In slight defense of repetitive support spirits, they had to account for multiple routes a player can take. For example if there was only one electric immunity spirit, and the player didn't happen to go down the most optimal path of getting it, they would be screwed against a spirit battle that has a completely electrified stage. Yeah it'd still be beatable but I'm sure they didn't want to make things too frustrating to get spirits that give an easy way through
FINALLY!! Someone who actually understands the mode in a well thought out manner! Don't get me wrong, I love Subspace, but WoL was AMAAAAAAAAAZING back when I first played it! Thank you very much for making this video and for strengthening my passion for WoL. Also, Galeem and Dharkon are awesome bosses and they deserve more attention. 😎👍
YES! It's so much fun seeing these two not only interact with each other in cutscenes, but in their later duo battle aswell. The weird feeling of a team effort when you mange to stun one so the other can unleash a big attack, only for it to go back for a free for all is so fun on multiple levels :D
I think a big part of why people get so burnt out on World of Light is because of modern binging/marathoning culture. World of light feels like it was designed to be played in spurts. Pick up a few battles here and there until you eventually get to the end. What people seem to forget is that Subspace Emissary was just as exhaustingly repetitive when played through in one shot, especially near the end. The only difference is that we were all in school 15 years ago and had other stuff to do whereas all the entertainers you showcased at the beginning don`t necessarily and were pressured into marathoning World of Light in order to stay current. Then they give their opinions based on an experience they made bad themselves and all of their followers think parroting them will make them sound smart or something because "They play video games for a living so they must know what they`re talking about" creating a weird echo chamber based on the entertainer`s experiences rather than the community`s experience as a whole.
Personally, I just don't find that spirits are engaging enough to be stretched over the entire map. I may have burned myself by actually trying to explore every nook of every area even though I wasn't really having fun doing battles. My brain just really likes combing through the entirety of an area to make sure I don't miss anything. Anyways by the end I was so burnt out by spirit's that when I saw the final map and all the fights I had to do I kinda just dropped it cause I didn't want to do any more battles. I was young when I played subspace for the first time, but even when I played it recently, I still have fun platforming and going through each of the environments. I blazed through it all in like a day. so I don't think it's just purely nostalgia.
@@Manxerhthedutchside That seems to be the thing with this debate though. It always comes down to the cutscenes. You really have to ask if neither had cutscenes then which would end up being more popular? Probably World of Light.
@@HaughtyToast Even without cutscenes, World of Light is far more repetitive than Subspace Emissary. World of Light is like if Subspace Emissary's Great Maze was a navigable overworld with the fights being the only gameplay.
Even though I love the appeal of spirit battles, I would have loved that there were other conditions only than defeat an opponent; they could have had diverse winning conditions to make up for event matches.
You may be one of the few people who I've seen who actually also really enjoyed World of Light It's no Subspace Emissary, like people may have been wanting, but it doesn't need to be, it's still very enjoyable in its own right All of the references, the strategies with Spirits you have to come up with, the way you have to piece together what Galeem and Dharkon are even like and why or how all the fighters came together, that their themes both make up Lifelight, it's all very great
I agree with a lot of the points in this video. HOWEVER, I really disagree with you on the fact of Smash Run being "just okay". It was an amazing experience with tons of replayability; smashing enemies and upgrading your stats with powerups was so addicting and never got old. The final battles that came after the preparation phase were mediocre, i'll give you that. But the core gameplay was so fun I never really cared.
This was one of the first videos I’ve seen defending world of light I personally like subspace a little more but I can’t argue that WOL’s worlds r much more interesting I guess I’m the first comment I hope this channel gets bigger some day
100% World of Light on the hardest mode was some of the most fun I had in a while, though the mode still lacks a lot that I would rather be added, hopes to Smash 6
We need an adventure/story mode taking the best aspects of WOL and SE respectively and mashing them together in the best of ways, that is the story mode we need, the cutscenes, the story, the various character interactions, the world building, the landscape, the boss battles, the platforming, the smaller battles between familiar faces of the smash roster as well as various enemies from the source games and original enemies for the mode itself, everything
Why keep it to one story? Why not split it into multiple smaller stories so that each character has their time to shine without having to share a plot with 70 other playable characters?
@@alextunneyware I don't mean each character being the protagonist of their own tiny mode, I meant more like "there are 3-ish story modes with cutscenes and diverse casts of characters from the playable roster". My apologies for not making it clear.
@@syweb2 oh, no worries, I get what you mean now But to be honest, I think it could work, with 3-6 or so seperate story lines along the same story following different groups of characters, kind of like how subspace grouped seperate characters together and then joined them all together at the end, like how Mario, Pit, Link, Yoshi and Kirby joined together, eventually fighting alongside Meta Knight, Pokémon Trainer, Lucas, Marth and Ike, while Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong joined up with Fox, Falco, Captain Falcon, Olimar, R.O.B, Samus and Pikachu
@GoLuckyBeatz I figure not needing them to converge will prevent the story from getting convoluted and confusing. Subspace was already confusing, and that had half the cast of Ultimate. I was thinking more along the lines of multiple distinct plots that don't need to interact.
I think a single, fully-cohesive narrative that includes all of the characters is basically impossible from this point on; even Subspace sidelined a few characters, and its roster is nowhere near as packed as Ultimate's. However, a neat compromise could be that there doesn't have to be a _single_ story in story/adventure mode. Perhaps there are multiple independent stories/arcs that each are their own "mode", sort of like each character getting their own Classic Mode in Ultimate (but not that personalized). Each story would have its own plot that can be understood and enjoyed independent of the others; even if they may _subtly_ acknowledge each other once in a while, playing one isn't a requirement for understanding another. They might even focus on different gameplay styles, with perhaps one focused more on linear platforming challenges, one structured more like the Great Maze but actually fun and visually appealing, and one with a world map like World of Light, with each fleshing out the shared world in their own way, making it feel real and lived-in as opposed to just a collection of stages or abstract levels with generic themes. Perhaps it could play into the crossover idea by having the different worlds (or at least parts of them) all exist simultaneously in a shared space, and demonstrating how their denizens fare in this bizarre collective universe. 9:50 It would be nice if it at all correlated with the stages you fight these battles on. As it stands, it tend to feel really disconnected with the actual fighting outside of the character-unlock battles, as far as I remember anyway. 25:18 Some fans theorized that the Dark World is actually filled with the rejected cast-offs from Galeem's creation, and that Dharkon only took notice or became hostile to the Light Realm because it was chucking all this _stuff_ into his otherwise perfectly empty darkness, perhaps supported by Dharkon using Crazy Hands, which would have been rejected by Galeem for obvious reasons. 30:30 It's also a shame that you can't replay it without having a dedicated duplicate save or replaying the whole World of Light mode. 32:28 The boss rush bothers me because it keeps playing the same theme over the whole thing, instead of having boss themes. There isn't even a Boss Battles mode, so this is the only boss rush we have access to in the game outside of certain character-specific modes. 33:40 Funny story, but I'm not actually a very big fan of the dialogue in the opening. It feels kind of cheesy and forced, and I think the totally nonverbal interactions in Subspace are better at demonstrating the personalities of the characters without feeling like a cop-out.
Great analysis! It's really changed the way I viewed WoL, and honestly I think there's some fantastic stuff throughout it too, I've always really liked Galeem and Dharkon's designs and music, so the way you showed how the conflict between their two ideal worlds was really interesting :) (oh and I loved the Drawn to Life music at the end especially!)
I wish the spirits at least were icons you can use to costumize your smash tag for online use. Their are so many spirit artworks that would be cool as a gamer tag pic.
This is a really good video, I didn't know about the musical motifs in Galeem and Dharkon's themes and I had forgotten about a lot of the cool sequences in the dungeons. I still think it's too long and repetitive but this made me appreciate it more
i first saw this video ages ago now, but i now just want to say... well, more than thanks for shedding light on the unappreciated merits of this mode that I'll always hold closer to my heart, for almost all the same reasons you say yourself, as well as introducing new interpretations to stuff I now like even better having heard them... because I also have to say, I watched this, admired the absolute quality of it, looked to your channel, and was amazed that you weren't one of those bigger, well known RU-vidrs in the nintendo community like Arlo, Introspektive etc., because that's what it felt like i was watching/hearing. It must be said that I miiiiight be biased to say it, since its on a topic I love and don't hear much praise for, but if I ignore that possibility for a sec, I'd still say this is just such a well made video that I love just about everything about. For whatever it's worth, thank you for putting it out into the world for us to see.
It disappoints me to learn that so many people dislike World of Light, because it's as special to me as it is to you. Long paragraph incoming... Before Ultimate came out, the only Smash game I had played was Melee, and I sucked at them both whenever I played with my friends. This year I got a Switch for my birthday, and my best friend bought me my own copy of Ultimate so I could practice until I didn't suck anymore. World of Light was the perfect training ground for me; the feeling of accomplishment upon unlocking all the different characters (although I did get both DLC fighter passes and had a lot of options early on), the largely non-linear exploration, the frustration of losing 3 and 4-star fights and having to come back to them later, figuring out the best fighter or combo of fighters to beat each major boss... it was all so rewarding and stimulating to the imagination. The whole Smash series is what got me interested in video games in general (the only non-derivative games I played growing up were Pokemon), and World of Light with its variety of fighters and spirits not only allowed me to step into the shoes of some of my new favorite heroes, but also renewed my interest in those who had been on my periphery for so long. I even played through the whole campaign twice just so I could have every form of every spirit in my collection, and because it was just that fun.
I think you pretty much described the reason I was kind of disappointed. The fact that it only IMPLIED the crossover element. I liked the use of different landmarks in the overworld, but locations are really only half the fun with crossovers. I was just disappointed that the opening cutscene was the only time we really got to see the fighters "crossing over" and working together. It wouldn't even necessarily have to be in a cutscene. One of my favorite moments in WoL was when I realized that I got to use three fighters in the final fight, since it felt like my progress in unlocking characters actually meant something more. I did still enjoy the mode for the most part though.
i think it actually is very fun, however i do have a few issues. I wish the map wasn’t the ugly low quality image. it does it’s job, but it’s so low resolution and gets rid of so much potential charm for the areas that the map references. a 3D map from the same perspective would be cooler. i also think that all of the sub areas where you fight bosses should have been subspace style levels. so you get the large adventure mode with spirit battles, and some platforming levels based on locations on the map.
While I loooove Subspace from Brawl, World of Light was something I didn't like it as much as Subspace because it felt more like a glorified Event Match with a map (still fun but not as much as Subspace, but the charm of the references in the battles is welcome and NOT to mention the boss battles were awesome too and more iconic figures compared to Duon or Galeom... the later being somewhat important to be recycled in Ultimate), at least the tiny story was great overall and makes me still play it from time to time as for me is fun to do boss fights that are impossible to do in classic due to being tied to specific characters (like Dracula with other characters that are not the Belmonts or Luigi for example).
I never really looked into World of Light and Ultimate due to being disappointed with Subspace, but now I'm really interested in trying that adventure mode out for myself. Thanks for making this video!
I personally found WOL tedious and lacking in the things I want. The world felt flat and disjointed for the most part, and the spirit battles just got tiresome halfway through. Honestly, I didn't even bother finishing it even though I was basically at the end game. I just looked at all the battles I had to do and thought: "I'd rather not." Personally, though subspace was far more linear, I find that it feels more like a cohesive journey. Also, I really like the story seeing all those wacky nonsensical pairings just brings a smile to my face. A lot of this is probably nostalgia as brawl was my first smash. But I've only grown to miss subspace more over time while I have no desire to return to world of light. The core game play just isn't appealing and gets stale really fast. And that's mostly the issue, I just don't find spirit battles fun and thus exploring is far less fun cause I know I have trudge through alot of them to get anywhere.
Yeah. WoL has neat little references in map design and spirit battles themselves but there's so damn much with nothing helping to break the monotony in between like subspace's character intersections. Itd be impossible with current roster size and even incomplete with DLC these days, though. But this isn't a GREAT alternative lol. But idk what they could've done. At the very least, trophies and that gallery shouldn't have gotten shafted.
Yeah idk, i went on winter break from school right as ultimate came out and world of light was a fun thing to do for a good chunk of those 4 or 5 weeks. It felt more like an expansion of the old event mode battles than adventure, but i was cool with that
Funny how the world works, I just came by here to listen to a video about why World of Light is fun, and I get to find out how awesome it looks to let the player character to directly walk on a drawing of a map, I have been studying drawing maps lately,, with full intention of having the player having a hand-drawn map in the game. But this video taught me I can instead use said hand-drawn map AS the world instead. Really cool
My only issue with the mode was the lack of cutscenes. Sometimes the gameplay got repetitive but you can only honestly say that about a lot of games even if it’s amazing, sometimes you just need a break. If this mode just had some more story to it I think it would have been amazing.
repetitiveness in my fighting game? shocker i had no idea i have to fight most of my play through, its like complains about getting into rpg when it says its rpg on the cover of the box
Replaying WOL with ur main but ONLY your mains franchise spirits is an amazing and challenging way to experience it again. For example Ness only using Earthbound/ Mother Spirits or Samus with only Metroid spirits. It’s like a brand new game for ur character saving the world accompanied by their games friends or foes. Let’s me method act a “Ness saves the world…again” type of game
i think my main issues are world of light is there aren't that many cutscenes involving the characters interacting. Like there's so much potentional for great fanservice and character interaction from cutscenes they just waste. Also the villans feel very lame like ooh a circle with wings around it, a eye with some dark tentacles, not that memorable. I wouldn't mind the map being 3d but considering the time constraints and big stuff they were trying to achieve 2d is ok. I agree the mode is overhated that mostly comes from most people only playing it cus they wanna unlock more menu themes or to unlock more characters and or are just close-minded, people aren't playing it for fun but to unlock something and so they ignore all the good the mode has to offer.
Maybe when Sakurai was designing WoL he tried to think what master hands (the child's hands that bring the figures to life) is subordinate to. And he surmised it was light. Because we play different games when it's light or dark. And so that's why the world changes when light is "defeated" (sundown happens). Our moods and energies are changed and therefore the games we play, and hence the gameboard, must change accordingly.
hey i just played you in dead by daylight im sorry for my rude comment. i was just salty that i was so close to hatch and you did do really good in chase as Myers. i would practice on loops and break pallets every chance you get. it might slow you down a small bit but in the long run its good to break them when other survivors are trying to find a pallet and they're all broken. again sorry for the rude end game comment.
Wow it takes guts to expose yourself like this and apologize, this is wholesome. Very kind of you, it's when I see people like you that I keep faith in humanity :)
I'm someone who really liked WoL as well. Spirit battles are a clever way to add tons of content and references in an economical way. Smash already has tons of items and modifiers that can make battles feel unique, so it makes sense to make use of those existing tools to pump out loads of different battles. One criticism I have is that the spirit equipment system is perhaps a bit overly complicated. Did we really need primary and secondary spirits? Rock paper scissors spirit types? Spirit leveling and enhancing? Brawn and protection stats, with numbers going into the thousands? It's all a bit much. With a simpler (and a bit more balanced) system, it almost could have been a fun side mode for multiplayer.
To me, i don't really see it as an adventure mode. I feel it as the evolution/fusion of adventure and event matches. I miss the more special and mixed requirements of event matches (racing on big blue in Melee comes to mind), but in exchange, our cup runneth over with simpler but clever spirit fights. The Galleem set dressing feels less like a story, but like, as was mentioned, a big bad one would think up as an excuse to fight with toys. I really wish we had the grandiose story scale of Subspace, mixed with the level creativity from Adventure, the overworld puzzles of WoL, and the enemy list of Smash Run - But that is a huge undertaking and a pipe dream
Yeah I'm going to have to stop you there. It's STILL depicting the Smash world as the "World of Trophies" and not the worlds _actually_ intermingling. You see this when the Mario Trophy gets copied to create the puppet fighters. Not only that, but the concept of the world of trophies has been consistent since, with the reveal trailers for numerous characters for Smash taking place in said cliffside area: Mega Man, Bowser Jr., Charizard and Greninja, etc. It all comes to a head when said cliffside area is used as the starting point for World of Light, coincidentally where the Isle of Ancients was lost to as where Galeem arrived from. Sakurai and the Late Iwata have been adamant in saying that Smash's characters are not the real deals, if anything to keep the further higher-ups (investors) happy who would object to the idea of the characters fighting each other.
I dunno, it just seems like them getting turned into trophies again. Kinda but we also see several smash bros references in other Sakurai made Nintendo games with Master Hand being MANDATORY to beat in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. I dunno about Sakurai as I explained.
@@jaydenc367 Salurai didn't make Amazing Mirror though. If you look into it, Sakurai only made four Kirby games: Dream Land, Adventure, Super Star/Fun Pak, and Air Ride. All the Smash Bros references in the Kirby games are done entirely by HAL Labs, and Sakurai left HAL after Air Ride.
@@Tobunari Actually Sakurai did as it was the final Kirby game he was involved with and he was the Special Advisor for Amazing Mirror. Wrong Amazing Mirror is one of them too. Not exactly again Amazing Mirror exists.
@@jaydenc367 Special Advisor didn't mean he made it though, and on his own channel he doesn't even mention Amazing Mirror. He's highlighted the four Kirby games he made, and that's been it. So don't give me this "Actually..." deal, the truth is there in black and white: Sakurai doesn't count Amazing Mirror as one of his Kirby games.
I wish there was a way to fight the bosses with other people, while there is a mode for it, theres no way to fight Galeem and Dharkon, and you cant choose the boss you fight...
Although I want an improved subspace emissary 2 not because of the cutscenes but because if the gameplay I liked world of light although I wish they could have added parts where we fight enemies from Mario or Zelda's universe
I kinda want to see what happens if you have Galeem and Dharkon face off against Tabuu. Or Crazy Hand helping out Master Hand against Tabuu or have Crazy Hand fight Tabuu alone
Thanks, I appreciate it. It's been quite a while since I've made a video, but I am planning on getting back into the swing of things soon. It's just been a very rough few months.
@@doggifu And then Sephioth’s reveal happened and completely undermined how big a threat Galeem was by having him being taken out like a little bitch in one slice by a playable character on the roster, completely making the stakes of World of Light seem absolutely nonexistent, which Subspace didn’t invalidate it’s stakes even when Sonic caught Tabuu off-guard as unlike Galeem they were wise enough not to have the main villain taken out in one hit by a playable character on the roster!
It's nice that you stick to your own opinions, even if they are against the tide. Personally, I didn't like world of light (besides a lot of the bosses, darkhon's design and playing as master hand.) But still, good for you!
As a girl who spent hours of her life making spirit battles with in the game itself a while ago, and still do occasionally nowadays, it does feel a little bad at first that so many people disliked it when I enjoyed it myself.
I agree with 99% of this video, except for one thing… Smash Run was not “just okay”. It is arguable one of the top 3 modes in all of Smash Bros History, right behind standard Smash mode.
World of light is amazing, but personally, the dark world is the highlight of the entire experience, I know it is shorter, but the 3 main areas are amazing, the bosses are great, and the story is awesome. People need to get over themselves, world of light is great
The last battle is for filthy casuals because it is a 1v1v1 FFA. The only good things about it is that the player can use Fox and that it is on Final Destination.
As someone who prefers Subspace Emissary over World Of Light, I’m shocked people actually like World Of Light. I still think World Of Light is a bit lackluster compared to Subspace Emissary since World of Light didn’t really have a story.
Sorry, World of Light is still my least favorite adventure mode. I still prefer Subspace Embassary and even Melee's Adventure Mode over World of Light. World of Light just felt like Event battles strung together (hence why I don't take seriously the criticism "Ultimate has no Events mode!"). Still I will say you made me appreciate World of Light better.
My main problem with WoL is that some of the references are obscure. As a Pokemon fan, I see a spirit like the legendary dogs and go "oh I get it" but for others I literally don't know who these people are and thus dont get the reference. Thankfully theres those "every spirit explained" vids but I think its still kinda dumb
Once you get all the battles done in world of light though there's no point in playing it again. There's no levels to replay or secrets to find what you see is what you get. I've completed it 100% and now that I'm done I just feel like it was huge waste of time with nothing rewarding or gratifying. It's way too underwhelming to say it's better than Subspace. Subspace has more replay value because of all the things to get like enemy and boss trophies and secret characters and bosses you can actually replay and fight. Literally the only boss you can refight in World of Light is the final boss it's the only thing I actually liked about World of Light. It didn't need cutscenes to be amazing but why not have different levels and stages to go through and secrets to find like Subspace? I'm sorry but I just cannot agree with your opinion I think World of Light was a wasted disappointment.
I've got tons of friends that play Smash and not a single one has finished WOL. It's just way too much, too repetitive, and to convoluted to keep interest for 90% of people.
I think this video is very telling WHY World of Light is so awful. What is the praise for this mode? It has a sense of adventure?? It’s map you walk on. It has a bunch of references?? The problem with the mode is it isn’t fun to play. Like, consider the finale. You go one about how the hands are prisoners or something, but the way you play the last map is just beat everything and then you get the good ending. The reason anyone liked the ending was the Master Hand Battle. The issue is that Smash is a game first and the game here is boring and repetitive. Watch Zero’s video again. He talked exclusively about gameplay. There are only three cutscenes in the game and only one is voiced. It’s a nothing burger. We just need to accept the mode is bad.
I'm not watching this video because I absolutely do not care about the reasoning. I *hated* World of Light so much. It was an absolute waste of time in a game that I didn't much enjoy in the first place. There are a multitude of reasons why I couldn't stand Ultimate *at all* and World of Light was one of the absolute biggest reasons.
I find it hard to justify liking world of light by practically gutting any semblance of a cohesive world, and repurposing an event match mode from melee, but with less variety in goals/conditions. But you do you. I’m sure this blatant repurposing of assets with all of its substance focused on the ‘interesting’ combat scenarios is what everyone is truly clamoring for. At least in Nintendo’s disillusioned eyes. Having all the alternate game modes be only slight alterations of the core combat is certainly a step down in creative freedom. But if its what people want! In a vacuum I can understand the appeal. But lets not kid ourselves here: World of Light does not hold near to as much effort in any of the right places. A whole levy of obscure references can only go so far. They are still trying to make a game.
I mean, even with the somewhat lackluster other modes, the amount of characters, stages and music more than make up for the missing stuff for me (I guess it’s similar to how SomeCallMeJohnny felt about Ultimate, World of Light and other single-player modes being somewhat lackluster doesn’t really matter that much, because the overall core of the game has (for the most part) been vastly improved)
