Non-Jump button

[tdhsan]

I love this game and have been waiting for it since the first announcement. But knowing it doesn't allow us to freely jump is a little bit disappointed. Can anyone who has played tell me if it really affects the exploring experience?

[VastGirth]

Originally posted by Mongjin:

I noticed that during the trailer that it has button prompts to jump instead of an actual jump. It's what made me decide not to buy it just yet. Seems more like an active walking sim than an adventure game.

It definitely is an adventure game. There are plenty of other gameplay systems other than jumping and it sounds great.

What it is not is a platform game, so that is a showstopper for you then maybe look elsewhere.

[(ADORA)ble 🌈👊]

So yeah, not having a jump button has been a total non issue. Game is fantastic.

[jack_of_tears]

The jumping is limited but it doesn't hurt the gameplay much. Every once in awhile I'll see something I'd love to jump on and can't, but there are still plenty of surfaces to leap on when I'm in the mood or need.

[Tiny Mushroom]

I've played through the game and I didn't feel like not being able to freely jump impacted my enjoyment at all. I actually think I prefer it the way the game does it, because sometimes it's not always obvious what i'm able to reach but if I point my cat at a ledge and it gives me the prompt to jump to it, I know i'm going the right way. Or at least, a way, in the case of branching jump paths lol.

[FreshRevenge]

This isn't Mario where you need to jump. If you think about it, cats don't just jump willy nilly. Cats only jump when they are trying to reach somewhere. Examples is cats might jump up onto your bed. Or they might jump on the kitchen counter. Or they might jump up and climb a tree etc. I don't think I ever seen a cat just jumping without a need to jump.

In the game the game mechanics matches this perfectly. The cat only jumps when it knows it can jump to a surface and not because you felt like jumping.

[Taran Tatsuuchi]

Originally posted by FreshRevenge:

This isn't Mario where you need to jump. If you think about it, cats don't just jump willy nilly. Cats only jump when they are trying to reach somewhere. Examples is cats might jump up onto your bed. Or they might jump on the kitchen counter. Or they might jump up and climb a tree etc. I don't think I ever seen a cat just jumping without a need to jump.

In the game the game mechanics matches this perfectly. The cat only jumps when it knows it can jump to a surface and not because you felt like jumping.

Offhand, all that comes to mind is one getting startled and jumping.

[Terotrous]

This is easily my #1 issue with the game. Not being able to jump manually essentially removes all gameplay from the game, turning it into a game that you mostly watch rather than play. Much of the potential exploration of the game's setting is lost because rather than exploring the environment and figuring out how to get from one place to another, you simply walk around and look for the little button prompts and the game does the rest. The combat sections are also far less impactful this way, as the only real control you have is your lateral movement, so you either run or hide behind something and that's about it.

I would imagine the reason they did it this way is to allow people who don't play action games to enjoy the story, but I don't think the tradeoff was worth it. If this was a somewhat more traditional action game, even though it's short, it would still have some replay value and might be an interesting game to speedrun. The way it's set up now, it's a game you'll finish and then never really come back to, and it'll probably be mostly forgotten in a month.

Originally posted by FreshRevenge:

This isn't Mario where you need to jump. If you think about it, cats don't just jump willy nilly.

Humans don't jump willy nilly either. Mario is not exactly a game I'd call "realistic". Neither is Stray for that matter. How often do your cats plug in batteries, pull levers, and show documents to people?

In any situation where you have to make a call between "being realistic" and "making the game work better mechanically", you always choose the latter, it's kind of a no-brainer.

[FreshRevenge]

Originally posted by Terotrous:

This is easily my #1 issue with the game. Not being able to jump manually essentially removes all gameplay from the game, turning it into a game that you mostly watch rather than play. Much of the potential exploration of the game's setting is lost because rather than exploring the environment and figuring out how to get from one place to another, you simply walk around and look for the little button prompts and the game does the rest. The combat sections are also far less impactful this way, as the only real control you have is your lateral movement, so you either run or hide behind something and that's about it.

I would imagine the reason they did it this way is to allow people who don't play action games to enjoy the story, but I don't think the tradeoff was worth it. If this was a somewhat more traditional action game, even though it's short, it would still have some replay value and might be an interesting game to speedrun. The way it's set up now, it's a game you'll finish and then never really come back to, and it'll probably be mostly forgotten in a month.

Originally posted by FreshRevenge:

This isn't Mario where you need to jump. If you think about it, cats don't just jump willy nilly.

Humans don't jump willy nilly either. Mario is not exactly a game I'd call "realistic". Neither is Stray for that matter. How often do your cats plug in batteries, pull levers, and show documents to people?

In any situation where you have to make a call between "being realistic" and "making the game work better mechanically", you always choose the latter, it's kind of a no-brainer.

If you don't like it, don't play it. This is the game the developers wanted to make and this is the game we get to play. If they didn't want to add a jump button because they didn't want to, doesn't make the game less enjoyable.

Holy, you are trying to be all philosophical over a measly jump mechanic. If you want to jump, play a game that has those mechanics.

[tdhsan]

Originally posted by FreshRevenge:

Originally posted by Terotrous:

This is easily my #1 issue with the game. Not being able to jump manually essentially removes all gameplay from the game, turning it into a game that you mostly watch rather than play. Much of the potential exploration of the game's setting is lost because rather than exploring the environment and figuring out how to get from one place to another, you simply walk around and look for the little button prompts and the game does the rest. The combat sections are also far less impactful this way, as the only real control you have is your lateral movement, so you either run or hide behind something and that's about it.

I would imagine the reason they did it this way is to allow people who don't play action games to enjoy the story, but I don't think the tradeoff was worth it. If this was a somewhat more traditional action game, even though it's short, it would still have some replay value and might be an interesting game to speedrun. The way it's set up now, it's a game you'll finish and then never really come back to, and it'll probably be mostly forgotten in a month.


Humans don't jump willy nilly either. Mario is not exactly a game I'd call "realistic". Neither is Stray for that matter. How often do your cats plug in batteries, pull levers, and show documents to people?

In any situation where you have to make a call between "being realistic" and "making the game work better mechanically", you always choose the latter, it's kind of a no-brainer.

If you don't like it, don't play it. This is the game the developers wanted to make and this is the game we get to play. If they didn't want to add a jump button because they didn't want to, doesn't make the game less enjoyable.

Holy, you are trying to be all philosophical over a measly jump mechanic. If you want to jump, play a game that has those mechanics.

Chill man, no need to be harsh like that. I've played the game from the very minute it was released and finished 2 times atm & I totally love the game you can check my review and my play hours. I think you just missed the idea of some people here.

Having "freely jump" doesn't EQUAL with "jumping like crazy Mario and meaningless" (even though some people might do that) because many people will still jump only when it is needed.
It will provide a whole new mechanic that I think is more "realistic" when you can fall or miss the jump.

But I get the game, it wasn't made to be difficult and the Jumping system work totally fine for me, I'm on my 3rd run now

[Adrian]

It was a bit painful sometimes when I wanted to jump off the table and needed to find the right angle of camera to get prompts up that allowed me to jump. That was kind of unfortunate decision of devs I would say. I also missed jumping sideways, especially in those sections with Zurks. Overall, controls definitely felt restricted to me at times but it wasn't so bad that it would ruin the game experience.

[Citizen10Bears]

I can only imagine that if I was allowed to jump freely I would spend 15 attempts missing a ledge, banging my head, falling 6 stories down, it would be an absolute mess. They way the game currently plays is beautiful, it feels joined together, and looks cinematic as I accurately make each jump with precision - just like a real cat!

[Dollmaker]

Originally posted by Koyuta kota:

mean while trophy: Jump 500 times

Youll be surprised at how much you actually jump in this game, specially if you explored.

For example, trying to climb the buildings can easily take over 5 jumps alone.

[Adrian]

Originally posted by Citizen10Bears:

I can only imagine that if I was allowed to jump freely I would spend 15 attempts missing a ledge, banging my head, falling 6 stories down, it would be an absolute mess. They way the game currently plays is beautiful, it feels joined together, and looks cinematic as I accurately make each jump with precision - just like a real cat!

They could just simply add free-jumping action input for different button.

[Goods]

A jump button in this game would have to be so heavily contextualized with scripted landings that it would be like auto aim anyway and defeat the purpose. Plus, 3rd person platforming is nearly always clumsy and goofy. You spend a lot of time lining up the jump perfectly only to slide off of the narrow beam you were aiming for because you were walking too fast. Unless they dumbed down the level and environment design significantly with contrived and obvious easy jumps, a playthrough would require 300 quickloads.

The way you can quickly, fluidly, and effortlessly make a series of difficult jumps in this game feels very cat-like. Free jump would make getting up and down from rooftops a chore, and you would look like a bunny hopping FPS character while doing it.

[Terotrous]

Originally posted by Goods:

A jump button in this game would have to be so heavily contextualized with scripted landings that it would be like auto aim anyway and defeat the purpose. Plus, 3rd person platforming is nearly always clumsy and goofy. You spend a lot of time lining up the jump perfectly only to slide off of the narrow beam you were aiming for because you were walking too fast. Unless they dumbed down the level and environment design significantly with contrived and obvious easy jumps, a playthrough would require 300 quickloads.

I actually don't think it would be THAT hard to solve. You'd definitely give the cat a ledge grab, where it would scramble up after a close jump (bonus points for this being something cats actually do). I think you'd also keep the dedicated running button, and keep the cat's walking speed fairly slow for navigating small platforms.

Would you still die a lot of times? Probably. But hey, that extends the game's playtime.

Originally posted by Goods:

The way you can quickly, fluidly, and effortlessly make a series of difficult jumps in this game feels very cat-like.

It does, but it feels like you're watching a cat, rather than being a cat. I feel like the key to making a cat game is figuring out how you make players feel like they're in control of the cat's agility.