The GHZ Forum

I really liked the new mixes, and the fact that there're FINALLY two new boss concepts in the game... but, even though they look inspired, I'm not sure about the challenge. Not that the original's bosses were overly challenging, but to only keep paralooping until you find him/ she/ it, without any obstacles around or anything that may harm you and slow you down, is a bit boring.

I'm still worried about the Dreams themselves; in the last video it looks like we can chain some rings and chips, but only in a specific path, no branching or <i>plane-swapping</i> to build your own route with.

Looks to me like this game will be on par with the Sonic and the Secret Rings quality - a bit better than decent, but not fantastic. A solid B, again.

Sometimes I think S360 exists just to make us happy with solid B's.

Crystal Castle looks and sounds amazing. I'd take visuals like these over (Insert hyper realistic looking FPS) any day of the week.

GamesRadar has played the whole thing. They didn't get the "true" ending but nevertheless they made it to the end. And apparently, you can kiss the Chip-collecting-then-smashing-it-into-Ideya-Capture-then-raping-the-level-for-points gameplay goodbye - chasing after those birds to claim three keys is the ONLY gameplay the NiGHTS segments appear to have. And once you get the key, you can't go around raping the level for all it's worth anymore - the only way to get to the other side of the Ideya Palace is through it, as opposed to going over it like in the Saturn original. Thus, emphasis is placed upon your speed in defeating the bird more than it is getting as many points as possible.

Talk about a drastic change. Sega once more proves that if it ain't broke, it must be fixed!

Gamestop has one up also. Both sound remarkably similar to the kind of hands on impressions Sonic 360 got. "If it were just tightened and polished up a bit, the potential is there for a solid experience."

Poop

Actually, most of the reviews Sonic 360 got were along the lines "I want to shoot the fucking controller."

Those were the reviews, though. The PREviews said that "oh, they'll just polish it up."

Which, by this point, anyone who knows Sega can assume won't happen.

It seems like the game has been dumbed down to appeal even more to kids. I have to admit, I usually couldn't collect all the damn blue chips when I was 12.

So maybe the changes in gameplay are due to the Wii's target demographic, instead of SEGA just randomly fucking it up for no apparent reason?
I'm really dubious that it'll ever happen, but if this game meets any degree of success maybe we'll see another one on other system(s) with decent gameplay again.

Also, I wonder why the article's classified under the DS section of the site.

So maybe the changes in gameplay are due to the Wii's target demographic, instead of SEGA just randomly fucking it up for no apparent reason?

Seems like it.

Remember Yoshi's Story? It was a dumbed down of Yoshi's Island made to appeal more to the kiddies. It was a decent game, but nowhere near as good as the original Yoshi's Island - they totally switched the requirements for beating a level and some of the cooler core gameplay stuff, but it was still an OK game, if just for the graphics alone. I see a similar situation here.

This pains me, I don't want some type of dumbed down gameplay just because they are making this for the Wii. Hopefully they will include some type of unlockable modes that will allow you to play more varied styles.

Of course despite my great desire to play it, I still have not laid hands on the original NiGHTS. And unless they release it for the Wii as they are going to for the PS2, I have no idea when I will get to play it; unless there is decent Saturn emulation available.

You could always pirate the PS2 version.

Why would NiGHTS's gameplay need simplifying? It was already incredibly simple. Similar thing with Yoshi's Island, the kids already liked the original. By dumbing the formula down in Yoshi's Story they didn't gain a new audience demographic, they just kept half they already had and lost the other half. If there's a real concern about the less skilled players being able to finish the game then put an easy mode in there.

You are right...

Crazy Penguin wrote:Why would NiGHTS's gameplay need simplifying? It was already incredibly simple. Similar thing with Yoshi's Island, the kids already liked the original. By dumbing the formula down in Yoshi's Story they didn't gain a new audience demographic, they just kept half they already had and lost the other half. If there's a real concern about the less skilled players being able to finish the game then put an easy mode in there.

Actually, I found Yoshi's Island to be one of the most misleading looking games I've ever played: it looks simple and fun, but is anything but. That game is frustration with a capital F after the first couple of worlds, with some of the cheapest hits and instant deaths in the Mario series. I've never understood how kids could beat that maddening game: I only had the patience to beat it once.

I think I only found it cheap when I was actively trying to 100% the levels on my first run through them; if I just ran for the end, it'd probably have been less frustrating.

Or something like that

I wonder why Kogen didn't post this one here.
I can't see it now, but I bet it must be interesting.

This might be a dumb question, but how do you pronounce "Reala"? I always thought it was pronounced "REAL-a" but some guy advertising the game in the video below pronounces it "re-ALLA"....around 3:11 into the video.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Zxouz3-U6o

I always figured it was "ray-AH-la"...

Japs pronounce it リアラ ("ree-ah-la", or just "real-ah").

I'm actually surprised that video confirms my idea of how "My Dream" works. It is a sandbox you build up. Hopefully there's some sort of terrain tool to make things less flat.

I always pronounced it "REEL-AH".

But then, I also once assumed that Chao would be pronounced "KAY-OH". And I was so wrong.

I was a Ree-eh-la person myself.

I always pronounced it "REEL-AH".

Yeah, I always went with "real-ah" too. Of course, it could just be that SEGA guy mispronouncing it.

Here's something embarrasing....I didn't know how to pronounce "echidna" correctly until I first heard Rouge say the word in SA2. I had always thought it was "ee-chid-na"....with the "ch" sound.

BTW, here's part 1 of that video I posted. It shows a never before seen level called Memory Forest.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=47HmzYyqx60