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Alternative boxart courtesy of petrol blue Welcome to the world of Sonic Boom, a new spin-off franchise off of, well, Sonic the Hedgehog. This right here, Rise of Lyric, is part of that new franchise, and is probably the low point of the whole thing. I feel confident in calling this game the next "universally despised" Sonic game since Sonic 2006, as it has been panned by almost everyone who's played it. The 3DS game that released alongside it on November 11th, 2014 in North America, Shattered Crystal, was also bad, but we're not really here to give that game the spotlight (though we will be talking about it at times in the videos). Fun fact, these two games were released a mere 10 days before Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire AND Super Smash Bros for Wii U would hit store shelves in NA, and Lyric was already shaping up to be pretty bad from its gameplay presentation at E3 2014. While I can't say for certain if it was the case, I had a feeling these games would not end up doing well on release just because some of Nintendo's major cash cows were coming up around the same time. Wikipedia posted:Los Angeles based game studio Big Red Button developed the game under supervision by Sonic Team and long-time Sonic game designer Takashi Iizuka. The game was built on CryEngine and is centered on "combat and exploration". Sega outsourced the game to Western developers in order to increase the game's appeal in Western markets, culminating in a separate westernized Sonic franchise. The video game concept came after the television series plan. Big Red Button was chosen due to the studio's adventure game portfolio and leader, Bob Rafei of the Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted, and Jak and Daxter series. The game remains a separate continuity to the main series, and was originally not intended to be released in Japan. However, it was later revealed that the games would be released in Japan, under the name Sonic Toon. Sounds like a perfect recipe for a great game! What could possibly go wrong? Wikipedia posted:On the first day of release, a glitch was discovered that allowed players to jump to infinite heights by pausing the game during Knuckles' jump, which can be used to bypass most of the game. Speedrunners managed to beat the game in under an hour using the glitch. ...Oh... Yeah, the game is a broken mess, but not quite in the same way as Sonic 2006. The game looks ugly for the Wii U, suffers from pop-in, loses frames from the most innocent of tasks, and has a load of technical problems about it, but it's definitely more "functional" than Sonic 2006. Unfortunately, this means there aren't quite as many side-splittingly hilarious glitches to find and mess around with, aside from Knuckles' moonjump. Add to that a very dull and unsatisfying combat system, spice in a plot that does not try to set the scene to explain what's even going on and get worse from there, maybe throw in a few gameplay gimmicks that range from "pointless" to "kinda fun at times", and you've got one hell of a game, here. There's also one other tiny complaint that this game has that Sonic 2006 is lacking. THE CHARACTERS NEVER SHUT UP. Every time you pick up anything or execute any action, the characters will start talking about whatever it is that triggered it. Sometimes they'll do it in rapid enough succession that they'll cut themselves off to start a new line, or they'll comment on the same thing multiple times. Sometimes they'll even comment on something completely unrelated! Tails is easily the worst of the bunch, because he's written to use big words and complicated sentences when he could have just said "breakable wall!" and got his point across a lot faster. The end result is a game that solidly fails in almost every category, and now has the reputation of being one of the worst games of 2014. The LP
Spoiler Policy: Spoiler tag any plot stuff or gameplay stuff that hasn't happened or been discussed in the actual videos yet. All other forms of Sonic Boom are completely fair game. I have no plans, capability, or desire to cover Shattered Crystal, and the TV series and comics are fairly removed from Rise of Lyric's plot as far as I'm aware, so go hog wild with that if you want. Videos Episode 1: Knuckles Needs Help Episode 2: The Most Rude World Episode 3: Gamepad Shenanigans Episode 4: A Loose Definition of "Puzzle" Episode 5: THEY DO EXIST Episode 6: I Hate Time Travel Episode 7: Two Hours Episode 8: New Patch, New Problems Episode 9: Why is Knuckles Driving? Episode 10: Alaskan Drill Worm Episode 11: Shiny Objects Episode 12: Rocky Road Episode 13: No Direction, No Hint, No Hope Episode 14: Button of Robot Obedience Episode 15: Speed Sections and Boss Fights Do Not Mix Episode 16: It Couldn't Possibly Get Worse, Right? Episode 17: Nothing Surprises Me Anymore Episode 18: Scrambled Egg Episode 19: I Miss Sky Sanctuary Episode 20: The True Villain Finale: What Is Your Deal?! ParTwo fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Mar 22, 2015 |
# ? Jan 20, 2015 07:46 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 07:43 |
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Characters Sonic The Hedgehog: Way past cool. The events of this game are all his fault and ONLY his fault. At least, as far as everyone else but him is concerned. He's slowed down a bit so he doesn't just leave his "friends" in the dust while exploring wherever we are. I'd call him the second best character for combat for his homing attack. Miles "Tails" Prower: Is it made of metal and runs on electricity? Tails knows everything about it. No exceptions. Even alien tech he should have never encountered before he can reverse engineer into an energy lasso. He probably owns multiple thesauruses, given his fondness for big and complicated words. He's also the most broken combat character in the game solely for being a ranged specialist with an automated combo machine. He's tied with Amy for being the best at general platforming, being better at traveling far distances than high heights. Amy Rose: Surprisingly not just here to be a creepy stalker. She's become quite acrobatic and is a bona-fide archaeologist, and this...wherever we are happens to have a lot of dusty old poo poo that's right up her alley. She still has her giant hammer, not that it makes her any more effective in combat. In fact, I think she's the worst at combat, though still certainly passable, since combat is only tedious in this game, not hard. Also, she has the most unsettling facial animations and a triple jump, making her the best at getting to higher ledges. Knuckles The Echidna: Traded in several of his Intelligence points for extra Strength and Constitution in this universe and then missed leg day. Notably he's also grown actual fingers. Despite easily slotting into the "Dumb Muscle" archetype, I'd say he's only a little better than Amy for combat. His platforming skills are also the least interesting, since he doesn't really put his strength to use in puzzles, just his usual ability to climb poo poo. Cliff: "Not cool, Sonic." He's an archaeologist and is on exposition duty. He didn't know he was missin'. Q.N.C./"Quincy": A robot that exists to guide you around sometimes. He was created by Lyric, and gained free will by the time this game rolled around. He doesn't like Lyric. I'm completely convinced he's secretly evil all along. MAIA: An old robot created by Lyric that decided he was an awful boss or something. Enabled Time Travel for this story. Has a smartass subroutine. Dr. Robotnik/"Eggman": A vaguely egg shaped man hellbent on taking over the world with robots. He has a better sense of humor than Lyric and is more capable of banter. He soon becomes one of Lyric's henchmen. Temporarily, but still. Lyric: A cyborg snake hellbent on taking over the world with ro-wait, are we talking about Lyric or Eggman? He's the main antagonist and has unfinished business with Sonic. Must've been finished by the time both video games were up, because he's yet to make an appearance in the TV show despite that this game and Shattered Crystal happen before the show. He got sick from loving with the Crystals and only failed to die due to his cyborg suit; no medicine the Ancients had could cure him. Now he's got a vendetta against all organic life and wants to destroy and rebuild the world in a robotic image. Metal Sonic: A robot version of Sonic made by Eggman. Hates doors. Shadow The Hedgehog: A palette swap of Sonic of unknown origin. Angry, hates friendship and teamwork, and is completely irrelevant to anything that's going on in the plot. Other Stuff Perhaps the best moment of the whole game. (Thanks PoptartsNinja!) petrol blue provides a visual summary of the game's dialogue. ParTwo fucked around with this message at 17:35 on Mar 20, 2015 |
# ? Jan 20, 2015 07:47 |
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Haha I get it it's called a spin-off because Sonic spins
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 08:33 |
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This game has issues, but I don't think "speedrunners found a glitch to beat it in an hour" is one of them. Speedrunners find a glitch to beat EVERYTHING in an hour.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 09:52 |
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Yeah, but most don't do it on the day the game is released ...You were right about that "Never shutting up" thing, by the way. You could probably count the seconds of silence on one hand. Do they really think kids need to be reminded of a bounce pad they literally just used?
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 09:57 |
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This looks terrible. Why would you do this yourself. Praying for your sanity, can't say the same for myself as I will be watching this in earnest.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 10:13 |
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This game actually got a big patch a few days ago but I don't think they released a changelog and I can't imagine it's even possible to fix most of what's so bad about this game.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 11:00 |
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Sonic Toon Yeah, this sub-series is doomed.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 11:28 |
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PaletteSwappedNinja posted:This game actually got a big patch a few days ago but I don't think they released a changelog and I can't imagine it's even possible to fix most of what's so bad about this game. http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=245515 Here are the details. The most important thing, clearly, is the removal of the speed runner's best friend. God speed, Knuckles Jump.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 13:01 |
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I was actually completely unaware of the patch. When we first put the game into my Wii U, the game just started loading immediately, so I think our first recording session is unpatched. Not entirely sure on that, but if we actually were playing on the patched version, it really didn't do enough. Still, I guess they tried? Too bad the damage was already done. e: It definitely was unpatched, because the patch came out AFTER we did our first recording session. I haven't patched the game yet, so I guess I'll need to decide whether or not to continue playing the game with it or not. ParTwo fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Jan 20, 2015 |
# ? Jan 20, 2015 16:20 |
Uh... I'm kinda enjoying the silly banter? Sonic as a children's cartoon with situational humor, that's direction I like, as opposed to the pseudoserious poo poo we got before.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 17:38 |
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It's certainly not an inherently bad direction, but I'm not entirely convinced it was handled the best in this particular game. I will admit the character interactions are probably the most enjoyable thing about the game, and Sonic was already kinda headed in this less serious and more whimsical direction anyway if Colors through Lost World's writing is any indication. We might end up being a little harsh at times just because it's still surrounded by everything else about the game we take issue with, but even if the game manages to get a few chuckles out of me here and there, remember that I'm still getting reminders every few seconds about how awesome rings are. I'll probably find some time to sit down and watch an episode or two of the TV show to see if I'd enjoy that, at least. From what little I've seen of that, I think I'd like it a lot more than either of the games.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 18:22 |
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anilEhilated posted:Uh... I'm kinda enjoying the silly banter? Sonic as a children's cartoon with situational humor, that's direction I like, as opposed to the pseudoserious poo poo we got before. The silly banter is fine. They just need to take a breather between lines. Tails did not stop during his section.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 18:34 |
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Okay, actually watching the first episode. To roughly explain, the idea with Sonic Boom is that its supposed to a 'new' continuity that, in theory, can try new things with the franchise, streamlining and altering characters for a new story, and for a new generation of fans. Think of it in terms of something like say, the Marvel Ultimate Universe, or as an even more severe swing off the beaten path, Battle Network for Mega Man. And there's certainly enough evidence to indicate that, at some point in development, the team at BigRedButton was aiming for that kind of thing. For some reason though, a lot of ideas are absolutely left at the wayside, remaining either as visual assets that contribute nothing to the story (like the ring aesthetic in the statue and the boxes, so they probably had been thinking to 'explain' them) or in the form of characters who just... exist, but without anything to really justify their presence (such as Metal, and as we'll see later, Shadow - spoilered because his 'involvement' just has to be seen - QNC, and Sticks). To be honest though, this is less of an issue for the game in itself (though it its basically not distinguishable from 'main' Sonic at all save for artstyle due to how vague and generic everything is), than it is for the Boom franchise as a whole. Because Rise of Lyric is supposed to be the backstory for the show. Its supposed to be the setup for the status quo that it defaults back to with each episode. And yet the only people who'd really know what the hell is supposed to be going on are those who already know the franchise, and nothing the game 'establishes' about the setting actually fits in with the show. If Lyric or anything related to him ever actually appears in the show, I will eat my shoe.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 19:44 |
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Come to think of it, this game's origins remind me a lot of those behind DmC Devil May Cry. Only between Capcom pulling the reigns and the fans browbeating the developers, DmC managed to be an above-mediocre to half decent game to play as long as you skipped all cutscenes. Looks like the lack of fan transparency and head-office hands-on really crippled this one. e: though come to think of it, Devil May Cry fans are pretty unanimous in what they want as far as fanbases go. Sonic... not so much, to be brief about it. ManlyGrunting fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Jan 20, 2015 |
# ? Jan 20, 2015 19:59 |
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anilEhilated posted:Uh... I'm kinda enjoying the silly banter? Sonic as a children's cartoon with situational humor, that's direction I like, as opposed to the pseudoserious poo poo we got before. The Sonic series has been really tongue-in-cheek for a while now, and they've managed to do that without having the characters never stop talking. They also managed to characterize Knuckles as a friendly knucklehead without making him legit retarded. Also, I wanna encourage everyone to watch just the first part of this video to see just how impossibly janky the cutscenes in this game are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3Jb3A0HLe4 And then you should stop watching after that first part because linking someone else's LP of the same game would be really lovely of me
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 20:03 |
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I remember watching the Game Grumps play through of this game and hell even them in their dumb-itude were able to break that game wide open, and Barry pointed out a lot of the dumb visual glitches that occurred in cutscenes. It's a hell of a mess of a game and it doesn't even have an intriguing story CONCEPT to make up for it. I got to say I'm looking forward to a playthrough without the Knuckles moon jump just so I can see how poo poo this game is on it's own, aside from the battles being Sonic Unleashed levels of tedious and even more boring to watch cause at least in SU you could get move upgrades to vary things up visually.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 20:17 |
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I was thinking of linking that myself, thanks for saving me the trouble. Sonic Unleashed's werehog segments had only one major issue for me: dragging on a bit too long. I still managed to enjoy the combat in that game to a degree since you had more options and combos aside from "mash Y for combos, use X for special attacks." This game's combat is notably worse. Though, yes, instead of watching that past the frame-by-frame in the intro, how about a second video from me so we can actually see what co-op does to this game. Really the main reason I'm having this video up so soon after posting the first is because I really want to show what happens at the end of this video. Episode 2: The Most Rude World This is also where we hit one of my first major complaints on the plot: Tails, Knuckles, and Amy just start completely making GBS threads on Sonic for trying to get his supposed friends out of harm's way. There was Metal Sonic, Eggman not far behind, and roughly 100 or so robots about to come down at them all at once, and Sonic can open a door to a potentially safer place, but hesitates twice because Amy's getting bad vibes about it, then believes the 4 of them can take a small army with their general fighting in the mix. While it turns out she's right about the fact that it's a bad place, nobody had ANY ACTUAL WAY OF KNOWING that Lyric was there, nor that they would break the seal on him by trying to leave. Somehow, Sonic's actions and intent have him pegged by EVERYONE to be the SOLE cause of the main villain getting unleashed upon the world, despite the fact that he couldn't have possibly gotten completely through the ruins without the aid of all of his companions. Also, the yelling at Sonic about being trapped doesn't happen until AFTER all the platforming bits happen. Really, the whole cutscene rubs me the wrong way, and they're going to spend another few cutscenes giving Sonic the evil eye after it.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 20:37 |
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ManlyGrunting posted:Come to think of it, this game's origins remind me a lot of those behind DmC Devil May Cry. Only between Capcom pulling the reigns and the fans browbeating the developers, DmC managed to be an above-mediocre to half decent game to play as long as you skipped all cutscenes. Looks like the lack of fan transparency and head-office hands-on really crippled this one. Pretty much this. The problem with DmC is that there's nothing in the game Capcom couldn't have handled themselves. The only reason the game is "half decent" is because Capcom had to hold Ninja Theory's hand and tell them how to make a DMC game. As opposed to let's say... MGR where PG was 100 % in their comfort zone and designed the best hack and slash Metal Gear adventure they had the time and budget for. But this topic has been discussed to death, I guess. Also, holy poo poo that frame rate. WaltherFeng fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Jan 20, 2015 |
# ? Jan 20, 2015 20:42 |
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What's funny is that, piecing everything between the two games together (even though I realise, yes, that Shattered Crystal isn't intended to 'count'), Amy is probably the character who gets the best deal out of Sonic Boom, even if that's not saying much. Her triple jump makes her the most useful for platforming, even outside the segments specifically built for her, her infatuation with Sonic is minimal (in the games anyway, crops up a bit in the cartoon, but even then not much), and she actually has definable interests. She's supposed to be an archaeologist, taking an interest in the architecture and history behind the stuff in the game, which occasionally pops up in the dialogue. Hell, the 3DS version of the game kinda runs with the assumption that she's closer to being Lyric's foe, albeit before she gets captured (sigh) as part of the plot. Speaking of bad plot though: Take note of how Lyric said 'you're still so predictable'. That is not going to make sense with when we finally see the 'explanation' behind that line. Also woooow I have not previously seen the outright cutscenes glitch on audio. Camera panning, sure, but not on the 'proper' cutscenes. Just great.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 21:59 |
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You guys complain about the characters never shutting up but I kind of feel that way about your commentary. You don't need to point out every single minor problem in the game. It kind of speaks for itself with how terrible it is, and you keep talking over each other trying to be the first one to point out the next problem. I think you could stand to be a bit more relaxed in your commentary.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 22:32 |
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^I'll try to take that and any future criticisms into consideration for the next recording session. We wound up recording almost 2 and a half hours of footage for the first session, so it'll be a few videos before we can really apply it, but I'll keep it in mind. Our stopping point was the end of the first time traveling segment, so after that I'll see if we can't smooth things out.
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# ? Jan 20, 2015 22:56 |
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They also did seem to get naturally better with crosstalk by the end of ep 2. Maybe Sonic Boom, if you don't want people to talk to NPCs, don't highlight them?
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 16:45 |
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Veloxyll posted:They also did seem to get naturally better with crosstalk by the end of ep 2. But that would require effort to actually turn off the light effect! However would the developers find them if they did that?
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 17:25 |
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See, I might agree that the banter was enjoyable if the characters were at all intelligent or interesting and the writer didn't think that pointing out the obvious was...funny? Necessary? I don't even know.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 17:50 |
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:See, I might agree that the banter was enjoyable if the characters were at all intelligent or interesting and the writer didn't think that pointing out the obvious was...funny? Necessary? I don't even know. I think the writer was trying to go for a Joss Whedon, everyone is witty and clever sort of thing, but however isn't as good of a writer as him, so instead everyone just sort of narrates what they are doing in a quasi-sarcastic tone of voice.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 21:11 |
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David D. Davidson posted:I think the writer was trying to go for a Joss Whedon, everyone is witty and clever sort of thing, but however isn't as good of a writer as him, so instead everyone just sort of narrates what they are doing in a quasi-sarcastic tone of voice. So he hit a Joss Whedon dead on, then.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 21:15 |
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:See, I might agree that the banter was enjoyable if the characters were at all intelligent or interesting and the writer didn't think that pointing out the obvious was...funny? Necessary? I don't even know. That's a post on Something Awful! With this quote button, I should be able to directly reply to a post! I'd better type my post into this text box. Pressing submit reply will send my post to the board!
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 21:19 |
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Night10194 posted:So he hit a Joss Whedon dead on, then. More like Jeph Jacques, which is even worse.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 21:22 |
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Astro Nut posted:Because Rise of Lyric is supposed to be the backstory for the show. What, really? The one big problem I have with the Sonic Boom cartoon is that they didn't create a new backstory for these characters, when this is supposed to be a reboot of the series. The show acts as if it's just a continuation of Sonic status quo, just with a new coat of paint; Sonic and friends all know each other and don't even introduce their characters when they first show up, Eggman still wants to fight sonic for.... some reason, and Sticks the Badger is the wacky new character. I know the Sonic series wasn't really big on story before, but when SEGA was pushing this as a 'reboot' of Sonic, I was at least expecting a proper pilot episode for the show. Set-up the new world, make changes, etc. If they were expecting this game to fill in the holes for the show, they hosed up. Aside from that the cartoon is okay.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 21:22 |
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From the fact that there was a new villain with a prequel game, I expected Sonic Boom to be like an action show with Lyric as the bad guy. It's just a sitcom with Eggman. This is arguably better, though. Also, Knuckles doesn't seem nearly as brain damaged in the show as he does sometimes in the game. He's just kind of a dim goof. Edit: Sonic Boom is a pretty good show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox6c-QhaC7I Waffleman_ fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Jan 21, 2015 |
# ? Jan 21, 2015 21:24 |
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Desfore posted:What, really? The one big problem I have with the Sonic Boom cartoon is that they didn't create a new backstory for these characters, when this is supposed to be a reboot of the series. The show acts as if it's just a continuation of Sonic status quo, just with a new coat of paint; Sonic and friends all know each other and don't even introduce their characters when they first show up, Eggman still wants to fight sonic for.... some reason, and Sticks the Badger is the wacky new character. I know the Sonic series wasn't really big on story before, but when SEGA was pushing this as a 'reboot' of Sonic, I was at least expecting a proper pilot episode for the show. Set-up the new world, make changes, etc. If they were expecting this game to fill in the holes for the show, they hosed up. Yeah, see, that was what the game was for (or the show may have spun out of, bit hard to tell what came first). You'll vaguely get why later on into the game, but again, that's more remnants of ideas than what the actual execution that the game provides. The 3DS game is somewhat better at introducing things (though Lyric himself just comes outta nowhere for that game - nothing to do with Sonic), since the characters infer how they know each other and what they do, but still doesn't really establish the world as a whole.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 22:03 |
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I must say this game is rather terrible. I do like the show however it's pretty fun.
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# ? Jan 21, 2015 22:34 |
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I have not seen the show, but this joke was pretty funny to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvgriyH7Qr4 Anyway I always liked watching people play sonic games (I suck at them myself as I found out this week) but this one just looks not great so far.
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# ? Jan 22, 2015 00:07 |
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When any character climbs a cliff, their whole body stretches. Amy's limbs also stretches when she jumps. I can't tell if the others do the same except for Knuckles.
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# ? Jan 22, 2015 00:41 |
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Why did everyone's proportions change in this game? Knuckles just looks wrong, and Sonic is giving off an Uncanny Valley vibe, which I never thought possible for a cartoon hedgehog.
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# ? Jan 22, 2015 07:47 |
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Seems to me like the easy way to enjoy this game would be to turn that "Voice" slider all the way to the left and turn the subtitles off. Other than that, the gameplay doesn't look bad, per se, just kind of repetitive. Also, Knuckles never struck me as an utterly brainless moron in the prior games. He was dense, yes, but this version can't tell left from right without staring at his hands. That's something you learn when you're 4 years old. e: Okay, the random teleportation at the end of the video? That was pretty terrible. Blastinus fucked around with this message at 08:18 on Jan 22, 2015 |
# ? Jan 22, 2015 08:06 |
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Knuckles is tall and brawny, the perfect candidate for a safety helmet.
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# ? Jan 22, 2015 15:15 |
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I'm going to agree the show is pretty fun. Like the game it starts without any real setup and in the middle of a fight. I like how Eggman is treated as the next door neighbor of sorts even though his fortress sits on what I assume to be a volcanic island and he apparently spends his days trying to find new ways to annoy sonic and co. One such way being that he would room with them for a bit and be the most annoying roommate possible so that they would be too tired to deal with his doom machine of day.
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# ? Jan 23, 2015 01:34 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 07:43 |
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The show became acceptable when they showed the robot minions singing opera during the unpaid intern episode. You rarely see the private lives of expendable mooks in their downtime. They also used the "kill" word in a kids show.
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# ? Jan 23, 2015 03:36 |