Mighty No 9 - The Prodigal Son Returns...

[KeeperofLindblum]

But does anybody even want him at this point?

I have a couple copies (I backed the Kickstarter for PC and PS crossbuy.), and I am having a lot of mixed feelings.

 

I want to like the game and enjoy it at times, but it isn't really what I was expecting at times.

 

The look of the game makes me feel like a low end indie group worked on it (and didn't have 4 million dollars).

 

The game doesn't play very tight at times either. I may not be the best at platformers, but I often felt a lot of my deaths were cheap. The dash is so overpowered and really should be limited if you ask me.

 

I like the character designs but the voice acting is kinda meh and the dialogue could be better. I don't mind silliness here and there but it's almost too much.

 

I want to like it... But it is trying so hard to not make me like it. I will go ahead and play through it, but mostly because I sunk a decent chunk of money into the Kickstarter... (Two pledges coming out to $140 or so.)

 

How is everybody/anybody else's experience going?

[Cobra Kai]

The reviews coming in at Amazon are brutal.

[amiman99]

I don't even know what the game is, let me take a look....

 

 

edit: Ahh.. "Megaman"

 

I'll pass.

Edited June 22, 2016 by amiman99

[Austin]

I picked up a copy partly because the gameplay looked fun, and partly because of the hate bandwagon. I had a feeling a lot of it was overblown but wanted to see for myself. After clocking about three hours into it on stream earlier tonight, I am confident in saying a lot of it is--I was thoroughly enjoying it.

 

The game is fast-paced like a Mega Man X game. If you're not into those or aren't particularly good at those games, then it's not going to jive with you. I love the unlimited dash functionality and think it allows the game to be even faster than the X games. I enjoy the combo finisher (dashing through enemies when they are heavily damaged) and the fact it rewards you with upgrades for doing so. I appreciate some of the tweaks they made to the shooting, such as every bullet actually counting as a hit on bosses. Bosses no longer have invincibility frames between hits so you can mash as quickly as possible on them. It makes for faster fights than in any of the X games and I like that a lot.

 

I don't feel the level design has been overly "cheap" so far, no more so than any previous Mega Man game. You need to look ahead in your environments as you are playing and use your head in some cases. Instant-kill situations need to be memorized and avoided, just like in any classic/retro game. There's a challenge to the game, but it has never felt unfair so far.

 

I do wish there was a wall jumping mechanic instead of the grappling mechanic. The grappling works well for the most part, but there are a couple of points where you can't grapple (the ice sections, for instance), so in those cases you really wish you could wall jump. I died a few times because I thought I could grapple, but couldn't, and fell to my death. It's all a learning experience though.

 

Aesthetically, the game's graphics aren't going to win any awards, but it does look crisp and I do like the style. I think it looks fine, especially for what is effectively a budget title. I don't think it looks anywhere near as bad as a typical indie polygonal effort. There's some good style and polish here, like during the boss fight introductions. It all works.

 

The voice acting is a little goofy, but it's about on-par with any later Mega Man X game. Fortunately, the cutscenes can be completely skipped right from the beginning, and the English voices can be changed to Japanese or French, or they can be muted all together (go to the options screen and turn down the slider bar for voices).

 

I can understand why Kickstarter backers may have issue with it. They have been tracking the thing from start to finish and had certain expectations in mind. Myself however, I didn't follow it and so what I see is a solid game that's a homage to the X series. I am happy to say this one delivers in that regard.

[KeeperofLindblum]

I picked up a copy partly because the gameplay looked fun, and partly because of the hate bandwagon. I had a feeling a lot of it was overblown but wanted to see for myself.

 

 

Completely agree with this (and a majority of what you said).

Everybody has jumped on the hateful bandwagon of the game, and it's honestly not that bad. And I believe you are right for the most part on it. It's not quite what we were wanting or expecting considering the time and money put into it... but it's still fun to be had.

 

I think the main people disappointed (like you stated) is those who helped fund it and then were delivered something that kinda drifted from what was promised... Not to mention the game released has essentially been done since the first demo they released early last year. (Seriously, the first "demo" they released out was like 3-4 levels of the game.) On top of that, the demo from near the end of last year had pretty much everything except for the last few stages I believe.

 

And yeah, I can be honest and say a lot of my complaining is because I suck at it. lol

 

I like the character designs. Just not the graphical choice. Wish they would have stuck closer to what the original concept art looked like.

 

Edited June 23, 2016 by KeeperofLindblum

[Austin]

Yeah, I do agree the original graphical style looks more appealing. I don't mind what we got at all, but the original style definitely looked better.

[Mord]

While I wouldn't mind playing the game, I currently don't have a system that'll run it well so I can afford to put it on the back burner and wait for a big steam sale.

[+DZ-Jay]

Aesthetically, the game's graphics aren't going to win any awards, but it does look crisp and I do like the style. I think it looks fine, especially for what is effectively a budget title.

 

But is it really a "budget title"? With over $4M and three years in development, it sounds like a big budget production. I understand that a lot of the hate is overblown nerd-rage, but the lackluster reviews are mostly spot on: the game does not feel fresh and original as hyped, and the graphics and visual style seem cheap -- and that's even before mentioning the over-hyped tone-deaf advertising campaign and the broken and mismanaged release.

 

That said, I haven't played the game nor did I backed the funding campaign, but I have been following the progress of the project and have not been very impressed.

 

-dZ.

[dj_convoy]

I think it's okay... but nothing more than okay.

[cimerians]

Looks pretty cool, I'm not good at Megaman games but I like playing them and then stopping after I hit a wall......so maybe I'll get this on Steam someday for cheap.

[Bill Loguidice]

I think it's criminal that they got all that money and the audio-visuals are so incredibly uneven, which I guess is a companion to the uneven gameplay. This is why I've stopped funding software on Kickstarter and other funding sites. You just don't know what you're going to get (or when!), no matter who's involved.

[phoenixdownita]

...This is why I've stopped funding software on Kickstarter and other funding sites. You just don't know what you're going to get (or when!), no matter who's involved.

It's not that the HW side is that much better, take the recent PineA64, they are all over the place wrt board manufacturing (warped board, left over flux etc....) as well as not having real SW support (they rely totally on someone else [i.e.: "the community"] to get something going).

 

I ordered it and then changed my mind 2 weeks in, sent them a message on their own system wrt cancelling my order, received a stock response regarding SD cards and other unrelated nonsense (unrelated to my question) but no cancellation. The CreditCard I used to "pre-order" got hacked shortly after and hence blocked (given the PineA64 guys only authorized but not charged until shipping, I lost nothing) so I mailed them again about that and the need to cancel the pre-order for good now ... no answer, not even a stock one.

Then last week they contacted me saying they may have misplaced some orders because of a glitch, so if I wanted the items still I needed to reorder the whole thing and they offered a 10% discount .... somehow I am not in a hurry ..... they didn't say how long their 10% discount is valid, I'll wait and see if it matters (I already have an RPi3 and an Odroid-C2 so this PineA64 was mainly out of curiosity).

 

But yeah, all this crowdfunding nonsense has made it so a little bit of marketing and showy renders go too much in the way of hiding bad products (or bad execution "companies") .... it had a noble intent as in "help the little guy with a good idea go to market" but now it's become "gimme the money and we'll see" .... how about "we'll see if I give you the money" instead.

[cimerians]

This is why I've stopped funding software on Kickstarter and other funding sites. You just don't know what you're going to get (or when!), no matter who's involved.

 

I agree but there's been some amazing games from crowdfunding though. It depends on who you give your money to and how they handle it. I haven't completely stopped crowdfunding because I'm a believer in it and in my opinion its good for the industry but yes you have to pick and choose very carefully.

[leods]

Considering how the game looks, having framerate issues, screen tearing on xbone, and the graphical options of the games simply not doing anything is pretty bad.

 

I can uderstand the game is fun, but how many fun indie platformer are out there? I see no reason to cut this game any slack. I would certainly not pay full price for this game since they clearly not invest the donations properly.

[StopDrop&Retro]

Completely agree with this (and a majority of what you said).

Everybody has jumped on the hateful bandwagon of the game, and it's honestly not that bad. And I believe you are right for the most part on it. It's not quite what we were wanting or expecting considering the time and money put into it... but it's still fun to be had.

 

As much as people are accusing the hate bandwagon, from what I see there's an equal movement among the fans to prop up positive reviews and explain away the disappointing visuals. Among the backers it seems to be a tug of war over whether the game has merit, but ignoring all of that and going by the journalists I trust, I think the consensus that the game is bad is probably the correct one.

 

While I usually don't agree with people who put a game down for extrinsic factors, I have to side with backers who feel cheated and misled by the visual style and reflect on that in their review. Kickstarter is a different animal and we're going to have these issues where a creator collects money while pitching a certain game and if they stray too far between that and delivery, the backlash should be expected. To some extent we've seen this before with the MGS2 Raiden switcharoo.

 

I'm glad I didn't back this game. I remember the hype was strong. But I also realized that I was more of a fan of the classic Mega Man series and not the X series. Inafune had a much bigger involvement with the X series and so he represents where I believe the series went downhill. The game doesn't look appealing to me at all but I'll probably get it a few years down the line as cheaply as possible to see for myself.

[cimerians]

Make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night:

 

- A trailer had a narrator say the line 'make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night', upsetting many backers.

- Upset at the game's community manager for general bitterness towards the community.

- Comcept initiating a second Kickstarter campaign for another game, Red Ash, as well as a campaign for an animation based on it.

- A secondary Kickstarter campaign for Mighty No. 9 to fund extra downloadable content (making for 4 campaigns before a game release).

- General poor quality of footage shown throughout development

- Multiple delays - despite promises the second time that it wouldn't happen again.

- A demo intended to act as an apology for the multiple delays was, hilariously, delayed.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/mighty-no-9s-release-been-8258577

Wow what a disaster. I would have canceled my pledge within the month if I saw any red flags.

[Austin]

 

Make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night:

 

- A trailer had a narrator say the line 'make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night', upsetting many backers.

- Upset at the game's community manager for general bitterness towards the community.

- Comcept initiating a second Kickstarter campaign for another game, Red Ash, as well as a campaign for an animation based on it.

- A secondary Kickstarter campaign for Mighty No. 9 to fund extra downloadable content (making for 4 campaigns before a game release).

- General poor quality of footage shown throughout development

- Multiple delays - despite promises the second time that it wouldn't happen again.

- A demo intended to act as an apology for the multiple delays was, hilariously, delayed.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/mighty-no-9s-release-been-8258577

Wow what a disaster. I would have canceled my pledge within the month if I saw any red flags.

 

 

So after playing it for a decent amount of time, what is your thought on the game itself? Drama aside?

[cimerians]

 

So after playing it for a decent amount of time, what is your thought on the game itself? Drama aside?

 

 

Oh I don't have it, I didn't back it. If anyone does have it here, I'd like to know too. The reviews have been mostly brutal it seems. (except yours etc)

[KeeperofLindblum]

I am on one of the later game stages (probably close to finishing) and my opinion is kinda staying the same.

It is good and fun enough, but it isn't really meeting up to the standards it should be.

It doesn't look or feel like a high budget game. There are shooting platformers that easily do better and with a much smaller budget.

I have a bad feeling that we didn't kick start the game so much as we kickstarted that company. They probably ran through the budget.

On top of that, I know they had several issues throughout with their community relations, and I am not referring to their stupid commercial they put out.

Will I play and beat the game? Yes, I am doing so now.

I like most of the characters and the general idea of the story. The gameplay just doesn't really feel overly polished or where it should be though. The graphics are a bit of a turn off because they could have done more and better.

I have accepted that I suck at the game in general.

If I do beat it, I probably won't come back to it again and again like I do Shovel Knight.

Also seeing the Bloodstained demo makes me sad I didn't back that one... ;_;

Edited June 24, 2016 by KeeperofLindblum

[glazball]

@Austin - thank you for your review and fresh thoughts. Good to read something positive about the game (not to imply everyone else in the thread was bashing it)... but the press has not been kind, so far. When Inafune was "taking responsibility" for the game in articles the day after release, I knew something was amiss! And it's a darn shame. With the budget they had, there's no reason they should have had the issues they did. I think I read they ported it to 10 platforms (due to KS stretch goals) but that was a colossal mistake. Friggin' make your game first, then port it if you're going to port it.

 

With this fiasco and the recent Chamleon fiasco, I'm committed to never backing any Kickstarters ever. Like KeeperofLindblum said, I think the Mighty No. 9 backers were Kickstarting the company rather than the game. I'm just sorry you spent $140 on this game Keeper!

Edited June 24, 2016 by glazball

[StopDrop&Retro]

There seems to be a misconception that the "cry like an anime fan on prom night" trailer was met with outrage, but that's not what happened there. I remember within minutes after it came out people were criticizing it for the embarrassing 90's 'tude vibe it was going for. It was only later that they singled out the prom night line as the best example of it. So people are not up in arms about them making fun of their lonely anime backers. The reason people focus on this trailer is because it brought home the point that the people in charge of this game must be living in a bubble and are completely out of touch with gaming as it exists today.

 

So that trailer doesn't trigger feelings of anger, it's feelings of embarrassment. Embarrassment that they funded a game that turned out like this. Remember, Inafune is a guy who in his pitch video made it clear that he's former Capcom and he left so he can make the games the fans are asking for but the company wouldn't allow. So now with that ridiculous trailer, plus all the delays and hostility towards the fans/backers, people can't help but wonder- maybe there's a reason he doesn't work at Capcom anymore?? The way this game has been handled is not what backers were expecting from a former AAA game designer. That's why people criticize that trailer, because it's absurd to think that this is what the true spiritual successor to Mega Man has become.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Player 2 Productions' documentary of the game's development, you guys should check it out (first episode went up last week).

 

 

I like to buy bad movies if they have good in depth behind the scenes footage because sometimes you can understand where they went wrong and got in over their heads. Phantom Menace is great for this. From what I can see in that first part of the P2P documentary, it seems that Inafune didn't really have much to do with the production of the game. He just designed the original character, delegated the rest of the responsibilities, popped in to say "work harder, don't give up" and play tested for the cameras. I don't think this documentary series is going to look good on him in hindsight, he really does just act like a celebrity who contributes nothing but his name to the project.

[KeeperofLindblum]

Friend of mine shared this old tweet with me a few days ago...

https://mobile.twitter.com/pg_kamiya/status/249735186936369153

[+DZ-Jay]

There seems to be a misconception that the "cry like an anime fan on prom night" trailer was met with outrage, but that's not what happened there. I remember within minutes after it came out people were criticizing it for the embarrassing 90's 'tude vibe it was going for. It was only later that they singled out the prom night line as the best example of it. So people are not up in arms about them making fun of their lonely anime backers. The reason people focus on this trailer is because it brought home the point that the people in charge of this game must be living in a bubble and are completely out of touch with gaming as it exists today.

 

So that trailer doesn't trigger feelings of anger, it's feelings of embarrassment. Embarrassment that they funded a game that turned out like this. Remember, Inafune is a guy who in his pitch video made it clear that he's former Capcom and he left so he can make the games the fans are asking for but the company wouldn't allow. So now with that ridiculous trailer, plus all the delays and hostility towards the fans/backers, people can't help but wonder- maybe there's a reason he doesn't work at Capcom anymore?? The way this game has been handled is not what backers were expecting from a former AAA game designer. That's why people criticize that trailer, because it's absurd to think that this is what the true spiritual successor to Mega Man has become.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Player 2 Productions' documentary of the game's development, you guys should check it out (first episode went up last week).

 

 

I like to buy bad movies if they have good in depth behind the scenes footage because sometimes you can understand where they went wrong and got in over their heads. Phantom Menace is great for this. From what I can see in that first part of the P2P documentary, it seems that Inafune didn't really have much to do with the production of the game. He just designed the original character, delegated the rest of the responsibilities, popped in to say "work harder, don't give up" and play tested for the cameras. I don't think this documentary series is going to look good on him in hindsight, he really does just act like a celebrity who contributes nothing but his name to the project.

 

Very well said. Thanks for the information.

 

-dZ.

[Newsdee]

I don't think this documentary series is going to look good on him in hindsight, he really does just act like a celebrity who contributes nothing but his name to the project.

This sadly is far too common. And not just in the game industry.

[leods]

'make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night'

 

It's hilarious how out of touch the people who made the trailer are with the game and it's history. Inafune is a visual designer. Megaman is anime through and through. It's directly influenced by Astro Boy even beyond it's visuals. And still the guys make the pun. As an anime fan I'm not offended by the pun at all, I actually find it funny. But the whole trailer was completely out of touch. The whole tone of the trailer is targeting the wrong audience. They probably wanted to go as mainstream as possible, since now it's in their interest to really make as much money as possible and open the company to making as widely appealing games as possible.

 

TBH, I think Mighty N 9 isn't in better hands than Megaman is. They're proving to be just as greedy and to have just as little respect for the game and the gamers who play it, and the same focus on making as much money as possible. I would not be surprised at all to see them releasing iphone crap in the near future, or even to discover they've already done it.

 

 

Whatever they do, I am confident the maind objective will be make money. Whatever they think will give them that, I don't know.