Was Sonic Adventure too easy?

[Chad]

I'm not sure of the attention span people have on this site, but I like to type things. :3

A lot of people praise Sonic Adventure for being one of the greatest Sonic Adventure games, and I can see why. The controls were outstanding, the story was amazing, the music was fantastic, and everything had a nice feel to it. I can agree with a lot of these, but when it comes to actually playing the game, there's one problem that I've personally picked up on.


Sonic Adventure was TOO easy.


Now, I'm not sure on how it was for everyone else, but it was way too easy for me, especially Sonic's game-play. As Sonic is the major focus of the game (in my opinion), I'm only going to be focusing on his style of game-play.


Here's the first stage. Watch the following video at this link.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnNTj0zwMFU


It's Emerald Coast. If you look really close, you'll realize that the entire stage has one gimmick. That is, to move forward. There's not that many obstacles that are hard to avoid, none of that. Everything can be walked around, and the stages are a bit too... linear? Basically what I'm trying to say is, there's not really much to do in the stage. Minus the wall-jumping bits and the part where you have to run along the wall to reach a higher area, what else does the stage do beside make you walk along the track that's set out for you? When you hit a spring or a series of springs, that's even LESS to do!


Okay, yeah. I know that it's only the first stage in the game, but a lot of these stages are set up like this. For example, the final third of Windy Valley, the inside of the volcano in Red Mountain, some of the hallways in Lost World, the snowboarding section in Ice Cap, and so on. Speed Highway is one of the most popular stages in the game, and it's essentially FULL of running forward. Well, the first third, at least. The only few stages that really make you try to accomplish something other than running forward are Casinopolis and Lost World (and perhaps Twinkle Park a bit).


Just as a bonus, here's the video for Lost World. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR86QgC3eiE


Lost World is, hands down, my favorite stage in the entire game. Sure, it has those linear hallways, but there's a lot of input on certain things. For one, you have a snake bit where you have to press three switches to open a door. After that, you enter a room where you have to line up lights in a dark room to hit mirrors to progress. Then, you enter a room where you affect the gravity of certain walls, to which you have to avoid flames for almost the entire stage. It's the most creative.


However, though, back to what I originally asked. Was this game too easy? In Sonic's case, it was. I remember playing almost the entire game with only one life lost. Heck, I can almost say it's possible to EASILY play the entire game without even losing any rings! That's how it is in my case. You constantly run in a direction the place gives you, and it's so easy to navigate the stages and such that I never really had the motivation of playing Sonic's mode again.


NOW...


Look at the game-play for Sonic's first stage(s) in Sonic Unleashed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfM8XxEdDyw


This is a much more challenging way to play Sonic games. You have the speed, the reflexes, and the caution. This is especially true in stages like Jungle Joyride and Rooftop Run. It's just a lot more challenging.


Heck, even the original SEGA Genesis games had a lot of challenge to them.


Does anyone else agree with me?

[Radrappy]

I mean this in the nicest possible way but no, no, and never.

Unleashed was frustration to the freaking max after about the 3rd level.  How can caution be involved when your base speed is 200mph and there are pits and spikes everywhere?

Generations was much more reasonable but even it had its share of unfair level design.  The last thing sonic games right now is to be "more challenging." 

[CrazyT]

I still think sonic adventure is a good template for a good sonic title. Executed properly it could make  the best game.

Ontopic: I think sonic adventure wasnt that easy. It had a good curve with each stage bringing a bit more challenge. The issue is that they were only 10 stages(only about sonic speaking). Add only 5 more stages behind final egg adding up more and it would be perfect.

Then there was the other cool playable characters like amy and e102. The challenge felt good in their cases. With both of them actually having pretty cool concepts in gameplay. I liked the time thing with e102, also liked the robot chasing when playing with amy. To me those 3 characters are the good experience in Sa1, and as a whole the games added pretty good challenge.

[Moody]

Oh boy, time to talk about game design theory.

You describe Sonic Adventure's levels being mostly composed of linear hallways, but if you think about it, this makes some degree of sense. Essentially, every Sonic level is a hallway, with a fork or two every now and again. They all lead to the same destination, and while it can be a pretty complicated hallway, a hallway it still is. This is conducive to Sonic's main gimmick, his speed. If the levels got too complex, then you wouldn't be able to effectively use his speed. Sonic's abilities necessitate some degree of linearity in order to function properly.

Sonic Unleashed is more of an evolution of this philosophy. It's still a linear hallway leading to one goal, with forks in the hallway that eventually lead back to the main one. The difference being that Sonic feels much more on-rails in Unleashed. The controls in Adventure allowed for total 360 degree movement at any speed, and this lended itself poorly to the level design, where aside from some brief exceptions, you were constantly moving forward. This element was removed from Unleashed's design, and this lack of total control was emphasized by the Boost mechanic. This also meant a change in how levels were designed.

In Adventure, parts of the level were designed around the 360 degree movement, particularly small secret areas and ways to the 'high road'. In Unleashed, this was changed so that these parts were more reliant on timing and your grasp of the level design in general. Then we throw enemies and other obstacles on the rail, and the game becomes about surviving to the end of an adrenaline filled rollercoaster which only lets up during 2D sections (god, I hate 2D sections).

So yes, as the level design did not know how to adequately accomodate Sonic, and as a result, it was more afraid to get challenging, Adventure is an objectively easier game, while Unleashed provides a more balanced way for Sonic to play in 3D, the confidence of which allowed it to get much more difficult.

Game design!

[EnternalHope]

To simply anwser your question, Yes. As most open world games are.

[Chad]

Well, I'm not exactly saying it's a BAD thing that the stages are like linear hallways.


In fact, it's not the linearity that bothers me. It's the fact that, in Sonic Adventure with Sonic, you really do absolutely nothing besides run in the given direction. It's different with the later stages, but Emerald Coast is literally nothing but PURE "move forward". There isn't necessarily any challenge along the way, nothing. It's simply "follow the road" level design, in my opinion.


Basically, it's the lack of input that makes it extremely easy in my case.


(Also, for the record, this thread is NOT about Sonic Unleashed. I simply put it in there to make a comparison. The question for this thread is, "was Sonic Adventure too easy?".)

[EnternalHope]

Well, I'm not exactly saying it's a BAD thing that the stages are like linear hallways.


In fact, it's not the linearity that bothers me. It's the fact that, in Sonic Adventure with Sonic, you really do absolutely nothing besides run in the given direction. It's different with the later stages, but Emerald Coast is literally nothing but PURE "move forward". There isn't necessarily any challenge along the way, nothing. It's simply "follow the road" level design, in my opinion.


Basically, it's the lack of input that makes it extremely easy in my case.


(Also, for the record, this thread is NOT about Sonic Unleashed. I simply put it in there to make a comparison. The question for this thread is, "was Sonic Adventure too easy?".)

Sonic Adventure was SEGA's answer to Mario 64. It was easy because SEGA felt they needed a strong flagship launch title for Dreamcast in order to distinguish it as being a must buy product with a launch title with the company's mascot(something the Saturn completely lacked.)


I brought a Dreamcast in the mid Autumn of 1999 because of SA1.


After two horribly.poorly made,linear, subpar and sluggish Saturn titles(the slow,BADLY executed 3DBlast Saturn port and AWFUL racing game Sonic R) Adventure was a breath of fresh air for SEGA loyalists like me. We didn't care how easy it was, we were playing an ACTUAL Sonic game. Not a compilation, not a gimmicky Genesis port, not a sloppy,rushed,broken and ugly 3D racing hyrbid but a REAL Sonic action title. On top of that, it was on a NEW SEGA system, that was DESIGNED for it.


Sonic R in my opinion was  way too easy, but that's not why it sucked and was such a terrible,broken,spastic game. It was its overall design and execution.


Adventure was a A- Dreamcast launch title. It was well designed,fun and semi challenging.

[Sharky]

I found it reasonably challenging when it released and I was 13 years old, now days I don't know I haven't revisited the series in a good few years. The last time I did I felt that it had aged horribly... I think it's fair to say I much prefer the Sonic Colours and Generations gameplay/level design.

[Chad]

Maybe it's just me, but I ALMOST found Sonic '06 to be a proper upgrade to the challenge of Sonic Adventure. Not with the glitches or anything, but by the way it was designed.


...Okay, without the glitches, it would essentially be the same thing. What about Sonic Generations?


I guess what I'm trying to ask is, what WOULD be the proper representation of a challenging Sonic? I mean, Sonic Unleashed's daytime stages can be a lot more fun the controls weren't so tank-like. I mean, remove that game's left field punches and allow for some more reflex-based game-play, and we're all good.


Oh, and no 2D gameplay, either. Sonic's boosting abilities work best in a 3D environment, if you ask me.

[Sharky]

what WOULD be the proper representation of a challenging Sonic?

Sonic Colours later stages.

[Chad]

Sonic Colours later stages.

I suppose, but I'm not really a fan of how any of Sonic Colors' stages happened to turn out. They were extremely blocky, plain, and so on. The ENGINE works fine, I'll admit. The stages themselves... meh, not really.


Perhaps Sonic needs a new means of stage traversing. Eh, I'll make a thread about that.

[EnternalHope]

I found it reasonably challenging when it released and I was 13 years old, now days I don't know I haven't revisited the series in a good few years. The last time I did I felt that it had aged horribly... I think it's fair to say I much prefer the Sonic Colours and Generations gameplay/level design.

I find that a fairly harsh and snide thing to say. SA1 has aged modestly well. Its still an enjoyable,decent platformer to play. It may not look the best, but it still plays fine.

The Japanese version is basically Sonic 2006: a half assed, broken mess.

[Tad]

SA1 is quite broken. Even when I first played it when I was a kid I noticed it. Still, I had loads of fun with it and SA2.

[EnternalHope]

SA1 is quite broken. Even when I first played it when I was a kid I noticed it. Still, I had loads of fun with it and SA2.

The 1999 International version of SA1 plays fine. There's some minor camera issues(EVEN worse in SA2) and a few glitch problems in the Adventure Field HUB worlds) but its nothing that hurts gameplay.


The rushed Christmas 1998 JP version is completely broken.

[Sharky]

I find that a fairly harsh and snide thing to say. SA1 has aged modestly well. Its still an enjoyable,decent platformer to play. It may not look the best, but it still plays fine.

Sorry to upset you with my opinion, but I disagree. I liked it as a kid, I think it's aged terribly. The only redeemable things from Sonic Adventure are the Chao Gardens. The rest has had it's day, onward to better things.