The 2021 beta also showed denser foliage and better looking lighting and particles, which can be assumed it was cut due to the Switch's performance. And other platforms suffered due to parity in the code (So I'd imagine).
Is there any evidence that it is because of the Switch, though? Because that's just conjecture based on the Switch being the popular whipping boy when it comes to performance. Cutbacks can happen for any number of reasons, and there's no reason different versions can't have different graphical options while maintaining the same gameplay. For example, the render distance is something that's usually easily configurable in the 3D engine. Depending on the platform it can be increased or decreased. If there's lots of pop-in even on a PS5, that means that the increased load would make the framerate suffer.
The pop-in is a strange case. I'll give a short technical explanation for anyone who doesn't know: In Frontiers objects have a "range" value that determines when they load. This is usually set to 200 or higher for rings, springs, etc, but platforms have a much lower range. This is consistent across all systems and was probably done for a reason, as using mods to increase platform range frequently results in instability and crashes. In my opinion, the game actually sometimes looks worse with a higher draw distance as it just amplifies the "asset spam" design mentality of the island (mostly later ones). I've been told that the platforms do have Level of Detail (LOD) models, but they're way more detailed than they should be. --- Additionally, there are some leftover higher-fidelity lighting parameters, as seen in earlier footage. It's not a huge difference by itself, but noticeable in direct comparisons. I imagine the Switch would've struggled with it, not to mention the beta Kronos map, the largest map in the game by far.
I just want the team to build on the wonderful ground work done with frontiers. Which for me was the best controlling and best Sonic game since Adventure.
'Marvel' is a bit exaggerated imo but the fact that the game can handle traveling large expanses of land at ~80m/s without any stutter from loading is pretty cool. Even BOTW and TOTK eventually stutter if you use glitches to go too fast, but Frontiers handles it no sweat no matter how quick you force Sonic to go, even on older HDDs. Plus the implementation of loading screenless fast travel is just kinda neat, ST talked about both of them for CEDEC. Again I definitely wouldnt use the word marvel myself, it's ultimately a fairly standard game, but there's still some neat stuff that HE2 does here.
additional elaboration: this can be seen in basically any speedrun of these games that involve glitching the physics system to make link rocket around at....Sonic the Hedgehog speeds. The game will just stop as it loads things in, with longer pauses than bog-standard stuttering. The Frontiers islands have no loading zones and you can traverse them seamlessly very quickly, which would mean either their data streaming is very good or they managed some way to load the whole thing in at once.
I don't mind having more focused Action Stages to contrast the open-zone, I just hope they look more original and aren't rehashed from past games. When you think about it the open-zone/cyberspace thing is really no different from Adventure/'06/Advance 3/Unleashed's Hub world/Action stages. But yeah there should be more bitesized platforming challenges naturally integrated into the open-zone. Most 3D Mario games do this too where they'll have specific stages designed to offer tighter platforming challenges in contrast to the more open levels.
Ditch the spin dash and drop dash (both of them), actually. Spin Dash is impossible to implement in a balanced way, or at least a way Sonic Team would conceptualize and people would accept, and the drop dash is just a waste of time when literally any other air movement option will do more for you. I'd rather give speed-gaining abilities to the Slide move, replacing the rolling mechanic from the 2d stages and giving it something more substantial than instant damage as a combat move.
I haven't heard anyone complain about the Spin Dash in Frontiers. It wasn't exactly balanced but it doesn't have to be because the average player wouldn't be able to able to abuse it as hard as the speedruns I've seen anyway.
What does the slide do that rolling wasn't already doing in 1991? If anything's cluttering the moveset...
I'm all for a completely crazy, unbalanced game based on the spindash without a boost, that beckons serendipity over tight action chains. "But it will break the game, glitch it out and trivialize challenges" look I'm the one saying I want it, you don't have to convince me even further
Yeah ditch one of Sonic’s unique traits that was finally brought back into 3D and focus on the slide a really generic 3D platformer move... Get rid of instant top speed boost and have drop dash and spin dash serve the same purpose they always have, if you set the initial boost speed setting to zero you essentially get this setup, boost has to build speed over time and that rate is affected by slopes while spin dash can be used when you wanna hit top speed quickly.
As in, nobody would accept a solution that's actually good and not needlessly broken. And it is extremely easy for someone to abuse the spindash without even knowing they're doing it: all they have to do is hold down the button and now gravity is disabled. An Adventure's no fun if it's too easy. There would be an expectation if it was basic rolling that it would somehow give you huge air by jumping off a slope or wall using it or give instant damage to enemies. That's not the idea behind it at all. In fact the only reason it's like this is because it's mean to serve a similar purpose to thebrealtively balanced rolling in Sonic 1 without all the baggage that doesn't work in 3d.
On one hand: fuck yeah On the other hand: I think Sonic is at its best when it's a toy we can fling around to see what it does -- but even though we are allowed to do the unexpected, a transgression is still a transgression. It's counterintuitive to today's game design sensibilities, which maximize ROI (return-on-input hehe) and streamlining fun. In being so weird and broken, I think the spindash in Frontiers brought a little of Sonic's original ingenuity back. So I'm all for both
im also totally on board with both. Yeah sometimes it can be TOO MUCH and totally disengaging from the game can instead loop back around to boring, but god if it isnt also just really FUN to break a game or zoom over whole chunks of levels. I hope we see more of the final updates design philosophy and follow the route of more freedom and less automation regardless
While thinking about what kind of open world format I'd use for Sonic a while back, I thought of an Elden Ring-like structure, with an open world that effectively had 5-10 normal Sonic levels bolted into it that you can just walk up to and then do stuff in (like how Elden Ring's legacy dungeons are woven into its world). The problem is that Sonic is an extremely fast and agile character, so designing a world that forces him into the proper "start" of these "legacy zones" so to speak seems very challenging to maybe impossible. Like, your character in Elden Ring is extremely limited mobility-wise, so From Soft has zero issue creating levels that can really only be entered through 1 specific way, but Sonic isn't that kind of character. How do you make sure the player actually enters the "legacy zone" at the intended start point and then goes through it in a linear fashion to the end? Or at least, how do you do it in a way that isn't extremely forced and feels organic. I don't know how solvable of a problem this is.
