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

Thanks guys, I knew I'd be understood here.

Here's a video of what I was talking about:

I mean, where's the fun in that?

;_;

Edit: Gotta love how the chorus starts playing when it finally worked

 

The Drop Dash is very inconsistent in 2D, rolling in general is naff there.

In 3D it's fine and I never had a problem but there's something about how the game makes Sonic go into 2D that makes the Drop Dash lose its shit, and it's the most obvious when there's any sort of change in Sonic's Z-axis.

 

I think Sonic's 2d stuff here was his normal gameplay merged with some Classic Sonic moves from Forces, because he has a somewhat broken and useless roll move by pressing down. That move only works when the camera is as aligned as possible to the side of the terrain/ the spline Sonic is on. In 1-2, if you press down at the start where the camera is behind Sonic, he'll move backwards. It's possible there's not even a separation between "2d Sonic" though.
The roll is useless because it is often slower and won't let the player complete loops.

 

Yeah running through some cyberspace stages during my extreme playthrough, the drop dash breaks on upwards slopes and ANY time the camera is not perfectly smooth. The implementation of 2d seems really bizarre in cyberspace.

I also noticed that, in the cybersoace level where you circle aeound what would be the mazuri tree, holding straight to the right moves you slower than holding up and right, as in following the camera direction, i THINK. At least, without boosting, so I dont know whats actually going on in 2d in this game

 

It's kind of been like this for every 2d-3d game. Sonic's actually just locked to a path for 2d sections, but they don't change the logic to be 2d in any way: That's why sometimes you can make Sonic face the camera in Sonic Generations' White Space. I'm sure there's ways to prevent something like that, but whatever they might be, it doesn't seem like they've implemented them, so it makes it even more obvious than it is in the Open Zone.

 

This is also why turning left and right always sucks so much in the games since Unleashed.

 

Stage mods are starting to become a thing! This one was released today on April 1st, and has three levels based on Ninjabread Man.

 

a stage that isn't entirely a hot wheels track floating over a void in a modern sonic game?????!!!?? what is this dark magic

 

Knux is pretty much my favorite modder. Everything he makes has a bunch of effort and consideration put into it, no matter how crazy the idea.

 

The update contains new tip text for a Spin Dash mechanic.

 

LOL this makes it exactly like Sonic Speed Simulator.
In SSS, they added the boost and an energy bar, then also made the pre-existing spin dash use the energy bar as well. All they need to do is add a Spin Cycle.

I wonder if Spin Dash will actually matter in the end compared to boosting, if it's not super clunky to use.

 

The rolling in the game, in 3D I must stress, works well, the only problems being that the Drop Dash takes too many buttons to be convenient, that and the lack of level design that explicitly makes use of the mechanic.

But the former issue is addressed with that tip, and they'll likely tweak the rolling mechanics for this update.

Also, that text reminds me that there is literally no use for the left trigger besides exactly one combat move. I guess it wouild've been the Drift.

edit: If the Spin Dash is based on the boost gauge, then I'm guessing that the "Spin Dash" itself is a certain state that's both rolling and boosting but not having boost just means you'll roll normally.

This is probably so you can roll even on flat terrain, which you can't do in Frontiers right now.

 

I hope they increase the amount of speed you can gain by rolling so it feels useful and fun. Also, allow Sonic to keep his momentum even while not rolling or boosting and I'll be happy.

 

To be fair about things like the Drop Dash not working in Cyber Space stuff, especially 2D, weren't the Cyber Space stages literally a late development addition thrown together because they weren't sure if the base open zone gameplay would be enough to appease fans? Then they turned out to be the most critically panned part of the game next to 2D section overload in the later parts of the progression.

I wouldn't be surprised if something like the Drop Dash was simply never intended to be put in these situations in the game coding and then breaks horribly because of it.

 

That's a fair assumption to make, but Cyberspace was apart of the game from fairly early on. Even the earliest version of Kronos we have still has portals littered about.

You are right that there was a point in development where Cyberspace did not exist, and it was created to appease fans, but to say it was a late addition is incorrect. The rolling being jank in Cyberspace is just a result of poor programming, not that it was a late addition.

 

Nope; Cyberspace was a part of the game since before the first playtest.

Spoiler

https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/interview/1440960.html

Kishimoto:

"In the beginning, the world map was a photorealistic world where you could freely move around in a 3D space, and within that space, there were a few places where you could play stages. It took us five years to get from there to the current state."


https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/interview/220917i

Kishimoto:

"First, we created an open-zone playable world map, a field where players can move freely in a 3D space, and scattered stages throughout it, allowing them to move and play from where they are.

Then I got some pretty harsh feedback..."


https://www.famitsu.com/news/202209/18276496.html

Kishimoto:

"When we first implemented open zones, or "playable world maps" as we called them, we had a huge field with linear stages scattered throughout it.

We wanted to create a photorealistic landscape in the field so that players could enjoy the experience of moving from one stage to another, but the testers said that the space was so empty with nothing but grasslands that it was boring to move around."


https://www.4gamer.net/games/608/G060894/20221023002/

Iizuka:

"From the initial conception, we envisioned a new experience in which players would be able to move freely on an open-zone island, while at the same time being able to play the traditional linear action.

We wanted to create a game that could be played as a single game by simply moving into the cyberspace through the countless "portals" that exist on the map and playing through these stages in succession."

Mostly grabbed these from a previous write up on most of the details relating to cyberspace in relation to Frontier's development, which covered most of the development details on why they turned out the way they did imo, but the Playstation Japan interview is fairly comprehensive on it's own; definitely worth a read to see how the game took shape overall, especially with how little it's been shared around after Frontiers released.

 

Spindash using the boost gauge seems redundant but I think it could work well if it's *just* the spindash that uses the boost gauge and not the roll afterwards. By this I mean that you hold a spindash like in Sonic Adventure, and your boost gauge depletes as you do. You then shoot off once you let go of the button or the boost gauge is full depleted (whichever comes first) and your initial launch speed is proportional to how much boost you sank into the spindash, with the potential for burst speed far surpassing the speed of a regular boost.

 

I think it could also be used as a more standard form of the boost from gens/unleashed, since you cant boost through enemies in frontiers. Spin dash could be a way to do so and keep the speed going against grounded enemies in cyberspace

 

In a nutshell - is Sonic Frontiers worth it to a fan who's more 2D orientated (but really enjoyed SA and SA2B on the dreamcast)? I haven't been keeping up for about a year since Origins. Been trying to get through what's been written here but it's about 480 pages...sorry.