NeoGAF has a decent compilation of previews and excerpts here, if anyone's interested in doing some reading. They're not exactly glowing and make it sound like the game needs an urgent delay. Consensus seems to be "Sonic Generations but a lot worse".
I got that as well from everything I've heard during E3. Unfortunately this game may not be the gameplay we hope it to be. As I have now started to say: thank god for Mania. As long as SEGA invests into Sonic games like Mania, the 3D games can honestly do whatever.
Infinite's theme is edgy as fuck, but I can't get enough of it. Lyrics for anybody that cares: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yVkksWi-eeA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yVkksWi-eeA Also, I'm guessing Liam O'Brien is doing his voice since he sounds like Gaara from Naruto.
I can't convey a unified opinion on anything but gameplay anymore, but from the sounds of things they nixed the refinement of Generation's mechanics and reverted back to Colors' which was far stiffer and segmented. Who at Sonic Team in their right mind would revert BACK to a previous level of unpolish when they had tweaked the gameplay to feel so much better in a later title? Say what you will about the aesthetic and other supplemental elements of the game, but if they've legitimately reverted back to less-effective mechanics (would love for people here that have had a chance to play it) then that is inexcusable. Sonic Team really has no direction over there, do they?
You think if we got a big enough whitehouse.gov petition going that the president will force SEGA to delay this game until it's good via executive order? I'm really only half kidding, maybe that's something they need to hear from the fans. My biggest complaint with the whole franchise is that these guys NEVER take their time with Sonic. They'll spend five years making Shenmue the perfect game, but Sonic gets Madden'd so fucking hard, because Sonic Team think there is this expectation that we need one installment per year or two. I really thought they had it figured out this time, but maybe this one needs to stay in the oven for about a year longer. If any of you at SEGA Corporate are reading this thread, and I know you probably are, don't let this game release in its current state. I know you lot are a company and need to make all the shekels, but seriously, refine what you have, and you'll get even more. I can tolerate the cheese. I can tolerate the fact that this is probably the first time that Sonic has been culturally irrelevant, but releasing yet another mediocre game, will cement that future.
I don't want to further the spread of negativity, since I certainly am interested in this game, but no one ought to silence their desire to critique. The gameplay looks fine, but I haven't played it yet. The music is predominantly awful in my opinion, and that is a massive turn-off. Not enough of a turn-off to derail my interest though, as I can always play it on mute. I don't understand complaints lodged at the existence of a CaC though. Xenoverse 1 & 2 executed that perfectly. Soulcalibur III was well-received way back in the day with its CaC, and it was also one of the key selling points of Mortal Kombat Armageddon. Its a concept that's been desired since the advent of home-gaming. So merely having character customization shouldn't/doesn't make or break a game. Its the gameplay that does. Also, this is a community that champions inserting characters both official and custom into every game...so yeah. Now onto the story threads. To me, the glimpses of the story we've been graced with so far paint an uplifting picture. It features seemingly every cast member we've encountered throughout the entire Sonic franchise. More importantly to my notion, it features all the main villains. We have Eggman, Metal, Chaos, that one dude from the Deadly Six Zavok, and Infinite. Infinite certainly does look like an over-powered CaC, which may factor significantly into the plot. As we know, the CaC Freedom Fighter is a huge fan of Sonic, and Sonic has been awol. What if the Freedom Fighter's story takes place prior to Sonic's return? S/he starts out idolizing Sonic, until the world is still crumbling around them and Sonic has yet to surface, so they collect all the fine loot and enact a plan to get rid of that selfish rodent. Yeah, I am 100% on board with the create-a-character becoming the end-boss. The broader implication of where this game seems to be heading is not one of Sonic being painted as something of a villain (much like Goku currently in Dragon Ball Super), but of finally bringing all the cast together in one game and sorting through them. It is using timeline shenanigans not for the sake of revisiting old zones like Generations, but instead to consolidate it. I genuinely believe that Forces is setting up a new era of 3D Sonic titles that aren't bogged down by a massive supporting cast or the rehashing of old villains. It's giving us three mostly-unique play-styles to see what truly sticks. The 2D style already won its own side game, and ideally its own series after. The match is now on between Modern Boost Sonic, and the customizable Wisp gadgetry of the CaC. I think Sonic Team are implementing that new style outside of the Hedgehog for the express purpose of letting us test it out without being bogged down by the notion of "but that's not Sonic!." It will surely be applied to the sole-playable Sonic in the next game though, as it will add a decent amount of variety so each fan can choose how they want to play Sonic TL;DR: Forces has a hodgepodge of a story with a large cast in order to consolidate the series going forward. We deal with all the peripheral character interactions, and we get nostalgia-battles with all the key villains. We also get a unique-enough play-style as not-Sonic, to pave the way for it to be applied to Sonic.
Pretty much this for me too. They are making a game that perfectly gives me what I want, so while I would like to have another 3D Sonic to like I'm not really fussed about Forces either way. The kids that like "dark" stories and corny early 2000s nu-metal can have this one. *shrugs*
I think Sega's going to be in for a shock when Mania scores 90+ on Metacritic, gets rave reviews and sells a shit-tonne - whilst Forces is critically slammed, scores below 70 at best and sells modestly, character creator to appeal the Deviantart crowd or not. Hopefully the trajectory of both games will steer Sonic in the right direction moving forward - hopefully ensuring a Sonic Mania 2.
Well, I'm gonna be "this" guy and say that I'm genuinely exited for this game. Not in a "so bad it's good" kind of way or "I have mania so I don't care what they do with this" kind of way. Like, genuine hype. I'm really interested in Infinite as a villain and how he managed to recruit previous bad guys, what are is motivations and everything. And I think what we've seen from the game so far seem really fun. I even like the music, damn. I've only been a sonic fan since 2012, so maybe it's the reason I'm not as cautious toward everything they've shown so far. I can admit that if I had to go trough Sega trying to sell me gun and curses, a talking sword, a realistic eggman redesign and a stupid fucking werehog transformation, I probably would have a lot more of negativity toward this overall. But what I'm seeing here just seem really good.
If it's Colours 2, it's a huge NO from me, I still wonder what do you see in that game; from all the Sonic titles I've played, it's the one I hate the most. Either way, I think some people's being too optimistic about Mania outselling this game. There's a lot of people like SuperSnoopy that don't share the complaints of we, the grumpy old folks that tasted this series before Iizuka was part of the staff, not to mention that Sonic 3D and Chaotix already had some "modern" issues, like experimenting with new mechanics, adding to many characters to a game that didn't need them, adding path-blocking automation or having wonky controls due to those experiments I mentioned first. They're gonna sell as many copies of this game as they did with their previous titles, and, while I' can't say which game will sell the most, that will make no impact in the future of the 3D titles. Look, PSO2 was rated very poorly and they're going to release ep5 because it's still giving enough money.
They're trying to use voice clips to make up for the fact that they aren't conveying the world-state through gameplay and it's absolutely maddening. How are you supposed to even play the game with an entire clown car of characters talking your ear off?
Very much this. It's the one thing that Sonic Heroes started the trend of that I was happy went away. Guess it's back again. I know everyone loves characters talking non-stop mid level :v: (Also can I play the weeaboo card early and wonder if we're getting a dual-audio option? I normally play in both at some point and it's become a bit of a ritual to compare the audio tracks, especially with Eggman's new Japan VA)
One of my favorite things about the latest trailer is how Tails is empty-handed in one shot and then he's suddenly holding his big goofy yellow Game Gear w/ glowing nobby bits in the next, because Pontaff have no use for the character without his Exposition Device. What data was Sonic even expecting to get? His power level? That other guy was right, the mashup of Adventure-era melodrama with these hack writers (and some terrible animation to boot) isn't going to pan out. Pontaff's low energy self-aware snark is going to hold this back from being the all-out shonen animepalooza the plot deserves to be. Be bad, not boring.
Fucking excellent So in terms of actual content, they've shown Green Hill, which is totally original, as well as Not-City-Escape. If the game didn't look so shabby, that would be depressing.
I don't really think a delay would help anything here. It's supposedly been in development for 4 years- how could it possibly be unfinished at this point? The problem is less technical flaws like glitches and more a bad taste in direction from what I've gathered. What they're giving us is fairly polished, it's just that it's not worth giving us in the first place. A delay can't fix what's already done. That being said, as I've said multiple times here, I'm gonna wait to see another Modern Sonic level before I call this a bootleg Generations. I'm pretty confident that Park Avenue is purposely barren and linear for purposes of demonstration, but if I'm wrong that's a shame.
Another thing. The basic premise of the plot is actually excellent- Eggman's finally taken control and everyone needs to band together to stop him. I like competent Eggman, but now they're immediately set up to undermine him by pairing him up with Nuclear Warhead Man and literally every person who ever betrayed him. But then Pontaff have a great track record of not having him usurped for the final conflict, even when it otherwise looks like he's going to be. Think they're going to keep that up?
Sonic Forces is like Spekkio from Chrono Trigger, its strength depends on the kiddo who's playing. Also, who else wants Unknown from M.E. versus Infinite for the next Splatfest?
When the game was announced, I thought it looked really cool. It's Sonic in the apocalypse - my inner STC reader was exstatic. But Classic being in it seemed utterly pointless and my interest slowly declined, until the Green Hill gameplay was showed and then the real fun began. It really does look like a wierd fan game, which is being lead by three different people with three different ideas. It's just a mess.
I have been suspecting this for months now, as well. I do wonder though: If Mania outperforms Forces both critically and in sales (not too likely as of now, but possible) how much could the result change this future direction? To me, it does seem as though Takashi Iizuka is genuinely shocked at the modern-day love for old school Sonic. Reading many interviews of his over the years, he has repeatedly expressed a lack of faith in the original era in terms of gameplay and style. I think his time at Sonic Team has been reflective of that; attempting to please fans but wanting to try a different direction. On top of that, his personal legacy at the company is really cemented in the modern games. So, in the possible scenario in which consumers ignore Modern Sonic in favor of Mania...where do we go from here? By the way, though I do think at this point it is best for the series to reboot in 3D...I'm not convinced that Mania outperforming Forces would cause that to happen. If Mania actually were to outsell a game with a much bigger budget, what incentive would SEGA have for Sonic games to continue to be big budget 3D games, especially when they have never really worked to begin with? Sonic Team has proven that they cannot make an excellent 3D game that can compete with its competition. If the smaller budget game is doing better, then use that money to flesh out the company in other ways. As a lifelong fan of Sonic, I have to say I would not be happy with this result. My dream game has always been for a game with the essence of Sonic 3K to be properly translated to 3D, and still believe the right team can make that happen. It won't if SEGA takes the wrong path.
