RTTP Bloodstained is really, really good... but why the frick is the Switch version so bad?

[shoptroll]

Bloodstained, imo, was a bloated mess of a game when I played it (on XBox). Felt like a case of a developer wanting to fit as many mechanics as possible into a game but doing very little to actually justify their inclusion, and all as part of a game that's far too short for any of them to feel like they're worth investing in. It doesn't really do much to improve the aspects of the Igavania formula that were always lacking (like the combat, which for me remains dull and clunky despite the addition of all the mostly meaningless systems) and adds to its biggest problems (the randomization of so many elements, now even tied to basic game progression). I can certainly understand why people like it, since there's arguably a good deal of mechanical complexity there and it has a lot of the feel of a typical Igavania, but it's my least favorite Metroidvania and it makes me think that the older Igavanias (like SoTN and Aria) only ended up as great as they were because Igarashi had people to hold his ideas in check.

It’s definitely bloated. I had gone back to Bloodstained prior to Dread in hopes of finishing it (I hit the infamous difficulty spike in the Fire Cave and just lost interest for a year or so), and it struck me within half an hour of Dread how much bloat there is in Bloodstained.

I just looked at the KS page and the parts of the bloat I have issues with, the crafting and multitude of banal fetch quests, were part of the initial pitch. So it’s not like stretch goals overstuffed the game as is often the case, but it was a bloated design from the start. Which is odd because I looked at FAQs for the previous 3 IGAVanias and there’s no mention of crafting, no grinding for additional souls, etc. in any of them.

It’s very weird and yet at the same time I can see how the design could’ve gone this way. The souls already require some element of grinding so why not just add more drops? And then you can add crafting on top of that. And then quests. Especially if the point was to lean heavier into the RPG elements.

Plus, consider at the time there was probably some element of chasing design trends between the rise of MonHun and open world games there was probably some feeling like the game had to have crafting in it because that’s how you do games in the mid 2010s.

Some of this also feels very based around New Game+, particularly the additional strengthening of shards when you acquire duplicates. Which also, goes back to the whole feedback loop around grinding for shards or crafting materials.

And yea, locking progression at one point behind a random shard drop was a huge oversight.

The game is actually good, but it would’ve been even better with an editing or streamlining pass. It’s not the best IGAvania, but it is a good entry even if it feels like at times it lost sight of what design elements actually appeals to fans of the genre.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

The Switch version should have been the base build and then improve from there instead of downporting

It easy to say this now, but the Kickstarter and game development kicked off in earnest in 2015. As a random newly formed indie company, when they would have had to make these decisions, they wouldn't have had the slightest clue what the Switch was going to look like, whether Nintendo was going to have another home console or not, when they would release it, what the specs would be like,if the next Nintendo product would be a success or another Wii U disaster, so on.

I absolutely get why a newly formed indie company wouldn't have hedged all its bets on a mystery console that may or may not have been a success.

Hell, Wii U was one if the lastest kickstarter goals, it wasn't originally in the cards and when it was it seemed like the idea was to NOT reach it.

That ... Wasn't anywhere near the case though? It was at 3m and the Kickstarter ended up at well past 5.5m. It was far from the last stretch goal

 

[Aniki]

I only played the Xbox version but the game is excellent yes. Soundtrack is also really good. The only thing i don't like are the character models. They look bad.