Just to confirm, the final Eggman/Nega boss that slams it's fists to create shockwaves and you run up it's arm right? Agreed on that.
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Sonic the Hedgehog Community |OT2 Battle|
- Thread starter Professor Beef
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Just to confirm, the final Eggman/Nega boss that slams it's fists to create shockwaves and you run up it's arm right? Agreed on that.
Box of Bunnies
Banned
Yes, that one.
Also the ring physics in Dimps' games are terribad. They like making it impossible to collect the loss rings sometimes. I don't know what's up with that, is it random???
EDIT: oh apparently its based on how many times you get hit, the rings will fly farther. okay, thats a fair mechanic except the lasers are so dang annoying to dodge.
EDIT2: I BEAT IT... As Sonic. Now to torture myself by replaying it as Blaze.
Shadow Hog
Member
Just in case anyone cares to see it, another Freedom Planet playthrough of Milla's Aqua Tunnel.
Funnily enough, this video showed off something I haven't seen in the game, despite having alpha access; generating the green block and before using your shield attack greatly increases the range, allowing you to hit multiple enemies at once. I checked, this actually isn't in the latest released alpha... so something further to look forward to whenever he puts a new one out. Yay!
Funnily enough, this video showed off something I haven't seen in the game, despite having alpha access; generating the green block and before using your shield attack greatly increases the range, allowing you to hit multiple enemies at once. I checked, this actually isn't in the latest released alpha... so something further to look forward to whenever he puts a new one out. Yay!
Silent Forest Zone 1 might just be the best song in Lost World so far. But, seeing as how I don't have the game myself yet, and the soundtrack hasn't been released (and clean versions of some stages are still MIA), there's still plenty of room for some surprise hits. From what we've got, though, this seems to be going in an interesting direction (much like the game itself). Lots of chill tracks, fitting with the slower pace of the gameplay.
Also hold the fucking phone, is Troy Baker really Espio's current voice?!
Also hold the fucking phone, is Troy Baker really Espio's current voice?!
Might be, isn't.
SonicGAF's Song of the Day - #30
Song: Special Stage
Game: Sonic CD JP
Composer: Masafumi Ogata
I've always wondered if the UFOs in these special stages were meant to be the ones that got cut from Marble Zone. They're such a weird design choice. Makes for some uniquely spacey music though. I don't think we've heard chords like this anywhere else outside of Techno Base and Cyber Track. And like most Sonic CD tracks it's pretty long by Genesis standards, various variations and interludes padding it out to the 1:50 mark.
I dunno, I just like it.
(also I wanna say the deep "hey!" sample is the same one Earthworm Jim uses in a few places)
Nocturnowl
Member
Ah you've chosen wisely, currently my close second behind Tropical Coast Act 3.
Not bad but my heart belongs to the US special stage theme.
I'd be more descriptive but Ace Attorney 5 just finished downloading and beckons me, awaaaay I go!
ViewtifulJC
Banned
This final case in AAI goes on forever
forever
FOR
EVER
forever
FOR
EVER
Nocturnowl
Member
The never ending finish to that case is probably the main reason why AAI is my least favourite entry into the series, doesn't exactly leave you finishing on the strongest of notes.
Okay this time i'm actually gone, unless I don't leave because someone else here speaks up...hey it's just like AAI!
Okay this time i'm actually gone, unless I don't leave because someone else here speaks up...hey it's just like AAI!
Lightning Lord
Banned
Shadow Hog
Member
Yeah, I had difficulties working my way through Case 4, thinking that one dragged on forever. Then Case 5 rolls around and really does. I powered through all of it in an evening, but still, ugh.
I've noticed I don't play portable games as much as I used to. Used to be that it'd be something to do in the car, or when waiting between classes at college. Now I'm driving myself, and as soon as I get anywhere there's business to be tended to immediately, and then I'm immediately home, where the computer is a more appealing time-waster, leaving no time for games. Maybe if I understood public transit around here more, but eh...
I always liked how spacey this one felt. Particularly like how fast-paced and sporty it is in comparison to the slower US variant (which I also quite like). Not my favorite special stage, though, given how many times I've missed hits on the UFOs due to the awkward scaling (and not knowing that holding down actually slows you down; you don't have to charge forward at the same speed always), but the music's great.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
That's me as well. I drive everywhere, when I'm at school or work I don't have time for handheld games(outside little five minute bursts, which I'll just check GAF on my phone or some shit), and at home my handheld has to compete with my PC and console w/ comfy couch, along with all the other entertainment options in my home, and it just doesn't stack up. I feel like I'm not taking full advantage of the handheldness if I'm just playing it in the same space my console/PC is, too. It takes a special exclusive game to get me playing them regularly, like PW or hopefully LttP2.
Shadow Hog
Member
I don't even
Meccanical
Member
More like Chronic.
The joke there is he looks like Crash Bandicoot for some reason.
The joke there is he looks like Crash Bandicoot for some reason.
Shadow Hog
Member
I thought he looked more like an Aardman character, honestly. Like, one of the rats or something.
Tizoc
Member
@Shadow Hog- Thanks for the Freedom Planet vid, will watch it soon!
Normally I'd wait til I got my paycheck but since I'm getting it on Monday anyways AND I'm holding out for the Steam Autumn sale, I'm gonna nab the following games tomorrow:
Sonic LW
Pokémon Y (Has Tyranitar and most of the Pokémon I want, also the Y-bird pokemon looks cooler than the stag IMO)
Call of Juarez 2 PS3
Diablo 3 PS3
Just Cause 2 PS3
Puppeteer PS3
Gonna see if I can get them for under $200 together after trading in some games.
EDIT: Oh and WHY THE FUCK AIN'T BLAZEKIN IN X OR Y?! I WANT MY SPICY KUNG FU CHICKEN!
Normally I'd wait til I got my paycheck but since I'm getting it on Monday anyways AND I'm holding out for the Steam Autumn sale, I'm gonna nab the following games tomorrow:
Sonic LW
Pokémon Y (Has Tyranitar and most of the Pokémon I want, also the Y-bird pokemon looks cooler than the stag IMO)
Call of Juarez 2 PS3
Diablo 3 PS3
Just Cause 2 PS3
Puppeteer PS3
Gonna see if I can get them for under $200 together after trading in some games.
EDIT: Oh and WHY THE FUCK AIN'T BLAZEKIN IN X OR Y?! I WANT MY SPICY KUNG FU CHICKEN!
I still feel bad for jumping ship on Y at the last minute. I was on board for Yveltal, but then all of my favorites turned out to be on X (and on that particular day Aggron beat out Tyranitar 
).
).A fine choice, I enjoy that song a lot more than I was expecting to, but my close second is a tie between Desert Ruins Zone 2 and Sky Road Zone 2.
BlazeHedgehog
Member
Professor Beef
Banned
I am fucking DYING of laughter at that pointy nose picture of Sonic, holy shit
Talking about Special Stages, someone ripped that song from Lost World that I wanted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeqyHOlm9Fw
I dig it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeqyHOlm9Fw
I dig it.
True. That breakdown is amazing, though.
This is all the way off topic, but every time I see you post, I think of the menu from Capcom vs SNK 2 and the announcer going "Keep rockin baby."
2spooky4me.
But seriously, this is a great surreal piece. It all sounds so alien. Actually, is it just me or does the main melody instrument sound like Metroid Prime instrumentation. That is what this reminds me of, just y'know, faster cus it's Sonic. Oddly this seems to be one of the earliest tracks in the series having such a fast steady drum beat behind it, maybe because of the CD technology. I now want a level set in an abandoned high-tech science facility haunted by ghosts that has this music in it. Do it sega.
Or the B/AtS guys
I'm always reminded of this song and then I feel like watching The Boondocks
Meccanical
Member
I felt like that movie was its best at the beginning, and just gradually got worse.
Overall it was alright though.
Shadow Hog
Member
I'm not counting on there being a second Direct in October, and that lasts through next Thursday.
If I were a betting man, I would bet on it being over a week from this Friday; November 6th or 7th, in essence (more likely 7th, knowing how Nintendo loves Thursdays, but they've done Wednesday ones too, haven't they?). It could be next Friday, Nov. 1st, but I just don't see them doing that.
If I were a betting man, I would bet on it being over a week from this Friday; November 6th or 7th, in essence (more likely 7th, knowing how Nintendo loves Thursdays, but they've done Wednesday ones too, haven't they?). It could be next Friday, Nov. 1st, but I just don't see them doing that.
You have got to be fucking kidding me. I've been infuriated by these stages for like fifteen years. Always, pick up speed, miss jump, make ultra-wide u-turn to get the last UFO.
SonicGAF's Song of the Day - #31
Song: vs. Egg Dragoon
Game: Sonic Unleashed
Composer: Hideaki Kobayashi
Beats Arranged by: Tomoya Ohtani
Gonna start including the expanded credits where applicable, under the assumption that I'm not the only one who finds them interesting, but that I am the only one who can be bothered to trawl VGMdb on a daily basis.
Kobayashi's a unique one among our cast of composers here, for a couple of reasons. One, while most of them have some sort of favored instrument that crops up more often than usual in their work, Kobayashi's a specialist; he does orchestras, and that's about it. When he isn't composing his own stuff, he's doing the arrangements for someone else (all those minor key theme mixes? His work). Two, he's got an even stronger signature style than Senoue, which is to say he writes the weirdest fucking music. It's dissonant. It's rarely melodic. It doesn't necessarily adhere to any consistent patterns. It runs up and down the scale to such an extent that you'd swear he was picking notes at random if it weren't for the fact that they fit together so well. Chaos, tamed and given form. He's more hit and miss than most of the sound team too, but when he hits, he hits hard.
Egg Dragoon's almost certainly his most popular piece. It's easily digestible: the two-note motif tying it together keeps it more grounded than most, even while the strings scream out a black sound, and Ohtani's fast-paced, high energy beats are a tremendous help as well, giving it the edge it needs to stand out against the rest of his discography. The result is unmistakable and nigh impossible to duplicate. Just ask Richard Jacques, who tried and failed hard at it in Generations.
Song: vs. Egg Dragoon
Game: Sonic Unleashed
Composer: Hideaki Kobayashi
Beats Arranged by: Tomoya Ohtani
Gonna start including the expanded credits where applicable, under the assumption that I'm not the only one who finds them interesting, but that I am the only one who can be bothered to trawl VGMdb on a daily basis.
Kobayashi's a unique one among our cast of composers here, for a couple of reasons. One, while most of them have some sort of favored instrument that crops up more often than usual in their work, Kobayashi's a specialist; he does orchestras, and that's about it. When he isn't composing his own stuff, he's doing the arrangements for someone else (all those minor key theme mixes? His work). Two, he's got an even stronger signature style than Senoue, which is to say he writes the weirdest fucking music. It's dissonant. It's rarely melodic. It doesn't necessarily adhere to any consistent patterns. It runs up and down the scale to such an extent that you'd swear he was picking notes at random if it weren't for the fact that they fit together so well. Chaos, tamed and given form. He's more hit and miss than most of the sound team too, but when he hits, he hits hard.
Egg Dragoon's almost certainly his most popular piece. It's easily digestible: the two-note motif tying it together keeps it more grounded than most, even while the strings scream out a black sound, and Ohtani's fast-paced, high energy beats are a tremendous help as well, giving it the edge it needs to stand out against the rest of his discography. The result is unmistakable and nigh impossible to duplicate. Just ask Richard Jacques, who tried and failed hard at it in Generations.
Excellent song, excellent post. If Eggman didn't already have his theme from Sonic 06 returning in Unleashed I could easily imagine parts of this (or even a slower, more grandoise arrangement) making up his modern theme. Honestly, I'm a little bit sad that that's not the case, but then I hear Jacques' attempt in Generations and I think I'm alright with this one being the "one and only."
In the context of the game, this song sold that sequence for me. Falling to the center of the earth with this playing was incredible, and for that one moment I didn't even care that I was playing as the Werehog. One of the best boss themes in the series, no doubt.
Thanks for the interesting info about Kobayashi, and your info generally Sciz, this has been a very informative series for me. Interesting that he only does the orchestral stuff. He's certainly good at it. This really is a good boss theme, up there with certain recent themes from other platforming series (that may or may not take place in space).
I find the key tenants of a good boss theme are intensity, either epicness or powerful emotion depending on the scale of the fight, as some are against massive evil forces whereas some are more personal. This fits the former nicely. Th whole piece is very aggressive, and the discordant notes put you on edge throughout. The brass provides the power, but the strings provide the terror (or would if Sonic was a scary series.) The percussion is of course the glue that holds it all together and makes you feel pumped throughout. Certainly the combination of fast drums with orchestra provides interesting results. A very very good piece overall.
Shadow Hog
Member
Pictured above: my initial response to learning you could do this, and that it wasn't just something the 2011 remake added to be nice.
It's okay. For some reason I think I prefer Richard Jacques' take in Generations, and I always feel the middle of the song (starting around 0:22) is kind of weak in comparison to the strong intro (although it picks back up around 1:16 and 1:52).
As long as we're having lengthy discussions on Kobayashi, I must confess that while I generally really like his compositions (I'm quite a fan of his theme for Eggman, for instance), his tracks in Unleashed feel kind of... off. Like, they're orchestral tunes, but they're being played by the world's cartooniest orchestra. This is made even more jarring when compared to other orchestral pieces in the soundtrack, like the main theme or some of Takahito Eguchi's work for the cutscenes involving Dark Gaia (like these ones). Admittedly the first one's a real orchestra, and it's kinda hard to compete with that, but assuming Eguchi's isn't, it still sounds more authentic. I don't really get it; I was gonna say it was Kobayashi's focus on brass, but then the pieces I chose feature brass quite a bit too, and it still sounds better.
"Only" is a bit strong, but it's certainly the bulk of his work to the extent that it's hard to find examples that don't have a string section in there somewhere.
Bleh, no. The samples he used aren't nearly as crisp, the electronic bass is mixed too loud and has too much presence, and he rewrote some sections outright, like 1:30 and 2:13. And some of the nuance is just missing, like the strings in the intro.
Oh, certainly. Kobayashi's orchestra is tuned to suit his style much more so than it's designed to sound like an authentic symphony. I think you're on the right track regarding the brass; Kobayashi loves his high notes and pushes the trumpets and trombones hard, which don't sample well, while Eguchi's tracks are better suited to the lower registers of tuba and french horn, which sample pretty decently. Same thing goes for the woodwinds.
Shadow Hog
Member
Damn fine DL speed.
Shame about the UL speed, though.
Shame about the UL speed, though.
Considering I've streamed for 5 years with .30 mbps, UL having a whole 2 MB is gonna feel godlike by comparison.
Damn Beef.
Shadow Hog
Member
Says more about him than it does anyone else, anyway. But that'd be talking about him behind is back, which I know is frowned upon in here.
I got to try Lost World at Best Buy while I was out picking up Arkham Origins for my Dad's birthday present. It's interesting. Sonic definitely controls fine at the slower speed, although I think it's too slow. Fast speed is a little more finnicky, but I was able to run down straight lines without much issue, so that's nice. Cyan Wisp controls make no sense.
I got to try Lost World at Best Buy while I was out picking up Arkham Origins for my Dad's birthday present. It's interesting. Sonic definitely controls fine at the slower speed, although I think it's too slow. Fast speed is a little more finnicky, but I was able to run down straight lines without much issue, so that's nice. Cyan Wisp controls make no sense.
I've been seeing this around YouTube for a while now but only just listened to it; it's a really nice remix to Lost World's Windy Hill by Game Chops. They got a whole album here, gonna give this a listen myself in a minute.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Also, Arkham Origins is pretty solid, if...incredibly reminiscent of Arkham City. The second half is really kicking shit up a notch. Also, Troy Baker should get some kind of award for most great performances in a single year. Between Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us, Saints Row 4, and his great Joker here, dude is quality.
Batman sounds like a more monotone Chris Redfield. I'm hoping he sneaks in a Sonic voice somewhere.
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
Hey, Noi and Schala, what are your avatars of? Just wonderin'...
Also, Arkham Origins is pretty solid, if...incredibly reminiscent of Arkham City. The second half is really kicking shit up a notch. Also, Troy Baker should get some kind of award for most great performances in a single year. Between Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us, Saints Row 4, and his great Joker here, dude is quality.
Batman sounds like a more monotone Chris Redfield. I'm hoping he sneaks in a Sonic voice somewhere.
Why is Origins getting middling reviews? Fatigue or something?
I think Noi's is V13 from BlazBlue.
Seven Force
Banned
Dude seriously puts in work. As long as he delivers consistently good performances, I don't have any problem with him popping up as often as he does.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
Yeah, it have to be that. The first half of the game there's a lingering sense of going through the motions to it all, and honestly I was a bit bored of it. Fight these crooks, crack this door, swing on them gargoyles; you done these things, exactly these things, only two years ago. I can't be arsed running around for these Riddler challenge things again after AA/AC. I think people would be more fond of it if it didn't come out so recently after AC, or didn't LOOK so much like AC.
By the second half though, its found its groove. Its got the most interesting story in the series, with some great cinematics, surprising twists, and a great Joker performance by Baker. The side missions open up from the usual "find all these monkey butts around the city" type of open world design and start giving you some unique playspaces. The Mad Hatter and Deadshot ones are especially inspired. Its probably got the best overall set of boss fights, although the difficulty peaked a bit with the Deathstroke battle early on. I've unlocked most of my moves, so the rhythmic free-flowing combat system is still just as fun as ever(the sound is a bit muted tho, shame that). I actually had to stop myself from playing it to go do some important things, and I think I still got a few more hours left.
It doesn't deviate a whole lot from the established formula which is gonna give it middling impressions, but of all the current-gen stopgap prequels this year(God of War Ascension, Gears of War Judgment, Arkham Origins), this is the best one I've played. Its like a cover band playing some of your favorite songs; they're clearly not the real deals and it doesn't have that same impact on you, but they've done a pretty admirable job all things considered.
I do hope Rocksteady's next-gen game changes things up, though. I really enjoy this series, but I fear it going down an Assassin's Creed route unless the next one is like an AA to AC jump.
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