Gaming media that isn't Classic biased?

[knuckles20]

12 minutes ago, Maxtiis said:

Hey man don't you go knockin' Mr. Plinkett! He sent me a moldy pizza roll in the mail for posting on his webzone and I only had to cancel 2 credit cards afterwards, so I consider that a win for me!

Joking aside, whether you like Mike Stoklasa's (the guy that voices Mr. Plinkett) reviews or not, you have to admit he articulates his opinions with such a clear understanding of the original source material (in regards to Star Wars) and the nuances that go into making a good film, that his words carry a lot of weight. I'm fairly certain many of his critiques were considered when the Force Awakens was filmed, such as the greater use of practical effects and actual film sets instead compositing the actors through a blue screen just to name a few, and that film went on to be well regarded. So if his reviews could hold that much influence maybe Sonic could use a Mr. Plinkett.

Or you know, Sega could capitalize on the success of Mania and take what worked in that and try to apply it to future titles. Provided the levels are fully original of course.

No no no no no. The fandom is a war zone enough. I don't need another person telling me why I shouldn't like the games I do.

When I brought up Plinklett OT fans use him as a reason why no one should like the prequel movies. 

"Oh Attack of the clones is your favorite Star Wars film? Let me direct you to a video why you're the scum of the earth"

That's the last thin the fandom needs.

And as far as not unstanding critics reasoning. I've heard them so many times if I'm reading something that goes into "Sonic was never good in 3D" territory I can't take it seriously because I've heard it all before so you crapping on what I like is not gonna win me over.

 

[Maxtiis]

Just now, knuckles20 said:

No no no no no. The fandom is a war zone enough. I don't need another person telling me why I shouldn't like the games I do.

When I brought up Plinklett OT fans use him as a reason why no one should like the prequel movies. 

"Oh Attack of the clones is your favorite Star Wars film? Let me direct you to a video why you're the scum of the earth"

That's the last thin the fandom needs.

And as far as not unstanding critics reasoning. I've heard them so many times if I'm reading something that goes into "Sonic was never good in 3D" territory I can't take it seriously because I've heard it all before so you crapping on what I like is not gonna win me over.

Well that's more those fans being assholes than a direct result of a review, and it reflects poorly on them for using one as justification to be assholes. At that point I'd say it's not worth interacting with them. Like I said you shouldn't need others to establish that your opinion is the correct one. You might be in the minority, but if it's something that makes you happy that's all that matters.

And it's not really a critic's job to "win you over," it's just to give their opinion on a piece. If you don't think their opinion reflects well on the product then just try and use it to form your own opinion and move on. I agree it's frustrating to see critics shit on 3D Sonic over and over again, especially when they seem to contradict themselves (although you have to also understand that it's not always the same person reviewing the next title of a franchise), but no matter how much we complain it's not going to change a thing. At that point the best thing to do is just move on, and continue using our own discretion when determining what we do and don't like.

[molul]

I saw this funny video yesterday:

 

It all depends on how important you make a person's opinion

[The Tenth Doctor]

6 hours ago, Tracker_TD said:

That right there is a critical consensus saying Sonic Adventure is overwhelmingly mediocre, as of its most recent review period. SA2 doesn't exactly fare much better.

This is bearing in mind SA1 is amongst my favourite Sonic games; I don't need to put this consensus down to "bias" or some nonsense like that. 

The idea behind telling them there's a "reason for it" is to drop the whole "it's just Classic bias" nonsense. I don't particularly give much of a toss if they want to wall themselves away from dissenting opinion of a game, whatever. But attributing it to some made-up concept is silly.

To be fair though, the PS3 port was a really bad version. I know you say "Most recent review period" but damn, this had to be the worst version. Also, was this the one where a reviewer played some of a different Sonic game and hated it or was that another one from that time?

[Natie]

15 hours ago, knuckles20 said:

No no no no no. The fandom is a war zone enough. I don't need another person telling me why I shouldn't like the games I do.

When I brought up Plinklett OT fans use him as a reason why no one should like the prequel movies. 

"Oh Attack of the clones is your favorite Star Wars film? Let me direct you to a video why you're the scum of the earth"

That's the last thin the fandom needs.

And as far as not unstanding critics reasoning. I've heard them so many times if I'm reading something that goes into "Sonic was never good in 3D" territory I can't take it seriously because I've heard it all before so you crapping on what I like is not gonna win me over.

I do certainly hope one day the internet grows out of the phase of feeling personally threatened by a stranger not liking the same pieces of media they do...

I mean I get tons of flimsy reasons thrown at me for the classics being bad, but at the end of the day, they're always there and will always be super fun to me, so it doesn't really matter.

[RLS Legacy]

Well, for what it's worth, I like the Modern Sonic games.

[Scritch the Cat]

Two things to point out: 1) The official Sonic YouTube channel does seem to love the Adventure series.  2) At least for a while, the "Classic biased" gaming media was actually on the liberal side with regard to Sonic; some just went straight to hating Classic Sonic as much as any other sort.

As for a more in-depth point, well, for whatever this is worth, there's a big elephant in this room: Despite the oft-discussed Classic bias of the media, there still is something being called "Modern Sonic", and I'd argue that, ironically, in some key ways it deviates even further from Classic Sonic than the Adventure series did.

It's only fair that I admit, here, that based on last return to the series, I truly think I prefer the Adventure series over Classic Sonic.  I grant the Classic games have nowhere near as many technical flaws or stupid design choices as the Adventure games, but to me the characters and their abilities are just too simple to remain fun throughout a game that throws more and more shit at players, and that's made worse since you're limited to one character per-save file.  I prefer the high variety of characters played throughout story mode, and that all of them have bigger movesets; even if some of their levels suck.  Still, I'm not going to deny that the Classic games did some things very well, like making challenges based on building up momentum, and making levels that encourage exploration, nor will I deny that the Adventure series gave us some real "dirty diapers", but in retrospect it also can't be denied that Sega threw out some babies with the diapers; ones particularly ironic since many of the complaints against the Adventure series took the form of "this isn't enough like the classics".

Case in point, the aforementioned exploration.  The Genesis games were famous for the liberating feeling that Sonic was athletic enough that he could zip all over the place; up walls, on ceilings; even across gaps if you were fast enough.  The Adventure series downplayed it, but your character could still move around a lot and there was still stuff to find off the beaten path; particularly in SA2.  Then came Sonic Colors, the first well-reviewed Sonic game in a while, and I like it too, but it sure felt wrong that as of the very first level, there were invisible walls on either side that prevented you from exploring.  Playing as Sonic shouldn't feel so limited, motion-wise.  Then there were the many places things were forced into two dimensions, which they might have seen as a good choice since 2-D Sonic games were generally better-received, but the 2D sections generally didn't feel like Sonic levels.  Frankly, much of SC felt more like a Mario game that they stuck Sonic into; a particularly damning point being that Sonic had his spin-dash removed and replaced with a boost you needed a power-up to use.  When we consider that Sonic was specifically designed to be different from Mario, for SEGA to say they were listening to complaints that "we prefer classic Sonic" and proceed to do that is quite ironic.

Then there is the bit about characters.  I'm sorry, but while "we prefer classic Sonic" could definitely be an impetus to get rid of Big the Cat and mechs and treasure hunting, it never once was a valid excuse not to have Tails and Knuckles back and playing the way they used to play.  Sonic Mania had Tails and Knuckles, and it was well-received.  That should be enough impetus to bring them back everywhere.

[Whatever the WhoCares]

Something to keep in mind is that Johnny prefers the classics to the 3D games. He says they're "far more worth your time." And that's because the bias isn't so much bias as objective observations that the Genesis titles were made with much more room for substance over style than anything afterwards. I say this as someone who'd rather play Generations than any of the classic games, too.