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Should there be a more "serious" Sonic story again?

Jubenhimer

Member
Sonic the Hedgehog is the epitome of a quality roller-coaster. Sega has been pumping out mainline games to varying degrees of quality in recent years ranging from good, bad, to completely average. When a new Sonic game is announced, there's an understandable degree of skepticism, as you don't know what kind of quality you'll be getting. It's a complete gamble. Currently, Sonic Team has found comfort in the "Boost" formula first introduced in Sonic Rush. Many recent games have also tried to steer away from the Shonen Jump-style story telling of games like Sonic Adventure 1&2 with dozens of characters and their individual stories all fighting over the Infinity Stones Chaos Emeralds, to more silly and simplistic stories focused on mostly just Sonic and Tails with games like Sonic Colors and Sonic Lost World

Sonic Forces tried to get back to the more serious tone of the Adventure games, but it felt like a cheap imitation, as it still had all the campiness of modern Sonic. With the next Sonic game, Sega needs to completely break the mold again. They need to start over with a new engine and mechanics. But also important, they need to actually go back to the more serious tone of the Adventure Games, and even the comics. This may be an unpopular opinion, but Sonic actually works quite well in a serious plot. His edgy, radical personality, and the series unique setting lends itself well to a high stakes anime-esque adventure. Now, I'm not asking Shadow the Hedgehog levels of "OW THE EDGE", but something with the tone of Avatar: The Last Airbender or Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. A mostly serious story, with lighthearted elements and goofy scenes sprinkled in occasionally to break up the tension.

Of course, you'd need a polished gameplay engine before anything else, but games like Colors, Unleashed's Daytime levels, and Generations show that Sonic Team is capable of making at least a decent 3D Sonic if they have the budget and creative freedom to do it. The problem lies in Sega not allowing that half the time, which leads to unneeded gimmicks like Wherehog stages, rushed out garbage like Sonic 06, or just forgettable games like Forces or Lost World.
 
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Athena~

Banned
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Yes
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
Nope, they haven't earned it.

Nail 2D Sonic design again -- or better yet, finally bring out a 3D Sonic game worthy of the franchise -- and then SEGA can go ham on their stupid story all they want.
 

Caffeine

Member
Sonic doesnt really need a story like mario, bad guy is bad, you are sonic save the animals and stop global warming. add a hub world and levels you go to and your good.
 

-Arcadia-

Banned
Only if it’s an adaption of that fan-fic.

But I enjoyed those stories for what they were. I wouldn’t call them serious — basically kids - teen anime. Thing is though, Sega kinda has bigger problems than deciding what story they want to tell. They can barely produce a well-liked, or even mediocre game post-Adventure.
 

Gargus

Banned
Sonic needs one of 2 things.

1- more sonic mania, just with more variety in level settings than things that remind me of the old sonic games. Nostalgia is great but give me some new background settings.

2- something in the vein of sonic adventure for dreamcast to spice up the formula.

If sonic ever gets serious again it honestly needs to put good gameplay first, then get so serious its nuts. Have a really fun gameplay but make it weird like when he kissed a human woman. I miss Sega when they made fun games that were weird and different.
 

Codes 208

Member
They need to burn everything related to modern sonic to the ground and start from scratch. Sonic 06, unleashed, lost world, the wii rail games and sonic forces. All of it. Get that shit out of here.

When a group of hackers can make a btter game than their official dev teams, you know someone fucked up down the line.
 
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Celcius

°Temp. member
I'm perfectly fine with just making a sequel to Sonic Mania. However, I'd definitely be interested in a Sonic Adventure 3.
 
Sonic the Hedgehog is the epitome of a quality roller-coaster. Sega has been pumping out mainline games to varying degrees of quality in recent years ranging from good, bad, to completely average. When a new Sonic game is announced, there's an understandable degree of skepticism, as you don't know what kind of quality you'll be getting. It's a complete gamble. Currently, Sonic Team has found comfort in the "Boost" formula first introduced in Sonic Rush. Many recent games have also tried to steer away from the Shonen Jump-style story telling of games like Sonic Adventure 1&2 with dozens of characters and their individual stories all fighting over the Infinity Stones Chaos Emeralds, to more silly and simplistic stories focused on mostly just Sonic and Tails with games like Sonic Colors and Sonic Lost World

Sonic Forces tried to get back to the more serious tone of the Adventure games, but it felt like a cheap imitation, as it still had all the campiness of modern Sonic. With the next Sonic game, Sega needs to completely break the mold again. They need to start over with a new engine and mechanics. But also important, they need to actually go back to the more serious tone of the Adventure Games, and even the comics. This may be an unpopular opinion, but Sonic actually works quite well in a serious plot. His edgy, radical personality, and the series unique setting lends itself well to a high stakes anime-esque adventure. Now, I'm not asking Shadow the Hedgehog levels of "OW THE EDGE", but something with the tone of Avatar: The Last Airbender or Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. A mostly serious story, with lighthearted elements and goofy scenes sprinkled in occasionally to break up the tension.

Of course, you'd need a polished gameplay engine before anything else, but games like Colors, Unleashed's Daytime levels, and Generations show that Sonic Team is capable of making at least a decent 3D Sonic if they have the budget and creative freedom to do it. The problem lies in Sega not allowing that half the time, which leads to unneeded gimmicks like Wherehog stages, rushed out garbage like Sonic 06, or just forgettable games like Forces or Lost World.

Replaying the Dreamcast Sonic Adventure in the Recast emulator, I agree. That game had the right balance of cheesiness and seriousness to it. I think I would enjoy a high stakes anime-esque adventure in the Sonic series once again, should it have the right level of ambition and execution (including gameplay execution) to it.
 

Kazza

Member
I personally liked the story in Sonic Colours. It had a nice, fun Saturday morning cartoon feel to it. I'm no so much into edgy Sonic (I missed out on playing the 2 Sonic Adventure games during the Dreamcast time, so I see Sonic in the way he was portrayed in the 2D days). Of course, it helps that Colour was a great game too. That's all that matters to me. The Adventure fans can have their serious "end of the universe" style story, so long as the game is good. Although I really liked the "boost" games, I think it's time to try something new for the next one. Take your time, Sega. You need to get this one right.
 

mcjmetroid

Member
Eventually maybe but not right now.

They need to nail the gameplay down. Find a gameplay style that works and keep improving on it with every iteration.
Stop pivoting.

Why they can't just make a Sonic Adventure 3 I'll never know. It's the nearest they got to getting it right.
 

Shifty

Member
Sure, but for the love of God don't stray from the acceptable level of campy edge that was SA2 into the OH NO territory brought to us by Sonic 2006.
 

Saber

Gold Member
Lmao, nope.

Sonic should not have serious "edgy" stories ever again.

What they need now is a competent story and dialogue writer. Because Sonic is way too cheese whenever he open his damn mouth.

What Sega needs is more Sonic Mania.
 
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Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
I think the more serious stories were dumb, but if it was to help Sonic become more successful again, I would be all for it. I love Sonic for the gameplay, so do whatever is the most popular with the story.
 

Zephir

Member
Yes

I wouldn't mind a new Sonic Adventure 2 thing, with his mix of "i'll let you out of prison only if you marry me" and "government agents shot a sick little girl in the back"...also no more wisps and let me combo-ing freely with Knuckles
 

Whitecrow

Banned
Mmmm.... yes. That's what fits for modern Sonic. No more childish stories.

Even if 06 had that cringe moment, and it was a game filled with problems, sure it was not story's fault.

Just make a balanced game where nothing falls apart, and thats it.
 

Pejo

Member
Saving little forest creatures from Robotnik. That's all I need. Through the years though, the Sonic fanbase have totally ruined Sonic for me. I used to think he was a slightly edgy Mario as a kid, but now he's always mixed in with some weird fetish or disgusting fantasy, somehow involved with Shrek more often than he should be (I don't get the overlap). The ideal scenario is that they reboot the franchise, get rid of the "and friends" furry bait, and just have Sonic fighting Robotnik and bouncing/dashing around a stage.
 

Trogdor1123

Member
No way, keep him running fast and saving weird creatures from the bad guy. Level design and gameplay are all that should matter in this game.
 

Hissing Sid

Member
I really hope so because I for one would like to explore Sonics inner feelings. What motivates him to spin up and down ramps? Does he undergo an internal struggle when he bounces on Robotniks bonce?

I hate having a blast on the couch with my lad just bouncing around huge pinball machines and neon cities. We need to go deeper than that. Something more machure. Maybe they could incorporate a bit where Sonic pauses mid-spin and watches sombrely as a herd of giraffes pass through the level? Or how about we delve into Sonics sexuality during bonus stages?

So much scope. Much possibilities.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Sure why not. Just make good games. Nintendo doesn’t have any problem making different style or even genres of Mario games because they are good.
 
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Zayus

Neo Member
I personally would like that a lot. I find the stories of Adventure / 2 / Shadow / '06 a lot of fun, even if they're not very "good". I think that Unleashed found the right balance of having a "serious" story that didn't take itself TOO seriously. It had an epic, globetrotting adventure feel to it, while still not going as dark as other games like SA2, StH, or '06, but maintaining a good character arc throughout its entirety for its new character (Chip).

Games like Sonic Colors and Generations have an all too comedy approach without any real stakes which I don't find that interesting. I don't really count Sonic Forces as being in the style of older games either. It's a faux-serious entry, masquerading as something deeper than it is. It tosses out darker, and more mature ideas as window dressing, but doesn't bother to really go into them. The deepest it gets is saying "war is bad", and even then not showing why. Not that earlier entries were especially deep or anything, but they at least tried to touch upon ideas like government conspiracies and cover-ups and the consequences of them (SA2), or had some character development (Tails in SA1 for example). Sure, by the next game most character development and themes were reset, but at least they tried to sort of tell a story with some meat to eat. even if it was pretty standard anime fare type plots sometimes.

Forces on the other hand is just content to be a simple, Colors-style story, but without the humor, and darker dressing to try and fool people into thinking there's more to it than there is. Except no one was fooled.

I get that not everyone likes the stories, but I feel that Sega could cater to people who want more plot in the 3D entries, while keeping the classical entries mostly storyless to try and appease the different sides of the fandom somewhat. They could even even of have a sub-series of more humor focused 3D games, and another of "serious" ones, sort of like how they wanted Boom to be its own sub-franchise before it actually released and ruined all plans of that ever happening.

I also think people are confusing "serious" with "dark". The story needs to take itself seriously for anyone to feel like there's any stakes. It doesn't have to be dark to do that. I actually personally like all the darkness of Shadow and '06, but I know that's not most people's cup of tea, and that's beside the point. What I'm getting at is that for the story to work, it has to feel like the villain poses a serious threat, like the characters react to the situations seriously (not joking about in what should be a tense moment), and the story doesn't undercut itself with weird mood swings. Look at E-102 Gamma's story for a well done, serious Sonic story. In general, SA1 and Unleashed are pretty good examples of serious Sonic stories that don't go too dark, or too silly. Not that they're flawless of course, but they show how it can be done. I think if Sonic Team went back to that type of storytelling most people wouldn't have too much of a problem with it.

Which means of course that they'll continue adding stories to the games,but just ones that don't please anyone, like again, Forces, which wasn't funny, and it wasn't interesting. It was just a bunch of nothing. I'd like to be proven wrong, but I don't think we'll get those serious, well done type stories in a Sonic game again any time soon.
 

JayCeeJim

Neo Member
My dream scenario for a new Sonic game is one where they not only nail the gameplay in 3D, but they fit a self-acknlowedged story that, somehow, erases all games from Adventure onwards from being canon :).

Extremely unlikely, so.
 
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