Sonic All Star Racing Transformed (2012)

[dave7g]

7 minutes ago, S0L said:

 

This will be shaders building the first time it needs to do them. The bad news is you can't speed it up (much) the good news is they're cached and will eventually be all present and correct. We typically told people to drop the detail or resolution down a peg till you've got them all. We changed the way it worked completely for the second game so they were all pre-compiled.

 

 

Thanks for that! So if I just play for a while it will correct itself?

[carlospie]

That’s exactly what it says yes. Can’t wait to play again tonight what an awesome game. The afterburner level has me grinning 

[Ketchup]

@S0L when is the Xbox One X Enhanced Backwards compatible version coming? Need this in 4K. It's a shame the difficulty didn't get one final tweak to allow most of us to be able to actually finish the single player. Got so close but those last few stars are time consuming challenge tracks than racing ones.

[carlospie]

Oh is it a thing the difficulty is off? I’m pretty good at games but normal on this was rock 

[bignige]

This is on sale (Steam), along with pretty much every other Sonic game at the mo -£3.74

[Keiths_Dad]

The difficulty on this was perfect to begin with, I seem to remember they made it easier though. If I buy it again, can I play at the original difficulty?

[S0L]

Pretty sure we didn't make it easier. It's been a long running (and fair) complaint if anything that it got tough when you went to the higher difficulties, which you needed to do to unlock all the goodies. 

[Keiths_Dad]

Sorry, I think I've said that wrong - wasn't there a patch that "fixed" the difficulty? It was definitely a challenge, but squeezing the last few stars out of it was a real joy for me, and it's that experience that I'd love to go back to.

[S0L]

Pretty sure we didn't. We patched some exploits out people were using online, so abuse of rolling in planes, but other than that I'm pretty sure we didn't pull the difficulty back. I didn't have the designers available to do it for one thing!

 

We didn't even do it for the Japanese release, as we had to maintain online compatibility so had to leave everything reasonably untouched in that department. You miss out on the crazy Takenobu Mitsuyoshi of 'Let's Go Away' from Daytona USA commentary though outside of Japan, I'm surprised no-one has ever tried to hack that into the PC version.

[carlospie]

The burning rangers level is a bit pap! 

[dumpster]

The difficulty throughout the game is about right for the majority of the time, it's those last few unlockables that seem impossible to get. The game is challenging, but that's not a problem until you get 95% through when it gets insane.  I've said it many times in this thread but Transformed is so much better than it gets credit for - so many people say Mario Kart is the best thing ever, and Transformed blows it away.  That's why I found the difficulty such a problem - that whole stars issue takes the shine off a game that is otherwise perfect. The game is so much fun all the way through, and then you hit a brick wall just before you get to unlock the Dreamcast Controller and Daytona Car, which were used in the adverts that made me buy the game.  It's amazing for 98% of the game, then the last bit is ridiculous.  Seriously, anyone who likes Mario Kart should play this - it's so much better.

[carlospie]

I’m really enjoying it, hate the water bits in the race of ages  though handle so bad 

[stefcha]

2 hours ago, S0L said:

Ralph was in due to Sonic being in Wreck It Ralph, someone canny at SEGA went 'Hey, why not have Ralph in All-Stars Transformed'. I remember announcing Ralph at Sonic Boom and watching the room go crazy. Movie director was a lovely bloke who really knew his games too. Team Fortress, Total War and Yogscast were specific to the PC version, the latter causing so much fallout it let me get Ryo in (finally). That's a story for a few years from now

 

Yogscast? I know (Football) Manager Man was there as well but don't recall that one. 

[S0L]

Yeah, Yogscast. How I forgot Football Manager Man I have no idea. One of my favourite development moments ever is sitting in Richard Jacques studio, with Miles Jacobson adlibbing lines for that character as he provided the voice. I'm pretty sure me and Rich went for a pint after too. I remember having fun making games

[dumpster]

A week into lockdown and 2 extra stars achieved. I now have 156, and need 165 to get the Daytona car. It really is a grind though. Watching speedruns, copying them exactly but still not winning.

[Lumpy]

There's a Daytona car? Wow. I got the Outrun track which was amazing but didn't know there was a Daytona car.

 

You lot are much more hardcore than me. I pack it all in when it stops being any fun! No determination at all. 

[dumpster]

1 hour ago, Lumpy said:

There's a Daytona car? Wow. I got the Outrun track which was amazing but didn't know there was a Daytona car.

 

You lot are much more hardcore than me. I pack it all in when it stops being any fun! No determination at all. 

There is a Daytona car that turns into a Dreamcast controller but it is so difficult that only three people have ever seen them. Despite that , still the best game ever.

[Yartek]

GOt my first PC that I can call a gaming PC in fiteen years a few eeks ago and one of the first things I picked up was the PC version of this which is absolutely wonderful. Probably still my favourite KArt racer, just because I have a bit more nostalgia for Segas than I do for Nintendo.

[stefcha]

9 hours ago, dumpster said:

A week into lockdown and 2 extra stars achieved. I now have 156, and need 165 to get the Daytona car. It really is a grind though. Watching speedruns, copying them exactly but still not winning.

 

Forget the speedruns, have you ever followed the simple advice on how to give yourself the best chance to do it that I've given you more than once  

[dumpster]

On 30/03/2020 at 22:34, stefcha said:

 

Forget the speedruns, have you ever followed the simple advice on how to give yourself the best chance to do it that I've given you more than once  

Yeah but it didn't work for me.  I took screengrabs of all your posts. Maybe it is my lack of skillz but I seem to be the polar opposite of you.  Your tips were about doing the tank challenges , ring races and traffic attacks for easy stars, and not trying to get an S class on the races. I have got a few S classes on the races and the earlier ring races  but when I try the tanks, the drift challenges etc it all seems too hard. The time limits are so tight.  I have to do 17 traffic attack waves and i get through about 4, and the blue cars seem unavoidable if you move at any sort of high speed. I need someone to tell me to use that specific character with that  specific mod on that specific race/challenge., And why am I sooo bad when I feel like Im doing it all really well?  Like  I watch youtube videos of people completing the challenges and they scrape by and win.  I do it and i lose.  Over and over for 10 years. My main difficulty is that the game seems to cheat. Like you can be in 9th place and you get shot in the back by three different weapons within seconds of each other.  Or you get to the front and then utter chaos seems to break out behind you.  This afternoon I did a race in first place for the whole course, the crowd were chanting "sonic!" And then on the last corner i got overtaken by a clump of cars and in the last single second of the race I went from 1st to 5th, and now my controller is in the garden.  

[dave7g]

Hoping for Sonic Team Racing to be on sale for the switch today. I'm curious about that game, it looks beautiful.

[McSpeed]

2 hours ago, dave7g said:

Hoping for Sonic Team Racing to be on sale for the switch today. I'm curious about that game, it looks beautiful.

 

It doesn't hold a candle to the overall quality of All Stars Racing Transformed, sadly. A lot less diverse, not as challenging and overall a lot less fun.

 

I'd give a lot of money for an updated rerelease of All Stars Racing Transformed on Switch / PS4, though.

[dave7g]

I've bought transformed three times now, I'm ready for a spiritual successor. 

 

I'd go 20 for Team Racing and no more. 

[stefcha]

@dumpster, I dunno, maybe it is a skill thing, but it does read like you've never quite got what I was saying. For example, I've S ranked all the GP's myself but there are easier ways to gain extra stars elsewhere if needed is all I've ever said. The traffic passing ones are not one of those, and to be able to do those you need to be able to get to grips with the drifting at which point they're more doable.

 

Hence the suggestions of tank, drift and flying levels. Your main gripe is the game cheats, and on those levels it can't. The tank ones are definitely easy stars - there's no time limit, and you can go as slow as you like. The drift ones are mostly simple as you don't always need to go flat out, but you do need to be able to hold a drift for the duration of the entire curve, and thus get max boost and max time (the timer stops when you're in the drift lane, and boost levels increase while you're drifting so as long as you're getting the drift right the only timing issue is getting to the next zone). If you can do that you can use that skill to get through the entire game, if you can't then yes you're going to struggle with it. Drifting and boosting all the time, as much as possible in any situation is what works. 

 

Still, testament to the game being good enough in some way that you're still playing it regardless :-)

[dumpster]

Yep, it's a cracker.  

[Ketchup]

After many years I finally cracked 200 stars and I think I’ve hit my absolute limit. I can probably get about 6 more stars on the last two tracks that have opened up but I’ll never get the rest as they’re just far far to difficult. Who’s idea was it to put a car mod as the final reward after you’ve rinsed the game anyways.

 

@S0L how did the jumps where if you are going too fast you hit the roof of the jump on the golden axe track and the billy Hatcher track not get noticed and fixed by the team? Also is there any secrets you can spill about this game now it’s been out for years? Oh and get Microsoft to release and Xbox one x enhanced port please, as it’s be lovely in 4k!

 

This is one my favourite games ever and it absolutely destroys Mario Kart and despite 3 games since this came out Mario Kart still hasn’t bettered it for single player kart racing.

[Darwock]

I feel a bit sorry for this game. It only seems to get attention in times of health crisis. Personally I put the most time into it when I was laid up with chicken pox (I did unlock the After Burner jet / Daytona car, but wasn't good enough to unlock everything). I played it exclusively on Vita - I wonder if it would have been easier with a Dualshock?

[stefcha]

8 minutes ago, Ketchup said:

After many years I finally cracked 200 stars and I think I’ve hit my absolute limit. I can probably get about 6 more stars on the last two tracks that have opened up but I’ll never get the rest as they’re just far far to difficult. Who’s idea was it to put a car mod as the final reward after you’ve rinsed the game anyways.

 

@S0L

 

206 was my limit, wonder if more than a literal handful of people in the world ever did get that AGES console mod. Pointless anyway and just a completion nicety really, it's not something that'd change much plus you'd literally be completely done with the game at that point.

 

And the Golden Axe tunnel jump height got me more than once, probably the one place in the game where you shouldn't trick off a jump as a barrel roll would often hit the roof.

 

I'd definitely buy and play a remake again, great game. Weird how I've had almost no interest in the Sonic Teams one whatsoever.

[dave7g]

Team Racing isn't too bad, better than I was expecting. The story absolutely sucks and MUST be completely skipped but there are some good things. Lots of mini game races and some of the old tracks have been remade as has some music. 

 

It's not a patch on transformed but it's £20 and probably worth it at that price.

[dumpster]

On 02/04/2020 at 14:07, stefcha said:

@dumpster, I dunno, maybe it is a skill thing..

 

The tank ones are definitely easy stars - there's no time limit, 

When I play the tank levels on S class it fires green things for me to crash into. The ammo pickups are also green.  And if I drive a little slowly the tank gets away and the game ends, so there is a time limit.  

 

Maybe it is a skill thing. But I just feel like there is a discrepancy in my game. Like I say, I watch the experts play on YouTube. I watch their routine. They drift here, flip there, level 2 drift then stunt, transform boost at the ring and so on.  I do all these moves at the same places and run out of time. The ring race on the Nights track is a good example of how there doesn't seem any room for me to play better, the speed run videos seem to be doing exactly what I am doing but they win and I don't .  Also the Afterburner Nights race, I lose with a second to spare every time yet I'm playing like an expert.  It feels like there's something wrong, like my trigger button isn't calibrated or something because I'm doing it all, even getting 4 stars on some courses, but I'm still 10 stars short. How anyone has managed 200 stars is beyond me.  Did @Ketchup use specific skills you can share or did you just keep playing until the game awarded you an all star on the last lap?