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Which is pretty much all I can say. XD I swear, everything that can go wrong usually does, or at least it ends up screwing up royally. *sighs* Summer was amazing and then....splat. I swear, it's like falling into the ocean off a cliff. Talk about a wake up slap. So....senior year.....
It's SUPPOSED to be easier than the others, but IB and AP just doesn't work that way, does it. T_T I hate essay with a passion, and I'm starting to get pretty sick of college apps.
(yes, for those of you who notice these things, I seemed to have skipped my junior year. It's complicated. Basically, I finished my sophmore classes in one semester last year and junior in the second semester and over summer. There were some weird situations that forced it to end up like that. Ah....college....*makes a face*)
FINALLY! After another 4 grueling months, the English version of Avalon Code is out! God, the Japanese get everything early >_< but it was worth the wait! Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go lock myself up and probably not come out for the next 3 days straight XD I've been looking forwards to this game since....about a week after it was announced. That's nearly a year ago >_> Wow. Still, whenever I build up my expectations THAT high, there's no way the actual game can live up to it XP But as long as it's fun, I don't think I'll really mind in the end.
I FINALLY finished Crisis Core the other day and...well, could they make a more depressing ending?? TAT It's up there with Suikoden II for my all time favorite scenes in a game. I was trying not to cry the whole time cause my eyes would blur and I sure as hell wasn't going to miss any of the cutscene (or replay it, once was enough emo for me thank you very much >_>)
I mean, I've played FFVII, so I know Zack dies...BUT STILL!! ZACK~!!! TT_TT
....that's all. I just needed to rant a bit. I seriously wished he could've lived now.... >_<
UGH >_< So, in the end, I put it on my emulator and ran it until the bug showed up. Paused it, pulled up the source file and read through nearly 10 pages worth of code to find the freaking problem. One of the more annoying parts of my gaming career, to be sure. Since the problem actually seemed to be in the graphics plug in, I spent another hour tinkering around...
Uh, right, the point of this post. Um, basically, IT WORKS! *cries tears of joy* Now I get to go kick Hitler's butt again... IN AMERI- *shot* Ok, I mean, in English XD
For those people who like the Persona series (and I know there's quite a large fanbase now), you NEED to play this game. I'm not kidding. I rate Persona 2 high than any of its other successors (yes, even 3 and 4, get off my back). The ISO can be burned or found very easily on the internet, along with any PSX emulators. The game runs perfectly fine with any of mine. Also, the patch is a work of god. I mean, a translation AND it fixes previous bugs? Gemini is the game god incarnated. I took a look at the original code, out of curiousity. He's right. This is a game programmed by Satan >_> It's a mess. In a good way. I think... XD
Anyways, go play it you guys! It's FINALLY out in English!
...is an amazing game. Amazingly addicting. I got it for Christmas this year (yeah yeah, I know, I'm late) and finish it on New Year's day. Less than two weeks. I've NEVER done that before. I mean, even when I gamed nonstop, I never managed to stick with one game long enough to actually finish it. My previous record was 2 months, which is REALLY fast for me already. I usually take upwards to a year to finish a single game (hush, I'm slow).
2 weeks.... jeez....
Well, now I know why it was so critically acclaimed. I ACTUALLY FOUGHT THE BATLLES FOR FUN! X
The art and music really are awe-worthy, as well. The image gallery you unlock after your beat the game.... man, it was like a brick to the head. The details of each character, weapon, landscape, demons, and just everything is mind boggling. I have the artbook and OST now, ordered off of Play-Asia with express shipping XDD I do think the word "obsession" fits me quite well at the moment.
But man, what a great game. I'm still in denial that it ever ended. Ugh, I'm hating the fact that Clover Studios closed down right now. I can't stand the idea of a sequel made by anyone but the people who created this awesome game... and I NEED A SEQUEL T_________T. There's only one complaint I have about the game, and it has nothing to do with game mechanics. IT'S PLOTHOLES, DAMMIT, PLOTHOLES. *sobs*
Okami had a wonderful storyline. It was filled with a mythlike feeling but at the same time a modern adventure. BUT IT GOT REALLY GOOD TOWARDS THE END.
XD On the bright side, those pictures and artwork gallery have really lit a fire. I can finally feel motivated about finishing all those drawings sitting in the dark corner of my room. Won't my teacher be happy? XD *bricked* I've made a decision. I'm going to keep working on my designing and landscape skills until the day I can look at that artbook without cringing and feeling inferior. *thumbs up* ....which, might take a while. XD
Okami = <3. If you haven't played it, do so. I mean, I know at least half of America has a Wii by now (XD) so there's no more of the "I don't have the right console excuse". The PS2 version is better, in my opinion, due to miscellaneous sound and control issues, but if you have a Wii and no PS2, still get it. The Wii version is pretty much identical in terms of gameplay, story, music, and art, so there's no reason not to. You really are missing a phenomenal game if you don't. I seriously regret not getting it earlier now T_T
The main character, Lag, was saved by a Letter Bee (those working for the government to deliver letters) and, although a brat at first, warms up to Gauche, his savior and eventually aimed to be like him. In Amberground, where the cities are seperated and the lands plagued by monsters called Gaichuu as well as the caste system barring the cities and isolating them, it's very hard for people who are in different cities to contact each other. The letters they send are often characterized in the stories as containing the "heart" or precious thoughts and wishes of a person. The Letter Bees job is to ensure that it reaches the recipient. It's a very nice manga and the artwork is lovely as well....
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...but, the recent chapters.... kinda made me want to cry. It's getting pretty sad, with poor Gauche losing his heart and Lag suffering so much because that, stupid, stupid idiot can't remember him anymore.... T_T *sniff* Gauche!!! I'm not giving up! I'm going to keep believing this story'll have a happy ending, goddammit! *sniff* 'Cause if it doesn't, I know it's going to break my heart, ESPECIALLY SINCE THE REST OF THE STORY I
*sniff* Right, well that's it for my rant...again XD Go read the manga if you haven't. It's absolutely wonderful. One of my favorite. It's hosted on onemanga.com as well, for easy access.
Jeez, I love this game to death and now I getting spoiled by extras XD Well, although this is mostly just a journal for me to rant about the manga, I might as well talk about Baroque too. In case anyone's reading this, Baroque has been ported over a bunch of times, but the only version I've played is the Wii version. It's a really nonconventional RPG and you'll find a lot of bad reviews. That's because it's much different and you have to understand that as your playing through. It falls into that rouge-like, dungeon crawler niche. See, everytime you die, you restart from level 1 with none of your items. It may seem annoying, but it's actually not that bad since the whole tower is only about 40 floors. I liked it because of the storyline, which it gives you in bits and pieces. You have to meet certain requirements to unlock the pieces. In fact, you can beat the whole game without ever once learning anything about the story. So it's a combination of patience and perseverence. Oh, and it gave me a couple of quasi-nightmares XDDD
I dunno, I don't mind grinding or starting from scratch, so maybe that's why I love this game so much, since I can ignore the annoying elements. But the story and side characteristics (like the Idea Seraphs) are so abstract and symbolic and...well thought provoking, although it's rather dark. I really like stories like those. It's a really deep game in my opinion. Too bad most people can't get past the "holy crap what the hell am I doing I'm lost" factor. Yeah, the game basically throws you right into the midst of things with no explanation whatsoever >_> So read the manual (which I always do XD Habit).
BACK TO THE MANGA. *cough* For people who can't stand the game regardless, at least for the love of god read the manga. It tells the storyline much better and is really beautiful. *huggles* Now, I haven't finished reading it yet, but I love it so far. *runs off to go read*
..... Wow, that was a really random, spontaneous journal XD I seem to be writing more of those lately....oh dear...
Anyways, it did get me wondering. Somehow I always think "global warming" whenever one of these things happen XD But I heard that this time it was actually a crime scene scenario. Apparently some of the fires were started by some idiot right IN THE FREAKING MIDDLE OF THE SANTA ANA W
Ok, so we recently had a two day holiday for Veteran's Day over here...and since Persona 4's pretty much nearly out I figured I shoul probably finish Persona 3 (yeah, yeah, I'm like a year behind. Everyone else is already done with it XD)
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Final Fantasy 7 was nothing compared to this.... I literally am posting this in hindsight cause for nearly five hours after I finished I was busy trying to get over the disbelief and pull myself out of this giant swamp of emo and sadness that welled up >_> Yeah, it was that bad. I don't think I cried this much over a video game (or book or movie, etc) ....like ever. I probably won't be on LJ for a while. I'm going to go find Atlus and DEMAND a sequel (no, FES does not count) cause otherwise there's going to be an extremely angry fan at there door. I live close to Irvine, so don't say it's not possible, it is.
God, I'm so going broke this Christmas XD I swear, everywhere I look either America's coming out with new games, Japan's coming out with new games, EUROPE's even coming out with new games, or games I loved are getting a makeover and ported over to one of my lovely handhelds, either the PSP or DS <3
To begin with, there's Persona 4, which I have been absolutely obsessed with for the last 2 months. Besides stalking the
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mayonakatv for the last month or so, I've been adding site after site to my long list of favorites XD Not to mention I burned the ISO and have been playing nonstop, but it's kinda laggy and just not the same as playing the real thing. So, in support of my utter obsession with the Persona games in general (yep, all the way from number 1) I'm going to buy the Japanese version...and the English version ^^; That's about $90 right there....ouch.Next, there's Avalon Code, for which I'm getting the Japanese version cause English version for games on the DS tend to be butchered...especially voiced version *cough*Luminous Arc*cough**. So that's coming out December as well...>_>
Next we've got the Exorcism of Maria, a really cool looking otome games from the makes of Princess Nightmare. Yep, also scripted for December, along with Garnet Cradle, an otome game I'm REALLY looking forwards too.
So far that's....nearly $200....T_T Damn~ That's more than I usually spend a year, all in one blow too XD My wallet's going to be feeling this for the next couple months. Oh and let's not forget Christmas presents for everyone else (crap XD), so yeah...
What else....I know I wanted to talk about something else....
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OH RIGHT! Anyone here Mexican? Since it's almost Halloween over here, my Spanish teacher was teaching us some legends related to it. There's one, La Leyenda Del Espantapájaros, which means The Legend of the Scarecrows. It's really sad, but the reason why I remember it was because she showed us a Youtube video animation of the story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcxYYCJYt
You should be able to pick out the story even if you don't know the actual legend. Basically, there's a scarecrow who had no friends and was always alone. He liked to watch the birds, but they never responded when he greeted them, even when he offered them food. Then one day, one of the birds fell from the sky, a crow. It was hurt, so the scarecrow decided to take care of it. When it was better, it explained to the scarecrow that the birds wouldn't talk to it because scarecrows were made to torment birds who came down to eat. The scarecrow explained that he wasn't like that, and then the crow flew away. That night, the scarecrow decided to change his life somehow, and went to talk to the farmer. He wanted to tell the farmer that he no longer wanted a job scaring birds. However, the farmer was terrified of the scarecrow when it came into his room, and gathered his friends, telling them the it was the devil. The people gathered together, chased the scarecrow into a windmill, and burned him. The crow that had been saved told his friends about how this scarecrow was not evil, but by the time they went to go help him, it was too late. The scarecrow was burned to death, and afterwards the crows took his ashes and scattered them into the sky, so that he would never be alone again; he would always be flying in the sky alongside them. From then on, crows were alays black, in memory of the death of the scarecrow.
...yeah, it's pretty depressing. The video has BEAUTIFUL music though. I ended up putting it repeat and listening to it nearly 50 times XDD But yeah, that's the second part of this journal I knew I was forgetting. HAPPY HALLOWEEN~! Or at least to everyone who celebrates it. I was going to draw something, but I got lazy XD So instead, I'll post something for Christmas. And on a totally unrelated note, I LOVE Soul Eater, it's such an addicting manga :P Oh oh! AND! ONE PIECE! I swear it gets better each chapter....unlike some other long lasting mangas that seem to be going circles or something -_-; *cough*Naruto and Bleach*cough*...seriously though. I manage to predict the last 3 plot twists in Naruto without ever reading up anywhere past the formation of Hebi....and Bleach is still going nowhere anytime fast ._.;
All griping aside, I have to say I'm pretty happy. I was actually going to buy the Japanese version in December, when it comes out over there, but I think I can wait till March for the US one. I'm really looking forwards to this game. It's got beautiful characters designed, a really intriguing story, wonderful graphics (I mean, for a DS games, it looks better than some of the PS2 games I've seen >_>), and really cool gameplay (the trailers seemed so at least. I mean, you can knock monsters out of the stratosphere into outer space XD That was enough for me. I saw that and basically said, "That's it. I'm buying this game" :P). Plus, there are a couple of pairing endings you can get~<3 If I play the girl, I want to find a way to win the enemy prince XD He seems so sad, his past is pretty depressing. I think that's an otome game overload talking there though ^^;
Anyways, if you guys haven't heard of it, go check it out. IGN has a preview, the official site is up, and youtube has the trailer <3 I really have my sights set on this (SINCE WE WERE DEPRIVED OF A NA RELEASE FOR TALES OF INNOCENCE *cough cough*) and now I think I have a slight glimmer of hope that some of the other awesome DS games will come over (*cough* World Destruction *cough*) You know, importing from Japan is really expensive, so if the NA gaming companies finally decide to get their butts into gear (like Atlus <3) I will love them for life XD
( Read more... )
Either way, about half of them were about my AP tests or schools recommending themselves since they noticed I was taking AP classes (which, I'm proud to say, I got all 5's on all my tests so far. One of the few acedemic achievements I actually take pride in XD The other stuff I just kinda go, "meh, good for me" XP) Then there were a couple about my PSAT since I got a pretty good score (ARGH! I almost got a perfect score if it weren't for my math section >_<)
What really surprised me were the last two. Even before I opened them I knew they were different. I mean, one of the evelopes had gold embellishment all around the edges o_o....
I GOT TWO $500 SCHOLARSHIPS!! *huggles* I couldn't believe it! One was for a writing contest I got second place in and the other was for my PSAT score!! YES! My parents were so happy I'm off the hook for studying the rest of the summer! Even though that's only 3 days I don't care. I haven't had a break this whole freaking summer vacation. I'm going to spend the rest of my three days playing games till my eyes rot. Wohoo!
I GOT TO WATCH THE OLYMPICS!!! *happy*
My aunt bought me tickets to gymnastics and swimming. Oh! Oh! AND I got to go to the opening ceremony....ok, well the rehearsal. The real opening ceremony was reserved for "important people" *grumble* My aunt works for the government, so she had tickets to both the rehearsal and the actual one. She gave the rehearsal one to me and I snuck in XD (I wasn't supposed to be there). Anyways, it was practically the same as the real one, minus the fireworks and, of course, the torch lighting and athletes. Still, it was really, really cool. Some of the stuff was really archaic Chinese culture, so I didn't understand everything. And it was hot. Way too hot. But I'm still happy about it. I'm sure it's a once in a lifetime experience.
The water cube and bird's nest are both really cool (where swimming and the ceremony were held, respectively). For swimming, we saw the women's synchronized diving. I was stuck between who to cheer for XD I'm American, but I've been raised with all this Chinese culture around me, plus I was in China....with a bunch of Chinese fans....sitting in the section where everyone was cheering for China. Well, in the end I just cheered for everyone, so it all worked out XP
I kept the ticket stubs as souvenirs (sp?). I'll scan them in when I get to chance so everyone can see (well, that and I promised Angie I woud :P)
I mean, I had more free time during the school year, dammit! There's something wrong with this. The only day I'm allowed to play is Saturday, and even then it's only for half a day.... T_T
Of course, nobody's home during the day, so I don't always listen to them and play for most of the day sometimes. Unfortunately, my conscience picks now of all times to kick in. I mean, I had absolutely no problem punching a guys face in on the last day of school (he deserved it, and no, I didn't get into trouble XD) but I can't go the whole day defying my parent's stupid, unreasonable order. *sigh* As it is, it's a very boring summer....dammit....T_T
On the bright side though, I got two new games! First off, Harutoki 4 is FUN. It's so addicting. But I also got Odin Sphere, which is like, the second prettiest RPG I've ever played (Baten Kaitos is still number one for me ^_^). Between these two games, I at least feel like it's summer some of the time....>_>
...man, I would've given an arm and leg to go to this event. Honestly, there's simply no words I can use to describe how amazing that would have been. Yes I know, it was a long LONG time ago ....BUT I FOUND YOUTUBE VIDEOS!!! :D I don't use youtube THAT much, so when I found these videos...<3<3<3
A quick rundown, the Yanni is group of musicians that combines all forms of music, from classic to rock to new age and to some special style of their own too awesome to describe. I LOVE their performances. If I could even get into one in my lifetime, I would be happy. I think any attempt I make to describe how awesome their music is would end up being an insult to their talent, so I'm just going to post the links to some of the videos here. Even if you dislike music, I think anyone can appreciate these songs. There's something that....for lack of a less corny phrase....resounds with your soul (yeah yeah, shut up, I couldn't have picked a more cliche line....>///<), but it really does. So without further ado, the videos from Yanni Live Conert event!
Rainmaker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvJH_POzx
The Storm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSrH_oqnr
Prelude and Nostalgia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U79esEAO7
For All Seasons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynv9pyPr0
And there are many, many more songs that you should listen to. Their music is beautiful. I hope that at least one person sees this journal and listens to their music. If you like it, you'll know what I mean when I say it's very hypnotizing and powerful. If you dislike it, you might want to rethink about your preferences, but I can't judge you either. I hope you guys like it though ^_^
Well, call it karma or what you will, but I finally got off my lazy bum and got Neo Angelique (well, actually, I bought it a while ago, but it just came in the mail today)...
Anyways...I can't stop playing it. *is in her 7th hour straight* It's kinda pathetic. I finally pulled myself away long enough to make this post XD Now, I'm going back to go play...again...
...'cause I messed up on Nyx's route so I'm starting over... XD
*flails* Yes, I'm back once again. Don't worry though, there's no super long review/rant for the game this time, but thanks to Aoton on one of the forums, I was reminded once again that Harutoki 4 comes out....
.... in LESS THAN A MONTH!! afjd';#$sdfj! I don't know why it took so long to kick in, but for the past couple of weeks my brain has still been functioning as if there were a month left until the release date, when there's actually...about two weeks left... O_O HOLY -!!! There's only two weeks left! *bricked*
So...yeah.... I don't think I'll last that long T_T Between school and my falling grades, I should probably worry more about reality but... Harutoki 4 .... aw shoot. This ain't good.... >_>
*just wasted five minutes of your time*
