My biggest issue with the game was the lack of variety in a lot of the rooms, especially in the late game. So many rooms that existed solely to be an obstacle between you and the next room, but that obstacle is just the same combination of waterfalls and tunnels I’d already gone through multiple times already. Just like with all the issues you bring up, I’m sure it was a lack of time/resources deal. Like, they designed the layout of the castle and trusted themselves to eventually make each room memorable, but just ran out of time and had to halfass a bunch near the end.
Good point, and I agree. If you look at the Kickstarter trailer, 9YoS looked like it was going to be a completely different game. I’d love to know what happened to get it from there to the game that ultimately delivered.
I agree, it gets repetitive quickly. Each area is: find the musician, kill the boss and get the armor, jump into the painting and get the upgrade, kill the rest of the bosses, go back to the musician. The only difference between each area is the elemental skill you use to move around. Even the enemies are the same
9YoS was one of my most anticipated games going into the year. It has a fantastic aesthetic and vibe with the combination of fantastic art and music. The problem is combat is too basic and levels too linear. Unlike other MV's which have obvious "come back later" collectibles and levels that expand the more you get to your arsenal, power ups are limited in their usage due to being biome locked. It kinda makes the armor feel more like a gimmick than a power up. I still enjoyed the game and beat it 100%, but I hope their next game, Mariachi Legends, is an improvement.
100% agree. I was looking forward to this game, too. I liked it, but I wanted it to lean heavier into what makes MVs great. Still down for Mariachi Legends, though. I’ve no doubt the devs learned a lot from making this game.
Light meter sounds like the main alternative version of Shield/Stamina system in skautfold usurper but game rewards your aggressiveness and easier to charge
I had issues with some routes between save rooms and bosses that made replaying them extremely obnoxious, but with the game a few months behind me now, my primary complaint is the lack of difficulty/accessibility options. Having finished both Metroid Dread and UNSIGHTED and finding especially Metroid to be challenging to the point where I almost gave up during a few boss fights, 9YOS managed to go from having the occasional refreshingly challenging boss (the serpents, the chess one) to making me feel like the final boss was just unbeatable unless I could borrow someone else's brain for it. So I did give up on beating the final boss the way you're supposed to and leveraged a skill I actually do possess: I opened my save file in a hex editor, found the values that controlled the number of health and shield items I possessed, and basically doubled both. That got me through it.
It's an absolutely gorgeous game, though, and I'm very happy about backing it on Kickstarter. It could have been more (and had better accessibility), but I still enjoyed almost all of it.
I really enjoy the game, and maybe because I had no expectation, i just wanted to play a Saint Seiya Metroidvania and I was satisfied by it. I didn't like that you couldn't skip the cutscenes, but even so, I love this game, one of the best this year.
The problem with the light shield is that sometimes you empty it just to fill it to the hug maximum... Shooting into thin air feels pointless padding before you heal.
Hey hey Guru, thanks for your great content! I played Yoku's Island Express and enjoyed it soo much - not because of the pinball mechanics, but because there was no violance. It was just beautiful and chill. Could you recommend some MVs which a re comparable to YIE?
YIE is pretty unique. The closest I could think of off the top of my head is Disney Illusion Island, Sheep-O, and Knytt Underground. They all have threats but no combat, and Knytt Underground has VERY dark environments. Check some vids on them. You might dig em.
@@MetroidvaniaGuru Heard of Disney's II and it was the only thing came YIE the nearest. But I don't know if it is fun really. Will give it a try though. I've never heard of the other two, Will definitely check them out. Thank you! :)
I enjoyed it quite a bit. And I hope they do a sequel because they have some great ideas. I'd love to see them expand the combat and do a bit of quality of life improvements.
I would love a sequel. I'd love to see Halberd Studio knock it out the park with Mariachi Legends, then return to 9 Years of Shadows and recreate it in their original image. That's a lot to ask, but a guy can dream LOL
I really liked the game, but oh my god did I hate the writing. I felt almost every emotional moment was _undercut_ by them trying to tell me what to feel with the dialogue.
This review its somewhat of what i think of the game too but i see it mostly in negatice lens... The start is so well made being only black and white and getting brighter after i thought it would be a common for the whole game. The exploration is fun for half an hour before you get each armour and ends there its too simple in a negative way for me. Game didn't have any fun platforming to do with the armourd abilities and the combat is so dry i only finished the game to see how the bosses were and i only liked 2 of them (Bishop and Final boss) cause they used the armour elemental colours for some extent... Im still pissed how underwhelming this game was besides the amazing amazing visual
This is a confusing review. Im torn between thinking you are covering for a bland game that you enjoyed despite its numerous flaws and also thinking you are being too hard on a game that tries to hit a variety of notes on a limited budget. Like was it a pleasant game to explore or was it a tidius bore?
I liked the game despite its flaws. I can see how others couldn’t get over these flaws and be bored by the game’s blandness. Is it pleasant to explore? The game’s so middle-of-the-road it’s tough to say. I didn’t find the exploration thrilling as every room looked similar due to the castle motif and there was little to discover, but I wasn’t bored. I personally had a good time. I hope this helps.
Yep the game doesn't feel complete. So I bought this on the Kickstarter, because it looked really good. If you look down the kickstarter page, they all different enemy designs, they graphics are all different, and several pictures looked like outside byom with Npc's including somewhere that looked like Atlantis. At one point they stated, are Scope of the game was so vast that were going to have to trim down what we really wanted to make, we know this is going to upset you and were sorry, but we hope it will bring you a better game, as we felt the game had to much content in it that it felt bloated. So basically they had more planned but just didn't have the budget to do what they wanted. Reason why parts of the game just feel disjointed from other parts. Personally I feel like they sacrificed a lot just to make the game look really good, because if you look at the original art, it was very bland.
The original art was very bland, so they did a good job in that department. But, yeah, it felt like a totally different game than what they started with. That's not uncommon. But I bet if they had more time and resources so they could have stuck with their original vision, I bet this game would have been phenomenal.
Funny how this game was so much influenced by Saint Seiya and a mix of Sailor Moon. The game was decent but felt too small and lacked more vision. Looking forward to the next game. Let's accept that it lacked budget. The gameplay and art were great though. Enemies felt like garbage and really boring to be honest.
Игры
What are you doing this for, Guru? The Last Faith is out!
Sailor Moon music was a nice addition and fit remarkably well with the animation. Well done sir.
Thanks! I had to edit in the sound effects manually. It was fun to make :)
Any chance of a top 10 games that have the most rewarding exploration ? That is one of the big things I love in metroidvanias as well as other games
If that’s what the people want, absolutely
For a new studio, with a first game. I think it is really good product. I really enjoyed it even the second run.
Glad to hear it! I started a second run, too. I’m not joking when I said I like the game 🤷♂️
My biggest issue with the game was the lack of variety in a lot of the rooms, especially in the late game. So many rooms that existed solely to be an obstacle between you and the next room, but that obstacle is just the same combination of waterfalls and tunnels I’d already gone through multiple times already. Just like with all the issues you bring up, I’m sure it was a lack of time/resources deal. Like, they designed the layout of the castle and trusted themselves to eventually make each room memorable, but just ran out of time and had to halfass a bunch near the end.
Good point, and I agree. If you look at the Kickstarter trailer, 9YoS looked like it was going to be a completely different game. I’d love to know what happened to get it from there to the game that ultimately delivered.
I agree, it gets repetitive quickly. Each area is: find the musician, kill the boss and get the armor, jump into the painting and get the upgrade, kill the rest of the bosses, go back to the musician.
The only difference between each area is the elemental skill you use to move around. Even the enemies are the same
9YoS was one of my most anticipated games going into the year. It has a fantastic aesthetic and vibe with the combination of fantastic art and music. The problem is combat is too basic and levels too linear. Unlike other MV's which have obvious "come back later" collectibles and levels that expand the more you get to your arsenal, power ups are limited in their usage due to being biome locked. It kinda makes the armor feel more like a gimmick than a power up. I still enjoyed the game and beat it 100%, but I hope their next game, Mariachi Legends, is an improvement.
100% agree.
I was looking forward to this game, too. I liked it, but I wanted it to lean heavier into what makes MVs great.
Still down for Mariachi Legends, though. I’ve no doubt the devs learned a lot from making this game.
Light meter sounds like the main alternative version of Shield/Stamina system in skautfold usurper but game rewards your aggressiveness and easier to charge
I had issues with some routes between save rooms and bosses that made replaying them extremely obnoxious, but with the game a few months behind me now, my primary complaint is the lack of difficulty/accessibility options.
Having finished both Metroid Dread and UNSIGHTED and finding especially Metroid to be challenging to the point where I almost gave up during a few boss fights, 9YOS managed to go from having the occasional refreshingly challenging boss (the serpents, the chess one) to making me feel like the final boss was just unbeatable unless I could borrow someone else's brain for it.
So I did give up on beating the final boss the way you're supposed to and leveraged a skill I actually do possess: I opened my save file in a hex editor, found the values that controlled the number of health and shield items I possessed, and basically doubled both. That got me through it.
It's an absolutely gorgeous game, though, and I'm very happy about backing it on Kickstarter. It could have been more (and had better accessibility), but I still enjoyed almost all of it.
I really enjoy the game, and maybe because I had no expectation, i just wanted to play a Saint Seiya Metroidvania and I was satisfied by it. I didn't like that you couldn't skip the cutscenes, but even so, I love this game, one of the best this year.
Having to repeatedly suffer through Ulf's ramblings because of a skill issue.😭
Fartjokes never get old! XDD
Fart jokes stink
The problem with the light shield is that sometimes you empty it just to fill it to the hug maximum... Shooting into thin air feels pointless padding before you heal.
Very true
Hey hey Guru, thanks for your great content! I played Yoku's Island Express and enjoyed it soo much - not because of the pinball mechanics, but because there was no violance. It was just beautiful and chill.
Could you recommend some MVs which a re comparable to YIE?
YIE is pretty unique. The closest I could think of off the top of my head is Disney Illusion Island, Sheep-O, and Knytt Underground. They all have threats but no combat, and Knytt Underground has VERY dark environments. Check some vids on them. You might dig em.
@@MetroidvaniaGuru Heard of Disney's II and it was the only thing came YIE the nearest. But I don't know if it is fun really. Will give it a try though.
I've never heard of the other two, Will definitely check them out. Thank you! :)
When's the Cave Story video? :D
You get to hug a teddybear to survive. 10/10
No lies detected.
Seems better then I gave it credit for at first?
Her armors reminds me of saint seiya or bt x >_
I enjoyed it quite a bit. And I hope they do a sequel because they have some great ideas. I'd love to see them expand the combat and do a bit of quality of life improvements.
I would love a sequel. I'd love to see Halberd Studio knock it out the park with Mariachi Legends, then return to 9 Years of Shadows and recreate it in their original image. That's a lot to ask, but a guy can dream LOL
I really liked the game, but oh my god did I hate the writing. I felt almost every emotional moment was _undercut_ by them trying to tell me what to feel with the dialogue.
You can’t just have your characters say how they feel! That makes me angry!
1000 points to anyone who knows where that quote’s from.
Are there any games that are super similar to S.O.T.N.? And lets be honest she would make an awesome Tat to go with my Joan of Arc one haha
waiting for the patched swtich physical version
If they release the game physically, I'll be the first in line to get it. It's look so good in my collection.
This review its somewhat of what i think of the game too but i see it mostly in negatice lens... The start is so well made being only black and white and getting brighter after i thought it would be a common for the whole game.
The exploration is fun for half an hour before you get each armour and ends there its too simple in a negative way for me. Game didn't have any fun platforming to do with the armourd abilities and the combat is so dry i only finished the game to see how the bosses were and i only liked 2 of them (Bishop and Final boss) cause they used the armour elemental colours for some extent... Im still pissed how underwhelming this game was besides the amazing amazing visual
Well said. There was a lot of missed potential here. I hope their next game knocks it out off the park.
This is a confusing review. Im torn between thinking you are covering for a bland game that you enjoyed despite its numerous flaws and also thinking you are being too hard on a game that tries to hit a variety of notes on a limited budget. Like was it a pleasant game to explore or was it a tidius bore?
i’ve played it. it is right in the middle. cheap fun quick metroidvania, nothing special. if want a time filler, buy it.
I liked the game despite its flaws. I can see how others couldn’t get over these flaws and be bored by the game’s blandness.
Is it pleasant to explore? The game’s so middle-of-the-road it’s tough to say. I didn’t find the exploration thrilling as every room looked similar due to the castle motif and there was little to discover, but I wasn’t bored. I personally had a good time.
I hope this helps.
Yep the game doesn't feel complete. So I bought this on the Kickstarter, because it looked really good. If you look down the kickstarter page, they all different enemy designs, they graphics are all different, and several pictures looked like outside byom with Npc's including somewhere that looked like Atlantis.
At one point they stated, are Scope of the game was so vast that were going to have to trim down what we really wanted to make, we know this is going to upset you and were sorry, but we hope it will bring you a better game, as we felt the game had to much content in it that it felt bloated. So basically they had more planned but just didn't have the budget to do what they wanted. Reason why parts of the game just feel disjointed from other parts. Personally I feel like they sacrificed a lot just to make the game look really good, because if you look at the original art, it was very bland.
The original art was very bland, so they did a good job in that department. But, yeah, it felt like a totally different game than what they started with. That's not uncommon. But I bet if they had more time and resources so they could have stuck with their original vision, I bet this game would have been phenomenal.
A game with too much promise with a lacking product
Funny how this game was so much influenced by Saint Seiya and a mix of Sailor Moon. The game was decent but felt too small and lacked more vision. Looking forward to the next game. Let's accept that it lacked budget. The gameplay and art were great though. Enemies felt like garbage and really boring to be honest.