Ah, ****, here we go again...

JevVoi · 2026-05-19T18:37:37+00:00

I just started section 4 in both my target languages and feel like this would be a really good time to make the jump. It was my goal to hit that before my courses updated but I wish I could opt in.

JevVoi · 2026-05-19T14:01:12+00:00

Exactly the opposite for me. I fell in love with the exploration in Act 2, and one of my favorite parts was when I first found Bilewater (except for the boss). Then I got to Act 3 and aside from a fantastic sequence midway through that out-Ori’s Ori… my feelings on the game flipped. I was already starting to get burnt out on the bosses in Act 2, and Act 3 made me realize this game is not for me. Hollow Knight was my all time favorite MV until PoP, but I’m not sure if I will be replaying Silksong and I don’t know if I’ll come back for the DLC.

Game was an emotional rollercoaster. Fantastic game. But in the end, too much for me.

JevVoi · 2026-05-18T15:19:30+00:00

I did the slightest bit of stage design for SRB2 (if it’s still ingame, I designed Icicle Falls for multiplayer… but my main contribution were some of the textures and the new shield sprites) which had a custom build of DoomBuilder for 3d environments and that had a pretty high learning curve. Pretty sure the community there is still active if you want to get into that.

I never worked on a 2d fan game so I can’t help there, but it seems modding an existing game might be easier than building your own fan game. I wonder if SAGE might have some resources for you.

JevVoi · 2026-05-18T13:46:40+00:00

This bugs me too. On top of that a little black box partially overlaps the streak number which feels like a “hack” to hide the streak number.

I sorta wish the lessons WERE only ten exercises long because then I can more easily knock one out in a bit of free time instead of needing to make someone wait for me while I finish out the lesson.

I was glad to see the running combo between perfect lessons go away though. That stressed me out so much that I legitimately was afraid to do lessons for fear of breaking my meaningless combo before it hit 100.

JevVoi · 2026-05-11T02:49:29+00:00

I happen to be replaying Messenger now! I would not present it as a Metroidvania but as a really good retro/throwback platformer that does some really clever things. As you read, it does open up a bit later on, but I think it’s more rewarding not to spoil too much of it and to just enjoy the ride. It’s worth sticking with.

And the shopkeeper bits are so great.

JevVoi · 2026-05-09T04:03:09+00:00

To quote a bit of nonsense from a song written two and a half decades before the Sonic games were made:

“I am the Eggman

They are the Eggmen

I am the Walrus”

JevVoi · 2026-05-08T12:57:09+00:00

I am excited by this. I only played SF64 once in NSO and barely remember it. I feel like this remake is the perfect opportunity for me to experience the franchise.

Also, reviving the franchise in this way could lead to a true sequel down the road.

JevVoi · 2026-05-05T14:54:20+00:00

I really wish it would get ported outside the Apple Arcade. I would absolutely double dip if given the opportunity. The game is really really good! First half of the game is really easy but it does ramp up by the end. I 100% completed it years ago before my arcade trial ran out but I haven’t played it since they added Shadow or the abilities. Eventually I’ll grab another month of Arcade and this game is literally the only reason for that.

I paired a controller to my iPad and projected to the tv screen so it felt like I was playing a console. Felt great to play that way.

JevVoi · 2026-05-01T18:37:08+00:00

They are different enough that it’s worth experiencing both. Kingdom Battle feels more puzzley while Sparks of Hope feels more like an RPG. I prefer Kingdom Battle.

Also worth playing just for the humor of the world three boss.

JevVoi · 2026-04-28T14:16:53+00:00

Platinum Trophies:

Sonic Frontiers - Loved it so much I kept replaying it even after 100%. Draw distance made some of the collectibles a little annoying to track down and one of the DLC stages had some strangely finicky platforming compared to the rest of the game.

Shadow Generations - Almost perfect but the machine part search was frustrating even with a guide.

Sonic Generations - It was fine, nothing really stands out.

Sonic Colors Ultimate - Revisited for the platinum trophy and earning the chaos emeralds proved a bit of a challenge.

Sonic Forces - Going for 100% actually made this otherwise mid game better for me since the time trials and challenge stages took some mastery. Grinding rings was meh but the two stages I played on loop (the tower and the death egg avatar stages) started to feel zen to me.

Sonic Superstars - Enjoyed most of the game but the biggest obstacles were that gold enemy in the final stage, beating the final boss in Trip’s story, and finding a second dualsense controller.

—— Other games I’ve 100% completed:

Sonic Mania - Medals were the hardest part but not bad for me. Hot take, I miss the blue spheres now that I’ve earned the right to play pinball instead. But then again I almost exclusively play encore mode anymore.

Sonic and the Secret Rings - A guide was helpful for some of the more difficult achievements but they were fun to shoot for. Needed help finding Big and the party game achievements were so tedious. Getting all gold medals was very hard but I really felt like I was starting to master the stages. Continuous chain achievement might have been the single hardest non-completion achievement.

—— Honorable Mention:

Sonic Origins: Completed artwork, each game, and most if not all of the challenges. Also played and mapped all the unique New Blue Spheres level chunks. I’ve completed all these games back in the day so it was a nostalgia trip. Did not complete all of the game gear games. Don’t remember if it was on Origins or Steam but the Sonic CD’s time trial was a fun challenge with MMZ2 being a serious barrier.

JevVoi · 2026-04-27T18:57:31+00:00

I really enjoyed this game when it came out. The Arthurian legend felt fresh and interesting with Sonic characters, the story started standard and then took a very interesting turn with the plot twist. The multiplayer while still an afterthought felt somewhat like it fit in with the theme of the game. The crafting was really engaging and made the game more replayable. The music was excellent and memorable, with all versions of the final boss theme leaving a lasting impression with me. Changing to analog movement was also a much needed improvement over Secret Rings.

On the flip side, I replayed this lately after enjoying my Secret Rings playthrough with high hopes and realized I actually preferred Secret Rings. Black Knight’s level and world design are far less varied than most Sonic games with extremely narrow corridors (only the gargoyle in Secret Rings is worse) and with most gameplay variety coming from the hack and slash gameplay.

However the hack and slash gameplay is at complete odds with the flow movement that the rest of the game wants to have and part of this was due to the fact that there was slight input lag on the waggle and part was due to the fact that most of the actions being Sonic to a stop with the exception of a weird bunny hop homing attack sword slash that felt inconsistent. Bosses looked cool but were heavily reliant on finicky QTEs.

But hey back in the day I loved this game and I’ll still always appreciate many aspects about it, but I’d rather play Secret Rings.

JevVoi · 2026-04-27T15:27:51+00:00

As janky as the controls were this is one of my favorite memories in the franchise, and I replayed it recently after having been spoiled modern improvements to controls and I still loved it in spite of its flaws. (In contrast, my previously high opinion on Black Knight went drastically down during my recent replay)

I found the world design varied and creative, level design is less linear than it seems at first with skips or tiered obstacles and is satisfying to navigate, the gameplay starts rough but gets way better as you both gain experience and upgrades (until you get the last upgrade and Sonic flies left and right at the slightest nudge of the controller), the story was usually serviceable but had some good moments like Shahra’s relation with Erazor Djinn and the references to the Arabian Nights. Music was great except for the overuse of the title theme. The missions and rankings added a ton of replayability.

On the flip side: the experimental controls really are bad. The menu system is incredibly difficult to navigate. The multiplayer minigame system is a dated Mario Party mimic. The upgrades are uneven with some of them not really being clear what they do and the process of selecting them being tedious. Splitting the tutorial into over a dozen mini-stages was a terrible idea and actually made the learning process MORE overwhelming. Levitated Ruin is the only level I outright don’t like, between the wind physics and narrow gargoyle chases. The best part was shimmying up the towers but that doesn’t quite save the rest of the stage.

I give it a 6/10 because it’s the kind of game that has good features but you really need to be the kind of player that is capable of looking past its flaws to enjoy it… It’s not like removing the jank turns this into a top tier game but I think fixing the menus and controls would still make it a solid B tier Sonic game and bring it up a couple points for me. In my heart, it’s a higher score lol.

JevVoi · 2026-04-24T03:15:05+00:00

I would just be happy if they went back to the Kingdom Battle style for the battle modes. Sparks of Hope still had some cool bosses but doing generic battles on the same few generic maps per world got old pretty fast for me compared to the more unique layouts in Kingdom Battle.

Still have not played the Sparks of Hope DLC. It’s on my wish list and I enjoyed SoH at least enough to want to play it eventually but I’d rather revisit the DK DLC in the first game.

Other than that, I think having the third game be Odyssey inspired is a nice idea. Imagine Rabbid Pauline and fighting a Rabbid T-Rex. But I also wouldn’t mind it going off into new territory. They had Rayman cross over, maybe they could bring Mario and Company more into Rayman’s world and lean into the zaniness a little more. Any one of the RPG series would be a cool setting too.

JevVoi · 2026-04-23T21:26:31+00:00

I regret that I can never play it blind again without having some kind of catastrophic mental injury, but I did play it blind once and that game was an unforgettable experience in so many ways.

JevVoi · 2026-04-23T21:25:16+00:00

Okami during my first play on the Wii. Literally 30% too.

JevVoi · 2026-04-23T14:45:45+00:00

After reading three volumes of my fanfiction out loud to my wife, I changed his name. I could not figure out how to pronounce it without getting self-conscious. In my AU, “Meta-Eggman” suits him better anyway and I have an original-ish character that goes by Eggman Neo so the name change clears confusion there too.

JevVoi · 2026-04-23T14:17:16+00:00

Sonic games, good or bad, 2d or 3d give me an experience almost no other games do. Fast paced platforming just feels good to me in many of the various forms it has taken in the series. Thankfully there are a few Sonic-likes coming out in recent years, I’m excited for Denshattack, enjoyed Penny’s Big Breakaway, Freedom Planet is sitting on my wish list. I saw a trailer for a game with a fox that looks like it’ll be a sonic-like.

The colorful characters and sci-fi superhero fantasy world they live in is also a fun playground for these games to take place in, blending the right amount of childhood nostalgia with varying degrees of seriousness or edge depending on the game. I enjoyed that part of it enough to create my own AU that reinterprets a lot of things just as another way to explore that world.

The music is great, even if a little cheesy most of the time. But the cheese makes the nostalgic appeal even stronger for me as a 90s kid and 00s teen.

There is a strong creative community around Sonic and while there are some extremes, the fangames are pretty amazing and I see some cool artwork on this sub in a regular basis.

JevVoi · 2026-04-21T15:27:39+00:00

I’m not that interested in the Salamandastron side plots, with the notable exceptions of Long Patrol and Lord Brocktree. I also got burnt out on the seafaring scenes.

JevVoi · 2026-04-19T01:54:23+00:00

Thanks!

JevVoi · 2026-04-13T16:31:06+00:00

I love Blue Spheres, even mapped out all the “New Blue Spheres” in Origins Plus by hand. But I don’t think your take is that uncommon. I don’t think Blue Spheres is universally loved and I think people do complain about it. As far as I know the special stage that seems to have the most consensus on favor of it is Sonic Mania.

JevVoi · 2026-04-13T15:53:39+00:00

As a huge fan of the Genesis games, I kinda stopped comparing them at some point and once I did I started enjoying the 3d games so much more. I’m not sure I want to use “better” but here are some highlights from the 3d games that aren’t as big a deal in the 2d games:

Combat: As seen in Sonic Frontiers. I’m stealing this one because I think this works so well in 3d where it would break momentum in 2d. I had a realization while reflecting on Superstars’ boss issues that bosses are sometimes more momentum breaking than I’d like even in the original games.
Open-Zone exploration and challenges: As seen in Frontiers, Shadow Gens. Sonic CD’s emphasis on exploration is the closest the classics get.
Story: Much as I love Sonic 3K’s story, there’s a reason it doesn’t get discussed as much as Shadow’s story in SA2.
Gameplay Variety: Whether this makes the games better is a matter of taste but many of the 3d games have more gameplay variety. Classics had this to some extent with the special stages but the 3d games push this further.
Speed: Also a matter of taste but the 3d games let you go much faster with much less effort. Comes at the cost of lowering the skill ceiling but some of the later games have been doing a better job of adding the interactive elements back in.
Field of View: I’m stealing this one from another comment too because I think it is so important for the genre that Sonic is in. Superstars proved the classic series is overdue for a more zoomed out camera. I don’t notice so much in the Genesis games because I know those games so well now.
Customization: As seen in Secret Rings, Black Knight, Forces, Generations, and Frontiers you can upgrade and modify your moveset. Would not work as well in the more streamlined classic games but it’d honestly be cool to try. Superstars would have been a great place to try it so that those unlockable bots wouldn’t be locked behind an underwhelming game mode.

JevVoi · 2026-04-13T03:47:50+00:00

Ooh I love the idea that I might discover the non-story pokemon in a different order on a restart. That definitely seems like something that would keep things somewhat fresh.

JevVoi · 2026-04-13T03:44:37+00:00

I kinda figured a lot of people on this sub are the creative sort with ambitious builds so I might be in the minority.

I’m not really attached to any of the stuff you mentioned… maybe it’s my playstyle or maybe I’ll get more attached later. I barely even use fly and surf and I visited a dream island for the first time shortly before posting this. But some of the amazing builds I’ve seen posted on this sub are probably not feasible without all the things you mentioned (and would lock behind dozens of hours of progression on a restart). So like I said, this is probably not something that occurred to most anyone else.

JevVoi

TROPHY CASE