don't click here

Does SA2 still hold up for you?

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Solid SOAP, Aug 13, 2012.

  1. Nova

    Nova

    Member
    3,755
    178
    43
    Yeah, I think my playtime speaks for itself, I'm sitting at 11 hours and I've just finished A-ranking all of Sonic's missions... Blitzing through this, still love it. I think not playing it for so long has made it leave a really good impression on me and it really hasn't aged as badly as some people say (in my opinion).

    Only things I really, really, really miss:

    - Targeting reticles for the homing attack. Sometimes I can't tell if I'm going to successfully pull one off, air-dash towards an enemy or just fly off in a random-ass direction. Just a tad irritating.
    - Homing in on rails. I think Guess Who mentioned this, whoever decided that you should be able to homing attack rails needs a raise. Best idea ever and it's sorely missed here, especially on Final Rush/Final Chase.
    - Rail-switching. Oh my GOD, this is like playing Russian Roulette in SA2. You can't tell if you're actually going to swap or just fly off the rail to inevitable doom. Sky Rail nearly gave me a goddamn aneurysm. :eng101:
     
  2. TheKazeblade

    TheKazeblade

    "Our Life is More than a Side-Effect" Member
    Haha, I see what you did there :v:
     
  3. Deef

    Deef

    Member
    733
    22
    18
    Never held up to begin with for me. Was the beginning of the end.

    Presentation was impressive though; SA1 has certainly aged a lot more than SA2 from a technical perspective. Heck I remember noticing the frame rate difference simply after playing them both on the DC. But SA1 is easily the game I'd play again. SA2... yeah what the OP said.

    It's like the 2 versions of Daytona on the Saturn. The first Daytona runs like crap and that's all there is to it. Daytona CCE is much smoother, more tracks, 2 players, slick presentation throughout, but manages to be the worse of the two.
     
  4. Rosie

    Rosie

    aka Rosie Member
    I can't be the only one who thinks that SA2 has always looked awful, and that even Adventure 1 is visually more appealing?
     
  5. Hukos

    Hukos

    Member
    527
    2
    18
    I agree SA1 is far more visually appealing, though I don't think SA2 looks awful, really. Incredibly average? Absolutely. But I can't really say it's terrible looking.
     
  6. I loved playing the original, the way the story played out, the action, the suspense (hey I was 9 at the time) made this one of my favorites, and made Sonic my favorite game series hands down. While being 10 years older I can say it's not AS appealing as it was back then but I still had a blast in Sonic's and Shadow's stages, blazing through City Escape and Final Rush at high speeds with a great soundtrack (IMO), destroying robots with Eggman. I can say though that there are glaring flaws with it such as the treasure hunting, shoehorned tails, rail control was GOD AWFUL (though this was their first time so I give credit where its due), and some of the time it felt like I was in a tunnel. BUT maybe that's the appeal of it, it's trying to be like a movie with plentiful cut-scenes, immersible action, along with other things gives this a lasting appeal. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't a big enough sonic fan and patient enough to sit through the treasure and shooting missions. XD All in all it has the lasting nostalgia factor that'll keep me at it for many hours but it's not really that great of a game in all honesty.
     
  7. Sey

    Sey

    Member
    78
    0
    0
    I don't get why some people don't like grinding in Sa2. I love the grinding physics, it takes skill and was dumbed down in later games. The only flaw is rail switching on certain angles.
     
  8. fifthelephant

    fifthelephant

    Member
    151
    0
    0
    Some of the things I enjoyed about the game were the re-used levels (it adds continuity, the story overlaps does it not?), the music and the sonic/shadow gameplay to a degree. Without the lock-on ability the speed levels are very frustrating, being forced to play the hunting and shooting levels was never fun, though as others have suggested they weren't quite as bad in SA1 and I think this is due to the linear nature of the levels in the shooting and in the hunting levels in SA2 you are forced to find one gem at a time.
    I think this shows the huge improvements that Sonic Team has made in Unleashed, Colours and Generations, we should hope the upward trend in the newer franchise entries continues (and pray that Sega see the light and release a game purely around Classic Sonic from Gens).
     
  9. Captain L

    Captain L

    The guy who likes Shadow the Hedgehog Member
    2,434
    29
    28
    Waiting for the coming of the Great White Hankerchief
    To offer a recap of my opinions on the game, I thought the speed levels were great, the shooter levels were okay, and I generally don't like treasure hunting. I still stand by that, but more flaws came out today when I was playing the all character boss rush. I spent 22 lives doing it.

    Mainly, the hit detection can be awful, especially in the fight against the Finalhazard. There were times when I clearly hit the weak spot, and I just bounced off. The lasers he fires are also complete crap. For other boss problems, King Boom Boo can take forever, because he'll keep turning so you can't hit the hourglass. And the second Tails/Eggman fight is one of the most frustrating moments in gaming. When I understand how the fight works, it can take about 7-10 lives to beat. Meanwhile, most other bosses fall in around 1-3. It's mainly because the walkers have awful recovery time from getting hit, and in all the later character battles, The Computer Is A Cheating Bastard.

    Surprisingly, I'm the only person who doesn't think the Biolizard is hard. The first time I played the game, I beat him and Finalhazard on the first try. It took me 3 this time. The energy balls can be a little difficult to dodge because the somersault ruins momentum, and the pink balls can get in the way of your homing attack sometimes. But the water is rarely a threat. I almost never fall in, and when I do, spamming the jump button is enough to get me out fine.
     
  10. muteKi

    muteKi

    Fuck it Member
    7,850
    131
    43
    Every time I play it I just get my mind blown as to how goddamn CHUNKY everything looks. Or perhaps, blocky is more accurate. I don't think Sonic and blocky really go well together, at least not like this.



    Hey, playing the Finalhazard in Boss Rush I had a similar issue! I only lost like 7ish lives though, but yeah the hit detection and the laser patterns are just awful; it's so easy to be combo-hit to death effectively with that one. The game makes a big deal in the dialogue out of switching characters but there's no way to do that short of hitting the damn thing.

    I honestly don't really care for the grinding in this game, the balancing doesn't ever really seem to do much unless you lean so far you basically stop dead, and actually jumping so as to land properly on the rails to slide down quickly has been the bane of many a potential A-rank run in City Escape. In the two Final levels it doesn't even really seem to matter much due to the less-realistic rail patterns and the boost loop things, and that's where the lack of good rail switching controls ends up being killer.
     
  11. Dude

    Dude

    Tech Member
    3,138
    0
    16
    Southbridge, MA
    Random VR/AR trash
    There is actually a good reason for this. If you'll notice, many of the levels in Sonic Adventure had lots of polygons compared to the ones in SA2, but very little texture detail. SA had framerate issues. So, when building SA2, they changed the balance of the detail from the polygons to the textures. This allowed them to lower the overall poly count, shift some of the extra polys into the character model for greater detail, all while improving the performance to 60fps in almost every scene. The levels might not be as smooth, but the textures in SA2 show alot of detail, so the levels are still acceptable.
     
  12. MykonosFan

    MykonosFan

    MODE CHANGE. Moderator
    3,746
    550
    93
    Run against the outer rim of the arena and never let him leave your sight while keeping your distance. It's much faster than dealing with 'GRRURLGLGURRFRISSBEEEE AHAHAHAHAH" every 5 seconds by running as fast as possible then having to turn becasue KBB turned and shrieked. If you keep him in sight he won't do that stupid turning thing, and you'll get to the part where you can attack him more quickly. In my experience at least.
     
  13. No so much for me anymore. I loved it as a kid but until recently, I had a vile hate for the game caused by those infuriating treasure hunting stages. Say what you will about the speed and mech stages but the treasure hunting in this game is just terribly designed.

    I replayed it again recently, discovered I don't hate the other parts of the game as much but the treasure hunting still sucks. Easily the worst part of the game.
     
  14. muteKi

    muteKi

    Fuck it Member
    7,850
    131
    43
    Biggest problem I had was more that when you're standing right over him the context-sensitive action takes a split-second to go to "dig", so it's easy to get too hasty and perform the punch attack instead. Infuriating!
     
  15. Aerosol

    Aerosol

    Not here. Moderator
    11,163
    573
    93
    Not where I want to be.
    Sonic (?): Coming summer of 2055...?
    I always used a drill dig. Never had a problem with King Boom Boo.
     
  16. I do still play SA2:B sometimes, but I strongly prefer SA1 (DC over GCN), except for Chao. SA1 had a better soundtrack, and I STRONGLY prefer CHAOS over the dumb Biolizard. I must say, though, that I like using AR to do stuff like Chao Walker in Weapons Bed or Sonic VS. the Biolizard.
     
  17. AeonicB

    AeonicB

    Oldbie
    813
    12
    18
    Freelance
    I bought SA2 on the Xbox Live marketplace the day it came out. I didn't put it down except to eat or sleep until I had finished the damned Finalhazard.

    I love both Adventures equally. Some quirks grate at me now, like the everloving camera angle, but it still stands pretty well.

    EMERALD NOTWORK
     
  18. Epsilonsama

    Epsilonsama

    THE FASTEST TAPE ALIVE! Member
    690
    42
    28
    Earth
    Yes, SA2 is still a good game. Its definitely not the harbinger of the apocalypse like some people here imply. That being said, SA2 it still a flawed game but to say its shit is insulting the real shitty games out there. I mean there's far more shitty Sonic games out there. I think its just people getting on the hate train and want to blame SA2 for things it's not responsible for.
     
  19. AeonicB

    AeonicB

    Oldbie
    813
    12
    18
    Freelance
    Yes. It still is a load of fun, even with its own problems. I really did like how they handled the missions, maybe a little better than SA1's three emblem runs. On some level, I like how SA1 handled some things better, like field exploration. I'm probably one of the few, and its for the same reasons I like Wind Waker's sailing. :v:
     
  20. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

    Member
    14,631
    1,610
    93
    Working on my art!
    And my opinion has changed. Thank you SA2 PC for opening my eyes. This game is laughable. The cutscenes are horrible, the levels are dull, and the only redeeming quality of this game is putting Metal Sonic or Knuckles in Sonic and Shadow's levels. The rest of the game is just like, "wtf is this noise?" I may enjoy a level, but then I get to play it 5 more times and it just gets boring. And then I watch a cutscene and I want to laugh. And finally I just realized that the final boss was a Lizard using a cannon as a space dildo.

    This game does not deserve a sequel. If it sees one it better be so different that it's barely recognizes SA2 or SA1 to a lesser extend. SA2, I'll see you in hell (Still better then Heroes though)