Yooka-Laylee on Switch - first impressions (by first-timers!)

[Rueckkoppler]

Soo what do you guys think so far of the game? I started yesterday night and I must say that I'm overall very happy with what I've got. It runs very smooth, looks and sounds great (yes, I turned down the voices by 50%, but it's nice that way now)!

Yes, it isn't as fastly rewarding and polished as a game like Mario Odyssey, but as a indie game, I really like it. Especially since it's basically a love letter to B-K. I plan on not expanding anything till I reach the final boss, which was a suggestion on these forums when the game released. Also, manual camera mode all the way! I don't want the game to decide which path I take and turn the camera around to that path, so this is another big suggestion.

And man, does it look great on handheld mode! 630p, but it doesn't really matter on that screen. All hud things are crisp & clean and seem to be in 720p (handheld) / 1080p (docked), which brings back vibes from the XBLA remakes of Banjo-Kazooie & Banjo-Tooie.

I'm early in (Glitterglace Glacier) and heard some rather bad things about later worlds (and the game structure itself) and I already see what people mean. Playtonic needs to take inspiration of the most recent, big mainline 3D Mario once again and streamline / flesh out a lot of things (and make the worlds smaller, but more dense). Yes, that's not the AAA polished Banjo-Threeie we wanted, but I hope they takes measures to come much closer to this with their next project. There needs to be a revolution for the formula, definitely.

Xellos suggestions are really something I'd like Playtonic to at least consider / think about: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5554&start=20#p34764

Still I'm seeing how I like the game eventually, there's still much to do.

What are your impressions so far?

[Lienk]

I also just started to play the game on Switch for the first time and wow what a gorgeous game!! The gameplay feels very good, it’s so fun to run, jump and swim! The environments and animations look wonderful. Just standing still and looking around at the colourful world, while listening to the beautiful music is a joy!

I’m going to have a real good time with this game! And nicely in time for the holidays! Well done Playtonic!

[baker_boy0017]

That's interesting you've been warned about later worlds, because I saw lots of people appreciating those ones more, particularly worlds 3 and 5. But I think the overall world design is OK. Not great, but not terrible. Definitely a place Playtonic will improve on moving forward.

I'm glad to hear you are enjoying it! I was actually going to start a thread asking first-timers what their impressions were, if the game managed to live up to the hype/wait that the Switch version had.


P.S. Be glad you didn't experience the original Rextro games... so help me I hated some of those. Particularly world 4's... the controls wouldn't always work for me

[Rueckkoppler]

Yeah Rextro's games weren't all that terrible, I would even say I had fun while playing them (and a second time to beat the highscore). The levels do feel empty in a way, although there's some beautiful atmosphere in many of them. The graphics and the music are really stunning if you think that this is an indie game. Only place where it doesn't look too nice are shadowy places, but just the second world and the inside of the castle is really stunning!

[shockthetoast]

Honestly, I'm trying to like the game. In case you're wondering, I don't think I'm biased by the early bad press. I read some early reviews about the performance issues. After hearing they were fixing those I stopped reading reviews. I had already bought the game, so I just wanted to experience it for myself and not be swayed by the opinions of others.

This game started out with a huge disadvantage by coming out after Mario Odyssey. So I've been trying to judge it as if I had first played it in September. But it's hard to make your brain ignore things like that. In fact, I haven't even gone to the second level. I expanded the first one, and bought all the moves in it, and was trying to get all the quills. I'm a completionist, and I tend to complete everything possible in an area before moving on. Sometimes I'll get bored of an area, or stuck on something, and decide to come back later. But with this game, I finally realized I just was not enjoying playing, and went back to another game that I am trying to stop mentioning.

The issues I've had that have pushed me away from this game:

- The camera is terrible. Maybe that's just the fact that so many games have improved so much, but I don't remember every being quite so frustrated by the camera in the old 64 platformers. (The constant in-game jokes about old games started to get really annoying the more I ran into issues like this.)

- The manual camera is better, but not good. The manual camera will still swing around behind things on its own. One of the worst issues I've had with the camera is the elevator in the first level by Trowser. It jumps to a predefined angle for no reason. I tried to jump off right as it reached the top, just to have the camera jump 90 degrees and cause me to jump to the side of the elevator and fall down.

- The controls in general feel sluggish and unresponsive. I've found it very difficult to aim quickly when firing ice berries. I assume that's why the target shooting minigame in the Tropical world is the first one I've ever seen that wasn't timed.

- I enjoy exploring, and love it when games reward you for getting somewhere difficult or time consuming. In this game, if you haven't expanded a world, you can spend time getting somewhere just to find out that nothing is there - but it will be. That's just annoying. Also, being returned to the very beginning of the level whenever I fell of a ledge (which happened to me a lot - sometimes due to the camera and controls, but sometimes due to me being terrible) is frustrating. The game needed some checkpoints so that you start closer to where you fell. This wouldn't be a reduction in difficulty, just a reduction in travel time.

- I shouldn't have to look up the secret controls for a new move. I'm of course referring to spitting the ice berries. There is an area in the first world where you have to shoot targets. One is a few pixels lowers than where you hit when you spit - and you can't spit while crouched. I had chalked it up to a bug before I read something mentioning that there was first-person aim mode. It's in the move guide, but I assumed that was just a review of what you'd already learned from Trowser. Making it so you can almost hit it but not quite just made it feel like something was wrong with the game.

- The areas I've seen so far are attractive, they just seem...lacking. I can't quite figure out why. I think part of that is that there is very little interacting with the environment. When smacking or running into an NPC doesn't illicit a reaction, and bumping a bush doesn't cause it to move, it just makes the world feel lifeless.

I think I'll stop there for now. I tried to limit it to things that seem like they could be patched without completely overhauling the game. I don't like being this negative about something like this, especially knowing a group of people worked really hard on it, but I also can't pretend I'm happy with the game the way it is now.

[Rueckkoppler]

Yeah checkpoints would've definitely helped. In many regards more polish would've been great.

What I personally would wish for is way more sounds / effects in the game. For example, when choosing between Yes and No, the game should highlight your choice & play a sound once you did your choice. Also when your rolling around, it's a bit weird that you don't hear sounds according to the materials you're rolling on. When rolling through some water (in world 5 for example), you don't hear that you're rolling through water, neither do you see a trace. Also, there's just no jumping sound for Reptile Roll. That makes the game feel a bit stiff.

Sound is lacking in many regards when I think about it. I don't like the fanfares when you completed a task, they sound very thin and cheap and not satisfying at all. Same goes also for the fighting sounds, they aren't as satisfying as they could be. In one video review, a guy compared them to killing these green Monsters (that came through the wall in Clanker's Cavern) in Banjo-Kazooie with the Rat-Ta-Tat move. That's a thing you could do all day long, since it feels and sounds so satisfying.

I hope with a bigger team, Playtonic can help this one guy (it was apparently only one guy who was responsible) out in the sound department and make everything more fleshed out. Many cons of this game can be related to the game being too ambitious for an indie team if it wants to be very polished too.

I don't have that many problems with the camera though. And even the controls are alright by me. 1st person aiming could be faster, yes. But apart from that, I get along with them pretty well.

[shockthetoast]

What I personally would wish for is way more sounds / effects in the game.

I'm pretty sure you just nailed something that was bothering me and I couldn't put my finger on it. The missing or just unexciting sound effects really do throw things off.

[baker_boy0017]

Oh gawl I hate the first person aiming! I was so badly hoping for gyro controls on Switch... alas, no

It's been said plenty of times: Yooka-Laylee came out too soon. They should have spent several more months polishing the game up - and that's without considering the terrible condition the other console games launched in too. But, for their first kickstarted game, I think Yooka-Laylee ended up pretty well. I've said before that I've played this game 5+ times now, but I can't even fully bring myself to finish Mario Odyssey 100%. That isn't to say Odyssey is bad by any measure, just that something about Yooka-Laylee REALLY clicks with me, despite it's many flaws.

[ShanPen]

I'm still slowly playing my way through the game for the first time. I got to Moodymaze Marsh today and I love the music in that level! I love the Tribalstack Tropics music too but because we heard it so much during the Kickstarter campaign it wasn't a surprise when I actually played the game the way Moodymaze Marsh's music was. The Glitterglaze Glacier music is nice too and suits the level well, but I really like the 1st and 3rd level music.

I'm really enjoying the game, don't really have any complaints except for one small thing that would make fighting the bosses less tedious if you die - it would have been nice if you were given the option to skip the dialogue scene before the boss if you've already gone through it once, so that when you die you don't have to go through it all again before re-attempting the fight. A lot of games seem to have that option, so I was surprised that wasn't the case in Yooka-Laylee. And the only other tiny complaint, although I don't know if it counts because it could be a glitch - is having to always pause the game to see how many butterflies I have, because the butterfly meter doesn't seem to always show when I take damage or eat a butterfly, so I never reliably know how many butterflies I have. But those are just two minor things, overall I'm loving the game!

Also I keep coming across the name "Penny" in the game (graffiti on the rafters of Yooka-Laylee's ship, the green letters in Hivory Towers spelling it out, the high score name in Rextro's arcade machines), so I wonder if this has some significance to the story that I'll find out later, or if it's just that someone at Playtonic Games has a special someone called Penny (partner, daughter, mother, pet, friend etc? Or maybe a Kickstarter backer who gave them a huge donation?) so they wanted to put their name into the game.

[baker_boy0017]

I'm really enjoying the game, don't really have any complaints except for one small thing that would make fighting the bosses less tedious if you die - it would have been nice if you were given the option to skip the dialogue scene before the boss if you've already gone through it once, so that when you die you don't have to go through it all again before re-attempting the fight. A lot of games seem to have that option, so I was surprised that wasn't the case in Yooka-Laylee.

Anyone here play the original Kingdom Hearts? Boy I had the words memorized for that one super long cutscene in Hollow Bastion... y'all know the one.

If you like the music of Moodymaze Marsh, just WAIT for world 5. That music blew me away. I also really like the main theme for Tribalstack Tropics, but feel like it turns into its variations way too much. I like the "BK-esque" ordinary theme much more.

Out of curiosity, how is everyone playing the game in terms of expanding vs. moving ahead? My current playthrough I'm doing each world, and then only expanding after I've hit world 5. Are you guys doing a world, expanding, and then moving on? Doing it like me? Or just going through haphazardly?

[ShanPen]

If you like the music of Moodymaze Marsh, just WAIT for world 5. That music blew me away.

Oh good, I look forward to it!

Out of curiosity, how is everyone playing the game in terms of expanding vs. moving ahead? My current playthrough I'm doing each world, and then only expanding after I've hit world 5. Are you guys doing a world, expanding, and then moving on? Doing it like me? Or just going through haphazardly?

I'm trying not to rush through the game too much, being conscious that there are only 5 worlds, so I've only gotten up to world 3 so far, but here's how I've done it:

Tribalstack Tropics unxepanded > Glitterglaze Glacier unexpanded > Tribalstack Tropics expanded > Glitterglaze Glacier expanded > Moodymaze Marsh unexpanded > Moodymaze Marsh expanded...

I made a topic about this a while ago before the game was released to ask people what they thought they'd do, and I think at the time I said I was going to play through all the worlds unexpanded and then go back and expand them afterwards, but I changed my mind part way through once I started playing. And I think it was the fact that there were only 5 worlds that made me change my mind once I was actually playing the game, because I didn't want to rush through the game and see all the worlds so quickly because that would feel like the game was over too soon. Even though I'd still have the unexpanded worlds to explore, I think once the surprise of seeing what each level looked like is ruined that going back to each world to expand it would feel (to me, anyway) like "just going back to get all the bits I missed". I don't know exactly how to explain it because I know it's still the exact same amount of content to explore no matter which order you encounter it in, but I guess it's just a psychological thing that I feel like the game is lasting longer if I play the levels in order and expand them as I go before moving on to the next level.

[NPChilla]

First thing I did was play on the multiplayer games with my girlfriend, she was as taken with them as I was. Especially the one with the ice platforms that disappear.

I've only just started the main mode, I'm already seeing Capital B as a baddy with figurative legs...

[ShanPen]

I'm really enjoying the game, don't really have any complaints except for one small thing that would make fighting the bosses less tedious if you die - it would have been nice if you were given the option to skip the dialogue scene before the boss if you've already gone through it once, so that when you die you don't have to go through it all again before re-attempting the fight. A lot of games seem to have that option, so I was surprised that wasn't the case in Yooka-Laylee.

My mistake, it turns out you can skip the boss dialogue if you mash the A button as soon as the dialogue starts. Don't know how I missed that for so long, maybe I was originally hitting the B button instead of A button?

[Exaskryz]

Yeah Rextro's games weren't all that terrible, I would even say I had fun while playing them (and a second time to beat the highscore).

Having to beat them a second time was a problem IMO. If my first successful finish of the game beats Rextro's high score, I shouldn't have to go through it again. At least 2 of the minigames there were played with losses the first couple of times, then barely survived and beaten with a score that is better than Rextro's. But gotta play it again to get that second Pagie. Should've been 2 pagies awarded right then and there. Would make speedrunning the game more desirable I think.

[baker_boy0017]

Having to beat them a second time was a problem IMO. If my first successful finish of the game beats Rextro's high score, I shouldn't have to go through it again. At least 2 of the minigames there were played with losses the first couple of times, then barely survived and beaten with a score that is better than Rextro's. But gotta play it again to get that second Pagie. Should've been 2 pagies awarded right then and there. Would make speedrunning the game more desirable I think.

I agree whole-heartedly about getting both pagies at once. It's just tedious, otherwise. And also, for you guys that never played the original Rextro games... be grateful. Be VERY grateful. I hate that dinosaur with a passion that cannot be ended...

[ShanPen]

I agree whole-heartedly about getting both pagies at once. It's just tedious, otherwise. And also, for you guys that never played the original Rextro games... be grateful. Be VERY grateful. I hate that dinosaur with a passion that cannot be ended...

Oh gosh, they used to be WORSE!?!

I'm up to the stupid hurdle one (in Capitol Cashino) which just goes on and on and on and on and on... I gave up after about 8 tries and still not even reaching the finish line, so I hate the idea that I have to finish it at least twice to get both Pagies.

[baker_boy0017]

Oh gosh, they used to be WORSE!?!

I'm up to the stupid hurdle one (in Capitol Cashino) which just goes on and on and on and on and on... I gave up after about 8 tries and still not even reaching the finish line, so I hate the idea that I have to finish it at least twice to get both Pagies.

The Hurdle one specifically was the WORST one before. There was a glitch where if you tried to move over more than one row too quickly, it would "reset" the cooldown for moving over, preventing you from moving for up to one second. Try to move over AGAIN during that 1 second cooldown, and AGAIN you would have to wait another second while you went nowhere. I literally had to accept that there were places where I WOULD die. I imagine a large number of expletives came out of my mouth trying to beat that the first time, and then the high score the second time.

The original Kartos game was also a lot harder. If I remember correctly, there were three pairs of flamethrowers instead of just two, and two of those large corplet baddies directly south of the shortcut and on the east-most side of the course: if you got too close, they'd swing their arms around and knock you off the stage. It didn't help that the only safe spots around them would occasionally get the poison bonus objects blocking the way. I'm sure you could find videos of that mini game's previous state online.

[ShanPen]

The Hurdle one specifically was the WORST one before. There was a glitch where if you tried to move over more than one row too quickly, it would "reset" the cooldown for moving over, preventing you from moving for up to one second. Try to move over AGAIN during that 1 second cooldown, and AGAIN you would have to wait another second while you went nowhere. I literally had to accept that there were places where I WOULD die. I imagine a large number of expletives came out of my mouth trying to beat that the first time, and then the high score the second time.

That sounds horrible! I'm having such trouble with it as it is now with the improvements that I don't think I'll ever pass it, yet alone ever get the high score Pagie.

I'm also currently taking a break after just spending at least 30 minutes repeatedly playing the Kartos track in Capital Cashino, with no success. I don't know if this counts as a glitch, but once I go through the hoop at the end of the Kartos track (which to me signifies that it should be the end of the challenge, particularly because I no longer have control to move the character), those flame-throwing platforms that circle the track in the last section of the race are still taking 5 gems off my final score if one happens to pass by in the time it takes for the hoop to shrink and for the screen to fade out, even though I'm already through the hoop and have no way to control the cart to make it jump any more. It's really bloody annoying, especially because I am having such a hard time already scraping up anywhere near 150 gems (highest I've managed was 149 ) that I can just imagine that if I actually do manage to pass through the hoop with 150 gems, one of those flame-throwers will whiz past and knock 5 gems off my score reducing it back to 145 . This is the only Kartos challenge I've had such a hard time with so far, the rest I have been able to pass with heaps more gems than required after playing the track several times, but this one I've been trying over and over and not even getting close except for that one time I got 149 (and I think that was a fluke).
I really enjoyed the cart and roller coaster levels in the old Donkey Kong Country series, but I am not enjoying these Kartos challenges in Yooka-Laylee (even when I can pass them easily), because I think the speed adds too may variables, whereas in the Donkey Kong Country games you just had to accurately time your jumps, not worry about speeding up or slowing down, which made it more fun rather than frustrating. I'm wondering if it's just that I'm obviously not so great at the challenges and as a result are finding them frustrating/not fun, or if it's a general feeling amongst most fans (and if so, would be interesting to know if you were a fan of the Donkey Kong Country cart/coaster levels or if these sorts of challenges are just completely not your thing)?

EDITED TO ADD: So taking that break from Kartos to write the above worked out well, as when I went back to the challenge I beat it after only about 5 minutes of trying. And it turns out that even if you get through the hoop with 150+ gems but the flame thrower takes off 5 gems from your final score, you still pass. Because I got 153 gems and then got reduced to 148 and was just about to let rip with some choice swear words before realising that the dialogue was different to normal and that I had actually passed it (and now I'm having fun with the next bit! ).

[baker_boy0017]

I actually found the Kartos challenges to be fine. Kind of fun, although I'm DEFINITELY in the minority: lots of people I've heard from hated those challenges. I never thought about the variable-speed element: that totally may be why! The thing with this game is I feel like a lot of the haters cannot actually pinpoint what elements are frustrating, so hearing you mention that speed is nice. I am also a humongous DKC fan, and liked/loved the mine cart levels there, depending on the game and level in question. I utterly HATED the DK64 minecart levels, and am glad that - for me at least - Yooka Laylee was loads better. Although I think DKC Tropical Freeze takes the cake in best mine cart level design: they ought to just copy those ideas for the next Yooka Laylee.

World 4's mine cart challenge is undoubtedly the hardest. I've played the game multiple times now, and it consistently takes me multiple tries to get that one. Others I can usually beat in one go by this point, but world 4 is just... ugh LOL.

You know, there was a lot for me to hate in world 4. Especially when I had one last blasted token left. I strongly encourage you guys to use the Hunter tonic on World 4 if you're in a similar boat!

[rocho]

Im loving this game till now, only 13 pagies left for me.

As constructive criticism I can point that I wish some sounds coukd be updated. Like the sound when you pass a ring or when you complete a task, its more like a "Charge" melody than an accomplish one(That trumpet is a bit annoying).

Why not apply a Ukulele melody instead??


The second thing I think the game can improve is Characters! I love all the designs so far and you can definitely see the pedigree of the designers here. They are sooooo good I think is a shame ther the variety is so limited.

I mean don't get me wrong I love the snowmans *SPOILER ALERT* And I think the hats helped them as the mission has to do with it but the Snow World really has some lost potential as characters go.

And by all means Keith (the blue minion) represents 2 characters in the game just by adding a hat to it... the casino machines and the frogs in world 5 (battle toads reference maybe).

I know time, money and effort have a lot to do with it but I wish there were different characters instead of copy pasting a basic one.


Over all the game is awesome, the writing is funny, the music is amazing, the quizes got me at some points in unexpected questions and the feeling over all is a compelling experience.


I can say the game is all I expected from Playtonic I feel pleased with it and I'm a proud backer. I know that with the right engine and time they can surpass our expectations. The pedigree is there, the minds and talents are there and I cant wait to see and support the next project!

Big shout out to Playtonic for helping us fans go back to experience this sensation all over again!