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@@greenbirdstudios3462 Steve Mayles said that the game also takes inspiration from Chameleon Twist 2, a game that got a 6 on IGN. So combining that with Banjo, is questionable????? However in the impossible Lair instead of Chameleon, it's Yoshi's Island.
I wish this game had more success, it's really fun to play even though it has many missteps you mentioned. I played this and its sequel, its sequel is great too but it's a SNES Donkey Kong Country kind of game, a 2D platformer. Its sequel had an amazing idea though, you would collect pagies to make the final dungeon easier, but you could actually just enter the final dungeon from the beginning but it's extremely tough, you can choose anytime you want to end the game but the catch is that the final dungeon has to be done in one life - my memory may be a little off though. But back to the original game, it felt really fun even though it has flaws. I wish there were more Banjo-Kazooie kind of games, I like the 3D world and being able to choose what you want. These old games felt like going to a buffet as a kid and choosing to do whatever you wanted. Strangely, the voices in Banjo Kazooie were all jumbled but it still sounded pleasing somehow, but for some reason I found most of Yooka-Laylee's voices to be very grating and I don't know why.
Hmm I was ok with their voices but they feel a bit more subdued compared to Banjo. Like they went for it with that series and this they kind of mumbled.
Oh yeah also Trowzer is one of the funniest things ever. We had the level names Necky’s Nuts and Squawk’s Shaft in DKC and its sequel respectively, now we have a whole character to carry on the innuendo legacy. His design I find adorable too
@@BBWahoo Yeah nothing even screams Vending Machine as a design with Vendi. She looks like she could be SpongeBob’s aunt. Maybe she could’ve had some glass where you can see the Tonics or something.
Thanks for the videos. I know I'm late to the party, but just to give my opinion on some of the things about the game. 1- The ghosts were a really cool addition, having each ghost present a different kind of challenge (which could have increased difficulty as the game progresses), from being invisible, to being in a more hidden location, to fighting him (the red one could even morph into a boss in some late world just for fun). They add a cool change that was missing from the jinjos in Kazooie; 2- I honestly liked the idea of expanding a world, being that the gimmick around the worlds are books whose pages you collect, it makes sense that you could "complete" them if you have enough pagies. My main problem was the execution of the expansion that suffers from the problems you mention in the video; 3- The moves themselves were really solid with few exceptions. For me at least, havind Yooka's ammo (ice ball, fire breath etc) being timed with the last fruit (cannonball, honey or whatever) you ate felt off for me. I'd much rather have an ammo storage system similar to Tooie. That would ad some difficulty to challenges, since you know that you're gonna have to use a tree that the game simply put there for you...; 3.1- The energy/stanima barr is such a horrible ideia in these games, like you said, it 100% percent cuts the flow of gameplay and having the same butteflies that grant you health being used to restore energy (without giving you health) makes no sense; 4- most of the NPCs in each level felt like copy + paste, from the snowmen to shopping carts to slot machines...They had a lot of possibilities for them and I think they really could do better than recicling NPCs and reusing NPCs from different levels. I think this takes away from the worlds in a big way. In kazzoie there were very few NPCs but their quests and interactions felt more unique. In Tooie each NPC felt unique and belonging to the world in some sense (exept the bunnies in Grunty Industries) and by and large, the worlds felt alive in some way that the ones in Yooka don't; 5- Rextro and Kartos were fun for exacly one mini game. Having to do they quest in each world really felt like a chore, expeccially because they didn't seem to belong anywhere. Kartos would've been really cool as a character in a mine level or something (more on that below). Rextro to me was the worst for 2 main reasons: 5.1- even if you've beaten his high score on your first try, for some messed up reason the developer thought that forcing you to play again was a great ideia and it sucked...In Tooie's minigames if you got enough point you could win all the rewards at once in every mini-game; 5.2- Most, not all, but most, of kazooie's and tooie's mini games you played them exacly as you would play the game, same controls, movements and moves. So you are the developers could use a polished gameplay from a platform game to include minigames, in rextro's games you play like a poorly controled arcade that plays entirely different from the main game (and have to do this twice in each world!!!) with poor physics and limited controls; 6- Most bosses were bad as well, with capital B being the only exception. 3 of the 5 bosses of the worlds were basicaly attatched to walls for some reason...; 7- They had a really cool opportunity (that I really wish they use in a next game) of having levels base on literary genres, from detective stories to space adventures to monster and terror stories to knights and romances to fables to fairy tales to wild west to pirate stories...endless possibilities...For some reason I think they tried to do that but didn't really which is a shame since the concept was great... Also more worlds is a better option than bigger ones; 8- Dr Puzz transformations were hit and miss. The school of fish and the boat were my favorites, the other ones not so much; 9- The enemies in each level lacked personality as well, they were basically reskins of the same enemies again... I actually enjoyed the game...I think my main frustration was with the fact that I can see that they could do a LOT better
I wasn't exactly a Rare fan back in the day (never had a SNES or N64), but I was a mascot platform fan, and I heard nothing but good things about Banjo 1 and 2. So, when I heard that ex-Rare developers were going to be making a spiritual successor and would be taking it to Kickstarter, I put money in and reserved myself a copy. I actually quite liked the game a bit. Sure, the lack of stages and their oversized nature were a bit of a detriment, but I had a lot of fun climbing the tower and exploring, I went ahead and platinumed the game. Hell, when I heard they were making a sequel, I picked that up without hesitation. It's a proud piece in my PS4 collection, and I'm an unashamed defender of the game. Also, I actually thought the universal stamina bar was a good idea. It gives a proper limit on your skills, such as flight and invisibility (lets face it, they'd be overpowered if something like that weren't in place), without a bunch of redundant peripheral mechanics attached to it.
I think having stamina for invisibility and flight makes sense…but not for your fast movement…I’ll stand firm on that one. I prefer Kazooie and Tooie using specific collectible items for that rather than stamina. So 100 feather to fly 100 eggs to shoot. Things like that. Even if they made the stamina bar refill faster it would be better for those things. The real question here is did you go back and play Banjo?
@@jiggylookback I'd agree for the fast movement, but maybe not the charge attack. Gives a massive speed boost PLUS acts as a big attack. That needs to have a limit to keep it from being overly spammed. Though, yeah, a faster charging bar would be better, but I guess I didn't feel it as much since it's possible to upgrade the bar enough for sporadic use to be negligible. Also... I dunno, I thought collecting fly feathers, invincible feathers, and eggs kinda felt a bit hollow after a while. I never really used the skills very often, normally because the semi-finite resource only encouraged me to spare what I had and never use the skill outside of what I needed. With YL, I felt free to do what I want, almost whenever I wanted. Flying anywhere felt kinda liberating. That said, Banjo is an AMAZING game (with the exception of Bubblegloop Swamp... hate that place), and I think Tooie is just alright.
I pretty much echo most of what you said. It ain’t perfect but it is fun. Though we do need to make sure we point out the flaws so the devs (and other developers) know what not to do for a fun time.
My biggest problems were - Not enough collectibles and landmarks: The worlds weren't just big, they were empty. Some collectibles should be hidden and encourage exploration and some should be placed to lead players. The worlds also were easy to get lost in because of how samey everything looked. Good luck finding what edge of Tribalstack you are at. - The lack of teleport pads or fast travel: Especially if you make big world's this is a mandatory thing for games. Even Mario Odyssey has fast travel. - Everything being on an energy meter: It's fine for flying, but anything else shouldn't have been. Flying should have been tied to a collectible again. - The sound was really obnoxious at times: The pagey reveal theme is something I'll be happy if I never hear again. - The mini-games are terrible: The casino mini-game does not function because collision desynchs from what you see. - Too many moves that do the same things: Things that break glass being the most notable. - Enemies respawn really fast: At least make fighting them have a point even if it's that they disappear for 5-10 minutes. These are adventure games, not beat em ups.
The enemies respawning quickly is an annoying thing. I agree and didn’t really mention that one. Some sort of Tooie like warp pad system probably would have been good! I think the moveset is fine tho, but I could see adding maybe more unique ones especially with your base attacks. Stamina bars can go away forever…
I think that the collectables were handled fairly well. You said that some collectables should be hidden while others should lead you to where you're supposed to go, and in my experience, that's exactly what happened. There were tons of trails of quills littered along pathways, though you sometimes had to jump to get them. Honestly, the worlds of Banjo-Tooie felt way emptier than in Yooka-Laylee. Banjo-Tooie's worlds effectively only had 17 note collectibles in them (16 note bundles plus a treble clef), and with the way the world sizes were scaled up from BK, 10 jiggies was entirely too few. YL has 200 separate individual quills and 25 pagies per world. I thought about half the minigames were fun. I agree about the casino one though. It was a great concept, but it just didn't function well. If they gave you either unlimited rolling or a slightly faster base run speed so you could outrun the scroll, it would've been fine. To have a fixed scrolling segment where you can't outrun the scroll without using stamina-consuming moves is almost unheard of. I don't think I got lost in levels all that much. Maybe a little bit? Like in the Icymetric Palace? Or a little bit in Moodymaze Marsh? Personally, I found that if I entered each world once before expanding it, got as much as I could, left, progressed through the game a bit to unlock more moves, and then came back a little later to expand the world, the world would feel much more manageable. I got 9 pagies and over 100 quills in base Tribalstack and then didn't even bother to expand Tribalstack until after unlocking both moves in Glitterglace plus the water bubble move, and then expanded Tribalstack felt very easy to find my way around. Since the base version gives you the basic layout, and the expanded version mostly just expands a few of the buildings upward, it didn't confuse me that much. All of the other levels except maybe Moodymaze Marsh also have layouts where it's fairly easy to find where you are. I agree about the respawning enemies, though actually, my biggest criticism of the enemies in this game is their lack of variety and the fact that they don't change much from level to level except in appearance. Both of the Banjo-Kazooie games had far better enemy variety. Bubblegloop Swamp had the frogs and dragonflies, Freezeezy Peak had snowmen and ice cubes, Gobi Valley had mummies and mummy hands, Mad Monster Mansion had skeletons (which, I suppose, were like mummies), skeletal versions of enemies not seen since Clanker's Cavern, and ghosts that go through walls... Most of the difficult enemies in Galleon Galaxy in Yooka-Laylee were introduced back in Tribalstack. One thing I will always praise Yooka-Laylee for, though, is putting 20 pagies in the hub world. Banjo-Kazooie only had the first jiggy plus 9 witch switch jiggies in the hub world, so most of the work in finding jiggies was actually finding the witch switches in the levels and watching the game show you where to get a jiggy. Banjo-Tooie simply counted the jinjo family jiggies as hub world jiggies, so in actuality, Isle of Hags only had 1 jiggy--the required one at the beginning. YL's hub world has 20 pagies that are completely natural and fully native to the hub world, which made exploring the hub world feel much more rewarding to me.
The Pros for me Aside from Tribalstack, which I think is the only stage where the emptiness problem is that bad, most of the levels are really well designed for both navigation and exploration. Glitterglaze Glacier having its expansion be a series of interior mazes that have no bearing on navigating the rest of the stage was brilliant in keeping the overall size manageable. Moodymaze Marsh’s areas are all very well set apart so that it’s easy to tell where you’ve been and where you should be going just from taking a look around. Capital Cashino has some great theming and the layout is very straightforward, Tribalstack done right in that sense. Nothing feels like it’s just there to waste your rolling stamina, the puzzles make good use of the space. Galleon Galaxy feels big in a way that’s exciting instead of barren, thanks to the overall variety in challenges. Kirhope’s soundtrack with contributions by Wise is on point as usual. Especially like Glitterglaze Glacier and Capital Cashino’s themes. Also Hivory Towers The writing starts kinda meh for me but really picks up as the game goes on. Except for the business jokes. I actually like the quizzes, but I always have. Still, they’re far less punishing than the end of game quizzes in Banjo, so I never thought the complaint was justified. Also Capital Cashino again is just really good. The slots having different patterns to figure out was a simple but clever way of keeping that aspect from growing stale, the platforming has a lot of creativity, Capital B in disguise forced to give you Pagies is hilarious, just a wonderful stage.
See we already have different opinions on the worlds. Tribalstack is my fav world! Which confirms my point in the video haha! I’m glad you support the soundtrack cause I dig it and I’m surprised some don’t. Like being too Banjoish is a bad thing? People are crazy sometimes!
I honestly liked how big the levels were, I think it was perfectly justified given how varied each activity was when it came to the pagies. I guess a lot of people find getting lost in things too anxiety enducing but I think when you've played enough metroidvanias or souls games this kinda thing becomes welcome to me.
The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure the stamina bar was added due to feedback from the toybox demo because people didn't like feeling compelled to roll everywhere, or something. I don't *quite* remember. I might be wrong about that, but at the very least I remember the discussion back in the day about people being annoyed by constantly talon trotting in Banjo-Kazooie and that *was* something they wanted to fix. I don't know if a stamina bar was the right method, though.
@@jiggylookback Well if you ever decide to do the research and make a video on it, I'd be interested! A lot of development decisions had some pretty sound logic behind them, but unfortunately just seemed to fall flat in execution. Like the expandable worlds was supposed to be to appeal to people who preferred smaller worlds like Kazooie, over Tooie's massive worlds. (I still like this game a lot, though)
I recently plays a 2nd run of the game, not finished yet, but i feel the game a very good one... Yooka-Laylee 1 is basically that type of game where it is only worth to 100% complete only the 1st time, and that's nice too, because sometimes you just need just to play until the final boss and call it a day... nvn
The 2017 Yooka is good but the new 2D one was a bad step to take. I speedrun DK64 a collectathon, with that said I fully back Banjo and any game that takes after it. You just don’t get them like you used to. They are frowned upon for the length and concept they show. And you can compare it to many other games that are not collectathons and people like them even if remarkably worse which feels unfair. Just give it more time to sit in the pan. I know you can see it’s been many years. But the right people/community will come when it’s time. Because games like this are timeless, they deserve a chance ❤
I’d like Impossible Lair a lot more if it wasn’t for the hub that’s still trying to be an adventure game. I like a certain flow in my side scrollers, and that shoots it in the foot for me. I don’t mind 3D platformers focusing more on puzzle solving, but it definitely wasn’t the strength of the Donkey Kong Country games the main stages were emulating, and it feels very mismatched and kinda hard to stay invested in for me as a result
It's so sad that to this day, the awful aftertaste that I had after 100%ing this game still hasn't subsided. 😅 Some things I like to add: - On top of the needlessly big worlds, the structure of them and how the locations of the quests are implemented is just so unfitting for a collectathon. In Breath of the Wild, there is this principle that the player has always multiple points of interests visible, no matter where they are. And Banjo Kazooie did a suprisingly amazing job at this, even for its time. In YL, not only did the devs do a terrible job using the quills as waymarkers but the points of interests are either all over the place or just not even existent. Sometimes are they blocked from view with no reason (the casino level easily being the biggest offender) or are just represented by some switches to do a hoop parcour or NPCs that just stand around like they don't even belong there. -... which perfectly bridges over to my next point, which only Stop Skeletons from Fighting nailed: Everything seems so sterile, non-interactive and unintuitive. Player's actions barely interact with the world or change it in any way. No christmas tree to get inside, no sphinx that needs a nose clearing, no world hazards that the player can avoid by using the transformation. One could almost make the argument that whoever designed the worlds and whoever designed the quests never talked to each other during developement.
"Could use more time to cook" sums up this entire experience. This is one of the most expensive prototypes and could use more beta testing and about year to get up to Banjo Kazooie standards. Not exactly sure what happened here but it exists. 😅
Happy that you mentioned the Quizzes. Having three of them in one game kinda misses the point, so does the presentation of the quiz. While all of the Quizzes in the Banjo Games and Yooka-Laylee do ask you out about the world you experienced they are all so different by presentation and significance. In Banjo Kazooie it started in its best iteration - It was a BIG gameshow with viewers watching you from above and a bombastic, fiery and colorful presentation. Considering that you had to prove your knowledge about the game AND the Grunty facts from the Lair of the mean old hag, and that it is being followed directly by credits, it feels like a final boss in Quiz Show form. There is a reason why my little brother and I always had a save file only for the quiz show. It was THAT good. Tooie already made the whole experience a little bit smaller by adding Grunty's siblings, who could have been a great boss fight if it weren't for their sister quiz. The presentation is less bombastic and almost feels like Rare actually had no real idea on how to implement Blobelly and Mingella properly in the time they were given to develop the game. Nuts and Bolts had L.O.G. just say out loud that the Quiz was inferior than the other ones, thanks for being honest there Rare. The way Yooka Laylee did the quizzes... well you described it adequately yourself. They just do not feel better if you have to do them several times. They are better than what L.O.G. had to offer, at least.
Yeah I think one at the end is the right way to go and I actually liked they were shorter. I almost would prefer one 15-20 point quiz. And also the questions like how many quills have you collected shouldn’t be a thing. Those are hard to answer if you don’t know..I think level specific and character specific ones are best.
Enjoyed the video good sir very professional, I loved this game 👍🏼 I think all games have a few frustrating moments but if someone sticks through till the end I think they'd see its a good game. Great review, really hope we get Twooka Laylee before we're 100. Like DK64 I think the first Yooka Laylee has a somewhat bad reputation due to big TH-camrs who I think didn't give it a fair shot trashing it but after its on sale like 24/7 hopefully more people played it by now and more people actually beat the game
Yeah people should play it! It does a lot right and it’s not fair for those to say it’s not BK and is trash lol. I just don’t get it sometimes. I had fun!
I was acually really excited too with this game. It feels really close the original banjo kazooie game. Now if people are saying this game doesnt feel like banjo tooie then i can see it. but i feel like Yooka Laylee did what it was suppose to do.
One issue I definitely had when going into it for the first time is the opening cutscene feels like it drags and takes too long to get to main conflict. With Banjo and Tooie, they establish the conflict pretty effectively while being concise, then you get to Yooka and the cutscene goes on for what feels like 10 minutes, with so much dialogue to keep extending the runtime of the cutscene. I also just don't find Capital B all that entertaining of a villain, he just comes off as the cliché evil CEO archetype we've seen many times before and does very little to stand out from the rest. Grunty was a charming vain rhyming witch, you hate what she does, but she has fun dialogue, and you wonder what she's gonna rhyme about next. Capital B just talks about all the things he does to ruin things for his his employees and it's not nearly as charming.
I love so much of this game. I don't mind the expanding worlds because that encourages me to explore the other levels and return to find new things. It made the levels feel more filled with secrets than they already were. I just wish the arcade and minecart weren't in the game.
Fuck yeah. Played Kazooie and Tooie last year and played this right after. It’s great and totally stands up as a worthy successor. Even if it’s not quite as good it has its own innovations to add that are worth appreciating.
Great video, Jiggy! It's been awhile since I've looked at this game, but it's all coming back to me now. I'll always appreciate how this game scratches the same Banjo/ DK64 itch. While also having similar flaws lol. But there's no denying that characters, worlds, and music go a long way into making this game fun! I should really beat the final boss... I made it to the end, then 2020 happened and I lost interest in every game I was playing at that time 🤷♂️
@@jiggylookback you have me intrigued! I'm sure I'll need time to adjust to the controls and moveset. But it's on my Switch, so it'll be easy to get back into!
I always liked the game. I played through it back when it released and had a good time and didn't think much about it. Was really surprised how negative the responses online were after the fact.
I need to give it another try but this game sadly left me cold, I was excited to try it as I adore the Banjo-Kazooie games. I recently purchased the sequel though.
Excellent video! I agree with a lot of your points, but I’m also wondering just how much you were actually defending the game. In any case, yes, this is a good game, and I'm certain they could make an excellent one in the future.
Tbh I used to put my opinions on every point but people seemed to have a fit when I justified flaws with my opinions so my format is now: Show initial reviews State all the negative comments while briefly mentioning some positive aspects of those designs and decisions Then end with my opinion on what makes the game great. It’s sort of a twist on a retrospective.
Another great video, and when I played this game 5 months ago I really enjoyed playing the game. I do agree that the stamina bar shouldn't have been in the game when using the awesome fast move, and there should have been more levels and Playtonic should have not added the expansions because I don't mind doing backtracking in some games but the game could have been more popular with more levels, and not so many hard challenges but I still love the Yooka-Laylee game @Jiggylookback.
The biggest reason I feel this game got hate was it was too ambitious for what it was and the stretch goals that was added. Most of the things people complained about were all things they added in the stretch goals
I find this as a very suitable review of the game focusing on the common conceptions of the game, giving a fair look at everything, sometimes I find people who absolutely hate everything about the game just for not being literally Banjo-Kazooie with the models swapped, or even stupider, for being too much like the old Rare games and on the other side, people who defend absolutely everything the game has to offer. I'm on the middle ground, as someone who loves DK64 and B-T I find a lot of appeal for me in the game, but I KNOW it has many issues that for someone without nostalgia or attachment to it will find them just as aged/poor game design. And the funny thing here is that Playtonic didn't learn from the mistakes of DK64, B-T and B-K:NnB, this game would have been much better if it was smaller on pretty much everything. Smaller worlds, less collectables, less minigames, less transformations, Just focus on the main core of the game, small challenges that are done fairly quick that require the player to beat some obstacles or collect a few items, just like in the original Banjo-Kazooie.
Exactly! I want this game to have a fair shake. It’s not Banjo. Just Banjo inspired. It has flaws and some we’ve seen before but it isn’t inherently bad. I think it’s worth a play :)
@@jiggylookback Yeah, I still enjoy it a lot and I think playing it casually is the best way to enjoy it, so I would still recommend it to someone who likes collecthatons or platformers like Mario.
i actually find the level-expansion mechanic pretty clever. as i kid i got lost in the huge banjo/dk64 levels a lot - but with this expansion-mechanic you can first get familiar with the level and once you can orient yourself / found everything in the "small" version, you can expand. Pretty clever! 🙂
The idea of it I like…it just doesn’t feel right. Maybe that is a result of the level design itself? Also popping out of the world to expand it just feels off… I really like the idea of the expansion mechanic as a new game plus option to add replay value! Could be a reward for 100% the game!
Unrelated to the video, but seeing as you love the n64 era and platforming games, you should try rocket robot on wheels. Its a lesser known 3d platformer, but its super fun and has a nostalgic feel to it even if you never played it as a kid. Very similar to banjo kazooie and sm64
I just had a revelation. People who dislike Tooie, probably only dislike it because they played this game, and are transferring this game's shortcomings to Tooie unfairly. That would also explain why the hate for Tooie only started in the last 5ish years... it was because of Yooka Laylee.... I actually really enjoyed this game, it was solid in core design, art style, etc. But I did have issues with the world layouts, I really disliked the idea of expanding worlds rather than having separate new worlds, I felt the transformations were all very lackluster. Yet at it's core, it was still an amazing Banjo nostalgia trip, I even replayed it to 100% a few years back, and I had a blast with it.
My biggest gripe about the game is the fact you can’t even 100 percent level 1 till you get a power up from the casino level. That kills the flow of a collecthathon. The reason we’re in these levels is to collect everything so why not keep it how BK did where we could complete a level in 1 go outside of freezeezy peak. I just think this design goes against collecthathons. Its not a surprise why BK is way more loved than tooie, dk64, yookah, because they perfected the collecthathon formula in that game
@@jiggylookback I’m right with you ! But let’s say if the levels are big at least make the collectibles fill out the world and have flow. Empty areas simply become filler and become more useless land to traverse through. I just feel like they keep going against the grain. The formula was perfect in BK so build upon that
Also, the Yooka-Laylee game will be appearing up high in the Top 20 of my own personal Top 500 - My Favourite Games of All Time list countdown in 3 months time @Jiggylookback.
it wasn't the stamina gauge itself that upset me in this game it was the fact it was a hassle to refill it, if it passively refilled at a good pace then having it would make more sense. they already had it right with being able to upgrade the size of it, so that part was perfect. but having to refill it by touching butterflies to me was an uneeded extra step *edit* I forgot it can refill passively but that itself is also a problem since it takes so long just to recharge on its own, it should always be refilling to keep the flow going your comparison to Zelda only applies to Skyward sword in my eyes since in Skyward Sword it was an extra step that doesn't help enhance the gameplay, only hinder it. especially when it drains so fast and refills so slowly and NO way to upgrade it. potions don't help since the max you can get out of it is like 6 minutes I think? but even then that's a bandaid on a self inflicted blemish now as for BotW/TotK, it not only drains much slower doing anything in this game AND refills much faster even if you drain it completely, but the stamina wheel itself can be upgrade to 3 wheels and the stamina is more valuable since it enhances your passive abilities like charge attacks for weapons, gliding distance, swimming distance and climbing distance. add to the fact you can use up more stamina with some speed up manuvers while climbing and swimming and you now see the Stamina wheel is a valuable resource tool that lets you traverse your environment in as creative a way as you make of it. so stamina fits Botw/TotK much better since it was better utilized as a TOOL to help you, not hinder you. plus for the open world zelda games specifically, they were a nessisary limit to place on your character since if you had unlimited stamina, then you'd be able to glide and climb forever, destroying world and level design and also discouraging creativity in traversal. now we circle back to Yooka-Laylee where you are in a 3D platformer and it's a stamina bar that doesn't recharge passively, doesn't enhance your passive abilities and it's just a limit on your abilities, and now we see the issue here on how it doesn't help you perform better, it just stops you from doing things altogether. now if we could say roll around in the ball all the time but then if you hold the sprint button down to go faster and THAT used up energy, THAT'D make more sense for the Stamina bar in Yooka-laylee to be a useful addition, moreso if the butterflies were only for health and not recharging it or if the bar itself charged back up quicker to keep the pace up
Skyward Sword’s was the worst, I personally get annoyed with the stamina bar in any game, but TOTK and BOTW does replenish fast enough. However as someone who likes to run I hate that particularly uses stamina. In ocarina of time I used to run and roll everywhere. I miss that.
@@jiggylookback fair point but OoT is a different kind of game BotW/TotK embraced environment traversal compared to OoT here, look at it this way Running helps you go faster but without using it, you still move at a decent pace and speed up potions that you can make on the fly help go faster now imagine if the act of MOVING drained stamina that's what made rolling around in the ball annoying and the absolute WORST example of a stamina meter I've seen was in Ubisoft's "Skull and Bones" game your BOAT has stamina....your BOAT...HAS...STAMINA the imagine having to put away your sail in Wind Waker to let the King of the Red Lions catch his breath THAT'S bad use of stamina BotW/TotK doesn't do that, stamina is used as a tool and as a means of extending/enhancing traversal not as a limit to your movement
I think the maps weren't as good/memorable as in banjo Kazooie, but I got what I wanted out of the game. more banjo Kazooie gameplay. so I'm satisfied with it, but now I want more
I wish the worlds weren't too big. Finding collectibles takes forever. The mini-games are forgettable and I found the mini-games in DK64 and B-T to be way more enjoyable. Having played this the second time, the only major flaw is the size of the worlds and how it's so annoying to find all the collectibles. I would've preferred a game with smaller worlds. Maybe 10 of them, instead of just 5 large ones. Maybe also stick with 10 Peiges per level, instead of 25. Having a total of 110 Peiges, instead of 150 would've been better. The first 3D collect-a-thon (none other than Super Mario 64) had 15 worlds and this was back in 1996. Given this was based off what Banjo-Threeie would've been like, had it came out on GameCube or Xbox instead of what later became Nuts & Bolts on the Xbox 360, you'd think they'd continue where B-T left off, in terms of evolving and expanding gameplay.
There are plenty of issues with Yooka Laylee, and I really hope most of those kinks get ironed out in the remake. But the experience of romping about a big, interesting world, going wherever and figuring out the what to do in that classic N64 platformer style is faithfully captured. It delivered on the intended experience you want from the genre. I guess I have more respect for it than something like "Sticker Star", because even though it's a much more polished game, the ideas at its core are terrible. You couldn't fix them with a remake...
Galion Galaxy I think that's where the boat was at I think it said to come back in 2024 to find out the secret I don't remember the year but I know that there was a year we were supposed to go back
For me the biggest problem is how it looks. I'm trying to play it on Nintendo Switch lite and something about the game just messes with my eyes really bad. I can't focus my eyes on things and after a while my head hurts, I feel sick and start sweating. I want to see what the games like but it literally makes me uncomfortable to play and it doesn't seem like it's going to get any updates that could address this issue.
I forget that part with the boat is at a certain year we were supposed to go back to that same spot I wonder what was that secret it said 2020 something but I don't remember what year we were supposed to come back was it 2024 where was that spot to I hope you cover it I'm about to watch it we were supposed to go back in a certain year to figure out the secret around that bolt I almost forgot about it please cover it or talk about it in a future video
I almost had every single achievement but that's one achievements was glitching out on Xbox getting all of trousers moves I bought every single move but it glitched out I'm missing one achievement I didn't go back to collected but I did like this game
@@jiggylookbacklol no but seriously, you know you definitely give me a better outlook on this game. You know what I think I'll do? I'll give it another go and come back with an open mind . Excellent video! You did fantastic!
I disliked the minecart sections, and the handling on yooka's roll. I also agree about stamina bars being a pain. Overall, a fun game though. Another great video, keep up the good work! 👍🏻
So I'm at 99 percent something like this either 95 or 99 I would have to play the game all over again I don't mind doing it but I've been playing other games just to get one achievement that got glitched out I like the game I'm thinking about going back to it though
I really liked your other « defending » videos, but this one felt only like ‘yeah the game’s objectively not that good but i had fun’ Also, gameplay appart, i must say that I felt that some (chara)designs were TOTALLY off the mark… And the cheatcode you’re talking about is NOT making it look like a n64 game It only somehow removes textures and adds some horrible filtre… i tried playing with it and disabled it after 20mins cuz my eyes were hurting 😭
Sorry to hear that. I got too caught up with negative comments and tried to switch up the format on this one and think it just caused me to not give the positive takes as much. Apologies I’ll do better for future ones.
I liked this game a lot even though i hated it back then when i first bought it, i'm glad i gave it another try! But the biggest issues for me where the generic,bland and poorly animated enemies which are basically a re-skin in each world. I also didn't like the animations of the NPC's since it feels like they are just some sort of puppets. Also I HATED the noises of the NPC's while i loved them in Banjo, since they are so extremely annoying here for some reason especially this knight pig with a candy and trowzer! I'm happy Yooka and Laylee were the ones i liked since they are the main duo. Since your were already mention it in the video, i also hated the minigames and Karto. It would be totally fine if you only have to do Rextro once in each world and Karto maybe in 3 worlds. Atleast they tried something special with him in the Cashino world. Other than that i liked the expanded world idea but after world 2 you can simply unlock it directly without going in once which takes the idea of that gimmick away. I would say this game comes pretty close to Banjo here and there but should be treated as an own game instead calling it a Banjo knock-off. Great video and thank you for making the idea of defending this game as video a thing! :D
Thanks so much for watching! I’m with you on a lot of your points! Though I personally was never annoyed by NPC noises you aren’t the first to say something like that. Glad you gave the game another try!
I love the game. The only thing I didn't like is the mediocore plot with amazing characters. I don't mind big levels. But unlike Tooie, the big levels in Yooka Laylee so similar layout wise that it's easy to get lost.
I turned 37 on Saturday, and as far as video game consoles go, the last one I had was 16-bit, so N64 is still "the future" for me, and I have no idea everything that came after. I hope at some point with my son (who is currently 1 year and 4 months old) we will discover this and other great games that I missed at the time. In any case, the videos on this channel are always a guarantee of having a good time
Do not Defend this game.... Start to Support Replaylee instead :) Edit: For me the worst Level was the casino: Not because it was bad, but because of the Lags that were only in this Level. Now a bad Joke: The Video only goes 10:11 minutes because of his Stamina bar gone down.
The game was pretty meh for me. But I love it's characters. Hat in Time is the better 3D platformer of 2017 for me. I hope we get a Yooka Laylee 2 that improves on everything.
Lol good to hear the stamina rant in a video. Only games that should have a stamina bar are realistic games / dark souls. Dark souls only gets a pass because it's a big part of the gameplay. Otherwise get rid of it!
What annoys me the most is I hear a lot of people slate this game yet have nothing but praise for A Hat in Time. Don't get me wrong I love both games but I've found the complaints people have about Yoola Laylee apply to A Hat in Time too
imo what saves AHIT is the tight ass controls and that the devs didn't sell it as the spiritual successor of ONE N64 collectathon game but as a love letter to 3D Platformers in general. I have my issues with it (the story sucks, the ending is unrewarding, some of the level gimmicks overstay their welcome, etc) but it was made by a small indie team, not by AAA veterans.
@metroided34 I preferred the controls in YL personally, I do appreciate the originality and the fact its a less experienced team works in AHIT's favour and I happily admit YL's flaws and maybe BK being my favourite game ever is why I have the bias. But if I was to look at both games with no context of their backgrounds then both are great but they both have a lot of flaws
So I appreciate the video, but I wish you divulged a bit more on why you thought Yooka Laylee was a good game in a video called "Defending Yooka Laylee". Like the first 8 minutes were spent on listing criticisms people had about the game, and you agreeing with them, and there didn't seem to be that much time devoted to positives or why the criticisms don't matter. I guess the question I wish you answered was: why don't these criticisms matter as much as the positive traits? I know my stance on these things (I also played on day 1), and I know about most of the issues that have been brought up by the community. I want to know about your reasoning; what makes the good aspects better than the bad aspects? Because from my perspective it seems like this video told me about some really big annoyances the game has in great detail with a shorter time devoted to good things, and then told to play it. It doesn't really make a great impression on a viewer who's never heard of this game before. I think if next time you made a point of sticking to the subject of the video, and explaining the why instead of just listing aspects, then you could really go places on the platform.
This series is still pretty young for me and I’m experimenting with the format. To be honest if you’ve seen any of my other defending videos of which this is number 4. I got flack for listing positives and my opinions as I stated the criticisms and it was suggested I put my thoughts at the end. Whereas before I addressed them as I stated them. Granted I kind of felt I didn’t spend enough time on the positives myself so fair critique! Like I said I’m kind of experimenting with the format until it’s just right. Until then I’m putting these out as best I can. Hope you’ll hang in there as I get better!
As a huge B-K fan, this game is pretty disappointing. The devs grew older and clearly lost their youthful, creative spark. The weird part is that, based on how they designed Yooka-Laylee, they seem to have not understood what made B-K so likeable in the first place.
I feel it does a lot right, but I will agree seems like maybe they missed some of what makes BK special and maybe they just aren’t quite sure what that is. I’m all for new blood tho and experimentation which in my mind is the thing that made most N64 games special :) including Banjo
I do get the complaints for the game. The worlds do get a big too big after you expand them. Although it wasn’t a big issue to me. What I can agree on is that stupid bar you get for performing moves. What happened to the other collectibles for flying and being invincible? The bar definitely is a gripe I’ve got too. The retro arcade minigames are meh but not the worst thing I guess. Kartos minecart sections? Decent but not great as you said. I didn’t mention everything in the game but needless to say, I still really like it. And I’m glad we got it despite the issues it has. This is the closest thing we got to Banjo Threeie and it’s still a great game and love letter to old Rare. Anyway, looking forward to your video on Impossible Lair. That’s gonna be a really good one too. 👍🏻
@@jiggylookback I personally feel like banjo tooie has perfectly sized worlds even though a lot of people think they are too big, Yooka Laylee is just a step too far
@@catlunatic2122 I think if they had more collectibles in Tooie (like didn’t bundle all the notes) maybe more jinjos too! Tooies levels wouldn’t be as complained about.
@@jiggylookback now that’s true, I don’t like the approach at notes in tooie. It feels like more of a way to show you where you haven’t been yet in a level, or like a path. I like kazooie where it’s more of an actual collectible and they are not in bundles.
@@catlunatic2122 Steve Mayles said that the game also takes inspiration from Chameleon Twist 2, a game that got a 6 on IGN. So combining that with Banjo, is questionable?????
I personally bought, played and beated both Yooka-Laylee games and while I actually loved both games in their own aspects, still for some reason both games was missing something to me?, unlike Banjo-Kazooie and the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy of games in which I always love to re-play them in any moment of my life and has that feel that I'm playing for first time, sadly Yooka-Laylee doesn't has that, it's feel like those games that you play it once, beat it and move on to the next one, it doesn't have the charm or desire to re-play it again, not even in nostalgic purposes. Contrary to other indies 3D platformers games that I have played before like FreezeMe or Poi in which those has the charm to be re-played and enjoyed again but still that's just me. 😂
I mean to each their own! I personally have replayed Yooka Laylee for the third time now and feel it has tons of charm. But you’re not alone in what you said.
It has all the same downfalls as the original Banjo Kazooie games, except this released in the 2010’s with sky-high expectations baked with years of nostalgia goggles
This was the first game I got when I bought my PS4 almost ten years ago. I never made it past the first world because of the first criticism: worlds too large. It looks like it was a fun game. Maybe someday I’ll go back to it since I still have it.
I got the game on sale for roughly $3. It really could use more time to cook, but my main issue is the vibe wasn’t exactly the same. The music especially didn’t feel quite right. I still had fun with the game but it really needed a bit more personality.
You’re not alone with what you said, but I love the music? Any particular tracks you think are bad? Tribalstack tropics perfectly captures that Banjo feel!
Feels like the Stamina Meter was made for the Nimbo race so you’d have to keep collecting Butterflies, but to my memory, that’s the only part that takes advantage of them as a Stamina refill in the heat of speedy maneuvering. So yeah I’m still not a fan of it. Like the race, not so much the meter when I’m trying to cover distance
My problem with the size wasn’t the size itself but that there was no fast travel. Navigation is so damn tedious on top of that the only way to move faster has a stamina bar! In tooie you had bigger worlds than Kazooie but it was easy to navigate because of the warp pads. There was no such “warp pads” in Yooka Laylee making everything tedious to get to. Plus none of the worlds in Yooka Laylee used the central “monument” idea that Kazooie and Tooie used to help with navigation and orientation. Clanker’s Cavern had Clanker, Witchyworld has the big top tent, Mayahem Temple has the temple, Rusty Bucket bay has the ship, etc.
An excellent and fair point. Have a faster method of moving around would be nice. Worth noting tho you do get the flight ability toward the end but that doesn’t help the rest of the game.
They do kinda do the central monument thing though. You have the main temple in the jungle and the fountain in the casino, but everything around the edges looks near indistinguishable, so the central monument doesn't do much In Witchy World, each attraction is distinct and other similar designed worlds like Spiral Mountain and Cloud Cuckoo also have distinct areas. Levels need landmarks and visually unique areas all over so you can build a mental map.
The primary drawback of the game lies in the vast emptiness of its worlds. While expansive environments can be captivating, they only truly justify their size if they offer ample opportunities for exploration and discovery. Take, for instance, The Legend of Zelda series, renowned for its sprawling overworlds teeming with hidden treasures and mysteries waiting to be unearthed. Should franchises like Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro, or Yooka-Laylee venture into crafting new titles with expansive worlds, it becomes imperative that these environments are densely populated with NPCs and secrets to ensure an engaging and fulfilling experience for players.
The Cons for me I think the best thing that could’ve been done for the Quills is to just cut the number down a little. Not a lot. Now that I’ve replayed it, I’d say 90% of them are in places that either encourage or reward exploration. Then you have things like that ONE quill in Tribalstack that’s all the way around a pillar that has no other Quills on their cliffs. Nothing encourages or piques the mind enough for the average player to find it without a guide. The boss in Capital Cashino I think is what sours most people’s view on it. It would probably be my favorite world in the game without it, but I don’t think it entirely ruins it either. As for the story, what makes the protagonists in Banjo more likeable in spite of the mean spirited jabs is that they are working to a greater good. Yooka and Laylee are just getting a book back for money. I hate the Rextro games. Yes name him Sixtyfourus and have his games just be crappy arcade rejects that have nothing to do with the era he’s constantly referencing. What, No Turok parody, Mario Kart parody, I’ve seen Indie games do better with that idea. Well, smaller indie games. Replacing Grunty with Capitalism is bad, guys. It’s not that funny after a while, I’m sorry Will do the pros later
Replacing grunty with capitalism is funny to me and it still is and honestly i think its a very creative ideas and not just same rare villain over and over again and hey oddworld games did it and so did other media but it was done pretty well just like this game so long as it done right then its not that big of a deal and also i actually like rextro games there really fun super challenging it can be a bit frustrating at times but still enjoy them and as for the casino still on my favorites in the game how big it is it's very explorable and i honestly i feel i'm the only who didn't find that tedious all 😗
I got kinda burned with YL. I was among the first 100 backers on Kickstarter. After delays and they asked me to pick a console - I picked the Wii U. Months and months of delays later I missed their correspondence where they said the Wii U version is cancelled, please pick a different version. When the game launched, I asked if I could switch my platform to the PC version since I didn’t own a switch at launch. Playtonic did not honor my request, so I just didn’t play the game for like the first three years it was out. When I finally got a switch and remembered I had a download code sitting in my email, I was still a little sour about the experience and that probably clouded my rating.
When I look back at Yookaa Laylee, Banjo Kazooie, and DK64, the unfortunate sticking point I realize in retrospect is that they're just not very good or fun *as platformers* specifically. The characters move slowly, they don't jump very high, there's not a lot of core platforming challenges, the slow fall specifically leads to a lot of platforming where you jump, slow fall, and circle around a ledge that's not really small enough to be engaging or missable. DK64's platforming was probably the worst. It got so irritating and exasperating to encounter a set of "stairs" where you would do the stationary crouching high jump, barely touch the ledge of the next stair, and do the long pull yourself up animation, repeatedly. The games felt less like platformers and more like weird variety grab bag games where you move the characters from place to place but most challenges aren't platforming challenges (or were so rudimentary they didn't register as such). I never felt like I was mastering an involved and deep movement system like Mario 64, it was more like a 3D Zelda but with no puzzles or swordplay. I know that being core platformers isn't what people love about these games, but it wouldn't detract from them in a substantial capacity.
I understand what you’re saying…but it’s not about the core movement in these games. Where Mario relies on your quick flips and timed jumps. These style games are more about exploring the space you have and collecting things which is why level design is crucial. Thats why Yooka falls flat for people while Banjo excels. By all counts Tooie expands upon Banjos moveset and allows you more mobility and freedom to try different things. But the levels are a mixed bag. DK64 went further down the collection route so I see why people who aren’t inclined to that dislike it, but people who do like collecting do like it. In a way I guess you’d say it’s more about atmosphere and vibe than making it challenging for players.
@@jiggylookback I guess my complaint is that actually interesting platforming isn't mutually exclusive to exploration, in fact it generally enhances it. It's interesting to find new and alternate ways to reach places, or using fun engaging movement options to navigate the world you're exploring. Movement is the means by which you explore the world, better platforming options reinforces a focus on exploration it doesn't split the focus.
@@tinfoilslacks3750 right. Like Tears of the Kingdom beingm creative to reach and complete goals. I’d be hard pressed to say Banjo didn’t do it right tho. I think in that specific case it’s about level design over the gameplay since as you said it’s more simple.
I played BK a zillion times but even my first playthrough of YL was a slog. I really had to force myself through every level after the first. The visuals of the levels were so unsexy to the eyes too.
@@jiggylookback the "graphic" looks good but the level design aside from the first one is just so boring to look at. The casino and the water level are the worst. Id rather stare at clankers metal ass for an hour than to play these levels again.
@@CoNteMpTone Steve Mayles said that the game also takes inspiration from Chameleon Twist 2, a game that got a 6 on IGN. So combining that with Banjo, is questionable?????
@@orangeslash1667 look, they tried hard to make a spiritual successor to BK but they were 20 years older and didnt have the same juice they had when they were young. Everything was different and the game turned out to be mediocre and not worth mentioning in the future. The game they made after this moved away from BK and towards DKC and it was pretty good. Not Returns or Tropical Freeze level but pretty good. In general, ill cut those guys as much slack as they need. But the game just has to be let go.
@@CoNteMpToneThe another reason is while Rare Staff did work on this. Gregg Mayles had no involvement what so ever. Who is he, he's the original creator. Every Banjo game aside from the GBA game, was directed by him.
@@jesusramirezromo2037 Steve Mayles said that the game also takes inspiration from Chameleon Twist 2, a game that got a 6 on IGN. So combining that with Banjo, is questionable?????
You people have seriously forgotten how Playtonic treated JonTron and people who criticized that decision when they said they wouldn’t get the game because of them removing JonTron? How disappointing, I always HATE it when a company manages to successfully sweep incidents like that under the under the rug as if it never happened. People should be still holding that against them after all.
No people haven’t forgotten. Quite a few people have said that. To be perfectly honest it’s not a big deal to me. Feels petty, but doesn’t impact my experience playing a video game.
If you had a better time now than you did on launch day it's because the game got a lot of patches and QoL improvements like signs telling you where levels are and better flight controls. Cashino boss is still a bitch and a half though lol
I could not remember what it was like at launch but I’m sure it’s way better now haha also the jump from ps4 to pc version makes a difference I’m sure.
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You should do a video about yooka laylee and the impossible lair
@@greenbirdstudios3462 I will at some point!
@@greenbirdstudios3462 Steve Mayles said that the game also takes inspiration from Chameleon Twist 2, a game that got a 6 on IGN. So combining that with Banjo, is questionable?????
However in the impossible Lair instead of Chameleon, it's Yoshi's Island.
I wish this game had more success, it's really fun to play even though it has many missteps you mentioned. I played this and its sequel, its sequel is great too but it's a SNES Donkey Kong Country kind of game, a 2D platformer. Its sequel had an amazing idea though, you would collect pagies to make the final dungeon easier, but you could actually just enter the final dungeon from the beginning but it's extremely tough, you can choose anytime you want to end the game but the catch is that the final dungeon has to be done in one life - my memory may be a little off though. But back to the original game, it felt really fun even though it has flaws. I wish there were more Banjo-Kazooie kind of games, I like the 3D world and being able to choose what you want. These old games felt like going to a buffet as a kid and choosing to do whatever you wanted. Strangely, the voices in Banjo Kazooie were all jumbled but it still sounded pleasing somehow, but for some reason I found most of Yooka-Laylee's voices to be very grating and I don't know why.
Hmm I was ok with their voices but they feel a bit more subdued compared to Banjo. Like they went for it with that series and this they kind of mumbled.
Oh yeah also Trowzer is one of the funniest things ever. We had the level names Necky’s Nuts and Squawk’s Shaft in DKC and its sequel respectively, now we have a whole character to carry on the innuendo legacy. His design I find adorable too
Lol he is pretty good
Trowzer, Capital B and Rextro are easily the best character designs in the game.
Can't say the same about vendi and everyone else.
@@BBWahoo Yeah nothing even screams Vending Machine as a design with Vendi. She looks like she could be SpongeBob’s aunt. Maybe she could’ve had some glass where you can see the Tonics or something.
Thanks for the videos. I know I'm late to the party, but just to give my opinion on some of the things about the game.
1- The ghosts were a really cool addition, having each ghost present a different kind of challenge (which could have increased difficulty as the game progresses), from being invisible, to being in a more hidden location, to fighting him (the red one could even morph into a boss in some late world just for fun). They add a cool change that was missing from the jinjos in Kazooie;
2- I honestly liked the idea of expanding a world, being that the gimmick around the worlds are books whose pages you collect, it makes sense that you could "complete" them if you have enough pagies. My main problem was the execution of the expansion that suffers from the problems you mention in the video;
3- The moves themselves were really solid with few exceptions. For me at least, havind Yooka's ammo (ice ball, fire breath etc) being timed with the last fruit (cannonball, honey or whatever) you ate felt off for me. I'd much rather have an ammo storage system similar to Tooie. That would ad some difficulty to challenges, since you know that you're gonna have to use a tree that the game simply put there for you...;
3.1- The energy/stanima barr is such a horrible ideia in these games, like you said, it 100% percent cuts the flow of gameplay and having the same butteflies that grant you health being used to restore energy (without giving you health) makes no sense;
4- most of the NPCs in each level felt like copy + paste, from the snowmen to shopping carts to slot machines...They had a lot of possibilities for them and I think they really could do better than recicling NPCs and reusing NPCs from different levels. I think this takes away from the worlds in a big way. In kazzoie there were very few NPCs but their quests and interactions felt more unique. In Tooie each NPC felt unique and belonging to the world in some sense (exept the bunnies in Grunty Industries) and by and large, the worlds felt alive in some way that the ones in Yooka don't;
5- Rextro and Kartos were fun for exacly one mini game. Having to do they quest in each world really felt like a chore, expeccially because they didn't seem to belong anywhere. Kartos would've been really cool as a character in a mine level or something (more on that below). Rextro to me was the worst for 2 main reasons:
5.1- even if you've beaten his high score on your first try, for some messed up reason the developer thought that forcing you to play again was a great ideia and it sucked...In Tooie's minigames if you got enough point you could win all the rewards at once in every mini-game;
5.2- Most, not all, but most, of kazooie's and tooie's mini games you played them exacly as you would play the game, same controls, movements and moves. So you are the developers could use a polished gameplay from a platform game to include minigames, in rextro's games you play like a poorly controled arcade that plays entirely different from the main game (and have to do this twice in each world!!!) with poor physics and limited controls;
6- Most bosses were bad as well, with capital B being the only exception. 3 of the 5 bosses of the worlds were basicaly attatched to walls for some reason...;
7- They had a really cool opportunity (that I really wish they use in a next game) of having levels base on literary genres, from detective stories to space adventures to monster and terror stories to knights and romances to fables to fairy tales to wild west to pirate stories...endless possibilities...For some reason I think they tried to do that but didn't really which is a shame since the concept was great... Also more worlds is a better option than bigger ones;
8- Dr Puzz transformations were hit and miss. The school of fish and the boat were my favorites, the other ones not so much;
9- The enemies in each level lacked personality as well, they were basically reskins of the same enemies again...
I actually enjoyed the game...I think my main frustration was with the fact that I can see that they could do a LOT better
I wasn't exactly a Rare fan back in the day (never had a SNES or N64), but I was a mascot platform fan, and I heard nothing but good things about Banjo 1 and 2. So, when I heard that ex-Rare developers were going to be making a spiritual successor and would be taking it to Kickstarter, I put money in and reserved myself a copy.
I actually quite liked the game a bit. Sure, the lack of stages and their oversized nature were a bit of a detriment, but I had a lot of fun climbing the tower and exploring, I went ahead and platinumed the game. Hell, when I heard they were making a sequel, I picked that up without hesitation.
It's a proud piece in my PS4 collection, and I'm an unashamed defender of the game.
Also, I actually thought the universal stamina bar was a good idea. It gives a proper limit on your skills, such as flight and invisibility (lets face it, they'd be overpowered if something like that weren't in place), without a bunch of redundant peripheral mechanics attached to it.
I think having stamina for invisibility and flight makes sense…but not for your fast movement…I’ll stand firm on that one.
I prefer Kazooie and Tooie using specific collectible items for that rather than stamina. So 100 feather to fly 100 eggs to shoot. Things like that.
Even if they made the stamina bar refill faster it would be better for those things.
The real question here is did you go back and play Banjo?
@@jiggylookback I'd agree for the fast movement, but maybe not the charge attack. Gives a massive speed boost PLUS acts as a big attack. That needs to have a limit to keep it from being overly spammed.
Though, yeah, a faster charging bar would be better, but I guess I didn't feel it as much since it's possible to upgrade the bar enough for sporadic use to be negligible.
Also... I dunno, I thought collecting fly feathers, invincible feathers, and eggs kinda felt a bit hollow after a while. I never really used the skills very often, normally because the semi-finite resource only encouraged me to spare what I had and never use the skill outside of what I needed. With YL, I felt free to do what I want, almost whenever I wanted. Flying anywhere felt kinda liberating.
That said, Banjo is an AMAZING game (with the exception of Bubblegloop Swamp... hate that place), and I think Tooie is just alright.
I pretty much echo most of what you said.
It ain’t perfect but it is fun.
Though we do need to make sure we point out the flaws so the devs (and other developers) know what not to do for a fun time.
EXACTLY! That’s why I went so far with the stamina bar. In my mind that’s the biggest flaw of the game.
My biggest problems were
- Not enough collectibles and landmarks: The worlds weren't just big, they were empty. Some collectibles should be hidden and encourage exploration and some should be placed to lead players. The worlds also were easy to get lost in because of how samey everything looked. Good luck finding what edge of Tribalstack you are at.
- The lack of teleport pads or fast travel: Especially if you make big world's this is a mandatory thing for games. Even Mario Odyssey has fast travel.
- Everything being on an energy meter: It's fine for flying, but anything else shouldn't have been. Flying should have been tied to a collectible again.
- The sound was really obnoxious at times: The pagey reveal theme is something I'll be happy if I never hear again.
- The mini-games are terrible: The casino mini-game does not function because collision desynchs from what you see.
- Too many moves that do the same things: Things that break glass being the most notable.
- Enemies respawn really fast: At least make fighting them have a point even if it's that they disappear for 5-10 minutes. These are adventure games, not beat em ups.
The enemies respawning quickly is an annoying thing. I agree and didn’t really mention that one.
Some sort of Tooie like warp pad system probably would have been good!
I think the moveset is fine tho, but I could see adding maybe more unique ones especially with your base attacks.
Stamina bars can go away forever…
I think that the collectables were handled fairly well. You said that some collectables should be hidden while others should lead you to where you're supposed to go, and in my experience, that's exactly what happened. There were tons of trails of quills littered along pathways, though you sometimes had to jump to get them. Honestly, the worlds of Banjo-Tooie felt way emptier than in Yooka-Laylee. Banjo-Tooie's worlds effectively only had 17 note collectibles in them (16 note bundles plus a treble clef), and with the way the world sizes were scaled up from BK, 10 jiggies was entirely too few. YL has 200 separate individual quills and 25 pagies per world.
I thought about half the minigames were fun. I agree about the casino one though. It was a great concept, but it just didn't function well. If they gave you either unlimited rolling or a slightly faster base run speed so you could outrun the scroll, it would've been fine. To have a fixed scrolling segment where you can't outrun the scroll without using stamina-consuming moves is almost unheard of.
I don't think I got lost in levels all that much. Maybe a little bit? Like in the Icymetric Palace? Or a little bit in Moodymaze Marsh? Personally, I found that if I entered each world once before expanding it, got as much as I could, left, progressed through the game a bit to unlock more moves, and then came back a little later to expand the world, the world would feel much more manageable. I got 9 pagies and over 100 quills in base Tribalstack and then didn't even bother to expand Tribalstack until after unlocking both moves in Glitterglace plus the water bubble move, and then expanded Tribalstack felt very easy to find my way around. Since the base version gives you the basic layout, and the expanded version mostly just expands a few of the buildings upward, it didn't confuse me that much. All of the other levels except maybe Moodymaze Marsh also have layouts where it's fairly easy to find where you are.
I agree about the respawning enemies, though actually, my biggest criticism of the enemies in this game is their lack of variety and the fact that they don't change much from level to level except in appearance. Both of the Banjo-Kazooie games had far better enemy variety. Bubblegloop Swamp had the frogs and dragonflies, Freezeezy Peak had snowmen and ice cubes, Gobi Valley had mummies and mummy hands, Mad Monster Mansion had skeletons (which, I suppose, were like mummies), skeletal versions of enemies not seen since Clanker's Cavern, and ghosts that go through walls... Most of the difficult enemies in Galleon Galaxy in Yooka-Laylee were introduced back in Tribalstack.
One thing I will always praise Yooka-Laylee for, though, is putting 20 pagies in the hub world. Banjo-Kazooie only had the first jiggy plus 9 witch switch jiggies in the hub world, so most of the work in finding jiggies was actually finding the witch switches in the levels and watching the game show you where to get a jiggy. Banjo-Tooie simply counted the jinjo family jiggies as hub world jiggies, so in actuality, Isle of Hags only had 1 jiggy--the required one at the beginning. YL's hub world has 20 pagies that are completely natural and fully native to the hub world, which made exploring the hub world feel much more rewarding to me.
Wow, this game is getting a remake! Sweet.
The Pros for me
Aside from Tribalstack, which I think is the only stage where the emptiness problem is that bad, most of the levels are really well designed for both navigation and exploration. Glitterglaze Glacier having its expansion be a series of interior mazes that have no bearing on navigating the rest of the stage was brilliant in keeping the overall size manageable. Moodymaze Marsh’s areas are all very well set apart so that it’s easy to tell where you’ve been and where you should be going just from taking a look around. Capital Cashino has some great theming and the layout is very straightforward, Tribalstack done right in that sense. Nothing feels like it’s just there to waste your rolling stamina, the puzzles make good use of the space. Galleon Galaxy feels big in a way that’s exciting instead of barren, thanks to the overall variety in challenges.
Kirhope’s soundtrack with contributions by Wise is on point as usual. Especially like Glitterglaze Glacier and Capital Cashino’s themes. Also Hivory Towers
The writing starts kinda meh for me but really picks up as the game goes on. Except for the business jokes.
I actually like the quizzes, but I always have. Still, they’re far less punishing than the end of game quizzes in Banjo, so I never thought the complaint was justified.
Also Capital Cashino again is just really good. The slots having different patterns to figure out was a simple but clever way of keeping that aspect from growing stale, the platforming has a lot of creativity, Capital B in disguise forced to give you Pagies is hilarious, just a wonderful stage.
See we already have different opinions on the worlds. Tribalstack is my fav world! Which confirms my point in the video haha!
I’m glad you support the soundtrack cause I dig it and I’m surprised some don’t. Like being too Banjoish is a bad thing? People are crazy sometimes!
@@jiggylookbackI’d like it more if we didn’t have the Stamina meter, so we agree on that.
I hope you do decide to do a video on Impossible Lair.
Awesome video as always mate
Thanks for always coming in and watching! I probably will at some point but moving to another game. The grind continues!
I honestly liked how big the levels were, I think it was perfectly justified given how varied each activity was when it came to the pagies. I guess a lot of people find getting lost in things too anxiety enducing but I think when you've played enough metroidvanias or souls games this kinda thing becomes welcome to me.
I feel the same way
The funny thing is, I'm pretty sure the stamina bar was added due to feedback from the toybox demo because people didn't like feeling compelled to roll everywhere, or something. I don't *quite* remember. I might be wrong about that, but at the very least I remember the discussion back in the day about people being annoyed by constantly talon trotting in Banjo-Kazooie and that *was* something they wanted to fix. I don't know if a stamina bar was the right method, though.
Dang looking into the development and stuff would be really cool. You may have just made me really want to do that :)
@@jiggylookback Well if you ever decide to do the research and make a video on it, I'd be interested!
A lot of development decisions had some pretty sound logic behind them, but unfortunately just seemed to fall flat in execution. Like the expandable worlds was supposed to be to appeal to people who preferred smaller worlds like Kazooie, over Tooie's massive worlds.
(I still like this game a lot, though)
@@Whithbrin355 yeah it sounds cool. Maybe I can get some of the team to give some tidbits
I recently plays a 2nd run of the game, not finished yet, but i feel the game a very good one...
Yooka-Laylee 1 is basically that type of game where it is only worth to 100% complete only the 1st time, and that's nice too, because sometimes you just need just to play until the final boss and call it a day... nvn
Yeah for sure!!
The 2017 Yooka is good but the new 2D one was a bad step to take. I speedrun DK64 a collectathon, with that said I fully back Banjo and any game that takes after it. You just don’t get them like you used to. They are frowned upon for the length and concept they show. And you can compare it to many other games that are not collectathons and people like them even if remarkably worse which feels unfair. Just give it more time to sit in the pan. I know you can see it’s been many years. But the right people/community will come when it’s time. Because games like this are timeless, they deserve a chance ❤
That they do
I’d like Impossible Lair a lot more if it wasn’t for the hub that’s still trying to be an adventure game. I like a certain flow in my side scrollers, and that shoots it in the foot for me. I don’t mind 3D platformers focusing more on puzzle solving, but it definitely wasn’t the strength of the Donkey Kong Country games the main stages were emulating, and it feels very mismatched and kinda hard to stay invested in for me as a result
It's so sad that to this day, the awful aftertaste that I had after 100%ing this game still hasn't subsided. 😅
Some things I like to add:
- On top of the needlessly big worlds, the structure of them and how the locations of the quests are implemented is just so unfitting for a collectathon. In Breath of the Wild, there is this principle that the player has always multiple points of interests visible, no matter where they are. And Banjo Kazooie did a suprisingly amazing job at this, even for its time. In YL, not only did the devs do a terrible job using the quills as waymarkers but the points of interests are either all over the place or just not even existent. Sometimes are they blocked from view with no reason (the casino level easily being the biggest offender) or are just represented by some switches to do a hoop parcour or NPCs that just stand around like they don't even belong there.
-... which perfectly bridges over to my next point, which only Stop Skeletons from Fighting nailed: Everything seems so sterile, non-interactive and unintuitive. Player's actions barely interact with the world or change it in any way. No christmas tree to get inside, no sphinx that needs a nose clearing, no world hazards that the player can avoid by using the transformation. One could almost make the argument that whoever designed the worlds and whoever designed the quests never talked to each other during developement.
The worlds do seem to be the biggest thing. I’m with you.
"Could use more time to cook" sums up this entire experience. This is one of the most expensive prototypes and could use more beta testing and about year to get up to Banjo Kazooie standards. Not exactly sure what happened here but it exists. 😅
Basically. I still had fun tho :)
Being different doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad; it's all in how you execute it.
True!
Happy that you mentioned the Quizzes. Having three of them in one game kinda misses the point, so does the presentation of the quiz.
While all of the Quizzes in the Banjo Games and Yooka-Laylee do ask you out about the world you experienced they are all so different by presentation and significance.
In Banjo Kazooie it started in its best iteration - It was a BIG gameshow with viewers watching you from above and a bombastic, fiery and colorful presentation. Considering that you had to prove your knowledge about the game AND the Grunty facts from the Lair of the mean old hag, and that it is being followed directly by credits, it feels like a final boss in Quiz Show form. There is a reason why my little brother and I always had a save file only for the quiz show. It was THAT good.
Tooie already made the whole experience a little bit smaller by adding Grunty's siblings, who could have been a great boss fight if it weren't for their sister quiz. The presentation is less bombastic and almost feels like Rare actually had no real idea on how to implement Blobelly and Mingella properly in the time they were given to develop the game.
Nuts and Bolts had L.O.G. just say out loud that the Quiz was inferior than the other ones, thanks for being honest there Rare.
The way Yooka Laylee did the quizzes... well you described it adequately yourself. They just do not feel better if you have to do them several times.
They are better than what L.O.G. had to offer, at least.
Yeah I think one at the end is the right way to go and I actually liked they were shorter. I almost would prefer one 15-20 point quiz. And also the questions like how many quills have you collected shouldn’t be a thing. Those are hard to answer if you don’t know..I think level specific and character specific ones are best.
Man, I love this game. the music alone makes me feel like a little kid sitting and playing Banjo or Spyro.
I personally loved the game, it was just a spark that ignited a love for it, probably one of the only games I'd replay it a few times
I remember seeing the preview screenshot and think "Oh my God, they are finally make Banjo-Threeie !" Guess they kind of did !
While I do prefer Banjo-Kazooie more I would love to see a sequel where they can correct there flaws.
Yeah me too!
Enjoyed the video good sir very professional, I loved this game 👍🏼 I think all games have a few frustrating moments but if someone sticks through till the end I think they'd see its a good game. Great review, really hope we get Twooka Laylee before we're 100. Like DK64 I think the first Yooka Laylee has a somewhat bad reputation due to big TH-camrs who I think didn't give it a fair shot trashing it but after its on sale like 24/7 hopefully more people played it by now and more people actually beat the game
Yeah people should play it! It does a lot right and it’s not fair for those to say it’s not BK and is trash lol. I just don’t get it sometimes. I had fun!
Wow! I remember seeing this game I never played it and I had no clue it was made by the team that made banjo kazooie 😅 I learned something new✨ today
Yep! It’s got a remake just announced like two days ago coming so I highly suggest you wait and play that! :) Yooka Replaylee
I was acually really excited too with this game. It feels really close the original banjo kazooie game. Now if people are saying this game doesnt feel like banjo tooie then i can see it. but i feel like Yooka Laylee did what it was suppose to do.
Me too. Feel like since then we’ve gotten a lot of indie 3d platformers and they keep coming.
One issue I definitely had when going into it for the first time is the opening cutscene feels like it drags and takes too long to get to main conflict. With Banjo and Tooie, they establish the conflict pretty effectively while being concise, then you get to Yooka and the cutscene goes on for what feels like 10 minutes, with so much dialogue to keep extending the runtime of the cutscene.
I also just don't find Capital B all that entertaining of a villain, he just comes off as the cliché evil CEO archetype we've seen many times before and does very little to stand out from the rest. Grunty was a charming vain rhyming witch, you hate what she does, but she has fun dialogue, and you wonder what she's gonna rhyme about next. Capital B just talks about all the things he does to ruin things for his his employees and it's not nearly as charming.
I just wish They would make a sequal so we can see them truly shine
It would be great.
I love so much of this game. I don't mind the expanding worlds because that encourages me to explore the other levels and return to find new things. It made the levels feel more filled with secrets than they already were. I just wish the arcade and minecart weren't in the game.
I think the arcade should have been 1 and done. The minecart could be cool but needs better controls.
Fuck yeah. Played Kazooie and Tooie last year and played this right after. It’s great and totally stands up as a worthy successor. Even if it’s not quite as good it has its own innovations to add that are worth appreciating.
Dope!!
Great video, Jiggy! It's been awhile since I've looked at this game, but it's all coming back to me now.
I'll always appreciate how this game scratches the same Banjo/ DK64 itch. While also having similar flaws lol. But there's no denying that characters, worlds, and music go a long way into making this game fun!
I should really beat the final boss... I made it to the end, then 2020 happened and I lost interest in every game I was playing at that time 🤷♂️
Duuuuudddeee you gotta beat the final boss. I’ve been there in games. Honestly he’s kind of tough until you figure out every phase.
@@jiggylookback you have me intrigued! I'm sure I'll need time to adjust to the controls and moveset. But it's on my Switch, so it'll be easy to get back into!
I always liked the game. I played through it back when it released and had a good time and didn't think much about it. Was really surprised how negative the responses online were after the fact.
I need to give it another try but this game sadly left me cold, I was excited to try it as I adore the Banjo-Kazooie games. I recently purchased the sequel though.
Dang that’s sad. Haven’t played it yet but The Impossible Lair is like DK Country! Supposedly really good!
Excellent video! I agree with a lot of your points, but I’m also wondering just how much you were actually defending the game. In any case, yes, this is a good game, and I'm certain they could make an excellent one in the future.
Tbh I used to put my opinions on every point but people seemed to have a fit when I justified flaws with my opinions so my format is now:
Show initial reviews
State all the negative comments while briefly mentioning some positive aspects of those designs and decisions
Then end with my opinion on what makes the game great.
It’s sort of a twist on a retrospective.
Was waiting for this one!
Hope you like it!
Another fantastic video! Some great points and agree with them all!
Thank you! Always glad to know my work is appreciated!
Another great video, and when I played this game 5 months ago I really enjoyed playing the game. I do agree that the stamina bar shouldn't have been in the game when using the awesome fast move, and there should have been more levels and Playtonic should have not added the expansions because I don't mind doing backtracking in some games but the game could have been more popular with more levels, and not so many hard challenges but I still love the Yooka-Laylee game @Jiggylookback.
Thanks so much for watching! Glad I’m not the only who thinks the stamina bar was a mistake haha.
@@jiggylookback Yeah of course
I enjoy this game I got every single feather and I did buy every single trousers moves but it did not give me the last achievement
The biggest reason I feel this game got hate was it was too ambitious for what it was and the stretch goals that was added. Most of the things people complained about were all things they added in the stretch goals
Yo jiggy! What about possibly doing the turok series or the racing series rush, on the 64 💪🏽
Turok would be a really cool series. I have to play them all. But I love dinosaurs.🦕
I find this as a very suitable review of the game focusing on the common conceptions of the game, giving a fair look at everything, sometimes I find people who absolutely hate everything about the game just for not being literally Banjo-Kazooie with the models swapped, or even stupider, for being too much like the old Rare games and on the other side, people who defend absolutely everything the game has to offer.
I'm on the middle ground, as someone who loves DK64 and B-T I find a lot of appeal for me in the game, but I KNOW it has many issues that for someone without nostalgia or attachment to it will find them just as aged/poor game design. And the funny thing here is that Playtonic didn't learn from the mistakes of DK64, B-T and B-K:NnB, this game would have been much better if it was smaller on pretty much everything.
Smaller worlds, less collectables, less minigames, less transformations, Just focus on the main core of the game, small challenges that are done fairly quick that require the player to beat some obstacles or collect a few items, just like in the original Banjo-Kazooie.
Exactly! I want this game to have a fair shake. It’s not Banjo. Just Banjo inspired. It has flaws and some we’ve seen before but it isn’t inherently bad. I think it’s worth a play :)
@@jiggylookback Yeah, I still enjoy it a lot and I think playing it casually is the best way to enjoy it, so I would still recommend it to someone who likes collecthatons or platformers like Mario.
i actually find the level-expansion mechanic pretty clever.
as i kid i got lost in the huge banjo/dk64 levels a lot - but with this expansion-mechanic you can first get familiar with the level and once you can orient yourself / found everything in the "small" version, you can expand. Pretty clever! 🙂
The idea of it I like…it just doesn’t feel right. Maybe that is a result of the level design itself? Also popping out of the world to expand it just feels off…
I really like the idea of the expansion mechanic as a new game plus option to add replay value! Could be a reward for 100% the game!
Unrelated to the video, but seeing as you love the n64 era and platforming games, you should try rocket robot on wheels. Its a lesser known 3d platformer, but its super fun and has a nostalgic feel to it even if you never played it as a kid. Very similar to banjo kazooie and sm64
If you take a peek at my channel I actually did a retrospective on it!
@@jiggylookback oh sweet I don't know how I missed it
@@DemonWhisper1 it’s up there! :)
I just had a revelation. People who dislike Tooie, probably only dislike it because they played this game, and are transferring this game's shortcomings to Tooie unfairly. That would also explain why the hate for Tooie only started in the last 5ish years... it was because of Yooka Laylee....
I actually really enjoyed this game, it was solid in core design, art style, etc. But I did have issues with the world layouts, I really disliked the idea of expanding worlds rather than having separate new worlds, I felt the transformations were all very lackluster. Yet at it's core, it was still an amazing Banjo nostalgia trip, I even replayed it to 100% a few years back, and I had a blast with it.
My biggest gripe about the game is the fact you can’t even 100 percent level 1 till you get a power up from the casino level. That kills the flow of a collecthathon. The reason we’re in these levels is to collect everything so why not keep it how BK did where we could complete a level in 1 go outside of freezeezy peak. I just think this design goes against collecthathons. Its not a surprise why BK is way more loved than tooie, dk64, yookah, because they perfected the collecthathon formula in that game
Yeah the taking us out of levels to expand them and go back in just feels tedious. I’d rather have 10 smaller levels than 5 big ones as well.
@@jiggylookback I’m right with you ! But let’s say if the levels are big at least make the collectibles fill out the world and have flow. Empty areas simply become filler and become more useless land to traverse through. I just feel like they keep going against the grain. The formula was perfect in BK so build upon that
@@MR.__G right! Definitely need more to fill it out!
The sequel they made is way better than this game
it's a 2D game that plays similar to Donkey Kong Country and it has a lot of good fresh ideas
Yeah that’s what everyone seems to say.
Also, the Yooka-Laylee game will be appearing up high in the Top 20 of my own personal Top 500 - My Favourite Games of All Time list countdown in 3 months time @Jiggylookback.
That’s dope! Glad to hear someone likes it that much!
@@jiggylookback Yeah, I do
I want a sequel to this so bad! I love this game. I don't understand the hate! And no, a 2d game doesn't count, I want a proper 3D sequel!
I also want a proper 3d sequel
it wasn't the stamina gauge itself that upset me in this game
it was the fact it was a hassle to refill it, if it passively refilled at a good pace then having it would make more sense. they already had it right with being able to upgrade the size of it, so that part was perfect. but having to refill it by touching butterflies to me was an uneeded extra step *edit* I forgot it can refill passively but that itself is also a problem since it takes so long just to recharge on its own, it should always be refilling to keep the flow going
your comparison to Zelda only applies to Skyward sword in my eyes since in Skyward Sword it was an extra step that doesn't help enhance the gameplay, only hinder it. especially when it drains so fast and refills so slowly and NO way to upgrade it. potions don't help since the max you can get out of it is like 6 minutes I think? but even then that's a bandaid on a self inflicted blemish
now as for BotW/TotK, it not only drains much slower doing anything in this game AND refills much faster even if you drain it completely, but the stamina wheel itself can be upgrade to 3 wheels and the stamina is more valuable since it enhances your passive abilities like charge attacks for weapons, gliding distance, swimming distance and climbing distance. add to the fact you can use up more stamina with some speed up manuvers while climbing and swimming and you now see the Stamina wheel is a valuable resource tool that lets you traverse your environment in as creative a way as you make of it. so stamina fits Botw/TotK much better since it was better utilized as a TOOL to help you, not hinder you. plus for the open world zelda games specifically, they were a nessisary limit to place on your character since if you had unlimited stamina, then you'd be able to glide and climb forever, destroying world and level design and also discouraging creativity in traversal.
now we circle back to Yooka-Laylee where you are in a 3D platformer and it's a stamina bar that doesn't recharge passively, doesn't enhance your passive abilities and it's just a limit on your abilities, and now we see the issue here on how it doesn't help you perform better, it just stops you from doing things altogether. now if we could say roll around in the ball all the time but then if you hold the sprint button down to go faster and THAT used up energy, THAT'D make more sense for the Stamina bar in Yooka-laylee to be a useful addition, moreso if the butterflies were only for health and not recharging it or if the bar itself charged back up quicker to keep the pace up
Skyward Sword’s was the worst,
I personally get annoyed with the stamina bar in any game, but TOTK and BOTW does replenish fast enough. However as someone who likes to run I hate that particularly uses stamina. In ocarina of time I used to run and roll everywhere. I miss that.
@@jiggylookback fair point but OoT is a different kind of game
BotW/TotK embraced environment traversal compared to OoT
here, look at it this way
Running helps you go faster but without using it, you still move at a decent pace and speed up potions that you can make on the fly help go faster
now imagine if the act of MOVING drained stamina
that's what made rolling around in the ball annoying
and the absolute WORST example of a stamina meter I've seen was in Ubisoft's "Skull and Bones" game
your BOAT has stamina....your BOAT...HAS...STAMINA
the imagine having to put away your sail in Wind Waker to let the King of the Red Lions catch his breath
THAT'S bad use of stamina
BotW/TotK doesn't do that, stamina is used as a tool and as a means of extending/enhancing traversal
not as a limit to your movement
I think the maps weren't as good/memorable as in banjo Kazooie, but I got what I wanted out of the game. more banjo Kazooie gameplay. so I'm satisfied with it, but now I want more
Agreed
I like this game. It’s better than Nuts and Bolts
I think I agree :P
I wish the worlds weren't too big. Finding collectibles takes forever. The mini-games are forgettable and I found the mini-games in DK64 and B-T to be way more enjoyable. Having played this the second time, the only major flaw is the size of the worlds and how it's so annoying to find all the collectibles. I would've preferred a game with smaller worlds. Maybe 10 of them, instead of just 5 large ones. Maybe also stick with 10 Peiges per level, instead of 25. Having a total of 110 Peiges, instead of 150 would've been better.
The first 3D collect-a-thon (none other than Super Mario 64) had 15 worlds and this was back in 1996. Given this was based off what Banjo-Threeie would've been like, had it came out on GameCube or Xbox instead of what later became Nuts & Bolts on the Xbox 360, you'd think they'd continue where B-T left off, in terms of evolving and expanding gameplay.
There are plenty of issues with Yooka Laylee, and I really hope most of those kinks get ironed out in the remake. But the experience of romping about a big, interesting world, going wherever and figuring out the what to do in that classic N64 platformer style is faithfully captured. It delivered on the intended experience you want from the genre.
I guess I have more respect for it than something like "Sticker Star", because even though it's a much more polished game, the ideas at its core are terrible. You couldn't fix them with a remake...
Galion Galaxy I think that's where the boat was at I think it said to come back in 2024 to find out the secret I don't remember the year but I know that there was a year we were supposed to go back
For me the biggest problem is how it looks. I'm trying to play it on Nintendo Switch lite and something about the game just messes with my eyes really bad. I can't focus my eyes on things and after a while my head hurts, I feel sick and start sweating. I want to see what the games like but it literally makes me uncomfortable to play and it doesn't seem like it's going to get any updates that could address this issue.
I can’t speak to the switch version. But that sucks :( on pc it’s beautiful
I forget that part with the boat is at a certain year we were supposed to go back to that same spot I wonder what was that secret it said 2020 something but I don't remember what year we were supposed to come back was it 2024 where was that spot to I hope you cover it I'm about to watch it we were supposed to go back in a certain year to figure out the secret around that bolt I almost forgot about it please cover it or talk about it in a future video
I just remembered about the secret
I keep hearing lots of positive things about impossible lair; part of me wonders if you’ll give it a perfect score like everybody else?
I’ll need to play it
Yooka Laylee was huge act of fan service from a very dedicated and small gaming studio. And all it gets is so much shit. That's really not fair.
Yes I agree. I hope replaylee can get enough traction.
I almost had every single achievement but that's one achievements was glitching out on Xbox getting all of trousers moves I bought every single move but it glitched out I'm missing one achievement I didn't go back to collected but I did like this game
1:06 LOOK THERE I AM GARY!!
There you are!! Haha
@@jiggylookbacklol no but seriously, you know you definitely give me a better outlook on this game. You know what I think I'll do? I'll give it another go and come back with an open mind . Excellent video! You did fantastic!
That’s my goal with these! Love that!
I like this video
Well thank you so much! I really appreciate that!
I disliked the minecart sections, and the handling on yooka's roll. I also agree about stamina bars being a pain.
Overall, a fun game though.
Another great video, keep up the good work! 👍🏻
Yeah stamina bars can go get flushed down the toilet! Thanks so much! I appreciate you watching!!
Great video man
Thanks man!!
So I'm at 99 percent something like this either 95 or 99 I would have to play the game all over again I don't mind doing it but I've been playing other games just to get one achievement that got glitched out I like the game I'm thinking about going back to it though
I really liked your other « defending » videos, but this one felt only like ‘yeah the game’s objectively not that good but i had fun’
Also, gameplay appart, i must say that I felt that some (chara)designs were TOTALLY off the mark…
And the cheatcode you’re talking about is NOT making it look like a n64 game
It only somehow removes textures and adds some horrible filtre… i tried playing with it and disabled it after 20mins cuz my eyes were hurting 😭
Sorry to hear that. I got too caught up with negative comments and tried to switch up the format on this one and think it just caused me to not give the positive takes as much.
Apologies I’ll do better for future ones.
This guy gets it! 🙂
Yup I like Yooka-Laylee😃
Heck yeah
@@jiggylookback Still enjoy it on switch lite😃
I liked this game a lot even though i hated it back then when i first bought it, i'm glad i gave it another try! But the biggest issues for me where the generic,bland and poorly animated enemies which are basically a re-skin in each world. I also didn't like the animations of the NPC's since it feels like they are just some sort of puppets. Also I HATED the noises of the NPC's while i loved them in Banjo, since they are so extremely annoying here for some reason especially this knight pig with a candy and trowzer! I'm happy Yooka and Laylee were the ones i liked since they are the main duo. Since your were already mention it in the video, i also hated the minigames and Karto. It would be totally fine if you only have to do Rextro once in each world and Karto maybe in 3 worlds. Atleast they tried something special with him in the Cashino world. Other than that i liked the expanded world idea but after world 2 you can simply unlock it directly without going in once which takes the idea of that gimmick away. I would say this game comes pretty close to Banjo here and there but should be treated as an own game instead calling it a Banjo knock-off. Great video and thank you for making the idea of defending this game as video a thing! :D
Thanks so much for watching! I’m with you on a lot of your points! Though I personally was never annoyed by NPC noises you aren’t the first to say something like that.
Glad you gave the game another try!
Never got to play this one
You should go back and try it. It’s always super cheap if not free sometimes.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Yooka Laylee. I have the PC version.
That’s what I played here.
I love the game.
The only thing I didn't like is the mediocore plot with amazing characters.
I don't mind big levels. But unlike Tooie, the big levels in Yooka Laylee so similar layout wise that it's easy to get lost.
Yeah the level thing I agree with
I turned 37 on Saturday, and as far as video game consoles go, the last one I had was 16-bit, so N64 is still "the future" for me, and I have no idea everything that came after. I hope at some point with my son (who is currently 1 year and 4 months old) we will discover this and other great games that I missed at the time. In any case, the videos on this channel are always a guarantee of having a good time
I love that! And happy belated birthday my friend! Share those experiences to make them even more special :)
@@jiggylookback ¡Muchas gracias! 😊
Do not Defend this game....
Start to Support Replaylee instead :)
Edit: For me the worst Level was the casino: Not because it was bad, but because of the Lags that were only in this Level.
Now a bad Joke: The Video only goes 10:11 minutes because of his Stamina bar gone down.
The game was pretty meh for me. But I love it's characters. Hat in Time is the better 3D platformer of 2017 for me. I hope we get a Yooka Laylee 2 that improves on everything.
I’ll do a hat in time video soon! Just gotta play through it! People can’t talk about Yooka without it it seems :)
Lol good to hear the stamina rant in a video. Only games that should have a stamina bar are realistic games / dark souls. Dark souls only gets a pass because it's a big part of the gameplay. Otherwise get rid of it!
I’d agree 100%. For real why do they make this a thing? I hate them. Lol
What annoys me the most is I hear a lot of people slate this game yet have nothing but praise for A Hat in Time. Don't get me wrong I love both games but I've found the complaints people have about Yoola Laylee apply to A Hat in Time too
I also heard a lot of that too! So I can confirm!
imo what saves AHIT is the tight ass controls and that the devs didn't sell it as the spiritual successor of ONE N64 collectathon game but as a love letter to 3D Platformers in general.
I have my issues with it (the story sucks, the ending is unrewarding, some of the level gimmicks overstay their welcome, etc) but it was made by a small indie team, not by AAA veterans.
@metroided34 I preferred the controls in YL personally, I do appreciate the originality and the fact its a less experienced team works in AHIT's favour and I happily admit YL's flaws and maybe BK being my favourite game ever is why I have the bias. But if I was to look at both games with no context of their backgrounds then both are great but they both have a lot of flaws
I think Yooka Laylee is better than Banjo Kazooie and Tooie
@@MYCUH6 whoa. Thats wild, I’ll disagree, but respect your opinion. I don’t dislike Yooka by any means.
So I appreciate the video, but I wish you divulged a bit more on why you thought Yooka Laylee was a good game in a video called "Defending Yooka Laylee".
Like the first 8 minutes were spent on listing criticisms people had about the game, and you agreeing with them, and there didn't seem to be that much time devoted to positives or why the criticisms don't matter.
I guess the question I wish you answered was: why don't these criticisms matter as much as the positive traits?
I know my stance on these things (I also played on day 1), and I know about most of the issues that have been brought up by the community. I want to know about your reasoning; what makes the good aspects better than the bad aspects? Because from my perspective it seems like this video told me about some really big annoyances the game has in great detail with a shorter time devoted to good things, and then told to play it. It doesn't really make a great impression on a viewer who's never heard of this game before.
I think if next time you made a point of sticking to the subject of the video, and explaining the why instead of just listing aspects, then you could really go places on the platform.
This series is still pretty young for me and I’m experimenting with the format.
To be honest if you’ve seen any of my other defending videos of which this is number 4. I got flack for listing positives and my opinions as I stated the criticisms and it was suggested I put my thoughts at the end. Whereas before I addressed them as I stated them.
Granted I kind of felt I didn’t spend enough time on the positives myself so fair critique! Like I said I’m kind of experimenting with the format until it’s just right. Until then I’m putting these out as best I can.
Hope you’ll hang in there as I get better!
It was ok, but it had the potential to be great.
I would have preffered smaller but more worlds.
The minecart games were so annoying.
As a huge B-K fan, this game is pretty disappointing. The devs grew older and clearly lost their youthful, creative spark. The weird part is that, based on how they designed Yooka-Laylee, they seem to have not understood what made B-K so likeable in the first place.
I feel it does a lot right, but I will agree seems like maybe they missed some of what makes BK special and maybe they just aren’t quite sure what that is.
I’m all for new blood tho and experimentation which in my mind is the thing that made most N64 games special :) including Banjo
Yeah you know better than the devs themselves who made the Banjo Kazooie games 🤦♂️🐂💩🤡
Since you understand it better (allegedly) how about you tell us ?
I always want yooka laylee in smash
It would be awesome
I personally looked Yooka Laylee. So i was drawn to the title of this video, but the video seems way more negative than posertive.
Fair. I didn’t say enough positive things, but I do also like Yooka Laylee. Waiting for the remake to see how it improves on the original.
I do get the complaints for the game. The worlds do get a big too big after you expand them. Although it wasn’t a big issue to me.
What I can agree on is that stupid bar you get for performing moves. What happened to the other collectibles for flying and being invincible? The bar definitely is a gripe I’ve got too.
The retro arcade minigames are meh but not the worst thing I guess. Kartos minecart sections? Decent but not great as you said.
I didn’t mention everything in the game but needless to say, I still really like it. And I’m glad we got it despite the issues it has. This is the closest thing we got to Banjo Threeie and it’s still a great game and love letter to old Rare.
Anyway, looking forward to your video on Impossible Lair. That’s gonna be a really good one too. 👍🏻
Exactly! It’s got its faults but at the end of the day it does have charm and I had fun!
I was working a lot so I missed this video but I like this game I don't care what anybody says
Well I’m glad you came back! Hope you liked it!
@@jiggylookback yes I did like your video
I’ve never played it, but I agree that there should be more worlds that don’t have expansions. I don’t really see the point in them
Yeah more levels!
@@jiggylookback I personally feel like banjo tooie has perfectly sized worlds even though a lot of people think they are too big, Yooka Laylee is just a step too far
@@catlunatic2122 I think if they had more collectibles in Tooie (like didn’t bundle all the notes) maybe more jinjos too! Tooies levels wouldn’t be as complained about.
@@jiggylookback now that’s true, I don’t like the approach at notes in tooie. It feels like more of a way to show you where you haven’t been yet in a level, or like a path. I like kazooie where it’s more of an actual collectible and they are not in bundles.
@@catlunatic2122 Steve Mayles said that the game also takes inspiration from Chameleon Twist 2, a game that got a 6 on IGN. So combining that with Banjo, is questionable?????
I personally bought, played and beated both Yooka-Laylee games and while I actually loved both games in their own aspects, still for some reason both games was missing something to me?, unlike Banjo-Kazooie and the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy of games in which I always love to re-play them in any moment of my life and has that feel that I'm playing for first time, sadly Yooka-Laylee doesn't has that, it's feel like those games that you play it once, beat it and move on to the next one, it doesn't have the charm or desire to re-play it again, not even in nostalgic purposes.
Contrary to other indies 3D platformers games that I have played before like FreezeMe or Poi in which those has the charm to be re-played and enjoyed again but still that's just me. 😂
I mean to each their own! I personally have replayed Yooka Laylee for the third time now and feel it has tons of charm. But you’re not alone in what you said.
This game could use two more levels. Still really enjoyed it tho.
I would say add as many as there are expansions. Let’s get to 10!
It has all the same downfalls as the original Banjo Kazooie games, except this released in the 2010’s with sky-high expectations baked with years of nostalgia goggles
This was the first game I got when I bought my PS4 almost ten years ago. I never made it past the first world because of the first criticism: worlds too large. It looks like it was a fun game. Maybe someday I’ll go back to it since I still have it.
You really should! It’s a fun experience.
I got the game on sale for roughly $3. It really could use more time to cook, but my main issue is the vibe wasn’t exactly the same. The music especially didn’t feel quite right. I still had fun with the game but it really needed a bit more personality.
You’re not alone with what you said, but I love the music? Any particular tracks you think are bad?
Tribalstack tropics perfectly captures that Banjo feel!
Feels like the Stamina Meter was made for the Nimbo race so you’d have to keep collecting Butterflies, but to my memory, that’s the only part that takes advantage of them as a Stamina refill in the heat of speedy maneuvering. So yeah I’m still not a fan of it. Like the race, not so much the meter when I’m trying to cover distance
There are a couple instances like that for it. But I’d rather just not have the meter still.
My problem with the size wasn’t the size itself but that there was no fast travel. Navigation is so damn tedious on top of that the only way to move faster has a stamina bar! In tooie you had bigger worlds than Kazooie but it was easy to navigate because of the warp pads. There was no such “warp pads” in Yooka Laylee making everything tedious to get to. Plus none of the worlds in Yooka Laylee used the central “monument” idea that Kazooie and Tooie used to help with navigation and orientation. Clanker’s Cavern had Clanker, Witchyworld has the big top tent, Mayahem Temple has the temple, Rusty Bucket bay has the ship, etc.
An excellent and fair point. Have a faster method of moving around would be nice. Worth noting tho you do get the flight ability toward the end but that doesn’t help the rest of the game.
They do kinda do the central monument thing though. You have the main temple in the jungle and the fountain in the casino, but everything around the edges looks near indistinguishable, so the central monument doesn't do much
In Witchy World, each attraction is distinct and other similar designed worlds like Spiral Mountain and Cloud Cuckoo also have distinct areas. Levels need landmarks and visually unique areas all over so you can build a mental map.
The primary drawback of the game lies in the vast emptiness of its worlds. While expansive environments can be captivating, they only truly justify their size if they offer ample opportunities for exploration and discovery. Take, for instance, The Legend of Zelda series, renowned for its sprawling overworlds teeming with hidden treasures and mysteries waiting to be unearthed. Should franchises like Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro, or Yooka-Laylee venture into crafting new titles with expansive worlds, it becomes imperative that these environments are densely populated with NPCs and secrets to ensure an engaging and fulfilling experience for players.
Agreed
The Cons for me
I think the best thing that could’ve been done for the Quills is to just cut the number down a little. Not a lot. Now that I’ve replayed it, I’d say 90% of them are in places that either encourage or reward exploration. Then you have things like that ONE quill in Tribalstack that’s all the way around a pillar that has no other Quills on their cliffs. Nothing encourages or piques the mind enough for the average player to find it without a guide.
The boss in Capital Cashino I think is what sours most people’s view on it. It would probably be my favorite world in the game without it, but I don’t think it entirely ruins it either.
As for the story, what makes the protagonists in Banjo more likeable in spite of the mean spirited jabs is that they are working to a greater good. Yooka and Laylee are just getting a book back for money.
I hate the Rextro games. Yes name him Sixtyfourus and have his games just be crappy arcade rejects that have nothing to do with the era he’s constantly referencing. What, No Turok parody, Mario Kart parody, I’ve seen Indie games do better with that idea. Well, smaller indie games.
Replacing Grunty with Capitalism is bad, guys. It’s not that funny after a while, I’m sorry
Will do the pros later
I actually didn’t mind the boss for Capital Cashino. It was a little tedious but I liked that it was different.
Waiting for the pros!
Replacing grunty with capitalism is funny to me and it still is and honestly i think its a very creative ideas and not just same rare villain over and over again and hey oddworld games did it and so did other media but it was done pretty well just like this game so long as it done right then its not that big of a deal and also i actually like rextro games there really fun super challenging it can be a bit frustrating at times but still enjoy them and as for the casino still on my favorites in the game how big it is it's very explorable and i honestly i feel i'm the only who didn't find that tedious all 😗
@@raphaelbrown6314 I like Capital Cashino overall. Pros are done, take a look if you want
I got kinda burned with YL. I was among the first 100 backers on Kickstarter. After delays and they asked me to pick a console - I picked the Wii U. Months and months of delays later I missed their correspondence where they said the Wii U version is cancelled, please pick a different version. When the game launched, I asked if I could switch my platform to the PC version since I didn’t own a switch at launch. Playtonic did not honor my request, so I just didn’t play the game for like the first three years it was out. When I finally got a switch and remembered I had a download code sitting in my email, I was still a little sour about the experience and that probably clouded my rating.
Oh that is really unfortunate. I also had a buddy that wanted it on Wii U but it didn’t pan out. Felt like the right console for this game.
When I look back at Yookaa Laylee, Banjo Kazooie, and DK64, the unfortunate sticking point I realize in retrospect is that they're just not very good or fun *as platformers* specifically. The characters move slowly, they don't jump very high, there's not a lot of core platforming challenges, the slow fall specifically leads to a lot of platforming where you jump, slow fall, and circle around a ledge that's not really small enough to be engaging or missable. DK64's platforming was probably the worst. It got so irritating and exasperating to encounter a set of "stairs" where you would do the stationary crouching high jump, barely touch the ledge of the next stair, and do the long pull yourself up animation, repeatedly. The games felt less like platformers and more like weird variety grab bag games where you move the characters from place to place but most challenges aren't platforming challenges (or were so rudimentary they didn't register as such).
I never felt like I was mastering an involved and deep movement system like Mario 64, it was more like a 3D Zelda but with no puzzles or swordplay.
I know that being core platformers isn't what people love about these games, but it wouldn't detract from them in a substantial capacity.
I understand what you’re saying…but it’s not about the core movement in these games. Where Mario relies on your quick flips and timed jumps. These style games are more about exploring the space you have and collecting things which is why level design is crucial. Thats why Yooka falls flat for people while Banjo excels. By all counts Tooie expands upon Banjos moveset and allows you more mobility and freedom to try different things. But the levels are a mixed bag.
DK64 went further down the collection route so I see why people who aren’t inclined to that dislike it, but people who do like collecting do like it.
In a way I guess you’d say it’s more about atmosphere and vibe than making it challenging for players.
@@jiggylookback I guess my complaint is that actually interesting platforming isn't mutually exclusive to exploration, in fact it generally enhances it. It's interesting to find new and alternate ways to reach places, or using fun engaging movement options to navigate the world you're exploring. Movement is the means by which you explore the world, better platforming options reinforces a focus on exploration it doesn't split the focus.
@@tinfoilslacks3750 right. Like Tears of the Kingdom beingm creative to reach and complete goals. I’d be hard pressed to say Banjo didn’t do it right tho. I think in that specific case it’s about level design over the gameplay since as you said it’s more simple.
I played BK a zillion times but even my first playthrough of YL was a slog. I really had to force myself through every level after the first. The visuals of the levels were so unsexy to the eyes too.
Dang. I think the game actually looks great! Did you try the 64 bit mode?
@@jiggylookback the "graphic" looks good but the level design aside from the first one is just so boring to look at. The casino and the water level are the worst. Id rather stare at clankers metal ass for an hour than to play these levels again.
@@CoNteMpTone Steve Mayles said that the game also takes inspiration from Chameleon Twist 2, a game that got a 6 on IGN. So combining that with Banjo, is questionable?????
@@orangeslash1667 look, they tried hard to make a spiritual successor to BK but they were 20 years older and didnt have the same juice they had when they were young. Everything was different and the game turned out to be mediocre and not worth mentioning in the future.
The game they made after this moved away from BK and towards DKC and it was pretty good. Not Returns or Tropical Freeze level but pretty good.
In general, ill cut those guys as much slack as they need. But the game just has to be let go.
@@CoNteMpToneThe another reason is while Rare Staff did work on this. Gregg Mayles had no involvement what so ever.
Who is he, he's the original creator. Every Banjo game aside from the GBA game, was directed by him.
I honestly didn't get past the tutorial, i really wanted to like it, the controls are very off, the fing 64 had better smoother controls
I don’t really understand that. It plays just fine to me. What doesn’t feel right to you?
@@jiggylookback The jumping feels almost delayed and stiff, Like when you jump in Xenoblade, But it's a platformer
@@jesusramirezromo2037 Steve Mayles said that the game also takes inspiration from Chameleon Twist 2, a game that got a 6 on IGN. So combining that with Banjo, is questionable?????
You people have seriously forgotten how Playtonic treated JonTron and people who criticized that decision when they said they wouldn’t get the game because of them removing JonTron? How disappointing, I always HATE it when a company manages to successfully sweep incidents like that under the under the rug as if it never happened. People should be still holding that against them after all.
No people haven’t forgotten. Quite a few people have said that. To be perfectly honest it’s not a big deal to me.
Feels petty, but doesn’t impact my experience playing a video game.
If you had a better time now than you did on launch day it's because the game got a lot of patches and QoL improvements like signs telling you where levels are and better flight controls. Cashino boss is still a bitch and a half though lol
I could not remember what it was like at launch but I’m sure it’s way better now haha also the jump from ps4 to pc version makes a difference I’m sure.