Mighty No. 9 (Opinions)

[Osvir]

Searched around for a topic about the game on the forums but couldn't find it, was pretty sure there was one (might be mixing up "post" with "topic" though).

This post ("The Kickstarter Thread") by Keyrock sparked a lot of thoughts about Mighty No. 9, and I thought it'd be better to start a thread about it instead of starting a discussion in "The Kickstarter Thread". An Alpha Gameplay Teaser has been revealed.

Alpha gameplay footage, as seen in Keyrock's post:

Mighty No. 9 is sort of Megaman spiritual successor. I enjoyed Megaman 8 a lot, played some of the earlier ones on NES, but Megaman Legends is probably the one I hold most dear and spent most time with.

First of all, I think it looks great! This post is going to be a bit on the negative side, but I am looking forward to see how it shapes up in the future... to be honest I kind of went from "I must have this game!" to "I... I think I'm gonna distance myself a little bit from this"... I am a bit disappointed about several things:
 

1) Why is it so arcadey? What's up with the 100% combo stuff? Why is it taking up so much screen presence?
I believe it might be part of one of the many (Kickstarter page) "Modes" that Comcept managed to get into the game through the Stretch Goals. I really hope it is. Personally I find it off-putting and the game loses a lot of appeal for me. Okay, to be frank, I find it "immersion" breaking and the aesthetics loses a lot of it's "cool"~ it's too gamey.

Modes:

- New Game Plus
- Turbo Mode
- Boss Rush Mode
- Challenge Mode
- Online Battle Race Mode

For some comparison (YouTube links) on the combo-system as well as the feels:
- Megaman X

- Megaman NES, sure, here's a "score system". It's an old game though, and most games on the Nintendo 8-bit system had a "score bar".
- Megaman 8

And so on and so forth.

So why is Mighty No. 9 so arcadey? I don't know, but I guess we'll have to wait and see if that's going to be part of the core mechanics or if it's "[X] Mode-Only".

2) Speaking of art style. What happened to this 2D beauty? I know it's only concept art, I.E. it's not in-engine or gameplay, this is something they just drew. It's a painting and nothing else.

 

But why did it have to go full 3D? I know it's a perception thing going on here but I also liked the closer camera feel you get from the concept art, in the 3D Alpha you're suddenly all zoomed out, of course to get a better look at the stage but the zoomed in style just looks superior. In the 3D it almost feels as if there's a too big of a "field of view".

Compare the gameplay teaser with Megaman 8 (YouTube), compare it with Megaman 6 (YouTube) even. The rooms are HUGE in Mighty No. 9 and the characters are small. That's what's messing with me (Left-Megaman 8 Longplay, Right-Mighty No. 9 Gameplay Teaser):


Albeit the 3D artistic style and  the gameplay doesn't really bother me as much as the "Combo System" that seems to be in place (out of place if you ask me, I don't think it belongs), I can't lie and say it's getting me "turned on".. am a bit disappointed they didn't go the 2D route.

3) Music. Not disappointing at all. Loving it :D

Anyone got any uplifting news from the Mighty No. 9 forums? All of this 3D is just placeholders for the 2D stuff to come?

What are your thoughts?

Edited June 2, 2014 by Osvir

[Keyrock]

I posted that trailer in the Random Video Game News thread.  Not sure if enough people care about this game here for this to warrant its own thread, but we'll see.

 

Yeah, the 2D concept art definitely looked better than the 3D stuff shown in that trailer.  I'm sure Inafune has his reasons for going with 3D.  I still think it looks nice, just not as good as the concept art.  Keep in mind that this game is still a year away from completion, so this is still very early alpha footage and there is a lot of room for tweaking and beautifying.

 

The one section in the beginning of the video was definitely too close up for my tastes, but later on they showed another area where the view was more far away, at about the distance that would be my preference.  Hopefully most of the game happens in that view.

[Humanoid]

Honestly, I just backed it as a favour to the people here that got so excited about it. I've never played any Megaman games and barely read the Kickstarter pitch. But it looked like it was making a lot of people happy in the pants, so eh, why not, at worst I'd end up with an average game, otherwise it ought to be a pleasant surprise if Megaman is all it was cracked up to be.

[Osvir]

@Keyrock: Oh, I didn't know you posted it there. I linked to your post in the Kickstarter Thread (maybe it was moved or you posted there as well? I dunno~ I haven't checked the Random Video Game News Thread).

The 3D art style isn't bad... it's just that I think 2D would've looked cooler. 2D styled sprites probably take much more time to make nice and stylish and I suspect the funding they got isn't even near enough to get this sort of quality (Starts at around 9:30 in the video and be prepared to "Mute", there's commentary):

^I wasn't expecting King of Fighters XII or XIII detail (2D animation takes much more time/money than 3D animation I imagine), but something somewhat towards it. I was given the feeling that "2D" was the vision.

@Humanoid: I really don't have anything against the gameplay itself, it's looking to be a great game and I am still looking forward to more of it.

I got unnerved by the "Combo" stuff and needed to vent. It removes a lot of "cool" and "charm". It doesn't look as pleasing with the score feedback taking up so much presence on the screen, and I believe it affects the game how it will be recieved. I've read up on several articles on the internet (Joystiq, IGN, Polygon, Kotaku, to name a few), Mighty No. 9 reddit etc. and I don't seem to be alone about the "Combo" worry.

 

There's a lot of well deserved praise as well of course

Edited June 2, 2014 by Osvir

[Bryy]

Most hilarious gamestarter yet.

[Helz]

I agree with you on the graphics.  They don't look that great, and the combo stuff is annoying. 

 

Healthbars, huh?  That isn't the Megaman I remember.  One hit and you're throwing the controller across the room.  That's the Megaman I remember. 

[Osvir]

Most hilarious gamestarter yet.

You know, I'm tempted to ask you why you think that, but I'm afraid your answer will be that thing that doesn't deserve any attention whatsoever...

 

I agree with you on the graphics.  They don't look that great, and the combo stuff is annoying. 

 

Healthbars, huh?  That isn't the Megaman I remember.  One hit and you're throwing the controller across the room.  That's the Megaman I remember. 

Wait what...? All Megaman games have health bars...?

 

http://gamejournalist.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/mega_man_cut_man_stage.png?w=448&h=392

http://www.bluebomber.com/endings/mmfinalscene.gif

http://remyvanruiten.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/full-health.png

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c10/Grey_Sonic/ZeroHealthbars-1.png

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h312/Zekkass/zero02/megaman_zero_e_16.png

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man_(video_game)#Gameplay

"Enemies also drop energy cells that replenish Mega Man's health gauge."

Edited June 3, 2014 by Osvir

[Helz]

Huh, well I guess I don't remember Mega Man that well.  I don't think I played one after the NES.

[Blarghagh]

I don't recall the original, but Megaman 2 for the NES definitely has health bars.