Team Sonic Racing - Upcoming Sonic Racing Game

[Strickerx5]

2 hours ago, DabigRG said:

...What, you mean during the Dreamcast and early Modern era? 

Nah. Imo, Black Knight was the last game to include a narrative that actually tried to be engaging. So 2009-now.

Honestly, I don’t even think Zavok is the problem here. It’s the fact that he’s only been in games where the narratives have been, imo, trash. He could be a good character, but he’s never been written as anything interesting. Actually, the entirety of the Deadly Six were more character types than characters.

Of course, there hasn’t been a great Sonic story (at least going off the general consensus on here) but take Silver for example here. 06 was poorly written but at least they got across his traits, weaknesses, back story, motivation, ect. Things that, at the very least, made him an interesting character. Zavok, on the other hand, has none of that. Which is why I’m so meh on him being here.

[Dr. Detective]

20 hours ago, Jack in the Snow said:

I believe everyone expected Team Chaotix and I was in the minority when I said they wouldn't leave Silver and Blaze out, and said they were in a team with Vector. Still, they didn't go for a full Heroes rehash.

I said the same thing. Anyone who was worried that Silver and Blaze wouldn't be in it haven't been paying that much attention to their appearances. They've appeared in pretty much every single Sonic spin-off game since their conception back in 2005/2006. There may be one or two exceptions out there but its been extremely consistent otherwise.

Espio and Charmy, on the other hand, aside from mobile games, have been in damn near nothing. They gave Espio a thing in Rivals 2 and one event to play as him in the Rio Olympics. I think thats it.

So when I saw that the roster was 15 characters, I knew Silver and Blaze were going to be on it somewhere. They were either going to be the last two members of Team Rose or they were going to take Vector and shove him together with them. When Team Rose was revealed to not have Silver and Blaze,the current Team Vector was the only option left.

So I predicted that and I was right.

If you're fans of Silver and Blaze, as far as purely Sonic based spin-offs go, you've got nothing to worry about. Its to the point where they honestly should be immediately expected.

I will note that its cool that they seem to be giving Vector a lot of attention in recent years. To the point where he even made it into Boom. So that's neat.

Meanwhile Cream has gone from possible 5th member of the main crew after Amy to... I dunno. Drunk beside a dumpster outside SEGA's offices.

[Plasme]

You know, I said a long time ago on this forum that the splitting of the Classic/Modern dimension would hurt the franchise and I was absolutely right. It's been pretty much confirmed when Webber said not to expect Mighty and Ray because they are classic characters.

They can't use any characters from Sonic R or Mania because this is a Modern dimension game. No Eggrobo, no Fang, no Mighty, no Ray, no other Sonic R characters. Instead of picking from the best of both 'dimensions', we have this utterly ridiculous strict dimension divide.

Some classic characters would have improved this game.

I said that there was now a strict dimension divide and almost all of you shouted me down because I was the 'new guy'.

Well I was right and you were all wrong.

[LukA8]

I don't think their reception would have been much better, but it's a shame they're unwilling to do anything with Orbot and Cubot. Team Eggman would have made a lot of sense with them part of it, and their dynamic with Metal Sonic would have been interesting to see, it was hinted before they were scared of him. But I guess teams that make sense is not this game's thing.

First they shove them down everyone's throat in Colors, Lost World and even Runners, then they lose interest and just banish them to Sonic Boom without any changes. Ironically, the characters got some real development in the series, but I guess with their designs created in like five minutes, Sonic Team don't see them having much appeal to a wider audience.

[Your Vest Friend]

Excuse me Plasme, I said the divide was here the moment the answer to whether Mighty and Ray would appear in the IDW comic was "We'll talk about that in the panel" and not just "yeah". 

[Red Hot Jack]

I wish they did more with Orbot and Cubot too, but I have no interest in playing as them, I dunno really, I'm just okay with Zavok.

[LukA8]

I mean I get why they're pushing Zavok, they have done it with several others in the past and still do it now, but people don't really pick up on it unless they don't like the character, hence this reveal didn't work at all.

The series has way too many protagonists compared to antagonists and they're trying to balance that out a little which I'm fine with, but Zavok was introduced as someone who'd never work with Eggman willingly and is supposed to be a menacing and serious character, but they're just using him as this mini-boss lackey, using his "illusion" behaving exactly like the original for some reason, or goes racing with the Doc. It really cheapens the character and throws out the little sense the Deadly Six made, and therefore most people don't see anything to like about Zavok.

[Red Hot Jack]

I agree, it's not really working, but SEGA also wants to keep Eggman as the main baddie, even in Forces which was supposed to be Infinite's big moment, it was about Eggman in the end (final boss). Zavok is really a bit of a lackey, sadly, but I still want Eggman to be the main antagonist, a consistent one. Zavok just needs to be written well and have nice boss battles… which I believe he does, his battles in Lost World and Forces were the only decent ones. Just make him more interesting as a character at this point.

[Jango]

Why presenting Team Eggman (or any team for that matter) with a really bad photoshoped image instead of a gameplay trailer? What is wrong with this game that we can't see it?

We haven't seen this game in motion for months now.

[Blue Blood]

2 minutes ago, Jango said:

Why presenting Team Eggman (or any team for that matter) with a really bad photoshoped image instead of a gameplay trailer? What is wrong with this game that we can't see it?

We haven't seen this game in motion for months now.

As much as I would love to start spouting a conspiracy about how the game simply isn't good enough to show off, we've seen a number of levels when it's been showcased at events. There's no reason whatsoever to believe that SEGA can't cobble together enough footage for a trailer. My only guess is that they're just mismanaging the marketing, as per usual. Around March time they'll probably start showing off more, but they're just letting the world forgery about it in the meantime.

[Dr. Detective]

Yeah, it is a little strange that the presentation here isn't better than this. You'd think they'd do little character reveal trailers where they show off those characters in action on some of the stages to get more of a sense of "These guys are here and you can tear up the track with them! AWW YEAH!" 

Well, I say it's strange but the presentation of trailers and the games themselves have been waning considerably for a while now. 

Also, I personally contest the idea that this game needed Classic characters. I wouldn't be up in arms about them showing up but there's nothing with this game being Modern Sonic focused. They have more than enough people to round out a much bigger roster than what we have here.

The split between Modern and Classic hasn't been bothering me much. I kind of already treated it like a split anyway. The thing that's really been a consistent nightmare is trying to sort of the split on top of that where Modern has a human and animal-only world he apparently jumps to in-between games. That's impossible to be okay with on my end. 

 

[Red Hot Jack]

Honestly, the argument of Classic characters is the same as the other SEGA franchises. Why can't Sonic have his own spin-off? Which he hasn't for 10 years I think. And why can't Modern Sonic have his own title without Classic characters? It's a similar thing.

This game is about Modern Sonic, all modern characters, most of the tracks are from modern games. Just let  Modern Sonic get some love. Now… I still think the roster is a waste because there could be "endless possibilities" if they increased the number of characters. It's a bit of a shame, to be honest.

And I have nothing against Classic characters or SEGA characters, in fact I like them.

[Sonic Fan J]

Sometimes when I read the concerns about SEGA's marketing I kind of wonder if they handle their own or actually hire a marketing firm. If it's the former it seems apparent that whoever they have in charge has no marketing skills or likely even training, and if it's the latter I want to know who so if I ever need something marketed in the future I know who not to hire.

On topic though, they've definitely wasted the point of a Sonic only spin-off racer with the character count and by limiting themselves to just the modern subdivision. Asides from the obvious waste of not following up on the Heroes' teams (honestly though I'd have gone for 06 teams myself if I had to stay so limited), they've mixed up a number of the teams in ways that make no sense. As others have pointed out already Chao with no Cream on Team Rose, Zavok with Eggman and Metal Sonic, and Silver and Blaze with Vector instead of the Chaotix. I mean just to throw out an example, if you had more branch mixing Eggman's team could have included the Heavy King to complete the Eggman Empire look if you avoid using Infintie. Or even another option would be to replace Metal Sonic with Lyric of all characters just to have a Team that are aligned by the goal of besting Sonic but constantly bicker with each other while trying to accomplish said goal. There are so many possibilities that are lost just from the needless limitations it's kind of a shame, especially considering how much character interactions are supposedly supposed to be at the heart of this game.

[Jango]

I bet the marketing is all in-house. No marketing agency would be so off. I wonder who lead Sonic Mania's marketing team. That's an example to follow.

[Your Vest Friend]

I would argue against that notion, Mania's advertising was pretty lackluster. 

[Jango]

1 minute ago, VEDJ-F said:

I would argue against that notion, Mania's advertising was pretty lackluster. 

What. H-how? Brilliant throwback commercials, an amazing pre-order trailer with animation, great reveal and launch trailers, small gameplay trailers showing some levels and the special stage, music pieces, merch... Mania's marketing was great. 

If it's the same people doing the marketing for TSR, is crystal clear when they like and care about the game they're adverting and when they don't give much of a damn. 

[Multikaris]

As for Zavok teaming with Eggman, maybe Eggman found the Cacophonic Conch again?

[Red Hot Jack]

If you think TSR marketing is bad, you should see the IDW comics, only IDW themselves advertise them, Aaron has done nothing to promote them since issue 1 launch. It's clear Sega doesn't care about them and it's a shame because I think they are the best thing to happen to Sonic recently.

[Whatever the WhoCares]

I definitely would’ve preferred Orbot and Cubot over Zavok. But yes, at least they didn’t go with Infinite. 

[DabigRG]

Have we seen anything of the game's story mode yet?

On 1/16/2019 at 4:04 PM, Dr. Detective Mike said:

 

Meanwhile Cream has gone from possible 5th member of the main crew after Amy to... I dunno. Drunk beside a dumpster outside SEGA's offices.

Cheese and Rice, man.

But yeah, it sucks that she's been getting cheated so frequently as of late.

16 hours ago, LukA8 said:

I don't think their reception would have been much better, but it's a shame they're unwilling to do anything with Orbot and Cubot. Team Eggman would have made a lot of sense with them part of it, and their dynamic with Metal Sonic would have been interesting to see, it was hinted before they were scared of him. But I guess teams that make sense is not this game's thing.

 

Yeah, I can kinda see that.

16 hours ago, LukA8 said:

 

First they shove them down everyone's throat in Colors, Lost World and even Runners, then they lose interest and just banish them to Sonic Boom without any changes. Ironically, the characters got some real development in the series, but I guess with their designs created in like five minutes, Sonic Team don't see them having much appeal to a wider audience.

Really now? 

15 hours ago, LukA8 said:

The series has way too many protagonists compared to antagonists and they're trying to balance that out a little which I'm fine with, but Zavok was introduced as someone who'd never work with Eggman willingly and is supposed to be a menacing and serious character, but they're just using him as this mini-boss lackey, using his "illusion" behaving exactly like the original for some reason, or goes racing with the Doc. It really cheapens the character and throws out the little sense the Deadly Six made, and therefore most people don't see anything to like about Zavok.

Yeah, seriously.

14 hours ago, Jack in the Snow said:

I agree, it's not really working, but SEGA also wants to keep Eggman as the main baddie, even in Forces which was supposed to be Infinite's big moment, it was about Eggman in the end (final boss). Zavok is really a bit of a lackey, sadly, but I still want Eggman to be the main antagonist, a consistent one. Zavok just needs to be written well and have nice boss battles… which I believe he does, his battles in Lost World and Forces were the only decent ones. Just make him more interesting as a character at this point.

What SEGA needs/needed to do, whether it be here or in another game with a decent sized story, is give him (and the other Zeti besides maybe Zor and Zazz) some character and context in & of himself. Lost World as their introduction is to date their only proper appearance as acting characters and they've been pretty much stuck in what minimal was given and/or implied there vs what the game's plot was actually about. Having him show up here in direct connection to Eggman again is limiting and potentially wasting an opportunity for his not entirely clear character to shine a little in its own right.

12 hours ago, Jango said:

Why presenting Team Eggman (or any team for that matter) with a really bad photoshoped image instead of a gameplay trailer? What is wrong with this game that we can't see it?

We haven't seen this game in motion for months now.

Because that's what they've been doing with the other teams, minus the bad part.

7 hours ago, Miragnarok said:

As for Zavok teaming with Eggman, maybe Eggman found the Cacophonic Conch again?

And/or Dodon Pa gave him one from his own exotic collection, if he's not just using it himself.

 

 

 

[Gabz Girl]

There better be a decent plot reason for Zavok being here and teaming up with Dr Eggman of all people because woof...

I’m not a fan of the Deadly Six to begin with due to being boring and cliche af personality wise, and I don’t understand why Sega keeps shoving them (particularly Zavok) down our throats like they’re these REALLY popular characters and you must love them dammit! I think Orbit and Cubot would’ve been a much better choice for Team Eggman. They’re funny, have a personality and I actually *gasp* like them! 

Now that we know the full roster of blandness rivalling that of Mario Tennis Ultra Smash, I’m predicting Death Egg to be the last stage revealed. Surprise me Sega! 

[Jango]

47 minutes ago, Gabz Girl said:

There better be a decent plot reason 

Sonic. Plot. Decent. These words don't go together in the same sentence. Even Mania's plot is balls, but thankfully the game is delicious, so it evens it out. I doubt there will be a decent explanation, but at least a funny one (actually funny, not Lost World funny) would be enough to me. Something meta, like the Lego Dimensions humor. Make something so absurd that we have no choice but bust a laugh and roll with it. This is a spin off after all.

.

.

Right? Or is Sonic Team counting this part of the main line series?

[Salamander]

12 hours ago, do a barrel roll said:

Sadly, SEGA and the Sonic social team haven't really been promoting any Sonic content that isn't a game for some reason. Heck, they barely even promoted the Sonic Boom TV show during it's 2nd season (The Sonic social team at least promoted Season 2 episodes on Tumblr and on the live streams, though. They also promoted the show getting nominated for a Teen Choice Award).

Seriously, what's up with that? It's bad enough that the Sonic games have had poor marketing as of late, why has SEGA been very quiet on the comics? It's really not hard to promote them. Just make one post a month to promote the current issue. That's it. 

It feels like whenever there's good Sonic content that isn't based off a certain Sonic game, SEGA pretends it doesn't exist.

I'm actually starting to wonder if there might be some kind of chain of command issue with marketing for non-game material; that they're supposed to be the responsibility of other bodies while the main Twitter is only supposed to deal with the games, and special permissions have to be sought to cross-promote.  I could see it being something clunky like that.

[Roger_van_der_weide]

Never mind Non-game material, even the games themselves.
I recall Mario and Sonic at the Rio games getting no acknowledgement on the Sonic twitter when it was released.
I remember that game was released in stores the day before another Sonic live event happened, you'd figure the Twitter could have made an easy "Kill some time with this awesome new game if you can't wait for our event!" statement somewhere, but nope. I figured it being a Nintendo game created some weird legal hurdles or something.
But then Sonic Boom fire and Ice also didn't get any Twitter love until it was already out for weeks.

There's gotta be some stupid bureaucratic/ legal hurdles, because it doesn't make sense to me to have a succesful Twitter and not advertise your stuff.

[Plasme]

Who did people like out of the Deadly Six? I liked Zeena but only because she had a cool design. Her character was awful.

I thought Zor was pretty funny.

Wouldn't it have been better for the Deadly Six to be a team? The plot opportunities are being solely missed here. We could have some exploration of their team work and friendship. Same for the Chaotix.

And maybe I'm alone in thinking this, but I would much rather have Infinite than Zavok in Team Eggman. One of the interesting things about Infinite was his loyalty to Eggman, despite his disagreements with him and thinking he's superior.

I know a lot of people take the piss out of Infinite, but I think he was the best Sonic villian in years.