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

[Diogenes]

35 minutes ago, Cyrus said:

I notice Sonic's facial expression at the beginning being used a lot as a point to back up that this game's gonna take the series back to its hard edge grimdark phase, but he's had angry looks of determination in lighthearted games before!

Context, man. No one's saying Sonic should never have a serious expression. But when you reveal a new game with giant robots trudging through a destroyed city and the first shot of your protagonist is him glaring at them, that sends a different message than one where Sonic is running through a colorful environment and clearly enjoying himself.

[Badnik Mechanic]

3 minutes ago, Maxtiis said:

Aaron Webber's practically in charge of marketing Sonic now, .

No he's not.

If I wasn't on the mobile I could get the name of who is in charge of that... for Both the US and Europe.

But it's not Aaron.

[Cyrus]

The robots were cartoony too though. I guess I just trust this series to not let itself go back to having an uber serious plot again, and again, the trailer ends with the two Sonics smiling at each other with a thumbs up. I'd be willing to bet money on this game not having a tone any darker than Unleashed or even Adventure.

[JezMM]

Okay I hear the arguments that all the comparable "dark" moments in previous games have been the finale, but I'd like to know what's so objectively wrong about shaking things up by having the starting circumstances be dire and in Eggman's favour.  Unleashed started that way and 5 minutes later we were eating ice cream in Apotos.

[Maxtiis]

11 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

No he's not.

If I wasn't on the mobile I could get the name of who is in charge of that... for Both the US and Europe.

But it'seems not Aaron.

Isn't it Ivo Gerscovich now? At least in America?

[Diogenes]

6 minutes ago, JezMM said:

Okay I hear the arguments that all the comparable "dark" moments in previous games have been the finale, but I'd like to know what's so objectively wrong about shaking things up by having the starting circumstances be dire and in Eggman's favour.  Unleashed started that way and 5 minutes later we were eating ice cream in Apotos.

I would be surprised if a game could go from the kind of stuff we saw in the teaser to something as light as Unleashed's palling around with Chip. In Unleashed the damage was quickly revealed to be pretty superficial and life is going on pretty much normally, but in this game...well, life's not going on normally in that city, that much is sure.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

18 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

Terribly sorry.

Feel free to slap us and our justifiable arguments that have been posted over the last 2 pages on your ignore list.

That way you won't need to debate the points and can just put it down to "that paranoid lot."

It's not like people were actually giving reasons as to why they had an issue with it on pages 134-137...  yeah they were just raising a stink...

Yeah better ignore all that stuff about franchise perception and all the other arguments. About how characters fit into certain environments... how when you open with a total destruction theme there isn't much else to gour in terms of stakes.

Yeah... that's right. They just felt like raising a stink on a thing you like.

This level of rude, over-aggressive sarcasm really isn't acceptable as a response. It's just way too over the top and insulting. Just because you feel someone's assessment of you is unfair doesn't mean you can take it as personally as possible and then respond like this. Please avoid lashing out like this in the future.

[JezMM]

Just now, Diogenes said:

I would be surprised if a game could go from the kind of stuff we saw in the teaser to something as light as Unleashed's palling around with Chip. In Unleashed the damage was quickly revealed to be pretty superficial and life is going on pretty much normally, but in this game...well, life's not going on normally in that city, that much is sure.

Sure, though my assumption here is that it could easily work by having Sonic and friends retreat to an unaffected area (probably Green Hill zone themed I'm cool with it if it's not the first stage for once) where they regroup and figure out how they're gonna bring peace to the destroyed area.  And there's plenty of scope to clean up the mess using magical macguffins (chaos emeralds or otherwise), the real super power of teamwork, or just Tails saying "All's well that ends well right" while glaring at everyone until they agree like last time.

[Celestia]

Agreed with MDS, but with that said:

28 minutes ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

I'll go with calling it "excessive paranoia" of group of fans looking for something to raise a stink about all because this game showed dark imagery of a burning city and that somehow is unacceptable to show in a Sonic game.

This isn't good either. I'm sure you can discuss this matter without dismissing anyone with even mild concerns as "paranoid."

[MegasonicZX]

11 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

I would be surprised if a game could go from the kind of stuff we saw in the teaser to something as light as Unleashed's palling around with Chip. In Unleashed the damage was quickly revealed to be pretty superficial and life is going on pretty much normally, but in this game...well, life's not going on normally in that city, that much is sure.

I mean it still could depending on the context for this and heck this might not even be until part ways into the game after all the light hearted stuff takes place. Can't wait for the 2017 panel next week so we can finally get some form of clarification on all this.

[Natie]

Honestly, I always got the feeling that trailer was trying to be more cinematic and exciting rather than dark and "badass", sorta like unleashed's opening was. Classic Sonic's appearance and the charming, campy "thumbs-up" enthusiasm toward the end sorta gave me that impression.

[Diogenes]

1 minute ago, JezMM said:

Sure, though my assumption here is that it could easily work by having Sonic and friends retreat to an unaffected area (probably Green Hill zone themed I'm cool with it if it's not the first stage for once) where they regroup and figure out how they're gonna bring peace to the destroyed area.  And there's plenty of scope to clean up the mess using magical macguffins (chaos emeralds or otherwise), the real super power of teamwork, or just Tails saying "All's well that ends well right" while glaring at everyone until they agree like last time.

Even if they retreat to a safe area, I feel like the destroyed city would still hang over things in a way that the split planet didn't. Lives have already been ruined, and it's not until they do some time travel bullshit that that'll be fixed.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

7 minutes ago, Celestia said:

Agreed with MDS, but with that said:

This isn't good either. I'm sure you can discuss this matter without dismissing anyone with even mild concerns as "paranoid."

I honestly doubt it would have been received any different even if I did given how people already had their thoughts and attitudes set over the whole thing.

I only called it out as such because quite frankly this franchise has had ups and downs through a whole spectrum of tone, so it makes no sense to talk about franchise representation and characters fitting in certain environment and how that's something this game gets wrong in just the teaser alone as opposed to the Adventures, Heroes, Unleashed, or Lost Worlds.

[Maxtiis]

1 minute ago, Celestia said:

Agreed with MDS, but with that said:

This isn't good either. I'm sure you can discuss this matter without dismissing anyone with even mild concerns as "paranoid."

Since I was the one who first mentioned people being paranoid, I feel I should apologize. I don't mean to write off anyone's concerns about Project 2017's tone, it's perfectly acceptable to think that it's going in a direction it shouldn't be. I was responding more to the concerns that its tone is an indication it could wind up as bad as Shadow or '06, which I've seen complaints about in articles regarding the game on other websites.

[Celestia]

Just now, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

I only called it out as such because quite frankly this franchise has had ups and downs through a whole spectrum of tone, so it makes no sense to talk about franchise representation and characters fitting in certain environment and how that's something this game gets wrong as oppsed to the Adventures, Heroes, or Lost Worlds.

And what if, and please hear me out on this, the same people saying it about this game feel the same way about those games?

[JezMM]

Just now, Diogenes said:

Even if they retreat to a safe area, I feel like the destroyed city would still hang over things in a way that the split planet didn't. Lives have already been ruined, and it's not until they do some time travel bullshit that that'll be fixed.

That's fair, but I don't think it's new ground for the series.  Perfect Chaos - whether the game ends very shortly after or not, had the same effect, a whole jungle burned down in Sonic 3 and wasn't too worse for wear once Knuckles got around to revisiting it in his storyline (where it... got burned down again... hrm).  Eggman blew up half the moon in SA2 and nobody stressed over it too much.  It's implied the world got PRETTY screwed up during Lost World's endgame but it just simply wasn't dwelled upon since the action focused on what Sonic was up to and we only ever saw that one single landscape down on Earth when the camera did find it's way down there.

I know only the first and last of those examples apply directly but I do think it's one of those things where we're just expected to suspend disbelief because it's a family-friendly game.  But at the end of the day it just comes down to personal taste whether one is happy to see Eggman succeed or not.  Personally I'm a bit bored of Eggman's plans being derailed pre-emptively in the last few games.

Though honestly having said that I'm also expecting a twist here.  This does seem... distinctly destructive for Eggman's personality.  Either he's having a tantrum and going all out because his more creative schemes refuse to work, or they're slightly going against his established personality and motivations here.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

18 minutes ago, Celestia said:

And what if, and please hear me out on this, the same people saying it about this game feel the same way about those games?

Then I'd say the exact same thing to them as well, because it makes little sense regardless of which tones the game leans on whether it's in this game or those. Either way, very few here are wanting something akin to the mess ups that were Sonic 06 or ShTH.

I and many others have been saying this for years and still stand by it, it's not the tone than it is the execution of said tone. Same thing with style.

[Jango]

Good noted, Jez.

Speaking of Chaos:

 

Just saying :V

(What I meant is, Sonic Adventure's intro shows how the story will eventually turn out, but before it do so, there's a long road ahead, as things start pretty fine for Sonic at least (EVERYBODY ELSE on the other hand!!!). The Project 2017 cinematic was a teaser of the climax, most likely, if my theory is correct).

[PC the Hedgehog]

16 minutes ago, Natie said:

Honestly, I always got the feeling that trailer was trying to be more cinematic and exciting rather than dark and "badass", sorta like unleashed's opening was. Classic Sonic's appearance and the charming, campy "thumbs-up" enthusiasm toward the end sorta gave me that impression.

Yes, that's exactly how I took it, as well.

[JezMM]

Just now, Jango said:

Good noted, Jez.

Speaking of Chaos:

 

Just saying :V

(What I meant is, Sonic Adventure's intro shows how the story will eventually turn out, but before it do so, there's a long road ahead, as things start pretty fine for Sonic at least (EVERYBODY ELSE on the other hand!!!). The Project 2017 was a teaser of the climax, most likely).

Here's the thing though - I hope it ISN'T the climax.  Because I hated in SA1 that I knew it was never really the end because the big monstorous Chaos from the intro hadn't shown up yet.  When Sonic's credits rolled I was actually surprised but immediately realised "oh this is gonna have a last story like SA2 then" (played in reverse order coz Gamecube).  In the end the result was that the big dramatic finale wasn't a surprise at all.  I knew exactly what was going to happen and what everything was building up to because that thing from the intro hadn't happened yet.

[Zippo]

One image.

One fucking image, and we're already starting to lose ourselves.

If this one teaser is already causing this amount of drama, concern and debate,  I can only imagine what chaos (ha!) Thursday will bring.

It's gonna be a very interesting day, that's for damn sure.

[Dr. Detective]

That image gives me hope. I want to see it blended with the light-hearted stuff too though. Don't lose your way. Remember that sad and dramatic moments work better when you've seen moments of happiness and laughter, so the weight of what's being lost can hit home. Remember that happiness and laughter work better after something sad and dramatic happens because it fills us with inspiration for those who preserver and hope that things will get better.

Yeah it's sad that the Muppets seemed to have lost their studio but look at all the people outside who showed up to see them. Triumph after sadness. It works really well. We should try to do more of that.

And if we're giving humor the edge then we should at least try and be like Gravity Falls. 

[Remy]

SEGA needs to feed us some more media because people are clearly starving out here...

 

Maybe we'll get some good stuff after Mania comes out.

[Joellui]

For me personally I don't care as much as others about the tone of the story, whether it's lighthearted or "edgy". As long as the execution is right, has a clear direction and there's structure and consistency, I think the game would be alright.

Especially if the gameplay is on point and fun, I think that's the most important part of any game IMO, regardless of the tone of any given story, regardless of genre.

[Zippo]

19 minutes ago, Remy said:

SEGA needs to feed us some more media because people are clearly starving out here...

 

Maybe we'll get some good stuff after Mania comes out.

I'm pretty sure it's already been confirmed that we will get a brand new reveal on PS2017 in two days. The info is coming.

17 minutes ago, Joellui said:

 

Especially if the gameplay is on point and fun, I think that's the most important part of any game IMO, regardless of the tone of any given story, regardless of genre.

100% with ya, bud.