PUNK TACTICS | Uzelac

Ok I know this account is themed around Dragon Ball but I have a lot of ideas for Pokemon posts lmao. I'll try and find a good balance between the two especially since the DBS manga will be making it's return soon.

I played through Sonic Frontiers by the way, easily an 8 or 9/10, I think it's easily the best Sonic game that's been released in who knows how long, though it has its issues. Thinking of writing a full length review on it but we'll see.

I was gonna make a post about my personal ranking of every main Z Fighter (as well as a couple extra characters) as of Chapter 103, and it's almost done, but I'm not really feeling it anymore. I think I'll come back to it at another time and start something new instead

Sonic Frontiers Review: Aptly Crossing a New Frontier.

Sonic Frontiers is the latest 3D platforming game to be released in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, following the releases of Sonic Forces, Sonic Colors Ultimate (SCU), and Sonic Origins, their previous three 3D platforming titles. Forces, SCU, and Origins’ releases were met with a lot of criticism due to not meeting the fanbase’s expectations for a variety of reasons, so in the days before Frontiers’ released, I was excited but chose to keep a healthy level of skepticism just in case the game wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Suffice to say, the hype for the game was extremely well earned, as I had an absolute blast playing through Frontiers. To help me get all my points across as to why I like this game so much, I’ll be dividing this review into two parts: the gameplay segment and the story segment. I’m doing this for two reasons: the first being that I believe both need to be talked about separately so I can really dive deep into what makes them so good, and the other is so that people who only want a gameplay review aren’t spoiled on some of the more major plot points of the game. With that being said, here are my thoughts on Sonic Frontiers!

Future Updates

As I was in the process of putting this review together, Sonic Team revealed that over the course of 2023, the game would be getting a series of 3 free updates, and the last of those updates would contain a story update involving more playable characters, showing pictures of Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Obviously, this is massive and very exciting, but since it’s not out I can’t exactly factor any of what’s coming in updates into this review. Hopefully if I have the time and remember to do so, I’ll make an addendum to this review or separate posts going over each update. Anyways, NOW this review can start!

Gameplay

Sonic Frontiers sets out to tackle a new style of gameplay it calls Open Zone gameplay. Sonic Frontiers takes place on a series of islands, with each island being an open zone. As soon as you unlock the island, you’re able to go anywhere on the island right from the start, defeating minibosses and collecting Memory Tokens wherever you please, but more on that in a moment. The zones are fairly big in size, giving you plenty to explore at Sonic’s mach speeds and never really feeling cramped.

While exploring the islands, Sonic will be able to find rails, springs, and other such platforming obstacles that you’d find in your typical Sonic level. These will lead Sonic into short platforming segments, and by completing them he can earn Memory Tokens, which are essential to completing the game. Think of them as bite-sized levels. They’re typically pretty fun, though some of them lock you into playing in 2D, which kind of defeats the point of an open zone, but outside of that I enjoy these small chunks of platforming.

Memory Tokens are used not only to progress the story, but also to have smaller, more bite-sized interactions with other characters. Engaging with characters doesn’t take away any Memory Tokens from you, so if you have enough to initiate a conversation, go have a chat with them! However, every island has a different type of Memory Token, meaning that tokens you collect on the first island won’t help your progress on the second. Sometimes collecting the tokens felt like a pain, but I enjoyed the experience of exploring the islands regardless.

Scattered around the island are various puzzles that, as a reward, give you seeds. These seeds can be taken to an NPC to increase your attack or defense, depending on the type of seed you have. While I’m sure it isn’t necessary to raise your stats, I’d highly recommend doing so, as some enemies towards the end of the game are quite difficult.

The Cyloop is Sonic’s main new ability in this game and it’s used for puzzle solving and combat. The Cyloop is essential to solving many puzzles in the game, and using it on enemies can put Sonic in an advantageous position during combat. Simply drawing a circle will give you rings and drawing an infinity symbol will give you infinite boost in the open zones!

Exploration in this game is a breath of fresh air for the franchise, helping to break up the monotony of just playing level after level after level. I keep finding myself thinking of how cool previous games in the franchise, namely Forces, could have been if they had tried a similar Open Zone system. I hope the development team behind future Sonic games try and implement Open Zone gameplay into their future games, as I had a blast with it in Frontiers.

There is one more ability that Sonic has to use to help him explore, and that’s the Dropdash. I think it’s really cool that it’s in this game, even though I don't think it contributes a ton as I rarely found myself using it. The one oddity about it though is how it handles speed: the Dropdash uses momentum similar to how the classic games do, as in when you go down a slope, you gain speed, and when you go up a slope, you lose speed. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a complaint! It’s fun to roll down various hills to see how much speed can be built up. But if they’ve implemented that kind of design for the Dropdash, why can’t the whole game play this way? Why limit it to exclusively the Dropdash? I know that this is definitely more of a nitpick but as soon as I noticed it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Shifting focus more on combat now, inhabiting the islands are many strange looking robots for Sonic to take on with his myriad of new combat abilities, and by defeating them he can earn skill points to unlock more abilities. The only ability essential to beating the game is the Cyloop, but the others can help speed up combat in very flashy manners so long as you know how to combo them together properly.

The combos in this game are incredibly stylish and perfectly fitting of the blue blur, it’s always a blast to experiment with linking different skills together against different enemies. You can tell that the developers really put a lot of thought into making these skills and their effort certainly were not in vain.

One skill you don’t need any skill points to unlock is the ability to Parry. Parrying lets you deflect any enemies attack right back at them and counter with a flurry of your own. While having the ability is nice, it has a very noticeable flaw: you can hold your parry for as long as you want. In my opinion, this does ultimately take away from the combat as it means that as long as you hold your parry, you’re not in any real danger. Holding it in midair also causes Sonic to awkwardly float which, while funny, definitely looks just a little strange.

While exploring the islands you’ll encounter named opponents that serve as minibosses, one such example being found in the gif above, named Ninja. Being minibosses, they’re naturally tougher than the generic enemies Sonic will run across in the open zones, but defeating them is essential, as they drop Portal Gears. The bosses come in many different shapes and sizes and will attack Sonic in many different ways, so you should be ready for anything. These can range anywhere from incredibly fun to just a slog to fight (looking at you, Tank).

Overall, the combat in this game is incredibly flashy and fun, and I hope we see more combat like this in the future. There are a few key areas where it can be improved, such as the aforementioned issues with the parry and some of the less enjoyable minibosses, but ultimately it’s a very well done system that I hope makes a return in future games.

Oh yeah Big’s fishing is also fun and the theme that plays is an absolute vibe, easily the most important part of the game.

Story

Alright, story time. If you don’t want to get spoiled about the story, now’s the time to leave. The story of Sonic Frontiers is 100% best experienced blind and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. I’ll also be omitting gifs from this section as well.

So I’m just gonna pad this out a little bit in case someone scrolls a little too far on accident.

Ok, still here? Cool, I’ll just dive right in then.

The story of Sonic Frontiers is, without question, the best story we’ve gotten since SA2 or Unleashed. The characters are written absolutely incredibly in a setting filled with unique mystery that culminates into some of the biggest lore developments the series has ever gotten. I genuinely believe that this is the best that these characters have ever been depicted, and the addition of Sage to the cast of characters is one of the biggest Ws the franchise could have possibly gotten.

The dynamic between Sage and Eggman is one of the best parts of the story by far and it really spices up Eggman’s characters, something that he’s been needing for a long, long time. You can really feel the connection the two of them have together, from the way Eggman talks about her in his memos to his scenes at the end of the game. Watching Eggman look up at the falling stars, hoping to see his AI, his daughter, return to the planet and watching him realize that she’s not coming back almost made me  genuinely cry. Then watching him work to restore her in the final scene after the credits and seemingly succeeding was such a good moment for the doctor. I hope Sage comes back for future games, it’d be such a shame if she didn’t.

The Ancients not only being from space, but bringing the Chaos Emeralds with them from their homeworld and being the ancestors of Chaos is an interesting development to the lore, and I’m excited to see if they go anywhere else with it. The Ancients being related to Chaos was pretty obvious by just looking at their appearance, but them bringing the emeralds from outer space was a development I definitely was not expecting. They’re still a very mysterious civilization that we may never learn more about, but what we do know about them is absolutely fascinating. They did so well with integrating the Ancients into Sonic’s World.

Unfortunately, this is where the story admittedly falls apart a little bit. The End is interesting, to say the least. I don’t think it’s ever made clear whether it’s a god or a mortal, but what we do know is that it’s powerful enough to destroy the Ancients’ home. Then it follows them to Sonic’s World and forces them to trap it inside an entire digital dimension showing that despite how advanced their technology is, they couldn’t even kill it, which makes this thing feel menacing. So with the reveal of The End being the villain, I was really hoping that the boss battle would be the best we’ve ever gotten. It was… not that. The boss battle itself was unfortunately a let-down, which was a massive shame because Frontiers’ has absolutely incredible bosses at the end of each island. There’s a lot in game that points to The End being rushed, such as Sonic’s speech to the Ancients he gives just before the fight itself, and the instruction screen telling you to fight with the Titans, plural. It seems like they really wanted to do more with The End but for whatever reason couldn’t, which is a big shame. It’s definitely not enough to sour the whole story for me, just a bit of a let down.

Sonic Frontiers’ story heavily relies on the mystery of the Starfall Islands, and it uses said mysteries to craft an absolutely incredible story only held back by the gameplay of its final boss. This is the type of story I hope we get to see more of from Sonic games in the future.

Final Rating

If I had to rate the game on a scale of 1-10, I’d give it a very solid 7. The team behind the game’s development very clearly listened to what people wanted from the franchise and gave it to us, and while it’s not perfect by any means, it’s 100% a step in the right direction. If the development team behind Sonic Frontiers keeps giving us games of this quality, I'm sure that the future of the franchise is a very bright one.

The Ultimate Form, Its Evolutions, And How It Lives Up To Its Name (DBS: Super Hero Spoilers Ahead)

Dragon Ball is a show with many different power altering techniques and transformations, from Kaioken to Super Saiyan to even fusion. Knowing this, many characters use these different forms and techniques in their goal of attaining further strength. But which is the best and why is it the best? If you were to ask me, that honor would go to the Ultimate form.

The Ultimate form has been and is known as many things throughout Dragon Ball’s lifespan: Potential Unleashed, the Mystic form, Power Unleashed, Power Awakening, and obviously Ultimate. Essentially, the form draws out all of a person’s hidden potential and even heightens a person's senses, as Gohan was able to see without his glasses after transforming in Super Hero, but his eyesight reverted to being poor once he powered back down into his base form. As if that wasn’t enough, the form seemingly doesn’t take any stamina away from the wielder to use. The form is typically gained through enduring Elder Kai’s ritual, but Piccolo showcased the ability to be granted the form from Shenron via a wish.

In no uncertain terms, the power that this transformation can grant its user is absurd. Gohan was able to outclass Super Saiyan 3 Goku’s power as soon as he received the form, beat Super Buu before he absorbed Gotenks, and after further training in Dragon Ball Super it was shown to be able to keep up with Super Saiyan Blue.

As if the form wasn’t crazy enough, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero gave us the fun information that just like Super Saiyan, the Ultimate form can evolve into separate, more powerful transformations. While this has caused some confusion in the fanbase, as the Ultimate form is already supposed to draw out all of a person’s latent potential, episode 90 of the DBS anime implies that Super Saiyan can be combined with the Ultimate form.

My point being that just because the Ultimate form brings out all of your latent potential doesn’t mean that your power can’t be further amplified. That being said, I think that’s what these evolved forms are doing: simply amplifying the user’s power after bringing forth their latent potential.

But that’s not all these evolved forms have to offer. When I said “just like Super Saiyan, the Ultimate form can evolve into separate, more powerful transformations”, I didn’t mean something like an Ultimate 2, Ultimate 3, etc etc, I meant that everyone who evolves their Ultimate form gets a transformation (seemingly) entirely unique to them. While it’s never directly stated why in Super Hero, I think the reason is pretty obvious: the transformations are themed around the sources of the character’s potential, and different character’s potentials come from different places. Gohan’s Beast form is unlocked in a moment of rage at seeing Piccolo hurt by Cell Max, just like the rage boosts he would experience as a child.

Piccolo’s potential comes from his Namekian heritage, but more specifically, his fusions with Nail and Kami. Think about it: his Orange form was granted to him by Shenron, the eternal dragon originally created by the Nameless Namekian who would eventually split into Piccolo and Kami. By fusing back with Kami, that means that Piccolo has returned to being the Nameless Namekian, so Shenron helping out his creator with a new transformation makes sense. You could also argue that Piccolo’s fusions not only made him stronger in the moment, but increased his potential, allowing him to grow further and faster than he would have been able to without undergoing them, but that’s a discussion for another time.

It should come as a shock to no-one reading that these transformations are ridiculously powerful. Given how Gohan’s Ultimate form allowed him to keep pace with Goku’s Super Saiyan Blue, amping the power of the form beyond that is insane to think about, and it’s no small amp either. Before Gohan obtained the form, he seemed pitiful in comparison to Cell Max, but once he transformed he was able to tank a punch from Cell Max without even flinching. I think it’s safe to say that the amp in power provided by Gohan’s Beast form outclasses the amp that Goku’s Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken x20 amp gives him, which putting it simply means that I think that Beast’s amp is greater than x20 the power Gohan’s Ultimate form provides him.

Orange Piccolo isn’t as powerful as Gohan, but that doesn’t mean he’s a slouch either. The Orange form gives Piccolo enough power to easily defeat Gamma 2, who was stronger than him in his Ultimate state. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the Gammas are stronger than Android 17 who, get this, was also able to fight evenly with Goku’s Super Saiyan Blue form. Given how Orange Piccolo knocked out Gamma 2 with one punch, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that Piccolo’s Orange form gives him a similar amp to Gohan’s Beast form. I’m not saying that Orange Piccolo and Beast Gohan are equal in power, just that the amp their forms provide are similar.

So let’s summarize the main points just to make sure we got everything nice and tidy: the Ultimate form draws out all of the user’s latent potential with minimal to no stamina usage which can be further amplified by other powers, such as Super Saiyan. The form can also evolve into a new, unique form depending on the source of your potential, and these evolved states amplifies the user’s already drawn out power to ludicrous levels.

And that does it, really. That’s why I think Ultimate is the, well, ultimate form to strive for to increase your power in the world of Dragon Ball. I don’t really know how to end this other than saying that this is just my interpretation of the forms based on the information I know about Dragon Ball and that if you have a different interpretation then more power to you. I’m not trying to convince anyone that they have to agree with me, just sharing my own personal thoughts and ideas. I plan to write more short essay stuff like this as well, I think my next one will be talking about the human Z-Fighters!

If you’ve read this far, thank you so much! This is the first time I’ve ever sat down and wrote something like this and while I’m not expecting it to do super well, it’s cool knowing that maybe someone will read it and agree with me. If you see this, have a great day!

Lately I've been trying to figure out how powerful all of the main current Z Warriors are compared to one another using feats and statements from the manga and it's proving to be an interesting question to figure out, expect a post on it relatively soon!

Based on my silly headcanon that Goku is really good at styling hair

I hope the day will come when I can watch it in Japan too…!

do you think namekians on earth get seasonal depression bc there's only 1 sun instead of 3

It's been a very long time since I've been so emotionally impacted by the passing of a person

I hope Toriyama rests in peace

I already miss him so, so much