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Sega Forever

Discussion in 'General Sega Discussion' started by High Fidelity, Jun 14, 2017.

  1. biggestsonicfan

    biggestsonicfan

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    This sums up the Sega Forever mentality in a nutshell: "We will only edit what already exists. Because there is no official Sega Game Gear, Saturn, or Dreamcast emulator, we ask that you wait Forever until those are made by another company and we will look into porting them Forever down the road. Thank you for your patience in preserving that which already exists elsewhere which we can understand and manipulate to our own needs and not the interests of the fanbase."

    or "We're listening (but not caring)"

    How much of the initial viral marketing campaign budget did they blow to fail THIS spectacularly?
     
  2. SF94

    SF94

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    Well I'm convinced.
    /s
     
  3. Beltway

    Beltway

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    Remember when I was joking about Sonic 4 Sega Forever Edition being a unholy spawnchild of Sonic 4 cock-ups and Sega Forever cock-ups?

    Emphasis on joking.

    Well...SunkythePootis decided to give the game a whirl and found out yes, S4E2 Sega Forever Edition does indeed have more problems. Audio distortion, music fails to loop properly, and the Special Stage really lives up to the term "Special" in the title in regards to Sonic and Tails' hands:

    [​IMG]

    Blue Blood also notes (over at SSMB) the game's aspect ratio is still messed up on his iPhone X, the D-Pad still has issues, and with the game now folded into the Sega Forever cloth (re: ads being shoved in), the game's performance takes a significant hit too.

    Oh and the game also reportedly crashes when you defeat a certain boss as well.

    :v:

    Update my original comment to "worthless version of a worthless game on a worthless service." The father, the son, and the holy spirit.

    Yeah, I couldn't help but scoff at that myself.

    How is it the PR regarding this one game continues to deliver on nonsense, even years after release?
     
  4. 360

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    It still bewilders me how they can have such a fucking awesome concept with this (at its core it's fantastic) yet be fucking up the execution so spectacularly with almost every release.

    Sega really needs to get their shit together. The games functioning and performing well should be the bare minimum - and that doesn't seem to be happening with every game.
     
  5. Blue Blood

    Blue Blood

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    On the plus side, this release marks the first time that I've ever been able to get Episode Metal on my iPhone. It would appear that they've removed the pre-requisite of having both Episodes installed, as at the moment I've only got E2 on my phone.
     
  6. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

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    Come on lads.

    I mean I suppose it's not beyond the bounds of possibilities that Episode I is horribly coded - it's horrible in most other aspects, so you might as well complete the package. But the average employable programmer should be able to get a handle on input and draw calls. It's not like this wasn't designed for mobile phones from the beginning, and it's a far cry from taking 68000 assembly and turning it into C++ with bells and whistles like those better 2D Sonic games as of late.


    It's an intern project with lax quality control - an insult to those who bought the games previously, and the Sega brand at large. Get your house in order.
     
  7. 360

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    Sad to admit it but this prognosis is scarily accurate - that this project, however awesome it may be on a conceptual level, seems to have been given low priority within the company and has low level staff working on it that to be honest are probably not far off interns. Sega's super programmers are evidently nowhere near this when they should be.

    Sega clearly has the resources, power and capability to do better here and I hope they eventually do.
     
  8. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    Also the way they handle the upgrades for the games that were already available is just awkward. Why do they just send you back to another version of the game that might not even work anymore depending on your phone? Then again it's not like any one of these Sega Forever ports has been better than what came before it, so it's probably for the best that it just goes back to the old separate app, but still.

    It's a shame. Sega Forever is a great idea but it's execution is just awful. Like even for your own sake Sega you shouldn't allow this. You're taking things that already exist, bloat them with your Forever backend, and make them worse. Why?
     
  9. biggestsonicfan

    biggestsonicfan

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    And who worked on the games previously. Jeeeze.
     
  10. Conzuh

    Conzuh

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    So restore purchases has been fixed on Sonic 4.
     
  11. 360

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  12. biggestsonicfan

    biggestsonicfan

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    Been 2 days, but Sega Forever is just dead in the water with AGES coming.

    It won't be long before it becomes another silent chapter in Sega's history at this point.

    EDIT: This desrves a little more bashing commentary to be honest.

    Streets of Rage 4 announced. Hype is generated. Streets of Rage 2 released on Forever a VERY SHORT time later.

    Who, in their goddamned minds, were requesting Streets of Rage 2 prior to this release?

    Sega OF EUROPE: You are listening to no one but yourselves and shame on you for handling your nostalgic properties in this abomination of a "Forever" campaign.
     
  13. 360

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    I see where you're coming from - but Sega AGES is unproven at the moment with only one platform dedicated for it (Switch). That and the first wave of games they're announcing aren't that exciting. If they confirm it for more platforms like Xbox and PlayStation and announce something truly wow-worthy like Panzer Dragoon Saga or Jet Set Radio then yeah Sega Forever would be doomed and rendered irrelevant. But for now I think the two services can happily co-exist without AGES replacing Forever. Perhaps in the not too distant future it will but for now with AGES being Switch-only it's more of a cool thing for Nintendo owners that may become something great eventually but not much more than that. That said yeah I totally get the frustration with Forever.

    It has been doom, gloom and disappointment with Forever ever since the service started and it is disheartening that it could have been genuinely great when it's not as of yet.
     
  14. Sappharad

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    Sonic CD got an update on iOS last week. The game is finally playable on iPhone X, they actually fixed the display glitching out resulting in a blank screen. Of course, they didn't touch anything else so there's still a big white square in the middle of the title screen along with other minor problems like the PPZ1 demo when you let it sit on the title screen not playing properly due to an enemy spawning early, then instead of going back to the title screen after the demo it goes to the menu, so you can't see any of the other demos.


    Regarding Sega Ages, I don't think it was even intended to compete with their mobile strategy. It's just them brining back the Sega Ages line of games that they had on Saturn and PS2.
     
  15. biggestsonicfan

    biggestsonicfan

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    Regarding AGES vs Forever, I meant it like this:

    AGES, being handled by a more reliable M2 who has just put out a high-quality port of Sonic 1 on the Switch, has published both a list of games in order of most requested. Forever will do nothing but reply a request has been "logged" without releasing any data whatsoever.

    As far as a library is concerned, AGES has confirmed to have SOURCE CODE LEVEL porting for an arcade title. Forever continues to struggle porting over and already working mobile port of Sonic 4 Ep II.

    It's not that they are fighting for the public to play those games on their platform, it's just a simple matter of what is already available to us and the quality of that content. In this case, AGES has wiped the floor with Forever, catching them essentially with their pants down.

    Forever will not look into platforms that do not have mobile ports already, nor have they shown any actual evidence of listening to us, while AGES is including ARCADE TITLES right out of the gate, something Forever has overlooked.

    This is not Sega competing against itself, it's just a sign that Sega, as a worldwide entertainment industry, has no fucking handle on itself across regions.
     
  16. Sappharad

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    It randomly occurred to me today that Sega Forever intro that nobody likes is actually very appropriate. The misused ring loss sound effect appropriately references all of the problems introduced in every game they've tried to update for Sega Forever. I wonder if someone picked that as an inside joke, or if it's just a terrible coincidence.
     
  17. biggestsonicfan

    biggestsonicfan

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    Did anything happen in the last month? :v:/>/>/>/>/>/>

    EDIT: Holy fuck like clockwork. I guess someone at Sega Forever reads this thread (PLS BE LESS SHITTY) because "Shining Force Classics" has been released. Article here. It's another scathing review, btw.

    As of this edit, 17:00 PST 24/10/18, both the Sega Forever twitter and website do not list the Shining Force collection.

    What the fuck are they even doing over there?

    EDIT2: The amount of (Twitter) "Shining Force" requests tagged with #segaforever is a whopping total of 17. Of those 17, Sega Forever replied and logged 0 of them.

    EDIT3: Tested the "Official" Saturn bluetooth controller out on it. It works, but with input delay.

    EDIT4: I let some people know who I found requesting Shining Force on twitter that the game was now available and I had some feedback from Impromptu1988:

    I am hoping people more familiar with this game can help confirm this bug and document it for the Sega Forever crew. As fun as it is to watch Forever writhe in it's own misfortunes, the fans don't deserve to relive their games this way and I would like to help how I can.

    EDIT5: Dynamopete via Twitter
     
  18. Modern

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    IMO the only good Sega Forever titles are the Sonic ones, obviously because they're the Taxman ports. The mobile version of CD is actually MORE polished than the PC release, seeing as some methods of time travel that used to be possible in the original but aren't possible in the PC version can be performed in the mobile version, mainly the vertical conveyor belts in QQ which make time travelling in that level MUCH less of a chore.

    The only legitimate complaint I'd say I have right now with the mobile version is that, aside from not being able to use Debug Mode which doesn't bother me that much, they decided to just lazily place a filter over the water in Tidal Tempest instead of using the actual palettes:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG][​IMG]

    Other than that though, this is a pretty solid port, just makes me wish these physics fixes and other tweaks could come to the PC version as well. Sonic Boom doesn't even play on the title screen when the US soundtrack is set on that platform.
     
  19. Sappharad

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    It wasn't laziness. The original releases of the ports are compatible all the way back to 1st Gen iOS devices from 2007, which didn't have enough CPU power for software rendering and only supported OpenGL ES 1.0 for graphics which has a fixed graphics pipeline so they couldn't use shaders to replicate the palette change yet. I still have a 1st generation iPod Touch somewhere with Sonic CD on it, it was the least powerful iOS device ever released and it runs Sonic CD at 60fps just fine.

    The later games from 2013 were targeting the more powerful mobile hardware of that era so those don't have the same limitations. It's pretty obvious that CW wasn't involved with the recent updates, otherwise there wouldn't be glaring issues like the giant white square in the middle of the title screen when you're running on ultra wide devices like iPhone X. The people touching them now have just broken things. The game was completely unplayable on iPhone X for over 6 months because when they "added support" they never actually tested it because the game couldn't even make it through the title screen demos without soft-locking.
     
  20. biggestsonicfan

    biggestsonicfan

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    Sega Genesis Classics for the Switch has been announced with the following titles:
    (Those in bold are already in the Sega Forever lineup)
    Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
    Alien Soldier
    Alien Storm
    Altered Beast
    Beyond Oasis
    Bio-Hazard Battle
    Bonanza Bros.
    Columns
    Columns III: Revenge of Columns
    Comix Zone
    Crack Down
    Decap Attack
    Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
    Dynamite Headdy
    ESWAT: City Under Siege
    Fatal Labyrinth
    Flicky
    Gain Ground
    Galaxy Force II
    Golden Axe
    Golden Axe II
    Golden Axe III
    Gunstar Heroes
    Kid Chameleon
    Landstalker
    Light Crusader
    Phantasy Star II
    Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
    Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium
    Ristar
    Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
    Shining in the Darkness
    Shining Force
    Shining Force II
    Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
    Sonic the Hedgehog
    Sonic the Hedgehog 2
    Sonic 3D Blast
    Sonic Spinball
    Space Harrier II
    Streets of Rage
    Streets of Rage 2
    Streets of Rage 3
    Super Thunder Blade
    Sword of Vermilion
    The Revenge of Shinobi
    ToeJam & Earl
    ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
    Vectorman
    VectorMan 2
    Virtua Fighter 2


    Now all this makes one beg the question: Sega, what the FUCK are you doing to your IPs?