Well, the day has come! Backers can play this on Nintendo Switch right this moment. I put some time in today and I'm enjoying things so far. First impressions are... camera needs more refinement (but I guess this is an improvement from launch), the worlds are bright and cool, though so large it could be overwhelming at first...

handheld mode is not the best way to start things off... that smaller screen just makes it harder for me to focus, but grabbing the pro controller and my 40" and things are when things really started kicking off. I am quite looking forward to the main campaign and perhaps even 100%ing this thing. We shall see...

Full on launch is in 48 hours. Thursday is the day! Any other backers playing?

Didn't back this game but have been looking forward to it since forever. I have to say that it seems like Playtonic might not have nailed the Banjo-Kazooie-ism as perfectly as I thought they would, and playing basically any 3D platformer after Super Mario Odyssey is bound to make me more critical than usual, but I really want to support and play this.

Back when the whole Jontron debacle went down I said I'd buy two copies of this game if they kicked his ass out, so I probably should put my money where my mouth is and get one digital and one physical, if/when that hits. But I'd rather just wait for the physical release, to be honest. How big is the download?

@r_hjort

Something like 5.1 GB i believe. And hey, Playtonic retweeted me! Neat!

I've had this up on my cubicle wall since the Kickstarter was live. One of the first 500 backers. I am overjoyed that today on the commute into work, I was able to finally play #YookaLaylee on a #Nintendo console, like I hoped when I supported it. We're here. :) pic.twitter.com/uMeMTl8GCv

— Stephen Black (@a00link) December 12, 2017

I'll be playing on Thursday when it launches. I only backed it for $5, so I don't qualify for a download code. But looking forward to finally playing this...um, divisive game.

@r_hjort

Time has not been kind to Yooka Laylee in my eyes. Early in the year, I was desperate for a 3D platformer. So I took what I could get with Yooka Latlre. But games like Poi, a Hat in Time, and Mario Odyssey blow it out of the water. It'll be hard to go back.

I still like Yooka Laylee and think it's a good game, but it has been outclassed and I'm not so desperate anymore. In retrospect it does feel like an amateur effort.

@r_hjort Well, you could buy that second copy for a certain someone else... ;)

Have they said they're going to release a physical version on Switch? I didn't think they were.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule
I know a common complaint - apart from all the technical issues - is that it feels dated, but that's kind of what I hoped for in a way. I'm the type of guy that still enjoys playing the actual N64 platformers after all. It might feel dated in other ways other than design, obviously, and I might take issue with those, but right now I just want a throwback to the olden days.

@Mop it up
Haha, I suppose I could!

They haven't said that they are for sure, but they've talked about in terms of seeing what the future may bring, from what I understand. But maybe that's just me misremembering things.

Going to get started. I was going to start on Thursday, but got distracted by the Mutant Mudds Collection.

It's kinda janky but I don't care.

Haven't gotten very far yet but it seems pretty good!

Only played a little bit so far, but I like the visuals. I've heard the game is only "so-so" but if Playtonic absolutely nailed any ONE thing? It's the art direction. It's spot on.

@r_hjort

My problem is that it doesn't feel enough like an n64 platformer. It lacks the same sort of simple charm in a lot of places. Something about Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooiebis that they were kind of weird and off the wall, but completely confident in that. A lot of stuff didn't make sense or was kind of randomly thrown in, but they were self assured that what they were doing worked. Yooka Laylee doesn't have the same confidence or creativity.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule
Huh, I guess I'll see what reason I have not to like it when I get it!

Finally got to play this yesterday. After a little bit of camera control tweaking, I'm mostly in love with it. It's just more Banjo-Kazooie, and I couldn't be more excited for it.

I've still got more to do in Breath of the Wild to completely finish it (I've already beaten the game, but haven't 100%'d it yet like I want), I have only just beaten Super Mario Odyssey (so I still want to do the post-game stuff), and I just started Samus Returns, but Yooka-Laylee is the game I'm most excited to return to right now of the four.

So while I’ve been down with the flu, I started and finished this. Not 100%, but I had like 102/145 pagies. I mostly enjoyed this one ... until I got to the showdown with Capital B. It’s basically a four-part fight (some could argue seven or even nine depending on how you count it) with no checkpoints and no health whatsoever. It wasn’t awful until the last part, where you have to fly a lot and manage your power meter. One of Vendi’s Tonics can help mitigate the power meter issue somewhat, but the flight controls left a lot to be desired.

Despite that, it was still a solid effort and a good port to Switch. I may pop back in occasionally and try to find another pagie or two, maybe try for those last quills. I hope there is a sequel down the road.

@ludist210

Agreed. I enjoyed my time with the game for the most part, but it's definitely not one I'd ever be compelled to 100%. The end boss is also complete garbage. I was over it and watched a Youtube video of the ending rather than suffering through that unpleasant repetition over and over.

Still, solid 3D platformer with a lot of charm which should be worth a play through for fans of the genre if it drops to a more reasonable $20 price tag. It doesn't deserve all the hate it got.

I hope Playtonic is able to step things up with their next game.

@Hinph

I was compelled to 100% and it was not worth the effort.

That boss was pretty garbage also. I don't know what made Grunty so awesome but they really didn't spend enough time developing Capital B as an antagonist. He felt so much like a character just there to fill an expectation instead of something organic. The lack of any extra health was pretty lame considering I had 100%ed it before reaching that point. You'd think I'd had seen something. Ah well. Would never play again but I had it's fun points. I would need to see serious polish before jumping into a sequel.

I've been playing this for quite a while now, and I have to say I think it's a worthy spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie games overall, but it's certainly not as good as either of the N64 adventures.

I think I've got two main issues with the game. Firstly and most importantly, the environments being too spacious for their own good. The old games (the first one in particular) had comparatively small worlds with a lot going on, and more clearly defined sections to help you navigate and structure your approach. Games like Breath of the Wild or Skyrim can have large areas of nothingness as an amplifier to the areas that do have activity, but in a game like this it just feels barren and artificially expanded, and the pacing is hurt because of this, I think.

Secondly, the minigames are shit. I usually have a high tolerance for this kind of stuff, but they're just downright bad. I love 100%-ing these collectathons, but I doubt that's gonna happen this time around because of the Pagies hidden in Rextro's arcade machines. Even the minecart levels feel lacking, despite them having awesome tunes like this:



But other than that I think Yooka-Laylee does a lot of things right. It's got the exact Rare feel to its characters and menus and stuff that I've been longing for (although Laylee is no Kazooie), it's got all the grunts and burps in all the right places, the music's got the appropriate style (even if David Wise's tracks, as awesome as they are, sound more at home in Tropical Freeze) the controls aren't perfect but good enough, and there's a ton of stuff to collect and do, without having too many different varieties to keep track of.

With tighter, more carefully designed world layouts, even crazier transformations and over-the-top characters and less crap minigames I'll be all over a sequel.

r_hjort said:

With tighter, more carefully designed world layouts, even crazier transformations and over-the-top characters and less crap minigames I'll be all over a sequel.

Amen, man!

@r_hjort

Very well put! Yooka Laylee is begging for more polished sequel. They did the heavy lifting of setting up the foundation. Now the team focus their efforts and resources into making polished levels, dense with content..

Accidentally 100%-ed it just now.

As opposed to @DrFinkelstein I really liked Capital B. The character. Not the boss fight. That was pretty bad. Maybe it's just my anti-capitalist leanings, but I thought he made for a pretty good villain, and I loved the interactions between him and Dr. Quack, both of which incidentally have absolutely marvelous designs, I think. The part where Capital B mistakes Quack's sly winks for flirting had me giggling quite a bit.

I think most of the baddies' banter is pretty good. I'm especially fond of Rampo and his idea that Yooka and Laylee are there to sell him double glazing, taking it such lengths that he tries to kill them, and then, as he's being defeated laments that he didn't pretend not to be home instead. That's the exact type of humor I expected from a game by ex-Rare folk.

EDIT: Also, gotta love that Playtonic don't just have Capital B as their main villain, but they throw some serious shade at the Kinect while they're at it. The time at Microsoft must have done a real number on these people.