Not really sure if it's appropriate to place this in the prev thread, so if need be mod can merge this topic with the prev established Balan general thread.
Anyways, here's a deep dive look at the development post-interviews from Naka and teams analyzed into a more objective video.
tl;dlw version:
If Naka had similar conditions like back then, aka FULL SEGA SUPPORT & Team Sonic talented dev's behind it, we could of had a masterpiece...maybe.
Balan hate really confuses me. At worst, it's an above average platformer.
I'd certainly take Balan over something like Crash Bandicoot 4. A game that had all the money in the world but no imagination behind it at all. Balan is a solid 7/10.
Balan hate really confuses me. At worst, it's an above average platformer.
I'd certainly take Balan over something like Crash Bandicoot 4. A game that had all the money in the world but no imagination behind it at all. Balan is a solid 7/10.
tbh, I'm neutral about the whole thing till I've sit down and formed my own opinion. But kind of like S3, I don't believe a legendary dev would just "Mess up" or deliver such a poorly received game without extenuating circumstances. Since I found a video that did some actual digging and compiled it(despite having her own take) I thought it'd be a good discussion point to talk about the dev prob Naka revealed had going for him.
I ended up buying Balan Wonderworld a while ago. I played through the third level, but ended up needing one more trophy to unlock the next set of levels, and I haven't picked it back up in the few days since.
While I don't love the game--it's quaint, and a bit simple, but does ask for some lateral thinking in getting some of the statues--the dumping on it from the internet is asinine, bordering on insanity. This kind of pig piling is one of the things I hate most about the internet, and maybe humanity in general.
There is literally not a single thing wrong with the controls. I have no idea what people are talking about there. It's one button. A monkey can do it. It's confounding to me how anyone could say the game has poor controls.
Personally, I like the style, and the feel of the game, but I find it a bit boring to play. It reminds me a little of Billy Hatcher at times, which is a game I prefer not to think about, but Balan Wonderworld is still way better than that game, I think. It feels like a kids' game. I don't think that's a wildly unfair statement, but I also don't see any problem with that.
It sort of feels to me like Balan Wonderworld isn't really for the critics, or a lot of the "gamers" out there, and they just don't know how to square that with their world-view.
It's really frustrating to see this kind of crap, because there's plenty of room for things that aren't Mario in platformers.
As far as the video in the OP, I don't really buy the premise. It feels like it's fitting some quotes and assumptions into a potentially false narrative. It presumes that the game is poorly made, but also that if it wasn't perfect, then it was a failure. SE not being known for platformers doesn't preclude a failure of a product. It feels like editorializing around the story aspects, too. Besides that, it's a good platformer, so wtf. At the very least, it's perfectly serviceable and inoffensive.
Sadly, it never feels that way in this outrage culture. If(a game) is not 9/10 or 10/10 some top influencer somewhere will claim thier life is ruined by it.
Watching gameplay and some of those reviews I kinda agree with Rydeen and OP. Its not a Mario 10/10, but definetely it isnt a 30/100 like metacritic says. It should be a 75/100 with great intentions, maybe taking this as a learning step, using a lot of material, kinda similar situation of S3, it may end in a 9/100 sequel in the future. I'd buy it but its too expensive in my steam currency.
But yea its easy to bully this kind of games. Same happened with S3. Some people may not remember but that was an impressive shit storm. Idk how we survived to that.
I'm quite looking forward to getting it once it's on sale! I enjoyed the demo well enough, and I think the charm of the world will make it fairly enjoyable when all is said and done.
I said back when Duke Nukem Forever came out that our standards have really, really shot up. It wasn't a defense of the highly-flawed DNF so much as comparing it to 5/10 games of 10-15 years prior to it. DNF is entirely playable and relatively enjoyable compared to, say, a 50% Saturn or Genny game, and almost infinitely more fun than a 5/10 NES-or-earlier game.
I feel like Balan Wonderworld will be about the same for me. It might not be incredible by modern, high standards, but it will be a worthwhile experience (and I expect better than DNF, hah!).
Yuji Naka said that Balan Wonderworld might be his last chance to make a big, triple A platformer, and perhaps he was right: he's left Square Enix and may even retire.
Sonic creator Yuji Naka has confirmed his exit from Square Enix, and said he may retire.In a tweet, Naka said he left S…
www.eurogamer.net
That one hurts. Sonic and NiGHTS are two of my favorites, and really, from what I played in the demo and have seen elsewhere, Balan Wonderworld was a solid foundation that just needed better direction and six more months.
As an interesting side note, the novelization is apparently half decent, and really fills in and fills out the story. I didn't even know such a thing existed, but I went ahead and picked it up. I'm a few chapters in, and it's clearly written for the 8-12 group, but I enjoy fantasy/fairy tales, and it's been nice, super-light reading before bed!
What still gets me is that it feels abundantly obvious to me that the game was targeting this same age group, but a bunch of adults came in and raked it over the coals without any consideration for who the wider audience was.
It won't be enough to save Naka's career, which is really sad, but I do think it's possible this ends up being a game, maybe like the Spongebob Gamecube games, where in a handful of years there's a contingent of young adults who played Balan as kids, and hold it in relatively high esteem.
What still gets me is that it feels abundantly obvious to me that the game was targeting this same age group, but a bunch of adults came in and raked it over the coals without any consideration for who the wider audience was.
It won't be enough to save Naka's career, which is really sad, but I do think it's possible this ends up being a game, maybe like the Spongebob Gamecube games, where in a handful of years there's a contingent of young adults who played Balan as kids, and hold it in relatively high esteem.
Totally agreed. I get that the best games can be enjoyed by all ages (see: Mario, Naka's own NiGHTS), but that doesn't mean something is terrible just because it's appeal is limited to a certain age group. I'm certain I would have loved Balan Wonderworld at age 10: unlocked everything, beat it multiple times, knew all the secrets (and yes, begged for the book to accompany it!).
I think we're seeing a similar thing with Journey of Dreams: it was fairly harshly criticized at the time, but people who are now in their twenties who played it fourteen years ago are starting to say, "Hey, remember Journey on the Wii? That was a cool game, I liked it a lot!"
I’m sorry Yuji Naka is having a hard go of a career post-Sega, but unfortunately I found this game woefully short of my modern expectations. Selling it at full retail price doomed it to failure as well. I feel like you have to REALLY want to like this to see any positives, which wasn’t the case for me with Naka’s other games. They clearly prioritized the cinematics and “story” over the gameplay.
My son has Super Lucky’s Tale, an incredibly average game, and I find/found it more compelling than this game by a legendary designer. There are plenty of games for younger kids that are extremely playable and well designed, if not slightly generic. I think Balan is a charming game that lacks compelling gameplay. I don’t think its appeal to children is the issue. As a full-priced experience, frankly it’s a bit of a joke.
You guys know I try to avoid negativity if I can, but I really can’t see the quality in this title.
It's down to $20 for the Steam sale, so I went ahead and nabbed it. I probably won't have a ton of time for it at the moment, but I have played through a bit of the first stage--it seems the demo is basically the first part of the game.
Perhaps it will be explained later in the game, but it makes so much more sense having read the novel up to the point where the game actually starts. The backstory makes it quite a bit more interesting as well: it's not just inventive but random scenery. There's a purpose to the way it looks and feels.
Why the game just tosses you into that, I don't know, because for me it's much more intriguing knowing a bit of the backstory. The weird stages, the strange costumes, and disappearing and reappearing apparitions, the strange, purple, floating bad guy... all are explained.
There's a ton that happens between the game's intro (Leo or Emma walking into the theater and being whisked into Wonderworld and some action stages. The book essentially starts directly after Balan transports them to Wonderworld, and an indeterminate--but apparently quite significant--period of time elapses during which the protagonist (Leo; Emma shows up later) forgets everything. When the novel starts, Leo is called "Streetbeat", and he dances alone in his own, private stage. He's completely oblivious to the existence of anyone else, save Lance, who seems to be the pseudo deity in charge of Wonderworld.
To keep it short, Clocktower Kid finds him and introduces him to the rest of the cast (such as Scarecrow, the farmer). Each has their own stage that they can essentially wish to be their ideal, and so Scarecrow lives on a homey, comfortable, idyllic farm. They meet several other members of Wonderworld, and it turns out they're all having dark dreams of a strange girl, a mysterious figure (who is obviously Balan if you've seen a picture of him), and their biggest fear. Lance warns them that Balan is after them, trying to ruin everything, and the cast quickly fortifies their stage to fight off the darkness that's encroaching.
Emma catches up to Streetbeat, reminds him that his name is Leo and they were friends, and tells him Balan is trying to save them from Lance, who has been feeding on negative energy. Emma's trust in Leo protected her from falling prey to Lance's powers.
That's where the game starts: they go looking for Scarecrow, who has turned his farm into a fortified castle that's difficult to navigate. The partial hearts you find are the "positivity" banished from the stage owner's heart by Lance's darkness, and the various apparitions are illusions created by the positivity to lead you toward the real person. The costumes? That stage owners idea of the physical embodiment of a concept: to Scarecrow, a big wolf is the embodiment of strength
And the sudden appearance of the purple, tentacled guy? We know that's Lance, because he revealed his power to the cast earlier on when he told them to fortify their stages!
There are a fair amount of details I skipped, but that's the gist of it.
Again, maybe that's all explained later on in the game, but it gives an appreciation, meaning, and complexity to the world that's absent when you're just dropped into it. That's how I felt during the demo: "This is neat, but it feels completely random. How does a castle fit with the farm theme? Why is the farmer appearing and disappearing? What are these hearts? What are these little guys, and why are the costumes so random, like this kangaroo in a castle-farm?
It's a fairly cute, inventive story, and I'm just at loss as to why the game didn't find a way to lead with at least some of that.
What still gets me is that it feels abundantly obvious to me that the game was targeting this same age group, but a bunch of adults came in and raked it over the coals without any consideration for who the wider audience was.
It won't be enough to save Naka's career, which is really sad, but I do think it's possible this ends up being a game, maybe like the Spongebob Gamecube games, where in a handful of years there's a contingent of young adults who played Balan as kids, and hold it in relatively high esteem.
The problem is is that he's moved on from Sonic the Hedgehog. The fanboys pressured him to return to his old franchise by slating his latest venture.
I give Naka credit for not being dependent on churning out sequels to stay relevant in the industry. He's not a coward like Miyamoto who conveniently sticks to the past with endless Mario and Zelda games.
Tell the gaming crowd to go f themselves, I say. They never programmed games like he did.
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