My Own YouTube Channel coming soon

Within the next week I will begin setting up my YouTube account. I already have a Google Account, so I just need to go right to the steps to create a YT account. I am deciding between two usernames. My sister told me I won’t be able to change it once I decide what it is. I’ll post the name up once I get that task done.

I already have a couple of videos to upload for my channel, with which I used my new Flip Video camcorder. They will be video game related, of course. Maybe on occasion they will be on something else.

Update on NiD15.com

There are more supporters for NiGHTS’ 15th Anniversary now than when I first found out about it. I am supporter #699 =3 and the last time I looked there were 959 supporters. Wow! If you want, go HERE and see how the website is doing.

Returning to Mega Man X2…upgrading…

It’s been a while since I played a successful session with MMX2, but last Wednesday I was able to get X’s last capsule (the arm parts) and then from there started getting the other heart tanks and another Sub-Tank. I still have difficulty getting the heart tank in the Dinosaur Tank stage and the fourth Sub-Tank in the Central Computer stage, so I will have to try again later. But I wouldn’t have known that that was where these items were located (and how to get to them) if it wasn’t for this video I found on YouTube.  In the second half of the video, Clement shows viewers how to get the Arm Parts, the leftover heart tanks, and the last two Sub-Tanks.  Here it is.  (It might buffer on this page, so if you want to see it on the YouTube page if the buffering takes awhile, then see the video here .)





     Thank you, the Great Clement, for providing these walkthroughs of Mega Man X2 for entertainment and for help for the stuck gamer.
I can probably play through the rest of the game on my own, but if I need more help, I know where to go :)

NiGHTS' 15th Anniversary is July 5th 2011 !!!!!!!!!!

I first found out about this today in an email message from NiGHTS Community, and I had to get to it right away.  I am all smiles about this!  This year will be NiGHTS' 14th anniversary and I should play NiGHTS Journey of Dreams that day.  Then July 5th next year should be an exciting year for NiGHTS and NiGHTS fans everywhere!

I am writing about this to spread the word.  Trippy and DiGi Valentine of http://www.nightsintodreams.com/ have a new website that explains the new campaign to let SEGA know that there are other fans of NiGHTS from other countries (such as the U.K. and the United States) who want to be able to play the original NiGHTS into Dreams, whether it's on the XBOX Live or on the PS3 (PSN).

The new website has been announced:  http://www.nid15.com/

(that is where I got the new NiGHTS banner from ^,^)

If you are a fan of NiGHTS, please check out that new website.  It'll tell you to push/click on a button to show your support for a 15th Anniversary treat for NiGHTS and NiGHTS fans.   Read the About page too.  More details are on those websites.

Oh, I'm soooo happy!!!!!    :)

Mega Man X2 on June 11th

I should've posted this last week.   o.o

I only needed to defeat Crystal Snail and Magna Centipede before the final showdowns. I had X go to the Dinosaur Tank so he can collect energy for his two Sub-Tanks. That’s what I forgot to do the last time I went to fight Crystal Snail and ended up losing all of X’s lives twice over.

Like my sister did before, I decided to use only the X-Buster for fighting the snail, since I knew that full Charge Shot works well enough against him. In a life with a good turnout, I used a sub tank to have an advantage over Crystal Snail. I could tell when he was going to charge, but not the direction he would charge, so occasionally X got hit. Eventually I defeated him and X got the weapon Crystal Hunter.

Next was Magna Centipede. Neither I nor my sister even came across Magna Centipede yet, so we didn’t know what kind of attacks he was going to do. This stage, the Central Computer stage, was the hardest of all the other stages because of the endless booby traps that cover the place. It was pretty darn frustrating; I lost cluster after cluster of extra lives. There are two sub-bosses in this stage; the first sub-boss, the cyber sword, is not too difficult, but the second one, which looked like a bug-dinosaur?????was even more difficult. I lost a life and then I had to have X use a sub tank just to stick around.

Then X finally met Magna Centipede. After several tries and another cluster of extra lives, I figured out that this boss was weakest against the Silk Shooter. But he kept kicking X’s ass anyway. It was hard to get Magna Centipede while he was on the walls. I figured that X should hit him with his fire weapon just so this boss gets hit, and then when he’s on the ground, get him with the Silk Shooter. It got harder as the battle when along though. Magna Centipede occasionally attracts X with his magnetic powers and makes him heavier, so that X can’t jump as high and his wall kicks are sort of useless. It was a big challenge, but as long as I knew what to do for next time, and come prepared with at least one full Sub-Tank, X would win for sure. The weapon he got after the fight was called the Magnet Mine. I still need to figure out how it works.

I think the final capsule is in the Volcanic Stage. I believe I have to use the second beetle to get to the third Mega-Head. There are moving platforms that may take X up to where the capsule may be. There are two. The beetle doesn’t come back after it goes into the volcanic zone. Then I have to Exit and go through the rising lava part again, in which I always fail at least twice before making it on the third try, IF I make it.

So I only defeated the snail and the centipede, but the X-Hunters’ base is actually a challenge. I can’t complete unless X gets those Arm Parts. Violen is the toughest of the three, and he is first. Am I still going to fight the eight bosses as well?

Mega Man X and Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X

So here it is.  Finally.  :3 

On Friday May 28th and later that night, I beat MM:MHX and MMX, respectively. I kinda figured I’d finish the PSP remake first because it was much easier to play than the original game.

It took me a couple more playing sessions to finished MM:MHX. Wednesday I started the D-Rex stage (Sigma Palace 3) which it turned out this was where X finds Zero and fights Vile. In the original game it was in Sigma Palace 1.  Anyway, D-Rex wasn’t hard to beat here. Then I had about 15 more minutes to play because I had to head to the gym. But I wanted to try and finish the game. Wolf Sigma still proved pretty difficult, maybe since I tried to rush it. I saved that last battle for a later time. At least I didn’t have to start from the very beginning of Sigma’s Palace.

Then Friday afternoon I had some time to go ahead and give it another try. I always finished uh, Sigma’s pet’s battle fairly quickly, and the first battle with Sigma was harder because he shot yellow bullets at X in addition to his usual attack of jumping from wall to wall with his saber. It varied how well I did each time because the pattern of his attacks change each time I lost a life. That’s what makes both games challenging. I lost some lives, got up to 8, lost a few more lives, and then I didn’t have to use a Sub-Tank until the Wolf Sigma battle. I realized he’s not that hard to fight after all; I just needed to know where to go whenever he attacked and watch out. He didn’t spit electric balls at X like in the original game. But that’s alright.

I want to compare the endings of both games. Story-wise it is the same, but the epilogue’s words are quite different… (narrator versus Dr. Thomas Light)

I finished MM: MHX first, so I’ll start with that one. Fighting Sigma here is more fun that in the original, that’s for sure. After Sigma’s defeat, the game cuts to an anime ending scene with X looking over the cliff he stands on, watching Sigma’s Palace fall apart. The credits begin. The anime switches from X to Dr. Cain watching Dr. Light’s message of X’s creation and situation.

In the original MMX after X defeats Sigma, X still stands on the edge of the cliff watching Sigma’s palace collapse, but there is narrating text rising up from the bottom of the screen, an epilogue of a sort. It says X is “exhausted” and must he keep fighting, and asks the player “How long will X’s pain last?” and those suggest that he seems human. Mega Man X is capable of feeling tired and experiencing physical and emotional pain, especially after losing his bosom buddy :3 Zero.     

Then the game shows X running down the highway in the late night, and slowly the sky begins to light up as the sun is rising. Now the credits are showing, and then there is also a list of the mavericks that X fought in each stage. Then the Boss Mavericks are listed, along with an image of them. Then Vile, then Sigma, and then last and the best, Zero. My sis and I went like, “Awwwww, Zerooooo.” It was sort of an In Memoriam sort of moment. Finally the list says “And YOU as Mega Man X” as X does his dash move into the new day. Then the actual credits begin.

---------------SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!  Kinda sorta...----------------

Comparing Zero's death in both video games:

In MMX, X only kneels down next to Zero, and only Zero speaks.

“My power is fading fast…You are more powerful than I thought. Maybe you will defeat Sigma…”

In MM: MHX, after X defeats Vile, he runs up to Zero, kneels down and picks him up, holds him close so he can see him and talk. X talks too; it is a conversation between both Reploids, rather than a one-character speech. The background music is piano; it is the same song that plays during this scene in the original game. It sounds much more endearing an emotional here. In this game there are voice actors, so you hear X and Zero’s voices, and Zero sounds like he’s really in pain (because robots don’t feel pain, but Reploids are a kind that do). Their facial expressions can change. X wants to get Zero fixed but Zero tells him to leave him and defeat Sigma.

ZERO: “I’m always telling you to be more careful. Now look at me…”

X: “Don’t talk, Zero! We gotta get you fixed up!”

ZERO: “No… [you go on ahead]. Sigma is close…very close…”

I didn’t notice (after so many times of getting to that part in the original) that Zero’s lower body is missing until I got to this part in Maverick Hunter X. I thought, Oh, man, he’s in really bad shape. Where are his leg—oh.”

What really makes it harder for me to watch is the part when Zero stops talking. X, (and whoever plays the game) hear only the electric sound coming from the broken Zero. Then his head falls limp in X’s arms…I know they're robots/Reploids but  it's still emotional and sad.  I would have to say that the game was enhanced in so many ways in this PSP version.

@,@ 

Start-Over of Mega Man X2, June 4th

I woke up unusually early that morning, on a not-so-crowded day. What can I do 10AM at home? I thought, I’ll start Mega Man X2 all over again and see how I can do better.

I played through 5 stages, and then only 2 of the X-Hunters were available. So that was 2hours down the drain right there. I really wanted to fight all three X-Hunters so X can gather all of Zero’s parts and bring him back. After a refreshment and a bathroom break, I tried again with more luck, stopping after the fourth stage (Flame Stag) before choosing which X-Hunter to fight (and which stage to tackle next). They were difficult opponents. Sometimes I was unprepared and didn’t have both Sub-Tanks filled. Serges, Violen and Agile mention something about “the unification” and “the construction.” I think I know what those three are talking about. I mean, I already know that Sigma will return, so maybe they are rebuilding him. His head might still be in one piece. Ha, Sigma, how do you feel in pieces, huh? It’s your idiot henchman Vile’s fault that Zero is physically messed up. Sigh, rambling….But eventually I beat all of the X-Hunters and got all of Zero’s three pieces.

Poor Zero. He’s in three pieces…

Speaking of three, I have three Armor pieces for X now: the Body Armor, Foot Armor, and the Head Armor. I still don’t quite know how to use the Head Armor’s search function. I just need the Arm Parts now. I may not be able to find them for a little while, until X is “leveled up” enough to find that last capsule. Hah, the Foot Armor is actually called the “Main Drive Unit”. I found that capsule in the Overdrive Ostrich stage, using the spiked wheel to break the barrier boxes. Man, I used the Wall-Kick Dash so much in MM X2. There are so many areas in this game that are more accessible using that move. My right index finger got tired from all that Wall-Kick Dashing in the Flame Stag stage. Yikes.

What’s cool about the Body Armor is that this time it can “absorb damage and transfer it into explosive weapon energy,” as Dr. Thomas Light tells X in the capsule. I love the animation when X tries it out. I tried it myself, and it worked okay against Serges but not the other two X-hunters. Perhaps it is best used if there are multiple mavericks to destroy at a time.

I’m excited about Mega Man X3 because Zero is a playable character in that game. It also means more MMX music to listen to. I have a feeling that I will be able to start it within the following month. Now that I’ve been replaying MMX 2, I have to talk it over with my sister who gets to begin MMX 3.

Cyborg Haven Update

Two different notes:

1.  The MMX/MM:MHX post will be coming within the next few days.  It's been a week since I've finished playing them, but I still want to share my thoughts about my experience.

2.  I am planning to get a You Tube account in the next couple of months.  I am hoping to submit my recorded battles from Dissidia to my channel if I get one, and also I will use my new camcorder to make short little videos with my Cloud Keychain.  And maybe more fun and funny stuff. 
     I want my potential You Tube channel to be sort of an extension of Cyborg Haven.  It will be another thing extra thing I want to do, but I am starting to like this "share yourself to the world through the internet" thing.  I might still want to have the pseudonym Amethyst Anne, if I can.  I'll see.  Starting something like a You Tube channel gives me the same amount of thinking over I needed to do for Cyborg Haven because it is another public outlet.  It's even more public because it's videos and not a blog.  I'm hiding behind words, basically.  I want to show my love for video games, not just write about it.

Chaos Legion Music

Chaos Legion , Capcom

I started putting some of my favorite tracks from the Chaos Legion OST in my purple iPod Nano, and it occurred to me, I had to write about one major thing about this video game that made me love playing it: the music.

I first rented the game in the spring of 2004. It was from a Hollywood Video (when it wasn’t out of business). When I had to rent Chaos Legion and stopped playing it the day I had to return the copy, the music on the title screen was so beautiful that I did NOT want to turn off the PS2. I let it play twice or three times the whole way through before I reset the PS2 and opened the disc tray.

I loved the music, the game play, and I liked Sieg’s red hair and wanted to know what happened between him and Victor Delacroix (how they became enemies). I decided I liked the game enough that I wanted to buy it. It was hard to find at my usual video game shopping stores, so ultimately I bought a new copy at a Game Stop. Here’s my conversation:

“Um, excuse me; do you have the video game Chaos Legion?

“Let’ me check… [checks on the computer system]…Yes, we do.”

“You have it?! Oh, thank you, thank you so much!!”

“o.0  What, you want it?"

I could tell from the title screen music that maybe the story is a sad one, or bittersweet, but the song was so beautiful. This was before I knew there was an official OST released, so the only time I heard music from this game was whenever I played it. I especially loooove the song from Stage 6; that’s the one with the red moon in the background. The bass and the strings rock! Then there’s Stage 7 Misty Ravine, which is a nice change from fast-paced music to a slow, mysterious atmosphere, even more emotional. But really the whole soundtrack is amazing, in my opinion. There are bells, choir singing, strings, rock percussions, and there’s even singing in Stage 8, although I can’t tell exactly what language it is in. There’s a bonus for true Chaos Legion fans who appreciate the music for the game: the music for the released legion is played for about the last thirty seconds of the Stage track. The composer for the game is named Hideyuki Fukasawa.

Unfortunately, and to my disappointment somewhat, the OST does not include music that comes in during the cinematic scenes. If I want to hear those again, I have to play the game again. I would watch the scenes from the movie player screen—if only I didn’t lose the data to my corrupted memory card.

There has to be a video of some Chaos Legion game play somewhere on You Tube (cuz I dunno where else to look). This is surely not the best video game ever, considering the repetitive hack n slash game play along with the fragmented storyline and unclear time period/setting (somewhere in Europe). However, it is the very first Capcom video game I ever played, personally, so it has that special place in my gamer girl heart.

I Drew a Mega Man X

Well, it’s supposed to look like him. I went with my family to Outback Steakhouse for my birthday and when I got the box to take my leftovers home, I drew on the Styrofoam. It just had to be Mega Man X. I gave him a little dot for a nose.    :3

The PlayStation 3 has ARRIVED!!! Plus+: Female Protagonists

Neat! We don’t have to worry about switching memory cards anymore because the software will save the game data to the PS3’s hard-drive. It’s the 120 GB Slim version that came in a bundle with a Blu-Ray Player Remote Control and—what I didn’t expect—a Greatest Hits copy of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Hmmm… My dad started playing it, but I might give it a try sooner or later for myself.  After setting the PS3 up to the new TV set, he wanted to try out the Resident Evil 5 that he already bought some time ago. Wow, so this is what a PS3 can do: show every stubble hair on Chris Redfield’s chin.

I’m still debating within myself whether I should first buy Bayonetta or Devil May Cry 4. Final Fantasy XIII will have to wait (I don’t have the patience for another JRPG now). But I’ve never played a video game where the main protagonist was female, not even Lara Croft Tomb Raider.  And no I did not playgames in the Metroid series either.  Nope.  But…there was that Aliens arcade game, the one with the face-huggers.  And that was a first-person-shooter. Hmmm, think back, think back… But nope, females were side characters; there’s Arcia from Chaos Legion, which I got to play in only one stage while Sieg Warheit had to rest.  In Final Fantasy XII  I control Vaan in the cities, but during travelling and battles I can have Fran, Ashe, or Penelo as temporary leaders of the party.  For a female leader I almost aways choose Fran... for, um, certain reasons.  Otherwise it's Balthier or Vaan.

I’ve thought about Heavenly Sword, but…maybe I’ll rent that one. In terms of an action title with a female protagonist, Bayonetta is first on my list.  So…Bayonetta or DMC 4?  Meanwhile, I have a demo of FF XIII in the Final Fantasy VII: ACC Blu-Ray DVD that I can try out if I want to get a feel for it.  Within the next month, anyway.