[Mykonos]

We all remember when playing Sonic Adventure, the first time that talking orb of light enveloped our character, and we were transported to a land hundreds, nay, maybe even thousands of years back. It was a very serene place, with an altar that contained the 7 Chaos Emeralds, and going back, we saw what the Temple's surrounding area was like before the tribe eventually doomed themselves with their actions. The latter was a very detailed place, with all kinds of buildings surrounding the temple, and Knuckles' ancestors walking around, all with something on their minds.

It was a melancholic place to explore, after you knew their fate.

However.


Doesn't it seem a little odd the Game Developers would put all that time and effort into something most players would just ignore and blaze through just to get on with the game?

Perhaps this area had some purpose, more than just taking 5 steps and talking with Tikal as Tails?

Maybe the Developers were so largely inspired by the ruins they visited for research they decided to put a lot of detail in it?

I personally think there had to be more planned for it. I mean, there's just so much there, and so many buildings, some that even have what seems to be small doors...surely it wasn't all made just to serve a short purpose like it turned out to?

Your thoughts?

[Polygon Jim]

I highly doubt it. The area didn't have much effort put into it. The models are pretty much cubes for all the buildings.

[Tweaker]

Depending on which character you used, there is actually a lot of potential to both fully explore the map area (like when getting Tails' spin attack powerup) and to even get lost in there. I wouldn't say there was "too much effort" put into it at all, in that case—Sonic Adventure was Sonic's first "real" 3D outing, and it was meant to be impressive in whatever way possible; creating huge, encompassing areas for the player to explore is a fantastic way to accomplish that goal.

Besides that, I always enjoyed getting the extra speed when running up the gigantic set of stairs on the pyramid. :D

[Jan Abaza]

I still love the smoke that rises up from the pillars, it's so well done on the DC version. That whole area is fun to play around with - and I generally like the fact that you can't enter it again unless you start a new storyline, giving you sort of an incentive to play the game again from the start.

[Sik]

Tweaker, on Mar 15 2009, 01:28 PM, said:

even get lost in there

Did you need to remind me? >_>'

[Shadic]

Tweaker, on Mar 15 2009, 08:28 AM, said:

Besides that, I always enjoyed getting the extra speed when running up the gigantic set of stairs on the pyramid. :D

I always thought it was funny how characters would run up stairs faster than they would on a horizontal surface.

[SonarDragon]

Huh, Now you got me wanting to start yet another new file in SADX.
I loved SA for it's expansive locations with so much stuff to explore. Not so much these days...

[Tets]

Seems like it's time for another run through Sonic Adventure. Great timing, since I just got a proper VMU for my Dreamcast. The crappy Performance memory card that came with mine randomly cuts out during saves, resulting in hilariously corrupted save data.

[Lostgame]

Haha, I'm going to pull out my DC and SA1 too now, thanks guys XD

[K2J]

The most memorable thing about the flashback is the fact that it's the only time you run into nonhuman NPCs. This is what helped me see SA1 as a Sonic game instead of Sonic in a human world - there was still Angel Island, and all of its history.

[The Shad]

You know how many fucking times I've got lost in the ruins?

[SteelBrush]

I have often wondered if the original story line was to be far more expansive.
Certain level sections don't fit the locale. For example,
Lost World-You appear to be outdoors, with unfinished backgrounds.
Final Egg-This is a jungle base, so why do you fall to your death into what looks like clouds? Was this level once destined for the Egg Carrier?
Sand Hill-Why did they bother doing a whole new set of desert art for that?
Also the Chaos boss fought on a pond, it doesn't really look like Mystic Ruins.
Another point about SA that I noticed while playing Sonic 3D a few days ago, it that Windy Valley does look a lot like Tails' special stages and perhaps the second part of Red Mountain resembles Knuckle's special stages.
Icecap does also retain features from S3D, spike squares and the badnik that freezes you.
Some of the game just seems quickly put together, in a "that'll have to do" manor, such as Tails' levels and Big's fishing stages.

I will edit and cite references ect. ect. but right now it's 6 o'clock in the morning and I'm going to sleep first.

[Diablohead]

We on about the echidna temple or the chaos temple in the hills?

The echidna temple area in the flash back was so impressive the first time I saw it, the smoke you see raising looked so lush after moving from ps1 to dc.

The flashback bit where you have to run along the stone bridge to the master emerald before you trigger a cut scene I'm sure I use to piss about in, in sonic's supersonic chapter I would try to glich to areas you can't usually run to.

This was before I discovered Area51 I think, so long ago...

[Mykonos]

SteelBrush, on Mar 16 2009, 02:04 AM, said:

I have often wondered if the original story line was to be far more expansive.
Certain level sections don't fit the locale. For example,
Lost World-You appear to be outdoors, with unfinished backgrounds.
Final Egg-This is a jungle base, so why do you fall to your death into what looks like clouds? Was this level once destined for the Egg Carrier?
Sand Hill-Why did they bother doing a whole new set of desert art for that?
Also the Chaos boss fought on a pond, it doesn't really look like Mystic Ruins.
Another point about SA that I noticed while playing Sonic 3D a few days ago, it that Windy Valley does look a lot like Tails' special stages and perhaps the second part of Red Mountain resembles Knuckle's special stages.
Icecap does also retain features from S3D, spike squares and the badnik that freezes you.
Some of the game just seems quickly put together, in a "that'll have to do" manor, such as Tails' levels and Big's fishing stages.

I will edit and cite references ect. ect. but right now it's 6 o'clock in the morning and I'm going to sleep first.

homg I'm not the only one who noticed all that. But you had to make me stop and think there. I never really thought about Sand Hill like that.

For the Lost World one...that's right before the mirror section isn't it? That always confused me. I mean, you go into a seemingly small temple, and you go OUTDOORS, with a FOREST, INSIDE the temple.

For Final Egg, you're EC destined suggestion makes sense. The only other thing I could see that would explain that would be if the Stage Designers and Adventure Field Designers (If they were different designers and worked apart from eachother) would've had little communication on what they were designing, so the stage designers may have had to just go with their own thing at parts. Perhaps an explanation for the outdoor section in Lost World.

[Sik]

SteelBrush, on Mar 16 2009, 04:04 AM, said:

Sand Hill-Why did they bother doing a whole new set of desert art for that?

To make up with Dust Hill? *shot*

SteelBrush, on Mar 16 2009, 04:04 AM, said:

Also the Chaos boss fought on a pond, it doesn't really look like Mystic Ruins.

To me it fits perfectly to the jungle area of Mystic Ruins

SteelBrush, on Mar 16 2009, 04:04 AM, said:

Another point about SA that I noticed while playing Sonic 3D a few days ago, it that Windy Valley does look a lot like Tails' special stages and perhaps the second part of Red Mountain resembles Knuckle's special stages.
Icecap does also retain features from S3D, spike squares and the badnik that freezes you.

If you consider that Sonic 3D was pretty much the last major game out there (as Sonic R was obviously a spin-off), it makes sense trying to base on its style.