Ryse: Son of Rome's story trailer is a marketing pitch

Whoops, someone forgot to explain to Crytek that a "story trailer" for a game should probably focus on game's story. But when your story is pretty much the story of another popular video game series, it's understandable why you'd want to pivot.

Instead, this new narrated video for Ryse: Son of Rome showcases the many bullet points that make the upcoming Xbox One launch game. unique. Specifically, there's a lot of focus on the CryEngine-powered visuals, motion and performance capture, and the authenticity of the weapons and tactics used in the game.

[EZMickey]

This is kinda weak.

I agree that if it's a story trailer they should focus on exciting the audience about the story but a game trailer is a marketing pitch at it's core and at the end of the day we're all just happy to see more of a game.

What really irks me is how giving a two paragraph opinion is now considered journalism or news. This is blog or twitter material. It's not like Crytek pulled a Gearbox/Randy Pitchford and hyped the world up about something that doesn't exist. Ryse is an action game and the trailer focused on action more than story? Colour me befuddled.

[PoSTedUP]

upon reading your huge article sized comment (aparently). i agree with your article instead of his. id be stupid not to. im also contemplating on writing my own follow-up article (with just a few more lines) to support yours and combat his, but it seems as if you already hit the nail on the head. well said bub 4 u.

[4Sh0w]

Yeah I don't get what the author is saying. lol, If he wants more story buy the damm game...I dont want spoilers from now until launch. Every damm thing shown for any game prior to and even after a game launches is a marketing pitch.

"Ryse: Son of Rome's story trailer was a hella-sweet marketing pitch"

Fixed.

[crxss]

looks really good but the narrator kind of ruined it

[Eonjay]

That was the most scathing assessment of any trailer ever. Crytek is under incredible pressure.

[P0werVR]

"But when your story is pretty much the story of another popular video game series, it's understandable why you'd want to pivot. "

How he confused Greek and Roman is beyond me. Does he know that the Greeks were Roman slaves?! So I don't understand what this has to do with God of War when it's more about real human sentiments than steep mythological stories.

[mhunterjr]

he's so wrong. while GoW and Ryse are both classic greco-Roman tragedies, they are individual odes to the an era of storytelling, yet take on the subject of mythology in completely different ways. It's just ignorant flame-bait parading as journalism.

In other words, there is nothing original about GoW's story and Ryse doesn't even borrow from it.

[robotgargoyle]

Anymore devs won't "give up the ghost" on story details. May ruin the journey. I'm expecting something beyond the whole "avenge my dead family" storyline that has been "beat to death" (with QTE events, ha! jk!). IMO- the more they show of RYSE, the better it looks.

[JackISbacK]

yeah trailer was action packed but give the hint that how the game is going to be like ,from cutsenes it looks like a political story of kings and revenge ,like that fat guy smiling and fearing,it looks like he is kind of villan,it also looks like ,marus is kind of imotional guy ,but when marus rises from that dirty war it was epic ,i think they have represented a revenge story in an masturfyll way but you are right it was more focusing on visuals and action ,i think they are not going to spoil amzing cut senes and story.

[iamnsuperman]

I agree with what you said but this trailer is pretty weak. I hope the narration isn't a sign of the storytelling because it just seems to be going from one environment to another with a weak plot attached on (provided by the narrator). Story is still important to a game (it has become very important in recent years). It is nice to see more of it but we should criticise (not in the way this article has done because that was weak) how they are presenting it. People do not like these types of stories unless it is an FPS (but even then some get it wrong like battlefield 3 because they don't have the over the top cinema moments) because it tends to feel like a hoarde mode (killing waves before moving to the next section)

Edit: I may have not made this clear. The narrator made this trailer weak with what he was saying. The voice actors and character should be telling the story and that would have made it better

[DiRtY]

The number of PS Fans in the comment-section for a Xbox One exclusive tells you how much they want this game. And because they can't get it, they want it to be bad.

I don't care, I will enjoy the game and start my marathon playthrough November 22nd!

[Foxhound922]

I usually keep my mouth shut when it comes to things that don't interest me, but its ignorant comments like yours that always get to me. I can't wait to see your explanation when this game gets an overall score of 63 on meta critic. Anyone who has seen the actual gameplay (not in game cutscenes aka the trailer) can tell that this game is a rushed, extremely buggy, dull, and choppy animated mess. Watching the protagonist waddle around and monotonously hacking people for 12 minutes almost killed me. The AI is something akin to PS1 hack n slash. The enemies huddle around you and wait for "their turn" to attack. The animation are choppy and don't look fluid or realistic what so ever. Anyone can make a game with good graphics and splice together epic cutscenes to make a game look awesome, but from all the gameplay I've seen, your suggestion that ps fans like myself are dying with jealous envy is completely and undoubtably false. Before you call me a fanboy let me say that there are quite a few games that I do wish were multi platform. Left 4 dead, Halo, Alan Wake, and the upcoming Titanfall (which will be on ps4 eventually) to name a few. But in all honesty, this game does nothing in the slightest to get me to want to buy it, and that's saying a lot from a true hack n slash fan. So before you spew bullcrap that all ps fans only comment from jealousy, let it be known that a lot of people, including Xbox fans, think this game looks like crap. It's not for everyone. Good day sir.

[darx]

Dirty...you just described Foxhound922

[Foxhound922]

Judging from his two bubbles, and your complete lack of any kind of rebuttal to the facts that I posted, it seems me that both of you lack the knowledge and capacity to understand anything that I say.

Oh wait, you guys are both right, every single person in the entire galaxy has to like Ryse, or they are an automatic Sony fanboy. My mistake....

No rebuttal?

[4Sh0w]

Dirty you hit the nail on the head with their
"they want it to be bad" mentality. The worst part is since they can't have it on ps4 they are trying very hard to convince themselves its garbage and that sonys indie lineup is even comparable to X1 launch exclusives. I personally love sony as a company, PR wise they've done fine for the most part and the ps4 will be awesome. Im not bashing sony its their insane group of fanboys who just hate on anything or anybody who doesnt follow their hive-mind mentality and the truth is right now ps4 doesn't have much of interest going on at launch for me, and while their diehard fanboys wont admit it they come to X1 threads to downplay X1 because at least for now thats where the biggest and best exclusives are.

Here I have a rebuttal for you Foxhound922:

Im pretty sure like any game everybody does not have to like it. Thats besides the point because when normal people dont like something they say so and move on, not follow it hating, no thats what haters do. I think knack is embarrassing example of a full retail game to showcase next gen hardware as powerful as ps4, jeesh ps2 had better looking platformers, but you wont find me constantly following knack saying how much I hate it over and over again.

lol Foxhound922 started with
"I usually keep my mouth shut when it comes to things that don't interest me,"

Yet his latest comment history reads like he copied and pasted from the sony bible= downplay xbox constantly, praise everything sony. wow, gtfoh and go stand in the next "I hate Ryse because its jot on ps4" haters line. You sound so fake.

[Foxhound922]

@4show

Obviously you had a hard time deciphering what I said. The word "usually" means most of the time. When did I say I've never commented on something I wasn't interested in? Out of the hundred or so Ryse articles I've read, I've commented on what, like 4? Get out of here with your sad attempt of a rebuttal. Like I said before, I HAVE seen many gameplay videos for Ryse, the game is a mess. Many well respected gaming mediums and their previews can attest to that.

Also, it seems you forgot about the Xbox games I mentioned that I wished were on PS. Although, judging of your mental caliber, it doesn't surprise me. I would love it if halo and left for dead and other various title were on ps, because I've played them and they are great games. I also mentioned Titanfall because I haven't played it, but is HAS gotten me excited. Your whole argument against me is redundant for that fact alone. I don't bash games because they are on a certain platform, I simply call it like I see it. If I was in every Ryse, or every Xbox exclusive article saying how the games suck, then you would have a point. Unfortunately for you and your pathetic attempt to ride in on a white horse of the x1 fanboy brigade, your rebuttal falls short.

Now, would you like me to post some links of 100% real Ryse gameplay? Not cinematic cutscenes and bullshots, just pure controller in hand gameplay? I don't know if you've noticed, but I find them more comical than I do a serious videogame.

I'll reiterate this just to make it clear. I genuinely find the game unattractive. In contrast, I find many current and upcoming Xbox exclusives enjoyable and exciting. As I stated in my original post :)

Edit:

Your "rebuttal" also seemed lacking in the sense that you had nothing to say about the majors problems with Ryse's gameplay. ie choppy animations, horrible ai, repetitive gameplay etc...

Conveniently left that part out ha?

[SharnOfTheDEAD]

They should have sacked off the narrator he sounded out of place, they should have got Russel Crowe, David Wenham or Sean Bean just to give it that raw feeling.

[kungfuian]

Hope the narration in this ad is not an indicator of the story telling in the game! Seriously, that was so poorly written and narrated it makes my head hurt. That said, the actual story rarely matters in games like this (99% of games have shit stories really so...)

It def has good art design and a solid engine to back it up. Looks very very pretty, and is a promising sign of things to come from a graphics perspective!

For all you x-1 buyers, hope they get the game play to match the visuals. Very interested to see if they can nail things like overall variety and responsiveness of combat, is it fun?, is it buggy?, is it repetitive?, etc...

[horndog]

Those are very legit points and questions to be answered as I've wonder about those same things myself even though I have pre-ordered and paid for it already. Bubbles for bringing out some good points without having to bash the game. Lets hope that the gameplay is worthy and can match with the graphics and so far I like what I've seen.

[Cueil]

at least we know that actors are all good actors who work the stage for a living and not the silver screen so they add more to the game then you would see if maybe they did the voice in a sound box

[wtopez]

When did every game "journalist" become so goddamned jaded?

[CrossingEden]

Um, so is every trailer ever!

[AutoCad]

Cant wait to play this masterpiece.

[Parapraxis]

This game looks like a steaming f**king turd.
Are you blind or what son?

[demonddel]

Name a non PC game that looks better don't worry I have all night

[Parapraxis]

Infamous Second Son, absolutely miles beyond this.

[Skips]

@Parapraxis

Pretty much... Anybody who says otherwise is straight up delusional. XD

Infamous SS is fully open world, (unlike linear Ryse), every single building being traversable, destructible environments that lasts similar to Red Faction, (unlike the uninteractive environments of Ryse), and not to mention it's running in 1080p, (unlike Ryse at 900p). lol

All while being more graphically impressive without the need for brain dead AI in recycled looped animations to give off the illusion of "scope". lol

http://i.imgur.com/qIBNIBo....

[Loki86]

Trolls getting up-votes sigh, if you knew anything about multimedia and art design you can clearly tell this looks better than Infamous SS. Although, I will admit we haven't seen anything beyond alpha for SS, but Ryse is looking like the game to get on day 1.

[HappyWithOneBubble]

As a PS fan I think the game looks good. You guys are being to hard on this game. If it were a PS4 exclusive you wouldn't be saying that.

[JackISbacK]

i think you are blind ,do you use to use worship sony everyday ,we dont worship either of them we use to play amzing games and have good time ,you fucking parapraxis,what the shit are you turd.

[iamnsuperman]

Come on it looks very good. My only issue is that it doesn't look fun to play (something that was echoed by Ign and gametrailers at gamescom and that won't change without a huge delay because they would have to rework the game from the ground up)

[SharnOfTheDEAD]

Looks good I wouldn't say master piece till it's been played. Not sure how comparisons are being made to 2nd son, they are very different games.

[AutoCad]

i played the game already, well the coop part and it was amazing.even though it was kinda hard and had limited time ewith it,i was very impressed with it graphically and gameplay wise. youtube videos dont make these next gen games any justice,u have to be in front of the tv to really see and know how better it looks in person.

[Parapraxis]

To sum it up:
"I'm mad, and I'm yelling!, this is as far as my emotional depth will go, so f**k you!"

That was a goddamn terrible trailer.
How they made such a great historical template for a game so boring is amazing.

[falviousuk]

Another sony troll joins the xbox thread debasement

[N4realGMRZ]

The hurt runs deep with this one! just buy what you like dude and enjoy! don't worry the PS4 will have great games as well......eventually......lol

[christocolus]

keep spining it all you want....that trailer was awesome..you cant deny that fact..

[4logpc]

I feel like gaming "journalists" want next Gen to fail.

I swear everything I see lately is trying to somehow talk negatively about next generation.

[MorePowerOfGreen]

WTF is this, some sort of damage control? Doesn't make sense. The trailer talked about a summed up plot. Dude is mad because the trailer talked about how the game was made possible? I think because MSFT is showing graphically impressive games that are unmatched, any further reminders like tech talk, is offensive to certain people.

The game is impressive...

I hear people saying it's not gameplay but this is a comment I posted in my thread.

"In this game the CPU simply(not really simple) takes control over the character and camera from the player in player controlled scenes vs cutscenes, that's how impressive this game is.
Gameplay is everywhere in the trailer.
I just wan't to know if the gameplay footage shown in this trailer is the hardcore mode Crytek was talking about with no hud or visual cues or was the hud etc removed for the trailer."

Here is my thread I submitted on reddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/xbo...

Haters need to stop. Also for the fans, Mike Read from Crytek said more all gameplay video is coming.

[Fireseed]

What really irks me about this is I submit videos from a YouTuber name Miles923 aka Maximillion all the time when he get's official exclusive interviews with the developers at Double Helix on Killer Instinct. Actual journalism and substantial game coverage. Just to get them reported for being from poor sources while some twat on Shack News writes a 2 paragraph smash piece on a game that is nothing more than stating the obvious and hoping the audience perceives it as a negative... Welcome to N4G I suppose.

[ceedubya9]

Wow really? Max has great videos that are very informative and entertaining. And his KI interviews are legit. I watch his stuff all the time.

[Fireseed]

Yeah man Max is the best, I seriously watch everything he put's out. But last time I submitted a video of his it was insta-failed and I was told that if his videos were so good that a "real" game journalist would post them. Never wanted to punch one person so bad. But now I do a workaround cause KillerInstinctCentral usually posts his stuff so I go through them.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I saw the commercial last night, and I was very confused at what I was watching, so I understand completely what the author is saying. Basically, we as gamers see story trailers all the time. What we don't see in *story* trailers is a narrator, much less a narrator mentioning the development studio's name as he points out what they have done with the game. It came off much more like an ad or a preview for a show, than a standard story trailer as at least I've come to know them. Nobody said the game sucks, nobody said the trailer sucks, but I can't think of any story trailer off the top of my head that played out like this one, that's all.

[corvusmd]

This article is kinda dumb, clearly written by a PS fanboy just trying to troll...it's getting really pathetic. I wonder if his follow up article with...PS4, your commercials aren't supposed to be sales pitches for Taco Bell or really really bad musicals. Either way, I got to watch the badass trailer again....on mute.

[AceBlazer13]

so is the game going to slow down for every enemy your gonna kill? trailer was alright only issue was the narrator , his voice doesn't suit the game and he's kinda boring.

[ATi_Elite]

Forget all the B.S.

I wanna play Ryse Son of Rome more than any other so called Next Gen game coming out.

(Battlefield 4 is coming to the PC in all it's Glory so that one is covered)

I laugh at all the FANBOYISM about RYSE. You guys are a real "special bunch" of CLOWNS. Ryse looks good and you're just mad that it's NOT on your system of choice.

Sure I have some concerns about the XB1 but one thing that they have done right is to keep Ryse at the forefront and to continually show it off.

They can make a Story trailer, a cut scene trailer, a Kill trailer, a death trailer who CARES? just keep showing me the game and I keep getting excited.

Where the HECK is all the Killzone:SF footage if it's so Mindblowing? KZ:SF has LOST all it's Hype! N4G Home of the Sony fanboys currently has NO KZ:Sf article meanwhile RyseSOR has TWO and Battlefield 4 has 5 and amazingly no Call of Duty Ghost articles.

XB1 day 1 I'll be playing Ryse (over my Neighbors house)so go ahead and be a Rabid Fanboy and hit disagree because even though my Neighbor will have a PS4 and KZSF a week before I'm not going over there until his XB1 is connected.

SO take that FANBOYS, get a life!

[Pandamobile]

I have to agree. Of all the next-gen games that aren't coming to PC, this is the one that I'd actually really consider buying.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Who hurt you?

[strickers]

Bless you. Screaming about fanboys and listing your fanboy behaviour. How grown up.
Ryse does look good but not as good as some of the PS4 exclusives. You may disagree all you like but one thing I've noticed? Most fanboys don't seem to have any clue what they are looking at on screen, or more likely are looking through influenced eyes.

[Foxhound922]

Check out any of the gameplay videos and it's pretty clear that shadow fall is years ahead of Ryse. Shadow fall having more preorders than all x1 exclusives combined is a testament to that. Hype is anything but dead for killzone. Nice attempt though

[CC-Tron]

This article is so transparent. I mean they aren't even trying anymore. I guess fear tends to have that effect.

[NatureOfLogic]

Lets face it. That was nothing but a damage trailer to get the fans hyped again for a game that was slammed for all the recent bad news and downgrades.

[Fireseed]

Let's face it, you're a fanboy with absurdly blatant double standards. So by your logic would Deep Down putting out a trailer right now be a "damage" trailer to get the fans hyped up after it realized their were none to begin with? It's weird because any PR material whether it be screenshots, trailers, or any coverage of the game is intended to promote and further entice people to want the game. But apparently if Ryse does it, it's damage control? What are they supposed to do, quit marketing it and go home?

[Tapani]

Why do they speak English in Rome? When are we going to see something more mature than a macho game "based on history"?

Give me something realistic and culturally diverse. I'm tired of these "small details like language and culture" left out from games.

I wish cultural anthropologists would make some games. How about a game where you actually play in a LIVING city where you can interact with Romans and talk to them? Americans can learn to read (subtitles). Italian is such a beautiful language and the food culture is so diverse. We could see great wineyards and read about the philosophers in there, learn stuff while playing an interesting plot with little violence and more intellectual challenges like how to plot against someone or how to survive intellectually on the streets of Rome etc.

I want a game with pasta and Italian and kisses on the cheek :) (I know most of you might disagree, but I can still speak my mind, right?)

[jspillen]

I thought that trailer was pretty bad too, and while I'll admit I might buy this turd. I know better ... there's going to be no story and I watched 10 minutes of gameplay and had no desire to be handed the controller.

[BallsEye]

who the f approved this crap?

[Legacy212]

When its an xbox hate article it gets approved quickly if its sony hate oh boy is it hard to get approved

[MightyNoX]

I wonder why...

[Max-Zorin]

This ''journalist'' would fit right in with those idiots known as Fox.

[MightyNoX]

Fox would never insult 'murica box for'muricans.

[Max-Zorin]

Fox have no problem insulting anyone American or making fun of them. During the election, they showed all the republicans crying after Romney lost.

[breakpad]

worst designed characters ever ..they look completely bland especially the main character ...ok crytek use your technology for mocap but dont copy ugly facial features...it is a gmae put some imagination and good looking chars.we dont want to see faces like the grocer owner of the corner

[horndog]

nothing I mean absolutely nothing that the other camp has that even compares but I'm always up for a good laugh. The best they got is infamous which looks cartoony and lame as f**k. Yawn!! Don't even bother with killzone, ryse just s&! Ts all over the hellghast.

[Legacy212]

Game looks amazing cant wait to play it! Its really ridiculous and unwarranted the constant attacks that xbox is getting. They showes games, great games and people people find the dumbest thing to complain about. Most non fan boys think the game looks astonishing and that trailer was epic and caught there attention. Hell I showed it to my brother getting a ps4 and even he was impressed. Killzone looks great to and so does infamous so I dont know how some users have the time in their day to find every sony article and praise it (even when it's bad news) and find every xbox article and write just the most absurd nonesense (even when its good news for xbox) no point in arguing with these select few individual who do nothing but stay on their computer and troll. No amount of logic or reason can get them to remove their fan boy goggles and look at this game objectively as a game and not the competition

[Gamer666]

The purpose of any trailer is to sell the game...

Why would someone spend time creating a trailer if they weren't trying to sell more copies of the game?

The story is illogical from its title on...