all made up with nowhere to go

I have done it! I have beaten the PSX version of FFIV! \o/

It took, imo, way too much grinding (everyone was low to mid sixties in levels) BUT it only took me five attempts to beat Zeromus, so ??? I guess it worked out okay in the end?

I got all the top tier weapons except for the lance guarded by the Plague Horror, since I think that would require ridiculous amounts of grinding for damage output to best the Doom spell it casts. I know there are strats to beat it at expected levels, but I just could not be bothered.

But anyway! I beat the game, and that is all that matters!

And then I swapped out my PS2 for my PS3 and finally started Ni no Kuni. Or, rather, I did after: the PS3 updated; Sony told me I needed a new, randomly generated password in a very frustrating, badly worded way; and then the game itself needed to install to the HD so I could listen to the JP voice track.

All of which took 45 minutes or thereabouts in total, and I was already tired and thus not amused.

I have no particular thoughts about it so far, as I am less than an hour in. I'm not sure I like the 3D style of it, but I found that a bit weird about Pokemon Moon, as well. (It's just an imo; if it looks like a cartoon/anime/thing I am more familiar with in 2D, then it feels off seeing it in 3D. YMMV, of course).

Although, ( very early game spoiler )

I don't like Drippy's accent being phonetic in the subtitles when he says your and our, though, especially since he doesn't do it on any other word a Welsh person might pronounce differently to an English (or American) one. But I guess that's just a minor niggle.

I don't know if I will get the sequel, yet, although I probably will eventually because Ghibli aesthetics + RPG is a happy place I didn't know existed/I needed! (And I don't know why I put off playing it for so long, omg).

Also for reference, I'm playing the PS3 version, not the PS4 remaster. I don't know if there are any differences between them.

~

In non-me game related stuff, I've been watching Ian from Eurogamer and Ellen from Outside Xtra playing Stray. Ian played the first three hours on EG's channel, but then finished it off in two streams on his personal channel. Ellen is way behind, but that's okay. I don't mind watching her take her time with it (not that Ian rushed through it, but she's certainly taken longer than he did to get where she's going, and that's okay).

It is not the game I thought it was going to be, but that's also okay. I like what it is (apart from certain few and far between sections). ( potential spoiler )

~

I think that's all I've got for now, so I shall stop here and hit post!

Bullet points, because:

# I have been taking multivitamins for almost a month because I likely need them. I mean, I am eating better than I have at some points in my life, but I'm still probably not getting everything I need.

# I thought I didn't like Redbush tea, but I think the reason is the brand, not the actual thing. So I am going to try a Twinings one (since I ordered some of their fruit teas the other day) and see how I feel. Previous attempt was Tetley, and I've come to the conclusion that all their teas are not great (but obvs ymmv; maybe it's the water where I live).

# Because I got La Belle Sauvage out of the library the other day, I decided I ought to reread His Dark Materials since it's nearly twenty years since I read them. And I am doing okay? I'm reading for an hour or so before I go to sleep, and am about halfway through Northern Lights. Also it is another book I've read before (see previous tag entries for last year's books which were mostly rereads), but it's so long ago since I read it, I don't really remember what happens.

Point is that I am reading, and am almost able to concentrate on it! My brain still feels like mashed potato, but at least I feel like I'm getting somewhere now.

# I am nearly at the end of FFIV, although I haven't really been playing much recently. Currently parked on the Moon, although there's a couple of sidequests I can, and probably will, do before continuing to the end.

Last night at 10pm or thereabouts, I managed to beat FFIV DS!

I think I got lucky on Zeromus, really, because he only cast Big Bang twice, and Black Hole once, so I was able to hit him with a slow that stuck, and haste Rydia and Rosa. I also gave the HP+50% augment to Rydia, which ended up being hilarious to me since she had more HP than Kain at the same level. I know I messed up using the augments, but it's a bit daft that nowhere in the game text are you even told how to use them or what they might do. I can't remember if they're mentioned in the manual, because I haven't looked at that in literal years.

Anyway, tis done now! Another Final Fantasy has been stricken from the list of Games Jae Has Not Yet Beaten. I don't know what to play next. I might go for something on a console, rather than my DS, though I had apparently got out 4 Heroes of Light to play as well as FFIV. I do want to finish that one day, but I think I'll have to restart it since it's years since I've even looked at it (I just don't like that it's one save file for the entire game, so I'll have to wipe all the progress I made).

I suppose I should finish P4A, but I honestly can't even remember where I got to :(

So much for the thunderstorms we were supposed to have today! There was a very short one this morning at about eight thirty, and then that was it for the rest of the day. Pfft.

~

To no-one's surprise, my anxiety about the comics guys was completely unfounded!

Chris asked me how come I knew about the meeting, and was surprised when I said I'd found out via FB (because he knows I'm not on there). He said he'd asked his wife to tell me about it if she saw me (which she didn't) and also said that he hoped I'd see the message because he wanted me to come to the meet! \o/

Anyway, it was cool, fun was had, and two hours went too fast and now I have to wait till the next one.

~

Right, I tweeted about this this morning but, hopefully, you guys don't need to be told this but if someone tells you that depression runs in their family DO NOT answer with, "Yeah, I can tell by looking at you" because NO, YOU CANNOT.

What you are doing is judging me by my appearance. I get that you probably saw the scars on my arms, but you are literally the only person who has ever made anything of it. Even people who I have heard say that people self-harm for attention have never said anything to me. And scars on my arms don't necessarily indicate depression ANYWAY. But, you know, whatever.

You don't say stuff like that. You can think it, but it doesn't mean you should say it.

Anyway, it's not the first time this person has said things they really shouldn't have (like they told me two things about two other people that really weren't their thing to tell), so I'm going to have words with them next time I see them.

~

On a happier note, I've restarted FFIV DS in an attempt to actually beat it! I do not expect this to go well. On the previous save, I did get as far as the final boss, but I couldn't beat him. So now I'm going to play through the whole thing and fight every enemy I encounter, and enjoy the fact that I know this story inside out because I've played it about a billion times in the last twelve years. (It was my fave FF before XII usurped it).

I'm just about to sneak into Baron (I've just finished the obligatory sewer level), and then rescue Cid, which I think is what happens. It's been forever since I last played this which for a favourite game is awful.

I want to start by sharing a piece of music that I love.

Logan and Rogue - Michael Kamen (it's .wma but I can convert to an mp3 if you want).

This is one of my favourite pieces of music. It's an instrumental from the soundtrack of the first X-Men film (and is the last track on the CD). I can't really explain why I like it, apart from flailing my hands around like a moron.

You first hear the theme just before Logan and Rogue are attacked by Sabertooth, which I didn't realise until I whacked the soundtrack on the other day. But this track picks that up and runs with it, turning it into a fully fledged track. You don't hear all of it in the film, maybe the first three minutes, so the rest is a bonus.

I just listened to it again, and I'd like to think that the strings represent Rogue, because they're all swirling and wild and free. And that the horns and the oboe represent Logan, because they sound older, wiser, whatever. I could be a million miles off, though. I like the way they merge and link and make this awesome whole.

~*~

I had a nap this afternoon for literally the first time in years, and it totally threw me out (and I missed three hours of quality gaming!)

Probably won't be doing that again in a hurry.

~*~

I almost didn't start playing FFIV, and then I did anyway because I couldn't decide what to play (one of these days I'll write some blah about Melody of Lute, although I don't know as I have so many things to say about).