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In defense of Klonoa Wii-make, the wrath of Phantasy Reverie Series.

Started by rapappa the pepper, August 05, 2023, 12:53:34 PM

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rapappa the pepper

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.  :confused:

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...  :big_smile:

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.  x_x 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.  :sad_face: 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_0

I 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.  :embarassed:
Is this a forum they forgot, or has the forum forgot them?
Hello, i'm i guess a general artist, 3D modeller, 2D traditional illustrator, and some times make music. You can know more about me at my Neo Cities: https://rapthepep.neocities.org/

If you want me to work on a project of yours, please contact me!

SummerShores

QuoteThe 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 [...]
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.

I won't lie: these ideas in particular don't seem feasible for a project with the scope and budget that PRS seems to have had. Even if they did have the time and money necessary for all of this, I feel like Bandai Namco would rather release things like the other games as different products (for example, a compilation featuring the three GBA games and/or Moonlight Museum). As a point of comparison, their other remakes generally stick to one or two games per product - Pac-Man World Re-Pac, for instance, doesn't include either of its sequels.

It'd certainly be nice to have more meat to PRS, but trying to fit the entire series into it would be a tall order for many reasons. I can see the logic behind wanting to focus on the two mainline console games from a business perspective, too - it might seem odd to have full-fledged remakes accompanied by straight ports all in one package.

rapappa the pepper

I mean have the original portable games included, not like, actual whole remade versions of them to be here, just, emulated, as unlockables, that wouldn't take much effort or budget, and if you think the same for Beach Volleyball, i mean, just a side mode, not a remake of the exact Playstation game, and do it more like Tekken did, for fun, none of these would take THAAAT much time or budget.
Is this a forum they forgot, or has the forum forgot them?
Hello, i'm i guess a general artist, 3D modeller, 2D traditional illustrator, and some times make music. You can know more about me at my Neo Cities: https://rapthepep.neocities.org/

If you want me to work on a project of yours, please contact me!

SummerShores

Quote from: rapappa the pepper on August 10, 2023, 11:30:17 AM
I mean have the original portable games included, not like, actual whole remade versions of them to be here, just, emulated, as unlockables, that wouldn't take much effort or budget, and if you think the same for Beach Volleyball, i mean, just a side mode, not a remake of the exact Playstation game, and do it more like Tekken did, for fun, none of these would take THAAAT much time or budget.

I agree with you in part about the portable games - Empire of Dreams and Dream Champ Tournament would be easy enough, but the other two would need to be translated into English. While that wouldn't be a massive ordeal for Moonlight Museum, Heroes is far more text-heavy and would therefore be a significant undertaking all on its own.

As for Beach Volleyball: even as a side mode, I think it'd be a good deal of work for a simple bonus. From what I've seen of it, Tekken Ball works in part because it's not that far-off from the regular gameplay - it's still a competition between two players. However, PRS consists of two largely single-player platformers, so it'd be more of a challenge to try and rework that into a fulfilling volleyball game (even a simple one).

rapappa the pepper

You definely like to forget that this is a team of professionals and not simple modders who doesn't even have source code or extensive programming knowledge and such, they can do it, even a simple one, it'd take a bit of time, but it's their job. Maybe Heroes could be excluded, but, it'd be a selling point y'know to make it more worthy of a purchase, either way, i don't know how the hell would a remake of the portable games turn out if they would exist, and, i also think they'd be, rather unecessary to be re-made i dunno, remastering it tho, is more like it. Although, yeah i know Tekken Volleyball re-uses the game mechanics for it, and if that's the case, just make, a port or something, again, since there is little time and budget for this, to give more time and focuse to the team, these games just, could've been the most faithful ports (not emulation, i mean ports) of these games out there with a bit of tweaking and options, rather than, well, giving a remastering job for a team that, honestly didn't deserve it. I know, porting isn't as simple as copying and pasting, but, that's what i meant, with their smaller time and budget, they could take their time to focuse on, well, that exactly, it'd be less consuming and more fair for them, and if that's the case, exclude Beach Volleyball, ported or emulated, and it's whatever if the portable games are ports or emulation, but i think it'd be a selling point if they also were ported, and, probably wouldn't be as hard i guess?  :confused:
Is this a forum they forgot, or has the forum forgot them?
Hello, i'm i guess a general artist, 3D modeller, 2D traditional illustrator, and some times make music. You can know more about me at my Neo Cities: https://rapthepep.neocities.org/

If you want me to work on a project of yours, please contact me!

SummerShores

I just figure that Monkeycraft was given a specific task (basically "remake Klonoa 1 & 2") by Bandai Namco, and the latter wasn't interested in adding any substantial extras to the new game. As I said before, most if not all of their other remakes (Pac-Man World, Katamari Damacy - the latter of which was also developed by Monkeycraft) go very far beyond remaking the original title. Unfortunate as it may be, that's just how Bandai Namco seems to operate.

HaggisD1

A good thing about the remake is, that it cut down the prize for the german version of Klonoa Wii and Lunatea's Veil by 50%.   ;)

AGiLE-EaGLE1994

Quote from: SummerShores on August 10, 2023, 12:53:56 AM
I won't lie: these ideas in particular don't seem feasible for a project with the scope and budget that PRS seems to have had. Even if they did have the time and money necessary for all of this, I feel like Bandai Namco would rather release things like the other games as different products (for example, a compilation featuring the three GBA games and/or Moonlight Museum). As a point of comparison, their other remakes generally stick to one or two games per product - Pac-Man World Re-Pac, for instance, doesn't include either of its sequels.

It'd certainly be nice to have more meat to PRS, but trying to fit the entire series into it would be a tall order for many reasons. I can see the logic behind wanting to focus on the two mainline console games from a business perspective, too - it might seem odd to have full-fledged remakes accompanied by straight ports all in one package.

Quote from: SummerShores on August 10, 2023, 12:53:56 AM
I won't lie: these ideas in particular don't seem feasible for a project with the scope and budget that PRS seems to have had. Even if they did have the time and money necessary for all of this, I feel like Bandai Namco would rather release things like the other games as different products (for example, a compilation featuring the three GBA games and/or Moonlight Museum). As a point of comparison, their other remakes generally stick to one or two games per product - Pac-Man World Re-Pac, for instance, doesn't include either of its sequels.

It'd certainly be nice to have more meat to PRS, but trying to fit the entire series into it would be a tall order for many reasons. I can see the logic behind wanting to focus on the two mainline console games from a business perspective, too - it might seem odd to have full-fledged remakes accompanied by straight ports all in one package.

The Wiimake was my first game, too!
And I'll also defend Eric's voice for Klonoa. He looks like an adult in the Wiimake, and he also sounds like an adult too, and he would logically be 20 in the Wiimake. (He was 9 in DtP which came out in 1997, and 13 in LV, as said by his creators. That's 4 years difference. DtP came out in 1997 and LV came out in 2001, which is also a 4 year difference. The Wiimake came out in 2008, that's a 7 year difference, and 13 + 7 = 20.)

His high-pitched Phantomilian voice never fit his design from Lunatea's Veil onwards, though I think it's slightly more fitting for the LV design than the Wiimake design, I think it could be about maybe... 15% to 25% deeper? It might fit for when he was squealing from excitement though.

I also think that the cutscenes in the Wiimake using in-game 3D models for the backgrounds and scenes, of the same quality as the in-game graphics, is very good-looking, even if the fact that some cutscenes are shorter or flat-out missing detracts from it.

The graphics in the Wiimake look really good too. There is one thing about the 2.5D Klonoa games that makes them harder to me than they need to be,which is when the level curves to the left or right around a background object, throwing an enemy goes in a straight line instead of following the curve of the level path, which makes it harder to hit enemies that you're attacking with the ones you're throwing, this is probably one of the main things that are an issue with the gameplay for me.

I think KPRS is still a good thing to have came out because it revitalized interest in the franchise, exposed it to a new audience, and gave it another chance to gain more success, and it managed, if the fact that it ended up on the front page of Steam's store for a while, that's a hard achievement to make.

I hope that Klonoa becomes more successful even more than he already is, because great games being overlooked is sad.

I do agree with the DtP models in KPRS are lower quality than they should be, because the polygons that should be symmetrical on each side, like his limbs, hands, feet and ears, often aren't symmetrical when they should be. This is especially true with the model of him in his pajamas from the intro cutscene.

The fact that they forgot to enable the shape keys for him in the Klonoa 2 port on KPRS is also a crime that's hard to forgive, it makes the cutscenes look cheaper and lazier than they should be, and KPRS seems to have excessive bloom effects too.
Eric Stitt's voice for Klonoa is fitting, and I will die on that hill.