ToaArcan

I'm having a little trouble putting my thoughts on this into words, but I'll probably just ramble and see how that goes.

So, Sonic's friends. SEGA have done a truly fantastic job at introducing these characters and then reducing them to a bad joke. Let's look at a few examples, shall we?

Tails: Started off as a tagalong kid in the classics, then when SA1 and SA2 came along, he began to come out of Sonic's shadow, saving Station Square on his own in SA1 after a long period of character introspection, and then defeating Eggman and saving Amy to avenge Sonic in SA2, as well as doing all of the planning. True, his victory was negated by Eggman stealing the Emerald when he wasn't looking, but he at least succeeded mostly.

Knuckles: Began as a naive and lonely guardian and protector of an island, housing a stone of immense power. Through his interactions with Sonic, he helped save the world from the Death Egg, and later saved his Island and the Master Emerald from Mecha Sonic. In the Adventure games, he was able to restore the Emerald after it was broken, and make a few more friends. Not as good as Tails' story, but decent enough.

Amy: Started off as just a random crazy fan, that followed Sonic on one of his adventures and got herself caught. As she pursued Sonic, she learned to defend herself, and when she met the bird in SA1, she helped it on her own. She did try to get Sonic's help, but did a good enough job without him, and managed to convince Gamma to turn away from Eggman, defeat ZERO, and reunite the bird with its family, now determined to be more independent. In SA2, while she didn't get her own arc as such, and she was initially the load, needing to be saved by Sonic and Tails multiple times throughout the story, she ultimately managed to convince Shadow to save the world, which directly allowed for the heroes' victory.

Shadow: Less detailed than the other two because he had one game to work with, but Shadow got a lot of focus as a tragic character, created to do good but turned against the world because of the paranoia of his creator's bosses. His friend/sister figure died, and he vowed to avenge her, helping a madman almost destroy the world, before he realised that, all along, he was supposed to save it. While he did so, the battle seemingly cost him his life, but he fell to his death with his life's purpose fulfilled.

And then Sonic Heroes happened.

The more I think about this game, the more I wish it hadn't happened. Metal Sonic was good, and I like Omega. Everything else... Just no. Shadow came back because of popularity. Tails was completely dependent on Sonic again. Amy's entire character was reduced to dementedly following Sonic, to the point that she ignored the fact that her friends were looking for him because they thought he kidnapped their pets. Knuckles' duty to the Master Emerald is ignored completely, save for one token mention in the ending. The game began the trend of pandering to nostalgia, and this eventually came to define the series.

The constant demands from fanboys to not have to play as Tails or Knuckles meant that they were reduced to standing around being useless. Tails' technical abilities meant he could still do something in cutscenes, but to many casual fans, that's all there is to him. Sonic X certainly didn't help in this regard- Whereas it gave Knuckles, Amy, and Rouge plenty of chances to shine, even had Cream be the one to stop Ultimate Emerl (I hated that scene), and turned Shadow into an unstoppable juggernaut who was fully capable of curbstomping the entire cast, Tails was reduced to nothing more than a glorified taxi-driver. Even when he finally got some focus in the third season, where they could've used the space setting to at least make something of his piloting skills (Which normally resulted in his plane being damaged and needing a rescue from Sonic in the previous seasons), the 'writers' decided to instead focus on a romance with a sentient tree, which was nothing if not appropriately wooden. The upshot of this is that you'll find plenty of fans who scoff at the idea of Tails having a Super form, because to them, being anything but wimpy tech support and fodder for Sonic to rescue doesn't suit his character.

And now the Sonic franchise is a fountain of memes, turning itself into a giant circlejerk for its own haters. The only characters that get love are 'Sanic' and Big the Cat.

Working just fine now, as you've probably seen. Thanks for fixing it.

That reminds me, we should probably be more definite about RPing stuff. It's a bit of a broad term. There are the three ones I'm aware of:

1) RPGs. Dice, books, character sheets abound. 

2) Play-by-post. Similar to the above with less rules and just posting. Generally requires more mature players because you tend not to have dice and stats to enforce what you can do.

3) Freeform RPs. Generally have fewer people who just make it up as they go along, with no "GM" role. Often terrible and commonly seen in comment sections.

Sonic 3K, no question, due to the following:
 

1) Story. It's not super-in-your-face, but it's there, moreso than the past two.

2) Three playable characters, with unique abilities. Tails in Sonic 2 was just a slightly nerfed Sonic, while in Sonic 3, he can fly, jump higher, is a bit slower, and has Super mode of his own, even if it is tougher to get.

3) Super Emeralds.

4) Mecha Sonic.

5) Doomsday Zone.

I meant more in a "Chosen One" sense. Here's a kid/some kids who are destined to fix the world's problems, when it's generally better if they decide to fight for the world on their own.

Neither would exist. Prophecy plots aren't all that good.

Probably make him less of a horn-dog, I guess.

S-Files is still broken, but the other one works.

Given that many of the lines that appeared in Dimensions have gotten their own sets or lines, maybe we'll get some Sonic-based sets. Likely a one-wave deal like the Scooby-Doo ones.

So, this is happening.

https://www.sonicstadium.org/2016/06/sonic-the-hedgehog-confirmed-for-lego-dimensions/

Dimensions is incredibly overpriced, and Sonic's head looks weird on a minifig body. Still, maybe we'll get other characters now. it's a shame there won't be Archie/SatAM ones, and I'm probably not going to be able to get a lego Emerl, but hey, this is rather interesting.

I got this too.

9 minutes ago, Wulfsbane said:

But that was also in earlier development. With a year's time they could have improved a lot of the mechanics on it

AFAIK, it's losing the collect-a-thon aspect, but the whole fire and ice mechanic itself doesn't appeal. At this point I'm just in the mood for a regular game without more gimmicks.

The biggest complaint I've heard about SHattered Crystal is that the metroidvania + collect-a-thon elements turned the game into a tedious grindfest.

Alright, so my favourite character in the Sonic franchise is Emerl, because he has the best story, a great design, best ability, and, if you take each of the circa-2004 cast and merge their One-or-Two-Trope personalities into one, you get an actual rounded character!

Of course, due to this, he's become a major character in most things I write, as generally the strongest of the FF. And I ended up pairing him with Nicole as a joke, but it turns out that people liked it and I liked writing it, so it stuck. One thing I've been prone to doing is lowballing his strength severely. While I thought I was restoring him to his full power for the latest project, the Uncivil Trilogy, I soon found out that, in fact, he has the power to destroy a world on his own, according to Gerald, who generally knows his stuff.

This should've been obvious, since it took a star-buster cannon to overload his scanning system, I suppose.

Yeah, I can't see there being much room for improvement. The trailer didn't look good.

Bethesda = Glitches

Alright, here's what we know:

1) Roboticization was established as petrifying Overlanders/humans.

2) This did not happen to Robo-Robotnik, making this a clear case of retroactive continuity.

3) Snively was able to survive the transformation because he "Wanted it".

4) Our source on the effects is Robo-Robotnik himself, who is not a reliable source.

So, from this, we could glean that Eggman had control over whether they were petrified or not, and simply chose to keep Snively alive. However, if we assume that it is realit doesn't make a lot of sense, which I suppose if why we're even talking about it.

Funny thing is, when it came time to write Rosemary, I decided to just write her as she was when Bollers had the pen- Actually a loving mother. I do, however, have ideas involving her as a villain.

SEGA have tight limits on what their characters can be shown doing. Ian's probably exploiting the freedom he has with the Egg Bosses for all it's worth. 

RPs are always fun, but one thing on my mind is getting word-of-mouth out there. I've already sent the link to a few people and asked them to pass it on, and I've suggested the Sonic subreddits r/sonic and r/sonicthehedgehog to Wulfsbane too.

46 minutes ago, Wulfsbane said:

It doesnt help that the main guy in the Falador Massacre was apart of one of the largest pking clans in RuneScape.

But I love how Corrupted Blood became a case study and how to figure out what a plan should be for epidemics/bioterrorism

Reminds me of a story from the first Planetside. Players were having an in-game wake for a dead community member, and this whole outfit showed up with aircraft and carpet-bombed the procession. Because they could. The guys were already notorious for basically being white supremacists, and were shortly banhammered. The entire outfit.

Yea.

10 hours ago, Wulfsbane said:

The thing about this was that it was a complete accident that was overlooked when coding the skill into the game. No one knew about the bug until it was too late.

Corrupted Blood was an oversight by Blizzard that took way to long to fix

And both cases showed amazing levels of dickery by the players. The Falador Massacre got its name because the players decided to use the glitch to murder a bunch of defenceless people, while the Corrupted Blood case is actually now used as a case study regarding bioterrorism, because the tactics people used to spread it were so similar to real-life cases.

Before Sonic, this was my favourite game series... though technically I only knew it through the anime and the toys, and the first game I got was Ruby, the fourth game I got the GBA (Sonic Advance 3 being my second).

I'm still rather invested in it, I mostly hang around on the Nuzlocke Forums, and recently ran a mostly experimental group-Nuzlocke with Wulfsbane and Mr Nemesis. We weren't that successful, and it petered out rather quickly, but it did teach me some important things for running such an event, as well as netting me a deathless run of White version, so that's all good. However, that's a topic for the group gaming section, and only if there's enough interest.

For now, favourite generation, starters, etc.

Favourite Generation: Gen IV- What got me back into Pokemon after a dry spell. 

Favourite Game: Platinum- I honestly think this is the best Pokemon game in terms of difficulty curve, Pokemon selection, environments, etc.

Favourite Rival: Wally. He was a joke in RSE. In ORAS? His Gallade curbstomped by Mega Sceptile and my Primal Kyogre. I was not underlevelled.

Favourite Gym Leader: Norman. Pokemon is a coming-of-age story at core, with a lowly child from a sleepy backwater rising through the region to become the strongest trainer in the land, and in Gen III-onwards, save the world along the way. And what better element could there be than battling your own father. And Norman doesn't go down easy, either, which is perfect, that's exactly what I want out of a fight like this. When I first played Ruby, watching his last Slaking fall to my Sceptile felt like the single greatest achievement ever. And bear in mind, this was within an hour of beating Flannery with just Sceptile, because I was a stupid kid and didn't using anything but him.

Favourite Professor: Rowan. The manliest thing to ever exist in Pokemon.

Favourite Champion: Cynthia. Platinum was the first game where I had a balanced team. Cynthia still almost kicked my ass, bringing me down to my last mon, a Giratina. She also engages in the story, has a personality beyond "I a stronk and nice to Pokemans, now we must fight!",and has a bunch of my favourites on her team.

Favourite Villain: Cyrus. I wanted to put N here, but he's not really a villain per se... In fact, the game outright calls him a hero, and says that,even though he was misguided, he still had a genuine connection with Reshiram/Zekrom. So I went with the omnicidal maniac. Because as things go, that's pretty tough to beat.

Favourite Starters

Gen I: Venusaur. Statistically the best starter for the region it's in. Has favourable matchups against 6/8 Gym Leaders, the villain, and doesn't fair too badly against the E4.

Gen II: Feraligatr. Gyarados without the 4x weakness, greatly useful for traversing the game world, and very quick to obtain.

Gen III: I love all three of them equally. All of them were in my first champion team, and I can't choose between them.

Gen IV: Infernape. One of the first viable starters in competitive, this thing gelled perfectly with my "Hit them hard and think later" playstyle that I had at the time. Also, has a great design.

Gen V: Serperior. Underpowered for no real reason (Biggest Starter, can't learn Earthquake, no Poison typing, etc), but has a great design and served me well in Gen V.

Gen VI: Braixen. Not Delphox because I didn't evolve mine past form two. 

Gen VII: Rowlet ATM, may change with the reveal of the final forms.

Favourite Eeveelution: Vaporeon. While I prefer Espeon and Leafeon's designs and movepool, Vaporeon is the one I find slotting most easily into my team, and the most useful there once there.

Favourite Legendary: Mew. It learns all the TMs and tutors. I taught mine Steel Wing.

Favourite Pseudo-Legendary: Garchomp. Because it's brutally OP and it has an awesome design.

Favourite overall Pokemon: Gardevoir. Has an excellent movepool, good stats, a silly-looking but scarily powerful Mega, and a design that mixes ethereal, elegant, and somewhat unsettling into one package.

Least favourite Generation: Gen I. One of those times you should definitely play the remake instead.

Least favourite game: X/Y. So very bland, with poor pacing and storytelling next to Gen V, and far too many obnoxious "BESTEST BUDDEHS" characters.

Least favourite Rival: Hugh. BW2 felt like it was supposed to be his story, but due to the game's need for the hero to be a characterless cipher, the story ended up being dominated by your rival screaming about Purrloins and unleashing rage. Added, he forced an assload of tag battles on you and got my Serperior killed in a NUzlocke.

Least favourite Professor: Cedric Juniper. Originally intended to be the professor for Gen V, when they came up with Aurea Juniper, they kept him in as her father. He contribute little, giving you Pokedex upgrades that you could've easily gotten from the real professor, and otherwise be an additional speaker that makes the abundance of cutcenes around Mistralton-Opelucid even slower while contributing nothing.

Least favourite Gym Leader: Ramos. I legit forgot all about this guy after beating Y. 

Least favourite Champion: Diantha: The most forgettable champion ever, she contributes nothing to the plot, a major step back from every other champion ever.

Least favourite villain: Lysandre. Bad writing is probably the only thing you can get when the "two games for the price of one" model means that the majority of his lines have to fit both him wanting to make himself and his minions immortal (X) and him wanting to kill everyone except himself and his allies (Y) without any overlap.He rambles about beauty, but is pathetically easy to beat, especially in X.

Least favourite starters:

Gen I: Charizard: Honestly not a bad Pokemon, and I don't dislike it, but it's not as useful as its brethren, and is seriously overhyped.

Gen II: Meganium: Again, a good Pokemon, but it just doesn't suit my playstyle.

Gen III: N/A, see above.

Gen IV: Torterra. Ice moves for days combined with low speed aren't my cup of tea.

Gen V: Self-cooking bacon. Third Fire/Fighting in a row and the least useful of all of them, and the worst design.

Gen VI: Greninja. Majorly overhyped and given a broken ability and huge amounts of spotlight in the anime to justify it being picked for Smash before GF even started development on Gen VI.

Gen VII: Popplio. A mediocre Oshawott rehash with a clown look? Nope.

Overall least favourite Pokemon: Stunfisk. Just... just look at it. You can probably tell that I'm not one to ironically "Like" something stupid because the majorty are saying it's stupid.

I remember reading about that on Cracked before Cracked went full-SJW and started sucking. It was like the forerunner to the Corrupted Blood incident in Warcrack.

I always thought that she resented the FF for seemingly taking over the role of Tails' family, and Sally in particular for her role as his mother figure.

One of my biggest complaints with the current comic is that nearly every newly-introduced villain is tied to Eggman for no reason, without giving a good reason for them to follow him, or why they should respect him.

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The Council of Acorns would the True Secondary Antagonists of that time in the comic, especially Rosemary Prower.

Oh, most definitely, they were pretty terrible.