The Squees of Spring: An Update

Once I purchased Persona 5, I fell into a deep rabbit hole in which I think I'm climbing back out of. It's hard to say at this point since I'm still in the middle of being distracted. I haven't streamed or updated my blog due to my narrow focus as of late. At least I have uploaded nearly 20 chapters of my Persona 3 fanfic on a semi-regular weekly basis, though I had to pause briefly to make some additional changes to my drafts before continuing the upload.

I will keep working on my Mass Effect: Andromeda post, but with the three released patches and the news that Bioware's Montreal team is being downsized due to all the backlash and EA being EA, I still don't feel entirely confident rendering judgement on the game. My excitement has sobered considerably, particularly because Persona 5 is vastly superior in nearly every single way, and I have been unable to bring myself to complete my third run with my Vetra-mancing Ryder despite being 75% done the main story. That sentence might damn the game more than a long rant, but I have to be honest about where I'm sitting as of today.

Rather than focus on lukewarm topics, I'll share more positive news.

Q and Ultimax: Two Demons of Procrastination Obtained! ... Wait...

For the first time in months I could finally sleep peacefully and wake up feeling refreshed. Although classes are around again and I still have too much work to complete, I'm feeling less stressed than before. If that is the purpose of having a break, consider my Thanksgiving very well spent. Be it doubly so because Amazon kindly gave me my most anticipated game of 2014 just in time before I went back to the doldrums of fall-semester-marathon-of-exams-and-last-minute-assignments.

Considering how Persona and SMT has dominated my blog for nearly two years, I'll take time to play Persona Q inside and out multiple times before taking a good stab at writing extensively on it. Besides, I already promised myself too many times to get the Mass Effect 3 review started before I kick the bucket on my 21st birthday from good ol' alcohol poisoning. (Which won't happen, even if certain friends I have will be disappointed.)

So until I go crazy enough to squee or rage over a stupid video game, I'll at least make several points of observation regarding Persona Q and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. I won't spoil anything though, as tempting as it is in the case for Ultimax. Maybe in the future I can make a rant on the spoilers because I sincerely doubt I'll ever "formally" review a fighting game. Sorry.

So Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Is Out Today...

God that title is so stupidly hysterical.

...A pity I won't be able to play it for a while. My PS3 is still many hours and gallons of gas away from me. Even though I preordered it over the summer, I will have to wait for at least another month or so before I can possibly pop the baby in and play it to my hearts content. I remember Persona 4 Arena was rather entertaining and fun. Fighting games were never my forte or preference, but P4A was friendly enough for me to complete the story campaign, which was shockingly decent, without resorting to seppuku. Usual moi, I avoided multiplayer because online people will serve me my own ass.

Since I have no proper ability to judge a fighting game on any merits, I don't think I'll ever formally review the Arena games. Likely I'll judge them as legitimate sequels to the Persona 3 and Persona 4 canon. One of my friends laughed at the notion, as fighting games aren't meant to have good stories anyway. Considering both Arena games are indeed canon AND legitimate sequels to P3 and P4, some kind of storytelling standards cannot be outright ignored by a relatively flimsy excuse. Will it plummet the game's quality down the toilet? No, it shouldn't. But a bad story can make what is otherwise a beautiful, flawlessly technical game earn an "okay" or "good" score, no matter how avoidable the unpleasant features are.

Which is why I'm glad I'm not playing Ultimax yet.

I'm worried. Deathly worried.

...

...

I may need to amend my review score for Persona 4. I'm sorry. I didn't know, guys. I didn't know things would get this stupid... Reading the spoilers thus far made me realize Empty Spiral, my sleazy excuse of Persona 3 fanfiction for shipping fanservice, is probably better written than Ultimax. Shadow the Hedgehog is a classic Shakespearian character next to Sho Minazuki.


So much potential... obliterated before my eyes.


... Please let this just be a false knee-jerk reaction. Please let this just be Fangirl's overblown knee-jerk reaction. PLEASE.

RE: Fangirl's 'Persona 4' Review

They're making a Persona 4 Golden anime adaptation.

…

…

The Closest Thing to Me Ever Releasing My Awful Fanfiction

... Then in a few years that statement will bite me in the ass.

Anywho. Time to vent.

Whenever I sit on my lazy young adult bum with a roof over my head thanks to owing thousands of dollars in loans for something called "education", my mind wanders. Usually the ideas are silly or nonsensical in the grand design of the universe. But sometimes when I use my imagination, I usually wonder how I could use my ideas in a productive manner. Writing was the only tool I knew I would have the easiest time using. Maybe not to the degree of becoming an author - though my one friend has urged me to - but enough so I could articulate my thoughts well in English. Other times, I could destroy someone's grammatically poor rough draft and give him/her pointers to make a better piece before the final copy is due.

If I put enough effort into it, I could write a well-written, grammatically sound paper. The actual quality behind or emitting from the mechanical aspects tends to confuse me more. My teachers and professors say my knowledge of grammar is solid, but how do they know what I'm saying is worth a cent of thought? What do I say that ensues my earning an A-?

Outside of academia and term papers, I always wonder, what makes a story "good"? How do you know it "clicks" or "works"? Preferences for style and genre only can go so far, I'm sure. Still, determining what is "good" bothers me when I look at my own work.

'Persona 4' Part IV

I'm done. I am practically screaming at a brick wall within my own psyche by this point. I just cannot bring myself to enjoy Persona 4. The more I think about it, the more problems I find and want to bitch about.

But I'm done. Once I finish this review, I will just live my life as if this installment meant nothing to me. I will ignore the abhorrent concept of Dancing All Night existing, and I will keep my Vita's skin, even if I hate the majority of Golden's content. I can tolerate Arena because I get to see some of the old members of SEES again. I'll still play Persona Q just for everyone in SEES coming back.

Maybe one day, I'll pick up the original Persona 4, just to get a better sense of the gameplay. Otherwise, if I have killer hangover and have the need to be blinded by yellow, I'll just watch the anime.

Now, let's finish this review. Onto things I am more positive about before I give out my already controversial final verdict.

'Persona 4' Part III

...I just need to get to the point.

No build-up, no long introduction. Let's get this story tackled.

Because dear superior being(s), I don't like it.

SPOILERS, of course. I reeditted this post to remove my digression with other games. But still. Mass Effect 3 and Tales of Xillia handled their "big bads" better than Persona 4. My god, this game will be the end of me.

Out From Under a Rock!: First 2014 Update

Please don't kill me! I'm back for realz, I swearz!

Looks like I got so caught up in vacation and breaks that... well... I neglected my blog again. Whoops.

Thus in a vain attempt to make my two or three imaginary readers forgive me for my crimes, let me say I have been pretty busy during the holidays. Real-life stuff, of course. Mostly enjoying a mellow and agnostic Christmas, freezing my ass off thanks to below 0 Celsius weather that swept the east coast lately, realizing my cousins are counting down the months to when they can get me legally smashed, lamenting my B+ average grades this semester, etc.

Otherwise, I've been gaming. No shock.

'Persona 4' Part II

The guys at the DDS-Net forums are pretty laid-back and cool people. No massive wars started yet. No internet drama and bullshit erupted. Since it's still a small community, I managed to find my voice among a sea of veteran fans.

Not long after I published part 1 of my review, someone started a Persona 4 thread. I laid down my opinion of the game and tried to be as honest as I could. Within hours, people flooded in with their own few cents. Just recently, a few of us got heated over a tiny aspect of the game. Had someone not pointed that out, the discussion could've blown up into full-scale war.


It's funny how I am most experienced with the Persona series, but I have more in common with those who like other SMT games.

I have... TONS of issues with this game. Let's say that this can be the ending of Mass Effect 3 levels of rage.

Spoilers ahoy.

'Persona 4', Part I

Whelp, the Persona reveals on November 24th exhausted me. Though I got eight hours of sleep and did not watch the stream, I still ended up cranky and angry at the world. And I liked three out of the four new games! How can something I like make me ecstatic and piss me off so much at the time?! If I become an alcoholic once I'm 21, I'm blaming Atlus!

Anyway, I've delayed this review long enough. Time to get to business.

...

Before I do, I find it funny that I said I don't COMPLETELY hate Persona 4, yet I'm sure many people came to that conclusion anyway. Just because I found a lot to whine and nitpick about, that doesn't mean the game was garbage. I've torn the Mass Effect games a new asshole a few times and I still play them endlessly. Though I know it's extremely campy and flawed, I still love Shadow the Hedgehog. As much as I sing high praises to my favorite band ever, I still step back and laugh at how hilarious and awkward HIM is at what they do. You can't be honest with yourself if you say you love everything about something.

So no, I don't hate Persona 4. Not entirely, at least. To know how I really feel, let's finally get this review started.

BTW, some Spoilers will begin to appear early this time around.

Four Early Christmas Presents

Persona has been on the mind all year, and it won't go away. Heck, nearly every year on this blog I rant and rave about something forever. And for some reason people keep coming back... I guess I'm not trying hard enough.

Anywho.

Ever since I joined a new Shin Megami Tensei forum, I've been listening to so much Persona-related new lately. The freaking out was getting pretty bad with rumors flying everywhere. So to not go on an emotional roller coaster, I watched LittleKuriboh's Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged as I played my fourth full playthrough of Fire Emblem Awakening yesterday. Once I got online today, I arrived in the aftermath of the forums exploding with conversation and squees. I tossed in a few cents on the new threads after looking up the new stuff. Real-life drama was never my cup of tea, though the place is still pretty laidback next to the rest of the internet. No bloodshed, no violence. Just the occasional poking fun at someone's alignment.

Anywho.

Today's announcements were what I needed after all the homework I finished.

Persona 4: the Golden Rant

This is an emergency.

I really need to get this off my chest. All progress on my review is on halt because of my emotions. I cannot make any progress and cover Persona 4 objectively without tossing out moldy food from the fridge. I have so much beef over so many things so trivial that I have no idea how to not make an unfair, unbalanced review. And I swear to God this is the last teaser for the review! I am sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry, I am so very sorry!! So let me just say this stuff now before we get another Persona 3, Part 4.

I am glad Gamestop charged $50 for Persona 4 a few years ago. It would have been a big mistake to invest in it that soon. Because if you are interested in Atlus and their Shin Megami Tensei franchise like I was, Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden are the worst gateway games to try first.


Before anyone makes a doll of Fangirl and starts tearing her limbs off... HEAR ME OUT.

...BTW some SPOILERS run amok.

So Much for Working on 'Persona 4'...

I am sorry. I really am. With all the work I have to do before the end of the semester, I need to focus my free time on only a handful of things. My fanfiction keeps chugging along since it flexes my writing muscles. Video games have been off and on with me bouncing between Persona 2: Innocent Sin Portable and Fire Emblem: Awakening. I've been trying to get to my New Game Plus run of Persona 4 Golden, but I keep pushing it back. And I would prefer to tackle the game after I go through it more than once, you know? I have to commit to what I review. That's why I did a ton of playthroughs and research on my Mass Effect reviews.

So again. I apologize for my not meeting my own expectations and deadlines.

...

...

On the other hand...

200 Posts?!?!?!: Update and Mini Rants

It took me nearly a month to realize how many posts I've published. Holy Crap. O_O

Typically one would say "Thank you for helping me keep this blog strong!", but I won't. I say it on every "update" and it's tired out by this point. Yes, I am still thankful, but that's not going to be the purpose of this post.

Well, I want to mention the state of various posts I'm working on or I've promised I'd put up. Then I'll sprinkle in some things on my mind lately.

Persona 4: the Golden Preview

... Ladies and gents. First, it was Persona 3. Not long ago, it was Persona 4 Golden. I finally beat the two most popular, referenced, and overrated Persona games in the subseries under the gi-friggin-normous Megami Tensei umbrella of a franchise. My Vita may not have as many games as my 3DS, but it sure was happy to be used.

So, the big question. I adore Persona 3 to no end, just ask my 460 page fanfic. Does its successor, particularly the Golden version, sit on the same level? Or does it surpass it?

June 2013 Update: E-cow-nomics

I know it's off the internet...
But even a pic I took would make it
tiny to read...

Because I'm bored and having writer's block on my blog. Call it me selling out or lazy, that's fine. I'll get off my ass and finish my Mass Effect 2 review... or maybe beat Persona 4 Golden.

My brain is in a state similar to fried chicken because I'm spending too much time writing my Persona 3 fanfic. An activity that originally started out of boredom back during the spring semester has exploded into a 400+ page, six Word documented project that is still incomplete. ...I still don't know why I'm still writing it. At this rate, it'll be longer than Les Miserables.

Otherwise Fangirl's life is... is... is... um...

...I got a new poster to take to college. It'll proudly sit right next to the one on the menstrual cycle I got from the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia.

Yeah. This thing. XD

I just love dry, quirky humor like this.

... This might be me selling out, but oh well. My fanfic destroyed my brain. That's a good excuse... right?

Introducing the explanation of 21 economic models... using cows! Too bad the font is too tiny to read of the picture...

Socialism: You have two cows. You give one to your neighbor.

Communism: You have two cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.

Fascism: You have two cows. The State takes both then sells you some milk.

Nazism: You have two cows. The State takes both and shoots you.

Bureaucratism: You have two cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the milk away.

Traditional Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.

Surrealism: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

American Corporation: You have two cows. You sell one and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow had dropped dead.

Venture Capitalism - Icelandic Corporation: You have two cows. You sell all three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release.
The public then buys your bull.

French Corporation: You have two cows. You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

Japanese Corporation: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create a clever cow cartoon image called "Cowkimon" and market it worldwide.

German Corporation: You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

Italian Corporation: You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You decide to have lunch.

Russian Corporation: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have forty-two cows. You count again and learn you have two cows.

Swiss Corporation: You have five thousand cows. None of them belong to you. You charge the owners for storing them.

Chinese Corporation: You have two cows. You have three hundred people milking them. You claim you have full employment, and high bovine productivity. You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

Indian Corporation: You have two cows. You worship them.

British Corporation: You have two cows. Both are mad.

Iraqi Corporation: Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them you have none. No one believes you, so they bomb you and invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least you are a part of Democracy.

Australian Corporation: You have two cows. Business seems pretty good. You close offices and go for a few beers to celebrate.

New Zealand Corporation: You have two cows. The one on the left looks very attractive.


And everyone gets made fun of. :)


Back to writing I guess... *sigh* I need something to make me smile...

^///_///^

... Someone make this happen. NOW.

April 2013 Update

Holy crap... Only three more weeks until my summer vacation begins. ...And it's hot, humid, and miserable. I want the cold back; I miss winter so much.

Maybe I need to move to the Arctic and meet a few polar bears...

Credit due to owner.

Anywho. Updates and ramblings...

'Persona 3' Part V

*sips pomegranate tea*

... Note to self: never, ever, ever read Persona 3 fan fiction. Never again. Ever.

This has to be the worst game I have ever played. The story, the characters, the gameplay, the fans, the fanfiction, EVERYTHING related to this game deserves to be destroyed. If only there was an appropriate punishment worthy of this abomination of a game's existence! All thanks to Atlus, they owe me four trillion yen in tissues for P3P's New Game Plus ending alone! That's not even covering all the other non-Shinji relates moments in the game! Yukari's dad! Junpei and Chidori! Takeharu Kirijo! New Years Eve!

Why on earth did I play this game?! ...Oh, right, a bunch of other traumatized folks on the internet recommended it to me so I could join in the parade of misery. There... there are just no words...

That's it. I made it this far. There have been a few moments when I came very close to slicing my jugular open. Instead I threw a tantrum because I have self control! Today, I will end this review once and for all! I will not falter this time! Watch me!!

'Persona 3' Part IV

Grrrr...

Why this guy? Why now? Do I seriously have to pause the review for one stupid character?! He's barely in the game! There's no point in paying any attention to him!

...

*sighs*

...

Looks like I can't progress any further until I deal with this asshole first.

Damn it.

SPOILERS.

'Persona 3' Part III

Okay, me, those boxes are deliberate. Such lazy censorship was clearly done by an amateur. What the hell are you hiding?

*sees hand with Fanta bottle of sand*

Ha! You can't stop me! I came prepared!

*wrestles with arm and twists thumb, forcing bottle to fall*

*free hand picks up bottle and throws it out the window*

*wraps once-aggressive hand in a cast to prevent movement*

TAKE THAT, ME! =P


Anywho.

Yes, something has been bugging me all throughout this review. At some point I will have to confront my subconscious and demand it to spill it out. I really feel like I'm purposefully avoiding something, as I keep making awkward pauses to slap myself back into shape.

But I must stay on track. If I don't figure out what this missing thing is before my final verdict... No. That won't happen. I will finish the detailed review with that missing thing! I will succeed, even if it kills me! I will stay strong until the end!

Well, enough of the silly battle cry! Let's move on into the plot, where spoilers will be common!

CHARGE!!!!!