Finally it's here!!! I made an account to post this in reply to some other long time fans of the series (and new players). I played the first two games multiple times and they are my favourite flash games ever (as well as among my favourite games of all time, regardless of platform). I have just finished the prologue and first chapter of this game, so here are my first impressions: - The first two sections took me an hour, with each seeming longer than the previous. I would say the total play time looks to be around 6-7 hours, depending on how much you grind and struggle with the game (I have already died once). This could be longer, as I have no way of foreseeing what might happen. This is in line with the originals, maybe a little longer. - The art style is great, and I have no qualms about the departure from the previous style. It is less dark, but a lot more colourful and the sprites look awesome so far. There already seems to be a great deal of enemy variety, with different moves and skills to strategise against; I was wrecked by a venomancer when I didn't check his moves properly. - The gameplay is standard Sonny which is great; turn based with a huge variety of skills to utilise and employ in different scenarios. Although you have a party, so far I am only able to control Sonny, while the AI takes care of my companions (friendly AI choices seem... debatable so far). - Some RPG elements have been stripped, although most of the stuff from the original game is there, and gives me that feeling of nostalgia I have been craving. You cannot put points in attributes, nor can you choose a specific skill tree to start with. However the starting skill tree is cool, and it looks like more trees will become available as you progress through the game. The shop and training area both return and the rest feels like more polished versions of the originals. - A big point of controversy has been lack of battle animations (the art director said this would take an unbelievable amount of time to do since each sprite is individually modelled). I really don't see what people are complaining about; sure there are no animations, but particle affects and everything else look great, and it really doesn't detract from the experience in my opinion. The originals had them, but they were fairly basic. One thing that I am disappointed about are how items don't show on your character model. I think that really added to the feeling of immersion in the originals, and I'm sad that they could not bring that to the new one. - The Music is good so far, but there does not seem to be a lot of variety and it may get repetitive if the same tracks are continued throughout the game. The voice acting isn't that great either (like the originals) and a lot of the written dialogue isn't spoken, which is a little weird. As a huge Sonny fan who has been waiting for this for a loooong time, I am happy with how it turned out. Some things could have been done better, but so far I am having an absolute blast. The guy who said this was barely worth £2.99 is a dumbass. There are FAR worse ways of spending the money and if you are fan of the series (or turn based games in general) it is worth picking up. tl;dr As a huge fan of the previous games I think the new one is really good. There are a few things missing, and some things that may have been done better. But if you are a fan of turn-based games, pick this up. Edit: About half way through now and its already taken me around 7 hours so expect the full game to take well over 10. Also (kind of spoilers below) you unlock the choice of 1 out of 5 different skill trees after the 2nd chapter, thus increasing the variety even more. I chose fire, and fire crit seems to be a decent build up to now.
Thanks for the detailed, helpful and comprehensive impressions. Definitely tend to buy this now! And I never played the flash versions, so nostalgia should not affect me.
How many different characters can you get in the game and also is their any sort of infinite/ randomly generated mode?
Incredibly disappointed in this game. The original flash games were two of my favorite turn based games growing up. I had been eagerly awaiting the follow up. Perhaps my expectations were too high but beyond the high quality sprites there's not much to this game. It's a poorly balanced grind fest with an extremely dissatisfying battle mechanic. What's missing? Battle animations. Remember when you were a kid playing with your action figures and would just smash them into each other to make them fight? That's how the combat looks in this game. Lack of gear shown on the characters. A staple of RPGs is customizing your character to look how you want. That satisfying feeling of making your character look more and more badass as you get better gear. Gone. The HORRIBLE evolution mechanic. For those who don't know it's a system that allows you to augment abilities during battle after dealing and receiving a certain amount of damage. First problem is that all the evolutions are randomly shuffled each battle. There are about 12-15 different ones but you don't know which ones you'll get until you choose to evolve an ability. And once you chose to evolve an ability you can't go back. You're stuck and have to evolve that ability. The other problem being because of the randomness you can end up with an augmentation that the ability already has. Meaning your Wound ability that causes bleed can get a evo. For bleed!! Why!? Who play tested this and thought that was okay? IMO the evolutions should be permanent upgrades unlocked after using the ability a certain number of times. Also, passives take up an ability slot. I may be wrong but if I'm not this is downright silly. It takes too long to unlock other classes (end of 3rd chapter). Which takes longer to get to than you would think because this game is a GRIND! Feel like playing training battles for minimal money and about a tenth of the exp you need to level up? Then this is the game for you! Otherwise you will be utterly crushed by the imbalance. Don't forget to upgrade your gear! This game falls so far short of what it should have been after YEARS of development. Might be the first game I've seen that actually had less content than its predecessors. Maybe my nostalgia is getting the better of me but I honestly can't recommend this game to anyone. EDIT: Chapter 4 is impossible.
Anyone have strategies or recommendations for classes? I went with lightning thinking the speed assets would be good, but then realized: snare skills are strong but expire when the enemy is hit...and since you can't control your friendlies, that's meh the speed increase passive starts at 10% and I was hoping leveling it up might get it to 30% or something, but it's only +2% upgrades the other skills don't seem as useful as those in the physical set. Cripple plays nice with so many others. So I'm restarting the game to try a different class. I wish you could save a copy of your game at that point in another slot so you don't have to restart...but really, the fights go fairly fast. Very little grinding so far. I'd recommend drillthat bonus when the enemy is low on % life is great for bosses. It's handy also for quickly taking out those acid crabs in the forest. The one for limiting healing isn't as useful as I'd hoped. Maybe it would make more of a difference later in the game.
I'm going for a Crit build (fire) as it synergises the best with your original class. Get high crit equipment, crit passives and crit skills, heal via crits, deal more damage and all sorts, insane so far. Just remember that you will need to grind at some point.
I have never played the flash games so I went into this game totally non-biased and nostalgia-free. I am enjoying it so far. I agree with everyone before me on the point that armor should be shown on your characters. It makes it that much more rewarding to "see" your progress on your characters instead of just watching stats go up. I also would have liked attack animations but I feel it's still an extremely polished game. However, if they truly did have as much time as you guys have said they did (to create this game) they should have included the things I just spoke of. All in all, I like it! Good RPG for a good price. I'll be playing this one till the end for sure.
I have never played the previous sonny games. So I can not compare this with the current one. Sonny is quite simple and still has a certain depth. You can modify the equipment, upgrade skills as well as choose party members. As someone in the forum already said, as soon as one has begun, it is difficult to put it down. If someone likes round-based rpgs game, one can access this price quietly. But I hope that with an update one can see the equipment with the character. Sry, google translator
Having a lot of fun with this.. Good story line.. engaging battles.. Has that clean crisp FTP vibe, but totally premium.. Around 80 levels to beat at this point.. Well done casual RPG
How do you beat FOREMAN GROSK?level 3 boss I chose the dark side magic and it was a mistake. Shitty spells!! Too late to change though!
I went nature and am struggling with him as well. I think dispelling that skill where he gets life is very important. With a nature build, that unfortunately means healing him at the same time. I've got all the fire reduction armor on everyone, but his attacks are still doing a lot of damageI'm wondering how the damage is counted, because those armors are low defense/high vitality. I put together a list of ALL THE SKILLS, based on a level 10 character. Includes stats, effects, cooldowns, and mapping out some synergies. Its open for comments if you want to add something. There's also a sheet in there about build strategies.
Yeah Grosk is pretty tough. I actually mainly relied on physical skills (after a few respecs) with one fire skill (the one to remove debuffs). Try to have at least 2 debuff skills as it is very important for his burn. You start with already the standard regen one, and look for one on the skill tree you chose; I know fire has one. Dispells can also be good for his healing skill but you can also stun him to interrupt that, which I found more effective. If you are still struggling try training to an additional level, I have found it really helps.
Sonny Thumbs Up! From the opening comic panels you could tell this was going to be a good buy! Lots of fun and I love the overall feel and battle system. Thanks for all the build tips!
Tips for the two elders? The treant and the Titan? Really frustrating fight. EDIT: I don't understand. You either go after the Titan and let the treant slowly become unstoppable or you go after the treant and let the Titan one shot someone eventually.
