Ori and the Blind Forest / Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Microidvanias)

Here we are, then.  Brave new world.  A Microsoft game on a Nintendo machine - one that's not Minecraft anyway.  Does this feel bizarre to anyone else?  It feels bizarre to me.

Regardless, it's one of them atmospheric sad Metroidvania thingies.  You could think it was your stereotypical indie game if it wasn't for the Microsoft Studios mention at the beginning.  It is however meant to be a pretty good atmospheric sad Metroidvania thingy, so I picked it up.  I'm half an hour in and past the notoriously atmospheric and sad prologue.  I've also done some backtracking and learned some new skills, so it's definitely a Metroidvania.

Anyone else at all interested?  Or have you all already played it before?

I've got the demo downloaded to play at some point and I'm certainly interested, but I'm also not the man to chat to about playing a new release anytime soon.

I've played the demo and enjoyed it but I think it's one I can wait to play so I've put it on my eShop watch list for now.

I actually owned this on my Xbox and couldn't be arsed so I won't be buying it, but it does look pretty.

It's somewhere on my to-play list, as I'm somewhat of a Metroidvania fan and a friend with similar tastes recommended it to me a long while ago. I don't think I've actually played any non-Castlevania or Metroid games in the genre however, so this would be my first one.

Didn't realise Microsoft was involved with it but it makes sense now given how high budget it looks for a sort-of indie game. They sell extremely well on the Switch and it's on PC as well anyway so I guess they thought why not.

No idea when I'll get around to this but I will probably play Bloodstained first.

Yep I played it this year on Xbox One thanks to Game Pass.

I found it to be amazing and it's the first game I've played via Game Pass that I felt bad about playing via the service, that I went and bought it on Switch.

Only played a bit on Switch, found it odd to earn Xbox achievements in a Switch game. I'm still waiting for the Cuphead update for those.

Kriken wrote:

It's somewhere on my to-play list, as I'm somewhat of a Metroidvania fan and a friend with similar tastes recommended it to me a long while ago. I don't think I've actually played any non-Castlevania or Metroid games in the genre however, so this would be my first one.

I'm sure someone might have suggested this to you already but Hollow Knight should go to the top of your to-play list of metroidvania's.

And Bloodstained should go to the bottom if you're playing it on Switch, abysmal thing. Not if not, natch.

I'm 30 minutes in. It's very pretty. That is all at this stage.

Hollow Knight is on the to-play list as well, but it's not beating out Bloodstained for the top spot in this genre. Aware of the Switch version's drawbacks so it'll be on PC or PS4.

So I'm playing this... Thus far (just unlocked the third skill so I'm not very far), it seems like a pretty bog-standard Metroidvania. It doesn't have either an exciting and satisfying range of movement options (maybe they come later?), really unambiguously solid level design, or Hollow Knight's je ne sais quoi.

Its defining trait seems to be, 'it's pretty and atmospheric', but maybe it's just my old Nintendo-adjusted eyes but it doesn't look all that to me. It looks... dark, mostly.

Anybody else found the same, either when they played it first time around or now?

More and more I think it's you with the bad taste not your Lady

Hey, I don't think all of her taste is bad! Just her taste in games.

What made it 'click' for you Mas? What am I missing?

Everything about it be it the opening, the atmospheric art style, nature how the power-ups are used, the music, story beats etc

I wasn't kidding when I said this might be one of the best games on Switch and very well be high in my Switch year-end forum vote as it came to Switch this year and I've played it on Switch.

I wonder if our responses to the game are determined by our responses to the opening, which I've widely seen tipped to be the best part of the game.  I knew

SPOILAH:

because every publication ever talked about that; so while I was moved, and did go a bit dewey-eyed, I was simultaneously applying a slightly more critical view and going, 'This would be much more moving if a tree wasn't growling stuff in gibberish that we could easily deduce.  Show don't tell chaps, Christ.'  The rest of the plot this far was done better in Captain Toad (jk), and the atmospherics better in Hollow Knight in the same genre (not jk).

In fact, that may be the key issue: I thought Hollow Knight was a very good grim atmospheric Metroidvania that I played before Ori.

Well, I knew what was going to happen at the start but had the same impact as it would I believe if I didn't know it was coming.

HK does look as well, but I think I prefer to Ori due to slightly more colourful tones.

Balladeer wrote:

So I'm playing this...  Thus far (just unlocked the third skill so I'm not very far), it seems like a pretty bog-standard Metroidvania.  It doesn't have either an exciting and satisfying range of movement options (maybe they come later?), really unambiguously solid level design, or Hollow Knight's je ne sais quoi.  

Its defining trait seems to be, 'it's pretty and atmospheric', but maybe it's just my old Nintendo-adjusted eyes but it doesn't look all that to me.  It looks... dark, mostly.  

Anybody else found the same, either when they played it first time around or now?

I started this yesterday (having played the demo and bought it in a sale off that back of that ages ago) and honestly I think I'm with you on this one. I'm a couple of hours in and so far it's... fine. The feeling I've gotten is like, it's a game that the bright sparks in class made that, on paper, does everything right: pretty, minimalist storytelling, they've done their homework on gameplay and puzzles etc etc... but it's not actually very interesting? It's polished, but that's about it. It doesn't feel new or particularly imaginative (though I know it's a few years old now).

Also I'm not a massive fan of how Ori controls. He/she/they/Icantremember feels a bit too slidey for some of the precise platforming it asks of you. Maybe it'll click properly in a bit more time.

And the opening was tipped to be the best part of the game? It was nicely done, but very predictable. I don't mean to sound too damning, but when it's a critical darling it's gotta be scrutinised!

Oh good, it's not just me! I completely agree about what you said there, especially Ori's feel: slidey and imprecise is exactly how I'd describe it. I've managed to get over controls I didn't immediately click with in other Metroidvanias, like Iconoclasts and Monster Boy; but haven't managed to get there with Ori in what I've played.

I am trying so hard to love it, but every time I finish a section I just think "thank f**king Christ that's done, Jesus f**k". Its precision platforming reminds me a tiny bit of Guacamelee, which I enjoyed, but as mentioned its controls aren't as satisfying, which often makes it frustrating. Just gotten to the second "escape" sequence and as soon as it started I rolled my eyes and put the Switch to sleep because I cannot. be. bothered. right. now.

I think you may have swayed my views Rum. I'll save it for the Finished thread, but while I'll give it one more go, I think it'll be with very low forgiveness and patience after what you've said.

I remember completing this on Buska's Xbox back in the annals of time, during the long long ago. Before that Cats movie was released and everything went to shit.

Very pretty game. I don't think I had any issues with the controls, none that I can remember anyway, and the escape sequences were real highlights for me. What I wasn't so into was the metroidvania aspects of it, but that's just me. I don't have a good sense of direction so I'm not sure that the genre is really for me.

For as much as I liked it though, I didn't buy the sequel so I guess I can't have been that enamoured with it.

I think I liked what the escape sequences were trying to do - a sense of excitement and tension in a dangerous situation sort of thing - but it was the first one that particularly threw me, because it was a jarring and unforgiving difficulty spike in what hadn't been a very difficult game up to that point. I didn't mind the other two quite as much because they at least had one or two checkpoints and I knew they were coming.

I've repurposed this thread so that it deals with both Oris, because having not got on with Ori 1 I'm really digging Ori 2. Even Ori's slidyness doesn't seem to bother me - perhaps because the increased combat emphasis means there's less precision platforming, perhaps because you get a lot of helpful moves like double-jumps early on. Anyway, I've now got the grapple ability and Ori's whizzing around like a greased ferret, and is actually fun to control! Remember that? Fun?

Anyway, what I'm saying (and what I've already said to Rum) is that whatever your feelings on Ori 1, whether you're like Mas or like me, Ori 2 is very worth checking out. I got it for half-price, so maybe it'll take another plunge.

Has anybody else already played the sequel? (Apart from Mas, who I know loves it but not quite as much.)