Love these types of videos. We have far to many games were all it would take is a few months of cleaning up.. You should make a series like this called “missed potential”
As someone who gave Balan an honest try and completed the thing, I'm pretty surprised you liked the level design. I personally thought it wasn't very good - most of the time it felt like it was procedurally generated rather than built by a team of professionals. I also felt that they went way too overboard with some Balan statue placements, some of them required you to go pretty much out-of-bounds to get. I guess with Mario Odyssey-style movement they might've been much more satisfying to explore, but the controls and costume mechanics were executed so badly that they made them a chore to play through IMHO. Aside from that, I 100% agree with everything you said. I like Naka's Sonic Team-era output (as janky as it is sometimes) and I thought that Nintendo fans were way too hard on Arzest's 3DS output, so I was actually looking forward to playing this game. Shame it turned out the way it did.
I think I meant it more as "the level design could be good with some changes to the core gameplay mechanics that I mentioned" than saying it's good out if the box. Important distinction because within the game, those levels aren't good at all, totally agree! But with diverse/fluid movement mechanics the levels wouldn't be tedious since they'd become more navigable.
That's apparently because the developers used an AI to help them assemble the level assets into the levels themselves. So it wasn't completely procedurally generated, but it's close to it.
@@conmanwolf405 True, though my understanding is that they used the AI to create a generic level, then modified it to flow better and tailored it to work with the costumes. More like a template creator than a Minecraft-esque world builder. I actually like this approach because humans like patterns and can make repetitive level designs without even realizing it, so starting with a randomized level layout could actually lead to a spark of inspiration. As I said in the video, all due to a lack of time.
Finally, there are those that see the good beyond the bad of this game/ And I myself have played and loved the game, I don't regret it. But seeing how people reacted earlier, was saddening. But I don't see the game deserving all that harshness for what it was trying to do. And seeing those giving this a better light is a good thing
Balan is a game I never heard of. The 3d platformers I played are Rachet and Clank (The reboot) and i-ninja. I-ninja is quite the underrated gem. It's certainly a game you wouldn't see me play now. But it's a really good platformer. There was a sequel planned. But it got cancelled due to Argonaut Games closing doors. So I don't know what came of the game's shortcomings. Only Game company I know that published it and is still around is Namco. Well they're now called Namco Bandai. But I might check out Balan. It might have a lot to make up for it's shortcomings.
Interesting, I never heard of i-ninja. Though I will say, I definitely don't recommend Balan at all. I mostly found it interesting rather than fun. Though if you're looking for a great platformer from 2021 I'd suggest Psychonauts 2.
@@MightyNifty I'll have to check that game out. Thanks for the recommendation. In exchange, I have a game for you to check out. The original Dead space. I think you'd be perfect for a Dead space series retrospective. That's one of my favorite games ever. If you're into Survival Action Horror games, it should be right up your alley.
More time. With a lot of games it seems like this is what this project needed. I know they want things out fast and timely, but you can just see how much potential there was, only to be smeared by rushed decisions. I love nights and the nights Art style, and this had me hoping for another taste of that. But yeah it sucks this was the end result. I still want to pick it up and really form my own opinion. great video dude
Is Crash Bandicoot not already the perfect balance? Sure, reaching the end of the level is always the goal, other than boss fights, but the crates and gems easily outdo plenty of collectable-centric titles.
Glad you had a good time with it! I personally didn't hate it, but I also couldn't recommend it to anyone, especially in 2021 where we got amazing platformers like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Psychonauts 2, Here Comes Nico!, and Demon Turf. If you enjoyed Balan, you're probably a big fan of 3D platformers like me so I highly recommend any of those games! :D
Love these types of videos. We have far to many games were all it would take is a few months of cleaning up.. You should make a series like this called “missed potential”
Someone should make a publishing company to wrestle out the rights to those missed potential games and actually fix them
As someone who gave Balan an honest try and completed the thing, I'm pretty surprised you liked the level design. I personally thought it wasn't very good - most of the time it felt like it was procedurally generated rather than built by a team of professionals. I also felt that they went way too overboard with some Balan statue placements, some of them required you to go pretty much out-of-bounds to get. I guess with Mario Odyssey-style movement they might've been much more satisfying to explore, but the controls and costume mechanics were executed so badly that they made them a chore to play through IMHO.
Aside from that, I 100% agree with everything you said. I like Naka's Sonic Team-era output (as janky as it is sometimes) and I thought that Nintendo fans were way too hard on Arzest's 3DS output, so I was actually looking forward to playing this game. Shame it turned out the way it did.
I think I meant it more as "the level design could be good with some changes to the core gameplay mechanics that I mentioned" than saying it's good out if the box. Important distinction because within the game, those levels aren't good at all, totally agree! But with diverse/fluid movement mechanics the levels wouldn't be tedious since they'd become more navigable.
That's apparently because the developers used an AI to help them assemble the level assets into the levels themselves. So it wasn't completely procedurally generated, but it's close to it.
@@conmanwolf405 True, though my understanding is that they used the AI to create a generic level, then modified it to flow better and tailored it to work with the costumes. More like a template creator than a Minecraft-esque world builder. I actually like this approach because humans like patterns and can make repetitive level designs without even realizing it, so starting with a randomized level layout could actually lead to a spark of inspiration. As I said in the video, all due to a lack of time.
Finally, there are those that see the good beyond the bad of this game/ And I myself have played and loved the game, I don't regret it. But seeing how people reacted earlier, was saddening. But I don't see the game deserving all that harshness for what it was trying to do. And seeing those giving this a better light is a good thing
You deserve more credit 🤜
Would there be a chance to see an patch update soon that refine the issues?
Balan is a game I never heard of. The 3d platformers I played are Rachet and Clank (The reboot) and i-ninja. I-ninja is quite the underrated gem. It's certainly a game you wouldn't see me play now. But it's a really good platformer. There was a sequel planned. But it got cancelled due to Argonaut Games closing doors. So I don't know what came of the game's shortcomings. Only Game company I know that published it and is still around is Namco. Well they're now called Namco Bandai. But I might check out Balan. It might have a lot to make up for it's shortcomings.
Interesting, I never heard of i-ninja. Though I will say, I definitely don't recommend Balan at all. I mostly found it interesting rather than fun. Though if you're looking for a great platformer from 2021 I'd suggest Psychonauts 2.
@@MightyNifty I'll have to check that game out. Thanks for the recommendation. In exchange, I have a game for you to check out. The original Dead space. I think you'd be perfect for a Dead space series retrospective. That's one of my favorite games ever. If you're into Survival Action Horror games, it should be right up your alley.
More time. With a lot of games it seems like this is what this project needed. I know they want things out fast and timely, but you can just see how much potential there was, only to be smeared by rushed decisions. I love nights and the nights Art style, and this had me hoping for another taste of that. But yeah it sucks this was the end result. I still want to pick it up and really form my own opinion. great video dude
Is Crash Bandicoot not already the perfect balance? Sure, reaching the end of the level is always the goal, other than boss fights, but the crates and gems easily outdo plenty of collectable-centric titles.
Balan Wonderworld is not a bad game, it's just very dated, but if anyone likes the game, I respect that, and Balan did kind of deserve better
I love Balan Wonderworld! It will be a hidden gem in the future.
I liked Balan Wonderworld!
Glad you had a good time with it! I personally didn't hate it, but I also couldn't recommend it to anyone, especially in 2021 where we got amazing platformers like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Psychonauts 2, Here Comes Nico!, and Demon Turf. If you enjoyed Balan, you're probably a big fan of 3D platformers like me so I highly recommend any of those games! :D