KeeSomething said:
The linear nature of Galaxy turned down the replay value by a lot. Linear level design is fine in 2D games when you can blast through the levels, find shortcuts and secrets, and speedrun after you master the level's design and timing, but Galaxy prevents that. The levels are too chopped up and divided, so you pretty much forced to play them the same way and at the same speed everytime. You can experiment with the gravity effects here and there, but going back to old levels seems... boring.
For 3D, I think bigger, more open worlds that aren't chopped up are for the best. I mean, I still go back to Super Mario 64 all the time since that game is more open, so you have more oppertunities for shortcuts, speeding through obstacles, and just running around to explore.
You and I want different things, it seems. Galaxy's change in design (though it wasn't as wholesale as I thought was neededpurple coin hunts in particular irritated me to no end my first time through) was a sweet antidote to the poison of retreading the same ground over and again looking for goals that were sometimes in seemingly ridiculous places, fighting the camera along the way. 64 in particular annoyed me to no end with this... that and its apparent fear of letting the player actually die.
When I finally 100% finished 64, I didn't want to go back at all. Galaxy, I wanted to right away, and didI had 242 stars shortly afterward. I've replayed all Mario's content three times and Luigi's two. I've picked up 64 a little on and offboth DS and 64 versionsand I've always just petered out. I've
never finished Sunshine 100%; blue coins killed the one time I intended to. The lack of focus, the need to wander around looking for things, it all just saps the fun for me.
I'd like to add that I'm not just robotically playing Mario-on-rails every time I replay Galaxy, either. I'm constantly back-flipping and long-jumping from spot to spot when there's a perfectly serviceable pedestrian "walk this path" option on the beaten path. I may not have the option of leaping off one structure to shortcut a number of things in a wholly unintended-by-the-designers fashion, but I feel like that's more an inevitability as game design gets better and has less unintended consequences anyway. Yeah, I'm still doing this segment, then the next... but I don't
feel constrained by it.
Basically, I'm entirely happy with this direction, and would be less happy if we reverted back to the things I liked less.
KeeSomething said:
With all that said, it seemed like Galaxy 2 is closer to the 2D games because faster paced less divided.
I'm not really sure how you come to that judgment. Do you know something about G2 I don't? (Serious question, no sarcasm implied.)