pamanana elizaida lincoln
Silvana Fleischacker
I also thought about New Pokemon Snap, a Switch game I fell in love with far more than I expected to. It's like a Pokemon photo safari on rails. Each environment moves along at a set pace, like a theme park ride, while you aim your Switch like a camera to take photos of hidden creatures.
Endless Ocean is a free-roaming experience, controlling a diver that can stay underwater forever and explore coral reefs, ruins and deep ocean trenches extending far into dark places. The murkiness and mystery, especially when my suit's lamp casts beams in the dark, is evocative. (The deep fascinates and scares me, even virtually.)
I love prehistoric sea life, too, and this Nintendo game conjures dozens of ancient creatures as part of the mix to discover, for reasons that are still unclear to me. Ammonites, plesiosaurs, giant armored fish -- they're all really cool to experience, although the game's goals are pretty simple: scan for new life and keep exploring for little hidden treasures.
Luminous even has some multiplayer support, allowing up to 30 players to join a dive together at once in a randomly generated ocean map. In the group dive, you can find treasure or uncover mystery creatures that are part of a larger scavenger hunt story challenge.
All of this, to me, screams "VR." It would require a headset, though. It's not impossible that Nintendo's expected next-gen Switch 2 could support such a thing: There are already glasses-like displays that connect via USB-C made by companies including XReal, and a more powerful Nvidia processor in a new Switch could power some VR gaming pretty easily.
Again, Nintendo's already dabbled in VR with Labo, although that 2019 kit was more experimental toy than fully immersive headset. The Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons are even surprisingly capable mini VR controllers; some people already connect them to Apple's Vision Pro for VR games.
Endless Ocean Luminous doesn't use motion controls in the sorts of interesting ways I'd hoped, and its third-person dive perspective isn't the type of immersion I'd want for VR. However, this might be the best thing until then if you've ever hoped for a free-roaming type of meandering ocean experience to relax and see some sea life from anywhere.
The game's mapping out of big territories reminded me of wandering through parts of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, minus the deeper gameplay and storyline. True to its name, there doesn't seem to be an end to the ocean maps in Endless Ocean, but the 500-plus types of sea life seem to get exhausted faster than I'd like. If you want a portable aquarium for your Switch, though, this is your chance.
Of course, a game will never capture the true beauty of the real thing, but it is a good way for those who can not go themselves to simulate the experience and have an adventure. Whenever there is a new game that explores the ocean floors, I am absolutely on board. Throughout the years, three console games in particular caught my attention.
The first one (or should I say two as there are two games in the series) is Endless Ocean (and Endless Ocean 2: Blue World). I found these games by chance in my high school years and was immediately drawn in as this was my first diving simulation experience. The first game was fine and I beat it with ease, having a simple storyline and one large open-world area. The second game, however, was the much superior game, having an extensive story, multiple areas, mini-games galore, and a plethora of creatures to interact with.
Abzu is very unique in terms of story. There is no dialogue and leaves room for many different interpretations of what is going on. To put it as best as I can, you are a diver who awakens in the sea. Upon exploring, guided by a Great White Shark, the diver discovers wells that help restore the ocean life and protect it from the strange pyramids found in the sea.
Lastly, Beyond Blue is about a small team of marine researchers. You take the role of Marai, a young woman with a deep connection with a particular pod of sperm whales. You explore the regions, scanning and tagging animals for research when you find out some shady things are going on in the depths. The safety of the beloved pod is at stake and Marai is out to find out why.
Abz was probably the world I was most immersed in. The vivid color schemes each representative of the season and the areas in which you were exploring stood out beautifully. There were certain points in the game where the score would really pick up as you were having a special moment, whether it be swimming with a pod of orcas, joining a group of blue whales on a hunting dive, or reuniting with an old friend. The emotion you were meant to feel during these moments were amplified by the amazing soundtrack. The interactivity in this world was solid as well. The seaweed moves with you, the animals go about their business until interacted with; just details like that make a huge difference.
My other issue with the immersion in this game is just like Beyond Blue where you get music at some points, usually when coming across a key location or special creature, but most diving time is spent in silence. This would happen in Endless Ocean 1 as well, but they actually gave you the option to turn on the games unlocked songs or allow you to download your own music to play while diving. In 2, they have such lovely new age classical songs that fit certain areas perfectly, mostly be provided by the Celtic Women, and inside areas like the Valka Castle where this music is being played on a loop, I feel it provides importance and, again, calms the nerves.
Each game is filled with critters to encounter (it would be kind of weird to have an ocean game without them). There are certain animals seen in each game, as mentioned earlier, a few more including orcas, whale sharks, parrotfish, and sunfish. As well as animals, there are sometimes other human beings to interact with as well!
Beyond Blue has the smallest catalog of animals, and it was rather disappointing considering how much time and effort they put into making these animals so lifelike. Granted, they chose some of the more popular animals to put into the game, but it still felt like a rather empty world compared to the other two games.
I definitely favor Abz and Endless Ocean over Beyond Blue. Compared to the two, the game was a little lack-luster. Does this mean I hate it? Not at all. It was still very enjoyable for me. I just saw so much potential for this game and I feel like it fell short of those expectations. Seeing how much the previous two games had offered in 2016 [Abzu] and 2009 [Endless Ocean 2], I felt as though a game from 2020 should improve and build off of these two fantastic games.
The creature pages are currently all being updated so the new Endless Ocean Luminous information can be added. In the meantime, some pages might be broken but they are being fixed so check back soon!
It was first released in Japan on August 2nd, 2007, and in Europe on November 9th, 2007. Originally planned for an October 2007 release in North America, it actually ended up reaching store shelves in the region on January 21st, 2008.
Once you're past that, you find yourself diving into the water. The label in the top-left corner should alert you that you're in the Manoa Lai Sea, and once you're fully in the water, you're greeted over an earpiece/radio by someone who introduces herself as Katherine Sunday. She'll walk you through the basics of diving - turning, swimming, and autoswim. You're introduced to the first area of the game that you're allowed to access - the Lagoon. Then, Kat will request that you come back to the boat.
When you get out of the water, you find yourself on the Gabbiano - your home base and workstation while you work on the Manoa Lai Sea. You're soon greeted by Katherine, a cheerful and quirky young woman wearing sandals, jean shorts, and an orange life vest. She gives you the basic rundown of the job - primarily, she describes it as "relaxing and taking it easy", but she adds that you may also be asked to complete requests from the foundation from time to time.
From there, you get a notification that you've gotten an email, and Kat asks you to head to the cabin and check on what it is - this is where you get the basic tutorial for moving around and interacting with things aboard the boat. Upon entering the cabin, Kat tells you about what you can do - at this point, all you can do is check your email, save your game, or take a look at the clock to decide when to sleep until (i.e. advancing the time).
Checking the cell phone will greet you with an email from Alfred Thorman - Kat's boss, the head of the Manoa Lai branch of the Marianas Foundation. He requests that you perform a topographical survey of the area known as Coral Forest.
Once you exit the cabin, Kat approaches you about the email, then tells you where Coral Forest is - just west of your current location (parked at the Lagoon). Then, she gives you access to the map of the Manoa Lai sea so that you can see what she means, and thus unlocks their ability to view and fill in the map. The player character inquires about why she can't do these requests, too, and Kat admits that she can't swim, but protests that "we all have your strengths and weaknesses."
The next time you dive, Kat will teach you about how to interact with the fish and learn their names, and gives the example of feeding them, which gives you the ability to feed the fish you'd like to learn about. When the player swims to the West, out of the Lagoon, they'll reach the Coral Forest - the area Alfred Thorman wanted them to survey.
Suddenly, though, a bottlenose dolphin appears and swims around the player a few times, as if in a playful mood, before vanishing into the ocean. Kat comments on the dolphin's presence, then notes that she as all the data that she needs for the topographical survey, and invites the player to dive at their own leisure.
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