Review Gamebanshee checked how hard it is to be a god

[JarlFrank]

Tags: Hard to be a God

The RPG site <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com">Gamebanshee</A> reviewed the Russian RPG <A HREF="http://www.hardtobeagod.com/">Hard to be a God</A>.
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<blockquote>Hard to be a God as a story doesn't lend itself well for a book, so it's clear that the game developers had to focus on the possibilities offered by the setting. The “Noon” universe is pretty interesting; high-technology Earth observers live amongst the less-developed citizens of Arkanar, practically having the powers of gods amongst men but limited in what they can do with this. It offers a good opportunity for a unique game combining science fiction with high fantasy. While not getting a lot of attention in the West, Akella & Burut's attempt to translate this game into a hack 'n slash RPG was closely watched in Russia. </blockquote>
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The setting seems pretty interesting, combining magic with technology, so all ye Arcanum-lovers, rejoice! Still, the fun is kinda spoiled by the bad translation that is sadly so common in Russian games.
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The text translations are actually significantly worse than the voice overs (since the voice actors will some times correct the mistakes in the written translation). While not impossible to understand, the translations are bad enough that a lot of context is completely lost. Since the plot gets fairly complex at points, you shouldn't be surprised if you hit points where you simply have no idea what the other person is talking about any more. For me, the high point of this was when my character triumphantly declared “Aha! That's another pair of shoes!” </blockquote>
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Read the full review <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/reviews/software/hardtobeagod1.php">here.</A>
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/">Gamebanshee</A>

 

[Andhaira]

Whats with european devs and stupid titles? Divine Divinity: Sword of Lies; hard to be a god, Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon?

Really, is it that hard to come up with a good turtle?

 

[HanoverF]

Whats with european devs and stupid titles?

It's that same thing as your obsession with making stupid posts.

 

[Andhaira]

You must be european.

 

[Elwro]

The title was not the devs' idea, btw. And there's nothing wrong with it.

 

[Durwyn]

The game is pretty mediocre. Interesting,albeit totally uninteractive world, good story, very bad dialogue trees, bad translation,weak combat and shallow character development. It's streamlined as hell, player feels like it's an interactive book not a game. it's 4/10 in my rating.

 

[Naked Ninja]

Really, is it that hard to come up with a good turtle?

Oh man, you made my day. :D

 

[DraQ]

You must be european.

You must be idiot. 2x

The title was not the devs' idea, btw. And there's nothing wrong with it.

Indeed. Read, you philistines.

 

[Seboss]

For me, the high point of this was when my character triumphantly declared “Aha! That's another pair of shoes!”

Which translated pretty easily to "That's another story!" for me.
I believed this phrase existed in English though I never used it.

 

[Elwro]

In Polish it's "another pair of boots".

 

[Brother None]

For me, the high point of this was when my character triumphantly declared “Aha! That's another pair of shoes!”

Which translated pretty easily to "That's another story!" for me.
I believed this phrase existed in English though I never used it.

Yeah it's not actually the best example, because it is used, but it's not really a proverb. something like "It's a different kettle of fish" or "That's another story!" would've both been better.

There are much worse examples in the game, so it's a badly picked quotes, but it made me laugh out loud in the game, because it came at the end of some really bad and confusing dialogue.

 

[RK47]

cowabunga dudes

 

[Psycroptic]

I was watching this game for a while to see how it progressed, but I just get the feeling there's going to be a lot of Sieging of Dungeons in it.

The gameworld sounds pretty cool though. Hopefully it has some complexity to it and there's more strategy than twitch.

 

[Rhett Butler]

For me, the high point of this was when my character triumphantly declared “Aha! That's another pair of shoes!”

Which translated pretty easily to "That's another story!" for me.
I believed this phrase existed in English though I never used it.

I've never heard it before, and I'm a native speaker. We say "That's another kettle of fish." all the time though.

It's a shame HTBAG turned out to be shit. It was a really enjoyable book, and the setting is perfect for and RPG. Oh well, after playing the demo I was expecting this. Well actually I only started the demo. I gave up in disgust pretty quickly.

 

[Mefi]

Those darned Commies are trying to make us learn Russian to play their games by screwing up the translations.

Even so, I'm sad the response to this game has been so negative - and apparantly justifiably so. I was hoping it would be a little gem in the rough.

 

[Oarfish]

It's pretty grim, I played the unofficial demo a while back, went like:

• Smash wooden training dummies
• Ride horsey
• Get quest to kill bandits
• Get attacked by wolves
• Uninstall game

There was some hints at semi interesting stuff (disguise to talk to leader of bandits) but it turned out like shit.

 

[MetalCraze]

Whats with european devs and stupid titles? Divine Divinity: Sword of Lies; hard to be a god, Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon?

Really, is it that hard to come up with a good turtle?

really is it that hard for you not to say the retarded things?

...
haven't played the game because of the very unfavorable reviews from the sources and people I trust. but as for the original source of inspiration...
nothing beats the Roadside Picnic book from the same authors. I would wish to have the game properly done by that book instead of this one.

 

[cardtrick]

Whats with european devs and stupid titles? Divine Divinity: Sword of Lies; hard to be a god, Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon?

Really, is it that hard to come up with a good turtle?

really is it that hard for you not to say the retarded things?

What? Andhaira definitely has a point, and that turtle line was the most amusing thing I've seen on the Codex in quite a while.

 

[MetalCraze]

well he was saying that it's devs fault for giving the game the licensed title of the book the game is heavily based on and something is wrong with them because of that. he is correct about other two titles - but he totally did it wrong because the title of the game discussed here is another case.

 

[JarlFrank]

Well, I didn't know there was a book called like that before hearing about the game, either. It's probably less known in Western Europe.

 

[Andhaira]

If someone is stupid enough to jump down an empty well, the one who follows is even stupider.

 

[Texas Red]

"Hard to be God" fits for a computer game. I'm tired of these generic sounding, commercialized titles. We need some artsy sounding names, such as from Philip Dick works:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

The Man in the High Castle

Human is? (A collection actually but the name is damn cool anyway.)

The more common and normal the name is, the more it implies the game is developed by publishers. "Human is?" is an attractive title that would, just because its so unusual, get much attention; it would stand out from the crowd.

 

[RK47]

I have no mouth and I must scream probably the most 'attention-catching' title i've heard for PC Game.

 

[Andhaira]

I have no dick but I must fuck! would make for a great title for a lesbian porno!

 

[MetalCraze]

We need some artsy sounding names, such as from Philip Dick works:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

too late. we already have a game by that book, though with a totally different name.