Ok Alex, Is Balan Wonderworld REALLY that Bad?
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- Zion & Jon interrogate special guest Alex Olney
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#BalanWonderworld #NintendoSwitch
When Alex suddenly disappears one day, the police will use Balan Wonderworld as evidence
So just like the game when it launched.
L
suddenly disappearing is a theme with this game isn't it
I haven’t played it, I played the demo but I watched my friend play through the game because they got it day one, and was massively disappointed. I was joking about how it can’t be worse than the bakugan game that came out last year.... but LOL IT IS. i played a few hours of the Balan wonderworld demo, I didn’t want to get the game. I got bakugan and have played about 10 hours in it. It’s surprisingly fun and unique compared to Pokémon.
I got a two minute Balan wonderland ad right after they said "T-pose funny" and I burst out laughing
I just hate how it looks. It just screams UE4 with the lighting, almost as if they didn’t change anything and used pre made objects
I only have one question. What was the developer thinking when they were making this game? I mean, it looks like developers never bothered to play this game before releasing it.
More like the execs of SqE never bother to play ANY games. They just there to set release dates to stone
Geez. Even with all the stuff you're required to do with Billy's eggs, I don't think if was ever THAT easy to soft lock.
Such a shame though. I hope people can enjoy it but it sucks that it turned out to be something I might not like at all after having hope for it since it's reveal.
When I played to demo, I didn't finish it but I taught I did. It wasn't really clear what to do to move on,until I saw a video on the demo and saw that there was at least an other half of it left🤷🏻♀️
The fact this costs $60 is the worst part
Ikr?!?!! Like this game should’ve been a budget title at $40, maybe $50 if we’re really pushing it.
@@amirgarcia547 Technically it is $50 at Walmart, but even that's too much. $30 max I say.
Lmfao you guys are nuts, I literally wouldn't even play this game even if you payed me, none the less that I think this game is even worth maybe like 2 dollars
No. The fact that it sucks is the worst part. You couldn't pay me enough to waste my precious time on such a worthless game. Why wouldn't I just spend my time replaying a good 3D platformer instead of this garbage?
@@davidaitken8503 exactly what I'm saying this game needs a miracle lmfao, though I do feel they are a bit harsh as I think it looks pretty nice I like the time concept and dream like state I definitely liked balan's look along side the trailers they really made me feel this was a passion project that was just handled really poorly unfortunately
All the character designs should be reused or something they’re all too good to go to waste...
They'd be crazy not to do something with the vacuum cleaner design.
yes even the farmer
I think that's the most upsetting part about this game.
The characters and cutscenes are absolutely beautiful then the game is is pure crust
At the very least reuse Balan himself, he's the company's mascot after all.
Y'all will change your mind when you see Balan's "true form"
Balan Wonderworld doesn't need more time in the oven. It needs an entirely different recipe.
wow it's Artsy Omni, hello there
balan wonnderworld is like a cake, but you switched all the sugar for salt
And the nuts where rancid to beging with.
How to make a great strawberry jam sponge cake.
Step one: scrape the lint from your belly button, place it into a pot of butter, and stick it in the microwave for 3 hours.
You now have a strawberry jam sponge.
The original idea was nice, but the ingredients were wrong.
A cake made out of horse radish and water softener salt will never be good no matter how long it spends in the oven.
The producer of Sonic not really getting game design is so damn funny to me
Same. It's clear the guy probably should just, uh, retire or something.
Well just think about how little work he was given
Sonic itself never made a really good transition to 3d compare to its competitors.
@@danaltamirano2546 idk there's a lot of bad 3d sonic games but I'd argue there's more good ones. Generations, unleashed, colors, adventure 1 and 2. Even lost world is objectively good even tho it's not what people expected
@@danaltamirano2546 Speaking the truth here. I think it took them a whole generation later until Sonic was even half decent in 3D with Heroes, the Adventure games are laughable at best compared to Mario 64, Spyro or Banjo-Kazooie.
7:00
“Unfortunately, a good cutscene does not a good game make.” ~ Alex Olney, 2021
*6:57
Symbolic level design goes a bloody long way though.
w a h
custscene
True. BTW FF7 Remake guys? That game sucked.
Reminder that A Hat in Time was made by 4 people and came out amazing.
4 people on a shoestring budget, no less. Meanwhile this came from a huge, Triple-A videogame company.
4 people? Crikey, how?! Makes me love the game even more.
4 people?! You’re shitting me....
Considering that 3D games are more resource intensive than 2D games, that is super impressive.
I should get A Hat in Time at some point. I’ve only heard good things about it, and it seems like a game I’d really enjoy.
Just by looking at the footage you can tell how aimless the level design is.
i was watching the video, and i couldnt tell for the life of me which direction your heading towards. every path seemed to loop back on itself.
"It has to be consistent within its own rules" - Thank you for saying that Alex. This is something I am a stickler for in all forms of fiction. Books, games, movies, etc etc. When you create a fictional world that differs from reality, it doesn't have to make sense as it would in our world. But it does have to make sense within its own world. When creating a fictional world with rules of its own, it is very important to establish what those rules are to the reader/player/viewer. And then it's even more important to have the characters within that fictional world follow those rules.
Let me guess, you didn’t like The Last Jedi because “that’s not how the Force works!” However I will agree more with that for massive issues that make one suspend their disbelief (looking at Episode IX).
@@arbaran01 I don't like the entire new canon because, in discarding the existing expanded universe, most notably the Thrawn books, X-Wing books, Jedi Academy, and NJO, Disney said "We can do our own story and it will be better" And in almost every way, they have failed to deliver. There is almost nothing in the new Disney canon that I think is even on par with with stories I grew up loving. The closest being the Mandalorian. But even that is tainted by context.
I have nothing against people for enjoying the new SW movies. But I will never agree that they are better or even on par to what I consider the real Star Wars. And just in case you were gonna give me the "But George Lucas didn't make those books" I don't give a damn about that either.
I give credit to Lucas for planting the seeds. But as far as I am concerned, it was the wider expanded universe that cultivated the farm. And though the EU made mistakes, had some inconsistencies, and a few downright badly written stories, overall the experience was something amazing that the new SW cannot match.
SW however is only one franchise. Let's take another; Dragon Ball. I grew up liking it and later DBZ. But the series should have ended with Gohan defeating Cell. After that point Toriyama became set in a routine. New bad guy shows up, character transform again, and repeat. Every new "limit" introduced in that series was added just for the characters to break through it. Why should the viewer care about Supreme Kais worrying that Goku and Beerus would break reality if they fought, when like one arc later Beerus is training Goku to be stronger still?
Fiction done well however follows its own rules. Take the Expanse novels by James Corey. Probably the best sci-fi ever done. Very little technobabble, as much grounding in real world science as possible. And most importantly, when things are made up, when artificial rules are made for the story, they are followed. It establishes very on that faster than light travel is not possible. And they never break that rule. Even the super mind blowingly advanced aliens who seem to ignore some of the laws of physics as humans understand them, still had to build a Einstein-Rosenberb wormhole by sending a machine at sublight speeds over millions of years to their target system.
@@heavyarms55 LOL that was a long thing that I apologise for not reading, but from the first sentence of your comment you sounded like one of those people and I was right. I have nothing against you, I just was making an observation. I hope you have a good day though! :D
P.S. you grew up loving the OG trilogy, from the part I have read, and meanwhile I grew up technically with the sequels (I was 11 when I watched TFA, now I'm 16) and liked 2/3 of them so both of us are understandably biased towards what we liked when we were young. That's one of the cool things about Star Wars, it means so many different things to different people!
And I read the Star Wars paragraph now. :) Your opinion is your own, and you just as right as I am since all art is subjective. I’m just someone who found The Last Jedi to be great and am not super deep into the lore novel-wise but still am invested in the world and characters. I’m generally one of those people who enjoys and pays attention to the themes and messages of a piece of media and how the characters and their actions make me feel, rather than if something fits with certain “rules”. Well, again, hope you have a good day and I guess we can agree to disagree on art.
You can have breaks in the logic, but it really should be a highlight.
for example, alchemy in Full Metal Alchemist normally conserves mass (roughly) and there are ways to subvert that rule, and finding those ways is a character goal.
@@suddenllybah But that was explained within the rules of that universe. The philosopher's stone used human life in place of mass.
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this strange Metacritic review scenario - those 10/10 user reviews seem legit 😂
I like video Balan game it have best colors and platform go have play fun if u platform like Croc & Bug! Me not bot me english perfect and legit!
Probably people who enjoyed the game overcompensating with their scores
@@wellyouknowthatslikeyouropinio yes
@@ParmMannREBORN can't be all of them
Anime people are weird and have lots of time on their hands
Can’t believe they didn’t fix anything and still charged $60 for it.
It's going to sell very poorly.
Didn't they must make it worse than the demo if anything?
Can't be fixed, they must create New one with proper concept and ideas...
It comes down to its design they’d need to completely rework the game. A simple day one patch isn’t gonna do anything
just shows it was either intended or no fuks were given that day.
Moral of the story: Flying as Balan should have been the main game.
You actually can get a balan costume that does just that. Its your reason to build the tower of tims
Mlpfanboy THERE’S A REASON?!
That is a cool secret but I wish it was more like Rodea.
@@mechashadow An HD remake of the Wii version of Rodea on Switch would have been much better.
Hex Heck, I think even a port would hold up alongside the other Switch ports.
@@hex1233 Yes please...that game definitely needs a fair chance. And I agree, HD remake the Wii Version, not the Wii U Version
A lot of 90s developers didn’t make the transition into the modern era of games and what people expect. I think this is the example case here
Also the gaming market is different than it was in the 90s people are spoiled with all types of innovative ideas coming into gaming now. The 90's and I would argue early 2000's were test runs for the games we have today.
@@Londonlink shame developers had more passion in those "test runs " than they do today. Now its all about how greedy you can get away with being while 9 times out of 10 shoving out a low effort, exec meddled with game that no one had any real passion for
Shenmue 3 nuff said
@@MiniBlackWaltz i don't mean to be that dude but indie games usually don't have this problem
@@oliviatilleman8055 correct, the entire point of many indie companies is so they can make games with said passion
Balan Wonderworld's narrative structure -or what it is suggested its narrative structure is, based on Alex' review-, reminds me of an Argentinian children's book called "The last magician or Bilembambudín". In that story, a girl called Aldana is taken by the last magician to the kingdom of Bilembambudín, where she helps the citizens deal with problems caused by unchecked emotions (for example, there's a group of dudes who get so angry their bodies swell like balloons and they start to float, so Aldana helps them calm down in order to make them deflate and get back to the ground). Because of that comparison, I can imagine a version of Balan Wonderworld that touches the heart and teaches younger players about emotional intelligence in a creative way, but well, evidently, that did not happen. I am just sad they didn't at least use Balan more, he's got a superb design, peak cosplay material tbh, but he's gonna be forgotten because his "Wonderworld" doesn't keep up.
That's actually sound very plausible that the game is inspired by the story, the name Balan even resembles that Bilembambudin...
I want to add to this a bit, specifically with Balan and Lance's designs: Balan and Lance have a very "stage performance" design aesthetic; Balan being the main performer, Lance the stagehand. Their true faces are also reminiscent of Sock and Buskin, The Masks of comedy and tragedy, with Balan being Sock, and Lance being Buskin.
All of this indicates that there was a relationship between the two of them, and something caused a falling out between them. In this version of Balan Wonderworld, there could be a story about being emotionally mature enough to accept mistakes you made, and that a good friendship shouldn't end because of a silly little disagreement
@@Druid-T you are correct, all the visual cues point at Balan and Lance having a strong connection, it could be as friends or colleagues, or as two sides of the comedy/tragedy coin, following the reference to Sock and Buskin you pointed out. I watched the final boss battle earlier today, and when Lance's true aspect was revealed -and the parallels with Balan became so damn obvious (they are even colour coded!)-, I truly expected something to happen with Balan. I mean, Lance looks as if he had been freed or purified and was waking up from a dream, the conditions for the resolution and final lesson you propose were there! I deadass thought he would call Balan's name or maybe Balan would reach to him and welcome him back, revealing that healing Lance was the final mission for the kid, but instead [spoilers], Lance was thrown into the abyss and everybody danced without sparing him a thought. I have no clue why they wasted such expressive designs like this, I mean, we all know the game is terrible and yet we are here discussing possibilities just out of how interesting Balan and Lance look, come on.
What if they used the train trips to have balan talk to the main character? It would have been nice to get some more hints to balan and lance's relationship so people could have more to work with directly from the game. What if they hid books or photos in the level as collectables? Missed opportunities 😓
@@angelsmile6942 It feels like they had this wonderful idea planned out and then perhaps Square Enix came along and said "hey yeah we're going to need this game to be released sooner" so they had to scrap all their ideas.
Judging by how often they accidentally started ranting about the bad stuff, I'm gonna say "yes"
Did they CONFESS???
XD
*When the developers tip you off a day too late so you try to sugarcoat it as much as possible*
"A feedback-loop of disappointment"
Seems accurate
Balan + Lance = Balance
I believe that would be Balanlance
That's what I got as well, and maybe there's no longer a balance in the world because the characters Balan & Lance got into an argument or something?!
Perhaps they're a sort of Nights into Dreams version of Yin and yang? Well. It's a hint of a story in there somewhere..
Balan & Ce
@@geminijinxies7258 the latter is probably it because neither Balan or Lance are evil. Opposites sure but the conflict is what people brought in. The NPCs are the ones without any balance in their lives. Lance forces them to confront their faults, Balan empowers their strengths, without both playing their part the players in this play would just be consumed and self destruct. It is easier to face something when you can physically combat it, these guys grants you just that while making sure everyone learns and grows all the while styling everything as one gaint play. I got all of that from the cutscenes alone. I have no idea why these guys didn't.
@@andresmarrero8666 then why is lance defeated in the end and its shown to be a good thing? Also, how does lance make you confront yourself? He actively stops you from helping people, and he corruption the npcs to a point that they are just raving monsters attacking anything in sight.
What you said is a really cool story, but that's not what's happening in balan
Its almost like humans didnt program this, what if this is a test run for a game 100% coded by A.I.
We should be worried then, the Ai’s will take over game making after a few billion more epochs. 😂
@@rgm4646 the sun will burn out before the balan A.I. Can grasp a jump mechanic....
If it was, the AI did a pretty damn good job. Too bad this was made by humans...
@@kirin1230 exactly what A.I. Bots who vote on meta critic would say.....
Correct...100% coded by janky A.I.
That unenthusiastic "hey" is fitting for someone who's survived Balan Wonderworld
i survived and *love* Balan Wonderworld
i in fact played the full game till the end & collected 80/81 costumes
@@cofagrigusfan24 "lied as naturally as he breathed"
@@cofagrigusfan24 Are you a fly? ‘Cos this game is shit.
@@cofagrigusfan24 you good, bruh?
@@cofagrigusfan24 Okay it's fine to say that you love it, but you have to add some context about why you love it for it to be believable. For me the only redeeming quality is the art design. The gameplay itself from the demo just may be the worst 3D platformer I've ever played.
Oh my god THANK YOU for mentioning the cat thing. Not only does it make zero sense, but it was the final nail in the coffin for me that made me not buy it. I got invested in this game in January right after my own cat died and I was desperately looking for something to bring me joy. Seeing them tackle this very real situation with an impossible solution hurt.
Its not an impossible solution. If you recall the girl never truly saw her cat get hit. She only assumed it got hit, but the cat got out of the way in time.
@@mlpfanboy1701 I think it’s a wishy washy solution then. This game already seems like they can’t decide how dark they want to take things. There are actual traumatic events some characters go through met with endings that are this game’s equivalent of “just stop being sad.” I know that there was speculation that the girl just thought her cat was in danger and became anxious over it, but then what does that mean? The ending shows her cat is fine and then she doesn’t have anxiety anymore??? The level’s imagery and theme highly imply that the cat did in fact die to based on how the girl wants to turn back time. It’s a very common thing to say when you’re grieving someone, *especially* a pet.
I mean I can understand why the cat ending could seem anti climatic but it is only like the 3rd world. Later levels are darker like with the Snow level where the inhabitants parents die and she isolates herself from her new fiance unable to cope after their deaths
@@sweetumami1338 Chapter 5 was the same thing, by collaborating with the construction workers to put in trees on top of the buildings.
@@beepboop7345 The cat world is chapter 6 and the ice world is 8. With four underwhelming remaining chapters afterwards.
These longer videos with the trio discussing stuff kinda seem like podcast episodes
I like these kinds of videos
I would like this if Zion didn’t ramble. I am surprised how professional John is. He has the voice of pro voice actor and is very well spoken
@@minabotieso6944 i think all are cool. zion sounds shy but if they keep at it he will get more confident
It's the new gamexplain.
@@mikem0898 I do not think his "issue" is being shy. The amount of research and script preparation that Zion does is way less than Alex and John
“The animals are still dancing, why are they dancing?!”
-all of us probably
"...and why can't I talk to them?!" - Me
"... and why do they disappear when I get close to them?"
this is a pov that we all experienced
Me watching a Disney movie, lmao
Aaaw, it looks so colorful & whimsical, I actually planned to buy it as a birthday present for my nephew 😅 I'll buy something else then.
If he likes platformers, A Hat in Time is a much better option. It's also quite an endearing game, apt for any age.
There is this game called Demon Turf that's coming soon in the future. It's quite interesting because it's a 3d platformer, but in which all the Main character and NPC are entirely in 2D. I heard it's really good based on feedback on the demo, which is available on steam right now.
It's a shame. The game has a great aesthetic and the music is good too, but the actual game itself is poorly designed.
Your nephew may still enjoy it, but I'd wait for a sale if I were you. This game will likely be $20-30 a few months from now.
Crash 4 just came out on Switch and that's a much better game. It's also $40 for Switch, $30 at Walmart. A much better option than paying $50-60 for Balan Wonderworld.
I would recommend New Super Lucky’s Tale! It’s an amazing kid platformer!
"I'm shinning like a twilight vampire", "Is balam giving drugs to the kids?", "What's wrong with your legs?". Looool Zion is on fire hahaha
Shining* this isn’t the Simpsons lol
I don't think I've heard a Twilight vampire joke in 8 years. I don't think I even heard any sparkling jokes when Jojo Pt 2 aired.
13:59 - No one told me the graphics were THIS good!
C a t
M e o w .
Remember when people called Yooka Laylee bad?
That game is a shining masterpiece compared to this absolute garbage.
Why do people call Yooka-Laylee bad? It’s a pretty good 3D collect-a-thon platformer. That hate it gets is largely undeserved, unlike this train wreck.
@@Michael-590 Mostly the issues with the level design, the camera, some jerk-placed collectables and how some obstacules are poorly designed around power ups.
They corrected some issues with patches. But the initial impression is already done.
The people who made Yooka-Laylee did actually try with that game. That game is designed as if it was made in 1998 like Banjo and Kazooie but a few polishes of modern design.
Also that it's a shameless rip-off of Banjo-Kazooie.
@@dukemon6163 I have the Switch version, so I had no problems with the camera really. And I think levels were quite well done. Not as good as Banjo-Tooir, but at least as good as Banjo-Kazooie.
Balan can't even T-Pose to assert his dominance anymore!
Bruh 😆😆😆
Balan Wonderworld: "Just play Billy Hatcher or Nights"
*nights, not knights. those are very different words
@@sethgob5591 thanks mom
Billy Hatcher is a masterpiece
*lights cigarette+
now that's a name i haven't heard in a long time
@@segaspice4062 I remember playing Billy hatcher all the time growing up lol
Something went wrong with this game. Worst case scenario is that Yuji naka is simply out of touch, but I'm just curious because many of the wrid design constraints feel odd. The development of this game is probably an interesting story I'd like to hear about one day.
Most likely Square Enix was playing favorites with funding. I enjoyed it, but the Switch version's a big oof.
"What's wrong with your legs?" OMG, I love Zion's theory. I snort laughed.
Best sort of laugh that!
Damn...Nice profile picture. 👍👌🏻
The game also looks horribly derivative, you've got the onion "powerup" from Odyssey, one costume functions as Yoshi, one costume looks and functions like Incineroar, and the whole thing feels like a mediocre Hat in Time.
I personally don't mind if they clone mechanics from popular platformers like Mario Odyssey, but they have to make fun gameplay out of them. You know in Mario Odyssey, you have an boss battle designed entirely around the stretch mechanic of Uproot (the stretch plant). But in Balan, you just stretch to collect gems (note: I only watched the demo and didn't play it myself) and that's it. The existence of the mechanic is poor.
I'd say it's much more Chameleon Twist than Yoshi
@@Explorer09_kc "But in Balan, you just stretch to collect gems (note: I only watched the demo and didn't play it myself) and that's it. The existence of the mechanic is poor."
How do you know if there is/isn't a boss fight that uses this then?
The entire point of your statement relies on it not being used for more... but you don't know. In other words your argument completely breaks.
@@Buglin_Burger7878 well, is there a cool boss fight based around the stretching mechanic?
Here’s a fun fact: there are other platformers than mario odyssey and a hat in time
Considering how much effort was put into the cutscenes I could see a patch that’s just like
- Reduced compression of pre-rendered cutscenes
and nothing else is changed.
Even the pre rendered cutscenes have weird things like background characters not being animated at all and just standing still though
@@larshmallows Full 1.1 patch notes:
- Reduced compression of pre-rendered cutscenes
- Adjusted background elements of pre-rendered cutscenes
@@JJGamezMC lol fair enough
Wouldn’t reducing compression just mean replacing the cutscenes entirely with bigger files?
@@minabotieso6944 Correct, but it makes the game better.
They made a novel for 10 US dollars that's were the story went
Which is a really stupid move because not only does it make the plot of the game incomprehensible due to the lack of context, but also because if people find the game bad why would they give a shit about the novel.
Yep, sounds like Square Enix.
Buying.
@@elin111 oh it’s not even that. The most context you’re gonna get for the game’s story is on the website. The novel though? That’s like some kind of alternate universe. The villain and balan swap places, names are different, and there’s something weird with the second protagonist character. I may read it just to see if it’s any better than the game
@@sweetumami1338 ive read it, it is. Each of the 12 inhabitants get much more depth, and some things actually make sense; like in the diver’s world how you cant fall in The water if you’re human
Just like yesterday, I’m just here to watch a roast.
And you got EXACTLY what you asked for. Unlike the customers for this game.
I love the comparison to Odyssey because it's amazing how well the movement set works for each different creature that you capture. I was playing the demo of Immortals Fenyx Rising and it made me realize how amazing Zelda BOTW is.
The devil is in the details
I opened up the demo for immortals and this on switch and deleted it after looking it for 5 seconds because it was grainy (undocked). Odyssey and Breath of the wild are also optimized for switch and miles better than those games technically
The devil's in the details. Nice reference 👌
Immortals felt so stiff and limiting in comparison to BOTW.
@@wellyouknowthatslikeyouropinio Yeah. Two things I noticed. They increased movement speed and stamina, so you are less limited from the beginning. This was done to mask the fact that the world isn't really that interesting and theres no reward for slowing down and exploring. Second, the combat is fast and dynamic (which could be seen as a good thing), so there is less incentive to find creative solutions to kill monsters.
"Yes."
(end card)
yes
I played the demo and thought “is this game a HD remake of an old game?”
"Alex Olney from Nintendo Life" But... this is Nintendo Life?
no lies detected
12:12 OMG THE QUICK EDIT OF DOSHIN THO 😭🤚
i saw it as well, haha.
why did this happen literally the moment i read this comment my life is the truman show
Man I'm disappointed. I love the game the way looks, the style, totally reminds me of NiGHTS. But that demo alone killed off any sort of hype I had. What happened, Square?
If they make this into a movie it will be the first time a movie about a video game will be better than the game itself. Those cutscenes look incredible!
There is a $10 tie in novel thats like 10x better than the game
My Tin Foil Hat is that Yuji Naka while at Sonic Team was highly responsible for pushing piles and piles of new characters that just drag down "Sonic" gameplay, and Balan Wonderworld is the ultimate expression of that. The timeline all checks out.
He's got an obsession with designing new characters, and they can be good designs, but he doesn't think twice about if their game play is fun, or contributes anything to the bigger package. He makes a character, it goes in, and don't you dare question it. It started with Sonic Adventure and just bloated and festered until he left the company in 2006, and what Sonic Game came out in 2006 hmm? That game is what finally drove home something internally at Sonic Team that Yuji Naka had to go.
Balan Wonderworld was Christmas for Yuji Naka. He could make DOZENS of characters designs and had a blank check from Square Enix. What we are looking at is what Yuji Naka wanted "Sonic" to be all along.
Hm.....
This is actually kind of plausible, you can really feel the "pointless unfitting characters" of the Adventure era in this game, but I think Sonic Team was also partially responsible because they just don't know how to make other characters fun without making the game too short (presumably because of Sonic's speed). There were a lot more characters introduced in the game in the Adventure era than anyone else though, so I think he was responsible for a lot of them being added.
@Alex McDonald isn't that the opposite of what the comment is saying...?
Oh no...
They havent seen Balan's other form.. OH NO..
Eh...Best to leave that out for their sanity.
What form
@@juliamxd9614 human form towards the ending of the game
@@chibidragon4047 I've seen it, I expected worse
@@chibidragon4047 the part where he takes off his hat? Or are we talking about rainbow balan?
12:12 *Everywhere I go, I see his face*
so nights into dreams but they took away flight and the ability to somehow give me nightmares of my dad leaving, nice.
Are u ok bro
@@rockhistoria2537 No I'm fine I just saw the opening cutscenes and got scared.
@@dreamhunter5011 oh cool, I just got kinda worried
I love how the game is so bad that it gets its own half hour follow up video XD
It's intriguing in the same way Sonic 06 is intriguing, in that you can see the potential; that's why it's getting so much attention.
@@neosquid9609 at least 06 is fun to play
@@etherealhatred This is way more fleshed out and playable than Sonic 06.
@@neosquid9609 and yet 06 is way more fun than this, that says a lot imo
To me, that just shows how having something functional doesn't mean it's good, and that's sad considering the concept was really promising
@@etherealhatred That's fair.
I think the only context this could have been considered good is if was made in 1995 and it released just before people knew what a good 3D platformer (Super Mario 64 or Crash Bandicoot) played like.
7:00
- “Unfortunately, a good custscene does not a good game make.” ~ Alex Olney, 2021
🤣🤣🤣
12:13 Well that's a cameo I didn't expect to see but makes sense in hindsight.
Doshin our lord and savior
Roast baby. Years from now their will be story’s about this game. Hopefully we can figure out the conspiracy about the story and why it was even made
*stories
I feel like they scammed everyone. It's 60 dollars and they just shipped it out and stopped reviews like damn bruh
20:25 What if the reason Lance is called like that is Balan + Lance = Balance? Balan is a positive force and Lance is a negative force, it kinda makes sense.
I laughed so hard when Doshin appeared in the original review and now here is somehow even more funny.
12:13 btw
coming out on the same day as monster hunter was a death sentence for this game even regardless of its quality (or lack there of)
The problem with balan wonderworld is that it has the looks but not the style of a mascot platfromer.
Look at Billy hatcher, it has that same stylistic look, but it's gameplay is also unique and interesting, using an egg for almost all your actions.
Balan wonderworld needs to do the following in order for this game to have any kind of creativity.
1. Make costume switching instant, and allow this to happen mid air and mid attack, imagine combining jump costumes to make giant leaps that give insane air time for instance. Allow creativity.
2. Increase the movement speed, allow the game to have this great feel of speed and movement using instant costume changing.
3. Update the game with new platforming challenges that use this instant costume changing to its fullest.
These changes would allow for the players to create the fun rather than being stuck in this limbo of boredom
Balan's design and the aesthetics is the only good thing about the game. Everything else is is just kinda below mediocre...
meanwhile, fake positive user reviews are plaguing on metacritic rn
And some of them don't sound like they were written by humans.
Me like Balan Wonderland. Great game must buy. Me played 20 hours is great. Me not bot paid by Square. Balan awesome.
Seems like this would have been better as an animated film rather than a game
"Okay Alex, Is balan wonderworld Really that bad?"
(Clicks on video)
"Yes, it is."
*video ends*
IGN - 9/10 “It has a little something for everyone”
played the demo, really disappointed me. From the trailers, this game feels so enticing and captivating, but the game itself is an absolute mess. The only good thing about this is that Choctopus said he'll play through the full game so it'll be nice to hear what he has to say about it.
The cutscenes are so gorgeous and I like the character design so much
1. Why would anyone buy this
2. Why would anyone buy this over MH Rise
3. Why would anyone play this on switch if u REALLY wanted to play this instead literally any other platform
1. Because I want to see it for myself, (Result: agree with flaws but had a great time playing it.)
2. Previous Monster Hunters did not captivate me. I mean i see why they’re good but i just couldnt get into past entries.
3. Maybe some of us only have a switch.
Balan Wonderworld is to Yuji Naka and NiGHTS, as Mighty No. 9 was to Keiji Inafune and Mega Man...
The after-boss dance sequences appear to emulate the Kirby dance sequences, except Kirby games were way more playable and enjoyable than this.
They were a lot faster
If you don’t have any expectations you will never be dissapointed. Sadly Balan Wonderworld is the exception to the rule.
Come on! Give the credit for the super creative naming of Balan + Lance = balance
Aww those cute kitties 😸😍! Didn't really care for the game, but those cats were perfection 👌🏻 14:00
Balan's design is creepy enough that I honestly expected that he was the villain.
In the morning i was thinking "Should I've commented that the only thing good to come out of this game is Balan fan art??" Even though i haven't checked and Jon asks for Balan fan art at the end of this video, nice lol
Honestly i’m fearing the fan art, i’ve already seen multiple comments saying balan is hot... and they’re not talking about the end balan either...
@@Superfreaky2 anime boy balan disgusts me. so ugly and generic. but regular balan is easily the best and tightest design in the game.
I used to be in the balan server and I can confirm that twerking balan has already been drawn (not saying that as a cringe thing, I just think it’s genuinely funny and so does op fkjfkgn)
plus you have lance who has tentacles
@@star22sally67 stop
This channel reminds me of old gamexplain
Short answer: Yes
Long answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees
Is baland wonderworld really that bad?
Short answer: yes
Long answer: yes, it is
"Is Balan Wonderworld REALLY that Bad?"
"Is grass REALLY Green?"
"No one wants to just jump in and hate on this"
Clearly you dont know the gaming community.
The people who defend this garbage and pretend like really honest and well put criticisms about fundamental problems are just a you thing. “This genre just isn’t your thing”
@@minabotieso6944 Facts
The community either wishes this was animated musical or is bandwagonnint without thinking for themselves
I’m constantly thinking they’re saying timbs, and the tower of timbs is the funniest things I’ve ever heard
Just did the boss they talked about with the time thing. Cat didn’t get run over. She assumed that was the case and ran off
Thank you!!! I noticed that too!
Banal Wonderworld
Weird how a game like billy hatcher was better in every way almost a decade ago.
Billy Hatcher is a masterpiece. I had more fun Playing SA2 Battle and Billy Hatcher then Playing Mario Sunshine
@@segaspice4062 Interesting you have to drag down Mario Sunshine to make the other two look better.
This is the kind of fanboyism Sonic fans are disliked for.
@@roskiart8750 No not really, I just personally don't like Mario Sunshine. I love Mario 64 and Galaxy but Sunshine's levels are underdeveloped and over all the game is boring especially because each environment is beach themed and in turn lacks identity and makes each location boring. You assume just because I criticize your precious Mario I'm a fanboy. The overall toxicity and superior types Nintendo fans have honestly is why people hate Nintendo Fans because they will buy anything and hate everybody for having a opinion.
@@roskiart8750 I never even said which game was better, I said I had more fun. KEYWORD IS FUN. I can admit that BOTW is a good game but I had more fun with OOT and Majora Mask.
@@roskiart8750 I personally feel like Mario Sunshine is boringand mediocre, does that make me a fanboy. Having an opinion is not a crime. Get a life and stop giving Nintendo your life savings.
Miyamoto: A delayed game is good eventually, a rushed game is bad forever.
Problem bhere is
a.) The game was so close to completion
b.) This is a side thing for Square. They dont super care, its just a passion project someone wanted to do and they gave him his budget
c.) It would cost SO much money. WAY more than they'd probably make back, to recall every cart of the game from stores that were already made and sent out, add more budget to ENTIRELY change EVERYTHING about the game, produce new carts, and then ship all those. It would be way too much money for Square to give a single fuck.
Lol what kind of nerd who still use that outdated shitty quote in 2021? Its all about how publishers and game studios handle the project. As long as they is no development hell or if there is a sudden major change during game development then the game should be fine. No mans sky made a comeback. Star wars battlefront 2 also did the same thing. These games after multiple amount of patches are not considered as "bad forever" anymore.
cyberpunk 2077 miiiiiight want to have a word with you
Yeah NO, fuck that
A more accurate quote would be “A rushed game gives a bad first impression”. Even if they fix the game some people won’t be interested anymore
John's right Zion, you should really give the original NiGHTs a shot, the Wii version is pretty trashy.
If anyone is super interested in the idea of going into people's heads and seeing their inner thoughts or whatever, may I recommend psyconaughts? It's a similar concept but, at least imo, does the whole thing better.
When is Psychonauts 2 coming?
@@dustymcwari4468 According to Google, sometime this year. I don't know any more than that.
@@notrod5341 goody, the first one was awesome
Or persona 5, but most ppl probably already know that
Normally I dislike hearing about hearing about bad games I don't going to play.
But I like the guys of NL more, so I am gonna to watch the video.😁
I mean as long as the game itself is bad, I definitely have no qualms with doing so lol.
It's awful.
Wait it's wonderworld and not wonderland??
important to note that yuji naka isn't really a game director to begin with, even in the sonic days he was either lead programmer or producer. I'm not sure if game design is his strong suit, anything good about the adventure era's game design or nights can be attributed to takeshi iizuka who directed them.
The only one that never bother to come to the project.
I feel like they’re being too tough on the game. For me, it’s *a really shiny experience to live for just have some good moments of fun, with a nice platform.*
@Alex McDonald I mean it’s entirely fine if you like this game, more power to you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still acknowledge its flaws or understand people’s criticisms of it. You also shouldn’t let other people ruin your enjoyment of something, otherwise I doubt you liked it much to begin with to let random people influence it.
(Also, I’m fairly certain this guy’s comment was meant to poke fun at the terrible Engrish reviewers that are somehow spamming this game with 10s on Metacritic.)
If they did this game correctly with how it looks it could have been a great game full of character and charm, like a hat in time
Also what is wrong with Square Enix lately?
On the one side they have like the biggest giants in gaming, a massive catalogue of classics and amazing new games.
And on the other side they have left alive, Avengers and now Balan Wonderworld...
Does this company actually care this little about it's reputation?
I was really holding out for this game to be great... I was going to pick up the game if the reviews were at least like 6s or something. It’s a damn shame that it didn’t turn out well. The idea sounds great.. it kinda gives me persona vibes (narratively)... kinda? Like how they use a different world to influence people and things in the real world through hearts and all that. Idk I just wish this was a good game
I'm yet to experience the game myself, but I'm hopeful that it won't be as bad as everyone says it is.
Great concept, beautiful aesthetic, Amazing character design, you can sense the passion radiating from it
Worst gameplay I’ve ever been through
10/10 this the weirdest love-hate-love relationship I’ve ever been in, might play again but definitely don’t recommend to people wanting gameplay (or game in general) first
I like how you can take ANY frame... of ANY stage, and you can say “this is badly designed.” Not even just the level design, but in the colors and style choices as well. Balan Wonderworld is a masterpiece in terms of bad decisions.
19:35
LMFAO
Best commentary EVER!
People have to stop this hero worship. Tetsuya Nomura bombed Final Fantasy XV, Hironobu Sakaguchi brought us Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Kenji Inafune gave us Mighty No. 9, and Tomonobu Itagaki gave us Devil's Third. Don't even get me started on Kojima.
I know there are plenty of folks chomping at the bit to clap back, but let's face reality please. A game or any major creative product has a team of folks working together to make something great, not some rockstar dev.
Your core point is rock solid, but Tetsuya Nomura isn't the reason FFXV failed so miserably. Don't get me wrong, man can get his head up his own ass(just look at the narrative of Kingdom Hearts, let alone it's release strategy), but Square Upper management are more to blame about it.