PunBuck McSquintil Christmas wrote:You've proven my point though. Those are the only examples you can think of because there's not that many of them - most levels on SM64, in order to be completed, have to be selected beforehand.
I've given you examples for 3 levels, because I couldn't be arsed to do it for more. But here's a quick addition: if you have the first star on Bob-omb battlefield and have activated the red switch, you can get any of the remaining stars in any order you like.
In fact I can think of three levels that slightly change after getting the first star (Bob-omb battlefield, whomp's fortress, dire dire docks). In all other cases, if you can't get a star it's due to other things: whether or not the switches or the cannons are activated.
You're stating this as a strength to SM64 over its sequels, [...]
No, I very explicitly did not, what I said was "I'm not saying anything about the quality of the other games, but 64 is so different from them, gameplay-wise, that you could say that in that sense they're not proper sequels."
I didn't say anything about which I thought was better, knowing this is very subjective. I, personally enjoyed that Super Mario 64 put as much emphasis at exploring a level as it did on completing some objective to get a star, but I know that's down to personal taste.
Secondly, how is this a strength when it's clearly evidence that the game is simply re-using the exact same environments but with multiple star locations? [...] Nintendo knew this was cheap - they did it to get the game out on time!
Again, personal taste, but it didn't bother me in the slightest. Quite contrary, I really enjoyed exploring levels, deciding which objective / star to get first.
They didn't do this with Sunshine, with far more of the levels unique and tailored to the scenario.
I see how people see this as an improvement, it also makes the game (a bit) more linear.
So if your argument is, Super Mario 64 re-uses the same exact levels multiple times, more often than Sunshine does, then I concede that you are correct. There are more situations in Mario 64 where you can enter a world and get multiple stars from that starting point, than there are in Sunshine - you are right.
It is.
But there aren't many.
It is, in fact, the majority. I mentioned 3 examples above where the first star in the level is fixed. If you think there are more cases where the order is fixed than please provide examples.
So I'll repeat what I said before: I hope there'll be another game that puts as much emphasis on exploration and gave you as much freedom as Super Mario 64 did. I also hope there'll be more games like Super Mario Galaxy. There all cracking games. In their own ways.