Prince of Persia DLC Announced

[DoctorFinger]

Ubisoft has taken the wraps off of the first piece of downloadable content for Prince of Persia. The "Epilogue" DLC would include:

- New Region: The Underground Palace – A corrupted underground palace from which the Prince and Elika need to escape in a new epic journey.
- New Power: Energize – Reconstruct destroyed areas of the environment to create a path and rush through it before it vanishes.
- New high pace: The new trap challenge – The Prince and Elika will face more cunning foes, cleverer traps and level design, adding more to the difficulty level in over 3 hours of gameplay.
- New Attack: Sprinting Clash – A duel move that lets you or the enemy trigger a sprint attack, charging towards each other, clashing your weapons fiercely.
- New Unlockable Skins: Finish the game and unlock exclusively, from the early development of the game, the Prototype characters of the Prince and Elika.

The "Epilogue" will be available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC on February 26. No pricing was announced at this time.

[DarkDay]

I need to pick this game up asap.

[Shrinn]

I've already ran slowly, wall ran, climbed up vines, and let magic powers control me enough. I don't think this DLC is for me.

[Gorvi]

From what I've read this is pretty substantial. I still need to get the game, the art alone almost justifies a purchase.

[Jason]

Something else to take more of my money.

[Iron Past]

Oh, how I wish this would be priced at 400 or even 600 points, but I know it won't be. It has 800 written all over it. Oh, well, I'm a sucker for the game, anyway. I haven't beat it yet, but only because I'm finishing each area with 100% seeds before moving on (after I got all the powers, of course). Only the Hunter area left!

Hey, how about a "hard mode" where you're more in control of the movement (i.e. the Prince moves when I move the stick and stops when I stop) and QTE window is made much smaller? That's all they need to do to make this feel more challenging.

[Wilkz07]

Originally Posted by Shrinn

I've already ran slowly, wall ran, climbed up vines, and let magic powers control me enough. I don't think this DLC is for me.

Same here, i got as far as i could in the game before it became a pokemon style collecting light orbs game. will pass.

[Purple Santa]

Considering how this game ended, i'm curious to see how the epilogue continues the storyline or bridges it to the sequel.

[Psykoboy2]

Originally Posted by DoctorFinger

- New Unlockable Skins: Finish the game and unlock exclusively, from the early development of the game, the Prototype characters of the Prince and Elika.

Does that mean finish the game, or finish the game plus this DLC? Not that a skin means all that much, but I already beat the game. If this is for just finishing the main story and nothing to do with the DLC, I might be a bit angry at that.

Then again, I might not care, but others probably will.

[bapenguin]

I wonder if this will let you go back and get orbs you missed too. That would be sweet.

[Psykoboy2]

Originally Posted by bapenguin

I wonder if this will let you go back and get orbs you missed too. That would be sweet.

You know there's a way around that, right? You'll have to do the final boss fight over again, but you can go back.

[Cyndair]

I'm looking forward to this. I really enjoyed the new PoP despite its flaws. More than anything, I want to see where they go with the story in lieu of the controversial ending.

[Hotcod]

see i always thought the point was that you make the choice to quit at the end. There is nothing forcing you to do the 'bad' thing and the credits have already run. It's funny how just beacuse there is not a "end game" screen that people assume that they have to carry on... maybe they are and i'm just reading to much in to it.

[Sonic Alpha]

Can't wait. I loved the new Prince of Persia.

[rvieira]

If it's a direct sequel for the game ending and adding a new ending after you complete the new level I will get it, if is just a new level to get more orbs and a boss with nothing related to the story I will pass.

[EternalGamer]

Originally Posted by Shrinn

I've already ran slowly, wall ran, climbed up vines, and let magic powers control me enough. I don't think this DLC is for me.

Yeah, my lack of enthusiasm for this tells me something about how I ultimately felt about the game. I actually kind of liked it when I was playing it but it really wasn't because of the platforming so much as the atmosphere and narrative.

The game actually isn't really a platformer at all. It doesn't matter when you hit the jump button, your character just automatically jumps when they get to the right spot. You don't have to time your jumps or aim, or gauge distance. You just go through levels hitting the appropriate buttons within a 2-4 second window. That is called a quicktime event, and while i don't mind them, one whole game of them might be enough for me. Maybe once they continue the actual narrative.

[Ravenlock]

Originally Posted by Hotcod

see i always thought the point was that you make the choice to quit at the end. There is nothing forcing you to do the 'bad' thing and the credits have already run. It's funny how just beacuse there is not a "end game" screen that people assume that they have to carry on... maybe they are and i'm just reading to much in to it.

Yeah, this. Disclosure: I actually haven't beaten the game yet, but having heard it discussed in a number of podcasts and written about all over the place, it's been pretty well spoiled for me (which is fine, I don't mind, still looking forward to getting there myself) and it sounds like

they made a pretty definite choice to give the player the option of doing the controversial thing, or the option of just exiting the game with the world saved but the Prince sad and lonely.

I mean, if you accept the credits running as the "official" end (and if they didn't want you to, why did they run them?), then the choice is entirely yours.

Which personally I think is really cool, and arguably from a plot perspective more engaging than most "choices" in game storytelling. It takes a certain amount of conviction to decide NOT to act when a clear action is available to take.

I read one article where the author argues that walking away is unquestionably what Elika would want the Prince to do, and so he chose to have him respect her wishes and he turned off the game.

Most games that offer a "good/bad" ending don't elicit that kind of response from the player, and for people who feel they must experience all the content of a game, that's a unique challenge to present them with.

Looking forward to the DLC. Here's hoping some of the gameplay mechanics are expanded to draw in the "LOL you can't die too easy why would I play that" crowd, since the game really does a lot of cool stuff that I think deserves to be experienced by more people.

[EternalGamer]

Originally Posted by Hotcod

see i always thought the point was that you make the choice to quit at the end. There is nothing forcing you to do the 'bad' thing and the credits have already run. It's funny how just beacuse there is not a "end game" screen that people assume that they have to carry on... maybe they are and i'm just reading to much in to it.

What kind of definition of an "ending" is this? Can the end of a novel come 100 pages before the last page? The narrative ends when there is no more narrative. By your definition, the narrative of the game could end when we meet the princess. We don't HAVE to continue on with her to help her. We can turn the game off.

[Ravenlock]

The definition whereby when the credits roll, an ending has occurred. Again, if they didn't want you to see it that way, why on earth would they roll the credits?

Games are not novels. Can the ending of a Choose Your Own Adventure book come with 100 pages still unread? Of course it can. The reader may then choose to go read all the paths they didn't take, but a complete story is relayed without reading every word the author wrote.

[Lutheran]

Originally Posted by EternalGamer

Yeah, my lack of enthusiasm for this tells me something about how I ultimately felt about the game. I actually kind of liked it when I was playing it but it really wasn't because of the platforming so much as the atmosphere and narrative.

The game actually isn't really a platformer at all. It doesn't matter when you hit the jump button, your character just automatically jumps when they get to the right spot. You don't have to time your jumps or aim, or gauge distance. You just go through levels hitting the appropriate buttons within a 2-4 second window. That is called a quicktime event, and while i don't mind them, one whole game of them might be enough for me. Maybe once they continue the actual narrative.

Damn I didn't play this yet but was looking forward to it..your post makes it sound like the best part of the series , the platforming , is all computer controlled and not in my control.That is a deal breaker for me , and its why I don't like the newest DS POP game ( Fallen King , totally stylus controlled ). I need to feel like my timing/button presses are what is making the character overcome the games obstacles.