Everything Wrong With The Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series (And I Mean EVERYTHING!) 

I'll add some more notable things so this vid can be even MORE complete! lol Phantomile: -The percussion is missing from the level complete jingle, and is the full version everytime, instead of adding to the song the further into the game you got. (honestly they should have made it so the number of rescued phantomilians add instruments and length to the jingle, but that would require remaking a song and they refuse to do that at all.) -Not making new prerendered cutscenes, obviously not mandatory, but c'mon! -Grampa getting nuked from orbit plays out so slowly you just sit there watching as no one does ANYTHING to stop it. -Pamela's eyes have pinprick pupils even in her good form... She looks rabid. -The sand-slides in Cress look like piss. Like you are literally sliding down waterfalls of peepee. -The cutscene of Huepow revealing his true form is undercut by the railing on the bridge blocking the shot. Lunatea: -Klonoa barely opens his hands, they are constantly balled into a fist in scenes where he should be open-palmed. (it'd sure be neat to see the element that he's got in his hand but them fingers got an iron grip!) Dunno if these are problems from the og but... -That one doll in Ark 2... you know the one, why did they let that be almost impossible to get? -The cutscene when Popka is giving the pep-talk to Lolo, Klonoa is just snowboarding in place, it looks SOOOOO BAD, there has to be a better way to do that. (like at the very least don't have Klonoa on screen) I remember when I was playing these my sister was watching and she interjected with the comment "This really has a bargain bin/shovelware look to it." And I sadly have to agree with that sentiment, Namco-sorry, Bamco probably gave this remake a tight budget to work with. Minimize potential losses, which is evident with lack of a physical release in the west. But maybe all these problems will be ironed out when they do another REMAKE in 10 more years!

I haven't done a video like this in years, how was it?

a bug on my PS1 version that has been fixed in the remake is how laggy the cutscenes are, but those choppy animations were such a nice retro feel to it, kinda makes me miss them

I knew very little about Klonoa before Phantasy Reverie Series, and when it was announced in that Nintendo Direct, I was happy for other people that he was coming back. I'd decide to play the demo because I was bored, and that's when I fell in love with the series. In fact, Klonoa is my all-time favorite video game franchise, with Lunatea's Veil being my favorite video game of all time. After finishing Phantasy Reverie, I'd eventually get a PlayStation 2, which would've been the second time my family owned one, and naturally, I bought a copy of Lunatea's Veil. Upon playing it, I did notice some of the details that Reveries Series either botched up, fixed or kept in. My main gripe was how less expressive Klonoa was. A side gripe in the original was the fact that Popka just randomly vanished in the original version of the final cutscene. Glad they fixed it. But overall, I still love both games and the Klonoa games as a whole because, despite how dream-like its locations are, it's grounded in reality with the theme of letting loved ones go. This was especially impactful for me as someone who had to move away from people I loved dearly. I will continue to love this series, even if it may possibly never get another game or remake again.

One thing I don't like is in the Phantasy Reverie Series version of Klonoa 1 is that the levels we're intended for Klonoa's tall height in the Wii version and I found myself missing a lot of platforms and missing Moos that I constantly try to capture with the Wind Ring in the Phantasy Reverie Series. Hopefully, Bandi Namco can tweak the platforming to make it easier, if they patch the game.

when i first played the 2 playstation klonoa games, i didnt even somehow notice about the details that are supposed to make you scared, or shocked, or sad, i dont know why

Really good video , thx you !! i didn't noticed the eyes details. i'm shocked that you saw that haha. i got mostly everything you pointed in this video. And let's hope for a Klonoa 3 !

For months, i wanted to do a post on the Untamed Heart Klonoa Collective pointing out everything wrong with, well, the Phantasy Reverie Series, like this title says, although, life is sure getting busy, and besides, that'd take a tremendous amount of work for, people to probably not even care about it, and there is no way for me to get pictures from real hardware, not only do i not have a phone, i get nothing to capture from the TV, which is specifically something that matters for Lunatea's Veil, where PCSX2 to this day still isn't perfect, but i think we're close enough, but, motion effects, lighting rays and fog are missing unfortunately, the game feels dated on PCSX2 and PRS, but on real hardware, i never really thought too deeply about it all, well except for the some-what crappy animations. I should thank you for telling even more than what i would tell, specially when you use real hardware instead of emulation, but, no, i don't think this is a good gift for 25 years, it's a video cliche at this point to praise after sh*tting alot, just to ease, but, well, no, it's something i can't recommend people for. Few things i still want to say... No, the new PRS models are not great, many still praise these models, you already said that, yeah, the new expressions and cutscenes, are in-fact, well not great in PRS for both games and are broken that aren't actually suddle as you said, but noticable, but, i mean the models by their selves, despite being higher poly, they, just feel like made from memory versions of characters some one never really did before, look, i stared at these characters a lot already, specially Klonoa, i draw them from time to time. His DtP model, well, looks, not cute at all actually, and as always, awkward, like the rest of PRS' models, they are trying to be faithful, but can't, and, just are vague attempt at trying to look like them... And Klonoa's new snout... No thanks. Atmoshperically, both games here are completely lacking, you mentioned the lighting, broken effects, and worse cutscenes, yeah yeah, all count up to make it worse, but, man, these games, don't feel special anymore, they don't feel like games made out of love anymore, they don't capture just about, anything... They are soulless, they are not special, they just feel like games that ever released. Never play this version for first time, please, i beg all of you. But, maybe if you don't live in an inflated country like mine, you could buy it and, just, leave it alone. Wii-make has always been over-hated, and i used to not really like it when i found out about the Playstation version (yes, my first Klonoa game, was Wii.), but i grew out of it, i found more appreciation for it over time, even if is not a version i'd really say it is better than Playstation, but now, honestly the Wii-make feels more special and looks infinitly better than PRS lol, because it feels some-how less worse than PRS, it's better, and just you try to change my mind, besides, Wii-make still looks beautiful after all these years, mainly on real hardware, where jaggy polygons don't keep sticking out thanks for not having HDMI cables the Wii, and, the colors also are much better on Wii-make, they are not forced and overly colorful, lighting looks great, and effects work as intended, just the cutscenes that i think ruin the Wii-make some-what for me, i'm actually already fine with the Wii models, despite the re-designs, it is meant be modern, i don't like modernizing, but we live in a different time nowadays, where i feel like classic designs returning are far more common, but this is the 2000s, and i think the designs are over-hated. It just left me sad that, i saw many people over-praising this remaster, but i think it's just because of the hype that Klonoa shows up in playable form again, but, that does not matter to me, i'd rather Klonoa never show up again if this is what he had to show up for. Probably too harsh, and exagerating, but, i don't think Klonoa needs more, when it already has 7 games that, all offer enough, but since i'm an extrovert, i'd rather Klonoa not be a mainstream thing, and, actually remain as more of a niche, and Klonoa is i think at this point popular and recognizable enough and not obscure like how it used to be, but it isn't mainstream, is that good enough? I guess so. I just like being part of smaller communities really. Living in metropolis vs. small towns. I've seen far worse remasters or remakes, but, it's simple, passion, over-enthusiasm with Klonoa, i wanted him to do better, and this was the chance to perfect games, that are already nearly perfect, but it's not use, other than feeding Namco with money to tell you want more Klonoa.

I thought this was gonna be a "Gaming Sins" video when I saw the title.

Also great review!

fun fact: you CAN toss Tat in Fun Park! Very nicely done review. It really gave me a different perspective between the originals and this dual remake. I had played Lunatea's Veil for the first time through this collection and then acquired the original later so these subtle details you mentioned in the second section of your video were unknowst to me, and as a resident speedrunner for these titles, I really don't go out of my way to stop and smell the flowers that are the cutscenes and acute details.

They didn't add the the reverse mode and the side extra challenges that the Wii remake had. Though honestly, I don't know what they were going for with the former 18:02 The original game does have it with Ghadius. About L'sV Klonoa's broken facial animations, there is one in particular I'm surprised I haven't seen you mention (amidst the millions of things you did). When Klonoa enters and takes off the cannons objects, he soars in the air with a open mouth smile. It's completely inexistent on the remaster and I LOATHE IT 29:30 Not just that, but they can be much harder to read 35:52 And the Tat fight. Which they also gave a name for Although it's not technically official, the director of DtP, Hideo Yoshizawa, actually wrote a fanfic where he goes a bit on depth with Ghadius's backstory. It's in japanese, but it's been translated since. Highly recommend giving it a read You didn't mention it, but the extra life system for L'sV has been fundamentally broken. Easy mode literally makes every single possible extra lives in the game appear (including the ones that show up when you die a lot), which is of course useless. But on the opposite side, with normal and hard, there are even less "natural" extra lives than there's supposed to be. Gameplay wise to me, L'sV is mostly the same as og, and all that really changes are the bullet physics. Which are imo less flexible and fun to play with, but it doesn't mean much at the end of the day. However, DtP's case (and basically Wii) is completely different than og, and in my opinion way worse. The controls are way less responsible. For instance, you always take a moment to turn from one way to the other, as opposed to being able to do so instantly on the original. You have less control over the timing jumping ability (especially when you're about to land). When enemies hit you, they instantly push you very far away. And only laterally, unlike the old games where a hit would make you bounce a little diagonally opposed to the enemy. You have no coyote frames, and instead instantly fall at full speed. Not only this quirk can very easily trip people up if you're used to the crisp controls of the originals (who have those frames), but when you're working with small platforms like in 6-2, it can become quite frustrating to jump from platform to platform without having your jump input eaten because you didn't expect the game to consider you in a falling state. And also, the edges have this nasty property where even if it looks Klonoa could stand on them with one leg, he'll still get pushed. Presentation wise, too, the DtP remaster is really miss on me (and let's not talk about Wii). The cutscene and bosses execution really feels underwhelming. It all feels like everyone and everything is robotic, clearly executing one animation after another. Similarly, the boss execution in the game is hard for me to take seriously, as it's all presented to me as very childish. I don't like using the word, but Ghadius holding his hands high in the air at all time during the fight is personally cringe. Rongo-Lango, Joka and other bosses always take very distinct pauses of the same length before actually starting their next move, and it also break the immersion. Because... in the original, the bosses are infinitely more organic, their animations are way more complex, twitchy, they have actual transitions. To be fair, we are comparing 2D stuff to 3D one (somewhat). But that still doesn't excuse them for not making them more real. In a way, sure, L'sV could be said to have robotic animations (not for bosses, which remain fresh). But that's not so much of a problem there, as the game was first designed with that in mind. DtP never was, and KPRS (and Wii), took it and sucked all of its life away. Most notably with the ending cutscene (including the freaking song of rebirth that dares to *reloop*), where it just all looks so fabricated and unreal, I genuinely cannot take any of it seriously (in fact, I would usually stop caring about the pacing and story pretty early on in the game's rundown). Anyways. Very nice work editing this all together. Definitely the best video dealing with this specific topic currently. Good luck on your next endeavors.

Hi! Rare Klonoa Wiimake lover! 😂 The Wii version was my first game in the series, so I guess I went in with unbiased eyes! I really do love the english dub through all its faults. It's cheesy but it works! Klonoa's voice doesn't fit K1, but I think it definitely suits him in K2. It's more mature than his usual voice, but scenes like the Wii ending show the VA has range! If we were ever to get that Klonoa movie, I'd want that to be his VA. Love the video btw!!

Some of the changes with audio of Lunatea veil I interpreted of a different way for example when you heard the "Help me" after getting the first element and the music doesn't stop, yeah it lose the spooky factor, but it gives it a mysterious factor as well, it works nice for me, and with Leorina theme in Volk works well during the moment too that it doesn't stop, cause it shows how menacing Leorina can be at the moment, with the town music switch during that cutscene I agree anyway, that switch is weird during that moment in the remake, and in the case of the King of Sorrow battle when we received the 4 elements in Klonoa ring, yeah it loses the suspense moment, but considering how the theme sounds during that part it gives it a hopeful moment, which works excellent in that part pre 2nd form of the King of Sorrow, I enjoyed both remakes of Klonoa 1 and 2, and even when I played before Door to phantomile and I know the issues of the PRS version, I still enjoy it, someday I'll play the original Lunatea Veil when I have the chance, but I had a fun time with both remakes with issues and all it was a fun ride.

One thing about Kronos 2 prs is that the assets they made for it are actually really good! The remade renders in the scrapbook look aweseome but the decision to slap bloom all over it is just ??????

The Reverie series was my introduction to the Klonoa series, and I thought it was pretty great. I found the gameplay to be a lot of fun. It's a shame that it does not have the same charm in its presentation as the originals do. One feature this game has that I thought was incredibly strange was the "pixel filter." I found it a little novel at first but I had no use for it. I completely forgot about the feature by the time I completed the first Klonoa game in the package.

I think the lack of expressions in the Fantasy reverie remake of Lunatea's Veil is the thing that bugs me the most :(

“Better “ graphics does not equal better “cinematography “ for lack of a better term. I grew up with klonoa 2 and I was kinda disappointed by how bright and glowy everything is and the the worse lighting imo. The original klonoa 2 was much darker with more contrasting lighting that made the game have a much different atmosphere. I get the criticism for the Wii remake was too dark and muted compared to the ps1 but klonoa 2 was originally just that way and as a big fan of that game it bothers me . But I did buy the remakes and do enjoy them .

Wow, I really like your editing style. If there are any more franchises you like that have differences from the remaster and original, I'd love to see a video on them as well. As someone who's nearing 250 hours playing the original Door to Phantomile (insanity i know), many of the changes/problems are pretty big. Lighting/effects and modeling makes or breaks a scene, and the issues compared to PS1 is a pity. The change to 3d models makes sense, overall the sprite-based characters only work when the environment is low poly, like it is in ps1. So even with upscaled sprites, a highly detailed environment doesn't work imo. The Joka and Ghadius fights are my favorites. The transition from day to night are perfect in the original. And you didn't touch on it here, but Joka *actually* morphs into his night variant in PS1. In Phantasy Reverie (PRS), it's more "Joka instantly changes to his night variant". It's hard to explain in text, but watch his ps1 transition side by side and you'll hopefully understand what I mean. The Wiimake does this as well, but it's not as jarring because the bright flash of light covers the jump. Ghadius is a downgrade as well, for reasons you've already mentioned. The extra vision (that is, Balues Tower that you unlock for rescuing all phantomilians) also has cutscene differences. In PS1, after beating it, Lephise says to Balue that she loves him like a big brother (hilarious). Balue's heartbroken, it fades to black with just him shown, and getting smaller as the music stops and a bell plays in the background. By fade to black, I mean what happens at 47:40 just with Balue. PRS doesn't have Lephise say this, just that she's "sorry" before Balue cries. And while a bell still tolls, there is no fade to black. In PS1, at the end of the cutscene, it fades to black before the cutscene ends. But before this, Balue pops in once more and cries. Which is cut out in Phantasy Reverie, as it fades to black and the cutscene ends with no additional cry. Again, it's kinda hard to reference these if you haven't seen the cutscenes yourself so play them back and you'll notice it. I can't speak on Lunatea's Veil as I haven't played the original too much, but even in Phantasy Reverie the missing audio/visual cues are noticeable.

You've made a pretty comprehensive list of the changes and problems with the remasters, some of which I hadn't realized. I think that having changed the lighting and modeling of the characters in the remasters have caused many errors/bugs in small details that the developers did not review, I do not know if for lack of time or resources. It's a pity that a year later they haven't patched the game to fix these problems that I think would be easy to fix.

at 1:18:27 Popka also doesn't flap his arms to elevate himself and then glide, he just jumps really high up ?

Wow you sure have an eye 4 detail indeed, I played the original on ps1 and sequel on ps2, currently completing the Wii version . Unfortunately , I see this trend happening again and again when remaking older titles, they often make it too lit up and fuzzy looking, like my favourite Nes game ,Ufouria, its now getting a remake but the style is something akin to Kirbys Epic Yarn/ Yoshis Wolly world and im not against cuteness, Its just sad when they go for a fuzzy modern upscale instead of treating us to the same concepts and arts with modern graphics, great video analysis , hopefully well get more good Klonoa games in the future,.. him and the Jumping flash games are the ones I miss the most from the glorious Ps1 days

While I do agree with you a lot on what you said about the issues between Klonoa Phantasy Reverie series and the original versions of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (also counting the Wii remake) and Klonoa 2, I can't help but enjoy Klonoa Phantasy Reverie series every time I play it, mainly because it's also on Switch and I could enjoy the game anywhere I go, when playing on the go. But still, there's no denying that the original ones are better than the remake ones.

Klonoa wii is my personal favorite and I will defend it to the end of the world