Which feature of Sonic Frontiers wouldn't you want to see in the next game?

2D sections in the open zone would be my first pick for something to get the boot, but among the options presented I'll go with the power boost. Leveling up speed naturally is just a lot more rewarding IMO, and none of the other options are things I'd want gone.

 

All boss fights being fought as Super Sonic is Frontiers' climatic gimmick. It pulled it off relatively well, and the whole idea is exciting. But doing it a second time would diminish that. I don't want the next game to utilise Super Sonic until the final boss, if even at all. You can't just repeat the same gimmick over and over, because it'll rapidly lose it's impact and become mundane. We saw this bad practice with all of the games from SA1(/3K) until Black Knight, which all ended with a very predictable Super Sonic boss fight. Colours opting not to use Super Sonic was actually pretty original as far as 3D games went (and then they went and reused that same fight like in Lost World and Forces). And likewise, you can't just keep trying to one-up what you did before in exactly the same way because it'll start to feel artificially inflated, and really stifles the potential for other creative ideas.

Everything else is more than suitable for being built upon in the future, although Cyberspace ought to be recontextualised so that its not literally Cyberspace again. An open zone base with various traditional stages accessed throughout is a solid foundation.

And of all the features, I sincerely hope that the Cyloop does make a comeback. It's a fun, but seriously underdeveloped mechanic with a lot of potential. I know that talking about the "potential" of Sonic games is annoying, but this one specific move I think could be so so simply put to more use. The simple mechanic of tracing a path without stopping in a game that's all about running could be used in a lot of ways. It doesn't need to be limited to creating closed circles, stunning enemies and getting an infinite supply of rings.

 

how do you list all that and not perfect parries

 

Oh ok, this is a question to determine the second-least popular mechanic in the game. Understandable, please proceed

 

Honestly, I don't have a big issue with anything on the list, particularly, but I chose power boost just because having to max your rings to get the top speed isn't intuitive. It also becomes more tedious to do when your ring cap is maxed.

That said, one thing that absolutely needs to change next game is the core gameplay loop. Having to collect Memory Tokens to progress the story doesn't really work, IMO. I get that the idea is to encourage you to interact with the world and explore the level design, but ultimately, it just ends up feeling like you're roaming around aimlessly. Another thing that NEEDS improvement by the way is sense of direction. On the map, you have markers showing you where things are SUPPOSED to be, but even when you go near that area, there might not always be a clear path to GET to that thing. For many tokens, especially on Chaos island, it took me a lot of trial and error to figure out where I was even supposed to START going after a token, as the path was far from clear.

That said, whatever comes next, I really hope for a more organic, integrated level structure in the world itself next time, rather than through the same 10 structures laid on top of everything in different formations, floating in the air. A mix of both (and more of an attempt needs to make the reused elements themed after the area they're in would help on visual variety).

Also for the love of god, have much better performance for pop-in. Next time we shouldn't have the Switch holding us back.

 

I wasn't sure what to vote because nothing on the list really spoke to me until I read your post. Yeah, I'd be fine with Super Sonic going. Or if its kept, at least give it more mechanical depth, because I think we can all agree that the Super Sonic fights ride off spectacle.

My main problem with Frontiers are the controls and physics. Boost Sonic style works well for a twitch reflex game, but not so much for an open world one, for reasons I'm sure have been painfully elaborated on before.

 

I am fine with all of them, except one thing, that meteor shower slots things, that’s the one thing I would be more than happy to never see again, red moon is annoying in zelda as well, needlessly interrupt your game with a forced cutscene and a lot of junk

 

The cutscene is used to mask the fact that enemies respawn out of nowhere, but there's must be a more elegant solution to that. Maybe simply don't respawn enemies that are within a certain radius, and then instead silently respawn them when you've moved far enough away?

The slot machine is a really annoying gimmick. Whilst I like the basic idea of it, I think Sonic Team are aware of how annoying it was for multiple reasons. Following patches, you get to disable it outright. And in the Final Horizon update, it's replaced by a different mechanic. Instead of those little meteorites, the ground will instead be covered in Koco, red seeds and blue seeds. Picking up one of these will add one your counter, and the counter will keep ticking up by itself for a little while. The more you pick up, the faster the counter goes. You can very, very early end up with thousands of items in a single Starfall Event, enough to go from lv1 to MAX instantly in all stats. Obviously this system is so easily broken because the extra characters are only playable in a very small portion of the end game. The principle though is kinda fun. You just run around collecting all these goodies. It's cathartic, and if the rewards were better balanced it would be a very fun bonus mechanic.

 

Revamp the combat, imo

I’ve made longer posts about this before, but in my ideal Sonic game, there is no divide between traversal and combat, which is to say that all of Sonic’s moves are dual purpose. Boosting into enemies does a big hit of damage but leaves Sonic vulnerable as he’s bounced back after contact, sliding trips them up to stun them, whereas cyloop pops them into the air as the setup for a homing attack before slamming them back down with the stomp. I could go on, but I think this is how the combat should go for Sonic - no complicated inputs to remember, no automated cutscene attacks, just intuitive, free flow and organic combat that has no disconnect with regular movement.

 

Honestly, does anyone actually use the Drop Dash in this game? I always imagined it as a Classic-only move, something to further differentiate Classic and Modern Sonic. Adding it to Sonic Frontiers was a waste, especially when the Spin Dash does everything it does without stopping you for a few seconds.

As a matter of fact, the Drop Dash and Spin Dash relationship in Modern Sonic games is the inverse of the relationship in Classic Sonic games. The Drop Dash was a good feature in Sonic Mania because it allows you to keep your momentum up without having to stop, unlike the Spin Dash which requires you to stop and rev up. In Sonic Frontiers, the Spin Dash allows you to keep your momentum up, unlike the Drop Dash which kills your speed by requiring you to jump.

I wouldn't be bothered if the Drop Dash was dropped from 3D games going forward, it adds nothing and is made redundant by the much better Spin Dash.

 

Combat is the main aspect of the game that I care to engage with the least. If it got the axe for the next game, I'd be stoked.

 

I want a different plot, so no koco/ancients. They limit the story to only the starfall islands which we’ve seen are very drab. I want more sonicy environments next time

 

Yeah Sage is great and I desperately hope she represents a status quo change that this series has needed for years. One thing I’ve always liked about Sonic over Mario is how the setting develops and events can have last consequences, and you can’t lean much more into that than making Eggman a dad. I could see them having a pitch perfect dynamic in future games or when the comic writers are allowed to use them.

 

Open-Zone platforming can stay, but please, please make the puzzles actually fit the level and not be built using pop-in floating thingies. That's all I ask.

Ancients and Kokos can stay, too, since their story isn't entirely over yet. Some went all the way to angel island to find the master emerald and evolved into the chao. That was the most sequel bait thing in Frontiers in my opinion.

 

Stop dropping the ball on stage design. Do a better job of testing and tweaking your challenges.

Beyond that, I don't care what they keep and save, but quite releasing half-finished products that needed more testing.