Length and Difficulty

[AJ_Radio]

Trophy guide says this is around a 5/10 in difficulty and 35 hours. Is this accurate?

[Shrooba]

Definitely hovers around the right mark in my opinion. Not too easy, but not overly difficult either for the most part. It's of my personal opinion that SA2 is harder due to it's stricter A-Rank requirements, alongside the harder treasure hunting gameplay style (Knuckles can detect all 3 emerald shards in SA1, whereas in SA2 he can only sense one at a time), which I can say with confidence makes it the second hardest Sonic 100% in my opinion... But I digress!
As for SA1, probably the biggest challenge (no pun intended) is Big the Cat's gameplay. Essentially, the developers created Big's gameplay as a way to "relax" from the other game modes. Now, the biggest difference from the other characters (Big aside) would probably be E-102 Gamma, who has a shooter gameplay style where you lock onto enemies to gain time, but generally his emphasis is platforming like the other characters. This intricacy can vary with:
Tails, whose gameplay revolves around racing against Sonic. His style is-- I'd say-- the easiest, since you can basically skip most platforming! ? Even when he puffs out, he can go ridiculously far, especially noticeable in his Windy Valley stage.
Knuckles, whose gameplay as I alluded to earlier revolves around hunting for 3 emerald shards. He has a knack for climbing walls and reaching areas Sonic otherwise couldn't.
And then Amy, who cannot curl into a ball when she jumps, leaving her more vulnerable as you get chased by a giant, undefeatable robot in each stage. Her main method of attacking is her giant hammer, which you can use to somersault high into the air.

And from that standpoint, Tails and Knuckles carry over the same gameplay philosophy as the classic games; Tails can reach the higher and easier routes more accessibly, and Knuckles has an emphasis for replaying regular stages with areas exclusive to him.

And now we come full circle back to Big the Cat. His gameplay style has nothing to do with Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles, whose gameplay styles were an evolution of sorts of the classic games. His entire story revolves around finding his beloved frog pal Froggy by... fishing. And I kid you not, Big the Cat's gameplay, for me, is the biggest hurdle.
In later missions, you'll need to catch I believe 2000g fish, which are essentially the heaviest fish to catch, and they're harder to get than Froggy (who is needed for story progression). You'll know you've got a chance at catching one specifically when you see "HIT!" appear on the screen. If this doesn't pop up alongside a musical indicator, you cannot catch these big fish. Make sure you get the lure upgrades first. Sometimes you initially won't find any of these bigger fish, but by catching other random ones it can re-generate the pool of fish.
There's a specific rhythm you need to catch fish. You need to reel until the reeling meter is nearly full, and try to hover it around that range. If you go too fast, the line will break, and if you go too slow, the fish will get away. Now, this probably just sounds like I'm reciting the way to play any ol' fishing game, but since it sticks out so much from the other characters, I'd say Big has the biggest (no pun intended again) learning curve.
That being said, when you DO get the hang of it, it isn't totally awful. I remember dreading Big's gameplay as a kid, but on my latest replay of the game, it was a lot more manageable.

I hope that helps!

Edited November 7, 2022 by Shrooba

[AJ_Radio]

The big reason I stopped playing was because I literally had no idea where to go most of the time. I think it's depressing that back in 1999, game developers and the standards of that time wanted the kids of that era to actually think outside the box. What should I do with this Chaos Emerald that Knuckles has?

 

It reminds me of the countless hours I got completely stuck in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, especially concerning one particular block puzzle in the Water Temple. Took forever to figure that one out so I finally made it to Shadow Link. They expected kids to actually learn stuff as they worked towards the dungeons.

 

Nowadays everything is handed to the kids and all the pointers are there, whereas back when Sonic Adventure 1 was released, they expected the kids to figure stuff out on their own. It's this where we have completely dumbed down over the years, considering that our attention spans are much lower than they were back in 1999. Far less distractions back then.

 

The camera and the objective are both confusing, and I had to seek up a written guide on GameFAQs for some of the stuff.

[Shrooba]

That was definitely a big aspect back then. I loved playing SM64 as a kid, and trying to find out all sorts of ways to nab all the power stars. Funny how you mention Ocarina of Time and the philosophy of using all the skills you've learned through the game to overcome trials. It's this very philosophy that was used in the Eggmanland stage in Sonic Unleashed, which in my opinion is one of the hardest levels in any Sonic game. Even when you knew what you were doing, that stage would still take at least 15 minutes, and it was a gauntlet that tested everything. It was filled with precise QTE's, bottomless pits, and tough Werehog sections. It came out in 2008, and I still think it's the most impressive and grandiose Sonic game.
And now we compare that to 2017's Sonic Forces where the final modern Sonic stage is only around the length of a single minute. I definitely agree with you that gameplay has been dumbed down.

While SA2 refined Sonic's gameplay a bit more, I did love the loose feel of his gameplay in SA1, not to mention that levels like Speed Highway were filled to the brim with fun sections where you could spindash jump to reach all sorts of hidden extra life goodies.
And yep, I forgot about the camera! That thing can be a bit of a nuisance! ?
OH, and also! I nearly forgot! In the DX DLC, you'll have a list of "missions" to do, which are objectives you either complete in the hub world or the stages for respective characters to complete. Watch out for mission 53 and 54, those are the hardest. They revolve around Ice Cap, and I believe one of them was needing to snowboard through all flag targets. If you missed one, there's no going back so you'd have to restart the mission.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Shrooba

[You]

What was kind of magical about both Mario64 and Sonic Adventure is that you could have fun getting lost and back then, just running around and looking at the scenery and the gfx and then finding where to go next by accident, felt like a real eye opener and an achievement in its own right.

Also growing up, you'd want your game to last as long as possible, and see everything at your own pace cos like, you're a kid and it's not like now where you have access to hundreds of games.

Back then, there was no rush to finish the game, no rush to unlock everything and certainly no leaderboard of trophies to feel the need to use a guide immediately to complete the game as soon as possible to move onto the rest of your backlog. Also if you missed a collectible? Who cares right? You can just read about it on gamefaqs or whatever and then move on with your life.

 

I miss those days. But even myself, sadly, just don't have all day to spend on one game anymore. Also I'm old and so my skills are not what they used to be and I don't have time to git good at every single game I buy.

 

I gave up on Sonic Adventure 100% when I just found myself struggling and bored out of my brain doing the Big Cat's fishing. I'd already spent a day or two all day long getting the Chao breeding shit done, for one silver trophy and then I bought the DLC and WTF, I have to 100% the base game before I can even START the DLC?

Well, I just went on to play a different game, which is sad in a way. 2002 me would have definitely gone the whole way, of course though, 2002 me didn't have like literally hundreds of other games waiting to be finished/started.

On 11/7/2022 at 10:26 PM, Shrooba said:

Watch out for mission 53 and 54, those are the hardest. They revolve around Ice Cap, and I believe one of them was needing to snowboard through all flag targets. If you missed one, there's no going back so you'd have to restart the mission.

 

Yeah along with Big The Cat nonsense, I remember reading a guide and then tried 53 and 54, and I though fuck this game and stopped doing all the other trials for other characters (which at the time I wasn't really enjoying all that much either)

Edited November 9, 2022 by enaysoft