Super Sonic Galaxy

Recent happenings of pertinence to Sonic fans.
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Kogen
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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Kogen »

The trees are shaped like mushrooms !!!

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(No Imagination)
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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by (No Imagination) »

The trees remind me of really old and weathered Dracaena trees, personally.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Crisis »

Neo wrote:
Crisis wrote:the pathetic attempt to impersonate the colourful atmospheres of the classic games
Okay, hold it right there. What the fuck? So the more realistic environments suck because they're realistic, and the more surreal environments suck because they're trying to mimic the surreal environments of the original games?

You sir, should run into a bullet.
It's not so much that it sucks because it mimics the original games, it sucks because it's bad at it.

Sonic Adventure pulled off some pretty goofy and colourful stages without having to thrown in mushroom trees all over the damned place. Sonic Adventure 2 managed to pull off a fairly realistic vibe (at least compared to the early series) without resorting to Shadow/Black Knight greyathons. Sonic Unleashed managed to pull off something reasonably down the middle (probably leaning towards the surreal side, admittedly). The problem isn't that the art direction is surreal, it's just that it's bad, and obviously ripping Sonic 1 off for all it's worth. I'd much rather have a new graphical interpretation than an artificial attempt to make the 1991 lightning strike again. All the major 3D titles have managed to have at least acceptable visual direction, but this one has already bored me and I've only seen about 18 seconds of it. But then that's been true of both the Storybook side-games, so I'm not terribly surprised.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Ngangbius »

Radrappy wrote:Well I guess that depends on how you felt about the 350/ps3 versions of sonic unleashed. Whereas Black Knight has been accepted by all as a steaming pile of shit, the quality of Unleashed is at least up for debate.
However, before Black Knight, they also did Sonic and the Secret Rings which arguably has the same level of praise and criticism as Sonic Unleashed HD(personally, I thought both weren't really that fun). And who knows how the Unleashed team next big game will turn out seeing that the lead director left Sega for Square-Enix.
Crisis wrote:Why did they cancel the Storyboard series? I could get behind that. It seemed to sell well and it helped Sonic Team reach their shittiness quota, so that the rest of SEGA could work on real games or fund outsourced projects that had a chance of being good.
But Black Knight didn't sell well which was noteworthy to Sega considering all of their Sonic on the Wii games sell much more substantially than any of the HD twins Sonic releases. The bulk of Sonic Unleashed sales for example, came from the Wii version despite how supposedly inferior it was. Even if there will be another major Sonic game made with the HD consoles in mind, you can bet there will be a Wii version to follow.
All the major 3D titles have managed to have at least acceptable visual direction, but this one has already bored me and I've only seen about 18 seconds of it. But then that's been true of both the Storybook side-games, so I'm not terribly surprised.
I have to slightly disagree with you on that. I thought Secret Rings art direction was much better than Sonic 2K6 bland, greyish, realistic areas.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

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The problem isn't that the art direction is surreal, it's just that it's bad, and obviously ripping Sonic 1 off for all it's worth. I'd much rather have a new graphical interpretation than an artificial attempt to make the 1991 lightning strike again.
Are you actually serious about this, or is this respectful sarcasm of scale too massive for my humble comprehension?

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Segaholic2 »

I'm more surprised/confused that Sega seems to be willfully sabotaging hype for their own upcoming title (Sonic 4) as the two games are now (I think) both slated to release at the end of this year. Maybe they realized there's no hope for Sonic 4 and started churning out another pile of shit to distract everyone?

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Crisis »

(No Imagination) wrote:
The problem isn't that the art direction is surreal, it's just that it's bad, and obviously ripping Sonic 1 off for all it's worth. I'd much rather have a new graphical interpretation than an artificial attempt to make the 1991 lightning strike again.
Are you actually serious about this, or is this respectful sarcasm of scale too massive for my humble comprehension?
Serious about what? That the green hills, geometric(ish) plants and blue skies remind me of Green Hill Zone? Or that I thought the teaser was extremely cluttered and uninspired?

I wouldn't want to call the teaser trailer ugly. It was extremely colourful with lots of attention to detail and I'm sure some very talented people put a lot of work into it. But it comes across as awfully tacky. As I mentioned, some people seem to like it, but I find it quite cynical.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by gr4yJ4Y »

K2J wrote:
gr4yJ4Y wrote:I'd really like to see Sega give the Sonic Adventure/SA2 Sonic-gameplay another go, but I don't see that happening in the near future. All that it needed was some refining and a good level designer (Not that the SA/SA2 levels were bad). Can you imagine a new game of just SA/SA2 Sonic-gameplay with a good game engine and well laid out levels with themes that haven't been done to death?
I hope you weren't expecting much out of reuse of the SA1/SA2 gameplay mechanics; the last time Sega tried to emulate these concepts, we got Sonic 06 (a very obvious SA1 take-off) and, to a lesser extent, Shadow the Hedgehog (which is sort of SA2-based in terms of level design and gameplay, in my experience).
I wasn't hoping for much of anything from Sega, but it would be nice for them to give it another go under the criteria I laid out. Shadow the Hedgehog doesn't follow my wish list because it doesn't use the SA/SA2 Sonic-gameplay. It has guns and shootan'. I'd consider that a gimmick. Sonic 06 didn't use a competent engine and from what I've seen the level design was poor too.
Crisis wrote:Some people liked Secret Rings. (Although apparently the honeymoon is now over since Black Knight, objectively the better game as far as I can tell, had a pretty abominable reception.)
Wait! You actually played Black Knight and thought it was better than Secret Rings? I'm perplexed and intrigued. I didn't play Black Knight, but I liked Secrets Rings quite a bit.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by j-man »

I picked up Secret Rings again yesterday, only to put it down after about three minutes. It's unplayable. I've not touched Black Knight, but it gets points for using the control stick over that steering-wheel-waggle-jump shit. It's about as intuitive as spinal surgery.

I'm not stropping over whatever team is handling this thing. It looks pretty charming, sounds a bit like Unleashed minus Werehog, and it's on a console I own. Bit dubious about the point-and-click thing, but it's all good as long as there's no maths involved.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Ngangbius »

Segaholic2 wrote:I'm more surprised/confused that Sega seems to be willfully sabotaging hype for their own upcoming title (Sonic 4) as the two games are now (I think) both slated to release at the end of this year. Maybe they realized there's no hope for Sonic 4 and started churning out another pile of shit to distract everyone?
Sega seems to believe that there are or should be different audiences for the Sonic franchise. In this case, hardcore, old-school fans for Sonic 4(ahahaha) and Sonic Colors for children. Never mind the fact that this series originally didn't appeal to a specific group of consumers and could be played by anyone as I mentioned in a previous post, and that there are aesetic design choices in Sonic 4 that cater to the younger fans more than the ones who grew out of Sonic. Maybe from their odd logic, there will be enough of each of respective audience for these titles that they won't caniblize each other in sales. *shrugs*

Or it could be Sega being Sega as this is the same company that released 3 games on the PS3 with little to no advertising during the weeks when God of War 3 and Final Fantasy XIII were released.

...Though to be fair, Sonic 4 was originally supposed to be released in the Summer.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Kogen »

Ngangbius wrote:Sega seems to believe that there are or should be different audiences for the Sonic franchise. In this case, hardcore, old-school fans for Sonic 4(ahahaha) and Sonic Colors for children. Never mind the fact that this series originally didn't appeal to a specific group of consumers and could be played by anyone as I mentioned in a previous post, and that there are aesetic design choices in Sonic 4 that cater to the younger fans more than the ones who grew out of Sonic. Maybe from their odd logic, there will be enough of each of respective audience for these titles that they won't caniblize each other in sales. *shrugs*
Their idea of 'hardcore Sonic fans' is Sonic Stadium.
Or it could be Sega being Sega as this is the same company that released 3 games on the PS3 with little to no advertising during the weeks when God of War 3 and Final Fantasy XIII were released.
No advertisements? I saw them!

But this is when the fiscal year ends. They have to release a lot of games if they want to stay in business. I do agree it is poor planning, but there is nothing they could have done in their current situation. Investors have to be attracted just as consumers do.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by (No Imagination) »

Crisis wrote:Serious about what? That the green hills, geometric(ish) plants and blue skies remind me of Green Hill Zone? Or that I thought the teaser was extremely cluttered and uninspired?

I wouldn't want to call the teaser trailer ugly. It was extremely colourful with lots of attention to detail and I'm sure some very talented people put a lot of work into it. But it comes across as awfully tacky. As I mentioned, some people seem to like it, but I find it quite cynical.
You know, at this point, you can either choose to be pleasantly surprised by the lushness and color of the material (so far, to me, it's looking more funky and vibrant than Sonic 2006, Sonic Unleashed and storyline games combined), or to just find it cynical after Someone finally realized plastic cartoony hedgehogs and real world locales don't mix well.

Personally, I'd reserve the bitching until we get to see the actual game...it's probably gonna be on rails. And full of bugs and bad camera angles. And while Sonic will slide all over the place, Tails is going to be flying through walls into the black abyss. And there will be a new character, Cosmic the Hedgehog, who will possess immense powers to bend time and space, but will play exactly as Sonic. And the final boss will be a huge alien. And...

/snap/ ...but so far, I really see no reason to diss this.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by FlashTHD »

For visuals we have 20 seconds of CG teaser and a promotional render in Nintendo Power to go on. Find something more constructive to worry about now than OH NO THESE GRAPHICS AREN'T REAL/SURREAL ENOUGH, idiots.
Yami CJMErl wrote:I like how the NP article says "no gimmicks" when we ALREADY KNOW that there is, indeed, one (being the "Power Mushroom" aliens) present.
They dragged out the "Sonic is back!" marketing cliché for yet another round, which is a wailing klaxon not to expect much out of the article, though they're usually better than this. (then again, the press doesn't seem to be able to handle the subject of Sonic without shitting on it somehow)

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Arcade »

Want to know Sega main target with Sonic?

Five year olds= Colors= Wii and Ds games

Angst teens= Shadow+ Violence+ Guns+ swords?

Furries= All of the above plus romance plus Sonic and a teenager human girl

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Crisis »

FlashTHD wrote:Find something more constructive to worry about now than OH NO THESE GRAPHICS AREN'T REAL/SURREAL ENOUGH, idiots.
Fair enough about being judgemental of the 20 second teaser, but I thought the sur/real issue was the one thing we all agreed on. I even wrote, like, a paragraph explaining that it didn't really matter. My complaint was that the art direction was derivative, or to be more accurate, shoddily derived.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Kogen »

Arcade wrote:Want to know Sega main target with Sonic?

Five year olds= Colors= Wii and Ds games

Angst teens= Shadow+ Violence+ Guns+ swords?

Furries= All of the above plus romance plus Sonic and a teenager human girl
So which one are you?

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Crazy Penguin »

I'm most surprised by the idea of a DS version. It sounds like it pretty much kills the chances of a "Sonic Rush 3", which is kind of a shame. After the inexcusable mediocrity of the Advance titles and Rush 1, DIMPS were finally onto something with Rush Adventure. Has a handheld version of a big console game (from the same vintage) ever really worked?
j-man wrote:I picked up Secret Rings again yesterday, only to put it down after about three minutes.
I played someone else's copy of it. I think I gave up on the how to attack enemies tutorial.

I've been told that if you play it for 10 hours you unlock good controls that actually work or some bullshit.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Dr. BUGMAN »

This is so much closer to the mark in terms of aesthetic than anything in fifteen years it's almost surreal in a different sense.

I don't think derivative is bad thing so long as it fits. Nothing is 100% original anyways. What was Sonic 1 but a blue Felix the Cat running around in a genre that already existed for over half a decade?

That said, guilty 'til proven innocent, etc.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by gr4yJ4Y »

j-man wrote:I picked up Secret Rings again yesterday, only to put it down after about three minutes. It's unplayable. I've not touched Black Knight, but it gets points for using the control stick over that steering-wheel-waggle-jump shit.

I'm not stropping over whatever team is handling this thing.
My point is that Secret Rings is a decent game for a certain audience (it was pretty hit-or-miss among Sonic fans), so we shouldn't dismiss Colors because the team that made Black Knight (which no one here seems to have played) is making it.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Radrappy »

I played it. So has G silver I'd wager. It ranks with 06 and shadow as one of the worst things I've ever played. Those complaining about secret rings really ought to give black knight a shot. It's worse than you'd ever dream.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by G.Silver »

Hah! Actually, I never opened it.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by j-man »

gr4yJ4Y wrote:My point is that Secret Rings is a decent game for a certain audience (it was pretty hit-or-miss among Sonic fans), so we shouldn't dismiss Colors because the team that made Black Knight (which no one here seems to have played) is making it.
Good point, sir. I endorse this line of thinking.

I just can't pass up an opportunity to moan about Secret Rings. Atrocious control scheme aside, I just wish I knew which jumps were real and which were automatic.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Neo »

I actually enjoyed Secret Rings. It has a troubled beginning, and the Sonic-Shuffle-without-the-Shuffle part should be completely detached from the main game, but for the most part, it's fun, challenging, and the environments are the most inspired and refined "non-Sonic" ones ever made. You can't go in thinking you're going to play a Sonic game, though, unless it's a weird version of Sonic Jam's Sonic World where Sonic doesn't stop running and where releasing the jump button makes him jump, not pressing it.

Levitated Ruin sucks, though.

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Re: Super Sonic Galaxy

Post by Crazy Penguin »

Secret Rings was conceptually sound as a spin-off to the Sonic series, it was the utterly broken controls and inane extra missions that ruined it.

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Post by Isuka »

P.P.A. wrote:lotsa stuffs
I hear you, man. The one thing that I kept daydreaming about with Adventure was its scope, its potential vastness compared to the 2D games developed on a system that was almost exactly ten years older. When I finally got to play it I could still feel that sensation, but it was marred with many technical shortcomings and whatnot. And that's what I'd always looked forward to see removed[semicolon] the technical shortcomings, the boundaries that prevented the 3D games from being practically perfect translations (and hell, even EXPANSIONS) of the original titles, pretty much like what the 3D Marios were when compared to the 2D ones. This is what had me pumped for 2K6, the closed-doors teaser and Kingdom Valley demo, the branching paths, the day-night cycle, Tropical Jungle's and Crisis City's footage... man, for a moment I thought I was about to go mad with excitement... and that's the reason I'll never forgive these fuckers, these useless cretins, these "Sonic Team" posers.

@J4Y: Yeah, that's also pretty much what I'm looking forward too. Especially, there must be a way to combine SA2's high-speed action stages'... well, sense of unabashed speed when you really know what you're doing, with the hunting ones' sense of vastness. And that's definitely a tall task, I'm asking way too much... but I know it's possible. I'd consider the lock-on shooting mechanics for another separate game franchise altogether, because they aren't bad, but certainly have little to do with the Sonic games' very genre, and I'd much rather the developers concentrate on what's important than just adding bullet points (is that what you English-speakers call "pun"? lol).

As for aesthetic originality, I'm not sure if I get Crisis's point. I mean, not just the original one, but many Sonic games are quite colorful, with odd-shaped flora and blue skies and all that, and I don't deem them as pathetic attempts to impersonate anything. Maybe it has to do with the "fluorescence" feel to it, and the fact that little Pokémon-like aliens don't blend with Sonic's style just as the werehog or the talking sword or Elise or Shadow's guns or any number of things before them. In that sense, I do agree with him, and I also agree with everyone who has said that Secret Rings' aesthetic design is quite achieved and not particularly grating or clashing, even if the game itself (or, at the very least, its "controls") is trash. I think realism per se doesn't especially go against Sonic's aesthetic, many of Adventure's textures were real life photographs, and they used them in conjunction with some pretty twisted, almost cartoon-like environments in some places, and it certainly worked. That clever combination was almost completely missing in Shadow the Hedgehog and 2K6, which probably explains why some people dig Heroes but detest Shadow besides the guns[another semicolon] because there was practically no tasteful blending of both elements in its aesthetic.

So yeah...

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