I think it's also unwise for people with embargo & NDA to post images of their Steam installation... hm....
That screen normally shows how much space the game would take up on a disk drive and how much space is left on the chosen one, alongside disk drive choice and estimated download times. It's probably the database trick and just screwing with people. Spoiler Though I don't know where to find a proper source, however, reports indicate that the Switch version of the game is only 186MB.
Genuinely thought he had a review copy there for a second and was super trolling us. I was literally about to post "What the fuck" but it looks like he was just playing around. God is anyone else finding the remainder of the wait agonising? I literally want to launch Steam and play this to completion now. Guess it's just a few more days. Honestly feels like being a kid and waiting for Christmas. Haven't been this excited about a Sonic game since Sonic 3. I agree with you to a certain extent - but the glowing previews seem to indicate otherwise. One preview I read pretty much had the journalist willing to give the game a 10/10 just based on the preview build. Game journalists seem to have a vendetta against modern Sonic but not so with the classic 2D variation. Sonic 4 for example got a plethora of (undeserved) 8s and 9s. Reviewers seem to be enamoured with this kind of pure version of Sonic that seems immune to lower scores. I'm expecting Mania to do exceptionally well. 9s across the board. Hope I'm right.
So this is happening A friend also told me our Best Buy that's nearby got them, but are also not breaking the street date. I guess some stores want to promote the fact that they have them too?
This is cool to see. There's unboxing images on Twitter (sourced from Reddit) for those that are interested: https://twitter.com/Top_Shelf_Fun/status/895027273438556161
Best Buy is actually letting people buy it? Street Dates are a very big deal in retail, I know some places just override them, but is this wide spread?
A tad disappointed with that TBH. Normally, holding up reviews for a product so close to release doesn't indicate the studio/publisher/etc. holds much confidence in it. Then again, given the lack of a retail release, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. If people really felt that way about this game, I really doubt the game would even have this much positive word-of-mouth in the first place. Let alone have received multiple E3 awards/nominations and be praised as one of the best games of the show. There will be a few dissenters with the contrarian reviews expressing the sentiments you've predicted, but I think everyone else will be on the same page that Mania will at least be a great game, if not an excellent one. You only get mediocre/bad reviews for a product following such a enthusiastic reception if the product you making is something completely different from the product you're selling: Sonic 2006, No Man's Sky, Aliens: CM). I think it goes without saying that Mania is completely legit and are being made by people who know what they're doing. Sonic 4: Epi I's metascores were in the low-mid 70s. It did get 8s and 9s, but they didn't compromise the actual median of scores the game got.
Were you guys expecting this to review well? Current media consensus seems to be that old school Sonic sucks. I'm not expecting these same people to turn around and love the mechanics suddenly now that it's 16:9. The target demo's not mainstream press but nostalgic fans.
Frankly, I do expect it to do better, yes. We're really not the only ones who thought Sonic was great in the 90s and the classics sell well and still play well today. Taxman CD 2011 is the highest rated game for the franchise on metacritic right now. I mean, I'm not guaranteeing it will review well, but we've got a lot more riding on the critical/commercial success of this title than normal. If it doesn't meet/surpass expectations, it may be the last indie/true classic Sonic title we ever see, and that would be a damn shame. Also, while negative reviews may not kill the game, positive reviews would do a lot to combat bad perceptions about the franchise, which I think a lot of us are genuinely tired of, while positive press would then translate into better sales and more coverage. And that's assuming Forces not doing as well. http://www.ign.com/games/sonic-adventure-2/gcn-16893 6.9 (Gamecube) http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/06/22/sonic-adventure-2 9.4 (Dreamcast) Or need I remind people of this fiasco again? Keep in mind the former was an enhanced port with virtually no downsides over the original (and a greatly enhanced multiplayer mode), released a mere 8 months later.
people on Sonic 4 music: "I-it's okay, really! The instruments are a little rough is all, just swap those out and the music would be fine!" people on Sonic Mania music: "Meh, it's not terrible I guess, doesn't sound like the classics tbh, pretty forgettable, will have to mute the game while playing."
To be fair, even though I'm in the boat that doesn't care too much about Mania's music, to me it looks like there are way more people liking it than disliking it. This thread is full of praise for the songs, while only a handful of people dislike or are indifferent to them. I don't know what to say about Sonic 4 vs. Mania when it comes to music, except that I can in fact hum a couple of 4's songs from the top of my head, even though I don't particularly like them, but can't seem to come up with anything from mania. You may say I've been exposed to Sonic 4 longer than to Mania, but barely, because I've only played through Splash Hill once and that's the full extent of my relationship with Sonic 4. Seeing that the same people who like Mania's music also praise CD, Adventure, and the mini-boss theme from 3, it makes sense to me, because those are the songs from the old games I dislike the most. I can't even hum anything from CD besides "Sonic Boom" or "Toot Toot Sonic Warrior". Really. People have different musical tastes, no style is universally loved by everyone.
Anything subjective is likely to exasperate someone with other subjective opinions. Though I daresay Mr Lange has an informed opinion based on musical fact and experience, which can actually make the exasperation a lot worse because they can see the details others miss. I like the music, even though I was never the biggest fan of Sonic CD's soundtrack, but it may in fact just be the deep seated need for a proper Classic Sonic game that's tinting my perspective since I can actually see some of the points people have made about not liking Mania's tracks.
Ever since Mania people have been changing there attitude about Sonic's 2D outings. It used to be "they're poorly designed". Now it's "they're poorly designed, but still fun". Of course it's gonna get some bad marks, it's Sonic. But throughout all the exposure the press has been given to it, the most negative thing thrown at Mania so far has been that the bonus stages are "clunky". Even the remixed zones have gotten a lot of praise from critics, and that was the one thing a lot of people were held up about. The game's probably going to get a lot of flack for some of it's returning concepts, but I see high praise for every new addition and idea the Mania team brings to the table. And seeing how most of the game is built around remixing old concepts and not just slapping them in and calling it a day, I see no reason why the pros of Mania shouldn't severely out-weight it's shortcomings. To suddenly hate the game the moment it comes out would not only be unjustified, but further vindication that the press has a general slant in opposition to titles like Sonic.
So what you're saying is maybe it was a bad marketing decision to release music tracks out of context? And this consensus which you speak of, whose ass is it coming from? Oh, right.
Woo, Falk's finally in da house! Gotta sort of admit that, but I'm absurdly picky about music fitting the atmosphere of what's going on during the game. Mania's boss themes don't sound like boss battles at all to me (but then, a vast majority of BTS's and ATS's boss themes don't sound like boss themes to me either, despite pretty much the rest at least of of BTS's soundtrack (didn't hear a lot of ATS's OST yet to form an opinion) being rather dope at least outside of context... oh, wait, Tee didn't work on them). Y'know, don't get me wrong, the original tracks really sound great (though quite lacking a variety) outside of the game. IMO they more belong to the separate music album rather than to the Sonic game. They just don't fit the game well in any non-dance-party environment (which is why I said that music for Studiopolis and Special Stage is perfectly ok in this case; the rest is, well... Mirage Saloon music sounds like "Studiopolis: Wild West Edition", and boss themes... well, they could work if the task would be to out-dance the boss like in Space Channel 15, but then, they still wouldn't really fit in a environment other than said Studiopolis or some casino/party level anyway). If my intel is correct, you're the one who worked on the remasters; if that's so, let me praise your work here (and, on a side note, your work on "Eye of the Storm" from ATS, which I've literally just heard while typing this); remasters, compared to original tracks, do sound better and more fitting. Well, yeah, I know, they're just remasters of existing themes we've all been hearing for more than 20 years, but I still remember how I had no obligations to Mega Drive Sonic games' music when I first heard it (in context, obviously), even though I was a kid back then. I'm still looking forward to listening Mania's OST in all of its entirety, even though there are already tracks I'd want to either mute or at least replace with something more fitting (which would be a better solution than running the game with the sound off IMO), and that's a really bad sign for me. I'd go on about how I'm much less upset with CD's JP/EU soundtrack than with Mania's, but I'm tired of looking up the music to make a valid point, so, well, that's probably only gonna happen in a next post of mine - I really want a break. I'm still yet to listen to anything Jackson did. tl;dr version of everything I said on the subject: the Mania's original music tracks sound quite too "celebratory" to fit anything with a clashing atmosphere, and that's something I didn't hear in any other classic Sonic OST, even if the game in question is 3D Blast for Saturn. Thus, while they work for Studiopolis and Special Stages, they don't for any other stage or event. And yes, while tracks I'm troubled with do sound nice on their own, I can't imagine them where they're supposed to be in Mania. And, as I'm very picky about music supporting the atmosphere's mood, I'd really like to listen to something more fitting instead during the gameplay. Who the fuck told you that, lol? The only thing S4 did properly was graphics. Music sounded like it was played by a Zilog Z80 emulator, and even in context of Mega Drive music it was relatively lame (even though I sort of liked Splash Hill's theme, probably because I keep hearing Jun Senoue's "Forging the Champions" in it). But then comes Ep.I's boss theme (which I've already linked to a couple of pages ago)... there's no way you can't out-shit that, unless you smash your head against music synthesizer's buttons multiple times and call that a boss theme. (p.s.: did anybody tell you that having a opinion different from yours is, like, perfectly normal? I wouldn't smash my head against some solid object over somebody liking music I'm not fond of, y'know...)
