So I've commented before on how Crimson Gem Saga seems to have made a checklist of the great list of console RPG clichés.

At least it admits it.

So I fought some giant ridiculous boss in a dungeon, and I finish killing him, and shit starts falling apart all around me. Gelts, the Big Damn Cleric (in the D&D sense - heavy armour and heal spells and a giant fucking mace) is all "WTF is going on here?!" and Spinel (the over-breasted obligatory elf thief chick) goes, "I don't know, maybe he was load-bearing? Let's just go already!"

I just about died at the overt acknowledgment of cliché.

Atlus, I heart your localizations more than I can say.

Gaming aside, it's been a productive day - I ran some needed errands, and talked to the career services people. I don't have an appointment to talk to their person until the 16th, so I'll be doing my own thing as best I can till then. Also I have really cute kitties in a pile all around me. But I must disturb them, for that I must put on clothes for Demon.

Tags: crimson gem saga, special tag combination: lol whut?, the great job hunt
Feeling: amused
Hearing: Celine Dion - All Coming Back to Me Now

I've been alternately productive and non-productive today. I updated my resume, had it reviewed by three people, implemented their suggestions, printed it out, and filled out the forms to get me started with the university career services people, all of which I'm dropping off to them tomorrow. I did some research into fields I would like to go into, realized that much to my glee the salaries in said fields are rather higher than I thought, and hunted down a couple of specific companies to investigate more closely.

I also did a ton of dishes, tidied a number of things that have been just flopping about, and then took the remainder of the afternoon to fiddle about, because I was waiting on final edits on the resume from people and didn't want to start sending stuff out until I had all the corrections.

My head hurts. Pout.

But I has a wrenbow, and that is awesome.

Also, thank you so much to everyone who commented with supportive words yesterday; I really appreciate it and you all are awesome. ♥

I think I shall go curl up with a book for a while.

Tags: the great job hunt, work stuff
Hearing: Nat swearing repeatedly at FF6

Updating my archive posts for rose_in_winter. Augh. So many fics. And I haven't even gotten to FF4 or FF6 yet (just finished FF12, which is the fandom in which I am third-most-prolific.)

The weekend was pretty awesome - I have some thoughts which I am still assembling into coherence for a post later, but we had a grand time Saturday night beating the bejesus out of a large Optimus Prime pinata, and then spent part of yesterday helping people unpack stuff from moving.

Also, Lulu's tonight for delicious, delicious noms. I'm excited. :D

Still to do: Start FFEX fic (yes an entire month ahead of deadline for once), write more of Sev's fic, SLEEEEEP, progress in Crimson Gem Saga and DDS2 and Last Remnant.

I've finally managed some writing, by which I mean about 650 words of Every Light Casts A Shadow, but I have the sneaking suspicion that in beta it will become a matter of "you are just running on at the keyboard to no purpose here, get rid of this." Le sigh.

Oh well. Now that the chores are done, I can go back to video games! How exciting. :D

(The problem is, I know where the chapter's going to end up, but I'm still feeling my way around the beginning of it. Blargle.)

Tags: writing process
Feeling: discontent

Because I feel, oddly, like I could really use a list of good things.

1) Mike got me past the last segment of Kumbhanda killing me in unimaginable ways chasing me around the processing plant. I can resume DDS2! I have a wonderful boyfriend. ♥

2) People are making characters for my Scion game! This promises to be hilarious as all hell.

3) It is the weekend.

4) spreadnparanoia is coming over to have Thai food and make a Scion character. There may also be herod_the_nut and a_leprechaun later!

5) Tomorrow, it is rumoured there will be a BBQ, and also there is a party.

6) If I get too hot tomorrow, I can go splash around in the pool.

7) I have been reading excellent stories for a while now.

8) I am progressing rapidly in Crimson Gem Saga.

9) FFEX prompts are awesome.

10) It is summer. The weather is glorious and I am happy.

Tags: happy things
Feeling: happy

I really miss the feeling of wanting to write. I have ideas, and I'm excited about them, but i just feel like I'm sick of writing. I'm not sure if this is a function of getyourwordsout or just me being cantankerous, but I'm hoping it fades. I need to be on my game for November.

Part of the reason I joined GWYO was because I wanted something to encourage me to actually write, instead of to say "oh hey that's a good idea" and then never do anything about it. I figured that NaNoWriMo works very effectively for me as a motivator, and a year-long less-stressful (ha!) NaNo would be just the thing to see that I get more done.

I don't think it's quite working out that way. We're nearing the end of June and I am quite behind. Aaaargh.

Oh, also, just my two cents on the fandom warning debate: Your ~artistic integrity~ does not trump someone else's mental health. Warning takes five seconds. Shut up and do it and stop behaving like an asshat. Spoiler-code it if you MUST to protect THE SURPRISE that is so much more important to you than other people's well-being. In short, DON'T BE A JERK.

I thought I had more to say but apparently I am just a grumpy curmudgeon this morning.

Tags: fandom wank, gywo, writing process
Feeling: annoyed

HAVE PROMPTS

DO WANT

THIS CALLS FOR GABRANTH'S RULE OF LAW

*squeals*

Now to find some way to make it not a 30,000 word monstrosity like it wants to be....

Tags: challenges, ffex
Feeling: excited

Note the first: I have a thoroughly awesome boyfriend. I should really stop being surprised when people react as decent human beings rather than jerks, though.

Note the second: It was 85 this morning at 9 am. God help me.

Note the third: I need to get back in the habit of managing my money better.

Note the fourth: Survey thing (short), swiped from alixnoorchis

( What I'm... )

Tags: survey
Feeling: sleepy

Now all of the drabble requests (drabble, HA HA HA says my brain) except Sev's are done, and hers is pushing 3K at the moment so God knows when that'll be settled. IN THE MEANTIME. Fic!

Final Fantasy VI

"A Stunning Combination," Setzer/Daryl, rated PG-13. Spoilers for Setzer's backstory. Daryl has unique tastes when it comes to decorating. 100 words. For crankyoldman.
Dreamwidth | LiveJournal


"Fade," Locke/Celes, rated G. All her life magic had been a force within her, chained and counterbalanced. 1200 words. For sister_coyote.
Dreamwidth | LiveJournal | Fanfiction.net

Final Fantasy X

"A Summoner's Faith," Chapter Three: Trial. Yuna, rated G. Five scenes from a summoner's training. Yuna faces the trial of Besaid Temple. 1700 words this chapter. Links to previous chapters are provided.
Dreamwidth | LiveJournal | Fanfiction.net

"Then Be Not Coy," Auron/Lulu, rated PG. Morning always comes. 900 words. For wallwalker.
Dreamwidth | LiveJournal | Fanfiction.net

Final Fantasy IX/Final Fantasy XII Crossover

"Appropriate Casting Decisions," Balthier/Ashe/Garnet, rated PG. Balthier approves of the casting of this scene. 100 words. For trialia.
Dreamwidth | LiveJournal

Persona 3

"Reunion," Akihiko/Mitsuru, rated G. Ending spoilers; loose sequel to Farewell. Their reunion is unexpected, and the sweeter for it. 1250 words. For shanaqui.
Dreamwidth | LiveJournal | Fanfiction.net

And now, I am off to Exalted.

Tags: fic pointers, final fantasy ix, final fantasy vi, final fantasy x, final fantasy xii, persona 3
Feeling: chipper

So wrenbow came over last night to hang out, borrow my copy of Naamah's Kiss, and stay the night so we could do a Solstice ritual today. It was exciting.

Last night I cleared my second cycle of Persona 4 with 100% compendium, all optional bosses cleared, and true ending both times. Levelling up those last 10 levels to be able to fuse Luciver was a very boring experience - I went to Magatsu Inaba 1 in search of the level-looping King trick. I was there grinding for five. fucking. levels. Not a single king in sight. :( I mean I know they're a rare spawn, but sdlfkjsdflkj. Oh well. At least everything there could be Rushed, so I just kind of ran around (I established a nice little pattern of spawn points) hitting X and then Triangle, and made sufficient money to fuse every single Persona. Including Izanagi-no-Okami. I am very pleased.

(Now to do the same thing for Persona 3, which will probably be less annoying because I just have to grind up from level 83 over the course of the whole game, not start over at 1. But not for a while.)

I debated for a while between continuing Infinite Undiscovery or trying to get past Kumbhanda in Digital Devil Saga 2, and instead ended up starting The Last Remnant. So far (just cleared the Galina Caves or whatever, I'm not very far), my impressions are thusly:

1) I don't know what they thought they were doing with movement animations, but Mitra walk in a very bizarre and jerky fashion not emulated by the Yama or Qsiti.

2) Emma is awesome. So is Torgal. Actually all of the Four Generals.

3) Rush annoys me. I wish to tear out his tongue and banish him from the game. So fucking sick of the whiny punky Tidus/Vaan/Marche archetype. So sick of it.

4) Irina does not irritate me as much as I assumed she would from her description in the manual. Then again I've only seen her on screen for about four minutes. But she didn't make me want to strangle her in that span of time, so that's a plus.

5) The combat system is not as terrifying as I thought it was going to be - I was picturing, like, some horrifying RTS monstrosity that would make me cry sad, sad tears as I struggled through it very painfully, but actually it's...more like a standard turn-based RPG, only I don't always know what options I'll get every turn.

So we'll see how I think of that. I am annoyed that the strategy guide does not appear to list achievements. However, I have already managed a battle chain of 17 (by the end of the Galina Caves), so I am pleased with myself. Persona 3 & 4 have given me a reasonably quick reaction time to "OH SHIT ENEMY!!"

And now, I have some fic to post. Fic pointers to follow.

Tags: books, jacqueline carey, persona 4, ritual, the last remnant, victory theme!, wicca
Feeling: content

1. If you haven't signed up for ff_exchange, you should! You get a shiny fic or piece of art, and you get to make one for someone else! Tons of FF fic! Smaller fandoms! (I hear FF4 is popular this year!) DO IT.

2. If anyone still wants a Dreamwidth account (or needs a sub-account or whatever), let me know - I've got 3 invite codes.

Tags: challenges, dreamwidth, fanfic
Feeling: sleepy

It's been a busy few days, that's for sure. And I have accomplished nothing ficlike to show for it. Ugh.

Friday I finally got to start my copy of Crimson Gem Saga. Stylistically, it reminds me a great deal of the LUNAR games on the PSX, in terms of how the battles work and the character interactions. It's also basically made of tropes, but it manages to be very charming and engaging despite that. The skill system fascinates me, and I've been having a lot of fun with it.

Friday night I took wrenbow out to dinner at Lawry's to celebrate her being done with university. We had a wonderful dinner, and then went back to my apartment, where we discovered a Mike (who had forgotten that I was to be out that night, and had come over to hang out. ^_^) There was some Rock Band, and a bit of other video gaming, and then we crashed for the night.

I made blueberry bread for breakfast on Saturday (from a box, so nothing too impressive), and then Nat headed out with Robbie to do some shopping. Mike and I lounged around with snuggles and video games, and then headed out to Prairie Moon for Claire's birthday, with bonus Jeremy! There was much lambic, and also the best crab cakes I have had outside of Maryland. (Though to be fair the ones we had at the wine tasting festival last year were pretty good....)

Sunday was quiet; we got up early and made breakfast and watched some Babylon 5, and signed up for events at GenCon. Which reminds me I need to request my vacation days. ANYWAY.

Then I got a craving for ice cream, so Mike said he'd walk his bike with me to the ice cream place and we'd get ice cream, and then he'd ride home. Only the closest ice cream place per GoogleMaps is no longer in existence. :( We ended up taking a loooong walk (about 30 minutes?) in search of something else, and ended up at a bubble tea place with delicious freezies. Then he hopped on his bike to head back to his place, and I walked back home by myself.

Last night there was dinner out at the Yard House with a ton of people, including the newlyweds plus bobbler and Nikki, Jeremy, Claire, herod_the_nut, wrenbow, teki, Robbie, and Emery. Much delicious booze was had, and fabulous food, after which Mike and I went back to his place and hammered out the basic theme of a martial arts style for me to use in his Abyssals game, and then went to sleep.

So! Busy busy. In the meantime, have some worksafe recommendations:

Freaking amazing Celes cosplay by the lovely mithrigil, which becomes more amazing when you realize she sewed and beaded the damn thing by hand. Way to go, Mith. (That costume, for the record, is pretty much what I always pictured for opera!Celes. Yeah.)

And some fic: Four Ghosts, by terra. Final Fantasy Tactics, Delita-centric, endgame spoilers, PG. "In Ivalice, death has become the fashion." The language in this fic is amazing, and I think terra did an excellent job of showcasing Delita's various sides. Some great imagery as well.

Okay, time to go do something useful.

Tags: cosplay, crimson gem saga, fanfic, final fantasy tactics, good times, recs
Feeling: content

Both kinds - the guy who owns our friendly local gaming store for tabletop/board games is pretty awesome about letting us play there even when the store is officially closed, and my local Gamestop is pretty awesome.

Evidence on the latter: I was in there yesterday to pre-order Class of Heroes and some other stuff, and I asked about Black Sigil, which I didn't realize was already out. They couldn't find it in the pre-order system (because it was already out but I didn't know that.) One of the guys just called me and said "So hey, I realized Black Sigil is already out, want me to hold a copy for you?"

Ahh, benefits of being on a first-name friendly basis with the employees of your local large chain. XD

Tags: awesomeness cubed
Feeling: impressed

In the space of 2 hours, we have:

1) Fixed the Edge/Rydia I was writing for Jessy, which
2) Created a 20K side-story to Every Light featuring Rydia, Palom, Porom, and ridiculous quantities of summon meta, and
3) In the process of accomplishing #1, created a headcanon for Every Light that broke (a comparatively minor piece of) my plot--and then we fixed it and also fixed the lingering paper-villain problem that I've been wrestling for three years.

celeloriel, you ROCK.

Tags: cel rocks my socks, every light casts a shadow, writing process, writing: fanfic
Feeling: excited

The coughing has eased off a little, although I had a really bad half hour last night of intermittent hacking. (At one in the morning. ARGH.) Zelda jumped up on the bed toward the end of it and was exceedingly friendly - she kept rubbing her face against my neck and shoulder, purring loudly for pets, and bumping her nose against my face for kisses. SO FREAKING CUTE. She did it this morning, too, while I was glaring bitterly at my alarm clock and insisting that it had the wrong time.

I haven't really been doing much of use the last few days - flumping around a lot, really - and I really need to get back on the bandwagon and get stuff done. To do:

1) Final edits on wallwalker's Auron/Lulu fic
2) Post said fic, plus trialia's and sister_coyote's
3) Write seventhe's fic
4) Beta super seekrit surprise awesome thing
5) Incorporate the delightfully awesome sideplot resolution that celeloriel suggested for Every Light
6) Send emails for that Scion game, seriously.

So tired today. I just want to go back home and curl up with Zelda and Ganon and be snuggled and get some more sleep.

Oh well. There is Exalted tonight, which we have not had in a while, and that is awesome.

The answer, as ever, is "more caffeine."

Tags: cats!, writing: fanfic
Feeling: exhausted

Yes, I am approximately 3 weeks late with this. Shut up. I had stuff to do.

That being said, here, have a picture of Ganon, and a few of the new kitty! (She came to meet me at the door today. omgsocute.)

( Kitties! )

Tags: cats!, pics
Feeling: chipper

Sorta still feel that way though.

Better update later, but for now:

-Still sick

-Zelda cat is adorable beyond words sleeping on my lap eeee

-summer sunlight messes with me - it's too bright out for it to be 7 pm, says my brain.

-might explode from vitamin C. (I realize this is actually impossible but my brain rebels at the idea of how much of the stuff I have had in the past three days)

-dear cold please stop making my head asplode kthx

-boy bought passes for GenCon. considering which things to sign up for. suggestions welcome. Who else (that I haven't already talked to) will be there?

-back to flopping on the couch.

Tags: boil it down, sick
Feeling: sick

So much for the allergy hypothesis; Mike has the same symptoms, and as he never has allergy/pollen problems, it seems likely we caught a cold from someone at the wedding. Siiiiigh. Am home today with tea and cats. It will be less restful than I might have hoped, though; there are people fixing the roof, and they are not only stompy like a herd of elephants but making all manner of other noise. At 8 am. woe. :(

Speaking of cats, Zelda has been kind of ignoring me for the past two or three days, which was rather upsetting since she was so friendly while she was on her own. Last night she came wandering in about 5 minutes after I went to bed, jumped up, was petted for a few minutes, and then curled up against my tummy and fell asleep. About 20 minutes later, Ganon joined in, and Zelda kind of stared at him but didn't do much else. He curled up against my back and fell asleep. Kitty cuddles for all!

(This morning they are back to chasing each other around the apartment, hissing, and growling. Oh well.)

need tea.

Tags: cats!, sick
Feeling: sick

So all day yesterday and the first half of today, I had what I figured was either a cold of death or allergies - ridiculous sinus pressure, sore throat, etc. I figured allergies were more likely, based on the kind of sore throat I had, but I figured I'd just get through it and deal. Except, you know, it kind of hurt to breathe, or swallow, or talk. Jan gave me Claritin, and wow, my throat no longer feels swollen! It doesn't hurt! My sinuses feel less like they are attempting to implode into miniature singularities! Hurrah.

Since I was feeling so crappy last night, I didn't manage to upload any kitty pics, or post any fic. However, so far today I have finished the first draft of wallwalker's Auron/Lulu fic from the drabble prompt post, and restarted and managed to actually finish the Balthier/Ashe/Garnet for trialia, so now I just have to wrangle Edge and Rydia for seventhe and everything will be awesome. Maybe I'll even get a few words of Every Light done. (I'm making do-not-want face at everything else I have in progress. Apparently I do not feel like being mopey and angsty today. Maybe it's too sunny or something.)

*flump* I need a long nap.

Tags: writing
Feeling: listless

And by victory, I actually mean "I've completed all 300 missions in FFTA2 at last!"

Overall, I liked this game a lot better than its predecessor. Luso is an altogether superior protagonist to whiny Marche, and Adelle is surprisingly charming. I love Cid, and the FF12 cameos were kind of adorable and also now I ship Penelo/Al-Cid and also there are some amazing little gems of meta tucked away in the clan rumours and so on.

The law system is infinitely less irritating this time around, and I really liked the updates they made to jobs. I also loved clan privileges (Speed Up 4 was my best friend for a good long while.)

Overall, I really enjoyed the game. Some of the quests were unnecessarily annoying (o hai there Chocobo Rancher I am very much looking at you) but are completely skippable if you're not, you know, an insane completionist. (I finished the 300 quests because by the time I beat the game, I had cleared something like 260, and at that point it's almost more annoying NOT to complete them.)

If you like the FF Tactics/Advance style of gameplay, then I think this one is an improvement over both the previous entries in the series. Story-wise, it of course does not compare to FF12 or FF Tactics nor does it try to; this isn't intended to be a sweeping political story. Instead, it's charming and fun and full of quirky amusing moments and some really challenging quests, with a lot of variety. I recommend it. :)

Fic postings later tonight, and probably cat pictures too; first, I have to get more cleaning done. One sinkful of dishes, two loads of laundry, and a run with the vacuum and I will have met my cleaning obligations. Hurrah!

Tags: final fantasy tactics advance 2, victory theme!, video games own my soul
Feeling: accomplished