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

Looking at a video on Sonic Unleashed and I see a shot of this stage. I haven't played the game before, but... damn, that looks way more thrilling and fast-paced than the cyberspace counterpart was. It really puts into perspective for me just how slow and stiff cyberspace Sonic feels.

And on the subject of Sage: the montage was laughable, one of the most "what am I even looking at" things I've seen in this series. It was way too early, totally sudden, and very much unearned. Doesn't help that the footage was boring and that I thought the music was pretty grating.

 

They did no favors by making Sage entirely antagonist towards you until the every end when she makes a turn just because the story called for it.
I do enjoy the idea and I like her design, but they blew the execution entirely. The lack of build up just made the finale and team up pretty dull.

 

I like Sage the same way I like Infinite: gimme more cool recurring bad guys. Story doesnt do either of them any favors at all imo but they're visually appealing and need come back in future games so Metal Sonic can finally take a break. Maybe that way they can actually develop Sage and eggman's relationship

 

At least these types of villains don't overstay their welcome unlike a certain red sunnovagun...

Also Sage is best gorl, we must protect her at any costs.

 

Frontiers feels like it should have been the first game in at least a duology, with The End as the final boss of the last game, Eggman and Sage's relationship being fleshed across all of the games and Sage's death at the climax too.

As it stands now, this fanboy wants to see Frontiers as part of a trilogy themed around the Emeralds and the Ancients. First game would be Frontiers, second game would be an indirect prequel and remake of SA1 that drops some lore regarding Chaos, third game is a direct Frontiers sequel. Basically, I want the Tomb Raider Legend-Anniversary-Underworld trilogy but with Sonic. It'll never happen, but idc

 

I think odds of Sage being here to stay are pretty damn high. While Infinite’s ultimate fate was never revealed (and I still seriously hope that this is something that’s revealed in IDW with a Return of Infinite arc), it was pretty clear in Forces that Infinite didn’t have the same dynamic with Eggman that Sage does, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume he’s dead post Forces.

Meanwhile, Sage is from a game that has been much more warmly received, not to mention the character herself is very well liked, faults aside. There’s still a lot that can be done with her and given how much weight has been thrown behind Frontiers (especially with this upcoming content), I think Sage is a character that’s really meant to have longevity.

 

I like Sage, she's cute. I hope she sticks around, and I also hope she'll get into IDW soon with a Frontiers arc or something. I see no reason as to why she wouldn't stay, and considering the post-credits scene she'll probably be in the next game at the very least.

 

The execution of Sage's story is free to debate and question, it has many issues, but God it is an idea I adore so, so much.
That cutscene with Sage and Eggman flashbacks is both the best and worst of the game.

Spoiler

Just this idea of this AI realizing the value of her relationship with others and her own life is so touching and beautiful to me that it chokes me up a bit. When she is surprised by her own crying and starts changing appearance, I read that as her shedding her cold calculative cynically logical view of the world and just acknowledging her emotions and humanity that has always been there. "I wish I've never seen this" is a brutal line.

But... Yeah everything about its execution is another story. Build up is eh, music is weird, barely any of the flashbacks are even related to the emotions the cutscene wants to envoke.

I guess... Good job on sonic team for trying to execute such a beautiful idea and character, you tried.

I still adore sage.

 

Sage is basically modern “omelette” that Eggman niece Esq character that was invented from mania sprites.

 

I think of Zavok so little that I initially thought you meant Knuckles.

I’m not sure why, but I never watched the cutscenes in Lost World. I think the overall vibe of the enemies (not Eggman’s mechs - I was glad to see them) just put me off so the only things I know about Zavok and the story are what I could glean from level dialogue and YouTube videos.

 

I'm gonna have to hard disagree with this.

He is literally just Bowser.

 

Eh, hard to say what omelette was, as she was a fan character who had no established personality

although I suppose a better comparison might be Nina cortex

 

Sage is more Eggette than Zavok is Bowser.

 

I thought Sage was more of a “Cosmo” from Sonic X kind of character.

 

Sage is cute
Eggette is cringe
Simple as

 

Only a poor man's Bowser. That's what.

 

In the end of the day, Eggman upside down, never was more than that.

Still I'm glad Sage is somewhat an canon extension to that idea, one that isn't a mini-Eggman (*coughs* looks at other evil platform villains *cough*) , intentional or coincidental.

 

I'm fine with Sage staying around but like, and I hope nobody takes this the wrong way, this is recurring problem with a lot of Sonic characters.

They are created and written with ONE arc in mind for their introduction and that's it. Once their arc is over, Sega basically lose any interest in them and move on to the next flavor of the month character.

Except they keep the old characters around for...reasons, usually popularity. But because they had no long-term plans or have no interest in developing the stuff they established in their initial arcs...they just....exist and do nothing beyond existing to pad out the ever growing roster.


A lot of characters suffer from this, but a lot of people will usually point to Shadow, as he is, fittingly, the ultimate example of this. He fucking died and only came because people wanted him that badly, but oops, his initial arc is over so all he does nowadays is frown and fight Sonic.

I'm not saying that Sage shouldn't be back and all...but what am I expected to get from her? Are we gonna get more games focused on her or is she just gonna become Metal Sonic and become a generic Eggman minion that he treats slightly better but has no greater effect on anything or anyone.


I hate to sound cynical about this, but while I can at least expect the comics and side material to work fine in fleshing out this stuff, the games usually aren't focused on that. They're focused on whatever new gimmick Sega wanna sell, not building on...any of the numerous shit they've established but don't use.

 

Shadow is the antithesis, actually: you're right that he was designed for one game (hell, he wasn't even supposed to live past that, they actually had a reason to never use him again), but in response to his popularity, they've actually made several games focused specifically on him to flesh out his story. He was arguably more the protagonist than Sonic for a good 5-6 years.

I agree that Sage was not designed for more than one game, but her potential role as a recurring-but-not-omnipresent antagonist like Metal Sonic would make it pretty easy to keep her around. Unlike Silver and Blaze, she is in close proximity to a major character that make it easy to bring her along.

She doesn't have to be in every game, but she does add something when she is, even if the game isn't about her like her debut was.

I say the only actual problem is how to balance her character development with her presumed role of being an antagonist.

Frontiers is explicitly about that. They built up lore, character development, relationships, and references out the wazoo. Frontiers was almost certainly made to say "yeah, we're focusing on this now." Sega made a whole lore committee to tie up continuity and declared that Sonic Prime and the IDW comics are canon and, more importantly, relevant to the games.

In this new format alone, even if the games themselves do not flesh her out, the comics might, and unlike with Archie or Fleetway, that actually would be relevant to the game continuity now.

It would be awkward to have to go to a different format to know about this character more, but now you can appreciate those details more when you play a new game in a way we couldn't before.

 

Most of the stuff they focused on with Shadow post-revival was stuff already covered in SA2, except written with the fact that he was going to live.

I don't see Frontiers as "expanding on the cast" so much as just reminding the (very old) audience that "hey, this stuff happened". In that, it's not establishing anything new, but just reiterating what they stopped caring about 20 years ago lol.

But I guess this is me jumping the gun, but I'm not expecting them to just start connecting everything that happens from now on...or how feasible that actually is long term.