Jim Sterling, Laura Kate Dale: Warning to Yooka-Laylee Pre-Orderers

A lot of people suggesting it could be Unity that's the problem, but OP points out that it doesn't seem to just be the technical aspects which are dragging the game down. I mean, an awful lot of us took issue with the level design from the footage of that casino level, so this would not come as too much of a surprise for me.
 
I've heard the game is one of the best platformers of the year but the platforming sucks.

If this is true then i'm now beginning to understand why tropical freeze sold so badly despite being so good.
If a platform game can have platforming which sucks but be one of the games of the year then something is wrong.
 
God damnit.

I wanted so much for this to be good. I spent £170 to get the signed Deluxe PC version.

If it's bad, I won't be angry so much as I am disappointed. I waited years the Rare crew to make another truly great platformer, and it looked like we were finally getting one when they got fed up and formed their own studio.

If YK is poor, not only does the wait for continue (possibly indefinitely), but it means that Playtonic are unlikely to prosper. Plus, it will be a huge blow to people's confidence in videogame Kickstarters.

I do have to admit I was concerned a while ago at how large and empty the levels looked. Huge open spaces are usually toxic in a 3D platformer.
 
It's not the only 3D platformer coming.

Not much else on consoles sadly. Mario Odyssey and Crash Bandicoot remakes are all we get this year (and this would be considered a prosperous year). A Hat in Time looks good but I backed it back when they promised console ports would happen. Hopefully it runs well on my PC.
 
Well, their performance impressions don't line up with other critics on GAF playing it.
Well, Im also playing it, and lets say Im surprised about their tone

I'm also playing it and Id agree with your comment.

Uhhh...I'm not sure I understand those performance comments. That's all I will say.

Wonder which version they are playing?

I cant talk about much since its embargoed.
But I am highly confused about those reports and they don't reflect everyone's experience.

Of course, it could just be a bad game in other ways as you can only guess from the weird noises Laura is making.
 
Kickstarted for the GOG version so I hope it's just a console performance issue. I'm kinda tied into getting it either way so I hope for the best.
 
And that is why we have embargos.

Now we have 2 people saying 1 thing and no one can support or contradict that.

Not very fair I think.

100% agree. Unfortunately, most people don't understand this angle at all and praise it (just like they do with leaks) as being pro-consumer.
 
As someone who was never a fan of the Rare brand of 3D platforming I'm still very curious about this game and want to check it out. Hopefully whatever issues it has are minor.
 
Oh so they just weren't impressed with the game? When I saw the thread title I kind of got scared. It seemed super ominous and serious. Jim and Laura are usually pretty good at justifying their opinions so we'll just have to see what they say from the reviews and if that lines up with the consensus or are outlier opinions.

I've heard others say bad things about the framerate so that's probably a very real issue? Or maybe not? Again we'll see.
 
Well it's not like the games own marketing hasn't done enough damage already showing off level layouts that are bland, bloated, and entirely forgettable. I'm a backer(my first one even!), but the excitement from its campaign to now is fading with every piece of footage sadly. This news isn't helping my hopes.
 
Oh dear :( Unity can get good performance on consoles but it seems like so much extra work. It definitely seems best suited to PC and mobile (much smaller scale/visuals)

Gunna suck if it bombs tho because we all know gators will claim this is due to j*ntron lmao
 
Eh, I don't put a stock in what Jim Sterling say, so I'll wait for more impressions

I'm scared to see how the Switch version will be like if the other versions are struggling.

The Switch version is being worked and won't ship date in date with other versions, so I presume that they will have longer time to iron any potential problems the game may have.

beside, wait for other impressions about the performance. That may not be a problem at all.
 
Yeah, I don't get this either. Is there some sort of incentive?

The sad thing is, if this doesn't do well, certain groups will latch onto this and sell it as a victory for... Well... You know.

Unity is far easier to use then UE4 directly out of the box and to get stuff up and running, it's just that it's also harder to properly optimise for console, especially with current systems having poor single-threading support. PC owners are gonna be fine, though.

Though, frankly, for those devs who really want the best performance possible, they should skip engines like UE4 and Unity and just go full custom, perhaps with open source frameworks to make it easier. That way you can tailor things to exactly the sort of game you want to make and cut out any unnecessary code. Yes, that option is really only recommended for experienced programmers, but if you don't do that, you're gonna have to accept that you'll be handicapped in terms of performance one way or another with Unity or UE4.
 
Cant' listen to it rn but are you all sure is about performance? Because the preview vids all looked fine in that aspect as far as I know.

Maybe it's related to the game itself? I saw a pair of previews last night and one was 15 min on a Casino level and was kind of shocked at how bland-ish and devoid of life the whole thing felt.
 
While Jim usually has bad tastes in games, I wouldn't imagine he'd be wrong about something objective like poor performance.
Not sure about his other opinions on the game, but a Unity game on console ported by another company having frame rate issues isn't too surprising
(For people dismissing Jim and Laura's claims here)
 
This thread being derailed by shitposts about Unity almost make me want to open a thread defending Unity. Almost.
Bottom line: Unity is not the problem.

Unity is never solely the problem, but handwaving all of the console performance issues we see with released games built on the engine as "user" (dev) error isn't very productive either.
 
Unity is very easy to use.

As someone who has made games in both engines, Unreal 4 is not that difficult to use. At this point there is enough documentation surrounding the engine that it should not be too obtuse for people inexperienced with it.

I think Playtonic only went with Unity because they wanted Wii U compatibility. Unfortunate how that turned out, though.
 
God damnit.

I wanted so much for this to be good. I spent £170 to get the signed Deluxe PC version.

If it's bad, I won't be angry so much as I am disappointed. I waited years the Rare crew to make another truly great platformer, and it looked like we were finally getting one when they got fed up and formed their own studio.

If YK is poor, not only does the wait for continue (possibly indefinitely), but it means that Playtonic are unlikely to prosper. Plus, it will be a huge blow to people's confidence in videogame Kickstarters.

I do have to admit I was concerned a while ago at how large and empty the levels looked. Huge open spaces are usually toxic in a 3D platformer.

Im not sure why you felt this way? I said this over and over, the people behind YL were also behind the Rare dud's post MS purchase. YL looked uninspiring from the initial concept design, further videos proved this.

IMO its going to score poorly.
 
I just want to know. What platform where they playing? I'm assuming NOT the PC version.


I couldn't decide if I wanted this game on either the PC or Switch.

But if it's having performance issues on the PS4 and Xbox One. I'll probably just get it on PC. Although I would've liked being able to play it in portable mode on the Switch.
 
Oh so they just weren't impressed with the game? When I saw the thread title I kind of got scared. It seemed super ominous and serious. Jim and Laura are usually pretty good at justifying their opinions so we'll just have to see what they say from the reviews and if that lines up with the consensus or are outlier opinions.

I've heard others say bad things about the framerate so that's probably a very real issue? Or maybe not? Again we'll see.

Well, the noises they make seemed super ominous to me (you should probably just listen to the bits of the podcast I mentioned yourself, the time stamps are in the OP) and Jim himself calls it a warning in the description but I'm sorry if the title made it sound more dramatic than it is.
 
I'm scared to see how the Switch version will turn out if the other versions are struggling.

Playtonic keeps insisting they're working closely with Nintendo to have it out asap...Would be hilarious if that collaboration leads to further optimization and manages a more stable framerate than the other versions.
 
Even if its a pretty underwhelming platformer, i'm so starved for the genre that i still think i'd quite enjoy it.

That said i don't have it pre-ordered, but i just rarely ever pre-order anything.
 
Also possible this will just be a super polarizing game.

DK64 was, and it was a technical marvel when it came out, so it was decisive even with that advantage.

I can appreciate people finding the PlayStation boring and empty.
 
Camera AI and framerate choppiness seem to be the 2 major technical issues based on hands-on discussions so far. I think it will depend on how much I can tolerate that kind of thing, and if there aren't other issues.
 
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