"Sonic Chronicles" trademarked by Sega

[Forza Johnman]

Just a quick question: Is it somehow possible to choose a character other than Sonic to use in the conversations where you get to choose between several replies? Iv'e only gotten to the very begining of the second chapter, but so far only Sonic have ben able to make use of the multiple reply funktion (and also, it seems that whatever character im playing with, all the characters i meet will react as if im playing with Sonic. You know, like, im walking around with Tails and suddenly some GUN-trooper guy goes "Hey, Sonic! It's that you Sonic? It is! Its Sonic!" and then Sonic is the one who answers while Tails just shut the hell up). Have i missed some very fundametal function in the game that lets you select what character will be the "primary" character or something? Or am i just making myself look like a fooltard by asking this? (im pretty sure its the latter, but not sure enough not to ask).

As far as the multiple replies go, its always Sonic talking. With the characters who you choose occasionally making little comments in conversations. Sonic is always in the party. Except for the two times the teams split up.

[Locit]

Dear everyone,
How the FUCK do I kill Ix on Angel Island.
Sincerely,
locit

[DBurraki]

Depends who you have on your team. If you have support characters, use one of their pow moves to put a status condition on him, or to buff your own characters. Try spamming yourself with buff items too like rock salt and etc if you have them.

Personally I had no problem with him and didn't have to do any of this, but if you're having problems that's my suggestion.

[Ritz]

You've got Cream, right? Cream is indispensable. Keep her in your party at all times and just abuse her Refresh technique every other turn, and that's about all you really need to get through the game. If you don't have her, you should probably just start the whole game over.

[Dr. Watson]

Just one more question: If you get different conversations depending on what characters you currently have on your team, then what happends if you choose to not include a storywise really important character like Tails (important cause he is always the one to explain technological things and, well, things in general)? Does that mean some other character takes over his role in those conversations? So that Big has to explain how a transmiter works or something?

[Locit]

You've got Cream, right? Cream is indispensable. Keep her in your party at all times and just abuse her Refresh technique every other turn, and that's about all you really need to get through the game.

I think I'm going with this. I'm out of healing items, so Cream really sounds like the best option. I hate that the secondary enemies respawn, though. Their little light-dagger-things suck!

[Ritz]

Just one more question: If you get different conversations depending on what characters you currently have on your team, then what happends if you choose to not include a storywise really important character like Tails (important cause he is always the one to explain technological things and, well, things in general)? Does that mean some other character takes over his role in those conversations? So that Big has to explain how a transmiter works or something?

Generally, they just speak up whenever necessary, regardless of whether or not they're in your party. The secondary characters are pitifully inconsequential and rarely say anything at all- I only remember Cream ever having spoken one line after she initially joined ("What's the matter, Mr. Sonic?"), and Omega never says anything. We've already established Big's importance.

[Locit]

So... Cream is cheap. Awesome cheap.

[Dasher]

So was Eggman a playable character?

[Ritz]

For a while.

[Dasher]

Well I suppose that's fine then.

[Adamis]

You've got Cream, right? Cream is indispensable. Keep her in your party at all times and just abuse her Refresh technique every other turn, and that's about all you really need to get through the game. If you don't have her, you should probably just start the whole game over.

I've finished the whole game without her (because I don't like Cream that much) except for the last chapter.

[Ritz]

Your loss!

[Adamis]

Not really, the game isn't that hard without her, I had only one game over and it was at the beginning (getting used to it...).

[Ngangbius]

So, I finally rented this game and I'm at Chapter 2 right now where Big joins the party. I read impression about the sound being bad, but I didn't count on just how terrible it really is until I listened to it myself even with high quality headphones. It actually outdoes Yoshi Island DS in being the worst soundtrack I've heard on the DS. It's like some badly composed string of midi and I refuse to believe that Richard Jaques was directly involved in the OST for this game. Certain sound effects are just as irritating such as grabbing an item from a treasure chest and winning them from an enemy or just offing an enemy. Ugh...

The backgrounds are very nice, the general character art is passible, but the cut-scene 2D art and 3D models are amature looking as hell. The 3D models are especially dreadful when they turn to face the player for a cut-scene and victory pose.

The game in general is...okay so far. It's not terrible, but it is also not "OMFG Game of the Month!!" material like 1up/EGM think it is. The stylus controls for the overworld is, eh. It needs a cursor and fine tuning as it feels like the clumsy stylus controls from Magical Vacation. The game is really easy so far. The only challenging event I've encountered was being unprepared for an eagle boss for a mission. That's the first and so far only time I used the retry option. Everyone is right in that you don't seem to have enough PP for damaging attacks, though this game does give the player a crap-load of POW Candy to replinsh it(preferably before battles unless you want to drag on more than it should). It's also annoying that the game doesn't tell you what your moves do in battles. Which POW attack is weak against 'X' creature again? You better memorize them and their effects before you encounter a fight.

With the exception of excuting POW moves, the battle speed moves pretty fast...even though the characters has a tendecy to miss enemies a lot. Excuting the pow moves is okay, though it seems I have to get a bit more used to some of them more than others, despite being a decent player at Ouendan/EBA. Seeing that I'm recieving next to nothing XP in regular battles, I assuming I'm overleveled, even though I did not grind in this game. I'm also encounting those enemy excape sequences which sounds novel on paper, is starting to feel like a bore after the upteenth time(and I'm still pretty early in the game).

I will say, the bigger highlight of the game other than the pretty watercolor backgrounds are the dialouge. The characters don't seem to be that annoying compared to how they are in the regular games, and in other times it makes them kind of charming. Big is adorable, so far. :3 Plus, using the "snarky" response in certain situation always gets a smirk from me.

So far, it feels like I'm playing a B-tier RPG like many of the RPGs that were released during the early days of the DS. Maybe this game will really pick up when I get more party members? However, I'm not really feeling this game as much as I did with some other recent RPGs I've played on the system. *shrugs*

EDIT: One more thing I forgot to mention, why does Amy do more damage than Rouge, even though Rouge has a higher ATTACK stat than Amy in my game?

[K2J]

I think the damage is actually a result of the character's level and a hidden attribute (that may be fixed, even). Attack and Defense stats affect how easily you hit your enemies/avoid being hit by your enemies, if the Journal is to be believed.

The game all around feels unpolished and fangame-y, but hopefully it'll get better. On the third chapter, but forgot to save halfway so I have to do a lot of it over again. And I'm feeling sick anyway.

And the only good piece of music so far is the battle theme that sounds like the opening tune.

[Ngangbius]

Amy and Rouge are the same level and they are even the same class. A hidden attribute? Bah, thanks for the vagueness, Bioware. =D

[Owen Axel]

Yeah, it took me forever as well to figure out that my poor performance in battle was completely due to my ignoring the non-highlighted text in equipment description that mentions armour and damage. Armour and damage are by far the most important stats in the game, and both are completely invisible in profile, level-up screen, equipment screen, the works. With proper equipment use, there never ever has to be a single instance in the game where your attack only does 1 damage, unless it's a plot development or the enemy is specifically using a blocking move.

For all their experience with RPGs, I can't believe Bioware would make such a stupid mistake with their stats. That they miss-labelled Accuracy as Attack and Evasion as Defense doesn't help at all.

[Ngangbius]

This game feels rushed, period.

Why are there ranks, when rewards remain the same whether you get A or B rank?

What is the point the the elemental chao when you can't really tell which enemy is strong or weak against which element?

Is there a monster library database in this game? The game makes a big deal the first time you defeat a type of enemy so you must get some kind of item that lets you check the stats of the enemy...right?

The inconsistant quality of the sound. I mean the battle themes and opening movie has better instuments and composition than the dang overworlds' cheap casio music and why the hell is up with the weird-ass and random sound effects in this game?

And then there is that armour/damage bs you've mentioned, Owen.

I mean it looks like the game has a bit of heart put into it, but it really needed to be fined tuned for a couple of months because it seems amaturish. I want to know who is responsible, Bioware, EA, or SEGA themselves?

[Dr. Watson]

Well one thing Bioware sure got just right is the characterization. I love how Knuckles has returned to being serious and stern, instead of a hotheaded ass-brain. The one character they got completely wrong is Shadow, but since i dont like him anyway i dont mind that. He seems to kinda fill the role that Knuckles has had in many other recent games (not to mention in Sonic X), by just being a grumpy, single-minded jerk with no depth whatsoever.

[Zeta]

Bioware, EA, or SEGA themselves?

You've got 33% quality and 66% crap there.

[Ngangbius]

So I'm on Chapter 7 and I landed on the Kron planet, so what is the best way to despose of the Kron as quickly as possible? I used Tails scan attack, but I still take off 1hp of damage from those enemies. Occasionally my POW attack will fluate between decent and shit damage. Am I missing something here?

[DBurraki]

Try for armor piercing attacks? Knuckle's Uppercut works pretty good if I remember correctly... try using a water ring or water attack chao too to add an element to your attacks?

[Dr. Watson]

Just use Omegas Beam Canon over and over again. Its the by far best attack in the game, and can usually knock out even the toughest enemies in three or four shots.

[Owen Axel]

You'll want to remember that status ailments are stackable in the game. If Vulnerable 1 doesn't cut it, you need Vulnerable 2 or 3. Either scan twice, or level up the ability. Armour piercing attacks work, but I for one prefer to have everyone be able to do damage.