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Sonic the Hedgehog Community |OT2 Battle|

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M

Meccanical

Member
Sciz said:
SonicGAF's Song of the Day - #37

Song: A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup... for Pumpkin Hill
Game: Sonic Adventure 2
Composer: Tomoya Ohtani
Lyrics and Vocals: Hunnid-P

A selection which comes as a surprise to absolutely no one.

Presented without comment; like so many of life's majestic wonders, observing too closely would ruin the magic.
Click to expand...

It's time.

pumpkin-dance-o.gif
 
S

Shadow Hog

Member
I wish you all the best Halloween ever, SonicGAF.
If you didn't have annotations on at the time, go back and turn them on.

Sciz said:
SonicGAF's Song of the Day - #37

Song: A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup... for Pumpkin Hill
Game: Sonic Adventure 2
Composer: Tomoya Ohtani
Lyrics and Vocals: Hunnid-P
Click to expand...
Probably the best of the rap songs in SA2, if only because it's so easy to go memetic (and because Pumpkin Hill's one of the less offensive level designs).

A ghost tried to approach me; he got leery.
A ghost tried to approach me; he got Larry.
A ghost tried to approach me; he got married.
 
R

Regiruler

Member
A guy in the computer math class I T.A for is wearing a banana suit with an akutsuki robe on top.

It's one of the greatest costume ideas I've ever seen.
He's a fruit ninja.
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
Happy Halloween, everyone. :O

After a little more time with it last night, as I'm almost finished, I'm not... hm. I find Sonic Lost World to be incredibly average. It doesn't really soar to the heights that any of the Uncolourations games ever did, and it's primarily because I feel like the game struggles to maintain some sort of sense of identity. I mean, the strongest case the game had in terms of its own identity is in Windy Hill. That's where everything felt cohesive and a true realization of its concepts. Everything from parkour to the level design was pretty strong.

And then you keep going forward in the game to find:
  • some rails/platforms that don't really register that you're on them, so when you do try to get on 'em, you fall through instead?
  • asset reuse / asset recolours / level design repetition up the ass... signifying that the game was more than likely rushed
  • some of Sonic's movement doesn't seem to be... consistent, I guess? Going forwards and backwards, he's faster. Going left and right on a tube, he's slower. It's strange. Blaze could probably talk about this better than I could, I guess.
  • the movement on ice physics, as Blaze has told me, is somewhat reminiscent of Ice Cap's, but you didn't really see that much of it in SA1. He noticed that it restricts his homing attack in 3D (and you do need to pirouette to get rid of enemies, yes). Though that sort of slipperiness is something I associate with another platformer hero, so it feels a little uncomfortable in that I had to start playing it like that sort of game instead of a Sonic game, really.
  • some of the gimmick levels like the "? Zone", the casino level, etc. somewhat feel unnecessary or have some odd mechanics in there. Like, I had to ask Bean how he did the "? Zone" one because both of us were stumped. He realized that continuously jumping to go down in height was the thing to do. And I thought that was odd because prior to that, you weren't made to implicitly realize that you had to do that in any level previous to that
  • Wisp powers are definitely tacked on. They don't give you a bonus for your score, they don't see to do much for you in terms of anything else outside of getting through stuff quicker, but the control for some of them can hinder that. Drill controls more oddly here than in Colours to the point where I had to end up using the stylus to control it than the L-stick since it wasn't as fluid as Colours' Drill. So outside of Drill, I don't see the need for the other wisps at all. Why bother including them?
  • The cutscenes feel tacked on simply because they feel segmented. They lack narrative cohesion too. It feels FF13-Chapter 11-like at times (ie: cutscenes for the sake of cutscenes).
  • Levels are loooooooooong and they outstay their welcome. Either segment them up and make them extra acts or cut it shorter. Better checkpointing would be helpful.
  • there are some other things, but this game is certainly not without its issues, no. It feels odd

Bean calls it "rushed and slapped together". I call it "not cohesive and messy".

I haven't game over'd as much as I've seen people talk about doing it in the OT. I don't think Bean has either, since we're both going through it except he's in different spots/pulling ahead of me. I don't really find the game as soul-crushingly hard as people are saying it is.

At the end of the day, I'm not sure what the game itself is intended for, or what it wants to do. It seems to be a set of concepts that Sonic Team slapped together into a game, but it just lacks cohesion and even its own sense of identity. I can almost see the assets being reused simply because it's a string of concepts put together until they realized they were making a game and needed to add level tropes. You can see some sort of sense that they knew they were doing with some of the gimmick stages (ie: the casino stage and the dessert stage) because they related directly to the Deadly Six Member of the Current World (ie: dessert for Zomom and casino for Zeena since it matches their personalities a bit). But other than that, you don't have a lot of that sorta thing going on.

I'm struggling to figure out what the game overall is simply trying to do. I'm certain that when I do completely finish, I still won't know. It's odd that after three games of knowing exactly what roles those games served and what the design intents were for those games, Lost World just leaves me feeling puzzled.

No, I'm not finished the game yet. I will be tonight since I have a few more things to finish off, but I think I've seen enough to make my assertions.

Sciz said:
SonicGAF's Song of the Day - #37

Song: A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup... for Pumpkin Hill
Click to expand...
Predictable. :p

Shadow Hog said:
Okay, now I want your Steam ID, so I can compare leaderboards.

Although I'm only on the one. First chapter, easiest difficulty, 75th out of whatever (albeit that was 24 hours ago).
Click to expand...
I haven't even started yet because my internet was too slow last night. :p

I've decided to start downloading it at school since we have a faster connection here (and it's unlimited bandwidth). But my Steam ID is the same as my Twitter and NNID. I'll add it to my profile a little later.
 
R

Regiruler

Member
I actually liked the ? Zone. I just kept switching buttons until something happened and the rest of the stage was fair from there.

Also, Tropical Coast Act 3 has amazing music.

Desert Ruins 1 became much more fun when I realized B was the spindash charge button, eagle's ok-ish and you need to realize how to hold your hover by pressing A. somehow I was able to warp with it out of the room, skipping part of the level.
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
If you're randomly pressing buttons until something happens, then that's kind of not cohesive teaching through levels design, is it? :p
 
B

BHZ Mayor

Member
Dark Schala said:
[*]some of the gimmick levels like the "? Zone", the casino level, etc. somewhat feel unnecessary or have some odd mechanics in there. Like, I had to ask Bean how he did the "? Zone" one because both of us were stumped. He realized that continuously jumping to go down in height was the thing to do. And I thought that was odd because prior to that, you weren't made to implicitly realize that you had to do that in any level previous to that
Click to expand...

This sounds like some kind of meta throwback to the barrel.
 
D

Dario ff

Banned
Dark Schala said:
Bean calls it "rushed and slapped together". I call it "not cohesive and messy".
Click to expand...
A friend of mine calls it a "Polished Mess". Sounds accurate, although it's the rare to see something like that. They've really went out of their way to prevent some glitches as well, even up to the point of crippling the game's design for it, like the lack of smooth 3D -> 2D transitions.
 
C

CrimsonCrescendo

Banned
Great post, Schala.

Though I do have to wonder: Why in the fuck does it seem like SEGA is forever rushing Sonic games? Shit nearly killed the franchise before. This is their biggest franchise and probably their biggest source of income, and the idiots can't give Sonic an extra 8 to 10 months to do the game correctly? I know, I know: Development is expensive. But there has to be some alternative.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
I did two whole write ups for Lost World a week back and i'm not satisfied with either and continued time spent with the game kept shifting my overall thoughts on the game though having obtained all the red rings I think i've reached some manner of conclusion. Hours of my life lost to trying to make sense of Sonic Teams latest.

But i'm going to salvage this bit about the parkour aspect because why not?

Sonic’s tackling a new approach to 3D platforming on this occasion, dropping the high speed boost style for a more controllable outing with parkour abilities to aid in the platforming. Ideally Parkour should be a good fit for a fast paced platformer like Sonic that plays into momentum yet as it stands the implementation of Sonic’s new skills are just another of the inconsistent features of this game. The positive side of things is that parkour skills like wall climbing/running give Sonic more options to approach obstacles in platforming, I think it’s always more fun for the player if you have the option of using advanced skills to bypass some obstacles and save time.

The problem arises from the implementation of these abilities. Sonic partakes in some of these actions at a pedestrian pace, the vaulting action in particular sticks out for being slower than simply jumping over an obstacle, running vertically up a wall is kind of stiff and if you don’t capitalize on the move Sonic slowly slides back down the wall in a flow shattering manner unbefitting of the worlds fastest hedgehog. Parkour is also sort of sticky, Sonic getting caught on walls or grabbing onto the edge of ledges you didn’t want him to and the speed at which you approach an obstacle or wall appears to make little difference to the act of vertical wall scaling. The overall implementation of Parkour feels unrefined, it’s a great idea but in its current state it could use some work. The wall running ability is particularly fiddly, red rings in sections that require this skill tend to be a nightmare requiring Sonic to have initially landed on an exact area of a massive wall (often flooded with multiple ring layers just to make lining up with the red one all the more difficult) to obtain . Sometimes you end up doing a vertical run instead dropping Sonic off the map or it requires the seemingly unexplained ability where Sonic can start with a vertical run, jump horizontally while on the wall (infinitely in fact, why? no idea) to pass a walls angle and commence a wall run on this other side of the wall, the only hint to this is the path the rings take yet it looks to clash with the rest of the mechanics, I mean how does Sonic get sudden running momentum by edging around a walls corner with a jump that should by all logic just throw him straight past said corner? fortunately they reserve this one for red rings only.
Click to expand...

I've got more jumbled thoughts lying around on other aspects of the game but I figured I'd bring this up since it's kind of the main new gameplay feature yet oddly i've not seen too much said about it specifically.
 
S

Shadow Hog

Member
Sonic Retro's found another way to piss me off.

Okay, so I do a quick check of their General Gaming subforum, view a post, okay, sure, why not. Decide to go to a YouTube video on another tab. Next thing I know, I'm hearing Sandopolis ghosts. The video doesn't have any ghosts, so what the hell's going on? More ghost noises, and some ominous music. I try to figure out what tab's doing this shit. Oh, look, Sonic Retro's turning all staticy and Sandopolis ghosts are attacking my mouse pointer. Cute. Annoying as shit, too. I can't browse other tabs with this noise constantly playing.

I find the relevant thread and complain. Guess what, though? Apparently I'm a stupid dumbass who can't appreciate the brilliance of a Halloween gag, all because I have the audacity to be offended that this site is actively hampering my browsing experience elsewhere because its dumb pranks are so important. Seriously, it feels like the entire staff is ganging up against me. "nofunallowed.jpg" "Don't like it? Boo-fucking-hoo, I cry for you." "You're the worst."

So if you want any further evidence why that site is shit... there you go. The place is run by some of the most unpleasant pissants I've had the displeasure of having to interact with.

Dark Schala said:
But my Steam ID is the same as my Twitter and NNID. I'll add it to my profile a little later.
Click to expand...
I tried searching for that term on the Steam Community tab; for whatever reason, nothing comes up.

I did find two other "Schala"s that live in Canada, though.
 
P

PKrockin

Member
Shadow Hog said:
Sonic Retro's found another way to piss me off.

Okay, so I do a quick check of their General Gaming subforum, view a post, okay, sure, why not. Decide to go to a YouTube video on another tab. Next thing I know, I'm hearing Sandopolis ghosts. The video doesn't have any ghosts, so what the hell's going on? More ghost noises, and some ominous music. I try to figure out what tab's doing this shit. Oh, look, Sonic Retro's turning all staticy and Sandopolis ghosts are attacking my mouse pointer. Cute. Annoying as shit, too. I can't browse other tabs with this noise constantly playing.

I find the relevant thread and complain. Guess what, though? Apparently I'm a stupid dumbass who can't appreciate the brilliance of a Halloween gag, all because I have the audacity to be offended that this site is actively hampering my browsing experience elsewhere because its dumb pranks are so important. Seriously, it feels like the entire staff is ganging up against me. "nofunallowed.jpg" "Don't like it? Boo-fucking-hoo, I cry for you." "You're the worst."

So if you want any further evidence why that site is shit... there you go. The place is run by some of the most unpleasant pissants I've had the displeasure of having to interact with.
Click to expand...
I take it you wouldn't like my Geocities site that loops a FF8 battle theme midi?
 
S

Shadow Hog

Member
PKrockin said:
I take it you wouldn't like my Geocities site that loops a FF8 battle theme midi?
Click to expand...
Probably not, and I definitely wouldn't like you and all of the other staff members grouping together to commence name-calling once I call you out on it.

Really, I'm more pissed about the completely immature reactions than I am the dumb audio that spurred the comment those reactions were made to.
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
Did you really have to quote that entire string of pictures despite it being on the same page, qq?

Posting etiquette.

Shadow Hog said:
I tried searching for that term on the Steam Community tab; for whatever reason, nothing comes up.

I did find two other "Schala"s that live in Canada, though.
Click to expand...
Try again. I realized it was private.

Nocturnowl said:
I've got more jumbled thoughts lying around on other aspects of the game but I figured I'd bring this up since it's kind of the main new gameplay feature yet oddly i've not seen too much said about it specifically.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I had some stuff to say about the Parkour too, but I find its implementation in these games kinda sub-par, myself. You're rather spot-on with your impressions of it, though.
 
P

PKrockin

Member
ViewtifulJC said:
Frames or no Frames? Also, is there an off-center spinning skull gif, and maybe a dancing baby?
Click to expand...
You're in luck, visitor #1821, if you check my marquee of announcements you'll find that I just added an entire page showing off my collection of awesome animated gifs. Flames, babies, smilies... allwith hilarious alt-text.
 
S

Shadow Hog

Member
Alright, the Steam Community search feature just doesn't work with usernames, I guess. Just searched Sciz's, and nothing came up for that, either.

Also

Sciz said:
where were you people when I wanted to do Steam ID exchanges a few months ago
Click to expand...
I don't knooooow D:
 
S

Sciz

Member
Shadow Hog said:
Alright, the Steam Community search feature just doesn't work with usernames, I guess. Just searched Sciz's, and nothing came up for that, either.
Click to expand...

Steam Community search is for display names, not Steam IDs (which I'm... pretty sure is the important one, it's been a while since I added anyone directly).
 
M

Meccanical

Member
Spoiler alert for Bam Ham Oranges(The latest Batman game)

Troy Baker sounds exactly like Mark Hamill in this game, that is insane. Dude has crazy range
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
Troy Baker is everywhere, hell I just finally got back round to finishing up my Metroid Prime Trilogy run earlier this evening and found his name hiding in the credits of Prime 3, he was probably Samus all along.
 
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