sonic forces - returning stage wishlist

[Salamander]

On 31/08/2017 at 9:34 PM, Whatever the WhoCares said:

Well, it'd be cool if the level we saw recently segued into Pyramid Cave. 

Ideally, I'd like them to be renamed. Maybe Emerald Coast is all overcast and the waves are rough with oil in them, so it's called "Disaster Coast." Name kinda sucks but you get the point. I'm not using a thesaurus for a game I'm not that thrilled about.

I think that's a good idea in theory, but my concern is that once you rename them, they, well... cease to be the same zone.  I'm aware that this makes it difficult to effectively transform them, but then again in some cases I think the transformation can go too far, too.  I don't particularly like where Green Hill goes for this reason; the pyramid section isn't a riff on Green Hill, it's just something completely different, period.  So I think there's a balance to be struck between keeping the zone recognisable whilst also demonstrating Eggman's impact - although, as noted, the return of previous Eggman-controlled levels wouldn't require a great many aesthetic changes, just a general amplification of the underlying themes and motifs.

And on that note, I've said this elsewhere, but I would not be at all surprised to see Death Egg return.  Other than that, I'd concur with the general opinion that they should ideally steer clear of levels we've seen return already in recent years and that I'd like to see a genuinely creative new approach to any homages.  I'm not sure if I can actually hope for any of that, of course - but I think that there's a lot that could be done with, say, snowy and icy stages of the past.  I'll refrain from attempting to name names; I'm not so familiar with the post-classic big names, and I don't for a moment expect to see anything from Advance or Rush to show up...

[Spooky Mulder]

If any classic stages are going to appear, I'd actually like a relatively straightforward remake of Angel Island during and perhaps after the fire in S3. I think it's one of the most natural fits for a game like Sonic Forces where were supposed to see Eggman's influence on the world. 

[JosepHenry]

Angel Island is enough

[blueblur98]

oh my god this topic hasn't derailed into loud screaming it's a miracle

[LunchPolice]

To echo a previous poster, Final Fortress would be a good one. At the very least, something inspired by that stage's basic concept (Eggman's sky fleet) would make a lot of sense. Outside of levels that fit the game's theme (which, admittedly, may be too much to hope for) I'd love to see a return to Emerald Coast for the nostalgia factor. 3DS Generations did it absolutely no justice IMO. I'd also like Ice Cap, just to see a snow/ice level in modern graphics.

I have a feeling Green Hill and Chemical Plant will be the only returning stages or that any more returning stages will be ones that appeared in Generations... definitely hoping for the former.

[Spooky Mulder]

Regarding returning stages, I worry the only returning stages we will see are reworked versions of stages that appeared in Unleashed, Generations, and perhaps Lost World.

Based on GHZ, I'm worried these aren't returning stages for the sake of nostalgia. Instead, I'm worried they're returning stages for sake of saving time and money by repurposing existing level assets.

[Blue Blood]

2 minutes ago, Spooky Mulder said:

Based on GHZ, I'm worried these aren't returning stages for the sake of nostalgia. Instead, I'm worried they're returning stages for sake of saving time and money by repurposing existing level assets.

Almost all of the assets in GHZ are new. Very little has actually been lifted from Generations. It's just the nostalgia/lack of originality factor.

[Sega DogTagz]

14 minutes ago, Spooky Mulder said:

Based on GHZ, I'm worried these aren't returning stages for the sake of nostalgia. Instead, I'm worried they're returning stages for sake of saving time and money by repurposing existing level assets.

Despite that being a viable way to seemingly ease the development burden of the Boost era games, Sonic Team hasn't shown a willingness to repackage stages like that. They seem quick to reuse the assets like character models for their bosses (Hello Egg Dragoon) but the stages seem to be fresh and new at every turn.

Like BB said above me, even this take on GHZ is build from the ground up, despite them having perfectly good assets to fall back on. If they didn't re-use the Gen's GHZ assets, its probably a safe bet that they won't use any of the others either.

 

That being said how many of you would be okay with a few returning levels using old assets it it meant a few more modern sonic stages to plow through? It the saved time worth it? Would you be okay with another romp through the Spagonian Rooftops or Sky Sanctuary if it meant padding the game with content that wasn't a distraction from the core experience?

I always figured some form of procedural generation was the answer to the boost era's development issues, but asset recycling does go a long way to fix that problem too.

[GuyWithThePie]

Eggmanland. I want to see what happened to it since the events of Unleashed. Did Eggman re-open it and expand upon it once he took over the world? Or did he just abandon the city-sized mechanical death trap, feeling that there was no real point in bringing it back now that he owns most of the world?

[Guest]

I'm happy with a heavier focus on the Adventure games - I love every single stage in adventure 1 dearly (besides Hot Shelter perhaps) and I'd be so happy to see Windy Valley revisited or SA's iteration of Ice Cap (which IMO still strikes the best mood and tone of any snow level in a Sonic game to date).