..."Technically", the Worst of the Series?

[The Grand Alliance]

...I may be overanalyzing things "a bit" (as seen in my review), but if you considered this game contemporaneously compared to past rivals, is it not the worst?

For people who only care about its "Metroid" gameplay things, and nothing else, fine. Although GBC Shantae 1 still better at that. But this game lags behind on all other matters, save anime cutscenes.


-The (Fusion) transformations are cartoonishly horrid; additionally, ruins the RP (roleplay) "fun"
-The "main boss" is a joke
-Likewise, the logical justification for the story is thus randomly undefined. (why are we beating up on poor helpless Siren bosses again? just get the girls/run?)
-The game is super zoomed-in, "boxed" due to mobile platform limitations (no expansive local map space)
-A "snakey" maze (not in a good way) that's mostly underground in an excessively gloomy, repetitive cut/paste level design
-Game is not satisfying, feels open-ended; fails to address "meta story" <see edit below>
-Music (instrumentation) sucks

I mean, there's more to that list, but I guess the better q is why isn't this the worst game? You gotta play them all to know this, however. Let the "shine" of this one come off, first.

Indeed, it might still be "playable", but I would definitely not recommend this game unless you have played 1 title previously, it is so.

....but no matter.


<EDIT>

I wish to clarify the Shantae "meta" as observed, because things make sense once you get it. Unless you have played everything, read everything (including physical game manuals), it isn't so obvious, otherwise.


Basically, the world setting of Shantae is a "post-apocalypse; space invader" meta story. Whereas, either a IRL Earth variant or == tech civilization (where Rottytops comes from when human).

As part of a wider Genie v Siren ("Evil") galactic (trans-dimensional) war, the world eventually becomes invaded by (Sirens) to use humanity as foodstock (as seen in this game). To inhibit this, the Genie faction takes militant action to drain them of resources (>Microsoft's Halo).

The end result is something that (nukes?) damages the original human civilization significantly backwards technologically. Some sort of stalemate results, and the reheating of this war is observed throughout in the Shantae series.

Now, although Seven Sirens "baselines" this by refreshing the theme to an otherwise unfamiliar gamer audience, it doesn't appreciably advance the meta (yet). It comes close, but falls short. I will admit, my initial comment above was a bit harsh, but only in a release of Shantae 6 would Seven Siren's game design be logically justified. Else, questions remain, hence my "open-ended" comment above.

Indeed, as time shall tell all, it is so...

[Melodia]

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-The (Fusion) transformations are cartoonishly horrid; additionally, ruins the RP (roleplay) "fun"

Why are you playing a Shantae for THAT? The fusion transforms are emphatically the best part about this game.

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-The "main boss" is a joke

Could have been better, but it's no worse than HGH's for sure.

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-Likewise, the logical justification for the story is thus randomly undefined. (why are we beating up on poor helpless Siren bosses again? just get the girls/run?)

Did you....pay attention at all?

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-The game is super zoomed-in, "boxed" due to mobile platform limitations (no expansive local map space)

I continue to boggle why people think the game has anything to do with mobile at all. Yes it was released on Apple Arcade first (which isn't really mobile per se anyway) but it was developed as a multi-platform game from the get go.

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-A "snakey" maze (not in a good way) that's mostly underground in an excessively gloomy, repetitive cut/paste level design

Ok I'll kinda give you that one, to a point, but at least it's actually connected unlike Pirate's Curse (and don't get me started on HGH's level based design)

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-Game is not satisfying, feels open-ended; fails to address "meta story"

I don't even know what you mean by that.

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-Music (instrumentation) sucks

That one is really in the eye of the beholder. I enjoy much of the music, though I certainly would have rather had virt come back.

[L9 dorothea]

Originally posted by Melodia:

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-The (Fusion) transformations are cartoonishly horrid; additionally, ruins the RP (roleplay) "fun"

Why are you playing a Shantae for THAT? The fusion transforms are emphatically the best part about this game.

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-The "main boss" is a joke

Could have been better, but it's no worse than HGH's for sure.

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-Likewise, the logical justification for the story is thus randomly undefined. (why are we beating up on poor helpless Siren bosses again? just get the girls/run?)

Did you....pay attention at all?

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-The game is super zoomed-in, "boxed" due to mobile platform limitations (no expansive local map space)

I continue to boggle why people think the game has anything to do with mobile at all. Yes it was released on Apple Arcade first (which isn't really mobile per se anyway) but it was developed as a multi-platform game from the get go.

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-A "snakey" maze (not in a good way) that's mostly underground in an excessively gloomy, repetitive cut/paste level design

Ok I'll kinda give you that one, to a point, but at least it's actually connected unlike Pirate's Curse (and don't get me started on HGH's level based design)

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-Game is not satisfying, feels open-ended; fails to address "meta story"

I don't even know what you mean by that.

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-Music (instrumentation) sucks

That one is really in the eye of the beholder. I enjoy much of the music, though I certainly would have rather had virt come back.

i agree with you but i feel like the music is a bit too retro for this game's graphics which feel smooth and modern. music is definitely not bad, but feels unfitting to me

[TARINunit9]

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-Likewise, the logical justification for the story is thus randomly undefined. (why are we beating up on poor helpless Siren bosses again? just get the girls/run?)

I disagree, but only because I obsessively talked to every NPC:
The Sirens are a dangerous "fair folk", evil mythical beings who kidnap people in the night, despite the best efforts of Vera and Zapple.

The problem is, this is relegated to optional exposition, instead of Shantae's personal adventure

[Catsim]

The music is weird, like most of it has Gameboy chiptunes and then all of a sudden Sunken Shipyard sounds like DeadMau5 which is actually the one song I like the most. I don't actually understand why they went for the chiptune style when this game is the furthest from 16-bit-ness the series has ever been.

It's a shame because I like the movement the best in this one, the instant transformations like dash newt and turtle slam (which goes woefully underused) were just what the series needed instead of stuff like in Half-Genie Hero like the bat or harpy which just lets you skip the platforming. I think they should've focused more on the movement and avoiding attacks because the toe-to-toe (to-ponytail) combat is awful. If they gave her hair whip a little power orb that shot out they could've made a glorious fusion of Megaman and Metroidvania.

[The Grand Alliance]

Originally posted by TARINunit9:

Originally posted by The Grand Alliance:

-Likewise, the logical justification for the story is thus randomly undefined. (why are we beating up on poor helpless Siren bosses again? just get the girls/run?)

I disagree, but only because I obsessively talked to every NPC:
The Sirens are a dangerous "fair folk", evil mythical beings who kidnap people in the night, despite the best efforts of Vera and Zapple.

The problem is, this is relegated to optional exposition, instead of Shantae's personal adventure

Yes, I am "aware" of that, but I want to be clear on this point...

In other Shantae games, the purpose of dungeons was to get an item drop from the boss. In this one, you could theoretically skip the bosses, and the main story is the exact same.

Remember, it was Risky Boots, i.e. "Mayor" who was responsible for everything. The girls were not kidnapped by the boss sirens, they were simply being jailed there, upon jurisdiction of others.


On an island with apparent 1000s of supposed demons, hitting a few leader ones temporarily (game does not imply Shantae "kills" them, as observed throughout series) seems trivial. Furthermore, it is presumptuous, assuming every one of them is so unredeemable "guilty before evidence"... the bosses have no dialog, after all.

Indeed, the supposedly "good" islanders are actually trespassers; it originally is/was a complex Siren military base. Whereas, Arena town was a fake tourist trap, Armor town was a secret hideaway base, and Tree Town descends from an Genie faction invasive foothold (now functions as sentry/"guardian"). Thus, when conflict occurs, it is because islanders' are "invading" the Sirens' base. A "territorial dispute" narrative.

...I mean, Shantae just "walks into your house, and beats you up". Who really is the "bad guy", here? Not my plant waifu : (


In either case, as a matter of simple gameplay discussion, it is really lazy writting, as it is so.

<NOTE: See Edited OP Above, for further "meta" clarification>