If you know me, well yeah, Klonoa Wii was my introduction to Klonoa, and i never knew there were any other games besides this one, but, i have no nostalgia for it really, and yes, the Playstation version is still the very best, but...
I really don't understand why is this game constantly trashed by the average fan of Klonoa, i mean, i understand what they don't like about this version, and those things they don't like is also what i don't like about it, but, it's worthless for them.
I think this remake is actually quite good, i have, basicly only 3 complains, Klonoa's english voice actor (even tho you can easily switch to phantomillian), the cutscenes have poor presentation with little animation and expression, and i think having 10 hit points is, well too easy, but there are plenty of people who think the original game is really hard, but i'm not one of them and think it's fair the original, but considering it's a console for the casuals, i think it's fine. I don't think the new script is that bad, and i think the new names aren't bad either, some are even better, such as Granny to Chieftess (which makes more sense since it's not Klonoa's grandma), Huepow to Hewpoe, they are much better localizations since you say "Hyupo" and Hewpoe translates that well, but Joka to Joker is kinda unecessary i have to agree, and i love the speech bubbles.
The character re-designs are, well, even tho i prefer the old ones, i think these new ones are fine, besides, it's the late 2000s, and it wasn't as common and easy to have classic designs to show up in that age compared to nowadays, besides, it's kinda fresh to have these, although, it doesn't make as much sense to make Klonoa look older than ever since this is a dream he had when he was younger, but, at the same time, it's not really a big deal since, Klonoa games everyone says the only cannon games are DtP and Lunatea's Veil, but, every game is sort of cannon actually, and doesn't matter which one you play, and i'll defend this design, i think it looks, actually quite good and is underrated, and doesn't matter that much to have Klonoa being older here i think, because, it affects nothing basicly, doesn't matter what game you play first (except for PRS), every game is its own thing, its own little story, instead of "this one is cannon and this one isn't", they are dreams afterall.
This game is a stunner, the best looking Klonoa game to this very day is this one, specially if you're using AV cables for display rather than HDMI as intended, since the Wii only had AV cables. The world received some re-designs as well, but i actually think for some of these, they look even better than the Playstation world designs! Except i think Breezegale doesn't feel as breezy per say, since, well, it doesn't feel as big and open, the Playstation version was emptier, but it felt bigger for it, less overwhelming, i love clear skies in games really...
Despite all of this, i still think the Playstation version is the best, but the Wii-make is a worthy version to play, and does not deserve all the hate it gets for just these, and i'm very thankful this was my first Klonoa game instead of Lunatea's Veil. (pleasure face)
...
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series however... When it was announced, i was hyped, and so was everyone, but with time, i started to realize, this version would probably be even worse than the Wii-make, and when it released, it was over-praised and over-hyped by the average Klonoa fan, and i realized, yeah... This version is the worst one, of both games.
This version simply doesn't feel special anymore, it doesn't give me the Klonoa feeling, which is what made these games special, as well as the mystery, PRS just, feels like, a game ever released really, and, it lacking the Klonoa feeling, makes it already not worthy for me, but why does it feel like a game ever released?
Well, the mystery seems to have gone away already with these, the worlds feel smaller, and just feels, less immersive i think.
The remastering was done very poorly, and it's thanks to the limited time and budget Namco gave to the team to make this game, many things were broken in this version, the lighting looks for the most part way worse than anything before, everything is overly bloomy and bright, overly saturated, giving a forced dream aesthetic that simply doesn't look appealing, almost every stage looks like this, with this generic lighting and feel that, ruins the feel of many parts of the game i think, this is specially the case in Lunatea's Veil.
And as for what it almost does better but it only does on paper and is done poorly and makes things worse, the "new models". Many characters received new models that are higher poly, but specially for Door to Phantomile, these look... Pretty bad.
Many praise these models, but they look... Rushed, they don't look like faithful recreations of the classic Playstation designs, instead, they just feel awkward and like, somebody's first attempt at doing these characters without deeply analysing the original models or 2D art work, they don't look professionally made and just takes away immersion, the idea is sound, but it is poorly done. Besides, the world geometry was not remastered, and was not altered to look like the original designs, so it looks jarrying, and, they look dated in high resolutions. (specially Lunatea's Veil)
Another case of this, is the original script being restored, sounds great on paper! But... All they did was slap the original extremely low quality Playstation voice clips here, and once again, it sounds awkward and takes away immersion, it's not a problem on Playstation and in 1998 because of the limited disc space of the CDs, and so that the game can load faster, and since the game has many clips, it's all completely justifiable, and works, specially for it being a thing of its time. But here... They had quite the opportunity to re-record these lines, and it would've been amazing, but as it is in PRS using the Playstation clips, it's questionable, it feels wrong, it feels, like an amateur fan mod once again, instead of a professional product. Speaking of which, the cutscene presentation is still just as bad as the Wii-make, but i think it's even worse for the low quality Playstation voice clips with "modern graphics", it all feels, wrong, and awkward... Oh yeah, and it's really jarrying that the voices can change from time to time to use the new Wii ones, seriously?
Many, many special effects, or even simpler effects, or even fading music, or even facial expressions are broken in this version.
Some of the bonuses from the Wii version were also taken away, specially the best one, the ability to change clothes, which could've been expanded here to have even more options! Maybe have a mix & match thing so you can pick the clothes you desire. The cutscene viewer could've had a bonus here so you can make your cutscenes, basicly set a keyframe for where the character should walk to, play an animation, speak, and stuff, you can change the camera as you want, yeah, it'd be fun for replay value, something Klonoa desperately needed.
The portable Klonoa games HAD to be included here as unlockables, as well as a translated version of Moonlight Museum, and Legendary Star Medal - Heroes. Y'know what else could've had been here as a bonus? A Beach Volleyball remake, a Tekken tradition brought to here. Time trials with leaderboards, all of this, could've i think, at least have made this version a bit more worthy of playing, but it doesn't do anything at all that makes it any better than any other version, the only reason to own PRS, is to literally just to feed Namco with money to tell you want more Klonoa games, i hate hostage situations, specially when it is with low quality products.
PRS was the opportunity to make the best versions of these games, specially if they were remakes instead of remasters, or even if they were just trying to be the most faithful ports of these games (+ PS1 Phantomile alongside Wii-make) with all of these bonuses would've been definitive way to play these games and absolutely worth a purchase specially of how accessible it is, because, not even PCSX2 the emulator can faithfully bring Lunatea's Veil with all its effects here, in the PC you can play the best versions of DtP, Lunatea's Veil, and pretty much every Klonoa game, but because Namco didn't care, they became kind of worthless versions made just to feed Namco with money, but since they did give a smaller budget, what i just said would've been the best route for it. Besides, PRS is over-priced in Brazil, and it makes it completely, worthless, for the price of PRS, i can buy a PS2 pretty much, a console that can play so many more games besides Klonoa, but as well as the definitive versions of DtP and L'sV on real PS2 hardware with dirt cheap CDs and DVDs since every Brazillian PS2 is already region unlocked and copy unlocked. (since PS2 emulation is still not perfect, effects are missing and the game looks uglier, but i still think PCSX2 is better than PRS).
Honestly... PRS is a version that, doesn't exceed at anything from the previous versions i think, it doesn't really do anything, don't play this version, specially if it's your first time. The Wii-make despite not being as good as the Playstation version, i still think it's worthy of playing since it does its own little quirky things and has the best graphics, while PRS tries to improve what Wii did worse, it only does half of an improvement, breaks immersion even more, and does worse at other things.
It's kinda sad when you actually start to think what it could've been.
I recommend this video as well, pointing out not everything wrong, but most things wrong with it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5IpQXrDA_0I was actually thinking of making a mod for Klonoa Wii when i joined this forum where i re-create faithfull the original Playstation character designs in 3D for the Wii-make, but i'm not motivated with a busy life, and specially when, well, nobody asks for it, perhaps if i get 10 comments here, i get more motivated so.