Sonic Forces - Shadow DLC and new Screenshot

[Roger_van_der_weide]

And  another thought, we didn't know if the levels will ALWAYS have the cast talk during gameplay or if replaying the levels gives you an non story mode option.
So, now Shadow's confirmed to play trough Modern Sonic stages, I have to assume all the chatter is taken out of the level.
Because I doubt we still have Knuckles and Amy telling Shadow to go find Shadow in Park Avenue.
.....Right...?

[SonicLegends]

23 minutes ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

And  another thought, we didn't know if the levels will ALWAYS have the cast talk during gameplay or if replaying the levels gives you an non story mode option.
So, now Shadow's confirmed to play trough Modern Sonic stages, I have to assume all the chatter is taken out of the level.
Because I doubt we still have Knuckles and Amy telling Shadow to go find Shadow in Park Avenue.
.....Right...?

I'm pretty sure they're going to have a voice off option it would have been hell if you couldn't turn Omochao off in Generations... even if that's case, but yeah I don't think they would oversight that now.

[DiamondX]

28 minutes ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

And  another thought, we didn't know if the levels will ALWAYS have the cast talk during gameplay or if replaying the levels gives you an non story mode option.
So, now Shadow's confirmed to play trough Modern Sonic stages, I have to assume all the chatter is taken out of the level.
Because I doubt we still have Knuckles and Amy telling Shadow to go find Shadow in Park Avenue.
.....Right...?

If they have characters talking, it would rather be the villians telling him what to do.

[SonicLegends]

15 minutes ago, Diamond Dragon X said:

If they have characters talking, it would rather be the villians telling him what to do.

Just through Infinite and Dr. Eggman, but before joining Infinite and Dr. Eggman we can probably expect some Rouge dialogue and even maybe G.U.N?

[DiamondX]

1 minute ago, SonicLegends said:

Just through Infinite and Dr. Eggman, but before joining Infinite and Dr. Eggman we can probably expect some Rouge dialogue and even maybe G.U.N?

They talk about losing communication with Omega at one point, so you are most probably right.

[GuyWithThePie]

2 hours ago, Johnny Boy said:

Agreed. That Japanese story trailer was beyond epic but all the American branch has done is just show the same damn levels over and over again while also still showcasing music from Mania. Would it kill them to just release an English version of the story trailer or the radio broadcasts from Eggman and Knuckles?

I imagine this is probably because the stories in Sonic games aren't as big of a deal in the US. In fact it's pretty common for mainstream reviewers to shit on a Sonic game for having an actual story, usually the ones who circlejerk about how "Every game to come out after S3&K is trash" and still haven't gotten over 06. The ones who've been saying "Sonic is FINALLY back!" with nearly every release since Sonic 4 and Colors. You kinda get an idea of the type of person I'm talking about, right? The "jaded gamer" who "gave up on Sonic years ago" and hasn't played a game in the series in years?

[James Cloud]

6 hours ago, Bobnik said:

If all Modern stages are playable as Shadow, then technically yes?

But according to Jeffhog he'll be playable "in several Modern Sonic stages", so maybe some stages can't be played as Shadow.

"Over ten" stages so atm its 10+ until further confirmation.

[Filipe1020]

I'm not sure if I'm the only one who noticed this on the Shadow gameplay (it might also be a placeholder) It's that When Shadow finishes the stage, the Eggman logo got replaced by the Resistance Star logo, what if Shadow was a member of the resistance, but somehow got evil? (Strangely enough, his eyes does look kinda different in the in-game cutscenes with Infinite, who knows?) I think it's a small detail to consider.

[Dash Speed]

7 hours ago, Tenko said:

I realize he's popular, tho I've always failed to see why, but wouldn't a character with a move set including something..different from Sonic have been vastly more worth while. Tails and his flight, Knuckles and his climbing/digging etc. Not just..another Sonic with a slightly different boost mechanic and a light speed dash...

Even Silver with his abilities would have been more interesting...and that's saying something when I dislike him even more than Shadow.

 Meh, I've always been fascinated with Shadow as a character than rather if he plays the same as Sonic or not, he has a extended lore that strays distinctly from sonic or eggman yet involves them directly to explore of Shadows story and character.

Shadow is also more a serious and darker side of sonic cannon, he provides subversions of typical sonic plots and ideas that tells us hes not sonic or does things like him.

It's like Wario to Mario, the concepts are the same and are compared to each other in order to subvert from one another. Shadow is Dark Sonic with no heroic traits as a default.

Finally Shadow plays like Sonic with more power and abilites, has edgier traits than Sonic(lol edgy joke), his plots tackle mature tones too intense for younger children, he makes the silliest situations and characters take a level in serious when his precense is needed, and color of Germany imo.

He's like version of Sonic if he was inspired by Dracula and Warhammer 40k.

[DiamondX]

8 minutes ago, Filipe1020 said:

I'm not sure if I'm the only one who noticed this on the Shadow gameplay (it might also be a placeholder) It's that When Shadow finishes the stage, the Eggman logo got replaced by the Resistance Star logo, what if Shadow was a member of the resistance, but somehow got into Team Dark? (Strangely enough, his eyes does look kinda different in the in-game cutscenes with Infinite, who knows?) I think it's a small detail to consider.

Team Dark =/= Evil.

This is a prequel to Forces, so it will explain why Shadow went from good to evil.

[Shadowlax]

6 hours ago, Ming Ming Hatsune said:

 

Shadow's DLC looks like it has been made last minute. Something to pad the game a little more (which is scaring me as it can indicate Forces is a short game). These levels look like they were made from Super Mario Maker or LittleBigPlanet. And that's a little insulting since top played SMM/LBP levels have a lot of creativity in them.

 

Oh yeah, that's another problematic prediction a lot of folks have been having. Some people think this game might not be super long, that's worrying. 

[Patron]

A random thought that I had for some time: Is this another Rise of Lyric moment? Seeing as the game is barely more than a month away from release yet there's still work in progress, could it be that Forces used to be another game or that the studio changed it's direction mid-production?

Besides the DLC I still recall complaints about Green Hill Zone's roughness, although that got better with each new showcase. The latest story trailer also seemed a bit weird in the lightning / texture department (although the latter might be a fault of YouTube's low quality compression). They might be having a hell of a crunch time right now.

[Roger_van_der_weide]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if they changed direction halfway trough. Sure feels like it.

Only question is if this started as Sonic Generations 2 Lost world edition with the sudden dramatic War theme dropped on top at the last moment , or if it started as Shadow The Hedgehog 2, Die Harder before they got cold feet and started adding more friendlier elements.

[JosepHenry]

1 hour ago, Shadowlax said:

Oh yeah, that's another problematic prediction a lot of folks have been having. Some people think this game might not be super long, that's worrying. 

Though it has 10 Modern stages meaning at least 10 zones Along with the other gameplay styles, 10 zones with 4 acts each.

Yeah, I don't think this game will be short.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

So, I'm hella late to the party, but this is certainly a semi-exciting surprise.

Shadow's finally playable after so long, even tho the first impression was a lackluster level that was mostly 2D, so looks like Sonic Team were paying attention to those who wanted to play as other characters...makes it all the more questionable why they have the OC Character Creation here, but they've already told us why on that front.

And it's a prequel story...looks like they knew how initial fan reaction of having Shadow on the Eggman Empire side would present a lot of questions, so that makes me think that was intentional on their part.

My interest is raised a little, if primarily for the story. Still wish they did better than a boostfest, but we'll live from this.

[Dannymax440]

4 minutes ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

I wouldn't be surprised at all if they changed direction halfway trough. Sure feels like it.

Only question is if this started as Sonic Generations 2 Lost world edition with the sudden dramatic War theme dropped on top at the last moment , or if it started as Shadow The Hedgehog 2, Die Harder before they got cold feet and started adding more friendlier elements.

Not sure but I'd say the former to  shake off criticism of the 2010 games having lighthearted stories and make characters who aren't Sonic, Tails and Eggman in the main series relevant again. For the latter they made the campaign a free DLC pack so no one bitches about either "edgy the hedgy" or micro transactions.

[Flame Lance]

Woah, it's so good to have you back to the playable spot, Shadow.

While this is definitely great news IMO, it doesn't quite satisfy my cravings for other playable characters. I like Shadow, and it's a start, but there's lots of other great characters who should be playable too. Maybe there's hope for other character DLC packs like this, or maybe in the form of in-game unlockables. I don't think we need character specific episodes for everyone, but at the very least offer unlockable characters that can be used in modern or even classic Sonic stages depending on what works best. 

The gameplay displayed here does not look very impressive. It looks moderately fun, but nothing to write home about. 

[knuckles20]

On 9/19/2017 at 3:48 PM, Feenaw45 said:

They absolutely should take notes from Mania. Like it or not Forces has plenty of 2D segments in it, so they might as well be good. 

You know what would be better? IF they actually work on the 3D gameplay so they won't need to put in 2D sections in their 3D games.

[Multikaris]

6 hours ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

I wouldn't be surprised at all if they changed direction halfway trough. Sure feels like it.

Only question is if this started as Sonic Generations 2 Lost world edition with the sudden dramatic War theme dropped on top at the last moment , or if it started as Shadow The Hedgehog 2, Die Harder before they got cold feet and started adding more friendlier elements.

Pretty sure it was the former, given the direction the fandom leaned in and that Boom was a massive failure. The custom character was obviously originally Boom sonic, with Wispons and perks having once been stuff like Enerbeams and Fire and Ice. Fist Bump is a milequetoast rock number because it was never intended to be such. Infinite was originally a generic monster, and Shadow was just another supporting character. He might be the reason anyone else even got in once he was shifted to a villain in this. The other d6 and Orbot/Cubot were originally in place of the likes of Chaos

[___-_]

So after seeing this Shadow DLC, I just find it crazy how it's been what... 3 - 4 times that "Desert Green Hill Zone" has been shown off in all sorts of different locations yet it's been missing something so basic. We have all this sand here. It's literally everywhere, yet not one time do any of these acts use this to their strengths, let alone hardly acknowledging it in the actual level design (It's used as a small instant kill zone once for an Avatar stage). The level design and the art behind it feels so disconnected to me, and I just can't help but wonder "What makes this a Desert Green Hill Zone?", because all I'm seeing is Generation's GHZ for Classic Sonic and the same lost and found assets mostly from Sonic Colors that are also being plagued in other zones like Sunset Heights, another zone with GHZ as its backdrop, for the other characters. Where're the stage specific set pieces, aesthetics and the gimmicks that goes along with the theme at? Why is the sand not playing any part in a desert zone filled with nothing but sand and teetered mountains yet we have nameless bots and generic platforms over bottomless pits in this zone that we see in every other zone to constitute as challenge? Hell, this zone might as well be Sunset Heights or vice versa. Did the level designers even talk to the artist or know who each other even are?

Basically, this is Forces to me at the moment:

Sweet! Can't wait to see what the next level's looking like:

...

As far as I can see, none of these locations matter. Every stage so far plays out essentially the same just with randomized universal asset order to make up an entire act, and this DLC so far takes this to a whole new level. I mean, even Sonic 4 knew to spice things up a bit and give new challenges based on the theme of the zone even outside of the ideas it ripped from.

You mean to tell me we can't even have that in Forces? Why have we not seen anything like this yet for how long we've known of this game?

It's a shame, because I do like the concept of Shadow having his own flair based on Sonic's mechanics, and I feel Sega finally has something cooking with what they have there, but clearly this level design isn't even putting 1/3 the effort to potentially help enhance Shadow. Not with him running around in Randomized Asset Zone act 0 with all of this automation and tap A to win nonsense. I really hope that was just the bad egg of the DLC bunch and somehow the next new zones in Forces will be brimming with personality in general. At least this DLC is free, too, which is always a plus.

[rosedust]

12 hours ago, GuyWithThePie said:

I imagine this is probably because the stories in Sonic games aren't as big of a deal in the US. In fact it's pretty common for mainstream reviewers to shit on a Sonic game for having an actual story, usually the ones who circlejerk about how "Every game to come out after S3&K is trash" and still haven't gotten over 06. The ones who've been saying "Sonic is FINALLY back!" with nearly every release since Sonic 4 and Colors. You kinda get an idea of the type of person I'm talking about, right? The "jaded gamer" who "gave up on Sonic years ago" and hasn't played a game in the series in years?

this is me. i'm a jaded teenage girl.

[Multikaris]

2 hours ago, StriCNYN3 said:

So after seeing this Shadow DLC, I just find it crazy how it's been what... 3 - 4 times that "Desert Green Hill Zone" has been shown off in all sorts of different locations yet it's been missing something so basic. We have all this sand here. It's literally everywhere, yet not one time do any of these acts use this to their strengths, let alone hardly acknowledging it in the actual level design (It's used as a small instant kill zone once for an Avatar stage). The level design and the art behind it feels so disconnected to me, and I just can't help but wonder "What makes this a Desert Green Hill Zone?", because all I'm seeing is Generation's GHZ for Classic Sonic and the same lost and found assets mostly from Sonic Colors that are also being plagued in other zones like Sunset Heights, another zone with GHZ as its backdrop, for the other characters. Where're the stage specific set pieces, aesthetics and the gimmicks that goes along with the theme at? Why is the sand not playing any part in a desert zone filled with nothing but sand and teetered mountains yet we have nameless bots and generic platforms over bottomless pits in this zone that we see in every other zone to constitute as challenge? Hell, this zone might as well be Sunset Heights or vice versa. Did the level designers even talk to the artist or know who each other even are?

Basically, this is Forces to me at the moment:

Sweet! Can't wait to see what the next level's looking like:

...

As far as I can see, none of these locations matter. Every stage so far plays out essentially the same just with randomized universal asset order to make up an entire act, and this DLC so far takes this to a whole new level. I mean, even Sonic 4 knew to spice things up a bit and give new challenges based on the theme of the zone even outside of the ideas it ripped from.

https://i.imgur.com/80A8xqh.gifv

https://i.imgur.com/u9SJQqh.gifv

You mean to tell me we can't even have that in Forces? Why have we not seen anything like this yet for how long we've known of this game?

It's a shame, because I do like the concept of Shadow having his own flair based on Sonic's mechanics, and I feel Sega finally has something cooking with what they have there, but clearly this level design isn't even putting 1/3 the effort to potentially help enhance Shadow. Not with him running around in Randomized Asset Zone act 0 with all of this automation and tap A to win nonsense. I really hope that was just the bad egg of the DLC bunch and somehow the next new zones in Forces will be brimming with personality in general. At least this DLC is free, too, which is always a plus.

Even RoL seems to handle this better. But I do think that the Modern Park Avenue seems okay, and after such a dry spell, the existence of a fully 3D stage at all is a relief with the Tag Team mode.

[Salamander]

7 hours ago, Miragnarok said:

Pretty sure it was the former, given the direction the fandom leaned in and that Boom was a massive failure. The custom character was obviously originally Boom sonic, with Wispons and perks having once been stuff like Enerbeams and Fire and Ice. Fist Bump is a milequetoast rock number because it was never intended to be such. Infinite was originally a generic monster, and Shadow was just another supporting character. He might be the reason anyone else even got in once he was shifted to a villain in this. The other d6 and Orbot/Cubot were originally in place of the likes of Chaos

While I absolutely believe that the custom character was originally Boom Sonic, I wouldn't go quite so far as to speculate that the other villains weren't originally included.  Shadow, Chaos, Metal Sonic, Zavok, and a villain capable of bringing them all together is something that screams "anniversary title" - and in fact, it's four-fifths of what we got in Generations already.  The apparent tie-in to Mania in the presence of the Phantom Ruby suggests that the villain concept must have been pretty well-established for some years.  I wouldn't be surprised if the personality of the game hadn't actually shifted much in development; pretty much everything already fits the "Generations 2 but more elegant" profile.  All that really remains is to establish how many of the remaining zones are returning classics - or might once have been such.

[Gabz Girl]

7 hours ago, StriCNYN3 said:

So after seeing this Shadow DLC, I just find it crazy how it's been what... 3 - 4 times that "Desert Green Hill Zone" has been shown off in all sorts of different locations yet it's been missing something so basic. We have all this sand here. It's literally everywhere, yet not one time do any of these acts use this to their strengths, let alone hardly acknowledging it in the actual level design (It's used as a small instant kill zone once for an Avatar stage). The level design and the art behind it feels so disconnected to me, and I just can't help but wonder "What makes this a Desert Green Hill Zone?", because all I'm seeing is Generation's GHZ for Classic Sonic and the same lost and found assets mostly from Sonic Colors that are also being plagued in other zones like Sunset Heights, another zone with GHZ as its backdrop, for the other characters. Where're the stage specific set pieces, aesthetics and the gimmicks that goes along with the theme at? Why is the sand not playing any part in a desert zone filled with nothing but sand and teetered mountains yet we have nameless bots and generic platforms over bottomless pits in this zone that we see in every other zone to constitute as challenge? Hell, this zone might as well be Sunset Heights or vice versa. Did the level designers even talk to the artist or know who each other even are?

Basically, this is Forces to me at the moment:

Sweet! Can't wait to see what the next level's looking like:

...

As far as I can see, none of these locations matter. Every stage so far plays out essentially the same just with randomized universal asset order to make up an entire act, and this DLC so far takes this to a whole new level. I mean, even Sonic 4 knew to spice things up a bit and give new challenges based on the theme of the zone even outside of the ideas it ripped from.

You mean to tell me we can't even have that in Forces? Why have we not seen anything like this yet for how long we've known of this game?

It's a shame, because I do like the concept of Shadow having his own flair based on Sonic's mechanics, and I feel Sega finally has something cooking with what they have there, but clearly this level design isn't even putting 1/3 the effort to potentially help enhance Shadow. Not with him running around in Randomized Asset Zone act 0 with all of this automation and tap A to win nonsense. I really hope that was just the bad egg of the DLC bunch and somehow the next new zones in Forces will be brimming with personality in general. At least this DLC is free, too, which is always a plus.

This is exactly my problem with the level design we have seen so far! I actually think it's even more generic platform-y action than Sonic Colours, which had some fun moments incorporated into its levels. For example, pop corn and exploding jelly bean missiles in Sweet Mountain. I have seen nothing of the sort in Sonic Forces, and you'd think a sandy version of Green Hill would have you use sand in a certain way, like a stage gimmick. But no, it's just background decoration. 

I have a bad feeling that other stages in Sonic Forces will be like this too. Hopefully we'll finally see a new stage at TGS tomorrow! >_>

[Shadowlax]

in regards to shadow being in the game, someone seems to have created a better trailer than any trailer out there, with a sonic 06 voice clip and remixing some scenes with previous trailers