Ubisoft's - Child of Light
polycounter lvl 9
It's amazing what people can come up with these days artistically in games. Ubisoft- loved what you are guys are doing- keep it up 
[ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVfyPk34wQ8"]Child of Light Announcement Trailer Beware of the Night [IT] - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVfyPk34wQ8"]Child of Light Announcement Trailer Beware of the Night [IT] - YouTube[/ame]
Replies
the aquarelle style looks interesting. not the biggest fan of the enemies they showed
seems like not a lot folks liked the combat system- I think this is the first time I heard officially a game company from the west that would go with JRPG look and gameplay. I think it's a good risk but then again, I'm a Squaresoft fan - so I'm a bit bias
[ame="
ps can we make a little nemo game now?
It opens up fairly well, and some of the visuals are genuinely awesome - but the story rapidly trails off within the first half an hour or so, then drags on for another ten-twelve hours. The combat is boring, the character skill trees feel like a waste of time, and whilst there are hundreds of items to collect scattered through the levels, they're all completely useless (as is the crafting system) - you'll never actually need or use them. There are side quests, but they are a complete waste of time. It then ends pretty abruptly.
I was also really annoyed that two characters are rendered in 3d when the entire rest of the game isn't. That bothered me a lot after a little while.
All in all, it's an ok game, but I don't think I could recommend it.
If you want adult stuff, there are things specifically designed to pleasure us, like Game of Thrones :P
Interestingly enough, Russian localization feels really good. Rhyme was clean and felt exactly like if it was from a book for children.
To me thats such nonsense, games have been dumbed down since years, it's not that kids couldn't learn how to master a game and feel rewarded for it. It's gamedevs thinking their players are dumb and everything needs to be chewed for them until there is no achievement in playing games anymore.
When i was a kid in games we had 3 lives, no continues if you died 3 times that was it, you had to start over. Damn what a feeling beating Alex Kidd for the first time on the Sega Master System.
That game had how many levels? Maybe 5 i can't remember, we played for weeks, once one died the controller was passed to the next kid. Such great fun and so rewarding.
I don't even mind continues, or savegames, or checkpoints i think those are great additions, but the trend of making games easier and easier for everyone to understand is horrible, dying through a game until you are done is no fun challenge. At all.
Griding for fire resistance potion for hours in a single spot? Riding around the map gathering herbs for hour upon hour? Raiding 6 hours every single day? That was fun back then, but not anymore.
Some people call modern games "dumbed down", but I prefer to play fun game instead of wasteing time farming virtual things or instead of dying in a game all the time and starting over because no lives left. I would find it extremely frustrating.
IMO, of course.
There are tons of things in Alex Kidd which from todays standards are horrible, controls at first place, no question about that - Super Meatboy was a great example of this nostalgia brought to modern controls. It's challenging, could work with any artstyle and is great fun, no stupid grinding, no hours of running around for nothing. Lots of replay value, very tight controls and every level is its own challenge, awesome game which also kids could play.
Despite maybe the blood, which could also just be marinara sauce.
I think there is nothing wrong with streamlining tasks in games, but i think it's bad to remove the challenge from gaming, and many modern games suffer from this.
Too much of a challange and it is frustrating. Lile Diablo 3 Hell difficulty (before patches at least). It was nearly impossible to play. I want to have a good time, and dying all the time trying to kill 1 stupid pack of elite monsters is not even close to my definition of fun.
And if it is too easy and streamlined - it is boring. For example, in Civ5 even with hard bots late game is absolutely boring. Finishing even multiple enemies becomes no-brainer if you survive long enough. I've played dozens of matches, but probably finished only 1 or 2, because it gets old very fast.
Side note, I'd like to see a game that works in reverse. Start out maxed and force the player to remove one level/upgrade as they progress.
Since we're nostalgia'ing a little here, Kid Chameleon was cool as hell with the level pathing, and I haven't listened to Unit 187 in forever.
The grindy nature of these games makes it so that the only real challenge comes in encountering an enemy with higher stats than you. If you were to grind all day and level up every character for example, you could breeze through the game without any issues.
Not every JRPG is like this, but a great majority of them are. Most of the modern JRPGs that attempt to stray away from this formula end up failing or only appealing to a very small crowd of people (The Last Remnant for example.)
Also, I'd imagine making games easier for kids has to do with the fact that in modern times, it is incredibly cheap to build up a large collection of games. Free to play is a huge thing now and there are a ton of large sales on every platform. If you wait long enough, you can get like 5-6 large games for just $60 a year (PC has Steam sales, console users get seasonal sales in addition to freebies for having premium membership.)
As a result of having a larger collection of games compared to the past, I'd imagine it is quite likely that if a kid can't progress through a game because it is too difficult, they will just toss the game aside and load up something else.
I don't like the fact that this is happening, but I suppose not much can be done other than expecting developers to ship a game with a variety of difficulties that allow players to pick their own experience. I love Shin Megami Tensei games in this regard because the easiest setting can allow you to breeze through the game and just enjoy the story/art/etc. which can be compared to the hardest difficulty which will provide you with a traditional challenge in which grinding XP/Items will only get you so far (you'll actually need to use strategy to survive, even if you encounter an enemy that is half your level.)
If I had a kid, I certainly wouldn't give them Child of Light. Although its a different genre, I can't help but think of The Puppeteer when I think about Child of Light. it seemed to nail so much of what Child of Light was trying to do in terms of atmosphere and charm, but only much better.