I did not enjoy this game that much :(

[andyroo]

Not to be a negative nancy, but I will just share my thoughts on the game here because it has received critical acclaim for some reason.

I do not think this is a bad game; I just think it is mediocre, and I think it got a lot of reviews just for being a classic old school style with the same idea of side scrolling and collecting items and defeating bosses. That is essentially what this game is, and I do not see anything special about it. I am most disappointed by the core gameplay. You swing your shovel and you can strike downward from the air. You can also use items you find, but none of them feel that fun or useful. It just overall feels clunky and really simplistic.

Sure, the gameplay works and everything but defeating enemies and progressing doesn't feel all that fun to me. The game also gets more diffcult as you progress. That, combined with stale gameplay, resulted in me skipping most enemies and just trying to get through levels. However, later levels can be extremely treacherous, and they are pretty annoying when you throw enemies in the mix.

Overall, the gameplay felt poor to me, so combining that with difficult level design resulted in a pretty frustrating experience overall for me. :(

Don't hate me, I just wanted to post what I thought because this game was praised by everyone and I don't understand why.

[Censuur]

Well, the cool thing about different tastes and such is that you do not need to understand why people like things that you don't like, they just do.

The reason why this is considered a good game, a good product, is because it is exactly what it promises to be and does a good job at what it's trying to do a good job at.

There isn't a lot of valid objective criticism for this game, either you like the genre/style/type of the game or you don't, but as it is not the goal to try and please everyone it failing to do so isn't really something you can fault the game for.

It sounds like you just looked at a few reviews that gave an assessment of the quality of the game (which is high) whichout paying much attention to whether or not the genre was suitable for your tastes, which is generally much more important than quality when deciding whether or not you'll have a good time.

[andyroo]

I know the genre, and it normally does suit my tastes. But all this game did was replicate an old style/genre. The games that it clearly takes inspiration from were all great because they had something unique to them, while Shovel Knight feels copy and pasted in a way. That was my main point. It is a good game, but it seems too intent on strictly copying the rules of a genre rather than creating something unique within that genre.

[racknae]

Originally posted by Rayz the Roof:

I know the genre, and it normally does suit my tastes. But all this game did was replicate an old style/genre. The games that it clearly takes inspiration from were all great because they had something unique to them, while Shovel Knight feels copy and pasted in a way. That was my main point. It is a good game, but it seems too intent on strictly copying the rules of a genre rather than creating something unique within that genre.

This game does retro platformers better than any retro platformer ever did. That's what's good about it.

[YinYin]

The question is, why do the items you find not feel that fun or useful to you and why does the game feel clunky? Because all your other frustration seems to stem from that just trying to skip through it, but that's not how this game works - you gotta play really well and carefuly if you want to rush this game.

[River's]

Originally posted by YinYin:

The question is, why do the items you find not feel that fun or useful to you and why does the game feel clunky? Because all your other frustration seems to stem from that just trying to skip through it, but that's not how this game works - you gotta play really well and carefuly if you want to rush this game.

Actually it is one of the easiest game to speedrun through. Otherwise I would not have gained the speedrun achievement :)

Originally posted by K. Appa the Rappa:

This game does retro platformers better than any retro platformer ever did. That's what's good about it.

I've been playing platformers since the sega megadrive and I wouldn't say that this game is better than any other platformer, just average/simplicistic level design. It stands out because the character design is just wonderful, (pseudo) 8-bit music has never been so complex and varied and the graphics/animations are clear and flawless.
It got so much attention because the developers are renowned and experienced (which is reasonable), so they know how to sell a game. For example, Rex Rocket came out one month after Shovel Knight, in total silence, created by unknown developers and its gameplay is more challenging and original right from the start.

[YinYin]

Originally posted by River's:

Originally posted by YinYin:

The question is, why do the items you find not feel that fun or useful to you and why does the game feel clunky? Because all your other frustration seems to stem from that just trying to skip through it, but that's not how this game works - you gotta play really well and carefuly if you want to rush this game.

Actually it is one of the easiest game to speedrun through. Otherwise I would not have gained the speedrun achievement :)

Easy and being required to play careful are not on the same scale. I too think it's easy, still you cannot bum rush it.

[Kartoffelsuppe]

Feels good to be on the other side of the fence this time, instead of having that feeling of disappointment almost becoming the norm for me in new games.

By "new games" I mean the last ones I bought or playtested (Guild Wars 2, Torchlight II)

[Kestrel]

I really disagree with the OP here. This game is much more than a recreation of old-school platformers. It takes the best of those games and strips out the worst. Shovel Knight is loaded with hidden treasures, mini-puzzles, fun and challenging boss fights, and an amazing soundtrack.

I think they balanced the difficulty curve quite well. The developers clearly understood that old-school platformers were far too punishing, and the devs have built in good recovery mechanisms so your failures aren't totally frustrating.

Ultimately, if you didn't enjoy this game, it probably wasn't for you. Maybe you didn't grow up on these platformers, or they just never struck a chord with you. Nothing wrong with that. For me, it hit that chord perfectly. Hell, sometimes I listen to the soundtrack on my drive to work.

[cfv;;;;;;;;;;;;;''''''''''''']

I was going to say you're entitled to your opionions until, "The game also gets more diffcult as you progress.".

lol someone needs to get good

[andyroo]

Originally posted by playful twisted turds:

I was going to say you're entitled to your opionions until, "The game also gets more diffcult as you progress.".

lol someone needs to get good

Later levels in the game have more difficult design, like the level with all the wind and you had to figure out how to traverse it without getting knocked into spikes or something. While not incredibly difficult, it is annoying to die to something like that and then have to restart the whole process over again. There are little examples like this all over the game.

[Esther]

Ok, don't really know how I should start this off, but...

Originally posted by Rayz the Roof:

I do not think this is a bad game; I just think it is mediocre, and I think it got a lot of reviews just for being a classic old school style with the same idea of side scrolling and collecting items and defeating bosses.

Well that used to be the case, but more often than not recently games get panned for simply seeming retro just because it's been done to death as a lot of people say.

Though I will say, something I commonly hear for this game in particular is that everything it takes from retro games is refined.

Originally posted by Rayz the Roof:

I am most disappointed by the core gameplay. You swing your shovel and you can strike downward from the air. You can also use items you find, but none of them feel that fun or useful. It just overall feels clunky and really simplistic.

Ok, well after thinking it over, some of the items are pretty simple. But they are in fact very useful. The Chalices of course mainly get used for healing. The Propeller Dagger is my personal favorite in the game letting you "Soar through the air without a care in the world." and also being near essential for some short cuts, even though it is late game. The Flare Wand, though being very simplistic in design, makes up for the lack of a proper projectile. The Chaos Sphere can wreck large bosses quickly, namely King Knight, Polar Knight, Treasure Knight, and Mole Knight. The Spam- I mean Phase Locket can be used not only to give yourself brief invinsability, which in it's self is very helpful, but can also be spammed if you barely missed a moving platform and need to hold your self in the air a bit longer so you can reach it. The Fishing Rod is useful for actually healing mid level in New Game Plus, as well as being able to be used to get other goodies from sparkling areas, and having the added benifit of making Tinker Knight Phase 2 beatable VERY quickly. And also, did I forget to say that it can collect your dropped money bags? Yes? Alright, there you go. Anyways... the Throwing Axe can aid you with it's Castlevania Axe like attack style and being able to attack through walls if they are thin enough. The Dust Knuckles, though limited, can help get through certain obstacles easier than otherwise. With the only one I don't find a use for being the Mobile Gear aside from it's oneshot attack against Tinker Knight Phase 1. Even then, that's only me and others could have found it very useful.

So with that versitillity the Relics give you, it doesn't sound as simplistic. Though from what you have written at that point, I can't see how you call it "clunky."

(Geeze, so much words covering just the relics.)

Moving on...

Originally posted by Rayz the Roof:

Sure, the gameplay works and everything but defeating enemies and progressing doesn't feel all that fun to me. The game also gets more diffcult as you progress. That, combined with stale gameplay, resulted in me skipping most enemies and just trying to get through levels. However, later levels can be extremely treacherous, and they are pretty annoying when you throw enemies in the mix.

Ok, well I can't say anything about the first sentence. As THAT is just pure opinion. But...
A game is supposed to get more difficult as you progress, that's just how a 98% of games work. And as I already addressed the gameplay, so I feel I don't need say much about that again.Also, attempting to blindly speedrun a game just to get it over with is an awful idea. Even if you've watch plenty of LPs of a game, actually playing it, esspecially a game of this nature in which everyone is going to find their own way to play the game, is a whole different beast. And I feel I already addressed that last sentence. Though I feel I should point out that for most people unless you're being risky, death is just a slap on the wrist as if you keep dying at a certain point, you'll more than likely be able to get your money back before you die again. And in turn be losing nothing.

Originally posted by Rayz the Roof:

Overall, the gameplay felt poor to me, so combining that with difficult level design resulted in a pretty frustrating experience overall for me. :(

Alright, in these kinds of platformers. Intially, unless you are the 4% of amazing super players in the world, are going to be hard. But after you've beaten the levels a few times, they become much easier as
most of the time, you will have memorized the level, be it actually knowing the entire level like it's your talent or just sub consiously remembering how the level plays out after your failed attempts.


----------------------------------------------------
So yeah, that's what I have to say about what you wrote. Hopefully you'll find some value from what I wrote. Though it would be nice to know how it feels clunky. Because like many other people, find the game feeling really smooth.

And also on a side note, geeze did I write alot for just this game.

[andyroo]

My problem with the difficulty wasn't because it progressively got more difficult on its own. It's that it got more difficult in an annoying way: really annoying level structure (to me) combined with some annoying enemies at the same time resutled in some frustration.

[Esther]

Originally posted by Rayz the Roof:

My problem with the difficulty wasn't because it progressively got more difficult on its own. It's that it got more difficult in an annoying way: really annoying level structure (to me) combined with some annoying enemies at the same time resutled in some frustration.

Ah, I see. Well could you happen to note some of the more annoying sections aside from the Wind ones? Because aside from that one, the most notable one I came across the dark locations in the Lich Yard and the Rainbow Ice Statue floating area from The Tower of Fate: Ascent.

[Shadowspaz]

I'd imagine that the scaling in difficulty was just frustrating and bothersome to you simply because you never got into the game.

It sounds like, right off the bat, you weren't a big fan. You described the gameplay negatively, you stated that it feels like the enemies just get in the way, so already, you aren't having a good time. And the farther you trek through this dismal gameplay sludge, the deeper it gets.

It's no wonder you find the difficulty aggravating- You already didn't like it. Why would making the game more challenging make it more enjoyable, if it's already flawed in your eyes?

But you can't really fault the game for that- It's very evidently a matter of taste, and there's nothing wrong there. "The game also gets more diffcult as you progress." You'll find that most games do. lol

[andyroo]

Originally posted by Shadowspaz:

I'd imagine that the scaling in difficulty was just frustrating and bothersome to you simply because you never got into the game.

It sounds like, right off the bat, you weren't a big fan. You described the gameplay negatively, you stated that it feels like the enemies just get in the way, so already, you aren't having a good time. And the farther you trek through this dismal gameplay sludge, the deeper it gets.

It's no wonder you find the difficulty aggravating- You already didn't like it. Why would making the game more challenging make it more enjoyable, if it's already flawed in your eyes?

But you can't really fault the game for that- It's very evidently a matter of taste, and there's nothing wrong there. "The game also gets more diffcult as you progress." You'll find that most games do. lol

I was a huge fan for the first 50% of the game, and I still love all of the boss battles (except Tinker Knight). But the game had many frustrating segments for me past that point and the gameplay started getting too repetitive and samey for my taste.

Originally posted by hero11:

Originally posted by Rayz the Roof:

My problem with the difficulty wasn't because it progressively got more difficult on its own. It's that it got more difficult in an annoying way: really annoying level structure (to me) combined with some annoying enemies at the same time resutled in some frustration.

Ah, I see. Well could you happen to note some of the more annoying sections aside from the Wind ones? Because aside from that one, the most notable one I came across the dark locations in the Lich Yard and the Rainbow Ice Statue floating area from The Tower of Fate: Ascent.

Those were the main ones I absolutely loathed. Plus, I hate the entire ice level because I never like sliding in platformers because its icy.