#Vahram

[balamist]

no daydreaming, Sargon

[hyeonje]

[hyeonoll]

Body types of my two favorite characters and PoP The Lost Crown in a nutshell

[pedroam-bang]

Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown (2024)

[kyndaris]

Ascending Mount Qaf

Prince of Persia is a franchise I have faithfully followed since childhood. While I was predominantly occupied by Kingdom Hearts and enjoyed many of Sony's mascot games including Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and Sly Cooper, there was something about Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time that immediately captured my interest. Although I didn't begin playing it from the start, as soon as I got Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones on my PlayStation Portable, I was sucked in. Especially given how athletic the Prince was as he darted in and around against his foes, absorbing the sand from his enemies and having access to time powers. These concepts blew little Kyndaris's mind. And if Blinx had ever come to PlayStation, I would have gobbled up those games just as readily with all the others.

Since The Two Thrones, titles for the Prince of Persia has been few and far between, with only a reboot game and then the Forgotten Sands entry. After all, when Assassin's Creed and Far Cry can make Ubisoft buttloads of money, there's no need to introduce a competitor to your primary money-making machine.

All that changed with the shock announcement of the Sands of Time remake. Unfortunately, the title has been delayed. Perhaps indefinitely. To ameliorate the discontent of gamer's everywhere, we were bequeathed Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown instead.

This game, unlike the 3D titles that captured the hearts and minds of many, is a metroidvania-style game where you are thrust into the shoes of Sargon, a member of the Immortals. After the prince is kidnapped, Sargon and the Immortals set out to rescue him on the mythical Mount Qaf and find themselves trapped in a place where time no longer flows as it once did.

Along the way, Sargon unlocks special abilities by collecting Simurgh feathers and faces off against alternate versions of himself. About a third of the way through the game, Sargon catches up to Anahita and the Prince, only for the leader of the Immortals, Vahram, to murder the prince and throws Sargon from a cliff. After surviving the fall, Sargon seeks a way to go back in time to stop Vahram.

Although Sargon is successful, he loses Anahita in the process. As he battles against Vahram, he learned the leader of the Immortals is the long lost son of King Darius, the previous king of Persia who was assassinated by Thomyris. Despite this slight, Vahram does not seek the throne. Rather, he hopes to ascend to godhood and remake the world in his vision.

The rest of the game sees Sargon seek to stop the mad Vahram. It all culminates in a battle atop Mount Qaf, harkening a little to almost every single Japanese role-playing game where the last boss is always a God, or someone who tries to claim such powers. By game's end, I did wonder if I had somehow stumbled into a Tales of or Final Fantasy title.

Of course, Vahram's redesign as Time and Space (a terrible name for a God. Perhaps try Bhunivelze? ? Maybe throw in a full Latin choir to chat throughout the entirety of the boss battle just for kicks) was a little lacklustre in my opinion.

Perhaps it's how often I've seen such stories play out that I was hoping for a little more spectacle.

That's not to mention all the plot holes scattered throughout the game, like how did young Vahram initially escape Mount Qaf in the first place to found the Immortals. If he was trapped on Mount Qaf (and players do see versions of him throughout the main story - with Sargon even helping him), why is there another version of him who is too far gone? And where did the alternate Sargons come from? When I first stumbled upon them, I was a little confused as to how they came into being. Perhaps if there had been more exposition on these phenomena, it would have made more sense.

Then there is the fact that Sargon went back in time to save Prince Ghassan. However, Menolias and Orod are apparently still dead.

Not to mention the prophecy of Mount Qaf which alludes to three Princes rather than two. And the way Thomyris allows her son, Prince Ghassan, to walk away from the throne but was more distressed when Sargon, too, left after the revelation she had usurped the throne from King Darius.

These aside, my main gripe with The Lost Crown is the tight timing when it came to parrying attacks and the punishing extra damage. Throughout most of the game, I relied more on dodging instead of relying on parries although the game does encourage such use through the amulets Sargon can equip for use.

Maybe it was simply a matter of me learning enemy patterns but I simply did not have the patience, given how risky it was.

Notably, as well, was the platforming. True, I should probably try and start to 'get good' but it's frustrating when Sargon has so many abilities and one needs to keep all of them in mind as he jumps and backflips his way through, while also crisscrossing into the unseen world to navigate his way through the Citadel. Especially given where these abilities are mapped to.

Like, I know what I'm supposed to do, but my over 30 reflexes no longer work as intended. That, or I mispress something and do something that ruins my entire run although I was just a platform away from being on safe ground.

Very frustrating.

Nobody wants to waste forty minutes trying to desperately get a King Xerxes coin. Still, it's a learning experience. And every failure is a step forward...

...is what I would say if it wasn't so rage-inducing.

This is exactly why I don't play Soulsborne games for fear that I'll always be so close to victory but have it snatched from me in the last moment.

And I simply don't have the time to keep retrying and retrying.

Well, maybe I do, but the perfectionist in me would have me throwing myself at the problem until the wee hours of the morning if I can't get it, and it still wouldn't be satisfied even if I did pull it off. There is no dopamine rush. Only stress and adrenaline that leaves me shaking.

Anyways, I can still see why gamers would still enjoy The Lost Crown. And it is a great game that has been fine-tuned for those with the skills necessary to take out all the challenges the developers have concocted. While it did prove a little frustrating to me in the later stages, the game does also include accessibility options for the main path that didn't detract from the game. In the end, it allowed me to see the end of the game and play it as I liked. Without knowing where the next Prince of Persia entry will land, The Lost Crown is still a worthy game to keep gamers busy.

More importantly, it's not another open-world entry with towers to synchronise with.

Goodness, the fatigue is real and is one of the main reasons I skipped out on Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. That and I never did fall in love with James Cameron's alien world.

[salmontooth]

THE LOST CROWN SPOILERS (I think??)

@kaihoney ‘s fate swap AU!

I made Sargon more suspicious of Vahram’s actions than Ghassan because @gryffintheparrotcat and @kaihoney and I were saying how Sargon would’ve been 100x more difficult to kidnap than Ghassan, so I feel like he could sense the vibes Vahram was giving off

[ojisanmansion]

[star-arcana]

Prince of Persia The Lost Crown Immortal Showcase NR#1: Sargon; The Rashabar!!!

Background info The new entry to the series is called The Lost Crown, that series is, as the title suggest, the Prince of Persia series. Slightly more than a decade has passed, and now the series gets a new game coming out on 18th January this year, but you get a full-demo on nearly all platforms on 11th January. You can see more about it on Twitter and YouTube, but I am here to give some lore info about Sargon!!! Some of it is taken from the official Discord, where one of the mods called Sushi Vampire revealed it from time to time. I use some of their text here, but with some personal notes and changes, to make it fresh!!!

With that out of the way, let us begin!!

Lore:

Sargon, also known as the Rashabar, The Black Wind[For Info, Rashabar/Black Wind refers to a local wind that blows from time to time in what is today the Kurdistan region of modern day Iraq, particularly in Sulaymaniyah] that destroys his enemies when they get in his way, didn't started out as fearless and ruthless warrior. He was once an orphan when growing up for much of his early life, until Anahita, the general of the Persian Army, took him in, when he was around the age of a modern first-grader and raised him to be in the service of Persia...not as a cute little boy, but a weapon!

That means he had to endure harsh training methods under his mentor, and much of it was without things like Love or anything else of these pesky sentimental stuff in the way! Only anger and the will to fight against his enemies, no matter how tough, fuels him!

He is fearless, ruthless and determined to win, where even Vahram, the greatest warrior of Persia and leader of the Immortals was impressed with his bravery and made him an Immortal due to this!!!

As reward for his success and growing fighting skills, Anahita gave him the twin swords Qays and Layla, powerful blades that are said to contain the souls of two ill-fated lovers!!!

He is our protagonist and is on a journey to Mt.Qaf to rescue the Prince of Persia with his Immortal buddies!

Will he be strong and clever enough to save the Prince? Or will he and the Immortals fail? Find out in the few next days!!!

Tomorrow comes the leader of the Immortals...see ya until then!!!

[graaid]

A bit of concept art for a short screenplay I'm working on. These guys are my main characters :)

[crisicsgames]

PRINCE OF PERSIA BOSS DIO VAHRAM THE END LA REGINA 🎮PS5 UHD 60f

[iron-idols]

Vahram Hakobyan

[balamist]

something something the immortals help their newest member develop his new signature look and it works a bit too well

[lascitasdelashoras]

Paris, New York, por Vahram Muratyan

[hyeonoll]

You know what I mean

(Edit:correct few mistakes)

[pedroam-bang]

Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown (2024)

[wrestlehead]

Vahram Hakobyan