I honestly think a game where you have to overcome obstacles using powerups which on paper are very underwhelming could be really cool, like by forcing you to figure out solutions by combining and swapping between them. But in practice the game isn't built around that; the powerups just ARE bad.
The character has dementia and the fading characters are forgotten loved ones and friends that their brain teases them with but can never fully interact solidifying the fact that the dementia has almost erased all memories except a image of a smiling "random" character
@@janmarcoperezbatres2203 I tried two monster hunters on psp, 3 on Wii and 3DS, and 4 on switch and 3DS. If it wasn’t gonna get me after all those attempts why the hell would I buy rise?
@@masteroflag i wasnt directly talking to you tho. But regardless, after World, the game mechanics changed a lot. Its way less stiff and more responsive. You can try the demo if you own a switch.
My favorite power is the one where you stretch upwards, but not high enough to exceed the default jump, meaning it does basically nothing except make it easier to collect floating coins and makes the platforming harder.
Nah, bubble takes the crown. You are about as mobile as a pie, not to mention your bubble pops when it touches a platform- effectively making it worthless in a platformer.
@@ermant7285 Except Killer Bean was made by one guy in his free time while the animation in this game is done by team of people that are paid to do it.
BTW, I think they already patched it, but when chat told Dunkey that the final boss causes seizures, they weren't joking. The seizure-inducing portion of that fight caused issues even with reviewers who weren't (known to be) epileptic. That's how bad it was. It was a mixture of poor design and glitches AFAIK. If you haven't patched your game yet, please keep that in mind, and if you're epileptic, don't fucking play this game because you will NOT be safe. Really, don't play this game at all, but also, epileptics have another reason not to.
@@thewholecircus2792 Like I said, it gave reviewers who DO NOT have epilepsy headaches and disorientation. It would probably freakin' kill an epileptic person.
This game perfectly encapsulates a fundamental concept in game design. You should make the game be about what the player CAN do, not what they CAN'T. In Mario Odyssey, Mario has a huge move set by default, and capturing a creature gives him new things he can do. In this game, each costume gives you like 1 ability and removes all other capabilities the character has. And without a costume, the character can do next to nothing. Add to that the fact that each ability feels really limiting, preventing the player from ever feeling like they're breaking new boundaries or sometimes feeling like they can't even control their actions. What's more, many abilities feel like remixes of other abilities, you have an ability inventory that allows you to run out, lots of abilities are painfully level-specific, etc. All that gets you a game like this. Cool idea, but the execution is pretty abysmal.
Scyther ability was the worst offender. You go to a later level, bring an ability back, and can't even walk up the first knee high step in the first level? Not to mention how almost all of the powers are very 1 dimensional and allow no interaction. A mid jump transform could have opened up so much more potential
Most of the abilities are mindblowingly bad. Like the plant that can extend before it jumps... the exact same height as a normal jump... like it’s clearly a copy of the onion in Odyssey. But that not only extended really far and allowed for much higher jumps, it also let you break blocks on the way up. It had multiple purposes that were also totally unique to itself. Meanwhile countless costumes in this game are either functionally identical, or just plain better versions of worse costumes, rendering them pointless. If they had just focused on a smaller number of costumes that actually benefited the player in unique ways, and you know, maybe used *two* buttons, right off the bat it could’ve been much better. But let’s be real the level design isn’t anything to write home about either. Or things like the the QTEs
I completely agree 100%. But its crazy and kinda funny that this is only a single aspect the game failed on. It also fails on basic world building, character development, objectives, actually working properly. And honestly much more. I think it actually looks great. But even the character selection was bare minimum. What the fuck happened in development is my question.
I like how Dunkey keeps trying to climb things and explore different solutions, only to constantly realize how railroaded it is, and how you can only use one power for any given task.
The only explanation for this game is that the project leads finally came out of their one year coke binge, walked into the studio, actually LOOKED at what was being worked on, and told everyone to stop development, finish what they had, and push product out to launch. That is the ONLY explanation for this.
The funny part about this is that apparently the only reason this game has cutscenes is because the animation studio chipped in and said they wanted to be apart of it, just take the time to think about that
There’s something very unsettling about this game. I think it’s the random characters that just disappear as soon as you get close enough to them as well as the giant versions of the characters that the levels are themed after, like the giant farmer for example, and the giants also disappear when you get close enough. Why do they just disappear?!
I feel the dancing while giberish singing is kinda bad too. Like you are given no context no goal just i guess im watching a farmer and boi happydance now?!
You've got people dealing with pretty intense problems: -Entire career nearly destroyed by a tornado -Almost drowning because a Dolphin went rogue -Going insane because you are putting your heart and soul into your goal but just can't achieve it And then you've got: -Getting kinda lonely because you like bugs but other kids don't
Bruh imagine the thing you have a true passion for causing you to be ostracized from everyone else. I think the cutscene is trying to depict that her love for bugs is locking her off from everyone else. I'd say that's pretty bad still.
It's like a game made by aliens who have only heard a few things before about video games and have no grasp of human culture or interaction whatsoever.
@@dogol284 honestly if more than half the animation didn’t look like they used a xbox 360 Kinect to make, I’d say this is pretty alright, visually at least. Gameplay is still a slightly better wii shovelware level of quality.
@@dogol284 Idk, they've been a bit of a mixed bag but they've also had some phenomenonal games lately. I hear nearly nothing but good things about FF7R, and RepliCant:1.5 is just around the corner and looks like an the original's finally getting it's beautiful potential realised. Square is one of those companies I feel is very two sided in terms of quality, they slack off sometimes and release some of the most worthless lazy trash (this, Quiet Man, Avengers) but when they feel like it they can put their all in to make some amazing games (NieR, FF7R, DQ11), they're a very much case by case company in my eyes
Balan’s design is wonderful. Everything else in this game is terrible. It’s really sad because you can tell they had a vision for the game, but almost nothing came together.
@@theomuller3 Don't take me wrong. Mighty No. 9 is trash.... but I believe this is worse. I mean, despite it running like hot garbage and having terrible graphics, AT LEAST I can see some thought put into the development of Mighty No 9..... Balan Wonderworld however... idk, it truly looks like a collection of ideas written on a piece of paper and put on the same box without any thoughts.
The inexplicably silent dancing NPCs who disappear as soon as you draw near, appear when you reach a checkpoint, and the gargantuan versions of the characters whose sad story the levels are based around just staring at you while lounging, smiles on their vapid faces before also disappearing as soon as you take a step their way, all while the game absolutely refuses to stitch it's narratives together and ignore basic world building and mechanics explanations leads this game to being just... Simultaneously surreal and bland. And the overarching theme of "being sad and depression are the same thing, and both can be solved by having a positive outlook :))))" is utter ass.
I think the message is to have "balance" between positivity and negativity if the super on the nose lyrics of "Wonderworld" are anything to go by. However, the game does gravitate towards positivity more, especially when it demonizes negativity as a whole by literally making Lance a straight up villain. A better way to convey the message would be to have Lance as a co maestro or something that gives doses of negativity to help characters grieve and face reality for a bit, and then Balan makes them happy again. I'm spit balling ideas here but that would help make the message and world more clear
@@cyandlinawebb4582 That...is a wonderful point. But Nah, let’s just make Lance a generic villain and give kids a confusing message instead. “Don’t be depresso, kids!” Lovely.
@@cyandlinawebb4582 That's kind of brilliant. Like they're manic theater nerd brothers that walk the player through the creative and destructive powerups respectively. It'd be extremely on the nose but I'll take that over vague and braindead.
@@diehounderdoggenalt The book actually goes into detail about Lance and Balan, I won't spoil anything but it's kinda close to what I proposed and what you say, actually. Lance seems to be humanized a bit more in the book and gave me this idea, but they really should have included this into the game instead of dumping it into add on material. I didn't buy it of course, I combed through tv tropes and got the basics of Balan and Lance's backstories
@@Insidejokesgamin ok so what they are doing is making a cookie cutter statement, the sonic unleashed but worse applies to the wolf costume, and from then on you make your own comparisons. For example the flower pot power up is the onions from Mario odyssey but worse, and so on and so forth
The funniest part to me is that I could see the potential for a storyline like this. Someone going through a near death experience and having something they used to love ruined by the trauma they now associate with it isn’t actually a bad setup. You could write a story about them slowly learning to overcome that trauma and facing their fears so that they can enjoy what they loved again, or maybe learning to move on with their lives and find something else that they enjoy. Or you could have them do a dance sequence not even 5 minutes later and suddenly be fine, undermining the entire thing. Like this game.
yeah agreed totally. it just sounds really strange and doesn't roll off the tongue at all in a way that's hard to even articulate. those sounds just... don't go together in english lol
Weird, I've never had such a strong reaction to a word or name, unless it's an offensive word used in a hateful way or something. I never really understood why people hated "moist" either.
WAIT OK I THINK I MIGHT HAVE FIGURED OUT WHY it's the two short 'a' sounds (and the lack of obvious pronunciation to english speakers) I don't know of that many words that have 2 short 'a' syllables right in a row, so it sounds really unnatural to us (or me at least) And if you try to emphasize the second syllable, baLAN, I feel like the english speaker's tongue will slur the syllables together into b(uh)LAN which sounds just bad
@@thewholecircus2792 this game feels like the conversation you have with dude you met at a party while you guys are snorting coke in the bathroom. U almost put a good or meaningful thought together but lose your train of thought in the sped rambling nonsense and u completely forget what your point was, so you just snort another line and continue on about that one time your friend did that thing and hey did you rack my line evenly lul are u sure kuz mine looks less actually bro just re do but don’t skimp me we have to split the bag evenly until my guy can bring more
Balans design is unoriginal and boring as fuck what are you talking about he's just a ripoff of every "showtime" top hat character design that's been done in other games
1:45:40 her eye shadow is intensely powerful to be able to remain completely unsmudged or faded while swimming underwater. Not to mention the amount of hair muscles she must have to constantly have her ponytail pointing skyward (like the skyward sword from skyward sword).
Fun fact: Naka was originally gonna be executive producer of Sonic 2006, but left to start his own company. Maybe that’s why there are some....erm.......similarities
@@kovenmaitreya7184 i agree. Its hard to say anyone play tested this. Anyone whos ever played a single video game could tell this game is hot garbage. What the fuck happened????
@@victorortero8743 from my very junior point of view as a game designer : 1- marketing catch over game design qualities : a lot of costumes sounds more cool than 3 with complete movements set, and the entire basis of the game, based probably on the mechanic from mario odyssey, seems to be based around this one market argument. 2- unexperience team : square is not known for platforming game, and it shows. this also explains why the graphics are correct, since it doesn't demands specific knowledge (it's still mid, look at crash 4 to see what is the best cartoon graphics can achieve) 3- heavy lineage AND new IP : so this is a spiritual successor to nights into dream, but also a new license. Which mean it has High expectation to begin with, without any universe and game concept to build upon. Take crash 4 : New installment to an IP who was remade, and was made by a team who already remake spyro, another platformer. You have plenty of room to actually learn from your mistake, AND you have money and time to make a good product. this is my basis for this production. thank you for reading it all the way.
"We finished the opening cinematic! It looks great!" "Awesome! How much time and money do we have left in our budget to finish the rest of the game?" "6 months and a $19 Fortnite Gift Card" "...fuck."
This comment has been sticking in my head for DAYS and making me laugh. I don't know why, but "$19 Fortnite gift card" cracks me up every time I think of it.
Apparently the cutscenes weren't even going to be in the game. A different company worked on them. The best part of the game wasn't even made by the main people
2:19:19 had me in fucking stiches. dunkey taking the sycther guy to lvl 1 and being unable to make a half foot jump really illustrated how this game gave you 80 different shapes to play with but forced you to use each shape for one very specific hole.
This game feels like it's not real. Seeing it's existence certified by wikipedia made me doubt my whole existence. If balan world is real it can only mean I'm not real. My whole life must be a fever dream
It is as the ancient sages said, "We are the spider who weaves a home to live in. We are the dreamers and the dream both." If we showed them Balan's Wonderwall they'd probably take it all back and figure out a way to never dream again.
@@thewholecircus2792 this game is worse than smoking, at least smoking leads to an end you know of after years of doing it, lung cancer, this game has unpredictable results
Man that return to the farm was brutal to watch. Arrive in mantis suit preventing him to jump Suicides because he didn't remember the costume change. Starts panicking he's gonna need to go back to other levels Gets told about thing he forgot Immediately loses the spider skin Avoids web after getting spider back Panicks that the random other web was a useless need for the spider Has to be told and hand held back to the point where he needs to use spider. At least he found a second statue immediately after so he could leave and move on.
NiGHTS was the first thing I thought of when I saw this game and I didn’t even know Yuji Naka was a part of it. Sad that NiGHTS has stayed in Sega franchise hell for so long, I thought Balan would’ve satisfied me with it’s NiGHTS vibe.
"so it's like nights but it plays nothing like nights, it has none of the charm and that one cool character that we used to advertise this to make you think it was like Nights? You guessed it! you don't play as him!"
When I saw the announcement, I was hopeful but deep down I wished they just made a new NiGHTS game. Now I REALLY wish they made a new NiGHTS game (that didn't play like this, obviously).
What this game gets right: The look The cut scenes The music (as long as you dont listen to it on loop for too long) The concept What it gets wrong: Controls Game play Not exsplaining a dang thing Charging 60$ when its worth 30$ at most
The end cutscene is so emotional until you realize there wasn’t much that built up to that point. Just watch the ending cutscene and pretend that everything was explained beforehand.
@@mlpfanboy1701 When I played Super Mario Galaxy 2, the song would loop endlessly and I still went out of my way to listen to the soundtrack again on youtube. 10 years later, I still remember most of the Super Mario Galaxy 2 soundtrack. That's good videogame music. Balan's music is just irritating after the first few loops.
Just by comparing the actual gameplay with the music and art, you can tell they went more with style than with function. In fact, why didn't they just make a movie and/or show instead of a game?!
Making a show or movie would require actually fleshing out a story and writing the parts that actually bind all the disparate parts together. They couldn't even manage the bare minimum for a platforming video game.
Given the stories they presented were things like "woman loses heart because she treated a wild animal like not a wild animal and it acts like a wild animal and nearly drowns her" I think they probably tried to pitch it as a show and they were turned down so thought "fuck it, we'll make bubsy 4d"
@@LKing-ue2jlhe just uses cheaper slightly lower quality microphones on stream because his really good ones are too sensitive to background noise and stuff like that. Basically just an easier less professional setup.
This is one of those crappy Unity games you find in an abandoned corner of Steam for barely a 20th of this game's price being paraded as something worth 20x it's value.
I know some people defend the game with the art style but honestly it's all over the place. Like dunkee said at the begining those baby things look like digimons, then other things like balan look straight outta fucking hazbin hotel and the world looks like levels from sonic lost world. Oh and can't forget about the Billy Hatcher protags too lmao
@@quvuergatulyai980 The worst thing I've ever seen. Well, it's a pretty cringey show but not just straight up awful, but the fan base actually is, so pretty much a show with a following of degenerates
Different stories: >Entire livelihood nearly destroyed by a tornado >almost drowns as a result of a dolphin >family dies >treasured pet dies *>>loses at chess one time*
42:30 You know how after you've been touching something that's vibrating for a long time, you can still "feel" it after you stop touching it? That's how my eyes feel after he stops doing this
15:20 STUNNINGLY, Dunkey is right on the mark with this being "part of the storyline," but you have to read the book to find out why. It's never explained in game.
I love how the powerups are only just precisely as powerful as they need to be to achieve the bare minimum required to reach the obstacles that they want it to reach, to the point where it always seems like you won't make it.
Headcannon: Balan is an elaborate magical con artist who seeks out dissatisfied people and uses impressive visuals and level design to distract you from the fact that he's stealing your soul. The various characters the levels are themed after are his previous victims.
Really? To me they look quite clumsy, I don't think they even used mocap. Pretty much all NPCs use the same move-set at the same time, which looks really unnatural to me.
@@Sakisasvictorianmask Oh yeah it's just repeated animations and it looks weird, but the choreography is still pretty realistic and well-done for some reason.
I like how at the first level you are greeted with the black oval music platform, and thinking it's gonna do something completely mind blowing once you get to do stuff to it, then when you get that specific character *hours* in the game and make him perform his thing, you just get 1 yellow droplet and thats it
I love that every single reaction to the farmer dance number from almost every RUclipsr I've seen is always this strange mix of befuddlement and laughter.
“Nintendo has been real quiet since this came out”
Nah they’ve just been quiet in general ☹️
I guess this game probably put the nail in the coffin though ☹️
the last thing you want to do after vomiting your inner stomach to exhaustion, is talk.
They stopped selling 3d world because of this
Mario’s been real quiet since he was executed.
@05 - [READACTED] The worst timeline.
this game solves the main character's depression by giving it to me
PFFFT LMAO
GOLD
“I’m just getting sadder the more I play this” - Dunkey
Genuinely the funniest comment I've read on RUclips
You are my favorite person on the internet for all you've said and done.
"This is the only videogame they have in North Korea" killed me.
Just the epitome of a bleak dystopia
timestamp please lmao
You are gonna tell us the timestamp... right?
Hey guys, I've been watching through the VOD again trying to find the timestamp, and I will report back soon! :)
@Giselle Aguilar 2:56:34
"this is gonna be a good game" -famous last words
10 minutes later: "I hate this game."
Yup, I said that, and look where we are now.
Oof
"This is gonna be a good game" yeah to laugh at
It's kinda sad because the opening cutscene is so impressive, and then you actually see the first level, and it's horseshit.
It's like the level designers and story writers went on strike and the animators had to make the whole game.
There is a story but it's only included in a god damn book separate from the game.
I honestly think a game where you have to overcome obstacles using powerups which on paper are very underwhelming could be really cool, like by forcing you to figure out solutions by combining and swapping between them. But in practice the game isn't built around that; the powerups just ARE bad.
The music is pretty good too imo. It's catchy.
They 100% forgot to actually make sure the game was fun to play though.
@@JayAreAitch box fox
@@rosaparks6479 The humour in the description of Box Fox makes me think that my vision for the game's design was actually intended on some level.
“Hey let’s create a unique and cool looking main character and name the game after him but you don’t play as him”!
isn’t that just Nights
@@StateOfTheMind11225 No, you get to play as Nights.
@@StateOfTheMind11225 the first one you play as him.
I mean, you can have a main character that isn't the point-of-view. Plenty of series do it.
You play as Balan in the QTE sequences
idk why but i feel such a deep sadness when the npcs disappear as the protagonist approaches. i feel like he must be lonely
just like irl😂
Hes schizophrenic
At least he's got his tim(🅱️)s
The character has dementia and the fading characters are forgotten loved ones and friends that their brain teases them with but can never fully interact solidifying the fact that the dementia has almost erased all memories except a image of a smiling "random" character
Thats why he didnt pass the bALL
This game really mAkEs yOu fEeL LikE you wasted 60 dollars
70 dollars. You forgot the book that includes all the cutscene dialogue they didn’t include in the game
You could have purchased monster hunter rise, but you chose this
@@janmarcoperezbatres2203 I tried two monster hunters on psp, 3 on Wii and 3DS, and 4 on switch and 3DS. If it wasn’t gonna get me after all those attempts why the hell would I buy rise?
@@masteroflag i wasnt directly talking to you tho. But regardless, after World, the game mechanics changed a lot. Its way less stiff and more responsive. You can try the demo if you own a switch.
@@janmarcoperezbatres2203 monster hunter world was the worst one in the series and is severly over rated
My favorite power is the one where you stretch upwards, but not high enough to exceed the default jump, meaning it does basically nothing except make it easier to collect floating coins and makes the platforming harder.
It gives you the power of mild inconvenience.
That one reminds of that plant capture from Mario Odyssey except just bad, as you mentioned
Nah, bubble takes the crown. You are about as mobile as a pie, not to mention your bubble pops when it touches a platform- effectively making it worthless in a platformer.
Nah the best one is clearly the cube wisp knock off that bricks your entire movement scheme spontaneously
My favorite is the lantern that lets you keep your jump ability and gives you literally nothing else
This videogame is just so uncanny, like one of those lost children media creepypastas that kill you at 3AM.
That's how I died at age 6.
Something clearly went wrong along the way like a sudden change in management either way this game feels like a stroke
@@oldoutlet6946 ?
I'm just here to say I'm reading this at around 3AM
@@ItsPronouncedShawna I was the ghost all along
I don't care if this game is bad, I'm just glad, that the farmer is happy
F*ck it up Farmer Ted.
@@marunalister5597 tear that floor up 👏🏽
Notice how the farmer isn't dancing? He forces all the creatures to dance for his entertainment or he'll turn them into corn, that's why he's happy.
@@sethiddings7293 I can't blame him, entertainment and corn are two very important things
@@mweeee LMAO tryna make content 💅🏽
This was a biblical experience live
A sign of the end times
We're living at revelations time.
Yeah my favorite part in the book of Genesis is when the farmer and all of his animal friends started breakdancing
56:10 bro i couldn't stop laughing
The dances reminds me of killer bean
Does... does he lose his facial hair in the dancing sequence?
Im so confused.
an adult made this. thats hard to process
@@ermant7285 Except Killer Bean was made by one guy in his free time while the animation in this game is done by team of people that are paid to do it.
“That did nothing, this does absolutely nothing.”
This seems to be the main theme of the game.
When the character select is the hardest part of the game
I don't know what to tell you
The hardest part of the game is not turning it off.
@@ShadeKirby500 don’t turn off balan’s wonderworld for 5 seconds challenge (impossible)
@@KillerlinkAwesome at 3:00am.
Skyrim? Oh wait...
It's like chess.
BTW, I think they already patched it, but when chat told Dunkey that the final boss causes seizures, they weren't joking. The seizure-inducing portion of that fight caused issues even with reviewers who weren't (known to be) epileptic. That's how bad it was. It was a mixture of poor design and glitches AFAIK. If you haven't patched your game yet, please keep that in mind, and if you're epileptic, don't fucking play this game because you will NOT be safe. Really, don't play this game at all, but also, epileptics have another reason not to.
Replying to give more traction, that's horrifying!
Not sure if I want to play seizure roulette and find out if I'm epileptic but I want to know how bad it was before the patch
@valeria _17 thanks! I'll check it out
@@thewholecircus2792 Like I said, it gave reviewers who DO NOT have epilepsy headaches and disorientation. It would probably freakin' kill an epileptic person.
So the game is so bad it actually causes harm / injury. Well done Squenix.
This game perfectly encapsulates a fundamental concept in game design. You should make the game be about what the player CAN do, not what they CAN'T. In Mario Odyssey, Mario has a huge move set by default, and capturing a creature gives him new things he can do. In this game, each costume gives you like 1 ability and removes all other capabilities the character has. And without a costume, the character can do next to nothing. Add to that the fact that each ability feels really limiting, preventing the player from ever feeling like they're breaking new boundaries or sometimes feeling like they can't even control their actions. What's more, many abilities feel like remixes of other abilities, you have an ability inventory that allows you to run out, lots of abilities are painfully level-specific, etc. All that gets you a game like this. Cool idea, but the execution is pretty abysmal.
Scyther ability was the worst offender. You go to a later level, bring an ability back, and can't even walk up the first knee high step in the first level? Not to mention how almost all of the powers are very 1 dimensional and allow no interaction. A mid jump transform could have opened up so much more potential
Well said
Most of the abilities are mindblowingly bad. Like the plant that can extend before it jumps... the exact same height as a normal jump... like it’s clearly a copy of the onion in Odyssey. But that not only extended really far and allowed for much higher jumps, it also let you break blocks on the way up. It had multiple purposes that were also totally unique to itself. Meanwhile countless costumes in this game are either functionally identical, or just plain better versions of worse costumes, rendering them pointless.
If they had just focused on a smaller number of costumes that actually benefited the player in unique ways, and you know, maybe used *two* buttons, right off the bat it could’ve been much better.
But let’s be real the level design isn’t anything to write home about either. Or things like the the QTEs
I completely agree 100%. But its crazy and kinda funny that this is only a single aspect the game failed on.
It also fails on basic world building, character development, objectives, actually working properly. And honestly much more. I think it actually looks great. But even the character selection was bare minimum.
What the fuck happened in development is my question.
I like how Dunkey keeps trying to climb things and explore different solutions, only to constantly realize how railroaded it is, and how you can only use one power for any given task.
The only explanation for this game is that the project leads finally came out of their one year coke binge, walked into the studio, actually LOOKED at what was being worked on, and told everyone to stop development, finish what they had, and push product out to launch. That is the ONLY explanation for this.
The funny part about this is that apparently the only reason this game has cutscenes is because the animation studio chipped in and said they wanted to be apart of it, just take the time to think about that
This is a rare instance where the idea for the game was just bad...much like Action 52, but that was made I believe in less than 3 days.
you'd think if they went on a one year coke binge they would come up with some interesting ideas at least.
The theory was that this was supposed to be a mobile game
@@dx5gaming715 Really?
There’s something very unsettling about this game. I think it’s the random characters that just disappear as soon as you get close enough to them as well as the giant versions of the characters that the levels are themed after, like the giant farmer for example, and the giants also disappear when you get close enough. Why do they just disappear?!
It's probably easier than programming in any sort of collision for the NPCs
The most unsettling thing is the dancing.
@@Wabajak13 a big invisible wall would be better than them fading to invisibility
@@Bubby3D every balan qte minigame is personalized
I feel the dancing while giberish singing is kinda bad too. Like you are given no context no goal just i guess im watching a farmer and boi happydance now?!
You've got people dealing with pretty intense problems:
-Entire career nearly destroyed by a tornado
-Almost drowning because a Dolphin went rogue
-Going insane because you are putting your heart and soul into your goal but just can't achieve it
And then you've got:
-Getting kinda lonely because you like bugs but other kids don't
*bully
Well they do say loneliness kills. However, not being able to find a fellow kid who likes bugs? The most unrealistic thing about this game.
Ahh, common misunderstanding. she doesn't like bugs, she "goes gaga" for bugs
@@pensuls7595 She should play Cyberpunk 2077.
Bruh imagine the thing you have a true passion for causing you to be ostracized from everyone else. I think the cutscene is trying to depict that her love for bugs is locking her off from everyone else. I'd say that's pretty bad still.
this whole game feels like the out of bounds of a better game
It's like a game made by aliens who have only heard a few things before about video games and have no grasp of human culture or interaction whatsoever.
Background of Kirby air ride
1:41:32 turns from fake laughter to real laughter to uncontrollable laughter and its brilliant
That wasn't Dunkey's laugh. It was the dolphin's
That cutscenes was next level thank you.
Best part of the video 😂😂😂
I like how they displayed the credits at the very beginning of the game to show who were the masterminds behind this fuckery.
It’s because they knew no one was gonna play through this entire piece of garbage to get to them at the end
that's when you're supposed to stop playing
40 iq: When does the game start?
3000 iq: When does the game stop?
40:15
7000 iq: is this a game?
20000 iq: millions of years of evolution WASTED
80000 iq: I falsely believe this game exist.
40:49
420 IQ: where is game?
The saddest part about this is the Square Enix logo at the start.
Well Square hasn’t been doing too hot anyway...
@@dogol284 honestly if more than half the animation didn’t look like they used a xbox 360 Kinect to make, I’d say this is pretty alright, visually at least. Gameplay is still a slightly better wii shovelware level of quality.
@@FrogTonic even then that's not saying much
I wasnt surprised...
@@dogol284
Idk, they've been a bit of a mixed bag but they've also had some phenomenonal games lately.
I hear nearly nothing but good things about FF7R, and RepliCant:1.5 is just around the corner and looks like an the original's finally getting it's beautiful potential realised.
Square is one of those companies I feel is very two sided in terms of quality, they slack off sometimes and release some of the most worthless lazy trash (this, Quiet Man, Avengers) but when they feel like it they can put their all in to make some amazing games (NieR, FF7R, DQ11), they're a very much case by case company in my eyes
Balan’s design is wonderful. Everything else in this game is terrible. It’s really sad because you can tell they had a vision for the game, but almost nothing came together.
They REALLY needed someone else on the game design department. Why didn't they get Yasuhara into this?
Not everything. The game looks fine, the music for the most part is great, and the story is serviceable
@@mlpfanboy1701 you know what else is servicable? lapdances
@@mlpfanboy1701 the story is disconnected, confusing and badly told. id rate it less than serviceable but...eh, i guess it comes down to preference
@@GrrrRawrCookies I mean it's 3D platform
It's not like Super Mario is Shakespeare you know
The story is the the least of its problems
This game quite literally looks like it was made from Dreams
It's the new fever dream engine, because dreams is ps only.
Actually splatty’s adventure,happy jack and tales of the sky all from dreams are really solid platformers. This is like a scratch game
@@kuzuthunder1964 how dare you sully the legacy of Scratch Cat
Ive seen shit in dreams much more engaging than this and some are just watchable videos.
It’s only available on the dreamsphere
Imagine if Mario needed to wear a hat to back flip and a separate one to ground pound
And if he gets hit he loses the hat and has to backtrack to a different level to get the hat back
Even just imagining it is irritating
The Mighty No.9 of the new decade.
I think The Quiet Man was fucked enough for two decades
At least Mighty No.9 is playable and has level design to a degree. This feels like random stuff put together in a limited space.
@@sergiomonty mighty No.9 is as bad as this game, it is ass
@@theomuller3 Don't take me wrong. Mighty No. 9 is trash.... but I believe this is worse. I mean, despite it running like hot garbage and having terrible graphics, AT LEAST I can see some thought put into the development of Mighty No 9..... Balan Wonderworld however... idk, it truly looks like a collection of ideas written on a piece of paper and put on the same box without any thoughts.
@@8Kazuja8 You encapsulated my thoughts perfectly.
The best part of the game is when you turn it off.
The inexplicably silent dancing NPCs who disappear as soon as you draw near, appear when you reach a checkpoint, and the gargantuan versions of the characters whose sad story the levels are based around just staring at you while lounging, smiles on their vapid faces before also disappearing as soon as you take a step their way, all while the game absolutely refuses to stitch it's narratives together and ignore basic world building and mechanics explanations leads this game to being just... Simultaneously surreal and bland.
And the overarching theme of "being sad and depression are the same thing, and both can be solved by having a positive outlook :))))" is utter ass.
People: *get depress*
Balan: be no depress
People: :D
I think the message is to have "balance" between positivity and negativity if the super on the nose lyrics of "Wonderworld" are anything to go by. However, the game does gravitate towards positivity more, especially when it demonizes negativity as a whole by literally making Lance a straight up villain. A better way to convey the message would be to have Lance as a co maestro or something that gives doses of negativity to help characters grieve and face reality for a bit, and then Balan makes them happy again. I'm spit balling ideas here but that would help make the message and world more clear
@@cyandlinawebb4582 That...is a wonderful point.
But Nah, let’s just make Lance a generic villain and give kids a confusing message instead. “Don’t be depresso, kids!”
Lovely.
@@cyandlinawebb4582
That's kind of brilliant. Like they're manic theater nerd brothers that walk the player through the creative and destructive powerups respectively. It'd be extremely on the nose but I'll take that over vague and braindead.
@@diehounderdoggenalt The book actually goes into detail about Lance and Balan, I won't spoil anything but it's kinda close to what I proposed and what you say, actually. Lance seems to be humanized a bit more in the book and gave me this idea, but they really should have included this into the game instead of dumping it into add on material. I didn't buy it of course, I combed through tv tropes and got the basics of Balan and Lance's backstories
they really just spent all the budget on the opening cutscene and called it a day
Sonic 06 say what?
That seems to be a theme in a lot of Sega games
Very Yuji Naka thing to do
Funny thing is that someone else did the cutscenes
@@masterretro1585 this isn’t a sega game but I can’t blame you for thinking it is
23:23
"That was like [mechanic from another game] except executed in the most ass way possible" is really this whole game in a nutshell.
Is it really that hard to type sonic unleashed
@@Insidejokesgamin read the comment again
@@yaphetgreen0222 I read it again and nothings changed
@@Insidejokesgamin ok so what they are doing is making a cookie cutter statement, the sonic unleashed but worse applies to the wolf costume, and from then on you make your own comparisons. For example the flower pot power up is the onions from Mario odyssey but worse, and so on and so forth
@@yaphetgreen0222 oh I understand please excuse my autism
1:41:20 Truly an impactful narrative
His laugh sounds like an evil dolphin which really adds to it
What an amazing moment
"You ever been tail-smacked into the Shadow Realm by your dolphin friend that suddenly turned evil?"
The funniest part to me is that I could see the potential for a storyline like this. Someone going through a near death experience and having something they used to love ruined by the trauma they now associate with it isn’t actually a bad setup. You could write a story about them slowly learning to overcome that trauma and facing their fears so that they can enjoy what they loved again, or maybe learning to move on with their lives and find something else that they enjoy.
Or you could have them do a dance sequence not even 5 minutes later and suddenly be fine, undermining the entire thing. Like this game.
@@RandomPerson-tn2ck or you could laugh at the funny dolphin
There's something disgusting about the name Balan. Every time I see "Balan's Bout" something in me just gets ruined.
yeah agreed totally. it just sounds really strange and doesn't roll off the tongue at all in a way that's hard to even articulate. those sounds just... don't go together in english lol
Weird, I've never had such a strong reaction to a word or name, unless it's an offensive word used in a hateful way or something. I never really understood why people hated "moist" either.
Same, it sounds like it was chosen specifically to market the character in China or something. Just does not feel right for some reason
mr bolus
WAIT OK I THINK I MIGHT HAVE FIGURED OUT WHY
it's the two short 'a' sounds (and the lack of obvious pronunciation to english speakers)
I don't know of that many words that have 2 short 'a' syllables right in a row, so it sounds really unnatural to us (or me at least)
And if you try to emphasize the second syllable, baLAN, I feel like the english speaker's tongue will slur the syllables together into b(uh)LAN which sounds just bad
Beginning: "better then knack"
ending: "The fuck you game award"
It's like they designed Balan with full on maximum effort, and then did a bunch of coke and slapped the rest out in a weekend.
Which means this game is magnificent if you are high on coke
Feels the developers wanted to spite certain higher ups AND did cocaine
@@thewholecircus2792 this game feels like the conversation you have with dude you met at a party while you guys are snorting coke in the bathroom. U almost put a good or meaningful thought together but lose your train of thought in the sped rambling nonsense and u completely forget what your point was, so you just snort another line and continue on about that one time your friend did that thing and hey did you rack my line evenly lul are u sure kuz mine looks less actually bro just re do but don’t skimp me we have to split the bag evenly until my guy can bring more
@@messagefamilystyled1101 the revelation of being on coke is that you need more coke
Balans design is unoriginal and boring as fuck what are you talking about he's just a ripoff of every "showtime" top hat character design that's been done in other games
1:45:40 her eye shadow is intensely powerful to be able to remain completely unsmudged or faded while swimming underwater.
Not to mention the amount of hair muscles she must have to constantly have her ponytail pointing skyward (like the skyward sword from skyward sword).
How is she breathing and laughing underwater without equipment?
Sheer force of will, @@phineasfacingforward3460 ... Sheer force of will
The sword in skyward sword doe WHAT NOW???!!; (NEver pkayed
Never mind that, where the FUCK are her goggles?? Girl your eyes are gonna be burned af after all that seawater
the intro cutscene looks like a danganronpa execution
@@lippylopflop7175 it most certainly is
Donkey Konga?
WHEEZE
i want to see dunkey play danganronpa
@@ted9030 Same, Dunkganronpa would be awesome
The fact that Yuji Naka is involved in this makes so much sense. It has GIGANTIC Sonic Team energy.
Fun fact: Naka was originally gonna be executive producer of Sonic 2006, but left to start his own company. Maybe that’s why there are some....erm.......similarities
@@ebkits10 Naka rarely directed a project, he's been the producer or programer role for games. im starting to see why
This honestly makes me think there's something wrong with the dude.
@@kovenmaitreya7184 i agree. Its hard to say anyone play tested this. Anyone whos ever played a single video game could tell this game is hot garbage.
What the fuck happened????
@@victorortero8743 from my very junior point of view as a game designer :
1- marketing catch over game design qualities : a lot of costumes sounds more cool than 3 with complete movements set, and the entire basis of the game, based probably on the mechanic from mario odyssey, seems to be based around this one market argument.
2- unexperience team : square is not known for platforming game, and it shows. this also explains why the graphics are correct, since it doesn't demands specific knowledge (it's still mid, look at crash 4 to see what is the best cartoon graphics can achieve)
3- heavy lineage AND new IP : so this is a spiritual successor to nights into dream, but also a new license. Which mean it has High expectation to begin with, without any universe and game concept to build upon. Take crash 4 : New installment to an IP who was remade, and was made by a team who already remake spyro, another platformer. You have plenty of room to actually learn from your mistake, AND you have money and time to make a good product.
this is my basis for this production. thank you for reading it all the way.
"We finished the opening cinematic! It looks great!"
"Awesome! How much time and money do we have left in our budget to finish the rest of the game?"
"6 months and a $19 Fortnite Gift Card"
"...fuck."
Devs: 19 dollar fortnite card. Who wants it?
@@iluVioletLink no more fortnite! NO MORE CARDS!! NOooOOoO mOooRe 19 dollar cards!!
This comment has been sticking in my head for DAYS and making me laugh. I don't know why, but "$19 Fortnite gift card" cracks me up every time I think of it.
@@devcrom3 NO MOoOOOOORe TroLlls
Fun fact: the opening wasnt intended to appear in the game at all, but a bunch of cgi artists lobbied for the work.
"This game *FEELS* like you've been kidnapped by a magician. 7/10"
90% of the budget went into the cutscenes
9% went into the Tim field.
1% Went into the gameplay itself
None went into the costumes
Apparently the cutscenes weren't even going to be in the game. A different company worked on them. The best part of the game wasn't even made by the main people
2:19:19 had me in fucking stiches. dunkey taking the sycther guy to lvl 1 and being unable to make a half foot jump really illustrated how this game gave you 80 different shapes to play with but forced you to use each shape for one very specific hole.
He resorts to the pause menu to try everything hahahahahah
"I don't think I can play anymore" - 3 hours left in the video.
Hi, dev here from balan's wonderland, with this game we wanted to break the norm that games have to be fun
Real
I need no proof, this is the only logical explanation that could be given by a dev from this game
I instantly believe you.
This game feels like it's not real. Seeing it's existence certified by wikipedia made me doubt my whole existence. If balan world is real it can only mean I'm not real. My whole life must be a fever dream
It is as the ancient sages said, "We are the spider who weaves a home to live in. We are the dreamers and the dream both."
If we showed them Balan's Wonderwall they'd probably take it all back and figure out a way to never dream again.
Just quit smoking and I cant tell if my brain is perma fucked or it's just this game or both
@@thewholecircus2792 this game is worse than smoking, at least smoking leads to an end you know of after years of doing it, lung cancer, this game has unpredictable results
@@thewholecircus2792 screw weed, this whole game feels like a horrible acid trip
That’s how I feel about Gex. 💀
Balan Wonderworld's gameplay is working exactly as intended, and that's the problem.
7:51 Very poor choice of words
It is good game
@@randell6180 very funny 🤣🤣🤣
When I was playing the demo and they started dancing I actually died a bit inside lmao
Isle of Tims. Birthplace of all the great Tims: Tim Allen, Tim Burton, Tim Hanks.
Best of all, Tim Heidecker
@@thekiss2083 It's a Tim's Festival.
I randomly skipped to 3:45:20 on the video and immediately got a Knack reference. I should play the lottery next.
Knack 2 tha future baby!!
dunky's wife loosing her shit in the background is always a treat
What?
@@sopadefideos5636 she lost her shit, she has to find it now
Who? You mean Leah's husband's wife?
Discovers the costume change area early, forgets about it immediatly after
Man that return to the farm was brutal to watch.
Arrive in mantis suit preventing him to jump
Suicides because he didn't remember the costume change.
Starts panicking he's gonna need to go back to other levels
Gets told about thing he forgot
Immediately loses the spider skin
Avoids web after getting spider back
Panicks that the random other web was a useless need for the spider
Has to be told and hand held back to the point where he needs to use spider.
At least he found a second statue immediately after so he could leave and move on.
@@brkn613 The game is taking a toll on his mental psyche.
@@brkn613 The game is literally killing his brain. Rip
You know your game is fucked when the best part is a gumball machine but for birds
As a NiGHTS fan I’d just like to say I’ve never been blueballed by a game so hard
NiGHTS:Journey into Dreams was my jam back in the day. 😂😂 I lived by that game. "....what?" Was literally my only response to this new game.
Completely agree xD
NiGHTS was the first thing I thought of when I saw this game and I didn’t even know Yuji Naka was a part of it. Sad that NiGHTS has stayed in Sega franchise hell for so long, I thought Balan would’ve satisfied me with it’s NiGHTS vibe.
"so it's like nights but it plays nothing like nights, it has none of the charm and that one cool character that we used to advertise this to make you think it was like Nights? You guessed it! you don't play as him!"
When I saw the announcement, I was hopeful but deep down I wished they just made a new NiGHTS game. Now I REALLY wish they made a new NiGHTS game (that didn't play like this, obviously).
3:20:03 The best part. My gosh, I lost it completely 😂.
56:28 why do they move like Sid the Science Kid?
Motion capture animation, and NO key framed animation.
@@MrRisdon1 oh. XD
Watching people crack up at the farmer dance is my new favorite thing
"If it's not fun, why bother?" - Reggie
get reggie back, we need reggie back
"Shaggy, what have you done!?"
"I have created Balan Wonderland."
"Like zoinks Scub where did my will to live go?"
Do you think the animators were disappointed when they got the requests? "Yeah, have them flail around in the air."
Sad is the only word to describe that this game exists
Scatfetish
What this game gets right:
The look
The cut scenes
The music (as long as you dont listen to it on loop for too long)
The concept
What it gets wrong:
Controls
Game play
Not exsplaining a dang thing
Charging 60$ when its worth 30$ at most
I'd say it got the music wrong as well because the entire point of videogame background music is to be on loop
The end cutscene is so emotional until you realize there wasn’t much that built up to that point. Just watch the ending cutscene and pretend that everything was explained beforehand.
@@Noobgalaxies not for as long as they had it on
@@mlpfanboy1701 When I played Super Mario Galaxy 2, the song would loop endlessly and I still went out of my way to listen to the soundtrack again on youtube. 10 years later, I still remember most of the Super Mario Galaxy 2 soundtrack. That's good videogame music. Balan's music is just irritating after the first few loops.
@@Noobgalaxies true.
Just by comparing the actual gameplay with the music and art, you can tell they went more with style than with function.
In fact, why didn't they just make a movie and/or show instead of a game?!
Making a show or movie would require actually fleshing out a story and writing the parts that actually bind all the disparate parts together. They couldn't even manage the bare minimum for a platforming video game.
bro do you think they have the ability to write a plot
Given the stories they presented were things like "woman loses heart because she treated a wild animal like not a wild animal and it acts like a wild animal and nearly drowns her" I think they probably tried to pitch it as a show and they were turned down so thought "fuck it, we'll make bubsy 4d"
You mean the stolen music from other games? No wonder it's "good"
There was is a book with the story why they didn't just put the story in game idk
i really love how disgusting dunkey’s mic is in his streams
i think it gives them personality
I was wondering what was with the audio
@@CyrusLagom I think its to tell if he’s giving a live reaction or not when watching his videos.
This audio is bad? What's wrong with it?
@@LKing-ue2jlhe just uses cheaper slightly lower quality microphones on stream because his really good ones are too sensitive to background noise and stuff like that. Basically just an easier less professional setup.
I really like having this video running when im studying.
Just feels good to have someone suffering more than me in the background.
32:43 his hype for this plant killed me 🤣
l o n g
Him trying to experiment with the costumes and realizing he cant do anything cool or interesting kinda makes me sad
and then the plant fortnite dancing.
we literally had two earthquake jolts while watching this, that must be a sign, this game will end the world
This is one of those crappy Unity games you find in an abandoned corner of Steam for barely a 20th of this game's price being paraded as something worth 20x it's value.
I know some people defend the game with the art style but honestly it's all over the place. Like dunkee said at the begining those baby things look like digimons, then other things like balan look straight outta fucking hazbin hotel and the world looks like levels from sonic lost world. Oh and can't forget about the Billy Hatcher protags too lmao
To me the balan type characters look like nights or sonic characters
@@pugman9672 I'd say more nights than sonic cause of the limbs and eyes
Billy Hatcher visits the Chao Garden in Hazbin Hotel sounds like a much better game than this is, though.
wtf is hazbin hotel?
@@quvuergatulyai980 The worst thing I've ever seen. Well, it's a pretty cringey show but not just straight up awful, but the fan base actually is, so pretty much a show with a following of degenerates
this is actually the third strand type game after getting over it and days gone
I'm convinced that this entire game was made in dreams
This game really makes you FEEL like the farmer
We are put here to fight the storm of shovelware.
This physically hurts to watch, but it’s like a train wreck and I can’t look away.
haven't heard that analogy before
the intro sequence was actually really cool imo and then the game actually started...
Imagine Emma Cole and Leo Craig on a date. It'd be just like that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry goes out with the woman with the manly hands.
3:13:12
"your wife left you because of this game"
"that makes sense honestly"
xDD
im sure this game *was* the cause of some developers on the team getting divorced.
The fact that hes yawning through the outrage and disbelief is hilarious
can't believe gaming Tim got his own isle, after all he's done
Different stories:
>Entire livelihood nearly destroyed by a tornado
>almost drowns as a result of a dolphin
>family dies
>treasured pet dies
*>>loses at chess one time*
This doesn't even feel like a real game, it feels like some fever dream you'd have after playing too much mario odyssey
1:44:13 Bruuuh those damn big hands
This is the ideal female body. You may not like it, but
42:30
You know how after you've been touching something that's vibrating for a long time, you can still "feel" it after you stop touching it? That's how my eyes feel after he stops doing this
when i watch that part my video goes 360p for a second.
he spent four minutes in the character creation screen
*because its the best part of the game*
Balan wonderworld is like the level in the creepypasta hack right before the creepy stuff starts happening, but it's obvious something is wrong.
15:20
STUNNINGLY, Dunkey is right on the mark with this being "part of the storyline," but you have to read the book to find out why. It's never explained in game.
If 70% of the sonic games budget goes to music
Then 90% of the game budget got to the cinematics in here
Music kinda bops in places here; it's very sonic team.
@@Bladius_ kinda bops
Im sorry that ain't sonic team
Music BREAKS thats sonic team
This feels like after the first cutscene all the animators quit and they had to hire people off of Craigslist
Dunk and Balan torture
Brih
Do Goh dry tm fm I tj
I love how the powerups are only just precisely as powerful as they need to be to achieve the bare minimum required to reach the obstacles that they want it to reach, to the point where it always seems like you won't make it.
Headcannon: Balan is an elaborate magical con artist who seeks out dissatisfied people and uses impressive visuals and level design to distract you from the fact that he's stealing your soul. The various characters the levels are themed after are his previous victims.
3:56:46 is the saddest thing I've heard all week.
The costumes are basically HMs from Pokemon rather than power-ups
This game really makes you feel like the HM slave.
1:41:34
dunkey is dolphin confirmed
The impractical design of this game is impressive
I'm appalled at how well-choreographed the dance scenes are lmao
Too bad there's like 0 charm to it because the characters barely emote
Really? To me they look quite clumsy, I don't think they even used mocap. Pretty much all NPCs use the same move-set at the same time, which looks really unnatural to me.
@@Sakisasvictorianmask
I thought it was mocap, but the models are just incredibly ugly and unshapely.
@@Sakisasvictorianmask Oh yeah it's just repeated animations and it looks weird, but the choreography is still pretty realistic and well-done for some reason.
@@sarahbelle81 it's definitely missing something but I can't stop watching lolll
I like how at the first level you are greeted with the black oval music platform, and thinking it's gonna do something completely mind blowing once you get to do stuff to it, then when you get that specific character *hours* in the game and make him perform his thing, you just get 1 yellow droplet and thats it
This feels like one of those christian games that you would find on the NES, but its not on the NES.
I love that every single reaction to the farmer dance number from almost every RUclipsr I've seen is always this strange mix of befuddlement and laughter.