Hate to do a double post, but a new interview is up. This time with Ian Flynn on what to expect from the story. https://twitter.com/SSF1991/status/1547657799257038848?t=b9_ntM7gmk8SxmfWAKRhig&s=19 Sounds like they're moving away from the lighthearted comedic direction they've established for the last decade. Which is good or bad depending on who you are. Personally I'm glad someone is trying to reestablish some depth into these characters that's been kind of missing for a while. Looks like we're just getting "core" cast this time.
Man, I never expected this to be the case, but the story of Sonic Frontiers is what I'm anticipating most about the game and for all the right reasons. This interview has cemented that even further and I'm hoping to be there day 1 (assuming my laptop can run the game well enough) to experience what Ian and SEGA have put together for us. Can't wait!
Its honestly interesting to compare how Flynn is being brought on versus how Pontac and Graff were. Iizuka and Kishimoto seem to genuinely recognize the work and knowledge that Flynn has put into the series. No writer before has really gotten that recognition and it's really nice to see tbh.
"Including references to other games makes it clear that the Sonic Frontiers story isn't a standalone world, but a part of the long history of Sonic." I really appreciate this in particular. Every game since...06 really feel like a soft reboot of sort because past games are almost never brought up. Like it's hard to get invested in a story when you know it's gonna be handwaved away in the very next entry, y'know? I'm still utterly shocked (in a positive way) that they actually listened and hired Flynn to work on this. I don't wanna jinx it, but I think it's safe to say the awful Pontac and Graff era is finally over and the characters are gonna start acting like their old selves again. That's honesty what I'm looking forward to the most in regard to Frontiers.
Glad we're finally gonna be seeing the characters acting like themselves. Although regarding Knuckles, it'll be odd to see him acting seriously considering that his current voice is just a generic doofus voice because that's all his character was when the actor was cast.
I mean he *has* written for Boom, but I get what you mean, I full on shonen-esque Sonic animated series (with actual sakuga, unlike Sonic X!) with him at the writing helm would be killer. Looking at his resume, Dave B Mitchell has a ton of range. We already know he can do a great Willingham impression and I think, if SEGA's willing to take the opportunities to reassess the voice direction for these characters, he could give us a compelling take closer to Scott Drier's take. I think in particular the voice direction should look to Heroes as a reference, since in that game Knuckles was largely the same reserved personality as in SA2 while also cracking wise with Sonic and Tails, striking a good balance between stoic warrior and surfer dude.
Flynn tends to tailor his dialogue around the character's voices. I think he'll be fine. Hopefully this is a chance for some of the VA's to redeem these characters in a way. Part of me hopes Shadow is in so Kirk Thornton can finally shed some of his bad rep.
Honestly, I think Thornton's really come into his own as Shadow. Forces was very much a strong showing for him, imho. Gave me the same vibes as David Humphrey while still very much being his own take. Honestly, Shadow's voice direction doesn't need to change as far as I'm concerned, just the writing surrounding him.
Its still not enough imo. Shadow hasn't had many prominent roles where he really gets to show off lately. He's only in two episodes in Boom, and has a very small supporting role in Forces and TSR, and that's in the last five years. I know Kirk has the potential to be great, I just wanna see it. Shadow is definitely one of the characters I feel needs a redemption.
I don't think the characters ever particularly STOPPED acting like themselves, at least going back to Unleashed. There were some differences in tone here and there, different writers always filtered the characters through different lenses, but really, the dialogue and characterizations have been relatively on-point for a good while now. The faults have been more in the plots, but that's par for the course since SA1. Still, from what I've read of IDW, Flynn's characterizations are a lot more well-rounded and nuanced than the games have ever been, though it doesn't hurt that his plots are also much more robust, too. But then, comics are inherently a storytelling-first medium in a way that games don't have to be. Anyway, I am getting excited to see what he'll bring to the table in Frontiers! We've been begging Sega to let him take the reigns since the day his first Archie issue was released, what, 16 years ago?
Its less the characters haven't been themselves, and more any attempts at depth have essentially been stripped and we only get their basic and static traits. And yea, Flynn has been involved with Sonic comics since Issue #161 of Archie, released in 2006.
Mostly seems to be pretty good, though I'm a bit apprehensive about what I've read in the Flynn interview. Not just because I'm still disappointed about the Chao thing, but because I keep seeing these lines about past events and characters who aren't in the game and it makes me worry that this will be References: The Script, which I was kinda feeling as I saw some of the reaches Ian pulled in the Encyclo-speed-ia to try and tie things in to other Sonic properties. I'm sure it's not that bad, but it's something that stuck out to me. Also, I'm not sure if they're overemphasizing this "dramatic somber tone" thing. I'm hoping Ian has not been made to give Sonic less snark than is characteristic of him, I think it's good when Sonic games are capable of taking themselves seriously, but that doesn't mean they always should. Gonna chalk this one up to probably just being more serious in comparison to the weird schizophrenic writing of the past couple games.
No sooner had IGN shown off the 'environmental' showcase. You had people sticking the boot in, endless Youtube videos slagging the game off all with the trademark highly expressive Avatar. It's so utterly predictable with anything Sonic and Sonic Team
I don't know if it's just me, but every time they mention Kocos I'm reminded of just how... uninspired they seem. I get that Koroks are wood spirits, while Kocos are little rock creatures, but they both play and do those little dances, and in BOTW and Frontiers they are both scattered around the world and you need to find them. They both make the same type of cartoony jack-o-lantern expressions, and they both need to be returned to an elder/guardian-type figure in exchange for a reward (skill progression/more inventory slots). And then there's the names, which just kind of seal the deal. Maybe it's a little silly to be bothered by this, but I think it goes a bit further than simply wearing its inspiration on its sleeve. Is it a sin to copy someone else's homework? Not really, but it's just something I've noticed and I wonder if anyone else feels the same. Re: the new interviews, I guess we now have confirmation that Green Hill isn't just the tutorial stage. There is at least one more act of it out there in the first island. I also am intrigued by someone saying the action stages were difficult; needing a few tries is normal, but I don't see most boost games as being very difficult. Do you think we might see something on par with the Unleashed DLC? Lastly, I'm kind of confused on the Cyberspace stage count. If they played 5-6 stages but only played on the northwest corner of the map, how did they arrive at an estimate of 10? They said they saw 7 on only the parts of the map they unlocked, right? Even then, if there end up being a few islands then we still have a pretty substantial amount of content on our hands.
The graphic footage could have been better and the quality of the feed was poor too. I agree with you on that, but so much of the hate, was with people just jumping on the Sonic hate bandwagon even the music was ripped apart and it wasn't that bad . For me it was a lot like the Halo 8 min demo hate . Some of it justified, but a lot of it was people just hating on it, for no tother reason than the development team behind it
If your point is now that you think some of the opinions on the original footage were overreactions, then that's a different discussion than the one you started with, which was whether the initial negative reactions were comparable to Halo -- they weren't. The information and footage that warmed people up to the game came within a month of the original showcase. I'm saying they're not comparable. I couldn't care less whether you personally find either justifiable. I was misled by Donnie's tweet too, I think I should notify him for a correction. In the video the guy says he didn't visit the northwest corner of the map. So between 7 and the low-teens is a better estimate, though he somehow also speculated there could be as many as 20.
Halo Infnite for me is the best ever Halo single player mode wise . Halo 2 was the game that really felt not finished; found its single player mode to be a bit of a mess with the worst ending, this side of Shenmue
