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New Information on the Sonic RPG being developed by Bioware


Subz1987
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The latest issue of Nintendo Power has massive coverage of the Sonic RPG for the DS. It's going to be called The Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Here's some info on the game:

-Cover Story with nice artwork

-In game graphics have a water color look, all hand drawn

-4 party members at a time

-Each character can do certain things ex: Tails can float over things (standard stuff)

-11 party members total - 7 known are Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow, Big the Cat

-Control done fully with stylus - think Hourglass

-Able to split party into teams at certain moments

-Rings are used as currency

-No random battles, see enemies on the field

-Turn based battles, choose commands for everyone in your party before they actually follow through. Want battles to be fast paced

-Elite Beat Agents style special attacks

-Team attacks (like Chrono Trigger)

-"Fatigue Points" instead of MP

-Choose which attributes to increase when you level up

-Purchase and level special attacks

-Bits of story - Sonic's on vacation from defeating Eggman 2 years ago. Gets a call from Tails that Knuckles has been kidnapped by a group called the Marauders, and that 6 chaos emeralds are missing. Eggman not the main villain. But Bioware wants to make him a creditable bad guy again. Something about a "twist" between Eggman and Sonic that goes back to the earlier games.

-2 acts - first takes place in standard Sonic areas. 2nd takes place in a darker world

-Remixed classic tunes

-"fully animated cut scenes"

-simple dialogue trees

-Side quests

The bitchin cover art can be found here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=226943

So far, the game looks amazing, but so did Sonic Next Gen

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If it were ANY other company (except maybe Black Isle or Diablo 1/2 era Blizzard) I'd say no, but I'm confident Bioware can actually pull this off. They're the ones who made Baldur's Gate and MDK 2 after all!

You shouldn't be just confident. You should KNOW this project is in good hands if the core Bioware team is developing it.

And Kudos to Bioware for liking Big the Cat. I thought I was the only person who liked him.

Also, I think it's about time a good Sonic spinoff was made since there really wasn't one since the Genesis days. That and the Sonic DS games are more than adequate right now.

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No love for Mario Kart?

I dunno about anyone else, but I haven't enjoyed a Mario Kart game very much since the 64 (DS version was ok...)

I'm happy to hear something about this game now, earlier than I thought I would too. I'm glad I passed on Rush Adventure to wait for this. Now hopefully it'll be a decent length cause it's the only game I'll be able to buy for a while.

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• they say there are people who won't be happy that this isn't going to provide the absolute fastest Sonic experience, as it's an RPG. But they say there are other Sonic games that do that, and their interest here is to still incorporate speed wherever it makes sense; they say it's really a combination of both BioWare and Sonic and they want to please fans of both.

• they joked that they're looking to raise Big's IQ a few points

• unlike most 2D RPGs, which use tile-based patterns for the environments, Sonic Chronicles' backgrounds are drawn entirely by hand. They did this because they wanted to try to bring back the series' "classic style."

• shoes will be a big part of Sonic's equipment that you purchase via rings at shops. Examples given are shoes that increase his speed, or give him fire attacks.

• the reason they have battle actions happen after you select actions for all party members is to give the battles a greater sense of speed as everything plays out. some characters will be able to perform multiple actions in a round, leading to "impressively frenetic battle sequences."

• again, the idea with the battles is, you have strategic thinking by turn-based input, but it will be "presented very quickly." "You see Sonic moving the way he should be moving."

• the reason they added real time active elements to the turn-based system is to keep the player engaged. They stated that Final Fantasy, even with its "speculator animations," disengages the play because there's no interaction.

• as you improve your characters, you get new field map abilities as well as battle moves. This will allow you to access new areas on the maps. It will encourage you not just to stick to your favorite characters; each one has unique abilities to offer.

• they don't just want to use preexisting Sonic story stuff. They want to leave the BioWare mark by creating new characters, new locations. But it will feel like it builds on the franchise rather than is tacked on.

• Muzyka has a Genesis signed by Yuji Naka.

• the project got started because Muzyka and Zeschuk knew Sega of America president Simon Jeffery from when he was at LucasArts and they were doing KotOR.

• "most of the high-quality handheld stuff is coming out of Japan. There isn't a lot of North American AAA handheld development going on." They viewed this as an opportunity for them.

• they think the DS is naturally attuned towards RPGs more. The two screens can show RPG stats that's appropriate for the genre. They say building on the DS is like when they were building on the PC years ago because you have a small, tight-knit team where each person is a key contributor.

• they say they really want to make something that stays true to Sonic, but still surprises and surpasses fan expectations because it's something new and different.

The director is Mark Darrah. Prior credits are:

• Baldur's Gate (lead AI programming, additional programming team)

• Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (lead programming)

• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (lead programmer, Infinity Engine programming team)

• Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (lead programmer)

• Neverwinter Nights (programmer)

• Neverwinter Nights Gold (programmer)

• Jade Empire (lead programmer)

• Mass Effect (special thanks)

Lead artist is Joel MacMillan. Prior credits are:

• Jade Empire (cutscene art/animation team)

• Mass Effect (cinematics animator team)

• Jade Empire Special Edition (cutscene art/animation team)

The lead game designer is new to BioWare. His names is Miles O'Brien Prower Holmes; looks like he used to work at DICE, and his prior credits are:

• Dracula's Secret (artist)

• Shrek for Xbox (tester)

• Jump Start: Dino Adventure (lead artist)

• Diva Starz (lead artist)

• Full Auto 2 (designer)

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What??/!?!1shift!!? I'll have to disagree with you on this...

You're like first I've ever heard say that... XD

Then you live alone in a cave.

Also, how are you going to disagree with him stating that he hasn't enjoyed recent Mario Kart games? That just seems... well, there isn't a word, because retarded isn't strong enough.

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