The main issue with the Zelda game puzzles will definitely be finding the "one solution fits all" solution and then only use that one solution for the rest of the game. I feel like modern Zelda games really suffer the same style of problem that New Horizons did: too many creative options. It sounds crazy, but I'm just missing the more linear and restrictive styles.
Super Mario Jamboree seems to be taking a lot of lessons from Superstars and criticisms from the original Super to heart, which I love. There were only a small number of boards in Super Mario Party, and they were both small and really grid-based. These new boards feel much larger and feel less grid-based and more "free." Super excited for it. I also love the balance of having some brand new boards but also a couple returning ones! But yeah, I hope we see more DLC boards!
I can see where you’re coming from re: your Zelda take. When I saw the gameplay of Zelda stacking beds to get over a ledge I was like… this is a little too “memey” and just feels weird
For being year 7 in the life of the Switch this was filled with more positives than negatives for me. Super Mario Party Jamboree was my fave today with MP4 and Mario and Luigi a close second. Thanks for your thoughts on the Direct
Honestly considering it was likely the last Switch 1 direct it was definitely very solid all around. Props to Nintendo for supporting the system all the way through.
I 100% agree on the main gameplay gimmick of the LoZ game they showed so far. It's hard to put into words but I had the same reaction to the things like the bed thing, you described it pretty well. I would consider myself a gigantic fan of the series and I even loved BOTW, but I agree with you on the recent games.
What really bothers me about the new Zelda games is that all of these weird and kind of dumb solutions they present are on such a different level from the old puzzles the series was known for. It feels like instead of making interesting or intricate puzzles, they just sort of throw tools at you in the hopes that one of them allows you to solve it. The trailer had some interesting things, like the fan section, but otherwise everything else felt like you were exploiting the games' mechanics to progress, but in the lamest possible way. Spawning a bunch of tables and climbing over them is not nearly as interesting as even the climbing in Breath of the Wild. It also does the thing TotK does where it makes the combat way more clunky than it needs to be. Having to manually spawn a rock in, then pick it up, then throw it already looks like it's going to be annoying, similar to how you had to fuse things to every single arrow individually in TotK. Overall I don't really mind too much, but after playing Majora's Mask last year, I can't help but feel like the older, more linear progression makes the game flow better
I agree with everything you said about the Zelda game except for the playable Zelda part. I feel like a playable Zelda was long overdue.THIS just wasn't the way to do it. I much would've preferred a Sheik game.
I think the concept has potential, but I don’t see them executing it well. It just looks like they took a 2D Zelda game, and ripped out the combat for no reason. And then on top, the puzzles are probably as basic as BotW/TotK since that “do anything” design philosophy has been brought over. Like, what is the point of this game that BotW/TotK doesn’t already accomplish? It just looks like a 2D version of that. A new 2D Zelda could’ve been a way to cater to traditional fans so that both audiences are satisfied. But it looks like they have no interest in that outside remakes. Granted, a Zelda-led game would’ve played differently anyway, but he brought up “breaking the conventions” again which leads me to think it would’ve been different even if it starred Link. Especially given his comments semi-recently about past Zelda games. Funny that he’s all about “breaking conventions” now, except for things like art style or even location. No, apparently it’s completely fine to reuse LA’s models verbatim, and probably use the same/similar LttP or LA map instead of something different. Why not challenge the conventions of grass/fire/water/desert themes? There’s sections of that dark world with random objects that have fallen through the darkness, which is new but that’s it. And even that’s been done a few times already (LttP, TP, LBW). Heck, I checked, and it doesn’t even look like there’s new enemies except maybe that windup toy Zelda uses. Which might just be an item at best.
Yeah same, Mario and Luigi and Mario Party are what I'm lookin forward to most. Also not a fan of the blocky minecraft-style and "create your own puzzle solution" style of this zelda as well as Totk. I'll prob get this one, but it generally feels pretty lazy.
I was hoping since 3D Zelda is all about non-linearity, that 2D Zelda could be that classic linear design to satisfy both audiences. I know a game starring Zelda would be different regardless, but the fact Aonuma once again brought up “breaking conventions” has me believe that they wouldn’t have bothered making another 2D Zelda unless it was “unconventional”. Which ironically means it IS conventional, just to the new standard that BotW set at least. Where it’s just “you make your own solutions based on things in the environment”. Which already felt cheap in BotW/TotK, because there’s really just one main way to solve those puzzles that they designed, which is very basic, and if you happen to find another solution with your assortment of tools then you might find a workaround. But it feels more like finding a loophole than being clever. Because when the puzzles are as simple as “Move [object] to [destination]” with no other stipulation, what does it matter if you made an intricate catapult or defaulted to the pre-built aircraft or just attached a rocket? There’s no incentive to think further, and outside the initial fun of creating something unique, it wears off when it’s a bigger time commitment with no other reward. This game is entirely puzzle-focused compared to BotW/TotK, so maybe it’ll fair better, but I’m not holding my breath. Especially when they use the same “mile long list” method of managing inventory. Even if you do have puzzles that could have rewarding solutions, how could you WANT to think further? That means spending more time scrolling through a huge list trying to find those specific items. A list that will constantly shift around. In reality, there’ll be so many, that you’re just going to use whatever is within the first 5-10 slots. Because otherwise the game will take way longer than it should. And you know there’s going to be a bunch of items that share the same functions. One way to balance this would be items found within a dungeon can only be used there, and the overworld is separate. Or there’s a limit to the amount of items you can hold at once (say 20). Neither of which has been confirmed/denied by footage that I’ve seen yet, so it’s possible it’s better balanced. But I’m still cautious because that goes against Aonuma’s newfound “do anything” approach by having even some kind of limitation. Even if that would mean a better experience. It’s sad. Zelda was my favourite franchise, and now I’m on the verge of dropping it entirely. They really just turned it into some kind of Ubisoft/Minecraft hybrid, and dropped nearly everything that was great about it. Sure the overworld is better populated with things (as far as the 3D games go), but music, characters, story, puzzle/dungeon design, are all far weaker than any of the entries before. People say BotW is more “authentic” just because it was open-world/non-linear “like the NES game”, even though the NES one had labyrinthian dungeons and items tied to dungeons. Story/characters weren’t really possible on NES because of hardware limitations, so that isn’t fair and was usually relegated to manuals. Plus, you can’t create a formula starting with LttP, and continue that for 20+ years and say that “isn’t Zelda”. Sorry, but it doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t matter what’s in your head, that’s not you sold and we played. The result (those games) is what the series was. It’s not like they played wildly different to be hard to narrow down what it was like Paper Mario or something, it was extremely consistent.
Josh with Zelda you’re not alone on the art-style take, a lot of people thing it looks like a cheap Funko pop cop out. It doesn’t fit the series. Even Arlo thinks so. I avoided Link’s Awakening just because of it. I couldn’t stand everything looking like a tiny toy.
Zelda Echoes of the Past is a weird one for me. I don't mind having her playable for the first time, but her gameplay to me looks boring. The gameplay looks a bit too inspired by the gimmick of TOTK's contraption-making and crafting. The object echoing isn't really great imo, I agree with you there. It almost feels like Minecraft, which is a fun game, but I feel like we don't need that in 2D Zelda.
As soon as I saw another Link's Awakening game, I was already skeptical since I wanted a remake of Minish Cap or the highly underrated Oracle games. Then, I saw a playable Zelda and thought, "Great, all the weirdos on Twitter who think Link shouldn't be a part of the series anymore just got tons of ammunition." But then... that awful gameplay gimmick hit, and I immediately lost all interest in the game. You just know there's going to be 100% chair speedruns for this game when it comes out.
Would have liked a more old skool 2d zelda myself. With those mechanics you always end up with the most powerful / broken abilities and its gimps the dungeon and game design for it a lot. Prob lackluster dungeons if any at all. We shall see
Good review and yup they dropped the ball again with the new zelda. I really didn't want to see that toy art style again. It should have been a one and done. The modern four swords or toon style is more expressive and suited for Zelda...and zelda would never fight with random furniture pieces. They should have just made her fight with magic!!! I don't think it was a good direct. Even the new mario game looks off. They look almost soul-less. I mean some of the environments especially the water on the suspension bridge part look incredible....so we shall see
Every Switch Mario Party people predict DLC before the game even comes out due to a low board count. I could buy maybe Rainbow Castle and Western land were scrapped DLC for Superstars, but I feel strongly the fandom is getting their hopes up by yet again speculating Jamboree will get DLC even when it comes with *7 boards* which the series hasn't done in ages. If they wanted to do that, they would have saved the two Superstars boards to release as DLC later since they've already proven people will gladly buy a game with 5 boards.
They could release paid DLC "Party Packs" that give us 1 or 2 new boards and 2 new playable characters for like $15. I would happily pay and I'm sure many others would too.
@@TheBitBlock I would too, and people have been begging for those types of packs since SMP, but time and time again NDCube makes it clear they're not interested in doing MP DLC and just moves to the next. They would save these 2 classic boards for that if they were going to since Mario Parties clearly sell fine with 5 boards to start. I just think expecting DLC for a 7-board game is silly after 6 years of expecting DLC for 4/5-board games went nowhere. Will we MP fans never learn?
I feel like if we got Prime 4 earlier in the Switch's life (like 2019, 2020, or early 2021), then we definitely would have received Sylux as a DLC character in Smash Ultimate. Either as a new, relevant character like Pyra/Mythra and Min Min or a character to advertise an upcoming game (if Prime 4 came out in later 2021 or 2022).
You’d think that they’d also remaster Metroid Prime 2 and Metroid Prime 3 so people who have never played those before can play them before the 4th one comes out. To me, that seems like a fantastic holiday game pack idea that could make a lot of money in anticipation of the 4th one coming soon…idk maybe I’m alone in thinking this…
replayed the first 3 mario and luigi games last year did not think the series would comeback glad to see a new one at least it was the most exciting announcement to me
They should have the island change like fortnite lol in Mario Party maybe there's a blizzard during the winter and we get some Christmas themed boards or some good spooky Halloween boards. The ideas are endless!
I couldn't believe the Metroid Prime 4 exists, I believed it was never made to begin with till recent. Just Brothership for me. You give a B-, while I give a C.
I got Mario & Luigi and Donkey Kong Country Returns on Switch. I'm a happy chappy. I do think Echoes of Wisdom game looks terrible though. Like, I would love to play as Zelda. But, I want all of this Garry's Mod garbage out of Zelda.
I know how you exactly feel about all of the Princess Zeldas within the timeline of the series (granted, unlike you, I’d enjoy most of them). I’m sick and tired of Nintendo fans praising Lucina from Fire Emblem as THE best character within THAT series, when she’s completely boring as hell, and I don’t like her at all. Why the hell her and Bayonetta were chosen over Dixie Kong in Smash Bros STILL pisses me off to this day.😡
I mean, Bayonetta may not be anyone's favorite (though I know some people who she is), but she does represent what is effectively a new Nintendo IP at this point. One that had no other characters representing it, so it makes sense they'd add her. And, unfortunately, she's not from a series known for having dozens of characters in every game, which is why Fire Emblem gets so many characters and clones. Dixie could be really cool. I'd love her to have a flutter on her second jump with her spinning hair like Peach's parasol. That said, I honestly just want Nintendo to double down on their franchises with 0 or only 1 rep first. I'd love for every 1st party Nintendo game to have 2 reps each, minimum. Though DK would probably be the first one with 2 reps I'd give a 3rd to
@@josh6453 I said "effectively". It's a Nintendo exclusive and the devs went so far as to respond to people asking for the new games on other consoles to tell them they might as well ask Nintendo to put Zelda on other consoles. Any permanent exclusive is "effectively" a Nintendo IP, since it'll never be on other consoles unless Nintendo chooses to drop it as one, like Fatal Frame (partially owned by Nintendo but no longer exclusive as of this gen)
@@Chronoflation Well, hopefully, the other games in that niche series get ported to other consoles as well. Just look at Fatal Frame, as you mentioned, and the Wonderful 101, for examples.
@@josh6453 lol, so basically you want the game to go multiplat so it doesn't have to be represented in Smash 😂 whatever. It may be niche, but the main entries sell well enough. It's doubtful Nintendo will let it go since it is basically their signature M rated franchise these days. They don't have any others
Refined puzzles that are solved through making me think of things in a new way and not just haphazardly throwing shit to see what sticks. That's the thing about unlimited options, it let's you do everything the way you think naturally, so whatever your first thought solution that might work often will work out. Puzzles where I have to figure out something I don't already know or my first crazy "I wonder if I can..." idea won't work. It's not really a puzzle if I don't need to solve anything. It's more like an obstacle course that I can cheese. I get that feeling from this game and Tears. Sure, it can be fun, but it's not really what I go to Zelda for. I prefer that in platformers like Mario, where the goal is kinda to figure out how to get tho the goal as quickly as possible. I saw the d-pad icon on the left side of the screen in the gameplay for the Zelda game with the tri-rod on the right button with the other 3 blank. I hope there are some better things in those other 3 slots that make the game more fun than just spawning whatever I want wherever I want to solve everything
Seems you misinterpreted what he was saying. He likes the kind of puzzles they were making for 20+ years before BOTW, not the janky open solution type stuff that BOTW introduced and has kinda overstayed its welcome in some ways.
@Chronoflation i also much prefer the one real intended solution over the multiple random things can work. My main thing for this though is i see that as the only option here because otherwise they end up with the sticker star problem of you need this 1 thing and have to go somewhere completly different to get it with no real indication that its what you actually need.
Zelda with an old map and reused assets? And you play as Zelda? Written by she/her American writer? No one wants that. Metroid written by she/they who claims that Samus is transsexual? No thanks.
