Why the Modern Sonic Stories Just Don't Work

as someone who's been playing Sonic games for all my life it hasn't gone unnoticed how unfocused the series has been constantly missing the market every turn or at least that's how it's felt for me for the last five or so years the story of torn of the series has been constantly changing generally more dramatic games have been targeted as the downfall of the series for a long period of time with the more comedy heavy games in the series being praised for raising the standards to new heights from my experience you could make practically anything good from a quality standpoint regardless of preconceived notions of what a Sonic game should be like so for this editorial I'm going to give my take on this series and how it is handled storytelling first it's important to go back to the series roots and establish one thing within Sonic 1 neither one of these extreme forms of comedy and drama were really there Sonic 1 takes a position of firm neutrality and tone with levels that felt very grounded Mario had always gone with the wacky stages and fought the crazy enemies Sonic on the other hand ran through places that more or less heightened reality despite the levels now infamous legacy the opening stage Green Hill Zone is far more laid back in its obnoxious clones and have you believe a few loops a few checker boards and so on beyond that Sonic travels to ruins cities and factories this also carried over into Sonic 2 and Sonic CD as well as the coinciding 8-bit titles my point is that in this era the games hadn't really established definitive tone to carry forward throughout the rest of the series but the environment design wasn't particularly cartoony in comparison other games on the market speaking of marketing the character in his world were often considered edgier and far cooler than Mario could be by 90 standards of course when Sonic jumped a 3d in the late 90s more and more characters are introduced to the mythos as the series started taking itself more and more seriously and just like I said at the beginning this has been credited as the downfall of the series the sole reason why it wasn't working by a time Unleashed and black night rolled around critics and older fans are just tired of the drama 2010 was quite the year for the franchise since a revitalized interest for the crowd I just described at the release of Sonic 4 episode 1 and Sonic Colors especially with the series going back to its 2d roots and this would influence the franchise for the remainder of the decade everything I just said are probably things you've heard a million times now but I said just to preface the question was this a good thing or alternatively was turn the series went within the 2000s a bad thing well I've already gone over the fact that the games in the classic sonic era were never marketed as this stupid stand-up comedy act as characters explain their own jokes to an insufferable degree but I feel like I've already revealed my cards so I might as well continue on this path but first I figured it was worth mentioning that the factors of storytelling aren't limited to the script and the plot points the presentation is also an important part as I was saying the reason I'm even here today is because the most recent main series Sonic game 2017 sonic forces this game has been all over the place when it comes to the reception but many fans have expressed a disappointment with the misleading advertisement and just lack of focus by the way you can expect the points of this video to be expanded upon in future reviews so keep that in mind like I said the franchise has seen a change in 2010 with the people over at Sonic Team and Sega seemingly responding to the things many people were criticizing like how there hadn't been a main series 2d game on console in ages or how Sonic Unleashed was brought down by the werehog stages and so we got a game all about the day stages concept this is the beginning of what I'll continue to refer to as the meta era of Sonic an era that still persists to this day I might add at the time I definitely did agree that this is a positive direction since I really enjoyed colors back when it came out and generations even more so in 2011 I still get my kicks out of both these titles to this day neither is my idea of a perfect Sonic game but still quite good with generations coming out on top as when my favorites in the series are the stories in these games though they're really not that good starting with colors the game of storytelling is that getting much more scrutiny in recent times and I'm gonna say this is for good reason it was more lighthearted but the issue didn't really live there it had more to do with the awful cinematography as characters stand there as we listen to our main characters crack jokes that really aren't that funny and never really were but then go on to explain them and obnoxious detail nothing he's going to stop him it's like the boss was calling Sonic nothing great nobody would get that the line that single-handedly started this turn of Sonic being nothing but memes was this but I saw it dissected as shown there really wasn't anything funny about it beyond the fact that copyright was and still is an immeasurable pain in the ass people like me the set up for the line wasn't there and there's also no payoff for so therefore in context there's just no joke nothing funny this goes from any of the other lines as well generations is probably a worse story than colors overall it just has rushed out the door written all over it since the premise is great but the story stops trying to do anything interesting after the second level as our characters spend the rest of the game standing around waving their arms up and down expositing generations is different from colors of lost world since the game doesn't really tell bad jokes the story is just plainly non-existent which depending on how you look at it might be in its favor since in hindsight we have seen how bad these plots can get however one thing that both games completely fumble the ball on are the dramatic moments in colors this case we spend the whole game going boldly Makino's hair and when there's supposed to be a drama going on in the last level with the great rendition of reach for the stars I'm just not thinking about how the first sign of climax sonic stands there and says this when I heal the ground shaking under my feet I see plumes of dust rising a trouble tumbling and aliens running I get a bad feeling so how about you and me make like a man's hairline and receive in generations they did try to get a bunch of characters involved but they amount to no more than cheerleaders in the ending which doesn't work since again we sent the whole game laughing about bad and annoying all these post Genesis characters are and laughing at our main villains so when the villains gain the upper hand for five seconds you want me to take this garbage seriously it just feels disingenuine like it wasn't earned one bit these two games suffered from poor cutscene direction and bad writing well I've never played the game to finish I can tell you that sonic boom on Wii U's certainly has colors and generations be in the former category I mean you can expect nothing less from a team of people that had their hands in the ps2 jack and ratchet games to some extent like I said I never finished the game for obvious reasons but I think boom shows how you can make a story worth tuning in for if you just present it well even if the writing is lacking but unfortunately colors and generations failed in both categories that made clear after years and years and years of nostalgia pandering awful memes about current events are thoroughly creating his Twitter presence and we have sonic forces which could have been an amazing return to form in the storytelling since we were promised a threatening new villain with a great design a brand new vocal theme and dramatic hook as the heroes have to retake the world that's currently in ruins but as I watched these cutscenes I sighed and disappointment tearing my games off the shelf like I'm patchy the freaking pirate that was just a bunch of cheap walk cycles as the game from an animation and writing standpoint continued to squander every opportunity they had infinite was a brand new and original villain but he just stands around and acts evil when they could have finally done something interesting with the reveal of his/her identity I started revealing him to be some guy who got upset in the free dlc pact not to mention the fact that he just flies away at the end what did they plan on his grand return in the next game well this was your chance to make him interesting and it flopped now who wants to see infinite comeback the other characters could finally step up to the plate and do something for once since none of them have done anything since 2006 but no they just huddle around praying for Sonic and classic Sonic to do something when all of them totally could and would have made for some cool levels not cheap gimmicks to sell copies right at the beginning of forces Sonic is captured and evidently tortured for six months and this also could have been something interesting since it's a position he hasn't been in before but he just comes out making jokes about feet kicking butt TJX and I have been saying it about sly 4 for ages if your characters don't care about the story why should I in a story like colors or generations where it's mostly fluff except for the very end I can forgive it but forces legitimately takes itself really seriously so I blame the writers for causing me to be so bored since the characters were just not written well whatsoever the main concept of the game is a disappointment as well Eggman is one where this just happens in an adobe premiere text box leaving sonic forces as a below mediocre game with a story that could have been grateful it was just pure ass but trust me folks I have saved the worst for last do you want to know what I consider to be the worst story in the history of Sonic the Hedgehog my answers used to be shadow or o6 but no that title firmly belongs to Sonic lost world oh my god where do I begin this game as a whole has been accused of a lot of things ripping mário ripping off classic sonic for the sake of nostalgia you name it and it's all true from the offset you have characters marketed in a similar vein to infinite but these guys the deadly six they could never work they were never gonna work since they just looked ridiculous but that was only the tip of the iceberg for this mess when actually see our villains there's some of the lamest characters in the history of video games rat View incoming folks get ready all of them have a single character trait which I'm sure you've probably heard before but it bears repeating since it's garbage they exist for the sole purpose of telling jokes which would be fine but the problem is that these jokes are some of the crappiest I've ever heard I probably could have said funnier lines I was in kindergarten for crying out loud I've got two words for you diet and exercise no I'm sorry you just have nothing better to do in your life get out of here so our villains are made into cheap jokes but the jokes aren't funny so they just don't work even characters that aren't jokes are just so bland like the old guy what's his personality what's the personality what's the joke what is it funny he's old and teaches stuff hell if I know what it is the girl likes nail art and says call me for what reason I'm sorry but if you want me to laugh you're gonna have to establish context as to why these throwaways stereotypes are funny that doesn't even scratch the surface of what's wrong with this story though the story just straight up makes no sense and some of the worst moral values I've ever seen here's the rundown Eggman was controlling the deadly six until Sonic stupidly kicks the controller away now all their lives are in danger so make up for his own mistake Sonic and Eggman decide to team up once again since that happened on numerous occasions to shut down the Machine the Eggman don't to the deadly six of them of their control a mutually beneficial partnership sounds like a fine story sonic would learn in the end of thinking first is the best course of action is he and Eggman battle another day yadda yadda yadda like usual maybe was tired but anything is better than the garbage they went with tails is here too and he has no problem with this team-up at first like usual but then this comes straight out of nowhere in one of the worst scenes in gaming first I've talked about awful cutscenes but we are literally in the middle of our black void of nothing with lights and a table as the script tries so hard to give these characters real lines but they sound so dumbed down and stupid in the end Eggman does indeed betray the heroes because of course he would but this is after the machine is down tails keeps in a told-you-so moment and sonic apologizes for doubting him even though that never happened what's the moral here why when your friend tries to make a frizam steak and then when you were sort of right you brag about it what I don't really care what the moral is I'm just saying such an inept story I was talking about insincere drama earlier and this game makes colors generations and even forces look like The Last of Us the tone in lost world is so all over the map that I couldn't even draw one seriously the game at times takes itself so disgustingly seriously and it's laughable with the awful English acting and cheesy as all get-out script there's this scene where tails gets captured and I was rolling out of my seat tails acted for the greater good let's make sure his sacrifice isn't for nothing I'm supposed to be the fastest but I was too slow to save my buddy what are these lines those wat sneaky with funniest part being on this game is so inconsistent with its own censorship the game get a higher rating because of this completely out of place rant from Eggman rebellious come and destroy everything you love and make you watch this comes right after stupid lines like that was what school fun entirely and ended then there are more antics when we talk about mass genocide and tales one was getting himself yeah it's like what is this story supposed to be serious or not it's a short game with a minimum amount of cutscenes but what seems like a me dying I feel like it is but then our villains are completely stupid and nobody takes them seriously they even turn tails into a robot and you think he's finally gonna do something for once in the meta era but literally he doesn't do anything and the armors just gone in the next scene as Sonic takes a nap in the ending like none of it ever happened what a load of garbage even then sonic lost roads one of the greatest examples of ludonarrative dissonance that I have ever seen the story and the gameplay literally cannot take place in the same universe as the intended one time power often colours are back but not in the story or how we travel to all these practical environments in the cutscenes but then we play on floating tubes in the sky with green hill imagery drugged-up times a million-two pattern of nostalgia which is the worst example so many levels have just no context or reason to exist like how we play in a beehive in Care Bear donut land in the middle of the sky seriously how do you mess this up the script is inconsistent with the cutscenes take that scene I was talking mind Eggman Slayer for example I was talking about the black room with the lights and all that Sonic literally says quote overcompensate much like I said we're literally looking at a black room with lights I know I'm gonna get heat for saying this but I believe every word Sonic lost world is the worst story I have ever seen put into a Sonic game with inconsistent writing shite motivations terrible villains ludonarrative dissonance and way more wasted potential than forces could ever give us it says something about your half drama half comedy hybrid that I was cringing through every joke and died laughing at every single attempt at drama that got me thinking what is a good sonic story I've clearly shown how the meta era games so clearly try to kiss up to the Genesis games and feel hard at doing so but on that note how about the games from the Dreamcast in Dark Age rant over because I'm not gonna be labeled as a massive nostalgia blinded buffoon but I accept the title with full force can I just say by starting that I don't need Sonic to be a gothic nightmare every game in order for the story to be good I can tell you now that I enjoyed the story in Sonic Heroes it's similar light-hearted to Sonic Colors and onwards but it feels genuine the characters act and character have friendly banter in the story has dramatic moments when it counts like team darks play through the game has some elements that don't work the levels aren't as practical as the adventurer Genesis games but they do still feel like real environments we're traveling through with some elements of foreshadowing like how in the canyon stage you encounter all these capsules resembling one shadow was found on at the beginning what do you know it's real that this shadow isn't the only one running around not everything sticks of course like the cheesy lines and the climax but on the whole I liked it but a great example of a story being more lighthearted but still providing memorable story would be Sonic Riders the presentation is great if as the characters do a great job of emotive as we get gags that reflect the personality of the characters rather than coming at the expense of them which means that dramatic moments still have impact like how sonic really wants to win the race but as his board was sabotage for the opposition so he loses when he gets that second chance to prove himself with no setup or anything he wins basic set up and payoff it's simple really on the other side of that coin hack she found zero gravity story to be kind of weak when I played it again for this video since the cutscenes much like generations consist of characters standing around expositing with minimal story and character interactions but back on the subject of the more serious games I'm thinking all the best moments in the history of the franchise and none of them came from these shitty ass stand-up comedy acts as we explain our jokes expose it and botch drama so bad that it's laughable this doesn't just come from the unholy dream cast in Dark Ages that I grew up with either this goes all the way back to the genesis games when Sonic came close to Robotnik but has then sent down to the caves giving you that extra motivation to get back up there and face that final boss how about in Sonic 2 when Sonic is falling with no chance of recovery but tails shows how much he cares with the friendship by saving him from certain doom remember Sonic 3 when you spend the whole game trying to make sure the death they can't take off but when it does if desperately chased the thing and by this scan of your teeth Sonic and Tails make it on board to stop Robotnik amusing too recently stole a Master Emerald from destroying everything see if a Genesis and Dreamcast era games aren't as different as you may think back in the list of great sonic moments I remember spending all of essay 1 trying to stop chaos from growing and so that gave you the incentive to travel through the levels and stop that from happening but when your efforts were revealed to be in vain if felt like a crushing defeat all the while combined with flashes of the past is our heroes to the tragedy that unfolded thousands of years ago to the Echidna tribe that led to chaos being the way he is now this came to a head in the last story where chaos is in his final form and sonic realizes that sealing him again won't change anything it transforms into super sonic for the very first time in 3d graphics as you blaze through the flooded destroyed city is open your heart blasts in the background during this epic encounter [Music] the presentation of Sonic Adventure has aged like cheese and not an aged sharp cheese more like a slice of Bryant's been sitting under your fridge for two years but this is cool that's the key word here I'm interested in seeing what goes on throughout the narrative since it's simply interesting and this was never done before in platformers at the time it's similar to the slide trilogy in that way not presented the best but it still was interesting since the story is worth following I'll take the stories of essay 1 or sly one over at Jack 1 any day and that gave me some of the best animation in the business essay 2 is actually the exact same way well there are plenty of things I don't like about the game it was for lack of a better term epic unlike forces we see Sonic and position of vulnerability that we hadn't seen before and he reacted accordingly in his battles with shadow as the characters have moments to spare before the earth is completely eradicated by Eggman the story has stakes not just because big things happen but because the characters act like it's serious and therefore the drive to finish the game is far stronger like in crazy gadget as Sonic tends to forget his goal of shutting down the laser cannon as he makes a mad dash for the control room while Eggman holds tails and Amy at gunpoint as a kid I was in the edge of my seat as you might expect as if that wasn't good enough the last story once again makes the climax the main story I feel like is nothing as the arc itself is crashing into the earth with sonic and shadow stepping up to save the day as live and learn kicks in as the earth is within five minutes in complete and total destruction I still have no idea what these lyrics even about and it fits perfectly [Applause] [Music] I'm not just trying to recap moments here but the point I'm trying to make is that once a pod time things were happening at all which puts these games above colors or generations and the writers told the stories of say three K or sa two or Sonico six even with sincerity they wanted it to be epic they wanted it to be interesting and good it doesn't feel like there's an ounce of cynicism or censorship under the radar like and lost all their forces why do you think fans still remember shadows sacrifice and the ensuing bittersweet ending as Sonic bids them farewell on his way off the arc with the rest of his friends because it was memorable because it did come after a huge journey with stakes and characters we like things like this were reasons why we kept playing these games instead of Mario or crash the characters in the universe that kept expanding game after game was why we enjoyed these games and kept coming back yes the story and Shadow the Hedgehog was an absolute disaster and was about as hilarious as forces when it came to its dramatic moments since the execution was too plainly awful not to mention insanely inconsistent Sonic oh six is riddled with plot issues and none of which that are minor nitpicks like essay 2 as the Internet has said time and time again the time travel rules make no sense the motivations are absolutely contrived with questions raised that can never be answered but the characters involved made it worth finishing when I was a kid I will never forget the ending of Shadows playthrough as he and his friends take a stand against meth lists or just shadows played through as a whole so this provided a fitting send-off for the character as well as Rouge and Omega or how The Fantasticks Loras phase 2 music played over the final boss [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I enjoyed exploring actual environments with a story behind them like the ruins or theme parks of si1 the different layers of Angel Island and sonic 3k the new ideas and locations from the storybook games with the intense action set-pieces littered throughout as sonic road' logs down rivers and flew on magic carpets across the night sky or battled dragons and volcanoes ending black night on a very interesting moral note how about the countries of Sonic Unleashed which by the way might just hold the crown in terms of having great build-off throughout the story with a truly epic climax of cinematic camera angles daring set pieces and an ending shot that leaves you satisfied with a journey that has been completed as endless possibilities plays in the credits all of these games from Sonic 1 all the way to Sonic and the Black Knight have left me with moments imagery set pieces music and storylines I will never forget and this includes handheld games spin-offs you name it yes I do not want the stories to be as laughably tryhard as Shadow row 6 but I don't think any other games suffered from that other than those two story wise the rest of the series was definitely not the greatest works of fiction you'll ever see but it kept me and other young fans coming back as well colors and generations are one thing but I am just personally out Paul does a longtime fan but the stories of forces are lost world especially I said to my sonic advance retrospective last summer that I was alienated by the series and wasn't a big fan anymore just somebody who casually enjoyed them but that marathon brought me back and made me care with the delicious treat of Sonic mania coming right after I finished it now I do care again I do want consistent quality and not the meme based dostala' Japan they're in garbage that we've been getting lately the developers of boom had the right ideas and attitudes but the game was a flop and so anything it did was scrapped all I'm saying is that instead of calling back to what we think the Genesis games were why not go back and realise that the adventure games some of the Dark Age games like Unleashed or Black Knight we're really just taking with the Genesis games at dawn and taken to the next level games like shadow and O six failed at this but I consider them still better than lost Walder forces since they at least did what they did with conviction I do want to see this series improve and this script might make you think I'm referring to like essay 3 or something I'm really not I just want them to stop with the mean humor stop with the low look how bad we are attitude they have now not to mention hire better writers for the main game as I might add I just want them to stop being so scared of what the Dreamcast and Dark Age games stand for since I just see the intent to take the series in the next level in those games whether it worked like s8 or Unleashed or if it didn't like shadow row 6 I do believe that Sonico 6 is probably the worst sonic amp what it's done to the series but I still have a bit of a soft spot for it admittedly but I can expand upon that in a later video all I have seen in the years from 2010 to now is a regression of the series I used to love and while the games might still be good or bad it's never too late to improve the quality standard from the low points that are lost world enforces have your characters take themselves seriously and do it with writers that want to be writing it since they care about the series in its history stop basing the series is marketing on whoa look how bad we are do this make sonic cool again and I think you'll have a good story and a good game on your hands this videos gone much longer than I was planning but hey I do manage to sit through this ramble filled with rants and praise and some points in between I thank you this be the first of a few editorials I plan on doing this summer to keep you guys with content flow while I cook up some great reviews for the fall so once again thank you all for watching and I will see you next time [Music]

Channel: J's Reviews

Views: 1,157,878

Keywords: J's Reviews, Editorial, J's Reviews Sonic, Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic Series, Storytelling in Sonic, Why Modern Sonic Games Suck, Why the Sonic Adventure Games are Great, Why Sonic Should be Serious, Was Sonic 06 That Bad?, Sonic Advance Series, Sonic Story Discussed, Sonic Storybook Series, Sonic Colors, Why Sonic Colors Story is bad, Sonic Lost World, Sonic Forces, Why Sonic Forces has a terrible Story, Sonic Lost World is the worst story in the series

Id: SDNz342v_qA

Length: 27min 39sec (1659 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 22 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/ggtsu_00]

Really reading too deep into this. Is it really such a stretch to just assume Sega's Sonic Team just has bad writers?

[u/allofusarelost]

The cartoon had good stories, the comic had good stories, whoever has been in charge of Sonic since he went 3D need to be sacked.

[u/[deleted]]

Honestly I legit thought the story of Black Knight was unironically pretty good, but the big problem was that...well it was a Sonic game. That kind of story just doesn't suit a series where anthropomorphic animals run really fast.

Colors is still the current gold standard for me, even if it's pretty simple. It's writing at least got a chuckle out of me every once in a while.

[u/Guffbaw]

The Sonic games with the best story are the ones that seemingly have no story at all.

Back when I first played Sonic 3, I raced through every level, admiring the diversity and aesthetics of each level but only conciously enjoying the gameplay. When I revisited this game as an older gamer (and with my post-Dark Souls appreciation of the unseen and untold) I noticed that the story is what defined the look and flow of each level.

The story was simple, but it informed and enhanced the gameplay on show. The locations worked to take the player unconciously through this journey.

This was the way older games did storytelling - there wasn’t enough space on the game medium to have the story be anything else than subtly implied. This allowed players the freedom to enjoy the game from two approahes - sheer gameplay, or gameplay PLUS story, leaving everyone satisfied.

Old examples are many - Crash Bandicoot 1, Metroid, Castlevania

This old school way of storytelling is having a resurgence - Dark Souls and Bloodborne, Journey, Hollow Knight.

I think the issue with Sonic is the forceful implementation of a neccessary story, which allows for the possibility of a bad story.

A solution is for the minds behind Sonic to go back to the old way - design a game which can be thouroughly enjoyed WITHOUT a story, then begin subtly injecting story elements that can be found by those who want to find them.

[u/Xikkom]

Id love it if Sonic Team could find a good balance of both again. Sonic Adventure, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Battle, Sonic Unleashed all tried to tell a serious story, yet still had lots of character skits and interactions in between.

Nowadays, its just a focus on Sonic, Tails and misadventures.

That said, The Sonic comics are a good way of fans wanting deeper lore and world building in the franchise. The new IDW comics look fantastic and follow directly after forces.

[u/TAG_Enigma]

Well here's the biggest issue, you're trying to give a sonic game a story. Cut the bullshit, enough with this end of the world shit and having humans and making these insanely high stakes plots. Just make a sonic game first, and then include a story like Mario games do where the same shit keeps happening just themed differently.

[u/McDermottx94]

The problem for Sonic right now is that the stories are just simply too silly. I'm not asking for another mess up like Sonic 06 (which was admittedly one of my guilty pleasures, minus the story and bugs and loading times), but we do need to maybe get a bit more 'serious'.

[u/Tiber727]

Here's the formula for a perfect Sonic story:

Dr. Robotnik (sorry, Dr. Eggman sucks as a name) comes up with a new doomsday weapon. Sonic, Tails (who has come down with a sore throat and cannot talk), and Knuckles stop him, through a combination of moving really fast and turning into a ball and hitting things. No other heroes are involved.

[u/OleKosyn]

Sega should get its head out of its ass and hire CWC to write the stories. They're letting his talent languish and rot away.

Christian! Weston! CHANDLER!