"Sonic Chronicles" trademarked by Sega

[Shadow Hog]

Reminds me of this one time when I was playing Quake, and a flying enemy Health Pack decided to greet me when I should've been fighting one of those Knight guys. Needless to say, I didn't stick around for the rest of that level.

[Team Mecha]

3 little facts about me:
1. I can play most Sonic games fairly well
2. I can play most turn-based RPGs fairly well
3. I can't play rhythm games to save my life

Of these 3 which is the most important one for playing a turn-based Sonic RPG? Apparently #3 for some reason. I guess it's just me that lacks the proper reaction time but this Elite Beat Bullshit is beyond frustrating. Cream's Refresh move particularly stands as unforgiving, missing just 1 dot means complete failure instead of something like getting half the effects for still getting most of them. & doesn't the "you did it wrong" sound effect sound a heck of a lot more like the opposite?

& since I've been avoiding this thread so it wouldn't spoil me on the game. I'm now restarting the game from Chapter 5 after just learning what Attack really means. -_-

If they really are dead set on making a sequel, there's a good chance it'll end up being better than their first outing, is there not?

Never played KOTOR2 but from what I heard of it don't hold your breath.

[Shadow Hog]

BioWare didn't make KotOR2.

[gr4yJ4Y]

Maybe they won't make Sonic Chronicles 2.

[Ngangbius]

I really don't want to see Obsidian attempting to make a JRPG.

[Dr. Watson]

To me, the most disapointing aspect of Sonic Chronicles would have to be the storyline. As many other have pointed out, the charactersization and dialoge was really good, espesially compared to other Sonic games. It almost feels like this was the very first time we got to witness the characters engaging in actuall conversation, rather than just eaither shouting garb like "Yeah, lets go get 'em guys! Yeah!" or taking turns stating the obvious. The plot however was really, really mediocre. It was kind of exciting in a saturday-morning-cartoon kind of way, but it lacked any real emotional punch. And im not saying i was expecting anything on the level of Final Fantasy, but since even the Paper Mario games had stories that managed to move me a little, i was expecting something similar from Chronicles. What the Paper Mario games and most other good RPG's (or most good stories, regardless of medium) have is some conflict beyond just "good guys vs bad guys", like some kind of emotional drama between the good guys themselves (or between the bad guys, as is the case in for instance Super Parer Mario). The closest thing Chronicles had to this was probably Amy's and Sonic's little love story, and Knuckles uncertainty about fighting his own kind. Unfortunatly, neither of those stories ever really went anywhere. Another short moment in the game which i liked a lot and i wish they had expanded upon was right after Sonic and Co had found Knuckles, and it was briefly hinted that Knuckles, Tails and Amy felt some aminosity towards Sonic for just going away and leaving them for two years without even trying to keep in touch. But again, this plot point sadly never developed any further.

[DackAttac]

I think I'd have to agree with Watson's entire post, but especially with this:

Another short moment in the game which i liked a lot and i wish they had expanded upon was right after Sonic and Co had found Knuckles, and it was briefly hinted that Knuckles, Tails and Amy felt some aminosity towards Sonic for just going away and leaving them for two years without even trying to keep in touch. But again, this plot point sadly never developed any further.

Coupled with the fact that they all thought and hoped Eggman had died in a crash they were responsible for (which was already miles darker than Sega went), one has to wonder if what they were implying is even though Sonic calls them his "friends", if he just considers them allies and treats them like buddies as a style of leadership, and has no intention of keeping any association with them as soon as there's no cause for them all to rally around. Revealing the true-blue perfect hero has his character flaws is something I love to see in any franchise.

If the 3D games had this kind of storytelling, the series would be amazing. I forgot that the characters could actually be funny since Sega long since stopped hinting at the romantic tensions, severed the comedic animosity between people like Sonic and Knuckles, Knuckles and Rouge, Sonic and Shadow (Sonic's dialogue when he's your ally in Shadow was the closest thing they've done semi-recently to playing the tension for comedic effect) and just limited it to "You're my enemy, I'll fight you now, after this quip that was intended to be badass but will surely cause a collective eye-roll from the over-15 crowd".

All in all, this game felt/feels (OK. I'm not done with it yet. I'll be honest.) like a massive cocktease. The plot isn't rah-rah-this-is-what-Sonic-is-all-about enough for that aspect of the storytelling to hit home. But imagine if the characters talked like this in a game with a good Sonic-y plot, like SA1 or something... God, I think I might actually give a shit about the quality of the voice talent.

[Dr. Watson]

Coupled with the fact that they all thought and hoped Eggman had died in a crash they were responsible for (which was already miles darker than Sega went), one has to wonder if what they were implying is even though Sonic calls them his "friends", if he just considers them allies and treats them like buddies as a style of leadership, and has no intention of keeping any association with them as soon as there's no cause for them all to rally around. Revealing the true-blue perfect hero has his character flaws is something I love to see in any franchise.

Those were my exact thoughts while viewing that scene. And when you think about it, it's not like Sonic has ever shown any interest at all in just "hangin out" with anyone, not even Tails. Many games start with one or more of Sonic's friends searching for him in order to tell him about some new threat they have to deal with. And in just about every single game, the first time they meet up, atleast one of the characters says the line "Long time, no see!", which i guess means a longer period of time usually passes between their encounters. So yeah, Sonic is probably the kind of buddy that will only call you if he needs to either borrow some money or have a place to sleep for a night. Or needs your help thwarting a super villains latest scheme.

[Ngangbius]

I decided to email them a little which is similar to my post at sonic@bioware.com. I'm suggest you guys do them same assuming, they will be in charge in making a sequel. It's better than just voicing our problems in a message board they may not view--well, less so than an email.

[The Turtle Guy]

Mine started doing that recently. It may be no fault of Chronicles, as locking up like that is covered in the warranty. It mostly happened to me while playing Animal Crossing (which really blows to lose a save on) but has also happened sparingly with other games, like EBA or Zelda.


How long ago did you get your DS? If it's within a year, Nintendo'll fix it for free.


EDIT: I didn't realize I was reading a previous page. =X

[Arcade]

Try to find their adress and send them a hand written letter, thats is worth 10.000 e-mails...

[Shadow Hog]

That was not a pointless bump or anything, no.

[Kogen]

meow

[Wombatwarlord777]

It's the night of the living thread!!!

Oh, Arcade. Shoulda known it was you.

[FlashTHD]

Japan's luck ran out.

[Kogen]

April 10th for an update?

Japan has no luck!!!!

[Ngangbius]

Took them long enough! Hey, I wonder if Sega will improve some of the interface and sound problems that were present in the game? Probably not.

[Kogen]

Well they usually do fix stuff made by other developers, so they probably will.

That will not solve the issue of the sound being the worst quality I have ever seen in a modern game, though.

Bioware actually thoguht it would be smart to make the overlay music restart after each battle... Even Sonic Unleashed does not do that.

[Crowbar]

Every time I remember what the Central City music sounds like I spend the rest of the day wanting to kill myself.

[Wombatwarlord777]

The worst thing about that tune was that it really wasn't even fitting for the area.

And the worst thing about the music in the game is that there were a few relatively good tracks (I fondly remember both the battle themes), that made the rest of the score look even worse by comparison. If they do make a second edition of this game, improved music in all areas must be one of their top priorities.

[K2J]

I liked two of the battle themes. Two. The generic boss one and the one that sounded like the opening. I'm pretty sure the rest of the music was ripped from VGMusic.com at the last minute anyway.

[Wombatwarlord777]

As far as anyone knows, was anybody at Bioware or Sega punished for that?

[UCHU]

Every time I remember what the Central City music sounds like I spend the rest of the day wanting to kill myself.

OH MY GOD WHY DID HAVE TO YOUTUBE IT, WHY

FFFFFFFFFF

[Hybrid]

Let's not forget that wonderful Doomsday Zone remix, which takes one of the best songs from Sonic's heyday and transforms it into a series of beeps and boops!

[Crowbar]

That's not the Doomsday Zone. But yeah, ugh, no words, really.