"Sonic Chronicles" trademarked by Sega

[FlashTHD]

Personally, I hope it's a retelling of the genesis/md games as opposed to, say, SA/2/Heroes/Shadow.

Hehe...that'd put at least one person in a reeeal fun mood.

I've heard of that blog now and then, how on the money is she usually?

[MiraiTails]

I'm really not sure. I guess we'll find out when this Chronicles game comes out. She said it's not a retelling.

Anonymous said...

Surfer Girl:

If you don't mind, how about answering some Sonic related questions:

1)Is Sonic Chronicles a retelling of previous Sonic games? If so, which one(s)?

2) I believe you mentioned that the new Sonic game for Wii was the "epitome of inspiration." What makes it so, and what more can you say about it?

3) Is Sonic the only playable character from that series in SSBB? What about Tails?

Thanks so much!

surfer girl said...

Jester: Possible, excellent, yes, yes.

anonymous: No. That was sarcasm. Probably.

[Yami CJMErl]

I'd put a bit more stock in this "Surfer Girl" person if she hadn't flip-flopped on her rumor of MegaMan being in Brawl.

Still, the whole "Sonic Chronicles = Sonic RPG = best game since SA1" doesn't seem too farfetched.

[Dr. SEGA Monkey]

Supposedly, she's very accurate. I'm still confused on HOW though. It's hard to believe that one person has THAT much info on every developer under the sun. But apparently a lot of things she says end up being true so....

She even came up with screenshots that showed Link and Samus originally going to be playable in the Wii version of Marvel Alliance.

[RocketPunch]

I get confused when she says it's the best game since Sonic Adventure. SA's my personal favorite of the 3D games and everyone loved it when it came out, but admittedly it hasn't aged well. I'm wondering if merely being as good as SA1 in this era will equate to a quality game.

[DackAttac]

I have a difficult time with that "best game since" thing, since Secret Rings was more consistent and imaginative than SA2, while prettier and smoother than SA1, which led to me saying shit like, "best Sonic 3D game since... hell, EVAR!", but I know in my heart of hearts that ain't right. Basically, they're similar quality-wise, but all the graphical faults SA1 had resurface as control faults in Rings. They're about equally lazy mistakes, but one area definitely matters more than the other.

But here, I just don't see the point in comparing them like that when the title in question is 2D(?) or an RPG, though.

[Isuka]

Maybe "Best game since" is a way of saying "it probably won't get instantly booed off the stage on release"?

For some reason I still think of a Sonic RPG as being isometric, since a 2D one would be pretty limiting and a 3D one is too ambitious on the DS.

[Mep]

Mario RPG vibes indeed.





I like it. Can't tell whats 3D and whats hand-drawn, and its not as bizarre as I thought, but cool nonetheless.

[Locit]

I'm pretty optimistic about this one! I mean, Sonic Team isn't involved, right? How bad could it be?

[FlashTHD]

...mother of god. I mistook those for sarky fangame screenshots as those loaded, and that does not happen to me easily. U-G-L-Y!

[Yami CJMErl]

The "Dark Brotherhood" bit gives me Archie vibes, but damn if I'm not looking forward to this.

(Incidentally, shouldn't this be moved to the News forum now?)

[Mep]

...mother of god. I mistook those for sarky fangame screenshots as those loaded, and that does not happen to me easily. U-G-L-Y!

Okay so things are kind of shoddily shaded and fangame-ish, and they're reusing the same old Sonic Battle style for the portraits, but of course these are probably upscaled right? It'll look better on the small screen.

[FlashTHD]

and they're reusing the same old Sonic Battle style for the portraits,

Wrong. Tails and Amy look straight out of Sonic X promo art, which is what set off the "FANGAME" alarm for me.

[Yami CJMErl]

I don't suppose anyone noticed the dusty, unused Egg Prison Pods (assuming that's what they're called) from Sonic 1 / 2 lying in the corner, did they?

[Zeta]

Damn those backgrounds are gorgeous!

[Isuka]

That thing looks kind of like an imp.

I don't suppose anyone noticed the dusty, unused Egg Prison Pods (assuming that's what they're called) from Sonic 1 / 2 lying in the corner, did they?

That was a nice touch indeed.

It's looking nice, at least that art concept looks nice and fresh, although not much "Sonic-y" of course.
We probably won't see Sonic running in this game outside of the battles.

And Flash's right, for some reason they're recycling Sonic X art for those portraits.

[DackAttac]

I don't suppose anyone noticed the dusty, unused Egg Prison Pods (assuming that's what they're called) from Sonic 1 / 2 lying in the corner, did they?

I think that's why it feels like a fan game to me. The 2D elements seem like they're going to be completely reimagined, instead of treating the Adventure series as visually canon. The only difference is this isn't some angst/acne-riddled high school student, this is Bioware.

The only thing I hate is the fact that the vertical screens are one image. I'm scared that the game is going to do the all-too-stupid thing of disregarding the space between the two screens.

[Mep]

It just gets better. Like what Sonic 3D Blast should have been or something.

[The Ghost Of Ember]

(...)Something about a "twist" between Eggman and Sonic that goes back to the earlier games.(...)

Oh great, they'll finally show their "relationship" :O .

Sonic is really Revan!

Actually, I'm slightly concerned that this will be the whole "Sonic was really created by Eggman!" malarkey that everyone idiot on gamefaqs latched onto after Sonic Adventure 2.

I'm... Cautiously optimistic. Certain things look great, other things make me want to run and hide. The graphics for the portraits could just be placeholders. The backgrounds and art are gorgeous but the 3D characters look off to me, blurry. Dark Brotherhood and the regular act/darker act, yeesh. Hopefully it's just the whole dark world/light world trope that Nintendo has overused in recent days.

Is that an Echinda running the shop?

[K2J]

Yes it is. Makes it feel more "Sonic"-y to me.

All in all, I can't wait to read the article. The art is a bit... different, at least, but I'm willing to give it a try.

[Zeta]

Actually, I'm slightly concerned that this will be the whole "Sonic was really created by Eggman!" malarkey that everyone idiot on gamefaqs latched onto after Sonic Adventure 2.

Not by Eggman, Eggman's grandad.

[The Ghost Of Ember]

Actually, I'm slightly concerned that this will be the whole "Sonic was really created by Eggman!" malarkey that everyone idiot on gamefaqs latched onto after Sonic Adventure 2.

Not by Eggman, Eggman's grandad.

Well, yes, that was one of the primary bits of nonsense, but a few splinter groups thought that Sonic was Eggman's stab at creating 'the ultimate lifeform.' Or something like that.

Yes it is. Makes it feel more "Sonic"-y to me.

While I agree, I was also kind of under the impression that Knuckles was the last. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for Archie already going down the road of bringing back a supposedly long dead species and showed us the many pitfalls.

[Senbei]

Considering how nice Sonic looks in those shots that I can only assume to be concept art, it's disappointing to see the Sonic X-style character art on those generic, awful-looking HUD panels. The character models look unattractive too -- they look stunted in that top-down RPG view. Still, the backgrounds look stylistically excellent. I just wish that quality had carried over to the characters too. Just look at how cool Sonic looks in that cityscape pic!

[Isuka]

It just gets better. Like what Sonic 3D Blast should have been or something.

Only that S3D ran on a Genesis, and this'll run on a reformed Nntendo 64.

So in the end it'll be a big mix of different RPG styles. The battles would look better if the characters move around the area, like in Grandia or something.

Again, it'd have looked far better in full 2D, but it'd have also been too restrictive.

[Locit]

Damn if there isn't a big ol' smile on my face right now. Is this what it's like to trust a developer? It feels... nice, doesn't it?

I'm willing to give the character models the benefit of the doubt since we're not dealing with Sonic Team and they'll likely be polished up a bit. In addition, most of the 3D stuff on the DS looks better in action. DQ Monsters: Joker, for instance, looks way the hell better in motion than it does in stills.