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

The circumstances surrounding this game seem completely different though which is what makes it all the more intriguing.

1.) Takahashi Iizuka mentions that he wants to revisit old games such as "Sonic Adventure" to return to Sonic's roots.

2.) Sega / Sonic Team and Takahashi Iizuka rehire a bunch of original field artists / designers and planners from Sonic Adventure back in 2019. (These first two points are the reasons why so many people originally thought they were either making a Sonic Adventure Remake or a Sonic Adventure 3.)

3.) In an interview back in 2019, Takahashi Iizuka says that he wants to try something new and challenging for Sonic's 30th Anniversary game.

When asked about Sonic’s upcoming 30th anniversary in 2021, Iizuka said that “planning would need to begin now,” and that he’d “really like for us to take on some sort of new challenge for it though.”

4.) Sonic's design in the CGI teaser trailer has subtle design choices that are also very deliberate in focus which call back to his earlier modern design days such as his Sonic Adventure design with the elongated and exaggerated shoes.

5.) If the first two early leaks holds true, development for this new game might go as far back as early 2019 which would mean conceptualizing and planning would have taken place earlier in order for there to be a playable test build for focus testers to try out. One of the earliest leaks we have was posted on August 6th, 2020 and the person claimed to have played a "couple of months ago". How many months are we talking here? 3-5 months? Less than that or more? Who knows. It definitely sounds like this game was in development since 2019 and playable builds were presented in early 2020. Another leak that dates back to July 17th, 2020 claims to have played the game back in March.

6.) With a large emphasis on focus testing early on in development for this game, it really seems like Sonic Team want to get things just right this time. It's interesting that we are seeing a lot of Western focus testers trying out early builds of this game (again if the leaks are true) because I don't recall really seeing that for any of the earlier 3D titles where development and testing seemed a lot more private and on the "Sega of Japan" side of things.

7.) The fact that they quickly removed the games title from news media outlets when broadcasting Sonic Central and the fact that they have yet to mention the teaser trailer on any of their official Social Media accounts or released the teaser trailer on their Youtube channel would suggest that they want to keep this game's identity a secret until they feel ready to fully showcase it to the world.

8.) At SXSW Gaming 2019 Takahashi Iizuka confirmed that the next main Sonic game was already in development.

This is very interesting because if this and the January 2021 leak are both true then we can actually see a developmental timeline between this earlier build mentioned in August 2020 and the later one from January 2021. They both corroborate each other and describe similar aspects to the game while also having some minor differences. Both leaks mention it being open world with a Breath of the Wild influence, little Korok like creatures with puzzles, bosses spread out throughout the world, a foggy forest you couldn't enter before having all seven Chaos Emeralds, and a giant final boss with Super Sonic.

In the August 2020 one, the location is described as being an isolated and uninhabited island. There's no mentioning of portals that take you to "Cyberspace" Generations esque levels. In this version the boss enemies spread out throughout the open world offer Chaos Emeralds rather than Orbs mentioned in the later leak. The final boss is described as a giant colossus type creature instead of a giant tree like creature. It definitely sounds like this was an earlier build of the game and that this version is most likely the early proof of concept build.

The later build described in the January 2021 leak goes into more detail. The world is now larger and more fleshed out, there are now Generations styled like levels, bosses found throughout the world now offer Orbs instead of Chaos Emeralds, and the final boss is now a giant tree like creature instead of a colossus type creature. We also gain new information as we are given the title "Sonic Rangers" and information about Sonic's new move the "Spin Cycle" and how it functions.

It'll be really interesting if these two leaks are both real to see how things changed and evolved over development time when the final version of the game is officially released. If the leaks are real, I wonder what concepts mentioned will stay or be further expanded upon and which ones will be completely changed or removed altogether. Both leaks describe a very early and incomplete game so it really will be quite interesting to see what the final product is going to look and play like.

What I'm really curious about is what this game's story and overall theme is going to be like and if any of Sonic's friends will be involved in some way. Both leaks mention Sonic as the only character and any story elements are not present in either builds of the game. This is most likely due to them being very early test builds if anything. With a title like "Sonic Rangers" I would think that there would be more characters besides just Sonic. Question is will they just be background story characters, NPCS, or actual playable characters?

Another thing I'm curious about is where this story is going to take place. The earliest build mentions it being on a uninhabited island. Could Sonic have gone back through time or is this the present day? Could it be South Island or any other island featured in previous games or is this someplace new?

Another thing I've been thinking about is if this game's story will have some type of Chaos Emerald origin story or something. The reason I'm saying that is because there has been a lot of emphasis on the Chaos Emeralds lately in various official media which had me wondering about it for a while now. Not too long ago, Ian Flynn made a comment in one of his Bumblecasts mentioning that he "knew who created the Chaos Emeralds" but he wasn't allowed to talk about it, then the 30th Anniversary IDW Classic Sonic comic has a story which involves the Chaos Emeralds, and finally and most interestingly, the latest Sonic Channel Wallpapers all feature miniature stories to go along with them and they all feature inert, dull, Chaos Emeralds that have all been drained of their power. I just find all of the emphasis on the Chaos Emeralds as of late really weird and interesting and I'm curious if it may possibly tie into this new game's story or not. For all I know, I could be completely wrong lol but I guess we'll see soon enough when more information about this game comes out.

 

I hope that when Sonic 2022 comes out that we don't hear excuses like, "But we were working on the engine!", "But the pandemic set us back!", or anything along those lines if the game turns out to be a disaster like Forces. 5 years is the biggest gap between mainline Sonic games ever, there should be no excuses for not having enough time.

 

Dog, I get being skeptical about the next game but you're bringing down the entire mood of this thread by continuing to be a debbie downer every chance you can.

Let people be excited for now, until we see gameplay there is no reason to be so doom and gloom when everything seems to be pointing to them being on the right path.

 

I don’t think we’re looking at a story with just Sonic and this ghost girl. Even the modern games with the lightest casts gave Sonic at least a handful of characters to bounce off an interact with. Unleashed had Tails, Amy, Chip and Professor Pickle on top of Eggman, Colours of course had the Wisps but moreso Orbot and Cubot for Eggman to bounce off of, and Lost World has the Deadly Six as well as adding Knuckles back into the mix.

I need to preface this by saying that it’s hard for me not to take these leaks at their word. The title in the metadata alone is pretty decisive evidence for their legitimate in my eyes. But with that said, I know not everybody feels the same way, and I’m aware these leaks do still have the potential to be fake or off base and outdated, so pretty much everything I’ve said in reference to them so far and everything I will say in reference to them comes with the unspoken proviso of “if the leaks are true”.

That being said, the more we learn about this project, the more I get the impression that SEGA is trying to address and remedy fan reaction to just about every aspect of the series in recent years. People have been dragging the art style since Lost World, this teaser features a very realistic setting. Sonic’s current artstyle is seen to be stale and lifeless, we’re getting hints of a design update that hews closer to Yuji Uekawa’s early/mid 2000s art.

People criticising Sonic’s extended cast being binned has been a thing since Unleashed, and the majority of them came back in Forces. At that point, the problem was how under-utilised and poorly written they were, being useless and incompetent without Sonic and hardly having the opportunity to showcase their unique traits. Hopefully SEGA will be incorporating at least more than Team Sonic here (I’d expect to see Amy, Shadow and perhaps the Chaotix in addition to Sonic, Tails and Knuckles) in roles that make sense and shows them being involved for their own reasons rather than the world revolving around what Sonic does.

And that leads me to another question - where does Eggman fit into all this? None of what we’ve seen or heard so far suggests his M.O., and there’s been no mention of him either. Personally, I’d like to see him fill more of a rival role here, using his resources to try and unlock the secrets of the island before Sonic does.

Since Adventure, Eggman was largely an instigator of the plot, but was done away with by the monster of the week near the game’s climax. After that became a common criticism, Eggman has since been the one true mastermind behind all the conflicts since Colours, and has consistently served as the final obstacle. And that’s fine, preferable to what came before, even, but I think to keep going down that road may cause the character to become rote and predictable.

By having Eggman involved, but on a back foot like Sonic, he has reason to keep appearing throughout the plot and it could make him more of a wildcard, akin to how he was in Lost World. Will Sonic be able to take him down, or will Eggman get what he wants and make Sonic’s goal that much harder to achieve. Eggman can be a secondary antagonist without being a jobber, so I really hope this game can give us that.

 

Dude. We fucking get it. You're not happy with the reveal, to the point where your disappointment has consumed the entirety of your personality. How about you go be miserable somewhere else so the people who are having a pleasant conversation can continue to do so?

 

If you're referencing Forces with the whole "we were working on our engine" thing, that's kind of incorrect. Forces was under development at the same time as the HE2 by a small team for a couple of years, and production ramped up as the team expanded in the last year or so. Source is my own memory. I can look up sources later if you want. But SEGA and Sonic Team have never used development of the engine as "an excuse". They've never come out and publicly defended Forces from criticism or apologised for it (which would be a really bizarre thing to do).

Another thing to note about the HE2 is that it looks like it might become one Sonic Team/SEGA CS2's choice in-house engines. The HE1 was only used on Sonic games, but the HE2 has already been used Sakura Wars and Puyo Puyo Tetris 2.

I'd be surprised if Rangers was using another engine rather than the engine they spent a few years building and have already used for other projects. Forces was only ever a fairly small game, and the bigger project was the engine itself. That means that saying it was in development for 3 or 4 years as some people do is a bit deceptive.

Anyway... I'm going to save criticising the game until we actually see it. Your schtick is tiresome. The leaks are one thing, but it's impossible to comment on the game until it's actually showcased. I certainly can't go berating SEGA for their excuses about a games quality when said game has barely even been revealed. You know when people say dumb shit like "wait until the game is out before you criticise it" even though it's obvious that the game is a steaming turd? You're going off on one before you've even seen it.

 

I really do not think they’re going for a SA art style. His stretched out foot is just the effect of the him going into the Spincycle.

Wild thought about Eggman...what if he’s trapped Sonic in a simulation and that’s why the levels are part of Cyberspace? Spincycle looks computerized and Ghost Girl could be a digital AI. Only Sonic doesn’t know until his friends hack the system and get a message to him. The Phantom Ruby created simulated obstacles.

I’m not predicting that. Just came to me.

 

The whole game could probably be set in a digital/VR world or something without Sonic realizing it at first. Could become like a plot twist if the story plans to be even a tiny bit ambitious.

 

I dunno, I definitely see Sonic in this teaser leaning slightly towards SA1's design. I doubt it'll be a drastic change though.

That would be really neat actually! I just hope the Cyberspace stuff isn't just "cubes" like Forces' Virtual Reality stuff.

 

Cyberspace is a good explanation. I'm a bit mixed on it because I'd rather this new place be a concrete part of Sonic's world, though. Making it all virtual makes it seem like it all matters just a bit less.

 

Ya I would prefer it be an actual place too. To add to the history of the series. It would also explain the orbs and EXP though. That he needs to build up stats to move on.

I don’t think this is what’s actually happening. Just a thought that came to me with people wondering about Eggman.

 

I honestly don't know how people are getting redesign vibes from the trailer. We barely see any of Sonic and there's nothing about it that resembles anything more special than other CG Sonic. I hope they go for something new, don't get me wrong, but to say that any of that can be gleamed from prerendered cinematics that aren't even really analogous to Sonic's appearance within the games themselves is silly.

 

I think the Sonic gameverse gave up on having any meaningful worldbuilding after it soft rebooted like 2 or 3 times. When you think about it, they've been kinda avoiding going to "Sonic's World" or "Earth" after Sonic Unleashed, cause every game after it took place off-planet or some kind of different timeline, which is interesting. When Sonic Forces came they realized they had to actually establish a new world or the concept of the story wouldn't work. Of course more there's more to it than that, like how Sonic characters and humans now live in separate planets like in Sonic X.

Comparing the Archie comics post-reboot and the current IDW comics, it seems that they're not really interested in doing worldbuilding anymore, which is fine, but it clues me in that the setting of the new game won't really matter that much in the grand scheme of things.

 

Yeah as much as I would LOVE if this was representative of Sonic's in-game appearance, I'm a bit skeptical on that part

A lot of people are focusing on how Sonic's shoe stretches and elongates, it's very reminiscent of Adventure


but the thing is... that also happened in the original CG teaser for Forces

and we all know none of that was representative of the in-game look...

I still hold out hope that there will be a good visual shake up! Maybe this will be representative of the in-game visuals! But it seems like this is mostly just down to Marza Planet having some good-ass talented animators who really understand Sonic.

 

I wouldn't say it sounds like they are on the "right" path. If this is supposed to be "adventure " like game and "back to roots" of 3d solo sonic and open world sound like the the opposite of what I like about that. The moves they have been making with sonic in general at least to me, indicate flaws in the ideology in which they approach the series are still there. All that said, ain't no reason to get too upset over the trailer and leaks. We don't know what the game is, it could be different. It's clearly not done. And even if you are right about it being bad, you ain't gonna know that for possibly a year or more.

Peoples concerns are founded. But also don't loose your mind.

Now, later this year where I assume they will begin the rounds for advertising and showing this game. It looks and plays bad. It feels like they once again went on a wild new direction instead of improving something that worked. Sure be upset. Not too upset but reasonably upset. That possibility exists.But right now it's pointless


I will say this I feel bad for the social media folks who have now completely lost their ability to create the narrative around this game. Because now everyone in their mom has specific expectations based on an unfinished play test. That has to suck. But I guess that's normal at this point. You are doing your job, your employer screws something up and you left with the bag

 

Yeah I definitely think that Marza is just flexing their animation talent when it comes to Sonic himself, but the game's environments are pretty much confirmed to be more realistic.

 

You know, I thought Sonic's run felt super different and SA1-esque in Rangers' teaser, but seeing it compared to the Forces teaser run, it really is basically the same. Oh well! I still hope they'll squash Sonic towards those proportions and have some bouncier animation still.

 

Nothing about Rangers seems terribly Adventure to me either, but I'm fine with that. What I care about is if they actually nail control and physics this time--they can't get away with stiff, slippery, rigid, and automated controls in an open-world. Which makes me a bit positive--it feels like they just kinda have to give us better physics by virtue of the game they are supposedly making.

I do not expect the plot to be terribly in-depth either. If this game is inspired by BotW, well that game didn't have much plot either, and the setting (seemingly desolate island) and cast (Sonic and the ghost girl and that's like...it? The leakers didn't mention ANYONE else) seems to point to a very very small focus on plot. That does kinda suck, IMO, but I'd rather they get the controls down right and then they can do the dumb anime melodrama next game, right guys?

Man that ghost girl is dumb. I still think Eggman should be the only human in the series, and that he should be a symbolic representation (or perhaps a caricature/personification) of the forces of industry and human civilization encroaching on nature. The series should frankly be an allegory for that concept in general. Like...it vaguely was in the classic games.

 

Obviously we know next to nothing regarding the plot, only that it supposedly features some ghost girl and is going back to the central theme of the classics: machine vs. nature. I just hope they keep it simple.

I did have a fun thought though: perhaps the ghost girl was roboticized in life and is trapped in tormented limbo until her and her buddies' robotic shells are destroyed. Or something like that. I think that'd be pretty neat.