I am not trying to sound blasphemous or ignorant I am just curious why everyone loves this game. I never got around to playing this game when I was younger, and looking online I see people have such an affinity for this game. Please help educate me on why this game gets so much love. Thank you :)

I'd say very few people love that game. And if you got the impression that it was some massively popular thing, even with a niche audience at the time, then I'd say that it's just because this saga of its supposed sequel, and whether or not it was happening, have been going on for so long that people have just automatically grouped it together with the rest of the long time no-shows like Shenmue 3 and the like.

From what I remember it was resonably hyped before its release, (mostly focused on the "emotion" in its story telling I want to say, but not 100% sure ) only to come out to mediocre reviews and low sales. I didn't pick it up myself right away but played it resonably close to its original release.

Low points that I recall were simple puzzles in short and linear dungeons, shallow combat and annoying stealth sections. The high points were the varied and charming look of all the characters and their dialogue, collecting pictures of things was fun, the backing track to a racing mini game was quirky and weird, and I want to say that your hovercraft controlled well enough to make those sections and mini-games enjoyable.

The game's got a whole spiritualism + the world is a melting pot of different cultures and people of different races and walks of life in a near future setting and also there are humanoid animals angle going on too, which is...cool?

It's a cool game that I sorta like, but I also find the idea that time will forgive its faults because the rumor of a sequel have hung around for long enough to give the name legend status a bit off-putting.

I really don't understand these questions.

You can take pictures of cute, alien animals.

I think it's easy to love BG&E because of the characters and the interesting fantasy/futuristic setting. The Action-Adventure gameplay is also very similar to the 3D Zelda games, and with its poor sales it gained sort of a cult following. And then there was the cliffhanger ending (and the 2008 trailer) with the hinting of a sequel that never got made (but now might still happen).

EDIT: Oh and the soundtrack is pretty good.

@pabba: I'm sold!

@magmamud: Thank you for actually trying to explain it to me :)

The greatest trick Ubisoft ever pulled was convincing the world that people actually like Beyond Good and Evil.

@rongalaxy: I'm a people

I really like BG&E

Some of the stealth segments were annoying tho

@blackichigo: Why do you like Red? Honestly I don't why people get so Salty over this. I am genuinely curious about what people think about the game. If you don't like the thread then ignore it...simple :) Have a great day!

It's a really mediocre game. I played it to completion because it was back in the day when I played whatever I got but it was always really middling.

There was never any magic in it for me. Heard a lot about it and bought it used, just seemed like another third person platformer with some stealth. Played to the mines or crystal caves, something like that, then gave up. Reminded me of Jak and Daxter games, which I preferred to this. Also the stealth blew just like it usually does.

Then we were always a nintendo family, so maybe that has something to do with it

Female protagonist, good story, relaxing, varied/somewhat unique gameplay.

Note: Might be better to just watch an LP now.

@buckinghamaj: Because red is fuckin sweet.

No salt here. I just don't get it. I guess how you don't get how people like Beyond Good and Evil....

Was my mind just blown?

@blackichigo: No it is not that I don't get why people like the game. I have never played so I don't have a frame of reference for it. So obtaining various opinions is always a good way to better understand something in my opinion.

@fredchuckdave: I'd rather get a plethora of opinions from other people. Always like hearing from both sides which I don't get from a let's play :)

I've asked the same question. The photography thing was the highlight for me. Everything else seemed not great - the camera controls are abysmal, every character is various degrees of obnoxious, and the ending seemed like a rushed mess.

@magmamud: The soundtrack is pretty great.

Also this is worth watching for any fan of the game:

Pokémon snap + gameplay

As a kid there was a tonne of variety in a fun world. You didn't know what was coming next and the game kept you engaged as you never knew when you'd have a chance to get a pearl (for upgrades) or have a new photo opportunity! I wanted to go everywhere and do everything as it got me things!

The main character Jade is cool. She's looking after a bunch of orphans and scraping by as an independent reporter. You want her to succeed. There's a lot of jerks who are heroes in video games. It's refreshing to like a person you play as. The characters care about each other too.

It has a very memorable soundtrack and with action, stealth, light puzzles, racing, exploration, photography, mini games and even space battles nothing out stayed it's welcome at the time. Maybe that mini game with the shark...

At the time is key. And I could totally see why someone who was older and more discerning would see that none of the things the game did was great. You can totally pick apart all of the elements for not being great!

However, when ya mama won go, dere a place ya shud naw, Mammago's garage! It has the best garage of all time. There needs to be more Caribbean rhinos in games!

The longer time passes the memories get better while playing the game probably gets worse!

I have no clue what people in this thread are talking about, that game reviewed extremely well and became pretty much a cult classic at the time. I only played a bit of it myself though, but it has a very devoted fan base and was adored by critics lol wtf.

@oursin_360: Yeah I'm a bit confused too. This thread feels like cynics just took it over. BG&E reviewed well but just didn't move a lot of copies. From day 1, it had a pretty fervent fan base.

Anyway, it's an interesting world and it has cool characters. The combat is decent enough and the exploration and upgrade process is a fun thing to sink time into. Plus, taking pictures of weird aliens is fucking awesome. I really hope that they touch up the PC version a little bit because the issues it has (aspect ratio and controller support, namely, though modern OSs don't play nice with it either) make it kind of tough to deal with.

From what I've read about this game is how so many people like it that its got a bit of a cult following. Got to play it earlier this year when released on games with gold and I didn't quite get into it. This isn't a knock on the type of game it is but its a AA game. But that's not whats wrong it, it's the boring combat and I really don't like that pig face pig man (I like Bebop from TMNT so I'm not pig face adverse lol).

Play Brutal Legend instead, its way better and a similar type of game.

There was something endearing about it. I played it a couple years after the fact, and while I remember the gameplay wasn't fantastic, the world/atmosphere was slightly quirky but cool and Jade seemed like such a genuine character. It also had pretty good music.

Brutal Legend may be better than BGE (that's a matter of taste I guess) but they are not at all similar types of game. I mean I guess they're both third person and sort of open world (BL much more then BGE) but otherwise they have very little in common.

I only played some of BGE, and only on the Xbox 360 version, but I definitely 'got' what people loved about it. The music and aesthetics are fantastic. The characters are charming. The game is sort of zeldaish in both combat and world design (over world and dungeons) and there's just a ton of charm.

The photography was also very cool.

The one downside, depending on your preferences, is the stealth. I will admit that I am not much of a stealth gamer and it did turn me off, but it wasn't poorly done and if you're into stealth the whole package would be very appealing.

It's one of those games I always mean to get back to (and would start from the beginning) and with a sequel in the works I just might actually do that.

It hasn't aged well but I understand why it got a bit of a cult following at the time. It's quirky and colorful.

I never finished it but from what I remember it was neat. Not neat enough for me to finish apparently but it did do a bunch of new-age stuff that was kind of novel at the time. I seem to remember the combat being not bad either but that might be some seriously rose-tinted glasses speaking.. I have similarly positive memories of American McGee presents SCRAPLAND and that game couldn't have possibly been as good as I appear to remember it being.

I only remember the ending and the beginning and some stealth. The beginning to me was very strong, first time running around the overworld was fun. While I don't know for sure, for me it was sort of Reverse Golden Eye Syndrome, as in I didn't have consoles at the time and this was an experience on the PC which was kind of unique, an analogue to Windwaker maybe. By the same token people who had played things like Windwaker and Pokemon snap might be quick to dismiss it.

I think they did a lot of interesting stuff with the 3rd person action adventure game, but probably the sum was greater than each individual part.

I also remember this emblematic song that plays in a bar.

If you wanted Zelda but not Zelda, I guess this was as good as you got it until Okami came out. You'd think it was this amazing game from the cult following, but it came out after Wind Waker and isn't half the game that is, in neither quality nor content. I picked it up when I got a ps2 for the first time during the wii era to see what I missed, and the best thing about it is that awesome soundtrack(dancing with domz is on my phone right now) and some pretty good characters (there are only two main ones total, I'd say, Jade and the pig. It's not a long game).

I wish it didn't end on a cliffhanger.

I remember Ryan liked it. I played it about a year or two ago for the first time. It was a little clunky and not the most polished game, but it was interesting and generally fun to play. I liked the world. I think it justifies itself enough to earn a look. I would like to see something more come from that world but who knows when/if that will happen.

Like some others here, I'm not sure I like the historical narrative being changed to BG&E being a poorly received game that some people liked for some reason (ala Deadly Premonition). I remember very vividly that BG&E was something of a critical darling, was on countliss lists of "games you should be playing", and its low sales were seen as a failure of the game buying public rather than of the game. Something more like Okami or Psychonauts.

As to why people liked it, I can only offer that it has an assload of personality and styyyle. Interesting likeable characters, great music, an original setting, and a diverse set of gameplay mechanics. The gameplay was flawed then and its flaws have not gotten any less noticeable today, but it has always been just a cool fucking game.

I really liked taking pictures of stuff. There were some monsters that you could only see from certain locations or were off from the main path.

The pig dude and the main character were pretty cool.

I didn't like the racing. I think the last part of the game dragged on a bit too much but it was ok.

I don't have an astounding answer it's just a good game, the world is a fun place to see, gameplay is simple and not really overly challenging, upgrading the hovercraft is a fun way to build up to the final levels, i guess it's worth remembering that at the time games were either trying to start the grey/brown realism era, or were kid friendly platformers trying to survive on high powered hardware. Beyond Good & Evil came along and had a stylish and vibrant world to explore, while mixing up gameplay so it wasn't just another basic platformer, it had a bit of depth to its systems, to make a mistake in certain situations was dangerous and it was up to the player to find objectives through exploration.
Again, i don't think it's mind blowing or a piece of genius art, but it was definitely unique at the time and deserves some praise.

If you like games of the time i recommend playing it yourself, it has a lot of vocal haters which tend to put people off playing it.

"You know, when your mama won't go, you go, to mamago garage!"

The world was beautiful, and felt huge as you sailed the around on your hovercraft. It turned out to not be so huge because the game was pretty short. But man, it sure got the imagination going off on what they could do with a sequel. Also that tune up there was great^. Scared to check and see if the actual lyrics match what I remember the lyrics being after 10 years though.

There is a lot I love about BG&E and most of that has already been conveyed here by others. Most of all, though, it's special to me and my wife. We bought it and played through it shortly after getting engaged. It was the first game we played together all the way through and will forever hold a special place in our hearts.

Remember when it came free with cheese?

I played it when the HD edition came out on 360. It has really clunky camera controls (which can be particularly annoying for a game with stealth elements). But the combat and platforming is solid, if nothing spectacular, and it's absolutely bubbling over with character. It's bright and colourful and has a great soundtrack (see "Propaganda" that was posted earlier) and the whole experience was very memorable, to me at least.

It feels like a game that's very easy to love because of its striking art style and character designs. The actual mechanics were perhaps a little lacking, but that's something which is likely easier to fix for a second game than a lack of character or a boring setting - which is probably why so many people were eager to see them take another shot at it.

Green lipstick.

I agree with the answer you've chosen as the best answer TC, but I'd also like to talk up the world's charm as well. I played it on the GC about 5 years ago.

What I liked so much about Beyond Good and Evil was that the character relations seemed so authentic. The game starts out in an orphanage where the two characters Jade (human woman) and Pey'j (pig man) looks after young children of many different races that have had their parents pass away due to the antagonists (the Domz) attacks on the planet. So it starts immediately grabbed me due to this noble sort of motivations from the main characters. After that, it becomes more about the conspiracy around who the Domz really are.

I'd agree with the claims that the game-play being monotonous in terms of puzzle solving and stealth. (See this ol' one by none other than Jeff Gerstmann, http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/beyond-good-and-evil-review/1900-6085013/).

In closing, it was a varied game with sub-par, forgettable game-play (that controlled well) that also had a deeply interesting narrative with characters that acted in a way that was more multi-dimensional than typical video game protagonists.

I've played about 2 hours of the HD version, never played it when it came out originally.

It seems really charming, and it comes of as original in a similar way a Nintendo game does to me.

Actually it seems like a Nintendo game to me in general, only two hours so grain of salt n all.

@nick: Agreed.

Its charming and fun, its just a type of game you don't really see that often. I have very fond memories of playing it.

If you haven't play it yet but want give it a shot, it's going to be free on Uplay starting tomorrow.