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The Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Megathread

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Scarred Sun, Apr 7, 2010.

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  1. Scarred Sun

    Scarred Sun

    Be who you needed when you were younger Administrator
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    Welp, this.
    OK, we're going to try to hold Sonic 4 discussion once again since we feel enough time has passed and everyone has calmed down. However, we need to set some ground rules for discussion in order to prevent something like this from happening again.

    At the end of the day, everyone needs to remember to be respectful to everyone else. Like pretty much everything else I'm gonna say here, this applies to every thread on this site, but it is especially important to consider on a sensitive subject such as this. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, positive, negative, apathetic or what have you. What people are not entitled to is attacking others personally because they have an opinion that deviates from their own. Conversely, people must realize that arguments held in this topic are not to be taken personally and lash out as though they are personally being attacked. Showing common courtesy will make this easier for all of us—the posters, the readers and the moderators.

    I would like to request that due to the rapid nature of this topic that if you wish to continue a conversation into an off-topic area that you notify someone on staff so they can split off that part of the conversation into another topic; I can't promise that if we find an off-topic discussion ourselves that we won't just trash it. Moreover, because of this thread's rapid nature, please do not post "I agree" replies, quote more than two quotes deep or quote long posts (that's what :words: is for.) Joke posts are probably going to backfire on you, so take caution. The handful of you who can pull them off are in the minority.

    While you are not allowed to link to any previously leaked videos outside of Splash Hill Zone, you are allowed to discuss the contents of these videos. Do not ask where to find these videos if you do not already have them, either here or on IRC. Whether or not future leaks are considered acceptable to post in the future is entirely contextual, so post at your own risk.

    If you would like a recap of the information we know about Sonic 4 so far, check Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1.
     
  2. Skyler

    Skyler

    Neonネオン Cowgirlカウガール Site Staff
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    Okay, here we go again. I would just like to say I'm still excited for this game.
     
  3. I will say this. Thanks for letting us talk about Sonic 4 again. You must trust us a lot to give us back that privilege.

    I'm pretty sure with the rules you have laid out that this thread will be much better.

    So...now where to begin...

    Oh yeah, this game is better than the last 8 years or so of crap that I have seen from the franchise.

    Lets hope the game sells, and that it becomes the norm. :)
     
  4. HeartAttack

    HeartAttack

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    I'm excited for Sonic 4. Everything I've seen to this point has only got me more excited about it. Hopefully it plays well and sells well so we see more classic-esque Sonic games in the future.
     
  5. Tiranno

    Tiranno

    Steveosaurus Rex Member
    I would hope this is a fun outing for our poor hedgehog friend. He needs a good game right about now. From what I have seen I am not too fond of what Sonic 4 has become, but I will sure be trying the demo before I give my final judgment.
     
  6. Quarterman

    Quarterman

    Just another day in paradise. Member
    I think that the return to a more retro influenced (but not actually retro, mind) style of gameplay is just what the franchise needs. If this goes well, I honestly think that it will erase, or at least abate, many of the bad feelings caused by the last few Sonic endeavors.

    On the other hand, I could simply be overly optimistic at this point. We won't know until this thing is released and we play it for ourselves. The anticipation is truly wracking my nerves.
     
  7. amphobius

    amphobius

    doing more important things with my life Member
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    I believe I haven't exactly gave my true opinion on the game just yet, but I was waiting for a bit more content to base an opinion off. The leaked videos did help my opinion on things, however, I agree that too much was leaked at one time. Furthermore, I believe the entire community has been spoiled with the entire game leaked in video format, and thus I think it was a good idea to cool off the discussion for a moment.

    From what I've seen of the game, I think it looks actually kinda fun to play. Yeah, sure, there are tiling errors, but they're all over the place in the classic Mega Drive games, if you look hard enough. The only thing that irks me is that the foreground objects stand out too much—compared to the foreground itself, it just contrasts awkwardly. I also think that the re-using of old badniks is quite nice, despite the fact that they're the same badniks and not a slight change on an old concept (Technically speaking, some are, good example is Motobug).

    I will say, that Lost Labyrinth 2's gimmick, while it may seem frustrating or "sega doesn't know how to make a sonic game anymore", it seems kinda fresh and unique, and I welcome it wholeheartedly. I can also see myself playing it—possibly with motion controls—and getting angry at myself for sucking so much. Then again, that's what I enjoy about video games—you try to get better so you can beat the game. It's the same with Mega Man, at first you find it frustratingly difficult, and soon after experience, sure enough, you're nearly a pro at the game.

    The only thing I'm really disapointed with at the moment is the soundtrack. The synths are all the same, the percussion is low-quality Sonic 2 PCM samples, et cetera et cetera. Despite this, I actually kinda like the Splash Hill Act 1 tune. It may sound cheesy, and the synths certainly don't help either, however, the tune itself can work quite nicely if it has the right instruments. Jun Senoue certainly hasn't lost his touch in the composing sector—it's just the instruments that need work.

    And that, Sonic Retro, is my honest-to-god opinion on Sonic the Hedgehog 4. I am eagerly awaiting to play this game, and fuck you if you say otherwise. :colbert:

    tl;dr - I like Sonic 4 except for the soundtrack
     
  8. Rage

    Rage

    Forum Deviant Oldbie
    I feel bad for missing such an epic, iconic thread that will go down in history as one of the strangest. I feel it is my duty to be present for this re-do. :colbert:
     
  9. Tobibrocki

    Tobibrocki

    Member
    I cannot wait for it, and when I finally play it, I hope Sonic Retro or so makes a "collection" of constructive critisism that has been given on Episode 1 and gives it to an employee from Sega. That would be awesome sauce! :) If the relationship between Retro and Sega is on the green again by that time (when Episode 2 is the next big thing)!
     
  10. Rockman Zero

    Rockman Zero

    Hello there, my little friend. Member
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    I'll hold off on my final opinion until I actually play the game for once. I won't be reading any reviews until I've completed the game myself.

    I'll most likely download the game from Xbox Live Arcade, seeing how that is the only console I have that is hooked up in HD at the moment.
     
  11. cmd

    cmd

    Member
    I'm honestly surprised at how much my feelings on this game have shifted. When I first saw screens and the teaser, I was shocked that Sega would even use the name 'Sonic 4'. But after seeing some of what is in store, and stewing on it for a few days... I've quite shifted my mindset. I'm excited. I plan to go into this game with an open mind, and feel like I'm going to be quite happy with the final product, even if it's not what I would have come up with if I were designing 'S4' myself. If only I could have it on PC too :)

    Edit: How on Earth do I type words in my head, but not with my fingers?
     
  12. Polygon Jim

    Polygon Jim

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    All the bitches.
    Well because we are aloud to have whatever opinion we want in this topic, I would just like to say that this is one of the worst games I have ever seen Sega shit out.

    First off the game engine is a horrible abomination. It was made for Sonic Rush which was only meant to be played while holding down a boost button. This really shows in Sonic 4, and is why they spammed dashpads everywhere, so people would not notice the horrible slope physics that can make you stand on a wall at 90 degrees. This alone already ruined the entire game for me, because without a good engine any game is shit because it isn't enjoyable to play.
    Second, the music is horrible. I'm very disappointed, because no matter how bad Sonic games have been over the years they at least had good soundtracks. This game on the other hand is trying to pull off a nostalgic feel and does so very badly. The songs are roughly 20 second long loops while all sharing the same very basic and bland instruments.
    Third the game is just a bad rehash of Sonic 1 and 2. There is nothing original about this game, all of the enemys are stolen from the past games, all of the bosses, and all of the levels as well. The art style is also pretty bad, and they mixed multiple styles together. First we have limited color cell-shaded art for the enemys and characters, then we have badly prerendered level art with no defined lightsource, which they were to lazy to texture so they just added noise filters to and called it detail. And to top it off we randomly get 16 bit sprites for no reason.

    Sega doesn't even give a shit about the game enough to pay the people that actually work for them. You know Sonic Team? The people that make the Sonic games. Instead they hire a pretty shitty developer that has proven at least 5 times they are incapable of making a good Sonic game of any sort, 2d or 3d. The only times they even made an arguably good Sonic game was Pocket Adventure which is just as much of a rehash as this, and Sonic Advance 1 which still had a shitfuck of flaws. There's also the fact they must not have felt like designing a level so they made a shitty minecart level so they could finish the game faster.

    The only thing they did right for once is letting Super Sonic be playable in the levels.


    Oh yeah, to make this a valid statement I need to complain about green eyes and long spikes. So yeah, GREEN EYES AND LONG SPIKES RUIN THE GAME!!!11!

    tl;dr, Game sucks dicks, has bad engine, bad levels, bad music, bad ect
     
  13. Shade

    Shade

    Member
    I did several about-faces on this game, but have finally settled on "I'm excited to play this".

    The soundtrack is great; the instrumentation is not. I sincerely hope they rework it a bit, but I doubt that.

    The entire first Episode being a complete rehash of Sonic 1 & 2 seems like a cop out, to me. But the levels themselves look well designed enough.

    Basically it'll come out, I'll play it, and enjoy myself. But whether it is truly deserving of the Sonic 4 moniker will be down to the other two episodes.
     
  14. OKei

    OKei

    OKeijiDragon Member
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    It's nice to see that we're starting over from the beginning, again.

    I'm personally excited to see this game coming out as a downloadable title. It make the purchasing more convenient. I'm also loving the soundtrack already.

    I eagerly await the release of the game. When it comes out this summer, I'm gonna make a PEMNAS/video playthrough series of it ASAP!
     
  15. I must say that, so far, I'm with the group that doesn't like the game. My biggest complaints? The physics and the insane amount of rehashing. I don't need to say anything about the physics, the videos were there for everyone to see. About the rehashes, I expected to see at least a couple of original badniks, but now we know that there isn't a single new badnik in this game, they are 100% rehashed. The lack of originality for zones and bosses surprised me as well. I found the music pretty bad too.

    I don't have much hope for the future episodes either. I expect them to have more original content, but I doubt anything will be done about the physics. If they fixed it, that would be like admitting that the first episode had bad physics, something they'll never do, they would rather pretend that there's nothing wrong with it.
     
  16. Shade

    Shade

    Member
    It's funny. Back in the day I'd always watch the Sonic games get played through in bits and pieces at daycares and the like long before I actually got my own physical copy. So in a way, these video leaks are actually quite nostalgic for me :3
     
  17. I was a pretty bad player when I was a kid, and it took me forever to get to the latter stages in Sonic games. So it was pretty common for me to see other people playing through them before I was able to. Because of that or not I don't think that watching the leaked videos is a big deal. I don't find it nostalgic though, because back then I used to be fascinated with what I was seeing, which is not the case now.

    Also, I won't be able to play this game anytime soon. I'm not a gamer, and I don't have close gamer friends, which means I have no easy access to any of the platforms where this game is being released. Since I'll be stuck with watching videos anyway, the sooner the better I guess.
     
  18. Vinchenz

    Vinchenz

    Yo! Hustle! Hustle! Member
    I am extremely excited for this game. And even more so after seeing what's in store for Episode II.

    It may not be exactly like the Genesis games, but fuck it. Those games were masterpieces because the time was right and everything fell into place. They were on a stroll... it's just too bad that they lost it.

    However, I truly believe that Sonic 4 is the next best thing. And it will be fun.
     
  19. Aquaslash

    Aquaslash

    <The Has-been Legend> Moderator
    Because this game finally sees the long awaited return to form for Super Sonic, it is awesome. Forever and ever.

    Will be buying on day one! Thought I hope it doesn't take forever for all the other episodes to come out.
     
  20. Mercury

    Mercury

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    I, too, pretty much saw all the Sonic games through to the end before playing them myself, because I would watch my older siblings play them. So the leaked videos don't bother me much; in fact, just like the old days, it makes me itch to play the game all the more.

    The trouble with Sonic 4 is largely the marketing. They trumped it up as "Project Needlemouse", and claimed it was an "all-new adventure", and speculation was bound to run wild. Then when they finally revealed what it was, they didn't back it up with enough footage of clever and interesting things to assuage the disappointment.

    If it had been introduced as a Dimps-developed trip down memory lane in HD, I doubt there would have been as much rage and hate from some of us - certainly from myself. It would have been, 'Hey, that's cool! No boost? No lameass buddies? No fishing? Great!'

    In fact, the leaked videos are exactly what the game needed, at least in my eyes. Now that I see all the cool stuff I'll be able to do in the game, I'm 10 times more excited about it.

    Now that I've got a more positive outlook concerning Sonic 4, I'm not looking at the game wanting to hate it. Instead of trying to fit it in the "good" box, or the "bad" box, I can see that the game will have its share of both good and bad elements, and so far it looks like the good outweighs the bad. Certainly, after seeing the other 3 zones, the snide parody image I put on my blog no longer sums up how I feel about it.

    In fact, the number of positive things I notice about Sonic 4 keeps increasing.
    • The levels are nice and long. Sonic 3 & Knuckles prided themselves on big, expansive zones chock-full of goodies and things to do. Sonic 4's look to equal that, at least in most cases. Also, I like the return of 3 Acts. 2 has always felt too short to me (though I know Sonic 2's template is the most popular).
    • The gimmicks are different depending on the act. In Sonic 1's Green Hill Zone, the spiked logs were only act 3. Recently, Sonic games have forgotten to space their gimmicks in such a way as to differentiate the character of the acts. But Sonic 4 breaks that annoying trend. (It may go too far with the minecart, granted. I don't think so though; it seems to be the spiritual successor to the Sky Chase concept.)
    • It doesn't have Sonic Rush physics! I've seen some posts here saying how the physics are just as bad, but it's clearly not true. Now, I haven't played it, obviously, so I can't claim to know for sure, but from what can be seen, the biggest problems have been solved. Sonic no longer stops dead when you release the jump button, and he seems to gain speed properly when rolling. And I may also remind you that, physics aside, the core tenets of gameplay aren't Rush's, either. There's no grinding, boosting, idiotic spammy tricks, or stupid objects that pass by in a blur that you have to react to in a split-second. Sonic 4 is designed to be played with ONE BUTTON (which Iizuka even explicitly acknowledged). That is the core of Classic Sonic, and 180 degrees from Sonic Rush.
    • The backgrounds are real zone backgrounds. How much of the Advances and Rushes were just a single image with a rail stretched in front of them? Now, we've got real, multi-plane background that scroll like Sonic 1 or Sonic CD. You can get a sense of place in the level, finally; something that Music Plant or Toy Kingdom sorely lacked.
    • There are hardly ANY drops to doom. Hooray!
    • Super Sonic. I mean, come on. Seeing him flying through Mad Gear made me smile like nothing in Unleashed could.
    • Special Stage Spoiler: + - I like the Special Stage concept of collecting enough Rings to progress to the next portion of the maze. It's a cool way to combine the logic of both the Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 special stages together, and it's enough of a riff that they don't feel like a total ripoff of Sonic 1's. However, I think the background leaves a little to be desired. In Sonic 1, it was brilliant morphmation technique, and a motif that's unforgettable. The kaleidascope effect in Sonic 4 seems a little limp in comparison. They should have spazzed out with cool M. C. Escher designs - they missed their chance!  

    tl;dr: It's NOT Rush (and it's disingenuous to claim so); I've seen enough good points now to outweigh the bad, so I'm genuinely excited about Sonic 4. For the first time since Sonic Adventure 2, there's a console Sonic I won't be entirely writing off.

    (Also, I hope the old Sonic 4 thread will come back in some shape or form. :ohdear: At least the part that chronicles the Badnik fanart submissions - those were fun times!)
     
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