RocShemp

Actually, it still had a horror vibe. Yes, it was more action-ey but it didn't truly abandoned its roots. 5 and 6 were where the series went into TPS with monsters territory.

tanman

A hard disagree on Nintendo games looking 2 generations behind. All the major first party Nintendo games on the switch look absolutely great. That's even when taking into account looking at different totally different generations now. If you don't think they are putting effort into their games then I really don't know what to tell you.

As for the perspective change, Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild and Metroid Prime are some of the absolute best entries in their series. There is absolutely nothing lost with a perspective change and a lot to be gained. Especially when each of those franchises have released games in their original perspective as well. So we can have the best of both worlds which is awesome.

It's your loss if you don't experience some of the newer entries into those franchises just because of a perspective change.

OldBoy

i hate the beginnings of a game that has such a long preamble before you can actually get into gameplay. i know it's necessary setup, but still sometimes gets annoying.

Goldberg74

My unpopular opinion: Final Fantasy III (SNES; originally FF6) was such an awesome gaming experience at that point in time I never played another FF game after that - on any system.

Decker

That feels more like an irrational decision than an opinion.

Giantrobo

Fair enough.

Obi-Wanma

US FF2 is Japan FF4
US FF3 is Japan FF6

Goldberg74

Corrected. Thank you.

slop101

2D hand-drawn pixel-art > 3D textured polygons

milo bloom

That transition period where the N64 and PlayStation were trying to do 3D with those cruddy images really left a bad mark on a lot of games from that time period. They likely would have been better off using the processing power to make the pixal art even better.

fujishig

While a lot of those games don't hold up graphically today, i still think they were instrumental in terms of game evolution (particularly the standouts like Mario 64, a lot of the RARE games, the N64 wrestling games, etc.)

The Questyen

At least for me it's less that they don't hold up graphically and more that they were just figuring out 3D controls and camera control so going back to playing early PS1 3D games like Ape Escape, Croc, etc are real rough to play with how much we've mastered 3d controls and improved cameras since then. I tried going back to play through Mario 64 shortly after finishing Super Mario Odyssey and after a few hours I just couldn't do it.

fujishig

Oh, I completely agree, it's a tough generation to go back and really enjoy in the modern age (even something like Golden Eye), just disputing the "better off staying 2d" thing. And I think we've naturally seen devs go back to 2d anyway as costs skyrocket and nostalgia soars so I don't think we missed out on that much (though I would still love another 2d capcom vs marvel game).

tanman

Yep this is pretty much everything I was going to say. Mario 64 and Zelda OOT are enough to justify the experimental N64 generation. We wouldn't be where we are today without those revolutionary games, warts and all. Although I am pretty glad that some franchises skipped that generation all together. I couldn't imagine a Metroid game in the N64 era. It was much better waiting it out and jumping straight to Metroid Prime.

maxfisher

As I was 'finishing' Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown last night, an opinion finally crystallized that I'm guessing isn't popular: most boss fights in 2D metroidvania games are annoying, consisting of unnecessary difficulty spikes that break and are at odds with the exploration-driven flow of their primary gameplay.

Specific to PoP:TLC, I really enjoyed the game, except for the bosses. When I got to the last one, I made two attempts and quit. Not because I don't think I could learn his pattern enough to beat him after several more attempts, but because I'd already done everything that I wanted to do in the game and didn't care enough to put in the effort. The same goes for Metroid Dread. I mostly loved most of that game, but quit at the final boss because it's not why I was playing.

Thinking back to other recent-ish games in the genre that I've enjoyed (Bloodstained, Hollow Knight and both Ori's), I can't even recall a single boss fight, though I know they were there. I think I finished all four of those, but honestly, I might've gotten to their final bosses and just put away the controller. To me, they're generally just a tax I have to pay to continue with the platforming-driven exploration, and I'd usually skip them after a single attempt if the option were available.

fujishig

You could probably say this about most non trivial boss fights in any genre that has them (unless it's a game like Furi which is only boss fights). It is enhanced because it seems like you like the other trappings of the genre.

Decker

Life is too short and my time is too valuable to spend an hour on a boss fight in any game.
I get the concept of difficult bosses, but I never find them fun or rewarding.
It's probably why Ratchet and Clank and Uncharted games are among my favorites -- lots of enemies, no super-hard bosses.

maxfisher

For me, I think it's just they feel really out of place in that specific genre. Bloodborne is probably my favorite game of the past decade, and I loved those boss fights, as much of a pain in the ass as they could be. The two most recent games I finished before PoP:TLC were Alan Wake 2 and Forspoken and I thought the bosses in both of those were generally well done and fit their games in terms of gameplay, tone and the stories they were telling. There's something specifically about encountering them in a 2D metroidvania that really bugs me, as they generally feel very different from what I'm enjoying about the game.

Noonan

The Ori games didn't have any boss fights. They had boss platforming sections.

tanman

Of course it's IMO but I love a good boss battle. As long as it's fair and well balanced there's nothing like overcoming a difficult boss after getting better and better with each subsequent try. I don't necessarily enjoy overly long boss battles though. I think the Metroid games get the balance perfectly.

I'd take difficult boss battles over mindless grinding for XP any day.