Is it safe to say that the franchise as a whole is picking itself up?

The franchise itself is on a very upward trend. However, the stigma surrounding Sonic is still around. The majority of people are still quoting the cycle which shall not be mentioned and it'll be a while before that goes away. People just like stereotypes to lump things into. Sonic happens to be a very easy target.

 

I don't really trust Iizuka either, he seems to force his own ideas on the series even if it's to it's detriment, Sonic 4 being a prime example. He was also the director of SA1, SA2, Heroes, Shadow, Rivals 1&2 and NiGHTS: JOD, all of which have serious flaws in design and concept. Sonic Unleashed, which was a major turning point for series, was the idea of Yoshihisa Hashimoto. While Unleashed had it's problems, such as the Werehog and it's level design, it was still a great improvement to anything released in the six years before. Hashimoto left after Unleashed.

If I were Iizuka, I would restructure Sonic Team into divisions that are able to make games that satisfy all of the fanbase, it's never going to be achieved in one game. A US based team that would produce downloadable titles, a another team that would work an alternate games that featured franchise characters and franchises other than Sonic and a team that would concentrate on the main series. Each game would have a two year development cycle, a physical release could still be published yearly and it would be supplemented by downloadable games aswell. I am not a game developer and I don't have experience in the industry so I could be wrong but this seems a viable enough to me.

If the redesign that Iizuka speaks of is a success, I will be very suprised.

 

If they keep this streak up for another, say, 3 years, then maybe.

 

It's getting better, but I lost a lot of my enthusiasm when they said they wouldn't be using Classic Sonic ever again.

Plus Iizuka wants to reboot the whole franchise AGAIN, so there is another big opportunity for them to mess everything up, again.

 

Didn't they say that in 2010 too?

The Sonic franchise won't be completely fixed for me until we get a full game of this.

 

Isn't it kind of amusing how every sequel the series has had since, like, SA2 is "taking the series back to its roots" (except Shadow, I believe)? It's like every sequel is a reboot to him, even when they're obviously not.

 

That's somewhat the case, and I vastly consider this failure in communication to have initiated the very notion of a « Sonic Cycle ». Not the actual games.

 

Let's just say SEGA's branding is a lot better than Capcom's at the moment

RIP Mega Man. And welcome home Sonic.

 

Sonic is absolutely in a much better position. I always knew it would take more than a good game to get him out of the hole (Sonic Colors). It's going to take multiple (Sonic Generations, Sonic CD re-release, ... ? ). I can't put down Sonic 4. It's done okay, but I don't think it has faired anywhere near as well as the classic titles. Especially after some certain possible news, I'm really hoping Sonic 4 doesn't put Sonic back in the hole he's almost out of. That's all I'm going to say about that. Aside from ... you're doing good so far SEGA, now's not the time to make mistakes, if these mistakes are actually being made.

 

Yeah, the series is definitely picking itself up, but now Sega needs to fix the public image of the series. Despite recent games being good, most people I talk to still think the series sucks.

 

If they can keep this new pace going, then well, "You've got this Sonic!". I just hope this new direction doesn't kill him. I just hope that they don't do anymore dark story lines. I don't think they suit Sonic much. I'm talking dark to the point where some dies and stays dead. No "Dragon Emeralds" bringing them back to life.

 

Sonic is in a good place right now, though I am somewhat dreading Sonic 4 Episode 2 as I do think that could send it back to the gutter.

 

Seeing how many people outside of the Sonic fan base liked it, I doubt it.

The series is getting there, though we;re still a long way from the franchise having a good reputation. A lot of people that haven't played Sonic for years think the games are still as bad as 2006 and bring up werehog/sword/shitty friends etc. It's gonna take quite a few years of quality games for this stigma to disappear, and then there's the problem of the fan base itself in many places which is still known to many as a complete embarrassment, which on browsing the latest DeviantArt posts is still very much true. :/

Still the games have been getting a lot better for the most part and hopefully they can keep this up. Improvements for Episode II of Sonic 4 would certainly help but I don't think it being more of the same would damage too much, certainly not on a Shadow the Hedgehog or 2006 level. If they somehow made it even worse and the scores were terrible that'd be another story..

 

I don't have faith in the series just yet because in reality we have only had one good year compared the the years of crap before it. It's only been better because of the fluke Colours was, the option for classic gameplay in Generations which is really nothing more than a rehash, but a good rehash and a ported version of one of the classics that would not have happened if Sega were not lucky enough to have the likes of Taxman leasing out his engine. I also don't trust the reboot of the series with the likes of Iizuka because it will just give him the option to reuse everything again with the same levels and the same generic enemies with a different art look and camera angle. The series needs a new team that is fresh with new ideas and I also feel that Sonic team need to split so one can focus on the all new modern Sonic while another focuses on classic Sonic. I'm hoping that Taxman could set up a team to focus on a new classic series where the likes of Iizuka, who doesn't even care for that part of the series can leave well alone and no longer fuck it up for the rest of us.

 

My idea of a fitting sonic story is one that's simple and lighthearted, and occasionally a dark moment or two. Because Sonic isn't sonic without a badass moments, even in the classic games.

I want see a lighhearted story, but just one rewarding moment of kickass. Other than that basic idea, I don't care much about the story.

 

I think as bad as the Werehog levels were gameplaywise, Unleashed pretty much hit the nail on the head storywise. It wasn't LOL HAPPY FUN ADVENTURE OH HERE'S EGGMAN AND LETS BLOW UP EVERYTHING HE MAKES YET AGAIN (Colors), had some interesting-ish twists, but wasn't super serious either (2006/Black Knight). I mean the game starts off with pretty much a space battle. A FRIGGIN SPACE BATTLE. WITH SPACE SHIPS AND LASERS AND SHIT. I think SA/SA2 with modern game storytelling techniques and less of a focus on 'Sonic's Friends' would pretty much also hit that zone spot on.

As for the franchise in general, there's a cross section who really won't ever be happy with 3D platforming, regardless of the fact that it's here to stay. The way I used to think about it back during the Genesis/SNES era was that Sonic was the more badass mascot. And you know what kind of people badass characters appeal to. (Hi, Sephiroth and your legion of awful batshit insane fanatics) Now 15 years later the festering evolution of that simple fact essentially means it's much harder to please everyone.

 

I agree. The series needs to be more light hearted, but have some really awesome and dark moments. Sonic always had it balanced well before, up to Sonic Adventure 2. Not to say that Sonic Adventure 2's storylines and such weren't justified, because they definitely were, and they did fit Sonic's atmosphere, but they had less goofy moments and more rap/rock etc. Sonic 2006 went downhill and didn't resemble any sort of Sonic game, not even Sonic Adventure 2's, which had it's feet firmly on a sensible earth with varying locations.

If anything, I'd like to see awesome moments continue in the way they did them in Generations, which was perfect. The smooth white world music would be interrupted by Eggman's theme, or a brilliant rendition of Shadow's theme, giving a wide variety of moods and feelings- generally, bosses should always have powerful themes, and not this orchestrated rubbish they brought in when Unleashed came out.

US CD's boss music is a perfect example of how different bsos music shoud be- having calm and catchy round music followed by deep, jarring and technical music (in Sonic CD's case) fitting the boss style.

 

I only half agree with you on the orchestrated music. I loved it, but it was overused in Unleashed and Colors. For example, the music played during the Unleashed inro, that blew me away. But when orchestrated music is played during every cutscene, and most of the levels, it just doesn't work.

I think a fitting music style for this series would be an balanced amount of rock, jazz, techno, and an occasional orchestra piece. Personally I felt like a lot of classic sonic music would have been orchestrated from the beginning if they could have, Sky Sanctuary for example. Jazz fits the fun, colorful levels, mostly casino themed. And final bosses need more sinister, "Shit's going down" kind of music. I liked the final boss music from Unleashed and Colors, but they had a different feel than most of the other games, but it got old quickly.

Basically, keep the Generations style, different genres for different settings. Instead of overuse of rock (SA2, 06,) and overuse of orchestra (Unleashed mostly).

 

Now don't get your pitchforks out folks but I really didn't care that much for the classic sections of Sonic Generations. It didn't really feel classic to me in any way. The character model for classic Sonic had a nice design but it didn't really remind me of the old games. He's missing that distinct attitude that made him so cool back when we were kids. Before Generations if you showed me the classic Sonic model I would have said it was SEGA attempting to interpret Sonic as more like Mickey Mouse. He has that Disney quality to him. Then there's the gameplay. The last few levels of Generations Act 1 had fairly weak level design. It got harder to trudge through the levels without any feeling of reward you'd get in the late levels from the Genesis titles. Crisis City in particular was weak in Act 1. The insta-kill tornado wasn't a good decision on the whole, and the SPIKES SPIKES SPIKES from the Colors stage didn't help either.

Meanwhile the Modern Sonic parts of the game felt like the day stages in Unleashed only with more polish. They were a lot of fun, and the biggest disappointment here is that there weren't more acts.

Maybe if the classic stages emulated the old games' physics exactly and had better level design it would've been the better half of that game, but it was just off. I really hope SEGA stops trying to pander to the fans who just want the series to be exactly like it was in 1994 and instead try to move it forward, because they're obviously not capable of emulating the old games without outside assistance.

 

Unleashed stages were 2-2.5 longer on average (not counting Eggmandland which was just a travesty).

I guess you really have to make a choice between depth vs length since there's only so much racetrack you can cram into current hardware and/or production cycles.

Personally I think Generations stages were a little too short. Speedrunning them really feels like trick after trick after trick with not much breathing room in between.