Sonic Mania & Forces Interview(s)

[ChikaBoing]

https://www.famitsu.com/news/201706/14135044.html

Famitsu had the oppurtunity to talk about Mania and Forces with Nakamura and Iizuka. Aaaron Webber also teased an english interview (

Well about the Famitsu Interview, here is what I was able to pick out (bullet points)

• The Custom character was a feature the fanbase wanted for a long time. 
• The game's three playstyles are overall Sonicy throughout, unlike Nakamura previous game he references, which was 06
• The Avatar character does not go "beyond Sonic" in power and abilities, strenghs and weaknesses for each
• The fun of the Avatar comes from finding the right combination for different stages, and the rhythm paced gameplay like Modern Sonic, but offers a different flavour
• If you care about such questions like "Why is Shadow on the evil side", the story will be enjoyable
• The reception is great, based on YouTube views get more and more views each time. The Japanese seem to respond favourly to the serious story and the Avatar
• The overall development of the new Hedgehog Engine and developing on Switch was one of the biggest challenges
• Sonic Mania feels like Sonic CD to them (without time travel), and is overall the "sister game" to Forces. 

 

 

 

[Soniman]

Im sure they have a good reason for evil shadow then heh  

still banking on rouge/omega being used as leverage

[Roger_van_der_weide]

Thanks for the bulletpoints.

[Nepenthe]

26 minutes ago, ChikaBoing said:

• The Custom character was a feature the fanbase wanted for a long time. 

Bitch where?

26 minutes ago, ChikaBoing said:

• The Japanese seem to respond favourly to the serious story and the Avatar

So it was Japanese fans asking for this? We need to have a talk.

[Balding Spider]

Just now, Nepenthe said:

Bitch where?

Sonic Team confirmed to Deviantart accounts

[ChikaBoing]

Sega takes fan letters of 12 year olds seriously. Focus tests are very common and all. I do wonder if Mania is not part of that.

As others have said it is a Shadow the Hedgehog type situation it feels like.

Bonus: Naota Oshima's thoughts (why the hell is he hanging out with Sega so much?): Mania has the best team ever. And Forces is great. Seems he likes both, but Mania is the best.

Oh and Tom Kalinske is of course loving the Mania!

[Forte-Metallix]

"The story will be enjoyable."

That's what they said for Lost World.

[Nepenthe]

Just now, Forte-Metallix said:

"The story will be enjoyable."

That's what they said for Lost World.

To be fair, they said it would be enjoyable for people who were genuinely interested in the weird-ass character turns and reveals going on.

[TheOcelot]

1 hour ago, ChikaBoing said:

Sonic Mania feels like Sonic CD to them (without time travel), and is overall the "sister game" to Forces. 

Ha, I've been saying this all along. Mania is the spiritual sequel to CD in terms of graphics, level design, animation and music (Tee Lopes really knows what makes a great soundtrack for a Sonic game).

[Kuzu]

Honestly, at this point I'm starting to accept that what I want out of 3D Sonic and what the public wants out of 3D Sonic are just too radically different.

And Sega will obviously listen to the people who scream the loudest. So to those who wanted a game like this, hope you enjoy it.

However, screw you, I still have Mania :V

[JosepHenry]

• Spoiler

  If you care about such questions like "Why is Shadow on the evil side", the story will be enjoyable

  THANK GOD. Hopes that the explanation might be a little more interesting than "Shadow is Sonic's rival so he wants to beat him up and we don't know nothing more of him besides that. What's a Maria."

[Jango]

• The Custom character was a feature the fanbase wanted for a long time. 

Bitch where?

• The Japanese seem to respond favourly to the serious story and the Avatar

So it was Japanese fans asking for this? We need to have a talk.

 

NANIIIIIIIII!!!!!

[Blue Blood]

 

Quote

The game's three playstyles are overall Sonicy throughout, unlike Nakamura previous game he references, which was 06

How about next time you just focus on mastering a single gameplay style with different characters and no filler. And if you need filler, you've picked the wrong style.

Quote

The Avatar character does not go "beyond Sonic" in power and abilities, strenghs and weaknesses for each

I appreciate the fact that the custom character is relatively weak on their own and has to reply on gadgets to be worthwhile. At the same time this is part why I find it really odd that they're being pegged as just as important as Sonic and Sonic.

Quote

The fun of the Avatar comes from finding the right combination for different stages, and the rhythm paced gameplay like Modern Sonic, but offers a different flavour

So why not just do it S3K/Mania style?

Quote

If you care about such questions like "Why is Shadow on the evil side", the story will be enjoyable

Okay, I'm listening. Bonus points if you can properly justify why Zavok exists and why Chaos and exist and why he's evil.

Quote

The reception is great, based on YouTube views get more and more views each time. The Japanese seem to respond favourly to the serious story and the Avatar

I'm sorry to hear this.

Quote

Sonic Mania feels like Sonic CD to them (without time travel), and is overall the "sister game" to Forces. 

Mania is the golden child that comes home with straight As, while Forces is the drug-addled and alcoholic older sibling who keeps promising to change but ultimately just keeps disappointing their family and would be better off just getting locked up.

[Pawn]

2 hours ago, ChikaBoing said:

Sega takes fan letters of 12 year olds seriously. Focus tests are very common and all

More than likely. Sigh. When has focus testing such a demographic ever produced good results?

[Jango]

Mania is the golden child that comes home with straight As, while Forces is the drug-addled and alcoholic older sibling who keeps promising to change but ultimately just keeps disappointing their family and would be better off just getting locked up.

 

That's the best comment. It should be Sonic Forces' official description. Someone close this thread, let's go home (and play Mania).

 

 

 

 

[Chris Knopps]

3 hours ago, ChikaBoing said:

The Custom character was a feature the fanbase wanted for a long time. 

• The game's three playstyles are overall Sonicy throughout, unlike Nakamura previous game he references, which was 06
• The Avatar character does not go "beyond Sonic" in power and abilities, strenghs and weaknesses for each
• The fun of the Avatar comes from finding the right combination for different stages, and the rhythm paced gameplay like Modern Sonic, but offers a different flavour
• If you care about such questions like "Why is Shadow on the evil side", the story will be enjoyable
• The reception is great, based on YouTube views get more and more views each time. The Japanese seem to respond favourly to the serious story and the Avatar
• The overall development of the new Hedgehog Engine and developing on Switch was one of the biggest challenges
• Sonic Mania feels like Sonic CD to them (without time travel), and is overall the "sister game" to Forces. 

 

 

 

Can't comment on this without ranting on east vs west demand issues so I'll just bold it as something I have great inner rage about.

Well... Okay... I'll stay curious then.

So because people are watching a video that equates to fantastic reception? That explains why Sonic Team always fails.

And good for the Japanese but uhh... You don't have enough of them playing Sonic to make any profit, do you Sonic Team...?

So that means Forces is the still-born sibling on futile life support. I got it.

From what I gather from that it's still Japanese desires first for the main series, and that miffs me but I won't say more than that.

[Zippo]

3 hours ago, ChikaBoing said:

Sega takes fan letters of 12 year olds seriously. Focus tests are very common and all. 

It's funny because this is actually kind of accurate. Gamma was only added as playable character in Sonic Adventure as a response to the numerous fans that had requested for Sonic to use a gun in a future game. 

[JezMM]

The comment about the story is my biggest takeaway from this.  I've wanted a Sonic game with a proper plot again for a while and my hopes regarding it have been just a little heightened.

[Blue Wisp]

Quote

• Sonic Mania feels like Sonic CD to them (without time travel), and is overall the "sister game" to Forces. 

Maybe I wasn't too far off and Mania is a prequel to Forces?

I mean it'd make sense why we have two games with Classic Sonic and two games with levels from previous games. WE DO IT FOR THE FANS like please, companies never do it for the fans. Obviously it's not set in stone, so I'll wait until Mania releases, but my personal belief is that Mania will function as a prequel to Forces. 

[Kuzu]

1 hour ago, Pawn said:

More than likely. Sigh. When has focus testing such a demographic ever produced good results?

The games for the past 9 years?

[Chris Knopps]

21 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

The games for the past 9 years?

Lost World...?

Rise of Lyric...?

Shattered Crystal...?

Fire and Ice...?

Forces (for the time being)...?

More bad games than good have released. Unleashed and Generations are the two more debatable good titles and Colors being the only unanimously acclaimed.

[JC_Mike]

So here's an extra tidbit that I found when I was looking at this article earlier through google translate:

Quote

- In this exhibition, the avatar appeared at random randomly prepared, but how much can you customize in the product version?

Nakamura First, I select items such as face, mouth, body color, sex, and start the game as my alter ego. Depending on the race of your choice, for example, if you are a wolf, there are unique skills to draw in the surrounding rings.

Ok so maybe the translation is a bit wonky, but I assume face means the glasses and/or headphones that you can put on your character. Not sure what they mean by mouth though, do we actually have a choice between side or center mouth :^)

Spoiler

Regardless, I still hope that the OC creator allows us to break some of the conventions of the SegaSonic style. Like allowing characters to have paws instead of blobs, males get to were pants, etc. Its just that a lot of the more higher quality sonic ocs that I have seen don't particularly follow all of the conventions, and it wouldn't do those fans justice if the game won't let them have some creative fun. But that is probabily just wishful thinking on my part .

Also there is this:

Quote

- Can you have more than one avatar?

Iizuka Because it is my partner, I can not change the character on the way to the game. Once you clear the game, there are elements to be unlocked.

Really taking the idea of an OC being a self-insert fursona to a T there Iizuka.

[Chris Knopps]

17 minutes ago, JC_Mike said:

So here's an extra tidbit that I found when I was looking at this article earlier through google translate:

Ok so maybe the translation is a bit wonky, but I assume face means the glasses and/or headphones that you can put on your character. Not sure what they mean by mouth though, do we actually have a choice between side or center mouth :^)

  Reveal hidden contents

Regardless, I still hope that the OC creator allows us to break some of the conventions of the SegaSonic style. Like allowing characters to have paws instead of blobs, males get to were pants, etc. Its just that a lot of the more higher quality sonic ocs that I have seen don't particularly follow all of the conventions, and it wouldn't do those fans justice if the game won't let them have some creative fun. But that is probabily just wishful thinking on my part .

Also there is this:

Really taking the idea of an OC being a self-insert fursona to a T there Iizuka.

Well... There's post-game content at least...

Or... Something like that.

[Shadowlax]

 

7 hours ago, ChikaBoing said:

 

• If you care about such questions like "Why is Shadow on the evil side", the story will be enjoyable

... Ok, one that's wow ok. Point your bat at the stands, you realize if you mess this up they will quote this line forever. 

Also... I mean like... what about the people who don't care about shadow... will they not enjoy the story?

[Shaddy Zaphod]

3 hours ago, Chris Knopps said:

Lost World...?

Rise of Lyric...?

Shattered Crystal...?

Fire and Ice...?

Forces (for the time being)...?

More bad games than good have released. Unleashed and Generations are the two more debatable good titles and Colors being the only unanimously acclaimed.

Well, actually, Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal are the only titles that are wholesale considered bad by the masses, and even then Shattered Crystal was merely consumed by RoL's "kill it before it moves" reception. Everything else is either debatable or considered good. Unleashed and Lost World got about the same scores, and get about as much angry screeching over their quality from the fandom. Generations and Colors are considered good, and nobody seems to give a fuck about Fire and Ice but it did alright (which is why I believe that SC was swept by RoL's hate brigade, since they're almost exactly the same besides the roadblocks and length).