Yuji Naka is no longer working at Square Enix, following the release of Balan Wonderworld

MarkDarkness · Jun 5, 2021

RedBlueGreen said:
I guess Shigeru Miyamoto hasn't either.

No, he made several franchises that are ongoing and successful. Your boy Yuji made a fad platformer with 6 levels that was boring as crap and people have been trying to "recapture the magic" for 25 years... the reason they can't is because Sonic is only good in people'a childhood memories.

Oh, he also made a linear game about flying that'd br semi-decent, were it not for the fact that the "good part" is like 25% of it.

Good job, Yuji.

Codemastershock · Jun 5, 2021

Pipistrele said:
NiGHTS into Dreams is legit one of the greatest games of all time, and I'll die on that hill if I have to

I didnt played Billy Hatcher, but Rodea is very good (the wii version that is, the 3DS and Wii U versions were quite bad since the publisher asked another development team to do the game). It is like if Nights into Dreams was controlled in 3D and had a homming attack similar to Sonic Adventure games. The only negative things I can say about Rodea is the lack of replayable value (it has a rank system without any purpose) and the last stage is terrible.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Kwyjor said:
It doesn't seem to have gotten very good reviews at all.
.

Because most people at the time played the 3DS version and some played on the Wii U which are the same terrible game.
The Wii U version came with the Wii version and a reversible cover. Many people would assume that the game for the latest and more powerful system would be better than the portable version or the game from the last generation but no, the supposed "HD" version was the 3DS game upscaled. At the time I only saw people taking appreciation for the Wii version some weeks after the game was launched and already bombed critically.
I dont want to skyrocket your expectation for this game, it is not ground breaking, but it is very fun.

sarkwalvein · Jun 5, 2021

MarkDarkness said:
No, he made several franchises that are ongoing and successful. Your boy Yuji made a fad platformer with 6 levels that was boring as crap and people have been trying to "recapture the magic" for 25 years... the reason they can't is because Sonic is only good in people'a childhood memories.

Oh, he also made a linear game about flying that'd br semi-decent, were it not for the fact that the "good part" is like 25% of it.

Good job, Yuji.

BS, Sonic is as good today as it was 30 years ago. You can play it on a Genesis or on an emulator and all the magic is still there, same as with Sonic Mania. Classic Sonic games were good, it's not just "nostalgia glasses".

MarkDarkness · Jun 5, 2021

sarkwalvein said:
BS, Sonic is as good today as it was 30 years ago. You can play it on a Genesis or on an emulator and all the magic is still there, same as with Sonic Mania. Classic Sonic games were good, it's not just "nostalgia glasses".

Feel the thrill and the speed of the non-stop action. It's all about the movement and flow, the Sonic nostalgia goggles say:

RedBlueGreen · Jun 5, 2021

MarkDarkness said:
No, he made several franchises that are ongoing and successful. Your boy Yuji made a fad platformer with 6 levels that was boring as crap and people have been trying to "recapture the magic" for 25 years... the reason they can't is because Sonic is only good in people'a childhood memories.

Oh, he also made a linear game about flying that'd br semi-decent, were it not for the fact that the "good part" is like 25% of it.

Good job, Yuji.

This isn't worth a proper response. Just say "I don't like Sonic" instead of pretending there's something wrong with the games just because you don't like them. Maybe then people will actually take what you say seriously. Even the slowest parts of Sonic games aren't as bad as the cancerous water levels in Mario.

mightymuffy · Jun 5, 2021

MarkDarkness said:
I played it 3 times now to understand your general side of this argument. I still think the game doesn't make sense. The part people remember is the one you're flying around artistically. That is a slice of the game. In your honest opinion, is the part in which you are the boy any good? I don't ask that as somebody who can probably chain things perfectly and minimize the boring parts... can a normal player find fun in that? I've gotten okay at the game by this point and can chain a lot of stuff... and it still sucks. I have given up at this point... I'll never "see it".

The only way anyone will ever "see it" was if you played it around the time of its release - this applies to a great number of games too: ICO springs to mind from the offset, as does Goldeneye N64 ...I think I told someone (on here I think!!) not to bother playing NiGHTS because of this simple fact, despite it also being one of the greatest games of all time for me. Its time has passed sure, but to turn round and claim it always must have 'sucked', well that's just foolish.

But back on topic, I think Yuji Naka leaving Squeenix might be on mutual agreement - bloke must've realised he's not really got it anymore, and according to Eurogamers article on the subject, seemingly wants a hiatus.. EDIT: after rereading, he's probably gonna retire..

matpower · Jun 5, 2021

MarkDarkness said:
Feel the thrill and the speed of the non-stop action. It's all about the movement and flow, the Sonic nostalgia goggles say:

This is the biggest bullshit I have ever seen.
First thing, Marble Zone is a perfectly well designed platform level, it is not a "go fast, press X to win" deal, but it makes use of the tight controls Sonic has for its platforming parts and if you are good enough, it is perfectly possible to go fast in those bits.
Second thing, Sonic 1 has a pretty obvious fast-platform-fast level setup going on:

You start out in Green Hill Zone, arguably the best starter level of all times, which show you the ropes and how fast Sonic can go.
Then you move out to Marble Zone, given this is Sonic's first entry, it plays safe and goes with a general platformer feel.
Beat that and here comes Spring Yard Zone, where Sonic's pinball physics and overall speed makes the level a joy to play.
Labyrinth Zone arrives, the weakest level of the game, and while it is possible to go "fast" here, it means skipping most of the level.
After going through pain, Star Light Zone comes into play and it is one of the fastest levels overall if you play it good (stay in the upper routes) or tight platforming if you play badly (stay in the lower routes)
Scrap Brain Zone, as the final level, plays up on both being fast while platforming, making good use of Sonic's pinball mechanisms in its gimmicks. The third act is Labyrinth Zone 4 but it is very short if you go fast during the beginning.
Final Zone is a boss level and as no platforming nor speeding.

This is a product of its time, obviously, given it was Naka's first go on a Sonic game and platformers being a safe bet. This so-called "fad platformer" ended up spawning a few entries building up on this "fad gameplay". Those later entries by Naka (Sonic 2 and 3&K) focus on the speed-based gameplay with platforming being a part of the overall level design instead of having dedicated levels, meanwhile Oshima took the platforming-based gameplay and made it a whole game in Sonic CD, and while it is a controversial title itself due to that, most do argue it is a good take on Sonic.

Finally, all classic mainline Sonic games (Sonic 1/2/3&K/CD) do stand the test of time and its gameplay still holds up nowadays, as one can see by the mass appeal of Sonic Mania by the overall gaming community. Naka's contributions to the industry will be remembered forever, as a competent programmer and designer, bringing out games like Phantasy Star, Sonic and NiGHTS. It's truly regrettable he is planning on ending his career here.

For such a "talentless hack", he sure did a lot of good, but I guess being edgy on the internet and shitting on people and their work brings out more funny internet points.
:teach:

MarkDarkness · Jun 6, 2021

matpower said:
This is the biggest bullshit I have ever seen.
First thing, Marble Zone is a perfectly well designed platform level, it is not a "go fast, press X to win" deal, but it makes use of the tight controls Sonic has for its platforming parts and if you are good enough, it is perfectly possible to go fast in those bits.
Second thing, Sonic 1 has a pretty obvious fast-platform-fast level setup going on:

You start out in Green Hill Zone, arguably the best starter level of all times, which show you the ropes and how fast Sonic can go.

Then you move out to Marble Zone, given this is Sonic's first entry, it plays safe and goes with a general platformer feel.

Beat that and here comes Spring Yard Zone, where Sonic's pinball physics and overall speed makes the level a joy to play.

Labyrinth Zone arrives, the weakest level of the game, and while it is possible to go "fast" here, it means skipping most of the level.

After going through pain, Star Light Zone comes into play and it is one of the fastest levels overall if you play it good (stay in the upper routes) or tight platforming if you play badly (stay in the lower routes)

Scrap Brain Zone, as the final level, plays up on both being fast while platforming, making good use of Sonic's pinball mechanisms in its gimmicks. The third act is Labyrinth Zone 4 but it is very short if you go fast during the beginning.

Final Zone is a boss level and as no platforming nor speeding.

This is a product of its time, obviously, given it was Naka's first go on a Sonic game and platformers being a safe bet. This so-called "fad platformer" ended up spawning a few entries building up on this "fad gameplay". Those later entries by Naka (Sonic 2 and 3&K) focus on the speed-based gameplay with platforming being a part of the overall level design instead of having dedicated levels, meanwhile Oshima took the platforming-based gameplay and made it a whole game in Sonic CD, and while it is a controversial title itself due to that, most do argue it is a good take on Sonic.

Finally, all classic mainline Sonic games (Sonic 1/2/3&K/CD) do stand the test of time and its gameplay still holds up nowadays, as one can see by the mass appeal of Sonic Mania by the overall gaming community. Naka's contributions to the industry will be remembered forever, as a competent programmer and designer, bringing out games like Phantasy Star, Sonic and NiGHTS. It's truly regrettable he is planning on ending his career here.

For such a "talentless hack", he sure did a lot of good, but I guess being edgy on the internet and shitting on people and their work brings out more funny internet points.

Interesting points.

Julie_Pilgrim · Jun 6, 2021

fun fact: this game has a powerup that literally just at times, randomly makes you a cube

anhminh · Jun 6, 2021

Ashamed really. The game could work like Kirby with all those power-up but they try too hard to be something else and failed entirely. As the director, it is entire his responsibility for design the gameplay. I not surprise that he got fired for this.

Codemastershock · Jun 6, 2021

Scott_pilgrim said:
fun fact: this game has a powerup that literally just at times, randomly makes you a cube

found funny and would do the same if I made a game, not gonna lie.

LightBeam · Jun 6, 2021

I still don't understand why he's that much revered honestly. To me, his name sounds like Keiji Inafune. It doesn't mean anything (and concerning Inafune, it was maybe even before he announced Mighty N°9 kickstarter)

it's such a disaster, you can't just put it on Square Enix's shoulders.

Isn't that Miyamoto who said once he was worried about young kids not being able to get the controls in a 3D environnement (I think it was about Mario Odyssey ?) but when he saw that kids didn't had any problems with Minecraft, he knew they were able to move in 3D spaces easily ?
If he got it, then Naka really do not have any excuse to have such a garbage controls scheme. Why on Earth would you have all these buttons and only put ONE input in all of these ? There's not even a « back » button, you have the select the back button in the menus because you could literally play the game on a single Nunchuk. AND EVEN THE NUNCHUK GOT MORE THAN ENOUGH BUTTONS

He may have done some good stuff after Sonic, but sometimes I feel like he just did some good stuff because he had the right people around him and he took all the credit.

It reminds me of Other M and people saying it's garbage because it was developed by Team Ninja .... But it wasn't. If Sakamoto wasn't that butthurt about his « own » shitty vision, Team Ninja would have made such a great game. Maybe not an exploration thing like we are used with Metroid but at least a decent beat them up with Samus à la Ninja Gaiden. Would have been cool af.
But you got a revered name who worked with a new team, and when it's shit, you blame the newest factor even if they did a fine job.

Codemastershock said:
found funny and would do the same if I made a game, not gonna lie.

That's why your game would be shit. If on a platformer, you can have powers that will randomly fuck up your jumps and take you out of the level, your game is shit.
I could accept a goofy thing from an indie dev who decides to make a game around goofy stuff. I mean, I wanna be the guy is one of these where it's very unfair and yet people liked to play it.
But that's not what Balan Wonderworld was asked to do, it's just a mess. You can't just put random things here and there and boom that's a game.

RedBlueGreen · Jun 7, 2021

LightBeam said:
If he got it, then Naka really do not have any excuse to have such a garbage controls scheme. Why on Earth would you have all these buttons and only put ONE input in all of these ?

Maybe we'll be lucky and they'll add a second basic jump action that works when costumed. I doubt it's likely since Naka is leaving Square Enix, but a man can dream.

The Catboy · Jun 7, 2021

Looking at the games he worked on it seems more like he was a better programmer than he was anything else. The vast majority of the games he helped produced are rather impressive, a good example of his work is the entire OG Sonic series games. It seems like things started going downhill when he moved away from the programming side of the industry and started trying to dip his toes into producing and directing. I honestly feel bad for him because it seems like he was trying something new and that just failed on him over the past 15 years.

ZeroFX · Jun 7, 2021

square enix nowadays can be resumed as: shitty company (im being kind). All new ips suck in some way, except some very minor ones like octopath, and they shove that crappy UE4 every fucking where, the reason BD2 performs so badly on switch (theres also kh on pc that everyone forgot about it because epic exclusive)... the list goes on. And yeah that balan game was a disaster...

Kwyjor · Jun 7, 2021

ZeroFX said:
All new ips suck in some way, except some very minor ones like octopath

Isn't I Am Setsuna rather well-regarded?

and they shove that crappy UE4 every fucking where,

What's the alternative? Come up with their own engine? Because that was a disaster.

phreaksho · Jun 7, 2021

I enjoyed Balan Wonderworld, had some of those 'Nights into dreams' vibes.. although Nights was infinitely better gameplay wise. I liked the simple platforming mechanics and finding the Balan statues and collecting the various costumes. Everything was simple to me, including the boss fights. I felt like the random dancing cutscenes were rewarding enough to finish the game, and I loved the music..

That said, I can understand how it disappointed people. We aren't going to see anymore Balan anytime soon in the future..

MadMakuFuuma · Jun 7, 2021

MarkDarkness said:
Sonic nostalgia goggles say:

same thing for any "nostalgia goggles" retro games (include MARIO) but who cares? just play your favorite game, instead of hate others choice, maybe?

Bladexdsl · Jun 7, 2021

MarkDarkness said:
Feel the thrill and the speed of the non-stop action. It's all about the movement and flow, the Sonic nostalgia goggles say:

and you listen to some fuck-tard youtuber instead of playing it yourself?

ZeroFX · Jun 8, 2021

Kwyjor said:
Isn't I Am Setsuna rather well-regarded?

"like octopath" was just an example without any insinuation that was the only one, also i didn't played this game, or did my engrishu made it not clear?

Kwyjor said:
What's the alternative? Come up with their own engine? Because that was a disaster.

"Let me link to an old ass engine from more than 10 years ago" - fixed. Alternatives weren't the focus or why i commented in the first place, and pointing any would be pointless in various ways (like using UE4 on BD2).

Nocturnal

Well-Known Member

There's hope for a Xenosaga port.

Nocturnal

Well-Known Member

fatbaldpieeater

Messenger from Zero

Nocturnal

Secretly three raccoons in a trench coat

Pirate since 2010

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

GBAtemp Official Catboy™: Boywife

why?

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

fanboys triggered 9k+

why?

Similar threads

Popular threads in this forum