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What did Generations and colors story do right?


KHCast

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So Generations and Color story gets a lot of flack for being pretty poorly executed stories that had lots of potential. Many complain about how kiddish and basic and bare bones they were. But what do you think they got right in those games that you might want carried over to the next game. The characterization of the characters from both games is pretty great. Better than past attempts.

Generations: With what story was there I will say that the references they made were pretty amazing. We just needed more of that and a meatier plot. Also the Scene with Sonic finding out the Eggman was behind the whole thing was pretty well executed. I'd have to say what I'd want to be carried over into the next game overall is the Eggman hilarity and craziness that was in this game. That's about it.

Colors: Well the overall plot of the game seemed pretty good and Sonic-y. The fact they were able to crate a plot that didn't involve the chaos emeralds was also shocking to me. I liked it. The overall atmosphere that this game had is what I'd like to be carried over to future games. That Sonic-y goofy, cartoony atmosphere. Oh and Orbot and Cubots roles.

Edited by Sora
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I can't say anything for Colors, as I hardly remember any of its story, but here's my view on Generations. Generations, I think, if it had a bit more depth and included a few more characters as mains, could have turned out to be amazing. It had a good foundation, it's just that the rest of it wasn't that...good, you might say.

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I still stand by my views on Colors story being a charming and fun little adventure and not meant to be a huge, epic production, it feels like an actual saturday morning cartoon in that sense and I love it for that, even if it could have been better in some areas.

For Generations, not much was there, but I will say that the ending with the Time Eater reveal and everything after that was pretty great in my book, and the references that we did get made me giggle like a fanboy.

Edited by The Noodle
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Colours story was a bit corny in places, but despite the cheesiness it was definitely not as poorly written as Sonic Heroes and ShtH.

Generations though...well, the plot lacked so many cool references and things they could have fit in easily. They only did it a few times (they were great btw!), and most of them were only at the beginning of the game. It all felt very rushed and tacked on. =/

Edit: Doh, should've mentioned good things. Well the games arent badly written, the stories are lighthearted fare instead of depressing evil crap, Sonic has a great personality! And hmm..oh yeah, some of the jokes actually gave me a good chuckle. :3

Edited by Gabz Girl
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1. Proper respect for Eggman as a villain. Neither game felt a need to insert some bigger threat beyond Eggman's schemes. Colors stuck with Eggman from start to finish (the DS game excluded), and Generations kind of reversed the usual progression, making it seem like a non-Eggman threat but revealing it to be Eggman all along.

2. Character interaction. While it's unfortunately limited, it's better written than nearly every game that came before. The characters actually converse believably given their relationships, especially Sonic and Tails in Colors.

3. The humor...sometimes. Yeah, a lot of Colors' jokes fell flat. A lot. But when they weren't doing oh-so-random translator jokes they had some legitimately good lines, which kept the game light and playful.

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Colors gave the characters life, personality, and some sense of humor.

Generations did nothing. Nothing at all.

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The creative references that were in generations that older fans should have picked up is pretty neat. Modern Eggman finding the God-like creature while Classic created the robot pieces to create this thing. It shows that the writers really did their history homework.

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I'd say they did most things right. Most of their problems lie in what they didn't do.

I mean the characterization is good. Colors and Generations are probably the only Sonic games where the dialogue even sounds close to natural to me. Tails and Sonic actually seem like bros, Eggman is a capable threat, yet still a bit of a goofball, and he clearly has fun with his villainy. And Generations had a couple of nice little references to the past.

The problem is that they finally decided to get quality writing when they decided to make plots that didn't require it. Let these guys do the writing for a game with a slightly grander plot and I think we could be on to a winner.

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The characterization is definitely miles ahead of what we had before, and the dialogue is a lot more self-aware.

For the little character interaction there is, it's far better than what we've had in the past. Add the fact that the general atmosphere is no near as dreary and bleak as it used to be, then I can say without a shadow of a doubt these are the best writers.

.....and now I await the "Colors story isn't as good as X story" crowd.

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I agree with the idea that Sonic Colors felt like a Saturday morning cartoon, and it was really enjoyable. Aside from the lack of explaination as to why Yacker disappeared I had no problem with the story really. All the jokes didn't bother me any; I didn't really find them bad nor excessive. I found the story light yet enjoyable with good characterization of the all the characters to a degree.

- The Bromance between Sonic and Tails. How utterly wonderful it was. The way Tails pushed Sonic out of the way of Eggman's mind-control weapon. Tails, in all likelihood would not have known what Eggman's weapon would have done. So it speaks volumes about Tails' bravery. I ate up Sonic's visible protective instincts like an Aero bar. Just look at the way he places himself in front of Tails when the Egg Nega Wisp mech shows up and the way his arm is in front of Tails as if shielding him;

Indeed. Once again Verte hit the nail on the head with her post regarding Sonic and Tails' bromance. Just wanted to touch on briefly on the cutscene after Tails was struck with the mind-control beam and it wore off:

SonicTails.jpg

As quick as it was, through that cutscene we were able to see several emotions from Sonic. In the picture above, on can see Sonic's geniune concern and worry for Tails, and hear it in Sonic's tone when he said: "Tails, buddy, are you alright?" Moments before Sonic was geniunely ticked off at Eggman when he asked "What have you done to him?" I thought that cutscene was very well written among others in the game displaying various emotions from Sonic. From that cutscene to Sonic and Tails ribbing each other to the infamous brofist at the end of the game, the bromance was well portrayed and that excellent portrayal needs to be seen in Sonic games in the future.

Now as for Sonic Generations, my initial answer was it did "nothing" right story-wise. But then thinking about it again, saying nothing would negate the cool references to past games, which truly delighted me. So aside from that, nothing was right story-wise, in my opinion. It was too shallow, leaving me with a couple of unanswered questions too many along with blown opportunities for interaction between Sonic and his friends.

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Generations story is one of the worst and lackluster stories out there. Beginning made me excited but right after Chemical Plant story just disappered. It had potential that was wasted. All these references they could make in after-stage cutscenes... but nooo. They had to cut it out and shallow the story. Opening, Chemical Plant cutscene and last three cutscenes showed what entire game's story should have been.

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Hm... I think Tails was very good in both Colors and Generations and... well, Eggman's announcement lines in Colors were great. And.. That's all I can think of. Pretty much everything else I didn't like at all.

Generations story is one of the worst and lackluster stories out there. Beginning made me excited but right after Chemical Plant story just disappered. It had potential that was wasted. All these references they could make in after-stage cutscenes... but nooo. They had to cut it out and shallow the story. Opening, Chemical Plant cutscene and last three cutscenes showed what entire game's story should have been.

That's exactly what I think too.

Edited by ArtFenix
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SonicTails.jpg

As quick as it was, through that cutscene we were able to see several emotions from Sonic. In the picture above, on can see Sonic's geniune concern and worry for Tails,

Honestly, I just see Sonic's face being Sonic's face.

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Colors and Generations share a few things: lost potential and a feeling that something was cut out for the sake of appearing "SIMPLE AND LIGHTHEARTED".

In Colors' case, it was that I couldn't give a crap about Yacker or the Wisps. In Unleashed (fan of it, and it is a good example IMO, don't judge me), Chip established himself to me as a lovable, very hungry, and cowardly character who eventually took responsibility of his duties with the full knowledge that he might not be able to meet Sonic again.

Yacker? he speaks with body language, he's playful... that's it. The fact that we don't even see cutscenes that make us feel sorry for his predicament and even go so far as to not show where the hell he went near the end of the game doesn't help matters.

Generations was hacked into two parts; THERE IS NO MIDDLE. Granted, you could argue that the middle of Unleashed was kinda weak, since it was mostly cutscenes of Sonic and Chip restoring the temples and nothing of interest occurred until Adabat, but at least it HAD A MIDDLE.

Generations had a beginning, and a pretty decent one at that, but then...nothing until the end. There is this giant gulf in between the Death Egg Robot and Planet Wisp. The Rival battles, while enjoyable, tended to not make sense because there was no explanation as to whether you were fighting the past versions of Shadow or Silver or the modern ones. The fact that you TALK to the rivals before you battle suggests that you are fighting the present ones, but the battles don't make sense because why would you be wasting your time battling each other when you could clearly be HELPING each other find a way out of the White Space?

I would have even settled for a simple "You fight the rivals because they are brainwashed and need to be released by your speediness which somehow undoes brainwashing" or "You fight them because the rivals want to test to see if you are ready to delve deeper into the White Space, with the exception of Metal Sonic, who just wants to kill you." SOMETHING, ANYTHING!

I CAN ONLY SAY THIS: CUTTING OUT STUFF THAT MIGHT BE RELEVANT TO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (YACKER) OR FOR THE SAKE OF BEING "SIMPLE" (GENERATIONS' PLOT) DOES NOT ENDEAR TO ME IN ANYWAY SHAPE OR FORM!

I'm biased because after Unleashed, this stuff feels diluted.

P.S. This isn't a rant against the games themselves. I never played Colors, so I can't judge it's gameplay, and I regularly replay Generations because it's fun, but this "STORY MUST BE HACKED APART OR NOT EXPLAINED BECAUSE IT MIGHT SEEM TOO COMPLEX" thing drives me up the wall.

But to answer the topic question: not much to be perfectly honest. Both stories bored me due to the things mentioned in my rant.

Edited by Enigmatus
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Not really going to talk much about Generations. There wasn't much plot in there to begin with.and as such there is little to really talk about. Well, I suppose there is one thing - the references. Need to be more of these, not in the same context as Generations obviously, but as and when the characters encounter a previously visited location, they should mention it briefly. To that end, events in new games don't have to necessarily be in previously visited locations for the reference, just nearby. For instance, if they're on Angel Island and they're going somewhere, they may reference Hydrocity or something.

Anyway onto Colours.

Probably the best example of how to create a story backbone. The fundamental narrative theme behind Colours is absolutely simple and that is to be brutally honest the best thing to do. With something simple as "Harvesting the energy from an alien species and turning them into what are, effectively, zombies" you can either go the Colours route and have a relatively thin story with some kid-friendly humour and some decent character interactions. However, you can also add to it and flesh it out into something deep and meaningful, while retaining some of the humour (which is necessary in a franchise such as this), but adding a little more dimension and seriousness to it at the same time.

People have already sung praises for the characterisation, but I think the simple approach to the key narrative structure is also something worth praising. Its easier to add layers of complexity and intricacy to a simple backbone like Colours, but its much harder simplifying something as dense and convoluted as say 06's story. Starting with a simple core, means you can do what you want with it - stay simple, or go big.

Then there is also the fact that not every Sonic game needs a story that is grand and spectacular, which involves world destruction and our heroes must save the world from devastation. Not everything needs to be so dramatic and large-scale. That would kind of wear out its welcome. Some games can take a more "day in the lives of Sonic and Co" approach, where you still have Eggman's schemes, but they're less grandiose and overblown. They can be the things Eggman does in between his Death Egg-style extravaganza to gather the finances or something.

Edited by Scar
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Dunno about Colors, as I never played it, but the thing I enjoyed about Generation's story (up until the end, anyway) is that it wasn't some retarded larger than life, entire universe in grave danger thing. The best part about S1-3&K story was that it's just Robotnik or Eggman, whichever floats your boat, is up to his old shit again and Sonic's gotta put a stop to it. Generations was cool because it was a decently feasible way for them to go "Hey. Look. Classic Sonic! It's pretty rad. And Modern levels, too. Go crazy" and that's all it needed, really. Not so sure the story is really the aspect of the Sonic (or any other, for that matter) franchise you should be looking at to hopefully improve the games, except maybe RPGs. If the game's FUN, the level design's GOOD and lends itself to inherent replay value, then the story isn't all that important.

Edited by Princess Luna
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To be honest, I wasn't at all interested in what was going on in Color's story. I only bothered with the cutscenes just to hear the new voices.

I'll agree that the lighter take on story is most suitable to the Sonic franchise, even though I enjoyed the adventure games doing the opposite. Grimdark doesn't fit all that snugly with cartoony anthromorphs.

Dunno about Colors, as I never played it, but the thing I enjoyed about Generation's story (up until the end, anyway) is that it wasn't some retarded larger than life, entire universe in grave danger thing.

...are you sure you're not mixing up Colors and Generations? The entire plot of Generations was restoring a world (universe?) unraveled by its dimensional seems.

Edited by Jayhawker30
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...are you sure you're not mixing up Colors and Generations? The entire plot of Generations was restoring a world (universe?) unraveled by its dimensional seems.

I'm guessing he means in the way that it was handled.

It was a universe saving plot, but not so overly melodramatic like 06 was.

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Colors gave us something I've been wanting ever since 1994, Eggman as the real villain. After getting shafted/betrayed/overpowered by some deity it's nice to have him as an actual threat again. The bromance between Sonic and Tails was nice even though Tails didn't seem to be too wowed by Sonic's antics, but I guess that's because he's so used to them. The tone of the story even though it may have been a bit bare was an improvement from the past DOOMSDAYDARKEDGYMATUREDAMNHELLALIENSGOVTCONSPIRACIESMURDER plots that they've had before, now if it could just have more depth.

Generations... Well it showed that Eggman was a boss and actually let him be in control of his monster this time so I guess that's something.

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Nothing.

You know, if you're not going to bother backing up your empty opinions with legitiment reasons, let alone actually adhere to the topic at hand in your posts, frankly you shoudn't bother posting anything.

Sorry if I'm sounding like a mod here.

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Personally, what I like about colours is the fact that Tails isn't just a raving fanboy. He doesn't say things like "I helped but Sonic was the REAL hero!". Instead, he says "I find that hard to believe." and "Are you talking to the broken robot that can't talk to you?" It's nice to see that Tails is on more equal par with Sonic. The best comparison I can think of is Doctor Who and his companions. They're scarcastic towards him, but at the end of the day, the Doctor is the hero, and they can respect that.

Sonic is always going to be cheesy, but having the other characters relise that he's a cheeseball and reacting accordingly helps make it feel a bit more "Real". Well, as real as you can get when it's a series about an anthromorpic speedy blue hedgehog.

One of the things Generations did right was that classic Sonic was an lovely and expressive. I'd like to more body lanagage in the series. (Maybe animate actions before the voice) If you can get the "mood" of a scene without any words, then that'll make the scene more believible and give it a lot more heart.

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You know, if you're not going to bother backing up your empty opinions with legitiment reasons, let alone actually adhere to the topic at hand in your posts, frankly you shoudn't bother posting anything.

Sorry if I'm sounding like a mod here.

I said nothing, because that summarizes my thoughts on the subject.

I've already explained why I can't them them numerously. The stories in Colours and Generations did nothing right at all. Nothing. They're such a massive step down from Unleashed, it's like falling off of a skyscraper. I don't see why they drastically simplified the games story in Colours and Generations when Unleashed did it perfectly fine. Actually I wouldn't call it simplified, I'd call it half-assed.

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