Sorry for being gone so long, but I hope you all enjoy the shift of this channel to focusing more on storytelling in the Sonic franchise! The next video will be here sooner than later, I can't wait to talk about Final Horizons 😩🔥
Frontiers' story felt like such a healing experience as a Sonic fan after 4 games of Pontac and Graff writing, the dialogue was good enough to the point where I wanted to collect all those memory tokens and unlock those optional conversations. Story may not have been perfect, especially towards the end, but it was so cathartic to play through, especially on Chaos Island witnessing Tails' growth. Glad to have you back on RU-vid btw, the topics you bring to the table are very interesting!
I felt the exact same way, you know things were bad when the writing in Forces felt like a step in the right direction after Colors/Lost World 💀 I usually do the bear minimum to beat games so I can experience the story beats (hence the change in channel direction), so it says a lot that Frontiers got us both to want to complete the game. Thanks a lot man, I appreciate you sticking around through the break! I always enjoy reading your comments 😊
@@PowPowSmash Gonna be honest, before xenoblade future redeemed, I honestly found frontiers' storytelling and lore and worldbuilding more satisfying to me than xenoblade 3 and found the frontiers soundtrack superior as well. Xenoblade 3 just rushed to the end too fast with bad pacing for the last chapters without explaining enough of the series lore and world building for aionios, and even after future redeemed, even it still doesn't explain everything. And regarding soundtrack xenoblade 3 only has good battle themes and vocal themes mainly, it lacks in the areas and cutscenes way too much compared to the high standard of xenoblade 2's ost(and no, I know future redeemed's ost is good but I do not count it when comparing ost to frontiers because future redeemed wasn't out yet and it might as well be a separate game and ost, to whoever tries to correct me). Honestly even with frontiers' flaws, I find it not only better than xenoblade 3 but I find it on the level of my fav switch game xenoblade 2, its level of greatness. Lets not forget the fact all frontiers' dlc is free. Sonic frontiers was my game of the year for 2022, no matter what the rigged game awards and all the silly haters say, and especially those genshin fans that got offended over singing undefeatable on twitter/x thinking sonic fans were being sore sports or dogpiling on them, that was cringe genshin fans. Both xenoblade 2 and sonic frontiers are flawed but good games, the flaws do not make them bad games, they are amazing games, and whoever keeps spinning that narrative that they are bad, for example videogamedunkey, is a fool.
I think you could say that for most games though! I think Sega did a good job of setting Ian up for success with Frontiers plot premise and he was able to build that into something great
IDW and Frontiers have been the best Sonic since 2009 and I'd argue some of the best Sonic we've ever gotten period. Ian Flynn, you better be here to stay! When it comes to grandiose narratives I'd say 06 would have been a better example than SA2 100%. Great video, keep it up!!
Agreed, it makes me so happy to have writing on par with or even better than Unleashed and the storybook games again! That's a good point, they literally fight a god in 06 lol. 06 is the only console 3D Sonic game I haven't beaten yet, so I plan on changing that later this year. Thank you, I'm glad that you enjoyed it!
@@PowPowSmash Give 06 a solid try, it's nowhere near as bad as people say, it actually slaps. It's my favorite Sonic game aside from Unleashed! (And no nostalgia btw, played the entire franchise for the first time these last 2 years, this is a nostalgia free take)
@@KOTSOSMC2002 I'm honestly very excited to experience the story in 06. I know the game has its ups and downs but there's some really good stuff in there from what I've seen!
The story was much more interesting than other recent games. Will say it could be better, however the dialog was excellent. All they need to do now is improve the rendering of the cutscenes to make it look better.
Agreed on all parts, I'm looking forward to seeing what the next 3D Sonic game will be like now that Sonic Team is getting proper support and funding after the success of Frontiers!
Frontiers story was the Main reason I kept playing, and the fact the DLC kept updating the game to improve it with each instalment, I can say that this is one game near the VERY top of my list. Also welcome back, king. 👑
Frontiers was already my favorite Sonic game so seeing it continue to get refined and added onto has made me really happy. The writing from Ian Flynn was just is refreshing too Thanks a lot Neon 😁❤️
Welcome back dude! Love to see you’re still making content. I just wanna say I’m appreciating the structure of this video. You cover a lot of your thoughts in just 8 minutes. It’s a lot more concise than most content on this channel. Keep up the good work, dude!
Thanks Chris! I missed making videos the whole time I wasn't make them, so I just needed to find a way to do it in a healthier way. I'm glad that you enjoyed the new video format, I realized I just had too much to say without having a proper/consistent focus so I decided that homing in on storytelling in the Sonic franchise would help me do that. It also helps me still be able to get videos out even if they're shorter 😁
Holy cow it's been nearly a full year since you last uploaded & the biggest content update for Frontiers drops, literally next week. I guess part 2 to this video is in the bag.😃
Yup I didn't mean to stop uploading for so long but the break was much needed and it gave me time to create a clear picture of what I want the channel to be going forward! As soon as I saw the Final Horizons update I knew I had to get his video done ASAP so I could get ready for part 2 like you said 😎
Oh goodness, you don't need to explain yourself lol. Breaks are important & nobody can judge you for burnout & tiredness, cause we all experience it. I was just poking fun at how long it's been watching a new vid from you is all, though you shouldn't ever feel bad or lesser for taking time off, 'cause you come 1st. Totally psyched btw for that new update & especially given what these teasers have been implying, we're about to see the true ending to Frontiers & that means LORE DROP BABY!!🤤🤓
@@SussyBaka_irl it's all good, I wanted to talk about it! Breaks are healthy and I really needed one after pushing myself for years making content lol. I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEW LORE ON SEPTEMBER 28TH
I guess I can commend them for trying to take things seriously again, but it still feels like the same problem of the Meta Era still lingers of no real stakes given how quickly and easily things are resolved, making the resolutions feel unearned. Sonic's cyber corruption being a key example of this, so much to the point you can practically hear the lines "actually it's going to be super easy, barely an inconvenience" when his friends all join hands around him. I really don't get why they couldn't have let us see them struggle as they fought to save his soul from Cyberspace, because even 06 did that! And of course whatever weight Sage's "sacrifice" might have had is really undermined when neither Sonic nor his friends really seems to care or notice about her absence after The End's defeat. No time for any quiet reflection or giving thanks to her when there's high fives and hugs to be given out. Plus the fact that she's brought back barely five minutes later only further undermines it. Does Frontiers have a better than Forces, yes. Is that much of an achievement, I'll leave that for you to decide. Also why bring up the shadow self for Tails if we don't see him going up against it. Surely that'd make his growth feel more earned instead of it being one pep talk from Sonic later and he's suddenly fine. Because I really doubt the Shadow Self would be, "well butter my biscuits! I guess thats me licked." As he'd look at leaving the kid alone.
Those are all really great points, I also had a problem with how quickly the cyber corruption was resolved and Sonic/friends not caring about Sage being gone (It should have been in the same vein of Chip's goodbye in Unleashed). Def a couple of great examples of the game being rushed at the end along with The End fight being lackluster. Hopefully with the success of Frontiers Sonic Team will have more time to develop the next game
All of Ian's references are nice n' all, but they leave us with a lot of implications that now need clarification: -Okay, Riders is main-canon now. When does that take place then? -Okay, Tangle is game-canon now. When do the COMICS take place then? -Okay, STICKS is game-canon now?? When and HOW does BOOM take place? Ian can't just drop these references and expect us to just accept them without asking more questions.
That's a very good point, I've never been one to get bogged down by game timeline stuff but I agree that it's a bit careless to consider Boom canon all of a sudden when the character designs/world are so different.
Sticks was never referenced in the Japanese dub. Perhaps the Japanese team thought the line didn't make sense, and rightly scrapped it. Though I do think that a lot of the changes made in the Japanese script were for the better, namely not turning Amy into Mr. Burns high on painkillers, with her being all "I bring you love!" Where ever she goes. Knuckles not suddenly being jealous of Sonic's lifestyle, but is instead looking at trying to find out more about his tribe. And The End being a true force of nature, that comes across as something neither good nor evil, thanks in large to not being a big blow hard who's all "something, something face your End. Something, something The End comes for you all." While throwing a tantrum about losing.
The story is deep and really well done. There is aspects I still wish they would fix more like this game really went more the serious route and at times just fealt like it needed to be dialed down just a tad bit and let more humor through because Sonic no matter what is a humorous guy even when things get rough. I think Unleashed is a good example of the series balancing humor and seriousness in its storytelling, it had a lot of heartfelt moments and an equal amount of silly moments Frontiers is definitely a big step in the right direction for the franchise and I hope to see Sonic return to more amazing storytelling, so excited for Update 3 Also the plot bears a striking resemblance to an anime I have been watching lately called Evangelion but idk lol
Yeah Unleashed and the Storybook games are still my pinnacle for Sonic storytelling, but I think Frontiers is right up there too with how great Ian's writing is. Sonic Team made it clear they were going for a more melancholy tone with Frontiers and it nails that whole still letting humor come through. Just a different tone than we're used to for the franchise and I think that's okay 🙂
I love this video, rather than going as far to say that Sonic is 'boring', it appreciates how he has grown to be more mature and how his friends are actually learning from past mistakes. Like REAL people, you've done a very good job going over the story and addressing other things in it too. You get my sub, friend!
I'm glad that you enjoyed the video Streakz and thank you for the sub! I understand where some people are coming from where they miss Sonic's edge in this game, but you still get scenes where he says "Careful? Where's the fun in that?" so I think it balances out while still showing Sonic's maturity.
Can you imagine how Shadow would be handled? He can finally reveal how insecure and vulnerable he actually is. Underneath that edgelord shell is rage, grief, fear, shame, and regret. With the correct writing, Kirk Thornton can make Shadow sound jaded and weary. Burdened by responsible, burdened by guilt of the past and fear of the future.
The difficulty is trying to get him back to 06 where he's been mature, over rivalries and other things which is him peaked, that new second reality Solaris made doesnt change his growth and who he is by the true end of his game which leads to start of 06.
Ok ok this was an amazing video and all but i think we can all agree the best part of sonic frontiers was the light skin stares and *big the instant win gimmick 💀* also what we really need to see is a bonf between sage and metal sonic i wonder if metal sonic cares for her since they are technically siblings i really want to see a good family bond between them
It was driving me crazy watching trailers with beautiful CGI as I edited this video 😭 The only reason I can see why they would leave them out of the game would be due to the day/night cycle that Frontiers has. Still feels like a missed opportunity to not at least have a beautiful CGI opening like Unleashed or Lost World though
It may not be Sonic from Black Knight because I consider that him peak but this is acceptable, it's not only written by someone who knows the universe & characters but is just a really good writter. Will wait and see how he will answer the things he included in Fronteirs' script like Tangle because this is his first ever official game script.
Agreed that Black Knight is still peak Sonic game writing, but Flynn does a great job getting close to it in Frontiers. Excited to see where we go from here!
@@PowPowSmash I have faith he'll figure out how to replicate that especially topping the famous speech about mortality, it's all on him, SEGA and the next mainline game if he can.
Yeah that's definitely my most disliked part of the story LOL. I'm hoping they play around with the cyber corruption more in Final Horizons instead of just waving it away with the power of friendship again
@@PowPowSmash oh yeah btw I was playing sonic generations and when I got the hydro city music it said Hydro city so I feel like it’s written differently everywhere but me personally I think Hydro city makes more sense
@@TheMimic_Brosalso in team sonic racing, the color palette you can get for your car is based on Hydro City and puts a space in between the two. I’m sure they put it in one word in Sonic 3 cus it looked cool lol
I'm not sure about that since the Chaos Emeralds were used by the Ancients in their original civilization and thrived without issue until they were forced to leave. We've seen them used for good (Sonic/Ancients) and bad (Eggman giving them to enraged Chaos) so it may just depend on the wielder. Hopefully they're talked about more in Final Horizons!
PowPow On blackest night you let the light of the moon guide you to the very thing you love you doing never give up don’t let anyone get in the way Have a nice day. Stay safe and enjoy life
You make a good point that they do talk about the past titles in generations but it's more in a general sense of playing through stages from those past games and seeing the characters/bosses. Frontiers incorporates what happens in those past games into dialogue and plot points which I think is more significant. Generations is great but it's moreso a collection of hit levels that's light on storytelling
only because the last few games were doodoo balls, if they were SA2 levels of storytelling or Black knight levels, frontiers wouldn't be anything special then just be the "hey! Remember this happened in a past game!" Game with every interaction. But thats just how i see it, wasn't fond of Ian Flynn's writing tbh but its definitely much better than the dudes from the meta era. Then again someone with actual common sense in story telling would be a million times better than those two guys from the meta era. Cant remember their names
I praised the storytelling not the story plot (which I did say wasn't anything crazy towards the end of the video). I can praise how the characters are written and how they interact while thinking the overarching storyline isn't anything crazy. It's a very positive step forward for the franchise 🙂
Frontiers' story felt like such a healing experience as a Sonic fan after 4 games of Pontac and Graff writing, the dialogue was good enough to the point where I wanted to collect all those memory tokens and unlock those optional conversations. Story may not have been perfect, especially towards the end, but it was so cathartic to play through, especially on Chaos Island witnessing Tails' growth. Glad to have you back on RU-vid btw, the topics you bring to the table are very interesting!
