Josh is back with a look at a long forgotten Sonic game from the dark age
Praise be to the absolute QueenMy thoughts on the AF VN game:
- Are murder mystery birthday party trains a common thing? Because my mind immediately went to a certain King of the Hill episode ("strangeness on a train")
- I laughed so many times, that was really fun and light-hearted!
- Character based:
- I like how they gave a bit of shine to some of the more "supporting" cast. Though it looks like The Bee will continue to be the Butt-Monkey being left out. And of course not having Cream is a weird omission, though both she and Vanilla get mentioned. Maybe it's because a murder mystery is too adult for Charmy and Cream.
- Tails, you better be careful, or Rouge is going to pass you as my favorite character! I loved her design and attitude in this!
- The idea of the Chaotix repeatedly trolling Knuckles needs to be continued.
- A chao. with a mustache.
- Metal Sonic giving a deadpan thumbs up will always be hilarious.
- As will references to Knuckles' iconic hat.
- The idea of Eggman financing some of his schemes by selling off his more utility badniks to general society for practical purposes is possibly an intentional call back to Sonic Battle.
- There are a great few shots of Amy looking absolutely terrifying.
- For some of the quests, including the one with the many options, I intentionally tried all the wrong ones just to see what would happen. Worth it.
- Since it's a visual novel, I didn't know if there was going to be any sort of affection mechanic. Just in case I was, the first thing I did when given a choice with the main cast was pick a flirty option with Rouge.
- I didn't realize I should probably save my game until like halfway through.
- There were definitely some parts in the runner segments where I was like "how was I supposed to see that coming?", but nothing took too many tries.
- The UI having a Generations theme was probably intentional, given both games take place on a birthday.
- Of course the final scenes were adorable.
To be honest, I was already thinking I might want to give visual novels a try, since i tend to like games more for their characters and world, and sometimes don't feel like playing some genres.
Edited by wanderlustwarrior on Apr 1st 2023 at 2:41:42 PM
This little visual novel does the kind of character interactions that randomness has been dreaming for Sonic characters to have for a long time.
Tails...for the first time since he's been able to talk has been made into a character one can actually find likeable
Amy is back to her usual Genki Girl self and is just very adorably perky.
This is the first time Blaze has had any dialogue and "character" in a long while, so it's just nice to see her.
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Hope to see more of this going forward...
Edited by randomness4 on Apr 1st 2023 at 3:50:15 PM
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.I adore Blaze's "annoyed" pose in this game. It's "I'm done with this crap" personified.
Also, the revelation that Eggman has been going around improving city infrastructures and the like not strictly as a cover for doomsday devices, but because it would just make ruling theme easier later is hilarious. He's been improving the lives of everyone because of Pragmatic Villainy. And also occasionally turning trains into superweapons, but they only go off if Sonic's nearby and they're otherwise perfectly fine.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Apr 1st 2023 at 1:20:17 AM
Sega Hardlight announces Sonic Speed Dating dating sim
Sadly just a few pics, not an all-in like the murder mystery
My musician page"On my birthday!?" Like. Legit, it's a good thing Sonic woke up because Espio's head was about to come off.
Strongly recommend Ace Attorney. It's about nine games deep now (ten in Japan, still salty about a certain well-known entry with no international release) and has a similar style. Goofy aesthetic full of wacky characters with evidence-gathering and mystery-solving gameplay.
I would love to see them build on this. There's something really fun about the idea that the world is littered with general-use infrastructure that just happens to throw a fit and turn murderous if Sonic, specifically, happens by. Like a character-specific Maverick Virus from Mega Man.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.There are some distinct moments with Amy that I would kill to hear voiced.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Eh, they applied that Unexpected Gameplay Change consistently throughout the story, and the protagonist even brings up autorunners before the first one happened, so it's not really unexpected.
Huh, 3 out of the last 5 Sonic games (Mania, Frontiers, Murder, but not Forces or TSR) have had an Unexpected Gameplay Change boss. Though if TSR had one, I haven't played it.
Also, I actually have tried the first Ace Attorney, but couldn't get into it. I didn't have an attachment to the characters. I do have an attachment to the characters of Sonic. And could quickly find what I like or dislike about some other games and worlds. For example, I'd readily play a visual novel dating sim in the Fire Emblem Fodlan games (so long as I can pair up everyone how I see fit). And Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is in my backlog, but it also has a hack and slash element true to the main games.
Edited by wanderlustwarrior on Apr 1st 2023 at 7:53:57 AM

Finally getting the time to actually play this instead of just gushing about it from afar.
And oh, yes, Shadow is blatantly Twitter Shadow. They straight up use the "Shadow eats coffee beans straight" joke.
They also reference a joke from Boom - and one of the more infamous ones of all things - by having the protag wonder if Knuckles can read. He can, so false alarm.
Also, nobody told me the music in this thing was fire. I guess it's to be expected since it's a Sonic game, but still. Some of these tracks are dope.
Holy crap the Omochao joke.
Edited by KnownUnknown on Mar 31st 2023 at 11:56:02 AM