Lost World: Discussion, Impressions and Fan Reviews

[JezMM]

If we could get one Sonic game with a tone and depth reminiscent of a Pixar film that still manage to blend with the traditional arcadey gameplay structure seamlessly, I would pay Iizuka's dental bills for the rest of his life.

[Soniman]

With the exception of Mario Galaxy maybe, when has a platformer ever reached Pixar quality story telling?

[pppp]

With the exception of Mario Galaxy maybe, when has a platformer ever reached Pixar quality story telling?

 

*Ahem*

 

 

And that's why having a PS3 is awesome, 360 fans

Edited October 23, 2013 by Noctis Caelum

[Sami]

With the exception of Mario Galaxy maybe, when has a platformer ever reached Pixar quality story telling?

... Mario Galaxy? Eh? Rosalinda's storybook was nice but it wasn't that good. I might actually have beaten that game if it had a story, let alone one of Pixar's caliber.

The Ratchet and Clank games all had really engaging characters and plots, the Mario RPGs were very good (not platformers, but hey, it's still Mario), the Jak and Daxter games were awesome, Sly Cooper wasn't of Pixar quality or even close, but it was still engaging enough regardless.

Hell, Unleashed was pretty great, it just could have used a better script. Doesn't help that Dark Gaia was following a long line of Monsters of the Week, otherwise it would have been a bit more memorable.

[Kuzu]

Honestly, the only problem I see with plots in platformers is that they like proper plotting techniques.

[smogfog]

Were people polite to 2006 when it came out?

In what ass-backwards world do you have to reside in to confuse perfection with excitement?

You guys express such a high degree of excitement with every game announcement, that it definitely looks like a game is perfect for you. 

 

What people are doing is having healthy, constructive discussions about flaws, positives and what outweighs the other.

Actually, it's kinda hard for me to have a constructive discussion about a franchise, that I see as dieing and constantly morphing into a clone of it's former enemy. I see it happening almost since I've joined the fanbase in 2008, and it made a couple of my IRL friends to leave a fanbase.

 

A game has problems?

I'd rather say it has just a few healthy spots here and there.

 

A Sonic game no less, which is a series that has been in the realms of the half-assed for an entire decade? Who knew!

You said "constructive discussion", not a retromodern propaganda.

 

We don't actually know that until we get to play the game though, and the opposite of the aforementioned expectations applies.

When you'll see a rotten apple, why don't you try biting it? What if it will suddenly taste good?

 

You and ArtFenix take so much pride in pointing out shortcomings, boasting how right you are and how "you're the only ones who care about making sense", even though what it essentially amounts to is moving goal posts.

I can count several guys like Nepenthe. The others are just... having constructive discussion about Lost World. I'm sorry, dividing people into strict factions nicely motivates me to do something.

And unlike ArtFenix, I'm not throwing around things like "stop being blind" and "it looks like I was talking to a dead robot".

 

moving goal posts.

My english went BSOD.

 

This presumptuous attitude is fucking bile

People here turn very cynical, defending their favourite games (I'm still afraid of reading answers) I was trying to learn from that to not to look out-of-place.

 

"it's my opinion" excuse to justify this asinine behavior.

I don't remember using such excuse.

[Nepenthe]

I'm not sure how much I dislike my general apathy on the game being equated with the position of others who think Lost World is the gradual death of the franchise, especially since, well, I don't think that and I said I want to play the game myself and get a final judgement on it anyway. Equating Sonic 06 with Lost World is also disingenuous, on account of one game is broken on a coding level and the other one is not.

 

Regardless, Carbo's main point still stands. Your insistence on taking satisfaction in the game failing is flawed mainly because the game isn't actually failing in a critical or commercial sense. It also displays a grand hypocrisy in accusing others of being blindingly steadfast in their optimism while going to extreme lengths to not find any positive qualities in the game whatsoever. Two sides of the same stubborn coin throughout the hype, although now that we're in the fallout of the reviews one side seems more eager to temper their expectations in light of the results of playing the game while the other is happy being smug and toting how "right" they were because we all knew at this point that any reception less than GTA V's perfect scores was undoubtedly going to be considered a failure. This is pretty much textbook presumptuousness, and indeed, it has no place here.

[JezMM]

With the exception of Mario Galaxy maybe, when has a platformer ever reached Pixar quality story telling?

 

Never.  So what?

Edited October 23, 2013 by JezMM

[pppp]

Never.  So what?

 

Again, Ratchet and Clank games.

[SkyLlama]

Again, Ratchet and Clank games.

 

The older ones not really (PS2 were good, but not that level even though they're still excellent), but ACiT definitely did. I was and still am blown away by how well put together that game is.

Edited October 23, 2013 by HorrorLlama.rar

[JezMM]

Again, Ratchet and Clank games.

 

Fair enough, I haven't played because I don't like the combat focus of R&C.

[Carbuncle]

To be fair to Artfenix, he did raise problems with the game that everyone ignored due to hysteria hype. He raised the issues with the simplified art design, he raised the problems with the 'it's a me Mario, no really' poor imitation design and he also raised the problems with the fact the game's story reveals looked like the story could potentially miss out on a lot of potential (what's Lost Hex etc) before the game was even out!

 

Okay, he's acted a bit silly and is overly harsh with the game, but isn't that to be expected when everyone was gushing over the game simply because  it had simple 3D platforming. 

 

The same can be said for Hogfather, whose opinions about the controls, wisp motion control and tutorial system was completely ignored and turned out to be completely true.

 

Most of us are guilty of ignoring the tell-tale signs of the problems of this game in production.

 

Hell, I'll be honest and said I did too. The simple nostalgia references, like the running animation and classic badniks, and the emphasis on platforming filled me with unrealistic expectations.

 

I still like the game, but Artfenix has been right on certain scores. I don't agree with his hostility to the game, but the guy does have a point.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Carbuncle

[Vertekins]

The only thing I know I was dead-on about was the sheer divisiveness. In that respect, the game lived up to exactly what I expected regarding how wildly different the reception has been.

 

The story, characterizations and Sonic-Eggman interactions exceeded my expectations so very much.

 

Playing it at SoS sold me on the visual style being great for this particular game and the frame rate being so consistently great is even more of a plus.

 

Level design? Gameplay? Parkour? I don't hold an opinion for the simple fact that I haven't seen and played the game inside-out. I'm not at all surprised though that the Wisps add practically nothing to the game according to many reviewers.

 

Music is sounding awesome but I've only heard a handful of songs.

[Indigo Rush]

 

To be fair to Artfenix, he did raise problems with the game that everyone ignored due to hysteria hype. He raised the issues with the simplified art design, he raised the problems with the 'it's a me Mario, no really' poor imitation design and he also raised the problems with the fact the game's story reveals looked like the story could potentially miss out on a lot of potential (what's Lost Hex etc) before the game was even out!

 

Okay, he's acted a bit silly and is overly harsh with the game, but isn't that to be expected when everyone was gushing over the game simply because  it had simple 3D platforming. 

 

The same can be said for Hogfather, whose opinions about the controls, wisp motion control and tutorial system was completely ignored and turned out to be completely true.

 

Most of us are guilty of ignoring the tell-tale signs of the problems of this game in production.

 

Hell, I'll be honest and said I did too. The simple nostalgia references, like the running animation and classic badniks, and the emphasis on platforming filled me with unrealistic expectations.

 

I still like the game, but Artfenix has been right on certain scores. I don't agree with his hostility to the game, but the guy does have a point.

 

Ignoring the fact that the simple art style is not an actual objective problem and the similarities to Mario are not actual objective problems and the story actually ending up being much more dynamic and engaging than "Colors 2.0" as he constantly said the story would be (it wasn't), the problem wasn't that ArtFenix and a select few other members were pointing out objective problems about the game. If it was simply that, the mods would never have had to intervene in the past. 

 

Be real here, if you're going to do nothing but say the game will be bad, eventually there will be a problem and you can say "HEY I CALLED IT!" Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and that is no cause to give anybody any comfort or just dues for all of that. The problem is the smug, obnoxious attitude whenever anyone brought up a positive point of the game, the constant cowering under the "IT'S MY OPINION" bunker, and the indirect disrespect towards anyone who had a conflicting thought towards the game.

 

We have said that ArtFenix not liking the game has never been the issue - it's the attitude that tagged along with it, and it was in every way inflammatory and disrespectful in nature, which, unlike having an unpopular opinion, is against the rules here.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Indighost Rush

[Sean]

So someone predicted stuff about a video game before it came out. Good fucking job!

 

As mentioned, there's a clear difference between expectations and results. You want us to admit that people like ArtFenix were right? Hell fucking no, it's attitudes like his that are absolute shit and there is a reason why no one likes dealing with them and hearing them prattle on about how we're going to be sorry for looking forward to this game, and now that the game is out and opinions are mixed, this is the absolute perfect time for them to come out and blare at the top of their lungs "I TOLD YOU SO!" without considering at all what they even have to gain from it aside from a shallow whim of self-satisfaction.

 

What exactly are any of you trying to accomplish, to make us feel like shit for being excited over a video game? Fuck off with that attitude. This is not contributing to civil discussion of the game and while it's fair game to compare and contrast pre-release viewpoints with those of the resulting game, this is not a constructive way of doing so.

 

The people who are on this fucking high and mighty horse don't even care as much about the quality of the game as much as the notion that they were right. It's shit like that that has no place in a healthy discussion.

[DarkLight]

EDIT: Ignore this.

Edited October 23, 2013 by DarkLight

[Sami]

To be fair to Artfenix, he did raise problems with the game that everyone ignored due to hysteria hype. He raised the issues with the simplified art design, he raised the problems with the 'it's a me Mario, no really' poor imitation design and he also raised the problems with the fact the game's story reveals looked like the story could potentially miss out on a lot of potential (what's Lost Hex etc) before the game was even out!

Okay, he's acted a bit silly and is overly harsh with the game, but isn't that to be expected when everyone was gushing over the game simply because it had simple 3D platforming.

The same can be said for Hogfather, whose opinions about the controls, wisp motion control and tutorial system was completely ignored and turned out to be completely true.

Most of us are guilty of ignoring the tell-tale signs of the problems of this game in production.

Hell, I'll be honest and said I did too. The simple nostalgia references, like the running animation and classic badniks, and the emphasis on platforming filled me with unrealistic expectations.

I still like the game, but Artfenix has been right on certain scores. I don't agree with his hostility to the game, but the guy does have a point.

I argued with like four people at once on multiple occasions and still got forgotten? :'c

[Carbuncle]

So someone predicted stuff about a video game before it came out. Good fucking job!

 

As mentioned, there's a clear difference between expectations and results. You want us to admit that people like ArtFenix were right? Hell fucking no, it's attitudes like his that are absolute shit and there is a reason why no one likes dealing with them and hearing them prattle on about how we're going to be sorry for looking forward to this game, and now that the game is out and opinions are mixed, this is the absolute perfect time for them to come out and blare at the top of their lungs "I TOLD YOU SO!" without considering at all what they even have to gain from it aside from a shallow whim of self-satisfaction.

 

What exactly are any of you trying to accomplish, to make us feel like shit for being excited over a video game? Fuck off with that attitude. This is not contributing to civil discussion of the game and while it's fair game to compare and contrast pre-release viewpoints with those of the resulting game, this is not a constructive way of doing so.

 

The people who are on this fucking high and mighty horse don't even care as much about the quality of the game as much as the notion that they were right. It's shit like that that has no place in a healthy discussion.

 

His attitude was annoying, perhaps, but he did point out worrying signs that everyone blatantly ignored. Same with Hogfather.

 

How is it any different to how every Sonic fan in the universe got on their high horse about Sonic 4: Episode 1 when the game turned out less than stellar. I didn't see anyone go:

 

"Well, don't say I told you so that the physics, rehashing and bosses were a worrying sign".

 

A few members noted worrying signs about the game's direction and were completely ignored during hype. They have every right to finally discuss their problems now people are actually listening.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Carbuncle

[Vertekins]

So someone predicted stuff about a video game before it came out. Good fucking job!

 

I hope I didn't give off any pretentious airs by saying how I accurately predicted the divisiveness because that certainly wasn't my intention   I actually find the reception the game has garnered fascinating and whilst I can't say I agree with the direction the series has been taking for the past 3 years or so, I would love to see SLW thrive sales-wise, get good reviews and be praised for what it actually does right instead of be eternally called-out for what it doesn't do right or be cited as a factor in another bullshit Sonic Cycle.

[DarkLight]

I don't think that was directed at you, Verte.

[Nepenthe]

His attitude was annoying, perhaps, but he did point out worrying signs that everyone blatantly ignored. Same with Hogfather.

 

How is it any different to how every Sonic fan in the universe got on their high horse about Sonic 4: Episode 1 when the game turned out less than stellar. I didn't see anyone go:

 

"Well, don't say I told you so that the physics, rehashing and bosses were a worrying sign".

 

A few members noted worrying signs about the game's direction and were completely ignored during hype. They have every right to finally discuss their problems now people are actually listening.

 

It is wrong to compare ArtFenix and others' issues with the game to Hogfather's, because the fact is Hogfather played the game. However, other members' issues with the game that were based mainly in subjective principles about what the franchise is "supposed" to be were not magically vindicated by the mixed reception that may or may not actually say anything about said issues. The ending being rocky or the Wisps being improperly implemented doesn't say anything about the art style being bad, for example.

 

This- along with the fact that ArtFenix and others have not actually discussed the issues and merits of the game honestly but instead have been braggarts, as you can tell from simply reading their posts- is why we don't consider a few members here to actually be contributing anything positive of note to the discussion, regardless of what their opinion is. Again, people are essentially equating the mixed reception as being "right" that the game was a failure. It's dishonesty of the highest level.

[Sami]

I do want to note that I don't see why wanting the game to get bad reviews is such an awful thing if you don't like it. Not in a pompous "HA I TOLD YOU IT'D BE BAD" sort of way, but more in a "oh thank god maybe the next game will be different" way.

I do genuinely feel sympathetic to the people who really, really want to like it, and I'm sorry that it seems to be under-delivering. Really. That being said, I personally feel like I just dodged a giant, Mario-shaped bullet. I hope the next game takes a direction we all like.

[Indigo Rush]

His attitude was annoying, perhaps, but he did point out worrying signs that everyone blatantly ignored. Same with Hogfather.

 

How is it any different to how every Sonic fan in the universe got on their high horse about Sonic 4: Episode 1 when the game turned out less than stellar. I didn't see anyone go:

 

"Well, don't say I told you so that the physics, rehashing and bosses were a worrying sign".

 

A few members noted worrying signs about the game's direction and were completely ignored during hype. They have every right to finally discuss their problems now people are actually listening.

Perhaps?

 

PERHAPS?

 

Look, you're missing the point all over again. First off, it's not right to compare ArtFenix to Hogfather. Nepenthe explains why.

 

It's got nothing to do with who was right about anything about this game - it's got everything to do with blatant disregard for the respect of others, being constantly negative not because there were actual flaws to take into account, but because they wanted nothing to do with this game - I guarantee you that if the game had a grimdark storyline and more realistic graphics, ArtFenix would be defending this game with all of his might. He made it clear what his issues were, and they had nothing to do with the actual objective faults of the game - colorful art style, similarities to Mario, storyline that's anything less melodramatic than Sonic 06/SA2. That's it. You take those two criticisms and you build your entire opinion on the game based off of those qualities as if it makes a difference. It does not. But that isn't even the main issue we're discussing here:

 

Again, the problem isn't that he had a problem with the game - it was the attitude that went with it. There's no place for that here, as many have said before. I don't care if someone thinks SLW is the dang antichrist, they could at least stand to not indirectly insult people while riding their high horse.

 

Also, this is nothing like Sonic 4 where the game had a distinct precedent to follow - Sonic Lost World is not analogous to Sonic 4 in any respect. Sonic 4's fallout was due to a marketing miscommunication and overall failure to live up to a clearly set standard - Sonic Lost World was a completely brand new experience that could have ended up anywhere.

 

 

EDIT:

Anyway - I'm going to step out of this discussion now. I need to clear my head before I say something extremely stupid. This is going to turn into an ArtFenix vs SSMB moment, and I really don't want to be a part of that - we have been told not to go that far, so we really ought to change the subject if we can.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Indighost Rush

[Carbuncle]

I want to make it clear that the game does get loads of things right though.

 

I'm playing it right now on my Gamepad and the amount of 3D platforming is fantastic.

 

I think the detractors of this game should at least play it and see what they think of it first-hand, in the same way I try to see their point of view.

[Nepenthe]

I do want to note that I don't see why wanting the game to get bad reviews is such an awful thing if you don't like it. Not in a pompous "HA I TOLD YOU IT'D BE BAD" sort of way, but more in a "oh thank god maybe the next game will be different" way.

 

There's nothing wrong with that, because I feel the same in many respects (fucking Wisps), but I'm specifically targeting the pompous "HA I TOLD YOU IT'D BE BAD" attitude that has been toted around here and other topics.