How much BS?

[Proud Facebook Mom]

So far it looks like Meat Boy with a color palette, I am in no hurry to repeat the first few levels of that "experience" so a heads up before I waste $15 would be appreciated. How many times am I going to *sigh* and roll my my eyes before I am grudgingly forced to call it "artistic" and permanently remove it from my hard drive?

Any forshadowing welcome!

[SonicBoomNFA]

Originally posted by the_binary:

I bought it, played less than 2 hours, decided there wasn't as much story as it's praised or having, realized I have ZERO emotional attachment, saw that the game really is just a pretty SMB, and refunded it.

It's pretty hard. It's not Dark Souls hard, but at least DS gave me a reason to want to come back and keep getting my ass kicked. I felt accomplished playing and beating it. With Celeste, I just asked, "Why? Do I really care to collect all the fruit? Meh, not really. Don't care about the character either." *refund*

Just because a game has a ton of really good ratings doesn't mean it's for everyone or that everyone should like it because that's the general consensus.

Personal experience and opinion of course.

The dialogue for the beginning is only goofy; it wasn't until later in the game that I realized it was even going to get deeper. The people that praise the story are the people that actually played the game all the way through without any prior knowledge of the game; unfortunately, that probably made you think there was going to be a super deep story all the way through or something.
In any case, this game is definitely more about the gameplay; the characters are just a bonus, not the selling point. I personally didn't find the story THAT deep; I just liked that the characters' charm, but that's just me.

Also, I highly disagree that it's "pretty much SMB" except for maybe the first level. The mechanics that come into play with each chapter deviate extremely from SMB. I feel like the refund time limit should be extended past 2 hours because that doesn't seem like enough time to get an actual feel of what a game is worth.

[Hiro Protagonest]

The closest game I've played to this is Hollow Knight for the character physics, and that game has a combat focus as well as much more of a grand-scale exploration focus. Yes, even though in Mario there are no permanent powerups it still introduces a bunch of powerups and is generally a different platformer.

The story is obviously secondary and they worked well within their boundaries to deliver something simple and effective.

Also, you... you don't have to collect the strawberries. Nowhere is the goal stated "collect the strawberries." It's just "climb the mountain." And you're not exactly supposed to like Madeline early on or be invested in her motives, not that she's supposed to be total scum either.

[Mumrah]

Originally posted by westenra:

Originally posted by SonicBoomNFA:

OH wow, I completely misunderstood what this comment was. I thought you bought the game, refunded it, and came down here to be a troll; sorry.
I wrote a long, in-depth review of the game, so if you want go to my profile and check that out, it might help with your decision. As I said there, this game is for average players and completionists alike.

trolling is relative, but yeah, I already skimmed your fanboy review, it was very helpful, but I don't think this game is for me, however i'll keep it on my wishlist just in case I get really bored

wow, you're a ♥♥♥♥

[arejang]

I mean the story isn't anything that will make you cry, but it does deal with some introspective issues that I think most young adults face. I think we all to an extent hated ourselves at some point in our lives and Celeste uses the game medium to talk about how one person works through that same problem. It's not deep storytelling so much as storytelling that many people will empathize with. I also love the humor in this game.

[Nachbars Lumpi]

Game is beautiful by art and music. The gameplay and mechanics are good and it has a neat and metaphorical story.

However, I find the level design quite bad and partially frustrating. Not really difficulty-wise. The levels of first two chapters are good. But since the Hotel stage it is getting worse. Some levels feel confusing and elongated. The game has no "map." The "chase" scenes are unnecessary and feel overdone. Especially the "fight" against "A Part of You" at the end of Chapter 6 was a massive borefest. Over how many rooms goes it? 20, 30, ... ?

But still. Nice game.

[arejang]

I actually loved the level design more than anything in this game. The "chase" scene is really nothing more than a round projectile that fires toward your location every few seconds. Mr oshiro is functionally the same as the snowballs in the windy chapter (I think it's chapter 4?), just he fires more frequently. Nothing actually chases you around until the mirror temple, where you have those monsters actually tracking and following your position non-stop. And both of those are functionally different from the boss fight in chapter 6. Here you get bullet projectiles that aren't as linear and slower mixed in with a laser that is simple area denial across the screen.

It's hard to come up with something that's absolutely original every level, some ideas and functions are bound to get recycled (like oshiro and the snowball) but I think this game does a good enough job keeping things fresh and new relatively speaking.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Ghost chase is the thing that annoys me most in the game. I don't like the snowballs either really but I can understand it, and ghost is snowballs but with visual distortion and strange sounds. I'm okay with the wind. I also liked that the long boss wasn't just a short thing, it's kind of fitting and it was actually fun.

[arejang]

Yeah I think it's fine to hate certain things about the game. There are some parts of the game I hope to never touch again after struggling with it for hours on end. I'm just contesting that the chasing mechanic wasn't exactly overused, although Oshiro's mechanic did get recycled, just not in the same manner as the monsters in mirror temple or the boss fight in chapter 6. But not liking certain mechanics or even not liking the game itself, I'm not going to contest that. Those are personal preferences and there's nothing wrong with it.

The attitude of the original poster does annoy me though, and "fanboy" is a trigger word for me. It completely shuts down productive conversation and only allows for one view of a given subject, the negative kind.

[Xenogenesis]

Gameplay wise, it certainly is difficult compared to most non-fangame platformers, but the ultra high precision, needle-ly stuff that SMB starts to get heavy in about halfthrough the game isn't really in Celeste until the postgame, or if you're trying to get all strawberrys on your first playthough. Also, there's a ton more diversity to the level design than SMB, the difficulty progression is super smooth, the physics are waaaaay more consistent and more intuitive than SMB, and in my opinion, the gimmicks (except for those in one specific chapter) feel really fun and make it feel like you're truly getting more control and mastery of your character. That's in contrast to SMB, where the level gimmicks, imo feel more like you're fighting against the stage.

This is all speaking as someone who really enjoys SMB - I just feel like that game has alot more warts and considerably less polish than this.

Storywise, the plot and character development are really simple, but if you're someone with personal experience in the game's emotional subject matter, you'll probably feel a strong emotional resonance with the game. Otherwise, the story is light enough that its probably easy enough to ignore, and there's a handy skip cutscene button either way.

If you like platformers in general, definitely give this a shot, and as others have recommended, just play the first chapter and refund the game if you don't like it at that point.

[Wylie28]

Plays nothing like SMB. Anyone saying it does if retarded

[Hiro Protagonest]

That he said he quit Meatboy after a few levels is more telling than any comparison to Meatboy in the first place.

[CJones]

Originally posted by the_binary:

Just because a game has a ton of really good ratings doesn't mean it's for everyone or that everyone should like it because that's the general consensus.

Personal experience and opinion of course.

True that. However, you should know that the plot doesn't really kick in to high gear until about half way through. And there is a crap ton of post game content. Every level has a harder B-Side. The main game is challenging, but the post game is brutal.

[zhunGamerTTV (人^▽')～]

How many times am I going to *sigh* and roll my my eyes before I am grudgingly forced to call it "artistic"

The dialogue is witty, personally I didn't feel any "artsy fartsy" stuff that makes one's eyes roll.

I was never interested in those silly walking simulators "that are so artistic and deep" either, they bore me.

This game doesn't force any messages on you, so don't worry about it.

If that's not what you meant, I must admit that I died 1200 times before completing the 7 chapters (A-side) and died on most levels around 250 times. So yeah, you need to be good at executing stuff. Especially if you want strawberries.

I bought it, played less than 2 hours, decided there wasn't as much story as it's praised or having, realized I have ZERO emotional attachment,

You have to reach Chapter 5 for that sort of thing, but I'd say the primary focus is the game. If you want story-focus, play a VN. There are many.

[rkkn]

I did not like super meat boy, but this is one of the best games I've ever played. I liked the story a lot.

[CelestialKatie]

This discussion is probably long dead, but I'd like to chime in.

I've played a good amount of both games by this point but 100%'d neither of them. Both games have a different outlook and are entirely different games as a result. SMB wants to emulate the games of old, where plot was minimal and difficulty was a stand-in for game length. It's a rage-platformer through and through. It revels in the challenge in can present.

Celeste wants to challenge the player in a way that feels like it can be overcome, because this ties into the core theme of the game: overcoming adversity. The final words at the end of the prologue are "you can do this" and the game believes this.

Super Meat Boy leans heavily on skill and dexterity to beat, because of the wild variance of speed and jump distance. It can sometimes feel like luck to beat a given stage. Celeste leans equally on dexterity and problem solving. Each chapter gives you a new mechanic to learn and understand, and they push each one to its limits. Screens are a problem to solve first and a dexterity test to pass second. The difficulty curve for the main game is so forgiving that you'll only realise how far you've come when you replay older levels or see a screen that seems overwhelming only to pass it with ease. Nothing feels overwhelming or rage-inducing.

This outlines the main difference between the games and forms the TL;DR of my post:
SMB wants you to struggle and revels in your failure. It focuses on negative emotion over positive.
Celeste wants you to persevere and show you how far you've come. It focuses on positive emotions, almost exclusively.
If SMB left you disheartened, give Celeste a try. It's a game that wants you, wants everyone, to experience what it has to offer.