The pinball complaints are mostly valid, but as long as you just hit both flippers at the same time you'll basically never lose a ball. It's mostly just really boring how long it takes to get like 5 million points or whatever. What an odd thing to make as the final island challenge, and there's even dialogue about it! They didn't hack this together, it was always intended!
Hmm, so far I've kept auto-combo on if because the button combinations for finishers are hard to remember for me, but it's cool seeing people really taking to the combat system. This is of course if I'm not running away from most enemies
I want to add my 50 cents to the pinball discussion and say that the System 16 music that plays during it is one of the best things I have ever heard in a Sonic game.
I literally just played the pinball game and it was hell. And yes, it is definitely janky. I had the ball literally phase through the flippers probably a dozen times. The physics also felt quite off. Whenever I lost a ball it didn't feel like it was my fault, but the game's. I wish Sonic would've at least been the ball. Weird choice not to do that imo.
I've finished the game... My immediate thoughts? I'm tired...exhausted I'll give my thoughts tomorrow when I've gathered my thoughts. I'm going to watch Anime...
Yeah, I think the point requirement for pinball was too high, but other than that I enjoyed it. Too bad the highest point multiplayer is 256.
Wanna know more fun stuff, you can cancel a Stomp Attack into a boost and if you do it right you can gain massive air allowing you to skip most of Kronos Island and go to the Arena with Giganto. I saw a video of someone who completed Kronos in 10 minutes.
I am so pleasantly surprised with how the combat turned out. I hated the entire concept and the initial footage made it seem like braindead autocombos. It’s obviously no DMC, Bayonetta, Ninja Gaiden, etc., but it’s definitely enjoyable to play and gives players a good amount of freedom. I do think the combat was too easy though. By level 30-40 combat, nothing really presents a challenge except having to stop and cyloop the shield spammy mooks on later island lol. I was probably around 70 when I fought the final boss and I beat it so quickly the vocals didn’t even kick in on the song lol. I can’t even imagine how easy the other difficulty options are because hard feels like a pretty casual “normal” mode. I would love to see two options above hard. I think that the next game should keep the combat but take it a bit further towards a character action game for those who want to really that. Fewer “cutscene attacks” and more immediacy in the actions would make it better. Also maybe tying buttons to attack types which can be combined with directions when locked on and in combat mode i.e. square/X does punch combos, circle/B does kick, cross/A is jumping or spin attacks, kick + holding back does a launcher, kick + forward does the slide, etc.
Three hours into playing Frontiers, literally the first time EVER in my life playing a modern 3D video game, and all I can say is, wow. I am surprised no one has mentioned how accessible the game is. Between the tutorials, the training simulator, the customization of Sonic's handling, and the option to simplify combat, it is a game that can not only adapt to any skill level, but also guides brand-new players, helps them learn the ropes and most importantly, build confidence. And, as someone who has no prior experience with 3D games, it's actually moved me to tears. I'm still a comparatively poor player, but already I've seen a dramatic improvement in just the three hours that I've played, and more importantly, I know that I can master the moveset and ultimately complete the game, even if my playstyle is slow and very not-Sonic-like. The other thing I have to say is the game is wonderfully atmospheric. I love the somber mood set up not just by the visual appearance, but also the music. Dear god, the music on just the main menu and Kronos Island is amazing. Can't wait to hear what the rest of the game has to offer.
Alright, I'm getting pretty close to pulling the trigger here on the steam version. My hardware can easily max it out, and mods are already getting interesting. Pop-in seems stupid, but IDGAF if it doesn't impact gameplay and I'm sure that'll be fixed either in patches or mods with time. I still hate the recycled cyber tropes, but whatevs. Overworld looks passable/interesting. Story seems to at lesast have some good lore, music is supposed to be great, and the game looks only a few patches away at worst from being solid all around. How hard is hard mode? I've heard about the ending rewards and am debating if I just want to pick it up and grind through hard directly. I loved SA1, 2, Heroes, Colors and Generations. Not big on Lost Worlds, Unleashed or Forces. And I'm a classics era speed-runner who's been with this franchise since around 1991. Worth my 60$? I'll make my final asks now.
Hard mode seems to solely change how aggressive specific enemies are and how many rings you lose when you take a hit. Besides that endgame thing, it's effectively "what if Sonic lost most of his rings like a normal Sonic game every time he gets slapped". If you can beat the game on Easy or Normal, you can do all that content on Hard without major issues.
Digital Foundry posted their analysis of the game on the 11th and it's really interesting to see how the game does against all consoles and PC and especially the difference between PS4 and PS4 Pro along with XBone and XBonX. Very interesting stuff.
I want the devs to be given the time they need from the get-go. Based on what Kishimoto and Iizuka’s told us: Frontiers did not have 5 years carved out at the start of development. They spent 2 years experimenting, started over, and then Iizuka had to protect the team and push for delays. I hope Sega’s lesson here is that if they listen to Sonic Team (and give them the time, staff and resources they need) that they’ll make lots of money. I fear Sega will instead say “hey Sonic Team can make mini open world games with smaller (cheaper) teams… and they’re profitable. Let’s keep everything the same and prevent the open zone format from reaching it’s true potential.” Then again, Sega is currently looking to hire a Lore manager so MAYBE this is an indication that Sega is willing to hire more people to work on Sonic going forward.
I noticed a “head lore manager” credited in Sonic Frontiers and mentioned to my girlfriend that I didn’t like the sound of that. And then yesterday I saw the job posting for an assistant one. I fear a 90s divide in canon on its way. The mention of a specific character in the last scene of Frontiers being in the English script and not the Japanese script especially makes me worry. Call me a weeb, but the quality of Japanese produced Sonic media has always dwarfed that of the west. It seems among younger fans who didn’t grow up with them, very few seem to enjoy SatAm or AoStH non-ironically compared to the OVA.
Hopefully the team gets 5 years from the beginning for whatever they're currently working on with Frontiers as the foundation meaning that they get to use all 5 of those years to their fullest. At the same time, the team working on the next game need to take a good hard look at the feedback going around with Frontiers, particularly the criticisms. I don't expect they're going to do all the things I want them to in terms of revamping Sonic's moveset, but I think it's imperative that they improve the character controller to achieve a better sense of momentum and heavily cut down on the automation while greatly expanding the variety of gimmicks within the game so each Zone can have more of an identity instead of repeating the same balloons, poles and rails. I don't think you need to worry too much. I'm sure SEGA is well aware of all the headaches the canon split has caused in the past and that we're seeing the current canon embrace even the likes of Japanese exclusives such as Tails' Sky Patrol leads me to believe there's not much reason to split things. I imagine that + - the omission of Sticks in the script is due to Sonic Toon not really taking off in Japan and the character effectively needing a reintroduction to the modern setting. I'd have preferred them holding off on mentioning her until that happens even in the English script. Meanwhile, although Tangle is also an America-originating character, she's much newer and exists as part of a project that SoJ is much more heavily involved with (and which seems to be doing at least modestly well in that country).
Btw, when was the second character mentioned in the game (too annoying to do spoilers on mobile and I’m not at home)? I don’t think I ever came across that dialogue or at least don’t remember it.
