Rayman Legends

[TeensieKing]

A 50% discount!? WTF! How much would it cost then? And when will it begin?

[Haruka]

It isn't difficult to do the maths knowing that the game was approximately costing 50€ and now it is 50% off. And it begins this Thursday, I believe: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/1 ... ber_europe

[sonicbrawler182]

Rayman Legends is a great game. It has some minor flaws that every Rayman game has, but it still deserves to be in the hall of fame.

Agreed. It's my favourite in the series, personally. I feel it has the least faults in terms of what it actually sets out to do (while I know some people would of preferred something with more story or a less silly tone, the game didn't exactly set out to do those things too much, which is fine to me).

[Ray502]

Rayman Legends is behind Rayman 1 for my top Rayman games. Great game, my rating is 4.5/5

[dondu97]

However much I love Legends, it just doesn't replicate the feeling Rayman 2 gave me. But that's probably because Rayman 2 was the first game I ever played.

[Rayfist]

The veterans of Rayman mostly disagree with Legends being the best I noticed. Legends is still without a doubt a spectacular game, proving a fine way of surpassing its predecessor, Rayman Origins, in every way.

It really just lacked the magical atmosphere of the trilogy, I would say it was better than Arena for me (which I did like Arena a lot). But we still have yet to see something try to emulate the feel of Rayman 1-3.

[Haruka]

The veterans of Rayman mostly disagree with Legends being the best I noticed. Legends is still without a doubt a spectacular game, proving a fine way of surpassing its predecessor, Rayman Origins, in every way.

It really just lacked the magical atmosphere of the trilogy

Mostly this. I don't consider it inside the best games of the series but it is still a very good game and I even recommended it to a FNAC employee last month when I bought a gaming magazine and we briefly talked about the current gaming market.

[OCG]

However much I love Legends, it just doesn't replicate the feeling Rayman 2 gave me. But that's probably because Rayman 2 was the first game I ever played.

I agree., but I think Rayman 2 is definitely a lot better even if it's not the first Rayman someone plays. (my first Rayman was Rayman 1 and I still find Rayman 2 better than Legends)
Atmosphere in R2 is by tons better than atmoshpere in RL and we should not forget Rayman 2's story. Still, like others said, Legends is great game.

[Master]

Hm, the rift between old and new does seem to be apparent, while I'll admit I'm with the old, I don't think Legends or Origins are unworthy of the Rayman name whatsoever, my issues with it are more to do with my wants for the games as Rayman titles than anything else.

[Adsolution]

Legends is still without a doubt a spectacular game, proving a fine way of surpassing its predecessor, Rayman Origins, in every way.

I agree that it does surpass Origins for the most part, except for these few points:

- I honestly did not like how Legends was just a collection of random environments with no worldly link between any of them. Origins pleased me with how they attempted to give off the notion that you were always progressing from one level and environment to the next, especially in areas such as the first Moskito level where you literally went from the Jungle to the Desert. Without a doubt many of Legends' environments are superior, but their lack of consistency does bother me. I understand that with the way Legends is laid out this isn't as plausible as it would have been in Origins per se, but I think they could have put some effort into relating the worlds. Nonetheless, this might be more of a personal quarrel than objective criticism, but I still feel it would have been better had they done so.

- The level design does not seem to compliment the character's mechanics in the same way Origins does. Despite all the problems I had with Origins, I always commended it on how precise and calculated the levels were designed, there was clearly an extraordinary amount of effort put into making sure everything you did would flow as smoothly as possible, even if it didn't encapsulate running really, really fast; there was a plan behind every single platform and entity in place. In Legends, it seems they focused more on the idea than in the product, and as such, more often than not Rayman's nimble mechanics are just sort of 'there', but don't really serve any quintessential purpose. Gameplay-wise, it's not as unique as Origins was.

Because of that (and perhaps some other, smaller things), I'd weigh them roughly the same in terms of which I feel is the better game, and which I prefer.

[sonicbrawler182]

I did like how Origins handled the transition between worlds using the Moskito levels. I thought the coolest part was the musical transitions that sometimes happened. Though Legends lacking it is pretty inconsequential for me, partly because I don't think platformers need world progression, as I value just getting to see more variety in individual levels. And Legends made up for it's lack of world transitions in my eyes by providing a bigger sense of world development within the universe, as the worlds in Legends literally are dark and corrupted versions of the worlds in Origins, and you can actually see some areas that are the exact same as certain areas in Origins in terms of the shape of the landscape, or just certain objects that look eerily familiar. It gave the game a lot of extra poignancy that I feel a lot of people overlooked. It harkens back to Rayman 2 a little bit in that respect, by conveying a real sense that the world is falling apart. The only problem with this is that the game lacks a true ending to either resolve the issue, or to provide a true sequel hook.

As for the level design, I find it perfectly fine. It's certainly easier and less precise than Origins in the main quest - but then you get the Invasion levels, which are much more challenging and deliberate than anything Origins has to offer (the Tricky Treasures and awkward lum collecting were the hardest thing in Origins, IMO, and are easy in comparison to the Invasion levels), and then you also have the online challenges. I actually appreciate that they tried to make the main levels more fun and filled with more unique ideas (as well as a BIT more open...still not the improvement I wanted, but it's a start), as opposed to Origins' main quest being more challenging, but only really providing new twists and surprises on a world by world basis (and even then, they give up half way through). The only true exception in Origins is Moody Clouds, which is by far my favourite world in that game, and it's on par with worlds of Legends regarding overall fun factor and providing new things for me to toy around with in almost every level, while still being very challenging (except for the part where they rehash previous bosses and make them even easier). I kind of wish Moody Clouds was a bit longer, though.

And even with that being said, despite the fact Legends' main levels don't require as much precision, they are still more fun to speed run, in my eyes, due to being less deliberate. It leaves more room for experimentation in speed run tactics. It's just a huge shame that there was no time trial mode or a leaderboard for the main levels.

[Bradandez]

The only thing that I was really bothered my Legends that it wasn't as challenging as Origins. The levels were a breeze most of the time for me, while in Origins I remember getting constantly killed.

[Haruka]

I felt some peaks of difficulty in very particular points of RL, but funny enough these were gone after I replayed a second time. In RO, I still struggle to get the 350 Lums in the Moskito levels of the Moody Clouds in the console versions.

[sonicbrawler182]

The main quest of Rayman Legends is certainly easier than Origins, but the Invasion levels satisfy the platformer masochist in me. Lum collection is certainly easier too, but only because they just gave us a double Lums system that was better than the one in Origins (I felt the Lum King system was quite flow breaking at too many points of the game. I prefer the combo trails from Legends, as they don't get in the way).

On an unrelated note, I beat Fiesta Run today. I still have to grind some Lums to get the last two artwork pieces, but other than that, I have 100%'d it.

[sergiomonty]

Playing the Back to Origins levels make me actually appreciate Origins more for some reason. The level design is more ingenious than I remember, and the game is actually pretty challenging, even if the enemies just take one hit. Sure, Haruka says the Jibberish Jungle is way too green, but man, looking back at it, it is actually pretty damn gorgeous, and it doesn't need to be overly saturated to give a feel of adventure and immersion. Sure, it's not perfect, but it actually gives a great feeling.

I also appreciate a lot more the Desert of Dijeridoos, which was actually my most disliked world back then. And the bosses are way more complex and cool than I remember.

Ironically, now I dislike Gourmand Lands, which was my favorite world back then. Compared to Fiesta de los Muertos, I don't feel wrapped in a nice, jolly mexican environment, but caught in a hell full of annoying craziness and noisy voices yelling at me. And the colors, man... the red is abused. One thing is using too much green, but red is really tiring for the eyes.

[OCG]

Gourmand Lands always had better music for me.

[Haruka]

@Sergio It is natural that you have a different opinion for the new Jibberish Jungle. If I remember well they made some background/light tweaks in Legends, and it is more pleasant to the sight like this, but still not as colorful as the Dream Forest. Desert of Dijiridoos was one of the most atmospherical worlds of Origins for me.

[Dart]

I really like legends, its way up their on my favorite games list. imo legends albeit storyless, is one of the best 2d platformers ever. I kinda wish that each ales had is own thing but whatever. plus that food world always makes me smile! 9/10

[sergiomonty]

From an artistic standpoint, I don't really like the Dream Forest. Sometimes I think it's a total mess. Something about that mix of green with pink and yellow and purple just bugs me :/ Even though, Rayman 1 is still my favorite Rayman game of all time.

[Rayrobi]

If I remember well they made some background/light tweaks in Legends, and it is more pleasant to the sight like this, but still not as colorful as the Dream Forest.

It is true that Jibberish Jungle is not as colorful as Pink Plant Woods, it should be a BIT more colorful, it might be that if there were a few more waterfalls, big grey rocks, or small yellow, purple, blue-green or other colored plants ( like the ones in Rayman 2 ).
I would never want to see a world that is too much colorful though, like Picture City, even though that is supposed to be full of colors, when i try to see it as a normal, non-rayman-fan person it looks a bit of gay-ish, because of the too much pink. The perfect solution would be a transition between the two, Fiesta de los Muertos is a good example.