I updated the OP with some additional information about the game and some new screens.

A question - would this game also suit a smart 7 year old girl with a lot of patience, who likes collecting things (e.g. find/identify all the fish in the game or whatever one does here ) BUT who does not read/speak English? Personally unfortunately I won't have time for this game any time soon, though I'd love to, but can see my smallest girl spending quite some time with this, if it doesn't necessitate juggling skills a la mario and does not need extensive reading (I don't mind translating for her once in a long while some mission, but I would mind having to go over and translate for her something every few minutes).

bmmb1 said: A question - would this game also suit a smart 7 year old girl with a lot of patience, who likes collecting things (e.g. find/identify all the fish in the game or whatever one does here ) BUT who does not read/speak English? Personally unfortunately I won't have time for this game any time soon, though I'd love to, but can see my smallest girl spending quite some time with this, if it doesn't necessitate juggling skills a la mario and does not need extensive reading (I don't mind translating for her once in a long while some mission, but I would mind having to go over and translate for her something every few minutes).

I'm guessing that would be fine. The whole point of the game is to just swim around and look at things; there's a storyline, but it's quite minimal, and optional. You can play the game just fine without following it, and even of you do, there's very little to read. And if she likes collecting things, this'd be perfect for her. There's a humongous amount of fish to be found, and while all of 'em come with some text, that's only some short background info on them, and nothing you would need to read to understand the game, at all. In fact, I mostly skipped reading these texts in the original myself.

The game's controls are incredibly easy, you just point where you wanna go, press a button, and you go there, she wouldn't have any problems with that whatsoever, imo. I'm not sure how things are in this sequel, but in the original EO you couldn't die, so even though there were some places with sharks and stuff, it's never frightening. I believe in EO2 you can get a 'danger' warning if you come too close to sharks and the likes, but as far as I know you still can't die.

Furthermore, because the game doesn't really have a 'goal' (apart from maybe collecting all the fish and completing the story-section, both of which are entirely optional), it's got basically endless replay value.

Cheebee said: bmmb1 said: A question - would this game also suit a smart 7 year old girl with a lot of patience, who likes collecting things (e.g. find/identify all the fish in the game or whatever one does here ) BUT who does not read/speak English? Personally unfortunately I won't have time for this game any time soon, though I'd love to, but can see my smallest girl spending quite some time with this, if it doesn't necessitate juggling skills a la mario and does not need extensive reading (I don't mind translating for her once in a long while some mission, but I would mind having to go over and translate for her something every few minutes). I'm guessing that would be fine. The whole point of the game is to just swim around and look at things; there's a storyline, but it's quite minimal, and optional. You can play the game just fine without following it, and even of you do, there's very little to read. And if she likes collecting things, this'd be perfect for her. There's a humongous amount of fish to be found, and while all of 'em come with some text, that's only some short background info on them, and nothing you would need to read to understand the game, at all. In fact, I mostly skipped reading these texts in the original myself. The game's controls are incredibly easy, you just point where you wanna go, press a button, and you go there, she wouldn't have any problems with that whatsoever, imo. I'm not sure how things are in this sequel, but in the original EO you couldn't die, so even though there were some places with sharks and stuff, it's never frightening. I believe in EO2 you can get a 'danger' warning if you come too close to sharks and the likes, but as far as I know you still can't die. Furthermore, because the game doesn't really have a 'goal' (apart from maybe collecting all the fish and completing the story-section, both of which are entirely optional), it's got basically endless replay value.

Great, that's what I thought, I just wasn't certain since I have never played the first one. So. I'll buy the game for her when it comes out, then occasionally come along and "help"her find another fish or two.

bmmb1 said: A question - would this game also suit a smart 7 year old girl with a lot of patience, who likes collecting things (e.g. find/identify all the fish in the game or whatever one does here ) BUT who does not read/speak English? Personally unfortunately I won't have time for this game any time soon, though I'd love to, but can see my smallest girl spending quite some time with this, if it doesn't necessitate juggling skills a la mario and does not need extensive reading (I don't mind translating for her once in a long while some mission, but I would mind having to go over and translate for her something every few minutes).

There was quite a lot of text in the first one (but it is also translated into French, Spanish, Italian and German- or French and Spanish in the NA version).However, you didn't need to read most of it - she might need some helping through the first hour or so which slowly introduces the controls, but after that it was pretty well a free-for-all.I gather the second one is a bit more game-like and might not be so free-roaming. But there is probably enoughin each area for her to go off exploring on her own.

Also, this game is definitely worth keeping for reference if you love animals or you are majoring in the marine biology (or animal biology) field(s). I haven't gotten the animal encyclopedia completed because I'm typing up all the animal information on my computer for reference so I can read it and use it if I have to teach something.

Naraku_Diabolos said: Also, this game is definitely worth keeping for reference if you love animals or you are majoring in the marine biology (or animal biology) field(s). I haven't gotten the animal encyclopedia completed because I'm typing up all the animal information on my computer for reference so I can read it and use it if I have to teach something.

Save your typing fingers, Naraku.

If you look at my FAQ on Gamefaqs it already has all the animal information in it - feel free to copy and paste from there, after all, the information isn't mine!

www.gamefaqs.com/console/wii/file/935591/51484

Apparently, the game supports the Classic Controller as well: http://www.ncsx.com/2009/091409/Banky/forever_blue2_bxp.jpg

Holy shit you really squeeze everything out of your games Mr Fish Sheep. I thought I was bad (I pretty much complete all my games to the best of my ability, then those that I really like get completed multiple times, or get played a lot in cases like MKWii where I am not eaxactly re-completing the game, but playing bits of it again and again)

The average according to the Nintendo channel is only 10.5 hours, something that always makes me a bit sad (along with the lowly amount that BWii is played)
If you let Nintendo take your playtime data through the Nintendo channel then you alone must be dragging that figure up by a couple of minutes. (basically being almost 100 people by yourself)

TWRoO said: Holy shit you really squeeze everything out of your games Mr Fish Sheep. I thought I was bad (I pretty much complete all my games to the best of my ability, then those that I really like get completed multiple times, or get played a lot in cases like MKWii where I am not eaxactly re-completing the game, but playing bits of it again and again) The average according to the Nintendo channel is only 10.5 hours, something that always makes me a bit sad (along with the lowly amount that BWii is played) If you let Nintendo take your playtime data through the Nintendo channel then you alone must be dragging that figure up by a couple of minutes. (basically being almost 100 people by yourself)

I agree with TWRoO. You should try to be a game tester for Nintendo. Think of the crap-load of money you would make trying to test the games and find bugs

Also, thanks for the link, Mr. Fish Sheep.