Popular Post HaserPL Posted November 6, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2019 (edited) I cannot comprehend why people like this game. As a child I played the fuck outta Warrior Within and Two Thrones, but haven't played Sands of Time until now. I'm around half-way through the game and every second hurts like walking on shards of broken glass. Camera? Fucked up. It goes fucking bonkers, sometimes during the fight, I can't see shit because it chooses to zoom out or zoom against my will. Combat? Fucked up. Long and boring fights with the same enemies, no real attack patterns to learn, enemies can block you from jumping around them and can block your regular attacks, it's so random you never know what to do. And oh no, fights aren't easy. If you are fighting against 4 enemies at the same time you need to run around the location like an idiot, because if they so much as corner you, you're fucked. They can attack simultaneously making it impossible to block/counter their attacks unless you run around and split them into smaller groups. This girl, the narration and story is so irrelevant and boring that I don't even know what's her name, she can stun them with her bow, but she's useless, and more often than not you will have to run back to save her because she can very easily be killed by the enemies. Health regen? Fucked up. One good combo from the enemy can take away half of your health and if you wanna have a little chance of survival, YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THROUGH THE ENCOUNTERS NEAR FLAWLESSLY AND RUN LIKE A FUCKING IDIOT AROUND THE ENEMIES TO HAVE THe SLIGHTEST CHANCE OF GETTING NEAR THE FOUNTAIN TO REGENERATE SOME OF YOUR HEALTH. AND OF COURSE, THE ENEMIES CAN TELEPORT TO YOU, SO YOU CAN DIE AFTER 8 MINUTES OF FIGHTING WITH THEM WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO GET 20% OF YOUR HEALTH BACK. Who the fuck thought that's a good idea for a game mechanic? To add a grain of salt to the wound, you cannot rewind time more than 20 times during your playthrough. Which means that you can only use them in very specific and very punishing moments and only a limited amount of time. IN A GAME THAT'S SO HARD AND PUNISHING TO ENFORCE THE TIME REWIND MECHANIC. 40 minutes of trying to get past this fucking fighting section and one of your enemies attack you from behind with no time to react? Well, you could have just rewind time and beat him. No? You can't? Oh, that's right, you can't BECAUSE THERE IS FUCKING 20 REWINDS LIMIT. Edited November 6, 2019 by HaserPL 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Copanele Posted November 6, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2019 While I understand the frustration completely!!! (platinumed the game myself so yeah I feel your pain) let me tell you why this game has its glory status: 1. It's a 2003 game. Prince of Persia was kinda the first "PROPER" game ever, it had a sequel The shadow and the flame and then Prince of Persia 3D was ABHORRENT!!!!!by far one of the worst game ever to appear. Sands of Time was a re-imagining of Arabian Nights with slick animation, tight combat and beautiful atmosphere AT THE TIME, it kinda was what fans desired most! Honestly,even wall running and jumping over the enemies left me WTF. Also the puzzles were pretty awesome. Don't forget this game inspired that behemoth of an Assassin Creed. 2. The PS3 port is one the most abysmal ports I have ever encountered. This lame half-assed port should be burned to oblivion. You should try Sands of Time and Warrior Within on PC and see how DIFFERENT the game is. Let alone the fact that Warrior Within is choke full of bugs on PS3, it let me thinking wtf was I playing here? Really dissapointed in the PS3 version. 3. The enemies are subsceptible to one glorious move : WALL REBOUND ATTACK. Like, the prince can vault from a wall or just dash through an enemy. Yes the game can be utter unfair if you go to the enemies the regular way, but using the almighty WALL REBOUND ATTACK! makes the game trivial. It is Jump + Jump near a wall to flip around or Jump + attack to thrust an opponent like a crazy otter. There's only one nasty instance where Farah can die because she's dumb as bricks. Also rewinding is forbidden but freezing the annoying fuckers in place is not, so abuse that as well :3 Yes honestly this game didn't age that well...just give it abit of time (kek) and you will get around it. I am sad you have to experience it on PS3, it really was alot better on the other platforms. Yes the combat is kinda the weakest part of the game(also the lack of subtitles, can't hear anything really) but with abit of patience and cursing you can get around it. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSaiyan3985 Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Well jeez I too much prefer the later two games but I by no means dislikes SOT. I think it's a solid game, and while I can somewhat relate to what you said about the game's flaws, I never really got frustrated with it. Yeah the combat is less robust than WW and T2T, but it's the first game in the series so I'd expect nothing more. You say you find the rewinding limit infuriating but that's nothing in comparison to how cumbersome some of the trophies for WW and T2T are. Difficulty trophies don't stack, so you have to beat the games three different times. There are missable trophies relating to collectibles and life upgrades, and you have to beat both games without dying. If you ask me, that's much more annoying than the SOT Platinum. I think since you liked the darker tone of the other two games so much you're having a hard time adjusting to this one. 3 minutes ago, Copanele said: While I understand the frustration completely!!! (platinumed the game myself so yeah I feel your pain) let me tell you why this game has its glory status: 1. It's a 2003 game. Prince of Persia was kinda the first "PROPER" game ever, it had a sequel The shadow and the flame and then Prince of Persia 3D was ABHORRENT!!!!!by far one of the worst game ever to appear. Sands of Time was a re-imagining of Arabian Nights with slick animation, tight combat and beautiful atmosphere AT THE TIME, it kinda was what fans desired most! Honestly,even wall running and jumping over the enemies left me WTF. Also the puzzles were pretty awesome. Don't forget this game inspired that behemoth of an Assassin Creed. 2. The PS3 port is one the most abysmal ports I have ever encountered. This lame half-assed port should be burned to oblivion. You should try Sands of Time and Warrior Within on PC and see how DIFFERENT the game is. Let alone the fact that Warrior Within is choke full of bugs on PS3, it let me thinking wtf was I playing here? Really dissapointed in the PS3 version. 3. The enemies are subsceptible to one glorious move : WALL REBOUND ATTACK. Like, the prince can vault from a wall or just dash through an enemy. Yes the game can be utter unfair if you go to the enemies the regular way, but using the almighty WALL REBOUND ATTACK! makes the game trivial. It is Jump + Jump near a wall to flip around or Jump + attack to thrust an opponent like a crazy otter. There's only one nasty instance where Farah can die because she's dumb as bricks. Also rewinding is forbidden but freezing the annoying fuckers in place is not, so abuse that as well :3 Yes honestly this game didn't age that well...just give it abit of time (kek) and you will get around it. I am sad you have to experience it on PS3, it really was alot better on the other platforms. Yes the combat is kinda the weakest part of the game(also the lack of subtitles, can't hear anything really) but with abit of patience and cursing you can get around it. Totally agree SOT was way ahead of its time. Beautiful soundtrack, scenery, and parkour made it a sensation. Thing is as much as I like SOT, I'll always prefer the darker tones of WW and T2T (which most people don't agree with). 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BlackSquirrell1 Posted November 6, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2019 (edited) Simply put, the game sucks. Big time. I hear so many people rave about this game so I go back to it, just to quit in anger. Edited November 6, 2019 by BlackSquirrell1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SuperSaiyan3985 Posted November 6, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2019 Just now, BlackSquirrell1 said: Simply put, the game sucks. Big time. I hear so many people rave about this game so I go back to it, just to quit an anger. Oh please, you're being too harsh. Lots of mid-2000s games suffered from similar issues but are still revered by fans. The Jak franchise for instance? Love it, but the checkpoints are BRUTAL. Jak 2 in particular, if you died you'd have to restart like 20% of the game sometimes. It was rage-inducing, but the games were still awesome. Same goes for POP. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainyDusk Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 I played all three games on PS3 (digital version) and had no issues with bugs. By the way, Sands of Time is an old-style game and not a fit for everyone. It's like the earlier Tomb Raider games versus the newer ones, you can't compare them. The worst is PoP 2008. I hated it for the most part. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starcrunch061 Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 23 minutes ago, HaserPL said: I cannot comprehend why people like this game. I can't, either. I hate this game. And the scary thing is, Warrior Within is so much worse. I bought the trilogy years ago on the PS3, and STILL haven't played the 3rd game. Forgotten Sands is slightly better, but still suffers from many of the same pitfalls (unresponsive controls being the main one). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSquirrell1 Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 1 minute ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said: Oh please, you're being too harsh. Lots of mid-2000s games suffered from similar issues but are still revered by fans. The Jak franchise for instance? Love it, but the checkpoints are BRUTAL. Jak 2 in particular, if you died you'd have to restart like 20% of the game sometimes. It was rage-inducing, but the games were still awesome. Same goes for POP. I still don't like the game and will probably never pick it up again. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSaiyan3985 Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Just now, starcrunch061 said: I can't, either. I hate this game. And the scary thing is, Warrior Within is so much worse. I bought the trilogy years ago on the PS3, and STILL haven't played the 3rd game. Forgotten Sands is slightly better, but still suffers from many of the same pitfalls (unresponsive controls being the main one). Guess these games just aren't for everyone, because I absolutely adore the POP franchise. Would kill for a remake. Just now, BlackSquirrell1 said: I still don't like the game and will probably never pick it up again. Suit yourself. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post awf9495 Posted November 6, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2019 16 years ago, it was pretty revolutionary and a very memorable experience. I don't doubt that it hasn't aged well, but in 2003 with a Gamecube controller in hand, I was mesmerized by the story, characters, atmosphere, and gameplay. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xyleh Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Off all the dumb bullshit in my PS3 backlog, I fear this game more than Max Payne 3 or Wipeout HD. Not for the difficulty, but because I detested the few hours I did spend with the game. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starcrunch061 Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 2 minutes ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said: Guess these games just aren't for everyone, because I absolutely adore the POP franchise. Would kill for a remake. Actually, a remake might be great. There are certainly good ideas present in these games. But I would worry about Ubisoft improving on anything (after all, this "remaster" was mostly subtraction, taking away the bonus games to be found in the original PS2 titles, and making an absolute mess of the sound). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorajet Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 (edited) 10 minutes ago, BlackSquirrell1 said: Simply put, the game sucks. Big time. I hear so many people rave about this game so I go back to it, just to quit in anger. Amen to that. If there was any way I could get my money back I would. It pisses me off just looking at it. Edited November 6, 2019 by Lorajet 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honor_Hand Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Sound like someone is pissed with the game. But really, I absolutely loved these PoP games a lot back in the day. Played the hell out of the PC versions and both SoT and WW were my favorite action games at the time. The parkour mechanic was amazing, the camera worked wonderfully, the storytelling was adequate, everything on it just worked wonderfully. And yes, I also very much enjoyed Farah's company on SoT. As @Copanele mentioned, though, the PS3 ports have a reputation for being a terrible, half-assed job. They have a lot of bugs and Ubisoft apparently fucked up the game in every way imaginable. I haven't tried these ports myself, but damn, after reading posts like this one, I can't help but have second thoughts on that. Also, have in mind that some games age better than others. Compared to standard nowadays, some people have a hard time adjusting to how things were played back in the day. It's been happening with myself recently now that I've been tackling the old PS2 GTA games on the PS4. The controls feel ancient compared to what we have today. But again, it's only a matter of adjusting yourself to them. They're rough around the edges, for sure, but if they were able to work back then, they should be able to work today as well. You just need some time adjusting to the whole thing. Like, set your mind to the early 2000s period and you should be good. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaserPL Posted November 6, 2019 Author Share Posted November 6, 2019 (edited) 32 minutes ago, SuperSaiyan3985 said: Oh please, you're being too harsh. Lots of mid-2000s games suffered from similar issues but are still revered by fans. The Jak franchise for instance? Love it, but the checkpoints are BRUTAL. Jak 2 in particular, if you died you'd have to restart like 20% of the game sometimes. It was rage-inducing, but the games were still awesome. Same goes for POP. Jak 2 had a lot of problems, not just checkpoints. This game feels like a cheap rip off from the Ratchet and Clank, totally different from the first one IMO. 30 minutes ago, starcrunch061 said: I can't, either. I hate this game. And the scary thing is, Warrior Within is so much worse. I bought the trilogy years ago on the PS3, and STILL haven't played the 3rd game. Forgotten Sands is slightly better, but still suffers from many of the same pitfalls (unresponsive controls being the main one). Maybe some nostalgia will make it more bearable I hope. 30 minutes ago, RainyDusk said: I played all three games on PS3 (digital version) and had no issues with bugs. By the way, Sands of Time is an old-style game and not a fit for everyone. It's like the earlier Tomb Raider games versus the newer ones, you can't compare them. The worst is PoP 2008. I hated it for the most part. The problem is, I love older games because I grew up with them. System Shock/Thief/Deus Ex/Metal Slug/Forbidden Siren/Fatal Frame/Alone in the Dark, you name it, I played them when I was 8/9 and loved every bit of challenge they provided. It's not hard to make a difficult game. What's hard, however, is to make it a fair challenge. Edited November 6, 2019 by HaserPL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scemopagliaccioh Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 The series hasn't aged well. Clunky controls combined with awful trophies (you cannot die, have fun with the platforming!) soured the experience for me, so much so that I didn't even want to play the other two PoP after getting the platinum on the first. If you're a trophy hunter, just skip the collection, it's not even about having a challenge, as the high number of platinum holders demoralizes you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madbuk Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 I love Sands of Time. The story it tells is very interesting, the characters are great, the platforming isn't exactly hard but at least it's not braindead like modern games and it's satisfying to pull off regardless, the atmosphere is very strong, and the sense of each level leading seamlessly into the next is well done, just like a God of War game does. The combat isn't great, but it's serviceable and easily exploitable if you don't want to bother with it at all. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Outcast2014 Posted November 6, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2019 I really enjoyed it haha. Finished the game on pc, ps2 and ps3. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SteelFreaxx Posted November 6, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2019 I feel SoT was the best out of the PS2 trilogy. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post lettmon Posted November 6, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 6, 2019 53 minutes ago, madbuk said: The combat isn't great, but it's serviceable and easily exploitable if you don't want to bother with it at all. OP please read that. Sands of Time has two combos that make the combat super easy, but the problem is that the game never tells you this. I too had a lot of frustration with the combat, somehow I managed to get to the last part of the game with the round elevator but it was impossible to beat it without those two combos. The combos are: jumping over the enemy and stabbing them in the back, and jumping from a wall onto the enemy. Once you learn these two combos the combat becomes a breeze. Sands of Time is one of my favorite games, I have platinumed it too. I love the visual style and the atmosphere, it looks like a Persian tale, amazingly beautiful despite being a 6th gen game. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gotakibono Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Bit harsh on a 16-year-old game to be fair. Your points are yours and valid of course, but I feel like they're ignoring the context of the game's age and the fact you played the much more developed sequels when you were a child. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBeens Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Yeah, the problem is the age and the port. I played this game originally on the original Xbox and it immediately became my favorite game of all time back then. When it came out it was absolutely fantastic and stunning for it's time. That's why people love it so much. Now if you compare the absolutely shitty port of it to today's games, then yeah, this is pure bottom of the barrel shit. That's the problem. Port has so many problems that weren't present back when it first came out. 1) Wrong aspect ratio. This game was meant for 4:3 crt tv's. The port puts it in a 16:9 ration by just fucking chopping off the bottom and top of the screen. This makes it near impossible to tell where to go at times because ledges that should be clearly visible above and below you, you simply can't see without wrestling with the camera trying to get them in view. 2) Horrific sound mixing. Playing through the PS3 port, I could maybe make out like 30% of what the characters were saying to each other, and it required near blasting the volume to even be able to hear that. The original did not have that problem, all dialogue was crisp and clear and you got a great sense of characterization and relationship between the two, that is just missing here cause of the shitty sound. 3) Trophies. The original had none, so you could just play through at your own pace without having to do stupid shit, like not rewinding or dying or such. You could actually PLAY the game without stressing over stupid non-essential stuff. I'll give you that the combat isn't that great, but it's not as bad as you make it sound. It's just that you haven't found the magic undefeatable combo that makes all encounters childs play. Like mentioned above, bouncing off the wall and jumping over the enemies makes all fights difficulty drop down to 1/10. But this still makes all fights the same and boring. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowwindow7 Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 still better than the Emo, Heavy Metal Tattoo advertising called " Warrior Within " that's for sure. the HD collection on the ps3 were based on the PC versions and not the ps2 which ended up to be slightly worse, I mean sure the polygon count been rised but in return the cool special effects seen in the ps2 were all gone, I swear I seen a texture on a ground somewhere that looks like a minecraft texture in sand of time in this collection. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_Hedgehog Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 3 hours ago, HaserPL said: I cannot comprehend why people like this game. As a child I played the fuck outta Warrior Within and Two Thrones, but haven't played Sands of Time until now. I'm around half-way through the game and every second hurts like walking on shards of broken glass. Camera? Fucked up. It goes fucking bonkers, sometimes during the fight, I can't see shit because it chooses to zoom out or zoom against my will. Combat? Fucked up. Long and boring fights with the same enemies, no real attack patterns to learn, enemies can block you from jumping around them and can block your regular attacks, it's so random you never know what to do. And oh no, fights aren't easy. If you are fighting against 4 enemies at the same time you need to run around the location like an idiot, because if they so much as corner you, you're fucked. They can attack simultaneously making it impossible to block/counter their attacks unless you run around and split them into smaller groups. This girl, the narration and story is so irrelevant and boring that I don't even know what's her name, she can stun them with her bow, but she's useless, and more often than not you will have to run back to save her because she can very easily be killed by the enemies. Health regen? Fucked up. One good combo from the enemy can take away half of your health and if you wanna have a little chance of survival, YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THROUGH THE ENCOUNTERS NEAR FLAWLESSLY AND RUN LIKE A FUCKING IDIOT AROUND THE ENEMIES TO HAVE THe SLIGHTEST CHANCE OF GETTING NEAR THE FOUNTAIN TO REGENERATE SOME OF YOUR HEALTH. AND OF COURSE, THE ENEMIES CAN TELEPORT TO YOU, SO YOU CAN DIE AFTER 8 MINUTES OF FIGHTING WITH THEM WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO GET 20% OF YOUR HEALTH BACK. Who the fuck thought that's a good idea for a game mechanic? To add a grain of salt to the wound, you cannot rewind time more than 20 times during your playthrough. Which means that you can only use them in very specific and very punishing moments and only a limited amount of time. IN A GAME THAT'S SO HARD AND PUNISHING TO ENFORCE THE TIME REWIND MECHANIC. 40 minutes of trying to get past this fucking fighting section and one of your enemies attack you from behind with no time to react? Well, you could have just rewind time and beat him. No? You can't? Oh, that's right, you can't BECAUSE THERE IS FUCKING 20 REWINDS LIMIT. You MUST have played the game totally wrong. @lettmon gave you really important tips that I'm sure you didn't know about because the game is not hard (maybe the elevator part is a little challenge but thats it). Ive played Sands of Time when I was a kid and never finished it but I've revisited it on my ps2 and finally beaten it a year ago also doing 100%. Then the next day Ive done Platinum on the ps3 version without any rewinding or dying and had to idle a couple hours for platinum. So again - jump over enemies and then attack them as it helps a lot from what I remember. Honestly I had no problems with the port and while it might be a cheap one just to make money of nostalgia, I still have to disagree with your statement about the game as it was (and still is imo) a pretty good platformer with a cheap ps3 port. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sepheroithisgod Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Weird, I liked this one but disliked the other two games in the collection. Especially, the Warrior within, now that was a bad game. I played it a long time ago, maybe I am remembering wrong. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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