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[The Gorby Congressmanz]

Whether Switch, Xbox, or PS, Balan Wonderwold looks pretty bad, has a very restrictive and limiting control scheme, and has graphical aesthetics and issues you would normally see in a mobile game. It seems like Squareenix and their dev studio (that produced the game) just cleaned it up a little, increased the resolution and resold it as a console game.

There doesn't seem to be much of a budget for this game either. Balan himself looks like a store-brand Nights into dreams.

 

[Moogle11]

IDK if it started that way, but I had the thought that it felt like a mobile game when playing the demo. Felt like a mobile version of a collection focused platform in the ways Oceanhorn was a mobile Zelda type game. Something that would be ok to play if traveling with no other option or a cheap, decent game to keep your kids busy on their tablet etc., but can’t see at reason to play it vs. the various platformers out on consoles and PCs unless one is really hard up for a 3D platformers they haven’t played already.

To each their own and all that of course. 3D platformers are admittedly pretty far down my list of genres I enjoy these days so I tend to stick to cream of the crop ones like Mario Odyssey etc. and definitely play plenty of lesser games in genres I like more and can‘t get enough of, so not meaning to be harsh. Was just surprised by how much I thought it felt like an Oceanhorn-ish moble game given it was from Square Enix.

 

[Carna]

Wtf is with this dumb thread?

 

[McCheese]

Who actually developed it?

The underlying design and art style is solid, but the execution feels like the team were out of their depth. It would explain a lot of it was made by a mobile division

 

[The Gorby Congressmanz]

Who actually developed it?

The underlying design and art style is solid, but the execution feels like the team were out of their depth. It would explain a lot of it was made by a mobile division

From what I understand Square helped form a studio that included Yuji Naka and some guys that made the old hedgehog engine and had them produce this game.

but it seems to me it was meant for mobile, and some of the issue with the games graphics and controls seem to indicate this imo.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Provide context before making statements

- The game was developed by another studio and only published by Square-Enix
- It uses Unreal Engine 4, and it's very resource-intensive, especially for the Nintendo Switch
- Since it's multi platform, they have to focus on the lowest common denominator, which is the Switch's not so impressive processing power. This limits the amount of stuff they can put on screen at once, and the quality of it.

Same thing happened with Deadly Premonition 2, which uses the Unity engine. It's a small developer, they have limited resources, they have to cut corners.

I think the reason why people are raising their expectations about this game is because of the pre-rendered movies that were used for the marketing and intro sequence. People see Square-Enix's logo and assume it was supposed to be a AAA game.

My only gripe is that it looks unpolished and a little rushed, and it shouldn't be priced like a AAA game, like at all.

So no, it's not supposed to be a mobile game. Unless you consider the Nintendo Switch to be considered "mobile" instead of "portable console"

 

[brap]

Looks like a Wii U game or something.

 

[Andodalf]

OP who hurt you?

 

[The Gorby Congressmanz]

Provide context before making statements

- The game was developed by another studio and only published by Square-Enix

The company is Square Enix's studio, they own it, they funded the game, they gathered the hedgehog engine guys and Yujinaka to make it.

Also while the game was made in UE4, they clearly aren't really pushing it. Just because something is using UE4 doesn't mean you are using the engine makes a console like the Switch struggle with it automatically, look at some of the other UE4 games on Switch and how they compare. We are looking at very poor graphics even for a cash grab game.

But at least you agree it was rushed, they clearly didn't have enough time to polish this.

 

[Orta]

Based on the demo it's an average game, on a similar level to something like Super Lucky's Tale but the criticism on here is way over the top. I'd buy it for a brainless hour or so of play now and again when the price inevitably drops to a tenner on Steam.

As for it looking bad, come on, I've seen far far worse. There's been plenty of wanking on here over the abomination that is Bugsnax, a next-gen title, does this https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Cse...ds/chorus_asset/file/21702022/unnamed__2_.jpg look better than this:

 

[JunkerWoland]

Just throwing out there, the main developer on the game appears to be Naoto Oshima's company, Arzest. The company's name was out there, back when the game was originally announced last year; they're also still listed on the Steam page and the game's South East Asia website. Going by Wiki, Arzest looks to have mostly developed for portable systems and handhelds, which may explain certain things from the demo.

 

[SonicJams]

I love the title hahaha. I really wanted this game to be good and it it really does just feel like a mobile game. Sky Soldier was better.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

We are looking at very poor graphics even for a cash grab game

I agree the visuals aren't that amazing technically speaking, but you're really trying too hard to put this game in a bad light

 

[jdforge]

I agree the visuals aren't that amazing technically speaking, but you're really trying too hard to put this game in a bad light

Doesn’t the demo do a better job of that anyway?

 

[Enjay]

This could be said for every squnix game in the past decade

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

This could be said for every squnix game in the past decade

 

[RNG]

Who actually developed it?

The underlying design and art style is solid, but the execution feels like the team were out of their depth. It would explain a lot of it was made by a mobile division

From the man who created Sanic the Hedgehog.