Yoshi's Crafted World Demo is Out Now
- Thread starter Evergarden
- Start date
Demo completed, pass.
It's inoffensive but Nintendo's direction with Yoshi, despite the creative aesthetic, is stylistically and emotively so...slow, to me. It's like they're specifically targeting children and stoners with this series, which is fine, because it's all very, very relaxed and zen. But it's so relaxed there's literally no energy or momentum to the moment-to-moment play at all. It's just a big ol' non-threatening no-pressure stroll through pretty environments with noninvasive challenges, slow simple music, and a general sense of sleepiness to the play.
And that's just not for me, even if there's some good ideas here.
Also, I kinda wish developers would fuck off Unreal Engine 4 for Switch games. It's a powerful engine and it's great the Switch supports it (particularly for port support), but almost if not every single UE4 game I've played on the system has an unusually off balance of blurry anti-aliasing (probably TAA) with shader aliasing shimmering through. The ease of shader implementation results in a weird inconsistency in per-shader quality, like heavy use of depth of field fluctuating shader quality that sometimes presents artefacts and pixellation. There's a general smudginess, blurriness to the overall image quality, especially noticeable in handheld. Something about them all just looks...off. Like they're pushing very modern shaders on the Switch, all at once, which is technically impressive, but result in a weirdly UE4 distinct image quality that does no favours to the presentation.
Could be just me, though.
It's inoffensive but Nintendo's direction with Yoshi, despite the creative aesthetic, is stylistically and emotively so...slow, to me. It's like they're specifically targeting children and stoners with this series, which is fine, because it's all very, very relaxed and zen. But it's so relaxed there's literally no energy or momentum to the moment-to-moment play at all. It's just a big ol' non-threatening no-pressure stroll through pretty environments with noninvasive challenges, slow simple music, and a general sense of sleepiness to the play.
And that's just not for me, even if there's some good ideas here.
Also, I kinda wish developers would fuck off Unreal Engine 4 for Switch games. It's a powerful engine and it's great the Switch supports it (particularly for port support), but almost if not every single UE4 game I've played on the system has an unusually off balance of blurry anti-aliasing (probably TAA) with shader aliasing shimmering through. The ease of shader implementation results in a weird inconsistency in per-shader quality, like heavy use of depth of field fluctuating shader quality that sometimes presents artefacts and pixellation. There's a general smudginess, blurriness to the overall image quality, especially noticeable in handheld. Something about them all just looks...off. Like they're pushing very modern shaders on the Switch, all at once, which is technically impressive, but result in a weirdly UE4 distinct image quality that does no favours to the presentation.
Could be just me, though.
Played the demo in handheld. Picking the presumably easiest level for the demo was a dumb choice but at least it looks like just a continuation of the formula set by Wooly World.
BUT the performance in handheld was bad. Like really bad. Was definitely not 720p, really grating aliasing especially in the background with their use of DoF and it wasn't even stable 30 fps.
BUT the performance in handheld was bad. Like really bad. Was definitely not 720p, really grating aliasing especially in the background with their use of DoF and it wasn't even stable 30 fps.
just played the demo
LOVED IT
it exceeded my expectation. obviously it was the first level so super easy, but the quality and style is just amazing, and i really like the collectathon aspect, it doesn't seem tedious or anything. good-feel have really nailed the craft style, it's a joy to play and enjoy the levels. not that i needed any more convincing, but this is a day 1 purchase.
lol what? what made you think that?
LOVED IT
it exceeded my expectation. obviously it was the first level so super easy, but the quality and style is just amazing, and i really like the collectathon aspect, it doesn't seem tedious or anything. good-feel have really nailed the craft style, it's a joy to play and enjoy the levels. not that i needed any more convincing, but this is a day 1 purchase.
lol what? what made you think that?
I had no real interest in this and had hoped playing it would turn me around, but it's put me off even more. It feels very amateurishly made, it's empty and basic; there's some charm to the aesthetic but this thing looks like absolute balls in handheld. Does not have the polish you'd expect from a first-party Nintendo game at all, very hard pass.
Edit: I say charm, I take that back, it's not particularly charming either. This style's been done better before and this just comes off as trying too hard, it's actually kind of nauseating.
Edit: I say charm, I take that back, it's not particularly charming either. This style's been done better before and this just comes off as trying too hard, it's actually kind of nauseating.
Demo so lovely <3
Granted, I'm not a fan of depth of field so err yeah I do struggle with that a bit heh. Still it's so charming and pleasant, plus this is easily some of the most clever integration of 3D elements I've seen in a 2D platformer.
Looks like they're doing the same thing as Woolly World and having the overworld map be 30fps, which is a fair shout as that's obviously not where core gameplay takes place. As long as the levels run smooth like they seem to I'm good :)
Granted, I'm not a fan of depth of field so err yeah I do struggle with that a bit heh. Still it's so charming and pleasant, plus this is easily some of the most clever integration of 3D elements I've seen in a 2D platformer.
Looks like they're doing the same thing as Woolly World and having the overworld map be 30fps, which is a fair shout as that's obviously not where core gameplay takes place. As long as the levels run smooth like they seem to I'm good :)
I'm trying to think if Yoshi's Story was the first offender, but it seems to me like that game had a charm and an... ambience, if I could say so, that elevated it above modern attempts. I will have to revisit that game to make up my mind.
I'm pretty sure though - Yoshi's Island these games are not, and it is ok. But I wish we got something more kinetic and energetic than what we are getting with this one.
I'm pretty sure though - Yoshi's Island these games are not, and it is ok. But I wish we got something more kinetic and energetic than what we are getting with this one.
I'm fully onboard after the demo - I'm a fan of the aesthetic and there's definitely a charm that's working its magic on me (YMMV)
I do hope the rest of the music is a bit better than the main theme though. Not awful awful, but definitely not one I'd want to listen to more than a single loop or two of...
I do hope the rest of the music is a bit better than the main theme though. Not awful awful, but definitely not one I'd want to listen to more than a single loop or two of...
Nah I get what you mean. And when you hop on a train, the game looks bad, blurry and super pixelated. At least it's not during playable segments. Otherwise it looks good but yeah, I get the UE4 feeling.
Also, I agree with the first part of your post, even though I absolutely loved Woolly World. Crafted World seems even more relaxed. The music doesn't help, it gave me flashbacks of Yoshi's Island 2 who had mostly lullabies as soundtrack and even though the game was kinda hard it litteraly put me to sleep once xD
Also, I agree with the first part of your post, even though I absolutely loved Woolly World. Crafted World seems even more relaxed. The music doesn't help, it gave me flashbacks of Yoshi's Island 2 who had mostly lullabies as soundtrack and even though the game was kinda hard it litteraly put me to sleep once xD
I;ve played the demo a few times now and 100%ed it. This feels like a rather large step back from Woolly World. The egg throwing into the background and foreground while neat really hurts the pacing of the level, the souvenir collecting just feels like padding, and the game looks blurry in handheld mode (the main way I play the Switch). There is some good though, for example I like the emphasis on going into the background and foreground and I also enjoyed the little segment where you're searching for train parts. Sadly this will be a game I wait for reviews on before getting.
Yoshi's Story mechanics and having to backtrack through a level 2 or even 3 times to get flowers is ridiculous.
Like its not enough you have to collect 20 red coins, full hearts and 5 flowers every level. Now play the level backwards for 3 more flowers. Now do a quest in that same level for 1 more flower.
The pacing is gonna be what hurts this game i feel like.
Like its not enough you have to collect 20 red coins, full hearts and 5 flowers every level. Now play the level backwards for 3 more flowers. Now do a quest in that same level for 1 more flower.
The pacing is gonna be what hurts this game i feel like.
I feel like the Poocy kid flowers are fine. It's essentially a cute twist on time trials that some platformers like Retro's DK games or the Crash games do. The quests though, yeah. It's even worse that they don;t count the cows you hit until after you've already beaten the level and gotten the quest.
Yoshi's Island was faster paced than this and even Wooly World felt a lot snappier in the first level.
Seems like things generally move a little slower so you can keep an eye on the foreground and background layers and I'm not really a huge fan of that.
The final game will probably have better levels that need you to keep moving, but from the previews and this initial demo I'm not really feeling it.
Seems like things generally move a little slower so you can keep an eye on the foreground and background layers and I'm not really a huge fan of that.
The final game will probably have better levels that need you to keep moving, but from the previews and this initial demo I'm not really feeling it.