(08-11-2020, 12:08 PM)Infinite Wrote: (You are correct! It is indeed the Casino Night Zone from Sonic 2.)
I'm guessing either The Last Way or Devil Doom from Shadow the Hedgehog. The awakening refers to the footage Gerald Robotnik plays to Shadow as he is facing Black Doom. The monster is, of course, Devil Doom. The unlikely cooperation is Shadow cooperating with characters like Eggman and other as they give you advice when you battle (this is probably a stretch, I have not played Shadow the Hedgehog). The hordes is the many monsters you face in the Last Way.
None of this looks familiar. The colors shining from large buildings in the night sky and signs that have a blue hedgehog apparently named "Sonic" and....me?! How do they know my name? I must not be distracted from my goal, for the sake of our worlds.
(Oh nice, I wasn't sure on that one so I'm glad I got it right! And, your guess is extremely close. I love your analysis on this, and it is very close to my thought process. I was actually hinting at the level
Final Haunt from Shadow the Hedgehog, which is the final level on the Pure Hero path. It is therefore essentially a semi-final level (along with the final level for each other morality-path), with
The Last Way and final boss coming later in the game. Having the awakening refer to the footage Gerald Robotnik plays for Shadow is a really cool interpretation, but I was intending it to be a more general hint implying Shadow's growing understanding of what is good, right, true and noble. The unlikely cooperation was a hint to how the
Final Haunt level has Sonic as the partner/friend character for the level, which was certainly an unlikely cooperation back in the SA2/Shadow times as they did not yet know or trust each other as well as they do now. The hordes was a reference to the many enemies fought throughout
Final Haunt which is interestingly a much longer level than
The Last Way, but IMO
The Last Way is still more difficult in some aspects and has an even higher enemy:level volume density.)
My guess is
Night Carnival from Sonic Rush. It's sadly been a little while since I've played that game (I really want to play it again), so I'm a little fuzzy on the details. But your hint really reminds me of Blaze's reaction to seeing Sonic's world for the first time. Furthermore, the way the hint was written definitely sounds to be from the perspective of Blaze, as it reminds me of her personality and style of speaking. Her mature, determined, focused, courageous and goal-oriented nature definitely shines through in the hint. Lastly, "for the sake of our worlds" seems to be a hint to how Sonic and Blaze live in separate dimensions. I think it is specifically the
Night Carnival level as it's the first level Blaze plays, so would align with that opening of the story. "Colors shining from large buildings in the night sky" definitely fits that level's aesthetic as well.
New hint:
Solemn towers stand as silent sentinels over the grand valley. Crumbling artifacts erode into the lakes below, as old memories erode through the waters of time. Halls once filled with dancing and reverberating song scream silent warning at the dawn of apocalypse. Few lone guardians remain, soaring through the skys with a watchful eye to lend a helpful claw to heroes with hearts of valor.
