News Sonic Frontiers Trailer

[Blue Blood]

3 minutes ago, Shaddy Zaphod said:

Some new world footage.

That's a lot of shadow pop-in. 

And much as I'm happy to see realism return, lol this looks like it could be ANYTHING except Sonic. Especially in that field with the dead trees, puddles and a dusting of snow. 

[Dr. Detective]

I see what people mean when talking about the model now. Yeah, that don't look great actually.

Still, not too worried about it just yet. I'll need more then a screenshot before I get swayed one way or another.

I'm looking at the landscapes on twitter though. They really do look gorgeous. 

As the story guy, I'm not too bothered by lack of gameplay. I just want to know more about the world, characters, writing, and story elements. We know a little bit but I need to get a better idea of how it'll make a cohesive whole.

Gameplay being fun is a must, of course, but it's always at it's most useful to me when it meshes well with the narrative and the adventure. I'll worry about that when I see it. That's just how I roll.

[VO.SUPER]

May as well wait and see. SEGA has given us new info, but I'd say only enough to warrant waiting. God, it's gonna be painful while we get teasers for Origins over the next few months in place of teasers for this.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

The level design looks more like they took notes from Defunct.

Which, might actually be a good start if it plays similar should they show gameplay.

[NoKaine]

Mori-moto directing is something that does gives me pause--I wonder how his strengths (and weaknesses) reflect in a drastically different gameplay style.

Lost World was all over the place. Forces I don't want to blame him too much since that seems like a very understaffed and undervalued game. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I'm still not really worried about the model debacle yet. It could be the Forces/LW model, and if it is, then it's really dumb, but I've seen games use placeholder/alpha/beta models before, so it could also just as easily be that.

The realism on the other hand is a double-edged sword. Not willing to go against it yet, but definitely wanna see more Sonic elements added.

[___]

I don't wanna go down the "this is still early, the final game will look better" rabbit hole like with Rise of Lyric or Forces. 

[GOAT]

This looks like a dream game! 

Also this has been one of the best days as a Sonic fan ever...

[Stasis]

Maybe they're making the locations more realistic so that it's a similar fit to the movie? 

[Celestia]

It's probably the same model but subtly altered...like they've been doing since Unleashed (they've had different polygon counts each time but I'm sure they haven't been recreating them entirely by scratch lol). Don't really understand the thought that it might be a placeholder because of this, not to mention I think the model itself looks fine.

I do understand the point that it stands out a bit too much but I don't really care about that lol...if they do end up updating the look of the characters I won't mind as long as the new look is good, but I just don't see that happening.

[Razule]

I know people have been complaining about reusing iconic locations, but I really hope the lesson they took wasn't to go all the way in the other direction and create a world that looks nothing like Sonic. They've done realistic locations before, of course. The Adventures, 06, Unleashed. But they always had a Sonic flair of some kind. Not as much in the hub worlds, perhaps, but the "open zone" is the majority of the game. Maybe they could've used a little checkered soil here and there. Or loops.

After so many fan games that take advantage of Sonic's style and tailor the world around it, I would've really liked if Sonic's first open world game looked like Sonic's, and not Link's. I'm actually a little floored Sonic in Unreal Engine is the direction they decided to take.

But there's no point in being disappointed the game is something it was never going to be. Not to mention this was leaked months ago. Hopefully, it has merits of its own.

[___]

There's not going to be any changes to the look of Sonic or the environment or the general style. Sonic games have never changed much between reveal and release. What you see is what you're getting.

[Dr. Detective]

Just now, Celestia said:

It's probably the same model but subtly altered...like they've been doing since Unleashed (they've had different polygon counts each time but I'm sure they haven't been recreating them entirely by scratch lol). Don't really understand the thought that it might be a placeholder because of this, not to mention I think the model itself looks fine.

I do understand the point that it stands out a bit too much but I don't really care about that lol...if they do end up updating the look of the characters I won't mind as long as the new look is good, but I just don't see that happening.

The characters truly are overdue for some kind of model update though. Or at least something that can take better advantage of them being cartoons. 

Though, the animation of this game is also yet to be seen.

A lot of stuff is yet to be seen.

[NoKaine]

1 minute ago, Gloved Frontiers said:

There's not going to be any changes to the look of Sonic or the environment or the general style. Sonic games have never changed much between reveal and release. What you see is what you're getting.

The game will likely look better, but if anyone's expecting any of this too look more cartoony / "Sonic-y"... actually, I don't think anyone is actually expecting that. Right?

[Wraith]

2 minutes ago, NoKaine said:

The game will likely look better, but if anyone's expecting any of this too look more cartoony / "Sonic-y"... actually, I don't think anyone is actually expecting that. Right?

This board begged for the exact opposite for like 7 years so I'd hope not

[RadicalLaRuby]

Another teaser, not surprised. It looks pretty, but generic (I honestly got unreal engine vibes). Good on Flynn for making it as writer, I should have known after seeing he wrote the encyclospeedia.

The general openness looks fine, I just hope we aren't going with even more Breath of the Wild trends. Aside from that...

Just. Give. Me. Gameplay.

[NoKaine]

Well, you know Sonic fans.

I do get the concern, though, but if it's going to look more cartoony, it's probably in that "cyberspace" stuff.

[Kuzu]

So judging by the blurb about the game's synopsis, this is going to be another solo-Sonic adventure where he has to help his useless sidekicks.

[NoKaine]

1 minute ago, Kuzu said:

So judging by the blurb about the game's synopsis, this is going to be another solo-Sonic adventure where he has to help his useless sidekicks.

As an entirely new gameplay style, I'll allow it.

Of course, they didn't become playable when the old entirely new gameplay style got established either, so.

[Celestia]

It would actually be pretty cool if the "proper" levels had a different art style. I'm surprised more games don't play with that sort of thing.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

I guess I better stop shitposting and get some thoughts out.

-Yes, the trailer was sparse and didn't really show much. I think the environments are pretty, and I like the nonlinear world design. That's not really a big deal to me, because the lack of substance at least did not condemn the game in any way.

-Morio Kishimoto has an inconsistent history. I love Colors and like Lost World, and Forces is, if nothing else, perfectly playable. I think it's not a great idea to judge based on his presence here, since this is a kind of game that just physically is not and can not be built in the way the games people complain about were. You cannot move through this world with Forces' controls. There is no blocky 2D platforming in a game that, as far as we know, has no 2D sections.

-That does not and should not for anyone confirm the game as amazing, but I think it's worth noting that an all or mostly 3D Sonic game with a different art style to Lost World and big open level design without blocky platforming and Ian Flynn writing is checking a lot of "Sonic fan demand" boxes and it's downright naive to dismiss it as more of the same we've been getting.

-What this trailer does do is confirm the first leak is at least somewhat true, and what that leak described was just inherently different from anything we've seen in the last several years. So I'm interested. I want to see what some of those "cyberspace" levels are.

-I am so happy to hear Ian Flynn is writing the game. I know he probably won't have 100% "do whatever you want" story control, but he can make Sonic's cast so endearing and won't give us any of the "cringe" moments from...well, the entire rest of the franchise up until this game.

-The anger over Sonic's model and pose is so hilariously dumb I hope they keep using them for every game just to piss you weirdos off

[Razule]

1 minute ago, Wraith said:

This board begged for the exact opposite for like 7 years so I'd hope not

Were people saying they wanted the exact opposite of Lost World? I could've sworn there was demand for a middle ground between realistic and cartoony.

[Cosmos Rogue]

I am deeply underwhelmed by the trailer. I just see nothing Sonic-y about what was shown. The world really does look like an open world Unreal Engine fan game, just with a AAA budget. So many elements of this series have lingered past their expiration date, and now Sonic himself looks out of place in his own game. If they really wanted to go with the realistic visual style, Sonic's appearance needed an overhaul to match.

Maybe the creative decisions we've been shown today will make sense once we see more of the game, especially gameplay. Until then I'm going to try to put Frontiers out of my mind.

I am glad Flynn is getting his shot to write one of the games finally.

[Wraith]

8 minutes ago, Razule said:

Were people saying they wanted the exact opposite of Lost World? I could've sworn there was demand for a middle ground between realistic and cartoony.

This, to me, honestly looks like SA1/2 with more realistic lighting and less having to rely on the "Island in the sky" stuff as a crutch, but maybe I'm missing something.

I'm not even saying you have to like it. I think this artstyle is a poor fit for an open world platformer for a lot of reasons, and while fidelity is high there's not a ton of interesting stuff grabbing me beyond that.

[Dr. Detective]

It really is fucking wild that these are both from the same game series.

I mean, I guess I understand anyone who might be worried it's too realistic or whatever but I can't lie to myself, I think it looks great so far. If we had to go to one extreme I'll shamelessly admit to preferring the more realistic one.

Most things with Sonic serve themselves better when sat in the middle but I do genuinely like the way Frontiers looks so far. At least, the one environment we seem to have been shown. Or maybe it's more than one? I don't know how these islands are going to work.

I did take notice that there was a screenshot of an area at night though. I'm going to be so excited if that means there's a night system here.