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What is your favorite type of Modern Sonic world?


Rowl

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Unlike with the Classic Series the world of the Modern series was never really consistent. Technically the modern era actually had (at least how I count them) 5 different incarnations of the years since SA.

1. The first type of world was the SA world. An alternative version to the earth but with fictional cities, semi-realistic-looking humans and also inhabited by a few anthropomorphic animals.

2. The second type world was the world of the Riders series, which was more of a futuristic looking fantasy world only inhabited by anthropomorphic animals it seems.

3. Than we had the 06 world, which was it's own unique fantasy world with more realistic looking humans, animals and environments.

4. The world from Unleashed is kinda like the world from SA, but more cartoony looking, again very close to the real earth with similar continents and cities and mostly inhabited by humans and some supernatural beings like ghosts. 

5. The fifth and last type of world is the current world since Colors I guess, which is technically a modern take on the Classic World. A colorful fantasy world similar to the once of Mario or Banjo-Kazooie, completely inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. I do not think that humans (besides Eggman) do exist in this world.  

Those are the 5 types of world that where used in the modern era if I did not forget one. Anyway my question is, which of those worlds is your favorite and which one should be the established canon world of the modern era?

My personally favorite world, is actually the Unleashed one. It is very colorful and reminds a lot of Pixar, which is my favorite CGI studio. But it doesn't really clash well with the more fantasy driven, action oriented image of Modern Sonic, their for I personally would go more with the fifth world, that was introduced in Colors or the one in Riders. The others world feel kinda like they belong into another game like Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts.

What do you think which world should be presented in the Modern Era games?

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My favorite style for that is "Archie Post-SGW" a.k.a. a big mix of all these, but rationalized by a coherent art-style and a "framework". It's not just me being an Archie fanboy again, but that I think that those universe work great when fused.

I like the idea of an "universe" (I mean that as a "narrative universe", basically it can be one world, two world, it's not really important) that contain a multitude of surprise, of narrative possibilities. For me more "earth-like" place (Unleashed, SA, 2006) can be depicted as part of the United Federations (or related to it), more cartoony place can be related to Mobians… It makes for me the universe feel bigger, full of possibilities. Especially if you can begin to play with the dissonances between the different place, and putting it in work in a story.

Thus, for me the problem is the lack of a common framework to make all these universe fit together. If there was one, it would work well, as you can't represent everything of a world with a Sonic-like game (they are too small), so the rest can be in part that aren't represented (the problem is more for elements that are supposed to be world-wide, like GUN).

That's why I'm interested in question like "two-world", of with the world created by Flynn for the second Archie continuity: both are framework that make the diversity/inconsistency of the Sonic universe work. One by creating two space that are linked by some kind of portal or whatever, the other by creating defined spaces inside one universe, in order to put elements from these "type of world" together.

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To be honest I consider Unleashed, Adventure and 2006 to be one style on a spectrum, with Unleashed being one end and 2006 being the other, with Adventure dead center.  I had no trouble considering these games (and their associated sequels etc if any) to all take place within the same universe.  Colours and Lost World were also fine since they were set off Earth anyway, and Forces practically solidifies the idea that Sonic's world contains both fantastical geometry/plantlife etc and places more similar to our own Earth within it.

 

But in terms of overall aesthetic and human-design, Unleashed and the boost games are definitely my favourite. 

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While we don't see much of it to judge from, I liked that Lost World actually presented Sonic's world as being about as surreal and stylized as the characters that are supposed to inhabit it. Looking back I feel like modern Sonic got off to a weird start, with SA going for a bit of a "Sonic...but in the real world!" vibe, and then never really backing away from that (except maybe for Heroes). Even after they scaled back from '06's "yes this is definitely Sonic in the actual real world" aesthetic with Unleashed, while it felt more like a world Sonic could exist in, it still didn't really feel like his world. Lost World may have gone a few notches further than was necessary, but I still appreciate that it tried to bring back the geometric shapes and patterns that gave the series a more unique visual identity.

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Honestly,  I kinda hesitate to find an answer since it seems like SEGA was actively avoiding Modern Sonic's actual world until Forces. The whole two worlds thing just made it more official/overt and even without that, the major locations were all human cities, nearby wilderness, a space amusement park made of other planets, and a floating continent that's technically above his world, but also still not it.

The only exceptions were seemingly Heroes, at least one of the Advances, Rush, and Generations, with Riders being more ambiguous aside from Zero Gravity, which also doesn't count.

 

I should also stress that, in terms of broad strokes, artstyle doesn't really matter too much compared to what's actually going on or intended.

18 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

While we don't see much of it to judge from, I liked that Lost World actually presented Sonic's world as being about as surreal and stylized as the characters that are supposed to inhabit it. Looking back I feel like modern Sonic got off to a weird start, with SA going for a bit of a "Sonic...but in the real world!" vibe, and then never really backing away from that (except maybe for Heroes). Even after they scaled back from '06's "yes this is definitely Sonic in the actual real world" aesthetic with Unleashed, while it felt more like a world Sonic could exist in, it still didn't really feel like his world. Lost World may have gone a few notches further than was necessary, I still appreciate that it tried to bring back the geometric shapes and patterns that gave the series a more unique visual identity.

Yeah, I actually really like that too.

It's just too bad that the game was polarizing and the Lost Hex itself doesn't have much in the way of a solid explanation for why it's separate and yet visually similar.

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I'd go for 4 + 5, I suppose.  Humans living in cities, animals and anthros living in the wilds, a few exceptions in either direction, and the whole thing being highly stylised.

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I think my issue with Lost World is that it lacked a creative... SOMETHING that Heroes and Forces did actually manage to get right for me in terms of realising the classic geometric stuff into 3D.  Lost World just felt very sterile, like you were running around on a toy set rather than a believable location.  The classics let you fill in the details with your mind, but somehow 3D visuals and big empty skyboxes don't lend themselves to that as much.  There needs to be a bit of detail to the visuals and connectivity between background and foreground when you put these sorts of locations into 3D if you want them to feel like places, and Heroes and Forces did that just fine.

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I'm going to pick the Lost World-Forces world presentation because I think it's where Sonic and the others fit better. Honestly, looking back at the previous games' visual styles it's weird how much Modern Sonic clashes with the environments around him, and in my opinion it didn't . I honestly think the style in Forces, even if it looks severely underdeveloped, is the best one just because Sonic looks like he belongs, Sonic Team just needs to develop this style in a more creative way besides Mario tropes, Green Hill and grey metallic fortresses.

 

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By default I kind of consider Unleashed's world to be the actual one. That's a headcanon that hard to shake off since it feels like the most complete picture out there. It also literally feels like the one I most explored. I just assume that all the other areas from previous games were littered either around or within those countries. 

It feels like an acceptable exaggeration of our world that could also house areas like Green Hill and Casino Park as well as be a place where anthros and humans can co-exist.

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38 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

By default I kind of consider Unleashed's world to be the actual one. That's a headcanon that hard to shake off since it feels like the most complete picture out there. It also literally feels like the one I most explored. I just assume that all the other areas from previous games were littered either around or within those countries. 

It feels like an acceptable exaggeration of our world that could also house areas like Green Hill and Casino Park as well as be a place where anthros and humans can co-exist.

So, Archie?

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12 hours ago, Rowl said:

Unlike with the Classic Series the world of the Modern series were never really consistent. Technically the modern era actually had (at least how I count them) 5 different presentations of the years since SA.

1. The first type of world was the SA world. An alternative version to the earth but with fictional cities, semi-realistic-looking humans and also inhabited by a few anthropomorphic animals.

2. The second type world was the world of the Riders series, who was more of a futuristic looking fantasy world only inhabited by anthropomorphic animals it seems.

3. Than we had the 06 type of world, which was it's own unique fantasy world with more realistic looking humans, animals and environments.

4. The world from Unleashed is kinda like the world from SA, but  more cartoony looking, again very close to the real earth with similar continents and mostly inhabited by humans and soem other supernatural beings like ghosts. 

5. The fifth and last type of world is the current world since Colors I guess, which is technically a modern take on the Classic World. A colorful fantasy world similar to the once of Mario or Banjo-Kazooie, completely inhabited by anthropomorphic  animals. I do not think that humans (besides Eggman) do exist in this world.  

Those are the 5 types of world that where used in the modern era if I did not forget one. Anyway my question is, which of those worlds is your favorite and which one should be the established canon world of the modern era?

My personally favorite world, is actually the Unleashed one. It is very colorful and reminds a lot of Pixar, which is my favorite CGI studio. But it doesn't really clash well with the more fantasy driven, action oriented image of Modern Sonic, their for I personally would go more with the fifth world, that was introduced in Colors or the one in Riders. The others world feel kind alike they belong into others game like Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts.

What do you think which world should be presented in the Modern Era games?

I’d consider Forces and IDW to be a sixth world, with some degree of urbanization and less extremely odd locations. 

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For all of Forces problems I actually enjoyed the world aesthetic for the most part. If you were to mix it with Unleashed I'd probably be happy for the most part.

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