What you thought of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

[Blue Blood]

Exactly as I thought, Toby. Mythology and technology often go together a parallels, as Archie and Bioware show. And and the Babylonians, they're both! Alien genies with hoverboards. =P I've no idea where to look up the source Kagura, but it's true.

[Kagura_Nitrogat]

Because an evil technological society that disappeared out of nowhere is such an ORIGINAL concept, right?

I know thats not a original concept but your telling me that the fact they chose that plot is a entire coincidence when recently in the comics the Dark Egg Legion are almost identicle to them?

[Blue Blood]

Hey, matey, I have no knowledge of the comic books so whenＩwas told of their similarities it surprised me. I don't see the problem really. It's a fairly standard explanation about two ancient tribes, and it ties in very nicely to what already exists in the game-canon. There were two tribes of echidnas, and Chaos killed one. There were the Gizoids, but where did they come from. Just seems sensible to me.

[Kagura_Nitrogat]

Hey, matey, I have no knowledge of the comic books so whenＩwas told of their similarities it surprised me. I don't see the problem really. It's a fairly standard explanation about two ancient tribes, and it ties in very nicely to what already exists in the game-canon. There were two tribes of echidnas, and Chaos killed one. There were the Gizoids, but where did they come from. Just seems sensible to me.

I'm not trying to come off as a ass if thats what you think ^^; I just find it to fishy to be almost identicle to the Comics lol, anyway I love that fact it closely ties in with the comic Story, Bioware went for the better universe in my opinion lol

[batson]

One thing i loved about the games was that it was probably the first Sonic game ever that seemed to have been made by people that actually had some knowledge of the Sonic franchise as a whole, as it contained nods to everything from the Mega Drive games to SatAM. The only other piece of the franchise that shows the same kind of awareness of franchise is the Archie comics (due to, at least in more recent years, being written by a true Sonic-geek). Of course, Archie sometimes drives this aspect a bit to far, and at times almost feels more like a tribute to all other Sonic continuities than a continuity of its own.

[JaidynReiman]

I do think there were a lot of problems, but moreso in a "lack thereof" sort of thing. Lack of difficulty, lack of length, and lack of character depth. For the last one, I'm mainly referring to the fact that only a few characters had very important roles in the game and had character development. The characters who DID had development had quite a bit, so I don't want to say "lack of character development," but they simply didn't include as any in there that I had hoped.

Other than that and the music, I quite enjoyed the game. The music needs to be better next time around, but otherwise, the only thing they really need to worry about is adding more next time. Perhaps if they want to add difficulty, they could do it by simply adding alternate difficulty levels, instead of simply enhancing the difficulty all around. Though of course I don't want the ending to be as easy. They should lengthen the game, and make it more difficult later on. How much harder the game gets as you progress is fine, though.

[Leon K Fox]

I've only played a bit of the game, it seems pretty good so far but I do think a real time battle system would have been better, kind of like what the Kingdom Hearts series has. (except with less emphasis on sword play obviously)

[Extryn]

I really hated it, in a sentence. Firstly, I'm a fan of the storylines/characters more than the gameplay, so I was really looking forward to a well respected team taking the initiative and fleshing them out. An RPG? ...Well, I wasn't quite sure about that, but when you're a Sonic fan you grow to be somewhat lenient with crazy concepts.

And then, in my eyes, they ruined it. The story felt like it was something out of the Archie comics, right down to ripping off the Dark Legion, it used one of the most over-done fanfic plotlines of "What if Knuckles isn't the last one...?", Sonic's personality was ALSO like it was out of Archie (you've probably noticed, I'm an unashamed Archie hater), despite trying to work in game canon where the HECK does the game fit in anyway? Oh, and what is with TIME PASSING? Time NEVER passes in Sonicland! Does that make Sonic seventeen CANONICALLY?! Something about that makes my brain break...

The gameplay was boring, music ear-bleeding, battle-system a pain...

Then they had to break the fourth wall at the end and stick a TO BE CONTINUED... in there. That is a VERY cheap gimmick to assure you're paid to make another game, BioWare.

With all that said and done, they did do plenty of things right in the conceptual stage: optional dialogue, fleshing out the characters, putting effort into the backstories and making it all work...

But the execution just ruined it for me. I don't even consider this game canon - it's just a spin-off for me.

Now here's the part where I apologise for flaming the game and admitting to a massive bias against Archie, and being a bit of a purist when it comes to Sonic canon. Honestly, I realise that most people liked the game somewhat, and in reality it's half decent; I just didn't like it. Funnily enough looking at all the previous posts, though, most people aren't brimming with praise...hmm, I always thought this game had a pretty good reception in the fanbase.

[Leon K Fox]

And then, in my eyes, they ruined it. The story felt like it was something out of the Archie comics, right down to ripping off the Dark Legion, it used one of the most over-done fanfic plotlines of "What if Knuckles isn't the last one...?", Sonic's personality was ALSO like it was out of Archie (you've probably noticed, I'm an unashamed Archie hater), despite trying to work in game canon where the HECK does the game fit in anyway? Oh, and what is with TIME PASSING? Time NEVER passes in Sonicland! Does that make Sonic seventeen CANONICALLY?! Something about that makes my brain break...

Why do you complain about that when you later mention the following:

But the execution just ruined it for me. I don't even consider this game canon - it's just a spin-off for me.

Why complain that it doesn't make sense in the canon when you don't consider it canon to the main game timeline anyway? Seems a bit pointless to me.

Also, why hate it just because it has a few similarites to Archie? Seems rather petty to me.

I'm not a gigantic fan of the game, but I still have to raise an eyebrow here.

[Extryn]

Why do you complain about that when you later mention the following:

Why complain that it doesn't make sense in the canon when you don't consider it canon to the main game timeline anyway? Seems a bit pointless to me.

Also, why hate it just because it has a few similarites to Archie? Seems rather petty to me.

I'm not a gigantic fan of the game, but I still have to raise an eyebrow here.

Well it was MEANT to be canon, but because I don't like it so much I just pretend it isn't.

...actually I'm not quite sure what the REAL canon status of the game is, to be honest.

As far as hating it because of Archie similarities, I guess you could just say I'm really very touchy about how they treat the characters/storyline because that's what I'm most interested in. In Archie, I think Sonic's a complete jerk, Sally is horrible compared to her SatAM appearnce (I won't mention what I dislike about the other characters or we'd be here all day...) and I dislike their storylines. I'm not quite sure where the comic series went wrong, I really liked the original (as in issues 1-40 or so) issues (which I managed to get a hold of), then going back to 100+ I hated it. So getting back to Chronicles, when it's an RPG and meant to be primarily ABOUT characters/story....they messed up big time for me.

So I guess what I mean is that I don't like how they treated the characters and story, and they remind me a lot of Archie which I also dislike. And for somebody who really really cares about those two elements it ruins the whole game for me.

Seriously though, I KNOW I'm being incredibly petty and unfair with this game, it isn't really as bad as I make it out to be. This isn't what I'd write in a review, for instance, it's just "what I thought". I have a very biased view of the game and I accept that.

[Flyboy Fox]

It's set in the future, so its canonical status can probably be ignored by anyone who doesn't like it, in that it could be seen as a 'possible future' kind of thing *shrug*

As for Sonic's personality being like from Archie... well, you actually have a lot of control over his personality. You can choose to make him kind, snarky, blunt... if he seemed a certain way to you, I can only assume you chose answers to make him that way o.o His personality was incredibly fluid; one of the most open aspects of the whole game.

[Leon K Fox]

As for Sonic's personality being like from Archie... well, you actually have a lot of control over his personality. You can choose to make him kind, snarky, blunt... if he seemed a certain way to you, I can only assume you chose answers to make him that way o.o His personality was incredibly fluid; one of the most open aspects of the whole game.

Exactly, it'd be similar to complaining that Shepard (surname of your character in another Bioware game, Mass Effect, you could choose the first name) was an asshole when you chose all of the asshole dialog options, it makes no sense at all.

Edited July 8, 2009 by Leon K Fox

[BakingBluePotatoe]

I'm not sure how to feel about it. I keep jumping back and forth from feeling very negative about it to very positive about it. The game shocked me more than anything else, and that's neither wholly negative or wholly positive. It's an extremely "grey" game for me. Maybe I just need time to get used to it.

The only things I can say for sure about it is that I feel it was a very unusual, experimental game, and that I thought it was too short.

YEah... there are some things I absoluetly LOVED about this game (BReaking the 4rth wall, FTW) .... and some things I absouetly HATED about it. (WTFNOGHZMUSIC!? >.<)

and that Chao Garden was CRAP.

---

I DO remember at one point saying to myself "Seems fangame-ish".

...though, it kinda is in a sence. xD

[Phos]

Shortly before the game came out, certain aspects of it made me think it might be retconned at some point to take place in the Sonic X verse (Sonic living in GHZ), but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up as taking place a few years after the hypothitical end of the Archie comic. Swat bots, Sonic and friends trying to kill Eggman and wishing he was dead, and the tendency of many people in the US to still think the old American continuity is still applicable. I wouldn't be surprised if Bioware's writers used the comic for inspiration. I get the impression that this game was sort of dumped on most of Bioware by Bioware's president.

[Extryn]

It's set in the future, so its canonical status can probably be ignored by anyone who doesn't like it, in that it could be seen as a 'possible future' kind of thing *shrug*

As for Sonic's personality being like from Archie... well, you actually have a lot of control over his personality. You can choose to make him kind, snarky, blunt... if he seemed a certain way to you, I can only assume you chose answers to make him that way o.o His personality was incredibly fluid; one of the most open aspects of the whole game.

True...but I didn't like the fact that the option even EXISTED to make him be a total jerk to Tails, for instance. Ah well, maybe I need to replay it and re-evaluate.

[goodone121]

Sonic living in GHZ

Um, where was this indicated? I got the sense he was just "speeding through".

[Blue Blood]

Um, where was this indicated? I got the sense he was just "speeding through".

Well, it's not even that. Sonic had been away from everyone else for a long, long time. Tails buzzed him and he made his back to Tails' new workshop in Central City, which just happens to be on the other side of Green Hill. Nothing indicated that Sonic lied anywhere.

But something I mentioned above ticked me off about Chronicles- it was locationally challenged. GHZ is it's own island, not next to Central City. And Station Square is (or was if you want to talk about Chaos' rampage) a resort town which connected to the Mystic Ruins via train.

[Dr. Mechano]

But something I mentioned above ticked me off about Chronicles- it was locationally challenged. GHZ is it's own island, not next to Central City. And Station Square is (or was if you want to talk about Chaos' rampage) a resort town which connected to the Mystic Ruins via train.

Well, GHZ is part of South Island. I can accept that Central City is on South Island, but what I can't accept is the sudden absence of Marble, Spring Yard, Labyrinth, and Star Light (It's possible Scrap Brain no longer exists after all this time). According to Chronicles, the entire island is taken up by Green Hill, Central City, and Mystic Ruin, leaving no room for the other zones.

I suppose if you wanted to really stretch it, you could say Central City and Star Light Zone are the same city. But this still does not account for the other missing parts of the island, nevermind Station Square's precarious location in relation to Mystic Ruin.

[Blue Blood]

Well, GHZ is part of South Island. I can accept that Central City is on South Island, but what I can't accept is the sudden absence of Marble, Spring Yard, Labyrinth, and Star Light (It's possible Scrap Brain no longer exists after all this time). According to Chronicles, the entire island is taken up by Green Hill, Central City, and Mystic Ruin, leaving no room for the other zones.

I suppose if you wanted to really stretch it, you could say Central City and Star Light Zone are the same city. But this still does not account for the other missing parts of the island, nevermind Station Square's precarious location in relation to Mystic Ruin.

Sonic Adventure 2. Central City was clearly not part of South Island. The location of GHZ in that game is negligible due to having no story presence and being there merely because it was an anniversary treat.

Edited July 8, 2009 by Blue Blood

[Dr. Mechano]

Sonic Adventure 2. Central City was clearly not part of South Island. The location of GHZ in that game is negligible due to having no story presence and being there merely because it was an anniversary treat.

Yes. I know that.

But GHZ, in Sonic 1, was clearly part of the larger South Island, neighbored by the aforementioned other zones. SA2's presentation of GHZ as one solitary landmass can be considered unreliable at best. Central City wasn't in SA2, either way, though the similarly-named "Capital City" was.

Central City wouldn't debut until Sonic Battle, reappearing in Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Chronicles later.

Edited July 8, 2009 by El Gran Gordo

[Diogenes]

But something I mentioned above ticked me off about Chronicles- it was locationally challenged.

Yeah, but what Sonic game isn't? SA2 had a San Francisco ripoff not too far from an Egyptian styled desert. ShtH had a map of the planet that looked like a slightly distorted Earth, but Unleashed's version of Earth looks nothing like it. They've never bothered with a consistent map and they've got no qualms about contradicting what they established in previous games.

[Blue Blood]

Actually, you may want to look at it as something that has developed and changed as the series has become more story centric. Nothing of Chronicles falls into place with Unleashed, and location-wise the newer games dont really mesh with older ones.

[batson]

As for Sonic's personality being like from Archie... well, you actually have a lot of control over his personality. You can choose to make him kind, snarky, blunt... if he seemed a certain way to you, I can only assume you chose answers to make him that way o.o His personality was incredibly fluid; one of the most open aspects of the whole game.

While playing the game, i realized that the best way to make Sonic seem like the same character as the one from other newer games was just to always choose the "neutral" (middle) option when deciding what to say. That made Sonic come of as just as much of a white-washed, almost personality-less pushover as he did in games like Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06; with most lines sounding something like "That's a good idea" or "Okay, if you think so" or "Well, i guess you can shove your thumb up my anus if you really want to, i dont mind". Personally, ive never been much of a fan of that version of Sonic though...

[JaidynReiman]

Yes. I know that.

But GHZ, in Sonic 1, was clearly part of the larger South Island, neighbored by the aforementioned other zones. SA2's presentation of GHZ as one solitary landmass can be considered unreliable at best. Central City wasn't in SA2, either way, though the similarly-named "Capital City" was.

Central City wouldn't debut until Sonic Battle, reappearing in Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Chronicles later.

Except that Central City IS the "capital city." The city in SA2 is NOT named. It isn't called "capital city." It is referred to as "the" capital city, though. The same President in Shadow the Hedgehog is also the president in SA2. Central City's "debut," if you wish to call it that, may technically be Sonic Battle, but that's only because it wasn't named until that point. Shadow the Hedgehog brings back "Central City" and directly states that it is the capital, also featuring the very same president from SA2.

It isn't a retcon, and it isn't a new city. All they did was they gave it an official name. And Sonic Battle doesn't directly indicate that Central City is the capital, but it hints at it by referencing the fact that the President is there (though of course it doesn't necessarily mean it is; Shadow the Hedgehog simply confirms this).

Anyway, yeah, I suppose that is my only other complaint about the game--the maps were horrible. I don't mind some of the indications, such as Emerald Town being a part of Central City (referenced only once), and Station Square (possibly) being on Westside Island (Metropolis being on the island, hinting that it may in fact be Westside Island), but yeah, most of the other maps just plain don't make sense. Station Square kinda makes sense, and you CAN make train tracks over water (though not necessarily that great of a distance, and that water probably is a lot farther than is possible for "us"), but Central City completely conflicts with everything else based on location. It just isn't possible for it to be there, especially since its so big (Sonic Battle doesn't show the edges of the city; you can't tell exactly how big it is in that game, as you're only in a brief part of it).

[Kiljoy]

Really people? Really? You're going to argue over the maps in Sonic, seriously now cmon that's just stupid nitpicking.