I'm curious about why they're banking so heavily on story in these games. I watched a Lets Play and my first thought was, "If people enjoy playing it, that's fine, but are any of them actually capable of taking these cutscenes seriously?"Xsjadoblayde said:Am legitimately curious as to what goes on in the minds of Sonic Team's creative department. It's fascinatingly vapid as if the only employee left is an ex-finance lawyer relapsing into heavy drug abuse to drown out a severe midlife crisis. Is anyone even there anymore? Or is it an archaic computer with malfunctioning market-research algorithms producing each title?
This is Yahtzee, he's not above mentioning cancerous tumors in his jokes/insults.Bedinsis said:Was it just me or was there quite a bunch of references to "rape" this week? Without any coating around, just stating the word aloud?
I might misremember, but Yahtzee normally seems to be more... tactful when that subject is brought up/use other analogies.
Pretty sure you're misremembering. Just search "rape" on the Zero Punctuation Wiki...Bedinsis said:Was it just me or was there quite a bunch of references to "rape" this week? Without any coating around, just stating the word aloud?
I might misremember, but Yahtzee normally seems to be more... tactful when that subject is brought up/use other analogies.
Well, they do a terrible job of it. I used to be one of the voices going "I want a serious sonic plot!". After how much I enjoyed the story in Colors and Lost World, though, I realize the series is best when the plot is lots of wacky silly hijinx with juuuust enough danger that you're willing to buy into it. Seriously, Sonic himself is at his best when he's a goofball ADD-ing his way through life occasionally taking the piss out of something and leaping before he looks.sageoftruth said:Maybe they're tired of writing the same simple plots, and want to move onto something that tests their creativity more in the story department, but are stuck with Sonic and his friends, because those bills aren't gonna pay themselves, so they just go "Ok! We haven't been able to do it yet, but maybe this time we can finally write a mature plot for Sonic that the fans will actually enjoy."
I was not aware that Lost World 3DS is regarded fondly.aegix drakan said:Honestly, I don't know why they didn't just iterate on/improve the Lost World (3DS) Formula. There was some damn good stuff in there, outside of the forced tilt controls, some puzzles being occasionally really slow and some of the wisps altering gameplay WAY too much.
Seriously, take that 3D parkour style mechanic thing, make more levels that fit that style of game, and make the Wisps behave like Mario powerups which just give you a nifty little extra thing you can do (like an extra jump, or a homing attack that can go through spikes, or shoot out particles that stun enemies, or whatever), and bam, voila, you have a pretty decent game!
I've heard the comics were supposed to be a lot like that (a mix of serious plot and silly hijinks), at least once they fired the hack that used to write it and rebooted it under the pen of someone competent. That is secondhand info from people who read Sonic comics though, so you may want to keep a small packet of salt at hand.aegix drakan said:I used to be one of the voices going "I want a serious sonic plot!". After how much I enjoyed the story in Colors and Lost World, though, I realize the series is best when the plot is lots of wacky silly hijinx with juuuust enough danger that you're willing to buy into it. Seriously, Sonic himself is at his best when he's a goofball ADD-ing his way through life occasionally taking the piss out of something and leaping before he looks.
I've always been fond of Jontron's rendering of them as a group of incredibly burned-out rockstars. Though the more likely truth is probably just that the people who remember making the good games have all moved on.Xsjadoblayde said:Am legitimately curious as to what goes on in the minds of Sonic Team's creative department. It's fascinatingly vapid as if the only employee left is an ex-finance lawyer relapsing into heavy drug abuse to drown out a severe midlife crisis. Is anyone even there anymore? Or is it an archaic computer with malfunctioning market-research algorithms producing each title?
Generally that is true but only when he doesn't out right hate something. When reviewing a game he absolutely loathes he throws tact out the window and rips into it bone deep.Bedinsis said:Was it just me or was there quite a bunch of references to "rape" this week? Without any coating around, just stating the word aloud?
I might misremember, but Yahtzee normally seems to be more... tactful when that subject is brought up/use other analogies.