LittleBigPlanet 2 [PS3]

[Tig]

Strange lack of buzz and hype for this.

on this board, yeah.
It seems there's no shortage of buzz worldwide though:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-01-21-littlebigplanet-2-trounces-lbp-records

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32564/Saling_The_World_LittleBigPlanet_2_Heads_Worldwide_Charts

also, check out this map to see everything LBP-related which is going on in the entire world.

[Neon Ignition]

I'd be curious to see figures, given the time of year and the date the chart was compiled its success is very vague considering it's only up against a port and older releases. Hopefully we'll get raw figures soon and get to see how much transferance there is with the fanbase.

[Matt]

I can't bring myself to buy it ATM. You all know my fondness of the original, but right now there are many things conspiring against me that make buying immediately a waste - lack of time, other things I want to buy (not gaming related), lack of time, and mainly lack of time.

[hush]

I bought it about 2 hours a go and it's still got the magic for me just need to re-download my junk from LBP to LBP2 rock on, ok i am going to try and write a first play thread

[Tig]

I don't actually think its a very good game, standing in front a hole behind you that you are meant to drop down but up+jump doesn't make sackboy hop thru it likes he's meant to is so sloppy and ruins the nice bits that go before.

eh?


That bit of the training level was supposed to teach you how to change layers using the grappling hook.

Up+jump doesn't make Sackboy fall behind platforms, because that would be awful. You'd keep dropping down the back of the level by accident.




Really, if you invest the time to learn how to play it properly, this game is great fun and the controls are very consistent.

Although I do wonder whether platformers have become such a formalized genre that they're no longer allowed to have a learning curve...

[Darwock]

Interesting to see that the regional version of the game is included in the title when people are playing it on PSN. Tig and a couple of others show as playing Littlebigplanet 2 (UK).

I wonder why? Every region should be able to connect to the others, right?

[merf]

replying to Tig and talk of the training level, its not really what I'm referring to, you get the situation a lot in levels where you are standing up on a platform and need to go back into the screen to drop thru a gap, the game engine gets confused and refuses to let you go back (wither up or up and jump if you wish to do it jumping), similar thing occues when there are bubbles in the furthest layer back and you can't get where you want to be (even on a flat level).

seems you have to move the screen on a bit and come back and it kind of resets its internal bearings.

played a bit more last night and sticking by my initial feelings, for anybody who had gripes with the original (at a fundamental gameplay level not with the tools) I can't see anything fixed to allay those feelings.

[Darwock]

If it's like the original then you pick up bubbles regardless of whether they are in the same plane as you or not.

[Salsa Party Animal]

So what the different as I haven't been monitoring this game. Was shocked to see it is coming out soon.

[Tig]

fair enough really. I agree that for such a (supposedly) knockabout game, the controls can be very finicky- you really need to be aware of Sackboy's speed and his position in the layers at all times.


I'm currently trying to master the grappling hook, but I'm finding the controls to be needlessly tricky due to the fact that "swing" and "reel in/out" are both mapped to the same thumbstick. Hopefully that will get patched to make it more manageable.

So what the different as I haven't been monitoring this game.

In a nutshell: the base platforming gameplay is largely unchanged. However, the story levels are vastly superior, with more gameplay variety and a proper (silly) story to go with it.



However, the real improvements are in the tools and online features. The creation tools are now powerful enough to make actual games, of almost any genre and any size. (Although gameplay is mostly limited to two dimensions.) Sackboy and his floaty jump are now an entirely optional component of user-made levels.

This dovetails with the hugely improved online system, which means that the finest community stuff is easy to find, and won't get lost under piles of crap like in LBP1.



By way of example - the first user-made level I tried was a very pretty Super Stardust HD clone. It had its own title screen, options menus, online leaderboards etc.
That was there on UK's day one. I'm looking forward to seeing what appears online in a month or two.

[yesteryeargames]

ive just started the tutorials im quite new to the create modes, i want to know is there a seperate mode to make the retro style games, ive seen pong clones, micro machine clones all sorts are they made the same way as the platforming levels ?

[Tig]

ive just started the tutorials im quite new to the create modes, i want to know is there a seperate mode to make the retro style games, ive seen pong clones, micro machine clones all sorts are they made the same way as the platforming levels ?

yep, it's all in the same editor.


You'll want to investigate the Controlinator and Mover tools to make something like micro machines...

[Ouenben]

Can't wait to bust into the creator but I feel I'd be better to go through most of the story first so I have more materials/stickers to use. Not looking forward to redoing all the tutorials for each tool though

[FurryGreenMonster]

Not looking forward to redoing all the tutorials for each tool though

You can just run to the end when the video starts and the items and exit will drop. You don't actually have to copy the tutorials if you don't want to, I just stood and watched the videos for most of them.

[Darwock]

How come there is still no first play thread???

Anyway I wanted to ask about the trophies - have they ditched the ones for getting so-and-so number of hearts on your levels? I really hope so because while it did give me motivation to try and make something decent, looking at the big picture it just caused the community space to fill up with "hart me and I hart u" type things.