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

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

  1. jubbalub

    jubbalub

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    As someone who generally prefers the classic games to the others: it looks fun. The controls look fluid (and apparently they are, according to people who played the game) and I want to explore the open world. I like how the game looks graphically, and the story is intriguing to me. I'm excited to see them try something different, after 4 games in a row with the same gameplay style and level design philosophy. I'm also one of those people who thinks Super Mario Oddysey is one of the best Mario games ever made, so make of that what you will.

    At the same time, in my opinion, I shouldn't HAVE to justify why I'm excited for this game. Just as people don't have to justify NOT being excited for this game.
     
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  2. Yea, if you're genuinely excited, don't let anyone here rain on your parade.

    I'm just kind of suffering from a mid life crisis (at 29) realizing that I'm Abe Simpson who doesn't "get it" anymore.
     
  3. charcoal

    charcoal

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    One of my favorite things about open world games like BOTW was just running around the environment and just taking it all in, scavenging for stuff. Doing that but with Sonic and at 100 mph just seems inherently fun to me. What's more is that from what we've seen, the movement and combat all look to be pretty great and fluid, and the people who have played it have agreed with that sentiment.

    Also the story being done by Ian Flynn is pretty exciting and I wanna see what they have in store.

    Plus I just do not give a shit about any of the nitpicks people have. The asset reuse doesn't bother me, the level design for the tutorial level is a little iffy but Sky Sanctuary looks great and fun as hell so I'm confident that the tutorial is just the exception not the rule.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2022
  4. RikohZX

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    Now I'm remembering the leaks maybe proclaiming that to get game progression you had to do a bunch of little objectives in the Cyberspace stages, but it never really elaborated on it. I'd be fine with like, speeding through a stage for a brief divergence before getting back to the game's meat and potatoes, but if I'm asked to replay stages to complete a bunch of objectives just so I can actually get on with the game itself, that's also going to put a hamper on pacing and interest.

    So long as nothing is as absolutely obnoxious and pace-breaking as the Sun and Moon Medals for Unleashed, hey, but I wouldn't put it past Sonic Team to arbitrarily gate game progression to stage replays.
     
  5. Starduster

    Starduster

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    What’s being raised aren’t mutually exclusive scenarios. I agree that this is indeed the most ambitious, widest scoped Sonic game we’ve had since Unleashed and that a lot of time, effort and thought has clearly gone into it.

    At the same time, I find the reuse of not only assets but also level designs within cyberspace to be questionable (assuming the tutorial stage isn’t a one off). Indeed, I believe that’s like a result of the scope of the game and of a team being stretched thin, choosing to focus on the main portion of the game, which I commend as a logical decision.

    And on the level design, I want to expand on something I said earlier: When I say I want the cyberspace stages to be deep, that doesn’t have to mean multiple paths and routes. If they’re going for bite-sized arcade style stages, I want to see them sequentially explore a variety of gimmicks and level set pieces the same way a Mario game does, mixing and matching gimmicks to create fresh challenges. We’ve already seen that they have the tools in the overworld to do that and I think that it’ll absolutely make cyberspace worthwhile if they can pull it off.
     
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  6. Kyro

    Kyro

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    The more I see, the more I like it. I love what im seeing from sonics controls, and the open world looks genuinely fun to play in and explore.

    Cyberspace looks iffy, but im also in the camp that doesnt think the modern sonic stages of forces were terrible. I only think they sting so much in forces because thats all you have, and the other two gameplay styles were arguably even worse.

    Having some shorter stages, especially if we are going to get so many, that serve as special stages in between exploration and overworld objectives seems like a great compromise to me. But I do need to see more of them, preferably would like to see some from maybe the second island or the last ones for kronos island to guage how in depth they'll get.

    But overall, I like what I'm seeing quite a bit, and im very excited to pick up the game.
     
  7. MH MD

    MH MD

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    Basically you have to get vault keys by completing multiple objectives in the stage, you can do all of them in one go too

    but the thing about those keys is that you can get them from another stages, ALSO you can get them from the open world itself somehow -according to the latest Game Informer issue iirc- , so the way I understood it, you have a lot of leeway and freedom in how you progress in the game
     
  8. SuperSnoopy

    SuperSnoopy

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    Slice of life visual novel, coming soon...?
    So apparently infinite boost will still be a thing, but only if you choose a slower "Action Mode".
    "Speed Mode" will be the mode with the faster stamina-like boost we've seen in gameplay so far.

    With this and the sliders in the option menu I’m honestly surprised how many options they’re giving to the player to experiment with
     
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  9. Blue Spikeball

    Blue Spikeball

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    TBF it's Windmill Isle 1, the most basic Unleashed act and pretty much a tutorial level for people to get the hang of the controls. Even when Unleashed came out, many thought of it as just a bland mini-level to introduce players to the 3d boost formula, and saw Windmill Isle 2 as the "true" act. Forces' stages being designed in the style of Unleashed's tutorial level isn't much a redeeming point for Forces.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2022
  10. JW.

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    I've been kinda meh on the game tbh. Might check it out when it's on sale in the future. I just can't see the railroading in an open world format they've got going on not being boring after a short amount of time for me. Seeing sonic jump across the world and get bounced to pre determined points by bounce pads makes me want to fall asleep.
     
  11. foXcollr

    foXcollr

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    I wouldn't expect them to be okay with that; as I said, I hope it's just the little tutorial that's meant to be a clever throwback. Sky Sanctuary seems wholly original (edit: referring to the level design, not the stage itself lol), at the very least.

    Idk, at least to me, Forces isn't "designed like Unleashed's tutorial" per se, Unleashed is designed like Unleashed. Plus the long 2 minute grind rail sections, 30 second QTEs over a bottomless pit, quick stepping through narrow hallways, and running through Apotos' signature endless straight flat brick road suspended over a pit. None of those are present here so far, which I'm glad about.

    I too remember the best parts of Unleashed, but the whole game wasn't like that. The large set pieces and environment art helped reinforce the feeling that you weren't just on a straight narrow path, but you were. I think it's just more evident now that there is a lot less environment around you, it's bottomless pits all around you in Cyberspace.

    If I wanted to draw a comparison personally, I'd say I want something more like Generations, because it had some wider open areas and several of the stages had distinct branching paths that were less linear than Unleashed's.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2022
  12. JansenM

    JansenM

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    Anyone else a bit lost with what's happened to the Koco design in the new trailer?

    All the merch, promo stuff, as well as the ingame models in the demo on the Gamescom show floor have the design we already know, yet the CG design sports a totally different approach to the face.

    [​IMG]

    The really interesting bit to me is that, if you watch the rendered sequence, you can see that the eye and mouth holes don't actually follow the texture on the model in motion. This could suggest one of two things:

    -(Boring answer) that portion of the asset was textured using object-space projections and the textures themselves are sliding because it was the best approach for the brief (means no stretching when parts of the geometry deform)
    -(Conspiratory answer) the face has changed recently in development and had to be corrected in post, meaning they didn't have time to tweak the asset or re-render for a couple of one-off shots, and tried to sort out the requirement in 2D, leading to some sliding due to that being a pretty tough ask.

    (GIF for context - it's especially visible on the mouth)
    [​IMG]

    I guess the most likely answer is that the CG is using an old, unfinalised design, especially considering all this merch that's already had the sign-off and seems to have entered production.
    Could be interesting if there's a bit of development yet to come on the look of the Kocos in-game though, particularly since the internet has fallen in love with the more empty-headed look in the CG Kocos. The demo seems fairly old too - they're apparently showing something else behind closed doors?

    EDIT:
    Looking again, you can actually see a soft-matted transition around the face where two rock textures move against each other - the area curves from each cheek marking down to the chin. I think they've had to layer something on top and replace what was underneath...

    Oh also option 3 = they just thought the facial anim would be easier to achieve artistically in 2D without worrying about building some wack topology for those holes, so left it for the comp.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2022
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  13. Flare

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    I know you are referring to the level layout, but Sky Sanctuary being “original” as it also reuses assets from its multiple returns, makes me chuckle.
     
  14. Starduster

    Starduster

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    Or they could just have different design variations, like the different Chao faces or how the Wisps have different numbers of eyes.
     
  15. JansenM

    JansenM

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    Haha for sure! Though we've only seen one design so far, in game and out of it (plus whatever that weird thing in the dark silhouette above Knuckles is) - I'd imagine this one is supposed to be another generic rescue target to join the rest of the clones, no?

    Also, for whatever reason, this one has no sprout on its head...
     
  16. MontiP

    MontiP

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    Or... It could be the Koco in it's initial stage before slowly transforming into an actual Chao :V
     
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  17. Snub-n0zeMunkey

    Snub-n0zeMunkey

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    yeah I wondered about that, the one in the trailer looks so different from the teletubby looking ones we've seen in promotional material

    but yeah, maybe some of them might just have different faces. Or maybe they were redesigned because SEGA were worried they look too much like the Koroks from Zelda and didn't want to risk being accused of ripping them off (although the koroks look like the kodama from Princess Mononoke and I'm sure the kodama must take inspiration from something else lol)
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2022
  18. Antheraea

    Antheraea

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    Re: "boo this is forces", "the levels are too short", etc

    I kind of have a hard time really caring about those critiques personally because 1.) I found Generations to be outright draining to play - not in a bad way but in a "oh I need a break after running this level for the Red Rings three times" way, so length doesn't bother me because I already find them pretty intense and 2.) I didn't play Forces :V or Unleashed. Generations is the only one I've played and even then I didn't get to finish it because it just decided to stop booting on my PC for some reason and I'd rather be actually playing a video game than troubleshooting its old, buggy-ass "launcher".

    If the "boost" segments control well and don't make me feel like I need to pop my eyes out and swish them in a jar of saline to be able to focus them again, I'm pretty fine with it. And like I said many pages ago, what matters to me in an open world is how it feels to traverse it. Skyrim is "big" and "dense" but its world is comfort food at best because traversing it isn't great. The Witcher 3's is a bit better because the stuff scattered around it is short and sweet and your horse isn't painful to control like in Skyrim. BOTW's was the best one I've played so far because of how traversal feels, with Legends Arceus behind it for similar reasons (the commonality between both: you can climb). Hell Arceus is even a little better than BOTW in the specific aspect that riding around isn't annoying as hell because your mount is an instant summon, so you can still go around and get resources without having to spend two seconds watching your character dismount and re-mount repeatedly. So tl;dr, if it feels nice to run around the islands like a maniac, Frontiers will have succeeded as a game for me.
     
  19. Venom Snake

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    Unleashed's level design was really fun and engaging for me despite being linear because it was also challenging. The more I play Unleashed (which I've played A LOT of more recently), the more I realize its basically like a super fast Crash Bandicoot game. Its not really designed like a Sonic game with momentum and open branching paths, its more designed to be a challenging linear obstacle course with more trial-and-error. I get that its not for everyone, but I absolutely love Unleashed and I think the problem with every boost game after is that its nowhere near as difficult. If Frontier's later levels remain linear but are actually difficult, I think I'd end up enjoying them. Generations does have superior level design but the shorter length and easier design makes them less thrilling to beat than Unleashed.
    Again, thats just my opinion. For what it is, I adore Unleashed, I remember when Generations came out I thought it was a much better game than Unleashed but more recently I'm finding myself reversing that opinion, even with Unleashed's issues.
     
  20. Antheraea

    Antheraea

    Bug Hunter Member
    oh right and this kind of aspect of "me as a player base"...if SoJ really is seeing Frontiers as a way to try to get Sonic to be more popular in Japan, then chances are the target audience are people like me in this respect too.