Team Sonic Racing - Team Gameplay Spotlight

[Plasme]

6 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

Aside from the miniscule roster, I'm starting to worry a tiny bit about how cool the tracks will be. Not really the general locations but more about how they'll be designed. 

I don't know, this track looks quite cool. 

I'll show myself out.

[Dr. Detective]

Meh. Who am I even kidding? Pretending to be all smarticle like the rest of you. The roster is really the only thing that's disappointing me so far. 

I very well could agree that the tracks, aesthetics, and sound design could have been handled better but my reaction towards it being like this, as it is, isn't a visceral or punchy one at all. I'm fine with it. 

Any concerns I have lean more towards ideas for making it better but there's nothing here that I feel I'd need to tell them in order to keep it from being "bad". 

It's just that roster. Even if they had gotten in 18 characters, it still would have been enough to ensure that most of the people everyone cared about got in. Why stop at 15? 15!

DLC better be over the horizon, I swear man.

[Polkadi~☆]

53 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

DLC better be over the horizon, I swear man.

That would arguably make the 15 character roster worse. That means you better pay up if you wanna play as the characters you really want.

[Sean]

>Sega doing DLC for a modern Sonic game

ahaha

[Sega DogTagz]

7 minutes ago, Polkadi~♪ said:

That would arguably make the 15 character roster worse. That means you better pay up if you wanna play as the characters you really want.

 

lol. I remember people around here for years offering up their firstborn for DLC character skins in the Solo-Sonic era

Sega has been pretty good on the free DLC front for a lot of their games. They even recently balked at the backlash over Super Sonic and made that free too. Then they went and put a super fair DLC price on Mania Plus. They have built up some trust and goodwill on that front.

I'm not worried about the DLC characters being a cash grab. That's the least of my concerns. We have sound blurbs all over the place labeling games like Overwatch as inspiration - so they very well could have intended to roll out characters over time all along.

 

....and quite honestly, I'd pay to get some of my favorite characters in on the action. I'd open my wallet.

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Polkadi~♪ said:

That would arguably make the 15 character roster worse. That means you better pay up if you wanna play as the characters you really want.

Arguably. 

For one, I doubt it'd be paid DLC. That's not been a thing for Sonic games since... Unleashed I think? They tried with Forces in Super Sonic but even then that started off as free and was planned to be paid 2 weeks later... and then when everyone complained, they made it free forever. Maybe if this were EA or Activision I'd have written that with it being paid DLC in mind but that's actually one of the few things I feel has been relatively consistent and commendable about SEGA when it comes to Sonic.

Second, I wouldn't mind paying for additional characters if the asking price was reasonable. I really wouldn't. 

[Strickerx5]

Well I'm going to place money on this being Ice Factory. That's the only place it really could be with that volcano in the background of one shot. Only one level in the franchise has that trait (even if it was stupidly never used in-game).

Not to mention the factory machines around the place.

 

As for the gameplay footage itself... gotta say, I'm still not impressed. Visually, everything looks like a damn downgrade from what we got with ASRT about 6 whole years ago. It's ridiculous honestly. Even the 60fps they're aiming for doesn't seem to be all there because this footage was choppy af like the E3 build. Not even the in-game character renders look good imo. By "Winter" they better mean March fucking 19th because this game doesn't look anywhere near where a current day cartoon racer should be.

In terms of the team mechanics, they're something that I'm still pretty iffy on but when compared to some of the negatives... they somehow came out ahead. Basically, there are enough interesting maneuvers here where I can say that this all could work. I'd still prefer a single racer mode as I know there are a lot of ways this could all fall apart thanks to some poor teammates but I am willing to give it a shot.

& Knuckles... man, what did they do to you? That ain't Travis. Here's hoping this was just an error in editing the trailer (they do have a history when it comes to Sonic trailers oddly enough) or a placeholder as I'd really hate to see Travis go... especially for this new voice. It's not good imo.

Oh yeah, and we've known about this game for about, what, 5 months now and have still only seen 2 stages in action (no I don't count CGI rooftop run (tho i do fear what this game's visuals are about to do to my baby))? dats some gud marketing rite der an't it

tbf they did just get off a press cycle for both a $5 dlc and a toaster so maybe we'll see things pick up soon

 

I know I'm coming off as pretty cynical here and I do apologize for that seeing as it's really the last thing this place needs. It's just... when I went into the year asking for a spin-off game that was with the mindset that they wouldn't trip over these basic things like limiting the roster to 15 flipping characters. I'm still excited to see what the story mode is like (the game even having one is still earning it points from me) and the online modes but really... looking at this next to the ASR series and even a bit of Riders... I expected a bit more. Hopefully my views can change as things progress.

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Strickerx5 said:

As for the gameplay footage itself... gotta say, I'm still not impressed. Visually, everything looks like a damn downgrade from what we got with ASRT about 6 whole years ago. It's ridiculous honestly. Even the 60fps they're aiming for doesn't seem to be all there because this footage was choppy af like the E3 build. Not even the in-game character renders look good imo. By "Winter" they better mean March fucking 19th because this game doesn't look anywhere near where a current day cartoon racer should be.

Does it really look that bad? I suppose I understand not liking the art-style, even if it's fleeting concern for me, but I'm not seeing the terribleness on display when it comes to the character renders and choppiness. Enough people have spoken about it though that I'm starting to feel like I'm missing something obvious.

1 hour ago, Strickerx5 said:

 I'd still prefer a single racer mode as I know there are a lot of ways this could all fall apart thanks to some poor teammates but I am willing to give it a shot.

The news that there is a mode where you can do single, traditional races hasn't reached everyone just yet it seems. Well, not to worry. You can do that. Unless all the reports we got about that turn out to be a lie but that seems unlikely at this point.

1 hour ago, Strickerx5 said:

& Knuckles... man, what did they do to you? That ain't Travis. Here's hoping this was just an error in editing the trailer (they do have a history when it comes to Sonic trailers oddly enough) or a placeholder as I'd really hate to see Travis go... especially for this new voice. It's not good imo.

We've also had plenty of footage of Travis in the game playing as Knuckles already. There's even a line from Travis later in this very trailer. This was just an oddly edited trailer. I don't know why they suck at editing trailers as much as they do but they do so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that a placeholder voice made its way in.

1 hour ago, Strickerx5 said:

I know I'm coming off as pretty cynical here and I do apologize for that seeing as it's really the last thing this place needs. It's just... when I went into the year asking for a spin-off game that was with the mindset that they wouldn't trip over these basic things like limiting the roster to 15 flipping characters. I'm still excited to see what the story mode is like (the game even having one is still earning it points from me) and the online modes but really... looking at this next to the ASR series and even a bit of Riders... I expected a bit more. Hopefully my views can change as things progress.

You know, despite being a story guy, I keep forgetting this game is going to have one. I keep going back to my disappointment regarding the 15 character roster. Probably because I'm just expecting it to be told through talking heads with text boxes. 

[Sega DogTagz]

Soo.... something positive. Oh! Look at this!

 

 

If I'm not mistaken, this stretch of road is our first hint of level born stage hazards. Unlike the footage we've seen of Wisp Circuit, this Ice level has at least this one instance of the stage being "alive" and creating unique threats to deal with racers - and is especially useful as it provided more of a challenge to those in the front of the pack. For a scond there I was worried they were ditching the hazards to make more of a straight forward racer. That would have been bad.

Due to the highly destructive nature of transformed stages, and the tendency to shake things up between laps with the land/air/sea approach, those levels needed less to feel alive and vibrant. STR will need to lean heavier on these stage specific gimmicks to help its stages stand out.

[Multikaris]

1 hour ago, Sega DogTagz said:

 

lol. I remember people around here for years offering up their firstborn for DLC character skins in the Solo-Sonic era

Sega has been pretty good on the free DLC front for a lot of their games. They even recently balked at the backlash over Super Sonic and made that free too. Then they went and put a super fair DLC price on Mania Plus. They have built up some trust and goodwill on that front.

I'm not worried about the DLC characters being a cash grab. That's the least of my concerns. We have sound blurbs all over the place labeling games like Overwatch as inspiration - so they very well could have intended to roll out characters over time all along.

 

....and quite honestly, I'd pay to get some of my favorite characters in on the action. I'd open my wallet.

People getting hyped over the smallest instances of them being playable, protesting for an all-Sonic racer, single-handedly cheering for Boom above everything else...

1 hour ago, Sean said:

>Sega doing DLC for a modern Sonic game

ahaha

Episode Shadow says hi.

[Tracker_TD]

1 hour ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

The news that there is a mode where you can do single, traditional races hasn't reached everyone just yet it seems. Well, not to worry. You can do that. Unless all the reports we got about that turn out to be a lie but that seems unlikely at this point

That’s all fine and dandy unless I want to like, play Adventure Mode. Or, I imagine, play Grand Prix. The single race mode is likely to be a basic Single Race, Exhibition option, so the rest of the game will still be encompassed in the shoddy gimmick.

5 minutes ago, Miragnarok said:

1 hour ago, Sean said:

 

Episode Shadow says hi

I would hardly qualify that as DLC when it was completely finished before the game was out, presumably as a desperate attempt to convince Shadow-deprived folks to buy the game. 

If there’s DLC, it’ll be paid. Super Sonic wasn’t made free because of backlash to paid DLC, he was made free because of backlash to making a series staple into paid DLC. Extra downloadable characters aren’t a series staple.

It does depress me somewhat that we’re already moving into “I wonder what ways SEGA will get me to fork over yet more cash on top of the game itself” though. As Polkadi said, it doesn’t really reflect well on the game.

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Tracker_TD said:

That’s all fine and dandy unless I want to like, play Adventure Mode. Or, I imagine, play Grand Prix. The single race mode is likely to be a basic Single Race, Exhibition option, so the rest of the game will still be encompassed in the shoddy gimmick.

I imagine so when it comes to Adventure Mode. Once that's beaten, I'll have a good handle on how the Team thing is and how good or bad it is. It doesn't really look bad from the footage I've seen honestly. I've actually been rather surprised by how much you're afforded when you get 1st place. It's still an understandable worry but it's not something I've grown too fearful of the more I've seen from the game. And honestly, unless I'm strictly going for the Adventure mode only, I don't see much of an issue so long as a single player mode exists. I'm not getting the sense that too much would be ruined on the front of the rest of the game but I don't have the rest of the game to look at in order to judge so I guess I'll wait.

I'm mostly just looking at it from the perspective of someone who's worried about playing single races alone or online. I figured that's where most of the meat and replayability would come in and be the biggest concern. 

1 hour ago, Tracker_TD said:

I would hardly qualify that as DLC when it was completely finished before the game was out, presumably as a desperate attempt to convince Shadow-deprived folks to buy the game. 

If there’s DLC, it’ll be paid. Super Sonic wasn’t made free because of backlash to paid DLC, he was made free because of backlash to making a series staple into paid DLC. Extra downloadable characters aren’t a series staple.

It does depress me somewhat that we’re already moving into “I wonder what ways SEGA will get me to fork over yet more cash on top of the game itself” though. As Polkadi said, it doesn’t really reflect well on the game.

Metal Sonic has been a downloadable character for these games in both the entrees before it. It's not a series staple but it's not entirely unheard of.  Also, I still don't feel like I've got enough evidence against them on this front to assume it'll be paid. The fact of the matter is, it hasn't been for the longest time. Episode Shadow was free, despite the hypothesis around its conception. Super Sonic started off free and was going to be paid for later, which is a weird thing to do with anything, even something as stupid and basic as Super Sonic, but it was still free at the start and it's free forever now. The game before it, Lost World, gave us two completely free downloadable levels in the Yoshi's Island and Legend of Zelda levels too.

There's more evidence to support it being free than it being paid, which is why I just assumed it'd be free. If it is paid, I'm cool with it should it be reasonable, but suspecting it'd be free isn't a long shot prediction. I'm just going by what it's usually been before. I'm not trying to defend them or anything. Perish the thought.

I also don't necessarily agree that having paid DLC is a bad thing or that it reflects badly on the game in anyway. It depends largely on what's being asked for, as well as the price, and the circumstances behind why it's being included.  

For example, Super Sonic would have been a ridiculous thing to expect people to pay 2 bucks for. It's an invincibility skin that's been a free unlockable since 2010. DLC characters, however, have been a thing and they mean more than just getting an invincible, Golden Sonic. 

Super Sonic's never been that impressive of a prize for me, free or not, but that's a different discussion entirely. 

I suppose this is an issue if you have problems with the concept of paid DLC on the face of it but most of my problems here just focus on the notion that they capped the roster at 15. I'd imagine that if DLC were to come, it'd be because of fan demand and backlash and be the result of an update that happened in the future. I don't expect them to have it ready at the game's launch or have it prepared. If they did, the circumstances would therefore be different and worthy of a bit more scorn.

[Sega DogTagz]

On top of those, Sega also uses DLC as pre-order bonus / Day 1 editions add ons. Forces had a bunch of that in the form of extra costumes for the avatar, and other recent Sega titles outside of Sonic have gone the same route. Sega dumps out freebee DLC by the truckload.

They seem to kick out more Free DLC than paid - and it doesn't seem to matter if its as small as a Sanic Shirt or as big as Extra Side missions in the new Valkyria Chronicles 4.

[superman43]

13 hours ago, Plasme said:

All Stars Racing Transformed came out in 2012, and this game looks worse in its character roster, track design, aesthetics, sound design, weapon design (the weapons themselves), forced team gimmicks and virtually every other aspect. It doesn't hold a candle to Mario Kart 8, it's obvious competitor, despite that game being 4 years old.

The game looks like it would be alright but somewhat uninspired if it came out in 2010, but it's woefully outdated by today's standards. It doesn't look good, it looks mediocre as fuck, the kind of game which any mascot would be thrown into.

Wonderful how Generations and ASRT came out in 2011 and 2012 respectively and Forces and TSR coming out 6 years after the respective "prequels" are looking bland, okay-ish and to some even mediocre or awful. I smell 60-63 in Metacritic, at most. And if that does not turn out to be a sign for Sonic Team to not follow the same steps, albeit being off in that, than nothing will be. And the future of Sonic will be... like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J4NJsmiS34

 

[Dr. Detective]

I'm one of those people who didn't like the way Colors or Generations looked when they came out. At the time I thought it was just because I had Unleashed to compare it to but I still have that opinion today even after Lost World and Forces. So I guess this is largely a personal taste issue as well.

[Marco9966]

I'm pretty excited for this game. It's been a long time since we got a Sonic-only racing game with a story.

[MetalSkulkBane]

1 hour ago, Marco9966 said:

I'm pretty excited for this game. It's been a long time since we got a Sonic-only racing game with a story.

True, but in the same way it's been long time since comic books made superhero on skis

Spoiler

It rarely works.

[Marco9966]

11 minutes ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

 

True, but in the same way it's been long time since comic books made superhero on skis

  Hide contents

It rarely works.

Sonic Riders worked.

[Marcello]

I have to agree that this doesn't look exciting. All the level and character choices have been boring besides the Chao team, which was just a lame choice to put them in over Cream. I really wish they could've have gone between eras. That would've been exciting for me in Sonic-only racer-

16 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

Sonic Riders worked.

[Marco9966]

2 minutes ago, Marcello said:

I have to agree that this doesn't look exciting. All the level and character choices have been boring besides the Chao team, which was just a lame choice to put them in over Cream. I really wish they could've have gone between eras. That would've been exciting for me in Sonic-only racer-

What's the issue with Riders? The gameplay was fun, and we had great worldbuilding and new lore with the Babylon Rogues, Extreme Gears, the Ancient Gear (its sequel was great too).

Quote

gone between eras

If you mean shoving Classic Sonic then it's the worst idea ever after the fiasco that was Sonic Forces, 1000x worse than Sonic 2006 story-wise.

If you mean just old levels without Classic Sonic then it's good.

[Marcello]

The gameplay was bad and the story and the new characters were dumb.

[Marco9966]

4 minutes ago, Marcello said:

The gameplay was bad and the story and the new characters were dumb.

These words could be said about any other game even S3&K and SA1. It's subjective.

[Marcello]

7 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

What's the issue with Riders? The gameplay was fun, and we had great worldbuilding and new lore with the Babylon Rogues, Extreme Gears, the Ancient Gear (its sequel was great too).

If you mean shoving Classic Sonic then it's the worst idea ever after the fiasco that was Sonic Forces, 1000x worse than Sonic 2006 story-wise.

If you mean just old levels without Classic Sonic then it's good.

No, I mean shoving Classic levels, Classic Sonic, Ray, Mighty, Nack, and co all in. This is not the worst idea ever. In fact, I think it may just be the greatest idea ever in the history of mankind.

3 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

Anybody could say the same thing about any other game even S3&K and SA1. It's subjective.

They could, but that wouldn't make Sonic Riders good.

[Marco9966]

1 minute ago, Marcello said:

No, I mean shoving Classic levels, Classic Sonic, Ray, Mighty, Nack, and co all in. This is not the worst idea ever. In fact, I think it may just be the greatest idea ever in the history of mankind.

That's what SEGA thought when they shoved Classic Sonic in Forces.

[Marcello]

Just now, Marco9966 said:

That's what SEGA thought when they shoved Classic Sonic in Forces.

Well, SEGA isn't as smart as me.