Sonic Forces | PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC "The Next Generations"

[FriendBot]

While I will admit that Forces is the first Sonic game that lost me before it got released (yep, I was still pretty hyped for Lost World and to an extent, Boom (although that maybe because I was liking what I saw of the show rather than Rise of Lyric but nvm)).

I still want to be hopeful that there will be something for me to enjoy about the game, maybe that third character will be my go to or the story will be interesting enough to go through a reskinned Generations+.

[Roger_van_der_weide]

26 minutes ago, JezMM said:

To hell with it, I'm curious so I made a poll.

 

Aww, where's the "Super happy because I'm an asshole on the internet who loves to make fun of things" option?

Ehh, dissapointed but hopeful for me then.
I'll pass the word of the vote around.

[JosepHenry]

So far most of the people are disappointed but hopeful!

Go Team Disappointed but Hopeful! =D

[JezMM]

Yeah to clarify I'm the "disappointed but hopeful" category.  I hate that Classic Sonic is back without improvements, I love that Boost Sonic is back but hate that it's without improvements and with Wisps.  But I had fun with Colours and Generations, the latter moreso, so I'll probably have fun here.  Just it's so, so far from my ideal for what I wanted out of the next 3D Sonic game.

[Sonikko]

1 hour ago, Joseph Mello said:

Speaking of level design, something that made me a tiiiiiiiiny bit hopeful for a more open level design was this screenshot:

Sonic could be able to enter between buildings and find goods or even a spring to launch you to the rooftop...

Probably not what it's going to happen because of the things I circled. They're there to justify invisible walls, Sonic is not getting anywhere near those buildings.

[Blue Blood]

14 minutes ago, JezMM said:

Yeah to clarify I'm the "disappointed but hopeful" category.  I hate that Classic Sonic is back without improvements, I love that Boost Sonic is back but hate that it's without improvements and with Wisps.  But I had fun with Colours and Generations, the latter moreso, so I'll probably have fun here.  Just it's so, so far from my ideal for what I wanted out of the next 3D Sonic game.

This is funny. I think we're very much in the same page concerning what we expect the final game to be deliver and think that it will be serviceable, but won't be the ideal for either of us. It's just what that means in terms of being disappointing though.

By now I'm just used to having the exact same gripes with every Sonic game. Until those are rectified, they'll continue to disappoint me. Although that doesn't me hate or dislike. 

[Meta77]

10 minutes ago, Sonikko said:

Probably not what it's going to happen because of the things I circled. They're there to justify invisible walls, Sonic is not getting anywhere near those buildings.

Lol dashing that hope that they had lol

[JosepHenry]

Invisible walls make me cry. When this game come out I want a no invisible walls mod. When I make a 3D game there is not going to be too many invisible walls!

I can see so many parts of the level when Sonic could jump off the fence and find another path... 

At 0:16 There is some boxes. Let me break those boxes, find a spring in them, and let me go to a upper path. Oh wait. Those are metal boxes. Crap...

Look at the amount of effort they do to put  trees, buildings and even that Sonic can't even get close.

Seriously, f*ck those freakin' invisible frickin' walls. *grumble, grumble...*

[Indigo Rush]

We're going to build a yyuuuge beautiful invisible wall all along the Zone, and make no mistake, the game's quality is going to pay for it. 

 

[Jango]

Oh yeah, when I make a 3D Sonic game, there will be no invisible walls too. See that house over there? You'll be totally able to get inside, drink a cup of tea and watch some Doctor Who on TV.

[TheOcelot]

*Joins the disappointed but hopeful club*

1 hour ago, Soni said:

maybe that third character will be my go to or the story will be interesting enough to go through a reskinned Generations.

God I hope Forces story turns out better than Gens, which lets be honest shouldn't be hard to achieve.

Perhaps they could design the third gameplay style around the parkour from SLW? I'd like Sonic Team to have another ago at improving it.

36 minutes ago, JezMM said:

Yeah to clarify I'm the "disappointed but hopeful" category.  I hate that Classic Sonic is back without improvements, I love that Boost Sonic is back but hate that it's without improvements and with Wisps.  But I had fun with Colours and Generations, the latter moreso, so I'll probably have fun here.  Just it's so, so far from my ideal for what I wanted out of the next 3D Sonic game.

Totally agreed on Classic Sonic. Difficult to judge whether Sonic's physics look better or worse than Gens. Regardless doesn't look good.

Difficult to see how they could improve the boost gameplay? Felt like it was the best it could be in Gens.

I don't mind the wisps inclusion, but if they are designed again to be used in the same way as in Colors I'm concerned there will be too much of an emphasis on 2d areas over 3d. I like Colors, but the 2d gameplay we got in Gens and especially SLW has left me fed up with the inclusion of 2d sections. 

What if the wisp gameplay was added to the classic Sonic stages instead of modern? Might be more interesting, I dunno.

[D.K.]

2 minutes ago, OcelotBot said:

God I hope Forces story turns out better than Gens, which lets be honest shouldn't be hard to achieve.

Forces already has the upper hand because the cutscenes don't involve Sonic and Tails standing in a blank white void giving forced exposition with pauses longer than a DVD menu.

[Sonikko]

The Wisps have always felt out of place to me, my main concern is that before taking action they stop you in your place, breaking the game flow. Most of them are not even designed to play fast, they're slow and clunky. I'd like them out of my Sonic games, or at least totally optional, as they were in LW.

[JosepHenry]

17 minutes ago, Jango said:

Oh yeah, when I make a 3D Sonic game, there will be no invisible walls too. See that house over there? You'll be totally able to get inside, drink a cup of tea and watch some Doctor Who on TV.

Why the hell not? They are doing so much effort in those, so why not have a use for those background objects that don't even look like one? I hate this, and when Colors came out I was so excited to explore Tropical Resort and Planet Wisp, but guess what?

Why I'm not able to jump in that red place and find a hidden 10 rings or something, Sonic Colors controls much better than Unleashed for exploring and platforming, so why you have no way of exploring in Colors besides finding a red ring behind the goal?

 

I'm mentioning Colors because that's what Forces seems to imitate in level design, instead of Generations.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

I'm not entirely disappointed,  but I am rather indifferent at best to the classic game play shown so far. 

The modern style game play shown does still look rad,  I'll give it that. 

 

[Indigo Rush]

7 hours ago, BlueFlare said:

Hey chaps, we forgot even Sonic 3 has reputation for automated gameplay:

 

Just saw this.

Yes, Sonic 3 & Knuckles has brief moments where control is taken away or limited, but these instances make up a very small percentage of the entire game and are usually woven into the gameplay to where it isn't always noticeable. 

I'd hardly call that a reputation.

[Meta77]

26 minutes ago, OcelotBot said:

*Joins the disappointed but hopeful club*

God I hope Forces story turns out better than Gens, which lets be honest shouldn't be hard to achieve.

Perhaps they could design the third gameplay style around the parkour from SLW? I'd like Sonic Team to have another ago at improving it.

Totally agreed on Classic Sonic. Difficult to judge whether Sonic's physics look better or worse than Gens. Regardless doesn't look good.

Difficult to see how they could improve the boost gameplay? Felt like it was the best it could be in Gens.

I don't mind the wisps inclusion, but if they are designed again to be used in the same way as in Colors I'm concerned there will be too much of an emphasis on 2d areas over 3d. I like Colors, but the 2d gameplay we got in Gens and especially SLW has left me fed up with the inclusion of 2d sections. 

What if the wisp gameplay was added to the classic Sonic stages instead of modern? Might be more interesting, I dunno.

A slight off topic but that scene in boom had me in the floor.  I don't want eggman that goofy in forgas but that was gold

[JosepHenry]

Is all fault of the Wisps that makes those 40 seconds of gameplay Colors 2.0.

But to remain hopeful, Unleashed and Generations also had pretty linear first seconds of the first level, and the level design in those games was fine. Maybe I'm overreacting!

[Multikaris]

I'm sufficiently less hopeful than most of you guys, falling under "things need to be not what they seem". I hate the Classic Sonic level completely. 

[Marcello]

4 hours ago, JezMM said:

To hell with it, I'm curious so I made a poll.

Would you describe yourself as disappointed with Sonic Forces with what is known of it so far?

Obviously it's going to be a pretty odd voter sample but guests reading the thread and people off the boards are welcome to vote too if anyone wants to share it with other non-SSMB friends.  Let's see what it's doing after 50 votes or so.  I've enabled IP checking but obviously it's not difficult to get around that so I just respectfully ask everyone be fair and not cheat the results.  I wanna know the real answer, not the one that most aligns with my own.  You can check the results so far any time you like here.

 

I'm in between "There are a significant amount of disappointments that will need to be fixed/not what they seem/compromised for if I'm going to be interested in the game." and "I'm so disappointed with the game that I cannot imagine a scenario where I can be positive about it short of the entire game being changed out of nowhere.".

I'll go with the former since I think I will enjoy the game for what it is like with Generations, but I do wish they could change almost everything about it.

[PickleBrows]

I'm surprised people are assuming Forces is using the Colour's style level design over Unleashed/Generations based solely on what we've seen.

That footage for Forces is about as linear as it gets, you bet, but keep in mind Unleashed had that large section on the Great Wall of China and a couple of those extended chase scenes that ask you simply switch lanes for like half a minute. Even Generations, which has some of the most "open" boost level designs has a very linear Green Hill to start things off.

Seaside Hill and Sky Sanctuary in particular showed the biggest steps towards more explorative level design with the boost gameplay. The problem is that the boost gameplay is specifically designed to focus on speed. Those alternate paths and secrets are at odds with the central mechanic on constantly moving. One of those paths is going to be faster and more convenient than the others and once you know what it is, you're probably gonna stick to it most of the time.

This is where the white wisps could be part of an attempt to fix that issue. The first level is linear (like the games before it) and introduces the concept of white wisps being the source of the boost energy. Over the course of the level the player is subconsciously taught that boost energy is a limited resource and the level design won't always be entirely accommodating of it. Once players catch on that boosting is more of a highlight than a constant presence they'll be more inclined to take in their surroundings and actually check out those alternate paths.

While Generations felt like a compromise of Unleashed and Colours, if Forces tries to be a compromise of Colours and Generations they might be able to find a balance in there.

[JezMM]

6 hours ago, JezMM said:

To hell with it, I'm curious so I made a poll.

Would you describe yourself as disappointed with Sonic Forces with what is known of it so far?

Obviously it's going to be a pretty odd voter sample but guests reading the thread and people off the boards are welcome to vote too if anyone wants to share it with other non-SSMB friends.  Let's see what it's doing after 50 votes or so.  I've enabled IP checking but obviously it's not difficult to get around that so I just respectfully ask everyone be fair and not cheat the results.  I wanna know the real answer, not the one that most aligns with my own.  You can check the results so far any time you like here.

Here's how the poll is looking as of 137 votes:

I grouped together Options 1 and 2 and Options 4 and 5 to give a straightforward overall picture of the situation, naturally the detailed results are viewable on Strawpoll.

Going by this, we can kind of draw two seperate but not incompatible conclusions:

Columns 1 and 2 both contain people who are expecting an enjoyable game experience at the moment, so in that sense the majority are optimistic towards the game.

Columns 2 and 3 both contain people who are notably disappointed by the game, so in that sense the majority are disappointed by the game.

 

It could still be early days for the poll though if it's spreading around a lot, so I'll keep an eye on it.

[Radiant Hero Ike]

I know it's still early, but I'm a bit surprised. I thought the disappointed options would be higher.

Are we gonna redo the poll once we see the third character? I might change my opinion once that happens (like, if it's a terrible beat em up style. It being an OC wouldn't bother me).

[BlueFlare]

4 hours ago, Indigo Rush said:

Just saw this.

Yes, Sonic 3 & Knuckles has brief moments where control is taken away or limited, but these instances make up a very small percentage of the entire game and are usually woven into the gameplay to where it isn't always noticeable. 

I'd hardly call that a reputation.

I was just playing with you guys.  I know Sonic 1-3K and CD very well from playing those over 20 years to this day. Yeah, in the classics you were free to play 99 percent of the stages like you wanted, now the stages do it, not you.

[JezMM]

Just now, Radiant Hero Ike said:

I know it's still early, but I'm a bit surprised. I thought the disappointed options would be higher.

Are we gonna redo the poll once we see the third character? I might change my opinion once that happens (like, if it's a terrible beat em up style. It being an OC wouldn't bother me).

No reason not to really, though I was just doing the poll in terms of the argument as to whether the game was overall a disappointment or not and whether the majority were happy and the negativity in the thread was just a bunch of vocal oddballs.

Thus far, certainly not the case.