Sonic Generations: Official Spoiler Topic

[mclaren6]

The premise of the story itself is simple. The Time Eater comes up and fuck's up Sonic's Birthday. All his friends have been kidnapped, so he needs to sort things out and rescue them. Simple enough? Right, so tell me how you can develop that any more than it has been.

Fact is, the story has all the development it needs, there is no point in filling it with random extra dialogue and longer cutscenes that acheive nothing more than wasting time that could have been spent playing the game.

Well, Ehh,

Ok, you got me there

But there's a part of me that still says I'm dissapointed with story content, however I agree they shouldn't add extra cutscenes to fill the game,

You could say that I just wanted the story to be further developed,

[ArtFenix]

What's the problem? I think I'll quote this guy.

there good but TOO SHORT, and if there's only 13, we're getting barely any story content at all

That's what's the problem. I suppose pretty much every cutscene will be like that.

- "wow, Tails/Sonic, remember this place?"

- insert some more fanservice

- "Ok, buddy, here we go!" .....and the then goes gameplay.

I dunno, the dialog wasn't the best in Free Riders, but to me it sure was better than most of Colors. Anyway, there are better examples like storybook games.

Why do we need more cutscenes? More =/= better. SA1 had tons more cutscenes, but that didn't stop them from having terrible dialogue and horrible acting.

I didn't find them that terrible. Besides, Sa was the very first 3D main game and the first game to have such cutscenes, story (very developed one btw), voice acting and whatnot. It was very innovative for a Sonic game for that time so I think all can be forgiven.

Fact is, the story has all the development it needs, there is no point in filling it with random extra dialogue and longer cutscenes that acheive nothing more than wasting time that could have been spent playing the game.

You can't deny the story could be handled better unless you already tried to add things and it didn't work. I think the cutscenes could be much better and a bit longer, yes. And that length could be filled with something of value.

Edited October 28, 2011 by ArtFenix

[Big Boss (legendsneverdie)]

I didn't find them that terrible. Besides, Sa was the very first 3D main game and the first game to have such cutscenes, story (very developed one btw), voice acting and whatnot. It was very innovative for a Sonic game for that time so I think all can be forgiven.

SA2's script, plot and voice acting were at least as horrendously awful as that of it's predcessor, and was simmilarly overloaded on cutscenes, and that was two years after the jump to 3D, what its excuse?

Edited October 28, 2011 by Wearied Flames

[Agent York]

I will also point out the cutscenes don't include every cutscene in the game. If no one has noticed, there's a introductory and outro cutscene to each boss that is not in the viewer (but are in the boss battles when you select them). Some of the friend missions also start with a short introductory cutscene, and maybe an outro as well. Let's reference the cutscene list.

-11 CG Cutscenes

-1 Credits

-19 Story Cutscenes

-17 NPC Character Cutscenes

-11 Rival Cutscenes

-14 Viewer Cutscenes

And the specific lists of CG cutscenes:

Specific List of CG Cutscenes:

-Opening Movie

-Story Begin

-After Green Hill Zone

-After Area 1

-After Death Egg

-After Area 2

-After Perfect Chaos

-After Area 3

-After New Eggrobo

-Before time Eater

-Story End

Now this isn't entirely unexpected it, there are 14 viewer cutscenes in the demo. Maybe there's a hidden cutscene, maybe a cutscene was removed, I don't know. But the number of "Viewer" cutscenes definitely does closely reflect to how many cutscenes you can freely "view" from the game. But I might add that there is a big potential possibility how the viewer works is that it plays cutscenes together. Here's what I mean.

In the first cutscene on the viewer, it plays a few scenes. That might be counted as one cutscene, or maybe two for the story total as it also shows Sonic entering White World. HOWEVER, notice that there is NO cutscene in the Viewer about Sonic rescuing Tails, or cutscene of Metal Sonic. Now we have seen Metal Sonic's cutscenes, but my guess is that you can't see Sonic rescuing Tails as it's a cutscene that will play with a mission. Like how you can't view the cutscenes with the bosses without fighting the bosses, maybe you can't view cutscenes aligned with certain missions/stages in the game. Instead, you have to play the mission/stage to see them. We know it already does this for the boss cutscenes, it could very well be here as well, ESPECIALLY if those cutscenes are not pre-rendered. I say this since in the boss cutscenes, there is no loading after they play or before the outro plays so those are done in-game and are not pre-rendered, which would be why you can't view them in the viewer as they are part of the game, and thus you may only be able to view them by playing missions in the game. This is also supported since when you start character missions they have an intro cutscene, short, but these could also be extended if it's a moment integral to the game. Thus there are indefinitely more cutscenes, we already know there is at least the intro cutscenes and the boss cutscenes, but there may be more that we don't know of and aren't in the viewer.

All the same, I also wouldn't judge the story yet. For all we know the Time Eater rounds are severely epic, I would argue that while the boss cutscenes are short, they are epic.

Now to hope I typed this up well enough in my tiredness and hit the hay...

Edited October 28, 2011 by Time Eater

[Scar]

What's the problem? I think I'll quote this guy.

That's what's the problem. I suppose pretty much every cutscene will be like that.

- "wow, Tails/Sonic, remember this place?"

- insert some more fanservice

- "Ok, buddy, here we go!" .....and the then goes gameplay.

Well fanservice is the point of the whole game, not just the story. Beyond that, and I'm struggling to think of things to add to the cutscenes. There isn't much going on. Sonic doesn't actually know what's happening in the cutscenes we've seen so far. There isn't much else to say or do.

I dunno, the dialog wasn't the best in Free Riders, but to me it sure was better than most of Colors. Anyway, there are better examples like storybook games.

I didn't find them that terrible. Besides, Sa was the very first 3D main game and the first game to have such cutscenes, story (very developed one btw), voice acting and whatnot. It was very innovative for a Sonic game for that time so I think all can be forgiven.

Yeah, yeah. I'll take that excuse along with translation issues for SA1. However, games like Shadow and 06, have absolutely no excuse for their over-abundance of pointless cutscenes and boring expository dialogue, which was terribly written and acted to boot. Shadow and 06 had far more cutscenes and a whole lot more dialogue than SA2, yet overall the latter had a much tighter narrative. OK, so SA2's dialogue wasn't that good either, but it was better than the shit in Shadow and 06.

All I'm saying is more =/= better.

You can't deny the story could be handled better unless you already tried to add things and it didn't work. I think the cutscenes could be much better and a bit longer, yes. And that length could be filled with something of value.

Oh I'm sure it could, but how. What can you add to the cutscenes to make them mean more? I suppose you could add in a line of dialogue of Sonic and Tails speculating what exactly the Time Eater is......but that can only really occur in a single cutscenes where it would add a couple minutes at most. Or it could be split over several cutscenes, and then it wouldn't add much more than a few dozen seconds.

[ArtFenix]

SA2's script, plot and voice acting were at least as horrendously awful as that of it's predcessor, and was simmilarly overloaded on cutscenes

Edited October 28, 2011 by ArtFenix

[Big Boss (legendsneverdie)]

Sa2 cutscenes were great. I will not discuss that. I saw nothing "horrendously awful" in them at all. I really find them great.

[Agent York]

I just noticed no one here has posted it, but the one person we know has the game for sure, Ceej64, has spoken a bit on how you unlock music in the game.

Wanted to clarify some statements on the unlocks. Red Rings unlock Artwork for sure, but I'm pretty sure it's not music. Clearing certain stages unlocks music, and when you clear a CHALLENGE stage a "bell" appears above the stage entrance. Ringing the bell releases a music note from the bell. Chase it down and grab it to unlock either art or songs.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Time Eater

[Ultimate Waffle]

Sa2 cutscenes were great. I will not discuss that. I saw nothing "horrendously awful" in them at all. I really find them great

[Soniman]

Never before have I seen story writers for a Sonic game be so damn controversial. Hell we never even got to the meat of the story and people are already complaining about them.

Sometimes you just cant win with some people. :/

Edited October 28, 2011 by Soniman032-

[Indigo Rush]

The cutscenes are just there to give a superfluous excuse as to why we have two different approaches to Sonic gameplay tackling iconic levels from each major game in the past 20 years. We do NOT need a 5 minute long exposition for this.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Indigo Generations

[Legendary Emerald]

The cutscenes are just there to give a superfluous excuse as to why we have two different approaches at Sonic gameplay tackling iconic levels from each major game in the past 20 years. We do NOT need a 5 minute long exposition for this.

[Indigo Rush]

On a completely unrelated note (still related to spoillerrrrsssssss!!!)...

Take a look at the opening cutscene again. Right at the moment where the Time Eater appears and blows away all of the food and drinks off of the table (just before it starts sucking up Sonic's friends) you can see Cheese flying back a bit, but with a "!" above his head. It's actually easier to catch in real-time than if you slowed it down or tried to freeze-frame it. Very nice attention to detail. I may have stated this before, but outside of the actual Chao Garden, I think this is the first time in a cutscene where we can see the chao's emoticons. Very nice!

Edited October 28, 2011 by Indigo Generations

[TheNicollette30]

Not to act like a mod or anything, but can you take the screamo competition elsewhere? It's not really relevant

Yes Gamestop would get it but they wouldn't release it early as they can get in huge trouble.

[Your Vest Friend]

I am not asking for 5 minutes of exposition on a plot point that can be done in a few seconds, I just feel that the cutscenes we've seen so far have no soul to them, they feel empty and hollow. There's no viable interaction between characters, there's just nostalgia grabs up the wazoo. I understand that this is the 20th anniversary game, but it feels like an opportunity has been absolutely wasted. I can easily change my mind if I see things to the contrary, but if you lot can make your praises in advance, I too can make my claim.

Now then, sorry for disturbing you folks, carry on.

[Winston]

I honestly could care less about the amount of cutscenes. I just want an awesome game with spectacular gameplay.

[Jeffhog]

But Cheese's ball morphing into a heart WAS TOO HEARTMELTINGLY ADORABLE.

I miss Chao.. ;w;

[Mega]

Dunno if it's been posted, but. Full rooftop run gameplay for Modern in low quality. Edited October 28, 2011 by Mega

[Legendary Emerald]

Dunno if it's been posted, but. Full rooftop run gameplay for Modern in low quality.

So old it's decrepit.

[SilentDoom]

So old it's decrepit.

Ah the hype cycle of video games on the Internet nearing release. A video less than a week old is now "decrepit". Lol

[Mega]

Ah, alright. I was just trying to dig for some new uploads in case anything else got leaked. @_@ So far, no luck. People just keep reposting the same cutscenes from yesteday.

[ArtFenix]

I am not asking for 5 minutes of exposition on a plot point that can be done in a few seconds, I just feel that the cutscenes we've seen so far have no soul to them, they feel empty and hollow. There's no viable interaction between characters, there's just nostalgia grabs up the wazoo. I understand that this is the 20th anniversary game, but it feels like an opportunity has been absolutely wasted. I can easily change my mind if I see things to the contrary, but if you lot can make your praises in advance, I too can make my claim.

Now then, sorry for disturbing you folks, carry on.

For some mysterious reason most of the folks here don't get that simple thing. Thank you for clearing that up for them.

That's exactly how I feel about the cutscenes I saw.

The most obvious reason for this reaction is because the game is about to come out. Same thing happened with Colors. It was as if the game was godly or something. Then some time later topics with criticism started to appear. Now there are a lot of them and if backthen, when somebody wasn't satisfied with the humor and other things about the story, people would argue and make a fool of that person. Now there are a lot people who agrees that, for example, the jokes were awful and there were many missed opportunities in cutscenes.

I'll see what you say about Generations cutscenes and story execution say, half a year later. That's my last post in this topic concerning my disappointment because of cutscenes.

Edited October 28, 2011 by ArtFenix

[Soniman]

. There's no viable interaction between characters, there's just nostalgia grabs up the wazoo.

Excuse my french but...

HOW THE HELL DO YOU FUCKING KNOW THIS?!!

Three cutscenes people THREE, I know im sounding like a broken fucking record here but for the love of god, can you at least wait for the entire story to be shown before ripping the Colors writers a new one (again)??

Edited October 28, 2011 by Soniman032-

[Dark Qiviut]

Regarding the minimal cutscenes, I can sort of understand where they're coming from. Currently, the scenes are absolutely short and only pinpoint you where to go next. After you're done with one area, you get a cutscene, and you're moving after about 30 seconds. I wouldn't mind seeing scenes that are a bit more full-fledged with a bit more going on.

But is that a bad thing? When it's intended, well-written, and well-executed, absolutely not. One issue with Colors's story was that there was so much going on out of intent, but they scaled it back to make it a "grab-and-go" type of game. They cut out many scenes about halfway in its short development when SCWii was supposed to be more of a full-fledged plot, and the transition wasn't well-executed. This same criticism applies to Heroes, except they apparently didn't cut the scenes down. So far, Generations seems to intentionally make the story brief since its initiation, and it's working. The characterizations and writing, like it or not, are very good. Calling the scenes and story "soulless" as of now is ridiculous. Good writing doesn't have to be only dialogue. It's the usage of gestures, reactions, and atmosphere, too. There was plenty of that in the first scene, and it was brilliant. You didn't have too little to make it pointless, but didn't have too much to make it boring. It was just right. The same point can be made in the following scenes with Tails's reaction to Classic Sonic in the second cutscene and the brief dialogue in Chemical Plant in the third scene (which is currently the weakest one).

I've said it once before, I don't care about its simplicity or complexity, dark or lighthearted, as long as the writing is good! Currently, there is plenty of it, and the scenes have the smart humor from Eggman's PA announcements, Black Knight, and Unleashed. I hope the rest of the scenes in SG HD retain the clever writing.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Dark Qiviut

[Voyant]

3 cutscenes = knowing the entire plot.

Its like people have no idea what pacing is.

Stories don't have to start off BLOWING SHIT THE FUCK UP to be a good story either.

Edited October 28, 2011 by V0YANT