Sonic shouldn't have a serious story

[Ikagura]

to begin with. Edginess should stay in the 2000's and for the 12 years olds.

I hope the next game will be lighthearted like in Mania.

[NBOX21]

Originally posted by ◆Ikagura◇:

I mean Generations was an anniversary game involving time travel.

And you know what happened when time travel was involved in Sonic 2006, it got confusing.

Time travel is typically a recipe for disaster in storytelling anyway. Sonic isn't the only one either. Sly Cooper Thieves in Time also had a time travel story and was just as confusing, messy and non-sensical.

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by NBOX21:

Originally posted by ◆Ikagura◇:

I mean Generations was an anniversary game involving time travel.

And you know what happened when time travel was involved in Sonic 2006, it got confusing.

Time travel is typically a recipe for disaster in storytelling anyway. Sonic isn't the only one either. Sly Cooper Thieves in Time also had a time travel story and was just as confusing, messy and non-sensical.

At least Crash Bandicoot 3 didn't get too much problem with it.


But I agree, time travel is a narrative trap (This is why I think that Terminator shouldn't have reused time travel again since Judgement days)

[NBOX21]

Originally posted by ◆Ikagura◇:

At least Crash Bandicoot 3 didn't get too much problem with it.

The way Warped handled time travel has more to do with the levels and their theming rather than the story, but we never questioned any of it because your goals were consistent with the actual story itself, which is gathering all the crystals... of course!

[FauxFurry]

If Sonic Forces didn't have a 'serious' story then it would diminish the output of high grade bathos that comes from playing with the ultimate end result of the many of the customization options available to players. It might not be half as entertaining if it were lighthearted in tone.

[NBOX21]

Originally posted by FauxFurry:

If Sonic Forces didn't have a 'serious' story then it would diminish the output of high grade bathos that comes from playing with the ultimate end result of the many of the customization options available to players. It might not be half as entertaining if it were lighthearted in tone.

There are ways for games to have stories that are light in tone but still have their share of serious moments that add tension when needed and further immerse the player in their world while still being entertaining - games like Spyro 3, Sonic Heroes and Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door are examples of what I mean.

[Scabloonshki]

I don't think there is a problem in having serious stories. I think some people are confusing "dark" stories with "serious" stories.

When I think of a dark Sonic story I think of something like Sonic 06 or Sonic Forces, where everybody seems out of character for the sake of delivering this melodramatic narrative that people often don't care about because the writing for such a story doesn't suit the Sonic aesthetic, the writing certainly doesn't help either.

When I think of a serious story, i think of something like Sonic Unleashed. In that game, most of the dialogue seems very light-hearted, but it still feels like the game knows when to take itself seriously.

I don't think the answer is to just go back to the way the classics handled story and just have Sonic be a silent protagonist engaging a very simplistic story with minimal stakes, that just seems regressive. That sort of style is OK for a character like Mario, but Sonic's main appeal is that he was a bolder and edgier version of Mario. Voice acting and more serious stories are part of what separate Sonic and Mario, and I don't think we should have Sonic move away from that sort of thing just because of poor execution in certain entries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpUAq4Ax_o4&app=desktop

This video by SuperMarioT pretty much sums up my thoughts when it comes to the issue of modern Sonic's stories. Quite frankly I think there is bigger issues outside of some stories being "dark."

[NBOX21]

Originally posted by Scabloonshki:

I don't think there is a problem in having serious stories. I think some people are confusing "dark" stories with "serious" stories.

When I think of a dark Sonic story I think of something like Sonic 06 or Sonic Forces, where everybody seems out of character for the sake of delivering this melodramatic narrative that people often don't care about because the writing for such a story doesn't suit the Sonic aesthetic, the writing certainly doesn't help either.

When I think of a serious story, i think of something like Sonic Unleashed. In that game, most of the dialogue seems very light-hearted, but it still feels like the game knows when to take itself seriously.

I don't think the answer is to just go back to the way the classics handled story and just have Sonic be a silent protagonist engaging a very simplistic story with minimal stakes, that just seems regressive. That sort of style is OK for a character like Mario, but Sonic's main appeal is that he was a bolder and edgier version of Mario. Voice acting and more serious stories are part of what separate Sonic and Mario, and I don't think we should have Sonic move away from that sort of thing just because of poor execution in certain entries.

Sonic Adventure 2 is another example of a story that, while kind of dark in the last story, still felt serious while every character was still in-character while having some good light-hearted jokes here and there to balance out the more serious moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPvtm9Ms_1g

And yeah, voice acting and fully animated cutscenes are just the next natural step in the evolution of video games in general. After all, you can only tell so much in the instruction manual before spoiling very important late-game plot twists. The stories in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Unleashed other games like Spyro 3 could not possibly work by telling the entire story without dialogue or limiting it to the manual.

[HaveACigar]

I agree that I'd like to see Sonic go back to the more "serious" stories of SA1, 2, and Unleashed, but the people that obsess over the story in Sonic and act as if it rivals the works of Melville and Tolkien kind of frighten me to be honest. It's as if Sonic is the ONLY piece of media that they consume.

[Duckilous]

Originally posted by HaveACigar:

I agree that I'd like to see Sonic go back to the more "serious" stories of SA1, 2, and Unleashed, but the people that obsess over the story in Sonic and act as if it rivals the works of Melville and Tolkien kind of frighten me to be honest. It's as if Sonic is the ONLY piece of media that they consume.

I don't think anyone here who likes Sonic lore are like that, but then again the Sonic fandom is... something if you're not in the talented side of the community like romhacking and all that.

[HaveACigar]

Originally posted by Duckilous:

I don't think anyone here who likes Sonic lore are like that, but then again the Sonic fandom is... something if you're not in the talented side of the community like romhacking and all that.

I know it's not the majority, but there are a handful of Sonic fans out there that are insane. Like threatening Iizuka, Aaron Webber, and various voice actors levels of insanity.

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by Duckilous:

Originally posted by HaveACigar:

I agree that I'd like to see Sonic go back to the more "serious" stories of SA1, 2, and Unleashed, but the people that obsess over the story in Sonic and act as if it rivals the works of Melville and Tolkien kind of frighten me to be honest. It's as if Sonic is the ONLY piece of media that they consume.

I don't think anyone here who likes Sonic lore are like that, but then again the Sonic fandom is... something if you're not in the talented side of the community like romhacking and all that.

True

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by HaveACigar:

Originally posted by Duckilous:

I don't think anyone here who likes Sonic lore are like that, but then again the Sonic fandom is... something if you're not in the talented side of the community like romhacking and all that.

I know it's not the majority, but there are a handful of Sonic fans out there that are insane. Like threatening Iizuka, Aaron Webber, and various voice actors levels of insanity.

Aaron Webber is a nice guy

[Chilliersonico]

I feel like stories should be dark. They add a layer of intensity and stakes, it shouldn't be dark and boring like 06 where it's dark and feels so bland. But with good writing and characters acting in character it would be fine.

[Ikagura]

Originally posted by Chilliersonico:

I feel like stories should be dark. They add a layer of intensity and stakes, it shouldn't be dark and boring like 06 where it's dark and feels so bland. But with good writing and characters acting in character it would be fine.

Or just put the story in the background as an excuse... I mean Mania managed to be a good game even if the entire story is just about the phantom ruby teleporting Sonic

[NBOX21]

When I look at the writing for Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Riders, Sonic Unleashed and even Sonic and the Black Knight, I think of a cast of characters with such a personality and tone that make them likeable and cool that you wish you could be just like them. But when I see the writing for Sonic Free Riders, Colours and onward, what I see are a group of imposters pretending to be the same cast of characters who are only trying, but failing to be just like the real deal, thus end up becoming more insufferable than anything else.

That's not the kind of Sonic I want to see, nor are these the kind of characters I want out of this series.