Sonic frontiers gameplay has been finally shown,of course with some probs😅

[Longspikes109]

In my opinion what we got is good enough at least for the short term,but for a long term… yeah,it could be improved,buuuuut still what do you think?

 

[Chort]

So far it looks very bad.
Enemies look like alive JBL speakers that ate schoolchildren and started a war.
The area is very empty, there is not enough living creatures such as rabbits, birds and others.
The rails don't fit here at all. Like, what's the point of flying rails if there's ground underneath them? The rails in Sonic were designed to pass through the abyss, not just hang in the air.

 

[time gear]

I think it looks rather promising. It's a bit slower paced, though I don't really see that as necessarily a problem and the gameplay shown off so far is very obviously done under a demonstration mindset rather than organic gameplay. I get the strong feeling that there's a lot they've not shown off yet, hidden through jump cuts and such. For a Sonic game, I don't think the rails look out of place at all. Or at least, any more out of place than highways in the shape of loops or anything you'd find in Rail Canyon.

There certainly is a fair bit of polishing that needs to be done, though. There's been recent indication that they are intending on meeting a holiday deadline to push sales, which as you might recall is a large part of what went wrong with Sonic 06. Hopefully this doesn't end up being a rushed product, but other than that one worry, I'm not as pessimistic about what's being shown off here as many are.

 

[AtomicRing]

I dunno, it looks very realistic, it's good I guess, I'm just not really feeling it, it gives me serious BOTW. I know this sounds vague, but the game doesn't look very... Sonic-y.

 

[time gear]

Well the combat teaser came out today. Looks interesting but I feel like we need more information on how it works. Is there a skill tree? Are we able to do different combos? That sort of thing.

 

[GS_HD]

Eeesh, that looks rough.... the movement, the animations, the visuals, the pop-ins

Movement looks like it's been copy-pasted from Forces

Those Mario-like floating platforms and Rails don't suit the setting at all, they look so out of place. At least try to blend them with the rest of the environment like with Unleashed or Generations....

Combat feels button-mashy with poor lock on (see sonic awkwardly trying and failing to side step away from enemy attacks)

Thing's clearly so undercooked, hopefully they'll be able to turn this around in the coming months, if not a delay hurts no one.

 

[time gear]

Movement looks like it's been copy-pasted from Forces

I don't see it. It looks nothing at all like Forces.

 

[TheOofer77]

i heard apparently this is an earlier build so the new build probably looks better

 

[AtomicRing]

i heard apparently this is an earlier build so the new build probably looks better

I sure hope so, it looks like we're getting into the Sonic Cycle again.

 

[SnocSock the Hedg]

This is probably the first time I feel a little disappointed in a Sonic game. Nonetheless, I still believe it can be improved.

 

[time gear]

I sure hope so, it looks like we're getting into the Sonic Cycle again.

I don't think there ever was a Sonic cycle. That basically just amounts to people being overdramatic. You could count on one hand the number of truly bad games in the series, and even among them you'll find them to have their dedicated fanbases. Sonic's had a much bigger problem with occasional mediocrity than with having much in the way of bad games.

In regards to Frontiers in specific, I don't really see what people are complaining about here. Some of what people are saying makes no sense in regards to what's been shown off (Anyone calling this Forces 2 is frankly just lying to themselves. The two games look nothing alike other than Sonic using the same character design), some of it is based on assumptions, etc. The only proper criticism I've seen is in regards to the draw distance and pop-in, as well as the bird not being animated enough. We don't know how button mashy the combat is (there's no prompts to indicate what buttons are being pressed to perform different actions), we don't know how fast paced the game will truly be (it's pretty obvious that the SEGA employee playing the game in these teasers so far is playing bad on purpose to show off the movement and combat, rather than like how a real player will play it), we don't know how empty later locations and islands will be, etc.

I feel like people are coming up with too many reasons to panic based on absurd assumptions, claims, and excuses. I'm not saying the game is going to be good, but what I am saying is that based on what we have seen so far I haven't seen anything to warrant the negative feedback I'm seeing in the fandom. It really doesn't look that bad right now, at worst it just looks like it might be a little boring but even that is strictly speculation without more information.

 

[AtomicRing]

I don't think there ever was a Sonic cycle. That basically just amounts to people being overdramatic. You could count on one hand the number of truly bad games in the series, and even among them you'll find them to have their dedicated fanbases. Sonic's had a much bigger problem with occasional mediocrity than with having much in the way of bad games.

In regards to Frontiers in specific, I don't really see what people are complaining about here. Some of what people are saying makes no sense in regards to what's been shown off (Anyone calling this Forces 2 is frankly just lying to themselves. The two games look nothing alike other than Sonic using the same character design), some of it is based on assumptions, etc. The only proper criticism I've seen is in regards to the draw distance and pop-in, as well as the bird not being animated enough. We don't know how button mashy the combat is (there's no prompts to indicate what buttons are being pressed to perform different actions), we don't know how fast paced the game will truly be (it's pretty obvious that the SEGA employee playing the game in these teasers so far is playing bad on purpose to show off the movement and combat, rather than like how a real player will play it), we don't know how empty later locations and islands will be, etc.

I feel like people are coming up with too many reasons to panic based on absurd assumptions, claims, and excuses. I'm not saying the game is going to be good, but what I am saying is that based on what we have seen so far I haven't seen anything to warrant the negative feedback I'm seeing in the fandom. It really doesn't look that bad right now, at worst it just looks like it might be a little boring but even that is strictly speculation without more information.

Yeah, you're right, but I never really got my hopes up, Sega has had a pretty mediocre track record when it comes to sonic games lately. But what I think makes people compare the game to Forces is it's initial presentation, that aside, I want Frontiers to do good, but I don't think people should be letting the bar drop so low, I've said it before, pulling off an open world game is a hard thing to do, the IGN gameplay video showed some pretty problematic things, (pop in for example) that seem out of the control of the player, like the lack of momentum and so on and so forth, yes I understand that the game has yet to be released, but remember that this is what Sega decided to present to us as a first look, maybe they'll fix stuff, but the year is half through, Frontiers has been under development for a while now and they seem to be reusing a lot of assets, think what you will about that but remember that forces and lost world reused the same final boss from colors.

Look, I really want the game to do well, and I'm really hoping this is just a slump for Sonic and that Frontiers will take us out of that slump, but I'm sceptical is all.

 

[time gear]

Frontiers has been under development for a while now and they seem to be reusing a lot of assets, think what you will about that but remember that forces and lost world reused the same final boss from colors.

The only reused assets I've seen are Sonic's character model and maybe some springs, balloons, etc. Generally stuff you'd expect to be reused. And even then, until the game releases and dataminers are able to run the models through some more precise tools, we can't even say for sure they are the same exact assets and not just really similar looking ones. The enemies, level environments, many of the interactables, etc. are all entirely new.

 

[AtomicRing]

The only reused assets I've seen are Sonic's character model and maybe some springs, balloons, etc. Generally stuff you'd expect to be reused. And even then, until the game releases and dataminers are able to run the models through some more precise tools, we can't even say for sure they are the same exact assets and not just really similar looking ones. The enemies, level environments, many of the interactables, etc. are all entirely new.

Yeah, but also some of the animations (wall running looks to me as it's from Lost World), the bridge in a scene from the gameplay was a platform in Forces, but I suppose when you look at it from the grand scheme of things, it's pretty petty to get worked up about that kind of thing.

 

[time gear]

Yeah, but also some of the animations (wall running looks to me as it's from Lost World), the bridge in a scene from the gameplay was a platform in Forces, but I suppose when you look at it from the grand scheme of things, it's pretty petty to get worked up about that kind of thing.

It's also still stuff you'd generally still expect to be reused. It's just a fact of life that game development often needs to cut some corners to put out a quality product, it's just a matter of how they decide to reuse assets. Using an existing bridge model as a bridge, reusing rings, springs, dash panels, etc. from previous games, character models, animations, It's all pretty normal. It is nice when we do get new ones, but if the assets they've already made work just fine then I don't really see a point to complaining about it, especially since it's really not all that much that's getting reused.

Personally, I'd prefer the Unleashed model and animations for Sonic, but it's no deal breaker in the slightest.

 

[AtomicRing]

It's also still stuff you'd generally still expect to be reused. It's just a fact of life that game development often needs to cut some corners to put out a quality product, it's just a matter of how they decide to reuse assets. Using an existing bridge model as a bridge, reusing rings, springs, dash panels, etc. from previous games, character models, animations, It's all pretty normal. It is nice when we do get new ones, but if the assets they've already made work just fine then I don't really see a point to complaining about it, especially since it's really not all that much that's getting reused.

Personally, I'd prefer the Unleashed model and animations for Sonic, but it's no deal breaker in the slightest.

You're right, it can't be easy making completely new assets for every game, and personally I actually like the run cycle of the Forces model, but I think they should've made it a darker shade of blue, it's certainly not a deal breaker.

 

[time gear]

Probably the most annoying part to me is if Frontiers was a fangame and we got the same teasers we're getting now, the fanbase would be slobbering all over it as "better than what SEGA can make", and we know that to be true because far worse looking fangames have gotten that treatment a lot, but because it's official everyone's acting like it looks horrendous when there's really not even anything that bad looking we've seen yet. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the reaction videos and what not are just intentionally over dramatic for clout.

 

[tabu]

not exactly sure what to think but definitely more predictably disappointed than anything. the open world aspect is interesting but just seems tone deaf at this point. feels like this is the sonic game 06 should've been, back when the idea of an open world sonic game first became technically viable, or maybe like an early 2010s title back when these kinds of games were REALLY in their heyday. now though? idk. did anyone ask for this? i look around and everyone either wants a mania sequel or some kind of adventure remake. but sega, tone deaf as always, now decides to give us just cause 2 with sonic in it. cool i guess. not gonna touch on specific issues until we see footage that isn't some ign hack messing around but what i've seen seems ugly and barebones even for a fangame.

Probably the most annoying part to me is if Frontiers was a fangame and we got the same teasers we're getting now, the fanbase would be slobbering all over it as "better than what SEGA can make", and we know that to be true because far worse looking fangames have gotten that treatment a lot, but because it's official everyone's acting like it looks horrendous when there's really not even anything that bad looking we've seen yet. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the reaction videos and what not are just intentionally over dramatic for clout.

there's not really anything wrong with expecting less out of something made for free by a volunteer out of passion than you would something made by paid employees from a company that expects you to pay $60+ for it.

 

[time gear]

there's not really anything wrong with expecting less out of something made for free by a volunteer out of passion than you would something made by paid employees from a company that expects you to pay $60+ for it.

The problem is that it's not just expecting less from fan projects, it's treating fan projects as inherently better than official ones. If Frontiers was a fan project and looked exactly the same, people would be saying it's better than SEGA can make and using it as a chance to bash SEGA as being unable to make anything as good as fans. There's an immediate and apparent bias against SEGA and Sonic Team to the point where even if they did come out with an amazing game, people would still be finding reasons to bash them for it. There's fair concerns, and then there's the massive amounts of panic, assumptions, and misinformation getting treated as facts you find going around right now in regards to Frontiers.

 

[Twins'R'Okay]

While I already said this over discord. I'm already interested in what will become of this game, and I think this game has a solid enough foundation do to some interesting stuff with it. However, the lack of polish in the visuals, animations, and physics has left me with a lot of cause for concern. I can only hope they turn it around in the short time they have left on developing the thing, but man, not a good first impression.

As for the things I like:
- It looks like there are multiple options to navigate the environment, which considering how ultra-linear the past game is, is pretty nice.
- I was worried Sonic won't be able to climb up the nearest mountain, but after seeing him naturally run up a cliff face, that worry was naturally put to rest
- The combat looks interestingly varied, although I wonder how the hell it will mesh with the rest of the gameplay shown here.
- I like how some enemies require you to traverse up them before you can attack them, and even then, It looks like there are multiple ways to hit the same enemy which is also nice.
- Despite the obstacle courses in the sky looking horrifically out of place, they do look fun to traverse, but I wonder why I should care about traversing them if they haven't shown off a reward for doing so yet...
- I like the Spin Cycle as a move, and the fact that it has a lot of uses both inside and outside of combat makes this move a lot more interesting than the other moves on display.

As for the things I don't like:
- Yeah, the floating rails look horrific. They didn't phase me at first (due to the visual archetype being so common in sonic games), but after looking further into it, they look out-of-place, I feel like a simple change in color would do a lot here.
- Yikes, the pop-in.
- Yikes, the animations.
- Yikes, the lack of polish. (i know it isn't finished yet, but come on dude, even cyberpunk tried its best to hide it)