Topic: Where Does the Majority Rest In Kid Icarus Uprising?

For the record, once you complete the story mode you can turn the dialogue completely off.

I'm aware. It's welcome, but it would have been around ten trillion times more welcome if I had the option to do so up front. Completing the game to unlock "Not Totally Annoying" Mode almost defeats the purpose of having it.

Controls - Fine for the most part, don't like using the touchscreen to aim the crosshair so I changed to the A,B,X,Y buttons, but I wish you could use the second circle pad on the Circle Pad Pro for that.

Circle Pad Pro use - Disappointing. As far as I know, you can't set the right circle pad as a use for the crosshair (which in the land segments doubles as camera control), instead it serves the same function as the left circle pad.

Graphics/Performance - Well done for a 3DS game, albeit it isn't running at 60 frames per second IIRC.

Soundtrack - Fantastic. If there was a separate soundtrack CD available I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Online mode - Never been able to play that, it's a dead zone like Super Smash Bros Brawl's servers are nowadays.

Voice acting - As irritating as it could possibly be. The acting itself is fine, but somebody did the wrongheaded decision to have the characters talk ALL THE TIME!!! At best it's mildly annoying. At worst it's not only like a drill slowly going through your head, but completely inappropriate given the current situation. For example, the Chariot Master in chapter 19 somehow feels the need to narrate his life story or some crap WHILE you're in the middle of an intense fight with him! I'm sorry, but couldn't that have been saved for a cutscene? We won't be able to follow his story when our minds are on constant alert to avoid his attacks.

It doesn't help that half the time the dialouge is just bad puns or chit-chat that's completely irrelevant to the story and doesn't develop the characters in any meaningful way.

Story - Absolute pants. I give credit for subverting my expectations thinking that chapter 9 would be the last stage (few games manage to pull off such a trick succesfully) but past that the story dwells into insanity, and tries to find every contrived reason to make the game longer. By chapter 15 I could barely follow what was happening.

The point where I finally lost my damn patience however was chapter 18. You can't seriously have written something so contrived, so lazy and yet so WTF and then expect to get away with it. I have a lot of respect for Sakurai and his team (I still do), but I just couldn't take it anymore. Not only do I think it's the worst moment in the whole game, I think it's one of the worst moments in any game in recent years (and I'm DEAD serious about this)! And then there's that last-minute padding bull (i.e Chapter 24) which is a real pet peeve of mine, although it's nowhere near as bad as Brawl's Great Maze.

But I would be lying if I said I didn't play it until the end and hasn't grown an affection for the things the game tried to accomplish but ultimately botched. Even with its many faults I enjoyed it to an extent. It's nowhere near among the best 3DS games I own however.

I just wished the game gave more background on Pit's past. There should have been chapters dedicated to showing how Pit was when he was a human...before he became a Angel of the Light. I would've liked him alot more if the game did that.

I forgot to mention that. I agree, a backstory on Pit would actually be pretty interesting.

One of the 3DS' best, though the control scheme is not one that you can pick up and recall instantly; it takes a half-hour or so to get back into it. Not as good as Fire Emblem: Awakneing or Shin Megam Tensei IV, but it's up there.

I love this game, though it's crying out for a jump button (Its platforming is weak)
Game can get a bit repetitious, would like the ability to wield multiple weapons.

Love weapon variety (this game does a fine line in LOOT)
Amazing online, though it needs capture the flag (It would work well with the games athletic style)

Love characters and story, it is rather funny, but it is also epic, especially at the end.

Combat is rather nuanced and enjoyable.

Level design leans a bit towards corridors.

9/10 for me.

Are you kidding me??? That chapter was awesome and innovative. I loved playing as Magnus, and allying with Viridi lead to some amusing dialogue. Plus, fighting Palutena's forces is the games combat at its best. It also reveals a lot about pit's character. I agree with the ending being a bit padded, but still...

Happy. 9/10 game for me.

It was the point where IMO the game's story completely lost its direction.

There is no reason for Pit to turn into a ring.
There is no reason for the game to do a three-year time skip (and without warning I might add).
There is no reason to have a pseudo-artistic opening with a girl and a dog and then never make use of them again.
The whole thing with the alien bug is a cheap way to make Palutena do a face heel turn without actually becoming evil and to make Viridi your new ally.

And it resulted in dragging the story out for another four chapters, as if the game hadn't already done that when those triangular alien thingies invaded.

@cookiex God forbid there be a plot twist.

I don't think his concern is that there's a plot twist. It's pretty clear to me that his concern is that the plot twist felt poorly implemented and impacted his enjoyment of the game.

But that's what I get for reading the post instead of just responding dismissively to it, I guess.

Philip's correct, my concern isn't the fact that it was a plot twist (the game already had a plot twist in chapter 9 that I think was well done), it's that this twist had a flawed concept that was executed horribly.

What fun is there in making sense???
In all seriousness, I respectfully disagree with you. I mean, the only objection I had to the story arc was having to fight the Chaos Kin twice, and also that we didn't get to fight Viridi. Without it, we also wouldn't have got to play as dark pit, or had the Lightning chariot, or allied with Pitoo for the really fun wave attack level. (This game needs a horde mode)
I also found the opening of the first story arc to be a refreshing break from all the combat, and fighting Pit was rather satisfying. Having the Goddess of Light betray the people lead to some spectacular scenes, and fun enemies.
If I could've gotten rid of an arc, it would be the Aurum arc. As cool as all the SNES-era Star Fox references were, it contributed nothing to the plot whatsoever. That, and Chapter 24 are the only real examples of padding.

Agree to disagree, I suppose. And personally I'm not a fan of the wave level since it felt eternal, but I will give you the ending to that level and the underworld stage that came after. I just wish they weren't preceeded by the twist.

Continuing, the reason to do all those things is to add a little flavor to the story. I mean, the sudden time-skip was cheap, but having to fight your previous allies, and swap forms in the level's opening, adds gameplay and story variety. I mean, it adds a little bit of seriousness to the previously goofy tone, which prepares for the outstanding final boss.

That was the point... Kind of like The Imprisoned is supposed to make you dread it. You might not like it, but that was their intention.

and the Pit + Pitoo speech in this level is awesome!

And to be quite fair I'm not against the concept of having to fight your previous allies either and move towards a serious tone (the intro to chapter 18 made me intrugued only to turn that feeling into anger moments later), but I just wish that twist didn't happen the way it did.

A lot of game twist can be cheap, especially from a gameplay perspective.
Take Aerith from FFVII. I'd spent ages getting her leveled up, and then she gets killed out of nowhere, thus wasting all that effort. Yes, her death was sad, but it is utterly irritating from a gameplay perspective. And not using a character because you know they will die regardless of your efforts shows a lack of gameplay and story balance, which Square Enix has been guilty of since.