LittleBig Planet




Posted by Fate

Did I miss the thread or did nobody ever make one?

Anyways, this game is almost too awesome. I'm dying of happiness right now.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Yeah... still need to buy it. I'll likely get it for Christmas after a ton of good content is out. Not as excited for it as I once was, but that's likely due to it being way too hyped.




Posted by Fate

It has a 95% on Metacritic. It really lives up to the name.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Well, I always expected the reviews to be good. But there's already a bunch of **** coming out every week, and it it seems like a good game to fiddle around with during my christmas vacation. Not a game I need right away, unlike Fallout or Gears.




Posted by Fate

Make more money or something.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Money isn't the problem. It's time. Fallout will take hundreds of hours. Far Cry looks like it'll take me over 25 hours, Gears' multi looks like it last a long time, and possibly CoDWaW being in the same boat.

NO TIME




Posted by maian

Bah. I really need to get this, but I'm really tight on finances. I've heard it's just amazing. I think I'll get it. Tomorrow.

Sorry Fallout :(:(




Posted by Speedfreak

I've played a demo of it. The following is assuming you cannot alter your player's jumping height, acceleration etc:

This is easily the worst platformer ever made. What's the point in the greatest level editor ever when it controls like something made in Klik & Play? This will turn out like Spore, people will make a bunch of cool **** for a few months and a year later no one will be playing it because there's no actual fun to be had. Unless you're a girl and just like making stuff that does nothing.

Imagine for five seconds if this controlled like the VS mode in New Super Mario Bros. I probably wouldn't need to play another game ever again! But it doesn't, it's an empty shell. If I am right (I really hope I'm not) and you can't alter your avatar's physics then I weep for game journalism for failing to notice something so apparant from ten seconds of footage.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

The jumping isn't anywhere near as bad as you're making it out to be. It's not perfect, but it's fine.




Posted by Fate

Oh my ***, Speedy, I hate you.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire


Quoted post: then I weep for game journalism for failing to notice something so apparant from ten seconds of footage.


Oh yeah, should mention all reviewers have pointed this out and more or less agree with everyone else that it's not really an issue.



Posted by Speedfreak

[quote=Fate;895896][COLOR=skyblue]Oh my ***, Speedy, I hate you.[/COLOR]

Oh get over it. It's still a great editor for making pointless crap that looks cute, that's all you ever wanted from it in the first place.

[quote=Vampiro V. Empire;895962]Oh yeah, should mention all reviewers have pointed this out and more or less agree with everyone else that it's not really an issue.

Which is my point, the game is terrible and everyone's fine with it. There is nothing to be good at here. There is no friction*, no reason to give a s[COLOR=lightgreen]h[/COLOR]it about new levels that test your skill with the mechanics in new and interesting ways. When there's nothing to be good at there's nothing the level designer can be creative with. Okay, they can make things look different (to a lot of critics good level design is based entirely around what your environment looks like), they can make Rube Goldberg machines, but at it's core every step and every jump is meaningless.

[SIZE=1]*Just in case I sound like I'm making s[COLOR=lightgreen]h[/COLOR]it up, here's an explanation (and I didn't learn this from any book. It's actually from hours spent wondering what the hell ABDN meant whenever they used it, forgetting about it, coming up with my own word for it then realising they were the same). Friction is when the game fights against everything you do in some incredibly small yet meaningful way. It is Mario's acceleration, drifting in Outrun, it's when you have to stop to reload in RE4 or your inability to duck or fire diagonally in Megaman. It's even the fishing or hole-digging in Animal Crossing. When you overcome these minor setbacks it makes even the smallest action satisfying. LPB doesn't have this basic fundamental requirement, so any levels spawned out of it's mechanics will be literally nothing more than setpieces.[/SIZE]




Posted by Fate

Considering that about 95% of people disagree with you, I'll leave it be! There's no point!




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire


Quoted post: Which is my point, the game is terrible and everyone's fine with it. There is nothing to be good at here. There is no friction*, no reason to give a **** about new levels that test your skill with the mechanics in new and interesting ways. When there's nothing to be good at there's nothing the level designer can be creative with. Okay, they can make things look different (to a lot of critics good level design is based entirely around what your environment looks like), they can make Rube Goldberg machines, but at it's core every step and every jump is meaningless.



hahaha, wow, dude. I think you've managed to completely miss the point. Can't believe you want to design games and can't even figure this **** out.



Posted by maian

Getting this in five days. Cannot wait.




Posted by Red


Quoting Vampiro V. Empire: Money isn't the problem. It's time. Fallout will take hundreds of hours. Far Cry looks like it'll take me over 25 hours, Gears' multi looks like it last a long time, and possibly CoDWaW being in the same boat.

NO TIME


yeah same deal here, I'm almost finished Rockband 2, but after that I plan on buying Disgea which apperently offers 100+ hours of gameply, so that could take some time. plus I recently bought Herc's adventre for PS1, not really a good game but it's fun to reminisce on my childhood.

on top of all that I still have some games that I need to beat, (Resistance, FF12 etc.) and some games that I'm planning on getting soon enough. (Resistance 2, KH:BbS)

so Little Big Planet isn't very high on my priorities list, but I'll get it eventually.
but I heard that Little Big Planet had a really complex creation mode. is this true?



Posted by Fate

Very true. It's not for people that are new to design. It's easy to use but complex as hell.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Eh, idk. It really depends what you want to put into it (or get out of it.) It's basic enough to **** around in and create whatever pleases you. But it's like any creator mode, you gotta put time and effort into it to create something good.

I wouldn't call it complex though. Just maybe not as simple as a lot of people are lead to believe.




Posted by Fate

I don't know, I've seen some pretty cool stuff in both the game and the user-created stuff and I keep asking myself how they do it.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

That's where time and effort come in. Just gotta really experiment and play around. I mean, there's more than one way to do any particular thing.




Posted by maian

I think the only thing that would really make me want to make detailed, intricate stages in LBP would be be making LBP versions of normal games. Me and my friend already decided we're going to try to recreate MGS1 via LBP, in sidescrolling action!




Posted by Red

hmmmm. LBP Megaman? sounds like it could be fun.




Posted by maian

Haha yeah. I think it would be interesting to remake levels of sidescrolling games, but I'm more interested in seeing how fun it would be to take bigger, 3D games and make LBP sidescrolling renditions of them. I've heard there's some pretty sweet Halo levels and junk. Shadow Moses is our goal, though.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

probably already done




Posted by maian

Yeah, probably, but that's not what matters to me. I would just like seeing what I could do with it.

Anyway, just bought it today. Unfortunately, my internet's being crappy with it, so I haven't been able to even do any levels online. But even so, it's a really fun experience. I haven't even tried the level editor yet.




Posted by Fate

You'll want to sit through the tutorials first.

I'm currently designing my level. It's going to be cool, I think.




Posted by Bebop

I had the pleasure of playing Little Big Planet the other day.
And by pleasure I mean displeasure.
And by displeasure I mean




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire


Quoted post: Anyway, just bought it today. Unfortunately, my internet's being crappy with it, so I haven't been able to even do any levels online. But even so, it's a really fun experience. I haven't even tried the level editor yet.


Oh, you can't make an MGS stage anymore just to tell you. So don't even bother unless you want to waste your time. Anything that even remotely represents another IP gets purged completely.

Which is retarded as hell and makes the game a lot less appealing.



Posted by Fate

That's funny because a TON of the levels are that way.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Yeah, which is why it sucks. A lot of quality levels too.




Posted by Fate

I don't think each publication is reviewed upon initial posting, so you can play them before the purge. That's okay with me.




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

They get wiped pretty quick from what I noticed and I don't play every day so there's some good stuff I'll be missing. Not to mention no one will want to make any of those levels if they know they can't keep it.




Posted by maian

Wait, so they're deleting anything that resembles copyrighted material? Are you kidding me? =/




Posted by Vampiro V. Empire

Nope. Even anything with Sony or PS3 in it gets purged.




Posted by Red

well, after all this time, I've heard some pros and cons about this game.

I just don't know if I should get it. any opinnions?




Posted by Speedfreak

******* my ISP sucks. Yeah LittleBigPlanet is probably the worst platformer I've ever played! Nintendo could release a multiplayer WiiWare title that's basically just Mario 3 with a level editor and it'd be better than this. LBP is basically Spore, there's a massive amount of **** you can create with it but none of it is actually worth playing with (unless you haven't ever played a platformer in your life). It's pretty hilarious, Sony's biggest killer app can't even reach the bare minimum laid down 20 years ago by a NES game.

I may be jumping the gun a bit though, apparantly the demo I played was actually the Beta and not the new demo with improved character physics, so it still has a shot at being the best game ever! If they haven't then I'd wager no one will be playing it in a year, just like some **HUGE** games of a year ago that no one's playing now, like Super Mario Galaxy.

The fact that I want to design games allows me to **** on media parades absolutely guilt-free! I'm being really honest here, when I played it LBP was very dull despite the funky levels I was waddling through! Oh, by the way, if you want to see a genuinely decent platformer action game on PS3 check out [url=http://www.gametrailers.com/player/39227.html]Crash Commando[/url],[U][/U] it's really very good!




Posted by BLUNTMASTER X

bebop and speedfreak comin out of postin retirement to write huge tl;dr essays on a game they'll never play longer than 5 minutes

i love it




Posted by Speedfreak

It doesn't even take one minute to notice how dull the jumping is. I said it was a great level editor for a ****ty game, I couldn't exactly give it more praise unless I actually thought the game was good.

OH OH WAIT I GOT IT.

The game is fucking fantastic if you're a girl.




Posted by BLUNTMASTER X

it would make a good present for your underage girlfriend then i guess :)




Posted by Speedfreak

Even she throught it was dumb!




Posted by BLUNTMASTER X

[quote=Speedfreak;901468]even she throught [quote]dumb!hmmmmmmmm




Posted by Speedfreak

"Cunt" appears to be written on your forehead.




Posted by Fate

You can dislike the game if you want, but you're being a complete douchebag about it. The platforming doesn't mean anything to you because you're a soppy ****, which is a valid enough reason not to play it I guess.




Posted by Speedfreak

LittleBig<INSERT FRICTIONY, NUANCED MECHANICS HERE>Planet.

My douchbaggery correlates with the amount of hype a game has despite being bad and negatively correlates with the defense of whatever makes it bad.

As someone who has PLAYED A GOOD GAME BEFORE I can agree that LBPs mechanics mean very little to me. Tell me this, if you removed all the editors and looked purely at the mechanics and levels the developers give you do you think the game would have even been a decent GameBoy Advance launch title?




Posted by maian

You act as if the only thing that matters is the story mode. The whole entire point of LBP is the level of interaction and constant connection you can have with the rest of the world. It's about creating your own worlds, sharing them, and being able to jump into other peoples' creations at any time and work together. The reason the entire offline mode exists is to help give people their own ideas for their own levels. Gawd.

Would I play LBP if it didn't have the creator? No. The platforming is fine to me, but still wouldn't be worth it if it didn't have the creator and all the online interaction. So, while it may not be as good as Mario, it's good enough to me to enjoy playing on the hundreds of different levels that people create. And frankly, the levels of creation you have in the game are amazing. I had no idea you could do so much, and they make it so simple.




Posted by Bebop


Quoting The X: bebop and speedfreak comin out of postin retirement to write huge tl;dr essays on a game they'll never play longer than 5 minutes

i love it


I'm sorry to burst your little bubble my soft minded friend but I wasted a good 3-4 hours on this underwhelming title. Had a blast on some mini games too. I've been promised the levels get better as the game goes on (a controvesial thing for a game to do I'm sure) but I was promised that after every level we did.

"When are we going to have a boss battle/do a puzzle that actually requires all the players/have an exciting level?"
"Next level probably".

I don't doubt that the game becomes remotely exciting after spending a couple of hours on it, but considering Yoshis Island is **** hot as soon as the game is turned on I fail to see the point in dedicating alot of time and effort into a game before it gets good. Call me old fashioned but I like my games to be good from level 1, even if level 1 is easy.


Quoting maian: You act as if the only thing that matters is the story mode. The whole entire point of LBP is the level of interaction and constant connection you can have with the rest of the world. It's about creating your own worlds, sharing them, and being able to jump into other peoples' creations at any time and work together. The reason the entire offline mode exists is to help give people their own ideas for their own levels. Gawd.

Would I play LBP if it didn't have the creator? No. The platforming is fine to me, but still wouldn't be worth it if it didn't have the creator and all the online interaction. So, while it may not be as good as Mario, it's good enough to me to enjoy playing on the hundreds of different levels that people create. And frankly, the levels of creation you have in the game are amazing. I had no idea you could do so much, and they make it so simple.


I understand that the big appeal of LBP is the editor if anything, and from the stuff I've heard and seen some people are going some great things with it. The actual story mode levels, as boring as they are to play, are impressive to look at when you consider it was made with the same tools you have.

Problem is I don't want to play a level just because some average Joe Bob spent 6 hours making it. I want to play it because it was fun. And considering that the own levels made by the devloper aren't that exciting I would think finding a truly engaging one among the countless levels uploaded daily would be like finding a needle in a hay stack. Why waste my time and effort trying to accomplish that when I could load up Donkey Kong Country 2?



Posted by Speedfreak

[quote=maian;901815]You act as if the only thing that matters is the story mode. The whole entire point of LBP is the level of interaction and constant connection you can have with the rest of the world. It's about creating your own worlds, sharing them, and being able to jump into other peoples' creations at any time and work together. The reason the entire offline mode exists is to help give people their own ideas for their own levels. Gawd.

Would I play LBP if it didn't have the creator? No. The platforming is fine to me, but still wouldn't be worth it if it didn't have the creator and all the online interaction. So, while it may not be as good as Mario, it's good enough to me to enjoy playing on the hundreds of different levels that people create. And frankly, the levels of creation you have in the game are amazing. I had no idea you could do so much, and they make it so simple.

The very first thing I said about the game in this thread is "it's the best level editor ever for the worst game ever". I'm being totally serious, it is the BEST LEVEL EDITOR EVER. But games need good mechanics as well as good level design, they're like the engine and wheels of a car. So while there is a massive degree of freedom with the editors, if nothing anyone makes can be decent to play because of boring mechanics then what worth would any of it be as entertainment or as a form of creative expression?

We have people "recreating" old videogames like Super Mario Bros and Gradius, at least superficially, to an extremely accurate degree. But their entertainment value is an infinitesimal amount compared to the originals. Is LittleBigPlanet the game where we pretend to be playing a good game? I'm sure people can put all the tools in LBP to creative use, though I can't help but wonder what they could do if they just downloaded one of the hundreds of free, useful programs out there that develop some tangible real life skills. Or, you know, maybe they could just get a piece of paper and a pencil and just try drawing. It's irritating that some people think of the game as the ultimate tool for level designers. Level design has very little to do with how cool your level looks, level design is about encouraging the player to use the mechanics in different ways. If your mechanics are shallow then there's only so much you can do, Super Mario Bros 3 is only about 4 hours long after all. LittleBigPlanet has even less depth than that, so the possibilities are even more limited (at least while keeping it fun and sticking to the same mechanics, any idiot can make a 100 hour game that progressively gets more and more convoluted). Soif the game doesn't work as an actual peice of entertainment and has little worth as a creative outlet then...what's the point? Is it just a dolls house where you can dress up your cute little plushie and act out soap operas? Maybe my "if you're a girl" comment was actually pretty accurate!




Posted by Fate

Just to make a note: Your crappy jumping and moving ability in LBP don't matter because all the platforming comes from the items placed on screen and the physics attached to it. The mechanics are minimally attached to your character.

In other words, you're wrong.




Posted by Bebop

Fate, your character has to run, jump and grab to progress through the game. 'Platforming' comes from your characters interactions with it's surroundings whether that be jumping across avoiding spikes, swinging with momentum or climbing up blocks. That's what a platformer is. The mechanics rely heavily on your character.

EDIT: One of my more frustrating times was having to grab onto a spinning disc, timing myself to let go at the right moment to propell myself onto the above ledge. The physics of the characters have a bigger learning curve than a good platformer should have.




Posted by Speedfreak

[quote=Fate;902074][COLOR=skyblue]Just to make a note: Your crappy jumping and moving ability in LBP don't matter because all the platforming comes from the items placed on screen and the physics attached to it. The mechanics are minimally attached to your character.

In other words, you're wrong.[/COLOR]

Different surfaces alter your jumping height, gravity, weight and acceleration? I tried to find that out from watching a ton of trailers and found no evidence of that. Could you show me how? 'Cause I would actually like this to be the best game ever so I could, you know, buy it.




Posted by Fate

Yep. One of my favorite things in the editor is the material changer. It does exactly what the name says it does. It doesn't alter what your character is capable of, but it alters what it can do. Let me try to describe a good example with a few of the things I've seen.

There are several instances where there are several extremely high/far places and the only way you can get past them is by swinging on this cloth wheel and letting it go at just the right time just to grab onto another one, except the other one has a section on it made of glass that either isn't able to be grabbed or makes you slip off to your doom. The first cloth wheel can also fling you off in the wrong direction-- a good indicator your timing sucks. There are also several different cloth wheels you can edit in design, functionality, lethality, etc. But that's just ONE object.

There's gummy stuff that makes you stop in your tracks like an eraser on a paper, there's metal that can heat up, there's different levels of spin you can put on moving objects that makes things almost unfair to navigate through, etc.

To summarize, the way the game plays out is entirely based on what you run into and what you can create. If you play online levels, I dare say you'd be surprised on what you would find.




Posted by Red

I bought the game today, it's still installing (stupid slow internet). unfortunetely I wont get to play it until tomorrow because I'm going out tonight, but I'm really excited and can't wait to get involved in this heated argument.




Posted by maian

Exactly. One of the things I love most about LBP's design is the very realistic physics. Any object you can swing from moves realistically, etc. You have to be able to time things right to pul it off directly, and everything works in the exact way you would expect from real life.




Posted by Red

I've only played a bit, but my current thoughts so far is that some of the physics (although realistic) are slightly irritating. I have nothing major to complain about though and I enjoy this game.




Posted by Synth2012

My roommates and I just got a PS3 and this is one of 4 games we picked up... I'm absolutely loving it. I was leery at first... mostly because I get frustrated easily with platformers (always overshooting the **** jumps ><) but I enjoy the crap outta Little Big Planet. I think the realistic physics are part of what make it so interesting, even when it ****es me off.




Posted by antdrig

does anyone know if the ceche01 model of the ps3 is fully bc?




Posted by maian

what




Posted by Supermario

I have watched a few videos of this game and it looks great! Being able to make your own levels is super cool and is probably why this game is so popular. Right now I think this is the best game out for Playstation 3.:)




Posted by killjoyking6969

so this game is super badass?




Posted by Fate

I love it. Probably not super badass for the general pop, though.




Posted by Kamek

I feel like it is super badass for the general population. Ive had friends come over that haven't even been fans of games at all, pick it up and love it immediately. The freedom is AMAZING, and the level design is crazy too. If the physics were a little tighter this game would be in my top 50 all time. It's the best game I've played since Okami. If you go online, play that shark level. So much fun.




Posted by Foppy D

I like this game.