Sonic Lost World (Wii U, 3DS, PC) Megathread

My comment = personal, measured, self aware.

Your comment = redundant, absolute, aggressive, 75% caps.

Are you suggesting that we should all stop speculating? Because I'm sure that is in large part why Sega released the photo. 99% of the people on this site have dedicated enough time, energy and money to the franchise to develop an opinion and expectations. The only person I see making definitive statements is you.

Perhaps you should relax and respect peoples freedom to make subjective statements of personal taste on a fan web forum, as this is both the time and the place.

It's not your fault that your parents got divorced, kid...

 

You mean like in Sonic Heroes? Yes, I went there.

This HAS been done before.

 

Let me guess, you'd rather have some grimdark, super serious animu-esque plot instead? Yeah, that'll work out really well.

In what way were the darker elements done well at all? Shadow's sections of the game are riddled with angst, angst, and more angst (And a franchise like Sonic does NOT need to have angst under any circumstances), Rouge came off as pretty generic fanservice bait. Robotnik's was best of the dark spots I suppose, one out of three is a pretty bad average, wouldn't you say? As a 14 year old playing the game for the first time, I saw pretty much all of the "plot twists" coming (Having already played SA1, I was kind of expecting Robotnik to get stabbed in the back again and the monster of the week formula certainly didn't surprise me after SA1 either).

The storywriting was as compelling as your generic DBZ animu (Which is to say, not at all compelling). Show SA2's plot to some literature professor and he'll pretty much spit in your face for showing it to him and then laugh you out the door.

(Point being, it's not very good)

Every Sonic game ever has relied heavily on the use of gimmicks. Sonic 1 relies on gimmicks. The Spin dash from Sonic 2 is a gimmick. The elemental shields in S3&K are gimmicks. Time travel in Sonic CD is a gimmick. The dual gameplay in Generations is a gimmick. Oh snap, according to your logic, no Sonic game has ever been good!

Dislike Colors if you like, but saying "It sucks because it has gimmicks" is a pretty lazy criticism of the game considering basically every Sonic game (even the good ones!) have had extensive use of gimmicks.

 

Actually yes, I am saying we should stop speculating about stuff we don't know yet.

 

w-why are we arguing about wisps o n o;

well this game looks pretty cool so far, I suppose. although there's not much to go on, I really like the hexagonal things going on and the uniqueness of the monster silhouettes. as for gameplay style I don't really mind. adventure is my favourite and I'd like to see something like that again, but it's not going to happen (most people prefer modern style). also, I would REALLY like to see another playable character, at least Tails! Knuckles would be really great and I know it's pushing it but Amy would be cool too. I'm getting tired of just playing as Sonic, to be honest.

 

Please read my post just a couple posts above yours before you jump to conclusions.

 

This discussion reminds me of politics, unfortunately.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to some more concrete news about the game.

 

I know for a fact that I'm in the minority here, but I honestly find both Colors (Wii) and Generations to be extremely overrated. The latter game, in my opinion, was the bigger disappointment. I don't know about anyone else, but I've grown tired of the same boring, repetitive formula they've been using for the past five years or so, where they've been milking the Unleashed daytime engine over and over again. I won't lie, though; I've had my share of fun with it, and I was completely blown away by it when I first played the 360 demo (after initially purchasing the Wii version first), but now I feel as if it's growing stale. Not only this, but I'm getting absolutely sick of the whole "only Sonic should be playable" thing they've had going on for over six years, while characters like Tails, Knuckles, etc. get brushed aside and/or given all these pathetically minor non-playable roles. I just can't tell you how much as hate the way they (and just about any other character who isn't Sonic or Robotnik) are getting treated as if they're insignificant, and like they're of no worth to the series, thanks to all these classic fanboys complaining about "shitty friends" and whatnot. These people do not speak for the entire fanbase.

 

I understand subjects being out of place in a game, art styles being inconsistent or bland, a story taking its self too seriously or not enough, or characters whining over nothing/ being unfazed by everything.

But I find this idea that the fact something is good or not is determined by how “dark” or “light” it is to be one big tenacious myth. You can go either direction with a cartoony world and still mess everything up.

 

I've said all along that I don't mind playing as Sonic's friends as long as they play enough like Sonic and don't go into deviant shit like treasure hunting or shooting. Tails and Knuckles controlled fine in SA1 (although Tails' flight was a bit abusable) but Tails barely got screentime due to his short levels and treasure hunting sucks. Just throw em in Sonic's stages and remove the boost and give me a reason to play as them with alternate routes.

While I never played the game, Sonic and the Black Knight handled the other character thing pretty well from what I've seen. Sure the game looked and probably is awful, but the point is that you could play as Shadow, Knuckles, and Blaze, who all played sort of like Sonic with a few differences, and play through some the levels in different ways. Fuck Sonic Jump did it right also, but that's not really a Sonic game. I like Sonic's Unleashed gameplay and I think they should keep it, but they should tone down the boost, make it Sonic's "power" so to speak along with the homing attack, and they should add Tails and Knuckles back with their SA1 powers and maybe a spindash or something. Or if they have to give each character their own gameplay, Tails can take Sonic's SA1 level style and Knuckles can take the werehog's style with more platforming and less God of War. There, done.

 

Guys, I've drawn how I think the Lost Worlds guardians might look like, based on what I can see on the shadows of the teaser image. They're probably nothing like it in the final but...well, it was fun! :specialed:

 

Maybe we should all give that a go, seems like a fun way to pass the time until they reveal them :specialed:

 

Okay, I'll start.

 

Since Sonic games appeal to more than just kids, and since kids aren't as dumb as the writers think, there should be a little more substance in Sonic games. The writing in Colors was really bad, even if the story itself was good. The only cutscene I really enjoyed was when Sonic and Tails stumbled upon Robotnik's wisp-sucker machine that turned wisps into energy and they realized the gravity of the situation. Aside from that the dialogue was essentially a collection of poorly thought-out jokes that were purposely bad but didn't even hit the mark on that level.

A good Sonic game would be light-hearted, but also have depth to the story. Sonic Adventure 2 did this well, as it wasn't as grimdark as we always make it out to be. Shadow's story definitely was, but as far as Sonic was concerned he was framed for a bank heist, had to go clear his name, and then he had to stop the bad guys from destroying the planet. Robotnik having a change of heart and working alongside Sonic to stop the Space Colony Ark was a great idea that I think worked well, and the reveal that Shadow might not have been the actual ultimate life form was pretty cool. You could do away with the whole Shadow back-story/Professor Gerald revenge plot and it would've been a pretty good story for a Sonic game.

Generations was such a missed opportunity to do a really cool time travel story, but really it just felt more like a vacation to the different Sonic levels from the past. I could go to my childhood home any day of the week but it doesn't mean I'm going back to my childhood.

 

@kail

Reading what you said tells me you don't want a good story, just drama to your tastes.

 

^That's one of my favorite cutscenes from A Crack in Time

I definitely see what you mean, except you only brought up the banter cutscenes and not the very plot-important ones for each respective game. However, I think if they were to go a more Ratchet and Clank-esque route altogether, well, it certainly couldn't do anything to harm the series.

Spoiler

This is one of those instances where I think Sonic would do better if the games weren't handled by Sega and/or Sonic Team, but that's just what I think.

 

Interestingly after bumping up the brightness, the "mushu" of the group appears as if he's going to be bit more demonic than the picture leads on...

 

Bump up the brightness further, though, and you'll notice what seems to be a nose just a bit above the lower lip, though.