Playing Sonic Generations: City Escape Act 1 !!!!!

I returned to Sonic Generations and, I was excited about having another opportunity to feel nostalgic about something that came from the SEGA Sonic games.  And I gotta say, during this session the one that had the most nostalgic impact on me was Act 1 of City Escape.  It was quite the experience playing as Classic Sonic in City Escape, considering it is Classis Sonic in a Modern Sonic stage.   I love the Act 1 version of the City Escape song, and it has SEGA Genesis Sonic-game musical elements in it.  What blew me away was that the beginning of the second verse of the song had a different but familiar melody to it—one of the songs from the 2-Player mode in Sonic 3.   Hardcore Sonic the Hedgehog fans who’ve played the old Genesis titles will recognize it and get a kick out of this!   I certainly did J

 Songs I Unlocked:

ü  Green Hill Zone (Original)

ü  Emerald Hill Zone

ü  Sonic Boom

ü  PalmTree Panic

ü  [First Stage music from Sonic Spinball]

Stages I Beat

ü   Challenge: Sky Sanctuary Doppleganger Race

ü  Defeated Boss

ü  City Escape: Act 1 and Act 2

ü  Partner Challenge: Amy’s Piko Piko Hammer (helps Sonic do high jumps)

I left off at the Sonic Heroes first stage, Act 2.  Boy is it difficult! Most of the time when Sonic loses lives, it is because he falls into the water.  Okay, I can’t help making Sonic run faster than my brain can process and lose control of him, to the point where I don’t realize he’s doomed until it happens.  It does get frustrating, but I’ll get through it.  I just need fresh fingers, which means I need to start playing the game with this stage.

Playing Sonic Generations for the first time

So I finally finally finally started playing Sonic Generations last week and I gotta say, it blew me away as much as Sonic Unleashed did.   To elaborate, I had so much fun I could play on it for hours if I didn’t need to eat :D  The nostalgia factor was very strong; though of course it was different playing classic Sonic in a very 3D version of Green Hill Zone.  The colors in the game are very beautiful, of course…

I love how the music for Act 1 of the Green Hill, Chemical Plant, and Sky Sanctuary zones stayed true to their versions and were given only a slight face lift (or “sound-lift,” if you will).  Then for Act 2 of the zones, the music is made for the modern, green-eyed Sonic, and those versions of the songs aren’t all that bad.  I especially really like the Act 2 edition of the Chemical Plant Zone music.  As for the classic/Act 1 editions of music, the Sky Sanctuary Zone Act 1 is my favorite so far.

Another cool thing I noticed was that in the Chemical Plant Zone, in either Act when Sonic falls into the purple water, the zone music sounds as if you really are underwater.  It’s neat; it like letting you know that you are in the water and need Sonic to get to a big bubble or reach the surface for air.  What other video game even does that?!  It’s jenius! (I spelled the word “genius” with a “j” :D ).

The voice acting is okay.  I am not going to make a big deal out of the voice acting.  I dunno why some people have a problem with Sonic’s voice.

There are trophies for Sonic Generations too!  I’ve never earned a Trophy in my PS3 before (because I hardly play on it, besides Devil May Cry 4 where I’m stuck.  I don’t know if that video game even has trophies).

Classic Sonic doesn’t talk.  That is okay, you know why?  Classic Sonic never talked.  So it makes sense to me that he doesn’t say a word, and we players rely on his facial expressions and actions to read him.

Stages I’ve Completed

ü  Green Hill Zone, Act 1 and Act 2

ü  Chemical Plant Zone, Act 1 and Act 2

ü  Sky Sanctuary Zone, Act 1 and 2

ü  Sonic vs. Metal Sonic: The first Chaos Emerald

ü  2 Challenges = 2 Boss Keys

Where I left off: I am about to get the third Boss Key.

"Dumb Running Sonic" on Tumblr

Every time I see this website, there is always a funny GIF of Sonic to laugh at.  The great thing is, no one has to be a great artist to draw and animate Sonic the Hedgehog running like an idiot.  He could even be as abstract as a stick figure or crudely drawn animal, as long as he’s blue or is an animal with spikes.  I’ve laughed hard enough to get sick to my stomach, these animations are so funny.  I’d try a hand at this myself if I had a Tumblr account.  Thanks to NiGHTS into Dreams.com’s  TRiPPY on Facebook for sharing the Tumblr page, Dumb Running Sonic.  I don’t think I would have found out about this website myself. 

www.dumbrunningsonic.tumblr.com/

Getting Sonic Generations for the Holidays, plus Sonic Unleashed

As it turned out, I got Sonic Generations for the holidays.  And look at me, I haven’t even finished Sonic Unleashed, or even played any of Sonic Colors, for that matter (I don’t have that one).

That been said, after having played with NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams for a little while, I switched to Sonic Unleashed to revisit the game that I haven’t resumed since October 29, 2009.  I had to get used to the controls of the game again because all these weeks I’ve only been playing either Final Fantasy Dissidia or Dissidia Duodecim.

I left off when Sonic needed to return to Adabat to complete a few Night Stages.  This was the one with the whirlpools that moved wooden platforms around that Sonic kept missing and falling into water he can’t swim in.  After a few more fails and losing a bunch of lives until I had maybe three left, I realized that when Sonic grabs onto the green poles, he doesn’t need to jump…he just has to drop down onto the platform (raft?), provided I time the move right.

It was the first time I tried Sonic Unleashed on the HDTV set.  Sonic Unleashed was a little too HD for me at this point considering that the Nintendo Wii was a next gen video game console (now a current gen console) that would go great with an HDTV.  But this game has really beautiful colors and animations.

NiGHTS Journey of Dreams on Christmas Day

Welcome to the New Year of 2012, everyone!  ^__^

It was Christmas so I figured if I played NiGHTS Journey of Dreams on Christmas Day there would be something Christmas related in the game, like I found out for the original NiGHTS into Dreams.  I tried it and unfortunately there was no Christmas-garbed NiGHTS in the game at all.   I was a bit disappointed, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to enjoy the game.  I started playing with the Chase Mission stage in Aqua Garden, the very first Nightopia I visited when I first played this game in June 2008.  No Christmas-garbed NiGHTS there either.  I got a C rating in the stage, which was lower than the B I got as my best score.

So next I went to My Dream.  And the Christmas NiGHTS version of Jingle Bells, titled “Dream Bells,” was playing in the background.  It was snowing, SNOWING in My Dream, for the first time.   I squealed with delight because I had recently given myself a chance to listen to the soundtrack to Christmas NiGHTS, and I recognized the song and was overjoyed!!  All of my Nightopians were wearing red Christmas hats in the spirit of the holiday—all 34 of them.  And they were singing along with the Dream Bells song, but just the first three notes, though.  Man, I wish I got this all on tape but I didn’t.  My camcorder’s battery wasn’t fully charged, which must be why I didn’t think about doing that.   A bunch of them were singing loudly and it almost drove me nuts!  Every once in a while I had Helen run to a quiet area with another Nightopian to get away from all that noise.  Cute, but annoying.  Some of them rode on sleighs, or played soccer, but most of them were close to musical boxes and singing, singing, and singing.

Next I played an Octopaw stage in the same Nightopia, Aqua Garden.  I was out of practice so I did terrible, got discouraged and stopped that.  So then I went to Helen's Sketchbook, and I love the version of "Dreams Dreams" that plays as I look at the concept art and sketches.  I stayed in Helen's Sketchbook for twenty minutes or more just to listen to the music.  So nice.

Holidays and stuff... On Hiatus

I think I may have been on an unannounced hiatus, so sorry for any disappointment I may have caused for not posting as regularly as I used to.

But I will be back next month  ^__^

So, have a Merry Christmas and a pleasant Hanukkah and a wonderful Kwanzaa!!!!

Update on Dissidia 012 [Duodecim] Final Fantasy: Finished Scenario 012!!

So it took a while, because I made my top party members gather some extra KP before moving on. Up to 247 KP total. Yuna was the leader for a bit so she can get some more EXP as well as level up faster and get some for the other party members.

Things worked out great. At the Rift, Lightning and Vaan were my highest-leveled fighters (naturally since Lightning was in Chapter 1 and then Vaan is my favorite of the new fighters. I love his Crossbow attacks :]  )

It also turned out that Lightning was the last to fight—and the right one because she was level 44 and Garland was level 39.

I liked how DDFF introduced the concept of “party” in the game series, and how you can choose to have one of the characters fight for everyone or have each character fight a separate member of the enemy party. When it was Tifa’s turn though, she was getting her butt kicked and at the end of the battle had 110 HP left. The victory line she said was, “Phew, that was a close call.” True, very true.

That’s when I noticed my PSP’s power indicator was blinking.

I gotta finish these fights quick so I can save. I was rewarded with more plot cinema, but at the same time I was afraid the battery would die on me in the middle of everything. I couldn’t relax and enjoy any of it. And then the beautiful vivid cinematic CGI graphics worried me even more, using up more battery life. Then the epilogue narration comes in, and I go, “Hurry up, hurry up, I need to save and quit the game!” I read the narration text and wanted to skip it (the narrator’s voice takes his sweet time, doesn’t he?) But I couldn’t progress forward on my own pace.

I got a new report and new PP catalog items but I didn’t see what they were because my priority was to quit the game before the PSP would shut itself off. Mission successful, with 5% battery power to spare.

I returned to the game again with my console fully charged. Went to the Museum Theater to watch those final scenes again from Scenario 012, enjoying them this time.

This is Your Year, Sonic!

I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since Sonic the Hedgehog made his debut in the United States.

And now he is going to get his own new (updated) parade balloon for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade!!     :3  

Twenty years. That means I was at least six years old when I found out he existed, and it changed my world.  The Nintendo games and Super Mario Brothers weren’t enough anymore.  I had to play the video game with the cool blue hedgehog that runs fast and bounces off robots.  SEGA Genesis provided video games—especially the Sonic the Hedgehog ones—that were more colorful and ran faster than Mario ever could.  My Sega Genesis lasted longer than the NES.  I guess what I meant to say was that I was playing on the SEGA Genesis longer than I’ve played on the NES. I spent more time playing Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic and Knuckles, Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and Sonic 3D Blast than any other video game I would play on the NES or others on the SEGA Genesis.

Now that Sonic Generations is released, my appreciation for this video game character is renewed.  I don’t know when I’ll get it and play it.  I don’t even have Sonic Colors (the latest one I DO have is Sonic Unleashed, with is about 3 years old? now).  I’m sure Sonic Colors is a good game.  There seems to be a lot of hype about Sonic Generations, and so far it is looking good.  I am trying to stay away from trailers or websites that are too revealing about the game.  I didn’t know there was going to be a Nintendo 3DS version of SG, although it doesn’t apply to me because I know I won’t need a Nintendo 3DS. The PSP 3000 is already my handheld console of choice.

I suppose that eventually I will have to have a go with Sonic Generations. It is something I feel I shouldn’t miss out on. I am still busy with the Dissidia FFs, and really should get back to Sonic Unleashed, since it is the most HD Sonic game I have. I haven’t even tried this game on the HD TV set yet (it’s been nearly two years since I touched that vide game).  I’ll bet it’s going to look so good.

I still read the Sonic the Hedgehog comic books from Archie Comics.  I am about seven issues behind, though--alot of other things have been getting in the way--but I am looking forward to reading them when they celebrate Sonic's 20th.

So, Sonic…this year is for you. <3  Your 20th anniversary, new video game, ongoing comic books,  new parade balloon...and most important of all, old fans and new fans of the most way past cool blue hedgehog in the video game universe.

Current Progress in Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy

The last time I played the game, I completed Kain Highwind’s Scenario 012 chapter. I liked the music that was playing in the background while Kain roamed the field. Firion was with him. The field music definitely provided a different atmosphere playing his chapter than playing the Yuna or Lightning’s chapters. Kain is currently level 22, after finishing his story.

I like that Kain’s helmet hides his eyes, making him look more mysterious than he already shows to be. Mystery Guy.

So Tifa is next. She is level 18 now, since I’ve been leveling her up as I played through half of her chapter. Now that she is leveled up and has some more abilities, she isn’t so tough to play anymore. I ‘m so used to playing characters that have a weapon, but Tifa is a close-range type of character and so it will be interesting fighting as her.

A New Favorite FF song, thanks to Dissidia Duodecim-- Not Alone

I was playing Dissidia Duodecim FF the other day and out of curiosity for more FF IX music, I used some of the PP earned in the game so far to unlock the battle music BGM track, “Not Alone.”

I really like it. It’s been stuck in my head for the past few days. I even went to iTunes to listen to the sample of it (without hearing all the sound FX during the battles). I found out there is an option in the Options Menu, where one can turn off the SFX so that you can hear the music without having the SFX obstructing the nice background music. I just might do that for a few battles and see for myself how that is.

Man I love this song now.  I've never played this game but DDFF introduced me to a few really good music tracks from FF IX.  As for the music track “Darkness of Eternity,” I unlocked that immediately when I realized I could unlock the new BGM music with PP. I already knew what that sounded like (I bought it on iTunes), and it is cool to have it as battle music when fighting as Kuja. Or Zidane versus Kuja.

Here is a link to a video that features "Not Alone" (or "You're Not Alone") along with some footage from the original video game: http://youtu.be/Sx_Qqzs4cfk