Great review. For what it's worth, I'm a long time fan of the Endless Ocean series, having put countless hours into the previous games, and I'm really enjoying this one. I've heard from quite a few other fans who are having fun with it too. While yes, most long term fans (including myself) are disappointed at how much content was cut after the second game, a lot of us play these games for the core experience of swimming around, exploring underwater environments, scanning and/or learning about the various marine life, and collecting treasure. That's an experience this game provides, so we're still having fun. There was a *lot* of negativity on many of the EO-specific forums starting just prior to launch (doomscrolling was a big factor in that, imo), but those forums are slowly beginning to sound more positive as people spend more time with the game and appreciate it for what it is rather than focusing purely on what it is not. Is it a game for everyone? Definitely not. But some of us are having fun, and that's enough for now. Also, I would add that the single player experience isn't all that bad. I tend to divide my time pretty evenly between solo and shared dives. The solo dives are more relaxing, whereas in shared dives there's a bit more "rush" to find the mission fish, the UML once it spawns, etc. Also, solo dives can work well for meeting the scan goals to progess the story, since nobody else will scan fish on the map but you. I progressed super quickly through most of the story by hopping into solo dive maps, scanning the easily viewable fish, loading up a new map, and doing the same. Now, when I want more engagement, I do shared dives. When I want full-on chill mode, I go solo. The last thing I would add is a tiny correction re: early game reviewers. My understanding is that Nintendo arranged for several dedicated time periods where those with an early review copy could go online and do shared dives. So they weren't just stuck doing solo dives - they got to try out the multiplayer stuff, too. Unfortunately, too many of those reviewers didn't get what this series is about, and kept making comparisons to games like Subnautica, which I also love, but recognize as belonging to an entirely different genre. Anyway, sorry to go on so long. I mostly just wanted to say thanks for sharing your views on the game, and to mention that there are at least some long term fans of the series who like Luminous, too. It's not the best game ever made, but for those wanting to kick back and relax, it definitely has some value.
As someone who grew up with Endless Ocean: Blue World, Luminous just doesn’t even feel like it belongs to the same series. Personally I think the game would’ve preformed much better if it could’ve stood alone as it’s own title instead of being compared to its predecessor (a much more story focused and dense in content game)
I think the problem with this game is that it doesn’t feel like a proper follow-up to the other 2 games. After the second game added and improved a lot from the first game, this game feels like the opposite because it removed a lot of features from both games. You could pet and feed the creatures, you could have dolphin companions when you dive, you could look over the surface of the water while you dive, among other features. The second game added the feature to train dolphins to do tricks and make people watch your dolphin show. Your hub world in the second game was a small island compared to a boat in the first game. I think the game is fine on it’s own but after playing the previous games before and having to wait so long for a new Endless Ocean game, it was disapointing.
Compared with the second part from 15 years ago, Luminous is bad. It's just objective analysis. It feels cheap, rushed and it is a annoyance that Nintendo wants 50 bucks for it. The cut so much content from the previous games. I mean, they had the money for one AI voice, but you have to read the lines of the other human?! Nobody can tell me, that this is quality content. Next thing, the map. Ok, procedural generated. Somehow that's a marketing plus, in which world I will never understand. But saltwater fish swimming with freshwater fish?! Dude, even if this "lifetree" has some kind of Harry Potter magic, this wouldn't work. Arctic animals next to animals from the tropic?! I don't want a 100% accurate diving sim. But why can't we have three or four maps, themed in tropical, arctic, freshwater and depths?! That would be more logic and more fun. The older games tried to be educational. This here... its full fletched fakenews. Luminous is a grindfest that looks like a student project, costs 50 dollars and honors your work of scanning the most inaccurate ocean ever with stickers and emotes. A horrible step down from Endless Ocean 2.
I'm not sure I see the difference between solo dives and multiplayer. Why would I not like solo? multiplayer just seems like someone else is doing the work for you. It doesnt seem to have any other functionality beyond someone else tagging discoveries. I can see the value if you are missing a certain item and you go to a dive ID with that item but otherwise I would rather just find stuff myself. If I legitimately did not have any interest in multiplayer, why wouldnt i enjoy the swimming and scanning in solo?
The solo experience to me was lackluster, keep in mind this is just my opinion. The single player experience for story is sorely lacking and exploring a dive solo also means you can't teleport around to your teammates and swimming everywhere is a slog. Solo does have the option to input a dive ID and take your time where as multiplayer you have a 1 hour time limit. It's all a matter of preference but for me I prefer to have people exploring with me.
The game is fine on its own- if you’re looking for a laid back experience but it’s just not great when compared to the previous games in the series. I think by putting the Endless Ocean name on it they’re relying on people who played the previous games- and it’s just not like those at all. I do like it, it’s not a terrible game but it’s not what I was expecting.
Endless Ocean never needed to become a multiplayer experience. It excelled as a single player series and I don't imagine anybody ever asked for this change.
Great review. For what it's worth, I'm a long time fan of the Endless Ocean series, having put countless hours into the previous games, and I'm really enjoying this one. I've heard from quite a few other fans who are having fun with it too. While yes, most long term fans (including myself) are disappointed at how much content was cut after the second game, a lot of us play these games for the core experience of swimming around, exploring underwater environments, scanning and/or learning about the various marine life, and collecting treasure. That's an experience this game provides, so we're still having fun.
There was a *lot* of negativity on many of the EO-specific forums starting just prior to launch (doomscrolling was a big factor in that, imo), but those forums are slowly beginning to sound more positive as people spend more time with the game and appreciate it for what it is rather than focusing purely on what it is not. Is it a game for everyone? Definitely not. But some of us are having fun, and that's enough for now.
Also, I would add that the single player experience isn't all that bad. I tend to divide my time pretty evenly between solo and shared dives. The solo dives are more relaxing, whereas in shared dives there's a bit more "rush" to find the mission fish, the UML once it spawns, etc. Also, solo dives can work well for meeting the scan goals to progess the story, since nobody else will scan fish on the map but you. I progressed super quickly through most of the story by hopping into solo dive maps, scanning the easily viewable fish, loading up a new map, and doing the same. Now, when I want more engagement, I do shared dives. When I want full-on chill mode, I go solo.
The last thing I would add is a tiny correction re: early game reviewers. My understanding is that Nintendo arranged for several dedicated time periods where those with an early review copy could go online and do shared dives. So they weren't just stuck doing solo dives - they got to try out the multiplayer stuff, too. Unfortunately, too many of those reviewers didn't get what this series is about, and kept making comparisons to games like Subnautica, which I also love, but recognize as belonging to an entirely different genre.
Anyway, sorry to go on so long. I mostly just wanted to say thanks for sharing your views on the game, and to mention that there are at least some long term fans of the series who like Luminous, too. It's not the best game ever made, but for those wanting to kick back and relax, it definitely has some value.
Thanks for taking the time to watch and also add a bit more context that I missed.
As someone who grew up with Endless Ocean: Blue World, Luminous just doesn’t even feel like it belongs to the same series.
Personally I think the game would’ve preformed much better if it could’ve stood alone as it’s own title instead of being compared to its predecessor (a much more story focused and dense in content game)
That's fair, that's on Nintendo for not setting expectations with their marketing. This game is just not meant to be a single player experience.
I think the problem with this game is that it doesn’t feel like a proper follow-up to the other 2 games. After the second game added and improved a lot from the first game, this game feels like the opposite because it removed a lot of features from both games.
You could pet and feed the creatures, you could have dolphin companions when you dive, you could look over the surface of the water while you dive, among other features.
The second game added the feature to train dolphins to do tricks and make people watch your dolphin show.
Your hub world in the second game was a small island compared to a boat in the first game.
I think the game is fine on it’s own but after playing the previous games before and having to wait so long for a new Endless Ocean game, it was disapointing.
didn’t expect to see a video pop up about endless ocean of all things. and a new one at that lol
Yeah! Nintendo announced it during a direct in Feb and it came out a few days ago.
Compared with the second part from 15 years ago, Luminous is bad. It's just objective analysis. It feels cheap, rushed and it is a annoyance that Nintendo wants 50 bucks for it. The cut so much content from the previous games. I mean, they had the money for one AI voice, but you have to read the lines of the other human?! Nobody can tell me, that this is quality content. Next thing, the map. Ok, procedural generated. Somehow that's a marketing plus, in which world I will never understand. But saltwater fish swimming with freshwater fish?! Dude, even if this "lifetree" has some kind of Harry Potter magic, this wouldn't work. Arctic animals next to animals from the tropic?! I don't want a 100% accurate diving sim. But why can't we have three or four maps, themed in tropical, arctic, freshwater and depths?! That would be more logic and more fun. The older games tried to be educational. This here... its full fletched fakenews. Luminous is a grindfest that looks like a student project, costs 50 dollars and honors your work of scanning the most inaccurate ocean ever with stickers and emotes. A horrible step down from Endless Ocean 2.
I'm not sure I see the difference between solo dives and multiplayer. Why would I not like solo? multiplayer just seems like someone else is doing the work for you. It doesnt seem to have any other functionality beyond someone else tagging discoveries. I can see the value if you are missing a certain item and you go to a dive ID with that item but otherwise I would rather just find stuff myself. If I legitimately did not have any interest in multiplayer, why wouldnt i enjoy the swimming and scanning in solo?
The solo experience to me was lackluster, keep in mind this is just my opinion. The single player experience for story is sorely lacking and exploring a dive solo also means you can't teleport around to your teammates and swimming everywhere is a slog. Solo does have the option to input a dive ID and take your time where as multiplayer you have a 1 hour time limit. It's all a matter of preference but for me I prefer to have people exploring with me.
The game is fine on its own- if you’re looking for a laid back experience but it’s just not great when compared to the previous games in the series. I think by putting the Endless Ocean name on it they’re relying on people who played the previous games- and it’s just not like those at all. I do like it, it’s not a terrible game but it’s not what I was expecting.
Endless Ocean never needed to become a multiplayer experience. It excelled as a single player series and I don't imagine anybody ever asked for this change.