Character Specific Playing Styles and You

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BlueZero4

BlueZero4

(not a palindrome)
Alright, so when 2.0 came out I switched over to being an exclusive Knuckles player because I couldn't stand the handling changes made to Sonic. I feel rather silly for doing that, but I have some degree of contrast between the two characters now.

What I love about SRB2 right now is the idea that I feel like Sonic when I'm playing as Sonic, and I feel like Knuckles when playing as Knuckles.

Feeling like Sonic simply means speed. I love the thok because it gives Sonic's speed a reckless danger. I don't know why I ever simply ran through levels because thokking is so much fun. Feeling like Knuckles means using all 3 dimensions by gliding and climbing all over the place. It's like exploration but it's better. I'd imagine feeling like Tails would be like Knuckles but different, but I haven't had any bonding experiences with Tails yet. Someone please say something about Tails, because he's not getting in love in this first post.

That said, levels either hurt or hurt the experience.

Take Sonic for example. I'm fairly annoyed with Deep Sea Zone because it feels like every single gimmick in the zone is oriented towards stopping the player and making me feel less like Sonic. In contrast, I love Egg Rock 1 because the difficulty of the zone doesn't hamper Sonic's reckless speed and enhances the danger.

nAGZ is a good Knuckles level. Most of nAGZ's jumps are too big for Knuckles to do, so he grabs on to the walls under the edge and pulls himself up. It's a simple technique, but it showcases Knux's unique flavor. The other thing about nAGZ is that the rigid pillar-like structure of the platforms makes a playground for Knuckles so that he can improvise and create a new alternate route through an old and boring area. Not so in GFZ1!

Unfortunately, these two play styles are at odds with each other, because Knuckles eats sprawling vertical landscapes for breakfast, while Sonic can't. Equally, Knuckles can't tear through a relatively flat level (think THZ1) like Sonic can. Neither playing style has any middle ground without dumbing down the experience for one of the two, so usually designers stick with making Sonic happy. Why? If nothing else, it's because most level designers test play their levels with Sonic.

As far as solving the problem goes, Mystic saw this coming and siphoned Knuckles off to his own little room in nAGZ. I can't say I disagree with the solution because I seriously enjoyed the Knuckles route the first time, but the implementation felt sloppy. Mystic combined noclimb with Knux's lame jump height, which was a serious cop-out.

What do you guys think?
 
I'd rather play as Knuckles, I've played with him alot and can completely control him.
He's great for exploring and scaling certain area's. The only negative thing is that if you accidently let loose of the glide button either by lag or accident you may end up in that deathpit your gliding above. Knuckles's NAGZ path was pretty hard for me the first time, I kept messing up in some way and ended up in the deathpit several times. I eventually got through it though.

That's my word about Knuckles, I don't have anything to say about Sonic and Tails.
 
I still have to beat NAGZ as Knuckles. Not because that extra section was impossible or something, but because I don't try very often.

Overall, I must say that I play every character more often. If you look at a level like Arid Canyon Zone, you can see how different the playing style is with different characters. Knuckles can reach almost everything here and explore the whole map, while Sonic gets some very fast-paced gameplay. Tails feels like a mixture of both, he can still run through the levels like Sonic if he wants to, only a bit slower, but if necessary, he can also explore to some kind.

As BlueZero4 stated, the problem lie in the maps. GFZ1 and both THZ acts are boring for every character, but that is a different problem (the maps are just too old). GFZ2 is a prime example of character balancing. There are many areas that you can explore as Knuckles that would be tedious to reach as Sonic, but you also blast through the stage if you want.
DSZ feels a bit tedious for Sonic, but not to an extent where it breaks the flow IMO. It still very different as Knuckles and Tails.
CEZ is the main problem. It so linear and has so few secrets that playing as Tails or Knuckles makes the whole stage boring. It feels exactly like Sonic, only slower.
 
I like Knuckles the best. He's easy to control, and his abilities to glide and climb are great for exploring. But if I ever get the sudden urge to speed, he can be pretty fast, too.

However, my long-term goal is to beat every stage with Sonic. Arid Canyon is gonna be a pain in the butt.
 
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I've already done what Wombatwarlord wants to do. Heh.
Anyway...

Sonic: Mainly him. Feels a bit "meh" in race, but he's rather vital to racing. I like to play as him, but it gets REALLY anoyying in netgames when you're in RVZ. Tails players get ahead of you and crumble the platforms, making it nigh impossible as Sonic! DSZ is a neat challenge, too. Sure, he's slower, BUT the platforming is what makes it more interesting. Adds a slight degree of cheapness in HnS though, as he can easily catch Elemental Shields first! In Tag though, it's another story. I use him to catch others, as he's fast as hell.

Tails: A devourer of platforming. I hate the degree of easiness though. Too many wimps use him, while I rarely do so myself. However, I have to admit he's useful in most levels. Specially CLZ2 (not actually a typo: that's Castle Lagman Zone for ya). It lags because of the overuse of gimmicks, mainly swinging spikeballs. Massive size doesn't help either. This is what makes him playerfriendly: The easiness of his control style.

Knuckles: My personal favourite. Despite his low jump, he can also devour platforming, but is fun to play. Adds a degree of cheapness in Hide and Seek though: He's awesome at hiding up walls and camouflage, as the non-recolorable bits stick out the least. Good in match, specially combined with the Spread ring. The best build overall too. Good speed, good ability, great gameplay...What else could you ask for?
 
I mostly use Knuckles, but the No-Climb areas just scream Tails. It's not fair that there are no-climb areas as Knuckles is supposed to climb any wall and break any rock with his fists. And you're right about Sonic at Deep Sea Zone: it kills his speed.

Sonic: Great for levels that dont involve water. As you can see, Sonic can't swim and his speed slows down underwater. Also, I think the way you should control your thok is with your timing. The spindash-jump-thok move I cant seem to pull off at times when I try to get Sonic's emblem at GFZ1. What's good is that when you accidentally jump at something dangerous (besides a death pit), you can turn and thok. Only if you have that timing.
Tails: I like how he flies a bit slow at land and underwater he swims fast. I think.. But he's really useful for extremely long jumps that glide or thok can't reach. I hate how Tails does about everything (run, fly, etc) real slow. NAGZ is perfect for Tails, too, as you can take some shortcuts along the way, but beware! Tails will get tired the longer you fly.
Knuckles: There's a lot to say about this "well rounded choice". He does indeed have the speed of Sonic with the handling of Tails and fits any level perfectly. That is, unless the level involves no-climb walls. This guy can bust some blocks, climb some walls, and my most favorite ability: glide (except it's a bit useless at times and you have to find another way. Depends on how the level is made). Knuckles in Match is a bit hard to get used to, as I usually play with Sonic and his powerful thok. Knuckles can also be a good use to Match since you can glide, and while you're at it you can look down and snipe away!

Personally, I like to try using all of them to experiment on levels like how fast you can go through it, what other secrets you can find, or how you survive it (not drowning, losing any rings and such). I recommend Tails for beginners, Knuckles for experienced players, and Sonic for highly skilled players. You can also try practicing some techniques for Sonic. As for me, Knuckles is still my choice.
 
SpiritCrusher said:
As BlueZero4 stated, the problem lie in the maps. GFZ1 and both THZ acts are boring for every character, but that is a different problem (the maps are just too old).
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Well, for boring maps, they usually lend themselves to Sonic because he just thok-thok-thoks through the empty parts really quickly.

NiteAngel said:
I mostly use Knuckles, but the No-Climb areas just scream Tails. It's not fair that there are no-climb areas as Knuckles is supposed to climb any wall...
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I've personally found that no climb is more of a level design choice than a "Hey, let's nerf Knux!" thing. It can still be used improperly, though, and I'd like to cite AGZ's mystic temple in 1.09.4 and JJ's AGZ ripoff. Seriously, JJ just highlighted every single linedef in the map and then flagged no climb.

>.>
 
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Tails is a pretty good character, but controling his flight requires much precision. Especially in levels that require he turn in flight, it can be pretty easy to lose control of him. ERZ1 is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

And concerning Knuckles's no-climb walls, I actually kind of appreciate them. Though I like to use Knux, it's way too easy to just glide around danger and complete the stage in no time at all. No-climb ways serve to brush his difficultly closer to that of Sonic and Tails.
 
Well, here's my opinion of the characters. I cannot say this will be without bias, as I do have a complaint about Sonic.

Sonic: Hey, he is supposed to be fast, so I don't mind him being picked for Race...it's just the thoks that get me mad, though, especially in Match. Still, Sonic is a difficult character to use mainly because he's not very good at vertical sections. I actually would have preferred he had a double jump move rather than a thok, because for example, if you're trying to reach a small platform that is just out of reach, there is a slight chance of overshooting it with a thok. A double jump is slower, yes, but makes it much easier to land on a small platform. The only thing that comes close to Sonic's Double Jump is the Whirlwind Shield, and it is actually fairly weak. Really the only good reason that Sonic has a thok is to go quickly down a straight hallway, and to hit Eggman from afar. Sonic would have more uses for a double jump, and could keep up with Tails and Knuckles some of the time. Overall, the most difficult character to use, but he is effective taking out enemies close to or at ground level.

Tails: Out of all characters, this is the one I play as the most. I'm no beginner, though, as you may think. I once heard someone say along the lines of "A Sonic player is getting whooped by a Tails player?" when I was playing in Match. In my opinion, Tails is actually the least effective character of all three, more so than Sonic. In 2.0, he did get a slight increase in speed, but it's not enough. In addition, Tails is a tad difficult to control, especially when he is flying. He is underpowered in pretty much all modes except Co-Op (maybe Hide and Seek as well). While Sonic has his thok, Tails only has flying, and even then, he is disliked for that. How fair is that? Sonic players thok all the time, making them VERY hard to hit, and there are no complaints? On the other hand, have Tails fly ONCE to get away from someone, and they complain. Not to mention Tails is still a tad easy to hit while he is flying. How is Tails supposed to get away from a fight he doesn't want to be in anymore if he has a slow running speed? MAYBE I won't use flight if you guys don't thok all the time. Sorry, this has been bothering me a lot as of late, people disliking the most underpowered character in the game. Anyway, I feel Tails needs to be continued to worked on, as he's pretty ineffective aside from his flying.

Knuckles: Well, at least everyone is pretty much happy about Knuckles aside from the no-climbing discussion. In some ways, I actually consider him easier to use than Tails, though in Co-Op, Knuckles has some tougher parts, especially in ER1. His gliding is slow, making him easy to control in midair, and can climb heights even further up than Tails can fly, although it takes a long time. I'd say maybe make him a bit faster, cause I believe in the older games both Tails and Knuckles can keep up with Sonic easily, maybe except when Sonic breaks the sound barrier. I thought I also heard that Knuckles shoots a bit...faster(?) in Match. I haven't noticed this at all, actually, since I don't use him in Match. I mainly use him for Hide and Seek. But overall, he is very fun to use, and is perhaps the most effective character out of all three characters (even more than Sonic). I have no complaints for Knuckles aside from the fact he may be a bit too slow running compared to Sonic.
 
I have no true favorites, because I only really use the official characters to get emblems and unlock secrets. But out of the three of them, I like Sonic the best because he saved my Time Attack emblem.
 
Sonic: I have to admit, I'm not as big of a Sonic fan as I used to be. He's fast and hard to control unless you know what you're doing. Even in levels where there's a lot of space, I tend not to run at full speed or abuse the Thok much.

Tails: Tails however is still my favorite. The flying ability has saved me more than a few times on things, and those who follow the Time Attack topic know that I'm a pretty good Tails player. One thing I'm still waiting to see though is a good stage where you can control Tails' biplane and unleash pwnage on Eggman bots.

Knuckles: A pretty good balance between Sonic and Tails, you get respectable speed, and the ability to glide and climb just about anything. It also turns what would otherwise be a mostly 2-d hide and seek game into a 3-d ish one =p
 
With Sonic, I just Thok until the end with a level. It's much faster, and it makes the levels much more exciting.
I don't use Tails and Knuckles.
 
Personally:

* Sonic: He´s the coolest to play, because it´s both the fastest and the hardest. He can be easier than Tails or Knuckles in open spaces, but once you need platforming or going up, he´s usually the best challenge of all. Most fun in SRB2 is learning to use him and thok through the levels. He´s awesome too on online modes. Only bad thing I see for him is that Super Sonic isn´t that fun to use. In fact, I rarely transform at all.

* Tails: Like somebody else said, it´s somehow underpowered. Too slow, and flying isn´t that good. It´s the easiest of the three in the main game, but playing as him in online modes can give you a lot of pain, specially in match. You can´t keep flying for long, and you are a sitting duck while doing so. Anyway, he´s better after the speed added in this release, but I thinks his best use is to learn the levels before going with the other two, and helping out in coop.

* Knuckles: Best exploration buddy, and a fun character to play too. When you are not an expert of the game, he´s just the best. You can run through stages, but you can still both glide and climb. He´s a good testing too for Sonic, because once you learn to control Knuckles at full speed, it isn´t that hard to start mastering Sonic. In fact, besides thok, you can do anything he can. Good in multiplayer (although not as good as Sonic) and coop. A man for all.

I personally loved too water levels and CEZ. CEZ will be improved in some of the things that are bad right know (lag, some badniks, length, paths...).

Water levels are good as they are (although I would add more badniks right know, to fill some open spaces). Yeah, they slow everyone, but that´s what it´s supposed to do. Maybe you didn´t like levels like Labyrinth Zone, but I actually miss them in newer Sonics. You have to be fast everywhere, because you have to reach the next bubble in order to breath some air. Personally, I would add more labyrinths in the level, and more platforming, but I think people would dislike the level even more. My only problem is that it´s too empty now.
 
The characters feel the same to me other than their moves. Sonic doesn't feel 'faster' nor does Tails control better. the only thing different is that Knuckles jumps lower, and is forced to take a lower route in Erz 1.
 
sawhog said:
The characters feel the same to me other than their moves. Sonic doesn't feel 'faster' nor does Tails control better. the only thing different is that Knuckles jumps lower, and is forced to take a lower route in Erz 1.
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And Tails runs slower, so he has to take a higher route. Tails is significantly slower than Sonic, and Sonic's thok is very hard to control.
 
Sonic: Faster, harder to control and is best used for Intermediate and Expert players. He also has more tricks in his sleeve than Tails and Knux have:
Spin-Thok: Spindash and thok. You'll go 2X of your normal thok speed.
Thok-Spin: A very famous trick, I think: After the thok, if you spin right when you touched the ground, you'll go spinning pretty much 2X of your normal run speed. Very hard to do it several times.
Thok-Bounce: Obvious trick: You just thok while hitting an enemy. Although it is as simple as it looks, you can go from 2X to maybe 3X of your normal run speed with this, if you time it well of course.
Thok-Jump: Probably my favorite: before stepping the ground, thok and then when you have stepped the ground, jump. Probably 2X of your normal run speed. Can be done several times without much of a trouble.
Thok-Thok: Follow the previous trick, but when you've pressed that jump button, press it right after again. You can go 2X of Thok-Jump speed.
Thok-Thok-Spin: Combination of Thok-Thok and Thok-Spin. The speed is probably the same than Thok-Thok, though.

Tails: Best character for Beginners, less better for Intermediate and Expert players:
Spin-Fly: Spindash, then fly. You'll go 3X of your normal Fly speed
"Fly Attack": Although it shouldn't be very much considered as a trick, it's quite hard to pull off: You just fly and hit enemies with his tails.
Bounce-Fly: Although it doesn't match the Spin-Fly trick, it's quite an alternative: after taking some speed, hit an enemy and then start to fly. Flying will be faster than normal. Can go up to 2X of your normal fly speed.

Knuckles: Best character for all players because of his balanced stats:
Climb-Glide: Right after you have finished climbing the wall, glide. you'll go a bit more faster and higher. Being under 0 gravity can make you glide more high than normal.
Bounce-Glide: Very tricky trick: Right after hitting an enemy, glide, you'll go a bit more higher. Being under 0 gravity can make you glide more high than normal. If you fall off a cliff and then doing this trick, you'll go much more higher than usual, too.
 
Sonic: he thoks. I almost never play as him outside of Tag and SP, so I usually just Grenade/scatter every hedgehog I see :3. Otusie of match/ctf/H&S/seeking in Tag, however, I main sonic.

Tails: He goes into the sky and gets railed in the face. By me. Now, I can't believe I used to use him only.

Knux: After learning about his weapon buff, and seeing the UTTER RAPING he can do with Scatters, Explosions, and Rails, I saw no point in using anyone else for much in combat. it's hard to upkeep the flag with that low jump though... But it's worth it to have the ability to use the Rail as a PRACTICAL weapon instead of a weapon only useful at a distance. Speaking of, I have gotten REALLY good at sniping tiny pixels on Nimbus Ruins :3
 
SpiritCrusher said:
And Tails runs slower, so he has to take a higher route. Tails is significantly slower than Sonic, and Sonic's thok is very hard to control.
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Yeah, The only time they seem 'different' is when playing multiplayer, since I can compare their stats. Alone is a different story
 
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