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Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is top 5 metroidvania ever - Have you played it?
- Thread starter Fredrik
- Start date
Difficulty complaints make me sad.
I mean this was tamer than La-Mulana.
Serious lack of challenging Metroidvanias.
I mean this was tamer than La-Mulana.
Serious lack of challenging Metroidvanias.
Ultimately, I do think calling it a "Metroidvania" is fair. It really is structured quite a bit differently than the average game in the genre though.
I was a bit disappointed with this game due to the intense praise. It's a fine game. 2/5 of the forms suck to use, though, and it was a huge mistake for the game to start you with those, and some of the later areas aren't very fun to play through.
OP
OP
Lol don't get me started
My first impression of Hollow Knight was actually that it was like Zelda 2, so where does that put us? Is Zelda 2 a metroidvania or is Hollow Knight Zelda-like? And since SOTN, which helped creating the metroidvania genre, was copying Super Metroid in many ways, which in turn was an iteration of Metroid, is metroidvania even a valid name? What did SOTN bring to the table? Melee weapons? Shouldn't it all be metroid-like?
I'd say lets just bury the axe and accept the differences that might exist and state that any
"2D action platformer with an open map and upgrades and abilities that helps you progress further"
is a metroidvania.
I'm in the middle of deciding to play MOnster World 4 or The new Dragons Trap remake, I'll probably start with IV. 240p goodness on Wii
I loved hollow knight, both ori's, inside and limbo, bloodstained and the other old style castlevenia game, cupped. It looks right up my alley, I'm sure it would be a person 9/10 for me!
I will wait until there is a sale on Xbox Live and I will grab it. I just don't want to pay more than $20 for it. (I'm a buy it when it is on sale kind of gamer)
I will wait until there is a sale on Xbox Live and I will grab it. I just don't want to pay more than $20 for it. (I'm a buy it when it is on sale kind of gamer)
bought this at launch because I absolutely love the aesthetic of it, the art style is super up my alley. Unfortunately, i wasn't much a fan of how it played. the core mechanics just didn't feel super tight to me, it wasn't very fun. maybe i'll try again at some point
Yeah, I'm unfortunately in the disappointed group also. Monster World IV is one of my faves, but I was super bored with this one. Just felt very bland and by the numbers. As far as Metroidvanias go, this barely registers as a play worthy title.
I've expressed my opinion on this game before but this game is absolutely infuriating. It's beautiful and charming, but it's obtuse and bullshit gameplay at the same time. Once you hit the fire area it's an absolute chore to get through and everything from level design, cheap AI, garbage controls, and nonsense puzzle solving makes the back part of the game enough to make it a non-recommendation.
There's a lot better Metroidvanias on Switch. Dead Cells and Hollow Knight come to mind. Skip this.
There's a lot better Metroidvanias on Switch. Dead Cells and Hollow Knight come to mind. Skip this.
Here is how I see it, this game has dungeons which is not something we find in games like Metroid or Castlevania games, and the use of this game's abilities (animals and some tools) are most involved when you're inside a dungeon, which isn't the case in Metroid and Castlevania, I know you can and you constantly use them outside the dungeons but that's something like how Zelda uses them (a linear approach with some upgrades and secrets scatred in the world) not the Metroidvania approach when the dungeon (which a term we don't use in these games) is the whole world of the game and the tools and progression are much more open (some time confusing) than what we find in Zelda or this game.
I can't comment about your example because a didn't play Zelda 2 (shame on me I know), but I can say that Hollow Knight is pretty much a Metroid-like because of how it built its world and how you use its tools for progression in the game unlike something like Ori (great game BTW).
As I said this is confusing because Monster boy, Zelda and the like of these games use element of Metroid design but with different execution, and all that is just how I see it and I don't wan't to make others do the same of course, I played all these "Metroidvanias" games (Ori, Monster boy, Shantae, guacamelee and many others) but all I found was games with superficial elements from Metroid however great they are.
Edit: All it did was adding RPG element and more emphasise on combat but the world and progression were built exactly like Metroid with almost the same execution.
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I haven't progressed much. I need to give it another chance.
And no, the whole "Roguevania" as it was initially promoted doesn't count since it's barely a thing.
Dead Cells is not a Metroidvania.
And no, the whole "Roguevania" as it was initially promoted doesn't count since it's barely a thing.
Unfortunately the OST is not separately available as download. Situation is a bit complicated because of the licensing.
This is kind of a silly question, but it's coming from a genuine place — can someone tell me why they enjoyed this game so much? It gets brought up as one of the best indie metroidvanias all the time, but that's one of my favorite genres and I played the first few hours of it and it just never stuck with me.
Not trying to tell anyone their favorite game is trash, I just am not totally sure what the appeal is.
Not trying to tell anyone their favorite game is trash, I just am not totally sure what the appeal is.
There's a great video from John Linneman / Digital Foundry on it:
DF Games of the Year: The John Linneman Collection!
John Linneman reveals his personal selection of the best games of 2018, along with his favourite 'undiscovered' retro title of the year. Subscribe for more D...
youtu.be
I think he analyzes the game at a very professional level.
Yup, I love this game! It's awesome!
That said, despite the fact that it's technically a metroidvania, I would say it has a greater emphasis on action/puzzle/platforming and less of an emphasis on exploration, compared to something like Hollow Knight. They are both fantastic games in their own ways but they have really different focuses.
That said, despite the fact that it's technically a metroidvania, I would say it has a greater emphasis on action/puzzle/platforming and less of an emphasis on exploration, compared to something like Hollow Knight. They are both fantastic games in their own ways but they have really different focuses.
OP
OP
No disagreement there, this is actually my opinion as well ;) I have just accepted that others feel that Castlevania needs to be in the genre name as well for some reason. So Metroidvania it is. Not a big deal imo. To me they all remind me of Metroid anyway, not Castlevania, including the Igavanias.
But you need to play Zelda 2, it's pretty much like a Souls game, open map, super tight action where you need to study the enemy attacks and blocks, collect points to upgrade, lose them if you die (can't recollect them though), extremely hard. You'll either hate it or love it.
I've got this, hollow knight and shovel knight and can't get past a couple of hours on any of them. This type of game just doesn't seem to click with me. I get caught up in the hype and talk myself into buying them!
Thought it was good but had quite a bit of filler (the mansion and lava levels were a complete drag) and questionably obtuse design decisions that keep it from hitting that top mark for me. I've said before but in a lot of ways I think I prefer the Dragon's Trap remake overall, it just felt tighter and focused despite having 25 year old mechanics and design. That said Monster Boy is still well worth playing, especially if you are into the style and series of game.
Awesome game, grabbed it on switch. This basically fulfilled a dream for me of wanting a proper sequel to Wonderboy III: The Dragon's Trap. I honestly never thought I'd see the day, let alone an amazing remake as well as a spiritual successor.
Well Igavanias at least follows Metroid blueprint in its world design and progression so no problem, because for me these are the things that should be looked upon before any developers decide to call there game a metroidvania.
And of course I should find some time for Zelda 2, I know a lot of people find it too frustrating to enjoy but that didn't stop me from playing a lot of games let alone a game from one of my favorite series.
John Linneman is my favourite guy to watch on YouTube. He absolutely loved it and made me even more interested in getting the game!There's a great video from John Linneman / Digital Foundry on it:
DF Games of the Year: The John Linneman Collection!
John Linneman reveals his personal selection of the best games of 2018, along with his favourite 'undiscovered' retro title of the year. Subscribe for more D...
I think he analyzes the game at a very professional level.
I played this for a while. Honestly, I thought the boss battle designs were pretty lousy, and I thought the implementation of certain things (such as poison - just buy immunity to it in the store at the beginning of that area - yay?) was felt overly contrived. I feel as though every one of the Monster Boy and Wonder Boy games have serious flaws that make me drop them at some point.
Thank you very much! I'd like to mention that despite the name change, Monster Boy is an officially licensed sequel in the Wonder Boy in Monster World series of Games.
The boss fights are easier. Think of Zelda-like Puzzle Boss Fights that require a certrain trick to solve except very early boss fights when you don't have specific abilities or forms yet.
I played for an hour and a half. You don't have to play very much of this game to run into its flaws, and I'm not about to give a game that so egregiously throws garbage at you a chance to "get better" a few hours in. The first boss battle in particular got me off to a bad start, as you're given barely enough space to stand between where the tentacles will hit while the boss it hitting you with poorly choreographed attacks while pulling you into its mouth with no clear way of avoiding any of it. Oh, but they gave you a potion or whatever so you'll automatically come back to life once, just in time for a poorly-designed boss battle. Yay. That's not how you ease someone into a game.
I'm still waiting for more of it to be released, but one of the best Metroidvania-style games I've played recently is Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. I played less than an hour of it, and its tutorialization is woven really well into the natural game play flow, and the boss battles are incredible. It's far from complete, and it's in early access, but it's one of the best experiences I've ever had within the genre.
only played a few hrs but it didn't seem like one of the best. Should probably play more of it some time
See, that's *less* than 1/10th of the game. Talking about your first boss experience: The heavy boots can avoid you getting sucked into the mouth, the fire spell can be used to hit tentacles from far away, the shield can be used to block dropping rocks and the boss is dead really quickly.
Soooooo I started this game thanks to this thread and pretty much played nonstop all the way up to the point to where I beat the frog got the form now I'm back in the main hub.....lol yeah I love this game
It's the truth, he basically played the equivalent of up to the Deku Tree in Zelda: OoT. Not including the Deku tree dungeon, but like, up to the entrance. He didn't even get to the very first transformation in the game, which results in you going to the first dungeon in the game.
I sort of picked it up at random last summer. What a gem of a game!
The art and especially the music were great, although I can't speak to how they compare to the original.
The art and especially the music were great, although I can't speak to how they compare to the original.
And they gave their opinion on the part of the game that they played. I don't think there's anything wrong with that? I finished the game and I agree that the boss battles weren't good and there are a lot of weird implementations.
And it's still absolutely true that he played very little of the game, which is worth pointing out because the guy was talking about playing it for "a while" and talking about "boss battle designs"
There's nothing wrong with qualifying one's complaints like this, it's the truth. If you think pointing out that someone played little of the game is rejecting their opinion or something, perhaps reflect on why you feel that way and what it means about playing very little of the game, because Thomas didn't actually dismiss the guy.
Ori 2 is a great game and the experience is indeed very different compared to the Monster World games which are no precision platformers but Action Adventures in the vein of Zelda/Metroid/Castlevania. You should try Celeste, that gets closer to the Ori 2 experience.
The poster criticised 2 aspects of the game - the boss battles and "the implementation of certain things". There is nothing in there that would indicate the poster played very little of the game, and certainly nothing that deserves such a defensive and dismissive public response from someone associated with the game. To jump to "you clearly didn't play much" from those two criticisms is bullshit - I finished the thing and those criticisms hold up.
For what it's worth, I don't think 1.5 hours of a game that took me 17.4 hours - including a lot of optional exploration for collectibles - is very little. But I'm clearly talking to two people with huge vested interests in this game so I'm not interested in continuing this conversation further.