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

It also says Silver hates Iblis, despite Iblis not existing any more, so I think we can say they don't get all the details correct.

Have a pleasant rest.

 

So since it's been some time I just wanted to say that the Spider is the best Guardian in the game and the fight and music are both Unleashed-like and I loved it.

 

Gameplay mechanics seem to be an in-universe thing given the whole "Ancients inexplicably have a gigantic pinball table for a door lock" thing.

 

Sonic makes mention about how the Ancients' technology is directly uploading information and map data to his brain.

A fact he takes in stride, as for me, I would have an existential crisis

 

It depends case to case. They're definitely more in-universe than usual in this game due to the cyberspace excuse, but in other contexts often aren't, just like how rings don't really exist floating about.

 

I’m glad to be a huge shmup fan (especially of Ikaruga) because The End fucking did it for me. I never had such a strong reaction to a Sonic boss fight. The music, the gameplay, the End monologuing to you (though it was hard to clearly understand in Japanese with the filtered voice and it lacked subs), etc. It was very similar to the feelings I got from ending E of Nier Automata which is the most a game has ever impacted me since childhood.

If it’s the case that it was put there due to time constraints, then I’m glad they were working within those limitations because that’s where artistic creativity can really thrive.

Though I do see how others would hate it.

 

So, about the existence of Purple-Haired Girl from the Tailstube short which people speculated about way back when... What is she really - a concept art for Sage that they just threw in with Guruhiru's Unleashed humans art? Her appearance in that short is kind of strange in hindsight. For some reason, I also went into the game originally thinking Sonic was going to have amnesia but that wasn't the case. Was that actually in the marketing or has my brain just been corrupted by Sonictubers? Lol

 

Oh yeah… I remember that. I don’t know where it came from though.

Edit: It looks like it was in that original leak here:



The term memory token may possibly be a remnant of this?

 

It was part of one of the earliest leaks of the game, from a survey gauging interest in the concept of the game.

 

She doesn’t show up in the digital art book at all. I’d be surprised if she’s meant to be Sage given how radically different they look and that she doesn’t look like an enemy in the slightest.

 

Thanks for the leak reminders guys. It's actually interesting that Eggman creating a powerful AI which, in a way, does go out of his control, shows up so early in the development of the game, beyond just Starfall Islands as a setting. I wonder how this fits with Ian Flynn proposing 12 different story scenarios and Kishimoto picking one of them that he liked the most - maybe all those scenarios were based on this survey description? I'm glad the amnesia story was nixed - usually not a fan of those kinds of stories.

Yooo, there's a digital artbook?! Where do you get it?

 

I think it is for the digital deluxe version. Can anyone confirm if it’s the same as the JP limited edition art book in terms of content?

 

Just finished it. Was a good game, ending was a bit weird for what felt like a lot of build up. I was kinda expecting an enhanced Super Sonic power up but was happy with the ending enough.

Though - and I’m sure some collectible in game adds more readable text - but I wish they went deeper into the ancient chaos creatures. It’s like they were setting up a big reveal or something and it felt more like little moments of subjective lore instead.

edit: I have listened to the Egg Memos and yes it answers some thoughts but it feels so incomplete. Even if they had a coco memory of some Chaos like transformation or something I dunno. Just felt like a nice backstory with no real pay off.

Not that imagine they will continue much story beats into the next game. I hope we see the ancient tribe explained more and Sage.

 

The true ending made people upset in terms of gameplay but I personally couldn't help but laugh cause I kept thinking of this [https://twitter.com/SNick_WT/status/1589669545668923393?s=20&t=BixsEmVtNEtdTMr61SMBWw] post before the true boss and then I get smacked with the most shmup of shmups and just started giggling like a maniac lmao

 

Wish some of the Egg Memos were actual cutscenes… but I commend the games writing for making me feel like the game is more connected with older games. Something nice about Eggman still thinking of Maria.

 

Huh, so Sonic being amnesiac, described in the original leaks for Frontiers, was in some way planned to be incorporated into the final plot it seems. Sonic was originally going to have amnesia on the fourth island as a result of his cyberization corruption. These are all cut voice lines from the game:

 

I wonder whether the decision to scrap this was influenced by Eggman and Sonic both having amnesia at different time during the IDW book.

 

No, it was obviously that they needed to get the game out the door as fast and functional as possible. The fact that we got to explore that empty tower zone at all seems like kind of a miracle.

Which uh, I just beat the final boss and yeah, that's definitely what a functioning yet very obviously unfinished final third of a game looks like.

I don't hate it or anything but man, what Rhea island could have been. And what...Autumn textures they already had for Ouranos and didn't use outside that one little island for some reason. Would've made for at least a little visual variety.

 

So I've beaten the game. I have so many thoughts about this game. And none of them positive. Lol!

Firstly, I'll talk about the story.

It's bad. Lol.

For a start I think it's pretty galling how much it's copying Shadow of the Colossus. I'm not actually sure if Ian Flynn had any influence over this side of the story since it's most clearly conveyed through gameplay. But you defeat Titans, absorb their energy, and Sonic is dying from it to save his friends. It's just really shameless and bugs me. Especially when it's copying a far superior game.

But it's also probably the best part of the story ironically. The animations of Sonic hurt in the gameplay are pretty good and it isn't pleasant watching Sonic get fucked up from all the energy. Unfortunately they ruin it by having Sonic's friends magically rescue him with no explanation (at least clearly conveyed).

The rest of the story is a shambles and this does not put Ian Flynn in a good light. I'm not going to comment on his abilities as a writer since I haven't read IDW and I know he has a cult following. He must have some merit. But it's not present here.

The character interaction cutscenes are almost all terrible. Most of the time they just have the characters speaking at each other and delivering exposition. It's a return to the terrible writing of the 2000s. There are some exceptions. I liked the cutscene where Knuckles and Sonic reminisce about Angel Island. But even the cutscenes which are actually trying to advance characterisation are poorly handled. I see what he was trying to do with Tails, but it's not well developed or paced. Tails' outburst that he's a burden is no less out of left field and melodramatic then his similar outburst about being overlooked in Lost World.

What's frustrating is I get what Flynn's trying to do and it's a smart idea. Amy learning about love in a mature manner. Knuckles introspectively thinking about his loneliness. Tails wanting to become more independent. All good concepts. But botched because most of the characters stand about saying nothing of value or they do discuss events related to these themes but in poorly written ways which give us very little insight into their characters.

In terms of dialogue writing it's below the standards of Pontac and Graff and far below the standards of the Boom cartoon.

The 2000s games, and especially the Adventure titles, did make up for their poor writing with enjoyable and at times well developed plots. Is this the case for Frontiers? Unfortunately not. We have no reason to care about the Ancients. In Sonic Adventure we cared what happened to the Echidnas because of Tikal. Yet the Ancients are only ever seen through vague flashbacks with no context or the Kocos which are cute but have no real character despite what the characters say about them when they die.

Similarly, we cared about what happened to Chaos because he was the focal point of the game and was constantly visible. The End is a complete enigma and I honestly forgot about it most of the game.

Sage was a character who could have some merit. Again, the concept isn't inherently bad. The idea that Eggman has an AI daughter is a bit silly in my opinion but it could work. The problem with Sage is, again like most characters, she largely stands around saying nothing of value but to an even more extreme amount. She's mysterious to the point of being boring throughout most of the game. When she learns about love it's handled with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and it's frankly embarrasing. Terrible writing.

Honestly the game is so shamelessly copying Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. Both in its references to past civilisation and Sage's presumed but backtracked death. And it's made worse because, again, it's copying better games.

The game's story is also let down by its dreadful presentation. Atrocious voice acting. The only characters to bring anything with their performances are Eggman and Tails. And both voice actors are still not performing at their best here. There seems to be a more subdued approach but it's just coming across as voice actors speaking normally and bored.

But beyond the voice acting the character animations are also just really bad and ugly.

 

I’m playing in English this time around and the VO is definitely a step down. It sucks because the animations were clearly designed around the English script so playing it in Japanese is like crappy 90s game dubs in reverse.

I don’t want to talk badly about any performance in particular, the VAs are under the guidance of a director at the end of the day, but Knuckles is just so far removed from who the character has been in the performance and aspects of the writing. He grew up isolated and was cagey around others, so why is he still LARPing as a general? You don’t need to carry everything over from past games, Ian!