Eluvianii

So, finally got Breath of the Wild. Probably my most anticipated game ever, my head basically exploded when I watched the last trailer almost four years ago. Back then I couldn't afford a Switch or a Wii U, so now, just getting the game on the mail, feels surreal. I don't think my mind understands yet what I'm about to start. Anyway, I have snacks, food, I even have a little honey-flavored cider because why not, and I have an entire day free of responsibilities. I'm so ready for this.

"You see. He was the only goat I had left to live"

Just bought BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle on sale. The ability to have Persona and RWBY characters fighting together makes me irrationally happy.

So, do you guys have random Christmas traditions? (not that I'm trying to slip in the word every time I post here). My grandma likes to make these things called sopaipias which are basically little fried bread pieces with anise. They're great and to my understanding, not particularly typical of Christmas, but my grandma only makes them on December anyway. She let me help this time around, here they are.

Hello, *calls them by their rp character name because they cannot remember the real one*! WTWTTSW an ant bites you?

I want to learn to write, and to draw, and to compose music. Basically, the skills required to make my first video game this year.

Edwin watched from the side, holding an umbrella from the ones stacked together at the entrance with both hands, as if to hit something with it. One look to the person in front of them would tell anyone how useless the idea was. Was that armor? Didn't look like Shardplate. Whatever it was, it was tough, it had broken through the door without problem. Once the commotion had passed, the guy didn't look particularly hostile. Probably not a good idea to let their guard down though. Edwin did drop the umbrella, feeling silly. There were other ways he could help if needed. Cassie was interrogating him. Edwin felt like snapping at the guy but for now just listened. If he was going to explain himself better let him.

Well, at the very least I can say that artwork looks amazing. Seeing this would it be too much to wish we go back to portraits in dialog boxes?

I think it said somewhere that the tradition was to keep the names until the 19th or until we get bored.

I'm still half hoping we get Professor Layton some day.

Now that I'm going back to FFVIII (and hopefully this time the console won't die halfway through), well, that. This is one of the most cinematic games I've played, but not like a graphic adventure, or an actual interactive movie. This game goes to great lengths to look like a movie without taking away any of the freedom you would find in any other rpg. I'm always so impressed whenever the gameplay switches to a cutscene, using prerendered backgrounds allows it to be perfectly seamless and it looks amazing. Then we have all the camera angles and little details like the animations or the image changing focus as you move across the screen. Also the characters animations. They're perfectly designed for the dialogue to fit inside them. Most of the time you have to let the full animation play before going on, and there are also those times they are timed to play close to each other to give the impression that the character was interrupted for example. All sorts of details like that. It's like the dialogue too was designed to flow like a movie, but the lack of voice acting doesn't do it any favors. So I would love a remake that keeps that idea of making the game look just as cinematic, and fully voiced, but with today's resources and letting it still be a full-fledged rpg. I think it would make for an amazing experience.

Storms, that looks amazing! We've come a long way since CS1. Crossing fingers while we wait for details on the combat system. And I also had read about Nayuta. They're making an interesting effort in bringing the entire series to modern consoles.

I saw a rumor about something called Rei no Kiseki. Does anyone know if there's any truth to it or did someone just mistranslate Zero?

K-On may not focus on music most of the time, but when it does it's the most realistic representation I've ever seen. It shows everything they usually skip on stories, the procrastination, the fingers that bleed before getting calluses, the difficulty of coordination, and a long etc. It's awesome. Also, the show in general grew on me pretty fast. I watched it at first because it looked funny and because it was about music, but later it was pretty heartbreaking to see it end. So yeah, great show. Hope you enjoy it.

Started paying a battle royale called Spellbreaker. Never felt so much like a Windrunner.

So I just finished the demo for Dragon Quest XI and I can't help but thinking that Veronica meeting Shinobu from Monogatari Series would make for a really good conversation. They are both grown women with supernatural powers that constantly try to look and sound commanding and intimidating while looking like literal 8-year-olds.

The second one describes every shonen, really. And don't worry about the words too much, as it stands weeb is used for anything from "Healthily enjoys one or two shows" to "Manga/anime is their entire life and thinks Japan is the only place worth living in on Earth, while mistakingly believing their life will turn into a slice-of-life if they move there"

So, I have a Switch now. The plan had been to go for a ps4 first since forever but that SMT V trailer a few months ago really got me excited. Now, I did get a little impatient and didn't wait until I had enough to buy one or two big games so I have the physical version of Tetris 99 and that only because it came with the console. On the next paycheck I'll definitely go for BotW. Still, I had enough for something so I bought FFVIII Remastered. That game and I share a curse since high school and I intend to break it now. I'm also playing the demo for Bravely Default II and also tried the one for Dragon Quest XI because I couldn't resist. Besides, a 10-hour demo is no small thing.

Yeah, by age comparison it's accurate.

So, my whim continues and now I'm fairly into Dragon Quest II. Probably about 75% of the game? Considering I finished the first one yesterday, this may sound weird but this one is much, much longer and I wouldn't have believed the NES was capable of handling such a big game. And I hear the third game is even bigger and about 30 hours long so, wow. I didn't really think this would keep me addicted so long. When I finished the first one I thought I would get that catharsis of "Ok, I've accomplised something", and then get lazy on the second and third games, but the more I play the second one the more addicted I get. That game wants you to play it. It gives you several objectives since the beginning with very little clues and a crem ton of places to look, so you just keep going. "Just one more place, there might be something new" over and over. Now I'm fairly close to the final dungeon and underleveled. But not to worry because I still have to go treasure hunting to get the best gear for each character. The story is just as basic as the first game but the scope alone makes it feel more interesting. I'm really excited for the third game now. There's a reason it's considered the quintessential DQ game after all so I want to see. (can't believe I'm technically still playing DQVII. As soon as this playing spree I have with I, II, and III passes, I'll be sure to get back to it.)

Finished Dragon Quest I on a whim. Literally, finished it before I could have a different whim, such a short game. Still, a really fun game. Simple, cliché, and so amazingly to the point I wouldn't have believed it possible. Then again, this game freaking invented those clichés so, extremely original then? Still, I can't help but chuckle at things like the main couple falling in love literally at first sight. I understand they did what they could with the little space available so it's charming, really.

Guys, don't spoil me if it stops being impossible, but I'm on chapter 21 of RoW, and all along this book Kadolin suddenly seems like a good ship.

I don't doubt any of you, but statements like these always make me want to read the whole thing.

Well, the hardcover is definitely pretty, and those tend to include some artwork that I don't really know if comes with the paperback too. As an example, this is what you see when you open the hardcover for the most recent book (no spoilers, I promise) As for the paper, it's pretty thin, but I wouldn't say bad quality. It's like they needed a way to make the book occupy less space considering the number of pages, but still be durable, and I would say they achieved it. Can't say much about the sleeves. My copy of the second book was carried with me in my backpack to school every day for about a month, plus some traveling I did with it a couple times and they are still in near perfect shape, but I guess that depends more on the reader.

Just tried Daggerfall Unity and, storms, what an experience. I had played the original for a few hours, and I really liked it, but it was kind of obtuse for my millennial self. It played a lot better than I expected, but the problems people like to talk about were there. Things like the map, though I found them fun in their own way, were kind of chore-y I have to admit. And then there were the bugs. Some were obvious, like this one time I got stuck in a ladder I think and had to get myself arrested on purpose so the guards would take me out. But there was also more bizarre stuff. Like I was in this random dungeon, doing a quest, when the princess of storming Daggerfall appeared right there to give me hints about the story, and to date I'm still not sure if that was supposed to happen or not. The reputation this game has for its bugs is so big that I doubt almost everything. So yeah, it was a pretty strange experience, but I thought it was worth it, so I was planning on going back to it at some point. Then, I already knew about the Unity project, but to my understanding it was incomplete so I didn't even touch it. Until today I remembered it and decided to look it up and turns out it's still on alpha but basically complete, with only a few features left to implement, so I tried it and boy, did I not expect such a change. I understood that the idea was to make the game more playable without the bugs in the original, but everything was just so different. The models look great, I'm extremely surprised by the difference 20 years make here. I mean, the models are virtually the same, just a different engine, and the textures are exactly the same, but it looks so much better. The world map is amazing, the increased draw distance and having more elevations make for a really pretty landscape. The dungeon map is the same concept except this one is usable so it's still confusing, but a lot easier to decipher. Of course the movement is better, and there are several qol improvements that are even optional in case someone wants the 1996 experience, just more polished. So yeah, really surprised about this. I may start playing Daggerfall really frequently from now on.