@Everyone Else
Ubisoft made the decision to change the Prince's personality drastically in WW to appeal to a wider audience. They figured that this is how they would get huge sales. SoT, while being one of the best games ever made, did not actually sell that many copies. I believe Warrior Within actually beat it.

I have played through the Ubisoft Trilogy of Prince games over 10 times separately, and through discussion over forums, such as gamefaqs, most people consider WW to be the best overall game in terms of Gameplay/Platforming. Even the story at times was an amazing hook. Ubisoft basically did everything they could to ruin that game, but the core elements of it were so good that the gameplay was impossible to hold down. It's so sad that the game is presented in such a horrible fashion that so many people were immediately turned off to it. I'm surprised nobody here mentioned the horrible Godsmack 'I Stand Alone' inclusion yet.

The truth is the change in personality was MUCH to radical and unbelievable. Some people mentioned it was because of the horrible 7 years he had to endure running from the Dahaka, but Ubisoft could have done wonders with that hook to make the audience feel the Prince's plight and I'm sorry, the prince cursing and fighting time whores that say "There's so much pleasure in pain!" is not the way to communicate that message.

The truth is WW had flashes of brilliance. The Prince was such an awesome character that even through all the muck that Ubisoft tried to make him he still at times shined through. The CG's in particular where he turns to fight the Dahaka and you can only see his piercing eyes from under his cloak was amazing, better yet was when he discovers that he is in fact the architect of his own destruction.

All in all, if I had to pick one game out of the trilogy it would be WW. Because even though the presentation was shit, it had the best core elements, platforming, cutscenes, and story of the trilogy. Somebody mentioned the backtracking was bad, in truth it was fairly light and it gave a whole SoTN feel to the game when you traversed areas again that now were much different because they had been ravaged by time.

rupinderpaul

Chopper_Mike

user_21938

wild homes is non-canonical

kylo4

M

gokieks

Nettle

Anyway, hoping they're able to work on both Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia. Because while I love Prince of Persia, I also love Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia doesn't have a story that it ended on a fucking cliffhanger with its last game.

Samos42

Fadakar

Chopper_Mike

Br00klyn-Grenade

RET_Ghost

Fallible

RET_Ghost

In SoT (and before that) he was almost a spoiled and too formal prince. Even after his adventures, he returned to the palace to conntinue his normal life... but after SoT he couldn't do that because his fate (the Dahaka) was chasing him, forcing him to escape and hide. He couldn't return to the 'high class' life, and had to adapt himself to the 'low world' style. That changed his personality with the course of the years (and so, his way to speak... because you can't talk like a prince when you live among thieves, pirates and such)

Maybe that's what bothered me in TT: After all he went thru on those seven years, he recovered the 'formal prince' attitude in a matter of months... in the sea... with Kaileena???... WTF???

Chopper_Mike

JorgieX

Being completely honest, I prefered WW than TT... the TT prince was too soft and too much 'good boy' to my taste. The selfish, double-faced and emotionaly damaged prince in WW was priceless. Also they didn't use correctly the 'Dark Prince' issue... compared to the Sand Wraith surprise in WW (which was amazing and nobody expected)

Chopper_Mike

But mostly it was about style. Ubisoft went off on the classic big headed tangent that occurs when a studio has a successful title thanks to someone with vision and convinces themselves they can add modern elements like emo hairstyles and grab a bigger audience. The VERY first thing that annoyed me in WW was that they took what I considered to be a genius method of starting over after a "death" and turned it back into the super generic "game over" screen. It raped the atmosphere.

Beyond that, at times I wasn't entirely convinced I knew what was going on as the story supoosedly is a sequel to SoT, yet the character appears years older and with a completely different personality. Oh, and let's not forget the heavy smoker voice DESPITE THE FACT IT WAS THE SAME VOICE ACTOR.

SoT had an amazing atmosphere that WW was entirely lacking, but that is not to say parts of WW's mood weren't worthy of praise if you look at them individually. The Two Thrones brought things back, but even still it wasn't as solid as SoT. I think in particular they skimped out on the PC version, as it felt like an amateur had stolen the code and sloppily bound the commands to a keyboard.

All that said, I get the distinct feeling Prodigy should be pretty bitching. As long as they remember that SoT is why we love the 3D PoP, I doubt they can go as wrong as WW again.

Bobby McPresscott

Imagine booting up Gears of War 2, to find that Marcus was suddenly a Spiderman 3 emo guy who had fun with violence, but acted all cocky and struggled with his personal change. Sure, it could be interesting, but generally you don't take an established character and change him overnight.

Of course, generally buggyness (including one that could be triggered at any point that would stop you from completing the game, and reloading would rarely help because it was triggered so far in the past), and the backtracking (with that awful map), and combat (not a lot of people liked the combat, even though it was better. Wanted just a platformer) all hurt it, too.

Stealth Kills: YES. More animations would have definitely helped. And if you liked combat you could just fight everyone. Just the option to basically skip it by doing a bit of extra platforming (to position yourself for the stealth kill) was a good gameplay choice.

...And I actually enjoyed the music. But I like that heavy rock on its own. I don't think the switch added to the game (would have preferred original style). I just didn't hate it like most other people did.

Phokal

RET_Ghost

*

But I do have some notes for the crew working on Assassin's Creed 2 (because they totally read the comments on Kotaku and redesign their games accordingly):
(1) Cutscenes. Play Odin Sphere or FFXII. Notice how you can pause cutscenes, and choose to skip them or continue watching? Do that, please.

(2) Replayability. I want to go back and replay the Assassinations - it's fun! I don't want to have to sit through your cutscenes for the zillionth time, and then be forced to ride all the way from the mountain to Acre or Damascus.

For God's sake, give us a New Game+ where you can select an Assassination and replay it with all your abilities and weapons from the end of the game intact.

"But that counteracts the narrative-"
Yes, but it's a game and that would be fun. Here, i'll make it easy for you. Just walk up to Kristen Bell, and ask her to say this line:
"Desmond, I've programmed the Animus to allow you to enter earlier memories with all the tools you acquire later."

(3) Flow. Why is it that between the white knuckle-tension of approaching and killing my mark, and the insane flight from the authorities, you decided to make we watch a three minute cutscene? I get the story aspects you're trying to force on me (my mark and I both do evil in the name of good, so little separates us, that's so deep...), but you just interrupted the best, most exciting part of your game with boredom.

...sorry, that went on longer than anticipated. Those nitpicky issues aside, Assassin's Creed was totally worth my sixty bucks. A new Prince of Persia will be a welcome addition to my library.

Chances

Chopper_Mike

Koolfox

Sandbox_Emperor

Two thrones was a great game, been waiting a very long time for a new PoP game. Thanks UBI!

Btw, am I the only person who actually enjoyed AC and can't wait for the sequel?

Paganmoon

Please, tell me that Mechner is working on this one.

TickleMeElmo

Even if most of the combat felt like I was button mashing through it all.

belo

Koolfox

Torgen got his apology faceplate but not his fixed GH3 disc

Brain_Craters

Chances

Arttemis

The problem that Obsidian Entertainment has in trying to pick the slack off Bioware, is that they try to do something inovative, but fail at it. Neverwinter Nights 2, although good, was the same.

Ashurahori

JohnHype

Agreed. Two Thrones was much more SoT than WW. Anyone who liked SoT will probably enjoy TT. Hell, it even removed the combat of SoT (instant kill enemies and you don't have to fight droves of them).

It is a shame WW became so rushed, it probably would have gone over better with fans. Does anyone remember the interviews where the Price has a friend who dies and it is a pivotal point in the story that sends him on his quest? That whole sequence never made it into the game (the cinema is in all of the early trailers). Basically, WW was missing the entire beginning sequence that was meant to transition into 'i haven't slept in 7 years, and now I'm a bit crazy, ala fight club.'
Instead you are immediately introduced to the darker prince and the new market audience, rather than showing it as the fall from grace as initially intended. People hate him rather than pity him.

WW and Kotor2. Great promise rushed to market. Still good games, just easily ripped apart due to their legacy.

Phokal

[i25.tinypic.com]

theswitcher

megaStryke

That said, I'm curious to see where they go with the franchise from here. Are we getting a new prince and will the time mechanics stay?

Silent Predator

Ashurahori

Dragonzigg

captain_laxpants

i'd try it out...its cheap now

mAaron

enigma89

squidboy007

TaggarT6

ArmiMaan

That doesn't mean I wouldn't like to meet her... :p

Candlejack

...AGAIN. >:-(

This is getting really old.

wonder6oy

For the zillionth time...damn that woman in fine.

CHU BOI

TaggarT6

smuckersisgood

crescentfresh

Megan Fox iz Hot ^-^ -ph15h

/I didn't play #3 because of how much I hated WW.

dry-roasted-peanuts

logicbox

Yes, I went there.

Anyway, I'm looking very much forward to it. The PoP series is one of my favourite franchises and the best action adventure that remains more adventure than action. Read: More running and jumping than slashing and smashing.

Candlejack

logicbox

Eville1