HPX

Any particular reason if you don't mind me asking?

It's all become very circular; there just isn't much to talk about that hasn't already been said during this dry spell.

I'm also just really exhausted by my relationship with this franchise and the fandom at large. I honestly despise what Sonic is now and has been for 15 years. The brand has done everything it can to tell me that I was wrong to love the things I did, and there's little evidence to expect any changes that would bring me back around. If I can't change it, then there's no point in investing so much thought and energy into it. The friction has become increasingly unhealthy. 

If a new game appeals to me, I'll be happy to discuss it with folks. But until then, I think it's best I just try to forget about Sonic. 

I'm kinda in the same place, I did leave Sonic discussion for a couple years, and to be frank it did help me, so if you feel burnt out, take a break.

I guess the franchise is not really targeted at the people who grew up with it, despite its blatant and superficial reminders of the past.

I like discussing the older titles, but there's nothing to be gained from discussing the new stuff

I have a losing streak with the stuff I'm fan of: most of them are either lately keeping a steady decline I despise,is on hiatus or practically doesn't exist as a franchise anymore: Ultima Underworld, Thief, Elder scrolls,System Shock, Fallout, Metroid, Megaman, Arcanum, Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines, HunterxHunter...

Sonic is the only one I've not thrown to the iggy bin and move on, because of Mania and fangames. For me seems that only worth it to follow up the fangame scene.

Yeah, I haven't been checking this forum much since Sonic hasn't given us much material to work with right now other than laughing at Ken Penders. So I totally get you.

I don't know what the source of the audio is, but I was really hoping that it would be a mish-mash of Ryan Drummond's lines instead of whatever it actually was.

@Blue Blood thats Zero from the Megaman X games, kind of a meme cause it was poorly dubbed.

A good game transcends all those preferences. I'm sure there were a ton of people who bought Mania and enjoyed it that still prefer the Adventure artstyle.

But at the same time it's partially Sonic Team's fault for encouraging these kinds of discussions to exist with their inconsistent track record and nostalgia pandering.

It wasn't the nostalgia "pandering" that caused these disagreements. Sonic fans have been at odds over the direction of the franchise and what exactly a Sonic game is supposed to be like since at least Sonic Adventure 2. Sonic Team created these divisions with the design decisions they made when making the early 3D games, and they've never stopped finding ways to add more schisms to the fanbase since then.

asking for the things i like is asking for better

Yeah, there's been something of a divide since the Adventure games 2D/3D, Classic/Modern. Same rigid song and dance getting. 

Fan discourse was dumb, but it was hard to care about it until it felt like it started influencing the end product. From 2010 onwards the series has felt insular and reactionary while the industry around it kept blazing trails and propping up proactive visionaries with new technology. There are too many old school franchises that came back as industry leaders in the past 4-5 years for me to name, and they did it by being willing to alienate their fanbase a bit in pursuit of something greater.

Sonic, meanwhile, got far too concerned with placating it's narrow minded fanbase.  All the changes they made only served to make the series feel stilted and dated by comparison. This was something a lot of people predicted would happen in 2012 when they pivot toward classic really started to ramp up, but it was depressing to watch all of it slowly come to pass. I remember someone predicting Sonic Mania's eventual existence and reception down to the letter in 2013. We're thankful for it now, obviously, but the idea of it was a point of derision then when AAA Sonic games were still taken for granted. Much as I love that game, I never wanted Sonic's story to end where it started.

I'd really like a Sonic game that's not influenced by any of this baggage at this point.  The only reason I'm curious about the next game at all is because they've seemingly given the Classic stuff it's own playpen where it cant hurt anything else. Not ideal, but a better use of an alt timeline than something like Boom. At least there's an audience for this sort of thing.

But the nostalgia wank was really just one problem with the new games. It's absolutely worth addressing, but it's only a start. They can't just move onto copying Sonic Adventure now. They need a new perspective.

Robotnik's latest diabolical trap: Homing dash repeling springs