Sonic Mania & Forces Interview(s)

[Dannymax440]

Lost World is a love/like/hate, Rise of Lyric is unanimously considered as bad as '06 (though I just find it mediocre), Shattered Crystal was alright but was consumed by 'Rise of Lyric' hate, Fire and Ice was actually decent but the damage the prequels caused made it forgotten. As for Forces though, While I have a few gripes with it, it's not enough to call it shit. 

[molul]

BTW, Sonic Boo, has been missing on E3, hasn't it?

[ChikaBoing]

New interview with Game Informer:

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/sonic_forces/b/playstation4/archive/2017/06/13/head-of-sonic-team-talks-bringing-custom-characters.aspx

Appearently, Iizuka was getting Sonic OC characters letters all the way before even Sonic Adventure (20 years ago, 1997)

They talk about iteration of the Unleashed gameplay, all the way from Colors to Generations. They say it has been made tighter and maps have been improved, even reducing automation. I generally agree, but nothing on Forces shows major improvement in those fields thus far...

Also general talks on why Sonic needs automation since Sonic Adventure since otherwise people would easily fly out of loops and stuff...I don't know man, someone should show him Utopia and stuff (Naka is aware of it)

Generally the move of the brand being based out in the US is a good one, I hope Iizuka now get's really exact and good feedback on what they should do after Forces

[Dizcrybe]

16 hours ago, ChikaBoing said:

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

...in Japan...?

[Soniman]

Considering the general complaints of modern park Avenue are note for note exactly the thing iIzuka said they improved I'm left to assume he's either lying or simply meant later levels. And considering Modern Green Hill got the same type of scrutiny before people saw the rest of the Gens levels in willing to give him the benefit of the doubt 

[Pawn]

4 hours ago, ChikaBoing said:

New interview with Game Informer:

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/sonic_forces/b/playstation4/archive/2017/06/13/head-of-sonic-team-talks-bringing-custom-characters.aspx

Quote

For a lot of the other games in the whole history of Sonic the Hedgehog, when we didn't want to introduce playing as Knuckles or playing as Tails or some other character, we wanted to make it a new kind of gameplay experience to keep things fun and bring some variety so you're not just doing the same thing with a different looking character; we wanted it to feel like a different character

It's not as if we didn't know, but it's still exasperating to see confirmation. They have so little confidence in the most logical use of other characters (ie Sonic 3 and Knuckles) and even with just making a game where Sonic can stand alone without an ill-conceived gimmick.

[JosepHenry]

9 minutes ago, Pawn said:

It's not as if we didn't know, but it's still exasperating to see confirmation. They have so little confidence in the most logical use of other characters (ie Sonic 3 and Knuckles) and even with just making a game where Sonic can stand alone without an ill-conceived gimmick.

Jesus Christ Sonic Team... when this is going to end?! I want to be alive to play with characters such as Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Cream, Rouge, Blaze, Silver, Espio... In a 3D space again.

 

It has been ELEVEN. F*cking. YEARS. You can try again now... Ugh, that's so goddamn annoying. I remember when I was 9 and asking myself if another character besides Sonic would be playable in Unleashed, well... No. Oh well! There is always next time... And next time... And next time.... And next time........

Edited June 15, 2017 by Joseph Mello

[molul]

6 minutes ago, Joseph Mello said:

Jesus Christ Sonic Team... when this is going to end?! I want to be alive to play with characters such as Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Cream, Rouge, Blaze, Silver, Espio... In a 3D space again.

How does Nintendo do this? When all characters are in the same game, it's usually not a Mario game. It's either sports, fighting, racing... Also, secondary characters have their own game (Luigi's Mansion, Yoshi's Island/Wooly world, Captain toad, Wario Land) with their own mechanics.

My point: joining all Sonic franchise characters in a single Sonic game will likely worsen the experience. If each character plays its own stage, then it's a different game every stage. Sonic 3&K's approach was playing the same stages with Sonic, Tails or Knuckles, except that sometimes Knuckles and Tails have their own exclusive paths. This is feasible for 3 characters. For 10 characters it would be just crazy.

I'd go for the Nintendo approach: make different (AND GOOD) games for every character. It gives the opportunity to expand mostly unknown character's background, and allows for different game experiences.And if you want to join them all, go for racing/karting, sports, fighting, etc.

[JosepHenry]

1 minute ago, molul said:

How does Nintendo do this? When all characters are in the same game, it's usually not a Mario game. It's either sports, fighting, racing... Also, secondary characters have their own game (Luigi's Mansion, Yoshi's Island/Wooly world, Captain toad, Wario Land) with their own mechanics.

My point: joining all Sonic franchise characters in a single Sonic game will likely worsen the experience. If each character plays its own stage, then it's a different game every stage. Sonic 3&K's approach was playing the same stages with Sonic, Tails or Knuckles, except that sometimes Knuckles and Tails have their own exclusive paths. This is feasible for 3 characters. For 10 characters it would be just crazy.

I'd go for the Nintendo approach: make different (AND GOOD) games for every character. It gives the opportunity to expand mostly unknown character's background, and allows for different game experiences.And if you want to join them all, go for racing/karting, sports, fighting, etc.

I'm not saying for them to be playble in the same game (Unless is a sequel to heroes, I just want ONE of them playable. Anyone.

[Barry the Nomad]

New interview with Aaron Webber from yo boys at SEGAbits

 

[Lord-Dreamerz]

13 hours ago, JC_Mike said:

Not sure what they mean by mouth though, do we actually have a choice between side or center mouth :^)

I'm thinking more along the lines of types of mouth shapes. Notice how the female cat avatar in the trailers has a mouth shaped like this? (OwO) ...But yet other cats like Blaze & Big don't do that? Yeah.... I'm guessing you can change that.

[Barry the Nomad]

In the SEGAbits interview, Aaron seems to say no to animated cutscenes in Mania – this does not, however, mean that there will not be animated intro our outros like in Sonic CD. (This is speculation on my end based on what Aaron said).

[Mark1]

23 minutes ago, Barry the Nomad said:

In the SEGAbits interview, Aaron seems to say no to animated cutscenes in Mania – this does not, however, mean that there will not be animated intro our outros like in Sonic CD. (This is speculation on my end based on what Aaron said).

This is what I expected to be honest. And would prefer to see scenes acted out through the pixelated style. Would make it feel as if the player is seeing how the stages are altering before continuing onwards. 

Opening and ending cutscenes are all good for me with this game.

[Dr. Detective]

Again, I'm not surprised by the thing about Shadow. I didn't freak out like everyone else and even laughed at it a bit because I knew there was "something" up.

There are things I expect them to forget and things I expect them to ignore. Shadow just joining the evil side for the lolz wasn't one of them.

And again, that's not me having "faith" in Sonic Team. I just know that sometimes, we can overestimate ourselves when it comes to just how out of it they are and that felt like one of the things they had a reason for.

The reason could still be written like ass of course. That's the part that I expect to underestimate without any push back.

[ChikaBoing]

2 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Again, I'm not surprised by the thing about Shadow. I didn't freak out like everyone else and even laughed at it a bit because I knew there was "something" up.

There are things I expect them to forget and things I expect them to ignore. Shadow just joining the evil side for the lolz wasn't one of them.

And again, that's not me having "faith" in Sonic Team. I just know that sometimes, we can overestimate ourselves when it comes to just how out of it they are and that felt like one of the things they had a reason for.

The reason could still be written like ass of course. That's the part that I expect to underestimate without any push back.

We might be in luck

 

[StaticMania]

4 hours ago, Lord-Dreamerz said:

I'm thinking more along the lines of types of mouth shapes. Notice how the female cat avatar in the trailers has a mouth shaped like this? (OwO) ...But yet other cats like Blaze & Big don't do that? Yeah.... I'm guessing you can change that.

Big the Cat's mouth is shaped like that, his entire fur muzzle makes that shape but wider...

[JosepHenry]

21 minutes ago, ChikaBoing said:

We might be in luck

 

I don't care if some don't like Ian Flynn's work, but to me, if he is helping somehow, that would be a blessing.

[Soniman]

I guess him and pontaff are collaborating? Maybe Flynn writing  the general story and they take care of dialogue? 

[Lord-Dreamerz]

7 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Big the Cat's mouth is shaped like that, his entire fur muzzle makes that shape but wider...

Ah... Guess I never looked at it right. Just looked like a lower jaw U shape to me.

[Betz]

56 minutes ago, Soniman said:

I guess him and pontaff are collaborating? Maybe Flynn writing  the general story and they take care of dialogue? 

Good guess. He's a script doctor for this.

http://bumbleking.com/projects/videogames/

Secret project #1. It's the other way around.

[Milo]

10 hours ago, ChikaBoing said:

Also general talks on why Sonic needs automation since Sonic Adventure since otherwise people would easily fly out of loops and stuff...I don't know man, someone should show him Utopia and stuff (Naka is aware of it)

"I believe instant execrations by gimmicks like booster are important elements to keep the better game pacing."

Nice to see his views on automation hasn't changed a bit. /s (The above quote is seven years ago, by the by; in reference to a game he and his studio made that was supposed to return to a style that didn't rely on automation this much.)

There's also the fact that stuff like people flying out of loops has less to do with automation and more to do with scripting. Putting a speed booster before a loop would shove players into the loop, but it wouldn't keep people from fallout out of it. But I digress....

As long as he and the rest of the time think Sonic's level design need speed regulators (that's pretty much what dash panels and springs are, going by how much they're excessively used nowadays), we'll never get a Sonic game from them that has the confidence to allow players to build their own speed again. It's especially bad when this has been ingrained for so long that even outsourced efforts (Dimps, Boom games, etc.) engaged in this mentality for Sonic game design too. Is it any wonder that it was literally up to the fans to make an official Sonic game that wasn't designed around automation for once?....*sigh* 

10 hours ago, ChikaBoing said:

Generally the move of the brand being based out in the US is a good one, I hope Iizuka now get's really exact and good feedback on what they should do after Forces

We got Shadow the Hedgehog and a slew of questionable design choices in Adventure 2 and Heroes, and they were made at a time when Iizuka was spearheading a San Francisco-based offshoot of the main studio back in Japan. The whole quagmire about fan feedback and how it relates to Sonic Team is little to do with location or the feedback in of itself, and nearly everything to do with Iizuka's/Sonic Team's handling of feedback and general intents / design decisions.

[ChikaBoing]

19 minutes ago, Gabe said:

"I believe instant execrations by gimmicks like booster are important elements to keep the better game pacing."

We got Shadow the Hedgehog and a slew of questionable design choices in Adventure 2 and Heroes, and they were made at a time when Iizuka was spearheading a San Francisco-based offshoot of the main studio back in Japan. The whole quagmire about fan feedback and how it relates to Sonic Team is little to do with location or the feedback in of itself, and nearly everything to do with Iizuka's/Sonic Team's handling of feedback and general intents / design decisions.

Shadow was stupid, but SA2 and Heroes imo have a lineage of reducing the adventure/RPG elements of SA1 which reviewers didn't like.

[Your Vest Friend]

Probably already in another Forces thread, but it's an interview so eh. 

There's talk about the game here, classic versions of anyone that isn't Sonic are not present in the game. 

[Bobnik]

Here is another interview that caught my eye. Especially the part where Nakamura talks about how the story will be told from playable characters' perspectives, somewhat similar to SA2.  

[Jetronic]

Mania interview with Brad Flick (which many of you know as Slingerland), Stealth, and Hunter Bridges