Automation and You - A Feedback thread regarding the Sonic 4 Saga

[Saberclaws]

---OP (Opening post) UPDATED 16/04/12---

As consente'd by the user 1994 i got us an extra to discuss about .

1994 suggested using an difficuly menu as state'd on the OP.

Since i am unable to remove the current poll, i would like every user to personaly submit your thoughts regarding this Difficulty option.

Thank you .

[RandomPerson]

Meh, why not?
It'd be a great way to introduce the gameplay to newcomers while those who are already experienced can play the normal/hard mode.

[hypersonic2560]

In mobile ports of Sonic 1, 2 and advance there were difficulty settings.
It was basically just changing the amount of enemies.
Easy had no enemies.
Normal had the original enemy places.
Hard had ridiculous amounts of enemies.

I'd like something like that.

[Kevassa]

Sonic Jam and Sonic Pocket Adventure had difficulties too.

[Saberclaws]

Sonic Jam and Sonic Pocket Adventure had difficulties too.

Uhh, that's intresting, i knew Sonic Jam had Difficulties, i remember it cutting down 1 act and beeing more player friendly in live's if i ain't mistaken, didn't knew pocket had difficulties tho, meh, i really whiche'd i could play that game :0.

Eitherway's all this is pretty much proving how such an "Simple step" could go an long way, and could, drasticly change the outcome on how many player's see the game .

[Nieves]

Not big on the idea. My most intuitive response is why would there be an option for varying amounts of stupid? Just produce the least stupid design and go with that.

Because there really isn't a whole lot of people here saying "No, I like the boosters, I like the automation, leave them all in." The idea suggested was making a good point in that it wouldn't be difficult for the devs to implement these different layouts, but I haven't really seen on this or other forums any strong opposition to just decreasing automation outright. Pretty much everyone is on the same page with feeling that there can be better. So why not just implement the "better"? Instead of throwing in the option for "not better" that no-one, as far as I've noticed, is actually fighting for.

Secondly, this isn't about difficulty. Nor was this idea born from the need for difficulty options.

If you really believe in having difficulty settings, talk about rings, badniks, obstacles, powerups and bosses before bothering with boosters. That would be a discussion about difficulty settings. This is really a discussion about automation settings. And that's strange; I've never seen a game with that in the options. If you want to let the game hold the hands of younger players, go back to difficulty settings. You don't need to flog more boosters to help the kids/mums. Case in point, the Splash Hill hack. Is anyone registering an increase in difficulty watching that? So in terms of automation, which is what the idea is really about, I go back to my first point. This is about how the player plays, not how much of a challenge the level presents. So I think it's better to just aim for a best design and avoid the plays-itself option.

Besides, how does that make Sonic games look? To now come with an option that literally sets from the start how much the game plays itself for you. Just design a level properly in the first place. -_-

[Copley Hill Zone]

Besides, how does that make Sonic games look? To now come with an option that literally sets from the start how much the game plays itself for you. Just design a level properly in the first place. -_-

Actually, this.

Well said Nieves.

My apologies chap - I seem to have run out of different plaudits!

[jotenko]

As a not-that-rich-kid back in the 90s, I could not afford to have a Mega CD nor Sonic CD. So, to make my long wait for S4E2 more bearable, I gave Sonic CD a shot, and downloaded it from PSN.

What I have to say is that ... boy!! I felt like I was a kid again. I already finished the game 3 times, and I still feel like playing it every time I come back home.

See, this is what's missing from Sonic 4! The urge to play the game again, and again, and again, the magnificent level design, the flawless platforming, the way you jump from a badnick to a spring then to a box, it just feels so good. Oh and let's not mention the music - it's just BEYOND godlike.

When I play Sonic 4 I just don't feel it. I just feel like there are 4 random zones with 3 acts, with badnicks spread all over them with no logic or whatsoever.

Sonic CD = almost no automation at ALL, you are in control of your destiny and that sense of accomplishment is what feels so good about it!

[Modochi]

yeah... those things were cool.

of course it's followed by the memory of one of those springs sending Sonic flying right into a pair of spikes in Sonic 3 when I jumped on it with nearly max speed.

[Zepaladin]

like everything in life (and especially in Sonic games), it's close to (if not) impossible to please everyone. Lets look at a few aspects:

1) the automation of the levels: i could go on and on and on about how games have (mostly) been directed at casual gamers as of late, with overal difficulty levels going down over the years (achievements earned for completing basic actions, tutorial levels, little hints and helps everywhere. I dont remember there being any pitfall warnings in old sonic games at least.....or HELLO! I AM OMOCHAAAAAOOOO! Of course as the game industry slowly changes to please less dedicated players, stuff is bound to get easier. This is ONE way to see it. a second one would be that Sega (as shown lately) is having monetary difficulties (money problems) and might not have the resources to spend on the making of a Sonic level composed only of grand levels, filled with puzzles, well elaborated and long (the standart for long being for example, carnival night zone from S3&K, Egg Rocket Zone act 1 from Sonic Advance 1 and maybe classic planet wisp from SG). The third possibility being simple lazyness. It could also of course be a simple marketing strategy to launch games more frequently to make more money faster.

2) Difficulty in sonic games has always been.....how would i put it.....dubious...
im not saying its a bad thing but at least for me i usually dont even notice there is a difficulty option in sonic games.. i mean sonic isnt the kind of game where you can easyli change the difficulty. Why? well...how would you do it? you can increase the number of enemies and spikes and traps and whatnot....but thats about it. you cant increase the damage output of the enemies since in sonic there is no health bar and reducing the amount of lives avakiliable would probably seem unfair to some people. For example back in sonic 2 or 3 i never played in other difficulty other than the default one.... tho i noticed after trying easy that there was some facilitism at least special-stage-wise.

I dunno, it feels to me like sonic shouldnt even have variable difficulty to begin with.... it feels like the kind of game that should have a moderate difficulty with some hard parts here and there...... that being how the old games were. But as i wrote in 1) the casualisation of the market makes it so that sonic games are easy with a moderate part here and there instead. Casual players probably wont complain, normal mid-tier players (such as myself) might not complain and harcore gamers might or might not complain, since for hardcore gamers sonic isnt even about the difficulty in the first place but (at least as of late) more about the nostalgia. the only thing i see hardcore players doing in sonic games are speedruns, and i dont see them complaining about the games difficulty on that point, since they simply adapt to it. This is their way of having a "serious\hardcore challenge" in a Sonic game.....making a better time that other people.