CYBERDAGGER'S PROFILE

author=wildwes
I don't normally cry foul over big changes in game series but... really? REALLY!?

EDIT: Why? They're taking away the two trademark Pokémon themes. What are they?
Pokémon is in 2D. It has a color or precious metal in it's name. They removed both!

You're absolutely right! I am outraged! How dare they make a main series Pokémon game in 3D? Why must Nintendo always do this? I mean, just look at Zelda! Zelda's in 2D too! But no, they had to make that Ocarina of Time crap! And don't even get me started on Super Mario 64!

Now with a little less sarcasm, let me get to the names. Rubies, saphires and emeralds are not metals, and are not colors either. They're gems. Were you outraged back then? And you seem to be forgetting that cycle where the three games were named after a mineral, a hard substance created by an animal, and a metal. The names aren't related in any way, unless the theme is "things that are hard". Game Freak can name their games however they want, and they are the only judges of what is fitting for a Pokémon game's name. Besides, they'd eventually need to go for really obscure metals and colors if they followed your completely arbitrary rules. I'd rather they got names that roll off the tongue better from other sources, as they are doing.

The two trademark Pokémon themes? You collect colorful monsters with awesome powers and make them fight each other. They're both still there and not going anywhere.

What I'm seeing so far interests me. I think the 3D cel-shaded look fits the game prtty well, and while I think the overworld graphics could use a bit more definition, I am more than satisfied with how the battles look.

I am a bit more partial to Fennekin (as are most people), but I have to say that the other starters have quickly grown on me. I suspect it won't be an easy choice when I get the game. If I chose the version for the legendary only, I'd go for Y for sure. Yveltal is distilled badass. Still, I'll have to see what the other version differences are. And I hope the predictions that the starters will evolve into Grass/Dark, Fire/Psychic and Water/Fighting are correct. The logic is sound.

I'm very interested in what these games might bring to the table mechanically. Though from an outside perspective it may seem like Pokémon games have never changed mechanically, they have changed, just in ways that are a bit subtle and don't jump at your face. Gen II introduced two new types, separated the Special stat into an offensive and a defensive stat, intruduced breeding, allowing some Pokémon to get some moves they normally wouldn't by using this system, and introduced a barebones equipment system (Disregarding very specific and niche occasions, Leftovers was always the best choice). Gen III introduced passive abilities, natures, which allow you to boost a stat by 10% at the cost of 10% of another (Pretty easy to get a net gain out of it), double battles, expanded on the equipment, and reworked the EV system, turning it into a customization option by implementing a limit that made it so only two stats could be fully boosted. Gen IV separated physical and special properties by move rather than by type, making Fire Punch physical as it should always have been (better late than never). Gen V introduced triple battles and through its Dream World gave a bunch of old Pokémon new abilities that sometimes drastically changed their useability (Case in point, Politoed and Ninetales, first non-legendary automatic rain and sun inducers).

And that's just the general stuff, you can think of each new Pokémon game as an expansion, and each new pokémon, move, ability or item has the potential to add new strategic options to the game. In that way, Pokémon is kinda like a collectible card game, with your six Pokémon, their four moves each and their equipped items being your deck. Anyone who has played those kinds of games (Magic superior master race) knows how exciting a new expansion can be.

So yeah, I am eagerly awaiting to see what new toys I'm going to get.

And before I leave, here's a fan interpretaition of what the final forms of the starters might look like:

If Chespin's final form look anything like that, I'm going grass.

I'd like to see you try to SotN that last castle, Locke...

And speaking of Sonic Chronicles, I don't know who was in charge of the sound in that, but some executions are in order.

I did like the hand drawn maps, though, and I'll probably end up doing something similar one of these days.

Sonic and RPGs just aren't easy to mix, I'm afraid. And believe me, I've spent a lot of time thinking about this already. Sonic's not like Mario, where you can stick him in whatever genre you want and make it work out. That is because Sonic has a certain part of his identity that can't be translated into some genres. Motion. Sonic is all about motion. And RPGs are about fighting in static areas, sometimes not moving at all. And even if you implement platforming elements, as you were saying, there's still two very large problems with that.

One, RPG battles will break the flow. Even if you make accurate Sonic platforming (which you won't, more on that later), the battles force you to stop. That is frustrating. Sonic Heroes played like an Adventure game with a team mechanic that left much to be desired, and it suffered a lot because of precisely that. There you were, running around at the speed of sound, and suddenly the game would lock you in a square room with three enemies with fucktons of HP, and not open the door until you dealt with them. That was frustrating as hell, and RPG battles would be even more frustrating.

You can't make accurate Sonic platforming. Not even Sega can. Ask the fans about Sonic 4 or Generations' classic levels and they'll tell you that they got the physics wrong. (Although Generations did a better job, its worst sin is the spin dash being overpowered.) Sonic style platforming is all about the physics, mostly momentum. Downward slopes give you momentum, upward slopes take your momentum. Jumping from a slope changes your jump's trajectory. Being able to cross a loop of vertical wall depends on how much momentum you has when you got to it. Take the lazy way and make something with only horizontal slopes or slopes that don't influence your momentum, and all you have is Mario with a Sonic skin. Nobody would like that.

I have given up on the idea of a Sonic RPG long ago, for the reasons above. And if even freaking Bioware couldn't do it, what makes you think you can?

You know in what genre Sonic would look good, though? Fighting games! The cast is crazy enough to make an interesting game. You have the expert martial artist that only shows his martial arts expertise by punching things really hard, and somehow managed to learn martial arts despite living the first 16 years of his life as the only person in a floating island, with nobody to teach him martial arts. You have the girl with a humongous hammer. You have the ninja. The expert martial artist who actually had training by the military, and for some reason only uses kicks. The science experiment that throws energy blasts and manipulates the flow of time. The pyrokinetic. The killer robot with more weapons in its arms than could logically fit inside. The kid gadgeteer with a freak mutation that lets him fly. The huge crocodile detective. The fat cat with a fishing rod voiced by Duke Nukem.

Yep, crazy enough to work. I, for one, would love to see the Sonic cast in a Arc Syste Works style hectic and over the top fighting game.

(And yes, I know Sonic already had one and a half fighing games.)

Or put one central hub town and one dungeon, maybe two if you really want to push it. If you're going to be visiting planets, the planets are the towns, in a sense. That's how Bioware did it with their space games, and nobody complained that you could only explore a small subsection of the planets.

Looks like you got someone willing to help, but next time, actually put the effort into coming up with an informative title. Putting a smiley like that tells us nothing about what you want, makes you look like a joke who nobody should take seriously, and to be honest, just from seeing that title I already felt like not helping you with whatever it was you wanted.