The Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Megathread

So, to move the topic away from hating on awkward internet personalities, I wonder what the non-rehashed zones will look like. New tropes maybe? If not, I wonder how they'll spin the existing tropes in a way that makes them more distinct from the original games.

That said, I want my highway stage, dammit. It's been a sonic staple for years, and most of my absolute favorite stages in the series comes from that trope (Starlight Zone, Stardust Speedway, Speed Slider, City Escape, Radical Highway, Empire City, etc).

 

I thought his trademark was "This is Sonic 4 as you always imagined it!".

Granted he was really put on the spot during that 'interrogation' and Spax was an absolute 'tard, I can't help but feel it did show just how rehearsed and pre-packed his answers normally are. I liked seeing him work his way around the difficult and non-stupid questions.

Going onto Cool Jerk's new tangent, Dimps have actually come up with number of different zones in the past for new and old tropes. There's Techno Base & Cyber Track, Music Plant & Toy Kingdom and Haunted Ship for pretty unique ones that first showed up in their games. Others like Hot Crater, Ocean Base, Twinkle Snow, Coral Cave, Huge Crisis and Pirates Island were fairly different takes on some existing tropes. I don't think we should worry about whether or not Dimps are cable of interesting levels, it's just if they're actually going to bother for S4. Right now I expect E1 to be Nostalgia Trip Zone on purpose, with future episodes being more original in a number of ways.

 

Anything that deals with him and the modern Sonic, actually.

That's what I thought. Thanks. Trust me, I am staying away from him for good. Too bad though, he has some pretty kickass art...

 

Technically most of the stuff he says is true, it's only his retarded rant about Sonic's design that ruins it.

 

Wow, who let that idiot into E3? Seriously, the dude is using comic sans on his site ffs

Also, now that I'm halfway through the video, seriously, does anyone really consider this guy a professional? He keeps sticking the mic horizontally in Ken's face! He looks like some random Assburger kid who got lost at the show. Ken's probably thinking about who he's going to fire for letting the guy near him

 

It's PR dude. I never get when people say this like they're surprised. This is the very first thing you'll ever learn in any PR course - don't say anything that you haven't been approved to say. Of course everything he says is rehearsed and pre-packed. That's the name of the game.

 

Well, it's his opinion that if he doesn't like the new Sonic, that I don't mind at all, but the way he rants and speaks his opinions sometimes, speaking for others and even saying that speaking positively about the modern Sonic stuff is wrong and how you're an idiot (and even blocking you for that) is the problem.

 

Its not the stuff he says that bothers me. Its the fact that he thinks his opinion is better than others.
His design arguments are also boring and repetitive. "Mr. Porcupine Man (modern sonic) is not Sonic wahhh"
He also has specific demands for what a good Sonic game should be. If someone like a modern Sonic game, he considers them to be "simple minded"
His logic is that "Simple minded people enjoy holding forward and pressing A" even though thats what you do in most platformers; go in the direction of your objective and Jump to pass obstacles.

EDIT: Shortened and typos

 

My problem with him is that he calls himself a "True Sonic Fan" and anyone whose opinion doesn't match his apparently isn't. Yeah, because a True Sonic Fan hates Sonic.

 

Lets not talk about that anymore, its only going to give you an aneurism.
Like I said, he doesn't deserve any more attention than he has already received.

 

He seems like a stand up guy to me.

Anyway, re the latest Ken interview. Part of me dies inside every time I hear that man speak. That interviewer though, (while he asked all the right questions) has all the polish and professionalism of a fucking ape!

 

I don't understand why everyone hates Ballough. I mean he's doing his goddamned job.
What do you think he'll come out and say "Well, Sonic 4 is crap, but we want you to spend money on it anyway"
C'mon, give the guy a break.

 

I'm sorry, I have to get my two cents in on this interview before we move on.

First off, wearing a hoodie that partially obscures your face while sticking a microphone in someone's face is really offputting. I don't agree with anything Balough really says either, but I know he's a PR guy, just a face, it's not him we should be mad about or anyone else involved in PR. That being said, seeing how the interviewer tried to ask some hardball questions here and there, not to mention some really odd questions with ramblings interspersed with them (Johnny Bravo, seriously?), wow. By about six minutes into the interview I know Balough was getting worn, and I could feel myself starting to squirm a little and have my jaw tense up as I randomly kept pausing the video and saw some of Balough's expressions inbetween his forced composure. If you stop at the right moments, he even looks angry, which he has every right to be. Compare that to pausing at the beginning the interview and seeing Ken looked more interested rather than annoyed. I still have another five or six minutes to watch and I really don't know how it's going to end, I don't know if I can keep watching to be honest. I'll edit this post later to add some screenshots of his faces.

 

Well duh. It's just it refreshing to hear some more legitimate answers than the run of the mill "It's great, you'll love it's cause it's great and this great stuff is exactly what you want".

 

For what it's worth, outside of the office Ken looks like an awesome dude. It still doesn't change the fact that he lies for a living. The "Just doing my job" excuse didn't work at the Nuremberg Trials, and it doesn't now. Most of the time, people fully know the nature of work they're getting into, hence why Ken should take his share of the blame (though admittedly most of it should be leveled at that ignorant, fuck-ugly, dentally challenged Orc, Izuka).

 

Did you really just compare calling Sonic 4 a good game to the fucking Nazi trials.

God damn.

 

This interview is fucking awful, I don't like Ken because of the usual PR spew but he didn't deserve this. Wearing a hoody during an interview? Seriously? Does Spax know how off putting that is for an interview?

Nice going, Spax. You really drove your point home why I should bother taking you seriously as an interviewer.

As soon as the words "This is truly Sonic the Hedgehog 4 as you imagined it" came out of his mouth I lost any respect for the guy. It simply should not be titled Sonic 4, it really doesn't deserve such a namesake.

 

Goddamn it.
What is he supposed to say?
"This is not the Sonic 4 you imagined, and its not as good as it should be...please give us money"

 

Well I apologize if I wasn't as professional as you wanted me to be. I usually try to be causal when I speak to people, and I'm sorry if I stuttered too much or asked something you didn't like. One thing I will say is, Ken Balough is a normal human like everyone else, and I like treating people the same.

I tried basing my questions more on fan complaints since I doubted that anyone would have asked them directly, and some of the smaller questions, I just figured would be small nitpicks to know about. I noticed someone criticized me bringing up Johnny Bravo in the Classic Sonic question. I was basing my question around an answer we got on that in Nintendo Power on the grounds that the reason Classic Sonic wasn't returning was that it was a new Sonic game. Both Johnny Bravo and Mega Man were two examples I could think of the characters going back to their original designs in newer episodes and games, so I just brought them up to attempt to make a point about how Sonic 4 being a new Sonic game isn't really a full good reason for the new model. A lot of people have complained about Classic Sonic not being in the game, and the Nintendo Power answer to that didn't really help anyone's feelings about it, so I just wanted to do my best to make the point clear. Sega said that they are taking in fan requests and criticism for the game, so I also trying to be there as a fan myself to ask questions and give a bit of constructive criticism, and see what a rep of Sega's input on it would be.

I spoke to a lot of my friends about the questions and such, and most of them thought that it would be an interesting idea, so hence, I went through with it. Though to be honest, I find it funny that people complain about me asking then yet at the same time, I see people here also complaining about me wearing a hoodie which for my characters, is a trademark like how AVGN is always wearing a white button shirt. I was there as Spax, and Spax's character involves a hoodie. I mean, I could have been there as Hoodie and worn a sombrero, would that be better? P: I wasn't there to look professional, I was just trying to look causal, and I was just trying to ask questions for fan and general interest. As for the mic, it wasn't mine, it was my friend's and I didn't know how it fully worked (it was my first time using one of those for an interview like this), so there ya go, I admit I fucked up with that.

For when I was there, I will say that Ken B. was very nice and I enjoyed talking to him, and I was glad that he took the time to talk to me. I know my past with Sonic hasn't really been that good, and I, myself look back on it with regret. So this time, I wanted to be more respectful then I used to be, but at the same time, I wanted to ask questions and give some constructive criticism for the sake of the fans since I've seen many people on the Sega blog, and I've seen many people go out of control there with rage and swearing, and I did not want to be like one of those people as I used to be.

So, I apologize if you didn't think I did a very good job for the interview. It was my first time doing interviews like this, and I was just trying to be both causal and there as a fan as well as trying to gain interviews. I plan on getting more interviews when I go to E3 again next year, and if any of you would ever want to talk to me and give me advice on how to improve my future interviews, then go ahead.

Agreed. I nitpick the game too, but I see everyone at Sega doing their best to make this game as good as possible, and though I think there are still some flaws that need to be fixed (mainly psychics and a few parts of the level design), I think the game has a lot of potential. And as Sega said, they are working on fixing the psychics.

I'm looking forward to the final release.

 

It's an extreme example, but yes it still stands.

"Just doing my job" doesn't wash whether you're helping to exterminate a race, lying about a game, working for the IRS/HMRC or issuing parking tickets. There's a part of you that's cuntish enough to go and do the work in the first place. "Just doing my job" not only displays ones lack of integrity and balls, but is used to justify some horrific shit too!