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arekpowalan

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Posts posted by arekpowalan


  1. Before you get triggered by the topic, no. I am NOT trying to expand upon the character Sonic.EXE or promote whatever JCTheHyena wanted to make considering his unadulterated ego. What I am interested in is only the mystery behind the murder plot. Since if we operate on the supernatural, it certainly has potential.

    If you are not familiar with Sonic EXE, you should know that in the sequel, "Round Two", the story structured like a detective story. It was poorly done and there wan't much crime solving going on, but it do bring in some mystery on how a murder case can be committed. According to the story, a group of terrorist distributes a game disc to clueless gamers. This disc is a computer virus disguises itself as a Sonic rom hack. But in reality, it acts as a "mirror" that allows user to look into an alternative, hellish dimension. This dimension slowly corrupts the gamer's apartment room, plaguing the gamer with cryptic messages and turning him/her depressed or insane. At the height of the haunting, the entity inside the disc invades the real world and snatch user's soul into said dimension, leaving an empty corpse behind. Afterward, the virus completely destroys the computer and most potential evidence leading to the crime.

    If we're only to think about how a murder can be committed and how the murderer can get away, I am interested in how to improve upon the story. That said, I want you to imagine yourself as either Batman, Sherlock Holmes, or Phoenix Wright, cracking the case with potentially supernatural at work. The megalomaniac killer can stay, but the outline of the new plot should be marked by the following:

    1) Use the perspective of the detective or the police, try to focus primarily on the case instead of the murderer's identity.
    2) The detective and the police are not incompetent. They are not Sonic fans and the police order all suspicious items deposited at the police department once the crimes start escalating.
    3) Only necessary evidences can be found, which may include the disc and the evil Sonic doll.
    4) The main character and any possible assistants never use the disc, therefore are never haunted.
    5) The crime can be supernatural as long as it is logical and can be followed (e.g. Batman vs. comic super villains logic).

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  2. Without taking regard to Sonic game characaters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, etc.), which of the members of freedom fighter is your favorite and/or most interesting? Aside from picking a vote, please also state why you like the character and what are most interesting aspect of the character (personality, development, etc.)


  3. I've seen worse reboot (DC's New 52; deleting 25 years of continuity plus 50 years of legacy for lol). Personally, I think Sonic got slightly better with the reboot. I enjoyed Shattered World Crisis, and I believe it has a lot of potential at expanding new stories and characters that would soon replace the old ones without problems... if it does continue.

    While I understand SEGA wanted adaptations of their games, I think Sonic Archie has so far been stepping around in one place. World Unite was just a commercial while Sonic 1-2 remakes were worse than than the Genesis and Mega Drive books. Post Genesis Sonic needs to establish its own world and characters. In honesty, I'm looking forward for anything original from Ian Flynn, including that Lost Hedgehog Tales he never seems to update. 

    I'll keep my finger crossed


  4. Inspired by Frostryu's topic on Antoine, today I would to talk about Sonic, particularly, how he is being considered "The Hero of Mobius" in Sonic Archie comics.

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    We know a hero is a person who achieves great things. In case of Sonic, he is one of the few mobians who have special talents powerful enough to wipe the floor with Dr. Robotnik's army and to fight Robotnik himself one-on-one, even killing him off at one point. However, in the comic book world, classical heroes like Superman and Batman need to showcase other dominant traits other than "beating up bad guys" to make them legitimate heroes. For examples, Superman is known mostly his idealism, compassion and down-to-earth personality and Batman is known for his intelligence, determination and his overwhelming desire for justice. Sonic Archie has over 280 issues, and like Superman and Batman, I believe there's a reason behind this success aside from Sonic being a mascot character. 

    What I would like to ask you is simple: describe how you feel about Sonic of the Archie comics. Discuss how Sonic in your opinion has proven himself as a good or bad protagonist, what we like or dislike about him, and ultimately what makes him a unique hero. In addition, if you write or draw him, in what angle you would like to express or explore him. Here's my opinion for the starter:

    I've always found the Archie counterpart of Sonic to be more charming than his game counterpart. Since SatAm, Sonic as a freedom fighter is innately characterized as a good person. Not only he has a rough childhood, but his 90's kid attitude also enhance him as a confident, fearless and inspiring hero rather than a carefree teen. He can be smart talking, overconfident, and flirtatious, but because of the context, In many ways he's similar to the Red Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Red Savarin, and Rainbow Dash: a "competitive teen" archetype who achieves the best of his ability by seeking out challenges and adventures all while realizing he should exercise his power to protect his friends.

    What I like the most about Sonic Archie, however, is that the book's successfully depicted him as a three-dimensional character. Just like in the game, he's a confident hero, able to crack jokes and smile even in the most desperate moments, but at the same time, he's still an insecure knight with a traumatic past. I read this article sometimes ago which resonated with me. Game bashing aside, the author brought up how several chapters in the comics that he claimed bringing out humanity out of Sonic: his anxiety, his fear, and his determination, and his worry for other people. This allows him to be written not only as a realistic character, but also as a satisfying hero when he overcome his fear and defeat his enemies. To date, Sonic #175-176 are still my favorite, since it explores how Sonic can still get it together after seemly losing everything, and more importantly he's willing to let Tails and Amy helping him out.

    What I find interesting is the character Sally Acorn, who before the reboot managed to out bring most of Sonic's personality. Moreso than Amy, Sally is more or less a "clutch" that causes Sonic to be emotionally challenged whenever she's in danger. It's a part of a reason why I like them as a couple, and the reason I was disappointed at the Mecha Sally arc ending abruptly. If I write Sonic, I'd explore more of the relationship between Sonic and Sally, not in term of romance, but how they go through difficulties together and support each other in the ways they are both strong characters.

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  5. You know, at least SEGA have understood that people liked Generation's 2D/3D mashup in contrast to Sonic 4, so at the very least they are playing it safe. Of course we want innovation, but In my opinion, it's better to build upon what already works than creating completely new concepts and messing them up.

    Even if Force turns out to be Generation 2.0, I'll gladly take it as long as it's fun. It shouldn't be that difficult to swallow a similar game given that things like classic and handheld Sonic and Mega Man don't really have a lot of changes despite all the different titles.


  6. So far, this is an interesting set up. It quite reminds me of Epic Mickey for Wii.

    The theme seems to be about the apparent difference between reality, which is a strong conflict between skeptical "bad endings" view of reality and the optimistic "good endings" view of fairy tales, where cynicism tries to take down anything good left in the world as the established facts and standards; a metaphor for cynical adult vs innocent children in the real world. Even though the story is about "fixing the future" cliche surrounding Silver, the magic book allows a different interpretation where storybooks and past events are being as learning experiences on how to live a life: to either "counteract grim reality" or to "embrace both dark and light to create a new balance". Silver "writing a story" is a symbol for a person making choices in life that creates new path in hope for a better future.

    If this is a core theme of the story, be sure use the conflict of "grim reality vs hopeful fairy tale" as the contrasting ideologies to create conflicts, so that Silver's struggle will become more meaningful. Since "writing the book" is the thesis of the story. Silver choices and the consequences of his actions will likely to be the main factors that drives the plot, including chapters that may details his interaction with the people living in the book (i.e. how their lives become better or worse because of his interventions). Silver's actions and outcomes throughout the story will determine the quality of the story, both in-context and how we readers read it.

    Here's several problems I have with the draft, though, mainly about the writing style.

    1. The speech pattern here is too formal and difficult to read. Even if it's supposed to be a fairy tale, why do people speak like poets in a post-apocalyptic future?
    2. The current state of the magic book is not clear. Has the book allowed Silver to jump into the past? Is the book an interactive encyclopedia that records past events? has it let him enter a magic world that somehow connects with reality? Or is it a tool Mogul uses to test Silver's sense of reality? Most of all, what is the "Prophecy of Ruin" and how is it related to the theme of fixing the future/life? You don't need to outright tell what the book or the prophecy are if you want to keep them as mysteries or symbols, but be sure to hint at or touch upon them, so that they can be linked to the message or moral you are planning to tell.

    That's all for now. Good luck!


  7. It's more like Freedom Fighter isn't the point of Sonic series in the eye of Sega. Sonic as a character is usually a free-roaming teenager who wanders around looking for adventures instead of staying in one place or joining an army. It's also kind of hard to have 7 regular heroes when you are making a platform game, unless you try to invoke a switching mechanic (something that didn't work back in Sonic '06).


  8. Probably an adaptation of Sonic World, and knowing how comic publication works, there will be a lot of original characters & arcs  happening until a new game is promoted (particularly Sonic 2017). I hope there won't be anymore crossover anytime soon, unless they'll do a proper story, not putting 20 something characters into the same page and call it epic.

    If the comic's going to end and I'm at helm, I'd do everything I can to promote Knothole Freedom Fighters as the endgame party since this is the only place they get to shine. This ideally includes:

    - Get something big for Antoine and Bunnie to overcome. The couple depressingly needs a real character arc in the current continuity.
    - Put Rotor's father conflict to the edge so Rotor can finally do something meaningful for himself,
    - Push Sally and Nicole to the limit as the field leaders. Given their roles, they could be the most important characters to use when the party hit the rock bottom (like something that happened before Genesis wave)
    - Of course, Sonic and Tails can do an epic showdown with Eggman in a cool final battle area, like Death Egg or Special Zone. Of course, ends it with Super Sonic.

    And of course, I agree with what other have said: "adventure continues" concluding pages, Eggman escapes, new duty calls, etc.


  9. I only watch Let's Plays so I can't say much, but I believe it's a very sloppy project not worth defending. Sega did learn a lot of lessons from it, and so we got things like Unleashed, Generation, and Color. I was very glad of that.

    06' was just one bad game of the bunch. I would just laugh it off as an internet meme and play something else, like the three games mentioned and almost everything handheld or 2D.


  10. Every mobian (Mobo-Sapian) has the same genetic construction which allows them are interbreed. They just have different outer shells and interesting gimmick that if the father and mother are of different sub-class, they will breed a twin. It just a hand-wave to how cartoon animals work.

    No, I don't find any of this weird. In fact, I think it helps demoting racism and discrimination. Unlike humans, appearances do not matter in relationship for mobians, and the essence of love shines from personality, passion, and intimacy. This is partly why I love anthropomorphic animals so much as a concept.

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  11. Anything optimistic and inspiring. I love some JRPGs like Lufia, Phantasy Star IV, Final Fantasy IX and Dragon Quest V where the main characters maintain their high spirits and mature despite how despite how dire situations can get. I also love sport genre, like Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū, where it's all about building up character and reaching ultimate goals in life.

    Also, anything with respectfully depicted anthropomorphic animals is a win for me: Sonic, Solatorobo, Tails Concerto, Star Fox, Freedom Planet, etc.


  12. I recently got myself a copy of Final Fantasy IX with 20% discount as the first time I've shopped with Play Asia, probably the first worthwhile buy since Final Fantasy XIII because unlike anything 3D post-FFX that I haven't truly enjoyed, I'll surely love to play IX.

    Am I the only one who prefer IX over VII? VII is a classic and all, but IX has better themes and characters for me.

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  13. Since Yume Nikki and LSD Dream Emulator, I was rather cynical toward this kind of game, but...

    I saw the final battle video. It's rare that something can be so emotional and idealistic. The game reminds me a lot of Earthbound.

    Also, I saw lots of awesome memes on the internet. The game looks and sounds better than FNAF by miles

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  14. "I think we should go by the sewer. If we recklessly try to jack the security system this alien, we may screw up and the owner of this place may suspect something's wrong.", said Maxine, "Beside, there's only two of us. We probably don't want to make a huge scene."

    "What do think?"


  15. Maxine and Miles worked their ways through the desert and found themselves few paces away from a huge fortress. "What in the world is THAT?" She blurted out in slight shock as she glanced upon the place. Its appearance almost immediately sent Maxine into a confusion and a doubt whether she's made a right decision.

    The scene of the castle was probably something derived from an old fairy tale where a heroic knight bust through an evil scientist's lab to rescue a princess, except it's far more bizarre. The castle was three stories tall, decorated with ever spinning rooftop radar, three gigantic bones sticking out of the main building, side buildings with mismatched sizes and colors, a tower shaped like bun, multiple cannons and missile launchers, and most importantly, a giant skull placed in front of the castle - the big and goofy skull that kept flashing light out of its eye sockets. The entire structure was designed as if the owner had no sense of subtlety or perhaps desperately wanted attentions from uninformed police or heroes.

    Still staring in disbelief, Maxine noticed the large "W" emblem marked in front of the gigantic skull and was alerted a bit. She believed she saw such emblem before, but she couldn't clearly remember where she saw it or what the alphabet stood for. At that time, Maxine noticed a couple of security robots passing by.

    "I have a bad feeling about this." She told Miles. "Let's proceed with caution."

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