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aria-skylar · 10 months ago

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Sonic Frontiers Thoughts - Part 1

I recently started playing Frontiers (I know a bit late, I just finally had the time) and have made it to the 3rd island (haven't progressed very far on that island as of yet) and I'm so far mostly enjoying the game, though I have a bit of issues (that are probably things I won't be the first to voice).

To start off with, all of the issues I'll be talking about will be with the story. I don't play many video games outside of some Sonic games and a few Nintendo games like Mario and Zelda, so I don't have much to say on things like gameplay. I'm not particularly bothered with any gameplay elements so far.

Most of my issues are with the character interactions. They started off fine, but sometimes there was some kinda weird/awkward dialogue. I felt on the first island it was most egregious when Amy was talking about wanting to share the love she saw between the 2 Koco/Ancients with the world. What does even that mean? Why does she even want this? Now, I prefer her characterization here over her just being obsessed with Sonic like in previous games, however, despite beings improvement/a move in the right direction, I'm not sure I'd say this characterization is great/perfect. I checked the translation for the Japanese script here and saw she talked about thinking about who she wanted to be, and I think whilst it still feels a bit weird, I prefer that. I feel like her character seems a bit too calm though. I wish she had a bit more spunk/energy (maybe something akin to her characterization in Sonic Boom where she was chill but could go a little crazy (I don't think crazy is the right word here, but I'm having trouble finding the right word)) because it kinda feels she's been defanged. Of course, I don't think there's been any reason for her to show a more energetic side (if she has one) in this story so far, so it's less an issue with writing and more so a concern of what could be.

I find the interactions with Knuckles to be more egregious. The body language, even in English seems kinda weird. I was wondering if this was a translation issue (since I think a lot of Sonic games have their Japanese script made first) but found body language was an even worse issue in the Japanese and that it truly was animated for the English script. Now, I should say, I get what they were going for. I know they wanted to convey a friendly rivalry between the 2. I like the idea of this. However, the execution feels like they're aliens trying to imitate human emotions and relationships. I found the smiles and partially closed eye expressions kinda weird. There's something off about those expressions and don't know entirely what those individual expressions were supposed to convey. I don't know if this was just because of it being difficult to express the emotions they wanted through their models, having weird ideas on how emotions are conveyed, or both. I also really don't like how much they'd bend towards each other, getting their faces closer (that's just a pet peeve of mine though).

I'm not very far on the island with Tails so I don't have much to say on that. I did get all the Egg memos from Big though. At first I was fine with them, but when it got to him talking about Sage possibly being his daughter, it felt weird to me. I personally don't like the idea of him having a Bowser and Bowser Jr.-esque relationship. And I should say, I get people, even villains can have many different sides. Hitler liked his dogs. I get it. Having a daughter doesn't make Eggman not evil anymore. That's not my issue. It just feels out of character. Why would he ever feel this way? I would get it if he meant "daughter" as in "the only one good enough to be seen as one of my own" (so as an extension of himself and his genius), but he seems to actually care about her and what she wants (shown when he wonders whether she'd prefer to be referred to as an "it" or "she/her"). Now, I don't think he should be callous to everyone, I would certainly get why he would look up to Gerald for example. However, Sage is his creation, just like Metal Sonic and his other bots, with the only difference really being that Sage is more advanced and more successful (also not fully made by Eggman's tech), so his genuine concern for her doesn't really jibe with me. I think going from who he was to someone who can actually see one of his very own creations as a person and treat them with respect is a MASSIVE development in his character that I simply don't believe could've happened in the timeframe it did. This type of development would be something a movie would be centred around. Though I should say, I think that even if they were able to develop this well, I wouldn't like it because I don't think this is a direction they should go in the first place. The mere idea of the plot point for some reason fills me with visceral disgust and feels kinda fan-fiction-y. It feels kinda trendy/tropey now to give a villain someone to dote over to soften them and give them moments for people to fawn over and go "So cute! UWU". I think quite a few people see one such relationship and think that the character is actually good or "morally grey" rather than evil. I don't really see people being more nuanced and recognize that someone can still be evil and not be cruel and malicious to everyone they interact with (and that being nice to one person doesn't make someone good). Not to say EVERYONE doesn't have a nuanced view. Could just be a loud minority for all I know. I just worry this might taint discourse about Eggman and his character to some degrees (and in turn, possibly taint future characterizations to appease the fanbase).

I'm not really a big fan of the name drops/references to other games. I don't want them to pretend they don't exist, I'm fine with them being cognizant of them, however these references feel more like fanservice/forcible connection rather than something natural. I don't really think fanservice of this nature belongs in Sonic games. Sonic movies? Sure, but those are loosely (very loosely) based on the games. A new game is a completely new instalment though. All references made to previous instalments should be natural. To clarify my views, let's think about a movie. This movie was pretty good and in fact gets a sequel. All references to the first movie this sequel should make should be natural. We should be seeing everything naturally progress from that movie, not have a moment like in Frozen 2 where Olaf dramatically retells the story of Frozen whilst we see some character get super invested in this story (not that this happened in Frontiers, I was giving a more exaggerated example to kinda show what I was saying, however, the references felt more like the writers slapping you saying "Do you remember this?! Aren't you happy we're bringing it up?!" rather than a natural continuation which is my issue).

My last issue is with Super Sonic (though this is a more minor issue). It seems (so far at least) you play as him for every boss fight. Now, I really like flying around, being invincible, and playing as Super Sonic. My main concern is that I wonder where the games go from here. Will this be a one off thing and we go back to the usual of it only being for the true final boss? Also, part of me worries that in so doing this, it makes Super Sonic less special.

Anyways, that's all of my thoughts so far. Haven't finished the game yet, so maybe my opinion might change on some things. This is just what I have for now. I should also say that this doesn't mean I dislike the game. Like I said in the beginning, I'm mostly enjoying it. I like the core story for the most part and enjoy running around the islands and completing cyber space levels (I also think the loading icon getting more sides as you progress (was a triangle when on first island, square when on 2nd island, and is now a pentagon when on the 3rd island) is really cute). I just had a few issues I wanted to get off my chest. If you actually somehow read all of this, I applaud you and hope you have a nice day!

#sonic froniters spoilers #sonic frontiers spoilers

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