SOE announces Untold Legends for PS3
by Alan Rose 
{ Mar 15th 2006 at 3:35PM }
Right after Sony ended the speculation surrounding the PS3's launch date, they announced that
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom would be among the expected launch titles. Will it be a Halo 3 killer?
Unlikely, but it's nice to see a good old fashioned hack-and-slash RPG headed to a next gen platform. No additional
Norrath sequels have been announced, and the Dark Alliance series was left hanging after the
unfortunate demise of Black Isle Studios. So what enhancements will PS3 owners have to look forward to in this iteration of Legends? The game will feature 7.1 audio, online multiplayer, and downloadable content via Sony's new online service. As an added bonus, sci-fi scribe Keith Baker (D&D, Star Wars novels) will pen the Dark Kingdom story.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave @ Mar 15th 2006 3:48PM
My God... the graphics are absolutely terrible. Why on EARTH are they actually putting these up? Apparently Sony's quotes of not seeing the 360 as a competitor weren't just marketing claptrap... they really have no idea what exists on the machine right now.
Kameo blows these screens out of the water.
But, then again, SOE has been out to lunch for some time, haven't they? SCEA really needs to take control of SOE.
uglypimp @ Mar 15th 2006 3:49PM
Yawn. I wish Sony had better first party titles.
Rich @ Mar 15th 2006 3:52PM
God of War blows this out of the water graphically. This is not the time for them to be showing off crappy looking games.
JD360 @ Mar 15th 2006 3:56PM
Ok, I know this is waaay off topic, but is it just me, or is Sony using the same font from it's Spiderman movies, as the very same font to display "PLAYSTATION 3" on their PS3's (or at least the pictures that we see of it)?
Designerbradr @ Mar 15th 2006 3:57PM
No offense meant, but as of right now, this game seems hardly a worthwhile addition to the Sony launch line-up... What I mean to say is perhaps this is a title you unveil after the first.
The game looks alright, but not exactly what I was expecting for the PS3 and its supposed expanded capabilities. And the premise seems rather basic and ordinary – though the story has not yet been written. I can think of a host of other titles that follow these game mechanics similarly, which leaves me wondering what makes this title so special.
I guess I'm in the camp that quantity should be secondary to quantity during a launch, because if consumers have too much to choose from, games are gonna be unjustifiably left hangin in the wind. Sony needs to come up with several games that are all unique and separate from each other, but showcase all of the desirable features of the PS3.
A game like this seems like a dime a dozen in the current gen of XBOX and PC...
Scott @ Mar 15th 2006 3:57PM
I guess this is how Sony puts its stamp down on HD gaming...
Alkaiser @ Mar 15th 2006 3:58PM
"Players will be able to choose from three different characters"
Oh DAMN!! THREE WHOLE CHARACTERS in a next-gen hack & slash RPG? That's like THREE-MENDOUS! A veritable TRI-UMPH! /sarcasm
I'm puzzled as to why Sony's first shown title would be a sequel to a game who's first iteration got a 70% on Gamerankings and the second is at a 62.5%.
Nothing gets people amped up for a new console than launching it with a sequel to a mediocre launch title.
What are they going to announce next? Star Wars Galaxies on the PS3?
bv @ Mar 15th 2006 3:58PM
You can't tell me that the characters don't look mint in this screenshot:
http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/2006/073/reviews/932329_20060315_screen005.jpg
There's no jaggies whatsoever, unlike Kameo and every Xbox 360 game ive seen. The animation in his arm swinging back shows a very detailed skeletal model with some pretty cool physics to boot. They have until November to beef it up, this is just the beggining of what looks like a great game.
Burrens @ Mar 15th 2006 4:03PM
So you guys know that this game is still in development, and that there are still eight months until launch right?
What makes you think that these are the final representation of the actual retail screenshots.
Me @ Mar 15th 2006 4:10PM
"I'm puzzled as to why Sony's first shown title would be a sequel to a game who's first iteration got a 70% on Gamerankings and the second is at a 62.5%."
Um. First game was a total rush job (what this is looking to be) - development of like 3-4months. The second title isn't even out yet. How does it have a ranking already?
nod @ Mar 15th 2006 4:12PM
Quite a distance from that Killzone video, eh Sony fanboys? Welcome to reality.
MegaWatts @ Mar 15th 2006 4:13PM
Maybe its like a Live Arcade game like there is on the xbox360? They have 8 months to add another playable character. Skys the limit. (sarcasm)
MegaWatts @ Mar 15th 2006 4:16PM
Perhaps this cutting edge next gen game is to lessen the pain of the news of PS3 being delayed. :) This gives the fanboys something to look forward to. Obviously this is a system selling title.
Sense @ Mar 15th 2006 4:19PM
jd360,
It is the same font.
And I understand that this game is still in development, but then why show shots of it? Remember the stink over the early Perfect Dark shots?
rico @ Mar 15th 2006 4:19PM
I agree with bv(#8) that the characters look graphically better than the ones in Kameo or other 360 games but the environment and the level design is kind of bland and boring. Also in Kameo there were a lot more thins going on in the background. But they do have a lot of time to add stuff so this probably isn't the final product.
Joe @ Mar 15th 2006 4:29PM
Most people would consider me an Xbox fanboy, but I'm a little surprisedat the response to the screenshots. The don't look that bad graphically, just a bit boring.
As for no anti-aliasing...remember this is a downsampled jpg (res is only 1024 x 606), so things like jaggies would be less apparent. So it doesn't mean this guy is crisp and clean ... just can't tell until we see a full image.
Jago @ Mar 15th 2006 4:31PM
@ JD360:
You been living under a rock dude? You just NOW realized that?
Kamalot @ Mar 15th 2006 4:38PM
What good is high-polygon count or anti-aliasing when everything looks like ass?
How about items, like tables, that don't cast shadows?
Sony needed to come out of the game swinging, especially after announcing a delay. These are the sorriest excuse for next-gen shots I've ever seen.
Yes, developers are having a difficult time getting the supposed power from the PS3 into playable games. No, it isn't a secret. Now we get to see it in reality.
This November is going to be a joke with some of the worst launch titles ever, titles that make Fantavision look good.
Alkaiser @ Mar 15th 2006 4:42PM
Me:
It looks like 2 mags got preview copies. Also, if the first title in the series was a rush launch job, and this title is supposed to be a launch title as well, what's to make me believe that this one would be ready for prime time?
m3mnoch @ Mar 15th 2006 4:44PM
uh. guys. it's about art direction.
kameo was supposed to be light, fun and cartoony. untold legends is supposed to be a gritty dungeon crawl. that's like saying kingdom hearts' graphics were inferior to baulder's gate.
it's just a dumb comparison.
on a related note, just because the ps3 is capable of 'awesome graphical power' doesn't mean it's going to magically be better looking by default than xbox 360 games. case in point, untold legends.
it's more about the skill/budget of the developers. i hate to tell the diehard ps3 and 360 guys this, but, there are going to be a lot of cross platform games that will be completely and utterly indistiguishable between the two platforms. other games will just be a mess of subjective 'no! this one looks better!' claims that rock back and forth.
*sigh*
i have a feeling sony is going to get a lot of grief like this for their launch games. everyone who follows this stuff can predict what they will look like -- and for the large part, it's NOT 'next gen.' just like the large part of the 360 launch didn't look 'next gen.'
sony just sets expectations too damn high.
the 'laws' of console launches don't magically change even if the hardware has titanic cosmic power!
m3mnoch.
ymmv @ Mar 15th 2006 4:55PM
Those early pics don't look that hot, but who knows what it will look like IN THE FOURTH DIMENSION!!
Kamalot @ Mar 15th 2006 4:56PM
I think Nintendo has set expectations for the Revolution's graphics quite well.
"When you see the graphics, you will say, 'Wow.'"
That could mean, "Wow! This looks way better than I expected!"
It could also mean, "Wow! Nintendo is trying to sell this as a next-gen console?"
Sony keeps talking trash about how the PS3 is truly next-gen and how Xbox 360 is nothing but an ‘Xbox 1.5’. Yet, when the only proof they have are screens like this, it makes Sony look like it is stark-raving bat-shit mad, or lying.
soco @ Mar 15th 2006 4:58PM
jaggies are hardly an indication of "good graphics" and they're especially easy to get rid of screen shots by resizing them. these aren't in their native resolution, at least you best hope they aren't :)
not only that, but when comparing screenshots, it's also possible to capture the images without the anti-aliasing.
a good example of this would be N3. you can see some screenshots with lots of jaggies, and others that are still in-game with none.
you could also go look at screenshots from Far East Of Eden Ziria and see no jaggies, but that game would rarely count as 'next-gen' by a majority of people.
personally i think showing these screenshots was just as big of a mistake as the first few PDZ screenshots. like the wireframe one. WTF was that even about?
nod @ Mar 15th 2006 4:59PM
To be fair, it seems that alot of people forget that Sony also had a miserable PS2 launch in Japan, where most people just bought it for an (relatively) inexpensive DVD player. They (sony) were heavily slammed for their poor launch line-up and crap offerings for about the first year... and then look what happened? Sony pwn'd.
I imagine that history will repeat itself somewhat. They'll have a rocky first year, their competition will come from MS instead of Nintendo, and by Xmas 2007 they'll be strong again. This Xmas will belong to MS, in NA anyway, as they'll (finally) have some decent offerings.
RageOverdose @ Mar 15th 2006 5:12PM
No jaggies,maybe, but I swear that dude looks a bit "eww". It just doesn't seem right to me. The new Medal of Honor doesn't look all that amazing either. Really, the PS3 isn't going to be what we've seen in those videos, yet. Give the developers a couple years experience, and likely the games will begin to look crazy good. Same goes for the 360. Look at Stranglehold, amazing, on both. Still, I'm more worried about what A.I. and interactive achievements can be made with all this new horsepower. I've given up on graphical advancement, which is why I have hopes for the Revolution.
Robert @ Mar 15th 2006 5:20PM
They can't be serious with those screenshots. Is this why I would spend $500 for a PS3?
Dave @ Mar 15th 2006 5:22PM
No question, the PS3 is going to have fantastic looking games. But to release screenshots like THIS? That's the serious PR blunder here. Somebody at SOE was totally asleep at the wheel, they've only opened the PS3 to MORE criticism.
RageOverdose @ Mar 15th 2006 5:23PM
Alex K.:
Ever heard of sarcasm?
Kamalot @ Mar 15th 2006 5:31PM
bv: How can you tell the physics in the game are 'cool' without seeing them in motion? Every item could flop around like spaghetti or bounce like it was made out of rubber, there's no way of telling from a still screen shot.
Also, physics be damned if the physical items don't cast shadow. It isn't even like we are talking about multiple light sources, just a single, distant light and anything powered by the physics engine magically loses its shadow like Peter Pan.
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/image_viewer/frame.php?pid=932329&img=1&sid=undefined
There is simply no excuse for this trash. For all the talk Sony has been giving us, they should have had something damn amazing to show for it. Instead, we get this.
Alex K. @ Mar 15th 2006 5:40PM
WTF HAPPENED TO KILLZONE GRAPHICS?
OH YEAH....I FORGOT.......
*FLASHBACK*
"Playstation 2 will have Toy Story 2 graphics!"
SuicideNinja @ Mar 15th 2006 5:43PM
"That's like saying that the PSP is a BMW killer."
That's hilarious! Serious, why do Sony products always get "killer" added on behind them, yet they generally fail to kill off anything.
Was minidisc a CD killer?
Was the PSP an I-Pod killer?
Was the PSP a DS killer?
Was memory stick a CF killer?
Was Killzone a Halo killer?
No to all. I guess they are a Sega-killer. Bastards. At least Nintendo and Microsoft are still here.
See what I'm getting at? Maybe it's just a media cliche by now. What we really need is a Sony-hype killer. That would do everyone well. At least there is some real news about the PS3 finally. I was beginning to think they were going to keep everyone in the dark until E3.
MegaWatts @ Mar 15th 2006 6:26PM
I love how Sony has all this smack talk but nothing to ever back it up.
Sony = Comedy Gold!
Sony Fanboy @ Mar 15th 2006 7:04PM
#1 Who cares about graphics? Maximo for PS2 is better than Ninja Gaiden on Xbox, you want to know why? Because the gameplay.
striderhayasa @ Mar 15th 2006 7:18PM
this is what I don't understand. Why is it when the PS2 was clearly less powerful than the Xbox,(Ps2 is less powerful than the Cube for that matter) Ps2 fans were quick to state "power didn't matter, it's about the games" Now it's all about the power of the PS3? Stop the madness. Sure Ps3 games are going to look amazing 2-3 years down the road. Does that mean that Xbox 360 and Revolution develop is going to be at a standstill during that time? Of course not. If Oblivion and G.R.A.W. are looking THAT good now, I can't wait to see what 360 games will look like in 2-3 years.
Even of the Revolution is only twice as powerful as the Cube, the Cube gave us a gorgeous Metroid Prime, Resident Evil, a visually outstanding Rogue Squardron, Metal Gear, Zelda... I think all of the next gen consoles are going to be impressive when you look at the best titles they have to offer. I just don't think PS3 development is going to advance by leaps and bounds while everyone else's development is stuck in neutral.
Spike @ Mar 15th 2006 8:04PM
Come on people!!
You really dont believe that the Ps3 will have crappy graphics, now do you?
Yeah those screenshots suck, but this game has 8 months of development left. Its not like it ships tomorrow!!
Well, graphics aside the story will be amazing if Keith Baker writes it. He is an amazing designer and storyteller, he created Eberron btw(you know that 'little' world where DnD online takes place).
I firmly believe the ps3 will have a lackluster launch lineaup. No killer apps, it will need the blu-ray push at first and a competitive price to succeed.
But personnaly, i dont care about blu-ray and if a "decent" hack n slash fest is what awaits the early adopters, then i dont see why i should rush to buy a ps3.
Wake me when MGS4 comes...
Dave @ Mar 15th 2006 9:03PM
Holy hell #33, could you be much MORE of a fanboy? I mean, I see your name... but are you really so blind as to say that Maximo was better than Ninja Gaiden? That is absolute lunacy! Did you ever PLAY Ninja Gaiden? You could not have picked a WORSE comparison.
Look, moron. I'm not making calls on the system here. We haven't even begun to see what the PS3 can cook up. However, after Sony's marketing (which is CLEARLY stating that graphics will be the king here) the worst possible PR they could get would be screenshots of this game in this state hitting market.
God, seriously... I just read your Maximo vs Ninja Gaiden thing again... you are REALLY dumb.
LaughingTarget @ Mar 15th 2006 9:44PM
Good graphics are not all about anti-aliasing or poly counts, but how well they portray the world.
Untold Legends is being touted as this dark, brooding hack and slash RPG, but what I see is a high poly count character with great anti-aliasing, but looks like a plastic toy I had when I was a kid. The visual style being presented in Untold Legends would be great if it were an Army Men game or some other game featuring toys, but the visual style does not fit into the game they are trying to sell. Plus, the environment is bland and there is a distinct lack of ambient interactivity (like the shadows mentioned before), though this is not too surprising as the Untold Legends on the PSP had the same problem.
Basically, Sony found itself way too busy packing in the polygons to stop and consider if it works or not.
Dave @ Mar 15th 2006 9:58PM
The whole "pack in the polygons screw the art" thing is kind of SOE's calling card. Ever see EQ2 in action?
docLEXfisti @ Mar 16th 2006 7:36AM
PS2-and-a-Half - 'nuff said (though I can't stop laughing - at least the intensity of the laugh was worth waiting a year . . ...
phony . . ... but, let's be honest - who expected something more? Not without reason we weren't seeing anything for the past year . .... I would hide that crap as well as long as it'S possible ;)
greetz from Vienna
Kamalot @ Mar 16th 2006 8:01AM
I am suddenly reminded of the last screens we saw of the PS3.
http://www.joystiq.com/2005/07/21/first-playable-ps3-game-shown-to-press/
Things haven't gotten any better since July 2005.
The PS3 is what it is, an over-hyped and underwhelming game machine.
Dave @ Mar 16th 2006 8:54AM
I dunno, Kamalot... I don't see too much of a problem with the Gundam shots. There are certainly good things going on in them, and the models are quite suited to the gameplay.
Also, don't forget the history of that particular license... most of the Gundam games didn't put too much time into the graphics. This seems to address that problem.
KilgoreTrout XL @ Mar 16th 2006 9:25AM
Wow- that's kinda disappointing, even with 8 months of development left. I agree with whomever said it above- God of War looks sharper than that on hardware circa 2000.
Ray Von Geezer @ Mar 21st 2006 9:22PM
Whilst the environments are a bit bland, the characters are nice - plenty of room for improvement mind!
I do have to wonder about the source of the screenshots though.... Most sites are saying the shots are real gameplay and showing piccies at 1024x640 (or lower) res. This site http://www.gamersreports.com/media/459/ has what appears to be the originals at a very high resolution (2500x1500). Note they're the identical pictures, and don't appear to have been scaled up - the definition is far too clear.
So, if the screenshots are actual PS3 shots - why such high resolution? And if they're not, why say they are, since they're hardly earth-shattering?
Ray