Sonic Chronicles; A Retrospect

[JezMM]

I agree that the touch screen commands were fair because you have plenty of time to learn them.

ALTHOUGH that was kind of a flaw in the fact that it meant I tended to just find the ones that were easiest with the highest damage output and just use them on everything for the entire game, which isn't really the point.

I agree that they shouldn't have resulted in no damage for failing though. QTE/turn-based battle systems should still be beatable through brute force and strategy even if there's just one maneuveur you as an individual can't get your grip on. This is why Paper Mario has the best battle system ever and is the only RPG I've ever enjoyed enough to play through many many times.

[Kuzu]

Although Jez already said my feelings on the matter, I'll respond anyway.

So you want it to be a bare bones turn based RPG with Sonic characters in it and nothing else? That'd be boring as shit and rather unfitting for Sonic if you ask me. Sonic and role-playing games already make a weird mix. That would make things even more awkward.

[Ekaje]

But Mario & Luigi aren't bare bones RPGs. They still have their own unique features in the form of action commands and Bros Moves/Items. The POW system wasn't inherently bad, it just should have reduced the output like if you mess up commands in M&L, and shouldn't have made the enemy POWs so easy to counter.

[Kuzu]

But Mario & Luigi aren't bare bones RPGs. They still have their own unique features in the form of action commands and Bros Moves/Items. The POW system wasn't inherently bad, it just should have reduced the output like if you mess up commands in M&L, and shouldn't have made the enemy POWs so easy to counter.

[JezMM]

Actually I find M&L and Chronicles quite comparable. The more complex attacks on Mario and Luigi I found pretty damn hard to memorise, and I was super bad at countering with the hammer.

[Tornado]

If horribly unforgiving, you mess up one part the whole attack fails, you don't even do partial damage.

Something that easy to do cannot possibly be called "horribly unforgiving." Its not EBA-light. Its simple motions using the touch screen that 95% of the moves shared.

And the game tended to hand out Ferox like it was the only Chao in the game, making the argument moot.

Edited June 30, 2011 by Tornado

[Kuzu]

Something that easy to do cannot possibly be called "horribly unforgiving." Its not EBA-light. Its simple motions using the touch screen that 95% of the moves shared.

And the game tended to hand out Ferox like it was the only Chao in the game, making the argument moot.

Well my game must've hated me then, because I only got one.

[Nitwit_Speed]

Does this game even count as canon? I think the world map alone makes it canonically-exempt. And then the codex... oh boy.

I managed to enjoy Chronicles, but i certainly can't say that they put forth any effort into it. I feel like the game was made to have something playable (that's apparently debatable) on a cartridge with Sonic's face on it. I also died when i first saw the chao garden. I think that's false advertising.

Also, Iizuka said that the two things that make a Sonic game a Sonic game is speed and attitude. The former is really lacking, as it's turn-based in battle and i think that every character was as fast as Sonic on the overworld. Why wasn't it real-time?

EDIT: I only have one Ferox, too. Isn't it extremely rare?

Edited June 30, 2011 by firelord767

[Vertekins]

Ferox is a Unique Chao. I've found through many playthroughs that Unique Chao tend to be rarer than Rare Chao. You'd be incredibly lucky to find many Ferox hatches unless you have Fess equipped, who increases the likelihood of Rare or Unique Chao hatching.

So no, Ferox ain't common. And it's a falsehood unless you're amazingly lucky for it to be common at all. But that's besides the point, because you shouldn't have to equip something to bypass crappy, repetitive touch screen inputs.

[Tornado]

I don't know what to tell you, but I ended up with 3 2 before the game was done (Maybe three. Its been so long since I played it that I can't remember), which was enough to break the game in two in regards to difficulty.

Edited June 30, 2011 by Tornado

[Ekaje]

Does this game even count as canon? I think the world map alone makes it canonically-exempt. And then the codex... oh boy.

[DC111]

VEDJ-F and Verte pretty much nailed it.

I played Chronicles about a third of the way through recently and set it down. All I've got to add that hasn't already been said is that I think the dialogue trees should have been omitted all together. They weren't even merely unimportant; they were DETRIMENTAL to Sonic's character. They should have gone with the most plot-fitting, character-fitting choice and left it at that. The events of the plot were, for the most part, set in stone. There were no different paths, no different endings, and thus, no purpose whatsoever for different dialogue choices. It left something to be desired, then didn't SATISFY that desire later in the game... maybe save for the SonAmy scene, since that is a result of making the right dialogue choices. But here I have to counter my own point, because the CONTENT of the 'wrong' dialogue choices is almost completely out of character, and therefore should not have been there, period. I don't remember the exact words, but one of the options implies he does not care about Amy, and that is totally inaccurate.

It's like Bioware thinks it's excusable simply because it's a dialogue tree. "Oh, if you don't like the out of character options, pick the one you think is in character!" I admit, that was enough for me the first time around, and I enjoyed the game initially. Perhaps the emphasis on story I'm so fond of is why I enjoyed it. For everything that was wrong with it, Chronicles had an involved story. But that shouldn't cut it. If they can't carefully write choices that are ALL in character, said choices should not be there, period. And like I said, there was no need for dialogue trees to begin with. For the most part, they were pointless and had no bearing on the direction of the story, and CERTAINLY didn't contribute to character development on any accounts. I'd rather have a light story with great characterization than a heavy story with hit-and-miss characterization any day.

I dare say Sonic's character in this game now upsets me more than Colors. At least he wasn't a total ass in Colors. At least he treated Tails like a friend, and any jabs he made were playful rather than insulting like the way he sometimes treated people in Chronicles.

Oh, and the music failed completely. It's a shame, really, because music is one thing about the Sonic franchise that is almost consistently liked (or at least appreciated). There was no excuse for that music; it was just plain revolting. The only good song was the opening, and even that leaves a bittersweet taste in my mouth... it whets your appetite for great, epic soundtracks that never happen.

Edited June 30, 2011 by DC111

[sonfan1984]

It left something to be desired, then didn't SATISFY that desire later in the game... maybe save for the SonAmy scene, since that is a result of making the right dialogue choices. But here I have to counter my own point, because the CONTENT of the 'wrong' dialogue choices is almost completely out of character, and therefore should not have been there, period. I don't remember the exact words, but one of the options implies he does not care about Amy, and that is totally inaccurate.

That choice about Sonic not caring for Amy is probably there for the AntiSonAmy people. The people who don't like Amy or feels that Sonic and Amy shouldn't be together can have Sonic be a total dick to her for the first time. I don't know if Sonic being nice to Amy is accurate to his character or not since he doesn't really expresses it in the games.

[DC111]

That choice about Sonic not caring for Amy is probably there for the AntiSonAmy people. The people who don't like Amy or feels that Sonic and Amy shouldn't be together can have Sonic be a total dick to her for the first time. I don't know if Sonic being nice to Amy is accurate to his character or not since he doesn't really expresses it in the games.

I guess I meant that that was one of the only instances where your dialogue choices affected what happened in the storyline. I don't think EITHER extreme (Sonic being an ass to Amy or treating her like gold) is accurate. I think he does genuinely care about her but doesn't really want to express it since he knows she'll make too much of it.

[Emperor Robrainiac]

Eh. I'm with everyone else on who posted. Sonic Chronicles was at most an ok game. There were some things I didn't like about it, such as the maps (For me it was hard to tell where to go) and sometimes the battles got a little tedious. I usually don't mind battling enemies in RPGs, especially when I'm trying to level up to a higher level. However, there was just something about the battles I didn't enjoy in this game :/

I liked Shade personally, but IMO, she could been fleshed out better to make her a much more interesting character.

And was I the only one who was incredibly disappointed when Shade removed her mask as soon as you met her? It just seemed so anti climatic and done poorly in terms of story. Despite it being somewhat obvious that she would be an Echidna I would have liked a bit of build up.

Edited June 30, 2011 by The Stinking Recolor

[Nattala]

You know I was so excited for Chronicles when it came out. I got it the day after it came out (my birthday) and played it for 3 days, gripped to the storyline, and then was completely dumbfounded by the ending. I agree with those who say its just an average game. Its not stupendusly flawed but its nothing spectacular. I love simple turn based RPGs so the battle system never bothered me too much but I can see why others would dislike the unbalanced characters, the repetitive POW moves and the dragged out battles. I tend to be a ALL POWER kind of player without much strategy so playing it the first time around I did have some trouble but once you learn the characters moves and start using some strategy the game becomes incredibly easy, Cream ensures you never have to buy items again which is good because they don't respawn in the New Game + but that's ok because the New Game + makes the first half of the game incredibly easy anyway. I must say I didn't have problems with failed POW moves that others seemed to have. If I stuffed up part of a POW move it still always did damage for me, not as much damage, but still did some. The only times my POW moves would do nothing for stuffing up was with buffs, debuffs and heals.

The easy New Game + allowed me to play the game over a few times, using every character to see if there's any difference in dialogue and for the most part there isn't but there are a few moments here and there, such as in the arrival to Blue Ridge Zone, if you have Rouge in your party she'll make a comment about being cold but if you have both Rouge and Cream in your party she'll instead respond the Cream's comments in being cold as "Think warm thoughts kiddo, you'll be fine". Ofcourse there's also times when the dialogue trees stuff up such as while I was experimenting with the various dialogue trees in the game I came across an old sequence in the SonAmy scene at the end. You can tell Amy that you care for her, which makes her happy, but then say that you'll figure this all out later which will make her act as if you just outright rejected her and then if you say you care for her again she gets angry at you for messing around with her feelings. Its weird that in that scene any option along the lines of "Can we talk about this later when we're not trapped in a hellish dimension, about to fight a super powered echidna" is treated as outright rejection.

Ofcourse with other dialogue trees the options aren't always great either, many of the negative responses, instead of being snarky, are just outright mean, many of the nice responses are too feely and sound like Sonic worships the ground Amy stands on and many of the neutral responses are just dull.

As for the overall story, I didn't mind it too much, with the Voxai and Thebes section being my favourite, though the first half of the story dragged on too much. Ix and Sade seemed generic and Shade's reveal could of been built up more. Before the game was released, Shade was the main character in marketing and she was being built up as this new mysterious villain, The first time you meet her in game, she takes her helmet off.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

You know, going off of what a lot of other people said, Chronicles is a rather overhyped game. I still have yet to play it myself, but given how there are degrees of inaccuracies here and there and certain pandering to specific characters, it would see to have a rather negative light.

However, what interests me about Chronicles is that it gives out a lot more story material that I feel could be useful for this series. Knuckles not being the last of his kind and has a rival faction of echidnas that his ancestors fought against before getting slaughtered by Chaos. Ix looks like a really interesting new villian, and Shade seems to have a lot of wasted potential according to some people here. This is pretty much the only reason I'm interested in this game.

That's something I feel newer games could take advantage of in the future, and I would rather encourage it. One thing I would like them to do is re-make the game's plot and incorporate it into a main console game and polish the character interactions and development within the plot. I personally would love to see Eggman and the Nocturnus have a sort of cold war or some technological competition against each other in the future games, and I would also love to have a splinter faction of Nocturnus echidna's join the good guys side in order to give Knuckles more room to develop and free him from the shackles that the Master Emerald holds on him as a character.

That game opened up a lot of doors from where I'm looking at, and I have yet to play the game to get the full scope.

[Your Vest Friend]

Honestly, the plot raised more questions than answers. For example, if there was a massive war against the Nocturnus, surely there'd be some mention of it in the records of Echidna lore. And who was it who was aggravated by Argus again?

[\Lennox]

Does this game even count as canon? I think the world map alone makes it canonically-exempt. And then the codex... oh boy.

[SBR2]

Eh it was okay nothing special but okay.

[Octarine]

I had high hopes for Chronicles initially, even before I was really a Sonic fan. Bioware had made plenty of games that I'd loved, after all, and Mario had proven four or five times by that point that RPGs based on silly cartoon platformers could turn out wonderfully if they were given the right amount of care and attention. I kind of forgot about it after a while (whether it was the lukewarm reviews or just interest in other games that pushed it out of my mind I have no idea), and I only got around to playing it a year or so after it was released. While I don't think it was outright awful, it really should've been a thousand times better than it was.

The basic idea behind Chronicles' story - fleshing out the backstory of the echidnas a little more, making the Master Emerald relevant again, adapting a few compatible Archie elements into the game canon - wasn't terrible, but it was the kind of thing that needed to be executed by developers who were intimately familiar with the game canon. Bioware's writers got a lot of things right (I'm not going to lambast them for calling Amy or Tails by their species or making the occasional minor mistake), but the Nocturnus never quite made sense and a lot of the characters didn't act much like themselves. The changes were occasionally for the better, like Rouge's up-to-eleven snark, but there were plenty of instances where it just made characters feel awkward, like ultra-grim totally-not-the-Archie-version-I-swear Knuckles.

It was a bit of a technical mess, too; I can overlook poor graphics most of the time, so the character models didn't bother me too much when combined with the rather pretty backgrounds, but the audio was atrocious and the cutscenes were lazy. The dialogue options were almost completely worthless, and the "romance" with Amy was... cute, I guess, but it came pretty much out of nowhere. I can see what the combat system was trying to do, and I liked the way it factored in character speed and incorporated some touchscreen action, but the element system was poorly defined, the characters were awfully unbalanced, the whole thing got boring after a while and... honestly, I found it pretty difficult at times. Regular attacks became nearly useless in the endgame and POW moves cost way too much; Cream + Ferox was about the only option that I could make decent use of, and even that couldn't be relied on when the party was forced to split up for the final dungeon. I swear to god I'm not terrible at RPGs in general; there's just something about Chronicles that I had trouble with. Meh.

There were a few positives to the game, though. The dialogue was often pretty funny, even if the characters weren't quite themselves, and I liked all of the references to various events and locations in Sonic's history. The Nocturnus had some story issues, but they did look very cool, and I liked all of the alien races as well. Also, kudos for finally giving Eggman a win, even if we'll never see the conclusion and the whole thing's non-canon-ish anyway.

Occasionally I'll think back on Sonic Chronicles and decide that it really wasn't that bad. Then I remember that Paper Mario exists and I'll feel a little like crying. We were so close to getting that, you guys.

[Dejablue]

My feelings are mixed but mostly lean towards the negative. And nearly all of my negative feelings come from the story. I don't play RPG's very often so I can't make a call on what makes a good or a bad RPG game play wise. I trudged through it as I do other games of that genre. My issues came from the story. Obviously Bioware didn't even bother look up cut scenes from Sonic Adventure or they would have known that even after meeting Tikal and defeating Chaos and Eggman, Knuckles knew very little about his people. And certainly wouldn't have known about the Nocturnous Clan. And worse he seemed so nonchalant about it. At the very least they didn't have him acting like a moron but still they were screwing with Knuckles' back story and couldn't even do right with the character development that such revelations would have brought forth.

I kept wondering who the hell Dexter was. Turned out he never existed. Lame Bioware, good job making Amy look that much more creepy and desperate. They said Big would do important stuff...no he didn't. Vector and Espio got cameos sort of. I'm indifferent towards Shade, she didn't leave a strong impact on me positive or negative. A lot of the levels felt like re-skins and the music was terrible. So were some of the sound effects. Children cheering at the end of battles? What is this Sonic or Viva Pinata?

And there are other vague things which never get explained like the Argus Event. Maybe they were planning for a sequel to explain that. Well I sure would hope so with that cliff hanger... There was a good workable story in there that just didn't seem complete. Made me sad because I liked the idea of a Knuckles centric story. Especially after years of character derailment.

Edited July 15, 2011 by Dejablue