SAGE Spotlight: Sonic Robo Blast 2

[Cue]

I disregarded everything he said when he said he liked Sonic Heroes despite the flaws (And when he said Reunite was the only one who was better than good at level designing...).

Sounds to me like he found SRB2 difficult and tried to put that through an entire review. There's no unreasonable difficulty, except maybe ERZ, but that's ERZ.

 

[Mystic]

I would like to note that the reason match and CTF are the most refined gametypes is simply because those are the gametypes that actually get seriously tested. Most of the rest of them are provided as a "If you enjoy this, have fun" design, without worrying about game balance. We are fully aware that there's no way we'll ever properly balance characters in Race, so we don't try.

Also, I highly disagree with your opinion of character balance. In many CTF games I play, I see people playing as all three characters and being a major asset to the team. Sonic is good for getting the flag back, as the thok allows him to outrun the flagrunner no matter what character they're playing as. Tails has the ability to fly, which in many of our CTF stages allows him to fly up to the flag without having to deal with the frequently complicated path Sonic has to take between the bases. Knuckles has the increased fire rate, which is very strong in CTF because most of our stages have massive choke points by design, which give Knuckles a great edge in defending a point. While I personally agree that more could be done, especially to help Tails a bit, in match and CTF all three characters do have a place and I am working to help Tails have his time to shine in 2.0.5.

In Single Player, Tails does tend to dominate, but as a reminder, he also was pretty insane in S3K because of the same abilities. Considering our goal with the single player game is to emulate the classics in 3D, it shouldn't be surprising that the same character balance problems would show up here. Turns out that when you give the player the third dimension, Tails's flight becomes that much more overpowered. Note that when SEGA took Tails into the third dimension, they made him race Sonic, because his abilities kinda nullify a lot of hazards in the game.

However, what this means for the single player is that we need more areas like S3K had where characters have paths to themselves. While there are a few in 2.0, I do hope to have more of these by the time the game is completed, especially for Knuckles. Characters other than Sonic deserve to be challenged to use their abilities too.

 

[MascaraSnake]

However, what this means for the single player is that we need more areas like S3K had where characters have paths to themselves.

The problem is that the Tails-only path in ERZ1 is so incredibly easy in comparison to what Knuckles and Sonic have to do:

Sonic has to run through that crusher sequence, which pretty much guarantees several deaths before the player makes it through alive.

Knuckles has to glide over a lava pit while avoiding crushers, and then glide upside-down over death pit without touching the walls. Not quite as difficult as Sonic's path, but still rather mean.

Tails has to fly up a bunch of square platforms...

I think that says it all.

 

[PrismaticAngel]

ERZ isn't really that unfair if you play a few times through it, although I do agree that some parts can be really cheap (coughERZ2slidepartcough), it isn't really that hard.

...But then again, I was Knuckles.

But the Jetty-Syn enemies are the worst and most annoying enemies I've EVER seen in any game. Why? When you're getting ambushed by a bunch of them you get pounded, shot or bombed the living daylight out of your freaking head! And when you're in a sky level like Aerial Garden it doesn't get any better when you are carefully platforming above a Deathpit only to be pounded right into it.

 

[MascaraSnake]

But the Jetty-Syn enemies are the worst and most annoying enemies I've EVER seen in any game. Why? When you're getting ambushed by a bunch of them you get pounded, shot or bombed the living daylight out of your freaking head! And when you're in a sky level like Aerial Garden it doesn't get any better when you are carefully platforming above a Deathpit only to be pounded right into it.

That's why they are so sparingly used.

 

[PrismaticAngel]

That's why they are so sparingly used.

I don't think so, I've seen alot of maps where the Jetty-Syn population pretty much EXPLODED.

 

[WedgeStratos]

In all honesty, this is the only thing that can keep Sonic fans on their feet and playing levels that feel like the Genesis days.

Short Summary - A wise noob once said "LOLOLOLOLOLO SRB2 ARE WIIN I LUV TIS GAM"

Novel - In all essence, SRB2 has lost its replay value. Even if you are successful enough to beat ERZ on Ultimate, it may just proof you have no life. Not even people who love the Genesis games (like me) are bothering to click that damn srb2win.exe file. That is how bad it's gotten. There's also the matter that people become pissed when they get all the emeralds just to learn it was a total waste of their time. They expect the "overlord godmod" of Sonic games, known as Super Sonic, which leads to the question of this game "Why have SS sprites when you won't even spend time to let us use it???" It's this kind of unanswered question that makes people cry and beat their computer like a bad stepchild. True you get Super in Multiplayer, but these fans do not want that. I like Sonic, and I'm glad of you guys for wasting your lifes dedicating to the game (that ranges from the programmers to the fans that make instakill WADs) but the people who first got it after SAGE arew now bored and trashing the game. And other people (the people with no lives) are modifying SRB2 with OpenGL (another thing pissing fans off as you guys banhammer on it) when they should be doing real things like reading a book, killing a chic-- Oh that one's my problem. Or even watching half-decent Youtube videos (ones that AREN'T SRB2 RELATED) And mostly the people who DO enjoy SRB2 might only have had the game for one hour, or are on Match & CTF. It blows my mind as to how this game is still alive so... Yeah... Either way, I'm not sure how this game is gonna get back on it's 24-bit digital legs of 0110110100101011. Thank you for reading. Please die in an orderly fashion.

 

[K.S.]

tl;dr for this post: DarkSagaFromSegaLMA0, either you're a troll or really not thinking before you type.

Not even people who love the Genesis games (like me) are bothering to click that damn srb2win.exe file.

The rest of your post leads me to believe you never clicked on it in the first place.

There's also the matter that people become pissed when they get all the emeralds just to learn it was a total waste of their time. They expect the "overlord godmod" of Sonic games, known as Super Sonic, which leads to the question of this game "Why have SS sprites when you won't even spend time to let us use it???" It's this kind of unanswered question that makes people cry and beat their computer like a bad stepchild.

Like this, for instance. Have you ever bothered collecting the seven emeralds for yourself? Then promptly double-jumping with 50 rings? Guess what? You turn SUPER SONIC.

And other people (the people with no lives) are modifying SRB2 with OpenGL (another thing pissing fans off as you guys banhammer on it)

When did we start banning people for using OpenGL?

Oh wait, we never did. We don't support it, we don't encourage its use, but nevertheless it can be used and none of us would bat an eyelash.

when they should be doing real things like reading a book, killing a chic-- Oh that one's my problem.

What I want to do with my spare time is my business, not yours.

Either way, I'm not sure how this game is gonna get back on it's 24-bit digital legs

24 bit programs do not exist.

of 0110110100101011

That's 16 bits anyway.

By the way, SRB2 is a 32 bit application.

 

[SSNTails]

SRB2 is open source! This means if you don't like it, you can fix it!!1!!1!1!! Yaaay!!!

 

[Mystic]

I don't think so, I've seen alot of maps where the Jetty-Syn population pretty much EXPLODED.

As probably the most guilty party here, I'd say that we toned that down pretty dramatically in 2.0. You only see Jetty-syns in a few areas, and they're generally limited in number.

 

[Liliam]

While I personally agree that more could be done, especially to help Tails a bit, in match and CTF all three characters do have a place and I am working to help Tails have his time to shine in 2.0.5.

With incredibly flat ring formations floating in the sky? Unless you've changed them since I had a look at it, those look more helpful to Knuckles and maybe even Super Sonic. Tails needs three-dimensional clouds of stuff to pick up.

 

[Mystic]

The floating rings aren't very helpful to Tails without Attraction, but there are a lot of new platforms and areas for Tails now, which are a lot more helpful.

 

[Fawfulfan]

There was one “what the hell was the designer thinking?” moment in particular: in Deep Sea Zone Act 1, the game sets out to recreate the old “logs slowly flowing down a waterfall” scenario, but the “logs” come out randomly and are spaced 3/4 Sonic’s max jump distance apart with no downward leniency (if you lose any vertical footing, you have no chance of making it).

It's not random, and it wasn't arbitrary. The logs are set up like that because there is no way to create Continuously Falling FOFs of the same speed and taking the same route while staggering the platforms. The only solution to this is to create it so that each falling log takes different paths of varying vertical length. The drawback is (as you have noticed) that the logs do not appear at regular intervals. But it isn't random.

Also, it's Act 2, not Act 1.

 

[Luminous]

There's no unreasonable difficulty, except maybe ERZ, but that's ERZ.

I never complained about unreasonable difficult outside of ERZ. I stated that there is a difficulty spike as the game goes on, but I never said that every 2.0 level is unfair.

ERZ isn't really that unfair if you play a few times through it, although I do agree that some parts can be really cheap (coughERZ2slidepartcough), it isn't really that hard.

I stated that Eggrock is unfair to players that just started playing the game. Most gimmicks are one time traps; I'm pretty sure that most people died at least once playing Eggrock Zone because you aren't ware of the traps the girst time you play. After the third or so time you play it, it's pretty easy.

 

[WedgeStratos]

tl;dr for this post: DarkSagaFromSegaLMA0, either you're a troll or really not thinking before you type.

I thought out each and every word, mind you.

The rest of your post leads me to believe you never clicked on it in the first place.

I've been clicking it since it's first fail version.

Like this, for instance. Have you ever bothered collecting the seven emeralds for yourself? Then promptly double-jumping with 50 rings? Guess what? You turn SUPER SONIC.

Case in point, that WAS possible! In 2.0, THEY REMOVED IT

When did we start banning people for using OpenGL?

Oh wait, we never did. We don't support it, we don't encourage its use, but nevertheless it can be used and none of us would bat an eyelash.

Uhh WRONG! You have failed to put my words in the correct context. I said that people are adding in OpenGL, a feature that was REMOVED from SRB2! Not that the people are removed for using it. Plus if Doom supports it, then SRB2 will support it. Not to mention, SRB2 was built off a Doom engine, no?

What I want to do with my spare time is my business, not yours.

That's what she said.

24 bit programs do not exist.

I meant 32

That's 16 bits anyway.

Since when is 0101 a 16-bit software?

By the way, SRB2 is a 32 bit application.

Well duh.

 

[Mystic]

It's not random, and it wasn't arbitrary. The logs are set up like that because there is no way to create Continuously Falling FOFs of the same speed and taking the same route while staggering the platforms. The only solution to this is to create it so that each falling log takes different paths of varying vertical length. The drawback is (as you have noticed) that the logs do not appear at regular intervals. But it isn't random.

To be honest, he is right. That is probably the worst-designed rooms in SRB2. It's not fun at all and it's needlessly frustrating.

 

[Monster Iestyn]

Case in point, that WAS possible! In 2.0, THEY REMOVED IT

No, it was just limited to Sonic only.

 

[ChaseSP]

When I played that part, I would just spin dash through the water fall.

 

[K.S.]

I thought out each and every word, mind you.

Then you must be a troll. Hi troll!

Too bad you aren't exactly 100% successful. I would've had the perfect video for you. :<

Case in point, that WAS possible! In 2.0, THEY REMOVED IT

A troll that can't do any fact checking. Seriously, for all of our sakes, at least do some basic fact checking before you start ranting at people.

Sonic turning Super was never removed, I don't have any idea why you think it was. Two minutes to enable objectplace, spawn emeralds and 50 rings, then just double jumping would've proved that your statement was incorrect.

Uhh WRONG! You have failed to put my words in the correct context. I said that people are adding in OpenGL, a feature that was REMOVED from SRB2! Not that the people are removed for using it. Plus if Doom supports it, then SRB2 will support it. Not to mention, SRB2 was built off a Doom engine, no?

You failed to put the words in a context that people would understand.

And where does "SRB2 was built off a Doom engine" come into play in this statement?

That's what she said.

Using a retort like that is a quick way to have a good deal of people ignore the rest of what you say, you know.

I meant 32

Again, perhaps you should have done some fact/error checking before clicking that nice "Submit Reply" button?

'course, it's way too late now. Too bad!

Since when is 0101 a 16-bit software?

"0110110100101011" is 16 bits, by definition.

I'm actually curious as to what his reply to all of this is now. Don't ruin it, guys :<

 

[Autosaver]

Note that when SEGA took Tails into the third dimension, they made him race Sonic, because his abilities kinda nullify a lot of hazards in the game.

We COULD put Tails in a mech. :p