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

[Diogenes]

3 hours ago, Depression Kong said:

I mean, I'd like the final boss track to be orchestral, but the fact that this is what Ohtani considers a good final boss theme in this day and age has me worried.

 

This song is awesome, though? Like it's a shame it got wasted on a kinda lame boss, it's miles above Generations' ominous droning, and it's no more "not Sonic" than when every final boss theme suddenly became an orchestral remix of the game's main theme.

[Chris Knopps]

3 hours ago, Depression Kong said:

I mean, I'd like the final boss track to be orchestral, but the fact that this is what Ohtani considers a good final boss theme in this day and age has me worried.

 

Keep in mind Lost World was pushing for the Mario consumers more than anything, that's why it sounds like something right out of Mario and Luigi : Dream Team to be precise. Reminds me of... Antasma was it...?

So yeah, I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's a matter of who they're trying to cater to, and now that they're back on the right track... Hopefully... We'll get something more Sonic and less some other franchise.

[Sonictrainer]

8 minutes ago, Chris Knopps said:

Keep n mind Lost World was pushing for the Mario consumers more than anything, that's why it sounds like something right out of Mario and Luigi : Dream Team to be precise. Reminds me of... Phantasma was it...?

 

It still sounds like a remix of the Sonic Unleashed Day and Night Boss themes to me

[StaticMania]

It sounding like that Mario & Luigi theme seems like a large coincidence...they came out the same year and a few months apart.

[Tracker_TD]

I don't see the LW final boss theme as being like Mario at all, to be honest.

I do find it as being by far one of the best songs in the game though. Like damn, being worried about that kind of music? It's killer!

[JosepHenry]

LW doesn't have the best soundtrack, but when the music from it is good, is really good.

[Blue Blood]

Lost  World's music is just a bit bland and 'oomph-lacking' in general. But you're right - it does have some notably good pieces. 

Now if anyone wants a reason to be worried about Forces soundtrack, just remember:

 

[Pawn]

Yeah, as someone who didn't take to LW's soundtrack for the most part, the final boss theme is a different story and my favourite since... like SA2? And it has the benefit of not dating in the same way that the cheesy vocals have, so it may be my most liked in any 3D game. It definitely has the air of a smaller scale climax (as that is fitting for LW), but it screams 'Sonic' to me way beyond any orchestral remix could.

[Chris Knopps]

10 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

Lost  World's music is just a bit bland and 'oomph-lacking' in general. But you're right - it does have some notably good pieces. 

Now if anyone wants a reason to be worried about Forces soundtrack, just remember:

 

...Someone actually extended that thing for half an hour?

Oy veh...

I'll take the generic modern music over that by a long shot.

[JezMM]

I really like Lost World's final boss theme but it was a bit oomph-lacking but, granted, so was the boss, so it fit the overall intensity exactly.  I'm expecting this game to have a more intense finale, so honestly Vs. Nega Wisp Armor Phase 2 is my ideal "intensity" for final boss music.  Just maybe give the rock (or electronic) elements SLIGHTLY more authority over any orchestral stuff.

The high point of Vs. Nega Wisp Armor is when it goes into the little original part at 2:19:

Honestly as long as the final boss has a good "desperate" sounding part like that (that'd be melancholy sounding in a slower context), I'm good.  I just love sad melodies like that and how doing them at such intensity makes for a really dramatic sound.

Lost World's final boss theme was also fine for the fact that it included such a part at 0:51, even if it wasn't quite as intense as Colours' (though again, suited the boss).

[Chris Knopps]

7 minutes ago, JezMM said:

I really like Lost World's final boss theme but it was a bit oomph-lacking but, granted, so was the boss, so it fit the overall intensity exactly.  I'm expecting this game to have a more intense finale, so honestly Vs. Nega Wisp Armor Phase 2 is my ideal "intensity" for final boss music.  Just maybe give the rock (or electronic) elements SLIGHTLY more authority over any orchestral stuff.

The high point of Vs. Nega Wisp Armor is when it goes into the little original part at 2:19:

Honestly as long as the final boss has a good "desperate" sounding part like that (that'd be melancholy sounding in a slower context), I'm good.  I just love sad melodies like that and how doing them at such intensity makes for a really dramatic sound.

Lost World's final boss theme was also fine for the fact that it included such a part at 0:51, even if it wasn't quite as intense as Colours' (though again, suited the boss).

The problem I have with Unleashed and Colors final boss tracks is how much they blare at you with the horns/trumpets or whatever. Those instruments are just emphasized way too much.

[Alienrun]

40 minutes ago, JezMM said:

I really like Lost World's final boss theme but it was a bit oomph-lacking but, granted, so was the boss, so it fit the overall intensity exactly.  I'm expecting this game to have a more intense finale, so honestly Vs. Nega Wisp Armor Phase 2 is my ideal "intensity" for final boss music.  Just maybe give the rock (or electronic) elements SLIGHTLY more authority over any orchestral stuff.

The high point of Vs. Nega Wisp Armor is when it goes into the little original part at 2:19:

Honestly as long as the final boss has a good "desperate" sounding part like that (that'd be melancholy sounding in a slower context), I'm good.  I just love sad melodies like that and how doing them at such intensity makes for a really dramatic sound.

Lost World's final boss theme was also fine for the fact that it included such a part at 0:51, even if it wasn't quite as intense as Colours' (though again, suited the boss).

I agree with all this quite a lot! It's a shame nothing in forces sounds as good as that part in Colors so far. (I'm a bit of an outlier in that I don't really like the main theme of forces so far...might make a topic about why sometime)

Speaking of Melancholy though...

SOMEONE decided to remake this abortion of a song into something that sounds absolutely beautiful and I LOVE IT!

Like its not gonna happen, but I'd be stoked if this was in the game no joke...sadly we all know that won't happen.

 

On a slightly more serious note, this version has much better instrumentaion and actually got me nostalgic for green hill...somehow. Like actually exited with a touch of joy and wonder and all that. #Nostalgia

The tune itself can only be salvaged so much, but still a great improvement by a LONG shot!

I'm hoping the other songs are better, but what they've shown so far is NOT convincing and that's slightly worrying!

[blazefan519]

Hm, I actually liked Lost World's final boss theme, one of my favorite tracks in the game, but that's just me I suppose. For the final boss, I'd like a rock/orchestra mix. While I like the orchestra songs of Unleashed and Colors, it does feel a bit overdone but I don't want it gone completely as I love orchestrated soundtracks in general. So have both rock and orchestra since it'll be the best of both worlds.

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

Yeah LW' final boss theme is pretty good, with the rock and violin mixing pretty well and the tune as well. Some of it's other tracks are nice, like Sea Bottom Seague and one of the snow levels, forgot which one...

17 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

Lost  World's music is just a bit bland and 'oomph-lacking' in general. But you're right - it does have some notably good pieces. 

Now if anyone wants a reason to be worried about Forces soundtrack, just remember:

 

But then there's this:

 

[Meta77]

I mean as far as final boss themes go LW is going to be at the bottom of the list. A very long list at that.

[Tracker_TD]

4 minutes ago, Meta77 said:

I mean as far as final boss themes go LW is going to be at the bottom of the list. A very long list at that.

You suuuuuuuure about that?

[JezMM]

Eh, I take your Time Eater and raise you E.G.G. Station from Sonic 4.  I have no idea what was going through the mind of the guy who composed Open Your Heart, Live & Learn, Egg Emperor, What I'm Made Of and With Me when he composed a vaguely intimidating 20 second loop and was like "yep that's a good final boss theme".  Especially when the boss about 2-3 minutes long, was very difficult and likely to be repeated many times on one's first play, had three distinct phases that could've had music changes, and the scene as a whole was supposed to evoke something as melodic as Sonic 2's final boss, which again, he did an amazing interpretation of come Sonic Generations.

Time Eater was fine, it fit and was a good tune, was just a bit underwhelming considering the context of being the final boss of such a special game - but then, same is true for the fight itself.  It kinda feels like a "Phase 1" theme for a boss that never gets a Phase 2, and somehow, the "pinch" music from the end of the final boss manages to be more underwhelming regardless on virtue of being the Sonic 4 theme lol.

[Osmium]

18 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

Lost  World's music is just a bit bland and 'oomph-lacking' in general. But you're right - it does have some notably good pieces. 

Now if anyone wants a reason to be worried about Forces soundtrack, just remember:

 

You wanna know that this sounds like? The video's gone now but someone took the audio clip of James after he got stung by the bee in Thomas and made a THIS VIDEO CONTAINS WIN out of it. 

Just imagine this sound being played over and over at different pitches. I swear this is what I hear when that music plays, it sounds just like it lmao. I can't stop laughing. 

[D.K.]

1 hour ago, ShroomZed said:

You wanna know that this sounds like? The video's gone now but someone took the audio clip of James after he got stung by the bee in Thomas and made a THIS VIDEO CONTAINS WIN out of it. 

Just imagine this sound being played over and over at different pitches. I swear this is what I hear when that music plays, it sounds just like it lmao. I can't stop laughing. 

on an unrelated note that bee scared the fuck out of me as a kid

[JosepHenry]

Thomas the Tank Engine was probably the most terrifing show I ever seen.

Still hoping for Ohtani to fix the GHZ music.

[Sonicfan287]

On 5/13/2017 at 8:56 AM, Blue Blood said:

Beyond the presence some new Green Hill clones and Sonic himself, almost nothing about Lost World felt like a Sonic game. It was trying to be something else entirely and that's reflected in the music as much as it is anywhere else. It was a definite outlier. 

I actually disagree with this. Yes, it was an outlier in some ways but (as one of the apparently few Lost World fans out there) I thought it had a lot of elements that made it feel like a Sonic game. In some ways it tried too hard to clone the past by reusing caterkillers, the casino theme for one level, the metropolis nuts and bolts and some other elements. They reused a lot of classic enemies but I liked the way it was done. It delivers some consistency among the games. Mario games have had the same enemies for decades yet Sonic games seem to alternate between having the badniks to having military robots or Robotnik's "Egg Pawns" or whatever they're called so it's nice that recent games have brought back the classic badniks in new environments. 

Speaking of new environments, even Lost World's new worlds had a Sonic feel to them, like Frozen Factory using a blue checkerboarded texture for a lot of it. I'm not saying it didn't do things to make it feel different from other entries in the series, but I thought it was one of the few examples (along with Colors) in the past 8 or so years of Sega creating a "new" Sonic game and not just one full of rehashes (and even that game had its fair share) 

I'm hoping "Forces" will introduce some new original ideas in terms of levels. Until I see that (and not just more Green Hill and/or Burning City levels) I can't really get excited about the game, not because it looks bad but just because I've seen it all before. I'm hoping for some new dynamic environments with a little more creativity behind them. But we'll see 

[JezMM]

Honestly the visual style of Lost World was fine and felt like a Sonic game to me.  The Mario comparisons are very VERY surface level stuff, like... the surface level OF the surface level.  The main things are that 1. the planetoid stuff is very Super Mario Galaxy, and 2. the stage themes are not only identical to but play out in the same order as 4 out of the 5 NSMB games (Grass, Desert, Tropical, Snow, Jungle, (Mountain), Sky, Lava).  Extra painful considering the NSMB games are considered dirivative of themselves FOR this fact as is.

HOWEVER the actual execution feels plenty Sonic to me.  Every zone has an oddball level or two, the level design rarely looks like anything out of a Galaxy game despite the shared planetoid/gravity deal (though on the flipside, it never really USES the planetoid system cleverly like Galaxy did either), the aesthetic is all pretty on point... except Dessert Ruins but let's not get into that again.

[Sonikko]

Let's not forget that Lost World was the first 3D Sonic game with ramps in 3D that are not scripted in like ever. I think the last time this happened was in Sonic Adventure 1/2?

Sure the lack of actual physics did make them a little pointless, but still.

It was different, but it still had some Sonic elements around. Besides, the graphic style was not out of place, it looked like Sonic belonged in it just fine to me.

[Ratcicle King]

Lost World's soundtrack had some great variety of tunes and moods, and I'm honestly thankful for it, yeah, Sonic Generations is amazing, but not ALL Sonic songs have to be fast paced or intense. Sonic's music style isn't just ''fast pace'', it can be moody and slow, we've had pieces like that in almost every single game. Lost World's theme wasn't trying to be Mario, yes it was different from what we had before, but it was trying less to be Mario and more to branch out on song structure and mood, not all tracks worked but that's something every single game suffers from.

As for worst theme, it has to be the Time Eater in general, because that's a character theme, not a boss theme. It's like taking the Eggman orchestral theme of 06 to Colos and placing it on the Nega Wisp Armor fight. It won't fit at all because it wasn't made for a fight.

As for Ohtani working on the final boss theme, I'd go for another orchestral main theme, those are praised as some of the best tracks in the game and for good reason. I don't mind just playing the main theme during the final boss, but integrating it into the track of said boss feels more natural, feels like the fight is evolving but the instruments remain the same as the tide is turning and the leitmotif of the game plays to demonstrate that. Just playing the normal theme, while epic, can be kinda jarring if done poorly, like it completely changes the flow and feel of the fight out of nowhere.

[Kellan]

14 minutes ago, Sonikko said:

Let's not forget that Lost World was the first 3D Sonic game with ramps in 3D that are not scripted in like ever. I think the last time this happened was in Sonic Adventure 1/2?

That doesn't sound right. Does "ramps" means something other than "a sloped incline" in this context?