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Try and Predict What the Next Main Sonic Game Will Be Like


Detective Kaito

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2 hours ago, BaronGrackle said:

I guess, but it'll at least be something. Right now the Upcoming Games subforum is being monopolized by some racing spinoff.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

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I'm optimistic and I'll say the next game will be better.

I'm not sure it will be good, but better than forces, I'm pretty sure about that.

After Sonic 06 we got Unleashed that, regardless of the mixed opinions about the werehog and stuff, it was still a huge improvement over the previous game; and that change of direction was because of the complaints after Sonic 06.

Now they have failed hard again, and they will most likely change direction once again. The next 3D project will be influenced by Sonic Mania in some way... probably they will pay homage to the Adventure series similar to how Mania pays homage to the classics... maybe not that much, I mean, probably the game won't be filled with remixes of old zones from Sonic Adventure since old zones have been part of the complaints too (Green Hill, Chemical Plant).

This said it may still be bad or mediocre, just better than Forces at least, and that would be a first step already.

The point is, the Boost gameplay always had huge limitations, and without introducing gimmicks such as the wisps and the avatar, there's not much you can do with it without being repetitive. After the WOW effect is gone, the Boost formula is just a nice rollercoaster with little interaction.

They tried something different with Lost World, but it wasn't well recived, so they switched back to boost; now they'll try something even more different, with Mania as source of inspiration (since it has been a success), instead of Mario Galaxy. I think there is a chance that they will finally do something decent for once (and I don't even like Mania that much, it's just that I see more potential in bringing concepts from Classic Sonic to 3D Sonic than in copying Mario).

Spoiler

I'm an optimist, but I'm also a rallyist

chevrolet-sonic-rally-10.jpg

 

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17 hours ago, Iko said:

I'm optimistic and I'll say the next game will be better.

I'm not sure it will be good, but better than forces, I'm pretty sure about that.

After Sonic 06 we got Unleashed that, regardless of the mixed opinions about the werehog and stuff, it was still a huge improvement over the previous game; and that change of direction was because of the complaints after Sonic 06.

Now they have failed hard again, and they will most likely change direction once again. The next 3D project will be influenced by Sonic Mania in some way... probably they will pay homage to the Adventure series similar to how Mania pays homage to the classics... maybe not that much, I mean, probably the game won't be filled with remixes of old zones from Sonic Adventure since old zones have been part of the complaints too (Green Hill, Chemical Plant).

This said it may still be bad or mediocre, just better than Forces at least, and that would be a first step already.

The point is, the Boost gameplay always had huge limitations, and without introducing gimmicks such as the wisps and the avatar, there's not much you can do with it without being repetitive. After the WOW effect is gone, the Boost formula is just a nice rollercoaster with little interaction.

They tried something different with Lost World, but it wasn't well recived, so they switched back to boost; now they'll try something even more different, with Mania as source of inspiration (since it has been a success), instead of Mario Galaxy. I think there is a chance that they will finally do something decent for once (and I don't even like Mania that much, it's just that I see more potential in bringing concepts from Classic Sonic to 3D Sonic than in copying Mario).

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I'm an optimist, but I'm also a rallyist

chevrolet-sonic-rally-10.jpg

 

I want to believe, especially as how much like Unleashed was on the heels of Shadow AND 06, this game will be on the heels of Lost World AND Forces. But on the other hand, Rise of Lyric, the movie, the alternate media die-off in 2017, Sonic Runners’s lootbox problem... as opposed to things like Riders, Rush, and the debut of Ian Flynn. Maybe the game will be better received in light of all of that? 

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Oh, I'd love to play trough Sonic and the black Knight's levels in the Sonic Unleashed engine or something.
Dissapointing the fans haven't done that yet, considering I see Sonic adventure/ Unleashed/ Colors levels being imported everywhere.
Then again, with how "on rails" that game is, I suppose the collision detection has to be done from scratch, too many scripted events mudding things up and a ton of graphical glitches when you have full camera movement.


My prediction on the future, Sonic Team does tend to listen to critism and follow up on it. Just usually in a overblown and clumsy way that just causes problems in the other extreme. So most complaints about Sonic Forces is that it was too easy, too much boost, simplistic,  linair and short. So I'm expecting giant bloated confusing and convuluted levels.
Altough.... That's kinda Sonic Lost World, which was critised for being too slow, convuluted and having levels that go on too long. Err... So does that mean Sonic team will actually find a more comfortable middleground this time? That'd be nice.

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http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/05/takashi_iizuka_believes_the_blue_blur_has_turned_a_corner_following_the_release_of_sonic_mania

Friggin yes. Well, in any case I hope they keep focused on their victories, however big or small. I'm not a "only 2D" guy, I definitely want to see a great 3D game at some point. But I also want to see sonic have a series of great games so the series can actually have further investment. So while this means nothing about the next game, at least the head of "Sonic Team" recognizes what he has now because of Mania. These types of acknowledgements mean something important, in my view. It means that people are learning! Time to steer the ship back on course. 

If sonic games were to perform as forces did going forward both critically and commercially, I dont see sonic ever returning to being a big franchise with big releases again. So we really need to see a few mania level games in a row and that will only help the big 3D projects going forward, because they'll have more investment from the company and more goodwill from fans and the media.

 

...that said... I think the next game will again be a boost style game. If it is more akin to generations in design with a little more physics and nuance added, I can definitely be okay with that. I'd really prefer a true 3D platformer like Sonic Adventure (but much more polished obviously) but if Sonic Team has the ability to focus on something they have done well in the past and tune it a little more, then I'm okay with that too.

 

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8 minutes ago, UpCDownCLeftCRightC said:

These types of acknowledgements mean something important, in my view. It means that people are learning!

It's a start I guess but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Sonic Team's had any number of chances to learn, from their own mistakes, from older, better Sonic games, from games entirely separate from Sonic, but they haven't had much success with it. They've apologized before, they've promised to do better before, but they still fall short again and again. I wouldn't believe they've learned anything substantial from Mania until I see them put it into action.

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5 hours ago, Diogenes said:

It's a start I guess but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Sonic Team's had any number of chances to learn, from their own mistakes, from older, better Sonic games, from games entirely separate from Sonic, but they haven't had much success with it. They've apologized before, they've promised to do better before, but they still fall short again and again. I wouldn't believe they've learned anything substantial from Mania until I see them put it into action.

Well this isnt a "I'm sorry our games sucked, we'll do better" statement. Those can be ignored. Sonic Team has been saying that for a long time.

This is a "well, obviously we now see what worked and are happy with the success and we'll try to focus more on that" statement."

As you said, it's a start. I do think it's a good start. It can't be spelled out any more clearly what needs to be done and at the very least they see it! As a lifelong fan, this is music to my ears. I've spent years just wondering if they have any idea what actually works and why. This says on some level, the recognize the ingredients of success. So what comes next....we dont know. But we know...that they know what has worked. 

So I'll go off and play borderlands 3 and wait until next year to see what they're cooking.

 

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7 hours ago, UpCDownCLeftCRightC said:

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/05/takashi_iizuka_believes_the_blue_blur_has_turned_a_corner_following_the_release_of_sonic_mania

Friggin yes. Well, in any case I hope they keep focused on their victories, however big or small. I'm not a "only 2D" guy, I definitely want to see a great 3D game at some point. But I also want to see sonic have a series of great games so the series can actually have further investment. So while this means nothing about the next game, at least the head of "Sonic Team" recognizes what he has now because of Mania. These types of acknowledgements mean something important, in my view. It means that people are learning! Time to steer the ship back on course.

This fast? I mean, it's Sonic but....

Jokes aside, I talked about this (the next game being influenced by Mania's success) literally 3 posts above yours, and then the news comes out.

Let's see if they will develop a decent game for real this time.

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At this point, I'm not sure. I fully believe that Sonic Team has the ability to make a good Sonic game. They've done it in the past, and say what you will about Sonic Forces, they gave us a product that can be considered high quality from an appearance standpoint. What I doubt is that they'll have a good direction for the next game. Again, Sonic Forces is proof of that, since it tried to appeal to pretty much every fan (lighthearted story/dark story, classic/modern sonic, boost formula, OC character, new villain, etc.). They have traditionally answered the fans' desires with all of their games beyond Sonic Adventure, even if it has had flawed execution. If they keep up with that trend, then I have no clue what will happen since there is no consensus in the fanbase.

But if they decide to filter out the fans and try doing their own thing, free from the scrutiny of their rather demanding fanbase, then we might have a quality product. I think there should be a remake of Sonic Adventure, as remakes have so far done well commercially, the game has an obvious need to be updated, and it is riding high on nostalgia right now. Plus, it could serve to prove that Adventure still holds up well from a gameplay standpoint if they rerelease it without all the bugs and poor cinematics the original did. Most of all, there is a clear direction they should take with it--namely, just update it. 

So yeah, if Sonic Team can just make a clear direction rather than being pulled everywhere at once, I think they can do well with the next game.

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1 hour ago, Knight56 said:

At this point, I'm not sure. I fully believe that Sonic Team has the ability to make a good Sonic game. They've done it in the past, and say what you will about Sonic Forces, they gave us a product that can be considered high quality from an appearance standpoint. What I doubt is that they'll have a good direction for the next game. Again, Sonic Forces is proof of that, since it tried to appeal to pretty much every fan (lighthearted story/dark story, classic/modern sonic, boost formula, OC character, new villain, etc.). They have traditionally answered the fans' desires with all of their games beyond Sonic Adventure, even if it has had flawed execution. If they keep up with that trend, then I have no clue what will happen since there is no consensus in the fanbase.

But if they decide to filter out the fans and try doing their own thing, free from the scrutiny of their rather demanding fanbase, then we might have a quality product. I think there should be a remake of Sonic Adventure, as remakes have so far done well commercially, the game has an obvious need to be updated, and it is riding high on nostalgia right now. Plus, it could serve to prove that Adventure still holds up well from a gameplay standpoint if they rerelease it without all the bugs and poor cinematics the original did. Most of all, there is a clear direction they should take with it--namely, just update it. 

So yeah, if Sonic Team can just make a clear direction rather than being pulled everywhere at once, I think they can do well with the next game.

I agree with this.

The reason I doubt it will be adventure (even though I'd be very happy with that) is because Sonic Team has spent a lot of time and investment with the boost formula. They spent a few years developing the gameplay and lighting engine and then worked to "perfect" it. Even lost world used the same engine. Are they really going to start from scratch now without a Yuji naka around to help them build something like the original Adventure? Who is around that understands anything about the 3D platforming style of that game at all, much less how to update it and where to correct the bugs? Well Iizuka himself might, but hes in more of an advisory role these days.

If they remade that game now I think it would be based on their current engine...that I do not want. It breaks the spirit of the original game which is more open and expansive. If they'd like to stick to what they have I'd rather them just do another boost game with minor tweaks.

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I hate statements like these.
" Post-Mania, I feel the character, and the games, have really turned a corner, towards where we want it all to go. "

What does that even mean? What.About. Mania. has turned Sonic around a corner? The 2d gameplay? The emphesis on pure platforming? The retro aspect? Green Hill Zone? That it's classic Sonic? The fact it's lower budget, the fact it's made by a fan? I'm inclined to translate it to an empty "We like the fact Mania is successful and want the next game also to be successful" regardless of the WHY and HOW of it's succes.

But eh. It's just PR talk,  empty words that sound positive and hopeful. So just sit back and wait for the "this doesn't resemble Mania's qualities in any way, shape or form" reveal to send everyone in a panic next year.

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4 minutes ago, UpCDownCLeftCRightC said:

I agree with this.

The reason I doubt it will be adventure (even though I'd be very happy with that) is because Sonic Team has spent a lot of time and investment with the boost formula. They spent a few years developing the gameplay and lighting engine and then worked to "perfect" it. Even lost world used the same engine. Are they really going to start from scratch now without a Yuji naka around to help them build something like the original Adventure? Who is around that understands anything about the 3D platforming style of that game at all, much less how to update it and where to correct the bugs? Well Iizuka himself might, but hes in more of an advisory role these days.

If they remade that game now I think it would be based on their current engine...that I do not want. It breaks the spirit of the original game which is more open and expansive. If they'd like to stick to what they have I'd rather them just do another boost game with minor tweaks.

I agree; it would be a waste to start from scratch, and they should continue to improve the Boost formula if they can. But an Adventure remake could be a valid route if they bring back some old members of the team to make sure it stays true to the original. I have no idea how that would turn out, or if they can bring back the old guard, but if there's a chance they can, they should take it.

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I hope they ditch the Boost formula and return to the Adventure style of gameplay. The boost formula is extremely limiting 

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