Super Mario Odyssey

[ThreeFour]

I love it every time I get on it. It's slow going as the missus wants to watch me, so I have to wait till she's free ?

 

Just did the fight before Lost Island and saved it there. That was a fun battle ?

[radiofloyd]

About to wrap things up in the Wooded Kingdom. I recorded a video of this, one of the more off the beaten track moons I've found so far.

 

 

[DANGERMAN]

I finished this yesterday. I'm still not as in love with it as other people seem to be, in fact I'd still hold Galaxy and 3D Land up as better games. I did enjoy it more as I got further in, and I played it for hours yesterday, so don't take it as me saying I'm not liking it or anything.

 

I've obviously still got more to do, I finished the game with enough moons to jump beyond the new world that opens up, that might be a mixed blessing. I've played Odyssey almost exclusively in handheld mode, it's a mixed bag. The motion controls are useful on occasion, and it obviously looks better docks, even stretched to 4k, but the biggest drawback for handheld is the battery. I had to keep taking breaks to charge the Switch up a bit. It charges pretty quickly but I couldn't just sit and play non-stop

[HandsomeDead]

I've been playing with those techniques a lot, it makes it so much fun, especially in New Donk City.

 

I remember seeing Treehouse streams around one of E3s that at one point you could do that dive onto Cappy move indefinitely and have constant horizontal movement.

They didn't keep it in for obvious reasons.

[radiofloyd]

I've made it as far as the Lost Kingdom now. I have around 90 moons after around 10 hours.

 

It's almost impossible to compare with Galaxy as that game is ten years old now (is everyone's memory way better than mine?) but I think it does have a more compulsive quality than Galaxy. However there are certainly things it does lack like the beautiful music of Galaxy (the music of Odyssey so far has been almost completely forgettable), and the one-note bosses have been pretty forgettable (one boss even reminded me of Metroid Prime, which made me think, if Metroid Prime is a 10, then there is no way that Odyssey is a 10, as much as I'm enjoying it).

 

But yeah, it's a great game. It looks fantastic and colourful, and it's fun to play. The more I play it the more I like it

[illdog]

I've seen credits now and am going through each world getting what moons I can be bothered to get. I dunno if I can be arsed to get to 500 but that's the goal in my head I guess. I'm at 315 or thereabouts.

 

Its a wonderful game over all, it has its annoyances (slight control issues, Mario taking 18 years to get up) but the pluses gobble up the negs.

 

I will say it has an odd vibe to it. Not something I've ever gotten from a Mario game before.

[DisturbedSwan]

I've just finished the Snow Kingdom.

 

Absolutely adored this world, just so much character and with the little village tucked away it felt strangely Zelda-like again with a bit of Banjo thrown in there too. Loved the little challenge rooms that opened up the Grand Prix too, perfect little platforming aperitifs. 

 

The Grand Prix itself was fantastic, just the feel when you're bouncing around was so good, felt like a bouncier Super Monkey Ball. Also managed to top my entire friends list with a 59 second lap without too much effort which I was chuffed about

 

Think I'm at about 160 Moons now (not including the ones I got in Snow Kingdom), not sure how much longer I've got left but it definitely feels like the game may be winding down soonish, hope I'm wrong though. My goal is still to get the full 900 (or 999?) or whatever it is Moons, it depends how engaging the stuff that opens up post-credits is I guess, but at the moment I definitely want to give it a try, even if it takes me months of an hour or two sessions here and there.

 

Some New Donk pics too from a few days ago:

 

 

[HandsomeDead]

Just ticked over 600 moons.  I play it a little during my breaks at work.  Every time I think I've wringed a load of moons out of a level I return back and find 10 of the things.

 

I think I'm getting to the point where I'm struggling to find them on my own.  But I can't get bored of running around as Mario wearing a 

Spoiler

Wedding Dress.

 

Been cutting around in that costume for the last 5 hours in game time.

 

 

Edit: I don't know why my font size is all over the shop...

[Sambob]

I like it, it's like you are talking to me at different volumes. It has a very Christopher Walken / Jeff Goldblum feel to it. 

[ThreeFour]

Not sure if it's the right place but - anyone have the Cappy hat they're willing to part with? 

 

Asking for a friend.

[ThreeFour]

I don't think he's that bothered  but thanks.

 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Stayed in the Snow Kingdom and mopped up everything there, found a ton more Moons so it was definitely worth it! There was one behind one of the hat doors which was the toughest yet, you had to use the fast-flowers to run on the water through a tightly designed course, whilst avoiding obstacles and jumping inbetween Platforms. Struggled a lot I have to say, must've taken me 10-20 tries to get the Moon, was relieved, then saw there was another one on a higher platform so tried a few more times and got this one as well, most satisfying one I've got so far for sure!

 

Then onto the Seaside Kingdom.

 

Great vibes to this place, reminded me a lot (and made me miss) Isle Delfino from Sunshine. Just such jolly vibes, loved the songs that played whilst exploring as well, almost every Kingdom when I'm done I find myself thinking 'that was a really cool Kingdom!' I think the only one I've not liked so far is this Lost Kingdom really, all the rest have been fantastic.

 

Lots of swimming about as a fish here, loved the squirty squid things as well, there's some really nice platforming sections that take advantage of these. The boss fight was great too, maybe the toughest so far as I died once and had to scamper about desperately for hearts on my second try when I was almost out of health, took me a while how to figure out how to damage it but I got there eventually.

 

Did lots more exploring after and mopped up all the Moons I could find, think I'm at about 37-45 for this Kingdom so far which is pretty decent going, definitely feels like I've made a good dent into the total and am ready to move onto the next place.

 

Looked at my Switch profile when I was done and it says I've clocked 20 hours in this already  don't know where the time has gone. Such a fantastically compelling game, I think the mini-games alone I could put some serious hours into if I wanted too, amazing stuff.

[DisturbedSwan]

Not updated this in a hella long time, probably put in another 4-6 hours since my last post.

 

Spent a bunch of time in the Luncheon Kingdom, doing my usual stuff of exploring, then saving the Kingdom then exploring once everything is cleared later on, managed to get quite a few moons here. I don't know though, something about it really rubbed me the wrong way, I didn't like the lava-soup everywhere and got frustrated quite a bit when I missed a jump or something and went in the soup. I didn't really dig the vibe either, it didn't seem distinct enough to me to make an impression, it is probably my least favourite Kingdom so far aside from the Lost Kingdom.

So yeah, moved on after that to the

Spoiler

 

Ruined Kingdom, Dark Souls, hello! I couldn't believe how much this reminded me of Anor Londo or something, even the boss was vaguely Souls-esque, and so incredibly awesome! Shame it was relatively short, would've liked to of spent more time here, kind of cool how devoid of life this was compared to a lot of the other worlds though.

 

After this it was onto Bowser's Castle. Wow, as soon as I landed in this Kingdom I was blown away by the art design, the music and everything about it, it actually reminded me a lot of the final few stages of Nioh, weirdly enough, I adored that feudal Japanese vibe and Nintendo managed to make it mystical while still traditional and reasonably foreboding at the same time. The mechanic of this level, using the Woodpecker-type birds to climb up the plasterboard walls was just ingenious, so intuitive and I just adored using this to explore, scampering around the rooftops trying to find coins and Moons, finding some in amongst some temples and ornate doorways, it was just like nothing else I'd seen from a Mario game before, amazing stuff.

 

Actually thought this was the end of the game,

 

 

but it ended with another awesome boss fight again. How is it that the Mario team gets bosses so right and the Zelda team got them so wrong in Botw?   Explored a bit more once the fight was over and left it there, more exploring tomorrow.

[HandsomeDead]

Love this:

 

People recreating movie posters in Super Mario Odyssey

 

 

 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Finished it last night, got 360 Moons, probably took me around 25 hours.

 

I really enjoyed it overall, seeing all the different worlds and their intricate designs was really cool, I could've done with a few more challenging Moons in the main game and less of them repeated (gather sheep, buy from store, Goomba Love, Moon slot machine, Find Captain Toad, Music Notes, Butt Stomp etc.) from world to world. But it never really bothered me that much, and I liked that I had an idea how to get 5-10 moons right off the bat to get me started as soon as I entered a Kingdom. 

 

Really took my time on each Kingdom, even when Cappy would say 'we're now ready to go to another world!' I stayed and made sure I found every Moon I could find myself, haven't used any guides so far and only used my amiibo to place a few moons on the Cascade Kingdom map at the very start of the game, just to see what they all did and get into the swing of things.

 

Most of the worlds enraptured me in their beauty and charm. I'd be intoxicated by just exploring, seeing what's around the next corner, what is off the ledge and angling the camera around every surface to see if any coins or Moons were hidden there, most of the Kingdom are exceptionally well designed, but Lost Kingdom and Luncheon Kingdom were probably the worst for me, I just felt the former was way too small to enjoy and the latter I just got a bit frustrated with falling in the soup a few too many times. Most importantly though, almost all of the Kingdom's are memorable and distinct, even the very few I didn't like still left an impression on me. 

 

But despite on this, I just felt a bit empty at times playing it, it is difficult to describe but some times I'd be exploring a Kingdom and enjoying myself but not absolutely loving every minute if that makes sense, the repetitious nature of some of the Moons definitely played their part in this, feeling like a checklist as soon as I arrived in a new Kingdom, but I think the lack of any meaningful challenge in the main game affected me too. Now I've finished it and am very much in the post-game content I already know first-hand that they've left a lot of the more challenging Moons for the post-game, I just wish they'd mixed a few more of those into the main game, Galaxy 2 and Super Mario 3D Land are my two favourite Mario games and they both managed that balance magnificently, there were very easy Stars/Shines to get in each but there were some bloody challenging ones if you sought them out, I just feel that they could've just maybe added in a few more into the main game is all. 

 

I would like to give a mention to the bosses as well, Broodal's aside (well, not the mech) they were all excellent, and some of them provided more of a challenge than I was expecting, all distinct, unique bosses with wildly different designs, all memorable in their own way and being able to

Spoiler

replay them in the bonus Kingdom in their more suped up forms was great.

I can't understand how or why a Mario game has vastly superior bosses to BotW.

 

Spoiler

I think the ending of the story actually bumped my score for it up a little, the final boss fight was epic, especially with the setup in the Castle on the Moon and then the escape sequence where you play as Bowser was bloody incredible! I adored the cutscenes after when Bowser and Mario are both still fighting for Peach's affection and she just kind of shrugs and walks off

Definitely the best story a Mario game has ever had in my view.

 

The post-game stuff might've bumped this game up even more in my estimations, I never really put it into my GOTY thoughts really until I reached that post-game content,

Spoiler

I was completely besotted and immersed in that Mushroom Kingdom. I adored all the SM64 throwbacks, piloting Yoshi, being able to replay the bosses and just being able to completely explore that world, the best thing was how challenging some of the Moons are, it is what I've been missing throughout the game so far and as soon

as I found out this Kingdom has some pretty hard platforming sections to get some Moons I was completely sold on it, it has elevated the game from a excellent one to a possible GOTY contender, just having that tight platforming back and feeling like you accomplished something when you land a Moon is great.

 

So yeah, up to 446 Moons now thanks to the Bonus Kingdom. It was a fantastic ride, but it feels almost like an hors d'oeuvre for the challenging post-game content to come, can't wait.

[radiofloyd]

Finished up in New Donk City with 137 moons total, on to the Snow Kingdom now. Playtime somewhere between 15-20 hours. 

 

The game at no point has come even remotely near to challenging Hollow Knight as my game of the year (nor would I say it's better than Thimbleweed Park or Rakuen), but I'm still enjoying it much the same as always.

[radiofloyd]

And finished the snow Kingdom with 160-something moons. The first half was fun until the sun came out, then it just became a tedious case of running around mopping up moons once the area opened up. Glad to see I had the second best time on my friends list in the snowball race haha with 1:01, I'm down near the bottom in the other activities. I'm enjoying this game but I feel like it is the most over-rated AAA game I've played since GTA IV. 

 

I would rather better levels with more of a focus on navigating the levels, than these bland open toy boxes with a focus on collectibles and mini games.

[DANGERMAN]

37 minutes ago, radiofloyd said:

7/10

 

Agreed 

[illdog]

Got to 500 moons tonight.

 

The level you unlock is fun but hard. The camera angles can be fucking awful though. Threw my Switch for the first time ever then came very close to breaking my forearm with a wild downward punch of my fist in the dark ( I was playing in the hallway with the lights off, my misses kicked me out of the bedroom as my button clicking was keeping her awake). I thought I was hitting the carpeted floor but I was closer to the stairs than I thought and ended up bashing my arm on the edge of the step. It still fucking kills! Thought I better turn it off for the night.

[Sambob]

You are such a stroppy cunt.