2 hours in from last night and I do sorta miss the spectacle of getting a Star/Sprite like in Mario 64. It's not detracting from the overall experience since the whole thing has been sublime, but I haven't had that YEAH! sensation from getting any power moons yet.
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The Power Moons in Super Mario Odessey are unfulfilling
- Thread starter Jordie
- Start date
I get this sentiment, I really do, but the sheer range of difficulty in just getting a moon is the satisfaction for me. The fact that I can either waltz into a Crazy Cap store and buy one, or go through a stressful-ass, timed challenge to obtain one, makes the nature of the moons really exciting. It's having a large range of HOW you find one that makes getting each individual one feel satisfying to me. I dunno...
Yep.
Huge difference between buying one or getting that one NPC's sheep back and the bullet bill challenge with the rotating doors ~100 feet away.
I'm not too far in but I see where you're coming from. Collecting the moons is fun but once I hit the required amount to advance to the next level I'm not sure if there's any reason to keep collecting them, apart from the fun of it which is what's motivating me to continue with them. I completely agree that it's strange that doing platforming challenges nets the same reward as ground pounding on a shiny spot on the ground however. It's fulfilling sometimes, but not always.
I definitely felt that way at first. In Mario 64, each star felt more accomplished because they were rarer and also more involved. In Odyssey, they can be incredibly easy to find and you can quite often find yourself repeating tasks throughout the worlds to get them.
However, I did learn to love it. I was lucky enough to get the game on Wednesday, and am now 500 moons in. Having a big, open Mario level just filled with Mario-esque tasks to complete is a really fun idea and there are some great surprises along the way. I can see how this game is perfect for the Switch: Being able to grab a couple of moons on a commute will be very satisfying.
However, I did learn to love it. I was lucky enough to get the game on Wednesday, and am now 500 moons in. Having a big, open Mario level just filled with Mario-esque tasks to complete is a really fun idea and there are some great surprises along the way. I can see how this game is perfect for the Switch: Being able to grab a couple of moons on a commute will be very satisfying.
I'm only at New Donk City but I certainly feel the same. It really reduces the pleasure you get from completing a tricky platforming section or a major objective by giving you something that it's handing out like candy just for exploring the level.
There should have been two levels of rewards, moons and stars. Moons being the standard item hidden around levels, and stars being maybe 6 major objectives per level like they typically were in the past.
Or alternatively just have less moons, and less moons that are just lying out in the open. 60 moons in a level is excessive... 20 would have been more than enough.
There should have been two levels of rewards, moons and stars. Moons being the standard item hidden around levels, and stars being maybe 6 major objectives per level like they typically were in the past.
Or alternatively just have less moons, and less moons that are just lying out in the open. 60 moons in a level is excessive... 20 would have been more than enough.
I'm just loving it. Sure there are some easy ones but I just love exploring and walking around these worlds.
This! Though it would be nice to know what'll happen if I collect all of them. Is there a special extra world? So far I'm loving this game to death!
I really can't agree. I've beaten the main game and began the absolutely massive postgame. I'm loving how many moons there are to find and how varied they are. It's making the maps feel incredibly dense and much bigger than anything in a 3D Mario game before it. I don't really mind that some moons are easier than others, it all balances out nicely and has me really exploring maps the way I used to unprompted when I was a kid playing SM64
I agree. I feel like an achievement system, or at least some kind of out-of-game unlock (like a Switch theme) would be a great reward, but a lot of the time I don't feel any excitement for getting a moon.. compared to beating a boss and earning 3, which is actually a lot of fun.
There's a very simple but important reason for this: Switch is a handheld.
Koizumi said in an interview that Super Mario Odyssey and every Switch game from Nintendo is being designed to be played both in the traditional home console style with long periods of gameplay and handheld style with short bursts.
There are lots of Power Moons to found and every time you find one the game auto-refresh. This way a person who is playing the game at short bursts can also enjoy the adventure
Koizumi said in an interview that Super Mario Odyssey and every Switch game from Nintendo is being designed to be played both in the traditional home console style with long periods of gameplay and handheld style with short bursts.
There are lots of Power Moons to found and every time you find one the game auto-refresh. This way a person who is playing the game at short bursts can also enjoy the adventure
I agree with portability it makes sense to have less time consuming "missions" be required for each moon, and have many just laying about throughout the environment.
But I found Jiggies to be a bit more satisfying to collect even though the often operated in a similar manner. I think it has something to do with how they are manifested in the game world and once you collect them it's quite literally "putting the pieces together", in order to open a new world, and you can see how each jiggie makes the next world's painting form. As opposed to oddysey where they individually just contribute to an arbitrary number on the ship's sail.
I guess getting enough stars to power a ship like gas to get to a new destination on a map isn't quite as compelling as unlocking a new door or area in a Castle, either.
But I found Jiggies to be a bit more satisfying to collect even though the often operated in a similar manner. I think it has something to do with how they are manifested in the game world and once you collect them it's quite literally "putting the pieces together", in order to open a new world, and you can see how each jiggie makes the next world's painting form. As opposed to oddysey where they individually just contribute to an arbitrary number on the ship's sail.
I guess getting enough stars to power a ship like gas to get to a new destination on a map isn't quite as compelling as unlocking a new door or area in a Castle, either.
When I play games I like being rewarded for my curiosity, and I feel like the power moons are doing a great job of that so far.
I do understand what you mean about an easy task and a difficult task having an equal reward tho, which can potentially be counter intuitive to the design. I found a similar frustration with the Korok seeds.. Climb a mountain and be rewarded with a Korok seed. Walk passed an odd looking rock on the ground and flip it over, Korok seed. I stopped climbing mountains after a while as it became a deterrent for me personally. Hopefully this isn't the case as I continue to play Mario.
I do understand what you mean about an easy task and a difficult task having an equal reward tho, which can potentially be counter intuitive to the design. I found a similar frustration with the Korok seeds.. Climb a mountain and be rewarded with a Korok seed. Walk passed an odd looking rock on the ground and flip it over, Korok seed. I stopped climbing mountains after a while as it became a deterrent for me personally. Hopefully this isn't the case as I continue to play Mario.
To me this is an example of great design.
They want everyone to get through the game. Start to finish. The boss fights aren't particularly hard and getting enough moons to progress is relatively easy.
But Mario has kinda always Been that way. The tricky ones to get are where the real platforming challenge comes from. It's a collectathon game, the sense of accomplishment rests in knowing you collected that particular moon. They are even all individually labelled. Not the reward for collecting them.
The reason it felt weird in Botw is that Zelda games aren't collectathon games. Mario 64 was. This game takes after that, so it's also one. Mario is about fun.
Got a moon today that was just awesome to finally get after failing so many times. The sense of accomplishment was there for me because I persevered.
They want everyone to get through the game. Start to finish. The boss fights aren't particularly hard and getting enough moons to progress is relatively easy.
But Mario has kinda always Been that way. The tricky ones to get are where the real platforming challenge comes from. It's a collectathon game, the sense of accomplishment rests in knowing you collected that particular moon. They are even all individually labelled. Not the reward for collecting them.
The reason it felt weird in Botw is that Zelda games aren't collectathon games. Mario 64 was. This game takes after that, so it's also one. Mario is about fun.
Got a moon today that was just awesome to finally get after failing so many times. The sense of accomplishment was there for me because I persevered.
I felt similar when I first started the game, but after seeing a massive list of missing moons from the various stage it really got my curiosity piqued and I started enjoying the hunt more.
I'm only about 5 hours in, but it doesn't feel too bad yet. The only thing that confuses me is how you can get more than the empty slots in a level. Something about that bothers me quite a bit.
Yeah, it's also pretty obvious the developers want more people to at least get to the end of the story. I got to the post story stuff, and yes there's still some easy moons, there's also some really tricky af moons. I'm having fun trying to find them all since even some of the easier moons are not always in plain sight.
I think it's quite clever, in that they have created two games in one. I'm 35 and have played Mario since the beginning, I can play through the game and still feel challenged by the platforming. My kids are 5 and 4, they can still progress by exploring and solving puzzles but not get frustrated by being stuck on platforming or bosses they can't handle. In terms of creating a game for everyone, I feel they've done a good job.
Most moons don't really function as rewards or achievements, they're more just a method of coaxing the player into interacting with the environment in different ways. It's the act poking around, exploring, experimenting that's really the emphasis.
I agree it might have been nice to have some differentiation between the exploration/puzzle moons and the platforming/skill challenge moons. But, well, shrug_guy.
I agree it might have been nice to have some differentiation between the exploration/puzzle moons and the platforming/skill challenge moons. But, well, shrug_guy.
I definitely felt like that early on too - it's like they took the concepts of shrines and korok seeds and, by having them offer the same level of reward, undermined the more challenging stuff. If a difficult bit of platforming offers the same reward as a single ground pound on a suspicious hillock, why put yourself through it? The obvious answer is fun, but I agree that, early on, the ratio of rewards to effort feels a little skewed.
But the more you play, the more you appreciate it. Just as korok seeds were rewards for exploring, so the easier moons are a pat on the back for being prepared to take your eye off the ball a bit while you're on your way to a bigger objective. And of course there's an element of them wanting everyone to be able to progress through the game if their platforming skills aren't up to scratch.
Things change a bit in the postgame too. By that point you're not seeing moons as individual things, but counting them by the dozen. In that context, every little helps.
But the more you play, the more you appreciate it. Just as korok seeds were rewards for exploring, so the easier moons are a pat on the back for being prepared to take your eye off the ball a bit while you're on your way to a bigger objective. And of course there's an element of them wanting everyone to be able to progress through the game if their platforming skills aren't up to scratch.
Things change a bit in the postgame too. By that point you're not seeing moons as individual things, but counting them by the dozen. In that context, every little helps.
I think bronze, silver and gold power moons should be a thing in the game not unlike achievements. All counting for unlocking progress but silver and gold moons would unlocks "something else".
Maybe OP means something like that
Maybe OP means something like that
I agree, but I'm also reallly early. It's my biggest and really only gripe so far. However, Let me just say though that the first real level is one whammy of a level. Jurassic right out of the box and I'll be surprised if I find a level more beautiful than this one.