Disagree. Maybe not a drastic change, but you need to remove her spikes at least if you want her to not look so much like Sonic. As much as you've been moving toward having this be an original game, the main characters still just looks like someone's Sonic fan character (which is apparently is). It hurts it. There's a few other things that need changing, but I DO feel that people saying it's THAT much like a Sonic game are being unfair. Lilac and her moveset are the main thing that really makes it feel like a Sonic game, because Carol doesn't really (except her ability to roll into a ball).
I couldn't disagree more with everything in a post, for a number of reasons, but especially the "you shouldn't listen to anyone else's opinions but your own" part. That reads just like someone who puts drawings up somewhere like DA or something to show them off, but gets mad when someone gives it a critique. If you want the game to not live up to the potential that it can live up to, then sure don't listen to other's opinions or critiques, but I know it can be better and you've listened to a lot of the problems and fixed many of them so far.
It may sound harsh when i say things like "change Lilac's character design, take away things like roll, etc". But here's the thing: I could really give a shit about most of the games getting made on here nowadays. I'm pretty bored with fangames and especially Sonic fangames in general (Sonic BTS and ATS are fun don't get me wrong). But your game is verging on the edge of totally original, and I'd just love to see it be more than just a Sonic fangame. I'd love to see it on the steam store one day! And I think you should too! It's the only game on this dumb site I really give enough of a shit about to even post long dumb posts like this about.
Related, I actually find Carol more fun than Lilac simply BECAUSE Carol doesn't play as close to Sonic. Carol feels slower and more combat heavy and I enjoyed her more..
edit: Serephim is right in that the Sonic comparison will probably never go anywhere. But I think the comparison can be lessened a lot more than it currently is.