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Balan Wonderworld - Review Thread
- Thread starter Lant_War
- Start date
The "Jak 2 is edgy" sentiment is unfair to the game
Yes, Dark Jak is 2000s edge personified but he's mostly only seen in gameplay and like two cutscenes. Yes, Jak uses guns but it's about as edgy and impactful as a Stormtrooper firing lasers. There's sexual innuendos but they're barely above a Rocko's Modern Life episode in terms of crudeness. They say damn and hell sometimes also
I get that going from Jak 1 to 2 is jarring but it's still pretty Saturday morning action cartoon and shares a lot in common with the original game tonally. This isn't a Prince of Persia: Warrior Within situation.
Yes, Dark Jak is 2000s edge personified but he's mostly only seen in gameplay and like two cutscenes. Yes, Jak uses guns but it's about as edgy and impactful as a Stormtrooper firing lasers. There's sexual innuendos but they're barely above a Rocko's Modern Life episode in terms of crudeness. They say damn and hell sometimes also
I get that going from Jak 1 to 2 is jarring but it's still pretty Saturday morning action cartoon and shares a lot in common with the original game tonally. This isn't a Prince of Persia: Warrior Within situation.
I'm gonna perfectly honest in this thread. None of the Jaks are any good. Jak1 was the least bad.
I played Jak through for the first time on PS4 a couple of years ago and it's one of my favourite platformer of all time, comfortably ahead of some 3D marios even.
I was always way more into the Ratchet than Jak games. Ratchet was edgy as well but felt much more self aware than Jak was.
Not to derail this thread even further, but yeah Jak II is awesome. A highlight of the PS2 era and the game that set Naughty Dog on the path to becoming what they are now.
Insane difficulty spikes though.
"Give me a character with a voice and a personality, and a more cinematic experience"
It's interesting how you can recognise the genesis of what we would now consider modern Naughty Dog in that quote. They had the right idea, it's just they trying to force it on the wrong genre.
Eventually, they would figure out they shouldn't be making platformers at all but straight-up action games with a strong narrative focus. And thus, Uncharted and The Last of Us were born
Insane difficulty spikes though.
For the record this is what Anihawk was probably talking about:
As you can see above, it kinda is true that Rubin and the gang thought that platformers like Mario were kiddy shit and old hat and that's why they made Jak 2 darker and edgier.
(yeah i know this is kinda off topic but yeah)
"Give me a character with a voice and a personality, and a more cinematic experience"
It's interesting how you can recognise the genesis of what we would now consider modern Naughty Dog in that quote. They had the right idea, it's just they trying to force it on the wrong genre.
Eventually, they would figure out they shouldn't be making platformers at all but straight-up action games with a strong narrative focus. And thus, Uncharted and The Last of Us were born
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One poster said it was their downfall and now I'm seeing another poster saying it was a highlight that set them on the path to where they are now.
Not sure who to believe.
Five pages in, and this thread is STILL all Jak'd up, lol!!
Balan ain't great, but it's also not for you and me. Same shit I said in the demo thread.
Balan is designed to appeal to young kids. Yes, I know Lucky's Tale is a thing, and that you like it better. Doesn't matter. The game was still designed to appeal to young kids.
If a lot of young kids end up liking Balan, then the game was a success, regardless of what you or me think.
Balan ain't great, but it's also not for you and me. Same shit I said in the demo thread.
Balan is designed to appeal to young kids. Yes, I know Lucky's Tale is a thing, and that you like it better. Doesn't matter. The game was still designed to appeal to young kids.
If a lot of young kids end up liking Balan, then the game was a success, regardless of what you or me think.
Correct, because PoP WW remained true to the formula and has some of the best platforming sections in the series.
I might be biased, but personally I think you should believe me.
If someone really doesn't like that Naughty Dog shifted gears away from mascot platformers towards narrative-heavy action games, then Jak II pretty much bears the blame.
Likewise, if you love the developer's more contemporary work then Jak II deserves all the credit.
It was the game that made them realise strong characters and storytelling was their strong suit, and what would set them apart from the competition.
I'm there with you. Jak II also killed any future interest in the series for me. However, at least it plays better than what I've played of the Balan demo.
Official Staff Communication
This thread is about reviews for Balan Wonderworld. That's it. Stop the derails.
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Damn.
it's at 1.5-2 stars on amazon JP right now, but only with about 10 reviews.
I didn't get into the demo but I'll probably still cop once the price goes down for research purposes if nothing else
it's at 1.5-2 stars on amazon JP right now, but only with about 10 reviews.
I didn't get into the demo but I'll probably still cop once the price goes down for research purposes if nothing else
Well, a game for kids can also play well and not give kids and adults alike seizures/headaches that may make them throw up. With all the problem this game has, I doubt it'll be a success by any metric, specially in the commercial sense. They better patch out that seizure inducing bug before they also get a lawsuit from someone.Five pages in, and this thread is STILL all Jak'd up, lol!!
Balan ain't great, but it's also not for you and me. Same shit I said in the demo thread.
Balan is designed to appeal to young kids. Yes, I know Lucky's Tale is a thing, and that you like it better. Doesn't matter. The game was still designed to appeal to young kids.
If a lot of young kids end up liking Balan, then the game was a success, regardless of what you or me think.
No, because there are cheaper games that are very well recieved than Balan.
I like some Sonic designs, and some of the Nights stuff. The issues I have with Balan are:
-Dumpy, lumpy costumes which look *particularly* juvenile in a way which is hard to put my finger on
-Flat textures
-Super generic humans with weird and off-putting proportions and absolutely nothing even remotely interesting about their deigns whatsoever
-No edge at all, or the sort of "edge" that an 8 year old would consider interesting (such as the villains)
-Flat out atrocious animations, especially apparent in the dances soullessly copied from one skeleton to another
-Very little cohesion in the characters which otherwise look even close to interesting, such as Balan himself
Just can't stand it.
the demo of this felt pretty awful - in particular with the actual platforming movement and animation. so a bit like an unpolished platformer from 2010. Compared to the similarly double-A released platformer It Takes Two, well there's no comparison, ITT wins by a country mile.
With this kind of quality even a "happy" game can make people sad instead.
I've always felt strongly that "It's just for kids!" is a terrible excuse for something being poor quality. And that's the point here, people aren't ripping on the game for being kiddy or whatever, they're ripping on it for being bad.
There's simply much, much better options if you're looking for games that are suitable for kids.
It's all fun and games until you actually get to play it.
I'm not arguing that, though. I'm just saying that Square needed to invest more on it because this game needs to have a bigger discussion because of what it represents.
It's all part of the same thing. The game's budget is representative of the marketing's budget. If the former were bigger, the latter would be, too. And maybe the game would've been better.
It's funny because you almost never hear "but it's for the kids" in discussions regarding actually good games, because it's not a reasonable argument.
Man, all I wanted was for a sorta spiritual successor to Billy Hatcher, which in all honesty isn't that high of a bar to clear.
It's too bad this game couldn't achieve even that. :<
It's too bad this game couldn't achieve even that. :<
Personally I think this game's vibe feels particularly aimed at kids more so than your typical Mario or Kirby, for reasons that have nothing to do with quality. Every ability is controlled by one button, there's very little dialogue or important text to read, and a lot of mechanics are mysterious and unexplained (particularly everything to do with the Tims) so you have to figure things out for yourself by messing around. The level design is pretty straightforward but gives a lot of incentive to explore aimlessly and find secrets. It feels like the kind of game where your average adult would be put off by its weirdness but a kid with endless free time would find it interesting.