Many Sonic fans see Sonic Frontiers as this highly experimental game that takes a bold new direction for the series.
I find this weird because everything about Frontiers screams the opposite.
It's a really safe product that was destined to sell well.

After the release of Sonic Forces, Sonic Team were scrambling to "revive" the Sonic series.
They decided to take the series in a new direction that would be more appealing to non-Sonic fans and japanese players.

Breath of the Wild and Nier Automata both came out in 2017, the same year Sonic Forces released, and they were really popular and successful.
Automata saved the japanese games industry and BOTW was the highest selling Zelda game.
That's why Sonic Team wanted to copy Breath of the Wild and Nier Automata to ensure that Sonic Frontiers will be highly successful.

Shadow of the Colossus was a big inspiration for Breath of the Wild which is why it has climbing mechanics and Divine Beasts.
Nier Automata and all Yoko Taro games are inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Because of this, Sonic Team also were inspired by SOTC and EVA.

These inspirations can be seen all over Sonic Frontiers and they are the reason why this title is more successful than other Sonic games.

>>714190148 (OP)
>OP learns to concept of derivation

>>714190148 (OP)
Don't forget the most important part:

The loli.