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Dark Schala · May 17, 2012

KevinCow said:
Is this game as frustrating to control as Patrick makes it look, or is he just terrible at it?

Like he's constantly messing up jumping off of springs. How do you mess that up? All you have to do it walk into it, and then you bounce. But half the time he stalls in midair and falls down.

He isn't very good at it (ie: seems to rely on Homing Attack too much when it doesn't seem that great in this game, mashing on the button when he's flying with Tails when he probably shouldn't which led to his crushing deaths, etc). Ryan yelling at him for not hopping into the ring was funny.

"I think [Sonic 4: Episode II] looks better than Generations."

Tails stealing air bubbles is pretty accurate.

OnPoint · May 17, 2012

KevinCow said:
Is this game as frustrating to control as Patrick makes it look, or is he just terrible at it?

Like he's constantly messing up jumping off of springs. How do you mess that up? All you have to do it walk into it, and then you bounce. But half the time he stalls in midair and falls down.

he's pretty bad honestly lol

I had Tails steal an air bubble from me, resulting in my death once. It wouldn't be a problem if the game didn't have him standing uncomfortably close to you. Give Sonic some space, bro!

Kokonoe · May 17, 2012

Hey guys, jackfuste of Widescreen Gaming Forum made a 1080p patch for Sonic 4 Episode II.

http://www.wsgf.org/forum/forums/ga...ons/21589/sonic-4-episode-i-ii#comment-245908

Uploaded to mediafire.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yv27dos2wvibuih

SykoTech · May 17, 2012

Ein Bear said:
Yeah, no Wii version this time. Which is odd, since I thought the Wii version of Ep. 1 was the best selling?

Actually, it seems that the PS3 version sold the best, followed by the 360 version. Wii version sold the worst.

I'm not really surprised. I don't think the Wii audience is into digital purchases as much as PS360 gamers.

AgentOtaku · May 17, 2012

Been playin' this

and yeah, it's um, pretty damn good. If anything, I'd say I prefer it's "purity" over Sonic Generations which falls on it's face towards then end.

Tiduz · May 17, 2012

how in the fuck do you do special stage 7.

fuck this game

Aaron Strife · May 17, 2012

SykoTech said:
Yeah, that annoyed me too. I still haven't managed to beat the level because they kick you out after 2 minutes.

Played the Arkham City demo too, and it kicks you out after 15 minutes (but I was at least able to beat that one).

I really hope demos with time limits isn't becoming a permanent thing. That's almost as bad as limiting the number of plays (Revelations 3DS).

It'd be one thing if the game let you beat the level within the 2 minute time limit, but I got to the last snowboarding section at 1'47 and it still booted me out.

Hot Coldman · May 17, 2012

Tails' is the gaming equivalent of Kenny McCormick. Why does he need air bubbles exactly?

ThoughtsOfSpeaking · May 17, 2012

Havent bought the game yet, but by the looks of things, the tails team moves break the game

outside of that it looks fun, just wish there was a no-tails mode. He is just as much a shitty friend as everybody who came after IMHO.

AbsoluteZero · May 17, 2012

Hilarious to see the Sonic Cycle is going strong.

Kokonoe · May 17, 2012

AbsoluteZero said:
Hilarious to see the Sonic Cycle is going strong.

Dimps Cycle. Sonic Team gave us Generations, Dimps gave us this.

ezodagrom · May 17, 2012

Kokonoe said:
Hey guys, jackfuste of Widescreen Gaming Forum made a 1080p patch for Sonic 4 Episode II.

http://www.wsgf.org/forum/forums/ga...ons/21589/sonic-4-episode-i-ii#comment-245908

Uploaded to mediafire.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yv27dos2wvibuih

I tried this out in the beta, the best quality option is the native resolution patch with SSAA forced through the drivers for AMD/ATI graphics cards, or SSAA forced through Nvidia Inspector for Nvidia graphics cards, since the lighting works properly with the drivers/inspector SSAA instead of the supersampling patch. See this topic for more info on how to force anti-aliasing through the drivers or Nvidia Inspector:
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.php?411178-PC-Version-Sonic-4-and-Anti-Aliasing

Here are some comparison pictures, all of them are taken at 1440x900:

Default (upscaled from 1280x720 to 1440x900):

Native patch:

Super-Sampling 2x2 patch:

Native patch with 4x Multi-Sample Anti-Aliasing:

Native patch with 4x Super-Sample Anti-Aliasing:

AbsoluteZero · May 17, 2012

Kokonoe said:
Dimps Cycle. Sonic Team gave us Generations, Dimps gave us this.

Sonic Cycle refers to the character itself, I believe.

But instead of "Shitty Friends" you have to insert "Shitty Physics".

WallJump · May 17, 2012

At least with all the soundtrack hate maybe we can finally put down the meow synth for a dirt nap.

I am a ridiculous sonic fan but if the bosses are still this awful (which was a huge complaint with me and Ep 1, especially the final boss), then I'm going to wait for a steam blowout sale.

Tiduz · May 17, 2012

i just did special stage 7 on my own without a 2nd player. 501 coins... i needed 500 LOL

OnPoint · May 17, 2012

Tiduz said:
i just did special stage 7 on my own without a 2nd player. 501 coins... i needed 500 LOL

How did you find coins?

goldenpp72 · May 17, 2012

Special stage 7 was a real pain as I had never really figured out what that tails/sonic power did (I thought it was some knuckles chaotix reference, heh). 7 made me master how to use that thing as I guess you can't have a co op buddy join in an SP game (I tried). I was going for the don't exit to hubworld achievement though, so maybe that would work.

Tiduz · May 17, 2012

oh shit i meant rings, played the stage for 30mins so my brain is fried.

Dark Schala · May 17, 2012

AbsoluteZero said:
Hilarious to see the Sonic Cycle is going strong.

There weren't a lot of people hyped for this.

Sonic Cycle is only reserved for games like Shadow and Sonic 2006. Sonic Cycle refers to:
1: lack of friends in screens, hype generated, people say it'll be Sonic's return
2: friends shown, new friends announced, gameplay is lacklustre, hopes dashed
3: shitty reviews, disappointment from mostly everyone, "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me"

Essentially, it's about crappy games like Sonic 2006, Shadow and Sonic and the Black Knight and the media/community reaction towards them. There was a ton of negativity towards Episode 2 in various threads about it, so the Sonic Cycle wasn't even set in motion at all here.

This is more like Dimps Cycle, but no one is really surprised by what happened here.

SykoTech · May 17, 2012

AbsoluteZero said:
Hilarious to see the Sonic Cycle is going strong.

Nah, the Sonic Cycle is pretty much a dead meme at this point. The image has even been posted on a single page.

Besides, this is a direct follow up to a game already deemed as disappointing. I doubt anyone expected amazing things from this.

OnPoint · May 17, 2012

goldenpp72 said:
Special stage 7 was a real pain as I had never really figured out what that tails/sonic power did (I thought it was some knuckles chaotix reference, heh). 7 made me master how to use that thing as I guess you can't have a co op buddy join in an SP game (I tried). I was going for the don't exit to hubworld achievement though, so maybe that would work.

There's a power in the special stages?

qq more · May 17, 2012

AbsoluteZero said:
Sonic Cycle refers to the character itself, I believe.

But instead of "Shitty Friends" you have to insert "Shitty Physics".

No one here was hyped for the game aside from a minority. Ep 1 was however, part of the Cycle. But not Ep 2. We were just all "meh".

Solid SOAP · May 17, 2012

Bought it, beat it, it was okay. Nothing special, but a surefire improvement over the former episode. The level design was hit or miss, with some great ones (Most of Sylvania Castle) and some stinkers (White Park Act 2), but overall it was a fun game. Could be better, could be longer, could do without needless gimmicks ala the team combos, but I can't say that I didn't have fun playing it.

dark10x · May 17, 2012

WallJump said:
At least with all the soundtrack hate maybe we can finally put down the meow synth for a dirt nap.

I am a ridiculous sonic fan but if the bosses are still this awful (which was a huge complaint with me and Ep 1, especially the final boss), then I'm going to wait for a steam blowout sale.

I don't love the soundtrack but I definitely don't hate it. I'm surprised it's receiving so much attention while New Super Mario Bros slid by with an infinitely worse soundscape. The music in that game was so boring that it negatively effected by ability to enjoy the game.

RobbieNick · May 17, 2012

Beat the game and am on the 6th emerald.

Great game. Not the greatest Sonic game ever or anything, but it's a fun title as a $15 download. A HUGE improvement over the first and makes me want the third one to conclude the trilogy. There's still room for improvement here and there, but it actually feels like it could belong in the Genesis library this time (somewhere between 2 and 3).

Pros

No broken physics. Everything works the way it should.

Stages have that moderate to difficult challenge of Sonic 1 and 2 and don't feel like a huge pushover like Sonic 4-1 did.

The Sonic and Tais powers work well and become instinctive after awhile.

The bosses are much more original and more difficult this time around.

While influenced by older Sonic titles, stage are also much more original and not just nostalgic knockoffs. With the exception of Sky Fortress which even shares the same name of the original.

Final boss stage is not a collection of old bosses. Instead, we get two original and challenging boss fights broken into two extra acts.

Episode Metal shows how to improve upon the old stages with more challenge and better physics.

CONS

Jun Senoe's soundtrack may actually be WORSE than the first one. It's certainly forgettable. Starts out good on Sylvania Castle, but then you get songs like Oil Dessert Act 2. And the second to last boss fight as you running around the stage before the final boss fight to a ten second melody that repeats over and over and over! Also, The Eggman boss theme makes it's return from Sonic 4-1 UGH!

Level design can be hit and miss. It's quality most of the time, but then you get stages like White Park Act 2 which is the very definition of "hold right to win". you're running to the right with very little in the way of branching paths.

Co-Op play leaves a lot to be desired. It can be fun to troll your friends with, but if you lag behind, you end up in a rolled ball and zoomed next to the lead player. It's just odd and not very fun to play with.

MaxwellGT2000 · May 17, 2012

I think at this point people are hating Sonic games just to be hating on them. Sonic Colors had issues but did make it to "good" standings for me, even if I don't think Sonic Team design Sonic levels (that feel like they should be in Sonic) to save their lives.

Generations also made it into that "good" category, basically if you take out the 3D Sonic stages you get... a short but decent reminder why you still want to buy the little guys games... and if you bought the Dimps made 3DS version... well you have a great game that simply needed more stages.

I could go on about the Dimps made day stages on Unleashed and state how they were very good and I feel Sonic Team saw them and went "oh so that's how you make modern Sonic relevant and play like he's Sonic", but people would probably fight back on that one...

Episode 1 had great design, sure it had some weird patches with physics, but the run is fixed by jumping and doing a homing attack to get you going at a fast run right off the bat.

Episode 2 takes that great design and injects Sonic 2, 3, and Sonic CD. I loved playing co-op, from me and my friend not knowing what in the world we were doing, so bad in fact we could never coordinate anything, to playing with a guy online so good he made me feel like a Sonic amateur. Personally I think that's a mark of a good Sonic game, people are learning your stages and learning how to play this specific style, to get higher points and quicker times. Also the music doesn't suck (there I think I just covered all the haters).

Solid SOAP · May 17, 2012

Diablohead said:
uh SS7, collect 450 rings.
It's classic dimps layouts to try and be hard too, no way you would ever get the 6th or 7th emerald first time with skill due to blind corners and those annoying collect all 10 rings for a bonus stuff, it's all a memory game and the designer at dimps doesn't seem to understand that. S2 special stages are still unrivaled.

As someone who loved Sonic 2, it's special stages are utter balls. Episode II is no gem but it's special stages are definitely more fun than Sonic 2's due to better controls, visuals, layouts, etc. Sonic 2's final special stage is a bitch and I have never beaten it because it's just utterly ridiculous, I don't see how that's any different from the difficulty of Sonic 4's special stages.

DeVeAn · May 17, 2012

Back after more playthroughs. So Red Rings do nothing are you kidding me? No good ending? Why tell me to collect the Emeralds and give me nothing! Lastly Super Sonic has episode 1 physics?

Had to get that out of my system. The music grows on ya. I found the music to be good actually.

dark10x · May 17, 2012

Generations also made it into that "good" category, basically if you take out the 3D Sonic stages you get.

Take OUT the 3D stages? Those were absolutely awesome in Generations. Both the classic and updated Sonic stages were equally great, I thought.

Kokonoe · May 17, 2012

DeVeAn said:
Back after more playthroughs. So Red Rings do nothing are you kidding me? No good ending? Why tell me to collect the Emeralds and give me nothing! Lastly Super Sonic has episode 1 physics?

Had to get that out of my system. The music grows on ya. I found the music to be good actually.

What? Really?

qq more · May 17, 2012

MaxwellGT2000 said:
I think at this point people are hating Sonic games just to be hating on them.

That is not true at all.

MaxwellGT2000 said:
Sonic Colors had issues but did make it to "good" standings for me, even if I don't think Sonic Team design Sonic levels (that feel like they should be in Sonic) to save their lives.

Generations also made it into that "good" category, basically if you take out the 3D Sonic stages you get... a short but decent reminder why you still want to buy the little guys games... and if you bought the Dimps made 3DS version... well you have a great game that simply needed more stages.

You're acting like as if no one liked both of those games. Colors and Generations are considered good games by many fans, even from some of the bitter ones. There is no hating for the sake of it.

Also, people find the Dimps version of Generations is sub-par for good reasons. Most of Act 1 are rehashes of the original layout of the levels while Act 2 was a little decent but kind of empty. And don't get me started on the Dreamcast era. Fuck Radical Highway. This is even coming from a guy who enjoyed the game, just a FYI.

Also what's wrong with the 3D stages in Generations?

MaxwellGT2000 said:
Episode 1 had great design, sure it had some weird patches with physics, but the run is fixed by jumping and doing a homing attack to get you going at a fast run right off the bat.

The speed in Ep 1 made no sense. If I just run from walking, I don't even reach top speed, I'm still slow. I have to use the homing attack to even get decent running speed. That is not how a game should work. Oh and the level design was garbage for the most part but I don't really want to get into that now. I'd be making paragraphs on what's wrong about it.

MaxwellGT2000 said:
]Also the music doesn't suck (there I think I just covered all the haters).

lol wow. I think the music in Ep 2 is fine but I can really see why people wouldn't like them.

still have yet to play the full game of Ep 2 but I'll get it when there's a sale on steam. I'll post my thoughts once I get to that.

Azure Dream · May 17, 2012

I'm a little shocked people had so many issues with the Tails flying segments, especially the flames in Sky Fortress. I thought the timing there was super forgiving and the flame pattern basic. It may be because I quickly got used to taking flying leaps, and activating the copter move at the last second. He does fly up a little jerkily, but I didn't realize that'd throw so many people off.

I had a much harder time with the timing for the boss of that zone, when he fired the lasers down.

Tiduz said:
how in the fuck do you do special stage 7.

fuck this game

I think this is one of those weird moments where a second player would actually help your chances of getting the Emerald, despite all previous series logic. There's often two paths of rings, and no real way to direct AI Tails to grab the other ones. You could control the tow line challenges better too, instead of having to "fake Tails out" at first so he'll run to the right spot in time.

Synless · May 17, 2012

dark10x said:
Take OUT the 3D stages? Those were absolutely awesome in Generations. Both the classic and updated Sonic stages were equally great, I thought.

Agreed, best Sonic game I have played since S3&K.

RobbieNick · May 17, 2012

I will say that while I'm not that happy with Jun's music this time around, I do love Metal's intro cutscene music which starts as a slow chiptune of Sonic Boom and speeds up into Sonic Warrior.

Balb · May 17, 2012

dark10x said:
Take OUT the 3D stages? Those were absolutely awesome in Generations. Both the classic and updated Sonic stages were equally great, I thought.

They are if you enjoy running really fast then hitting an enemy or spike pit without any reasonable warning.

Kokonoe · May 17, 2012

Balb said:
They are if you enjoy running really fast then hitting an enemy or spike pit without any reasonable warning.

I never experienced this issue with spikes in Generations. If I got hit, it was by my own mistake.
Using the boost also makes you immune to taking collision damage from running into enemies.

Hot Coldman · May 17, 2012

Balb said:
They are if you enjoy running really fast then hitting an enemy or spike pit without any reasonable warning.

Are you talking about Generations? The console version? I'm not convinced you are.

Balb · May 17, 2012

Green Scar said:
Are you talking about Generations? The console version? I'm not convinced you are.

I have it on PC. I haven't beaten it but in the first few 3D levels I experienced that issue. I may have to go back and confirm that but I remember having that impression when I first got the game.

qq more · May 17, 2012

I don't recall any of that problem. Except for MAYBE the last few bits of the game?

Azure Dream · May 17, 2012

RobbieNick said:
I will say that while I'm not that happy with Jun's music this time around, I do love Metal's intro cutscene music which starts as a slow chiptune of Sonic Boom and speeds up into Sonic Warrior.

I really liked how they blended the music together from the little cinemas to the stages. Like how the Sylvania Castle logo plays that little peppy tune as Sonic and Tails fly in, they jump off the plane and run into the level, then it switches over to the level music, and the stage gameplay starts right there without pause. Sky Fortress Act 1 does the same thing, too.

I really liked how they played that menacing little tune as you're rocketing up to the Death Egg Mk. II. I felt like that was probably the best "classic" touch in the game.

Hot Coldman · May 17, 2012

Balb said:
I have it on PC. I haven't beaten it but in the first few 3D levels I experienced that issue. I may have to go back and confirm that but I remember having that impression when I first got the game.

I'll be fair, your first run on these levels usually isn't too pretty, but it's fun enough. I can't say it felt unfair ever- pits are clearly indicated, with little chance of boosting to your doom Sonic Rush style, and even Dr Robotnik's Deadly Speed Traps weren't around much.

Ideally, the 3D levels are the ones you go back and replay the shit out of- that's where the real fun is. FYI- the best 3D level is the second-to-last one.

Tizoc · May 17, 2012

Fingercramp's playthrough of World 1 of Sonic 4-2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPMAAwwmJkM

Azure Dream · May 17, 2012

You also have to remember the golden rule of playing Generations stages the first time: Just because the Boost button is there, you don't have to use it, unless you're at some point where the game is explicitly prompting you to. When you play the stages your first time, just jog through them, without boosting, so you learn the layout of the level. It's not going to punish you for it.

Also, turn off Omochao. He just ruins figuring out things for yourself.

Balb · May 17, 2012

Green Scar said:
I'll be fair, your first run on these levels usually isn't too pretty, but it's fun enough. I can't say it felt unfair ever- pits are clearly indicated, with little chance of boosting to your doom Sonic Rush style, and even Dr Robotnik's Deadly Speed Traps weren't around much.

Ideally, the 3D levels are the ones you go back and replay the shit out of- that's where the real fun is. FYI- the best 3D level is the second-to-last one.

Fair enough. I definitely want to go back and finish the game. I'm not one of those stubborn Sonic fans who don't like the 3D games -- SA2 is my favorite Sonic game as radical as that sounds (hated Unleashed though. One of the worst games I've played this gen).

qq more · May 17, 2012

Balb said:
Fair enough. I definitely want to go back and finish the game. I'm not one of those stubborn Sonic fans who don't like the 3D games -- SA2 is my favorite Sonic game as radical as that sounds (hated Unleashed though. One of the worst games I've played this gen).

I take it you haven't played 06. (Yeah I didn't like Unleashed either sadly)

SkylineRKR · May 17, 2012

SA2 was actually great. The stages where Sonic was involved that is. If the full game was being made solely out of Sonic gameplay it might've been one of the very best. City escape, Jungle, Final Rush... it was cool stuff.

I hated Generations though, but it has to do with the fact I only played the Ps3 version. Input lag and low framerate ruined the game for me. I still want to replay it on a good PC one day.

MaxwellGT2000 · May 17, 2012

Balb said:
They are if you enjoy running really fast then hitting an enemy or spike pit without any reasonable warning.

My thoughts exactly, I mean it's obvious when they knew they put in an annoying death part... cause they give you an extra life before attempting the jump... which if anyone wants to bitch about physics don't get me started on modern Sonic in Generations.

But I digress Episode 1 and 2 have level design that spanks the pants off of the 2D levels in Generations, the only reason I can find people wouldn't enjoy these over Sonic Colors/Generations is because Dimps included paths that made you slow down and actually do some platforming... you know like the genesis games!

Lijik · May 17, 2012

goldenpp72 said:
Going for the red rings will force you to use the team mechanic quite a bit as well, one example of me still using older sonic mentality was in one of the sand levels that had oil slides (similar to ones in older Sonics). I tried forever to climb up it to no avail, but I knew the red ring was the opposite way of the flow of oil, turns out I had to find a piece of solid land, use the team roll and I ripped right through the oil slides flow. It's fun having to figure stuff out using new logic.

This sort of stuff is really fun, but when you have to use the team mechanics in the context of regular forced level challenges its always dull or a pain in the ass.

MaxwellGT2000 said:
But I digress Episode 1 and 2 have level design that spanks the pants off of the 2D levels in Generations, the only reason I can find people wouldn't enjoy these over Sonic Colors/Generations is because Dimps included paths that made you slow down and actually do some platforming... you know like the genesis games!

Woah what Episodes 1 and 2 are you playing, because I wanna play those. I dont know what kind of alternate universe bootleg Colors/Generations you played however, my copies definitely have platforming in their level designs.

Nert · May 17, 2012

dark10x said:
I don't love the soundtrack but I definitely don't hate it. I'm surprised it's receiving so much attention while New Super Mario Bros slid by with an infinitely worse soundscape. The music in that game was so boring that it negatively effected by ability to enjoy the game.

Trust me, I don't care for the audio-visual component of the New Super Mario Bros. series either. I think New Super Mario Bros. Wii had excellent level design and was very fun to play, but I'm completely bored by it artistically (and I'm not looking forward to there being more games in those same bland motifs).

It's frustrating to see middling to awful soundtracks and recycled visual motifs in two series that have been highly imaginative and polished with past entries (the two Mario Galaxy games and Sonic Colors have phenomenal presentations). I'm sure Sega can do better than "Here's Wing Fortress again."

qq more said:
That is not true at all.

Yeah, the majority of the people complaining about this game in this thread have enjoyed previous Sonic games. I'm a huge fan of both Colors and Generations (console/PC version).

qq more · May 17, 2012

MaxwellGT2000 said:
But I digress Episode 1 and 2 have level design that spanks the pants off of the 2D levels in Generations, the only reason I can find people wouldn't enjoy these over Sonic Colors/Generations is because Dimps included paths that made you slow down and actually do some platforming... you know like the genesis games!

What in the fuck are you honestly talking about? Colors/Generations had a lot of platforming too. And those weren't the reasons why we didn't like sonic 4. If you're gonna make a convincing argument, at least don't pull things out of your ass.

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