[Ayu Tsukimiya]

It's wonderful to see SEGA actually trying with Sonic again. Sonic 4 aside, the series is on a huge quality rise since 06/07.

[JohnBoyAdvance]

1) The visual style. Ever since Unleashed I've loved the visuals. Even Crisis City Generations looks a lot better than Sonic 2006 despite its Orange and Redness.
2) Keeping the stories basic with minimal interference from Angsty and co. and with genuine attempts at humour. Admittedly I did like Sonic Free Riders' story as well.
3) That Sega at the very least seems to listen. Kinda.
4) Just that everything seems to be a lot more light hearted after Sonic 2006. Even when Unleashed got a bit "serious" it was still not as cringe worthy.

[Dark Sonic]

Personally I love the direction Sonic has been going in lately. While not perfect (I think that the slide should be replaced by rolling and Sonic's friends should have more of an active role), I genuinely enjoy the modern Sonic gameplay. That video that Kogen showed actually looks kind of neat. Not as fun, but neat. So I suppose he may have a point, I like the gameplay style and while it may not be 100% Sonic, it's a style that somewhat fits the character. I mean I liked Mirror's Edge too, so it's just the sort of thing I like to play.

Generations was almost the perfect foundation of a Sonic game for me. While not perfect or long enough, it had both of what I love. I don't know which I like better to be honest, classic or modern, since my play counts for both according to the game are pretty much equal (Modern was 350, Classic was 330). If I could I would combine the two, make Sonic more like he was in Sonic Adventure only with elemental shields in addition to the homing attack, a spindash and roll instead of a boost, the stomp, quick step, and drift from Modern, and a combined design that looks sort of like what Sonic looked like in Archie's Genesis saga.

Even Unleashed was fun. The reason I hated the werehog was because of the character and too much button mashing, not enough platforming. Now if they gave Knuckles that sort of gameplay and threw in some platforming, I would have probably said "Congrats, you've discovered the perfect gameplay for Knuckles."

Colors was an excellent game. It took the Sonic gameplay and did something with it that was almost like the spiritual successor of the elemental shields.

Sonic 4 was... ok. Sega needs to get rid of Dimps they're a cancer on the series. They're getting better but they're really just building themselves back up to 2001, and they're doing it slowly.

Regardless we're far away from the days of Shadow running around with a gun and Sonic 06. And I approve

[TheKazeblade]

SteelBrush, on 28 February 2012 - 09:07 AM, said:

If any of you are hoping for the Unleashed gameplay with improvements to continue, you'd better not get your hopes up. Iizuka said after Generations that Sonic would be redesigned for the next main game. Why? I really don't know. Modern Sonic has finally found a characterisation that people seem to like, it seems idiotic to change what is working but that's Iizuka's logic, it won't be the first time he's done it.

I applaud the decision to move forward. The problem the franchise had for the dark times between Heroes and 06 was the fact that they let the gameplay stagnate and deteriorate, holding onto the same basic style without changing problems at it's core. I appreciate the fact that Iizuka, at least the way it sounds, is unwilling to let the franchise rest on its laurels and keep moving forward. But, as AerosolSP said, that quote was very vague and could mean a lot of different things. However, he has earned my willingness to at least see where this goes. After all, it was under him that we had Unleashed, Colors and Generations. Regardless of the actual amount of improvements he himself was responsible for, there's no denying that the series has gone in a more successful direction under him than it did in the last days of Naka (though no disrespect to Naka, I know it was corporate delegation that put him off the series).

I guess that's another thing in general that I really liked about what the series has done. It was willing to take a chance with this new gameplay style. They saw a good idea buried in the crap of the Mach Speed portions of 06, the drifting mechanic in Riders, the additional move sets and goofy stories from Secret Rings/ Black Knight and applied these elements in a successful way. That at least shows Sonic Team has the ability to think practically now, which I cannot say was the case post-2001, pre-2008.

I only hope that whatever decisions they make pertaining to the next main-series entry push the franchise forward again and continues the current trend of not resting on its laurels!

[Aerosol]

Honestly, I think the next game should be in the same style with less of a focus on GOGOGOGO. Colors almost hit the nail on the head, but the platforming was terrible. Blocks! Blocks everywhere!

[TheKazeblade]

AerosolSP, on 28 February 2012 - 11:42 AM, said:

Honestly, I think the next game should be in the same style with less of a focus on GOGOGOGO. Colors almost hit the nail on the head, but the platforming was terrible. Blocks! Blocks everywhere!

My hope is that the changes Iizuka is speaking of is basically re-working controls from scratch, making them more like Adventure, but including drift and quickstep, and also a differentiating "gearshift" mechanic, having a "lower gear" for precision platforming and a "high gear" for Unleashed/Colors/Generations-speed areas, with more emphasis on wider areas and multiple paths.

I'd love for an open hub world taking what Sonic Adventure did, but making it gigantic with level entrances to find, and even secret, Colors-esque mini-levels that can be found for additional emblems/red rings/100% completion that would further push the idea of exploration.

[Metal Man88]

Aw man. Shadow was silly but at least it was hilariously bad.

I like the attempts to cater to classic fans, even if they don't work most of the time. Sonic Colors was the closest to a Classic game I had experienced in a long time. But, unfortunately, I have little hope of them actually figuring out old style stuff any time soon.

[jasonchrist]

Metal Man88, on 28 February 2012 - 12:06 PM, said:

Aw man. Shadow was silly but at least it was hilariously bad.

I like the attempts to cater to classic fans, even if they don't work most of the time. Sonic Colors was the closest to a Classic game I had experienced in a long time. But, unfortunately, I have little hope of them actually figuring out old style stuff any time soon.

Honestly, unless they use Christian Whitehead to make a classic game I'd rather they didn't bother. They seem to be doing a genuinely good job with Modern titles, so I think they should just play to their strengths. Watching them try to make a classic is just embarrassing, like going to see a cheesy, god awful Beatles or Elvis tribute act who are obviously a shadow of the real thing.

[jasonchrist]

Final bosses, they need ALOT of work!

[Rokkan]

what Iizuka said is that he'd like to work in a new "standard" of Sonic gameplay

he never said it was going to be the next game

he never said he'll do it soon (or even do it, for that matter)


this isn't me doing wishful thinking, because the modern Sonic gameplay is getting a tad stale, it's just me being annoyed at everyone reading what he said wrong or just jumping into conclusions that seem kinda far.

[Twilightzoney]

Personally I like Moderns Sonics controls compared to the adventure series one. He has more fluid control, the thing thats bad is the havok physics, it makes you rebound and bounce off things when going fast, so that way you don't get dead stuck like in Adventure. It makes sense but some people tend not to like it. I cannot go back to playing the Adventure games now they are just horrible to me when playing. Its not the graphics or anything, its just that control style is slippery and hard to control when going fast.

I hope they continue this Modernized style, its controllable and they can adapt it to any type of stage scenario now. I'm fine with Dimps being a part of the handheld series at least. I just don't want to see them doing any main console sonic games. As for the redesign, I think Iizuka just meant gameplay style most likely; they wouldn't change his design after such a good rep it has attained so far now. Since people can recognize this as Sonic The Hedgehog, I don't want to see a new Spyro or Crash redesign being that drastic.

Otherwise I'm perfectly fine with where the franchise is at right now, and wouldn't mind having it staying this way. Since they can obviously milk it out more.

[FuzzballFox]

Speaking of Colours..what is a reasonable price for it (£) , and is a controller the way to go~

[Felik]

I only hope they don't change model of Sonic and his crew in the next game. To it looks just perfect. SA:DX's models were ok too but when I look at current modern Sonic ingame I just can't imagine how it can be improved.

[OSM]

TheKazeblade, on 28 February 2012 - 11:50 AM, said:

My hope is that the changes Iizuka is speaking of is basically re-working controls from scratch, making them more like Adventure

Yes please. As much as I love Unleashed's style of gameplay, I really do miss Adventure's take on traditional speed and platforming in the series. Something about Adventure's Sonic stages felt right.

It has also been my most sincerest hope that they finally create an engine that incorporates proper momentum and actual rolling physics into the game design. I would love for there to be a 3D Sonic where I can just press a button, have Sonic roll into a half pipe, and watch him continuously build up speed and momentum from propelling vertical and downward on his own.

This post has been edited by OSM: 28 February 2012 - 03:32 PM

[Overlord]

FuzzballFox, on 28 February 2012 - 03:00 PM, said:

Speaking of Colours..what is a reasonable price for it (£) , and is a controller the way to go~

I bought it on launch at full price and have zero regrets in doing so. Just get the damn thing =P

And of course a controller is the best way, grab an old GameCube pad and use it - I tried with the Wii controls and it was awful.

EDIT: Post #11111. Could have been spent on something better, but oh well =P