Sonic Boom announced (Wii U/3DS)

[Soniman]

In Colours the jokes are hit or miss, and when they hit it feels like they go on for about 10 seconds too long. In Generations there was barely any story at all. And in Lost World (the first time they got to make up the entire story) Sonic and Tails suddenly became dicks and the attempts at more serious moments were laughable at best.

 

Except no, they didn't, at all. Especially in Sonic's case :/

[Blue Blood]

Pontac and Graff are so weird with what they bring to the series. It's a mixture between perfect and disastrous all at the same time. Three games in and my opinion on them could hardly be any less solid. I doubt they're involved with Boom though. Sonic Team brought them in to help with the story and better reach Western gamers, and BRB are already doing that simply by virtue of who and what they are. They have their own writers, artists et al on board.

Except no, they didn't, at all. Especially in Sonic's case :/

Can we just not do that in this topic yet again, please?

[Willsy]

Oh, I wasn't serious when I said 'horrible thought'. They are okay writers, it's just that I don't think their writing style fits this kind of game. So while I think they can do a good job in the Sonic Team games, I don't think they fit in a story driven game.

[Octarine]

When it comes to Pontac and Graff, it's hard to tell how much of what ended up in each game was up to them and how much of it came from Sonic Team, and even how much of what happened on Sonic Team's end was deliberate and how much was budget constraints or whatever.

 

Even if P&G were working on Boom (I can't imagine they would be), I feel like the fact that Sonic Team aren't as involved and the way BRB are claiming to be focusing on world-building means that we'd probably still end up with a very different product than Lost World. Maybe the characterization would be similar, and we're probably gonna get loads of bad jokes no matter who's writing the thing, but in terms of tone and story depth Boom could still be quite different.

[TearForFear]

Honestly I doubt Pontac & co. are involved.

 

Remember the one of the very first interviews, when whoever talked kept repeting "we understand the characters, we understand Sonic's world, Boom is plot driven etcetera"?

 

All I heard was "we're not like Pontac who went to Wikipedia to know what a Sonic is, don't worry about that"

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

And they refferenced Knuckles Chaotix, which I doubt those two writers have even heard of, let alone looked into(and this is the team with Chris Senn on it.... I still think this may be the way we get Nack back, he would fit perfect in this universe and enviroment

[Mauro Fonseca]

Oh come on, if any of you ever get a writing job for something and don't happen to have an encyclopedic knowledge of it and thus have to research to work please tell me so I can come over with a Ken Pontiac mask and beat you to a pulp :V They're writers for children's products, if anything SEGA's to blame here- you get hired to write a cartoon, a game, a comic, I'd expect you're given a short bible and direction to follow at least.

[Diogenes]

While they're better than the previous writers for Sonic games, but "being better than the story in a Sonic game" is an incredibly low bar to set. Their writing is still pretty bad.

Are they really so bad that we're more willing to trust a complete unknown than them, though?

In Colours the jokes are hit or miss, and when they hit it feels like they go on for about 10 seconds too long. In Generations there was barely any story at all.

I'm not going to defend those games' stories, because they are pretty much shit, but I don't think the full weight of their failure should be placed on Pontac and Graff's shoulders. There's no excuse for the quality of some of the jokes, but in both cases it feels like they're writing around the story rather than writing the story itself, that their contribution was filler dialogue rather than being in any real control.

And in Lost World (the first time they got to make up the entire story) Sonic and Tails suddenly became dicks and the attempts at more serious moments were laughable at best.

Every time I see someone saying the characters in SLoW were jerks, I can't help but think this fanbase would reject genuinely great storytelling because it dared to make the characters complex, that it gave them real flaws and real feelings, instead of being shallow idealized archetypes.

 

Honestly I doubt Pontac & co. are involved.

 

Remember the one of the very first interviews, when whoever talked kept repeting "we understand the characters, we understand Sonic's world, Boom is plot driven etcetera"?

 

All I heard was "we're not like Pontac who went to Wikipedia to know what a Sonic is, don't worry about that"

Considering how shitty the gameplay looks I don't trust a word of this "we know Sonic" shit until I actually see it.

[StaticMania]

And they refferenced Knuckles Chaotix, which I doubt those two writers have even heard of, let alone looked into(and this is the team with Chris Senn on it.... I still think this may be the way we get Nack back, he would fit perfect in this universe and enviroment

What does referencing Knuckles' Chaotix prove other than...they know about that one specific spin-off game. Its not like acknowledging the spin-offs is an actual major detracting or additional point for the writers.

[Gabz Girl]

It IS sort of SEGA's fault for not giving Pontac any reference or bible to follow, but then why did they have to resort to Wikipedia for their Sonic knowledge? >> Also I'm pretty sure SLW's story was not created by them because the Japanese script is still completely different (though not better).

I'm hoping that the writers for Sonic Boom will be the same ones from the Jak games. I recently played Jak and Daxter and the writing is so zany and cartoony. There are some really funny parts in it too which I didn't get as a kid. Jak 2 took it to another level, but it still has the same charm and cartoony feel of the first game. If Sonic Boom has writing like those games I'll eat that shit up!

[MegasonicZX]

It IS sort of SEGA's fault for not giving Pontac any reference or bible to follow, but then why did they have to resort to Wikipedia for their Sonic knowledge? >> Also I'm pretty sure SLW's story was not created by them because the Japanese script is still completely different (though not better).

I'm hoping that the writers for Sonic Boom will be the same ones from the Jak games. I recently played Jak and Daxter and the writing is so zany and cartoony. There are some really funny parts in it too which I didn't get as a kid. Jak 2 took it to another level, but it still has the same charm and cartoony feel of the first game. If Sonic Boom has writing like those games I'll eat that shit up!

Even better if they could even get the writers from the ratchet series involved (even though they are from a different company) then we would have one legendary script.

[Willsy]

The only real problem I had with SLW's story was the ending. That really ruined the story for me, and made it feel rushed. Otherwise, I liked Pontac and Warren's writing in Lost World.

With lines like "What I meant to say is; I'm so sorry that you have nothing more important to do in life!", I feel that they know how to handle Sonic's personality, it's just that they use way to many cheesy jokes. Before they came on board, it wasn't very often that Sonic made these kinds of jokes, and they usually had him being a cocky and snarky teen. I think that they need to have Sonic make less corny jokes but be slightly more snarky if they do feel that they want to put humour in that particular scene.

[Soniman]

Considering how shitty the gameplay looks I don't trust a word of this "we know Sonic" shit until I actually see it.

It already went from "not looking like Sonic gameplay" to "it's just shit"? Was there another gameplay video I missed?

[Diogenes]

It's shitty in terms of being like Sonic, at least. Can't say it looks very interesting otherwise either, tho'.

[Mauro Fonseca]

It IS sort of SEGA's fault for not giving Pontac any reference or bible to follow, but then why did they have to resort to Wikipedia for their Sonic knowledge? >>

Why is it bad to go for Wikipedia for filling gaps? If I were hired right now to write for a franchise I know nothing of, say, I don't know. Robopon, the name comes to mind. Wikipedia'd certainly be the first place to check, and if like with the Sonic articles the Wikipedia articles had a good wealth of information, I'd get to work.

[Splash the Otter]

It's shitty in terms of being like Sonic, at least. Can't say it looks very interesting otherwise either, tho'.

You keep saying it isn't like Sonic, but I don't think you ever explained why you think so. Personally, I think the gameplay looks pretty damn good, both in general and as part of a Sonic game.

[Blue Blood]

You keep saying it isn't like Sonic, but I don't think you ever explained why you think so. Personally, I think the gameplay looks pretty damn good, both in general and as part of a Sonic game.

 

No, no. He definitely has said so on numerous occasions, to the point where he was repeating himself incessantly. What little gameplay we've seen of Boom so far has very, very little in common with what you would expect of Sonic games. I really don't think it's needs much explanation. There's the combat, the lack of slopes and springs (an absolute staple of "Sonicy") and the very open levels that appear to be somewhat slow. And that's just to name the most obvious differences. It's kind of the entire point of the game though, to be something different.

 

Personally, I think Boom looks like it going to be really good. We don't know much yet though, apart from the fact it's very un-Sonic.

[Diogenes]

You keep saying it isn't like Sonic, but I don't think you ever explained why you think so. Personally, I think the gameplay looks pretty damn good, both in general and as part of a Sonic game.

The way that the characters move is fundamentally incorrect. It looks no different from any generic 3D platformer's movement. The level design is, naturally, designed for that kind of movement and not for Sonic game movement. The focus on combat doesn't speak to it playing like a Sonic game, as more in-depth combat has never been made to mesh well with Sonic gameplay; even if the platforming aspects looked like a Sonic game (which, again, they don't appear to in any way), the combat would likely drag it down. And the few fractions of a second that do resemble Sonic gameplay are likely to be limited-scope gimmicks rather than the bulk of the gameplay.

[SlickEvan]

Not this again. Is there anything else to talk about?

Oh the writing. I think whoever it is it'll be at the VERY least... decent. Anyone can mae a Sonic plot decent.... well *cough**cough* Anyways yeah the hard part is evoking the awesome potential held within the characters and keeping away from cluttering or over-selling things. So I think that they should be competent enough to do so.

[Splash the Otter]

The way that the characters move is fundamentally incorrect. It looks no different from any generic 3D platformer's movement. The level design is, naturally, designed for that kind of movement and not for Sonic game movement.

Apart from the ability to roll down slopes (which was never that big a deal in the 3d games), Sonic has always moved like someone in a "generic 3d platformer". The level design doesn't look too bad either. It actually reminds me of the hub worlds in Adventure and Unleashed.

 

The focus on combat doesn't speak to it playing like a Sonic game, as more in-depth combat has never been made to mesh well with Sonic gameplay; even if the platforming aspects looked like a Sonic game (which, again, they don't appear to in any way), the combat would likely drag it down.

In that case, it's about time they designed in-depth combat that doesn't break the game's flow, don't you think? I imagine BRB have thought about this and know what they're doing.

 

And the few fractions of a second that do resemble Sonic gameplay are likely to be limited-scope gimmicks rather than the bulk of the gameplay.

Based on what, exactly? I'm beginning to think you want Sonic Boom to be a disaster for some reason.

[Willsy]

I hope that the game is released worldwide within the same time period....

[Blue Blood]

I hope that the game is released worldwide within the same time period....

 

Well, sucks to be in Japan right about now

 

Chances are that it'll see a launch around North America, Australia and Europe at about the same time. Not only is it more typical of the industry in general these days, but it's been SEGA's practice with Sonic games for a while. Most Sonic games tend to be released everywhere at least within the space of a week, if not two. 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

The way that the characters move is fundamentally incorrect. 

Pray tell, why do you, yourself view it that way? And with so little and pre-mature a sum of factual knowledge about the game to boot?

[Blue Blood]

"The way the characters move is fundamentally incorrect" only works if we're talking about something that's supposed to play like existing Sonic games. You really have to understand that that isn't the case for Sonic Boom. 

[Willsy]

Well, sucks to be in Japan right about now

 

Chances are that it'll see a launch around North America, Australia and Europe at about the same time. Not only is it more typical of the industry in general these days, but it's been SEGA's practice with Sonic games for a while. Most Sonic games tend to be released everywhere at least within the space of a week, if not two.

The Pac Man & TGA game isn't out in the UK until the show airs. That's what I'm worried about with Boom...