What do you legitimately like about SA2's story?

[Narukami07]

For me, it was mainly with how it told presented a dark story told in a decent presentation.

 

Plus the last story + ending were the biggest highlights imo. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I like how it pushed the envelope of the heavy subjects that could be tackled and handled with tact. Now they could do much better, making it much more fitting with the franchise, as well as the technical problems that with into the voice work as well as polish the awkward moments in the script, but it had a level of acknowledgement that doesn't parody itself like ShTH does. And I really like the tension and stakes that were put into it, especially during the Last Story where shit really hit the fan and everyone, hero or villain, had to work together to stop the threat.

 

In short, SA2 was like the Mega Man Zero to SA1's Mega Man X to me, with Unleashed-to-Generations being the ZX equivalent.

[RustyRick]

I liked it for how pretty threatening it made Eggman out to be as a seriously competent antagonist in terms of his own abilities and manipulation. He broke into a heavily armed base, freed Shadow thinking he was a weapon he could use to take over the world, and proceeds to wreck a huge chunk of the defense stationed on the same base a day later, announced doomsday in a pretty chilling and intimidating matter, ambushes Sonic's group with a large golem that he manages to fight off even when Sonic messes up it's AI, and ultimately manages to trap and nearly kill Sonic for real with a manipulation trick that really does cement how clever Eggman can be.

Even if some of the lines he says don't sync exactly well with the mouth animation, as ChaosSupreme pointed out.

[Tara]

You may try putting more effort into your opening post.  We require a decent sized description as opposed to just one or two sentences here.

 

With that said, one thing I did like about SA2's story was the way the mysteriousness surrounding Shadow's birth.  Or at least, at the time.  My problems with the way it was handled aside, the game did do a fantastic job making me want to know more about Shadow and his life on the ARK prior to the whole military thing.  But then, at the same time, it sort of disappointed me because we didn't get any insight onto Robotnik's family lineage or any attachment to his grandfather or anything, so there really was no point in making him Eggman's grandfather so... fffff. =/

[Lady Soniko]

I love the Adventure games for their portrayal of "Radical cheesy" Sonic, he's just the ideal representation to me that I grew up with, I also love that both Sonic and Shadow were aided throughout the game by their respective team/friends and overall it just felt like a more complete verse that it was set in when Sonic Team/SEGA didn't have such a boner for Solo Sonica. As much shit as the game gets for it's Character roulette gameplay, it still felt like each character got ample screen time and helped moved the plot on smoothly, even NPC's like Amy still were significant characters that played a part in the story till the end.

 

I love the dialogue in a nostalgia "omg it's so bad" kind of way and for that reason alone it'll always be one of those memorable Sonic games to me for that very reason. Also Sonic and Shadow's levels are legitimately fun to go back and play occasionally, and I totally love the music and the use of lyrics in songs during levels. 

[Dr. Mechano]

But then, at the same time, it sort of disappointed me because we didn't get any insight onto Robotnik's family lineage or any attachment to his grandfather or anything, so there really was no point in making him Eggman's grandfather so... fffff. =/

But we did!

 

"As a child, I looked up to my grandfather for all the great things he accomplished in his life. He was my hero! And I wanted to be a great scientist like him. But... did he really mean to destroy us?"

 

Eggman - the Sonic franchise's egotistical narcissist - admitting that he looked up to and idolized his genius grandfather, that he desired to emulate him and live up to his legacy. And then, he even expresses doubt in his hero by questioning his intentions to destroy mankind, his childhood adoration of his grandfather shaken by the events he's just been through. In one single line of dialog, we get a surprisingly detailed look into Eggman's psyche, as well as the influence Gerald had on his life.

 

Incidentally, that right there is my favorite part of SA2's story. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

We could still do with more tho. Would probably make the narrative, flashbacks, backstory and all, much sweeter than it was before.

[Tara]

But we did!

 

"As a child, I looked up to my grandfather for all the great things he accomplished in his life. He was my hero! And I wanted to be a great scientist like him. But... did he really mean to destroy us?"

 

Eggman - the Sonic franchise's egotistical narcissist - admitting that he looked up to and idolized his genius grandfather, that he desired to emulate him and live up to his legacy. And then, he even expresses doubt in his hero by questioning his intentions to destroy mankind, his childhood adoration of his grandfather shaken by the events he's just been through. In one single line of dialog, we get a surprisingly detailed look into Eggman's psyche, as well as the influence Gerald had on his life.

 

Incidentally, that right there is my favorite part of SA2's story. 

One sentence of dialogue doesn't amount to a whole lot; especially when doing so pretty much fails to adhere to the "show, don't tell" motif in writing.  Don't get me wrong, I love that bit of dialogue and find it to be incredibly charming and sentimental, but it certainly doesn't satisfy an entire game's worth of disconnect from and lack of significance to the narrative.

[SlickEvan]

I liked how it was still able to fit within "Sonic" and keep a "serious" story. I really like Sonic's representation in this game too, he really, I dunno felt like "Sonic". I also really like how it was able to keep Sonic in character but knew when to make him serious in order to fit with the events happening and convey a sense of emotion. I personally feel as if it did a really good job at showing Sonic's 'flaws' while still keeping him from seeming to harshly 'flawed'.

 

I liked the tension it was able to build up and how it started from a generally normal and lighthearted mood to a more tense and serious one smoothly and organically(imo).

 

I just like it. I'll stop before I sound like I'm sucking up to it. I know it's flawed in some ways but I really like it.

[Diogenes]

I like how they allowed Shadow to really get under Sonic's skin, to make it personal, and make their rivalry more than "he is the bad me and I am the good me so I must fight the bad so good wins!". Shadow challenges him at his own game, beats him with a trick, and manages to frame him to boot. And this pisses Sonic off in a way we rarely see from him. As much as the hero side of the game is about stopping Eggman and saving the world, Sonic's also carrying this grudge throughout the game and working to beat Shadow for his own sake. It's a more character-focused arc than Sonic usually gets, since in most games he's just The Hero and the more complex characterization happens to other characters.

[Sami]

I quite liked the way they progressively explained Shadow's past bit by bit as the game went on. The cutscene at the beginning of Radical Highway was one of my favorites in the game.

[Semi-colon e]

Despite how there was the gameplay roulette, I actually liked the two stories switching between each of the characters. You'd see Sonic do something, then it'd be like "oh wow what happens now" and you don't find out for a while because it switches to Knuckles or something. The fact that their own subplots come together is also really nice. It was an interesting variant of the multiple perspectives Adventure 1 did, and while I feel that it was better there, it was really interesting in this game to have the teasing build up. There were also purposes to many of the game's levels (aside from some of the Tails and Knuckles ones I guess) and it was streamlined, unlike how 06 made you go to every level just because.

 

I also really liked all the little character moments, especially at the end. I'm not overly fond of the more semi-realistic tone, but the characterisation was really good for the most part.

[Speedy]

I like a lot of things about SA2's story; a lot of those things have already been said. So, I'll just add one more thing.

 

Amy's character.

 

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Amy. Usually I find her pretty annoying in the games (and Sonic X, too). Quite often, focus in her portrayal is put entirely on her crush on Sonic. In a lot of situtations, she runs after Sonic, hits people in tempter tantrums and tries to demostrate her never-dying affaction for her hero by treathening to flatten said hero with a giant hammer.

 

The moments when I like Amy are usually those when Sonic is nowhere to be seen. Her care for the Flicky family in SA1 was full of great character moments for example.

 

SA2 has another one of those moments. Amy's talk to Shadow is, to me at least, one of the moments where her character really shines, where we get to see the real Amy, the compassionate and dedicated girl with a positive outlook on life, with the belief that you can get anything right if you try, and she's a girl capable of getting her view of the world across, without any drama (or hammers) involved. Even to a narrowminded, sorrow and hatred filled Shadow.

[Wittymations]

This is not entirely story-based, but character use, but it does play heavily into story.

 

The way they treated BOTH the franchise's villain and hero well. That's something that newer games haven't been doing.

 

Eggman and Sonic both equally got a lot of love. They both had triumphs and defeats, they both started their stories (and that's how it should be), they both had CGI animation (Sonic having two, and interestingly Gerald having one of his own). Though, Eggman's was pretty long in comparison.

 

There's even some subtle things, in the selection screen, Eggman and Sonic are both in the back but on top, Eggman has the most dark levels, Sonic had the most hero (and most overall -- understandable).

 

Shadow meeting both Sonic and Eggman first, saying, to both, "My name is Shadow." he doesn't do that with any other character.

 

The ending for the Hero and Dark (depending on what you beat first), the last lines are either, "Farewell Sonic, forever." or "Long Live the Eggman Empire."

 

Sonic got a little bit more, but Eggman got a lot. That's how it should be.

 

Yeah, there's this nice sense of equality between the two, and I long to see that happen again.

 

If I did have to choose one element of the story alone, it's how Eggman had the world cowaring, or at the very least had them on the edge. Very stark contrast to newer games. Like from what I seen in Unleashed, NOBODY was scared of him. A kid threw a rock at him, if I recall.

[T-Min]

The characterization across the board is absolutely spot-on in my eyes. I do sort of prefer SA1 in this regard simply for the matter of screentime (SA1 has individual character storylines rather than dividing screentime up between all characters), but SA2 still defines how I feel pretty much every character should act and interact with the rest. Unlike the Flanderization they all underwent from Heroes up until Unleashed, their personalities all feel multi-faceted and they're all just generally likable. I especially love how Tails' character development from SA1 sticks. The first thing he does in the game is bust Sonic out of jail. The one thing I wish could have been better is that Amy's development should have stuck as well, but I still love her portrayal in the game, so it all kind of evens out.

 

The game overall pushed the limits of the kind of story you could expect in a platformer in much the same way SA1 did, not by virtue of simply being "dark", but through the surprising complexity of the plot and even some of the character development, mostly with Shadow. After that trainwreck of a game he got, we often forget there was a reason he was so beloved by fans at his debut. There are a few weird plot holes and the voice acting isn't exactly up to snuff, but for its time, this was pretty freaking impressive. There are a handful of moments that are still genuinely quite well-done, with much of the Last Story carrying a surprisingly weighty atmosphere. Shadow's dramatic sacrifice was great and should have stuck, but then Heroes had to come and ruin everything. And the final cutscene is spectacular aside from, well, "WE ALLLL DIDIT TOGETHUURRRR".

 

SA2's story may have its problems, but it really tried a lot harder than most Sonic stories later (and especially now) would. Even if I don't love it quite as much as I did as a kid, I still enjoy it and I respect it. Honestly, I think some of the modern games could learn a thing or two from it, "dark" tone aside. Still, as many pointed out, I think SA2 handled its tone with taste, and had a lot of fun and lighthearted moments to off-set the more dramatic ones. If I'm honest, I almost want to see SA2 properly remade just so that this story can be done real justice, but alas, that's...hardly likely.

[chaos11011]

I personally liked how flashy and action packed the cutscenes were, like that one time where Rouge was stuck in a room with a bomb in it, and Shadow had to save her. Or that one part where Sonic is strapped into a mid-collision course capsule.

 

For story, well I like the concept of Shadow and all other things regarding the President and GUN. I also like how smoothly they introduce the new characters.

 

I also like how cocky the characters get for example Eggman dissing Tails and Rouge blackmailing Shadow

[Dantemustdie00]

The funny Dialogue mainly, many moments made me bust out laughing, even during the serious moments.

[Maria-Robotnik]

That story... well, it hit home. Shadow and the Robotniks had an especially strong impact on me.

Shadow's not just a bad guy. He's suffering from an injustice he had to witness, and he's incredibly dedicated about fulfilling the final wish of his best friend. His actions make sense.

Maria's scenes are short, but sweet. She is influencing him beyond the grave, a friendship that still mattered to Shadow and that he would eventually sacrifice himself for. The ending scene left me in tears. It was Shadow at his finest.

Now, Professor Gerald is one of the biggest mysteries to me. His influence on Shadow is poisonous, but only because he couldn't cope with his loss and his ingenious mind slipped. Before then. he must have been a very different man- a man who would risk his life and dedicate his research to saving his sick granddaughter's life (I do wish her NIDS would've been mentioned as it's one of the reasons for Shadow's existence, and why she never got to visit that planet). But it was his negative actions that most impacted on the life he left behind, namely his creation and his grandson. He quickly became one of my favorite characters.

Dr. Eggman is... surprisingly threatening in this game. He's got a plan that he sees through, and this is the only game where he actually, well, "killed" Sonic. You also learn that he was influenced by his grandfather, which is quite interesting.

I like that the game stayed true to the characters' background stories. And Sonic got some flaws, something I've been missing until LW came around, as flaws just make him that much more likeable.

 

 

To sum it up... I think technical difficulties are overrated. To me, it's character personalities that really make the difference, and this game got it spot-on.

And the dialogues never bothered me. I was only just learning how to speak English then. : P

[Tornado]

It's pretty much as close as the series ever got post-reboot to an actual character-driven story. And while the tone is pretty over the top after about the 2/3rds point (especially once SPACE AIDS! comes into play), it still manages to carry itself without any of the major players being required to act pants-on-head retarded to keep it moving along (particularly impressive considering "pants-on-head retarded" is all everyone in Heroes did).

It's too bad the script itself was so poorly done that it can't carry the events with the sincerity needed.

[Maria-Robotnik]

What's SPACE AIDS? O_o

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

NIDS - NeuroImmuno Deficiency Syndrome. Basically replace the A with an N.

[FriendBot]

What's SPACE AIDS? O_o

 

As CSS said, NIDS is the Sonic version of AIDS and Maria is diagnosed with the disease. Gerald wanted to find a cure for this while helping the government make the ultimate war machine, this was the thought he had for Shadow and his true purpose.

 

As for what I like about SA2's story, I liked how it was dark toned but doesn't go overboard with dark elements. It balances the dark elements with light hearted ones like the Hero Story was mostly light hearted while the Dark Story was mostly dark-toned. I liked Shadow's portrayal in this game and David Humphrey did a great job of being Shadow, and will stand that he's the best Shadow voice actor! It had a few problems but the story is something that I still genuinely like about the game.

[Maria-Robotnik]

I know she has the disease, but that wasn't even in the game. o-o

So I thought they must've been talking about something else...

[FriendBot]

I know she has the disease, but that wasn't even in the game. o-o

So I thought they must've been talking about something else...

 

I remembered that it was mentioned in the character descriptions in Chronicles, not in the manual but in game. 

[Maria-Robotnik]

Yeah, it's additional information. It wasn't in SA2, in ShTH, or in Sonic X (english)... although, in my opinion, it should've been, to explain the reason for Shadow's existence.

 

Also, I guess it annoys me if someone complains about something that wasn't even in the game we're talking about?

Don't get me wrong, it had its problems, but... that's not one of them. xD;