Sonic Forces | PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC "The Next Generations"

[Mauro Fonseca]

trailer raised a thousand red flags to me. expecting some sort of half-assed mmo attempt. if anything, classic sonic here was the best part of the trailer- a chain to sanity.

[JingleBoy]

Am I the only one who saw that city and actually thought of Spring Yard? Colours are way off for that to be true though 

I really like this theory that this is a bad future where Eggman has actually won... but Classic Sonic didn't really need to be there did he? I know I'm basically parroting what everyone else has said but he really did just come out of nowhere. Maybe he'll be a companion character in this game or something? I seriously don't believe for a second that they're making this Generations 2 and they aren't bringing back boost; it seems like it might be different this time. Note the part where Sonic slides under the debris and then curls into the ball and it has the classic SFX and everything (although you really shouldn't be making gameplay conclusions based off of a minute long pre-rendered animation)

Either way, colour me interested. I'm so happy that something is finally happening and I can't wait to see more!

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Yas! I'm excited for both games. This looks epic!

[Nix]

That trailer was like Sonic Generations with some ShtH try-hard edge injected into it.  

I love how they hyped this one up as a new game for the modern fans and then BAM, Classic Sonic again.

I also love how everyone was practically begging for a new 3D game and the best we're probably going to get a half (being really generous here)3D game like the last 4 games.

Not really excited for it. but lets see if some gameplay footage will change my mind.

[Jack / Joker]

Modern Sonic is getting sidelined for Classic Sonic so much these days.

It must be making him quite green-eyed.

[Dizcrybe]

Guys

What if the stages are structured like Colors/Gens but the boost is completely absent?

[Blitz 'n Burst]

I just can't bring myself to care about this game at all. All I want is a game that takes the things I like about the classic games and translate it into 3D, but instead of doing that they'd rather just throw in some 2d classic gameplay for people who like the classic formula and keep it completely separate from whatever the fuck they're doing with modern Sonic. And the thing is that doesn't appeal to me at all, because there are already plenty of other 2D classic-styled games I could be playing instead which are almost guaranteed to be miles better than whatever Sonic Team comes up with, between the original games, the various fangames out there, and the actual official classic-styled game they currently have in development. Meanwhile Modern Sonic gets his boost or his parkour or whatever dumb gimmick they're gonna give him this time around rather than just giving him a spindash and some ball physics and leaving it at that

I mean I don't know, maybe I'm wrong and Sonic Team actually do have something great in store. But I basically have no trust in Sonic Team to make a good Sonic game at this point. At least Mania looks fun, and I can trust Taxman and Stealth to make a good game without having to worry that they'll find some innovative new way to fuck it all up.

sry for overly negative post, that's basically all I have to say on the game until we get some actual gameplay

[Covskin]

Right then. Didn't see the stream, but I've watched the trailer and read through the thread.

First impression - I honestly laughed at "From the team that brought you Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations". So much for Lost World.

Past that, hmm...I am disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I loved Generations, and will happily play through a similar game again (so long as we have more levels and less Trials). It just screams a lack of ambition. There's an admission that Sonic Team don't know where to go after Lost World and are going back to the last thing that worked, playing it safe out of fear. This is a problem, because the whole idea of Classic Sonic was as a one-off for the anniversary.

Generations was the culmination of Boost gameplay, and I felt at the time another game could have been made out of that formula. Hell, if this was the immediate successor to Generations, if this came out in 2013 (sans Classic Sonic), I'd be much more stoked. It could have been seen as the final consolidation of the Boost formula, before moving onwards.

Of course, this is all without gameplay footage, so we could all be way off, but what what else are we meant to think with the two Sonics running around?

I may not be hyped for this game, but I'm not going to discount it completely. Maybe Sonic Team need to play it safe to get back on track, and the gameplay from Generations was largely solid. It just seems so underwhelming, that's all.

[Johnny Boy]

Or maybe the two Sonic's probably aren't the only modern and classics playable. It's wishful thinking but it would be cool if classic and modern tails and knuckles are playable as well. And maybe Amy.

[Johnny Boy]

2 minutes ago, Stephenb19 said:

I don't know how people can be being so critical and condemning this game when we literally know barely any more than we did 24 hours ago. 

Just another day in the Sonic fanbase my friend. 

[Dizcrybe]

We've been over why we're concerned like 500 times now, are y'all just purposely ignoring us or what?

[Milo]

After a string of lighthearted comical games, I'm up for a game that edges back to a more serious tone, though balance is the key here. Not asking for going to the far end of the scale like Sonic 2006, Shadow the Hedgehog, or (IMO) Sonic Adventure 2. A tone along the lines of Adventure 1, Unleashed, and the Storybook games would be the ideal sweet spot for me. The implied bad future setting is also interesting.

But another game featuring classic and modern Sonic showing up is such a mixed bag though. Sonic Generations' first-time use of both Sonics was a surprise, and it made sense with Generations being the 20th anniversary game. Revisiting the concept again with a non-anniversary game makes it considerably less novel, and with Sonic Mania being a thing, it also makes classic Sonic's presence come off as a bad case of spotlight hogging (and since this is a Sonic Team project, I don't have any faith his gameplay --if he is playable, that is-- will be any better here than it was in Generations).

Given both classic and contemporary Sonic showing up and the moves/actions contemporary Sonic was doing in the trailer, my guess is that it follows up on Generations' gameplay, though without any actual gameplay my guess is as good as anyone else. If it wasn't for Sonic Mania, my interest would had likely bottomed out completely; but as of now I'm holding a more apathetic stance, though due to classic Sonic's presence in this game and the bleaker setting, I'm a tad curious all the same.

And lol at Iizuka saying "it's not a sequel", as well as those being critical of people not taking his claim seriously. Iizuka (and to be frank, Sega PR in general for Sonic games) has a history of contradicting himself or saying things that simply don't add up in interviews; I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss people who are skeptical.

1 hour ago, The KKM said:

trailer raised a thousand red flags to me. expecting some sort of half-assed mmo attempt. if anything, classic sonic here was the best part of the trailer- a chain to sanity.

I don't follow? What makes it akin to an MMO? The "join the resistance" line?

[Radiant Hero Ike]

Well, I want to be excited, and it was amazing seeing that get revealed in person, but... It's kind of hard to with the negativity. I'm not saying "don't be negative/cautious/worried" or anything like that, but it still affects me emotionally. Blegh.

I loved Generations, but Classic Sonic was kinda... Boring. But then I don't like his game play in the old games either (though it might be growing on me, since I played Sonic Mania and had fun with it). I feel like Iizuka saying it wasn't a sequel actually holds water. I mean, it seems like he knew people would assume it was Generations 2, otherwise he wouldn't have said anything. But again, skepticism is fine. I don't have enough experience to know whether he tells the truth or not.

Anyways I suppose I'll wait for a gameplay reveal and hope it's different enough for people to get positive. Until then I'll just stay out of the conversation, since there isn't much for me to talk about.

[Tails spin]

4 minutes ago, Dizcrybe said:

We've been over why we're concerned like 500 times now, are y'all just purposely ignoring us or what?

We heard you the first ten times. Yet you guys are having a hissy fit for a mintue reveal trailer showing two sonics. We get your concerns but you guys need to get over it until more info is revealed 

[Mauro Fonseca]

3 minutes ago, Gabe said:

I don't follow? What makes it akin to an MMO? The "join the resistance" line?

honestly, just seeing reused assets ("jesus christ this is just the generations death egg robot" was my first reaction), a more "fight endless enemy mooks" tone, and an insistence on "multiple characters" combined with Iizuka going "this is not a sequel", Sonic Team's drive to do different stuff every time, and how more and more games are just aiming to add online co-op multiplayer stuff. And then yeah, to tie it off, "join the resistance" definitely came across to me as a stock "YOU join this game, make your character, whatever" marketing phrase.

Overall, Classic Sonic was ironically the only thing I liked in the end in this trailer,

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

3 minutes ago, Gabe said:

 

And lol at Iizuka saying "it's not a sequel", as well as those being critical of people not taking his claim seriously. Iizuka (and to be frank, Sega PR in general for Sonic games) has a history of contradicting himself or saying things that simply don't add up in interviews; I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss people who are skeptical.

 

Though far be it from him to contradict himself in such short an amount of time.  That,  and the lack of gameplay footage that would actually confirm this to be "Generations 2" do also raise for good reasoning on why some do trust Iizuka who doesn't really have that bad a track record anyway. 

[Dizcrybe]

3 minutes ago, Tails spin said:

We heard you the first ten times. Yet you guys are having a hissy fit for a mintue reveal trailer showing two sonics. We get your concerns but you guus need to get over it until more info is revealed 

Honestly I could say the same to people getting pissy about us not jumping for joy about it.

It's curious how no one says this to people who are actually excited about news like this.

[Meta77]

20 minutes ago, Stephenb19 said:

I don't know how people can be being so critical and condemning this game when we literally know barely any more than we did 24 hours ago. All we know is that Classic Sonic features, that Eggman seems to have the upper hand, and that the tone of the game looks more serious and darker than those previous - Something I've seen people asking for for a long time.

We know nothing of how it will play, how the gameplay mechanics will work, have seen no footage of it in action. I'm reserving my judgement 

As stated above, welcome to the fanbase of sonic. Where half the time they do not know what they want. Oh we don't like dark sonic "Barret toss", i want colorful rainbows and tee hee jokes throughout, oh I want classic sonic, sega is doomed and sucks now a 2d game will bring them back from the brink, oh we love generation lets flood their fb page saying how amazing it was and we want a generations 2 type game, oh sonic give us sonic adventure 3, 06 remake, no no no give us another 2 hour 2d sonic game we will be happy for the month it last us and then turn to speed runs and modding of the game files, oh this is just like freedom planet i mean woo classic sonic.

 

Honestly the Sonic fanbase is known as one of the worst online standing up their with mlp and steven universe just about. And its not so much the fans in it but as with others just their random gripes and attitude toward the franchise

 

For me I am beyond stocked for this. Yes I could have done without Classic Sonic, seriously i want to see sonic suffer alone for once in a dark story, but Im still more excited for this than a 2d sonic game that looks nearly the same as a lot of fan based games just with much better pixel rendered and slapped with the sega logo.

[Daisy-Fan]

totally looking for the gameplay footage!

[DarkRula]

Why am I thinking of a Star Wars-Sonic crossover again?

Generations was A New Hope, and this game is Empire Strikes Back.

Can't wait for the third in the trilogy.

[Blacklightning]

So this may already have been said in some form, but fuck it, I want to use my own words. I had to think a while about what pisses me off so much about this teaser, and after a few hours of reflection I've basically decided it's because the footage tells me basically nothing.

Your next line is "But it's a teaser! It's supposed to be vauge!", and I'm going to stop you right there. Good teasers hold back the big punches, yes, but they are also very concise with the short time they use - they give you enough information to tell you what to expect, and the slow trickle of information after the fact both keeps that hype consistent and reveal the extent of the information the teaser starts with, that's basically how this kind of marketing works. Unleashed right off the bat showed us FASTY SPEEDY ZOOM ZOOM and over time revealed the scope and tone of the world Sonic runs in. Generations right off the bat demonstrated both that there was two Sonics and that their gameplay would be dissonant in reference to their respective eras, and over time showed us the exact eras that were being represented in the process. Lost World demonstrated right off the bat that there would be a special focus on parkour climbing and kooky technicolour villains with near-binary personality traits, and over time revealed the exact kind of level design that benefited the former.

Sonic '17's trailer does none of that - at best it's confusing, and at worst outright contradictary and misleading. What the hell am I supposed to garner from this? That it's going to be boost fast and played at a stop and go pace? What's this stupid hang-in-the-air-for-several-seconds jump dash supposed to do besides waste time and look flashy? Why are they emphasising the SUPER POWER OF TEAMWORK_tm again by using a second Sonic again rather than, oh I dunno, literally anybody else? How the fuck is Classic Sonic even here, nevermind why? A good teaser shouldn't raise questions like this, let alone this many - its only job is to say "this is a game we're making. This is what the game is like. Stay tuned to see more of the game we're making", and they didn't even do that right.

I do want to emphasise though, that I'm at least curious enough to wait for actual gameplay before deciding I like the premise or write it off entirely, and I feel like Dr Mechano was actually onto something in that a story that begins with Eggman winning could be really interesting. I just think it's dumb that they couldn't have put together the right impression from the start, especially in this day and age when nobody can trust Sega not to just throw shit together without rhyme or reason and somehow expect it not to fall apart at the seams like Lost World did.

[therealfalconpawnch77]

3 minutes ago, Blacklightning said:

Your next line is "But it's a teaser! It's supposed to be vauge!", and I'm going to stop you right there. Good teasers hold back the big punches, yes, but they are also very concise with the short time they use - they give you enough information to tell you what to expect, and the slow trickle of information after the fact both keeps that hype consistent and reveal the extent of the information the teaser starts with, that's basically how this kind of marketing works. Unleashed right off the bat showed us FASTY SPEEDY ZOOM ZOOM and over time revealed the scope of the world Sonic runs in. Generations right off the bat demonstrated both that there was two Sonics and that their gameplay would be dissonant in reference to their respective eras, and over time showed us the exact eras that were being represented in the process. Lost World demonstrated right off the bat that there would be a special focus on parkour climbing and kooky technicolour villains with near-binary personality traits, and over time revealed the exact kind of level design that benefited the former.

Unleashed right off the bat showed Sonic playing with a ring, I don't know what you're talking about. Generation only showed that there'd be 2 Sonic's, not that their gameplay would be dissonant. Looking at Teasers alone the Gen. Teaser showed about as much as this one did, and the Unleashed one showed even less.

[Sonikko]

4 minutes ago, Blacklightning said:

So this may already have been said in some form, but fuck it, I want to use my own words. I had to think a while about what pisses me off so much about this teaser, and after a few hours of reflection I've basically decided it's because the footage tells me basically nothing.

Your next line is "But it's a teaser! It's supposed to be vauge!", and I'm going to stop you right there. Good teasers hold back the big punches, yes, but they are also very concise with the short time they use - they give you enough information to tell you what to expect, and the slow trickle of information after the fact both keeps that hype consistent and reveal the extent of the information the teaser starts with, that's basically how this kind of marketing works. Unleashed right off the bat showed us FASTY SPEEDY ZOOM ZOOM and over time revealed the scope and tone of the world Sonic runs in. Generations right off the bat demonstrated both that there was two Sonics and that their gameplay would be dissonant in reference to their respective eras, and over time showed us the exact eras that were being represented in the process. Lost World demonstrated right off the bat that there would be a special focus on parkour climbing and kooky technicolour villains with near-binary personality traits, and over time revealed the exact kind of level design that benefited the former.

Sonic '17's trailer does none of that - at best it's confusing, and at worst outright contradictary and misleading. What the hell am I supposed to garner from this? That it's going to be boost fast and played at a stop and go pace? What's this stupid hang-in-the-air-for-several-seconds jump dash supposed to do besides waste time and look flashy? Why are they emphasising the SUPER POWER OF TEAMWORK_tm again by using a second Sonic again rather than, oh I dunno, literally anybody else? How the fuck is Classic Sonic even here, nevermind why? A good teaser shouldn't raise questions like this, let alone this many - its only job is to say "this is a game we're making. This is what the game is like. Stay tuned to see more of the game we're making", and they didn't even do that right.

I do want to emphasise though, that I'm at least curious enough to wait for actual gameplay before deciding I like the premise or write it off entirely, and I feel like Dr Mechano was actually onto something in that a story that begins with Eggman winning could be really interesting. I just think it's dumb that they couldn't have put together the right impression from the start, especially in this day and age when nobody can trust Sega not to just throw shit together without rhyme or reason and somehow expect it not to fall apart at the seams like Lost World did.

While I agree with most of your points about the Sonic 2017 teaser, and their words not being very specific, it's not something new. The very Unleashed you quoted did the same thing with its first teaser:

 

This was literally all they showed us about the game, exception made for that leaked trailer that was not supposed to be out!

[Blacklightning]

I was under the impression they showed the gamplay trailer first, even excepting the leak, but I accept that I may be remembering things wrong and emphasise that it really doesn't change my overall argument anyway - even if you take it from the standpoint of the ring teaser, it shows Sonic transforming, and he ends up having two different forms in Unleashed, that's still pretty concise if you ask me.

[expansivelovestories]

3 hours ago, Spooky Mulder said:

Do we know if this footage was prerendered? It looks kind of like it could actually be using the in-game engine. I'd say that bodes well for the game, but I also think this was an oddly dark teaser.

Could we be getting a Sonic CD-esque game with Good/Bad futures for stages?

A new game with time travel would be excellent wouldn't it! ^__^

Overall; classic Sonic seems like a very good way for there to be new explorations with 2d present day graphical quality and programming dynamics for gameplay, without having to explain why the moveset and physics change. 

(it is possible that the classic Sonic game will take place in separate zones until he finally reaches modern Sonic 's timeline! )

There is enough time for this to be developed until it is basically perfect for whatever it is trying to do!