I started up Shiren for Wii over again, this time on Easy difficulty, so I don't lose all my items when I die.
Now, why did I do this, you ask? Especially knowing I actually like that mechanic in Shiren DS?
Well, you see, Shiren for Wii is broken up into different dungeons, instead of one big one. This means that if I lose all my equipment, then I become severely under-equipped for whatever dungeon I'm currently in... So I would have to go back and grind equipment in earlier dungeons.
This could take hours.
And if I die again? I'd have to start the whole process over. I do not consider that prospect fun. So I'm playing it on easy, so I can enjoy the game.
Granted, now I'm flying through the dungeons, already up to Tengu's Castle, about halfway to the point I was at when I stopped last time (which took me like 14 hours, whereas I'm only three hours in this playthrough). So I don't know what to think. Certainly this game shouldn't be easy - and it won't be, once they start throwing the really ridiculous enemies at me - but so far it is.
Oh well. Anyway, the game is pretty good mindless fun. It is by no means perfect, and it isn't as good as the DS version of Shiren, but I still like it and will likely beat it eventually, unless the last few dungeons get ridiculous. I think I'll play the game more when I unlock the postgame stuff, like in the DS version that I still pick up from time to time.
What is it about these games that make them so appealing to me, anyway? It is definitely not the story, which is rudimentary at best. It's not the graphics, although they are certainly passable in this version. The music is pretty good, though.
As for the gameplay... I've watched someone else play a roguelike, and it is dull. It amounts to basically watching someone walk around, sometimes hitting stuff. Unless you're playing it yourself, it is unbearable. But when you are exploring the dungeons yourself, and you are vested in the experience, you are kind of on the edge of your seat at all times. If you make one or two mistakes, you could find yourself in trouble... And all your hard work could be lost in an instant.
In theory, that sounds so appealing. Here is a game where if you die, you lose everything - this gives the proceedings a sense of urgency like no other video game I'm aware of. Sure, if you die on a boss in Final Fantasy, you might lose an hour or two of grinding, but Shiren (the DS version, anyway, or the Wii version on Normal difficulty or above) can make you essentially lose everything you had been doing in the game up until that point. Besides, of course, whatever progress you made in the story - which amounts to very little even when you beat the game, in the long run.
I still think Shiren DS nails the balance perfectly between danger, difficulty, and fairness. The Pokemon roguelikes are too easy, and Izuna is a little to easy in some ways, and completely unfair and obtuse in others. Chocobo's Dungeon on Wii was fun as hell and had awesome music, but was a little too easy too... I don't know how a developer could effectively balance a multiple dungeon roguelike without letting you save items when you die or something. Or letting you keep your levels or whatever. It sounds too tough to do effectively.
I just wish someone would make another Shiren DS type of game and expand the town parts a little bit...
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Persona 3 Portable, part 2
Well, I beat the game last night. That last month really wore me out - I was able to complete both the Aeon and Magician S. Links - just barely. I finished the Aeon one on the last day possible.
I was grinding like crazy, though. I got my MC up to level 85 (like twenty two or twenty three levels over the level I was at when I beat P3:FES) before I had enough of it, with about 8 days to go in the month. I hadn't unlocked whatever weird dungeon you unlock for beating the Reaper because I had only tried him once (at level 80) and couldn't beat him.
It is fucking stupid how few Exp Bonus cards you get during Shuffle Time in the last block of Tartarus. I looked up the percentages online, and it's like 40% yen, 20% weapon, 30% blank, and 10% Exp. Why?! This is the best time to grind! It's not like I have any S. Links to do! The last boss is coming up! Give me some fucking Exp Bonus cards! I definitely would have had the will to get to level 99 had I been able to reliably get the bonus instead of getting like 400 exp each time. I even shrunk my party down to just me and one other person (so I could still perform All-Out Attacks) to boost my Exp, and it worked, but only a little because I still didn't get the cards. By the time I hit 85, I had had enough and just slept early every night until the boss.
So, my final S. Links:
Fool
Magician
Priestess
Hierophant
Chariot
Hermit
Strength
Hanged
Death
Temperance
Devil
Tower
Moon
Sun
Aeon
Judgment
16 out of 19 (I think)! I missed maxing Fortune, Justice, and Emperor. When I played through FES, I believe I maxed out Emperor, and it wasn't changed for P3: Portable, so I didn't really miss anything there.
I'm happy with my playthrough this time. I don't know when I'll start up a male MC playthrough - that last month really burned me out. I think right now I'm going to go fire up Shiren Wii again, and start a new game on Easy, so I won't lose my equipment when I die, which will mean I won't punch any lights in my apartment like I did last time.
Until next time, Mitsuru...
I was grinding like crazy, though. I got my MC up to level 85 (like twenty two or twenty three levels over the level I was at when I beat P3:FES) before I had enough of it, with about 8 days to go in the month. I hadn't unlocked whatever weird dungeon you unlock for beating the Reaper because I had only tried him once (at level 80) and couldn't beat him.
It is fucking stupid how few Exp Bonus cards you get during Shuffle Time in the last block of Tartarus. I looked up the percentages online, and it's like 40% yen, 20% weapon, 30% blank, and 10% Exp. Why?! This is the best time to grind! It's not like I have any S. Links to do! The last boss is coming up! Give me some fucking Exp Bonus cards! I definitely would have had the will to get to level 99 had I been able to reliably get the bonus instead of getting like 400 exp each time. I even shrunk my party down to just me and one other person (so I could still perform All-Out Attacks) to boost my Exp, and it worked, but only a little because I still didn't get the cards. By the time I hit 85, I had had enough and just slept early every night until the boss.
So, my final S. Links:
Fool
Magician
Priestess
Hierophant
Chariot
Hermit
Strength
Hanged
Death
Temperance
Devil
Tower
Moon
Sun
Aeon
Judgment
16 out of 19 (I think)! I missed maxing Fortune, Justice, and Emperor. When I played through FES, I believe I maxed out Emperor, and it wasn't changed for P3: Portable, so I didn't really miss anything there.
I'm happy with my playthrough this time. I don't know when I'll start up a male MC playthrough - that last month really burned me out. I think right now I'm going to go fire up Shiren Wii again, and start a new game on Easy, so I won't lose my equipment when I die, which will mean I won't punch any lights in my apartment like I did last time.
Until next time, Mitsuru...
Monday, July 26, 2010
Persona 3 Portable, part 1
I say part 1 up there, and I mean it. I'm 15 game days away from the last boss of the game, which means I can basically go beat him whenever I want because the last month of the game is pretty uneventful S. Link-wise because I have maxed out most of the ones that would be available at this time. Oh - if you're worried, I won't be spoiling any story elements here in the blog.
This will not be a completely maxed S. Link playthrough, although I'm fairly proud of how things have gone so far. I might be able to max Aeon and Magician, depending on their availability during this month, but even if I don't get either I'll still be satisfied. So far, I've maxed out these S. Links:
Fool
Priestess
Hierophant
Chariot
Hermit
Strength
Hanged
Death
Temperance
Devil
Tower
Moon
Sun
Judgment
So thirteen total maxed S. Links, only three of which are story related. Ten maxed S. Links is definitely a personal best for me in any Persona game, so that's good. I'm thinking for my next playthrough, I'm going to use a guide and max them all. Next, I'm going to play through as the dude. And I'm going to be a Genius right off the bat, due to the Academics/Charm/Courage stats carrying over into NG+.
Which means, Mitsuru, that you and I will be banging so hard. Or, you know, whatever happens during her S. Link events.
So! I've grinded my MC up to level 80, and plan on grinding at least a little more before I go on and beat the game. This means that I've earned quite a bit of money, which means I can afford to fuse a ton of Personae and re-purchase them as needed. So I've gotten some interesting Personae I've never gotten before, such as Satan, Scathach, Attis, Mara (I got Mara in P4 but the giant penis guy seems to be much stronger in P3), and a really sweet Abaddon (which produced 4 Tomes of the Void for me - which grants whoever equips them Null All Status Effects - very useful for the last boss!).
I'm going to try to fuse even more crazy Personae, but I worry I'll run out of patience. The enemies at the very tip top of Tartarus are all afraid of me because I'm such a high level, thus they don't give me much experience when I fight them so it'll take forever to level up. But man... some of those high-level Personae look so cool! I'll try my best, anyway.
I wonder if the ending for the girl will be any different compared to the guy's. I guess we'll find out soon enough...
This will not be a completely maxed S. Link playthrough, although I'm fairly proud of how things have gone so far. I might be able to max Aeon and Magician, depending on their availability during this month, but even if I don't get either I'll still be satisfied. So far, I've maxed out these S. Links:
Fool
Priestess
Hierophant
Chariot
Hermit
Strength
Hanged
Death
Temperance
Devil
Tower
Moon
Sun
Judgment
So thirteen total maxed S. Links, only three of which are story related. Ten maxed S. Links is definitely a personal best for me in any Persona game, so that's good. I'm thinking for my next playthrough, I'm going to use a guide and max them all. Next, I'm going to play through as the dude. And I'm going to be a Genius right off the bat, due to the Academics/Charm/Courage stats carrying over into NG+.
Which means, Mitsuru, that you and I will be banging so hard. Or, you know, whatever happens during her S. Link events.
So! I've grinded my MC up to level 80, and plan on grinding at least a little more before I go on and beat the game. This means that I've earned quite a bit of money, which means I can afford to fuse a ton of Personae and re-purchase them as needed. So I've gotten some interesting Personae I've never gotten before, such as Satan, Scathach, Attis, Mara (I got Mara in P4 but the giant penis guy seems to be much stronger in P3), and a really sweet Abaddon (which produced 4 Tomes of the Void for me - which grants whoever equips them Null All Status Effects - very useful for the last boss!).
I'm going to try to fuse even more crazy Personae, but I worry I'll run out of patience. The enemies at the very tip top of Tartarus are all afraid of me because I'm such a high level, thus they don't give me much experience when I fight them so it'll take forever to level up. But man... some of those high-level Personae look so cool! I'll try my best, anyway.
I wonder if the ending for the girl will be any different compared to the guy's. I guess we'll find out soon enough...
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Oh man... it's here...
Before I get to what the blog title is referring to, I'll say this about Super Mario Galaxy 2: the first 120 stars you get are awesome. The second 120, the green stars, are... Well, I've only gotten one of them so far, but if that one is any indication, it will be awhile before I complete Super Mario Galaxy 2 100%. You have to search the levels for these stars, and the game gives you no clue as to where in the level they are other than a faint light in the sky, and a star sound when you are near them.
It's like a throwback to the days of N64 collect-a-thons, in a way. Like they injected some DK64 into the game. So, it will probably be a while before I get back to SMG2, although I enjoyed it while is lasted.
I picked up Persona 3 Portable a few days ago, and have put in about two hours so far. I went ahead and decided to play as the girl, and since I can't come up with names to save my life, I went with my girlfriend's full name. It's an interesting take, really! Since the main character is silent, I've been unwittingly projecting my girlfriend's personality on her. Besides the fact that the character looks nothing like my girlfriend, I have found myself answering Social Link questions and the like how I think she would. It's kind of fun, actually.
As far as what I think about the game itself so far, I am disappointed in one respect: the anime cutscenes from Persona 3:FES were removed! On the GameSpite boards, I was told that this was because they were "pretty bad" anyway. Well, I could care less! I thought they added a ton to the presentation. The first scene of the game, in which the main character travels from the train station to the dorm, is the scene that intrigued the crap out of me when I first saw it before I had ever played a MegaTen game. You could say that scene sent me on the spiral I've found myself in since then, having bought and owned almost every Shin Megami Tensei game released in America since then...
But I digress. That scene had the main character walking down a street, past bloody coffins just strewn everywhere, but all standing up erect. He seemed to sort of notice them, but just kept going, and then when he got to the dorm, this creepy little kid in striped pajamas told him to sign a book. It was weird and awkward and creepy all at once, and it hooked the shit out of me.
Persona 3 Portable uses a few lines of text to describe this scene, along with a few stills taken, I assume, from that cutscene. It still works to a certain extent, but I don't think it'd hook newcomers to the game like the anime would, "questionable quality" or not.
But anyway, that's all nerdy bitchery. I'm really enjoying the differences in the girl's campaign, even if I have already noticed a voice acting error (she just woke up in the hospital, Yukari! At least get her gender right!). I'm interested in seeing where the story goes once certain key characters are introduced, and I really like the design of the girl character as well. The male version was neat, but really, really weird looking. He would run with his hands in his pockets, which still sounds so weird to me.
Wow I'm all over the place today. I need to remember to start a paragraph and fucking finish the paragraph with that topic. Yeah. I'm going to stop for the night now. I hope I'll play more tomorrow, maybe I'll post again.
It's like a throwback to the days of N64 collect-a-thons, in a way. Like they injected some DK64 into the game. So, it will probably be a while before I get back to SMG2, although I enjoyed it while is lasted.
I picked up Persona 3 Portable a few days ago, and have put in about two hours so far. I went ahead and decided to play as the girl, and since I can't come up with names to save my life, I went with my girlfriend's full name. It's an interesting take, really! Since the main character is silent, I've been unwittingly projecting my girlfriend's personality on her. Besides the fact that the character looks nothing like my girlfriend, I have found myself answering Social Link questions and the like how I think she would. It's kind of fun, actually.
As far as what I think about the game itself so far, I am disappointed in one respect: the anime cutscenes from Persona 3:FES were removed! On the GameSpite boards, I was told that this was because they were "pretty bad" anyway. Well, I could care less! I thought they added a ton to the presentation. The first scene of the game, in which the main character travels from the train station to the dorm, is the scene that intrigued the crap out of me when I first saw it before I had ever played a MegaTen game. You could say that scene sent me on the spiral I've found myself in since then, having bought and owned almost every Shin Megami Tensei game released in America since then...
But I digress. That scene had the main character walking down a street, past bloody coffins just strewn everywhere, but all standing up erect. He seemed to sort of notice them, but just kept going, and then when he got to the dorm, this creepy little kid in striped pajamas told him to sign a book. It was weird and awkward and creepy all at once, and it hooked the shit out of me.
Persona 3 Portable uses a few lines of text to describe this scene, along with a few stills taken, I assume, from that cutscene. It still works to a certain extent, but I don't think it'd hook newcomers to the game like the anime would, "questionable quality" or not.
But anyway, that's all nerdy bitchery. I'm really enjoying the differences in the girl's campaign, even if I have already noticed a voice acting error (she just woke up in the hospital, Yukari! At least get her gender right!). I'm interested in seeing where the story goes once certain key characters are introduced, and I really like the design of the girl character as well. The male version was neat, but really, really weird looking. He would run with his hands in his pockets, which still sounds so weird to me.
Wow I'm all over the place today. I need to remember to start a paragraph and fucking finish the paragraph with that topic. Yeah. I'm going to stop for the night now. I hope I'll play more tomorrow, maybe I'll post again.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Mario's spaceship is shaped like his face... what hubris. (part 3)
Just got to the sixth world in Super Mario Galaxy 2, and I'm at a nice even 90 stars so I figured it'd be a good time to post.
The last boss battle against Bowser Jr. was epic, if I may say such a thing. You have your Cloud Mario powerup, while Bowser Jr. is in this like six story tall tank that you have to climb by riding clouds (that you make!) up these wind drafts and then leap, if you can, to the tank and butt-stomp it. You have to do this twice, then all of a sudden the tank gets higher and sprouts wheels! You then have to chase the thing around while being like 150 feet in the air, while trying to score that final butt-stomp.
It felt so awesome when I did. The game doesn't then mess around, knowing how awesome that sequence was, and it just tosses Bowser Jr. the fuck off the screen with nary a word. You then collect the Grand Star and move on.
When I entered the sixth world, I encountered a level about three stars in where you have to use Rock Mario to roll your way over jumps and whatnot to a star at the very end.
I died like twelve times. Yet, I was not frustrated (even when the stupid "you suck at this game" fairy showed up - I, of course, ignored her, knowing I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let the computer get the star for me). That part, though tough, was fun as hell.
Here comes some fanboy gushing. Forgive me for this... But Nintendo knows how to make some goddamn video games. The amount of polish that went into both Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 show how fucking awesome they are at making good, playable games. Not only does Super Mario Galaxy 2 look great, but it plays even better. This game does not feel stale at all - and I played through Super Mario Galaxy last summer, so it's still fairly fresh in my mind. You'd think it would be only slightly iterative, but it is a completely new game. I am fucking thrilled to be playing it and am happy I was able to start it during a big lull in workdays (thank you America's birthday!).
The last time I was this addicted to a game was when I was playing through Devil Survivor, and you know what happened with that. I know it was only a few months ago, but before that it was Persona 3 and 4 last year. As much as I enjoyed New Super Mario Bros. Wii, this may even top it - so far. Hard to say, having heard the endgame can kinda suck. We'll see, as I'm getting there soon, I'd say...
The last boss battle against Bowser Jr. was epic, if I may say such a thing. You have your Cloud Mario powerup, while Bowser Jr. is in this like six story tall tank that you have to climb by riding clouds (that you make!) up these wind drafts and then leap, if you can, to the tank and butt-stomp it. You have to do this twice, then all of a sudden the tank gets higher and sprouts wheels! You then have to chase the thing around while being like 150 feet in the air, while trying to score that final butt-stomp.
It felt so awesome when I did. The game doesn't then mess around, knowing how awesome that sequence was, and it just tosses Bowser Jr. the fuck off the screen with nary a word. You then collect the Grand Star and move on.
When I entered the sixth world, I encountered a level about three stars in where you have to use Rock Mario to roll your way over jumps and whatnot to a star at the very end.
I died like twelve times. Yet, I was not frustrated (even when the stupid "you suck at this game" fairy showed up - I, of course, ignored her, knowing I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I let the computer get the star for me). That part, though tough, was fun as hell.
Here comes some fanboy gushing. Forgive me for this... But Nintendo knows how to make some goddamn video games. The amount of polish that went into both Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 show how fucking awesome they are at making good, playable games. Not only does Super Mario Galaxy 2 look great, but it plays even better. This game does not feel stale at all - and I played through Super Mario Galaxy last summer, so it's still fairly fresh in my mind. You'd think it would be only slightly iterative, but it is a completely new game. I am fucking thrilled to be playing it and am happy I was able to start it during a big lull in workdays (thank you America's birthday!).
The last time I was this addicted to a game was when I was playing through Devil Survivor, and you know what happened with that. I know it was only a few months ago, but before that it was Persona 3 and 4 last year. As much as I enjoyed New Super Mario Bros. Wii, this may even top it - so far. Hard to say, having heard the endgame can kinda suck. We'll see, as I'm getting there soon, I'd say...
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Mario's spaceship is shaped like his face... What hubris. (part 2)
So I'm 55 stars into Super Mario Galaxy 2. Really enjoying it so far, still! We'll start this post off with my only complaint thus far:
The Bulb Berry powerup for Yoshi is no damn fun. It illuminates a circle around you, allowing you to see and step on invisible platforms - the catch is, these platforms only "exist" when you can see them, and the Bulb Berry's powers go away after a short time. It does so by gradually shrinking down the viewing area until it gets to none. I can see where the cleverness in design comes in with this powerup, but I'm hoping they don't use it much because I hate the levels.
As for what is good, I've really enjoyed the boss battles so far as well - there has not been much in the way of a retreading of ideas from Super Mario Galaxy 1, either, which I'm pretty impressed with. They've mostly been using the new powerups to create new boss battles, so that's good.
Another element that has returned are the Comet challenges from the first game. I've done mostly Speed Run levels, which were my favorite type of challenge from the first game, but I've also encountered one or two Daredevil Challenges (which are just regular levels, but with Mario only able to take one hit before death). These haven't been so bad, thus far, although I was lucky on the boss battle I fought. I almost got hit right near the very end, but dodged his foot somehow. Who knows! I was glad I did.
The levels continue to be amazing, as well. I just played through a level where everything is huge like in Mario 3, and it was great! Some of the levels have the same music as levels have had in the past, but I guess four worlds in I can't be surprised. And you know, whatever; it's all really good music, anyway.
That's all for now. I've noticed a few posts on Gamespite about the game where people complain about something called "green star mode" or somesuch, but I haven't reached there yet. Hopefully it's not a bunch of crap, because this game has been pure joy thus far.
The Bulb Berry powerup for Yoshi is no damn fun. It illuminates a circle around you, allowing you to see and step on invisible platforms - the catch is, these platforms only "exist" when you can see them, and the Bulb Berry's powers go away after a short time. It does so by gradually shrinking down the viewing area until it gets to none. I can see where the cleverness in design comes in with this powerup, but I'm hoping they don't use it much because I hate the levels.
As for what is good, I've really enjoyed the boss battles so far as well - there has not been much in the way of a retreading of ideas from Super Mario Galaxy 1, either, which I'm pretty impressed with. They've mostly been using the new powerups to create new boss battles, so that's good.
Another element that has returned are the Comet challenges from the first game. I've done mostly Speed Run levels, which were my favorite type of challenge from the first game, but I've also encountered one or two Daredevil Challenges (which are just regular levels, but with Mario only able to take one hit before death). These haven't been so bad, thus far, although I was lucky on the boss battle I fought. I almost got hit right near the very end, but dodged his foot somehow. Who knows! I was glad I did.
The levels continue to be amazing, as well. I just played through a level where everything is huge like in Mario 3, and it was great! Some of the levels have the same music as levels have had in the past, but I guess four worlds in I can't be surprised. And you know, whatever; it's all really good music, anyway.
That's all for now. I've noticed a few posts on Gamespite about the game where people complain about something called "green star mode" or somesuch, but I haven't reached there yet. Hopefully it's not a bunch of crap, because this game has been pure joy thus far.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Mario's spaceship is shaped like his face... What hubris. (part 1)
I received Super Mario Galaxy 2 for my birthday from my mom a few days early since she likely wouldn't see me on the actual day itself, and I began playing it this evening.
I've got 16 stars so far, and I'm loving it. Most of my complaints about the first game have been addressed, such as the hub world - it's gone! When I want to, you know, play the game, I don't have to walk around this giant boring hub world to get to the room that has the galaxy that I want to go to in it. I just point to the World I want on the main map, then point to the level I want, and I'm there! So that's great.
Also, the levels have less stars in them to begin with. This is a good thing, because now I'm not wandering around the same levels over and over again looking for whatever clue I need to find a hidden star. I hated that in the first game. Although this could change, admittedly - I've only played the first world, and part of the second so far, and certainly haven't gotten all the stars in either.
As an aside, one of the things that amuses me about the way this game is structured is that the clusters of levels are called Worlds, but the individual levels themselves are called galaxies. This means galaxies are contained within worlds. I suppose the reason for that is just that "world" has always been a generic catch-all term within video games to describe a collection of levels. So, because the first Super Mario Galaxy called the levels galaxies, they had to stick with it for this one, causing this weird little idiosyncrasy. But, I digress.
Yoshi is really awesome! Although this is no revelation for anybody who has played the little green dinosaur thing, this is the first time in 3-D where he has actually changed gameplay enough to merit his presence. In Super Mario Sunshine, Yoshi was available to Mario, although his only real benefit was to vomit weird juice all over stuff and float a little bit. Here in Super Mario Galaxy 2, he can not only use the Wiimote pointer to lock onto enemies to eat them, he can use it to flip around sort of like Bionic Commando with his tongue! He also has a bunch of individual powers he can pick up which alter gameplay as well, although I haven't found too many of them yet.
Speaking of powers, the few new powers I've picked up as plain ol' Mario are pretty neat too! The cloud one lets you create three temporary platforms whenever you spin in mid-air, so that's pretty neat for exploring (and as a back-up), and the rock hat lets you turn into, well, basically, the Goron Mask from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, albeit for a limited time. It's pretty fun, although I've only used it once so far. I'm sure I'll use it again.
As for the story, Super Mario Galaxy 2 has stripped most of it away compared to the first game, and I'm thankful for it. Some people really enjoyed the story in Galaxy 1, and I can sort of see the appeal, but I always skipped by it after having viewed it the first time (I've beaten the first Mario Galaxy twice). Bowser has kidnapped the princess, and you have to save her. That's it! Yay! Onto the gameplay! Yes.
I'd also like to mention the music here does not disappoint. The first Galaxy had amazing orchestrated music, and the second does as well, with a slightly more quirky selection this time around (so far). There are some awesome remixes of old Mario music as well, which were amazing - such as the level that takes place on mostly creaky wooden bridges, with a remix of the Butter Bridge music from Super Mario World. It was as if they made that music for me.
So it turns out I like Super Mario Galaxy 2. Wow, what a surprise.
I've got 16 stars so far, and I'm loving it. Most of my complaints about the first game have been addressed, such as the hub world - it's gone! When I want to, you know, play the game, I don't have to walk around this giant boring hub world to get to the room that has the galaxy that I want to go to in it. I just point to the World I want on the main map, then point to the level I want, and I'm there! So that's great.
Also, the levels have less stars in them to begin with. This is a good thing, because now I'm not wandering around the same levels over and over again looking for whatever clue I need to find a hidden star. I hated that in the first game. Although this could change, admittedly - I've only played the first world, and part of the second so far, and certainly haven't gotten all the stars in either.
As an aside, one of the things that amuses me about the way this game is structured is that the clusters of levels are called Worlds, but the individual levels themselves are called galaxies. This means galaxies are contained within worlds. I suppose the reason for that is just that "world" has always been a generic catch-all term within video games to describe a collection of levels. So, because the first Super Mario Galaxy called the levels galaxies, they had to stick with it for this one, causing this weird little idiosyncrasy. But, I digress.
Yoshi is really awesome! Although this is no revelation for anybody who has played the little green dinosaur thing, this is the first time in 3-D where he has actually changed gameplay enough to merit his presence. In Super Mario Sunshine, Yoshi was available to Mario, although his only real benefit was to vomit weird juice all over stuff and float a little bit. Here in Super Mario Galaxy 2, he can not only use the Wiimote pointer to lock onto enemies to eat them, he can use it to flip around sort of like Bionic Commando with his tongue! He also has a bunch of individual powers he can pick up which alter gameplay as well, although I haven't found too many of them yet.
Speaking of powers, the few new powers I've picked up as plain ol' Mario are pretty neat too! The cloud one lets you create three temporary platforms whenever you spin in mid-air, so that's pretty neat for exploring (and as a back-up), and the rock hat lets you turn into, well, basically, the Goron Mask from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, albeit for a limited time. It's pretty fun, although I've only used it once so far. I'm sure I'll use it again.
As for the story, Super Mario Galaxy 2 has stripped most of it away compared to the first game, and I'm thankful for it. Some people really enjoyed the story in Galaxy 1, and I can sort of see the appeal, but I always skipped by it after having viewed it the first time (I've beaten the first Mario Galaxy twice). Bowser has kidnapped the princess, and you have to save her. That's it! Yay! Onto the gameplay! Yes.
I'd also like to mention the music here does not disappoint. The first Galaxy had amazing orchestrated music, and the second does as well, with a slightly more quirky selection this time around (so far). There are some awesome remixes of old Mario music as well, which were amazing - such as the level that takes place on mostly creaky wooden bridges, with a remix of the Butter Bridge music from Super Mario World. It was as if they made that music for me.
So it turns out I like Super Mario Galaxy 2. Wow, what a surprise.
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