Nakamura: Sonic Forces was intentionally designed for you to boost to the end of the level

[Irish David]

Did SEGA put huge amounts of money and time into this game? Did they give Sonic Team the tools to make an unreal experience for all of us to enjoy? If the answer to those questions is No, then Sonic Team could have there hands tied in trying to make a game that we all love. The quote in red perfectly describes my feelings for this game and Lost World

3 hours ago, Super Mechanio said:

The problem isn't difficulty; It's cheap difficulty.

I think a legitimately challenging Sonic game would be wonderful. But when the player dies, they should feel like it's their fault, not the game's. If you're dying all the time due to bad level design and bad controls, then the game is hard for the wrong reasons. 

It's not that Sonic Team needs to make their games easier; They need to make them better, so that the challenge feels fair.

Also, there also could be a lack of energy, direction and enthusiasm at Sonic Team (which I'd find hard to believe) but if thats the case, that needs to change and fast.

[Scar]

On 28/11/2017 at 7:00 PM, Blue Blood said:

There's actually nothing inherently wrong with this. It applies to the majority of Unleashed, Generations and Colours as well, and the very point of the boost system being implemented the way that it has been for the past 9 years is so that you can almost all of the time. Forces' level and control design is bad because they require that you do little more than press boost a lot of the time, but the levels accommodating near-constant boosting doesn't mean that they have to be bad.

In Unleashed, Generations and Colours you needed to be good to boost through the whole level. Particularly the later levels.

[Jar Jar Analysis 1138]

 

On 11/28/2017 at 1:41 PM, JezMM said:

I feel a developer could say this about pretty much any boost Sonic game and it'd still be accurate as a PR comment.

And the funny thing is... it's not even particularly true, I mean, does anyone really have much memory of "dashing through" the second half of Network Terminal or Metropolitan Highway "like a maniac" and succeeding?

Difference is how the mindset went about the boost games, particularity World Adventure(and Colors, though for the wrong reasons). 

[Blue Blood]

7 hours ago, Scar said:

In Unleashed, Generations and Colours you needed to be good to boost through the whole level. Particularly the later levels.

I'm not arguing against that. I'm actually arguing exactly for that. Forces being designed so that you can always boost and get a thrill from the rush isn't bad at all. But it rarely givens you any incentive to do anything other than boost of to even play better. Boost to win is an exaggeration in most cases previously, but it unfortunately holds totally true for Forces. It's got bad design.

[Scar]

I'm not arguing against that. I'm actually arguing exactly for that. Forces being designed so that you can always boost and get a thrill from the rush isn't bad at all. But it rarely givens you any incentive to do anything other than boost of to even play better. Boost to win is an exaggeration in most cases previously, but it unfortunately holds totally true for Forces. It's got bad design.

I should have clarified. I agree with you

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[molul]

Enemies in this game are placed just to have some nice explosion effects while playing, so it doesn't look like absolutely nothing is happening on your way to the end of the stage. 

[Milo]

Japan Tokyo posted the full interview, which you can watch here. (I've embedded the video to start at 10:13):

[7/6/2021 EDIT: The previous two videos on YouTube I posted here, which contained the full interview, have long since been removed via account terminations. As a result, I have posted in its place the supercut from Tails' Channel, which does include most of the relevant quotes. Timestamps have been updated accordingly, and the quotes below contained in brackets are not included in the supercut. The full interview has been preserved on archive.org, though, for those curious.]

 

• Narrator (10:13 1:49): "Since it's a long-running series, the gameplay of this latest game was designed to be easy for new users."
• Nakamura (10:24 1:54): "Many games feature complex and intricate gameplay. However with Sonic, it's more sloppy but easy. Above everything else, we wanted this game to be a non-stop action experience. Often with games, there are many moments where one must take time to aim before shooting. But in this game, you simply press and hold the button to attack. So you can really enjoy ultimately just dashing like a maniac through the stages."
• Narrator (11:00 2:20): "This emphasis on simplicity can be seen throughout the game. [The game has stages that can be tackled in pairs by Sonic and the player's customized character. But to keep it simple, the button for switching between characters has been eliminated.]"
• Nakamura (11:21 2:28): "[Normally there is a button for switching between characters. However in this game, Sonic comes forward when the boost button is pressed, and the Avatar comes forward with the attack button.] As a result, the player doesn't need to think about switching characters. Instead of sticking to Sonic's traditional style of gameplay, we decided to design the game to be as simple and enjoyable as possible; focusing more on the excitement of dashing through the stages, without having to think about, you know, complex game controls."

So for those questioning the context of the statement and the credibility of TSSZ's tweet...there you go.

P.S. For people who still think they were talking solely about the design of the Boost games in general (rather than the design of Forces in particular), take a look at this beta Sunset Heights level layout posted by Brandon Jones on YouTube (there seems to be quite a few scrapped builds of this particular level, for some reason):

This beta layout has significantly more level hazards and enemies spread throughout the level you have to avoid compared to the final layout. Some of these obstacles aren't even seen until later in the game, such as the manholes in the ground that shoot fire and the shiny Egg Pawns that shoot multiple bullets. For some reason, this level is programmed to be entirely automated; for whatever reason, Sonic's gameplay here is 100% scripted.

[MegasonicZX]

I'm really worrying about the next game in this franchise after reading those responses.

[molul]

2 hours ago, Space☆Yeow said:

Often with games, there are many moments where one must take time to aim before shooting. But in this game, you simply press and hold the button to attack. So you can really enjoy ultimately just dashing like a maniac through the stages

Yeah, so much fun on playing a game like it was a movie that needs you to keep pressing play button to play.

This is really embarrassing. I didn't expect this attitude. It's like admitting the gameplay is intentionally dumbed down and praising the game because of that.

[Roger_van_der_weide]

This whole "make the game super easy for newcomers" makes sense.....If we were talking about Sonic Boom games or something. (Which would attract more new players trough the television show) But Sonic Forces with it's "OMG WHY IS SUDDENLY SHADOW EVIL??? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!" marketing made Sonic Forces more like it's designed for series veterans.
So we get 2 entirely diffrent philosophies smashed together until they cancel each other out. That's Modern Sonic Team for ya.

[Tornado]

This is like the interviews and leaked design info for the very first Sonic game.

 

 

 

Gone horribly, horribly wrong.

[Multikaris]

6 hours ago, Roger_van_der_weide said:

This whole "make the game super easy for newcomers" makes sense.....If we were talking about Sonic Boom games or something. (Which would attract more new players trough the television show) But Sonic Forces with it's "OMG WHY IS SUDDENLY SHADOW EVIL??? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!" marketing made Sonic Forces more like it's designed for series veterans.
So we get 2 entirely diffrent philosophies smashed together until they cancel each other out. That's Modern Sonic Team for ya.

As if it were flint rocks being banged together to produce some sort of flame. Except the two rocks are very different from each other.