[DELETED]

[Splash the Otter]

After thinking about it, I can't really explain why I like Silver. There's just something about his character that endears him to me, and I just don't think he deserves to be scrapped.

 

But even if I can't explain it, that doesn't mean Silver is a bad character. I'm not saying everyone has to like him (or any character for that matter), but you should still respect the rights of those who do. There's no reason to put someone down just because they spoke well of a character you hate.

 

And as for improving him, let's look at the things people hate about him. His voice is more the fault of his VA than anything else. His design can be tweaked slightly to look less outlandish. The whole "future" thing is only a problem if it's the focus of his story, and there are probably dozens of ways to fix his gameplay. For example, have him move about as fast as Sonic does while walking, give him a way to defend himself and the ability to levitate for short periods of time, and maybe give him something similar to the Indigo Asteroid, with limits on how often it can be used.

[Nepenthe]

The most interesting thing about Silver is his own naivete. Literally every other character is pretty steadfast in their morals and ambitions. No one second-guesses anything until they're proven to be dead wrong about something, at which point it continues to be business as usual as that character changes course to set things right, especially since the consequences of miscalculating are presented as very few. But despite this, Silver is, to my knowledge, the only hero of the group who has asked the question: "Hey, am I doing the right thing?" This makes him a lot more reliant on other characters to do the leading or be the emotional rock of the team, despite the scary amounts of mental muscle he has. And unlike characters like Knuckles and Shadow who have been pretty socially isolated, and have probably had life experiences that make them a little introverted, Silver is one of the few such characters who honestly appreciates the beauty of a peaceful planet, and it gives him some empathy along with the shit environment he's grown up in. There's a lot of things to Silver- especially as a Sonic character- that are really interesting and would be great to see in more narrative-driven situations, so it's hard for me to sympathize with why other people hate him. I mean fuck, you want to talk about a bucketload of wasted potential? Metal Sonic is worse.

[Kuzu]

Its not even that I hate Silver, I just never found him particularly interesting. Its not his fault but the writing surrounding him. His first impression was in 06 and whether its beating a dead horse or not, debuting in one of the worst games in the franchise is not gonna put him on a lot of people's favorite character list. From then on, he's been mostly pushed to the side and mainly showing up in multiplayer or cameo appearances with very little focus on his actual character. That's the primary reason I don't really care for Silver, its because the main impression I got from the character was from a really terrible game where he was pretty badly written and nothing has been done to change my perception of him.

 

However, I don't believe the series would do any better without his presence so I don't understand how getting rid of him would benefit anything aside from the people who do hate him.

 

 

If they ever do give Silver the spotlight again(Which is unlikely in this day & age) I do hope they focus on the aspects Nepenthe brought up because then I might actually start to like him as a character, but as of now I'm completely neutral on him.

[Mr Useful]

Off the topic of Silver, I can sorta see why Big isn't a character anymore. I think it might have to do with his size(aside from party games and SA2 DC Multiplayer) and the fact that his only real playable role was fishing and the power character of Sonic Heroes. HIs size gets in the way of him being playable in a game like Sonic Rivals because he's too large, it wouldn't be natural to see him do all of the stuff that Sonic or Shadow can. He wouldn't be playable in the recent games because of what he has already done(be a either a fisherman or slow power character) and again, his size.(Imagine Big perform parkour, wall jumping, and homing attacking) 

 

He's only really applicable as a party character(where his size won't make him seem to unfitting or unnatural) when we already have at least 10 good ones.

[Diogenes]

If the games changed their focus, I could see Big being a playable character. He wouldn't be wall jumping or anything, but in Heroes he could still do loops and shit, and if they brought back a focus on rolling I could see him being a huge wrecking ball kind of character.

Also even if he's not playable there's no reason he can't be kept around as an NPC, right?

[Tenko]

Didn't St John say he did some recording for Big for Generations...I wonder what happened there? Unreleased DLC? Or was he meant to take one of the other characters spots outside a level originally?

[Mr Useful]

Didn't St John say he did some recording for Big for Generations...I wonder what happened there? Unreleased DLC? Or was he meant to take one of the other characters spots outside a level originally?

Maybe he was going to appear in speed highway but Cream & Cheese replaced.

[NocturnalTwilight]

Bringing Shadow's Chaos Blast back would also be great!

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

It never really left...

 

That said, I'd like more abilities and powers...I'd also like some drawbacks to using more powerful abilities like Chaos Blast.

[NocturnalTwilight]

It never really left...

 

That said, I'd like more abilities and powers...I'd also like some drawbacks to using more powerful abilities like Chaos Blast.

 

Well yeah, but I'm talking more like the Chaos Blast from "Shadow the Hedgehog". It was amazing in that game. Sonic 06's was a total joke, and the one in Black Knight was...decent?

 

As for more powers, maybe a couple more wouldn't hurt. As long as they don't overdo it.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Well yeah, but I'm talking more like the Chaos Blast from "Shadow the Hedgehog". It was amazing in that game. Sonic 06's was a total joke, and the one in Black Knight was...decent?

Well for Sonic 06, that was probably because the game was unfinished and buggy as hell. Haven't played Black Knight, 'cuz I was only interested in the story.

[Mr Useful]

Well for Sonic 06, that was probably because the game was unfinished and buggy as hell. Haven't played Black Knight, 'cuz I was only interested in the story.

Not everything was like it is because it's buggy or unfinished. Maybe they set the size but didn't test if it's perfectly fine or needs to be changed.

[FireBird75]

Honestly I thought Shadow's Chaos Blast in 06 was bad because they weakened it for some unexplained reason.  I mean, they slowed down the running speed of every character in the game (again for some unexplained reason), so it kinda makes since why character abilities were weak as well.  Which brings up another issue but I think it would be best suited for the 06 topic.

[Mr Useful]

Honestly I thought Shadow's Chaos Blast in 06 was bad because they weakened it for some unexplained reason.  I mean, they slowed down the running speed of every character in the game (again for some unexplained reason), so it kinda makes since why character abilities were weak as well.  Which brings up another issue but I think it would be best suited for the 06 topic.

Some people say the characters were slowed down to prevent them from going through walls. Sonic would sometimes glitch through walls in the demo of Sonic '06. He doesn't go through walls as much in the alpha(current) build.

 

Edit:Oops, i forgot. They released an alpha build, not a "final". 

Edited July 2, 2013 by Dom

[Tenko]

He doesn't go through walls as much in the final build.

I don't know if I would call what ended up shipping a final build...regardless of it being the word used for a shipped product >.<

[Sonicstitch]

OK Tails is my favorite so.
He has been with Sonic the longest so
 he should have learned a lot.
He should be close to Sonic’s speed
but just under it. But have him fly and can carry sonic.
As for 2 players. Bring back the respawning Tails on controller 2.
Its help full if you play badly. 

[Live-Hedgehog]

Anyone ever heard of bottle's revenge? It'd be an interesting way to have co-op in sonic. The 2nd player could control an enemy and try and hinder sonic.

[Blitz 'n Burst]

I always felt like Sonic should be the "speed" character. He was slightly faster than Knuckles and Tails in S3&K, but overall he was pretty useless compared to the other two. Tails and Knuckles had their own character-specific routes - use Sonic's speed to put him on equal footing with the other two. Make closing doors that only Sonic can reach in time, obstacles that only Sonic is quick enough to dodge, make water-running specific to Sonic so he can run through Jungle Joyride-style obstacle courses while Tails and Knuckles have to go underwater. There's so much more potential for multiple characters, but Sonic Team is still convinced that other playable characters are what made previous games suck

[FireBird75]

 There's so much more potential for multiple characters, but Sonic Team is still convinced that other playable characters are what made previous games suck

Part of the issue is that fans and critics haven't really done a good job of properly addressing Sega of what was the problem(s) regarding the other Sonic characters.  In the aftermath of the release of the disaster that was Sonic 06, Sega received many complaints regarding how much players hated playing as the other characters.  Sega most likely interpreted this reaction as something along the lines of "Oh fans don't like the other characters, so let's just have Sonic playable for the next couple of titles",  In reality, it wasn't so much that people hated the other characters (although I'm sure some do), it's that people wanted better gameplay for the other characters.  If we can get that message to Sega, I'm sure they'll be more comfortable allowing more playable characters in future titles.

[Diogenes]

I always felt like Sonic should be the "speed" character. He was slightly faster than Knuckles and Tails in S3&K,

Actually all the characters had exactly the same speed. The only statistical difference between the characters was Knuckles' lower jump.

[LordMetallix]

Actually all the characters had exactly the same speed. The only statistical difference between the characters was Knuckles' lower jump.

Wait REALLY? I actually always thought that Tails and Knuckles had lower speeds than Sonic, at least that is what it felt like to me. 

[Komodin]

Actually all the characters had exactly the same speed. The only statistical difference between the characters was Knuckles' lower jump.

 

Wow, so Sonic really was relatively useless in that game?

[Kuzu]

Wow, so Sonic really was relatively useless in that game?

 

Well he had the insta-shield, which was the only way to kill the orbinaunts but yea. Sonic was the useless character in that game.

[Diogenes]

Sonic still had the instashield and the shield powers. They didn't open up new routes, but they were useful abilities and they didn't break the flow as much as Tails' flight or Knuckles' gliding. I do think Sonic could use something new if they were going to make another game structured like S3&K, but he's still generally my preferred character in S3&K.

[Kuzu]

If they ever do have another game structured like S3&K in terms of playable characters. I think Sonic needs to keep skills like the parkour and wisp powers.