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

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by MykonosFan, May 27, 2021.

  1. Shaddy the guy

    Shaddy the guy

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    What I'm coming to realize between my own playthrough and watching some others is that everything is technically here for the game to be even better than it is, but they've crowded it a bit. I think it's an issue of ratios and refinement, honestly. If the next Sonic game does indeed adopt this same gameplay (which, based on the decent reviews and fandom mania it probably will), then it should have a higher number of smaller, more focused open zones (read: less spring-rail-dashpanel boredom) and longer action stages, both with more environmental diversity.

    If I am very charitable to Sonic team, I could say that this game's development caused a fair amount of the stretching-thin of some of the content. We know that their first version of the open world was a bust, and I'm willing to bet that they couldn't let whatever they built there go to waste, so it became the platform and rail-laden weirdness we have now. It would be real nice if a prospective new one was just built with all that stuff in mind and had the more vertical twisting world geometry we know and love. Add to that that you could stretch a similar amount of bosses and enemy types across multiple smaller hubs with less fluff, and I'd say the pacing would be very easily improved (as much as I've been enjoying myself, this game does feel long, and that's not necessarily a good thing).

    I have less excuses for cyberspace. I'm not all that knowledgeable about game development, but does intentionally basing most of your stages off of previous ones save much time or resources, when you aren't literally reusing the same map geometry? I don't feel like it would be that helpful. Assets, sure, my only gripe is if you're reusing assets this blatantly, why not reuse more of them, or just differentiate the stages in other ways? They got it right with the time of day changes, but fuck it, just slap vertex colors on things. Turn platforms upside down. Give each level some kind of distinct visual, even if it's not too impressive. Anything is better than nothing (oh and also make it control as good as the open zone obviously, but you coulda guessed that).

    Everything else about this formula works for me. I feel like these should not be the most difficult of changes to make in a sequel, especially when you're not reinventing the core gameplay at the same time. Other stuff, like real NPCs to interact with or sidequests, better bonus and postgame content, challenges, chao et al. can come later. I'm okay with waiting for that stuff.
     
  2. 1stKirbyever

    1stKirbyever

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    It's been a while since I've gone into a Sonic game realistically, but I definitely did enjoy my time with Frontiers. It's a fun experience. However, I do definitely have a love-hate relationship with the game. I'm not going to go into spoiler territory, but I definitely agree with a lot of points @Laura has made. The first island and subsequently second island is really where the game has a chance to even remotely shine but is still heavily flawed in not only its execution but presentation.

    Don't get me wrong, this is definitely the formula I would love to see expanded on and continued. I would even love a direct sequel! But I would be lying to myself if I did not say that the automation and 2D sections was absolutely baffling in an open-world game to the point of kind of ruining the vibe of exploration. (I understand it's an open-zone but let's be real here, it's just open world.) The second island does this semi-poorly but everything after that is really where it's just... why? Most of the challenges can easily be done in a 3D perspective but not only that, straight up taking control off of me 35% of the time in a genre like this is just... not fun.

    The best time I genuinely had playing this game (minus the enjoyment of the first island and the mystery of diving into this game) was how I wanted to approach getting to a location far away or how I wanted to approach a certain set of platforming challenges, be it intentional or not. It was severely disappointing that the game effectively goes from "Have 95% freedom!" to "It's okay, I know this is your first platformer" with how it handles certain challenges. I definitely feel like the game should embrace the "the fun is how you get from X to Y" and not "I heard you like dash panels/rails everywhere".

    The combat also feels like an afterthought, especially when I was able to cap out my skill tree by the starting point of the second island. Then, aside from guardian fights, it became completely pointless to fight anything. Was definitely a hit-or-miss for me.
     
  3. Have you also received certain items from fishing?

    As for navigating the map faster: Always get max rings with the cyloop so you can access the power boost, then draw a figure-8 to get unlimited meter. Find rails that go up and use them to slope jump off while boosting. You can also combine air dashes, double jumps, and homing attacks to quickly string one challenge section’s balloons, rails, springs, etc., together in a way that lets you really fly around the map. You can also hold the parry in the air which will cause you to freeze in place (super janky looking but useful) and can use that time to realign yourself or aim at a target before air dashing/homing attack towards a new path. It’s super helpful in the Asura (? I think this was the name - The one you have to run up the three arms) guardian fights because you can prevent falling off the boss after destroying an arm and instead air dash back onto his top.

    Using those aerial movement techniques are what made the game so great for me. It’s like an evolution of spindash jumping from SA but with more purpose. The big problem is that the physics for it don’t work as well off non-rail terrain so you can’t just do it anywhere.

    For those who will get frustrated with the more segmented 2D sections of the third island, using these techniques you can quite easily bypass the perspective change triggers (usually a rail booster, spring, or dash pad) and manually navigate your way in 3D.
     
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2022
  4. Dissident

    Dissident

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    I think I like it, which for a new Sonic game is a pleasant surprise. :)

    I'm on the second island now, about four hours in. The controls feel better than any of the previous games since Adventure 1, but not as good as that or some of the 3D fan games I've played like Utopia or Islands. I'm giving it time to grow on me though, plus the customizable controls leave the door open for me to tweak it to my liking - that said, I'm not sure how I feel about them giving up and handing that tuning to the player. The Cyberspace levels are awful and a pale imitation of the levels they took their aesthetics and honest to god level geometry from (this part really blows me away, lol) - when I'm running through a slice of Cool Edge, Rooftop Run, or Green Hill Zone (Gens) all I can think about is how much better the controls felt in those games. They're also not as aesthetically pleasing or polished as they were in Unleashed and Generations, which considering how old those games are now is baffling. I'd be happy if they announced these stages were just going to be cut in any future sequels, to be honest.

    The open zone is neat so far. I still don't really get trick jumps are supposed to work. I've seen clips of people shooting off of sloped edges and going flying but considering how spread out the level geometry is and how poor the animation looks (it's the regular falling animation with his feet practically horizontal...?) it just doesn't feel satisfying to do, and the trick system feels awkward. But I've enjoyed the little puzzles and the combat is fun enough, although (like everything else) pretty awkward and "janky". Also, man... the look on my face when I realized that the "parry" is just a braindead counter button. My jaw dropped, man. What a joke, where's the fun in just holding down two buttons when you think an enemy is about to attack?? The Super Sonic fight was cool but janky. Dope song though.

    The story is bizarre. I was excited to hear that Flynn was writing it considering how much everyone loves him, but I don't really get it yet. The cutscenes all feel really disconnected and almost random, like all of a sudden I'm having a casual conversation with Sage on the first island after I finished a stage? Huh? Amy is talking about wanting to bring love to the world, that's sweet but also, sorry, where did all this come from? The cutscenes feel extremely sterile and lifeless compared to the Adventure games, especially SA2. And man, what was with Sonic and Knuckles making weird grins back and forth at each in Knuckles' introductory cutscene? I'm willing to stick with it and see where it goes though, and I'm at least interested in the new lore stuff.

    I have a lot of complaints but I'm having fun with learning the combat so far and trying to figure out how to move in a way that looks cool and is satisfying. I'm not super confident that I'll still be having this much fun by the end of the game, but we'll see! I'm at least satisfied in having a new Sonic game that's actually interesting again. I straight up skipped Forces, Boom, and only begrudgingly played Lost World which I ended up regretting anyway. I'll always love Sonic, but the part of my life where I was getting hyped about new Sonic games and was really invested in Sonic Team finally "figuring it out" has been over for a long time now. I can imagine a sequel that iterates on a lot of these concepts and ends up being really great, but it's Sonic Team and I'm tired of this song and dance. I'll beat this, reflect on how I feel about it, and move on back to my usual stuff. If the next game looks interesting I'll pick it up. If not, it's back to ignoring Sonic.

    As it stands right now this game feels somewhere between a 6-7/10 for me, which is sadly a pleasant surprise for me at this point from Sonic. I think I like it, but when my friends are asking me if it's good I genuinely have no idea what to say.
     
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2022
  5. Candescence

    Candescence

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    From what I understand he wrote the dialogue for the English version and tried to have some influence over the overall story but the rest is pretty much all Sonic Team, so there's only so much he could really do.

    This game still has way better dialogue than the entire last decade or so of Sonic games, though.
     
  6. Dissident

    Dissident

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    Extremely low bar, but sure, I can agree with that haha.
     
  7. Flare

    Flare

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    No I haven't... but I don't think that ability should be locked in a mini game or 100% the map... which at that point why am I even playing after that.

    It's all fine, not breaking or anything I just felt it would be nice as the worlds feels more built for mini exploration and collection than traversal. Which is great, I love hitting springs and doing a side challenge for a token, they did a good job in my eyes of making that bit fun. But sometimes you just need to find X and you don't want to redo the same grinding challenge just to get there.
     
  8. I’m still playing at this moment! It’s not 100%ing the island, just the challenges. So it will help you level up, the event scenes, fighting mini bosses for the achievement/trophies, getting the keys from Cyberspace, etc. Starting the game with this info in mind would have been more helpful for me though tbh.
     
  9. Laura

    Laura

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    Honestly more than anything I just can't get over how bad the voice acting and voice directing is. I mean this is something we can all agree on right? I liked Roger Craig Smith in previous Sonic games. I defended him all the time and would point to his impressive resume as a voice actor. But I don't know what happened here. An absolute abomination. I'm not exaggerating, this is probably the worst voice acting in a Sonic game in decades.
     
  10. Sonic Warrior TJ

    Sonic Warrior TJ

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    Well, rats. I'm about 10 hours in, maybe halfway or more done with Ares Island, and I started looking through the Achievements just because. I 100%'d Kronos Island before I fought its boss and moved on to Ares, and yeahhhh, 3 or 4 Achievements that should have been involved in that didn't unlock. The only Kronos Island ones I have are for the tutorial, fishing, and meeting the Koco elders for the first time. So...I guess once I finish the game I have to start a new file if I want those. That's a little screwy, SEGA. Or Microsoft? Whoever's fault that is. Still having a great time, but that was a little bit of a gut punch there.
     
  11. Dissident

    Dissident

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    I wouldn't go that far only because it's "bad" in the sense that it's kind of boring to me. The worst acting in a Sonic game, to me, is stuff like Heroes - 06 where everyone is extremely loud and annoying. But it's definitely not good.
     
  12. RDNexus

    RDNexus

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    Didn't expect this... Frontiers getting...Speed-Strats ^^"
     
  13. Candescence

    Candescence

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    I think the biggest problem this game probably has is that Sega cannot be arsed to allocate a good fucking budget and put more people on the development team. It's baffling how stingy Sega is being for mainline games for its own goddamn mascot, most other publishers would allocate a much larger development budget and with a much larger team.
     
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  14. Because they know the game is going to sell anyway.

    Look how many people are treating this game like the greatest thing ever despite all of its issues it has.

    Sega knows damn well they can cut corners with Sonic and get away with it because the fanbase enables them to do that.


    I have some thoughts ill post later when I'm home from work.
     
  15. I've about 5-6 hours in and on the 2nd island, and honestly, the game is pretty solid. It's not great and won't set the world on fire but its a lot of fun to move around in the overworld, and the combat is surprisingly not as bad as I was expecting. Enemies have some variety in how to take them down, and other than Asura the other guardians are fun to fight. Gameplay loop is really basic and gets super dull in longer play sessions, so I've been playing the game in short bursts and it's working out pretty well.

    Cyberspace is kinda weird, the short length works for them and I'm not as bothered by the level design reuse anymore, but Sonic is way too slow and stiff. The 2D stages are so fucking awful to play, Sonic's even slower and the air boost is very obviously a butchered Forces air boost because it just goes upward with very little horizontal distance.

    I'm with @Laura on the story, voice acting, and writing. The voice acting is the worst its been in 16 years, the story seems to trying so hard to be mysterious that it forgot to actually tell a story, and the writing ranges from solid to painfully dry. I'll keep playing and see if things get better...

    Overall so far its fun but really really flawed. Looking like the best Sonic game since Generations imo, solid foundation and actually experimenting with new ideas is better than anything we've gotten since then. Hopefully whatever comes next will take Frontiers' foundation and use it with areas with proper slopes and inclines and more visually interesting and alive environments.
     
  16. Trippled

    Trippled

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    Bah...the constant rail/dash panel stuff is pure boredom, It all looks the same after a while and I don't know which micro pathways I already went on.

    Won't beat this one in one sitting, really thought I would.
     
  17. Londinium

    Londinium

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    That's like saying you'll beat GTA V in one sitting.

    Game's too big for one sitting, unless you're dedicated enough.
     
  18. Snub-n0zeMunkey

    Snub-n0zeMunkey

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    I'm mixed on it because I thought Sonic's voice sounded pretty good in the first two cutscenes but after that it really kinda fell apart. There are certain points where I'm like "wow he just straight up sounds like an unenthusiastic 40 year old man". I'm half-tempted to switch to Japanese but then the spoken dialogue will be totally different from the subtitles.
     
  19. Dek Rollins

    Dek Rollins

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    This is something I was thinking about, but more specifically in reference to Eggman. Every line I've heard from Eggman so far sounds like Mike Pollock was reading his lines in his natural speaking voice, almost as though he thought they weren't recording yet. He kind of sounded bored. Even when I don't care for the direction his performance takes in something, he always gives some level of enthusiasm that I just haven't heard in Frontiers.

    It seems as though everyone was directed to speak in a more subdued tone compared to previous games. Sonic sounds like he's using a deeper voice, and he's toning down his overall delivery, which, honestly for me is fine because I don't like his voice on this character. Amy is pretty much the same story. The performance is toned down and all it does for me is make it easier to tolerate.

    Overall there's not very much "character" in any of the vocal performances I've heard as of yet.
     
  20. Sneekie

    Sneekie

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    Outside of a handful of line reads, nope. Especially from Sage and from Sonic who I thought sounded weird at first but I quickly gew into.

    The game is definitely subduing performances to fit the more moody atmosphere of the game. @Dek Rollins mentioned Eggman and he is a clear example, but I also think that the game made it work by making it pretty clear that he is pretty calm and soft-spoken when he's not around Sonic or Sage, particularly in the Egg Memos, which is a fine piece of characterization, though since he barely interacts with either, it can come across as him lacking his hamminess in general.
     
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2022