Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

[jfe2]

I thought Sands of Time had one of the simplest, most elegant combat systems I've seen in a game. It was poetry in motion and everything was easy to do for me. Things only got a bit annoying when you had to protect your annoying partner

This.

[pakopako]

"Come on, I've already killed 167 skeletons, and there's more?!"

I would argue that most games are like this; from Slimes to Thugs, the Big Bad always manages to churn out wave after wave of generic-looking minions.

[jfrost]

"Come on, I've already killed 167 skeletons, and there's more?!"

I would argue that most games are like this; from Slimes to Thugs, the Big Bad always manages to churn out wave after wave of generic-looking minions.

They might be. That's not a good part of most games, in any case.

[pakopako]

They might be. That's not a good part of most games, in any case.

I'm curious now. What games have you played that deviated from providing players with staple baddies?

[Hatta]

Try Nethack. The enemies are sometimes random, sometimes level appropriate, but never generic. Escaping is just as much a valid strategy as combat.

[optmusprimenumber]

I thought Sands of Time had one of the simplest, most elegant combat systems I've seen in a game. It was poetry in motion and everything was easy to do for me. Things only got a bit annoying when you had to protect your annoying partner

This.

Yeah, it is very good. Pretty sure it was cutting edge at the time.. with all the animations and whatnot required... I found it unfortunate though that a lot of it seems to be wasted time. Sure you can kick the guy behind you while swinging at the guy in front and then do a spin kick and jump over their heads and stuff... but it really only came down to 2 or 3 moves. There are just so many enemies that it doesn't pay to mess around with them. It's better to just destroy them. So, while I ultimately find it kind of annoying (I get more of a kick out of the platforming) I recommend -to anyone thwarted by the annoying enemies in Sands of Time- this: If you can jump over their head then do that and stab them with the dagger (2 buttons); one down. If you can't jump over them do an off the wall flying stab move, then stab them while they're down. It's really just tedious at that point. But doing those moves should shorten a battle considerably and make it generally easier. And when you're feeling awesome about it, there's the hold block and counter deal where you literally counter their attack and kill them with the dagger in one swoop. It's kind of risky though. Great game.. with awesome puzzles. I enjoyed the sequels too. Haven't played the cartoon one and haven't played much of The Forgotten Sands other than the Wii version. The enemy placement and general flow of encounters was much better in Warrior Within. His combat and acrobatic abilities got souped up but with that came a couple collision detection situations that would ultimately result in you kicking off a wall and heading full speed over a ledge. More room to play around in WW with the combat (once you know how to avoid the leaps of death). The stealth in Two Thrones was a nice touch.

[Gamerforlife]

I thought Sands of Time had one of the simplest, most elegant combat systems I've seen in a game. It was poetry in motion and everything was easy to do for me. Things only got a bit annoying when you had to protect your annoying partner

This.

Yeah, it is very good. Pretty sure it was cutting edge at the time.. with all the animations and whatnot required... I found it unfortunate though that a lot of it seems to be wasted time. Sure you can kick the guy behind you while swinging at the guy in front and then do a spin kick and jump over their heads and stuff... but it really only came down to 2 or 3 moves. There are just so many enemies that it doesn't pay to mess around with them. It's better to just destroy them. So, while I ultimately find it kind of annoying (I get more of a kick out of the platforming) I recommend -to anyone thwarted by the annoying enemies in Sands of Time- this: If you can jump over their head then do that and stab them with the dagger (2 buttons); one down. If you can't jump over them do an off the wall flying stab move, then stab them while they're down. It's really just tedious at that point. But doing those moves should shorten a battle considerably and make it generally easier. And when you're feeling awesome about it, there's the hold block and counter deal where you literally counter their attack and kill them with the dagger in one swoop. It's kind of risky though. Great game.. with awesome puzzles. I enjoyed the sequels too. Haven't played the cartoon one and haven't played much of The Forgotten Sands other than the Wii version. The enemy placement and general flow of encounters was much better in Warrior Within. His combat and acrobatic abilities got souped up but with that came a couple collision detection situations that would ultimately result in you kicking off a wall and heading full speed over a ledge. More room to play around in WW with the combat (once you know how to avoid the leaps of death). The stealth in Two Thrones was a nice touch.

I thought the way they incorporated stealth in Two Thrones was brilliant. It's interesting to see stealth woven into platforming that way

The "cartoon one" as you put it had its ups and downs. It wasn't a bad game overall, but they could have done a lot more with it and there were certain aspects of it that were annoying like those weird on rails sections where you had to quickly move through an area while avoiding obstacles.

The combat system they used was both cool and frustrating at the same time. What I liked about it was being able to take out a boss in one fell swoop by essentially doing a "ring out" on him. Seeing that big health bar just disappear was just as satisfying as killing a boss with a tate in Shinobi for the PS 2. That was cool, and the long, elaborate combos you could do with Elika looked cool, until later in the game when the enemies would annoyingly counter your attacks mid-combo.

I do like the Elika, no death system in retrospect. People say it was dumb to make a game where you can't die, but you actually do die. The game simply masks that to keep the immersion going. Elika would save you from certain death, but you would be sent back to redo the platforming sequence you screwed up. Essentially, you were going back to an invisible checkpoint, but bypassing a game over screen

[pakopako]

Try Nethack. The enemies are sometimes random, sometimes level appropriate, but never generic. Escaping is just as much a valid strategy as combat.

Ooh, I have played that. A randomly-generated rogue-like, emphasis on random.

But even Nethack had its share of kobolds.

[optmusprimenumber]

There's a part in the game when you have to fight the prince's dad. this part can be difficult as there are tones of fellow's besides his dad trying to get you and you cant freeze them to get more health! so, the easiest thing to do on the second you get in there BLOCK! and wait until one of them is vulnerable (but don't just stand there! walk around). the best way to kill the red lads is to run up them and attack, you do that by pressing X and then square and then of course triangle to finish him off (this will also work for you throughout the rest of the game). but you CANNOT run up the blue guards as they will knock you down and take a good bit off your health. so, make sure all the red guards are gone and then take out the blue ones. don't try to get the dad during this because he will just block your moves and then one of the other guys will get you. you can kill the blue guys the usual way but they frequently block so just wait until they stop. when everyone else is dead its just you and the dad... so just kill him the usual way (but it will take longer as he blocks all the time as well!). REMEMBER!!!: you have to protect farrah as well as fight everyone else so when she calls for help you unfortunately have to help her.

The off-the-wall flying stab attack knocks down most enemies (even the blue ones) in one shot... then you stick'em with the dagger. It's almost more annoying waiting for the Prince's dad to stop blocking.

[Ivo]

There is the GBA version which is actually a pretty nice 2D game with some obvious "Metroidvania" aspects to it.

Ivo.