Have The Adventure Games Lost Credit Due To Other Gameplay Styles?

[Cortez]

To this day I can still play Sonic Adventure 2 Battle with my little brother quite happily, naturally the Sonic/Shadow gameplay tends to be the most frequented multiplayer mode with Hunting coming coming second and Shooting generally avoided altogether.

But it got me thinking how even 10 years down the line the Speed stages in this game are still fun to play, even the dullest of levels like Grind Race are great to dick about in.

Obviously a return to Adventure/2 style gameplay isn't going to happen anytime soon but if Sonic Team went with an entire game of Sonic style gameplay stages rather than bog it down with extra characters with their own gameplay styles would it appeal to you?

[Old dead account]

If it means more open levels, no 2D and no quickstep sections then sure. I just want rolling to work properly in 3D and SA style is the closest to it. I just want consistent gameplay.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Derpy the Snowmare

[Chili Dawg]

Yes, I'd be perfectly cool with an entire game of Adventure Sonic levels. But I'm not a good person to ask, honestly. I'll take anything if it's good.

[Blacklightning]

The main problem I have with the Adventure style at the moment is that the Modern style can essentially do almost everything that the former can, then throw in boost gameplay to make it feel extremely weak by comparison. Which... is kinda the same way I felt about the classic style when forced to compare them side by side in Generations, come to think of it.

That's not to say there isn't a thing or two that can't be learned from Adventure games and such, but the Modern games feel like more of a Fastest Thing Alive game than literally anything that came before them. It's kind of hard to compare it to other platformers, really.

[Your Vest Friend]

They've lost credit for me simply because they haven't aged well at all, gameplay styles be damned. Strangely enough, anything later than them seems to have aged much better (hmm, maybe I can have a second go at Secret Rings again and see if that fares any better. If Crash 1 can get better when I play it years later after my initial attempt...).

[The Weeb with No Name]

Sa2 was on the right track in refining the original adventure Sonic into, what could have been, the truest sense of bringing the old school into three dimensions.

Then that idea went through a fucking stroke with 06 and the whole thing was eventually deemed terminal. Maybe some day we will see adventure could have been. Hopefully.

[Scar]

Well, I love SA1, because its a fun game.

I totally despise SA2, and in my eyes its the point in time where the franchise started going into a slump. Everything except the Sonic/Shadow Stages are just not very well designed, or just not fun. Considering you're forced to play through Hunting and Shooting stages when playing the story mode, frustrated me more than anything. It ruined what could have been a great experience.

I can't say I ever liked SA2, or if I ever will like SA2. In my honest opinion, its basically a high-quality bad game like Unleashed. Not very many game breaking glitches or glitches at all, everything is refined to work as it should, but it just isn't a good, fun game.

SA1 is the opposite, its a low-quality good game. Its got questionable build quality, but is just better designed than its successor.

If we're to take anything from the Adventures, it should be Adventure 1. The level design mind you.

[Random Rhyme]

It would def appeal to me.

My main issue with the current gameplay is the boost so if we went back to the gameplay/scoring system and such without it then Id have no issues whatsoever.

[HeroMystic]

While I can understand Scar's sentiments with Sonic Adventure 2, I'll have to venomously disagree with him when he said we should only take from Adventure 1 when building a new game. Part of this is because I believe Adventure 2 to be a nice improvement over Adventure 1, but another reason is because when it comes to Adventure 1, I believe people (not just Scar, mind you. Even my best friend does this) look to Adventure with rose-tinted glasses and allow their nostalgia to take over, and therefore ignore the fact that Adventure 1 as a whole was a low quality buggy mess with two outright despicable gameplay sections, one "Meh" gameplay section (Treasure Hunting), and three decently fun gameplay sections (though honestly Sonic and Tails can be lumped into one). And as far as level design goes, they both fall flat on their asses when compared to Generations, which outright has the best level design to date.

The irony of this thread is we basically have been getting a "Sonic Only" Adventure style gameplay, just drastically improved upon which began with Unleashed. So there actually isn't much that can be plucked from the Adventure Series outside of Adventure 2's tighter controls and the rolling mechanics.

[ArtFenix]

As much of an improvement as was generations HD levels, Sonic adventure style is still the best 3D gameplay style and is without a doubt my favorite.

I'd LOVE if sonicteam brought back Sa style and mixed it with the current one. Just no 2D parts, please.

[Chaos Warp]

I'd love that, but I'm fine with them sticking with the Modern gameplay, because, at this point, I find it a little more fun. That's not to say they should not keep taking influence from the Adventures with the Modern style, low speed handling should definitely be more like the Adventures, and less path-based and more open level design.

[Sami]

Like The Cheese said, anything that the Adventure style can do can also be done in the modern style of gameplay. Speed? Better in the modern style. Platforming? Arguably better, but definitely not worse. Level design? Hell yeah it's better.

I find the separate gameplay styles to mar the experience in both games; making Adventure a mediocre game on the same level of Unleashed and Adventure 2 an overrated piece of trash that should never be looked at again for design ideas.

Oh, and SA2's Sonic levels were designed in a very similar way as Unleashed, but without the boost. Going back would just be underwhelming, to be honest. Especially considering Generations has given us the best 3D Sonic gameplay we've ever seen.

[Rinzler]

As much of an improvement as was generations HD levels, Sonic adventure style is still the best 3D gameplay style and is without a doubt my favorite.

I'd LOVE if sonicteam brought back Sa style and mixed it with the current one. Just no 2D parts, please.

*still doesn't understand why 2d is the devil but whatever*

[JezMM]

Basically just cut out the 2D sections and the current style is a pretty natural evolution from Sonic Adventure 2. If they're not planning on intergrating momentum-based speed into the franchise the boost is pretty much the next best thing.

Incidentally, there are no words for how much I'd love the next 3D Sonic to be 100% 3D - in that sense at least I would welcome the return of Adventure elements.

*still doesn't understand why 2d is the devil but whatever*

It's a crutch. If the 3D gameplay is truly great we shouldn't need 2D gameplay. Save that for - you know - the 2D games.

EDIT: Oh, and finally I'd really like to see proper hub worlds again. Make them about the size of the SA1 ones but with the intricacy of the Entrance Stages from Unleashed. Side quests and characters to talk to are around but totally optional, and a Crazy Taxi style arrow always points you to the next story stage so those who want to skip the hub worlds can enjoy what are essentially mini slightly slower platforming levels connecting the fast-paced thrill-ride ones together. Make them all connected for a sense of place, but with an RPG-esque "quick-travel" option on the pause menu for previously visited areas, again, to appease the hub-haters.

Edited January 1, 2012 by JezMM

[E-25]

And as far as level design goes, they both fall flat on their asses when compared to Generations, which outright has the best level design to date.

Edited January 1, 2012 by E-25

[JezMM]

Since when did Mario-escue level designing = great for the Sonic franchise?

(Blocky and hovering over an endless death pit; whereas Sonic stages should at least loop in places so that the traps and enemies are the threat instead of the controls. Sadly, the last Sonic level to do it was SA2's Pyramid Cave.)

Edited January 1, 2012 by JezMM

[Sami]

Since when did Mario-escue level designing = great for the Sonic franchise?

(Blocky and hovering over an endless death pit; whereas Sonic stages should at least loop in places so that the traps and enemies are the threat instead of the controls. Sadly, the last Sonic level to do it was SA2's Pyramid Cave.)

[Scar]

Since when did Mario-escue level designing = great for the Sonic franchise?

(Blocky and hovering over an endless death pit; whereas Sonic stages should at least loop in places so that the traps and enemies are the threat instead of the controls. Sadly, the last Sonic level to do it was SA2's Pyramid Cave.)

[Rinzler]

It's a crutch. If the 3D gameplay is truly great we shouldn't need 2D gameplay. Save that for - you know - the 2D games.

[E-25]

Blocky and hovering over a pit... I got... Sky Sanctuary - sort of - and... Crisis City both justified due to being set high-up. Honestly I can't think of a single Sonic game that's had Mario-esque level design, and if there was Generations isn't it (nor is Mario level design categorised as "blocky and over a pit").

Edited January 1, 2012 by E-25

[Rinzler]

Sky Sanctuary was fine technically, as it was an air level; but every other stage (except City Escape and Green Hill due to walls) was pretty much over a giant death pit.

[Scar]

Sky Sanctuary was fine technically, as it was an air level; but every other stage (except City Escape and Green Hill due to walls) was pretty much over a giant death pit.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Scar

[Sami]

Sky Sanctuary was fine technically, as it was an air level; but every other stage (except City Escape and Green Hill due to walls) was pretty much over a giant death pit.

(Maybe I haven't played much Mario; but most of what I recall from the older games, NSMB, and M3DL seemed pretty blocky to me)

[E-25]

What makes that "Mario-esque" design? The platforming itself is arranged and structured in a way very different to any Mario game. Having a bottomless pit =/= Mario level design.

[JezMM]

The "it's not needed" excuse could just as easily be applied to 3d gameplay.

Edited January 1, 2012 by JezMM