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Blue Blood, on 22 July 2015 - 02:06 PM, said:

I'm having similar thoughts. It also helps a bit that he doesn't seem to be affiliated with the old guard at the main Sega HQ, IIRC he was in charge of Sega Networks before taking the CEO position.

Given that the (likely) intent for their addition was done as an answer to Mario's suits, I think under that context the elemental shields introduced and used in Sonic 3 & Knuckles were a poor response. The main issue is that under most circumstances, they only give the player an couple extra layers of protection, based on their elemental ability as well as the occasional generic badnik/level gimmick projectile. Otherwise, they aren't any better than the standard shield in most cases.

The Lightning Shield's ability of protection against electricity is only utilized in Death Egg (and even then, it is only for Act 2, for the floating treadmill sections that operate around electrified floors). It would easily be the most poorly-implemented elemental shield, had it lacked the additional power of magnetically attracting rings. (In hindsight, this may also explain why the Lightning Shield is the only elemental shield that has been preserved past the classic series in most cases.)
The Water Shield provides underwater breathing, which is great if you are playing through Sonic 3, which has underwater sections in almost every zone (with Marble Garden the odd-man out). Come Sonic & Knuckles, however, and there is no underwater segments to be seen.
This thus leaves the Flame Shield as the least-utilized shield, as Lava Reef is the only zone throughout the game you could use its protection against fire-though to argue on technicalities, it protects against lava in that zone. I don't believe actual fire is used as a environmental hazard in any zone of the game, even the fiery atmosphere in Sonic 3's Angel Island, following Eggman's infiltration, is largely a change on the graphical front (Angel Island boss fight notwithstanding). And while the shields do provide some exclusive moves for Sonic, they mostly amount to altering Sonic's jump direction, causing a fair amount of overlap and redundancy. Water Shield allows Sonic to bounce on the floor like a ball. Lightning Shield allows Sonic to perform a double jump. Flame Shield allows Sonic to perform an horizontal air dash.

DigitalDuck, on 19 July 2015 - 02:59 PM, said:

I'm on the fence about this. When playing Amy in Advance, I sometimes feel like her moveset was designed for a different game rather than Sonic, and it doesn't gel with the level design at times. Which would mean I largely prefer the gameplay of Sonic...yet at the same time, I'm not really supportive of Sonic being the only playable character in his games nowadays, and still hope for the likes of characters like Tails and Knuckles to be playable again. So I largely prefer the standard gameplay/moveset, yet I still care about other characters being playable.

Espio the Chameleon in Sonic skin confirmed.

Ezequiel.M, on 07 July 2015 - 08:07 PM, said:

On the topic of gameplay and rehashes, it really isn't an opinion. Gameplay at a glance level seems to "back to basics" but when you go beyond that its hardly anything like the classic games. Rolling and spindashing is gimped beyond belief. Bouncing amounts to jack. Sonic moves like a tank and can come to a stop on a dime (which was halfway fixed in Episode II-I say halfway as while Sonic was somewhat fixed, Super Sonic wasn't). There is little organic surface physics, with several scripted elements and automation papering up the cracks. You aren't going to get far in either episode if you try playing it like the legacy games. You're better off spamming the homing attack and using the (sometimes) forced combo moves for almost every action.

And this is by no means an opinion. Iizuka explicitly stated for Episode I that "we have not done a straight port of the gameplay, but rather updated it with actions which could not be done in the previous titles." Yet you can't call it a update, because the differences between the legacy physics and Sonic 4's physics are that stark. If the legacy physics were actually preserved in Sonic 4, I challenge that the vitriol leveled against this game would be half as strong at its best.

As for rehashes, you really don't think the game wasn't outright ripping content from the original games? Within 5 seconds of seeing Sonic 4 Episode I's zones, anyone could chant "Green Hill, Metropolis, Labyrinth, Casino Night, (Sonic 2) Death Egg." It's not just that they have a lot of similarities, they are obviously, deliberately copying the zones first, and shaping second. The direction wasn't to rekindle nostalgia as a celebration, it was to lean on the old memories as a dependency. Anyone could pick the old Sonic levels these were miming in 5 seconds. Splash Hill isn't confused with Emerald Hill, Angel Island, Mushroom Hill or Palmtree Panic... not at all. It's a Green Hill 2010, and the other zones are just as much no-brainers. Episode II was better with the first few zones, but not by much (Sky (Chase, Wing) Fortress and Death Egg...mk II).

TimmiT, on 07 July 2015 - 09:21 PM, said:

That's specifically what I'm getting at with that quote. There shouldn't need to be another re-assurance of quality, and the quality shouldn't have had "go down again" in the first place. The fact that Sega had a slew of good Sonic titles preceding it and making it seem they finally got a grasp on things just makes the whole thing that disappointing.

And even if Lost World is technically Sonic Team's only game since then, it is most certainly not going to wipe out the association of the notorious Boom games with the main series. I really don't think it is stated enough just how much of a mismanagement fuckup -concerning all sides involved- that was the entire project that was Boom: Rise of Lyric.

EDIT:

DigitalDuck, on 07 July 2015 - 06:06 PM, said:

If something happens to this game that causes it to get cancelled, I promise you I will address you as NostradamusDuck for weeks.

DigitalDuck, on 07 July 2015 - 05:32 PM, said:

Speaking of which, its also been almost 15 years since the last Sonic Adventure. God, that game must had been horrible, we haven't gotten any game like it since then.

Maybe people were right when they said the Sonic series was never good in the first place.