@CJ P. All of this. Wayforward has been making strides to become more noticeable in the Japanese gaming industry (showing the Seven Sirens intro during the Promare movie screenings), but they just don't promote their games enough or run ads. Only fans of the Shantae series really knew this game even existed.
@@WingedSupernova and it's crazy when you consider that Shantae is their mascot. Heck, there's a separate trademark for Shantae herself and the Shantae logo (they're both trademarked by BOZON, which must be a separate entity specifically designed by Matt and Erin Bozon, co-founders of WayForward and the creators of Shantae), which shows how important she is to the company. Yet there's hardly ever anything to rope people in before the games release unless you helped to crowd fund the last two games or just decided to give the games a shot at random. They want her to be up there with Mario in terms of her popularity and she is up at the top of the indie platformer totem pole, but they rely too heavily on word of mouth since they may not have the funds to do any major marketing to make that possible on their own. If by some miracle, she gets into Smash as a playable character rather than a spirit, that could very well be the push she needs to become mainstream
I find these games good, but nothing special. Especially when you have games like Hollow Knight and Ori out there... They're worth playing, but don't expect a standout game.
The way transformations and dances were handled is, in my opinion, the best way to compromise between the fluidity of how Pirate's Curse played, whilst also maintaining the core aspects that makes Shantae unique. I hope they continue to expand on this formula. Seven Sirens, for me, is the best game in the series so far, despite how easy it is. The only major problems I have with it are problems that I have with the _entire_ series. For instance, the games... honestly don't feel that great to 100% (Pirate's Curse is actually my least favorite to 100%.) Mainly because, the items you get in the world are either not beneficial to the player in a gameplay sense (cacklebats's dark magic, collectibles in HGH for true ending) or are honestly very limited in what they offer. Nuggets, for instance. 50 of those things (should've stopped at 30), and all for some cards, some of which are useful, while others really aren't. Like the one that doubles the tortoise spin attack's damage....the problem with that one is that enemies who would be defeated by it, would be defeated by it at the normal damage output. Meanwhile, enemies that tanked the damage before, will _continue_ to tank the damage, knocking Shantae out of the form. That card is lame. :L Would've been better if it allowed the tortoise spin to go through ALL enemies. Then it'd be a nice perk, especially for a speedrun. But hey, I'll still take that over the dark magic collectibles, since nuggets serve a beneficial purpose, and me neglecting them won't lock me out of the true final boss or true ending. Speaking of 100%, it DOES do away with one huge problem I had with the series: *_you don't have to waste your time just grinding gems to buy items in the shop just for the sake of 100%ing the game._* I always HATED it when I would be fully ready to take on the final area and final boss, but because I wanted to do a 100% run, I now need to stop what I'm doing to mindlessly grind gems just to buy items in the shop that I'm likely not even going to use. HGH is the worst with this, followed by Pirate's Curse. This always brought the gameplay to a screeching halt, and was never fun. In Seven Sirens, that's not an issue at all, because there's always a method of getting a bunch of gems easily. You will NEVER have to grind in Seven Sirens for shop items. (Good. Grinding sucks. Good riddance. It brings down the games) In relation to SS's difficulty, I saw some people suggesting that gem output needs to be nerfed. I agreed...until they mentioned how they wanted it back to the way it was in the previous games. Please...I never want to go back to that...
I have been playing it this last days and I think it is better than 0.5 genie hero. This one combines the best of Pirate's curse and Risky's Revenge with 0.5 graphics
This is what 1/2 genie should’ve been, a full on metroidvania not a weird kickstarter bottlenecked mega man Metroidviania hybrid (that still is fun don’t get me wrong)
Levi Sandoval yeah 7 sirens feels like an extension of pirates curse and the series. 1/2 genie feels like it takes a lot of Shantae ideas but does it’s own thing. It’s like if they made Mario 3D land in between the galaxy games
Yeah, but honestly, can you blame them? That show's DNA drill helix perneates many of the shows made by the studio in one shape or form. So it is not uncommon for TRIGGER and Gurren Lagann to be talked out on the same sentence.
Well, you aren't technically wrong. All of the bosses can be symbolic of the sins. The wiki says so, and their designs and charactersistics seem eerily similar to the 7 sins themselves.
It took quite a long time for me to get my River City Girls copy from them. I've opted to just buying digitally and get the physical too if I have extra money.
@@cinminroll7630 its a beat em up, so like all beat em ups it can get boring at times. That being said its probably the best beat em up ive ever played. Lots of unlockables and new attackes unlock as you play and the bosses have great variety. It really shines in 2 player coop though. If you have a friend whos bored of smash bros then invite em over and play some river city girls. Its a great time.
I love this game but one issue I had was the transformations. I liked in the previous games how I could transform and stay transformed as long as I wanted, rather than immediately reverting back after the move ends. The newt and tortoise were ok and the octo served its purpose at least, even if I prefer the monkey, elephant, and harpy forms respectively, but the drill and especially the frog just flat out sucked. They were literally just keys to progression gates and nothing else
See, there’s a bit of a divide here. One of the big complaints in past games, and especially Half Genie Hero, is that transforming takes time that breaks up gameplay momentum. It’s something Pirates Curse gets praise for, since the pirate gear was all button activated rather than transformed into. It seems like the instant transformations were a way to mitigate this, keeping Shantae’s transformation powers but making them faster to help gameplay flow; while the fusion transformations are there for the classic dancing transformations. I kinda hope in the next game we can have both the classic permanent transformations for longer uses and classic feel, and the instant transformations for uninterrupted gameplay.
@@MHSchonberg I personally thought the way Half Genie Hero handled the transformations was perfect. It was quicker than the previous games and easy to use. And even so, so many reviewers I watch always mention a game's pace as an important aspect of gameplay but personally I just never cared about that, the sense of progression and reward is all that matters to me. The transformations may have required you to stop in place, but they are necessary to progress so even though I'm not physically moving I still feel like I'm progressing and that's what's important to me. I understand why people love Pirate's Curse, I love it too, but the difference here is that the transformations offer different play styles while the pirate equipment just expanded on Shantae's original moveset. I'm one of the few Shantae fans who doesn't prefer Pirate's Curse over Half Genie Hero, I love both of them and I can't pick which one I prefer because there are things I prefer from each over the other. But Seven Sirens feels like the crew at WayForward tried to hit on the strengths of both and in a few ways missed the mark on both counts
@@Zitsanrael1117 I agree with almost everything. I understand why people like the pirate gears, but personally, I never minded that I had to stop in place for a second or two. It's honestly not much more "pace breaking" than pausing the game to access your inventory. Granted, the transformations were a required stop, but still. I do think...that people kinda overly praise the pirate gears a bit. The pistol and downward thrust aren't really all that useful outside of their intended puzzles. (Certainly not useful for combat, seeing how they don't match up to the might of her hair whip AT ALL, especially with Max upgrades, monster milk, and Pike balls thrown in. It's also not difficult to get in an enemy's face) Plus, she was capable of doing similar stuff before, like the elephant stomp. As for the hat glide and cannon jump... Shantae can straight up fly with the harpy, trouncing both of these. The only one that stands out is the boot dash, 'cause people love their speed boosters. I have a sneaking suspicion that if the dash weren't a part of the mix, the opinion on the Pirate's gears wouldn't have been as high, given the type of comments I've seen over there years. But that's just me. And I agree, HGH felt pretty quick and fluid in it's own right. Not quite like the pirate gears, but more than sufficient, in my opinion. If the games stuck with how HGH handled it, I wouldn't mind. Transformations that were commonly used, like the monkey, we're front and center, allowing for quick activation that took less than a second. The flow of the game was never hindered, in my opinion. Also, a point that not enough people talk about is the fact that time stops when she dances. That was always nice when I needed to adjust myself really quickly, specifically in hardcore mode. I also liked it because I interpret it as "When she dances, the world *stops* and stares.* HAVING SAID THAT, I do think that what Seven Sirens does, is the best of both worlds, and not just in a gameplay sense. You get that instantaneous activation while also maintaining the core aspect: transformations. And having the dances still be there in the form of the world-altering dances was a nice touch, to maintain that classic feel. (They...kinda went a little TOO classic. Enemies still move around while dancing, like in the first game, lol. At least it's not a big deal here) I personally think this is the best compromise they could ask for. In a story sense, I interpret the fusion magic as Shantae getting stronger, more powerful, and more comfortable with her powers. You can think of the dances to transform into animals sort of like training wheels. As she gets stronger, she no longer needs to do it, displaying how adept she's becoming with her genie magic. Kind of like how a magic user might need to use incantations at first to use spells, but as they get more experienced, they can just use the spells automatically.
I like the Shante games,so I was going to buy this one anyway,but this review was good..it pointed out alot of stuff about the game I didn't know,which for me makes it even more of a must buy 😊
I really enjoyed Seven Sirens. I only got into Shantae with Half Genie Hero and played some of Pirate Curse on switch. My biggest complaint I guess would be that in 7S you can't leave any map markers so for me trying to remember where hidden treasures or squid hearts were was more of a pain compared to something like Hollow Knight
I just have to ask, when was 8 hours considered short. Let alone 10 hours for this game. For me at least, 8 hours is a neat enough amount of time for a game to last if it is neatly paced. Which honestly for most games, making a game last 8 hours is enough time for developers to make a game neatly designed while also being just long enough for a game to be satisfying. Usually a 20-50 hour game stretches out a lot of mediocre content. Look at most open world games
The thing is metroidvania games are long games, You also have to understand something this is an easy game and is not that challenging, Hollow Knight for example has more content, looks better (But is Insect theme and is creepy)Is way longer and has free dlc and it costed 14.99$. There is also Bloodstained now. Both games take more than 12 hours to beat. Speedruns with all bosses and all secrets do hollow knight in 3 and half hours ( is insane how speedrunners do it) so no and this is not an open world game, this is a metroidvania.
I think a lot that thinking comes from how publishers have made map size snd play time one of the main talking points when they advertize a game snd a lot of people became used to thinking bigger/ longer=a better quality game. I tr emd to buy open world gsmes because by the time I finishe them I'll have saved up for the next big game I have my eye on, but these fantastic, 10 hr or less games are so great and studios like this one seem to hit the right time msrk to keep you wanting more, so whn people won't buy a game because it's "not long enough" they miss out of great more compact experiences that can boast quality over quantity.and I also agree eoth the above poster, Persona 5 is gold, and I'd happily sink 100s of hours into it. It's all abput content. Like you said big open worlds that are just filler are disappointing. TLDR- Short snd sweet is great and shouldn't be dismissed, and a quality, full open world is worth the money. Quality>Quantity.
@@raulrojas9253 it's possible to get a 100% speedrun of half-genie hero that takes less than 2 hours. If you know all the tricks, Pirate's Curse can also be beaten in 2 hours. It took me 1hour and 39 minutes to 100% half-genie hero's officer mode and that's without skipping dialogue and including several game overs (because I'm bad at videogames lol). It was also my very first crack at the mode. For a Shantae game, 8 hours is on the longer side of the spectrum. That's triple-checking everything to ensure a 100% on your first run and falling into pits a ton in the process (all things I do). Basically, that's taking the time out to thoroughly take in everything the game has to offer on your very first attempt
@@raulrojas9253 I don't know if Metroidvanias are really long games...Bloostained or especially Hollow Knight are rather the exception. HK might be the biggest Metroidvania in general, but the usual 2D ones are most between 7-15 hours usually (at least the ones I played, and those are most of the better known ones). Also, as the original post said, I'd rather have quality over quantity. A game isn't automatically better just because it takes longer to beat. Especially Bloodstained has still to this day some issues that take away from the enjoyment, furthermore it's so similar to the 6 Igavanias that came before...I'd really wish they'd mix up the formula a bit by now. Hollow Knight is a great game and really cheap for all it offers, but as much as I like it, some areas are also just "more of the same". I'm looking forward to Shantae on Thursday, it might be a bit pricey for its length, but since the quality seems to be as high as usual, I still wanna play it asap.
I'll be that odd ball then that actually liked the dance transformations and pacing of HGH. It didn't break the flow for me and I enjoyed them. At least they added her dancing to other parts here. Looking forward to this game.
This game is so much better than 1/2 genie hero, 7 sirens knows it’s a Metroidvania where as 1/2 genie seemed unsure and tried to be a mix of that and a normal course clear game and it ended up feeling odd and having a lot of padding towards the end. 7 sirens feels like an extension of the series where 1/2 genie is (a still fun) black sheep
@@Gale_Storm_ That's very true. It always come down to replay value for me. If I had tons of fun with the game and want to revisit it again and again then that's all that matters. Graphics aren't always everything.
Will be buying it once I finish school and will have spare time! Also ty Wayforward for at least 5 more entries to the shantae series for R34 to take full advantage of :D
@@fade6355 U know there are serveral paths and each is pretty long. 70 hours is the average per storyline as well as my own records.beat all 4 of them in just 70 hours means you need to skip all dialogue and rush the game rapidly while having all the knowledge about each map.
On one hand, I have been a little sad to see this series drift away from its Wonder Boy foundations and more toward the standard Metroidvania formula, but Monster Boy has taken up that mantle and done it so well. This one feels a lot like Pirate's Curse with a full 2D HD coat of paint and better production values, so that's certainly a winning hand.
Nice, I'll pick it for sure! I'm currently playing through Metroid: Samus Returns, and the more good Metroidvania games the better! Also, the Shantae series is just lovely, I certainly can't miss it.
This is the Shantae game I've always wanted. Making a better game than Pirate's Curse is a hard task, but I think WayForward just might have pulled it off.
Is it just me or HK and shantae 5 is very similar: -Main attack is spam attack -Blocked path that can be unlocked by certain ability -Get a new ability by beating a boss -Many backtracking -Fluid and fast movement -mana that used to heal and spell -get mana by killing enemy -hand drawn animation
Agreed. Id love to play a new Shantae game but they all look the same to me. I played Riskys Revenge and didn't care for it. I'd be open to a more traditional platform as opposed to the branching paths and dungeons that require a lot of back tracking and memorizing where to take keys or use new abilities. Its just padding.
I need people to buy this fun game so she will appear on Smash. Her sticker in Smash is not enough. And Risky Boots need to be a stage hazard, shooting cannon and doing other mischief from afar.
The games are all mostly the same. If you really wanna try it just wait until its on sale. But don't expect anything drastically different from what you've experienced. They all mostly run together
I'm sorry, but 90% of this series is the artistic presentation. Jake Kaufman is gone and the new soundtrack is atrocious so, that's already a no-go for me. The animations and level design are so inferior that I can't help but feel the ones responsible for those also left WayForward. First Shantae game I won't play since the 2002 original.
J J Maybe in your opinion, but there were plenty of other games that were with a full $60 price tag, and were just as short, if not shorter, and were still worth it. Yes, longer games are usually nicer, but I prefer quality over quantity.
This really reminds me of Monster Boy. In both visuals and gameplay. Is it? I liked that, but got bored and never finished it as it didnt have the depth of something like Celeste or Hollow Knight.
HAHAHAHA once you go Hollow Knight You never go back. (Is cheaper and with more content too)So yeah Not worthty at all. ( I mean 7 sirens) is also too damm expensive 39.99 for a less than 8 hours metroidvania is too damn short and there is also confirmed dlc coming up.
considering RE3 remake cost TWICE the price for HALF the playtime, i would say this is bargain in time for money alone... over all the game is great and i can not wait till the weekend to blitz this game :)
What an ignorant comparison considering RE3 has replay value and the budget was much higher than any Shantae game. Why the hell would a new RE game not be sold for the standard price of other triple A games? 😑
@@randybear932 its not a new game dude... its a remake of an old one with a LOT OF STUFF REMOVED!!! NOT. A. NEW. GAME. how can you not understand that? how can you DEFEND REMOVING entire sections of the game? The Game Cube version of RE 1, THAT is how you REMAKE a game, you ADD to it, NOT REMOVE. tell me HOW RE3 remake ADDED to what we had. NO mercenaries mini game, and no, the "free game" they included DOESN'T COUNT, they only did that because they KNEW that would not sell ALONE, if you look back to the reveal of it, there was backlash, Capcom could not sell on its own merits. all this and you claim IM the ignorant one when you FAIL to see the reality of what was TAKEN from the original, KNOWING they can make remakes far superior to the original like they did with RE 1? you're either a master troll (and well done ya got me if thats the case) or are in fact the most ignorant fool on this earth.
if i seem angry its because RE1 on the gamecube is PERFECT, i am angry because they CAN do AMAZING remakes, RE3 just felt like a cash grab to me. i loved what we got, but miss what we lost.
The only thing I hate, hate HATE in the game is this f**ing dancing minigame you need to win flawlessly for the 100%. I just ain't able to beat it. EDIT: After about a hundred tries and literally 5 minutes after I wrote this, I beat the minigame and now have all heart-squids in the game :)
IMO half-genie hero was better. They couldve done better with the bosses in this game IMO. the animations seem unfinished and overtly static. Seems more effort was put into those cutscenes.
Agreed. The fans overhyped this series. Theyre average to good at best. Maybe if the devs tried something different but they seem to pump out the same game every couple years thats why all the games look the same.
Score Inflation Life. I could not for the life of me find a way to justify such a score. This game lags so much behind its predecessors, it's almost criminal.
How much is the game 60 dollars is alot of money and I'm always running out of space. 60 dollars for what could be a moble game and 10 hours of game play no thanks I'm not rich.
![SHANTAE - Who Dat? [Character Review]](/img/n.gif)
The Shantae series deserves a lot more attention than it gets. Half-Genie hero was fantastic.
Half genie hero was boring, Pirate curse is still their best game.
@CJ P. All of this. Wayforward has been making strides to become more noticeable in the Japanese gaming industry (showing the Seven Sirens intro during the Promare movie screenings), but they just don't promote their games enough or run ads. Only fans of the Shantae series really knew this game even existed.
@@WingedSupernova and it's crazy when you consider that Shantae is their mascot. Heck, there's a separate trademark for Shantae herself and the Shantae logo (they're both trademarked by BOZON, which must be a separate entity specifically designed by Matt and Erin Bozon, co-founders of WayForward and the creators of Shantae), which shows how important she is to the company. Yet there's hardly ever anything to rope people in before the games release unless you helped to crowd fund the last two games or just decided to give the games a shot at random. They want her to be up there with Mario in terms of her popularity and she is up at the top of the indie platformer totem pole, but they rely too heavily on word of mouth since they may not have the funds to do any major marketing to make that possible on their own. If by some miracle, she gets into Smash as a playable character rather than a spirit, that could very well be the push she needs to become mainstream
I find these games good, but nothing special. Especially when you have games like Hollow Knight and Ori out there...
They're worth playing, but don't expect a standout game.
@@steel5897 I think Shantae's metroidvania map is a lot more engaging than Hollow Knight's long linear stages.
God I love the writing in this game. It’s hilarious without being lame, and the character models are just adorable.
The way transformations and dances were handled is, in my opinion, the best way to compromise between the fluidity of how Pirate's Curse played, whilst also maintaining the core aspects that makes Shantae unique. I hope they continue to expand on this formula.
Seven Sirens, for me, is the best game in the series so far, despite how easy it is. The only major problems I have with it are problems that I have with the _entire_ series. For instance, the games... honestly don't feel that great to 100% (Pirate's Curse is actually my least favorite to 100%.) Mainly because, the items you get in the world are either not beneficial to the player in a gameplay sense (cacklebats's dark magic, collectibles in HGH for true ending) or are honestly very limited in what they offer. Nuggets, for instance. 50 of those things (should've stopped at 30), and all for some cards, some of which are useful, while others really aren't. Like the one that doubles the tortoise spin attack's damage....the problem with that one is that enemies who would be defeated by it, would be defeated by it at the normal damage output. Meanwhile, enemies that tanked the damage before, will _continue_ to tank the damage, knocking Shantae out of the form. That card is lame. :L Would've been better if it allowed the tortoise spin to go through ALL enemies. Then it'd be a nice perk, especially for a speedrun.
But hey, I'll still take that over the dark magic collectibles, since nuggets serve a beneficial purpose, and me neglecting them won't lock me out of the true final boss or true ending.
Speaking of 100%, it DOES do away with one huge problem I had with the series: *_you don't have to waste your time just grinding gems to buy items in the shop just for the sake of 100%ing the game._* I always HATED it when I would be fully ready to take on the final area and final boss, but because I wanted to do a 100% run, I now need to stop what I'm doing to mindlessly grind gems just to buy items in the shop that I'm likely not even going to use. HGH is the worst with this, followed by Pirate's Curse.
This always brought the gameplay to a screeching halt, and was never fun.
In Seven Sirens, that's not an issue at all, because there's always a method of getting a bunch of gems easily. You will NEVER have to grind in Seven Sirens for shop items. (Good. Grinding sucks. Good riddance. It brings down the games)
In relation to SS's difficulty, I saw some people suggesting that gem output needs to be nerfed. I agreed...until they mentioned how they wanted it back to the way it was in the previous games.
Please...I never want to go back to that...
Grinding elsewhere is good, in 2d platformers it’s just straight up bullshit. Although there is that broken gem jug dance from HGH…
I have been playing it this last days and I think it is better than 0.5 genie hero. This one combines the best of Pirate's curse and Risky's Revenge with 0.5 graphics
This is what 1/2 genie should’ve been, a full on metroidvania not a weird kickstarter bottlenecked mega man Metroidviania hybrid (that still is fun don’t get me wrong)
@@motorwayt-s628 exactly... It was fun but weird... Thankfully this new one followed the previous formulas
Levi Sandoval yeah 7 sirens feels like an extension of pirates curse and the series. 1/2 genie feels like it takes a lot of Shantae ideas but does it’s own thing. It’s like if they made Mario 3D land in between the galaxy games
HGH has argueably better boss fights and way better OST though.
HGS worked quite well when it was just completing stages. However then the game forced to backtrack and it was just padding.
Gurren Lagann is Gainax. Yes a lot of people who worked on it founded Trigger but it was still Gainax.
Good eye mate
Yeah, but honestly, can you blame them? That show's DNA drill helix perneates many of the shows made by the studio in one shape or form. So it is not uncommon for TRIGGER and Gurren Lagann to be talked out on the same sentence.
@@manuelalbertoromero9528 You are right, but it would be wrong to say Trigger made TTGL and i think it is important to point it out.
@@Thengel09 i still see no much problem calling it trigger? miyazaki made cagliostro before Ghibli and people still call it Ghibli for convinience
It's like saying Petroglyph made Command & Conquer -- kinda true, but technically false.
Studio Trigger helped with the animation? Oh shit. That's dope.
Everyone: "Shantae and the Seven Sirens"
My Brain: "Shantae and the Seven Deadly Sins"
nice tho
Well, you aren't technically wrong. All of the bosses can be symbolic of the sins. The wiki says so, and their designs and charactersistics seem eerily similar to the 7 sins themselves.
I cant wait for Shantae and the four horsemen. Becasue bible stuff....maybe featureing Metallica XD
Congrats on using the most overused profile pic on all of CZcams. Yet another part of your life that is wholly unoriginal.
Shantae and the Seven Stars
Shantae is definitely one of my favorite series of all time and I absolutely love Seven Sirens!
I hope they release the original and Risky's Revenge on Switch down the line! Really wanna own the whole series physically. ^^
same
Smash Bros India guess what! Nintendo’s summer sale has shantae risky revenge as 10 bucks and half genie hero 20 bucks
@@InTheEnd75 lol ikr. I ordered everything LRG had for the games, steelbooks, and cards xD
@@devilkicksanji2 me too lol I got Risky’s revenge collectors edition and a switch copy of the first game
@@InTheEnd75 I got all collectors editions even the GBC one lol ^_^
Shame I have to wait; I picked up the physical collector's set from Limited Run.
Yeah, same here, but I think it will be worth it! Any clue on how long it usually takes Limited Run to get those out? My first Limited Run order.
Me too. Don’t expect it for a few months.
It took quite a long time for me to get my River City Girls copy from them. I've opted to just buying digitally and get the physical too if I have extra money.
@@WingedSupernova How is River City girls?
@@cinminroll7630 its a beat em up, so like all beat em ups it can get boring at times. That being said its probably the best beat em up ive ever played. Lots of unlockables and new attackes unlock as you play and the bosses have great variety. It really shines in 2 player coop though. If you have a friend whos bored of smash bros then invite em over and play some river city girls. Its a great time.
I love this game but one issue I had was the transformations. I liked in the previous games how I could transform and stay transformed as long as I wanted, rather than immediately reverting back after the move ends. The newt and tortoise were ok and the octo served its purpose at least, even if I prefer the monkey, elephant, and harpy forms respectively, but the drill and especially the frog just flat out sucked. They were literally just keys to progression gates and nothing else
I enjoyed all of them, the drill was intresting and everything flowed well so far for me
See, there’s a bit of a divide here. One of the big complaints in past games, and especially Half Genie Hero, is that transforming takes time that breaks up gameplay momentum. It’s something Pirates Curse gets praise for, since the pirate gear was all button activated rather than transformed into.
It seems like the instant transformations were a way to mitigate this, keeping Shantae’s transformation powers but making them faster to help gameplay flow; while the fusion transformations are there for the classic dancing transformations.
I kinda hope in the next game we can have both the classic permanent transformations for longer uses and classic feel, and the instant transformations for uninterrupted gameplay.
@@MHSchonberg I personally thought the way Half Genie Hero handled the transformations was perfect. It was quicker than the previous games and easy to use. And even so, so many reviewers I watch always mention a game's pace as an important aspect of gameplay but personally I just never cared about that, the sense of progression and reward is all that matters to me. The transformations may have required you to stop in place, but they are necessary to progress so even though I'm not physically moving I still feel like I'm progressing and that's what's important to me. I understand why people love Pirate's Curse, I love it too, but the difference here is that the transformations offer different play styles while the pirate equipment just expanded on Shantae's original moveset. I'm one of the few Shantae fans who doesn't prefer Pirate's Curse over Half Genie Hero, I love both of them and I can't pick which one I prefer because there are things I prefer from each over the other. But Seven Sirens feels like the crew at WayForward tried to hit on the strengths of both and in a few ways missed the mark on both counts
@@MHSchonberg This. I agree with this. Although, if they maintained the existing formula in Seven Sirens, I'd be satisfied.
@@Zitsanrael1117 I agree with almost everything. I understand why people like the pirate gears, but personally, I never minded that I had to stop in place for a second or two. It's honestly not much more "pace breaking" than pausing the game to access your inventory. Granted, the transformations were a required stop, but still.
I do think...that people kinda overly praise the pirate gears a bit. The pistol and downward thrust aren't really all that useful outside of their intended puzzles. (Certainly not useful for combat, seeing how they don't match up to the might of her hair whip AT ALL, especially with Max upgrades, monster milk, and Pike balls thrown in. It's also not difficult to get in an enemy's face) Plus, she was capable of doing similar stuff before, like the elephant stomp. As for the hat glide and cannon jump... Shantae can straight up fly with the harpy, trouncing both of these. The only one that stands out is the boot dash, 'cause people love their speed boosters. I have a sneaking suspicion that if the dash weren't a part of the mix, the opinion on the Pirate's gears wouldn't have been as high, given the type of comments I've seen over there years. But that's just me.
And I agree, HGH felt pretty quick and fluid in it's own right. Not quite like the pirate gears, but more than sufficient, in my opinion. If the games stuck with how HGH handled it, I wouldn't mind. Transformations that were commonly used, like the monkey, we're front and center, allowing for quick activation that took less than a second. The flow of the game was never hindered, in my opinion. Also, a point that not enough people talk about is the fact that time stops when she dances. That was always nice when I needed to adjust myself really quickly, specifically in hardcore mode. I also liked it because I interpret it as "When she dances, the world *stops* and stares.*
HAVING SAID THAT, I do think that what Seven Sirens does, is the best of both worlds, and not just in a gameplay sense. You get that instantaneous activation while also maintaining the core aspect: transformations. And having the dances still be there in the form of the world-altering dances was a nice touch, to maintain that classic feel. (They...kinda went a little TOO classic. Enemies still move around while dancing, like in the first game, lol. At least it's not a big deal here) I personally think this is the best compromise they could ask for.
In a story sense, I interpret the fusion magic as Shantae getting stronger, more powerful, and more comfortable with her powers. You can think of the dances to transform into animals sort of like training wheels. As she gets stronger, she no longer needs to do it, displaying how adept she's becoming with her genie magic. Kind of like how a magic user might need to use incantations at first to use spells, but as they get more experienced, they can just use the spells automatically.
I haven't played a Shantae game before but this review sold me on this one and I'm getting it when I have a chance. I can't wait.
The video just doesn't hit right without the "heyyyy there lovely peooplee."
I like the Shante games,so I was going to buy this one anyway,but this review was good..it pointed out alot of stuff about the game I didn't know,which for me makes it even more of a must buy 😊
Looks like a very fun game honestly. Shantae seems like a very precious protagonist
I really enjoyed Seven Sirens. I only got into Shantae with Half Genie Hero and played some of Pirate Curse on switch. My biggest complaint I guess would be that in 7S you can't leave any map markers so for me trying to remember where hidden treasures or squid hearts were was more of a pain compared to something like Hollow Knight
Shantae and the Seven Waifus.
"Is it worth it?"
*Yes.*
nice pfp
This or goose game?
I just have to ask, when was 8 hours considered short. Let alone 10 hours for this game. For me at least, 8 hours is a neat enough amount of time for a game to last if it is neatly paced. Which honestly for most games, making a game last 8 hours is enough time for developers to make a game neatly designed while also being just long enough for a game to be satisfying. Usually a 20-50 hour game stretches out a lot of mediocre content. Look at most open world games
The thing is metroidvania games are long games, You also have to understand something this is an easy game and is not that challenging, Hollow Knight for example has more content, looks better (But is Insect theme and is creepy)Is way longer and has free dlc and it costed 14.99$. There is also Bloodstained now. Both games take more than 12 hours to beat. Speedruns with all bosses and all secrets do hollow knight in 3 and half hours ( is insane how speedrunners do it) so no and this is not an open world game, this is a metroidvania.
Depends on the game. Persona 5 is over 100 hours. It’s all relative
I think a lot that thinking comes from how publishers have made map size snd play time one of the main talking points when they advertize a game snd a lot of people became used to thinking bigger/ longer=a better quality game. I tr emd to buy open world gsmes because by the time I finishe them I'll have saved up for the next big game I have my eye on, but these fantastic, 10 hr or less games are so great and studios like this one seem to hit the right time msrk to keep you wanting more, so whn people won't buy a game because it's "not long enough" they miss out of great more compact experiences that can boast quality over quantity.and I also agree eoth the above poster, Persona 5 is gold, and I'd happily sink 100s of hours into it. It's all abput content. Like you said big open worlds that are just filler are disappointing.
TLDR- Short snd sweet is great and shouldn't be dismissed, and a quality, full open world is worth the money. Quality>Quantity.
@@raulrojas9253 it's possible to get a 100% speedrun of half-genie hero that takes less than 2 hours. If you know all the tricks, Pirate's Curse can also be beaten in 2 hours. It took me 1hour and 39 minutes to 100% half-genie hero's officer mode and that's without skipping dialogue and including several game overs (because I'm bad at videogames lol). It was also my very first crack at the mode. For a Shantae game, 8 hours is on the longer side of the spectrum. That's triple-checking everything to ensure a 100% on your first run and falling into pits a ton in the process (all things I do). Basically, that's taking the time out to thoroughly take in everything the game has to offer on your very first attempt
@@raulrojas9253 I don't know if Metroidvanias are really long games...Bloostained or especially Hollow Knight are rather the exception. HK might be the biggest Metroidvania in general, but the usual 2D ones are most between 7-15 hours usually (at least the ones I played, and those are most of the better known ones). Also, as the original post said, I'd rather have quality over quantity. A game isn't automatically better just because it takes longer to beat. Especially Bloodstained has still to this day some issues that take away from the enjoyment, furthermore it's so similar to the 6 Igavanias that came before...I'd really wish they'd mix up the formula a bit by now. Hollow Knight is a great game and really cheap for all it offers, but as much as I like it, some areas are also just "more of the same". I'm looking forward to Shantae on Thursday, it might be a bit pricey for its length, but since the quality seems to be as high as usual, I still wanna play it asap.
I'll be that odd ball then that actually liked the dance transformations and pacing of HGH. It didn't break the flow for me and I enjoyed them. At least they added her dancing to other parts here. Looking forward to this game.
Same here 😊
Already bought it some days ago. Been looking forward to another Shantae.
This game is so much better than 1/2 genie hero, 7 sirens knows it’s a Metroidvania where as 1/2 genie seemed unsure and tried to be a mix of that and a normal course clear game and it ended up feeling odd and having a lot of padding towards the end. 7 sirens feels like an extension of the series where 1/2 genie is (a still fun) black sheep
I love how cute the characters are
Well the first Ori was roughly 10hrs and nobody complaint about that, if the game quality is great length is less important
Also, replay value. A game can give me over 100hrs of gameplay, and that's great. But if I never want to touch it again, that's not so great.
@@Gale_Storm_ That's very true. It always come down to replay value for me. If I had tons of fun with the game and want to revisit it again and again then that's all that matters. Graphics aren't always everything.
I liked the last one, which made me a fan. I was going to pick this one up anyway, which I did. It's good. :)
Will be buying it once I finish school and will have spare time! Also ty Wayforward for at least 5 more entries to the shantae series for R34 to take full advantage of :D
Funnily enough there hasn't been much art about the new characters at all. I guess the game has been kind of forgotten.
When did 10 hours become short? Lol
Exactly what I thought when he said that 😄
Because fire emblem three houses is 200 hours long
With symphony of the night and Hollow knight Duh.
Kirnale I can’t even imagine how someone takes 200 hours to beat three houses lol. It’s like 70 hours max
@@fade6355 U know there are serveral paths and each is pretty long. 70 hours is the average per storyline as well as my own records.beat all 4 of them in just 70 hours means you need to skip all dialogue and rush the game rapidly while having all the knowledge about each map.
On one hand, I have been a little sad to see this series drift away from its Wonder Boy foundations and more toward the standard Metroidvania formula, but Monster Boy has taken up that mantle and done it so well. This one feels a lot like Pirate's Curse with a full 2D HD coat of paint and better production values, so that's certainly a winning hand.
Nice, I'll pick it for sure! I'm currently playing through Metroid: Samus Returns, and the more good Metroidvania games the better!
Also, the Shantae series is just lovely, I certainly can't miss it.
This game looks so smooth and fast and lovable and well controlled, which sounds really really promising :3
Didn't know this game came out! Definitely going to have to pick this up as soon as as I can!
This is the Shantae game I've always wanted. Making a better game than Pirate's Curse is a hard task, but I think WayForward just might have pulled it off.
I'm honestly suprised how this has avoided backlash given the design and character models looking like it's jailbait :p
I hoped for a collection of all the shantae games but a new game is still amazing anyway
Love that Super Metroid reference!
Shantae w cut scenes.. im sold
Awww yeahhh!! Just when i want to hit buy on this! Love the review, Zion!
Shantae you stay.
Is this a good entry point for it a newcomer to the series?
Really fun game, I'm not sure if it's better than Risky Revenge or 1/2 hero but it's pretty dang fun!
Is it just me or HK and shantae 5 is very similar:
-Main attack is spam attack
-Blocked path that can be unlocked by certain ability
-Get a new ability by beating a boss
-Many backtracking
-Fluid and fast movement
-mana that used to heal and spell
-get mana by killing enemy
-hand drawn animation
Most of those can just be chalked up to the genre both games share, but yes Shantae and HK are similar.
That does sound like a metroidvania.
so they're hand drawn metroidvanias.
Good for WayForward! Shantae is so fun.
The answer is if you're a Shantae fan sure but if you're not it probably won't convert you.
Agreed. Id love to play a new Shantae game but they all look the same to me. I played Riskys Revenge and didn't care for it. I'd be open to a more traditional platform as opposed to the branching paths and dungeons that require a lot of back tracking and memorizing where to take keys or use new abilities. Its just padding.
Nice review. Once the game goes on sale I'll be sure to buy it for pc
I need people to buy this fun game so she will appear on Smash. Her sticker in Smash is not enough. And Risky Boots need to be a stage hazard, shooting cannon and doing other mischief from afar.
In what world is 10 hrs short
If I liked Pirate's Curse, but thought 1/2 Genie Hero was really boring, what are the chances I will like this game?
The games are all mostly the same. If you really wanna try it just wait until its on sale. But don't expect anything drastically different from what you've experienced. They all mostly run together
Anyone else notice that Zion seems to do all the platfomers/metroidvanias?
I agree that quality is better than quantity. Give me a short but consistently excellent game over one full of filler any day.
Honestly this is pretty much what I felt from what I’ve seen so far
Not even on a hefty sale...has potential for a great sequel if they don't phone it in again though
If anyone out there has a copy of that game for GB Color sealed, well, sell it and buy a car! :P
I have it but its in pretty bad shape. It used to belong to my grandma and my aunt gave me her gameboy stuff when she passed.
Just gonna download a rom
I'm sorry, but 90% of this series is the artistic presentation. Jake Kaufman is gone and the new soundtrack is atrocious so, that's already a no-go for me. The animations and level design are so inferior that I can't help but feel the ones responsible for those also left WayForward. First Shantae game I won't play since the 2002 original.
@Encore I do, though.
@Encore Yes.
Shantae for Smash
Nah Nintendo good
*Sees title:* ALL SHANTAE GAMES ARE WORTH IT!!!
Me yes
$30 for a 10 hour game I don’t think so
J J Maybe in your opinion, but there were plenty of other games that were with a full $60 price tag, and were just as short, if not shorter, and were still worth it. Yes, longer games are usually nicer, but I prefer quality over quantity.
Griff Wilson I always get both quality and quantity botw is perfect example
J J if you’re expecting every game to be up to breath of the wild’s standard than boy are you gonna be disappointed
❤ great review thank you guys
The last of us part 2 and this game are the only games I want to play this year haha
I love these games ❤️❤️❤️
No Jake Kaufman?
That's very, very odd 😕
Yea I don't like the new music as much as the old stuff but I don't think it's bad, it still feels like Shantae music just a bit lower quality
I think they approached him, but he declined because he was working on a different project at the time, but I don't know for sure
@@djsercy5879 Think that's case, yeah. Last I heard, in addition to other projects, he was working to establish his own independent studio.
Seeing what they did with half genie heroe, I would wait few year before buying the game.
No, this game won't have any DLC!
Just got this from LRG reprint sale
Excellent review for such an underrated series
Was this also crowd funded?
Shantae for Smash?
No
This really reminds me of Monster Boy. In both visuals and gameplay. Is it? I liked that, but got bored and never finished it as it didnt have the depth of something like Celeste or Hollow Knight.
HAHAHAHA once you go Hollow Knight You never go back. (Is cheaper and with more content too)So yeah Not worthty at all. ( I mean 7 sirens) is also too damm expensive 39.99 for a less than 8 hours metroidvania is too damn short and there is also confirmed dlc coming up.
@@raulrojas9253 source: my ass
Can you do bioshock and Borderlands?
In the video game world Shantae is my sister
Cringe
Step ?
I might get this.
considering RE3 remake cost TWICE the price for HALF the playtime, i would say this is bargain in time for money alone...
over all the game is great and i can not wait till the weekend to blitz this game :)
What an ignorant comparison considering RE3 has replay value and the budget was much higher than any Shantae game. Why the hell would a new RE game not be sold for the standard price of other triple A games? 😑
@@randybear932 its not a new game dude... its a remake of an old one with a LOT OF STUFF REMOVED!!!
NOT. A. NEW. GAME.
how can you not understand that? how can you DEFEND REMOVING entire sections of the game?
The Game Cube version of RE 1, THAT is how you REMAKE a game, you ADD to it, NOT REMOVE.
tell me HOW RE3 remake ADDED to what we had.
NO mercenaries mini game, and no, the "free game" they included DOESN'T COUNT, they only did that because they KNEW that would not sell ALONE, if you look back to the reveal of it, there was backlash, Capcom could not sell on its own merits.
all this and you claim IM the ignorant one when you FAIL to see the reality of what was TAKEN from the original, KNOWING they can make remakes far superior to the original like they did with RE 1?
you're either a master troll (and well done ya got me if thats the case) or are in fact the most ignorant fool on this earth.
if i seem angry its because RE1 on the gamecube is PERFECT, i am angry because they CAN do AMAZING remakes, RE3 just felt like a cash grab to me.
i loved what we got, but miss what we lost.
Odd. They just gave this away on Xbox Live. Its brand new? Interesting.
That's "Pirate's curse", ignorant.
Okay i see you 👀
I’ve always thought how strange it is that this franchise gets so much attention.
They're games of Nintendo quality and polish! That's why many say they don't get enough attention.
Good games getting attention makes a lot of sense actually. ;)
These games dont get much attention just the small fanbase is vocal and annoying af
Shantae you stay
The only thing I hate, hate HATE in the game is this f**ing dancing minigame you need to win flawlessly for the 100%. I just ain't able to beat it.
EDIT: After about a hundred tries and literally 5 minutes after I wrote this, I beat the minigame and now have all heart-squids in the game :)
she looks like leela from futurama
IMO half-genie hero was better. They couldve done better with the bosses in this game IMO. the animations seem unfinished and overtly static. Seems more effort was put into those cutscenes.
I agree that Half-genie hero is better
Yes
I weirdly like these game’s I though I wouldn’t but nope
Make ori be in smash pls
10000000% hotbedst
Soooooftcore Heeeeeentai.
Shantae games are just not good imo. I was expecting a fun metroidvania but they're the epitome of mediocre.
Agreed. The fans overhyped this series. Theyre average to good at best.
Maybe if the devs tried something different but they seem to pump out the same game every couple years thats why all the games look the same.
Bewwwwwwwwwbs
I loved it
Idle animation needs to stop humping the air 😭 plz change the idle animation for Shantae.
Jogão
Shantae will never grow from a niche fanbase unless the devs try something different.
is this supposed it be a child game ?
Score Inflation Life. I could not for the life of me find a way to justify such a score. This game lags so much behind its predecessors, it's almost criminal.
6th
Is this game actually good or is it fap bait for coomer’s and weebs?
Yes
It's mid at best.
First
I know you have to do some advertising here, but this game looks so cheap.
How much is the game 60 dollars is alot of money and I'm always running out of space. 60 dollars for what could be a moble game and 10 hours of game play no thanks I'm not rich.
@@MegaErockZ On www.nintendo.com/games/detail/shantae-and-the-seven-sirens-switch/ it says 29,99 $, please refrain from spreading misinformation.
Cause theyre an indie developer but yeah their games do look cheap and all blend together.