I'm also disappointed drifting seems to have disappeared since Generations, although with Frontiers it seems like controls have massively improved to where you don't really need drifting. I'm still waiting for more impressions on how Sonic handles in the open world, I'm hoping he feels way less stiff than he did in Forces/Colors/Lost World, the original impressions from months ago sounded like they made him dramatically better to maneuver, it certainly looks that way from video footage. Also, with drifting in mind, it is a literal crime that a Sonic R type game with boosting has never been made. It would be the absolute perfect format for a side Sonic game if they chose to keep pursuing mainline open world games.
Not buying this until after release. If they recycle more Generation stages without making the overworld pretty brilliant, I won't buy it for years until it's a steam budget title like I did Forces (and even then, only played it with heavy mods). The recycled Unleashed stage design? That's even more insulting. Open world looks passable to interesting, but I simply don't trust modern Sonic Team anymore. If the game comes out and you guys can give me legitimate reasons to buy it despite the reused assets, I'll bite, but no pre-order this time.
Sonic Stadium's folks first impression of the demo (thread) if anyone is interested: https://twitter.com/sonicstadium/status/1562403972891254784?s=20&t=WZ9M3Zr-V6EOz7Uj-6aNPw
This pretty much sums up my feelings. I’m slightly encouraged by the positive reception to the open zone and I’m interested about the inclusion of the bounce and drop dash. So far none of the new open zone footage in this thread has wowed me. That said we are early into gamescom. It’ll really come down to how it feels to play. I’m particularly concerned with how it feels to jump given that game informer critiqued that in their frontiers feature (and jumping has never felt good in the boost games with it hitting an all time low in forces) From what’s been shown off so far the cyberspace levels look awful. I keep seeing people say that the asset reuse is better than a generic null space level and this aggravates me because it’s a comparison between 2 awful extremes. If these cyberspace levels are meant to serve as the game’s special/bonus stages than I’d rather they have the absurdist aesthetics that we saw in past special stages. Even if each island only had 1 design for the special stages which they reused in all the island’s cyberspace levels I personally would prefer that. If done right it would contribute to creating a unique identity for Frontiers. I understand that Frontiers has a smaller team than most open world games but the reuse of zones really takes away the game’s identity and makes the game come off as cheap. I respect that other folks have different views tho. I absolutely will not purchase this game if Sega does not put out a public digital demo that allows me to judge the game’s control.
This is mildly concerning (hopefully it's just for the tutorial), but it's also pretty funny considering the posts I just read saying this is "just Sonic Forces level design". Extremely ironic.
Cyberspace levels look like wet farts, which is a shame. But people seem quite complimentary of everything else. Especially the combat, which is a big surprise to me. Almost the complete inverse of Unleashed, where people liked the traditional speedy stuff and hated the combat.
The irony is so intense I’m almost ok with it. Almost. If there is actual justification for it in the game (I’d imagine that Sonic’s memories are all screwed up and his memories of Green Hill and Windmill Isle have merged) it might make sense. But it’s impossible to tell right now.
I said I was forgetting everything I knew about greek mythology. I put Vulcano because i forgot the forger god and could only remember it for the famous picture from centuries after. And I think Erebus was just a place, not a god, and probably also roman. Also, I forgot even more stuff, because I've already watched Sandman on Netflix, yet I forgot to include Oneiros in my list.
This is insulting. Am I supposed to pay full price for a game, that looks like a BoTW clone using Unreal Engine assets, and reusing not only 12+ years assets from older titles, but also big chunks of level designs, because the current team can't brainstorm a wholesome, good designed level? It's ridiculous. I'm not buying this, it belongs in a bargain bin.
Sonic Team working a way to reuse as much content as they possibly can into the story is something that I can definitely see happening.
I'm okay with it just because it's funny. It's like we're seeing in real time the revelation that Unleashed level design isn't all it's cracked up to be, or we are just so programmed to go "ew Sonic Forces!" even when we are looking at a stage ripped straight from Unleashed, the game that people JUST said was way better and they wish this game was designed more like that.
Really the biggest shock here is that people on Twitter seem genuinely excited, and are just shrugging off the reused levels. I think that is the biggest indicator that I'm out of touch now, because barely anything about this game has impressed me. ...is this what Classic fans felt like in the 2000's? This sucks.
The irony is rich here… however I want to point out a key thing you said: people wanted a game “designed more like” Unleashed. I don’t think anyone was saying “I’d be okay with reusing level designs (design not assets) if it’s ripped from Unleashed.” Unleashed’s boost levels aren’t perfect but they were a good 1st attempt that were long enough to make it’s focus on speed fun. Forces was the 4th boost game and it was a clear step backwards with levels that ended too soon to do anything interesting.
Boost stages were always hyper linear besides occasional cases like Generations squirreling away entire side paths and routes for no reason but because the devs could. The difference was always in how packed or interesting they were combined with how Sonic himself handled, and if I find out Cyberspace Sonic is still eight-directional movement I'm gonna have a headache. My problem comes with people expecting a revolution in the Cyberspace department when these are the Forces devs through and through, as if they somehow learned their lesson in level design as if that's how game development works.
I wanna quickly add that, while I share 5993’s disappointment and bewilderment, I am happy for anyone who is excited for the game
Ok, why does it look like fun? Might actually help to hear more thoughts from people who have this opinion.
I guess it's an unpopular opinion but I wouldn't even want big/branching levels like Generations' to be honest. It's impossible to know for sure but from what we've seen so far, the open world is what we're gonna spend most of our time running around in anyway. Having to cut exploration short to go thought a 4-5 minutes behemoth of a level with multiple pathways would ruin the pacing to an extent, right? Like I don't see myself exploring the islands, fighting enemies, getting collectables...and then playing through Gen's Seaside Hill in its entirety. It just sounds so jarring lol. However, blasting through a 40-50 second linear stage sounds like just the right distraction to break up the exploration and prevent the gameplay loop from getting boring or dull. The thing is...short and linear stages are not inherently bad. The reason Forces disappointed people is because that's all the game had to offer; there was literally nothing else. Which isn't the case with Frontiers. I know it's hard to give them the benefit of the doubt because it reaaaaally looks like they're cutting corners (recycling stages aesthetics and even lifting level design straight outta Unleashed), but I genuinely think the cyberspace stages are designed the way they are because of game design reasons, and not because ST didn't have the budget/talent/time/passion/whatever to make the elusive "Generations-like stages" everybody seem to want. Look if the game doesn't impress you, it doesn't impress you. I'm not trying to take that away from people, but I just find it odd that what looks to be the most ambitious sonic game in years (including a full AAA pricing! that alone tells a lot) is made out to be a cobbled together mess with a shoestring budget and a tired/depressed development team. Like we're getting straight into weird headcanon territory with some of the posts on here lol
