Gameplay looks good. I'm curious to see how they will handle progression since we've never seen Sonic Team do an open world thing of any type. Music sounds nice, I hope its more of this, cohesive, and less of that bad medicore EDM from Forces.
I'm willing to bet there's gonna be a return of the upgrade system from sonic unleashed, or maybe skills from generations. Both of those seem like good fits for the open world.
Honestly think this looks pretty good! Kinda pleasantly surprised as I was worried it was gonna look far more barebones than this. Excited to see more and read more about the game.
The preannouncement leak of "Sonic Rangers" got the 'run patterns around foes as an attack' thing down right, and it was the start of the whole ghost girl rumor in the first place. We have yet to see if the whole "there's cyberspace stages that play like traditional Boost formula" stuff is real though, and maybe the full reveal will rip that bandaid off and prove the leak was either lucky or on-point.
In an open world game I think it’s possible to be in the open world for 7 mins without going into some alternate level type. My point is that Cyberspace’s potential exclusion from tomorrow’s reveal may not mean that it’s not in the game.
I'm fairly convinced the Jan 2021 leak was legit at this point. There's too many details guessed way too early for it to be a fluke. The name "Sonic Rangers" was not the final title, but it was included in the metadata of the initial teaser trailer. The leak mentions it is an open world game with heavy Breath of the Wild influences long before said teaser was shown, this most recent gameplay snippet shows off what appears to be the "spincycle" attack as mentioned, the snippet also appears to show off one of the roving bosses that you can defeat in the open world. So take from this what you will. Assuming it is legit: This leak is over 12 months old, so the game may have changed a lot since then. Things like a skill tree could be removed or replaced based on feedback from that focus group. Though I'm sure the "cyberspace" stuff is still in. Sonic games often struggle for content to pad the run time, don't see why Sega would cut them even if they were bad.
Well, so far the leaks have been consistently accurate. The leaks had: - the names Sonic Rangers and Sonic Frontiers - the open world gameplay - the spin-cycle - the plot and setting of the Starfall Islands - the realistic ruins environment - the giant robots that you climb - the combat - the not-Koroks
i acknowledge that the leaks may be correct in some limited capacity But the real important matter here is why the fuck is your username hitlersaurus christ. What the fuck.
Doesn’t feel that limited to me, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough. because it’s a funny name I made up that just kinda stuck and now that’s what people have known me by online for over a decade and a half. I don’t know, why is your name _oliver
Not a revolutionary prediction, but I’d be willing to put money to us getting the exact release date now they’re ramping up promotion - either today, on Sonic’s birthday or 30/06, the end of the month.
I forgot, but doesn't Summer Game Fest have online demos? I really hope we get a demo like they did with Generations.
You think so? I feel like we're in the same time frame if they're releasing in November. You could play Generations during the first Sonic Boom that happened on E3 week, and then everyone got to play it on June 23rd. It's a loooong shot but hope it's something in the works before or way after Origins releases.
Maybe I'm more used to Nintendo's demos, which are available usually no more than a month or two before launch. Also, recall that Generations' entire stage set leaked via that demo - I can imagine SEGA wouldn't want to take such a risk again, even if there are ways to mitigate it. Also, how do you even put forward a demo for an open world game? I can't really think of a satisfying experience that'd work except maybe a boss battle, which would do a poor job of representing the game holistically.
You must be new here, HC has been a member of this community for a very long time, the name is no surprise Anyway, I’m just going to give my two cents on this game so far, even if I feel it’s just a parrot of what a lot of other people are probably saying (don’t know, haven’t checked, don’t care). The game is too much like Breath of the Wild, down to even the music they used in the trailer. I can’t tell if that will be final game music but the fact it’s so far largely a copy / paste of Zelda just doesn’t convince me that this game is going to be the killer Sonic game that it needs to be. The graphics, though pretty, are bland and dull. The enemies aren’t very Sonic-like, and there’s literally no Sonic vibe at all. You could replace Sonic with any other generic character and the game would still seemingly exist as is. On the plus side, it might not be a broken mess because it’s been in development so long. Honestly I just don’t think Modern Sonic is for people who grew up playing Sonic anymore, it’s just a cash grab for people who haven’t played Sonic lately and like other games. There’s no consistency in theme or world design, it’s just generic landscapes and plots. I hope the later levels feel a bit more Sonic-y.
Sonic Lost World goes for a super stylised direction that pastiches the Mega Drive trilogy: "It looks too much like Mario! I miss when Sonic games had more grounded art styles!" Sonic Forces tries splitting the difference by introducing more grounded elements to shift back towards the Unleashed style while still retaining the more stylised simplicity of Lost World: "This art style is a compromised mish-mash, clearly they weren't trying!" Sonic Frontiers fully commits to grounded environmental art direction, hearkening back to the likes of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic 06 and Sonic Unleashed: "It's just copying Breath of the Wild! This series has no identity anymore!" Like I'm not even saying you have to like all these art styles but Sonic has run the gamut since 2008 and I swear there is just no pleasing people. Since the backlash against Forces (and even before then, to an extent), this franchise has been making a concerted effort to try and satisfy people like us while still moving forward with its own identity. For the same reason I think it's unreasonable to expect this game to have slope physics just because the Mega Drive games had them, I think this aversion to doing something new that some people seem to have is just unfair. Also, these things take time and we have seen barely any of this game. Not everything is going to be addressed all at once.
Colors and Heroes exist. Both those games have outlandish, otherworldly environments that are also detailed. I'm not really even that bothered by Frontiers' art direction. Maybe this will sound like a "Sunset Heights is the first level" complaint, but most of what we've seen seems to cover one specific part of the game's world. We can compare landmarks from the reveal trailer and the first couple screenshots to some of the footage we got this morning, and it seems like it's not exactly spread across the entire game here. If we're supposed to expect "cyber space" worlds (which I'm assuming are this game's version of Elden Ring's Dungeons or BOTW's shrines), then those could look and feel totally different. If they're "Generations-style", as the original leak put it, they may contain more outlandish visual design. Frankly though, the biggest problem with Lost World's style was that it should have been cel-shaded. I have no idea why they're pushing for intensive realistic rendering for a series that is so grounded in cartoon aesthetics. "Realism" has never been healthy for the series, what people are asking for is vibrancy and detail, and memorable landmarks especially. Part of the reason people port emerald coast to their shitty unity frameworks so much is that it shows off a lot of stuff. A beach with a resort next to it, docks, a rickety bridge, the orca, big weird rock formations covered in grass and foliage, the lighthouse, and really really steep slopes. I don't think it would have been perceived so much as "realistic" without the realistic human city right next to it. As for slope physics...it's kind of weird to try and suss out what exactly people mean when they ask for them. Technically, Forces and Colors have slope physics, the games just don't really use them, there's other weird jank things about them, and Sonic doesn't quite roll around like a marble. But it's obvious from what this game's doing that that sort of design would be suited to more cramped levels, so maybe this game can do something else and still do it okay. I have no idea personally, I think we've seen too little of the combat to judge very well, but it also could just be a game that coasts on the vibes. I've spoken before about how much I hate the phrase "meta era", both because it's inaccurate and really is just a symbol for a group of fans desperate to divide themselves from anyone who likes the games they don't. But the one major difference between the mid-2000s games and the 2010s games is that even though the former is just, a lot worse and more broken most of the time, they also have a lot of cutscenes that go on for multiple minutes, which the games since Colors haven't. I've honestly reached the point where I think that might be the most important distinction. Because even though the gameplay is bad, trapping you into the game for that long a period of time may force you to be endeared by the awful stories. Sure, Shadow sucks, but you've played through six endings already -- are you really gonna stop before you see Black Doom go down? By contrast, even though the general experience of Lost World or Forces is made to be inoffensive, the fact that the storytelling is so sparse and half-baked means you're going to forget it in all likelihood, and remember more of the little niggles that annoyed you. Kids who played 06 remembered it because it was a long game, and sometimes you think you enjoyed something just because it took for-fuckin-ever. So yes, all SEGA really has to do if they want the "passion and effort" crowd to OK the game is let Ian Flynn write until his fucking hands cramp, and maybe force some crappy sidequests to be part of the main quest, Werehog-style. Reddit told me that's what good Sonic games are.
I believe people are calling it the "meta era" because they got used to it and the name got popular. Personally I would just call it "the annoying era" But jokes aside, what other name could we use? Boost Era? Sonic lost world isn't exactly a boost game, and Unleashed is more of an adventure era game I believe. Will frontiers mark the start of Open-Zone era? Also, the hype about Flynn writing the game is a bit of a double edged sword. I hope he manages to write an interesting story, it's his first game after all. Also, do we know if he's writing the game story, or just characters dialogues etc?
