Megathread Sonic Frontiers (2022) | MT | General Discussion (DO NOT discuss leaks here please)

[Wittymations]

On 5/23/2022 at 4:09 PM, Razule said:

The cartoonier look of the movie characters in the new short made me think about how much better the game characters would look if they had more fur detail in Frontiers.

 

I wonder how much of it is design and how much of it is performance. At least originally.

I imagine, at least early on in the days of 3D, that a furry Sonic model might have made the hardware of the Dreamcast chug if going at high speeds. These days, that's probably a lot less of a concern.

Even there, there's a lot of techniques to fake good fur and hair rendering, so maybe this was never a factor. Notably, a lot of Sonic designs are very, very smooth, even Big's fur is very smooth, texturewise.  Very few chareacters have a "roughness" to them. If they do, they're often one-off boss villains that look like they crawled out of another game.

[BubbleButt TV]

i just realized today is the one year anniversary of when Frontiers was originally shown off

 

[Jango]

40 minutes ago, BubbleButt TV said:

i just realized today is the one year anniversary of when Frontiers was originally shown off

 

That's hillarious. And depressing.

[KingMario05]

50 minutes ago, BubbleButt TV said:

i just realized today is the one year anniversary of when Frontiers was originally shown off

 

[BubbleButt TV]

even though we're getting gameplay really soon, it makes me wonder why they didn't just show gameplay at The Game Awards event, like not even a millisecond of real gameplay.

It makes me think that perhaps that Game Awards trailer was put together at the last minute, which could explain why some of the footage was a bit choppy

[Hidden04]

Has it been confirmed yet that Sonic Frontiers will be at Summer Game Fest?

[DaBigJ]

16 hours ago, Jango said:

That's hillarious. And depressing.

And pathetic.

We had to wait for a year+ for actual gameplay of this game, this game that we have more info about from 4chan than SEGA. People are giving SEGA the benefit of doubt by saying they're taking their time, but they shouldn't of announced nor teased it if they were. They'd show off actual gameplay at TGA if they were taking their time.

I'm cynical enough to say they started full development as soon as that teaser dropped. Will I eat my words? I don't know, and I don't care.

I have no confidence in this game. There's nothing to prove that this will be of any quality.

[BubbleButt TV]

2 hours ago, Jake_LeOFFICIAL said:

I'm cynical enough to say they started full development as soon as that teaser dropped. Will I eat my words? I don't know, and I don't care.

the saving grace is that there were leaks that date back to March 2020 so at least Frontiers was in proper development before the teaser dropped, unlike Forces which apparently only just started dev when that teaser trailer was shown

2 hours ago, Hidden04 said:

Has it been confirmed yet that Sonic Frontiers will be at Summer Game Fest?

not officially confirmed but it's been teased a bit

also IGN posted this video which shows Frontiers again

I mean like, they've gotta show the game at some point right? lol

[phobs]

I agree with @BubbleButt TV and I also think that many people overreact about Frontiers being revealed too early. I think that SEGA had no choice but to tease Frontiers last May, because of how big the fandom is (especially with Sonic Movie success) and that it would raise a lot of questions about the overall state of Sonic as gaming franchise. Just think and imagine the kind of shit storm we would have if they showed JUST Sonic Colors Ultimate. 

But, yeah, if they won't reveal any gameplay in June, it is going to be very bad sign lol

[Scritch the Cat]

We know thanks to the leak from years back, since confirmed, that this game has existed in playable state for quite a while, but that leaker also mentioned not really enjoying the game.

On paper I don’t see anything wrong with an open-world Sonic game, but it feels too much like they committed to having an open-world Sonic game as their selling premise, and only then tried to figure out how to make the game fun.

[Zoomzeta]

3 hours ago, Scritch the Cat said:

We know thanks to the leak from years back, since confirmed, that this game has existed in playable state for quite a while, but that leaker also mentioned not really enjoying the game.

On paper I don’t see anything wrong with an open-world Sonic game, but it feels too much like they committed to having an open-world Sonic game as their selling premise, and only then tried to figure out how to make the game fun.

Just to slow you there, remember that they were playing an alpha version of the game, which the final game could play very differently from. 

[ComeAsYouAre]

I remember that anon saying that there's a leveling system 

 

Outside of the Chao that kind of RPG element never worked too well in sonic games but we will see

[Cosmos Rogue]

Well Sonic Team has wanted to turn Sonic into an RPG for a quarter of a century and it looks like they're finally getting their wish.

I'm sure there is a way to implement level up mechanics into a Sonic game gracefully - perhaps having to unlock and level up abilities could be used to gate off areas? - but Sonic Team's track record with RPG mechanics is dismal.

[Zoomzeta]

54 minutes ago, Cosmos Rogue said:

Well Sonic Team has wanted to turn Sonic into an RPG for a quarter of a century and it looks like they're finally getting their wish.

I'm sure there is a way to implement level up mechanics into a Sonic game gracefully - perhaps having to unlock and level up abilities could be used to gate off areas? - but Sonic Team's track record with RPG mechanics is dismal.

By dismal, you mean mostly limited to Adventure 1 and 2? 

[Cosmos Rogue]

Just now, Zoomzeta said:

By dismal, you mean mostly limited to Adventure 1 and 2? 

I was thinking of Heroes and Secret Rings, actually.

[Zoomzeta]

2 minutes ago, Cosmos Rogue said:

I was thinking of Heroes and Secret Rings, actually.

Are you referring to the Upgrade system in Heroes? Cause that was generally limited to the stages and is not usually carried over. You are right with Secret Rings, though that's a spin-off, so I didn't take it into account. 

[Diogenes]

Unleashed also had a poorly-considered level up system.

I'm skeptical about RPG mechanics to start with and Sonic games have yet to convince me they have any need for them, so I'm not expecting much from this game's.

[Zoomzeta]

52 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

Unleashed also had a poorly-considered level up system.

I'm skeptical about RPG mechanics to start with and Sonic games have yet to convince me they have any need for them, so I'm not expecting much from this game's.

Oh yeah, Werehog Sonic had an extensive skill tree of sorts. Although I don't remember it being really intrusive and hindering my progression through the levels (Though I was playing the Wii version of Unleashed, so it was probably downscaled from the PS3/Xbox 360 versions). Should be noted though that a lot of hack and slash and beat em ups do use skill trees as well, so maybe the problem you had was more due execution amd how it was implemented rather than the fact they used such a mechanic to begin with. 

Edited May 29, 2022 by Zoomzeta

[Shiny Gems]

Hmmm, I don't know, I actually liked how Sonic Unleashed 360/PS3's level up system worked for daytime Sonic, with the upgrade-able speed and boost. Sure, that might not exactly be ideal for a Sonic game, but if we are getting a level up system in Sonic Frontiers, I look forward to seeing what can be upgraded by leveling up.

[The Famous Sonic]

The only Sonic game that's actually an RPG is... Sonic Chronicles. 

[Jango]

38 minutes ago, MightyGems said:

Hmmm, I don't know, I actually liked how Sonic Unleashed 360/PS3's level up system worked for daytime Sonic, with the upgrade-able speed and boost. Sure, that might not exactly be ideal for a Sonic game, but if we are getting a level up system in Sonic Frontiers, I look forward to seeing what can be upgraded by leveling up.

After my first playthrough of Unleashed, I learned that is best to never upgrade Sonic's speed, he's already too damn fast at level 0, Jesus Christ. The Werehog tho', definitely not the best upgrade system, but for sure not the worst either. The combo attacks you unlock are good and satisfying if you actually learn them instead of just mashing square all the time... Granted, it can be a little tedious at the beginning when your attacks don't do much damage and only have like 2 or 3 basic combos.

But since there won't be any Werehog in Frontiers, I just hope they don't lock some of Sonic's most basic abilities behind upgrade trees (God forbid a run or spindash button be locked from the start) or the gameplay to be fun only after a lot of upgrades... Which is what I fear most. Sonic should be fun to play from the start.

[KingMario05]

33 minutes ago, Jango said:

But since there won't be any Werehog in Frontiers, I just hope they don't lock some of Sonic's most basic abilities behind upgrade trees (God forbid a run or spindash button be locked from the start) or the gameplay to be fun only after a lot of upgrades... Which is what I fear most. Sonic should be fun to play from the start.

...Oh, crud, that's what they're going to do to play up the "amnesia" thing, aren't they? And they'll probably be a $40 shortcut for sale on day one, too...

[Zaysho]

After that goofy detour where Sonic has amnesia for like two pages in IDW, I think it would be kind of funny for a game to actually play with that while throwing Sonic into a new setting.

I probably wouldn't like it being linked to a skill tree (especially since my initial impression of a Sonic game having this kind of thing is fucking Secret Rings' "unlock slightly less shit controls") but for a story, written by Flynn no less, I think that would actually be pretty fun. I'm kind of hoping the skill tree, if it does exist in the final/existed from the rumors at all, is less basic shit and more special abilities you can equip/unequip and help you reach new areas instead.

[KingMario05]

2 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

After that goofy detour where Sonic has amnesia for like two pages in IDW, I think it would be kind of funny for a game to actually play with that while throwing Sonic into a new setting.

I probably wouldn't like it being linked to a skill tree (especially since my initial impression of a Sonic game having this kind of thing is fucking Secret Rings' "unlock slightly less shit controls") but for a story, written by Flynn no less, I think that would actually be pretty fun. I'm kind of hoping the skill tree, if it does exist in the final/existed from the rumors at all, is less basic shit and more special abilities you can equip/unequip and help you reach new areas instead.

Fair enough, and that would be pretty fun. Just hope that's what we're getting instead of my prediction, lol.

[Shiny Gems]

2 hours ago, Jango said:

After my first playthrough of Unleashed, I learned that is best to never upgrade Sonic's speed, he's already too damn fast at level 0, Jesus Christ. The Werehog tho', definitely not the best upgrade system, but for sure not the worst either. The combo attacks you unlock are good and satisfying if you actually learn them instead of just mashing square all the time... Granted, it can be a little tedious at the beginning when your attacks don't do much damage and only have like 2 or 3 basic combos.

But since there won't be any Werehog in Frontiers, I just hope they don't lock some of Sonic's most basic abilities behind upgrade trees (God forbid a run or spindash button be locked from the start) or the gameplay to be fun only after a lot of upgrades... Which is what I fear most. Sonic should be fun to play from the start.

Eh, they could make Sonic in Sonic Frontiers level up to go at speeds higher than what each level would give him in Unleashed. I would say that is only fitting since Sonic Frontiers is going to be open world in the same way as Breath of the Wild. I can personally see the value of leveling up speed in such a type of game.