Infinite is a character I’m really, really indifferent to. But I heard Pariah’s take on the matter, about what could have done with him, and it honestly does appeal to me. I’m on board with the idea of having Infinite more clearly an insecure loser who tries to hide behind his power. In fact, I think I might actually go even further with that than most. Ditch the jackal squad stuff. He’s just a random teenage kid that maybe stumbled across the phantom Ruby or something, and Eggman took an interest in, manipulating him by going over his insecurities and offering him power or something. Ditch the deep, edgy voice and give him a voice like this dude, the general idea of it at least except even more kiddish. Maybe add a slight distortion effect when he puts on the mask at most. Have him actually geek out at times at the stuff he can do with his powers. Literally having lines like, “Look at how cool this is!” and other lame stuff. Maybe introduce an element early on that when using his powers he experience physical pain, the greater the illusion the more pain he expresses. Which limits him at first, but he gets more and more desperate to not lose as the fights go on, pulling out bigger and stronger illusions, and he you can visibly see and verbally hear the pain he is in, and he starts to yell a lot more. Then at the end, when it seems they’re finally about to defeat him, he essentially has a mental breakdown that is pathetic where he is yelling and screaming about how he is strong and all of them are the weaklings and power is the only important thing and all that nonsense. They try to reason and reach him with the power of friendship speeches and how power doesn’t determine a person’s worth and blah blah blah blah blah… And he doesn’t listen. He instead draws even more power from the Ruby, too much, which makes him start to like writhe in agony or something and the energy mutates and changes his form to that of a distorted monster. And then later on, the power itself eventually kills him. Not a new idea or whatever but I do think it could be interesting to watch fold out if done right.
I just had an argument about something with someone that I found very…. Strange. I have never encountered this view before and wonder which one of us has the less popular one. I just ran into someone who thinks it is impossible to have the Sumo Digital style games learn and borrow from the Rider’s games; that the two are completely incompatible. I thought that was stupid. And when I really stopped to think about both game’s mechanics, I came to think it even moreso. The Sumo digital games already have a trick system. It’s not hard to imagine the physics being adjusted to allow you to get more stylish. Or to where you can press trick at certain points on the ramp to go higher. Freaking Mario Kart has that. Both games have a drift and a dash mechanic. Is it really hard to imagine Riders’s boost from drifting getting more powerful the longer you drift, or Sumo’s boost being more powerful like Riders? I know the former of those is perfectly fine because there are literally mods that do that. Is it really hard to imagine a Rider’s game where you have a control option to manually accelerate rather than the game do it for you? Or a sumo game where you get an energy meter gimmick that can be used for boosting when you want , doing better versions of drifts, or speeding up to get more air off of ramps? Transformed basically had Rider’s flight gameplay. Team Sonic Racing had the power type characters abilities. The only real thing is that it might be weird to imagine a car grinding on a rail like Rider’s speed characters can do. But at the same time, if you really wanted that (I don’t know. Seems pretty non-gameplay to me), we already have seen transforming vehicles in those games. There are other mechanics as well. But generally you’ll find that when you actually look at them, almost none of them are necessarily incompatible with each other. The only issue here is lack of imagination, and perhaps an overly rigid idea of what their definining aspects are. it’s just mechanics and physics values my guy. You can do what you want. And for crying out loud it’s not like trying to combine a card game with stealth. They’re both racing games. Lol
I might as well join in on this. 1. I think Sonic should be a videogame-only franchise, or at least, to not bother with other forms of media. This is less of a problem related to a specific kind of media or piece of media, and more about the nature of adaptations and the different elements that are part of the common formula for a given form of media. Maybe it's because of my experiences with them, where I think that they either, did their own shit with a much more serious premise and set up expectations the games were never going to fulfill dividing the fanbase as a result, were a trashy cash grab nobody asked for, negatively influenced the characterization on the games after, a spin off of a spin off, Sonic the Hedgehog's Club House where they claim it's canon but it can't fit anywhere and Sonic himself is exasperating, or a comic where the characters aren't written right and then they let the writer write for the games for some reason and it features replacements for the previous comic's cast. Even the few that do I enjoy have issues too. Some think they can just bring everything in with multiverses, but that doesn't always work and has it's own issues. Plus, this is a Japanese franchise. If it wasn't made there or with the approval of the creators, then it practically doesn't exist. Besides, not everyone wants to catch up with a show or comic book to follow the games. 2. The tone of most games seems to swing between too silly and too serious and it annoys me. This is a problem, imo, that started with SA2. Particularly with Shadow's backstory. Then Heroes went back to a silly meaningless plot until the end, which is fine except it also began the character flanderization (but that's a different issue). The memes related to Shadow's game is all I need to say about it. 06 was trying to be Final Fantasy. Unleashed, much like SA1 before it, has the tone just right. Somehow the Storybook games avoided being too dramatic or are rather self-aware, especially Black Knight. Colors had Sonic trying to be the next Jerry Seinfeld and failing hard about it, obscuring Eggman's very nefarious plan to mind control everyone with alien juice. Gens was fine with almost no plot and it was a relic of it's time, changing it made it way worse. Lost World is just plain trash and nothing was done well in it, with flat villains and just plain bad characterization. Forces is like a bad mid/late 00s fanfic barring shipping. Frontiers inherited the depression vibes from Evangelion. As I pointed out above, the ideal tone, imo, is the one used in SA1 or Unleashed. Not a comedy, but there are some jokes and moments of levity. Not a melodrama, but there are established stakes and events that have relevancy. Sonic making snarky comments but not all the time and knowing where to sound serious or even not say anything at all instead of a preachy monologue. I think my engagement or suspension of disbelief is like a bell curve, with too silly and too serious on each extreme. It just takes me out when they lean to one side or the other. 3. None of the writers in the 21st century have done a satisfactory job imo, except maybe Unleashed and Storybook. They either go full shonen anime, or they don't understand Sonic, and some even think they do but not Game!Sonic. Have a multinational writers team to make sure it never goes full American comic book, or Japanese manga/anime. Both have some convections and tropes I have issues with, like unnecessary telenovela-like drama or Sonic being a virtually invincible Gary Stu. Ideally they would cut into each others "bad traits", making something in the middle that might be more appealing to everyone. We have seen the effects when they swing too hard on one or the other, and it isn't pretty, just like with the tone. 4. Classic Sonic shouldn't be only 2D (with a fixed camera like in Superstars), nor Modern only 3D (with 2D sections ofc). The whole mess of the Sonic 5 leak and the subsequent reveal of Superstars showcased that there's a gap and it's making more modern minded fans upset. Personally, I think they could make a 2D Modern game with momentum physics as the basis and then add the modern moves on top. 5. The next 2D Sonic, Classic or Modern, should have vectorized art (or 3D models that look 2D) and Tyson Hesse as the Visual Director. Tbh I think I'm a bit tired of pixel art, and Superstars lacked enough polish. Maybe this is what we need to make 2D Sonic appealing for the normies. 6. Frontiers 2 should make the Open Zones into hubs with (more) npcs to interact with, and retool Cyberspace into bigger levels that take cues from Windy Valley Beta, and therefore the classic tiered level design. I can't think any others I may have right now.
I mean, when you dare to post your hot take outside of forums, you'll get lumped with users who took the said take personally and send memes at you for not agreeing with the popular opinion™. There's a time and place for that reason.
Allow me to add to it. I haven’t beaten the game yet. But I own it now; and have played it for a good bit. And the more I play, the more I become convinced that the only reason Frontiers was as well received as it was is literally because it is an open world game. Take the same “puzzles,” the same platform “challenges,” the same aesthetic, the same controls, the same everything…. …and place it in more traditional structure… …and no one would have paid 2 cents worth of attention to this game. This is going to sound mean. But I’m becoming more and more convinced that people only like it because they are already used to the frankly Garbage gameplay you’d find in a typical open world game. Like, I’m playing through this, and I’m starting to be reminded more and more of Genshin. I hate Genshin. A lot. Though the game doesn’t have them to the same degree, it is starting to feel like it has many of the same problems, plus more. Though unlike Genshin, there is SOME fun to be had as this is a platformer, and not JUST a shallow combat game. And there is no soul-crushing grinding from anything I have played yet. The game is just kind of boring.
Saying hot takes can be fine, the reaction will always depend HOW you say it. That's why there's so many discourse on Twitter all the time.
I honestly don't play very many "open world" games in the traditional style and I like Frontiers because I liked to run around like a lunatic. Tbh the structure reminded me more of a "hub-and-level" game like the original Spyro titles, which I'm fond of, where the hub still has enemies and collectables and you have to traverse it to get to the other levels.
That’s the way that SHOULD work in theory. But nah. I have seen many a person be completely reasonable and cool with how they express themselves, and still get flamed for it because their opinion is not an unpopular one, or is criticizing something that is well liked. Personally, in part because of stuff like that, I don’t even really try to hold back most of the time. Though I admittedly should. Looking at Frontiers Open Zone stuff as just a larger hub world rather than the main game does make it a LITTLE better in my eyes. The cyberspace stages aren’t the worst thing in the world.
I remembered another one. I don't see Mania or Superstars as mainline. Actually, the way I categorize Sonic games is with a 4 tier/class system. A-class being what I consider mainline, B-class being relevant spinoffs, C-class being less relevant spinoffs, and D-class being the random cashgrabs with little to no effort. Ports and remasters are hard to categorize save a few exceptions. Examples of each would be: A: Sonic the Hedgehog (1991, 16-bit), Sonic the Hedgehog CD, Sonic Adventure, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (2006), Sonic Colors (Wii), Sonic Forces (Consoles), Sonic Frontiers B: Sonic the Hedgehog (1991, 8-bit versions), Knuckles' Chaotix, Tails Adventure, Sonic R, Sonic Advance, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Rush, Sonic Rivals (both), Sonic and the Black Knight, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (both Episodes), Sonic Colors (DS), Sonic Mania (Plus), Sonic Superstars C: Sonic Spinball (both versions), Tails Skypatrol, Sonic Shuffle, Sonic Pinball Party, Sonic Dash and all smartphone freemium games except Sonic Runners D: Sonic Eraser, Sonic's Schoolhouse, Sonic Jam (Game com), Sonic Cafe minigames, official flash games Truth be told I'm not sure where to put some games such as the Drift and Riders series, and the Fighters/Championship. Runners would be mainline if it didn't fail and was basically written out. Fyi, my criteria for A-class games is: Developed by Sonic Team or other groups with with ST's key figures, and within Sega Features Sonic the Hedgehog as the main playable character Speed-based platformer Uses traditional controls Released on home consoles (Switch is hybrid but its functionally a home system) Relatively significant budget including marketing Mania and Superstars fail at the first one because they were developed by a combined team of fans (with the guidance of Sonic Team) that later joined together to form their own studio, and a different company that was founded and it's lead by one of Sonic's creators but it's not within Sega's structure.
I mean, of course, I think the rule should be for both sides. I've seen either overreacting with X opinions and others being hyperbole about it even when they're "right" on something. Stuff like is what makes discussiong tiring sometimes.
I got one. I know it was probably inevitable with the changing times, but it kind of sucks how Sonic as a whole has just drifted away from its counter culture roots and pretty much became everything it rejected. The series absolutely wouldn't be as popular if it kept it up, but it really just kind of bothers me on a personal level even if I've made peace with it.
Open world games give player a lot of agency over which content they can skip and need a lot of content to fill open spaces, so the bar for quality of said content goes into freefall. One day I was trying to list which open world games don't suffer from this problem compared to their linear counterparts and could only come up with, like, two examples. Most of these games aren't bad, or even disappointing entries in their respective franchises by any metric, but I think the highs have to be higher than they are in Frontiers to justify the lows. Sonic Team could fix this with both better content curation and a more deliberately designed map, but I get the sense Frontiers only came out at all because they were able to sidestep both of those things and just shove anything that was of working order into the game. it got the game to the coveted 20 hour mark to justify the higher price tag, but the results speak for themselves. Pacing and quality of content in linear single player games has become so terrible that I'll take the trade off that comes with freedom any day, but it's definitely worth scrutinizing as open world design continues to evolve.
'Gotta go fast' is the cheesiest catchline for a song, and it makes me grin from ear to ear like a madwoman whenever it gets brought up or played. I'm delighted with it being cemented within the movies as the only X reference (so far, praise be) because of how prolific it's been within the community, and its general impact to my youth. Browsing through NG waiting for updates on FFSX & Sonic Battle Cards, watching X and Ouran High episodes chucked onto YT just to be eventually mashed together into a confusingly hype AMV linking back to FaceBook RP groups, playing Sonic Heroes on the PS2 or pretending to be Shadow on ToonTown Online, every second of my childhood was absolutely raddled by the perplexing smirk of this stupid blue hedgehog and I was absolutely there for it. My neurons firing off at the sight of literally the most incredibly speedy thing in the world is what inspired lil' me to actually take school seriously (just so I could comprehend what in gods name he was saying and have the ability to keep up with his way-past-cool adventures). And if it wasn't a Crush 40 tune or 'Blue' from Eiffel 65, 'Gotta Go Fast' was the ultimate cherry on top. Upbeat shlock-rock that no copy of Windows Vista or 7 was safe from, my grubby hands looking it up in the fastest timeframe for everyone to hear. It was an absolute blast. Really, I don't know if I've actually grown out of it. Sonic has been with me every step of the way; through triumphs and tribulations, I'd end up finding myself confiding in the one series I ever truly adored again and again. Everything above is a perfectly bundled reminder of my childhood and how Sonic had always felt like, with it's melodramatic 2000s drama, kooky colourful critters and landscapes, shonen action with Western attitudes... Things are different nowadays. It could be growing pains, maybe Green Hills ain't all that green, and we're yearning for a better direction when things seem dire most. The best lesson I could give to myself, once I'm out of this midnight delirium, is that things come to pass, and that's okay. Change may happen, but it doesn't really change anything. Sonic ain't Sonic as he used to be, but Sonic'll always be the same Sonic I grew up with: ultimately cringe, but totally free of any and all worry. He will be loved the same, by somebody who has had wholly different experiences than I have. I know I could walk up to any local Sonic-enjoying friend who watched the movie with me, say "Don't tell me he has a catchphrase", and take comfort in the fact that they would, with utmost certainty, respond with "And everybody loves it." That's the Blue Blur for ya.
Funnily enough, this is what the Shadow Generations White Space feels like to me, whereas Frontiers' Open Zones just feel like complete and utter Ubisoft slop. That being said, both of them are absolutely miserable as far as the visuals go. ShGens is slightly better because at least its interactable objects look like natural and deliberate pieces of the environment, but that's not much consolation when said environment is nothing but white and tan bricks as far as the eye can see.
