Sonic Lost World @ Gamescom

[Scar]

If you don't wish to start the automated cutscene, you can jump over the dash pads that initiate it and just play the sequence yourself.  

 

There is no need for the booster. So then, why is it there? 

You can jump over all the boosters in every Sonic game ever, that doesn't stop their ridiculous over-abundance in every game since SA1, from being excusable.  

[azoo]

Yeah, the flow looks really good when played right, but I'd be more impressed if we saw a level without so much automation.

 

I also remember a video of Windy Hill where someone dodged the dashpads and Spin Dashed a lot, which in turn looked not only more in-control but faster. Things like that are really making me wonder if Sonic Team thinks rampant dashpad usage is a necessity, or if they have the same one or two object layout designers and its just a really bad habit of theirs.

[Scar]

Yeah, the flow looks really good when played right, but I'd be more impressed if we saw a level without so much automation.

 

I also remember a video of Windy Hill where someone dodged the dashpads and Spin Dashed a lot, which in turn looked not only more in-control but faster. Things like that are really making me wonder if Sonic Team thinks rampant dashpad usage is a necessity, or if they have the same one or two object layout designers and its just a really bad habit of theirs.

 

Its a crutch. They must believe its the only way players won't get totally lost in the stages and won't know where to go. 

If that's really the case then just make arrow-shaped ring-formations like in Jungle Joyride day.

All those speed boosters in Windy Hill are more or less completely unecessary.

[Radrappy]

I think all it's supposed to be is some free speed before you have to start earning it.  Windy Hill 1 seems to be the only zone mired down with these automated sequences so one can only hope they're less present as time goes on.  

[SilentDoom]

Saw that vid months ago. Pretty sure I've even posted it in other threads XD

Edited August 29, 2013 by SiLeNtDo0m

[Pawn]

There is no need for the booster. So then, why is it there? 

You can jump over all the boosters in every Sonic game ever, that doesn't stop their ridiculous over-abundance in every game since SA1, from being excusable.  

 

They really ought to have become less abundant over time and yet it seems to get worse.

 

I hate to say it, but the team seem incapable of deciding whether or not something belongs for themselves. They'll be there until critics moan about them, I guess...

[Scar]

Demonstrates a lack of faith in their own gameplay engine. 

[Nepenthe]

I don't think wanting to launch the players into a set piece or cool moment via a booster is demonstrative of a lack of faith in their engine, especially when it seems the overwhelming majority of the game is not going to be this focused. Such moments have not been exempt from the franchise history. Why put boost pads in front of the loops and ramps in Hydrocity for example, when you have the freaking Spin Dash at your disposal to do the same thing? It's a deliberate flashy moment. We're allowed to have those still, right?

[Diogenes]

I'm not going to get worked up over a few automated sequences, but I really would rather they make the gameplay stylish and exciting while still being...well, playable. I think we've had enough not-playing over the course of Sonic's 3D career that we could do without it.

[Scar]

I don't think wanting to launch the players into a set piece or cool moment via a booster is demonstrative of a lack of faith in their engine, especially when it seems the overwhelming majority of the game is not going to be this focused. Such moments have not been exempt from the franchise history. Why put boost pads in front of the loops and ramps in Hydrocity for example, when you have the freaking Spin Dash at your disposal to do the same thing? It's a deliberate flashy moment. We're allowed to have those still, right?

 

I don't mind it being used infrequently, but goddamn. Its everywhere.

Why can Sonic Team just take it easy with the boosters? I mean Wind Hill has a few boosters around for the express purpose of changing Sonic's direction for you, when moments later, they repeat that level design with no boosters to automatically do the turning for you.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Scar

[Bouldergeist]

I've noticed there are no speed boosters or automation in silent forest zone 1 and desert ruins zone 1 has only the entrance of the temple with speed boosters and 2d tower climb section, the stealth silent forest zone has none either it's up to the players input to dodge the hazards

Edited August 29, 2013 by DarkShadowMaster

[Nepenthe]

I don't mind it being used infrequently, but goddamn. Its everywhere.

Are they really "everywhere?" Someone in this topic said that the video in question is the third stage of the demo, and even then that particular stage is not entirely automated anyway. I'm not defending nonsensical design, but I feel you're playing up the problems with the boosters for more than what they are across the game as a whole, as far as it's been shown to us.

[Scar]

Are they really "everywhere?" Someone in this topic said that the video in question is the third stage of the demo, and even then that particular stage is not entirely automated anyway. I'm not defending nonsensical design, but I feel you're playing up the problems with the boosters for more than what they are across the game as a whole, as far as it's been shown to us.

 

I've not see much of the game myself. Mainly Wind Hill. If the rest of the game isn't so heavy handed with it, I'd be happy. As it stands, I'm just calling it as I see it.

[Nepenthe]

Well if you've admittedly not seen much of the game itself, at least as much as the average interested member here who has been following it, then you're calling out things from an inherently narrow viewpoint anyway.

[KrazyBean]

They really ought to have become less abundant over time and yet it seems to get worse.

 

I hate to say it, but the team seem incapable of deciding whether or not something belongs for themselves. They'll be there until critics moan about them, I guess...

 

Old habits die hard.

[StaticMania]

I've noticed there are no speed boosters or automation in silent forest zone 1 and desert ruins zone 1 has only the entrance of the temple with speed boosters and 2d tower climb section, the stealth silent forest zone has none either it's up to the players input to dodge the hazards

Silent Forest has "automated movement" in the same sense as the honeycomb level, if you take a different path. Same with Windy Hill, it only last for a short while and its put with obstacles to dodge the very same.

[Bouldergeist]

Silent Forest has "automated movement" in the same sense as the honeycomb level, if you take a different path. Same with Windy Hill, it only last for a short while and its put with obstacles to dodge the very same.

You mean the part after the cannon launches you on the suspended tube with spikes just like windy hill with the moving spike balls...

[StaticMania]

Yes that is exactly what I mean.

[Voyant]

Demonstrates a lack of faith in their own gameplay engine. 

 

 

I like how nobody was saying this with Unleashed, Colors, and Generations.

 

Really, I'm sick and tired of the crap Lost World is getting when none of this was a big deal to certain players before hand....there is criticism and then there is just digging for something wrong. Boosters have always been a problem...so why NOW all of a sudden its because Sonic Team has a lack of faith in their engine...you might as well apply that logic since Sonic Adventure.

 

~~~

 

This is not just applying to boosters...I'm seeing a whole bunch of people fuss about things that they would have easily turned a blind eye too or not fuss about as much if this was another Unleashed style game (speaking in general).

Edited August 30, 2013 by Voyant

[Soniman]

I guess it was because Unleashed~Gens were always WHOA GOTTA GO SUPER FAST BRO, so a booster here and there is like a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things.

 

But with Lost World they're trying to promote a slower paced game that offers more control than previous Sonic games, so this time its a little jarring to still see boosters and such..

 

I mean, I don't really mind them that much and the whole "lack of faith" thing is a bit overblown imo, but yeah, just my theory.

[Celestia]

Yeah, I can definitely see people's problem with the automation. It's just that this sort of thing doesn't personally bother me...as long as it doesn't get too ridiculous, and nothing we've seen so far has been that bad. Maybe I just have the wrong standards. *shrug*

[edvedd]

If you can jump most of 'em, I have no issue with a few.

 

The casino stage was kinda excessive though, I'll give you that. 

[Radrappy]

I like how nobody was saying this with Unleashed, Colors, and Generations.

 

Really, I'm sick and tired of the crap Lost World is getting when none of this was a big deal to certain players before hand....there is criticism and then there is just digging for something wrong. Boosters have always been a problem...so why NOW all of a sudden its because Sonic Team has a lack of faith in their engine...you might as well apply that logic since Sonic Adventure.

 

~~~

 

This is not just applying to boosters...I'm seeing a whole bunch of people fuss about things that they would have easily turned a blind eye too or not fuss about as much if this was another Unleashed style game (speaking in general).

 

I know, right.  You want to talk about having a complete lack of faith in your own gameplay/engine just look at the levels in Generations.  Often times, ST would give you a narrow hallway, point you towards the boost button and say "knock yourself out, kid."

[edvedd]

I get the feeling boosters have become a design tic for them. "Oh, we have to have some boosters here, or it doesn't FEEL right." 

[Thigolf]

Just wondering - would a "Boosters Off" switch, kind of like the hintbubble switch, be hard to program?