Your biggest worries about Sonic Forces?

[Whatever the WhoCares 648]

Let's just let it all out. Few of us are certain this will be a great game, but I want to reach out even to those who are and ask, what are you most worried about going wrong here?

I have to go with the story. It looks as though Infinite is the main threat, and I'm worried it's going to stay that way right up through the end. Like Eggman is going to let Infinite do his dirty work while he props up fortresses in his wake, and then basically be Infinite's minion afterwards  

Im also worried that it's going to come across as hollow despite the stakes, kind of like Lost World. In that game, everything Sonic knew was practically dead for a brief period, but that just never hit home for me. 

Then there's the matter of Classic Sonic. This aspect won't even disappoint me that much because my expectations, story-wise, are rock-bottom for this element. On top of it being annoying how Eggman needed Infinite in order to conquer the world, there's just something so thoroughly unappealing about a story where the protagonist has to essentially clone himself in order to win. Ergo, I'm actually hoping that Classic Sonic is largely inconsequential to the plot. 

Out of all this, my number one concern is this idea that Eggman's takeover is some kind of illusion. That would honestly be the most thoroughly lame plot development since Sonic 06. It's practically saying, "It was all a dream!" I would seriously just stare at my screen, mouth agape, and never play the story again. 

[Blacklightning 12,366]

My biggest worries is whether Sega will actually take any lessons learnt from this to heart for titles succeeding it.

Sonic Team has been hounded by a rather excessive amount of executive direction if you ask me, and that's been a problem because they tend to analyze things on a surface level only. Undoubtedly the dissonance in reception between Mania and Forces will be taken into account, as anyone would expect - but rather than finally realizing that games actually function better when it's a single playstyle with subtle variations rather than schizophrenically cramming together irrelevant bullshit in the hopes of appeasing as many individual audiences as possible, I fear they'll just look at them both and say "well classic Sonic sells better, so clearly we just need more classic Sonic" and continue to make that exact same fucking mistake.

[Meta77 1,153]

Noting really besides fear of not getting to play as super sonic

[Crazy_Diamond 305]

I'm worried about the amount of different locations. Considering we have 3 gameplay styles (4 if you want to count the tag stages), I am worried that there won't be enough unique stages. I'm sure the playtime at the end will be high due to the amount of styles, but I hope the years that Sonic Team put into this game means that there are plenty of interesting stages in the game. 

[does it really matter 31]

50 minutes ago, Whatever the WhoCares said:

Let's just let it all out. Few of us are certain this will be a great game, but I want to reach out even to those who are and ask, what are you most worried about going wrong here?

I have to go with the story. It looks as though Infinite is the main threat, and I'm worried it's going to stay that way right up through the end. Like Eggman is going to let Infinite do his dirty work while he props up fortresses in his wake, and then basically be Infinite's minion afterwards  

Im also worried that it's going to come across as hollow despite the stakes, kind of like Lost World. In that game, everything Sonic knew was practically dead for a brief period, but that just never hit home for me. 

Then there's the matter of Classic Sonic. This aspect won't even disappoint me that much because my expectations, story-wise, are rock-bottom for this element. On top of it being annoying how Eggman needed Infinite in order to conquer the world, there's just something so thoroughly unappealing about a story where the protagonist has to essentially clone himself in order to win. Ergo, I'm actually hoping that Classic Sonic is largely inconsequential to the plot. 

Out of all this, my number one concern is this idea that Eggman's takeover is some kind of illusion. That would honestly be the most thoroughly lame plot development since Sonic 06. It's practically saying, "It was all a dream!" I would seriously just stare at my screen, mouth agape, and never play the story again. 

I have to agree when it comes to Eggman. The one thing that has always annoyed me is how lightly his actions are taken, despite the fact that they are pretty horrendous. The guy launched a missile into the heart of a heavily populated city just because he was bitter over his last defeat, blew up an entire island and half the moon, and laughed at the impending firing of a weapon capable of destroying an entire planet, among much, much more. I remember being so disappointed in the last story of Sonic Adventure 2 because everyone seemed to forget everything Eggman did and just let him walk away. I mean, at least make an effort to put the guy, who was holding the entire world hostage, behind bars. Sonic Adventure did it a little better by showing Sonic going after him after defeating Chaos, but that obviously led nowhere.

I don't really care so much if Eggman is betrayed (though I truly hope they don't repeat that cliche yet again), but I do want him to be a more serious threat once again and not have "oh you destroyed the entire world, but teamed up with us at the last second to save your own skin, so we'll let you go'. It seems like we may be getting a darker portrayal, based off the trailers, and even his dialogue is not as over the top. I love the comedic undertones of the character, as it enables the game to not take itself too seriously (which I think Sonic Adventure 2 did at times), but I do want him be acknowledged as a real threat once again. I also would like some type of 'pay-back' for the character. I would not mind seeing him jailed at the end of this game, but I'm pretty sure that will not happen.

I am excited for the premise, however. When I saw the very first trailer, my reaction was "Perhaps they are finally making Eggman a real threat once again". Even Sonic's expression seems to indicate that he can't take his battles with Eggman lightly anymore, which I hope becomes a partial theme throughout the game. He might have taken his battles for granted and his constant negligence to apprehend Eggman has led to this.

[Kellan 641]

My biggest worry about Sonic Forces?

That.

[Ellipsis-Ultima 7,771]

5 minutes ago, Kellan said:

My biggest worry about Sonic Forces?

That.

Shun Nakamura is the writer of the story. Graff (and Pontac assuming he's there too) are just translating the thing.

[PKGaming 129]

- It'll have too many returning stages. 

- Classic Sonic's gameplay will feel bland and lacking, especially right after experiencing Mania.

- The level design for Modern Sonic will be too linear and not expansive enough or completely lack platforming elements.

- The Avatar character will feel too stiff, too gimmicky or that their gadgets will actually slow down gameplay. 

That's about it as far as my concerns go. The story is just a "we'll see" thing. I have faith that it couldn't possibly be worse than Lost World or Generation's story (love Generations, but it had such a nothing story). 

[Celestia 15,128]

That they aren't going to reveal any new Zones tomorrow (which would be somewhat understandable if frustrating) or anytime soon (this would be very much not understandable). It would make sense to time that to coincide with those screenshots in Famitsu, but this is SEGA marketing we're talking about, so...

?

As for the game itself, while I'm more than okay with following in the footsteps of Colours and Lost World since I like those games, I am concerned we'll see more gimmicky acts sprinkled throughout. Stuff like, well, a lot of acts in LW, or those wide spring acts in Colours. I like some of those levels but generally they're the low points of the game.

[The Deleter 5,528]

I'm not one to care about the story typically, but for this, it's definitely how they'll use the "Eggman took over the world!" plotline.

It's the most dire card you can pull with your main antagonist without some vague "Ending the world" thing like Rush, and there is so much potential behind such a premise... and yet they're probably going to waste the only time they could pull it off - once - without living up to any of that potential. The fact that Nakamura's interview states that he invented Infinite because he didn't think people would take Eggman taking over on his own seriously, basically already confirmed they've missed the mark to me, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. It's the fact that I don't know how much they're going to miss the mark, that really concerns me.

Again, "Eggman took over the world!" is probably one of the biggest and most climactic plot lines you could use for the series' main and recurring antagonist. It's the Avengers to Sonic's Loki. It's the Beast Wars finale to Sonic's Megatron. It's the Return of the Jedi to Sonic's Empire... and it can only be used once in order to be as effective and proper a climax as possible. So yeah, definitely that.

[DiamondX 2,752]

As others said, new stages or stages in general.

Since July 2016 to August 2017 we have... 2 stages/zones:

-Park Avenue/City Heights

-Green Hill

 

The game releases in almost 3 months and we have only 2 stages. That worries me.

[molul 471]

That it's just another average Sonic game. 

[Kellan 641]

27 minutes ago, Fusion-Ellipsis said:

Shun Nakamura is the writer of the story. Graff (and Pontac assuming he's there too) are just translating the thing.

That's still more than enough to make their involvement with Forces my greatest worry about the game.

[Roger_van_der_weide 2,443]

5 hours ago, Whatever the WhoCares said:

Out of all this, my number one concern is this idea that Eggman's takeover is some kind of illusion. That would honestly be the most thoroughly lame plot development since Sonic 06. It's practically saying, "It was all a dream!"

Spoiler

Yeah, with the ruby from Mania constantly causing illusions, Fang, Bean and Bark being illusions, Chaos glitching in the Infinity trailer...

Not to mention the hole they're digging themselves into with putting way too much story/ character heavy elements in Forces, I also start to worry how  "real" anything is or if everything is just going to be some convuluted stupid illusion trick with nothing mattering.

Other then that, big concerns I have is whether this game really has a vision and plan for itself, or if this game is just a Frankenstein monster of leftover ideas, recycled assets and random requests with no heart and soul to itself.
That and i'm still waiting for the level design to turn into boring gimmicky labyrinths in the later levels. Don't know if it'll happen yet, but considering the previous few games...

[Whatever the WhoCares 648]

55 minutes ago, The Deleter said:

I'm not one to care about the story typically, but for this, it's definitely how they'll use the "Eggman took over the world!" plotline.

It's the most dire card you can pull with your main antagonist without some vague "Ending the world" thing like Rush, and there is so much potential behind such a premise... and yet they're probably going to waste the only time they could pull it off - once - without living up to any of that potential. The fact that Nakamura's interview states that he invented Infinite because he didn't think people would take Eggman taking over on his own seriously, basically already confirmed they've missed the mark to me, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. It's the fact that I don't know how much they're going to miss the mark, that really concerns me.

Again, "Eggman took over the world!" is probably one of the biggest and most climactic plot lines you could use for the series' main and recurring antagonist. It's the Avengers to Sonic's Loki. It's the Beast Wars finale to Sonic's Megatron. It's the Return of the Jedi to Sonic's Empire... and it can only be used once in order to be as effective and proper a climax as possible. So yeah, definitely that.

Eggman taking over the world is only so significant if it's what's actually happened. Instead, it's looking increasingly likely that Eggman's foothold is an illusion created by Infinite. 

[Sonikko 1,724]

5 hours ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

Spoiler

Yeah, with the ruby from Mania constantly causing illusions, Fang, Bean and Bark being illusions, Chaos glitching in the Infinity trailer...

Not to mention the hole they're digging themselves into with putting way too much story/ character heavy elements in Forces, I also start to worry how  "real" anything is or if everything is just going to be some convuluted stupid illusion trick with nothing mattering.

Other then that, big concerns I have is whether this game really has a vision and plan for itself, or if this game is just a Frankenstein monster of leftover ideas, recycled assets and random requests with no heart and soul to itself.
That and i'm still waiting for the level design to turn into boring gimmicky labyrinths in the later levels. Don't know if it'll happen yet, but considering the previous few games...

You could've marked the first part as spoilers though, some of us haven't played Mania yet and we can't until the 29th.

I don't want to be a pain in the ass but... I had managed to avoid spoilers up until now.

[BlueFlare 234]

- Straightforward level desing, lack of exploration and platforming gimmicks. 

- Boring game mechanics (mostly enemies and how those are just a wall of obstacles, no real threat).

[JingleBoy 368]

Why can't you pick up your rings after getting hit? ?

It feels like this game will be unnecessarily hard because of that. Especially considering Lost World's inconsistent difficulty scale.

[Jack-ted 2,269]

3 hours ago, Diamond Dragon X said:

As others said, new stages or stages in general.

Since July 2016 to August 2017 we have... 2 stages/zones:

-Park Avenue/City Heights

-Green Hill

 

The game releases in almost 3 months and we have only 2 stages. That worries me.

We have screens of a new stage in the famitsu scans. Some factory.

Anyway... my biggest worry would be the lack of 3D, or linear 3D like in Colors. Also no friends feature.

I don't think the whole story will be a dream, the only illusions may be the past villains, I mean, Shadow's not supposed to be on the dark side again, Chaos shouldn't be showing up, Zavok wouldn't work with Eggman again, etc.

[Roger_van_der_weide 2,443]

1 hour ago, Sonikko said:

You could've marked the first part as spoilers though, some of us haven't played Mania yet and we can't until the 29th.

I don't want to be a pain in the ass but... I had managed to avoid spoilers up until now.

Ah damn, sorry.
Eh, spoilered now.
Too late... Uh.. Yeah. Sorry.

[DiamondX 2,752]

18 minutes ago, Jack the Rookie said:

We have screens of a new stage in the famitsu scans. Some factory.

Anyway... my biggest worry would be the lack of 3D, or linear 3D like in Colors. Also no friends feature.

I don't think the whole story will be a dream, the only illusions may be the past villains, I mean, Shadow's not supposed to be on the dark side again, Chaos shouldn't be showing up, Zavok wouldn't work with Eggman again, etc.

The factory is part of Tag Team Green Hill.

[Jack-ted 2,269]

Just now, Diamond Dragon X said:

The factory is part of Tag Team Green Hill.

Yeah I just noticed. At least we've seen hints of new zones in the Infinite trailer.

[DiamondX 2,752]

1 minute ago, Jack the Rookie said:

Yeah I just noticed. At least we've seen hints of new zones in the Infinite trailer.

I guess, but I think one was Silent Forest from Lost World.

I just hope it won't be like Generations. It was a really short game.

[Jack-ted 2,269]

2 minutes ago, Diamond Dragon X said:

I guess, but I think one was Silent Forest from Lost World.

I just hope it won't be like Generations. It was a really short game.

The main game was short I guess, but there were 90 missions or something, if you wanted to play more there was the chance.

[DiamondX 2,752]

18 minutes ago, Jack the Rookie said:

The main game was short I guess, but there were 90 missions or something, if you wanted to play more there was the chance.

Well, they force you to do them. I played almost all of them, bust some were definetly not fun. (Vector's song was the hardest one)