New Moderator
The suggestion to use the building to the left made this so much easier. Took out the Shock Trooper as it followed us around the wall, and then took out the Stalkers. The Ghost soon followed, leaving the Snipers and Armature. After the Snipers were sniped (c wut i did thar) I would pop out from behind a crate to shoot the Armature with my shotgun, hide to avoid its blast, and repeat. Victory at last.
We went into the ruins to find more Geth. Most of the fights were simple enough due to walls being available for cover. The only notable one had three security droids that took out Tali and Garrus instantly due to lack of good cover. I managed to hide behind the one pole the elevator had to carefully blast them away with well-timed shotgun attacks.
At the bottom, we found the asari archeologist we had been looking for. She was trapped by a Prothean security device, so we had to get her out. After raiding some lockers, I fooled around with a mining laser. It needed a code, but since there was no penalty for getting it wrong, I figured out the right combination fairly quickly (A, X, B, Y I believe). If there was a way to actually find the code elsewhere, I'm not sure where it was.
After releasing the asari, the ruins started to collapse. We tried to take an elevator out, only to run into a krogan and three Geths. I had to stop after two attempts, but so far this is a 'difficult' fight for only one reason: lack of cover. They basically make a triangle formation to shoot at us while we're stuck in the middle with no way to evade. This isn't crazy like the previous fight, but it'll require some thought on how exactly to avoid being gunned down from all sides.
</spoiler>
---
"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
But finally I did it, being the only one alive and hitting him with a shotgun at the last second before the krogan killed me. We escaped the ruins and got our last unit to the squad! I got the achievement Search and Rescue, probably for saving Liara. I can't imagine why else I would have but I forgot to look at the description. >_>
After talking to all my squad members, I went back to the Citadel to do sidequests. A man wanted to examine my ship, and I let him to get more experience and Paragon points. I found the last Keeper to scan at last; it was on the very top of the tower, and I'm not sure how I missed it. Maybe because I kept getting thrown into cutscenes whenever I went near it. After that, I bought a Medigel II and Grenade II upgrade because I'm still not sure what else I want to buy.
Other sidequests finished include:
*Talking to that crazy fanboy again. He took a picture of me.
*Tracked down a signal for taking credits. It turned out to be a rogue AI. Had to play a button guessing game to shut it down before it could self destruct.
*Saw the reporter lady, Emily Wong, again. Planted a bug for her so she could do a report that would save lives in the long run.
Then I began flying around every place I could besides plot points. This allowed me to get even more sidequests to complete. I haven't done any of these yet, but from what I recall, I have:
*Find four geth outposts to wreck.
*A nuke is in the Voyager galaxy, go dispose of it.
*A marine group is missing, answer their distress call.
*Find a guy's missing brother.
*Find an asari's sister, who has been taken hostage.
*A distress call was heard (not related to marine group), investigate.
*Scientists related to the incident where I lost my whole squad (due to backstory of Sole Survivor) are being killed off, go find the last one.
*Major Kyle, a previous Alliance officer, is now hiding out and has killed the two Alliance officers who came after him.
*A group is missing, heard it on elevator.
*Someone has been taken hostage, heard it on elevator.
*Find more rare materials.
*Find more asari writings.
*Find more turian items.
...I'm sure there's some missing, but that covers what I recall.
</spoiler>
---
"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
When visiting the medical ward, found a person who had a dead brain (oxygen deprived) living on a machine. Left him there while trying to figure out what was going on. Found some logs in the medical ward, crew quarters, and cockpit. First time, I was like, "Oh, I bet it'll end with someone screaming and then I'll be attacked." Not so with the first two cases! They told me about how this guy had lost his brain capabilities, which left his lover, Julia, in a horrible state. They gave her medicine to calm her down, but she didn't take it.
Third log, we hear the captain speaking about how they decided to pull the plug on the machine to let the man die a dignified death, but was not going to tell Julia about it until after. Too bad she was behind him, causing him to say, "Julia, you're here? Wait what are you-ARRRRRRRRRGH!" Cue Shepard yelling, "Take cover!" and me going "SON OF A GUN I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN."
Well, the fight was simple enough. Woman runs in, I use Lift, we shoot her, woman falls down dead. We then unhooked the guy from the machine to mercy kill him and left with many improved weapons. Not like anyone was left on the ship to use them, right?
I decided to head to the Hades Gamma cluster (think that's the name) to look for the two elevator quests. I found some rare metal, saved, and went to find another one. It was surrounded by Scavangers. Okay, basic human enemies, I can handle this outside the Mako right? Apparently not when a single shot KILLED ME. What equipment do these jerks have?! I could easily take them out with the Mako, but against morons like this, that's just lame. I'll have to be more careful next time.
Still, did get my fifth achievement (which I'll look up the description of next time) and have a full squad, that's something.
</spoiler>
---
"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
Anything marked with *, BTW, means that I haven't beaten it yet but I got far enough to make an accurate judgment on where it should be.
Top 50 Favorite Games
1. Kingdom Hearts II
2. Kingdom Hearts
3. Okami
4. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
5. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: FES
6. Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword
7. Xenogears
8. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
9. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
10. Tales of the Abyss
11. Final Fantasy X
12. Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
13. The World Ends With You
14. Final Fantasy IX
15. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
16. Final Fantasy Tactics
17. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
18. Tales of Symphonia
19. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
20. Jeanne DArc
21. Magi Nation
22. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
23. Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribution
24. Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
25. Suikoden III
*26. Ar Tonelico
27. Wild Arms XF
*28. Skies of Arcadia: Legends
29. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
30. Final Fantasy VII
31. Riviera: The Promised Land
32. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
*33. Legend of Dragoon
34. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
35. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
36. Golden Sun: The Lost Age
*37. The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening
38. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
39. Pokemon Gold/Silver
40. Megaman Battle Network 3: Blue
41. Luminous Arc
42. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
43. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
44. Golden Sun
45. Megaman Star Force: Pegasus
46. Hotel Dusk: Room 215
47. Spyro 2: Riptos Rage
48. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
49. Spyro: Year of the Dragon
*50. Crash Bandicoot: Warped
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
Next up, visited the location where a probe with nuclear weapons or something had been dropped. Turns out that IT'S A TRAP set up by some guy who wanted to kill the first human Spectre. I disarmed the three bombs he had set up and left the area through an alternate route (note that this place looked EXACTLY the same as the previous mining location, thus proving xp's point that sidequest areas are the same two-maybe more-places copied and pasted on different planets, the other one will be mentined later). We emerged near a mercenary camp that had taken my Mako. Nobody steals my car darn it! Ran to it and went Grand Theft Auto on the mercenaries, proceeding to flatten them. I don't care if I got less experience from it, it was a just reward to see the car thieves go flying into the air. >_> That completed UNC: Espionage Probe, though again I found an item I couldn't get open without Electronics. So another mental note: Voyager Cluster.
Next I went to the planet where the asari's sister had been kidnapped. Proceeded to cautiously get through their base by using lots of cover to survive. Also finally figured out how to use grenades, not that they helped much. Got some nice weapons and found out the asari's sister was actually blackmailing her rather than having been kidnapped. 'whoops' Yet another item I believe I need to go back for. Note: Sharjila in the Artemis Tau Cluster.
</spoiler>
---
"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
Before going to Citadel to report to the asari, I decided to check into the missing ship that had the guy's brother on it. Found the remains of his ship, and then went to Xawin, a cold planet, and searched for debris first as usual. When I came upon some, all of a sudden, SAND/SNOW WORM OUT OF NOWHERE. After reloading several times, I finally took it out with the Mako's missiles. That thing has a ton of endurance. After that, I found the debris was unable to be looted due to lack of Electronics. Insert rage.
When I finally got around to the base of the privateers it was surrounded by turrets that I shot down. I went inside the base, which was copied and pasted from the asari mission, and killed everyone there more quickly. They had a tendency to charge at me so I had to take them out faster than usual. Found the brother's dead body along with things I could not use Decryption on because I forgot to bring Tali. So I left the world, got Tali, came back, used Decryption, and got the debris to open with her upped Electronics. Also found a Geth probe that was a trap and took out four Armatures.
Went back to Citadel and reported my findings. Using my Charisma, I convinced the asari to give me some extra stock in stores at times, so that's nice. I also ran into that fanboy and convinced him that becoming a Spectre is a bad idea since he has a wife. >_> Pretty funny sidequest. I also bought an Ariake Technologies License and a Grenade Upgrade III.
I finished by heading out to try and find a data disc the geth want. Had to stop before I could examine the area though.
Time to list what I have so far!
Completed sidequests:
Citadel: Scan the Keepers
Citadel: Reporter's Request
Citadel: The Fan
Citadel: Presidium Prophet
Citadel: Asari Consort
Citadel: Jahleed and Chorban
Citadel: Homecoming
Citadel: Doctor Michel is Safe
Citadel: Xeltan Convinced
Citadel: Rita's Sister is Safe
Citadel: Signal Tracking
UNC: Missing Survey Team
Citadel: Schells' Scanner Given Away
Asari Diplomacy
Citadel: The Fourth Estate
UNC: Privateers
Citadel: Planting a Bug
Citadel: Old Friends
UNC: Lost Freighter
UNC: Espionage Probe
Sidequests waiting in journal:
UNC: Distress Call
UNC: Major Kyle
UNC: Hostage
Person of Interest
UNC: Valuable Minerals
UNC: Turian Insignias
UNC: Asari Writing
UNC: Missing Marines
UNC: Locate Signs of Battle
UNC: Geth Incursions
UNC: Dead Scientists
UNC: Last Module
UNC: Prothean Data Discs
Garrus: Find Dr. Saleon
Wrex: Family Armor
UNC: Rogue VI
Yeah. Still got a long ways to go.
</spoiler>
---
"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
Some random facts that I never mentioned:
*I actually did not find the nightclub, The Flux, until I was trying to find the last two Keepers I needed. Somehow I went right past it all the time.
*Some of the equipment I've gotten has been shining on the equip screen. I have no idea why.
*I was correct about the fifth achievement I got. You get it for saving Liara.
*I am horrible at controlling the Mako. But it is incredibly funny to watch enemies go flying as they get hit head-on by a charging tank/car thing.
*I should get around to buying some new equipment. The problem is I'm always afraid I'll find it in a crate somewhere. You can't sell back equipment, the only thing to do is reduce it to omni-gel. Omni-gel can repair the Mako or bypass hacking. I haven't seen any other use for it, so...
</spoiler>
In other news, I believe my 360's clock is broken because it always resets, even if I keep the power cord plugged in. Going to ask on the 360 boards for some more information.
---
"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Advanced
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Wq4-scqA8&fmt=18
---
"Glide, my inner shadow, light and dark above you...TRANSCEND THE STARS!" ~Golbez, Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Advanced
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"Glide, my inner shadow, light and dark above you...TRANSCEND THE STARS!" ~Golbez, Dissidia: Final Fantasy
Liberal Arts Major
I'm officially calling shenanigans on this. I am 99.9% positive that you can.
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xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
New Moderator
I'll need to watch those after I've played the game. =P
I'm officially calling shenanigans on this. I am 99.9% positive that you can.
Please tell me how then because I'd really like to get more credits instead of omni-gel that I never use. Every shop I've gone to only lets me ask to see their stock and I don't see any way to sell my equipment.
---
"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Liberal Arts Major
---
xp1337: Don't you wish there was a spell-checker that told you when you a word out?
New Moderator
I know there's a button to compare your equipment with the one you're checking out. I'll take another look to see which one you're referring to. Thanks.
---
"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Advanced
I'll need to watch those after I've played the game. =P
oh ho ho
---
"Guide, my inner shadow, light and dark above...TRANSCEND THE STARS!" ~Golbez, Dissidia: Final Fantasy
New Moderator
So that took care of UNC: Lost Module. I talked to Garrus and Wrex for some more codex stuff and then checked out the shop. It wasn't a button that you had to press, but hitting left or right changed it from buy to sell. Thank you xp. I sold extra stuff from my cluttered inventory and bought myself a Katana V because I like my shotguns.
The next sidequest was on the planet Presrop. This is the first place I've been to where I didn't have to fight at all, which made for a nice change of pace. I uncovered some items (minerals, turian insignia) and found a probe that I couldn't use Electronics on, even with Tali in my party. It only let me use omni-gels. Would that change if I got higher Electronics? I left it for now.
I convinced the cultist over the loudspeaker to let me see Kyle and then convinced Kyle to surrender peacefully so his 'children' (religious cult here basically and he's called Father Kyle) would not be hurt. Got a ton of Paragon points. That concludes UNC: Major Kyle.
That wasn't much accomplished, but I'm trying to complete Riviera tonight, so I just took the two hours needed to recharge my PSP. The other thing is I'm trying to fix my 360's clock, which is really bothering me.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
STEALTH SPYRO UPDATE OUT OF NOWHERE
[Spoiler for Spyro the Dragon, click to show]So yeah, I owned the original trilogy as a kid. Completed the second and third game, but didn't finish the first for some odd reason. Never even beat it since I stopped at the fourth world out of six. Time to remedy that!
Here is the (very deep) plot: Gnasty Gnorc is ticked off at dragons, he turns them into crystals, and turns their treasure into his goons (yes gems can become life forms, small known fact). He also steals dragon eggs because he's a jerk. Spyro is the only dragon not crystal'd because he's short or something. The instruction manual says he was missed because he was 'playing hooky' but that makes so little sense that I can't accept it. Anyway!
The Artisan World is first, and it's easy as heck for the most part. Run down of areas:
*Artisan (Home World): The enemies there can't actually attack. Basically the place where you learn how to control yourself. The only real secret is that by jumping once on each of five stones in a water area, a wall lowers to let you into Sunny Flight.
*Stone Hill: I'm not sure why Gnasty Gnorc thought making gems into shepherds with canes would be threatening, but there you go. Good first level but somewhat dull. There's a hidden beach to jump to for a key to unlock a treasure chest. Found the first egg thief and killed him. Those guys are annoying, they like to yell 'nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!' until you kill them.
*Dark Hollow: You get introduced to enemies with metal armor/shields, which you have to either charge or flame in a weak spot. Some nice music and extra effects (you can flame wood piles to light fires) but nothing else of note.
*Town Square: This one is fun. You can charge bulls to get their horns to pierce the ground and make them struggle there forever, it's funny. One of the dragons I rescued here was named Thor, but he said in a whiny voice, "Thank you for releasing me!" Way to disgrace the thunder god. Got another egg from an annoying thief.
*Toasty (Boss): You unlock this level by beating any of the other three normal worlds here. The first section has shepherds and dogs. The dogs are some of the most dangerous enemies in the game, at least in my opinion. You have to breathe fire on them twice, and the first time they will lunge at you; if you don't get out of the way, you get squashed. The second part had Toasty himself, a big scythe-carrying pumpkin head guy with dogs guarding him. I actually got killed on the second stage of the fight because I was not aware Toasty would attack you with the scythe, he's never done that to me before (the dogs sapped the rest of my life). Second time I kicked his rear end. It turns out Toasty is... actually a sheep on stilts, making this boss amazing.
*Sunny Flight: The flight levels are different from the normal ones. You try to destroy eight targets in four categories, so twenty-four total. You get 60 gems for each category you complete and 60 more if you do it all in one run (there's a time limit), so that's 300 total. I managed to complete this one on my second try, pretty simple. Touching water kills you instantly but you don't actually lose a life, so it's like a bonus stage. A bonus stage you have to complete for gems, but hey.
That completed the Artisan World. All dragons saved, all gems gotten, all dragon eggs retrieved. I visited the balloonist, whose requirement was that I had rescued ten dragons to go to the next world. Off I went to the Peace Keepers' World.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
*Dry Canyon: Took me a bit of time to recall where I had to glide from to get to the second portion of the level. Got another dragon egg. I applaud the designers for coming up with an enemy that uses a live vulture as a club.
*Cliff Town: One of the levels I'm most fond of, actually. Lots of places to explore. I wound up screwing up a glide over a river and dying, oops. Breathing fire on cauldrons gets you gems for some reason, maybe they're good to eat in soup? Another dragon egg here, making my total five. I like the metal-poncho guys with sombreros, they're pretty cool looking.
*Ice Cavern: Nice music and funny enemies. Skiers throw snowballs at you and large guys with metal armor can be charged off ledges. I actually returned to this level after getting all the dragons and treasure to try something. By making a glide of faith, I reached a ledge with three lives for the taking. I'm surprised I remembered how to do that after so many years!
*Doctor Shemp (Boss): Screw this guy, I totally forgot his patterns and that cost me two lives. You have to wait until he exposes his back and breathe fire on him, since his front is covered by metal armor. Some of my favorite enemies are here: the fat women from Cliff Town will slap armored yelling kamikaze guys towards you. If you avoid them, they charge off ledges, which is hilarious.
*Night Flight: Took me about four tries to beat this, and two of them had me missing exactly one lighthouse. Argh. Got it that fourth try with much delight.
So the Peace Keepers' World is complete. All dragons saved, all gems gotten, all dragon eggs retrieved. I'll stop by the Magic Crafters' World later today. It's my favorite so I'm looking forward to it.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
*Magic Crafters' (Home World): Pretty place with pretty music. Had two egg thieves. Introduces the supercharge, which is a really fast charge that makes you invincible.
*Alpine Ridge: Have to time some jumps carefully due to druids raising and lowering walls/islands/steps (yes, islands). Ironically, I didn't mess up on any of those, but I nearly died by miscalculating a far away piece of land with wizards. I say almost because I paused and hit 'Exit Level' out of curiosity. Sure enough, I didn't lose a life because of that. But that's the only time I'll do that. Lose my lives like a man, or something like that. >_> One egg thief was hanging around. The orange beasts here are noisy but harmless if you use flame attacks.
*High Caves: I always liked this place as a child. When in the cave area with a supercharge to use, fairies will catch you if you fall, which makes it a great practice area for making a jump and gliding while in supercharge mode. In other words, almost impossible to lose a life in this area. There are some big, metal spiders, but they can be defeated with supercharge or superflame, which is introduced in this level. Basically, get a fairy to kiss you and your flame breath melts just about any enemy. Two egg thieves here, with one of them being my favorite in the game. There are certain treasure 'chests' that have 'fans' on the top. You breath fire on them three times, the fan flies away, you get the gem. If you position yourself correctly, the fan will collide with the thief and kill him instantly, which is hilarious.
*Wizard Peak: The music here is awesome. I kept getting squished by yeti things but there's plenty of health, making it a non-issue. There are two jumps that you have to make by using two supercharge strips to have a... super supercharge? I made both jumps effortlessly, but in an incredibly ironic moment, died trying to get back on the first one. The second one I tried to glide to the wrong platform after the initial jump and died there too. So yeah, two lives gone due to stupidity on my part. Got two more eggs. Notice how there's so many in this world? But that's the last of them, I now have all the dragon eggs in the game.
My stats so far: 4800 Gems, 45 Dragons, 12 Dragon Eggs. Dragon eggs are done, 12/12 rescued. I've lost six lives so far, though they were all spares. (You can get extra lives and orbs that add up to lives from killing enemies again. The first time you kill them, you get gems. After that, orbs or the occasional life.) I'll take care of the boss and flight level next.
</spoiler>
---
"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
*Crystal Flight: The most difficult one so far, it took me about... six tries, I want to say. It had rings, arches, airplanes, and chests. The hard part was hitting the airplanes due to their erratic pattern. Oddly, I did my best on the first run, only missing one plane. Finally succeeded in the end though. Flight levels, due to their time limit, don't take long at all, so even with all the failures I was done in about five minutes tops.
So I left the Magic Crafters' World. I think you need six dragon eggs to get to the next one, so that was easy enough. Flew to the Beast Makers' World and did half of what was necessary in it.
*Beast Makers' (Home World): I forgot how pretty the music here is. Basically this is a swamp world, and my least favorite in appearance, but the music makes up for it. Only two dragons here, which is a pretty low amount. All boss levels have one dragon (besides the final one, I think, which has none) and most other levels have three, four occasionally.
*Terrace Village: A big level, but one I'm quite familiar with. Breezed through it. It's somewhat similar to Cliff Town, just without big ladies slapping people around. They're replaced by electricity-using goons. Yeah. Also had only two dragons for some reason.
Here's where I'm finally getting into 'new' territory. I say 'new' because I've never played any levels following Terrace Village, but I owned a strategy guide for Spyro and read up on them when I was a kid. Said strategy guide has been buried in my closet at my mother's house for the past several years, so my recollections of them are shabby, but I can't say I have absolutely no knowledge on them. Mental note to self: bring back that strategy guide for examination after I complete this run.
*Misty Bog: This place had the most messed up enemies ever. Attack trees would charge forward to try eating you while attack frogs would shoot out their tongue to whip you. The trees weren't dangerous, just disturbing, but the frogs are the most deadly enemies I've seen yet. No joke. There was an entire room full of frogs and some armored goons. I had to run past them to save at a dragon podium (they act as check points too) and then let myself lose a life before I could take out the entire room. Sparx was in green health at the end (yellow>blue>green>gone, if Sparx the dragonfly is gone, you lose a life on the next hit). Still, completed it, and that's what's important.
My stats to this point: 6700 Gems, 54 Dragons, 12 Dragon Eggs, 64% completed. I've lost seven lives and have two spare ones. (Ironically, that's exactly how many enemies have dropped a whole extra life for me, two. All the other seven were collected through orbs.) I have... 28 lives total right now, IIRC, but the ones that I don't count as 'spare' come in unique treasure chests. It's a pointless classification really, since a life is a life, but I'm one for details.
Interesting note: the first three worlds took about an hour each to complete. I'm almost halfway through the fourth and have spent about thirty minutes on it. Knowing the game well really makes it fast.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
*Metalhead (Boss): Interesting gimmick here. Instead of attacking the boss, who is a giant robot, you destroy the poles he uses to get power from. Only two rounds to him, instead of the usual three. There was a clever hidden area near the start, only shown by a broken grate that you had to glide to. It took several tries to get the last five gems in this stage. You had to glide to a platform (thankfully above ground so no penalty for missing) and I had a heck of a time with it.
*Wild Flight: This took about ten tries, if not more. There were two moving targets, boats and airplanes. The key was figuring out which way they went so I could fly against them; if you try to follow, you'll be too slow. The arches and chests were simple enough.
My stats to this point: 8000 Gems, 58 Dragons, 12 Dragon Eggs, 72% completed. I've lost eight lives and have three spare ones. (Continuing with the irony, I got a whole extra life this run, so the amount is still the same.)
Beast Makers' took roughly two hours to complete. I'll head to the fifth world next time.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
*Dream Weavers' (Home World): There's a cannon in the center of the level that makes enemies big or small. You want them small, but luckily you can jack the cannon to take care of that. The armored guys make very funny noises when they die. The fool enemies can't be killed, but hitting them makes platforms go up or down to let you reach new places. Since they're timed, you have to be quick about it.
*Dark Passage: When the fool enemies have their lanterns on, enemies are small and harmless. When they are off, they become fierce and sometimes unkillable. This level was huge; it had 500 gems and 5 dragons, a new record. The enemies were pretty painful too, especially the cupids with homing arrows. I didn't die, but I came awfully close a couple of times before finding fodder to restore health.
*Lofty Castle: Easiest and shortest level in the world. You have to free three fairies from cages in each area. After you do so, they'll create a whirlwind to take you to the next one. Enemies included those blasted cupids, gnorcs on balloons (burst the balloon and they fall to their deaths), and... round bird things, I have no idea.
*Haunted Towers: Oy. This place had wizards that caused suits of armor to come to life. Since the suits are invincible to your normal attacks, the goal is to get past them to reach a superflame fairy, have her bless you, and then torch them all before running out of time. There was a hidden area that I died twice trying to reach. When I got there, I had to climb a set of stairs very quickly, before suits of armor could come to life to block me. I surprisingly got it my first try (recalled this challenge from the long ago strategy guide) and reached the top. A fairy gave me permanent superflame for the rest of the level. Sweet deal.
*Jacques (Boss): Forget the boss, even though he looked creepy (stupid monster jack-in-the-box) he was the easiest one yet. I didn't even get hit, which is a new record. No, it was the glides in the hidden area that made me lose six lives. Yes, you heard me, SIX. How horrible.
*Icy Flight: Easiest flight level since Sunny Flight. Only took me two tries to finish it. Lighthouses, chests, helicopters, and trains were the targets, yet it was a straight course. Nice music too.
At this point, I decided to quickly run through the home worlds to get some spare lives. Once that was done, I headed to the next location. You needed gems to get to there, but I don't know how many.
*Gnasty's World: ...How anticlimactic. The entire world is a platform with a portal and three dragon heads that hide other portals. One dragon was in the center along with some treasure. There's a balloonist to take you back if needed. That's it. It's worth noting that I don't have a free choice on what worlds to go to though. You have to go in order, hence why the dragon heads exist. Once I beat the first one, it'll open the next level, as the dragon I rescued explained.
My stats to this point: 10575 Gems, 75 Dragons, 12 Dragon Eggs, 91% completed. I've lost sixteen lives and have eight spare ones. (Seven of those lives are whole ones that got dropped, the eighth was from orbs.)
This is the final stretch of the game.
</spoiler>
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
*Gnorc Cove: There were TnT barrels to explode and metal barrels to headbutt at enemies. Easy but fun level. Music was way too cheerful. Apparently big gnorc workers wear boxers with hearts on them, as seen when blowing off their aprons. The supercharge got a last hurrah. I had to use it twice, once with a bridge raised and once with it lowered.
*Twilight Harbor: Holy sweet breadsticks, this place had enemies with machine guns! Deadly enemies for sure, but I surprisingly didn't get hit too much. It definitely had a serious final level vibe to it, good stuff. 79 dragons saved at this point. Funny note: all the dragons in this world are repeats of ones you've already saved. Gotta wonder how they got caught again.
*Gnasty Gnorc: What, already? Yep, the big guy himself was ready to fight. Had to chase a thief around to get a key, and then used that key to find another thief. Got his key, used it, and a platform lowered that allowed me to access Gnasty Gnorc (he was too high up to reach until then). After collecting scattered treasure, I went up to him... only for him to run. What a wussy. I followed at a leisurely pace to memorize the route and collect all the gems. Then I charged after him twice along the entire route, only for him to get to the end and start running immediately after I caught up. The third time, he hit me with his club, but I burned him. He ran into a new area. After some platforming (which has to be quick or they vanish), he hit me with energy from his club, only for me to flame him a last time. "You're toast, Gnorc! Hahaha!" to quote Spyro.
The game's ending is spectacular. Spyro finishes the interview the dragons were having earlier and says he just needs to collect some more treasure. Then credits roll.
When the game sets me back in Gnasty's World, to my surprise, a new dragon is sitting in the middle! He said to come back when I had 100% and the last dragon head would open. But since freeing him gave me 100% (80 dragons, 12000 gems, 12 dragon eggs)... boom, portal open!
*Gnasty's Loot: Now here is a reward. Just you, four thieves with keys, and a ton of treasure to collect. Add in that you can fly for the entire thing (rather than just gliding) and it's a blast. The last two thieves were on airplanes, and the fourth one was just an absolute pain to catch. Had to lap about four times before I got him. But his key let me access the last area, which had rockets that, when set on fire, exploded into gems. At least twenty, maybe more, purple gems. Watching my treasure counter go up was glorious.
After leaving this level, I got the true ending: Spyro with sunglasses telling the reporter the world was back at peace. Behind him were two dragons playing basketball with a sheep. Basketsheep I guess? Then they got turned into crystal and Spyro says, "Here we go again!" which I guess is supposed to make you want to replay the game. The sequel has nothing to do with Gnasty Gnorc so. >_>
Funny note about the credits: "No sheep were harmed in the making of this game. A few Gnorcs, but no sheep." Bravo.
So yeah! Landed back in the Artisan World to save my game. 14000/14000 Gems, 80/80 Dragons, 12/12 Dragon Eggs, 120%. I ended with 55 lives, eight of them being spare, and lost sixteen over the course of the game. So this game has been beaten and completed at last! There's no in game clock but I believe it took about eight hours to beat: one hour for all worlds except Beast Makers' and Dream Weavers', which each took two.
</spoiler>
Considering how Spyro the Dragon was my first Playstation game, and one of my first games in general, it's funny that I just got around to beating it after... ten years or so of having it? I want to say I got it around age nine. In any case, it's awesome and was definitely worth seeing to the end. More likely than not I'll go back to focusing on Mass Effect now.
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Editor
I find this hilarious because, in Tales of Vesperia, Y brings up the menu. Stupid muscle memory has cost me like 15 Medigels so far. >_>
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic
New Moderator
Still on my trip, so no time to update very well, but I have been playing Link's Awakening DX. Got 5/8 of the Siren Instruments. What ticks me off is somehow I named my character 'Link ' with a space after, and I never noticed until after the third dungeon. NOT resetting my game for that, but it bothers me. >_<
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
New Moderator
There was a buy two, get one free used game sale today, so I bought Zone of Enders and The Bouncer for cheap prices. Third game is a secret because it's a present for Epyon. >_>
I'll be back tomorrow.
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"That was pretty interesting. But dropping a warship on me is cheating... Take it back!"-Id, Xenogears
Editor
(This is required for 100% completion, anyway.)
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic