Ubisoft: We Lost Prince Of Persia Fans To God Of War
See Full ImagePersonally, I've never really compared the two franchises - I know they're technically in the same genre, but I figure both are great in their own ways - but Ubisoft believes SCEA's stellar God of War series has stolen away some Prince of Persia fans.
This according to what Ubisoft animation director Jan-Erik Sjovall told CVG; he says that based on gamer surveys, the team wanted to do two things: they wanted to bring back fans from Sands of Time that have gravitated towards GoW and at the same time, drag in all new fans. It's a tall order for Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, which is technically a sequel to Sands of Time. Said Sjovall:
"When we make questionnaires and we ask, 'what did you play in the past?' The answer's 'Prince of Persia'. 'What do you play now?' 'God of War'. 'Would you play Prince of Persia again?' 'No, it's not hard enough.' So the idea [with Forgotten Sands] was clearly that we'd try to bring our old audience back, but also we're winning a new audience."
When asked what feature of GoW seemed to tempt players away from PoP, Sjovall said he believed it's "partially the animations;" specifically those nasty finishing moves for which Kratos is well known. Basically, he's saying the gore is what has enticed the fans and because there's little blood and gore in any PoP, that has had an adverse effect on its popularity. Okay, that's a little sad, but such is the way, I suppose. Added Sjovall:
"A lot of people ask, 'will you have gore in the game?' It'd fairly interesting. We want to have interesting fight sequences in there but not indulge in the violence like God of War does. We want to keep it interesting so the acrobatics, the story and the whole look are all supporting each other and people go, 'yeah, I want to play that game'."
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is due out in May. And for the record, for those who are unfamiliar, PoP should include more puzzles and acrobatic platforming than any GoW.
Related Game(s): Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
3/24/2010 9:05:16 PM Ben Dutka
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Comments (37 posts)
Jawknee
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 10:46:32 PM
8 up, 0 down
B-RadGfromOV
Friday, March 26, 2010 @ 1:10:01 AM
0 up, 0 down
Mavfan321
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 9:47:54 PM
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4 up, 0 down
Gregory Freeman
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 10:54:30 AM
3 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 10:11:26 PM
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7 up, 0 down
Shams
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 11:20:35 PM
Personally, I loved the last POP. It had awesome set pieces, level design, platforming, and art-direction. It's simple but fun design and gameplay won me over from the decadent, and ambitious design of the AC series. And that say's a lot.
4 up, 0 down
DemonNeno
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 10:12:02 PM
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That said, I find it ironic that they are going to release their game in the same quarter of the year as GoW. If you're affraid of competition (which, to me, isn't even comparable due to totally different styles)then you're best off running in the opposite direction instead of taking a couple strides back and hoping for the best.
2 up, 0 down
shindelion
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 10:18:04 PM
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0 up, 0 down
Alienange
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 10:45:24 PM
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4 up, 0 down
Victor321
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 10:46:13 PM
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To me, the only reason Ubisoft is doing Prince of Persia: the Forgotten Sands, is because they want the success and former glory to return to the PoP series, like with Sands of Time.
They're kind of experimenting with the PoP franchise right now, as after Forgotten Sands, are they going make a new sequel to PoP that released in 2008 (which was a really great game to me, that hasn't had a proper ending yet), or are they going to make more PoP entries in The Sands of Time trilogy?
Whichever way they go, I hope the direction's a positive one and not one that would make Ubisoft say such things such as this.
Last edited by Victor321 on 3/24/2010 10:47:24 PM
0 up, 0 down
Jawknee
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 10:48:39 PM
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Make better games and fix the screen tearing.
7 up, 2 down
jlch777
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 11:01:42 PM
3 up, 1 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 11:16:03 PM
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2 up, 0 down
Robochic
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 11:16:14 PM
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2 up, 0 down
SmokeyPSD
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 11:50:11 PM
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0 up, 0 down
Scarecrow
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 11:56:47 PM
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How 'bout character design
Kratos > any Prince of Persia character
Those Pop pansies can't compare to Kratos.
But it's not just that; everything from enemies, to the environment designs, to the story is tighter in GOW than in pop
But what really puts GOW in its own leauge is one word: variety
There's so much variety from scene to scene, place to place, plot to plot in everything you do in the GOW series.
Blood doesn't matter to me, at all
Those old cliches about Americans being all gong-ho for blood don't make sense in the 21st Century*
Last edited by Scarecrow on 3/24/2010 11:57:35 PM
8 up, 0 down
Hezzron
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 12:22:56 AM
Accusing GOW of stealing POP fans sounds like an excuse for POP to "permanently borrow" some ideas from GOW for their next installment.
5 up, 0 down
aaronisbla
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 12:01:49 AM
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4 up, 0 down
Kai200X
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 12:24:59 AM
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2 up, 0 down
Irievibes
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 12:42:49 AM
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didnt like the art direction for one, two it seemed to have less combat in it , not that i want pop to be prince of war in anyway , the clever trap rooms, the dificult acrobatics, and the agility of the prince like vaulting over enemies or using a column to slice enemies all around him, this interactivity in combat is what made it stand out for me when i played them..
this stuff is missing in the last entry, so idont care too much for it.....
want me to buy a pop game?
then do the combat system from the two thrones and continue the story after sands of time like you planned, also more variety in enemies and combat situations like god of war
the franchise is good in its own right, its just a matter of them headinng in a direction that takes away from what appealed to me from sands of time and two thrones in the first place ( im also one of the rare people that actually enjoyed the 2nd one and the dahaka chasing me )
0 up, 0 down
Ricochet
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 12:48:11 AM
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What was your last game again?
No wonder you lost a lot of fans......
1 up, 2 down
Imagi
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 3:12:39 AM
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1 up, 0 down
___________
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 4:20:49 AM
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im trying to plat GOW3 and its driving me absolutely fu**ing INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i can not believe for the life of me how fu**ing hard chaos mode is.
i finished all of GOW3 with no problems really, i died more times because of the stupid camera or sluggish controls than i did because of loss of health.
now im replaying the game on chaos and im up to the hades boss battle and jesus fu**ing christ he is fu**ing god dam fu***ng hard!!!!!
im so pissed they did not give us checkpoints for each stage.
i can get past the first 2 stages no problems, i did it this morning and in the first 2 stages i did not get hit once.
than along comes the 3rd stage and 10 minutes later i died and have to start all over again.
WTF????????
how the ^%$# am i suppose to take off all of his health 3 times in the time he only has to take off mine once?
its like a ant versus a fu**ing wrecking ball.
i know which ones going to win that fight!
0 up, 5 down
Irievibes
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 6:57:31 AM
4 up, 0 down
___________
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 7:25:16 AM
as i said how the fu** am i suppose to take of his health 3 times in the time he only needs to take mine off once.
o, and i forgot to mention he only needs to hit you 4 times to kill you.
tonight i got upto the 3rd stage used ALL my magic, ALL of the rage of the titans and hit him another 50 times using the chaos spin and he STILL did not die.
how the ^%$# can he take so much punishment?
magic should be enough to take off one stage, let alone rage of the titans, let alone putting the 2 together AND add 50 chaos spins to the mix.
honestly this bastards so freaking strong you could shove a atomic bomb up his a$$ and he STILL would not be dead.
thats the biggest problem with GOW.
most games take something and thats it, GOW has to take it over the top.
a game will have you fight a cyclops and minions.
GOW will have you fight a cyclops another cyclops and minions and other things.
it just does not know when enough is enough!
not to mention this is the only series i have ever played that will not let you stop a combo mid combo.
why?
in darksiders, DMC, bayonetta, dantes inferno, ninja gaiden.
in those games if i start a combo than a enemy attacks me i can stop the combo and doge or block.
GOW you cant.
just that alone, if i could stop my combo id be finished by now.
oh another one.
hades attacks are so random.
he starts off with the 3 swing attack and in between each attack you have enough time to do 1 chaos spin attack (L1 and square)
first time, 2nd,3rd, 4th,5th and so on i have time to do that attack in between his attacks.
but than some times he attacks and attacks again with no pause.
how the hell am i suppose to be able to tell if hes going to pause or not?
some times he attacks than waits, sometimes he does not how am i suppose to know when hes going to wait and when hes not?
how can i think ahead and plan my attacks if i dont even know what hes going to do?
if he was consistent like poesidon he would be easy, but hes not.
some times he does x amount of attacks in a row without pausing and other times he does one than pauses.
a little consistency please?
0 up, 6 down
Alienange
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 3:20:58 PM
@ Irievibes - LOL @ "god mode" That's something else entirely.
0 up, 0 down
Ultimate_Balla
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 8:34:08 AM
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0 up, 0 down
BikerSaint
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 9:48:24 PM
Krato's says...Just stick with pudding in a blender then, & set on high.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 3/25/2010 9:48:53 PM
0 up, 0 down
___________
Friday, March 26, 2010 @ 7:59:11 AM
you only have a very short window to get your attacks in, miss it and your going to be doing your combo when he attacks and if your doing it on chaos like i am you will literally loose half your health every time he hits you.
this game has absolutely no consistency what so ever.
last night i spent like 2 hours straight trying to beat hades.
first stage i would use just chaos spin and spam arrows.
2nd stage i used all my magic and my rage of the titans and arrows and some chaos spin if i had enough health.
i never got upto 3rd stage last night.
tonight first stage i did the same.
2nd stage i used my rage of the titans and BOOM! the QTE came up and i took him down to stage 3.
than i used my magic and he went down!
WTF
how does that work?
last night magic + rage of the titans + chaos spin + arrows did not take off not even one stage.
but tonight rage of the titans and magic both took off a stage each.
how does that work?
this game is so random!
one time a enemy takes 50 hits of a certain combo to kill, the next time it only takes 24.............. a little consistency please!
0 up, 2 down
Richy
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 10:28:45 AM
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i've been playing SoT a little, then because i take so long with all games, number 2 & 3 were out, so i never finished any. I never started the last 1 & i still intend in buying forgotten sands. I like the genre & the franchise, i even bought PoP classic off PSN, but not playing it either.
I finished GOW1, was around half GOW2 when i stopped, now got Collection & just tried it, need to continue, some day before my GOW3 gets into my hands ...
yes i'm fan of both, gore or not. just play more GOW that PoP still ...
cheers!
0 up, 0 down
telly
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 10:49:55 AM
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I'd hate to see any series adopt that level of gore just for the sake of doing it, or a misguided attempt to bolster sales.
5 up, 0 down
Arvis
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 11:19:01 AM
Btw, Resonance of Fate has pulled me away from White Knight Chronicles because WKC doesn't have enough GUNS in it. *rolls eyes*
-Arvis
3 up, 0 down
maxpontiac
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 11:41:05 AM
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Not even Nathan Drake could keep me playing that game.
0 up, 0 down
Nynja
Thursday, March 25, 2010 @ 3:37:30 PM
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1 up, 0 down
BigBoss4ever
Friday, March 26, 2010 @ 5:39:05 PM
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Last edited by BigBoss4ever on 3/26/2010 5:39:49 PM
0 up, 0 down
MyWorstNightmar
Reply
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 9:47:25 PM
Did he ever think that it wasn't another game that pulled away their audience, but maybe their last game wasn't that good.
By the way, God of War III has pulled me away from FFXIII, so SEnix better make FFXIV have more gore in it, or I will not be playing it.
Last edited by MyWorstNightmar on 3/24/2010 9:49:36 PM