New Pokémon Snap - GET IN THERE MY SON

I don’t wanna derail the thread more but thanks, I might look into the other cloud options.

Anyone else hear that they're bringing back a GameBoy Printer of sorts for Snap?

I'm a sucker for instant photos so I would be tempted if it was cheaper.

Muss wrote:

Anyone else hear that they're bringing back a GameBoy Printer of sorts for Snap?

I'm a sucker for instant photos so I would be tempted if it was cheaper.

It looks really cool, but it should be £30-40

I was just reminded that this is out next Friday. It's almost unbelievable that we're at this point. That'll be over twenty years ago since I rented Pokemon Snap from Blockbuster, and I know I finished it in that weekend that I'd borrowed it. I loved it, and I no doubt thought 'I wish there was more of this'. New Pokemon Snap has been in the making since that autumn weekend when I first completed it, and for decades since it hadn't looked like it was ever going to happen.

In gaming terms, I'm basically just hanging about and waiting for this - I'm well excited!

That's my order in for this as I was looking for something new to tuck into.

Muss wrote:

Anyone else hear that they're bringing back a GameBoy Printer of sorts for Snap?

I'm a sucker for instant photos so I would be tempted if it was cheaper.

This is exactly the kind of frivolous purchase I've been in the mood for lately, if the stars align I'm totally getting it. I still need to order my copy, the arrival of Returnal on the same day has made me hold off ordering either but I'm 90% sure this will be the game I gonna get.

This is a month-old article and I'm not much of a Kotaku fan, but I was glad to see these really positive impressions. I didn't ever play the N64 game but, according to this, the new one is just as good but prettier.

https://kotaku.com/new-pokemon-snap-is-like-old-pokemon-snap-only-much-pr-1846542671

Muss wrote:

Anyone else hear that they're bringing back a GameBoy Printer of sorts for Snap?

I'm a sucker for instant photos so I would be tempted if it was cheaper.

Ooooh, that is right in the awkward zone where it's cheap enough that I'll probably impulse buy it but expensive enough that I shouldn't

I got an email from Boomerang Games saying the price was an error and my order is cancelled

That's the last time I recommend shopping/rental services I've never used.

Balladeer wrote:

That's the last time I recommend shopping/rental services I've never used.

It's not your fault. I got it from Shopto instead, no harm done.

I got this yesterday, and my first impressions are that, aye, this is the dog's hairy, wonderfully colourful, beautifully animated and gorgeously lit bollocks. 

Did anybody else get it?

Yeah. I had a quick go, didn’t like all the preamble but the snapping itself is fun and yep it looks lovely!

I also got it yesterday and played upto the second island being unlocked.

Does look great for a Switch game part from the humans.

The professor and that girl gawping and talking at me all the time is a big minus point. I'm not really loving the game so far. I would like it a lot more if I could just play it.

I've got a copy in the cellophane. Been busy with work,, social life and podcasts but got a nice five or six days with no plans coming up, perfect for games and hiking.

I've not played this loads but my girlfriend has. From what I have played it's seems like fans of the original should be very happy with this. It's bright, colourful, and despite being an on the rails game, there's actually room for a surprising amount of experimentation with items and different routes.

Sure there's a bit too much patter from the characters, be that repetitive dialogue in the results screen, or an extreme dose of hand holding early on. But that all melts away for me because the actual game is just such a nice place to be.

One of my disappointments with Pokémon games is that they often feel significantly less alive and vibrant than the cartoons. I think there were some missed opportunities in Sword and Shield in that the towns themselves just didn't have Pokémon doing much of anything but loitering inside them. Mainline game Pokémon are a bit like battle husks really, for all that we're told about how important they are to the community.

But here in Snap, there's a nice balance between the whimsy, you know grass Pokémon playing or dancing or baby pokemon hanging out, and also some of the more Darwinian behaviours that predator and prey have. Very refreshing to have things like that on the big screen. The photo editors are fun to play with as well.

I've picked it up but I'm not entirely sold on it yet. I feel that there's a lot of just repeating the same location in the hope of getting slightly better photos. Is there something I'm missing to avoid it being so grindy?

Sums up how I feel about it, but I also hate the soulless staring eyes of those two laboratory zealots. They’re unskippable so far.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

I've picked it up but I'm not entirely sold on it yet. I feel that there's a lot of just repeating the same location in the hope of getting slightly better photos. Is there something I'm missing to avoid it being so grindy?

Isn't that what the gameplay loop was in the original too though?

I couldn't possibly comment, I'm not about to play an N64 game am I?!

Crumpy Andy wrote:

I'm not about to play an N64 game am I?!

goth

~

That's right that it's the same gameplay loop as it was on N64, but it feels just a tiny bit exhausting and repetitive here. The number of locations is fine and the amount to interact with in each of them is fine too. But the game asks you to travel these same courses several times before letting you progress, with only minor changes between each time of day and each slow-to-reach skill level.

I’m not close to finishing it, and my opinion might very well change. But to be honest I was expecting New Pokemon Snap to land firmly in my personal Switch top ten. I don’t think it will. While it’s still a really enjoyable, relaxing and polished game, I’m not totally in love with it like I’d expected to be. Like andyman and neil are saying, I think it’s pace goes too fast or too slow, too often. There’s parts where things don’t move quickly enough (like with all those tutorials and interruptions at the start), and then there’s other parts where it just throws you into the next thing without really telling you what’s happening.

Still, I've got lots more to play, but I'll go at my own pace, and not at the game's.

Yeah, I'd like to emphasise my only concern is repeating the exact same version of the exact same course. I'm good with the same location day/night/whatevs or same place and time but more 'mon, but it's the way it locks me into the same course in the same time with the same 'mon. Just a bit boring innit.

You can unlock different routes, if you do certain things on certain course levels.

I've played this for a few hours now and I haven't really found it to be too grindy. There were a couple of instances where I've gone through the course and it was the same Pokemon doing the same things at the same time, but the vast majority of the time there have been a few new Pokemon appearing in the levels, or you can trigger new behaviours by doing different things. It only takes one or two attempts to get to research level 2 and once you do that new Pokemon are sure to appear.

In other words, when in doubt, wang apples around like nobody's business and play the flute (though that riff will be stuck in my head forever now) and take a fuckton of photos because you get a generous allowance in each course and you can net yourself a bunch of points by the end.

I will point out though that I haven't tried to get to research level 3 on any course yet and that does look more grindy. But then there are a million challenges that give you a bit more direction in each course, and you unlock the turbo mode which means you can zoom through the course to the relevant bits to speed things up.

Ultimately I've found it pretty varied and not particularly grindy so far!