Unpopular Sonic Opinions

I don't think BotW has had a negative effect on the industry. In the future, I hope more and more games will be inspired by what he did right. The problem is that some games are copying BotW's style instead of what made it truly special. Sonic Frontiers could be doing just that.
That said, Sonic Team still managed to at least mix Sonic's gameplay well with this new style. It's not like they took something that had nothing to do with Sonic and threw it in the middle of the game just for the sake of it. Frontiers isn't as jarring as Unleashed.

Well, Sonic Unleashed sold well, but it didn't achieve the success that Sega wanted after the failure of '06. They are a company that seems to care a lot about what the critics say, after all. To be honest, I believe it was Unleashed's not-so-great reception that made Sega not want to invest as much money in a Sonic game again as they did during its development. That's sad, because Unleashed had so much potential and if it wasn't for the Werehog, I'm sure Sonic's future would have been different.

 

I don't want combat in a Sonic game. I don't want it to play like Bayonetta, I don't want it to play like DmC, I don't want it to play like Yakuza, I don't want it to play like God of War, and I don't want it to play like Frontiers.

I just want one or two attacks that can be timed properly to kill enemies in one hit. Then spam it on a boss that takes multiple hits.

 

I am all for combat in a 3D Sonic game if it is well made and clever enough to add to the gameplay in an intuitive way. Mario was given additional moves including a punch when Super Mario 64 brought the series to 3D and that's generally well-received to this day so I can't be against it in principle. It just needs to be implemented well.

My major complaints about 3D Sonic have always been homing attacks, boost, rail, linear and all that. I think they've made a turn in the right direction with Frontiers but it's still a long way off from what I'm hopeful for in the future.

 

Mario games don't really focus on combat; in fact, the best way to play is to straight up ignore the enemies.

I applaud Sonic Team for trying to make enemy encounters more engaging, but it's also not very interesting either since most of Sonic's attacks in Frontiers don't require much thought to use.

 

looking back on it actually, there's only one or two games I can think of that "ape" BOTW's vibe: Sonic Frontiers with its more melancholic feel and Genshin Impact, which had memes out the gate about how it looks like BOTW when it was announced for release here. Legends Arceus has boxart like BOTW but doesn't actually follow it all that much (it more closely mirrors Monster Hunter of all things in its gameplay loop and features).

BOTW is a red herring, the real issue is all the games Ubisoft put out before that that people started following a more closer template for: ie towers that fill in the map, a shitload of samey "nodes" like bandit camps that clutter your compass so thoroughly that most of the game feels like busywork and such*. BOTW even follows it, with the towers you have to find and climb to reveal more of the map. Frontiers at least tries to be a little more unique and tie that to the puzzles instead.


*but some of this can go back even farther to Skyrim's popularity, which did similar re: "all these fucking nodes everywhere are the same, kill these bandits over and over forever" on less of a terrible scale than Ubisoft's later games did.

 

Frontiers does seem to kind of understand one of the main aspects of BotW that made it so appealing, but the execution was superficial at best. BotW is extremely open ended in how you can use the physics and mechanics to solve any of the challenges the game asks of you, and this freedom is something pretty much every BotW inspired game fails to get. Frontiers kinda gets somewhere somewhat close to that freedom by giving you the option to approach the game how you want (by skipping what you don't like lol), but the design of the open zone and the enemy encounters are too specific and scripted to actually offer a true sense of freedom.

That's not necessarily a bad thing but if Sonic Team's goal was trying to capture BotW's sense of freedom, they dropped the ball a bit.

 

I frequently see this sentiment that Eggman is "the only good character" and "the best part of the games" and like... I really disagree? I don't know, I've never found him very amusing or anything. I don't really actually like Pollock's performance as the guy, either. I also really dislike the way he looks now, even more than most of the cast. I'm surprised to say that Jim Carrey's Eggman might just be my favorite because he juggled a variety of character traits very well.

 

Its kind of hard to hate villains like Eggman who are entertaining enough in their own right, but aren't held to the same rigid standards of morality like the Heroes are.

Eggman can either be an asshole or sympathetic and it wouldn't really change how people feel about him as long as he's still playing the villain.

Compare that to how up in arms people get when the likes of Sonic and/or Shadow are even remotely dickish, or if Tails is too cowardly, because "heroes have to likable" or some shit.

Its a (grossly unfair imo) double standard essentially.

 

Yeah there are probably three aspects of Breath of the Wild that make it stand out among open world games: [1.] the somber "alone in nature" vibe; [2.] the ability to glide and climb your way around the map; [3.] the robust physics and 'chemistry' (?) systems that allow for moments of 'emergent gameplay', like riding a log through the air, or electrocuting enemies by placing a metal weapon near them during a thunder storm.

Most games that take influence from Breath of the Wild seem to be mainly attracted to [1.], and while it's a vibe that works well for me personally, it's just surface-level stuff. A lot of my favorite games that have been derived from Breath of the Wild make use of [2.], but I mostly see it from indie titles like A Short Hike and Lil Gator Game (though Pokemon Scarlet & Violet have also taken this). Like you said, [3.] is the one that actually makes Breath of the Wild special, though, and I can't really think of any games that seek to take advantage of those things; Noita has quite the robust physics and chemistry systems, and Valheim has chopped down/knocked over trees turn into logs with with rolling physics (resulting in much potential danger), but its unclear how influential Breath of the Wild was in either of these cases.

Most AAA games trying to make "[Our IP]: Breath of the Wild" don't really seem to have paid any attention to the finer aspects of its gameplay, and instead are fixated on the 'vibe', and gameplay elements it didn't even pioneer (like the Bethesda/Ubisoft style busy work). Sonic Frontiers is especially guilty of this, though I guess the purple walls are a partial attempt at the climbing component? A small part of me is hopeful that Sonic Team is attentive enough to recognize how obviously fitting Knuckles is for the "gliding and climbing" gameplay, while making the DLC.

 

My unpopular opinion is that + - I don't feel sorry for sad father Eggman "losing" Sage at all (I know she comes back at the end, but I think Frontiers' intention was that you feel bad for him when he's standing alone).   He's a villain who's destroyed countless people's homes and torn families apart by displacing refugees, even if he's never officially killed anybody. That's just him experiencing the same pain that he puts others through all the time as a mascot villain who will never change. I don't take Eggman seriously as a villain in the games (in the comics, he's more vicious) - I like him! - + - but it doesn't elicit any emotions in me when he experiences loss. Sage's "final" request to take care of her father makes sense for her character, but I don't want Sonic looking out for Eggman to honour her wish either.  

Sidenote: do we need spoilers for end-game stuff, or is it fine to discuss now?

 

Unfortunately for me, the only real open world game I have put any amount of time into is Genshin. (The price of the game made it very easy to get into) As a result, I kind of hate open world games and their formula now, and really don’t want anything to do with the medium or jrpg’s.

About the open world part of that, I was able to put a finger on some of the reasons why on my own. Later on, I saw some video essays that seem to echo those thoughts, add other things I haven’t noticed but definitely agreed with, and then showed that this is actually pretty darn widespread, not just a Genshin thing.

As far as “guiding” players through the world, it seems a lot of games would rather just lay out a dotted line leading directly to the destination to mindlessly follow, rather than providing clues in the world you need to pay attention to and actually use your brain to think about so as to figure out for yourself where to go and how to get there. In other words, it’s a walking simulator (occasionally broken up by mobs if you are fortunate.)

And it also seems a lot of open world games would rather place a whole bunch of crap on your minimap so as to create some internal pressure to “collect all 650 blades of grass” or whatever (which is in itself tedious) rather than let you discover things naturally and remain surprised/engrossed in the actual world design.

Also, it seems a lot of games want you to almost ignore the world to complete it’s main quests instead of exploring the world being part of them.

I’ve never played Breath of the Wild. Likely never will. But if it is as good about these things as I constantly hear, that’s another element I would like to see more of.

 

I don't feel sad because the game did absolutely nothing to established that they had a deep relationship and a majority of her interactions were the same stilted dialogue. She didn't tell you shit other than fuck off.
Tucked away voice recordings doesn't count. I'm trying to play a game, not listen to audio books.

 

I mean you can still recognize the situation as a sad and very personal thing that has happened. you don't have to feel bad about Eggman, hell you can have a problem with the game trying to make you feel bad or engage with his character like that, but i still think it's effective storytelling, it shows us aspects of this character we haven't seen before, and it's exciting, it introduces many questions and unexplored dynamics. I don't think even the game treats Eggman as a good guy to be sympathized with to begin with. He didn't even consider the daughter he loves as a person in the beginning, and he suddenly lost her when he started to finally show the tiniest amount of humanity.

You're completely valid for not liking Eggman's story being told in audio logs you might not care about, i think many would agree that audio logs are a bit too out of the way and contain story elements that arguably should've been available in the main story.
But honestly this feels like you refusing to engage with the content and not an actual criticism of the content at hand.

 

Yeah, I think they were definitely supposed to have more scenes together but the game's length put a wrench in it from the trial and error development the game had, so they had to work with what they were able to make, so I assume the memos were there to insert their plans somewhere in the final product. The game really feels like something that you need to 100% to get the most out of its narrative and lore. On the bright side, it is the easiest 3D game to 100%, if not the least tedious.

 

I did not refuse anything. I went through the fishing game, I bought everything and I went back to the game. The main reason I didnt listen to them during my first playthrough is because it would require me to completely put a pause on playing the base game to even listen to them. Just a reminder, that in order to get them in the first place, I already had to pause the main game, to play another game, to afford the fake currency to buy logs at ridiculous prices.
I'll listen to then after the fact. The game didn't present it to me in a reasonable format to bother with it the first run. I already had to suffer with Speed and Ring upgrade wait times, now I have to wait again? If it's such an important component to the game story then they should have figured it out. Instead of reminding me about Lava Reef Zone or some other useless history trivia, they could have had audio logs discovered in the world where I could then listen to it while playing like all the other boring audio logs in every lame AAA games.
Their failure to present and my lack of will to participate is not my fault.

 

Again, you're valid for that, but that's you having an issue with certain mechanics and how the game is structured, not elements of the story or the characterization.

 

Completely disagree. This is an interactive medium. Present all the elements within the same space if you want all your elements to hit and connect with all of your audience, not just the select few who went further beyond.

I won't discuss this any further. We're done here.

 

Well i mean Audio logs and obscure lore drops have been a popular and effective form of storytelling in this medium, like in Resident evil, Fromsoft games, Bioshock and etc.
But still, i can see why people wouldn't like that.

 

Tails. Why mint candy. Why not steak or something even better? Where does this even originate from? I don't like it. Knuckles' grapes are fine, but also overplayed a bit. Come on, broaden your horizon a bit.