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Sonic Mania (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC...Netflix?)

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by TimmiT, Jul 23, 2016.

  1. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    Well in regards to the difficulty, outside of my first playthrough I can already play this with little issue. Ya I fall under the category of Sonic wizard at this point, but in a way that's kind of a testament to the game. If I can already be good at it at this point then it's because it builds off years of experience. If the game felt off in anyway I bet I'd be struggling, but at this point I'm not and it's been a day and a half. So difficulty wise I'd say it's spot on. To those of us who play these games all the time it might be easy, but to those who aren't as experienced it'll be difficult but not in a way that makes it impossible. Mania's doing exactly what it set out to do, for better or worse. Ya it doesn't explain everything to you but neither did the first 3 games, you just kinda went for it. Plus, unlike Dark Souls, this isn't a long game. There may be some trial and error but given the length of the game being about that of S3K, it'd only take experienced players maybe 2 hours to 100%, and we aren't talking AGDQ "I just skipped 3/4s of the game so I beat it in 2 hours." No this is just playing through the game casually but well.

    Sonic 2 took me 9 years to actually beat. Granted a lot of me going back to it was childhood patience and determination, but I never found many reasons to blame the game for making me die (exception being the Death Egg Robot's hit box. That can kindly fuck off). I feel like this is kinda like that, only with the added bonus of Sonic 3's save system. Given the team that made the game though the added difficulty makes some sense. They've played the classics for years as well, so their difficult threshold probably is much higher when it comes to Sonic at this point.

    However I'll agree with the crushing. I've been crushed in some rather BS ways more than a few times and I've seen playthroughs where they have done the same. I feel like some of these gimmicks should push you through rather than crush you, especially when it comes to things like coming up on the CPZ 1 water platform sequence and getting crushed because the platform went down 1 pixel too soon. I know how to avoid it now, but I feel like that doesn't need to be a thing.
     
  2. Retro_Stew

    Retro_Stew

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    Hey, the CRT filter does looks messy and inconsistent on my new 4K TV, and I'm experiencing huge framedrops on my PS4 playing the game (especially in the blue spheres bonus stages, where the filter looks like a 240P youtube video).
    Did someone experience something similar?
     
  3. steveswede

    steveswede

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    Sonic Mania suffers with some really bad conveyance. Bad conveyance has no relation to challenge. It's a frustrating brick wall to overcome because it stems from a lack of understanding rather than a lack of skill.
     
  4. Professor-J

    Professor-J

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    Coming out of years of lurking to post this

    Amazing, they delivered on all fronts and I was so happy to have avoided any spoilers because the jaw dropping moments were so unexpected. So, so good.

    Only gripes with this game are some of the question stage choices. I know they wanted to do the Sandopolis thing with Oil Ocean and show off the fire shield reacting with the stage but I would have preferred something else, that's just my opinion though, what they did with it was cool. I was hoping there would be a big twist and Angel Island would have actually been the last level, it would have been cool to see an early stage repurposed as a late game level but as soon as I got to TMZ act 2 I knew it was nearly over, probably one of the only times I've ever gotten a time over in a sonic game as well...

    Excellent game though, not that there was any doubt it would have been. Intrigued to see where we go from here.
     
  5. Burrobot

    Burrobot

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    Not a glitch as such, but a fun little quirk I noticed in Press Garden. It's possible to do a jump chain on top of the Splats badniks which spawn out of the Eggman ink wells, resulting in the same effect as spindashing between the sirens in Launch Base Zone Act 1 (The old "Koopa shell" trick). It only appears to be possible on certain iterations of the setup, though; the ink well needs to have a steep gap to the left or right to allow for a high initial bounce, giving enough time for another Splats to spawn.

    A great way to cheese your way to 99 lives, and a ridiculous score. :p
     
  6. Dario FF

    Dario FF

    Tech Support Hotline Tech Member
    The funniest thing about Hydrocity's subversion of the Act 1 / Act 2 rule for the remixed stages is that Act 2 was already so good in the original that they just decided to copy it. :v:
     
  7. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

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    Ya that was interesting. Act 1 changed much more than Act 2 did prior to the boss anyway. Only issue I have with Act 2 now is that you can no longer jump through the tubes to save time.
     
  8. Gammatron

    Gammatron

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    I'm probably a Sonic Wizard too but I beat the game with over 20 lives on both Sonic and Knuckles and hadn't seen the game over screen once.

    The special stages are very tough but still very fun. I did pretty good on the blue spheres stages from S3&K because I basically have those memorized, but the new ones are a bitch. I managed to get all the silver medals but I'm not sure if it's worth it to go for gold, but it's the one PSN trophy I'm missing. It's really not that hard or brutal outside of the special \ bonus stages. I guess what I'm saying is, uh... git gud?

    For the most part the level and boss design is superb with just a few exceptions. I find Press Garden a little meh and Titanic Monarch is in fact a slog to get through. I really don't care for Act 1 of Hydrocity, either. The spider boss in Flying Battery is a bit of a pain, as is Heavy Rider. I love the rest of the game though.

    This game is just so goddamn creative and clever. Sega suggested they reuse old zones, but Taxman and the gang got sneaky because a lot of them are brand new levels disguised as old zones. It's the polar opposite of Sonic 4, which disguised old zones as new ones. I really love Studiopolis and its two bosses. Heavy Gunner's Helicopter and Weatherman Eggman might be my favorite bosses in the game.

    EDIT: Does anyone know how well PS4 Share Play works with this game? I'd love to play some racing with people but we all got it on different systems and my Internet is way too shitty for me to host.

    I'd imagine even with a good connection it would give the host a huge advantage but it might work for co-op.
     
  9. GHNeko

    GHNeko

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    [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlVxZl6EsYo[/media]


    figured out how to collect up to 3 emeralds in GHZ1 with Sonic/Tails

    pls don't remove Taxman/Stealth lmao
     
  10. Covarr

    Covarr

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    Two stageplays, a screenplay, and an album
    I choose to believe the Super Sonic God Super Sonic Super Sonic Blue bug isn't a bug at all, but a deliberate Dragon Ball Super nod. I refuse to be convinced otherwise. :specialed:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  11. Mastered Realm

    Mastered Realm

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    What is the blue ring monitor? It even changes the HUD but I don't get what it is.
     
  12. Lapper

    Lapper

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    Sonic Studio, Sonic Physics Guide, Kyle & Lucy, Freedom Planet 2
    Gives ya big rings when you get hit.
     
  13. Pokepunch

    Pokepunch

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    A Sonic 2 Hack
    When you get hit it bundles your rings into bigger rings so you can collect more when you lose them.
     
  14. /dev/sr0

    /dev/sr0

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    http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Combine_Ring
     
  15. Aerosol

    Aerosol

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    Sonic (?): Coming summer of 2055...?
    Bingo. It's the job of the designer to teach the player how to handle challenges.

    Another example I can think of is the OOZ mid-boss. There is no indication that standing on any of the valve covers besides the two middle ones means you are dead. None at all. In-fact I just went and played through act 1 and studied the screen to be sure I hadn't missed anything and no, I didn't.

    That's a really cheap way to kill the player.
     
  16. Yeah this got me too. I never found bad conveyence to be in the levels themselves but moreso for a few specific bosses. It's not really a common problem. Lots of people cite the Spider boss but the blueprints at the end of Act 1 before you get tossed in the dumpster actually detail how you're supposed to fight it, it just has weird mechanics. The weird conveyence in this game is kinda like Angel Island's Act 2 boss, which I've seen kill a few of my friends from breaking the bridge (a problem exacerbated by the fact that the entire bridge can't be stood on the minute one piece is lit on fire.)

    The bosses are probably the only hit and miss part of this game and while I understood and beat them all quickly, I can see why some would need a guide for it. I do like that they tried to tackle the problem of bosses feeling sorta same-y and tacked in, but I do agree it could've been handled better. It's the only part of the game I'm really that critical of, and it's a minor problem IMO.
     
  17. Fenrir

    Fenrir

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    Both of Oil Ocean Zone's bosses kinda suffer from that. I had no idea the boss was going to yank the platforms under the oil, and it doesn't even let you react if you're standing there, it just instantly kills you.

    A minor gripe in the grand scheme of things and something the classics are somewhat guilty of too, but I digress. The game as a whole has the best bosses I've fought in a Sonic game, but it also houses what are probably some of my least favorites.
     
  18. HEDGESMFG

    HEDGESMFG

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    So I've beaten Sonic/Tails Mode with all emeralds with 25+ lives and not a single game over. The game DOES have challenges, and frankly should have a tutorial of some sort (just in the menu somewhere) for accessibility (not in the main game), as many things like holding up to get tails to fly, or even the drop dash, are simply NOT explained (and these things are REALLY useful).

    Also, I got all the unlockables. Urgh. Blue Spheres, how I love and loathe thee.

    But then again, I was a kid when I played the genesis titles, and trial and error is simply how I learned. The game is very beatable if you are patient.

    Some parts were definitely a challenge, however.

    1. Those last few blue sphere stages, oh man. They seemed easy up to a point... but the worst one was the sonic 3 8th stage returning. I can see why that was cut, because MAN it was a monster. Infact, I couldn't beat it the original way! I did use the secret reverse route though. (If you go along the path and see 2 sets of bumpers, turn left and keep bouncing until you get to the center and can get the final orbs in the path BEFORE the level speeds up. This makes getting the rest of the orbs much easier since the gap between them gets wider as the level speeds up. Still requires insanely good timing, but it's very doable, and I suspect this design path was intentional. Blue Spheres 2 (Mania?) is a very cool addon, but I think I'm BlueSphere'd out for awhile, so I will not be playing it right away.

    2. Oil Ocean's boss is tricky, but mostly because so many gamers are used to speed-rushing things. If you simply take time to strategize and wear it down (kill the firing orbs first, dodge the laser, wait for the tail to be shot at you) it's very doable, easy even. It requires some patience, but it can be done. This is why it was so annoying to watch that streamer, because he refused to slow down and kill it gradually.

    3. I was only crushed once as Super Sonic in the last zone due to moving platforms. Every other incident I could more or less see coming.

    I've ran into very few major bugs so far. I did have the music glitch happen once, but that was after 10 hours of play. I also ran into a bug where I was coming up from the underground area of Green Hill 1 as Super Sonic and the background didn't change back to normal despite being in the "above ground" areas. This was at the 'very' end of the underground path as Super Sonic. Only ones worth noting so far.

    Now I need to do 2 more playthroughs as Tails/Knuckles, and then do one last rush through the stages as Super Sonic. Plus there are lots of paths I need to find. Enjoying this immensely.

    http://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/sonic-mania

    Also, while it only has 7 reviews, The Switch version has a 91% score right now! The Xbox one also went up from 83% to 85%! PS4 is still holding at a steady 86% with 46 reviews, with only 4 of them being less than 80%, and 3 out of the 4 people still really liked the game, but just felt offset by the oldschool challenge (it does get a few detractors, to be fair), or by the recycled content. Only one outlier gave it a 60, and his review is pretty much being summed up as a contrarian troll review (which seems common for most of what the guy writes.)

    The "Sonic was never good" meme is pretty much dead with this game. Even if a few believe it, it's a small minority now.

    Now, let's just hope Sonic Team learns from all this and that the praise translates into good sales.
     
  19. Sid Starkiller

    Sid Starkiller

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    Thinking about the upcoming patch: Anyone have anything they hope is added beyond bugfixes?

    I've got 2.
    1: Super Sonic had a badass new idle animation. I wish Super Knuckles and Super Tails did as well.
    2: To make & Knuckles mode more fun, let Player 1 jump on Knuckles' back while gliding, Sonic Advance 3-style.
    Minor stuff, but IMO would be neat to have.
     
  20. /dev/sr0

    /dev/sr0

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    I wish this game had full new sprites for Super Sonic like Sonic 3 Complete.

    See here: http://info.sonicretro.org/images/8/87/S3C_Super.png