Stellar Blade |OT| Seoulsborne

[xenosys83]

Been quite enjoying the first 10 hours of the game.

Great combat system, performance is stellar, bosses are challenging without being ridiculously hard. Decent enough enemy variety. OST is catchy. Progression system is also a lot better than I expected.

However, so far, the story is forgettable, and the characters are so lifeless and wooden. That includes Eve. She's basically a blank slate and does nothing for women in video games being taken seriously as actual personalities with depth and development. The only exception is Lily, which isn't saying much.

Some of the 'puzzles' are also dreadful. Like 'Mako Vacuum from Rebirth' levels of tedium. Otherwise most are OK and the rewards are good.

Just about justifying it's score so far.

 

[snausages]

Man, this game feels like such total dogshit to play and the level design so cookie cutter it makes me miss the Qliphoth. Baffled by these reviews.

Might just be the early hours are rubbish I guess.

 

[names2hard4you]

Just popping in to echo what a lot of folks have already said. Only a few hours in but the level of polish in this game is something to be commended, specially as a studio's first AAA style game effort. OST is absolutely insane, I've had times where I legit just don't move so I can listen to the song that is playing in the background. The fan service stuff is def there, but as long as you don't "look" for it or at it, it doesn't get in the way of what so far to me is a pretty excellent game. Really really enjoying the gameplay, story, world, everything. Could see this being a GOTY contender for me if it keeps up the way it is.

Man, this game feels like such total dogshit to play and the level design so cookie cutter it makes me miss the Qliphoth. Baffled by these reviews.

Might just be the early hours are rubbish I guess.

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LOL since we literally posted at the same time, imma get ahead of the "this_is_era.gif" memes that will be incoming 😂

 

[Tamaa]

The game is a blast. I'm usually bad at perfect parrying in games, but I'm getting better at it the more I play this. Maybe this game is a perfect entry point for a proper Sekiro run lol.

And I'm glad I bought it on the japanese playstation store. Japanese dub fits the game so well.

 

[strangelove777]

I'm liking this a lot more than I thought I would. I'm about 3 hours in so maybe things will change but why were so many people comparing it to a souls game? It feels more like Nier Automata mixed with MGS Revengeance to me.

 

[ScionN7]

I just watched Suzi's review of the game, and her opinion landed exactly where I thought it would. She really likes it and finds the combat and gameplay to be very addicting, but the story and characters prevented her from loving it.

For me personally, so far I do love it, because the game scratches all the right itches for me, but yeah...I really hope if Shrift Up does a sequel, that they hire some actual writers that understand how dialogue is supposed to sound, and how characters should act. It's great that the game is at an 82 MC, but I think it's so clear that the main thing that held the game back from achieving the high 80s was the writing.

 

[DC5remy]

I'm liking this a lot more than I thought I would. I'm about 3 hours in so maybe things will change but why were so many people comparing it to a souls game? It feels more like Nier Automata mixed with MGS Revengeance to me.

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It's like a souls game because you push a button to attack, have a life bar, and fight monsters. How can you not see it? 🤪

 

[Loud Wrong]

Engagement feels low with this game (based on zero data, btw, just anecdotal evidence). I think it would have done better if Sony had stepped in earlier and toned down the stupid jiggle shit and dumb outfits. Purposely or not, I think Shift Up cut their own potential off at the knees. The people whining about censorship now were never going to be happy anyway. More time spent on combat balancing and less on jiggle physics would also really have helped, although I bet most players won't notice how easily you can break the game with a few moves. At least early on. All that said, I love this game (this type of game) and want more of them.

 

[Modest_Modsoul]

I think Shift Up's primed & ready for their own Resident Evil/action horror.


View: https://x.com/ginfizz5113/status/1784238677100822734

 

[criteriondog]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvDieSfvrn4

Watched Suzi's review and she was very thorough on what she liked and what she did not like. I would recommend watching it. No spoilers outside of one she mentioned and gives a timestamp to skip past.

Ultimately she enjoyed the game, praising its combat, music, animations but disliked the linear levels' design, and found the story poor, and the main characters and script to be really bad. Ultimately the gameplay is very polished and loved it but everything else was poor. She wants a sequel that improves its' faults, and while she liked the game a lot (100% it, 2 playthroughs and platinum'd it), she hopes the story and characters get a significant improvement in a sequel.

 

[Skulldead]

Wow ok, much bigger than I expected. I'm someone who doesn't do much side stuff, so it sounds like 20 would be expected for me. Maybe more.

How are you finding the game's difficulty? Playing on Normal?

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After 5 hours the game is far from soul-like level of difficulty but it way harder then most action game i've play in 2024 especialy for a normal difficulty. Never get boring so far.

 

[xenosys83]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvDieSfvrn4

Watched Suzi's review and she was very thorough on what she liked and what she did not like. I would recommend watching it. No spoilers outside of one she mentioned and gives a timestamp to skip past.

Ultimately she enjoyed the game, praising its combat, music, animations but disliked the linear levels' design, and found the story poor, and the main characters and script to be really bad. Ultimately the gameplay is very polished and loved it but everything else was poor. She wants a sequel that improves its' faults, and while she liked the game a lot (100% it, 2 playthroughs and platinum'd it), she hopes the story and characters get a significant improvement in a sequel.

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Her reviews are generally very good, and I'm in agreement with a lot of it, specifically around the characters and dialogue. Feels like a lot of it has been AI generated.

 

[Ariakon44]

Engagement feels low with this game (based on zero data, btw, just anecdotal evidence). I think it would have done better if Sony had stepped in earlier and toned down the stupid jiggle shit and dumb outfits. Purposely or not, I think Shift Up cut their own potential off at the knees. The people whining about censorship now were never going to be happy anyway. More time spent on combat balancing and less on jiggle physics would also really have helped, although I bet most players won't notice how easily you can break the game with a few moves. At least early on. All that said, I love this game (this type of game) and want more of them.

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I agree it could have been toned down, but it seems to be selling quite well at retailers and on psn

 

[criteriondog]

Her reviews are generally very good, and I'm in agreement with a lot of it, specifically around the characters and dialogue. Feels like a lot of it has been AI generated.

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her review was the one I was ultimately waiting on :P

 

[GwyndolinCinder]

I'm doing no damage runs against end game bosses without dodging or blocking...that ign review is killing me ^_____^

 

[coolasj19]

The vibe of the game gets significantly better once you can put Eve in some Real Clothes™. It takes some doing though but I've only gotten to the 4th area and I've got my new forever outfits

 

[Bansai]

I was gonna wait before picking it up, since after platinuming Rise of the Ronin (gamiest game of the year of our gaming lord 2024), I wanted to start Dogma 2 finally... but I was at a restaurant today and passed a game store on the way, so of course I decided to visit on the way back lol. My first physical edition since... hot damn, Ghost of Tsushima on PS4? I guess Dogma is gonna wait some more.

Anywhoo, so far so good. What I want to know, how to open that damn demo chest?

 

[Ahti]

Anywhoo, so far so good. What I want to know, how to open that damn demo chest?

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You'll get the code from a sidequest.

 

[Bansai]

You'll get the code from a sidequest.

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Thanks!

 

[Loud Wrong]

Suzi's review was very good. Great game with issues that will hopefully be addressed in a sequel.

 

[strangelove777]

I wonder how long til I get that sweet biker outfit.

 

[Nephilim]

Blue glow counter and pretty much everything regarding combat works flawlessly for me, the combat is just fun.
What i would describe as wonky is some platforming stuff, but it's not a dealbreaker.
I'm also interested in story and lore, one of the main reasons i bought the game

Very good game so far, as expected.

 

[Aiqops]

Suzi's review was very good. Great game with issues that will hopefully be addressed in a sequel.

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Yeah, I think it can only go up from here. Same with Lies of P. For first time big console games they delivered pretty damn solid games, that they now can build off of and improve in the areas that need it, like writing in Stellar Blade for example. Improving location variety even more and doing more original things, instead of being heavily influenced by Automata to the point of having a desert area even.😆

 

[Musubi]

Her reviews are generally very good, and I'm in agreement with a lot of it, specifically around the characters and dialogue. Feels like a lot of it has been AI generated.

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It's stilted and kind of weird for sure but I have to wonder if it's more of the results of how the localization effort went than the actual script itself.

I'd be interested to see how the original Korean script comes across

 

[Loud Wrong]

It's stilted and kind of weird for sure but I have to wonder if it's more of the results of how the localization effort went than the actual script itself.

I'd be interested to see how the original Korean script comes across

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The line from the demo (which I played way too much) about it being a "truly colossal city" always struck me as odd phrasing. So the story might be much better in Korean, but the translation may just be odd…on top of being very derivative and limited. Also doesn't help that Adam's voice actor in English sucks so much.

 

[ScionN7]

Her reviews are generally very good, and I'm in agreement with a lot of it, specifically around the characters and dialogue. Feels like a lot of it has been AI generated.

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That's how I feel. I actually would not be surprised if AI was involved to a certain extent when writing the dialogue. A lot of it comes off like an AI's interpretation of how a human being talks, there's nothing organic about the conversations in the game.

 

[Loud Wrong]

That's how I feel. I actually would not be surprised if AI was involved to a certain extent when writing the dialogue. A lot of it comes off like an AI's interpretation of how a human being talks, there's nothing organic about the conversations in the game.

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Sounds like Suzi thinks AI might have also been involved in the creation of some locations. I love them graphically, but they are a weird mish mash of languages and art styles.

 

[ScionN7]

Sounds like Suzi thinks AI might have also been involved in the creation of some locations. I love them graphically, but they are a weird mish mash of languages and art styles.

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Yeah I saw that part of the video. The usage of AI feels very present in the game. I don't know why? If it's to cut cost, these guys make absolute bank on Nikke.

It's starting to feel frustrating for me, because the bad writing and one note characters is what's stopping the game from true greatness. Like imagine if these characters had entertaining and well written banter, and well fleshed out and unique personalities. I feel like they could've made Eve a kind and noble woman, but also a bit of a princess type, who hates getting wet, dirty, and feels inconvenienced at every turn. It would've been funny to see her get increasingly pissed off, and more vulgar and hardened over the course of the game.

If we ever get a sequel, they desperately need to hire some actual writers.

 

[bezuzu]

Okay why do the puzzles reset if you just leave the area. That is so stupid

 

[Agni Kai]

I just made it to Stalker. Poor bastard.

 

[Humanity]

Engagement feels low with this game (based on zero data, btw, just anecdotal evidence). I think it would have done better if Sony had stepped in earlier and toned down the stupid jiggle shit and dumb outfits. Purposely or not, I think Shift Up cut their own potential off at the knees. The people whining about censorship now were never going to be happy anyway. More time spent on combat balancing and less on jiggle physics would also really have helped, although I bet most players won't notice how easily you can break the game with a few moves. At least early on. All that said, I love this game (this type of game) and want more of them.

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They mainly cut their own potential by marrying themselves to Sony for a game that seems to have "mid year multi-platform filler" written all over it. Thanks to NIKKE they don't really have to care about how financially succesful Stellar Blade is going to be - the "prestige" of having a big AAA single player console game on PlayStation is probably enough for now. The jiggle physics if anything helped this game get a lot more exposure than it would if it had a way more toned down protagonist - at which point this would be just another OK action game with some good combat and some other not so good parts.

 

[SoneaB]

I'm not going to pass final judgement until I've finished the game but I'm surprised to see such dislike for the story. Not because it's some incredible yarn but it's good enough and serves it's purpose. I've never needed action games like this to have hugely involved stories but I'm far more invested in this so far than I ever have been in any of the DMC, GoW, Doom, Ninja Gaiden or even Bayonetta games. Though at least had they had a lot of charm. I feel like the game us being held to a standard that nothing else in the genre is. It's 90s anime nonsense and that's okay.

 

[Majunior]

I'm not going to pass final judgement until I've finished the game but I'm surprised to see such dislike for the story. Not because it's some incredible yarn but it's good enough and serves it's purpose. I've never needed action games like this to have hugely involved stories but I'm far more invested in this so far than I ever have been in any of the DMC, GoW, Doom, Ninja Gaiden or even Bayonetta games. Though at least had they had a lot of charm. I feel like the game us being held to a standard that nothing else in the genre is. It's 90s anime nonsense and that's okay.

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It's because of Nier.

 

[Oreiller]

I'm not going to pass final judgement until I've finished the game but I'm surprised to see such dislike for the story. Not because it's some incredible yarn but it's good enough and serves it's purpose. I've never needed action games like this to have hugely involved stories but I'm far more invested in this so far than I ever have been in any of the DMC, GoW, Doom, Ninja Gaiden or even Bayonetta games. Though at least had they had a lot of charm. I feel like the game us being held to a standard that nothing else in the genre is. It's 90s anime nonsense and that's okay.

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Yeah, it's fine. I wouldn't call it good but it's fine for what it is (ie not much).

 

[Linus815]

I just wish Eve had more of a character. Like, people genuinely took a liking to Jack from Stranger of Paradise because of how endearingly goofy he is despite the quality of the writing. People loved Bayonetta from the start. DMC's story is generally really meh but you simply cannot deny how cool Dante is and how much of a flair his character adds.

 

[ReginaldXIV]

I'm generally enjoying the game but the story and 3 main characters are so boring lol. The sidequest lore is much more interesting but nobody seems to really care about the seemingly heinous shit going on in these quests.

 

[SoneaB]

I just wish Eve had more of a character. Like, people genuinely took a liking to Jack from Stranger of Paradise because of how endearingly goofy he is despite the quality of the writing. People loved Bayonetta from the start. DMC's story is generally really meh but you simply cannot deny how cool Dante is and how much of a flair his character adds.

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I adore Bayonetta as a character, but the story is very meh. Dante.. yeah I like playing the DMC games but I never cared for Dante. I think he's an asshole.

 

[Musubi]

I'm not going to pass final judgement until I've finished the game but I'm surprised to see such dislike for the story. Not because it's some incredible yarn but it's good enough and serves it's purpose. I've never needed action games like this to have hugely involved stories but I'm far more invested in this so far than I ever have been in any of the DMC, GoW, Doom, Ninja Gaiden or even Bayonetta games. Though at least had they had a lot of charm. I feel like the game us being held to a standard that nothing else in the genre is. It's 90s anime nonsense and that's okay.

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Same really. Ninja Gaiden Black is my favorite of all time action game and I couldn't tell you what it's story was if my life depended on it.

 

[elproducto]

I really want to play this, but I'm done with $100+ games, so I'll wait for a sale.

 

[R8ER34]

Landing perfect parries in this game feels so satisfying. I loved parrying in Sekiro, too but that game was too hard for me so I'm glad that at least on normal, Stellar Blade is much more in my ballpark when it comes to difficulty (so far at least).

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I finally found the password to the box inside Bar 99!

It took me like 6 or 7 tries to defeat it lol. I wouldn't say it had any new moves; they just hit harder. Like, way harder.

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Do tell. What is it

 

[Raigor]

I'm not going to pass final judgement until I've finished the game but I'm surprised to see such dislike for the story. Not because it's some incredible yarn but it's good enough and serves it's purpose. I've never needed action games like this to have hugely involved stories but I'm far more invested in this so far than I ever have been in any of the DMC, GoW, Doom, Ninja Gaiden or even Bayonetta games. Though at least had they had a lot of charm. I feel like the game us being held to a standard that nothing else in the genre is. It's 90s anime nonsense and that's okay.

Click to shrink...

If your character is dull with no personality with a mediocre story it's even worse and Stellar Blade characters are boring and not memorable.

Dante, Bayonetta, The Doom Slayer are "cool" with their unique personalities even if their stories are not that interesting.

 

[Fj0823]

Game is the perfect amount of challenge for someone who sucks at Soulsborne like me.

It's flashy, intuitive and quite fun.

If the story wasn't a total bore I'd probably give it a 9. But Right now it's an 7.5-8 for me.

 

[Cassius Africanus]

I'm not going to pass final judgement until I've finished the game but I'm surprised to see such dislike for the story. Not because it's some incredible yarn but it's good enough and serves it's purpose. I've never needed action games like this to have hugely involved stories but I'm far more invested in this so far than I ever have been in any of the DMC, GoW, Doom, Ninja Gaiden or even Bayonetta games. Though at least had they had a lot of charm. I feel like the game us being held to a standard that nothing else in the genre is. It's 90s anime nonsense and that's okay.

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I think it's because recent GOTY darlings have pushed narrative hard. They're cool and all but there's a whole other half of a videogame (some people say more than half) known as gameplay. A good story elevates, but it's shouldn't be the biggest factor in if a game is good or even GOTY quality. It's annoyed me most recently with Fallout. As if the dialogue and story of the Bethesda led Fallout games was the reason they become so popular. Kind of off topic, but I feel it's related.

 

[Scarlett]

I'm not sure if it's just me but that mortar monster in the prologue looks like a massive p****, otherwise all monster designs are topnotch.

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This Gigas in the Oil Storage is legit. Lend me your powers, Era.

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Dude, is he tuned up or something? I mastered that first one, and now I can't even get any openings unless I blink. Confidence shattered.

 

[Musubi]

I finally found the password to the box inside Bar 99!

It took me like 6 or 7 tries to defeat it lol. I wouldn't say it had any new moves; they just hit harder. Like, way harder.

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Do tell where you found that password it still bugs me we had to wait lol.

 

[ScionN7]

The plot of Stellar Blade is fine in and of itself, but it's the delivery of it's plot that's bad. You could have a great idea for story, but if the surrounding structure such as world building, character development, dialogue, and pacing are bad, the whole things suffers. In the case of Stellar Blade, the big wart on the story is dialogue and character. If you had taken the plot of Stellar Blade and given it to someone who actually knows how to write dialogue, it would've been much better as a whole. Because dialogue isn't just entertaining banter, it's how your characters deliver the narrative and their development over the course of the story. If the dialogue can't sell you on these characters and what's happening throughout the story, the whole narrative collapses.

Also this:

It's because of Nier.

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They did themselves absolutely no favors by constantly bringing up Nier Automata as their inspiration.

 

[Majunior]

The plot of Stellar Blade is fine in and of itself, but it's the delivery of it's plot that's bad. You could have a great idea for story, but if the surrounding structure such as world building, character development, dialogue, and pacing are bad, the whole things suffers. In the case of Stellar Blade, the big wart on the story is dialogue and character. If you had taken the plot of Stellar Blade and given it to someone who actually knows how to write dialogue, it would've been much better as a whole. Because dialogue isn't just entertaining banter, it's how your characters deliver the narrative and their development over the course of the story. If the dialogue can't sell you on these characters and what's happening throughout the story, the whole narrative collapses.

Also this:



They did themselves absolutely no favors by constantly bringing up Nier Automata as their inspiration.

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Eh. It's fine. At the end of the day, people making Nier comparisions is probably helping them when it comes to sales.

 

[Agni Kai]

Do tell. What is it

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Do tell where you found that password it still bugs me we had to wait lol.

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You get the password as a reward for completing one of the requests in Xion. iirc, it's one of the requests that unlock after you play the Resident Evil section lol.
The chest had material to craft suits!

Dude, is he tuned up or something? I mastered that first one, and now I can't even get any openings unless I blink. Confidence shattered.

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I think it just hits like a truck, and it's kind of faster? It also doesn't help the entire field is filled with exploding barrels. It really took me some time to get used to.

 

[snausages]

My feeling of this game is it's not bad as such than it is utterly unremarkable at everything it does. Combat, level design, quests. The music is pretty good but will constantly remind you of Nier. The story is impossible to take seriously cause of its character designs. There's not a single thing I can think of in Stellar Blade where you could point to it and go 'oh, this is the thing that makes this stand out in the genre'.

Like, DMC5 had bad levels but there's things that make it stand out. Same with MGR, Bayo, God Hand, Nier:A, NG, most of the titles that keep getting discussed in this genre. There's a thing you can point to which they do better than their competitors, or differently at least. Maybe with SB there's a twist later on to its systems, maybe the combat becomes something more interesting in hard mode and all that aggression stuff with beta chain that Gwyn mentions evolves into the next level. But it's hard to see where the reviews come from, the whole thing feels so aggressively mid and overly familiar. I don't really get it.

Maybe it's all about the equipment and progression systems, and cosmetics?

 

[Agni Kai]

I reached the second Alpha Naytiba and holy shit is it kicking my ass.

Lend me your strength one more time, Era.