What are your opinions on Fresh?

[Whendaleksattack]

I've seen reviews of this game on GameFAQs (the Reader review) and on Nintendo Life earlier this month, and I'm a bit concerned about how they were rated. I've yet to pick up the game, but I have seen a bit of footage around the internet, and my thoughts are a bit mixed. I like that they added a health bar to the game (saves me the frustration of Shun), but also I find it very silly that they added a hunger bar to a platformer, let alone a Umihara Kawase game. Overall, I'm probably going to wait for a price drop until I pick it up (there are better ways to waste $50), but those are my opinions so far. What are yours?

[Princess Rescuer]

You can see what mine are already.

I thought the game was disappointing. Certainly not nearly as deep or challenging as the other games. Felt more like a tedious fetch quest really. The game couldn't even sell on the Switch, and with publicly available Western physical copies.

Plus has been out on Vita for a while now. Check that one out.

[Whendaleksattack]

Yeah, I've seen a few preview copies at a local store, but nothing else for this game. I just saw a playthrough of the game (up until the first boss) and I was stunned about how tedious the game actually was, with all of those "deliver this/grab this item" missions, FOR PRETTY MUCH THE WHOLE TIME. One particular mission has you trying to collect nuts from a certain enemy who spits them out for a kid, but when you do collect them, the kid just rejects them, which makes the mission just a complete waste of time. Also the story... what story? There is barely much to it, and I think it was pretty much an afterthought. The hunger bar also was probably added just to add some artificial difficulty to this game.

On a more positive side, I love the artwork in this game (Kawase herself looks adorable) and the music (from what I heard) ain't too bad, though not as grand and catchy as the original or Shun (speaking of which, they reuse one of the tracks from Shun for the result screen). 

There was also a collector's version for Fresh too (in Japan only, I think) that looked like the box for the original game, so I guess they put their resources into that as well, but it's a shame that the game itself is a disappointment.

But hey, at least it's not as bad/broken like that thing on the PSP.

[Princess Rescuer]

This game is TECHNICALLY more tolerable than the PSP one, but that's all it is- tolerable. The PSP one was fixed in future remakes and the previous versions of it from generations earlier were already good. Fresh on the other hand? There's no fixing this game- you would have to overhaul the entire experience to the point of being unrecognizable.

[KawaseFan]

I wasn't really a huge fan of Fresh either (probably not to the same level as Princess Rescuer, but anyway).

For the most part, I didn't think the level design had the same quality as previous games.  Some of the later quests felt like 'here's the exact same quest you've done before, but now there are more enemies', which seemed like blatant padding of game length to me.  Additionally, while the hunger bar really should never have been included, it's made worse by the fact that some later quests start with a reduced hunger bar.

[Whendaleksattack]

I also find it odd how there was a PS4 port announced a while ago, but strangely no PC port as well (as pretty much all the previous games have a PC version on Steam, including the upcoming Bazooka game).

Very strange.

[Alc]

Rescuer is being too hard on this game, IMO. It doesn't make sense to compare it to UK PSP - that game is fundamentally broken, Fresh merely suffers from bad design.

Point being, nobody loved the PSP game, because it's so fucked you can't really play it. By contrast, I imagine that Fresh appeals quite a lot to some players (I know there's a good bit of competition on the speedrun leaderboards, which there never was for the PSP game). Fresh certainly has many problems: the story is an afterthought and each quest is basically "Start here, go here, then here", and in general the open world setting compares poorly to the polished individual level design of the previous entries. You'd have to make your own fun in Fresh, speedrunning ILs or whatever, but when all's said and done the engine is still the same great game engine that was in Sayonara. I'd also make the case that "making your own fun" and just playing around with the physics has always been a part of the Umihara Kawase games, at least once you've conquered the levels.

I also find it odd how there was a PS4 port announced a while ago, but strangely no PC port as well (as pretty much all the previous games have a PC version on Steam, including the upcoming Bazooka game).

I really hope it comes to PC, because Fresh could really do with a mod to remove the Hunger bar. This would be a band-aid though - like Rescuer says, you'd have to change the entire game design to "fix" Fresh's problems.

[Whendaleksattack]

Yeah, mods would definitely be useful should this game come to PC. I don't know about any other mods for the other Steam releases though, but perhaps if this game does come to PC, then maybe this game will be good (though it'll have to be nearly completely overhauled).

[Alc]

I don't know about any other mods for the other Steam releases though

People here were poking around in the Steam game's files. There's a thread on "umires.arc" (the archive for the game data) that dives pretty deep, if you're interested, and Naulahauta had another thread for his adventures with Shun on PC.

but perhaps if this game does come to PC, then maybe this game will be good (though it'll have to be nearly completely overhauled).

Eh, Studio Saizensen probably want to just shuffle Fresh into the back catalogue ASAP and move onto the next game, there's no way they're going to do any work on a Steam version beyond a straight port.

[KawaseFan]

I also find it odd how there was a PS4 port announced a while ago, but strangely no PC port as well (as pretty much all the previous games have a PC version on Steam, including the upcoming Bazooka game).

Very strange.

I, too, was surprised at the lack of PC version announcement, but now I'm not sure whether to expect any PC version in the future.  You'd have fewer sales due to people who would've bought a more timely PC release buying the Switch or PS4 versions instead (besides suckers like me who would double-dip) and the game's somewhat mixed reputation turning some people away.  I'd certainly still like to see a PC version, but at this point, it might be better for them to move on after the PS4 version's release.

[Princess Rescuer]

I will say this about Fresh: I was at least excited that a new game was being made, thinking Sayonara would be the last.

With Bazooka, I'm not even excited for that game. It's another crossover spin-off game, and the thing that concerns me is that it's being banged out very quickly. Only one year after Fresh! Even remakes took more than one year to come out. It makes me wonder what kind of rushed, content-bereft game Bazooka will be. Plus, the premise of making a Smash-esque fighting game just feels misguided. At least Fresh will still be just as playable in the future. Good luck finding someone to play Bazooka with you a month after that game is out. All you will be stuck with are the AI bots which will never provide as interesting of an experience.

I've played enough of the first three games and I'm not really excited for anything that's coming up. I just don't think the design will be as interesting. The series is going through an awkward phase, experimenting with spin-offs, gimmicks, and "accessibility", and I don't know when that's going to end and it can go back to being traditional. Just let it be what it is. Trend-chasing will do the series no favors.

[Whendaleksattack]

They also seem to be re-using some tracks from Sayonara (notably the 3rd music track from Sayonara for the cutscene music) for Fresh, just noticed that as I just bought it from Steam (and I'm loving it).

Speaking of music, that is probably the best part of the game in my opinion. I really like the music for the first few missions (I should really find a YT playlist for the music), and I think the Sayonara music fits well with Fresh's (very few) originals. Despite this, the inclusion of Shun music doesn't really fit very well for me, and the new tracks are good, but as stated earlier, aren't as great as the other 3 games in my opinion.

I also mentioned earlier that there was a collector's edition of Fresh that was released in Japan only, complete with a cute SFC box that mimics the original game's box. I actually really like this design (maybe they made it in celebration of the 25th anniversary of UK, since it is this year), though I'll probably pass on getting it. What do you think? 

[Princess Rescuer]

Frankly, I'm glad I didn't spend more money on this game. And I'm glad I didn't associate it with the vastly superior Super Famicom game. I'm happy I downloaded it and it was therefore easier to get rid of.

I'm going to be cautious about Bazooka. I'm going to see what the game is like first. I might still buy it, but at a discounted price and later. Possibly after patches/DLC/a special edition.

[KawaseFan]

I'm happy I downloaded it and it was therefore easier to get rid of.

Actually not true!  If you had bought a physical copy, you could've resold it to get some money back, or you could've thrown it into the trash or out a window (or however you'd prefer to dispose of it).  Because you bought it from the eShop, though, it's stuck on your Nintendo Account forever.

[Whendaleksattack]

Yep, that’s the reason why I’m preferring to grab a physical copy of Fresh compared to the digital eShop version. Not only do you get the better return policy on games (though I think there is a way to refund eShop-downloaded games, but I forget exactly where), but you also get that adorable cover art and who doesn’t like that?

...ok probably not.

Speaking of covers, I’m hoping that if I do get a physical copy of Fresh, I’ll probably see if I can get it scanned. I’ve got a cheap printer at my house, though some of the stuff I’ve tested so far looks decent to pretty good. Might give it a test run with some other Switch covers in a day or two just to get confirmation on how well it scans it.

[Gorillanator]

On a positive note, I did like the bosses. They will still kind of poorly designed, but it was funny watching Umi bounce around like a ball tied to a paddle. Also, Cotton's side quest had some nice music and a funny cut-scene at the end.

[Canvas]

It was on sale for 10 bux on switch so I bought it expecting the worst. I haven't played too much yet. The hunger mechanic seems to simply function as a time limit with an added crafting gameloop, it doesn't seem so important either way so thats exceeded my expectations. Movement feels good, aesthetically its pleasing, I even find it charming. I like that they tried to expand more on the character, and added in land animals and such as enemies. I found a secret entrance to the tadpole boss and just beat F42 of UK1. Quest mode seems sort of repetitive but its still fun, I hope it gets harder