A Hypothetical (And Flawed) Anatomy of a Sonic Action-Platforming RPG

[\Lennox]

That's right, I'm pretty ambitious.

So anyway, after the disaster-fest that was Sonic Chronicles, the confusing EXP system and failed beat-em-up night stages of Sonic Unleashed as well as the hub worlds of Sonic Adventure, I decided to try and reconstruct them into a platforming Action-RPG.

Earlier, I read the topic on whether or not to expand or linearize the Zones in Sonic games, and I came across an image Diogenes created that would be suitable for several hub-based and even action-based areas that could probably create a Sonic-styled RPG. Of course, this will have to drop several of the 2.5D elements introduced by games with incarnations of the Hedgehog Engine (Colors used parts of it for shaders and vertexes apparently, so it can be called a Hedgehog Engine Lite) in order to make room for exploration.

Here is the aforementioned image from Diogenes:

Of course, this gameplay will have to be suited to the various Zone clichés of the Sonic games, such as rolling green hills, cool and edgy ice caps, urbanized areas with speedy highways and industrial fortresses possibly in chemical plants. When I thought of the gameplay for a Sonic-styled RPG,

I imagined the transition from hub to action Zone should be eliminated entirely. Final Fantasy XIII-2 always used a checkpoint that was able to determine your next destination, and a checkpoint like that could trigger an event full of battles and high speed platforming skills. The event would then become an Act of a Zone, much like the Classic Sonic games. Besides, even without the RPG elements, City Escape Zone sounds very catchy (because of that goddamn z-sound).

To increase exploration, the hubs could have multiple floors: like running along the sides of Spagonia's Clock Tower, to speeding and battling all those Eggman's robots in its hypothetical catacombs. Some Acts can take place in one floor, or occur throughout all levels of a Zone.

That way, the hub Zones become the Zones in that enemies appear on sight, and a goal point is placed somewhere around a city. And of course, there has to be an ending checkpoint complete with a goal ring, but the goal ring won't appear unless you've completed the objective, which may very well be, make the goal ring appear, defeat all the enemies or save the citizens in distress.

Also, for every RPG, there is a party. However, Sonic will be the one mostly in control, relying on AI party members for assistance, like Tails for his flight and gadget usage, Knuckles for digging and battling hordes, Amy for seeking treasure through tarot cards and protecting Sonic like a madwoman, while Cream and Cheese could potentially be like healers and enemy hindrances.

Each party member also has its own set of stats, which are the following:

Ring Capacity

The Ring Capacity stat is equivalent to the Hit Points stat, but it only determines the sufficient amount of Rings a character can carry in order to get sufficient Ring Energy. If the Rings carried by a character are over the capacity stat, then they act like a temporary HP boosting item that lasts until the character reaches the goal ring. All rings will go to a Ring Bank, which can be redeemed for special items.

Ring Energy

The Ring Energy stat is equivalent to the Tech Points stat, but if it drops to zero, the character doesn't die. The character only dies if he is hit withzero Ring Capacity, and it is determined from the energy number of rings attained throughout the whole act, and it also includes rings which are lost. One can consume Ring Energy through boosting or carrying out special attacks called Trick Attacks.

Attack

The Attack stat is one of a few self-explanatory stats. All the enemies have HP bars, and within those HP bars, the attack stat then subtracts the damage also determined by the defense stat from the current HP. For RPG veterans, this determines of course how much damage you do towards enemies, and for certain characters that collect Rings (like Shadow), how much you subtract from the current Ring Capacity.

Defense

The Defense stat is also self-explanatory, but it has more to become adapted for a Sonic game. This stat is responsible for decreasing the amount of damage you get through an enemies' Attack stat, which decreases your current Ring Capacity. This true damage is a hidden stat, as it depends on the character it hits. The defense stat also determines how long it takes for you to drown underwater.

Speed

The Speed stat for a Sonic RPG is a little tricky to define. Of course Sonic moves fast, but as you play through the game, he can become much faster. This stat also determines how well you can move beyond obstacles and how much Ring Energy can be consumed by boosting. High speed means less Ring Energy consumption, and when in the Super form, a lower rate of decreasing the Ring Capacity.

Attitude

The Attitude stat is much like the Luck stat in other traditional RPG's, where one can determine the possibility of critical hit rates and avoiding enemy attacks. The damage from a critical hit is 1.5 times the attack stat, and this carries over to Trick Attacks. It can also determine whether or not EXP gain is doubled, how long your shields last and how long you remain invincible.

Like any RPG, these party members also have classes as well. Each character type has its own set of classes and they are built to work with each other.

Some of these classes can belong to a certain theme, some of them involve wearing different outfits, and some of them can even become continuity nods to different Sonic games. Each class has its own little set of bonuses, and you can merge skills from other classes and even set a secondary class. For now, I'm not so sure what classes should go to which, but they should be able to apply to each character to create a party whose strengths build on each other's weaknesses.

In case there are any flaws, please change this if you want, or direct any comments here!

[Chaos Warp]

Some things are unclear. What type of movesets would the character's have? You mentioned something about making the boost more powerful, but nothing else about movesets.

Edited April 21, 2012 by Chaos Warp

[\Lennox]

Some things are unclear. What type of movesets would the character's have? You mentioned something about making the boost more powerful, but nothing else about movesets.

Which brings me to my post on Trick Attacks. Trick Attacks, and in extreme cases Homing Shots involve using the inherent abilities of the character manifested in their character base. Many of these attacks correspond to certain classes, and some of these attacks can end up belonging only to one character in the game, which is the case with all Homing Shots.

All types

Basic

Rider

Shuffler

Super

MOnimal

Speed

Wielder

Ninja

Ultimate

Flight

Flyknight

Blacksmith

Spy

Power

Gladiator

Fighter

Augmenter

Caster

Lakelady

Mender

Chemist

Support

Chaoist

Summoner

Controller

Of course, every character has an attack button which enables them to carry out their default attack that doesn't consume Ring Energy. For each type of character, the button and attack varies.

Default

Homing Attack

Insta-Shield

Spin Dash

Boost

Trick Attacks (can vary for class/character)

Blue/Black/Orange Tornado (Blue for Sonic, Black for Shadow, Orange for Mighty, base Trick)

Morning Glory (MOnimal-class move, doubles attack speed for a brief moment)

Falling Free (Rider-class move, uses EX Gear to attack enemies from great heights)

Soul Break (for Sonic, a Wielder-class move that uses a sword to unleash great damage)

Chaos Blast (for Shadow, an Ultimate-class move that uses Chaos energy siphoned from Ring Energy)

Kiryoku Da (for Espio, a Ninja-class move that uses kiryoku and breaks the laws of physics)

Homing Shots

Sonic Wind (for Sonic, any class)

Chaos Spear (for Shadow, any class)

Abareru Nagari (for Espio, any class)

This by the way, is just some of the moves and classes I'd like to see in the final game.

[Dwapook]

Interesting.. How far are you planning on developing this concept?

Edited May 1, 2012 by Dwapook

[Sean]

Since this topic has more to do with your idea for a game and not an open discussion, I'm moving this to creative works where it can be discussed.

[Jetronic]

Since this topic has more to do with your idea for a game and not an open discussion, I'm moving this to creative works where it can be discussed.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Jetronic

[LATER BUDDY]

Well I tried moving this one here in the Sonic forum to the trash, but it just moves the one in the Misc. section O_o? Inb4 this post goes to the misc. section as well.

EDIT: Nevermind, he must have allowed the option to have the link back to here, that's why there's seemingly two of them, XD. Aaaaa it's late.

[Chaos Fusion]

Sounds pretty good so far. I also am making a Sonic RPG and a lot of the features you mentioned do sound similar to what I'm doing. (Party Member Abilites, how stats are used.) Though there are some differences with what I would have done, it really depends if this is like Crisis Core where you only control 1 player only or Persona and Chrono Trigger where you control a party.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Chaos Fusion

[\Lennox]

It really depends if this is like Crisis Core where you only control 1 player only or Persona and Chrono Trigger where you control a party.

Ahh, you control a party. You can switch them around, not unlike Sonic Heroes. However, many of their abilities are the same, except for a few unique commands that only apply to their character type, like the Steal command of Thieves and Jump command of Dragoons in the Final Fantasy series. Even then, their Trick Attacks may exclusively apply to characters themselves. However, all of them can jump, boost, and even spin-dash in their own special way.

If you've played Seiken Densetsu 3 or Secret of Mana, you can observe that you can change who is in command with the simple press of a button, and every character has their own separate menu for techniques that they learn throughout the game. In both games, players command teams of three, but for this scenario, there must be teams of five characters: one of each category to balance everything.

Speed-based characters have of course, the quintessential Homing Attack that auto-aim at the enemy. Along with the Quick Step and Quick Time techniques available at their disposal, these characters mostly rely on their speed and attack stats in order to smash robots to oblivion. They can also perform Tricks such as the Triangle Jump, Light Dash and also the Stomp, all of which utilize Ring Energy.

Power-based characters however, smash things in order to destroy them, or at least break them apart. Their high defense and attack make them very formidable foes, yet they much more slowly, but their sheer obstacle-bashing power compensates. Their Tricks can range from the Wall Climb and the Hang Glide all the way to the Fire Dunk and Spiral Uppercut, which also utilize Ring Energy.

Flight-based characters have to fly in battle and they are known for manipulating electrical currents in the sky with their Thunder Shoot. These characters are known for their speed and defense, but their attack isn't as high. Just because a character can fly doesn't mean they're flight based, as they have the Rhythm Spin, Dummy Rings, Electron Boost and the Nosedive for Ring Energy-using Tricks.

Caster-based characters often Cast spells of the elements Fire, Water, Lightning, Air and Earth, use items of mysticism like Tarot Cards, or they can use their Telekinesis to manipulate the reality around them. These characters have a high Ring Energy stat along with speed, but their defenses are low. Their Tricks are Warp, Elemental Crash and Brain Blast, and they use Ring Energy as well.

Chao-based characters Summon Chao as a part of their battle repertoire. They are known for doing all sorts of things with Chao, such as making them Willfully Attack. Their Ring Energy and defense stats are also very high, but their attack is rather low. Other tricks for this class are Helpful Healing, Assist, Chaos Barrage (!) and even Light Rejuvenation, which use Ring Energy to be carried out.

I've also prepared a controller mapping set-up for the Wii U, if the game were to be played for that exact console:

Face Buttons:

A - Jump, double-tap for Homing Attack/Fly/Smash/Cast/Summon

B - Use current Trick Attack, uses Ring Energy

X - Boost, uses Ring Energy

Y - Open Inventory

Shoulder Buttons:

L - Switch characters A

R - Switch characters B

Zr - Lock-on a target (much like Zelda's Z-Targeting)

D-Pad:

Up - Maps Trick Attack 1 to B

Down - Maps Trick Attack 2 to B

Left - Maps Trick Attack 3 to B

Right - Maps Trick Attack 4 to B

Circle Pads:

Left - Moves character in any direction

Right - Controls camera

Touchscreen:

Single tap - Highlights a certain area on map

Double tap - Automatically pans camera to that area

Drag - Moves map around, wherever you want