Sonic Generations Hacking (and More!)

Actually, I have. My project work kind of demands it. You can make enemies shoot more, or faster, or whatever, but there are a few problems. First of all, there aren't many enemy types that shoot. The enemies are generally designed to be easy or quick to defeat because the entire game is designed around the idea of not having to stop/slow your run if you know what you're doing. Again, I think your idea is counter-productive to the nature of the game.

 

I've seen the "Enemies are too weak!" argument come up regarding other Sonic games, too

And I have trouble even parsing that, because it's like... what are you actually asking for? Are you asking for more moments where some cheap shit snipes you from off screen? Are you asking for things that move too fast to react to?

Maybe it's just naivete. Maybe, because I've made Sonic fangames where I've accidentally made enemies too aggressive, I know from first hand experience that it's a bad idea.

Because it totally is! Enemies are not supposed to be "tough." Having to strike a regular enemy more than once sucks, having enemies move and react and shoot too quickly sucks, it's all just a bad idea. There's a reason things evolved to become the way they are, and why that is the accepted standard, and it's because anything too far beyond that becomes untenable. This is not Bayonetta, or Final Fight, or Contra. It's Sonic the Hedgehog.

 

I think the real complaint here is that in recent games enemies are usually reduced to simple boring behavior patterns like "stand there and shoot occasionally" or simply "stand there and do nothing waiting for sonic to kill you with a homing attack" (hello Sonic 4 Bubbles).
Badniks should not be hard to defeat but they still have to present some sort of obstacle and require a simple tactic to destroy them without getting hit.

 

I agree... but not in a game like this. For as much as Sonic is focused on "speed," earlier games like Adventure are more methodical in nature; you approach enemies having enough time to figure out what they are, what they're doing, and how you can get around them. You don't have that luxury in a game designed to play at ridiculously high speeds, and despite Generations having a more methodical approach than something like Unleashed, not much has ultimately changed. In fact, the developers knew this, and that's why the electric "Spanner" enemy exists; so that in slower sections where you actually have the time to process the enemy in front of you, you have to carefully time your attack to hit them when they're not electrocuting themselves.

 

For all of it's many problems, Lost World is probably the first 3D Sonic game to really have depth to the enemies' behaviour (and for arguments sake, let's just ignore the bullcrap about the kick attack). All of the enemies were really easy to defeat, just as in the Classics. But they had much more varied methods of attack, and rarely just stood in your path. When it comes to Generations, a lot of the enemies will spend a couple of seconds building up an attack before they actually do anything. They're just obstacles that are only a threat if you sit around and wait for them to be.

 

If you want hard enemies in a Sonic game, Sonic 06 and Werehog sections in Sonic Unleashed definitely suit you. Hope that helps.

 

Don't forget about those huge armored robots in the later levels of Sonic Heroes :P

 

I mean... I don't know, enemies move around in a lot of Sonic games. Maybe not so much in Sonic Generations, but in Sonic Unleashed? Sonic Colors? Sonic Heroes? They move around plenty. But consider this: it doesn't matter if the enemy moves around or not, because Sonic's almost always faster than they are, and the homing attack means their position to him is mostly irrelative because you lock on to them regardless.

Like, imagine this. Imagine you see an Egg Pawn on the horizon. He's standing still, so you run up on him and smash him.

Now rewind that scene in your head, and imagine the Egg Pawn can move around. By the time you run up on him, he's had the time to take exactly two steps to the left.

Does it really matter? That's just how enemies in these types of games go. Goombas aren't especially mobile either; they're almost always slower than Mario. And think about enemies in Mario games that shoot at you -- Hammer Bros., Piranha Plants, etc. They're largely stationary. Lakitu in SMB3 is one of the most annoying enemies because he's constantly moving and throwing shit at you.

And this isn't just limited to Mario, either. If you think of any platformer, this is usually how it goes.

The real argument here isn't that enemies are too weak, it's that Sonic might be too powerful. But even then, I think that's debatable, for the type of gameplay typically supported by these games.

 

Why not mix things up with indestructible, harmful enemies that have to avoid rather than plow into? Yeah, you have level obstacles for that, but it would make more sense than random flying swinging blades in Rooftop Run. If you have to stick to extremes, why limit yourself to one?

 

This is a really simple way to put the problem I have with Generations. If I were to make a mod for Generations, it would be to make a unique form of attack for every enemy in the game that's tricky to dodge, but there would always be a method to it and the enemies would still be defeated in one hit. This is something the classics did well. They made enemies that all had their own form of getting in Sonic's way, some with trickier attacks than others, which you had to adapt to in order to get past.

This made me think of something. Making an indestructible enemy mod that also makes the enemies attack immediately rather than charge up for several seconds, and maybe attack at a bit of a higher pace would be a simpler way to increase the difficulty of enemies rather than modding in all new attacks for all the enemies.

 

I'm not sure if you're claiming it's possible, but I should make it clear that you can't "mod in" new attacks for enemies. Every enemy has a set of potential behavior that can be tweaked, but not completely changed. Enemies also cannot be indestructible; no enemy in the game is designed with that potential, to my knowledge. However, it's not impossible to make enemies that you have to be careful not to just run right into; I'm working on porting a stage from Sonic Unleashed at this moment where there are enemies who launch missiles at you as you're approaching them; unless you weave right in between their missiles, which is extremely hard, your options are to either go around them or slow down. I don't consider this ideal, since there's really not much time to react to this for the first time, so the enemy behavior relies on memorization and subsequent playthroughs, and when enemies are supposed to behave this way, I think it works best in an environment where you have time to assess the hazard.

 

Holoska Pack now fully remastered. Here is a really quick changelog. 1. Now there is no infinite loadings because music loads directly from original SU file (for example, unleashed project and all other adventure packs uses custom made ones). 2. Icicles added in Act 1 and 1-2. When Sonic runs into the large cave, a wave of falling pillars welcome him, he now has to avoid them or he will take damage.? 3. Original SU camera FOV now restored. 4. Stomp-button restored too, yay! 5. Various bug fixes. And more!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od7fO3rBoxI

 

Now that I don't want to start any kinds of wars here. Before I post this image, I want you to know that Unleashed Project and Adventure Packs are completely different approaches to bring Sonic Unleashed day stages to PC, one with generic style that came from Sonic Generations itself, one with almost full Unleashed objects for those who want to play Sonic Unleashed but cannot afford a gaming console for whatever reasons (e.g parents), therefore they are not affiliated to each other. Also both mods should have respects since anyone who involved in either Unleashed Project or Adventure Packs have been working very hard to ensure the quality are top-notch.

However, there has been some kinds of small wars between the fans of those two mods who claims this is better than that, but they are not really much dramatic and are skippable. But, this guy I am going to post here has been going too far and is not even qualified to be called as an OPINION.

 

It's S0LV0's project and she can about about it as she wants. These are separate things and their teams can do as they wish. Also, why would a random comment from the cesspool that is Youtube comments even need to be addressed in this matter?

 

If you don't know, this guy has been toying around Adventure Packs devs and almost every videos that are Adventure Packs progresses or release videos, his presences are shown. He would try to give worst words possible.
Again, I never have any personal preferences between this is better than that. Both are deserved to be respected.

 

One random person on the internet constantly whining about different mods for a Sonic game is of no importance except for having something to laugh at.

 

Ya that's exactly what I said. The projects have different approaches and can both exist at the same time.

 

Before you go complaining and starting yet more drama here, don't forget that your friends have been swarming my video updates from day 1. I've had to mute most of them from the channel because they would constantly bash subjective choices, if not just call my project pointless altogether. You yourself tried to tell me I should just give up because 'no one cares anymore,' and I'm not too stupid to know "I love EDM" was you. If you're going to complain that people are being 'too mean,' stop being a hypocrite.

That said, I haven't personally done anything to attack your friends, and posting to complain about this seems pretty pointless. If you really believe these two projects should be "different things," tell your friends to actually treat it that way before you go complaining that other people aren't.

P.S. "not wanting to start any wars" is a hot load if you're going to outright call what I'm doing "generic." Fuck off.