My heart would give this game 0 stars. My head knows it's better than that based on the (very good) visuals, soundtrack, etc., so I'm caving to the Metacritic mob a bit here but still. /s
I enjoyed no more than 5% of my time playing OBF. I spent another 15% ambivalent, and the other 80% was some combination of frustration and anger. Expectations were admittedly high, and I just came from Hollow Knight so that skews impressions as well. But with that said, a few general grievances I will note and pass by, either because they're well-covered or I know I was a baby about it:
(a) not a metroidvania in practice;
(b) low health and saving mechanism combination, which is generally fine though aggravating in escape sequences;
(c) story is bland and predictable, I didn't have enough time to connect with the characters to feel the heartstrings tug like the game hoped;
(d) why can't I aim my attacks;
(e) why can't I use the R stick to look up and down.
As for the unforgivable:
1. Good god, this game handles poorly. Area, the mathematical concept, means nothing in Nibel. The damage area of hazards are way bigger or smaller than they appear on screen. The range of Ori's abilities feel nonsensical and unpredictable, and the jump does nothing. Everything has a ludicrous amount of... inertia, I suppose, rubber-banding dramatically in an effort to make things look like a real set of physics is at work. Some of these points could be stylistic, others maybe just poor implementation; regardless, they combine to require Ori to face-check every surface and enemy to see what happens. Sometimes, you'll see surfaces which killed you in the past, think "I can't touch that or I die," and it turns out that's the only way forward on the rails of the story. Other times, necessary platforms and insta-death zones have imperceptible boundaries. All of these factors become unreasonably punishing because of point (b) above. I understand the devs don't want players to be good/successful/masters or something on run 1, but you literally can't be good on run 1. At best, you have to be slow and careful, which sucks because
2. OBF is so, so slow. The story moves fast, at under 8 hours, but promo materials and your early sense of the scope of the game make it seem like Ori rips around the map in some zen-like flow state. Ori looks fast, too. This couldn't be further from the truth. Flawless execution in a handful of late-game platforming segments give off the illusion of quick movement, but in truth even then you're stuck reacting to the unpredictability and inconsistency of the world as it wants you to, not as you want to. Beyond those segments, Ori has to be timid in order to not be obliterated 2 seconds and progress the story. I tried so hard to be fast--I even pretended it was a metroidvania and went to find the last two abilities at around halfway to get stronger than I should be at that point in the story. Voila, they were useless, and usually outright detrimental to use because the storyline areas are designed to be platformed in 1 single way which doesn't include those abilities.
Look, I wish I liked this game. I know I'm still unreasonably mad at it while writing this. My score for it is probably unreasonably low as a result, but it's my opinion at the end of the day. The OST and art are amazing, and I appreciate the unique product and that some may be compelled by the story. I want more games to be less doom and gloom, more pretty colors. The forest is also a good setting overall--the audiovisual orchestration makes it feel alive, no small feat. Also, I know hard platforming can be frustrating--also concurrently playing Celeste, which I do not hate and actually quite like. Mechanical platforming might be my kink, idk. I think what I ultimately couldn't forgive while playing this game is how much game was sacrificed to create the world. It is beautiful, yes, but the experience of playing OBF is compromised at every turn by how beautiful it is. I can get over game design I don't like to enjoy an overarching product (seriously, R-stick, we could be friends if you were the only problem), but OBF puts the conceptual product miles ahead of the game I just spent 7 hours not enjoying between cutscenes. I hope WotW addresses these concerns, but I won't be pulling it from the backlog until my newfound hatred for orbs of light has subsided.
I enjoyed no more than 5% of my time playing OBF. I spent another 15% ambivalent, and the other 80% was some combination of frustration and anger. Expectations were admittedly high, and I just came from Hollow Knight so that skews impressions as well. But with that said, a few general grievances I will note and pass by, either because they're well-covered or I know I was a baby about it:
(a) not a metroidvania in practice;
(b) low health and saving mechanism combination, which is generally fine though aggravating in escape sequences;
(c) story is bland and predictable, I didn't have enough time to connect with the characters to feel the heartstrings tug like the game hoped;
(d) why can't I aim my attacks;
(e) why can't I use the R stick to look up and down.
As for the unforgivable:
1. Good god, this game handles poorly. Area, the mathematical concept, means nothing in Nibel. The damage area of hazards are way bigger or smaller than they appear on screen. The range of Ori's abilities feel nonsensical and unpredictable, and the jump does nothing. Everything has a ludicrous amount of... inertia, I suppose, rubber-banding dramatically in an effort to make things look like a real set of physics is at work. Some of these points could be stylistic, others maybe just poor implementation; regardless, they combine to require Ori to face-check every surface and enemy to see what happens. Sometimes, you'll see surfaces which killed you in the past, think "I can't touch that or I die," and it turns out that's the only way forward on the rails of the story. Other times, necessary platforms and insta-death zones have imperceptible boundaries. All of these factors become unreasonably punishing because of point (b) above. I understand the devs don't want players to be good/successful/masters or something on run 1, but you literally can't be good on run 1. At best, you have to be slow and careful, which sucks because
2. OBF is so, so slow. The story moves fast, at under 8 hours, but promo materials and your early sense of the scope of the game make it seem like Ori rips around the map in some zen-like flow state. Ori looks fast, too. This couldn't be further from the truth. Flawless execution in a handful of late-game platforming segments give off the illusion of quick movement, but in truth even then you're stuck reacting to the unpredictability and inconsistency of the world as it wants you to, not as you want to. Beyond those segments, Ori has to be timid in order to not be obliterated 2 seconds and progress the story. I tried so hard to be fast--I even pretended it was a metroidvania and went to find the last two abilities at around halfway to get stronger than I should be at that point in the story. Voila, they were useless, and usually outright detrimental to use because the storyline areas are designed to be platformed in 1 single way which doesn't include those abilities.
Look, I wish I liked this game. I know I'm still unreasonably mad at it while writing this. My score for it is probably unreasonably low as a result, but it's my opinion at the end of the day. The OST and art are amazing, and I appreciate the unique product and that some may be compelled by the story. I want more games to be less doom and gloom, more pretty colors. The forest is also a good setting overall--the audiovisual orchestration makes it feel alive, no small feat. Also, I know hard platforming can be frustrating--also concurrently playing Celeste, which I do not hate and actually quite like. Mechanical platforming might be my kink, idk. I think what I ultimately couldn't forgive while playing this game is how much game was sacrificed to create the world. It is beautiful, yes, but the experience of playing OBF is compromised at every turn by how beautiful it is. I can get over game design I don't like to enjoy an overarching product (seriously, R-stick, we could be friends if you were the only problem), but OBF puts the conceptual product miles ahead of the game I just spent 7 hours not enjoying between cutscenes. I hope WotW addresses these concerns, but I won't be pulling it from the backlog until my newfound hatred for orbs of light has subsided.