all made up with nowhere to go

I finished Inscryption last night!

I don't know why I thought it would take longer. I guess I thought I might have more trouble with the end bosses than I did. I had more trouble with random battles, as it happens. And I got a little bit emotional at the end, which surprised me, because it's not like I didn't know what was coming. But perhaps it was because I was actually experiencing it for myself, rather than via someone else playing on the internet.

( late game boss spoiler )

Anyway, now onto shenanigans with Kaycee's Mod, I guess!

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!

Yesterday's rabbit hole that I fell down is microwave cooking. Partly because sometimes I just can't be bothered with the oven (which is gas powered), and also because I've had this microwave for ~18 months now, and barely used it except to reheat stuff, and cook ready meals - both of which have happened very rarely. I don't really know what made me look it up, but I did, and now I have an entire bunch of recipes to try out, including cakes that are not in mugs (I have yet to make a mug cake, as it happens). Which is good, because I bought some eggs a couple of days ago, thinking I needed them for making scones.

You do not need eggs to make scones, unless you're putting a glaze on top. I do not glaze my scones.

So I made some scones this morning. They're just plain because I have failed spectacularly at getting any dried fruit (I want some cherries and sultanas, but keep forgetting about that when I am in places that sell them! and my local shops don't have anything beyond raisins, which I can't stand).

I might try making a microwave cake later today, and see how it goes! I've got one for a banana cake that I really want to make, but I have no bananas :( So it will have to wait till after I've done my big food shop next week.

I haven't done any baking in over a year (!!) so I'm looking forward to trying some of these recipes I found out!

~

In other news: I have beaten Persona 5 Strikers!

It was an okay game, but I think I enjoyed it more for the characters than for the story and the gameplay (not a fan of being mobbed by enemies). Sophia still needs longer pants, dangit!

( everything else is spoilers! )

And I think all that disjointed babble is all I really have to say at the moment!

~

I thought I had other things to say, but I do not!

EDIT: Remember that video of Johnny Chiodini and their friend Joe eating a bunch of British crisps? Well now they've made a video about British party food.

A lot of it looks revolting, and frankly is, and I say this as a British person. I thought this video was interesting, but I liked it less than than the crisps one (only because I don't like most of the food shown in it) but it is as funny as the crisps one, and that's why I'm sharing it with you lot :)
Also you get to see what horrific things pass as party food on Plague Island. [/edit]

I beat FFXV yesterday afternoon. I was level 48, and it took me as many hours as levels. I am annoyed that half that time was spent grinding for said levels, as you really don't encounter many enemies unless you go exploring.

I've been thinking about Skyrim a lot while I've been playing this. Because one of my beefs with that is that the story is, well, lacking. And it is. But in a much different way to FFXV's. I know the entirety of the story in Skyrim, it just plays out extremely quickly, especially so if you just follow the main plot and don't do any exploring (you don't even need to be a specific level to beat the final boss, iirc, you just can do it regardless).

So does FFXV's story (I got to the end of chapter 12 in 20 or so hours, which is about right). HOWEVER. I have the same amount of questions I had when the game started, if not probably more.

But I'm not going to go on another rant. I feel like I did enough of that yesterday. This entry is more to mark that I beat it, and it only took me one go for each of the final three bosses (unusual, but I was probably overlevelled at that point), even if the middle one felt gimmicky. And now I'm doing post-game stuff till I get bored.

I have woken up with a literal pain in my neck, so that's fun. I think I either tensed my left shoulder too hard yesterday, or slept on it funny, or some combination of both. I've taken some painkillers, and hopefully it will ease.

Anyway, in more exciting news, I beat Nocturne yesterday! I fully did not expect to, and it only took me two goes (as opposed to more for the previous boss) which was a nice surprise! I don't know where my ending ranked on a scale of good to bad, but I got the one where ( it is a spoiler! )

I didn't do much of the kalpas, as I get fed up with the bullshit in there (think teleport floors but magnified; also invisible walls because why not, I guess). So no True Demon Ending for me. I'm saving that for the next time.

And then I started on NEO: The World Ends With You! I will put everything about it under spoiler cuts, because obviously it's a very new game. My initial feeling is that I have very mixed feelings, but I'll explain more under the cut. I do like it being 3D, though, and I still love the art (which has had a glow up, and there's a nice little reference to it at one point)!

( more under here; beware spoilers )

I think I've said everything I want to say about that, for now.

~

In other other news: Johnny Chiodini streamed Untitled Goose Game on their channel yesterday afternoon, and it was delightful! (I didn't watch the whole thing because streams past two hours are a bit much for me, but I might go back to the rest of it later today).

Well, the most interesting thing that has happened is that I finally beat FFV Advance!

I sat down with the cat on Thursday afternoon, imagining that I would be spending all the time till Luke was streaming Journey, trying and failing to beat Neo Exdeath.

Except that I did it on my first go. Even though I thought at one point that I'd effed it up by KO'ing the one section with Break (it's laughably vulnerable to a Spellblade Break for some reason!). There was also one point where three characters were KO'ed, and I was convinced I'd hit a Death Spiral (as had happened on several previous occasions), but somehow I kept going, Lenna got two chances to roast him with Bahamut at the end, and then that was it!

It took about half an hour in all, because I was at the expected level (41), and hadn't really ground any job levels (apart from to get Faris Zeninage, but it turns out I didn't need it in the end!) I had looked up advice on the internet, but it turns out I shouldn't have done that, because it was the usual "why aren't you level 99, scrub!" (because grinding is boring a f?) and "level 40 is underlevelled for end game!" (it isn't). Honestly, I wanted to reach through my phone screen and punch people.

But anyway, yeah, that was a thing I did! And I'm glad I did! I like that game so, so much more than I ever thought I would when I first played it fifteen years ago. The GBA translation is AMAZING. I like all the characters, I even like the job system! And the soundtrack is great! (I mean, I didn't dislike it, but it wasn't one of my favourites, but now I definitely think I like it a lot more).

I have kept randomly getting the final boss fight theme stuck in my head ever since, which is odd, but I figured out I heard it at least thirty five times on a loop, so I'm not really surprised it's wedged in there.

~

As noted: Luke streamed Journey! He had never played it before, so he didn't know what it was going to be like.

~

Other than that, I've spent most of the last week making felt/material applique pictures and having massive amounts of fun. I've been making them with a thought to hanging them on a wall, but I need some more hoops to frame them in first.

I thought I'd put them up in the space between the two windows in what was my mum's room. That means that I won't see them a lot right now, because I don't spend a lot of time in there, but I don't mind.

I beat Kingdoms of Amalur! It was a lot easier than I was expecting!

( spoilers! )

Also also holy bananas the Well of Souls is the Cauldron of Bran, isn't it???? I didn't realise this until I was watching Luke and Ellen from Outside Xtra playing the start and it suddenly occurred to me. I mean, obviously Amalur's version is way more wonky though.

So yeah, despite my gripes, glad I played it, very much enjoyed it.

~

Anyway, the exciting news (unless you follow me on twitter) is that I have a new phone!

I got a call on Tuesday afternoon from the EE shop in Burnley, and was informed that I was due an early upgrade, and I probably wouldn't have to pay anything towards it, but that they didn't know for sure.

So like an idiot I went yesterday after work, because if there's one thing I love, it's a phone upgrade.

After much deliberating, I went with a Huawei P Smart, because it sounded all right, and it comes in this lovely blue colour and, well, blue's my favourite colour. It has 64Gb of internal memory, which is LOADS (esp when you consider I was just looking up the Nokia N95 because nostalgia, and that had 8Gb of memory and I thought that was a lot back in 2009).

I could have had a Samsung A40 instead, but my luck with Samsungs is not great (both of the ones I've owned previously I've had to take in for repairs. Although, I guess, third time's the charm?)

I've got it mostly set up now - I've just got to put the SIM card in, and we are go!

# A week last Thursday, I went to pay off the last of the money owed to the funeral directors, and also I was able to pick up mum's ashes while I was there. I don't know where to put them, so since then they've been sitting on a side table in the living room. I will move them eventually.

# It was my nephew's birthday last weekend, and he is now SIX! SIX! When did that happen! He seemed to have a good day, and he always seemed happy enough when I spoke to him, so I really hope he did.

# I went to the doctor about my yucky joints, and said I had arthritis. When I said it was probably osteoarthritis, she countered with, "but that's an old person disease." Which. Yes, but also my family gets arthritis early (both my mum and gran did, so I'm not hopeful, and most of my joints have been shit for years). Anyway, she's referred me for some blood tests on Monday, which are going to check for infection markers, but also markers for rheumatoid arthritis. So I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

# I went on an impromptu shopping trip yesterday. It was mostly for boring things like cat food and socks, but it was also to get a t-shirt with glow in the dark skelly bones on! I'm actually wearing it today, so I will try to get a picture later on. I'm really glad I've got it, although I probably shouldn't have bought it because I need to save my money for things like heating and rent. And food.

# A couple of days ago, I finished the main quest in Oblivion! *strikes that from the list of games*

I am mainly "meh" about it, though the plot feels more coherent than Skyrim's (which feels like someone went, "hey you know what's cool? DRAGONS!" I mean, they're not wrong, but also yeah). I am narked that not more is made of the Dragonborn thing (apart from a thing that happens in the finale, which I won't mention because spoilers). I got a good scare in one of the dungeons, because it features zombies, and I didn't know what was coming. You can hear them attacking and eating other monsters! And they shuffle about when they don't know you're there, but as soon as you attack, they come running for you and oh jeebus that was unfun. I don't ever want to do that dungeon again, but I did feel that particularly worked for me.

Then again, I've had a spell for the entire game that forces the undead to run away for up to 25 seconds. And I forgot to use it versus both those zombies, and a dungeon full of vampires. So I suppose this is typical me-playing-a-vidya, huh?

Now I'm replaying Saints Row the Third for a bit, because I miss driving around a fictional city.

# OH AND! I did drawing for three days a in row after not doing any for two months. Which had upset me a lot, because I like making art. I actually considered giving up altogether, because I was feeling so negative about the whole thing. But I am trying not to! I only didn't do anything yesterday, because I decided to make brownies after I got in from my shopping trip (as you do) so then all of me was like, whoa, nelly, sit the heck down. So I did.

But yeah, you may recall I mentioned painting some time ago? Actually going to make a legit attempt to get back into that now I have the time and the space. Kind of nervous about it, weirdly, but at least I don't have to show anyone the results if I don't like them.

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 :(

I just beat Fable III. IT IS THE WORST GAME!

Not from the point of view that it is a bad game, because it's not. It's good. But it made me make agonising decisions which affect the lives of the pixel people and AUGH.

Though I forget how short these games are if you go straight through the plot and don't do that many sidequests. But actually I appreciate that! Longer games are OK, but there's a point where I hit maybe forty or fifty hours of gameplay and I get bored. That's possibly why I find it so hard to finish games sometimes (that said, I've beaten EIGHT games this year so far! I think that's a personal record). Anyway, yeah, I wasn't expecting to have finished it by now.

I did really badly at it (I tried to be good. It's not so easy). I'm going to replay again, eventually (because I want to save everyone. And try out alternative decisions).

( here be spoilers! )

I enjoyed it though, would easily play again :)