"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

My New Video: Vincent's Time To Shine

It's Vincent Valentine's birthday today: October 13th.  Cenzo (Vincent) is feeling egotistical today so he blocks Cloud from view on the poster.  He wants us to know that he is a Final Fantasy VII hero too.

Happy Birthday Vincent Valentine!

Dissidia 012 [Duodecim] Final Fantasy Update on My Progress

So far in Dissidia Duodecim FF, I am up to Yuna’s Chapter in the story mode. I leveled her up to level 4 before beginning her story. Currently she is level 11.

Sigh. She’s not my favorite character to play, but I am getting the hang of playing as a character that lets her Aeons do all of the fighting, hah hah. I learned that Shiva is a short-range attack and Valefor (my favorite Aeon only because he is the only Aeon I have in my current progress of Final Fantasy X) is long range. Bahamut is long or short range depending on how long I hold the BRV attack button to charge the attack. I love that one.

I was so mean: I let Yuna fight against the sweet Terra Branford. But oh well, I could have leveled her up with someone like Squall or the Warrior of Light. I just thought it would be interesting to have Yuna fight against another girl. Even Terra can be tough, though. Her “Benevolent Wind” attack gets annoying when she keeps using it (and she got Yuna with it three times in a row), but, that’s Terra for ya.

I decided to keep Firion in his Alternate Form #2 for now. In the first Dissidia, he is in his Alternate form already. I prefer him with spiky hair (Final Fantasy trend, anyone? Does anyone wanna see Zidane with spiky hair?). I prefer Terra with her emerald-colored hair, and, um…for now, Cloud Strife is in his Alternate Form #2 also.  Just to see how he fights with white shoes.  :D 

I want to see Kain Highwind’s face, so I have him in his Alt. Form #2 where he wears the hat. Yes I know he may look more dangerous and powerful in the purple dragon armor but I like his desert garb. As for Warrior of Light, I currently have him in his Red Form (that was a lot of PP to spend), but I will change him back to his light blue form with the long hair and the horned helmet. I am quite used to him like that already. Why change him, right? His Red Form is for those who want that nostalgia factor in their game, and for the original Final Fantasy I, I don’t have that nostalgic feeling playing the Red WoL.

And oh!  Actually, about Zidane and spiky hair... his hair does get kinda spiky when he turns into a pink monkey for his EX Burst. Okay, then that’s settled. Never mind. But suppose he asked Cloud nicely…

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