I can't be bothered to care about Sonic anymore.

[RK64]

Its odd for me, as I still love the series but since I don't own a Wii U (and don't plan to till at the very least 2015)....I haven't played a new Sonic game like I did Generations and Racing Transformed since 2012 :l.

 

I still love the series and really enjoyed the little I played of Lost World at the GameStop demo station every now and then....but for some reason, I feel more cynical of the series (and games in general sadly ). Between playing tons of other newer platformers and not really following Sonic news anymore (I can't believe I more or less left this site for a good few months once I joined NeoGaf ), I kinda been disinterested in any news following Sonic Boom (or even the Lost World DLC despite how cool it looked).

 

I don't know, I know Boom will at the very least be good on Wii U and great on 3DS (Sanzaru KNOWS how to make great platformers )....but, I feel that I left this series, even though I still feel like I care about it.

 

I guess once the next offical Sonic Team game is shown off I will gravitate back into the series once more (who knows, Boom might even be a great game) but as of now....I feel indifferent toward the series .

 

It also was really shocking the amount of pure hate the series gets outside of here ! NeoGaf consistently hates on all Sonic Boom news and many members their don't like Lost World much at all . I guess this is and other Sonic message boards/sites like Sonic Retro are the only places where the spirt of Sonic is still alive and kicking, and that is really sad; more people should love this great series .

[Sega DogTagz]

Even after all these years, I still find myself revolving around the franchise. Even if the games aren't all I want them to be, there are just so many avenues I can roll down that never fail to re-spark my enthusiasm or capture my interest.

 

Between drawing them, reading up through the comics, playing the games or just taking a trip down nostalgia lane, I find it hard to ever be completely out of the franchise. In some shape or form there is always something going on that I want to know more about, or am excitedly waiting for the next foot to drop.

 

Most of all, I think I just genuinely enjoy the characters. I can sympathize with people who fall in and out of the fandom. Sega doesn't so do us any favors with the rollar-coasters they put us through, but I'm happy to find myself in the thick of it for the most part.

[LATER BUDDY]

Actually had this happen quite forever ago, and has gotten to the point that if I largely just don't do anything Sonic related other than maybe babble on here with you guys every day, I still will get excited and anticipate a new Sonic game. I have a good time with it when it finally releases, and if it has enough to do it'll last me a week or two. Then I maybe talk about it for a week after, and then spend the next 2 weeks listening to it's soundtrack before I finally go dormant again.

 

I mean I don't straight up do this intentionally, but just sorta happens. I still like little blue dude, but I think all of us here are pretty bored with him in the broad spectrum, and that's ok really. It's hard to like something to the extremes your entire life of course, and even 5 years is pretty fucking impressive if it's not like a career or anything. To be honest, people that fall out of things completely have a tendency to go back to them later in life anyways, so I don't think anyone's love or care for Sonic is stone cold dead, you're just getting stale. When you move on long enough, or even just give it a break and look to other things, it'll become fresh and new again, and the cycle continues forever.

 

In short, I wouldn't worry, it's natural and I know for a fact 90% of the people on this board have this feeling, have had it (many times even), or going to have it if they're just new to the series.

[goku262002]

Jeez, we sound like were 1 step away from becoming the Sonic CulT/SCARZ forums way back when, Next thing you know Chris is going to make a black/green skin for the boards and Pachuka will make his unholy return to the fanbase to tell us he was a prophet or something. (Ha! I'm old...)

As for me, I still care about this blue mutant, not as much as a rabid fan I used to be but I'm still here and outlived a good majority of people I knew were fans and now while I don't play the modern games as much I wanna see where this all goes so I stick around for the ride.

The only thing that bugs me is that when people turn and start not liking Sonic anymore they think it also gives them a right to make fun of us, I don't necessarily care if you like Sonic or not anymore I don't think it gives you a right to make fun of me or others for still liking it, like somehow your COD rank is going to raise by 5 levels because you cracked a "sanic suxx" joke harhar you lowbrow idiot and congrats you became the very thing you hated while you were a fan.

[Meow]

I care about Sonic more as a concept and less as an actual franchise these days. I guess I still cling and hold interest to the games/media in the past I loved but am finding it hard to warm up to any of the new stuff. The direction as of late has really turned me off and Boom is not even something I have really anything positive to say about at all - less so than how I felt about Lost World. I just can't muster up the same excitement and wonder and sense of inspiration that I used to. On one hand I am happy with that since this has been a progressing feeling for me ever since I turned 19 (which was 5 years ago now) and started to phase myself out of doing Sonic fanart and doing my own stuff - breaking free from that is not something I regret. But as I became less and less invested on the fan side of things I became less interested as well in the future of the series - in a way all the fan art and roleplaying was merely a way to keep me attached to the things I liked about the series.

I just miss the sense of playfulness and still badass scale from the old days, with worlds that looked super cool that weren't bogged down with dumb, cringeworthy stories and had a solid gameplay style that wasn't really like anything else out there at the time. The aesthetics appeal to me more now that I'm older too. I guess I've just accepted that this franchise is no longer targeting people like me and that's fine - I had my good times with it and I'll always look fondly back on those times. Hell I still go back and play Sonic 3 and Knuckles a few times a year because it's one of the games that inspired me to want to make games.

 

I'm 24 now and I've opened myself up to so many different forms of inspiration and thus it makes it hard for me to care about a franchise that I've been finding consistently mediocre now. So yeah... while I don't really care as much any more I still can't fully detach myself from the franchise because whether I like it or not it shaped a lot of my art, and as a young kid it was what made me wish to do videogames as a career. Which brings me back to the point - I like the concept, I like the ideas, I like the memories but I'm not fond of the reality anymore.

[-Mark-]

To me, I feel less like I've grown out of the franchise (hell, this is someone who's become a born-again PokéFan in the last year- anime and all), but more that the Sonic franchise itself has regressed. :/

 

To give my own analogy, the Sonic franchise felt like my oldest and dearest childhood friend whom I grew up alongside. Sure, in the last few years it felt like we'd started to grow apart a little (Colours onwards), but we still met up from time to time and things were still cool (Generations). 

 

Lost World to me felt like my oldest and dearest childhood friend turning around and stabbing me in the back. He's gone off the rails, got in with the wrong crowd, and it feels like he isn't even the same person any more. And then we get Boom, which feels like him pouring hot, salty lemon juice onto the open stab wound. 

 

I get what you mean- this is the first time ever I've actively disliked/ not given a shit about Sonic. Hell, even through the so-called 'dark ages' of Shadow the Hedgehog/ Sonic 06 etc, I still didn't have any major issues with the series. I was always on the side of the fence that still got decent enough levels of enjoyment out of them where half the fanbase (and almost all of the Internet) were crying 'shit franchise is shit' and 'just put it out of its misery'.

 

This is the first time I've ever been on that side of the fence, and it feels weird. Yet, over half a year on from Lost World and now that the initial horrified reaction to Boom has worn off, more and more I'm feeling like I just don't give a shit. I'm hoping that the supposed 2015 Sonic Team game will be good, but if it's not, then eh. I've already kind of replaced Sonic as my 'top franchise' in my rediscovering of Pokémon.

[Zaysho]

Jeez, we sound like were 1 step away from becoming the Sonic CulT/SCARZ forums way back when, Next thing you know Chris is going to make a black/green skin for the boards and Pachuka will make his unholy return to the fanbase to tell us he was a prophet or something. (Ha! I'm old...)

Lord that brings back memories. None good. That was not a fun group to be around when I was 13/14. I didn't know you were hanging around there (I used the same stupid name I use now back then haha). Oddly, I had less of a problem with ol' Pachuka than I did with other members around there (whose usernames I've long since forgotten).

It's strange. I feel like I just don't get cynical with Sonic. I don't dislike Sonic, never did. I tend to take issue with how certain parties handle the property, and would love for Sonic Team to finally get their shit together, but I have no hate for the franchise itself (SEGA and some of their decisions, on the other hand...). I dunno, I still get hyped for each game. I still wanna play them, and I do. I may not like 'em completely or believe there are things that I'd love to see improved upon or added to them, but I rarely don't have a good time, and they usually spark an idea for me. I enjoy the world and the characters, and I never get bored talking about them (though I admit I get a little heated).

And I love the Archie series. I know it's a very polarizing branch of the franchise, and I can understand why having fallen out with it in the past, but I think it's an aspect of the franchise that I consider more responsible for keeping me a fan than anything else these days. It's a fun, solid read for me, and I loved the old universe and how it was shaping up, especially because all the things that drove me away were becoming interesting and relevant and even likable. I can't believe that the past writers (Penders and Bollers, specifically) struggled to unify the two very different worlds of the comic book and the games without making bizarre choices that don't make sense no matter how many times you read their stories. Even with all the cracks and imperfections, the world still drew me in when Flynn came along. The new 'verse, whilst its reason for existing is a bitter pill to swallow, is still shaping up to be really interesting on its own. I didn't want it, but I can't complain when it's making use of ideas that SEGA/Sonic Team can't be bothered with. It feels right for a fan like me, I guess, who enjoys the lore and mythology of Sonic and wants to see it wrung for all it's worth and give me a unique experience. The book isn't perfect, but these days I'm never not looking forward to picking up the next issue and getting back into the discussion.

Even being a fan doesn't bug me; sure the franchise's punching bag status outside of fandom is disheartening and like goku262002, I can't stand people who use that, and the worst the fandom has to offer, to make blanket generalizations about the fandom at large (BlackBusterCritic, anyone?). But I'm not shy about being a Sonic fan and couldn't care less about what some assholes on the Internet have to say. Most of them go after Sonic because it's an easy target at this point and they love getting hits/views from irate Sonic fans (I just wish someone with a level head could argue with them for once because the people defending this cause don't do it any favors--but even then I don't expect people like that to listen).

In short, I still care about and enjoy this franchise. The fact that certain discussion really get me going and I can spend a whole day tossing posts back and forth all these years, even now when I feel too old to do this stuff (then again, I just feel old in general ) tells me I'm not even remotely sick of it yet. It still holds value to me for a few reasons, and even considering the missteps... well, it's like when the cat hurls on the carpet. I'm annoyed, but I don't hate the cat.

[Nepenthe]

I was thinking I was the same as other jaded people. But frankly I think my Sonic fandom is so ingrained into me at this point that it will be severely difficult for me to permanently lose interest or grow out of it. Even with games I don't particularly care about from an artistic standpoint coming out that cause me to rant and rave and tear my hair out, I still follow them anyway. When I go to a store or convention and I see a Sonic shirt or piece of memorabilia I may find some utility for like a game or a mug, I go ahead and pick it up like it's any old item on the shelf. I still maintain a decade-old Sonic roleplay with a friend. I moderate a Sonic-themed forum and argue about Sonic on said forum even though I've done most song and dance routines countless times. Pretty much the only reason I use the avatars I do is because the first role I pinned to that man is Sonic. I listen to the music from time to time (forever repping S3 Mid-Boss theme on you haters), I'm trying to make a Sonic-based animated short, I'm still trying to muster up the ethic to digitally paint a scene with Shadow, there's a corner of my room filled with nothing but Sonic, Shadow and Werehog plushies and toys and rolled-up posters, and I'm literally sitting here right now with some Sonic Boom doodles on the desk.

 

Speaking of which, Boom has actually alighted a bit of the interest in Sonic I thought was waning since Unleashed hit the scene. The gang is back together, there's some big monster and lore, you're going to be going around and adventuring in potentially huge lands, the cartoon is looking awesome. It's got some cracks in it, but it's the most that the games have perked my ears since 2008, so that's something. But even if Boom weren't a thing, my life so casually and extensively involves the little blue dude in some way or another that it would take more effort than I'm willing to expend severing ties. He's as much a part of my personal identity as my art. If I'm not alight with spontaneous inspiration and drawing up the most awesome things I've ever drawn, I'm either looking at art, watching tutorials, or doing awful sketches every now and again to keep my hand loose. Sonic is the same. Even I'm not at my happiest with him, or even when he pisses me off, Sonic is still like that old friend across the street who from time to time I'll go visit, have a good time with, and remember why I fell in love with in the first place.

 

This was sappier than I intended, especially in such a cynical topic.

[MamboCat]

To give my own analogy, the Sonic franchise felt like my oldest and dearest childhood friend whom I grew up alongside. Sure, in the last few years it felt like we'd started to grow apart a little (Colours onwards), but we still met up from time to time and things were still cool (Generations).

 

Yeah I know what you mean by this; I will always love the old 2D games but I feel the series was just never the same once it made it's first steps into the 3D world. I don't mean it that was necessarily bad but I think Sonic games have struggled to find an identity that suits the core message of the franchise; Sonic games are faster, flashier... cooler than your average game! Hence we have the series going off on odd tangents like "photorealism" and "pseudoMarioism" and now "pseudoJakandDaxterism". I know a lot of people hated Boost gameplay, and it does sometimes feel like the game is playing for you, but I think that Unleashed and Generations really captured the speedy feel that Sonic should have.

 

Anyways, besides the games I have to say I'm quite interested to see what Sonic Boom the cartoon will be like, and I probably will watch it(!) But the games I doubt I will ever play due to Nintendo-exclusivitiy... (same goes for Lost World unless Sega do what they did with SA2 and decide to port them to Steam 10 years later! :/)

 

STCO has been a source of Sonicy yayness for me for the last 10 years, too... when I was a kid STC was probably the main Sonic series I was really into besides the games so seeing the comic resurrected by equally-obsessed fans was fantastic.

 

 

I was thinking I was the same as other jaded people. But frankly I think my Sonic fandom is so ingrained into me at this point that it will be severely difficult for me to permanently lose interest or grow out of it. Even with games I don't particularly care about from an artistic standpoint coming out that cause me to rant and rave and tear my hair out, I still follow them anyway.

 

Yeah; to conclude... pretty much this! I'm a sucker for Sonic stuff so it's highly likely I will always give new Sonic things at least a look! Sega has indoctrinated me well! XD

[TearForFear]

Jeez, we sound like were 1 step away from becoming the Sonic CulT/SCARZ forums way back when, Next thing you know Chris is going to make a black/green skin for the boards and Pachuka will make his unholy return to the fanbase to tell us he was a prophet or something. (Ha! I'm old...)

 

 

Ten billion times this.

 

Listen, I don't want to force anyone to love the franchise, but seriously, what's with all this negativity?

 

First the "will Sonic reputation be restored" topic, now this. Let's rename this community The Depressed Deluded Ex-Sonic Fans Message Board at this point!

 

Again, I don't want to force anyone to love Sonic if they don't want to, but come on! I though this community was the place for people who like Sonic and want to find other people who likes him!

 

At least, confess your malcontent in the personal discussion instead of spreading the malcontent in the main section!

[Nepenthe]

We have plenty of topics here that focus on general, wishlist, and overall positive discussion about the Sonic series that people are free to post in. If people want to post a topic concerning more negative aspects of the franchise or their own discontent, they're free to do so within reason and without others backseat moderating about where their topics should go. If you're unhappy with the subject of the discussion, you simply need to ignore the topic.

[Wittymations]

Fear, love goes both ways in a relationship. And, so far, SEGA hasn't exactly been a very loyal partner for this marriage.

We can love Sonic and all that, doesn't mean we love SEGA's constant actions. Constantly changing stuff. Always. I thought they finally got their head on straight and decided to use a single formula but, you know, Lost World came, changed it all up, Boom's changed, and rumor has it (and granted, a rumor) that they changed it up once more for the next game.

 

It's kinda hard to stay loving something that won't stay the same. I love steak, I hate fish. If steak started tasting like fish all of sudden, think I'm gonna still love steak? No. I'm not.

 

It's not that we don't like Sonic, but it's more we don't like Sonic Team. Sonic could be great if damn suits would get their head on straight.

 

But at this rate, it doesn't look like they had. I thought they did back with boosting (Granted, hated those stories and am like "whatever" with the gameplay but most liked it so yeah) but obviously they didn't. They're making the same mistakes again.

 

Changing it. Constantly changing it.

 

There's really not much to love. And there's little hope for it.

 

Call us Ex-fans if you wish, and for some, that may be true. We didn't abandon Sonic, Sonic Team.... SEGA, whoever makes these decisions, they abandoned us. They abandoned us many times in the past.

 

How many chances are we going to have to give? Will there ever be enough chances given before they finally get their act together? And, if so, is it too late by that point?

 

It's really, really hard to stay optimistic and faithful for something that doesn't want to be faithful back.

[Phos]

A lot of what we've been hearing about for a while, boom and this movie business, it's given me the idea that Sega has basically thrown their hands up and is looking for other people to do it for them... At first. Really it seems like they're just chasing trends, trying to cram the Sonic cast into adventure time archetypes while the movie is just chasing summer kids movie dollars. If I'm being honest they've more or less always been doing that (no accident Sonic looks like a serrated Micky Mouse), but there was creativity behind it, speaking to the time rather than chasing them. Now it seems like Sega resents that Sonic gets attention from people old enough to judge quality, wishes their audience could by cycled out every few years like an early childhood repertoire so they can just slap Sonic onto whatever game the saps they rope in to develop the game manage to throw together.

As for me, I still see an unrealized potential in Sonic that keeps me around, even if I doubt anything will ever come of it.

[spinny]

level design, art design, music, cutscenes, characters, and Sonic's personality among other things.

 

Sonic, and his colorful cast of characters, I like them all. I like them all A LOT. 

 

Pretty much this is all I care about when it comes to Sonic anymore.

 

I am beginning to grow tired of mediocre ~ alright games. This series still really has a whole lot of potential and it actually upsets me that it's never achieving that. These days I never really play Sonic games anymore, I watch cutscenes, listen to the soundtracks, read stories and stare at artwork. 

 

Simply put it doesn't feel like a video game series to me anymore. It feels like... anything but that.

 

Do I believe an amazing Sonic game could be made? Most definitely. Do I feel like it's going to come very soon or even just soon? ..No, not really.

[Alluusio]

As much as I'm not a fan of the direction the series has taken recently, I'd be lying if I said I haven't enjoyed pretty much every Sonic game I've played in some way. None of them have really lived up to my expectations and there are plenty of things I'd change given the chance. However, in many cases I've come to find enjoyment from things I would've never expected. 

 

Sonic games, to me, are games you can't fully appreciate on your first playthrough. The games are often so short and have so many different mechanics that you can't really master them all just by playing through the game once. Same goes for the level designs. When I was playing secret rings for the first time, I swore it was the clunkiest and most flowbreaking game I have ever played. It played nothing like I would've liked and I just wanted to get it over with so I could move on to other games. After some time of coming back to the game just to pass some time I unlocked more moves and got a better hang of the mechanics. Now the game I thought I'd never touch again is actually my favourite of the Sonic games on the Wii. 

 

I admit, the games alone wouldn't really do much for me without the community. I am a speedrunner and there was a time when I would go to sites like The Sonic Center and constantly keep on eye on how my records held up in comparison to other people. I've even had a couple of world records in some games. I'm not as enthusiastic about it anymore but usually when I pop in a Sonic game to play, I try to find new ways to get around the level and beat my old records. By speedrunning I was able to have fun with games I would've gotten very tired of otherwise and no other game series has really given me such an incentive to play competitively and explore the mechanics of the games in so much depth. That is one thing every Sonic game so far has succeeded in and is probably the one thing that will make me keep coming back to Sonic time after time again.

 

As for Sonic outside the games, well. Years ago when I was a huge Sonic nut, I tried to embrace every bit of it. I watched all the TV shows, looked up fanart and even did some myself. SatAM, to me, was one of the greatest things ever. Now it's hard for me to watch through even one episode. I don't really care for Sonic Boom either. The character designs I've loved so much have changed for the worse in my opinion. Same goes for the characters themselves. Fanart, eh. I haven't really been actively looking it up recently, much less done it myself. I love the character designs as much as ever, but I've kind of lost interest in everything that isn't official or "canon". I just don't have the time I had back when I could just fill my entire life with Sonic. 

 

I'm not that worried about the quality of the games anymore. I trust Sonic Team enough to believe that they can make games I enjoy. However, the time when I was feverishly anticipating new Sonic games has long passed. I still like Sonic and want him to keep going. Whenever I see him in merchandise or advertisements it puts a smile to my face. I still remember years back when I was in an electronics store and they were demonstrating the HD televisions with Sonic Unleashed. It made me realize that he is still popular and has good enough public image that he is being used as a way to promote new technology. It really made my day. 

[SenEDDtor Missile]

A lot of what we've been hearing about for a while, boom and this movie business, it's given me the idea that Sega has basically thrown their hands up and is looking for other people to do it for them... At first. Really it seems like they're just chasing trends, trying to cram the Sonic cast into adventure time archetypes while the movie is just chasing summer kids movie dollars. If I'm being honest they've more or less always been doing that (no accident Sonic looks like a serrated Micky Mouse), but there was creativity behind it, speaking to the time rather than chasing them. Now it seems like Sega resents that Sonic gets attention from people old enough to judge quality, wishes their audience could by cycled out every few years like an early childhood repertoire so they can just slap Sonic onto whatever game the saps they rope in to develop the game manage to throw together.

As for me, I still see an unrealized potential in Sonic that keeps me around, even if I doubt anything will ever come of it.

You make it sound like a childfriendly ponzi scheme...

[Mauro Fonseca]

While I certainly can't agree with you (well Boom did kill my enthusiasm but eh), you're certainly not alone as this thread and SSMB in general demonstrates. The entire forums feel like frustrated players at this point that realised that they've moved on but don't know what to do with the information. It's fine.

[Strong Bad]

Definitely haven't really been able to care very much about Sonic for over 5 years now. He's like that old friend you have that you see for lunch every 7 or 8 months, and you aren't quite sure if it was an enjoyable experience afterward. Probably the most "fun" I've had Sonic-related in... maybe a decade? was when I was able to go to Sonic Boom last year since it was in my state. Not really sure if it's a general lack of care for Sonic or for video games, but I definitely understand where you're coming from, J.

[Double Agent Motobug]

Yeah, I feel the same way. Felt like they nailed it with the Boost gameplay, polished it up to really handle well and abide by some of the same standards that I feel some of the classics do (Flow being important as all get-out), then they just went "OOPS" and threw it aside. It feels like they should really get a solid base for whatever it is they want to do, polish it up as best they can, and expand upon it accordingly, instead of trying to throw it under a new bus every time.

It almost feels like there are two forces within SEGA/Sonic Team, There's people in there that are super talented and have a clear vision for what they feel Sonic should be and are genuinely inspired people, the team that started in with Unleashed, and then there are the less... caring folk, that just focus on all the wrong things, misread fans, and undo the work of the people that are working so hard to get Sonic back on track (For how many years now?)

Example, wasn't the Unleashed Sonic design chosen to unify the Sonic brand? Isn't that the excuse they used for why Modern Sonic was in Sonic 4? Then who had the great idea of "You know what Sonic needs? WESTERNIZING! Let's throw him at some American dev team and hope everything goes well!", Now we have "Games Sonic", "Boom Sonic", and possibly an unrelated "Movie Sonic", those universes won't likely interconnect, some (younger?) fans will be confused as to why Knuckles isn't ripped in "Sonic the Last Wispbender", but he was in "Sonic Boom 2: They're Chaos Emeralds This Time!", and in "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (2015)" (not to be confused with the English title for the OVA), Knuckles was a sloth, and was pinkish.

It's infuriating to think about how possibly simple a great Sonic game concept could be to come up with, and how far off Sonic Team (and others) have been for so long.

[PickleBrows]

I still love Sonic but this constant change needs to stop.

 

If they really are going to use a new gameplay style...again, then what they need to do is come up with a very basic core for how it will play.

Look at the 3D Mario games. Mario 64 acts like a core game and introduced the moveset that we'd be seeing for years to come. Further down the line the can simply expand on that formula or add some sort of twist. They can give him a water gun this time, they can have him mess with space physics this time because at the heart of it all is a simple setup that is able to be expanded upon. That's why Mario has kept going, they haven't had to change his entire setup every game because the core is robust enough to adapt. 

 

Sonic Team need to establish a core setup for Sonic, one design philosophy that can last him decades. They've got such a backlog of "experiments" that they have everything they should need to come up with it.

 

I'm not too fussed about the Adventure games but look at SA1. Sonic's gameplay consists of a run which gradually builds up speed, his homing attack, spindash which also works as a roll and light dash. That's it. Just four key elements and they built an entire story out of it. That gameplay setup is so basic that you could add half of the gimmicks in later games to it like half his moves from Unleashed. 

 

They'll likely be working on the 25th Anniversary game right now and hopefully that'll be the next time we see main Sonic and not next year. If a separate team did Lost World then they'll have had four years to get this right, more than enough time to figure out a new gameplay style and get it tweaked and polished. If their next game doesn't hit the mark then they really need to start taking some action. Rearrange Sonic Team a bit, sit down and think about what they're going to do about all this in the long term.

 

We had over a decade of "experiments" and "testing" it's time to see the real deal.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Should be pointed, since I really think a lot of frustration comes from people not realising (a lot also comes from people realising it and not liking it, yes) that yes, we've had over a decade of experiments and testing.

 

We've had about 23 years.

 

You're illuding yourself if you don't think Sonic Team was like this from the start :V

[KingIgort]

It's not that I don't care about Sonic games...

 

It's just that the longer I spend on this board the more I realize I really don't care for the Sonic fandom.

[Cola]

Yeah, I've previously admitted I've been disenchanted with the franchise as of late. Mainly due to the quality of the games. Why is this character suddenly acting like someone else? Where'd this other guy go? Where are they, was this even explained?

Sonic needs a solid direction more than anything. We need a basic gameplay style that accurately translates the classics to 3D - I feel like Adventure is the closest we've gotten. We need a Canon Bible - clean up the excess, give it a soft reboot by retconning all the unnecessary bullshit out of existence. Instead of reinventing the games every time, improve and build upon them. Add new ideas into the gameplay, but keep the base mechanics. Level design that focuses on flow and building up speed with skill instead of instantly obtaining speed with a button press. Multiple playable characters built off the same gameplay with different abilities.

Oh, and ORIGINAL handheld titles. Colors DS started this nasty trend of having portable versions of console games. If you stagger the releases of two different teams - console and handheld, then perhaps there will be more development time to help the game reach its potential.

Generations was the last game I truly enjoyed. I saw Lost World and really didn't like it, but I warmed up to it because everyone was gushing. Luckily I realized my mistake 3 days prior to release and just bought The Wonderful 101 instead. On top of that, Boom is taking the franchise in a direction I really don't like.

We just need better direction. No more experimenting with the main games, leave that to the side ones.

[Semi-colon e]

For me I have enjoyed most of the games and still love CD, 3&K, Generations, Colours etc, I'm just less invested. I go through phases where I'm more or less invested. I'm a lot more invested in Pokemon at the moment, and I'm sure it'll eventually cycle through.

 

I guess after a while the possibilities are endless, while reality is only limited to what actually happens. This means that gaming, especially with Sonic, can be underwhelming because even if you get what you want in the games, it's not quite right because you expected to love it more, or that it would be done in a different way. There's a reason that they say "Be careful what you wish for" after all. I'm not automatically saying it's about expectations, because Sonic Team are being really dumb, but it's probably good when you're less concerned about a videogame franchise because you're no longer constantly wishing for it to be better.

 

Otherwise, it sounds like people including me are somewhat moving on from the series or gaming as a whole. I know myself I'm starting to yearn for something more interesting than gaming in my life, and slowly taking steps to do other stuff instead.

[Milo]

I don't think I was really invested much in Sonic as a brand/franchise-I never really cared for the TV shows (though from what I've seen of it, I'd love to see AoSTH in full someday), the comics, and the merchandise; only the games. And though I'll still express fondness for many things brought to the series the Adventure and Unleashed eras of games and still love the Genesis games as a whole, I think I'm finally losing interest in the (current direction of the) games as well. Episode II and Lost World brought Sonic Team back to mediocrity/wildcard levels, and I'm not optimistic in Sonic Team's next game. The Boom games I have little interest in (lot more interested in how the TV show turns out though). And I'm only interested in the upcoming film franchise to see how many things it gets wrong and how much damage it causes upon release.

 

But aside from the older games, I think it's also the Sonic community that's keeping me from up and leaving the franchise completely. Sonic (fansite) forums are the only forums I actively visit, though it's only a few sites rather than several. Aside from SSMB (where I spend most of my time at), it's only Sonic Retro (which I go sometimes) and the Sega Forums for laughs (which I only sneak into every now and then for a couple of laughs. Though until the Sega Forums went down in 2011 and I came here, I was a mainstay during the pre-release period of Sonic 4: Episode I...it was actually /that/ game in particular that got me into that wretched hive -and into the Sonic fandom proper- in the first place).