Sonic Origins Collection - General Thread

Ya like I already have the game, I do wish it was better and hope it gets a patch, but I'm still enjoying myself overall, even if some glitches make me scratch my head in confusion

 

I think Origins is a good package, but the glitches are baffling. It’s fine but not in a state where I’d say it’s worth $40.

 

Origins is in a state where it’s just one patch away from being the best version of all of these games imo (music opinions aside; as much as I want the 1103 tracks swapped in I know some people would only be happy with the og release tracks anyway)

sega just has to let Headcannon make that patch

 

There, I fixed it fer ya.

 

I mean depends on the magnitude of the patch really.

Also looks like modders are already starting to work their magic. It looks like some pre existing mods for Sonic 1, 2, and CD actually work with some modifications, so we may see Knuckles and Amy soon enough. They've also addressed the music and that awful blurry filter they used that made the game hurt to look at on my TV.

 

I’ve played a lot of games over the years, and a lot of broken ones that have needed patching.

Realistically, there is 0% chance that a single patch includes fixes for all the known issues in this game thus far, not necessarily due to the size of the update, but the magnitude of tweaks and changes required to make this the definitive version.

That’s not a bad thing, as long as the patches do come out eventually.

 

Any patch will come from SEGA's own team; Origins is a Hedgehog Engine game, it doesn't matter that Sonic 3K is running in Retro Engine. Given how intertwined the Sonic 3K engine is with SEGA's own work now (the music is not handled by Retro Engine, for example, neither the HUD) I find it highly unlikely that they will let Headcannon make patches to the game, sadly.

As Stealth said, the version they handed to SEGA is now gone. It's hard for an external contractor to patch things if the integration of their work made so many changes to it. It's basically a SEGA product now.

 

I'm not trying to second-guess Stealth. I believe there probably is plenty of legitimacy behind his frustrations. But Sega/Sonic Team is a body of other individuals with perspectives as well. We've not heard from them, likely because speaking out would be unprofessional, especially if they're lower-level employees. But we all speak as though these individuals, some whom I assume are probably fairly bright and talented individuals in their own right, just screwed up everything. But did they get adequate support? Maybe they too worked themselves into the ground to try and get it done the best they could to meet Sega's imposed deadline.

I'm saying "Sega" is such an easy target... but are you also willing to blame the individuals who did the work at Sega? So we have a story from Stealth, which I am sure is probably right... but it's also only part of a larger story, and from one individual's perspective. So I'm not on the whole "Stealth is right; Stealth got screwed over; Sega screwed this up" train of thought. I'm thinking there were mistakes on both sides that contributed to what we got, and we shouldn't be so quick to just take one side so blindly. And in fairness to Stealth, he has admitted that his team made mistakes as well. He could have said it better, but so be it.

So no, I don't see a moral issue here, especially when you don't know all the facts. But moreover, as someone else said, you've already purchased it. Just play it and be happy!

 

Some reviews that were posted today.

NintendoLife review by Mitch Vogul: "COPE"

Press Start review by Kieron Verbrugge: "A blast [process] from the past"

[Metro] GameCentral review: "Running out of time"

Gamers Heroes review by Casey Scheld: "A raw deal"

---

Reviewer aggregate updates:

Opencritic - 78 "Strong", 25 reviews, 76% of critics recommend

Metacritic:
PS5 - 79 "Generally favorable reviews," 24 reviews
-
PS4 (2 reviews)
PC (2 reviews)
Xbox Series X (1 review)
Switch (1 review)
Xbox One (No reviews)

 

The comments on that article are confusing as hell. It's incredibly weird to me that people are alleging he's "throwing other developers under the bus". How is that even possible? SEGA's name is plastered all over the product, they are very adamant that everyone knows it's their game. Everyone knows SEGA fucked up. The difference is that actual employees of SEGA get some level of safety and protection from "liability" if a bad game comes out, because they are credited under a team, so there's nobody pointing and saying "Shannon fucked up the Tails AI, go talk to her about it". The only exceptions are cases like the music where SEGA very clearly says that Jun is directly responsible.

Contractors / outside devs don't have that safety net, so I guess I kinda see why they felt the need to tell their side of the story. You can't "throw SEGA under the bus" the same way Headcannon gets thrown under the bus.

And as much as some folks on the greater web are saying that this is "unprofessional", the idea of professionalism is oftentimes... kinda silly. There is no risk to any individual person at SEGA, nor have they named or criticized any individual person (except for complimenting Iizuka) or alluded to any specific part of the team at SEGA being solely responsible for the game. It's not like they're cancelling SEGA, HC is just telling it like it is. "Professionalism" has always been great for protecting company reputations and creating a seamless consumer experience, but it's also contradictory in itself. It's unprofessional to botch a contractor's work on your game and engage in various anti-consumer practices, but it's also unprofessional to talk about it. Professionalism as a concept is so confused on where it stands or what it's designed to do.

 

https://gamebanana.com/mods/385416
Dario and Skyth have mostly slain the ugly bilinear shader problem for those that use HedgeModManager, albeit now it becomes apparent that despite Retro Engine being capable of pixel perfect resolution, something about Hedgehog Engine has presumably messed with that.

 

This alone almost guarantees I'll buy this on Steam if it comes down to like $10

Also I find it funny one of the most jarring things in S3K for me is seeing the Sonic 3 sprites again. Since Sonic 3 Complete I've always gone either Sonic 2, Mania, or custom sprites. But least they cleaned up the Sonic 3 sprites so props to that part of the team

 

How so? The logic would be that he can get all seven in Sonic 2 and nothing happens, so it stayed the same for Sonic 3.

Anyhow, my few thoughts since I got all the achievements and 100%ed the Museum last night:

Carnival Night Zone Act 2 sounds like beach music. I barely acknowledged the other music besides the fact that it was different. Also GOD TIER transition to the second half of Sonic 3 (also Big Arms!).

I went through story mode and 100%ed all the games while doing so. Props to Stealth and his team for the fun time and props to Tyson and his people for that Sonic 3 intro, it was my favorite.

My only odd thought is the ending of the game. After that cutscene plays the museum tells you you've unlocked a special ending. I thought it would be something different but it's just the game's ending. I was thinking maybe the actual credits would play and that the end video could have been a fun bonus unlock but the actual credits are tucked away in the options menu.

EDIT: The Super Sonic S3 music for the game is...festive, I guess? That is how I will describe it.

 

Has anybody even noticed that Stealth said the team has done extra work in post in the event Sega lets them patch the game?

https://xcancel.com/HCStealth/status/1540162186286247937?t=vZMiU8Im9hPoSYKI3mtUBg&s=19

 

Watch us just get one patch, months from now, and it's only to remove the coin monitors from debug mode.

 

So, with the intention to try and let people enjoy the game that they paid for, I have a challenge.

My brother has obtained a time on Stardust Speedway Act 1 of 0.20.23, and doesn’t think it can be beaten. Any takers? Unless you’re chicken

 

Well, I didn't like that in Sonic 2, either. I'm not fond of either getting no tangible reward (Sonic 2) or having that reward delayed until more than halfway through the game and after fourteen special stages (3&K). Plus I just don't like that Tails was the exception for getting a transformation with seven Emeralds. Apparently we can get Super and Hyper Tails in anniverasry mode, though.
Does Super Tails exist in Sonic 2 in this collection? I never thought about that.

 

yeah, I'm pretty upset. haven't played it yet because I've been working on something in my personal time that I've been "head down" on, but now I'm not sure if I'm even going to download it until I see what mods are out for it.

(though tbh I have yet to come across a Sonic fan project that has wowed me either...)

the original game (that is, the original ROM, even on Mega Collection) does this too. Do a soft reset rather than a hard one and all your emeralds from the last playthrough will be kept. I've actually found that it makes the game harder because you don't realize how many extra lives and continues you get from doing and failing the special stages until you get to Metropolis Zone and realize that you have just three lives.

^^^^ this. I try my best to be a "glass half full" kind of person on here because god knows I spend most of my time just being depressed about everything else and I don't want to drag other people down with me, but holy hell.