Least Interesting Game Award

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jay_are
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Least Interesting Game Award

Post by jay_are »

Aaaand the winner for the LEAST interesting game of the year award is! .......

...

...

Image

I just found out that New SMB2 is coming out. And i was a little shocked!
I thought we already had the 2nd New SMB being the wii one.

So I immediately thought: Maybe THIS will be the real good sequel? And not that boring wii remake of an already very boring ds game? You know, Nintendo thinking they're playing it safe by keeping the game as basic as possible, and not introducing anything new. And still asking $40 for it.
But when i see some screenshots:

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/20 ... een003.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/20 ... een004.jpg

Its yet ANOTHER remake. This is gonna be worse than all the Final Fantasy 1 remakes or all the millions of YS remakes!
Oh wait, Mario can fly now. But does that fix a boredom of a game? Or will SMB3 fans take insult?

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Imperial Knight
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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by Imperial Knight »

I was hoping for something more along the lines of Super Mary.

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jay_are
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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by jay_are »

That was charming :)
But man those games are so bad hahaha..

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Ardent Fox
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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by Ardent Fox »

I was going to say Witcher 2. I was way off.

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Sonic#
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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by Sonic# »

But... but... I like The Witcher 2. *sniff*.

I don't see anything wrong with new level designs and slightly updated features. Then again, I didn't find the other ones boring. Also then again, I was playing Nethack earlier today, so I don't exactly need for things to be fresh.
Sonic#

"Than seyde Merlion, "Whethir lyke ye bettir the swerde othir the scawberde?" "I lyke bettir the swerde," seyde Arthure. "Ye ar the more unwyse, for the scawberde ys worth ten of the swerde; for whyles ye have the scawberde uppon you, ye shall lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded. Therefore kepe well the scawberde allweyes with you." --- Le Morte Darthur, Sir Thomas Malory

"Just as you touch the energy of every life form you meet, so, too, will will their energy strengthen you. Fail to live up to your potential, and you will never win. " --- The Old Man at the End of Time

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Aaron
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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by Aaron »

Ardent Fox wrote:I was going to say Witcher 2. I was way off.
NOooooo. The Witcher 2 is amazing.

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jay_are
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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by jay_are »

Sonic# wrote:But... but... I like The Witcher 2. *sniff*.

I don't see anything wrong with new level designs and slightly updated features. Then again, I didn't find the other ones boring. Also then again, I was playing Nethack earlier today, so I don't exactly need for things to be fresh.
New level designs? Talking about Mario, right?
Cause in that case, yeah there's nothing wrong besides
the annoying Mario voices,
the annoying painfully childish repetitive soundtrack (that only has like 4 stages songs),
lame overused over recycled graphics thats already been used on DS and Wii
less-than-flattering power-ups,
uncreative stages...

Almost any mario clone, free or not, has more to offer than New SMB.

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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by Sonic# »

^ The voices don't annoy me, the soundtrack is cleanly designed (and I'm not allergic to "childish"), they reuse good graphics while adding new touches, the power-ups add fun ways to play the levels, and the stages are the same left-to-right business they've always been. The issues you cite are not issues for me. I know that some people have complained about the loss of novelty, but many of those same people loved these games anyhow. So it seems a little much to argue, almost without qualification, that these games are the "least interesting."

This reminds me of the differences of perceiving romance novels between readers and nonreaders. Nonreaders will point out every reductive and boring similarity and claim that nothing interesting is going on. Readers will perceive the plots of every book they like individually, distinguishing between different protagonists. Both acknowledge the form; one holds the form as a problem and can't see past it, and the other accepts the form. One's not better than the other. They just have different expectations.

So it sounds like you're coming at these games as someone on the outside of these games. I come at them from the inside. It's fine that you don't like them. I was even interested to hear why. I guess I object to the presentation of preference as argument.
Sonic#

"Than seyde Merlion, "Whethir lyke ye bettir the swerde othir the scawberde?" "I lyke bettir the swerde," seyde Arthure. "Ye ar the more unwyse, for the scawberde ys worth ten of the swerde; for whyles ye have the scawberde uppon you, ye shall lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded. Therefore kepe well the scawberde allweyes with you." --- Le Morte Darthur, Sir Thomas Malory

"Just as you touch the energy of every life form you meet, so, too, will will their energy strengthen you. Fail to live up to your potential, and you will never win. " --- The Old Man at the End of Time

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jay_are
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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by jay_are »

Sonic# wrote:^ The voices don't annoy me, the soundtrack is cleanly designed (and I'm not allergic to "childish"), they reuse good graphics while adding new touches, the power-ups add fun ways to play the levels, and the stages are the same left-to-right business they've always been. The issues you cite are not issues for me. I know that some people have complained about the loss of novelty, but many of those same people loved these games anyhow. So it seems a little much to argue, almost without qualification, that these games are the "least interesting."

This reminds me of the differences of perceiving romance novels between readers and nonreaders. Nonreaders will point out every reductive and boring similarity and claim that nothing interesting is going on. Readers will perceive the plots of every book they like individually, distinguishing between different protagonists. Both acknowledge the form; one holds the form as a problem and can't see past it, and the other accepts the form. One's not better than the other. They just have different expectations.

So it sounds like you're coming at these games as someone on the outside of these games. I come at them from the inside. It's fine that you don't like them. I was even interested to hear why. I guess I object to the presentation of preference as argument.
Lol, I completely get the point about "someone from the outside who just wants to point out the bad".
You mean like those guys that don't play RPGs and just judge by graphics or the plot about saving the world?
Nope, I don't think I'm that kind of person at all!
Now, I respect people's taste, even if they like a bad product. For example I LOVED Lunar DS, and that's considered crap by the majority! So it's not like I think you are wrong in liking the game. My main problem is the product itself.

Me, I sound like i'm coming from the outside of these games, you say? You mean as in like, I was never a Mario fan, and am judging because I never cared? Is that what you mean? Well, Nope. That is very untrue for me.
Super Mario was my #1 favorite. Just in case, here are the main platformer Super Mario games I have played (and finished, of course)

On NES: SMB1, SMB2 (USA), SMB2 (JAP), SMB3.
On SNES: SMW1, all the ALL-STARS remakes, SMW2
On GB: SML1, SML2, SML3, DK.
On GBA I played the ports, but they have Mario's voice now. Wtf? Mama-mia every time you die? >< crap. "Just what I needed!" when you get power ups? >< ugh. It didnt ruin it, but it was the beginning of the problem. Mario had changed.

I also played non platformer games like Mario Kart and Mario RPG on SNES. All these games are Favorite games ever! I played each as I grew up.
Sooo do I still come from the outside judging blindly?
Look how lovely SML1 was. Each world had its music. And they were all masterpieces. Then they upgraded everything incredibly in SML2.
Same upgrade happened to SMB3 after SMB1 and The Lost Levels.
(Even though SMB1 and 3 reused music, oh it was nooooowhere near as silly as New SMB jeeze >.<)

So OK. I accept New SMB as that one mario game i dont like. There had to be at least 1, right? But WHY is New SMB getting so many sequels and they all look the same? It's like expansion ports. Why didnt they make expansions of SML1 instead? or SML2? or SMB3?
SMB1 had its "expansion" sequel and thats The Lost Levels, but thats it.
Why does New SMB, my least favorite one, get 3 versions or maybe even more? I ran out of luck with Mario =)
(BTW, I did play New SMB on DS to completion, I got all the hidden coins and completed all worlds. So I CAN judge.)

I will move on to all those many other platforms that still want to give me something new, interesting, fun, and more to my taste.

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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by Sonic# »

I said it "sounds like," which it certainly does. By the outside, I meant simply someone who was less interested in the iteration of games. I should have explained that I didn't intend an "either/or" category, or a category that implies *greater* expertise. No, I intended a category that implies greater involvement with the present games.

It's getting expansions because many people like them as much as you liked SML1.

Let's take the "outside" as someone who tends to reduce the qualities of games to similarities, someone who looks on it as someone looking from the outside of a forest. In contrast, the "inside" is someone on the inside of the forest, someone who can see the trees more closely, whether or not they understand the forest's shape. If I were someone who was closer to the outside of SML, I would say that the first is a repetition of SMB for a handheld, and the second is an amalgamation of SMB 3 and SMW for the handheld. All of them are premised on very similar gameplay (collecting coins, stomping Goombas, secret levels, and so on) and plots (Princess kidnapped by baddie; Mario must rescue). From the inside, you would point out that the music is totally different and wonderful, that SML 2 uses coins to different purpose, that there are a lot of levels, that the repetitions don't bother you, and so on. For you, SML 2 is a great game. For the outsider, it's a pastiche of previous Mario games that's boring because it does little new.

Your reception of the New SMB fits the pattern of someone who, for whatever reason, finds himself on the outside of these games. You don't like the games because you find them repetitious and boring. I like them because I find novelty within the repetitions. Both opinions are fine. It's your categorical rejection, your rejection that leaves no room for disagreement, that I really disagee with.
Sonic#

"Than seyde Merlion, "Whethir lyke ye bettir the swerde othir the scawberde?" "I lyke bettir the swerde," seyde Arthure. "Ye ar the more unwyse, for the scawberde ys worth ten of the swerde; for whyles ye have the scawberde uppon you, ye shall lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded. Therefore kepe well the scawberde allweyes with you." --- Le Morte Darthur, Sir Thomas Malory

"Just as you touch the energy of every life form you meet, so, too, will will their energy strengthen you. Fail to live up to your potential, and you will never win. " --- The Old Man at the End of Time

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jay_are
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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by jay_are »

Well, SML1 looks, plays, and sounds different than SMB.
SML2 looks, plays very different and sounds very different than SMB3.
Lets pretend I loved New SMB. When playing New SMB Wii, it looks, plays and sounds the same as the DS!
Gives me a feeling of "I already played this!".

And the encounter is the same for all, I either saw someone playing, or screenshots, then decided to play.

I still dont so much of get why you say I sound like an outsider. Cause I completed New SMB, so I was inside the forest.
And was still inside the forest when New SMB Wii came out. But got out cause i thought i was just walking in circles :P
See that castle in the back of the green field? It looks pretty right? But I've already been there in 2 games before.

And I will come back to the forest again when New SMB2 comes out. Cause who knows, maaaaaybe I will regret my words?
This time, I'll play it on a friend's system before buying, or course.
But by screenshots I can already say "I already played this!"

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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by Sonic# »

Well, they do sometimes adapt games for other systems while adding features. If your problem is that New SMB Wii was an adaptation from a handheld to a console, then I really don't know what to say. They did have the good sense to name it the same thing. Even then, they added variations. You could have four characters playing at once on the same screen. There was Ice Mario, Penguin Mario, Propeller Mario, Yoshi, and other features. There was a special world added. Those differences may not be sufficient for you. That's okay. I wasn't looking for a different game, and turned out being delighted by the new features.
jay_are wrote: I still dont so much of get why you say I sound like an outsider
Sonic# wrote: Let's take the "outside" as someone who tends to reduce the qualities of games to similarities, someone who looks on it as someone looking from the outside of a forest.
I'm not making an argument of your experience with the games, but rather an argument about what features you find most important, and in particular whether you tend to emphasize similarities or distinguishing features between versions. So what I'm pointing out is that you have portrayed New SMB as a work with little to distinguish it from its predecessors. This is like someone looking at a forest and caring more about the forest than the kinds of trees within it. It's not wrong, but it's a different way of looking. I'm making an analogy of viewpoint, not of contact. (On this point I should have distinguished it from the romance analogy between nonreader and reader, which does imply contact and expertise.)

So again, you're troubled by New SMB Wii being very similar to New SMB, and both being similar to their predecessors. I'm not. Different approaches to the same product.
I've not once argued that you have no reason to feel like it's repetitious. Your viewpoint is not under attack. I contrasted it with my own.
I've just remarked on how you represent your different viewpoint as an authoritative one. Your response to me was launched as an attack of my viewpoint, taking my statement that I didn't see anything wrong with the games and inverting it with a diatribe ("there's nothing wrong besides...") that came off as an arrogant challenge to my opinion.
Your next response then took offense at my analogy of being on the outside, spurred on by a misunderstanding of what I meant by the term. (A misunderstanding I apologize for; I certainly see where I could have suggested that you were a "nonreader," though I never intended to.)

So let's cool it. Before you respond again, ask yourself: are you trying to discuss your opinions and observations about a game, or are you trying to win a debate about the merits or demerits of the New SMB? If the first, state them more like opinions and without attacking my opinions. If the second, I'm uninterested in that debate.
Sonic#

"Than seyde Merlion, "Whethir lyke ye bettir the swerde othir the scawberde?" "I lyke bettir the swerde," seyde Arthure. "Ye ar the more unwyse, for the scawberde ys worth ten of the swerde; for whyles ye have the scawberde uppon you, ye shall lose no blood, be ye never so sore wounded. Therefore kepe well the scawberde allweyes with you." --- Le Morte Darthur, Sir Thomas Malory

"Just as you touch the energy of every life form you meet, so, too, will will their energy strengthen you. Fail to live up to your potential, and you will never win. " --- The Old Man at the End of Time

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jay_are
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Re: Least Interesting Game Award

Post by jay_are »

Oh no, I am not trying to debate and win, or counter attack to change your opinion. You certainly have done no wrong to me. xD
I am just here to show people how strongly I am against New SMB citing the things I did not like...... and that, honestly, I see more effort put into any other platformers than New SMB. There's more ambition and more of a burning desire to make the best game possible.
New SMB3 has 0 ambition and flame. You can just feel it.
And, not that the price is a complaint, but New SMB 3 will cost $40 or more and never drop. Of course because of the name. So it all seems like giving a kid luxurious toys and not have as much fun as for example getting a bike.

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