http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJCyJzuDpr8 Here's an analysis of the footage. I will give the game some compliments. The animations are smooth and there are some nice touches, such as the motobug wheel rolling away to where ever, Sonic finally has a pushing animation again (that was in Generations but only used when pushing movable objects, otherwise he just stood there), and if the video is right and the level uses those wooden X's to signify pits rather than the caution signs, then that's also a nice thematic touch. Which is what boggles the mind for me a bit, because some of the things shown show that they know what they're doing, and then some of them don't, and then I'm left confused. And that is definitely a drop dash. How could it not be?
Yep it sure is a drop dash, I didn't catch that part before. And Ohtani confirmed on Twitter that's the level theme, although that's not the final mix.
I think its going for more level substance than Generations did. Some of the movement looks improved, but a lot of it did not. Rolling? Absolutely nonexistant outside of the spindash. 1:15's complete sudden deceleration to normal running speed after the S pipe is not giving me good vibes. The level still looks like a cutout popping out of the background instead of being embedded in the background. The hidden springs filling parts in the level where you're supposed to jump looks like its taking after Lost World's brand of stupid. And that music is only slight step up from irritating. Definitely not what I expected and not in a good way. It looks and sounds like a cheap imitation next to Mania, but was anyone really expecting otherwise? :specialed:
Maybe the hidden springs are there to not slow you that much if you're dumb enough to not jump after a clearly visible wall. Maybe kids with slow reflexes may end using them, while more experienced players will just jump and will be in some way rewarded for it. Who knows, I'm willing to give it a chance, especially because I don't know anything from Sonic post-Genesis era (unless watching my sister playing Adventure and Unleashed counts). Also I tried Heroes but I wiped out my save after it bored me. You know what I'm talking about... rails.
Some of the springs that are hidden are the only way to make over the spikes in some cases. Why are they hidden if they are necessary as part of the intended path for that part of the level? It's like in Lost World where they put them all over in the event you forgot that they built a parkor system. Lord knows they forgot they built it.
The game looks great but seriously what is going on with the music? Its like Sonic 4 all over again..
Maybe the music is unfinished...? I mean as recently as Lost World, Ohtani was composing some genuinely excellent work. It's just crazy to me that the guy would so drastically lose his touch after having done something very similar already in Generations and nailing it.
On his Twitter he said the melody was done but the final mix wasn't so there's still hope it sounds better. Even though I still feel the tune, along with the previous song they featured, are still kind of weak.
By final mix he means the reverb, levels and panning of the elements, so this is basically 90% of what we'll get.
I wonder what the reaction would be if the music used for the stage was basically the regular Green Hill Zone music again.
Weird, despite being the same footage down to the seeming Drop Dash, the official Sonic the Hedgehog Youtube channel's version doesn't have the awkward raise in volume for the music when it hits the loop point. Makes it obvious the music really was edited in after the fact, but also makes me wonder who buggered that slight thing up on the initial video posting.
So admittedly my expectations for this game were never very high. The modern Sonic portions have no appeal to me because I don't like race car games, but I am open to what the classic Sonic portion may offer. IMO Classic Sonic sections seem OK, they have potential. I don't expect them to have the same physics as Sonic in Mania, and I think that's a good thing. Mania exists so we can play as Classic Sonic was intended to play. If classic Sonic in Forces had 1 to 1 physics with Mania Sonic, then by Sega's sound logic there probably would be no reason to proceed with Mania at all. The only thing I experienced which was flat out awful was the music. That is such awful music. It's identical to the garbage from Sonic 4, and it's sort of offensive in its inauthenticity. The music is honestly a huge red flag because if they can't see how patronizing, inauthentic and awful it sounds, then what hope is there for the rest of their judgment?
The only thing "inauthentic" about the song is the synthesizer that it uses, not resembling the FM synthesis that the classic games used. Other than that, the melody is something that I could probably expect from an Act 2 of a stage. Honestly, though, I can't tell what exactly people are expecting from the music in order for it to be deemed authentic.
Sonic Mania has authentic classic Sonic music, because rather than resorting to lazy samples and chip sounds, it uses arrangement techniques and a styles that represents the classics sound properly. The song from that video in itself isn't necessarily awful, but it's weighed down by it's need to sound like a chiptune. Cause Sonic was 16 Bit, and 16 bit games used chip sounds and bleeps and bloops instead of more natural organic instruments. The song itself also lacks the distinct vibe of the classics, or at least, it doesn't match the tone one of the classics would associate with this stage. It's overly cheery and whimsical, instead of wonderful and somewhat thoughtful. I'm not sure if Ohtani was told to compose a certain way, but it really does feel like he was trying way too hard to make it sound "retro". tl;dr This is what fans hear when they listen to Classic Sonic music http://youtu.be/eDY0kZhJ0Wg This is what Sonic Team and Sega hear when they listen to Classic Sonic music http://youtu.be/pzENKWjbQxQ
I would hope not. That arrangement's rubbed me the wrong way ever since I first started hearing it years ago; it makes all these unnecessary additions and changes in the chord progression that end up feeling overdone, like it's trying to be bigger than it is. It's weird to see people still praising it when Tee Lopes has done better as of last year.
Okay, two things. Yes, this, exactly this. The compositions from back then were clearly designed to be real, organic songs that could be performed by an actual band and still sound coherent. The chiptune limitations weren't an excuse, or a gimmick, they were just a tool. This kind of synthy "let's just use the Sonic 1 snare" stuff is clearly, clearly a gimmick. An annoying one, at that. Are you...? These two remixes Tee's done have entirely different contexts. The former is meant to be a re-interpretation of the composition, so yes, it has a lot of additions and changes. Try to imagine you're arranging a video game song for an orchestra - would you really make it sound exactly the same or would you embellish it to take advantage of the format to which you're translating it? The latter is designed for a level that in large part is aesthetically the Green Hill we're all used to, so of course it's going to sound largely the same. I'm shaking my head wondering how that isn't apparent, not to mention the fact that so much can be done with the original arrangement while still sounding like Green Hill goes to show that a lot of heart went into its composition in the first place.
I guess that's just not for me? I don't feel like the reinterpretation is interesting or enjoyable. I understand the concept of taking creative liberties in arrangement for different contexts, but I still don't like how the arrangement sounds. Faithful expansions of the original song's sounds do a lot more for me. It's super petty, and I'm going to shut up now because it really is petty, but like I said, I've disliked that arrangement for a very long time and said nothing because there's really no appropriate environment to be critical of it I guess. Sorry.
I guess, unless the video quality was just abysmal, the switch version really is just gonna be the gross underpowered version. Visually, this looks like a major improvement, and actually looks like a step up from Gens GHZ in terms of graphical fidelity, and while its not as busy as Gens GHZ, it looks like it takes the detail of that game and simplifies the base meshes to make it more readable. Too bad the level design still looks barren as hell. Why does this company seem to insist that Lost World was a good idea... I really hope later levels in this game play better. Also, considering we just saw all of Green Hill in that video, I hope we're getting some form of Acts, else that's criminally short level design even when compared to Gens GHZ.
