I totally agree with him on many of the factors here, especially points pertaining to how much filler the game has. This isn't just a quantity issue but the game drifts away so often from what makes it so much fun to play; That the core mechanics are excellent. Mario Odyssey succeeds so well at making simple interaction with the game fun; It's that tactile nature where it is at its most entertaining. However, too much of the progression and challenges are tasks that exist outside of that perimeter.
To some degree, you could argue many of these challenges are still about running, jumping and capturing but that third element is so wide and encompassing in itself that the tasks are straight up not cohesive at all. It's such a mishmash of unrelated ideas; Ideas that too often stray from what I feel makes Mario Odyssey super fun - which is running and jumping around. Fortunately while the core progression fails to adhere to what I feel should have been Mario Odyssey's fundamental loop, there is still plenty of that found in how the levels are designed to accommodate player expression. You never get the impression any jump is impossible. Odyssey is so accommodating to this fact that it's almost subconsciously satisfying to plow through the levels uninterrupted with a series of well timed jumps, rolls, dives and pounds to keep the momentum going. This is where I got most of my enjoyment from Odyssey; Which explains why I thought the Koopa Races where Odyssey at its most cohesive and expressive. Personally, that's what I would like to see for Odyssey 2. A game designed around moving through environments quickly. Odyssey HAS this already, it just hasn't got that many challenges about this toolkit.
As for the nerfing of the back-flip and wall jump. I am kind of torn on these. I understand why they were nerfed, but it still makes them less useful unless they are chained into dive an hat throw. However, if they had the same distance as in, say 64, then you'd be able to cross a very large distance which would make the game even easier than it already is. I am not of the opinion nerfing these moves is a flaw though. You can still get the same effect because there is a toolset that provides the same result. It re-purposed the moves as chains rather than singular useful moves in themselves, which I don't believe is a problem.
I would love if Odyssey 2 was more like the Koopa challenges throughout, or had more of the linear platforming challenges similar to Super Mario Galaxy 2. Personally, I had a great time playing Super Mario Odyssey. It's sort of this palpable cartoon - An interactive showcase. I get why Joseph hated it, because it's such a directionless and somewhat 'stupidly' designed game (in that it doesn't seem to capitalize on what actually makes it fun to play) but I too get why others love it; It's like being left alone in a room full of curiosities. And its levels still recognize that the mechanics are only valuable if they are giving you the space to express yourself, and reward you for being good at them. The game absolutely does this. (it will hide mountains of coins in hard to reach places. Coins are used to buy new costumes). But eh, it's telling that these mountains of coins are more rewarding than the moons you find...
It's also a shame that even when it begins to define a visual language in its more eccentric challenges, it doesn't subvert expectations. Like there are moons you get for looking up at the sky using a telescope and finding flying taxis. Then there are four or so moons with that same challenge and none of them think to subvert your expectations and make something else happen... It's such a wasted opportunity, really. So even while I like how the game began to encourage me to think outside the box (fun), the payoff for doing so was disappointing (not fun). It's why I'd say Mario Odyssey is a game about the 'how' than 'why'. Nothing you get in Odyssey is of particular fancy, if anything it's more annoying to collect a moon but the game really rocks when you're punching your way through a level at high speed uninterrupted... If only more moons were about actually DOING that.
Things look hopeful for a theoretical Odyssey 2 though as the free update announced on the mini direct seem to entertain the fun parts that I am talking about; Speed running through levels and competing for better times. I hope Nintendo recognize that this is what makes Odyssey fun for the fans of Mario as a platformer and perhaps minimize (but not entirely rid) the game of its more eccentric differences-in-kind that gives the game its absurd cartoon physicality.
On a side:
I love Joseph's work. I don't mind his long-form analysis at all. He does have a habit of being far better at expressing himself when he doesn't like something rather than when he does. His positive comments on video games are often not just tonally dry but clinical from a vocab perspective whereas his cynicism is always on full frontal (see the constant scoffs and laughing he does in the Uncharted videos). By the end of the Odyssey video here, his negative emotions get so hyperbolic that he is nearly disingenuous in his thoughts on the use of 2D sections. It's so blatantly unlikely someone would feel that way playing these sections and cynical that it does the production a real disservice. If anything, Odyssey's nostalgia beats have nothing but positive connotations for me. His framing that it's a reminder Merio is still a Merio game is unrealistic; Especially when you consider these 2D segments oft. work off similar loops found in the core game. So effectively if all the other contextual elements of the 3D sections aren't enough of a reminder, then the 2D sections shouldn't be either. It's disingenuous and silly. It's really it's just Joe typically being Joe and interfacing with an air of pretense but doesn't detract from the meat of this video which is overall on-point.
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