Analysis of Sonic Rivals 2's Plot Part 4
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AmusantTranscription
00:00Silver asks if she's going to help him or not, and Rouge refuses.
00:05Shadow confronts Silver, asking him why he's here.
00:09Okay, why don't we see this scene in Shadow's story?
00:12I want storylines to have unique info, but this is a cheating way to do it.
00:18Well, considering that Rouge didn't believe Silver, I can understand why it wouldn't bother trying to tell Shadow the truth.
00:26Silver says there's no choice but for them to fight because they both want the same thing.
00:32When SBO asks Rouge how she knew he was there, she points out that she has amazing hearing because she's a bat.
00:39But by that logic, most of the Sonic characters should also have a heightened sense of smell because they're based off animals with a pretty good sense of smell.
00:46And you'd think that would factor into the plot more, letting them be able to tell when a certain person is around or where they've been.
00:53You can tell just by sight alone that they have noses that humans don't, so they should have a better sense of smell.
01:00How would that make sense otherwise?
01:03Most Sonic characters don't have big ears, so she doesn't open up that big of a can of worms when it comes to the hearing department.
01:10It's just a shame that the comics never use this.
01:14If Rouge has sensitive hearing, then while I can understand that it would make her better at sneaking around and stealing because she'd hear people coming, she'd never be able to go to a concert.
01:23Maybe she's like Lightning Lynx and can control her hearing volume.
01:28SBO won't tell Rouge why he's there, and she asks him if he's her client because he's acting suspicious lately.
01:35She decides to try to force it out of him, which is the excuse for a fight.
01:41What makes her think that her client wouldn't say he's her client?
01:46She's supposed to be smart.
01:48Sonic and Tails see Eggman, who looks slightly different, not that you know that from his character portrait.
01:54Tails figures out that it's ghosts trying to trick them.
01:57Also, Eggman's laughing looks silly.
01:59It's a Japanese way of writing laughter.
02:02So the localization team failed miserably in this line.
02:06Maybe they're intentionally leaving it that way so it looks surreal to non-Japanese gamers.
02:11It worked.
02:13Sonic says that it looks like Eggman's been possessed by ghosts too.
02:17Even though there's no proof that any other people were possessed and turned into alternate Sonic and Tails.
02:22And this opens up a can of worms because none of the ghosts in Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic 3 or Sonic Heroes possessed anybody.
02:31So obviously there's multiple different types of ghosts.
02:35Which is what Sonic the Comic went with.
02:37So this could make sense.
02:39It's just they should have addressed this.
02:41I hate Sonic's character portrait there.
02:43His eyelids are a different shade of blue from the rest of his fur.
02:46And all these doppelgangers are never explained and banished forever.
02:51Why would beating up a ghost make it vanish?
02:54It's only in Knuckles' story that we see Eggman negotate Rouge to give her the Chaos Emeralds.
03:00And somehow expect her to comply with him.
03:02And since it was meant to be revealed in front of everyone, there's even less reason for that to be the case.
03:09Damn Knuckles, how long have you been waiting to say that?
03:12And it's only in Silver's story that Silver says this guy is mine.
03:17For no reason.
03:19Sonic complains about not knowing where Eggman ran off to.
03:22And Tails tells him that there's a bunch of Chao's sealed up in a secret room.
03:27Even though Silver and Espio were the ones who made a major effort to search for it.
03:32Tails stumbled into it by complete accident.
03:36How's that fair?
03:37Sonic sees a strange door and wonders if it's the portal.
03:41Tails says the door is closing and Sonic takes the time to stand still while talking.
03:47He runs into the portal and emerges in a volcanic wasteland with lava rivers.
03:51If the effort destroyed everything here, which would include burning up all the plant life, how can Sonic breathe?
03:58Come to think of it, it makes sense that there's still oxygen
04:01if the ocean's kelp is still a thing.
04:04Most of the world's oxygen is produced by plants in the ocean.
04:08I think there's more plants in the future than 06 gives credit for
04:12because otherwise you'd think everyone would've died.
04:15We need to eat crops to survive too.
04:18Sonic says he's gotta find Eggman before the door he came through closes on him.
04:22Because apparently it's a magical door that's programmed to close automatically.
04:26Why does he assume this?
04:28Why would Eggman make it design it that way?
04:31That's just making it backfire on him.
04:34Why is it called Metal Sonic 3 when there's no Metal Sonic 2?
04:38IDW acts like it's the same Metal Sonic from Sonic Heroes.
04:43The design of this guy works a lot better than it does for Shard because he's supposed to be a bad guy.
04:49Suddenly Eggman appears.
04:52It looks like he's been trapped in the dimension that Shadow's in
04:55with no food or water in a hot place where he should've overheated.
05:00How did Gerald know this?
05:03Rouge complains that she won't get paid.
05:06Well, you would've had all seven if you took the animals out of that room in the Ark in SA2.
05:11I thought Eggman never revealed he was her client in front of Knuckles.
05:15They notice the portal's opening up.
05:18Knuckles complains that he should've thought of a plan first.
05:22What plan though?
05:24He didn't really have a choice.
05:26At least he's willing to show self-awareness.
05:29Now don't tell me they pulled the 06 bullshit and have two characters going into the same portals and emerging in different places.
05:36Rouge went into the portal with them and he was literally holding her arm as he went through the portal.
05:42At least with 06 you could assume that it was the rotation of the Earth that separated the people.
05:47Because the Earth rotates pretty fast.
05:50Rouge complains that Knuckles ditched her.
05:53She should know that it's not his idea.
05:56It makes more sense for Rouge to have ditched them from Annoyance and being taken there.
06:01So literally everyone's been separated from their partners? Why?
06:05Tails is shocked at seeing that the Ifrit has awakened.
06:08And Tails gets brainwashed.
06:11Sonic's unhappy at having to fight both the Ifrit and Tails.
06:15As opposed to being upset that he has to hurt his little brother.
06:20I guess the Ifrit's too weak to mind control two characters at once.
06:24Sonic defeats the Ifrit and has Tails released from the mind control.
06:28Tails is opposed to leaving Eggman trapped in the Ifrit's dimension after all of the evil he's done.
06:34Sonic asks why they need to look for Eggman.
06:37He's being smart here.
06:39Tails doesn't question him and continue worrying.
06:42The fact that he suddenly agrees with him when he was disagreeing with him a second ago is pretty jarring.
06:47I think the reason I'm complaining is that it doesn't make any sense that Eggman would escape the dimension in the first place
06:53if we established that the heroes don't want to save him.
06:56He doesn't have any technology there.
06:58He doesn't have a way of mining the place to get materials for technology.
07:04I don't think they should have even addressed this.
07:07They should have just not known Eggman was trapped there.
07:11Sonic leaves without Tails and Tails has to run after him to catch up with him.
07:15What a dick.
07:17It's just not like games, Sonic.
07:19Knuckles and Rouge face off against the Ifrit.
07:22With Rouge being mind-controlled.
07:24Since when is he opposed to hurting Rouge?
07:27He's fought her in SE2 and a whole bunch of other times.
07:31He knows she'll want the Master Emerald again.
07:34After Rouge snaps out of the hypnosis,
07:37Rouge complains that the Emerald detector's damaged.
07:40And here's the stupidest plot twist in the game.
07:43Why did Knuckles not know that the Master Emerald was with him when he's been the guardian of it
07:48and has been familiar with the feeling of its presence for his entire life?
07:53I know this is trying to be played for laughs,
07:55but horrible writing is not funny.
07:58I have to assume that the material that the detector was made out of
08:04blocked his Emerald sense.
08:07It is a sci-fi fantasy world, so stuff like that could be possible.
08:12I miss flirting with him.
08:14I love Knuckles' reaction to this.
08:16He shows insecurity here.
08:19It turns out Rouge was saying that to distract him so she could run away with the Master Emerald.
08:24And she thanks him for the detector
08:26instead of doing the smart thing and running away instantly after stealing it.
08:31The only way she'd not be an idiot here is if she was thanking him WHILE running away.
08:36And then there's Silver's scene.
08:39I really hate Eggman Nega's voice.
08:41I'm afraid that my metal sonic was just in de-
08:44It's so painful to listen to.
08:46I'd rather listen to Charmy B than him.
08:49After Silver wins against Eggman Nega,
08:53he talks happily with a confusingly confrontational pose.
08:57And he says the future is safe once more.
09:00I know for a fact that some people think Sonic Rivals Silver has a happy future.
09:06And that's because they didn't play this game.
09:08Or they didn't see all the cutscenes for it.
09:11Eggman Nega says his legs are caught under rubble and he can't move.
09:15Espio makes the intelligent decision and leaves him to die.
09:19Continuing his characterization of evil must die that he had in Sonic Heroes
09:23while still being a friendly person to Silver.
09:26And for all the people who say that Silver is naive,
09:29he leaves Eggman Nega to die too.
09:32So much for to kill someone to save the world.
09:35Is that really the right thing to do?
09:37How did he reappear in Rush Adventure?
09:40What, did Metal Sonic 3 save him?
09:43Maybe this is why he's banned from the comments.
09:46They think of Rush Adventure as happening before this.
09:50And this is his intended final appearance.
09:52It makes sense that after Silver freed him from a card in Rivals 1
09:56just to have him do evil things again,
09:59he'd want to make the right decision this time.
10:02Silver and Espio thank each other in a surprisingly heartwarming moment.
10:06Vector complains that his client already paid him in advance.
10:10Why would he complain about that?
10:12He's already been paid, he can just find another client.
10:15It's never explained who their client was,
10:17but whatever, it doesn't have to be explained.
10:20I guess the only reason he's complaining that he already spent the money
10:23is because he could get sued.
10:25Or at least given an IOU to get the money back.
10:29Now for Shadow's storyline.
10:31He finds a switch to close the portal before facing off with the Ifrit.
10:36Suddenly a warning siren comes from Metal Sonic
10:38with text saying twice in a row,
10:40enormous lifeform approaching.
10:43And Eggman must have really thought ahead
10:44so he programmed a message specifically referring to enormous lifeforms approaching.
10:49There usually aren't any enormous lifeforms.
10:53Shadow complains that they have no way of returning home
10:56because the portal closed.
10:58He says if he had a Chaos Emerald,
11:00he could cast Control to warp home.
11:02I wish he explained that the reason he says this
11:05is because he needs the Chaos Emerald to amplify his Chaos Control.
11:10Because I know he used Chaos Control when he first talked to Eggman in SA2.
11:15It's not like he usually makes a habit out of levitating directly upwards.
11:19Suddenly Metal Sonic's port sheet has its back turned to him
11:22and text describes the sound of Metal being cut through.
11:26Shadow actually looks panicked at the idea of Metal Sonic destroying himself.
11:31You'd never expect Shadow to care about Metal Sonic.
11:34And it doesn't really make any sense.
11:37This is towards the end of their alliance.
11:39It's not like he's still gonna be friends with him after this.
11:43It's not like we saw a thought bubble of his
11:45saying that he plans to send him to GUNS to be reprogrammed.
11:49The way his actor says that line,
11:51it sounds like he's not really concerned and it's just cruelly taunting him.
11:55It turns out Metal Sonic had a Chaos Emerald the whole time.
11:59How did Knuckles not sense that in him?
12:02People think of this as a heroic sacrifice.
12:05He's a robot, he knows Eggman can fix him.
12:09There's no reason he would think he wouldn't be fixed.
12:12It's not even like he's doing this to be moral.
12:16Because if he didn't do this for Shadow,
12:18Shadow wouldn't have been able to get him to Eggman.
12:22Metal Sonic's character portrait also has a large deep scratch
12:25through the part of his metal body between his eyes.
12:27All he had to do was take an emerald out of his chest.
12:30Why would he cause himself unnecessary damage?
12:34I guess it's something the writer didn't know about.
12:36As for why Metal Sonic's still working for Eggman after this,
12:40I have to assume that he teleported to Eggman's base
12:43so that it could be repaired by him.
12:46It's a nice way to repay him,
12:48but it's pretty stupid honor-before-reason behavior.
12:51You'd think he would just send him to GUNS
12:54so that he could be reprogrammed.
12:57Or send him to Tails to have him reprogram him.
13:00But it could make sense that he is back on Eggman's side
13:04if he did have him reprogrammed,
13:06but then Eggman got him back.
13:08All Eggman would have to do is send a bunch of robots after him.
13:12Like when he was deactivated because he was sleeping for the night.
13:17This plot resorts to all sorts of cheap tricks.
13:20From creating artificial suspense,
13:22to creating artificial conflict,
13:24to cutting out parts of scenes.
13:27All combining to be one of the worst written stories in the games.
13:31The only reason I wouldn't give it a zero is because as a whole,
13:35when you're not trying to analyze individual scenes and lines,
13:39it's certainly a fine story in theory.
13:42Shadow Metal Sonic teaming up to save the world?
13:44That sounds awesome!
13:46That's never been done before at least.
13:48What a great way to develop Metal Sonic's character
13:51by having him in a new situation
13:52showing how he reacts to
13:54oh wait, he can't talk now, never mind.
13:57They could have had a flying egg pun
13:59and had the exact same plot.
14:01Even the cool sounding ifrit plot point is just a ripoff.
14:05Silver trying to stop it is a ripoff of 06.
14:08And the little Chao sacrifice plot point,
14:11while it's at least new,
14:12is rendered nonsensical sounding
14:14because the characters never bothered to explain
14:16that Chao have a massive amount of Chaos energy in them
14:19because Chaos is a mutated Chao
14:21and so he was only able to become that way
14:23because Chao were magical to begin with.
14:26Characters who are normally allies
14:27have conflicts with each other for no reason
14:29as they constantly say
14:30I can't tell you anything.
14:32Artificially lengthening the amount of time
14:34it takes for significant plot points to be revealed
14:36to the point where you're frustrated
14:37by the time they are revealed.
14:39And Silver's characterization is only slightly less mangled,
14:43once again being confrontational for no reason
14:45and calling Tails a half-pint stealing his rings.
14:49At least he's nice and likable most of the time
14:51because he has a friend in Espio.
14:53The story gets pretty repetitive,
14:55with almost every level
14:56starting with the characters of every storyline
14:58complaining that Eggman got away
15:00and ending with all the characters saying
15:02that only they can beat Eggman.
15:04At least they try to have a deep and extensive plot.