Interesting that this game is suddenly getting a marketing push in Japan whilst SoA are still barely acknowledging is existence. It is the most 'Japanese' or 'anime' Sonic game since '06, I guess.
I really miss Chikao Ohtsuka; not that Kotaro Nakamura is bad or anything, I think he's fine for the role, but he just doesn't seem to have that same playful vibe that Ohtsuka had Also, is it just me or does anyone else feel as though they've been pushing the story of Sonic Forces way more than the actual game? It's a bit of a contrast to how Colours, Generations & Lost World were promoted. We didn't even start seeing any cutscenes for Generations until a few weeks before release, whereas with Forces we were getting more details about the plot before we even knew how the game played.
It's kind of hard to make the story a selling point when is nothing more than a loose thread that holding the levels together. Sonic games haven't had stories worth making a deal of some '06. That story may have be awful, but it was a major point of the game. Unleashed dialled the plot back significantly and it's been virtually non-existent until now. The gameplay that has been shown off for Forces is very much "same old". We've got Colours/Boost style, classic style (which SEGA must be aware pales in comparison to Mania) and the custom hero which is basically Colours without the boost ability. The tag team stuff is new, I guess. The gameplay isn't seeking this game though. Reception has been varied but nothing too extreme on either end. Considering the series history with bad stories and a reputation for trying to be edgy and dark, I'm kind of surprised that SEGA is pushing this angle, yet alone even allowing it in the first place. It could very easily go wrong.
It's nice to know that even in this type of plot, Eggman continues to be a manchild that wants to turn the world into his personal plaything for... reasons. I loved him for being at his most competent in Adventure 2, but he was extremely serious in that game. That and his '06 portrayal don't really match up with how he typically behaves. I wonder if any humans outside of Eggman will be involved in the plot. It'd be incredibly strange to go from a world that was primarily populated by humans to one where Eggman is the only human we see. It'd also be a huge shame since humans outside of Eggman were finally given more cartoony proportions in Unleashed, making the idea of them coexisting alongside Sonic and pals seem less awkward. Plus, I'd love to see Professor Pickle again. Here's hoping for a playable human OC, too.
The irony of you calling the other games a saturday morning cartoon, when a show fans literally call "Saturday Morning Sonic" (SatAM), literally uses virtually the same premise of Forces as a backdrop, makes me chuckle a bit. Not that I disagree with you
As a kid, I always head canoned that he popped up from another planet, and decided to take over for his own whim. It sounds pretty silly, but it ties in with his spacecraft. :v:
There is a lot of Forces I like. I like that there are animals in the background rather than Sonic and co looking like the only ones on the planet. I like the dumb resistance thing, its kinda why I liked Fable 3. I like that Robotnik is in control of the world. I like that Knuckles is back. I like Knuckles. I can get over Silver being there because Knuckles is there. I got issues I know this. But I just cant get over how it looks. Well not even that, how much asset reuse there seems to be. I hope everything we've seen so far is the training missions. Because otherwise its going backwards from Unleashed. I think now I got real Classic Sonic I want a real Modern Sonic game with maybe some extra playables. But I'm getting a bizzare hodgepodge of SANIC! Generations Classic Sonic, Generations Modern Sonic and What was probably going to be Boom Sonic gameplay with Wisp Guns. Then Tag Team stuff too. I don't know. Preordered.
This game better open up with Time Cop Silver coming back to the past because of Phantom Ruby shenanigans. Otherwise, why is he here?
Pretty much It's established in all of his profiles that he's from the future, but outside of '06 it's never explained how he's ended up in the past. Rivals gives him a reason to time travel without explaining it, but ever since he's just been showing up without purpose. I wonder how Knuckles is getting on with Angel Island and the Master Emerald in Forces, especially now that Chaos is on the loose again... Guess it probably won't be mentioned.
I hope I'm wrong but something tells me that Shadow, Chaos, Metal Sonic, and that red guy from Lost World are just going to be there with little to no explanation (I mean Metal Sonic doesn't really need an explanation, but still).
Yeah, you beat me to it. And that's an angle I hadn't even considered. If I can create an OC that looks convincingly-enough like Sally, Bunnie, or Antoine, that'll be enough to justify all the flack the game will get for pandering to the DeviantArt crowd.
Not exactly SatAM, but the (post-reboot) Archie comics are actually the reason I was so curious what Forces might do with a "resistance" premise back when we were first learning about it. I'd like to think such a thing has decent potential, even if Forces doesn't end up making the best use of it.
Said this before, but this game seems to take the approach where the levels are built around the story, instead of the other way around. We haven't gotten that kind of direction since Unleashed/06 I wanna say. I personally like it that way- I'll go on record and say the most promising think about this game is what they might do with the story- we haven't had a scale and potential like this on a while. I'm totally prepared for it to flop, i.e. not explain enough or just have characters appear from seemingly nowhere. I've been burned with that kind of marketing before (looking at you Halo 5) so color me cautiously optimistic.
The levels might be built around the story, but the story seems built around "Let's throw as much reminiscent junk as possible together and see if it sells."
I want Mania to outsell this, but I still want Forces to be good. Heck, I've been rewatching Sonic X subbed all week again with official subs, and it reminded me of how much I still like the original cast, despite the mid 2000s "shitty friends" shenanigans. The lack of a sonic plot I found interesting actually hurt my enjoyment of games like Unleashed/Lost Worlds. I let it slide for Generations and Colors a bit, but I still wasn't really fond of the former's near pointless story. Leave the silent short cutscenes for classic Sonic, and even then at least give me full zone transitions. Waiting and seeing. The recycled assets/levels debacle will prove just whether I preorder this.
The issue isn't with us (sane ones) wanting Forces to fail. We just want it to be good, and (based on everything we've seen) it's not looking that way. It has everything it needs to be good: Solid premise in the "Hero army vs Evil Army". Boost gameplay which has been done successfully for three games already. A build-a-character system that panders to a significant part of the Sonic fanbase. A stupid theme song reminiscent of the Adventure games. Classic Sonic who's popularity has unquestionably skyrocketed after the success of Sonic Mania. Knuckles NOT being portrayed as a retard. Yet, here we are. Many still skeptical about the game. Because the simple fact of that matter: Having all the ingredients to make a delicious cake doesn't mean you'll make a delicious cake. The hero army is a background piece and the Evil army is recycled. The Boost gameplay and level design (based on what has been shown) has not improved over the previous games. The Build-a-character system seems pointless with none of the wisp-ons looking particularly unique. The theme song sounds like something that should be playing while Sonic and OC are unclogging a toilet. Compared to "Dreams of an Absolution", it's lacking. The physics of Classic Sonic (which are important as it was a major criticism of Generations) haven't been fixed and may be worse now. So far, the only thing in the "ingredients" that is working would be Knuckles being the resistance leader. Even then, they could still fudge that up if it turns out they're losing because he sucks at his job...
Episode Shadow. I approve. This is the first time we've officially had another character playable with the boost formula, too.
Episode Shadow? What the hell could this entail? I'm actually somewhat interested. EDIT: Here's the description btw: So we get Shadow Generations and the ability to play as Shadow in Modern Sonic's stages, and they say over 10 and so far we've seen 2. OK FINALLY, a slight window into this game's fucking content. I've almost been worried that this game is just going to be Green Hill and Ruined City. Why'd it take them this long to realize that this is basically all people want when it comes to alternate playable characters btw? A character skin and some extra levels. Granted I don't care too much about Shadow, but seeing as how us Classic fans got Tails and Knuckles in this way in Mania, it's nice to see them throw a bone to Modern fans and give them their character in a similar way.
