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

[Jango]

Really? Black Knight? You think that tone was good? Well, opinions... Unleashed was great, tho', better than Adventure even (it might be because of the embarrassing animation and voice acting, but still, it was 1999).

[JosepHenry]

6 minutes ago, Jango said:

Really? Black Knight? You think that tone was good? Well, opinions... Unleashed was great, tho', better than Adventure even (it might be because of the embarrassing animation and voice acting, but still, it was 1999).

1998 actually 

If Adventure was remade today with good voice acting and animation, I think it could be the best Sonic story to date. Fix some dated moments, remove some of the unnecessary parts (Like 90% Big's story) and is all good.

[Shiny Gems]

Well, I do realize we went off of discussing the music a bit, but I must ask: I wonder if there will be an ending theme, and if so, I wonder what it will be like?

[Chris Knopps]

2 minutes ago, CrystalStorm51 said:

Well, I do realize we went off of discussing the music a bit, but I must ask: I wonder if there will be an ending theme, and if so, I wonder what it will be like?

That's a good question.

Forces is a title that potentially sets up an entirely new continuity for the Sonic franchise, each title carrying off where the last ended as Sonic and co. attempt to restore the world and such, showing progress little by little while Eggman maintains some level of domination over this and that part.

I wouldn't mind the franchise carrying a Satam direction for a few games, so the ending theme could be a bittersweet one since Eggman still lingers and potentially still maintains some grasp on the planet.

...Please SEGA, please...

PLEASE...

[Shiny Gems]

3 minutes ago, Chris Knopps said:

That's a good question.

Forces is a title that potentially sets up an entirely new continuity for the Sonic franchise, each title carrying off where the last ended as Sonic and co. attempt to restore the world and such, showing progress little by little while Eggman maintains some level of domination over this and that part.

I wouldn't mind the franchise carrying a Satam direction for a few games, so the ending theme could be a bittersweet one since Eggman still lingers and potentially still maintains some grasp on the planet.

...Please SEGA, please...

PLEASE...

That would be a good idea for an ending theme, actually. Eggman still maintaining some grasp on the planet and still lingering is something I dig. I would like to see something like this done by Sega if there was an ending theme.

[Chris Knopps]

5 minutes ago, CrystalStorm51 said:

That would be a good idea for an ending theme, actually. Eggman still maintaining some grasp on the planet and still lingering is something I dig. I would like to see something like this done by Sega if there was an ending theme.

It makes no sense if he controls some 99% or whatever of the world and in the span of a single game everything is suddenly like nothing ever happened.

THAT would be a waste but...

Hey, opinions...

While I'm making another plot related post here, I went kind of crazy with my whole "Eggman says a thing in Forces" concept over on TSOS, what do you folks think of a scene like this? It's basically an "After *blank* boss" cut scene.

S for Sonic of course, E for Eggman as well.

S - "Ha! I win again! So what'll it be this time? The usual Egghead schtick, or maybe something a little more classic? Buttnik's a good one!"

(Modern high fives Classic)

E - "Rrrgh, pesky rodents... So what if you won? Don't you get it?! I own the world now!"

(communicator tells Eggman another land is conquered)

E - "Well, mostly... You hear that? By wasting your time hunting me down, more people are suffering because you're treating what's happening like a game, the same as always! I'm not playing this time hedgehog!"

(communicator relays screaming and pleading)

E - "There are people out there suffering under my conquest while you're here cracking jokes! The people of this world are crying out in agony! The young, the old, can't you hear them?!"

(Eggman holds out the communicator)

E - "Listen to them! Hear that?! Lets hear another joke Sonic! Go ahead, chuckle! And while you do, know that lives are crumbling beneath my armada because you only care about playing tag and having a laugh!"

(Both Sonic's stare in agitation)

S - "Not cool Eggman..."

E - "And neither are YOU hedgehog! GROW UP for once in your life! You're not cool, you're not funny, and more importantly, you're NO hero!"

(Both parties glare at the other with teeth grit)

E - "I'll give your annoying friends one thing, at least they know how to take a war seriously and actually care about the lives of those around them. I wonder how many in need you simply ran past while hunting me down...?"

(Both Sonic's ball up their fists)

S - "I'm warning you Eggman!"

E - "Ha! NOW you bother getting serious?! A little late for that! Chase me down all you want Sonic, play your little game, crack your tacky jokes, and while you do, know that your friends and countless lands are suffering because of your narrow minded, shortsighted priorities!"

(Eggman goes silent before shaking his head)

E - "I've won Sonic, and all you're doing is turning the world against you. While you stand here, the world is asking where you are. Why aren't you helping them? Where's their hero? And the answer...? He's high fiving himself and having a laugh..."

(Eggman smirks and starts flying away)

E - "The game is over Sonic! No matter what you do, my forces around the world will just continue conquering and will crush whatever pathetic lives you manage to salvage! This time, I'll be the one laughing through it all!"

(Eggman starts laughing maniacally)

(Both Sonic's look at one another and watch Eggman leave)

(Both Sonic's turn to the ruined city behind them)

(Scene ends)

[Kintor]

28 minutes ago, Jango said:

Really? Black Knight? You think that tone was good? Well, opinions... Unleashed was great, tho', better than Adventure even (it might be because of the embarrassing animation and voice acting, but still, it was 1999).

Personally, I think that the tone of Black Knight was great, that kind of Dark Age heroism works well in a Sonic game. With that said, one thing that Black Knight lacked compared to some other Sonic games was a sense of scale. The whole story of Black Knight felt smaller, even if it still had an epic conclusion. But I suppose that's incidental, Black Knight took place in a single fantasy kingdom and deliberately didn't include the whole world.

Which is something of a strength of both the Adventure games and Unleashed, they put a huge amount of effort into world building. The destruction of Station Square matters because you've just spent the whole game getting to know the place in Sonic Adventure. Likewise, Sonic Unleashed and it's varied real life inspired locations is one of the most visually stunning Sonic games ever made; putting the planet back together really did make it feel like a 'World Adventure' to defeat Eggman.

With Sonic Forces being about leading a resistance to free the world from Eggman's control I'd like to see that same sense of scale that defined both the Adventure games and Unleashed. To give a proper sense of scale and weight to the events in the story, to make if feel like a real accomplishment when part of the world is liberated from Eggman's forces. If this is achieved then Sonic Forces can easily become one of the grandest and most memorable Sonic games ever made.

[blazefan519]

56 minutes ago, CrystalStorm51 said:

Well, I do realize we went off of discussing the music a bit, but I must ask: I wonder if there will be an ending theme, and if so, I wonder what it will be like?

Oh yeah, ending themes. I loved those in Unleashed and Colors. Jeez, why did Generations start breaking trends with the typical main theme then ending theme? Well, since theme songs with lyrics are back, I think there's a pretty good chance we'll see an ending theme as well.

I know it's kinda cheesy, but I'd like a song about friendship. I know, I know, we had Heroes and that game was all about friendship and Unleashes ending theme was about friendship too but hear me out. Sonic has gotten to know his pals over the years y'know, nothing as bad as this has happened to them before (kinda), and maybe it would be a good time for him to realize that he couldn't have gotten this far without them by his side.

...

Ugh, writing that down just made me cringe with all the hamminess, but still, I'd like a song about friendship, and have some sceenshots of Sonic just taking pics with his buds. That'd be really cute.

[Chris Knopps]

15 minutes ago, blazefan519 said:

Oh yeah, ending themes. I loved those in Unleashed and Colors. Jeez, why did Generations start breaking trends with the typical main theme then ending theme? Well, since theme songs with lyrics are back, I think there's a pretty good chance we'll see an ending theme as well.

I know it's kinda cheesy, but I'd like a song about friendship. I know, I know, we had Heroes and that game was all about friendship and Unleashes ending theme was about friendship too but hear me out. Sonic has gotten to know his pals over the years y'know, nothing as bad as this has happened to them before (kinda), and maybe it would be a good time for him to realize that he couldn't have gotten this far without them by his side.

...

Ugh, writing that down just made me cringe with all the hamminess, but still, I'd like a song about friendship, and have some sceenshots of Sonic just taking pics with his buds. That'd be really cute.

Considering Eggman is ruining civilizations and nature, I highly doubt the ending of the game will end positively.

Probably in a Sonic Adventure manner where everything's in ruins and Sonic chases Eggman to territories he still rules.

[Wraith]

There's pretty obviously a time travel element in this story. Sonic will just go back and time and stop Eggman before he did anything.

[Chris Knopps]

1 minute ago, Josh said:

There's pretty obviously a time travel element in this story. Sonic will just go back and time and stop Eggman before he did anything.

I would picture more consumers being enraged by that than satisfied considering the near limitless potential wasted if Eggman conquers the whole world and in the span of a single title everything is peachy keen and completely untouched...

[Diogenes]

This series always returns to the status quo. It's going to happen whether fans would like it or not.

[Wraith]

Just now, Chris Knopps said:

I would picture more consumers being enraged by that than satisfied considering the near limitless potential wasted if Eggman conquers the whole world and in the span of a single title everything is peachy keen and completely untouched...

Sonic games have had more unsatisfying endings than that and nobody really cared then.

[Chris Knopps]

1 minute ago, Diogenes said:

This series always returns to the status quo. It's going to happen whether fans would like it or not.

My issue is why bother going with a concept like Forces if you're not willing to commit wholeheartedly to it and actually give it some spanning depth?

1 minute ago, Josh said:

Sonic games have had more unsatisfying endings than that and nobody really cared then.

Then is one thing, now is another, and now consumers are (seemingly) more unforgiving than ever with the franchise.

[Diogenes]

Just now, Chris Knopps said:

My issue is why bother going with a concept like Forces if you're not willing to commit wholeheartedly to it and actually give it some spanning depth?

Because cheap, surface level appeal is all the series has bothered with for a long time now.

[Chris Knopps]

2 hours ago, Diogenes said:

Because cheap, surface level appeal is all the series has bothered with for a long time now.

...Is it strange a year ago I hated almost every word you muttered and now I can't help but relate to and feel vindicated by so many things you post...?

...Man.

Edit

Holy SH@$ look at how people are praising that Green Hill music in Forces over on YouTube...

[JezMM]

8 hours ago, Chris Knopps said:

The only thing to concern over is how they've said something along the lines of how the reveal trailer doesn't really represent the game more than it's just something to drag attention.

I wish they'd stop trying to reassure people the game isn't what it looks like. That's bullsh@$ of the highest degree. Why be afraid of your own d@$n product? That doesn't do anything but tell consumers your lacking as much confidence as possible.

Didn't this stem from a misinterpretation of a translated tweet or something?  They were simply saying the footage in the trailer wasn't in the game - i.e. it was an animation made specifically for the teaser trailer - just like the very first trailer for Generations (I mean... that was in the game but only as the movie that played if you waited on the title screen, it wasn't part of the actual GAME game).

[Chris Knopps]

3 minutes ago, JezMM said:

Didn't this stem from a misinterpretation of a translated tweet or something?  They were simply saying the footage in the trailer wasn't in the game - i.e. it was an animation made specifically for the teaser trailer - just like the very first trailer for Generations (I mean... that was in the game but only as the movie that played if you waited on the title screen, it wasn't part of the actual GAME game).

So what? They're going to open a game about the apocalypse with a random romp through Green Hill and landing on some blue sky rooftop instead when the game launches pulling some positive reinforcement poses before the third whatever drops in with a happy go lucky smile?

...I better not jinx that.

[Kintor]

1 hour ago, Chris Knopps said:

So what? They're going to open a game about the apocalypse with a random romp through Green Hill and landing on some blue sky rooftop instead when the game launches pulling some positive reinforcement poses before the third whatever drops in with a happy go lucky smile?

A little CGI montage never hurt anybody. It shouldn't matter if the Green Hill Zone makes an appearance in the intro or not. That whole sequence exists to build a little hype before the game starts and is usually skippable anyway. You know, like a somewhat darker version of Sonic Heroes' intro.

[StaticMania]

Sonic's CGI intros usually represents the whole game, not just a part of them

[Kintor]

17 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Sonic's CGI intros usually represents the whole game, not just a part of them

Only if you're lucky. A CGI intro can say as little or as much about a Sonic game as Sega wants without affecting the rest of the experience.

I mean, this is Sonic Adventure 2's original intro on the Dreamcast:

That doesn't tell you anything about the game, besides the fact that it's a sequel to Sonic Adventure. It's no wonder that Sonic Team went and made a whole new intro for Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

[Jango]

Really? Black Knight? You think that tone was good? Well, opinions... Unleashed was great, tho', better than Adventure even (it might be because of the embarrassing animation and voice acting, but still, it was 1999).

1998 actually [emoji14]

If Adventure was remade today with good voice acting and animation, I think it could be the best Sonic story to date. Fix some dated moments, remove some of the unnecessary parts (Like 90% Big's story) and is all good.

 

They should do it, I've asked for this many times. Let's call Vicarious Visions and see if they're up to it [emoji14]

[CleverSonicUsername]

4 hours ago, Stephenb19 said:

I will never be able to find value in Forces' GHZ theme - it's terrible. Especially coming from a series in which we can usually say "Oh well, at least the music was good" - I can take the hit though (considering I couldn't care less about that particular Zone anyway) AS LONG as there are no other such ear-torturing tracks on the soundtrack.

Pretty sure they said all of Classic's stages would be done in the same style. I'm actually pretty surprised the whole dying cats thing is back considering the majority of people fucking hated that shit in 4. Then again it's the kind of tone deafness I'd expect from Sonic Team.

[StaticMania]

"Dying cats" joke must've died off long enough for it to be okay to use again without much bile.

[CleverSonicUsername]

10 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

"Dying cats" joke must've died off long enough for it to be okay to use again without much bile.

Real talk, how else would you describe it? That's like the most succinct way.