Honestly, what I'm getting at is is the sheer lack of interactivity with Chao. The amount of depth to Chao appearances is great; you can shape baby Chao a number of ways, and after they become adults you can continue to change their secondary typing as much as you want before they eventually die/reincarnate. But there's just so little to DO with the Chao. I always wanted to take one with me, ala Cream and Cheese. Raise Chao on the go, rather than only in the gardens.
I agree. In addition to allowing time to speed up in gardens, being able to bring them with you into stages (and having their type, alignment, etc.) have some gameplay impact is the main thing I'd love to see if they ever brought them back.
I never saw the point of them in SA1 or 2. The argument always seems to be "They provide a change to the main game!" in which case.... play a different game? So I'm not required to put in dozens of hours effort to unlock a Sonic level, the type I bought the damn game for in the first place? The mobile-specific gacha game though, that I can 100% see a market for and it still amazes me Sega's never done it.
Outside the one mandatory waiting section, I honestly don’t think Marble Zone, specifically Act 3, is that bad of a zone. In fact, I actually kind of enjoy it a little. I hadn’t actually played any Sonic games for a while. Thought it might be better to take a break and do things I actually more than slightly enjoy like revisiting old cartoons I watched as a kid or getting more progress playing Celeste. (Just got the moon berry and the golden strawberries left now. I probably won’t try for the goldens, though) But recently while watching a review of the game by the best Sonic reviewer on YouTube, I decided I wanted to download Sonic 1 again and go through a few levels. Not trying to get the emeralds or anything too not mindless. Just playing through. And that was when I realized that this zone is actually a little better than I remembered it being, at least with the spin dash. In fact, there are sections where it flows very well. In fact, I think I prefer it to Green Hill. More than a few mistakes there but i did not think it was worth the effort to do a serious run on this so i only played it once. And I lost interest and stopped playing after beating this zone.
Apropos of nothing, at the section from 0:31 to 0:42 I always try to jump over those purple blocks without landing on them, just as the green one goes under, and trying to land on it as it comes out the other side. Just as a fun little personal challenge to make the wait less boring. It's turned out to be pretty useful precision-platforming practice for me.
Playing Sonic Adventure 2 for the first time since COVID and it's a lot better than I remember it being! There's a lot I'm enjoying that I hadn't before. I am definitely seeing why people like this game so much. Here's the unpopular part though: the plot blows holy shit fucking sonic lost world is better in this regard like god damn (it is kinda endearing tho)
I replayed a few levels from Sonic Generations a few days ago and have come to the conclusion that not only is Modern City Escape much worse than Modern Planet Wisp, but Planet Wisp is actually pretty fun aside from the first 2D section. City Escape starts off really strong but the 2D section is really really boring and the truck chase overstays its welcome and turns into a chore on repeat runs. Probably better than Modern Chemical Plant too, the 2D sections are pretty boring too and the 3D segments aren't engaging enough to carry the stage. Gens in general is pretty back and forth on how it handles 2D in the modern levels, some of them are super short and just there as a quick change of pace, others are fairly elaborate with routes that keep up a good flow of speed and slow routes to punish mistakes, and others add nothing of value to the identity of the level and feel like they're just there to fill a quota. Anyways Classic Planet Wisp still fucking blows.
City Escape is dreadful. I also don't like the arrangement for Modern or Classic. Planet Wisp only bothers me because there were other stages that were far better choices than yet another green level or factory level. Planet Wisp gave us both at the same time. Tropical Resort or Starlight Carnival would have far better as book end stages since we always seem to end up in space or in the air in these games. Hell, Terminal Velocity as a full fledged stage would have been dope. The layout itself is fine though. It's definitely one of the better stages for Classic and Modern.
Generations is way overrated on the whole, and the Modern acts aren't as much fun as the Classic ones.
Generations is actually rather underrated at this point, and the Modern acts are in reality more fun than the Classic ones. (I'm sorry.)
I dunno, I think Generations isn't even really that talked about anymore. It's the game you need the least words to sum up, for the most part.
My only real beef with Generations, aside from the final boss being absolute cheeks, is the overwhelming number of repeated archetypes in the game. I think Sonic Team shouldn't have emphasized the most iconic set pieces from each game to the extent that they did - it results in game that comprises four city levels, two Green Hills, two factories, and one ancient ruin. Like, if I was in charge, I'd emphasize one of the more unique stages from each game rather than "the first one everyone remembers": keep the Classic era the same, this era's fine swap Speed Highway with Red Mountain and Seaside Hill with Casino Park. City Escape is fine I guess swap Crisis City with Radical Train, Rooftop Run with Cool Edge, and Planet Wisp with Asteroid Coaster The game is still awesome but the stage picks leave a little to be desired
Generations on the whole is one of the least divisive Sonic games to date as almost everyone at least agrees that its decent at worst. Its got tons of fanservice for longtime fans of the series, and its one of the most polished 3D games with little to no jank. And of course, the modding scene loves it. One of the reasons everyone hates Forces so much is that its an overall inferior product to a game that came out six years prior.
Personally, I'm a Launch Base Act 1 person, but man is Sandopolis Zone good. I love how unique it is compared to every other level in the game with its creepy and fun tone during Act 2 and its awesome design. The ghosts are also really overblown at least to me since I've never been remotely threatened by them or died to one (plus they're cute when they have horns). Visually, Act 1 is stunning with its desert ruin setting, and Act 2 is really cool with its nice yellow and black palette. Sandopolis Act 2 during the dark is one of my favorite-looking Acts in the whole game. The gimmicks are also pretty fun, especially the triple loops and the rising sand which is always a blast to escape. Definitely one of my favorite Zones to come across when I start a playthrough of 3&K, imo Marble Garden deserves ten times the hate.
I feel like it's his voice that makes all his other flaws nightmarish for a lot of people. Without that, I'm sure at least a majority would find him slightly more tolerable. It's also a lot harder to see any appeal of Chris the older you get since those child-insert main characters usually function as a bridge between the young viewer and the world of the story imo.
I get what they were going for with Chris, but making a Sonic show that wasn't about Sonic or any of the other Sonic cast was always gonna be a tough sell no matter how well executed it was done. So the fact that it wasn't executed well just meant Chris never had a chance.
