I genuinely believe that Sonic 06 had a lot of good concepts in it's plot, but it's so ridden with awful plot holes, plus with the more "mature" tone of the game than other Sonic games before it, the whole story falls flat.

The biggest plot hole I find a problem with: If Mephiles could time travel to any place and time he wanted, then why wasn't his FIRST action to travel to any place and time where Elise was and make her cry, which is what he needed from the start? Why is it that in the bad future, Mephiles can't merge with Iblis there? How did Elise go so many years without crying, even though she was a child when Iblis was sealed inside of her? Little kids cry a lot... And that's okay!

I have two possible solutions for this:
1. Make it so that Mephiles needs to collect information (By using his skills in deception and manipulation) about what he has to do to find and merge with Iblis, and make it clear that the form Iblis takes in the bad future is one that Mephiles cannot merge with, and make it so that the condition for Iblis's release isn't as easy as making Elise cry.
2. Nerf his ability to time travel and make it more clear that he needs to manipulate others to be able to reach his endgoal

Thus both of these help to fill in one of Sonic 06's most glaring plot holes WHILE giving Mephiles more weight as a villain, as well as more purpose to his deception and lying. I suppose he would be more compelling if one or both of my possible solutions were put into Sonic 06.

I would love to see the concept similar to Mephiles, the shapeshifter who needs to manipulate others to get what he wants, to be explored in Sonic again, but maybe this time with a lighter, more fun tone akin to the Sonic OVA, Sonic X, Adventure games, Heroes, or Unleashed. I like the lighthearted tone that allows characters to crack jokes and say goofy one-liners, but the stakes are still high for the lead characters. A lighter tone doesn't mean that you can't explore more serious themes.... After all just look at  animated Disney movies. Lots of classics like The Lion King and Mulan deal with very serious themes while still being light hearted where they need to be.

I am really confused by what was attempted with the Sonic Forces plot. After Shadow and 06, it surprised me that Sega would take another try at the "dark and serious plot".

I appreciate comments or thoughts if you have any on the subject.

geddy lee is a cool dude