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dartmonkey

Super Mario Odyssey (One D, Two Ss)

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It seems like everyone in the world is on this already, or has been for a few days. I'm a couple of hours in.

 

First impressions for me: it's good but I'm feeling a little constricted. There's a massive moveset and most of it I learned 20 years ago, but the utter freedom I felt in Galaxy - where I'd launch myself off a ledge with a longjump towards my destination, knowing I could finesse my landing spot with that spin - is replaced with tension. It's probably a necessary trade for this type of game. I'm constantly searching for Mario's shadow and trying to calculate distance and move the camera, and it raises my blood pressure a little. As the new moves bed in I'm sure that will diminish but right now I keep mucking up the side somersault because I don't quite have enough momentum to trigger it.

 

I'm looking forward to taking my time with this.

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I've played maybe 3 or 4 hours, I've hit that threshold of not noticing how long I've been playing. I'm in love with this game, all I want to do is gush. It looks phenomenal, the art style is brilliant and any technical limitations the Switch may have are very well masked. The amount of variety is incredible, the number of enemies to possess and how they handle, the possibilities that opens up for exploring the environment, I'm constantly seeing things and thinking "hmm, maybe if I possess that guy I can get up to there", there's a lot of light moment to moment puzzle solving going on and I love it. I've found a few doors that lead to levels that are more traditional platforming and somewhat challenging, I expect to find more of that kind of thing later on(with a possibility of a rake of new tough levels after finishing the story as they've done in other recent games).

 

Just absolutely loving it. The controls aren't always perfect and like dartmonkely I'm also often looking for Mario's shadow and being somewhat cautious with long jumps but as I get a better feel for the controls I'm playing in a more fluid style.

 

FYI in the options you can disable motion aiming(but you're stuck with motion controls for the extended hat moves which is a shame).

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Quote

(One D, Two Ss)

 

Possible mnemonic  (related to Homer's Odyssey,, not Mario's): one dude, two ships.

 

Can anyone come up with a Mario-related one?

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The best part for me so far is the cut scene when mario possesses his first thing. Mario is totally having a Being John Malkovich  experience. I fully expect to be spit out off the jersey turnpike any minute now. Keep it weird Nintendo. 

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I booted it up and then I couldn't stop playing. Only after I'd done the whole desert world did I tear myself away for food and some podcasting. It's really good. I was so on the fence before, so this is a good feeling.

 

Some random observations:

- I love how adventurous the structure is. Mario Games usually telegraph very clearly that you're in a new level and this or that is the objective. Everything here's more free-roaming and as a result it feels so much more like a grand adventure full of unexpected things. I'm never sure when a boss is coming or where we're going next.

- I used my Waluigi amiibo to give Mario a Waluigi outfit and it's just perfect.

- The first real level you enter, the little dinosaur island, is everything I want from Mario: a compact, interesting place to explore, jam-packed with secrets and corners and jokes.

- Love the weirdness. Odyssey trades in visual consistency for maximum surprise: you never know what weird thing or graphical style is up next. Odyssey isn't a beautiful game in the way Breath of the Wild is beautiful, and it's not really trying to be. I will take that over the tired and self-cannibalizing 'New' Mario series any day of the week.

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8 hours ago, thepaulhoey said:

the art style is brilliant and any technical limitations the Switch may have are very well masked

There's a good article about the little touches they used to achieve this here

https://www.google.ie/amp/www.eurogamer.net/amp/digitalfoundry-2017-how-super-mario-odyssey-pushes-switch-to-its-limits

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I've finished the main quest, Zelda's the last game that held my attention like this has, took me 10-12 hours I reckon. I still have a tonne of moons to get though, like I have maybe a quarter of them and ti's not like I was rushing through the areas, generally I had more than the required amount to move on. This game is just packed with content. Really fun game, sometimes to controls and camera are total balls(please stop grabbing the ledge Mario!) but for the most part it's absolutely excellent.

 

I really enjoy just chilling out in some of the Kingdoms, so relaxing. Also some of the outfits are amazing.

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I was lying in bed getting ready to sleep last night with a quick wind-down game of Picross, when lo and behold my entire friends list is booting up Odyssey. So then, of course, I am too. Played to the landing on the Sand Kingdom last night, then through about 40 moons of the Sand Kingdom and 20 of the Woodland (Wooded?) Kingdom tonight. Initial thoughts:

 

Charming, beautiful, etc. Wonderful pretty much everything aesthetically.

I don't like that the Bullet Bill controls are camera relative but sometimes also not? This is one of the only situations where I feel like tank controls would be a huge improvement.

I found a painting in the Sand Kingdom which randomly teleported me to a secret star in New Donk City, which was a pretty cool glimpse of what seems like a much later level.

Holy shit this game just gives away moons like candy.

 

So yeah. Very much looking forward to continuing on with this. @Roderick, I also tapped my Waluigi but it just gave me some coins. Do you have to do this at the shop or something? I'm currently dressed in the explorer outfit from Mario's Picross, which is awesome, but would always be a Wa brother given the chance.

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I'm currently watching my flatmate play and he's taking totally different routes and coming across totally different content than I did which is awesome and really shows the amount of content there is. Also the soundtrack is excellent, the song in the Wooded Kingdom is just the best.

 

Post credits spoilers:

 

 


It's great getting to go back to the earlier areas to discover all that you missed out on the first time, as well as the extra content which you unlock by breaking those moon stones, which are very Fez-like I thought in style. I've unlocked the first extra Kingdom and it seems like there'll be another at 500 Moons. The boss rush in it is rather difficult due to the gravity, the first fight in particular, with the latter ones being quite easy but you're low on health and there's no way to replenish for the entire thing so you can't make many mistakes. The extra content that you unlock certainly isn't lacking in challenge and there's been a few levels that have taken me multiple attempts to complete, reminds me very much of Star Road. Short and focused but challenging.

 

The ability to buy seemingly unlimited Moons from shops feels a bit wrong though. I'm going to avoid that.
 

 

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@thepaulhoey I also particularly love the Wooded Kingdom tunes!

I got this on Friday (bundled with my Switch), and no surprise that a flagship Mario game is enormous, absorbing fun...but I never knew how much I missed the freewheeling exploration of Sunshine. I think Galaxy was and is fantastic, but its clarity and focus came at the expense of something. It's wonderfully relaxing and rewarding just poking around a kingdom, invariably finding something new to unravel or just admiring the scenery - I love that Snapshot Mode. It's almost impossible to catch the game in a moment that isn't either beautiful or joyously silly, or both.

 

 It was only once I reached the Wooded Kingdom that I learned not to rush, and now I think I'm taking the game at its optimum pace. Case in point, here's a snapshot from my return visit to the Cascade Kingdom (I somehow missed the T Rex on my first visit, so decided to return in my explorer garb): 

 

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Good point, Simon. Collecting moons is both so addictive and relatively easy that you kind of rush through in a binge. Might be worthwhile to stop and smell the piranha plants. Noodle away some time. There are enough features to help you out.

 

Miffy, using an amiibo at any point in the game will net you some coins. Further features are unlocked by using them on the robot roombas that pop up once you finish the story beats of a level. Use amiibo there for costumes and moon-locating services.

 

I'm really hoping the challenge ramps up at some point, though. So far it's all but effortless to progress. I can do a lot of cool tricks already (jump, throw cappy, launch myself at cappy, bounce off him, then launch myself again - it's amazing how far you can reach with a little acrobatics), so test me on them already. I get that the main story should be accessible for everyone, but I cut my teeth on Sunshine and that was no picnic. Even Galaxy offered some hefty challenges. Mario games ought to be a little demanding.

 

:reggie:

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On 10/28/2017 at 11:52 AM, Simon said:

I got this on Friday (bundled with my Switch), and no surprise that a flagship Mario game is enormous, absorbing fun...but I never knew how much I missed the freewheeling exploration of Sunshine. I think Galaxy was and is fantastic, but its clarity and focus came at the expense of something. It's wonderfully relaxing and rewarding just poking around a kingdom, invariably finding something new to unravel or just admiring the scenery - I love that Snapshot Mode. It's almost impossible to catch the game in a moment that isn't either beautiful or joyously silly, or both.

 

Yeah, this game does a really impressive job of splitting the difference between the exploration of 64/Sunshine and the more linear design of the later 3D Marios. If you want a more directed experience, you can kind of just beeline through the "story" missions and do that, but there's tons of opportunity to veer off and explore at your leisure.

 

And I love how unlike Sunshine, which mostly rewarded exploration with trash blue coins, Odyssey usually gives you a mini platforming challenge, or at least a few purple coins which can be spent on some cool clothes.

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This is probably the first Nintendo game where I'm actually going to complain about the motion controls. They're not necessary to complete the game from what I've seen, but I like poking around places and using directional throws is often really important in a pinch and I need those to work when I want them to. 

 

But anyway, this game is otherwise excellent and I'd be playing more right now if I didn't have a headache.

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Yeah I'm not a fan of the forced motion controls for certain moves either. They're rarely needed but there's been a few times where I need the hat homing or to be able to throw it in a circle/up/down and the detection for specific movements can be iffy. The camera can also bee annoying at times when there's a sudden change in direction and it messes with your movement. There was also a few boss encounters where it didn't really feel like it could keep up.

 

Still, all that said I've put in I can't imagine how many hours this weekend. I've fully completed the first 4 Kingdoms and I now have over 600 Power Moons(thanks to a combination of me taking holidays form work and it being a Bank Holiday here). The last time I've enjoyed and played a game this much was admittedly earlier this year with BotW, but before that it's been years. I haven't felt so much joy playing a game as I did with this in a long time though, and I don't think I will again anytime soon. An excellent game the kind of which only come around every few years.

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I cranked through to the end last night (I have just been going after finishing the story). That last bit after the final boss is Very Good in so many ways

 

Edit: Also, I love the different Mario outfits. Do the amiibo outfits stay unlocked once you get them? I may have to make use of a friend's amiibo collection if so.

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I now have just shy of 250 moons and am about to go and

crash a moon wedding apparently?

 

This is a Good Game.

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I'm surprised and disappointed there's not more discussion of how this game adds to the New True Mario Lore the thumbs crew have been elucidating this past year.

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3 hours ago, DoomMunky said:

I'm surprised and disappointed there's not more discussion of how this game adds to the New True Mario Lore the thumbs crew have been elucidating this past year.

 

Yeah, when the Waypoint crew mentioned GOTY stuff last week I was thinking back and thought "boy, it sure is suggestive that the Thumbs were right about Mario that we got a year that has Mario a. picking up a gun and b. raising his flag in different parts of the world"

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So far this game is Good, with Great moments. New Donk City saved the game for me, it's by far the strongest and most creative thing I've seen so far. I think perhaps I was expecting more, with the absolute maximum level of hyperbole shown in review scores. The caveat is I have not "completed" the game, so maybe it gets stonk crazy 3 hours of play time from where I am now.

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Yeah I like it fine. I rarely get overhyped these days but I think I was definitely overhyped on this game. It's a good 3D Mario, I'm glad to get the Sunshine-style explorable worlds back, but it doesn't quite feel dense enough for me or something? (I just got to Lost Kingdom and that area is where things have started to pick up for me a bit, which is good). 

 

I think it ranks below Sunshine, Galaxy, an 3D World for me still though. Maybe that will change the farther in I get. 

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I think the reason I bought into the hype for this one so much was that Breath of the Wild actually was as good as people said. I'm only in New Donk City and I'm willing to believe it gets better in the later game, but as of right now it is merely a good video game rather than an amazing one. 

 

The thing that I think is holding it back for me is that the moons are so common as to not feel special. There are enough of them sitting it random corners that I know I'm not going to get all of them without thoroughly scrubbing every area (which I won't do), so that makes it less exciting to get the ones I do find, since I'm not building toward any goal.

 

There's still a lot that I like here though. I love those little accordion enemies. The cutscene that plays when you possess the first enemy is a great way to open a game, and the music in the Wooded Kingdom is one of the last things I would have expected from a Mario game (I don't understand how "forest level" ended up leading to surf rock but it somehow works).

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