all made up with nowhere to go

I was watching this video about shameless video game ripoffs from Outside Xbox, and Jane, in her infinite wisdom (assuming she wrote this part of the script), came up with the exact description for how I feel about FFXV:

"2013's Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta, to give it its full name, is an action adventure game that resembles Uncharted in the same way that a Wish prom dress resembles the dress in the photo when you ordered it online. Which is to say that it's a massive letdown, has pretty much all the recognisable parts of the thing it's trying to imitate, but each part is, in its own way, much worse."

Yes, she is (obviously) talking about a different game here, and that description feels a little harsh vis-a-vis FFXV now I write it out, but that's still kind of how it feels to me. I wanted a Final Fantasy and got some half-finished nonsense instead. Which isn't to say I haven't enjoyed parts of it, because I have. I wouldn't still be going back to it and attempting to finish it if I hadn't, but the fact that I am at the end, and there is still so much missing from it feels horrible.

On the other hand, Jane and Ellen referencing Ignis' cooking skills in the Animal Crossing update stream made me grin, because I had the same thought.

Again, massive apologies if anyone reading this likes FFXV. As we have already established, I am old and bitter. I also have never had a reaction like this to a mainline game, even the ones I actually dislike. I am one of those people who doesn't really understand why everyone seems to have such visceral reactions to each new instalment. Until now, I guess!

There are things I like about it! I promise! I love the landscapes, and the soundtrack (when I can hear it. I had to turn the music down to hear the dialogue, but now I can't hear the music properly, sighs). I like the item harvesting. The monster design is interesting! (Although Bahamut's design is firmly in uncanny valley for me, esp because you have to spend so long looking at his face). I like driving. I like the weather effects.

But there are way more things I didn't like. Basic things like looking for items being a pixel hunt a lot of the time (and why don't all the things have markers? If they can do it for treasure, why not everything?) And the same with interacting with NPCs, especially if they also have a quest as well as normal dialogue! You should have had the option to click through and get a choice for what you wanted to talk about. They could do it for other options, so IDK why not implement it there also. The run and walk cycles are HORRIBLE, as are the interaction/collision physics. I felt like walking past/into people was like playing one of those games were the physics are ridiculous on purpose.

(I firmly believe some of it is down to directors being changed, and the FNC ties being made less apparent that hurt it, and that's why the story is a mess, but it doesn't explain the interface problems or anything else).

To maybe(?) make things up to you for being such a whiner lately, here's a link to an unpopular opinions thread on the FF games on Reddit, but I honestly don't see how most of these are unpopular! Which is why I'm linking it, as the top comments are positive things about the series that I absolutely agree with!

~

In other, less game related ranting news, I made baked ziti for the first time ever yesterday! Well, baked penne, since I've never seen ziti, let alone heard of it until a couple of y'all mentioned it.

Anyway, it was really good! Part of that was probably down to using a premade sauce rather than making my own, but I really enjoyed it. I didn't have the right types of cheeses, but I wasn't that bothered (I'll eat cheddar cheese on p much anything).

I would definitely make it again, and it was a lot easier than I was expecting! Which is always good!

So, in "Jae has trouble with deliveries on Thursdays", my shopping trolley thinger did not turn up. The place I'd ordered it from texted me twenty minutes before my delivery slot to say it was now unavailable, and I'd been given a full refund.

If that's the case, why did you let me order it and pick same day delivery, you twerps?

I'm really annoyed and, although I've thought about trying to get it again, I might just get a different one from somewhere else instead.

~

In other news, my birthday was mostly rubbish (I'll get to the better part in a moment). On Friday night, there was a storm passing over the UK, and it was Very Fucking Windy. As a result, I didn't sleep well because of the noise, and then my brain started doing stupid things like worrying about tiles coming off the roof, or did I leave the oven on (I knew I hadn't, but brains, eh?)

So although I wasn't especially tired feeling yesterday, my mood was completely fucked. I felt so miserable and useless (even though I wasn't useless! I went out and did food shopping!) I ended up crying a few times, and was in the middle of a proper feeling sorry for myself sob when my in-laws turned up unexpectedly*. My sister in law gave me massive hugs, though, which was nice. My nephew also gave me lots of hugs as well (my brother isn't really a hugger).

They brought me a huge cactus, which I have no idea where it's going to go - it's currently sitting in the kitchen, by the sink. They also gave me some money, which was unexpected. And then they took me out for food! (We ended up at Frankie and Benny's in Bury, which is where I'd chosen to go, but not the location we'd expected - we originally went for Rochdale, but would've had to wait 45 minutes for a table. It seems like Saturday nights there are extremely busy).

It was good, and I enjoyed myself, although it reminded me of why I don't like eating out particularly. Because it was so busy, it was very noisy, and that sort of thing always makes me feel nervy. After we got back, although I was knackered, it took me a very long time to fall asleep because my brain wouldn't stop twitching. (But I did sleep, thank the frogs, and I feel much better today).

~

Two good things that also happened:

1. When I got into work on Friday, I saw that someone had donated a bunch of embroidery threads, so I bought them. There must be at least twenty skeins, though I haven't counted them all yet.

2. Nintendo sent me an email wishing me a happy birthday, and an offer of 300 platinum points if I logged in. Which I did. And then I was wondering what to spend my points on, as I had 1300 of them (sadly I don't think there's a way to convert platinum to gold :( ). Anyway, long story short, one of the rewards was Flipnote, which I have been coveting for AGES. I didn't think I'd ever get a copy, so I'd given up hope, but there it was, and it was only 200 points!

I don't know how much I'll actually use it, but at least I have it if I want to muck around with it.

~

In Kingdom Hearts news, I am almost done with Dream Drop Distance.

For the most part, I wasn't that taken with it, until the part where it starts getting kind of trippy (except it's not really, it just looks that way). ( spoiler! )

I think I've got about an hour of video left? Then Fragmentary Passage and Back Cover and then...maybe a break before KHIII.

(I'm surprised I've made it this far, to be honest).

Most of my reaction to Birth by Sleep is that Ventus is a bit of an idiot, but he doesn't deserve what happened to him (none of them did). ( more spoiler! )

I think the lore still mostly makes sense? (except maybe the time travel thing, but I'm trying not think too hard about it). I don't understand Xehanort's obsession with the Keyblade War, but eh. I don't think I'm meant to outside of that it's a Bad Thing.

~

*I knew we were going out, but I didn't know if they were picking me up or if I was meant to go to their house first. And nobody had texted me since the morning, so I didn't know what was going on. And I didn't think to text them because brains!