-tetsuo-
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Everything else such as?
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Mario Kart 8, what no one seems to be discussing.
- Thread starter Prototype
- Start date
Everything else such as?
Not much else to do but race online in MK8 now, more tracks is an easy stat to throw out. But the branching paths, and many different ways to tackle tracks in SART was amazing. Not to mention maps transforming and shit. Annnnd how much longer some of those tracks are compared to MK8's selection.
There was also more to do online in SART, and it kept track of stats. You know, the little things. You make it sound like the drift boost challenges were tacked on and rushed, some of them were pretty damn great and challenging. Also, playing SART with skilled players is much more enjoyable for me than the luck of the draw deal MK8 has going for it.
SART is better than MK8 in a lot of ways- same way MK8 has a lot going for its core gameplay. Neither has some HUGE advantage over the other to me. I'm failing to see what SART is so far behind in.
it depends. Online is virtually eternal. I can easily see myself still playing it in five years
The Hermit
Member
I wanted to check everyone race time, instead of just points, like we used to on SMK.
I once won a race with the lowest possible difference
I once won a race with the lowest possible difference
Secret Owl
Neo Member
I'm having too much fun with it to be upset about anything that isn't there.
Werewolf Jones
Gold Member
I think the lack of challenge in unlockable content is possibly the biggest issue not the lack of modes, when you're pushing yourself in these modes to get them extras I think you wouldn't even notice the apparent "lack" of modes. I think there's enough there and so far the online has been flawless for me.
evilromero
Member
I'm sick of baby and princess characters. 
Such a waste of slots. Give me Diddy, Dry Bones, Funky!
Such a waste of slots. Give me Diddy, Dry Bones, Funky!The Koopaling complaints are ridiculous. They're the same species, not variations of the same character. Why not complain about there being too many humans?
Captain Europe
Member
SART has some amazing tracks, but overall, I prefer the tracks in MK8, SART had quite a few I didn't like and they were annoyingly long.
As for online, I couldn't disagree more, MK8 has tournaments and I remember SART constantly throwing me in a race with 4/5 players(even less at times), both the PC version and Wii U one.
prag16
Banned
In the opinion of many (most?), what it's so far behind in is the quality of the core gameplay (leaving aside any constructs or framework in place to 'dress up' the gameplay). This reminds me of the old Diddy Kong Racing vs. Mario Kart 64 debate from back in the day.
It's a matter of one game having "more features" while the other game just absolutely beats the piss out of the competition in terms of the core gameplay. And from that standpoint SASRT doesn't even compare nearly as favorably to MK8 as DKR compared to MK64.
Of course this is largely opinion based on all sides, but obviously a large majority believe that the core gameplay of MK8 demolishes SASRT.
As for the luck/skill argument, Mario Kart 8 is at least more skill based than Mario Kart Wii, easily. And there's randomness within races without a doubt, the cream rises to the top over a large enough sample size. To claim otherwise would be entirely false.
EDIT: About the characters, the koopalings are a great inclusion. It's not like they're clones of eachother. However the baby and metal characters I can agree are absolute garbage.
"Everything" to me in a kart racer would core handling/gameplay, the weapons and the tracks. SART doesn't even come close to MK8 in any of these aspects.
Some of this is true for Mario Kart 8 as well and its why it feels so balanced. In Mario Kart Double Dash!! you could actually dodge red shells by getting a mini-turbo boost as it homed in, while Wii and 7 usually homed in on you no matter what. In 8 you can actually runaway from red shells by hugging corners. Firing green shells in 8 will often hit other players with a ricochet that almost makes it look like the game is calculating to send the green shell in the general direction of a racer when it bounces off a wall.
When you have 12 human racers on the course it gets very chaotic. Mario Kart 8 limits players to only 1 item at a time to make it more about racing and strategically using items at certain times. You also do not lose your items when hit in 8 (unless its by lightning). So if you're in 1st place and have the Coin item you can hold on to it to quickly recover 2 coins of your max speed after getting hit, or wait until the next item group comes up to get something else. In this way it feels a lot like Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64.
Polioliolio
Member
SART's driving feels fantastic. That drift mechanic makes it one of the funnest racing games I've ever played.
Weapons are a bit generic, but effective, and I particularly like the ice weapon which shoots long range and allows extreme accuracy because of it's speed, and the catcher's mitt is nice. Meanwhile, Mario Kart's weapons are tired at this point, and you'd think they could have done something new other than the Pirhanna Plant, which is probably my favorite new item. It's better balanced than Wii's mess of items, but I wish they mixed it up some more. Can you imagine a cherry item that duplicates your kart somewhere near you to act as a decoy?.. How about a stream of star bits that rapidly fire and slow down opponents without simply wiping them out? Imagine the Blooper as an item that could be used until you run out of ink.. so you could release a couple small ink blots onto the track, or hold the button to leave a big smear that'd be more difficult to dodge.. If you get inked by it, you could use the motion sensor or the Gamepad screen to wipe away the ink. How about a chance Warp Pipe item that randomly switches places with the person in front or behind you?
To those saying that what's there is done really well, I'd argue that Mario Kart TV is perhaps the weakest replay system in the history of replay features.. As it is, people have to use their own gif editing software to create some really hilarious moments, when there's no reason you shouldn't have those simple editing tools, like zoom, camera rotation, quick character change, etc.. It's archaic.
Here's an example... A single moment in the third lap where my girlfriend rammed into me several times and knocked me off the edge. It was pretty funny, but no matter what I did or what character I selected, I could not get the game to highlight that event in the replay system. I had to watch the whole replay to even see it, and sadly that can't be uploaded.
Everything about the game other than the very core game mechanics and tracks was rushed out the door.
No stamp book, no easy time trials against friend's ghosts, no award ceremony, no battle mode arenas, no new modes to speak of at all, no Gamepad/tv 'splitscreen'.
It's a great fun game, band it could have been so much more, but decidedly isn't.
SARTs community wasn't nearly as strong as MK8s, but I guess it's different for me because I had friends to play it with. And I made lots of friends to pay against through it, so it wasn't always too hard to find a race. Good luck to anyone trying to play with randoms though, I won't even act like I didn't have a hard time with that sometimes. Lol.
Taking 4 players online was always fun when you could find a match though. In fact some of the most fun I've had in a local multiplayer game. MK8 has yet to live up to that for me.
The only area where I'll say MK8 shits on SART is polish. It's the most polished Kart race ever so I'll give it that. The presentation is superb and it feels like a quality product. I play on the gamepad most of the time so it hides all the awful jaggies.
I absolutely disagree about the core gameplay being this gigantic advantage for MK8. The weight of the vehicles is probably the thing they do best in the gameplay, it feels very natural and satisfying to navigate through course and nail turns. After that you get that down, your enjoyment hinges on how lucky you are with items. A huge part of that is keeping it accessible, which is fine, some good players may still smoke you. However, there isn't that much depth there. You have players trying to find exploits like fire hopping where in SART high level things like that are pretty much part of the game (intentionally). You didn't have to look for such exploits in SART because the depth was already there. I think in MK8, it's mostly about finding the right configuration for your racer.
Enter SART where you get so much more depth. It can be very rewarding to the skilled player. You almost always had a chance to defend yourself from items, dodging them felt so satisfying. The games mechanics to me are more interesting, and more rewarding to really get good at. The game had a very high ceiling and a low accessible one- glad they didn't play it safe and went all out. I feel like the items aren't overwhelming, and are balanced better. I think in a way, the game catered to the crowd that never really liked MK or had something they really disliked about that formula.
The weapons are the worst part of the gameplay in MK8 imo. The handling and stuff is mostly great. Same with most of the tracks.
it can't eliminate jaggies that are processed within the game, of course, but TVs can certainly cause jaggies themselves. And thus, shittty TV settings cause jaggies. I've seen it a hundred times. I'm playing MK8 right now and there isn't a single jaggy in sight, or at least none that are obvious when playing and are so bad as to write it as a con. The game looks extremely smooth. In the case of MK8, if you're complaining about jaggies, either your TV is set up wrong or you're sitting way too close.
Pops Maellard
Member
Art direction, physics model, track design, gameplay as a whole...
I had a great time with SART, and clocked about 45 hours on the PC version. While it does more to advance the genre than Mario Kart 8 does and offers more content, Mario Kart 8 is far more enjoyable to actually play.
This is in no way true. It's long since been determined that the game has literally /no/ anti-aliasing of any kind. Regardless of how great the rest of the game looks, it is incredibly jaggy. Even PR shots from Nintendo exemplify this:
blankempathy
Member
But SART has Danica Patrick so... SART > MK8
Is every Mario Kart thread going to devolve into a Transformed vs MK8 discussion?
The only thing that bothers me is a lack of an options menu, specifically being able to change from vertical split screen to horizontal. What a terrible idea not to have it. I didn't play the battle arena all that much in the recent titles, so while it is disappointing it doesn't really affect me. I think of Mario Kart like a fighting game, where all the extra modes are nice and everything, but the majority of people are going to play the core of the game. The extra modes would be nice, but I don't consider the lack of them to be indicative of a rushed game. What is there seems to be really polished.
The only thing that bothers me is a lack of an options menu, specifically being able to change from vertical split screen to horizontal. What a terrible idea not to have it. I didn't play the battle arena all that much in the recent titles, so while it is disappointing it doesn't really affect me. I think of Mario Kart like a fighting game, where all the extra modes are nice and everything, but the majority of people are going to play the core of the game. The extra modes would be nice, but I don't consider the lack of them to be indicative of a rushed game. What is there seems to be really polished.
-Koopalings are not skins. Each one has different stats, and they are completely different characters. They aren't alternate versions of other characters like the baby & metal characters
-Time trial stats? Funnily enough, it's on the Time Trials for each race...
i don't know what to tell you, maybe i sit far away from my TV or something. aliasing is there but it's slight and completely non-intrusive, in my case. i think if the aliasing is so terrible that it interferes with enjoyment, then the persons TV setting is probably amplifying the problem
for example, when i play, it looks smoother than that screenshot.
Mario Kart 8, like many Nintendo games, is a perfect example of looking iffy in screenshots but beautiful in motion
Pops Maellard
Member
Sitting further away from your TV obviously helps reduce ones perception of aliasing, but it's still an issue. That said, I don't think it's fair to suggest that Nintendo's inability to include some form of AA while maintaining 59fps is the players problem. The TV I use for gaming in my room sits on my desk, and I usually sit about 2-3 feet in front of it. Everything on my PC looks completely fine at this distance because even at lower resolutions I can crank up the AA and get decent IQ. Mario Kart 8 is so jaggy that I ended up wedging said TV in the corner and sitting on my bed at the back of the room to play.
Terrible_Majesty
Member
Edit: Sonic All Stars Transformed has online multiplayer?
I feel like Mario Kart is moving closer to incorporating more and more elements of F-Zero and might eventually kill all hope of us getting a new entry into the F-Zero series.
I would only be ok with this if they included F-Zero racers with their respective cars in Mario Kart, but that might ruin both franchises.
I feel like Mario Kart is moving closer to incorporating more and more elements of F-Zero and might eventually kill all hope of us getting a new entry into the F-Zero series.
I would only be ok with this if they included F-Zero racers with their respective cars in Mario Kart, but that might ruin both franchises.
Maybe it is his/her set. I also can't see jaggies here on my TV (720p) unless I stop playing and start looking for them. In screenshots they are most definitely there.
On topic: I'm pretty sure people were talking about those things on the OT. I'd be happy with a patch showing the actual time it took to finish the race or the laps, but I can't really complain about the rest. GAF Tournament has all my love.
Fix the god-damn internet errors.
Game has been out for over a week and online is still a glitchy mess.
Any other online game would have people calling for the heads of the developers if it gave this many disconnections.
Second thing they need to fix is the item distribution, its so bland you can easily predict your items, in the last lap boxes will always drop loads of mushrooms, gold mushrooms and stars to those behind first. I have seen 3-5 close racers all get triple mushrooms from the same item box set multiple times in the last lap.Once first gets ahead they almost always win while 3 -12 kill each other over and over with all the red shell spam.
Game has been out for over a week and online is still a glitchy mess.
Any other online game would have people calling for the heads of the developers if it gave this many disconnections.
Second thing they need to fix is the item distribution, its so bland you can easily predict your items, in the last lap boxes will always drop loads of mushrooms, gold mushrooms and stars to those behind first. I have seen 3-5 close racers all get triple mushrooms from the same item box set multiple times in the last lap.Once first gets ahead they almost always win while 3 -12 kill each other over and over with all the red shell spam.
I have had very few Internet errors. Could it be your router?
I wouldn't say rush but obviously they focused on other aspects for the first time in a mario kart game, especially the graphics.
I will be disappointend if in a year from now the game is the same. For me Mario Kart could be like a racing version of Team Fortress 2, with constant updates that lure in new gamers and keep it interesting for as long as the Wii U goes.
The problems are well known lobbies will crash if someone quits without voting, or it people quit mid game people will freeze on your screen and you will get dropped. If you play in the GAF lobby you wont see it as much but in normal match making its non stop errors.
Terrible_Majesty
Member
You just sold me on SART I'm going to buy it asap. I haven't felt like there has been a superior balanced online Kart racer since Mario Kart DS. I sold both MKWii and MK7 however 8 is closer to the DS, but questionably gimped strategic elements like separating the item preview screen of all the players instead of having it display on both screens as well as the in ability to defend your first place position more effectively.
Mailenstein
Member
It's all about Time Trial, dude. Always has been.
Isn't it a family game aimed at kids? Do kids care about that stuff?
I haven't played MK8 but I had this problem with the wii version.
The first game I played in the series was MK DS and, since wifi acess was limited back then, I spent tons of time on the single player content. I also played local and online of course but single player kept me busy for awhile.
With MK Wii it was the opposite,I mainly played multiplayer, it all felt very barebones. Shame that they don't seem to be improving in this aspect. The content on MK DS was really awesome.
The first game I played in the series was MK DS and, since wifi acess was limited back then, I spent tons of time on the single player content. I also played local and online of course but single player kept me busy for awhile.
With MK Wii it was the opposite,I mainly played multiplayer, it all felt very barebones. Shame that they don't seem to be improving in this aspect. The content on MK DS was really awesome.
cookie-monster
Member
enjoying both single and local multi, haven't gone online yet.
never understood the appeal of battle mode anyway so I can't relate to the problems people have there.
if they support this game with DLC like they have Pikmin 3, then I'll be lining up.
never understood the appeal of battle mode anyway so I can't relate to the problems people have there.
if they support this game with DLC like they have Pikmin 3, then I'll be lining up.
firebricks3
Member
It's really hard for me to care about those kinds of flaws in a game that is so much fun to play in the first place. Unless it is really tanking your enjoyment, I'd say just enjoy the ride. With that said, battle mode needs real arenas.
I don't think people are going out of their way to ignore the things missing from this game, I just think people are getting plenty of enjoyment out of what is there. I'd really like a mission mode, complete with boss fights, like Mario Kart DS had, but I've clocked up countless hours in playing this game's multiplayer and enjoyed every second of it. In my opinion, everything in Mario Kart which isn't a grand prix is a bonus.
I agree, SART embodies 'good practice' driving skills in its core racing mechanics and the game's challenges are configured to teach the player those. But I do think Mario Kart 8 has a lot of depth too, just on a different level. MK8 allows for more creative exploitation of the level design, often in combination with certain items. Most of SART's courses are very narrow and corridor-ish, forcing the player to nail boost-chaining, in MK8 most courses are wide instead and different routes/shortcuts present themselves depending on which item you hold, which position you're in and which car you drive. Depending on the company I'm with I might prefer MK8 over SART or vice versa.
The game is quite obviously rushed, even though it was over 6 god damn years since MKWii. That is really the issue here.
Battle mode is incredibly phoned in, barely any effort here, quite clearly a sacrifice to get the game out the door.
Complete lack of a settings menu in any way shape or form.
Can't even view your stamps unless you go to Miiverse.
Mario Kart TV is cool but is severely lacking in editing options.
Online works great, but is handled very barebones - just a number that goes up. No win talley. Playing with friends is a hassle unless you do a tournament.
Until Nintendo fixes their development pipeline (having to make handheld versions of every franchise inbetween console versions just isn't working) they don't have the time they need to create exactly what they want to create.
Battle mode is incredibly phoned in, barely any effort here, quite clearly a sacrifice to get the game out the door.
Complete lack of a settings menu in any way shape or form.
Can't even view your stamps unless you go to Miiverse.
Mario Kart TV is cool but is severely lacking in editing options.
Online works great, but is handled very barebones - just a number that goes up. No win talley. Playing with friends is a hassle unless you do a tournament.
Until Nintendo fixes their development pipeline (having to make handheld versions of every franchise inbetween console versions just isn't working) they don't have the time they need to create exactly what they want to create.
Mailenstein
Member
The most annoying thing for me is how there is no Ghost House level. Major disappointment.
Uh... Twisted Mansion?
