Rate the Story: Sonic Unleashed

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

And you'd think that, with all the stuff the Emeralds are capable of, that being part of a cycle isn't the only thing they were made for rather than a list of things they're capable of.

[Phos]

I don't see why the Gaia Gates can't be the result of divine retribution. Whenever a civilization so much as sneezed wrong and blew themselves up with the Emeralds, the gods would be there either to do something with the Emeralds or throw an island in the sky or something in the aftermath. Heck, wasn't the Master Emerald supposed to be a heavenly means of controlling the Chaos Emeralds to prevent shit from constantly going down? Why would they remain silent in regards to something that is truly apocalyptic?

The temples and their function seems entirely too integral to what is implied to be an intrinsic part of their world to not have been around since its creation.  Unleashed's plot plays fast and loose with backstory.  

 

It was probably made by whatever force made them and everything else. The same force that may have made the Master Emerald, the Emerald shrine, and gave the Emeralds the flexibility to be used by whoever wanted to use them.

 

Yeah, thanks for telling everyone what they already knew.

This story has the weirdest creationist element to it that I think they tried for some kind of message that didn't really, uh, exist.  At least that's what I'm assuming from Pickle's monologue at the end.   

 

Its an example of the emeralds and the temples being very intertwined.  They were out of action for a long period of time and the temple brought them back.  

 

We can't assume that everything we see is accurate to how the cycle normally goes. I mean, it's kind of a big point that the cycle isn't going as usual, with Dark Gaia being woken early, Light Gaia lagging behind, and a spiky blue hedgehog helping out. Maybe Light Gaia just made a stone body out of the earth at first and then started incorporating the temples once they were built. And even if the temples were there from the start of the cycle, there's no reason that the emeralds can't simply predate the cycle entirely.

Even with the cycle going unusually it's still the chaos emeralds ultimately putting the planet back together.  

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Is it too hard to just leave it as an ancient legend that simply exists and came true only for the emeralds to stop it like they've done with Chaos, Solaris/Iblis/Mephiles, and so forth? Cuz at this point, you're just thinking too hard about it, and that's saying a lot considering how debate heavy these forums are.

[Scar]

Unleashed sat on a whole load of potential with the Gaia Gates and stuff. Maybe could have explored the idea that the Emeralds may have been created by something in the past. Some ancient civilisation. The game had a lot of extras with the NPC's, there is no reasons there couldn't be further small collectibles and stuff in levels that alluded to such a history (kind of like those recordings about Kessler and the Ray Sphere in inFamous).

As it stands, it got about a 6.8 from me. There were some lovely character moments as Verte has so eloquently described early on in this thread. However, there was a middle period of jack-shit happening and it brought everything down. Then there are moments with seriously questionable writing...

[Diogenes]

Even with the cycle going unusually it's still the chaos emeralds ultimately putting the planet back together.

Yes? The temples are designed to harness the power of the emeralds to repair the Earth. Or to channel energy to Light Gaia (the glowy energy part, not the corporeal incarnation known as Chip) who then fixes the planet. Doesn't imply the emeralds were made for this any more than the Eclipse Cannon implied they were made for it.

[Phos]

Yes? The temples are designed to harness the power of the emeralds to repair the Earth. Or to channel energy to Light Gaia (the glowy energy part, not the corporeal incarnation known as Chip) who then fixes the planet. Doesn't imply the emeralds were made for this any more than the Eclipse Cannon implied they were made for it.

It's the temples status as something I don't think would have made sense to have been made by ordinary creatures combined with their seeming lower level interactions with the chaos emeralds.  Everything else just treats them as a black box power source, but the temples actually restored them to their normal state.  

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Then they were probably made by gods or something. It'd make sense that way seeing how Light Gaia was the one making use of the temples as the Colossus to fight Dark Gaia.

[Diogenes]

It's the temples status as something I don't think would have made sense to have been made by ordinary creatures

Considering how much crazy ancient technology we've seen in the series I don't see why we should assume that, but even if we do, that doesn't require that the emeralds were also created by whatever created them.

combined with their seeming lower level interactions with the chaos emeralds.  Everything else just treats them as a black box power source, but the temples actually restored them to their normal state.

So did Sonic, once. But if you're going to assume the temples were built by something that's basically a god, isn't it entirely possible that it simply knew enough about the emeralds to build things that could interact with them on that deeper level?

[Vertekins]

I thought Pickle said that the emeralds actually borrow power from the planet in order to restore themselves then give the planet power back, allowing it to 'heal naturally'?

 

Basically, it's as if the Gaia Temples were constructed to facilitate this symbiotic relationship between the planet and the emeralds and if you consider that each temple has been specifically constructed on a plate that has separated from the planet before for the purpose of reuniting that plate with the core, this explains why the temples are spread across the planet. And the constructors of the temples and even the natives of Adabat are clearly aware of Chip's existence as evidenced by his depiction on the mural inside Adabat's temple and the purchasable Chehaya Charm that is identical to him/it. The light that give Chip back his/it's memory could be seen as Light Gaia's true form with Chip being it's physical avatar and means of moving about. Not to mention how the emerald pedestals inside the temples will only appear in reaction to Chip's bauble. It would likely have been impossible to restore the emeralds at all without Chip because there would have been no possible means to make the emerald pedestals appear.

 

I guess the Gaia Colossus was intended as a means for Dark Gaia to be put back into hibernation. Bit interesting how there's apparently some level of power difference between it and Perfect Dark Gaia. I mean it needed Super Sonic's help to free it from Perfect Dark Gaia's grasp.

 

I think Unleashed is one of those game stories in which you're intended to infer the more complex mythology of in a way.

[C.J]

I hated Sonic Unleashed's story. It was a large reason for why I never finished it. Chip was just horrific, with one of the worst voice actor's I have ever heard, and the other Voice Acting was just awful.

 

Generations actually had much better cutscenes, although the story in that was virtually non-existant and it's not exactly hard to trump Sonic Unleashed is it?

 

I disgaree with this. The cutscenes in Generations weren't very memorable or entertaining compared to the ones in Unleashed (despite some falter and repetition in the middle). There wasn't much of a story either, the lack of development led to a lot of missed opportunties. I also happen to think the VA in Unleashed was one of the best performances done by the VC.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Jano

[Doc]

I don't like Unleashed's story, seriously it doesn't feel like it's "THE END OF THE WORLD", because the characters don't seem to care much. Also, all the excitement and action is only in the beginning of the game, but the rest just seems boring, as if it's 2 different stories stuck together with duck tape. Also, I thought Eggmanland was brought out in a  random manner and didn't feel like a big thing, even though that was his life goal in the Adventures. I never found the story interesting, and it was really forgettable like Colours'.

I give it a 5/10