tsubasahome | Entries tagged with video games

I had heard she wouldn't sell it, ever, because it's a Club Tortimer exclusive item, but I decided to give it a try. I'm putting it in my cityscape room!

I seem to be somewhat blessed with villagers and I can't see myself letting anybody go. Is that weird? I might consider losing Shari...I'm not 100% in love with Rori but I might get a worse jock if I send him away. Yesterday was Fang's birthday and I was somewhat traumatized when after the party was over, Rori said Fang was thinking of moving, because Fang refused to leave his house so I could tell him to stay! Maybe the villagers hole up inside their houses for the rest of the day after their birthday party? He did tell me this morning and I told him hell no I am not letting you leave. It's stressful to have to keep an eye on all your villagers to make sure nobody is hiding anything! Cheri is an annoying peppy villager but she is still cute so I don't want to let her go. Aurora, like all "normal" villagers, is kind of dull but she's a cute innocuous penguin and her eyes go all scary and red when she's surprised, so I want her to stay. Also, she might be replaced by some hideous freak. I know that Marcel is no prize but I have a soft spot for the lazy villagers and he's just a green dog, he's got some weird stuff in his house and I know there is no way I'll get Punchy, since he's Lauren's villager and I've been to her town many times. No way I'll let Broffina leave, I think she's hilarious. And Marshal...if he manages to give me the slip I will throw my 3DS through the window. He's so freaking cute, I can only tolerate smug villager antics from him! I just have to make sure I don't accidentally clock him over the head with anything and make him sad because he's very hard to see sometimes!

But I'm paying for this account, so I better start, LOL!

In between commissions I've been playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf in my spare time. I've been playing the game for close to a week, I think. My starter villagers were Rory, Aurora, Fang, Cheri, and Marcel, and the ones who moved in afterward were Shari, Broffina, and Marshal. I am pissed that Broffina won't give me her whirlpool bath! Marshal hasn't even unpacked yet, so I'm not sure what kind of furniture he has...Aurora's already given me pretty much everything she owns, LOL! I wonder why it is that Shari is nasty to me all the time, and even nasty to Lauren when she comes to visit my village? I hate monkeys, and if she moves I'm not shedding a tear, ha ha! Cheri mainly chases me around and asks me stupid questions, and Fang keeps asking me to come over his house. I would feel bad if I took his bed, but I'm running out of stuff to buy from his house. ^^;;;;

I also did a playthrough of the Vita version of Stein;s Gate. Somehow managed to foul up getting the Kurisu/True Ending,and now I have to play through a 30 hour visual novel all over again!

I did manage to find some time to play in between commissions, LOL. I just finished the 3DS version of EX Troopers, and enjoyed the game very much even though it is very easy. I started up the PSP version of Persona 2: Innocent Sin that I bought months ago along with its sequel(both the JP version). I actually played both games many, many years ago, and even though I preferred Eternal Punishment due to Innocent Sin's comparatively clunkier game system and annoying cast, I really wanted a version of Innocent Sin that didn't freeze every 20 minutes. Unfortunately, the PSP version still has horrible loading times, and the game just did not age well. I think Soul Hackers actually aged better, in spite of being the older game...

I'm editing the last chapter of my book. I've been kind of dragging...distracted by various things... I finally found some clothes for my Monster High repaints, but it's too sunny to take a good picture. Maybe tomorrow will be better?

I ordered I Love Fashion Abbey specifically because I wanted her clothes for my dolls, but I still was slightly less than pleased that she showed up with a big scuff in her lip paint. =_= I guess I'm going to have to have her repainted someday or something. $$$$$$$

I also marathoned all 12 episodes of Bihada Ichizoku. I don't care what anybody says...it's a riot! I wonder if the people who hated it ever got past the first couple of episodes/realized the show is supposed to be a parody? I think they were interrogating it from the wrong perspective.

I wound up cancelling my preorder for Nayuta no Kiseki because of lack of $$$$$. I'll probably pick it up in a few months if I can afford it but I don't really feel the urgency right now. It has middling reviews on various Japanese review sites. Nobody says they hate it but the majority of reviewers are disappointed...I guess they were expecting the next big thing after Ys Seven and Ao no Kiseki and it wound up being a mildly pleasant B grade game.

Lauren also cancelled her preorder for Atelier Ayesha, and is possibly holding out for the domestic release...maybe. We're both big fans of the pre-Arland Atelier series and felt betrayed by the moe garbage Gust has been spewing out as of recently...it's like they forgot the Atelier series was supposed to be geared toward female gamers and realized they could sell more copies by catering to the moe fans. Meruru seemed a little bit more like the old series, Atelier Viorate in particular, but both of us were excited to see that Atelier Ayesha was taking a more serious tone. But the game was still really $$$$ and Gust doesn't exactly have a great track record when they try something for the first time... So she decided that it wasn't a good day one purchase, and it would be better to wait and see how the game is received. And as it turns out, it's not a great game. In fact, it seems like the general consensus is similar to the first Kuzunoha Raidou game...basically, nice idea, nice try, but better luck for the sequel because the execution is poor. I could see paying domestic prices for it, but not import prices...maybe. Well, it's really up to Lauren, as she has kind of inherited the Atelier series from me.

Oh! Will they ever make a game better than Atelier Viorate? That game was pretty damn hard, though...

I'm convinced now that we had a Hard Freeze Warning back in November when we lost power for 3 days, because last night the temperature was in the upper teens and we had no such warning. I put the winter protection on Aptos two days ago, and I wound up having to cut the leaves off.

I got up this morning to find all my winter protection mulch frozen solid, yet the part of Moondance that sticks out of the homemade rose collar still has fresh green leaves. 0_o What gives? Uh...it got too tall, okay? This is the first year I've attempted to overwinter roses, but they're supposed to drop their leaves at some point, aren't they? I piled up a ton of mulch around the base, since it's the only grafted rose we own, but it just doesn't want to go to sleep!

I finished my last holiday scarf and wove the ends in. I'm about halfway through the first chapter of Ao no Kiseki. Nothing like a "serious" battle between rivals that ends with one punching another in the crotch... It totally looked like that was what happened! Then again, isn't Falcom kind of notorious for wonky direction?

I finished with Chapter 16 and handed it over to Lauren to review. I hope she goes easy on me. ^^;;;; But if I deserve it, I deserve it, and if I don't, I don't.

I also joined the legions of SHEEP when I got my first Monster High doll in the mail. Uh...Mattel had Dead Tired Ghoulia on sale...? I like the fact that the Dead Tired series doesn't have the heavy makeup that most of the Monster High dolls have. I'm a bit disturbed that she came with a bucket of brains as a snack, though! Those better be simulated brains, Ghoulia! I love how they make a big deal about how Draculaura is a vegan and would never suck anybody's blood, but Ghoulia eats brains!

Uh...I haven't actually deboxed her yet...hopefully there's a better explanation to this.

I might actually break down and play Ao no Kiseki now. I hit a wall in the PC Engine version of Ys III You know there's a problem with the gameplay when a boss keeps sending you flying across the screen, and you can't even tell HOW. The way the enemy sprites animate in that game is laughable. The music is pretty rockin', though.

Seems like it's going to rain soon. Seems like it's going to be raining for the entirety of next week. =_=

I had to take some time off from writing because of a lot of commissions I had lined up, but now that I'm almost finished, I managed to get some work on Chapter 15 done. The great thing about having your story be over 300 pages long is that you keep needing to check back with earlier chapters to make sure you don't contradict anything. ^^;;;

Lauren and I watched a bunch of DVRed movies this week. We saw Dr. Coppelius, Wait Until Dark, and just last night, we watched Suspicion. Dr. Coppelius was...odd. I probably liked Wait Until Dark the best of the three...though Alan Arkin's hairstyle was really silly. The ending to Suspicion was a little too contrived...studio politics and all(RKO didn't want Cary Grant to wind up like his character in the book, since he was so popular with moviegoers).

Several of my daylily seeds have sprouted(one actually sprouted in the seed pod, ha ha!) So I have one Siloam Virginia Henson X Entrapment, and 2 Siloam Virginia Henson X Gentle Shepherd sprouts. I don't want to put them outside, so they'll spend the winter in my unheated foyer. ^^;;; Maybe I should have waited until spring for the second batch. I just have so many seeds! I'd love to know what manner of creature made off with 3 seed pods worth of Siloam Virginia Henson X Little Heavenly Angel! I'll have to redo the cross next year! >_<

Daring Deception is so fertile, it tries to cross with itself. ^^;;; It's a shame Cedar Waxwing didn't seem to want to produce viable seeds. I'm not sure if it's because we were in the middle of a heat wave, or maybe Cedar Waxwing is just not a good pod parent, because the few seed pods that formed dropped off prematurely. I managed to get 5 seeds using Cedar Waxwing as a pollen parent and Daring Deception as a pod parent, and I hope they germinate!

It looks like Ao no Kiseki got straight 8s from Famitsu. It must be an awesome game...there's no love lost between Famitsu and Falcom!

Current Mood: creative

Thanks to this nasty weather that is not going to end until at least Saturday, both of my Chinese tree peonies have peony measles... =_=;;;; The fungicide hasn't arrived in the mail yet. I don't think they'll die(they better not!), but the thought of losing this year's growth is really upsetting me. If they die, I don't know what I'll do... ;_;

Bartzella, however, looks as fresh as a daisy! Anybody who said that intersectional peonies are just a fad and a ripoff needs to have a look at my yard! Practically everything has some degree of funk, but Bartzella is as pristine and green as ever!

I'm trying to console myself by dipping into my PSP backlog and playing Tengai Makyou: the 4th Apocalypse. The battle system is nothing to write home about(and I'm not too fond of all of my party members sharing MP), but story-wise, this is the most messed-up game I've ever played. There is literally something in there to offend every ethnic group and subculture. I just finished fighting this character who basically looks like an evil version of Miss Piggy, and before the battle she sings this song about the virtues of being really, really fat. And she's voiced by the (late) actress who played Rita Repulsa(not her dubbed voice) in the Japanese version of Power Rangers. There are bad Native American stereotypes, bad Chinese stereotypes, constant talk about the evil white man and a 15 year old pop tart in her skivvies doing a bunch of high kicks in front of small children while singing a song where she invites them to "lick her candy". (Her name is Candy, by the way). This is probably the most un-PC game I've ever played and I'm surprised it got an A rating...it would never see the light of day in the USA...::laughs:: Well, it's a lot more fun than the loli crap that comes out these days.

I also tried to watch the musical Camelot but quit about 40 minutes in because it was too awful. I don't know how Richard Harris lived with himself after that one.

In less than a year, I finished all three Sora no Kiseki games, and I just finished Zero no Kiseki the day before yesterday.

Here's the time I clocked:

SnK FC: 48 hours
SnK SC: 82 hours
SnK the 3rd: 63 hours
ZnK: 66 hours

( My spoileriffic impressions of Zero no Kiseki, and the Kiseki series in general )

I finally managed to sit down and watch some more DVR'ed movies this weekend. I managed to get Lauren to watch one of my favorites, Kind Hearts and Coronets, otherwise known as "That Movie where Alec Guinness Plays Eight Characters". Like many British movies, it's very dry, but there were many scenes where I actually laughed out loud--the scene with Lady Agatha(a frequently-jailed suffragette who is also Alec Guinness) was priceless.

I also watched The Star, featuring an aging Bette Davis and a very young Natalie Wood. I thought it was okay, but I probably wouldn't watch it again(or make Lauren watch it). There was nothing in it that wasn't done better in All About Eve, and it didn't have the world's greatest script. Also, it was more than a little sexist. So, basically, Bette Davis's character is a hysterical wretch who just needs to listen to the nice man and do whatever he says in order to become a self-actualized woman? I realize that the movie was made in 1952, but I expected better. On the other hand, I can't help thinking that the movie was intended as a dig against Joan Crawford(who pretty much did what Bette Davis's character did when she was in her mid to late 40's, doing the whole "mutton disguised as lamb" routine rather than "lowering" herself to play a woman who is anything but an elegant, desirable lady). After all, Bette Davis was not exactly a fan of Joan's...

I've never been a fan of Natalie Wood's, but it was nice to see her with some meat on her bones, even if she was only 14 years old.

I've also been playing Zero no Kiseki. After the trauma of being torn away from Sora no Kiseki, I'm finally starting to warm up to the "new" series...too bad the new artwork of Estelle and Joshua is really ugly! I'm not looking forward to seeing Renne again, though...I never liked her.

EDIT: Apparently, I was right on the money about The Star! It actually was supposed to be Joan Crawford! Gee, I wonder why she didn't take the role...

Cook's Illustrated's Oatmeal Snack Cake with Broiled Icing is fabulous.

I just finished Chapter 2 of Sora no Kiseki SC last night. It ended with an awesome boss battle fighting a bunch of giant worms and I died like 6 times, mainly because Tita was a fixed party member and she gets killed in like 2 hits. Her 1,500 HP healing Craft is useful, but all in all, she's not very good, and I can't stand her because she's an insipid loli. All the characters do is gush over how cute she is, and her voice is really aggravating. What real-life 12-year-old sounds and acts like that? I suppose I shouldn't be singling her out, as it's prevalent in pretty much all manga, anime, and Japanese video games to have 12-year-olds act like 8-year-olds. It's just a sickening fetish. Reminds me of all those fanboys who are into Sasami.

::waits for the rage-filled responses of the diehard lovers of fictional underage girls::

I actually finished rerooting Anzu, my blue-haired Wicked Style III Aika, last week, but she doesn't have any clothes. ;_; Neither does Clarisse, my soon-to-be finished rerooted Maya. Too bad...

Apparently, according to some shift in the alignment of the planet or something, I am now a Virgo. Uh...okay.

I'm not really interested in astrology, but Virgo seems pretty accurate to me, except for the part about being a conservative, ha ha!

( One more time on the elan plus ship... )

I was expecting Maya(s) to arrive today, but it looks like the package was held up in customs over New Year's. Too bad...

I picked up Sora no Kiseki SC again after finishing my first playthrough of elan plus. Like its predecessor, it's a very good game, but it's frustrating about how frequently they stick you with only 2 party members. I just finished some quest where Estelle had to teach a Sunday school class and the first time, I messed up two questions and some nun told me that I need to study more and stop messing up the kiddies's education with my misinformation. Naturally, I reloaded the game.

Aika's taking me a pretty long time, but she looks lovely with sky blue hair so far. Lauren just finished rerooting her first Ex-Cute doll--her Secret Wonderland Chiika. She told me that it was very grueling. She also told me some other things, but I'll leave that between the two of us. ^^;;;;

Cooking pork chili with homemade bacon/cheddar/scallion corn muffins and marathon-playing elan plus.

I finished my first playthrough in about 5-6 hours. I chose the male version of Nao(your playable character) and set off with the goal of pairing him with Kairi, the requisite bikei megane-kun character.

( My adventures in travelling to a new world via an obscure PSX simulation game )

...the PSP port of Persona 2: Innocent Sin is coming out on March 3rd of next year. No new voices(because Lisa's voice actress retired years ago and they don't want to recast her or any of the other voices). The mode with the old soundtrack also has the old cutscenes. And selectable difficulty. It seems like they're making the fusion system more like the one from Eternal Punishment. No plans set in stone to do Eternal Punishment...apparently, they wanted to put them both on the same UMD but they couldn't fit it. So, basically, the tradeoff for having the old version of Innocent Sin playable is no Eternal Punishment. .....at least, no concrete plans. It seems like they want to do Eternal Punishment, but they won't commit.

I would really like Eternal Punishment on the PSP as well...I thought the characters from Innocent Sin were too over-the-top and annoying(and any revelations they may have had about their issues didn't really stick through to the end of the game). At the same time, the PSX version of Innocent Sin is so buggy that it's unplayable, and any changes they would make to Eternal Punishment would be only cosmetic, since Innocent Sin was the one that needed fixing... I wish Atlus would be less lazy with their ports and actually add some new content! The PSP version of Devil Summoner was still barely playable!

Lauren and I have made some daring decisions concerning our less-loved Ex-Cute dolls. Let's just say that Secret Wonderland Chiika, Sweet Punk Girls! Aika, my Romantic Girly III Chiika, and Wicked Style III Aika are going to be undergoing some changes. ^^;;; Also, Lauren is beggering me to reroot a Fanny Fanny II Himeno for her. Busy, busy...

Until I finish Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, I will remain unfit to live with.

I finally got the order of hair from Restoredoll that I need for my current commission in the mail today. Time to get to work! Uh...and I have to order some more hair now. ^^;;;;

I tried to get all arty and watch Distant Voices, Still Lives last night. It didn't work. That movie is just not for me. It's just a jumbled mess of clips of people singing interspersed with Pete Postlethwaite beating his family. I got about 45 minutes into it when I was forced to abort the viewing and delete it from my DVR, lest Lauren mutiny. She was so angry that I made her skip playing Ys Seven for that...::laughs:: Better luck tonight, I guess. I need a movie to semi-watch while I'm rooting, and there's no point to watching The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, since I can't delete the episodes, and we're running out of space.

The last time I stopped watching a movie in the middle was Mar Needs Women. I thought it was going to be one of those movies that was so bad that it was funny, but it was just boring and painful to watch. Kind of like Gigli.

I haven't picked up a single game since I finished Ys Seven, ha ha!

I have the urge to customize another doll, but I have a lot of work coming in. Hopefully, it will keep me satisfied. :D This hobby of mine is getting too expensive! Sometimes I just look at all the pretty colors of doll hair and I'm like @_@ so it's better to do commissions for the sake of seeing the hair in person without having to buy it for myself.

It's getting to the time of the year to start my holiday knitting. Last year, I told myself that I wasn't going to be doing anything, but at the last minute I panicked and wound up knitting/crocheting five scarves over the course of two weeks. I lost my mind briefly after that. I won't make the same mistake this year!

I hope everybody likes dark blue...

I did manage to keep one promise I made to myself for the month of July--I finished the all-cotton crocheted afghan I started in May. I made it out of scraps(more like entire frogged projects)of yarn from abandoned projects Lauren and I had started ages ago and never got around to finishing. I've already crocheted/knitted several afghans but they're much too heavy for the summer. All three of the ones on my bed are wool and alpaca so I can't use them. It's nice to have a cotton afghan...I wove all the ends in in one evening while watching WALL-E and On Borrowed Time.

I also finished playing Ys Seven last week. The game took me about 32 hours to finish, which is amazing because most Ys games are under 15 hours long. My history with Ys is embarrassingly sparse--Lauren's played quite a few of them, though, and I recall her saying that Ys 6 was a pretty big disappointment. Ys Seven is a very good game. Possibly the best PSP game I've played so far. A lot of people say it's the best Ys game to date and in the end, I would probably wind up agreeing with them. I'll have to ask Lauren what she thinks in the end. I bought the game at launch when I heard that Famitsu gave it all 8s. That's incredibly high for a Falcom game. I think Ys 6 actually got some 6s...