Yooka-Laylee is Out

[blackhand1001]

I bought the Combo pack that includes the game, digital artbook and digital soundtrack. All the soundtracks I have seen have the same track listing though.

[Andre]

Originally Posted by blackhand1001

I bought the Combo pack that includes the game, digital artbook and digital soundtrack. All the soundtracks I have seen have the same track listing though.

Ah ok. That's a bummer.

[qwertykins76]

Yeah people seem to not have realized the full OST isn't actually up yet. Several variants are missing. They'll figure it out eventually. I guess maybe people who are normally on top of posting video game soundtracks are busy playing the game?

Also everyone was expecting a second Banjo-Kazooie, but Yooka-Laylee is treating itself like Banjo-Threeie. Meaning it comes after Banjo-Tooie, and therefor has elements of it.

[Digital Mozart]

I am rather enjoying the game, however, I feel like I'd like it more if it were a Banjo game, because then it would no longer be a "hey, remember when Banjo did this?" kind of game. Yooka and Laylee are B and K, Dr. Puzz is either Mumbo or Humba, Pagies are Jiggies, etc. Like, it's pretty much a carbon copy. I just feel like I would like it more if it stopped being a reskin, and was an actual entry in the series.

I mean, of course I know it's not possible, but still....

[The Banjonator]

In a weird way I feel it works for it. At the very least, the fact that we could probably swap out these characters for banjo ones shows how successful they were in emulating the charm from the originals. Of course, it's been a long time so they're very rusty, as the complaints in this thread are valid.

For me it just feels like a banjo game, which I think is all I wanted. That said, it's fun as well. The sequel could improve a whole lot

[JamesDNaux]

I seem to notice people say the game reminds them more of Tooie, but I barely got any Tooie vibes and full on Kazooie vibes. The structure, the mechanics, all very obviously call back to the original game, I feel. Definitely takes a few notes from Tooie here and there, but it nests more with the first.

[The Banjonator]

Can anyone help out with this? I plug my pc into my 4k TV but yooka laylee just rests the display to 1370(or somewhere abouts there) x 720. It doesn't matter how many times I switch it, the second I leave the menu it rests to that 720 resolution

[project64banjo]

Finally a Rare game on a Microsoft console.

[DarthConker]

Originally Posted by qwertyo76

Not only that, (Oh yeah I haven't actually played the game yet, by the way,) but the hitbox on Quills certainly does not look to be very big. Even when they ARE laid out in a line, I see people miss Quills constantly, and have to turn around just to pick up the ones they missed. That's horrible. Never at any point should you have to STOP what you're doing, just to turn around and come back. Nor should the game ever instill a fear in the player that they might not progress unless they pause their exploring to carefully pick up every little thing they see. It's stressful.

This is a big issue for me, especially when swimming controls are so wonky and I have to stop and readjust the character just to collect one single quill while also hoping that there aren't any enemies swimming towards me. Also there seem to be areas made just for hiding quills in that are easy to miss. The game could have used something akin to Sparx picking up the gems for you as you got close enough to them in the original Spyro trilogy, or at least make the hitbox a bit bigger.

Originally Posted by Derek

I understand the gripe with needing new moves to progress through an area and correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that a big part of Banjo-Tooie for most of the game? I'm not saying that it's a good thing, just that YL wasn't the only game with a lot of back tracking.

In my experience people seem upset that they can't go into a level and 100% it in one run, this game was designed so you have to revisit each level at least once. Just play through every level once getting as many pagies and quills as you can, then revisit each level after getting all the moves and finish the job.

My issue is that I can never quite tell if I'm just dumb or if I really do lack the proper move to finish a challenge in a level. Also in BK you at least got to Grunty's lair with a decent little moveset, whereas Yooka starts out with only the ability to jump, crouch and eat butterflies, which I guess can contribute to the aforementioned issue with not knowing if you just don't have the right move to progress in a level. I'm not that torn up about this, but I can see how it can be an annoyance for others.

Only in the second world right now but I've already got a little handful of complaints/nitpicks so far.

• While overall I think Yooka is fun to control, he can feel a bit slippery at times, especially with all the annoying goddamn platforms you have to hop around on in every world. I also constantly forget that you don't have to move at full sprint when using the roll move up slopes (making the first boss a pain in the ass), but that could just be me being dumb.
• The camera definitely has issues, no doubt about it. Not as bad as I had been led to believe from most reviews, but it has gotten hung up on stuff several times for me, as well as the idiotic positioning of it whenever you enter a new area. There's one area in the expanded version of the first level where they put the camera on Yooka, but if you take a few steps forward you can easily walk right off the ledge before you have time to move the view behind him.
• All the fourth wall-breaking "LOL THIS IS A PLATFORMER AND YOU COLLECT STUFF" jokes in nearly every bit of dialogue are a bit worn out IMO.

Overall, though, I do indeed like the game a lot. It really does feel like a sequel to BT at times.

[The Banjonator]

I second what was said earlier about the music being "alright". The first world feels like a classic Kirkhope tune, but everything after that seems more ambient. The music isn't the first thing I notice in the world anymore and I think that's a shame. Wise's tracks are brilliant as usual, but unfortunately they're relegated to those mini games, I think. I hope for the sequel, Grant goes back to making the music their own characters with personality

[JamesDNaux]

Originally Posted by DarthConker

The game could have used something akin to Sparx picking up the gems for you as you got close enough to them in the original Spyro trilogy, or at least make the hitbox a bit bigger.

Tangentially related, I swear I picked up a few quills when I was nowhere near them. I thought it had something to do with the weird bees that sometimes existed on the HUD layer, but I wasn't able to consistently replicate it.

I have no idea what the bees were about, but they move across the screen in whatever direction I pushed the left stick. Weird stuff.

[Refofa]

I played Yooka-Laylee for nine hours and I love it. I did what I could in the first two worlds and I've just unlocked the third one, and until now I can't find nothing that I dislike. Exploring every corner is awesome, I always wonder what the places hide. You never know what you can find. For the first time since I was a teenager playing with my GameCube, I feel like playing as a kid with my Nintendo 64.
I really hope that Playtonic Games can deliver us Tooka-Laylee and tons of other sequels.

[Coolboyman]

I 100%'d the game. I had a good time and I give it a 8/10. I'm going to write a review/analysis later because there is a lot to talk about. I really need to dissect this game the same way I did when I played BK/BT when they first came out. Some things they did better than those games and others they did worse. Is it a perfect game? Absolutely not. Did everything work out? No, but lots of parts did. Is it the next Mighty No 9? Not even close.

Stating the obvious, but the Playtonic crew worked their asses off on this game and their efforts should be celebrated.

[Refofa]

I completed the game in 31 hours collecting everything (even the secret stuff) and breaking the records of the three extra Rextro games. I can say that Yooka-Laylee is a great game, I loved every second of my playthrough. Now I can't wait to play the DLC!

[Guitar]

I can only add what people have already said: Levels are a bit too terrydactyland, camera sometimes fights you, and I'll fall off the level via roll a few more times than I'd like to. And that fridge character unsettles me.

Other than that though, I had a blast going through the first 2 levels, as that's as far as I've gotten so far. I think as long as Playtonic focuses more on polishing what they have, and less on political controversies, they got a good future ahead.