L.E.P. 17.2.

I'm still in the process of refreshing my MP3 player and going through the music I have on it made me think that I feel like if Sonic Forces had had all-new branding instead of being a Sonic product, it would have been way more popular.

The things that on a mechanical level were bad were no worse than the previous boost games (mostly forgettable bosses, some poorly optimised speed section, collission issues) and the things that it did right with the shorter stages and the balance of game styles was better than it had ever been. Forces having such a solid design and a strong sense of aesthetic is what allowed them to go harder on Frontiers, to further double down on both of those features.

As it was people just couldn't get over their mental dissonance over what Sonic is "about" to appreciate the effort. And, I mean, like I mind, I love a war story no matter what the medium of it is in, and for me it adds to Frontiers in an interesting way. People acting like the "shapedness" of Frontiers came out of nowhere are just fooling themselves or never played Forces because someone told them it looked bad. And that's their loss.

But as a game with interesting ideas and an aesthetic to call its own, Forces really got left behind because the Sonic fandom didn't like what it was going for. And I find that a shame. It could be that if it had been an all-new IP nobody would have played it, but I feel like if it had been its own IP, people would be praising it as the first true successor to 3D Sonic.

Also people acting like the heavy metal in Frontiers came out of nowhere need to go listen to Forces' soundtrack again. That was always the direction they were going, people.

Xenoposting 17.2.

	Well-off	Bare-ass broke
Well-paying job	Taion	Mio, Eunie
Job pays pennies	Noah, Sena	Lanz

This came to me in a vision (while daydreaming about None AU)

EDIT (22.2):

Additionally:

	Securely employed	Tenuously employed
Incredibly busy	Taion, Sena	Lanz
Spends their day twiddling their thumbs	Mio, Eunie	Noah