I started a new game on the Xbox Series X. Previously, I played it on the Switch - I must admit that it plays much better on Xbox I don't know if it's a matter of the updates (First time i played way before changes were implemented), but it feels somehow... smoother? Anyway, the best feature for me is the ability to change the music on the maps; this game lacks some classic Sonic music. Cyber Space levels still suck, unfortunately.
I imagine you're playing 60fps on the Xbox SeX, whereas Switch is probably running an unstable 30fps that it only reaches at the best of times.
I didn't mean FPS specifically, but the gameplay. It somehow feels less buggy. But yeah, performance mode is great.
This feels like a really weird video to have to disagree with because I do think he made some decent observations but then still praises the direction behind some of the worst attributes of the updates and decides that's what the series needs to magnify. It's both not what I expected and exactly what I expected. Is it too much to ask that Frontiers gets the chance to actually explore how to refine its design philosophies before Sonic Team gives up and just makes an official (yet dull and imaginationless) Sonic GT because that's what people want them to do without understanding it's probably a lesser experience compared to what they could make instead?
Looking back over Frontiers with quite a bit of time between me and the last time I played it, I think there are two things that should be addressed if we're to continue down this path of design. One, variety. The game's single biggest problem is the lack of variety in environments and stage design. All very open and boring, punctuated by fairly enjoyable little setpieces and obstacle courses. I would like to see a future for this type of design that sees us maybe use some of the maps as Rooftop Run-style cities. Dot little ramps and rails that let you ascend beyond street level, where you can run across rooftops and leap over buildings. Have some verticality built into the stage themes, not just big empty open plains that occasionally have tall, abstract installations of rails and floating terrain. Two, cyberspace level design. We get it. You guys are proud of designing a control scheme and set of physics that allow for Boost-style design with elements of Adventure-style free movement and exploration - but you didn't need to show off by adapting so many zones from different eras of Sonic to demonstrate how it all works, and let's certainly not do it if we revisit this model. Original levels please, with a healthy mix of speedrunning and platforming. All I'm asking.
Stage mods are starting to get a little more advanced. This seems to play much better than I'd expect it to. This does make me wonder why the returning Cyber Space themes were just restricted to Green Hill, Chemical Plant, and Sky Sanctuary. If they were going to reuse assets, I think it would've been neat to see more than just those. I think themes like Aquarium Park and Metropolitan Highway would've fit in snugly. (That probably would take more time and resources but I can't imagine it would be that much.)
I finally beat The Final Horizon update and despite my criticisms of the perfect parry system (why no audio indicator on when it's time to press?) and my hatred of the lack of checkpoints I think most people are capable of doing everything the game requests, they just expect much more out of you than the base game even got close to asking. They want you to master precise platforming while also taking advtange of the physics to get extra air time to make jumps you'll barely hit. They aren't just asking you to master one extreme they're asking you to conquer another in the same moment. I figured it out and got through it but I feel most complaints with the DLCs difficulty could have been squashed if the base game itself ramped the challenge more over time. It does get harder as the game goes on but never to the degree that I feel I would have been able to handle TFH on hard mode if I wasn't a Sonic veteran. The cyberspace levels are incredible and I have nothing to add to that conversation that hasn't been said except that they really need checkpoints. Overall it's a decent piece of DLC but next time I play the game I'm just going to do the regular ending and save myself the headache of the towers and having to level up all the characters who aren't Sonic and don't even have cyloop starting out. Can't wait to use the characters more in the sequel too.
Ehh I'd say that this is too high a skill ceiling no matter how gradually you get there. Post-Patch I would say TFH is a decent-enough escalation from the base game, the lack of checkpoints doesn't make it harder so much as worse, since it doesn't have the lives problem of other Sonic games. The new towers aren't absurdly more-technical than Rhea had, it's just the extra punishment that makes it less fun.
I agree with your point but have a question about the terminology. Wouldn’t this be skill floor instead i.e. the minimal level of skill required to beat it? I don’t use the terms often, but I always saw the floor as being the bare minimum and the ceiling as how good you can possibly get. For example, Akira in VF has a high skill floor to use effectively.
For people who have a trouble with TFH level platforming even with proper escalation there is always easy mode. I'd want this level of difficulty again for an endgame properly built up to regardless.
I don't mind difficulty and platforming but when you add bad physics and mechanics with that, it's a bad kind of difficulty. The Final Horizon only helped to make the annoying things about Frontiers more obvious. I was more satisfied with the original state of the game because the ideas had more thought put into them. I would've been happy if they added the other characters as playable (unless you have the PC version because they get to experience all the cool stuff) and gave us the Final Horizon's boss fight. The most disappointing part is the trial boss fights. It's not because the boss fights are difficult but because it's the same boss fights from before. We go through the towers and do these annoying side missions, only to fight these bosses all over again. They could've made that trial a little more epic. Give us something fresh.
If Sonic games want to start upping the difficulty then they need to make sure both the mechanics and design are up to snuff. There's a world of difference between an engaging challenge and a "Try Again" slog. What's especially sad is I like the idea of a Frontiers boss rush on paper. The spectacle of those encounters was a highlight and I was more than ready to try my more-experienced hand at taking them down while rocking out to the soundtrack as a lead-up to the new finale. But Final Horizon's trial encourages mind-numbing efficiency over enjoyment while demanding you master parry timings against attacks that weren't made with that kind of precision in mind. Y'know what I think could've been fun? Keep the "timed boss rush" angle, sure, but give each boss mini-objectives that grant you extra rings instead of a purely static time limit. Encourage playing interestingly, utilizing certain moves for reasons beyond damage optimization and engaging with boss mechanics like surfing on Knight's shield. Maybe allow normal parries while rewarding perfect parries with a ring bonus. I think that would play to the boss fights' strengths.
Exactly! that's what originally made Sonic stand out among the myriad of other 2D platformers in the 90's. Sonic had mastered the mechanics and level design. Most 90's platformers just sucked. (Looking at you Lion King)
Is there a list of "recommended" QoL mods for Sonic Frontiers anywhere? Things like fixing pop-in, or (formerly) the mod for upgrading an aspect to full instantly via an Elder Coco? Wanna know what's recommended by the community before I go and restart my playthrough. Edit: I should add the reason I ask is a lot of YouTube videos are out of date with the new updates, so not sure what is recommended anymore!
I don't know what your preference for mod severity is but if you just want an enhanced mostly vanilla experience, my preference is the following codes on HMM, along with Graphics Enhancement set to its default config. There are technically mods to fix the pop-in but they all make the game so unstable and crash happy (due to the lack of LOD models) that I wouldn't really recommend them.
