'Sonic Lost World DS discussion "3DS, 2DS, ONE DS! Thunder Wisps are go!' Title credits to Hogfather

[Space☆Tomoki]

I don't know guys, I have the game and I found at least 70% of it to be terrible, and the other 30% to be mediocre at best. I just don't find the game very fun. Color Powers are forced in quite a few levels, and they're not very fun to use, honestly. Too many bottomless pits and generally frustrating level design. The homing attack is a broken, automated mess that will hit things you don't want it too, unlike the Wii U version of the attack where you have more control, and having to charge it up to kill bigger enemies is a tedious, frustrating nightmare. The somersault seems pointless and just disrupts the game's flow. I just don't like the game. I just want Dimps to stay away from the series from now on.

[JezMM]

If I had to rank the stages out of 1: 0 for bothersomely gimmicky stages, 0.5 for gimmicky but decent stages, and 1 for satisfying fun platforming stages, I guess it'd go something like this:

 

Windy Hill Tutorial - 1

Windy Hill 1 - 1

Windy Hill 2 - 1

Windy Hill 3 - 0.5 (The Zazz segments ruin this a bit)

Desert Ruins 1 - 0.5

Desert Ruins 2 - 0.5

Desert Ruins 3 - 0.5

Tropical Coast 1 - 1

Tropical Coast 2 - 0.5

Tropical Coast 3 - 0.5

Frozen Factory 1 - 1

Frozen Factory 2 - 1

Frozen Factory 3 - 0

Silent Forest 1 - 0.5

Silent Forest 2 - 1*

Silent Forest 3 - 0.5 (I dunno this level just doesn't grab me much)

Sky Road 1 - 1

Sky Road 2 - 0.5

Sky Road 3 - 1*

 

*These levels have high gimmick content but the gimmick aspect doesn't bother me at all or is absolutely worth the trouble for the other parts of the level.

 

 

So out of 19 levels, that makes for a total of 13.5/19 fun-ness rating for the content overall.  However to break things down, that's 1/19 levels is utterly awful and annoying, 9/19 levels are fun enough but not what I want when I crave a Sonic fix, and only 9/19 - less than half the game, is genuinely fun to me.

 

And to break those 9 levels that are genuinely fun and well designed even further, only 6/19 stages are genuinely fun AND 3D gameplay.  The 2D stages in this game are competently designed, but the stage design being not far off Sonic Rush style, a not very zoomed in camera, and a lack of boost make them less fun than the 3D acts for me.

 

And now, just to make things even more depressing, let's assume the frequent enemy horde interruptions of Silent Forest 2 and the gyroscope rocket segments in Sky Road 3 aren't tolerable by the majority of players.

 

 

So that brings us down to a grand total of 4/19 levels I can highly recommend as well designed and enjoyable for all, or about 21% of the mandatory levels.  Wooo~

[Crippled Espurr]

 Color Powers are forced in quite a few levels, and they're not very fun to use, honestly. Too many bottomless pits and generally frustrating level design. 

 

I don't see how the levels in general have frustrating design. Yes, many levels have an unnecessary amount of botomless pits (along with some annoying and unnecessary segments), but I didn't find that frustrating, with the exception of Frozen Factory 1 and Silent Forest 2. And how is defeating large enemies frustrating? with the exception of the Sandworms on Desert Ruins, I found large enemies to be patheticly easy. I also agree that the wisps are unnecessarily forced, but levels in where they're mandatory are generally levels in which a new wisp is unlocked. And I'm actually surprised you didn't mention the Special Stages controlled with the gyroscope. I mean, I like them (YES, I did just say that) but I can see why so many people do not like them.

 

 

 

 

So that brings us down to a grand total of 4/19 levels I can highly recommend as well designed and enjoyable for all, or about 21% of the mandatory levels.  Wooo~

 

Agreed, LW 3DS has quite a few pretty enjoyable stages, but only few of them do not have a segment that isn't considered bothersome for some players. Though, I think there are more than four stages without these problems.

[MegasonicZX]

I think the only time I have really hated fighting enemies is in silent forest act 2 (one of my favorite stages) and its only because of those stupid turtle enemies that take forever to kill, luckily these sections can be skipped so I don't mind them too much but unless you have a color power or the helicopter RC, these things will take ages to kill.

[Space☆Tomoki]

I hate large enemies because I have to stop, somersault some large enemies, wait a few seconds for the homing attack to "charge up" and then do the homing attack. Again, it kills the flow. I don't want to have to stop just to kill one enemy; I don't find that fun or satisfying at all. The over-abundance of bottomless pits killed the game for me; they, along with forced wisp sections and boring puzzle levels are what bothers me the most about the level design. I didn't like the boss battles either; only the final boss was kinda fun, I guess. The game just isn't good to me at all. It's a waste of $40. If this keeps up, I won't be buying handheld Sonic games anymore.

[Crippled Espurr]

Nor do I, but, with the exception of the brown Blastoise Turtles in Silent Forest 2 and the Sandworms in Desert Ruins 1, I don't see how they're frustrating. 

[Space☆Tomoki]

Nor do I, but, with the exception of the brown Blastoise Turtles in Silent Forest 2 and the Sandworms in Desert Ruins 1, I don't see how they're frustrating.

I just find them annoying and unnecessary. Why do I have to stop, and wait for the homing attack to 'charge up' to kill an enemy or homing attack it a bunch of times until it dies and hope to god I don't get hit? Not to mention that you have to kill them a good chunk of the time in order to beat the level in the first place. That's pretty poor game design.

[Crippled Espurr]

The only levels in which I felt like wasting a lot of time on beating enemies was on Silent Forest 2, Desert Ruins 1, the first part of Sky Road 2, and Tropical Coast 3. On the other stages, though, I found them patheticly easy, and something you shouldn't be able to beat in less than 30 seconds.  

[Space☆Tomoki]

Eh, to each their own. I'll just agree to disagree.

[Cyrus]

Tip: In the first battle section with giant turtles in Silent Forest Zone 2, you can skip said section by bouncing high enough near the platform in front of the ground, double jumping then homing attacking the item box on the platform.

[Blue Blood]

Tip: In the first battle section with giant turtles in Silent Forest Zone 2, you can skip said section by bouncing high enough near the platform in front of the ground, double jumping then homing attacking the item box on the platform.

 

Great, I can use an exploit to overcome a few of the overly-abundant instances of one kind of poor level design.

 

I know you're just offering a single solution, which would be fine if it wasn't a common occurrence or if you're the sort that enjoys the game anyway. But I find LW3DS to be a mostly intolerable experience. SF2 in particular was one of the worst stages in the game, so that kind of thing won't fly with everyone.

[MegasonicZX]

Isn't that the section that you can get a lightning wisp by killing some chicken robos on the rails first before hand (if you have trouble with it, just don't try and be a hero by trying to move forward while in the air after home attacking one unless you practice it) Its a pretty big time saver and it honestly makes the flow of the stage pretty good.

[Cyrus]

Great, I can use an exploit to overcome a few of the overly-abundant instances of one kind of poor level design.

 

I know you're just offering a single solution, which would be fine if it wasn't a common occurrence or if you're the sort that enjoys the game anyway. But I find LW3DS to be a mostly intolerably experience. SF2 in particular was one of the worst stages in the game, so that kind of thing won't fly with everyone.

 

It would be my favorite stage if it had less or none of the battle arenas and more depth.

[Komodin]

Tip: In the first battle section with giant turtles in Silent Forest Zone 2, you can skip said section by bouncing high enough near the platform in front of the ground, double jumping then homing attacking the item box on the platform.

 

Well, that's nice and all (seriously, thanks for the tip), but that one would find themselves resorting to this to avoid having to deal with those Heroes-esque wastes of time is just really crappy design.

[Blue Blood]

It would be my favorite stage if it had less or none of the battle arenas and more depth.

 

What does that even mean? I'm understanding that as "It would be my favourite stage if I liked it more".

[Cyrus]

They should've left those for unlocking goodie capsules.

[Blue Blood]

They should've left those for unlocking goodie capsules.

 

Or left them out entirely and had the player explore/perform well to find secrets.

[Cyrus]

What does that even mean? I'm understanding that as "It would be my favourite stage if I liked it more".

 

Why does that not make sense...

 

By more depth I mean more detail in the level design, more paths.

[Blue Blood]

Why does that not make sense...

 

By more depth I mean more detail in the level design, more paths.

 

So what you're saying is that you would like the level more if it was better? I would like the whole game more if it was better. That just goes without saying. The only difference is that you already like it and I don't.

[Cyrus]

So what you're saying is that you would like the level more if it was better?

 

 

yes

[Blue Blood]

*picture*

yes

 

Exactly my expression when reading your post. Things don't get much less redundant than that.

[Cyrus]

I wasn't the only one spouting redundancy.

[Crippled Espurr]

Guys, guys, let's just calm down, shall we?

[Blue Blood]

I wasn't the only one spouting redundancy.

 

Hold up, please. I'm not trying to start an argument here. I was genuinely asking what you meant, because I was wondering if I was misunderstanding you, or if you were saying something that came off as so obvious.

 

Of course you'd like it more if you thought it was better. You wouldn't like it more if you didn't think it was as good, right? I wanted to know if were able to better explain what exactly would make you like it more.

[JezMM]

Another thing that bugs me with Lost World 3DS is, despite the Wisps actually being fun in this version, I do hate how, unlike Wii U where they are the "easy way out" of platforming stuff for novice players, on 3DS you basically HAVE to use them to time attack effectively.  The fastest route through most of the interesting 3D platforming stages is to grab a Wisp as early as possible and chain usage of it with every further Wisp capsule avaliable.

 

Tropical Coast 3 has ample opportunity to do some 3D underwater platforming while listening to the gorgeous Sea Bottom Segue... but it's the slowest route and you'll get no Red Rings.