The younger fandom, and how they learned from exactly none of our mistakes.

For the record, I actually don't hate Shadow's game or Forces, but they're very flawed games. My main issue with Shadow's game is the mission system. It's like they took the worst part of Heroes and built the whole game around that, which I didn't like. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably enjoy the game a whole lot more. As for Forces, that game wasn't terrible, but it was just a huge letdown in just about every way possible. Never trust CGI trailers.

 

It helps if you're actually playing these games and not just talk about them or listen to their soundtracks. Just saying. The other day I was playing Sonic Forces for a little bit and I was straight up not having a good time. Most of the time I had no idea what I was even doing (besides running in a quote unquote straight line). Team Sonic Racing? Totally bummed out about the lack of custom cups. These games need more customization, for God's sake (level length, playable characters, bgm, etc.) I want my freedom back

In retrospect, SA2 was the most fun, closely followed by Generations and Sonic 3. Though it's been awhile since I last played Heroes.

 

No amount of customization could save Forces, though.

 

I think he's talking about integrating Generations-style customization (change abilities and music) with Forces. That'd be pretty cool.

 

He probably meant that, but the level design is horrible, the levels are short and the Switch version (the version that sold the most!) looks worse than Generations did on 360.

So again, no amount of customization could save Forces.

 

Yeah, probably not. A small consolation, I know, but a consolation nonetheless. Nevertheless, I have a few suggestions for improvement:

1. ERASE all automation
2. ...that's all.

 

I don't care at all if Sonic games are like the Classic games, Adventure style, or Boost-to-win, or some new style, I don't care if the plot is edgy or "childlike", I just want a good game that's fun to play. There's no "perfect" style of Sonic game, and I just wish that people would realize this. They only feel like the style they grew up with is perfect without any flaws and it's the "correct" way to make a Sonic game. I personally love all 3 major styles of Sonic games WHEN THEY WERE MADE BY PEOPLE WHO KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING. Heck, it might be because I grew up with games of all 3 styles. I don't know.

I also just wished that they kept the nostalgia stuff completely separate from the main series, I'm talking about nostalgia for nostalgia's sake, not "returning things to create a sense of continuity between games", I'm actually ok with Green Hill being a place that returns from game to game, as long as it isn't screaming "HEY DO YOU REMEMBER GREEN HILL, THE BEST SONIC ZONE, THE ONE THAT STARTED IT ALL.", I could ALMOST forgive Sonic Forces with how they handled Green Hill, they actually put a somewhat decent spin on what we are used to. What I don't forgive though, is it being incredibly overused. I would still like creativity and new innovative areas to be added so every game is not just the same 3 places over and over with a different plot. But, I'm ok with Green Hill existing to make it feel like these games are taking place on the same planet.

Speaking of that, they can't decide on an art style, or whether the inhabitants are animals or humans, or whether the trees are realistic or from Minecraft, just make up your damn mind Sonic Team. Sonic Team can't make everyone happy, that's the thing. There are too many people who want 2d games, or adventure style games, or that one kid who screams and wants a 3d environment classic sonic game, I can go on and on. Sonic Team should really just focus on making a good game and not cater to a specific set of fans who grew up with these particular games.

The so-called "dark age of sonic" I would say doesn't REALLY exist, loads of people say it is the post-adventure to modern era, some people say it is the modern era as a whole, some people say it is the entirety of 3d Sonic as a whole. There's no objectively right answer and most of these claims are based on nostalgia bias. Sure we can all agree that 06 was objectively bad, but, some other games in this time frame can be classified as subjectively good, along with some subjectively bad ones, along with some mixed ones.

TL;DR: There's no "correct" way a Sonic game should be made, people should really realize this and also stop blindly hating on the stuff outside of their "childhood era" due to nostalgia bias. Sonic Team right now should really focus on making good games and not focus on catering to the people who grew up with a specific set of Sonic games, Sonic Team should just ignore all of the conflicting arguments about this series and what is really "the best type of sonic game" and not base their games off of that, they should make what they think will be the right call in judgement.

P.S: IM IDEALIZING A WORLD WHERE SEGA IS ACTUALLY COMPETENT WITH HOW THEY DEAL WITH SONIC, OK?

 

@TheManchildMine, you're offering quite the valid argument to this whole matter.

There's only one problem with all that... SEGA is a corporation.
They care more about making money, rather than making great games.
Them catering to the fanbase or specific groups has the goal of getting as much money from those folks as possible.
You, me and MANY others here and out there also want reality to play the way you stated.
If only it were that easy to achieve...

 

I understand what you mean, I agree that SEGA will put money over quality. So, I guess this would be, at least my ideal way that SEGA COULD handle Sonic, but it is likely not going to ever happen, due to corporations and all that. I actually added a P.S while you most likely were writing that as that exact same thought entered my mind.

I really do want the best out of Sonic, it just sucks that profit matters more than quality.

 

I saw the P.S., but felt like answering that way all the same.
No need to take it personal, it was only my honest opinion.

 

I think with Sonic, they're at a point where they'd probably make more money with a great game.

Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot, Mortal Kombat, these are all franchises that started big, but people moved away from them when the standard of quality dropped. All three of them made big comebacks when they invested the staff, time and money into making big flashy well-made games that reminded the audience why they liked those franchises in the first place.

 

That's what I've been trying to say for quite a while already.
SEGA should try their best at giving Sonic reboot treatment.
It might be what the franchise really needs at this moment.

 

The last thing this franchise needs is another continuity that will be dropped sooner or later. Boom-style or Archie-style drop, doesn't matter which.

 

A story/continuity reboot would be unnecessary. Unleashed, Colours, Lost World etc. were all self-contained adventures with no prior knowledge of the series lore required. And Sonic Boom is too recent in consumer memory. Sega already fired that bullet and missed the target.

 

But I'd like a story/continuity reboot, as the continuity started going down the drain, to me, from Heroes onwards.
It may seem something minor to many of you, but I like my stories with as proper of a timeline/continuity as possible.

 

Good for you. I'd like them to throw away 3D entirely and stick to expanding upon Mania, but they won't, and shouldn't, make decisions based on what one person wants.

 

That's fine. But "I want this" isn't the same as "Sega should do this" or "doing this could help the franchise".

I want Sega to bring back Metal Knuckles, but I don't think it will have any impact on the sales or reception of the series.

 

That was actually one of my very few complaints about Mania, specifically for & Knuckles Mode. If the whole thing was a self-insert fanfic Knuckles was presenting as real to the critters of Angel Island, I would've thought he'd swap out Metal Sonic for Metal Knuckles.