Nights: Journey Of Dreams

[matto]

I'll just cut right to the chase: it wasn't as good as it should've been. I have never played the original NiGHTS Into Dreams (quite a pity), but JoD's pacing issues, horrid voice acting, crappy plot and lack of polish kept this game from becoming a classic.

Tomoko Sasaki's music for JoD is, shockingly, better then the entire game combined. Seriously, it is. I favor it more then Galaxy's soundtrack.

[silverstarman]

I'll try to stay away from it. I still need to find a copy of the original, though.

[SolidShroom]

The soundtrack is indeed excellent. However, you seem to say nothing about the quality of the game. The voice acting wasn't the strong point, but it was better than Resident Evil. Also, you forgot to mention the beautiful graphics (which are a good example of an excellent looking game for the Wii), addicting--although a tiny bit repetitive--gameplay, the simplicity of control (although using the Wii remote isn't that great of a way to play it; I use the classic controller), and the interesting My Dream feature. The learning curve is really pretty balanced, and the plot isn't that horrible--it's just as bad as the original or one of the Sonic games. I, however, have never played the original game. Plus, the addition of two storylines is pretty cool.

[matto]

@ SolidShroom: Yes, the soundtrack was indeed fantastic (almost better then Galaxy, as I said in my first post), but there are a couple of things that I should argue.

- Voice acting, as said, wasn't good at all. Yet you said it was better then Resident Evil. Which one? The 1996 PSX version (also DS)? It's pretty common knowledge that it had horrid voice acting, but I seriously wouldn't compare JoD's acting to RE. JoD's voice acting is in an entire league of it's own. Nights' voice sounds like a young Mary Poppins, Will goes out of his British accent on and off, Helen can hardly be heard in some cutscenes and Reala's voice actor tries to hard to make him sound serious. Wizeman was the best voice in the entire game in my opinion.

- The graphics and art direction are strong points, but when viewed up close, you can see a severe lack of polish. The children look like humanoid robots in about every cutscene that isn't FMV. In fact, it looks on par as a Dreamcast game. However, the Chase Missions really make the art direction stand out.

- Speaking of the chase missions, they are addicting, but lack something Nights Into Dream's Ideya Capture had: the choice to keep repeating the same lap until time runs out or you reach the Nights Capture with the Ideya you released on that lap. JoD's chase missions makes you chase a bird enemy for each three laps, and while you still try to improve your Link (combo) count, all you do is just try to go to the goal as fast as you can. Watch some Score Attack videos on Youtube for NiD and see what I mean.

- Using the classic controller makes it easier to control, but Nights flying is rough. The Saturn control had a control stick that didn't have a octagonal surrounding like the CC/GCN control, so flying isn't as smooth. (Yet I found the CC better the GCN control.)

I will give my opinion on story and the My Dream later.

[Robert]

@ SolidShroom: Yes, the soundtrack was indeed fantastic (almost better then Galaxy, as I said in my first post), but there are a couple of things that I should argue.

- Voice acting, as said, wasn't good at all. Yet you said it was better then Resident Evil. Which one? The 1996 PSX version (also DS)? It's pretty common knowledge that it had horrid voice acting, but I seriously wouldn't compare JoD's acting to RE. JoD's voice acting is in an entire league of it's own. Nights' voice sounds like a young Mary Poppins, Will goes out of his British accent on and off, Helen can hardly be heard in some cutscenes and Reala's voice actor tries to hard to make him sound serious. Wizeman was the best voice in the entire game in my opinion.

- The graphics and art direction are strong points, but when viewed up close, you can see a severe lack of polish. The children look like humanoid robots in about every cutscene that isn't FMV. In fact, it looks on par as a Dreamcast game. However, the Chase Missions really make the art direction stand out.

- Speaking of the chase missions, they are addicting, but lack something Nights Into Dream's Ideya Capture had: the choice to keep repeating the same lap until time runs out or you reach the Nights Capture with the Ideya you released on that lap. JoD's chase missions makes you chase a bird enemy for each three laps, and while you still try to improve your Link (combo) count, all you do is just try to go to the goal as fast as you can. Watch some Score Attack videos on Youtube for NiD and see what I mean.

- Using the classic controller makes it easier to control, but Nights flying is rough. The Saturn control had a control stick that didn't have a octagonal surrounding like the CC/GCN control, so flying isn't as smooth. (Yet I found the CC better the GCN control.)

I will give my opinion on story and the My Dream later.

The Cutscenes may have bad voice acting, but that's the beauty of it. I like to make fun of the cutscenes: it adds a whole new layer of interactivity to the experience. I guess that's what they meant about "interactive cutscenes". You can't help but chuckle at "DOO-A-LYYYYYYYYE-ZUH"

I can look over the crappy human models as long as it has good artwork, unlike a certain game on 360 released by Sega featuring a blue rodent...

To me, that's already a pretty good game design. I don't really see the point in flying around if there's still a time limit going, especially if you recieve for how much time you have left. Then again, I've never played the original nights...

Okay, I'll give you that one. But I could overlook it once I played the game longer.

While the game did lack polish, it's still a fun game. Could've been better, but considering Sega's recent preformance in terms of game quality, anything above mediocre is a step in the right direction.

[Kuromatsu]

I can look over the crappy human models as long as it has good artwork, unlike a certain game on 360 released by Sega featuring a blue rodent...

If you are reffering to "Sonic the Hedgehog," I do not think that Sonic is a rodent...

[Lizard Dude]

Hedgehogs are not rodents, but porcupines are!

If I were Eggman, I would still call Sonic a rodent, though, to tick him off.

[silverstarman]

Just a random question. Has anyone ever even SEEN an echidna before?

[Chupperson Weird]

[megamush]

Hedgehogs are not rodents, but porcupines are!

If I were Eggman, I would still call Sonic a rodent, though, to tick him off.

in Secret Rings he is called a "rat" by Erazor

[Robert]

If I were Eggman, I would still call Sonic a rodent, though, to tick him off.

Yeah, that's kinda what I meant to do (make fun of Sonic). It was inspired by Erarzor from SatSR, where he calls Sonic a rat (like megamush pointed out).

Plus, I have no idea what to classify a Hedgehog as.

[megamush]

Plus, I have no idea what to classify a Hedgehog as.

it classifies as an animal!

[Robert]

it classifies as an animal!

I meant what classification of animal, like a rodent or something.

[Kuromatsu]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erinaceomorpha