I feel like you're really not listening to me. Yes, I think most open-world games have too much empty space and not enough content spread across them. That's not what we're talking about. I am speaking very specifically about the fact that Rhea is clearly built with more stuff in mind than is actually there. I am talking about the fact that it and Ouranos were both originally part of Kronos, and the current structure of the game is a result of development issues. I am saying that The End was probably never meant to be a space shooter and a QTE with no Super Sonic gameplay. And yes, Cyberpunk was an overambitious unfinished mess made by a studio that abused its workers, but you can't just say "well this studio had more people, money and time and a game still turned out lame so we can't ask for Sonic Team to have anything more". I'm gonna be honest, trying to talk to you about this game is a little bit tiring. It feels like whenever we interact you're on the defensive right out the bat and want to frame every debate as being about the keeping the game's honor unsullied. If you want to talk about the things you like that's fine, but we really don't need to be making excuses for the game other than "I didn't have a problem with this".
I “enjoy” how the cutscene attacks not only take up too much of the skill tree and barely have any utility over each other if at all but also make combat less interesting by removing options, the dropdash is all but impossible to use in combat if you have spin slash, the instructions make it sound like you must be in a combo but the drop dash input will always trigger it unless I’m missing something. If the game ever had combo strings with flashy big impact finishers ala Bayonetta’s wicked weaves I can see these attacks being leftovers from that. The way they implemented a meter system exclusively for quick cyloop instead of tying it into these attacks is a odd choice.
Does this game just have the most generous input buffer ever? I'm constantly doing attacks when I'm not meaning to and don't feel like I'm even doing the input.
Yeah, it’s an issue. Too many times have I triggered the ball projectile while trying to homing attack after a boost, or the wild rush when trying to hit after a dodge. It also makes me slip up in some speed runs because I’ll mash X to homing attack one enemy in a chain ASAP and then want to avoid the others, but it continues to attack the others in the chain. It’s a bit annoying.
It's likely just recency bias but Dear Father just stands out to me more. I don't know why - maybe it's because Endless Possibilities overshadows Dear My Friend for me when it comes to the credits of Unleashed.
Out of the options given, Dear My Friend is more to my tastes and I don’t have much emotional connection to either of them. The Symphony version of Speak With Your Heart tho? Now that’s the shit.
It seems like the most well-received and impactful part of this game (besides the music, as per usual) have been the bosses. Makes me wonder if Sonic Team might double down on this and make the sequel a dedicated character action game or something
At the very least they're damn cool setpieces and show that even with all the jank, this Sonic Team knows how to make them when they try. I wouldn't want a mainline character action title, Sonic is still Sonic after all, but moments like these helped have some of the staying power for the earlier 3D games, really. In hindsight Sonic games in general tend to follow a ton of the same base rules all game long and then spam the same mechanics everywhere, just with different level gimmicks on top. That's probably why all the generic copy-paste platforms, pulleys and balloons stand out more for Frontiers. And probably why full on knuckle down Super Sonic brawls with mountain-sized monstrosities stands out even more.
I loved Super Sonic in this game, back then it was almost always just invulnerability and flying, now we get to see him kicking the shit out of robots 50x his size by flinging them into the air and into rocks, pick up enormous swords and slice said robots open with it, block laser beams with his bare fists, fucking incredible. Can you imagine Hyper Sonic?
As hype as these boss fights were (and I cannot stress how adrenaline inducing they were) it would probably be for the best not to try and top them to avoid spectacle creep. Focus less on spectacle and more on the mechanics involving the boss. Don't even need to use Super Sonic. It fit the tone and scope here but obviously every game cannot be on that level. That way it doesn't become played out like using Super Sonic was in the early 3D games. They have something special here and I don't wanna see it ruined with less than spectacular inclusions in subsequent games.
I still don't know what's the issue with the dialogue. To me I like when these characters just talk normal people
Yeah the attacks that are supposed to just only happen while holding boost will just happen anyway probably due to this. On the plus side this makes pulling off of the homing boost (magnet dash) really easy rather than having a small frame window, often times just pressing both buttons at once will pull it off.
If ST doesn't iterate on the Super Sonic fights after this game I will cry. Easily one of the coolest parts of the game, the fights are a little jank sometimes but honestly? While playing the game I just completely forget about the jank because I'm too hyped about how badass the entire thing is, especially with that music. All 3 of the Titan boss themes are hype as hell and I'm patiently waiting for the OST release so I can put them on my Sonic playlist. It is a little annoying how you can't refight the Titans, however. I really wish there was an option in the Arcade Mode or something to do that. I might get crucified for this but I wasn't a huge fan of Dear Father. Dear My Friend has much more of an emotional impact to me, but that's probably because Spoiler I cared about Chip's death much more than Sage's. Sage just kinda dies suddenly and it's really anticlimactic, especially considering how the song is about Sage's relationship with Eggman which barely existed and felt super forced. I did all the side stories and collected all the Egg Memos, and even then it just didn't feel natural to me. It's in huge contrast to Dear My Friend which is about Sonic and Chip, who you got to see grow in friendship throughout the course of the entire game, it really feels earned to have a sad ending like that because Sonic and Chip's friendship actually felt real. also im still incredibly salty that sonic didn't hold onto chip's bracelet. That's just what I think, though.
Haven't had too too much time to play, with like 7 hours total, but overall I enjoy it. Unfortunately when I do have the time and desire I far too frequently end up agitated with all thanks going to mandatory puzzles. Sometimes I just pull up a guide and feel better after breezing through what overthinking had me gridlocked... but then there are things like A Grave Mystery that have my spastic ass screaming for that Skip button mentioned pages ago.
This is going to be this generation of kids’ version of Final Egg puzzle lol. Just spamming everything until it opens.
Only more agitating in my opinion, given you control two pillars at once. Whatever though, the design ain't the issue... having to do it is lol.
