Okay, I apologize for the late update, but I had some important matters to attend to. Now that I'm free to play, how about we continue on to:
Windmill Isle Act 2
A.K.A: A Midday Jog Through The Islands Of Apotos
The first section is a winding jog through the streets of Apotos. At the starting area, there are various human NPC's chatting amongst each other and waving to Sonic as he goes by. I must say, it's a pretty nice touch for this level; it's a shame this will only be repeated once (as far as humans are concerned, anyway) in a certain desert stage. Ah well.
Along the way, I'm introduced to the Dash Rings. They are orange and rainbow-colored rings around twice as big as regular rings. When jumped or boosted into, Sonic will do a small aerial trick, giving you points and shooting you further down a path or another section you couldn't otherwise reach. Going through this Trick Rings shoots Sonic over to where the first (of three) Sun Medals is located. From here, I used the Boost Ramps to shoot over to another set of Trick Rings, earning me some extra points in the process.
From here, I come across two small pathways. One way leads to a trails of rings, followed by a Grind Rail; the other leads to a group of regular Egg Fighters just standing there around like idiots., Curious, I walked up to one of them and kicked them. This is where I first found out that they took out Collision Damage (for the most part) in this game. What a surprise.
Going back, I went down the path with the rings and boosted through the rest of the way. As I zoomed along, I noticed that they also brought back the wide springs from Sonic Heroes. Why, exactly, did they that back for this game, I don't know. After that, I landed in the middle of what appears to be a patio overlooking an ocean. Tables, potted plants and barrels were laid around this small area. Three Egg Fighters were guarding a Pulley. After disposing of them, the pulley became operational again. After pulling myself up, it was a hop and a skip away from reaching the first Point Marker.
They're just like the Point Markers from the Sonic Adventure titles and Sonic The Hedgehog 2006 in that they're structured like gates, though they appear more like an actual mechanical object in this game. Going through, my speed when I crossed is calculated. Since I walked through for this run, my speed was 5 mph. What greeted me was a group of Spinners hovering over a large cliff-face separating me from the next island. Just like in Sonic Adventure, their initial game appearance, they're basically Homing Attack fodder. They come in two varieties: blue (Normal) and green (electric).
After using them as a "bridge" to cross over, I land in the middle of a small garden area, with plants and tables dotted around. With only one path ahead, I zoomed along, destroying everything (whether they were furniture or robots) in my path. Along the way, the camera perspective changes; before I knew it, I zoomed past the second Point Marker in 2D gameplay.
From here to the next Point marker, the gameplay is that of a 2D sidescroller, one of the main features for the daytime levels. This particular section went by rather quickly, with a couple points where sliding is required here and there.
After zooming past the third Point Marker, I leaped onto a Grind Rail. From there, I have to use a set of three grind Rails to grind over the vast ocean, with various Spikes laid across the rails here and there. After a Rail Corkscrew, I zoomed down a pathway built on top of a tall landmass high above the ocean over to the fourth Point Marker.
I'd stop and look at the simply gorgeous scenery that's made especially present right here, but with the timer present, coupled with that I've already wasted six minutes on this stage, I'll just zoom along. Maybe when I start hunting for medals, I'll bring the scenery to more attention.
Moving along, I leap up to another grinding area, this time with various gaps in the rails. Coupled with the various Spike Trap, I've lost more than a couple lives here when I first started playing this game. After this, I go through a Rail Loop over to the next island, past the fifth Point Marker in sidescroller gameplay.
This section is longer than the previous sidescroller section, with various enemies and obstacles in my way. After a few seconds of dashing, I'm sprung over to a couple platform floating before a Grind Rail. leaping across the platform, I found the second Moon Medal of the stage. Going back to the Grind Rail, I'm zoomed over to the Jump Selector. Introduced in Sonic Rivals 2, they can function as either a Spring (by pressing A) or a Boost Pad (by pressing X), depending on what direction the game wants you to go. For this one, I have to press X to continue on without hassle.
Doing that, I'm dashed over to a small platforming section. Here is where we meet the Fake Springs; springs with the Eggman logo embroidered on it instead of the star symbols. They're usually bad news, for they'll usually launch you into spikes, pitfalls or some other trap.
After that particular trap, the rest of the section was straightforward, with sliding obstacles, platforms and all that jazz. At the end, I come across the first Trick Jump Platform (i.e. QTE's) of the game. At this point, the QTE's are rather simple, with only a lower path and a loss at a chance to earn extra points. Later in the game, though, things will be different. Much different...
Anyway, for this run, the button prompts were Y, A and X. Solving this easy prompt earned me some points via rings. After the pulley ride, we're launched back into 3D gameplay. From here, it's a short jug to the sixth Point Marker.
From here, there are two paths to take. The left path leads to the third Sun Medals and some extra rings; the right path leads to nothing noteworthy. Being curious, I took the right path. Either path leads to a sliding hole, followed by a couple Pulleys. From there, I'm launched to the seventh Point Marker.
Following the Marker is a short platforming section to the next island, with the Spinners as obstacles. On the island, I'm boosted over to another sidescroller section. Other than a couple Jump Selectors, Egg Fighters and the like, it was a rather straightforward section. After that, I'm boosted over to another QTE Ramp. The prompts were as followed: B, A and A. The prompts launched me to a higher path. Following that was a straightforward run, grind and jump over to the Goal Ring.
For this run, I got a C, with an overall score of 59,092. I took too long...
The following cutscene was also covered by my fellow liveblogger, so I'll just skip covering this one as well.
Now, we move on to... Sonic the Werehog. As most of you already know, the Werehog's gamep;ay is completely different from that of the Hedgehog. His gameplay is a mix between that of God Of War, Prince Of Persia, and Ristar; in a nutshell, a combat-focused platformer. Unlike the Hedgehog, the Werehog has no sidescroller sections at all; it's 3D all the way for Mr. Monster Guy. In the night, the Moon Medals in the hubs are replaced with Sun Medals, hidden in different places.
Speaking of medals, in the nighttime levels, there are more Sun Medals to collect (10) in any given stage than the Moon Medals (6). For the Hedgehog, there are more Moon Medals to collect in a given stage (7) than the Sun Medals (3). But enough about that for now, let's see what the night holds for the denizens of Apotos. If Dan Green the Ice Cream Man's reaction is an indicator, it could be quite interesting...
The Emo-Turned-Ice Cream Man has this to say:
Ice Cream Man: The planet's broken! It's all over!
You've just noticed that? Really?
There's no point in making ice cream anymore.
Wait, no! Where will I get my ice cream from now?! I sure hope there's a way to fix his case of the blues...
At any rate, let's go explore this are before we move on to the Action Stage. While we're here, let's look for the Sun Medals. But firstt, let's see what Gregorios has to say:
Gregorios: Hm? You look... Well, you present quite a frightening visage. Not that it matters.
Pardon?
With the world in a mess, the planet splitting... What really matters? Oh, who CARES?!
Whoa, what a change in attitude! From here, Sonic got three choices as to what to say:
"What's the matter?!";
"Are you all right?!"; and
"You got that right!"
Since this isn't the Sonic The Comic rendition of Sonic, let's go with a less smartassed response. Hmm... how about:
Sonic: What's the matter?!
In response, Gregorios says:
Gregorios: Oh nothing. That's just it. It just does not matter.
Hmm? When he said that, dark spirals emanated from him, same as with the Ice Cream Man. Rather suspicious...
As our conversation with Gregorios ended, a thin, elderly man (Lucas) walked by. Might as well talk to him to see if he's acting anything like Gregorios...
Lucas: A leisurely stroll at night like this isn't bad! Heh heh!
Well, at least there's one ray of sunshine around here. Let's see what Sandra has to say:
Sandra: Ooh, my, my, my!
Zuh?
A-Are you the gentlemen I met earlier today?
Well, uh, yeah, kinda. It's hard to explain...
I knew it! Yes, I remember your little friend.
Hey, someone recognizes them! About time!
Good evening to you both. How are you doing? Which reminds me...
Uh-oh... ?
I saw a two-tailed fox fly past, heading toward the Entrance Stage. He wouldn't be a friend of yours, would he? He was in a terrible hurry.
... Okay, change of plans. We're heading for the Entrance Stage, now.
Along the way to the Entrance Stage, we come across Lambros, standing near a house. Let's see what he has to say:
Lambros: Hey, pilgrim! How're things going? You look... shorter and stouter than before!
Really? I could have swore the Werehog was a bit bigger than the Hedgehog. Maybe it's because he slouches a lot?
Did you eat something funny?
Maybe a little bit of that fru-oh, right. To the Entrance Stage!
Right near the Entrance Stage, I spy an elderly couple (Eric & Anastasia). Let's see what they have to say regarding a certain two-tailed fox we all know and love/like/tolerate:
Eric: Did you see a two-tailed fox? He was right here just a minute ago.
Anastaia: Mnzts... Sssgrt!
Huh? She can't speak?
Eric: He had big, bushy tails swinging' all around. You can't miss him.
Um... thanks. Anyways... on to the Entrance Stage!
Unfortunately, just as in the daytime, certain areas have been blocked off for now. Fortunately, though, we can reach the area above the daytime stage marker, thanks to the Grab Ledges. Just press B to grab on to them, even from a long distance away!
Anyway, now that we're on the ledge, we come across our first Record.
Record 59: Stage Clear - the tune that plays whenever you beat a stage with a grade higher than E.
Since there is no other areas we can reach right now, we might as well enter...
Windmill Isle Act 1... Night
A.K.A: A Moonlit Stroll Through The Streets Of Apotos
Since the cutscene show prior to the start of the level has already been covered, let's just skip it.
We start in the middle of a square, just as Chip informs us that Tails has went along this path before us. Lucky dog fox...
Anyway, we start off with a rather paltry lists of skills:
- Were-Hammer Y, Y, Y, Y
- Double Kick Combo Y, X, X
- Sho-hog-ken Y, Y, A
- Wild Whirl X, X, X, X
- Rolling Kick Combo X, Y, Y
- Sho-claw-ken X, X, A
- Flying Double-Punch Y, Y in the air.
- Aerial Claw Slash X, X in the air.
- Diving Bodypress A in the air.
Unfortunately, for the purposes of this Low-Level Run, these will be the only moves we'll be able to use. Oh boy, will Eggmanland suck...
Anyway, first thing we gotta do is bust that door apart. Luckily, any attack will do.
As the Werehog, the rings has a different effect; here, it restore health. The Super Ring (slightly bigger ring with the number ten in the center, also present in the Hedgehog stages) heals ten times more so. A Full Life Ring (an even bigger ring with a blue star in the center) fully restores your health.
Going down the street, we encounte-
... Yeah, Might as well get used to that song, because it will be blaring for every battle you get yourself in. Well...
Anyway, the first enemies in the game are the Little Rexes, little dinosaur-like creature. Most of the enemies you'll be fighting as the Wertehog will be spawns of Dark Gaia, though the exceptions appears to be fueled by Dark Gaia energy as well. Any attack can kill them; preferably, I'd just grab them and "Bowser" them to death.
Anyway, after their deaths, Chip pops up, informing us of the dark, hazy balls of light that shoot out of their bodies. They're called Dark Gaia Force. Gathering them up fills your Unleashed Gauge (think the Kai-o-ken).
Moving along, we come across our second obstacle: another door. To break this gate, as it's set on stairs, you have to do an Aerial Attack (Moves 7-9). One of the steps is set high enough that you have to do a double jump (Just tap the A button twice).
Anyway, after the climb, I bust down the door to the right (with an overhead camera angle, showcasing some of the gorgeous scenery), revealing an area guarded by a group of Little Rexes, accompanied by our next enemy, the Nightmares. They are the basic grunts in the Werehog levels, just as the Egg Fighters are in the day. The way you attack them is a little different: after you take down half of their health, a flaming arrow will appear over their head. From there, you can go over and press B to perform a QTE Sequence. If you get the button prompts right, you'll killed them instantly, as well as earn some bonus points in the process. if you screw up, you'll lose health, while they gain some back. The closer their health is to the halfway, the faster the QTE prompt will be and the bigger bonus points you'll get if you don't screw up.
Anyway, after we've disposed the area of Nightmares and Little Rexes, we're formally introduced to the Chaos Orbs (they look more like diamond, though...). These yellow gems give you EXP, with which you can use to level up. As stated before, I will not use them at any point in this liveblog. Moving on, we're introduced to the Grab Ledges in-level. Just grab 'em with B to get to higher places.
From here, it's just a long sprint to the next obstacle, breaking wooden doors in our path. Along the way, we're informed of the use of the left or right triggers to dash faster. Quite useful, especially in the later levels. After a short sprint, we come across another door. This one, seeing as it's made of stone, can't be broken down with physical force. Luckily, a switch to open it is a couple steps back, obscured by potted plants.
Pressing it reveals our next area, an enclosed part of town guarded by Little Rexes and... the Egg Fighters. No, you can't just one-shot them like you would in the daytime; though they're still easy to defeat, you'll have to fight them the hard way: force.
You can either fight the army of foes... or you can just ignore them and head over to the Pull Lever and grab it with B. This will cause the platform above to activate hovering up and down. From there, I used the Grab Ledge to climb up the small building, jumped onto the platform, and jumped over to the other side of the building complex.
Near the "entranceway" of the building sits the Grab Pole. By grabbing them, you can either use them to climb up to higher elevations or slide them safely to a lower ledge. You can speed up the climbing process by tapping the grab button. Once at the top, it's just a short jog down the hill to another door. Though you can't break it down, seeing as it has a handle, you can force it open by tapping the grab button.
Once opened, yet another battle with the Rexes and the Nightmares. This battle can't be avoided, so you'll have to bust their heads open. After they're gone, the door to a new area will open. Entered, the door will close shut, preventing any chances of back tracking.
This area is just a short pathway leading to a small house, lined by shrubbery. Use the grab ledge to reach the roof. The roof leads to a wide field, filled to the brim with Rexes and Nightmares. You can either fight them or evade them. At the other side of the park lies another house. A couple jumps to the roof later, I come across a narrow pathway. By "narrow", I mean "tightrope-narrow". You'll have to use to cross over a deep pool of water. As the Werehog, you still can't swim worth a damn; you'll drown instantly if you fall in. You can always do bunny hops if you're having trouble crossing obstacles like this.
Once at the other side of the "death water", I come across a Egg Fighter skulking around in a small field. Once disposed of, I hit the Point Marker, at which time, five Little Frights appear before a stone door blocked by dark fire. They're basically hovering Rexes with Homing Attacks instead of headbutts. The best way to get rid of them is grab a pair of them and "Bowser" them at the other Frights. After killing the first five, five more Red Frights appear. They're just that: red Little Frights. Same procedure: grab 'em, Bowser 'em. Done and done. Destroying them finally disperses the Gaia Flame, revealing that the door is a Handle Door.
Forcing 'em open, I found myself in the middle of a cul-de-sac, guarded by Rexes, Nightmares and their leader, the Deep Nightmare. They're bigger, purpler and hardier than their normal counterparts, Unlike the regular Nightmares, they'll actually block your attacks; a strong punch combo will force their guard down. From there, they're disposed of in the same manner as the Nightmares.
After getting rid of them (because they'll just make the next part harder), I come across a stone door (labeled "Seaside Parlor") that can only be opened when the jewels are put back in their pedestals. One of the jewels, a red one is found nearby, behind a wooden door. The other, a green jewel, is hidden in the lefthand house furthest from the door.
After the jewels are replaced in their proper spots, the door opens. From there, it's just a short climb up the ledges before I found myself face-to-face with an Egg Fighter standing before a cliffface, with certain death via drowning awaiting those who slip and fall.
In order to cross over to the next island, I must use the tightwalks, Grab Ledges, Climb Poles and Swing Poles as well as the Darkbats, which are basically grabbing targets and can't even directly harm you. It wasn't as hard as it sound, thanks to the fact that you can hang onto the sides of the tightwalk and shimmy along it.
Once on solid ground on the other island, I came across an Egg Fighter guarding a Handle Door. This one had a shield, though it was nothing a punch combo couldn't break through. Once destroyed, I threw the door open and, after a short jog down a pathway, made it to the final Point Marker of the stage.
Standing before me was a door opened by a Lever. I checked the nearby object for anything valuable. From them, I found a Power Shield (doubles defense), a Super Claw (double attack power) and a Shield Charge (refills the Shield Gauge). I opened the door and found myself in the same area that Tails was in the cutscene.
The area was covered in Rexes and Nightmares. The spawns of Dark Gaia were led by the creature known as the Dark Titan, or just Titan for short. They're the miniboss enemies in the nighttime stages; as such, they are pretty tough. Even with all the powerups available on hand, they still put up a pretty tough fight. Taking them is just like with the Nightmares; as of this runthrough, though, I will be using the Action Command method to take these bad boys out.
After finally disposing of them, the Goal Ring appears.
The score for the Werehog stages is graded by Time, Rings Collected, Enemy Defeated (includes Bonus Points earned from QTE attacks), Combos Used and Various Environment Objects Crushed. For this run, I got an A, with a score of 226680.
Skipping the following cutscene, we move on to Tornado Defense Act 1...
Tomorrow, maybe...
Comments
Part 15: Progress Report
This is somewhat of a special occasion, as Part 15 happens to fall on the exact date I actually turn 15. Happy birthday to me~ To celebrate, I figured we should take a breather, and check out all the cool stuff we've gathered so far in the story. Seeing as we've already been through 3 day levels and 3 night levels, our gallery should be well-stocked by now. Let's hear the oh-so-pretty "shving" of unlocked items, and have ourselves a look.ART - A neat little gallery of concept art.
- Enemy Art
- 2 - Aero-Cannon. "These flying blue baddies launch missles at you through the air." Pricks.
- 4 - Interceptor. "A massive foe from the narrow alleys of Apotos Village." Wimp.
- 12 - Egg Flame. "A touch from these foes can burn anything to smoldering ash." We've only seen one of these so far (in Dragon Road Day, right where this item capsule is), but we'll encounter more of them later.
- 15 - Dark Bat Sniper. "This souped-up Dark Bat opens fire from above." Yeah, well, you can fuck off.
- 20 - Dark Master. "These wizards are easily recognized for their pointy blue hats." Friggin' wizards.
- 23 - Nightmare. "The lowest of the low, Nightmares are the quintessential chump baddies." Heh, chumps.
- 24 - Deep Nightmare. "Powered-up versions of the Nightmares: a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger." "Still just as pathetic."
- 26 - Little Rex. "These guys will chase you like a dog runs down the mail truck." Admittedly, they're almost kinda cute.
- 27 - Dark Fright. "The sheer numbers of these creeps make them a pain to deal with." I still call them Magikarps.
- Stage Art
- 2 - "Windmill Isle 2 - The Sun-Bleached Pathway". I would so use this as a desktop background.
- 4 - "Windmill Isle 3 - The White Tower's Great Bell". For the record, most of the stage art consists of copious amounts of Scenery Porn.
- 5 - "Cool Edge 1 - Daytime Panorama". Case in point.
- 10 - "Rooftop Run 3 (Day)". The rooftops here are actually somewhat red, when they're more orange or brownish in-game.
- 25 - "Chun-nan Village (Night)". Nicely lit little town, isn't it?
- 29 - "Movie Still 2 - Crashing Surf". Aka, the "obligatory shoop-da-whoop-reference laser". The movie stills are more like storyboard images, rather than actual frames from any of the cutscenes.
- 35 - "Professor Pickle's Lab". Complete with the
manDan himself.
- Villager Art - Most NPCs in the game have their own page of concept art, which is nice. No two people share the same model, and they're all very Pixar-esque.
- 1 - Apotos Village - Alexis
- 2 - Apotos Village - Lambros
- 3 - Apotos Village - Eric
- 4 - Apotos Village - Gregorios
- 5 - Mazuri Village - Kwami
- 7 - Mazuri Village - Kofi
- 10 - Holoska Village - Jari-Thure
- 15 - Spagonia Village - Otto
- 16 - Spagonia Village - Denise
- 18 - Chun-nan Village -
Useless NPCShuifon - 19 - Chun-nan Village - Zonshen
- 21 - Chun-nan Village - Hualin
MUSIC - The game's incredibly awesome soundtrack. Is there anything else to say?
- 4 - Day Stage - Windmill Isle
- 5 - Day Stage - Cool Edge
- 6 - Day Stage - Rooftop Run (Not providing a link, 'cause we haven't gone there yet. I'll give it a proper introduction when we actually take on that level.)
- 13 - Night Stage - Intro: Windmill Isle (By the way, the 6-to-8 second intros for the night levels are given their own seperate tracks in the OST. I find this amusing.)
- 14 - Night Stage - Windmill Isle
- 19 - Night Stage - Intro: Dragon Road
- 31 - Village - Gaia Gate
- 33 - Village - Apotos - Night
- 39 - Village - Spagonia - Night
- 40 - Village - Chun-nan - Day
- 41 - Village - Chun-nan - Night
- 42 - Jingle - Stage Clear
MOVIES - Cutscenes.
- 1 - The Werehog's Fall
- 2 - Chip and the Chocolate Sundae
- 3 - The First Night
- 4 - Tails in Trouble!
- 5 - The Kidnapped Professor (And a whole pack o' robots!)
- 6 - A Daring Rescue
- 7 - The Gaia Manuscripts (Rrrrrr...)
- 12 - A Case of Mistaken Identity
- 13 - Amy's Shake-up
SECRET DOCUMENTS - Now, I'm actually not gonna bother with these. They're pretty much hints for the game, ranging from using various moves, to where you can find various items capsules; most of which you'd likely have already found. I will, however, let you know that I have documents 1, 3, 9, 11, 17, 20, 21, and 22.
TOTAL COUNT:
- 28 Illustrations
- 12 Music Tracks
- 10 Movies
- 8 Secret Documents
- 58 items in total.
Part 16: Back to Business
Sorry for the delays. I've been real busy lately— actually, I haven't. I've just been procrastinating. Anyway, it's now time to go for the Spagonia day stage, which we probably should've gone to before Chun-nan. But whatever. Music: "Rooftop Run - Day"; by Tomoya Ohtani. Widely regarded as one of the best songs in the game, and here it is in all its glory.
Day Stage 4 - Rooftop Run
- Go for the goal ring!
- RESULT: A Rank; two Moon Medals.
- ITEMS OBTAINED: Document 7, Illustration 37.
- Collect rings at top speed!
- ITEMS OBTAINED: A tablet fragment, if you can call that an item.
Now all that's left to do is see the Professor. We'll deal with that next time, but there's something I want to show you before I go. After completing Rooftop Run Day, you unlock a couple of missions. One of them... is a tutorial. For the Wall Jump. Which you've probably used a few times already. ... WHAT IS THE POINT
Part 17: Insert Obligatory 'Deviled Egg' Pun Here
It's been a while since we've had a boss, hasn't it? Well, first things first— stuff to collect. It was brought to my attention after Part 15 that I was too lazy to go and grab some records from the NPCs. We have plenty of time, so let's deal with that. (By the way, whenever you've beaten a world, you can switch between day and night at will. I CONTROL THE SUN AND MOON. I AM YOUR GOD. So, an old man in Apotos gives us Soundtrack 32. (And a secret mission, to boot!) A young man in Mazuri has AAAAAAAANGST during the night, but an older man gave us Soundtrack 35 for answering a question. (I actually chose the wrong answer first, just to see what he'd say.) A woman at the village shop gave us Soundtrack 34. (Free of charge, I'm assuming— we never actually get to buy anything in the SD version, anywhere.) A young girl in Holoska gave us Soundtrack 36, while a different girl in Spagonia gave us #38. Nice people. Speaking of Spagonia, we've got shit to do here; let's get on with it. By the way, what is it with old men being able to put together tablet pieces? Without further ado: Boss!Boss 3 - Egg Devil Ray
It's another daytime boss. This one is actually rather enjoyable— not too easy, but not too cheap. Oddly enough, this particular mech resembles a fish more than any type of ray— perhaps Eggman needs to do a little more research? Ah well, I guess "Devil Ray" invokes Rule Of Cool here. Surrounding the actual machine is several smaller turrets, which will fire lasers. After trying to laser you for a while, the Devil Ray's shield will go down and you can score a hit on it. The battle will sometimes transition to a 2D section, or a 3D top-down view that vaguely resembles a Bullet Hell.
- RESULT: S Rank; one Moon Medal.
Here's another question for you— why do we always end off having to go visit Professor Pickle? Oh, who cares.
Part 18: The Long, Icy Road
So, according to the Professor, our next destination is Holoska. We head over there, talk to some people, and get ourselves a Moon Tablet. On to business! Music: "Cool Edge - Night"; by Fumie Kumatani. Love it. Probably the second best night theme in the game.
Night Stage 4 - Cool Edge
- Act 1 - The Aurora Snowfields
- RESULT: S Rank; three Sun Medals.
- ITEMS OBTAINED: Illustrations 19, 34, & 35.
- Act 2 - Ice Floe
- RESULT: S Rank; three Sun Medals.
- ITEMS OBTAINED: Illustrations 18, 72, & 75; Movie 8.
- Act 3 - The Temple of Ice
- RESULT: S Rank; three Sun Medals.
- UPGRADES: Larger health meter.
- ITEMS OBTAINED: Illustrations 13, 39, & 83; Movie 14. And a tablet piece.
Back to the professor, then? Typical.
Part 19: Back with— Well, Not Much of a Vengeance
RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE! Well, it's been a while. Two months? To be honest, I forget where we left off. ...? Oh, that's right: a boss. ... SON OF A—- Boss 4 - Dark Moray
- RESULT: S Rank; one Sun Medal.
We restore the Light Blue emerald, and that's enough for now. Not much of a way to kick things off again, but I'll take it. See you next time!
Part 20: Turning Up the Heat
(This is the first update after the forum was archived and the LB moved over here. It kinda bugs me how I can only post in comments, since it means I've essentially been Demoted to Extra in my own damn liveblog.) Professor Pickle has decided to move! Can I have your lab now? Anyway, it seems he's moving to our next destination— Shamar. Music: "Cutscene - Project Dark Gaia"; by Hideaki Kobayashi. Oh, quick cutscene. Eggman has an idea! Wonder where that will go.Music: "Shamar - Day
"; by Kenichi Tokoi. Pretty damn catchy.
We quickly fly off to Shamar, and upon talking to people, we find that they got here before us. How? Oh, forget it. More text, get tablet, Gaia Gate. This particular temple resembles some sort of Arabian palace, with fire and such. Pretty neat, but that's not what we're here for.
Music: "Arid Sands - Day"; by Tomoya Ohtani. Pretty average, as far as day music goes.
Day Stage 5 - Arid Sands
- Go for the Goal Ring!
- RESULT: B Rank, 1 Moon Medal. I was a little reckless. Sue me.
- ITEMS OBTAINED: Illustration 6.
- Gather rings at top speed!
- Don't break anything along the way!
- Gather rings at top speed! Again!
- ITEMS OBTAINED: Soundtrack 8, and a tablet fragment.
Vague stuff from Chip, and back to the conveniently-located professor. I'll be away from home for a week or two, so I likely won't have another update until January. Happy holidays, everyone!
AMAZING!]]
Part 14: Re-Oriented
The viewer hath spoken! Yes, singular. It looks like we're heading back to Chun-nan next. We're in for a treat— this level is awesome; the music, the scenery, everything. Shall we begin? Music: "Dragon Road - DayDay Stage 3 - Dragon Road
- Go for the goal ring!
This stage is actually somewhat of an interesting case. There are several extra paths that use various techniques you haven't been taught yet, like the Lightspeed Dash or (if you went here instead of Spagonia) the Wall Jump. It's also an area where you can't collect every item in one go— near the beginning, the path splits into three routes— two of them have a capsule. This level is actually somewhat of a challenge— most of it is over water, and some areas will throw spears at you. It seems like you should've taken on Spagonia first, despite a certain factor that will come into play later that makes this appear to be the canon order. All in all, a really fun stage. No dragons, though. Strange...- Collect rings at top speed!
200 rings? That sounds like a bit much for this point in the game. Well, the path is littered with rings, and most of these missions will let you loop back to pick up more. You can't go all the way back, though— if you don't collect enough rings by a certain point, then you're basically screwed.- Don't break anything along the way!
Heh. Oddly enough, this one isn't quite as difficult as Holoska. Most of the pots are placed near the walls, so as long as you take it slowly and stay near the middle, you should be fine.Well, that was neat. Next time, we'll hit up Spagon— actually, we won't. I have a little something special planned for next time. See ya!