The best of the best: Platformers~

Obviously video game platformers cuz I don't know any other way that word could be used. And according to spell check it's not even a real word xD Anyways, I apologize in advance because Castlevania, Metroid, Mega Man and stuff like that will not be included in my list because I never played those when I was a kid and never really got into them. However, I make mention of them because they deserve recognition. There are others series I never played but that's life. And these are my thoughts. So without further stuff let's begin~ In no particular order once again.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest~
All of these games constitute as good platformers. But this is, in my opinion, the best one out of all three. In different categories such as music, difficulty, and level design. It tops the other 3 for me. Difficulty in that it gets much harder in the later levels. And K. Rool is probably the most difficult to beat in this game. Level design because they cleverly hide things like bonus barrels and the DK Coin very well. And the levels are just interesting. It's just a solid platformer all around.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island~
Yes, I like this game more than the SMB games and SMW1. Probably because I like Yoshi more than anyone else in the Mario series xD Anyways, my other reasons are the art design, game mechanics, and level design. I really adore the art style in this game. It was designed to look that way it does because Mario is a baby. And while that annoys some people, I enjoy it alot. Game mechanics like throwing eggs and butt stomping things is awesome. And level design is amazing. Finding everything in the later levels gets pretty tricky. Not as bad as Yoshi's Island DS mind you *shudders*

Sonic the Hedgehog 2~
Yeah, I know most people are like what? Not 3 or Sonic and Knuckles? Yeah, you heard me right. I like 2 the best. And yes, it's complete coincidence that every game so far has a 2 in it xD That's just how it ended up. Anyways, the game has awesome music and good level design. It's just always been my favorite and one of my favorite platformers. Maybe because it introduced Tails and he's my favorite character in this series. I know more blank stares because of this too. But I don't care~

Kirby's Adventure/Nightmare in Dreamland~
I'm talking about the NES game but there is a remake on the GBA called Nightmare in Dreamland. Which is also really good. Anyways, I loves Kirby~ His ability to gain enemy's powers I always found extremely fun. And getting 100% in this game isn't too easy. Mostly it involves having the right power and trying not to lose it before you get to the part you need it at. Also, the mini-games are freakin' fun. The crane game and the quick draw! Quick draw was so awesome xD I'm glad I got this off the Virtual Console again.

Spyro the Dragon~
Yep, the first game on the PS1. I freakin' love this game. I love all three of the original PS1 games but this one is my fave. Love the music, the areas, and just everything. Getting 100% is a challenge too. I played this to death when I was younger. It was just one of those games. Course all of them I've listed fall under that category xD He's the dragon with the attitude~

And that'll be it~ This be my top 5 pretty much. And I don't wanna go over 5 for this one. Anyways, till next time with whatever topic I come up with xD And my .hack GU volume 2 commentary be coming soon~

Final semester of college begins~

Well, it started yesterday but that's beside the point ^^; Anyways, 4 hard working years to get this done. Started in the fall of 2006 and am finishing in the fall of 2010. 4 years exactly. And I'm ready. Time to actually do what I wanna do. Find the job that I want and get to be with a certain someone ^_^ I'm pretty excited about that. Just have to work hard and get through these classes. I wish anyone else who started school recently or will be starting good luck~ No matter the grade level. Let us do our best ^^

The best of the best: Video game music~

Alright, I've been thinking of new ideas to add life to my blog. Posts I can do and stuff like that. So, every now and then I'm going to post these little thingies called "The best of the best" in some category of my choosing. These are my opinion type of things obviously. Not going on general consensus or something like that. And it's fun to learn new things about people, right? ^^

So, lets start with video game music, shall we~? I got the idea for today because I was playing Donkey Kong Country 2 and was reminded of just how utterly amazing the music is in that game. But for this I'm only choosing one song from a game. Otherwise this could get rather long ^^; Even though it's hard to choose sometimes. Anyways, lets begin. And this is in no particular order. Just how they come to mind.

Donkey Kong Country 2~ Stickerbrush Symphony
Alright, this right here is just one amazing piece of music. I do know that many other people would agree with me on this one. Just from reading and listening to stuff on the internet. But anyways, if you have time I highly recommend giving this a listen. I don't even know what it is about it that makes it so good to me but why try to explain it? It's just awesome. Period.

Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia~ Phantasmagoria
Yeah, okay, I could have listed like a bunch of music from this game I love. But I'm sticking to only picking one song ^^; And this is my favorite from this game. I still remember beating this game for the first time and listening to this song. I freakin' loved it. Tis amazing just like the game itself.

Ar tonelico 2: Melody of Metafalica~ EXEC_VIENA/.
The same goes for this game that I said above. Way too much good stuff to choose from. But this song will always stick with me. It plays during my favorite scene in the game and is sung by one of my favorite characters ever. I am expecting good things AT3 xD You better represent. Whenever I play you someday.

Tales of the Abyss~ Overflowing Emotions, Reunion
Yeah, one thing you'll notice alot of times is my favorite music from games is connected to my favorite scenes. And this one comes straight from the ending of this game. Which I loved. And Luke is another one of my favorite characters ever~ The title speaks for itself and it does convey alot of emotion.

Skies of Arcadia~ Epilogue
Yeah, yeah, where to start ^^;; Cuz this is my favorite game ever in so many categories. So hard to choose... Ahem. But yeah, this plays at the end of the game obviously and this game had an awesome, amazingly wonderful ending. How could I not love this music when I picture it in my head whenever I hear it? So yeah, I think that explains that.

Super Mario RPG~ Forest Maze
It's freaking catchy as heck xD I love this music. Besides, it's in this forest that you get Geno~ And Geno is awesome beyond words. I wanted him to be Brawl so bad but alas it didn't happen. Anyways, tis an amazing game to boot too.

Persona 4~ The Genesis
Final boss music ahoy~ Seriously, it's freakin' awesome. I remember enjoying this music so much. And the final boss was no push over. Just made things more epic. The very end is what I love the most. If you listen to it all the way you'll know what I mean.

Final Fantasy IX~ You Are Not Alone
The second of only two FF games I've ever beaten. And nothing will ever beat this one as my favorite. I love it so much. The title of the music speaks for itself and the scene it plays at in the game.

Legend of Legaia~ Cave of Warmth
Man, I love this game too~ And I remember you first meet Noa in this cave. And Noa is adorable. Period. So yeah, this music reflects this very well I must say xD

Radiata Stories~ Tekuteku Aruku: Karaoke Version
Ah, this game was so silly~ But it was a good game. No joke. It had its own charm that just can't be duplicated. Anyways, this is the ending music. Just the music. There is a vocal version but I like this better.

And I think that'll about do it. That's 10 so I think I should stop there. All these games I listed have incredible music anyways so I'll leave it at that. I hope this was at least slightly entertaining ^^; Or interesting. Anyways, until next time when I come up with another topic~

.hack//G.U. vol. 1//Rebirth comments~

Wow, been a while since a post, huh? ^^; Ah, such busyness and other stuff. Anyways, this be my post about GU volume 1 that I beat not too long ago. I've already started volume 2 so that'll be along soon enough after I beat it as well. This entire trilogy is basically set in real world Japan. A bit into the future anyways. And the MC, whatever his real life name is cuz I don't know, plays an MMORPG called The World: R2. I know all these .hack games have this kind of premise. You don't really do anything in the actual real world in this game. Everything takes place inside the MMORPG he's playing. You can visit your desktop though when you log out of the game xD

The desktop is for checking email from other players and stuff, reading forums (yes, you read forums in a game and it's amusing), reading the news (also interesting because this is really futuristic stuff they've made up), viewing the in game movies, looking at wallpaper you're collected as well as music, and last but not least Crimson VS, which is a fun little card game. And that's pretty much what you do outside The World.

The MC's character in the game is called Haseo. He used to be part of a guild called the Twilight Brigade that was searching for something. One of his guild members, a girl named Shino, was pk'd (player killed) by someone called Tri-Edge. Ever since that happened, the real player for Shino fell into a coma in the real world. The game starts off showing you the MC creating his character then logging in. He meets two people who show him how to play the game then proceed to PK him for sheer amusement. That's when he meets Ovan who pwns the two people and allows Haseo into his guild somewhere down the line.

From those experiences, Haseo became known as a PKK (a player killer killer). I know it sounds funny xD Everyone knows him as The Terror of Death and he searches for Tri-Edge. He ends up meeting him and getting defeated and Tri-Edge reduces his level back to 1. From there, the adventure really begins. Haseo is definitely not the friendliest guy in the world to start out. He's got alot of issues bugging him. And he finds out his character has a power hidden inside of him called an Avatar. Basically, he can transform into this thing but it's dangerous to do. He could send another player into a coma if he uses it. At first he doesn't care and uses it on some of the other players in the arena. But he's taught a lesson there by his friend Kuhn. He chills out quite a bit towards the end of volume 1.

He meets another player called Atoli who looks exactly like Shino. She irritates him like crazy at first because of how she looks and the fact that she's nothing like Shino. But she becomes an important person later down the line. The real enemy in this game is something called AIDA. It's outside the normal parameters of the game and nobody really knows what it is. But it's what is sending people into comas and just creating a real mess. Turns out Tri-Edge is infected by it and that's how Shino ended up the way she did. The Avatars are the only things that can defeat AIDA. And not just Haseo has one. And I'll just say that Avatar battles are really fun and intense. Normal players in the game cannot see Avatars when someone summons them. Only if they possess one themselves.

The final boss is indeed Tri-Edge and you have to defeat him in a normal battle and an avatar battle. Both being the hardest ones in the game. And Atoli has her Avatar stolen by AIDA at the end of volume 1 which damages her character data. But I'll get into that in volume 2 as it's explained there. I thought she was gonna become another lost one after that scene. The Lost Ones are the people in comas. That's what people refer to them as in this game. Anyways, there's lots to do in game besides the story. Haseo is part of his own guild called Canard and you can level it up and get special features. Quite useful really. Having your own steam bike is pwnage xD There be sidequests and achievements that aren't annoyingly hard to do but still provide a pretty good challenge. They have a good mix with that I must say.

So that be it for volume 1. Volume 2 is well underway and I'm enjoying it alot. Lots of good features added and the story keeps getting more interesting. I'll update when the time comes. Till then~