Do you think SEGA will keep their promise with the "focus on quality"?

[KHCast]

41 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Sonic 2017 has been pushed as "the people that made Colours and Generations", which were particularly well-received. Even then, consider out of the last 3 mainline Sonic games, Colours and Generations are considered great and LW mediocre. 2/3 isn't too shabby. Hell, plenty of people like Unleashed a fair bit too nowadays. 

The bulk of Sonic Team's "shit" was like, a decade ago now; I think it's time to let that go. 

Sonic Teams don't release games yearly, so time is really irrelevant. We've only in the last 6 years really only gotten 2 titles one can consider good. Gens Colors and LW were pretty gapped in release, and then it just dropped for a few years after that. And before those, was nothing but meh-bleh for many.

 Quite a number of people within the fanbase either don't like or have grown tired of the boost games, and considering this supposedly is a brand new thing, again it's fair to not go in treating SEGA like Nintendo in terms of delivering quality experiences that can satisfy most consumers and fans. We've only seen a cgi trailer of the thing, so speculation, caution, excitement, etc, is all reasonable.

Gens and colors had plenty of problems I may add anyway that made many after the initial release see them as "okay, but not spectacular", so many of us are still waiting for a game that can surprise us and can age well.

[Neo_Fire_Sonic]

yes, but they aren't focusing on content.

*looks at them using classic sonic AGAIN

[Mr. Armstrong]

The only way to know is when have games in our hands, on the other hand I hope the games run at 60fps on consoles.

[sonicDX]

Yes and No, in my opinion.

That is true they have finally stopped (at least for a short period) making 'games' with the quality and concept of a mobile game. The worse kind of a mobile game. These new projects show us they are taking Sonic a bit more seriously again, but repeating and remaking their first three or four games for 25 years is making me think about leaving the Sonic franchise behind for a while. Oh, and before posting any teasing replies, let me accent that this is my opinion, about what I've seen in the trailers.

Sonic Mania looks not bad, but I think we had enough Classic Sonic remakes. Don't misread me, I like the gameplay and style of the Classic Sonic, but they should also bring something new to it. But of course, we don't know much about this project, but as I watched the trailer, it looks like a new Sonic CD.

I am absolutely surprised about the other project. Why did they have to bring back Classic Sonic? I understand that it's an anniversary, but we already had a Sonic Generations, and I can't imagine any other story that would bring the Modern and Classic Sonic together again. Aren't you bored of celebrating a franchise again and again which had no successes in the past five years? I like that it seems to be more serious than dancing cactuses and the other junk we saw in the last years.

So, in my opinion, SEGA has two excesses; if they want to make something new, they are making it radically new, leaving all the Sonic traditions behind. I mean, they make something that has no connection with the Sonic universe, it's like making an absolutely new game. And if they're not trying to tear Sonic apart from the roots, they can celebrate themselves for years, remaking their games again and again. How many Sonic collections, HD remakes and releases on new platforms we have... it's like making a few games, and then re-releasing them a couple of times.

What should they do? I think SEGA clearly knows what we know: Sonic has burned out in the past years, and they should make something great and epic, which connects the good Sonic traditions, gameplay mechanics, characters with something barely new. I don't think it is that hard.

[TCB]

Thinking about this from the prospective outside of Sonic? I'd say yes they have been maintaining that well for the most part. Yakuza, 7th Dragon, Valkyrie Chronicles , Alien Isolation...

...Then again when it comes to the new SEGA CEO's promise of producing quality Sonic is a big part of that, and it remains to be seen if the 2017 (the first main series ST title under this new directive) will highlight that.

[Guest]

They did say that they might lose some fans from the new direction of sonic, and I think that`s a good idea. Cause if they do we know they have an audience they wanna target to instead of jumping all around it.

[KHCast]

6 hours ago, Tomazo said:

Yes and No, in my opinion.

That is true they have finally stopped (at least for a short period) making 'games' with the quality and concept of a mobile game. The worse kind of a mobile game. These new projects show us they are taking Sonic a bit more seriously again, but repeating and remaking their first three or four games for 25 years is making me think about leaving the Sonic franchise behind for a while. Oh, and before posting any teasing replies, let me accent that this is my opinion, about what I've seen in the trailers.

Sonic Mania looks not bad, but I think we had enough Classic Sonic remakes. Don't misread me, I like the gameplay and style of the Classic Sonic, but they should also bring something new to it. But of course, we don't know much about this project, but as I watched the trailer, it looks like a new Sonic CD.

I am absolutely surprised about the other project. Why did they have to bring back Classic Sonic? I understand that it's an anniversary, but we already had a Sonic Generations, and I can't imagine any other story that would bring the Modern and Classic Sonic together again. Aren't you bored of celebrating a franchise again and again which had no successes in the past five years? I like that it seems to be more serious than dancing cactuses and the other junk we saw in the last years.

So, in my opinion, SEGA has two excesses; if they want to make something new, they are making it radically new, leaving all the Sonic traditions behind. I mean, they make something that has no connection with the Sonic universe, it's like making an absolutely new game. And if they're not trying to tear Sonic apart from the roots, they can celebrate themselves for years, remaking their games again and again. How many Sonic collections, HD remakes and releases on new platforms we have... it's like making a few games, and then re-releasing them a couple of times.

What should they do? I think SEGA clearly knows what we know: Sonic has burned out in the past years, and they should make something great and epic, which connects the good Sonic traditions, gameplay mechanics, characters with something barely new. I don't think it is that hard.

Sonic mania ISNT a remake though, and primarily relies on the new content more then anything really. From what we've seen, new levels, a new gameplay mechanic, new enemies, new music. Returning stages honestly just seems like a bonus thrown in because they were probably quick to tinker with and people like them. And tails and knuckles being playable, while not new, is refreshing. So I'd say overall they are doing new things with the classic formula.

[ChikoLad]

SEGA have been maintaining quality outside of Sonic, but Project 2017 is the big one where they need to put their money where their mouth is. Same with Fire & Ice since that saw a huge delay.

Sonic Mania is a lock for a fantastic game, though.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ChikoLad said:

SEGA have been maintaining quality outside of Sonic, but Project 2017 is the big one where they need to put their money where their mouth is. Same with Fire & Ice since that saw a huge delay.

Sonic Mania is a lock for a fantastic game, though.

yeah Mania is guaranteed success

[sonicDX]

14 hours ago, KHCast said:

Sonic mania ISNT a remake though, and primarily relies on the new content more then anything really. From what we've seen, new levels, a new gameplay mechanic, new enemies, new music. Returning stages honestly just seems like a bonus thrown in because they were probably quick to tinker with and people like them. And tails and knuckles being playable, while not new, is refreshing. So I'd say overall they are doing new things with the classic formula.

Hm, that's right. Well, we gonna see it, but I don't think it will be a big blast, since adding new things or not, it is still a Classic Sonic game again.

Excuse me, after what SEGA've done with Sonic in the past years, it's surely gonna be a big blast.

[molul]

Some years ago, I hated Sega for making Sonic 4 and marketing it as "This is Sonic 4 as you truly imagined", which was (unintencionally) insulting and also showed the fandom how wrong was Sega about their flagship. Sonic Generations was a better approach but Sonic 4 had so much damaged, and now Sega is "healing" us with Sonic Mania.

I can say I trust Sega now. I know Sonic Mania will be exactly what I was looking for, and Sonic "Resistance", I don't know yet, but I trust them because they now seem to know what they have to do.

[KHCast]

3 hours ago, Tomazo said:

Hm, that's right. Well, we gonna see it, but I don't think it will be a big blast, since adding new things or not, it is still a Classic Sonic game again.

Excuse me, after what SEGA've done with Sonic in the past years, it's surely gonna be a big blast.

Didn't you just say in the last comment you were fine with classic sonic and his style of gameplay as long as new things were brought to it? So...now that's not enough?

[sonicDX]

5 minutes ago, KHCast said:

Didn't you just say in the last comment you were fine with classic sonic and his style of gameplay as long as new things were brought to it? So...now that's not enough?

For saving Sonic from dying out, it is good. For keeping Sonic a good franchise, it isn't.

As I see, you don't really understand what I've meant. For example, let's take Sonic Rush Adventure. It kept the connection with the Sonic universe (so it wasn't that radically new like Boom), but it added new (and fun!) features, such as riding a Jet Ski. It also had new characters, a new atmosphere and places, but it was still a good Sonic game. Or I could have said Riders. They all gave something awesome into the Sonic universe, and they didn't want to change it, just make it better.

Making a classic Sonic game, with 'new levels and enemies' is not the best step for a franchise that is halfway dead.

[KHCast]

It's a start. And who's to say it couldn't add new  characters and even more gameplay additions? Just cause it's retro doesn't mean it's limited. It doesn't need to be some radically new and modernized thing on the level of modern titles like Rush. Look at Megaman.  If they were to make two branches for both modern and classic games, I think that approach would be smart and satisfy a lot of their consumers/fans.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, KHCast said:

It's a start. And who's to say it couldn't add new  characters and even more gameplay additions? Just cause it's retro doesn't mean it's limited. It doesn't need to be some radically new and modernized thing on the level of modern titles like Rush. Look at Megaman.  If they were to make two branches for both modern and classic games, I think that approach would be smart and satisfy a lot of their consumers/fans.

I`m getting a feeling this is what SEGA is trying to do

[Ajavalo]

Let me say, first of all, that I don't really know how you measure quality, that's a very subjective thing in the Sonic series. What would Sonic 2017 need to have in order to be a 'high quality' game? There's a chance it'll be very divisive, judging from the different things people express they want from current-day Sonic.

And, as I said in another thread, I think the "focus on quality" is genuine, and Aaron Webber is a big part of it. He said that SEGA is now in a better position to implement feedback as it is received, and I'm pretty sure he knows how to summarize feedback to get the best out of it. It seems obvious to me that Sonic Mania is a really good thing despite being considered "too nostalgic" or "lackluster" by some, and it'll serve to introduce the classic gameplay that started it all to new audiences!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Ajavalo said:

Let me say, first of all, that I don't really know how you measure quality, that's a very subjective thing in the Sonic series. What would Sonic 2017 need to have in order to be a 'high quality' game? There's a chance it'll be very divisive, judging from the different things people express they want from current-day Sonic.

And, as I said in another thread, I think the "focus on quality" is genuine, and Aaron Webber is a big part of it. He said that SEGA is now in a better position to implement feedback as it is received, and I'm pretty sure he knows how to summarize feedback to get the best out of it. It seems obvious to me that Sonic Mania is a really good thing despite being considered "too nostalgic" or "lackluster" by some, and it'll serve to introduce the classic gameplay that started it all to new audiences!

Oh no I`m not one of these people haha, by quality I mean polished and glitch free and all that. I`m not picky with Sonic games.

[Ajavalo]

^Glad to hear that! I sometimes think I am the only person in the world who likes all of Sonic's gameplay styles throughout the series: Classic, Adventure, Boost, hybrids (such as Lost World)... All of them fit within "speedy platforming", which is what Sonic is about. Not without things I'd want to change, but I enjoy all of them.

Now, on the subject of rushing out games: there are certainly a lot of games rushed for release but, besides Sonic 06 -RoL had other problems-, I don't think they've suffered too much. Sonic 2 was extremely rushed, even the general public knew about the scrapped HPZ, and very few will call it bad. Sonic Colors is a low-budget game made with little effort, yet it's considered one of the best 3D games -too overrated, IMO-, whereas Unleashed is the polar opposite case -I can't stand when they say it's bad-. While it's obvious more development time can make a more polished game with more content, but I've never felt annoyed with what we've got.

[Guest]

Personally I didn`t like the werewolf all that much but I never complained about him on threads or anywhere online lol. I just played the bits in the game I liked.

I also feel like with more given time Lost World would be considered good instead of meh or medicore. If only they had more time to balance everything out design wise.

[Agie]

I have sincere doubts on it to where I have no cluew what to expect; they said that around the time of Colors, if I recall correctly, and Sega was going with the narrative...only to go right back to old habits with Lost World.

So they're saying the spiel once again, but quite frankly, I can't bring myself to believe them, even with a new CEO. Not if they threw away the momentum they built up after only three years, just as they were starting to be respected again.

That said, they have time to prove me wrong, but I do think, at the very least, they'll have to do a lot more than they did back in 2010-2012 to get people convinced, given all that probably made people wary of trusting them again. So even if they mean it this time, they have their work very much cut out for them.

[AtomicPencils]

I don't doubt SEGA, but at the same time my expectations are a tad low.

I haven't played Lost World, so most of my thoughts are of experience with Colors and Generations. Gen. in particular didn't present us with much other than nostalgic value. It worked at the time because it was for Sonic's 20th anniversary. It's understood that the game was meant to celebrate Sonic, being it's own self-contained thing. But they're rehashing Classic Sonic again, and it's worrying to think this gimmick could become a staple. It's almost like making the statement, "Sonic cannot survive in the modern gaming industry unless he retains his Genesis/Megadrive era qualities." I wholeheartedly believe this is the wrong way to go about things. 

We can only wait and see, suppose.