Dear self, you are not in college anymore. Really. You haven't been for over 5 years now. You cannot be staying up until all hours of the night playing video games. Really. No matter how fun they are!

I'm at the entrance to the final dungeon for Crimson Gem Saga. *squee* Exciting! I cleared all the sidequests. (Dear optional boss: no fair casting healing magics that wipe out eight frigging rounds of damage. You suck.) I have all the uber equipment. I am ready to take this shit on. *nods nods nods*

(Yes, honestgamer, this means that most likely by the end of this weekend I will have completed the game and will be writing you a review.)

But first? It's time for bed.

Tags: crimson gem saga
Feeling: sleepy

Zelda is apparently campaigning for cutest cat ever award right now. I have a small couch pillow on my desk chair (to put behind me when I am sitting here and provide cheap girl's version of lumbar support), and Zelda likes to take over the desk chair whenever I am not in it. Last night the pillow fell on top of her, so she was lying with her head dangling out beneath the arm, covered by the pillow. Plus plus adorable.

Then after I went to bed, she came up to join us, and decided my face needed washing. And my elbow. And my shoulder. And then she flopped down to snuggle between Mike and I. SO CUTE SO CUTE.

Now she and Ganon are chasing each other round like spazzy things.

In other news, I survived (I wouldn't say beat) the end of Guitar Hero Smash Hits on medium. omfg Dragonforce. I got through that song mostly on luck and instinct rather than actual skill - the times when I gave up trying to read the notes and just let my hands move seemed to be some of the best streaks I managed. A lot of the final set was like that.

I'm also in the Silvernian Dungeon in Crimson Gem Saga, and getting a sneaking suspicion/sinking feeling about how this game is going to end. Which promises to be full of fic things.

As for Digital Devil Saga 2, .....omg.

( spoilers through Power Plant )

Right, time to go do something useful for a change.

Tags: cats!, crimson gem saga, digital devil saga, guitar hero, victory theme!, video games own my soul
Feeling: cheerful
Hearing: Final Fantasy VI OST - Ending Theme

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

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