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

Made a compilation of nearly all CG cinematics made for Sonic Frontiers:



High-quality download.

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Video Sources:
SonicRangers_GamescomTrailer_ONL.mov
Sonic Team Teaser-25102260afa3fa194d24.50575938.mp4
Rangers_Trailer 2_PEGI-UK.mp4
Sonic_Showdown_Trailer_FULL_4K_MULTI_EN_PEGI7_PreOrder.mp4
Sonic_Showdown_Trailer_FULL_4K_MULTI_DK_PEGI7_PreOrder.mp4
Sonic_Uber_Trailer_FULL_4K_MULTI_EN_PEGI7_OutNow.mp4
Sonic_Uber_Trailer_FULL_4K_MULTI_DK_PEGI7_OutNow.mp4
Sonic Frontiers x ONE OK ROCK - 'Vandalize' Teaser [YouTube].webm
Sonic Frontiers - Showdown Trailer [YouTube].webm
Sonic Frontiers - Coming Soon! - SEGA [YouTube].webm

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Credits -

Video Post-Production:
AstroSeedP

CG Animation:
SEGA / Marza Animation Planet Inc.
Shirogumi Inc.

Music:
"I'm Here"
Vocals & Lyrics by Merry Kirk-Holmes (To Octavia)
Composed & arranged by Tomoya Ohtani
Strings arranged by Takahito Eguchi
SEGA Sound Team

Programs:
Adobe Premiere Pro 2022

 

I have nothing to say other than great work.

 

I mean. the dude is here and posts on occasion, and made the fancomics that coined Nipples the Enchilada and the floating Penders head. so if anything, I'm almost tempted to say that you think the new stuff feels a bit too much like us as opposed to having entirely different, separate voices behind it?

 

I think my issue with Sticks living in Angel Island all this time has the same energy as some of the stuff Dragon Ball has been doing these past years to appease fans.

"Wouldn't it be cool if Goku had more transformations past SSJ 3? What if Goku met his father or knew more about him? What if Broly was canon?!"

Granted some of the new stuff has been good, but a lot of it tends to retroactively undo some of the storyline in the manga, and has completely changed the tone of the original ending of the series.

I totally buy Knuckles not 100% knowing everything about Angel Island. In fact I did like that there was even some Ancients technology that he didn't know about, and that only had been activated to what Eggman and Sage were doing at the moment.

But a whole other anthro does stretch the imagination and undoes some of Knuckles' character arc by him being oblivious all this time to her.

I totally get why Ian and others immediately thought of Sticks living there. I even thought that. It's tempting because it gives Knuckles a companion that lives with him (same reason why people want Tikal and Chaos to comeback) and living in a mysterious island helps explain why we've never seen her in game canon.

But it starts to beg the question of why Knuckles never ran into her or her home despite knowing every nook and cranny of the island, plus where she was during all the events that have gone down both in games and comics.

It's not exactly been peaceful all this time. And in current canon Angel Island doesn't seem to be that big.

Honestly if they do end up reintroducing Sticks I hope they show they just met her in an unmentioned adventure and location.

Have her move to Angel Island instead after befriending the cast if the story group really wants a companion to Knuckles that helps him with his guardian duties and companionship instead of saying that she always lived there.

 

I don't like Sticks being on Angel Island either, but even Knuckles himself admits he doesn't know every single corner of his island.
(From the Free Comic Book Day 2022 issue)

Just something to consider, I still don't like Sticks being on Angel Island though. I don't think it paints Knux as a big dumb idiot, but it still feels like a retcon cop-out excuse in the current canon. I'd much prefer her to be introduced to the main canon in a more natural and meaningful way.

 

Like I said, it's one thing to not know a location or a secret than a living being.

Even if you were to say Sticks lived in this super duper secret room, she would eventually need to leave to get food or water and leave traces.

Can't imagine Knuckles not running into it and not pursuing the clues, especially if it meant an intruder was on the island.

It's just better to just not deal with that. I do agree it would be cool for her to get introduced in a more proper way that doesn't feel more shoe horned.

 

The thing is, if Amy already knows Sticks, then wherever you introduce her as having been from would be retroactive, since I wouldn't see much way for Amy to know without Knuckles knowing.

Personally, I'm all for Sticks being a crazy hermit that Amy has mentioned, but nobody except Amy has actually met in-person. There are lots of fun ideas for scenes where she acts wacky around the rest of the cast who are unfamiliar with her antics, as opposed to Sonic Boom where they already knew her.

 

I think the main problem is that the whole thing is backwards.

Sticks just being a character that's already established and known by the cast is pretty different from her formally being introduced.

Even in the Boom games, she just...shows up with no fanfare at all. Which might enhance the more comedy focused aspect of that sub branch but it doesn't exactly do anyone any favors in the main canon.


Sticks just happened to already living on Angel Island and nobody even knowing about her is good for a gag, but not much else. But I also don't think it really harms anything either?

There has been nothing substantial about Angel Island or Knuckles for roughly 20 years now, giving him someone else to bounce off if he can't show up as often is at least a change I can get.

 

Kishimoto has been saying a lot of interesting things on Twitter these past couple days. It'd take too long to quote and translate literally every single conversation, so here's the abridged version:

• It really did take 4 years to complete Giganto. Everything from how Sonic acquired the final Emerald, to the core concept of how Sonic would fight such a large enemy. He also thinks that if it had been a Super Sonic fight in the second generation of Sonic games, they wouldn't have gone through all that effort and trial and error. (source thread)

• In the same thread as above, he also stated that he considers Sonic Frontiers to be the beginning of the third generation of Sonic games. He does hope to elevate the franchise to AAA status, but he thinks it's ultimately up to the players whether or not that will be true. (source)

• There was a lot of trial and error figuring out what kind of puzzles to incorporate into the game, and a lot of prototypes were made trying to figure out what kind of puzzles would work in a Sonic game. (source)

• When questioned about the story of Frontiers and it's tone, Kishimoto admits that he still feels challenged regarding how the stories of Sonic games will work in the third generation of Sonic games. After being apologized to in the same thread for the constant tweeting, Kishimoto reiterates that he does, in fact, appreciate and want feedback on Twitter. He explains that he finds it valuable because it gives him a much larger sample size than any playtest or review could give him. (source 1) (source 2)

I really, really appreciate the transparency we're getting. I'm so used to dead silence from game developers, especially with those from other countries. It's very refreshing.

 

The fact they had put so much work into Giganto is mind-blowing as hell. I just love these bits of info they're putting out.

 

Agreed on Kishimoto, it's actually kind of surreal seeing someone of his profile take to Twitter and just start... reading fan feedback. I'm sure some developers do, but Kishimoto is actually interacting and letting people know. I feel like him joining Twitter really is part of an overarching desire to get more user feedback and make better games (in addition to his motorcycle stuff).

I can't find the link anymore, but today I saw a tweet where someone made a full 2-page doc of opinions on Sonic Frontiers - translated into Japanese - and Kishimoto just casually replied and said he agrees that the game is rough and unpolished. Wow. Frontiers might not be the greatest thing since sliced (canned) bread, but it feels like there has been a significant paradigm shift at Sega / Sonic Team and this game is just the beginning.

It's a bit frustrating to read at times though, the lack of awareness of tone in some of these tweets makes them feel a bit entitled and snooty. But maybe, since English isn't his first language, the etiquette doesn't come across quite the same. I guess people just seem a bit demanding because everybody wants their idea to be heard, and some people seem to be under the illusion that he is going to take all THEIR ideas and implement them into the game himself

 

I was very doubtful about Kishimoto listening to feedback on Twitter, but it seems like he's pretty sincere and is genuinely really trying. I'm intrigued.

All that said, I also can't believe it took them that long to figure out Giganto. It's decent boss fight no doubt. And it's the most in-depth Super Sonic specific gameplay we've ever seen in the series. But it's out the most remarkable gameplay ever, is it? It certainly doesn't look or feel like several years of work. It's button mash combat with cutscene combos as in the regular gameplay, and some parries that are way too easy to execute.

I appreciate all of the work gone into it. I'm glad that Super Sonic can finally do more than just headbutt his foes. The actual design of the Giganto as a character is fantastic, and I love the way that it's animated (the Game Over where it just eats Super Sonic with its one rows of teeth is as hilarious as it is unsettling). But the fight itself? Yeah, it's just okay. I have to wonder what Sonic Team were doing for all to those years. Maybe they had to dial out back because its the first boss.

Anyway, that's how I feel about Frontiers all round. It's decent but not great. The only thing remarkable about it is that it's not a bad Sonic game. For all the problems it has and the similarities it shares with other boost games, I find it hard to fathom that they spent as long working on it as they did. It concerns me that they put so much time and effort into Frontiers to end up with something so mid.

 

I never understood that question. I never saw anything wrong with the tone of game

 

I attack Frontiers a lot but I feel like it is a game that clearly took that long to make. I don't think they were messing about in the same way I felt with Forces.

I don't know first hand about game pre-production and testing, but I do know from reading that it can take 1/2 years to get a new game project idea going. From the leaks, it seems Frontiers took a similar length before production fully started and it makes sense to me. Combat is something completely new to Sonic. That probably took at least a year to get the framework. The rest of the game is largely similar to Boost affair but getting the Open World maps running at an acceptable basic level probably took a year if not more.

To be honest, I feel like Sonic is not really unusual as a game franchise for taking so long between releases. Fans decry the droughts but 4/5 years is the norm now for most game releases. Even more if anything. If a new IP was started now, then the game would probably release on PS6.

Then in regards to after production was fully underway, there are parts of Frontiers where it makes complete sense to me that it took a few more years.

The maps are absolutely littered with automated challenges and while they are all very shallow and ugly it must have taken ages to make them all. Making the challenge designs, placing them on the map, getting the camera to work nicely for them. I mean I'm glad I didn't have to do it

The visual presentation is terrible in my opinion but It must have taken ages to make the dynamic day night cycle for each biome. The audio presentation is excellent and it must have taken ages to programme the music cues to come in on certain points.

The game is filled with Cyberspace stages and while they lift level design from other games and reuse biome ideas, they still have to be built, tested, and polished. I imagine a lot of the assets are also new.

Yeah I mean, I could go on but you get the point. Frontiers is a feature rich game. I'm not surprised it took so many years to make.

 

The fact that there will be a long gap between Frontiers and the next game is probably a good thing but at the same time kind of has you wondering if the wait will be worth it. To wait 4/5 years for something that's only just more of the same would be pretty disappointing.

This is why I'm really interested in Kishimoto taking fan feedback to heart. I can't wait to see what Sonic Team's interpretation of the feedback will be like and how much that interpretation actually matches up with what fans wanted.

 

I hope the next Nintendo console will be released already when the next mainline game come.

 

I agree. Frontiers feels like it was held back by being needing to run on the Switch. It looks nice enough on higher end systems, but there's really not a huge difference between the PS4/XB1 versions and the PS5/XSX versions. It looks pretty much like a last gen game. Detailing in the environments is very sparse for example, without much decoration. And I can't be the only one who's put off by the regular lighting pop-in. We've all talked about the way that objects and platforms don't pop in until you're about 10ft away from them, but it's also really obvious with lighting on things like trees, or screen space reflections in puddles. Those objects exist from a long distance, but they change in detail frequently as you approach.

Frontiers essentially spans 3 console generations in terms of platforms, with the biggest audience for the franchise being on the weakest hardware. Do we have any sales figures ideas for the different platforms this time? I've no doubt that Switch is leading the way, but from the charts I've seen the PS versions have also been pretty strong this time.

 

My gut instinct is that “Frontiers 2” will target the Switch regardless. The Switch is on track to become Nintendo’s best selling console ever, maybe the best selling console ever generally. Even if the next thing to come along is an iterative upgrade that adds to the Switch ecosystem rather than replaces it (as I strongly believe it should be, my Switch library is huge and I don’t want to have to leave it behind) I’d wager most people will continue playing on the original generation Switch, and SEGA won’t want to leave money on the table with such a big installbase. I think whatever comes after the Switch will need to have been out at least 2 or 3 years and have growth comparable to the Switch for SEGA to consider leaving the Switch out of the equation, but Nintendo’s showing no signs of slowing down with the Switch either, and why would they?