad when there's a lot of movement on screen.
10:47 never before did i think i would cheer on for a scene to continue being weirdly awkward but here we are, with whatever the fuck is going on. extreme reassurance maybe? i dont know what such fervent shoulder patting could mean.
So...for once, I actually have experience with a sponsor that's being advertised! I'm a caretaker for the elderly, and one of said elders had Factor sent to them for a good while. There were some that he didn't really like (he's an ultra picky eater) so the ones he didn't eat he happily gave to me. I gotta say - for the most part they're really delicious and they do have quite the variety. If you're worried about flavor then I wouldn't, personally. Some meals are better than others and we all got our own tastebuds, but I enjoyed the majority of the ones I had, and the elder I was taking care of enjoyed what he specifically liked. I'd say give it a shot if you're looking for some meal on wheels but are also keeping an eye on your health.
Something I think you’d do really good at one videos would be company games. Like square enix, edios, ea, etc. where their games came from to where they are now. The struggles and falls or uprising or over hyping
10:41 I almost can't believe how long that went on.
Oh my sweet man, thank you for your sacrifice to humanity. Your sanity won't be forgotten.
Also.. really curious when this game will be free on PS Plus, failed live service games often end up there to boost their numbers..
I've gone back and started playing games from the 6th and 7th gen consoles. Games like Infamous, Tales of Symphonia, Mercenaries, and the original God of War games. They have been refreshing from the BS of modern gaming.
I really like these in depth reviews of controversial games that you do. Keep the series up!
I still remember the sinking feeling I had watching that live service announcement trailer live. Even before they said that, the entire time I was like, "what the hell happened?"
Thanks so much for your sacrifice in doing this video. Honestly, this game really breaks my heart, as I Platinum is one of my favourite game devs as well. But i think your conclusion about "knowing your limits" hits the nail on the head.
Looking great Austin!
You really did this so nobody else had to. Our team got this to work on early - review, content, the works - and I kid you not, this is the only game I’ve seen a major publication drop all coverage before launch. Every writer refused to work on it, and we eventually posted a goof article about how to uninstall and refund your purchase on all platforms.
Thank you for beating this so I don't have to (also I'm so sorry)
i saw "forgotten PS3 videogames" and i knew. i just KNEW Folklore was going to get mentioned. what an absolute masterpiece. and the plot twist at the end still stings.
Loving this series.
Bro I loved the whole idea, world and design of this game so much and it disapointed me so bad, would be nice to see it in playstation plus.
how the hell are elden ring, pokemon arceus, and horizon forbidden west, unconventional single player experiences?
that's soulsborne, jrpg, and open world rpg; literally three of the most played subgenre of video game.
I remember when this dropped and I made the joke Babylon's *Fail* to some friends, but boy howdy did that end up being prophetic. Live services are a thing that should never have become so prominent to begin with, and trying to take something that'd be a cool single player game and turning it into an always online product that _must_ be played with other people seemed like it was destined to be a bad idea. For as beloved as games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Kirby Forgotten Land are, it probably goes without saying they would have been worse off if they'd trying to make it into a live service.
When Austin talked about Devil May Cry and multiplayer I immediately started questioning why anyone would actually want that, since the action and attention required are already up there and throwing in needing to keep track of other players and such.. just seems like a bad idea. In any case, I must applaud him for doing this experiment for us all. It's certainly not something I would want to have to do, and I can very much appreciate how fried he was afterwards.
AAAAAAAND they just announced they are shutting the game down in february...
I'm officially here to see how many people bring up Anarchy Reigns considering that was online multiplayer and would have ended up live Service if Sega had their way and it well before many of their games.
He did it for us, he is our savior. HE SUFFERED FOR US!
In all the talk about Babylons Fall i've yet to see anyone talk about Anarchy Reigns, Platinums has already made a great multiplayer game. They could have easily revisted that idea and do the MOBA/heroshooter skins route for mtx if they were deadset on a live service
Sounds like a game that would have been decent in 2009.
Exactly, maybe in 2010 too. Not big fan of realistic/good graphic, but man the graphic really bad, its like from old/last gen, PS3 & X360 era
@@kirin7725 Heck, most of it looks like a late PS2 game, MAYBE an early PS3 game. It looks worse than the original NieR Gestalt on PS3. And people said Legend Arceus' graphics were bad...
You got it all wrong. It should be the 90s. PS 2 graphic looked way better than this poorly made product.
And that's the problem
How could a Developer who gets so much right, get so much WRONG so quickly?
Except Platinum made way better games in 2009
"What's going on?"
That really aught to be Square-Enix's new corporate slogan.
Glad to know you got our back, Austin .😁👌
10:50
I literally went "what is going on" right before you did the same.
A good example of an oil painting art style is Dishonored
I love these deep dives you’ve been doing everyone has been a banger
Oooooh Austin you are really onto something with this mini series
I'd really like you to take a look at an original Xbox game called Phantom Crash. It's such a strange take on mecha with one of the most fascinating soundtracks I've ever played and no one really talks about it.
I would love for them to have a singleplayer with the combat of Babylon's Fall. The combat sounds like it could be fun af
It essentially is. Most of the issues cited are being addressed or already have. Getting rid of "gimmicks" like the orbs and they already tuned "solo" balancing once.
Honestly, I could see this game sitll working as a multiplayer title if they didn't do the live service thing.
These Deep Dives into divisive games is one of the best things that happened to your channel. They're so interesting. I'm glad the Balan video did so well lol
I suspect that 5 or even 3 years for now, having this “archival” footage/testimony of a game lost so damn fast will be invaluable. Solid work!
Really enjoyed this deep dive despite not owning a ps5 or being remotely interested in the game. I think I just like watching you play and talk about bad games lol
> Platinum can only make excellent single player offerings
> They haven't "pushed the boundaries" or released anything that screams "2022".
> Austin earlier said that 2022 loves single player titles and live services are getting a lot of pushback.
Uh... Is that so?
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that MAYBE, considering it was in the context of how ugly the games graphics were and how the one succesful game they've made lately was for the Switch, a console whose technology is quite far behind the current big tech-monsters like PS5 and Series X, his intent behind those words were that Platinum may have made games whose GAMEPLAY are a good fit for 2022, but their LOOKS are still firmly in the "would look really good in the PS3 days".
Tokyo Mirage Sessions OST got me to listen to the entire sponsor segment, well played.
Austin doing this so no one else has to... not like they would though.
Still impressive.
This was a fascinating look at Babylon's Fall. It was interesting hearing an experienced opinion, so thank you.
It's probably not a game very "in demand" for a video, but if you'd like to explore Platinum Game's periphery, I have a soft spot for Infinite Space on the DS - Platinum's rpgish space opera. Though flawed, I still think it's the bee's knees.
You probably already gave it a look, but I think a video on it would be neat nonetheless.
I actually bought that game, since I planned to do a tier list on games from platinum. But it was 60 loose, and that's probably one of my largest purchase regrets recently.
4:03 I cannot imagine seeing footage of this game and being “pumped.” Then again there were people pumped for Biomutant…
I genuinely loved Biomutant. I had a blast.
I mean, it looks fine.
It's a Platinum game.
Biomutant at least looksed stylish. This just looks bad.
Yeah I was kinda confused as well. Like man, this shit looks like eye-based quaaludes
Great video all around but YOOOOOOO THAT GUNSTAR HEROES MUSIC AT THE END, GODDAMMIT, just hit it in the feels for some reason
I was really looking forward to it until it's final trailer where they revealed it was a multiplayer live service. Also, no. It was not planned to be this way from the beginning, they were clearly just covering their asses with that statement to make up for the direction shift. There is zero resemblance between the games shown in the 2nd and 3rd trailers. While I don't think SE strong armed them into going down this route, this was obviously a result of production problems and delays. As Nier Automata is my favorite game of all time, this has been the biggest gaming misstep of the decade.
Besides you'd have to ask yourself if they were pressured to make it a live service game,. would they admit to it? My guess is they probably wouldn't.
RIGHT? I don’t believe that for a second. Why would they not be able to show the online functionality? And even if they could for some reason, why be completely silent about the game supposedly being a live-service from the get go? Why is the combat so much slower and unlike Platinum in the second trailer? Why would they change the graphics if all they needed to do was finish the online functionality?
Sorry, but all signs point to this game getting rebooted into a live service game because Square is hungry for one despite FFXIV being an MMO juggernaut
@@newdivide9882 It was obviously rebooted into a live service. But blaming it on SE is baseless speculation.
@@newdivide9882
Nope. Platinum is going full in on live service games. They have opened an entire division for just live service games. They have a new IP coming, it's their first ever and they're doing it completely alone. They've said again and again that it will be live service. This is all Platinum and saying otherwise is copium. Hell, Scalebound was going to be live service too until Microsoft threw it out. Platinum has been trying to do this for a while, and they're going to continue making live service games.
@@killaken2000
They did admit to going full in on live service games. It was them. Sorry, just hate misinformation and speculation when the answer is a Google away.
Fantastic coverage Austin! I was dying to try this out, but now I don't want to - thanks! It's a shame Platinum fell so hard to create Babylon's Fall; really hoping they can pull it together for Bayo3!
Thank you for taking this hit for us.
My favourite painted art style game that I think would have suited Babylon’s Fall, is El Shaddai. That game also uses a filter to cover up for less-than-stellar texture work, but it makes up for that in stylism and a simplified aesthetic where you don’t notice the textures.
Once I knew I had to log in to play the demo I NOPED on out of it
While I'd love to see a video on White Knight Chronicles, that 0% on Dark Cloud in the same screen as 100% on Babylon's Fall is definitely a scream for a Dark Cloud video
I have to imagine that the next step for Babylons Fall is to become Free To Play. They desperatley need a player base and thats the only way I can see some sort of base developing.
Even F2P won't save it, outright. Only buy it some time
@@0uttaS1TE Yeah, I don't think they should waste any more time and resources on this game. It's a completely unsavable flop.
Super quality work on this one, a very comprehensive video.
austin i respect ur sacrifice
Shame to see Platinum suffer through such blunders, specially when they seem to actually put out something good and not just a cash grab as many would thought. I do wish they could take time to port some of their old titles on PC just to rank up a little bank (Mad World, Anarchy Reigns, etc). I think Platinum games are just bangers but are currently lost on old consoles.
As some have mentioned here, Platinum seem to life off contract after contract and don't bank in much themselves. Hopefully either BF gets better for them or get a big hit, I personally wish they could continue either Mad world or Anarchy Reigns in some sort of fashion, as I love their more less restrained titles where they just do what they think is coolest. Anyways, amazing video!