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[Unknown?]

being able to control most enemies was something that wasn't done before in this way. so it absolutely was innovative. was is the pinnacle of innovation? no, but if you put it into contrast with Astro Bot in particular... then oh boy... and that's the point here.

the moveset in Odyssey is also by far the deepest of any platformer out there, with such an insane amount of base moves and combos you can do with them that I'm pretty sure I couldn't even name them all.
calling it simplistic either means you never learned all the moves or you have an extremely high standard when it comes to depth... at which point basically no platformer in the world could ever satisfy you

if you liked it or not is a different topic altogether, but claiming it has no depth is insane, and claiming it has no innovation is intellectually dishonest.



EDIT
just to illustate the very basics of Odyssey's depth I made a quick video.
I show most of the moves you can do (although I think I forgot to include a few like crouch flip and backflip)

and I'm showing a simple jump combo at the end up to some hidden coins, that's an easy one... there are combos in this game that I probably would fail at even tho I played this game 5x as long as Astro Bot.



even this simple trick go get up there took me multiple tries because I am rusty in the game as I haven't played it in more than a year, and haven't played it seriously since 2 months after it came out.

and in order to make it up there you need to experiment with the controls, you need to get decent at them, and you need to notice the potential to use them.
and that's what's fun about games like Odyssey to me. it's the mastering of the game.

yes, completing it is easy, but getting really really good at it isn't.
like Tony Hawk games are also easy to complete, but doing crazy highscores isn't.

Saying that more moves is better is like the old Bethesda saying, "see those mountains? You can go there." Deeper isn't always better.

 

[GigaBowser]

loved one play threw buuuuuuut then no more its all true

fuuunnn but no deepnessey rescue missions is better

 

[lughnasadh123]

I prefer devs’s creative freedom. If devs want to make a difficult game with no difficulty option then thats their choice.

Same with devs who want to make their games easy, thats their choice.

We also have option to pick and choose the games we that fits our taste.

I do respect the stance of consistency.

 

[Putonahappyface]

This. There are a number of awful levels at the very end that will make you tear your hair out. I quit at 299 bots.

I'm struggling now with the symbol levels and when I stop having fun, I'll eventually bin the game.

My mate platinumed Astro Bot with copious amounts of nicotine and cannabis and when he finished the final symbol level he was physically shaking.

 

[ArtHands]

It’s a shallow kid game designed as a nostalgic bait, why will you expect anything else?

 

[poppabk]

?

Thought you were talking about how Somy games launch as game of the generation then slowly get downgraded as the PC launch gets closer until it's 'enjoy this turd PC gamers' by the time the PC version releases.

 

[Fess]

I'm struggling now with the symbol levels and when I stop having fun, I'll eventually bin the game.

My mate platinumed Astro Bot with copious amounts of nicotine and cannabis and when he finished the final symbol level he was physically shaking.

There were several symbols levels that were extremely difficult and I screamed every single time I got the final one of each symbol. It was glorious! The payoff to get the platinum wasn’t nearly enough, they should’ve had a separate ending for that, was as hard as a game can be.

 

[dreamstation]

Voted no because watching my almost 4 year old daughter being able to finish levels and having an absolute blast doing so was a joy to behold and a memory I will cherish forever. She loves Astro Bot and if it was harder she wouldn't have got the same enjoyment out of it.

 

[nowhat]

My kids started wiping the floor with me and my spouse starting at 11.

Have you considered a gym membership, or barring that, a restraining order?

 

[Cakeboxer]

I read plenty of "kids game" here, but the bosses in Astro Bot's Rescue Mission were quite challenging.

 

[existensmaximum]

I love it but it's too short and too easy. I would love it if the levels, at least some or them, were A LOT longer and had more stuff to do.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I'm torn a little here.

I can't decide if I would want more difficulty or just more game. I think a few extra levels with the difficulty of the levels towards the end would have been perfect.


Overall, and incredible game but I do wish it had more content. I platinumed it in around 4 or 5 days and I was working, so it felt a little light on content.

The game left me wanting for more. So I guess that's a great thing!

I just wish there was one re visit to the shrinking level or mechanic. No idea why they used it for one level.

 

[TropicanaTwista]

I agree, loved the game to death but they could have made it a little harder, even if it's mainly intended for a younger audience. But why I don't really like that answer is the game is REALLY forgiving with checkpoints. If you're already gonna do that, no reason not to bump the difficulty up a little bit. As you mentioned, you don't need to make it Celeste but they could have found a better balance.

 

[yurinka]

Nah, Astro Bot's difficulty is perfect as it is. It's a game for all ages, including kids. It isn't a game for masochist only.

 

[Brigandier]

It was far too easy, but the challenges were at least decent.

 

[Sintoid]

Another "Shit on Sony" thread

Come on guys, it's the most difficult scaled game I played in years, you want to goal it? It's easy. You want all the bots? You have to use skills and retry many times.
It's one of the few games I 100%d and I started again from the scratch - keep shitting on it just because Its Sony and you don't like fat girls

 

[Hudo]

Lion King was hilariously unbalanced. Even Louis Castle himself has admitted this.

 

[Calverz]

It is quite a basic game. You are right about the movement system. I finished the first two levels and didn’t really have any desire to return. My 7 year old completed it and from what I saw it was just more of the same.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

I thought some of those challenge levels were actually pretty tough at points. Nothing crazy, but not exactly easy in my opinion.

To answer your question though, no, I think the difficulty is fine as it is. It's a game aimed at young kids mostly.

 

[Randall365]

Difficulty levels were absolutely spot on in my opinion. Just the right amount of relaxation and challenge. The fact that you can avoid all the shape levels and final challenge with no consequence is great for young players. For me, I felt a real sense of achievement when I smashed them (in the end).

 

[Randall365]

It is quite a basic game. You are right about the movement system. I finished the first two levels and didn’t really have any desire to return. My 7 year old completed it and from what I saw it was just more of the same.

Good lord - the gameplay has huge variety - the power ups are incredibly inventive. You should give it a chance (if you like platformers).

 

[GymWolf]

I heard that mario odissey is stupidly easy and it has 97 on mc.

Apparently challenge in platforms is not needed to get a good score.

 

[Salmon Snake]

Maybe it's my age but I still haven't finished the last (secret) bonus stage.

Alas I dropped the game until I finish FF7 Rebirth.

 

[Ogbert]

You’ve answered your own question.

Firstly, it’s truly a kids’ game. Secondly, the moveset is very limited so the only possible challenge is based around timing of jumps and basic rhythm challenges. It’s not a Mario where you actually improve during the game, with a view to being ready for post game levels. Your mastery of Astrobot is achieved within five or so minutes.

Still a great game and a lot of fun.

 

[Tg89]

Saying that more moves is better is like the old Bethesda saying, "see those mountains? You can go there." Deeper isn't always better.

Maybe not always. In the case of the direct comparable, it definitely is. Mario is many times more satisfying to control than Astro because of his movement options.

 

[Randall365]

If it helps, the platinum rate for Astrobot is 17% compared to 8 to 10% for most other games that have been out for a while. It doesn’t suggest it’s a trivial game for kids and I suspect that length comes into it.

 

[duck_sauce]

It's like the developer intended the game to be played.

 

[Calverz]

Good lord - the gameplay has huge variety - the power ups are incredibly inventive. You should give it a chance (if you like platformers).

I plan to play a bit more of it some point but it just didn’t really pull me in. I think a lot of that is general apathy towards paltformers nowadays though.

 

[Trilobit]

It's funny because while I thought it was too easy, it still provided a better challenge than the most recent 3D Mario games. I think Nintendo has gone overboard in making their games too accessible to younger ones.

 

[Neolombax]

I thought the difficulty was fine. If they want to make it harder, adding a difficulty option would be good, rather than make the whole game Dark Souls 4.

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

You have your answer.

And that Lion King game, especially the Genesis version, is ridiculously difficult even for the most seasoned players, that's a whole different matter.

Most mega drive games were insanely difficult for who they were marketed for. Snes games were easier.

Have you tried Aladdin on the mega drive? Only smokes I couldn't beat the carpet ride as a kid.

 

[Roman Empire]

I agree, but with caveats. Astro Bot was marketed as a game for every age, it is aimed for kids and old folk and it was never meant to be bone crushing hard like some older platformers. And you know what, that's totally okay.

Do I wish it was harder or hard a hard mode or something? Yes. But I get what the team was going after and I have to deal with that fact. Maybe a sequel could be harder.

 

[BlackTron]

Difficult and replay ability are things I no longer care about in games and haven't since the SNES maybe early N64 days. I want to relax and feel like I am a good gamer even though I quit hitting the gaming gym once I hit adulthood. I skipped all the symbol levels because they were just about as ass-flavored as the special levels in Mario Sunshine.

What? The warp areas in Sunshine were the best part of the whole game. Just Mario, in his overalls (no water backpack thing), doing platforming challenges around pipes. Every time I played one I wished they'd have just made a whole game of only that. Also, cool tag.

 

[Little Mac]

For what it's worth, I platinum'd Astro Bot and thought it was as hard or harder than most Mario games I can remember. I enjoyed Astro Bot alot more than Odyssey but I think Galaxy was slightly better. And I might have enjoyed the Mario games more if Nintendo had some sort of achievement system.

Regardless, Astro Bot was great and there really hasn't been an amazing platformer in a while.

 

[adamsapple]

Most mega drive games were insanely difficult for who they were marketed for. Snes games were easier.

Have you tried Aladdin on the mega drive? Only smokes I couldn't beat the carpet ride as a kid.

Yeah, the genie cave level with those little floating hands is the stuff of nightmares that gives me cold chills even today.

 

[AJUMP23]

It is a first party platformer, they want you to enjoy it, and not provide a challenge. they were providing nostalgia.

 

[SaturnSaturn]

I thought it was really nice to have a short well crafted platformer that also had a lot of charm. was perfect after a long day, just playing through some levels was nice and relaxing. was a great game. the last thing i want after a long day is some ultra hard platformer. so a nice change of pace

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Doesn't matter to me getting a sense of accomplishment from videogames is kinda sad no? Games don't mean shit.

 

[Bond007]

It was fun and enjoyable as it is.
I dont need to pull out my hair to have "fun"

 

[nowhat]

Doesn't matter to me getting a sense of accomplishment from videogames is kinda sad no?

But how about getting a sense of pride and accomplishment?

EA’s infamous ‘sense of pride and accomplishment’ post now holds a Guinness record – for Reddit downvotes | Massively Overpowered

 

[Tg89]

Doesn't matter to me getting a sense of accomplishment from videogames is kinda sad no? Games don't mean shit.

I mean I'm not really looking for a sense of accomplishment either. I just think it would be more fun if Astro had more than 2 move.s

 

[PurePlatinum]

I agree with some of your sentiment but I think difficulty only tells part of the story here. The real culprit is that Astro has a very limited moves, and as a result the levels are built more for exploration and not expressive platforming. Mario in Odyssey has like fifteen different kinds of jumps or moves he can do with the hat...not to mention all the different powers you get by possessing enemies. Astro has like a jump, the hover, and the punch/spin.

Astro was great but I think they need to push the moveset further and deepen the gameplay...this will result in more interesting levels.

 

[asdasdasdbb]

I agree that the base game levels are a bit too easy... but the Challenge Levels are good stuff.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Mario in Odyssey has like fifteen different kinds of jumps or moves he can do with the hat...not to mention all the different powers you get by possessing enemies. Astro has like a jump, the hover, and the punch/spin.

And none of those moves are put to good use.

Astro does far more with the limited live set it has

 

[Doom_master1122]

I just finished this game a few days ago so I have a pretty fresh perspective.

The game wasn't hard, no. Would it benefit from a challenge ramp of any kind? Maybe, who's to say. I just know I had an absolute blast playing it, if there were more challenging levels I may have enjoyed it more but the Challenge levels really shined there.
Not to mention the:

Spoiler: Minor Spoilers

Secret hidden level from the gold statue at the end

also fulfilled that purpose.

The mention of the move set being limited, I can see where you are coming from however with the added abilities you received in the levels I feel made up for it. Now the problem there is that some of the abilities are only used a handful of times, and really only locked into those levels only. To the point where levels are strictly made to only service that ability.
It would be cool to break away from that design and be able to take the Chicken pack, the Dog, or Monkey to a level to be able to find secrets or bots that way, giving way more reason to replay levels than "Oops I missed a bot or puzzle piece, gotta go back and see where it was".
There's always room for improvement and I feel that perhaps another game in the series can further expand upon what they have built already and maybe loosen up on the design to allow for such expansiveness.

 

[tomato shrub]

Not easy enough for David Jaffey who unironically demanded an extra easy mode. How did that dude create GoW?

 

[paolo11]

Hmm interesting. Didn’t know it was easy. I’ll have my baby play it if I buy it.

 

[DEAD ORIGINAL]

You have your answer.

And that Lion King game, especially the Genesis version, is ridiculously difficult even for the most seasoned players, that's a whole different matter.

Lion king was a bastard took me ages also learning how to throw him at the end

 

[BiohazardX95]

Try to not die in the entire Game then. That is a good challenge.

 

[Dorago]

Astro's Playroom was 10x harder, especially the monkey swinging areas.

The checkpoints are too close together so there's no buildup to the challenging parts.

Exceptions are in a few of the black hole stages which had extreme difficulty from the collision detection and camera not working great.

I still liked the game, but it's pathetic compared to Mario 3D World for instance which I played right before hand.