This comic is unable to proceed because its contents reach the present moment. Right now. If I were to go further, I would be revealing the multiverse of futures upon your unsuspecting eyes and it would surely melt your brain into blue Jell-o. Not green. Blue.
That being said, I'm not actually panicky and crazy and OMFGASFEGJIRANGRVAEM. I'm just sort of waiting for the mess to die down. It's interesting to note that I think Square is underestimating their game, as they're opening FFXIV with only 17 servers for a worldwide release, while FFXI had 20 for just a JP release. Ah well, there might be (literally) OVER 9000 people on the Mysidia server now, but as the weekend is just about over, populations should drop off a bit, at least enough for me to sneak in. Various servers have been popping in and out as their populations fluctuate, so it's only a matter of time.
Wha I have been doing is playing WAY too much Pokemon! =DDDDDD I went on a crazy-hyper-level evolving spree over the last few days and have now increased my Pokedex to 334. While I might be forgetting some, I think there's only 7 more Pokemon I can get without connecting to other games. Technically there's a whole buttload in the Safari Zone that I haven't caught, but the Safari Zone can go rot in hell and die forever. Pa-tooie. Anyway, finished up the Kanto Gyms and got more training in, so I've got a full team of Lv65's, ready to try vs. the Elite Four Round 2. After that...we'll see if I can take on RED. =D
I checked my Diamond game to see how many I could transfer over later on to help out my Soul Silver Dex, and gawd I sucked at Sinnoh. D: Srsly, I was in the Postgame stuff and I only ever caught 63 Pokemon. Looks like I'll have to play that some more to get most of the 4th gen. Might play Emerald too if I don't feel like abusing the GTS for Gen 3s.
Up to Chapter 11 in FFXIII now, and I think the game's 'opened up' now? I'm not sure. I just found a Cie'th Statue in a big field, and then I saved and went back to Pokemon since my DS finished charging. I'll probably get back to whatever it was that I'm supposed to do after my Pokefever dies down a bit.
Finally got all of the Higurashi question arcs, in manga form! Happyhappyfunfun. Need to read Himatsubushi-hen, since the anime was only 2 episodes and probably cut alot. (The game probably has more, but I'm so lazy about reading those >_>; Still on Umineko 6)
And more or less nothing happened at Reitaisai SP. Lame.
Obviously, I've been playing FFXIII. On my new 32" HDTV! So far I'm up to ~Ch.7, and enjoying it. The encounter system reminds me of Chrono Cross, so I'm not too disappointed I can't randomly grind my characters +10 levels higher than they should be.
In Dissidia 2 news, Tifa is confirmed for the roster, as well as every character from the first Dissidia. *crossfingersprisheprisheprisheprisheprishe*
Also been playing Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale. It's a fun and quirky little RPG where you're the shop owner instead of the hapless adventurer who buys overpriced merchandise and throws themselves to their deaths in dungeons. It's repetitive, but interesting, in a similar way that people still play Harvest Moon game after game. The dungeons could have been designed a bit nicer though. Too often I'm killing practically an entire floor (sometimes *more*) just trying to find the damn exit. The dungeon-onry items could stand to have better drop rates too. At least you get a slew of adventurers with different styles to do your bidding. Currently on the 100F Lapis Lazuli ruins. Fun fun.
Quit LOTRO, like I thought I would. The game throws so many damn quests at you, many of which are level-dependent, that it's too easy to be overwhelmed by everything. The story is told decently though, and it's better than the vast majority of free MMO's. But FFXIV starts in a few days, and I should be playing next week. Yar!
Soul Silver really needed a VS Seeker, the Pokegear phone sucks butt. I've got a team together to take on the remainder of the game, I just need to level them (they're ~30, half of where I need them) and get all the TM moves that actually make them work. I may skip most of those though, because Pokemon games rank pretty high for having some of the most arse-backward retarded minigames. Non consumable TMs in B/W is going to (hopefully) be so awesome. Speaking of B/W, it's out and stuff, but Serebii got a C&D to take down all game images for some unfathomable reason, and Bulbapedia is taking forever +1 to actually compile any information. So probably a few weeks before it's worth sitting down and taking a look at all the new stuff. Just a warning though, there's a *lot* of retarded new pokemon, but then, that's expected of most generations, rite?
Ookami-san and the 7 companions ended, I guess I'd rate it a 7/10? Maybe because it was so short, it felt like the only character that was actually developed was Ookami herself, and it sort of ended on a fizzle. Ah well, another episode or two of K-ON!! and I'll be back to just randomly checking in with Shonen series to see if I feel like watching the part they're on or not.
I've got enough Leaf and Moon stones to start a bloody army, but they refuse to cough up a single Water stone. Pleh.
I've been playing alot of Pokemon recently since I don't have any of my console games available yet. Still working pretty good at my pace, 227 pokemon caught and 10 badges earned. I'll destroy the last 6 gyms soon probably, after I finish getting evolution stones and swarm pokemon. Gonna have to start trading soon to get more stuff though, would be easier if the 3DS would just be out already. =P Black and White versions are coming out next weekend! 156 new pokemon too, that's the biggest increase ever, at 5 more than the original lineup. Let's hope for moar Eevees. >:3
Also next weekend is Reitaisai SP! I'm not really sure if it's going to be noteworthy, as ZUN's already put out Double Spoiler and Great Fairy Wars this year. I feel like there should be a reason to the second Reitaisai this year, but it'll probably just be a bunch of average doujin stuff.
Been trying to find other stuff to do to pass the time too, since grinding the Bug catching contest was boring after the second attempt. Downloaded and tried Mabinogi and Lord of the Rings Online at various points. Mabinogi was cute, but meh, so I only played a few days. LORTO I started up yesterday, and while it's better than the average Free MMO, it hasn't really made me feel like I want to keep playing it much longer. Maybe when I get to Bree things'll seem more interesting.
Finally put in my preorder for the FFXIV Special Edition. Been holding off all this time mostly to make sure my finances for the semester were in order first. I've read some things about the game, but I'm not getting in to too much and I'm staying out of the Beta, so when late-Sept, early-Oct comes around I can get a fresh, new world to play around in. Of course, I very much hope it's good, because if I end up stopping my subscription for any reason, I'll probably find myself back in Vana'diel faster than a pos-h4xing THF Fleeing off Thousandfall Ridge.
Speaking of Final Fantasy, a new Dissidia game has been announced, Final Fantasy Dissidia Duodecim. So far there's not really much information on it yet, however Kain from FFIV and Lightning from FFXIII are confirmed as playable. Here's to hoping Prishe makes it in this time. >:3
Nothing special about school yet. Though we didn't have Japanese class all week. Apparently our professor is ill and had to go to the hospital (nonemergency I think) I'm still keeping up with the lessons we missed, although I doubt she'll completely skip them, so I'll just end up ahead for a class or three if we start up again this week.
Gonna start doing weekly photo assignments again. I'll bother Adrienne later this week to see if she wants to again, unless someone else wants to think up topics for me to try to photograph this year.
I can make pasta! And curry! I CAN MAKE PASTA CURRY!!
Pokemon is being annoying. Unlike pretty much *any* other gen, there's literally no good way to get evolution stones in Soul Silver, and the only ways that do work don't open up until I get off my arse and beat the Elite 4. Hopefully the Bug catching contest won't suck too much, because the Pokeathelon does. On a good note, I managed to catch both Raikou and Entei today, so that's 2/3 roamers. I think I'll just chuck my Master Ball at Latios when he shows up and save myself the headache.
School's off to a good start more or less. Jon showed up, though he's not around much. As for classes, Geo I'm not sure about, since we've only had a very brief lecture so far. The first lab's this Friday, so we'll see if I get what's going to happen yet. Stat is easy peasy lemon squeezy glancing over the first few chapters, but maybe by November the math will be more difficult than the vocabulary? Haha. IS310 is kinda boring, and it's the only one I'm confirmed to write papers for this semester, so yeah. The teacher seems decent at least, so maybe the class won't suck too much. Management gives me severe deja vu vibes from Microecon over the summer, so I'll expect to pass with a 98% in this as well, hahaha. Maybe not, since there's no math, but it doesn't seem like a hard class. Japanese is the same as I remember it from 2004 when I took this teacher this first time. A new section of the class was added though, where we meet for an hour once a week and no English is permitted. I like it, but there are more than a couple people struggling with basic pronunciation. It might've helped more if we were using the Hepburn system, but c'est la vie.
Nothing else really this week. I did go get the car, so I can do stuff outside school now! I'll probably just play video games all day though. Or I would, but my living expense check still isn't here, so I have to wait to buy my TV and bring all my crap up here. ;x
Comic right? Holy carp! It's like a mountain of needles in your face! Don't worry, my friend I have just the remedy. UPDATES EVERY SUNDAY! Or Monday. Usually. Unless I forget. Or get bored. Or asfljanfLSANVKAJGNAWKLJVBAKLJmkjnsldkgnaejrn. But expect it!
Why did this happen? Because I made monies, and bought this: It's a tablet! So I updated! Like I said I might! Aren't I thoughtful?
Out of nowhere except right here! It's a HeroQuest update! Because I actually got off my arse at the end of summer and finished painting the couple dozen or so I still had sitting around. Here's the 5 metal girl figures I ordered back in winter: Overall there's close to 150 figures I think. I didn't count. I have even more, but they're not really needed right away. With the set I have now, there's no problem playing through the main Heroquest game, and the Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord expansions. I'll need to buy and paint more if I surprisingly actually ever find a group to play with and even more surprisingly they last through that far to get to said quests. But for now the game's finished, aside from minor things like a method of transport for the minis, or a DM screen, or something.
I ended up going to Otakon anyway in Kogasa mode (BEROBEROBA~!), even though I was only able to attend for two days. I still had quite a lot of fun, and spent far too much in the Dealer's Room, as opposed to my usual nothing. I bought a Marisa Nendoroid plushie to sate my Touhou needs, and a slew of Higurashi figurines. Adrienne was also awesome and got me a Rena plushie, so now Rena and Marisa can enact plushie warfare throughout my room while I'm in college. Saw a few things like Axis Powers Hetalia (a bit confusing, but better than I expected) and Welcome to the Space Show (Not quite Ghibli quality, but a very fun movie).
Comiket 78 has come and gone, leaving us with many, many goodies. Umineko Episode 7 is out, which is good as the Episode 6 translation patch was just finished recently as well. It's predicted Episode 8 will come out this winter and wrap up the series. In a related Tangent, mangagamer.com has now released the entirety of the Higurashi series, Episodes 1-8~!
For Touhou, there's been a slew of new games. Officially, ZUN released 12.8, Great Fairy Wars. It plays like a standard Touhou shooter, but you can now freeze most bullets in ice, as you play Cirno. You face off with the 3 fairies Sunny Milk, Luna Child, and Star Sapphire in the order of your choice in a 3 stage run (as opposed to 6) Daiyousei, Lily White & Black (Official now! =D) and Marisa also make appearances.
Next up is the New Super Marisa Land. It's a Mario fangame that's *very* well done, even if a bit short. Enemies and powerups are similar to many things done in Mario games, but with plenty of unique stuff too. But you don't care about all that. You just want the Bunnycopter. Fine, have the damned Bunnycopter.
Touhou Pocket Wars EVO+ came out, but I tried EVO and...I dunno. It's good, but there's just not that much to do. Maybe I'll check it out when it gets translated. There was also an RPG named the Genius of Sappheiros that looks really good, but there's no point in playing it if I can't understand the damn story. =P
Lastly, Touhoumon v1.8 came out. Also, Drakuaza's Insane version too. Honestly, I haven't really bothered with either, as most Touhoumon games are just kinda blah. And Kanto's freaking boring, do something new gaiz.
Onto other stuff, I bought a PS3 and a good camera as well this summer, and hope to be buying an HDTV soon, so I can see FFXIII in the pretties. Already beat Flower and Soul Calibur IV. I really wanna start FFXIII, but it all depends on when that living expense check comes in.
Speaking of which, I'm back at UMBC now. Living in the apartments this year, and things are already looking alot better. First off, both of my roomies I've met are gamers to some extent, and I've enjoyed hanging out with both so far. There's supposed to be a fourth person with us, but as of yet, he's MIA. So maybe only three people? At the very least, that'll cut down on bathroom smell, hahaha. Here's my awesomely tiny room: Doesn't bother me since it's ALL MINE >:3 Still working out a few kinks with making my laptop more mobile around the room though. Bought a TON of kitchen stuff. We're actually mostly set now, and it wasn't as much a money sink as I thought it'd be. I paid for most of the non-food items too, so I can keep them and reuse them for future stuff. I fel iz gro'd up nao yish?
Got a major role in another of Erik's films! In what? You'll have to wait and see! I'm going to kill you with anticipation that you won't feel because you'll have already forgotten what I just said by the time you make it to the end of this very long run-on sentence.
Phantasy Star Portable 2 demo came out. It uses the PSU system again, but they're very much improving it. Of course, they also just announced Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity in Japan, so I might instead wait for that and just mess around in PS Zero more, heh.
FFXIV in 3 weeks! FFXIV Open Beta in 2 days! ARE YOU RAWRDY!?
My Dream Diary's seemed to started to work really good. I've had detailed remembrances (mostly) 5 times in the past week, which blows away the spotty stuff here and there throughout the summer. Hopefully my dream memory will continue to improve all the way to lucidity! >:3
And, I'll finish up with a song. Because you're not the boss of me.
Halloween is pretty awesome! Except when you can't really do it properly. Hopefully I can fix this unfortunate circumstance whenever they let me into the apartments.
I figured out the source of the floating heads of sillyness in Oblivion! It seems that the TNR NNC merged mod wasn't behaving right and tried to clothe a ton of NPCs with clothes that didn't exist. So I got rid of that and replaced it with NPC New Clothes v2.6 and TNR All Races Final. Now everything's shiny! And I can get all the new clothing too, though that requires messing around with all the additional mods OR just killing the people who wear what I want, lol. Dunno if I want any of it that much yet..
College is continuing to be a pain in the arse, and I have 3 exams within a week. (Still have Calc on Tuesday) CompSci's was pretty easy stuff, except I probably got two or three wrong because I didn't bother looking at vocabulary, haha. Physics pissed me off though, since I basically lost 25% on it because 1 question was so freaking weird I didn't even know where to start. Blarg, I hope I did all the rest right so I at least get a C. >___>;
This week's topic was "People as Places as People". I think Rei told me all of these assignments are song titles. She must listen to some really weird stuff. Of course I'm one to talk, with like 6 remixes of 'Corpse Voyage ~ Be of Good Cheer!' on my MP3 player, haha.
I finally got to go to the RenFaire on the last day! Sort of... I overslept, so I started driving there around 1:10ish, and didn't actually walk into the Faire until after 3:30. Holy crap, there were too many cars. Anyway, got to hang out with Cat a bunch and bother Rei, and saw the Hypnotist show that I hadn't stopped in for before. It was quite funny, since one of the hypnotees were flopping around on the ground alot. I looked at some shops, but nothing in particular caught my eye. That was probably half because I'm poor and half because I couldn't even get at several of the shops. Holy crap people.
Saturday I did an informal photo shoot for Nerd to the Third. Was kinda fun and silly, although I had to balance a camera and mirror in addition to my poses of justice, since I wasn't able to get any lighting equipment. I think they turned out fairly well, other than a couple focus problems and "Holy crap the room is yellow". Afterward I got to run around with Cat's video camera trying to film their podcast when they were all sitting in completely different spots in the house, fun times! Especially when they kept going back and forth and I had no idea who I should have the camera on and inevitably end up spinning in circles. I think the answer to that though is Caramelldansen, because that's the answer to everything.
If you haven't started watching DBZ Abridged, then you're seriously missing out on one of life's finer pleasures. Nappavoice is far more fun than it should be, especially when paired with a Vegeta.
Finally, watch this video. EVERYONE. Even if you don't like Touhou, it's far too awesome not to watch.
I beat another Touhou game on Normal! Granted it was Mountain of Faith with CHO MARISA, but it still counts! I even somehow did almost all of Kanoko's final spellcard without dying OR CHO POWAR! But then I kinda died then bombed then finished her off with Marisa's burly muscles anyway. I tried Extra stage a few times, and managed to get over halfway through Suwako, but I don't think I'll stand any chance at finishing it unless I figure out a better way to get through Moreya's Iron Ring. Ah well.
I reinstalled Oblivion earlier this week, and subsequently like 10GB of mods. Crazy stuff. I fixed most of the inconsistencies, but like half the townspeople are walking around without bodies. Literally just heads, hands and feet. It's not a major problem, but it was annoying how it refused to be diagnosed. Not sure where I'm going to start yet since I've been too busy to play past getting my feet wet and the water-breathing ring from Weye, maybe the Mage's or Fighter's Guild to wet my feet a bit and then onto the Lost Spires. Gotta remember to try out Shivering Isles this time too, heh.
Still doing good in classes. Kicked CompSci's arse yet again when I came out of nowhere and aced the Graphics Lab without being able to review it beforehand. I also got the Graphics package onto my computer, so I can do some proper playing with it and resume finishing all my work before it's assigned. :3 Physics is on the reverse side, becoming more and more a pain in the arse every week. We were informed *today* that she's collecting the last *two weeks* of homework on Friday by 8am, and if it's not neat enough to her liking, it's a 0. (Homework is normally submitted online) So I basically have to redo 2 weeks of Physics homework tomorrow night. I think I'll leave her a grade for the work she assigned in red ink on my paper to confuse her. But yeah, now I'm understanding why she's rated so low by students. I'm just gonna have to teach myself practically the rest of the material for the semester, as the lectures and discussions do a terrible job of it. I'll have to talk with my adviser to see if I should just drop this after the semester and get my science concentration from Chemistry. >___>;
New image Hooray! The assignment (from a month ago XD) was "Percussion Gun". And since it was an ambiguous request, I submitted an ambiguous piece! Artistic license go! I actually almost forgot to take the picture, because I had taken it a few nights ago in my dreams. Fortunately the dream-shot was of a real place! So I walked over there and took more or less the same picture. Neato.
Sushi Friday! Kitteh Saturday! Rennfaire Sunday!(?) MC HAMMERPANTS GO!
Anyway, I'm probably going to start updating somewhat regularly again, but because I generally take way too long to make these, I'm only going to be putting up 1-2 per week. During breaks I might make more, but for now I kinda need to do homework and junk. Yeah.
Anyway, UMBC is going fine. I'm getting A's and B's, and Compsci might be >100% by now with all the easy arse extra credit, heh. I'm actually getting good at programming in Python! And by 'good' I mean 'Programmer Lv3 out of 100+', haha. I haven't even touched graphics yet, though we're supposed to start that next week. Unfortunately I can't just do all the coding for those assignments on my computer, because they have some sort of special graphics module on the server. Bleh.
Other classes are going well. Physics and Calc are the B's, because of technicalities and physics sucks. But it's better than Bio and Chem, so I guess I'll just have to go find Mr. Newton and have a little discussion about his laws of motion and stuff. I know he did Calculus too, but this stuff is mostly derivatives so far, and thus, really easy. Psych and English are just there, neither are really interesting, though I just have to pass the semester.
As for the campus itself, it's kinda boring. Then again, I'm a social recluse being forced in a triple with two guys I don't like, and no one on this side of the floor knows how to STFU before 2am, so that might affect my mood a little bit. Of course, I can just plug my MP3 player into my skull and everything magically goes away, so yay!
I beat Lotus Land Story! I really have no idea how, but I tried it on Easy since I don't play the PC98 games much, and I 1cc'd the whole thing with like 5 spare lives. That one's kinda easy heh. I tried Mystic Square after that, but I was getting pwned from the Stage 4 boss duo onward, and finally died at Shinki. As for the games I actually play, I've cleared several more shots in Shoot the Bullet, bringing me down to 8 total left. I've also almost cleared Subterranean Animism on Normal with ReimuA. Lots and lots of practice against Yuugi and Satori went a long way, and I beat Orin and got all the way to Okuu! Who then nuclear-blasted me in the face with her first spellcard. >_< Ah well, it was much further than I expected to get, and now I can practice Stage 5 (Which is not as bad as people make it seem, you just have to actually move around the screen more than usual.)
For normal video games, I just beat FFIV a few days ago...and it wasn't that great. I guess nostalgia makes things seem better than they were. All of the characters are really boring, they just have cool outfits. Maybe that'll change when I play through FFIV: After Years, but I don't know when that's going to be, because I really don't like playing my Wii or PS2 in here (I'll probably take all that stuff home soon so it's not just sitting around.)
I also played through an RPG Maker-made game called Yume Nikki, and it's unofficial sequal, Yume 2kki. (pun squad!) It's an awesome psychological game that is just awesome. I don't even know how to describe it properly, other than it went on my Top 10 of all time almost instantaneously. It's a SNES-looking adventure game that takes place in some messed-up/awesome dream worlds. There's no real threat, since you can always just wake up, and there's no real purpose except collecting effects and exploring everything. Apparently it's not done, but it's updated only every few years, so I'm looking forward to whatever else this guy has in store.
Anime-wise Pandora Hearts and Zetsubou sensei finished (though the latter's had two unsubbed episodes for like a month =/) Higurashi Rei finally got the final awesome retarded episode subbed and Umineko continues to be pretty awesome. We're on Episode 3 of the game, can't wait for the end of this one when my favorite character shows up! :3 Series in current are: One Piece, Bleach, Gintama, Umineko, Ghost Hunt, and Railgun. I should finish up Ghost Hunt right in time for Halloween assuming I don't slack. =D
Speaking of Umineko, the full version of La Divina Tragedia ~Makyoku~ came out while I was on hiatus, here it be!
Pretty nice, though I still can't get 100% used to it.
I'd love to write more, but I don't want to. More whenever I get around to it. I'll probably resume with Adrienne's photo assignments next week as well.
I always think this is going to happen when we work on piecewise functions.
Tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Are you ready to buckle your swashes and shiver some timbers, I know I am! I'm going to see if I can do it as completely casually as I can too, as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Of course, it isn't that abnormal for me anyway, but I digress.
HOLY CRAP BEST GAME EVER! Not really, but it's really awesome, creepy, confusing, and free! It's called Yume Nikki (Dream Diary) and it's a 16bit computer game made by the standard awesome/crazy Japanese people with too much time on their hands in RPGMaker (2003 I think). Anyway, I don't really understand the plot yet (if there is one), but you're a hikkikomori in your apartment (if you try to leave, your character just sits there shaking their head, I don't blame them). Anyway, you go to sleep, and then it's basically an adventure-based acid trip, like real dreams! Seriously, I can't properly describe this game, go play it yourself. Here's the download link. It's in .RAR, so make sure you can unzip that. Then you have to install the RPGMaker player(?) or something which is included, and change your unicode settings on your computer to Japanese. All the instructions are in the file, so it's not too hard to figure out.
So far, while I have no idea what I'm doing but wandering around mostly, I have found some items that can transform my character in the dream world. Namely, I can have long hair, blond hair, no face, be a severed head, traffic light, glowing neon, and a few other things. Notably, I can become a yuki-onna, who's pretty, and makes it snow wherever you are, which I used to put out a fire that was guarding a musical spaceship. No really. Why are you still reading my meaningless drivel, go play it already!
Nothing much to report on campus life. Half my classes are boring, my sink's been flooded for a day and maintenance hasn't gotten around to here yet, and the air conditioner keeps resetting itself. I went to anime club with Adrienne, but it was kinda boring since there was no anime and we were antisocial, but we did get chips and pizza and soda. We left early and went on an adventure, discovering the Rock Garden that has a bench with a journal full of stuff written in it. I might go back sometime and just sit there and read through some of the entries, it looks like it might be fun. Next adventure's going to either be exploring the tunnels or hunting down the duck pond. >:3
It's really hot in that Lecture Hall. I wonder who I can complain to?
In other classes, I had way too much fun with the English paper I turned in today, writing a second copy as a highly sarcastic version of netiquette from the POV of the internet. My partner laughed too much though, so Ms. Putzel came around and looked at it too. (by the way, it's funny because she slides around the classroom in a rolly-chair, so you don't see her coming usually) I offered to turn it in alongside our normal assingment, and she insisted I did. I can't wait to see what kind of a response I'll get back from that! XD
Touhou yay! I've started getting into the shooters again when I don't really have time to boot up FFIV, mainly Subterranean Animism. Somehow, not only have I managed to clear Iiji Modo with all 6 teams, but I tried Normal Mode again earlier today, and after being faceraped by Parsee in Stage 2, I somehow got all the way to the stage area after the Stage 5 midboss, a full level past my previous best attempt. Yuugi didn't even kill me once, it's a miracle! I think I'll keep trying a bit longer at that, I'd like to at least be able to fight Normal Mode Orin through once sometime. ;x
This week's theme was 'Pop is Dead'. Adrienne sorta got the idea right before I was able to do the shot, but there's like, no canned soda anywhere on campus. D: I like this one, though it would've been ever awesomer with a fish-eye. ;3
Now, back to ruthlessly slaughtering small woodland creatures until my trail of blood leads me to my next destination! Ho-hah!
This really happened, completely. Luckily, it only just started to rain after I got out of class. It was pouring after I got out of CompSci later though, which was awesome.
I FINALLY SAW THE LAST EPISODE OF HIGURASHI! GAH! Now I can die happy. Except not, since the Visual Novels are gonna be out starting in a couple months, and the manga's still a good ways from being translated, and I'll never actually be completely satisfied with Higurashi, as more is always required. ALWAYS. I just hope the second half of Umineko gives it some more epic points so it can properly compete. Chapter 4 was quite a good start though.
In other anime, Haruhi season 2 is finally over, in all it's mediocrity. Honestly, unless you're a hardcore Haruhi fan, I'd say just watch the first episode (Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody) and then wait another 2-3 years for Haruhi S3. No epic conclusion for you this time. =/
Went to see The Curious Savage on Thursday, and it was quite good. I honestly wasn't sure what the show was about, so I was relieved to discover it was a comedy. (The last few plays I've seen were really quite dry) My favorite characters were probably Fairy May and Paddy, thanks to their bizarrity. Ashley got bonus points for playing Wilhelmina, just because that's one of the most awesome names in forever, and Erik did a pretty good job as well, so long as he can keep under the gaze of the law, haha. There were a few odd things I saw, and a few more Erik and Ashley told me about afterwards, but I suppose it's not too bad? Heh, that's why you do a dress rehersal before the real thing. Break a greylag on the rest of your shows Erik! ;3
Happy Cirno Day everyone! And you better be happy, because today is the Strongest Day, possibly ever.
Today's entry is a day early for two reasons. The second being that I probably won't have time to make an entry tomorrow, since I'm actually going to see a play for the first time in over 500 years! Maybe not that long, but it's been a while. Erik's in a theatre group that's performing 'The Curious Savage', and because I'm special I get to see it free. I'll letCHA know how it was and how many times Erik screws up this weekend. =D
Holy carp, the Undefined Fantastic Object English patch is already out! That's crazy, since the game is less than a month old. So now I think the only Windows-era game that needs to be English-ized is Unthinkable Natural Law, and then I shall RULE THE WORLD! Or maybe just GENSOKYO! Or maybe I'll just get my arse kicked by Yuugi again. -_-;
Anyway! As of today I've survived one week of actual school. Technically I've been here for eleven days now, but classes started last Tuesday, so this is important! If I pretend maybe...
This week's photo was "The First Five Times." My first couple ideas were actually really awesome, but I couldn't get the time machine to work right without losing at least 3 meals off my meal plan, so I said screw it and just decided to stay within the boundaries of this dimension for the shot.
Got to do a psuedo-waterpark thing again! More inflatable slides appeared in Erickson Field on sunday, but this time there was water! There still wasn't much though, but it felt good toget dunked repeatedly into a small pool of water, especially after I went on the slip n' slide too fast and rolled through the mud past the end for a few feet, haha.
Spend most of the rest of the weekend doing homework or interbutting. I tried to get back into Oblivion with a magey character, but it's kinda uninteresting. I might remake a heavy fighter type to see what that's like. Still haven't done Shivering Isles or Dark Spire, but I dunno if I'll get to that this time. I also started playing FFIV DS, and have been brutally assaulted buy waves of Nostalgia.
Oh yeah, my finger's doing much better now, it usually only hurts when I clench my fist, so I figure it'll be back to normal next weekend sometime. Wheee!
Our Physics teacher literally said that about turning in late assignments. I thought it was pretty funny.
I'm not really going to type alot today, because I stubbed my right pinky jump/falling out of my bed earlier, and while it's not swollen or anything, it still hurts like hell. Even though you don't use them alot, it's amazing how much you depend on your pinky and ring fingers without realizing it.
Lesse, biked a half hour at the gym, and surprisingly wasn't sweaty or tired at all when I got back to my dorm. Looks like all the walking I'm doing helped warm up my legs enough not to be destroyed like after Capture the flag last week, haha.
STILL no Higurashi Rei 5 subs. Want moar Hirukowashi-hen NAO! T_T
And to all none of you who dare to wonder wtf is up with the end of the flash, I present to you, Neko Miko Reimu. I will not be held accountable for any sanity or narwals you lose during viewing said video.
I don't think I'll be making elaborate Flashes for a while unfortunately, just sort of quickies like this. Maybe on weekends unless I get bogged down with homework and/or Swine Flu (lawl). Yes, people are still freaking out about it.
Anyway, school is going well so far. Both my roommates and the guys next door are pretty cool, and they tend to leave the room alot anyway so I've got plenty of privacy and stuff. Though Jose needs to stop forgetting his phone, because it likes to go off every two minutes on the dot. Literally.
Welcome Week activities were lame for the most part, except the giant inflated aircraft carrier obstacle course/slide coming out of Erickson. I rode that thing over and over until I got too dizzy to continue, haha. Classes are okay so far, though I need to take a trip back to the bookstore tomorrow to rep my Physics text, get a Calc WebAccess thing, and probably sell back my CompSci book as well. Psych and English don't seem quite as bad as I was dreading, so Valedictorian should be easy to get, haha. Lastly, had a Quiz ZERO on the first class of Calc, where I barely managed to answer 9/15, and I'm only sure of about 6 of those. Good thing it's not graded, not really sure what it was for tbh.
Other than that, nothing much going on on campus. I've been dabbling in Oblivion to pass some of the time, and Rei's started to hang out from yesterday, in our preliminary exercises for taking over the school and turning it into Garden. Also random doings of stuff like watching Zoolander or playing Rubberbandball.
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Rei Episode 5 still isn't subbed. Me is a sad panda.
I think my recent break in Touhou has actually dulled my skills instead of increasing them for once. I've tried several times to get through UFO on Normal, but I keep dying on Murasa after her stage has its way with me. I've managed to make it to her survival card twice I think, but no dice. Guess I'll just stick with Oblivion for now, going all-mage is almost interesting enough to keep me playing a while, heh.
Finally, here's this week's picture: "Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks." The shitty quality is my fault, I completely forgot to compensate for ISO when using Tungsten light. Bleargh. Well, next week marks the first photo done at UMBC! Woo! *explodes*
Splortastic. Saffy's always gonna get the short end of the stick at this rate, haha.
The fifth and final episode of Higurashi Rei is out! But the subs aren't! Boo! I'm kinda surprised how slow the subs for Rei have been, maybe just because they're released so erratically or something, I dunno. Hopefully it'll be up before Friday.
Back onto Umineko, I made a GREAT DISCOVERY! Was browsing around music and I came across the B Side to the Katayoku no Tori single that came out last week, entitled VII. It's now one of my favorite songs, and it's not hard to understand why:
I still don't know what my theme for this week is. Adrienne was being all vague about it saying I should know, but it's not like anything big has happened recently, or anything interesting happens at the end of August right? Ahhhh /headsplode. So, since I couldn't figure it out, I just used "You oughta know" as the theme at the last minute, haha. Not too bad for something I just whipped together in a few minutes. I wanted to use a different binder, but I think that might be the only one left intact in the house, haha. Ah well.
Not really alot going on, actual shopping and packing won't start until tomorrow or Tuesday. I've largely just been surfing around Gaia in a naive belief that I'll find somewhere that pekes my interest and actually makes me unlurk again. I did watch This is Otakudom last night with my sister and her boyfriend for the first time in quite a while, and it was wonderous.
So yeah, my summer's almost over, just another week until move-in to UMBC. Of course, it'll still technically be summer, we've still got another month until Shizuha and Minoriko show up. Doesn't look like I can get to a water park after all, guess I'll just settle for another thorough watergun blasting. Next summer though. Next summer I'm going to Water Country USA if I have to do it by myself. =P
The Umineko anime has been...kinda rushed recently. Not quality-wise (though one of Beatrice's faces in Episode 7 would beg to differ), but the pacing has been at breakneck speed, apparant even if one hasn't read the visual novels. I'm not really sure why they're rushing things so fast, they've still got 16-18 episodes to tell 2.5 chapters, not like how they tried to fit 6 games into the first season of Higurashi. It seemed to be getting better toward the end of the episode, so maybe they're getting things back on track. Or maybe they just want to spend lots of time on Ange in the fourth part. I'm totally down for that then, haha.
Speaking of Umineko, the full version of the OP, Katayoku no Tori has been released, and I love it.
The ending theme should be out next month.
New videos for FFXIV came out with Gamescon. One show scaled-back Alpha version gameplay, so while it's pretty (and it's very pretty), it's not a good feel for how the game's going to end up yet. The guy who's controlling the character looks like he has no idea what he's doing either, lol. The other one is high-definition emotes for all the races, and they're quite a step up from what FFXI fans are used to, haha.
I didn't see any actual new info on FFXIV though, just a bunch of rehashed stuff. What's the next big press conference, Tokyo Game Show? Dunno, but should get more info periodically, if nothing else than through Famitsu.
Healthy eating omgwtfbbq? Yup, ...right after this Ben&Jerry's! =D
I've been thinking for a while about doing one of these art memes in flash, since my strip style lends itself to it. I originally thought about doing a UFO/UNL thing, but there weren't alot of new characters, so I decided to try this out. And yes, using a mouse with your feet is next to impossible.
This week's photo assignment was 'Hybrid Rainbow', and I instantly had to delve back into my music folders, as FLCL is awesome. I actually like how this one turned out, pretty close to my original idea. I wanted more sunlight, but it seems the trees are too thick for that, oh well. I just have to improve my retouching skill a bit since this was a bit sloppy, and figure out if there's a way to make my camera take less grainy pictures. I can fix it with resizing and blur, but I want the 22mpx images I was used to before XD Ah well. These glasses are really great for random images, I just wish the rims were a bit thicker, since they dn't hold shape well if I get too designy with the shots.
So, like I said, two new Touhou games came out this weekend, 12 - Undefined Fantastic Object and 12.3 - Unthinkable Natural Law. UFO full is pretty freaking awesome. Byakuren and Nue are both excellent designs, and interesting fights, and I can't wait to hear the countless inevitable remixes of Heian Alien. I feel kinda unimpressed with Syou as a Stage 5 boss, and I almost felt that way about Murasa as a Stage 4 boss, then she starts chucking giant anchors at me, holy crap that was a fun fight. I managed to 1cc Easy mode on my second try, with like 4 lives left. Watch me get my arse beat to death in Stage 3 once I try Normal Mode just like Subterranian Animism, haha. UNL is kinda odd, since I never got used to Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. Other new fighters include Suwako and Utsuho (Where's my ORIIIIIIIIIIIN? :( ) There's only 1 new 'character', a giant unnamed catfish that Meiling dreamed up while she was on duty. It'll be fun playing if I ever get around to figuring it out, but for now I'll stick with Higurashi Daybreak as my Doujin fighter of choice.
Finally got through Umineko Episode 4 on Saturday at some point, jeebus that thing was long. Battler ended up overtaking me in thinking, but then again he actually got to interact with all that stuff, haha. The final scene in Alliance of the Golden Witch was really cool, and made sense, but then Lambdadelta had to go and be a bitch and completely throw all the details into darkness again, geez. Ange was also a great addition at the end there, and I certainly hope this isn't the last we see of her, though it probably will be. Chapter 5: End of the Golden Witch was just released on Saturday, as the first part of Umineko no Naku Koro Ni Chiru set, which is supposedly like the 'answer arcs' in Higurashi (Kai). I'll get back to that once Witch Hunt has enough time to translate through, until then I guess I can look around to see if anyone's translated the TIPS.
Talked to both my roomies now, and we've more or less arranged things out. Not that it really changed much I was taking, haha. According to Jose, the triple rooms are supposed to be bigger than a normal room too, and have a full 3 sets of furniture. That sounds good, I guess all that's left to do is go shopping for the last bit of stuff and wait 11 days. We'll all be moving in the same day, so that'll be easier for agreeing how to set up everything.
Addendum: Lullaby of Demonic Hell ~<3
The first one's simply amazing, the second starts after ~5min and is kinda okay.
Anyway, I forgot this on Saturday, but Haruhi S2 has finally aired the eighth and final episode of 'Endless Eight', meaning this week will finally be worth watching again, unless they *really* want to troll the crap out of the fanbase, lol.
Went up to UMBC to get Snocones, since they're awesome. And to make it even better, me and Adrienne walked all over campus in the hot sun, and *then* found the ID cards at the University Center, making me look kinda gross/stoned in my ID, but also with blue teeth. I want to smack them, but I guess it's not ID station's faults they know absolutely nothing about lighting? /photogeekrage
Speaking of /photogeek, here's this week's photo.
The topic was "Falling Away With You", and yeah, I kinda lamed it. I had a perfect idea had I been at UMBC, and I bet I'll get plenty of ideas there that I can only do at home. Ah well. As for the other picture I was working on, that might take a bit longer. I didn't have what I used the last time, so I tried to improvise...and it completely failed on me, oh geez. I have a couple more ideas, one which I'm almost certain can pull it off, I just can't screw up since I won't get a second try with that. Well, assuming all works out I'll have it up by the end of the month, so look forward to it.
I still have 3 roommates, although it seems my first third rm withdrew a while back, and then I find out today they sprung a new one on us. Geez, thanks bunches UMBC. *stabstab*
Deep into Umineko Episode 2 now, Turn of the Golden Witch. I must say, Beatrice is a formidable opponent. While I can't actually affect the outcome of the story, I'm trying to figure out the 'human tricks' along with Battler, and we're about the same pace, sometime I figure out something earlier, or sometimes he makes a move I didn't see, but so far in the end it seems all that's happening is moving the King frantically from Check. But it's not Checkmate yet, we'll see how this unravels. I don't know if I enjoy this quite as much as Higurashi, but it's certainly more intellectual, heh.
Jeebus, the midget even invaded my room on three separate occasions while I was trying to make this flash. It's fortunate I'm a genius and managed to make her curious about the kangaroos that live in the Sahara Desert.
Umineko is making 0 sense right now, I get that the last episode is a flashback and all (Though the lack of Tsurupettan was unfortunate), but there's this whole thing where 4 people *might* still be alive? Or are they dead now? Or did they reach the Golden Land and every one else revived? Or what the poop happened? I decided 20ish minutes a week was too slow, so I managed to find a group that had translated all 4 episodes of the Umineko game/sound novel so far. I figured I'd run through it a bit and at least catch up to the anime, and probably go further on. Little did I realize just how much they have to cut out of these games to fit them into an anime. For reference, I've been going through for hours and hours and hours, and I'm a bit over halfway through Episode 1 I think? Or equivalently, near the beginning of the third anime episode. There's tons of stuff they left out, so far the most notable bits are the very beginning of the story was completely cut, including Battler's airplane fright, and Rosa's very character didn't make it into the anime. All we saw of her was freaking out and slapping Maria for going 'Uuuuu' all the time in the rose garden, but most of the time she's a very reserved and kind person, easily the least venomous of the four siblings. Anyway, I'll probably work my way through this and the other three chapters over August, maybe finishing by school move-in. Episode 5 is slated to be released at Comiket in a week though, so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled this fall to see if an English patch comes out for that.
Obviously with all this Umineko stuff, naturally I would backtrack and see if I couldn't find a translation for the Higurashi games, since I've gotten nowhere near enough Higurashi in my life. And I did, though unfortunately only for Onikakusi-hen. Ironically it was translated by a pair of RL going by the monikers of Mion and Shion, haha. Anyway, the patch is actually down at the moment (though I could probably find it if I tried), but they seem to plan to put it up sometime soonish. In addition, I found that the Higurashi games had been licensed for an English release by a company called MangaGamer. They seem to be European-based, and intend to release the Question Arcs (Onikakushi, Watanagashi, Tatarigoroshi, Himatsubushi) in October and the Answer Arcs (Meakashi, Tsumihoroboshi, Minagoroshi, Matsuribayashi) in December. They even seem to have hired a diehard Higurashi fan who's a skilled English/Japanese bilinguist, so it looks like it'll turn out good. Assuming the price isn't too exorbant, I'll try to get them as soon as I possibly can, haha. The only downside I see is there doesn't seem to be any current intentions for the localization of some of the other chapters from Higurashi Rei, Matsuri(PS2) or Kizuna(DS). Ah well, one step at a time, eh?
Going back to the real world a bit, I finally got my college accomadations in the mail. I'll be living in Susquehanna Hall North, Third floor, Room 358. Move-in's on the 28th, and I believe classes start the following Tuesday? I don't remember. Anyway, I'm mostly ready, just need to do a little bit of shopping and pick up my book packages from the school bookstore. I've got both my English books now, but no world on any details of my Calculus class yet, which is getting a bit annoying. The biggest problem though, is my roommates. I haven't met them yet, so I don't know what they're like, but there's two of them. Yeah, UMBC crammed me in a triple. *superpapercutstab* I don't think Susquehanna has common rooms, so that makes it all the more tricky, especially if they opt to only give us two closets. (Closests aren't built-in in SUS, so I think they can be moved about. I might be wrong.) Well, I've got some ideas on how to beat the system, but it's certainly going to be an interesting bout of Room Tetris.
The official article with more info on FFXIV came out, and with it, significantly better quality character scans. All pictures here are shamelessly stolen from RPGamer, lol. If it bitches for hotlinking, just hit enter in the address bar again or wait a minute and it'll automagically reload anyway: Hyuran Male | 2 | Female | 2 Elezen Male | 2 | Female | 2 Lalafell Male | 2 | Female | 2 Roegadyn 1 | 2 Miqo'te 1 | 2
Some of the highlights from the article include multiple clans in both the Miqo'te and the Hyuran, not sure if there'll be discernable differences yet. Racial stats will be less varied than they were in FFXI, but there will now be slight differences between males and females as well. Customization is supposed to really be kicked up a notch, and you shouldn't be running into your twin every 20 feet (lol). Missions and quests seem like they will take a larger role this time, and many will take 30min or less to complete, something highly valued by solo and casual players. Armor tweaking and weapon skills have somehow taken the place of experience points and whatnot, but it's unclear how this will be executed. Unlike FFXI though, armor seems to have the ability to deteriorate with use. Finally, there are 3 large towns confirmed. A desert town of Ul'dah, Gridania in the forest, and a lawless port town named Limsa Lominsa. I'm totally going for Limsa, haha.
Finally, here are some of what are almost certainly ingame screenshots. The quality's a bit low, but that's obviously the computer/photo capture they used, not the game engine: + | + | + | + | + | +
And for no reason in particular, here's Tsurupettan!
