Sonic Frontiers - Teaser Trailer

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

1 hour ago, CrystalMaelStorm said:

I don't know about you guys, but that guy who leaked what he playtested on 4Chan on Sonic Rangers, the open world, cyberspace and all; he said there would be Unleashed/Generations styled levels, right?

He mentioned that there would be boost style sections connected by the open world.

[Shiny Gems]

7 minutes ago, Jovahexeon The Undyne said:

He mentioned that there would be boost style sections connected by the open world.

Okay then, thanks for telling me. I wonder how the open world would work gameplay wise if that is the case, aside from what the play tester or whatever said?

[PickleBrows]

I feel like these "boost" levels aren't gonna be quite as literal as the leak makes them out to be.

It all depends on Sonic's core moveset in the main open-world area but I feel like it'd be awkward adjusting to the Gens control scheme for a small part of the game unless they really are just taking the boost moveset and plonking that in an open world with some looser controls to compensate.

Optimistically I'm hoping these areas play like the main game but have more linear but extreme platforming challenges to test your speed and platforming. Very much like the obstacle courses in Mario Sunshine.

Why they'd be compared to Gens I'm not sure. More linear is obvious but maybe Sonic does have SOME sort of evolution of the boost as we've known it. I'd personally love Advance 2's boost mode to come into the 3D games. 

[Shiny Gems]

3 minutes ago, PickleBrows said:

I feel like these "boost" levels aren't gonna be quite as literal as the leak makes them out to be.

It all depends on Sonic's core moveset in the main open-world area but I feel like it'd be awkward adjusting to the Gens control scheme for a small part of the game unless they really are just taking the boost moveset and plonking that in an open world with some looser controls to compensate.

Optimistically I'm hoping these areas play like the main game but have more linear but extreme platforming challenges to test your speed and platforming. Very much like the obstacle courses in Mario Sunshine.

Why they'd be compared to Gens I'm not sure. More linear is obvious but maybe Sonic does have SOME sort of evolution of the boost as we've known it. I'd personally love Advance 2's boost mode to come into the 3D games. 

Good point. I almost thought of something like that. Almost. I would love more platforming and alternate routes to explore. With that said, I do hope the levels are nothing like Forces. 

But I can imagine you are right about adjusting the controls between the open world and boost levels. That could be a bit challenging. Just saying.

Also, I'd love the boost mode from Sonic Advance 2 to be in the 3D games. I even thought of some ideas on how it could work before.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

1 minute ago, CrystalMaelStorm said:

Okay then, thanks for telling me. I wonder how the open world would work gameplay wise if that is the case, aside from what the play tester or whatever said?

I could see them working as Sonic Special Stages, or doing a better yet, just more fast-paced sections of the game, akin to 06's mach speed sections (just not sucky). Or bite-sized sections that correlate to the story.

[VO.SUPER]

1 minute ago, Jovahexeon The Undyne said:

I could see them working as Sonic Special Stages, or doing a better yet, just more fast-paced sections of the game, akin to 06's mach speed sections (just not sucky). Or bite-sized sections that correlate to the story.

Maybe something a bit more like the ChaosX Mach speed sections where you have more leeway in movement, but it's clearly meant to be a distinct change in movement. The boost was kind of a refinement of this system as a whole, but maybe dialing back the pure boosting (i.e no auto-boost button) and you'd get not as jarring a shift.

[Domino]

One thing I need to point out is that the cyberspace levels being described as "Generations-style" could just mean they're structured like Generations levels. A lot of you are assuming that it means the boost and all the intricate minutiae of Generations' controls are back for this single specific part of the game, but I think you're reading way too much into the leaker's choice of words. (Also, the word "boost" is not used in any of the leaks)

Quite frankly, the idea of completely changing the way Sonic handles mid-game for no apparent reason sounds like it would confuse the hell out of players. Nothing of what I'm hearing about Sonic's overworld controls makes me believe it would be unsuitable for more linear levels.

[Sega DogTagz]

The leaker can use whatever adjectives  he wants to describe a level, but without a good understanding of his/her personal knowledge of the franchise and how each game plays - it neigh impossible to take much away from "Generations style levels".

A normal person, or even gamers brought up in other disciplines wouldn't hesitate for a second to look at an 06 Mach speed zone and call it Generations' styled. Same goes for Forces. Plenty of rational people would see Sonic barrel down a hallway of enemies via boost and label that Gens styled. A player without a keen understanding of the last 5 or 6 Sonic games can't really offer meaningful insight on that matter. They'll just compare it to the most mainstream and popular games of recent history and go from there (i.e. Gens).

 

So when someone offers up a comparison like that - the absolute most we can take from this is the 3D/2D split. Everything else is quite frankly up in the air. Gens Styled levels run the gambit between Unleashed and Forces. There is no way to hone in on anything specific here.

[Iko]

3 hours ago, Wraith said:

This has been living in my mind rent free since thursday but nobody has given me an excuse to bring it up yet so I'll just say it. They really decided they were going to take heavy inspiration from an open ended Nintendo game and chose Breath of the Wild and not Mario Odyssey.

 

Like...what the fuck? Seriously. Huh? Did they see Mario roll and have an allergic reaction?

I don't know if that can be compared but it already happend once that they took inspiration from a Zelda game instead of a Mario one, and it was Sonic Unleashed (Zelda Twilight Princess). The influence was minimal but it was definitely there, mostly because in both games the main character becomes a wolf.

[Diogenes]

Werewolves existed before Twilight Princess.

[Iko]

Yeah but classic gaming mascot being transformed into a werewolf (and it being the main gimmick of the game) is not something very common, and it happend relatively close in the two franchises.

[Domino]

Iizuka has admitted in interviews to being a pretty big Zelda fan, apparently.

[Sega DogTagz]

Clearly Sonic wants to be Link.

He turns into wolves, time traveled back and forth a bunch, used a sword that one time and even dressed up in a green tunic for some cosplay.

 

indisputable evidence.

[Scar]

5 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

Sonic Forces is so mediocre its offensive. It's offensive to me as a long time fan, but otherwise it's just kind of... well, I can't speak too ill of when when looking at it objective. It's boring, it's too easy, it's not at all engaging, it's sloppy, it's not got great visuals, it's not got a great soundtrack, but for most people I'd say it's probably fine. I hate it on a personal level and I find it boring to play. But I can't rightly say that it's as awful as I find it to be. Know what I mean?

I mean that's a fair perspective, but to me all of what you've said is a perfectly valid reason to think its awful. Mediocrity in absolution is...well...bad - no redeeming features.

And to me Forces wasn't just an average game. It was functional I suppose - fit for purpose, if you will. But that alone is insufficient for something that is designed to entertain. Boring, automated, lacking in depth. Lacking in any kind of character. 

Forgettable is in some ways worse than infamy.

[Spooky Mulder]

So I plugged Forces into my Switch to see if it was somehow better than I remembered...and shocker it's not. It's kind of shocking how much fun Generations was and this is so close...but it's just not it. I really hope that the "cyberspace" levels don't play like Forces does. 

[Soniman]

1 hour ago, Spooky Mulder said:

So I plugged Forces into my Switch to see if it was somehow better than I remembered...and shocker it's not. It's kind of shocking how much fun Generations was and this is so close...but it's just not it. I really hope that the "cyberspace" levels don't play like Forces does. 

Leaks made a specific mention to it playing like Unleashed so I think we don't need to worry about it 

[VO.SUPER]

5 minutes ago, Soniman said:

Leaks made a specific mention to it playing like Unleashed so I think we don't need to worry about it 

I wouldnt jump there either. The leader didn't seem like much of a Sonic fan. They may not know the nuanced differences between the physics of each game. 

[Soniman]

16 minutes ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

I wouldnt jump there either. The leader didn't seem like much of a Sonic fan. They may not know the nuanced differences between the physics of each game. 

That is true. Considerably less hyped of its the Colors /Forces style of boost level design design in that case 

[Marcello]

I wouldn't expect the level design of the boost stages to be particularly complex. They sound like they're basically Special Stages, which are generally simplistic.

Plus designing 7 large, complex boost stages in addition to the open world may be too much for them time-wise.

[Blue Blood]

Personally, I'm not yet prepared to take the leaker(s) totally at their word that the so-called cyberspace areas are entirely like Unleashed/Generations. The idea that we'll be switching between an open world and full boost stages ala Generations/Unleashed sounds a bit rich, considering that those games themselves only had a total of 9 full boost levels, plus a secondary playstyle in smaller stages and a bunch of mini/filler acts. 

Instead, I'm wondering if the cyberspace areas are a bit more in-line with traditional Special Stages or '06's Mach Speed sections, in that they could be auto-runners. That's nothing to scoff at, because they'd still be fast paced and all about running. The "big leak" dated from January 2021 only mentions the following in relation to them:

Quote

• If you get enough orbs, you can go to a portal and go to "cyberspace".
• Cyberspace levels are Generations style and the music goes HARD.
• Beating them fast enough grants Chaos Emeralds

But it also says this in regards to Sonic's moveset:

Quote

• Lock-on attack returns.

My first thought, weirdly, was that this meant the Lost World homing attack that locks on to multiple targets at once. No idea why that's where my mind went, since it likely just means the regular homing attack that everyone is familiar with. It still sticks out to me that they're calling it the "lock-on attack" though, which isn't something that I've heard any regular Sonic fan say. Anyone particularly familiar with the series would call it the Homing Attack.

I'm not certain, but I get the impression that this guy isn't particularly familiar with Sonic games, especially the 3D ones. Calling the cyberspace levels "Generations-style" suggests to me that they're simply linear and much faster than the open-world areas of the game. I'm not going to assume that they'll literally be Generations-style boost levels just yet. Just faster and linear, contrasting the main open-world gameplay which will include more platforming, combat and exploration all at a lower speed than the cyberspace areas. And I think it's fairly likely that the cyberspace areas will be auto-runners/on-rails, but that's just a guess.

The August 2020 leak only says this:

Quote

• Robot/alien bosses scattered throughout the island, defeat them and you get a Chaos Emerald

No mention of the cyberspace areas, which is understandable at this demo potentially came much earlier. Although now that I say that, I realise that no have any dates have been provided for when these play testers actually did play the game.

Only one other leak mentions the cyberspace areas and unlike the rest I'm not convinced that this leak is the real deal. It didn't show up until May 27th of this year, after the teaser trailer was shown off. It says this in relation to the cyberspace areas:

Quote

• Beat puzzles to get orbs, use orbs to unlock portals.
• Portals lead to Unleashed-style levels.
• Beat Unleashed-style levels to get level ups.

The reasons that this leak seems dubious is are the fact that it wasn't posted until after the Sonic Central broadcast showed off the teaser, and it's almost beat-for-beat the same as the January 2021 leak. It doesn't have anything new, and even expresses the exact same opinions. And it generally reads a bit like a troll-leak. Real or not, you can brush it aside in favour of the January one that goes into more detail and is obviously from earlier. I'd hazard a guess that the May 27th leak is a hoax based on the ealirer one.

And just to be on the lookout for copycats, here another supposed leak that dated just this morning. Sounds credible although there's no reason to believe that it's legit:

Spoiler

(Original thread here)

I don't believe this one personally. And whether it's true or not, we don't learn anything new about the game. It's basically just "the January and August leaks are right" and "Sonic Adventure 3 was a working title".

It's really easy to create "fake leaks" based on either real info or other leaks. Be cautious. That's why I'm doubtful about the May 27th leak.

Beyond that there's been a ton of other "leaks" posted to 4Chan in the past few days. Some sound credible and are similar to the August and January leaks again, other are laughably false. Anything that was posted either on or after May 27th should be taken with extra caution, because there's that much more of a chance that they're piggybacking off the current hype. 

[Marcello]

I don't believe this latest one either. Maybe I'm the dumb one, but they seem to be confusing focus testers with play testers.

[Blue Blood]

8 minutes ago, Marcello said:

I don't believe this latest one either. Maybe I'm the dumb one, but they seem to be confusing focus testers with play testers.

I didn't even catch that. Good point. Focus testers are volunteers hired to represent the audience of a product that can share their thoughts and opinions with creators during development. Play testers (I think the correct term is usually "quality assurance tester" or "QA tester") are actual hired employees that work to find bugs and refine the game. They'll provide feedback on the general enjoyability of games and other things related to what they like and dislike, but it's much more technical is actually a proper job where they're play games at length throughout development.

[StaticMania]

Play-Test is apart of video game's QA, and the term is common enough.

[Blue Blood]

2 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Play-Test is apart of video game's QA, and the term is common enough.

Sure. Play tester is a recognised and common term, usually synonymous with QA tester. But it's distinct from a focus group/test. The latter won't get much time to spend with a game.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Interestingly, your skepticism about the cyberspace levels is substantiated by this guy from the July leak, who claims there weren't any when he played.