15th January 2017, 12:39 AM
Well, while you are right that Peach is pretty much one of the worst video game characters of all time, overall, at least Nintendo has published Mario games where she is playable! In contrast, as much as as a character Zelda is far better, she has never been playable in a Zelda game made by Nintendo itself, outside of her spirit moving those stone statues around in Spirit Tracks. And as while story does matter I always consider gameplay to be the most important thing, this is a pretty serious indictment of Nintendo's 'not as terribly portrayed' main princess! Yeah, Zelda's a way better character than Peach, often off doing her own things as you say before inevitably getting kidnapped at some point... but she is never playable like she should be, something even Peach manages to do better. And anyway, that fact that she IS off doing her own things makes the fact that she's never playable so much worse! There are so many ways that almost every Zelda game could have had Zelda as a playable character... but, exclusively because of sexism I would say, she never is. It's incredibly disappointing.
Beyond that, a few things from the presentation I didn't mention:
I see many core gamers complaining about the fact that motion controls are back and that Nintendo put that functionality in the controllers, and are working on several major motion titles (1-2-Switch and Arms). Well, I couldn't disagree more with that! I was kind of afraid that Nintendo was going to ditch them, because some motion games are pretty fun, but fortunately they didn't do that. I'm not sold on either of these titles, that is true, as I said 1-2-Switch does not look impressive, but the fact that the Joycon controllers have gyroscopes in them and that there is also a motion-sensing camera in one of them are great things. I do want to see Nintendo making motion games again. Sure, motion is better in VR, but how many people right now can afford a VR headset, much less have the setup to be able to do it justice with a large open space for room-scale stuff? Nintendo knows that VR is not at the point where it's a mass-adoption product yet. It's cool, but niche, and I do think that there is still a place for non-VR motion games.
So what about those two games? Well, 1-2-Switch looks not so great because it seems to be very focused on timing stuff -- it's all about audio, and your reaction time as you try to use the controller in the way that minigame wants you to, at the right time based on audio cues. That's a very limiting concept though as anyone with faster reaction times will win this every time, making for a pretty short-lived experience as a party game I think. And while you can make different motions in different minigames, doesn't this seem to really restrict the actual variety of gameplay in this title, if it really is all about doing motions at just the right moment based on audio cues? This makes me think a bit of rhythm games as well, which of course I hate... (Rhythm Heaven Fever, a pretty popular Wii game from Nintendo, is in my personal bottom 5 worst Wii games list, for example.) Plus, will it have a single player mode, or is it only two player? I have to assume that being a $50 retail title there will be single player, but what will it be? It hasn't been shown. Sure, the games' trailer is amusing, but the actual gameplay? Not so much.
As for the other game, the fighting/boxing game Arms, it has more promise, but also some potential issues. The basic idea here seems to be taking the Wii Sports Boxing title, but expanding it with more depth, moves, and variety, to make it a more complete and fleshed-out title. Wii Sports Boxing is something I played like... maybe once ever, though, so that reference is not a draw for me for sure. I do like fighting games, but not boxing ones in almost all cases; the only boxing game I can think of liking in any way is Teleroboxer for the VB, but that's more because of the VR than anything and even there I have not played much of that game. (I don't believe I have ever played a Punch-Out game.) So, will this be more of a fighting game, or boxing? The trailer did look interesting, as you throw your springy fists at the other player in various different ways, with different arm attachments for varied attacks/motions and such. I don't know if it will work or not, but Arms could be fun, sure. I'd like to try it sometime.
On a related note though, while everything we saw gameplay-wise from Mario Odyssey looked great, returning to my first paragraph of this post, if this game does indeed go back to having only Mario as a playable character as it seems sure to be doing, that will be unfortunate; Mario 3D World did something better there, and it's too bad that they're going back to the awful old standby of "rescue Peach from Bowser" instead of having female characters be playable again. Seriously Miyamoto, it's not, like, 1930 anymore, even cartoon storytelling has advanced past Popeye! Recall how Miyamoto has compared the Mario stories to being Popeye-inspired plays with Mario as Popeye, Bowser as Bluto, and Peach as Olive Oyl, how some Mario games have 'theater' settings, etc. The 'play' setting stuff is kind of clever, but that's no excuse for his "plot = rescue the female" crutch that he inserts in so many games. But anyway... has nobody made a Mario Galaxy hack where you play as Rosalina yet? That should happen someday!
Beyond that, a few things from the presentation I didn't mention:
I see many core gamers complaining about the fact that motion controls are back and that Nintendo put that functionality in the controllers, and are working on several major motion titles (1-2-Switch and Arms). Well, I couldn't disagree more with that! I was kind of afraid that Nintendo was going to ditch them, because some motion games are pretty fun, but fortunately they didn't do that. I'm not sold on either of these titles, that is true, as I said 1-2-Switch does not look impressive, but the fact that the Joycon controllers have gyroscopes in them and that there is also a motion-sensing camera in one of them are great things. I do want to see Nintendo making motion games again. Sure, motion is better in VR, but how many people right now can afford a VR headset, much less have the setup to be able to do it justice with a large open space for room-scale stuff? Nintendo knows that VR is not at the point where it's a mass-adoption product yet. It's cool, but niche, and I do think that there is still a place for non-VR motion games.
So what about those two games? Well, 1-2-Switch looks not so great because it seems to be very focused on timing stuff -- it's all about audio, and your reaction time as you try to use the controller in the way that minigame wants you to, at the right time based on audio cues. That's a very limiting concept though as anyone with faster reaction times will win this every time, making for a pretty short-lived experience as a party game I think. And while you can make different motions in different minigames, doesn't this seem to really restrict the actual variety of gameplay in this title, if it really is all about doing motions at just the right moment based on audio cues? This makes me think a bit of rhythm games as well, which of course I hate... (Rhythm Heaven Fever, a pretty popular Wii game from Nintendo, is in my personal bottom 5 worst Wii games list, for example.) Plus, will it have a single player mode, or is it only two player? I have to assume that being a $50 retail title there will be single player, but what will it be? It hasn't been shown. Sure, the games' trailer is amusing, but the actual gameplay? Not so much.
As for the other game, the fighting/boxing game Arms, it has more promise, but also some potential issues. The basic idea here seems to be taking the Wii Sports Boxing title, but expanding it with more depth, moves, and variety, to make it a more complete and fleshed-out title. Wii Sports Boxing is something I played like... maybe once ever, though, so that reference is not a draw for me for sure. I do like fighting games, but not boxing ones in almost all cases; the only boxing game I can think of liking in any way is Teleroboxer for the VB, but that's more because of the VR than anything and even there I have not played much of that game. (I don't believe I have ever played a Punch-Out game.) So, will this be more of a fighting game, or boxing? The trailer did look interesting, as you throw your springy fists at the other player in various different ways, with different arm attachments for varied attacks/motions and such. I don't know if it will work or not, but Arms could be fun, sure. I'd like to try it sometime.
Quote:I know you dislike open world design, but I'm looking forward to the new Mario game. It's clear from both the Mario and Zelda trailers we've seen that they are making a point of making every location well designed instead of just scenery to gawk at.They're comparing this Mario game in design to 64 and Sunshine, so I'm not expecting a true open-world game, but a 3d platformer with big hub worlds. That is something I have liked plenty well, as the games always have something to focus on -- the stars, shines, golden bananas, what have you, and the good 3d platformers come up with some pretty good mission ideas for how to get those items. I'm sure each level here will be a lot bigger than those in Mario 64, but they are themed hubs.
On a related note though, while everything we saw gameplay-wise from Mario Odyssey looked great, returning to my first paragraph of this post, if this game does indeed go back to having only Mario as a playable character as it seems sure to be doing, that will be unfortunate; Mario 3D World did something better there, and it's too bad that they're going back to the awful old standby of "rescue Peach from Bowser" instead of having female characters be playable again. Seriously Miyamoto, it's not, like, 1930 anymore, even cartoon storytelling has advanced past Popeye! Recall how Miyamoto has compared the Mario stories to being Popeye-inspired plays with Mario as Popeye, Bowser as Bluto, and Peach as Olive Oyl, how some Mario games have 'theater' settings, etc. The 'play' setting stuff is kind of clever, but that's no excuse for his "plot = rescue the female" crutch that he inserts in so many games. But anyway... has nobody made a Mario Galaxy hack where you play as Rosalina yet? That should happen someday!