Sonic Origins Collection - General Thread

Just listened to the “new music” for the first time and it's fine. I just think people like to complain. There is a hell of a lot of fan service in this game. It is actually quite unbelievable. The prototype music is A OK and the new arrangements for them don't sound bad to me.

 

Probably, "ah bless, never mind, here's Sonic 3". Knuckles will probably twat the emeralds (you didn't collect in 2) away from you as normal.

"People like to complain" No they don't you absolute sausage, we all hoped and prayed for them to sound good.

 

And some people like to think and make out that other people complain for the sake of it, because we’re on the internet. That’s not how it works here. The music is a massive step down from the prototype, how do they fuck that up, honestly.

 

I definitely understand the general complaint of the OST not being that great but jeez, I think some of you guys are overreacting a smidge, lmao. It's definitely frustrating that the biggest selling point of this collection to Sonic fans (a widescreen port of 3&K) is bogged down a bit by sub-par OST decisions (Ice Cap somehow being the one survivor - I really think it sounds fine, because it's just the proto track 1:1) but holy hell, turning that into the collection being not worth it, SEGA now half-assed the entire collection (not trying to defend them, but I really don't think the OST suddenly kills the other positives), etc.? Might be writing things off way too quickly. You can be frustrated with the change, but if this was the make-or-break for you buying it, chances were you probably weren't gonna buy it anyway. Which is fine, there's alternatives out there that are still really good.

I don't blame people for being underwhelmed/frustrated with the proto change, especially when for a lot of people (myself included, partially) S3&K WAS the big selling point, so seeing the OST kinda neutered is a pain in the ass, but I really don't think this is gonna kill the collection that hard. I don't want to sound like I'm being all "noooo don't complain!!!" but I think the general opinion got spun into "The entire collection is a dud, now" wayyyy too quickly. Though that Super Sonic track is gonna be a great punching bag for the next few months lmao

 

As someone whose favourite Sonic 3 portion track, outside of Final Boss Track 1 / Big Arm(s), is prototype Carnival Night Zone: Act 2, I'm very gutted to hear what has become of it in Origins. Jun / SEGA really dropped the ball there, the track completely lacks the clearer punch and more vivid energy of its Sonic 3 prototype version.

 

I just want this game to be free of music drama and be the best it can be, really. I turned around on Ice Cap, albeit both tracks will still sound too similar, I'm just in the same boat as some of the Frontiers drama in being real tired of the same old Sega letting things down where the fans have to step up in some way or another.

Console users are stuck with these problems, too, and Jun really could've actually tried instead of what are potentially proto-prototype ports.

 

I agree it is a step down [hypothetically and perhaps], however, music isn't the focus for me. It's at least catchy. It may seem like a step down. I'd say it sounds more muted. But intentionally so for mood. Not bad nNot the best. But manageable. This collection has huge animations and restored content and even something straight out of Sonic 3 Complete. I do not have time to argue over finer details.

 

They're passable to me (besides that staticy part of Carnival Night 2) though I think they have the downside of multiple re-imaginings and even the prototype music itself sounding a bit more vibrant in areas. Sonic 3 was really a game that tested the Mega Drive's sound drive so it sticks out when something of fairly standard quality to the console is put alongside it.

Hot take though, I prefer the Origins/PC arrangement of Carnival Night 1 to the beta, sounds more energetic and pinbally. That with the beta's instrument set however could have been perfect.

 

No yeah absolutely, I don't blame you or anyone else on that front. I'm not exactly clicking my heels together over some of the OST choices - I'm going to be playing CNZ on mute, lmfao. But I really don't think it's enough of an issue to suddenly warrant the entire thing being a dud, and that the work Headcannon has put in is suddenly a waste because of some questionable choices.

I have no doubts of the quality regarding 3&K's gameplay, but Stealth confirmed that this was a choice out of his hands. It's a weird move on SEGA's part but I don't think this means they absolutely loathe their fans, or whatnot. It's not a small change, but it's also not an earthshatteringly huge one, either. Plenty of other reasons to think they do not know what to do with Sonic sometimes, instead

 

It’s not all about the music. As meek and pathetic as the “remixes” are, it’s about the constant failures that we endure again and again. Something hopeful comes along and perhaps we might start to believe that they’ll actually put out a fully decent product, only then to have some major flaws right on the eve of release.

In this case, they’re a bunch of 28+ year old games with soundtracks we already have good alternatives to which are also owned by SEGA. These are also games which we’ve been begging for console releases since they were first ported to mobiles nearly 10 years ago. They just can’t release something nowadays without tarnishing it and relying on, I presume, heavy day one patches to fix glaring issues that are already cropping up. What’s more, the soundtrack issues are all because SEGA seem to have been either greedy or ignorant back in the 90’s and haven’t resolved payment or rights issues in the first place.

It’s just sad.

For me, this would be like replacing the theme in Jurassic Park when they first see the island in the helicopter with a kazoo version.

 

Lmao, listen, soundtracks being replaced are always wack. It sucks because it's a legal thing, but I agree that boycotting entirely is going too far rather than voicing your concerns directly to Sega. It reminds me of the whole green eyes thing from a decade ago with Sonic 4 and how that was very vocal and not how the game it was in was just not looking very good.

 

What issues are popping up? Genuine question there, since I haven't heard anything that's a huge issue, other than some minor graphical issues.

Besides that though, I just don't think it's worth completely giving up for. If you don't want to buy it 'cause of this, then that's totally fine. Wipe your hands clean and move on. But you make it sound like they accidentally ported Sonic 4's physics engine to 3&K by mistake and refuse to fix it until June 2023. It's a frustrating situation, I agree, because I'd like to boot up Sonic 3 and not have to decide "okay, which tracks do I actually want to listen to?" because of that longstanding thing. But at that point, I really don't think Origins is to blame for this whole kerfuffle. This isn't like a new mainline Sonic coming out and being horrible and ripped to shreds like Forces was, this is them fucking up a bit of the soundtrack in Sonic 3. It's still an issue, but I don't think this is as big of a deal as it's being made out to be.

 

At least I think I have a little entitlement leeway for being annoyed since I preordered this via Fanatical's $35 deal for the Deluxe Edition two months ago, so there's not really a refund option for me anyway.

I probably wouldn't have refunded it on principle of these being (hopefully) full-featured Taxman ports, and the level select menus show that all the extra S1&2 features are still there in some capacity so that's cool, but it's like accidentally getting kicked in the shin with an iron toed boot. You'll recover and be just fine, but there's gonna be a bruise that aches for a while.

 

@Fadaway

If music isn't a focus for you, then that's totally fine and your own perspective. You do you.

However, for me this is a major problem. Mood and feel is a significant part of any gameplay experience for me, and quite a lot of that rests in the audio department. Carnival Night Zone, as is in the name, is quite a lively Zone with plenty of bouncing around off and between bumpers, popping balloons, launching out of cannons, all to the overall visuals of bright, animated lights and bold contrasting shapes.

This kind of setting is paired wonderfully with the prototype tracks, which are energetic (Especially Act 2.), playful and fun-sounding, with plenty of pep 'n' pop in their step. Thus, when those tracks are taken and watered down to the point of sounding overly muffled and lacking much punch or pizazz, it stings. Much of the intricacies in the bass, background and foreground melodies in Sonic 3 prototype's tracks of Carnival Night Zone sound like they've been haphazardly squashed together with off-key notes and volume balancing issues, and what you're left with is a mismatched mush lacking distinct sound detail, sounding dull and with their liveliness sucked out of them.

Origins' versions of these tracks stick out like a sore thumb and clash with the gameplay and environment of Carnival Night Zone; it sounds jarringly off, and this is compounded by contrast to other, much more refined tracks in the game's other Zones.

 

I don't like the new arrangements, but I can't be the only one who finds it a little absurd people have decided that a few (read: a few) bad pieces of music that don't impact the quality of the gameplay suddenly make Origins a fundamentally broken piece of shit not worth buying, ignoring all the work and extra QoL improvements.

 

Sonic music needs a strong drum beat or bass, and the carnival night butcher job destorys both meanwhile the beta rom plays the music in a punchy, high beat way.

 

So yeah. We know the problem. We know a temporary workaround. We know that contacting SEGA is probably the best way to get these problems resolved. So shall we?

I deleted my twitter account due to the Elon Accquisition so my side of the plea is mostly stuck here unfortunately

 

How easy was Mania's music to mod, or the decomps, anyway? Comparable to how AIR handled it? Everyone and their mother will be tackling the prototype tracks for some version or another, I might just pull out some unfinished stuff of mine with Leila's work to replace the trio of zone's songs personally.

 

As long as you can edit the stage files, you can edit the music. I'm not sure how the speed-up versions will go though...