175: Fast-Track to Fanaticism
- Thread starter pparrish
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Not to mention the fact that Sonic Adventures was a really good game. Of course, it all went downhill from there and now the responsible thing to do is take our spiny friend out back and blow his little brains out.broadband said:
Which hurts, honestly it does. I've started my gaming career with Sonic The Hedgehog.
Good article. I was instantly reminded of other forms of entertainment: the best example of which is Star Wars Episodes I-III. We saw it all: Yoda fighting with a lightsabre, Anakin Skywalker getting chopped to bits, oh and did someone's hand get chopped off in one of these as well? Oh right. Who cares. Screw those fan-fellating trainwrecks.
I played the original two Sonic games as a kid. I remember running around brightly colored backgrounds to bouncy music and popping cute little animals out of mean ol' robots.
A few years ago I was flipping channels one Saturday morning and saw Sonic the Hedgehog floating in space glowing gold like a super-saiyan and waxing profound about destiny and prophecy or some other blather.
What happened to the cute little blue fuzzball freeing animals from a mad scientist?
A few years ago I was flipping channels one Saturday morning and saw Sonic the Hedgehog floating in space glowing gold like a super-saiyan and waxing profound about destiny and prophecy or some other blather.
What happened to the cute little blue fuzzball freeing animals from a mad scientist?
Very well-written. Yes, I remember buying things like that as a kid. "Sonic Bubblegum" was my favorite, and the trading cards that came with it made me squeal with joy. At the age of three, I would always run around my house and pretend I was Sonic, and I would always make sure to watch the TV show when it was on. It really is fascinating how the video game industry decided to branch out, and it's even more fascinating to think about the effect that it has made on people.
To be fair the biggest complaint I've seen from designers seems to be that fans often want games to remain too similar to the original they enjoyed and stifle innovation.
Sonic in recent times is an example of dog-shit bad game design, there's surely a better article out there that could be written to examine why anyone is still buying the games... Now that's loyalty.
Oh and gotta say it - those have to be the best suggestions I've ever heard for Portal and L4D
Sonic in recent times is an example of dog-shit bad game design, there's surely a better article out there that could be written to examine why anyone is still buying the games... Now that's loyalty.
Oh and gotta say it - those have to be the best suggestions I've ever heard for Portal and L4D
Rule #1 of The Escapist: "The fanboys of something I don't like are much more rabid, obsessive and loudmouthed than the fanboys of anything I do like."
But all kidding aside, I don't think that "fan pressure" is the reason for the problems with recent Sonic games. From what I hear, it's exactly the opposite: Yuji Naka is an obsessive control freak who won't listen to anyone else's input for fear it will wreck his creative vision.
But all kidding aside, I don't think that "fan pressure" is the reason for the problems with recent Sonic games. From what I hear, it's exactly the opposite: Yuji Naka is an obsessive control freak who won't listen to anyone else's input for fear it will wreck his creative vision.
As someone who could very much be one of the most Vilified from Sonic fans, if not the most Vilified from Sonic fans, (In fact, I get it so bad that Yahtzee would want to take me to some brothel in Australia for some consolation pie, and an evening of fish and chips afterward. And let's be honest, Sarah Palin may fare better in a NOW meeting than some people with my problem in a SoniCon. Yeah yeah, bad pun, I know.) I have to agree whole heartedly to this particular fandom. It might be a halfway decent and somewhat constructive fan group when I made the first version of "Blood and Metal," but now even those who've been around there when Sonic was just in Genesis Games are backing away--and then making Road Runner-like dust clouds--at what the fandom has become. In fact, I'm using National Novel Writing Month to begin a remake of "Blood and Metal," just so I can paint over the bad image I got when I was part of the fandom myself. (Any and all well-wishings on that goal are very much appreciated.)
Thought I'd revisit this before it drops off the front page. Thanks for all the comments - especially the ones from hardcore Sonic fans, which have been extremely civil.
To those who feel my "fan pressure" theory is overstated, I think you may have a point. My intention was to highlight the problems which arise inside insular fan communities and the effect this POTENTIALLY has on the connected games. Sonic was my focal point, as there is a fairly obvious progression through the explosion of internet dickery, fanfic/art and the drop off in Sonic game quality. I still think "fan service" is a factor in this, but I agree with the person who said that perhaps the reverse was happening too - the games were so rubbish that the fans just turned inward to create their own 'content' instead.
To clarify something else, I was never trying to say this is purely a Sonic issue. Or even a problem confined to games. To throw out a sitcom example, I think the same type of thing occurred when The League of Gentlemen started wheeling out Papa Lazarou at every opportunity. It pleased (most of) the fans, it got them an easy laugh/bit of audience interaction for their stage show ... and it was creatively bankrupt.
To those who feel my "fan pressure" theory is overstated, I think you may have a point. My intention was to highlight the problems which arise inside insular fan communities and the effect this POTENTIALLY has on the connected games. Sonic was my focal point, as there is a fairly obvious progression through the explosion of internet dickery, fanfic/art and the drop off in Sonic game quality. I still think "fan service" is a factor in this, but I agree with the person who said that perhaps the reverse was happening too - the games were so rubbish that the fans just turned inward to create their own 'content' instead.
To clarify something else, I was never trying to say this is purely a Sonic issue. Or even a problem confined to games. To throw out a sitcom example, I think the same type of thing occurred when The League of Gentlemen started wheeling out Papa Lazarou at every opportunity. It pleased (most of) the fans, it got them an easy laugh/bit of audience interaction for their stage show ... and it was creatively bankrupt.
Agreed: as pointed out on the third page, it's a universal worry that seems to be growing.broadband said:
Great article Parrish, with a surprising amount of truth.
I'll come out now and admit I've witnessed first hand - in abundance - of what Parrish is talking about (those fanart and fanfiction communities). Having been exposed to the 'diamonds in the rough' first - the well written, humane and understandable ones which are simply a way of expressing an interpretation on events or characters without bastardising any of them, and makes reading one feel like a discussion rather than a masturbatory resort - I'm inclined to be lenient in my understanding of them.
Then I look for another diamond in the rough, and simply find "the rough".
I'm inclined to leave it to another poster to describe how unceremoniously illiterate that is for the sake of my sanity.
A part of me just wants to yell at them that they're wrong. Another part of me is worried, like Parrish, that more developers will actually start to listen to this side instead of rightfully permitting reason to prevail.