How would you do & continue Chronicles?

[TheRedStranger]

For @WarTraveller a question many fans like himself deserve to have considered.

Pushing petty lawsuits and EA mergers aside, how would you design and write Chronicles if you were at the helm of Bioware at the time? And, if you could, how would you continue it?

[WarTraveller]

Why thank you, my good man.

As for Chronicles, specifically its gameplay, I would've designed Chronicles to be a sort of bigger game than it was. Not on the DS, but a big, Mass Effect sort of affair on PC, the XB360 and PS3. It is, after all, what Bioware is best at. Replace the guns with standard melee attacks ala Dragon Age: Inquisition (hell, I hear Chronicles was rushed for another Dragon Age, so it would only be fitting), or even with projectile-shooting power rings to replace the Chao system.

The story would be mostly the same, but with a few changes to remove a few aspects that didn't work or weren't needed, as well as increase the scale; focus Act 1 on finding Knuckles, Act 2 on finding Eggman, Act 3 on getting to Eggman's base for his ship, Act 4 for exploring the Twilight Cage, Act 5 for getting out of it, and then a smaller final act dealing with Eggman and his odd little plan.

The characters would mostly be the same. Only this time you can control any character at any time (though still in teams of four), which can change dialogue trees and swap them around when needed. Each character would have the same sort of controls and basic attacks, but their special attacks will dictate  what kind of thing they can do (Knuckles being the powerhouse, Omega being the tank and so on), replacing the QTE's with combo strings like in a fighter (like punch-punch-kick for Razor Wind. I own a game called Infinite Undiscovery that does that). Oh, and Shade would be playable by Act 3, captured by GUN and forced to work with Team Sonic in an effort to better combat this new threat. And remove Amy. I don't like Amy.

The music...well, Sonic Team could handle that. And not just, I dunno, some random berk with a cheap MIDI keyboard.

OH YES, and perhaps the most important thing; I'd sit down with SEGA's lawyers and discuss what was fair game to source from and what wasn't. I'd ensure we wouldn't get a repeat of Pendersgate. Hopefully, anyway.

And...that's about it. That's how I'd make Chronicles. A proper, speed-focused, story-driven, fast-paced Sonic role-playing game. Now for the potential sequel...well...

Edited August 10, 2016 by WarTraveller
A small addition of information.

[F07E]

The first thing that I would change would maybe start by making the over-world system more akin to that of Legend of Dragoon, where the majority of encounters are random. expand upon locations like green hill, central city, and the likes by making them more lively.

now the story was fine, four discs is fine, not much to say here other than making it a psp exclusive for internal memory/memory cards so that the sequel can continue from the prequel. and maybe making it more of a SatAM affair like authar said, or more of an Archie one if they were able to attain the rights, not ditching all the sega cast (some but not all) while supplementing it with the strengthened worlds these continuities presented.

I'd do much of the same as what Traveller said when it comes to chracters, barring the removal of Amy (as I would make her an optional addition like cream whilst having Gemerl take her place in the story) and changes to Shade's heel turn (you should have the right to pull a lol-no moment here just to be especially cruel for fun).

lastly make the music polished and legitimate remixes, no baby's first midi playing through a potato.

 

[Wulfsbane]

Let's revive this shall we?

We will do this one section at a time. So let's start with the premise/story: How would you change it?

[WarTraveller]

10 hours ago, Wulfsbane said:

Let's revive this shall we?

We will do this one section at a time. So let's start with the premise/story: How would you change it?

1. Remove Amy. She offers literally NOTHING to the story outside of that Dexter subquest.
2. Replace her with Blaze. 
3. Have a playable prologue that focuses on Team Sonic taking down Eggman with the help of GUN, which would also serve as the Tutorial.
4. Have a small bit inbetween that and chapte 1 where Knuckles is shown to be captured.
5. Then have another small bit inbetween chapters 2 and 3 that shows Knuckles escaping with the help of a single-time playable ally.
6. If you refuse to add Shade to your team, she stays with the Noctornous, and you have to fight her at the end.
7. Change the final battle so that you have to fight...urgh, "Super Ix" as Normal Sonic first, THEN have the final attack be Super Sonic.
8. If you're going to have a mind control race in the game, make something of it. Like, have the boss use hypnotised versions of the players you aren't using as lackies.
9. Change the ending so it's not quite a copout and Ix actually gets some justice.
10. Actually have an ENDING with Eggman, turning him and his evil future into a post-game boss, instead of sitting on the edge of a cliffhanger that will NEVER be resolved and "thanking" the developers for rushing what should have been a masterpiece.