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Mighty No. 9 review thread
- Thread starter Enter the Dragon Punch
- Start date
Labrynian Rebel
Member
We still don't have a good Mega Man revival? Come on, it's the current year!
hersheyfan
Member
There's no code that I can see, except for the one on the leaflet for the Ray DLC... There's a poster and artbook (well, art pamphlet).
Edit: I redeemed the code, along with the Ray DLC there was an entitlement for a digital MN9. So that probably unlocks the other Sony versions as well, haven't had time to try on my Vita.
Edit 2: Also, the game does NOT look promising so far. :-/
Chubzdoomer
Banned
Ah, so they mismanaged the hell out of it. Thanks for confirming.
Holundrian
Unconfirmed Member
How is that an excuse? No kickstarter will have 100% of its raised money go into the project it all evens out in context(as long as they don't to bother writing up in detail where additional unavoidable costs appeared like tax situation in Japan, etc). Also them stretching themselves too thin isn't our fault as well.
What I wish what would die in a fire already are garbage excuses for how this turned out.
Didn't we already endure stuff like the concept art justifications long enough already? Do we really have to ask some producer to give a breakdown of how mismanaged this whole thing probably was?
Bottom line the thing that is and always will be the most inexcusable is that the guy doesn't bother talking to his backers.
We receive everything last/at the last moment, be it news of delays, news of events, our game keys, etc etc.
Your project deserves all accusations if you don't bother clearing things up to your backers.
When you put all the pieces together, like launching on basically every platform available, planning an anime to create a franchise where it wasn't earned or proven viable yet, the whole Red Ash thing, the constant delays and the resulting final product, I would say mismanaged is probably the most accurate description.
I think this just reaffirms the idea of transparency in constant communication with our keys to a successful Kickstarter project.
Ambition is good, but you have to know when to keep your focus tight. I think that kind of got out of hand here.
nephilimdj
Member
Funny their worst games were both funded by Nintendo, Network Transmission and Boom
I look forward to this game on sale, rrp is insane.
WrenchNinja
Member
I'm going to jump jump slide slide your ass to buster ville motherfucker
Sounds that way to me. Should have limited it to a few platforms at first, then ported to others later. Might have been able to spend those resources polishing the few ports better, instead of having seemingly every version of the game full of performance issues that it shouldn't have.
schaft0620
Member
This right here. $2.7 million isn't shit.
SuperAndroid17
Member
Has the creator of this game or KS ever make a statement about this game's delays/quality?
What was Shovel Knight's budget?
What was Shovel Knight's budget?
They were pretty silent most of the time. The reason for the delays they mentioned the first time was "network issues" for the online features.
The amount Shovel Knight was funded in KS was around 300K I believe, but they put a lot of their own money into the project (I meant out of their pocket and not backing the KS) and went above and beyond in development.
I think we will probably not see a statement
He said something to the effect of "I own all of the issues with the game." And somehow this got mistranslated to "It's better than nothing."?
Sonic Boom wasn't funded by Nintendo.
Nor was Network Transmission which was actually funded by Nintendo is pretty solid and miles ahead of trash like X6, X7, MMII, ZX Advent
Are we not counting the later X games in this.
Coriolanus
Banned
For kickstarter standards, it is a lot, and a whole lotta other folks did far more with far less.
Other folks with far less experience than Inafune to boot.
Holundrian
Unconfirmed Member
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2014-08-06-shovel-knight-devs-break-down-costs-sales
And budget for Plague Knight addon was about 1million
http://yachtclubgames.com/2016/04/feat-unlocked-one-million-copies-of-shovel-knight-sold/
PeakPointMatrix
Member
While living far beneath their means, possibly poverty level while working on their game as a passion project. Sure, it doesn't excuse a group of veterans from mismanaging the production, but anyone who can do basic math can figure out that even paying a group of just 10-15 professionals a living wage with benefits will dry up that fund in a near instant.
What was Inafune supposed to do, find students willing to work for near nothing to get their big break?
Exactly, just look at this:
I want you all to think about this the next time one of you brings up [insert indie game] is way better and was made on a budget of $10 dollars!
Mega Man 8 and X7 are mediocre games.
Sonic 06 and Boom are legit some of the worst games of all time.
Spirit of Jazz
Banned
Pillars of Eternity ended up being pretty good...
mrmickfran
Member
Holundrian
Unconfirmed Member
Yes because that suddenly denies the fact that 4 million got mismanaged.
Heeeeell no!
Of course we don't wish anyone to go through what the Shovel Knight devs went through to get it done. But it's ridiculous to deny that if managed correctly 4 million or even 1 million would have a been a good sum to accomplish a megaman like game without anyone suffering through that.
MN9 does not excuse itself from those comparisons, especially when it doesn't clear things up. If your kickstarter communication is vague and spotty and not transparent you deserve all the shade you get even if some of it isn't correct.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
Does me saying exactly that in the second sentence of my post you literally just replied to sound like denying to you? My intention is to simply clear the common misconception of video game budgets and quality. Indies starving themselves to make games of whatever quality is awful point of comparison for anything, especially games that needed to pay working professionals living wages.
I'm going to need at least a few weeks to get a more involved feel for things, but playing it myself, this isn't nearly the bad experience I expected. The power-plant level should have been the game's first stage. That has especially good structure for air-dash flow.
Getting the freeze blast then going back to the power plant? Yup. I'm ok with that. I'm POSITIVE I'll come across a growing list of unbearable design goofs, but I was expecting so much worse.
Getting the freeze blast then going back to the power plant? Yup. I'm ok with that. I'm POSITIVE I'll come across a growing list of unbearable design goofs, but I was expecting so much worse.
Holundrian
Unconfirmed Member
No, to be very crass about it, why should we give a shit about working professional living wage yada yada yada when backers get disrespected with radio silence.
Several Indies making games of comparatively exceptional quality is a fair point of comparison given that no additional info from their side has been divulged.
You calculate the Shovel knight devs full pay for those 5 months you still end up with a budget that is dwarfed by what MN9 received and a game that exceeds MN9 in quality several times(and don't come with 4million didn't get pumped into MN9 cause that happens to everyone). Heck give them the 1 million as a budget that they needed for Plague. When we get into the nitty gritty of the numbers sure it's not going to add up a 100% but the core idea* behind those accusations as long as Inafune remains nontransparent rings true. *Smaller devs with less than he had surpassed what he delivered in a major way.
It all just boils down to shitty excuses for MN9 made by people that shouldn't make them. Because the people that by all means should make them still to the very end have nothing but dodgy attitude towards their backers(nice release stream last minute announcement yo).
Purple Cheeto
Member
Okay but for a startup $2.7mm is roughly enough to keep a team of 10 for maybe 2 years. Or less the more you pay.
This assumes $70k USD a year which is below average for a mid tier game developer and not enough to get you anyone senior level.
Admiral Snackbar
Member
I played it on stream to have a laugh with my friends. I backed it for $60 and was just hoping to get a night of schadenfreude out of it.
I actually kind of dig Mighty No 9? Like, it's not incredible but it's not BAD? The retro music option sounds great, too. It's all very Mega Man Powered Up. I think Eurogamer's review is the closest to my experience so far.
I actually kind of dig Mighty No 9? Like, it's not incredible but it's not BAD? The retro music option sounds great, too. It's all very Mega Man Powered Up. I think Eurogamer's review is the closest to my experience so far.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
As if being transparent about the process would have mattered. The resulting game would have ended up the same way. People always bring up the amount of money amassed by Comcept as if it was some guaranteed barometer of quality. Amateurs, and veterans alike, no matter how much cash they have on hand won't guarantee a good game.
Yes people can be disappointed that a public figure of the industry produced an unremarkable game, but that was always a possibility with an investment like this. More cash /= guaranteed good game. It isn't the first time a name of this pedigree with any kind of budget has failed to meet expectations and it won't be the last. So don't go screaming the tired "bububut $4 Million, why isn't it good?!". How many high-budget movies or games do we see flop every year? There's always the possibility of a bad or disappointing product being made. This is one of them.
There are so many impressions like these exclaiming "whoa the game isn't a pus-spewing garbage fire!". I mean, it's not, and the reviews seem to reflect as such. It's an average/below average game. It's possible to enjoy a game that isn't great or even good. People are really mixing up their distaste of how the KS campaign was run and the actual quality of the game before they even play it, especially those refusing to touch their game keys out of principal or something.
Admiral Snackbar
Member
I absolutely agree. I just finished Mirror's Edge Catalyst and it's one of my favorite games of the year despite the 'rain of 7s' that seem to herald the death of a game.
There are missteps beyond the poor post-funding campaign and advertising. But none of them are beyond overlooking to enjoy the mechanics. It really is a new Mega Man game.
Holundrian
Unconfirmed Member
It matters. At least to me(although I'm almost sure that I'm not alone). It's the difference between me feeling like I'm being played, unfairly taken advantage of and we all going on a journey that didn't go as planned.
Game development is hard, a lot can happen and MN9 ending as it did is unfortunate, there's a lot of empathy that could have been generated with transparent communication and clear messaging. Instead right to the end we don't get any of that. Red Ash is just a the perfect showcase incident of why it does matter.
As for the 4 million number, it's not so much about(again I only speak from my perspective that I believe many might share) it being a poster number of it guaranteeing quality but more about when people can succeed at lower budgets, people that have access to higher budgets have nothing to blame but themselves. No goddamn excuses to be made about the budget. Simple as that.
PeakPointMatrix
Member
This is naive thinking in my opinion. Maybe there would be a handful of understanding fans such as yourself, but the majority of the internet and fanbase (especially internet savvy gamers) are a sea of piranhas waiting to tear you to pieces at the slightest misstep. MN9 could have handled many PR and communication instances better, but you know the vast reactions by many gamers would have been extremely and vocally negative. You've seen it happen with Shenmue 3, Broken Age, Skullgirls and many other times when people have shared their roadblocks with the public. I don't know how many times there has been a glimpse into WIP aspects of gaming, only for the response to be nasty and toxic. It quickly dawns on me why developers keep their progress completely and utterly obscured from the public.
And just like those devs that succeed with lower budgets, there is an ocean of garbage out there created by dev at equally low budgets as well.
To which my response for people waving budget amounts as an arguing point is always "...and?"
The discussion should absolutely be concerning the management and team involved, that I agree with. The amount of money spent really means nothing.
BurgerDicks
Banned
Played the first 4 stages on pc. Smooth 60. It controls well but holy fuck the level design is atrocious. It looks like shit. The voice acting is a cringefest. I have not felt this embarrassed to play a game since that Little mermaid sequence in Kingdom Hearts 2.
Holundrian
Unconfirmed Member
Of course the budget matters in discussion especially when I have to read garbage defenses as backer(for the last 2 years and I'm truly sick of it so sorry for the language) about how the game couldn't look any better for 4 million.
I had heated arguments about people seriously believing that for so little money(4million lol) that's the best you we could get.
It was only much later that I saw other devs commenting on this and pretty much confirming that those people were wrong.
So yes it goddamn matters when your game looks awful, doesn't run well with a budget higher than other devs that succeed in delivering games that look and run better and that's totally ignoring anything to do with the quality of the gameplay or if the game is fun.
Even if we lived in that little world of yours were people truly discussed the only things that matter like you want them to.
When you have a discussion around the management and team involved and don't have any further facts provided by the team themselves but you know the budget of the project.
Of course you're going to talk about the money spent. Dunno what you expect....
Robottiimu2000
Member
CrimsonSquall
Member
Wooow pause. Network Transmission wasn't a terrible game, that music was some of the best in the series
Simbabbad
Member
Holundrian
Unconfirmed Member
It already did, I backed MN9 didn't I?
In all seriousness cherry picking one sentence while ignoring the context of it all, oh well it's gaf what did I expect.
But hey if it wasn't clear, I was over exaggerating by using rude language with my point being that this project does get 0 empathy points with the way it treated us.
Heart of Black
Member
Backing a game based on concept art wasn't exactly a smart play on anyone's part.
To Far Away Times
Member
It was to be expected after the bait and switch.
Heart of Black
Member
Well a mediocre game that is "not bad, not amazing" deserves a 5. Games that are really interesting, but also flawed deserve 7s.
BluePigGanon
Member
Granted I'm not very far into it yet but I'd agree it's "alright". Not great, but not nearly the trainwreck it's being made out to be. I can't help but feel too much of the vitriol is from people who poured way too much money into the game, and/or people who got ludicrously overhyped.