Opinions of SRB2 Newcomers?

[sluggard]

All of us around here are very experienced when it comes to playing SRB2, However I am curious how the average gamers and Newcomers played through it.

I found some interesting gameplays that would probably help you guys in the development and I still find it entertaining to watch newcomers Reactions and hear about their thoughts and opinions in the game, Let me know if you have more like these :

* Sonic Robo Blast 2 - Anti Gravity goop.

* Sonic DOOM │ Sonic Robo Blast 2

EDIT : PS, Both of them complain about controls (heh).

 

[JTE]

I've been saying for years that the default control scheme is awful.

But another part of the problem is that Sonic himself is an awful, uncontrollable character, with his super low acceleration making basic handling difficult and his thok ability sending you flying off in a random direction quite easily off a cliff.

And since he's the signature character of the series, and the first one in the list, whom everyone expects (as he has, in the past) to be an average character with few advanced abilities, novices who don't know any better tend to pick him to start with and assume the entire game plays like that.

 

[Unknownlight]

I've consistently found (when I've managed to badger people in my life to play SRB2) that newbies have the most fun playing as Knuckles.

The game really needs a better way to strongly discourage new players from choosing Sonic at the character select screen.

 

[MK.exe]

At the moment. SRB2 isn't very friendly with new-comers. Depending on the player, it probably takes a 5 months of casual playing to get used too SRB2 from new-comer status.

I suggested a while ago in the suggestions thread a tutorial level for SRB2 to pretty much show all the controls, physics and players briefly in a single level to give a general idea of how the game works and what to expect in all levels.

I still stand by my suggestion and would welcome it, If it were to be introduced in later versions.

 

[clairebun]

The game really needs a better way to strongly discourage new players from choosing Sonic at the character select screen.

That's never going to happen.

 

[toaster]

I'm not sure "never" is appropriate here. We could easily have a "difficulty rating" of some sort on the character select screen in a way which is visible that at least allows for people to make informed decisions.

Obviously, there will be kids who always want to play as Sonic no matter what - but for those who might otherwise be swayed, there's always unintrusive things we can do.

 

[Mystic]

This has always been an issue, but it came to a head with 2.0 introducing stages with real gimmicks and hazards that actually expect the player to have a grasp of the controls. We tried to help in 2.1 with a few changes, particularly the tips on the character select, but it's not nearly enough.

There are actually a bunch of ideas we're planning to try out to help this for 2.2, but on this one we're going to need a seriously multi-pronged approach as the problem is so severe.

 

[sluggard]

Here's another Playthrough.

Also you can see Mid-textures not rendered when Underwater (3:15), This Bug still exists now.

 

[Shane]

I set up SRB2 with an Xbox 360 controller for my nephew and he didn't seem to have a problem with controls. I'd say he's more of an advanced gamer, though, so he was probably able to adapt to control quirks faster than someone who games casually.

Personally, when I first started playing SRB2, I dove into the options right away to setup the game the way I liked. I guess I must be a dying breed.

 

[Bryce Hego]

I set up SRB2 with an Xbox 360 controller for my nephew and he didn't seem to have a problem with controls. I'd say he's more of an advanced gamer, though, so he was probably able to adapt to control quirks faster than someone who games casually.

Personally, when I first started playing SRB2, I dove into the options right away to setup the game the way I liked. I guess I must be a dying breed.

xbox 360 controller is not really default controls, now if he played with default keyboard controls and was fine then he would be good at adapting. Otherwise he is safe from the dread of....keyboard default (witch i used as a kid)

 

[Mario A. Roach]

Srb2 always had bad movilitie at the controllers. I do not know why but the Xbox 360 controller camera moves weird, it need more of this thing that I call "smoother movement".

 

[TelosTurntable]

When I started out I'd always configure games to use a shitty WASD-Arrows control setup. It worked pretty well for SRB2 (At least, as well as any configuration could work for a 9 year old), so I'd say we just need to direct people to the options menu... or have a really ridiculous tutorial stage that lampshades itself until no one even pays attention to what they're being taught :y

 

[frozenLake]

What SRB2 Needs, is some sort of Tutorial Stage, or something along those lines, that explain mechanics such as pressing back when going forward to slow down faster, that switches your skin through the stage so you learn the basics of each character, as well.

But of course thats never going to happen, after all, the classic games didn't have tutorials. (wasn't the first sonic game with a tutorial Heroes?)

 

[Shane]

Am I just an oddball in that I always dives into options menus before playing games? Back when I played SRB2 in '99, I didn't seem to have a problem adapting to it. Of course, I've always thought of SRB2 as a Doom mod, so maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[Zwip-Zwap Zapony]

Am I just an oddball in that I always dives into options menus before playing games? -Snip, as my reply is only relevant to that part-

Yes, you are. I am too. In my opinion, it would be good for games (in general, not just Sonic Robo Blast 2) to direct the player to the options menu if they start a new game and haven't looked in there yet.

 

[Mystic]

I think there's another issue here that a lot of people here probably aren't even aware of: back when a lot of us started, the game was a lot smaller and less demanding. Demo 2, the first release I spent serious time on, was GFZ1-3 and THZ1 before the slime hurt. Even though I sucked at the game to start, there wasn't exactly any punishment for sucking because the game didn't continue on to more difficult stages. 2.0 was the first release of the game to actually have demanding content in vanilla.

 

[glaber]

if SRB2 did have a tutorial, what all would it cover? I expect at the very least the basics of movement and the double jump actions.

 

[sluggard]

Characters abilities and quick easy challenges that require utilizing them before going into first level eh ?, to at least tell players that they can Spin, I see most new players not using Spindash, because they weren't told that they could.

 

[MK.exe]

Yeah pretty much what Romio said,i was working on a tutorial level but i had not many ideas other than using rings to guild the path and really simple platforming.

 

[glaber]

I've actually worked on making one too. My only problem was making sure I had enough covered. (plus I still need to add in the text)