Stealth mentioned somewhere (I think it was the stream he did) that some of the zones were changed by the ruby and some weren't. At the time that didn't really make sense to me, but I guess some of the levels were illusions and some weren't. Like, Green Hill, Chemical Plant, and Stardust Speedway would be illusions since they're the result of the ruby being activated, but the others could be the real deal. I'm pretty sure Lava Reef was the real thing at the very least.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t1u7tC0GpE Once you beat the game you can make multiple avatars and switch between them. I like that.
The Ruby is is inconsistent in what it actually does. If it operates how Forces says it should then almost all of Mania is just some crack fueled illusion while Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are fumbling around Angel Island. Then are the Heavies really just Egg Robos or did they get transformed? The entire bit with Little Planet chained to Angel Island is suspect too. How Sonic get's warped or why the ruby exists in the Mania-verse is basically context they can't be arsed to care about in Forces. So from what I can headcanon, Eggman had a load of prototype Rubies or something and probably accidentally warped one into the Sonic Mania dimension/timeline at one point. This could probably create a timeline split if we really give enough of a shit to try to link Generations Classic Sonic to Mania Sonic. The warp to the Modern universe/timeline can be handwaved by chaos emerald bullshit after interacting with the Ruby. What I don't understand is the implied effects in Forces. Eggman uses the Ruby to modify some furry into Infinite, Infinite can pretty much slap anyone's shit because he has a bullshit powerset that fucks with everyone's senses in a way that they can actually experience the illusion or something? The effect can be expanded upon by powering it up with more rubies or some power generator thing. Plus the Ruby is canceled out by another Ruby, which just so happens to only lock on to a single person using it. So are Eggman's forces and installations actually real or is Infinite just a spearhead that crushes the hard opposition? Where the hell did Eggman get the first Ruby, and if he found it, what exactly are the prototypes? What the hell did Eggman even do at the end since the Ruby simply becomes another power battery to a giant mech? What was stopping Eggman from simply throwing the sun at everyone from the start and why did he wait so long to do so? Power limitation? Hubris? On destruction it also sends Mania Sonic back, unless Mania Sonic was some illusion too. But the story itself is just wacky bullshit that doesn't really mesh together at all. I'm just going to rattle off some basic things that if the game wanted to be taken seriously, it should have not glossed over. Eggman isn't shown ruling anything since he's always just out and about. His empire isn't even described much. He isn't even shown conquering things. From the game's 7 locations you can't even infer much since Capital City seems completely fine. Of course Sonic Team is bent on ignoring older games canon so GUN or the effects in other famous locations aren't brought up. Green Hill is already in a sorry state before Sonic loses. The 'resistance' are always off screen and fluctuate from under dog gorilla fighters to an entire recolored fleet of warships (???). Where is their home base and how exactly are they resisting Eggman. How are they holding territory? In reality, the ground forces show up in two embarrassing cutscenes to duke it out with infinite clones and that's it. Speaking of, why did infinite just make clones of bad guys? Why didn't he make a bunch of Sonic's to kick people's shit in? Who makes the wispons and what lead to them being used by the resistance fighters? Speaking of, almost everything that happens that is important is done off screen or implied in the next cut scene. Sunset Heights seems to have been besieged for 6 months since its still in the same shape it was before Sonic gets captured. Hell he's tortured for 6 months apparently and no worse for wear. Speaking of, when Sonic is released, he doesn't even help the rest of the imprisoned people on the station (neither does your Avatar). Also why didn't anyone go emerald hunting to counter Infinite. Who or what the hell is infinite and his ultimate fate should not be tied to some bullshit DLC. He honestly comes off as something like a Green Lantern in application of his powerset. Also the implied death toll is fucking absurd for a fucking Sonic game. Apparently Infiinte kills a bunch of dudes with lasers in the flashback, and the Metropolis fight is an offscreen massacre given the gravity and giant infinites.
Asking the real questions. + - I'm hoping for a Crush 40 cover on the vocal tracks album, but Crush 40 basically has no connection to Sonic Team and Sega anymore, apart from showing up at conventions.
It would, but we might run into the same thing that happened when people asked Jun and Johnny about covering Endless Possibility, which I'm pretty sure amounted to them saying either, "We're not interested", "There are some legal hurdles", or both.
So wow, they really gave up marketing this game after the leak. They've posted and said basically nothing for over a week and the game comes out Tuesday, save for the cute little propaganda video which showed no gameplay. But I've said it before and I'll say it again. SoA really sucked at marketing this game. Sorry Aaron and friends, I'm sure it wasn't your fault, and the product wasn't as stellar as Mania (which its delay probably hurt this game's marketing) but yea...
It's still quite fascinating to me that if we go by officially released material, we've only seen.. two Modern Sonic stages, one of those coming from the Japan demo? I'm not forgetting another showing, am I? We've seen snippets in story trailers, but...
Honestly what could they have done with it? If the rumors are to be believed, SoA knew it was a dud the moment they saw the pitch. I suppose they could have done more but I won't get mad at the salesmen for failing to make a poor product look appealing. Sonic Team really sucked at making a game worth marketing.
You forgot the bribed review from famitsu and yes, I consider being the first and only publication to have a review before anyone else a bribe.
I guess I should clarify that I meant longform footage of Modern Sonic's stages being played, as opposed to screenshots / short chunks of gameplay.
I haven't seen footage of every level, but I have watched a decent enough chunk. The game seems to have a notable lack of setpieces in comparison to Unleashed and Generations that could be used for marketing. There's no grinding down Big Ben, dodging falling pillars in Egypt, drifting across African planes, GUN Truck, running down a skyscraper with cops chasing, etc. There's not really much exciting to put in trailers.
No but they could have shown more than 2 areas. There are 7 in the game, maybe they could have shown a little bit of 4 instead of all of 2 and 1 level of 2 other worlds. In contrast Sonic Colors also had 7 worlds (if you count terminal velocity) and they showed every single world prior to launch. There's a happy medium between showing everything and showing nothing (Mania :v
They've kind of fucked themselves. By way of Sonic and Tails recognizing Classic Sonic (and vice versa), Generations is canon. And as such......Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic CD, Sonic 3K, Adventure, Adventure 2, Heroes, Sonic 06, Unleashed, and Colors have to be canon. So not bringing up GUN is a huge fuck up. Regarding the Phantom Ruby mess and the timelines, I think this is roughly how it breaks down? - Generations happens, Classic Sonic returns to the "past" - Split timeline theory is obviously in full effect, as: 1. Modern Sonic doesn't suddenly have new/different memories and 2: Classic Sonic is referred to in Forces as being "from another dimension". So, in the same way that Future Trunks is both from "the future" and another dimension, Classic Sonic is from "the past" and another dimension. So now we have (at least) two timelines. - One small benefit is that I think this solves the Blaze/Nega/Silver thing: all three are from "the future" and another dimension, because for all intents and purposes, they're interchangeable labels, just as "the past" and another dimension are for Classic Sonic now. This, taken with what Iizuka said in a recent interview about Mighty and the Super Emeralds existing only in the "classic world", might imply that the classic games, as they actually are, only happen in this new, post-Generations alternate past, while for Modern Sonic's own personal past, they did not occur as the games themselves depict. I don't think I mind that too much. It certainly allows for reconciling things like the Chaotix. We can even lump Sonic 4 into "Modern Sonic's personal past" rather than anything that Classic Sonic actually has to take seriously. :v: - Eggman in the main timeline is trying to create the Phantom Ruby. Some prototypes warp away, one in particular to the "past" alternate dimension, where Classic Sonic lives. - I don't like it, but what was discussed here a bit ago about Mania essentially being Classic Sonic and co. having a really crazy acid trip makes sense, and explains the lack of Zone transitions. Regardless of Mania being an acid trip or not, if the Mania Team is allowed to make more classic games, the plot hiccups don't really matter. After all, when have plot hiccups precluded the creation of a Sonic game? :specialed:
Problem: Blaze's dimension can't be the future because we saw it to very clearly not be Sonic's dimension in Sonic Rush Adventure. Blaze was seemingly randomly sent to Sonic's dimension in Sonic Colors DS. I think that's a good enough explanation for why she was in Sonic's dimension's future in 06. She was sent there because she was "needed" or some shit. My theory about Generations is that the "Classic Sonic" we see in Generations was never from the past in the first place. I want my Super Emeralds to be canon, dammit. If it has to be in an alternate dimension, then so be it. I'm pretty sure since we saw evidence of Super Emeralds in Mania's world, S3&K is canon there, whereas in Modern Sonic's dimension, S3 and S&K happened separately, meaning no Super Emeralds. Mania Dimension: S1 > S2 > S3&K > SCD (all good futures?) > game gear titles maybe, etc. Modern Dimension: S1 > S2 > S3 > S&K > SCD (SSZ bad future) > S4 > SADX, etc.
Yeah, not surprised by that review and score at all lmao. And I'm sure there's more 5-6/10s to come. Four years, everybody.
