I felt like Knuckles' levels were quite adequately finished in this game. While I suppose people wanted more Knuckles (because, really, who doesn't want more Knuckles?), the fact that the treasure hunting stages all took place on levels that were pretty open and that you could know the layout of going in from Sonic's game meant it was a lot less frustrating than in SA2. Each level could be beaten in less than a minute! Not so for SA2, where the hunting stages were a real drag -- and generally far more reliant on obtuse gimmicks, closed-off areas, and backtracking (not to mention a crappier emerald radar!)
The only bit with Knuckles that really doesn't work is Sky Deck because of the tilt mechanic, apart from that I think I liked every single stage he had in the first game.
I think the Knuckles' game may have worked better if: 1. it was longer (maybe like 6 or 7 levels to put it up to standard Sonic game standards and a couple of unique sub games). 2. the stages didn't feel patronisingly easy. I mean I definitely agree with how tedious SA2 was, but SA1's emeralds were hid in all of about five or so locations and usually far too blatant and obvious. Making it at least a little more varied without getting convoluted would have made it more fun and added replay value (most of the stages had loads of nooks and crannies that could have easily been utilised anyway). My complaints with Gamma are mainly the same (the whole shooting level with mini boss setup could have been a joy, but the levels end too quickly and the bosses barely put up a fight). It was very fun, but it was kinda let down by how much of a pushover it was.
I'm sure Knuckles did need a bit more polishing in the level design, but I wouldn't mind seeing an update of the treasure formula in 2015. Yes, Gamma did have the least amount of fun, but I tried to make the most fun out of it myself, and I think the game overall just needs a bit more work, more kinks. But overall, generally, if anyone would complain about Amy, Gamma, and Big being slow, I wouldn't. Changing up the pace has been apparent from the beginning, tracing all the way back to Marble Zone. It's only fair, but I'd like to see SEGA try again, while removing all the crap that didn't work, like multiple things with the gameplay of the slower characters.
Oh I adored Gamma's gameplay, I just wish it didn't end so quickly after it had just started. Seriously Gamma's Final Egg is possibly the shortest Sonic level ever (which is a shame because the gimmick of it being Sonic's last level backwards was a neat idea). Truthfully I don't think anything needs to be taken out of SA1 to make it work better, just refined. I'm sorta on the side that the side trio should have been a bit faster, not to Sonic's level however, just enough to make their gameplay less tedious (Big and Amy are slow, even by other platformers' standards, and Gamma's rolling mode might have been more worth gaining momentum for if it had a more significant speed change). Something I noticed in a lot of Big's levels are areas and objects that seems to have been left to one side, like they were supposed to be more a mix of platforming and fishing (similar to Hot Shelter) but they thought it was too convoluted so dumbed it down to the character's gimmick. I could imagine Big's levels would have been more fun if they had developed that small bit of platforming and fine tuned the fishing to be less tedious and long drawn.
This is kinda where I stand. SA2 was the beginning of a dark path for Sonic games that would culminate in '06, and the linearity of the levels and the restriction of playing as specific characters left me disappointed. I felt like I was being forced to play the game the way they -wanted- me to play it. SA1 felt like I could play mostly as one character without missing out on anything major, while still offering some great bonuses for people who 100% it (such as the Super Sonic arc). It'd be pretty cool if SADX modding got to the point where the game could get just a bit more polish - say, fixing all of the oddities caused by the porting job so it feels like it has the same refinement as the original Dreamcast version but with the updated models and framerate.
True. I think the Fixed Edition project has potential, but things would need to get to a point programmers can truly take the game apart to get it in full working order. One big obstacle is making competent cutscenes, as glorious as it would be to get something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta-1PfBZmjg I wouldn't mind seeing some more mundane forms of the level editing we see here, like what would some of aforementioned incomplete level designs could look like properly worked on. It's a shame we don't have more documentation as to how the game would have been, then we could make proper 'finished' rendition.
I've been working on fixed edition, and the SADX mod loader makes it possible to do code changes very easily. I already have, too! I restored some functionality that was seemingly there at one point, but it got disabled also seemingly because it was rarely used (which I'll be posting about soon). The only things that I can't do are just a matter of sorting through the disassembly, and many things in SADX apply to SA2 as well which really helps. Edit: ninja edit :v: I'm sure we'll have a cutscene and/or animation editor at some point...!
Really? I thought SADX was said to be rather limited in terms of hacking the actual gameplay engine. I'm eager to seeing what's been cracked open now. :D
I will say that Sonic Adventure 2 does feel like it improved on Adventure 1s problems a lot. There were still camera issues here and there, and sometimes I'd find Sonic going in weird directions (the half pipe in Green Forest (or White Jungle?) comes to mind). When my friend and I are playing vs. mode, there's rarely any gameplay related issues, so I think that says something about how well its aged. It's by no means a perfect platformer, and definitely one that requires some patience, but I can at least say anytime my friend wants to play some Adventure 2 Battle, I'm completely up for it. Shoot, I would love for a multiplayer Sonic game where you did nothing but race friends, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle was great for that. Referring to the Sonic/Shadow levels, of course. We pretty much ignore the shooting, emerald hunting and kart modes.
I'd love if hacking could go and replace allll the models in SADX. Not just the main cast (although them too, I say upgrade them to the Modern models), but also Robotnik, NPCs, Eggmobile, what have you. Also it'd be nice if when you start in a new section, you actually start on the ground and not just... drop from the sky for some reason.
One of the key glitches that let down SA2 was the 'sticky jumps' however, going into double jump mode when you didn't want to and dashing at an inopportune time. How many times did homing attack activate when you didn't want it to? I agree on the multiplayer however, that was a tight extra. I always loved the VS race mode in the Sonic games. I kinda wish they'd added something similar in SA1 (I can't help but feel something cool could have been made out of the Adventure hubs too, imagine a shooting battle tracking and roaming around in them).
You're more likely to see this with an engine remake than with the original engine. Working with existing x86 code as opposed to original source is already a headache, without even accounting for the headaches of using such an old engine. The hardest part of a proper remake would be getting the physics/character behavior to match, but once you did that it would be way, way better than working with the original engine
You could do what Halo Master Chief Collection does...just run another graphics and sound engine on top of what you already have... I mean 343 did it fairly quickly, so how hard can it be?
Not too long ago I played SA1 on the PSN, and while it's aged as gracefully as overheated milk in a handful of areas (graphics/cutscenes/writing in particular) I think in terms of level design and game structure alone it largely beats SA2 (which I played first via the Battle GC port). It just seems like Sonic Team USA decided to make the game more tedious to play instead of genuinely improving SA1's faults. Sonic's SA1 stages were less restricted in playspace (and the Homing Attack from what I remember wasn't utilized to be mandatory in the level design-compared to SA2's Homing Attack chains that occasionally appeared in the game), Knuckles's SA1 treasure hunting levels are largely more accessible, and Gamma's mobility and controls were less clunky then SA2's mech shooting stages. And you could actually play as Tails. And you didn't have to play each character's levels in a set order. I think the only thing SA2 did better in terms of game design was scrapping Big and Amy's genre roulette stages and fixing the camera, and maybe scrapping the hub worlds as well.
I can endure Sonic, Tails, and Amy's gameplay. I can't endure Knuckles, Gamma, or Big's gameplay. This makes it better than SA2, where I can endure Sonic and Shadow's gameplay, and I can't endure TAils, Knuckles, Eggman, or Rouge's gameplay. But I don't really care about all of that because the Chao Garden is where it's at. Best part of the game.
Question, has anyone created a mod in a similar fashion to the SA2 one where you can pick a level and play as whatever character you want, or would that be too difficult for this game due to the fact they have the same levels but with different layouts (for example, would it be possible to play as knuckles in sonic's speed highway with the Sonic's starting locations and layouts intact) I feel like such a mod would be more practical in this game since the characters are far more suited in an all around fashion than in SA2, where characters outside their gameplay styles often cannot get past certain obstacles.
Lol, what? Sonic Adventure 2 doesn't have any rehashed levels. Do you mean levels that are similar to each other, like Radical Highway and Mission Street? That's to give parity to the two campaigns. Sonic Adventure 1 rehashes way more than the sequel with all characters playing the same or cut down levels for Sonic. Sonic Adventure 1 is also way more rushed than 2: the appalling bugs, weaker animations, poor drawdistance e.t.c. I think people whack Sonic Adventure 2 way too much.
Sonic adventure 1's "rehash" as you put it makes sense though. All the characters are on their own adventure, but they visit the same locales since they all take place in the same area and their stories overlap. SA2 though is lazy. It reuses assets to make clone levels. Sure, some of it makes sense since they're in the same area, like prison island, but even then they're similar enough that'd SA1's approach would almost make more sense. Mission street, radical highway, both car levels use the same assets.
