all made up with nowhere to go

I found the video where Luke said he couldn't get on with P5!

It turns out that my youtube recs had been fervently pointing me at it for some time even before the conversation I had in the comments of another video, and I had ignored it, because I'd already watched it and didn't want to watch it again. But then I watched it again a couple of days ago.

As it turns out, all I really remembered was the thumbnail, and Ellen talking about her experiences fighting Ansem in KHI, and Mike's experience with whichever Call of Duty it was. But I can bet this was the video that made me not like Yusuke to start with (and I mean, I still do get where Luke is coming from, but I'm glad I persevered where he did not).

Anyway, it's here: 8 Moments That Made Us Go Eff This Game.

I got a bunch of craft stuff from work yesterday! Mainly card/paper, but also some embroidery threads and two large-ish pieces of Aida!

I also divided a whole load of threads and kits and other stuff into batches so we could sell them as job lots, rather than looking at the stuff and wanting it for myself. I did want to keep all the Aida I saw, but I have a whole load here at home anyway, and I should use that first before buying any more.

I did end up buying that lino cutting book I mentioned. I used the last of my birthday money, and it should be here some time this week! (I hope; I got it from the Book Depository and I'm never that clear on what their dispatch estimates mean). I also did some lino cutting, but ended up injuring my left index finger, so had to stop. I've done worse in the past, and I am more careful now, but I honestly should've stopped long before that happened.

When I was buying lino cutting stuff back in the winter, I thought about getting one of those hand guards, and I was all, "nah, it'll be fine!" Welp, past me, were you wrong. I have the scab to prove it.

I've definitely been feeling more arty again, which is good! I think I hit a slump when work reopened (or even before then, I'm not sure now), but I'm definitely feeling more like drawing/creating than I was even a couple of weeks ago. Which I'm glad about, because I honestly don't know what I'd do with myself otherwise.

Other than that, I am in the Very Definitely Final Dungeon of Persona 5 (again)! As much as I have enjoyed this, I definitely looking forward to playing something else instead - although it will be more Megaten, because it's going to be the Nocturne remaster. So look forward to me complaining about that? ;)

I AM READING A BOOK, Y'ALL! AN ACTUAL FICTION BOOK!

(I stg this is how I've reacted the last who knows how many times I've read a book, but my concentration levels have been so shot in recent years, that this is basically how I feel all the time now).

Anyway, it's a book called The Split, by Sharon Bolton, who is an author my mum used to like. This is the first book I've read by her. It's okay? It's readable, which is what you want. I picked it up from work about a week or so ago because I recognised the author's name, and the plot sounded kind of intriguing (but in an extremely cheesy way, if you go off the synopsis on the back). So I thought why the heck not?

And here we are. I am less than 100 pages in but, like I say, it's okay and I do want to know exactly what is going on with the characters. Although given some of the themes of the story, I do wonder how they will be handled, but I haven't got far enough to know yet.

~

In other news, I am still working away at P5. Now in October, and I have maxed the Sun, Temperance, and Priestess links, which is something I didn't do before!

I'm honestly amazed I haven't burnt out on it yet, but it's still interesting replaying and seeing how everything comes together. It's very satisfying.

It's also got me drawing something that isn't a pattern! I had to fuse a Neko Shogun for part of the Strength link, and so I ended up using him in battle and man, I love that cat! He blocks light skills and resists dark ones, so he's super useful! I have stopped using him as much now, but for a time he was p awesome! So I started drawing a picture of him. I haven't finished it yet, because I've been at work, but I feel like it's turning out okay!

I don't think I mentioned it, but I am deffo going to play the Nocturne remaster after this. I'm still in a strong SMT mood, as I mentioned a bit back, so why the heck not, right?

~

I don't know what else to say, so I shall end this entry here!

I've gt four days off in a row now, and I have next to no idea what to do with myself (probably play P5, right? ;) ) but that's okay!

I do have a couple of things I said I'd do for work, namely making a sizing conversion chart for clothes and shoes (because I still don't have my head around European sizes for either, but also because it will be helpful for the volunteers when they are working with clothes). And I said I'd make a rota template since I am the most computer savvy between me and my boss, AND I'd been thinking about it anyway. I said to my boss it was because I've been watching too many planner videos on youtube, which is kiiiind of true*, but also I like making things like that as it is? I like grids and charts and shit, which is possibly another reason I should've done A Science Job.

Anyway, point is, that's not enough to fill four days, but I'm sure I'll think of something!

~

In SMT news, I am EXTREMELY TEMPTED to buy the Nocturne remaster. I actually REALLY like the game, so I don't mind buying it new, although £45 feels like A LOT of money to me. I made the mistake of joining an SMT community on FB, however, and most of the recent posts have been complaining about how it's not worth the money, it's not a proper remaster, zomg you have to pay almost as much as the full game to get Dante**, it crashes all the time on PC, etc etc. Which is usual gamer complaints about everything but IDK, I'm just happy to be able to play it on my PS4 and have a Japanese voice track if I want it?

I will have to think about this some more.

Meanwhile, in P5, I have made it almost to the end of the third palace, and holy heckins it is SO MUCH easier when you're a good five levels or more above the demons there! Although I did still get smashed one time by an Oni using Rampage > critting > using Rampage again, but it was only the once, as opposed to multiple times. And none of the Angels' Hama hit, so YAY (which now makes me wonder if it's more levels based than it is chance, hmmmm).

I am only around 20 or so hours in, and it feels like everything has gone faster this time? Probably because I know what I'm doing, but also because the EXP bonus is active, which is why everyone is so many levels above what they "should" be, or were the first time.

I also rewatched Aoife's stream of Strikers (linked here) and holy heckins there's a LOT of spoilers my brain just straight up ignored! Which I'm glad about, because it would have ruined P5 for me. I can't remember what I was doing while watching it, but not paying too much attention is obviously one answer. I still do wish Sophia would put some longer pants on, though.

And finally, I am half-assedly watching a Let's Play of Persona Q. I started with the P3 route, because they're my faves, and omg I hate the characterisation SO MUCH. Is this where Atlus decided they'd distil everyone down to one singular character trait, because it feels like it. I know it was like this in P4 Arena as well but it's a) several years since I played that and b) it didn't feel as annoying there? or maybe I just blanked that from my memory, who knows.

(Wait: Arena came out first, so maybe the characterisation just went downhill from there, IDK)

The chibi art is hecking cute, though!

The fact that I learnt that Junpei is voiced by a dickhead isn't, though. I decided to look the voice cast up, because I was interested to see if any of the P3 cast had been recast, and I saw that the P4 cast is the newer voices. And then I saw Junpei's voice actor and I was all, "Oh. You." Which. I like Junpei less than I used to, so it doesn't bother me as much as it might have in the past but blerghhhhhh. When will people stop being shitty? Oh. Right. Never.

(I am not one of these people who is any good at separating art from artist, and I never have been).

Anyway, the point got away from me a bit there. I'm not sure how much I like it, but I want to know what the story is without playing it myself. I could. It's still available on the e-shop, but I don't know how much I'd actually enjoy it, because dungeon crawler (although most SMT games are dungeon crawlers, so IDK what my problem is exactly).

In conclusion: I am almost always in an SMT mood anyway, but I feel like this is the biggest SMT mood I've had for a loooong time, and it feels AWESOME.

~

*I don't even really like planner/bullet journal stuff, but because I watch two bullet journallers fairly consistently, youtube thinks I want to watch more, so sometimes I do for curiosity's sake. Also a lot of stationery haul videos are done by people who journal, so I get stuff recced because of that, too.

**I never wanted Dante in the first place, so that doesn't bother me. But I can see why it's annoying, given there's a £40 DLC pack for P5. Atlus are almost as bad as Bethesda wrt DLC prices.

I have just beaten Persona 5.

Yet again, as with FFV, I sat down, expecting it to take me the entire afternoon to beat the final boss, after failing to in the morning, and downed it on the first try. And it only took two goes in total! Am I levelling up at video games??? ;)

I really, REALLY enjoyed it. Like, holy frogs, it felt good to be playing an SMT game, it felt good to be playing a Persona game, and it felt AMAZING to be enjoying it. Not that I haven't enjoyed games recently (FFV Advance is awesome, ya'll), but some of the ones I've played lately, it just hasn't felt like fun. I think that's been to do with my brain space, and the situation I've been in, and, well, the pandemic, but things are a bit different now.

( spoilers )

Anyway, TL;DR version: I really liked this game, can't wait to play it again on NG+/Royal, and looking forward to whenever (if I ever) get to play Strikers!

My phone line is still not working properly. It's two weeks since I last contacted my provider about it, and they said it was due to be fixed the day after I spoke to them.

Yeah. 'Cause that happened, didn't it?

It's been like, six weeks in total. I wouldn't mind, since I don't tend to get a lot of phone calls anyway (and most of those are spam), but I have relatives who only know my landline number. If they need to get in touch with me, they can't.

Also: this is the second time this year! We are not even in June yet!

I stg if it didn't feel so overwhelming AND I hadn't just renewed my contract, I'd switch to somewhere else.

~

As I suspected, I don't like normal Roiboos. It tastes, smells, and looks too much like ordinary black tea for my liking. Which is kind of weird, given I know Roiboos and the black tea plant aren't related. But I can't stand black tea, which is why I don't drink it.

So the other day, I found myself in Holland & Barrett, looking at their range of fruit teas, and ended up buying one that has spearmint in it*. It's mostly fruit, but has the mint as a tangy note. Not sure I'm sold on it yet, but I've only drunk it twice.

Anyway, I discovered as well, that Holland & Barrett do a massive range of gluten-free stuff! Which is amazing, since I have not been managing so well at being gluten-free since I went back to work. I did think about getting food deliveries, since the bigger supermarkets also have gluten-free stuff, but I literally pass by H&B on my way to work/on the way back home, so it's nice to have another option (although I've said it before and I'll say it again: HOLY FUCK GLUTEN-FREE STUFF IS EXPENSIVE).

~

In Persona 5 news, you will possibly be pleased to hear that I am almost at the end of the game! I am in the final dungeon, and I have some things to say!

The first of which is not a spoiler, but that I genuinely think Shoji Meguro is one of my favourite composers, and oh boy, does he know how to write a tune that gets stuck in your head! I woke up yesterday morning with the boss fight theme in my head for no apparent reason (although mostly it's been either Last Surprise (the battle theme) or Beneath the Mask, since they're the two tracks I've heard the most).

I mean, I have liked his stuff for a long time at this point, but something about this game's soundtrack and Strange Journey's just absolutely nailed it for me.

So, onto the spoilers, for they are here! And also large!

( Read more... )

I think that's all I have to say for now? I will probably remember five hundred things after I've hit post (as is always the way).

Also I decided at some point that I'm going to watch a Let's Play of Persona Q, and PQ:2, since I doubt I'll ever play them.

~

*I avoid mint tea also because as a concept it just feels wrong and, while I like mint stuff, I have strong not good feelings about minted peas, mint ice cream, and mint tea.

I am a tired bean this week because I've been awake since 5am this morning, so that's nice. I feel more awake now I've had some coffee, but generally: uuuugggggghhhh.

I should be working today, but I swapped today for this Friday just gone with my boss, as she wanted to swap for personal reasons. So I did! Friday Saturday Sunday is not fun, but I feel less knackered than I did the last time I had a longer week, so that's good news. (I think nine tenths of it was going from sitting around on my own for three months to suddenly having to be on my feet and interacting with people all day).

~

EDIT: I keep forgetting to say, but I've got a date for my second vaccination! It's in about a week and a half! [/edit]

~

In Persona 5, I am at the end of September/in the fifth dungeon.

I like everybody in this game except Akechi! Well, I'd like Morgana better if he weren't so gross about Ann. Anyway, it's nice to play a Persona where I like most of the characters (sorry to everyone who likes 4, but...I dislike most of the cast, and I'm sad, because I really wanted to like them all. Kanji, Rise, Margaret, and Nanako are about the only main cast characters I like).

Ann and Yusuke are my faves at the moment. Makoto has grown on me a bit, and I'm p sure I like Haru, even though I thought she'd irritate me.

I have a plot point that irks me, ( which is spoilers about Futaba )

Other than that, really enjoying the Quality of Life improvements this has over P4/and definitely 3! I'd like more SP healing items, although I've unlocked the regen items, so it's not as bad but eh. Healing points like in previous games would have been nice! (Though the safe rooms are *chef's kiss*. They just need a healer, like the fox from 4, or Trish from 2. I wouldn't even mind paying them, I had like, 200,000 yen before I did weapon upgrades!)

Because I was so excite! about Persona 5 in my last entry, I forgot to link some stuff I've been meaning to link to for at least a week (although one of it is new since yesterday, but eh).

Anyway, you remember Johnny from Dicebreaker (formerly of Eurogamer)? Well, now he is just plain Johnny, since he left Dicebreaker back in March! He's set himself up doing both video game and TTRPG stuff, with a patreon! This is relevant because for his opening stream on his youtube channel, he streamed a game called Loop Hero!

I initially didn't watch it because I think Ellen was streaming Dark Souls (and we all know I am currently obsessed with DS, although who knows why. NOT ME). And then I was like, I've never even heard of this game, who cares. And then I thought, as I have done with several game streams of late, that I could watch it and switch it off if it was boring.

LET ME TELL YOU FOLKS: Loop Hero is not boring. It is my jam, in that it is set post-apocalypse, no-one knows wtf is going on (though they do eventually find out), and it has rogue-like elements. Oh, and the art is pixels, the soundtrack is chiptunes, and the titles for the music are all JJBA references.

I watched it in two sittings after work (it's a four hour stream), and it was the perfect thing to watch and not think about. Although I also want to play it for myself (but I don't have Windows, boooo).

And then, a little later, he was going to stream Outriders, which I didn't have the slightest bit of interest in. Except that it was a stuttery mess, and eventually crashed completely, so instead he streamed a town building game called Dorfromantik, which I also now want to play because the art is gorgeous and it looks like the most chill game ever. But my version of Linux is not up to date, boooo*.

(There is half an hour of Outriders in that stream before we get to the chill part, and, again, it's a four hour stream, jsyk).

So that's that.

Then yesterday, I watched Aoife stream 45 minutes of a game called Returnal (that was all she was allowed to stream for review purposes). It's about an astronaut called Selene**, who is stuck in a time loop while investigating a planet called Atropos. It's more interesting than I just made it sound. Also it has rogue-like elements, much like Loop Hero.

And, you guessed it, I probably want to play that as well, but alas, I do not have, nor can I afford a PS5, even if they were available to buy anywhere.

~

Then, in Persona 5 news, I am up to the beginning of June (let's say 6/6 because I can't quite remember), which means I've done the second palace!

I don't know how I have managed to avoid most spoilers from this game, although I can only assume it's because I wasn't on tumblr post-release/no-one I know on twitter has played it. Or if they have, they didn't talk about it on there.

( spoilers, including a couple of large ones )

I also meant to say: I'm getting huge TWEWY vibes from this game as well! Particularly because you can hang about in Shibuya - I went and said hi to Hachiko last night, because I finally remembered he was there - and because it frequently shows Scramble Crossing. But also when Akira uses his Third Eye ability, because it makes me think of Neku reading people's minds.

But TWEWY is one of my favourite games, so, yanno.

As for characters I like, Ann is my favourite right now! I want to hug her and tell her it's going to be okay! I am lukewarm on Ryuji, which is surprising to me (usually I like characters like him). Yusuke, I'm currently finding irritating for reasons noted above, and I don't like Makoto.

Oh, and Akechi can do one. I haven't seen much of him, but I know how fandom feels about him, and that's enough to make me realise I probably won't like him.

And I think that's all I have to say about that right now!

~

*I would like, eventually, to buy a new computer, and I'm in the process of figuring out if I can do it without feeling excessively guilty. I'm probably going to stick with Windows because, as much as I like Linux, I still don't feel I've got to grips with it after eight years.

**Her ship is called Helios, which made me groan out loud. Mind you, so did the name of the planet when I read it on Wikipedia.

The other day, I watched Aoife stream the first hour and a half (ish) of Persona 5 Strikers.

Two things:

1. Someone in the chat said Strikers takes ten to fifteen hours to get going, story-wise, and I just sat there with my mouth wide open, and my brain going, "what" repeatedly.

There was some follow up convo that said, oh well, it's a JRPG, you should expect that going in and...no? Please, for the love of frogs, no?

Also maybe I am old or whatever, but I don't want to invest fifteen hours in a game before it kicks off. I want it to grab me from the start, thanks all the same.

2. Hearing Aoife try to explain how Persona works for people who don't know was hilarious. Not because I'm mocking her, but because it IS weird/hard to explain! Especially since the main character can use any persona they like. I don't know that I would do any better, but I've never talked about it to anyone who doesn't know SMT games.

It didn't terribly grab me but: I haven't played P5 yet. I also, on gut reaction, don't like either Yusuke or Futaba. But I also realise that I'm not familiar with either of their characters again, because I haven't played P5 yet.

(They just seem like extreme stereotypes of the people they are? But that could also be the writing in Strikers? *shrug emoji* Also WTF is that voice, Matthew Mercer! That does not sound like a teenage boy!)

~

In other news, there is really not any other news. I keep thinking I should find myself something else to do besides drawing (especially since I accidentally donked up my weak wrist* by doing some intensive colouring. I had to rest it for most of yesterday and oooh boyyy did the day drag). But I don't really know what, right now. Even reading still feels like an insurmountable thing at the moment.

I'll figure something out eventually, I'm sure.

~

*I think my wrists are weak because I have hypermobile joints, but also I gave myself tendinitis in my right one five years ago, and it's been super sensitive ever since, yay.