Yeah I'm a little insulted by this comment. If I'm not looking for "deep, involving stories", (seriously? for video games? Oh perhaps they meant Oscar caliber scripts :lol) I'm not a fan of gaming? Bullshit. I play video games to be entertained, and the act of gaming entertains me.Eteric Rice said:
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Super Mario Galaxy 2 |OT| with >NEW< hat!
- Thread starter WillyFive
- Start date
I also love that absolutely nothing makes sense in the Mario universe yet it all somehow feels perfectly logical. An Italian plumber eats mushrooms, rides a green dinosaur, flies through galaxies and dresses in weird costumes. It doesn't have to be logical since it's all there just to make the game more fun to play.Eteric Rice said:
Eteric Rice
Member
0 HP said:
Yeah, takes place in an alternate universe or something.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
BorkBork said:
His point was that gameplay is the one aspect of gaming that seperates it from other mediums. Story telling can be found across every medium. Thus, if you're someone who just wants to play a game, as in, have a pure gameplay experience that doesnt dick around with anything else, then Galaxy 2 is for you.
And if you're someone who demands a game adopt other aspects not unique to its medium, such as story telling, then obviously you'll be disappointed.
Eteric Rice
Member
EatChildren said:
Pretty much this. Gaming in it's purest.
BowieZ said:
Yeah, this is what I meant. Some people NEED a story with big cutscenes and stuff to enjoy a game.
Sorry if I insulted you, guy that was offended.
Metroid Killer
Member
I would argue that, that renaissance has already started. New Super Mario Bros. DS and Mario Galaxy not only garned great sales, but were also critical acclaimed, and they have both recieved new sequels, and in their wake a lot of platformers have been released, especially on Wii:RedHerring said:
No it's not a big renaissance, and it doesn't take the genre back to the golden age of the 80s/90s, but it's a change compared to last gen for example.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
cornontheCoD said:
you really not sure?
really?
JRW said:
It's not really unfortunate. SMG, while having an excellent soundtrack to listen to on its own, could get rather overblown at times. Gusty Garden in particularand I have to stress, I love the piece, but it was just way too much for floating on flowers in the breeze.
I didn't note any such issues playing SMG2, though. I thought it fit what was going on really well. The only question in my mind remaining is: was the soundtrack more restrained, or the game just that much more intense?
So what do you make of that one review that docked points for SMG2 having too distractingly intense a soundtrack?zigg said:It's not really unfortunate. SMG, while having an excellent soundtrack to listen to on its own, could get rather overblown at times. Gusty Garden in particularand I have to stress, I love the piece, but it was just way too much for floating on flowers in the breeze.
I didn't note any such issues playing SMG2, though. I thought it fit what was going on really well. The only question in my mind remaining is: was the soundtrack more restrained, or the game just that much more intense?
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
BowieZ said:
i think you're talking about the kotaku review. my eyes narrowed in skepticism at pretty much all three of their "negative" points on the game--particularly the idea that no 3d mario level could be as "sublime" as a 2d level. give me a feckin' break.
Eteric Rice said:
That's actually a good explanation.
At the end of the first game,
the original universe is destroyed, all the Lumas sacrifice themselves to save it, and then they are all sent back to the Mushroom Kingdom
The second game begins
at the same star festival that started the first game.
The difference is that Mario is riding Yoshi throughout Yoshi's Island (and the goal is to save Mario's brother Luigi), whereas Mario only makes a cameo appearance in Wario Land.mclem said:
Futhermore, Mario can use a starman and become "powerful" enough to run without Yoshi... and if Yoshi loses control of Mario, you cannot proceed. Yoshi in other words is a game-wide Mario power-up, literally: it's thoroughly a Mario platformer, but the gimmick this time is Mario is too young to control himself as opposed to FLUDD or planetoid gravity.
Thunder Monkey
Banned
I would have just answered with:beelzebozo said:
notsureifserious.jpg
But that's just me.
I don't know how it crept up. If you want a story on Wii, play Shattered Memories. Let SMG2 entertain you.Saadster said:This whole discussion on story is pointless IMO. Even the most hardcore story fanatics will be too blown away by the other aspects of SMG2 to even care
I love plugging that game.
Willy105 said:
However,
the 'alternate universe' star festival already took place in the first game as the 121st star, so the star bit festival in SMG2 is redundant.
Personally, I think this whole 'alternate universe' is a lame excuse to rehash the plot of the first game instead of continuing the plot of the first game. I know most people don't care, but it just seems extremely lazy to me.
People are complaining about consistency in a Mario game. Fucking really? I just want to play, jump, kill enemies and get the princess back. That's all I want! Mario is NOT an epic game, it's just a fun experience that needs no story, just a focus. Leave the stories to Zelda, GOW, etc.
Davey Cakes
Member
I wasn't even really going to pay attention to reviews for this, because I KNEW it'd be good (heck, who didn't?), but I'm almost left speechless by the positive reception. If this ends up truly being a better game than the first.....WOW.
AceBandage
Banned
Until Mario becomes a bitter drunk who lost his family in a war, the Mario games will never be truely great.Relix said:
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
Rash said:
not even sure my threshold for quality is high enough to register the difference. the first game was as perfect as anything i've played, so i'm not even sure i'll be able to handle it mentally if this is any better.
beelzebozo
Jealous Bastard
selig said:
now that you've brought it up, i think we should discuss the lack of platforming in MASS EFFECT 2.
NeonZ said:
Yeah, but for the those that did see it, it makes the return of the star festival in SMG2 really redundant and boring. Star festival take 3. Really?
Edit:
I don't think that Mario games require a plot either, but when they do, I think it really increases the presentation of the game and makes it more interesting. I really enjoyed the 'epicness' of the first game because it was something that had never been seen in a Mario game before. It was exciting to see, and it really got my adrenaline going. So, for that reason I'm really disappointed that they rehashed the plot of the first game, because it's boring and doesn't wow me like the first one did.
TheKingsCrown
Banned
OMG.
I've always said that Mario Galaxy 2 could be THE game that tests the limits of videogames in an amazing way, it really looks like I could have been right. The problem with Mario Galaxy 1, as I think Miyamoto and some others had said, was that there was too much "fat", and it needed to be trimmed.
Hype levels are so high I want to go around and find the stores that broke the release date early.
I've always said that Mario Galaxy 2 could be THE game that tests the limits of videogames in an amazing way, it really looks like I could have been right. The problem with Mario Galaxy 1, as I think Miyamoto and some others had said, was that there was too much "fat", and it needed to be trimmed.
Hype levels are so high I want to go around and find the stores that broke the release date early.
Thunder Monkey
Banned
I actually do think Mass Effect would be better with some platforming... but I also talk to squirrels about their current insurrection plans... so I may not be a person that should comment.beelzebozo said:
AceBandage
Banned
I did read that one, and my thought was that I didn't agree with that particular opinion, basically.BowieZ said:
I personally always (at least try to) remember to separate opinion from fact in reviews. It doesn't mean I don't get irked by those I feel are completely missing the point of a game, particularly if they're focusing on minutiae I think silly, but in this case I certainly respect Totilo's opinion; I just don't agree with it.
The more I think about it, the more I do think that the appropriateness of the music has a lot to do with the drama inherent in the gameplay itself, really.
Eteric Rice said:
Rosalina sent mario back in time to stop bowser before he took over the universe.
In one timeline the mushroom kingdom gets destroyed so mairo and peach set out across the sea in search of a new land leading to super mario sunshine and Yoshi's island
In the other timeline the mushroom kingdom is still intact and is followed by super mario land 64
Galaxy 2 takes place in the latter timeline inbetween super mario land and mario kart double dash
Grampa Simpson
Banned
AceBandage said:
Animal Soldiers!
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
What are the other stages in Throwback Galaxy?
RedHerring
Neo Member
Metroid Killer said:
I agree with you in part, but all but one of the examples you listed (De Blob being the sole exception) are, crucially, 2D platformers. There's no question that there has been a 2D revival, and I'm sure New Super Mario Bros on the DS had a hand in showing that the 2D platformer is still a very viable genre. But on the 3D front Mario has not been as commercially successful, and on the Wii for instance I'm not able to come up with any other successful non-Mario 3D platformers off the top of my head. What has there been other than De Blob? Mushroom Men and a few spin off Prince of Persia games (and we're yet to see how the new one will fare I suppose)?
I'm suppose I'm just sceptical that Nintendo can do anything with Mario anymore that will be seen as especially relevant for those developers who, as everyone is discussing, cater for the "red-blooded gamer" :lol, who requires a "mature" storyline and complains about SMG2's lack of one in IGN roundtables. It's unfortunate but my impression is that many developers have a similarly closeminded culture that closes them off from learning some lessons related to playability and accessibility that the Galaxy games do a fantastic job of overcoming. What I take from reading some of those roundtable comments is the reality that no piece of entertainment can ever truly appeal to everyone.
ColonelColon
Member
Metroid Killer said:
I don't think any of those are 3D platformers. I think he was referring to games like Super Mario 64, Rayman 2, Spyro, Jak and Daxter, Banjo Kazooie, etc.
Feel the Swift
Member
Hoping my local game store will give it to me early. :lol They did with HeartGold so who knows.
DeathbyVolcano
Banned
It's times like these I wish The Grey Ghost was still around, just to see what fucked conclusions he would draw from all the praise of this game.
I don't even understand how there can be a qualifier for those who play games for story given the current progress of the medium. If IGN is actually worried about that audience picking up games that don't provide a satisfactory narrative experience, they basically have to put that disclaimer in front of every game review ever with a handful of exceptions that can be counted on one hand. :lol
RedHerring said:
Even if the metacritic scores or whatever end up being higher for Galaxy 2 than they were for OoT, it ultimately will never have the same level of industry-wide impact. Zelda brought in ideas for how to handle 3-D adventuring that had not been popularized before, lock-on in particular, and I think in that sense it gave a boost to games even outside of its specific genre. It also came at a time when Nintendo still had stronger brand recognition among the "gamer's game" audience, loathe as I am to even use such a term. The fact of the matter is, just about anyone who cared about video games at that time stood up and paid attention to what Ocarina did. No matter how good Galaxy 2 is, there's a large set of the total gaming audience that simply won't care among the super-casuals and the folks that own other systems and refuse to give Wii games credit no matter what.
You even saw it in that IGN roundtable thing that's been brought up a few times. Even some editors for a gaming-centric website pretty much dismissed SMG2 as "oh it's just more Mario" without ever playing it. I seriously doubt that back in 97/98, anybody just tossed OoT aside as "just another Zelda."
And lastly, platformers simply aren't the dominant genre that they used to be, and without that appeal to the mass market I don't think there will be enough financial incentive for other companies to attempt such a renaissance. If anything, it might spell the doom of the genre, considering how much of a history we've already seen of publishers throwing their hands in the air and crying "we can't compete with Nintendo!" :lol It would be a better business move for publishers to avoid platformers altogether rather than try and fail to match the Galaxy subseries' level of excellence.