News Sonic Frontiers Trailer

[shdowhunt60]

3 hours ago, Kuzu said:

Rather interestingly, reactions outside of Sonic fan circles seem to mirror each other. Lot of confusion and uncertainty about this game lol. 

Honestly, it's been the same for the movie as well. Everyone seems to be genuinely pretty excited for it.

We're in this strange fork in the timeline where the consensus amongst fans and non-fans of coalesced and synchronized.

[Kuzu]

I feel like mainstream opinion and fan opinions of Sonic have been sort of on the same page lately. 

 

Forces was somehow so thoroughly mediocre, it caused everyone to start agreeing with each other lol. 

[NoKaine]

Most fan and non-fan opinions I've seen amount to "this looks good, I hope it is good." Which is a healthy mix of caution and optimism.

 

[Shiny Gems]

Just now, NoKaine said:

Most fan and non-fan opinions I've seen amount to "this looks good, I hope it is good." Which is a healthy mix of caution and optimism.

I have seen that as well. I have not seen as many of the kinds of opinions as Kuzu is talking about.

[iambitter21]

On 12/9/2021 at 9:14 PM, Wraith said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brave new world.

Coming holiday 2022.

I've seen the trailer during the Game Awards, right off the bat we can really see how much the graphics have improved compared to Sonic Forces, and the idea of an Official open world sonic game is definitely a thought no one would be expecting. I am a bit worried about the fact that they didn't show gameplay however, but from what I've seen in the official website, you'll fight powerful monsters as you speed through the world. This gives me the feeling they'll try making fast-paced combat with the new mechanic to accommodate for the open level design of the game, which sounds really interesting.

Overall, I'm both a bit cautious and excited.

[Hero of Legend]

Quote

SEGA Unveils Sonic Frontiers™ at The Game Awards 2021

Traverse Vast and Mysterious Landscapes at Sonic Speed in the First Ever Open Zone -Inspired Sonic the Hedgehog Gaming Experience

Burbank, Calif. — Dec. 9, 2021 — Sonic fans, get ready to expand your horizons! Today, at The Game Awards 2021, SEGA unveiled Sonic Frontiers, the iconic franchise’s first ever open-zone-inspired gaming experience. The reveal was accompanied by an adrenaline-pumping trailer, giving Sonic fans a first look at the upcoming action-adventure title. Sonic Frontiers is planned to arrive on current and next-gen consoles in late 2022.

You can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRkKZG1z9PY

Developed by the experienced members of SEGA’s Sonic Team Japan, led by producer Sachiko Kawamura and director Morio Kishimoto, Sonic Frontiers will bring Sonic fans an all-new type of Sonic experience. In the dangerous and vast world of Sonic Frontiers, anything is possible, and players will have the freedom to explore the visually stunning, open-zone realm.  

“Sonic Frontiers is a huge leap forward for the franchise, delivering an evolved gameplay experience that can be enjoyed by longtime Sonic fans and action-adventure enthusiasts alike,” said Takashi Iizuka, Creative Officer at Sonic Team USA. “With the effort of the talented developers at Sonic Team Japan, we’ve created an all-new style of gameplay experience for Sonic the Hedgehog, where players will be able to explore lush and expansive landscapes with Sonic’s signature speed and abilities. There’s sure to be lots of twists and turns around every corner in ‘Sonic Frontiers,’ and we’re excited to unveil more information about the game over the coming months.” 

Worlds will collide in Sonic the Hedgehog’s newest adventure. An experience like never before, accelerate to new heights and experience the thrill of high velocity open-zone freedom. Battle powerful enemies as you speed through the Starfall Islands - landscapes brimming with dense forests, overflowing waterfalls, sizzling deserts and more!  Planned for Holiday 2022.

To learn more about Sonic Frontiers and stay current on Sonic the Hedgehog news, follow Sonic on Twitter and Instagram, like him on Facebook, and subscribe to the Twitch channel and the YouTube channel. Also, don’t forget to visit the SEGA e-shop at shop.sega.com for new and exclusive products for the ultimate SEGA fan. 

 For more information, please visit http://frontiers.sonicthehedgehog.com/

About Sega of America

Sega of America, Inc. is the American arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA CORPORATION, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. Sega of America’s website is located at www.sega.com.

[Razule]

I'm tired of this train of discussion now, but I saw this tweet and thought of a hyperbolic comparison. After Forces, many fans were tired of Classic Sonic and didn't want to see him in a modern title again any time soon, if ever. Imagine if the feedback SEGA took from this reaction was to, in the next game, not only not bring Classic back (good), but also redesign Modern Sonic to look more like a generic cartoon hedgehog. Like.. one of the wilder Boom redesign concepts.

Spoiler

 

Except also brown. They removed Classic Sonic, and also any trace of the original Sonic design that Naoto Ohshima created, and the most recognizable traits that mostly remained when Yuji Uekawa redesigned him. You can only tell who he is because his name is on the title. It's a good design for a hedgehog, but not for Sonic the Hedgehog.

And then people on the Internet boil it down to the age old "Sonic fans can never be pleased". 

[KHCast]

1 hour ago, CrystalMaelStorm said:

I have seen that as well. I have not seen as many of the kinds of opinions as Kuzu is talking about.

All kuzu said was that public and fan opinion seemed to be on the same wavelength for once about the game lol. I don’t think they directly weighed it one direction on the other. 

[KingMario05]

7 hours ago, Red Hot Jack said:

Okay now I am really starting to get annoyed by the similarities. 4 Islands, 4 ghost friends probably, 4 titans to fight, open world. The cyberspace stuff must be the dungeons.

...yuuuuuuup. This is looking more and more like a ripoff "legally distinct alternative" to you-know-what. Exactly what I didn't god damn want.

Spoiler

And the fact that I just completely bounced off of BOTW isn't exactly helping...

 

6 hours ago, Alex2Beta said:

I honestly like the idea of Sonic's friends being the 'ghosts' who'd guide him around to help save them

Call me pessemistic, but I ain't a fan. It's more than cheerleading (a good sign), but unless they're playable after you save them, it's just more pandering trying to disguise the real problem. I don't want ghost Tails, I want playable Tails. Lots of other people do too - or, if they don't like Tails, playable Knuckles, Amy, Shadow et al. We've been vocal about this for years, so why can't Sega... you know... do that?

[Ratcicle King]

16 hours ago, McGroose said:

Im guessing that Sega is just really bad at understanding criticism. They hear the fans say they're sick of Green Hill zone and interpret that to mean the fans are tired of the usual Sonic aesthetic in general. 

An open world game like this has so much potential aesthetically. Could you imagine if you had something like Angel Island as a huge open world? I would've even loved a huge open world with a Green Hill aesthetic. It's just kind of disappointing that, out of all the incredibly creative zone environments established in the past, Sega decided to settle with Not-Hyrule. 

''Sonic aesthetic'' is pretty broad tho', I for one am glad they're not just relying on Green Hill aesthetics for this game, and trying something new. People saying the game doesn't look like Sonic belong to it clearly miss the point that Sonic's aesthetic changed so much in the last two decades that it's not just one singular signature style. Black Knight for example, had a similar aesthetic to this, so did Adventure 2, so did Unleashed, and Generations. Heck, Generations took all classic games' stages and redesigned them in its realistic aesthetic, not the other way around. This doesn't look like ''Sonic was put in an unreal engine game he doesn't belong'' this look like the Unleashed/Generations aesthetic, only with less background elements, because unlike those games, you can actually go into that background, so it's not just detailed scenery, it has to have a purpose in gameplay. Sonic never needed to repeat the green hill/classic aesthetic until Generations came out and SEGA saw how nostalgia sold, and that's the only reason why every single game after Generations repeated it, not to ''keep an aesthetic'' but in a misguided attempt to sell nostalgia entirely missing the point of Generations' take on Green Hill. We've had the green hill/classic revived aesthetic for 3 games, versus having a more realistic, detailed but somewhat stylized take for about 9 or so games, this isn't a sudden shift into an art style Sonic doesn't belong, this is them returning to what Modern Sonic used to go for.

[KHCast]

Ehhh, I look at stages like arid sands and even jungle joyride…and idk even those still have certain Sonic feeling atmospheres that I’m not really getting from seeing Frontiers locales. Like I don’t hate outright frontiers locales, but yeah.

[Red Hot Jack]

Not really. Unleashed also had a realistic artstyle, it's just the atmosphere and npcs were cartoony in a Disney way. This looks more serious plus those screenshots have actual Sonic elements because they are gameplay and designed like traditional Sonic stages. This is different and still empty for now.

[FlameStream]

I'm left wondering if animal NPCs will be present in the world now. One thing that the last game did that I appreciated was the acknowledgement of animal people other than our usual cast.

[Jango]

1 hour ago, KHCast said:

Ehhh, I look at stages like arid sands and even jungle joyride…and idk even those still have certain Sonic feeling atmospheres that I’m not really getting from seeing Frontiers locales. Like I don’t hate outright frontiers locales, but yeah.

Frontiers locales reminds me of Sonic 06 more than anything TBH. 

[Wraith]

I don't think it looks quite like Unleashed/Generations, but it wouldn't look out of place in the S06-Black Knight era of the series. I do think it looks most similar to Sonic 06 when you get down to it which is hilarious. How did we get back here? I do see traces of SA1 in it too though. That's the game that came to mind first for me, anyway. Maybe not enough of the whimsy that comes with floating islands and massive gravity defying platforms is present but I'm sure that'll come with time.
 

It has a bit of a melancholy vibe, but I think that's an intentional choice that you'd find in the other games as well. Ruins as a setting are inherently a little sad. Sometimes Sonic will "liven it up" like with Ocean Palace and sometimes they play it straight.

[Shiny Gems]

9 hours ago, KHCast said:

All kuzu said was that public and fan opinion seemed to be on the same wavelength for once about the game lol. I don’t think they directly weighed it one direction on the other. 

Then I don’t understand. Could you please explain what you mean by that?

[Alex2Beta]

It's definitely gonna be potentially one hell of a contrast to go from the Open World to the Cyberspace levels (if those are aesthetically more closer to what's considered Sonic), from moody semi-realistic fields to rampaging through (possibly?) digital simulations of Sonic-y locations.

[Blue Blood]

I've been clamouring for more creative ruins levels in Sonic for years now. It's just been so long since we've had Sonic running around a new and interesting ruins environment. They were always some of the most aesthetically pleasing areas of the games and really came into full force with SA1's Lost World, but more recent games have left them by them sort of by the wayside. Lost World had them in NSMB Jungle Zone and Forces mostly asset flipped that into the mess that Casino Forest. And as gorgeous as Sky Sanctuary was in Generations, they played down the ruins aspect and instead went for more of a sky palace and gardens vibe. A ruins environment that's relevant to the plot again really excites me. It's really nice to see that Frontiers is using ruins not just in its landscape but as a part of the story too. That's cool. 

Anyway... Yeah Frontiers is most similar aesthetically to '06. No other Sonic game has pushed photorealism in realistic environments quite as much, apart from Black Knight perhaps. Unleashed used a far more saturated colour palette, bright lighting and some less detailed textures to take the edge off the realism aspect and in doing so managed an absolutely cracking job of it. Frontiers on the other hand is cramming as much detail as possible into everything, and it's all fairly grounded in reality. I don't mind this aesthetic for Sonic and appreciate the series doing different visuals from game to game. '06's biggest crimes on the visual front were the way that it handled humans alongside the Sonic characters and making everything a bit too drab. When you get away from the depressingly bland hub worlds though and enter virtually any of the stages, they work pretty well with Sonic. Wave Ocean is a fairly regular beach (/Emerald Coast clone) that looks beautiful. Kingdom Valley is really gorgeous ancient castle in the middle of a lake. And Dusty Desert is just an incredibly atmospheric Egyptian desert themed area. None of the felt out of place as a background against Sonic. Whilst I don't love the Sonic character models in '06 by any stretch, I won't argue that they were suited the environment. They just clashed hard with the humans. 

Frontiers doesn't yet look like a typical Sonic game aesthetically. If you cut all of the clips of Sonic out of the trailer or indeed just watched the B-roll footage, you probably wouldn't be able to identify it as a Sonic game. But that's fine, because Sonic can do different aesthetics. The problem, as others have pointed out, is that the environments are totally lacking in Sonic series staples of loops, slopes, ramps, corkscrews etc that would bring about a sense of gameplay familiarity. Even if you gave the environment in the trailer a makeover with checkerboard rocks and sunflowers, it still wouldn't look like a Sonic game. It would just be a Sonic themed environment instead. I need to see more whimsy in Frontiers yet, more features that make it clear that it's a Sonic game. 

If the people that complained that Lost World and Forces were  too cartoony are the same people as are complaining that Frontiers is too realistic, yes they definitely have point. Sonic games have swung as cartoony as possible to as realistic as possible. The series has struck middle grounds in a variety of different ways in the past. I don't agree with the criticism purely an aesthetic ground regarding what works for Sonic because I think the franchise is incredibly flexible, but these people aren't unpleasable. Because everything we've seen so far is devoid of anything characteristic of Sonic gameplay in addition to favouring photorealistic graphics over the more iconic stylised looks, its perfectly reasonable to say that Frontiers simply doesn't look like Sonic. 

[Shiny Gems]

By not look like a Sonic game, don’t you rather mean not look like a Sonic game yet? It is not easy to tell without any gameplay footage, and while I don’t want to be that guy who says we have not seen any gameplay yet, we have not even seen everything else yet. I am sure that the Unleashed and Generations like parts the leaks mentioned may have more Sonic stuff, so while I’d hate to say it, it is too early to judge. How can we base stuff off a limited amount of things from one trailer, anyway? That is like judging a book from its cover.

[Blue Blood]

 

17 minutes ago, CrystalMaelStorm said:

By not look like a Sonic game, don’t you rather mean not look like a Sonic game yet? It is not easy to tell without any gameplay footage, and while I don’t want to be that guy who says we have not seen any gameplay yet, we have not even seen everything else yet. I am sure that the Unleashed and Generations like parts the leaks mentioned may have more Sonic stuff, so while I’d hate to say it, it is too early to judge. How can we base stuff off a limited amount of things from one trailer, anyway? That is like judging a book from its cover.

In a word? No. 

The trailer exists for us to judge. If they turn things around later, then fine. I'm very keen to see how this game actually plays. But based on everything we've seen so far, no it does not look like a Sonic game. Artistically it's not got typical Sonic vibes, and I'm fine with that being the case. In terms of level design and conceptualising how the game plays, it doesn't look like Sonic either. That's a bigger concern.

Adding "yet" as a disclaimer is just tiptoeing around the point. 

[Shiny Gems]

6 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

 

In a word? No. 

The trailer exists for us to judge. If they turn things around later, then fine. I'm very keen to see how this game actually plays. But based on everything we've seen so far, no it does not look like a Sonic game. Artistically it's not got typical Sonic vibes, and I'm fine with that being the case. In terms of level design and conceptualising how the game plays, it doesn't look like Sonic either. That's a bigger concern.

Adding "yet" as a disclaimer is just tiptoeing around the point. 

I understand that. Still, the old leaks did say there would be Generations/Unleashed like levels that may not be part of the open world, and we have not really seen those yet, so I do not think this does not look like Sonic gameplay wise yet. Graphics wise? I can see your point. I’d understand more by a lot if the gameplay was shown already, but landscapes we have seen aside, it is still hard to see if it is not Sonic-like yet.

Also, the yet I said I my initial response was not really a disclaimer as much as it was to be a friendly reminder people about the fact that we have only seen so much, if that is different in any way.

 

[Blue Blood]

31 minutes ago, CrystalMaelStorm said:

I understand that. Still, the old leaks did say there would be Generations/Unleashed like levels that may not be part of the open world, and we have not really seen those yet, so I do not think this does not look like Sonic gameplay wise yet. Graphics wise? I can see your point. I’d understand more by a lot if the gameplay was shown already, but landscapes we have seen aside, it is still hard to see if it is not Sonic-like yet.

Also, the yet I said I my initial response was not really a disclaimer as much as it was to be a friendly reminder people about the fact that we have only seen so much, if that is different in any way.

 

The leaks aren't things we're supposed to know about yet. Based on everything we've seen, based on everything we actually know, it doesn't look like a Sonic game. 

"Yet" is a disclaimer. It's not necessary. We know what we've seen. 

[Shiny Gems]

3 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

The leaks aren't things we'vmre supposed to know about yet. Based on everything we've seen, based on everything we actually know, it doesn't look like a Sonic game. 

"Yet" is a disclaimer. It's not necessary. We know what we've seen. 

"We'vmre"? Sorry, but what does that mean?

I was not denying everything you said, though. I did say I understand about the graphics, and the landscapes not being Sonic like. Still, more of this game shows more things that aren't Sonic like, then it might be time to worry. Personally, I would like to see more slopes to run on to reach higher areas, as loops are not that necessary.

Also, I looked up disclaimer, and it means to deny something. The "yet" I used in my initial response was not a disclaimer. Hardly, in fact. As unnecessary as it may be, I'd admit to that, if I was denying something or using a disclaimer, I would be and act harder and more aggressive on my stance.

[Kuzu]

Now that I've thought about it, 06 didn't have many Sonic staples either did it? Stuff like springs and loops were somewhat scarce compared to other games.

 

Sonic's aesthetic has changed so many times over the years that I'm not really surprised that people can argue about how much a Sonic game this is supposed to be.

 

It feels very similar to Super Mario Odyssey and locals like New Donk City and the Ruin Dragon. Except Mario's had a more consistent aesthetic for decades and it the change isn't played straight compared to when Sonic does it.

[Blue Blood]

11 minutes ago, CrystalMaelStorm said:

"We'vmre"? Sorry, but what does that mean?

I was not denying everything you said, though. I did say I understand about the graphics, and the landscapes not being Sonic like. Still, more of this game shows more things that aren't Sonic like, then it might be time to worry. Personally, I would like to see more slopes to run on to reach higher areas, as loops are not that necessary.

Also, I looked up disclaimer, and it means to deny something. The "yet" I used in my initial response was not a disclaimer. Hardly, in fact. As unnecessary as it may be, I'd admit to that, if I was denying something or using a disclaimer, I would be and act harder and more aggressive on my stance.

Typo.

And are we really don't this? Do you really want to play semantics like this? Because this is dumb, and pointless.

To say "it doesn't look like a Sonic game yet" it's the same as saying "it doesn't look like a Sonic game because we've not seen everything". That's a disclaimer, because you're providing a way out just in case you're wrong. Its also just implied, based on everything I said, that we don't yet know everything this game has. 

Does Sonic Frontiers look like a Sonic game? Based on the information that we have, no I do not think that it does. Can't say anything more than that. I'm not going to hedge my bets on that changing with time or that it will stay the same. My comment is neutral.