Sonic Forces - Shadow DLC and new Screenshot

[SenEDDtor Missile]

15 minutes ago, Shadowlax said:

This game is a rotating wheel of monkey's paws

All those poor magic monkeys...

[Zippo]

Eh, I'm not a Shadow fan particularly, but I am happy that someone else is getting the spotlight. I'm still very mixed on Forces, as there's some stuff in there I'm liking, and there's a lot stuff in there that I'm...not. Not a fan of the level design in his stages so far, but being able to play as him in Modern Sonic's stages is pretty cool. It's very obvious that he was added very late into development, but It's also free, so hey, not gonna complain about that.

Here's hoping Tails and Knuckles get their own episodes as well.

[Zippo]

I'm digging that Shadow remix as well!

[Zazz]

You know what? I'm actually glad that we can play as another character besides Sonic even if it's DLC. The level design is rather disappointing as usual sadly but hopefully the later levels in the game will deliver. At this rate I'm kind of tired of the mediocrity they output in each game, they're capable of so much more and they know this. I don't know if they don't know how to properly implement fully intact 3D/2D stages without the level being too short, or if they're scared of making levels too hard to play or what. All I know is they need to stop putting so much automation in the levels, I'm pretty sure you could slap this together in a level editor with minimal effort. 

[Badnik Mechanic]

Have we talked about that moment where shadow is at one side of the screen and is able to homing attack an enemy right at the other side without the need to close the distance?

[memoryman3]

5 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

Have we talked about that moment where shadow is at one side of the screen and is able to homing attack an enemy right at the other side without the need to close the distance?

I think Shadow has no double jump, but he has an absurdly long homing attack range. 

[Chris]

As per the countless reports we've gotten regarding Forces as of late, I'd like to remind participants that this discussion is to remain civil. It's incredibly annoying to see the sheer amount of negativity surrounding Forces be directed towards the members of the forum who are genuinely excited for this game.

Respect that others actually have hope for this title. Keep the "Sonic Cycle" and other various forms of trolling out. Discuss your opinions of the game properly without shutting down other people.

This goes for all discussions, obviously - but it's most prominent when Forces is brought up.

[DonWaffleleven]

6 minutes ago, memoryman3 said:

I think Shadow has no double jump, but he has an absurdly long homing attack range. 

maybe that combined with the homing attack chains differentiates Shadow enough from Sonic so that he isn't a complete reskin.

[Soniman]

14 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

Have we talked about that moment where shadow is at one side of the screen and is able to homing attack an enemy right at the other side without the need to close the distance?

thats also a Colors thing, HA has crazy rnage in that game

[Zippo]

"Over 10 Modern Sonic levels"?

If that's the case, then that would mean that there's at least 11 zones in the final game. Four stage types for each zone. That would also mean at least 47 stages in total adding in the exclusive Shadow stages. And that's without knowing the full number of zones just yet. It's about in line with what I expected, Unleashed, Colors and Lost World were all around that mark, if I remember correctly.

[Sean]

I think there would be a lot more hype for this if they showcased the (3D?) level that you see in the actual screenshots and thumbnail of the video, of all things

This looks like Colors level design, so that's bad. But being free is good (not sure why they can't just put it in the actual game under an extras section though... It's clearly on the disc since the download size according to Microsoft's website is very small) and nice to see Shadow in the spotlight again, even if I'm not a huge fan of him. If I do get around to playing this there's a decent chance I'll play through his campaign once and not touch it again, sort of like Episode Metal in Sonic 4.

As nice as it is, it also doesn't satisfy my desire for multiple playable characters again, since I want more characters S3/Mania style and not simply skins with one new ability in restrictive, unexplorable level design. I love replaying S3/Mania as Tails and Knuckles but here I'm just "eh" about it.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

11 minutes ago, Zippo said:

"Over 10 Modern Sonic levels"?

If that's the case, then that would mean that there's at least 11 zones in the final game. Four stage types for each zone. That would mean at least 47 stages in total adding in the exclusive Shadow stages. And that's without knowing the full number of zones just yet. It's about in line with what I expected, Unleashed, Colors and Lost World were all around that mark, if I remember correctly.

Colors had 44, and Lost World had 34. Unleashed only had fifteen, though.

[Zazz]

9 minutes ago, Zippo said:

"Over 10 Modern Sonic levels"?

If that's the case, then that would mean that there's at least 11 zones in the final game. Four stage types for each zone. That would also mean at least 47 stages in total adding in the exclusive Shadow stages. And that's without knowing the full number of zones just yet. It's about in line with what I expected, Unleashed, Colors and Lost World were all around that mark, if I remember correctly.

The game itself is 16.12 GB's of space for starters so that's something. As far as levels go so far I'm assuming there will be at least 14/15 zones in the game unless they qualify the Tag Team stages as Modern stages too. Besides that if there are around 11 to 12 zones and each zone has 4 to 5 stages based on: Classic, Modern, Tag Team, OC, and possibly something else that's easily around 44 plus stages to mess around in which is pretty cool. Hopefully the later levels have more inspired level design and are longer though. 

 

5 minutes ago, Sean said:

I think there would be a lot more hype for this if they showcased the level that you see in the actual screenshots and thumbnail of the video, of all things

It looks like Colors level design, so that's bad. But being free is good (not sure why they can't just put it in the actual game under an extras section though... It's clearly on the disc since the download size according to Microsoft's website is very small) and nice to see Shadow in the spotlight again, even if I'm not a huge fan of him. If I do get around to playing this there's a decent chance I'll play through his campaign once and not touch it again, sort of like Episode Metal in Sonic 4.

The level in the screenshot looked like the Ark to be honest, upper half of the picture had what looked like outer space so I'm hype. It'll probably tie into something Shadow related too. 

 

[PKGaming]

Okay, THIS has me excited. Too bad the gameplay footage is all 2D.

[Azure P]

Pros:

Shadow is back as playable

Sweet Supporting Me Remix

Shadow's movement effects are pleasing to the eye

DLC is free

 

Cons:

Want more than just 2d

Level design is pretty bare bones and bland

 

Does that sum up the thread?

[goku262002]

I like that Shadow is playable, anybody else besides Sonic was good enough for me and its probably the easiest character to implement since Sonic and Shadow share same movesets.

Now, more like this Sonic team. we don't need new levels or side stories for each character just the ability to have them without modding and similar but different movesets compared to Sonic. characters as DLC is all I wanted for the boost games since Unleashed.

[Dr. Detective]

"A prequel to the main storyline of Sonic Forces, this add-on content explores Shadow's allegiance, the fate of Team Dark, and the origin of the mysterious villain, Infinite."

It's like someone out there is desperately trying to give me exactly what I want.

Me, as the Story guy, couldn't have been more excited when I read that description on the Youtube video.

I scrolled down and saw a bunch of people talking about blocky 2D platforming in the wake of that excitement and realized that I really am a bit of an outlier when it comes to these sort of things.

I honestly wasn't really paying too much attention to the gameplay. My eyes were kind of glazed over. I was just amazed I was seeing Shadow playable in a thing that was story oriented.

I'm certainly not going to argue with anyone who has problems with the gameplay and what not. I don't really care. I'll play it and it'll function fine and I'll have my fun I suppose. But I'm really excited for everything that I'm hearing about this game's narrative. It's been too long since I've felt like the characters and the world have gotten a chance to breathe and be an actual showcase for Adventure rather than a list of levels. 

Despite the gameplay, whatever the issues are, I'll definitely enjoy it more than Colors just from knowing that I have an actual objective to achieve. 

I feel like the only way I could not at this point is if the story turned out to be secretly not as intuitive as it's being advertised or if the gameplay to accompany it were just legitimately awful and broken. Not in a hyperbolic sense either. Actual awful and broken, like with 06 and Rise of Lyric. 

If the gameplay is open for improvement I'm also certainly not against it. Anything to improve the experience. I just... really cannot wait to play through an actual story mode again. 

[PerfectChaos]

I don't understand why the levels are so short... This is by no means a new problem to Forces but they were never THIS short. Are they working with a tiny budget now? Seems that way.

[Azure P]

17 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

"A prequel to the main storyline of Sonic Forces, this add-on content explores Shadow's allegiance, the fate of Team Dark, and the origin of the mysterious villain, Infinite."

It's like someone out there is desperately trying to give me exactly what I want.

Me, as the Story guy, couldn't have been more excited when I read that description on the Youtube video.

I scrolled down and saw a bunch of people talking about blocky 2D platforming in the wake of that excitement and realized that I really am a bit of an outlier when it comes to these sort of things.

If the gameplay is open for improvement I'm also certainly not against it. Anything to improve the experience. I just... really cannot wait to play through an actual story mode again. 

You're not alone. Just those with negative opinions can be quite overly and over-the-top vocal. I'm excited for Forces as well. But am cautious too. What I've seen so far is good. It's showing Sega is wanting to take baby steps to what made Sonic great again whilst playing it some what safe.

But the story is what intrigues me the most as well. It's been a while since we've had a good story in a Sonic game.

3 minutes ago, PerfectChaos said:

I don't understand why the levels are so short... This is by no means a new problem to Forces but they were never THIS short. Are they working with a tiny budget now? Seems that way.

If you're talking about the game play video with Shadow in it. I don't believe it started at the start.

[James Cloud]

4 minutes ago, Azure P said:

You're not alone. Just those with negative opinions can be quite overly and over-the-top vocal. I'm excited for Forces as well. But am cautious too. What I've seen so far is good. It's showing Sega is wanting to take baby steps to what made Sonic great again whilst playing it some what safe.

But the story is what intrigues me the most as well. It's been a while since we've had a good story in a Sonic game.

If you're talking about the game play video with Shadow in it. I don't believe it started at the start.

It had a checkpoint right off the bat don't get why some don't clearly see this.....

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Azure P said:

You're not alone. Just those with negative opinions can be quite overly and over-the-top vocal. I'm excited for Forces as well. But am cautious too. What I've seen so far is good. It's showing Sega is wanting to take baby steps to what made Sonic great again whilst playing it some what safe.

I'm in the middle when it comes to Forces.

It's seemingly bumped up its narrative to the point where all the anger and vitriol I had towards it when I saw Classic Sonic and some of the levels has subsided. 

It's been a long rough time but I'm finally comfortable with admitting that the story, the characters, and the world are the things I care about the most. That said, I'm still in the middle with this game because it's still definitely a game. I need it to be a game in order for it to be any good as an experience. Unlike a comic or a TV Show, if the interactive game part isn't good, it'll have an affect. However, I'm not really in the camp of people that's too critical of the way gameplay looks. When it feels bad, that's when I tend to get annoyed. 

Generations felt good to me. Colors didn't. That and there's also the fact that I'm not a fan of the 2D perspective in general which means that this gameplay didn't really excite me on that front regardless. 

Looking through pages 6 and 7, people really were getting heated to the point of calling out the people who were liking it and a Staff member had to step in so that it could be calmed down. Just looking at it, you wouldn't think this alone would be enough to get that heated about but when you factor in what we've gotten before and just how long it's been since the series has maintained consistent quality, it isn't so surprising.

I guess I can only hope that those who are disappointed finally get what they desire one day. I was in that camp as well because I was starved for a more narrative driven experience when it came to Colors and Generations. It was deteriorating fast after Sonic 06 and now it's finally made a return it looks like. Now that it seems like I'm finally getting what I want, the other side seems to be losing what they've liked.

I want everybody to be happy. I don't like seeing my fellow Sonic fans so frustrated. 

[Kuzu]

5 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

I'm in the middle when it comes to Forces.

It's seemingly bumped up its narrative to the point where all the anger and vitriol I had towards it when I saw Classic Sonic and some of the levels has subsided. 

It's been a long rough time but I'm finally comfortable with admitting that the story, the characters, and the world are the things I care about the most. That said, I'm still in the middle with this game because it's still definitely a game. I need it to be a game in order for it to be any good as an experience. Unlike a comic or a TV Show, if the interactive game part isn't good, it'll have an affect. However, I'm not really in the camp of people that's too critical of the way gameplay looks. When it feels bad, that's when I tend to get annoyed. 

Generations felt good to me. Colors didn't. That and there's also the fact that I'm not a fan of the 2D perspective in general which means that this gameplay didn't really excite me on that front regardless. 

Looking through pages 6 and 7, people really were getting heated to the point of calling out the people who were liking it and a Staff member had to step in so that it could be calmed down. Just looking at it, you wouldn't think this alone would be enough to get that heated about but when you factor in what we've gotten before and just how long it's been since the series has maintained consistent quality, it isn't so surprising.

I guess I can only hope that those who are disappointed finally get what they desire one day. I was in that camp as well because I was starved for a more narrative driven experience when it came to Colors and Generations. It was deteriorating fast after Sonic 06 and now it's finally made a return it looks like. Now that it seems like I'm finally getting what I want, the other side seems to be losing what they've liked.

I want everybody to be happy. I don't like seeing my fellow Sonic fans so frustrated. 

What other people want out of this series has been out of reach since 1998 lol. Glad you're excited about the story, I'm genuinely excited for it myself. I just wish the video game portion of this product wasn't boring as all sin.

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

What other people want out of this series has been out of reach since 1998 lol. Glad you're excited about the story, I'm genuinely excited for it myself. I just wish the video game portion of this product was boring as all sin.

If it can manage to not be exactly like how Colors felt to me than I'll probably not be bored. I do wish that it wasn't in 2D though. 

Something about the 3D perspective helps with the more open feel of adventure. Like I could taste the salt water in the air, hitting against my face when I zoomed through Seaside Hill looking for hermit crabs with the Chaotix.

2D sidescrolling always felt like I was watching things move through a picture frame. I'm not really into it. 

But that's a preference thing of course. 

[Azure P]

2 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

If it can manage to not be exactly like how Colors felt to me than I'll probably not be bored. I do wish that it wasn't in 2D though. 

Something about the 3D perspective helps with the more open feel of adventure. Like I could taste the salt water in the air, hitting against my face when I zoomed through Seaside Hill looking for hermit crabs with the Chaotix.

2D sidescrolling always felt like I was watching things move through a picture frame. I'm not really into it. 

But that's a preference thing of course. 

I believe it is called immersion. Some thing I want as well.

[Scar]

What are slopes and hills.

Best aspect of this whole shiz is the fucking Supporting Me remix. I love that song and it needs more love.