Sonic Adventure topic

[Riverstone]

Hello everyone.

This topic is raise the most important question most of us are asking....

And let's get right into it: Why was the sonic adventure style game play scraped?

We're talking;

- physics

- level design

- speed,

- platforming

- adventuring,

- story line,

- inspirational music,

- classic-style references and new references.

I am sure we can all remember the first time we saw or played this game. It blew you off your seat. The graphics, the speed and the whole atmosphere was so new and yet familiar. Not only to the fans, but also to the critics.

Now without going on, have a look at the evidence for yourself:

http://www.gamerankings.com/dreamcast/198694-sonic-adventure/articles.html - (summary of reviews for Sonic Adventure Dreamcast)

It saddens me that this style has been abandoned when it was a proven success. I am not forgetting sonic adventure 2, because that game was awesome! The thing that makes sonic adventure stand out from SA2 though, is the deep emotional story and the variety of character game play. It was fun playing as Tails, Knuckles and Amy because it was not too much different from Sonic's controls.

I will add more of my opinion later (running out of time), Share your opinions instead

Edited September 29, 2009 by Riverstone

[lounge]

And let's get right into it: Why was the sonic adventure style game play scraped?

Cause the engine was extremely unbalanced, or so they said. Which is why they had start from scratch with SA2. It's also why SA2 was easier to port to gamecube, while SADX wasn't as easy.

The thing that makes sonic adventure stand out from SA2 though, is the deep emotional story and the variety of character game play.

I couldn't get into the story because of how bad the cutscenes were. I understand it, but they were just so awful. The other characters I didn't care for at all. As I was playing thru with Tails, Big, Amy and Gamma, I felt like I was wasting my time. I just went thru their levels as fast as I could, hoping I could just beat them so I could unlock last story... Knux I actually found to be a little fun.

I didn't play SA1 till the time Shadow's game came out. Honestly, I had more fun with Shadow the Hedgehog than SADX. It just got old for me. No multiplayer, and the extra missions were boring. I guess it was impressive on dreamcast, but not at all on GC. Still, the feeling of running around with sonic felt even better than SA2... I'll give it that. That's the one thing that's really missing in the new games.

Edited September 29, 2009 by lounge

[Indigo Rush]

Sonic Adventure is the best 3-dimensional Sonic in my book, and my opinion isn't going to change unless SEGA tops it with a newer and better game, which they have yet to do. SA2 came close, but it took out the "Adventure" by cutting most of the exploration and making the levels far more linear. Not cool, man. Not cool.

[JezMM]

- physics

Had them, but rarely (if ever) used in actual gameplay. Only time I've ever used physics in SA is having fun spin dashing up the hill in the station area of Mystic Ruins, towards the waterfall, and seeing how high I can jump from it.

- level design

Good for the most part, but kind of oddly paced at times. A lot of the levels were far too short too. You spend the majority of the story mode in the adventure field and watching bad cut-scenes.

- speed,

Where? Sorry, but if you want speed, Sonic Unleashed, and even Sonic Adventure 2, have SA1 absoloutely licked. The only speedy stage was the aptly named Speed Highway. The rest was more or less straight up platforming with zippers here and there.

- platforming

The platforming is great, I'll give Adventure that.

- adventuring,

Going from point A to B on a non-linear map isn't necessarily adventuring. A few puzzles shake it up, but most are stupidly easy or deceptively untelling (I was stuck for ages on Knuckles' statue finding for Lost World first time).

- story line,

As said, the story was fine, but the cut-scenes terribly animated. They use the kind of "set animations" that you normally only see in RPG games with scrolling text for dialogue. Those look horrible and unco-ordinated in a scripted cut-scene like SA's.

- inspirational music,

Yeah, I'll say the game had a great soundtrack. Though inspirational points are lost for most cut-scenes just using the Adventure field music, especially on Egg Carrier. There are a few other oddities as well such as Sonic and Tails' ending cut-scenes which bizarrely use the first one minute of the very same track that'll play over the credits.

- classic-style references and new references.

All Sonic games have that really.

As for why it scored so great? Standards were lower. If you got people to re-review Sonic Adventure now, it'd get terrible scores because it's aged so much.

"Well, surely all games would get terrible scores! They've all aged!"

Except they haven't. There are numerous examples of games released in the same year and earlier than Sonic Adventure which have all stood up to the test of time and recieved scores just as high as their original releases.

TL;DR - Sonic Adventure is a great game, but it is also certainly an overrated one, that has aged terribly and can now only be enjoyed by those who enjoyed it upon it's original release.

I love SA, but I played SA2 first and love that waaaaay more.

Edited September 29, 2009 by JezMM

[Crystal Kingfisher]

Excuse me for saying this, but I prefer SA2 over SA1. Don't get me wrong, SA1 is a great game, but SA2 is better IMO, and it's my favorite Sonic game. Gameplay is better, music is better, story is better, Chao Garden is better, etc. Plus there were no adventure fields.

That's just my opinion though. I respect everyone's opinion, but IMO SA2 is better.

[Cortez]

You have to take into consideration that this was Sonic's first ever 3D game (not counting a mini world in Sonic Jam, Sonic R and an unreleased Sonic X-Treme) so it gets bonus points for that reason alone. While it may not have stood the test of time unlike games like Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie ect the fact that it was ported with very little changes caused a massive dent in it's reputation, hence why a COMPLETE remake is so highly sought after. Besides, if you played SA2 before SA1 you obviously won't appreciate it as much as you would if you had played them in order; I played MGS4 before MGS1 and couldn't really see why its regarded so highly amongst fans. Though that applies to nearly every game with a sequel, if you play the sequel first the prequel won't be anywhere near as satisfying.

[Bubonic Bunny]

One thing people never give credit for when bashing the SA series is that it revived sonic! Sonic was on life support once the N64 came out. He use to be my video game idol but I almost forgot he existed till I saw screen shots of sonic adventure.

The game did make major changes, some people love and others hate but would you rather there be no more sonic? Some would say so now but back then everyone wanted to see him again!

My personal favorite was Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. It took what made sonic adventure great and made it better game play and story wise. The level design in particular is what stands out in my mind. It had terrific blend of speed, platforming, and challenge/puzzles. Along with the most replay value of any sonic game.

Something people always say about sonic is that he is about speed... this is true of course but in my opinion when they add to that it detracts from ALL the other categories. Sonic unleashed did what it did well but it felt like it was missing a lot and the challenge wasn't there. I could close my eyes and spam boost and get through a level. Felt almost like playing burn out 3 without racing against cars. Sonic adventure games of course were not like this.

All in all Sonic Adventure has helped more then it has hurt the series in more ways then I can list.

Edited September 29, 2009 by Bubonic Bunny

[Chooch]

When games like Sonic '06 and Sonic Unleashed exist it's hard to say that they entirely scrapped the Sonic Adventure formula in my opinion. As for my take on the original 3D Sonic game, I think I'll probably just copy/paste something I said on another message board to get my feelings across.

Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 are two really great games but certain aspects of Adventure 2 just make me prefer the original.

First thing I'd like to say is that I love how tight the controls are in Sonic Adventure 2. They were good in the original Adventure but I don't know, they just seem a lot better. I dig the somersault and a lot of the other character's new abilities a lot too. Multiplayer was a nice addition as well (although it could have been a lot better). My main gripe with the game is how linear it was.

Sonic Adventure was just that. A platforming adventure game with Sonic the Hedgehog as its main protagonist. Sonic Adventure 2, while still a great Sonic game, completely abandoned the whole 'adventure' aspect in favor of a more simple level-to-level style for the main story. There's also the fact that they completely took out the whole 'separate story' thing they had going on. I love playing as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, etc. but I'd like to be able to play as them when I want to. Not have to run through a Tails level when I want to play as Sonic, play as Sonic when I want to be Knuckles or any other combination of the three. It wasn't that big of a deal but it did put me off a little bit.

I guess you could say that I really liked being able to run around adventure fields and find hidden emblems, talk to townspeople or just run around like a crazy furry person like you could in Sonic Adventure and wish they didn't throw out that idea so soon after implementing it. Sure they did it in Sonic 06 and Sonic Unleashed but I can hardly say they did it as well. The original Adventure also had a better soundtrack.

So yeah. I love me some Sonic Adventure. Adventure 2 and Unleashed also, but Adventure a bit more.

Edited September 29, 2009 by Chooch

[Sean]

It seems to me that most of the love for this game comes from nostalgia. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's my favorite Sonic game for that very reason, as well as for a lot of decisions that I felt they did absolutely right. I loved the levels and screwing around with the physics, and the whole game is aesthetically pleasing.

Nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses aren't necessarily bad things in the least, and it's how people come up with games they love and decide which ones are their favorite. What matters most is how important the game is for you rather than all this objective technical analytical calculations that weigh the game's quality on a scale from 0 to 100.

[azoo]

SA1 was most definitely proof that Sega (at one point) knew how to do Sonic in 3D at least 90% correctly. Sure, the camera was messy in places, the physics were wonky, and the Spindash was spammable, but let's look at it this way:

Sonic Adventure was the first of it's kind. In my book, it's excused.

It was Sonic's first real step into 3D, and it was definitely a fantastic one. Everything had that genuine "Sonic-y" feel to it, and every character handled like a dream. Jumping could be done properly without needing a Jump Dash / Homing Attack to aid you (although it was there just-in-case), rolling was present and for the majority of the part working, and running felt natural and realistic. The game did contain a great balance of platforming and speed. And if you say "SA1's not fast", then yeah, it's not Unleashed-fast ('cause Sonic was never meant to go that fast), but if you know how to properly spam that Spindash, then you will get speed. =P

The only true flaw is that the levels are somewhat small and not nearly as explorable as the Genesis titles. However, this shouldn't be something to complain about, since stages got more and more linear from SA2-onward.

So yes, if anything, SA1 is near perfect gameplay-wise. Haters may hate and say "TEH STORY SUXS AND DER FACUL EXPRESSUNS ARE UGLEE", but it doesn't matter to me as long as I can press the Start Button, 'cause really, I don't play Sonic games for the storylines. ;D