Official: Prince of Persia Next-Gen Thread

[A.J.Rimmer(BSC)]

If I can pull you away from your copies of GTA4 (you affluent bastards), here's some news about the next POP. Looks stunning.

Corrupted world needs to be healed.
Story is much more "1001 Nights"-like, more fantasy, less grounded in reality but instead more magical yet still credible, more poetic.
Player must unleash light-wells to heal the corrupted world, which shoots light into the sky, reminiscent of SotC and Okami.
The transformation of the world is in real-time, with plants growing back to life as the world heals back and as the player can still move, instead of a mere cutscene, sky changes back to its normal color, etc., to give a strong sense of control and success to the player.
No more time rewind and such.
They are no making a second Assassin's Creed, they are making a new PoP.
Art style was difficult pass through the management, but they never refused it, and eventually loved it.
Story specifically: Orhmaz and Arhiman, twin gods, one good one evil, celestial battle, Orhmaz locks Arhiman away in a box which he hides into an faraway oasis deep within a desert. Centuries pass, and comes a troublesome thief (the prince) and Arhiman is freed somehow (not deep explanation given). Prince must undo his mistake. This is what they refer to as a more "1001 Nights" kind of story, like a fable.
More open/organic environments. Has a Zelda-esque feel, old-school in themes.
Bosses/player use backgrounds during fights (one shot shows an enemy pushing the prince against a wall as if trying to choke him, or another throwing him in the air).
Game went through a few iterations; originally too open (felt big but not enough to do), at one point it was more like Assassin as far as open world (going where you want), but players would get lost and wander aimlessly and dynamism suffered as a result. Now instead it is more focussed with a clear road, but multiple paths can be taken (free to move from one map to another, back and forth, etc., more open than previous PoPs).
The demo map shown to the journalist, old of a few months, has been scrapped design-wise because it was too Assassin-like, now it's more fantasy design-wise.
Game world is made of nodes connected by paths, and you can go from one node to another as you wish (this is what they mean by less open, but non-linear; you can see the paths, but you don't have to going from A to B to C). The game adapts as a result (enemies from later visited locations might be more difficult, etc., for example zone A might be more difficult if you access it at the end, but if you accessed it at the beginning then it is easier, even bosses, depending on what order you fight them, adapt as such).
Prince can slide along any walls using his glove. Game is as much vertical as horizontal.
Prince has more possibilities of movement.
Bosses inspired by MGS' boss quality; they are fewer but they have a story, a reason to be, they leave more of an impression on the player. Some are former nobles, sometimes acting against their will.
They wondered if they should make just more enemies and try to do a God of War game and try to beat it on its own ground, or go for something different. They went with fewer enemies instead and a new combat style. Combats are duels. You can see the expression on the faces of the characters/bosses. Movement/action in fights is more like Advent Children, more cinematic in presentation.
140 people working on it, more to come, people from many projects.

 

[Havok83]

Im not sure I like the cel shading art style. Will have to see it in motion

 

[A.J.Rimmer(BSC)]

Really? Yowza.

 

[sandwraith]

Damn, the Prince's new threads look pretty cool. Is there an official site to Link us?

 

[A.J.Rimmer(BSC)]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=187967

Thats what I took this from.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

There's the logo.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

Some artwork for the Prince. I'm guessing he's going to strip down again like he did in the first one.

Apparently it's coming out July 2009.

 

[A.J.Rimmer(BSC)]

Gorgeous

 

[sandwraith]

Hey, do you guys have the concept art for that unnamed female character? While I appreciate the art, I'm not to sure about the feel. He's the "Prince" of Persia not the thief of Baghdad. I can see the heavy 1001 references but the direction feels a little off.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

What if he left home to live live as a Darvish? Like someone who went away from home to learn either more about himself, his land or society without being affected too much by the societies' biases. A lot of Persians were like that back then.

 

[Metal Spidey]

I don't really like that cell shaded stuff. I'm not looking forward to this but it may surprise me.

 

[sandwraith]

You mean like a Sufi? Hrmm...I dunno. I think that was something an older man would do. A younger man like the Prince would be living it large with some Persian chicks! Ah heck, maybe in his boredom he developed a taste for theft.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

No actually a lot of young people did that to gain wisdom.

 

[sandwraith]

Did anyone pick up this month's issue of Edge, the cover story is the next gen PoP and I was tempted to get it just for the cover alone.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Not crazy about the cell shading, at all. However i love the PoP series so im deff intrigued.

 

[Dark_Lord]

Prince of Persia First Look
The Prince is back -- sleeker, smarter and better than ever.

 

[sandwraith]

The direction does look stark but it certainly leaves one clamoring. This is one of those few titles that may reach the pinacle of Arabian Nights fantasy the same way LOTR took the Swords and Sorcery genre to new heights.

I'm also glad that Ubisoft decided to stop trying to match this franchise to God of War. These screens and concepts by itself speaks volumes of a different sort of platformer. God, I'm looking forward to this.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Prince of Persia First Look
The Prince is back -- sleeker, smarter and better than ever.

I'm still not sure if i like the new direction or not, i mean its definitely something different but I'm not sure i really want that with this series. Being that you are only going to fight one enemy at a time, id hope that each fight is truly epic. I'm definitely interested in the game at this point, just to what extent, i dont know.

 

[Rocker22]

I think this new one should be pretty good.

 

[The Geek Vault]

please say this is coming out for a wii!?

 

[sandwraith]

I think the Wii will get this and another PoP exclusive game. The Cell-Shading aspect of the game doesn't look like something the Wii can't handle.

 

[Mr. Credible]

yes it does.

 

[Dark_Lord]

Trailer

 

[Speedball]

OMG! That trailer is crazy!

 

[Rocker22]

Yeah the trailer is great, I like how the girl will be involved in the game.