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

[JezMM]

Despite the destruction, the trailer had very bright colour design, and the cheerful way the two Sonics speed off together also kept it from being too grimdark.  I'm expecting something like the final chapter of Sonic Unleashed here.  Maybe the stakes will be high and the scenery grim, but a positive attitude will pervade the setting, and we'll have plenty of upbeat moments like how non-seriously Sonic and Chip took their arrival at Eggmanland.  It didn't take anything away from the grandeur of the location, but it wasn't depressingly dark and serious either.

Naturally I HOPE the stakes are raised or there are twists in-store that knock the characters onto their asses, and that positive attitude is put to the test towards the end of the game, but yeah.

 

 

All this aside I imagine not every stage/part of the game will be as wrecked to hell as the location in the trailer either.  I know that's hard to imagine right now, but yeah, it could completely go either way, this scene could be based off the midpoint of the game (I hope not though, destruction on this scale happening later on but being shown off early would be a lame spoiler).

[Hiki]

9 hours ago, VolatileMike said:

So, what are you expecting this one to be like tonally? I'm expecting a game with aesthetics darker than anything we've seen post-06, but a narrative that's more lighthearted and something like Unleashed. 

IN BRIEF

Sonic: Wow! I'm on fire today!

*Classic Sonic shows up to be cute*

Sonic: Hey little guy! I haven't seen you in quite a while!

*Classic Sonic smiles cutely and gives a thumbs up*

*Tails appears*

*Sonic makes cringey jokes*

*Tails cringes at said jokes*

*more bad Pontaff writing*

 

LONGER ANSWER

I think that despite the tone of the teaser trailer, we'll get another bad comedy. There could maybe be SOME serious moments, but it'll be mostly bad Pontaff writing.

Yes, I know the trailer was all dark, but I'm going to have to be pessimistic and expect no change from what we got Lost World. Although things looked dark, I don't wanna get too excited since Sonic made cruddy jokes, or horrible puns for the past six years.

I predicted that there will be a 2D Classic Sonic game, and I was right except for it being a totally seperate game. I never would've actually guessed that Classic Sonic would return in whatever we have in store for 2017. I predicted Classic Sonic, and I'm now predicting a Duo Sonic game with another Pontaff story. What worries me most is that Classic Sonic still looks like he'll be the same as in Generations (extremely cute and childish), instead of how he was in say.... CD. I don't think I'll be able to take him seriously when he's so cutesy and happy all the time.

[VolatileMike]

We can tell from the state of the city (reeds growing through the street, barbed wire and tire fences) that this place was at one point a war zone and has not been properly kept up in a while. This points to long-term domination by Eggman. I think this will be about as serious as Unleashed, especially if it's being written in Japan. Not expecting any teenage girls to get shot by government agents, though. In fact, they probably will work around showing people with guns at all, or maybe they'll be nerfy cartoon guns. 

Im picturing some kind of a hub world where youre surrounded by tents and goofy-looking soldiers. Kind of like Unleashed. That would fit with the post-06 thing they've been doing. 

[Haalyle]

I actually don't think so, @SonicEkkusu. I believe it will be more darker toned and be slightly light-hearted. It'll be light-hearted to keep with appealing for kids, but having the darker tone for the more older fans of there series. I believe it will be a mixture of both.

All I care about is how they're going to incorporate Classic Sonic in the game, because I really don't want the majority of it being 2D. I'm hoping for a mechanic that you can switch between them freely.

[Sonic The Badass]

All I know is I won't be paying much attention to the story unless they really do something that catches my eye in it.

[FantasticMrRobb]

17 hours ago, SonicEkkusu said:

I think that despite the tone of the teaser trailer, we'll get another bad comedy. There could maybe be SOME serious moments, but it'll be mostly bad Pontaff writing.

Gotta disagree with you there, just the first few seconds of the trailer tells me as a fan that this comedy shit is being put aside, that now Sonic has to step his game up. Doesn't feel like there's much room to joke around.

Of course, like most have said time and time again, it's just a teaser. The game could be completely different. Hate to be that guy, but look at how Halo 5 ended up.

I have to say, this teaser screams (in the face) Unleashed at me.

[JingleBoy]

1 hour ago, ヒーロー said:

Gotta disagree with you there, just the first few seconds of the trailer tells me as a fan that this comedy shit is being put aside, that now Sonic has to step his game up. Doesn't feel like there's much room to joke around.

See, now this is a mentality that I just cannot comprehend. I feel as though there's gonna be a couple of harmless jokes here and there and people will complain about how "omg! they're not taking Sonic seriously!" or "these aren't good jokes! this is so cringey!" or something. Because, let's be honest here, this fanbase's idea of comedy usually consists of weird meta jokes that literally no one out of the fanbase would understand. Unleashed was the sweet spot imo and it really wasn't all 100% serious business like people seem to think it was. 

[VolatileMike]

There's a way to have both comedy and darkness, you know. Again, imagine a hub world with a dark, smoldering cityscape in the background. There are soldiers everywhere, but they're quirky and cartoony and amusing to interact with. Think G-rated Team Fortress 2 characters in fatigues. The writers could have a lot of fun with the concept. Maybe there's one who's always stiff and overly formal, another who's lazy and always looking for a way to slack off, a snob who doesn't think Sonic can deal with Eggman, and so forth. 

I kinda went off on a tangent there, but the point is this darker setting could actually lend itself to several elements of levity. 

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

At the same time:

Even "badly written comedy" stories have it's serious moments as well

[Nightly]

33 minutes ago, Mikyeong said:

At the same time:

Even "badly written comedy" stories have it's serious moments as well

I guess I can't really speak for everyone, but even when games like Lost World did do dramatic sequences it never really felt impact or important imo. Since the main vibe of the game is just lighthearted comedy, if you try to raise the stakes in that environment it doesn't make you feel for what's going on since every thing else is just brushed aside as a joke (also it doesn't help that I don't think any of the jokes are funny imo).

I'm not saying I don't think there could be a game with both comedy as well as serious moments, what I am saying is that there shouldn't be such a stark contrast. It's like if you were watching a Loony Tunes cartoon and then suddenly Daffy is killed and Bugs has to avenge him, it's really jarring and hard to buy. I think if there were to be a mix of comedy and serious moments it should just be written as like a general adventure story or something. Have a general plot and drive for the characters to do something and sprinkle some jokes throughout that don't feel like they're putting the plot on hold for long to tell them.

[Dr. Detective]

5 hours ago, ヒーロー said:

Gotta disagree with you there, just the first few seconds of the trailer tells me as a fan that this comedy shit is being put aside, that now Sonic has to step his game up. Doesn't feel like there's much room to joke around.

Of course, like most have said time and time again, it's just a teaser. The game could be completely different. Hate to be that guy, but look at how Halo 5 ended up.

I have to say, this teaser screams (in the face) Unleashed at me.

You could very easily isolate scenes from any random series and make a proclamation like this. Someone whose first exposure to something like One Piece being a flashback where children are shot and killed are going to have a different take on what it might be from someone whose first exposure to it is the scene where Luffy pushes a zombie back into it's grave. 

I don't understand why it's so hard for people to consider (or remember when it's told to them ) that blending comedy and drama can work better then relying on only one mood to carry your story. When it comes to Sonic, it's open to carrying the tune of more then just one tone. And it's done that plenty of times before. Unleashed being the brightest example of that. It isn't dark the whole way through and it isn't light-hearted the whole way through. It sits comfortably in the middle and it works.

Seeing a destroyed city with fire all over doesn't mean it's going to be treated like the End of Days. Dragonball even managed to find ways to insert humor after Buu destroyed the planet. Hercule jumped off a small-cliff thinking he could fly because he thought he was dreaming. 

 

 

[Diogenes]

1 minute ago, Dr. Chaotix said:

You could very easily isolate scenes from any random series and make a proclamation like this.

This isn't just a random scene, though, it's a teaser trailer. It obviously can't convey the entirety of the game but it's supposed to be making some kind of point about it. And about 99% of what it's saying to me is "we're being very serious this time, please believe us!"

[VolatileMike]

1 minute ago, Diogenes said:

This isn't just a random scene, though, it's a teaser trailer. It obviously can't convey the entirety of the game but it's supposed to be making some kind of point about it. And about 99% of what it's saying to me is "we're being very serious this time, please believe us!"

It's all relative, though. I'm expecting something like Unleashed, but with more of the emphasis on the end of the world and less on moments like "want some chocolate?" 

Im really not expecting them to make it as dark as Shadow the Hedgehog or 06, but then again we haven't seen any attempt to be dark since the latter. And as you're pointing out, now that they're openly attempting to be dark, we probably will see something erring towards SA2's space half in terms of tone. Still not expecting much in the way of outright angst, though. We aren't going to see an innocent person getting gunned down. 

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

The thing to remember is that it is just a trailer. Why yes, the trailer does have a good implication of what the game would be like. If you look at RoL's trailer, you would see that it has both serious and comedic moments in it pretty much reminensent to the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer. The only difference was that RoL trailer never indicated that the whole story was gonna be a bunch of jokes and cliches which it ended up being.

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Diogenes said:

This isn't just a random scene, though, it's a teaser trailer. It obviously can't convey the entirety of the game but it's supposed to be making some kind of point about it. And about 99% of what it's saying to me is "we're being very serious this time, please believe us!"

It doesn't matter what it is. Another problem with the perception of this trailer here is that people seem to be taking one or two elements from it and running with it the whole way through, just as was explained earlier when it came to Unleashed, doing the same thing in small doses with a teaser trailer isn't very fair either. You can focus on the destroyed city and the fire if you want but ignoring the still cartoonish looking robots and the super happy Classic Sonic at the end doesn't do much to justify that 99% you've got going there. There was nothing super dark or serious about this scene that you wouldn't readily see in something that's usually targeted towards kids entertainment that manage to skirt the middle-ground all the time. 

If they truly had wanted it to just be the serious angle and literally nothing else, they should have done something like Sonic 06 where they kept Classic Sonic out, made everything super hyper realistic, and changed Eggman's robot design. Also, Sonic can't smile. Not even once.

To me this seems par for the course of what I'd expect out of an action scene aimed at kids. Giant robots. Fire. Destruction. Action. And heroes going to save the day. I'd expect a more concerned out look on it only if you grew up watching nothing but PBS Kids.

[VolatileMike]

One thing SEGA is generally good at doing is conveying the gist of their games through their teaser trailers. Sonic Colors' tone is exactly like its teaser. So is Generations, and Lost World. Precedent tells us that the overall game is probably going to reflect the teaser. We will see the "darkest of times" ie Eggman having a significant and violent foothold. We will see Sonic fighting an uphill battle this time around. He'll smile and retain that optimism and attitude, but there are bigger implications here that by nature make this darker than what we've been seeing. We aren't in space, we aren't in a white void, and we aren't on the Lost Hex. We're in the civilized world where Eggman has already gotten away with heinous things. Of course there's going to be an element of inference regarding the true extent of the damage, but a burning city very much implores one to infer. Sonic can free animals and wisps. He can't repair ruined lives. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

5 hours ago, Dr. Chaotix said:

There was nothing super dark or serious about this scene that you wouldn't readily see in something that's usually targeted towards kids entertainment that manage to skirt the middle-ground all the time.

It's especially noting that this kind of dark and violent imagery wouldn't be out of place in a Disney movie.

That said, I wouldn't expect the tone to reach anywhere near the levels of dark as ShTH - maybe darker than SA2, but hopefully not to the extent that the writing suffers because someone didn't know how to write a cartoon character with intense stakes on the line.

[Scape]

"Classic" Sonic better not become the new Shadow

[JingleBoy]

13 hours ago, VolatileMike said:

Sonic can free animals and wisps. He can't repair ruined lives. 

bruh, that's deep...

 

[Straw Hat]

On 8/20/2016 at 11:15 PM, SonicEkkusu said:

I think that despite the tone of the teaser trailer, we'll get another bad comedy. There could maybe be SOME serious moments, but it'll be mostly bad Pontaff writing.

I'm pretty sure Pontaff aren't writing this one. Ian Flynn's Tweet really gives me the impression he might be writing the game.

https://mobile.twitter.com/IanFlynnBKC/status/756986305461059584

[Sonic The Badass]

I think Flynn just likes teasing. Though I would love to see him write the games.

[Straw Hat]

3 hours ago, Sonic The Badass said:

I think Flynn just likes teasing. Thought I would love to see him write the games.

I guess. But I don't think he'd tease something like this and in this way just for shits and giggles. If he really is writing this game, I'm gonna be fuckin' stoked.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Do yourself a favor and refrain from the hype. Take it as a joke and don't believe it until confirmed.

Trust me, it'll be better for you - if it's false, it'll spare you a lot of disappointment. But if it actually turns out true, it'll do wonders for your excitement.

[Straw Hat]

21 minutes ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

Do yourself a favor and refrain from the hype. Take it as a joke and don't believe it until confirmed.

Trust me, it'll be better for you - if it's false, it'll spare you a lot of disappointment. But if it actually turns out true, it'll do wonders for your excitement.

I'm not saying it's outright confirmed. I'm just saying it's a possibility.

[Hiki]

45 minutes ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

Do yourself a favor and refrain from the hype. Take it as a joke and don't believe it until confirmed.

Trust me, it'll be better for you - if it's false, it'll spare you a lot of disappointment. But if it actually turns out true, it'll do wonders for your excitement.

I'm honestly just setting my expectations very low. Especially since we had 6 years of "BALDY MCNOSEHAIR HAHHAHAHAHAHAH!" "That was cool! Pun entirely intended" and "No copyright law in the universe is gonna stop me!" *cringe*

Yeah, I don't wanna set myself up for disappointment like what happaned with Lost World. I heard about Lost World from a friend, and was expecting a serious story (I wasn't really caught up on the Pontaff era at the time. I got into Sonic from Shadow the Hedgehog, and I bought a fair amount of the pre-Pontaff games.)