Also, I might be crazy but there might be new platforming sections in the Open Zone? In Ares Island, there's a ramp specifically designed to run off of. Not automated. I swear that wasn't in the game before. I'm not crazy. They added in new level design and it explicitly encourages momentum-based gameplay. On Kronos Island. That large rock next to the first Asura? With the rails around it? New level design there.
Heads-up that in order to unlock New Game+, you need to defeat The End again even if you already have done so. I've just done it and New Game+ unlocked for me.
There's plenty of new level design per island, rewarding you with one of the fat fuck Koco at the end of each one. From what I've played of Kronos' new content, they seem to all be designed around momentum (like launching yourself off of ramps) or general free gameplay, it's a lot less automated than most of the game's platforming. Most of them are very fun too, I hope Frontiers 2 uses a lot more of this style of level design.
I felt like I went through some new sections on Ares as well. This is a shocking degree of effort from Sonic Team on a free update of all things. I imagine the fan reception and sales really invigorated the team even if the critics weren’t as kind as they expected. I am torn on whether I am looking forward to the third update or Superstars more which I would have found preposterous 5 years ago. Edit: Oh yeah, @charcoal is right. There was a chunk-co at the end of the part I played. Makes sense then.
The deceleration settings works in cyberspace like the jump one but this is a problem if you have it set too low because even after letting go of boost Sonic’s speed will be so high that he’s still governed by the awful boost turning setting that can’t be changed in cyberspace.
I find that around 40-50% gets that good equilibrium, but I only tried that in Cyber Space. The new Jukebox songs are all the island music, but the default music for the Birthday Mode is legacy music like Collision Chaos and Neo Green Hill Zone.
Yeah, that has been a little annoying. I only collected three songs and they all were island tracks, so I kind of suspected that’s all we were getting. I was getting tired of the Collision Chaos track though, so I was a bit glad to stick the normal island music on. I’m heading to bed now since it’s nearly 4, but I’m pretty happy with the changes. Some problems persist with the “momentum” like when you hit boost, jump, then the boosting speed when hitting the ground is a bit lower than it should be. I’d have to play a bit more to express it better, but there are definitely still improvements to be made. Either way, I’m glad for this update. S-ranking those chain challenges seem like they can get tricky, so I’m glad there’s something we can sink our teeth into even if it’s only for the next week or so. I haven’t even played a cyberspace stage yet, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the new movement toggles function there. I’d really like for them to just eliminate the distinction between control types, but that’s probably something that’d need to wait until the third update if it happens at all. Quick edit: Super glad to see the island completion status stuff as well. That’s a huge help for completionist types like me.
One of the Koco challenges is a quick step section. Besides running on Squid, I think this is the ONLY quick step section in the game. They pulled out unused ideas just for this update.
I can't believe how amazing this update is, I was playing it since it came out until now, I originally planed to just check the spin dash and close the game, but wow, I'm impressed, the New Koco sections are really fun! Also, does anybody know how to get the spin dash already?
Managed to get all the new Koco in Kronos Island. Folks are correct, new areas / platforms have been added to all the islands (excluding Rhea Island). These are tough as heck platforming challenges that often lead to a new Koco being in a box in a the sky or something Also worth mentioning that there is much more in depth stat tracking that has been added to map select screen now. There's metrics (and medals on completion) of obtaining all the tokens on an island, all speaking events, all fish, all s ranks on portals, all new Koco obtained and all s ranks on the open world challenges. There is just so so so so much they have added in this update.
Besides the story still being kind of wonk which they'll hopefully improve with Update 3, is it suffice to say this is probably the sort of "complete" the game should've launched with if they had more time? It's also neat to see the devs have really doubled down on challenge for these extra bits, really making players take advantage of the game's mechanics instead of automating them into clearing everything.
Some of this stuff seems to be based off the direct feedback they've gotten so we might have received a different game if that were the case.
People are unlocking the Spin Dash now. You have to complete all of the Action Chain challenges with an S-Rank. Then you hold Crouch and press the Left Trigger to rev it. Outside of combat (aka where most will use it) you can also use it while boosting, or Spindash out of the air to effectively replace the Drop Dash. It also seems you can spam-dash and move faster than Boosting with it, but I'm getting all this info second hand; it effectively seems like it's the final step of achievable speed now. This thing is New Game+ material, it feels like, since you'd be getting it so late.
It is 12:18 pm right now in Japan. Sonic Team is having a celebratory getaway in an inn near Mt. Fuji. Suddenly an intern ask, "did someone remembered to put spin dash update along with the second update DLC?"
