(I still don't know how to get @-ing to work so...)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian
(Post 1281660)
https://youtu.be/OOc__o7QIUM?t=8m50s
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(And I'm unearthing this ancient thread because it was the most recent discussion for the game that came up when I searched.)
Yes,
thank you. I have been trying to figure out how to describe this aspect of Donkey Kong Country Returns that bothered me compared to the original trilogy, and it was succinct as describing it as feeling "too scripted". This is something I've had so many headbutts with people over where they usually deem me as being overly nostalgic and don't understand what I'm talking about. There's like this lack of the same kind of "fluidity" by which you can run through the levels. Things feel so stop-and-go (not the station, heheheh) at times where there's some kind of animation running or a short event happens or like you mentioned, the backgrounds have some kind of fallaway aspect to them. It reminds me a lot of Yoshi's Story so I'm not trying to say it's bad. It just really changes the flow of the game, like there's a heightened sense of "spectacle" injected here and there that takes you out of the sense of immersion of player control, and interrupting things with, "Okay, now do THIS THING!" or "Watch as THIS HAPPENS now!" The earlier games would
sometimes have this kind of thing, but their analogues seem sparser, shorter, and better-blended. Like a moment of hesitation before the rollercoaster starts, or a bit of waiting to time barrel blasts. I just feel like you can
soar through them if you wanted to, and to prove that point further, you could watch speedrunning videos to see that aspect of "flow" cranked to maximum.
And in conjunction with that, I think the visual style has a lot to do with my preference for the original set. I'm not nearly as into the art style in Returns, but part of that is the era it's from--it's not to say that it's not good or pretty in its own right, but I like the naturalistic, atmospheric, often misty, claylike 3D modeling, with its more-muted earthen, and even ethereal-sorta color pallettes. (Though I will give credit to Returns for a sense of "vastness" that some of the jungle backgrounds conveyed. I like the sense of "vast", "forlorn", or "desolate", which I get a lot from Donkey Kong Island and Crocodile Isle [not as much with the Northern Kremisphere, but there are other things unique to it which I like about that].) To be able to rush through these jungles or caverns makes me think of Disney's Tarzan and his tree-surfing, just winding through vines and branches with blinding dexterity. It makes you feel...
like an actual monkey. But seriously, there's a captivating feel with its blend of atmosphere, speed, and movement that Returns goes a different direction with. I can't repeat this enough: it's not a critcism of a "flaw" so much as it's trying to highlight what I see as a stylistic/design difference that doesn't sway my personal preference as much.
Now, I also haven't played the entire game, so, disclaimer that this may not end up applying to things later on. And I haven't played Tropical Freeze at all, so I don't know if this was altered for the sequel.
(Also I've said this before but I like watching your let's plays a lot, I like the chemistry you and Frankie have--it feels insanely homely and comfortable in this really genuine, I-would-literally-hang-out-with-you way that I don't get from most other let's plays. Also no homo but Frankie has an incredibly lovable voice and I like his humor-attitude a bunch.)
