Ori games

[evil_ash_xero]

I downloaded "the blind forest" on PC. I'm not sure what I think of it yet. Why is Ori so small? I mean, do they expect everyone to be playing this on a 50 inch + TV? It is for sale on PC,
so I'm sure they know people will be playing it on smaller monitors. I can only imagine this on a handheld Switch. oof
Any PC mods where you can zoom in?

How does the second one compare to this? I mean, the game is beautiful. But I don't know if it's really gonna grab me. I'm still early on.
Too bad Hollow Knight couldn't have had these kind of graphics.

Opinions?

[Marc]

I started it and really enjoyed what I played, need to get back to it ASAP. For me, it was the movement I enjoyed, one of those games like Symphony of the Night where control of the character just feels so smooth and fun that it elevates the game from the off.

[opt2not]

I just found out the other day that the creator of Another Metroid 2 Remake is a Level Designer on the Ori games. I thought that was pretty interesting.

[evil_ash_xero]

Ori has all the trappings of a top-notch metroidvania, but I don't think it's that. Let's say I'm not happy with the heavy puzzle-platformer spin and some of the core gameplay mechanics/skills you unlock. It's still a game everyone needs to play though, and it certainly has its moments. Let's chat once you're done with your playthrough, lest I spoil anything.

PS. I'll take Hollow Knight's visuals over Ori, and in terms of gameplay it's apples to Toyotas.

I didn't mean that I wanted HK to look like Ori. Just to have the same level of quality. I'm just not a fan of flash style graphics. It reminds me a lot of Castle Crashers.
I did finish HK and got the "good ending". If one would call it that. I think well of that game, but the graphics are the weak point.
Also, I used to find it very clever to have "nonsense languages" in games, when I started to run into it in the Team Ico games, and Gravity Rush. Okami was weird, as
they were supposed to be speaking in Japanese. Anyway, it's pretty irritating at this point.

But yeah, I'll chime in once I finish this one.

Is the second one better?

[evil_ash_xero]

This game gets a bit tricky. Lots of trial and error, especially with the escape sections.

I'm still shocked no one has mentioned how eye squintingly small your character is. The only thing that comes to mind, to compare it to, is some parts
in the current Rayman games, when the camera zooms out. I'm playing this on a 32 inch TV. I have a 27 inch computer monitor. I can only imagine.
I will get around to trying that, but I'm expecting to have to put my reading glasses on.

Seriously.

[kitten]

i played the first one some time ago and felt like it was "kind of okay" up until a certain point where the game just turned into donkey kong country. there's an ancient gaf thread where the designer popped in to say he'd "improve" mario by gating your abilities and denying you anything but jump at first and i really think it is indicative of how poisoned his brain is by metroidvanias & other modern gaming ideas that needlessly bloat and add nothing. it is kind of pretty for as far as these heavily tweened games go but even the backgrounds are ugly by the end of it.

also, the combat is completely horrible and really, really superfluous.

[orange808]

i played the first one some time ago and felt like it was "kind of okay" up until a certain point where the game just turned into donkey kong country. there's an ancient gaf thread where the designer popped in to say he'd "improve" mario by gating your abilities and denying you anything but jump at first and i really think it is indicative of how poisoned his brain is by metroidvanias & other modern gaming ideas that needlessly bloat and add nothing. it is kind of pretty for as far as these heavily tweened games go but even the backgrounds are ugly by the end of it.

also, the combat is completely horrible and really, really superfluous.

How is earning additional abilities in an exploration platformer a modern idea? That's been a thing since the mid-80's.

Pixel art is passe and I have made fun of it in the past. Now, I think it really is best.

For me, the problem with abandoning pixel art for platform games is imprecise platforming. It makes it difficult to judge where the edges of platforms are. The dev can adjust for it, but the results are boring. All good platformers have "last moment" jumps. If the visuals don't allow for that, it's a bad design.

Combat also suffers with plenty of hand drawn games, because the hit boxes don't seem to match what's on screen.

[kitten]

^ gating platformer abilities is probably *very nearly* as old as platforming as a genre, but gating the unlock of basic movement abilities over a long-course game (it was considered very novel in rockman x that there was a single mobility upgrade) is definitely a newer thing that has risen so much in its common exercise that it's now nearly inescapable. while it's usually phrased as you just did as gaining new abilities, what it is is just stripping them so they're "rewards." it's usually just bloat - another way to drip feed any interesting idea the game has so that it's longer than it needs to be and less impactful on a replay. once the point of many classic game genres, replay has almost been totally forgotten in today's gaming vernacular except when facilitated by procedural content (another ugly bag of worms and absence of design).

[orange808]

^ gating platformer abilities is probably *very nearly* as old as platforming as a genre, but gating the unlock of basic movement abilities over a long-course game (it was considered very novel in rockman x that there was a single mobility upgrade) is definitely a newer thing that has risen so much in its common exercise that it's now nearly inescapable. while it's usually phrased as you just did as gaining new abilities, what it is is just stripping them so they're "rewards." it's usually just bloat - another way to drip feed any interesting idea the game has so that it's longer than it needs to be and less impactful on a replay. once the point of many classic game genres, replay has almost been totally forgotten in today's gaming vernacular except when facilitated by procedural content (another ugly bag of worms and absence of design).

I can't agree. Super Metroid has no real replay value outside of "hey, I memoriesd the game and now I can finish it faster" without the initial fun of discovering everything for the first time. You might play it again because you like it, but there's nothing new to see. In fact, I need power ups to win, so I don't even get the NES Zelda no ring, sword, or sheild option.

Beating the clock is nice, I guess, but Pikmin is infinitely more appealing for a second or third attempt to see how fast you can finish.

I don't care for most rouguelikes, because the randomisation is often superficial and they often employ permadeath. Beyond Castle Wolfenstein is a nice road map for a somewhat randomised games with "fresh" feeling replays, but few games embrace the things that made it good.

For straight up replay value without any significant differences, I found more replay in the Metal Slug series than in adventure platforms like Metroid, because the action takes over completely. It's a wonderful assault on the senses.

If you want replay value with something tangibly new in each play, Dishonored 2 had it. There's two heroes, stealth, kill everything, and the option to tell the outsider to go stick his superpowers up his ass. The combinations provided multiple play experiences that went beyond my memorisation from my initial play through.

Super Metroid has a good overall pacing. It balances new items and opening up the map well enough. I admit that doing things to make me hate a game will inherently damage replay. On the other hand, decent pacing doesn't automatically make a game worthy of a second visit for me. That just means I might consider playing again because I didn't hate the game.

[evil_ash_xero]

I've played some of the second game, and I really like the combat they added to it. The combat in the first one was almost an afterthought. It might not be super technical or anything, but
it's fun to do. Which is the most important thing.

I'm kinda getting into them. I get the feeling I'm going to like the second one moderately better, just because of the added emphasis on combat.

[evil_ash_xero]

I finished the first game, and enjoyed it a lot. It had a slow start, so I was worried I was going to get some... I dunno, story driven Western game, with slow/simple platforming.
I was quite wrong. I really liked all the tricky platforming bits, and it just got more impressive as it went on.
You guys shouldn't sleep on it. Give it a shot, at least. I'd recommend the 2nd one first, due to the combat and overall "additions", you'd expect in a sequel. It has bosses, which the
first one did not.

Onto the next one.