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Yo, i just started this thing impulsively cuz for some reason i thought it was a great idea to keep track of my games in a basic text document. I saw this existed the other day and i was like oh HOT DOG. No one's getting that scott the woz reference why am i so what am i writi
Yo, i just started this thing impulsively cuz for some reason i thought it was a great idea to keep track of my games in a basic text document. I saw this existed the other day and i was like oh HOT DOG. No one's getting that scott the woz reference why am i so what am i writi
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Now I've heard stories about this one. And by that I mean stories about how no one tells stories about this game, if that makes any sense. You'd think the follow up to one of the most critically acclaimed and influential titles in not only the series, but gaming as a whole, would garner more recognition. But no—it just sorta has this weird aura of neutrality around it. With that it meant that I had absolutely zero clue what to expect when jumping into Prime 2.
What immediately jumped at me was how massively the structure of the world and progression was changed. I remember Prime 1 felt a lot more... loose? What I mean by that is that the world never felt openly restricted. It created a wonderful illusion that didn't make the next critical path immediately obvious. It's admittedly very hit or miss and will definitely not jive with everyone, what with all the back and forth, but it added to the feeling of isolation.
Prime 2 decides to tackle this problem in a way that caught me off guard. It's totally a Zelda game. The world is very segmented, meaning that there are three main areas and each area is tackled consecutively. No need to backtrack, sorta. When backtracking is required, it's made blatantly clear and you just need to enter a teleporter. (with one exception!!!!!!that wasn't very fun).
What this means is that the game's pacing is much smoother, but weirdly makes the world feel smaller and less organic. Which is a shame considering that the backstory with the Luminoth and the Ing is so intriguing. Also did I mention the dark world I completely forgot about the dark world yeah that was pretty random. The dark world was definitely one of the aspects that was out left field for me, even though it seems like such a core element of the game.
I kind of like and dislike its implementation?? It's definitely not your typical dark world schpiel, i'll admit. The way it's handled is really cool, making it an actual hostile environment, with only a sparse amount of light bubbles offering respite. It really sells the feeling that the Ing are a legitimate threat. However, I still can't shake the feeling that the dark world is such an... afterthought?? Which is weird to say because it still feels fully realized even with the technical and time restrictions imposed.
Metroid Prime 2 is a peculiar case. The case of a quality sequel being so overshadowed by its predecessor is so... strange. People are asking for Prime 4 and they still haven't played this one!!!! Perhaps why people aren't as attracted to Prime 2 may be that it doesn't feel as grandiose of a revelation as Prime 1. It's more quality Metroid Prime!! Not a lot to be upset about, but also not a lot to be blown away by.
What immediately jumped at me was how massively the structure of the world and progression was changed. I remember Prime 1 felt a lot more... loose? What I mean by that is that the world never felt openly restricted. It created a wonderful illusion that didn't make the next critical path immediately obvious. It's admittedly very hit or miss and will definitely not jive with everyone, what with all the back and forth, but it added to the feeling of isolation.
Prime 2 decides to tackle this problem in a way that caught me off guard. It's totally a Zelda game. The world is very segmented, meaning that there are three main areas and each area is tackled consecutively. No need to backtrack, sorta. When backtracking is required, it's made blatantly clear and you just need to enter a teleporter. (with one exception!!!!!!that wasn't very fun).
What this means is that the game's pacing is much smoother, but weirdly makes the world feel smaller and less organic. Which is a shame considering that the backstory with the Luminoth and the Ing is so intriguing. Also did I mention the dark world I completely forgot about the dark world yeah that was pretty random. The dark world was definitely one of the aspects that was out left field for me, even though it seems like such a core element of the game.
I kind of like and dislike its implementation?? It's definitely not your typical dark world schpiel, i'll admit. The way it's handled is really cool, making it an actual hostile environment, with only a sparse amount of light bubbles offering respite. It really sells the feeling that the Ing are a legitimate threat. However, I still can't shake the feeling that the dark world is such an... afterthought?? Which is weird to say because it still feels fully realized even with the technical and time restrictions imposed.
Metroid Prime 2 is a peculiar case. The case of a quality sequel being so overshadowed by its predecessor is so... strange. People are asking for Prime 4 and they still haven't played this one!!!! Perhaps why people aren't as attracted to Prime 2 may be that it doesn't feel as grandiose of a revelation as Prime 1. It's more quality Metroid Prime!! Not a lot to be upset about, but also not a lot to be blown away by.
Pikmin 4 has that nice feeling of a series that has been dormant for some time, and then comes back with a slew of new additions and reinventions that makes it feel like it was never away to begin with. Quite a nice feeling really.
Obviously the caveat of this being that niche series + dormant + drastic gameplay changes/additions = tutorializing everything and bringing down the game's pace to a crawl. If anything whenever a massive amount of explanation is thrown at the player, it tends to overwhelm and makes them feel under prepared. Tutorials are at their best when they aren't being presented as one.
Once the game gets going, it REALLY gets going. If there's one benefit that the tutorials bring to the table, it's hammering down to the player the concept and execution of dandori. Once a player understands dandori, every other gameplay mechanic falls into place so naturally. One of the biggest additions is with your pet dog(?) Oatchi, which essentially works as your co-captain for the adventure. A ludicrously powerful, destructive co-captain. With Oatchi, the possibilities of dandori open up tremendously, and its up to the player's own observation and discretion to figure how to efficiently tackle each task. You can split yourself up and cover more tasks, or maybe you should focus on teaming up and focusing in on tasks together. Totally up to you.
And if that wasn't enough we also get to finally see what was so scary about these "nocturnal creatures" that we've been hearing about. In night expeditions, the dynamic changes to a more tower defense style of gameplay. It's quite simple, but the addition of glow pikmin does help stand out more, and it works as a nice change of pace.
Caves are also back, which was the worst news to hear since September 29, 2008. Thankfully, their implementation was very tasteful, since each one is individually hand-crafted. Which means that they offer bite-sized levels that can challenge players in a controlled environment. Like, imagine if these levels were randomly generated. It'd almost defeat the whole purpose of them!
tl;dr This game is Pikmin 2 but good
Obviously the caveat of this being that niche series + dormant + drastic gameplay changes/additions = tutorializing everything and bringing down the game's pace to a crawl. If anything whenever a massive amount of explanation is thrown at the player, it tends to overwhelm and makes them feel under prepared. Tutorials are at their best when they aren't being presented as one.
Once the game gets going, it REALLY gets going. If there's one benefit that the tutorials bring to the table, it's hammering down to the player the concept and execution of dandori. Once a player understands dandori, every other gameplay mechanic falls into place so naturally. One of the biggest additions is with your pet dog(?) Oatchi, which essentially works as your co-captain for the adventure. A ludicrously powerful, destructive co-captain. With Oatchi, the possibilities of dandori open up tremendously, and its up to the player's own observation and discretion to figure how to efficiently tackle each task. You can split yourself up and cover more tasks, or maybe you should focus on teaming up and focusing in on tasks together. Totally up to you.
And if that wasn't enough we also get to finally see what was so scary about these "nocturnal creatures" that we've been hearing about. In night expeditions, the dynamic changes to a more tower defense style of gameplay. It's quite simple, but the addition of glow pikmin does help stand out more, and it works as a nice change of pace.
Caves are also back, which was the worst news to hear since September 29, 2008. Thankfully, their implementation was very tasteful, since each one is individually hand-crafted. Which means that they offer bite-sized levels that can challenge players in a controlled environment. Like, imagine if these levels were randomly generated. It'd almost defeat the whole purpose of them!
tl;dr This game is Pikmin 2 but good
Ooooo now this one always intrigued me. When I was a kid I was BIG into Mario & Luigi. Bowser's Inside Story was my first RPG experience and it was PEAK. Then i saw this weird little thing called "Paper Mario" or something idk. I already had my 3DS ready to go for when Dream Team dropped, but in the time I thought hey why not try out this um huh uh what's it called "Paper Mario: Sticker Sta-" dies
Throughout all that i watching stupid youtubers and they were OBSESSED with this game. Everytime a Geno, Mallow, Smithy, Star Road or whatever were mentioned. I was watching Mario Bros Z. and these assholes the Axem Rangers appeared and I recognized them and I was like OH MY GOD so yes through the 2010s i was exposed to this game that people wouldn't shut up about.
Don't worry this is where I'll talk about the game SO fast forward to 2023 they announce a remake and I'm like PERFECT morbid curiosity got me and I bought the remake. It was kinda not exactly what i was expecting?? Like this game is goofy and strange, and introduces things that will never appear again. A true lighting-in-a-bottle time capsule for Mario, which is honestly awesome. The turn based combat in this game caught me off-guard so much, as in, it was bitch easy. I've heard that this game was an "introductory" RPG but I never really understood what that meant. Now I know. You're not playing this game for the combat, even though it's well realized and has its own charm with timed actions, it just doesn't try to be more than that.
The pacing of this game also caught me by surprise. A brisk 12-hour RPG???? What?? Even in future Mario RPGs the play time would range at about the 25-30 hour mark on a normal playthrough, but here comes this game hitting me with reasonable pacing excuse me. So we've got a short, easy, breezy, baby RPG that for the longest time was stuck as an anomaly. So why were people obsessed with it? Well to me it seems Mario RPG nails its world and characters. An easy, relaxing game that can be replayed at a moment's notice, with a fun and catchy soundtrack that I hear more in youtuber videos than in the actual game. It's just a damn charming game.
People love this game because it will never happen again.
Throughout all that i watching stupid youtubers and they were OBSESSED with this game. Everytime a Geno, Mallow, Smithy, Star Road or whatever were mentioned. I was watching Mario Bros Z. and these assholes the Axem Rangers appeared and I recognized them and I was like OH MY GOD so yes through the 2010s i was exposed to this game that people wouldn't shut up about.
Don't worry this is where I'll talk about the game SO fast forward to 2023 they announce a remake and I'm like PERFECT morbid curiosity got me and I bought the remake. It was kinda not exactly what i was expecting?? Like this game is goofy and strange, and introduces things that will never appear again. A true lighting-in-a-bottle time capsule for Mario, which is honestly awesome. The turn based combat in this game caught me off-guard so much, as in, it was bitch easy. I've heard that this game was an "introductory" RPG but I never really understood what that meant. Now I know. You're not playing this game for the combat, even though it's well realized and has its own charm with timed actions, it just doesn't try to be more than that.
The pacing of this game also caught me by surprise. A brisk 12-hour RPG???? What?? Even in future Mario RPGs the play time would range at about the 25-30 hour mark on a normal playthrough, but here comes this game hitting me with reasonable pacing excuse me. So we've got a short, easy, breezy, baby RPG that for the longest time was stuck as an anomaly. So why were people obsessed with it? Well to me it seems Mario RPG nails its world and characters. An easy, relaxing game that can be replayed at a moment's notice, with a fun and catchy soundtrack that I hear more in youtuber videos than in the actual game. It's just a damn charming game.
People love this game because it will never happen again.