NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams E3 thread

[j-man]

CANCEL THIS GAME AND DISSOLVE SONIC TEAM!!!!

fixed

[Dasher]

What about this one?

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/16009

[j-man]

Looks shitty.

[Mep]

That level design is really horrible. The original Nights' levels were small but detailed, it made the levels feel full. While these new levels are huge and empty. It also seems really easy and more like an "aim your cursor at the right spot" game instead of the free flying original. Hopefully they have a "very hard" mode or something.

The original Nights rocks too. It emulates at full speed for my comp.

[Bo]

Why wasn't Puffy the boss of Soft Museum? That would have made much more sense.
It really threw me when I read the spoiler about Jackle. I had to look it up.

[Locit]

Puffy was definitely Splash Garden's boss. I'm not sure putting her elsewhere would've made any more sense, though.

[Zeta]

The NiGHTS section of the game looks as good as the original. The minigames and other sections look like crap. Basically, Sonic Adventure 2, NiGHTs style.

[James McGeachie]

The main game still seems to have constant framerate issues and some really jerky camera rotation.

It's a shame that Sega don't consider "polish" even remotely necessary, the policy seems to be that if it's (barely) playable, it's ready for the shelves.

[FlashTHD]

DELAY THIS GAME!!!!

I love this. After Next, everybody's immedeate reaction when (x) game is in trouble is ARGH DELAY IT; fat lot of good that extra time's getting you now!

If the credibility of the NiGHTS brand and the loyalty of millions of remaining fans weren't at stake, then it'd be fun watching this fail. It would hit home the fact that Sega, or if they want to lay the blame more squarely, Sega Studios USA, is in such foul shape it isn't equipped/stable enough to handle big games like they used to. And it's -NiGHTS-; unlike Sonic (who sort of has been going down in a slow burn), that's still a big enough name for one bad game to have a hell of a ripple effect. Whatever the case, there's a bonus: Iizuka's in a really tight kink if he trips now.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

You are all taking this way too seriously. Didn't the original NiGHTS look like shit to begin with? Every picture I've ever seen of the game looks like a mass of giant-ass pixelation. Like Guardian Heroes and Burning Rangers.

[Zeta]

Motto, but nobody wants to admit that because their nostalgia magic won't let them.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

I just find it funny, is all. Sonic 1 on the original Mega Drive still holds up well graphics-wise even today, while NiGHTS looked embarrassing to me even back in 1996, especially in comparison to the likes of Crash Bandicoot, Pandemonium, and Super Mario 64. 3-D graphics do NOT age well.

[j-man]

You are all taking this way too seriously. Didn't the original NiGHTS look like shit to begin with? Every picture I've ever seen of the game looks like a mass of giant-ass pixelation. Like Guardian Heroes and Burning Rangers.

So it's okay for a sequel to a shitty-looking game from 1998 (or whatever, blow me) to still look shitty, even though it's 10 years and two console generations later? You fail at logic. Sequels are supposed to build upon the ideas of the former game, while improving the familiar aspects and generally tarting it all up to look prettier. Even if this were an original title, it still looks shitty, by comparison to other current-gen titles. Hell, it looks shitty compared to most Dreamcast games. And no "Oh, it's on the Wii" excuses, please.

And fuck you, Guardian Heroes was awesome.

Motto, but nobody wants to admit that because their nostalgia magic won't let them.

I think you mean "ditto", dude. No, I know you mean "ditto".

[Zeta]

Eh, I've been hanging around Scans_Daily for too long and their speech seeped into mine.

[Delphine]

Didn't the original NiGHTS look like shit to begin with?

Not at the time. I'm not saying it was the pinnacle of current graphical achievement, but it was decent.

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

So it's okay for a sequel to a shitty-looking game from 1996 to still look shitty, even though it's 10 years and two console generations later? You fail at logic. Sequels are supposed to build upon the ideas of the former game, while improving the familiar aspects and generally tarting it all up to look prettier. Even if this were an original title, it still looks shitty, by comparison to other current-gen titles. Hell, it looks shitty compared to most Dreamcast games. And no "Oh, it's on the Wii" excuses, please.

Except I don't think the new NiGHTS game has bad graphics, as much as you and Segaholic love to shove down our throats every time you post about the graphics of the game. They're not spectacular, but they still look better than most Dreamcast and Gamecube games. Just because the gardens look like crap doesn't mean the rest of the game does.

By the way, seldom few sequels actually build upon the earlier game's idea. They're typically more of the same, like in the case of the new NiGHTS. And yet here people are hoping it drives down Iizuka and his staff once and for all. You beg and plea for a new NiGHTS product for 11 years and then you do nothing but bitch, bitch, bitch upon seeing screenshots and videos, despite the fact you haven't played the game yet.

[Esrever]

I dunno, man. I'm no hardware snob. I think I've been pretty appreciative around here of titles that look good "for a Wii game", like Metroid Prime 3 or Sonic and the Secret Rings. But even I think this game's visuals look lousy.

Even the actual core NiGHTS levels, which admittedly don't look as bad as the platforming or garden stages, are still pretty terrible compared to the Wii's more competent titles. And the art direction thus far has been far too bland to make up for the under-powered look. Everything looks like a more realistic, less imaginative take on the first games' style.

I haven't seen a single shot of this game -- not one -- that looked really cool or that made me say "wow". I can think of plenty of other Wii titles that do not have that problem. It's not a hardware issue.

[Isuka]

The NiGHTS gameplay looks like it's being targeted towards the handicaped crowd. Rings, chips, marens, all the shit is just too far from one another, you can't go score-frenzy with that crap, nor can you lose for being an idiot because the enemies' placement seems to be stupid-proof. Those graphics still look quite... empty, not only in "My Dream" gardens.
But, if you're going to start the "original NiGHTS comparison" argument, keep in mind that 1996's SonicTeam pulled that mass of giant-ass pixelation on a Saturn, while 2007's Team is bringing this piece of uninspired rehashment on a system that should be the most powerful SDTV console ever. This is pathetic in more than one way.

Oh, Guardian Heroes is insanely fun.

[Yami CJMErl]

If you think THIS game looks bad, I've got some Cruisin' shots you should see.

[Locit]

For anyone who hasn't checked it out yet, 1up editor James Meilke (who also wrote the unbelievably extensive and excellent Panzer Dragoon Saga feature a few weeks back) did an interview with Iizuka mostly pertaining to the original NiGHTS. Although it's technically part of the site's weeklong feature about JoD, the interview itself is actually pretty interesting- there's a lot of info about how things were handled within Sega during the Saturn's lifetime.

[Yami CJMErl]

I'm-a take a stab in the dark and say "very badly".

[FlashTHD]

It refuses to take any reasonable length of time to load on my end; care to transcribe?

[j-man]

tl;dr stuff about me being an asshole or something

lulz, this is like the first time I've posted in this entire thread. You fail. And I know you didn't say it looks shitty. I did. Right up there, in the first post I made in this thread. So like, shut the fuck up, and stuff.

I never played the original NiGHTS. I have no desire to play this. But I know how games look nowadays, and by comparison it looks shitty.

Chill out, man. I mean, there's fanboy and then there's "OMG QUIT RAGGIN ON MAH GAEMZ KK".

[Isuka]

1UP: Is it true that NiGHTS was really your baby? Other people within Sonic Team have had pet projects, like Burning Rangers, but NiGHTS was your game wasn't it?

TI: Yeah, that's definitely the case. I designed the NiGHTS characters and the NiGHTS world basically from scratch so I definitely have a strong personal attachment to that.

THE. FUCK. IS. THIS. SHIT?!

The "what specifically would you say is 'new' in this game?" bit is awesome too. It can be resumed to "we'll include a bunch of boring shit so kiddies will keep playing it after they beat the obviously short story mode".

Oh, and:

1UP: Ah, so you're still lead designer, that's good news. Will we see any appearances by Elliot or Claris?

TI: No, Will and Helen are the protagonists of this new NiGHTS, so they're the only kids to be featured.

I can see a pool of some red-colored fluid over at TRiPPY's place.

[DackAttac]

I love how it's not enough to just state our stupid opinions based on pictures and movies of gameplay that we will never touch for months to come and then belittle each other over them, like in the good ole days. Now we have to say that the other side has 'no right' to say what they said.

And yet here people are hoping it drives down Iizuka and his staff once and for all. You beg and plea for a new NiGHTS product for 11 years and then you do nothing but bitch, bitch, bitch upon seeing screenshots and videos...

Are you just assuming that since you heard both things said by a lot of people that they're the same people saying them? Because from my point of view, if there was any hope for a new Nights, it happened between SA1 and right before Heroes was revealed to be a turd heap. It just kind of tapered off into "Please God, don't let them desecrate this with a sequel" by the time Shadow was announced.

despite the fact you haven't played the game yet.

Ooh. Touché. I guess all the people who haven't played the game yet should leave and let all you people who have miraculously managed to play a game that's not even finished yet have the pleasant discussion you so obviously desire.

All preview topics are based solely on the graphics, music, and pure speculation of what the game will play like. j-man's statement that the graphics look shitty are a tad more well-founded than an optimistic "this game like fun". But since it's a preview, you really can say anything about the gameplay because it can't be disproved. If I were to post with the reply "this game looks like such shit, I would rather jump on a pile of rusty nails and salt before I so much as reward it with a passing glance in GameStop," I could still change my mind, and they'd still let me buy it. So if the game comes out and it's great, then I guess you'd get to "I told you so" us until your ego ejaculates all over the place, but know it would have been more effective if you didn't just out yourself as a fanboy.

And if it's bad, well, nothing's more embarrassing than martyring yourself for an empty cause.

Personally, I've never played Nights, but I view it as a one-trick pony, and since Sega's yet to really craft a bona fide hit since the Dreamcast flatlined, I see no reason to be so blindly faithful.