I want to elaborate my problems with this game and why it is far from a "9" like 1up/EGM says it is or even an "8". And boy this post is a doozy!
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The art design is inconsistant in quality. When I mean art design, I mean the visuals as a whole--2D, 3D models, etc. The overworld backgrounds and chapter title cards are great. There were some really nice touches in detail work in Metropolis, especially with the Genesis reference. The character and item illustrations are decent. However, the 3D models are terrible, and it is not because of the DS. They are just pretty ugly looking--the CGI cutscreens, battle backgrounds, some enemies, and especially the PC/NPC characters. Bioware should have went with 2D art all the way. Then again, the comic-like cutscene illustrations also look terrible. Why are we not getting the same high quality of art that was found in the chapter title bumps when it could
really benefited those cutscenes also?
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The sound as a whole is awful. From all the impressions I've read of this game before I had a chance to play it, this complaint is the most common. I mean, I have yet to encounter a person who likes the music in this game, as the quality of the soundtrack and the weird usage of sound effects are really bad as they said they were. It is also not the fault of the DS because
this,
this and
this an examples what the DS are able to produce. The only music that is actually decent are the battle themes as it actually sound multiple instuments were used along with a good sense of composition, as opposed to the dinky, 1 to 2 midi sound effects that are poorly composed renditions of some previous Sonic themes and orignal themes. They is really a huge discrepancy in quality between the battle themes and the rest of the music. It's as if the battle themes were the first music to be composed and tuned up and the rushed the rest of the music. The sound effects are also random. It's like they picked up the weirdest assortment of them from some cartoon sound effect collection and slapped them at some odd places such as using growling sounds for some enemy robots or turkey gobbling sounds for other enemies. It's just many of them are so out of place and it makes the game unintentionally funny at times.
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Certain aspects of the game mechanics are undefined or broken. This goes beyond the battle system. I'm refering to the leveling system, the status screen, the interface, etc. The leveling system is borked. At first, I thought it was a limiting leveling system that was similar to Lost Odyssey and the Suikoden games in which your characters gain less and less exp. the stronger your characters get in a effort to force the player to avoid grinding. It seems like that early on in the game, however you get an extremely ridiculous amount of experience points in the second half of the game compared to the first, so much that it is easier to gain several levels and to become overleveled in the later half of the game. I never felt the need to grind in this game since it was very easy, and I still felt too overpowered(and it became apparent at the last boss fights).
Aspects of the interface is also messed up such as not telling which item or attack gives to which effects to characters/enemies during battles. I mean it is very annoying trying to remember the effects/elemental properties/etc of 100+ items/POW moves during a battle in which there are certain moves that maybe to your advantage. Also, what is with battles when they tell you when the order your characters go, but not the enemy? There is a loss stategy aspect there.
About stats, the Attack and Defense stats were really confusing as it really should have labeled as Hit rate and Evasion respectively. There isn't anything that tells you how how much damage and defense your character has except for a vague description found in the characters' codex entry. Some may find that cute, I find it to be lazy and cheap programing. It's also annoying when I attempt to buy shoes and gloves for my characters. You don't know how strong this equipment is beyond the abstract "slight, moderate, and great" labels. So it's confusing when stores late in the game sells equipment that does slight damage or gives you slight protection. Why are stores selling you seemingly weak armor in the game and at a high price? Or is it not that weak, just weak compared to the other items in that particular store, and it is actually stronger than the moderate armor that was sold in a store or found in a treasure chest several chapters ago? Who knows, and it is probably the main reason why people complain that they are doing single digit damage to enemies or missing them completely. The game needs defined numbers for damage and attack for items and characters just like in the vast majority of RPGs.
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This game is ultra-linear and the atmosphere at times feels un-Sonic-like. Now, I've played a lot of JRPGs and many of them and not as open-ended as say...Oblivion. They usually has a set path to get to point A and B and that's fine. However, they also have diversions from the main game in the form of sidequests such as optional towns, extra dungeons, and bosses with the reward of an extra cutscene or two and mad loot. Sonic RPG hardly has this. I mean the secrets of this game is very scarce. There are no extra dungeons, and I've encoutered only one optional boss in this game. And the game is very linear to the point that there are several "points of no return" for this game so any exploration aspect or skill usage in this title isn't as fully realised as it should be.
As for the part that it feels un-Sonic like, well it does. Expecting to fight off classic enemies like Moto Bugs, Buzzbomers, or Crabmeats in a RPG setting? Too bad! You are fighting off generic animals, non-animal generic robots, and aliens! =D Yes there are aliens--that don't fit in a good Sonic motif, and are better used for an original RPG. This game feels even less Sonic than Super Mario RPG felt less classic Mario-ish. I should also say the atmosphere feels empty. Bioware created these nice backdrops and yet there are hardly any interaction with the NPCs, because there are hardly any NPCs there. I was hoping something like Central City to be more populous.
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This game in general feels abrupt and rushed. "What, that's it!?" Is what I exclaimed after I beat the game. I do remember reading a post on neogaf saying that it must be the ending you get if you play the ROM, which is a programing techinique enabled developers to put in nastly little things such as data erasure at the final boss in a pirated copy of Earthbound or only allowing the first hour of gameplay and reseting the game as found in a pirated copy of FF Crystal Chronicles :Ring of Fates--all is done to discourage piracy. But no, the retail copy has an abrupt ending and instead just of filling plot holes from previous games like Bioware said it would, it only creates new questions like many recent Sonic games' terrible plots. The ending is on the level of those Congratulations! screen at the end of those old-school arcade games from the early 80s', but this is like a "SCREW YOU!" and a punch to the face because I just played a RPG from 2008!
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At least the dialogue is good... Well, they made the characters really likeable or at least tolerable, and it is funny especially when you answer with the snarky response. However, again it seems unrealized such as there is no real game directed outcomes such as multiple endings or different development between characters. For example, Tales of Symphonia has a very basic character development system that you as Lloyd, reply to your allies responses that affects their relationship with Lloyd giving the characters various dialogue at the end of each battle. It also ultimately affects the ending of the game. Star Ocean 2 had something similar to that, and in addition the more any of you characters bond with another ally, that all will get a power boost when his or her bonded character falls in battle. Unfortunately this game doesn't have that. For example, even though I tell Tails to stop asking me to save the game, he doesn't stop, and he is not hesistantly telling me to save it even. It's just a missed opportunity here. I also would have like more interactions between different characters other than Sonic or without having Sonic being the center of discussions.
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The touch screen controls are...okay. I have to say that it hasn't surprassed or even matched the touch screen controls found in LoZ:Phantom Hourglass. I mean it is not bad, but they could be better. Maybe a small cursor such as the fairy in PH would solve some of the problem. Though having your character move and then touching an icon to do a certain action makes it feel cumblesome. This is somewhat solved with using the L or R buttons instead, but it is not as seemless as it should be. The battle touch scrren controls are passable, although there have been occasions where moves failed to register on my DS despite touching the screen. Speaking of battles, I'm not sure if this Ouendan/EBA system should be the way to got for a Sonic-based RPG. I guess it is not as bad as a straight up turn-based battle system without any timed attacks, but I was expecting something a little more...action-ly for Sonic.
Wow that was long! As you can see most of the bigger problems of the game has to do with the overall presentation which rushing a title and implimenting odd design choices can really screw up a game from becoming a classic. I mean I expected more quality from a supposedly premiere developer who are charging a premium price for this game, and yet, I see two remakes of 15+ year old RPGs on the DS programmed from outsourced parties that looks much more professional than Sonic Chronicles.
tl;dr: Balls were dropped, game is rushed, abritrary scores of 6 and 7's are about right, disappointmenton!
Owen Axel wrote:Well, when Bioware ported Mass Effect to PC, they did listen well enough to fix a few of the more irritating drawbacks of the game (like that goddamned elevator). At least they have the amazing superhuman ability to listen to feedback and fix the parts people complain about, instead of throwing away any good aspects they stumble upon and then dragging another brand new half-retarded gimmick into the mix like a certain other game company I might name.
So if I sign up on their boards, and post this response I won't be greeted by flames from the Sonic fandumb and Bioware knob-slobbers?
