Aurora Derall @ Dreamwidth

A little note for the Persona and Mother/Earthbound series fans on my list! (As well as a note to myself to keep for future reference, if I get around to downloading some emulators on this machine, heh.)

First off: Persona 2: Innocent Sin translation blog

And no, despite the title of the page, it's not just a simple translation/transcript blog - it's actually a translation patch for the game, which can be then played either on a PSX emulator, burned with the game's ISO to disc and played on PSX or PS2 (has to be hacked tho', naturally), or apparently played on a PSP emulator too! And it was just released about a week or two back! :D

The first entry on the blog should have a link to the newest version of the patch, and I suspect the other links on the blog apparently lead you on where to find the game's ISO (haven't check yet, sorry).


Secondly: Mother 3 translation blog

Latest patch version also apparently released about a week back. They don't tell you exactly where to look for the ROM you need to use this translation patch with, but I'll bet you more savvy folks can probably find out yourselves. :)

Enjoy! :D

So, two Saturdays ago, I went and finally finished watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which I was introduced to thanks to shinkuu (Thanks again for the subs, dude!).

I have to say, while I'm not fangirling it as much as other folks seem to be (maybe because it's over right when you're really starting to get into things), it was indeed pretty good! Brief thoughts:

( Cut for vaguely spoily talk, though not much. )


And... that's pretty much all I can remember to mention off the top of my head. (Uh, I know it wasn't much, but it's been over a week since I finished watching the show, so it's not as fresh as it could've been, and I probably forgot something along the way. ^^;)

Anyway, because he was so kind to introduce me to the series in the first place, and because of the simple fact that I thought it was pretty damn good for his first try at making such a thing and thus I think more people should check it out, I'm gonna pimp shinkuu's Haruhi music video: Kyon Doesn't Look A Thing Like Jesus (@ AMV.org) YouTube version (lower quality)

Enjoy! :D

Link/pic courtesy crystaldawn: MOST. IMPRESSIVE. ZELGADIS. COSPLAY. EVER!!!

Finally, for our last review, we have the Persona 3 Fes Original Soundtrack. (buy it here - track listing and lyrics in English here)


As you can tell from the title, this CD is the soundtrack for the Persona 3 Fes game/expansion. There are seventeen tracks total - of these, one track is a remix, one is a "mashup" of sorts (combining some old lyrics with new ones, as well as a new beat), while the rest are - I THINK - all brand-new material (I'm not entirely sure, as I'm new to Persona and the SMT series in general.). okay, I was talking out of my ass, sorry. Apparently most(?) of the rest are remixes from the previous Persona games.

Anyway, while this soundtrack starts out a little average, it does carry over P3's original style and general "feel," and it gets fairly good in the later tracks. Below are my thoughts on the individual tracks, plus some samples.


( Tracklisting, samples, and thoughts. )


Well, I'm done. Honestly, this review was probably the hardest to write, considering I don't have P3: Fes, so I'm not familiar with anything regarding it.




The Final Verdict: This is a decent "expansion" of the original game's soundtrack, as it manages to preserve its feel while still being distinctive making shout-outs to the previous games in the series. A bit short, given it's only an expansion, but not bad at all. The only "warning" I can think of in getting this is that, if Atlus were to decide to bring Fes over to this side of the world, there's a chance they might add a bonus CD again, which - given how small this soundtrack is - would make purchasing this redundant. But, since we don't know about that for sure, you might still want to consider buying the OST.




So, that's it for the reviews! It was fun to do them, but MAN, am I beat. WHEW!

As promised, I am back with a review of each of the Persona 3 soundtracks available, including sample tracks for you guys to download. Since these may be a little lengthy, I've divided the reviews into 3 parts - one per album. Also, because it takes me a lot of time to upload all the samples, I'll be doing only one review every couple of days/each week - depends on how long it takes me to get all the files up. So please be patient.

Anyway, this is the first review, for the Persona 3 Original Soundtrack. (buy it here - track listing and lyrics in English here)


Now, this one will be a little different from the other two album reviews (which will be a little more ruaki-styled), because Atlus USA did something that is both completely amazing and a teensy bit frustrating when they made the bonus CD that came with the game: They included almost every one of the really "good" tracks! This is completely amazing because I've never seen a company that was so generous with their fans.

So why is it a tiny bit frustrating? Because it means that, if you buy the full soundtrack, you'll find that you're not missing out on that much. I guess they didn't consider that some folks would be interested in getting the whole thing.

Anyway, I'm going to assume that the people who're checking this review already own Persona 3 and have the bonus CD, so the sample tracks that are going to be featured here are things that were NOT in that disc. Frankly, while none of these - shall we say, "second tier" tracks - are quite as amazing as the tracks that were selected for the bonus CD, I still think they're pretty nice, and if they motivate people who haven't played this game/heard the soundtrack into buying any of the merchandise, then all the better.


( On to the tracks! )


And... I think I'll leave it at this. There are a few other "second tier" tracks that I liked enough and didn't include, but since I have an unbearingly slow connection, I had to narrow it down to just a couple. Plus, I don't want to give the whole thing away - I AM trying to get you to support Atlus by getting their merchandise, yanno.




The Final Verdict: Due to the fact that the bonus CD Atlus USA bundled with P3 already has most of the best tracks, I can in all honesty only recommend getting this if you're either a diehard completist (Guilty as charged.), or if you bought this game used and thus didn't get the bonus soundtrack. It's still a nice piece of merchandise to own, though.



EXTRA NOTE: The soundtrack I got was NOT a first printing, so I didn't get the two bonus tracks (they're listed in that GameFAQs file I linked with the tracklist) that were on the second disc. If anyone could find them for me and hook me up with a download, that'd be awesome.

First off, a link from Fandom_Lounge: What games have had a baddie that completely pwned you? The discussion's kinda winding down by now, but still, very fun read. :D


Also on the subject of gaming, I have finally broken my hiatus and started futilely trying to catch up with the gaming world again after months of not playing anything OH GOD MY GAME BACKLOG O_o;; playing anew by picking up the first Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (which I've had since at least last year, but had never played ^^;;).

I'm only on the second case, but thus far I like it - it has a good mix of humor and seriousness as far as I've gotten. Thoughts on it thus far (mild spoilers):

- Phoenix makes the most amusing faces whenever he's in a bind. Very expressive character - I like him.
- I haven't gotten to the actual gaygayGAY parts people talk about, but the characters thus far have been pretty... colorful in other ways, too. XD
- Great lines from the get-go. I had to laugh at "I find the witness' testimony to be quite... firm" bit from the judge in regards to April May. XD
( Spoilers for the second chapter here )

And that's about it, for now. More thoughts on the game whenever I get around to playing some more.

This is quite possibly one of the most amusing wanks in the history of, like, ever.

At the very least, follow the link to the NY Times article. It's pretty funny, especially if you figure out what the letters in the supposed "love note" spell out. XD

Swiped from zannechaos, a little something to warp your minds further: Sesame Street porn.

Am I the only one amused by the fact that the story was posted to a NASCAR group? XD