Something like how Paper Mario did it would be cool. All the areas were traditional Mario scenes, but they all felt new and expanded upon.
I'm a switch owner and can confirm most Switch owners aren't really aware of how performance can negatively impact an experience. If it's a subpar version most won't even notice and a few will even defend it, calling the trade off of handheld play worth it. I personally am gonna stick with whichever the best performing version is.
I think 60fps should be a big priority for Sonic but it's not like they've really set the precedent. Most console versions of the games run at 30 or less.
If I get it, it'll definitely be on PC. Although, I really hope for a better PC port than we typically get. I'm not holding out hope for interesting mods anymore, I just want the base game to be good. Otherwise, I'm not getting it (at full price anyways).
Sonic Rangers was already a meme generator even before it is released. What would the theme song be like? A cover of this, made by Crush 40?
I care about consistent performance. I'd rather have 30fps that it can actually maintain the whole way through than 60fps with regular dips because whatever system can't handle it. Gonna be mean about this one: they care because they stick themselves in echo chambers of other ultra hardcore tech geeks who only care about graphics, thus leading them to believe everyone cares and that graphics are the most important thing ever.
Since I got into PC gaming, I've been using a not so great GPU, which is kind of necessary in today's market. I basically will sacrifice graphic fidelity and filters/shaders, even some resolution to hit consistent 60 FPS if I can. I never was one who cared too much about graphics on a technical level, and I love super buttery smooth gameplay, and I love visuals that look good due to having good art design and color use.
So before this thread gets closed again, the title should be changed to Sonic Team's (Formerly) Untitled 2022 Sonic Game - Sonic Frontier, right? :p
I'm still not sure how I actually feel about a true Sonic Open World title, if only because if you put Sonic on any current modern open world map, and give him his standard abilities, he'd traverse the whole thing in just a few minutes, so it still seems contrary to his core design. But then, I suppose that's where the exploration element of the classic titles could come back into the forefront. Speed is only half of what made classic Sonic a success. Interesting level maps that encouraged replayability and felt like a "place you could visit" were what really made the games what they were (even if the actual map layouts weren't realistic in their design).
I just really hope it's not the flat, generic open world style we see in every game these days. If it's all laid out like a set of massive Sonic levels, it might be incredible, but I don't imagine Sonic Team being capable of doing that (or anyone given how much budget is put into games these days as it is).
Regarding performance: Even if an individual player doesn't know or consciously care about frame rate, it's still going to affect their experience. And in a game that demands quick reaction times, the difference between a solid 60fps, a solid 30fps, and an inconsistent mix between 20 and 55fps is going to make a HUGE impact on playability. The more frames Sonic can get, the more responsive it's going to feel, again, even if that's not something the player is noticing and attributing to frame rate.
This game is gonna need a huge budget to accommodate for how fast Sonic moves, which will require larger terrains than even BoTW. Hope this isn't a game tha collapses under its own ambition.
They couldn't even give us boost sonic levels without making them 3 feet wide and about as interactive as a DVD menu, so expecting extravagent Sonic-esque level design in a great big open world seems extremely optimistic. To me at least. Wouldn't surprise me if they were more like Monster Hunter style mini-areas with clear deliniations between each other.
This kinda ties into my biggest fear about the overworld: that it'll be really bland If the overworld is just a flat terrain with a few random enemies sprinkled around, that really wouldn't make for a fun Sonic game. I expect it to be full of the usual loops, corkscrews, hills/slopes, ziplines, springs and grind rails with mini-challenges and new things to actually discover. I want this game to surprise me in unique and clever ways! I don't want it to be the kinda thing where you get 30mins in and you're already like "yeah I've pretty much seen everything at this point haven't I?"
Those terrible DVD menu "games"... I remember the one on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets where you had to drive the car through the forbidden forest and randomly choose left or right like 6 times in a row. It was awful, and you had to complete it to watch the deleted scenes. Straight up garbage lol.
That sort of criticism strikes me the same as the folks who say 16-bit Sonic was "hold right to win," or decried the Adventure games as "hold up to win." It's not all that far removed from "Sonic was never good." Every style of Sonic gameplay has something it was going for, every style has its own pros and cons, and each one resonates differently with different people. I get the boost games aren't your cup of tea, and that's fine, but rather than having a discussion about it, some of you seem to shoehorn melodramatic condemnation of them into every topic.
I'd hardly call Sonic Adventure open world just because of the hubs, but that's just me. I like how just the name Frontiers is leading people to assume that it absolutely must be an open world game. I'll wait for an actual trailer before setting expectations.