The first time I heard Lee Brotherton...

I've never played Sonic the Hedgehog for PS3.  I probably won't, in the future unfortunately.

     But last summer I heard a song that came from this game.  The song was used in a tribute to NiGHTS on YouTube.  The song is "Dreams of an Absolution" sung by Lee Brotherton (aka Bentley Jones).

     This was before I knew there was a NiGHTSintoDreams.com, with a community of NiGHTS fans participating in the site's forums.  So when I watched this NiGHTS tribute, I fell in love with the song, even though it was the theme song for Silver the Hedgehog :3

     I found some more of his songs on iTunes.  Now I have three versions of Bentley Jones' song "So Much More" in my purple iPod Nano, and another song, "Alpha Dog," which I am absolutely crazy about.  If it wasn't for this NiGHTS tribute video, I would have missed out on such a cool bunch of songs. 

      I dunno when I'll be able to get "Dreams of an Absolution," but I dream of that day...

Here's also a link to the YouTube channel of the person who put this video together: http://www.youtube.com/user/StarChaserGal#p/u

A plan for Mega Man X…

So I’ve got this plan. In the final battle against Sigma in MMX, I have to be extremely careful, but at the time I tried it, being careful was just not enough. Since then, I had X acquire another health cap item in the underwater stage. That means that it is a little more possible that I can perhaps beat Sigma’s second battle. I don’t know if there is a fourth Sub-Tank, let alone another piece of armor, maybe for his mega head. But I think I am ready to tackle that long, dragging final stage again.

     So now here’s the plan: When X is trapped between two of Sigma “B”’s weapons (for instance the giant flame torch and the deadly electric pillars coming from the two platforms), I need to pause the game and get X into his Rolling Shield weapon so when he IS trapped between two different attacks, I charge up so he is in a blue shield. This way, if he gets hit twice, he’ll only get hurt once. The best way to fight Sigma B is to use Zero’s buster upgrade and charge it to its fullest, jump on the platform when it’s safe, and hit Sigma on the head. This has to be done quickly because the platform shoots electricity upward which takes half a life gauge out of X. If it is done nearly perfectly every time, it will be possible for me to finish Mega Man X without finding another armor or tank.

If anyone else is discovering the Mega Man X series also, I hope my tips help. I’m not a Mega Man expert, but I learn every time I play.    :)

Mega Man X2…a pain in the ass

Yeah, the title of this post is correct. MMX2 is a pain in the ass.  I’m not saying it’s a bad game.  It’s a great game, really, and of course, it’s a Mega Man X game. However, there are two stages that are really difficult: the Weather Control Stage and the Central Computer Stage.  In the latter, X can’t go too much further into the stage unless he has the weapon that might come from the Wire Sponge.  So the logical choice would be to go to the Weather Control Stage first.  That stage is a pain in the ass too.

     Actually, my sister was doing most of the playing.  Then she asked if I wanted to try the Weather Control Stage.  I gave not a moment’s hesitation and went on with it.  It is fun to play a Mega Man X game again (my sis sorta took over MMX2 from me, but I will be the one to finish MMX).  I got further because I found a certain way to play this stage.

     The weather changes in different intervals, from neutral to hot to rainy/windy.  Like in the classic Mega Man, rainy windy weather affects the speed Mega Man moves and the distance he can jump.  This is a pain when there are narrow moving platforms.  Luckily, when X jumps onto the side of a wall or the side of a platform, he can grab it and jump again until he gets where I want him to go.  That’s what I had to do with these pillar-shaped platforms as the rain and wind knocked X back.  More than half the time X won’t land right on top of the platform, so I have to make him jump multiple times on its side until he’s high enough to get on it.

     There are two platforms and then a stationary pillar, where he needs to do a dash in order to get to it, because it is always going to be raining and windy until after he makes it to that one.  After he successfully reaches that third moving platform, the rain and wind stops, which makes it easier to move on.

As I was playing that level, it took plenty of times to memorize the kinds of enemies and where they will appear so I can have X blast them before they attack him or see him.  The weather also affects which kind of weapons the flying enemies will drop at X.

Oh oh oh!!!  My sister found a Sub-Tank, where was it…in the Weather Control Stage; it's in the first rainy/windy area of the stage where X can go jump up and get a Mega-Head (and extra life item), so it is somewhere in that upper part of the area.

EDIT: I wish I can show what I am talking about, but for now I can only describe the stages.

Mega Man X2 again…My sis defeated 4 bosses

A pic of X's extra-life item I drew two nights ago

with MS Paint.

The first hour, I played MMX to find any remaining capsule or health cap item.  I only found one health cap item.  It was in the underwater level with Launch Octopus.  After defeating the ship above the water’s surface, I wait for the ship to be at the bottom of the sea, and then I have X jump down.  To the right is a cave, and there are a few groups of instant-death spikes you have to jump over to get to the other side.  At the end is that robo-snake—the same sub-boss X has to fight before going to the boss.  I tried out the Storm Tornado against it and it beat the robo-snake right away.  Continue to the right of the cave and there is another little place within, where the health cap item waits.

Okay, now for MMX 2. My sister played that one.  I let her know before getting back to it that the boss Gator Wheel was weak against the Bubble weapon (the Crystal weapon won’t do sh**).  So it took some tries, but she defeated the gator and gained the Spin Wheel.  Man, I thought the bosses in the first game were hard.  Next she tried Morpho Moth in the Robot Junkyard level.  The level wasn’t too difficult, a good challenge, but Morpho Moth was impossible at the time.  She moved on to the Volcano level with Flame Stag.  She says the escape part (the one where X has to jump away from the rising lava) is the hardest part of that level, and she figured out how to do it.  There are a certain number of jumps to make before jumping to the other wall.  Some parts require one, some require two or three.  It took much trial and error.  This level is also where Sis got another health cap item, so now in this game X has two.  Flame Stag was weak against the Bubbles also, and she beat him with that.

BOSS                                    WEAPON



• Flame Stag----------------the Speed Burner

• Morph Moth--------------the Silk Shot

• Overdrive Ostrich--------the Sonic Slicer…uh oh, watch out, Sonic…=P 

Sis used the Speed Burner against Morpho Moth for the first stage of the fight, and then the second stage of the fight she used the Bubbles. That health cap item certainly helped. When she had X fight the Overdrive Ostrich, she found out that it was weak against the Crystal attack because it freezes it and cracks. When she ran out of crystal power, she switched to the Speed Burner, and with one notch left on X’s health gauge, she defeated the Overdrive Ostrich.

We call the extra life items “Mega-Heads” because they are shaped like X’s head, and the face is frowning. It’s saying, “Please get me. Don’t resist my adorable-ness.” It would be funny if every time X picked up an extra life, there would be text on the bottom of the screen and it would say, “You got a Mega-Head.”

DISSIDIA on March 23

Yayyy, I played Dissidia Final Fantasy on a Bonus Day!!! I started Cloud’s Destiny Odyssey VII.  It was time for Cloud to level up some more anyway, and the best day to do it is on a bonus day.  More Gil, more PP, more AP and more, uh…yes, more Experience Points definitely!!

The first battle I did in DO VII-3 was against the Ephemeral Phantom, so it was Cloud versus Jecht, DP +1: Win the battle.  Hur-yayyy!  Easy, cuz Cloud was close to level 20 and the fake Jecht was level 13.  I left off at DO VII-4.  I did a few battles and then halted level progression.

Firion is  now level 11, Onion Knight is level 4, Cloud is level 21 (from 16) because of his DO during Bonus Day. I enjoyed watching Cloud talk to Firion, Tidus and Cecil about the reason to fight.  Nyaww. It’s like, Wow, they are all having a conversation with each other (I should do a blog post specifically about this conversation... a mini essay, maybe).  I cannot hear Cloud having any other English voice other than Steve Burton.  And then the Cloud versus Firion battle was easy for me, only because I leveled up Cloud plenty before even starting his DO.  I like their conversations about the reason to fight, and I like how Cloud responds with a blink every other time, and then speaks.  So quiet and shy ^,^

"Uh...unhh...I dunno...I just..."

Best Cloud line ever!!!  o,0

 

I started playing as Jecht, Tidus'  overly-masculine daddy.  I’m more comfortable playing as Jecht than playing as Tidus…I don't have to be nice to Tidus all the time, why should I?  He's annoyingly cheerful and creating an imbalance in the mopey mood everyone else has...except for Zidane and Bartz, cuz their cheerfulness is adorable.  Tidus' cheerfulness is, um...exaggerated?  So as Jecht I say,  “Wipe that smile off yer dam face, son!”  Kicked his sunny ass twice in a row as Jecht. Yeyah!  Then later I gave the Onion Knight equipment, and gave Kuja some leather armor.  No sword for Kuja though, since she he doesn’t fight with swords.

Cloud said some new victory lines as I played his Destiny Odyssey:

• “Can’t smile about this one.”

• “I won’t sleep well tonight.”

• “Man, I need a shower…” (Actually, he didn’t say this one, but I want him to.)

He also said for a new encounter voice, “Guess I have to…”

Anyone wonder why Sephiroth can be shirtless, but Cloud can’t? [sings the chorus to John Mayer’s “Your Body is a Wonderland…”]

Mega Man X2 on March 20

Okay, so MMX needs a little longer of a break.  If I am not wrong, I may need to find a fourth Sub-Tank and/or a fourth piece of armor for X if he is gonna survive the fight with Sigma.  One of those pieces could be around somewhere…

As for MMX 2, I watched my sister play it again.  She defeated the Crystal Snail, and then after she struggled with a few more stages, I took over and was able to find a health capacity item in the level with Wire Sponge.  Unfortunately, that level proved difficult at the time. So I moved on to the water level, the one with Bubble Crab.  (I suck right now, I didn’t have my recorder or note pad with me because it threw me off when my sister got to the game first.  When I remember I’ll make an edit to this post.)  Anyway, I was able to defeat Bubble Crab only because I found the health capacity item.  If I didn’t have that, the battle would be impossible to win, and being careful sometimes isn’t enough.

This game is harder than the first one.  It could also be quite difficult now because X doesn’t have all of the weapons and Sub-Tanks.  I know it will get easier as he gains more stuff.  And poor Zero, he’ll be out of the picture pretty much.  Next boss to go for is either Alligator Wheel or Morpho Moth.

Dissidia on March 17

I returned to Dissidia Final Fantasy on a non-Bonus Day again. Darn. I played plenty of Cloud this time though.

I started with quick battles, Kuja versus Sephiroth, and then Kuja versus Cecil. Then I played Cloud versus Sephiroth (that sounds wayyy too familiar… :3  ) for a couple of battles. I am getting the hang of saving the battles. I even recorded one when Kuja lost (and I was Kuja) and I want to see why Kuja lost, other than the fact that I still need to know when to unleash his attacks. I watched the battles with Kuja and Cloud up closer when I push on the analog “stick”. For a moment I thought I saw Kuja’s buncheeks o.0... O,O... 0.o

I dunno when I'm going to edit the saved battles.  Maybe I can try one next time on a battle I lose, so I don't mess up on editing a battle I really liked (aka I won).  Next I tried Cloud again in Arcade Mode. I forgot who the first two opponents were, but the next three were Terra, Garland, and Kuja. Terra’s a toughie.

I leveled up three characters in this session: Kuja is now level 2, Cloud is up to 16, and Zidane (I saved a battle with HIM too :3 ) is now level 23.

Mega Man X 2!!!!! March 13th

Again, another late post.  But at least it's here...^,^

I let my sister try out MegaMan X2 last Saturday night. She got the hang of it quickly, and what helps is that X keeps his dash move.  He starts with no armor, though.  Dang.  I guess that is a normal part of the game, finding armor and power-ups.  The music for MMX 2 sounds harder than the first game.  It has more of a rock feel to it, for a 1994 game.  The music for the boss is different, and we half-expected the song from the first game to come in at the Crystal Snail boss.  Sis almost beat that boss; she’ll go to that one again and be more careful.  She also had X find his first capsule and obtain the whatsitcalled...it's a helmet that allows X to find hard-to-see items.

X rides a motor-bike in this game!  How cooooooool!!!!!!

No, we didn’t finish MMX yet, but it needs a break.

A LOSS, BUT A GAIN, TOO…Mega Man X, March 12th

I guess I can call Mega Man X a “time suck.”  When my sis and I play the game, it’s on for around three and a half hours to four hours.  We love it.  But lately it’s been taking a lot of my time the last three times I got to it, because I really wanted to finish the game so I can move on to Mega Man X2.  That Sigma just doesn’t give X a chance.  And I keep trying and trying and trying again, and the furthest I’ve ever gotten to defeating Sigma in the final battle is one-fifth of his hit points.  It sucks.  The traps that are included in this battle don’t give X much of a window to escape.  The dash only helps a little bit. As a result of trying again so many times, it was definitely more than four hours, maybe it was six.  I’ve never played a video game for THAT long of a time.  I won’t do it again.

I played the Sigma level again, defeating all the bosses before I can even get to him again.  During the night’s playing session on MMX, I learned a few things.  That robot animal in the final stage of the Sigma level shoots fire half of the time.  The many times I tried fighting that thing, I haven’t used the ice weapon yet.  So I gave it a try, and that’s what it was weakest against.  Ice!!  Of course!!  Why didn’t I try it earlier?  Now I can defeat that thing with out needing to have X use up a Sub-Tank.  I don’t want X using any of the tanks until he gets to the final battle.

Then I get to Sigma.  Okay, so how does he fight?  He uses his light-saber of a sort, and jumps from side to side (or wall to wall, actually), and goes higher up each time.  That’s all he does most of the time.  I wait until he jumps five times, and then as he’s jumping away from X, I have X shoot an Electric Spark at him.  The E. Spark takes out two hit points from Sigma, which is fine by me cuz it’s better than just one at a time.  Several times I defeated Sigma in this part without having to use any of my tank yet.  It’s’ not so bad as long as I know what to do.

Then X is not out of the bubble yet. Sigma doesn’t die so easily.  There seems to be one more battle, and this battle is the most f***ing hard battle ever.  But…I have to be extra careful, just don’t let X get hurt by those bursts of electricity coming from the platforms’ tops and bottoms.  That hurts X the most.  Like I said, only one-fifth of Sigma’s hit points were down and that was the best try. 
     I’m not giving up.  I will just take a break, for my thumb’s sake, and get back to it soon, when I have the patience.

Is there a fourth Sub-Tank?  That would be nice.  But I have no idea where…

@,@

Mega Man X on Tuesday March 9th continued…

This post is late due to a back-log.  Sorry for the delay.

With three Sub-Tanks, new body armor and a slightly-increased health capacity, we thought X was ready to take on the final bosses.

     By the way, now I know that the Bobafett Guy is actually called “Vile”.  So, after X defeated Vile, there was some more level left to go before a rendezvous with a boss I thought was defeated, Boomer Kuwanger.  That meant the other bosses might make a comeback as well. Fortunately I used the dash a lot in the battle with Boomer and though I had to use a tank, refilling it wasn’t going to be a problem.

     I had no idea what order the bosses were going to appear in, but X had all the weapons, and three tanks instead of the one.  After that battle, there are some enemies to destroy, and many of them return, which is great because every battle should be started with three full tanks, full energy and full weapons energy.  Often though, replenishing the tanks can be time-consuming if the enemies don’t give you what you need right away.

     I don’t know if I want to say the order of all the bosses that appeared in the game again, in case anyone who wants to discover or rediscover the game again wants to find out for themselves. I can say this, though; after Boomer Kuwanger, the other bosses that return are much easier.  Um, except for the Sting Chameleon, so I had to let my sister fight against him again.  She does it so well. I pretty much played the rest of the game, and I felt bad for sort of “hogging it,” so I’ll let my sister do the honors of starting Mega Man X2.

Tuesday I did reach Sigma again. By that time, my thumb was tired and I was getting hungry.  I figured I’d have to use a tank per battle, right?  And it was a very windy night.  I said, “The wind had better NOT blow the power out, or I will be VERY MAD!!”

To be continued…