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2022 - Amazing Year For Sonic


MetalSkulkBane

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I'm not gonna tell people how they should feel about something, and a lot of people out there probably do legitimately see Frontiers as a "step in the right direction" and are willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and be lenient with its shortcomings for the promise of something better.

I am not one of those people. You can call it cynicism, pessimism, or whatever, I don't care. While I will never say Frontiers is a bad game and I did (mostly) enjoy my time with it. When I see the same mistakes that have been present since 1998 that have yet to be addressed, its hard not to be a little jaded.

We've been promised a "step in the right direction" for years now and still have nothing to show for it. And its extra frustrating when other people are trying to convince you "its TOTALLY gonna be different this time bro" and try to downplay and trivialize your (very justified) feelings. 

It makes me less excited for the future and more content to just leave it alone and not speak about my feelings if I'm just gonna get accused of being a party pooper for not subscribing to the popular opinion.

 

So hey, I hope you guys continue riding the good will y'all got for this year. 

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It probably helps a lot more that we've come a long way since Sonic 06 (Rise of Lyric notwithstanding). Frontiers isn't perfect, but it's provided a number of things that have been asked for:

  • Larger open fields
  • Combat
  • Better written story

Yeah, it depends on who you ask, and it does repeat a number of issues that haven't been addressed. But having seen the worst in the past, I can't really be as cynical about it as previous entries.

It could be worse. And I'm not saying that to jinx it than I am acknowledging the usual trend. That said, it was a surprisingly well recieved entry for a Sonic game after previous missteps. Only thing to do now is wait and see whether it continues to go up or down.

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Just now, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

It probably helps a lot more that we've come a long way since Sonic 06 (Rise of Lyric notwithstanding). Frontiers isn't perfect, but it's provided a number of things that have been asked for:

  • Larger open fields
  • Combat
  • Better written story

Yeah, it depends on who you ask, and it does repeat a number of issues that haven't been addressed. But having seen the worst in the past, I can't really be as cynical about it as previous entries.

It could be worse. And I'm not saying that to jinx it than I am acknowledging the usual trend. That said, it was a surprisingly well recieved entry for a Sonic game after previous missteps. Only thing to do now is wait and see whether it continues to go up or down.

It also helps that aside from Free Riders, Sonic hadn't really had a truly terrible mainline game.

One can argue the likes of Lost World and Forces were mixed to fine, but they weren't necessarily terrible garbage. 

The people opting that the biggest issue was SEGA'S mishandling of Sonic Team and the brand as a whole, have definitely seen vindication. Seeing as how, starting with the first movie, the Sonic franchise has made keen improvements by hearing out the fans.

And what's noticeable is that this year especially, they've consistently put their money where their mouths were. Focusing on improvement, working and hiring more personnel, and even getting a team together, to maintain and re-establish the series' continuity. They've even tossed out some of their dumber mandates, for the better of the series. 

What's also appreciative is that they could've just lapped up the praise they've been getting and called it a day, but no. They acknowledge that there's still some ways to go, but they have a roadmap. One that's given the gaming community at large, an optimistic look for Sonic's future.

And most astonishing is how they're even continuing with Frontiers, to the point of even giving us the return of multiple playable characters. 

For all the good or bad, Sonic Team definitely have managed a level of more virtue with their audience and for good reason.

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11 hours ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

It probably helps a lot more that we've come a long way since Sonic 06 (Rise of Lyric notwithstanding). Frontiers isn't perfect, but it's provided a number of things that have been asked for:

  • Larger open fields
  • Combat
  • Better written story

Yeah, it depends on who you ask, and it does repeat a number of issues that haven't been addressed. But having seen the worst in the past, I can't really be as cynical about it as previous entries.

It could be worse. And I'm not saying that to jinx it than I am acknowledging the usual trend. That said, it was a surprisingly well recieved entry for a Sonic game after previous missteps. Only thing to do now is wait and see whether it continues to go up or down.

To me, its well recieved for the same reasons Colors was well recieved; it doesn't do anything offensively bad, but it doesn't do anything outstanding either. Because the bar for Sonic is such that simply not fucking up is itself an achievement. And that's reflected in the critical scores being mostly average while the fanbase are treating it as the next big thing.

And I'm not saying there weren't genuine improvements either; They made enemy and boss encounters somewhat engaging, and yes, the story is an improvement. But as @Blue Bloodsaid, its simply not up to the standards of a AAA game in 2022. Its not terrible and I can have a good time with it, but there's always gonna be a part of me that thinks "What if this game actually reached its full potential"

 

And wasted potential is always going to be one of my biggest frustrations with this franchise.

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21 minutes ago, Kuzu said:

To me, its well recieved for the same reasons Colors was well recieved; it doesn't do anything offensively bad, but it doesn't do anything outstanding either. Because the bar for Sonic is such that simply not fucking up is itself an achievement. And that's reflected in the critical scores being mostly average while the fanbase are treating it as the next big thing.

This entirely. Sonic doesn't have to do much for the fans to feel like they're winning. We've just had a year without any major fuck ups and some pleasant surprises. 

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I...don't agree with the sentiment that the great year for Sonic is simply the perception of easily pleased fans as the above opinion suggests. 

Now, if one isn't pleased with the year, that's fine, but it doesn't really negate the feelings of those, even beyond the fanbase. 

The sales and charting of the products definitely shows a massive uptick.

And, honestly, what critics state isn't the gospel. The main reason most people were concerned of the scores was because of how SEGA themselves perceive things and people didn't really want to see them just rearrange the wheel again, especially when we have such a promising formula at the moment.

There were definitely some critic scores beyond the threshold of the 7 too. And despite how much modern reviewing has spoiled us, 7 isn't even a bad, but actually pretty good score.

And that's really if we're just reducing it to just looming at the numbers and not the actual content of reviews either.

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2 hours ago, Kuzu said:

To me, its well recieved for the same reasons Colors was well recieved; it doesn't do anything offensively bad, but it doesn't do anything outstanding either. Because the bar for Sonic is such that simply not fucking up is itself an achievement. And that's reflected in the critical scores being mostly average while the fanbase are treating it as the next big thing.

To be honest, I keep seeing people bring up Colours as a example for what Frontiers is at the moment, but I really don't see that.

Colours was a different situation all together - it was a more or less fairly basic platformer that skinned by the fact that it decided not to do any absurdly idiotic gimmicks, and coasted by the fact that it was - on the surface - 'daytime Sonic stages without any stupid junk'. 

Except Colours was also more simplistically designed and nowhere on par with the kind of things seen in Unleashed's daytime stages. It skirted through on the basis that it was exactly what people literally wanted on the surface, which was daytime stages without the Werehog, and ignored the lack of story and much more simplistic design that came with it. I personally wouldn't even go far enough to say Colours is even bad, but Colours is safe. It's a game that's designed to very much just blanketly be basic 2D/3D Sonic, without the flair and level design Unleashed had, and as such - when the magic trick has worn off, it gets exposed for the basic but fine game it is.

Frontiers is a game that comparatively is trying to be much more ambitious and is trying a lot harder to be far more of a spectacle. It's anything but safe, other than the Cyberspace stages just attempting to be the back-up plan if Open-Zones fell through. There's a actual special spark to the movement tech and the way Sonic moves all throughout the worlds and the open-zones that gives it a very unique angle within the franchise, and it's already being well-explored with speedrunners and more testing the limits of what they can get away with. The boss fights, the story, the attempts to move characters forwards, the new movement, the new combat system. It was something brand spanking new that Sonic Team clearly had passion in, and a clear attempt to evolve and move the series in a new direction.

For that reason alone, I can see Frontiers being more fondly remembered both for what it was attempting to do, and both for what it did do that was new, and wasn't a safe tactic compared to Colours, which when the magic of a 'daytime only Sonic' worn off, was revealed as the incredibly short and rather basic platformer it was.

And even the claim that it's reflected in critical scores isn't even exactly true. The consensus for Frontiers amongst reviewers I saw at least wasn't that it's just a average game, it was that it was a good game that wasn't quite there yet to reach the exceptional mark, but was very much a excellent foundation and basis that could be built upon and expanded upon in the future. Like, I know the numbers system and all that has lost a lot of it's purpose, with many assuming anything less than a 8 is shit, but the whole idea of the 7 score is that it's well above average into the good territory, and 8 and above is great to perfect.

It's not like Colours where it was seen as just giving the crowd what they wanted, which was no conditions daytime Sonic, but an actual step into the future of the franchise, and something that could work if SEGA and Sonic Team give it the time, budget, and energy to improve upon it. That's not just fans, that was most reviewers who gave the game a decent review, so there's a pretty good reason why it's being treated as the next big thing.

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8 hours ago, Kuzu said:

To me, its well recieved for the same reasons Colors was well recieved; it doesn't do anything offensively bad, but it doesn't do anything outstanding either. Because the bar for Sonic is such that simply not fucking up is itself an achievement. And that's reflected in the critical scores being mostly average while the fanbase are treating it as the next big thing.

And I'm not saying there weren't genuine improvements either; They made enemy and boss encounters somewhat engaging, and yes, the story is an improvement. But as @Blue Bloodsaid, its simply not up to the standards of a AAA game in 2022. Its not terrible and I can have a good time with it, but there's always gonna be a part of me that thinks "What if this game actually reached its full potential"

And wasted potential is always going to be one of my biggest frustrations with this franchise.

Wasted potential is one of my biggest frustrations too. I’ve been harping about it for over a decade, going on two.

My thing is, however, is that I care more about whether it succeeds or fails more so than whether it lives to the AAA standards—which mean what exactly? High budgets and production values, over-reaching milestones, expensive marketing, and large team sizes to show how much effort was put into making the game? That in addition to flawed practices like crunch time that have yet to be improved and mitigated anyway? We’ve had that and still got mid-results in the past, and I’m not just talking about Sonic over this.

Frankly, I couldn’t care less about AAA standards as long as the game is well-polished and fun. Having said that, while there definitely areas where Frontiers should improve, I’m not seeing the same level of “meh” that usually comes with Sonic games outside the fandom or critics. The Sonic memes these days are more positive compared to the more negative memes of Sonic in the past.

Now it’s arguable if that trend will continue and the next game actually does stellar—we’ve seen this trend before, and I don’t blame anyone being skeptical about the future…but we’re not even there yet. Not saying you shouldn’t be skeptical, as by all means, it’ll make you pleasantly surprised when things turn out well like Frontiers did (or validate you in the event you’re right, either way, your sanity is saved).

But the way I see it, Frontiers hit more good marks than I expected it to. And given how it seems like a test bed of ideas, you can still look toward the future in wonder of what to expect while still keeping your expectations low. The reason it’s now being treated as the next big thing is because people have something to actually look forward to, as they haven’t had this much of a boost in years after the previous string of disappointments.

Call it a new cycle if you want—it certainly does seem like one—but Frontiers was a lot more riskier than the likes of Colors to the point it could’ve been the next Sonic 06 given how the initial reception of it before release was more mixed at best and probably negative at worst (and that’s just considering these forums alone).

Seriously, I went on record joking about Frontiers scoring a 9 (or even a 4 out of 5 equivalent) on a review—I wasn’t expecting it to actually get one, much less more than one. I was expecting the usual trashing of the game only to be surprised at how much this game actually met expectations, even though it didn’t exceed much (and I sure as shit didn’t expect reviewers like Yatzhee to not be as harsh as he usually is on Sonic and be on the same—albeit more critical—level I was with the game, his trolling “Tone” video notwithstanding).

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There are plenty of AAA games that have hit the mark; look at most of the recent big entries from Capcom. Both Devil May Cry 5 and Resdent Evil VII and VIII were both considered a return to form for the series and managed to push the series foward in a way that hasn't been done before. I may have some issues with God of War, but from what I've seen, it only built on the solid foundation established in the already well recieved 2018 game. If you want a platforming example? Bowser's Fury takes full advantage of its open world and its a side game along within a port.

I don't think its asking too much for a Sonic game to reach its full pontental in a way that other franchises are managing just fine. Especially after two entire decades of "decent" being the benchmark for this series. I'm tired of "decent" or "good enough" and being told by other Sonic fans that I should just accept that, I want something that's unironically great and exceptional. Something I can actually reccomend to people that aren't die hard Sonic fans.

 

I acknowledge that Frontiers is fine as a game, but I am tired of seeing mistakes that have yet to be corrected in this series.

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Meanwhile, Pokémon got reamed a new asshole by audiences for falling short while critics were more lenient. (Then again, I haven’t played since Gold and Silver because I’m tired of it’s formula, so my input is negligible on that)
 

I just couldn’t care less about it being a up to AAA standards—either the game is good and I like it or not, that’s it.

No one’s saying you can’t ask for Sonic to do better—quite frankly, Frontiers should have been better and next entries should take note of this and not slack.

But while it’s not jumping for joy levels of happiness, being “decent” and “good enough” is still worth being happy for. Because at the end of the day, we damn well could have gotten something much worse given a lot of folks weren’t initially looking forward to Frontiers at the beginning. And that too is something worth being proud of given this franchise’s tumultuous history of reception.

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I do share the sentiment that it's been quite an eventful year, and probably feels like an awesome time to be a Sonic fan if you like the attention.

But I'll side with the people that want to tamper down the feeling a little bit and raise awareness of the situation. It's not quite where it should be, and nothing has really shown that it will definitively get there yet.

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1 hour ago, CrownSlayer’s Shadow said:

Meanwhile, Pokémon got reamed a new asshole by audiences for falling short while critics were more lenient. (Then again, I haven’t played since Gold and Silver because I’m tired of it’s formula, so my input is negligible on that)

Honestly, there are a multitude of reasons that critics aren't necessarily seen as the objective means of judging a product. They're often moreso, a guage of things, and even that can easily get skewed for whatever reason.

LIke, for all the pedestals they get put on, people tend to forget that said critics are not infallible, and they're just as human as the players.

What's more, critical dissonance as well as the thoughts and feelings tend to change among the critics overtime too. What critics despise one decade will suddenly become amazing or misunderstood a later decade.

Though, like you said, Frontiers is one of those things that's more likely to be remembered fondly for the legit good it does, and has conducted for the franchise.

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Eventful year for sure. I just don't wanna get lost into thinking any of the stuff that happened was amazing. By Sonic's standards? Absolutely an above average year, but let's not forget the usual SEGA/ST shit that still permeated throughout the year. Terrible marketing for the big game, the way Origins was treated and how it ended up being a super basic collection (that still needs fixes) plus the delisting of all the other versions of those games...  The movie is fine, the comics are cool and Prime isn't terrible. At least, is what I've been told. Haven't watched the movie yet. And the series, well, IDK, maybe one day? Maybe one day I'll also dig Origins and Frontiers or read a comic. So what I'm saying is: yeah, I didn't actually got my hands into any Sonic stuff this year (except TSR when it was free on PS+). None really moved me, hyped me... Just... "Eh, cool, I guess? Maybe later".

All in all, yeah. Lots of not terrible Sonic stuff for a change, but still loooots of disappointments IMHO.

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I was pretty happy in this year. 2023 is obviously going to be weaker, but it still looks way more packed than the droughts we had before.

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18 minutes ago, Razule said:

It's the best year Sonic has had since 2020. But not counting years that had no games, it's the best year Sonic has had since 2011.

Why is it not just straight up the best year since 2011?

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23 minutes ago, Razule said:

The Sonic movie and the IDW comics. 

Even as someone who likes the first movie it was like a 6/10 vs the sequel that is a 9/10.

Even for the comics there were massive delays, and the comic started entering its slump at the epilogue of the Metal Virus arc that it would not begin to climb out of until Impostor Syndrome started and even then it still seems to be in it.

I would argue 2018 was better at least Mania Adventures started, Mania Plus started, and you could praise the comics starting then.

On 12/22/2022 at 11:36 AM, Blue Blood said:

This entirely. Sonic doesn't have to do much for the fans to feel like they're winning. We've just had a year without any major fuck ups and some pleasant surprises. 

How often do you see Sonic stories get praised just for giving a character plot significance and not ruining them? Penders and Pontaff dropped the ball hard and I am convinced for most Sonic fans they will praise basic competency in storytelling.

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Whether we are happy or not, it's a fact that this was a big year for Sonic, and I doubt it can be topped honestly, in terms of amount of content, popularity, Sonic feels really alive and kicking right now.

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7 hours ago, Red Hot Jack said:

Whether we are happy or not, it's a fact that this was a big year for Sonic, and I doubt it can be topped honestly, in terms of amount of content, popularity, Sonic feels really alive and kicking right now.

I agree.  I think that this year really revived the Sonic brand with all the TV shows, the movies and the games themselves.

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I honestly thought this year was pretty good Sonic frontiers turned out to be decent imo, sonic movie 2 was a good watch, Sonic prime is pretty good so far. The only sonic related thing I didn't like this year was origins.

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On 12/20/2022 at 12:59 PM, MetalSkulkBane said:

Not sure if this is worth a topic, but... man, what a fantastic year* for us. I mean, was there any year bigger? 2014 had a Boom initiative, 2010 gave us 4 separate console games and early 90s were general peak of Sonic popularity. But this year we had

Sonic the Movie 2
Sonic Frontiers
Sonic Prime
Tails Tube
and IDW reached 50th issue, with a miniseries and few specials.

I have some criticism, sure, but each project was handled with care and quality, that makes me more optimistic about the series than I was in years.

If there is one thing I hope from future (yes, that asterisk * was on purpose) it would be bigger focus on extended cast. I seen Tails or Amy in numerous projects, but Silver or Cream... they had 5 page story in IDW annual. I'm really hoping that this year was a baseline for future to expand. (Also Mania 2, come on!)

And what are your thoughts?

 

It is definitive a Interesting Time for Sonic Right now,

i find all this Stuff above great, sure is not everything perfect, I'm long ago be a Sonic Fan, but i can tell already is both from Quantity and Quality great. I'm very Exited about future Updates from Sonic Frontiers and new Content.

Sonic Frontiers feels really different from Sonic Games, from Story Wise and Game Play. But i miss Stuff like Chao Garden in Sonic Adventure Games and cold packet with more Side Qwest and other Mini Games. Also i find the Bosses should be more Challenging.

Sonic Prime,i initially don't expect too much, but this Show is a Great reference to Sonic Franchise as a Whole. I hope in Season 2 they will showing more of other Parts of the Shatterverse and extending the Cast.

I wish in term of Games and IDW they would extending the Cast and also making a Spin-off like Silver or Shadow.

(Sonic Frontiers Update next years, Sonic Movie Franchise including Spin-off and TV Shows, new Spin-off Games would be nice!)

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On 12/24/2022 at 4:02 PM, Jay_Senju said:

I honestly thought this year was pretty good Sonic frontiers turned out to be decent imo, sonic movie 2 was a good watch, Sonic prime is pretty good so far. The only sonic related thing I didn't like this year was origins.

What really did help is that this year saw pretty good synergy among the releases. Each project (and success) built up the overall hype and overall, they've all delivered.

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- Sonic Movie 2 = An Enjoyable romp, even moreso than the first one. 

- Sonic Origins = An Enjoyable, but overpriced collection of classics, with the best official versions finally playable on modern consoles at the slight cost of Sonic Team messing with the Taxman versions. 

- Sonic Frontiers = An Enjoyable 3D Modern Sonic game that has surpassed expectations and sold incredibly well? Who would have thought it possible? 

- Sonic Prime = An enjoyable Start to what promises to be an excellent new series.


I mean, by all media accounts… then yeah, I’d say it’s been a pretty damn good year overall for Sonic in my personal opinion. Let’s hope they keep it up. 

 

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