News Ian Flynn to pen the story for "Sonic Frontiers"

[KoDaiko]

8 minutes ago, Ryannumber1Santa said:

Depends on the game. Lost World's plotline for example, IIRC was created entirely by Potac and Graff.

Just now, Blue Blood said:

I'm pretty sure that with Lost World they were given a vague outline by ST, most importantly including the Deadly Six, and they had to build on that framework. I think that they may have been the ones to push for Orbot and Cubot to come back as well? ST didn't want them, but the writers insisted because they (unfortunately) proved so popular in Colours. They had more freedom with SLW than the other games, but it was still a case of ST getting them to write the story that they asked for. 

Writing the story is probably approached different from game to game. It wasn't a priority for Colours, Generations and Lost World, for example. It was quite manageable to give an outline and ask Warren and Graff just to come up with the dialogue. I'd guess that with the way Frontiers looks to be handling its world and story, the story was planned out very early on. Flynn has probably been involved almost since the word "go". 

Ah, ok. Thanks for the input. Whatever amount of control there is, I'm sure having a new member (having a long good history with Sonic) in the team is an improvement. Hopefully Ian gets enough freedom to make it good.

And in the extreme low, low chance it sucks....well we have an answer to how Ian writing a game would turn out.

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

11 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

Flynn has probably been involved almost since the word "go". 

I honestly imagine this being the case, assuming that the Sonic Team connection with the IDW staff has been the same as the initial arc in IDW, I could see a scenario where SEGA/ST provided the concepts for what they wanted to tackle, and Ian built his story around it. It would also explain why Evan took up most of the writing duties in Year 3...

[Dr. Detective]

Yeah man. I've... really just been handed a ton of stuff I've wanted on a plate today. I should be bouncing off the walls but I'm so strangely calm. It's like I've reached some sort of enlightenment or something.

One thing's for sure, Ian's podcast is about to get triple the amount of questions. I do not envy Kyle's job of sorting through the mess that's coming their way. 

[Kuzu]

We're about to get the best versions of Eggman and I'm fucking so happy about that. 

[___]

This is great news I think. I'm not familiar much with the comics, but I can tell they tell stores and build lore far above the games. Really excited to see how that side of things turns out.

I'm not even that surprised. It kind of ties into a theory that I've had in my head for a while.

[Razule]

1 hour ago, Ryannumber1Santa said:

It would also explain why Evan took up most of the writing duties in Year 3...

And here I was starting to think he was preparing to bounce from Sonic because of that. This is the preferred outcome.

[MetalSkulkBane]

"Flynn writes game."

That feeling when 3 words get you 1000 times more hyped up than expensive 3D trailer.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Unless you misspell the first word.

[Red Hot Jack]

I can't believe it. It's finally happening, it took so long but maaaan, it's really the best time to have him on board, it lines up perfectly so far, it's this ambitious Sonic game with a grand majestic vibe, with beautiful environments and ominous threats. And freaking Ian is writing it. 

If it wasn't obvious the man deserves it.

This is like the anti-reaction & announcement to Morio Kishimoto directing the game...

[King Conne]

I really hope an ancient civilization will be discovered and that there will be survivors (echidnas or animal species)!!...
 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

I'm really happy for Ian! It gives me hope for a decent story.

[VO.SUPER]

What I like about Flynn is that he always tries to pull something from the past. He's not a scored earth author, so barring whatever SEGA wants, he'll try his best to respect what came before.

[BubbleButt TV]

I'll admit I never kept up with the comics but I constantly hear about how respected Ian Flynn's writing is

I look forward to seeing it in action! This game is definitely going for a grand story

[GentlemanX]

So excited and happy for Ian, this is huge for him and he more than deserves the opportunity to work on this. It's obviously way too early to tell how much creative input he had on the overall plot or if he's more bringing Sega's plans to life like was the case in the Forces comics. At the very least, I'm confident for now he'd be in charge of the game's script and localization, which is sure to be a major step up from Pontac and Graff were. One of my favorite parts of Ian's Sonic writing is his mastery over character dialogue, so we should hopefully get some really great lines in here.

I'm excited from the blurb we've got. The Starfall Islands seem like a much more interesting location than what we've gotten for the past decade's worth of games - at least to me. Bringing back the "Eggman underestimates mysterious thing" plot is something I welcome. I understand it wore out its welcome from regular use between 1998 to 2008, but barring the possible exception of Lost World we've been on the other end of the spectrum for roughly the same amount of time. We've had confirmations that Tails and Amy at least are in the game, so hopefully they have roles to play in the story to at least some degree, even if I think it's clear they aren't going to be playable (which I'm fine with for this entry - it's a new style and they're probably still experimenting with it).

Overall, optimistic for now regarding the game's story; they've got the pieces in place at least.

[KingMario05]

Frontiers hasn't really impressed me so far... but I'm still hyped as FUCK for this! Congrats on Ian for getting the job, and here's hoping we can finally get our characters (including my man Tails!) back on track for good.

[Kazhnuz]

"Sonic, I found that 1000 y.o. USB key and put it on my hyper advanced killer AI, and things got wrong !"

Eggman is now officially your grandpa with seven internet explorer bar on his Giant Death Robot.

 

More seriously, the plot looks simple but nice. Curious to see how Flynn will handle it, especially with the overworld settings.

 

Spoiler

I still wonder if Flynns "knowing things" about the CE is related to the story, especially now that we know he is writing it. I mean... Starfall Islands. Who know what is that Star that fell ? /speculations

 

[King Conne]

Ancient civilizations are my favourite part of the SONIC lore : I found them absolutely fascinating!!...
I still remember when I played SONIC ADVENTURE for the first time : suddenly, I was transported into the past and in my head, I was saying : "No, no, it's not possible!!..." then Tikal a nd the Knuckles Clan appeared!!...
SONIC BATTLE fascinated me too with its many references to the fourth Great Civilization then five years later SONIC CHRONICLES appeared and it was a dream come true (even if Ken Penders has killed my dream since)... I knew the game was going to talk about echidnas because, even if Shade had her helmet and suit, I saw on the official artwork she had an echdna tail!!...
And I love the legend of Babylon Garden, the Story Book series (Arabian Nights and the Arthurian world), the Black Arms and their ancient temples / vessels, and so on!!...

So I really want Ian to write great things about the (possibly brand new) ancient civilization of SONIC FRONTIERS!!...
I will be very disappointed if it was a mecha civilization, I want to see animals (echidnas or a new species), I'd like Sonic to meet some survivors of this ancient civilization... and maybe they could have links with other ancient civilization (probably not the Fourth because of Ken Penders) and use some artefacts other civilization also used : for instance, I love what Ian Flynn did when he re-used the Mystic Melody from SA2 in Archie Comics with the Eusebes Shrine and Razor the Sark's civilization!!...

In short, I want Ian Flynn to make me dream very much because SONIC is my favourite fictional universe and I love its ancient civilizations!!...

Never forget the fascinating expression "the Fourth Great Civilization" : It means there are at least three other civilizations for us SONIC fans to discover (or two if the Knuckles Clan is considered one of the third ones)... that's a brillant promise for unforgettable adventures!!...
(For instance, I'm sure there is a good story to be written to explain who were the creators of Ocean Palace seen in SONIC HEROES and other games...)

[Multikaris]

This is pretty good news. But first, is the story being co-written with Kishimoto or anyone else?

[Kazhnuz]

5 hours ago, Snowikaris said:

This is pretty good news. But first, is the story being co-written with Kishimoto or anyone else?

Kishimoto never wrote any story, he is more a game designer (and in interview, he talked mostly of gameplay).

Now the "story" will certainly be started by someone from the Sonic Team (maybe Toyoda ?), as if the game is an openworld, the work will be more to create a narrative design more than just a story. Maybe the producer will have some control over the story, but she was more an art director before, so IDK (but again, neither Toyoda nor Maekawa were story-writer to begin with, so...)

[Detective Kaito]

So Pontaff basically had three different roles in Colors, Lost World, and Forces AFAIK.

In Colors, they just wrote the script cause the story was already decided by the time they joined.

In Lost World, they apparently straight up wrote the story and script.

In Forces, they localized the Japanese script into English.

Ian Flynn's role could be any of these three, but either way I'm not getting my hopes up too much. I gave up on a Sonic story being good (or at least enjoyable) years ago. I can live with a bad story if the gameplay is good though.

[8ther]

Who wrote the stories to Colors and Forces?

[Blue Blood]

10 hours ago, 8ther said:

Who wrote the stories to Colors and Forces?

Forgive me for asking, but is this a serious question? Only it's been discussed on this board so much at length and mentioned in this thread too. I'm genuinely surprised to hear that someone doesn't know who wrote the English versions of these games. 

Colours was written by Ken Pontac and Warren Graff, with the Japanese localisation version written by Yasushi Ohtake. Colours was written in English first, which was unusual for Sonic games at the time. Whilst we don't have all the specifics, I think it's generally understood that Sonic Team gave Pontac and Graff an outline and they had to work from there. 

Forces was written in Japanese first by Makoto Goya and in English was localised by Ken Pontac and Warren Graff again. Again, we don't really know the specifics of the writing process. Basically, Pontac and Graff were the lead writers for all the Sonic games from Colours through to TSR, including the 3DS Boom games (but not Rise of Lyric). 

[SkyHorizon]

On 12/12/2021 at 2:51 PM, Detective Kaito said:

I can live with a bad story if the gameplay is good though.

I think the odds are towards the opposite...  

[batson]

As a Sonic nerd, it's quite a dream to know that the Sonic games are now written by a fellow Sonic nerd, in other words someone who actually cares about the series.

Though speaking as someone with a very limited familiarity with Flynn's work, I wanna ask those of you with more familiarity this; is there any Sonic character that he isn't all that good at writing? Or, perhapes rather, that he writes in a way that many fans of that character might dislike? Like, does he have a weakness for stupid Knuckles, psycho Amy, try-hard edgelord Shadow or anything like that? Or is there a character that he seems to personally dislike?

I'm sorry about going all Mr Pessimistic Pissy Pants over here, but I'm just genuinly curious to know.

[Kuzu]

58 minutes ago, batson said:

As a Sonic nerd, it's quite a dream to know that the Sonic games are now written by a fellow Sonic nerd, in other words someone who actually cares about the series.

Though speaking as someone with a very limited familiarity with Flynn's work, I wanna ask those of you with more familiarity this; is there any Sonic character that he isn't all that good at writing? Or, perhapes rather, that he writes in a way that many fans of that character might dislike? Like, does he have a weakness for stupid Knuckles, psycho Amy, try-hard edgelord Shadow or anything like that? Or is there a character that he seems to personally dislike?

I'm sorry about going all Mr Pessimistic Pissy Pants over here, but I'm just genuinly curious to know.

Flynn gas gone on record saying that he gives it his all for every character, even the ones he's not too fond of. In that case, he just tries to find something that works and play to it.

Id say he doesn't have any particular biases, as he's generally pretty good at using any character based on how fans perceive them, particular from the Adventure era.

 

The only character he might have a slight bias towards are Knuckles and Shadow, and that's subjective and only based on the fact that they had more focal arcs than anyone else between his run post and pre reboot.