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

[___-_]

1 minute ago, Slashy said:

Yeah actually, it only takes 8 seconds to really show that off.

For a game like Sonic 4? Sure, because it's the sequel to the classics we've studied the fuck out of for generations.

For something like Forces? Sure, because it immediately ran off the blueprints of the Boost games while literally being presented as a Colors and Generations dev team production.

For Frontiers, tho? How? This is literally their first take of an actual open world game with seemingly more involved combat. Where are we basing our past experiences from to be so sure exactly? Sonic Adventure? Heroes? But these are surely different people from then, tho. The most I'll give you is the werehog, but this already looks improved on that based on the fact you're using a character you actually want to use, is faster paced and the combat looks more interesting from the little they've shown. Either way, this is already unlike anything they've done before so how could we possibly know how they'll tackle these hurdles?

[azoo]

3 minutes ago, Jake_LeOFFICIAL said:

How are you feeling on the game tho? 

I have pretty much nothing to say about it until we see proper footage of it tomorrow.

My only guess is that the acceleration will be broken ala Forces, if that abrupt stop during mid-paraloop is anything to go by. But the rest seems.. well, it's pretty I guess! I'll let them play it on stream and then I'll collect my thoughts.

[Zoomzeta]

8 minutes ago, azoo said:

Immediately. Including this post.

Damn, got us all there.

 

1 minute ago, azoo said:

I have pretty much nothing to say about it until we see proper footage of it tomorrow.

My only guess is that the acceleration will be broken ala Forces, if that abrupt stop during mid-paraloop is anything to go by. But the rest seems.. well, it's pretty I guess! I'll let them play it on stream and then I'll collect my thoughts.

Mid-paraloop? Are you talking about the circle that Sonic generated around the small enemy or the spinning move he was performing mid-air?

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

1 minute ago, Zoomzeta said:

Damn, got us all there.

Yeah, anyone who thinks we weren't already in that phase with the usual suspects was only fooling themselves.

People are set to think how they want, with or without the game's quality, there will be those set in their ways.

[Zoomzeta]

4 minutes ago, StriCNYN3 said:

For a game like Sonic 4? Sure, because it's the sequel to the classics we've studied the fuck out of for generations.

For something like Forces? Sure, because it immediately ran off the blueprints of the Boost games while literally being presented as a Colors and Generations dev team production.

For Frontiers, tho? How? This is literally their first take of an actual open world game with seemingly more involved combat. Where are we basing our past experiences from to be so sure exactly? Sonic Adventure? Heroes? But these are surely different people from then, tho. The most I'll give you is the werehog, but this already looks improved on that based on the fact you're using a character you actually want to use, is faster paced and the combat looks more interesting from the little they've shown. Either way, this is already unlike anything they've done before so how could we possibly know how they'll tackle these hurdles?

That is the biggest question of them all.

[Dr. Detective]

Of course this shit keeps happening when I'm at work. Never fails.

There was no way I was going to type out what I had to say all on my phone so I waited until I got home like a good boy. 

Overall impressions; mostly positive.

I do still have concerns of course but years of doing this dance has imparted on me the importance of chilling out and not jumping to embarrassing conclusions. 

The first thing I want to say is just me doubling down on what I've already said before in that I still think this game LOOKS gorgeous. It looks beautiful in a way that I don't think I've seen or felt since 2008. There's not much I want to go into about the style. I like Sonic being in realistic environments just fine. 

The combat is about what I expected in my mind's eye so far. Although, it's invoking a very flow motion feel to it thus reminding me a lot of Kingdom Hearts in that sense. Especially the bit at the end of one of Sonic's combos where he's still doing the Whirl-Goof. There are bits that looked a little off, like the part where he's pulling a bit of a much faster 06 by repeatedly punching at something until it dies. Who knows how that'll feel in practice though. If it can manage to play and feel like an off brand Kingdom Hearts than I personally believe it would lead to the best possible outcome for me though the jury is still out on how all of this will mesh together. I'm not seeing anything that's standing as a big red flag that it won't at the moment.

The enemies are nice but leaning more into so-so territory to me so far. The fact that they don't have faces and look so otherworldly is imparting onto me a very creepy vibe at the moment. I appreciate that, however, I am wondering how far they'll carry the designs. What I saw doesn't look bad per say but I think this'll be one of those instances where the full package is where I'll be able to form a full opinion on it. That'll also come with knowing what, in-story, they're even supposed to be.

The biggest concern is mostly just how empty it all continues to feel. The openness is great but the vastness does come at a cost sometimes. When playing I can imagine myself easily getting immersed in a specific environment that's like this, sure, however it standing as the first and only area we're currently seeing right now is making the concern for it's empty feel stand on it's own for a little too long for my tastes. I'm not at the point where I feel it's necessary to conclude that every area will be like this. I don't even truly believe it'll be bad having this area around but I do generally hope for something that can feel a little more populated. It's also not horrendous in this regard based on what I'm seeing either. That would be what Rise of Lyric did but it's still a viable concern.

Then again, if the point is exploring and re-discovering a mostly left alone landscape then that issue could be mitigated by there simply being a few recognizable NPCs to interact with, ala, Sonic's friends. However, each game that comes out sees me doing this worry-wart dance in my skull about who's going to show up and how many of them will. When the Chaotix were revealed for Forces it was a massive weight off my chest at the time but seeing as how that amounted to exactly nothing and this game is looking a lot more promising, the feeling of wanting the news of the others being around is coming back again.

Plus, I'd like to see Ian Flynn take a crack at writing as many of them as he can in here. 

By far the biggest positive for me out of all I'm seeing here is the RAIN. Good god, it's criminal how little rain there is in the Sonic series. I love the rain so much. This game also seems like it's going to have a day and night system along with it's change in weather stuff so I can only hope I'll be able to manipulate things so that it can rain as much as I want. Especially at night. That's the best atmosphere for rain to me. Feels great.

Based on what I'm seeing and what I've heard of this game so far I was already convinced I'd like it more than Forces at least. Not a high bar but that's not an indictment against this game by any means. It's nice to finally have gameplay but I'm going to need a bit more to get a full feel for where I believe this is going. If anything, it certainly feels very new. The boost, as it's shown here, hasn't hindered their ability to make progress on a lot of the elements shown but if it's sticking around then the concerns pertaining to all the issues recently brought up and talked about it will likely still be a negative factor for me until I see otherwise. 

All in all, I'm more optimistic than not. Which is a good feeling to have right now.

[The Deleter]

Tomorrow's gameplay reveal link:

 

[Muscles Maximum]

3 minutes ago, MightyGems said:

Maybe it would be a miss opportunity if that did not happen, but surely, momentum physics is not the only way to make a Sonic game, right?

Not that I am saying momentum physics should not be in this game, for I wouldn't mind them being in, but to me, there are many ways to make any game, if you know what I mean.

Sure, but the problem is if you have a massive realistic environment like this, and just toss Forces Sonic in there it's going to feel like shit. You're just running at a set speed through a huge plot of land. It's going to get boring, and fast.

Imagine making environments like this and somehow NOT making use of any natural slopes or hills for an actual immersive and organic feeling experience.

Just barreling through at a set speed, not taking the environment into account making Sonic feel like a machine? No freaking thanks. Not anything I'd consider fun or worthwhile, like at all. 

[PickleBrows]

2 minutes ago, The Deleter said:

Tomorrow's gameplay reveal link:

 

That's actually a pretty nice screenshot tbf.

I hope we get to see a little bit of him running through a dense forest like that tomorrow. Could look veerryy pretty.

[Shiny Gems]

Just now, Guy Strong said:

Sure, but the problem is if you have a massive realistic environment like this, and just toss Forces Sonic in there it's going to feel like shit. You're just running at a set speed through a huge plot of land. It's going to get boring, and fast.

Imagine making environments like this and somehow NOT making use of any natural slopes or hills for an actual immersive and organic feeling experience.

Just barreling through at a set speed, not taking the environment into account making Sonic feel like a machine? No freaking thanks. Not anything I'd consider fun or worthwhile, like at all. 

I should say I did not say that it would be good without momentum physics like that. That said, I do happen to agree with what you said, but I do not think the game will be like that, personally.

[Jango]

We're expecting something different or something more for tomorrow when this little bit of footage literally already showed exactly what the guys who playtested this nearly 3 years ago. Combat looks mashy, you circle around enemies and you climb some titans and that's it? I was REALLY wishing the footage showed something completely different, but... It's the game as it was presented years ago and called boring, and this sure as hell looks boring IMO.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Overall, so far, some jankiness aside, I do like what we see. An implementation of the boost formula that isn't up and abandoning it.

It looks like they'll incorporate good uses of Sonic's speed into the game. Now it just needs to expand into something well.

Evidently, this isn't going to be for everyone, but this could very well be the secure form of the boost formula that's been worked towards.

Not bad so far.

[The Deleter]

Combat looks mashy but good tbh, it has actual impact frames that makes the screen shake to "connect" with the enemy and give that good beat-em-up feedback, and making the repeated button mash a punch-kick animation rather than repetitive homing attacks is SO much better than Heroes and every other health bar Sonic game.

Considering there's an entire skill tree with the spincycle and the zig zag move being the first you unlock, I don't see how anyone can expect it to be boring. There's so much stuff we haven't seen with regards to it

[Soniman]

Kinda eyebrow raising the rail grinding and combat were emphasized here and not platforming or movement but I’m probably looking to deeply into it

[Zoomzeta]

5 minutes ago, Jango said:

We're expecting something different or something more for tomorrow when this little bit of footage literally showed exactly what the guys who playtested this nearly 3 years ago.  Combat looks mashy, you circle around enemies and you climb some titans and that's it? I was REALLY wishing the footage showed something completely different, but... It's the game as it was presented years ago and called boring, and this sure as hell looks boring IMO.

 

 

No, it's called Sonic Frontiers.

[DaBigJ]

20 minutes ago, azoo said:

I have pretty much nothing to say about it until we see proper footage of it tomorrow.

My only guess is that the acceleration will be broken ala Forces, if that abrupt stop during mid-paraloop is anything to go by. But the rest seems.. well, it's pretty I guess! I'll let them play it on stream and then I'll collect my thoughts.

Alright, completely fair.

Though I'm surprised you don't have anything to say about the badnik designs, since...

Y'know.

[Diogenes]

2 minutes ago, Soniman said:

Kinda eyebrow raising the rail grinding and combat were emphasized here and not platforming or movement but I’m probably looking to deeply into it

They mentioned rail grinding and combat because that's what's in the mini-trailer.

[Sonicka]

2 hours ago, Zoomzeta said:

You came to think that of forces from a limited demo that limited your playtime with it? 

Yes, regretfully. I enjoyed what I played before the game came out thinking what little was demonstrated was more of a teaser/easy build. I was completely wrong of course. 

1 hour ago, Diogenes said:

The problem I have with the rails isn't that they're unrealistic, it's that they look like garbage level design. Sonic barely has anything to do while grinding, so what's the point of all of them? It's not going to be any fun to just get on one, hold boost, and maybe do a jump or two. Even less if you miss a jump and have to run back to the start to try again.

Ah, I gotcha. I guess this could be frustrating on an Open World design more than a linear one (unless the route was optional and/or one of many paths to reach the designated area).

TBH apart from their debut in SA2 (where they at least tried to incorporate rails in a way that made sense within the level context) they are just a fast track way to get the player from landmass A to landmass B. Personally I find them to be fun visual rollercoasters... when they work anyway (SA2 / Unleashed / Generations). For Frontiers it remains to be seen as this point (I hope to see more over the month to get a better first opinion).

In general (and going off past 3D releases and my experiences during the build up's) I'm not going to over or under hype my expectations for this game - at the end of the day I'll still buy SF on day one regardless of the quality, score, and opinions other people have... and Sonic Team know it 

[___-_]

23 minutes ago, Guy Strong said:

Sure, but the problem is if you have a massive realistic environment like this, and just toss Forces Sonic in there it's going to feel like shit. You're just running at a set speed through a huge plot of land. It's going to get boring, and fast.

Imagine making environments like this and somehow NOT making use of any natural slopes or hills for an actual immersive and organic feeling experience.

Just barreling through at a set speed, not taking the environment into account making Sonic feel like a machine? No freaking thanks. Not anything I'd consider fun or worthwhile, like at all. 

I'd be simply amazed if Sonic Team makes this kind of blunder. Like, there's no way at this point they can't not know now, especially when making a fully open world game. I feel like they HAVE to now even if they didn't want to at this point. 

If Sonic's not running up walls, water and not using hills for speed, and that all of these hubs zones play the same... there's gotta be an award for that level of incompetence. 

[Slashy]

30 minutes ago, StriCNYN3 said:

For a game like Sonic 4? Sure, because it's the sequel to the classics we've studied the fuck out of for generations.

For something like Forces? Sure, because it immediately ran off the blueprints of the Boost games while literally being presented as a Colors and Generations dev team production.

For Frontiers, tho? How? This is literally their first take of an actual open world game with seemingly more involved combat. Where are we basing our past experiences from to be so sure exactly? Sonic Adventure? Heroes? But these are surely different people from then, tho. The most I'll give you is the werehog, but this already looks improved on that based on the fact you're using a character you actually want to use, is faster paced and the combat looks more interesting from the little they've shown. Either way, this is already unlike anything they've done before so how could we possibly know how they'll tackle these hurdles?

I do not WANT combat to be the top priority of an open world Sonic game, I want the traversal to the the top priority of an open world Sonic game. The whole exciting thing about this game should be the fun of being a super fast character in a giant world. The fact that combat seems like a bigger priority than that seems to be a problem.

[Jango]

19 minutes ago, Jango said:

 

10 minutes ago, Jake_LeOFFICIAL said:

Alright, completely fair.

Though I'm surprised you don't have anything to say about the badnik designs, since...

Y'know.

Man that's like the only thing that called my attention in that trailer. What if.... Movie!Eggman is in the game somehow? Multiverse shenanigans are in this year, huh, huh? But really now, these designs are not very Game!Eggman TBH. I'm getting some weeeeird 06 vibes.

[Zoomzeta]

7 minutes ago, Jake_LeOFFICIAL said:

Alright, completely fair.

Though I'm surprised you don't have anything to say about the badnik designs, since...

Y'know.

I mean, that is assuming these ARE badnicks. We know Eggman is here, likely playing an antagonistic role, but we don't know yet if the machines seen here are of his making or something else entirely.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

17 minutes ago, The Deleter said:

Combat looks mashy but good tbh, it has actual impact frames that makes the screen shake to "connect" with the enemy and give that good beat-em-up feedback, and making the repeated button mash a punch-kick animation rather than repetitive homing attacks is SO much better than Heroes and every other health bar Sonic game.

Considering there's an entire skill tree with the spincycle and the zig zag move being the first you unlock, I don't see how anyone can expect it to be boring. There's so much stuff we haven't seen with regards to it

I do like how so far, everything seems to have a good speed element to it.

At least all of what we saw in the teaser. Combat, travel and all seems to tether in forms of the boost formula with it, potentially helping make combat pretty fun and spammy along the way.

[The Deleter]

13 minutes ago, Jango said:

Man that's like the only thing that called my attention in that trailer. What if.... Movie!Eggman is in the game somehow? Multiverse shenanigans are in this year, huh, huh? But really now, these designs are not very Game!Eggman TBH. I'm getting some weeeeird 06 vibes.

That's because they're not badniks, they're ancient robots taken over by AI:

Spoiler

There was a more detailed synopsis but I forget which leak it was from, this is from 2019 though.

Edit: IT WAS FROM SEGA THEMSELVES I FORGOT LOOOL

Quote

In Sonic Frontiers, Sonic's long time nemesis Dr. Eggman discovers an ancient technology on the starfall islands and installs his AI program SAGE to hack in and take over. But there is more to this technology than he realizes, and unintended consequences immediately come to bear. Sonic must race against time to discover the truth, save his friends, and maybe even save himself at the same time.

 

 

[DaBigJ]

We're getting around seven minutes of gameplay apparently

So that's pretty neat?