South Park: The Fractured But Whole - South Park RPG sequel from Ubisoft

[Infinitron]

http://www.pcgamer.com/south-park-t...super-heroes-and-fart-jokes-together-at-last/

South Park: The Fractured But Whole - super heroes and fart jokes, together at last
Adding RPG chops to a masterful piece of fan service.

The Stick of Truth was one of the best adaptations ever, capturing the spirit of South Park with a light RPG that had just enough meat on the combat to see you through its 16-20 hour running time.

The Fractured But Whole swaps The Stick of Truth's fantasy theme for superheroes. Traditional fantasy classes become superhero archetypes: The Flash-style speedy class, for example, or basic physical brawlers like Captain America, which Cartman explains as you browse the selection menu. There's a whole host more you unlock as you progress through the game, too—though they aren't revealing what they are right now. Being able to swap classes opens up new abilities, including special moves, like a flurry of punches in the case of the Flash-style speedy class.

Positioning is also important in combat now. You can move your characters around at the start of each turn, and you need to make sure your enemies are in range of your ability's area of attack before using a move. I only had the chance to play one fight—against Mysterion, Tweek and Token—and I made sure the more powerful Mysterion was taken out of the picture first before focusing on the other two. On my side I had Kyle, dressed as his alter ego, the Human Kite. He can shoot laser beams at the other kids, for some reason. Generally I got the impression that the combat offers a slightly more tactical layer this time around, and I can see how keeping on top of enemies' movements could be more challenging than the combat in the first game

The superhero element is well-played—the reason the kids are fighting is that they're having their own version of a Marvel Civil War, seemingly about who gets to have a film franchise, or a Netflix series and so on. It's a deserving target, and as ever with South Park, there are plenty of jokes at the subject matter's expense, but with a very obvious passion for it underneath at the same time.

There are updated references to the show, too, as recent as the excellent season 19. One part at the start of the game sees you looking through Cartman's diary looking for the code to his superhero lair—his mum's basement—and alongside a number of unsurprisingly foul drawings of his friends doing sexual acts, there's Cartman's shit list, which has PC Principal scrawled on it. I think a big challenge is making the town feel different to last time, and more interactive elements like looking for this code (it turned out to be 'fuck you mom') will help make that environment seem fresh again. From the small part of the town I got to see, it feels pretty familiar. One nice touch is that you can reach items on the top of buildings by having Kyle, in his Human Kite guise, fly you up there with a couple of well-timed button prompts.

One thing they've seemingly taken out of the combat is the ability to counter by timing a button press correctly, an element the first game borrowed almost wholesale from Nintendo's Mario and Luigi RPG series. Now, your characters just directly take damage, which I feel removes some of the energy that the combat had in the first game. Without it, it actually makes The Fractured But Whole seem slightly more like a traditional turn-based RPG. I miss having that extra bit of interactivity.

I was hoping there'd be something like a choice element in this sequel, too, or dialogue options, just to tap into more of that RPG replay value. That could instead be offered by the expanded class options, though—there will hopefully be enough extra detail in that combat system to make a return trip to South Park feel worthwhile. The first game was a strong slice of fan service and a limited RPG—The Fractured But Whole is taking a decent stab at building on the latter.

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/south-park-the-fractured-but-whole-is-an-absurd-ga/1100-6442680/

South Park: The Fractured But Whole is an Absurd Game with Traditional Roots

South Park: The Fractured But Whole--the Ubisoft-lead sequel to 2014's The Stick of Truth--digs deeper into the role-playing game genre than its predecessor. Whereas the previous game used simple turn-based combat and offered a small number of character classes, The Fractured But Whole more than doubles the amount of strategy needed to succeed on the battlefield. The use of space, indicated by a grid, as well as nearly a dozen different roles to choose from makes the game feel like a more well thought-out, deeper experience.

Right off the bat you're asked to pick a class, and each one is as varied and unique as the next. In our demo, we played as the Speedster, South Park's riff on a superhero like The Flash. Other choices include the Assassin, Netherborn, Gadgeteer, Brutalist, and the Karate Kid, though we've yet to see more of these classes other than their names. Among these you have your tanks, your healers, your long-range and melee types, and no two classes are too alike. And you don't have to be too judicious with the class you pick at the beginning; you'll be able to change your class later in the game, as you see fit.

The grid-based combat is immediately reminiscent of strategy RPGs like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics, in which you have to consider the space between you and your enemy every time you attack. In addition to space, you can also using timing to your advantage. The UI lists the order in which your team and the enemy will attack, and you can plan your moves accordingly to execute more complex ones, like knocking enemies into one another or blowing them back a few spaces to protect a comrade within their reach. It's a more tactical approach that The Stick of Truth, and I found myself more carefully considering my available options instead of simply piling on the powerful attacks or just button mashing.


According to producer Jason Schroeder, The Fractured But Whole's combat seems to borrow its battle layout from familiar SRPGs, but its roots are actually in tabletop games. And the development team chose to keep combat turn-based--a mechanic AAA RPGs have been moving away from for years--because it gave them the space to inject South Park's trademark humor.

"Turn based combat totally worked in Stick, because it gave us time to tell jokes," Schroeder told me. "There was enough air in a moment that you didn't have to worry about people reacting and doing active quick blocks and stuff like that, like in an action game. Then we started using Snowdrop, and we were able to stream in different environments really quickly and let people wander around town in a much more seamless way.

"A lot of those dungeon crawling, tabletop RPGs are actually more of the inspiration, but of course...Final Fantasy Tactics," he added on The Fractured But Whole's use of space. "One of the limitations of looking at games like [Tactics] is that they often either stay in an isometric camera far away from the action, and South Park being 2D, a lot of those rules don't apply. We looked at games like Skulls of the Shogun, that has a nice analog feeling of being able to move around. Everything from Disgaea to Castle Crashers. You find inspiration everywhere. Ultimately, I think we pulled a lot more from board games."

These influences are no more readily apparent that in "Civil War" fights, large-scale battles that pit a handful of characters on two teams against one another. In the demo I played, the New Kid squared off with two pals against three other children. Using a powerful punch attack, I was able to knock one child back two spaces and into another, causing damage to them both. And when the going got a little too tough, I used my ultimate attack, which took out everywhere within a certain square radius from me in one blow--but not my guys, thankfully, as there is no friendly fire in this game. The battle forced me to think about the whole playing field at any given time, considering how far my opponent's' attacks would reach and who I could move out of the way in time to avoid them.


There are also a dozen smaller touches that make The Fractured But Whole delightful, from the ability to have your controllable hero fart on anyone and everything--complete with a unique reaction for each NPC--to subtle references to other heroes like Sailor Moon in the battle dialogue between the town's children. The set dressing, too makes you feel at home in South Park, offering glimpses into the characters' personal lives that we don't get on the show. For example, rooting through Cartman's room will unearth some interesting things, such as the inappropriate comics about his friends that he draws in his spare time. You'd think such absurdities would detract you from the fact that the game is built like a classic, tactical-focused RPG: but surprisingly, it doesn't. The South Park IP isn't the framework; it's the flavor.

There are also smaller quick time events scattered throughout South Park that require you to call in other characters for help, like bringing in Human Kite to reach a treasure chest on top of a building. These unique moments are also carried in combat; depending on the characters you have fighting alongside you, you'll have different dialogue as well as different tactics available to you.

"I think we really struck a good balance [making] something that feels tactically deep, and people are enjoying making these decisions and customizing their characters and customizing their combat party and seeing how it all [fits]," Schroeder said. "'Oh man that fight totally played out differently because I brought in Jimmy and I brought in The Coon,' and stuff like that, and be like, 'Oh, I played it with Human Kite and Tool Shed.'

"It's totally not balanced yet. Sometimes you can game people. You find yourself thinking, 'Oh, I used ranged attacks,' and 'Oh, no, I went in and totally blew him away with my strength,' and that suddenly changes the way you play."

South Park: The Fractured But Whole is still a ways off from its December 6 release date, but from what I've seen so far, it's shaping up to be an RPG worth sinking your teeth into. If you don't mind the farts, that is.

 

[Bubbles]

The "new combat mechanic" of having positioning looks pointless without friendly fire.

It makes the combat a little more complex than it was in Obsidian's version because you're encouraged to see patterns in enemy positioning and choose the right ability to maximize damage. But yeah, it's still a casual game.

Our Gamescom preview is here.

 

[LESS T_T]

Delayed to 2017: https://blog.ubi.com/south-park-fractured-whole-update/

South Park: The Fractured But Whole will now launch on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC, calendar Q1 2017. The development team wants to make sure the game experience meets the high expectations of fans and the additional time will help them achieve this goal.

 

[Wayward Son]

Delayed to 2017: https://blog.ubi.com/south-park-fractured-whole-update/

South Park: The Fractured But Whole will now launch on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC, calendar Q1 2017. The development team wants to make sure the game experience meets the high expectations of fans and the additional time will help them achieve this goal.

Remember when this was common place? Delaying a game because you wanted to make sure it was quality and not to ensure there was actually a game to deliver?

 

[Modron]

Remember when this was common place? Delaying a game because you wanted to make sure it was quality and not to ensure there was actually a game to deliver?

Eh delaying for quality purposes is pretty much PR speak for delaying so we can ensure game is deliverable (whether this is due to quashing bugs, polishing gameplay, or just actually completing the game remains to be seen but it is usually some combination of those efforts). Also, remember when people bemoaned Obsidian for doing exactly the same thing to the previous installment?

 

[Wayward Son]

Err, yeah. Ignore that post. I'm kinda in and out of it for the past 24 hours.

 

[aweigh]

i just torrented the new season's first episode (s20e01) my god it is even less funny than the crap-tastic season 19 episodes.

why are the recent South Park games infinitely funnier than the current episodes?

 

[Modron]

i just torrented the new season's first episode (s20e01) my god it is even less funny than the crap-tastic season 19 episodes.

why are the recent South Park games infinitely funnier than the current episodes?

Less of an echo chamber with a second party involved, overarching story giving them a focus, not dealing with SJW shit, or some combination therein. Maybe transitioning to another medium they hadn't been in since the days of nintendo 64 re-enthused them who knows?

 

[aweigh]

that's a damn good answer. i'd also add that the games benefit from the "game world" aspect as it revels in the shows 20 year history and utilizes most aspects of it.

 

[Infinitron]

South Park: The Fractured but Whole Developers on Doing a Sequel, Combat and Allies

GameInformer's latest cover issue was dedicated to South Park: The Fractured but Whole, Ubisoft San Francisco's sequel to The Stick of Truth. Since the announcement of the cover issue, GameInformer has been publishing a number of features online, including a video interview with the developers about their plans to improve on The Stick of Truth's problems, a feature on the new combat system, which will add movement on a grid, a write-up on the buddy system and some impressions as part of their Game Informer YouTube show.

A quote on the buddy system, which returns from The Stick of Truth:

Each buddy also has an ultimate attack with can be used in combat. “We always refer to our ultimates as Titanfall. Everybody’s guaranteed one. If you play well, maybe you can get two,” says director of design Paul Cross. There is a shared pool of points that charge over the course of a battle as you dish out and take damage, and when it maxes out, you can pick an ultimate to use. Schroeder describes them as something similar to limit breaks in Final Fantasy VII. You have an ultimate attacked connected to your class, but each buddy has a distinct ultimate that triggers a big cutscene mid-battle when you choose to you use it. Some buddies come with their ultimate move unlocked. Some require an additional sidequest.

The new kid – your character – has different powers and ultimates to choose from depending on your class and they all have to do with your mysterious yet powerful fart abilities.

Early in the game, Scott Malkinson as Captain Diabetes will be your buddy. Since the children have started playing a new game since Stick of Truth, you're back to square one after your brief stint as the king. As a result, Malkinson, and many of the other early-game buddies, consider you their sidekick. Captain Diabetes' backstory, according to The Coon, is that his mother farted on him while giving birth, and that’s why he has diabetes.

Captain Diabetes special power is rage, which allows him to lift heavy objects. In combat, he also uses rage as his ultimate. When you use it, Malkinson enters a world of candy, eats ravenously and goes into something like a diabetic Hulk-like shock dealing out lots of damage before giving himself an emergency insulin injection.​

 

[Outlander]

I wouldn't be surprised if they keep making these and churning them out on a yearly basis. SoT sold relatively well (2 million on Steam - even though it was on sale a few times) given all the delays and half-assed marketing the threw behind it.

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.pcgamer.com/south-park-the-fractured-but-whole-has-been-delayed-again/

South Park: The Fractured But Whole has been delayed again
Ubisoft now says the game won't be out until sometime in its next fiscal year.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole, a title that still makes me laugh when I think nobody is watching, has suffered yet another delay. Last September, publisher Ubisoft pushed it back from its scheduled December 2016 release to early 2017. But the company's third-quarter sales results, released today, indicates that it won't be out until the more distant, and vague, 2017-2018 fiscal year.

That could mean anywhere from April 1 of this year to March 31 of 2018, but if it was at all close to being ready for release, I'd expect Ubisoft to be a little more specific about the date. Ubisoft also adjusted its sales expectations for the 2016-17 fiscal year downward, from €1.61-1.67 billion ($1.72-1.78 billion) to €1.455-1.495 billion ($1.55-1.59 billion), in part because of the South Park delay.

A reason for the second postponement wasn't given, but Ubisoft has issued a statement confirming the delay. "South Park: The Fractured But Whole will now launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC in FY18," a rep said. "The teams at South Park and Ubisoft San Francisco are committed to pushing the envelope during development to deliver the best experience possible, and this additional time will allow them to do so."

Matt and Trey at it again!

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I wonder if they have any guilt about dropping Obsidian without even contacting them about it.

 

[Gunnar]

I thought Stick of Truth was funny, but if uplay is involved in any way.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Infinitron]

Officially delayed by a year! http://blog.ubi.com/south-park-fractured-whole-update-2/

SOUTH PARK: THE FRACTURED BUT WHOLE UPDATE

South Park: The Fractured But Whole will now launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC in FY18. The teams at South Park and Ubisoft San Francisco are committed to pushing the envelope during development to deliver the best experience possible, and this additional time will allow them to do so.

This series is cursed.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Officially delayed by a year! http://blog.ubi.com/south-park-fractured-whole-update-2/

SOUTH PARK: THE FRACTURED BUT WHOLE UPDATE

South Park: The Fractured But Whole will now launch on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC in FY18. The teams at South Park and Ubisoft San Francisco are committed to pushing the envelope during development to deliver the best experience possible, and this additional time will allow them to do so.

This series is cursed.

Or it is actually because it is really difficult to recreate the animation of South Park in a typical game engine, Obsidian ran into these difficulties and still managed to deliver, but Matt and Trey still dropped them...

 

[Infinitron]

Except we've already seen the animations. I'm going to assume it's just Matt and Trey being primadonnas about the writing again.

 

[duanth123]

They've probably earned that right.

Obsidian should be glad enough it wasn't caught up in another Kobayashi Maru.

 

[Infinitron]

http://blog.ubi.com/south-park-fractured-whole-october-17-release-date-announced/

SOUTH PARK: THE FRACTURED BUT WHOLE – OCTOBER 17 RELEASE DATE ANNOUNCED

Ubisoft and South Park Digital Studios announced that South Park: The Fractured But Whole will be available at partners across North America and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Asia) on October 17, 2017. From the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Ubisoft San Francisco, The Fractured But Whole is an outrageous sequel to 2014’s award-winning title, South Park: The Stick of Truth and will release on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system, and Windows PC.

With crime on the rise in South Park, the streets have never been more dangerous. As the sun sets on the quiet Colorado town, havoc and chaos unleash a reign of terror and the seedy underbelly of the city comes alive. The town needs new heroes to rise! Eric Cartman seizes the opportunity to save the town and create the best superhero franchise ever, his own Coon & Friends with himself as the leader, The Coon.

Every superhero has an origin, and Coon & Friends are no different. Continuing in their role as the New Kid, players will discover their backstory, assemble their unique costumes, and harness their fart-based powers from numerous hero classes to create their own original hero. An all-new combat system offers unique opportunities to master space and time while on the battlefield, and a revamped looting and crafting system gives players the freedom to craft their own equipment to aid them in battle.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole will be available in four editions: Standard, Gold, Steelbook Gold and Collector’s. Anyone who purchases South Park: The Fractured But Whole will receive South Park: The Stick of Truth for free.* If you pre-purchase the game at select partners, you can start playing The Stick of Truth immediately.

All pre-orders will also receive an exclusive in-game assistant, Towelie: Your Gaming Bud. The streets of South Park aren’t as safe as they used to be, and even the most seasoned South Park veteran will need help. Towelie: Your Gaming Bud provides helpful and hilarious advice and commentary to players at key locations throughout the game.

*Limited time gift with purchase offer expires on January 31, 2018

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Infinitron]

And a mobile tie-in game! O_o