NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams

[Phar]

Although I've only played it very briefly, just over 30 minutes I thought I'd leave some of my first impressions.

On start up your greeted to an intro which has a remix of Dreams Dreams, after then starting the game up your then asked to enter a file name for saving along with selecting a flag of the country your from which I can only assume will be shown on the online leaderboards.

Your then asked to select the type of control method, you can choose from nunchuck & remote, remote and finally just a classic controller, until my classic controller turns up I've just opted for the nunchuck & remote combination.

Next up your greeted with an intro to Wills story and then on to a basic tutorial, a large part of the game at this point really seems to be very narrative driven unlike the first which relied more on a visual way of showing the story. Also at this point NiGHTS also speaks, which seems really weird, I can see where Sega were going with this in regards to appealing to a larger audiance but I'm not too sure.

After the tutorial you have to watch another cutscene and then it's onto the game.

From the little I've played the first stage it's very much like an updated spring valley, graphically nice while still fitting in the originals style. Gameplay wise its a bit different to the original though, in the original NiGHTS you'd collect 20 ideya place them in the ideya globe thing, then try and collect as many gold ideya and do as many links as possible before returning back to the temple with as little time remaining as possible to try a get an A rank.

This one seems to be that you have a set time for each course, you collect ideya, and keep collecting as much as possible before taking it back to the ideya globe with as little time left as possible to get a decent rank, there doesn't seem to be any gold ideya in this one. Also when chaining links together you seem to get more time to keep it going if you miss some ideya or fail to go through one of the hoops first time, unlike the original which was pretty unforgiving.

Option screen wise theres choices for screen setup, control setup and weather settings as well as an option for online rankings. I'm currently playing the Japanese version and theres also an option for english language which was a nice surprise.

Bit to early at the moment to compare it to the Saturn version but early impressions are good overall.

[Dogg Thang]

Given that it's the 19th of December, is there anything to note that it's Christmas or winter or whatever?

[Phar]

Given that it's the 19th of December, is there anything to note that it's Christmas or winter or whatever?

Can't see anything unfortunately, I do remember reading in an interview that they were dropping the clock features in favor of incorporating real weather conditions instead though, so unless they've changed there minds at the last minute I can't see them being included.

[Dogg Thang]

And have you noticed anything interesting regarding the weather?

[Phar]

And have you noticed anything interesting regarding the weather?

I'll probably take it online in the next hour or so and let you know, just got to dig out my nintendo usb stick as I don't have a router.

[Phar]

Right, the weather effects only seem to be available in a part of the game called my dream which is basically like the chao garden in Sonic Adventure 2, it takes the weather from the town you registered in the weather channel and incorporates that into your Nightopian garden, also looks like you can visit or invite friends on your friends code list as well random people to your garden as well as visiting theirs.

This one seems to be that you have a set time for each course, you collect ideya, and keep collecting as much as possible before taking it back to the ideya globe with as little time left as possible to get a decent rank, there doesn't seem to be any gold ideya in this one. Also when chaining links together you seem to get more time to keep it going if you miss some ideya or fail to go through one of the hoops first time, unlike the original which was pretty unforgiving.

Since setting the language to english I've now found out that to deposit the ideya into each ideya globe, on each section of the course theres a bird with a key which you need to unlock the globe, once you have that you can then deposit the ideya.

[sj33]

From the sounds of it, as long as we don't go into it expecting it to be the messiah, we're safe. Sounds like a solid title. 9/10 in Nintendo Power too, which sounds crazy. I'm awaiting the Eurogamer review, for all their flaws, they do tend to appreciate a Sega game.
VG+ sent mine today, which usually means a Saturday delivery, but it is Christmas...

[Phar]

9/10 in Nintendo Power

At the minute that sounds a bit too generous, i'm leaning more towards the review that gamespot gave it of 7.5 as it stands, one of the things thats really putting me off is the constant cut scenes with crap voice acting and the change in the main games structure in regards to the ideya collecting, to me it seems like they've over simplified it. I'm going to give it some more time though, just doesn't seem to click with me as much as the first at the moment.

Also just to add, it doesn't follow the originals play a course then onto a boss battle, get your final ranking then off to the next stage, instead it has the above followed by 4 more challenges

->Open Spoiler<-

the first course has you doing things like achieve a certain number of links, save the nightopians from being sucked into a hurricane, theres one where NiGHTS morphs into a boat and you have to rescue drowning nightopians and then a final boss

before you can move onto the next stage

[Linkintones]

I hope they add an option to skip all cutscenes and disable voices, or better just remove it for the european version. But that will of course not happen. Why cannot Sega make a game based on a beloved series without destroying it completely?

It makes me even more sad that the original creator of NiGHTS is a part of this. The review by IGN says it all, 6.5/10. :-( But I will buy this game, as I always do with most of the Sega games, even if I do not like it.

First they killed Sonic, now they are torturing NiGHTS. Now I pray to god that they will not even think about doing something awful with Panzer Dragoon Saga. If they do...then my love for Sega is over! :'(

[oblivion_6]

The voice of NiGHTS is pretty annoying to be honest, but the owl has to go down as the most annoying NPC in history

[arada392]

... one of the things that's really putting me off is the constant cut scenes with crap voice acting and the change in the main games structure in regards to the ideya collecting, to me it seems like they've over simplified it. I'm going to give it some more time though, just doesn't seem to click with me as much as the first at the moment....

I'm writing this just after having finished Helen's side, and, while I understand a lot of the criticism that has been hurled towards the game, I have to say that I am really enjoying the game. it seems to me as if the game is, in many, many ways, as much a sequel as it is a response to the original. This would explain, for example, the platforming sections in which you take control of one of the children for an entire level––as if Sonic Team had updated the control mechanics of the original children in the Saturn version. What those platforming sections emphasise, though, (and what some reviewers have missed) is the rhythm aspect in the game that is unmistakably manifest in the flying sections, as the player is encouraged to keep 'in the groove' (as it were) in a way that is similar to that of the original, but not the same.

The constant (and, most of the time, unskippable) cut-scenes certainly don't do the game any favours, but I find this is more due to an over-written script. It's quite obvious what they are trying to do, but Sonic Team could have saved themselves a lot of trouble (and expense) by just cutting at least half of the cut-scenes and focussed a bit more on polishing the non-human character designs. Still, the core game is great and even magical at times––and the music is superb. (Although maybe that's because I love anything that uses gamelan-like sounds.)

[Dogg Thang]

I've been playing this for quite a bit this evening. I'm a huge fan of Nights. I still remember the excitement of picking it up - I was the first person in the shop that morning and they were just getting them out of boxes. The game was a revelation to me. The look, the sound, the scoring and, most of all, the A-Life system. I loved everything about it.

So when putting this game on, I had a pedestal on one side of me in case I loved it and a pitchfork and torch to the other side, in case they, well, did a Sonic on it.

Here's how things went early on -

Intro sequence - Oh my god this is the best thing ever. Beautiful opening, gorgeous music, just wonderful.

Intro to Will's story - Okay, so it's just a repeat of Elliots but that's okay. It looks lovely and is dripping with atmosphere. Can atmosphere actually drip?

Opening cut scenes - holy crap, what went wrong here? The character models are hideous. Like, embarrassingly bad. Will looks awful. The animation is a disgrace. The voices, well, the recording levels seem piss poor but I actually don't mind Nights' voice. The problem is more in how they've scripted and animated him - Nights, plainly put, is a dick.

What's worse is that during this, the game seems to flicker on some cuts, almost like the video signal is completely cutting out. And the loading sequence with Will floating is vile. Overall, at this point, things seem shoddy and it's not looking good for Nights.

But then the game proper begins. Hey, the location looks great! And there's rings, and blue balls. And the music is lovely. And I'm flying! And look - Pians! This is Nights!

Really nice. The graphics aren't technically what you'd call top notch by any means but then neither were the Saturn's at the time - it was all in the design and the feel and it's the same here. The actual flying levels so far seem lovely. The first level has you chasing a bird thing, which seemed to miss the point a bit in my opinion, but everything seems set up and in place for some scoring runs -does this become an option? I hope so. If so, this is looking really good.

Then there were a bunch more missions. Some of these bugged me because the explanation is clear in terms of what you are generally trying to do (eg, save the Pians) but it doesn't tell you the parameters of the challenge (how many you have to get or how many you an miss or what affects your time etc). Instead what you have is the dumbass owl giving you walls of text while you're actually trying to play the level and usually they are no help at all.

Boss levels as per the orginal Nights - I've very cool with that. Same feel.

The cut scenes are horrific and pretty pointless admittedly. There's one I thought was horrific that just went on and on and it just seemed to serve to explain why Reala left Nights in a cage again when Will can break him out. It's a game. Just chuck him in the cage, let Will rescue him and repeat. I'd come to terms with Reala not realising his mistake quicker than I'd learn to love a 10 minute badly animated cut scene.

So I completed Will's first dream and a few levels of the second. Then I went to Helen's. For some bizarre and highly annoying reason, they have chosen to make you sit through the exact same tutorials a second time around. Unskippable it seems (if anyone knows how, let me know).

Unfortunately for me (and probably the developers) it seems that my biggest problem is actually in the control. The pointer just doesn't do it for me here. It seems to have some sort of weird 'sticky pointer' mechanism that makes it tough to control. So I went to the nunchuck and tried the classic controller to get the old Nights feel. And, in terms of programming, they seem to have got this spot-on. The problem is in the controllers themselves. The angular surrounding of the stick takes away the smoothness and makes control tricky. And I may be the only person who found this but it was really uncomfortable keeping my thumb on that stick after a while because it is convex and my thumb kept slipping towards the sides.

Seems to me, someone needs to bring out a revised concave, round controller. With maybe a bit more resistance. Although I've never really noticed this with other Wii games. But then Nights requires smoothness and control across all directions.

So quite a few problems. And yet I don't find myself reaching for my pitchfork and torch.

Those opening levels of each dream have the setup of classic Nights - only with nicer graphics. And that's really all I've ever wanted from a Nights 2. I understand why they put all those missions in. The game would have a harder time in reviews being as short as the original - but then I feel those reviewers would be missing the point, as in the points. It's about scoring. But I understand it. I really hope a plain ol' classic Nights style score run option without bird-chasing opens up for those levels. If so, the game looks like it will deliver just about everything I want from it. If not, I'd have to ask -why the hell set up those levels that way to begin with?

Special mention goes to the music, which is gorgeous. Contrary to reports I had heard, this does not just repeat what was done on the Saturn version. It has clear themes taken from it and there is one in particular that is almost just like a remix (the pre-level loading one), but so far this is all new stuff and it all blends together really well. Anyone know if the music mixes as it did on the Saturn?

And I love the revised Pian design - they're gorgeous!

[Leon Retro]

Sounds like they've taken the Nights concept, added a lot of horrible things, and basically made a bloated mutant version of a much loved title.

I'm not a Nights fanboy, but I really appreciated it's abstract world and overall atmosphere and gameplay. I hope the PS2 remake is good.

[usman]

....basically made a bloated mutant version of a much loved title.

...I really appreciated it's abstract world and overall atmosphere and gameplay. I hope the PS2 remake is good.

Yeah my thoughts exactly. I can't imagine why they added as much as they did in the wayof unncessary bloatation. That ...owl.

And the abstract nature of the original really does seem to have been mucked about with a tad too much. Voices, worst of all for NiGHTS, and such...Ah well.

That said it doesn't seem to be an utter insult (as have been other Sega Studios USA titles) to the beloved original so I can't see myself keep holding off, and will pick it up tomorrow.

[Dogg Thang]

a bloated mutant version of a much loved title.

I've played a lot today and you've managed to sum it up really well here, Leon. A large amount of the missions are rubbish, getting worse as the game goes on, and the cutscenes (as I mentioned) are awful.

And there's a real inconsistency - some levels are great and some are really poor. It seems that the bits they took from the original work great. Like, the first couple of areas for each characters are pretty much taken from Splash Garden and Spring Valley and they are both lovely. The basic courses play well and it all looks great. Then there's one of Will's that is entirely new and seems to be trying to be the Casino Night level from Sonic 2 and it is so unbelievably bad, it's quite shocking. It's like from a whole different game - plays poorly and looks like barely above a PS1 game.

But then there's the final level which is

->Open Spoiler<-

almost exactly like the Twin Seeds ending from the original

and it is just amazing. It's absolutely fantastic.

So it seems to me that, with the resources they had, there was no reason why they couldn't have taken the concept and structure of the original and updated it to make a stunning and worthy sequel.

But they didn't. They filled it with annoying characters and really **** missions.

But there is some good stuff buried in amongst that.