[Spiwak]

You're right, we're being a little unfair. Most classic Japanese franchises would honestly suck in any format other than game because the heavy emphasis on gameplay rather than story/characters. The difference is that Nintendo characters don't have much personality, while Sonic does, and it's an annoying personality.

Anyways, I trust that Bioware wouldn't take the franchise if they didn't think they could do something with it. They simply aren't a company that would churn out a quick franchise game for profit (just look at KotOR), so I think it will at least be an interesting game to play. Who knows if they'll be successful, considering its their first handheld game, but it should at least be worth a play through.

[SoccerDude28]

Originally Posted by Lucien21

There are 2 Mario RPG's so why not a Sonic one.

The Mario RPG's are very different in style from Bioware's old work. Bioware and Sonic is really a strange combination.

[wilco]

Bioware always said they would like to work on the DS, they probably have something on their minds and thought of Sonic franchise was good way to start, without a doubt it will be completely different from their previous efforts.

I just thought they could use something fast in the touch screen (like the Elite Beat Agents interface) for the attacks that would work has timed mini-games (like the Mario RPGs)...

The story... I have to idea what they could do...

[stepurhan]

Originally Posted by Spiwak

Do you mean this?
Well, at least we'll have explosions every five seconds.

Actually I was thinking of this one which came later. From the brief plot summary at wikipedia (which fits with what little I've seen of it) there is a plot involving fighting the oppression of Robotnik (the underground of the title), a prophecy and power medallions (potential for upgradable powers as you level up?)

Seems to have much more potential for RPG translation than either the original games or the original cartoon series. Plenty of RPG suitable missions could come from the underground element with the fulfilling the prophecy story arc as a backdrop.

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by Dasilva

... I mean its bioware! lol.

Their past is a bit of a worry point as far as the DS platform goes. Most if not all of bioware's rpgs are total resource hogs and have huge saves. I'll be interested to see what they manage on such a stripped down system (tiny cpu and 4mb of physical ram with an extremely tight save size).

[MoriartyL]

I don't know much about Sonic- I haven't seen the cartoons or read the comics. What I do know, and what I'm judging the series by, is Sonic Adventure. They tried giving Sonic a story there, and I never want to see them try again. The characters are terrible, the plots are abominations. The one thing Sonic ever had going for it was the speed. I can't picture an RPG having much of that, but you can be sure it'd have lots and lots of story. How long will it take them to realize going for story just isn't working? How long will it take them to get back to reasonably enjoyable pure fast-paced platforming?

[aries323]

I'm still in shock --- somewhat and I feel like this has just
hit me

I didn't see this coming either. At first, I thought it was real belated April Fool's joke, but soon I realized it wasn't

And I thought to myself, Sonic in an RPG??? This does makes any sense.
Then after doing some research on the net, og after hearing from some of the Sonic community member at the Bioware forums, I thought to myself:
Maybe Bioware can pull this off ??

The first thing that came to my mind was a concern over who is going to buy a Sonic RPG on the Nintendo DS?? Or as someone else asked: what is the target demographics.

As I understand the Sonic games, they are meant for girls and boys ages
8-18 (approx) while the Nintendo DS fanbase is much older than this? Some members of this community have a Nintendo DS and the games they play are aimed at someone older than 8-18 years old?? (i could, of course, be wrong?).

As for the story in a Sonic RPG, I have no worries. I'm confident that Bioware will come up with an intelligent wonderful (back) story & plot for this game, maybe loosely based on the Sonic universe, or maybe even a comprehensive universe, made up of something from Sonic Adventures, the cartoons, and other Sonic surroundings.

I just hope that Bioware/Pandemic studios know what they are doing...

[insane_cobra]

Dear Bioware, we already hate your game. God, I'm getting so sick of these forums.

[samIamsad]

Bioware teams up with SEGA to do Sonic RPG on NintendoDS

OMG! Heheh, wow, that's actually a news that provokes reactions of some kind, instead of a shrug and people asking: "What's next?". Gaming's far too predictable these days. Big fat plus for that.

Also: Go, go, go Bioware!

Originally Posted by Soccerdude

The Mario RPG's are very different in style from Bioware's old work.

The Mario RPG was also pretty different in style from Square's older work.

Originally Posted by JemyM

pick between good and evil

I'm surprised people STILL want to play games chock full of pre-scripted, binary, sickenly black and white good vs. evil decisions like that. MWAHAHAHAH ME EVIL!!!!!!!1 Well, not unless they're Star Wars® related anyway.

[aries323]

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

Dear Bioware, we already hate your game. God, I'm getting so sick of these forums.

I don't hate the game.

I'm just wondering who is going to buy the game ?
And what will Bioware be doing for story, plot, gameplay etc. ?

[Dasilva]

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

Dear Bioware, we already hate your game. God, I'm getting so sick of these forums.

So dramatic.

Im just a bit shocked to see Sega & Bioware work as one, those are the last two companies I expected to work on a game. And Im also very curious to see what could be done with Sonic in a RPG situation, this could be another killer game for the DS if it all goes well.

[Spiwak]

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

Dear Bioware, we already hate your game. God, I'm getting so sick of these forums.

Little overdramatic, yes? I think a little shock is to be expected with an announcement like this.

[fajerkaos]

Screenies!

Nice to see that this is still being developed. I'm really looking forward to it!

[TangentBlack]

This is old news. I thought the whole world new about this already and I guess I wasn't really expecting many people to be shocked about this one after about a few months of buffer. Bioware has been talking about this for a while in most of its interviews since the release of Mass Effect. It is the screenshots that are really the new additions.

Personally, I can't wait to see what they can do. If they truely have the Midas touch, I bet they will be able to do some spectacular things with pretty straightforward characters.

[Dale Baldwin]

Originally Posted by TangentBlack

This is old news.<snip>It is the screenshots that are really the new additions.

Hence why fajerkaos revived the thread in the first place...

[Terramax]

As a long term, closet Sega fanboy, this is simply the most baffling thing I've read in a while. It's interesting that Sega are leasing out so many games to the Western developers. But then again maybe that's because all of the 'old, original Sega' have all packed their bags and left for new companies.

I'm surprised by general negativity surrounding this announcement. If Mario and Panzer Dragoon role-playing games worked out fine, I don't see why this one couldn't. And it's being developed by Bioware, hello!

Now come on! Bioware aren't exactly a company for thinking out of the box.

Paper Mario is successful in the same way all Mario franchises have been - for their quirkiness. Sonic on the other hand has always been sold as the platformer with attitude, in a way that it's hard to pull of something like an RPG with decidedly as much charm.

Panzer Dragoon was destined to become an RPG because the originals had a rather convoluted story that just couldn't be explained in rail-shooter turf anyway. And lets bare in mind that Panzer Dragoon is way more serious than Sonic and Mario put together.

I'm not sure about Paper Mario, but PD Saga/ Azel was made in-house, by the game's original developers, who knew the style of the franchise like the back of their hands.

Bioware appears to be a company that pretty much grabs all the typical hallmarks of typical Western RPGs and does it in a slightly, and I really do mean 'slight' more original format and better graphics.

I mean Jade Empire was like an upgradeable version of a hack and slash Dynasty Warriors game. Its gimmick was being set in some kind of Chinese, mystical fantasy rather than in Medievil times, which wouldn't seem so bad if it didn't seem so contrived.

Mass Effect isn't known for its originality in story and setting (or KotoR for that matter). They were successful for pretty much ticking off all the boxes on a 'list of stereotypical things you'd expect in a Star Wars/ Western Sci-fi setting).

I admire Sega's attempt to gauge interest with third parties (although they have no choice as all the talent from the original Sega is now gone since the Sammy buyout) but I can't imagine Bioware bringing out the qualities Sonic has to offer.

That being said, thankfully this is a DS game, so it's not as if it's going to be the 'epic' they attempted with original titles, which is my way of saying their's still hope.

And it's not as if there's been a remotely decent Sonic game since Sonic's Adventure.