Since IGN started its month-long coverage for Sonic Frontiers, feedback from the fans has been, well... mixed, at best. The gameplay videos shown so far have a few fans concerned about the new format, particularly the rather bizarre similarities to games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
In chatting with VGC, it seems Team Sonic boss Takashi Iizuka is well aware of some of the feedback being shared online at the moment, but doesn't seem overly concerned at this stage. Here's what he had to say:
“It’s not really that surprising. We do realise everyone is just kind of reacting to the videos that they saw, and because they don’t understand what this new gameplay is they’re kind of comparing it to other games that they already know. So we do see a lot of people saying, ‘oh, it’s kind of like this, it’s kind of like that, but it’s not like this, it’s not like that’.
"And really, the team is going out and creating this new game format for Sonic, and we’re calling it an ‘open zone’ format.And this new game system itself is something that doesn’t really exist in any other comparable titles, so we really hope that from here until launch we can really explain what open zone gameplay is.”
When asked whether Team Sonic would consider delaying the game off the back of fan feedback, Iizuka stated that he and the team were happy with their progress and are pushing to get the game in fans' hands sooner rather than later:
“Frontiers is in development now, and actually we’ve been doing a lot of playtesting with our target audience, who would be in that demographic of someone who’d play a Sonic game and enjoy it. From our playtesting results we have been iterating, we have been listening to the comments that come back, but we’ve also been getting a lot of great feedback from people who rate the game and are like, ‘I had a lot of fun playing this game, I’d give it like an 80 or 90 point score out of 100’. So we do feel that we’re getting to the point where this game is done, and people will like it, and we do want to get that game into our fans’ hands as soon as possible.”
Some initial impressions of the game are already starting to trickle in off the back of Summer Game Fest, with Eurogamer stating that the game "plays a lot better than it looks":
"Indeed, for all its issues it looks like it could be Sonic Team's most interesting take on the series since Sonic Adventure - something to be wary of, perhaps, but having got to try it out for myself it's now something I'm also cautiously optimistic about too."
Nintendo Everything also had similar sentiments with their own experience:
"I left my demo of Sonic Frontiers overall very impressed with what I played, and I’m very much looking forward to playing more – I get the sense that the surface has only barely been scratched as to the scope of this game."
- Read More: Talking Point: Should Sonic Frontiers Be Delayed? We Discuss Its Bizarre Debut And Fan Reaction
Despite our initial concerns, Iizuka's comments do nevertheless sound pretty promising. It's clear that Sonic Frontiers is a huge departure from past 3D Sonic titles, so hopefully the gamble will pay off for Team Sonic.
What do you think of Iizuka's comments on Sonic Frontiers? Do you think the game should be delayed, or are fans getting worried over nothing? Let us know with a comment!
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[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 127
Did we not understand any other 3D Sonic from the last decade either?
Doesn't really matter what they say with their PR talk. We know the truth. This game is empty fields even worse than Breath of the Wild with objects just floating in the air and boring, repetitive enemies.
Gamers leaping to catastrophized conclusions after seeing a small amount of footage?? I'm shocked. SHOCKED! Well I'm not that shocked.
Game looks fun to me ^_^
"Don't understand it" doesn't seem like the best choice of words they coulda chose...
Of all of the words you could've chosen, 'don't understand' is quite possibly the worst one imaginable.
Am I out of touch?
No, It's the Gamers who are wrong.
Blaming the fans isn’t the best marketing strategy; I was excited for the game at first but the gameplay footage has made me more sceptical
"You dumb peasants that make great Sonic fan games with better reception than ours just don't understand US and OUR vision!"
Blasts Live and Learn while coding Sonic running around Unreal Engine open field, crying
I'm joking lmao.
The marketing has been a disaster in many ways.
The "early build" excuses showing clear issues with pop-in and lack of technical polish.
The complete absense of context in the footage shown through IGN so far.
The strong-arming of not showing demo gameplay footage from Summer Games Fest.
SEGA is at fault here, they're being too secretive and making the game look worse as a result. They should show the game being played from the start, show some HUD, quell some doubts.
Oh, it's an article about a game coming to a Nintendo system. Imagine that, on a Nintendo fan site, no less.
Also, that wasn't the best turn of phrase from the dev...
The people in “that demographic of someone who’d play a Sonic game and enjoy it” sounds very biased…
lol I understand it just fine, and it looks boring af. I sure hope that there is a WHOLE LOT they’re not showing us right now. But either way way, I hope I’m wrong and Sonic fans enjoy it.
The marketing on this game is really a mess. I can understand, when fans wish for this game to be delayed. According to some infos I found on the internet, the first show-off of the game was an early build. Who does show of an early build, if the games comes out very soon?
That is hilarious.
If we don't understand it, then that is also a failure by Saga to market it properly. Either way, Saga has messed up.
I'm gonna wait and see for this one. Looks don't mean anything to me, Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the most beautiful games I have ever seen, but I also think it is one of the most boring and not fun games ever.
Hopefully they will be right and the game is very fun, there is some positive feedback from people who played. I mean I'm a Sonic fan, I hope its good.
But yeah, that frasing of "fans don't understand it" could have been better
Then I guess my impression of the game so far is another perk of thankfully not being a Sonic fan.😄
1) If we don't understand after your game play then video then it's kinda your fault. I know people say 'it's like 10 minutes though', but the point of these demos is so to show us why we should buy it.
2) Sega has a AWFUL history of putting out Sonic games that are flops. So you really needed to put your best foot foward, which they clearly failed to do.
SEGA: “You don’t understand it!!!”
Us: Then show us stuff to get us to understand it.
SEGA: 😡
Ofc we don't understand it they've only shown Sonic running around barren landscapes and hamster wheels. There's no context whatsoever.
EITHER it's a deeply flawed game OR the people in charge of it were incapable of communicating what the game represents.
Neither is confidence inspiring.
I can't believe they actually responded! And so soon too! lol
It's a bit rich to claim we don't understand it after watching the videos that they specifically chose for us to see...?! This isn't content IGN created... SEGA ultimately chose this as their reveal.
I'm a big believer that the best videogames do their own talking. This response really does speak volumes.
Never tell gamers that they don't understand, it will just turn them against you.
Didn't Square say something like this about Balan's Wonderland? Look how well that turned out.
Honestly, glad they're sticking to their guns. Fan demand has been a big thorn in Sonic's side because of just how many different game styles he's been toying around with. If they feel confident in this one, better they stick with it and give it the best they got than try and take all the backlash into account with how different people ask for different things in a Sonic game.
That said, if their confidence ends up giving us a game as underwhelming as Forces or Lost world, then I have no idea anymore. xD
Ok, but this is what I'm worried about:
"The team really is working on finishing everything up and finalising all of the work that needs to get done. They're working long nights in Tokyo right now trying to get us to that point so we're getting pretty close to the end right now."
Crunching????
Source: https://www.eurogamer.net/sonic-team-had-to-scrap-its-first-pass-at-sonic-frontiers
Can't wait for Matt McMuscles Cover this Game in Wha Happun?
Haha, "don't understand it"...
If only it was actually funny, it's just sad really..
I don't know about the new Sonic game, but i do know that responding to internet outrage with any permutation of "They just don't understand" is just pouring gasoline on the fire...
Unless they are creating some brand new, never-seen-before concept, then of course it’s going to draw comparisons to other games…
I don’t think Sonic Team know what they’re doing (yet again) and I don’t have much expectation for this at all.
I want this game to be good, but they can't even deliver corridor stages properly, and are already trying to make an open-world.
The negativity about this game is crazy. I am pretty excited to play it.
Well, I'll be honest and admit the first thing I thought after the trailer was 'What the heck was that?'
I admit I didn't follow this games' news up close as I don't care much for Sonic games, but from the ign gameplay video I thought it looked pretty neat?
Good on them for sticking to their guns, at least. If demo reactions seem to be more positive, then I'm definitely willing to give it a chance!
Fair! However, in the fandom's defense, it was your job to make us understand it, Sega.
The full Eurogamer article is well worth a read, not just what Nlife has cherry picked here.
"I had a lot of fun playing this game, I’d give it like an 80 or 90 point score out of 100".
Oh boy... this is not looking good.
It is their job to present this product in such a way that potential customers understand what the draw is. So that is on SEGA.
Wouldn't surprise me if this end up worst than Sonic Forces but at the same time it could be better in some aspect.
I guess we just don't get it. Oh well, far be it for me to challenge the genius over at big daddy Sega
It's always the same with Sonic, I don't get it, why the world is full of trolls when a new Sonic game appears.
I'll explain it to you: This is the road Sega thought was the best road, so they took it. If you don't like it vote with your wallet.
@GrailUK same, that first reveal looked rough but I've seen lots of footage today on YouTube and I think it looks really good now
Yikes. Huge red flags there.
Yeah guys seriously. How are you not getting it? Its awesome how this game is completely empty, will probably be extremly glitchy and get 3/10 ratings. You just dont get it.
ill give them the benefit of the doubt that the game could be good, but why would your first look at the game be some empty-looking test area and not a proper reveal/overview trailer? they just tossed tech demo footage in the wild to let people pick apart at
This sure is gonna be a sonic game alright
@Chocobo_Shepherd Early footage doesn't always represent the final product. That's how I see it. Fire Emblem: Three Houses looks very different compared to the E3 2018 footage of said game.
Well with all that hate! I’m in!
@stinky_t You don’t understand something until you’ve experienced it. Watching a sliver of game footage isn’t exactly going to give a full understanding of a game. So, I disagree with you. It’s the perfect words to use, in a world where people see a tiny bit of information and then convince themselves they have full knowledge. Especially in the games industry.
Sega put out a bad trailer, they have to know that much as a historied publisher. Their press demo wasn’t great, but that’s not as egregious as a bad trailer. Blaming the fans is a troubling sign of the leadership over there. They should have kicked out a trailer with actual context and tension instead. Sega deserves the criticisms all day long on this one.
Uhh, Monster Hunter and Pokemon Legends Arceus have both done “Open Zone” gameplay. Also your gameplay is exactly what it looks like: slow, shallow, and with boring music to boot.
The demographic is people who would enjoy it?
Wow, you don't say?
You kind of took those words out of context for a clickbait headline. Of course people don’t understand exactly what’s going on when you drop them in the middle of a game. That’s wasn’t meant nearly as degrading as the title makes it out to be.
@BloodNinja I completely agree with you factually. I just think from a PR perspective, people won't take too kindly to being told they don't understand something, especially when they're already not thinking too positively towards it.
I'm just happy to have a comment replied to by the Ninja
@BishopShiozawa Exactly. And that's how I'm assessing that first footage of this game.
... which any informed gamer should know.
@stinky_t Oh why thank you! You’re too kind. I agree with you that from a PR perspective, he’s shooting himself in the foot, thanks for clarifying what you meant <3
NINJA APPROVED
@weisske I don't understand how you can use worse and Breath of the wild in the same sentence. 😁😉😆
Their excuses are almost as bad as their games.
SEGA made their bed... Let them sleep, in ignorance. 😴 💤
I think that line made me lose what little hope I had in this game.
Sega has done this before Sonic 2006? Sonic Unleashed? I could go on…
Really Sega? Are you really gonna be like that?
Your just gonna make people even more angry.
"Don't understand" is really poor phrasing because it sounds patronising. I assume this is a translation/second language/cultural subtlties problem, but from reading the full thing, I totally understand what he means. Its hard to show off the game in a small section, and its genuinely a different gaming experience to other Sonic games, AND other similar looking open world games... which has not been clear so far from the marketing. The "open zone" thing makes a lot more sense after reading the following from the Eurogamer article:
"Okay, we're gonna make an island. We're gonna put Sonic on there. He's gonna run, it's gonna be great. But it doesn't feel Sonic enough. It doesn't feel true to a Sonic game. And so we needed to put platforming elements into the game. All right, if we just make this a hot mess of platforming all over the place, you're gonna walk in there and it'll be like I don't even know what's going on. We had to do a lot of balance and figuring out how we get the platforming in there but not have it be overwhelming.
"The answer that came to was, as you're playing the game, the world opens up as you complete things, and new rails come in so you get to experience the island kind of transforming into this bigger and bigger playground which does feel really Sonic-y and it's our way of showing people this open zone format."
That makes a huge amount of sense to me. Start the world empty, so that you learn the controls, the freedom, and (for the story) you feel the isolation/loneliness. Then you find sporadic platform and puzzle elements, starting with simple ones, and you learn the mechanics of springs, rails, mechanics etc. The puzzles and challenges add more of the "Sonic-like" elements back to the world. As you progress, the barren empty island turns more and more into a "Sonic" feeling area.
I can definitely see that if you started with a huge open world but everywhere you look was FULL of springs, rails, platforms etc like a normal more linear 3d Sonic zone, it would be very overwhelming, confusing and hard to keep track of which little platforming bits you'd done, whereas unlocking them a handful at a time could work very well. Starting with an empty world and restoring it to a normal Sonic-like zone (presumably adding more characters along the way to fill out the story) actually sounds pretty great, and defintely very different to something like BOTW or Skyrim or whatever.
However, ALL OF THIS could have been very easily shown and explained in a well edited trailer, not just showing individual elements and the starting point. So yeah, interesting idea for a game, terrible execution in marketing it. The reaction its getting is the fault of whoever decided this was the best way to present it to the world. But I'm optimistic for the game.
Oh, so it's not a game design failure, it's merely just a communication failure? Is that what you're saying Sega?
Why do I get the feeling that it's actually both?
Now they're dismissing criticism without actually addressing it. Saying people don't understand it is not the right way to alleviate concerns.
Even Sonic 06 got atleast 1 review score in the 80s so the fact they can find someone willing to call it a 8 or 9 out of 10 isn't particularly convincing.
"You're too slow!"
"It's not us, it's you," basically. Not going to garner much goodwill from your consumers with statements like that, Sega. When you consider the remarks Square Enix's president made recently regarding NFTs and those who "play to contribute", let alone observe some of the blatant priorities and exploitative business models taken by various gaming corporations as of late, it would seem that the videogame industry has developed a very dangerous sense of arrogance and invulnerability. If you get to a point where instead of giving your customers what they want you tell them what they're getting, and/or you start insulting them and their intelligence for not falling in line with the direction you're taking, you're headed for a FALL.
They've done a remarkably poor job at hyping the game
Read an interesting article yesterday about Sega's history. Pretty much every single decision or disagreement that brought their company down from the pinnacle of the industry to the has-been developer they are now can be laid at the feet of the executives in their Japanese offices. Sounds like nothing has changed after all these years. If Sega ever wants to restore its former glory, it seems that a thorough house cleaning at the top is in order.
It's not that I don't understand the new gameplay. What I don't understand is how they can make something as defeating regular enemies so tedious in some instances.
@BabyYoda71 ha I had to reread his statement a couple times. That’s not how demographics work mister!
I’m not a big fan of Sonic or anything, but I’m still somewhat interested in this game. However, saying the fans don’t like it because they don’t understand it doesn’t sound good. If they are that confident in their game and think the fans will like it when they understand it, then they should release a demo that is open to everyone that wants to try it. That’s the best way of clearing up any misunderstandings.
Yikes. Claiming fans don't understand it and that it's not comparable to anything we played is a total joke. This game deserves to fail.
"And this new game system itself is something that doesn’t really exist in any other comparable titles"
I really want that to sound exciting, I do, but coming from Sonic Team it just makes me wonder if the reason that it "doesn't exist in other titles" is because other studios avoided or scrapped it, whatever "it" is. I guess we'll see soon enough.
Please understand - you don’t understand!
@stinky_t If you just read the title yes. In the proper context of the sentence it's much less "we're smarter than you" sounding.
They sound mighty ambitious trying to invent an entirely new game style, interested to see what comes of it. It's hard not to root for Sonic.
He’s entering “you will feel ashamed of your words & deeds” territory.
Everyone who has played the demo says it looks and plays great, is sega trash marketing that’s making people think this way, I did too!
I know the way they said it is is the worst way a marketing team can ever say something,, but what if there right? What if they don’t need to delay it? because they showed really trashy footage, that’s what people who played the demo said, they said the ign version doesn’t come close, and some even saying sonic looks different himself, trash marketing on a whole other level. I mean what even is this, you don’t understand, talk about yikes on a stick! And if that was the case idk why they just didn’t simply say, we don’t need too, not blaming fans, when your marketing sucks!
Though This is not if not the worst approach to a criticism, because you don’t just blame the fans, they out of all the people who should call out there fans, sega is not the one, they have some nerve, lied to use about forces, some how screwed up a port of a old game, rushing 06 and much more.
but it doesn’t even matter in my opinion, people were going to hate on it no matter what they do, and this definitely didn’t help. I mean people were hating the loading screen for crying out loud!
Sorry for the rant, just had to get that off my chest. The whole way this game is being handled, I hate it, I hate it!
They are right, i haven't got a clue so i'll just wait for more trailers. All i can do.
I bet it comes out half broken with promises of fixing it, I'm also worried about the switch version. I really hope they take the time that is necessary to make a good game, they would sell so many more units if they would do that and actually make it high quality top notch.
So let me get this right:
You refuse to ever delay the game because, according to your PR jargon-speak... "Fans don't get it!"?
Maybe it's you that doesn't get it, Sega/SonicTeam.
I think it's time for SonicTeam to get disbanded and for Sega to have some of its folks fired if this is how they act. Pretty shameful, PR jargon-level nonsense imo...!
@Snatcher You realise everyone who's played this game already IS part of Sega's marketing push?
It's easy to give someone special
exclusive access and have them say nice things. It's hard to showcase the game actually being impressive.
It's possible the game could be good, but so far I haven't seen anything to be genuinely excited for.
@Dr_Lugae We haven’t, that’s why we sega should show us stuff off from it, they don’t and won’t for whatever reason, just showing how garbage there marketing truly is.
The people who played it can’t even fully talk about it yet, so yes I take a grain of salt, but I don’t think I should entirely dismiss people saying it good, because if anyone said it was bad everyone would be quick to trust the guy who said that.
And based off of the leaves we see from people playing, the us is different, and there is features they didn’t tell or show us about.
I’m just saying I don’t think I should just dismiss the whole thing you know, they played it, I have not.
Still sega is now blaming the fans for why a game gets complaints, because they think there above criticism Lol.
@BloodNinja Best Adult answer ever. You have just described all of modern western society.
It is really kind of funny to me how people overreact so badly to games now. I kind of hate being the guy who says "Back in my day" but ... I remember back when CastleVania 2 and Zelda 2 came out after seeing previews in magazines.
For those who dug the games, it was all excitement and things were great. For those that didn't, it was kind of a shrug and "bummer", and then you looked at other games to rent or save your money to buy, and went on with your life.
All of this vitriol over a game that isn't even out yet just seems silly. This is coming from someone who loves gaming way more than his kids do, too.
On a more positive note from me anyway, I saw the new gameplay footage, my god it looks so much better then igns showcase, sonic is faster, the frame rate is amazing, the graphics are nice, the fight look fun as well!
This refueled my hope and brought my hype back!
yep i was trying to be positive until now. f them and the blue hedgehog they rode in on.
@Guitar_bard To be fair, it's easy to point out LOL <3
@Snatcher You know, the more footage I see of Sonic open world, the more I wish my horse in Elden Ring moved faster
Segabits just posted a gameplay video which shows the game in a FAR more positive light than the IGN footage and makes it look far less sparse and shows many features we didn't see in the IGN footage. Most interestingly there are several things that have been improved/fixed after feedback showing that either they are listening to fan feedback, or were very much aware of the problems (if its the latter they should have never done the IGN previews in the first place!).
One example of an improvement/fix is something I specifically moaned about, the direction of the rail flipping animation being wrong, doing a front flip when jumping backwards... thats now been rectified. So despite the fact they aren't going to delay it, they are clearly still tweaking and impriving things, and removing some of the jank. This footage is by far the coolest i've seen so far and if this was the first footage I saw I would have felt MUCH more confident about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIbVXKyjFfc&ab_channel=SEGAbits
@Olliemar28 This might warrant an article? Or an update?
@Snatcher "net gameplay footage" ? Is that the same as the Segabits one I just posted? Or is there more I need to see? I'd love a link. The Segabits footage is WAY cooler than the IGN stuff imo and like you just said, has "refueled my hope and brought my hype back"
@BloodNinja haha true. Honestly, Sega's response so far reminds me of their marketing in the 90s, and part of me wants them to lean fully into it.
"You don't understand Sonic, you say?! Then you are LAME and OLD and take things too seriously! You can be hip and sensitive elsewhere, but this the playground where the cool kids play!"
That would be amazing.
@samuelvictor It sounds like you saw what I saw, I meant new footage, and I said net Lol.
It’s scary how different the two looks, they look like two different games! Hype train! But here’s the link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im5sU7S0h5U
@BloodNinja I also heard there will be speed sliders!
@Snatcher Oh wow, it’s certainly turning out to be interesting!
NINJA APPROVED
@Guitar_bard I would honestly love it. C’mon Sega, make me bleed from that old school 90’s edge LOL
NINJA APPROVED
@Snatcher Thank you! Yes thats the same footage just uploaded by a different channel. In that channel's video description it says its courtesy of Sega, so its obviously their footage from the latest build. This NEEDS to be put on the official Sonic channel and shared more widely, its infinitely better than the IGN footage and shows vast improvements, including fixing several of the things people have been pointing out in comment sections all over the place.
Wow this is a bad response to criticism and really shows how terrible Team Sonic's concept is. People responding negatively to videos Team Sonic put out! They could have shown off something everyone could have 'understood' better but I don't think there is anything else to it.
Maybe they need a better marketing team to 'explain' it to all of us.
@samuelvictor 100% Agree with you, I mean, look at sonics speed! It’s amazing!
@lighteningbolt79 Saga? Saga! 😂😂😂 (I'm sorry if you have dyslexia or something but that's pretty funny)
Regardless of what you think about Iizuka's direction of Sonic Team, one thing is for sure: his interviews are consistently terrible.
I really don’t think Sonic Frontiers needs delay anyway, especially after seeing the new footage which showed less pop-in, improved animations, a less empty world, faster movement, and more combat moves; I really do feel like any more issues in current and future builds can be fixed before release. The new interview also confirmed fishing will be in the game, so does that mean that Big could be lost on the StarFall Islands too?
I understand that saying “Fans don’t understand” sounds kind of bad, however it could be a slight mistranslation or cultural misunderstanding. Either way, it’s true that we don’t truly understand the game yet, Sonic Team are clearly trying to hide things from us for as long as they can to keep the mystery theme going. I for one don’t really want any more info, because at this point I have enough to know I’ll probably enjoy it and I think I’d rather piece together the rest of the game while playing.
The “Sonic is too slow”, “enemy’s takes too many hits”, and “world is too empty” arguments don’t really seem stand anymore, because we now know about the upgrades system to become faster, more powerful, take more hits, etc and that the world actually becomes more populated the more you play.
@MatoFilipovic
80’s & 90’s are very high scores, that’s a good thing…
While the new recent gameplay footage is a noticeable improvement over what they showed before, that shouldn't excuse the horrendous marketing up to this point.
They have a build that represents the final product prepared, so why did they show gameplay from a build that will be over a year old by the game's release?
Why did they show janky gameplay like the awkward physics causing Sonic slipping off the giant's robots fingers when they have 100% control over what they can or can't show?
People fail to "understand" things because of poor communication. The prior marketing for this game communicated things VERY poorly.
If nothing else, then they need a better marketing team because what they showed was awful. If you think players don't understand it, then that's because you did you job incorrectly
@MatoFilipovic
Maybe that has been the issue all along? Playtesters that constantly tell SEGA how good those games are.
Sonic Forces, like...I can be Sonic's best new cool friend...GOTY! Now, make Tails super pregnant!
@Chocobo_Shepherd exactly. I'll play it and decide for myself.
If I don't line it, I'll just move on with my life instead of crying about it.
@Guitar_bard
I think that back then, a lot of standards weren't established yet and there wasn't really a sence of what works and what would not. I remember having all those rentals in the SNES days and play them and get excited about them because they were new games or how me and my brothers begging our parents until they would buy us Primal Rage because dinosaurs fighting. None of us thought this would be a mediocre port of a mediocre fighting game.
But things have changed and Sonic never got his foot quite right in a 3D enviroment while a standard for this was pretty much established on day 1 with Mario 64.
I rather would think we just didn't know any better back then and also couldn't articulate our opinion beyond the school yard anyway.
@Lostdragon Very good points! It was simpler for sure, but I think maybe our expectations are a little unrealistic now, or at the least a little bit entitled. It is supposed to be entertainment, after all. Not the end of the world.
I do think you have some very valid points, but I think that while we didn't know any better and things have changed (in many, many ways), I also am not sure if any of us are any happier now than we were then.
It just seems that with all of these positive changes, we are all more miserable than ever.
Even things meant for us to enjoy aren't as enjoyable now.
Oh, Primal Rage. That was a bad port... I owned both the NES X-Men game and Dragon Power... Oh yeah, and Renegade. I know the disappoint of bad games very well.
Anyways, thanks so much for your response. I really respect your opinions!
Maybe it's time we just accept 3D Sonic games just aren't very good.
When was the last time people mostly liked a 3D Sonic game? Adventure 2? Can't remember the opinion on Heroes. Even Generations usually has a ton of "buts" that come with any praise.
Colours (which I still haven't played) and Mania, ultimately a pseudo remake of the originals, are the only games that have gotten unanimous praise...And they're 2D and 2.5D games.
@Guitar_bard
Thank you for your reply. I think entitled is a very good word to describe what we are these days (maybe always has been?) but developers shouldn't just brush opinions of like "oh you just don't get it" either. After all, it is our hard earned cash they want to harvest. Of course, there is the other extreme, where ppl send out death threats because some fictional dude can now kiss another fictional dude...I don't get how people can get that kind of mad about stuff and still think that they have every right to be the worst possible person.
So it is a fine dance between a justified personal opinion and just going ape ***** on social media.
And Sonic has it extra hard since he is an icon. There are plenty of middle of the road games where you can feel the developers had their heart on the right place but couldn't put something together that is "good" and yet nobody goes beserk and just enjoys what is there instead. But I guess poor Sonic is too iconic for that.
Same with Diablo Immoral. If it wasn't for Deckard Cain and friends. it would just be the next shameless moneygrubbing MTX fest because most of those mobile games are and we all would move on quickly.
My take on the New Sonic is that it just looks kinda soulless. Like someone bought some asset landscapes and enemys and threw a Sonic 3D model in it. This world shown in the Demo video on ign looks so drab and lifeless. I think Sonic is best when he is fast and the colors pop. Here he is thrown in the world of Death Stranding. And if this slice of gameplay really is just a first build and we don't get it, then they might be better off showing something else.
Yeah being entitled is childish but brushing of critics with "you don't get it" and the target audience true fans do so you clearly were never a friend of Sonic anyways doesn't fare much better .
Looking forward to seeing this struggle to crack 60 on Metacritic later this year
Well...if people have seen all the stuff you've put out and are getting the wrong impression of what the game is, that's not their fault for 'not understanding' it's your fault for not being clear.
And it still doesn't look like a Sonic world, it looks like someone did the "Sonic in Unreal Engine" thing where they plop a Sonic model into an impressive but entirely generic Unreal scene and film them running about. That bit I don't understand.
It looks like someone tried making a xenoblade level in dreams and plopped sonic into it with weirdly placed rails and things that make no sense in the landscape and with slow tedious combat. And took all the energy out of the soundtrack and replaced it with something you’d play at a cat’s funeral.
Telling the people who will buy your games that they don't understand it is basically asking for it to fail. If you haven't done enough to explain it to them then it isn't their fault it's yours. It doesn't really help how vague they are about it being different to games that have come before and leaving it there. From what I can tell on between zones its basically wide empty fields just put there so Sonic can run fast as currently serves no other purpose outside of that. Having a big open world is one thing but if most of it is empty for the sake of running fast it's pointless. Big worlds like that are designed to ne explored so putting a character in it thats main trait is going fast all the time seems counter intuitive.
Hope the game turns out good!
@Lostdragon In retrospect, I couldn't agree with you more on all of these points. It's funny that you bring up Diablo Immortal, as I have been thinking quite a bit about how such a beloved franchise has devolved into such a shameless revenue generator.
As for Sonic, I agree that the messaging of "you don't get it" is absolutely terrible. Humorously I was thinking the only way to save the optics on that one instead of a meaningless apology would be to just go for it and bring back that 90s edge and old Sonic attitude.
Personally, I've never really enjoyed 3D Sonic except in Special Stages. Mario made the transition beautifully (although I actually prefer 2D Mario games), but I've never been convinced that's the right road for Sonic. Super colorful, super fast, and super responsive is how I enjoy Sonic as well.
The Death Stranding comparison was awesome, btw. At least they aren't turning Sonic into another Souls-like!
3D Sonic games haven't had the most success, but it might be best to wait for the official release before we judge. Your present, not your past, is what defines you.
From what I've seen it looks just fine to me, but because the internet hates everything conversations like this have to happen.
@samuelvictor Having seen the new footage, it does put the game in a new perspective, but I'm still not in a 180° turn from my last opinion on it, but this new footage looks promising.
If it ends up being a good game (the Switch version at least) I'll get it eventually, my focus right now is on the past eShops. If it's a bad game, it will be the reason a new Spanish Facebook fanpage* full of memes and whatnot called "SEGA nos apresuro" (SEGA rushed us) exists if it doesn't already.
*Context:
There are some Spanish fanpages based on corporations and their actions. As far as I can remember there are "Nintendo nos demando" (Nintendo sued us), Pixar nos rechazo (Pixar rejected us), Windows se nos actualizo (Windows self-updated). I believe there are others, though. Not sure if there's also one called YouTube nos desmonetizo (YouTube demonetized us).
@Schizor88 Because it does look worse than Breath of the wild imo. If you think it looks better that's cool but in my opinion it looks worse.
@HammerGalladeBro Yes, the Switch performace is a big concern tbh. I'm going to buy the game regardless because I collect Sonic stuff, but I really hope this is a good game. Its been a bumpy up and down, and its far from my "dream 2d Sonic game", but theres enough here for me to be interested, and I'm very impressed by the fact that so many of the problems in the IGN footage have been listened to and fixed so quickly. That means it truly was near to "finished" as far as the big elements and the time between now and release will hopefully be tweking, big fixing, polish, playtesting, and making it the best version of what they have that they can build.
Balan Wonderworld (a game that I enjoy despite its obvious flaws but most people simply hate) had the last 6 months of play testing, tweaking, and improvements removed from it by Square and I truly believe if they'd not made that decision, so many of the "minor" things that make a huge difference would have been fixed, and the core game would have been the same, but the feel when playing and first impressions would have been 100% better. To remove taht last stage and just go "its finished, release it now" was tantamount to sabotage. Feels to me like Frontiers is in that stage now - all the major assets are made, levels are built, mechanics are done... but we have from now until the end of teh year to test tweak and polish.
its never a good sign when the developers say the players "dont get it"
Uh oh. Looks like we're gonna have another Sonic Forces.
Can't wait for the classic Sonic game to outperform the modern Sonic game in every possible aspect... again
@Rfsmaster That comment aged poorly.
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