all made up with nowhere to go

Hey, so on Sunday I wasted a dragon!

It took nearly an hour, but I did it (probably because, like everything else, I neglected tactics in favour of hacking/slashing/trying to beat the crap out of it). Also it didn't help that my pawns seemed to be particularly squishy and so died about five times each (Simon maybe a bit less than the other two, but even so).

I wasn't sure I was going to do it, and I almost ran out of healing items, but I did it, and that is all that matters!

I wish that was the end of Dragon's Dogma, but it isn't. I mean yeah, you're not forced to play the bit after that, but technically killing the dragon isn't the end of the game (in spite of the voice cast credits appearing afterwards*). Anyway all the enemies are different now and there are GIANT UNDEAD, ARISEN! everywhere and basically I'm legging it and not fighting, and I got to the waycastle between Cassardis and Gran Soren and I'm not sure I want to continue (it's only going to get worse from here, for there is the extra dungeon from HELL to be contended with).

Also the game thought my romance was Aelinore, which I suppose is slightly less weird than one of the shopkeepers, but I only spoke to her ONCE!

~

Considering replaying Earthbound. It's been five years or over, and it's a great game (it's certainly one of the oddest I've ever played). I've thought about replaying off and on since I first finished it, but I never have (and yeah, maybe I should get and play some of those games I've never even touched but you know what? I don't want to).

Anyway, I'm currently reading a Let's Play of it, and enjoying that so I don't see why I wouldn't enjoy a replay (except for the oak tree enemies in Peaceful Rest Valley. They can go fuck themselves, if oak trees can do that sort of thing). So I might do that some day soon!

~

*My brain is fried from lack of sleep so it's taken me a while to remember if there were even credits, and even now I don't know if they were full ones or just the voice actors.

Hrm. Let's see:

# In Dragon's Dogma I am nearly at the dragon fight (his name is, apparently, Grigori, and I know why, but it makes me want to giggle). It seems to have taken forever to get here, though (I dread the post-game, I imagine it'll take even longer). I had an awful boss fight, against two Wights, which seemed to be really gimmicky (they constantly raise the undead, so your pawns seem to focus on killing them rather than the bosses. And then, when they choose to do special attacks, the camera switches and focuses on them, and I'd often be running, so it messed about with my sense of direction which was also irritating. AND THEN. You have to alternately hit each wight in order to damage it, but I discovered this the hard way; i.e. I used up too many blast/oil arrows in the meantime. It took me forty minutes and I'm not fucking amused). I did gain two levels in the fight and at least one vocation rank so I guess it wasn't all bad but EVEN SO. *shakes tiny fists of rage at Capcom*

# My friend Sam talked with me about video games on Wednesday, and that was cool. He said he thought he had the PS2 Star Ocean game, and I could borrow it if he did. As it turns out, he didn't, so he's lent me Breath of Fire: Dragon's Quarter instead. (He also had Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within, but I can't remember if the PS2 games are supposed to be any good, so I didn't take it for the time being).

# As it turns out, he says he's also having trouble concentrating enough on reading books. I lent him my book about Japanese culture, and he said he'd give it a go, but he wasn't sure if he'd get through it or not. Found that interesting. (He's a few years younger than me, and I thought it was my age, though it started when I was around 29).

(Let me tell you, I am in the middle of silly with this right now. I'm reading a Christopher Pike book - Witch - and it's taken me a couple of months to get to the midpoint of the book. I'm not going to stop reading because I can't remember exactly how it ends. But boy is it taking its time).

# Talking of reading, I finally finished Stone Ocean in JJBA! That's only taken three months! (Thanks to stupid brain, mainly). I am still boggling at how it ended, so I don't want to start on Steel Ball Run yet. Does not compute, essentially. I knew it was coming, but I didn't know how and it's the how that's the mind boggling part.

# I think that's everything.

I played some more Dragon's Dogma this afternoon, and I liked it a bit better this time. I think that last time my mood wasn't brilliant (I'd been travelling a lot and so was knackered both times and I honestly can't brain when I'm that tired).

Fighting stuff all the time is annoying (I just did the escort mission to Gran Soren and NO), but I have that problem with RPGs anyway. Also more fun now I know how to use my secondary weapon (a bow and arrows). It would be more fun if the camera didn't go screwy and I had more time to aim at flying enemies/wolves but eh. That's a vague niggle, and I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually (like I did with aiming guns in Mass Effect, ahahahahahahahahahaha *chokes* *falls over*).

I took some pics of my Arisen and her main pawn because I can and I'm sad, and I wanted references for if I ever draw them (I also have bad phone pics of most of my Shepards. I'm sure I'm not alone in this).

When I last left the game, Quina is missing* (I don't know if that's a main quest but I guess I'll do it anyway), and me and my guys were lost in Gran Soren because I was looking for the inn, and I don't know where it is (also because the mini-map doesn't show significant places/shops until you've discovered them yourself, which I think is really bad). Also nearly every door is locked, so I sort of got Silent Hill flashbacks ;)

*That will not stop amusing me that that is her name because I expect to see someone who looks like this, not like this. Though now I post these, I wonder if it's a shout out? *shrugs*

(probably not).

~

In other news, I accidentally found the third book in the Dark Tower series (The Waste Lands), so maybe that will spur me onto finishing The Drawing of the Three (I'm about a third of the way through, which is further than I got last time, but I haven't read any for months, and the thought of restarting AGAIN (for a THIRD time) just makes me want to groan loudly. So continuing it probably is).

I also found a game guide for Lost Odyssey and that was amazing. I didn't even know there was one! (That makes me want to replay it even more).

Also my phone is in for repairs because apparently the microphone is fucked. I have had that phone less than three months. I don't know if it's a common fault with HTC phones, but I thought they were supposed to be a good make, and I'm not very amused. (I was also not amused because I went to the nearest shop, took it in, couldn't leave it because I hadn't backed up recently and had to go back the next day). So yaaaay. The phone shop gave me a loan phone to replace my actual one, but it was the oldest Samsung I've ever seen (it didn't even have a camera!**) But I discovered I could use my old phone so that's what I'm doing.

**I've been using camera phones for ten years now. Not having one is really freaking weird.

~

Anyway, I think that's it for now. I need to go and get some sleep.