Personal

My girlfriend and I are closing in on the end of Shining Force II, which is my first run on the “super” difficulty. It’s been getting pretty frustrating, as enemy attack stats have ballooned to such a degree that if an attack doesn’t one-shot you, then it will with a stray critical or double attack. Likewise, misses and counterattacks can be lethal. There’s a limit to how much you can mitigate luck without just going as slow as humanly possible, and I’m avoiding all grinding. In any event, I’ve still enjoyed this run, though it has confirmed in my mind the overall superiority of the first game, even putting difficulty aside.

In private, I’ve completed Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya. I’ve been working on a review of it that I’d estimate is around 70% complete with regards to the text. It’s at 5619 words, and this will be my first review on this blog to feature embedded images. In general, this is probably the largest-scale review I’ve done for a game, which is funny considering how mild the game itself is. It’s that quality that encouraged me to raise my own creative scope. I’m hoping to demonstrate the kind of standard for thoroughness I’d like for all my reviews eventually, and if you’re unfamiliar with my work, it’ll probably give some insight into how some of these take so damn long to make.

On that note, I realize some of my articles promised in previous blog posts are far behind schedule. I won’t sugarcoat it: I just haven’t had fun writing a lot of them, and I’m not receiving any kind of payment, so it’s hard to force myself to write. I’m not abandoning the drafts I have, but I don’t want to publish them in an incomplete state.

My main priority is documenting my thoughts on everything I engage with, so I could just publish what I have even if it doesn’t flow as well as I like, or isn’t as comprehensive. In some way, shape, or form, these will see the light of day, but I’m done promising dates. I can give estimations, and if they don’t come to pass, that’s all there is to it. If I could make this my full-time job, that would be another story. But for now it’s a hobby that has to compete for my valuable time.

I’ve began a replay of Shining Force CD, and I’m about halfway through Book 1. I already have a review of this one from a long time ago, so hopefully it won’t take as long to publish a revised one. I originally began playing the game on my New 3DS XL via Picodrive, but after beating four or five maps and taking a break I discovered that the emulator was bugged and failed to save my game even after initializing the emulated storage.

While researching the issue, I found numerous complaints of Picrodrive ports failing to save Sega CD progress with no proposed solution. So that was great. I migrated to playing on my PC via Ares, an offshoot of the emulator Higan. I don’t think I’ve had any issues whatsoever. It’s a great emulator. In addition to being able to take my own screenshots for my reviews, I also have access to a far better fast forward option. Hooray!

My friend Stevie gifted me UFO 50 yesterday, and I’ve been having a blast with it. For those who somehow haven’t encountered it yet, it’s a compilation of 50 original games created for a fictional 8-bit console. The games span a variety of genres, styles, and scope. While the conceit initially feels like a novelty, it quickly becomes clear that the format was taken full advantage of by allowing the exploration of original game concepts that would go either unnoticed or wouldn’t be able to hold up an entire stand-alone release. I might write a blog entry for my experiences with each game. The first game I completed was Mooncat earlier today, and I’m spending a lot of time with the point-and-click horror adventure, Night Manor. Excellent stuff.

I’ve kind of fallen off Shaman King: Master of Spirits 2, but haven’t forgotten it. I’m going to need to update my “currently playing” list on Grouvee so shit like that doesn’t get lost by the wayside. I’ve occasionally been rewatching the anime Yu Yu Hakusho as well. I don’t expect to revise my review for it, but we’ll see.

The Go Rush world has recently hit Duel Links, but it’s been a bit of a shitshow in my opinion. Not that I’m shocked, given what a terrible job Konami does at managing this IP. In their usual desperation to milk ancient iconic deck nostalgia due to a complete lack of confidence in their newer material, Go Rush’s new deck types launched alongside an arbitrary smattering of GX-era original cards and imports.

Ignoring how I already hate Rush’s tendency to import nostalgia bait cards, it was an obviously stupid decision to import cards that are in much newer formats than the stuff surrounding them. This has led to an incredibly contrived meta where Cyber Dragons are completely dominant. That’s bad enough on its own, since their only goal being to let Timmys feel Epic when they get easy wins with their anime deck ensures that it won’t get rebalancing anywhere near soon enough.

Not that it matters. Rush has kind of sucked in Duel Links. It’s not the fault of the game they’re adapting, just their godawful implementation. It feels like every format is a microcosm of the TCG and OCG in the main game right now. Every new deck is pushed to such an absurd degree that other strategies are incredibly frustrating to play with. It’s so transparent that the designers are deliberately fighting against you.

It’s always been a problem in YGO to an extent, but it keeps getting worse and worse. The developer and designer favoritism is completely out of control. Not to mention downright moronic in certain contexts. Konami should be using the Go Rush debut to advertise the upcoming anime dub for long-term fan investment and linking their multimedia together, but instead they make it look lame as shit because they can’t resist giving nostalgia bait the spotlight. The game cannibalizes itself.

And don’t feed me some line like, “they have to know what they’re doing if the game makes money!” That’s a bullshit logical fallacy. People in positions of authority do not necessarily get there because of ability. You know that. I know that. Literally everyone knows that, including the people making that very argument. So don’t simply assume there’s good reasoning.

If anyone wants to insist that Yu-Gi-Oh! is being operated in a way that’s optimal for either players or profits, then I outright do not believe you. I just don’t. It would require me to ignore all tenets of business and marketing I was taught, and I did go to college for those things. As customers, and therefore the people who allow them to even have a job, the players are always entitled to criticism. Always.

Professional

Speaking of incompetence: myself! It’s been an incredibly rough month. I’ve been in an equally long process to get hired onto a salaried position only to be rejected at the final phase for no explanation. After positive feedback in previous steps, my dismissal was met with a canned response that denies me any possibility to reflect and improve.

Wasted time is part and parcel to the job search experience, but it almost comes across as contemptuous when you’ve been taken so far through a process only to be dropped in a heartbeat. Why the hell did you bring me along to this point if you’re so easily convinced that I wouldn’t work for you? If your confidence is that easily shaken, then there should have been red flags at earlier stages. Instead, nothing but praise. It’s all aliens running this shit, I swear. I thought I was supposed to be the one with autism, but I constantly feel like I’m the only person capable of professional and clear communication.

Whine, whine. Just venting. Something should change about this whole culture even if at a legislative level, though even if it does it won’t happen soon enough for me. Back to the drawing board.

Public

There’s a new donation button in the header. If you enjoy reading any of my articles or posts, please consider it. I see it as a sort of “tip jar” right now, so even just a dollar is nice affirmation. Not that I’d complain about anything more, mind…

Basically everything of any worth has been imported to the anime directory now. There’s still some stragglers that I intend to bring over. I reworked a handful of imports to improve grammar, syntax, or otherwise bring them closer to my current standards. A relatively major revision is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, but the show’s popularity along with some of my hot takes inspired me to make sure that my arguments aren’t as easily dismissible by anyone who reads it today. I’ll be working on the remaining imports as always.

In the “Personal” section above, I wrote about some reviews I’ve had in the pipeline. I’d like to reiterate that I’m often working on new content for this site, even if I’m slow to publish it. I would like to consider scheduled releases so that my readers don’t have to check random days for new content. WordPress allows you to schedule publications for future dates, so I could set finished reviews to always publish on Sundays, for instance. I’m not sure yet whether I want them to all be one day or not. It would be convenient, but I’d also be consolidating my traffic to one day, which probably isn’t as good for search optimization. I’ll figure it out.

Oh yeah, I’ve also decided on a better temp (?) name: Noah’s Bark. Let me know how embarrassing you find it and if I should keep it.

Ever since waking up in the early AM today, I’ve had a pretty monstrous yawn I can’t seem to eliminate. It’s this compulsion to just stretch my jaw out as much as humanly possible, or to pull on some muscle that feels between the top right of my jaw and my right eye. That sounds strange, but it’s the best I can explain it. It was so insistent on not letting me sleep that I took some painkillers in hopes it would numb the sensation. I was able to go to sleep, but it’s returned in the past hour or two to a lesser degree.

I do have sleep apnea and take SSRIs, but this isn’t a symptom I’m used to. I’m treated with a CPAP machine, so I shouldn’t be wanting for air. If anyone has an idea of what to do, let me know. It could be a depressive episode brought on by the recent job rejection. Or maybe life is literally boring me to death.

Regardless, my beloved girlfriend has had the patience of a saint when it comes to supporting me and my neuroses. I love you. For everyone else: you’re all right. Probably.