The Sonic Frontiers *SPOILER* Thread (With Unmarked Spoilers)

I have max everything.

 

I think of this a lot. Plenty of my favorite games are decidedly not like previous entries in the series. But I think the important thing is for that game, if it does something new, to do something unique. Nintendo knew that by Skyward Sword, the "traditional Zelda formula" was getting stale. It wasn't novel anymore, with tons of games attempting to copy its concept across the 30 years it had been around. So they went back to the drawing board. Zelda 1 revolutionized action-adventure games and now it was time to do that again. It didn't need to play the same, it just needed to accomplish the same goal.

Which is why, in all this hype about Frontiers being the template for Sonic games going forward, about redefining the franchise, I was expecting a revolutionary title. I was expecting a truly unique game. Is it unique for Sonic? Sure, I suppose. Is it competent? Again, sure, I suppose. But is it really delivering things you can't get elsewhere? I can't say Breath of the Wild is a better open-world game than something like Skyrim or The Witcher, because all three of those do totally different things in their own style to where one isn't necessarily better than the other. The same is true for Sonic Adventure versus Super Mario 64. But I'm not feeling that this time. There are better platformers. There are games with more fulfilling exploration. And there are just better open-world games out there. Almost nothing we've seen has not been done before. What exactly is carrying this one beyond the context of the Sonic brand? If it was a completely original IP, would people still be talking about it?

 

An open world game where you run around as fast as Sonic would absolutely get attention and stand out. Running off ramps, pulling off tricks, bouncing around, and playing linear levels in between.

On its own, there's lot of appeal and that can seen by the fact that despite Frontiers' bad reveal, people were still lining up at conventions just because of the small chance of what if... what if... it's actually pretty good?

If this wasn't Sonic, people would probably give it a better chance initially, tbh.

It's jankiness and roughness wouldn't be dismissed as the developers apparently natural incompetence and people wouldn't be going "oh, but what about x game they made" all the time.

 

This post is like a two-in-one, so, first post first:

Can we stop judging the users of this forum, please? It's offending even when it has nothing to do with me, which probably never does but feels like it with the wording used. I got tired quite a while ago of all of this kind of talk that usually also involves other "groups" like "hardcore fans" or "some sections of the fanbase". It's using Sonic for a useless tribal war. If some people want to act like a herd of rabid sheeps and say nonsense, it doesn't matter if they're fans or not, because the real issue has nothing to do with Sonic, but it does have something to do with the people who needs to use them to backup their arguments, because that's adding another layer to that rabid nonsense.

Yet, it's probably true some opinions are harsher or more lenient thant they should, but that's something only the owner of those opinions should evaluate, and the reasons, again, will probably have nothing to do with Sonic, these games will just be the key that opened that door, not what the room behind has in.

I'm interested in this game, it has Sonic stuff in it, but it's not really a Sonic game as we previously understood it, something that happens frequently with new releases. We'll never have back classic Sonic gameplay as the main playstyle, not at least with the physics they had back then (before shouting "Mania!", remember I said main games), and we won't have Adventure games, at least not with the characteristics people liked to find in them, and, while the trajectory of this series should have been better or, at least, feel more consistent, just thinking that, if I had children at a young age, and they had their own children when they grew up but also at a young age, Frontiers could be my grandsons and granddaughters first Sonic game, and they would probably loved it just like their parents could have loved '06, and each of these generations would have different tastes about Sonic for a myriad of reasons. Imagine having these arguments with your relatives and putting them in these generational bags just like it happens in this forum or out there in the Sonic wild. No, thanks. Let people love, hate or ignore this game, let people be too harsh or too lenient about it.

The only way to have the exact game we wanted is making it ourselves, so, if what it's released doesn't meet your expectations, either you wait for the next gamble or try becoming a game dev. Sonic Team do what they want or can, but they're the ones doing the stuff, and they're the ones who can evaluate if they achieved what they wanted, which seems to more or less be the case. If they weren't able to do the best they could in their eyes, at least, they've already figured out the base and want to use it again, so this is Sonic now; better or worse, but the only thing you can expect.

As I stated before, I think everything people has said about this game, good or bad, is true, and every opinion about the game itself made sense to me.

Now, let's go for the second post:

In regards of the "generic inorganic Sonic layouts floating in the air", while of course I'd prefer them to be organic just like in past games, I must say I like the visual style they adopted this time where new, with stuff like those springs that have a new palette, the homing attack fodder enemies that look a lot less like homing attack fodder, or the plates the loops and platforms are made of. The generic stuff looking a bit more unique helps to cope with it. The bosses look like the strong point of this game not because they're particularly interesting on they own, but because of the sheer variety of them, both in visual design and mechanics. I usually hate bosses in 3D Sonic games and it's particularly egregious in cases like Heroes and Colors where you have to fight the same boss twice with a different coat of paint. Agreed that I won't replay this game once 100%ed, but I usually don't, so that makes no difference; I can see myself investing a lot of stupid time around and spend the time Sonic Team predicted just by trying stuff that serves to no actual progress just to acquire a deep understanding of the game and see where that can take me to, at least on the open zones. We'll see the day I can play this, which sadly won't happen before 2023.

 

Alright, I'll take back the Crack about the users here. Sorry.

 

OH MY GOD, THESE BOSS FIGHTS ARE SO FUCKING COOL!!!!!!


I had to get that out of my system, let 12 year old me out a little bit. But yea, these are pure Metal Gear Rising bosses. I've been wanting Sonic games to embrace that since forever and I'm so glad to see it realized.

Just finished Ares Island, and I actually 100% it. Didn't take as much time as I thought. Also unlocked all of the Egg Memos...game is about to crush me emotionally.

I dunno guys, the flaws that have been pointed out before still apply but I'm still enjoying myself. Think we got a hitter here, even the platforming challenges in some areas are pretty good.

 

Would you recommend the Switch version of the game? I’ve been getting mixed messages regarding this particular version and I’m still debating on whether or not to purchase it for the portability.

 

Follow up to this, I caved and got ryujinx and the rom and played around. Didnt get far at all, mostly just testing limits and goofing around since its not very stable anyways and i do want to play the proper game for when i experience it

but ooooh man im already hooked, it just feels so smooth and nice to run around and control sonic. Although I will say sonic does feel noticably worse in cyberspace than the open zone. Its not like, unplayable by any means, but my usual generations muscle memory is fighting me very hard in these stages

I dont think i'll be messing with it too much more other than just playing around like its a sandbox before the game comes out proper, but I enjoyed the hour i played so far and I cant wait to play more

 

And this glitch makes it's annual return...

https://twitter.com/Visleaf/status/1588313228958138368

 

in which sonic frontiers mentions a character you wouldn't expect to be mentioned:

Spoiler

allegedly this mention of her got removed in the japanese localization, however
https://twitter.com/Mefiresu/status/1588283162764881920

 

The least favorite part about these kind of things is that while it's definitely a bad oversight and deserves to be criticized, people will almost always blow it up into a huge problem and why the game sucks even though there is literally no reason to walk up really slowly up a slope. EDIT: Already saw a tweet about how Sonic Omens is better because it doesn't have that glitch

I say this as someone who does think the Cyber Space physics are wack, namely because of how Sonic will just stop rolling because he gets hitched on the collision.

And that sucks because when the rolling works, it's actually functional. I remember when people posted that video of Sonic losing speed in a loop in a Green Hill stage. Many arguments made about how you shouldn't have to hold forward to roll in a loop.

But I tried it and you don't have to!! When the rolling works, it works!! Sonic will go through the loop if you just let the game do that. Sonic can roll down slopes and pick up speed real quick.

Actually, they took that to heart, because if you press literally anything else in a loop, Sonic will just fall.

 

The only thing I see that is different with the Switch version is that all the cutscenes are extremely low in quality.

This is also a problem I'm having.

 

^ Ooohhh that is going to trip me up I bet… damn it be Tuesday already I want to play this.

Wat.

Spoiler

So if Sticks is now game can Mighty, Ray, Fang, Bark, Bean, and Honey all come back into the Modern age? But thank god for this subuniverse tear down they did

 

This is also a problem I'm having.[/QUOTE]

Same. I acclimated to the boost on the trigger really well, but I'm straight up forgetting how to Homing Attack sometimes.

 

Exploring the open zone is really fun just running through the beautiful land scapes as Sonic feels satisfying.

I'm not liking the cyberspace too much but I remember that Forces on switch felt as stiff and delayed as this game when compared to the PS4 version of Forces which ran at 60 and I enjoyed. I forget that I didn't like Gens or Unleashed until I played at 60 either.

Maybe boost only works for me at 60fps but luckily I'll have a chance to do that on Tuesday on the PS5.

 

Boost games definitely work better at 60 fps, you need to make quick reactions and lag throws off the flow to sometimes deadly results.

Tbf though cyberspaces boost seems a lot weaker and if I’m noticing right no longer causes you to be invulnerable?

 

Have you checked the options? I know my girlfriend on her playthrough looked in there and I was stumped with "Speed" in the options menu. Like you can just speed yourself up in there.

Also the control scheme, being Action or Speed, supposedly makes a difference.

On to a point someone mentioned earlier, is there any other confirmation on big changes in Hard mode?

 

I prefer games to be shorter experiences. I want to experience as many games as possible and the idea of having to pour 40 to 50 hours into each new game release doesn't even sound appealing.

I remember beating all of Super Mario Odyssey over a weekend. Then doing the same a few months later. Sonic games are built on replayability even with this open zone format that hasn't changed.

I beat the first island then started a new game (because I skipped the cutscenes the first time then realized I wanted to hear some of the VA work and got drawn in) to see how fast I could get through everything now that I knew where I was going and the game felt so natural and seamless to go from point to point that I had a feeling of accomplishment after halfing my time to get through island 1.

I'm enjoying the game so far for what it is. I wish they had momentum physics because the level design is begging for it but I am still having a great time.

 

Spoiler

I've seen a few videos now where to progress the story you have to go into some ruins and do a thing, sometimes it's almost like a little mini level and other times it's pinball. Gives me SA1 lost world vibes though so that's cool.

Also, in one cutscene I saw, tails referenced dark gaia. Seems EVERY sonic game is gonna be referenced in this, even sticks got a mention.

 

I actually don’t own the game yet, but those sliders only make a difference in the open world, cyberspaces physics remain consistent.