all made up with nowhere to go

I finally have a new phone!

It is the Samsung Galaxy A22, and I am slightly leery about it, as I have not had a lot of luck with Samsung phones in the past! Both of them needed sending for repairs for different reasons. But on the other hand, my tablet that I had was a dream, so perhaps my luck is changing?

I bought a 64Gb memory card for it, which means I now have double the memory :D and I've just bought a gel case for it with stars and a moon on it, which is so totally me that I can't believe it. (But now I know what to name my ko-fi membership tiers when I get around to deciding what the rewards will be - something astronomy related!)

Apparently, the camera can make .gifs! I haven't tried it yet (since I've been at work, so I haven't really had time to play with it), but what is this magical nonsense? Although it will come in useful for showing off shiny things in artwork :D

I was also able to downgrade my data allowance, meaning I'll be paying less per month, which is what I wanted. I went from 10Gb of data, which I barely ever use, to 4Gb, which should be just enough (I use my internet when I'm at home, rather than the data).

So yeah, now I am obviously Very! Excite! about it all!

~

Guess who's got two thumbs and didn't realise that SMT V is going to be a Switch only release?

Like, I really don't know how I missed that! So I guess I will never play it, since I don't have a Switch and by the time I get one, copies will be probably be very expensive, sighs.

I feel like an absolute fool for not realising it sooner, but on the other hand, at least now I don't have to worry about saving for it??

Talking of video games, I totally forgot to mention last week that Andy from Outside Xbox is streaming the Gamecube remake of Resident Evil as part of the Hallowstream stuff they're doing this year! The link goes to the first part from last week.

I don't generally watch the Hallowstream stuff, because as I have noted in the past, I am a ginormous scaredy cat, but I will almost always watch RE stuff :D

~

Thought I had more to say, but apparently not! Off to mess about with my new phone some more, I guess!

So I wasn't going to, but it looks like I am probably going to put in a pre-order for NEO: The World Ends With You.

I freaking love the original game. It's one of my favourites, ever. I've replayed it a bunch of times, and I never get sick of it. There's a lot of stuff about it I love (except for the pins with the gimmicky moves, like that one where you're supposed to yell into the DS' mic*). And...this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I didn't think it needed a sequel. I think it's a pretty good game all on its own.

So, like. My feelings about NEO:TWEWY are complicated. It looks good (I've always loved the graffiti style of the art), and it's nice to see it all in 3D. But, was it necessary? And it's been SO LONG since the original. As Aoife pointed out in the Eurogamer video she made about it, it's been fourteen years since the original was out! FOURTEEN YEARS!

I may change my mind once I get to playing it, but now I feel incredibly eh, although I feel like I should buy it because I love the original so much.

Oh yeah, and then SMT V is coming out in November! So obviously I will be buying that as soon as I can! Ordinarily I wouldn't leave a gap between the acronym and the number, but there used to be a kid's Saturday morning show in the UK called SMTV**, so it threw me for a loop once I realised that that's what number five in the mainline games would look like written down.

So, of course, I thinks to myself: I need to save money! This is nearly 100 quids' worth of games!

But then my brain is like: But we want to buy this book about lino cutting! And this ink! And these pens! and I have to stop and back myself the heck up because, although I'm working, I don't really have the extra cash lying around to justify the total amount I will have spent on new games by the end of the year, plus any other purchases I've made.

Although I do still have some birthday money left, so I could buy the book with that. And then be sensible about saving for NEO: TWEWY and SMT V.

I keep thinking I don't have FOMO and, for the most part, I don't. Except where certain video games are concerned. Which is really a small proportion because a lot of the time I resign myself to the fact that I will not get to play stuff. It's the way things have always been.

(I actually really don't understand FOMO, but that's because I've never had much opportunity to do much, so it doesn't bother me that I won't get to do X, Y, or Z).

So I either need to save (probably what I will do; I'm going to put money aside that I would have spent on Random Stuff in CEX), or I need to sell some art. Or both!

~

And then there is the book I read. I have finished it, although I'm going to talk about it a bit because certain things annoyed me, even though I enjoyed it overall. I'm going to put it behind a cut because spoilers and I need to talk about them!

So, as you may remember, I just read The Split, by Sharon Bolton.

( Read more... )

I did enjoy reading it, in spite of my gripes. I think it could've worked okay without the framing device, to be honest, but I also see why that was there.

I don't know if I would recommend it, but definitely not as your first Sharon Bolton (whoops, me). But it passed a few hours, and that's what I wanted.

~

Finally, I'm nearly done with Persona 5 again, which is good because I am actually starting to feel burn out on it. But I've spent ~170 hours playing it, so why am I surprised?

~

*You can get away with blowing on it, which is what I've always done, lol.

**Saturday Morning Television. Because, you know, calling a spade a spade and all that.

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.

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.

Yesterday I bought myself a copy of Strange Journey Redux, because I still have birthday money, and it wasn't released in Europe originally. I don't know how long it will take to get here, however, since I ordered it from Argos, and they seem to think it's still only available for pre-order, even though the release date was yesterday.

I also bought almost all the remaining volumes of Sandman that I am missing (3, 8, and Endless Nights. Dream Hunters can wait for another time). hmpf has been rereading the series, so it's been making me want to, and I have almost all of it, so it made sense, I think?? (It's like, eighteen years since I read the full thing*, so it's about time for a reread, I reckon).

(Also possibly a reread of the Hy Bender book, although I have no idea where it is right now).

~

Me and mum are powering through Charmed, mainly because there's sod all on TV at weekends. We are already about a third of the way through series four, and I can't believe we've got this far already.

One thing I have noticed, in binge watching, how compacted the various plot threads are (something I didn't notice so much rewatching Lost, weirdly, but I guess a lot of that was stretched out too far but honestly IDK!) Like Phoebe says she's in love with Cole, and he's probably her True Love™, but she only met him three episodes ago, and she doesn't even know him! I realise this is me nitpicking a heck of a lot, and I acknowledge that it works better when you're watching on a weekly basis, rather than bingeing five to nine episodes at a time.

Also I have no idea why I had a crush on Julian McMahon, because he's really not doing it for me this time around. Baby!me had no taste in men, evidently (though I knew that anyway. Me me has no taste in men).

Oh, and there are lots of Bioware(/other game) voice actors showing up in bit parts. Which is amusing because I obviously don't always know what they look like until I see the name in the cast and I'm like, ohhhhh, it's YOU.

(Talking of TV, I've been thinking about rewatching Farscape for a loooooong time. A couple of weeks ago, mum had an eye test, and one of the ladies who came to do it scoped out my DVD collection, and it turned out she was a Scaper! Anyway, after they left, mum said that if I wanted to rewatch Farscape any time, she wouldn't mind watching it with me, which I thought was nice! And she did watch the majority of it with me first time around, and sort of liked it, so I guess that's good?)

~

*Thanks to a very nice librarian in Colwyn Bay who let me check out way more books than I was supposed to.

( list of every demon I drew back in Oct 2015, for personal reference )

~

I rashly(?) bought myself a second-hand 2DS yesterday. It has been shipped, and should arrive Monday (by which time I might be at the dentist's so won't get it till Tuesday SIGH). Well, I think it should arrive then, because it's been sent by Special Delivery, and that takes two working days at most (and it was sent off this morning). According to the tracking, though, it hasn't even arrived at a sorting office, so it might be Tuesday anyway?? I just can't wait for it!

Anyway, it's not like I can't afford it right now, but I partly got it because I am feeling super horrible at the moment, and I always turn to spending money on Stuff I Like/Want when I feel like crap. I've got better at it over the years, but it's still quite a bad habit.

My mum doesn't know I've bought it, so I can't imagine she'll be too pleased when it does turn up. Not that it's her business what I spend my money on, but I imagine she'll at the very least look daggers at me like she did when I said about buying a cheapo tablet to read ebooks on. I didn't end up getting that because she made me feel really guilty for even thinking about it (I think the majority of that was actually my brain than anything she really said, but she didn't help any).

So the upshot is, even though I really want it, because there are a butt-ton of games I want to play on it, I feel really guilty about getting it. But, you know, it's been five years since I bought a console! The last one was the 360, for my thirtieth birthday.

Anyway. I am really excited to be getting it because SMT games! Kirbys! Old old school Pokemans! I can get Flipnote and make animations!!!! (I am SUPER excited about that because hi I am an animation nerd). Also there's some games available on the virtual console that I haven't played since I was a kid, so I am also super excited about those!

And there's Tomodachi Life! And Animal Crossing! Bravely Default! Other stuff I've forgotten, I'm sure!!

And essentially I'm just going to ask people for money when they offer me presents so I can buy games.

I think I probably should've bought a memory card, because it's second hand, so I don't know if it will have all the bits like it's meant to (I tried looking at the reviews, but they weren't helpful). Oh well, I guess we'll see when it turns up! (Whenever that is).

This morning my brain decided to tell me all sorts of shit that wasn't true, mainly stemming from the fact that a friend hadn't replied to a tweet. Anyway, it was ridiculous, because that person's hardly on twitter anyway, but my brain loves picking up irrational shit and running with it. WHICH. I awoke at five thirty this morning, wide awake, worrying about the garden. LIKE I COULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT AT HALF FIVE IN THE MORNING. I don't even know what I was worrying about or why, but my brain was all, PANIC! GARDEN! PANIC! and...ugh. Eventually I fell back asleep, thankfully. I would not have been amused if I hadn't.

(OH BOY AND NOW I AM BEING HIT BY INADEQUACY ISSUES. YAAAAAAAAAY. I LOVE MY BRAIN).

~

Anyway! I saw this the other day, and keep forgetting to link it here: Lost Megaten Games - I wouldn't so much say they're "lost" as we haven't heard about them outside of Japan? I found it interesting anyway.

I knew about the remakes of Megami Tensei. I also knew about the prequel game for SMT...if. I didn't know about the others, however, and am intrigued by the DDS one.

A graphic which shows links between some, but not all the Megaten games. Interesting stuff!

Here is an archive a bit like the Let's Play Archive, but for tabletop RPGs! Found this via a friend. I intend to go through it as there's a few things on there I'd be interested in reading about.

~

I made myself a wordpress blog for art posting purposes, but I don't know what to go with for my first few posts. Suggestions of stuff of mine you like would be nice, though not necessary :)

I think there's going to be some crossovers between the two until I have new stuff to post. I'm still undecided as to whether I should crosspost from WP once I'm up and running, or not. I'm going to write a post about moving, however, so everyone following me isn't left in the dark/wondering where I've gone.

~

Nocturne update: At the prison whose name I can't spell or remember correctly. I have only just got there. I think I'm doing quite well at figuring out where I'm going without having to consult a walkthrough, though it could be that I just remember from last time I played, even if it was four years ago (which it was).

I restarted Persona 4 in an attempt to actually beat it this time. I suppose I could just do the Bad Ending, and that would count, but I want the Good Ending, DAMNIT.

I could've just gone off my old save, from a shocking almost FOUR YEARS ago (I haven't played it since, and that makes me sad, because I've been thinking about beating it/replaying it for that long). But I decided not to, because although I know the story, I've literally only played it once (apart from restarting after that time I got distracted by P3), so some areas of it are vague to me. And I haven't seen all the social links, yet, and that's one of the things I love about the game (aside from, you know, mythological melting pot, and ♥ tarot motifs ♥) (I don't love having to manage my time to deal with them all, though).

And I'm reading through a Let's Play of P4: Golden (the sooper-special rerelease I thought Atlus swore they'd never make??) and I want to see what's different (so far? A heck of a lot! Even the questions asked in class are different!) I'm not going to ever get to play it, I don't think (I don't have a Vita or spare cash lying around, anyway), so...anyway. But on a related note, I might get P4 Arena for Xmas because DANG WANT (and I do have an Xbox, so woooo!)

The upshot is, anyway, that I mostly have the Junes theme tune stuck in my head constantly, but I'm not finding it as irritating as I did four years ago :O

(Actually right now, I have In Laqetti from P2 stuck in my head for no apparent reason).

Hopefully, I am better at this game than I used to be - Yukiko's shadow didn't give me as much grief as she used to and - fingers crossed - Kanji's shadow should be relatively easy, too (I always want to smash the controller into the TV because I failed so many times on that fight. Apparently it's dead easy, but I suppose I'm just playing the game wrong, right?)

Anyway, going to go play some more in a few minutes, I think!

I am actually mad that my copy of FFXIII-2 has not arrived yet.

Not only because I didn't have it for this weekend, but because although the delivery estimate says between the 6th and 18th of Sept, the shipping speed said 1 to 3 days. And it's four days since it shipped.

Bet it comes on Monday while the dentist is looking in my mouth and making disapproving noises. (I wouldn't be surprised).

~*~

I keep remembering that I never finished my New Game+ of Persona 3 because Shinji-related trauma. I like him, and it would not be a stretch to say he's my favourite character in the game (he slots nicely into the "grumpy bastard" category). Also now it is about a year since I played it last, so now I feel awful (I don't know why; if you lot are judging me, I don't know about it*).

Also, occasionally, I think about replaying/finishing P4, but then my brain says, nahhhhh, you don't need to do that, and so I don't. (Which is daft, really, because KANJI. I can't even remember when I played it last. It was about a million years ago).

ALSO it is ~1 year since I played Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and I haven't managed to play Eternal Punishment yet because it's still "too soon" (which, by now, is complete bollocks).

~*~

Ooh, AND: Have any of you played Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope? I ask because I want to, but I've no idea if it's any good or not (might download the demo next time I'm on Xbox Live).

(And while I'm burbling about games, I STILL can't believe they cancelled Fortress! I would've bought it**!)

~*~

*Uh, you're not judging me, are you? ARE YOU?!

**Then again, it would've been an Ivalice game, so that's not really surprising, is it?

I'm approximately halfway through Nocturne now. I think. I don't know. Anyway, now Hitoshura is level 40, and I still can't finish the second Kalpa because, while I discovered most of the demons die in one punch, the bit I want to get to is full of level 63+ demons. If they get the first turn, or don't let me escape, I die. Also they are all in a cursed zone. Which is fun! I need to go down there one time with full MP and a bunch of MP healing items, even if it runs me out of Macca, because it will be SO SO SO worth it.

Seriously.

I will have to run like fuck from all the battles in the cursed area, but I'm going to do it. I AM.

Also I missed out on 10,000 Macca before I came into the current dungeon. I will have to go back and get it.

~*~

I am currently making a hat for a friend for her daughter's birthday (daughter in question will be 9 on Tuesday). Got the main part of the hat done (despite having to rip it back and start all over again *sigh*), just got to add the details now c:

I have been drawing loads recently, which is never a bad thing. It's all been SMT fanart, but that's because of playing Nocturne. One of these days, I will eventually do some decent, finished, original art (if I can ever remember what my characters look like; if I draw the cat decently; if I manage to pin down this guy I want to draw; if there is a blue moon this month).

Other than that, been feeling like crap this past week, because of YAY PMT.