Super Mario Odyssey (Peach as Penelope Confirmed)

And because I'm me, I've just beaten the final boss with 234 Moons. Definitely going to be grabbing them all though, so plenty to play for.

It is brilliant, I had to stop myself playing it earlier for fear of playing too much and I just wanted to get straight back on it immediately.

I didn't think it possible and it's early days but this could potentially pip Zelda to the post.

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It definitely feels like a belter but it's way too early to say if it tops BotW & of course Andy has beaten the final boss.

I have went the opposite way to him where I wasn't planning to move onto the next kingdom until I found each moon but I got stuck with 9 remaining in Cascade so I broke that rule and went to the Sand Kingdom, I am now sitting at 64 moons.

You should call me the anti-Andy, as I've played about fifteen minutes and have no moons. My time will come, though.

Treesmurf wrote:

It is brilliant, I had to stop myself playing it earlier for fear of playing too much and I just wanted to get straight back on it immediately.

I didn't think it possible and it's early days but this could potentially pip Zelda to the post.

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I completely agree with this feeling - I'm fully savouring this, I had to go find other things to do last night just so I could stop myself from tearing through this in a one-er, andyman-style.

I woke up this morning and the first thing I thought about was Super Mario Odyssey (which is really sad, but it's true!). I can't wait to play this again today.

I was thinking about doing similar Jas, but when I found out I couldn't go back to the first to see if there was more there & there were a few moons I knew I couldn't get (Picture frame with no picture, rock that does nothing), I figured it would be worth pushing through and just coming back when I know they won't be locked out.

In Scullions review and a few others they say beat the game first then look for Moons due to what you bring up Andy.

I'm currently on 60 moons and this is a banger from the 3hrs, I've played.

@Jay Nintendo didn't make Persona 5 though

Crumpy Andy wrote:

I was thinking about doing similar Jas, but when I found out I couldn't go back to the first to see if there was more there & there were a few moons I knew I couldn't get (Picture frame with no picture, rock that does nothing), I figured it would be worth pushing through and just coming back when I know they won't be locked out.

Yeah that's fair, I've seen those picture frames too & one currently isn't blank for me but I've no clue how it unlocked....maybe just through general progress?

Got about half an hour in this morning. It's shaping up well, I would say.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

And because I'm me, I've just beaten the final boss with 234 Moons. Definitely going to be grabbing them all though, so plenty to play for.

Bully for you if you enjoyed it... I can't helping thinking that's something of a waste of what seems like an absolute blinder. Feels like a game that deserves to have one’s time taken.

It's great though, isn't it?  Beautiful, Mario controls so well, lots of great exploration (purple currency = BK's notes but more useful), the captures...  I do have one quibble thus far, which is that the moons, due to their ubiquity, feel a bit less 'earned', and therefore less special, than stars/Shines.  

But still.  What a game.  Having you possess a T-Rex when you do is a stroke of genius.

AND YOU CAN DRINK TEA WITH CAPPYARGLEBARGLE(explodes with joy)

ZeroJones wrote:

Bit 'arsh.

Eh, I accept those comments in the spirit in which I'm sure they were intended.  I'll be grateful for that guilt when it comes to NaNoWriMo and I'm writing in the breaks!  (Also means I generally get a decent night's sleep. )

Balla wrote:

It's great though, isn't it? Beautiful, Mario controls so well, lots of great exploration (purple currency = BK's notes but more useful), the captures... I do have one quibble thus far, which is that the moons, due to their ubiquity, feel a bit less 'earned', and therefore less special, than stars/Shines.

There are a few that are straight up gimmie's but when you find a super secret one it feels great, also of the Kingdoms I've been to I still haven't found all of the moons in one of them.

I love the way Mario moves, it's fun to just run and jump around the levels finding different ways to reach certain areas. When I figured out you could do a really long jump by jumping, throwing the hat, diving onto the hat and then diving again, it made exploring so much more fun

The exploring is so much fun here right enough. I really missed being able to have a butchers around the world in Super Mario 3D Land & World -with the timer, there was no time for fannying about, which was a shame. Not having a timer - and not having to hold down a button to run - is what 3D Mario should be about.

Otherwise, I've had a massive smile plastered on my face the whole time I've been playing this. It's magic!

The_Jaster wrote:

Balla wrote:

It's great though, isn't it?  Beautiful, Mario controls so well, lots of great exploration (purple currency = BK's notes but more useful), the captures...  I do have one quibble thus far, which is that the moons, due to their ubiquity, feel a bit less 'earned', and therefore less special, than stars/Shines.

There are a few that are straight up gimmie's but when you find a super secret one it feels great, also of the Kingdoms I've been to I still haven't found all of the moons in one of them.

Spoiler:

Edit: Zero put some spoiler tags in place, y'all.

spoiler man!

It was in multiple reviews, and I even mentioned it is few posts up as well.

If it didn't appear in the latest E3 trailer or that dancy advert I posted earlier, I reckon it counts as a spoiler in this case. SMO is a game where you want to find as much as possible for yourself. Thanks to yer ad-man Zero.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

The exploring is so much fun here right enough. I really missed being able to have a butchers around the world in Super Mario 3D Land & World -with the timer, there was no time for fannying about, which was a shame. Not having a timer - and not having to hold down a button to run - is what 3D Mario should be about.

It's this that I feel Andy's missed out by zooming through it with his 243 Moons or whatever it was. It is tremendous, what I've really missed ever since Sunshine started shepherding us towards the one Shine.

And blow me down if it's taken until now for me to realise: we've now had stars, moons, and effectively suns as 3D Mario collectables. Planets next?

See I don't know if Andy has seen what I have, and will still go for all the moons.

masofdas wrote:

It was in multiple reviews, and I even mentioned it is few posts up as well.

Yeah, I didn't read any reviews because I already knew I was getting the game and was going in as blind as possible. Not a big spoiler (so I'm no where near annoyed) but still something I would have liked to have figured out for myself but I guess it explains....

Spoiler:

Everyone has to remember people go through games at different paces so if your unsure if something will be a spoiler or not then use the spoiler tag just in case.

But exploring = moons, if I get a large moon count I'll no doubt have done the same amount of exploring, just in a shorted period of time. In fact that's one reason I'm enjoying the more enclosed sections of the game. New Donk and Tosterena are my 2 least favorite areas because they feel large for the sake of it, whereas in others you can go to every nook and cranny, learn the map and find all the secrets.

Anyway, broke through 500 Moons this morning. What a game!

Andy wrote:

New Donk and Tosterena are my 2 least favorite areas because they feel large for the sake of it, whereas in others you can go to every nook and cranny, learn the map and find all the secrets.

Lake Lamode is my favourite one thus far for that very reason plus it has a neat little level design feature in it too.

I've yet to know what I think about Tostarena, having passed through it only for the story moons.  Tell you what I do like, though (along with basically everything):

Have done Tostarena and garden-type place:

Crumpy Andy wrote:

But exploring = moons, if I get a large moon count I'll no doubt have done the same amount of exploring, just in a shorted period of time.

This is a game I want to take my time with though.  Exploring at such speed seems to me like you might miss some of the wonder, or some of the time to appreciate the wonder...  Anyway, you're obviously having great fun, so I'll stop telling you how to play and have great fun.

Great game. I've probably played it at a faster pace than Andy - got my 600th moon yesterday.

The developers really nailed how Mario controls under the thumb - he's got noticeable momentum and you can chain together so many moves (you can do a few jumps, then throw cappy, then dive onto cappy, then throw cappy again, then dive once more, then transition into a roll!) which gives you a tremendous amount of flexibility in traversing the environments and grabbing Moons however you please. You can be creative from the moment the game begins.

The variety of the kingdoms also impressed me, as did the variety of the mechanics on offer. Some captures were very much one-note, but others, like that extending bug thing, and Pokio the bird, are amazing, and could easily have their very own games. It's a game that's overall just big on feel - the HD Rumble accentuates this, often matching the action onscreen and the sound effects played.

Overall, my favourite Kingdom was the Metro kingdom, which is funny because it was also the kingdom I was most sceptical about when the game was revealed back in January. But the level design with its the varied objectives - from grabbing Moons in high up places to using a motorscooter to traverse high-rise buildings to racing RC Cars - combine to make something special.

I think in the long run 64 and possibly Sunshine will offer more replay value. Odyssey very much feels built around quick challenges and goal completion. You often stumble across dozens Moons through a session of exploration, and longer objectives are nearly all one-off missions tied to the story. You can't, and won't, replay those. There's a shift from pursuing specially crafted long-term goals that require your knowledge of an entire level to completing short-term goals dotted around a level. For example, take Sunshine. There's nothing in Odyssey like Yoshi's Fruit Adventure, or the Watermelon Festival. These missions can be replayed endlessly due to the open nature of the sandboxes and Mario's physics. Not only does Odyssey not focus around this sort of experience, once you exhaust a Kingdom in Odyssey of all its Moons you won't get the same replay value - remaining Moons exist around the environments and they certainly don't form the basis of a long-term level to tackle.

While I really like Odyssey, then, I think it won't be as appealing to return to in ten years' time as 64 and Sunshine have been. At least without starting a brand new game and doing everything again, that is. I'm already seeing hints of this in some of Odyssey's less captivating kingdoms. Cascade Kingdom, Cap Kingdom and Snow Kingdom don't offer much in the way of emergent gameplay. There are only so many ways to get around these places, and the level structures aren't challenging enough to let players traverse them in new ways. They are boring to return to once you've gotten all the moons. On the flipside, kingdoms like Lost Kingdom, Sand Kingdom and Metro Kingdom definitely are compelling to mess about in even after you've done all the goals.