The problem with having some of my first Metroidvania experiences be from the 2000's onward, is that I've been spoiled rotten on the amount of QoL that Wonder Boy III paved the way for. Although I respect anybody who enjoys this game (more power to you!), I, uh... didn't click.
Coming back to this one, I've struggled to remain engaged. The premise is interesting enough, being able to acquire items and unique animal transformations, each of which packs their own ability and allows you to explore further areas. The problem for me, was that the areas weren't interesting enough to be explored. You know those old Arcadey games where you've got a sword, and you're just holding right for the most part while swinging your weapon to one-hit kill oncoming threats? Like hack 'n slash games in which attacking takes significantly more precedence over platforming. That's what Wonder Boy's design feels like, these long horizontal flat stretches broken up by dungeons with even more horizontal stretches of enemy onslaughts.
There are some things the game does to try and spice things up, such as underwater areas, and wall climbing, but these things aren't enough to break up what you're gonna be doing for the whole game, which is run and slash. And with the game's basic combat feel, plus the game running at a lower frame rate (it seemed like 30) compared to most games of that time, the gameplay does not feel smooth and satisfying enough to justify trekking through it, especially in the instances where you might get stuck and will have to redo the areas you've already explored just to confirm if you didn't miss something.
I also wasn't a fan of the animal transformations being relegated to specific rooms, and would've rather preferred the option to transform into any animal with the press of a button, or via my menu whenever I wanted. A map could've been great too. As it currently is, I was not able to remember the specific locations of every animal transformation room, and sometimes I wound up in a room that required an animal that I wasn't currently transformed into. So, time to figure out where's the nearest transformation room, I guess! It was inconvenient and time-wasting.
In the future, I'm still interested in checking out the remake of Dragon's Trap, as I loved the art I saw in it, and am hopeful that it'll iron out some of my gripes about the lack of a map and the overly simplistic combat feel. Without those things, Dragon's Trap is a game full of neat ideas with a dull execution, and I wish I could've enjoyed this one a lot more than I did.
Coming back to this one, I've struggled to remain engaged. The premise is interesting enough, being able to acquire items and unique animal transformations, each of which packs their own ability and allows you to explore further areas. The problem for me, was that the areas weren't interesting enough to be explored. You know those old Arcadey games where you've got a sword, and you're just holding right for the most part while swinging your weapon to one-hit kill oncoming threats? Like hack 'n slash games in which attacking takes significantly more precedence over platforming. That's what Wonder Boy's design feels like, these long horizontal flat stretches broken up by dungeons with even more horizontal stretches of enemy onslaughts.
There are some things the game does to try and spice things up, such as underwater areas, and wall climbing, but these things aren't enough to break up what you're gonna be doing for the whole game, which is run and slash. And with the game's basic combat feel, plus the game running at a lower frame rate (it seemed like 30) compared to most games of that time, the gameplay does not feel smooth and satisfying enough to justify trekking through it, especially in the instances where you might get stuck and will have to redo the areas you've already explored just to confirm if you didn't miss something.
I also wasn't a fan of the animal transformations being relegated to specific rooms, and would've rather preferred the option to transform into any animal with the press of a button, or via my menu whenever I wanted. A map could've been great too. As it currently is, I was not able to remember the specific locations of every animal transformation room, and sometimes I wound up in a room that required an animal that I wasn't currently transformed into. So, time to figure out where's the nearest transformation room, I guess! It was inconvenient and time-wasting.
In the future, I'm still interested in checking out the remake of Dragon's Trap, as I loved the art I saw in it, and am hopeful that it'll iron out some of my gripes about the lack of a map and the overly simplistic combat feel. Without those things, Dragon's Trap is a game full of neat ideas with a dull execution, and I wish I could've enjoyed this one a lot more than I did.