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AdventurousAdvocate — The issues of the custom character in Sonic Forces
#goodbutnotgreat #digalittlemore #soniccharacters #sonicfancharacter #sonicfancharacters #sonichedgehog #sonicthehedgehog #sonicforces #sonicforceshype #sonic_forces #hopeswebberseesthatone #sonicforcescustomcharacter
Published: 2017-05-22 16:06:33 +0000 UTC; Views: 3463; Favourites: 44; Downloads: 2
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I know some peeps will come at me with torches and forks, but I have several issues with Sonic Forces' custom hero.First of all, and that's weird for me to say that, but: it doesn't play like Sonic. Or in our case, like any other character we're accustomed to. I don't freaking understand why they had to experiment when they have 2 gameplay we actually know and one completely new and experimental. Don't get me wrong, I think the grappling hook is a very clever idea, but why create something new when you have excellent gameplay a huge part of your fandom asks for 12 years now? Why didn't you bring Dreamcast Sonic in the so called Resistance? Having both timelines merged into one would've been easily explained in the script, just having a few lines saying that, I don't know, dimensional shifts or whatever? We know there are quite a bunch of parallel universes in the Sonic franchise, so why don't use that to your advantage?
Second of all, the level design looks really like Sonic Boom. Did they hire Sanzaru for Custom or did they just steal the idea? Cause in the trailer, the grappling hook seems to play like the Enerbeam, and we know how good the games the Enerbeam was were good. I don't know, you could have just taken inspiration from Mirror's Edge Catalyst, with the MAG Line, it would've been awesome to see that in a Sonic game, and actually be way more useful than just that.
I have to say the flame thrower and other Wispons just seem garbage to me. I'm not against the idea of having guns in the Sonic games, but just that, the way they seem to be handled, it just throws me off. Why are we forced to have the Wisps in every single game since Colors? They don't seem relevant to the story, they returned to their home planet, why are there still Wisps on Mobius? Plus, why don't you give real special abilities to the different species, if you really wanted to experiment? Yeah, the bear can rampage through the enemies, but it's the only clever idea. Why don't the bird actually fly and just double jump? The double jump or some sort of long jump should've been here for the Rabbit, not more invincibility frames. The cat could have an ability to avoid damages or get a 1up with a shorter amount of Rings. The dog could lose his Rings after being hit twice and not starting with 5 Rings. And the Hedgehog could just turn into a ball to roll on the enemies and destroy them, being able to get rings back after being damaged should be there for everyone!
And most importantly: there is clearly a lack of variety. I saw complain about the absence of a Frog species, now THAT would've explained the grappling hook with the frog using its tongue for that purpose. With a 4-year development time, and the serious amount of recycled assets you put there, you seriously could have added at least 2 more species. And look, you could get inspired by the fans out there cause even though there are shitty OCs, many of them are really creative gems. What an homage to the fandom would it have been! But here it just looks rushed, as if they've thrown all the ideas in only 2 hours without thinking outside the box.
Oh, and the body shapes are not really appealing, but you just have to scroll down a bit on the SA3 Facebook page to see what I'm talking about.
But despite everything I wrote here, I still really like the idea of having a custom character in a Sonic game. And while I have some remaining questions regarding the immersion in this game (and every game past 06), having the balls to say "Hey you! You can actually be in the game, with an avatar made by you" is really nice from Sega. Now I'm just waiting for a Sonic MMORPG with better character designs and other species, now that would be an awesome spin-off.
(Oh, and if Sega was able to get all the designs and added the coolest ones in future games or a spin-off franchise, that would be amazing)
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Comments: 33
...And they don't even have the option to make the Character a Chipmunk. Nope, we get a pointless 'Dog Option' which is redundant when you already have a Wolf option.
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*A random guy with a torch and a fork appears...*
*...but his torch is dead, it hasn't got fire and his fork is a eating one and is small*
DAMN(4th chaos emerald).
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I agree with this. Custom characters in a Sonic game is a bad idea. It's just not that kind of series.
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Good God, that's cringy
You and me are on the same page. Fan characters should stay on sites like this and keep our game canon clean. (Well, as clean as it can be at this point -_-U )
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Oh I'd be fine with them being background characters that never are the focus of the story. Like the "MY LEG!" Guy from Spongebob XDDD
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Which episode, he was in a lot of them XD I really liked that character and he never had to be the center of attention for me to enjoy him ^^
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I... had no idea they dedicated an episode to that guy... alright then XDDD (I believe you. And nice pun XD)
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What bothers me most about Sonic games (besides personal design issues I have) is how much they neglect their established cast and any form of lore, refusing to develop them past what we saw in the classic games and early 2000s games like the Adventures series and Heroes. Every game, they just seem to fade more and more into the background; then, only certain characters make next-to-pointless appearances for the sake of visual fanservice and nothing more. Even Tails is starting to get the background character treatment now more often, which really sucks because Tails (besides Knuckles) is the only character of the games I genuinely like as a character. XD
Sonic Mania was my only glimmer of hope when it comes to those issues. I hope Mania gets its own continuations going, that'd be pretty cool. Maybe then, we could get some nice classic-game styled lore and character development/involvement going for more than just one game.
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Heh, why do you think I'm actually making a Sonic game I'm planning to show Sega in order to be published? I just completely agree with what you said: the characters are truly one of the biggest assets of the franchise and they're left out because of Iizuka's dumbness and Sega's bad decisions.
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That's the thing also, they're not one of the biggest assets of the franchise, not like they used to be. They're almost completely pointless now. Plus, listening to fans is just not something they're really known for. XD I say peoples' best bets are to continue keeping the characters alive in the franchise by keeping them alive in the fandom, or getting daring and making an original "not-sonic" game series like Galaxy Trail did with Freedom Planet did lol
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn6uqp…
I'm sorry, what?
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I mean do we really need more Sonic characters? The setting of Forces is pretty transplanted as it is, you could easily repurpose the characters we already know into new roles as a result.
This seems harmless, given that the custom hero isn't going to be a complex character with an established personality. I think it is contributing to an "Unleashed" situation where the best part of the game turns out to be the most un-Sonic-like part but, whatever, at this point I just want Forces to not be forgettable garbage.
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Yes, we need more characters, cause every single character from the games have one purpose. But I see your point, cause with Sega having Alzheimer or something and constantly flanderizing the characters, changing them wouldn't be a problem.
But for fans like me (and for fans who care for the franchise, to an extent), that's not possible
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I would say changing the roles of the major faces would be tantamount to what they did for the Storybook games. You know the faces, you don't know who THEY are in this world. So you reintroduce them.
It's kind of like that episode of Justice League, if you ever saw it, called "A Savage Time" where Vandal Savage sends modern technology to himself in the 1940s and takes over the world by helping Germany win World War II. The first person the Justice League encounters when they come to the changed present is a version of Bruce Wayne who fights for a resistance organization against Savage's rule instead of a vigilante crime fighter (his backstory being his parents objected to Vandal Savage and were executed as a result). It'd be the same idea. The characters are the same in spirit but because of the setting, they're forced to take on new roles or identities to match.
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I keep saying that we could really use a good online game in this franchise. It would allow us to expand the connections between places in Sonic's world and to see a variety of chaos power abilities. And it would allow us to see more of the "mobian" species besides just having team Sonic and some humans in the backgroud. Of course I would hope for a wide range of customizing options so that Sonic-repainted can be less common. I dissagree with adding character-create to the main series because the zones are built to work in Sonic's favor and a character with their own abilities would need changes to be made to the landscape as in the case of Tails or Knuckles. With that in mind it would be better to have an open world that allows you to choose your own path out of the various options intentionally or unintentionally present. I have more to say but my opinions on character creation and gameplay are more fleshed out in these old posts.
Sonic Games Need VarietyThe title might seem counterintuitive base on how much Sonic has changed, but no matter how much he changes, that’s the only option for some time. It would be a lot of fun if Sega could put out more Sonic games with different objectives.
Open Adventure: The best part of the Adventure era was that it felt like you were exploring a world. It was a while ago so they were limited in how large the world could be, but imagine if it were massive with different zones connected by ancient and new highways and back roads and you could follow “threads of the story” from place to place. This would be a fun way to follow smaller plots, rather than everything being an apocalypse with Eggman as the villain. Actually travelling through the world could reveal other possible conflicts of that world. This sort of game might not feel as constantly fast paced but there’s plenty of room to play with physics in every possible scenario. Plus, with this setup you don’t have to be
Sonic Original Characters - How to make good onesSince I have spent the past few years working on my Sonic art style and creating original characters to see what techniques seem to work and what ones don’t, I would like to share what I’ve lerned. I will list off key details that I found help me to draw my characters and afterwards I’m going to discuss the issue in general.
Spike or Swoop?
Look at a picture of classic Amy Rose. Now look at Tails. They both have hair on their foreheads. Both are drawn in the same style in the same era… but there is a difference in how it’s drawn. Tails has thin spiky hair while Amy has thick wavy bangs. This will help add variety and, more importantly, personality. Is your character gently or rugged; male or female; does their hair just stick up or does it swoop across? There can also be curls or a messier mop-head look. Even short hair can droop hair and long hair can spike. It doesn’t have to be a strict rule just use what looks good and suits the character. This d
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Welp, if you saw my latest entry, you'd know more of what I have in mind to fix the custom character. And while I understand (and totally agree with you) that the custom character shan't be in a main series title, at least in a spin-off game that could be cool.
How to fix: Sonic Forces - Part 1: The Custom HeroHey guys! Sorry for not having posted anything for months now, it’s just that I was really busy with my job, making commission after commission, so I didn’t have much time to add more content to this secondary account. Plus, I have the equivalent of art block but for memes, so it’s harder for me to do that atm. Also, what I’ll be posting for the next few times here doesn’t really require any picture, that’s why I’m just typing everything here. So without any further ado, let’s get started.
In many of my previous memes, I told why I think Sonic Forces will be atrocious gameplay wise. I did say that and I will say it once more: Sonic Forces looks really bad, that’s it. And I know the game ain’t out yet, but I don’t care, I will still criticize it, and I’ll keep criticizing Sega and Sonic Team’s decisions til they realize and understand why Sonic is in this state nowadays. And for that criticizing duty I made mi
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This is basically what this is. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fGFjo…
"I'm not Sonic, I'm my original character, Blonic!"
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I find the remark "leaving the customers to do all the work" to be a twist in the meaning of creating your own character. Many franchises have offered that choice to do so, not once has someone accused the designers of "leaving it up to the customers to do the work". What's also damages your argument is that people actually prefer having choice or freedom in their content, it's the exact reason GTA and Minecraft got as popular as they did.
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I should've explained more about that. What I meant was I feel like Sega just forgot their creative department cause we have a ton of interesting characters and lore in the series, some of them are still highly requested like Ray and Mighty (well, more Mighty but still), and all we got is a character creation tool for a gameplay that looks really bland and not helping the custom character to shine. And also, they accustomed us to get awesome characters for each anniversary title (except Goddamn Generations, but still), so now we're supposed to have Sonic back on track, we get nothing but something you'll have to create but won't be exactly what you want since the cutscenes are pre-scripted so your CaC won't have the persona you have for him/her in your headcanon. And that's why creating a new character from Sega and not by the fans would've been better (at least it would have been if they had good writers)
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"I should've explained more about that. What I meant was I feel like Sega just forgot their creative department cause we have a ton of interesting characters and lore in the series, some of them are still highly requested like Ray and Mighty (well, more Mighty but still), and all we got is a character creation tool for a gameplay that looks really bland and not helping the custom character to shine."
It's a bit extreme to think Sega forgot it's creative department because they aren't being used much. That's not forgetting, it's neglecting, however that has no baring on the custom character, a point I've had to repeat too many times. The only thing that is and should be going against it is the lack of options in species, powers, and play styles.
"And also, they accustomed us to get awesome characters for each anniversary title (except Goddamn Generations, but still), so now we're supposed to have Sonic back on track, we get nothing but something you'll have to create but won't be exactly what you want since the cutscenes are pre-scripted so your CaC won't have the persona you have for him/her in your headcanon."
CC's are never meant to have the persona in your head canon, and as far as I've seen, they usually are pre-scripted or just an avatar. Even when you do have control of how your character acts, it still might not come out the way you thought it would, like when I played Mass Effect when I chose some dialogue and chastised an ally I actually wanted to complement, not knowing that would happen. But yeah, for the most part, I can't think of a time my Avatar acted exactly as I wanted him to, only close enough if I'm lucky.
"And that's why creating a new character from Sega and not by the fans would've been better (at least it would have been if they had good writers)"
Not sure given that this is still taking Sega's problems of neglect and putting it on CC's. On that note, it wouldn't have been better mainly because Sega has a bad track record with writing characters since Unleashed, so the character they would've most likely would've been lame, just look at how they designed that wolf in the trailer. Also, I think you mistakenly got your expectations too high, something I refrained from doing because we knew since last year the people behind Colors and Generations were behind this, and the fact they felt the need to tell you that should've been a red flag. Aside from that, all we had to go on was a city being in ruins, we had no other info on anything else let alone getting Sonic back on track.
Point is, the CC has it's shortcomings but saying much of it comes from Sega's flawed logic and neglect since 2007 is asinine. There's nothing wrong with criticizing Sega for not giving us better, but that doesn't mean when they finally do something that's actually good, that it should be put down as well, especially when I've seen worse from games in my time anyway.
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Sega, why? I thought you changed! YOU ARE TEARING ME APART, SEGA!
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Sonic Runners actually made a reason as to why the Wisps are still in Sonic games now. While most of them left with the Mother Wisp (Sonic Colours DS), some of the Wisps actually likes Sonic's world and wants to stay and help Sonic in his adventures.
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Reassure me, you know that Runners is not canon, right? Also, which version of Colors should we consider as canon? And should we consider Colors in the first place? Cause every character was, well... Out of character.
It is written and said that all Wisps returned home or some shit at the end of Colors Wii(don't remember the exact quote from Colors Wii, but I'm pretty sure Yacker said something like "Everyone returns home"), and the handheld games were never counted as canon. Also, is Lost Mind considered as canon? Cause Eggman returned on Mobius for a random reason in an unknown way, still not explained, while Generations was a continuation for Colors. So should the games since Unleashed be considered canon? It's so numbing that I think reusing the Wisps is quite pointless, making a weird timeline continue on and on with no solid foundation
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Couldn't you say that about all character creators in games. The thing is I wouldn't go as far to call it a cop out but more of Sega's way of dodging the use if official characters to be playable that aren't Sonic.
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