Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - Retrospective

[@DivNambiath]

I’ve always thought that it made sense for the Prince to be like “yeah so I made that jump and ended up falling to my death… oh wait no no that’s not what happened”. Because he did in fact make that jump and die, then rewinded time to correct his mistake, and he narrated that alternate timeline where he died by mistake.

[@Cruzader310]

The Sands of Time initial trilogy is one of my favourite videogame series. Every couple of years I find myself reinstalling all 3 games and replaying them back to back. Your story analysis was very insightful. I didn't realise how much depth the story actually has. Awesome review! I'm looking forward to you reviewing Warrior Within and The Two Thrones.

[@jpicard81]

This game blew my mind. Especially the ending. "Let me tell u a story"

[@solracstormhunter3023]

8:10 "She tried to steal the dagger from me, RIGHT AFTER I saved her life! I should just leave her behind, abandoned at her luck's mercy. Yet here I am - risking MY life for HER sake. 'Why', you ask? That's a good question." - The Prince. That monologue has lived rent-free in my head for 16 years and plays everytime, I'm reminded of Sands of Time™ 👌

[@HyveMindsGames]

there's so much great writing in sands of time!

[@prod805]

My father gifted me a brand new ps2 with prince of Persia sands of times back in 2003 when I was 7 years old, I got stuck with the endless doors level and since no internet, never finished until I picked up back in 2012.

[@Gr00t]

This game came bundled with our PS2, i played through it so many times as a kid. Never played any of the others though.

[@MagsIsGaming]

there aren’t very many creators who can hold my attention for 30 minutes talking about a game/series I was never interested in before, but your narration is always a treat to listen to, and I’ll absolutely be watching the rest of this series! I remember watching your whole dmc series years ago and barely remembered about it a couple months ago and went on a hunt to find who made them lmao, and I’ve loved watching the rest of your videos since. so, just wanted to say I really appreciate the channel, and I’m looking forward to your future uploads!

[@Aeroczema]

HARDCORE PARKOUR! But seriously I can remember watching friends play this game back in college, which was already a decade after its release, it really does seem like a great game! Excellent video breaking the whole thing down, as always!

[@UTUB2kholle]

A beautiful love letter to a great game that I remember loving a LOT during my childhood. It was so elegant in its storytelling. I also love how the two sequels made a lot of sense in the overall story, the Dahaka especially had me going craaaaazy. I also remember playing the Xbox 360 PoP reboot and I finished it but it was very flawed. Didn't like it (also the real ending was locked being a DLC if I remember correctly, how dumb!). Man how I miss the old Ubisoft lol However, the Forgotten Sands, I remember liking it. I don't remember as much but I liked going back to the roots. Really looking forward the new 2D game that's a-brewing. There is a Celeste inspiration that I find really compelling. Congrats for your very in depth and fair video! Can't wait to watch the next.

[@SonicBoom0561]

Just learned recently that Yuri Lowenthal (Sasuke / Peter Parker / Spiderman PS4) is actually the voice of the prince haha

[@WaddleDee105]

I loved Sands of Time as a preteen. I think I rented it like 3 times just because I enjoyed the platforming and story so much. The Prince's arc is really well handled and his relationship with Farah is one of the best I've seen from a game. Sadly I don't think any of the later PoP games match this one but Two Thrones and Forgotten Sands aren't half bad iirc. Looking forward to seeing you cover the rest!

[@theelectricprince8231]

Bruh, I played WW first then went back to plays Sands after that I played WW again and I could not conceive how anyone thinks Sands is better than WW. WW has park our, platforming level design and combat that have not been surpassed today. Only Jedi Survivor comes close.

[@MrRickle]

My all time favorite game. You were able to encapsulate accurately the feel and vibe of the game that has always been my favorite.

[@WallJumpGames]

God damn, you caught me out for commenting too early. Got to play Lost Crown literally the day you uploaded this, it is fantastic!

[@HyveMindsGames]

Knew I'd get someone with that! Lost crown definitely looks like it has potential, I'm very interested in it.

[@teneesh3376]

Just a caution for anyone wanting to get this on steam. These aren't remasters, they are the original pc ports. So controller support for this is really jank. It takes a little bit of work to use a controller. And even so, you wont have any actual button prompts. You'll get button 1, button 2

[@RealPointVPoint]

Just emulate it

[@teneesh3376]

@@RealPointVPoint here's the thing about consumerism. If you want something new in a franchise, paying for the product is how you tell them you want them. But yeah, your solution also works. Even if it's only 30fps

[@RealPointVPoint]

@@teneesh3376 we’re supposed to get a remake for the sands of time but we got the lost crown which no one asked for instead of the remake I fear it’ll get cancelled

[@teneesh3376]

@@RealPointVPoint i mean let's face it, that trailer was in the very early stages. Because of that, it was really rough looking. But if the executives decided that that was good enough to show, then it's probably a good thing that it did get cancelled. And I'm so tired of remakes. But Sands of Time is the one that needs a remake the least. It's not perfect and has some glaring issues, but they aren't glaring enough for a from the ground up remake

[@vinnythewebsurfer]

This game was basically to me a horror game masquerading as an action platformer and that’s what made it awesome and honestly quite unique even against the other PoP games which could never quite match the originals’ ambiance. Very resident evil-like but with actually good dialogue and creative narration.

[@user-fm9ww2wk1i]

I kinda like this combat, took some time but got really REALLY good at it and even prefer it over the rest in this franchise

[@b0zky]

I loved and still love Prince of Persia Sands of time, Warrior Within and Two Thrones, played all of them many times and i own then both on pc (on Steam) and for PS2. I'm planning to buy a PS2 just to experience these games the way i used to back then along some other games (I used to have a PS2 Slim but it broke years ago).

[@mosthated8848]

I'm enjoying the new one bc it's my favorite genre. Hopefully, they remake (Sands of Time) if the Lost Crown sells a couple of millions.

[@ivanheernaandez]

I have this game for my PS2 and played it on a 4K OLED monitor a couple of days ago, it looked amazing.

[@KhaosKontroller]

One of my hottest gaming takes is that I think the 2008 reboot is the best PoP game. I wish they continued that story.

[@RaMMy96]

2008 bros squad🤲🏻

[@srjbeast_tek]

L take

[@Cab8819]

It's good, but the fact that there wasn't any continuation is what makes it inferior imo

[@lithuaniaball]

Was it really so good? It must be one of those games that would've been absolutely fine on its own if it didn't risk taking another game's spot. Like the DmC reboot

[@KhaosKontroller]

@@lithuaniaball DmC reboot was a far too wild departure from the tone of original series and just a downgrade in many respects. PoP 08 is imo an upgrade in terms of art style, tone and writing. As well as combat.

[@TevyaSmolka]

I love the sands of time trilogy it was really amazing and badass in my opinion.

[@whynotusepaper468]

This brings me back to times when my friend got a pack with first 3 games and i couldnt wait to go to his house and play them! Great video btw cant wait to see more!

[@dylansurendranath3091]

I recently just got into playing the Prince of Persia games and it's been really fun so far!

[@Sutanreyu]

Funny how this video comes out a day or two after ripping the PS2 disc so I could play this on my Steam Deck 😎

[@jurtheorc8117]

16:30 I wonder if the PS2 exclusive game Kya: Dark Lineage may fall within a similar area by way of structure. It's a 3D platformer with art direction like that of Rayman, but a quite in-depth focus on combat that in some ways reminds me of Prince of Persia Warrior Within (one-on-one fighting, grabs, jump onto/over enemies) and i've seen people refer to it as a mini-tekken as well. Goes quite quickly, too. I'd say that with all its rough parts, good parts, and everything in-between, it's a solid game, definitely recommend looking into it.

[@NiCoNiCoNiCola]

Always thought the deaths were Farah cutting Prince off and saying "You surely fell/got overwhelmed/failed" and he, knowing damn well he would die without a dagger is forced to repeat himself

[@cyberf416]

Time only knows

[@sawnoff95]

One of my favourite video games of all time, along with its sequel. Cant wait for you to tackle Warrior Within. Subscribed! Great review

[@FiliusFrost]

I played this month on steam without mods. The only problem i had was with the visual of water, that was something grey and strange but still healed prince health😂. I played two thrones on ps2 in 2007-2010. Tried to play the trilogy on pc in 2011. But now im starting warrior within. And waiting sands of time remake

[@SchwingyGaming]

Yo URBAN NINJA was AWESOME. Don't go dissing that! ;)

[@MrXtremeSpartan]

Assassins creed: unrealistic future tech. Prince of persia: promotes hydration and parkor.

[@lysenthe]

i'm glad i'm not the only one thinking that the combat and the camera controls are the final bosses

[@mateusgreenwood1096]

The story of the next two games are great as well, specially the conclusion.

[@zachtwilightwindwaker596]

Over 20 years? Old 👴...

[@Hynotama]

Platforming in Prince of Persia is more of an obstacle gauntlet that requires precise movement and timing, rather than actual platforming.

[@srjbeast_tek]

4:52 that guy also transforms into a sand monster, how could you miss that?

[@mrwog82]

There's actually an interesting interaction with Farah if you're a perve (like me😂). If you go into first person view and look at her a while she'll ask "what are you looking at?" If you turn away when she asks this, the prince will awkwardly say "nothing". If you continue staring at her like a creep (like me😂) she'll ask "why are you looking at me?" And the prince will reply "I wasn't looking at YOU" I thought it was a pretty cool detail.

[@bubba_b0ss]

So there was this one glitch that happened to me (On the PS2 at least since I’ve only ever played it on that console): near the end of the game, right after the last sword upgrade, there would be a cutscene where there is this massive landscape view of the tower of dawn. Within the cutscene, we would see farah running along a ledge and we would hear the prince yelling her name. But when I made it to that ledge, farah would still be there when she is really supposed to be by the tower entrance at that point. On the ledge, farah would act (almost) normally: she would still follow you, and would still attack you if you were to attack her. But she didn’t have any dialogue, even when you attacked her or did something dangerous. This was a glitch I always found weird and hard to just ignore. But it probably wasn’t a glitch, and ubisoft might’ve forgotten to remove the farah model from that cutscene. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Let me know by replying.

[@freaknr1]

I own the PS3 HD-collection and it works pretty well, but still has some graphical hiccups. Still, the game is an amazing experience and what issues the port has aren't enough to ruin it. It's not Silent Hill HD after all. XD Solid video btw. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on Warrior Within and Two Thrones!

[@mosthated8848]

SONY version is the worst.

[@mostcomplicatedman8115]

Warrior Within is the best game of the franchise

[@cenationofjnu]

This game is very special. That was the first Game I played on my pc. I wonder when will they release the remastered version of it.

[@PrincessNine]

There's also an HD collection on xbox360 and PS3 Don't know how you missed that

[@cartoongamermatt9077]

There's also a Prince of Persia HD Trilogy for PS3. That's how I played it and it works great.

[@michaelhooper6227]

This game stands up there with ocarina of time to me. Warrior within is really good too but the first 1 was so good kinda impossible to top

[@teneesh3376]

People say the first is the best, I disagree. Having played all 3 recently, my favourite is the 3rd one. The 1st has the better tone, atmosphere and story, but the combat and level design was more fun to me. And the 2nd is really edgy

[@aparker884]

After I felt better from a urinary tract and bladder infection I saw an add saying there was a new prince of persia game coming out in 2024. The one who comforted me was my niece who was only 2 years old at the time. I was having pain and my niece kept hugging me saying it's okay dewdew. Dewdew is my nick name to her. When the infection got bad I couldn't figure out how a little 2 year old. I wish they can bring the prince of persia trilogy to switch and prince of persia 2008. It was actually a good game.

[@pratickghosh263]

"Prince of Persia is a dead series" - that didn't age well

[@Deimos_Fresh]

Combat in SoT is cinematic and you can do it accordingly. I played Warrior Within before SoT and was quiet disappointed with how basic and tedious it was compared to WW. But the more I replayed both games, the more I liked SoT combat, while at the same time started to hate WW combat. The thing is I really hate when basic enemies have lots of hit points like Crow Master and in earlier parts of WW you fight basic fodder enemies over and over, and spider sword alone can't kill them fast enough. And when you get serpent sword, you think you can finally deal with cannon fodder faster which is true actually, but game upgrade cannon fodder as well. Secondary weapons can help, but they are finite and best main weapons become available closer to the end of the game. And while there is improvements in movement list and added combo list, I mostly try to avoid combat or use only strongest moves to deal with the enemies as fast as possible. For me WW combat became a hassle to deal with on repeat playthroughs. SoT combat while much basic in mechanics, but have a smoother flow. Dagger is the only thing that can defeat sand creatures and you have various methods to stick it in them. Some enemies can be killed by simple counter dagger move. Some might require to jump slash and dagger them, some might to jump slash them to the ground or wall jump them and finally some can be defeated by repeated counter sword attack or basic sword attacks. The combat may me more cinematic or more acrobatic or you can learn to quickly dispatch them with a dagger. I'm probably at the point where I think there is really no problems with combat, but it's probably because I know the system quiet well at this point and just go with the flow of the atmosphere of the game.

[@jurtheorc8117]

Crow Masters i wouldn't wholly recount as basic enemies. There's your basic murdergimps in those lads with the masks, the more advanced guys wrapped in cloth that can break guard and synchronize more, the assassin ladies that i believe counter/evade trying to jump over them, the Shades being low-health ranged attackers, etc. But even when the Executioners start appearing, and from how often they appear compared to other enemy types from what i remember, i'd still consider the Crow Master a fairly uncommon enemy. Definitely a tough one. I think i see where you come from on enjoying SoT combat more. Compared to Warrior Within, the moveset is smaller and thus easier to keep track of what you have to do. More clearcut answers to situations and enemies, with the trick being to execute what you have to do correctly when the enemies start mixing up. What makes Prince of Persia generally unique, is that the environments can offer extra aid in avoiding enemy attacks and even dealing extra damage. This is still very much the same case in Warrior Within. This next input is completely uncalled for from a stranger on the internet, who admittedly only has one WW playthrough to his name yet a big interest in 3D action combat. But i think what may keep you from enjoying Warrior Within more, is to consider the combat mainly based around how much damage your swings do or how much damage you do with an extra weapon. But there is a *wealth* of options in how you can approach them outside of weapon combos. You can jump onto and over enemies, go vertically or horizontally along walls or straight against them, and from there you can perform many different attacks. From just jumping over them for an evasion, to an attack from behind, *grab* from behind to strangle them and steal their weapon or kick them into their allies, or performing a leg sweep to quickly bring them off-balance which can also be done from a vertical wall run when jumping down. Or simply run *against* a wall and launch yourself like a torpedo against enemies, which i think is good for breaking guards. Or use a grab that's a backwards-rolling thrown. Also good for launching enemies into their allies or off ledges. This isn't purely dependant on the presence of a second weapon or not, but looking purely at individual moves to perform and how you want to chain those together. As much as at the time i believed in long combo strings being important in action games, and trying to force pulling them off at times, i also remember enjoying those more isolated moves in conjunction with one another. Using both the environments and the enemies themselves as weapons, as bad as i was at it. I used the Rewind power as a crutch a lot, but for those being willing to utilize the Sand Powers more aggressively, i can see how encounters could go more quickly. PoP's strengths in combat, since the Sands of Time trilogy at least, has always had a core in mobility and evasion. I do apologize if i come across as being demeaning or lording "the best way" to play the game over you and just general know-it-all-ish. Not my intent in the slightest. I just hope this may have provided an extra way of looking at the combat in WW, Again apologies if i come across as know-it-all ish. This comment is fairly sizeable, so if you took the time to read through it all, thank you for doing so and i wish you a good rest of your day.

[@Deimos_Fresh]

@@jurtheorc8117, thing is I'm used to love WW combat back when I first played it and I mostly didn't enjoy SoT when I played it after WW. Maybe I was burned very hard by DMC3's DMD mode (I've completed it many many years ago) as I really hate when enemies takes forever to kill. And my recent ruined playthrough of WW didn't help to change my opinion on combat mechanics. I just don't like it anymore, I find it frustrating and now for the most part I use various mechanics to skip combat as much as possible. There was time when I thought WW combat was superior to SoT's and I guess I kinda still think so. But SoT's combat just flows very smoothly and satisfying. In WW I always had troubles with beefy executioners especially if they was paired by equally resilient sand ladies. Even with water sword and strong secondary weapons it takes too much effort to kill them and they have cheap moves to break your guard or worse - a leg sweep. There is really no way for me to like WW's combat anymore.

[@jurtheorc8117]

@@Deimos_Fresh Thank you very much for taking the time to write a pretty in-depth reply. I've never played a Devil May Cry game myself, but i've heard enough about how hard DMD can be in any of the games that have it. And i can understand that trying to finish those, you really, *really* have to learn the game inside and out to be as effective as possible through all manner of techniques. Stuff like animation canceling and quickly switching between weapons, which is something that PoP WW in comparison doesn't really have (to my knowledge). Though i love that genre/those kinds of games, my closest experiences to really challenging myself is trying to play Darksiders 2 with deliberately underleveled gear to force myself into making use of moves over gear stats, and finishing Soulstice on all difficulties. Still working on that last one. And i guess all the challenge missions will have to be part as well. Even if WW's combat may not reach the heights it once did for you, i hope it may still offer you fun on a revisit whenever one may happen, or that at least it will hit better with other people. And here's to hoping there will be many more good, cool and interesting games within this kind of genre and gameplay to come in the future for others to check out. (Personally hoping for Kya: Dark Lineage and aforementioned Darksiders and Soulstice, among others, to get a good continuation/new chance, and for upcoming games like Yasuke: A Lost Descendant, Genokids, Slave Zero X and Enenra to quickly garner good attention) Thank you again for the quick and polite reply and explanation!

[@Deimos_Fresh]

@@jurtheorc8117, for DMC3 I didn't really learn much in terms of moves or weapon switching. I'm Royal Guard player, so I basically royal released and DT explode through the difficulty as Dante and struggled as Vergil. I'm not a pro DMC player, so I still struggled in some situations. As I've pointed in my previous comment. My last WW playthrough was ruined. Basically I became softlocked after going to present. I couldn't believe that I lost half a progress. But after reloading my last save file, I suddenly was a sand wraith and skipped majority of content, including boss fight and last two sand powers. I knew WW was known for game breaking bugs, but it was my first major bug in my almost 20 years of playing it. To be honest it was a major blow against the game for me as I was going to collect every treasure chest I missed on my first playthrough and starting all over again was a big no for me. I played Darksiders 2 and finished it just last year for the first time. Still can't force myself to complete every single quest before starting a NG+ as I still want to collect abyssal armor set. I don't handicap myself in this game as RPG element already make some encounters very tough to go though, but combat wise I enjoy it the most in the trilogy. Again it's just flows smoothly, especially after unlocking every basic moves and complement them with mobility skills.

[@nishanttiwari1407]

Now combine the sands of time ending with two thrones ending. Prince was telling story from all the way up there

[@andydyer6591]

12:40 I shall henceforth only know this guard as “Persian John Oliver”.

[@dotcomgamingd5564]

akshually, the cheapest way to play all the PoP games is through emulation on PC :P

[@linneal5105]

ahh unfortunately I'll skip on this one for now, I really want to play the prince of persia series first to not spoil the fun

[@jurtheorc8117]

wish you a lot of fun on exploring the Prince of Persia series when time and opportunity may allow for it.

[@linneal5105]

@@jurtheorc8117 thanks, I will, I remember playing it on the ps2 when I was way way younger

[@theelectricprince8231]

WW is just better in terms of gameplay but I can see why the tonal shift is so off putting, I am indifferent to it because its my girst POP game and so it does not shock me.

[@coladict]

The combat is a bit weak on PC if you're playing without a controller, but you should just use Steam's remapping feature to play with a PS4 or PS5 controller and it's fine. The one caveat being the controllers don't work for choosing menu options, so any time you're asked to save the game you have to reach for the mouse.

[@SahilMehraPhoenix]

You HAVE TO do one on warrior within as well

[@n30escape]

This is the best game ever ion care what others say

[@nothinghere8434]

I agree the combat is weak. In my opinion, the A.I. is too passive (long elaboration incoming). People like to say they keep getting interrupted retrieving enemies, but in my experience that overall rarely happens. You already outlined the first order optimal strategies. When you get a cinematic shot sucking an enemy up, you're pretty much guaranteed a free kill with no drawbacks. If enemies kept attacking you frequently, even multiple enemies attacking at once, and they would interrupt you consistently retriving other enemies, there would be a lot more reason for crowd control and knocking multiple enemies down before retrievals. Vaulting and rebounds wouldn't be easy win-buttons anymore, but clever repositioning tactics that are punished if used poorly. Same for using quick-finishers. Their revive mechanic should be seen a lot more often in gameplay, as to make them stand out from other games' enemies, underlining their immortal nature, as well as making your sword not feel as powerful without the dagger. Even the combat specific sand powers would get useful to give you any edge (the super freeze is super unbalanced). Enemies knocking others over becomes a godsent. Making the enemies more aggressive could improve things a lot. In exchange the total number of enemies in an encounter should be lowered, creating a more believable encounter balance and longevity. Even the first boss would benefit from this, as the Sand King usually gets beaten last, and so contributes an practically invincible enemy to the encounter, making it especially difficult, and forcing you to learn more clever positioning tactics. The bats are kinda okay when you don't wait and stay in place to get rid of them, but instead keep moving and fend them off on the way. Not supposed to be an argument, just a play tip. Sometimes you can just outrun their agro zone. It's not explained at all, but in order to counter an enemy, you not only need to time the parry, but also hold the stick into the direction the attack is coming from.

[@O.S.O.M.Education]

I got Xbox one and don’t see it on the store 🤔

[@Idiotboxxx]

Since you like DMC, did you give FF16 a try?

[@beloved-child]

Dmc 5 makes ff16 feel like tiktok

[@mostcomplicatedman8115]

5:14 oh no Prince you cant say that anymore you will be canceled

[@LilNiteWing]

Whats name of the song at the end

[@theodorexenophon7612]

Yeah the story was good and all, but how did it compare to the live action movie?

[@blackpiccolo3089]

Play god Of war just like what you did with devil may cry , Believe me it is worth it

[@riotd.r.8363]

Wait, you didn't have a spike pit in your library?

[@djdbajron1]

3:12 well if he actually fell and reversed time I guess that can get confusing

[@mostcomplicatedman8115]

the Prince is " kind of a dick" because he is a spoiled prince . makes perfect sense

[@koalawithchaingun53]

Is the combat really that bad? Yes. The combat alone makes Warrior Within a better game imo.

[@racyagentmac]

Def an awesome game and btw it's dumb to call him a misogynist since it's a time period story just saying 😅👍

[@civilwarfare101]

While I agree with your general idea of your review and I always did like the fast paced PoP style acrobatic platforming even if it is automated, I always felt like this game felt vanilla compared to Two Thrones which features much more variety in it's level design and gave more level gimmicks. Two Thrones in general just throws much more situational depth by comparison to Sands of Time. However I just can't agree to call this game a classic primarily due to the combat, sure I will admit compared to other "cinematic" platformers with excessive combat like ICO, this game's combat is better by comparison but that is a pretty low bar. There is too many enemy waves and combat from when I last played last and take way too long to finish and the combat is dull, limited and poorly made as this makes it hard to over look. Combat doesn't feel as good or refined as Warrior Within, doesn't throw things around or mix up things up enough as Two Thrones, and can't be bypassed 95% of the time like in Prince 2008. The game has excessive amounts of dull combat and along with it's vanilla feeling gameplay makes it a game that is rather overrated to me a lot of the time. Sure the story is good I guess, but that doesn't make me overlook the gameplay issues I have with it no story can make me look past excessive amounts of boring and weak combat. Two Thrones, and even Warrior Within and 2008 to me are superior games in spite of you taking shots at 2008 in this vid where KZbinrs have to take shots at other games they don't like when describing games they like.

[@TheManiacc45]

Damn, this guy really hated the combat in the game. I thought it was fast fluid and really fun

[@pureakkuracy7510]

Oh shit hyve uploaded a video it must be a blue moon outside 🤣