Sonic after Lost World?

[Diogenes]

But was this ever an issue in older games? I think it's a lot more satisfying to earn your speed rather than just press a button and get it right away.

I'm not advocating a boost button, just something to give you a little extra kick when you need it, to get you up to a good jog. Going "Sonic fast" would still be up to using gimmicks and the level design appropriately.

[VGamer]

I'm not advocating a boost button, just something to give you a little extra kick when you need it, to get you up to a good jog. Going "Sonic fast" would still be up to using gimmicks and the level design appropriately.

 

So do you mean something more akin to what Blue Blood mentioned, or more like the way the boost worked in Unleashed on Wii/PS2? I think the "accelerate button" would be something I'd tolerate a lot more, since it's what I was going for in my previous post. I'd also be OK with something like what Unwiished went for, but only if it was enhanced and improved on so that it's less "boosty" I guess if that makes any sense.

[Diogenes]

Not necessarily a racing game style acceleration button (as that implies you'd accelerate forward even without touching the control stick/Dpad...which might be an option, though...), but acceleration-based, yes, and probably with a little increase in top speed as well. Definitely nothing like the Unleashed Wii boost, that was shit.

[Gabz Girl]

Remember that Sonic Unleashed was rough around the edges when it first came out but then they improved the gameplay considerably in later games. I hope the same happens with Lost World. They need to iron out the Parkour, make the game less Mario and more Sonic and FFS actually have some proper tutorials in the game to explain all the new controls!!

I too want the next Nintendo exclusive to be made by the main team and not just another spin off. Will SEGA risk making a game for PS4/Xbone only? I'm not sure.

[VGamer]

Not necessarily a racing game style acceleration button (as that implies you'd accelerate forward even without touching the control stick/Dpad...which might be an option, though...), but acceleration-based, yes, and probably with a little increase in top speed as well. Definitely nothing like the Unleashed Wii boost, that was shit.

 

I'd be down for that. If I understand you correctly, it kind of reminds me to Sonic Adventure 1&2's (Sonic) gameplay. I liked how it was in that game, and I would love to see some sort of combination of Lost World and Adventure's gameplay styles.

 

The button layout in Lost World feels like it's probably the most comfortable to me so far in the series (I don't like the spindash being on the four main buttons of the controller, feels weird to me), and the parkour is something they should absolutely work on to improve more and more. Combine that with the acceleration-based gameplay of Adventure, and the slopes/hills/loops in that game's levels? I'd really love to see a game like that in the future.

[Kojiro Highwind]

I really like the parkour system in Lost World as having a wall not bring you to a dead stop anymore was great though it did require a bit more skill than other  sonic games in the past because of the extra button but I also really liked the racing platforming that Unleashed had with the day time stages.

It would be cool if they combined the 2 some how. Can just have stages divided into racing and parkour sections. I guess the majority of the levels would be parkour but then when you get to the racing sections it would be more about hitting curves and slopes just right to build the momentum rather than trying to have a top speed. I guess what im trying to say for the speed portions it would have no top speed but the fun would be how fast can you actually push sonic to go. Wouldn't that be fun

At the very least Tails and Knux should be considered for playable character if other characters are an option. Actually for knuckles I would like to see him have a brawler. I did like the night time stages in Unleashed but I kept on saying to myself "Why isn't knuckles doing this?"  For tails, why not have something like Tails Adventure where it's explorative and you need to build gadgets and upgrade stuff. Work on the tornado. Although personally i would love a straight up Tails title where he has to save sonic by doing these thing .

 

[Kaabiitorori]

I had my love and hate moments with Sonic Lost World, but quite frankly I'd like to see Sonic Team retaking the parkour system in the next Sonic installment.

 

The core mechanics made Sonic agile and more reliable to control, his ledge-grappling move was quite effective, and how he could run on the walls even to reach inaccessible areas makes the gameplay dynamic. The run button, while it helped to control Sonic's speed and be able to maneuver and jump with precision, I agree a little increase on his top speed would be appreciated: I wasn't keen on how you needed to trust on the Spin Dash to make him get a proper sense of speed. Having two different types of attacking enemies (Homing and Kick Attack) made things a bit more strategic, although the Homing Attack was sometimes unreliable on the 3D segments since you had to make sure Sonic was facing the enemy to pull the move.

 

All in all, the core gameplay has some legs; if they manage to polish some issues in regards to his top speed and attacks while bringing up some extra moves (I felt the Quick Step was missing for example) while adapting the level design to make it more open for the player to reach the goal, that will do the trick really well.

 

However, I hope to God Sonic Team put effort on properly introducing the whole parkour system to the audience, because its lack of explanation in Sonic Lost World was a huge and fundamental error! You don't come up with a game in which the core gameplay is completely new from past installments and leave the players to their fate trying to have a clue on how the hell you control and move Sonic around the levels. Every game in the modern Sonic series ensured you had plenty of explanations about control and level development in general. So how Sonic Lost World did not follow suit on this rule was mind boggling to me.

 

Oh, and remember one fundamental lesson, Sonic Team: your character is Sonic The Hedgehog. Do not copy... I repeat, do NOT copy and shoehorn Super Mario Galaxy elements on it. EVER.

[VGamer]

It would be cool if they combined the 2 some how. Can just have stages divided into racing and parkour sections. I guess the majority of the levels would be parkour but then when you get to the racing sections it would be more about hitting curves and slopes just right to build the momentum rather than trying to have a top speed. I guess what im trying to say for the speed portions it would have no top speed but the fun would be how fast can you actually push sonic to go.

 

I'd rather we don't go with the approach of combining to styles of design and gameplay in this case. It happened in Generations and I really didn't like it there. You had the quick-paced 3D sections of Unleashed, mashed together with the slow, forced, and terribly-paced 2D sections which just drag the levels down for me.

 

Putting parkour and the "racing" gameplay of Unleashed together would probably end the same way how I see it, since they're so drastically different. I'd like them to just build on the Lost World formula, and KEEP DOING THAT instead of changing everything again. I'd rather they just keep improving on one gameplay style than always changing it up every 1-3 games and introducing something 100% foreign to the series.

[Diogenes]

Yeah I really think it's better to try and design a gameplay style that unifies speed and agility rather than trying to stitch two different gameplay styles together into one moveset.

[Dizcrybe]

Honestly, with the parkour getting as cold a reception as it did, I wouldn't be surprised if Sonic Team dropped it like a hot pan.

[Autosaver]

Honestly, with the parkour getting as cold a reception as it did, I wouldn't be surprised if Sonic Team dropped it like a hot pan.

It did? Most of the criticism came from issues from the game itself (controls, difficulty curve, level design) and less about parkour.

 

I love parkour.

[Hero of Legend]

I think it's safe to say the 3rd exclusive is the 2014 main game, what else can it be? I can't see another Sonic All-Stars Racing game being it due to Mario Kart 8.

 

I'm just hoping we don't have to worry about Sonic Boom bleeding into the games at the moment. I don't want those redesigns becoming the norm. X(

[azoo]

I'm not advocating a boost button, just something to give you a little extra kick when you need it, to get you up to a good jog. Going "Sonic fast" would still be up to using gimmicks and the level design appropriately.

Which is why I'd suggest they just start making the Spindash work like it did in SA1 again. It was so easy to "pchoo pchoo pchoo" up to speed and you didn't feel like you lost control of Sonic for a second (well until you got too fast and the jerkiness kicked in).

Yeah I really think it's better to try and design a gameplay style that unifies speed and agility rather than trying to stitch two different gameplay styles together into one moveset.

 

I suppose you're right, although I don't see the problem with keeping a few small things from the previous gameplay; like turning becoming tighter and more difficult to steer when moving at a high speed for the sake of keeping forward momentum. Although tbh that's just game logic common sense, regardless if Sega added it or not, so...

 

You know, there's one game element from Unleashed/Gens I think they should take advantage of even if it was a physics exploit more than an intentional part of the game design. "M-speed". That one thing the speedrunners do where they go beyond your normally capable speed.

 

For people who still don't know what I mean, this thing:

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icKDNlWCLlg

 

Even though I wouldn't necessarily want Sonic to go that game-breakingly fast, that "mode" is so satisfying because there's no air drag holding you down and you're only continuously building up more speed. I sort of wish Sonic Team would take that concept and run with it, like make using that an easier to pull off, intentional (and a tad more tame) part of the game design that has level design built around it. 

 

And I mean, what better way to implement that into a 3D Sonic than the Spindash + parkour mix? It's like, perf.

[The Ao erizo]

I think this should be bumped as it's after E3.

 

So I think it's safe to say that the 3rd game is NOT coming this year or early next year.

 

I could be wrong, but I think Zero Gravity was announced in August 2007 and released in Jan 2008, which is a pretty late announcement, but I kinda think this is not going to happen.

 

I'm honestly thinking that the 3rd IS the 2014 main game. And it might be a big one since Tomoya Ohtani is the composer of Lost World, which means Jun is either focused on Sochi, or is centered on the next main game, maybe Lost World is a very experimental game where the devs are getting a hang on Wii U and trying new ideas, and the 3rd exclusive, being likely the next main game, is the much bigger game.

 

And it's natural to want to be more experimental in the first attempt. Stretch your arms and to used to everything to get the true power out of it the second go.

 

Also Nintendo would be silly to not attempt the have gotten at least two main games as exclusives, of course it feels redundant to count Sochi as that's exclusive by default and didn't get 3 actual Sonic games that could've been on other platforms, but whatever.

What you've said here actually makes a lot of sense! Also, what's your opinion on having playable characters other than sonic in the next game? Which reminds me...do you remember a rumor last year that TSS did an article on? About a new game that was supposed to have gameplay centered around different characters being able to reach certain areas that other characters wouldn't be able to on their own? I might be wrong, since I don't really remember when the article was posted, but was that an actual thing that was supposed to happen, or was that an April Fool's joke? I dunno...

[Salamander]

I don't know what they'll do after Lost World, but I'll say one thing: I strongly suspect we won't find out until after the Zelda DLC has been announced and released.  The LW DLC looks a lot to me like stopgap material to lengthen the game's lifespan and profitability until they have a new game on the horizon.  Maybe even it's taking longer than they thought, and the DLC was to fill the unanticipated gap?  Maybe that delay is also related to the reception of Lost World?  Pure speculation, of course, but either way, I'm sure the next thing we'll hear about will be the Zelda DLC rather than the third game.

[Blue Blood]

What you've said here actually makes a lot of sense! Also, what's your opinion on having playable characters other than sonic in the next game? Which reminds me...do you remember a rumor last year that TSS did an article on? About a new game that was supposed to have gameplay centered around different characters being able to reach certain areas that other characters wouldn't be able to on their own? I might be wrong, since I don't really remember when the article was posted, but was that an actual thing that was supposed to happen, or was that an April Fool's joke? I dunno...

That article was from January last year, the announcement was "supposed" to be February last year and the game "apparently" would be coming to all consoles current and past gen. It couldn't have been faker.

[DLR_Nexus]

IDK what the next Sonic game could be other than Sonic Boom. Still, everyone's still wating if the next one is coming to the PS4 and XB1 (along with the Wii U) since many PlayStation and Xbox players still want one like right now.

[Chaos Incarnate]

If Sonic Team's new game isn't coming out in 2016, then I'm placing my bet right now that they will play it safe and go back to the boost and/or reuse the Wisps, judging by Iizuka's offhand remark that he wants the Wisps to become a series staple.

 

Basically, I'm expecting a Sonic Colors styled game in store. I'm sure many will disagree, but I don't know if Sonic Team thinks they can afford to be taking major risks right now after Lost World and Sonic Boom getting so much positive reaction compared to what everyone thinks of Sonic Team's overall efforts in Sonic's 3D years. I really want Sonic Team to go in a completely new direction of gameplay for Sonic with Adventure's control, but my gut tells me that won't be the case. Maybe they'll go for something much bigger with the assumed 2016 title, but that's just a hunch I have.

[azoo]

Personally I'd hope they stick to their guns and learn from the good things they've done.

 

Buuut If they go back to sticking to boost gameplay then they better give a lot of game depth to compensate. And if there's wisps, I'moutseeya they better be optional.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

stick to their guns and learn from the good things they've done.

 

Just thought this was a little funny, even though I know what you meant.

[LoseR]

Honestly after Sonic Lost World, I'd like to see them hold on to the basic gameplay mechanics, but ditch the parkour. I'm not really sure how I'd go about saying it all in a concise manner, so I'm just gonna bring up points and talk about them. Some things were nice, while others weren't. This need to be fixed.

 

(Also fyi I played like the first five worlds when I borrowed the game from a friend and haven't played it all the way through so I may be misinformed at some points.)

 

Parkour: Gotta be honest. In Sonic Lost World, the parkour just kinda felt tacked on and completely unneccessary. Like, what does it do, aside from making the platforming drastically easier? None of the level design ever felt like it was condusive with the parkour system, and the abilities parkour gave you were mostly there for the purpose of being there. The only thing I like about it was the ability to grab ledges again after so long. They had that all the way back in Sonic Adventure 2, and then sorta forgot about it. I always felt it was kinda lame if you JUST BARELY missed a jump, and a thought it helped the player out. Now remind me how ledge-grabbing is parkour?

 

The Run Button: Although I thought this would be a good idea at first, I've changed my mind to the exact opposite. In SLW the run button felt awkward as it was rather "start and stop and start" and had no real momentum to it most of the time. Unlike the Mario games, it just kinda had you dash out of the blue (ha ha), or just hault back to a slow jog. It felt really unnatural. This though isn't actually my main problem. To me the control stick should need precise inputs to acheive precise speeds, just like in the Sonic Adventure games. Running speed and trajectory should be based entirely on the direction and angle of the control stick, and possibly how quick you are with moving it around. It just feels much more fluid and natural.

 

The Spindash: Why was it mapped to the trigger again? I don't get it. It does not feel more natural. I mean it works, but simply pressing "B" makes more sense to me. ( Or or whatever button is diagonally up and left of the jump button. ) Anyways though, that's not even my main point. In Sonic Lost World, the spindash always felt slow and clunky, and it was never actually useful for me. It was just faster to run and use one of the jump attacks. It was even worse since sometimes the spindash would literally just get you hurt when you hit an enemy, instead of actually destroying them. Overall the spindash was just useless.

 

Homing Attack: What is this charging thing? I don't understand...... What? I like the idea of getting a more powerful attack if you execute it at just the right time, but it was not precisely judged, and took a bit of the spotlight away from the kick attack. Either remove it or make it work better. In fact sometimes the homing attack retinal completely didn't even show up, even though enemies were RIGHT THERE!! >:C

 

So pretty much, I like the ideas, except parkour, that were brought into play in Sonic Lost World, but they just weren't executed well. Ditch the parkour, and modity the other mechanics to work better.

 

Really I just want to see another game that plays well, and doesn't use some forced gimmick just to have it. Also, bring back multiple playable characters!

[Phos]

Lost world, don't even know how to describe that game. Weird walk/run dichotomy, two different homing attacks for some reason, far guy who likes food, and man but does this game like to pause itself. Every time you get a wisp or use a kick, the game stops for some amount of time, whether to show instructions or just because.

The parkour didn't really make the game any more fluent.

So bizarrely slow as well, and they used the super peel out run for this?