SRB2 2.01 : What are your honest thoughts?
- Thread starter Simon
- Start date
- Status
jake_heritagu
Member
...What happened D:
I may not care for this forum at all but I've been playing SRB2 for years now. Years. I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with it to the point of mastery but by no means am I an amateur. I wasn't expecting a lot from this new version of SRB2, I heard a lot of things being changed I didn't like so I was just going to check out the new levels and be done with it, sticking to 1.09.4.
So I see its come out and I download it and play it...
And first impressions are good, it looks great, camera problems are fixed for the most part, its in a resolution I can run. Emeralds are in the same place, it looks like its fun. So I was expecting a lot of fun.
Then I got to the new levels. And...oh my god, what? Suddenly you went from fun platforming and running to 'Be a master or you die'. I was trying to have fun and found myself dieing a lot. I didn't even get past Deep Sea Zone on my own. So then I went and played online Co-op with my other friends who also have played it for years.
The three of us beat deep Sea zone, and then become incredibly frustrated at the rest of the game. We got lost, confused, killed and found ourselves running back and forth to the point where it stopped being fun and was just annoying. We continued to collect the emeralds to see if what we heard was true and that 'only Sonic can go super', but we never got the 7th emerald after at least 8-10 tries because that last stage is pretty much impossible. And good luck getting it as Sonic, that seems even more impossible. And that was with us being various skins, not just Sonic's. Tails and Knuckles had a hard time with it.
The absolute worse though had to be Arid Canyon Zone. Whoever was trying to make a fun map lost their sanity somewhere along the road. We found ourselves running in a giant circle for at least 5 minutes before ONE spot that was out of the way and not at all noticeable was the way to go (that seems to happen a LOT in this version). The farther we got in the farther we found it WASN'T fun, just frustration and annoyance. What was a fun Sonic game quickly became a scourge to our lives, never wanting to go back and do those stages ever again.
Single Player was ruined for us, and that was a pretty hard thing to do. Yes, the new enemies were nice. A LOT of variety from enemies, it was nice. And the new bosses were nice too, they were fun. But those stages...just no.
At first I thought the only real problems had been the multiplayer colors...I mean...CYAN and LAVENDER...what? That's so stupid I can't even begin to describe it.
So for all the hassle and work put into this, all it is is a pretty game, but bad gameplay. Graphics do not make a game.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm probably going to stick with 1.09.4 and enjoy the mods that have been made for it that I do still play, and I'm going to stay as far away from this version as I can.
I may not care for this forum at all but I've been playing SRB2 for years now. Years. I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with it to the point of mastery but by no means am I an amateur. I wasn't expecting a lot from this new version of SRB2, I heard a lot of things being changed I didn't like so I was just going to check out the new levels and be done with it, sticking to 1.09.4.
So I see its come out and I download it and play it...
And first impressions are good, it looks great, camera problems are fixed for the most part, its in a resolution I can run. Emeralds are in the same place, it looks like its fun. So I was expecting a lot of fun.
Then I got to the new levels. And...oh my god, what? Suddenly you went from fun platforming and running to 'Be a master or you die'. I was trying to have fun and found myself dieing a lot. I didn't even get past Deep Sea Zone on my own. So then I went and played online Co-op with my other friends who also have played it for years.
The three of us beat deep Sea zone, and then become incredibly frustrated at the rest of the game. We got lost, confused, killed and found ourselves running back and forth to the point where it stopped being fun and was just annoying. We continued to collect the emeralds to see if what we heard was true and that 'only Sonic can go super', but we never got the 7th emerald after at least 8-10 tries because that last stage is pretty much impossible. And good luck getting it as Sonic, that seems even more impossible. And that was with us being various skins, not just Sonic's. Tails and Knuckles had a hard time with it.
The absolute worse though had to be Arid Canyon Zone. Whoever was trying to make a fun map lost their sanity somewhere along the road. We found ourselves running in a giant circle for at least 5 minutes before ONE spot that was out of the way and not at all noticeable was the way to go (that seems to happen a LOT in this version). The farther we got in the farther we found it WASN'T fun, just frustration and annoyance. What was a fun Sonic game quickly became a scourge to our lives, never wanting to go back and do those stages ever again.
Single Player was ruined for us, and that was a pretty hard thing to do. Yes, the new enemies were nice. A LOT of variety from enemies, it was nice. And the new bosses were nice too, they were fun. But those stages...just no.
At first I thought the only real problems had been the multiplayer colors...I mean...CYAN and LAVENDER...what? That's so stupid I can't even begin to describe it.
So for all the hassle and work put into this, all it is is a pretty game, but bad gameplay. Graphics do not make a game.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm probably going to stick with 1.09.4 and enjoy the mods that have been made for it that I do still play, and I'm going to stay as far away from this version as I can.
Simon
Member
JohnnyWallbank said:
Im sorry you feel that way, I really dont think this is an outdated game, but the new version of the game just doesnt have the same feel as the first 3 original zones, someone once said something to these words
"It's like watching your daughter do porn"
I believe this can be used in this particular situation, but if a little tweeking is used and maybe a couple more pretty and friendly zones to play, it would be perfect
Jellybones
Lawful Neutral
The new circuit levels are AWESOME. Race is so much fun now. A few of the old ones were kept, and they are okay.
LongcrierCat
Down In It
Segment violation?! What gives? Thankfully, I haven't gotten that far so thanks for the tip. What a way to ruin the experience.... I thought they would've fixed that or something.
wysteria
I see it, I see it now!
Eblo said:
I haven't even been there yet, I wish I could. I'm going to try again, see if I can find a way to reduce (or at least kill) the lag.
EDIT: I (FINALLY) passed the whole zone. Now I have a question: Does Arid Canyon Zone have an act 2? I went into this place and it sorta teleported me into [spoiler:3bd54c9694]Red Volcano Zone[/spoiler:3bd54c9694]
EDIT2: nevermind..
JEV3
There and back again~
TLDR Warning: Sorry guys, I didn't plan on making a speech, but I think its probably appropriate here... so bear with me!
The other topic asked whether it was a disappointment, and I guess it could have been for those that were expecting a perfect game. However, the only thing that disappointed me was that I was expecting a massive break, didn't take into account that the uhh... community would be so vocal. I should have known that by now. *wink*
Oh yeah, and I never got a chance to finish working on the visuals for some of the levels, but the other devs are probably tired of hearing me complain about all these... now that we no longer have to worry about feature freeze, I can do something about it.
But overall, I'm satisfied, because I know this is not the final release and I have an opportunity to keep pushing for them.
The save feature took getting used to, but I like it because it keeps the entire zone together... whereas previously, it didn't really matter whether it was a three act zone or a few one act zones with a boss. I almost wish level select chose by zone too, but THAT'S not going to go over well.
I had no issues with DSZ, but I like puzzles when they don't get in the way, and none of the DSZ puzzles seemed to really halt the momentum except some of the secret paths. CEZ1's pretty good though I'd like to see it given just a wee bit more love, CEZ2's unfinished and its dead obvious, RVZ still feels somewhat uninspired but its improved significantly just with the bigger textures and Nev3r's green thumb for geometry.
I love ERZ, and am thankful to say that its both the challenging and cruel, AND the most forgiving -all things considered- which I consider a good balance because I think we've seen that it doesn't make it any less difficult for the masses, just for the hardcore players. I also think SS7 is the most creative special stage I've ever played. I played the first version with tiny corner platforms and let me tell you, that sadistic stage remained entertaining even after I died over fifty times. (even though it was doable, we used level warp during testing, so of course it had to be nerfed).
I've been with Sky Sanctuary since last spring, but after the Arid Canyon contest, I wasn't really active until last fall. I've had a chance to get to know most of the other developers... Nev3r as a creative genius, Mystic as an expert in gameplay logic to the point where all of my ideas were already put forward at one time by him and turned down for a good reason, SSN as the man behind the curtain, et cetera.
I could go on and on, but the fact that SRB2 actually had a release and that I was involved flatters me and I do think this is the right opportunity to share this with you. I've probably told everyone that knows me more than a username with an opinion how I ended up doing what I do now... After playing through so many addons, it bothered me that the same textures were being used everywhere. I'm sure that I've improved quite a bit since working on the dev team, I can hardly bear to look at some of the textures I made for Jazz way back when... I'm hoping to pass on the way I work to a few others and try to encourage other people to feel free to fill in the gaps by talking during SAGE, but I've not formally shared design processes before and am growing slowly less tolerant of drama, so if it ends badly you will know why.
My favorite part has definitely been the active discussions with Mystic about the levels themselves and how they work... and as painful as it was, the long process of retexturing some of the match stages was truly enjoyable because of this team dynamic. And of course, there was the time where the stress started to get to me and I snapped at Spazzo but I'm over it. (No, not really, watch out Spazzo!) Ups and downs its been a fun experience and it feels appropriate that its release should have come with its own extreme ups and downs...
I'm glad so many have enjoyed it, and I hope those that didn't are willing to give us a way to help make it better! Cheers to STjr, and cheers to Sky Sanctuary! Thank you SSN for everything and make sure your wife knows we wish you only the best, and are happy for you being able to move on to the next stage in your life. Check back occasionally to make sure we aren't misbehaving, we'll miss you!
The other topic asked whether it was a disappointment, and I guess it could have been for those that were expecting a perfect game. However, the only thing that disappointed me was that I was expecting a massive break, didn't take into account that the uhh... community would be so vocal. I should have known that by now. *wink*
Oh yeah, and I never got a chance to finish working on the visuals for some of the levels, but the other devs are probably tired of hearing me complain about all these... now that we no longer have to worry about feature freeze, I can do something about it.
But overall, I'm satisfied, because I know this is not the final release and I have an opportunity to keep pushing for them.
The save feature took getting used to, but I like it because it keeps the entire zone together... whereas previously, it didn't really matter whether it was a three act zone or a few one act zones with a boss. I almost wish level select chose by zone too, but THAT'S not going to go over well.
I had no issues with DSZ, but I like puzzles when they don't get in the way, and none of the DSZ puzzles seemed to really halt the momentum except some of the secret paths. CEZ1's pretty good though I'd like to see it given just a wee bit more love, CEZ2's unfinished and its dead obvious, RVZ still feels somewhat uninspired but its improved significantly just with the bigger textures and Nev3r's green thumb for geometry.
I love ERZ, and am thankful to say that its both the challenging and cruel, AND the most forgiving -all things considered- which I consider a good balance because I think we've seen that it doesn't make it any less difficult for the masses, just for the hardcore players. I also think SS7 is the most creative special stage I've ever played. I played the first version with tiny corner platforms and let me tell you, that sadistic stage remained entertaining even after I died over fifty times. (even though it was doable, we used level warp during testing, so of course it had to be nerfed).
I've been with Sky Sanctuary since last spring, but after the Arid Canyon contest, I wasn't really active until last fall. I've had a chance to get to know most of the other developers... Nev3r as a creative genius, Mystic as an expert in gameplay logic to the point where all of my ideas were already put forward at one time by him and turned down for a good reason, SSN as the man behind the curtain, et cetera.
I could go on and on, but the fact that SRB2 actually had a release and that I was involved flatters me and I do think this is the right opportunity to share this with you. I've probably told everyone that knows me more than a username with an opinion how I ended up doing what I do now... After playing through so many addons, it bothered me that the same textures were being used everywhere. I'm sure that I've improved quite a bit since working on the dev team, I can hardly bear to look at some of the textures I made for Jazz way back when... I'm hoping to pass on the way I work to a few others and try to encourage other people to feel free to fill in the gaps by talking during SAGE, but I've not formally shared design processes before and am growing slowly less tolerant of drama, so if it ends badly you will know why.
My favorite part has definitely been the active discussions with Mystic about the levels themselves and how they work... and as painful as it was, the long process of retexturing some of the match stages was truly enjoyable because of this team dynamic. And of course, there was the time where the stress started to get to me and I snapped at Spazzo but I'm over it. (No, not really, watch out Spazzo!) Ups and downs its been a fun experience and it feels appropriate that its release should have come with its own extreme ups and downs...
I'm glad so many have enjoyed it, and I hope those that didn't are willing to give us a way to help make it better! Cheers to STjr, and cheers to Sky Sanctuary! Thank you SSN for everything and make sure your wife knows we wish you only the best, and are happy for you being able to move on to the next stage in your life. Check back occasionally to make sure we aren't misbehaving, we'll miss you!
Cirom
aka J-town/NeonJ
Here are my honest thoughts.
Pros:
> New levels. (Although i only found Arid Canyon fun.)
> GREAT Match system.
> Supers cannot get the flag
> Knuckles.
> Meadow Match has been freed from the cramped crowd.
Cons:
> The new enemies and boss designs do NOT FIT SRB2's STYLE.
> The final boss looks like you just took a picture of something 3D.
> SIGSEGVs. On the points you hate it to, aswell.
> Sometimes the Palette gets a bit glitchy. (Eg: Tails' Windmill Shield sometimes gives him Black hands.)
> All the edited multiplayer levels have been, in my opinion, ruined by obstacles.
> Original tag removed.
> Final Egg Boss was VERY LOUD
How it should be fixed:
> Give all the enemies their original animations. Original Crawlas. Original Detons. Original Eggman. And change the other sprites style to SRB2's style.
> Change Eggrock a bit, but don't remove it. Also change the boss a bit so it's a little easier.
> Fix up some of the levels. Make them less cramped. Take GFZ, THZ and ACZ as your examples.
> Make. The end boss. SRB2-Styled.
Extra Information:
By 'SRB2-styled', i mean the SRB2 pictures around the site, and the style the startup story thing is in (i forgot what it's called.)
I say use 1.09.4's Coop and Race style with 2.0.1's Match/Tag/Ctf/etc. style.
And that is what i think. (Long? :S)
Pros:
> New levels. (Although i only found Arid Canyon fun.)
> GREAT Match system.
> Supers cannot get the flag
> Knuckles.
> Meadow Match has been freed from the cramped crowd.
Cons:
> The new enemies and boss designs do NOT FIT SRB2's STYLE.
> The final boss looks like you just took a picture of something 3D.
> SIGSEGVs. On the points you hate it to, aswell.
> Sometimes the Palette gets a bit glitchy. (Eg: Tails' Windmill Shield sometimes gives him Black hands.)
> All the edited multiplayer levels have been, in my opinion, ruined by obstacles.
> Original tag removed.
> Final Egg Boss was VERY LOUD
How it should be fixed:
> Give all the enemies their original animations. Original Crawlas. Original Detons. Original Eggman. And change the other sprites style to SRB2's style.
> Change Eggrock a bit, but don't remove it. Also change the boss a bit so it's a little easier.
> Fix up some of the levels. Make them less cramped. Take GFZ, THZ and ACZ as your examples.
> Make. The end boss. SRB2-Styled.
Extra Information:
By 'SRB2-styled', i mean the SRB2 pictures around the site, and the style the startup story thing is in (i forgot what it's called.)
I say use 1.09.4's Coop and Race style with 2.0.1's Match/Tag/Ctf/etc. style.
And that is what i think. (Long? :S)
Rant ahead. Warning. Long.
Initial thoughts were that DSZ was completely boring, and had far too underwater areas. I now revoke this statement (now that I've completed, and just replaying to explore and find all the emblems).
However, more air bubbles and springs should be added. Really, single air bubbles in massive water areas is silly, because they're practically invisible. Springs mainly for Sonic. Act 1 is a bit too puzzly and finicky (namely with Sonic) too; it's fun, but really slow as a level. With the exception of the water slides. Those were fun. Really, really fun.
New-CEZ was far more navigatible. I didn't get lost, and after the almost turtle-paced (in areas) DSZ, this was excellent. The almost overuse of spikeballs in act 2 is really bad though. The twirling ones are alright, but the side-to-side ones are extremely hard to dodge.
ACZ and RCZ were fun. Obviously need second acts, but still good. I don't know whether it was the lack of a second act or not, but they both seemed a bit easier than the predecessors. Still amazing though.
ACZ's gimmicks were very fun, even though the wires seem quite hard to grab on to successfully. There was also some minor navigation issues, as I ended up going in circles for a brief period. I didn't get lost nearly as bad as I did in DSZ though.
RCZ was fantastic through and through, and the elements it set up for the final zone were great. It's quite a shame the second act for this one wasn't finished for release; considering that Act 1 was at least partially present in 1.08 (albeit, y'know, unfinished).
DCZ wasn't there. Given the difficultly jump between RCZ and ERZ, will it be completed for the final version? Considering all of the new features, it seems hard to imagine what sort of level this'd be, really.
DSZ? Scrapped? Seems like ERZ kidnapped anything that it could've been anyway.
ERZ. Wow. Unlike DSZ, which had me quitting in frustration, this just got me hooked. I must've died over 100 times. It was difficult. But, so, so fun. Act 1's easy now; I can do it with no deaths, and usually 2+ more lives. Act 2 was really (really) hard, but completely epic. It was amazing. I laughed, I cried, I think it was the most fun I've had in a Sonic game, ever.
Make that in any game ever. I have never had so much fun playing a game.
The length of it was astounding too. I think it more than makes up for the removal of Doomship Zone; I couldn't imagine how a level like that could differ from this one, anyways.
I must admit, to complete it, I did have to abuse a certain spawn point for extra lives. The first time, I ended on about 50 lives, and proceeded to waste 40 of them trying to figure out how the hell to do the boss.
Second time round, my 100 lives dwindled down to 50, as I finally beat the boss, and figured out how to beat him post hit six. It was so unexpected; that is, the ways to beat him. It was utterly brilliant. And an awesome Sonic OVA reference. I certainly flipped him off throughout the whole experience.
The Special Stages were... there. I dunno. The wiki says they're being replaced with NiGHTs-esque stages? Cool? I don't really care, Super's not my thing.
Other aspects. Some areas seemed really pointless, like "wow, decoration!". It'd be nice if some of the elusive, non-emblem and pretty pointless areas were given some sort of secret tag, ala, what other than... Doom?
Graphics were fantastic. What else is there to say? Although there was a tad bit of texture blandness in a few levels, the level design itself was detailed enough to more-than make up for it. The enemies (redrawn included) looked great.
In terms of this, ERZ was just awe-inspiring. Creative uses of textures, and great textures at that. A lot of work has obviously been put in.
Depth-perception hurt a few bits, such as Arid Canyon's wires (not so much) and Castle Eggman's spikeballs. For the spikeballs at least. perhaps if they were given sprites at different angles, showing different spike positions or something, perhaps it would help slightly. Or maybe if they were made slightly smaller?
I agree with most of the negative comments about the archer enemy; needs an attacking frame. I like it though. All of the enemies were fantastic, anyways, with the pain-in-the-ass mole Badniks to the newly redrawn Eggmen and Crawlas. The early flying enemies sort of still suck hard though. They just look a bit, well, too goddamn small.
There were some glitches present, but bar the rare sigsevgs in ERZ2 (and once in ERZ1, I think), and the wide-ranged rotating spikeball of sigsegv in CEZ2, nothing gamebreaking.
With all that said and done. What I've found and played so far as been incredible on the whole, and the exploration post-game (and to find emblems) is really quite fun. I've not really messed with Match yet, but the changes look promising.
Dissapointing? Hell no. Fun as hell? Yes. Could be improved? Excepting the unseen, DSZ (especially) and CEZ (Act 2, mainly) could do with some touching up. ERZ was perfect, bar the rare random sigsegv.
Initial thoughts were that DSZ was completely boring, and had far too underwater areas. I now revoke this statement (now that I've completed, and just replaying to explore and find all the emblems).
However, more air bubbles and springs should be added. Really, single air bubbles in massive water areas is silly, because they're practically invisible. Springs mainly for Sonic. Act 1 is a bit too puzzly and finicky (namely with Sonic) too; it's fun, but really slow as a level. With the exception of the water slides. Those were fun. Really, really fun.
New-CEZ was far more navigatible. I didn't get lost, and after the almost turtle-paced (in areas) DSZ, this was excellent. The almost overuse of spikeballs in act 2 is really bad though. The twirling ones are alright, but the side-to-side ones are extremely hard to dodge.
ACZ and RCZ were fun. Obviously need second acts, but still good. I don't know whether it was the lack of a second act or not, but they both seemed a bit easier than the predecessors. Still amazing though.
ACZ's gimmicks were very fun, even though the wires seem quite hard to grab on to successfully. There was also some minor navigation issues, as I ended up going in circles for a brief period. I didn't get lost nearly as bad as I did in DSZ though.
RCZ was fantastic through and through, and the elements it set up for the final zone were great. It's quite a shame the second act for this one wasn't finished for release; considering that Act 1 was at least partially present in 1.08 (albeit, y'know, unfinished).
DCZ wasn't there. Given the difficultly jump between RCZ and ERZ, will it be completed for the final version? Considering all of the new features, it seems hard to imagine what sort of level this'd be, really.
DSZ? Scrapped? Seems like ERZ kidnapped anything that it could've been anyway.
ERZ. Wow. Unlike DSZ, which had me quitting in frustration, this just got me hooked. I must've died over 100 times. It was difficult. But, so, so fun. Act 1's easy now; I can do it with no deaths, and usually 2+ more lives. Act 2 was really (really) hard, but completely epic. It was amazing. I laughed, I cried, I think it was the most fun I've had in a Sonic game, ever.
Make that in any game ever. I have never had so much fun playing a game.
The length of it was astounding too. I think it more than makes up for the removal of Doomship Zone; I couldn't imagine how a level like that could differ from this one, anyways.
I must admit, to complete it, I did have to abuse a certain spawn point for extra lives. The first time, I ended on about 50 lives, and proceeded to waste 40 of them trying to figure out how the hell to do the boss.
Second time round, my 100 lives dwindled down to 50, as I finally beat the boss, and figured out how to beat him post hit six. It was so unexpected; that is, the ways to beat him. It was utterly brilliant. And an awesome Sonic OVA reference. I certainly flipped him off throughout the whole experience.
The Special Stages were... there. I dunno. The wiki says they're being replaced with NiGHTs-esque stages? Cool? I don't really care, Super's not my thing.
Other aspects. Some areas seemed really pointless, like "wow, decoration!". It'd be nice if some of the elusive, non-emblem and pretty pointless areas were given some sort of secret tag, ala, what other than... Doom?
Graphics were fantastic. What else is there to say? Although there was a tad bit of texture blandness in a few levels, the level design itself was detailed enough to more-than make up for it. The enemies (redrawn included) looked great.
In terms of this, ERZ was just awe-inspiring. Creative uses of textures, and great textures at that. A lot of work has obviously been put in.
Depth-perception hurt a few bits, such as Arid Canyon's wires (not so much) and Castle Eggman's spikeballs. For the spikeballs at least. perhaps if they were given sprites at different angles, showing different spike positions or something, perhaps it would help slightly. Or maybe if they were made slightly smaller?
I agree with most of the negative comments about the archer enemy; needs an attacking frame. I like it though. All of the enemies were fantastic, anyways, with the pain-in-the-ass mole Badniks to the newly redrawn Eggmen and Crawlas. The early flying enemies sort of still suck hard though. They just look a bit, well, too goddamn small.
There were some glitches present, but bar the rare sigsevgs in ERZ2 (and once in ERZ1, I think), and the wide-ranged rotating spikeball of sigsegv in CEZ2, nothing gamebreaking.
With all that said and done. What I've found and played so far as been incredible on the whole, and the exploration post-game (and to find emblems) is really quite fun. I've not really messed with Match yet, but the changes look promising.
Dissapointing? Hell no. Fun as hell? Yes. Could be improved? Excepting the unseen, DSZ (especially) and CEZ (Act 2, mainly) could do with some touching up. ERZ was perfect, bar the rare random sigsegv.
Fantasticspastic
Member
I wish I could enjoy all the new levels. Not because I can't bring myself to like them like some other people, but because I literally can't get past Castle Eggman Zone act 2. The lag is so terrible I can't get anywhere, I mean really really terrible. I guess its my computer but people were saying the water level had lots of lag and I can't recall running into any of it. If anyone could help me out, is there any way to skip the level because it sounds like its the level with the most lag for everyone else to. If not is there any possible way to reduce the lag. Im really pissed cause I really love the game so far. I don't know why the water level is so hated by some people I think it was awesome, the first act of castle eggman wasnt half bad either but if I cant find a way around act 2 I cant play any farther. Im not just being nitpicky here either. I've already tried to just trudge through the level as best I can but it's impossible at a certain point because it lags so bad it won't register jumps at all unless I press the button multiple times. I really hope some one can help me out.
- Status