As much as i think they would do a much(and i mean, a MUCH) better job of making sonic a good game,sonic is sega.It lives and dies in reflection of his company. Unfortunately,sega is one of the most confusing and desorganized publishers in this industry. 

Sonic has up and downs just like alot of series. Their a good games in the series and their are bad. Hell I would even argue that the good outweighs the bad (Mania, Generations, the Advance ones, DS ones, Colors, the classic games, Adventures, Heroes(that game if good, damnit), hell even the All star racing games are good.

Ironically i think the problem is Sonic Team, dissolve that team and get new leadership in their, cause they have been wildly inconsistent. It says something that the best one recently wasnt made by that team. I stopped reading the comics when they did a soft reboot, you know a series been going on too long when they do that.

If by stuck you mean kept buying and playing all Sonic games then I did most certainly NOT stick with the franchise.
I love Sonic and I am one of those who discovered Sonic when it all started in the early 1990's.
I have not played a Sonic game in a long time but I did play the recent Sonic Mania as it is a true Sonic game, as it was thought out at the beginning.
As for Sonic Forces, I'm not saying it's a bad game but these 3D games are not what the hardcore Sonic experience is all about so I'm passing that game.
Hoping for a Sonic Mania 2

I went to youtube and watched episode shadow and the cut-scenes.

Yeah... it's bad. No super Sonic either.


I wish they stopped making the 3D games or just get the Sonic Utopia guys make a 3D one and Christian whitehead continue the mania series. That's the Sonic we need. Have Sonic team make some other IP. They can't do Sonic right ever since Naka left.

Meta is at 53. 

I mean Sonic Mania was really, really good. It's probably my new favorite Sonic game. It's that well put together. I don't put too much investment in the 3D titles, but I will say that I thought Generations and Colors would be in the catagory of "better" Sonic games. Forces looks and plays like a convoluted mess. It wants to mimic Generations, but falls way short of the mark they set there.

Honestly, it just comes down to Sonic Team not knowing how to make a proper Sonic game. They got upstaged this year by Sonic Mania, which is great to see, because they need a serious wake up call. It's embarrassing, because throughout Sonic's 3D years they've failed to establish a strong foundation or identify for Sonic  to thrive. You an look on the other hand at Mario and how Nintendo established his identity in the 3D realm. All 3D Mario games have a familiar feel of control that was established back in Mario 64. Sonic doesn't have that... The closest thing Sonic has to an identity is the boost formula, and even that is questionable since Sonic Team hasn't built on to that in any sort of meaningful way. Sonic Team and Sega in general has shown over the years of how truly inept they are in developing their prized franchise. I'm truly convinced that they simply got lucky with Generations at this point.

Going forward, they need continue with the Mania series with Christian Whitehead. That will bring them success and they need to clean house and truly figure out how they want to represent Sonic in the 3D realm, because settling on 2 half baked play styles isn't working.

They did master the momentum of hills, rolling and a variation of spin dash in one try with Mario Odyssey, so may as well.

I enjoy the 2D ones, from Genesis to Advance and recently Mania. I think Sega should continue and make Mania 2, or that same team and make a Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero graphic level Sonic 2D game.

Actually it's the combination of the controls of Mario Odyssey and the physics engine which was also used on BotW that made me really start thinking about it.

It first occurred to me as I was running around in the vast open fields of BotW fighting the Ancient machines that reminded me of Sonic enemies, and I thought that it would be a lot of fun to be able to run through those fields as Sonic. There's really just a few major changes that I think would help 3D Sonic Games:

1. Abandon the autopilot, narrow paths that they've for so long confined Sonic within. When forced to move in one predetermined direction speed loses its allure, and the level design is so boring that none but the most committed Sonic fans really find much to like most of the time. 

2. Use a Zelda-esque targeting system that actually requires a degree of thought and input with multiple attacks and dodges to work with. Combat in 3D Sonic games has, to be frank, been terrible even dating back to the Adventures games (which I enjoyed at the time).

3. Take an Odyssey/BotW approach to the world with the world's spread out design and a similar, satisfying physics engine. This would also allow for the traditional skills, such as Knuckles climbing similarly to Link, Tails flying (or at least hovering and descending), and allowing Sonic to really flex his legs and run in an unconstrained environment. 

4. Utilize the "slow-down time" technique from many other games to allow for finesse and input that would otherwise be impossible for players at the speeds Sonic runs. This blind, determined focus on unrestricted speed is what has long held the franchise back, as players get far fewer opportunities to really contribute and put their own stamp on what's occurring. Having options to slow down for attacks/dodges and such (like we see with mid-air shooting in BotW) would allow for far more intricate and satisfying level designs.

That's just a few changes that I feel would potentially allow for an exciting 3D Sonic experience. For whatever reason, though, Sonic Team seems determined to never alter the formula established nearly 20 years ago; the gameplay of this game looks more dated than ever.

Sonic died with 4th gen for me, along with Streets of Rage, Ecco, Toejam & Earl, offline Phantasy Star, etc. The recent Mania was nice, but it's basically a high-budget fangame.