I'd wager 12 zones. We have 5 Hard-Boiled Heavies, based off that silhouette we saw a while back. We've only seen them in new zones. IIRC, Iizuka said old to new was a 60-40 split. Five zones would be about 40% of 12 total zones. Add one additional rep from 1 and 2, respectfully, to calm people down about GHZ and CPZ again, and additional nostalgia from people away from the series, would make 7 returning zones.
LRG doesn't do PC. They do PS4 and PS VIta. I guess they'd like to make runs for any platform, but since Sony's more open to allow for a limited production on games, it's just easier to go to Sony. Indiebox develops physical media for PC, but I'm not sure if they do it for triple A companies. PC is kinda a strange market. You can self publish and produce on PC since it's so open, despite companies such as Microsoft and Valve (Steam) trying to control that market. I don't know if a company such as Sega would self-make a physical release for PC as most PCs now-a-days don't use CD/DVD/BR disc drives anymore. They could release games on USB flip cards, but then all the marketing will be in the hands of themselves which is difficult to do when you're up against something like Valve which gives you a bit more word-of-mouth and easier accessibility to the average majority of the consumer demographic. Being an independent developer myself, even I have to try to wrap my head around all this red tape... it's crazy.
14 is closer to the 60/40 though once you factor in Sonic 3. So 8 or 9 returning zones, and 5 or 6 new.
They've done one PC title somewhat recently. But regardless, they've publicly stated that they won't do Xbox and I've never seen them do a Wii U title so I'd doubt that they'd do a Switch game either.
7 zones = Two S1, Two S2, One CD, One S3, and One S&K. 7/12=58.3% 5/12=41.7% 8/14=57.1% 6/14=42.9% 9/14=64.3% 5/14=35.7% Math doesn't quite check out.
Oh that's right, they did do a couple of PC releases... Still, majority is with PS4 and Vita. I don't know much about Nintendo's submission process (Wii U is kinda dead in the water now, but was still relevant back when LRG started), but I know that Microsoft won't budge on their rules on how much bulk you can get produced to resell, which is probably why LRG won't use them. I'm sure they'd like to, but if it's a hassle and they can't produce a small portion, then they just won't do it.
5/8 or 6/9 come out to 13 and 15 I know, but I am leaning towards 14+, so likely to be 15. I kept the lower count of 13 in just in case Mania lowballs on the "comparable" to 3K.
I love the special stage theme! I also love that we're not getting a half pipe stage, and the stage resembles my two favorite special stages, Sonic 3k's and Cd's.
I just wrote an entire response explaining why there is reason for "bile" as you put it, and why it extends beyond Sonic Forces, simultaneously stating that I'm not singling out Forces but Sonic Team's entire body of work in the modern history of the franchise. I even said I do think Forces will be okay overall...but that should not be an appropriate standard for big title releases in this franchise, given its magnitude and history of huge success. There's nothing too aggressive about my response. Its my opinion and one that I think would be pretty typical of just about every other company given a similar history. I'm not marching the streets raising a banner in protest or anything, and I do spend far more of my time enjoying the things I love about this series and imagining the future possibilities in design. But I definitely have the right to be upset and vent about the long standing sour state of things, given my dedicated participation as a consumer. I don't think I'm being close to overly heavy handed about it. You're free to view the situation however you like, and most days I mind the saying "it is easier to gather flies with honey". I'm allowed my expression without requiring a lesson about it. I'm grateful for the opportunity to have a game like Mania be delivered to us, finally. But I do think this should be a wake up call for the company and a response towards those that have led us to where we stand with Sonic. Its much more important to me that the Sonic franchise as a whole is finally restored to excellence than for some company heads to roll... but its common sense to realize that this group has had an awful lot of chances to re-establish Sonic's excellence and on the whole they have failed. Nothing personal, I don't hate anyone, but there should probably be some changes in the office... Whatever is necessary to ensure that once again the Sonic brand is trustworthy going forward. For that reason I speak up, on my tiny microphone that may never be heard.
Man, can't people discuss silly opinions like which specific video games they like without throwing around words like "stupid"?
There are a lot of ways to use the word stupid in a sentence that do not amount to a personal attack. That can't be all of what you'd get out of that post. If you're that taken aback by use of that word in this context, then you should be aware of far worse dangers on the internet. I'm exuberant because I care probably too much about Sonic game related things but we're all practically screened for that before we post here, aren't we? Its okay to feel that way about things that are non-consequential. Most of life is filled with seemingly non-consequential things, if you hadn't had your basic dose of philosophy lately. We love what we love and hopefully we don't hurt anyone in the process. Again, my criticisms are not personal, here or anywhere else. It seems rather uneventful to call out a company for problems that have been widely known for a long time by just about the entire gaming community. Honestly I need not speak a word; if they haven't heard it internally already, they'll hear it soon enough if Mania actually does match its level of hype. I'm not really rooting against Sonic Team, since I have been rooting strongly for them for the decade plus period that Sonic has been struggling, to finally get things on the right track. However, a fire seriously needs to be lit under an ass here.
I'm not really angry at Sega or anything like that, but I actually do think the company really doesn't have a good idea how to take advantage of their franchises, and also they don't usually recognize the determining points of the games that themselves have created in the past. Of course, this sort of thing is by no means exclusive to Sega: companies like EA, Bioware, Activision and even the mighty Blizzard also go through this type of problem, to a greater or lesser extent. Part of the problem is that making a game isn't like making a cake: you can have an idea of the end result, but the recipe itself isn't literally the same. To make matters worse, each person who eats a slice ends up having a different opinion of which ingredients are the most important, or how much of them you should use. Often, the company doesn't even understand what customers like about their recipe, other times, customers have quite distinct and polarized opinions about it. Obviously, this isn't an "excuse" for the company to take decades to try again a recipe close to the one originally used by them, but it's not hard to understand how sometimes that doesn't happen. Often, we think of companies as monoliths, single blocks, when they are made up of various moving parts - individuals who have played a fundamental role in making things the way they were. Speaking about "Sonic Team" today isn't remotely the same as speaking about the Sonic Team that created Sonic 3, just like talking about Bioware today is like talking about a company that's completely different from the one that created Baldur's Gate. So, I don't really have "anger" about it... At most, I have a disappointment. A disappointment that has now been remedied with the existence of Mania - and that may even disappear in the coming years if the company decides to launch more games like it from now on. But it doesn't change that these were sad decades to me, and I say this even having really liked games like Generations. It is impressive (in a sense that isn't really positive) that it has taken this long for something like this to finnaly happen.
There's a thread for Sonic Forces, which seems to be the larger focus of this topic due to Sonic Team's handling of it in comparison to how Mania is doing. If this discussion continues there, UpCDownCLeftCRightC, please note that a few different users have raised eyebrows at how you are expressing yourself, and consider that it might be a bit much. As for where we currently are, let's cut this tangent here and return back toward the direction of the thread topic, please. Thanks. EDIT: Chaud in with the ninja post :v:/> DOUBLE EDIT: I'll also point to the "Do Sonic Team even know what makes Sonic good?" thread, where this might lead to more focused and fruitful discussion: http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=32349&st=0
Anyway... Holy shit that Special Stage thoooough. Like for real, someone needs to rip those Saturn-ish models as soon as the game comes out, this has me way more excited than a special stage ever should. This almost makes me want to brush off my Saturn and do an all-emerald run of 3D Blast. ...Almost.
No intention of creating hostility, so no problem. I also didn't really create the Forces tangent and my feeling was far more of a reaction to Mania but point taken.
I too am happy that Sonic Mania is actually happening after such a shoddy track record of awful decisions from "Sonic Team". Why should we try and censor anyone for vocalizing what we all know to be fact? You're not going to get the honest truth about the full Sonic exerpeince from an official source after all. Sonic Mania is a high point for a reason, its exceptional. So how great are we though, here to experience Mania, as die-hard fans, when probably we shouldn't be? Sort of pathetic isn't it, like bitter sweet, and I couldn't be happier at this moment! edit- removed strange duplicate paragraph.
So, when they say that the special stages render like the saturn renders, do they merely mean it's using quads, or has an actual multi-stage rendering pipeline been created through glsl to mimic the actual rendering process of the saturn?
I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see "Best selling digital game of the year" headlines for Mania when it's released. All I'm seeing everywhere is love, adoration and positive hype and buzz amongst everyone. There's so much excitement for the game and I'm confident that will translate in to strong sales. Hell, if Valkyria Chronicles can hit 500K on Steam then a super low priced "this can run on anything" classic Sonic game available on all systems that fans have been clamouring for for years could easily break a million. Or more. Hope it does exceptionally well to validate Taxman and Stealth's work and also act as a glowing bright signal to Sega to green light Sonic Mania 2.
