Mario Odyssey impressions thread -spoilers allowed-

ok so just played an hour....

the first minutes i was like meh.... graphics didnt quite blow me away. maybe 900p30fps with more graphics would have been better. then i could use my tv intropolation to make it look 60fps :P

but...

as soon as i did my first transformation... that was an OMG moment. amazing! and the boss fights were lovely. the atmosphere, the music....top notch.
i do get a mix of mario galaxy and mario 64 vibes. more galaxy than 64...

i will say two negatives right off the bat:

1. the camera is a bit wonky. like it zooms in when it wants to. it is a bit annoying having to adjust more frequently than needed.

2. some moves are locked behind motion controls. with the regular controller you got the regular cap throw and you can rotate the L stick and throw your cap in a circle around you. thats it.the motion controls have 3 extra exclusive moves. throwing you cap upwards.... throwing you cap more forcefully forward which reaches farther. and jumping and throwing your cap beneath you.

what are you guys feeling about the game?

oh i also recommend you trun the hd rumble to the strongest. it really shows it off better.

I'm loving it so far. The game keeps surprising me the more I play it. It well deserved that 10/10 it was given here.

You CAN throw the cap upwards and forwards with the Pro Controller. The game even says you can.

I haven't made it very far, just to the Sand Kingdom. I've been spending time going back to other Cascade Kingdom trying to find all the Moons. Some of them are pretty well hidden. Some goals are obscure, and some you come across by complete accident. I really enjoy that, because there's a sense of discovery that's greater in this game than previous Mario games. I'm sure that will only grow as I progress later in the game.

As for the graphics, yeah, you can definitely tell what system it's made for, but I think it's beautiful regardless. Animations are fantastic. Mario's never been so expressive. I also enjoy the music as well, but I think one of my favorite aspects are the 2D levels that take place on the walls and wrap around. Those are quite fun.

For some reason, though, my critical and analytical side is trying very hard to find faults in this game, like I want to prove to myself that this isn't the most amazing Mario game ever made. I guess the only thing that I can come up with is that the idea of throwing a cap on a monster to take it over and use its abilities isn't much different than simply hitting a ? block and picking up a power up. But again, I'm still early on. I'm sure the game will continue to amaze me.

Love that the game even acknowledges you when you do an awesome jump.

https://twitter.com/AndrewChalmers0/status/924462420868792320

I love it, the game is super fun and not too hard or frustrating. It's just, the artstyle is so weird at times. I'm all for Nintendo trying something different and new but some of the kingdoms clash so hard stylistically, like they're from different games.

Cap kingdom is mostly black and white and it's a weird opener because it looks so boring compared to other kingdoms, it didn't impress me that much. Cascade kingdom is a nice contrast, it looks really pretty but the realistic t-rex is pretty weird compared to all the other enemy designs. The sand kingdom looks cool and fits your regular mario aesthetic, the same goes for the Lake kingdom.

The wooded kingdom is really weird because it's semi realistic with grungy and rusty bits, it almost looks like something out of Destiny or something. And what's up with that weird spherical wireframe surrounding the stage?! The Cloud kingdom looks really really pretty!

Then the lost kingdom is pretty weird again, a world in twilight with plastic looking plants and trees?! What?...
And the Metro kingdom while weird because of the realistic looking humans still fits with Mario's style. The city itself looks fine.

That's how far I've got. But in videos I've seen the Luncheon kingdom... what's up with that? While it looks kinda cool, it doesn't fit in with rest at all. Low poly fruits and vegetables and pastel colours?!

All in all I can say that the game is fun, but stylistically it's the most non-cohesive Mario game ever in my opinion. It's like all the kingdoms aren't part of the same world.

Loved the game, only gripe is unnecessary tacked on motion control & set preferred control scheme = joy cons = not necessary, bone head move by Nintendo imo. With that out of the way..

Very good & very fun game, one of the very few games, I played through complete without being distracted by other games...the hat thing looked simple...but can do so much with it with combos...also the different creatures you can posessed...loved the squid/octopus squirt stuff at the sea & the pokey flick bird at Bowser's castle....wish there was more of the Dragon.. Ruined Kingdom...also like how the dragon's eyes follows you (after the beating it) if you jump on top of its head his eyes will look up.

Will go for 100% moon collect. :P

After playing it some more, I wish I could bounce off the hat after a wall jump for advanced jumping moves. I understand they probably removed it in order to reduce the complexity of designing their levels (and avoid people getting into places they shouldn't yet), but still, it'd be really fun if I could do it. There are always situations I could envision some cool ways to scale a building but can't since I can't bounce off the hat after a wall jump.

Anyway, that's just a very minor nitpick. The game is amazing.

@TheFlush: I think that the styles of the kingdoms of this game are supposed to wildly different from each other. For me, it seems that Mario has gone to different games throughout his adventure. In fact, I thought that when he entered the Ruined Kingdom (where he fights against a realistic-looking dragon), he just visited an area that came out from Bayonetta.

The game is "OK." Maybe a better word is good? Either way it hasn't given me an initial impression like I had in BOTW. Then again Mario has been at such a high caliber before so this is nothing new. What I am finding a bit too underwhelming is how it feels as if you are pushed through each kingdom ASAP. Now certainly you can go back and explore for the moons but the story part seems rushed.

there is only like a 10 moon requirement in each kingdom to progress.

but...

it is up to you to spend extra time in that kingdom. there is always like 10 or 15 more moons or so that you can find besides the ones necessary to continue the story. if you are just getting the necessary moons then leaving the kingdom then you might not be getting the same enjoyment imo.

I do not think that the main draw of a Mario platformer is the story which has been unremarkable since Super Mario Bros. for the NES. The main draw is the gameplay.

i just finished the main story. i got a good chuckle at the end. so now its back to find as many more moons as i can and i suspect im going to enjoy the game more now as i dont have this nagging noise in my head saying "enough: time to move on to the next world".

nintendos approach with it has been kinda similar to BOTW. they just plonk you in a world, give you a broad objective and a suggestion and just let you off to figure it out. was it possible to actually progress without killing the white rabbit boss in an area? i never tried. but i like this new approach. see something shiny. get to the shiny thing and OH!...its a moon. neat. the challenge is making sure that getting to the shiny thing is fun and the game generally delivers on that front.

overall a very enjoyable game (though man am i rusty at platformers. i died more times in that lava section near the end than i care to admit). but its no galaxy. i actually went back to play galaxy for a bit to see how its aged and....yeah...its no galaxy. not even close. but its definately a big improvement over 3D world (which i found very dissapointing).

I actually picked up Mario not intending to play it much at this moment in time. However i first played it a few days ago and since then I've spent an evening playing it until 6am the following morning. Its a little addictive haha definitely worthy of its high praises.

Weeks later, and I'm still pretty much playing this everyday. Such an addictive game.

I think I got Mario fatigue. Idk why but this game felt like it was inbetween nsmb and i guess n64 in playstyle. I didn't care for the power moon litter. The bosses only furthered my dissatisfaction 3 stomps to the head after removing their hat was not my idea of great battle tactic. By the end I expected the toughness to increase and bosses to take 6-8 hits. I think bowser's counts as three counts as 3 hits since you just gotta repeat the routine 3 times. I think Ill rank this game 3rd favorite at best. I did enjoy the other aspects outside collecting power moons and the boss battles. I actually need to see if I have used every capture. I heard there were secret worlds and well there were distant floating platforms I have no idea how to get to. I give it a 7.5, 8 at best.

interesting i just got to the showdown to see everything is chinese!

a hidden jab at china by nintendo?

My only other gripe is I want more bosses like the centipede and dragon. And for these enemies up their hit cap to six with new battle tactics to boot. The Broodals tbh were underwhelming. Each battle we had to knock off their hats and use the hats to hurt them. That is repetitive and uncalled for. I dunno maybe Ill buy a new wiimote and go back and play the galaxy games and sunshine if I can get a memory card ( >uo here's hoping for gamecube vc debut, was my fave nintendo home console).

i just beat the main story.

i am a little upset after you beat the main story in like 15 hours(i did alot of moon collecting before beating). the rest of the game is a fetch quest.

i do love the mario 64 love at the end though. awesome and LOVE the costume.

my score is a 9.5

zelda is a 10

I gotta ask if I wasn't entirely satisfied with the main levels are the hidden kingdoms a step above. (I need to revisit cloud i only fought bowser there)

well, i did like 30 moons on each each kingdom until i reached bowser. so i explored tons.

after beating bowser is the mushroom kingdom. beautiful if you are a mario 64 fan. BUT...also... this is the hardest kingdom so far.

so if you like mario 64 and want more challenge. then definitely try out the mushroom kingdom.

after that is the darkside of the moon kingdom. this also has a very nice challenge of you have to beat all the broodals in a row without dying and they do not refill your life. if you do that you unlock a special costume that i won't spoil.

those are the only two kingdoms after beating bowser.