Roger_van_der_weide

Yeah, let's get the Sonic adventure 3 hype train rolling!!! When the new game is finally anounced, I want to see an entire room with fans wearing SA3 shirts, chanting for SA3, waving flags for SA3, while Iizuka nervously shuffles to the stage to anounce a third Sonic Boom game for the 3ds.

Playing fangames is at least fascinating. We get to observe Sonic games in hundreds of new ways. It's been very educational. I never noticed how slow Sonic Adventure Sonic was until they imported a Sonic Heroes level into it. (Or alternatively, I never noticed how empty and featureless Heroes levels are compared to the richly detailed and constant dynamic Adventure levels) But yeah, I agree with the sentiment that there's a real risk with the physics focused games that level design becomes a nightmare. You see people just fly straight over giant chunks of level. Good for them. While whenever I hit an enemy, I fall of the main path and get stuck in some godless unintended bottom area desperatly fighting the physics to get back up. I feel sorry for the people who have to design levels for momentum based Sonic, there's a GIGANTIC diffrence in speed and height of Sonic's moveset depending on whether he stands still or comes in at full speed, and you need to acomendate both. Altough I noticed Sonic GT got it a little better under control this year then the version I saw last year. So there seems to be some progress. One problem I have, is....Almost all games are one zone demo's. And usually the first Zone. And Sonic's first zones usually don't have tight level design, they're more fun thrill rides. Which is good, but eventually you want things to tighten up and provide you with real level design and real specific challenges and set pieces and MEANING. But I don't get any of that, it's just one meaningless playground after another and I'm starting to feel nihilistic about it all. Oh boy, more loops to roll trough. What's the point? Not really the individual games's fault, but it does start to have a huge impact on my patience. It's saying something the Game Gear Sonic 2 remake was one of my favorite games this year, for the simple fact of it being a complete experience and the game gear games having a much more tight and economic level design, which became a desperatly needed breath of fresh air after Green Hill Zone round 596834. Also, as usual I have to shill Sonic Robo Blast 2 for being my personal choice in being the "Classic Sonic in 3d" fangame. Tight level design, plenty of freedom, mild physics. all nice and straight forward. It's my jam. Definitly prioritizes platforming over physics for the sake of physics.

Neat wit hthe trees moving in the wind, nice detail.

Just played it, surprisingly good. I get a kick out of the handdrawn art. And great remixes. Levels were much bigger then I anticipated. Yeah, looking forward to more, best of luck out there.

Somewhere deep inside in my darkest of hearts , I'm dissapointed it's Ian Flynn writing this and not Pontac and Graff. Aren't they the official game writers now? I'd LOVE to see those clowns struggle to say anything meaningful about the franchise. "Haha, Eggman, has like, "Egg" in his name, haha. I wonder if he eats eggs? When he eats eggs, would he be like "Oh, an Egg. I have Egg in my name. I must eat it now. " That would be funny, Lol. How many people have Egg in their name? Oh, I know one Egbert. I wonder if he eats eggs?" So, the En-speed-opo-speed-ia. Place your bets wether A ) Sonic Team had any real impact on this or it's just Iizuka stamping his "What, who? Sure, whatever" seal of approval on everything. B ) The VERY FIRST game released after the encyclopodia will already contradict half the book. Thus cementing Ian Flynn's status as Sonic Team's janitor eternally mopping up the mess they make. Bonus points if the contradictions come from utterly irrelevant side details. C ) Bonus points if this book will be written from a meta perspective rather then in-universe. "How did Sonic and Tails meet and become friends? Well, in late 1991, Sonic Team wanted to include a second playable character in the next game in production, 1992's Sonic 2 for the Sega Genesis (Megadrive overseas) from 1989 (Which is the year thar came after the year 1988). So Tails was made. So the second player can play a second character. Which is Tails. So is main player character "Sonic" friends with 2nd player character "Tails"? "What, who? Sure, whatever" " But yeah, I'll probably buy it. Bitter snarking is the most fun I get out of this franchise at this point. Shame Ian Flynn is actually compotent and cares, the book might be halfway decent now.

I think Iizuka mentioned in an interview he has no idea what to do with a Mania 2. Wait, let me check... "Speaking to Famitsu magazine Sonic Series Producer Takashi Iizuka stated that SEGA had effectively done "everything" it could with Sonic Mania." There's the exact words. So he ran out of ideas with Mania. Which baffles me. Just let the Mania development team worry about the specific content of a Mania 2, I bet they have tons of level ideas. Now, this is totally my speculation, but he comes across to me as someone who can only look at Mania as a Sonic Generations 2 kind of deal, the whole idea that you could make another Classic style game that's entirely new experience seems alien to them. At least that's how his "we've done everything we could do" comes across. "Hey, we did Green hill and chemcial plant zone, What else is there?" At the very least this fuels my suspicion that the concept of "Just make a damn Sonic game" is not a possible option in their mind. There always has to be some kind of grand gimicky crazy angle and theme to each game that's the true focus and identity of each game, with the Sonic gameplay just awkwardly plastered on as an afterthought. Hence why only when their wacky sceme of the week just HAPPENS to involve something Sonic esque, like Boost or Nostalgia, we get something resembling a proper Sonic game, but whenever their zany sceme of the week is something weird and alien, the entire game is going to be another Frankenstein monster of conflicting bodyparts. But that's just my interpretation. If anything, I really wish someone interviewed him more indepth about his thoughts on Mania. I'd love to see his opinion on why Sonic 4 got lukewarm reception where Mania exploded. I have severe doubts he understands what Mania is other then nostalgia parade #72.

I suppose a reason for them having the same body proportions is to make it easier to implant them into the gameplay. The closer they are to Sonic's size and presence, the easier they fit in the levels with him. Playing as characters like Big or Vector always feels a bit off for me for having entirely diffrent dimensions. So thanks to the cast occupying a more universal character template since those dark days, all those beloved characters can now be easily implanted into the modern games and join Sonic in the spotlight in many of the recent games, such as... ....uh.. that one where... uh.. Hmm... Racing games.....Where their dimensions don't matter since they're in a car... Uh. Errr.... Well, the mobile phone games.

I vastly prefer the PC version of the tracks. Mostly for nostalgia, that's the one I played in the day. But there's also more diffrence between the 2 acts.

Perhaps it'll take until next year's 30th anniversary celebration for them to reveal the games, now delayed to 2022. It'll be like 2016's dissapointing 25th anniversary party all over again. Altough at least they have an excuse this time.

Hey, good news, I found more exact sales numbers for Sonic Forces. Bad news, that's the salesnumbers for Sonic Forces and every other Sega game released around the same time. https://www.gamereactor.eu/sega-is-pleased-with-sonic-forces-sales/ So in the third quarter of the fiscal year, they sold 14.3 copies of games in retail. But that's including all games, the article specifically mentions Sonic Forces, Football Manager 2018 and Yakuza Kiwami 2. That article uses this report as a source, so have fun combing this one out for relevant information; https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/library/pdf/settlement/2018/20180207_3q_siryo_e_final.pdf I can't even find the 14.3 m copies statement in there. It does mention that Sonic Mania, Hokuto Ga Gotoku, Total War: Warhammer 2 and Valkyria Chronicles 4 were also sold that quarter and are persumingly included in the 14 million number. So 7 games sharing 14 million copies, so give or take 2 million per game depending on how popular each is. Also I'm not sure if this includes digital sales. It specifically says "retail" so I guess not. That would explain why Mania isn't mentioned among the main titles. So now we can put on our detective hats and try and figure out if any of the other games have their salesnumbers mentioned anywhere. Joy. Quickly searching around I find that Football manager 2018 had 1.2 million players in June, so at least that many copies sold (But does June still count as part of the Q3 sales Sega had?) I looked for WarHammer 2 salesnumbers but either get how much it sold on it's first day alone, or how the entire series in total sold and krrggrrr- Sorry, my brain crashed. It's not made for this sort of thing. One thing I CAN tell you is that you don't have to worry about Sega doing well, appearently they are the 4th richest game company in the world: http://www.thedailyrecords.com/2018-2019-2020-2021/world-famous-top-10-list/highest-selling-brands-products-companies-reviews/richest-video-game-companies-world-designers/16289/?fbclid=IwAR3iIML0wS0apa2vvN_3dmw3SktiuRMYV2DhmlackqxFPvAHftbKP3wr87s I did not expect that, I wasn't even expecting them in the top 20. And this was before the Sonic Movie's release. (....But also before the virus outbreak that's crushing Disney now.) Pretty sure it's their pachino and other entertainment doing more of the heavy lifting then the games, but still. Seeing them listed on top of Activision and Blizzard looks surreal to me. In fact, with nintendo, Sony and Xbox on top, it seems all the (Ex) main Console manufacters are the top dogs. Only Atari missing out.

Seems it's meant as a joke to mock people believing the rumor. It's cute how video's like Badnik mechanic's dismanteling video and that mockery video will only throw more coal and oil on the fire with the click baiting. Whether the rumors are true or false, there's gonna be a heck of a lot of obnoxious people yelling about the hypothetical Sonic Adventure remaster when the reveal panel comes. Poor Sega. Ah screw em. They had it coming with the endless cockteasing anyway.

Fair enough, this is a tough and murky subject. I am inconsistent on it myself, it isn't a black and white situation. Altough I think you misunderstood me on some details. It's not really about Plot reasons. I don't need a plot reason why Sonic goes trough Labyrinth zone. I know South Island is a location filled with ruins, and Sonic happens to traverse trough one. Sure, makes sense. Robotnik blocked off easier roads to Scrap Brain zone offscreen or something, sure, whatever. The location looks natural in the envirement, so it works well enough. The story can help, but it isn't relevant. And when I say "Story', I mean that in the loosest of sense. So not necesairely "10 minute cutscene of Tails reading a monologue about the lore of the world". It can be something as simple as a level transition, world map giving context, background details. Sonic CD is rich in detailed backgounds (Especially with the time travel component) and has a worldmap. That gives it weight, like SonicFan J says. And yes, Sonic Lost world also has a world map, but it doesn't seem very interested in giving shape to the levels I'm seeing in-game. They're not represented at all. So it never feels like a proper world map. It's a gameplay element, not anything designed to create meaning to the Hex. But I am inconsistent, now I think about it. I'm nicer toward Sonic Advance 2, that also has weird locations like Music plant. Tough it helps Sonic advance 2 isn't so tied to a specific location. And Music plant is just one zone in an otherwise more down to earth set of locations. So fine, there happens to be a weird music theme'd island smackdab in the middle of nowhere. Probably one of Robotnik's wacky scemes again. Not a big fan of it, but the game does have more grounded locations whenever it matters. And I welcome some visual variety, if you don't over do it. Like I said, all Lost world had to do was confirm The Hex is a world of illusions and the Zeti can screw around turning the landscape in any kind of weird visual for their amusement, and it can get away with anything. Context helps. And would help with the level design too. Imagine if the Zeti are actively using the illusions to screw with Sonic's head during the levels, especially the boss levels? Playing up his fears and desires? Could put a fun twist and a dramatic spin on the zany levels. Also not helping Lost World is that I'm really dissapointed the levels didn't have more wide open platform heavy area's for Sonic to really showcase his parkours abilities in. If I enjoyed the gameplay more and the levels felt more immersive, I think I would have been more tolerant toward them too. But that's an entirely diffrent matter. But what I missed the most with Lost World is something that ties it all together. Something that gives the Hex it's own identity. But The Zeti have no house, or palace, or city. Eggman didn't even have a base, other then lightbulbs in black room. Well okay, to be fair, the semi-final level has a fortress. Too bad it looks so aggresively Mario-esque with little to no hints of Eggman or Zeti personality to it that it's too little, too late. There's nothing that gives Hex it's own shape. No central location. Nothing that's HEX. It only has the level design, the weird tubes flying in the sky. In the end, it leaves me with nothing but the bare naked level tropes. Mario Lava land. Sonic Green Hill Zone land. And that's when I get dismissive toward them. Green Hill Zone for the sake of Green Hill Zone, rather then it being a legit landscape. To Sonic Lost World's credit, it does have a unique art style that's instantly recognisable. But it leaves nothing to the imagination. But yeah, this is all murky and I'm not even sure if I truly understand it, but something just feels off. Especially in the larger context of all the other Nostalgia heavy games around Lost world. It's not fair toward the game, but it having Generations, Mania and Lego Dimensions hovering around it doesn't help at all. It puts more pressure on Lost World to have a really strong identity, being the only Original Sonic game in a long time. I have been a lot more tolerant with Green Hill Zone esque locations in other Sonic games, Sonic advance 2 once again gets a pass. Seaside hill did, up until the spinoff games kept repeating it too often for my liking. Lost world has the really bad luck to be released inbetween all the nostalgia games that overplayed that trope, so like I said before, there was more pressure on that game to be unique then most other Sonic games have. It's a shame, I wish I could love Sonic Lost World, I love a lot of its ideas. And some of the reasons why I'm dismissive toward that game are not fair and are more about circumstances. But it all adds up. Fair or not.

Problem with Lost world is that it didn't do anything to create a real identity to the Lost world. I mean, it's the titular central setting, and could have been a great location. But Lost World never shows interest in making it's levels be anything more then random aesthetics in limbo with no thought or weight to them. Hence why a lot of people, including me, dismiss them as either nostalgia pandering, Mario Rip offs or utterly random. I would have had mor tolerance for these elements if there was any attempt to make the Lost world feel more like a genuine setting rather then just the generic Mario world themes with the occasional Casino or donut level inbetween. There's nothing wrong with these themes in and on themselves, in fact Lost world technically had a built-in reason for why the setting could be random- it's the Land of illusion according to the Japanese manual. Perfect oppurtunity to use that as a plot point, but alas. Nothing is made of it. They're just random shapes in the sky. Just "level" because it's "Videogame". An insult to a series with such rich envirements. Give me South Island, or Station Square, or Space Colony Arc, or Color's intergalactic amusement park any day of the week over "Shapes and colors in limbo" land. That, to me, is the real underlying reason why I'm dismissive and irritated by nostalgia pandering. If it's used legitmatly like a real location, just like the Classic games actually did, then fine. But there's this aggresive lack of context or thought to it. Aesthetics just for the sake of aesthetics that makes everything feel so soulless. ESPECIALLY when the setting seems to be a vital element to the game, like The Lost World. It's right there in the title, it's what the game is about. The lost continent. I don't mind revisiting Green Hill if we're legitamatly back in South island. Or it's a new Green Hill esque beach strip on a diffrent island. But that isn't how it's often used, it's just a soulless aestehtic floating in limbo that you revisit because it was in that other game too. But Mario does it, so Sonic should do it too. Sonic games seem to steal all the bad ideas from Mario games and none of the good ones.

Good video about dismanteling the Adventure rumors, altough it doesn't adress one detail bothering me. Every animated cartoon so far was to directly tie-in with a specific game in stores, Mania and Team Sonic racing. The Chao in space video is the only one that doesn't directly advertise a relevant game. Probably empty fanservice as usual, but I'm still wondering why Sega would invest so much money in a cartoon promoting obsolete elements from the series. A cartoon about the Wisps would make more sense then the Chao who haven't had relevance in over a decade, other then being character #15 in a spinoff game. I suppose the answer is that Sega wanted to ride the coattails of Star Wars, like that video implied. As an Adventure fan, this empty fanservice it pisses me off, tough. You spend all this time, energy and money hyping up Sonic Adventure stuff to keep Adventure fans engaged and hyped up....for products that has zero interest in furfilling these expectations beyond the most superficial surface level stuff. Great, thanks. I much prefer them to be honest. Using the dead decaying corpse of Sonic Adventure as a leash to drag me to another one of Sonic Team's mad delusions just makes me increasingly toxic and disrespectful toward Sega. Either do a Sonic Adventure thing, or throw the entire Adventure direction in the furnace so I can stop digging trough Sonic Team's trash to find a bone. But Sega desperatly wants to keep us around, so off we go buying the next insult like the dumb little zombies we are. This empty fanservice is driving me insane, like a cabbage restaurant filling the place with Pizza ovens, pizza llustrations, putting Pizza in big letters on all menu's, and then only serving cabbage still.

Hmm, I didn't really get the implication the original post intended to tie him no longer working at Sega to the reception of Lost World. Every description ends with the current status of the employed in question.