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Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS) Status: Stopped playing - Got Bored I started playing this game on Tuesday 23 April, 2019 // I stopped playing this game on: Thursday 9 May, 2019
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.
May 9, 2019 07:08:48 PM
Kept on going and I've realized what is frustrating me the most about the game: moving around the world. I feel like I'm doing the equivalent of "pixel hunting" in adventure games - but for a top down 2D game in a strange semi-isometric perspective. I spend more time wandering around trying to find the location of the next thing I need to do oftentimes missing it entirely despite being "right there". The controls for this (dragging the stylus on the screen) feel a bit imprecise, but there's also the problem of getting stuck on scenery and such. I have enjoyed this last chapter though because I was forced to split the party - half going to do one thing and the other half another. This forced me to try out different characters I had ignored entirely. I did kind of mess up though, because I put all the "fighters" in one group (the group whose mission was fighting stuff) - but then realized that the other group had to do a lot of fighting as well. It was a bit frustrating (and I exhausted all my supplies of healing items and such) - but interesting. For a bit. I've decided to move on to another game. I made it as far as chapter 5 (pretty close to the end, I think)
May 1, 2019 01:05:49 PM
When I heard that BioWare made a Sonic RPG game I was...uh...sceptical. And now I've been playing it and it's weird and interesting and I'm still figuring out how much I enjoy it or not. I've just started chapter 4. From prior saved files on the card indicating a chpater 9 exists, that would mean I'm almost halfway done. I've never been a huge fan of Sonic other than enjoying the games, so I have no idea if the game has a lot of "lore" from the tv show and comics and whatnot. So far I've been surprised by how they made 3d isometric levels that are the areas/levels from the first game that feel like the levels from the game - there are ramps and loops and such. You mostly just wander around avoiding monsters and when you get to a special location (you see an icon popup) you have to activate switch to the appropriate character and activate their ability: Tails can fly short distances, Sonic does loops and ramps, Knuckles breaks boxes and so on. You can have a part of up to four characters but I think Sonic is required, so really you only get to choose three. Can you tell it's a BioWare game? I'm not sure...but, weirdly(?) the game does have a simple dialogue system you get to use when important story stuff happens, when you meet NPCs, and sometimes just from talking to other members of the crew. When in dialogue you can choose from different options - where some are "tagged" with different Sonic faces - one for example denotes a snarky response. Another has three small character faces, and this one signals you'll ask your team or refer to the team. It's simple system but I've enjoyed trying out different responses and such. I don't think there are any significant differences in outcome or gameplay from these choices - but maybe I'm wrong? So far the most interesting thing for me has been the combat system. Characters can perform a different number of actions in a combat round and the're all lined up in the order they'll do them. So, you can set a character to attack, but then heal with their second action. Strangely, the enemy actions aren't listed so you never know when they'll do something. You also have special POW moves that cost power points - performing these moves requires using the stylus and doing stuff like - tap a spot on the screen at the right moment, tap really fast in a specific area, or trace a line at a certain speed. I struggle a lot with some of these which is a pain because it means that there are certain abilities I just don't ever get to use.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS)