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Sonic Frontiers Thread - PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by MykonosFan, May 27, 2021.

  1. Frostav

    Frostav

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    The only thing I'm really turned off by are the grind rails. Having rails inexplicably in the air was fine-ish when the levels were ultimately linear obstacle courses full of completely surreal architecture but they look absolutely ridiculous when right above a big world that looks like...an actual world. Why would I ever ride these? Why do rails take turns and curve around over flat ground I could just run over instead? A rail can take a needlessly elaborate course when it's the only path over a bottomless pit, but when there's ground I could just run over and do more shit on it's like....huh????? They don't even go anywhere!!! They're all like 50 feet long???????

    I don't mean to be a downer but it feels like they're just so thoughtlessly placed there because "Sonic games should rails" and the last impression this game needs to make is that there isn't a whole lot of proper direction and thought behind its design choices.
     
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  2. foXcollr

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  3. I'm more interested now than I was before. Frontiers has now begun transitioning from the status of "will purchase, but not until a sale" to "may purchase day one."
     
  4. MontiP

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    Don't really have a strong opinion on this, though that's mostly because I feel very sleepy. It looks nice, the piano piece was an instant ear catcher and I really like the new air combo animation.

    Also (and apologies for those who don't speak Spanish):

    upload_2022-5-31_17-49-15.png

    Was there ever anything Sonic-related that trended on YouTube?
     
  5. MrMechanic

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    I've been having this argument with people on twitter for the last hour whose defence of this is "Lolz, giant loops aren't real so why complain about this!?"

    From about 7:11 - 9:55 there's a more visual explanation of the below... buuuuut....

    I have no problem with rails ala Escape from the City or Metal Harbour, they're built into the stage architecture itself and are fully contextualised, they make sense for that stage (City Escape they're handrails on stairs).

    I also have no problem with ones like in the first stage of Unleashed or Gens Green Hill Zone which are abstract representations of things, like crossing a bridge, grinding along pipes or power cables for machinery etc. And I also have no problem with whole stages that take the abstract approach, e.g. Heroes has grind rails in the sky... But it's supposed to be the team using a mine train network to navigate, or Sky Rail in SA2, Shadow is flying through a canyon after tails, the rails are representation of him leaping from different parts of the canyon.

    Frontiers however... look bloody awful.

    The only defence I can give for it is "Well maybe the islands are magic and the rails are magically supported" or with at least one it looks like it could be some kind of exterior structure on a tower... But still... they look BAD! Their placement looks awful, there's utterly no justification for the bulk of them either literally or as an abstract concept...

    Even if you could argue 'it fits in with the level design and/or it's a representation of X', it doesn't change the fact it looks terrible, it's like someone drew black lines on what is otherwise a nice skybox.
     
  6. Zephyr

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    With regards to "emptiness", that would be less of a problem if navigating the terrain was itself a fun activity (ie: slope physics, rolling, etc.). While it's unlikely that the devs have given those things any more thought than they have in the past 20+ years, I guess it technically still remains to be seen if they're actually absent?
     
  7. VectorCNC

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    I agree with much of this, especially the statement about contextualization. For example, in the classics there were obviously floating platforms, but it made sense in the environment, whereas in Mania (and this is probably my only complaint), those floating gloves that held the revolver just made no sense... like somehow these giant magical hands exist floating in the air?? The loop de loops I can tolerate because they at least had the appearance of being a geological feature in this fantastic world. But... It's the same issue with these rails, we are given this realistic appearing world, but then suddenly there are these disembodied rails which objectively exist for no other reason than to facilitate Sonic obtaining some object (as far as we can see right now). They just seem to exist independent of any internal logic. For me, this break emersion.
     
  8. Palas

    Palas

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    I don't take issue with rails having no narrative/worldbuilding reason to exist in any given environment, but I'll never understand them from a gameplay perspective. What's so fun about rails that wouldn't be more fun if the player had control over their movement. It's not even like there's a trade-off -- like you'd go faster if you went by foot but rails are safer, or the other way around. I get stages that move on their own, like Bridge Act 2. Rails, on the other hand... I just don't get it.
     
  9. MootPoint

    MootPoint

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    I rewatched the footage over and found that there were some weird rock creatures jumping around when Sonic was running on the hamster wheel, toward the right side.

    upload_2022-5-31_17-44-56.png

    They definitely got faces too, so I'm curious what their purpose is.

    upload_2022-5-31_17-46-21.png
     
  10. shilz

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    Open world games can look very empty out of context.
    [​IMG]
    In this image of Red Dead Redemption, you can't see a lot of the things that take can place here: hunts for legendary animals, searches for lost treasures, challenges, random events, and potential side missions. A lot of what Open World games are tend to be taking the mundane and giving some excuse to searching through all the areas you can to transform it into intrigue. So of course paying attention to the landscape in the background isn't gonna give you anything, because you're purposefully not looking at the task at hand.
     
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  11. I’ve been let down by Sonic Team so many times but it will still hurt if it turns out they won’t even try getting fun dynamic traversal right so we can have a big open playground to run and jump around in, so far we have this teaser which thinks combat and the same boring grinding style we’ve had since Unleashed is more important to show than how traversal will work so I’m not getting my hopes up.
     
  12. Blue Spikeball

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    You have to switch rails to avoid obstacles/bottomless pits and grab items. When running on a path you don't do that. Well, aside from the quickstep sections in the boost games, which were introduced after rails. But since this is open world, I doubt it will have quickstep sections. So rails are the only way of presenting that kind of challenge.
     
  13. Wildcat

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    Looks good. I really like the spin cycle move. Reminds me of the cartoons when he’d run around someone to disorient them or create a twister. It’s how I imagined it from the leaked info.
     
  14. Flare

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    Nice surprise. I am genuinely more interested than I was, feels more Heroes and 06 in a way.

    Also it seems (though sure to be proven wrong) that the rails are above terrain. Feels like it will be a combination of extra challenges and easy vertical movement... as I highly doubt you'll be running up hills.

    [​IMG]
    Definitely 06 vibes... :P
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2022
  15. Plorpus

    Plorpus

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    Nice catch! Those seem to be the rock creatures from one of the early leaks. They were described as Korok ripoffs that followed Sonic and you had to take them to a big rock guy on a tower.
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2022
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  16. Snowbound

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    For me the Sonic roblox game demonstrates that just running as sonic is fun if he feels good to control and has level design that accommodates those controls. The early zones of the roblox game are a lil claustrophobic at high speeds... but Hill Top and Chemical Plant zones? Chef kiss
     
  17. charcoal

    charcoal

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    I liked what was shown off today, but it did feel a little bit barren at points and the combat just seems meandering and pointless from the short teaser we saw.
    I'm still excited though, I feel giddy like a little kid for the gameplay trailer coming out tomorrow.
     
  18. MontiP

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    I'm not gonna lie... Sonic looks quite good in this shot, even if he still largely looks the same as he did in Forces (which I don't necesseraly have an issue with; in fact it may not even be the Forces model at all).

    If Sonic Team's using the Hedgehog Engine 2, then it really shows that they are trying to give it their all with this one (as in the graphics department).
     
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  19. Dark Sonic

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    I think Sonic does. The earliest example I can think of is the Sonic CD intro. Yes I know, it's an animation, but it gave an idea of the possibilities. The varied movements, using the environment to your advantage, quick exploration. Hell the environment itself weirdly almost reminds me of the barren planes Sonic runs through to get to Little Planet. Another example I can think of was the feeling I got from the initial Sonic 06 teaser (the closed doors one with Sonic throwing the ring boxes like Tails would eventually do). It looked like you could go anywhere and you could do so fast. I was initially excited... and then the actual game came about and yea.
     
  20. Blue Spikeball

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    Ever since Sonic went 3d I've longed for a Sonic game with large open areas that let you freely run around. Now it looks like we're finally getting it.

    And yes, that '06 teaser looked awesome.