Gameplay Speculation Topic

[Semi-colon e]

I get the impression they're moving away from the boost to some extent anyway. The level structure is going more towards the exploratory and less boost heavy with some exceptions, so if it isn't gone yet they'll probably phase it out over time. The level structure has improved, now let's see the level design get kicked up as well with more emphasis on level gimmicks to interact with and an entirely 3D game. They should try it all in one go, but the way they're going currently seems to be clawing back a few steps at a time so I expect the design to not be totally different, even if the boost is gone. I don't necessarily hate the boost but sometimes it's limiting. I kind of like the drift and the stomp and the wall jump though, so I wouldn't mind taking those elements.

[frokenok3]

I don't know...i just don't see it. I don't have a reason behind it but i don't see them scrap the Boost. 

On the other hand i can expect that with improving the level design even more they might limit it in someway cause they will focus on other aspects like the Stomp, Slide, Wall Jump...

I seriously can see them coming up with Wisp-like power ups to have something that will give something extra to the gameplay rather than leaving the boost behind.

Also that talk about "new gameplay". I see some people getting a little excited. I won't say don't but don't forget that it is PR talk...he might said that without thinking too much into it. So yeah don't go getting too excited...

But if his words are the real deal....still i strongly believe that new gameplay will involve Tails in someway or another.



 

[Diogenes]

To each their own, as it were. I'd be more than open to adding more innovative, less basic platforming, but how in the world does that preclude boost?

Even if you made the low-speed platforming more interesting, there's still a huge chasm between it and the boosting gameplay. You'd practically have two competing styles of gameplay smashed against each other, with he player clunkily switching between them as the level design dictates.

Also boost gameplay is still boring, so.

 

Pink Wisp is not pleased (yeah I know you mentioned the wisp, but then you go on to mention how neither Colors or Gens did anything interesting with the plat forming despite the fact that this is exactly what the wisps did).

Well that's what I meant; the wisps do alright in giving Colors some low-speed meat, but they were a one-game gimmick. You try playing without them and the quality of the game nosedives. The problem wasn't solved, it was just held off for one game.

Also, most of the problems with the boost gameplay boil down to linear focused level design that was incredibly automate and reactionary.

Which is about all the boost gameplay is built for. What else can you do while propelling yourself forward at 300 MPH?

Whether you liked it or not Colors and Gens DID in fact went some leaps and bound in order to fix this issue, most of the problems with the Unleashed gameplay was only regulated to the 3D areas of Colors which was 30% of the game, and Gens sought to have platfomring in 2D and 3D mores than the previous two games. So yeah, it got rid of a lot of problems people had with the boost, it didn't get rid of it completely

But this didn't really fix anything. The areas made for the boost were still the same old shit. The other areas, they didn't offer anything interesting because Sonic wasn't built for them.

I've said before, you can make a fair argument that Unleashed is better than Generations, in part because Unleashed Day actually knows what it's capable of and creates a coherent experience out of it, while Gens Modern tried to fix it and failed.

[Badnik Zero]

Some more speculation based on the released image.

 

It seems to me as if special care has been made to give each region on the globe a specific border. If you look closely you'll notice that all the grassland areas touching water tiles have a strip of brown on the edge, which says to me beaches. Also, grassland areas touching desert have bushy overgrowth. The rocky desert to the left has a thick white line dividing it from the water and ice regions, and it appears as if the ice area is entirely surrounded by large peaks. If you wanna say this image is accurate to gameplay then I'm seeing a lockout mechanism in the game, where the game locks you from regions depending on game progress. This would support my hypothesis that the game is one large overworld with "levels" built in as platforming areas. Lockout between regions is common in "open world" or overworld games, like the bridge from the start of GTA3, or any barrier in a Zelda game that requires an item to pass.

 

Other things to note about the image above. The grassland areas are dotted by orange structures on what appear to be steppes or hills, which heavily suggests a Green Hill clone, down to orange loops. The water areas, specifically the northernmost one, are filled with islands, suggesting an island hopping level. What I find curious is the way landscape features are clustered - the orange structures, the islands... Notice how the desert area to the right has clusters of brown rocks with a lot of open space between. If I am in fact correct, this lends itself to overworld gameplay also. The landscape features are platforming sections between what is otherwise wilderness. That would mean two modes of gameplay - typical platforming action at these "level" areas, separated between by travel gameplay which means boosting around a scenic world, with occasional hazards like chase bots I'd imagine. Travel is new in a Sonic game.

 

I think this is what they mean by new gameplay. It's possible this post is all just fantasy because I've wanted to see a game like this for a while, but I'm seeing clues that I could be right in the image above... Wishful thinking...

Edited May 20, 2013 by American Ristar

[SilJeff]

I REALLY hope they finally get rid of the boost to win and alternate playstyles crap. Also, they should begin to work on having momentum again.

 

also, they should look at Seaside Hill Modern for level design inspiration, as that is easily their best designed 3D level to date IMO.

 

 

My dream is to finally see the Classics in 3D we've been waiting for since 3D first became possible in gaming, but of course I won't be expecting to get Sonic 3 & Knuckles quality on their first attempt. So instead, I hope they do those two things for starters, and then evolve from there to hopefully a future game will give us the game that tops S3&K.

 

Another thing, I wish they'd use Sonic Advance for inspiration on how to do multiple characters while avoiding alternate playstyles, as there we have four characters, who play similarly but still have their unique abilities. I can't remember if Tails could fly in that game, so if he can't, I think looking at S3&K would be great. That way they won't have to figure out something new, but focus on translating it into 3D. And I think translating four characters would be easier than coming up with 3 or 4 new abilities.

[SilentDoom]

I'd like to see boost done in such a way it basically establishes a mechanic middle ground between how it functions in Advance 2/3 and how it works in, well every other game it's in. A boost one can only access upon reaching top speed but you can choose when to use it unlike in the Advance games. There should still be a limited amount as well. In my opinion if something like that was implemented along with having a believable sense of acceleration it would really help to accentuate those high speed moments. If there is something Modern/Boost era did right it was that thrilling sense of speed but at the same time that speed was the norm instead of what you were striving to achieve so it made the gameplay much less interesting.

[Eternal EX]

I REALLY hope they finally get rid of the boost to win and alternate playstyles crap. Also, they should begin to work on having momentum again.

 

also, they should look at Seaside Hill Modern for level design inspiration, as that is easily their best designed 3D level to date IMO.

 

 

My dream is to finally see the Classics in 3D we've been waiting for since 3D first became possible in gaming, but of course I won't be expecting to get Sonic 3 & Knuckles quality on their first attempt. So instead, I hope they do those two things for starters, and then evolve from there to hopefully a future game will give us the game that tops S3&K.

 

Another thing, I wish they'd use Sonic Advance for inspiration on how to do multiple characters while avoiding alternate playstyles, as there we have four characters, who play similarly but still have their unique abilities. I can't remember if Tails could fly in that game, so if he can't, I think looking at S3&K would be great. That way they won't have to figure out something new, but focus on translating it into 3D. And I think translating four characters would be easier than coming up with 3 or 4 new abilities.

 

While SeaSide Hill was my favorite stage from Generations, I would not say it had the best level design in the whole 3D series. Hell, the 1st part of Planet wisp (modern) pissed on much of the game. But Eggmanland from Unleashed (my opinion) was much better. Same goes for a small chunk of the Unleashed stages. Another good one was Crazy Gadget from SA2. These 3 were (my opinion) the best designed levels. Not because they looked fantastic visually. But I enjoyed playing them. Even if I hated them at first, they grew on me, making want to go back to them more and more. Sure Jungle Joyride was a boost heavy stage, but when you weren't forced to boost, the design was great. It started with multiple paths, then went into a short 1 way only path, opened back up to a few more paths, then rinse and repeat. It was just an amazing stage. Eggy land follows much of the same pattern, but really pushed the player to the limit. Even the parts where you had to play as Werehog. While much of it was questionable, it worked. And it made the player learn the stage. That is what I liked about it. Crazy Gadget is much like Eggy land. Complex design with a nice unique, completely unexpected gimmick throughout the entire stage. While it didn't have multiple paths, well many, it was still a well made stage.

[Diogenes]

I'd have them look at Pyramid Cave, if just to drill those U-shaped tunnels into their heads.

Sonic games shouldn't be made of 90-degree angles, damn it.

[Shiny Gems]

You know, just to say, I actually like the boost. Sure, it can make some things easier than they should be, but the boost offers a thrilling sense of speed to me, and if the levels are made so the boost can't be abused and that a lot of skill is needed if you want to use the boost, that is all even better. I just think that they should alter how quickly the boost bar drains and not make it so you need rings to fill up the boost bar.

So yeah, I would not mind seeing the boost in the game. That's just me, though.

[SilJeff]

I'd have them look at Pyramid Cave, if just to drill those U-shaped tunnels into their heads.

Sonic games shouldn't be made of 90-degree angles, damn it.

 

wow, I completely forgot about those.

 

I also drew up a concept for a multiple pathway scenario. I don't know if anyone can make out details since I drew it in pencil, but I wonder if this would work well:

[Kneecaps]

I hope they make it more like the classics were speed was truly rewarded and not just get a few rings blast through a few enemies and Win, Win, WIN and i hope the platforming isn't simple jump up here and run again and the enemies shouldn't the same ones rehashed for every level in the game. water stages would be great to have. And i hope they bring back spin dash that was sonic's iconic move and now he never really uses it anymore.

[Blue Blood]

So what does everyone think the GamePad might be used for? It'd be a crying shame if they didn't somehow work the 'Miles Electric' device into it, even if just for menus.

[frokenok3]

So what does everyone think the GamePad might be used for? It'd be a crying shame if they didn't somehow work the 'Miles Electric' device into it, even if just for menus.

 

Seriously, i was thinking about it and i was like mixed.

At one point i was like i hope they make good use of it and on the other hand i am like PLEASE if you can't come up with something that actually works pretty good then just use it as a "Miles Electric" menu or stuff.

And don't mess up the gameplay.

[Jolt_TH]

Again I'm gonna repeat what I always say abut console gimmicks, I don't want then to use it JUST for the sake of using it!

Although miles electric would be cool. Besides they might not even use it

[Diogenes]

So what does everyone think the GamePad might be used for?

Probably not much. Sonic's not the kind of series where you want to have the player whipping their head back and forth between two screens. I would imagine the only real gimmick would be messing around with the map, if that turns out to be a thing.

[Kuzu]

Which brings up a question; what do you guys think the gimmick will be this time? Every Sonic game always teases some type of gameplay gimmick but so far there's not much to go.

[frokenok3]

Which brings up a question; what do you guys think the gimmick will be this time? Every Sonic game always teases some type of gameplay gimmick but so far there's not much to go.

 

A gimmick huh? I was thinking those guardians might give some sort of power up to Sonic. Wisp like style.

[Kuzu]

Imma kinda sick of the whole "Mega Manning" style of power ups. One thing I liked about Sonic is the fact that most of what he's capable of is at your finger tips instead of coming from a power up. I just wanna see what they can come up with without falling back onto a gimmick for change.

[frokenok3]

What i am hoping for though...is for Tails to tag along in the acts.

 

Hve him follow you around in flying or running mode and when you need him call him for some nice flying help

[Jolt_TH]

Maybe there are areas on the map that cannot be accessed until you befriend a certain guardian (assuming it has some open world/HUB thing) that will unlock an extra act or progress the story?

Example, maybe there is some ice blocking a road, when you befriend the fire guardian (if there is one) then you can call upon them to clear the path. Although now I think about it I highly doubt it.

Probably will be something to do with the hexagonal shape though.

[G-Force]

The fact that the world is made of hexagons gives me the impression that the individual sections of the world are somehow interchangeable, and can be rearranged somehow.  The gimmick of the game could be that it's an exploration based game that uses the Gamepad/Miles Electric to map out the individual sections of the world as you explore them, which in turn allows you to recognize how the terrain has changed when the world gets reorganized.

 

Perhaps certain sections of the world have areas that are inaccessible unless a path is provided to them via another section?  Perhaps each "Guardian" has control over specific sections of the world, and befriending or defeating them gives you the means to rearrange their section of the world?  Maybe they're at war with each other, and Sonic & Tails end up acting as intermediaries, gradually altering the structure of the lost world into a form that all of the guardians find acceptable?

 

I can't help but imagine that the story would begin with Sonic & Tails landing the Tornado and heading of to explore on foot, only for the world to get rearranged.  They try to return to the Tornado to survey the changes, only to find that not only is the Tornado not there, the entire section of the world they left it on seems to be missing.  Finding the Tornado would become one of the early goals of the game, and finding it enables a quick travel feature that allows you to quickly return to major locations you've visited.

[Mr Useful]

 Hopefully the game doesn't mix 3d, 2d, and 2.5d gameplay together in one package unless it's like classic vs (an all 3d) modern sonic. The 2d sections in the Modern 3d gameplay seems redundant when we have an all 2d gamemode.

[Johnny Boy]

I'm hoping that you can use elemental shields in this game again.

[The Sunheart]

I noticed that in Sonic Dash they took the time to update the Magnet to the Lightning Shield and added the regular shield, so I was thinking they were going to bring them back.

[Blue Blood]

I noticed that in Sonic Dash they took the time to update the Magnet to the Lightning Shield and added the regular shield, so I was thinking they were going to bring them back.

It's not really a good idea to look to spinoffs and mobile games for an indication of how the main series is being handled.