Sir Daniels janky control and combat is actually thematically on point with his character whether by design or accidental i cant say. He was never a knight or a warrior. He gained his position by just telling tall tales and lies and somehow managed to convince the king he was some great warrior which explains why his combat is mostly spamming swings and even his lock-on isnt a guaranteed hit
This info came from a comic you could unlock in the recent remake, right? So it's a pretty new thing to add to the lore, but it's quite divisive amongst MediEvil fans if this is how Sir Dan ought to be presented. That, along with how Canny Tim was apparently a woman disguised as a man according to that comic as well, if i remember correctly. Ruffled some feathers amongst fans as well, because there was no reason to make Canny Tim a woman. The Heroes of the Hall might not be super deep, but they are still memorable. That said, another way the janky control and combat could be explained... is that he's a skeleton. Rigid, weird movements of something that has been in the same position for *years* on end would make sense for his state of being. And a lack of sinews can't do muscle memory any good, either.
@@michaelfortesque1331 Yup, all in the manual, and many heroes in the hall make fun of his shortcomings as a warrior and hero either overtly or by accident (like Canny Tim commenting about how it isn't terribly clever to shoot someone in the eye...).
@@jurtheorc8117 the Hall of Heroes references this a little by mocking him and telling him he spent to much time playing croquet with the king. On a side note, i miss actual instruction booklets. One of the best parts of old school games. Always got some really cool lore in those
This was one of my favourite games ever. Whilst I don't really disagree with any of your criticisms; it is UNFORGIVABLE that you did not mention the absolutely amazing soundtrack. This game has some of the best music of any game.
Personally I have no issue with the one-and-done mechanics or puzzles, which seems to account for most of our difference of opinion here. I do appreciate the discussion of layering and developing mechanics, but I like the variety Medievil offers, and I didn't ever really find myself wishing that certain specific puzzles or mechanics were re-used. I enjoyed them as they came up, and then moved on to the next one.
I imagine they had a lot of fun at the studio, just coming up with any crazy random idea they could think of and jam it into the game somehow, it felt like such a rich little game at the time. He fixates on this too much but its a matter of taste I guess.
the "one-and-done mechanics" thing is a bit repetitive on his part. id say the rat, the chicken and the chess were all the same mechanics presented in a slightly different way as to not feel too much repetitive. i don't get why he would want mechanics repeated over and over. he should try assassin's creed. it had 2 mechanics repeated ad nauseum.. i still loved that game at the time thou lol
I'm inclined to agree. Honestly, I was confused why some areas they had issues I couldn't recall them being as bad, despite doing a run not that long ago. However, some areas they breezed through gave me absolute trouble. One example was the Return to the Graveyard bit: oddly... I never had this issue. In fact, I had no idea you COULD backtrack to the ORIGINAL location and that the RETURN one was its own map. Granted, I would have liked it to be where you DID have to backtrack and make use of the lore reading you did to figure it all out. But, I will say this: if Josh did have issues with THIS one, the sequel would be almost a repeat. In fact, much of the second game did fix some mechanics, but it has the one-off situation occurring too often (the boxing level, anyone?).
@@Laguccia It's because of his love of MMO's I presume, where doing the same thing over and over throughout is the main emphasis of the gameplay loops.
I remember as a 6 year old dropping whatever I was doing to watch my mom play this, and my mom is not someone who has ever cared about video games but for some reason she would play this one randomly. Needless to say the game holds a special place in my heart
It's so interesting how the perspectives can differ so wildly. I personally loved the overall lack of repetition in the puzzles, everything was uniquely thought of for better or worse which kept me interested. It was just another layer of not taking itself seriously, just showing us a good time!
I personally don't think mechanics being a one-and-done thing is bad game design, it's inefficient game design yes, but a lack of repeated mechanics doesn't equal a bad game.
I think you got the term here on point. These mini mechanics are puzzles, and diversity in case of puzzles is a blessing. Give enough repetition to let the players discover the rules, but not too much, so they have to keep flexing their brain muscles!
Honestly a big part of the suspense in this game is the fact that every level is it’s on unique level filled with one off mechanics. You never know what’s going to come next until it happens and it’s up to you to figure out how to overcome and move on through the game. I loved that feeling as a child of never knowing what was going to happen and my imagination ran wild every time I was in a new level
@@CoalCoalJames 😁 great minds think alike bub. Really though that sort of one off mechanic carried on into the second game as well and the best part about it was that it all came in the form of puzzle solving!
I'll help signaling this up! Creativity is key in this old games. People could really create very unique parts for specific places and as a kid everything feels new and exiting, you did not need to master mechanics as a kid, you only needed to try it once and go "ooooh" or "cool" and move on
@@luciacriscuolo9379 they just don’t make games like this anymore. Everything is pretty much handed to the player and there’s no freedom or thought process to any of it
Medievil was one of my favorite game growing up, and while I respect your opinions on the games you cover, I think you were being a little harsh on Medievil. Yes, it's entirely true that the game often only uses it's set-pieces/mechanics once, but I do not see that as a bad thing. If anything, I see it as not making the game stale or repetitive by using the same thing/gimmick over and over again. As for Zarok being a mad scientist, yes he is, but he is also a sorcerer, so you are wrong when you say that he isn't. I think that the only reason that the gargoyle head calls "science" a form of sorcery is because it does not understand what science is, and therefore assumes that it has to be some form of magic. I also do not find it strange that Zarok is using science alongside magic. If you read Zarok's diary in his library (the same room where you find the book with the "Card Tricks" joke), you'll learn that he was doing scientific experiments already 100 years earlier (as he mentions that Dan was a snooping busybody), so Zarok using science doesn't come out of nowhere, and this whole time machine that he has made is as far as I can tell not completed yet (and that's why we don't see any time traveling shenanigans). While I would agree that the camera is a bit of a pain in the ass, please keep in mind that Medievil was the team in questions first 3D title, so they didn't quite know how to get the camera right (a problem that was quite common back in the day). I must also point out that you missed out on the "Good" ending of the game, since you didn't collect all 20 of the chalices. I'm not saying that you HAD to do that for this video if you didn't have the time/energy for it, but just throwing in a line about how there is a "Good" ending if you collect all 20 would have been quite nice.
@@RedDragon1444 I don't think he wants it to be more repetitive, he just wants to see all these fun one-off mechanics used to their full potential instead of being a throw away idea never to be utilized again.
Probably the reason this game didn't sell well because it had legendary competition. MediEvil came out in 1998, but do you know what ELSE released that year? Ocarina of Time, Banjo Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot 3, Half Life, etc etc. The game might have been decent, but it was never going to realistically compete against titles like that.
Nah. It didn't sell well because it got so many releases on demo disc, and that way most players had their fill of the game without buying it official.
Being someone who had a ps1 and had every game you mentioned, I never heard of Medevil until I watched Caddicarus's remake video on it. But it does look like a great game, child me would have loved it.
It's a theme through all of Josh's videos, that he really dislikes when games don't develop or combine it's mechanics. Personally I think there's a balance, as repeating the same mechanics would also eventually become tiresome regardless on how you used them.
I personally like how most of the mechanics stayed in individual levels instead of being repeated and expanded upon. It allows for the levels containing them to feel fresh, but also keeps them short, so that when you replay them later they don't overstay their welcomes.
Agreed. I do kind of wish they'd done some more with the dragon armor, just so I had more incentive to use it after going through the boss fight to earn it, you know? But I personally liked how each level came with new mechanics. For me, it broke up the usual hack-and-slash and encouraged me to try stuff out in a new level to see what did and didn't work.
The issue is, besides the unique mechanics, there is nothing else to each level. Once you overcome a level-specific puzzle, that's it; the entire 90% rest of the level is either horrendous platforming or mind-numbing combat. And this is 1998, there were games before this that nailed either of those. A core principle of game design is to have mechanics that become expanded & iterated upon. Take DOOM (1993) for example; you shoot an imp in the first level. In episode 2, you shoot more imps, but now with cacodemons. But now you have more weapons that help you deal with dangerous situations. In DOOM 2, all of this gets cranked up to eleven, but the main mechanic stays the same; shoot, circle-strafe, study the merits of each weapon, save good weapons for when you really need them. MediEvil never does this; the crossbow is nearly identical to the longbow, the fiery longbow, the axe, the magic longbow, the only thing that's different is damage (the ricochet effect barely matters). Its only ace in the hole *ARE* the unique mechanics, which are one-offs. You never become better at MediEvil by solving puzzles which you never encounter again later. This applies to any game really. That's why the Asylum Grounds and the Sleeping Village are some of the best levels. You don't wrestle with the camera, you don't fight, you don't platform; you avoid enemies and figure a way out by thinking outside the box.
@@noxanneballadynasowacka6125 Terrific means to take all intrigue or creativity out of game design, getting caught up with supposed "core principles" will result in producing by the numbers corporate trash. Doom didn't start slow and escalate tension because that's a "core principle" of game design. It did it because id wanted to give the players a set of training wheels with which to leap off into the rest of the game from. Come Doom 2 they escalated further because they had a firm grasp on what the players wanted and more importantly the technology allowed for it. Ascribing surface level game design theory to the process just seems deeply masturbatory. Unique mechanical puzzles are not an inherently bad thing and in a 3D platforming adventure like Medievil I'd argue the exact opposite to be true. When you're playing through Medievil every level feels like a unique place, for the most part the individual mechanics just feel like something you'd encounter naturally in the setting of the world, that level of mechanical freshness and immersion in the world is far more valuable than gradually filling up a bowl of relentlessly choreographed mechanical soup because that's apparently just what you're meant to do.
Feels wrong to hear the complaints about life when he only have 5 life bottles. There should be 9 in total. Ten if you count the full healtbar. That's 3000 life points + 3 shields
And you ALWAYS topped off your HP in a previous level before starting a new one, just on general principle. Same as how he mentions going back to the tomb level to freshen up on gold and daggers, but doesn't apply the same logic to health?
Also, the battle took place with Zarok's army covering the high ground atop a cliff; SOMEone was getting hit in that volley of arrows, (although, yeah SHIELDS) and Dan was at the front, sooooo..... Wrong place, wrong time, I guess. Bad positioning all around, but gravity is still a bitch.
My parents had no interest in modern games but Medieval really stood out to them as a something that makes you realize "oh games can actually be pretty good art". The stained glass demon level was a highlight to them, especially how it fell to the floor and shattered when it died. The game had amazing atmosphere.
What a fabulous game! Given the amount of real-life inspiration I had to chuckle at Josh’s comment at 24:08 that it was a “bit random” to “encounter the snake spirit on a farm”... while it is indeed random to find a _large chest_ in the middle of a harvested field, encountering a snake most certainly is not! (Edit:) Some feedback… the context of this game being a 1998 release seems to have gotten a bit lost here, and some of the criticism seems a bit unfair. For example, at 44:05 you talk about how the game has no stealth mechanics such as noise meters, radar, etc.... then _“but seeing as this game came out in 1998 - the same year as Metal Gear Solid - a shoe-horned-in suggestion of stealth with no mechanics attached to it probably wasn’t the wisest of choices”_ and link it to the single use of mechanics throughout the game. Games released in the same year were obviously worked on simultaneously, and new mechanics aren't generally shared between dev teams since they are going to be a game's big selling point. These are also games in different genres, with different budgets, dev sizes, etc… I doubt the Medievil devs even knew about Metal Gear Solid's stealth mechanics with the time to be able to build it in as a joke. Having grown up on Space Quest, Super Mario, LucasArts, etc, this struck me as another classic 90's fun, puzzle-filled game with witty & sarcastic lines throughout for the benefit of more mature players. In-game references to stealth feel more like stand-alone sarcasm _a la_ Monkey Island. Similarly, I’d guess that mechanics were only used once because they were fresh to gamers in ’98 & puzzles didn’t need to be as intricate as today. It's like criticising Mario Kart for not using the driving physics of Gran Turismo... the context is really important. I enjoyed this video, but several comments just really stood out to me because your commentary is usually a lot more contextual than this particular case. Cheers!
Not even mentioning the fantastic soundtrack, this game had oddly good voice acting for it's time. The voices of Zarok, the gargoyles, and Tim have stuck with me through the years since I played as a young kid. Voice acting wasn't really a big deal in video games until Metal Gear Solid, which coincidentally also came out the same year
I remember the voice acting to be terrible compared to other top games of just the same year as you mention RE2 and MGS are examples of good voice acting. Music isn't bad but compared to games coming out at the time like Metal Gear Solid, RE2, Banjo-Kazooie, Ocarina of Time and Baldurs Gate to name a few that have sound and music that has influenced generations of games.
its strange that your negative was using alot of one use puzzles to figure out, which is literally one reason why I at least loved Medievil, it doesn't get boring or repeative when there's new stuff around every corner to figure out.
i dont disagree with you, but i think his point was how they added stuff that was one off. they didnt reuse it for things later that would add to the experience.
@@marcosdheleno Yes it's a misunderstanding in design philosophy, it's not that they "just didnt" it's that they made the choice not to ...giving it much thought.
I kinda agree with this, as I was watching the video I was thinking - ok devs decided that instead of 1-3 mechanics that will you repeatedly do throughout the game which may get boring and well “repetitive” you are constantly being introduced with new mechanics that keep you entertained
Yeah I can't believe he's complaining the game is not repetitive enough...what It's clearly a design choice requiring higher effort and time from the Devs, it should've been praised not the opposite..
@@Flanteus It's not about reusing the same mechanic in the same exact way. I think he's referring to layering what you learn and combining those mechanics to keep them interesting. Outside of that, keeping levels different is great.
The Italian voices are worth the whole game by itself 🤩 The heroes in the hall are connected also to each other, the Magic sword one diss the golden shield guy. For example.
I'm a bit surprised that you didn't get all the chalices, or at least that you didn't mention that it unlocked a slightly different ending where Dan joins the Hall of Heroes, it's not much but I like that Was it good is usually a really thorough format. Still a great video, looking forward to the next one!
@@DaWombatGaming he ends up in his crypt just as shown here, but then there's a supplementary scene where what I suppose to be his soul (still in skeleton form, so idk) arrives in this world's version of Valhalla yes. This is really more a bonus ending than a "true" ending though, as it's not aknowledged in the sequel (the sequel acknowledge very little of the first game tbh, even some good ideas like how Dan talks aren't respected, still a good game to waste a weekend on though)
Came here to mention he says in the intro he was gonna get chalices. Can't remember how it works, but maybe he missed one late on and didn't want to play again. I can relate.
You skipped over a LOT in the ant caves. Aside from it being an endless maze that nobody liked, those fairies were EXTREMELY important. Freeing each fairy will give you a small amount towards your chalice, freeing all of them will give you the full 100%. And each fairy freed gives you one extra ambient light, each a different color. I should also mention, this is the only chalice you get without killing anything. Ants don't give you chalice progression, and it is very important to have this chalice, as it is needed for the full 9 life bottles and making the final fight easier.
I dont understand the issues with one and done mechanics. It means the devs legitimately had enough ideas to make every level distinct from another. And the whole backtrack system really is only present in two levels. I adore this game, this was my legend of Zelda. The music, the theme. Games a classic that just got overshadowed by other games. Besides bad camera and controls were basically staples for games back in those days. I mean look at super Mario 64.
@@Anedime you do understand how small this dev team was for medievil right? It was considered indie before indie was coined and small even by that times standard. Couldn't get bored with this short gem if I tried.
@@naiveveg8447 Combining different mechanic could have benefited a small team. Instead of 20 unique mechanics, you create 10 and mix them up. Either way, not reusing ideas at all is a strange design choice.
Not even start to mentuon the technical limitations of the time. People forget that a lot of things in really old games were almost invented for that game before becoming staples for the industry in the future. Not really the case here, but there were a few interesting ideas that weren't implemented well enough (camera and aiming).
The whole comment section idiotically misunderstood the very basic thing he says. He says you do a bunch of combat and then a random one off event. Then a bunch more combat. Then another one off event. He is saying these two things should have been incorporated into each other. 200 stupid comments from stupid people who barely understand context
Some notes for things you missed. You chocked Zarok not being able to relsease the shadow demons as video game logic. He needed the shadow artifact to release them but couldn't find it. Once you found it he then sent soldiers out to take it from you which you then kill. You referenced the dragon having a bad voice. It was a parody of Sean Conery as a reference to the movie Dragon Heart.
I'd never played this game but I had as a child watched Dragon Heart like 50 times so as soon as I heard the voice I knew it was a parody of Sean Connery.
If I'm not mistaken the point of the shadow demon thing is why does Daniel proceed to release the shadow demons if he really didn't have to. He had the artifact and killed Zaroks minions when they tried to take it. So if he just kept the artifact on since he was inevitably gonna hunt down Zarok there was no real reason to release them
@@gstellar96 afaik he doesn't really mean to let them out, he needs the shadow talisman from their prison and accidentally releases them in the process of getting it
@theory816 Same. At the time, I didn't have access to internet and I asked my mom to bring me tips she find at her work. I was like 8 or 9 years old. I enjoyed this game so much that when the remake was out, I finished it completely in one day and half.
Man I'm just sitting here thinking," this dude really went almost half the entire game with just an arm, a club and some daggers." Then you even found a way to get more gold and still refused to buy your sword back lol. Pretty bold move, I like it.
I completely disagree on the arm as a weapon bit. Not being able to use a shield makes complete sense. Not only can you not physically hold one, but it's punishment (or perhaps 'encouragement' is a better term) for not having another weapon. Sure you still have a way to attack, but if you want to defend, stop using your arm and get a real weapon
You are indeed correct, it's both a failsafe and a punishment. The problem with it, though, is how early the game introduces the thieving imps. The best you can have at that time is the sword, club, daggers, and crossbow-and there are two thieves in that level, with the second placed right next to you after a room transition. It's honestly a really evil trick against new players because they are almost guaranteed to lose the sword. And with so few weapon options, the only way they're going to get a real weapon is to restart the level or spend time grinding gold. I'm sure that alone has soured a lot of people's first impression of the game.
So, medievil is my favorite game ever, it was the first video game I've ever played, and every year at least 3/4 times I play it, it never gets boring. This year I have arrived at 66 times. I agree with some points such as the camera that is not always good, the controls that are a bit difficult but you can get used to it, but I disagree with the fact of the “wasted mechanics”. In my opinion there is no lost potential, having unique mechanics for each level is something I really appreciate. The fact that something happens maybe only once makes that level stuck with you more, and when you think about it you say (example): “wow how nice, do you remember that in the gardens there was the chess puzzle?”. That’s what I mean, these unique little mechanics don’t seem like wasted occasions, but things that make the level even more unique and memorable. I'm sorry for the long comment, but I still really appreciate the video, your opinions and the fact that it has so many views, I'm glad that people can remember or know this game, which in my opinion, no matter how many flaws it may have, remains perfect (along with 2). I must also say that I am pleasantly surprised by the comments, I did not expect so many points of view so disparate, but above all polite. That’s it for now, keep playing, and if so, thank you for “wasting time” reading my comment. Cheers from Italy :) 🇮🇹
So I think the "not reusing mechanics" thing is more the developers trying to keep you thinking, to keep puzzles fresh and not feel like you're just doing the same thing over and over. I actually really appreciate that because sometimes you have to stop and think "okay, how do I approach this" instead of "oh, I've seen this before, I'll do the same thing and blaze through this". For them to come up with so many per-level gimmicks really highlights the effort that was put into this game, to make every area look and feel unique.
it was really because they had never made a 3D game before and didn't really know how to expand upon the mechanics to make them part of the game past a one off, so it was easier to make very simple gimmicks rather than developed game mechanics. The game was very janky even for it's time. Also had fun with it but it had it's flaws for sure.
Yeah that was a weird "critique" he kept repeating over and over in the video. I don't see a problem with that, if the game had the same puzzle mechanics each time it would get repetitive.
@@itsnoteasybeinggreen7076 It's his standard or measure of game's quality. The better or best games using fewer mechanics in new and challenging ways so it is satisfying as you beat a puzzle, parts of which you saw before, but with a new factor in it, or with the parts being put together in such a way for the first time. It logically follows that, if you have several interesting puzzles, you would get even more interesting puzzles by combining, with some skill to do that correctly of course, these previous puzzles in different ways. It is a hallmark of a great game as opposed to a 'just good' game.
Seeing Josh go into the Scarecrow Fields level with only his basic arm equipped made me shed a tear for the poor man. He set himself up for a tremendously difficult time lol, that level is hard even with all the chalices up to that point
Every level having different mechanics that are suitable for it is one of the best things about this game in my opinion. Feels so fresh and unique. I cannot express the love I have for this game and the only minor issue in my eyes is the camera in some places.
yeah medievil was a great game,i played when i was 5-6 years old back them,and i didnt knew english and didnt have internet back them,so i just played the game and passed a lot of times,the harder moments for me where the puzzles and the garden puzzles, but i never found it booring or unapealing to me.and that was when i didnt understood anything of the story,only that i was a cool skeleton knight killing zombies and bad guys.
I don't think one-off mechanics are a bad thing inherently. I haven't played the game but it seems like they are there simply to change things up and introduce fun ideas. Where it would become a problem is if the player is given a unique way to interact with those mechanics but they are never repeated. For example, if you needed a lantern to light the way in a cave, but after the cave there are no other dark areas in the game. Now the lantern is useless aside from any secondary of combat effects it has. Zelda games do this a lot. I don't think that is the case here because most of the unique mechanics are tied to platforming and puzzles and don't have any interaction with the player's items. It's certainly a shame that they were not fleshed out as much as they could have been, but personally I don't hold it against the game.
The once-used mechanics are often better left used once. They make those moment more memorable within the level they are in, even if they may get forgotten about. But to combine them in different ways for new challenges? Some of them would become very annoying and a pain to complete.
Great review but I would disagree on the one-off mechanics necessarily being a bad design. If you have enough of these mechanics to fill the whole game so each level has something new and unique, I see this as a positive
@@JoshStrifePlays yeah, you're kinda getting some flak for that, but I get what you mean. Why not take all the neat and unique ideas and then build on them to make something better than the sum of its parts?
@@claven1231 is this objectively better than creating separate new mechanics? I lean towards yes, but I don't think I feel as strongly as Josh does about this. The impression I got from Medievil was that this was intentionally done, for better or worse.
@@JoshStrifePlays hard disagree. In this era of gaming, assets were limited and so finding ways to make each level feel unique was crucial. One of the ways to do this was to have completely unique design of puzzles, mechanics etc. This game was a masterpiece at the time.
This game is really interesting and I’ve never played it. The level design and some of the mechanics that are only used once, make it so unique. I think I want to play it now
This game holds up to me. Personally I don't mind the variations in mechanics you highlight as gimmicky, I found it fun and it contributed to each level having its own character.
This is my take on it too, there's always something new and charming and it always makes sense and the fact that it doesn't need to rely on repeating the same puzzles and mechanics is what made it so fun.
Yeah, constantly ragging on the game for doing something once and only once feels weird to me. Would it be fun to do the corkscrew platform raising more times? I don't really think so, no.
What a masterpiece. Talking about redemption, I see that you didnt get the "good ending", when you get all the calixes Daniel finally is welcom into the galey of heroes and obtains his own statue, becoming a true hero of gallowmere.
I played medievil resurrection on the PSP as a kid and loved it. I fell in love with Dan as a character, selling himself as a hero and actually being a buffoon, the aesthetic, the weapons. After that I played the original on ps1 and my love for the series grew exponentially. It makes me sad to know how this series will never see a Medievil 3, Medievil 2 is fantastic and the PS4 remake made me feel like a kid again! Medievil might not be perfect, but I think that just makes me love these games even more
Playing the original, I always had the impression that Dan was always a hero, but that people had confused him for a buffoon because he died in the first volley. That he was leading. From the front. Ahead of his men. There's a reason Canny Tim respects him, Tim was his squire. He knew him.
That part about the Graveyard having 2 levels.. one before and one after the stained glass demon. That is so you can see the diferences from how the world changes from what you did. Like the water going down, and other enemies coming in. Also it makes it easier to make the stages use less resources. Since you then have half the level be removed. SO you can another half of the level added. As well as make it so you can go back to the old level and get the challice. Since the second time you go back. You have another one.
@@tj12711 You say that. But did you take into consideration the hardware limitation of the ps1 from that time? It was a first for many game devs at that time. To make 3d games. Especialy for the ps1.
@@harkenrebirth 3d has nothing to do with it. And nope, it isn't a hardware limitation. Any hardware that can handle world map stage selection already handles logic to determine which stage to load rather than having a preset ordering. Even NES games like Mario Bros 3 could handle it. The logic is very simple: just a Boolean or two to store some necessary info on what has been accomplished in-game so far, and upon selecting the stage it checks those Booleans to decide which version to load. The most likely explanation is one of the devs was inexperienced, and nobody corrected their mistake because they had a weak conception of UX and intuitive design (as most studios did in the 90s and 2000s) and so didn't think much of it.
This and also the game is a journey. You jump out of the mausoleum. It would be stupid the start at the other end of the graveyard again. No, you walk back to the door, new enemies formed in that time and it feels great.
I find it hard to see a game always doing something different as a bad thing. SO many games just pound the same mechanics down your throat ad nauseum and I remember loving that this game didn't do that.
I agree. And it's funny how, had this been how the game was created, it rightly might have been panned for being too video-gamey and repetitive. "Oh, right, reuse the same mechanics over and over, just with extra mechanics thrown in." I think it's a common trap reviewers fall into, latching on to some potential gripe, so it becomes such a focus they lose sight of the bigger picture.
its not like only two extremes exist. He was ofcourse asking for a middle point because some ideas did not feel complete enough. He did not say use all of them 1000 times. (sorry for copy pasting my own comment from another response )
While it's good that it has several different puzzles (unlike something like Skyrim that has basically the same puzzle in every dungeon), I think he just meant there should have been a middle ground. There's nothing wrong with bosses having their own gimmick imo but I agree with him that some of the platforming puzzles could have been explored more since they're pretty basic
The late 90’s was almost exclusively about psychedelics. Just being real with ya from someone who was there. It was glorious! It also explains the art of the time period from games to music to film having been produced by people on psychedelics for people on psychedelics
This goofy-ass game is my favorite of all time. The music is top notch, the janky art style is great, and the subtle humor throughout is swag as shit. I've got Sir Dan tattooed on my shoulder, and go back at least once a year to give it another play through. I've been waiting and hoping for you to cover Medievil, and you, Mr. Hayes, are a pimp for doing it. You're the man, thanks for giving some attention to these old classics.
such a cool game with a unique style. the odd angled environments were a great way to work with the warping on PS1. Not recycling mechanics keeps the gameplay fresh. funny writing, too.
I know it was not perfect but "Medievil" and "Medievil 2" are some of my all time favorite games. Even when I think the Atari 2600's E.T was a great game that I finished over and over lol
The part where he says that Zarok using science doesn't really make sense, and outs him as just a scientist rather than a sorcerer, Im pretty sure that wasnt supposed to be taken seriously, but as a joke. Like, "what is this black magic?! oh it's just math."
@@SalemKFox It was also somewhat hinted at, due to the fact his gun using soldiers showed up earlier on before the reveal. The comparison between the early modern theme undead and Dir Daniel's knigh theme should have been the hint.
I feel like Josh missed the mark a lot in this video, the most egregious being "Zarok being a mad scientist is never brought up again" followed within a minute or 2 with the line "Zarok uses magic to turn himself into a MECHA." It's a goofy game that doesn't take itself seriously so who cares that you go to a ghost ship? Each chalice gives a weapon that enemies are weak to in the very next level. Daniel is redeemed by going to the hall of heroes if you collect all the chalices. Josh never enchanted his broadsword. There's just such a lack of effort shown its off putting
He misses the mark a lot with a lot of games. But you can't say that to him. He's not receptive. Any time I've seen someone say something critical of anything he says or does, he deflects with a snide, passive-aggressive comment... instead of maybe stopping and considering the feedback. Josh is basically one of those folks whom, in their own mind, are always correct, and can never be wrong. I've seen it a number of times in the way he responds in his comments. I've heard it a number of times in how he replies to people on his streams.
I've never seen it him even reply to comments on here. I've watched all his stuff a couple time cous some are so long you need to, to take everything in. If it's not to much trouble could you possibly copy a few for me or point me to the right place so I can see exactly what you mean. Cous I do get the same feeling you talk about but I wanna be spot on and know if I'm going to say something like that in comments. ???
He does mention the magic sword, whether he felt the need to get it or not could be seen as abit lazy for sure but at least he does mention it...I just felt the need to mention this.
I actually like when mechanics are used only once, DKC2 has every level be a gimmick and if you happen to not like the levels gimmick you can be relieved that in future it won't be reused. (unless you're going for 102%)
@@AlbertBalbastreMorte Yes. But I don't think a level in medievil that was an escape sequence where you need to rotate dozens of platforms up to get out of a hole would've enhanced the game THAT much.
Now, if the same mechanics were re-used on multiple levels, it might be criticized for being too copy paste, clearly a lot of thought went into creating 8 hours worth of unique mechanics. I played the full version of this game on PS1, and it was one of my favorites. The clown puzzle in which you had to get all 5 faces to look at the clown shrub was the bane of my existence.
Clown is easy enough. Each face stays facing forward for a different but fixed length of time. The player needs to start from slowest/longest facing and work back to the fastest one last. Not an uncommon mechanic in games of that time.
I don't really comment on TH-cam videos and criticizing a critic makes as much sense as heckling a comedian but here goes: I like these reviews but it definitely feels like there's a disconnect between your retro review of this and a game you actually played when you were younger (Tenchu). Medievil's camera has issues but in an era where 3D movement was coupled with an interesting 3D world was notoriously hard to do this is a nitpick. Arguably you could say between Mario64 and Spyro the Dragon no game got this entirely right and both of those had issues but in an era that was defined by innovation and Medievil combines moving camera, static camera and controllable camera to make the best use of it's limitations. You mention that the levels are short but then complain that there's no map. This makes no sense because the levels that are based around exploration and puzzle solving don't need them as you can visually see whats blocking you and the linear levels are...linear. In short a map would be pointless. You point out that there are many mechanics used once which is somewhat accurate but this is a game with 20(ish) levels where reusing too many things would be lazy and would not add to the experience. BUT there are a fair few things reused: The club/hammer smashing walls/barriers, the club being set on fire and used for light puzzles and killing enemies. The witches' talisman which nets you the dragon fight. 'Un-killable' enemies that can be killed in a few different ways (magic weapons, friendly chest dragon. The knock-back mechanic is used a few times also to either defeat foes or solve puzzles. The bosses only being vulnerable in certain states. You say the combat is boring and of course it doesn't stand up to games made a decade or more later but you have a dozen weapons to experiment and have fun with and which are more/less useful in different situations and also still used in puzzles. Also the arm exists in a game where you may need a ranged attack to progress and in a game where you can lose your weapons; this is a great mechanic because it means you can continue but with limitations that make the game more difficult encouraging you to explore for coins, secrets, chalices. Complaining about the game over mechanic in a game with manual saves only...this is an era where this was necessary short of making you restart the level anyway so why not encourage people to A save and B return to when they had full ammo/health. You don't need to grind at any point in the game but they allowed you to replay levels to top off your health and/or ammo if you needed to, so the player would never be soft locked. The entrance hall is a short breather level where you A get to see Zarok's 'lair' experience some gargoyle lore and replenish after the pirate ship which was notoriously hard back in 1998 so both thematically and game-play wise it makes sense to be there. The forest level and the ant cave are in the same level but the first time you go you're supposed to go in the ant's nest because it's right there in front of you and you get the witches' talisman on level 3 so you should already have it but if not it encourages you to go back as you need to go in that secret area to complete the chalice, but aside from that it is another exploration puzzle that 'forces you' to complete the other branch. This is as redundant as complaining that the skeletons near Firelink shrine in DS are too hard when you start the game... I could go on but that would be pointless on a silly internet video that's meant to entertain. I'm sure you're not deliberately trying to be pedantic because your series is titled "Was it good" not "Is it good 25 years later". A Few things,: Paul Darrow voiced Zarok which was amazing for a British scifi nerd in 1998 and he killed it. Also if you get all the chalices then you see the resolution of Sir Dan's arc....also you have more health in the skeleton section in the final level. Also also the voice acting is tongue in cheek trip of bad accents of Europe and the UK in the vein of D&D campaigns, British sitcoms and video game shout-outs like the dragon sounding like Sean Connery...who played The Dragon in Dragonheart (1996). Was it good? I give it a th-cam.com/video/FCSWeFA5iys/w-d-xo.html out of ten.
This comment and breakdown deserves more likes for more people to see it. In-depth and polite breakdown with nice information to it. If it becomes a discussion, i'd be interested to see what people would bring up in favor of either the points in the video or this comment.
gotta agree, I remember playing this as a kid, never really had much of a problem with it with a child's mindset (I was about 11-12). looking at it now as an adult there would be certain stuff that would age it yes. The main problem i had with this was the fact that he didn't collect chalices and/or life bottles, he's complaining about running out of weapons, he would have had a crossbow, broadsword, a warhammer and like 3 life bottles by the time he gets to the pumpkin gorge. Also, it seems like the guy didn't know certain tip and tricks, e.g 1, there's a secret in return to the graveyard, you can jump on the coffins that float in the stream at the very beggining on the level. 2, the warhammer's power attack can be used alongside the daring dash to knock out the villagers so you can continue without a big fight., 3, any gamer woulkd probably try to collect things while they play, lacking money, weapons, life bottles and calling it hard is a mute point. not from the mind of a gamer, let alone about a game for kids
I played this game so many times I knew the best path to take to always have the best weapon for each stage. BTW: -in return to the graveyard, in the bridge, you can fall on the top of a coffin to reach a secret area -You can reach the castle stage with the lightning. Use it to easily kill the demons and save the farmers. Now run after them to receive items from them -The final boss can be easily deleted with the Dragon Breath. It's so overpowered you can one-shot him if you get a good hit -If you get all chalices, during your final visit to the Hall of Heroes, you can see a statue for you there. And you'll unlock the extended ending
@@vahloksekun646 If I am remembering correctly, you get the Chicken Drumstick from the witch in Enchanted Earth after getting the amber from the ants. Though I always use the Magic Longbow to kill the demons.
I do not mind the "one off mechanics" as you call them, in fact I think I preferer them. I do not want to do same thing over and over again for 3 times at least just with a different twist. I would rather have a corkscrew rising platform once in a game, than say have a corkscrew platform, than few levels after a corkscrew platform that can only be raised by a follower NPC, than a few levels later a corkscrew platform that raises on its own but you actually need to lower it so you have to run counter to its rotation. It might seem interesting first time you do playthrough, but on every following re-play of the game your brain would just go "I'm doing same thing I did couple of levels back but with a new twist just to pad out the length of a game". Its pretty much on the same level as having a gauntlet of previous bosses before the final boss.
Yeah I prefer something once than obviously just as padding or its like game design 101, platform, platform with NPC, and down platform, seem like really bland and shallow design. It's almost cliche. I know exactly what you mean but can't remember any games. But games where you walk in and go 'oh another blank puzzle, where's the puzzle fixer this time'
Yeah, I really don't understand this complaint either. The mechanics are straightforward enough that it's obvious what you need to do. The fact that there are so many mechanics that are only used once really indicates that the team were willing to go that extra mile but didn't want to succumb to the trope of - 'do this same thing 3 times in a row, each with a slightly different twist'. I definitely don't think it's bad design choice to do this, so I'm not sure what he's talking about. It's probably because they intended you to play the same levels over and over so they didn't want to bombard you with the same mechanic.
Yeah i think people have been so conditioned to doing repetitive grindy content that they are upset when it's not there, would the game be good if they made it last another 20 hours? nah
@@LordSathar its not like only two extremes exist. He was ofcourse asking for a middle point because some ideas did not feel complete enough. He did not say use all of them 1000 times.
I remember playing Medievil as a little child on my psp, I always referred to the game as ‘Szkieletorek’ (I am polish; it’s basically skelly) and I was obsessed with it, it brang me so much joy.
Just for reference, the dragon chase FMV was actually part of a cut 'chase sequence' level that would'e bridged the gap between the Ruins and Ghost Ship perhaps a little more logically.
Metal gear solid 1 also had a lot of mechanics that were for 1 small section of the game and never really utilized again. Throwing grenades into the tank cockpit, opening those cracked walls with c4, psycho mantis fight, the codec number on the back of the case, using cigarettes for lazer traps. I kind of actually like having a large variety of single use mechanics, rather than repeating the same mechanics over and over for hours.
The fact that Medival didn't sell that well is sad. It's one of the games I regret not playing as a kid, and in retrospect, I share as much blame in those poor sales figures.
To be fair most games on the ps1 didn't, there's a lot of hidden gems. The top sellers were either FF7/MGS or next gen platformers like crash or castlevania.
I'd love to see you play Spyro 1 or Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage. Ripto's Rage has more mechanics and unique interactions, but Spyro 1 is viewed as a classic.
I always prefered Spyro 1, as the 2 adds some mechanics that are not refined. While playing Spyro 1, I find everything is very consistent. But, still, Spyro 2 is an enjoyable game ;)
I think the looks of the game made it 90% nicer for me, i just love this goreish halloween horror looks. I also love that the game has a simple story and its not a very long game, my favorite game.
This game is so pervasive that I remember my friends in grade school playing it on their PSP. This was around 2014-2015 or so. And they loved it to bits, kept playing it on break for the next couple weeks, started passing it around. I wasn't that interested at the time, but got interested in it later, in like 2016 or some such. The fact that the game was able to entertain and captivate kids 16 years after it was released, kids who had the option of more modern games to play on their PSP, really speaks volumes about it's quality... of at least the first half of it lol
I'm surprised you didn't mention the secret good ending for getting all the chalices. Adore the Crystal Caves music I still listen to it, to this day. Love the series Josh I think we had similar gaming experiences growing up so keep on keeping on, much appreciated.
If the last thing he got was the Lightning then it means he missed 5 chalices. Doesn't suprise me considering how long he went in the beginning with no sword and not getting any of the initial chalices right away. It is strange that he didn't 100% the game though. He usually does do that for these reviews.
@@felixader This was maybe the worst and most unfair review I've seen from you Josh. This was the first time I became angry as I watched it, because it doesn't even look like you tried. You didn't collect all the chalices, you moseyed around with just your arm, you misconstrued the fact that Zarok is both a sorceror *and* a scientist and you refused to acknowledge that all the puzzles and mechanics were organically set into all the stages, because modern games have somehow taught you that games should always recycle mechanics and puzzles regardless of how well they'd fit into the stage. This game was a wonderful gem from the 90's and should be considered as one of the holy grails on how to make an adventure game.
It is worth remembering that while Josh may love this game it doesn't mean he has mastered it. He may well not have achieved the good ending and it does seem he missed some story beats along the path but no one can 100% every game. The cornfields level has a hint about the rise of tech with is harvester which is both hilarious and terrifying. I do disagree with his views on the mechanics, I feel the themes are consistent even if the form of the mechanics change. I wouldn't mind seeing his views of Medievil 2.
I don’t get how the variety of mechanics that you said were great is a bad thing that you keep coming back to just because they aren’t repetitive. It’s much cooler that they keep coming up with new ideas imo. But I haven’t played the game yet so maybe you have to before understanding
The point he is making imo is not that they are only used once,its that they are not reaching their potential. If some of them were used just once but in a satisfactory way that made you go "ok they did all they could with that and im satisfied" it would be no problem but it seems like ideas were abondoned too early. To give an extreme example to make a point: imagine if mario games only had one level with a moving platform or something. or only one room of portal had portals. or doom used the imp enemies only once. there is merit in variety but they already designed and made the stuff. just more of it please.were not saying remove everything else and only repeat stuff.But sometimes i rather have 10 ideas that are ocean deep than have 9999 ideas of a puddle depth this is not me criticizing the game btw just my thought on reusing and expanding on ideas vs one-time only design choice.I have not played the game yet.
Having played all three versions of the game (the original on PSX, the first remake on PSP, and then the new remake on PS4) - it's just sort of a game from a different era. I'm new to the channel so I have no clue how old he is or what he grew up playing, but games from that time period tend to go completely against the sensibilities of modern gamers just because of all the innovations and QoL that games made in short order in the late 90's and early 00's. This was still the wild west of 3d game development, development teams didn't exactly have a blueprint of what worked and what didn't so they tried things they thought were cool and saw what stuck to the wall. If the goal of this video was to judge it on, to quote him, "how good it was for its time" then I think it failed to do so based on the contents of most of the critiques. MediEvil's competition when it came out were games like Croc, and the Jersey Devil, while its contemporaries that it was in the ballpark of but didn't quite meet head on at times was Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Super Mario 64. Something this video also doesn't acknowledge is that a big reason that the PSX struggled with analogue control titles in its games, and why developers of games such as Rayman 2 had to fight so hard to get full analogue in, is because the Playstation 1 did not ship with analogue-compatible controllers, the standard controllers only had the D-PAD. If you wanted an analogue controller, you had to buy it separately, and many developers were tepid about the prospect of pushing a title that required peripheries (which is how analogue sticks were seen. Recall that at the time, for home consoles, the idea of using an analogue stick was fairly new. Pong was the only thing before then that really dabbled in it, and the N64 was the first home console to standardize the inclusion of a joystick.) It was seen with the same lens we viewed motion controls when that was new - a glorified gimmick. anyway my bottom line is that i think medievil is a perfectly fine game as long as you're comfortable with the more ergonomic games that play like they're from 1995-1999, as functionally, even the newest remake does.
Man, the memories... The PS1 era will always hold a special place in my heart. Especially now that modern emulation has made it so damn easy to check out all those titles you either missed back then or that were never released in your region. There simply are some aspects to that era's approach to game design that have been lost to the ages and that are not only flavourful, but in some regards even superior to their modern equivalents. As for Medievil - something about the clash between the happy-go-lucky atmosphere and the horror aesthetics really freaked me out and almost made me feel queasy after playing this game back when I was a kid. This, alongside the cutscene accompanying the first zombie encounter in Resident Evil and Treasures of the Deep (that goddamn giant eel...) dominated my nightmares for a while.
@@notnoodle2196 Dude, I feel that; I got my first job as a teen JUST to buy a PSP and MediEvil: Resurrection. They went all out with the soundtrack for the PSP remake, too, like, City of Prague Philharmonic? Hello?? A lot of love and care was put into it, and it really shows.
This is hands down my favorite PS1 game. It had so much charm: The design, the soundtrack (sound effects included), the simple yet effective plot, the sheer amount of items you can unlock (which double as incentive to collect the chalices) The game is also incredibly jank, and somewhat mindless. I've sunk so many hours into this game, and I've lost count of how many times I beat it.
Here's a tip for you. In the areas where you have the thieveing imps, equip the arm before you take them on. The arm is the only weapon the imps cannot steal from you. Yes lower defence but if you want to not have to splurge on getting your sword back in the early game, this is a nessecary tip. I know this as this happened to me and I experimented when playing this game many moons ago.
21:00 It took me 4 minutes to realize Josh didn't get his sword back from the thieving goblin. Edit : I don't think the one-off mechanics are a bad thing. The third time you go through the same one from two previous levels you'd go "Ugh, ok this again."
Lol played this game multiple times as a kid, one of the first ones i got for the ps and absolutely never got my weapons robbed. This guy pretty much criticized the game based on his unfortunate loss
@@MrMapacheumr Not to mention a lack of platforming skill and what appears to be a few minor misunderstandings about gameplay mechanics. Still surprised he found the tilting platform boss so hard when if you jump in the air you are not affected by the platform tilt and can control your direction of movement.
@@MrMapacheumr He got to the end of the game with only 5 life bottles, never seemed to go back to replenish his health, and then had the nerve to complain about getting rekt in the final battle
I played this game again after so many years on a ps2, it was still really good and snappy. The dark and gritty atmosphere (like a lot of ps1 games) is unmatchable
@@aliasmcdoe imo my biggest gripe with the game was how janky he controlled and how easy it is to get stuck or not get to the platforms both in the original and remake. Platforming heavy parts of the game were the worst parts of it, cuz this stupid skelly cant jump for shit and gets caught on geo all the time.
@@Insanityltself What theme bro go play the Cimitery hill level in the remake you get stuck on every trench hole you enter and you are supposed to use those as cover from the rocks. You simply get hit unfairly because geometry gets you stuck everywhere. Even when you are shield bashing or jumping or combining the 2 to do the platforming sections you literally have to jump everywhere frame perfect or you fall down and lose 1 health potion for nothing. Apart from that I enjoyed the game, its a solid 7.
It sure seems like it but it is often seen by many as gimmicky or lazy. I mean you are free to have your own opinion but the idea that John is completely off base is a bit exaggeratory, I’ve felt and heard this sentiment in many different games.
Funny thing about the german version: For some reason, Sony seemed to have only this one team of german voice actors to do the voices for pretty much every major PS1 release, that was completely localized, including this one. It made things really funny, because you were hearing all of the same voices throughout completely different themed games. When I played Metal Gear Solid for the first time, I couldn't stop laughing at Liquid Snake, because he was voiced by the same guy who did Dr Cortex in the Crash Bandicoot games (and Ocelot had the same voice as Uka Uka) and he had a really goofy sounding voice, wich made it pretty hard to take him seriously. You basically had the same people voicing MGS, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and Medievil among others. When I replayed Medievil after a decade or so, I totally forgot, that it also had these voice actors and when I entered the Hall of Heroes for the first time, just to hear the german voice of Otacon from MGS at the first statue, I couldn't help but smile. These voice actors weren't exactly great, their performances ranged from okay to shitty, but they were also really charming and I feel extremely nostalgic when I hear them
I have the exact same experience every time the TV plays cartoons/anime that were dubbed by the exact same 8-10 greek voice actors, 5 of which also played in famous TV series so it is always so bizzare. Voice acting in general must be really niche in countries that don’t typically produce original digital content.
Honestly this video format is so good. It's like a review and a lets play all rolled into the perfect length video. Can't wait for you to review [literally every game ever].
Having beaten the remake last Halloween, it's the one case where I didn't mind a remake being so slavish to the original, the native analog support and fixes to the camera was all it needed to be fun for me. Good luck if you ever want to tackle the sequel because some of the design choices they made can make it borderline unbeatable if you're not good enough.
I never played the first game and instead was introduced to the sequel. I was 6 years old and was scared shitless of that game but now it's one of the most nostalgic things in my memory. Every time I hear the museum music it takes me back to my childhood.
Same! I started with the second one as a kid, and I remember thinking it was some kind of nightmare before christmas game. I was scared too, and some time later, when I got older, I finished it and is one of my favourites now. The museum is also one of my favourite tracks
Voice acting was great, so many accents and different ways of delivering text, made every character unforgettable. Also one of the best OST in the history of gaming.
I have really fond memories of this game. I think it was rented out of Xtra-Vision just before my dad died. One of the last games we played together. As for "This is the one you'll remember" the ones I remembered were the farm level (scarecrow fields) with the combine harvester and the one late in the game, I think there was a mine cart/train puzzle. Edit: level name was the time device.
The save system was like that because of the limited space of the Memory Card(tm) I think. Full memory cards were an issue and you didn't want a game to save over a save game you didn't want it to, and it was consistent with every almost every game, also helped that if someone else used your limited save space and progressed your save while you was somewhere else, that it wouldn't always auto save with bad stats after your brother or friend died gazillion times to that nasty boss.
【Sunglasses Finnish Pirates】You're taking me to a memory trip lane of PS1 Demos Mr. Strife, thank you! I have unknown eye condition caused by natural supplement astaxanthin which makes my right eye sore due light & concentration. One of the perks of being a finnish "Finns are a unique most secluded gene group, with most North-Asian DNA of the Euro people and medical science studies us for our unique illnesses" so do not feel sorry for me, i watched the strobo with my left eye just fine :P
Fuck yeah, MediEvil! I know it's not nearly as obscure a game as I thought it was when I was a kid, but I still get excited when people talk about it. Was stoked when I found out that the original version was included as an unlockable in the Remaster.
I'd love to see a run of Medievil 2. It's the one I find more memorable for some reason and it'd be interesting to see how the series progressed between the two.
The one off mechanics are purposely done as individual stage gimmicks so that stages have their own identity and keep gameplay fresh. This was a common thing done in platformers like DKC, Megaman, Earthworm Jim, Rayman etc. I think Shovel Knight is one of the best modern examples of this
This is one of my favourite games from my childhood and I still replay it pretty frequently just to enjoy the music and visuals that, as far as I'm concerned, have aged really well. It may me having a ton of experience playing this and knowing all the secrets, life bottle locations and knowing how to move properly with the clunky controls, but I think the game might be a lot easier than how it appeared to you in your run. For starters, if I ever got my sword stolen at the mausoleum (and I'd rather not) I'd just farm money repeating levels to get it back (which however plays into the grinding issue you talk about later), the arm just isn't a viable weapon, let alone for scarecrow fields that are a nasty jump in difficulty. Even then, you should have the hammer at that point of the game if you didn't miss any of the chalices, those are very important early in the game to increase your arsenal and not get stuck with, well, just the short sword, the knives and the arm. The route I like to do is to go to the Enchanted Forest first, do the ant level to get the chalice there, and if you've got all the chalices up to that point you can fight the ants with the hammer and then get the broadsword by freeing all the little dudes in the ant level. Once you have the big sword you can enchant it and do enough damage you can fight and beat the scarecrows, who'd be very hard to handle otherwise. Fighting the robots with the arm looks really painful, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Also, you have way less life bottles that I'd think you could have for the scarecrow fields, so you probably misses a bunch early on. Survivability with only one bottle in the fields seems terrible to me. I don't consider bottles as continues, but rather full extensions to your health bar, and you can get a ton of them in the game, and you really need to keep collecting them. If you do, you'll probably be tanky enough to never risk a game over, and you'll really need it for the final boss sequence with the battle. Even in the later levels you have a concerningly low amount of bottles, that makes the game way harder than how it could be, and especially the final battle as it becomes very hard to finish it without most of the bottles you can find in the game. Also, some nitpicks from someone who played this game too much. Return to the graveyard isn't quite the same as regular graveyard, the river at the beginning is lower and there's coffins you can jump on toward a secret area that's not in regular graveyard. You can stun the villagers in the village by dashing into them, so you can stop them from bothering you without killing them and making it impossible to collect the chalice. It seems you did the witch coven at the hill way later, but of course you can do it on your first run if you don't overuse the club you find there, and even then you always replay the level to find a replacement club that restores the one you lost or consumed a little. The faces at the face puzzle are all on timers, and yes, it's really annoying. I think you might be playing the American version of the game, because on my European version the guys in the labyrinth had brown clothes instead of white. In my experience just running will be enough to not fall from the tilted boss platform, but maybe it's harder to execute on a first time playthrough, never had too many problems with it. I guess the plot of the second part of Medievil is that you have to stop Zarock so you have to progress, and Dan accidentally frees demons and has to go through swamps in the process. The "stealth" part is awful, and actually counterproductive if you want the chalice, you want to be seen by the eyes to summon enemies and fight them to get the chalice, if you don't you might be forced to replay the level, really annoying. I think the officer part was more about needing to kill the officers from stopping the pirates from respawning, rather than the pirates being invincible until the officer is eliminated. In the version of the game I have the magic bow definitely doesn't make that huge explosion, it's the first time I see it! Never had issues with the camera clipping into the floor on the penultimate level, plenty of other problems but not clipping. Maybe it's the American version? I don't see what's the big deal with things that are only done once, they make levels more unique. I think Medievil shined more for stunning visuals and soundtrack with only serviceable gameplay for the late '90s, so a lot of criticism here is fair, but I don't quite get the issue with non-repeating mechanics. The statement that this is not a game capable of standing up with any of its core parts alone but only by combining all of them to make a functioning whole seems pretty accurate though. Still, it was nice to see people talk about this game, and would be nice to see you cover Medievil 2 if it interests you.
God I remember this on psp and it was absolutely incredible. It made me pick up the original on PS1 and it instantly became a love of mine. It's so nice to see and hear this game (not the 2019 remake) being spoken about more,
I'm sorry but how is using cool unique mechanics only once bad, when they keep on putting out one cool mechanic after another? Doesn't that make it less repetitive and engaging since you keep waiting to see what they can pull off next? It sounds like a reverse Batman Arkham Knight Batmobile case..Or even TLoU ladders. While I do think building upon certain mechanics / adding stuff to it to spice things up is valid, so is adding new, one use mechanics.
@@GhaleonStrife Yeah, same here. Like, did it really matter? As a kid I never noticed the time crystal things in The Lake were reused pumpkins? Still didn't until he pointed it out, honestly. (And also, the game came out in '98, so asset reuse was just a smart thing to do when done well.)
@@SkippyDaemon also weird that he pointed out the pumpkin asset reuse, then pointed out the elephants underwater without mentioning that it was the same model as the elephant in the hedge maze puzzle with the mouse.
In a game completely full of unique and cool mechanics, you're mad that they didn't use them over and over. It's not repetitive, they are not bad mechanics, and you always have something new to look for.
I second this motion. He harps on it so much he seems to forget that some games get praised for their variety of different puzzles. Would they have been stronger if combined with other challenges, maybe, that just isn’t the way the devs went.
If they would use mechanics over and over again he would probably say the game is boring and repetitive. I don’t understand him constantly harping on this.
Another cool detail is that the actor who played Daniel Fortesque used a bucket in his head to make the voice acting and that was also used in the recent remake. I love this game
I think he's more concerned with the lack of compatibility between mechanics and the potential for other interesting puzzles. It's not meeting the potential that it could have if the mechanics were combined a bit more. But yeah you got a good point about repetition.
It's more so that if you only use a mechanic or feature once, unless you pull it off really well you miss out on chances to actually refine it. It also creates an issues such as making the player learn a skill for a segment that is then never repeated, or bringing up a fun mechanic that, again, only appear for a single level. Knowing where to have variety and where to rely on your strengths is a fine balancing act.
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
Sir Daniels janky control and combat is actually thematically on point with his character whether by design or accidental i cant say. He was never a knight or a warrior. He gained his position by just telling tall tales and lies and somehow managed to convince the king he was some great warrior which explains why his combat is mostly spamming swings and even his lock-on isnt a guaranteed hit
This info came from a comic you could unlock in the recent remake, right? So it's a pretty new thing to add to the lore, but it's quite divisive amongst MediEvil fans if this is how Sir Dan ought to be presented.
That, along with how Canny Tim was apparently a woman disguised as a man according to that comic as well, if i remember correctly. Ruffled some feathers amongst fans as well, because there was no reason to make Canny Tim a woman. The Heroes of the Hall might not be super deep, but they are still memorable.
That said, another way the janky control and combat could be explained... is that he's a skeleton. Rigid, weird movements of something that has been in the same position for *years* on end would make sense for his state of being.
And a lack of sinews can't do muscle memory any good, either.
@@jurtheorc8117 I think information about Sir Dan being a storyteller was in the PS1 Manual
@@michaelfortesque1331 i'd have to look into that. Thanks for telling me!
@@michaelfortesque1331 Yup, all in the manual, and many heroes in the hall make fun of his shortcomings as a warrior and hero either overtly or by accident (like Canny Tim commenting about how it isn't terribly clever to shoot someone in the eye...).
@@jurtheorc8117 the Hall of Heroes references this a little by mocking him and telling him he spent to much time playing croquet with the king. On a side note, i miss actual instruction booklets. One of the best parts of old school games. Always got some really cool lore in those
This was one of my favourite games ever. Whilst I don't really disagree with any of your criticisms; it is UNFORGIVABLE that you did not mention the absolutely amazing soundtrack. This game has some of the best music of any game.
Scarecrow fiellldssssss!!!! Love the remake so much
Absolutely true! I listened to the soundtrack like hundreds of times.
Agreed. The soundtrack and sound design is flawless.
I'm really curious to know if the composer of this game ever worked on anything more than Medievil.
Yes! So good!
The fact that Dan's VA wore a bucket on his head when recording all of Dan's lines was so darn good. :D
Raziel from Soul Reaver didn't have a jaw either, while the voice actor was excellent he should be speaking like old Fortesque here.
@@LegendaryDarkKnight602i imagine he can telepathically speak
@@realamericannegro977 Didn't think about that.
@@LegendaryDarkKnight602ironically both characters were tragically killed in the intro who eventually redeemed themselves after death
@@constipatedparker5879 Also true but Raziel's ending was sad and depressing. It's like he really wasn't given a choice, just my opinion.
Personally I have no issue with the one-and-done mechanics or puzzles, which seems to account for most of our difference of opinion here. I do appreciate the discussion of layering and developing mechanics, but I like the variety Medievil offers, and I didn't ever really find myself wishing that certain specific puzzles or mechanics were re-used. I enjoyed them as they came up, and then moved on to the next one.
I imagine they had a lot of fun at the studio, just coming up with any crazy random idea they could think of and jam it into the game somehow, it felt like such a rich little game at the time. He fixates on this too much but its a matter of taste I guess.
the "one-and-done mechanics" thing is a bit repetitive on his part. id say the rat, the chicken and the chess were all the same mechanics presented in a slightly different way as to not feel too much repetitive. i don't get why he would want mechanics repeated over and over. he should try assassin's creed. it had 2 mechanics repeated ad nauseum.. i still loved that game at the time thou lol
I'm inclined to agree. Honestly, I was confused why some areas they had issues I couldn't recall them being as bad, despite doing a run not that long ago. However, some areas they breezed through gave me absolute trouble.
One example was the Return to the Graveyard bit: oddly... I never had this issue. In fact, I had no idea you COULD backtrack to the ORIGINAL location and that the RETURN one was its own map. Granted, I would have liked it to be where you DID have to backtrack and make use of the lore reading you did to figure it all out.
But, I will say this: if Josh did have issues with THIS one, the sequel would be almost a repeat. In fact, much of the second game did fix some mechanics, but it has the one-off situation occurring too often (the boxing level, anyone?).
@@Laguccia He would despise AC
@@Laguccia It's because of his love of MMO's I presume, where doing the same thing over and over throughout is the main emphasis of the gameplay loops.
I remember as a 6 year old dropping whatever I was doing to watch my mom play this, and my mom is not someone who has ever cared about video games but for some reason she would play this one randomly. Needless to say the game holds a special place in my heart
I have a similar memory with m mom but it were og LucasArts (Lucasfilm Games) point and click games.............. and Wolfenstein 3D for some reason
Gaming memory with my mom was with the pikmin games lol not a gamer but she’d play that
My siblings and I watching my mom play TombRaider II and Starfox 64 haha
Awwhhh! That's adorable and wholesome.
Your mum had good taste back then this game actually had atmosphere an some humorous an slightly disturbed enemy designs
It's so interesting how the perspectives can differ so wildly. I personally loved the overall lack of repetition in the puzzles, everything was uniquely thought of for better or worse which kept me interested. It was just another layer of not taking itself seriously, just showing us a good time!
Exactly! I loved it because in that way, every puzzle was different and original
I personally don't think mechanics being a one-and-done thing is bad game design, it's inefficient game design yes, but a lack of repeated mechanics doesn't equal a bad game.
I half love the fact everything's new. Half hate it. It took me ages to figure some if this shit out cos it'd never happened before
I guess it really depends on your preference for mini game compilations
I think you got the term here on point. These mini mechanics are puzzles, and diversity in case of puzzles is a blessing. Give enough repetition to let the players discover the rules, but not too much, so they have to keep flexing their brain muscles!
Honestly a big part of the suspense in this game is the fact that every level is it’s on unique level filled with one off mechanics. You never know what’s going to come next until it happens and it’s up to you to figure out how to overcome and move on through the game. I loved that feeling as a child of never knowing what was going to happen and my imagination ran wild every time I was in a new level
This, this right here is what Josh got wrong, and I just made the exact same comment just worded differently.... then scrolled down to find this =D .
@@CoalCoalJames 😁 great minds think alike bub. Really though that sort of one off mechanic carried on into the second game as well and the best part about it was that it all came in the form of puzzle solving!
I'll help signaling this up!
Creativity is key in this old games. People could really create very unique parts for specific places and as a kid everything feels new and exiting, you did not need to master mechanics as a kid, you only needed to try it once and go "ooooh" or "cool" and move on
Each level felt so distinct, I love them all
@@luciacriscuolo9379 they just don’t make games like this anymore. Everything is pretty much handed to the player and there’s no freedom or thought process to any of it
Medievil was one of my favorite game growing up, and while I respect your opinions on the games you cover, I think you were being a little harsh on Medievil. Yes, it's entirely true that the game often only uses it's set-pieces/mechanics once, but I do not see that as a bad thing. If anything, I see it as not making the game stale or repetitive by using the same thing/gimmick over and over again.
As for Zarok being a mad scientist, yes he is, but he is also a sorcerer, so you are wrong when you say that he isn't. I think that the only reason that the gargoyle head calls "science" a form of sorcery is because it does not understand what science is, and therefore assumes that it has to be some form of magic. I also do not find it strange that Zarok is using science alongside magic. If you read Zarok's diary in his library (the same room where you find the book with the "Card Tricks" joke), you'll learn that he was doing scientific experiments already 100 years earlier (as he mentions that Dan was a snooping busybody), so Zarok using science doesn't come out of nowhere, and this whole time machine that he has made is as far as I can tell not completed yet (and that's why we don't see any time traveling shenanigans).
While I would agree that the camera is a bit of a pain in the ass, please keep in mind that Medievil was the team in questions first 3D title, so they didn't quite know how to get the camera right (a problem that was quite common back in the day).
I must also point out that you missed out on the "Good" ending of the game, since you didn't collect all 20 of the chalices. I'm not saying that you HAD to do that for this video if you didn't have the time/energy for it, but just throwing in a line about how there is a "Good" ending if you collect all 20 would have been quite nice.
Based
Couldn't agree more, he was far to harsh on it. But he reviews games for a living I don't... I stand by what you say though.
Didnt know Josh made a video on my favorite game, I goto watch it and he gave it a lukewarm review. My heart was crushed.
He needs to re-do this one
is there a way to play this on PC?
this was also one of my favourite games growing up
@@krellin I don't think that Medievil ever got an official PC port. So, outside of emulators, I'd say that the answer is no.
I got to admit, the voice actors meshing a bunch of different accents with a French one is pretty damn funny
I have never heard someone talk so much about MediEvil for so long and not even hardly mention the *incredible* sound design and music.
Because he’d be lying about the music.
He was too busy spending an hour complaining that a game isn't repetitive enough
@@RedDragon1444 I don't think he wants it to be more repetitive, he just wants to see all these fun one-off mechanics used to their full potential instead of being a throw away idea never to be utilized again.
That being said, he does kinda harp about his complaint a little too much. It starts to get old.
@@Someguyonline7732 he did.
Probably the reason this game didn't sell well because it had legendary competition. MediEvil came out in 1998, but do you know what ELSE released that year? Ocarina of Time, Banjo Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot 3, Half Life, etc etc. The game might have been decent, but it was never going to realistically compete against titles like that.
it also had the heaviest competition shared within the same console: MGS1 & RE2.
@tiggy wiggo I’d argue it’s likely that it was so novel (and heavily marketed) as to be remembered this long, and that’s why it received a remake.
Nah. It didn't sell well because it got so many releases on demo disc, and that way most players had their fill of the game without buying it official.
@tiggy wiggo it actually got two remakes, there's one on PS4 and one on the PSP
Being someone who had a ps1 and had every game you mentioned, I never heard of Medevil until I watched Caddicarus's remake video on it. But it does look like a great game, child me would have loved it.
I get your point about combining puzzles/ideas for a new encounter BUT i don’t think lots of unique puzzles is necessary a bad thing.
It's a theme through all of Josh's videos, that he really dislikes when games don't develop or combine it's mechanics.
Personally I think there's a balance, as repeating the same mechanics would also eventually become tiresome regardless on how you used them.
@@SiggsGBR my thoughts exactly 👍
@@SiggsGBR I kind of get what hes saying but the complaints felt kind of contrived.
I personally like how most of the mechanics stayed in individual levels instead of being repeated and expanded upon. It allows for the levels containing them to feel fresh, but also keeps them short, so that when you replay them later they don't overstay their welcomes.
Agreed. I do kind of wish they'd done some more with the dragon armor, just so I had more incentive to use it after going through the boss fight to earn it, you know? But I personally liked how each level came with new mechanics. For me, it broke up the usual hack-and-slash and encouraged me to try stuff out in a new level to see what did and didn't work.
The issue is, besides the unique mechanics, there is nothing else to each level. Once you overcome a level-specific puzzle, that's it; the entire 90% rest of the level is either horrendous platforming or mind-numbing combat. And this is 1998, there were games before this that nailed either of those. A core principle of game design is to have mechanics that become expanded & iterated upon.
Take DOOM (1993) for example; you shoot an imp in the first level. In episode 2, you shoot more imps, but now with cacodemons. But now you have more weapons that help you deal with dangerous situations. In DOOM 2, all of this gets cranked up to eleven, but the main mechanic stays the same; shoot, circle-strafe, study the merits of each weapon, save good weapons for when you really need them. MediEvil never does this; the crossbow is nearly identical to the longbow, the fiery longbow, the axe, the magic longbow, the only thing that's different is damage (the ricochet effect barely matters). Its only ace in the hole *ARE* the unique mechanics, which are one-offs. You never become better at MediEvil by solving puzzles which you never encounter again later. This applies to any game really.
That's why the Asylum Grounds and the Sleeping Village are some of the best levels. You don't wrestle with the camera, you don't fight, you don't platform; you avoid enemies and figure a way out by thinking outside the box.
Main complaint is that designers didnt reuse assets
@@noxanneballadynasowacka6125
Terrific means to take all intrigue or creativity out of game design, getting caught up with supposed "core principles" will result in producing by the numbers corporate trash. Doom didn't start slow and escalate tension because that's a "core principle" of game design. It did it because id wanted to give the players a set of training wheels with which to leap off into the rest of the game from. Come Doom 2 they escalated further because they had a firm grasp on what the players wanted and more importantly the technology allowed for it. Ascribing surface level game design theory to the process just seems deeply masturbatory.
Unique mechanical puzzles are not an inherently bad thing and in a 3D platforming adventure like Medievil I'd argue the exact opposite to be true. When you're playing through Medievil every level feels like a unique place, for the most part the individual mechanics just feel like something you'd encounter naturally in the setting of the world, that level of mechanical freshness and immersion in the world is far more valuable than gradually filling up a bowl of relentlessly choreographed mechanical soup because that's apparently just what you're meant to do.
A few strong core mechanics that are later combined in novel ways is better than a disjointed collection of novelty gimmicks.
This game was LITERALLY one of my first memories as a human being.
"Lah luh-luh-luh-LAAAAAH!"
Same here.
Same
Same. The intro is like a core memory for me
Same
Feels wrong to hear the complaints about life when he only have 5 life bottles. There should be 9 in total. Ten if you count the full healtbar. That's 3000 life points + 3 shields
Yeah, this guy sucks at it and tries to blame the game. Except for the ghost ship m1 is pretty easy
This and the difficulty of fights when he is using the arm half the time, after not priortising getting it back when stolen
@@Kukakkau When facing imps, he should use the club. You get a new one every time it is needed, and kills way faster.
It's funny how Dan becomes so much stronger in Death than in Life.
And you ALWAYS topped off your HP in a previous level before starting a new one, just on general principle. Same as how he mentions going back to the tomb level to freshen up on gold and daggers, but doesn't apply the same logic to health?
Always thought it was grossly unfair of everyone to mock Dan about his death. It's not like he chose to be shot with an arrow.
At least not all the Heroes mock him for it. Stanyer Ironhewer seems to be among the nicest of them all on that front.
@@Dragon50275-og2gn Well it was his organizational skills that brought the charge together. So credit to where it's due.
@@Dragon50275-og2gn Yes his death was a joke. But he wasn't completely useless in life.
Also, the battle took place with Zarok's army covering the high ground atop a cliff; SOMEone was getting hit in that volley of arrows, (although, yeah SHIELDS) and Dan was at the front, sooooo..... Wrong place, wrong time, I guess. Bad positioning all around, but gravity is still a bitch.
@@Dragon50275-og2gn Idkn. It seems kinda easy to play a hero when you’re already dead. Not like he’s risking his life or anything
My parents had no interest in modern games but Medieval really stood out to them as a something that makes you realize "oh games can actually be pretty good art". The stained glass demon level was a highlight to them, especially how it fell to the floor and shattered when it died. The game had amazing atmosphere.
This was Banjo Kazooie for me, my mom still talks about the eaglet you save in the seasonal tree level lol
Mario 64 I remember I woke up to by dad cussing cause he couldn't get passed the first bowser
I like this more than the ps4 verison of that boss
What a fabulous game! Given the amount of real-life inspiration I had to chuckle at Josh’s comment at 24:08 that it was a “bit random” to “encounter the snake spirit on a farm”... while it is indeed random to find a _large chest_ in the middle of a harvested field, encountering a snake most certainly is not!
(Edit:) Some feedback… the context of this game being a 1998 release seems to have gotten a bit lost here, and some of the criticism seems a bit unfair. For example, at 44:05 you talk about how the game has no stealth mechanics such as noise meters, radar, etc.... then _“but seeing as this game came out in 1998 - the same year as Metal Gear Solid - a shoe-horned-in suggestion of stealth with no mechanics attached to it probably wasn’t the wisest of choices”_ and link it to the single use of mechanics throughout the game.
Games released in the same year were obviously worked on simultaneously, and new mechanics aren't generally shared between dev teams since they are going to be a game's big selling point. These are also games in different genres, with different budgets, dev sizes, etc… I doubt the Medievil devs even knew about Metal Gear Solid's stealth mechanics with the time to be able to build it in as a joke.
Having grown up on Space Quest, Super Mario, LucasArts, etc, this struck me as another classic 90's fun, puzzle-filled game with witty & sarcastic lines throughout for the benefit of more mature players. In-game references to stealth feel more like stand-alone sarcasm _a la_ Monkey Island. Similarly, I’d guess that mechanics were only used once because they were fresh to gamers in ’98 & puzzles didn’t need to be as intricate as today.
It's like criticising Mario Kart for not using the driving physics of Gran Turismo... the context is really important.
I enjoyed this video, but several comments just really stood out to me because your commentary is usually a lot more contextual than this particular case. Cheers!
Not even mentioning the fantastic soundtrack, this game had oddly good voice acting for it's time. The voices of Zarok, the gargoyles, and Tim have stuck with me through the years since I played as a young kid. Voice acting wasn't really a big deal in video games until Metal Gear Solid, which coincidentally also came out the same year
I remember the voice acting to be terrible compared to other top games of just the same year as you mention RE2 and MGS are examples of good voice acting. Music isn't bad but compared to games coming out at the time like Metal Gear Solid, RE2, Banjo-Kazooie, Ocarina of Time and Baldurs Gate to name a few that have sound and music that has influenced generations of games.
It's not just the voice acting itself either. The audio sounds way less compressed than most games of it's era.
@@Jrock420blam You are just posting this everywhere, if you are going to troll you have to be smarter and more subtle.
@Haze ohh yes, anyone who doesn't blindly agree with you is a troll master edgelord, of course your name is Haze
@@Jrock420blam RE2?.. Good voice acting??? LOL.
its strange that your negative was using alot of one use puzzles to figure out, which is literally one reason why I at least loved Medievil, it doesn't get boring or repeative when there's new stuff around every corner to figure out.
i dont disagree with you, but i think his point was how they added stuff that was one off. they didnt reuse it for things later that would add to the experience.
@@marcosdheleno Yes it's a misunderstanding in design philosophy, it's not that they "just didnt" it's that they made the choice not to ...giving it much thought.
I kinda agree with this, as I was watching the video I was thinking - ok devs decided that instead of 1-3 mechanics that will you repeatedly do throughout the game which may get boring and well “repetitive” you are constantly being introduced with new mechanics that keep you entertained
Yeah I can't believe he's complaining the game is not repetitive enough...what
It's clearly a design choice requiring higher effort and time from the Devs, it should've been praised not the opposite..
@@Flanteus It's not about reusing the same mechanic in the same exact way. I think he's referring to layering what you learn and combining those mechanics to keep them interesting. Outside of that, keeping levels different is great.
The Italian voices are worth the whole game by itself 🤩
The heroes in the hall are connected also to each other, the Magic sword one diss the golden shield guy. For example.
Ti serve per caso na spada maggica? 😂
I'm a bit surprised that you didn't get all the chalices, or at least that you didn't mention that it unlocked a slightly different ending where Dan joins the Hall of Heroes, it's not much but I like that Was it good is usually a really thorough format. Still a great video, looking forward to the next one!
so instead of going to sleep in his crypt he winds up in this games version of Valhalla?
@@DaWombatGaming togueter with the weird flirty lady
@@DaWombatGaming he ends up in his crypt just as shown here, but then there's a supplementary scene where what I suppose to be his soul (still in skeleton form, so idk) arrives in this world's version of Valhalla yes. This is really more a bonus ending than a "true" ending though, as it's not aknowledged in the sequel (the sequel acknowledge very little of the first game tbh, even some good ideas like how Dan talks aren't respected, still a good game to waste a weekend on though)
Doesn't he mention at the start that he's going to be getting all chalices too? Seems a bit weird to cheap out
Came here to mention he says in the intro he was gonna get chalices.
Can't remember how it works, but maybe he missed one late on and didn't want to play again.
I can relate.
The charm of the characters and levels carries this game for me.
You skipped over a LOT in the ant caves. Aside from it being an endless maze that nobody liked, those fairies were EXTREMELY important. Freeing each fairy will give you a small amount towards your chalice, freeing all of them will give you the full 100%. And each fairy freed gives you one extra ambient light, each a different color. I should also mention, this is the only chalice you get without killing anything. Ants don't give you chalice progression, and it is very important to have this chalice, as it is needed for the full 9 life bottles and making the final fight easier.
I dont understand the issues with one and done mechanics. It means the devs legitimately had enough ideas to make every level distinct from another. And the whole backtrack system really is only present in two levels.
I adore this game, this was my legend of Zelda. The music, the theme. Games a classic that just got overshadowed by other games. Besides bad camera and controls were basically staples for games back in those days. I mean look at super Mario 64.
@@Anedime you do understand how small this dev team was for medievil right?
It was considered indie before indie was coined and small even by that times standard.
Couldn't get bored with this short gem if I tried.
@@naiveveg8447 Combining different mechanic could have benefited a small team. Instead of 20 unique mechanics, you create 10 and mix them up. Either way, not reusing ideas at all is a strange design choice.
Not even start to mentuon the technical limitations of the time. People forget that a lot of things in really old games were almost invented for that game before becoming staples for the industry in the future.
Not really the case here, but there were a few interesting ideas that weren't implemented well enough (camera and aiming).
The whole comment section idiotically misunderstood the very basic thing he says. He says you do a bunch of combat and then a random one off event. Then a bunch more combat. Then another one off event. He is saying these two things should have been incorporated into each other. 200 stupid comments from stupid people who barely understand context
@@PotatoSofi 4real. 3D just got started
Some notes for things you missed. You chocked Zarok not being able to relsease the shadow demons as video game logic. He needed the shadow artifact to release them but couldn't find it. Once you found it he then sent soldiers out to take it from you which you then kill. You referenced the dragon having a bad voice. It was a parody of Sean Conery as a reference to the movie Dragon Heart.
Lol i though It sounded like a bad Sean Connery!!
So many 1990s Sean Connery movies with him trying to do something different with his thick Scottish accent and sounding ridiculous.
I'd never played this game but I had as a child watched Dragon Heart like 50 times so as soon as I heard the voice I knew it was a parody of Sean Connery.
If I'm not mistaken the point of the shadow demon thing is why does Daniel proceed to release the shadow demons if he really didn't have to. He had the artifact and killed Zaroks minions when they tried to take it. So if he just kept the artifact on since he was inevitably gonna hunt down Zarok there was no real reason to release them
@@gstellar96 afaik he doesn't really mean to let them out, he needs the shadow talisman from their prison and accidentally releases them in the process of getting it
Medievil is a gem. Beautiful game. I've spent so much time on it, replaying it over and over.
@theory816 It wasn't difficult, really. Except for some parts. Sadly the game is too short.
@theory816 Same. At the time, I didn't have access to internet and I asked my mom to bring me tips she find at her work. I was like 8 or 9 years old. I enjoyed this game so much that when the remake was out, I finished it completely in one day and half.
@theory816 I agree.
@@Omnimon152 as a kid i got stuck in the scarecrow map i think but i finished it recently xD
Man I'm just sitting here thinking," this dude really went almost half the entire game with just an arm, a club and some daggers." Then you even found a way to get more gold and still refused to buy your sword back lol.
Pretty bold move, I like it.
No lie, I'd probably do the same thing if it meant not spending a single penny.
@@JeremyFinch42 ... Curly would say..."oh, a cheapie ayy?"
I did ITS is actually possible the win with only your arm . EXPECT the Piraten ship Level, and for zarok you need to have at least 3 health bottles.
Fr it just angers me. He complains about stuff bc he was playing it wrong.
I've never lost my weapon to the imps, like yeah they steal it and you kill it. I didn't know they ran away with it and you had to buy it back.
I completely disagree on the arm as a weapon bit. Not being able to use a shield makes complete sense. Not only can you not physically hold one, but it's punishment (or perhaps 'encouragement' is a better term) for not having another weapon. Sure you still have a way to attack, but if you want to defend, stop using your arm and get a real weapon
Would be nice if we can combine the arm and the shield, a more deadly boomerang
The arm weapon isn't even bad, especially the throwing. It's a decent weapon and saves you ammo etc.
You are indeed correct, it's both a failsafe and a punishment. The problem with it, though, is how early the game introduces the thieving imps. The best you can have at that time is the sword, club, daggers, and crossbow-and there are two thieves in that level, with the second placed right next to you after a room transition. It's honestly a really evil trick against new players because they are almost guaranteed to lose the sword. And with so few weapon options, the only way they're going to get a real weapon is to restart the level or spend time grinding gold. I'm sure that alone has soured a lot of people's first impression of the game.
@@ShimiDia I just threw the arm against the imps anyway.
Just like... Don't let your sword get stolen. It's not that hard.
Losing your sword to imps is the true experience. Seeing my dude run around with basic daggers and the severed arm halfway into game is peak keks.
Did you not know you could buy it back from the gargoyle? 😅
@@thelastfantasydid you know you can just go back to dans crypt and grab a new one? Its free.
So, medievil is my favorite game ever, it was the first video game I've ever played, and every year at least 3/4 times I play it, it never gets boring. This year I have arrived at 66 times. I agree with some points such as the camera that is not always good, the controls that are a bit difficult but you can get used to it, but I disagree with the fact of the “wasted mechanics”. In my opinion there is no lost potential, having unique mechanics for each level is something I really appreciate. The fact that something happens maybe only once makes that level stuck with you more, and when you think about it you say (example): “wow how nice, do you remember that in the gardens there was the chess puzzle?”. That’s what I mean, these unique little mechanics don’t seem like wasted occasions, but things that make the level even more unique and memorable.
I'm sorry for the long comment, but I still really appreciate the video, your opinions and the fact that it has so many views, I'm glad that people can remember or know this game, which in my opinion, no matter how many flaws it may have, remains perfect (along with 2). I must also say that I am pleasantly surprised by the comments, I did not expect so many points of view so disparate, but above all polite.
That’s it for now, keep playing, and if so, thank you for “wasting time” reading my comment. Cheers from Italy :) 🇮🇹
So I think the "not reusing mechanics" thing is more the developers trying to keep you thinking, to keep puzzles fresh and not feel like you're just doing the same thing over and over. I actually really appreciate that because sometimes you have to stop and think "okay, how do I approach this" instead of "oh, I've seen this before, I'll do the same thing and blaze through this". For them to come up with so many per-level gimmicks really highlights the effort that was put into this game, to make every area look and feel unique.
it was really because they had never made a 3D game before and didn't really know how to expand upon the mechanics to make them part of the game past a one off, so it was easier to make very simple gimmicks rather than developed game mechanics. The game was very janky even for it's time. Also had fun with it but it had it's flaws for sure.
Yeah that was a weird "critique" he kept repeating over and over in the video. I don't see a problem with that, if the game had the same puzzle mechanics each time it would get repetitive.
But, as you said, they are just gimmicks. Less is more.
@@itsnoteasybeinggreen7076 It's his standard or measure of game's quality. The better or best games using fewer mechanics in new and challenging ways so it is satisfying as you beat a puzzle, parts of which you saw before, but with a new factor in it, or with the parts being put together in such a way for the first time. It logically follows that, if you have several interesting puzzles, you would get even more interesting puzzles by combining, with some skill to do that correctly of course, these previous puzzles in different ways. It is a hallmark of a great game as opposed to a 'just good' game.
Plus they add to the level's unique personality.
Seeing Josh go into the Scarecrow Fields level with only his basic arm equipped made me shed a tear for the poor man. He set himself up for a tremendously difficult time lol, that level is hard even with all the chalices up to that point
may be one of the most hated for me! xD
Although I remember the water with lizardmen jumping out level being very hard too
Every level having different mechanics that are suitable for it is one of the best things about this game in my opinion. Feels so fresh and unique. I cannot express the love I have for this game and the only minor issue in my eyes is the camera in some places.
yeah medievil was a great game,i played when i was 5-6 years old back them,and i didnt knew english and didnt have internet back them,so i just played the game and passed a lot of times,the harder moments for me where the puzzles and the garden puzzles, but i never found it booring or unapealing to me.and that was when i didnt understood anything of the story,only that i was a cool skeleton knight killing zombies and bad guys.
pretty much the same here haha@@andermedievil
I don't think one-off mechanics are a bad thing inherently. I haven't played the game but it seems like they are there simply to change things up and introduce fun ideas. Where it would become a problem is if the player is given a unique way to interact with those mechanics but they are never repeated. For example, if you needed a lantern to light the way in a cave, but after the cave there are no other dark areas in the game. Now the lantern is useless aside from any secondary of combat effects it has. Zelda games do this a lot. I don't think that is the case here because most of the unique mechanics are tied to platforming and puzzles and don't have any interaction with the player's items. It's certainly a shame that they were not fleshed out as much as they could have been, but personally I don't hold it against the game.
Man this game looks charming as hell. We need more goofy Halloween type games
It is very charming and has a great (for lack of a better word) 'gothic' soundtrack too.
Same with its sequel.
The once-used mechanics are often better left used once. They make those moment more memorable within the level they are in, even if they may get forgotten about.
But to combine them in different ways for new challenges?
Some of them would become very annoying and a pain to complete.
Great review but I would disagree on the one-off mechanics necessarily being a bad design. If you have enough of these mechanics to fill the whole game so each level has something new and unique, I see this as a positive
Yes, and you could then take those unique ideas and combine them in a future level, to make even more experiences.
@@JoshStrifePlays yeah, you're kinda getting some flak for that, but I get what you mean. Why not take all the neat and unique ideas and then build on them to make something better than the sum of its parts?
@@claven1231 is this objectively better than creating separate new mechanics? I lean towards yes, but I don't think I feel as strongly as Josh does about this. The impression I got from Medievil was that this was intentionally done, for better or worse.
@@JoshStrifePlays hard disagree.
In this era of gaming, assets were limited and so finding ways to make each level feel unique was crucial. One of the ways to do this was to have completely unique design of puzzles, mechanics etc. This game was a masterpiece at the time.
@@JoshStrifePlays so its not bad design, just wasted potential
This game is really interesting and I’ve never played it. The level design and some of the mechanics that are only used once, make it so unique. I think I want to play it now
This game holds up to me. Personally I don't mind the variations in mechanics you highlight as gimmicky, I found it fun and it contributed to each level having its own character.
This is my take on it too, there's always something new and charming and it always makes sense and the fact that it doesn't need to rely on repeating the same puzzles and mechanics is what made it so fun.
Yeah, constantly ragging on the game for doing something once and only once feels weird to me.
Would it be fun to do the corkscrew platform raising more times? I don't really think so, no.
@@MateriaGirl What do you expect? he's an MMO Whale in denial that wants repetitive bullshit.
What a masterpiece.
Talking about redemption, I see that you didnt get the "good ending", when you get all the calixes Daniel finally is welcom into the galey of heroes and obtains his own statue, becoming a true hero of gallowmere.
I played medievil resurrection on the PSP as a kid and loved it. I fell in love with Dan as a character, selling himself as a hero and actually being a buffoon, the aesthetic, the weapons. After that I played the original on ps1 and my love for the series grew exponentially. It makes me sad to know how this series will never see a Medievil 3, Medievil 2 is fantastic and the PS4 remake made me feel like a kid again! Medievil might not be perfect, but I think that just makes me love these games even more
Playing the original, I always had the impression that Dan was always a hero, but that people had confused him for a buffoon because he died in the first volley. That he was leading. From the front. Ahead of his men.
There's a reason Canny Tim respects him, Tim was his squire. He knew him.
That part about the Graveyard having 2 levels.. one before and one after the stained glass demon. That is so you can see the diferences from how the world changes from what you did. Like the water going down, and other enemies coming in. Also it makes it easier to make the stages use less resources. Since you then have half the level be removed. SO you can another half of the level added. As well as make it so you can go back to the old level and get the challice. Since the second time you go back. You have another one.
This is so obvious i can't believe the author didn't realise it.
It's amateurish programming. You can accomplish all of that without needing 2 copies of the same level that must be manually chosen between.
@@tj12711 You say that. But did you take into consideration the hardware limitation of the ps1 from that time? It was a first for many game devs at that time. To make 3d games. Especialy for the ps1.
@@harkenrebirth 3d has nothing to do with it. And nope, it isn't a hardware limitation. Any hardware that can handle world map stage selection already handles logic to determine which stage to load rather than having a preset ordering. Even NES games like Mario Bros 3 could handle it. The logic is very simple: just a Boolean or two to store some necessary info on what has been accomplished in-game so far, and upon selecting the stage it checks those Booleans to decide which version to load.
The most likely explanation is one of the devs was inexperienced, and nobody corrected their mistake because they had a weak conception of UX and intuitive design (as most studios did in the 90s and 2000s) and so didn't think much of it.
This and also the game is a journey. You jump out of the mausoleum. It would be stupid the start at the other end of the graveyard again. No, you walk back to the door, new enemies formed in that time and it feels great.
I find it hard to see a game always doing something different as a bad thing. SO many games just pound the same mechanics down your throat ad nauseum and I remember loving that this game didn't do that.
I agree. And it's funny how, had this been how the game was created, it rightly might have been panned for being too video-gamey and repetitive. "Oh, right, reuse the same mechanics over and over, just with extra mechanics thrown in."
I think it's a common trap reviewers fall into, latching on to some potential gripe, so it becomes such a focus they lose sight of the bigger picture.
Spot on. I have no idea why Josh is complaining about it.
@@LithiumLogica Yeah his Croc review felt more like Was It Any Innovative instead of Was It Any Good?
its not like only two extremes exist. He was ofcourse asking for a middle point because some ideas did not feel complete enough. He did not say use all of them 1000 times.
(sorry for copy pasting my own comment from another response )
While it's good that it has several different puzzles (unlike something like Skyrim that has basically the same puzzle in every dungeon), I think he just meant there should have been a middle ground. There's nothing wrong with bosses having their own gimmick imo but I agree with him that some of the platforming puzzles could have been explored more since they're pretty basic
The late 90’s was almost exclusively about psychedelics. Just being real with ya from someone who was there. It was glorious! It also explains the art of the time period from games to music to film having been produced by people on psychedelics for people on psychedelics
This goofy-ass game is my favorite of all time. The music is top notch, the janky art style is great, and the subtle humor throughout is swag as shit. I've got Sir Dan tattooed on my shoulder, and go back at least once a year to give it another play through.
I've been waiting and hoping for you to cover Medievil, and you, Mr. Hayes, are a pimp for doing it. You're the man, thanks for giving some attention to these old classics.
Oh man, the MUSIC!
Mate, I've got a Sir Dan tattoo as well! 🤝
I see we are all tattooed people of culture~
You were happy with this review as a fan of the game?
such a cool game with a unique style. the odd angled environments were a great way to work with the warping on PS1. Not recycling mechanics keeps the gameplay fresh. funny writing, too.
I know it was not perfect but "Medievil" and "Medievil 2" are some of my all time favorite games. Even when I think the Atari 2600's E.T was a great game that I finished over and over lol
An absolute classic. Fun gameplay, fantastic music, interesting artstyle and a hilarious story. What else could you ask from a video game.
microtransactions and a battle royale mode lmao imagine
@@bryanhaha1234 I easily can, todays comapnies love raping old classics for everything they can get away with. And they can get away with a whole lot.
“Zarok being a mad scientist never comes up in his boss battle”, ten minutes later, “Zarok turns into a robot dragon”
The part where he says that Zarok using science doesn't really make sense, and outs him as just a scientist rather than a sorcerer, Im pretty sure that wasnt supposed to be taken seriously, but as a joke. Like, "what is this black magic?! oh it's just math."
@@SalemKFox
It was also somewhat hinted at, due to the fact his gun using soldiers showed up earlier on before the reveal. The comparison between the early modern theme undead and Dir Daniel's knigh theme should have been the hint.
would make more sense if he piloted a robot dragon he built rather than using magic to turn himself.
I know it isn't a perfect game, but the charm it holds and the meaning this game has for me will always make it my favorite game ever.
I feel like Josh missed the mark a lot in this video, the most egregious being "Zarok being a mad scientist is never brought up again" followed within a minute or 2 with the line "Zarok uses magic to turn himself into a MECHA." It's a goofy game that doesn't take itself seriously so who cares that you go to a ghost ship? Each chalice gives a weapon that enemies are weak to in the very next level. Daniel is redeemed by going to the hall of heroes if you collect all the chalices. Josh never enchanted his broadsword. There's just such a lack of effort shown its off putting
He misses the mark a lot with a lot of games. But you can't say that to him. He's not receptive. Any time I've seen someone say something critical of anything he says or does, he deflects with a snide, passive-aggressive comment... instead of maybe stopping and considering the feedback. Josh is basically one of those folks whom, in their own mind, are always correct, and can never be wrong. I've seen it a number of times in the way he responds in his comments. I've heard it a number of times in how he replies to people on his streams.
I've never seen it him even reply to comments on here. I've watched all his stuff a couple time cous some are so long you need to, to take everything in. If it's not to much trouble could you possibly copy a few for me or point me to the right place so I can see exactly what you mean. Cous I do get the same feeling you talk about but I wanna be spot on and know if I'm going to say something like that in comments. ???
He does mention the magic sword, whether he felt the need to get it or not could be seen as abit lazy for sure but at least he does mention it...I just felt the need to mention this.
I actually like when mechanics are used only once, DKC2 has every level be a gimmick and if you happen to not like the levels gimmick you can be relieved that in future it won't be reused. (unless you're going for 102%)
Sure, but the mechanics do last an entire level and get explored for a while.
@@AlbertBalbastreMorte Yes. But I don't think a level in medievil that was an escape sequence where you need to rotate dozens of platforms up to get out of a hole would've enhanced the game THAT much.
Lack of repetition is not bad design. I like the fact that every level is uinique
Now, if the same mechanics were re-used on multiple levels, it might be criticized for being too copy paste, clearly a lot of thought went into creating 8 hours worth of unique mechanics. I played the full version of this game on PS1, and it was one of my favorites. The clown puzzle in which you had to get all 5 faces to look at the clown shrub was the bane of my existence.
...The tilting platform fight, was my soul crusher.
Clown is easy enough. Each face stays facing forward for a different but fixed length of time. The player needs to start from slowest/longest facing and work back to the fastest one last. Not an uncommon mechanic in games of that time.
I don't really comment on TH-cam videos and criticizing a critic makes as much sense as heckling a comedian but here goes:
I like these reviews but it definitely feels like there's a disconnect between your retro review of this and a game you actually played when you were younger (Tenchu).
Medievil's camera has issues but in an era where 3D movement was coupled with an interesting 3D world was notoriously hard to do this is a nitpick. Arguably you could say between Mario64 and Spyro the Dragon no game got this entirely right and both of those had issues but in an era that was defined by innovation and Medievil combines moving camera, static camera and controllable camera to make the best use of it's limitations.
You mention that the levels are short but then complain that there's no map. This makes no sense because the levels that are based around exploration and puzzle solving don't need them as you can visually see whats blocking you and the linear levels are...linear. In short a map would be pointless.
You point out that there are many mechanics used once which is somewhat accurate but this is a game with 20(ish) levels where reusing too many things would be lazy and would not add to the experience. BUT there are a fair few things reused: The club/hammer smashing walls/barriers, the club being set on fire and used for light puzzles and killing enemies. The witches' talisman which nets you the dragon fight. 'Un-killable' enemies that can be killed in a few different ways (magic weapons, friendly chest dragon. The knock-back mechanic is used a few times also to either defeat foes or solve puzzles. The bosses only being vulnerable in certain states.
You say the combat is boring and of course it doesn't stand up to games made a decade or more later but you have a dozen weapons to experiment and have fun with and which are more/less useful in different situations and also still used in puzzles. Also the arm exists in a game where you may need a ranged attack to progress and in a game where you can lose your weapons; this is a great mechanic because it means you can continue but with limitations that make the game more difficult encouraging you to explore for coins, secrets, chalices.
Complaining about the game over mechanic in a game with manual saves only...this is an era where this was necessary short of making you restart the level anyway so why not encourage people to A save and B return to when they had full ammo/health.
You don't need to grind at any point in the game but they allowed you to replay levels to top off your health and/or ammo if you needed to, so the player would never be soft locked.
The entrance hall is a short breather level where you A get to see Zarok's 'lair' experience some gargoyle lore and replenish after the pirate ship which was notoriously hard back in 1998 so both thematically and game-play wise it makes sense to be there.
The forest level and the ant cave are in the same level but the first time you go you're supposed to go in the ant's nest because it's right there in front of you and you get the witches' talisman on level 3 so you should already have it but if not it encourages you to go back as you need to go in that secret area to complete the chalice, but aside from that it is another exploration puzzle that 'forces you' to complete the other branch. This is as redundant as complaining that the skeletons near Firelink shrine in DS are too hard when you start the game...
I could go on but that would be pointless on a silly internet video that's meant to entertain. I'm sure you're not deliberately trying to be pedantic because your series is titled "Was it good" not "Is it good 25 years later".
A Few things,:
Paul Darrow voiced Zarok which was amazing for a British scifi nerd in 1998 and he killed it.
Also if you get all the chalices then you see the resolution of Sir Dan's arc....also you have more health in the skeleton section in the final level.
Also also the voice acting is tongue in cheek trip of bad accents of Europe and the UK in the vein of D&D campaigns, British sitcoms and video game shout-outs like the dragon sounding like Sean Connery...who played The Dragon in Dragonheart (1996).
Was it good? I give it a th-cam.com/video/FCSWeFA5iys/w-d-xo.html out of ten.
Fantastic breakdown.
This comment and breakdown deserves more likes for more people to see it. In-depth and polite breakdown with nice information to it.
If it becomes a discussion, i'd be interested to see what people would bring up in favor of either the points in the video or this comment.
Cheff kiss.
Yeah, you've saved me 30 minutes of writing my own comment. You perfectly illustrate my minor gripes with his critiques here.
gotta agree, I remember playing this as a kid, never really had much of a problem with it with a child's mindset (I was about 11-12). looking at it now as an adult there would be certain stuff that would age it yes.
The main problem i had with this was the fact that he didn't collect chalices and/or life bottles, he's complaining about running out of weapons, he would have had a crossbow, broadsword, a warhammer and like 3 life bottles by the time he gets to the pumpkin gorge.
Also, it seems like the guy didn't know certain tip and tricks, e.g
1, there's a secret in return to the graveyard, you can jump on the coffins that float in the stream at the very beggining on the level.
2, the warhammer's power attack can be used alongside the daring dash to knock out the villagers so you can continue without a big fight.,
3, any gamer woulkd probably try to collect things while they play, lacking money, weapons, life bottles and calling it hard is a mute point. not from the mind of a gamer, let alone about a game for kids
i love how well the side missions are integrated to the main story
I played this game so many times I knew the best path to take to always have the best weapon for each stage.
BTW:
-in return to the graveyard, in the bridge, you can fall on the top of a coffin to reach a secret area
-You can reach the castle stage with the lightning. Use it to easily kill the demons and save the farmers. Now run after them to receive items from them
-The final boss can be easily deleted with the Dragon Breath. It's so overpowered you can one-shot him if you get a good hit
-If you get all chalices, during your final visit to the Hall of Heroes, you can see a statue for you there. And you'll unlock the extended ending
I think I used the Chicken Drumstick to "kill" the demons and save the farmers. IIRC you can get the drumstick prior to getting Lightning.
@@vahloksekun646 If I am remembering correctly, you get the Chicken Drumstick from the witch in Enchanted Earth after getting the amber from the ants. Though I always use the Magic Longbow to kill the demons.
I do not mind the "one off mechanics" as you call them, in fact I think I preferer them. I do not want to do same thing over and over again for 3 times at least just with a different twist. I would rather have a corkscrew rising platform once in a game, than say have a corkscrew platform, than few levels after a corkscrew platform that can only be raised by a follower NPC, than a few levels later a corkscrew platform that raises on its own but you actually need to lower it so you have to run counter to its rotation. It might seem interesting first time you do playthrough, but on every following re-play of the game your brain would just go "I'm doing same thing I did couple of levels back but with a new twist just to pad out the length of a game". Its pretty much on the same level as having a gauntlet of previous bosses before the final boss.
Yeah I prefer something once than obviously just as padding or its like game design 101, platform, platform with NPC, and down platform, seem like really bland and shallow design.
It's almost cliche. I know exactly what you mean but can't remember any games.
But games where you walk in and go 'oh another blank puzzle, where's the puzzle fixer this time'
Yeah, I really don't understand this complaint either. The mechanics are straightforward enough that it's obvious what you need to do. The fact that there are so many mechanics that are only used once really indicates that the team were willing to go that extra mile but didn't want to succumb to the trope of - 'do this same thing 3 times in a row, each with a slightly different twist'. I definitely don't think it's bad design choice to do this, so I'm not sure what he's talking about. It's probably because they intended you to play the same levels over and over so they didn't want to bombard you with the same mechanic.
There's definitely a fine line of too much and not enough.
Yeah i think people have been so conditioned to doing repetitive grindy content that they are upset when it's not there, would the game be good if they made it last another 20 hours? nah
@@LordSathar its not like only two extremes exist. He was ofcourse asking for a middle point because some ideas did not feel complete enough. He did not say use all of them 1000 times.
I remember playing Medievil as a little child on my psp, I always referred to the game as ‘Szkieletorek’ (I am polish; it’s basically skelly) and I was obsessed with it, it brang me so much joy.
Just for reference, the dragon chase FMV was actually part of a cut 'chase sequence' level that would'e bridged the gap between the Ruins and Ghost Ship perhaps a little more logically.
Metal gear solid 1 also had a lot of mechanics that were for 1 small section of the game and never really utilized again. Throwing grenades into the tank cockpit, opening those cracked walls with c4, psycho mantis fight, the codec number on the back of the case, using cigarettes for lazer traps. I kind of actually like having a large variety of single use mechanics, rather than repeating the same mechanics over and over for hours.
The fact that Medival didn't sell that well is sad.
It's one of the games I regret not playing as a kid, and in retrospect, I share as much blame in those poor sales figures.
To be fair most games on the ps1 didn't, there's a lot of hidden gems. The top sellers were either FF7/MGS or next gen platformers like crash or castlevania.
I'd love to see you play Spyro 1 or Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage. Ripto's Rage has more mechanics and unique interactions, but Spyro 1 is viewed as a classic.
Can't agree more.
I always prefered Spyro 1, as the 2 adds some mechanics that are not refined. While playing Spyro 1, I find everything is very consistent.
But, still, Spyro 2 is an enjoyable game ;)
Plus then he can get Dayoman to make a cameo in the video. Best Spyro 1 speedrunner. Shit at every other game. Great guy.
Yeah, but YotD is still the absolute best Spyro game. Fight me.
I think the looks of the game made it 90% nicer for me, i just love this goreish halloween horror looks.
I also love that the game has a simple story and its not a very long game, my favorite game.
This game is so pervasive that I remember my friends in grade school playing it on their PSP. This was around 2014-2015 or so. And they loved it to bits, kept playing it on break for the next couple weeks, started passing it around. I wasn't that interested at the time, but got interested in it later, in like 2016 or some such.
The fact that the game was able to entertain and captivate kids 16 years after it was released, kids who had the option of more modern games to play on their PSP, really speaks volumes about it's quality... of at least the first half of it lol
I'm surprised you didn't mention the secret good ending for getting all the chalices.
Adore the Crystal Caves music I still listen to it, to this day.
Love the series Josh I think we had similar gaming experiences growing up so keep on keeping on, much appreciated.
If the last thing he got was the Lightning then it means he missed 5 chalices. Doesn't suprise me considering how long he went in the beginning with no sword and not getting any of the initial chalices right away.
It is strange that he didn't 100% the game though. He usually does do that for these reviews.
@@AndresLionheart Honestly, this was a pretty bad and unfair review. I haven't watched a review from him where I got mad before now.
@@felixader look for my independent comment, I have included some of my grievances there.
@@felixader This was maybe the worst and most unfair review I've seen from you Josh. This was the first time I became angry as I watched it, because it doesn't even look like you tried.
You didn't collect all the chalices, you moseyed around with just your arm, you misconstrued the fact that Zarok is both a sorceror *and* a scientist and you refused to acknowledge that all the puzzles and mechanics were organically set into all the stages, because modern games have somehow taught you that games should always recycle mechanics and puzzles regardless of how well they'd fit into the stage.
This game was a wonderful gem from the 90's and should be considered as one of the holy grails on how to make an adventure game.
It is worth remembering that while Josh may love this game it doesn't mean he has mastered it. He may well not have achieved the good ending and it does seem he missed some story beats along the path but no one can 100% every game. The cornfields level has a hint about the rise of tech with is harvester which is both hilarious and terrifying.
I do disagree with his views on the mechanics, I feel the themes are consistent even if the form of the mechanics change.
I wouldn't mind seeing his views of Medievil 2.
I don’t get how the variety of mechanics that you said were great is a bad thing that you keep coming back to just because they aren’t repetitive. It’s much cooler that they keep coming up with new ideas imo. But I haven’t played the game yet so maybe you have to before understanding
Was thinking the same, so many games today just lazily use the same mechanics over and over again. just to stretch the game without adding any value.
Get used to that criticism. It often reappears in his videos.
The point he is making imo is not that they are only used once,its that they are not reaching their potential. If some of them were used just once but in a satisfactory way that made you go "ok they did all they could with that and im satisfied" it would be no problem but it seems like ideas were abondoned too early.
To give an extreme example to make a point:
imagine if mario games only had one level with a moving platform or something.
or only one room of portal had portals.
or doom used the imp enemies only once.
there is merit in variety but they already designed and made the stuff. just more of it please.were not saying remove everything else and only repeat stuff.But sometimes i rather have 10 ideas that are ocean deep than have 9999 ideas of a puddle depth
this is not me criticizing the game btw just my thought on reusing and expanding on ideas vs one-time only design choice.I have not played the game yet.
This dude has some of the worst opinions on games I've ever heard man, just get used to it lol. Still entertaining enough.
Having played all three versions of the game (the original on PSX, the first remake on PSP, and then the new remake on PS4) - it's just sort of a game from a different era. I'm new to the channel so I have no clue how old he is or what he grew up playing, but games from that time period tend to go completely against the sensibilities of modern gamers just because of all the innovations and QoL that games made in short order in the late 90's and early 00's. This was still the wild west of 3d game development, development teams didn't exactly have a blueprint of what worked and what didn't so they tried things they thought were cool and saw what stuck to the wall.
If the goal of this video was to judge it on, to quote him, "how good it was for its time" then I think it failed to do so based on the contents of most of the critiques. MediEvil's competition when it came out were games like Croc, and the Jersey Devil, while its contemporaries that it was in the ballpark of but didn't quite meet head on at times was Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Super Mario 64. Something this video also doesn't acknowledge is that a big reason that the PSX struggled with analogue control titles in its games, and why developers of games such as Rayman 2 had to fight so hard to get full analogue in, is because the Playstation 1 did not ship with analogue-compatible controllers, the standard controllers only had the D-PAD. If you wanted an analogue controller, you had to buy it separately, and many developers were tepid about the prospect of pushing a title that required peripheries (which is how analogue sticks were seen. Recall that at the time, for home consoles, the idea of using an analogue stick was fairly new. Pong was the only thing before then that really dabbled in it, and the N64 was the first home console to standardize the inclusion of a joystick.)
It was seen with the same lens we viewed motion controls when that was new - a glorified gimmick.
anyway my bottom line is that i think medievil is a perfectly fine game as long as you're comfortable with the more ergonomic games that play like they're from 1995-1999, as functionally, even the newest remake does.
Man, the memories... The PS1 era will always hold a special place in my heart. Especially now that modern emulation has made it so damn easy to check out all those titles you either missed back then or that were never released in your region. There simply are some aspects to that era's approach to game design that have been lost to the ages and that are not only flavourful, but in some regards even superior to their modern equivalents.
As for Medievil - something about the clash between the happy-go-lucky atmosphere and the horror aesthetics really freaked me out and almost made me feel queasy after playing this game back when I was a kid. This, alongside the cutscene accompanying the first zombie encounter in Resident Evil and Treasures of the Deep (that goddamn giant eel...) dominated my nightmares for a while.
Watching the opening here. The PS4 version is not the first time it got a remake, the PSP had it's own remake of the game too when it launched.
I played the PSP version by far the most, very much an important game to me.
@@notnoodle2196 Dude, I feel that; I got my first job as a teen JUST to buy a PSP and MediEvil: Resurrection. They went all out with the soundtrack for the PSP remake, too, like, City of Prague Philharmonic? Hello?? A lot of love and care was put into it, and it really shows.
@@SkippyDaemon oh totally, it is a remake with serious love poured in to every part of it.
One of the best games ever
This is hands down my favorite PS1 game. It had so much charm: The design, the soundtrack (sound effects included), the simple yet effective plot, the sheer amount of items you can unlock (which double as incentive to collect the chalices)
The game is also incredibly jank, and somewhat mindless.
I've sunk so many hours into this game, and I've lost count of how many times I beat it.
Here's a tip for you. In the areas where you have the thieveing imps, equip the arm before you take them on. The arm is the only weapon the imps cannot steal from you. Yes lower defence but if you want to not have to splurge on getting your sword back in the early game, this is a nessecary tip. I know this as this happened to me and I experimented when playing this game many moons ago.
The arrow scream is also in dungeon keeper. Torturing heroes in the torture chamber.
21:00 It took me 4 minutes to realize Josh didn't get his sword back from the thieving goblin.
Edit : I don't think the one-off mechanics are a bad thing. The third time you go through the same one from two previous levels you'd go "Ugh, ok this again."
Lol played this game multiple times as a kid, one of the first ones i got for the ps and absolutely never got my weapons robbed. This guy pretty much criticized the game based on his unfortunate loss
@@MrMapacheumr Not to mention a lack of platforming skill and what appears to be a few minor misunderstandings about gameplay mechanics. Still surprised he found the tilting platform boss so hard when if you jump in the air you are not affected by the platform tilt and can control your direction of movement.
@@MrMapacheumr He got to the end of the game with only 5 life bottles, never seemed to go back to replenish his health, and then had the nerve to complain about getting rekt in the final battle
it looks like he played the whole game with his arm
I played this game again after so many years on a ps2, it was still really good and snappy. The dark and gritty atmosphere (like a lot of ps1 games) is unmatchable
Fairly reasonable cast - Paul Darrow doing his best Jon Pertwee and Helen Lederer. Never played it besides the demo, so this was very interesting
same here, didn't play the full game till 2004
Medievil... Never played it besides the demo
out of 10
I played the fuck outta that demo disc I was obsessed with this games demo and the parasite eve trailer
Introducing new mechanics consistently in an 8 hour long game seems like a good way to keep it interesting rather than a negative.
Not really, because instead of having a few well developed, deep set of mechanics, you have a collection of half baked, shallow novelties.
@@aliasmcdoe imo my biggest gripe with the game was how janky he controlled and how easy it is to get stuck or not get to the platforms both in the original and remake. Platforming heavy parts of the game were the worst parts of it, cuz this stupid skelly cant jump for shit and gets caught on geo all the time.
@@IlNamelessKinglI His janky controls are pretty thematically on point tho.
But the controls are mainly bad because its a very old game.
@@Insanityltself What theme bro go play the Cimitery hill level in the remake you get stuck on every trench hole you enter and you are supposed to use those as cover from the rocks. You simply get hit unfairly because geometry gets you stuck everywhere. Even when you are shield bashing or jumping or combining the 2 to do the platforming sections you literally have to jump everywhere frame perfect or you fall down and lose 1 health potion for nothing. Apart from that I enjoyed the game, its a solid 7.
It sure seems like it but it is often seen by many as gimmicky or lazy. I mean you are free to have your own opinion but the idea that John is completely off base is a bit exaggeratory, I’ve felt and heard this sentiment in many different games.
Funny thing about the german version: For some reason, Sony seemed to have only this one team of german voice actors to do the voices for pretty much every major PS1 release, that was completely localized, including this one. It made things really funny, because you were hearing all of the same voices throughout completely different themed games. When I played Metal Gear Solid for the first time, I couldn't stop laughing at Liquid Snake, because he was voiced by the same guy who did Dr Cortex in the Crash Bandicoot games (and Ocelot had the same voice as Uka Uka) and he had a really goofy sounding voice, wich made it pretty hard to take him seriously. You basically had the same people voicing MGS, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and Medievil among others. When I replayed Medievil after a decade or so, I totally forgot, that it also had these voice actors and when I entered the Hall of Heroes for the first time, just to hear the german voice of Otacon from MGS at the first statue, I couldn't help but smile. These voice actors weren't exactly great, their performances ranged from okay to shitty, but they were also really charming and I feel extremely nostalgic when I hear them
I have the exact same experience every time the TV plays cartoons/anime that were dubbed by the exact same 8-10 greek voice actors, 5 of which also played in famous TV series so it is always so bizzare. Voice acting in general must be really niche in countries that don’t typically produce original digital content.
Honestly this video format is so good. It's like a review and a lets play all rolled into the perfect length video.
Can't wait for you to review [literally every game ever].
Having beaten the remake last Halloween, it's the one case where I didn't mind a remake being so slavish to the original, the native analog support and fixes to the camera was all it needed to be fun for me.
Good luck if you ever want to tackle the sequel because some of the design choices they made can make it borderline unbeatable if you're not good enough.
Judging by the gameplay shown in this review... That seems likely.
I never played the first game and instead was introduced to the sequel. I was 6 years old and was scared shitless of that game but now it's one of the most nostalgic things in my memory. Every time I hear the museum music it takes me back to my childhood.
Same! I started with the second one as a kid, and I remember thinking it was some kind of nightmare before christmas game. I was scared too, and some time later, when I got older, I finished it and is one of my favourites now. The museum is also one of my favourite tracks
Voice acting was great, so many accents and different ways of delivering text, made every character unforgettable. Also one of the best OST in the history of gaming.
I really don't understand the criticism about mechanics only being used once. That's a very good thing that keeps the gameplay fresh and unpredictable
You're Spitting facts
There are not a lot of games I'd care to watch a 1-hour review of, but somehow this channel always picks the right ones!
I have really fond memories of this game. I think it was rented out of Xtra-Vision just before my dad died. One of the last games we played together.
As for "This is the one you'll remember" the ones I remembered were the farm level (scarecrow fields) with the combine harvester and the one late in the game, I think there was a mine cart/train puzzle. Edit: level name was the time device.
Just discovered this channel, and the in-depth PS1 analysis is just top notch. Loving it dude!
The save system was like that because of the limited space of the Memory Card(tm) I think. Full memory cards were an issue and you didn't want a game to save over a save game you didn't want it to, and it was consistent with every almost every game, also helped that if someone else used your limited save space and progressed your save while you was somewhere else, that it wouldn't always auto save with bad stats after your brother or friend died gazillion times to that nasty boss.
Weirdly in the remake the shield doesn't seem to actually do much, most enemies seem to knock your health down as they damage the shield.
Shields were never really useful in the original either. I pretty much only use it to Dash.
@@LoveToSpootch åå
@@andreaskristiansen3349 ää
@@andreaskristiansen3349 Rød grød med fløde
You have different shilds. The most common was very weak.
【Sunglasses Finnish Pirates】You're taking me to a memory trip lane of PS1 Demos Mr. Strife, thank you! I have unknown eye condition caused by natural supplement astaxanthin which makes my right eye sore due light & concentration. One of the perks of being a finnish "Finns are a unique most secluded gene group, with most North-Asian DNA of the Euro people and medical science studies us for our unique illnesses" so do not feel sorry for me, i watched the strobo with my left eye just fine :P
Fuck yeah, MediEvil! I know it's not nearly as obscure a game as I thought it was when I was a kid, but I still get excited when people talk about it. Was stoked when I found out that the original version was included as an unlockable in the Remaster.
This demo to this game used to give me nightmares when I was 4 years old
Footage brought back some primal fear.
I'd love to see a run of Medievil 2. It's the one I find more memorable for some reason and it'd be interesting to see how the series progressed between the two.
The one off mechanics are purposely done as individual stage gimmicks so that stages have their own identity and keep gameplay fresh. This was a common thing done in platformers like DKC, Megaman, Earthworm Jim, Rayman etc. I think Shovel Knight is one of the best modern examples of this
Except that those games use the stage mechanics in different ways throughout the stage to build on them and play around with them.
half life 2 kinda does this too
This is one of my favourite games from my childhood and I still replay it pretty frequently just to enjoy the music and visuals that, as far as I'm concerned, have aged really well. It may me having a ton of experience playing this and knowing all the secrets, life bottle locations and knowing how to move properly with the clunky controls, but I think the game might be a lot easier than how it appeared to you in your run. For starters, if I ever got my sword stolen at the mausoleum (and I'd rather not) I'd just farm money repeating levels to get it back (which however plays into the grinding issue you talk about later), the arm just isn't a viable weapon, let alone for scarecrow fields that are a nasty jump in difficulty. Even then, you should have the hammer at that point of the game if you didn't miss any of the chalices, those are very important early in the game to increase your arsenal and not get stuck with, well, just the short sword, the knives and the arm.
The route I like to do is to go to the Enchanted Forest first, do the ant level to get the chalice there, and if you've got all the chalices up to that point you can fight the ants with the hammer and then get the broadsword by freeing all the little dudes in the ant level. Once you have the big sword you can enchant it and do enough damage you can fight and beat the scarecrows, who'd be very hard to handle otherwise. Fighting the robots with the arm looks really painful, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Also, you have way less life bottles that I'd think you could have for the scarecrow fields, so you probably misses a bunch early on. Survivability with only one bottle in the fields seems terrible to me. I don't consider bottles as continues, but rather full extensions to your health bar, and you can get a ton of them in the game, and you really need to keep collecting them. If you do, you'll probably be tanky enough to never risk a game over, and you'll really need it for the final boss sequence with the battle. Even in the later levels you have a concerningly low amount of bottles, that makes the game way harder than how it could be, and especially the final battle as it becomes very hard to finish it without most of the bottles you can find in the game.
Also, some nitpicks from someone who played this game too much.
Return to the graveyard isn't quite the same as regular graveyard, the river at the beginning is lower and there's coffins you can jump on toward a secret area that's not in regular graveyard. You can stun the villagers in the village by dashing into them, so you can stop them from bothering you without killing them and making it impossible to collect the chalice. It seems you did the witch coven at the hill way later, but of course you can do it on your first run if you don't overuse the club you find there, and even then you always replay the level to find a replacement club that restores the one you lost or consumed a little. The faces at the face puzzle are all on timers, and yes, it's really annoying. I think you might be playing the American version of the game, because on my European version the guys in the labyrinth had brown clothes instead of white. In my experience just running will be enough to not fall from the tilted boss platform, but maybe it's harder to execute on a first time playthrough, never had too many problems with it. I guess the plot of the second part of Medievil is that you have to stop Zarock so you have to progress, and Dan accidentally frees demons and has to go through swamps in the process. The "stealth" part is awful, and actually counterproductive if you want the chalice, you want to be seen by the eyes to summon enemies and fight them to get the chalice, if you don't you might be forced to replay the level, really annoying. I think the officer part was more about needing to kill the officers from stopping the pirates from respawning, rather than the pirates being invincible until the officer is eliminated. In the version of the game I have the magic bow definitely doesn't make that huge explosion, it's the first time I see it! Never had issues with the camera clipping into the floor on the penultimate level, plenty of other problems but not clipping. Maybe it's the American version?
I don't see what's the big deal with things that are only done once, they make levels more unique. I think Medievil shined more for stunning visuals and soundtrack with only serviceable gameplay for the late '90s, so a lot of criticism here is fair, but I don't quite get the issue with non-repeating mechanics. The statement that this is not a game capable of standing up with any of its core parts alone but only by combining all of them to make a functioning whole seems pretty accurate though.
Still, it was nice to see people talk about this game, and would be nice to see you cover Medievil 2 if it interests you.
God I remember this on psp and it was absolutely incredible. It made me pick up the original on PS1 and it instantly became a love of mine. It's so nice to see and hear this game (not the 2019 remake) being spoken about more,
I'm sorry but how is using cool unique mechanics only once bad, when they keep on putting out one cool mechanic after another? Doesn't that make it less repetitive and engaging since you keep waiting to see what they can pull off next? It sounds like a reverse Batman Arkham Knight Batmobile case..Or even TLoU ladders.
While I do think building upon certain mechanics / adding stuff to it to spice things up is valid, so is adding new, one use mechanics.
I thought it was weird that he slammed it for one-off mechanics, then asset reuse not long after.
@@GhaleonStrife Yeah, same here. Like, did it really matter? As a kid I never noticed the time crystal things in The Lake were reused pumpkins? Still didn't until he pointed it out, honestly. (And also, the game came out in '98, so asset reuse was just a smart thing to do when done well.)
@@SkippyDaemon also weird that he pointed out the pumpkin asset reuse, then pointed out the elephants underwater without mentioning that it was the same model as the elephant in the hedge maze puzzle with the mouse.
@@claven1231 Yet another thing I never noticed! :D Now that you mention it, though, yeah, he just kinda... didn't go anywhere with that, huh?
Even if it was the same voice actor for every thing, he did SO WELL
In a game completely full of unique and cool mechanics, you're mad that they didn't use them over and over. It's not repetitive, they are not bad mechanics, and you always have something new to look for.
I second this motion. He harps on it so much he seems to forget that some games get praised for their variety of different puzzles. Would they have been stronger if combined with other challenges, maybe, that just isn’t the way the devs went.
If they would use mechanics over and over again he would probably say the game is boring and repetitive. I don’t understand him constantly harping on this.
Yall weird asses, he didn't say make it repetitive. Way to strawman.
Another cool detail is that the actor who played Daniel Fortesque used a bucket in his head to make the voice acting and that was also used in the recent remake. I love this game
I'm not sure I follow on how using lots of fun mechanics only once is so bad. That's just good variety without getting repetitive.
I think he's more concerned with the lack of compatibility between mechanics and the potential for other interesting puzzles. It's not meeting the potential that it could have if the mechanics were combined a bit more. But yeah you got a good point about repetition.
It's more so that if you only use a mechanic or feature once, unless you pull it off really well you miss out on chances to actually refine it. It also creates an issues such as making the player learn a skill for a segment that is then never repeated, or bringing up a fun mechanic that, again, only appear for a single level. Knowing where to have variety and where to rely on your strengths is a fine balancing act.