!@#$% senses tingling!
(although I DO have to say they screwed up with all the glitches and bugs in Mass Effect)
Direct result of rushed development. Mass Effect needed more time for polish. The bugs don't really detract from the game as a whole though.
Mario RPG was made during a time of great prosperity for the Mario games, a time when Mario could do no wrong.
Since Mario has gone 3D, the infamous plumber has had one really good game, that one being Super Mario Galaxy. (Not counting spinoffs) Mario RPG came out in 1996, the same time Mario 64 came out. Mario 64 set some new standards for games to follow at the time, but it was really a horrid piece of a !@#$%. There's nothing special about it. Graphics were bad for the time, sound was forgettable, gameplay was loose. It was just a victim of being one of the first now standard 3D games out. As for Mario RPG, the game is supposed to be pretty good, (Never played it personally) but at the same time, Nintendo didn't develop it. A younger Squaresoft that was on a roll at the time pumped out Mario RPG. Much like Bioware today.
On another note, Sonic's in great shape as a franchise. Sonic games sell like hotcakes. Does it matter if the <1% of fans who think the games are heaping piles of !@#$% don't buy them? No, SEGA still makes its money from the other 99%. To the now more business oriented SEGA-Sammy, Sonic's doing great, and there's absolutely no reason to fix what isn't broken. Outsourcing Sonic for an RPG now makes business sense.
But once they hit us with Sonic 3D blast, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic the Hedgehog (360 (and ps3?)), and *shudders* Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic kinda lost his credibility, his speed, and his fun.
Sonic 1 - Considered a stepping stone for the franchise
Sonic 2 - Polished a great formula making a killer game
Sonic 3 - Added to Sonic 2, although changed the feel a little bit and was a lot shorter
Sonic and Knuckles - Back half of Sonic 3, fixes the length problem, lets you play as Knux.
Sonic 3D Blast - Experiment for Sonic in 3D through an isometric view. Overshadowed by Mario 64 which came later, and well... Just sucked.
Sonic X-Treme - Strange fish eye view game that was meant to combat Mario 64. The project was cut by Mr. Naka himself for unknown reasons. If you watch some of the recreated videos of the game, you can see why it was cut. It makes you dizzy.
Sonic Adventure - Considered a step in the right direction as Sonic transitioned to true 3D. Excellent game, especially for 1999.
Sonic Adventure 2 - One step forward, two steps backwards. Sonic stages were much more refined this time around, and made the game a killer app once it was ported to the GCN. Knux treasure hunting stages were bearable but not great, more refined from Adventure. The mech stages were dumbed down from Adventure, and they weren't that fun to begin with. Pretty good game overall.
Sonic Heroes - Take Adventure 2's speed stages, now add in some glitches, and take out most of the fun. Also, remove the original boss fights. You have Sonic Heroes. Sold millions in Europe alone. Poor game, huge success.
Sonic Rush - Portable Sonic with high speeds and great fun. Excellent game.
Sonic and the Secret Rings - On rails Sonic game that's considered excellent. Has some control issues until you get all the powerups, but what Wii game doesn't?
Sonic 06 - Deceptively great E3 trailer. Bad E3 demo. Worse overall game. This game didn't even have a release candidate made. SEGA of Japan said "WE WANT MONIEZ HAVE IT DONE BY THE HOLIDAYZ" so the game was released too early. Also, the debug team that handled this game did Shadow the Hedgehog. Apparently SEGA of America (Or maybe it was Europe, I don't remember) had to debug the game from scratch because the copy they received was literally unplayable. (Worse than Sonic 06) This had all the elements of a good game, it just suffered from load times, glitches, control issues, and furries.
Also, I believe the Mario story was quite a bit more... simple and buildable when making Mario RPG.
Mario Story - Princess Peach has been kidnapped. Go save her from Bowser.
Sonic Story - Flickies have been kidnapped. Go save them from Robotnik.
Bioware's not going to use the modern self-contained plot lines that add a new character every game. The only part of the Sonic plot that isn't self-contained concerns Shadow, with his origins and what happened to him after Adventure 2.
My personal view is that the game will be praised by critics yet fail miserably commercially, ultimatley becoming a cult classic.
Considering the current state of things, that prediction is impossible. 99% chance it will sell fantastic. It will be come a classic if it's good.
What I'm disturbed by is them making a Sonic RPG at a time when Sonic can do no right.
It's become trendy to call Sonic a dead franchise. Look at King of Fighters if you want an example of how a franchise can do a 180 after a period of stagnation. King of Fighter XII is going to be amazing, better than the crap Capcom's pumping out with Street Fighter. (Even your precious SF2HD)
Yes, but the Mario series contains many good 3D games.
Mario 64 - As explained earlier, victimized by its times. Poor to mediocre game.
Super Mario Sunshine - They fixed up the mechanics, but added the FLUDD and changed the setting and atmosphere to something that Mario isn't. This one's average at best. Mario fans should've been repulsed by this thing honestly.
New Super Mario Bros. - Why hello there awkward physics! Not a true 3D Mario but Mario didn't have enough to cover really. This game was fun for the first level and then became a chore. Poor.
Super Mario Galaxy - AAA title. GotY IMO. Turn around for the Mario series.
They're moving SO FAR away from the very thing that the game was based off of when it was created.
Myth: Sonic is built off of speedy gameplay.
Fact: Sonic games are about engaging platforming, much like Mario. The two series are very similar, Sonic just happens to be slightly faster paced (You can thank Sonic 2 for that) Most of the games that tried to focus on RAW SPEED sucked. Advance 2, Sonic Heroes, 06 Speed Stages, etc. The trick to a good Sonic game is a mixture of atmosphere and fun platforming, mixed with variety.
New Sonic games are like Naruto games. Retarded games appealing to only a certain audience.
R-Word. Don't. etc.
I wonder what weapons he'll have?
So far screen indicate that Sonic and co attack like they do in the platformers. Sonic will roll up into a ball and beat the !@#$% out of robots. Projectiles? Shadow had guns, he'll probably get them.
