all made up with nowhere to go

I don't think I mentioned it, but back when I was replaying FFXIII on the PS3, the fan kept switching itself on after about half an hour's gameplay and chugging really loudly. I thought this was weird, but figured maybe the PS3 was giving up the ghost (I got it second hand, and I don't know how much its previous owner used it). So I didn't ever play on it for very long, because I was worried about breaking it.

Around the same time, a friend of mine mentioned that she and her partner had recently cleaned the vents on their PS4 to get it working again. I filed this information away, but didn't do a lot with it until yesterday.

My PS3 is one of the slim consoles, so it's still fairly chonky, and the only visible vents are the ones at the back. OR SO I THOUGHT. When I was setting it up to play Ni no Kuni, I took a look over the whole thing, and saw down both sides there are also what appear to be smaller vents? And they were dusty a f. So I took a toothpick to them, and cleaned them out.

And then later on in the day, I played some more Ni no Kuni and I am pleased to report that, while I could hear the fan running, it no longer chugged like it was about to fall over! \o/ Which is good, because I don't remember it doing this until recently anyway - though I think the last game I played on it before FFXIII was Dark Souls II, which would have been nine months prior, so that's nine more months of dust, right there.

(Okay, apparently the PS3 has a self-cleaning function???? Need to bear this in mind for future reference! I didn't get the manual with this when I got it, so that explains why I don't know about it. Although it's possible the manual was as useful as the PS4 one, which is to say not at all).

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So yeah, now I've played a bit more Ni no Kuni:

Do you like puns? Then you will LOVE the English translation of this game, because not even two hours into the game, the puns are off the frikken charts.

Also there are cat people called Grimalkins and they are, of course, adorable (because they're cats).

The combat so far reminds me of Dragon Quest VIII (since that's the only one I've played), and the victory posing makes me think of The Last Remnant. I don't know why, it just does - although the enemy designs are on the cute side, which probably explains the DQ similarities? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There are no metal slimes, though, as far as I am aware!

I have already had to do a little bit of grinding, but it wasn't too painful? I haven't been actively avoiding enemies, but when I went into the Obligatory Sewer Level, I got pasted by the enemies there, so went and did a bit of grinding, and then things went a bit more smoothly.

I still have no real thoughts about it thus far, but I don't hate it? Which is good. One of the reasons I put off playing it for so long was that I thought I might. But I don't, so yay!

Ok, so. I live in the middle of nowheresville, UK. Yesterday, the temperature in my village peaked at 36°C (~97°F).

It started to drop off pretty swiftly after that (although it was mid to high twenties at 9PM, which is still ludicrous), thanks to a cold front making its way downtown across the country.

I dread to think what it would have been like had I been in a city, or even a big town.

I was able to keep at least the living room pretty cool - yesterday at max temps, it was ~12°* cooler in here thanks to keeping the curtains drawn for the majority of the day, which I had also done on the previous two days. I kept the front facing bedroom curtains drawn the entire time, and I don't know if that helped or not as I don't have a thermometer up there.

I was kind of more worried about Jazz than me. She seemed to be fine, but I gave her extra brushing, since she has really dense fur, and apparently it helps to keep cats cooler because it gets the loose undercoat fur out. I also put ice in all her water bowls, and stroked her with damp flannel from time to time (she let me do it, but I don't think she was into it). She's chirpier today, now it's cooler (a whopping 17°C as I write this!), which makes sense, and also you would be, especially if you had to live in a fur coat all the time.

Also: sleeping with a damp whatever on you is genius! I only wet a flannel, but omg it was amazing.

I have a fan that one of the volunteers from work gave me, but I haven't used it yet. I might do just to clear some of the fug upstairs because it feels horrible up there. I'm glad I'm in a house and not a flat**.

I mostly listened to music on my tablet, or watched Youtube, and did some work on future prints for my shop. This isn't much different from what I usually do, but it also meant I didn't have to move much, or have extra electrics on which would generate heat - my only permanently switched on things are the fridge/freezer and the router, and this is true all year round.

So I survived, but I wish I didn't have to word it like that, and I wish I hadn't had to experience it. Temps in the UK are only supposed to be mid twenties, max (although I'd argue with that, and say it should be low twenties). I want to say I hope it doesn't happen again, but I know it will. I've been watching videos from the weather forecasters saying this isn't going to be a one off. Which. Yeah. Great. Looking forward to that [/sarcasm]

I don't know how to end this part, but I thought y'all might at least like to know I'm okay (I wasn't sure I would be), and that I'm still here.

~

In happier news, Ellen from Outside Xtra streamed Stray, which is that cat game everyone's been going bananas about.

I really liked it, apart from the bits that upset me (but as I am feeling wonky rn, not really a surprise. Also it's a cat). ( SPOILERS! )

And she's going to stream more of it! \o/

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*I don't know exactly, as what I have in the living room is a "weather station", but the weather predictions are never accurate, and it was a free gift my mum got with something nearly ten years ago, so it won't be amazing quality. But it was WAY cooler and less humid in than out, and that's really all that matters.

**My dad used to live in a third floor flat, and it was bad enough being in there in normal summers, never mind freak ones like this.

So one of the artists I watch on youtube is a person called Cheyenne Barton. She is adorable, but that is not the point. In her most recent video she mentions having this thing called a Content Ghost, that hovers over her shoulder and says, "You should make a video out of this!" when she's doing stuff.

I have one of those, except it's when I make something, there's this voice in my ear going, "You could sell this!"

Which is really annoying and unhelpful, because I know from past experience that not everyone wants to buy things I make and, even of those that do, they don't want to buy everything I make. And I don't know how to shut it up! I've got sort of good at ignoring it at this point, but sometimes I wish it wasn't there at all.

There isn't really a point to this, except that I keep thinking about it from time to time, and wanted to dump it out of my head.

~

In other news, I started playing Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, as I'd decided Monster Hunter wasn't any fun. It is very pretty, and I like that the monsters are essentially dinosaurs, but it is not fun, and I'd got fed up with the stupid camera and not being able to see what I was doing.

Which is a shame because I hecking love my Palico.

ANYWAY. I am around ten hours into Type-0, and I'm not sure I like that, either, but my mood is pants at the moment (time of year*, and, well, gestures at everything). It feels like a cross between FFVIII and XII. Not that this is a bad thing, necessarily, but I don't like that it doesn't feel like its own thing to me. (This is imo; ymmv and all that).

Also I had legit forgotten it was part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis thing until it came up on the intro screen. I'm interested to see what will go on with l'Cie and if there will be Fal'Cie (no spoilers, please) since I did a bit of reading and, while this uses some of the same elements as the FFXIII trilogy, it doesn't necessarily work the same way.

I think the battle system is weird, but that's because I'm not used to it (although it bears similarities to Lightning Returns, now I think about it).

And what is going on with the random people joining in on my missions? Like, random AI controlled players? What is that? I don't mind it, because they're usually higher level than me, and they've got me through some tricky bits but, like, the game doesn't even explain it to you? (Okay, it turns out it kind of does, but it doesn't make it clear that that's what's happening).

(It also doesn't explain about Special Orders, either. I didn't realise when it says "Incoming" on the screen, that that's what that was. I found out by accident because I hit the touchbar for the map, which is not the button I needed).

I will probably play some more to see how I go. I've been thinking about swapping out the PS4 for the PS3, since I have more games on that that I haven't played. Although right now, what I want is a puzzle game, and I have none of them for either console!

~

Talking of Final Fantasy, here's some more of the Squeenix meme!

16. Which Square-Enix game do you think has the best or most interesting story?

HMMM. I think I'm going to say FFX for this one! I think the way everything is slowly revealed as you work your way through the areas is really interesting.

Shout-out to the way Cloud's story is told in FFVII. I still love the way the culmination of that happens, and I think it's done in a really cool way.

17. Which Square-Enix game do you think has the best or most interesting world?

I don't know! Like, there's several worlds I find interesting for different reasons, but it's like they're all tied, because I can't pick just one (so, fr'ex: Ivalice, Spira, Cocoon/Gran Pulse, but that's not all of them).

That feels like it was a cop-out, but I seriously can't brain at the moment!

18. What Square-Enix game do you think has the best cover art?

FFXII, because I'm me.

I dunno, I've always found that painting of Gabranth (I assume it's meant to be him and not a rando judge) intriguing, and I like that there's colours, and it's not just a flat black figure.

And another shout-out to FFVII, as I really like that cover as well.

~

I was going to talk about Deathloop a little bit, as Ian from Eurogamer streamed some of it the other day, and I watched it, but I will save that for another time, since this entry feels long enough as it is!

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*Autumn is my worst time of year brain-wise, but my favourite season. Because sure, why not.

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?

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