Analysis of Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric's Plot
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AmusantTranscription
00:00Now for Rise of Lyric.
00:03We started with a cutscene where Sonic seemingly gets crushed by boulders.
00:08And then we see the word yesterday in white text over a black screen that makes me think of YouTube parodies but is actually in the game.
00:16And we see Sonic and his friends racing after Eggman in his Eggmobile.
00:21That cutscene was actually pretty short and harmless.
00:24I was expecting annoying jokes.
00:27But all I got was the charming, snarky retort by Eggman that he didn't mean his taunt that Sonic wouldn't catch up with him, literally.
00:36And Knuckles somehow not knowing which way is left.
00:40That is a bad joke.
00:42But it's one. Eggman taunts Sonic that he needs his friends to save him after his friends prove that they're somehow able to keep up with Sonic.
00:51I like that line.
00:53Obviously Knuckles shouldn't be like this.
00:56They should have had a new character like called him Knuckles' cousin.
01:01Big would need a completely new voice to be charming enough to be with him 24-7.
01:07And even then his design isn't appealing enough so he'd need a redesign too.
01:11Sonic's friends decide to leave the building finding a way out.
01:15This cutscene is, again, alright.
01:18I was expecting it to bombard me with terrible humor.
01:21But it's actually tolerable if really boring and typical.
01:26The only joke in the cutscene was Knuckles saying,
01:29Because the word present was mentioned.
01:33Practically anytime he says something stupid it's completely forced.
01:38They had a don't explain the joke moment where Sonic corrects Knuckles.
01:42Tails is the one making the plans, as it should be.
01:46Lyric somehow recognizes Sonic from a thousand years ago.
01:50And gets all of his friends tied up.
01:53Sonic was stunned that he had dodged his spin attack.
01:56Taking the villain seriously for once.
02:00Considering how infamous the game is,
02:04I feel like they should have spent the money on important things.
02:07Not having voice acting for every time you talk to an NPC.
02:13When they have voice acted cutscenes with mere NPCs,
02:18It feels like they're trying too hard to endear you to them.
02:21Which makes sense for a game promoting a TV show.
02:24Amy and Knuckles get encountered by a floating scanner robot.
02:28Who talks with a voice that sounds nice.
02:31I would have complimented Knuckles on being suspicious.
02:34But then he tells her where Sonic is anyways.
02:37Why would he do that?
02:39It would only make sense if he knew what he was doing.
02:42And he did it on purpose to prank Sonic.
02:45Maya is the name of the female robot.
02:48Who rebelled against Lyric and helped imprison him.
02:50I like her. She reminds me of Nicole.
02:53It really should have just been Nicole.
02:56Everyone would have talked about if it was Nicole.
02:59Even though it would have been the exact same personality.
03:02But you know what I really hate?
03:05How nonchalantly everyone reacts to meeting her.
03:08You'd think they'd have much more of an emotional reaction to her than that.
03:11It'd make a lot more sense if she was a double agent.
03:15Instead of magically rebelling against Lyric.
03:18Because it was somehow stupid enough to give free will to a robot of his.
03:23Why couldn't they just have it so that Tails made the robot?
03:27If you're not going to make it make sense.
03:30Then it should have just made Tails look competent.
03:33And then Shadow appears.
03:35With no alternate backstory established.
03:38With nothing explaining who he is.
03:41Even people who aren't fans of Shadow know how pathetically out of character he is here.
03:45It would have been much better marketing to have a new character.
03:49They're just using Shadow as a puppet to get people to buy the game.
03:53And it completely failed in even that.
03:55Because all the Shadow fans saw how pathetically out of character he was in a leaked cutscene anyways.
04:01Sonic finds Tails trapped inside of a tube.
04:04Where a piece of smoldering hot metal is chasing him.
04:08Tails' acting sounds so stilted.
04:11And Sonic isn't reacting appropriately at all.
04:14Maya shows up again.
04:16But doesn't recognize Sonic at first.
04:18Because as Sonic explains.
04:20She sent him there from a thousand years in the future.
04:23She says that Lyric's building an army of robots to destroy all the living beings.
04:28For the evils.
04:30I guess he assumes because he can make robots.
04:33He won't go crazy from solitary confinement.
04:36But a robot like Maya would have the same problems as a person.
04:42Lyric complains that he had to use technology to keep himself alive.
04:46Because since people told him medicine could cure him and were wrong.
04:50He just conveniently found materials.
04:53And made the technology himself.
04:55Unlike in real life.
04:57Tails says he needs a hunk.
04:59But then Sonic says he needs a beatdown.
05:02Which is more a character for Knuckles.
05:04I like how he's a cyborg who hates organic life.
05:08It makes him like Saddam Robotnik.
05:10Maya thanks Sonic for saving her world.
05:13I don't like how she said activating gratitude before that.
05:18It's lame.
05:20And Sonic saying she's ready.
05:22After she said she's ready.
05:24That was just awkward.
05:26I hate how Sonic is just so flippant and apathetic.
05:29When he says that he thinks Knuckles must have died.
05:32This doesn't feel believable.
05:34This isn't getting me invested.
05:36Nobody cares about anything that's going on.
05:39They talk less like people actually in that situation.
05:42More like internet critics pretending their Sonic and Tails in a badly acted parody.
05:47This is the perfect representation of the apathy of the Colors Era.
05:51I don't call it the Meta Era.
05:53Because meta would be a whole bunch of references to the earlier games.
05:57For the sake of pandering to fans.
06:00Sonic has become so snarky.
06:02That he's stopped realistically reacting to anything that's going on.
06:06And throughout the conversation.
06:07Tense music is playing.
06:09So one part of the people designing the game.
06:12Have a better understanding than the other.
06:15Lyric's helper guy says that some AI of his has taken control of the Sentinel.
06:20This is supposed to be when he meets Sonic.
06:22We then cut to Sonic and his friends being in the desert.
06:25Saying that they're happy about getting the crystal and time travel rules.
06:29Then Eggman shows up to Lyric.
06:31Lyric who threatens him because Eggman was using his robots.
06:34At least Boom Eggman feels like a believable character.
06:38Even if he is a joke.
06:40I really like how Sonic was really tense while they were on the boat ride.
06:44Saying stay calm.
06:46I'm impressed they actually realized that he's supposed to be hydrophobic.
06:50They actually did the research.
06:53And there's actually people who would want you to believe that Game Sonic isn't hydrophobic.
06:58It's good for a character to have a flaw.
07:00It's good for a character to have a flaw.
07:04Sonic then acts like an arrogant douchebag.
07:06Insisting that he was the one who contributed more than any of his friends.
07:09While Amy says they all contributed equally.
07:12It makes sense because Sonic was insulted by a villain earlier for needing to rely on his friends.
07:17And then it happened again.
07:19Like if they want to be appealing to the audience.
07:21They should give this kind of message to someone other than Sonic.
07:25Like Knuckles.
07:27It's weird that Orbot and Cubot aren't in this game.
07:30Why does Tails take so long to say where are we?
07:38He and Amy went on such a long spiel about their adventure and only now does he comment on where they are.
07:43It's so lazy that they say Chaos Crystals.
07:48I hate how intimidated and cowardly Eggman is in front of Lyric here.
07:52Eggman's the main villain.
07:54That's not how Eggman's supposed to be.
07:57He's supposed to be really arrogant and stuff.
08:00If he was intimidable, he would've stopped fighting Sonic because he'd be afraid that he'd hurt him.
08:07Eggman should've been the one scaring Lyric.
08:10Then it would be like, look at how awesome Eggman is that even Lyric's scared of him.
08:16I don't know how he would intimidate him other than pointing a ray gun at him.
08:22If Lyric wants to kill everyone because he got crystal poisoning, why did Sonic and his friends get it too?
08:27I guess because they weren't around the crystals enough?
08:32Metal Sonic blasts Eggman away.
08:35And Lyric says he's gonna upgrade his core for it.
08:38Why can Lyric reprogram a robot he's totally unfamiliar with so easily when it's not like he's a deadly six who control technology directly?
08:47Lyric is extremely out of date compared to Eggman and he can still hack into his robots.
08:53That's really lucky of him.
08:56A friendly robot with a silly voice shows up to Sonic and when Sonic asks how he can keep showing up out of nowhere,
09:03the robot first says simply, because I'm awesome.
09:06And then subverts my expectations by actually explaining it.
09:10So I get the best of both worlds.
09:12Although in real life, vents are a lot harder to fit in than that.
09:17And just because the characters look like anthros doesn't mean it makes sense for the vents to be small.
09:22Then we see a short cutscene where Amy admires the beautiful watering nature area.
09:27So that's good, but what really bothers me is that Sonic, instead of liking it, just deadpans.
09:33And is impatient and bored.
09:36I don't buy that Sonic wouldn't be the type to appreciate beauty.
09:39To stop and smell the roses and admire nature.
09:42I prefer how he was in the Sonic 3D Blast adaptation of the Archie comics.
09:47This hollow shell of a Sonic doesn't care about anything at all.
09:51It has to be based on the modern idea of cool.
09:55That cool is not caring about anything.
09:58It's relatable to some people to not really care about this kind of thing.
10:03But you're still giving it to the wrong character then.
10:07Then there's a cutscene that wastes several seconds of your time at the start before finally Eggman and Lyric start threatening each other.
10:13I like that Eggman got annoyed at Metal Sonic being called worthless and sent some missiles at him for it.
10:19Even if he wasn't enraged like he should have been.
10:22Because that would have been more entertaining.
10:25Then Sonic and his friends encounter Lyric.
10:28And Sonic is somehow fine after being buried in rubble.
10:31At least rings exist in the Sonic world.
10:34So you can't explain it away as the rings healed him.
10:38So after the robot with the silly voice says,
10:41So after the robot with the silly voice is sad and insecure about closing the door.
10:46Which made me feel sorry for him.
10:48Lyric acts like a generic villain.
10:52Sonic saying his friends are his strength after he was a dick who didn't care about anything the whole game feels very forced.
10:59A guy like that wouldn't have said something as lame as this.
11:04It's nice that Sonic's saving character development.
11:07But it feels forced.
11:08Why are they doing a shounen anime type of line?
11:11And something made to appeal to Americans specifically?
11:15It's a boss fight where they retrieve the crystals one by one solving puzzles to do so.
11:21You'd think a serious villain wouldn't be screaming Metal dramatically every time you get a crystal.
11:27It makes me think Eggman should have been in this position.
11:30The game ends with a cutscene of Lyric being defeated after briefly coming back.
11:34And Shadow admitting that Sonic's not bad.
11:36It's too bad that isn't remembered.
11:39Why is Shadow even capable of being nice if he was an insane bully at first?
11:47I don't think it's a bad plot.
11:50But the characters aren't engaged in the story.
11:54They don't seem to care enough about what's going on.
11:57I don't think it doesn't make any sense.
12:00No plot holes come to mind.
12:03So it's unusually good for the Sonic series in that sense.
12:07I mean the only real major problem is there's a lot of forced lame comedy lines.
12:14But if you ignore that the tone can be good.