With BOTW, I noticed people were freely discussing the game’s flaws and merits. People criticizing the lack of enemies, the lame dungeons, or some of the crappier shrines (any ‘apparatus’ shrine) were not really attacked online, and there were genuine discussions about what the game does well and what it does poorly.
With Mario Odyssey, I only see praise for the game, but the praise is always vague, never really pointing to anything in particular that the game does well. On the other hand, even making the mildest of criticisms of the game seems to get you labeled some sort of troll hired by Sony to trash the game. I thought at least the forced motion controls would be contentious, but Nintendo fanboys will criticize complaints about that as ‘whining’ or how it’s ‘not a big deal’. The motion controls might not ‘kill’ the game, but Nintendo went out of their way to implement them, which should be tremendous cause for concern.
I find that to be pretty telling. It seems like fans of SMO are very insecure about the game’s quality. I can understand why Nintendo developers might be insecure about it, but why fans? You have nothing to lose from admitting the game is meh.
By the way, some updated impressions. The game is a lot better when played with in handheld mode or with a pro controller (I actually haven’t tested the pro controller, but I assume it’s better). Whoever suggested split joycons as the ideal way to play the game should be fired.
The game is better than the opening, but the enjoyment always feels hollow. It’s kinda amusing, but never really all that captivating. I really regret purchasing it. I keep thinking I’d rather play Zelda (and the only reason I’m not is because I’ve already played it to death, and want to give it some time before I start another playthrough.) I’ll upgrade my score from a 5 to a 6.5. There’s some moments where the game shines, but the underlying gameplay is just so hollow that I can’t see it having any lasting appeal. The puzzles are simplistic, and the platforming is either braindead, or it is frustrating because you are fighting the camera and the analog nature of the controls. It’s a mediocre game that’s uplifted by its polish and production values. It’s not the worst thing you’ll ever play, but there are better ways to spend your time.
Really, I can only see the game having any appeal to young children. I’d probably love the game as a kid, since the colorful sandbox environments and toybox nature of its world would have a lot appeal to young boys. I’d probably love the game if I were 8. I can’t imagine it appealing that much who’s exited middle school, however.
The highlight of the game is New Donk City, which is why I am guessing Nintendo kept showing it off. This is the level where you really feel like you have a lot of freedom. It also has a great theme:
But even this level gets boring quickly.
Yeah, it seems Mario Odyssey is for the children, not for us.
Every 3d Mario is released to universal praise with no criticism allowed. Every 2d Mario is released to universal criticism with little praise allowed. Remember, it was NSMB U that was declared to be the destroyer of the Wii U (hahaha). Iwata bet the farm that 3d World would save everything, and boy did that turn out wrong! They think Sunshine is an amazing game still to this day.
Within the Switch community, they overhype the value of games. For me, Switch is largely a Zelda Breath of the Wild machine. I’m thinking about selling the other games I have. I do not keep games I do not play.
We are currently in the hypestorm of Mario O. When the hypestorm recedes, I think people will look at the game with more clarity.
I expect to hear news of Mario O DLC sooner rather than later. After Zelda BoW, Nintendo learned to announce DLC AFTER the game has launched and not before.