Barnsy! wrote:deathofcows wrote:Despite the game not doing much for me it's still nice to read Barnsy's and others' enthusiastic posts about it. I've been playing a couple of levels at a time (mainly because that's all I can tolerate at a time unfortunately) just because I'm so close to the end anyway.
Have just done the first three Bowser levels and they're probably some of the best so far. The electricity one was great and the wonder seed might be the first to make me properly Yay with delight - partly because of the surprise but also because of the banging music (I do not like the Wonder seed music much in general!)
Also I liked the slime being used more than once in the mushroom stages - nice to get to know a gimmick instead of it just being a one-and-done spectacle, though I realise this is probably anti-The Whole Point!
The bowser levels were good. Some of the flying battle ship ones - not so much (the hit the conveyor belt button once to break the machine being used in multiple levels = pointless).
Did you get to the final pre-credits boss - nothing overly challenging, but fairly interesting idea and a bit different - I liked it.
Sorry to read it wasn't a complete hit for you. Reading earlier replies in this thread there's people after having played a handful of levels either saying they loved or dislike it quite strongly. It's funny - you really know how you feel about this game with very little time and I don't really have anything much more insightful to say about the game than "I love it and just do", the opposite view is equally valid.
Gameplay aside what did you think of the aesthetic and general vibe of Wonder. It's interesting you like Yoshi story (as I do) but not Wonder so much, can I infer you like Yoshi Story more because of the vibe more than the gameplay? And does Wonder not evoke similar feelings? Wonder might not be deepest experience gameplay wise, but the game just imbues joy and I just find it really comforting to hang out in this world. Wonder seems to have picked up the baton from the Mario Movie, giving Wonder's Mario real emphasis on cartoony animation and expressive character, in the same way that NSMBU informed the aesthetic for Mario 3D World and the Wii U Mario sports game (which I found a little bland) I hope the 'Disneyfied' feel, vibe and look of Wonder is carried over to the other Mario games.
You're absolutely right with the undeniability (?) of just loving something, it just
working on you.
On that note, I'm not 100% I'll get this right, as I know I
don't really care for the game, but might be mistaken as to why exactly. Often I find these things are pretty tight Venn diagrams - i.e. I love Mario 64 and Sunshine so you'd think I'd be in the cohort of People Who Like 3D Mario Games but don't like Galaxy when everyone else did - I guess we were liking slightly different things! Recently I've been playing Sonic 2 and comparing it to the same level equivalents in Sonic Mania, and like the new ones less which sounds mad I know. But I guess the just-so of games I like is more specific (and fragile?) than it might seem you know? I literally can feel my eyes glaze over slightly in disinterest in Mania compared to Sonic 2 (is it the slightly numbing over-fullness of the more garish sounding remixes? Is it the increased visual fullness and animation detail in general that takes away some of the crisp, punchy purity and clarity? Is it the lonelier empty space of same-sized sonic in widescreen format? Or something else?!)
Anyway wrt: Yoshi's Story vs Mario Wonder my theories might be something like:
I don't just like Yoshi's story for the vibes, I think it plays great and gamefeel here is very important! I think the frenzied tap-a-tap run animation looks great and has great acceleration, and the lean-back of Yoshi when running/jumping gives real sense of forward momentum. There's also a great sense of (variable) hang-time in the jumps without feeling floaty. And the end-jump flutter feels powerful and like another lilt instead of just a jump-extension. Also the tongue is quick and snappy and the tongue-stuff like the gulp of fruit or those red balls that fling you spinning feel great in terms of platforming machinery. Etc. etc. There's just an immediate sense of right-on rightness to the gamefeel which automatically has me sold.
I also think it's aesthetically great. The Yoshi proportions are cool with their over-sized sneakers and this really adds to the gamefeel too due to the animation. The colour combos are rad. I really like the slightly lo-fi charm of the sprites a la DKC. The backgrounds looks great with real solidity and character. The music is cool and has bright vibes without being too twee (except for the sing-song bits maybe?) - there's also surprising stuff like the Hip-Hop rap stuff in the urban sewer-type levels and so on. For whatever reason it works for me.
Mario Wonder I suppose looks similar in terms of it being bright and colourful and feel-good, but for whatever reason I find myself zoning out with disinterest. I'm not sure if it's the decreased emphasis on bread-and-butter platforming compared to fidgets and gimmicks. Or the fact the platforming is less weighty and momentum-based (and I think of fun platformers as basically momentum-management) with its lighter, sprightly jump, which makes it feel less engaging to me in the moment. Or maybe its that the levels are so fleeting you don't get a chance to bed in to half of the ideas. Or maybe its just that things
feel thinner with the pogo-stick boing of the goofier sound effects. Or the slight flatness to the look which has some great colour and so on, but still feels a little tile-y and rigid to me? Or maybe it's the purple streak throughout the whole thing that looks a bit garish to me, or the annoying Wonder flower music that feels like carnival Zany... etc etc.
I couldn't definitively pinpoint The Thing (though I suspect momentum and music might be part of it) because just as it
works on you, rendering everything into joyous, obvious,
of-course-ness - because it leaves me cold the separate things don't come together in that way that you know you like when you feel it.
My point is: Yoshi's Story has an all-time platforming gamefeel okay
Sorry for long reply!