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Pre-Release Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope — Pre-release Discussion Thread (UPDATE: cinematic launch trailer, see threadmarks)

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Was hoping for some more straight-on gameplay, but nonetheless it looks like an interesting evolution from the original that my son will probably want me to play for him again =P . Glad that combat is more freeform - I hope that it has a little more flow compared to the original!

Music nerd time: couldn't hear much of it with all that narration, but yeah: it surely sounds like kirkhope.exe :p . I know that people have a soft spot for his work but to me 80% of it sounds interchangeable. From the original only the Midboss, Phantom and Castle music spring to mind as being memorable. Also a lot of it has that "direct MIDI export from notation software" sound - except for the live orchestrations of course.

Both Coker and Shimomura are fantastic composers and make great MIDI mockups, so I'm curious how they'll combine the three styles. Coker has a much more lush and "cinematic" style with a completely different character than Kirkhope. Some of Shimomura's piano-led goodness could be heard at a certain point in the trailer already which was cool.

Personally I hope that all three composers contributed a similar amount of tracks, but with the emphasis on Kirkhope's work in these trailers so far makes me think they might save the other two for special occasions only.
 
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I'm curious if this game will let you undo actions easily like in the first one. The footage makes me think once you start moving you fully commit to your actions and can't really go back if you realized you messed up.
 
Original by Gareth Coker, remix done by Yoko Shimomura


Original by Grant Kirkhope, remix done by Yoko Shimomura


And now they are all working together!!
 
uiaxtkx.png

wtf he must be joking
 
Today’s showcase was much, much better than yesterdays underwhelming bit. Very excited for this game.
 
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uiaxtkx.png

wtf he must be joking
That video made it seem like Mario teaming up with Bowser is unprecedented, which I find to be absurd when every single Mario RPG series have at least one game where that happened. In fact, if he said that and it turned out to be Donkey Kong, that would be unexpected because as far as I know, Mario never really teamed up with Donkey Kong in this capacity (the first Mario+Rabbids game confined Donkey Kong to a separate campaign).

Thank you for reading.
 
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That's just a way to sell the Mario and Bowser partnership to a more general audience, one that hasn't played the Mario RPGs where they join forces.
 
That's just a way to sell the Mario and Bowser partnership to a more general audience, one that hasn't played the Mario RPGs where they join forces.

Paper Mario: The Origami King (2020) is the most recent game where Mario and Bowser joined forces, though for that game in particular, it happened late (I don't know if this was known before the game was released; I got the impression that it was assumed that they join forces for most of the games before it was released).

I do understand what you meant and what they are going for, though. Maybe when it happens again in a future game, they will call the partnership "unexpected" yet again, assuming that the audiences forget the last time it happened. That is unless a Super Mario platformer got them teaming up, in which case it will end the "unexpected partnership" marketing point once and for all.

Thank you for reading.
 
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Kinda wish there were more NPCs other than Rabbids.

But they’re probably doing what they can given the Mario Quality Control™ team
I don't know, they've kind of stretched the idea of Rabbids to the point where I don't really recognize most of them as rabbids. It feels more like the BeanBean kingdom where we just have an entire race around a concept.
 
I don't know, they've kind of stretched the idea of Rabbids to the point where I don't really recognize most of them as rabbids. It feels more like the BeanBean kingdom where we just have an entire race around a concept.
aye. then again, there's only so far you can push the screaming rabbids

remember, rabbids used to be just this

 
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The first game was my #2 game of 2017, right behind Odyssey and in front of Zero Dawn. I might switch it and Zero Dawn on any given day, but this sequel has a fairly clear path to being my #1.

I love Western SRPGs, but I especially love this Western SRPG, which as @totofogo noted shouldn't really exist. A colorful SRPG set in the Mario universe is like a fever dream. Its existence is why I believed the F-Zero x StarFox false leak.

The big thing for me is that Ubi Milan figured out how to make the overworld stuff more engaging. I enjoyed the idea of searching for items, and seeing the weird landscape markers was neat, but I didn't find the puzzles particularly engaging. By the third world of the OG game, I was ready for a different approach to the overworld.

I have total confidence that the actual tactical battles will be great and that they'll build on them in interesting ways. It's the overworld stuff that needs significant work.
 

Hm, I wonder if this'll be all of them or if there's a couple more to be found. I think we haven't hit the same number of effects (or the same effects) as the first game, and it seems like this is where those effects will be placed. So I'd guess there might be more.

Also wonder how these will work in practice. Will they have their own progression or just a simple, fixed set of passive and active abilities?
 
Hm, I wonder if this'll be all of them or if there's a couple more to be found. I think we haven't hit the same number of effects (or the same effects) as the first game, and it seems like this is where those effects will be placed. So I'd guess there might be more.

Also wonder how these will work in practice. Will they have their own progression or just a simple, fixed set of passive and active abilities?
The developers implied that there are more Sparks than the ones you see in the trailer(which inclues two of them like the Baby Luma version and an ice version of Pyrogeddon that isn't named or mentioned at all in these tweets).

Edit: I almost forgot about the violet colored Spark the characters come across in the snow-like planet(which clearly isn't Vampdash cause that Spark is more of a normal purple and it's riding a leaf).
 
Ubisoft is expecting this game to carry them, which isn't a surprise given this is their only big game left this year, lol
 
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from the comments:
Key points:
  • Any 2 sparks can be equipped to a character! They can provide a technique, an added effect to your dash/attack, and/or protection from a super effect.
  • Each planet will have some kind of mission involving its warden that's needed to complete to achieve peace in that area
 
developer interview
Developer interview that coincided with the first game reaching 10 million players: Mario + Rabbids: From Kingdom Battle to Sparks of Hope | Ubisoft News
Sparks of Hope info summary:
  • Started development in Summer 2018 when the Donkey Kong Adventure DLC wrapped up development.
  • They knew immediately that they wanted to make something different and not just a 'direct sequel' so the first thing that was changed from the first game was the combat system.
  • 'Open-ended planets' to explore as a response to criticism of the first game.
  • New story all about space and space opera.
  • RPG progression.
  • Development teams are: Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Milan, Ubisoft Chengdu, Ubisoft Montpellier, and Ubisoft Pune. Ubisoft Paris and Milan co-lead 'artistic direction, creative vision, tech vision, and design', Ubisoft Chengdu 'to work on the planets, the NPCs, and supporting the project here and there', Ubisoft Montpellier for 'the cinematics and animation support', and Ubisoft Pune for testing.
  • Creative process is entirely different for Sparks of Hope compared to Kingdom Battle - 'we chose locations that enable us to convey messages on the things that we care most about in life, about what we believe is important. And only after that, we try to imagine if our Rabbids could live in such location.'
  • 'All new Heroes and enemies, and even NPCs, have a unique backstory, both funny and surprisingly profound, which will compel players to know more about them and progress through the game and its story.'
  • Kirkhope has had tons of ideas for Sparks of Hope but they also decided to mix it up and add Gareth Coker and Yoko Shimomura and working with the audio art director, they all bring their unique style for the vision of the game and also 'brings a lot of nostalgia as well for those who know those composers.'
 
Developer interview that coincided with the first game reaching 10 million players: Mario + Rabbids: From Kingdom Battle to Sparks of Hope | Ubisoft News
Sparks of Hope info summary:
  • Started development in Summer 2018 when the Donkey Kong Adventure DLC wrapped up development.
  • They knew immediately that they wanted to make something different and not just a 'direct sequel' so the first thing that was changed from the first game was the combat system.
  • 'Open-ended planets' to explore as a response to criticism of the first game.
  • New story all about space and space opera.
  • RPG progression.
  • Development teams are: Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Milan, Ubisoft Chengdu, Ubisoft Montpellier, and Ubisoft Pune. Ubisoft Paris and Milan co-lead 'artistic direction, creative vision, tech vision, and design', Ubisoft Chengdu 'to work on the planets, the NPCs, and supporting the project here and there', Ubisoft Montpellier for 'the cinematics and animation support', and Ubisoft Pune for testing.
  • Creative process is entirely different for Sparks of Hope compared to Kingdom Battle - 'we chose locations that enable us to convey messages on the things that we care most about in life, about what we believe is important. And only after that, we try to imagine if our Rabbids could live in such location.'
  • 'All new Heroes and enemies, and even NPCs, have a unique backstory, both funny and surprisingly profound, which will compel players to know more about them and progress through the game and its story.'
  • Kirkhope has had tons of ideas for Sparks of Hope but they also decided to mix it up and add Gareth Coker and Yoko Shimomura and working with the audio art director, they all bring their unique style for the vision of the game and also 'brings a lot of nostalgia as well for those who know those composers.'
Sounds spectacular im so excited.
 
Hope they touch on progression in the upcoming presentation (if it isn't delayed). That along with exploration were probably the weakest parts of the original game for me, and while exploration seems like it's been improved we haven't really seen much on progression besides the fact that they're now using "RPG elements"
 
I suspect there will be a Donkey Kong Adventure style campaign starring Rayman. Soliani has been making not so subtle hints about it. This one here was recent.


Davide once said that the Rayman/Rabbids are two separate universes that don't really coincide with each other. In fact that's been the case since the early 2010s.
 
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