Mail received! Also, Persona 4.

[aruru]

redconverse, I got your card in the mail yesterday! (Monday, that is) And I think the snowman's looking at the birds in order to forget the trauma the pug's causing him with his "indecent" pawing, haha! XD Nah, seriously, it's actually a rather nice card, despite all your claims that they were the cheapo-bin stuff. Or maybe I just have no taste. XD Don't answer that, peanut gallery! Anyway, thanks a lot, you're awesome! *HUG* ^o^ (And aww, don't worry about the present, I'm just happy to be in your thoughts! Also, remember that I'm totally rooting for ya and think you'll make a kickass nurse when you graduate! ♥)

Also, shinkuu, I got your package in earlier today! (Or yesterday, since it's nearly 2:00 AM now. :P) The wrapping is really pretty, and I've been a good girl and kept myself from opening it until Chrstmas. Thanks in advance for whatever it is! :D



Additionally... er, wow, it's been four weeks since my last post? Eep, getting careless again! :O My time has kinda been eaten up with the usual offline errands and appointments, and whatever free time I have after that has mostly been taken up by playing either Chrono Trigger DS (Which, despite being a basic port with a few extras, is still as awesome a game as I remember... even though I do find it a bit easier in the challenge level than what I remembered it being as a teenager. Maybe the new dungeons will be more of a match for me, whenever I get around to them, heh...) or Persona 4.

Persona 4... well, I'm woefully, WOEFULLY behind certain people on my friends list here and on JournalFen (You know who you all are. :P), partly because I've always been a slow-as-molasses gamer and partly because right now I'm level/Persona-slutting and money- and weapon/armor material-farming to see if I can tackle the first optional boss fight early on, so... yeah, I'm laughably still only at 5/1 in the game's calendar, hahaha. XD

Still, it's looking like a really neat game thus far! Some small thoughts on the events thus far:

- First off, in that grand tradition of mine, I spent a good 15+ minutes in the naming screen trying to figure out what the hell to call the Protagonist. I finally settled on "Hikaru Nakata," which I think makes my Slayers-fangirl days painfully obvious, LOL... XD (Speaking of that series, I'm a bad fangirl and haven't seen ANY of Revolution yet. Yeah, I know, blasphemy! :O Anyway, I think it's been licensed already, but... can anyone recommend a good or at least worth-the-download fansubber that I can find through Tokyotosho or something, if there are any still left? And while we're in this discussion, IS the new series worth downloading at all? Thanks in advance for the input!)

- Speaking of the Protagonist, our new hero's design (Which I initially thought a little goofy, since his haircut looks a little weird on some of his character art. It's since grown on me.) has a more "honest/open" look to him than the P3 one (who, according to ruaki, was "an evil seme," haha XD) did. Most of his answer choices thus far in the game seem to point in that direction, too.

- Anyway, the Protagonist's family... well, damn, Dojima (the uncle) is HOT! Gotta love the old dudes, heheh. >D And his daughter seems adorable, and pretty mature for her age, seeing as how she seems to take care of everything involving the household.

- LOL, you first day at school is greeted by Yosuke trying to ride his bike while holding an umbrella (and failing miserably). Great start to what no doubt will be an... interesting school year, heh. XD

- Speaking of Yosuke, he seems cool thus far, if a little "trying too hard" to please others. Still, I've seen ruaki, arcian, AND redconverse ALL say he becomes kind of an asshat later on (which if true, makes me sadpants, as I like his design and personality thus far), so I guess I'll have to wait and see. :(

- Chie seems pretty cool too. And damn, can she kick butt (and make great nut-shots... LOL, poor Yosuke, don't mess with her DVDs XD) with those legs of hers! The only reason she isn't hitting for quite as much damage as Yosuke right now (though the difference isn't much) is probably because I found that better weapon for him.

- Yukiko... is pretty reserved, I think, which doesn't make her seem as dynamic/engaging as the other two. She was pretty cute and silly when she tried on the funny glasses Teddie had made, though! I hope she starts showing more of that (Maybe through S.Links?) soon. :)

- Teddie's cute! I like how he's adorable (despite his "fursuit" being empty being kinda creepy) and kinda clueless about some things (like not knowing what "scoring a hot stud" meant), yet still not clueless enough to fail at noticing cute girls - his scene with Yukiko after rescuing her was pretty squishy. Also, is it just me, or does his voice acting vaguely remind you of Kon from the Bleach dub? (Speaking of Bleach, when you watch the gameplay demo intro, Naoto's voice when summoning slightly reminds me of Rukia's dub voice... anyone else think the same?)

- Anyway, gameplay: I really appreciate the fact that you have the option to give direct commands to your team! It may make the game "slower" to get through, but I tend to prefer that battle system to relying on AI. I'm glad they gave people the option to play whatever they're more comfortable with!

- I like how the emo glasses didn't turn out to be Evokers after all. I suppose you could make an argument about how the glasses may be imagery for how they let you see past the fog of lies/confusion and see things in the shadow-world for what they really are, though.

- Still no clue as to what's actually going on, but I do enjoy the whole "murder mystery! While having to deal with school, work and a social life!" aspect of the story, though.

- So, your team's Personae: I'm liking how things for your team are kinda a coming-of-age story, with the whole "facing and accepting your ugly side in order to tap into your true power, and thus grow as a person" bit.

- Speaking of the Shadow-selves, I think my favorite ones thus far have been Shadow-Chie for the dominatrix look she had going on (LOL), and Shadow-Yukiko because of the whole caged-bird symbolism. (Ok, so it was blatantly obvious an image given her rant before transforming, but it was still highly appropiate.) I didn't get a really good look at Shadow-Yosuke before beating it, but from what I remember seeing, his was less of a "personal" imagery and more "cultural," as it was based on the whole Jiraya myth. (Then again, I may've missed something that made it a little more personal for him.)

- Lastly, as for S.Links, I've started a number of them, though none are higher than Rank 3 (which I think I have with Yosuke) yet - I've been a good little hero and been focusing on studying whenever I'm not trying to progress the S.Links or level-slutting it up in the dungeon, since the game warned that tests are coming soon.


...aaaaaaaaaaand I think we're done, for the time being! As I said, the game shows plenty of promise, so I'll try to make another game log soon enough. :)

Comments

Re: Caution: LOADS OF OT RAMBLING ahead! :O

[ruaki.livejournal.com]

Probably the new version of Tybalt...

Yeah... but I guess the author wanted to show him "growing"... the MC4 IS a city boy that moved to the country. But the author said the reason for MC4's loner-type is cause his parents are always moving around cause of their jobs, so MC4 gets jerked around too. So I could relate to that.

Kanji's just plain fucking fangirlable. I love that guy. He's so... so... awkward...

Well, my problem with Bleach is that... I was TOTALLY behind it at first. Then they did the Soul Society thing and it was just a huge turnoff. I don't like "rescue the girl storyline" and then adding in all the Shinigami characters was just too much for me, and then it just turned into Jump syndrome and I already had enough of that from other series. So yeah. Stopped reading.

Re: Caution: LOADS OF OT RAMBLING ahead! :O

[aruru.livejournal.com]

Ah... Tybalt was your first dolly, wasn't he? I bet he's happy that he's getting some attention again, LOL. Have you decided on what his new "look" will be yet? XD

Hmm... well, if the manga-ka came up with that kind of angle in regards to MC4, that DOES sound like it has decent potential - I mean, if the poor guy is being shuffled around that much in the author's concept of him, then yeah, most likely he doesn't want to get too attached to anyone he meets, as it'd just make things more painful for him. :( (I've never really had to move around much, as I've only lived in two different apartments within the same general area of the city I'm from, but I DID have to transfer once from elementary school, and I remember how anxious that made me, so I can sort of understand?)

Aaaaaaaaaaargh, don't remind me of how slow I'm playing! *WANTS TO MEET KANJI ALREADY, GODAMMIT* >O

Heh... well... yeah, admittedly, the whole Samurai-inspired Afterlife arc wasn't very stellar save for a few points here and there. I think its biggest offense was that the whole mission just DRAGGED ON AND ON - I think the fact that there was such a large cast being introduced was mostly to blame for that. In fact, I think that's the series' biggest offense in general - there's way more characters than the author apparently knows what to do with, so barely anyone gets proper attention. And if by "Jump Syndrome" you mean "degenerates into battle after battle to keep the reader going," then that, too.

That's what made me put down the Naruto manga and switch to the TV series as well, actually - I mean, I already get cable at home, so why invest an extra $8 on each manga volume when I can get those two (apparently mostly unharmed) series adaptations on Saturdays for "free" and spend the extra cash on something I'm much more interested in? *shrugs* Eh...

Re: Caution: LOADS OF OT RAMBLING ahead! :O

[ruaki.livejournal.com]

Well, I've already repainted him [hm, that link might have to be C&P'd...], I'm just waiting for his new wigs to come in to find him the right hair.

Just the character he's based off of doesn't apply any more, so I figured instead of selling/buying new dolls, I'll just remake him.

=_= I need to get him a new name though, cause I keep looking at it and going "that's not Tybalt..."

Hahahahaha, Kanji-kun's just... yeah. Seriously, I love the blunt way he talks sometimes--he always ends up saying what I'm thinking.

YES EXACTLY IT DRAGGED ON AND INTRODUCED WAYYY TOO MANY CHARACTERS (most of who I don't care about) and then put a female I thought had a potential to be really awesome in a fucking jail cell DOING NOTHING AND WAITING TO BE RESCUED... =_= Also, Ishida. He was my favorite. Then yeah. =_= So yeah, I just didn't like the Jump-esque direction the manga was going, so I gave up on it and turned my attention to other series.

Naruto ended up suffering Jump syndrome too..

FUNNY ENOUGH Gintama makes fun of Jump syndrome in ep.92. XD I lol'd through that entire portion cause it's so fucking true.

Re: Caution: LOADS OF OT RAMBLING ahead! :O

[aruru.livejournal.com]

I like the new paint job - the beauty marks, in particular, are a cute touch. :)

Didn't get a chance to play today (not even just to material-farm) either - had an appointment, plus mom needed me to run an errand for her, so... Kaaaaaaanjiiiiiii... *wants to play, dammit!* :(

Naruto... honestly, I think the only reason I'm still watching (and some nights I skip it, as it seems to just keep going at a crawl and apparently I don't miss out on much) is because I DO like Naruto himself when he's not being as much of a bonehead, and I also like the general concepts of a couple of the supporting cast. (Rock Lee, for example - I could really sympathize with his drive to be a great ninja despite his limitations, and his belief that, through hard work and a strong will, he can eventually match [or maybe even surpass in some cases] natural-born talent. Plus he's kinda cute in a doofy way, LOL.)

I think the series' problem with the supporting cast (and the main characters too, for that matter) is that they don't seem to really get to grow that much despite all the time and missions that seem to pass. And... yeah, in some of the newer eps, certain members of the ninja teams have gotten a chance to "teach" some of what they've learned to others going through similar issues, but just how many times do we need to see these lessons repeated before the plot actually advances, huh? And can we see the kids from the teams learning some new things about themselves too, maybe? I mean, people go through more than just one set of issues throughout their lives, after all... :\

And oh man, Gintama. I gotta sit myself down and see more of that soon! Especially if it keeps mocking everything AND itself (AND bold enough to make fun of its publishers!) like it's done so far, hahaha. XD