Professor Beef
Banned
you only made this post because you're nostalgic for the good old days of page 394
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Sonic the Hedgehog Community |OT2 Battle|
- Thread starter Professor Beef
- Start date
- Status
you only made this post because you're nostalgic for the good old days of page 394
*DEAD*
Tizoc
Member
Hmm I see, well I'll prob. get over it and end up being OK with it. I do hope it delivers as its the closest I've seen a game visually look like it's from the Genesis era.
So uh, Knack. I've been taking some "Knack Breaks" from studying for the past week. I still haven't beaten the game so I can't really call this a review, but I wanted to post my impressions down somewhere were someone would care to read 'em.
Knack isn't a platformer by any means. It has some light platforming, but it's like how Devil May Cry always had some terrain traversal to be done in the game and it wasn't until Ninja Theory came along that anyone at all cared about platforming in a DMC title. If anything, Knack is a modern take on the classic beat'em up with some nice production values. Almost too much production value at times.
The Bad:
Length -
Knack is a pretty long game. I'm currently sitting at 10 hours, 38 minutes while on Chapter 11-4, with the whole game having 13 chapters (each divided into five subchapters). Normally this wouldn't be a bad thing, but consider that I just compared Knack to a classic beat'em up. Those games are only a couple of hours long for a reason: shit starts to get repetitive after a while when you only have so many moves to perform over the course of the whole game. This can be somewhat mitigated by some of the good things that Knack does, but the game definitely starts to drag after a while and could probably have benefited from cutting things down a bit. Which also leads right to...
Story -
Knack's plot isn't very interesting. I'll admit to having dozed off a few times during Knack's many cutscenes. Knack himself isn't a very fleshed out or interesting character either, as he's essentially a construct used by the other good guys. Having a much more interesting setting could have definitely helped to alleviate the length, but the double whammy makes it hard to bear at times.
The So-So:
Music -
I've generally liked the tunes that Knack has playing during the game, as they fit the mood the game's going for. It's just a real shame that there's so little of it though. A lot of songs get reused over the course of the whole game, with some tracks that would be ok to loop for only a bit get grating after listening to it for way too long.
Moveset -
I compare Knack to a beat'em up for a reason. Knack has a static moveset that doesn't change at all over the course of the whole game, which is a pretty polarizing design choice. On one hand, the limited moveset obviously limits how creative you can get with Knack, since you never expand more than having a basic ground combo, a homing attack and 3 special moves. On the other though, his moveset is designed to be really effective at taking out enemies no matter what. Despite the limited moveset, I've never felt particularly wanting to have a new move, since what I already have works just as well.
Level Design -
Its pretty much straight corridors with a lot of "arenas" for fighting enemies and light platforming. What little exploration there is is limited to identifying fake walls that hide relics to raise your max health, sunstones to refill your special meter or secret rooms full of collectibles. Nothing impressive, but nothing really damningly bad either. Levels look nice at least.
The Good:
Enemies -
One really quick takeaway that I realized early on is that Knack has a lot of enemies. While Knack himself may be limited, you get pitted against at least one (mostly two or three) enemy types/variations per subchapter, so you're almost always fighting something new all the time. There are re-colors of course, but Knack makes sure that re-colors have quirks to them that their normal variants don't share, so it keeps you on your toes.
Item Collection -
The game's Secret Rooms have a single chest that will randomly give you either a gadget piece or a crystal relic, some items which have varying rarity. Completed gadgets give you extra passive abilities like an Attack bonus for defeating successive enemies without getting, sensing the location of other secret rooms, slowing down time, collecting extra sunstone for defeating enemies, etc. Relics let Knack transform into alternate versions of himself with varying bonuses (ex. Vampire Knack boosts your attack power and gives you life leech, but slowly drains your health).
While I initially didn't like the thought of treasure chests being random, the neat aspect of Knack's Secret Rooms is that you aren't limited to what you find in those chests. Every time you open one, you can either pick the item you got from the chest, or you can select and obtain what someone else in your friendlist that's played through the game already found in that chest. I've always had a nice selection of things to choose from every time I open a chest, and even recognize chests that only I found since I had no option but to take my item. It's a really neat feature!
Difficulty/Enemy Placement -
Knack does not fuck around. When I started playing on Hard mode (the only mode I've played so far), I was expecting a slight increase in damage taken but not much else. What I didn't expect was for literally everything in the game to be capable of killing me in 1-2 hits. The lifebar is pretty much a formality. :lol It's a refreshing form of difficulty though, because not only does it take seconds to immediately respawn, but I've rarely felt as though I got killed due to the game being cheap. When I got bopped into a million relics, I can almost always identify what mistake I commited that led to me getting blown up.
Rather than just flood you with tons of enemies and call it a day, the enemy placement in Knack seems very intentionally thought out to me. Two enemies that compliment each other well in a narrow corridor can be a harder wall to get past than one of the game's rare 5-6 enemy brawls. Knack does some nice Mega Man-esque enemy introductions where you'll fight new enemy types in isolation before letting them loose either in a group or in mixed matchups with other enemies. It feels nice because even though most enemies have just 1 or 2 attack patterns, enemies rarely feel unthreatening, especially in the harder difficulties (until eventually get enough relics to turn into giant Knack, where "weaker" enemies get blown away in one easy hit but are there to distract you from the enemies that CAN take you out).
Knack is a bit of a mixed bag. Thanks to the challenging nature of the game and the constant introduction of new enemies, I've had my share of fun seeing how I can use my pre-established moveset in constantly changing/new situations. It's not a game you want to be playing for long sessions at a time. I doubt my opinion is gonna change radically once I'm done with the game, but I wouldn't be opposed to recommending this to people once it goes down in price. It's definitely a very polarizing game, but I definitely don't mind getting the chance to try out a new big console IP for the first time (they can't all be winners, but it's still a fresh experience). I'd gladly buy a sequel that fixes up the length and fleshes out Knack's moveset a bit.
Knack isn't a platformer by any means. It has some light platforming, but it's like how Devil May Cry always had some terrain traversal to be done in the game and it wasn't until Ninja Theory came along that anyone at all cared about platforming in a DMC title. If anything, Knack is a modern take on the classic beat'em up with some nice production values. Almost too much production value at times.
The Bad:
Length -
Knack is a pretty long game. I'm currently sitting at 10 hours, 38 minutes while on Chapter 11-4, with the whole game having 13 chapters (each divided into five subchapters). Normally this wouldn't be a bad thing, but consider that I just compared Knack to a classic beat'em up. Those games are only a couple of hours long for a reason: shit starts to get repetitive after a while when you only have so many moves to perform over the course of the whole game. This can be somewhat mitigated by some of the good things that Knack does, but the game definitely starts to drag after a while and could probably have benefited from cutting things down a bit. Which also leads right to...
Story -
Knack's plot isn't very interesting. I'll admit to having dozed off a few times during Knack's many cutscenes. Knack himself isn't a very fleshed out or interesting character either, as he's essentially a construct used by the other good guys. Having a much more interesting setting could have definitely helped to alleviate the length, but the double whammy makes it hard to bear at times.
The So-So:
Music -
I've generally liked the tunes that Knack has playing during the game, as they fit the mood the game's going for. It's just a real shame that there's so little of it though. A lot of songs get reused over the course of the whole game, with some tracks that would be ok to loop for only a bit get grating after listening to it for way too long.
Moveset -
I compare Knack to a beat'em up for a reason. Knack has a static moveset that doesn't change at all over the course of the whole game, which is a pretty polarizing design choice. On one hand, the limited moveset obviously limits how creative you can get with Knack, since you never expand more than having a basic ground combo, a homing attack and 3 special moves. On the other though, his moveset is designed to be really effective at taking out enemies no matter what. Despite the limited moveset, I've never felt particularly wanting to have a new move, since what I already have works just as well.
Level Design -
Its pretty much straight corridors with a lot of "arenas" for fighting enemies and light platforming. What little exploration there is is limited to identifying fake walls that hide relics to raise your max health, sunstones to refill your special meter or secret rooms full of collectibles. Nothing impressive, but nothing really damningly bad either. Levels look nice at least.
The Good:
Enemies -
One really quick takeaway that I realized early on is that Knack has a lot of enemies. While Knack himself may be limited, you get pitted against at least one (mostly two or three) enemy types/variations per subchapter, so you're almost always fighting something new all the time. There are re-colors of course, but Knack makes sure that re-colors have quirks to them that their normal variants don't share, so it keeps you on your toes.
Item Collection -
The game's Secret Rooms have a single chest that will randomly give you either a gadget piece or a crystal relic, some items which have varying rarity. Completed gadgets give you extra passive abilities like an Attack bonus for defeating successive enemies without getting, sensing the location of other secret rooms, slowing down time, collecting extra sunstone for defeating enemies, etc. Relics let Knack transform into alternate versions of himself with varying bonuses (ex. Vampire Knack boosts your attack power and gives you life leech, but slowly drains your health).
While I initially didn't like the thought of treasure chests being random, the neat aspect of Knack's Secret Rooms is that you aren't limited to what you find in those chests. Every time you open one, you can either pick the item you got from the chest, or you can select and obtain what someone else in your friendlist that's played through the game already found in that chest. I've always had a nice selection of things to choose from every time I open a chest, and even recognize chests that only I found since I had no option but to take my item. It's a really neat feature!
Difficulty/Enemy Placement -
Knack does not fuck around. When I started playing on Hard mode (the only mode I've played so far), I was expecting a slight increase in damage taken but not much else. What I didn't expect was for literally everything in the game to be capable of killing me in 1-2 hits. The lifebar is pretty much a formality. :lol It's a refreshing form of difficulty though, because not only does it take seconds to immediately respawn, but I've rarely felt as though I got killed due to the game being cheap. When I got bopped into a million relics, I can almost always identify what mistake I commited that led to me getting blown up.
Rather than just flood you with tons of enemies and call it a day, the enemy placement in Knack seems very intentionally thought out to me. Two enemies that compliment each other well in a narrow corridor can be a harder wall to get past than one of the game's rare 5-6 enemy brawls. Knack does some nice Mega Man-esque enemy introductions where you'll fight new enemy types in isolation before letting them loose either in a group or in mixed matchups with other enemies. It feels nice because even though most enemies have just 1 or 2 attack patterns, enemies rarely feel unthreatening, especially in the harder difficulties (until eventually get enough relics to turn into giant Knack, where "weaker" enemies get blown away in one easy hit but are there to distract you from the enemies that CAN take you out).
Knack is a bit of a mixed bag. Thanks to the challenging nature of the game and the constant introduction of new enemies, I've had my share of fun seeing how I can use my pre-established moveset in constantly changing/new situations. It's not a game you want to be playing for long sessions at a time. I doubt my opinion is gonna change radically once I'm done with the game, but I wouldn't be opposed to recommending this to people once it goes down in price. It's definitely a very polarizing game, but I definitely don't mind getting the chance to try out a new big console IP for the first time (they can't all be winners, but it's still a fresh experience). I'd gladly buy a sequel that fixes up the length and fleshes out Knack's moveset a bit.
Professor Beef
Banned
Anything I should add/remove/otherwise change in the OP for the 3rd thread? Lemme know now since I have a mini-vacation until Saturday.
Need to add Lost World to the game list, probably oughta add a section for Sonic Boom under animation, however little we know of it, and the comic section is wildly out of date.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
I guess I'll write a little something about Sonic Boom and give it to Beef. :V
Sciz is gonna have to update the music links to include something from Sonic Lost World.
(Noi's Knack impressions are really good and pretty fair. He's talked about that game a lot, and from what I saw on his streams a few weeks ago, it isn't the scourge of the nation or anything like that. It's honestly more of a brawler oddly marketed as a platformer. Sounds like something you'd pick up when it's $40. Plus I'd take Noi's impressions as something fair, simply because he has been playing it on the hardest difficulties, so he does know his way around the game in any case.)
Sciz is gonna have to update the music links to include something from Sonic Lost World.
(Noi's Knack impressions are really good and pretty fair. He's talked about that game a lot, and from what I saw on his streams a few weeks ago, it isn't the scourge of the nation or anything like that. It's honestly more of a brawler oddly marketed as a platformer. Sounds like something you'd pick up when it's $40. Plus I'd take Noi's impressions as something fair, simply because he has been playing it on the hardest difficulties, so he does know his way around the game in any case.)
Professor Beef
Banned
That doesn't even make any sense!|OT3 & Knuckles| No way? No way!
Thanks, you two.
Professor Beef
Banned
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
|OT3 & Knuckles| We Found The Computer Room!
Meccanical
Member
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1899092/sonicgaftumblr_silhouette.png
I made this SonicGAF thing for our SonicGAF Tumblr. Feel free to use it for the OP
Tizoc
Member
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM8h2Xyis9M
Why not a line from Knuckles' SA1 theme for OT3's subtitle??
Why not a line from Knuckles' SA1 theme for OT3's subtitle??
Box of Bunnies
Banned
Sonic the Hedgehog Community |OT3&Knuckles| Lock-On Technology: One Thread for the Price of Two!
Hot Coldman
Banned
I vote for no subtitle. Looks classier.
Oh yeah, neither OT2 has one. After all we already have &Knuckles..
Looks like it's a catastrophe.
SonicGAF's Song of the Day - #71
By Request!
Song: The Core
Game: Sonic Riders Zero Gravity
Composer: Kenichi Tokoi
Racing games don't tend to have final levels as we'd think of them in other genres, but Riders was never quite a normal racing game, and as such we've got this particularly intense track for its finale. It also manages to be better than most of the rest of the subseries' music; you'd expect a game with music from Tokoi and Kumatani to sound better than it does, but the musical direction had already been established by Sawada in the first game and they didn't deviate from it much, leaving us with a lot of aimless, warbling electronica. The Core doesn't completely break away from that template, but it tries, and comes off a bit like Terminal Velocity or Unleashed's boss battles for it. There's a Masahiro Kobayashi who did a lot of the brass arrangement for Unleashed who I suspect helped out here as well, but the credits are aggravatingly not that detailed.
Give it 'til 1:53 to hit the best moment.
By Request!
Song: The Core
Game: Sonic Riders Zero Gravity
Composer: Kenichi Tokoi
Racing games don't tend to have final levels as we'd think of them in other genres, but Riders was never quite a normal racing game, and as such we've got this particularly intense track for its finale. It also manages to be better than most of the rest of the subseries' music; you'd expect a game with music from Tokoi and Kumatani to sound better than it does, but the musical direction had already been established by Sawada in the first game and they didn't deviate from it much, leaving us with a lot of aimless, warbling electronica. The Core doesn't completely break away from that template, but it tries, and comes off a bit like Terminal Velocity or Unleashed's boss battles for it. There's a Masahiro Kobayashi who did a lot of the brass arrangement for Unleashed who I suspect helped out here as well, but the credits are aggravatingly not that detailed.
Give it 'til 1:53 to hit the best moment.
Hot Coldman
Banned
I still really want OT CD but Beef hates fun so it's probably not happening
PhantomOfTheKnight
Member
I made a thing.
...and SwapNote tells me I can switch colors AFTER I finish.
Tizoc
Member
That is awesome.
Working on writing the new Sonic comic info, just need to get the proper wording done...
This article was published ~2 days ago, but I haven't seen it linked here.
It's an interview with Sega and M2 about the process of creating the 3D port of Sonic 1 on the 3DS (which was released today out of Japan). It's a pretty good read, and it explains why creating it isn't as easy as the final product looks.
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/12/03/emulating-megadrive-3ds-isnt-easy-enter-3d-sonic-hedgehog/
It's an interview with Sega and M2 about the process of creating the 3D port of Sonic 1 on the 3DS (which was released today out of Japan). It's a pretty good read, and it explains why creating it isn't as easy as the final product looks.
http://www.siliconera.com/2013/12/03/emulating-megadrive-3ds-isnt-easy-enter-3d-sonic-hedgehog/
Really cool, thanks. M2 is amazing.
Professor Beef
Banned
omg, this is amazing
I'll try and make some room for it. Actually, looking at it some more, do you think you could turn it into a banner so I can stick it at the top of the OT? Nothing fancy, I was just thinking of writing "SonicGAF" with your design as the O in Sonic.
I actually agree with this.
And people are forgetting that OTs have to be numbered, which is why OTCD isn't being chosen. It has nothing to do with me not liking Sonic CD, nor does it have anything to do with me not liking something for once!
lmao
Sure, any fonts you had in mind?
And people say swapnote is dead.
The whole finale of this game sounds damn great, almost surprisingly so. The music for the cutscenes leading up to this level are some of the most memorable cutscene tunes in the series to me.
That is beautiful
I thought the same thing
Professor Beef
Banned
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Put Comic Sans anywhere near this thread or any Sonic thread and I will crush you.
Shadow Hog
Member
I know we've covered how Knuckles is not black, but did you also know...
I'd advocate those fonts that mimic the "SONIC" logo closely. I know they're out there, since I have a few of them installed on my home computer (which, alas, I'm not at right this second so as to quickly hand you them).
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1899092/sg_banner1.png
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1899092/sg_banner2.png
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1899092/sg_banner3.png
Three versions, pick whichever you like. I wasn't sure how big you wanted it, so you'll have to scale it down a bit if it's too big.
The font is the one used in Sonic 2's Act Title Cards
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1899092/sg_banner2.png
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1899092/sg_banner3.png
Three versions, pick whichever you like. I wasn't sure how big you wanted it, so you'll have to scale it down a bit if it's too big.
The font is the one used in Sonic 2's Act Title Cards
Professor Beef
Banned
Yeah, this.
IT WAS A JOKE
CRUSH QQ MORE INSTEAD
=====================
Edit: lol, didn't think you'd be done with the banners already! Thanks a million!
YES
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
What if we crush you with love?
I bet the word left out was "delicious"I know we've covered how Knuckles is not black, but did you also know...
And this site has a few Sonic fonts you could try
(ღ˘‿˘ღ
(✿ ♥‿♥ maybe ¯\_(ツ_/¯ (-''‿''-)Professor Beef
Banned
I'll put the new thread up Saturday morning. I won't have time to do it later since I'm working until Midnight. :V
PM me stuff to add to the OP (the new cartoon, comic news, etc) and I'll add it. And decide on a thread subtitle already! My vote goes to no subtitle.
PM me stuff to add to the OP (the new cartoon, comic news, etc) and I'll add it. And decide on a thread subtitle already! My vote goes to no subtitle.
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