I was gonna make this thread earlier, but since I was still gonna get the game anyway I figured I may as well wait til it's out to prevent hearing the "you haven't played the game so you can't know anything" nonsense so we can maybe actually discuss the game.

The new slam mechanic, it's too powerful and oversimplifies the combat. Ghost catching is no longer a tug of war, once you reach full charge they're completely at your mercy. By catching just 1 ghost in your suction you can still hit all others in the room, whereas in LM2 you can only hit 3 at once and you have to grab all 3 in the same suction.

LM2 encouraged more thoughtful play, not only do you want to try setting up suctioning multiple ghost at once so there's less ghost attacking you, but you're also rewarded more money. Then there's the charge mechanic which rewards you with money if you captured a ghost using the charged succ, with the higher level charges granting more money. Additionally, charge succs also stagger the enemy, interrupting attacks and keeping them in place for a moment. You'll want to pay attention to enemy HP and use your charges in way that you can finish them off with the highest level of charge.

Now I'm not sure if the lack of an upgrade system is the fault of the slam mechanic, but it's an issue eitherway. Without upgrades money feels pretty useless, especially in the Scarescraper. In LM2 it's fine to go a bit out of your way looking for money as you're contributing to the team's upgrades, but in LM3 it's totally a waste of time except on the one mode that requires it. The story mode has a shop atleast, but unless you're a novice player too lazy to look up Boo/Gem locations online then money may as well be useless still.

Yes all Luigi's Mansion games are easy so it's effect on difficulty is kinda moot, but the problem is it's lesser depth. That's not to say there isn't any there, you do have to aim your slam and you need to be close enough. The one thing I learned from playing the game (not because this can only be learned by playing the game, evidenced by you reading this), is that there is timing involved, proper execution let's you get 5 slams. Still it's less involved compared to the traditional tug of war where you need to pay more attention to the ghost you're capturing and surrounding enemies.

The combat is still satisfying enough, I'm still enjoying this game, but I really hope they go back to LM2 style combat in future games.

I think ghost-catching peaked on the first game.

I agree - the combat in LM3 is enjoyable and fun, but not particularly thrilling. It's fun how OP you are, but at some point, you miss the tension of being dragged around by the ghosts and aiming for that perfect run.

What did you like about the original's combat? It's been a long time since I played that game so I don't remember it too well.

Way too easy.It seems a lot of developers in general, whether from Nintendo or others, have been making their games too easy.

LM3 is my personal GotY. I really enjoy it and the local campaign coop is greatly appreciated. I've been playing a lot with the kids. Speaking of which, people complaining family friendly games are too easy crack me up. Might as well complain Pixar movies don't have enough sex and violence.

Look I don't disagree Nintendo games tend to be easier than Sony/MS, but that literally is the point.  Kirby is coop, LM3 is coop, Mario Odyssey is coop, Yoshi's Crafted World is coop.  As a parent with young kids having accessible (easy) couch coop games is amazing.  Not everything should be aimed at the hardcore audience.  Kudos to Nintendo for realizing there is more than one demographic out there.

It was simple, but pretty technical. Just directional maneuvering until the ghost was caught. Add a few hazards in between. However, there really was challenge as the ghosts got desperate.

Not sure why they don't to be honest.  People have been asking the same question about Souls and Sekiro for a long time.  I mean it wouldn't be too hard to double damage Luigi hard mode. 

For me I like Nintendo's difficulty, but I am at a different place than most.  I have played probably 5 hours of LM3 with the kids.  Being able to share gaming with the kids is really quite nice.  Most companies seem to have abandoned couch coop, luckily Nintendo still has it.   

I think my larger point is that raising the difficulty in Nintendo games would be a giant mistake, given a large percent of their audience.  A slider would be the better want as opposed to simply making games harder. 

Kirby has always been like that though, Star Allies didn't really do anything differently compared to previous games that makes killing everything even easier. There's nothing wrong with a game being easy as long as it's marketed at such. If we want a game with more challenge we can simply find a different game, I don't think it's reasonable to expect any one game to satisfy all needs.

What do you mean they got desperate? I don't remember such a thing, I do remember it being just as challenging as the newer games, which is to say hardly at all lol. Looking at footage of it on Youtube for a refresher, it doesn't look particularly more challenging.

Nintendo are perfectly happy to come down the other end of the difficulty scale as well, if you start off breath of the wild and walk up to the first camp of enemies with just a stick and some rusty weapons.... chances are you are very quickly going to have a link who has one of those 2 items inserted rectally and being greeted by your first visit to the Game Over screen in breath of the wild.

To anyone who says "all Nintendo games are easy" I would love to see them VS and Lynel with a 2handed Mace.... in the Snow, unless you are very well equipped for that fight, you are going to get ruined.