Sonic Runners (iOS/Android) - Thread Version 2.0

[PurinxPop]

It doesn't matter whether you save up or not. It's all RNG.

[aos10]

edit

Edited September 7, 2015 by aos10

[----]

It doesn't matter whether you save up or not. It's all RNG.

Eh, kinda, Sometimes you can stop the roulette from spinning but can't choose where it will land. When I was trying to max out all of my companions, I tried to find an actual way to control the roulette. Sometimes I can stop the roulette (ex. by letting it do 2 rotations and then tap it), sometimes I can't. When the roulette stops, of course I can't control where it stops, but I did notice some sort of pattern. When I can stop it, it usually lands on the egg parallel to it (it slows down for 180 degrees before slowing), it did that 4 times consecutively for some reason. It sometimes stops on the egg before it.

[JezMM]

So I finally got to play Sonic Runners since Mollfie bought an iPad.  She had already played a bit so I was forced to do the Eggman fight at the end of the tutorial stages.  Was okay enough.  Afterwards I’m made to watch an advert while the menu screen loads (which I have to manually close after the menu music starts playing over the top of it).

I’m then treated to about 10 notifications (one of which tells me to unlock Amy I have to do some friend inviting shit haha fuck off).  I do a couple of roulette things and then get about 5 more notifications.  The game suddenly crashes back to the home menu for the iPad, so I reload it and attempt to replay the tutorial stages from the start which isn’t an option apparently.  I click the Sonic Adventure thing coz hey if it’s limited time maybe there’s some exclusive levels to play or something?  Nope more roulettes.  Get some buddies and finally decide to suck it up and just hit that “PLAY” button since the game has been so kind as to not put it behind a notification for the first time in five minutes.

I play 2-1 which never fucking ends and is about as fun to play as the game has been to watch in youtube videos.  I eventually fell down a pit and honestly after three Eggman battles and no end of the stage in sight I had enough so when given the option to continue for red star rings, continue for free by watching an advert, or quitting, I decided to quit.

The game then played two adverts anyway on the way back to the menu screen and the game lagged so much trying to update score rankings and exp and stuff I was like “fuck it” and just shut the iPad off.

So uhh… yeah I’m glad the base gameplay just isn’t that fun to me because what a fucking crock of shit that experience was!  It’s a shame that the only thing to get me interested in F2P mobile games is Sonic because this is as much a boring mess of repetitive gameplay and time wasting menus as Sonic Dash was to me.  SEGA don’t seem to be good at making them.

I’ll just stick to buying the soundtracks on iTunes as they come out I think.  Geez even Sonic Boom made a better first impression on me in the first 10 minutes of gameplay than this did.

 

 

Excuse my rant, feel free to ignore if you're a fan and just use this thread to discuss the latest content lol.

[Aries]

Well said, this game is just a cashcow and Sega's take at FlappyBird, it really is!

Edited September 7, 2015 by Aries

[SuperAj3]

JezMM, your feelings are totally justified! It's hell bent on the roulette now ever since the worldwide release and people fold and either quit or get sucked into the nostalgia and stay through it all... I wish this series didn't have such a strong hold on me!

[KHCast]

I probably spend more time playing Mortal Kombat X on my iPhone now. Runners is really only fun for the multiple playable characters. If it was just the main trio, and that was it, it wouldn't really wouldn't be nearly as interesting or worth it for me, with all the crap shoved in your face now. The core gameplay nice, (it's a endless runner, what did you expect from it?) though the countless problems really REALLY lessen much of the enjoyment that could be had with this time waster.

[Aries]

Just like Nintendo finally releasing the Koopalings when they weren't doing so hot, so is SEGA releasing all the Sonic Characters they have hold back because they know it sells.

This game's main appeal is virtually all current Sonic characters being playable at last, Sonic Team has been giving us nothing but Sonic all these past few years, and now getting a game will all Sonic characters and a 2D familiar settings and game play is too alluring, but behind all this amazing facade is greed and evil.

Edited September 7, 2015 by Aries

[SuperAj3]

Just like Nintendo finally releasing the Koopalings when they weren't doing so hot, so is SEGA releasing all the Sonic Characters they have hold back because they know it sells.

This game's main appeal is virtually all current Sonic characters being playable at last, Sonic Team has been giving us nothing but Sonic all these past few years, and now getting a game will all Sonic characters and a 2D familiar settings and game play is too alluring, but behind all this amazing facade is greed and evil.

The problem is, if they knew characters sold well why have they been only Sonic (Tails appearing but unplayable) since 2008? Not disagreeing with you, but they need to add more characters! Generations was an anniversary, but only Sonic was playable still! 

[PurinxPop]

Return of the spead type

[Indigo Rush]

Oh JezMM, you think you've just ranted? Oh honey, you have yet to see how I feel about this game.

In short... I've been having a less than stellar experience with Sonic Runners thus far.

In long? Honestly... the only thing that kept me coming back was the sheer excitement of possibly snagging a limited time character or buddy (Classic Sonic, NiGHTS, Shadow, etc) and while the game itself is alright, there's nothing I can say to defend it's optimization and overall design. Sonic Runners is one of the worst flowing games I've ever played. It's impossible to enjoy the game because of how it needs to update once a week (and I can't update unless I'm near a WiFi connection, lest I use up all of my date) and the necessity of a constant internet connection, which is the biggest contributor to the horrible loading times and lag in-game. (seriously!?) On the whole, Sonic Runners disappointed me, and that's not the word I'd use for just any bad experience for a Sonic game.

Sonic Boom isn't disappointing - you get exactly what you expect from a TV-show cash-in. Sonic 2006 isn't disappointing (anymore), because you know exactly what you're getting into. Sonic Runners? This game is disappointing. Very. Why? Because there's actually something in the main game that's fun and addicting to varying degrees. It's a 2D Sonic autorunner, you just can't beat that idea... it even had more potential than Sonic Dash, which ended up being a Temple Run knock-off (and honestly may be better for it, considering). But nope. They had to botch it. I understand F2P mechanics are to be expected with mobile games, but this is done in all of the wrong ways, unless you're one of those comically evil business villains smoking a cigar and pointing at a sales chart laughing maniacally while petting your overweight pet cat. (Someone draw this).

See, you can't just suck it up and buy the characters like in Sonic Dash or Sonic Jump, in which your purchases are essentially permanently saved, as it's tied to your personal Google Play or iTunes account, no, you spend cash on Red Rings, which are not only non-refundable, but completely void any possibility of you re-claiming your spoils should you be unable to transfer your save date via the Data Transfer tool, which is also less than helpful in light of online services like Google Play Games or anything with a username/email-password mechanic for cloud data storage.

On that note, if they're so keen on connecting to the internet for every little thing, why not employ such an account system? Would it make things too convenient or something? This is ridiculous. The whole thing is ridiculous.

But back to character unlocking, it has to be a roulette. It has to be a gamble. And the only characters you can actually outright purchase are botched and designed to halve your score... so if you are a fan of Silver (yes, fans of Silver exist, Sega), you're out of luck because your favorite character now is associated with people who aren't talented enough to play the game properly. Same goes for Big fans (hi) and Cream fans. It's inane. That digression aside, tying something as major and game-impacting as a different character, with bonuses and effects that enhance your score in different ways, to a gamble is something out of a parody of an evil business conglomerate. Dr Eggman wouldn't think of something this evil (and heaven knows Eggman in Sonic Runners wouldn't be able to do anything as impactful as that anyway, as the story is about as deep as an episode of Dora the Explorer).

It defies rationality. It really does.

But hey, instead of complaining, how about I just offer a few suggestions on how Sonic Runners could actually be a legitimately great mobile game, instead of an unmitigated disaster. 

For starters... optimize the darn thing. I'm tired of the lag and long loading times. To do this, I'm happy to report that it'll be best to ditch the online requirements. For things like cloud saving, firmware updates and optional online rankings and daily challenges, that kind of stuff is alright. Outside of that, I should not have to connect to the internet to play the game. If people hacking leaderboards is the issue, then stop making them so integral to the experience. I bought Sonic Runners to play an endless runner with Sonic mechanics in it, not so I could compete to earn bonus items or buddies that I rarely use.

On that note...

Stop using the roulette for everything. It's fine when its for little things like extra stuff to help you in-game or for rings to buy other things... but for characters? Buddies. That is downright unfair and cruel. Instead, make other characters and buddies unlockable by conventional means, and that means completely removing the Special Roulette in its entirety. If I earn or buy enough Red Rings, I should be able to snag the character or buddy I want. You can still steepen the cost for more powerful characters and buddies accordingly, but don't make it random. Imagine having to unlock Tails or Knuckles by beating the Special Stages or the minigames in Sonic 3... but there's also the possibility that you'll get 100 rings instead. Not fun. 

Also, limited edition characters are fine, but again, don't tie them to a game of chance. Instead, why not make a particular character free for a week if you complete a specific requirement (such as collecting Christmas presents in Sonic Dash to unlock Silver). Something, anything, other than a roulette minigame that costs an item that's difficult to earn the amount. I'd honestly be tempted to be in favor of removing Red Rings altogether, but instead, how about making them either less scarce, or lowering the required amounts to purchase with them? Even if you need to scale back on how many Red Rings are rewarded to you through special events or challenges, it's still worth making it less impossible to do anything with them. 

Because I can't think of a segue, remove the timed lives system. It speaks for itself. Get rid of it. There is nothing positive about it. There is nothing beneficial to it. I can't think of a single reason why this should exist outside of draining the wallets of hardened addicts, if Sonic Runners was actually good enough to warrant such a thing. It's not okay when other games do it. It's doubly not okay when Sonic does it.

Getting into the core of the game itself... the speed, flight and power system is alright, but don't tie them to individual level tropes. This is not a hard fix to do, honestly. I can tell that there's some kind of algorithm involved with the kinds of level chunks that are auto-generated, and it's made apparent in the limited event levels (also stop making entire levels limited-time only) when repeat level design pieces start showing up that work for a particular kind of character. Just tailor the level design to the character you picked. It's not a hard concept to understand that maybe I want to play as Knuckles or Tails in Windy Hill without it affecting my run in a significantly negative way. 

Next, forget the progressive story mechanic. Not only is the story itself uninteresting, it prevents players from being able to choose the levels they want to play. It's also a problem in the boss battles where I cannot even play a regular level without having to first defeat Eggman. If I can't defeat Eggman, I can't get to the main game. That's hot garbage. This isn't a massive adventure game, this is a mobile game meant to pass the time away. I should be able to pick whatever level I want with whatever character I want whenever I want. 

 

...

 

You know, that's a lot to change. I think Sonic Runners is a failure at this point. It's not entirely worth ditching should they clean it up, but hot dang there's a lot about this game I don't like. I enjoy the actual auto-running, the way you bounce on enemies and how you roll downhill and the twitch-reactions necessary to maintain a great score (assuming it doesn't glitch on you) can give a fun challenge, but it's just not enough to make up for everything else. 

Sonic Runners sucks, but it didn't have to. Here's hoping they make a competent sequel. They won't, but here's hoping anyway.

[PurinxPop]

Honestly this game would be much better if they just fixed the bugs, and optimized the game in general. Everything else about the game is fine, but the insanely long loading times, inconsistencies and overall sloppy production/english translations, and runs ridden with bugs really turn me off from playing. High score runs take about 40+ minutes to complete and that's not factoring in game startup times and loading times.

Also this is a free to play game, why does everyone always expect things to be given to you like candy lol I think it's fine for them to be making money, and it's really not villainy because there are much worse games. At least Sonic Runners allows you to earn premium currency easily without spending money and it's not linked to just daily login bonuses and limited-time events. The problem is no one is gonna spend money on this steaming hot pile of shit because how much they break the game every single patch, and people's first impressions being bad too. If they just didn't bork up the game at the WW release then less people would have quit, more people would have been hooked, and more revenue would have been generated. I just wish they could revert most of the coding back to the softlaunch

Edited September 7, 2015 by PurinxPop

[Indigo Rush]

Sonic Dash and Sonic Jump handle F2P properly, and they have a system where you can pay real money to unlock characters or buy in-game currency. I'm not against that mechanic entirely. I mean, I'd prefer that to not exist, but I don't mind it so much as I mind it in Sonic Runners, because it's not that straight-forward. The amount you make in-game is negligible unless you're a god among runners in the leaderboards and are also extremely lucky on the roulette, furthermore the added barrier of needing said currency and luck to even unlock the limited edition character you want brings out the worst of the concept. 

[biggestsonicfan]

HOW IS EVERYONE GETTING TIKAL? THIS GAME IS UNFAIR PIECE OF S*** I KEEP GETTING STUPID ORCAS

Just like Nintendo finally releasing the Koopalings when they weren't doing so hot, so is SEGA releasing all the Sonic Characters they have hold back because they know it sells.

This game's main appeal is virtually all current Sonic characters being playable at last, Sonic Team has been giving us nothing but Sonic all these past few years, and now getting a game will all Sonic characters and a 2D familiar settings and game play is too alluring, but behind all this amazing facade is greed and evil.

YES THEY ARE GREED AS F*** FK THESE STUPID SEGA BITCHES

[Ryannumber1gamer]

HOW IS EVERYONE GETTING TIKAL? THIS GAME IS UNFAIR PIECE OF S*** I KEEP GETTING STUPID ORCAS

Simple. They grinded and saved up Red Star Rings and therefore had multiple attempts at the roulette, and on top of that, just plain luck. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

YES THEY ARE GREED AS F*** FK THESE STUPID SEGA BITCHES

Dude. It's a free to play game that's broken in many many ways. Calm down, and move on.  

[biggestsonicfan]

 

Simple. They grinded and saved up Red Star Rings and therefore had multiple attempts at the roulette, and on top of that, just plain luck. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

Dude. It's a free to play game that's broken in many many ways. Calm down, and move on.  

ok but i s just so frustrating when everyone is getting shadow and tiikwlckle but all i have r level 5 useless buddies

[SuperAj3]

HOW IS EVERYONE GETTING TIKAL? THIS GAME IS UNFAIR PIECE OF S*** I KEEP GETTING STUPID ORCAS

Your outbursts are my inner feelings XD But I get that it's just a game with an RNG determining everything. I just went back to SA2 multiplayer and played as Tikal and that worked XD

[PurinxPop]

Your outbursts are my inner feelings XD But I get that it's just a game with an RNG determining everything. I just went back to SA2 multiplayer and played as Tikal and that worked XD

Tikal is the bae in sa2b. I'm glad they made her a fly type in this game and not some useless power type. Feels good to fly man.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

ok but i s just so frustrating when everyone is getting shadow and tiikwlckle but all i have r level 5 useless buddies

The roulette is bullshit. I know that. But there's no reason to complain about it. It's a free to play game that I doubt had much development given the issues. There's no reason to make such a big deal out of a game that's average at best and a broken mess at worse. There's no reason to go into anger filled outbursts over a game that isn't even that good.

[SuperAj3]

Tikal is the bae in sa2b. I'm glad they made her a fly type in this game and not some useless power type. Feels good to fly man.

People didn't believe me when I said she'd be a Fly type, but now that she is, and her buff is amazing, it's too tempting to not want to try and get her! 

ok but i s just so frustrating when everyone is getting shadow and tiikwlckle but all i have r level 5 useless buddies

Level 5 buddies means more chance at special eggs which means a more chance of getting a character (12% Character egg on Special Roulette). In the long run, you're set for some good work!

[JezMM]

See I was chatting to Sean earlier about how PSO2 manages to not fuck up the F2P thing.

 

PSO2 has adverts... but they're displayed as small, unanimated banners on loading screens, and in video format on TV monitors dotted around the lobby.  These monitors can be easily ignored, and only specific ones play sound when you approach them (no such monitors are near anything else of interest, you can't do this by accident really).  They can even be turned off (though this is a game performance setting rather than a "turn off the ads! setting).  Most of the time these monitors display trailers for upcoming content actually rather than cross-promotion adverts.

 

PSO2 also has gambling regarding real money.  Costumes, accessories, and personal room furniture are locked behind scratch cards that you buy with real money.  A small amount of stuff gets released for scratch cards that are buyable with non-real currency, but the good stuff requires real money.  The silver lining?  If you get something you don't want, you can sell it to other players for in-game currency since premium paying players are able to do such a thing.

Not a premium/paying player and thus can't access these scratchcards?  You can be the person who buys those unwanted items off those who do using in-game currency.  Of course, some items will require a LOT of said in-game money, but hey, the person you're buying it off literally paid for it in some regard so fair's fair.

Though worth mentioning again that these "gambling" related items are all 100% cosmetic.

 

How would any of these good decisions would translate to a game with gameplay like Sonic Runners?  I honestly don't know since they're completely different games, and one is mobile and the other is a PC/console game.  But yeah.

Edited September 7, 2015 by JezMM

[PurinxPop]

People didn't believe me when I said she'd be a Fly type, but now that she is, and her buff is amazing, it's too tempting to not want to try and get her! 

Level 5 buddies means more chance at special eggs which means a more chance of getting a character (12% Character egg on Special Roulette). In the long run, you're set for some good work!

Her flying animation makes me chuckle too. Too good. I'm also glad she's tied with Rouge for being the strongest character in the game.

On another note, a SEGA customer support person has replied to me asking for more information regarding the Cyan Laser and Yellow Drill bugs and the time of their occurrences. If anyone has information of when it happens to them please tell me so I can gather the information and send it to this person.

[AshGreninJovan]

Return of the spead type

And Sega hasn't edited the Team Easy notification since Sonic Runners Ver. 1.1.1.

[Badnik Mechanic]

HOW IS EVERYONE GETTING TIKAL? THIS GAME IS UNFAIR PIECE OF S*** I KEEP GETTING STUPID ORCAS

Yeah it's almost like they advertised in game that there would be an increased drop rate if you landed on those eggs.

[Aries]

I got Blaze 3 times, and now if I get the Character Egg 3 times I'll get Tikal 3 times, goodbye Shadow, I never knew ya.

Edited September 8, 2015 by Aries