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

[Captain Fun]

11 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Maybe character creation is just negative when associated with Sonic the Hedgehog...

I mean when the fanbase is (in)famous for producing shitty OCs it's not really hard to see why. 

But people are gonna find it hard to swallow characters other than Sonic, especially new characters. 

[RictalRose0]

Another thing I'm thinking about. So, Eggman's really taken over the world somehow. So this first level either takes place in the past (And then Modern and Sonic are thrown into the future, where Eggman's evil is law) or Sonic and his friends really dropped the ball this time and they're making their last stand agaisn't Eggman or something like that (The magazine said something about Eggman already having taken over most of the world) because Sonic doesn't look that much older that his age in the present, 15. And Nick and some other game journos have confirmed Sonic's friends will communicate with him. So this can't be the future because they would be dead, and I doubt SEGA would take the effort to make up adult models for all the characters (So far Knuckles, Amy, Tails, Silver and the Chaotix are confirmed. Too many characters to make new models) so this has to be the present.

In which my question remains, what did Eggman do to get the upper hand? What happened to Sonic and his friends that they couldn't stop?

Just now, Captain Fun said:

I mean when the fanbase is (in)famous for producing shitty OCs it's not really hard to see why. 

 

Yeah, but people love to play as "Shitty" OCs. Hence all the games that have character creation and customization. Besides it takes away nothing considering your character is probably the mute sort.

2 minutes ago, JezMM said:

No-one is gonna want to sit and spend 30 minutes in a character creator instead of jumping on things in a Sonic game.  If they save it for after a few levels, that is still a brick wall of a pace breaker, and kind of spoils the fact that this character is about to appear.

 

If you're really that GOTTA GO FAST about it you could probably pick one of the defaults tho

 

[JezMM]

I guess character creation would work if it was like, as straightforward as Splatoon's, maybe just a couple extra steps.

Choose a gender.  Choose a species.  Choose a colour.  Choose a hairstyle or clothing from 3 or 4 choices.  Done.  But would still be awkward no matter where they put it in the early game experience, and the more streamlined you go the more pointless it is having an avatar character.

2 minutes ago, RictalRose0 said:

If you're really that GOTTA GO FAST about it you could probably pick one of the defaults tho

And thus the entire point of the character being "you" is destroyed.

[Indigo Rush]

I'm livid

[Azeon]

1 hour ago, Sonikko said:

 

Am I the only one seeing something behind his/her right arm? It looks like someone moving, something moving in the distance. At first I thought it was a tail.

I see what you mean. It's a skinny tail, so it's very likely a cat.

[StaticMania]

1 minute ago, JezMM said:

And thus the entire point of the character being "you" is destroyed.

If you don't care about Character customization to begin with, that doesn't really matter...

[Kintor]

1 minute ago, JezMM said:

And thus the entire point of the character being "you" is destroyed.

Easy fix, just add a 'randomise' button. Then hey presto: instant 100% unique fan character without the wait.

[JezMM]

1 minute ago, Indigo Rush said:

I'm livid

To be fair the footage is three segments, not one uninterrupted thing.

[Indigo Rush]

Just now, JezMM said:

To be fair the footage is three segments, not one uninterrupted thing.

While true, I can't even begin to entertain them putting anything interesting between them. The Sonic 4 Splash Hill trailer had more to it than this.

[blazefan519]

1 minute ago, Indigo Rush said:

While true, I can't even begin to entertain them putting anything interesting between them. The Sonic 4 Splash Hill trailer had more to it than this.

I mean, let's not forget that this was a trailer made for Nintendo, and not Sega. I would expect more from say, something like E3.

[Indigo Rush]

Just now, blazefan519 said:

I mean, let's not forget that this was a trailer made for Nintendo, and not Sega. I would expect more from say, something like E3.

What does it being made for Nintendo have to do with anything?

[Solly]

To be honest, I'm not really huge on character creators to begin with. Giving the player too much choice can make for an inherently weaker narrative. I've got the same gripe over most WRPG's and the recent Fire Emblem games, so maybe it's just me.

If there are custom characters in Sonic Forces, I'm interested in how much player choice is able to affect gameplay. There's a lot of potential in a concept like that but I don't really trust Sonic Team to do it well. That, and there's the obvious aforementioned stigma against shitty Sonic OCs. 

[JezMM]

One more thing I forgot to say is I know there's a lot of people saying this will appeal to the OC crowd etc, but honestly there's no way the system will be versatile enough to make "your" OC, so I don't think those folks will get as big a kick out of it as they'd hope to.

4 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

If you don't care about Character customization to begin with, that doesn't really matter...

True, but that still automatically kicks someone out of part of the narrative experience they seem to be going for in some capacity (if we're piecing all the clues we've got together correctly) just because they want to play the game, in the same way gimmicks past have "gotten in the way of" the proper Sonic gameplay.  Which makes me question if a system like this fits into Sonic.

3 minutes ago, Kintor said:

Easy fix, just add a 'randomise' button. Then hey presto: instant 100% unique fan character without the wait.

If you're hoping for a system as versatile as PSO2's, you need to remind yourself of the horrors the randomise button spewed forth in that game. ;-;

[Radiant Hero Ike]

I mean, if I can make Shadow with the creator then I'm all for it.

[blazefan519]

Just now, Indigo Rush said:

What does it being made for Nintendo have to do with anything?

This was only saved for a short segment of a Nintendo Direct that had absolutely nothing to do with Sonic. If it was an event more catered to Sonic, like E3 would be an example, then I'd expect more. I was honestly shocked that we got new information from them anyway.

[Dejimon11]

I really don't think that this game is going to be terrible at all if I'm to be perfectly honest. Yeah it's not what I wanted to see in this series I think I made that clear the minute Classic Sonic was announced. Folks like Colors and Generations and they're using the success of those games for Forces. I just want them to move forward instead of relying on nostalgia that's all and also play as somebody who isn't Sonic it's been too long. And as for the dash panel it really baffles me how many people are off guard. We all knew that classic Sonic wasn't going to play anything like the genesis games I think Iizuka pretty much proved that when Mania was announced it also makes his inclusion more pointless. 

 

[The Deleter]

6 minutes ago, JezMM said:

To be fair the footage is three segments, not one uninterrupted thing.

True, but the same can be said for the modern Sonic footage as well, difference being we've already seen the full section. The cuts are supposed to show the most interesting parts of the sections, and when that basically running in a straight line from automated baddies, a spring route where you actually hold forwards given the Rings, and a scripted loop, all on flat ground... Yeah. Doesn't look any better than Lost World did, and given that...

[Indigo Rush]

1 minute ago, blazefan519 said:

This was only saved for a short segment of a Nintendo Direct that had absolutely nothing to do with Sonic. If it was an event more catered to Sonic, like E3 would be an example, then I'd expect more. I was honestly shocked that we got new information from them anyway.

That's... kind of non-sequitur. If they had something better to show, they'd have shown it. I have no reason to believe they'd intentionally show incriminating gameplay footage just because it's a Nintendo Direct.

[JezMM]

3 minutes ago, The Deleter said:

True, but the same can be said for the modern Sonic footage as well, difference being we've already seen the full section. The cuts are supposed to show the most interesting parts of the sections, and when that basically running in a straight line from automated baddies, a spring route where you actually hold forwards given the Rings, and a scripted loop, all on flat ground... Yeah. Doesn't look any better than Lost World did, and given that...

At the very least, we know something more is going on around the loop as there are items and a red ring on top of it, so yeah.

[RictalRose0]

19 minutes ago, JezMM said:

And thus the entire point of the character being "you" is destroyed.

You could either take like 5 or 10 minutes making a decent character, or an hour obsessively making your perfect OC that you have always dreamed of since you were 9 (Y'all can say that you never had fan characters but I already have at least 10 designs in mind for mine lmao) or if you don't really care about looks, pick a premade default character or hit random. 

[blazefan519]

Just now, Indigo Rush said:

That's... kind of non-sequitur. If they had something better to show, they'd have shown it. I have no reason to believe they'd intentionally show incriminating gameplay footage just because it's a Nintendo Direct.

I don't think of it as incriminating. Just short. If your main complaint was the fact that what they had shown of Classic Sonic was a straight path, then fine. I'm just saying that since this was a short video, you couldn't really expect to see anything grandiose. Maybe they just wanted to show off some of the set-pieces, like the desert and pyramids in the backgrounds, which is something you couldn't see unless you have those "scenic routes" that Sonic games tend to have. Most of the background in the Classic Sonic stages were obscured, so they just had a straight line there to show scenery, which is fine by me. 

[Celestia]

I don't have any strong feelings one way or the other RE: character creation, if that is indeed the case.

However, if it's really versatile to the point of being capable of some truly horrifying creations, it would mean the possibility of a Sonic Forces episode of Monster Factory, and that would rule so hard.

Edited April 13, 2017 by Celestia

[Indigo Rush]

There is absolutely no way Sonic Team could ever make a character creator complex enough to fulfill my fantasy OC who has abnormally large knees that can inflate at will.

[JezMM]

To be honest I'd still rather play as Shadow or Tails or any established character that I already like than as a generic protagonist character with a bland personality to not infringe on the "IT'S YOU!" appeal, who may have dialogue options but probably not.  Hell, even in PSO2, excellent as it is, it kinda bothered me that my character, whom I imagine being a total dumb dork, acts totally heroic - just as everyone's character does - in the story.  That was one advantage to PSO1's more subtle story even if it was lacking in cool cinematics and developed character relationships and stuff like PSO2 has.  The story never really infringed on your ability to roleplay there since cut-scenes rarely involved your character taking any action.

Just, character creation makes so much more sense in multiplayer games or super long games.  I dunno they're gonna have to really impress me with something clever regarding the point of the insert character to justify it.

[Joellui]

 GUYS! 

 I Just had an epiphany what if GHZ has all that sand because maybe, just maybe, Eggman used it's resources and that's why there's a bunch of sand and dirt and no water and that's why the zone looks so pale. 

Or maybe, the zone really just looks like trash.