This game makes me upset.
An RPG using the Sonic cast sounds like a great idea - a wide range of characters with distinct powers and personalities! A surprisingly deep lore and world-building! And, on the surface, Sonic Chronicles delivers.
The devil, however, lies in the details, or rather, everything aside from the concept. This game is utterly dreadful. It contains some of the absolute worst battle design in any RPG I've ever played - random battles are plagued by overly-defensive enemies and unnecessarily long timed-hit special attacks that drag the game out to a nearly comedic extent.
While the character writing and dialogue is surprisingly strong (as far as Sonic games go), the plot itself ultimately descends into the cliche RPG trappings of "evil overlord and his evil overlord army."
The game's production values are truly wretched. It's obviously unfinished in almost every area - the infamously awful music and sound design is only one facet of it. The game is riddled with slowdown, clunky animations, and poor graphic design.
If it were just a run-of-the-mill bad RPG, I probably wouldn't be upset. But it seems the utter failure of Sonic Chronicles has scared SEGA away from ever trying this concept again, which is a shame, because I really think that a Sonic RPG could be something special.
An RPG using the Sonic cast sounds like a great idea - a wide range of characters with distinct powers and personalities! A surprisingly deep lore and world-building! And, on the surface, Sonic Chronicles delivers.
The devil, however, lies in the details, or rather, everything aside from the concept. This game is utterly dreadful. It contains some of the absolute worst battle design in any RPG I've ever played - random battles are plagued by overly-defensive enemies and unnecessarily long timed-hit special attacks that drag the game out to a nearly comedic extent.
While the character writing and dialogue is surprisingly strong (as far as Sonic games go), the plot itself ultimately descends into the cliche RPG trappings of "evil overlord and his evil overlord army."
The game's production values are truly wretched. It's obviously unfinished in almost every area - the infamously awful music and sound design is only one facet of it. The game is riddled with slowdown, clunky animations, and poor graphic design.
If it were just a run-of-the-mill bad RPG, I probably wouldn't be upset. But it seems the utter failure of Sonic Chronicles has scared SEGA away from ever trying this concept again, which is a shame, because I really think that a Sonic RPG could be something special.