Spoiler Thread - SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS (SPOILERS!... Obviously.)

This is perfect. Is a man truly a father, if he doesn't have a niche interest his kids just don't get?

 

Hey so to anyone who's already beaten the game, I'm in the late game and I'm curious about the postgame situation. Does White Space remain Doom-ified with the hard challenges? Is there a way to revert to the early White Space with the easier challenges? Does it get reverted with no way to go back to the Doomy white space? Just want to know since I'm 100%ing it.

 

Yes, you can freely toggle the Doom Zone on and off at the orb.

 

The only missable content is optional dialogue from the NPCs that changes as the game progresses. And yeah, it's debatable how much that even counts as "content".

After beating the final boss, a miniature Black Moon type orb will appear at the centre of White Space that allows you toggle the Doom Zone (or "Red Space") on and off. This also becomes Shadow's new spawn point upon loading a save file. It changes the hub challenges to hard mode, adds the Radical Highway portion to the map and switches the NPCs dialogue.

This is a nifty feature. I always find it disappointing when games have a late-game state that either completely overrides everything else to the point of no return, or it's only temporary and can't be accessed again without starting a new file. Yes, I know that there's nothing to do in flooded Delfino Plaza but fuck you I want to go back there.

 

I keep a 90% completed save file of JSRF for the sole purpose of being able to access the endgame levels that don't stay accessible in postgame. Being able to switch game state should absolutely be a feature in every game it's relevant for.

 

Does the Sonic portion of the game feel worse than the original or did I just get used to how smooth Shadow Gens is?

 

It got worse.

 

Bit of both. Lots of people are reporting some new jank in Sonic Generations, especially things like a few broken scripts (e.g. running off the sides of loops) and new glitches. In terms of actual control, the game feels as wonky as I remember it. People keep telling I'm wrong, but hey ho. Whatever the reason, people are finding the remastered version of Sonic Generations feels different.

Generations always controlled pretty badly as far as I remember. I can confirm that it's almost impossible to get Classic Sonic's ledge animations to play now for some reason. It's so difficult to do that it's easy to think that the ledge animations no longer play at all.

All that said, Shadow Generations controls so much better that it doesn't really matter how much Sonic Generations has changed from the the 2011 original (if at all). Going from the smooth and co-operative controls of Shadow Generations to the janky, heavy, floaty and temperamental responsiveness of Sonic Generations will give anyone whiplash.

 

Yeah, there's some weird stuff in this version of Generations compared to the original version, especially things that make you randomly bounce off or get thrown off the screen.

Two moments I remember when this happened are the falling platforms during the truck chase in City Escape Act 1 and the crumbling rock platforms in Planet Wisp Act 2.

In all my time playing the 360 version and later the PC version, I never had that happen.

Regarding Sonic's control, there's a certain style—almost like a speedrunning approach—that Generations expects you to play with. If you deviate from it, you start to notice how clunky Modern Sonic can be.

That said, I think they should have given him the double jump instead of the drop dash. It would have helped stabilize him in many parts of the game.

 

Going back to the Sonic side after playing Shadow is pretty sobering but glitches aside it was definitely always like this. Dude always controlled like an ice cube on a hot griddle. Shadow controls like a dream in comparison. I would only dream of someone someday modding Shadow's physics and controls into the Sonic side one day.

 

I think shadow generations is the direction, I want for sonic going forward, especially if they are still gonna be using boost as a template in future open zone games. The control definitely took some getting used to and felt way to slippery going in.

As for sonic generations, amazing game as always but thats probably due to absolutely nothing being changed which is disappointing. People were right in their criticisms of this not being a cremaster. The rewrite is a perfect example of needlessly fixing something that was not broken to begin with, and in some ways was worse than the 2011 title. A lot of the energy the original game had is just gone here. Not sure if anyone else had these issues but this new redub felt a bit robotic? It was reminding me of sonic 06 in multiple scenes which is strange because these actors biggest strength is range. I am assuming this was likely due to it being a very cheap remaster and them trying to fit different often longer sentences in old lip flaps was what caused this. I think if they were gonna rewrite it we should have got an an entirely new story

 

Ok, I won't have to wait til Christmas, dad was willing to buy it for me. Right now I'd doing the Challenge acts before Metal Overlord, and yeah, it's pretty much going exactly as I said. HD Unleashed still reigns supreme and Rise of Lyric still places behind Unleashed, but I am loving it enough to place it 3rd. In fact, I think I'm actually going to 100% it. ... Ok, maybe not the Hard Mode, but I will definitely 100% the Normal levels. Again, length be damned. Then again, Forces isn't exactly a very lengthy game either.

One thing I do have to complain about though is after shadow reaches top speed if I let go of the circle pad he takes about 3 steps before he stops. It's a good thing unlike TFH the platforming here isn't nearly as precise. That one Cyber Space level where you have to jump on all those floating cubes still haunts me to this day. It's what convinced me to not bother with Cyber Space in TFH.

(Edit) Beat Black Doom. 2nd favorite fight in the series, topped only by HD Dark Gaia.

 

I finally played the full game today (forgot to tune the decceleration though) and I loved it. I was super surprised by how good the Biolizard and Mephiles bosses were. It’s hilarious how Shadow has no idea who Mephiles is and proceeds to shut him down. Amazing hub world with level geometry that actually fit the levels that were nearby.
Very few complaints. I hope this is a taste of future games.

It’s cool that the Final Chase cylinders worked very well in 2D.

I was only a little disappointed that Bullet Station’s callback act 2 stage didn’t feature being shot from one of the cannons.

Loved Shadow’s interaction with Gerald and Maria and the lategame tearjerker.

 

I decided on some retail therapy today. Costco had a bundle for the PS5 Slim Digital that comes when an extra controller and charging dock for them.

Shadow Generations is incredible. It took me a second to realize the homing attack is just like Dream Team (I havn’t really played any of other the post 2006 modern titles). I have a lot of catching up to do now that I have the time and money to play this stuff again .

I watched a short comical YouTube animation on Black Doom’s obsession with Radical Highway

Edit: Omg, it’s the REAL Gerald and Maria????

I’ve come to the conclusion that Sonic Generations and now Sonic X Shadow Generations is going to be the Time Taco of the series (old Bonus Stage fans will get this, lol). It will serve as the First and Last game of the franchise. It’s so protective that even 06 has a place. I can see them doing this every 10-20 years or so but they can’t add too much in. I could be wrong and we never see anything like this again, but as long as there are future games, there will always be more history to add.

I also just now come to the realization that we’ve had Shadow in the series for longer than we’ve been without him in the series.

 

Out of curiosity, can someone check how many times the name "Robotnik" has been mentioned/referenced in the game?