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Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric's troubled development explained

Did you guys forget that the Sonic Team also did this one:

Sonic_the_Hedgehog_Next-Gen_Box_Art.JPG


Granted they also did generations so they are capable of doing good things. Sega however I don't have faith in not telling them to rush something out.
Some of us have actually played Sonic entries after 06.

Sorry if that's the last game you played.

Really the main point I'm trying to make in my posts is this: Sonic Boom shouldn't be seen as what Big Red Button is capable of because corporate decisions made it hard for them to make it any good. Maybe they wouldn't have improved the game design problems if they didn't have to switch from targeting PS4/Xbox One to Wii U mid-development, but there's no way for us to know that for sure. There's no problem with blaming them for how bad their games are when they get to make one without shitty corporate decisions getting in their way though.
It is currently what they're capable because that's what they've shown. Until otherwise, it is a mark on their record. All I heard from the video was graphics, what was the excuse for the design and direction?
 
This is interesting. Not sure if thread worthy, but Sega has now privated the original reveal trailer that was used in the video. Possibly trying to avoid another Colonial Marines situation?

http://www.tssznews.com/2015/05/21/trailer-that-revealed-rise-of-lyric-on-youtube-made-private/

I noticed that. It's possible, although I imagine the disclaimer they added to it covers them from that. They absolutely knew they weren't necessarily showing what the game was really going to look like.

I hope this kind of thing stops happening. A lot of us on here are weary of "in-engine footage" things like this, but it is a great abuse of trust to the masses, I think.
 
I think the game would have still been a mediocre brawler even without the technical issues. Look at Sonic Unleashed. Probably the most polished Sonic game ever, but it still sucks.



There has only been one Sonic game since then from Sonic Team though, and it was more of a mixed bag than an outright bad game. They're not completely incapable, they're just prone to bad decisions.

Unleashed isn't even close to being the most polished Sonic game ever lol.
 
I wonder how many studios would be incapable of developing a good game given unlimited resources and time. Probably not many. What separates a good studio from a bad one is the ability to make do with what you got.
 
I found something new wrong with the game every time I picked it up/watched someone else play it. It's like a gift that keeps on giving!
Sonic 06 is one of the best teaching tools about game design and production, not because it's the worst thing ever but because it does something wrong with almost every element so blatantly that anyone can see it.
 
Because that's the first time someone has actually told me that it does. Disregard everything I said then.

EDIT: Actually, just read the text:
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So it doesn't natively support the Wii U after all? Why have the logo for it up there then?
 
Unleashed isn't even close to being the most polished Sonic game ever lol.

What do you think is, then? Because I'm not talking gameplay mechanics here. Unleashed has no signs of cut corners with its incredible intro, all those shiny hub worlds and really nice visuals throughout. I think the production values stand out compared to the glitchy Sonic Adventure games, the blank white hubs of Sonic Generations and the absolute catastrophes like Boom and 2006. I don't even think the game is good but I'll give it credit for that.

So either of these would mean IP suicide
What made BRB think sonic would have sold on Xbone/ps4 any how?
the demographic isnt there. You dont buy a system for $399 for this.
Sega should let Nintendo teams do sonic.

Well, Knack exists on PS4 and it's basically the exact same game. Minus the technical issues.
 
Sonic Generations PC is probably the most polished modern game.

Unleashed is a pretty polished game though, it's just that the werehog gameplay is boring.
 
Because that's the first time someone has actually told me that it does. Disregard everything I said then.

EDIT: Actually, just read the text:

So it doesn't natively support the Wii U after all? Why have the logo for it up there then?
It does, but nobody is really using it, so they aren't pushing it as much anymore. Same reason they aren't really talking about support for it on PS3 and 360. Crytek themselves have said the system is supported. I'll gladly take their word over the word of a freshman developer who made a bad game and is clearly trying to save face.

Either way, the problem wasn't that CE3 wasn't natively supported by the WiiU. It was that a specific non-critical feature wasn't supported, and BRB decided to tank the game's development to pursue getting it to work instead of just making the game without it.
 
Sonic Generations PC is probably the most polished modern game.

Unleashed is a pretty polished game though, it's just that the werehog gameplay is boring.

Generations PC looks so nice ): I wish I had played that version.
 
Unleashed the most polished Sonic game? You joking?

Unleashed runs like hot ass on PS3, it's borderline unplayable for me these days. Last time I got high and watched the opening I was really psyched to give it another shot for the first time since it came out in 09 and hell fucking no man that game is not polished.
 
I guess the question isn't the most polished Sonic games but the most 'complete' ones.

Answering that question, Unleashed, Colors and Black Knight all fit that perfectly, as those games felt like complete, whole tittles.

Unleashed shitty frame rate or not, was a beautiful tittle and for both Day and Night stages, you have a lot of content to play through. In addition to he fleshed out mechanics for both gameplay styles, hub towns to explore, a story with no cut corners and even more content to dig into if you want buy it (DLC Adventure Packs); you have one of the most 'finished' Sonics this generation :). Granted, the game had a lot of flaws, but I loved it all the same :D.

Black Knight was also complete for the same reasons as Unleashed; core vision realized, tight gameplay despite said gameplay not appealing to everyone, level design fully fleshed out despite being linear hallways, and a story that is one of the strongest in the series (or at least most enjoyable to me personally :)). The only rushed element in Black Knight is the MP mode but even then, you could just ignore that.

Colors is the same as Unleashed; the core gameplay systems are in place, the visuals push the Wii quite far, the controls are solid, the Wisp powers are great to use and the game as a whole feels like a love letter to the Genesis Era of Sonic :D.

Generations, Lost World and Rise of Lyric all have elements of feeling rushed and....it fluctuates how impactful it is per game basis.

Generations mainly gutted its story and hub world to get the core content done (level design, graphics, music, gameplay systems, ect) and from that end....fair trade off I find :l. Granted, I would have loved a self-referential story that poked fun at the series craziness, but I prefer a stronger game and I'm glad Sonic Team chose the latter option. The levels themselves are a great example of making and reusing content; the entire Modern Era has HD assets to play with, so it is just a matter of copying and pasting elements from 06, Unleashed and Colors into the new levels and add some tweaks/fixes/ect to them. Smart move on their part I think :D.

Lost World felt rushed toward the end of the game, as Sky Road and Lava Mountain don't feel like whole worlds like the other ones; both reuse content from prior worlds (the former mixes them with a 'Sky' theme while the latter flat out reuses them). The story is also a bit rushed but this time, it feels complete and it was nice to see a story on the level of Colors and Unleashed again :).

Rise of Lyric....where to begin :(? The core gameplay systems are done, but it feels unrefined; the combat doesn't expand like it does in Unleashed and you learn nothing new (not like in the Jak games where you get Eco Powers or the Ratchet games were you get tons of new weapons). Level design wise....it seems fine, as it reminds me a lot of the Jak games but the problem is that the collectables have no real purpose in the bigger picture.

What made Jak so much fun was that you got the Power Cells for exploring and in Ratchets case, getting bolts lead to getting new weapons and upgrades. What can you get with the robot parts? Upgrades that do nothing to help you :l. What I think happened is that they created the levels in mind for a Jak/Ratchet tittle but forgot to add important things to collect, leading to random chest appearing all over the place. Or, the most expected case, the levels were finished before the porting process to the Wii U, but the items weren't placed yet, leading to them throwing the crap all over the place.

The speed sections are flat out thrown in at the last minute; the controls are unresponsive, the game is not optimized for those sections and the designs for said levels are so simple. Like Clement said during the Brainscratchcom playthrough of Boom, they threw the Speed sections in to remind people "GUYS?! This Sanic! Look, he's running! Get the game kids!".

The story and core polish of the game are flat out incomplete; the former has so much unexplained that it makes Colors look like Shakespeare X(. The latter is just so buggy; which I think is due to the Wii U porting process. The game was originally meant to work with stronger hardware....so BRB porting it to Wii U must have messed with the level geometry, invisible walls and core gameplay systems :l.

Does all I say for RoL not matter? No, the game is a very weak tittle that hides a good game deep within the bugs, glitches, design issues and weak plot. But as it is, the game is very hard to recommend to anyone expecting a polished, quality tittle.
 
Because that's the first time someone has actually told me that it does. Disregard everything I said then.

EDIT: Actually, just read the text:

So it doesn't natively support the Wii U after all? Why have the logo for it up there then?
It does. More text from the site:

Crytek said:
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GENERATION OF GAME DEVELOPMENT
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