The wisps were pretty horrible. They were just another gameplay gimmick. Which is the problem with the sonic series. It's not that we have new characters every time, it's that the new characters all have their own gameplay that is really just a gimmick: werehog, wisps, silver, shadow with a gun, sonic heroes triple play etc. What made generations good was that it was fun to play; it didn't have any gameplay gimmicks.
Honestly I saw the wisps as an evolution of sonic 3's elemental shields with a bit of Mario power up in it. I thought they were a great idea and for once I'd love for sega to do a sequel and make sonic colors 2 (I'd also like generations 2, but that'd never happen)
I personally think Sonic Adventure 2 had the best plot of any 3D Sonic platformer. They pulled off the darker elements well, had some shocking plot twists, and the introduction of Shadow into the series was a big deal. It had some awkward writing (especially scenes primarily involving Knuckles and Rouge) but for the most part, I found the story-writing a lot more compelling than any other plot from a Sonic 3D platformer. I do. The plots in the Mario platformers have become stale and predictable. Considering how interesting the plots can get in Mario RPGs, the lacking story-telling in modern Mario platformers is a missed opportunity.
I don't see the problem with the wisps. Sure it's a game specific gimmick but unlike the dumb gameplay mechanics other games have it's just temporary powerups - a time-tested platformer trope - Sonic-style. They add to the experience rather than take away from it. On the subject of plot, I'm going to be crazy and say that I actually really liked Unleashed's plot. It was a throwback to Adventure 1 and was big and epic while being a lot more cartoony and fun than 3D Sonic games past. I also loved that every NPC was their own distinct character and, if you paid attention, even had their own little character arc. There was a great attention to detail in general in Unleashed; it's a shame that they focused so much on the little stuff that they missed the bigger picture problems like the fucking medal hunt shit fuck fuck fuck asdfafdsafdsafdsdsfafdsadfsafds
Or a fox who can fly using two tails, an echidna who can glide and break objects, a female hedgehog with a large hammer... Regarding Generations: The entire *game* is a gimmick. It's "old levels redesigned in 2.5D and 3D". You can't get more gimmicky than a blatant nostalgia rush.
The difference between the two is that Mario storylines are always simple with easily identifiable tropes which can be related to just about any demographic, ie; Save the Princess, explore the Mansion, collect these things, etc. Sonic stories, even the less dark/cringe-worthy ones, are always rather silly, as it seems like this game will be. This is why Mario Sunshine's story was revered, while Galaxy's was praised. In Sunshine, Nintendo tried giving all this backstory to Bowser, Baby Bowser, etc, adding in lots of cutscenes with lots of horrible dialogue and other such nonsense ("When I'm older... I'm gonna fight that Mario again!"). Meanwhile, Mario Galaxy delegated the story line to a cutscene in the beginning of Bowser tearing up the Mushroom Kingdom, taking Peach, and heading off into space, then at the end the story came to a conclusion when Peach was saved and the Galaxy was restored. This was all done without spoken dialogue, and allowed anyone of age to immediately be interested in the game.
Er guys...Galaxy had a deep as fuck storyline. All the Rosalina memories is a throwback to Little Prince, pretty deep shit. That's what I liked about Galaxy. And I would like something similar in Sonic...
...The whole point of the game was slapping together gimmicks from past games into one game and spreading them across several stages. You know what that includes? The wisps. Which were actually used in quite a few missions on Planet Wisp and the stage itself (obviously). Not for nothing but I don't think you fully understand what you just said, or you phrased it horribly wrong. Also goddamn it guys, you're ruining this for everyone. Let me just say this: This is a game about an "alien" world. OF COURSE THE CHARACTERS ARE GOING TO LOOK ALIEN TO THE SONIC CHARACTERS. Every Sonic game has a gimmick to it. Every one. Every damn game. And if it's not the game as a whole, its the level that has a gimmick to it. If you disagree with me, I'm sorry, but you're really kidding yourself and you don't know what you want. Why oh why do you have to complain about story in a game. If you don't want a story, skip the fucking cutscenes. You've been able to do that since Unleashed. They're no longer "unskippable," so if you want to cut the bullshit, do it, damn it. Just let everyone else enjoy what Ken Pontac and Warren Graff decided to write for us. I will say I do wish/hope this game lets you finally play as more characters than just Sonic, as long as the characters are balanced out / have their place. Just playing as one character is getting kind of stale, and even in the last few Mario games, NSMB included, you were able to play as Luigi and the Toads in NSMB. Luigi is slightly different to Mario, but he's different nonetheless! So even though the name of the game is Sonic, why do we have to play as only one character in the franchise if there's so many others who have proven their worth as a playable character? Sometimes I think this fanbase shoves the wrong ideas into SEGA's brain. They look at SEGA's missteps and think the idea as a whole was bad, and SEGA ends up believing that, even though they just didn't utilize that idea properly. Their ideas aren't always bad conceptually; they just don't always execute them right, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't try! Years of trying finally got us one of the most stable 3D Sonic gameplay styles we've ever seen; weather you like the boost or not he controls MUCH better at high speeds in 3D with this gameplay than he did in Adventure. MUCH better. You guys really make me cry ;-;
And that's why Sonic's levels in SA were infinitely better than the other characters except for maybe Tails because he was basically Sonic with an extra height advantage. Same in SA2. In Sonic 2, Tails's gameplay was just like Sonic's. In S3&K, Tail's and Knuckles' gameplay were very similar to Sonic's: just a little extra advantage. Sure generations was one big gimmick, but the gameplay wasn't new and gimmicky. It was Unleashed without werehog and Colors without wisps.
Not just like Sonic; EXACTLY like Sonic, without the ability to fly or anything different other than not being able to turn super. There's absolutely no reason to play through Sonic 2 again as Tails if you've already beaten it as Sonic. Generations' Planet Wisp level has wisps, as Chimera already mentioned. Is that still "okay" because it was previously introduced in Colors, thus it isn't "new and gimmicky"?
Actually that was one of my favorite parts of Galaxy as well, and it reminded me a LOT of Metroid Prime as all the extra story elements were optional where you had to use the scanner to find them as an obtainable item of sorts. The whole Rosalina back story was optional and was something that you could either watch or not watch. Now that I think about that it would be really great if they did that for Lost World, and had after you beat one of the "Guardians" you would unlock extra challenges which would unlock backstory on each of them. It would be a great way to add in a whole lot of story without it being "forced" if you will.
I liked Rosalina's little story in Galaxy 1. Made me a little sad. Very simple story, but set up thematically well.
I think the Galaxy approach is perfect for Sonic. I'm pretty sick of bland writing like Colours had. I don't mind if the main storyline is " hey, Sonic got to a new planetcountry/place, eggman is there doing bad him, ans Sonic stop him", but I really loathed the bad jokes, attitude change in Sonic ( seriously, I can't see how anyone finds Sonic's wtitting in Colours any good...he is just retarded, and for the first time, I felt embarrassed of playing a Sonic game), and the bland storyline didn't push me to keep playing. I just didn't care about what happened, and that's bad. Unleashed story wasn't as deep as the SA series storyline, but was good enough. I loved the background characters stories, as Hinchy has said. I know is a lost battle to ask for deeper storylines again, but...why not mixing the two, Galaxy style? A simple storyline at the front - Sonic goes here, beats that- and a deeper one hidden...
I hope there's something similar to Egg Shuttle mode in Lost World. I really enjoyed going through everything in order with a more traditional scoring system and rings that carried over.
Just to end the Sonic Colors-esque writing conversation: I recognize that Sonic is for kids, but I don't think that a good storyline for kids isn't one that shoehorns puns and jokes that in the end, are out of place. Also, I think that kids are already TOO smart for nonsense writing. Sonic Adventure 1 had a story that was, on average, good. (Unless you despise the giant monster cycle that Adventure 1 began. Yet, that type of story was unique for Sonic at the time.) Gameplay: Yes, I wish for a return of an Adventure-play-style. The Unleashed gameplay is getting a little bit stale at this point. Also, I hope that I'm not the only one who wants an end to the obsession with 2D side-scrolling nostalgia. I'd like an optimized 3D experience.
