The Sonic Thread: Before the Shadow takeover begins, we must knuck when we buck. Knuckles series releases April 26.

[HD-Man]

Traversal looks fun, it's graphically competent. It just needs a purpose, that extra something like you guys said. I think they should delay it until next year until they figure out what that is

 

At a base level I'm intrigued, but not ready to commit to a bit until I see more 

[Hawkingbird]

Frontiers is looking bland. The world is empty and it didn't show anything that makes the world worth exploring. I'm not liking how slow Sonic moves. Needing to pick up momentum for speed is not something I can see myself liking. I didn't see a boost gauge so I'm presuming that got the axe for this game. There being puzzles is pretty cool.

 

I will say nothing I saw looked awful but I will likely have to brace myself for mediocrity if this what the game will be.  

[BornWinner]

There’s going to be more gameplay on Friday.

 

 

[Sonichuman]

Sonic Frontiers gameplay thoughts.

Pros:
Sonic looks like he controls better than he ever has in a 3D game, like close to Sonic Adventure but better from what I'm looking at here.  He just looks really easy to control and it looks like you can pour the Speed on when you feel like it when you're going a long distance which I dig.

 

Being able to wall run on surfaces that are not specifically marked or just a spot to do it in.  Love that that's in.  I'm hoping that extends to being able to run vertically up surfaces if you have enough speed as well.  When I saw him start to climb up a tower earlier in the video it felt off but then it showed you can just run up it which looked and felt more like something Sonic would do which is something that he did prior to that section of him climbing.  

 

Looks like the camera is doing a decent job of being smart and scripting smartly in certain areas especially when you're climbing a tower.

 

Sonic having use of all of his abilities from previous games for traversal is great.  Rail grinding, doing tricks off jumps, air stomps, wall running, vertical run, boosts, quick step.  No sign of spin dashes or spinning curling into a ball.  Might be something that they show friday because it's pretty clear that there's probably a homing attack in here since they had him do the midair dash that he does when he does it but there's no enemies around.

 

Cons

Biggest one I have that was jarring, aside from the running animations...There's a chunk of animations in this game that look JANK AS FUCK.  Sonic transitioning between rails looks jank, Sonic doesn't look like he transitions well between uneven surfaces well either and gives me 06 vibes in some aspects, the midair tricks look JANK AS FUCK.  I don't even understand why the  rail transition and the air tricks look fucked up like this.  Sega couldn't just copy paste the animations from the previous game into this one?  THEY'RE THE EXACT SAME ANIMATIONS FROM UNLEASHED AND UP AND THEY'RE SOMEHOW SHIT LOOKING HERE...WHY IS THIS!?  

 

Pop in is noticable.  This can easily be ironed out but this on top of the other issues is worrying.  Look if you have to, please cut the Switch version out of the budget cause I don't even want to think about what the game looks like on the Switch.   Yeah you'll miss out on a ton of customers but the game can benefit from not getting held back and the other versions of the games can get that extra polish that they need.

 

Everything looks aimless, barren without a sense of purpose right now.  This might change later as we learn more about the game this month but the fact that they oked this footage and was like "THIS WILL MAKE PEOPLE HYPE" is worrying.  Sonic's running around an open field and the field looks lush and you can see out in the distance and at times this game looks pretty...but there's obstacles out there for Sonic to interact with and there really doesn't seem to be a reason to do so.  It feels like they haven't quite solved the issue that a good chunk of the fan community have been having a problem with when designing an open world game in that physics and open world can look great but there doesn't really feel like there's a reason to explore at the moment.  This is part of that "OOMPH" that I was mentioning earlier.  Taking influences from open world games are great...but you gotta give people a reason to enjoy your surroundings and you have to do it in a Sonic like manner.  Sonic isn't Link, and he isn't a Ubisoft character.  This is going to be a major sticking point to of what I've seen thus far and if this issue isn't resolved it will remain in boring mediocrity.

 

Rail grinding physics are borked.  Sonic barely touched the rail on the way leading up to that tower and it just...sloooowly kept sliding up it.  Momentum should have ran out at some point but it did not.  He just kept sliding upwards...didn't even need to boost.  Generations didn't have that physics problem so why is that an issue here?  Hell...does the rail even really need to be there?  You can probably get rid of that rail altogether unless it's just another means of getting down from the tower...but from the looks of things that rail in particular did not.

I'm hoping that Ohtani music isn't doing anything for me right now...Sorry my guy.    It's not that the music is bad as it's a nice serene piece but its definitely missing some thing.  The music is just not remarkable for me right now.  Hopefully there's something else music wise to look forward to from him cause he's an amazing composer.  It's just what I've heard thus far is lacking what I'd expect from Sonic and from him.

[Hecatom]

10 hours ago, Hawkingbird said:

Frontiers is looking bland. The world is empty and it didn't show anything that makes the world worth exploring. I'm not liking how slow Sonic moves. Needing to pick up momentum for speed is not something I can see myself liking. I didn't see a boost gauge so I'm presuming that got the axe for this game. There being puzzles is pretty cool.

 

I will say nothing I saw looked awful but I will likely have to brace myself for mediocrity if this what the game will be.  

 

As I see it, the game is clearly not finished, and they are only showcasing different elements from the game in isolation.

Aka, this showcase was about some of the different things you can find in the world.

With the next showcasing some elements of the combat, etc.

And so on.

 

 

[BornWinner]

People are having fun with the gameplay

 

 

 

 

The last one gets more and more cursed the more you watch it.

 

[Hawkingbird]

Combat gameplay

 

 

This doesn't look good at all. It looks incomplete and the attack animation is very stiff. 

[Sonichuman]

 

[Sonichuman]

7 minutes ago, Hawkingbird said:

Combat gameplay

 

 

This doesn't look good at all. It looks incomplete and the attack animation is very stiff. 

I needs Sega to push this game back.  There are some aspects I like, some that are a complete WTF to me, and some of it that just needs to be tweaked.  I'm in Vegas right now so I can't give full thoughts right now.

[Sonichuman]

Thoughts on combat so far:

 

Like:  That move that has sonic sending out what looks like wind blades from his feet.  Think that fits him.  Think it needa to be tweaked a bit animation wise cause while the sound is there...the visual impact feels lacking.

 

Being able to dodge enemy atracks at the right moment ala Bayonetta.  Doesn't look like you get anything for it right now and I think the visual cues for it need to be tweaked.  Hopefully there's some counter attack options out of the dodge.

 

WTF:

What in the hell is that move that he does where he suddenly teleports half a mile away from the enemy in the air and then zooms back in like a zig zag to crash into the enemy?  That shit is jarring and feels out of place doesn't make sense to me.  Hes fightin, he's in the enemy's face then suddenly he's not zooming back in with 0 context.  Can he suddenly fly now on a whim or something cause he also has that fucking somersault loop move before going into a dive kick that doesn't look or feel right either.  Feel like the zig zag looking move needs to be done from certain distance from the enemy like further away?   Dive kick would probably make more since if it was done off of a rebound of a homing attack maybe bit in this video he just does it and its off.  Same with that upside down kick movie that was shown previously and in this video.  Is Sonic creating a wind vortex in midair to allow him to do this or something?   Just doesn't make sense to me.

 

Tweak:

Animations for the punches and kicks after the homing attack look jerky.  Hoping that gets ironed out. 

 

The line around enemies move needs to be snappier/quicker or at least feel like it is.  I'm assuming this move is using some sort of bar while its being done so I think what could help it feel better is if time slowed down around Sonic while he did it while he also had more visual cues (I.E. wind lines and effects to add in to the feeling)

 

Speaking of Visual cues, the move in itself needs more of this to better sell it cause right now it just looks Sonic is spinning around enemies or parts of the boss and they're just being lifted in the air because...????? .  I'm imagining this is kind of like Sonic Heroes move where Sonic spins around enemies and it stuns them, lifts them up and flips them, or sucks something off the enemy.  That move in that game had way more visuals on it to sell it on what is doing.

[Hawkingbird]

 

I don't fuck with polygon so I'm not linking the article. This is the state things are.

[Sonichuman]

51 minutes ago, Hawkingbird said:

 

I don't fuck with polygon so I'm not linking the article. This is the state things are.

Yeah my twitter and youtube feed has mostly been filed with negativity with some sprinkling of optimism.

 

 

Also Sonic Central tomorrow

 

[Sonichuman]

IGN hands on preview of frontiers

https://www.ign.com/articles/sonic-frontiers-preview

 

Edited June 7, 2022 by Sonichuman

[BornWinner]

This Central really feels like it should’ve happened last week. There was not enough stuff to justify it existing and the stuff that was new only got ten seconds of footage like Shadow in Sonic Prime and the Frontiers prologue. This could’ve been a Twitter post.

 

At least we will see a return of the fan favorite, MePhyllis.

 

 

[BornWinner]

The IGN preview in comparison was actually very telling. They stated that the gameplay was off an old build, showed off some of the giant enemies, and they gave some details of the story. It honestly should’ve went up before either gameplay.

 

 

I’m hoping the next build will be significantly more improved over this one.

[Sonichuman]

3 hours ago, BornWinner said:

This Central really feels like it should’ve happened last week. There was not enough stuff to justify it existing and the stuff that was new only got ten seconds of footage like Shadow in Sonic Prime and the Frontiers prologue. This could’ve been a Twitter post.

 

At least we will see a return of the fan favorite, MePhyllis.

 

 

I didn't even catch that they pronounced it wrong cause I had the sound off with subtitles at the time.  Kinda of a weird goof considering you're from the company and they say his name multiple times in the game he's from.

[Sonichuman]

 

[iStu X]

On 6/3/2022 at 11:29 AM, Hawkingbird said:

Combat gameplay

 

 

This doesn't look good at all. It looks incomplete and the attack animation is very stiff. 

The whole game gives off Big “we have Breath of the Wild at home” energy. 

Edited June 9, 2022 by iStu X

[Sonichuman]

Jun Senoue is going to be redoing the music for 3K.

 

edit

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by Sonichuman

[Hawkingbird]

 

[Sonichuman]

Big the Cat and Froggy confirmed to make an appearance in Prime.

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by Sonichuman

[RSG3]

29 minutes ago, Sonichuman said:

Big the Cat and Froggy confirmed to make an appearance in Prime.

 

I really like how the environment looks like Greenhill. I hope they extend that to other "Zones" instead of just the Greenhill area. 

 

And honestly I dig the Big moment. 

[Hecatom]

[Sonichuman]

31 minutes ago, Hecatom said:

That comic had many great moments in it.

[Hawkingbird]

1 hour ago, Sonichuman said:

Big the Cat and Froggy confirmed to make an appearance in Prime.

 

 

[BornWinner]

Despite bringing a public demo, Sega has a NDA and is only allowing certain people to play Frontiers. The Square Enix instagram of all places was able to capture some gameplay of an actual level.

 

 

[RSG3]

So there are actual Zones. That's good to know. 

[BornWinner]

Sonic Boom was hilarious 

 

 

[Sonichuman]

3 hours ago, RSG3 said:

So there are actual Zones. That's good to know. 

It was mentioned that within the open areas are places to go for those levels.  

 

Also apparently Iizuka said he wants to continue Sonic Adventure at some point and he wants experience from Frontiers to help in that. 

 

Edit:  This was mentioned in the IGN first interview actually.  Havent finished watching that yet.

Edited June 11, 2022 by Sonichuman

[Sonichuman]

The internet needs to stop

 

[BornWinner]

More details

 

 

[Sonichuman]

  

 

[Sonichuman]

 

[Sonichuman]

Sonic's combat in Frontiers was inspired by the Sonic Movie.

https://www.ign.com/articles/sonic-frontiers-combat-movie-inspiration

 

Frontiers will have customization on how you want Sonic to control

https://www.thegamer.com/sonic-frontiers-preview-summer-game-fest/

 

If you think he looks too stiff...well you can fix that.  Apparently there's even a bar to slide for his acceleration.

Edited June 14, 2022 by Sonichuman

[Sonichuman]

If I had to see this then so will you guys

 

[Sonichuman]

Issue #50 is gonna be fun

 

[Sonichuman]

 

[RSG3]

There where no speed stats in that entire video lmao. 

[Hawkingbird]

Interview with the game director

 

[Sonichuman]

 

[BornWinner]

 

[Hawkingbird]

The head of Sonic Team Takashi Iizuka said that 2D and 3D Sonic doesn't work in the same game and the styles will be their own games moving forward 

 

https://mynintendonews.com/2022/06/16/head-of-sonic-team-says-mixing-both-2d-and-3d-sonic-game-styles-doesnt-really-work-will-release-2d-and-3d-sonic-separately/

 

 

Did he forget generations exist?

[RSG3]

17 minutes ago, Hawkingbird said:

The head of Sonic Team Takashi Iizuka said that 2D and 3D Sonic doesn't work in the same game and the styles will be their own games moving forward 

 

https://mynintendonews.com/2022/06/16/head-of-sonic-team-says-mixing-both-2d-and-3d-sonic-game-styles-doesnt-really-work-will-release-2d-and-3d-sonic-separately/

 

 

Did he forget generations exist?

I wont agree with him 100%, but ill agree that Sonic Team cant pull it off. As good as Generations is, the 2D sections are the weakest part, and never felt right, its never felt right in any of the 3D games that do the 2D transitions mid stages. Sonics jump feels wrong, his momentum feels wrong, it just feels wrong.

[Hawkingbird]

1 hour ago, RSG3 said:

I wont agree with him 100%, but ill agree that Sonic Team cant pull it off. As good as Generations is, the 2D sections are the weakest part, and never felt right, its never felt right in any of the 3D games that do the 2D transitions mid stages. Sonics jump feels wrong, his momentum feels wrong, it just feels wrong.

I think he means the 2D gameplay of classic Sonic and not the 2D sections of the 3D gameplay. 

[RSG3]

It says "2D and 3D in the same game" tho....that makes me think Unleashed, Colors, and Generations. 

[Sonichuman]

After thinking on it, I think them keeping "2D" and "3D"  separate might be the right call.  And by saying this I'm not talking about modern 2D sections in the 3D game, I'm talking not trying to do classic sonic in 3D.  As much as I liked Classic Sonic's gameplay in Generations it felt off like RSG said.  It wasn't horrible by any means but they clearly weren't even trying to really put any momentum real momentum based gameplay in it and then on top of the unnecessary bringing of Classic Sonic back into Forces.  If them focusing more on keeping them separate means that I eventually get my Mania 2 then I'm definitely all for it.

[Sonichuman]

I shouldn't have laughed at this as hard as I did but I da know...just the idea of Infinite introducing himself and trying to seem threatening and Sonic just going into spiel about Pizza Hut in the middle tickles me.

 

Edit:

And Eggman wants to sell you on pancakes

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by Sonichuman

[Hawkingbird]

 

[BornWinner]

22 hours ago, Sonichuman said:

And Eggman wants to sell you on pancakes

Don’t forget Sonic practicing safe sex.

 

 

[Sonichuman]

So...yeah...Ice Cap got shot

 

The other tracks that got shot were to be expected.