Sonic Frontiers Thread - PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC

Sonic always sells best on Nintendo platforms. It's
Lol didn't mean to actually submit all this please ignore the first half of this post

Fully expecting the Switch version to look and perform like ass, just as with Forces a few years ago. But I also think that looking at the quality of the in game stuff from the trailer, Frontiers has the excuse of being developed for hardware that is more powerful than the Switch by several orders of magnitude. BotW and SMO are first party, Switch (and Wii U) exclusives with very stylised art. For better or for worse, Frontiers is hard on the realistic aesthetic and isn't putting the Switch at the helm of its target systems.

 

Mike Pollock and Colleen O'Shaughnessey confirmed that Eggman and Tails will both be appearing in Frontiers in case anyone was wondering about that

 

Whoops. I didn't actually even mean to post that. I started typing a response hours ago and stopped. When I then replied to someone else, I didn't notice the saved text from my aborted post. Lol

But yeah I'm not really sure what SEGA should do. I always want to see games being made to their full potential, but with Sonic it's weird because focusing on the best hardware usually means that the most played version of the game is getting the short straw. A game made natively for weaker hardware and ported upwards to more powerful hardware is almost always going be more consistent across the board than one ported down. Not saying that it can't be done, but it's a trickier task. It probably would be for the best if they targeted Switch and enhanced it for other platforms. Forces and Colours Ultimate run and looks like crap on the Switch, even though there's no good reason for that to be the case with either game. I do not envision the Switch version of Frontiers being anything less than a colossal disaster. The XB1 and PS4 versions might even suffer.

 

They could go the Yooka-Laylee route and delay the Switch version to properly optimize the game. That would be the ideal scenario.

I don't expect them to do that at all, but it'd be a good model to follow.

 

Between the PS5/Xbox Series/PC, PS4/Xbox One, and the Switch; that’s not only six hardware SKUs altogether, that’s also at least three different levels of hardware prowess Sega/ST have to ensure run their brand-new open-world game with fast gameplay well. Occasionally with open-world titles, some studios fumble the ball working with just two differing hardware levels as it stands. Cyberpunk being a recent not-at-all-triumphant example.

And it would be one thing if these were staggered releases, with certain platforms being planned for release later. But with all of them listed for that holiday 2022 release date, I get the impression these are all supposed to come out at the same time.

The history of multiplatform Sonic releases on Switch has been dire outside of Mania. But even if there wasn’t a Switch version in play here, this just seems like juggling too many things as it stands.

 

I'm glad, but I don't think we needed a confirmation for the two characters who have been prominent in every game for the last ten years.

 

I've long been on board with an open world Sonic game, I like the visual direction, and Ian Flynn finally getting to write is great. I even saw some hills!

But the fact that Kishimoto is still around brings me back to reality. Why is he still being put on these projects? I don't think he has a good design sense at all, and in turn I don't think whoever keeps putting him on these games does either.

This screenshot in particular has me worried. Is running up/along a wall going to only apply to specific pre-determined walls, the way Knuckles' climbing worked in Sonic Boom? That's terribly constricting if so; Sonic has always been the most fun, to me at least, when you can experiment with the geometry of the environment for sweet jumps and shit.

I'd love to be more optimistic, but red flags are red flags. I won't pretend to not see them. I'm not going to force myself to feel contrary to my own natural reaction, just because I'm "exhausted" from being "cynical" over "my favorite brand" something something (last time I was exhausted over this stuff was in 2013, and after that I just stopped being emotionally invested). It's just a video game; if it sucks, it sucks. If it's great, it's great! If other people don't share your optimism in something, they don't share your optimism in something (same with pessimism; if what I think are red flags don't come across as red flags to someone else, that's fine!). Decouple your sense of personal identity and self-worth from "product company make" and how people feel about new product, and you'll be a lot happier.

That aside, I'm still very interested! This will at least be something different from the standard Boost fare, and if the leaks are to be believed we'll still see some of that in certain sections. I'd love for this game to do well, for all of the red flags to be false alarms, and for Kishimoto to surprise me. Here's hoping! (but if it ends up being a disappointment, well, that's just Sonic, and at this point I've accepted it; I don't need to have some parasocial relationship with a cartoon character or a company and be sad that he's stuck down a bad path, or something).

EDIT: Oh right, Switch version. They should either make this IP a Nintendo exclusive, since that's where it sells best, and it can be optimized for their behind-the-curve hardware, or just nix it from the equation, so they can really go all out. Especially for an open world game where your character (presumably) will be traveling through it very fast.

 

I don't mind this at first. Maybe because I'm used to metroidvanias like Ori, Guacamelee and Hollow Knight, as they put elements that are visible enough for you to know which skill you have to use. And I know, they are metroidvanias, not open-world. But at first I'm ok with this. We have to see how this is going to turn out to be.

 

I'm not opposed to Sonic having skills and upgrades that allow him to access new areas, ala a Metroidvania, but being able to run on walls ought to an be an organic consequence of Sonic's basic kit, so to speak. I wouldn't be keen on the idea of it being a "skill" that needs to be "activated" in a certain place. But you're right, we still need to wait and see if that's even the case, and if it is the case, how it actually fits into the gameplay system.

 

I don’t know why so many people here expected to see gameplay when the game is a year away from release. It’s clearly not ready yet, and if they did manage to use smoke and mirrors to give us a glimpse of some of it now, I could almost guarantee what we see today would look nothing like what we’ll see a year from now.

This happens all the time in the industry. Think about other games that you’ve followed from reveal to release and how many changes they’ve gone through in that time span. And this is Sonic Team people- as Sonic fans, we should almost expect the final product to just barely make it out the door. We will see gameplay that’s actually representative of the final game at E3.

 

Sorry, I don't mean the waiting animations - Lost World has a ton of those which give Sonic character. I mean the animation for Sonic's default pose. There's pretty much no movement to it. In that clip you show, Sonic just moves his head a bit and his arms move ever so slightly. Considering Lost World, this makes sense. You almost never see Sonic up-close while standing still and you're heavily encouraged to be on the move. The pose itself would mostly be seen in 2D sections, where it looks much better at the 3/4th angle. However, this comes at the cost of looking cheap if someone decides to take a look at the character up close, in 3D.

Look at Unleashed/Generations, in comparison. Timestamp is 0:59 for Modern Sonic.



Sonic has movement across his entire body. His head and shoulders move, he sways a bit as well. It's not the best animation out there (it's pretty average, really), but it's much better for a game where you'll see Sonic up close a lot. There's some movement to make you think that Sonic is breathing and isn't a lifeless doll.

To put it into perspective, if you go to the start of that video, look at Classic Sonic's default animation. He has a bit of head sway, his entire body bounces up and down. This is done on purpose to make Sonic seem more alive. Keeping him stuck in a single pose with no distinguishable movement (such as Lost World/Forces) looks bad and amateurish. I actually thought he didn't have any movement until I took a closer look at the clip you showed.

 

In retrospect, it should have been really telling that the leaker never actually described what this supposed ghost character looked like. Them being Amy with a new voice actor and probably no subtitles would definitely explain that confusion.

 

Re: Sonic's model... I'm not fond of any of Sonic's models since SA2. Here's a post I made a while ago about this:

I've resigned myself to the probability that Sonic Team will never deviate enough from the current model style to suit my tastes, so what we're getting is going to be "fine" as long as the animations are good. I think the Olympic Games model some have referenced does look better than the main game models of recent though.

 

That's literally what I love about open world games. Even long after I've beaten them, I can pick them back up at any time and experience stuff I missed as new content.

 

I can't wait to see Sonic moving around in this environment. If they really nail the movement then I could honestly see myself wasting so much time getting lost in this world just because Sonic is so fun to maneuver around.

emphasis on if

 

I think Sonic's model in Frontiers should be like my drawing in my profile pictue. It screams late 90s attitude!!