New Pokemon Snap (NSW) - April 30, 2021

[Botosi]

This game looks promising. The little kid in me gets excited.

I do remember going back and playing an emulated Snap on PC like 5-10 yrs ago and it being REALLY Short though. Hopefully this game has a lot of content to it. There’s so much they can do. Levels where you can select day/night/season, etc.

[Serra]

New footage in Japanese:

[Karbuncle]

You know I doubt it'll live up to the hype for some people, but I'm really looking forward to this game... I hope they brought their A game and really did it well.

[Tyrath]

Out today. Can't decide if I want to spend $60 on it. Might wait for some sales.

[Souj]

I was waiting for review as well. From what I see, average playtime is like 12-15 hours, 30 if you stretch it out and do everything. Seems a bit of a steep price unless it’s a real fun game to play.

[Serra]

Thirty hours doesn't sound bad, I think I got around that from doing everything in Mario 3D World.

But I also waited till I could get that for $45, so probably will wait for a comparable sale.

[Karbuncle]

I mean the original snap could be done in like 2 hours casually, 15 hours kinda makes me happy to hear, 30 doing everything also sounds good.

I bought it already, I’ll give you my brutally honest review when I’m done. I won’t hold any punches, I’m any multi hit move with Skill Link.

[Ratatapa]

at the same time 15h of just taking pictures

[Kaisha]

Which I'm fine with as long as the game is as cozy as the original, even though the original was the epitome of being a rental game with its ludicrously short length.

[Tyrath]

Ya I mean I feel like I'd play it like 5 hrs max. Maybe as a group chill activity when friends are over. So definitely leaning towards waiting for a sale

[Karbuncle]

at the same time 15h of just taking pictures

Edit: One thing I notice off the bat is the Pokemon that appear and their behaviors are somewhat randomized even in the same area. My first run of the Park was different than my second, notably the Bouffalant were real far in run 1, and there were 3 roaming close the second time, also a Bouffalant at the end with a Flower in its hair was special... also some more Bidoof on logs, and swimming with sticks, there was a Tangrowth in run 2 and it wasnt there at all in 1.

[Salodin]

I want to play this but not for $60. I can wait

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[Souj]

Edit: One thing I notice off the bat is the Pokemon that appear and their behaviors are somewhat randomized even in the same area. My first run of the Park was different than my second, notably the Bouffalant were real far in run 1, and there were 3 roaming close the second time, also a Bouffalant at the end with a Flower in its hair was special... also some more Bidoof on logs, and swimming with sticks, there was a Tangrowth in run 2 and it wasnt there at all in 1.

From what I read, you unlock more Pokémon and additional content each time you run through and get a certain score.

[Nekonaruto]

From what I read, you unlock more Pokémon and additional content each time you run through and get a certain score.

Yup, you probably unlocked Lv. 2 on your first run, which changes the run a bit. But you can switch between by pressing the X (or Y?) button on the level select screen.

I'm about 4 hours in and enjoying it quite a bit, despite not knowing the majority of the Pokémon I'm taking pictures of...

[Souj]

Ended up picking it up while at Target just now.

[Souj]

Just went through first level. It was way more hectic than I was expecting. I’m like spinning around trying to get a good shot of everything, not knowing when something might show up or when a Pokémon might do something picture worthy. Definitely wasn’t as slow paced as I remember the original being. Not calling it a bad thing, just not what I was expecting.


Edit; do yourselves a favor and go to options and speed up camera/reticule controls.

[Souj]

3 posts in a row, but w/e. Here’s a review;

If you’re a completionist and the idea of an on-rails game where all you do is take pictures of Pokémon sounds good to you, then $60 will get you enough bang for your buck. If you’re just a casual player who won’t play through the same levels multiple upon multiple times, then your cash’s mileage will vary.

So. Your Pokédex in this game is called a photodex. The pictures you take are scored on how good your photo is. You can get a star rating of 1-4, but the completionist part comes in with this little catch; you COULD take 60 pics of 1 Pokémon. But at the end, you are only allowed to use 1 for your score of 1-4 stars, and entry for every Pokémon has 4 slots for each star rating. So this means of your very 1st pic for a ‘mon is 4 star(it won’t be), you would have to take worse pictures to fill in a pic of star 1, star2, and star 3. The game at least tells you what star rating it is before you have to do a final submit for review.

Each level has a set amount of Pokémon in set locations with AI that will do the same thing every time unless you alter their behavior with a few items you’re given to do so such as Scan and the Apple item. Now, Pokémon locations and behavior will eventually change, but only when you level up said stage, which is done through exp points earned through going through that same stage. Leveling up a stage can also add a few new Pokémon. To unlock everything a stage has to offer, you’ll have to play through it multiple times like...6-7 times or so, (the levels aren’t very long so not as bad as it sounds) which will be easy to do if you’re trying to collect all star ratings for every Pokémon, but incredibly grindy if you’re just trying to get through the game unless you ignore the last 2 upgrades of each stage. On top of that, each stage has a night and day option. The rails and environment stay the same but you’ll have a few new Pokémon to take pics of as well as new behavior for them.

Now, if that all sounds horrible and way too grindy, remember, most of that is not necessary for getting through the game. It will make you play through some stages multiple times, but typically for a reason such as when you unlock new items. There are also special requests the game gives you which ask for specific pics of Pokémon doing specific things. Again, they aren’t mandatory but they give you an extra goal to strive for in the game other than just trucking your way through each level.

So to summarize, it is possible to get $60 worth of playtime out of this game. I’d argue more than $60worth, whatever that actually means. And if you don’t care about the price tag to begin with, the game is a fun experience and I’d still suggest getting it. However if you have certain financial restrictions and you really want to stretch that $60 out but all the grinding and replaying levels does not sound anything remotely like fun, then I would say give this game a hard pass until it declines in price or goes on sale. Unfortunately, it’s a Nintendo property so you may be waiting a long long time for that to happen.

[Gwynplaine]

I'm loving the game. Something casual and simple is exactly what I need right now. Doesn't hurt to be nostalgic af for the days I spent playing the original as a kid.

[Karbuncle]

Few tips if you're playing - Plus general rule of how Pokemon grading works.

1) Stars aren't how good you did, they're just different poses. Every pokemon has 4 stars (1/2/3/4) which accounts for different poses such as sleeping, idle, special poses, eating, being hit with something, etc. But the "Stars" you earn aren't indicative of how good the Photo was, they're more of a... "Category".
2) However what IS indicative is what COLOR the stars are when you get your final score. Theres Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond. I believe Bronze is anything below 3k, Silver is 3~3.5k, Gold is 3.5~4k, and 4k+ Is Diamond. Aiming for 4k+ Is obviously the goal but 5k~ is achievable with perfect photos and certain poses.
3) You can throw Apples/Orbs while zoomed in with your camera. This is really helpful information for some photos
4) The Music/Flute in this game seems fucking worthless, I don't think I've found a Pokemon that reacts to it so far...
5) Orbing a Pokemon and making them glow, making them glow doesn't appear to get you any bonus points, some Pokemon just react to it and you might get a unique pose from it. (Plus the flowers)

Anyway, right now I'm several hours into the game, I've unlocked 4 Islands, 9 stages total not accounting for Night/Illumina variants. Most if not all maps have "Alternate Paths" you can unlock by scanning the environment and getting past a certain progress point (I think its related to repeats or the zones level) but I CAN confirm that the Map is semi-randomized regardless of leveling up the zone or not, as my first run of the Desert and the second Run were both Lv1 runs with different Pokemon placements and behaviors, so it does appear that there are a semi-randomized amount of "Events" that can happen each play through a mission, even some Pokemon that only show up occasionally.

Overall, its definitely "Pokemon Snap, but way more", I'm thoroughly enjoying it and to be blunt its the only game I've purchased in like the last 5 years I've looked forward to playing when I get home or lay down for the night. Will give a more complete review once I'm confident I've covered most of the games content.

[Souj]

At least 1 buffalaunt reacts to the music at the very beginning of the first level. You also need it to it bring out the 4ish caterpie that are hiding behind the sign before the flower field of that same level.
I haven’t done as much in-depth play with the other levels yet, but I know those 2 exist.