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Bully vs. Harry Potter

Posted by Zonk on from the you-don't-have-to-like-me dept.

Via the ever-enjoyable GameSetWatch, a post on a blog for the development house Surreal Game Design. Surreal is a Midway division, and it's interesting to see a company blog actually ponying up opinions on the work of other designers as they do in this discussion of the unlikeability of Bully's setting. They discuss the problems with setting the game in a boarding school, the protagonist's sniveling classmates, and the unfavorable comparisons between Bullworth Academy and the halls of Sunnydale High or Hogwarts. From the post: "A while ago I was talking to Director of Design Richard Rouse along with some of the other Midway studio creative directors about our experiences with Bully. In both our cases, we really, really wanted to like it, but only played a few hours before giving up. Since it was blessed with many high reviews, we were left wondering 'What were we missing?' ... Harvey Smith of Midway Austin (and Creative Director of Area 51: Blacksite) rightfully pointed out that high school has been a successful setting of great things like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Ultimate Spiderman comics. Richard noted that the high school of Buffy was populated by attractive, always-witty teenagers that killed freakin' vampires. Those California high schools you see in TV and movies are probably some of the most idealized environments you'll ever see."

12 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. Nice title by ArcherB · · Score: 4, Funny

    Bully vs. Harry Potter

    Now that is a game I'd buy!

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    There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
    1. Re:Nice title by jfinke · · Score: 4, Funny

      Isn't that pretty much what the books are about?

    2. Re:Nice title by athdemo · · Score: 2, Funny

      In Soviet Russia, Harry Potter bullies you!

  2. It's pretty obvious... by AgentOJ · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's pretty obvious from the article that the author spent no more than an hour playing the game. He complains about the game component of going to class, saying that it doesn't tie into the game at all (not true, if you go to class you unlock "upgrades" for your weapons, transportation, etc). Once you've passed a class, you have a free period in which to "explore the world." I played the game, and enjoyed it, but all of the arguments the author puts forth crumble if you take into account that the ramp-up portion of the game takes about an hour of play before things get going. I've had my fair share of games that were so horrible that I just had to stop playing them, but I think he didn't give it enough of a chance. Also, what's up with the year delay on this article? Bully isn't new.

    1. Re:It's pretty obvious... by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Informative

      I hear the same thing about Zelda: Twilight Princess. People spend half an hour, don't make it out of the village, and complain that you have to fish to much, conclude that the game sucks, and don't play any further. This isn't Ducktales. You aren't going to beat it in 3 hours from the first time you pick up the controller. I've played over 40 hours already, and I'm not done. And I haven't even really focussed on getting all the sidequests done. That's just time spent trying to go through the game. Spending an hour to get out of the village at the start seems like nothing when you spend a couple hours running around the temple in the sky.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:It's pretty obvious... by c0d3h4x0r · · Score: 2, Funny

      I hear the same thing about Zelda: Twilight Princess. People spend half an hour, don't make it out of the village, and complain that you have to fish to much, conclude that the game sucks, and don't play any further. Any game that requires you to spend time in a boring, monotonous activity in order to earn things (experience/points/items/coins/gold/etc) or unlock things (weapons/keys/flutes/goblets/etc) is a boring game.

      If I wanted to have to suffer through somethig boring just to finally get something good, I'd shut down my console and go live real life.
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      Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
    3. Re:It's pretty obvious... by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, the fishing isn't boring, and only took me about 5 minutes to complete. However, I enjoyed it, so I kept on fishing for a little while afterwards. The people who are complaining about having to fish for half an hour must have done something wrong. I"ve found most of the stuff in Zelda to be quite interesting, and find the only complaints about it are from people who assume if they aren't killing something, then it's boring.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    4. Re:It's pretty obvious... by CastrTroy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, before you leave the village, you aren't even going on a quest. You're just some kid, hanging around in his small village. If you actually look at it from the character's (Link) point of view, then you'll see that what you're doing is just what any other person in that village would probably be doing. Helping the neighbour find the cat, rounding up some goats, sitting by the pond and fishing. The character doesn't know that he's going to go venturing into the forest and get attacked by creatures from some other dimension. The reason that Zelda doesn't interest you, is because you're not interested in that kind of game. That is, the kind of game that has a real story, and requires things that aren't just grabbing cats by the tail, or killing everything that moves. In the real world,, you can't just act like an idiot and bash down doors to get what you want, you have to help others, so that they will want to help you.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  3. Ah, for the good old Daze by mccalli · · Score: 4, Informative

    Skool Daze, that is. Kids today with their new-fangled Bully thinking it's something new...pah!

    Cheers,
    Ian

  4. It's easy by Higaran · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Those guy's are obviously geeks, and the couldn't handle putting thier minds back in that kind of settings. Once they saw what the nerds in the game, they started to have flash backs, went into panic attacks and couldn't play anymore. Hey it brought back some similar memories for me, but when I hit the first jock with the sling shot it all went away because I finally felt redemtion, I'm jokeing of course. Or am I, to tell the truth it isn't much of a stretch, I can remember someone in my life that was similar to each caracter in the game.

  5. Bully v Harry Potter by deniable · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Order of the Phoenix game is often compared to Bully, as in "It's like Bully, but at Hogwarts." In other words, a big sanbox with some quests thrown in. This whole 'article' sounds like someone doesn't get it.

  6. Missing the point. by Jartan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think most likely a lot of commenter's didn't read the blog or missed the point. They don't seem to be discussing whether or not the game is good. They seem to be talking about how the setting was bad enough to turn them off. It's worth discussing because the game IS good. If a bad setting can turn off people from a game they normally would like then that's worth noting.