Re: Why Sonic Fans Aren't Insane
(Abusing my LJ to respond to Erik's stupid Blogger post that keeps my comments tiny as balls. You can find it yonder: http://blackhole0173.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-sonic-fans-arent-insane.html#comment-form)
Well gee you may as well just ask my opinion on this.
As someone who actually *does* like Sonic games, finding something redeeming even in that crap pile that is the 2006 entry, and having played pretty much, uh... *all* of them, I can say that the studio (Sonic Team) is improving steadily, both from Yuji Naka dropping out to form another studio that's doing pretty stupid things while new blood takes the helm who gives a damn what the fans and critics want, but also from working closer to the guys who *have* been making games that fans, by and large, have enjoyed in the series, assuming they give ashit about the handheld market at all, Dimps, the guys behind the Advance and Rush games.
The downside of that is that fans of Sonic are *completely pissy as hell*, whining that his jump followed the GBA height (because the Genesis height was too high for the GBA's screen) instead of the classical arc in Sonic 4, arguing over where exactly the series died (usually settling on Adventure, apaprently ignoring 3D Blast ever happened, though I can't blame them on that part, at least), that his head is too big, that the shade of blue is too blue or not blue enough, that his speed isn't exactly the same as it was a decade ago, or whatever. This gets more complicated because for every Genesis fan who *adores* the original entries, there's someone like me who prefers the formula used by the Adventure games, which follow modern conventions a bit better and had plot lines that at least weren't complete garbage like whatever that business with Chip in Unleashed was supposed to be.
So, yes, it's *incredibly* hard to tap into what the bulk of the fan base wants. Hardcore fans thought 4 was garbage, while people who just played the Genesis games instead of memorizing them forwards and backwards (and even some in the second camp) found the game entirely acceptable and pretty fun. Sonic Colors feeds largely on the response critics and fans gave Sonic Unleashed, keeping Unleashed's shallow, Saturday morning storyline qualities, but refining the writing itself to something occasionally funny for once, successfully amending what made the day stages in Unleashed work as well as they did, and popping out one of the damned prettiest games the Wii has ever seen in the process. I've seen some low scores for Colors, sure, but "some low scores" here is what was once the high end for the franchise, which is impressive when you consider a lot of review sites and magazines get off on antagonizing the series' whiny-ass fans with reviews that blatantly state that the reviewer just doesn't like Sonic at all. I'd say a 6 becoming your low end is a real success for a franchise that two main entries ago never scored that high from anyone but the most obsessed fans.
Some still argue Sonic Team doesn't know how to please its target audience, and that they're as bad now as they've always been, and those people make me want to backhand them, because frankly there's no right stating an opinion on that if you've never been a fan in the first place, and then just badmouthing them. That'd be like me dissing DICE or whoever because I think the entire FPS genre is crap. I'm in no position to make that judgement.
As for the physics, while they've improved over the years ("I stand in weird places sometimes and my jump in Colors handles a little weird on the side-scrolling sections" is a far cry from "well shit I just ran through the floor and fell into the ocean and that box just shot into the moon and broke the game"), there's still room for improvement, but... they're improving. Which, given that Sega's publishing standards are just strict as hell (they ARE a publisher, the "developing" is done mostly by outside studios and a couple like Sonic Team the company owns outright, but they make up for this sort of thing by backing Platinum, which is headed by the dude who brought us Viewtiful Joe and Okami, and used his DMC origins to poop out Bayonetta, which is wonderfully absurd in all the right ways to tickle me so), shows an intelligence boost on the publisher's end and better work by the developers between a new head and not being forced to shove an unpatchable, unfinished game out the door as became the norm by the time critics were panning 06.
My this is a terrible rant...
My point is, while there are some fans of the franchise wearing rose-tinted glasses and spouting bullshit about what made the old games perfect, half of which is lies they've pulled from their asses, an increasing number of the people who've kept Sonic alive through the years are finding themselves increasingly happy with what is being put out by the studio in terms of gameplay, which is what they've made pretty vocal is the focus now. Sonic Colors performed pretty admirably, from what I understand, which I think speaks pretty well of the progress they've made.
So I've not given up on Sonic Team yet, never mind the blur himself. I know that can only be taken so seriously by someone as biased as shit about the subject, but that's where I stand on it. : |
Well gee you may as well just ask my opinion on this.
As someone who actually *does* like Sonic games, finding something redeeming even in that crap pile that is the 2006 entry, and having played pretty much, uh... *all* of them, I can say that the studio (Sonic Team) is improving steadily, both from Yuji Naka dropping out to form another studio that's doing pretty stupid things while new blood takes the helm who gives a damn what the fans and critics want, but also from working closer to the guys who *have* been making games that fans, by and large, have enjoyed in the series, assuming they give ashit about the handheld market at all, Dimps, the guys behind the Advance and Rush games.
The downside of that is that fans of Sonic are *completely pissy as hell*, whining that his jump followed the GBA height (because the Genesis height was too high for the GBA's screen) instead of the classical arc in Sonic 4, arguing over where exactly the series died (usually settling on Adventure, apaprently ignoring 3D Blast ever happened, though I can't blame them on that part, at least), that his head is too big, that the shade of blue is too blue or not blue enough, that his speed isn't exactly the same as it was a decade ago, or whatever. This gets more complicated because for every Genesis fan who *adores* the original entries, there's someone like me who prefers the formula used by the Adventure games, which follow modern conventions a bit better and had plot lines that at least weren't complete garbage like whatever that business with Chip in Unleashed was supposed to be.
So, yes, it's *incredibly* hard to tap into what the bulk of the fan base wants. Hardcore fans thought 4 was garbage, while people who just played the Genesis games instead of memorizing them forwards and backwards (and even some in the second camp) found the game entirely acceptable and pretty fun. Sonic Colors feeds largely on the response critics and fans gave Sonic Unleashed, keeping Unleashed's shallow, Saturday morning storyline qualities, but refining the writing itself to something occasionally funny for once, successfully amending what made the day stages in Unleashed work as well as they did, and popping out one of the damned prettiest games the Wii has ever seen in the process. I've seen some low scores for Colors, sure, but "some low scores" here is what was once the high end for the franchise, which is impressive when you consider a lot of review sites and magazines get off on antagonizing the series' whiny-ass fans with reviews that blatantly state that the reviewer just doesn't like Sonic at all. I'd say a 6 becoming your low end is a real success for a franchise that two main entries ago never scored that high from anyone but the most obsessed fans.
Some still argue Sonic Team doesn't know how to please its target audience, and that they're as bad now as they've always been, and those people make me want to backhand them, because frankly there's no right stating an opinion on that if you've never been a fan in the first place, and then just badmouthing them. That'd be like me dissing DICE or whoever because I think the entire FPS genre is crap. I'm in no position to make that judgement.
As for the physics, while they've improved over the years ("I stand in weird places sometimes and my jump in Colors handles a little weird on the side-scrolling sections" is a far cry from "well shit I just ran through the floor and fell into the ocean and that box just shot into the moon and broke the game"), there's still room for improvement, but... they're improving. Which, given that Sega's publishing standards are just strict as hell (they ARE a publisher, the "developing" is done mostly by outside studios and a couple like Sonic Team the company owns outright, but they make up for this sort of thing by backing Platinum, which is headed by the dude who brought us Viewtiful Joe and Okami, and used his DMC origins to poop out Bayonetta, which is wonderfully absurd in all the right ways to tickle me so), shows an intelligence boost on the publisher's end and better work by the developers between a new head and not being forced to shove an unpatchable, unfinished game out the door as became the norm by the time critics were panning 06.
My this is a terrible rant...
My point is, while there are some fans of the franchise wearing rose-tinted glasses and spouting bullshit about what made the old games perfect, half of which is lies they've pulled from their asses, an increasing number of the people who've kept Sonic alive through the years are finding themselves increasingly happy with what is being put out by the studio in terms of gameplay, which is what they've made pretty vocal is the focus now. Sonic Colors performed pretty admirably, from what I understand, which I think speaks pretty well of the progress they've made.
So I've not given up on Sonic Team yet, never mind the blur himself. I know that can only be taken so seriously by someone as biased as shit about the subject, but that's where I stand on it. : |