Sonic Boom

[Phexar]

The game went gold in July?

Nah it refers to the game being done except for bug-fixing, apparently. Though they weren't too successful at that it seems. I didn't know either at first, but I then saw this exchange in the comments of this article:

http://www.tssznews.com/2014/11/16/r...b-boom-exodus/

can someone please explain to me what “gold in July/Summer” means?

It’s when a game or other piece of software is ‘feature-complete'; nothing new can be added, and the only development work that can be done is bug fixing.

Usually it also means what the game is sent to be printed on physical media.

In other words they mean that BRB started laying staff off around July since there was nothing left to do but bug-fixing at that stage.

[A Black Falcon]

Unless they're optional, the voices are as much a part of the game as anything else.

So I guess you care about voice acting in games a lot more than I do? Well, all I can do is disagree about how important it is, then. It's not that big of a deal.

I don't think children care about the history of games from the early 90s. Sonic the Hedgehog 4, with that title (20 years after Sonic 3), and the game being an attempt at a more modern version of the classic gameplay, featuring Sonic only, and re-releasing Sonic CD as a sort of prologue -- all of that was clearly not targeting children. The whole concept of Sonic Generations, revisiting settings from past Sonic games and featuring both "classic" and "modern" Sonic -- that was made to appeal to people who have been playing Sonic for years, it doesn't translate as well for kids.

Well, I imagine the idea with Generations was that because more older gamers own the Xbox 360 and PS3, versus the Wii, that a game that would appeal to the older fanbase too was a good idea. And it was. But I'm sure plenty of kids also played and liked the game, even if they had no idea who the classic-style Sonic really was. Sonic Generations' gameplay is modern Sonic, after all, nothing kids wouldn't like I don't think...

As for Sonic 4, the game failed both in gamers' opinion and in sales, I believe, so whatever they were thinking there, it didn't work out.

[j_factor]

So I guess you care about voice acting in games a lot more than I do? Well, all I can do is disagree about how important it is, then. It's not that big of a deal.

It's not "voice acting in games". That phrase calls to mind voiced cutscenes. Voices being used during gameplay aren't the same. And the issue isn't the quality of the voice acting, which is okay I guess. The issue is overuse of voices, badly timed voices, and bad writing. You really don't mind playing a game with constant chatter in it? Unless dialogue is directly relevant to gameplay (as in certain niche RPGs and adventure games), characters in-game should keep the chit-chat to a minimum IMO. And when the dialogue is crap, it's just that much worse.

Don't you ever enjoy a game's music? Take your favorite game soundtrack and imagine that when you're playing the game, the characters in it never shut the fuck up and you can barely make out the music because of it. That wouldn't lessen your enjoyment of the game?

Well, I imagine the idea with Generations was that because more older gamers own the Xbox 360 and PS3, versus the Wii, that a game that would appeal to the older fanbase too was a good idea. And it was. But I'm sure plenty of kids also played and liked the game, even if they had no idea who the classic-style Sonic really was. Sonic Generations' gameplay is modern Sonic, after all, nothing kids wouldn't like I don't think...

Sure, kids played it. The point isn't that kids are ever excluded, but that they're not specifically catered to.

As for Sonic 4, the game failed both in gamers' opinion and in sales, I believe, so whatever they were thinking there, it didn't work out.

Whether the game was any good or not (and I thought it was rubbish), and whether it sold well or not, have nothing to do with its intended audience.

[SperglordLava]

3D Blast created the homing attack.

Yeah but it was a shield rather than being used anytime and it didn't make enemies look retarded by making it look like Robotnik literally made a path for Sonic to cross with the homing attack. Plus, it was sort of useful for the game since the controls weren't the best.

[miru]

Yeah but it was a shield rather than being used anytime and it didn't make enemies look retarded by making it look like Robotnik literally made a path for Sonic to cross with the homing attack. Plus, it was sort of useful for the game since the controls weren't the best.

Yeah, I prefer the Homing Attack as an equippable technique for Sonic as opposed to a default ability or power up.

[Pulstar]

SperglordLava mate, your signature is too large, especially for mobile browsers.

[SperglordLava]

SperglordLava mate, your signature is too large, especially for mobile browsers.

It's not too much larger than j_factor's.

[A Black Falcon]

It's not "voice acting in games". That phrase calls to mind voiced cutscenes. Voices being used during gameplay aren't the same. And the issue isn't the quality of the voice acting, which is okay I guess. The issue is overuse of voices, badly timed voices, and bad writing. You really don't mind playing a game with constant chatter in it? Unless dialogue is directly relevant to gameplay (as in certain niche RPGs and adventure games), characters in-game should keep the chit-chat to a minimum IMO. And when the dialogue is crap, it's just that much worse.

Eh, cutscenes or ingame, voices are voices. They're not gameplay or graphics or music or something, I just don't consider them to be as important... I mean, voice acting quality does matter, but Sonic Boom's is decent enough. Yeah, they play the voice samples too often, and maybe that could get annoying, but when actually playing a game you can ignore that kind of thing I think... I mentioned Shining Force Neo for a reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npc3ahehhio It's a good game anyway. When actually playing the game, I barely notice how much the voices repeat...

Don't you ever enjoy a game's music? Take your favorite game soundtrack and imagine that when you're playing the game, the characters in it never shut the fuck up and you can barely make out the music because of it. That wouldn't lessen your enjoyment of the game?

Maybe somewhat, but I clearly don't mind it nearly as much as you.

Sure, kids played it. The point isn't that kids are ever excluded, but that they're not specifically catered to.

No, I think that Sonic as a franchise always at least partially specifically caters to children.

Whether the game was any good or not (and I thought it was rubbish), and whether it sold well or not, have nothing to do with its intended audience.

My point was, whoever the intended audience was, they didn't want the game. They were probably trying to reach both classic fans and kids, as many Sonic games do, and failed in both respects.

[Gogogadget]

23 year-old manchildren with asperger's syndrome.....Sonic Genergaytions

casual homophobia and ableism in the same post? yikes.

[Kogen]

So I got the game on 3DS and played it for around 10 minutes. It seems entirely fine. It is not amazing or anything, but easily '7/10 decent platformer'.

Game reviewers are honestly disgusting, drama-filled freaks. This is just some platformer kid's game about a cartoon that is alright.

Edit: tried the Wii U game. It is basically a generic 3D platformer with slightly rough edges. It is no where near as bad as Sonic 06 and it is better than all the 3D Sonic platformers except Sonic Adventure and Generations. Sonic fans and game reviewers are once again full of shit.

The character animations and cutscenes are top notch I should point out. In one level the game had more characterisation and liveliness than over a decade of Sonic Team games. If you like old Sonic cartoons or Sonic Adventure, you will love the cutscenes bare minimum. At least watch a Let's Play without an idiot talking over it.

Overall a decent cartoon tie-in, but nothing someone who wants a game would be interested in. Just people into the cartoons will want it.

[SperglordLava]

casual homophobia and ableism in the same post? yikes.

>Homphobia.
>Implying words can only mean one thing.

[A Black Falcon]

>Homphobia.
>Implying words can only mean one thing.

That word, used that way, only means one thing.

[j_factor]

Eh, cutscenes or ingame, voices are voices. They're not gameplay or graphics or music or something, I just don't consider them to be as important... I mean, voice acting quality does matter, but Sonic Boom's is decent enough. Yeah, they play the voice samples too often, and maybe that could get annoying, but when actually playing a game you can ignore that kind of thing I think... I mentioned Shining Force Neo for a reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npc3ahehhio It's a good game anyway. When actually playing the game, I barely notice how much the voices repeat...

Heh, I never played Shining Force Neo. I didn't like how they used the Shining Force name for an action-RPG. Well, plus I heard it wasn't very good anyway.

Watching that clip, that's not at all the same thing as what I'm talking about with Sonic Boom. That's just using voice clips as sound effects, which does get repetitive and can be a bit annoying, but it's not dialogue. I don't think you watched the Sonic Boom video. Or actually read what I wrote in my post where I detailed the substantive issues I had with it.

Maybe somewhat, but I clearly don't mind it nearly as much as you.

I'm sorry, but I really doubt your sincerity. You come across as being contrarian for the sake of it.

No, I think that Sonic as a franchise always at least partially specifically caters to children.

I have no idea what "partially specifically" is supposed to mean, but I don't think the Sonic franchise generally is catering to young children moreso than other age groups. Sega specifically sought out Bioware to develop Sonic Chronicles due to their past successes and because having Bioware attached would garner media attention. They certainly weren't banking on 6 year old kids being Baldur's Gate fans.

And again, with platformers, it's normal for them not to have "mature" content, as in violence or sexual themes or whatever. That doesn't mean the whole genre is for kids. Big series like Sonic, Rayman, and Ratchet & Clank are aimed at a mixed audience of kids and adults. Less successful games like Blinx and Death Jr. have a similar mixed audience, just smaller. You have this bulk in the middle, with games that are clearly more for kids to one side of it, and games that are clearly more for adults to the other.

My point was, whoever the intended audience was, they didn't want the game. They were probably trying to reach both classic fans and kids, as many Sonic games do, and failed in both respects.

That has nothing to do with what I said, though, which is that the game was aimed more at an older audience. Whether the game was good or bad is completely irrelevant.

[A Black Falcon]

Heh, I never played Shining Force Neo. I didn't like how they used the Shining Force name for an action-RPG. Well, plus I heard it wasn't very good anyway.

I think it's quite fun, anyway. You ever heard of Record of Lodoss War for the Dreamcast? Shining Force Neo is from the same developer as that game and has very similar gameplay. There's also a third one, Shining Force Exa for PS2. They're somewhat Diablo-inspired action-RPGs. Fun stuff. Sure, it's not a strategy game, but it's better than most of the other modern Shining games, for sure.

Watching that clip, that's not at all the same thing as what I'm talking about with Sonic Boom. That's just using voice clips as sound effects, which does get repetitive and can be a bit annoying, but it's not dialogue. I don't think you watched the Sonic Boom video. Or actually read what I wrote in my post where I detailed the substantive issues I had with it.

You were talking about how you didn't like the voices and stuff, and I said that I don't quite understand why it bothers you so much because that doesn't bother me like that. And that when actually playing a game, repeat voice samples are less noticeable than in a video... you know, with how Sonic Boom has that "got a ring" thing all the time, and such. You said how you dislike "Your character chiming in each individual time when you have to do an identical task multiple times" in Sonic Boom. That's pretty much the same thing as Shining Force Neo repeating those poorly-voice-acted attack lines over and over, I think. The context of why it's playing the sound effect isn't important...

I'm sorry, but I really doubt your sincerity. You come across as being contrarian for the sake of it.

I don't say things which I don't mean. I just don't quite get why you'd care so much about something relatively unimportant like voice acting... this is why I said that I think we just disagree quite a bit about how important that element of games is. Sure, Sonic Boom shouldn't have "yay, more rings" when you already have 100, or "yay, more rings" when you get robot parts (???), but eh, whatever, it's not important. And as for "I bet I can break this wall", it's a tutorial, they wanted to be sure people get it. As I said, I would hope that the game doesn't keep doing that after the tutorial. I wouldn't judge a game just by its tutorial.

I have no idea what "partially specifically" is supposed to mean,

That the target audience for all Sonic games is always intended to at least in part be children. I think you're confusing all-ages titles with "adults-only" titles. The two are not the same. Actually, I can't offhand think of ANY adult audience-only 3d platformers... there are some 2d platformers like that, most notably the super-hard ones like Super Meat Boy, I Want to Be the Guy, etc, but 3d ones? All the 3d platformers I can think of are either for children, or are for all ages.

but I don't think the Sonic franchise generally is catering to young children moreso than other age groups.

Back on the Genesis Sega aimed at children slightly older than the ones Nintendo was targeting at the time. I don't think Sonic's target audience age has changed much since, really. Once again, you're confusing the all-ages Sonic titles for adults-only titles, which they aren't.

Sega specifically sought out Bioware to develop Sonic Chronicles due to their past successes and because having Bioware attached would garner media attention. They certainly weren't banking on 6 year old kids being Baldur's Gate fans.

Of course, but I imagine they would hope some older kids would get the game because it's a Sonic game.

And again, with platformers, it's normal for them not to have "mature" content, as in violence or sexual themes or whatever. That doesn't mean the whole genre is for kids. Big series like Sonic, Rayman, and Ratchet & Clank are aimed at a mixed audience of kids and adults. Less successful games like Blinx and Death Jr. have a similar mixed audience, just smaller. You have this bulk in the middle, with games that are clearly more for kids to one side of it, and games that are clearly more for adults to the other.

Here you are correct. And as I said above, I can't think of any 3d platformers for an adult-only audience, really... they're all either for kids, or for everyone. What would be "more for adults than kids"? Ratchet & Clank? But that's almost a third-person shooter, it's barely even a platformer franchise...

That has nothing to do with what I said, though, which is that the game was aimed more at an older audience. Whether the game was good or bad is completely irrelevant.

I said that I think they were aiming at all ages, so it's directly related to what you said.

[Gogogadget]

>Homphobia.
>Implying words can only mean one thing.

Usual defence for people that use homophobic and racist slurs.

"but but but when i said the n-word i didnt mean it like that!" carry on.