ROUND 2: Johnny vs. Shantae and the Seven Sirens 

Came for the Round 2, stayed for Diego and Selene.

My name is Diego and I felt called out lol

After all... **We don't talk about Diego.**

'Tis the plight of becoming a master of cats. Those type of domestic mammals can be jerks, but less so than foxen. Just for a reminder, this is from a dog person.

Just put a carpet under the tree. I'm glad our basement is fully carpeted with thick carpet.

Wonder if Diego will go back in time to help a dinosaur find her kids.

@@GoGojiraGo Nah man, you got it all wrong; He can morph INTO a dinosaur.

...wait I forgot what selene was as a reference

@@tsyumamatsuthehavenofguard32 Greek Moon Goddess

@@Mekboy_ComputerMonster ooohhh

It peaked at Pirate's Curse imo, HGH was pretty meh to me, and seems that Seven Sirens is the same

This one is snappy too but I think the quality of the maps and new gameplay features got weaker or not as better implemented.

I agree that PC felt better to play than HGH. But I liked using Shantae's magic, that was a big appeal of her character

Snappy and balanced

I mean, the core content of the game is practically no different, it just has more characters and two more extra modes. I very much doubt he'd dedicate a whole video to that.

And Minecraft!

@@jacobmonks3722 IDK, maybe a much shorter video then

I'm waiting for the Round 2 videos on Arkham Knight and Breath of the Wild personally 😂

Dude I'm waiting for Terraria

There is no "Dancing through the Danger", Only *"Fear"*

The steam sales doesn't help. When a 60 dollar game is now 10 bucks and you have been meaning to get that game for a while, into the backlog it goes.

@@goldmemberpb I don't even have a PC and I have this problem. I buy way too many cheap used/on sale games and don't have time to play them all. But I can't stop buying more! It's a vicious cycle.

@@goldmemberpb or you can get a crack day one and play it any time you want without having to worry about DRM or money lol

@@TheSonicFan4 I do like all of the features steam has. I usually wait a while before buying a game anyway. So, any intrusive DRM will probably be talked about on social media and if I really wanted the game, I will get it for consoles or even GOG if I really wanted to.

Ha!

I really want Wayforward to Develop a 3D shantae Game, Because Honestly I was kind of getting burnt out on the 2D formula of Shantae.

Same with the spider-man PS4 game. I have a ton of incentive of doing a new game plus with my preferred costume

5:12 dude, there's a reason why people complain that megaman x dive should've came to the America's first and Japan second. People will eat those costumes up like flies here

Thank you RWBY Tuesdays~ May you have a VERY- *"Not-Die-for-Shock-Value"* Evening

I didn't even know this existed

This video is how I learned of the update. I ran off to play it to see what's different.

It’s an opinion not a fact

​@@djdndi they dint even say if it was the best game and if it is it's their opinion

They could still improve... Otherwise they will lose sales

@@jesusbarrera6916 I doubt that they’re fine

I mean, I've been juggling my backlog of games as I slowly progress through them. Recently, I've been playing the Donkey Kong Country games, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst, and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, and that was after my Mega Man binge.

@@smashmaster521 I'm making my way slowly but surely through Xenoblade Chronicles 2 but it keeps getting put on hold because I feel the urge to replay Sonic Adventure 2, Donkey Kong Country 2, or Chrono Trigger. And during this time I've also gotten Castlevania Aria of Sorrow, Dragon Quests 1-3, Final Fantasy Origins, Hades, and Batman Arkham City. I might have a problem.

@@jacobmonks3722 Hey, join the club. I still need to finish Chrono Trigger myself (I got some grinding to do before I can go through the Black Omen), and I wish SEGA would put the Sonic Adventure games on Switch because I really want to replay them. Also, do you prefer SNES Donkey Kong Country or GBA Donkey Kong Country?

@@smashmaster521 Never played the GBA versions but I think I'd prefer the SNES games anyway for the sound quality alone. If you're in the mid 40s or higher, you don't need to grind for the Black Omen. You can get by with good equipment and item steals (and the item steals in the Black Omen are absurd, go for them).

@@jacobmonks3722 Problem is, the enemies are a lot faster than me, and I also suck at stealing things with Ayla, so I have to grind before I even attempt the Black Omen.

That's not the only characterisation problem in this game; Risky actually got dumber for some reason. I mean, why did she just stand there and let herself get KO'd by what is essentially a paraplegic granny despite there being an open door RIGHT BEHIND HER!!??

@@Wanten-the-stormtrooper She's also extremely selfish and manipulates Shantae.

@@Mario9919DX Well, that's Risky for you; she literally tricked Shantae into assembling a dynamo to let her take over the Genie Realm last game. It's her infuriating lack of competency that seems more out of character imo.

@@Wanten-the-stormtrooper Also that.

Don't take this the wrong way. This is not an insult to your taste. If you like it, good. But I have to ask: Why would you like this game the most in the series? Do you ignore all the flaws which Johnny mentioned in his video?

@@tadaokou4919 *_LONG_* response incoming. I'll give you some brief reasons as to why it's my favorite. I can't go into full detail, because I would quite frankly be writing a thesis paper at that point. Trust me. You don't want that. I don't want that. I'd be writing this until dawn. Sorry for any tangents. I did my best. Simply put, it does more for me than the other games in the series, either through the way its gameplay is structured or through other aspects. Now, of course, it ultimately comes down to personal taste, but It's closer to what I expect from this series, and has the necessary foundation that I think the series would benefit the most from. For instance, one thing I love about this game over the other games is how you don't need to grind your butt off for 100%. The previous games have a bunch of expensive items that you're required to purchase in order to achieve 100%, which I enjoy doing in metroidvania styled games because...well, that's part of the fun. But that's such a bothersome chore because, by the time I reach the end of the games, I would need to stop everything I'm doing just to mindlessly grind gems 2-3 times just to afford them all. Im not even going to use majority of the stuff I'm buying. Pirate's Curse is the worst in this regard, in my opinion. I find the temporary, one-use items to be more useful than more than half of the permanent powerups, the ones that are required for 100%. In Seven Sirens, you never need to grind. Period. It gives you so many different ways to earn enough gems to buy what you need to. BUT, the game takes it a step further by making it so that none of the shop items are required for 100%. That's FANTASTIC because it lets me buy what _I_ want, especially since, just like previous titles, I'm not gonna use them all. If I'm not speedrunning, I'm 100% it. And it bogs the pace down to a screeching halt. Not a problem here, and I like that. That _alone_ boosts its priority for me. It doesn't matter how much fun I was having with the previous games, because I would always desire to 100% them, and I would have to deal with that every single time. This plays into another reason: versatility. Shantae is easily her most versatile here, something that not many people point out. You have all the different magics, like the oh-so-useful pike balls and shields, and the cards that can change Shantae's attributes. The cards could've done more, in my opinion, but they do change enough breathe some life into a playthrough, especially since the card collector mode is a thing. I also like how some of her abilities are given extra utility. I LOVE when games do that - true multi-purpose. The fusion dances affect the environment in different ways depending on where you use them. *The seer dance lets you find hidden goodies and find hidden paths and shortcuts. *The Refresh dance, in addition to the progression usage, can heal you and instantly kills undead enemies. *The spark dance, in addition to progression, is a useful screen nuke that can hit airborne enemies as well, while the quake dance cannot. It can also shut down certain enemies, including one of the bosses' attacks. *Quake dance, in addition to progression, can be used as a screen nuke, can instantly kill stone enemies, and can remove the dirt the drill form goes through, allowing you to get through quicker. All of this makes for a very versatile moveset that none of the other games have reached since the first game, in my opinion. As far as gameplay, I enjoy that the game finds a good middle ground between the snappiness of the pirate's gear and the transformation dances. Not a fan of their complete removal in PC in favor of the gears. It's part of the character - it's just not right to me. That and... honestly, I personally feel the pirate gears are overhyped. They're snappy, yes, but that's where it kinda ends for me. With the exception to the speed booster, Shantae has had abilities that do those things, and do them better imo. Projectiles? Fireballs that can be upgraded to fire in multiple directions and can suspend her in the air for a short time (great for platforming), as well as ignite enemies in RR. Stomp? Elephant can plow through multiple blocks in quick succession instead of one at a time like scimitar hop. Glide and multi-jump? You can just straight up fly with the harpy. Because of this, I wanted to see them pretty much just take those animal abilities and make them as snappy as those gears. While not perfect, Seven Sirens pretty much does exactly that. It takes the best thing about the gears whilst maintaining what made the character unique in the first place. It's a step in the right direction in that regard, and I admire the attempt. Now they just need to improve upon it. I legitimately hope they do that instead of changing the formula...again. Honestly the only problem I have with her abilities are the drill and the frog. They should've been optional, unlockable transformations that allow you to take nifty shortcuts, not a part of her main abilities. There's also the Metroidvania aspects. I think they're handled just fine here. Some people complain about the world design. It could've used some more set pieces here and there, sure, but I think they're ultimately fine. The map has a fair amount of different routes that you can take to get from one point to another (don't know what Johnny's on about there). I also like how it's actually interconnected again, like R.R. As it should be. No more level select ala PC and HGH for me. It makes me feel right at home. Even before the update, I had no problem with finding out where I needed to go or what to do next. It all seemed cohesive to me. I enjoy the music. It's no Jake Kaufman, but it gets the job done and some of my favorite tracks come from this game. I hope "Into the mine" gets remixed in a later game. Now, I don't ignore it's flaws. I can't. This game could've been better, honestly should've been, and it pains me that it didn't reach the potential that it clearly has. There are plenty of moments where I ask myself, "Why did they do that? Why is it like that?" Like the boss fights, for instance. Some of them are just fine, but a number of them aren't very good and the repeat fights with Risky and the Silo just pad out the game further. Also, the food concept needs to reworked entirely if they want to keep it. It was unnecessary in Pirate's Curse, it was unnecessary in HGH (except maybe HCM), and it was unnecessary here. The story also has its problems, yes. Different topic for a different discussion, but so much could've been better about it, yes. The flaws it has aren't enough to deter me, however. One common complaint I see is that it's easier than other games in the series. The series _itself_ is easy, in my opinion. If I'm wanting to be kicked in the groin, I don't go to this series at all. Difficulty was never a determining factor to begin with for me - I knew what to expect. So it being an easy game in an already easy series means nothing to me. Not so much ignored as... it's not factor for me period. But, for what's here, I find SS to be an enjoyable time regardless. Let me put it to you this way. I played the game to completion eight times in a row before putting it down from burnout ( I had 100% each game in the series _twice_ before doing that. Like, right before doing that. I marathon-ed them). Each game in the series has its problems, for me. There's not a single one of these that makes me go "Oh, this is _sooo_ much better than the other ones." Not a single thing. So when I say it's my favorite game in the series, know that it's not a wide margin there. P.S. Johnny has his own tastes and his own mind. I have my own. There are some things I will disagree with him on. For instance, he, once again, lists the lack of a variety of collectibles being a problem the game has, despite Pirate's Curse, his favorite in the series, being guilty of literally the exact same thing. Heart squids and nuggets vs. heart squids and cacklebats. Worse actually, because at least the nuggets serve an actual beneficial purpose (getting you access to some of the best cards in the game) as opposed to something that's so rooted in the story that it makes you question why it's a collectible to begin with. That, and what everyone deems as a problem will be different. I agree that the game should have a higher variety of things to collect, but it's not necessarily a "problem" to me if doesn't have that. Just something it needs to improve on. I will think for myself, thank you very much. The days where I would just parrot the opinions of those I look up to have long since been over. Not meaning to sound rude there. I spent well over an hour trying to make this response and _still_ probably didn't explain myself properly. Yes, this is still what I consider "not full detail." Hope this is kinda what you were after.

@@Gale_Storm_ Wow. Just wow. That really is an impressive answer, thank you. You should think about putting those words into review form as well. Would probably work really well with how well you express your thoughts. Besides that: I can see where you are coming from. And honestly, these things you praise about the game actually are great. The thing is...in my opinion it all comes down to the easy difficulty and the map design. Yes, the series is supposed to be easy and I don't have a problem with that. But I think this game just went overboard. There is a difference between "really easy" and "braindead" difficulty. And I'm not using the word braindead to insult you. It' s just how I feel about the difficulty of the game. When I played it for the first time I turned my brain literally completly off in the final section of the game. I just brute forced everything and because I had so much food and magic I didn't even try. It is (almost) like Zeros Z-Blaster in Megaman X6. In that game you can just stand there and kill bosses in seconds without even moving. Besides that: I think the map design is flawed. Not actually because of the map itself but because of the frog and drill form. I think both of these are really bad "power-ups". Why? Because they practically control the same and are just extremly boring compared to the mermaid form. I think the movement itself is limited cause of the original Apple release and I think it would work fine on a smartphone. But I played it on PC and it really annoyed me from the get-go how restricted those forms are. If I explore around in the world and I come accross a pool of water or a dirt area I just sigh in annoyence. Besides that I honestly think 100% the game is not really something worthwhile here. Granted: It was never really worthwhile in any of the other games. But I at least felt accomplished by doing it. Here I just feel empty because (for example) more health doesn't mean anything to me in an easy game like this. I also think the map itself just looks boring and plain. The thing I really liked about PC is how it made a pixel artstyle look absolutly beautiful. The thing I really liked about HGH (besides the soundtrack xD) is the artstyle. Seven Sirens goes for the same artstyle as HGH but if you compare the two it just looks bland and uninteresting. Personally I agree with you on the pirate equipment. I think it is overrated. I really liked using it because it reminded me a lot about Megaman Zero on the GBA and I think it works fine for one game in the series. But I'm glad they gave Shantae her transformations back in this Seven Sirens. I think when people praise Riskys equipment they don't mean the gun. I think usually people are talking about the triple jump and the dash. Or I should rather say: All the movement upgrades.

@Tadao Kou Firstly, thanks for reading all of that and thanks for the response! It means a lot, truly. Instant respect for reading through my wall. I always wanted to try my hand at making an in-depth review and analysis of the series - things it does well, things it could improve on, that sort of thing. But for personal reasons, I decided against doing that. That, and I'm lazy. I completely understand where you're coming from in the difficulty department. A game should challenge the player enough to at least keep them engaged. I agree. What you described with being able to just plow right through obstacles without much opposition can be seen as problem, easily (heh). The thing is, you can pretty much achieve the exact same result in all of the games. In all of the games, majority of the enemies, including bosses, remain stationary for long periods of time, allowing you to wail on them with reckless abandon. If Shantae were a fighting game, it'd be a button masher with how much they expect you to just lay in on that attack button. When you _do_ eventually take damage, you can always resort to potions. Since Risky's Revenge, the potions have remained consistent - you can have a total of nine potions at a time, they're really cheap to buy, and they restore all of your health. And they're always readily available. It's one aspect of the series that I wish _only_ applied to Risky's Revenge. It's the only one that needed it, since you could only have a max of 6 hearts and the damage you take in magic mode was pretty high. But for the other games? The very existence of them at all, as they are, complete destroys the challenge factor any of the later games could have, by virtue of having so many full heals at any given time. It's why I emphasize speedrunning hardcore mode in HGH so much - you can't get away with doing that (at least, not as much) without dying 50,000 times. But even then, potions mitigate the difficulty by extreme amounts. Like, don't get me wrong. I know what you're feeling there. Already easy system doesn't need more to make it easier. The food is unnecessary, in all of the games as they currently are. But... well, zero divided by two is still zero, you know? I don't see it as that big of a contrast in difficulty compared to the other games, especially when all of them suffer from this same issue of being able to restore your health so easily. Heck, the Pirate Master, despite being the all powerful, plot-important threat that he is, is actually the easiest final boss in the entire series, in my opinion. Why? Focusing on phase 2 and 3, his hardest forms, you cannot do effective damage to him for a majority of the time that he's attacking you, mostly because he's out of reach or out of view. This means you're just dodging attacks untill your time comes up. However, because of the readily available potions and food, there's nothing stopping you from just standing there, taking the hits, and using a potion when your health is low to restore all of it, especially since he only does two hearts of damage to your per attack. Even then, when your time comes up, you just use drink some monster milk, active the triple pike balls and go to town, dealing absurd amounts of damage to him. All of those items are readily available in shop right from the beginning of the game, and they're relatively cheap. This is also part of the reason why I say they're more useful than most of the permanent upgrades in that game. I believe that's a core design issue with the series, currently, and not an issue exclusive to Seven Sirens. That's the point I was trying to make, anyway. It's why I don't consider it in factoring in which one is my favorite. Even if it's easier, to me it's the difference of beating Metal Man with the Metal blades in one hit vs two. Easier, yes, but nothing that will phase me. Though, the series would definitely benefit from difficulty options ready at the get-go for future titles. That needs to happen. As far as the map: Yeah, like I said I think the frog and drill should've been optional side powerups you could get. Like, I imagine they could've had various dirt and water points peppered throughout the world, with sole purpose of being shortcuts or rooms with extra gems or something. If the player happened to acquire these forms, they could get access to these spots, but they wouldn't be required and they wouldn't take up as much space as they do currently. Heck, maybe it could even let you skip certain rooms you'd rather avoid. They should not have been a part of her main moveset. They're just too underwhelming and mundane, and too similar to one another. One problem I do have with the map/level design is that I agree with other critiques in that the different areas don't really have much to stand out from one another, beyond aesthetic. While it's not 100% an essential thing, it does go along way and it's worth pointing that out. Every little detail matters. I think the way people feel about the art direction for this game is just a natural, and unfortunate, consequence of going from the 3D environments to the flatter 2D environments. Having said that, is there anything you would've liked to see, or something you think might improve it? I can think of some bells and whistles to add here and there, but I've been struggling to figure out what it is that people find about these levels that's uninteresting, at least compared to the other games. What about the other games' aesthetic level design is good in those games that people gravitate towards, but not done well here? Do you think familiarity might play a part, since the older games have very similar level themes and aesthetics? I think I mentioned adding more set pieces to make them stand out, but beyond that, I can't really say much. It's personally of those things for me that's not too high on my critique scale.

@@Gale_Storm_ Well, first of all: Sorry if I miss a few points. If I don't respond to all of it it is most likely because I agree with you. I think the difference with potions is that they cost gems. Yes, not much. But you need gems for 100%. That is why I never bothered to buy potions. I always wanted to keep the grind to an absolute minimum. Besides that the food system was also in HGH and (I think) also in PC. I didn't mind it in PC because, in my opinion, it was needed there. Why? Because in my opinion some of the bosses in the game are just flawed or at least feel cluncky to fight. (I'm mainly thinking about the dragon one right now) In HGH on my first playthrough I absolutly hated the food system. It broke an already easy game into pieces similar to what happened to Seven Sirens. But HGH got an ultimate edition with really great "speedrun"-modes. These modes personally made the game really fun for me. Despite that I prefer the Metroidvania approach to level design over the level select. But I think the level select had it's own strenghs. Personally I don't think the artstyle is HGH's biggest advantage. I think it's the unique and memorable locations. I think if you would take the locations from HGH and transform them into a 2D game like SS they would probably look way better than SS's locations. The problem with SS is that almost all of the game takes place under the island. That pretty much restricts the development team to a consistent artstyle. That can be a good think and I think it works...fine enough for some dungeons and a few areas outside of that. But in the overworld everything feels just samy. I don't really remember much of the overworld but in my opinion it's (almost) just different skins laid on top of the same structures. When I think back about the game I just think "Oh, this is the brown area" or "Oh, this is the blue area" and similar things. One thing I absolutly adore about SS's visuals though are the towns. I think every town in SS looks great. I want to come back to the food system and difficulty for a sec: I think the system in itself is a flaw but I think the drop rate of food was never as high as it is in SS. The other games are probably just as easy as SS but because you see the "not enough inventory" message more often in SS it feels easier. Besides that i think the part about difficulty which makes the big difference is the platforming. For example: I don't like PC because the combat is great. I like it because the platforming is just fun (and obviously because of the soundtrack and visuals) Shantae abilitys in PC were put to good use in that game in my opinion (and I'm talking about her movement abilitys) Seven Sirens got a lot of potentiel and I really like how the game controls and how the abilitys work. But I think the potentiel is not used in SS. I think that is because of the original smartphone release...Platforming on a Smartphone is probably harder than with an actual controler. At least that is how I think it is. Besides that: Imagine a game with the polished level design from PC and the great controls + abilitys from SS. For me, it would be a dream come true. As for what I think would improve the art direction...Well, I think the strong points of the previous games were the unique locations. I don't think the problem with SS's visual design lies in the artstyle by itself. I think it is more of a design issue. I think the game looks great and you can really see that while (for example) fighting bosses. Or even in towns. Towns are great in SS. But if I think about it now...maybe towns are so great looking in SS because they stand out so much? I mean The towns are unique locations in an otherwise pretty samy looking game. I'm gonna give a different example. Ori and the blind Forest (one of my favorite games) is also an Metroidvania and one thing about the game I really like are the visuals. But the visuals in Ori would become dull if the whole game would pretty much look the same, but with different colors. There is a lot of variaty in Ori because even the best visuals in gaming wouldn't stay amazing if everything would just look samy. I think that is what SS is missing: Variaty. There are a few areas which actually look great in SS. But I think in terms of overworld design it is way less than HGH or PC. BUT: I think in terms of dungeon design all of the games are weak. Dungeons often look very similar. For example: You could think in PC "This is the lava version of the water dungeon I did already". Or "This is the haunted version of the dungeons I did already." There wasn't much variaty there but I think it was barely enough. And I personally think the dungeon variaty in SS is barely not enough. About HGH's dungeons...well...the whole game is basically dungeons. I think HGH got the best visuals in the series. Not because it got the best artstyle (but that is also my opinion) but because there are many unique locations. Or in other words: There is a lot of variaty there. I think that is what it comes down to with SS: There is not enough variaty in that game. It's the same with the games structure. You enter a dungeon, you fight Risky and you fight a boss. I think it is to predictable and makes it feel like routine work instead of a game. Last but not least: I got into the series with HGH. I was personally disappointed in HGH but I still had my fun with the game. The hardcore mode and the different modes in Ultimate made the game a whole lot better for me. The reason why I personally prefer HGH over SS is that HGH gave me a lot of content to actually challange myself. I personally think the extra modes in Ultimate can be pretty tough and I like that. I think Ultimate saved HGH a little bit for me. As for why I prefer PC: I just like the fast and snappy movement. And I think the movement is put to really good use in that game. It is kind of similar to SS. I really like the movement in SS and I honestly in concept even prefer it to PC. But I think the movement in SS is not put to good enough use. I really hope the next Shantae game won't release on mobile first because in my opinion that decision really dragged SS down. You can see it with the drill and frog form. I don't think these forms would have been designed like that if the game wasn't released on mobile first. And I really hope that the next game keeps a similar moveset to this one but expands on the ideas. I think we have the foundation for an amazing Shantae game with SS. Personally I really disliked SS before having this conversation with you. But now I appreciate the game in a new light. I still think it is not as good as PC and HGH. But I now think it is a good game, dragged down by mobile support. Sorry if this was a bit hard to read. I'm a bit tired right now and have a bit of trouble formulating my sentences.