I remembered Ori and the Blind Forest as a 10/10 game. When I played Will of the Wisps and it was even better, I realized that sometimes, it's impossible to do a piece of art justice by trying to rank or describe it.
Replaying Blind Forest for this video made my appreciation for it go up a lot. The fact they managed to improve so much of the experience in the sequel is really impressive.
I know it’s a cliché but dramatic things happening during storms is a classic for a reason. Also I am definitely biased because rain is my favorite weather
@@AurumAlex64 If rain and thunderstorm are your thing, may I recommend you checking out a little game called Rain World? Though be warned, it is quite... unforgiving.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps completely and unexpectedly blew my mind at just how good it was when I first played it. I say unexpectedly because I too didn't find Blind Forest to be this great masterpiece when I was done with it. Oh sure, the gameplay and story presentation was pretty good, and I did enjoy myself going through it. But I always thought of it as a good game that I was glad to have played and finished. But Will of the Wisps completely hooked me in and never let go for the entirety of it. Somehow this game became one of my favorite games of all times even though on the surface it shares quite a bit of similarity with its predecessor, which I said before didn't grab me as much, except somehow they entirely made it better. From the visual (which mind you, was already fantastic in the last game and now even better somehow?!?!) to the gameplay (i.e. Movements and platforming are great, Bash is back bashing to higher ground!, the combat is great combined with lots of new tools and ability which you can just change on the fly encouraging experimentation, level designs are some of the best in any Metroidvania like Baur's Reach, Luma Pools, Windswept Waste and probably my favorite Moulwood Depths; all of which are in addition to be visually stunning, make great use of their terrain to teach you how to use their areas' respective new movement abilities.) The story in my opinion is also very engaging and compelling. One thing Blind Forest lack were the various NPCs around the map so you get the sense that no one really live back in Nibel but here in Niwen, so many different characters and they pain you a picture of how their area has suffered through their interaction with you. Shriek was a great antagonist and served as kind of mirror of Kuro from the last game in addition to Ori's own relationship with their sister Ku who is Kuro's last surviving child is really gripping to my interest. The music, oh god the music is some of the best I have ever heard and the last game was no slouch either. Overall, Moon Studios has seemed to do the impossible and create one of those "perfect sequel" that very few games ever manage to achieve. They managed to improve basically everything about what made the first game great and in addition add in a lot of new and interesting concepts that make the world fell bigger and more meaningful in the end. I am glad to see that you feel the same way, and I look forward to seeing what other great games you can bring your wonderful analysis to.
I will probably always be the only person on Earth who prefers the first game. Wisps has its moments and it's more visually impressive but Blind Forest has more consistency and integrity in a way that's also hard to explain (I probably could but it would be lengthy) and I value this integrity far more than all the bells and whistles the sequel added. After beating Wisps once it never made me want to return to it again, instead I went back to the first game and beat it three or four more times to get as many achievements as I could, so my takeaway is that Blind Forest lends itself better to replayability while Wisps has a more impactful presentation on the first playthrough. I dunno, Wisps just has so many things that don't feel right about it, Blind Forest wasn't perfect or anything but it did feel more like a passion project of a few individuals and less like a curated by-the-books product with a significant tonal shift. I guess the best example to illustrate my point would probably be comparing this duology to Terminator 1 VS Terminator 2.
I can definitely see this. Blind Forest has a more cohesive world and the way you navigate around it is more considered; Will of the Wisps, by comparison, conforms more to Metroidvania genre tropes. I think the difference for me is that I was not in love with the new things BF brought to the table, so I wasn't terribly upset to see them gone in the sequel.
I also prefer the first game over WotW, and I haven't even played the DE. I honestly don't know why I prefer BF, I just do.While I now know very well everything that happens in WotW, it honestly was just not memorable to me after my first playthrough for some reason, while I remembered BF very clearly
Alright, some deeper thoughts. This video, the way it's delivered, hit my heartstrings harder than actually playing the game. It's very well presented and it instilled in me empathy for the world in the game better than the world did for me. So good job. I shed exactly two additional tears compared to Will of the Wisps, placing this video three tears behind Blind Forest, and four above Tears of the Kingdom.
I remembered Ori and the Blind Forest as a 10/10 game. When I played Will of the Wisps and it was even better, I realized that sometimes, it's impossible to do a piece of art justice by trying to rank or describe it.
Replaying Blind Forest for this video made my appreciation for it go up a lot. The fact they managed to improve so much of the experience in the sequel is really impressive.
I cannot express how badly I want to watch a live concert of the Ori soundtracks. I must experience this before I die.
Me too. Gareth Coker is one of the GOATs of gaming music
I know it’s a cliché but dramatic things happening during storms is a classic for a reason. Also I am definitely biased because rain is my favorite weather
Agreed, I always love a nice thunderstorm
@@AurumAlex64 If rain and thunderstorm are your thing, may I recommend you checking out a little game called Rain World? Though be warned, it is quite... unforgiving.
Ori's awesome.
Hey, it's the Ori cut content guy!
@@LlamaWarrior101 :D
Idk how much water this holds but I always said that the Ori games almost feel like studio ghibli movies
The devs have said they were inspired by Ghibli
Alright, you’ve earned my sub. Great work.
Keep up the great essays!
Ori and the Will of the Wisps completely and unexpectedly blew my mind at just how good it was when I first played it. I say unexpectedly because I too didn't find Blind Forest to be this great masterpiece when I was done with it. Oh sure, the gameplay and story presentation was pretty good, and I did enjoy myself going through it. But I always thought of it as a good game that I was glad to have played and finished. But Will of the Wisps completely hooked me in and never let go for the entirety of it. Somehow this game became one of my favorite games of all times even though on the surface it shares quite a bit of similarity with its predecessor, which I said before didn't grab me as much, except somehow they entirely made it better.
From the visual (which mind you, was already fantastic in the last game and now even better somehow?!?!) to the gameplay (i.e. Movements and platforming are great, Bash is back bashing to higher ground!, the combat is great combined with lots of new tools and ability which you can just change on the fly encouraging experimentation, level designs are some of the best in any Metroidvania like Baur's Reach, Luma Pools, Windswept Waste and probably my favorite Moulwood Depths; all of which are in addition to be visually stunning, make great use of their terrain to teach you how to use their areas' respective new movement abilities.)
The story in my opinion is also very engaging and compelling. One thing Blind Forest lack were the various NPCs around the map so you get the sense that no one really live back in Nibel but here in Niwen, so many different characters and they pain you a picture of how their area has suffered through their interaction with you. Shriek was a great antagonist and served as kind of mirror of Kuro from the last game in addition to Ori's own relationship with their sister Ku who is Kuro's last surviving child is really gripping to my interest. The music, oh god the music is some of the best I have ever heard and the last game was no slouch either.
Overall, Moon Studios has seemed to do the impossible and create one of those "perfect sequel" that very few games ever manage to achieve. They managed to improve basically everything about what made the first game great and in addition add in a lot of new and interesting concepts that make the world fell bigger and more meaningful in the end.
I am glad to see that you feel the same way, and I look forward to seeing what other great games you can bring your wonderful analysis to.
I never understand why I like things they simply vibe with me lol
I will probably always be the only person on Earth who prefers the first game. Wisps has its moments and it's more visually impressive but Blind Forest has more consistency and integrity in a way that's also hard to explain (I probably could but it would be lengthy) and I value this integrity far more than all the bells and whistles the sequel added. After beating Wisps once it never made me want to return to it again, instead I went back to the first game and beat it three or four more times to get as many achievements as I could, so my takeaway is that Blind Forest lends itself better to replayability while Wisps has a more impactful presentation on the first playthrough. I dunno, Wisps just has so many things that don't feel right about it, Blind Forest wasn't perfect or anything but it did feel more like a passion project of a few individuals and less like a curated by-the-books product with a significant tonal shift. I guess the best example to illustrate my point would probably be comparing this duology to Terminator 1 VS Terminator 2.
I can definitely see this. Blind Forest has a more cohesive world and the way you navigate around it is more considered; Will of the Wisps, by comparison, conforms more to Metroidvania genre tropes. I think the difference for me is that I was not in love with the new things BF brought to the table, so I wasn't terribly upset to see them gone in the sequel.
I also prefer the first game over WotW, and I haven't even played the DE. I honestly don't know why I prefer BF, I just do.While I now know very well everything that happens in WotW, it honestly was just not memorable to me after my first playthrough for some reason, while I remembered BF very clearly
I couldn't get into it for the life of me, though the original Ori didn't grab me much either. I am really glad it worked for you, though. 🎉
Alright, some deeper thoughts.
This video, the way it's delivered, hit my heartstrings harder than actually playing the game. It's very well presented and it instilled in me empathy for the world in the game better than the world did for me. So good job. I shed exactly two additional tears compared to Will of the Wisps, placing this video three tears behind Blind Forest, and four above Tears of the Kingdom.
Thanks! To be fair to the game, they made it pretty easy to make an emotional video about, that family reunion side quest is such a good gut punch
Well (not) said!😄
If it’s too good for words, how did you make a 25 minute video about it?
Well, I figured I had to at least _try_ to express why I liked it haha
You should do a video on noita