I've said it on other videos on Frontiers, and I'll say it here too; Sega CAN NOT go back to leaving Super Sonic as just an unlockable or restricting it to the final 'hit me 3 times' boss. Or at least if it's restricted to the final boss, they gotta go ALL IN with their inspiration; go full on Dragonball with it. Even if its just from spectacle alone. Frontiers gave us a taste of what a fully controllable Super Sonic feels like, so going back to how it was in previous games would just feel...bad.
Except, Sonic was copied wholesale from felix the cat movie (1988) and Silver Surfer comic (1991), and a lot of that origin is increasingly dialed down for no other reason but to pander to people who want it to be 100% a knockoff Dragon Ball, so Sega can dodge Bandai's copyright and have their own at home. When they're clearly not even very good at it, sparking constant complaints for not quite meeting the standard the fans have based on that OTHER content they already HAVE available, now they just want blue mouse Goku instead. Colors and Lost World, which reused concepts from canceled X-treme, were a clear return to that wellspring like Little Planet's relation to space travel, worm hole, 2001 space Odyssey inspired roots. But every time they even slighlty hint at common imagery with DBZ, like Wolverine shares the imagery of Batman wearing undies on top of his onesie, the fans go nuts and call that the truest Sonic. And completely shart all over the franchise being anything ELSE as well, or grow into any other direction. It doesn't even cross people's minds, to seek for Chaos Emerald lore in the FACT they were found at the ends of special zone tunnels that were accessible through Rings, like we have to pretend games can't have that kind of esoteric content 5 years after Back to the Future and Final Fantasy 1. Colors HAD endless possibilities. The destruction of the Ancients just looks like Sonic team finally giving in, and giving those spacey origins a burial in fire. Like "okay then, we will replace the bonus stage content with literally nostalgia bait." And the main game will just be "some islands", quick and easy to understand so surely nobody will get a spark of imagination. Just complaining that "I hope they improve on it for the next game".
I think what I want people to realise is no media has to be anything other than ‘good’ and ‘respectful’ to its fans. Sonic can literally be anything; he can be a werewolf, he can be a knight; it just has to be programmed well. I’m glad Sonic Frontiers proves that Sonic CAN do ambitious things and make them stick.
This game made me feel like I was reliving the Adventure Era and the Dark Age in the 2000s. Can't wait to see what Sonic Team does with the Blue Blur in the near future.
Nishiyama, director/writer of Advance & Rush, was from Sonic Team. Shiro Maekawa confirmed that Nishiyama also made Blaze. and yes, I stand by my blasphemous statement. I really like Sage. She cute
Sonic is for adults too. I've been in love with anything Sonic related since I was 9 ( now I'm 26), so I don't think Sonic was only targeting kids/teens. People need to stop putting age restrictions on everything.
I mean, I'm 24 years old with a master's degree gushing about the series for over an hour. I think that fact alone means I don't need to explain if I think adults can play Sonic😂
NovaZone Loved sonic since I first saw him in Sonic X when I was around 5-6 years old. I'm 19 now and I still love the guy. I didn't think I'd still be interested in the story of the world the little cocky blue hedgehog is from, but here we are. Good characters and good storylines aren't limited to the concept of age, I think (if that makes sense). point is I wholly agree and I will forever love this little blue blur
34 over here, been into Sonic since the start. Companies need to stop being afraid of letting their characters grow and mature. Sure they can make more simpler games for when they want to introduce the younger audience, but they shouldn't ignore those who have been there since the beginning and grew up with the series. If anything, the adults are even more likely to get their kids into the series they've loved since they were kids themselves. With cartoons, comics, games (old and new), the only thing holding back SEGA with Sonic's progression is SEGA themselves.
Sonic and many platformers are rated E for everyone ....which means it sorta just targets kids and teens but like Everyone means...everyone Just cause something is targeted for kids doesn't mean adults can't like it (I mean it's been like this for decades so I'm confused why people get offended when this is stated)
I'm a very new fan so Frontiers was the first Sonic game I've played, and god I'm SO glad it was. All the references got me more interested in wanting to play the older games than I already was, and I always got super excited understanding references despite not having played any of the games they're from. Also considering the games I've played most before this are the 2 wii Zelda games, it felt like an incredible transition to Sonic games from those, with the open world style & only some traditional sonic-like stages sprinkled in. It was also so cool seeing the different quests and random elements that reminded me of the Zelda games I know and love
Hope you can enjoy some more entries in the series! By now you probably know that the series is super varied, so be ready to come out with drastically different opinions on a few of them. However, given the shifting discussion lately I think it's worthwhile to try out at least all of the Sonic Team games. Even ones that I personally despise have some fans these days. Throw NiGHTS in there too. Super cheap on Steam.
In my opinion the best part of the game is sonic's deeper voice and everyone acting like they have all matured alot. It feels like they grew up alongside the audience due to most sonic fans having grown up with the guy but sonic never changed. So him sounding and acting grown up now feels fitting and makes me feel warm and fuzzy
I’m glad I wasn’t the only person who liked guessing what level design they pulled for this game Seeing Metal Harbor and Sky Rail’s level design again was fun to see in 2022
Been a fan growing up but stopped around the Wii era. This got me back into it. A friend asked me how it was and I told him " I can now say Remember when Sonic threw a dragon into a mountain while punk rock was blasting?!"
Interesting tidbit a lot of people overlook: the Japanese manual for Sonic 3 explains that there were seven Chaos Emeralds at the Master Emerald shrine on Angel Island BEFORE Sonic arrived. The Death Egg crashing into the island caused those seven emeralds to vanish, which in turn is why Knuckles punches Super Sonic and takes his set - he thought Sonic stole the ones from the shrine. This also technically accounts for the Super Emeralds possibly being the original Angel Island set. Which also suggests that the seven Sonic finds originally are Earth's set or something else entirely, which is the set used by the Gaias.
Wait but I thought that the super emeralds were just super forms of the chaos emeralds? Does this mean eggmans death egg destroyed the power of the supers but then the ones used by the ancients and now sonic replaced that energy and then some? I don't wanna sound like a geek coming up with way over the head theories but you make it sound like the super emerald power is Still out there somewhere which now that I think about it MIGHT be somewhat possible seeing as lizuka said the super emeralds are locked in another dimension somewhere unaccesiable
@@chocolatesensei5648 Hard to say. The manual implies that there was a separate Angel Island set, at the very least. Perhaps Sonic's set was the key to opening the dimensional gates.
@@Terralventhethe sonic cd manual also says amy’s name is sally acorn, manuals don’t have the last say when it comes to continuity, they’re supplementary material at best
Hey everyone, didn't put in the usual personal comment like usual because I was running on no sleep when I uploaded. Final few minutes were revised a lot during the last few days because of the DLC announcement and Kishimoto's statements. Super excited that I was finally able to make a big video about possibly my favorite series. I got pretty personal in this one, had some big idea theories about the story near the end, and I feel pretty happy with how this one came out. Next time I go to Sonic will likely be a spin off. I kinda want to try out Sonic games I've never played which is mainly Riders, Battle, and some other underrated ones. Covering mainline games is not in the near future. EDIT: Artwork in the thumbnail is from Sonic Channel. My friend altered the lighting to pop more on a small screen but it is official SEGA art. Link to Sonic Channel in description. PATREON: I put a link in at the end about it. I made a full post ON that Patreon page for what to expect. There is a Discord server involved with it, it's still under rehab. More info in my next video.
Just wanna clarify because a few people were confused: I was saying Sonic as a franchise (including games, toys, comics, movies, Neflix shows) is primarily aimed for kids and other age groups are the 2nd market. Frontiers is definitely aiming slightly older. I'm just 24 years old and spent nearly an hour and a half gushing about Sonic so talking about if adults can enjoy Sonic never really crossed my mind. I do see how my statement in the video is confusing though.
This is the first review of Frontiers I have really fully agreed with! I really appreciate what you said about cyberspace and the dash cancel and the fun jank especially, and I hope more people feel the same.
We have to make Sonic Frontiers game of the year. It wasn't even nominated for BEST SOUNDTRACK. Have they even heard "Undefeatable" or "Break Through It All" or "Find Your Flame?" I mean come on, cyberspace slaps and the mellow and mysterious beats of the open zone are amazing! It's criminal that it wasn't nominated for best soundtrack. So let's get it to player's voice awards number 1. We can do it! #sonicsweep
To be fair, electronic/DnB/house music in Sonic games are usually way better than rock scores (except in SA1 and to some extent SA2, of which both had clean sounds implementing Sonic-style melodies with some smooth lounge tracks). Rock is OK but that's not the core sound of Sonic. Hearing Tropical Resort (Act 4 Theme) in Sonic Colors, Stardust Speedway (US / Present) in Sonic CD, or the Chao Garden in SA1/SA2 sounds much more true to form... Sonic music tends to be distinct enough that it could easily be its own genre entirely. Most of the rock music in the last 10 years could be any punk rock band from 2007, and doesn't stand out that much to me. Just my 2¢.
@@erikskywalker5331 Most people would Strongly disagree depending on what you mean exactly. If you’re talking about the classic era then hard agree, rock is unfitting for that era. However rock has been a staple in modern sonic for a long time now. Ohtani himself has stated that there are so many styles of music that sonic has taken advantage of. Rock not only being one of them but a theme that accompanies basically most of the main themes of the games except lost world and generations which mind you, they they don’t even have a main theme. Sonic adventure series having the most iconic sonic themes (themes that remind you of sonic himself) have millions of views even after youtube became a thing should give you the idea of music people have when sonic comes to mind. The irony is that frontiers has been recognizing sonic and its past to how it used to be and they bring rock back again. Something I don’t think is coincidental. However these are just a list of facts that lead to my opinion.
The game awards are like the Oscars: a pretentious circlejerk that rarely reflects what the consumers want or like and instead what the people with money think fits their "high brow, refined tastes."
I like that even though frontiers is from far the hedgehog’s best work, it has had such a positive reception in the community. It’s made people hopeful for the future of sonic, brought in a ton of new fans and Also rejuvenated the spark for older fans who’ve been burned out. It’s quite beautiful what the game has accomplished. The future for sonic has never so bright as it does right now. Hopefully SEGA doesn’t screw it up. They’ve good such a good thing going with the two movies, frontiers and hopefully sonic prime as well.
I’m praying that they continue to let Ian continue with the plot of the games, he actually build the characters personality and stories while also having a danger looming over head. This is the first sonic game in such a long time where the characters aren’t jus blank slates that fall into smaller roles. I absolutely love what direction they turned this game compared to what we’ve seen in 15 years or so. Can we start a movement to keep Ian director of the games plot? Bc like the man alr tied in almost all the sonic games loose ends/plots and even given the lackluster characters of those games bigger roles. He simultaneously expands the Sonic’s universe while always keeping them interconnected as well.
I'm praying they WON'T. That fraud can't write for his life, and the disaster that is IDW proves it. This game's plot is NON-EXISTENT. Just "MEMBER THE OLD GAMES" and a bunch of idle talk about character arcs that were explored 20+ years ago. Sorry, but telling me that Amy and Tails need to grow out of Sonic's shadow won't cut it, because they already did it before. And no, hearing "I'm wildly inconsistent" just to use Tails as a mouthpiece to cry over Forces....while acknowledging the atrocity called Lost World is not gonna cut it. The characters ARE still blank slates, they're just more tolerable than they've ever been since Colors. But they're not that good (aside from Knuckles). What the hell even is the direction of this game ? Hell, Eggman was sidelined to do nothing but complaining for the whole game, and no, Sage sucks. And NO, spouting "MEMBER BABYLON GARDEN" "MEMBER ZAVOK" "MEMBER YACKER" "MEMBER THE ECLIPSE CANNON" "MEMBER DARK GAIA" is NOT "keeping games interconnected" and NO, making the Chaos Emeralds into an alien engine is bs.
I just wanted to point this out since it's a pretty overlooked feature in cyber space, but you can slide to effectively turn better since turning while boosting isn't as sharp as it is in the overworld. Frontiers is a fun time, most amount fun I had 3D Sonic since SA1, that DLC Roadmap looks sick.
You have the exact same thoughts about the game as me. However, I think that this Sonic game is more geared towards teens and older than whatever age group Sonic Forces was trying to appeal towards. The deaths in this game kinda hint at this, especially in open zone areas. When Sonic dies by drowning, falling to the abyss, falling into lava, etc., it is heavily implied that he explicitly died. When Sonic drowns, he gasps for air before going limp and floating to the surface lifeless. When Sonic falls into lava, he screams, which made me fearful of the lava on Chaos Island. Minus the first Titan, which looked like it crushes Sonic with its teeth and the Knight crushing or cutting Sonic underneath its blade, Sonic passes out and falls to his death.
Funny comment about the pop-in, there are a couple of platforms on the islands that have a glitch-in and glitch-out animation and everything when you get within a certain radius of them. Why they didn't use this for all the platforms to aesthetically justify the pop-in issue I will never know.
look i am a person that doesn't cry easily, i have been playing sonic games since i was 5 years old and sonic frontiers reminded me why i still love this series and made me cry so hard that my neighbours thought i had depression
Great video, I felt like a child again playing this game. Love it, and I’m excited to see what they do next. Let’s just hope with its success that Sega gives it a bigger budget and plenty of time. Especially time
This game is awesome! I still play it and have poured hundreds of hours into it! I just love running around the open zones and completing those platforming challenges! While the platforms are scattered around with seemingly no cohesion, I think they're still well designed and add to that mystery of looking AI generated, which helps with the backstory of Sage, and I don't mind the platforms being suspended above the ground, as I still think the game looks great. There's just something about it, the aesthetic and the music, and especially the story, that makes me want to keep playing it. The enemy and boss designs are stellar. The titan fights are highlights, though gameplay wise, they are really easy. I agree about Cyberspace, and I don't mind them reusing old levels as long as they are fun. I wish the combat was a little better, and Sonic's parry timing should be changed across each difficulty. It's bizarre that they didn't do it for Sonic yet for other characters they did. With the latest patch, the physics are better, it's less buggy, but the difficulty has been eased, which was in response to the complaints from fans, but I wish they did that as a choice, rather than replacing the previous difficulty. But despite that, I think this is better than Shadow Generations. I think it has the soul of an open world Sonic game. Though I do wish they'd further update it a little more, as it would be perfect for me. Do you think they'll still update or patch this in the near future? I'd love it if they could fix the pop-in. I can't believe it's been a year since the best Sonic game got the best update! I find all playable characters fun to play, though not as much as Sonic, of course. They made the platforming challenges much harder and more open-ended, less linear than previous ones, which were too simple and automated. The new ending is a mixed bag for me. But the story is even better than before. What makes this game better than others is that I think it does playable characters the best. It also doesn't waste your playtime with non Sonic gimmicks as much as otherSonic games, especially Adventures 1 and 2, and Sonic feels great and fast to control. I disagree heavily when people say it's a Breath of the Wild ripoff as while it's clearly inspired, it also has a lot of differences, and I think I like it more. I even like that some challenges make use of momentum and make you think outside the box. The puzzles are mostly not challenging, but more like movement exercises, and i don't mind doing them. Overall, a masterpiece ✨️ Yeah, I don't mind the reusing of level layouts as the new movement makes it feel different. I similarly don't mind the koco quests, with most being optional, as long as they're not too annoying or pacebreaking. The worst part is probably the pinball minigame or the laser puzzle or the crane task. Cyberspace looks exactly like Generations, but I do like how they at least added the digital effect to make it feel new. Also, I like the presentation. I think the animations are quite good in general, better than in previous games, and I don't mind the realistic artstyle. While it's a triple A game, I do wish there were some CGI cutscenes, but that's probably because of the day-night system, so everything runs in real-time. As I said before, I really liked Frontiers, and it was almost perfect. In my opinion, it can only get better, not worse. Forces, while I think it's very overhated, and I kinda like it, I also find it kinda hard to defend, and I feel it was the dip in budget and quality and passion, it terms of both gameplay, design, story, and presentation, even though I don't think it's souless or lazy like many say. Frontiers, to me, felt like a high budget game, even though some corners were clearly cut. Not to be a blatant hater, but I don't think we'll ever return to that dip of content in the 2010s, as while I think saying it was the definition of mediocrity is a bit harsh, I don't think you could get worse than that. The next mainline game might not always be better than the last, but at least it won't ever be of that quality, let alone worse. Frontiers might have been great, but it can only get better, and that's hard to imagine!
Its very obvious that sonic team is starting to become less of a corporate company, and more of a studio. They’re starting to care for the fans, and they’re starting to listen to feedback.
This is by far my favourite review of Frontiers. All your points were explained so well, and you put so much thought into each section! But also, I very much appreciated hearing it from someone who has played more than their fair share of Sonic games. Obviously they should be enjoyable whether or not you're a turbo-fan, but the insight from someone who knows their shit is refreshing. Found myself nodding intensely when you said the combat felt like "Sonic" rather than an in-depth system a la Bayonetta. I also greatly appreciated hearing your critiques of the gameplay alongside the praise. Realising you described by exact thought process after you'd articulate the point. It's undeniable this game has jank, but in a way that feels freeing? I felt so incredibly seen when you mentioned feeling smug after seeing how much you could "cheat" a platforming section. That way of interacting with the world was honestly one of, if not my favourite part of the gameplay. Honestly I'm just floored with how much detail went into every point. I hope someone from Sonic Team finds this video, because a review this fair and in-depth is extremely valuable. :>
Frontiers makes me think of Unleashed in the sense of its coming off the back of a Sonic game that flopped and was received very poorly. It has its issues but its the ground work for a new generation of Sonic like how we had the Genesis Era, the Adventure Era, Boost Formula (Which technically started with 06 but wasnt good till Unleashed) and now we have Frontiers Era. I honestly cant wait till they hit their Colors or Generations version of Frontiers cause boy thats going to be something else.
the comis are fucking amazing, specially IDW it feels like a natural extention of the videogames which is what i always wanted from archie and never really got so i understand that feeling, the archie comics were their own beast with barely any relationship with the videogames, it never felt like the same world because it quite literalt wasnt the modern comics thou, it feels like the game world, it feels like any of this stories would make some banger videogames and that any of the new characters would be fun to play as them with their own gimmicks and abilities and taking into account that tangle is mentioned by name in frontiers maybe
Kind of stumbled upon this video, went ‘huh, NovaZone, that rings a bell’, found out I binged your gunvolt content at some point, wondered why I wasn’t subscribed yet and now I’m looking forward to checking out the rest of what you got to offer! I’mma join the ride, find your way of talking about any game really chill to listen to.
Expanding on your comment on eggman being crazy post sage death, it would be fucking awesome if next game's story had a focus on the toll it took on him. Maybe at the start we find Sage again but she seems off, the Ancient tech that expanded her AI wasn't able to be found again and in a desperate attempt at getting her back, Eggman finds another type of negative energy but it takes advantage of his grief. Maybe even the final boss isn't some other person, it's eggman corrupted by this new energy
Oh man, I'm envisioning a trilogy now. Next game: Sage is mostly still stuck in a desktop at Eggman's base. Eggman gets SUPER defensive about keeping her safe. Maybe the secondary negative energy physically manifests and harms Eggman near the end. Then the 3rd game is the true Sage and Sonic team up to help Eggman. Shadow is also there.
@@NovaZoneTV actually having shadow relate to losing a loved one would be the best reason to put him in there and may even fix his character after near a decade
Damn. I originally had like 8 spots I had to scrub where I accidently said Forces so only 1 left isn't bad XD. Guess that happens when they make 2 games in a row starting with F.
Sonic was like the first thing I remember ever laying my eyes on. Whenever he can do I try too. I feel a fire a light deep inside me that no matter how dangerous my path can take me both my belief and love for Sonic makes me feel invincible despite any circumstance.
Kinda glad this game turned out pretty solid. Some things I thought were bigger problems but I will agree with you that its a good game. I at least can tell the devs are working to make it better than their last game and that is what mattered to me. The prior games made me worry a bit about sonic frontiers, but I am glad I was wrong for most of what I was worried about. Can't wait to see how they continue off of this.
What I appreciate most about this game, believe it or not is actually the fast travel being locked by default. In most other open games it would frustrate me, but with the way Sonic controls and how fast he is I never really had to worry about travel time, it's fun to boost across good distances.
Sonic is an enigma. Every franchise has their moments where they ignore the fans (the real ones) and they fail. But when sonic tries ignoring fans, suddenly shit looks and feels awesome.
I've been loving the IDW comics as well! I have the first 2 collections so I'm trying to wait until the 3rd one comes out in March. Once I get that I might just get all the volumes separately.
Sonic used to be one of my 3 favorite games series as a kid, my others being Pokemon and Minecraft. I left after forces because, can you blame? I got nostalgic for this series a month or two ago. Glad to see he's back on his feet after so long.
Other than popularity and word-of-mouth, please explain to me the interest in Minecraft. I never understood it. I am also 35 years old, so it came out way past my childhood
@@jmarra07 it's just a really fun and easy to get into game. There's a thing for quite literally everyone. Want a rough challenge? Try the hardcore mode. Want to build something? Play in creative mode. Wanna play with or meet new friends? Play on one of the servers.
@@greysoncrowe5196 hardcore is an absolutely boring slog unless you mod it as its just sweatland, hell even terraria's whole hardcore thing is more engaging even back during 1.2
"Vandalize" is probably the most un-sonic song i'ver ever heard in a sonic game. the bridge especially gives it away: "You're freaking crazy, hate me Love you breakin' bottles on the pavement Just to watch them crash" and the chorus: "Said you'd keep me safe, now you're tearin' me down Am I laid to waste now that you're not around? Come and leave your mark Vandalize my heart Fight the pain away, my head is in ruins Need you in my veins, don't know how you do it Come and leave your mark (Come and leave your mark) Vandalize my heart." and that's the censored version. This song is about hardcore love and sex, and possibly being drunk. NOT sonic. Out of the context of sonic, the song's fine, and good, though.
@3:24 gotta respect you for putting up this chart! Some people would switch heroes and unleashed there but like you I actually think heroes is pretty cool, how else would we have got seaside hill which is not only memorable level design but memorable music. And yeah I would go so far as to say Sonic Adventure 1 is the most important Sonic game in the journey to where we are now. It invented much of what Sonic is now, and if it hadn't been the way it is Sonic might not have retained relevance. Games like Sonic Heroes and Sonic Lost World were trying to reinvent Sonic like Sonic Adventure 1 did and everything since has subtly been trying to come up with that formula again. In the same way as, for example, Empire Strikes Back was the most important star wars movie in keeping the series going for decades, if it hadn't been as groundbreaking star wars might have been been a thing that ended in 1983. They've been trying to repeat the magic formula that made that movie great for the last couple of decades.
I haven't been this way for a Sonic game since Generations, but Frontiers pretty much reminded me why I love this series so much I felt rewarded when I was hearing some call backs to most of the 3D games and I agree Frontiers theme is acknowledging the past and moving forward to a newer future and with the free dlc update roadmap for 2023 it makes me more hopeful for what next game is going to be like. Another great video
Second comment because the first was getting long. I am so incredibly looking forward to the direction the story will go in the future. The gameplay of course is central to, y'know, a video game, but the thing that gets me hyped just that little bit more is how they're writing the characters. The second I saw that Ian Flynn was the writer, I thought, "Oh, yeah, we're getting something good." But I didn't expect there to be callbacks to things like Dark Gaia, Knuckles bringing up he's the last echidna, Eggman talking about Maria, the Babylonians??? and the focus on the interpersonal relationships. Just. **tiny screaming** Lore continuity? In my Sonic games? Ian you mad bastard, you did it again So glad you pointed out that it's basically picking up on the character nuances in SA2 because yes. Yes! I can't remember the last time I was so looking forward to seeing more Sonic. Specifically, so looking forward to seeing the WORLD Sonic is in. ^_^
Awesome video and definitely subbed right now 🙏🏻💙🤗 also regarding the final boss and what you said,I believe he meant that the ikaruga part wasn’t always intended and was definitely something they put last minute considering both the dialogue and and text/code for the game actually implied that it was gonna be a super sonic boss battle along with the ancients also coupled with how Kishimoto said they tried to do that even with the restriction in that same interview,it really sucks we didn’t get something cool like that but Im certain the end will return again in the future l(since the moon was a incarnation)probably but we’ll see,either way I loved it and keep on doing great content 🔥😎
Arguably the only criticism I feel is important to note is the inability to change time of day potentially at the cyberspace terminals specially for the map puzzles the require it to be night. They aren't common enough that it feels hampering but when you are just standing there waiting for it to turn night because it's the last puzzle you need... yeah kinda a pace killer.
This is a good review. And I agree, the first three Super Sonic fights, Sage, and the heart-to-hearts with Tails, Knuckles, and Amy were all great parts of the game that need to appear in future games.
pretty much like most of the reviewers I follow who reviewed this game had a less than positive opinion on the game so its good to find someone who feels exactly how I feel about the game here lol subbed
Dear father genuinely made me cry. Granted, it probably has to do with my personal experiences more so than sage herself, but still, I love that it affected me so much
I honestly just love how well Frontiers sets up Sonic for the future. Functionally it works as the Generations of a new era in terms of what you can do with it. the game is highly moddable, you have an easy way to implement new content (adding new islands for dlc for example should be easy in terms of set up) and it just begs to be iterated upon. Its not the sonic game i wanted or expected, but holy shit im glad its what i got.
55:27 The meteors aren't explained because it's pretty clear that the event is the origin of the islands names, they're called The Starfall Islands because star-like meteors fall onto them.
3:24 Wait… where’s Black Knight in this chart? If it’s somewhere in the middle, then I can understand that. And I can personally agree with this list. Except Unleashed. Favourite game ever, set in stone, move it to the le-wait, this is your opinion, never mind.
I have not played Black Knight since around when it came out. I didn't have a strong opinion on it back then, so I don't think I'm in any place to say if I like it or not today.
I love that after close to 2 decades of fans, game journalist, and internet talking heads trying to whittle away nearly every aspect this franchise. Screaming about what sonic is and isn't, Sonic Team just said "FUCK YOU!" and made the game they wanted.
Before i got My own Gaming console the first sonic game i played was Sonic 4 ep 1 and 2 on my sisters Ps3. Now that i look back i can still remember me doing that Dual Spin dash thing
So I had a theory that the final boss was gonna be the ikaruga section when I saw sonic riding with supreme, but I didn’t trigger for me and the cutscene where you kill the end just played with it at full health, I thought they just forgot to make a boss but I guess my game bugged out. The lack of any fight did make me kinda disappointed so I’m glad that that wasn’t the case.
My ocd got in the way of me fully enjoying the game. I felt like I should get the side stories, maps, and cyberspace terminals in numerical order, but my flow state got constantly interrupted by one thing or another. And I also got overwhelmed on Ares Island, though I will say I was esctatic when I found the phosphorescent underground river. I LOVE that aesthetic! That said, I hated fighting Sumo. My biggest problem with the story was what I interpreted as an ableist line of dialogue on Chaos Island. I really liked Rhea Island. It felt atmospheric and I tried to boost as little as possible to emphasize Sonic's fatigue. I just wish the forest theme was replaced with a dead forest in winter. Ouranos was probably my favorite island, though I hate the Ghost. I don't mind the true final boss. It felt like something completely incomprehensible like a Kirby Final Boss. Oh, and thank the goddess for the forgiving counter. I wouldn't have finished easy mode without it. I don't mind most of the cyberspace themes. I still like Green Hill, City is decently generic, and Sky Sanctuary makes sense given the Divergence Prologue; except for Chemical Plant. At this point, it's starting to feel like Chemical Plant is Eggman's main base of operations, when as far as we know it's not. In every game it's appeared in, it's always been a supplementary base. The main bases in those respective games were all different(Metropolis, Titanic Monarch, and Egg Imperial Fortress), sure, but still... As for my Fishing Tier List: S Tier: Frontiers C Tier: Kirby and the Forgotten Land F Tier: Adventure One last thing: I like to think the gold shot during the End is Super Sonic doing a light speed attack
I really liked the IDW Sonic comics. They revitalized my interest in Sonic and hiw world. Seeing old and new concepts and characters meet and clash was something I never thought would happen, but the execution makes me feel giddy every time. I remember when I first saw Mr. Tinker and I just rolled my eyes at the whole "give the villain amnesia" shtick, but then I saw more of Mr. Tinker helping others and caring for kids, and by the end of it, I was hooked. I genuinely didn't want Eggman back for a while, and I felt so heartbroken when I saw Tinker beg Starline to not bring his memories back. That one panel from the Metal Virus arc where Eggman contemplates his life as Mr. Tinker, even for a moment, is so full of character and it speaks volumes for Eggman as a character. In one panel that had no dialogue, it tells us that he enjoyed life as Tinker, even for a moment. Speaking of which, the Metal Virus arc was amazing. Just like with Mr. Tinker, I was hesitant on seeing a zombie apocalypse story in Sonic, but they made it work so well. Seeing these fun and goofy characters get pushed to theor emotional limits was an experience. From Vector leaving things to Espio as he got infected, Whisper screaming tor Tangle, Cream and Emerl's moment after they get the emerald...so many amazing moments that genuinely had me wondering "How the hell are they gonna make it out of this one?" So you can imagine my surprise and delight when Frontiers made the IDW comics canon to the game continuity. I haven't read since Chao Race, but I still adore this extension of Sonic's universe and I can't wait to catch up on it.
If you like the homing cancel, you should try Spark the Electric Jester 3 if you haven't yet. It has exactly the same "glitch" giving the main character extremely high speed if cancelling a homing attack into a dash.
35:58 I will have to disagree here, if the difficulty is set to hard, the timers on challenges and combat should be hard, the combat is still enjoyable but I am quite disappointed with how excruciatingly easy it is. I had to keep my offence and defence at 6 because I realised that levelling it up makes fighting enemies way too easy and makes the potential combos possible on them much less, and keep in mind that only Ouranous Island has enemies that are strong enough to combo on and not have them die near instantly (excluding some guardians)
Haven't bought a sonic game since unleashed and I'm absolutely adoring frontiers. Playing on hard mode, currently on the second island and I plan on 100%ing the achievements on xbox.
Honestly, this feels like such a breath of fresh air after everything sonic went through from 2013 to sonic origins (aka 2022), I'll admit I had my concerns going into it because while summer time I got interested in the game, I was very cautious because of the approach to build up till that point, it looked like the same trap that forces got me in the first time. And it was because how disappointing it was (and the community issues I ran into but you can see my comment about that on JebTube Sonic Fantears video cause I don't want to repeat myself here) it lead to a four year break to see if I still liked sonic. I'm glad I still do but being cautious because of past experience is what I had despite getting excited for this, why am I saying this? Well this is what my mindset was going into frontiers, I'm glad this game managed to get a lot done right here, and that there DLC on the way as well. But I view this as an Pokemon Legends Arceus kind of game. Where I see a fun game with what we have now, but a sequel for this could make it so much better, even if frontiers is now one of my new favorite sonic games now, I wanna see them improve and go further with this new formula.
When you mentioned how the references in Frontiers would lead people to go back and play past games, it reminded me that the references lead me to go back and buy sa2 because i wanted to know more about something i KNEW was pivotal to these characters, but never fully understood. Sa2 is one of my favorite games, now. I plan on going and getting sa1 eventually as well :) edit: i got it and its in my top 10 too :)
I really wish they did more with the Cyber Corruption because it was clear that it was meant to be more deadly than the Metal Virus. The Knight fight, Sonic smiles a total of 1 time: When he catches the sword. Even during the Wyvern fight, it's clear something is wrong with him, but it's not nearly like on Chaos Island. If the Knight strikes you and you don't parry, Sonic is SOMEHOW tired through his Super form. The Metal Virus didn't do that.
10:29 The earliest Sonic Frontiers/Rangers focus test 4Chan leak dates from 2018. The post described the titans boss fights with Super Sonic. This goes to show how long Sonic Frontiers have been in development and how far the concept for the boss fights has been worked on.
I think Sonic Forces and Frontier’s were in co-development (Forces alpha, Frontiers pre-production where the technology of the phantom ruby is a precursor and hint to it belonging to the Ancients and being connected to Cyberspace and The End. I hope Infinite comes back as a recurring villain that who actually the avatar for The End’s power. (Similar to The Flash being the first avatar of the Speed Force)
I'm just leaving this comment here to say thank you. I've barely seen any reviews this positive not only towards Sonic but Frontiers and I really appreciate it. For me, Frontiers is my favorite 3D Sonic game. Many aspects of the game could have been better but none of them we're bad. The music is my favorite from the franchise, the super Sonic fights are peak super Sonic and the writing and characterization is the best from any of the games (even if the plot is dumb). My only real complaint is the difficulty. I mean they went through the trouble of putting in a hard mode and it isn't even hard. But that can be overlooked because IT MADE TANGLE AKA BEST GIRL OFFICIALLY CANON LETS GO BABYYYYYYYYY, GAME OF THE YEAR EASY. ALL WE NEED NOW IS A WHISPER REFERENCE.
So... about that recontextualization of the Emeralds... Hoo boy. Oh, also, Sonic freezes in midair while guarding in preparation to parry. So that's fun!
I have so many more compliments than insults for Frontiers. You said most of my compliments, so I might just say that my biggest criticism is how little payoff of climax the cyber-corruption had. There’s all this story and strength and will into how Sonic copes and even tries to dismiss the corruption, only for it to climax and then be fixed immediately. I have no idea what they could’ve done different, but hopefully the DLC and everyone’s story will patch that hole
Sonic Battle has combat and that was great. It had no emphasis on speed, but Frontiers is definitely what I wanted to see out of a sonic game trying both combat and speed in terms of feel.
I wouldn't say the Chaos Emeralds are from space definitively but they definitely were *not* always on Earth. It honestly brings up more questions about their origins, especially since the Ancients are NOT the ones who made them, just that they based their technology around them. We don't have answers on their origins, just where they came from last. Hell, it could be that we see other worlds had a similar connection to the Emeralds, which could eventually wrap around to Earth due to the presence of the Master Emerald.
I've said it on other videos on Frontiers, and I'll say it here too; Sega CAN NOT go back to leaving Super Sonic as just an unlockable or restricting it to the final 'hit me 3 times' boss. Or at least if it's restricted to the final boss, they gotta go ALL IN with their inspiration; go full on Dragonball with it. Even if its just from spectacle alone. Frontiers gave us a taste of what a fully controllable Super Sonic feels like, so going back to how it was in previous games would just feel...bad.
Thinking too small. Next time you stop playing as Sonic for every boss and start playing as Super Tails as he commands Flickies.
@@NovaZoneTV or super knuckles throwing out punches that explode or throwing gigantic chunks of mountains
Except, Sonic was copied wholesale from felix the cat movie (1988) and Silver Surfer comic (1991), and a lot of that origin is increasingly dialed down for no other reason but to pander to people who want it to be 100% a knockoff Dragon Ball, so Sega can dodge Bandai's copyright and have their own at home. When they're clearly not even very good at it, sparking constant complaints for not quite meeting the standard the fans have based on that OTHER content they already HAVE available, now they just want blue mouse Goku instead.
Colors and Lost World, which reused concepts from canceled X-treme, were a clear return to that wellspring like Little Planet's relation to space travel, worm hole, 2001 space Odyssey inspired roots. But every time they even slighlty hint at common imagery with DBZ, like Wolverine shares the imagery of Batman wearing undies on top of his onesie, the fans go nuts and call that the truest Sonic. And completely shart all over the franchise being anything ELSE as well, or grow into any other direction.
It doesn't even cross people's minds, to seek for Chaos Emerald lore in the FACT they were found at the ends of special zone tunnels that were accessible through Rings, like we have to pretend games can't have that kind of esoteric content 5 years after Back to the Future and Final Fantasy 1.
Colors HAD endless possibilities. The destruction of the Ancients just looks like Sonic team finally giving in, and giving those spacey origins a burial in fire. Like "okay then, we will replace the bonus stage content with literally nostalgia bait." And the main game will just be "some islands", quick and easy to understand so surely nobody will get a spark of imagination. Just complaining that "I hope they improve on it for the next game".
@@sboinkthelegday3892 what the heck were you even trying to say, I read your entire comment and I still don’t understand what exactly you mean.
@@sboinkthelegday3892 You really just sound like you’re complaining man.
I think what I want people to realise is no media has to be anything other than ‘good’ and ‘respectful’ to its fans.
Sonic can literally be anything; he can be a werewolf, he can be a knight; it just has to be programmed well.
I’m glad Sonic Frontiers proves that Sonic CAN do ambitious things and make them stick.
Sonic and the black knight is an underrated classic, nothing beat the catharsis I felt beating Arthur’s last battle
This game made me feel like I was reliving the Adventure Era and the Dark Age in the 2000s. Can't wait to see what Sonic Team does with the Blue Blur in the near future.
It really didn't, Storywise and Characterization, it really was kinda its own things.
However, the camera-works for the cutscenes are goddamn awful.
honestly same especially the music that shti brought me back to my youth i loved it
A story similar to 06 would be cool but with these mechanics and combat system. Maybe a bigger skill tree would be nice for more combos.
@@ataladin87 correction, it didn't for you
@@hellwolfgaming3507 Sonic forces was just that from Shadows perspective actually.
"Best character Sonic Team has made since Shadow." Yeah, Blaze the Cat would like to have a word with you.
isn't she a dimps invention?
Nishiyama, director/writer of Advance & Rush, was from Sonic Team. Shiro Maekawa confirmed that Nishiyama also made Blaze.
and yes, I stand by my blasphemous statement. I really like Sage. She cute
@@NovaZoneTV Too cute.
Silver, Blaze, The Babylon Rogues, Emrl, Cream, Djin, Shayara, Merlina, and Chip mean nothing to him.
@@blueNyellow Sonic 4 Episode 1 marketing be like
Sonic is for adults too. I've been in love with anything Sonic related since I was 9 ( now I'm 26), so I don't think Sonic was only targeting kids/teens. People need to stop putting age restrictions on everything.
I mean, I'm 24 years old with a master's degree gushing about the series for over an hour. I think that fact alone means I don't need to explain if I think adults can play Sonic😂
NovaZone Loved sonic since I first saw him in Sonic X when I was around 5-6 years old. I'm 19 now and I still love the guy. I didn't think I'd still be interested in the story of the world the little cocky blue hedgehog is from, but here we are. Good characters and good storylines aren't limited to the concept of age, I think (if that makes sense).
point is I wholly agree and I will forever love this little blue blur
Ayo 21 years old lad coming through
I've been a Sonic fan since I was 3 :)
34 over here, been into Sonic since the start. Companies need to stop being afraid of letting their characters grow and mature. Sure they can make more simpler games for when they want to introduce the younger audience, but they shouldn't ignore those who have been there since the beginning and grew up with the series. If anything, the adults are even more likely to get their kids into the series they've loved since they were kids themselves. With cartoons, comics, games (old and new), the only thing holding back SEGA with Sonic's progression is SEGA themselves.
Sonic and many platformers are rated E for everyone
....which means it sorta just targets kids and teens but like Everyone means...everyone
Just cause something is targeted for kids doesn't mean adults can't like it (I mean it's been like this for decades so I'm confused why people get offended when this is stated)
That comment about sage being the new fans getting introduced to the series was brilliant af kudos to you.
I'm a very new fan so Frontiers was the first Sonic game I've played, and god I'm SO glad it was. All the references got me more interested in wanting to play the older games than I already was, and I always got super excited understanding references despite not having played any of the games they're from. Also considering the games I've played most before this are the 2 wii Zelda games, it felt like an incredible transition to Sonic games from those, with the open world style & only some traditional sonic-like stages sprinkled in. It was also so cool seeing the different quests and random elements that reminded me of the Zelda games I know and love
Hope you can enjoy some more entries in the series! By now you probably know that the series is super varied, so be ready to come out with drastically different opinions on a few of them. However, given the shifting discussion lately I think it's worthwhile to try out at least all of the Sonic Team games. Even ones that I personally despise have some fans these days. Throw NiGHTS in there too. Super cheap on Steam.
In my opinion the best part of the game is sonic's deeper voice and everyone acting like they have all matured alot.
It feels like they grew up alongside the audience due to most sonic fans having grown up with the guy but sonic never changed. So him sounding and acting grown up now feels fitting and makes me feel warm and fuzzy
The bar for sonic games has been clipping through the floor for so long. After I beat frontiers it brought tears to my eyes I was so happy
I’m glad I wasn’t the only person who liked guessing what level design they pulled for this game
Seeing Metal Harbor and Sky Rail’s level design again was fun to see in 2022
Been a fan growing up but stopped around the Wii era. This got me back into it. A friend asked me how it was and I told him " I can now say Remember when Sonic threw a dragon into a mountain while punk rock was blasting?!"
Fuck yeah
No one cares about some awful animation of some EVA rejected design while buttrock plays. Period.
@@TheDen-ec9xei do. Which means you are wrong.
@@MUI_Noam12 Like it matters 🤡
@@TheDen-ec9xe They do actually, your opinion is the only thing that's trash around here... You on the other hand, you're an entire pile of garbage.
Interesting tidbit a lot of people overlook: the Japanese manual for Sonic 3 explains that there were seven Chaos Emeralds at the Master Emerald shrine on Angel Island BEFORE Sonic arrived.
The Death Egg crashing into the island caused those seven emeralds to vanish, which in turn is why Knuckles punches Super Sonic and takes his set - he thought Sonic stole the ones from the shrine.
This also technically accounts for the Super Emeralds possibly being the original Angel Island set. Which also suggests that the seven Sonic finds originally are Earth's set or something else entirely, which is the set used by the Gaias.
Wait but I thought that the super emeralds were just super forms of the chaos emeralds? Does this mean eggmans death egg destroyed the power of the supers but then the ones used by the ancients and now sonic replaced that energy and then some? I don't wanna sound like a geek coming up with way over the head theories but you make it sound like the super emerald power is Still out there somewhere which now that I think about it MIGHT be somewhat possible seeing as lizuka said the super emeralds are locked in another dimension somewhere unaccesiable
@@chocolatesensei5648 Hard to say. The manual implies that there was a separate Angel Island set, at the very least. Perhaps Sonic's set was the key to opening the dimensional gates.
Ehhhh I do not approve of the idea of there being two emerald sets
@@Excelsior1937 Doesn't change the fact that it's literally in the JP manual.
@@Terralventhethe sonic cd manual also says amy’s name is sally acorn, manuals don’t have the last say when it comes to continuity, they’re supplementary material at best
Hey everyone, didn't put in the usual personal comment like usual because I was running on no sleep when I uploaded. Final few minutes were revised a lot during the last few days because of the DLC announcement and Kishimoto's statements. Super excited that I was finally able to make a big video about possibly my favorite series. I got pretty personal in this one, had some big idea theories about the story near the end, and I feel pretty happy with how this one came out. Next time I go to Sonic will likely be a spin off. I kinda want to try out Sonic games I've never played which is mainly Riders, Battle, and some other underrated ones. Covering mainline games is not in the near future.
EDIT: Artwork in the thumbnail is from Sonic Channel. My friend altered the lighting to pop more on a small screen but it is official SEGA art. Link to Sonic Channel in description.
PATREON: I put a link in at the end about it. I made a full post ON that Patreon page for what to expect. There is a Discord server involved with it, it's still under rehab. More info in my next video.
Just wanna clarify because a few people were confused: I was saying Sonic as a franchise (including games, toys, comics, movies, Neflix shows) is primarily aimed for kids and other age groups are the 2nd market. Frontiers is definitely aiming slightly older. I'm just 24 years old and spent nearly an hour and a half gushing about Sonic so talking about if adults can enjoy Sonic never really crossed my mind. I do see how my statement in the video is confusing though.
I feel like someone looked in my head and put my thoughts about Sonic and Frontiers in one tangible essay, damn. Great listen sir, thanks!
This is the first review of Frontiers I have really fully agreed with! I really appreciate what you said about cyberspace and the dash cancel and the fun jank especially, and I hope more people feel the same.
We have to make Sonic Frontiers game of the year. It wasn't even nominated for BEST SOUNDTRACK. Have they even heard "Undefeatable" or "Break Through It All" or "Find Your Flame?" I mean come on, cyberspace slaps and the mellow and mysterious beats of the open zone are amazing! It's criminal that it wasn't nominated for best soundtrack. So let's get it to player's voice awards number 1. We can do it! #sonicsweep
To be fair, electronic/DnB/house music in Sonic games are usually way better than rock scores (except in SA1 and to some extent SA2, of which both had clean sounds implementing Sonic-style melodies with some smooth lounge tracks). Rock is OK but that's not the core sound of Sonic. Hearing Tropical Resort (Act 4 Theme) in Sonic Colors, Stardust Speedway (US / Present) in Sonic CD, or the Chao Garden in SA1/SA2 sounds much more true to form... Sonic music tends to be distinct enough that it could easily be its own genre entirely. Most of the rock music in the last 10 years could be any punk rock band from 2007, and doesn't stand out that much to me. Just my 2¢.
Damn
@@erikskywalker5331 Most people would Strongly disagree depending on what you mean exactly. If you’re talking about the classic era then hard agree, rock is unfitting for that era. However rock has been a staple in modern sonic for a long time now. Ohtani himself has stated that there are so many styles of music that sonic has taken advantage of. Rock not only being one of them but a theme that accompanies basically most of the main themes of the games except lost world and generations which mind you, they they don’t even have a main theme. Sonic adventure series having the most iconic sonic themes (themes that remind you of sonic himself) have millions of views even after youtube became a thing should give you the idea of music people have when sonic comes to mind.
The irony is that frontiers has been recognizing sonic and its past to how it used to be and they bring rock back again. Something I don’t think is coincidental. However these are just a list of facts that lead to my opinion.
The game awards are like the Oscars: a pretentious circlejerk that rarely reflects what the consumers want or like and instead what the people with money think fits their "high brow, refined tastes."
@@Terralventhe The consumers en masse don't want Sonic Frontiers though lol. It's divisive even among its own community.
I like that even though frontiers is from far the hedgehog’s best work, it has had such a positive reception in the community. It’s made people hopeful for the future of sonic, brought in a ton of new fans and Also rejuvenated the spark for older fans who’ve been burned out. It’s quite beautiful what the game has accomplished. The future for sonic has never so bright as it does right now. Hopefully SEGA doesn’t screw it up. They’ve good such a good thing going with the two movies, frontiers and hopefully sonic prime as well.
I’d say it’s quite close to getting there, definitely not definitive, but it’s still great.
I’m praying that they continue to let Ian continue with the plot of the games, he actually build the characters personality and stories while also having a danger looming over head.
This is the first sonic game in such a long time where the characters aren’t jus blank slates that fall into smaller roles. I absolutely love what direction they turned this game compared to what we’ve seen in 15 years or so.
Can we start a movement to keep Ian director of the games plot? Bc like the man alr tied in almost all the sonic games loose ends/plots and even given the lackluster characters of those games bigger roles. He simultaneously expands the Sonic’s universe while always keeping them interconnected as well.
I'm praying they WON'T. That fraud can't write for his life, and the disaster that is IDW proves it. This game's plot is NON-EXISTENT. Just "MEMBER THE OLD GAMES" and a bunch of idle talk about character arcs that were explored 20+ years ago. Sorry, but telling me that Amy and Tails need to grow out of Sonic's shadow won't cut it, because they already did it before. And no, hearing "I'm wildly inconsistent" just to use Tails as a mouthpiece to cry over Forces....while acknowledging the atrocity called Lost World is not gonna cut it.
The characters ARE still blank slates, they're just more tolerable than they've ever been since Colors. But they're not that good (aside from Knuckles). What the hell even is the direction of this game ? Hell, Eggman was sidelined to do nothing but complaining for the whole game, and no, Sage sucks.
And NO, spouting "MEMBER BABYLON GARDEN" "MEMBER ZAVOK" "MEMBER YACKER" "MEMBER THE ECLIPSE CANNON" "MEMBER DARK GAIA" is NOT "keeping games interconnected" and NO, making the Chaos Emeralds into an alien engine is bs.
@@TheDen-ec9xe Ian didn't write this, he translated it.
@@TheDen-ec9xe Why's Making The Emeralds alien engine Bs???.
Explain to me in detail.
I just wanted to point this out since it's a pretty overlooked feature in cyber space, but you can slide to effectively turn better since turning while boosting isn't as sharp as it is in the overworld. Frontiers is a fun time, most amount fun I had 3D Sonic since SA1, that DLC Roadmap looks sick.
You have the exact same thoughts about the game as me. However, I think that this Sonic game is more geared towards teens and older than whatever age group Sonic Forces was trying to appeal towards. The deaths in this game kinda hint at this, especially in open zone areas.
When Sonic dies by drowning, falling to the abyss, falling into lava, etc., it is heavily implied that he explicitly died. When Sonic drowns, he gasps for air before going limp and floating to the surface lifeless. When Sonic falls into lava, he screams, which made me fearful of the lava on Chaos Island. Minus the first Titan, which looked like it crushes Sonic with its teeth and the Knight crushing or cutting Sonic underneath its blade, Sonic passes out and falls to his death.
Sonic doesn't die from falls. But the follow up will kill him if he gets pierced. Piercing will kill anyone.
Funny comment about the pop-in, there are a couple of platforms on the islands that have a glitch-in and glitch-out animation and everything when you get within a certain radius of them. Why they didn't use this for all the platforms to aesthetically justify the pop-in issue I will never know.
yeah i noticed that too, wouldve made the out of place floating obstacle courses make more sense
look i am a person that doesn't cry easily, i have been playing sonic games since i was 5 years old and sonic frontiers reminded me why i still love this series and made me cry so hard that my neighbours thought i had depression
Great video, I felt like a child again playing this game. Love it, and I’m excited to see what they do next. Let’s just hope with its success that Sega gives it a bigger budget and plenty of time. Especially time
This game is awesome! I still play it and have poured hundreds of hours into it! I just love running around the open zones and completing those platforming challenges! While the platforms are scattered around with seemingly no cohesion, I think they're still well designed and add to that mystery of looking AI generated, which helps with the backstory of Sage, and I don't mind the platforms being suspended above the ground, as I still think the game looks great. There's just something about it, the aesthetic and the music, and especially the story, that makes me want to keep playing it. The enemy and boss designs are stellar. The titan fights are highlights, though gameplay wise, they are really easy. I agree about Cyberspace, and I don't mind them reusing old levels as long as they are fun. I wish the combat was a little better, and Sonic's parry timing should be changed across each difficulty. It's bizarre that they didn't do it for Sonic yet for other characters they did. With the latest patch, the physics are better, it's less buggy, but the difficulty has been eased, which was in response to the complaints from fans, but I wish they did that as a choice, rather than replacing the previous difficulty. But despite that, I think this is better than Shadow Generations. I think it has the soul of an open world Sonic game. Though I do wish they'd further update it a little more, as it would be perfect for me. Do you think they'll still update or patch this in the near future? I'd love it if they could fix the pop-in.
I can't believe it's been a year since the best Sonic game got the best update! I find all playable characters fun to play, though not as much as Sonic, of course. They made the platforming challenges much harder and more open-ended, less linear than previous ones, which were too simple and automated. The new ending is a mixed bag for me. But the story is even better than before. What makes this game better than others is that I think it does playable characters the best. It also doesn't waste your playtime with non Sonic gimmicks as much as otherSonic games, especially Adventures 1 and 2, and Sonic feels great and fast to control. I disagree heavily when people say it's a Breath of the Wild ripoff as while it's clearly inspired, it also has a lot of differences, and I think I like it more. I even like that some challenges make use of momentum and make you think outside the box. The puzzles are mostly not challenging, but more like movement exercises, and i don't mind doing them. Overall, a masterpiece ✨️
Yeah, I don't mind the reusing of level layouts as the new movement makes it feel different. I similarly don't mind the koco quests, with most being optional, as long as they're not too annoying or pacebreaking. The worst part is probably the pinball minigame or the laser puzzle or the crane task. Cyberspace looks exactly like Generations, but I do like how they at least added the digital effect to make it feel new. Also, I like the presentation. I think the animations are quite good in general, better than in previous games, and I don't mind the realistic artstyle. While it's a triple A game, I do wish there were some CGI cutscenes, but that's probably because of the day-night system, so everything runs in real-time.
As I said before, I really liked Frontiers, and it was almost perfect. In my opinion, it can only get better, not worse. Forces, while I think it's very overhated, and I kinda like it, I also find it kinda hard to defend, and I feel it was the dip in budget and quality and passion, it terms of both gameplay, design, story, and presentation, even though I don't think it's souless or lazy like many say. Frontiers, to me, felt like a high budget game, even though some corners were clearly cut. Not to be a blatant hater, but I don't think we'll ever return to that dip of content in the 2010s, as while I think saying it was the definition of mediocrity is a bit harsh, I don't think you could get worse than that. The next mainline game might not always be better than the last, but at least it won't ever be of that quality, let alone worse. Frontiers might have been great, but it can only get better, and that's hard to imagine!
Its very obvious that sonic team is starting to become less of a corporate company, and more of a studio. They’re starting to care for the fans, and they’re starting to listen to feedback.
This is by far my favourite review of Frontiers. All your points were explained so well, and you put so much thought into each section! But also, I very much appreciated hearing it from someone who has played more than their fair share of Sonic games. Obviously they should be enjoyable whether or not you're a turbo-fan, but the insight from someone who knows their shit is refreshing. Found myself nodding intensely when you said the combat felt like "Sonic" rather than an in-depth system a la Bayonetta.
I also greatly appreciated hearing your critiques of the gameplay alongside the praise. Realising you described by exact thought process after you'd articulate the point. It's undeniable this game has jank, but in a way that feels freeing? I felt so incredibly seen when you mentioned feeling smug after seeing how much you could "cheat" a platforming section. That way of interacting with the world was honestly one of, if not my favourite part of the gameplay.
Honestly I'm just floored with how much detail went into every point. I hope someone from Sonic Team finds this video, because a review this fair and in-depth is extremely valuable. :>
Thank you so much for making this. I have yet had a video that mirrored my experience with Frontiers until I came across your video.
you perfectly described why i loved the character/story part of this game for real. so excited for sonic moving forward aaa
Only two minutes in and I immediately adore the editing.
Frontiers makes me think of Unleashed in the sense of its coming off the back of a Sonic game that flopped and was received very poorly. It has its issues but its the ground work for a new generation of Sonic like how we had the Genesis Era, the Adventure Era, Boost Formula (Which technically started with 06 but wasnt good till Unleashed) and now we have Frontiers Era. I honestly cant wait till they hit their Colors or Generations version of Frontiers cause boy thats going to be something else.
the comis are fucking amazing, specially IDW it feels like a natural extention of the videogames which is what i always wanted from archie and never really got so i understand that feeling, the archie comics were their own beast with barely any relationship with the videogames, it never felt like the same world because it quite literalt wasnt
the modern comics thou, it feels like the game world, it feels like any of this stories would make some banger videogames and that any of the new characters would be fun to play as them with their own gimmicks and abilities and taking into account that tangle is mentioned by name in frontiers maybe
Kind of stumbled upon this video, went ‘huh, NovaZone, that rings a bell’, found out I binged your gunvolt content at some point, wondered why I wasn’t subscribed yet and now I’m looking forward to checking out the rest of what you got to offer! I’mma join the ride, find your way of talking about any game really chill to listen to.
Expanding on your comment on eggman being crazy post sage death, it would be fucking awesome if next game's story had a focus on the toll it took on him. Maybe at the start we find Sage again but she seems off, the Ancient tech that expanded her AI wasn't able to be found again and in a desperate attempt at getting her back, Eggman finds another type of negative energy but it takes advantage of his grief.
Maybe even the final boss isn't some other person, it's eggman corrupted by this new energy
Oh man, I'm envisioning a trilogy now. Next game: Sage is mostly still stuck in a desktop at Eggman's base. Eggman gets SUPER defensive about keeping her safe. Maybe the secondary negative energy physically manifests and harms Eggman near the end. Then the 3rd game is the true Sage and Sonic team up to help Eggman. Shadow is also there.
@Caleb Vela yeah but in a perfect world to me this would br the next game story
@@NovaZoneTV actually having shadow relate to losing a loved one would be the best reason to put him in there and may even fix his character after near a decade
@@NovaZoneTV I think Shadow and Sage would make a badass duo. Barring they fix his character of course. The potential is just off the charts.
1:06:55 - The extra step in Forces. Frontiers, you mean? XD
Good video!
Damn. I originally had like 8 spots I had to scrub where I accidently said Forces so only 1 left isn't bad XD. Guess that happens when they make 2 games in a row starting with F.
@@NovaZoneTV Yeah, I figured the verbal fumble was cos of the similar names XD
Great video! So glad I stumbled upon this channel!
Sonic was like the first thing I remember ever laying my eyes on. Whenever he can do I try too. I feel a fire a light deep inside me that no matter how dangerous my path can take me both my belief and love for Sonic makes me feel invincible despite any circumstance.
Kinda glad this game turned out pretty solid. Some things I thought were bigger problems but I will agree with you that its a good game. I at least can tell the devs are working to make it better than their last game and that is what mattered to me. The prior games made me worry a bit about sonic frontiers, but I am glad I was wrong for most of what I was worried about. Can't wait to see how they continue off of this.
What I appreciate most about this game, believe it or not is actually the fast travel being locked by default. In most other open games it would frustrate me, but with the way Sonic controls and how fast he is I never really had to worry about travel time, it's fun to boost across good distances.
Sonic is an enigma. Every franchise has their moments where they ignore the fans (the real ones) and they fail. But when sonic tries ignoring fans, suddenly shit looks and feels awesome.
I've been loving the IDW comics as well! I have the first 2 collections so I'm trying to wait until the 3rd one comes out in March. Once I get that I might just get all the volumes separately.
Sonic used to be one of my 3 favorite games series as a kid, my others being Pokemon and Minecraft. I left after forces because, can you blame?
I got nostalgic for this series a month or two ago. Glad to see he's back on his feet after so long.
Other than popularity and word-of-mouth, please explain to me the interest in Minecraft. I never understood it. I am also 35 years old, so it came out way past my childhood
@@jmarra07 it's just a really fun and easy to get into game. There's a thing for quite literally everyone. Want a rough challenge? Try the hardcore mode. Want to build something? Play in creative mode. Wanna play with or meet new friends? Play on one of the servers.
@@greysoncrowe5196 hardcore is an absolutely boring slog unless you mod it as its just sweatland, hell even terraria's whole hardcore thing is more engaging even back during 1.2
This was an AMAZING video
and the entire titan segment was so fun to watch
"Vandalize" is probably the most un-sonic song i'ver ever heard in a sonic game. the bridge especially gives it away:
"You're freaking crazy, hate me
Love you breakin' bottles on the pavement
Just to watch them crash"
and the chorus:
"Said you'd keep me safe, now you're tearin' me down
Am I laid to waste now that you're not around?
Come and leave your mark
Vandalize my heart
Fight the pain away, my head is in ruins
Need you in my veins, don't know how you do it
Come and leave your mark (Come and leave your mark)
Vandalize my heart."
and that's the censored version.
This song is about hardcore love and sex, and possibly being drunk. NOT sonic.
Out of the context of sonic, the song's fine, and good, though.
@3:24 gotta respect you for putting up this chart! Some people would switch heroes and unleashed there but like you I actually think heroes is pretty cool, how else would we have got seaside hill which is not only memorable level design but memorable music.
And yeah I would go so far as to say Sonic Adventure 1 is the most important Sonic game in the journey to where we are now. It invented much of what Sonic is now, and if it hadn't been the way it is Sonic might not have retained relevance. Games like Sonic Heroes and Sonic Lost World were trying to reinvent Sonic like Sonic Adventure 1 did and everything since has subtly been trying to come up with that formula again. In the same way as, for example, Empire Strikes Back was the most important star wars movie in keeping the series going for decades, if it hadn't been as groundbreaking star wars might have been been a thing that ended in 1983. They've been trying to repeat the magic formula that made that movie great for the last couple of decades.
I haven't been this way for a Sonic game since Generations, but Frontiers pretty much reminded me why I love this series so much I felt rewarded when I was hearing some call backs to most of the 3D games and I agree Frontiers theme is acknowledging the past and moving forward to a newer future and with the free dlc update roadmap for 2023 it makes me more hopeful for what next game is going to be like. Another great video
Second comment because the first was getting long. I am so incredibly looking forward to the direction the story will go in the future. The gameplay of course is central to, y'know, a video game, but the thing that gets me hyped just that little bit more is how they're writing the characters. The second I saw that Ian Flynn was the writer, I thought, "Oh, yeah, we're getting something good." But I didn't expect there to be callbacks to things like Dark Gaia, Knuckles bringing up he's the last echidna, Eggman talking about Maria, the Babylonians??? and the focus on the interpersonal relationships. Just. **tiny screaming** Lore continuity? In my Sonic games? Ian you mad bastard, you did it again
So glad you pointed out that it's basically picking up on the character nuances in SA2 because yes. Yes! I can't remember the last time I was so looking forward to seeing more Sonic. Specifically, so looking forward to seeing the WORLD Sonic is in. ^_^
The only good thing with the pop-in is that you can see the landscape better.
I'm so glad I stuck it out to the end, I very nearly gave up entirely after spending 2 hours on the Chaos Island pre-Titan minigame
Awesome video and definitely subbed right now 🙏🏻💙🤗 also regarding the final boss and what you said,I believe he meant that the ikaruga part wasn’t always intended and was definitely something they put last minute considering both the dialogue and and text/code for the game actually implied that it was gonna be a super sonic boss battle along with the ancients also coupled with how Kishimoto said they tried to do that even with the restriction in that same interview,it really sucks we didn’t get something cool like that but Im certain the end will return again in the future l(since the moon was a incarnation)probably but we’ll see,either way I loved it and keep on doing great content 🔥😎
Arguably the only criticism I feel is important to note is the inability to change time of day potentially at the cyberspace terminals specially for the map puzzles the require it to be night. They aren't common enough that it feels hampering but when you are just standing there waiting for it to turn night because it's the last puzzle you need... yeah kinda a pace killer.
The thumbnail looks so fucking good, nice video btw!
I hadnt realized the Chaos Emeralds add to the music. That's awesome.
You've made me be okay and accept the final boss tbh thanks
Great video, loved it, perfectly reflected my own take
One thing I found with experimenting, you can beat the Tower bosses with Sonic's recovery attack in one shot.
This is a good review.
And I agree, the first three Super Sonic fights, Sage, and the heart-to-hearts with Tails, Knuckles, and Amy were all great parts of the game that need to appear in future games.
I'll never get over that one of "Dear Father"' lyrics is " I hope you're not mad at me" that frigging destroyed me and got me to tear up so hard 😭
pretty much like most of the reviewers I follow who reviewed this game had a less than positive opinion on the game so its good to find someone who feels exactly how I feel about the game here lol subbed
Dear father genuinely made me cry. Granted, it probably has to do with my personal experiences more so than sage herself, but still, I love that it affected me so much
I honestly just love how well Frontiers sets up Sonic for the future.
Functionally it works as the Generations of a new era in terms of what you can do with it.
the game is highly moddable, you have an easy way to implement new content (adding new islands for dlc for example should be easy in terms of set up) and it just begs to be iterated upon. Its not the sonic game i wanted or expected, but holy shit im glad its what i got.
20:38 me too man. I felt the same way about my experience doing that
55:27 The meteors aren't explained because it's pretty clear that the event is the origin of the islands names, they're called The Starfall Islands because star-like meteors fall onto them.
3:24 Wait… where’s Black Knight in this chart? If it’s somewhere in the middle, then I can understand that. And I can personally agree with this list.
Except Unleashed. Favourite game ever, set in stone, move it to the le-wait, this is your opinion, never mind.
I have not played Black Knight since around when it came out. I didn't have a strong opinion on it back then, so I don't think I'm in any place to say if I like it or not today.
1:17:50 omfg, I didn't even play this, I haven't played any Sonic game, but Sage's death made me cry a little, and I don't cry easily
I love that after close to 2 decades of fans, game journalist, and internet talking heads trying to whittle away nearly every aspect this franchise. Screaming about what sonic is and isn't, Sonic Team just said "FUCK YOU!" and made the game they wanted.
Sonic has used his speed to escape the PlayStation download screen
Fun fact:
The reason why Sage is so human is because her mind was built off of Maria’s mind.
Before i got My own Gaming console the first sonic game i played was Sonic 4 ep 1 and 2 on my sisters Ps3. Now that i look back i can still remember me doing that Dual Spin dash thing
Yooo! You’re a fellow Neptunia fan!
Nice!!
Been waiting so long for this ❤
So I had a theory that the final boss was gonna be the ikaruga section when I saw sonic riding with supreme, but I didn’t trigger for me and the cutscene where you kill the end just played with it at full health, I thought they just forgot to make a boss but I guess my game bugged out. The lack of any fight did make me kinda disappointed so I’m glad that that wasn’t the case.
You gotta beat the final boss on hard mode
Dude, just HEARING Undefeatable gives me goosebumps all over again.
To be fully honest, Sonic Frontiers is one of the few games that’s made me cry and is the only Sonic game that has
The sonic unleashed pier cutscene is one of my favorite slow moments
Excelent video, I enjoyed a lot :)
eggman going crazy after losing sage could be an amazing parallel to gerald losing maria omfg
My ocd got in the way of me fully enjoying the game. I felt like I should get the side stories, maps, and cyberspace terminals in numerical order, but my flow state got constantly interrupted by one thing or another.
And I also got overwhelmed on Ares Island, though I will say I was esctatic when I found the phosphorescent underground river. I LOVE that aesthetic! That said, I hated fighting Sumo.
My biggest problem with the story was what I interpreted as an ableist line of dialogue on Chaos Island.
I really liked Rhea Island. It felt atmospheric and I tried to boost as little as possible to emphasize Sonic's fatigue. I just wish the forest theme was replaced with a dead forest in winter.
Ouranos was probably my favorite island, though I hate the Ghost.
I don't mind the true final boss. It felt like something completely incomprehensible like a Kirby Final Boss.
Oh, and thank the goddess for the forgiving counter. I wouldn't have finished easy mode without it.
I don't mind most of the cyberspace themes. I still like Green Hill, City is decently generic, and Sky Sanctuary makes sense given the Divergence Prologue; except for Chemical Plant. At this point, it's starting to feel like Chemical Plant is Eggman's main base of operations, when as far as we know it's not. In every game it's appeared in, it's always been a supplementary base. The main bases in those respective games were all different(Metropolis, Titanic Monarch, and Egg Imperial Fortress), sure, but still...
As for my Fishing Tier List:
S Tier: Frontiers
C Tier: Kirby and the Forgotten Land
F Tier: Adventure
One last thing: I like to think the gold shot during the End is Super Sonic doing a light speed attack
I really liked the IDW Sonic comics. They revitalized my interest in Sonic and hiw world. Seeing old and new concepts and characters meet and clash was something I never thought would happen, but the execution makes me feel giddy every time.
I remember when I first saw Mr. Tinker and I just rolled my eyes at the whole "give the villain amnesia" shtick, but then I saw more of Mr. Tinker helping others and caring for kids, and by the end of it, I was hooked. I genuinely didn't want Eggman back for a while, and I felt so heartbroken when I saw Tinker beg Starline to not bring his memories back. That one panel from the Metal Virus arc where Eggman contemplates his life as Mr. Tinker, even for a moment, is so full of character and it speaks volumes for Eggman as a character. In one panel that had no dialogue, it tells us that he enjoyed life as Tinker, even for a moment.
Speaking of which, the Metal Virus arc was amazing. Just like with Mr. Tinker, I was hesitant on seeing a zombie apocalypse story in Sonic, but they made it work so well. Seeing these fun and goofy characters get pushed to theor emotional limits was an experience. From Vector leaving things to Espio as he got infected, Whisper screaming tor Tangle, Cream and Emerl's moment after they get the emerald...so many amazing moments that genuinely had me wondering "How the hell are they gonna make it out of this one?"
So you can imagine my surprise and delight when Frontiers made the IDW comics canon to the game continuity. I haven't read since Chao Race, but I still adore this extension of Sonic's universe and I can't wait to catch up on it.
YOU'LL FIND YOUR FLAME!!!!!!!
1:10:42 The OG Funimation Soundtracks of Cooler and Broly are the best in the series.
If you like the homing cancel, you should try Spark the Electric Jester 3 if you haven't yet. It has exactly the same "glitch" giving the main character extremely high speed if cancelling a homing attack into a dash.
35:58 I will have to disagree here, if the difficulty is set to hard, the timers on challenges and combat should be hard, the combat is still enjoyable but I am quite disappointed with how excruciatingly easy it is. I had to keep my offence and defence at 6 because I realised that levelling it up makes fighting enemies way too easy and makes the potential combos possible on them much less, and keep in mind that only Ouranous Island has enemies that are strong enough to combo on and not have them die near instantly (excluding some guardians)
Getting jumpscared by Gunvolt to realizing you’re the dude who made the good ass Gunvolt retrospective earlier this year to subscribing pipeline
Haven't bought a sonic game since unleashed and I'm absolutely adoring frontiers. Playing on hard mode, currently on the second island and I plan on 100%ing the achievements on xbox.
49:29 Texas roads and highways be like
The homing cancel got mentioned in the official Sonic frontiers speed strats video as well as many other techniques
youre nearly making me want to play this game
Seeing Unleashed in "Little Enjoy" activated my fight or flight response
Honestly, this feels like such a breath of fresh air after everything sonic went through from 2013 to sonic origins (aka 2022), I'll admit I had my concerns going into it because while summer time I got interested in the game, I was very cautious because of the approach to build up till that point, it looked like the same trap that forces got me in the first time. And it was because how disappointing it was (and the community issues I ran into but you can see my comment about that on JebTube Sonic Fantears video cause I don't want to repeat myself here) it lead to a four year break to see if I still liked sonic. I'm glad I still do but being cautious because of past experience is what I had despite getting excited for this, why am I saying this? Well this is what my mindset was going into frontiers, I'm glad this game managed to get a lot done right here, and that there DLC on the way as well. But I view this as an Pokemon Legends Arceus kind of game. Where I see a fun game with what we have now, but a sequel for this could make it so much better, even if frontiers is now one of my new favorite sonic games now, I wanna see them improve and go further with this new formula.
When you mentioned how the references in Frontiers would lead people to go back and play past games, it reminded me that the references lead me to go back and buy sa2 because i wanted to know more about something i KNEW was pivotal to these characters, but never fully understood.
Sa2 is one of my favorite games, now. I plan on going and getting sa1 eventually as well :)
edit: i got it and its in my top 10 too :)
I really wish they did more with the Cyber Corruption because it was clear that it was meant to be more deadly than the Metal Virus. The Knight fight, Sonic smiles a total of 1 time: When he catches the sword. Even during the Wyvern fight, it's clear something is wrong with him, but it's not nearly like on Chaos Island. If the Knight strikes you and you don't parry, Sonic is SOMEHOW tired through his Super form. The Metal Virus didn't do that.
10:29 The earliest Sonic Frontiers/Rangers focus test 4Chan leak dates from 2018. The post described the titans boss fights with Super Sonic. This goes to show how long Sonic Frontiers have been in development and how far the concept for the boss fights has been worked on.
I think Sonic Forces and Frontier’s were in co-development (Forces alpha, Frontiers pre-production where the technology of the phantom ruby is a precursor and hint to it belonging to the Ancients and being connected to Cyberspace and The End.
I hope Infinite comes back as a recurring villain that who actually the avatar for The End’s power. (Similar to The Flash being the first avatar of the Speed Force)
this game make me hopeful for future sonic games, there I say it, also, one way dream is in my top 3 songs of sonic
I'm just leaving this comment here to say thank you. I've barely seen any reviews this positive not only towards Sonic but Frontiers and I really appreciate it.
For me, Frontiers is my favorite 3D Sonic game. Many aspects of the game could have been better but none of them we're bad. The music is my favorite from the franchise, the super Sonic fights are peak super Sonic and the writing and characterization is the best from any of the games (even if the plot is dumb). My only real complaint is the difficulty. I mean they went through the trouble of putting in a hard mode and it isn't even hard.
But that can be overlooked because IT MADE TANGLE AKA BEST GIRL OFFICIALLY CANON LETS GO BABYYYYYYYYY, GAME OF THE YEAR EASY. ALL WE NEED NOW IS A WHISPER REFERENCE.
I listen to the frontiers ost in repeat almost every day
So... about that recontextualization of the Emeralds...
Hoo boy.
Oh, also, Sonic freezes in midair while guarding in preparation to parry. So that's fun!
It's been confirmed that homing dash was actually found during development, and left in just for fun!
I have so many more compliments than insults for Frontiers. You said most of my compliments, so I might just say that my biggest criticism is how little payoff of climax the cyber-corruption had. There’s all this story and strength and will into how Sonic copes and even tries to dismiss the corruption, only for it to climax and then be fixed immediately. I have no idea what they could’ve done different, but hopefully the DLC and everyone’s story will patch that hole
Sonic Battle has combat and that was great. It had no emphasis on speed, but Frontiers is definitely what I wanted to see out of a sonic game trying both combat and speed in terms of feel.
Thanks for making this.
I wouldn't say the Chaos Emeralds are from space definitively but they definitely were *not* always on Earth. It honestly brings up more questions about their origins, especially since the Ancients are NOT the ones who made them, just that they based their technology around them. We don't have answers on their origins, just where they came from last. Hell, it could be that we see other worlds had a similar connection to the Emeralds, which could eventually wrap around to Earth due to the presence of the Master Emerald.