#setting and gameplay get a 0/10 DNSMV

[fauxridium]

My bf and i finished sonic frontiers today and i've been having thoughts about it

So firstly I already knew the story and all that since it came out, my bf is a sonic newbie and we're going thru and playing a bunch of games rn and i am acting as his guide lmao (I'm a sonic autist and have been for the past 20 years), the only thing i didnt know going in was the alternate dlc ending, aside from super sonic 2 and cyber sonic, and like. So my thoughts on the story is that the main story is good, tho feels a little empty? I feel like they leaned a little Too far into the serious direction and could have used a bit more silliness, because one of the things about sonic stories that make them Good is the balance between telling a serious story while still maintaining the inharent silliness of sonic, without leaning too far in either direction and undermining the importance of both of those elements, i feel frontiers tried to overcorrect a bit when it comes to tone in response to forces and the absolute nightmare that was in terms of tone, thankfully frontiers is not as egregious as that and it still has some silly moments, but it still feels lacking and incomplete as a sonic story

that said I am So glad they decided to go back and add the alternate ending, and tbh its the canon ending in my mind, because the original ending was so just. Lackluster and anticlimactic, and i remember when it came out it made me like frontiers as a whole a lot less, because the climax of a sonic game should be grandiose, and the original ending was just. Not. However the alternate ending Absolutely is and did actually make me like the overall game more, super sonic 2 was hitting those hard ass poses like crazy I was losing my mind a bit, and i really really like the concept of cyber sonic, i just wish there was More of him like. Master king kinda talks it up to be this whole dangerous power, saying its not meant for sonic's body, that hes made sonic into his greatest weapon, and when we finally do see sonic go all out and go from 2 to cyber, its hype as fuck and he looks cool as hell, the sharp teeth and the crazy rings in his eyes, the way he darts around like he's frenzied and bouncing off walls that arent even there, like that's Cool, but we only see him for like. What? 5 seconds? And then once he crashes thru the end he powers down to 2 again and like, i get that they probably didnt want to make the alternate end Too long, but i feel like there was a lot of potential there for like. Idk a corrupted sonic that cant handle his own power and his friends + sage and eggman have to save him from it, maybe they could have even leaned into a bit of a fleetway super sonic angle with it, idk i just feel like theres a lot they could have done with cyber sonic that would have elevated the alt end a lot more and I'm disappointed that they didn't take the opportunity to do something more with it, but regardless of that it is still Much better than the original ending

I know a big point of contention for people with sonic media is characterisation, and tbh with frontiers i feel like they did a pretty good job with it? Sonic was appropriately witty tho maybe could have been a bit more Cocky, and i do like the conclusions everyone came to by the end of their stories (i will say, i absolutely Hhhate amy's modern characterisation and i could go on about how its doing her fundamental character a disservice more than its doing any good but that's a whole other post, but in frontiers she isn't Bad necessarily and i do like her conclusion of going off to share her love with the world, That i do feel is in character for her regardless of the otherwise mess they've made of modern amy), and i do really enjoy eggman and sage's father daughter dynamic, and like. I do Care about sage as a daughter figure to eggman but i found it difficult to care about Sage herself as a character, the game just didnt really do much to make you care for her organically and it felt more like. Ohh look shes sad guys you gotta care about her when shes sad come on, especially that whole flash back scene where its supposed to be all emotional but its all like. Flash backs to scenes that were not poignant in any way so it just fails spectacularly and kind of hilariously

From a gameplay and world buillding perspective tho I'm gonna be real. I kinda hate it FJSKG I'm sorry but i just do not think sonic works as an open world game, especially not in the way they did it with frontiers, everything feels out of place, with things thrown around that dont belong and are there without purpose, Sonic doesnt feel like he belongs because of how hyper realistic it is, i have yet to play sonadow generations and have been actively avoiding looking at stuff from it until my bf and i can play it, but i have heard that they do the open world Better in it so that does give me some hope, but in general i think sonic works best as a hub and spoke style game, i think unleashed is the best example of this however its done in 06 and sa1 as well, unleashed really perfected it and i think its what works best for sonic, to have a semi open world hub where you can kinda go around as you like where you like, but having areas you go to to progress the plot, rather than having the Main location of the game be an open world, i get that at the time everyone and their mother was creaming their pants still about botw, and sega wanted to capitalize on that, and honestly they wear that inspiration on their sleeve because so much of it is just painfully obvious that it was inspired by botw like. Portals = shrines, koco = koroks, seeds = spirit orbs, titans = divine beasts, even random mini bosses around the map, theres even sounds that almost sound like they came straight out of botw, and usually i am not one to say that a game copied botw just because its open world, but frontiers is really like. Hey can i copy your homework? Yeah but make sure its not obvious, which tbh was to its detriment more than anything else because again, the open world angle for sonic just does not work imo, especially not how it was done in frontiers

Uh anyways that's it