Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby Kintor » Sat Nov 25, 2017 2:46 am

MiTT3NZ wrote:What exactly did you dislike about them though?

Well, to keep this as brief as possible. Sonic Boom was an unfinished disaster that made unpatched Sonic 06 look like a stable build. While Lost World looked and played more like a half-assed Mario game, lacking the spirit and high-speed gameplay that makes the Sonic series unique. Compared to those games Sonic Forces is a true return to form, with an improved version of the Hedgehog Engine which can push the modern gameplay further than ever before.

Sokora wrote: Sonic Adventure complex storytelling? You’ve got to be fucking trolling? Are you taking the piss?

Compared to the classic games Sonic Adventure has a much more complex story. I mean, most of the story in the earliest 2D Sonic games is relegated to the manual. S3&K got a bit more ambitious with a few rudimentary cutscenes. While Sonic 3D had a narrated opening crawl at the start of the game. But with Sonic Adventure we finally had cartoon quality level storytelling, in terms of technical sophistication. That's what the Dreamcast brought to the table, a paradigm shift in how Sonic games could be made.
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby MiTT3NZ » Sat Nov 25, 2017 8:33 am

Ah, so you haven't played all Sonic games then? I assume that you're younger than a few of the earlier titles?
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby Kintor » Sat Nov 25, 2017 8:55 am

MiTT3NZ wrote:Ah, so you haven't played all Sonic games then? I assume that you're younger than a few of the earlier titles?

Oh dear, is this another attempt to pigeonhole me into an un-person category? Implying that I was closet-furry didn't work so now you want to claim I'm not a classic fan. That's a flawed assumption, just because I can enjoy the modern games as much as I do the originals. Truth be told I've been a Sonic fan since the beginning, my first Sonic game was actually Sonic 1 on the Sega Master System. Heck, I even have a copy of Knuckles Chaotix for my still working 32X.
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby MiTT3NZ » Sat Nov 25, 2017 10:21 am

No, I was trying to rationalise your preference by figuring out if it's the more recent games you grew up with rather than the old ones. My first Sonic game was also the MS original. I wouldn't exactly call it fast (though there was a point in the first level where going down a hill in speed shoes could get you to the end within a second or two)

My point is that the emphasis used to be on platforming. Speed was only part of the equation because of SEGA's need to market the Mega Drive as a faster console than the SNES.

You seem to have trouble differentiating the difference between Sonic's identity as a character/brand and the identity of the video games themselves.

For instance you have repeatedly spoken about your love for branching paths, which is a legitimate preference, one that nobody's taking away from you. However you seem totally opposed to considering the flaw in Route A leading to the exact same scenario as Routes B & C only with a differently textured environment.

It does slightly baffle me that you continually refuse to address criticisms put forward, and instead point to aspects you deem your favourites. We all like video games on here, obviously, but we're mature enough to have an intelligent discussion/debate about them.

I mean, look, I've not hid from the fact I find some of the more... enthusiastic Shenmue fans quite irritating, but even they can accept that their obsession is indeed flawed, and can go into great depth about how bad some mechanics, artistic decisions etc are, and how they can be improved.

You on the other hand actually remind me of modern Sonic game play: barrelling through everything with complete disregard to everything else, and no matter the approach we take with you, we always end up at the exact same point.

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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby Kintor » Sat Nov 25, 2017 12:30 pm

MiTT3NZ wrote:My point is that the emphasis used to be on platforming. Speed was only part of the equation because of SEGA's need to market the Mega Drive as a faster console than the SNES.

You seem to have trouble differentiating the difference between Sonic's identity as a character/brand and the identity of the video games themselves.

For instance you have repeatedly spoken about your love for branching paths, which is a legitimate preference, one that nobody's taking away from you. However you seem totally opposed to considering the flaw in Route A leading to the exact same scenario as Routes B & C only with a differently textured environment.

I don't think you understand how Sonic games work at all. Regardless of whether the end is a signpost or goal ring all branching paths do eventually lead to the same point. At its heart all Sonic games are influenced by Sega's heritage as an arcade developer, this means that high scores are king.

Get the end, by any route you can, any way you can, so long as your score the most amount of points along the way - that's what matters in a Sonic game. Destroying enemies, jumping across platforms, discovering secrets and hidden times; these are only important insofar as they can be chained together in the culmination of a perfect run. The reward for that perfect run is a high score, proof of a player's skill in the mastery of the gameplay and level design, in modern Sonic games this is a 'S' rank score.

The only thing holding the boost back should be the absolute limits of human reaction times. If a Sonic game can go faster, thanks to new hardware, then is should go faster. Any boring platformer can navigate a few jumps and enemies without the element of speed, Sonic games are unique because they condense all that decision making into microseconds. The best classic levels understood this; a skilled player should never slow down in a Sonic game as they overcome all obstacles.
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby MiTT3NZ » Sat Nov 25, 2017 12:42 pm

Image

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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby Crimson Ryan » Sat Mar 17, 2018 7:29 am

Kintor wrote:
Sonikku wrote: Image

So Sonic Mania is finally getting a physical release. :lol: Feel a bit miffed considering how much more I paid for the huge collector's edition with the statue considering it was "digital only". :P But I can't argue with giving more spotlight to a Sonic game actually worth its salt.

Yeah, this was announced at SXSW earlier today. Along with a series of animated shorts to be released on YouTube, in the style of Sonic Mania's intro.

Sega also teased this:

phpBB [video]


Looks like a new racing game. Note that the 'R' in the preview is the same font as Sonic R. No word on whether Sumo Digital is involved yet but seems likely giving the job posting on their websites from a few months ago.

I've been waiting yeeeears for a new Sonic Racing game from Sumo!

Will definitely buy Sonic Mania Plus. As I have the digital release of Mania already the upgrade shouldn't cost too much hopefully.
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby Let's Get Sweaty » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:55 am

Wasted half my morning today going back to Sonic Mania. Don't get me wrong, it's a game full of great ideas, lovingly executed. But it's too damned hard. I might one day complete it out of grim determination, but I feel like the potential for enjoyment has been sapped right out of it by the unforgiving difficulty in a number of places. From repeatedly running out of time, to getting randomly squashed by things that weren't designed as traps, to that fucking Oil Ocean boss, I'm forever losing my last life and having to restart the whole zone from the beginning of Act 1. And don't even get me started on the special stages.

I know games used to be harder than this. I know we all had to walk six miles in three feet of snow, uphill both ways, to even get to the nearest place that sold them. But we also had a lot more time and patience back then and yes, we hadn't been conditioned to expect a more leisurely romp. Now the sum of its punishing parts makes Sonic Mania feel like the Dark Souls of 2D platforming, which robs it of the replayability of its 16-bit inspirations. That disappoints me.

I'm also fully aware that other people have breezed through it without a sniff of a challenge, and to those people I say th... oh wait, time's up. Back to the title screen.
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby MiTT3NZ » Sat Mar 17, 2018 11:26 am

I keep gettin told I'll love it, but it just looks like a remix album. Bought and rebought the original Sonic games far too often not to feel bitter about sinking so much money into it.
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby Sonikku » Sat Mar 17, 2018 2:34 pm

MiTT3NZ wrote: I keep gettin told I'll love it, but it just looks like a remix album. Bought and rebought the original Sonic games far too often not to feel bitter about sinking so much money into it.

It's only $20. Wait for Eshop credit to go on sale for $8 per $10 and get two of them if you want to get it for $16 you cheap twat. :P
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby MiTT3NZ » Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:11 am

Sonikku wrote:you cheap twat.


I'm too skint not to be.
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby Birty » Mon Mar 26, 2018 3:39 pm

Must...resist...

I bought the Sonic Mania Collectors edition, never even opened it! =P~
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby Riku Rose » Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:00 pm

phpBB [video]


Looks like I did the smart thing of being too busy to play the game when it originally came out.
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby Sonikku » Tue May 01, 2018 10:24 pm

Riku Rose wrote:
phpBB [video]


Looks like I did the smart thing of being too busy to play the game when it originally came out.

Meanwhile Sonikku did the stupid thing, and got suckered by a statue. :lol:
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Re: Sonic Forces & Sonic Mania

Postby Crimson Ryan » Sat Jul 07, 2018 5:53 am

phpBB [video]


First Dev diary released. This being about art direction and character design.

If you already own Sonic Mania, the Encore DLC upgrade will only be £5! I'm jumping on it for that price.

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