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

It's definitely more fitting for Mephiles than anyone else in the game but it's kinda hard to tell how much it was an intentional thing and how much it was just... 06 being 06. What little we see here still seems fitting, he's a lot more animated but is still using relatively little movement compared to Shadow.

 

ngl him exploding into purple flames that spread over the ground when Shadow delivers the final blow looks rad af

 

For the sake of digital archeology and preservation, not only do many people have Generations vanilla on Steam already, but it's still available for sale in a 'legacy' bundle. There's also hundreds, if not thousands of uploads online of the original game's cutscenes for all to see. And then, you know, piracy exists too.

Also, I don't believe many people are going to agree with you that Gens hardly having any plot was "one of the good things about it". I remember way back in 2011 being disappointed Gens didn't go harder on utilizing it's ideas or it's characters. And I've seen a lot of discussions of people over the past decade sharing the same sentiments!

So even if I don't care for the execution here (I'm mixed so far), I can say that I appreciate the thought. It's hardly sacrilege. Maybe weird at worst.

 

I care about the Generations cutscenes being rewritten about as much as I cared about the music in Origins S3 being replaced, which is to say I don't care at all because the original physical medium I have the game on isn't going to magically disappear and there are dozens if not hundreds of uploads of the original takes elsewhere on the internet. It's even less of an issue here because Generations' writing was never anything to write home about, it's replacing a mediocre dish with a slightly different mediocre dish.

 

We can go on all day about the idea of preservation and respecting the original incarnation of things.

It's a slippery slope to go down for sure, especially when the changes being made are geared towards people who never cared about the original to begin with.

But that's a whole other conversation for another topic I think?

Looking at these changes completely in a vacuum, divorced from any bias, anyone would think that they're just inconsequential at worst. Which is why most people here are more perplexed at the reactions.

 

Well, that's not true if you go a bit deeper. Here's the "saving Amy" cutscene with the Japanese audio and retranslated text by Windii.

She originally said "Thanks, Sonic! You're my one and only Sonic!"

They changed the English version to "You saved me, Sonic! I was afraid I'd never be able to flirt with you again!"

I mean, I know she was portrayed as a clueless romantic for a long time but it hasn't been the case in the past decade and the English script took it farther than the Japanese one.

And this is not Sonic Generations as we know it, is it? It comes in a different package with a different name and is being released 13 years after the original.

I think it'll be good to revisit this topic when the game launches and compare to OG Japanese script. The fact this is happening because the series is finally being more responsible with its characters isn't a bad thing in itself.

 

A rewrite of a game's plot is in theory no worse for preservation than altering elements of the rest of the game to begin with. The special stages in the Retro Engine remake of Sonic 2 are far and away better than the original, and no one really cares whether the choppy version is preserved or not in those editions because of that - you have all the previous releases and ROMs to serve preservation purposes. The only thing that really matters is whether people think the changes are good or not, when it comes to changes like these imo.

 

The cutscenes are the only things that have been leaked.

 

You only have exactly one source leaking that stuff. There's no way you can make any actual guesses on the quality of the game unless that one source dumps a butt load of gameplay footage.

 

Sonic Gens gameplay wise is practically untouched as far as we know, it's just the drop dash and Chao Rescue which you can opt out of by simply not interacting with it. Really the only thing to discuss is the cutscenes.

 

If this was a WC3 Reforged situation when they sold it as the next version of Warcraft 3 without a good way to regress it, I could understand.
But yeah this is a different release altogether, it's own entry.

Frankly I'm a bit baffled people didn't take issue of this level with the removal the direct sell option of the original, if preservation is the goal (ie. accessibility, it's real form for the masses).

Really good if that's the case, it's was my biggest worry about this release.

 

I don't think you were actually here if you're making this claim. One guy has left the forum and hasn't returned after that debacle.

 

Oh i was, I've took it as an issue back then and every reply on it was it wasn't a big deal, "better than desisting" (somewhat reasonable) and even praised Sega for it (just plain insane). Ignoring the fact that us as consumers didn't gain anything by it.

"It could be worse" shouldn't be the standard we thrive for, it's "don't touch if it's not broken"

 

Again, I care about videogame preservation, so rewriting stuff for no reason is something I'm definitely against.

BUT, I disagree that Sonic Generation's lack of a proper story was one of the "good things about it". I was very disappointed with how little Sonic Generations did with all the returning characters, many of which haven't been seen in a proper Sonic game since '06. Going by some of the leaked story screenshots, I'm already liking Shadow Generations much more for actually having a semblance of a story that makes me actually care about what is being said on screen.

Shadow Generations is what Sonic Generations should have been from the start.

Spoiler

 

I still feel it should be comedic...primarily.

Just with some substance based in celebrating the past.

 

Correctamundo

And I think it's stinks. Ignoring all the outside baggage and just looking at the material as it is.

 

Again, people are missing the point that saying you don't like Generations' plot or that it barely existed is irrelevant. It isn't an argument. There are loads of people who hate the plot of SA2. If you think it's OK for Generations' dialogue to be rewritten because it is bad you also have to accept it is okay for SA2's story to be rewritten and the original game to be delisted because a significant number of people think SA1 and SA2 not only have terrible plots but ruined Sonic forever. Now I love SA1 and SA2 but that point is just true.

 

That line always makes me laugh.