A post about.... life?

I know I said one of the last things I'd do on this blog was talk about my life, but I'm trying to do a post a week, and I'm currently dry on things to talk about that wouldn't take a few days to prepare. So! A post about how life's going it is.


UNDERTALE came out two weeks ago and I haven't stopped thinking about it, even though I haven't touched it since beating true pacifist -- Well, actually, that's a lie. I tried out hard mode last night. I wasn't disappointed. It was hard.

I helped my older sister edit her novel! Again! It's the best it's ever looked in my opinion, and hopefully ready for publishing! She's just got to find a publisher first.... Hmm.

I've been playing around in Smash 4 (for Wii U) a lot recently, and am slowly teaching myself the controls and how each character fights. I had a surprising success in creating a string of Mii fighters yesterday, as well! It's been a lot of fun, though I find myself missing Melee's classic mode and bonus points a lot while playing it, oops. I'm glad to have it though.

I've been playing a lot of Splatoon, too! Or, just, some of Splatoon. Haven't been playing a lot of Splatoon in  while. It's been pretty fun. The new tri-slosher bucket is, eh, and though I love the regular slosher bucket and the inkbrushes, I've found I can't use them or else my wrist cramps up. (Spamming the right trigger does that, unfortunately.) Somehow I've become the person at level 30 still using the Splattershot Jr? Hmm.... 


Spanish and Japanese study are both going alright. I discovered WaniKani, a great site to help with memorizing Kanjo, and Jisho, a great dictionary that means I can actually practice translating manga and don't tear my hair out because I'm maybe 60% sure what google translate gave me was correct.

Personal life is largely still in the "planning to maybe take a Japanese class next semester in college" and the "I need a job but am a loss of where to get one in which I can actually function" areas. I did discover I could take notes during my dad's Real Estate meetings though and then sell the notes and earn quite a bit of money that way. (Last meeting gave me $100, at $10 for the forty pages of notes I took during it. It's nice.)

But! You probably aren't here to hear too much about my personal life, and I'm definitely not here to talk a lot about it!


So, that's it. Sorry this week's post was a little lack-luster compared to usual. It's been hard to concentrate long on anything when I'm thinking so much about UNDERTALE... I think I'll do a review of Smash 4 next week though. Look forward to it!

UNDERTALE REVIEW - Best Game I've Played In A Long Time

HOWDY~! Remember last week when I told you to buy a game coming out called UNDERTALE?

Well, I'm back!! This time with a slightly-more-in-depth review now that I've played the whole game. Twice.

by victoria goog (@fridayafternoon)

UNDERTALE is an indie RPG game by Toby Fox, in which no one has to get hurt!!

It's really good!!! Oh my gosh!!! I have not played such a well constructed and well written game in a long time!!! The music is fantastically memorable and I find myself humming it half the time, the characters are so good I can't stop thinking about them, the story's so wonderful it's kept me up at night considering the full possibilities and depths of it!


I talked it up like crazy in last week's post, saying how much I loved the DEMO and how excited I was for the full game, and let me just say! The full game COMPLETELY lived up to my expectations, in fact, IT SURPASSED THEM!

UNDERTALE is funny, it's charming, it made me laugh it made me cry. And under the surface, it's either an inspiring and positive story about how violence isn't the answer, there's always another way, you don't have to fight to win. Or, it's a chilling commentary on violence in video games that makes you rethink destroying lowly monsters in RPGs just for EXP.

I've only played the Pacifist and True Pacifist routes so far (working up the courage to tackle a kill run still) but wow! They're both! Really good!!

I'm amazed at UNDERTALE for having such a deep story that you miss half of on the first playthrough, because certain things are only revealed on your second time through! And the buildup of having to go through the game two or even three (or four!) times before being lead to the True Ending is really! super! good!! It feels so great, and the ending is so wonderful and wonderfully constructed -- UNDERTALE is truly one of the best games I have played in a long time.

It also has some stellar ways of executing certain Things (I won't say what for spoilers) that absolutely took the breath out of my lungs because it was so clever and frankly, terrifying. There's a lot LOT more to Undertale than the scary stuff, but it definitely deserves some awards for being the only game to make me physically sick to my stomach with fear. And to make me cry real tears. Ten minutes after I was laughing at a ridiculous joke.

by inkerton-kun on tumblr

BASICALLY!! UNDERTALE is a really good game that I will recommend avidly and wholeheartedly to no end. I've run out of things to say without repeating myself, so, I guess I'll leave at this!

You can get it on it's website, UNDERTALE.com or on Steam for only $10!! THAT'S A BARGAIN! THAT'S A STEAL! The game is worth so much more than that.

Still aren't sure? Then sit yourself down with the DEMO and play it (it only takes 30 minutes!). If you aren't convinced after playing the DEMO once, then reset it and play through it again, making as many drastically different choices as you possibly can, and that should show you the potential of the full game!!!


UNDERTALE: EVEN MOMS RECOMMEND IT

PLEASE PLAY UNDERTALE!

UNDERTALE

Hello. I'm here to convince you to play UNDERTALE, an indie RPG game by Toby Fox.

from the UNDERTALE Kickstarter

UNDERTALE releases tomorrow, September 15 2015, on its website (undertale.com) and on Steam!

It's a charming and extremely well written game with witty dialogue and humor, along with plot twists that left me screaming for days. (Well, that's what I have to say about the DEMO, anyway. The full game isn't out yet!)

And, get this: It's only $10! What a bargain! (For music loving fans, you will reportedly be able to get the game and its soundtrack for $18! How wonderful!!)


So... What is UNDERTALE?

From the Kickstarter:

A traditional role-playing game where no one has to get hurt.

From the Steam page:

Welcome to UNDERTALE. In this RPG, you control a human who falls underground into the world of monsters. Now you must find your way out... or stay trapped forever. It'll be a perilous journey, but don't worry. Your best friend, FLOWEY, will be with you every step of the way.

Here's the Steam greenlight trailer for UNDERTALE, which was released earlier this year, and acts as a psuedo-trailer for the DEMO:

Interested yet? Maybe?

You can try out the DEMO for yourself (about 30 minutes to an hour of gameplay) and see how you feel about it from there! The DEMO is completely free, and a great experience all on it's own!! Download it here.

Just the DEMO itself has:

• great music
• charming dialogue
• the ability to fight or spare enemies, of course!
• at least four different endings based on your choices throughout it! 
• wonderful characters ft. goatmom Toriel and sad ghost Napstablook
• some great plot twists
• questionable spider bake sales
• cool puzzles

If you play the DEMO, be sure to replay it at least once for maximum enjoyment!! And, check out the instruction manual before and after you play. Trust me.

Gigi D. G., author of Cucumber Quest (a webcomic about bunny people going on an adventure, and RPG trope subversion) says this about UNDERTALE:

She also drew this (among other) cool fanart for it!!

Toriel and player character by Gigi D. G.

Personally? I had an absolute blast playing the DEMO. It took me by surprise at every turn, even on my second and third and fourth times playing it. It didn't seem to matter how many times I went through that game, and how many different strategies I tried, it always found at least one way to surprise me by the time I reached the end again.

The art and writing style remind me vaguely of MOTHER 1 and the rest of the Earthbound series, though truly, UNDERTALE is its own. I absolutely loved the characters (Napstablook is my favorite!!) and I think the music is absolutely wonderful (you can listen to the soundtrack here!).

The UNDERTALE DEMO absolutely blew my mind with how well written it was, and how fun it was to play. All I've heard is that the full game is even better. I can't wait to see for myself.


Here's the release trailer for UNDERTALE:

I'm so excited!! Please play it.


And, while waiting for it to release, check out:

The official UNDERTALE website

The official UNDERTALE tumblr

The official UNDERTALE twitter

Play the UNDERTALE DEMO!



UPDATE: NOW THAT THE GAME IS OUT AND I'VE BEATEN IT (TWICE) CHECK OUT MY FULL REVIEW FOR IT, HERE!!

Final Fantasy 八 / 8 / VIII

Just a month ago, I had the chance (and, uh, desire to) play Final Fantasy 8. Just a few days ago, I finished it.

So, here's how I feel about FF8.

Final Fantasy 8 is the 8th in the Final Fantasy series, though like every other installment in the series, it has nothing to do with previous or future titles. (If they have anything to do with each other, they have the same number slapped on them, hence 10-2 and 13-3, along with FF7: Crisis Core.) BUT, regardless of that, I'm not here to do a history lesson on Final Fantasy, or on FF8 either.

I'm just here to talk about why enjoyed playing it.


I started playing it for research purposes, actually. FtPverse, being a Kingdom Hearts fanfic (KH is a crossover between Final Fantasy and Disney, in case, you weren't aware of that either), already features the main character of FF8, Squall. Er, Leon. Y'know, this guy:

And I decided I'd really like to include Rinoa, too. So, I sat myself down to play FF8.


This was not my first time playing FF8, actually. My older sister (magik) had played FF8 shortly after I'd finished FF7, and I'd watched her play it from start to finish. I'd started to play it myself, but got as far as the part where a giant robot spider chases you through Dollet. I got interrupted for a phonecall, and by the time I was done on the phone, I decided "I never want to deal with that spider again", turned the system off, and didn't touch the game once after that.

That was four years ago.

This time around, between wanting to go through it for research purposes, flat out still owning a copy and why watch a walkthrough when you own the game, and knowing that stopping because of a giant spider at the beginning of the game was kind of dumb, I picked it back up again.

And it was a lot of fun!!! Having my sister (a huge FF8 fan) watch over my shoulder for half of it, and then tweeting about it to friends (one of whom is also a huge FF8 fan) definitely made it twice as enjoyable.


It's also, the first Final Fantasy game I've beaten since FF7 (well, and Crisis Core, but that counts as FF7). I started 10 and 12 and 13, and though I got halfway through the latter two, I just!! Lost interest. I don't know if the fact FF8's the only Final Fantasy that's been able to keep my attention since FF7 should tell you anything, but, I'm just, tossing it out there.

Anyway!! The actual "how I felt about this game" section!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a lot of fun. The battle style was definitely a huge plus for me, actually. "Oh, I should attack and take 5 turns of battle? Well, why do that when I CAN SUMMON SHIVA!" "Oh, I have to fight this boss battle and worry about their elemental defense? Why do that when I CAN SUMMON EDEN!!"

Definitely a lot of fun, and by the time we were at the end of disc 3, thanks to Encounter-None, I could decide "I don't want to face any more enemies, I just want to muscle through the plot"  and, I could. It was great.

I know the magic system isn't considered "the best" but I didn't find it too much of a chore, and I was having too much fun with the "summon things repeatedly with absolutely no repercussions" to really care.

Story wise, it's great, it's interesting, and while it gets a little Convoluted at points, well, so does.... every other.... Final Fantasy. (And Kingdom Hearts.) I was a huge fan of the sorceresses, and I think the whole cast of characters was really interesting? Sure, it's a Literal Soap Opera at times, but, it's fun. It's good. It's well written. Is it perfect? Nah! But nothing is.

And, here I'm gonna get into spoilers, so, stop reading if you don't want those.

The games been out for like, 16 years now.

But still. Spoilers. Watch out.


I think it's really cool and interesting how real of a character Rinoa is, how human she is. She makes mistakes, she's childish, she's flawed. But she's likeable. She's loveable. And I'm also just a huge fan of girls with Literally Infinite Power in their veins. Ha.

But Rinoa felt real well written, and so did Squall, and I can't fully articulate how I feel about their narratives, but man, it felt good. And I'm not a huge fan of Romance Plots lately, but, Squall/Rinoa felt good. It didn't feel too rushed. There was never a point where Squall stopped being extremely awkward because Wow, He's In Love! Even after it became clear to him and the players what he felt for Rinoa he was still sooooo bad at interacting in any sort of ~romantic~ way and it was really good. It was really refreshing.

Also, there's this:

So, yeah!!! I really enjoyed FF8.

I loved it's gameplay, I loved it's story, I loved it's characters, and most of all I loved joking about it with my sister / friends. It was a lot of fun.