Megathread Sonic Frontiers (2022) | MT | General Discussion (DO NOT discuss leaks here please)

[Kuzu]

So we will probably not hear anything else about this game until E3 I'm assuming as per the usual Sonic cycle of marketing. 

[phobs]

So, regarding the voice in the trailer. According to this tweet of Japanese outlet, the voice we heard in the trailer belongs to Amy

 

[Blue Blood]

Sachiko Kawamura is the producer for Frontiers

Don't know who she is? She's worked on the art for the series ever since 3D Blast. She was director for the Chao systems in the Adventure games, art director for Unleashed, Generations and Lost World and senior art director for Forces. She's going to bring a very different perspective to the game. 

[VO.SUPER]

1 minute ago, phobs said:

So, regarding the voice in the trailer. According to this tweet of Japanese outlet, the voice we heard in the trailer belongs to Amy

 

Are they associated with SEGA? How would they know that's Amy's voice?

[D.H]

4 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

So we will probably not hear anything else about this game until E3 I'm assuming as per the usual Sonic cycle of marketing. 

Which would only be a few months after the movie comes out, which is looking very promising.

So SEGA will likely have the movie carry hype for the series during Q1 of 2022, while Frontiers carries everything else

[NoKaine]

You know how they had a big presentation and show with Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey for the movie trailer, and then went like "you've seen the movie trailer, now here's the game trailer!"?

That's it. That's the marketing cycle. The game will definitely ride on the hype of the movie, and it helps that the movie is getting a REALLY good reception.

[phobs]

3 minutes ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

Are they associated with SEGA? How would they know that's Amy's voice?

I mean it depends on what you define as "associated". Is Polygon associated with SEGA ? Polygon and the account that I linked are both independent game websites.

[VO.SUPER]

Just now, NoKaine said:

You know how they had a big presentation and show for the movie trailer, and then went like "you've seen the movie trailer, now here's the game trailer!"?

That's it. That's the marketing cycle. The game will definitely ride on the hype of the movie, and it helps that the movie is getting a REALLY good reception.

This is definitely going to be another Sonic Heroes in terms of casual appeal. That game got a huge boost from the premiere of Sonic X that year as well as the mountains of other goodies promoted through the year.

Let's hope it's not as contentious as Heroes...

[herefor1reason]

No loops but MAY have found a ramp at 0:52. It's hard to see, and it's at the end of some arches, but there's a clearer shot on the official website.

Here:

On the right, you can see what is clearly a ramp, preceded by a steep slope lined with arched ruins. I think there's a CHANCE this game might use momentum and/or rolling physics. A CHANCE. The other way I see it going is that all the roads you see are designed with the boost or something like it in mind, there's even a stone path leading to the arches in the trailer version of this location.

[VO.SUPER]

1 minute ago, herefor1reason said:

No loops but MAY have found a ramp at 0:52. It's hard to see, and it's at the end of some arches, but there's a clearer shot on the official website.

Here:

On the right, you can see what is clearly a ramp, preceded by a steep slope lined with arched ruins. I think there's a CHANCE this game might use momentum and/or rolling physics. A CHANCE. The other way I see it going is that all the roads you see are designed with the boost or something like it in mind, there's even a stone path leading to the arches in the trailer version of this location.

To me these look like a warp gate. Where you need to build enough speed to run through and activate them.

[McGroose]

Something I am a little worried about is that the game will end up being boring like Sonic Forces, but for slightly different reasons. 

In Forces, you ran in straight lines with absolutely nothing to do in a short amount of time. 

In this game, I'm worried that there's going to be so much open space that you can run in.... with absolutely nothing to do. And considering how fast Sonic is, I imagine it wouldn't take him long to get from point A to B in the maps we saw.

I've got a good feeling that I'll enjoy this game considerably more than Forces, but the bar isn't exactly being set very high there. 

[Enesephus]

So. the leaks really were true. Wasn't really expecting gameplay, so my biggest disappointment was just that we didn't get to see "ghost girl." Looks beautiful, though. Nice to see a AAA Sonic game again, and I'm loving the tone presented. Here's hoping the gameplay lives up.

[NoKaine]

2 minutes ago, McGroose said:

Something I am a little worried about is that the game will end up being boring like Sonic Forces, but for slightly different reasons. 

In Forces, you ran in straight lines with absolutely nothing to do in a short amount of time. 

In this game, I'm worried that there's going to be so much open space that you can run in.... with absolutely nothing to do. And considering how fast Sonic is, I imagine it wouldn't take him long to get from point A to B in the maps we saw.

I've got a good feeling that I'll enjoy this game considerably more than Forces, but the bar isn't exactly being set very high there. 

The world already looks condensed compared to most open worlds. 

From here you can already see like four different landmarks and terrain to play with:

Assuming that Sonic Team has yet to actually put the stuff in.

But moreover, one advantage Sonic has in an open world is that a really good movement system will do a lot to make the game enjoyable even if there isn't much content. 

Oh, you can climb that mountain. But what if you can trick ramp boost up that mountain? What if you can run on the water? And so on. 

[CertifiedNobody]

Well, it looks like Eggman is confirmed to be part of this game, at least in some form.

[Zoomzeta]

1 hour ago, NoKaine said:

The world already looks condensed compared to most open worlds. 

From here you can already see like four different landmarks and terrain to play with:

Assuming that Sonic Team has yet to actually put the stuff in.

But moreover, one advantage Sonic has in an open world is that a really good movement system will do a lot to make the game enjoyable even if there isn't much content. 

Oh, you can climb that mountain. But what if you can trick ramp boost up that mountain? What if you can run on the water? And so on. 

Oh that? It's normal for a lot of open world game trailers and screenshots to remove NPC's to give a clear view of the scenery without anything on the way. So don't read too much on that yet.

[CertifiedNobody]

 

 

[KHCast]

I wonder if Sonic’s friends, outside maybe Tails, are gonna be relegated to more or less their Generations roles as objectives to rescue, that don’t really add much to the plot after said rescuing. The story summary does say Sonic has to rescue them. I hope that’s not the case given Ian is on board…

[CertifiedNobody]

1 minute ago, KHCast said:

I wonder if Sonic’s friends, outside maybe Tails, are gonna be relegated to more or less their Generations roles as objectives to rescue, that don’t really add much to the plot after said rescuing. The story summary does say Sonic has to rescue them. I hope that’s not the case given Ian is on board…

I still think Knuckles will be important since they've been working with the movie crew long before either team had a script finished.

[CertifiedNobody]

 

Aaaaaand the leaks keep coming...

[Polkadi~☆]

I posted this in the trailer topic, but it's worth posting here too, as it's a prediction of the story based on the little details we have:

Sonic and friends visit Starfall Islands as part of a trip, just going out on an adventure. Eggman also happens to be there, wanting to test this mysterious SAGE on the island's mystical technology in it's ruins. This SAGE ends up taking over the island, capturing Sonic and his friends, maybe even Eggman himself, and entrapping them in the technology's cyberspace. Sonic manages to escape using his speed, but acquires mysterious new powers in the process surrounding the strange technology, including being able to hear the captured Amy (and maybe his other friends too) as a ghostly guide. It's Sonic's job to free his friends from cyberspace and break the SAGE's hold over the island, and the mysterious ruins around the island may hold the keys to stopping Eggman's plans.

[BadBehavior]

Place your bets on the final boss:

. This S.A.G.E AI

. Eggman in the Nega Wisp Armor again.

 

[CertifiedNobody]

4 hours ago, Polkadi~☆ said:

I posted this in the trailer topic, but it's worth posting here too, as it's a prediction of the story based on the little details we have:

Sonic and friends visit Starfall Islands as part of a trip, just going out on an adventure. Eggman also happens to be there, wanting to test this mysterious SAGE on the island's mystical technology in it's ruins. This SAGE ends up taking over the island, capturing Sonic and his friends, maybe even Eggman himself, and entrapping them in the technology's cyberspace. Sonic manages to escape using his speed, but acquires mysterious new powers in the process surrounding the strange technology, including being able to hear the captured Amy (and maybe his other friends too) as a ghostly guide. It's Sonic's job to free his friends from cyberspace and break the SAGE's hold over the island, and the mysterious ruins around the island may hold the keys to stopping Eggman's plans.

The ghost being Amy might just be an error, but we'll have to wait to be sure.

I'm almost certain that Sonic's friends will be playable in some form, even if only as DLC. Perhaps once he rescues each friend, you're able to play as them. It sounds hard to believe but we don't know how many are there, it could just be Amy, Tails, and Knuckles.

[Iko]

  As someone who didn't like Breath of the Wild, I'm not particularily happy with this game being basically a clone... but I'm sure I'll like this way more than the Zelda game for a couple of reasons:

-Platforming based Sonic levels/mini-challenges instead of shrines

-Sonic can move fast and has a fun set of abilities, so exploration is way less boring

Aside of that, the overall quality seems to be good for once, and I'm happy to hear that Sonic's friends are in the game, though I fear they won't be playable sadly (I hope at least Tails and Knuckles are though).

Regarding the characters, some random speculation:
 

Spoiler

It's a surprise that the voice is from Amy, and there's a chance that the rumored ghost girl does not even exist and was Amy all the way. Since they are the "Starfall IslandS" I think each friend of Sonic is trapped in a different island and you can hear the voice of each one depending of where you are.

Now, if the story is a about a them doing a trip for fun, I suspect that the set of friends is different than the one of Forces. Doubt Silver or Blaze will be part of the group, since there's time and space barriers holding them away, but who knows. Shadow might not be part of the group as well, and by extension Rouge, they don't seem like the type of characters who would join Sonic in a fun trip if there isn't a mission or something... but maybe Rouge might be there for different reasons (ancient ruins, relics/treasures to stole). The Chaotix might be there though, and so is Cream and/or Big. Realistically, I suppose the group of characters is something between the minimum of 4 (including Sonic) to the max of 8 (7 + Sonic, one friend for each emerald/isle assuming that this will be the structure of the game).

Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Vector, Charmy, Espio, Cream, Big

They are 9, so a couple of them are likely going to miss... are they going to get rid of Cream once again as usual (Omochao and 3 chao in a car!), or this time it will be Big? Will all of the Chaotix be there? Will the Chaotix be there at all? By logic, given the context, the ones with the least chance of appearing are Rouge and Big, but it might be anyone really.

I don't know, but I hope it's not just Tails, Knuckles and Amy once again.

Regardless, Shadow will likely appear in the game in some way, maybe as part of the rumored DLCs. Since there are powers like the spincycle and so, it would have been cool to have all the characters with "superpowers" (Shadow, Blaze, Silver) be playable and get different powers depending on their skills, but once again, I doubt Shadow would join Sonic in a fun trip, and I doubt Blaze and Silver would time-space travel only for fun.

Characters being kidnapped/trapped is a good sign for them being playable (games like Sonic Advance 2 let you unlock them after you save each one, and Generations while it did not have the friends playable, still had those small challenges where you could use tag-actions or play minigames with them), but I'm still concerned it's going to be Sonic only as usual. Some rumors talked about a shop under the ubisoft towers where you can buy skills: I hope Big the Cat runs the shop, it would be funny and I always wanted to see him running a shop into a more open-oriented game. Heck, it would even be fun to play as him and fish into every pound and water in the game lol.

They won't be there, but I partially hope Chao Gardens do exist in some form (and maybe Cream to be involved in them).

I couldn't care less of wisps, I'd even be happy if they don't even appear at all...

I'm not sure but there's a chance Tangle and/or Whisper might be introduced into the games' canon and be part of the group... but still a very low chance.

[Wraith]

I think it's more likely someone(maybe Ian?) just told them the ghost girl was a bad idea and that they should use the characters they already have instead. I'd bet Sonic's friends still don't really do much but at least this way they can fit some more conversations between them in. Fans have been wanting to see that.

[NoKaine]

I think people are overthinking the "ghost girl" thing.

It's entirely possible that there's a "ghost girl" and also Sonic's friends.