Sure, it's a pretty run of the mill third person shooter, but it does indeed look spectacular, and I wasn't expecting anything revolutionary. It's from a studio that previously made God of War games, so something that looks impressive but doesn't do much new or exciting in its gameplay was something I was prepared for.

Then, when I thought things were about to kick into gear for a big final act, it ended. Fuck this game. It's like they ran out of development time, feeling that it's okay to end with you killing some dumbshit lackey instead of going after the real enemy. It's disgusting.

A short game is one thing. I have no problem with that, and in fact prefer shorter, more focused experiences to some long, drawn-out garbage (thus, my distaste for most JRPG's) but there's a difference between "short" and "[MISSING REEL]". The Order had potential, and it was entirely squandered, as well as any sort of goodwill I had towards the game up to that point. Anyone else agree?

I'm really not sure what to think when all of these threads from people who liked this game are still more than half filled with complaints about it.

I'm saying liked, in the past tense. Until I finished it. Now I have nothing but seething hatred towards it.

@larrydavis: Ah so. That doesn't totally come across in the title, though. Like, I'd say, "I liked this game.", after I played a game I liked. But now I get it.

Sorry the ending bummed you out. If I may ask, did you get the game before reading any reviews? Hearing about how truncated the story is at the end from Jeff and others is one of the main reasons I lost interesting in playing it.

I had heard it was short, but I write reviews myself, so I avoid reading those or watching gameplay videos of something I intend to play. I'd rather not be influenced by the mass opinion, and did find myself enjoying it, even if it wasn't outstanding. A solid 6 or so. Now I'm debating on a 2 or a 3.

(You also could have read my post instead of glancing at the title, where I clearly say that the ending destroyed all goodwill I had towards the game)

This doesn't sound like you liked the game.

i liked the ending,but i can see why others wouldnt.

Well saying they previously made GoW is stretching it, they where making noncanon PSP fillers (not bad games but still).

Still when you say that you liked it only it was to short you are in minority here so it kind of makes no difference.

The ending was better than the one from ZOE...thats about how bad I was expecting it to be from how people were talking about it.

From what I understand, it seems like the length of the game is not the issue. It seems that the problem this particular user has is the unsatisfactory conclusion of the story.

Cool

The story wasn't as bad as I was led to believe but the ending just soured me on the whole thing. I would have liked the story a lot more of they landed the ending better but as for the game I ended up watching the whole thing be played on YouTube and didn't feel like I lost anything by not playing it.

I've said it before though, at least the graphics are pretty

I dunno, I didn't think the gameplay was as awful as Jeff's review advertised, just unspectacular.

I'm more sad that they missed a huge opportunity to world-build what seems like could be a fascinating universe. The first game in the series is the time to get people invested in the lore of a universe, but players got almost nothing about the history of the world or the characters who inhabit it. For example:

• How did the whole half-breed thing start?
• How do the knights of the round table fit into it?
• How did said knights end up being a glorified goon squad for the British government?
• What's up with the giant scar on Lady Igraine's neck?
• How did the Marquis de Lafayette, who's French and fought in two revolutions, end up working for a British order the pretty ruthlessly maintains the status quo?

Bloodborne is the aftermath of The Order 1886, it all ties together guys don't worry.

I played this game at a friend's house, this is a very boring game.

1. They kind of explained it.
2. The knights were around when the rise of the half-breeds started so they said we should probably stop them.
3. King Arthur.
4. Looks cool.
5. They have other knights but they can't be a full knight unless one of the members die. Also, he is probably the best character.

I think you misunderstand me. I get the basics, but it's the details that they failed to explain:

1 & 2: I get that the order is supposed to fight the half-breeds, but where did they come from to begin with? A lot of the lore is seemingly tied up with Arthurian legend (i.e. the Blackwater actually comes from the Grail), so I'm assuming the werewolves are too, perhaps via Mordred or Morgan le Fey? And yet it's totally unexplored in the game.

3: Yes, King Arthur. And yet it is heavily implied that the Order's original purpose was strictly limited to killing werewolves, and it was only recently that they became the shills for the government and the East India Company. Clearly, something happened that changed things, but it isn't really ever explained what or when.

4: Fine, and perfectly acceptable if that's the case, but it still feels like a missed opportunity to add more to the character.

5: I get the actual succession protocol of the knights. What I'm saying is that it's strange that the Marquis de Lafayette, a Frenchman who historically supported a lot of left-wing causes, is suddenly a dedicated member of a very right-wing British organization. The association doesn't make any sense unless there is more to the story than is being told, particularly as he seems to maintain his dedication to a lot of revolutionary ideals.

I legitimately liked the game. It was refreshingly basic, which sounds strange. Too many games nowadays have thousands of guns and hundreds of enemy types to fight, and it gets bloated and annoying. It's the reason most people didn't like The Force Unleashed, it just added too much bullshit and wasn't the basic "killing stormtrooper fun". The Order trimmed all the bullshit away, giving you the few types of guns that you would only ever use in other shooters anyways and a few enemy types removing the unfun "crazy" enemies.

I thought the story was pretty enjoyable, too. They twist the Knights of the Round Table fable in a fun way, adding in a gothic enemy type that feels like a holy order would secretly fight. What I really liked about the story, besides setting and such, was that it didn't feel like it had to explain every single thing that had happened or would happen. Why does Igraine have a scar? It doesn't matter, so why would you waste time doing some hammy, cliche explanation of how she's "tougher because of it". What happens to the vampires next and where do they come from? I don't care where they come from, it's some fun world building that lets you know that the order isn't taking on every single problem in the world. Sure the whole package was pretty rote, but sometimes that isn't a bad thing. Sometimes you just want a dumb romance movie like Titanic.

People keep comparing The Order to Gears of War, which I don't think is entirely fair. They're both third person cover shooters, but Gears of War has much slower combat, fighting bullet-sponge enemies, and The Order is quick and snappy. Uncharted is a little bit closer, but the aim in that game felt floaty and imprecise. You can shoot super accurately in The Order, aim very quickly, and best of all kill people with one damn headshot. All in all, I had a great time with The Order, but I can absolutely understand why other people didn't.

I liked it too! And I liked the ending a lot, though I kind of wish the epilogue didn't happen at all.

I'd be interested in a sequel for sure, though I can't see it happening.

The Order is the Heavenly Sword of this generation

Are you talking about The Order or the first Gears of War? Sounds like they are both short games that end the same way.

It's as if it's possible to enjoy something and still critique it. I think the cover mechanics needed work. Still thought it was a good - not great, definitely not bad - game.

I thought the original Blackwater was from the Grail, but after that it's their own blood they're drinking, but it only works once they've already had "the real thing". When Lafayette is knighted, the big dude says something like "from now on it shall be your own blood that fills this vessel" and he cuts his hand and pours the blood into the vial.

3: I think it's related to Lucan being a half-breed, and thus, old dude bowing to Lord Hastings' whims.

4: I'm not sure, but I would hope it would give some background as to why she takes such a hard turn from a reliable, refreshingly tough female character into an irrational jealous zealot. I would also like some backstory on her waist/hips ratio because that is crazier than any werewolf.

5: Yeah, that didn't make a lot of sense, but he is also clearly the one with the least love or loyalty to "the cause" as a whole, aside from the whole "killing warwilfs" thing. He took the longest to say "guilty" and then shows up and gives Galahad his blessing to go against the Order at the end.

@hollitz at least Raam was the guy your crew was going after, and he was a high-ranking dude within the Locust (for as much as that matters). In Teh Urder, you just kill a mere underling, and never get to Hastings. If there was someone beyond him, it would be alright if they want to save that and the whole "WHO IS SHIPPING VAMPIRES AROUND" mystery for a sequel, but for him to be so close and then never Finish The Fight is really gross and reeks of "WE GOTTA MAKE THIS A FRANCHISE". Halo 2 is a much more apt comparison than Gears.

PlayerOne podcast has an excellent discussion about the game this week. There is no right answer about if someone likes something or not. However, I think I would adhere 'more closely' to what the people at PlayerOne were thinking rather than what Jeff, Dan, and Brad were thinking. All fine opinions, but I just come from a PoP perspective on this game.

I enjoyed the game quite a bit. Thermite gun is amazing. I wish the game dug into the back story a bit more. They set up an interesting story and universe and it kind of went nowhere interesting. I want to know more.

The whole setting and look of the game and characters is so damn cool. I want to play it again, just to see the cut scenes once more. :)

The last 'cover based shooter' I played before The Order was The Last of Us. And when you compare those two the gameplay of The Order is such a huge step back. A couple of times I had to back off in a fight and ran away to recover some health and the enemies never followed me, they just waited at their spot.
When replaying certain sections in The Last of Us it always played out differently, because the AI is constantly taking different decisions. I really missed that kind of interaction, the feel of actually battling other humans.

Also mentioned a lot by Jeff; there is no co-op. I mean, what the hell? You're in an 'order', a group, the best possible excuse to put in a co-op mode. Let me remind you: Gears of War (1) even had split-screen co-op! Which was fun as hell.

I just beat it and thought the story was better than people were giving it credit for. It had a lot more to it than I expected based on "this game sucks and story isn't even good." It was a standard TPS that felt good enough to play with a few fun weapons thrown in. The settings and the story is definitely the reason to play it and it does leave a lot of loose-ends but I'm excited to see a sequel... that we will probably not get. Fuck.

Oh and the whole 5 hour thing. Not sure how people got thru the game in that short of a time unless they are not factoring in cutscenes. Had to be at least 8 hours for me and I didn't find myself bored at any part except maybe near the beginning where you don't have any idea whats really going on.

Wellp...this wasn't as teribble as I had feared, but it's definetly not an exlcusive that'd justify owning a PS4 (hopefully Bloodborne will be that one, going to trade this one to that...). I guess the game has sold decently, so maybe there'll be a sequel some day. If so, I'd love for that Uncharted 1 > 2 effect to happen again.

If perhaps Sony was kind enough to make this a PS+ title at some point, I would gladly play through it.

I really enjoyed this game as well. I agree that the ending could have been better but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of it. I'm looking forward to a sequel.

Pros:

• God it's pretty. Best looking game I've ever played.
• Facial animation and sheer artistry of everything is top-notch.
• The art direction and concept is... neat.
• An experience that rarely feels padded.

Cons:

• The most throw-away third-person shooter gameplay; completely underexploited arsenal potential; the most out-of-place Red Dead targeting mechanic; melee combat that is more likely to get you killed than anything.
• Copy-paste encounters. There are two types of werewolf encounters: the boring assaults in warehouses, and the QTE-ridden knife-fights. Both are copy and pasted throughout the game, and neither is compelling enough to warrant the copy-paste.
• It is a single-tone narrative experience that rarely eases the player into its world; it's always grim self-seriousness, unlikeable characters, and throw-away plot conceits. It felt like the game was actively trying to make me not care about the narrative, despite being an extremely narrative-focused experience. A little more lighthearted banter would have gone a long way.
• The value proposition is not great, but that's an argument done to death.

It's such a weird game. They clearly put an ungodly amount of time and money in the audiovisual experience of The Order, but why not spend some of that on hiring more game designers? So many of the mechanics are severely underdeveloped. They almost feel placeholder. Refining some of the core mechanics, adding a larger arsenal of Tesla weapons, adding some more layers of nuance to the cover gameplay... it all could have gone a long way.

I was about to buy this game until I heard about he length of the game and all the backlash so I held back. I decided to rent it from redbox and I'm sure I got my moneys worth. I really liked this game it was great. I liked the story the shooting the atmosphere. I know there was a lot of talk about the pacing as you walk from one place to another then shooting and back to a pace. But I really liked that transition it made me appreciate the world and its surrounding. Anyways I hope they really make a sequel.