Lack of lore for Spirits... yay or nay?

[Deleted member]

One of the odd things I found about Spirits is the fact that they don't come with text explaining who they are. I'm aware of the fact that given the game is in 11 different languages (including two variants of Chinese) that making tens of thousands of sentences explaining who or what every single character these spirits are may have been a logistical issue due to translation hassles, but given that patches can fix things like text in a snap, that shouldn't be much of a concern. The game lists all 1297 (from Mario to Risky Boots) spirits that are attainable in this game in a list, but given the relative obscurity of quite a few, it would have helped for Nintendo to have provided a little information to give gamers some understanding as to where they were from, what their game was about, and anything of interest.

I doubt Nintendo is going to add lore for these spirits anytime soon, so we'll have to look up the information or rely on YouTubers to explain these offbeat characters for us, because one of the cool things about Trophies was how they provided a history lesson about company history, but also the franchise history of guest franchises.

 

[VexTheHex]

It was probably way too much work and honestly wouldn't be worth the effort cause most people simply wouldn't care.

At least there is google to help us out! Some of the guys and gals I been using I've never heard of. But they look cool at least... I'll research them later on. Though sometimes I wonder if it's a really good idea to save some of these people. King Ashnard was pretty evil for example and wonder what other evil nutcases I'm helping and being helped by.

 

[Al-kīmiyā']

One of the odd things I found about Spirits is the fact that they don't come with text explaining who they are. I'm aware of the fact that given the game is in 11 different languages (including two variants of Chinese) that making tens of thousands of sentences explaining who or what every single character these spirits are may have been a logistical issue due to translation hassles, but given that patches can fix things like text in a snap, that shouldn't be much of a concern. The game lists all 1297 (from Mario to Risky Boots) spirits that are attainable in this game in a list, but given the relative obscurity of quite a few, it would have helped for Nintendo to have provided a little information to give gamers some understanding as to where they were from, what their game was about, and anything of interest.

I doubt Nintendo is going to add lore for these spirits anytime soon, so we'll have to look up the information or rely on YouTubers to explain these offbeat characters for us, because one of the cool things about Trophies was how they provided a history lesson about company history, but also the franchise history of guest franchises.

nay

 

[thirsty-pocket]

It would have been nice to have. I wasn't much of a Nintendo fan before Smash Bros, I only played Mario, and Mario adjacent series plus Pokemon since it was a pop culture phenomenon at the time. Smash Bros introduced me to so many more characters, and took it even further with trophies. It kinda stinks seeing even more new characters and not having anything to read about them in the game... But I get it. They take development time. Writing. Editing. Translating into every language. Proof-reading, fact checking, ect. And you can most likely google the character's name and series if you're really interested...

But still... end of an era.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Please try to avoid one-word replies. Try to add constructive replies to the thread itself.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I'm pretty disappointed by that.

One of the best things about the trophies was being able to read about them. I was disappointed when I heard they were out, but I would have been okay with it if the spirits came with something. As it is, they're just .pngs that mean nothing unless I go off to google the characters...which 0.01% of people will end up doing.

It's definitely odd that the game that brings in the most obscure characters as collectables is the one that also doesn't let you look up bios in game. Yeah, they need to translate them into a bunch of languages, but I'm sure they had the staff for that. It would have been such an easy thing to put in.

 

[Idon]

Nay.
Everything about spirits is... nay.
It's neat to spot the reference during their fight, but beyond that? Incredibly disappointing.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

It's definitely odd that the game that brings in the most obscure characters as collectables is the one that also doesn't let you look up bios in game. Yeah, they need to translate them into a bunch of languages, but I'm sure they had the staff for that. It would have been such an easy thing to put in.

That's over 1000 different spirits to write out a full paragraph for. And for every language translation. It's not an easy task by any means. Especially since they barely got the game out on time, as evidenced by how buggy it still is. If they do plan to add descriptions, it probably won't be for a while.

I do agree that it would've been nice. I love the lore.

 

[pap64]

I just find funny how unbalanced World of Light is when compared to Subspace story wise; Subspace had so many great scenes with characters interacting with each other, and even without spoken dialogue you still got a kick of how this universe was all connected. But the lore was a mess, the story made no sense, and it was so bad Sakurai had to write a whole blog post explaining the plot.

Meanwhile with World of Light, we get an amazing intro WITH SPOKEN DIALOGUE and enough context to understand what is going on, and then remains quiet. I understand Sakurai said that this new mode would not be as story heavy, but considering that they are hinting at so much the fact that we got little is a tad disappointing.

But gameplay wise...I would play World of Light a million times over one play through of Subspace.

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

A huge nay for me. Smash 4 trophy descriptions were awesome and seeing them in action was great. Especially the Final Smash trophies. Now, if you want lore, you have to look it up yourself.

 

[Dukemon]

This "Adventure" Mode is an EventMatch with a Map and RPG advantages and disadvantages. From Match, to Match, to Match. Smash4 as single player was boring. But SmashUtlimate is alot more of that. Smash4 at least had HomeRunContest, TargetSmashlikeMode and (I did not like them) the MasterHand and Crazy Orders. I am ok with no Break the Targets Mode, because I do not expact after 2 more years for each Fighter an own Target Stage (i would be happy, if this platform game would be back. This "Race to the Finish" has no charme in SSBU) but the HomeRunContest was only one Stage.

I liked both. The Adventure Mode in Melee and Brawl. Brawl had DK Country Levels. Melee had Zelda and Mario Level and than the development run out of time and money.^^' I think I would prefer an Melee Adventure Mode. The Brawl Adventure Mode is a lot more difficult to develope. The Melee Adventure Mode tried to make something special (Mario Level with Fox YAY!) and would fit more to SSBU.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

The only thing that bothers me about it is that Cloud has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, so players are forced to play FF7 if they want to see any of the characters.

I just find funny how unbalanced World of Light is when compared to Subspace story wise; Subspace had so many great scenes with characters interacting with each other, and even without spoken dialogue you still got a kick of how this universe was all connected. But the lore was a mess, the story made no sense, and it was so bad Sakurai had to write a whole blog post explaining the plot.

Meanwhile with World of Light, we get an amazing intro WITH SPOKEN DIALOGUE and enough context to understand what is going on, and then remains quiet. I understand Sakurai said that this new mode would not be as story heavy, but considering that they are hinting at so much the fact that we got little is a tad disappointing.

But gameplay wise...I would play World of Light a million times over one play through of Subspace.

Protip: never get a Square-Enix "alumni" to write your story for you.

That said, I figure WOL is a middle finger to everyone who uploaded SSE on YouTube and spoiled it to everyone else. Sakurai holds a grudge for a long time. I didn't expect anything beyond the intro anyway.

 

[osby]

The only thing that bothers me about it is that Cloud has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, so players are forced to play FF7 if they want to see any of the characters.



Protip: never get a Square-Enix "alumni" to write your story for you.

That said, I figure WOL is a middle finger to everyone who uploaded SSE on YouTube and spoiled it to everyone else. Sakurai holds a grudge for a long time. I didn't expect anything beyond the intro anyway.

World of Light is a result of SSE cutscenes being a chore to develop. Anyone who think Sakurai didn't add 50 minutes long cutscenes just because a childish grudge are being childish themselves.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

World of Light is a result of SSE cutscenes being a chore to develop. Anyone who think Sakurai didn't add 50 minutes long cutscenes just because a childish grudge are being childish themselves.

Oh...

Well at any rate, there obviously wasn't going to be much story this time around with the time crunch the staff was already under in. Especially since All-Star mode is just another variation of Multi-Man Smash these days. I actually expected the whole thing to be an elaborate excuse plot ala Dyna Blade.

And some early Mexican adopters didn't get spoiled anyway, since they somehow received random DVDs from Amazon at first.

 

[Mogisthelioma]

Nay. Obviously they're not trying to emphasize anything with Spirits mode. It's just for fun. There's no canonical meaning through it.

 

[BXBX]

Yay. I play this game for the fighting gameplay. The more attention to the details of the core mechanics and less on stuff that I can easily google on my PC or phone the better. A picture with the name and game series is good enough if I ever want to learn more about that character.

 

[TheMagicalKuja]

1297 odd spirits is too much of a chore.

I would have liked flavor text on the playable fighters and the bosses, which I assume hold the majority of the lore anyway.

 

[Deleted member]

One of the odd things I found about Spirits is the fact that they don't come with text explaining who they are. I'm aware of the fact that given the game is in 11 different languages (including two variants of Chinese) that making tens of thousands of sentences explaining who or what every single character these spirits are may have been a logistical issue due to translation hassles, but given that patches can fix things like text in a snap, that shouldn't be much of a concern. The game lists all 1297 (from Mario to Risky Boots) spirits that are attainable in this game in a list, but given the relative obscurity of quite a few, it would have helped for Nintendo to have provided a little information to give gamers some understanding as to where they were from, what their game was about, and anything of interest.

I doubt Nintendo is going to add lore for these spirits anytime soon, so we'll have to look up the information or rely on YouTubers to explain these offbeat characters for us, because one of the cool things about Trophies was how they provided a history lesson about company history, but also the franchise history of guest franchises.

It would have been nice but I also think it simply would have been way too much work. Just a short paragraph for all 1000+ spirits would have been a ton of work.

 

[hinode]

Trophy count by game, based on Smash Wiki:

Melee: 290

Brawl: 544

3DS: 685 (707 w/ DLC)

Wii U: 716 (743 w/ DLC)

Ultimate's Spirit count: 1297

Numberical bloat was a huge practicality issue that ultimately doomed both trophies and their flavor text. The amount of development work is pretty obvious, especially with all the languages in this game, but also consider that as the number increases more and more, the less likely people are to actually read the flavor text for literally everything. It's way more practical for someone to read through <=290 trophy descriptions in Melee compared to 1297 spirits in Ultimate, and if people aren't reading all the text than the all the manpower put into writing/translating them is increasingly wasted.

1297 odd spirits is too much of a chore.

I would have liked flavor text on the playable fighters and the bosses, which I assume hold the majority of the lore anyway.

Every fighter has 2+ tips (a lot more in Mario's case) that explain their origins and give some other lore. You can find them all in the vault section.

Bosses don't seem to have any flavor text though, just tips on fighting them. Some of which are quite useful if you aren't familiar with the source material, incidentally - I had no idea about Marx's teleport conditions until I read it just now.

 

[pap64]

Protip: never get a Square-Enix "alumni" to write your story for you.

That said, I figure WOL is a middle finger to everyone who uploaded SSE on YouTube and spoiled it to everyone else. Sakurai holds a grudge for a long time. I didn't expect anything beyond the intro anyway.

At least the Square-Enix games have things like dialogue, cutscenes, voice acting, lore guides within the game and more that actually gives context to the story even if they come up with some convoluted hot messes nearly 90% of the time (OH HAI THAR KINGDOM HEARTS!).

Nintendo is known for having minimal stories that give you enough of an incentive to play, but does not drown you in it, for better or for worse. Take Breath of the Wild, for example; this game has fully elaborate and beautiful cutscenes that show great character interactions, gives context to the world we are playing in, and we get to see how the existence of Ganon has almost completely destroyed this new universe. And yet, the focus is still on the gameplay.

With SSE, they wanted to have that Nintendo mentality when it comes to storytelling, but also tried to have an RPG like story to go along with it. A story as complex as SSE NEEDED fully voiced cutscenes, exposition, character development and more. Like yeah the fan service was awesome, but there needed more to it than just 'OH MAH GASH FOX IS HAVING TEA WITH PEACH ON THE HALBERD".

And I partly understand Sakurai's reasoning, but at the same time, all major games have their cutscenes uploaded on YouTube. And even if you IMPLORE to avoid spoilers, there will always be fans that actually want to know everything before a game comes out.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

At least the Square-Enix games have things like dialogue, cutscenes, voice acting, lore guides within the game and more that actually gives context to the story even if they come up with some convoluted hot messes nearly 90% of the time (OH HAI THAR KINGDOM HEARTS!).

Nintendo is known for having minimal stories that give you enough of an incentive to play, but does not drown you in it, for better or for worse. Take Breath of the Wild, for example; this game has fully elaborate and beautiful cutscenes that show great character interactions, gives context to the world we are playing in, and we get to see how the existence of Ganon has almost completely destroyed this new universe. And yet, the focus is still on the gameplay.

With SSE, they wanted to have that Nintendo mentality when it comes to storytelling, but also tried to have an RPG like story to go along with it. A story as complex as SSE NEEDED

Probably would have worked out better if they had Koizumi (Super Mario Galaxy director, among others) for assistance, the guy's fairly good at balancing background lore with the usual formulaic stuff.

At any rate, WOL works well enough as is by being not much more complicated than "the bad guy killed everything, go find it and get revengeance". Sure, there could have been more, but it has a bit more context than Melee's adventure mode.