The Ranking System

[Sean]

You kidding? SA1's stages are the only levels in any Sonic game I ever bother to speedrun and get high scores on. Deliciously fun and with lots of ways to complete all of the levels. SA1 didn't have a reward, but it was a charming experience to explore the levels; SA2 onwards for the most part had more linear, restricted levels that didn't allow you to deviate from the main path.

Edited July 26, 2009 by Jake

[azoo]

Nonononono, don't get me wrong, I LOVEEEE the Action stages in SA1 just as much as you do. I meant the Adventure stages (like Station Square and such). =P

[Rusty Spy]

Wellllllll... Sonic Heroes had a crappy reward for getting all A ranks, and Sonic Unleashed had no reward as far as I'm aware. Neither did the Rush games.

SA2 was the only game to have a substantial reward for giving players A ranks, and even that sucked (still a reward, nevertheless). So the whole "rewarding players" thing is a bit moot.

They still gave the player something, and I'd take any of those over nothing anyday.

[Sean]

Nonononono, don't get me wrong, I LOVEEEE the Action stages in SA1 just as much as you do. I meant the Adventure stages (like Station Square and such). =P

Oh, well, yeah. I liked them though (especially the Mystic Ruin), and I know some people who did enjoy them though.

They still gave the player something, and I'd take any of those over nothing anyday.

Yeah, but it seems like Sonic Team's stopped with the whole "reward" thing, since Heroes was the second - and last - game to have any reward whatsoever. So... unless they go back that route, grades are kind of redundant.

Edited July 26, 2009 by Jake

[Dreadknux]

You kidding? SA1's stages are the only levels in any Sonic game I ever bother to speedrun and get high scores on. Deliciously fun and with lots of ways to complete all of the levels. SA1 didn't have a reward, but it was a charming experience to explore the levels; SA2 onwards for the most part had more linear, restricted levels that didn't allow you to deviate from the main path.

Nonononono, don't get me wrong, I LOVEEEE the Action stages in SA1 just as much as you do. I meant the Adventure stages (like Station Square and such). =P

Dammit, you guys are making me want to go and play Speed Highway (nothing quite like running from the highway on the side of the building, grabbing the speed shoes and back onto another section of highway). I'll be back..........................

[azoo]

Dammit, you guys are making me want to go and play Speed Highway (nothing quite like running from the highway on the side of the building, grabbing the speed shoes and back onto another section of highway). I'll be back..........................

Go for it! I think I will too next time I play my Dreamcast. XD

[Phos]

I thought I made this post before, but it looks like it didn't take...

...well, so what? Does the game's opinion of your skill really matter that much to you? If you tried and failed, just shrug your shoulders and say you'll try harder next time. And if you're not trying to get a good rank, the rank is irrelevant to your goals, so it shouldn't matter at all.

You know how sometimes when someone's watching you play, they'll be telling you how you should do it? Same thing here, only it's built into the game.

The Ranking system only works in Sonic Adventure 2. Because they actually implemented it in with a purpose. The grinding wasn't so asinine as to provide entire routes through levels, but were little optional trick locations that could either improve your time or give you a nice points bonus. Hitting enemies in quick succession gave you a combo score. You knew exactly where you were with SA2's ranking, because at the end of the level the A Rank was always a threshold that you knew you could attain, if you tried a bit harder. The number of evenings I willingly spent playing Pyramid Cave over and over again, especially on Hard Mode...

I still don't see that as a positive, rather than encouraging you to find your own best route, you just need to follow the figurative bread crumbs that the designers laid out for you, or at least enough of it

In contrast, Sonic CD's Time Attack encourages you to find your own way through a level. I can TA a single level for more than an hour and still be shortening my run.

[Rusty Spy]

I still don't see that as a positive, rather than encouraging you to find your own best route, you just need to follow the figurative bread crumbs that the designers laid out for you, or at least enough of it

In contrast, Sonic CD's Time Attack encourages you to find your own way through a level. I can TA a single level for more than an hour and still be shortening my run.

The main focus of the ranking system isn't meant for getting the best times, it's for getting the best scores, and in turn, a higher rank.

[Phos]

The main focus of the ranking system isn't meant for getting the best times, it's for getting the best scores, and in turn, a higher rank.

And to do that you follow whatever path the designers decided was the best.

[FlameStream]

Regardless of that, you can still go for the best time even if a score/rank system is implemented.

It doesn't hinder what you can do at all if the best time is at least saved.

Edited July 26, 2009 by FlameStream

[SoniClub]

I think I liked SA2 the best, due to reasons above. You had a combination of things to get an 'A'. So if you weren't a speed demon you could beat tons of enemies at once instead. Although if you wanted the final reward it was a lot of A's you had to get! But; SA was too basic; SR was too focused on speed and SU was too tricky.

Although I like the 'S' rank, it looks kewl. That should stay.

[Sean]

Rush was too focused on being retarded. *don*

But no, Rush had the worst way of going about trying to get grades. I even once sat down and tried my hand at a few stages, doing as many insanely impossible tricks as (im)possible, and doing it as fast as I can to boot. Never got higher than a B on several of them. So fuck the Rush grading system. Hell, they should have done it like Sonic Advance 3 did and simply rewarded you based on how fast you completed the level.

Edited July 26, 2009 by Jake

[Rusty Spy]

Rush was too focused on being retarded. *don*

But no, Rush had the worst way of going about trying to get grades. I even once sat down and tried my hand at a few stages, doing as many insanely impossible tricks as (im)possible, and doing it as fast as I can to boot. Never got higher than a B on several of them. So fuck the Rush grading system.

See, the thing is, at least in Rush Adventure, most likely Rush, your grade is composed of literally 80% Time, 20% Rings, Tricks, etc.

I've found that the only way your most likely going to get an S rank(this is speaking in terms of Rush Adventure, it most likely applies to Rush, too) is if your score for Time is around 80,000 out of 100,000 points. You would only need to get 20,000 points worth of rings and tricks.

So yeah, the Rush's grading system was retarded and very one sided.

[Badnik Zero]

I have no idea what you guys are talking about. Rush was easy for me, and certainly easier than SA2.

SA2 gave you pretty narrow windows to get those ranks. You had to hit group of enemies A and B, perform tricks C and D, maybe take a shortcut, and if you were fast enough after all that, you got the A-rank. Most of your score in the speed levels came from time. Go try to A-rank Metal Harbor and you'll see it's almost like a checklist, the A-rank score is arbitrary.

For Rush, there's the rings and enemies, and time is still the main factor. The reason you don't S-rank when you trick a lot is because there's a cap on how much you can score from tricking, otherwise you could infinitely inflate the score just fooling around.

Edited July 26, 2009 by Badnikz

[Sean]

I still beat the levels at an insanely fast pace.

Oh well, it's not even worth it, trying to speedrun the levels in these games only makes me frustrated with them - and I already hate the first Sonic Rush, so.

Edited July 26, 2009 by Jake

[Rusty Spy]

I have no idea what you guys are talking about. Rush was easy for me, and certainly easier than SA2.

SA2 gave you pretty narrow windows to get those ranks. You had to hit group of enemies A and B, perform tricks C and D, maybe take a shortcut, and if you were fast enough after all that, you got the A-rank. Most of your score in the speed levels came from time. Go try to A-rank Metal Harbor and you'll see it's almost like a checklist, the A-rank score is arbitrary.

I've found that destroying most enemies while performing as many chains as possible while keeping a moderate pace gets you closer to getting an 'A' rank, rather than aiming for the fastest time.

If anything, it's Rush who's score is mostly based on time.

[JaidynReiman]

I think that the Ranking system is pretty good overall, but I do admit... the biggest problem with it is that when you die you lose your entire score. That's what really sucks. Other than that, though, make it a lot like SA2; that game probably handled the ranking system the best (and ironically was the first). I could care less want letters the ranks consist of, or even if they use letters at all; that's not really a problem, period.

They seriously do need to bring trick points back, though. I believe that only two games had them (Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes), and even then, Sonic Heroes -only- has them when you jump through the rings in-level. SA2 had all kinds of variety in that (though its extremely annoying in Pyramid Cave... the trick rings were cool once I found out about 'em, but they are still difficult to get to, and especially difficult to master).

[Badnik Zero]

I've found that destroying most enemies while performing as many chains as possible while keeping a moderate pace gets you closer to getting an 'A' rank, rather than aiming for the fastest time.

If anything, it's Rush who's score is mostly based on time.

You're right about SA2, but it depends on the level - the shorter levels depend more on time, and the longer levels depend more on tricks and enemies to pad out the clock. What I was trying to say was that speed has always been a major factor in ranking.

For that reason, I really prefer the SA1 "Get to the goal" in whatever time limit missions.

But what I liked about Rush was that the numbers were consistent. Anything over 100,000 points is an S. Most of the points are for how fast you speed run it, but those last 30,000 or so points are really up to how you play it.

Edited July 26, 2009 by Badnikz

[Rusty Spy]

But what I liked about Rush was that the numbers were consistent. Anything over 100,000 points is an S. Most of the points are for how fast you speed run it, but those last 30,000 or so points are really up to how you play it.

But that's the thing. The Rush's grading system was mostly focused on going as fast as possible, even the enemies being nothing more than small bumps in the road that only serve to keep your boost gauge up.

As I said before, it's very one sided with little influence from other aspects of the gameplay.