Lack of a driving force in the middle of plots?

[Dr. Homem]

I don't praise plots as accurate representations of life, but as ways to keep readers reading. When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away - even if it's only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time. One of my students wrote a story about a nun who got a piece of dental floss stuck between her lower left molars, and who couldn't get it out all day long. I thought that was wonderful. The story dealt with issues a lot more important than dental floss, but what kept readers going was anxiety about when the dental floss would finally be removed. Nobody could read that story without fishing around in his mouth with a finger. - Kurt Vonnegut
 
The impression I've had, in general, from the Sonic games in the modern era is that they start off with a visible motivation, then have a period in the middle where not much actually happens, and pick up again near the end. If we look at it, we'll see that the plot of the three games (although not necessarily limited to them - Heroes, for example, had the same problem) actually passes over a lot of plot elements. For example Unleashed lacks exposition of various things it introduces, Colours does nothing with a bunch of concepts such as the Mind-Control Ray, and in most midgame cutscenes Generations does nothing but re-iterate what it already told us. In other words, all of those often have scenes that don't actually advance anything in the narrative.
 
We all know that in its most basic form, a plot represents itself as characters wanting something and being unable to have it, and then doing what they can to get it. Be it killing the bad guy, or saving a princess, or getting a glass of water as Vonnegut summarizes perfectly. Point here being: the story just ends up feeling aimless if it doesn't present any relevant progress for a large portion of it.
 
Am I being senseless here, or do the middle parts of our recent plots truly lack focus and narrative relevance? David Mamet once said that every scene should have three questions: who wants what, what happens if they don't get it, and why now. A lot of Sonic scenes don't create conflict nor solve it, creating slow, monotone writing. If that's true, how could it be fixed considering Sonic's story structure?

 

Discuss.

[Semi-colon e]

It seems like they make the beginning and end, but the middle part boils down to "do this number of tasks". In Unleashed you're just going round restoring the temples, in Colours you're just going round destroying the generators, and in Generations you're just going round restoring levels.

 

Metroid Primes 2 and 3 both have a similar thing (restore 3 energy controllers, heal 3 planets from Phazon corruption) but the difference is other things happen in the mean time, and even if they don't, stuff happens in the background to tie the player back into the plot. In Prime 2 the Dark Samus fights create more intruige, while in Prime 3 you sequentially meet allies who are also corrupted that you have to beat, and other plot details happen as you try to heal these planets.

[Chaos Warp]

Sort of a side effect to how the games work. Everything in between the start (plot introduction) and end (plot resolution/stopping the villain  is progression towards the final goal (again, stopping Eggman/whoever's the villain of the game), which can make it kind of hard to include more narrative in the middle. Definitely not impossible (and definitely something that should be improved) but still hard. If the games continue to work how they work now, the narrative in the middle will always have to be lighter to some extent then the start and end.

Edited April 12, 2013 by Generations (Chaos Warp)

[JezMM]

They need to drop macguffin plots, or seriously downsize them.  Have something unexpected happen, a small temporary problem that needs to be solved that threatens the larger plan of action.

 

Something like Yacker going missing and needing to be found, or Tails being taken over by the mind-control beam would have been PERFECT for this in Colours.

Edited April 12, 2013 by JezMM

[Nepenthe]

I think one easy solution would be to make Eggman a more active antagonist again. Sonic is barely opposed during the second act because Eggman doesn't seem to really care that he's making progress with his goals: gathering Emeralds, destroying generators, and whatnot, so it makes the plots feel like Sonic's merely cleaning up something than fighting for anything. Back in the day, this simply did not happen: Eggman was gassing the characters, lying and scheming, shooting planes down, and holding people hostage. Past plots were a fundamental struggle between two opposing forces butting heads in the need to progress their causes. It was interesting shit. Granted, I feel this can be subverted with a secondary conflict that augments the primary one, like the Werehog form's effect on Sonic or Tails being under mind control, but these also need development and elaboration to work, and neither of them got that either.

[Diogenes]

The main problem, I think, is that they write the story to only have one real goal, with no wrinkles or sub-goals, and that leaves the characters just doing the same thing throughout most of the game.

 

Just to look back at the series (and only considering Sonic's story or the equivalent, for bevity's sake);

 

SA: The long-term goal is stopping Chaos and Eggman, at first by collecting the Chaos Emeralds before they can. The story drags a bit early on because they're just going from level to level getting emeralds. But once you beat Sky Chase 1, you get a pretty big wrinkle; Sonic and Tails end up separated, and collecting the emeralds takes a backseat to protecting Amy. This ends up tying back into the main plot when Amy gets captured and Sonic and Tails rejoin in Sky Chase 2 to take the fight to Eggman. Then once the Egg Carrier is dealt with, Sonic gets a brief interlude related to Chaos as a lead-in to Super Sonic's story, before going after Eggman and putting a rather firm stop to his current plan.

 

SA2: Sonic juggles 3 main problems in SA2; he's fighting off GUN, due to being framed, he's fighting Shadow, the faker who framed him, and he's fighting Eggman, who is Eggman. They keep the tension up by rotating between them; once he's (temporarily) dealt with one, one or both of the other two show their face. At least until they get into space, at which point GUN largely falls out of the picture. Once they're on the ARK, though, their plan to stop Eggman, its failure when Amy is captured, and the fallout of it, keeps them moving until the end.

 

Heroes: Here's where things start to fall apart. Team Sonic's story is pretty much nothing but "go fight Eggman!"; the only times it attempts deviate from straight level-to-level, fight-to-fight progression is when it turns out they've fought a fake Eggman and the Egg Fleet has been launched (which makes no difference since they still do nothing but run through random levels afterwards), and the reveal of Metal Sonic, which comes at the very end.

 

Shadow: Due to the nature of the game there's really no room for a coherent plot in the middle. Occasionally things happen, but not for any discernable reason; Shadow's just there to collect an emerald and move on towards one of the endings.

 

'06: Elise gets captured, Elise gets saved. Elise gets captured, Elise gets saved. Elise gets captured, Elise dies, Elise gets saved. The closest thing to a twist was Sonic being sent to the future, but it doesn't really amount to anything.

 

Unleashed: There are two main goals here; one being to save the world (by putting it back together and stopping Eggman) and the other helping Chip get his memories back. But the former just proceeds linearly, and the latter makes no progress until Adabat at which point it's suddenly solved.

 

Colors: As thin as the plot is, Colors actually kind of tries to introduce new things into the plot, but they just can't hold onto it. The mind control ray gets introduced but it doesn't actually affect anything; the scene it shows up in doesn't accomplish anything but announcing its existence, and the characters ignore it until it blows up on its own. There's also the issue of Yacker's disapperance, which...they literally forgot to address (or more likely, the endgame got hacked to pieces at some point and we were originally going to get something like the ending of the DS game). Even if they had concluded it, though, it doesn't actually matter; Yacker isn't important for anything and (because the game is somewhat nonlinear) the characters never do anything beyond acknowledge that he's been gone for a while.

 

Generations: Generations occasionally pretends to have a story, but it's lying. Everything is just a paper-thin excuse to run through levels and then fight Eggman Eggmen.

 

So with no twists that change what the characters are doing, and with no significant subplots to deal with along the way, the story is just the characters moving incrementally towards the goal. The introduction to the problem is interesting enough, as is the resolution (and they usually slam a twist in there with it), but the middle is just going through the motions, incrementing the counter until they reach the end.

[Kuzu]

Needs more subplots please

On a real tip, I think the problem is that they never resolve the subplots that are introduced, or properly develop them.

Edited April 12, 2013 by Not!Dante

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Needs more subplots please

BUT SUBPLOTZ ARE THE BANE OF SONIC BECUZ THEY ARE TOO COMPLEX! SONIC STORIES ARE NOW GOOD BECAUSE THEY ARE SHALLOW AND THUS ARE "LIGHTHEARTED" HURDY HURR!

 

EDIT: But on a more serious note, subplots have definitely taken a hiatus, and honestly could have been used more effectively than they are right now.

 

Heck, I figured a good rivalry between Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic would have made the romp through time and space more interesting, something along the lines of:

 

1) Classic Sonic is the more "too cool for you" and exaggerated serious guy, and sees Modern Sonic as a looney and has-been. Modern Sonic thinks Classic Sonic needs to lighten up and is more of the jokester.

 

2) Classic Sonic gets into scrapes because he takes things too literally, and as a result is more easily sucker-punched due to being too single-minded, while Modern Sonic doesn't take things seriously enough, and thus gives his enemies more time to recover.

 

3) They begin to realize that they both have their strengths and weaknesses and start to respect each other more, even adopting some of each others traits, and end their rivalry before Classic Sonic leaves for his time period.

 

Simple, and kinda predictable, but it would have made things more interesting if anything.

Edited April 12, 2013 by 743-E.D. Missile

[Vertekins]

This is partly why I liked the Storybook game's stories; They had something interesting happening in the middle that ultimately have relevance to the main plot point and Sonic actually has some damn direction along with it.

 

But yeah, it is disappointing how many Sonic game stories have meat missing from them, the eternal excuse being that somehow, "Story is unimportant" in Sonic, justifying plots that have little substance. Most of the time, characters are given only one objective and work towards it without them being sidetracked by other plot points. There's little intelligent lengthening of stories or stuff that has relevance to the main plot point which makes most of the plots feel thin. Nowadays, Eggman's input in stirring-up trouble is hardly utilized in the middle, making him flatter as a villain. Tone is put above the other things that need to be considered in the writing of story. Colours is fixated with 'humourous' shenanigans instead of developing the plot points it makes. Unleashed skips over some exposition from Sonic's POV and it's Emerald-restoring cutscenes are very plain and Tails and Amy are very under-utilized. Generations' plot is hardly even there.

 

I think an improvement would be;

 

- Using protagonists better. Stop using just Sonic, Tails and Eggman. Elaborate on what the other characters do and how their actions are relevant to the main plot point.

- Actually making more plot points than "Stop Eggman" and/or "Restore this"/"Collect these"

- Use Eggman more, utilize his villainy and intelligence like what he showed in the Adventure games. This man is prone to being very active and acts by himself often, eager to antagonize Sonic both for the lulz and to accomplish something in the interests of his own plan.

[Dr. Crusher]

Personally this has never bothered me too much, but I can see where people are coming from. As Nepenthe and Verte have said, I reckon making Robotnik more active - while obviously not the only thing you could do - would already make things run more swimmingly. Using the other characters more would also be great, but of course, only if you think they can and should be used for *insert whatever kind of plot*.

 

Plus, with the crap that I'm currently up to, I'm trying to focus on things like this anyway, so hopefully this can be used for some as a sort-of guide.

Edited April 12, 2013 by Dr. Crusher

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

One thing that is severely missing in the middle of the plots is TENSION! It's the kind of adrenaline pumping feel that not only locks the player into wanting to find out more, but to further play through the game in order to see what happens next.

 

The Adventure titles had a lot of it, sometimes separated by characters, but they still had it.

In SA1 Chaos' evolution and you constantly losing Chaos Emeralds every time you find them invokes a sense of hurry and suspicion. You're quickly trying to find the emeralds to keep Eggman from using them while at the same time keeping an eye out in case the fat bastard sneaks up on you out of the blue and steals them from you. And on top of that, Chaos' growing strength only makes things more worrisome for the player as they try to keep him from reaching his full strength, which adds further tension when he finally does and floods a whole city in the process.

 

In SA2, there's Eggman blowing up the moon with the Eclipse cannon. This guy is pointing it at the Earth, meaning you need to stop him or it'll be in pieces! And there's also further tension right when Amy is taken hostage by Eggman, and tells Sonic to get to where he is or he'll kill her (over the PA system) it makes the player feel like they need to move. And then when all the characters fight their respective rivals, it builds further. And then when the last story hits and they find out that the colony is falling to Earth, it just start reaching its peak until it finally rests.

 

Heroes lacked that tenstion, and it didn't carry itself heavily enough to gain it. ShTH and Sonic 06 had tension, but it was mired and undermined by how lame their plots were. Unleashed is a bit iffy, you could say the tension is either at the beginning when you see Sonic tearing through ships, going Super, getting the super knocked out of him and having the world shatter, or when you reach Eggmanland and are going through the carnival of hell to fight the Egg Dragoon. And the Colors? Generations? Yeah, no.

 

It's the kind of element that you can mix all sorts of emotion into them. You can mix in a sense of anger which would then make the player more inclined to finish the game if only to beat the source of his anger (in the game), a sense of reward in which you make them go through a lot to reach a treasure that was well worth the trouble, a sense of fear in the player not knowing what'll happen next, or in a sense of awe in the player being completely stunned at what just happened.

Edited April 12, 2013 by ChaosSupremeSonîc

[Salamander]

The last two plots have it.  Robotnik isn't active, and as a result there's no tension.  After the start of the game he just sits back and lets his plan roll along on its own until the endgame.  Heck, we even see him literally sitting around stuffing his face and doing nothing important in one Unleashed cutscene, as I recall it.  That's pure filler.

 

Purely off the top of my head, for Unleashed - Eggman's also searching for the Gaia Temples to destroy them so the Emeralds can't be restored, and every time he gets nearer and nearer.  This would necessitate Eggman showing his hand more directly, and the levels actually visually progressing nearer to and into a temple - the surroundings get more remote, you pass into some ruins, etc.  For the last temple the boss battle is not just a chase boss, you're actually in the temple chasing Eggman to the altar.

 

I don't know, the main problem to me still seems inextricable from the fact that the gameplay has nothing to do with the story.  You just run through levels towards a Goal Ring or whatever and the visuals in no way reflect your aims, even when you actually have an aim like going to a Gaia Temple (rather than literally just running through the levels for its own sake like in Generations).

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I think that's another thing. In addition to lack of tension, we're not seeing enough action once we hit the second act of the plot.

 

It's not so much that there should be non-stop action, as we should be given some moments to rest and allow the plot to deliver something fresh. But here's how it currently feels in the Sonic series after either Unleashed or Colors if you were to set it up as a screenplay.

 

Act 1 |  Act 2 | Act 3

                    

      /\      _         / \

 / \ /  \   /    \   /\ /   \

/        \ /      \ /        \

 

A bit lacking, and some what of a mess for an action series like this. You can't find a satisfying climax in this.

 

Compared to this

 

Act 1 |  Act 2 | Act 3

 

                         /\

               _       /  \

       / \   /    \    /    \

 / \  /   \ /      \  /      \

/   \/              \/        \

 

Where you can easily see the climax before it hits a descending point. Now I know that's not exactly the best model as far as storytelling goes, but you see what I'm saying. There's building up in both, but the first chart doesn't explode in a satisfying way that you find typical in other action titles and give you that intensity. Or worse yet it gives you the both the intensity and the stakes right at the last possible moment and make it too typical of what must be done.

 

It almost feels like it's routine unless you can deliver to your audience a satisfying climax...god, I know some of you are having dirty thoughts right now...

Edited April 12, 2013 by ChaosSupremeSonîc

[Dr. Crusher]

Only because you said that.

 

Pervert.

[Diogenes]

But here's how it currently feels in the Sonic series after either Unleashed or Colors if you were to set it up as a screenplay.

 

Act 1 |  Act 2 | Act 3

                    

      /\      _         / \

 / \ /  \   /    \   /\ /   \

/        \ /      \ /        \

I think you're giving them too much credit.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I think you're giving them too much credit.

It was off the top of my head, and was really to make a point compared to the second one over what it lacks.

[MamboCat]

Besides the laughing and screaming,  the next major thing I noticed in the Game Grumps '06 playthrough is just how tangled the storyline is thanks to its multiple subplots. Reusing Elise being kidnapped so many times to provide the next bit of "tension" in the game, fighting Silver twice... time travel. It seems like they tried to squeeze so much subplot and "mid game" action into the storyline that it just confuses the player.

 

Is it not possible for Unleashed onwards they just decided to write as little subplot as possible to let the game do the story telling for them?

 

Having said that, in Unleashed if you go to speak to all the characters you do get different side missions, and most of them refer to the main story that's going on. Such as the old guy in Apatos not believing Werehog is Sonic. But the player has to seek those missions themselves.

 

Also, climaxes?! Dear lawd guys, this is a kids game franchise! XD

Edited April 13, 2013 by MamboCat

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Also, climaxes?! Dear lawd guys, this is a kids game franchise! XD

 

EDIT: Wait...O_O Oh jeez, get your mind out of the gutter!

Edited April 13, 2013 by 743-E.D. Missile

[Komodin]

Also, climaxes?! Dear lawd guys, this is a kids game franchise! XD

 

Not that sort of climaxes, of course... well, unless Sega decides to make Mobius Unleashed canon for some reason, anyway.

[Kuzu]

I will go off what I said before. Sega really need to start tying up the subplots they introduce, it's pretty obvious that's the major problem in addition to everything else anyway. Every single new game introduces a small plot point that's never developed, it either just abruptly ends or is just never resolved. It's annoying how much of this keeps happening. 

 

I'm beginning to think Sega are intentionally doing this too given evidence Colors & Generations  and what I've heard about its cut content. Its like they're trying to shoot themselves in foot to please the brats who can't stand any bit of narrative in a Sonic game. They're butchering their own mythos and characters to satisfy a bunch of people who don't give a shit about the series and probably only complain to look cool, and it really ticks me off. But I digress.

 

 

Anyway, I'll just bullet this, and detail what I feel is needed remedy this:

 

- Get more characters involved. Not that I think the game's current cast is boring, but more characters means having more going on and more to focus on in order to develop the plot. And by involved, I don't mean standing around doing fuck all for the entire game and only to show up in the end game as cheap moral support(fuck you Generations :V)

 

- Resolve the subplots you introduce in a satisfactory way. If you're going to introduce plot points, don't backpedal out of it because you're afraid of some criticism. Either develop these plot points or don't fucking bother introducing them in the first place.

 

- Eggman needs to be a more active threat. In order for the plot to have conflict(therefore meaning), the villain needs to be initiating the conflicts. Eggman nowadays simply starts the plot, but does nothing to advance it. He takes no action to further his plans until the endgame, and by that point the conflict is virtually hollow. Eggman needs to create challenges for the heroes to overcome and it needs to be done before the game 75% done.

 

 

Do all of these, and the plot will at least be decent.

[-blank-]

They need to start involving other characters in the story. I mean, what did Tails and Amy do in Sonic Unleashed? Not a whole lot. Tails did a few things like flying Sonic from continent to continent, but other than that, they weren't really that active in the story. Heck, Amy pretty much didn't do anything useful.