Overall[]
Sonic and the Black Spiral is an RPG in the style of Final Fantasy XIII and the Grandia franchise. Players will have to utilize the Chaos System of magic where everyone's special attacks take Chaos Power, or CP, to activate. Add the Guardian Formations and ATC into the mix and players will have to be strategic and fast if they wish to defeat Herato.
Plot[]
When the Freedom Fighters thought defeated IX and saved the world, they had awakened a new evil, the evil sorcerer Herato. With the help of Eggman, they opened up the Dark Spiral, a dimension that, once inside, there is no escape. While Herato wanted to use it to suck Mobius into eternal darkness, Eggman, as you probably could guess, wanted to use it to get rid of Sonic and his friends. The two argued and fought. The fight didn't last long as Herato won and trapped Eggman in Dark Spiral.
Upon hearing about Herato from Shade, Sonic and company decided to find Herato and attempt to stop him, but they all failed miserably. Just when Herato had them where he wanted them, a mysterious hooded figure came to their aid, helping them escape, but not without getting injured in the process. The hooded figure revealed himself to be an old fox by the name of Fisk. He served under Herato as his apprentice but left when he saw how wicked he had become.
He gave Sonic and the others new powerful weapons and powers to compliment what they had already in the hopes they could stop Herato from opening the Dark Spiral once more and sending Mobius into a land of eternal darkness. As usual, the fate of the world lied in their hands.
Gameplay Features[]
Players will be able to move the Camera with the Right Stick. All combatants' turns will be placed in order of movement speed (ie, Sonic and Shadow would naturally go first.), and their turns are shown on a wheel called the ATC, or Action Turn Circle. Much like a standard RPG, combatants wull take turns attacking, defending or moving. There's a twist though, when attacks are blocked or countered, the user's next turn can be delayed thanks to a skill called a Delay Skill. Some are passive and activate once certain criteria are met or some are actual attacks that can be activated on that character's turn and used when an attack is initiated againse them.
As usual each character will be put into one of the three skill types, Speed, Flight and Power. However, now certain characters will be two types (more on those later). Perform EX power with a character who’s a dual-type and you will get a special Chaos EX special which costs all CP but is powerful enough to justify the loss. On top of this, you’ll be about to use special weapons for each characters’ type.
Gameplay Mechanics[]
- Guardian Fomations: Players will be able to customize Sonic and Co.'s battle formation, giving the team special boosts like resistance to certain attacks or higher defensive might. For example, putting two Power-types in front of two Fly-types will boost the attack power of the Power-types and the Defense of the Fly-types, or putting the team in a zig-zag formation will boost their attack speed. You can change their formation at anytime during battle at the cost of a turn by assigning a formation to one of the d-pad buttons before entering battle.
- Chaos EX Atttacks: Certain Characters are dual-types and when you combine attacks with them, they can create devastating attacks that, while powerful, cost both characters their CP.
- Dual-type Characters: Some characters will have two types. These character will be able to perform special Chaos EX Attacks with other Dual-types and single-type characters.
- Fisk: Speed+Power Type
- Sally Acorn: Fly+Speed Type
- Blaze: Speed+Power Type
- Chaos Power (CP): All special attacks cost Chaos Power, or CP, to use. The more powerful the attack, the more CP it requires. Each Character will have an exclusive CP attack that takes all the CP they have, but the effect of the attack on the tide of battle justify the cost. Examples of these attacks and their effects include:
- Amy: Piko Piko Tornado: If Sonic is in critical condition, this attack does damage only to the person who dealt him the most damage.
- Tails: Tornado Assault: When Sonic is in the party, this attack costs half the CP needed
- Sonic: Sonic Spin: Creates a tornado that delays all enemies within the area of effect.
- Shadow: Chaos COntrol: Causes a random effect that effects all enemies on the field.
- Fisk: Shadow Storm: Creates a blinding field that damages all enemies and blinds them, lowering their attack accuracy.
- Rouge: Explosive Theft: Rouge steals an item from an enemy and leaves a grenade in their pocket. The resulting explosion damages all enemies close to the target.