Do you think Tomoya Ohtani should step away from Sonic for a while? I thought Sonic Forces' soundtrack was pretty bad and think some fresh blood (who also knows what they're doing, of course) would help a lot. The more important person who has to go is Morio Kishimoto of course but... I also have a feeling that Tomoya Ohtani focusing on something else that isn't Sonic (something like Rhythm Thief, maybe?) would be good too. Especially after SEGA FES 2018's Sonic DJ Live. But what do you think?
I don’t think Ohtani is that bad, I just wonder if he’s starting to take on more responsibility for the music now, or splitting responsibility with different people than his more “classic” work.
Because, like, I looked this up somewhat recently, and you know how I’ve said the soundtrack for Sonic Runners sounds like anime music? That’s because Ohtani collaborated with Takahito Eguchi on it. And Eguchi has done tons of anime music for the likes of DNAngel, Gundam, Lupin the Third, Naruto, and more. So, like, no wonder Sonic Runners sounds like sakura blossoms blowing past wistful schoolgirls next to a montage of robots having sword fights and people running towards the future.
That being said, you look up the credits for Sonic Forces, and it’s a lot of usual suspects: Eguchi returns, with familiar partners in crime: Kenichi Tokoi, Naofumi Hataya, Yutaka Minobe, etc. A lot of these names date back to the Dreamcast era, some even as far back as the Saturn and Sega CD.
I guess it’s possible they just wanted to try something different with Sonic Forces. It definitely seemed to be outside all of their comfort zones, which shows in the end result. There’s nothing wrong with experimentation as long as they learn from their mistakes and don’t make a habit of putting out junk, you know?
Because, I mean, as I noted, I didn’t necessarily hate the anime-sounding Sonic Runners music, it’s just all I could think about whenever I heard it. And I’d certainly take more of that over Sonic Forces music any day.
I think we should give it a game or two before we start calling for changes.












